Hey, everyone …
It’s a FIREHOSE FRIDAY at the freedom movement’s daily newspaper. We’ve got at least 108 news stories, opinion pieces, and audio/video links lined up for you today — maybe more by the time you read this — and that much content doesn’t fit well in an email edition, so it’s all here at our web edition.
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Yours in liberty,
Tom Knapp
Publisher
Rational Review News Digest / Freedom News Daily
Source: Politico
“Indiana Republicans have withstood immense pressure from President Donald Trump — and ignored threats on their lives — to defeat his plan to redraw the state’s congressional map, dealing him one of his most significant political setbacks since his return to the White House. The GOP-controlled state Senate on Thursday voted down the map that gerrymandered two more safe GOP seats, undercutting the party’s chances at holding control of Congress next November. The failed vote is the culmination of a brass-knuckled four-month pressure campaign from the White House on recalcitrant Indiana Republicans that included private meetings and public shaming from Trump, multiple visits from Vice President JD Vance, whip calls from Speaker Mike Johnson and veiled threats of withheld federal funds. The members held out in spite of pipe bomb threats, unsolicited pizza deliveries to their homes, and swattings of their homes.” (12/11/25)
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/12/11/indiana-republicans-redistricting-vote-trump-00687714
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp
“‘[T]here is no way on earth we should be going to war or trying to do regime change in Venezuela,’ US Representative Adam Smith (D-WA) told The Hill on December 4. The US, says Smith, ‘should be out of the regime-change business.’ So, did Smith still think that on December 9, when US military aircraft overflew the Gulf of Venezuela, and on December 10, when US troops — in a blatant act of piracy on the high seas — hijacked a Venezuelan oil tanker in the Caribbean? On December 10, Smith, the ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, came out in support of forking over nearly $1 trillion to the US regime-change machine. … In what universe do you shut down a business by shoveling money at it?” (12/11/25)
https://thegarrisoncenter.org/archives/20198
Source: The Political Orphanage
“The Secret Map of Supreme Court Justices.” (12/11/25)
https://politicalorphanage.libsyn.com/the-secret-map-of-supreme-court-justices
Source: Reuters
“President Vladimir Putin thanked the Russian army on Thursday after commanders told him that their forces had taken full control of the town of Siversk in [Donetsk], but Ukraine’s military said it remained in control there. Reuters could not verify the battlefield claim around Siversk, a longstanding target in Russia’s slow drive to capture all of Donetsk [People’s Republic]. Commanders told Putin that the capture of Siversk, a town with a pre-war population of over 10,000 people, was a stepping stone towards taking Sloviansk, one of the two biggest cities in Donetsk still under Ukrainian control. … The Ukrainian military’s Operation Task Force East unit, writing on Facebook, said: ‘In the Sloviansk direction, the city of Siversk remains under the control of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.'” (12/11/25)
https://archive.is/D6gaD
Source: Adam Smith Institute
by Madsen Pirie
“Many under-16s in Australia might try to bypass the new social-media ban under which, from 10 December 2025, all major social-media platforms must prevent Australians under 16 from holding accounts. … A survey of nearly 19,000 Australians under 16, showed that only 9% thought the ban was a good idea, and 72% believed it would not work. Some teens have told media that they expect to get around the ban, probably with some help from friends or older siblings, or even parents. … In a tussle between the kids and the politicians, my money is on the kids. They’ll find a hundred ways to bypass the ban before the political crowd have even let the ink dry on the Bill. And my sympathies are with them.” (12/11/25)
https://www.adamsmith.org/blog/bypassing-the-aussie-ban-on-under-16s
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order aimed at blocking states from enforcing their own artificial intelligence (AI) regulations. ‘We want to have one central source of approval,’ Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday. It will give the Trump administration tools to push back on the most “onerous” state rules, said White House AI adviser David Sacks. The government will not oppose AI regulations around children’s safety, he added. The move marks a win for technology giants who have called for US-wide AI legislation as it could have a major impact on America’s goal of leading the fast-developing industry. AI company bosses have argued that state-level regulations could slow innovation and hinder the US in its race against China to dominate the industry, with firms pouring billions of dollars into the technology.” (12/12/25)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crmddnge9yro
Source: The Atlantic
by Nancy A Youssef
“Trump has said that his ‘America First’ approach to foreign policy includes employing transactional diplomacy to benefit the U.S., stopping other nations from ‘taking advantage’ of American support, and using force to defend the Western Hemisphere. But events in Somalia suggest that ‘America First’ often looks very different in practice, especially when it comes to the use of the military. Trump may have avoided sending large numbers of troops to war in operations oriented around nation-building. But he has aggressively intervened in conflicts around the world, typically with a torrent of expensive air strikes launched from out of harm’s way or with the deployment of small groups of Special Forces.” (12/11/25)
https://archive.is/vniPh
Source: France 24 [French state media]
“Thailand’s prime minister dissolved parliament on Friday, paving the way for general elections early next year as deadly border clashes continue with neighbour Cambodia. The move comes earlier than expected and just three months after Anutin Charnvirakul – of the conservative Bhumjaithai party – became prime minister when his predecessor was removed from office over an ethics violation.” (12/12/25)
https://www.france24.com/en/asia-pacific/20251212-thai-prime-minister-dissolve-parliament
Source: Antiwar.com
by Andrew P Napolitano
“As we learn more about the events on Sept. 2, 2025, in international waters 1,500 miles from the United States, the behavior of the United States military becomes more legally troubling than at first blush. We have learned from members of Congress and others who have seen the videos of the attacks on the speedboat that day that the first strike mainly — but not completely — destroyed the boat and killed 9 of the 11 persons aboard. The two survivors clung to the wreckage for 45 minutes, during which they frantically waved at what they hoped were American aircraft, expecting to be rescued. … After the passage of 45 terrifying minutes, three more attacks obliterated the two survivors and their wreckage, for ‘self-defense,’ the White House said. … Not rescuing these survivors was criminal. But the entire killing process is criminal.” (12/11/25)
https://original.antiwar.com/andrew-p-napolitano/2025/12/10/kill-them-all
Source: The Guardian [UK]
“A federal grand jury has declined to indict Letitia James, the New York attorney general, on mortgage fraud charges for the second time in a week, according to a person familiar with the matter, in an embarrassing blow to the Trump justice department as the president has sought retribution against one of his political rivals. The department has attempted to twice file new charges against James after a judge dismissed an indictment against her after determining the prosecutor handling the case had not been properly appointed. … James was charged with one count of bank fraud and one count of making a false statement in connection with a home in Norfolk, Virginia in 2020.” (12/11/25)
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/11/letitia-james-dismissed-second-indictment
