Hey, everyone …
Yep, it’s another FIREHOSE FRIDAY at the freedom movement’s daily newspaper. We’ve got more than 100 news stories, opinion pieces, and audio/video links lined up for you today, but only here at our web edition.
The reason for the string of “web-only” Fridays was that Steve was traveling and I was covering the whole daily feed … so I felt entitled to save a little time on formatting, etc. once a week. If everything went well, Steve got home late last night and we’ll be back to “normal” as of Monday.
And, of course, a secondary reason for ANY “web-only” edition is to get in your face a little and remind you that we’re a reader-supported publication 😉
https://news.rationalreview.com/support-rrnd
Have a happy, healthy, and prosperous weekend!
Yours in liberty,
Tom Knapp
Publisher
Rational Review News Digest / Freedom News Daily
Source: Yahoo! News
“Iran said U.S. strikes killed three of its soldiers Thursday as the latest round of attacks threatened to engulf more countries in the region. Jordan said it intercepted Iranian missiles for a second consecutive day, while Kuwait said a strike there killed one person. The Senate on Thursday again narrowly rejected an effort to limit President Trump’s Iran war powers. The resolution, brought by New York Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand, lost 49-50. Three Republicans voted in favor of it. Drone strikes at Egypt’s Mediterranean port of Damietta sparked fires on two natural gas vessels Wednesday, in what appeared to be the first time Egypt has been targeted.” [editor’s note: There was no need for the Senate to vote again. The war was already illegal absent a congressional declaration of war, and Congress also passed a concurrent resolution under which Trump is required to end the conflict. IF Congress isn’t impeaching and removing him, Congress is just play-acting on the subject – TLK] (07/31/26)
https://www.yahoo.com/news/world/articles/war-expands-joint-u-saudi-094845170.html
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp
“Witch hunt tactics aside, US Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) performed a valuable public service by releasing excerpts from Fauci’s diaries. I’ve been browsing those excerpts for a couple of days now; they run to several hundred pages so I haven’t had time to do a thorough beginning-to-end read. They unmask (pun entirely intended) Fauci as a not very likable bureaucrat, flattered by attention and susceptible to that flattery, constantly butthurt by any attack on or even public disagreement with his pronouncements, and laser-focused not on ‘public health’ as such nearly so much as on maintaining his position and reputation as America’s top ‘public health authority.'” (07/30/26)
https://thegarrisoncenter.org/archives/20779
Source: The Political Orphanage
“Richard Hanania on Populism Eating America.” (07/30/26)
https://politicalorphanage.libsyn.com/richard-hanania-on-populism-eating-america
Source: Reuters
“A drone attack set ablaze an energy facility and warehouses in Russia’s Volgograd region on Friday, injuring five, the regional governor, Andrei Bocharov, said, but stopped short of giving details of the facilities. The region is home to a Lukoil-owned oil refinery. Five people are seeking medical help after the attacks, Bocharov added on Telegram. Top online retailer Wildberries said in a Telegram statement that one of its logistic hubs in the city of Volgograd caught fire following the attack, but there were no injuries. In the neighbouring southern region of Rostov, a woman was injured after a drone attack in the town of Gukovo, regional governor Yuri Slyusar said on the messaging app.” (07/30/26)
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/drone-attack-ignites-blaze-energy-plant-russias-volgograd-governor-says-2026-07-31/
Source: Fox News
“A federal judge in New Jersey blocked the Justice Department from gaining access to the state’s unredacted voter rolls on Wednesday. District Judge Zahid Quraishi, a Biden appointee, ruled that handing over the rolls could give rise to privacy concerns for voters. The ruling is the latest defeat for President Donald Trump’s administration after the DOJ sued Utah, Oklahoma, Kentucky, West Virginia and New Jersey for access to their voter rolls earlier this year. The administration argued that Title III of the Civil Rights Act granted federal authorities access to the lists, but Quraishi disagreed.” (07/30/26)
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/federal-judge-blocks-doj-access-nj-voter-rolls-amid-statewide-controversy
Source: Rutherford Institute
by John & Nisha Whitehead
“We have been ambushed. We should be talking about the dangerous, destabilizing things being done to this country. … Instead, we are trapped in a vicious loop of nonsense, mania, political demagoguery and manufactured spectacle while the country goes to hell in a handbasket. Every day—sometimes every hour—brings another outrage, another threat, another vulgar display of power, another self-glorifying meme, another political provocation and another distraction demanding our attention. Before we can fully comprehend one assault on the Republic, another takes its place. That is not merely the chaos surrounding this government. It is one of the ways this government maintains power.” (07/30/26)
https://www.rutherford.org/publications_resources/john_whiteheads_commentary/a_head_for_an_eye_the_governments_war_on_the_american_people
Source: CoinDesk
“Roughly 594 bitcoin, worth about $38 million, was swept out of around 500 separate wallets between 01:31 and 01:56 UTC on Friday in an attack traced to a flaw in how Coldcard hardware wallets generated their keys. The theft moved 1,324 chunks of bitcoin across 500 transactions inside a three-block window, with 562 BTC then consolidated into a single address that has not moved. … Coldcard is a hardware wallet built by Canadian firm Coinkite, a small standalone device that stores bitcoin keys offline, away from internet-connected computers. Mk2, Mk3, Mk4, Q and Mk5 are successive generations of that product, released over several years the way a phone maker ships numbered models. Exposure depends on the firmware the device was running at the moment the wallet was first created, not on when the hardware was bought.” (07/31/26)
https://www.coindesk.com/tech/2026/07/31/major-bitcoin-wallet-flaw-drains-594-btc-in-25-minute-sweep
Source: CounterPunch
by David S D’Amato
“We’ve reached a point where Bill Kristol can be a featured speaker at a ‘liberal’ conference. It’s hard, in this context, to know which way is up, yet we can see clearly that all ways now point rightward. Kristol is far from alone; this cottage industry includes a who’s who of bloody-handed, Bush-era conservatives who now pretend to care about the rule of law, when their whole careers were spent writing thin apologies for the many constitutional violations of the post-9/11 years. … What the good-faith liberals aligning themselves with this reanimated corpse of the neoconservative right seem not to understand is that these dynamics, migrating the entire acceptable political spectrum firmly into the right, will long outlast Donald Trump. In the end, Trump will have had two terms as president. But the range of politically feasible options could remain bolted down on the far right for many decades or even longer.” (07/30/26)
https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/07/30/the-right-vs-the-right-conservative-liberals-in-the-age-of-trump/
Source: The Hill
“President Trump on Thursday evening announced a deal for Hamas to disarm in ‘carefully structured phases,’ which, if carried out, would address one of the main sticking points for a broader peace deal in Gaza. … Amit Segal, chief political analyst for Israel’s N12News, outlined some terms earlier in the day, saying Hamas would surrender all weapons within ‘weeks’ to depots guarded by multinational forces, as well as ending all military activity and recruitment. Israel would not withdraw its military behind the ‘yellow line,’ the demarcation that has divided Gaza since a peace framework was announced in October, until disarmament is complete.” (07/30/26)
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/6001151-trump-announces-deal-for-hamas-to-disarm-israel-skeptical/
