Doom, Despair, and Agony on Us (Year-End Fundraiser Update)

THANK YOU to supporter DB, whose $10 donation over the weekend brings our year-end fundraiser total to $1,433.84!

We’re 75% of the way through our only annual fundraiser period, but only 52% of the way to our goal. I don’t know if we’ve ever been this far behind, this late in the game, before.

In order to reach our goal of $5,501, we must raise another $1,316.66. That will get us to the halfway point, after which reader GL has pledged to “match funds” for the other half.

But unless we raise the first half, we don’t get the second.

PLEASE SUPPORT THE FREEDOM MOVEMENT’S DAILY NEWSPAPER AT:

https://news.rationalreview.com/support-rrnd

Yours in liberty,
Tom Knapp
Publisher
Rational Review News Digest / Freedom News Daily

As Obamacare Deadline Looms, Republicans Scramble for Health Care Ideas

Source: The American Prospect
by Ryan Cooper

“A major theme of American politics over the past few decades is Democrats repeatedly bailing Republicans out from the political consequences of their own actions, particularly with health care. During the Obama years, House Republicans voted dozens of times to repeal Obamacare, which Democrats blocked every time. During Trump’s first term, the GOP came within one vote of actually repealing it. Now, with the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), Republicans have finally gotten what they wanted: namely, taking a trillion-dollar bite out of Medicaid, and allowing Biden-era Obamacare subsidies to lapse, meaning premiums on the exchanges are going to more than double. Except, whoops, it turns out that people don’t like this at all, and even the more dim-witted congressional Republicans are starting to fear this might blow up in their faces.” (12/08/25)

https://prospect.org/2025/12/08/republicans-scramble-for-health-care-ideas-obamacare-deadline-looms/

Mexico: Car bomb kills five in front of police station

Source: CBS News

“Mexican authorities on Sunday said at least five people died and three more were injured after a car exploded near a police station in the restive western state of Michoacan. The explosion took place shortly before noon local time on Saturday in front of the police headquarters in the coastal city of Coahuayana, according to Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office, which has taken over investigation of the case. The state prosecutor’s office raised the initial toll from three fatal victims to five, adding that three of them were local police officers. … At least three of the six drug cartels that the Trump administration has designated as terrorist organizations – Jalisco New Generation, United Cartels and The New Michoacan Family – operate in Michoacán, in addition to a slew of homegrown armed splinter groups, some supported by the Sinaloa Cartel.” (12/08/25)

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/car-bomb-deaths-officers-police-station-michoacan-mexico/

Bannon, Mearsheimer: Trump’s Ukraine Plan Won’t End the War

Source: The American Conservative
by Harrison Berger

“Russia hawks in Congress and their allies in corporate media have been on the warpath against the Trump administration’s 28-point peace plan for ending the Ukraine war, dubbing the plan a ‘Russian wish-list.’ The MSNBC host Rachel Maddow went so far as to hold it up as proof that ‘the Kremlin runs U.S. foreign policy.’ … Yet there are also criticisms of the plan from the other end of the ideological spectrum. Among the most prominent voices who argued from the start that the United States should never have been drawn into the Ukraine conflict are the War Room host and former White House advisor Steve Bannon and the University of Chicago’s Professor John Mearsheimer. They now warn that far from being a ‘Russian wish list,’ the Trump administration’s plan may not actually address the underlying political problems that ultimately caused the Ukraine proxy war.” (12/08/25)

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/bannon-mearsheimer-trumps-ukraine-plan-wont-end-the-war/

Benin: Coup leader’s location and fate of hostages unknown after failed takeover

Source: SFGate

“The apparent leader of a failed coup in Benin remained on the run and the fate of hostages remained unclear on Monday, a day after a group of soldiers attempted to overthrow the government of the West African nation. The soldiers, calling themselves the Committee for Refoundation, stormed the national television station on Sunday morning. Led by Lt. Col. Pascal Tigri, eight soldiers appeared in a broadcast announcing the removal of President Patrice Talon, dissolution of the government and suspension of state institutions. Before the coup, Tigri was a member of Talon’s protection detail. As an artillery officer, he commanded a National Guard battalion between 2023 and 2025. By Sunday afternoon, the coup was foiled by Benin’s military, supported by Nigerian air and ground forces, which launched attacks against fleeing mutineers. At least a dozen soldiers were arrested, while others remained at large. Tigri’s whereabouts weren’t known.” (12/08/25)

https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/benin-coup-leader-s-location-and-fate-of-hostages-21229920.php

“This ain’t gonna work’: How Russia pulled the plug on Assad

Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Connor Echols

“In early November of last year, the Assad regime had a lot to look forward to. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had just joined fellow Middle Eastern leaders at a pan-Islamic summit in Saudi Arabia, marking a major step in his return to the international fold. … Less than a month later, Assad fled the country in a Russian plane as Turkish-backed opposition forces began their final approach to Damascus. Most observers were taken aback by this development. But long-time Middle East analyst Neil Partrick was less surprised. As Partrick details in his new book, ‘State Failure in the Middle East,’ the seemingly resurgent Assad regime had by that point been reduced to a hollowed-out state apparatus, propped up by foreign backers. When those backers pulled out, Assad was left with little choice but to flee.” (12/08/25)

https://responsiblestatecraft.org/assad-regime-collapse/

Romania: Bucharest voters elect centrist mayor

Source: Politico

“Center-right politician Ciprian Ciucu will be Bucharest’s new mayor after defeating a far-right candidate in Sunday elections. Ciucu, the candidate of the center-right National Liberal Party and a close ally of Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan, won roughly 36 percent of the vote. Ciucu defeated Anca Alexandrescu, a TV presenter backed by Romania’s largest far-right party (AUR), who finished second with about 22 percent. The Social Democratic Party’s candidate Daniel Băluță came third, despite being projected to win in many opinion polls.” (12/08/25)

https://www.politico.eu/article/bucharest-election-mayor-centril-ciprian-ciucu-reject-far-right

It’s Time to Make America Truly Tribal Again

Source: exile in happy valley
by Nicky Reid

“Way back in the 1700s there was this fucked up little place called Florida, or at least that’s what the Spaniards called it. The original natives of the region had multiple different names for this untamable swampland but most of them were wiped out by slaughter and disease from the Conquistadors who declared the wild mess, Florida. They didn’t last long though. In fact, those butchers only managed to build and populate a few colonialist missions before their glorious Catholic empire collapsed in the tall grass surrounding them and, in spite of such efforts, most of Florida remained a verdant wilderness teeming with all kinds of shit that freaked white people the fuck out- snakes, alligators, mosquitos, humidity … But there was one tribe of Indians just wild enough to call this no-man’s-land home.” (12/07/25)

https://exileinhappyvalley.blogspot.com/2025/12/its-time-to-make-america-truly-tribal.html

Minnesota’s $70 million fraud exposes how Dems built system designed to be robbed

Source: Fox News
by Jason Rantz

“For years, Democrats assured us that expanding government programs was an act of moral heroism — that the only thing standing between America and utopia was more taxpayer money flowing through more ‘community-based’ nonprofits embracing ‘equity-centered’ missions. Then Minnesota happened, exposing a truth the radical left will never admit: The system isn’t broken. This is exactly how it’s designed to work. Over 70 people connected to the Minnesota nonprofit Feeding Our Future face federal charges in the country’s largest COVID pandemic fraud scandal. It was primarily Somali American defendants who allegedly stole funds meant for low-income children by submitting falsified invoices, fake meal counts and fabricated rosters. The organizations billed the government for tens of millions of unserved meals, using the stolen money for luxury cars, beachfront property and homes. It’s jaw-dropping — but it’s not surprising. And it happened because Democrats built a system practically engineered for abuse by the nonprofit industrial complex.” (12/08/25)

https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/minnesotas-70-million-fraud-exposes-democrats-built-system-designed-robbed