It’s Thanksgiving week in the US, and we are thankful for our readers … especially the readers who financially support what we do.
One of those readers, TH, sent us what he calls his “widow’s mite” (those of you who read the Bible will get that reference) over the weekend. He does that several times a year, and he’s one of our favorite people indeed! His $15 contribution this time around brings our year-end fundraiser total (as of 5am) to $1,285.84!
Our “mini-goal” is to reach $2,000 this week. We’re $714.16 short of that mark. Will YOU kick in?
Our final goal is $5,501. After we’ve raised $2,750.50 from all y’all, another one of our favorite people, GL, will “match funds” for the other half. So we’re looking for another $1,464.66 altogether. PLEASE SUPPORT THE FREEDOM MOVEMENT’S DAILY NEWSPAPER!
Our “guarantee” for this week is three editions (today, tomorrow, and Wednesday), but we usually do at least one “weekend special edition” over the four-day Thanksgiving holiday weekend. Have a great day, and a great week!
Yours in liberty,
Tom Knapp
Publisher
Rational Review News Digest / Freedom News Daily
Source: Independent [UK]
“European leaders are discussing a potential peace deal between Russia and Ukraine after the White House made major ‘revisions and clarifications’ to its 28-point peace plan. However, major issues remain unresolved, Finland’s president Alexander Stubb said on Monday. Ukraine reiterated its red lines including formal recognition of occupied territories, demands on limits to Ukraine’s military capacities and restrictions on future alliances, Ruslan Stefanchuk, speaker of Ukraine’s parliament said on Monday. … Europe demanded changes proposing that Ukraine be granted a larger military than under the US plan and that talks on land swaps should start from the frontline rather than a pre-determined view of which areas should be considered Russian.” (11/24/25)
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/ukraine-russia-war-trump-peace-plan-putin-zelensky-latest-news-b2870984.html
Source: Washington Post
by the editorial board
“What are a few deportation threats among friends? President Donald Trump has called Zohran Mamdani a ‘100% Communist lunatic’ who ‘needs to be DEPORTED.’ Mamdani called the president a ‘despot,’ promising to ‘Trump-proof’ New York. Yet they couldn’t have been chummier in their Oval Office meeting on Friday. What’s happening here? Trump loves populists and winners, and Mamdani is both. … This surreal scene is no bad thing for voters who have been told that the other side is the mortal enemy, though they might wonder how sincere each side was in their election insults. In reality, Mamdani and Trump have some shared interests, and it’s not just about building more apartments and tackling inflation. Both men are looking to seize more executive power, deepen the reach of the state into people’s everyday lives and bring government to bear on businesses and entrepreneurs who won’t fall in line.” (11/21/25)
https://archive.is/yHHVL
Source: Unattended Baggage
“Maybe we could all use some ‘Quiet Time.'” (11/22/25)
https://unattendedbaggage.substack.com/p/episode-318-maybe-we-could-all-use
Source: Reuters
“A close ally of Bosnia’s Serb Republic separatist leader Milorad Dodik won a snap presidential election in a tight race with opposition candidate, the election commission said on Sunday, citing preliminary results. ‘According to preliminary, unofficial and incomplete results, Sinisa Karan won 50.89% of the votes,’ Jovan Kalaba, the commission’s president, said at a news conference. Kalaba said that opposition candidate Branko Blanusa of the Serb Democratic Party (SDS) won 47.81% of the votes. Turnout was low at 35.78%, compared with 53% during a general vote in 2022, he said. … Pro-Russian separatist Dodik was convicted in February of defying the constitutional court and an international peace envoy, leading to Bosnia’s biggest political crisis since the end of its devastating war 30 years ago. He repeatedly rejected the verdict but in October unexpectedly appointed a loyal ally as his temporary replacement and annulled a series of separatist laws previously adopted in parliament.” (11/24/25)
https://archive.is/bB7b9
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp
“Taiwan is not now, and never has been, part of the People’s Republic of China. … But whenever any politician on the world stage publicly mentions, or even alludes to, that fact, Chinese politicians rattle their sabers militarily while threatening, ‘diplomatically,’ to throw themselves on the floor and hold their breath until they turn blue. To placate Beijing, western regimes have generally adopted policies of ‘strategic ambiguity.’ They conduct friendly relations with Taiwan while not ‘recognizing’ its status as independent, and provide Taiwan with military assistance of various kinds while very carefully NOT openly saying they’d help it defend itself against invasion. ‘Strategic ambiguity’ is the worst of two worlds when it comes to foreign policy.” (11/23/25)
https://thegarrisoncenter.org/archives/20159
Source: Axios
“Thanksgiving is forecast to be colder and with more snow than usual across large swathes of the U.S., threatening to snarl what the AAA is projecting to be record holiday traffic. The National Weather Service warns the ‘polar vortex,’ an area of cold air around the Arctic, could expand southwards and combine with two other factors to bring ‘cooler than normal temperatures’ from Seattle to Dallas and across to Chicago this Thanksgiving week. … nearly 82 million Americans are expected to embark on Thanksgiving holiday road trips and the TSA prepares to screen an estimated 17.8 million air travelers from this Tuesday.” (11/24/25)
https://archive.is/jJC4M
Source: Reason
by Jacob R Swartz
“The unity that once held the Democratic Party together has given way to ideological meandering, oscillating between ‘woke’ moralistic left-wing populism and technocratic managerialism. These two impulses now define its fractured identity: the former emerging from the Occupy movement and the momentum of Bernie Sanders'[s] presidential campaigns, the latter from the evolution of the Clinton-era ‘New Democrat’ consensus. The 2025 elections crystallized the divide through two major victories — socialist outsider Zohran Mamdani in New York City and Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger, who’s more in line with the neoliberal wing. Each has been called the party’s ‘future,’ though their wins more clearly reveal how ideologically hollow the party’s core has become.” (11/23/25)
https://reason.com/2025/11/23/the-democratic-party-is-offering-a-false-choice-between-socialism-and-technocracy/
Source: CBC News [Canadian state media]
“Israel on Sunday struck Lebanon’s capital for the first time since June, saying it killed Hezbollah’s chief of staff Haytham Tabtabai and warning the Iran-backed militant group not to rearm and rebuild a year after their latest war. The strike in Beirut’s southern suburbs killed five people and wounded 25 others, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said. Hezbollah confirmed Tabtabai’s death. … Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun in a statement condemned the strike and accused Israel of refusing to implement its end of the ceasefire agreement.” (11/23/25)
https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/israel-strike-hezbollah-beirut-9.6989505
Source: The Watch
by Radley Balko
“In the 15 years between 2009 and 2024, more than 500 people in Texas were exonerated after being imprisoned for crimes they did not commit. … The state paid them just under $156 million …. Last year, New York City paid out $205 million to settle 956 lawsuits alleging police abuse. … I bring up these figures because, according to multiple reports, Donald Trump is about to order the government to pay him ‘damages’ for the FBI raid on his Mar-a-Lago mansion and for special prosecutor Jack Smith’s two investigations of him …. He’s going to pay himself $230 million. So Trump — who didn’t spend a minute behind bars — [is] about to swindle about 50 percent more than the total amount of money paid to the 97 innocent people who were incarcerated for more than 1,200 years in Texas. Or about 12 percent more than the total paid last year to 957 victims of police brutality in New York City.” (11/21/25)
https://radleybalko.substack.com/p/magas-300-million-heist
Source: SFGate
“Counting of votes is underway in Guinea-Bissau where voting for presidential and legislative seats took place on Sunday for President Umaro Sissoco Embaló who is seeking a second term in the nation that has endured multiple coups. The elections have come at a critical time in West Africa, where democracy has recently been challenged by disputed elections that analysts say could embolden militaries that have forcefully taken power in several countries. Analysts say the vote was a close race between Embaló and Fernando Dias da Costa, a little-known 47-year-old backed by former Prime Minister Domingos Simões Pereira, the runner-up in the 2019 presidential election. The winner needs more than 50% of the votes; otherwise, the election will head to a runoff. The incumbent president, who cast his vote in Gabu, a city located 200 kilometers (124 miles) from the capital, Bissau, urged people to come out and vote.” (11/23/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/guinea-bissau-s-president-seeks-second-term-in-21203343.php
