Hey, everyone …
Every so often (and one really big time closer to the end of each year) I come to our readers to remind you that we’re a reader-supported publication. It’s not time for our year-end fundraiser and won’t be for several more months, but this is one of those “every so often” bits. PLEASE do one or both of the following things:
-
- Tell your friends about us! The more readers we have, the better in every way … especially when it comes time to ask for money. Many hands make light work, etc. Send people you know our way at:
Web: https://news.rationalreview.com
Email Digest: https://rationalreviewnewsdigest.eo.page/jrwp6
- Support our work financially, in any amount that seems justified to you, at:
https://news.rationalreview.com/support-rrnd
Thanks in advance, and after you’ve done those two things have a GREAT weekend!
Yours liberty,
Tom Knapp
Publisher
Rational Review News Digest / Freedom News Daily
Source: CBS News
“A 10-day ceasefire deal between Israel and Lebanon took effect at 5 p.m. Thursday, after Israel’s continued attacks on Lebanon-based militant group Hezbollah — an Iranian proxy — had threatened the ceasefire in the wider Iran war.” (04/17/26)
https://www.cbsnews.com/live-updates/iran-war-us-trump-strait-of-hormuz-diplomacy-ceasefire/
Source: Antiwar.com
by Andrew P Napolitano
“In 2008, Congress added Section 702 to FISA permitting warrantless surveillance of foreign persons who communicate with Americans. The FISA court interpreted 702 to permit warrantless surveillance of Americans to whom foreign persons had spoken, out to the sixth degree. Thus, if you call or email a hotel in Rome to book a room, you are subject to warrantless surveillance under 702. If you call your mom, she is subject. If she calls her sister, your aunt is subject to warrantless surveillance, and so forth to the sixth degree. Behold the monstrosity that FISA has wrought. Can the data gathered by this warrantless surveillance be used by the FBI for prosecution purposes, as an end run around the Fourth Amendment? Congress said yes. That’s the American heresy, as it directly defies the history, values and plain meaning of the Fourth Amendment.” (04/16/26)
https://original.antiwar.com/andrew-p-napolitano/2026/04/15/american-heresy
Source: Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
“Regulating AI: Who decides?” (04/16/26)
https://expression.fire.org/p/free-speech-future-episode-ii-regulating
Source: The Hill
“The House unanimously passed a short-term of the [regime’s] spy powers until in the wee hours Friday morning — pushing the deadline from April 20 to April 30 — after GOP rebels dramatically rejected a late-night, last-minute deal to extend for five years while adding some additional reforms and language intended to woo the holdouts. The move buys time for leaders to figure out how to address Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act after the deal crumbled, while avoiding a lapse in the authorization that expires on April 20. … it marked one of the most notable instances of the GOP’s right flank outright defying Trump’s wishes on a major vote.” (04/17/26)
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5835879-fisa-702-spy-powers-vote/
Source: CounterPunch
by John W Whitehead & Nisha Whitehead
“[W]hat happens when the president appears unable to discharge the duties of his office in a rational, coherent, and responsible manner? In other words, what can we do when the president appears to be losing his mind? The Constitution provides a remedy. The 25th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution provides a process by which the government continues to function should the president be unable to carry out his duties. … while the president may be unraveling in plain sight, the machinery of the American Police State continues to expand—quietly, relentlessly, and with bipartisan support. Surveillance is expanding. Policing is becoming more militarized. Power is becoming more centralized and less accountable. And unlike the presidency, there is no 25th Amendment for the police state. No mechanism to declare it unfit. No procedure to remove it. Or is there?” (04/16/26)
https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/04/16/unfit-to-govern-we-need-a-25th-amendment-for-the-american-police-state/
Source: Reuters
“A Russian overnight drone attack damaged port infrastructure in Ukraine’s largest Danube river port Izmail and one drone strayed into Romanian territory, Ukrainian and Romanian authorities said on Friday. The port lies on the southwestern tip of Ukraine facing Romanian territory across the Danube. It has become an important and frequently hit logistical area for wartime Ukraine.” (04/17/26)
https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/russian-drones-hit-ukraines-danube-port-officials-say-2026-04-17/
Source: Independent Institute
by Ivan Eland
“The Trump administration believes that the US Navy will prevent Iran from earning revenue from oil exports, while allowing other nations’ shipments to pass through the strait, thus resuming the transport of oil, gas, fertilizer, and other important items for global markets. This surgical outcome, however, may be harder to achieve than it looks. … The IRGC organized its navy around a meticulously planned asymmetric model—that is, like guerrilla fighters on land, it employs hit-and-run tactics against commercial shipping using small, fast attack boats and missile boats. More than 60 percent of the fast attack boats have survived US and Israeli air strikes. These smaller boats emerge from concealed underground pens or from hiding places among civilian boats, making them difficult for satellite reconnaissance to detect. Also, the boats can lay sea mines much faster than the slow, dangerous process of finding and neutralizing them.” (04/16/26)
https://www.independent.org/article/2026/04/16/why-donald-trumps-blockade-on-iran-wont-work/
Source: NBC News
“An ICE agent who was part of the federal immigration surge in Minnesota earlier this year was charged with felony second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon, a Minnesota prosecutor announced Thursday. The agent, Gregory Donnell Morgan Jr., is accused of pointing a gun at the heads of two civilians in a vehicle, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said. This is the first case of an ICE agent facing charges related to the Trump administration’s Operation Metro Surge in Minnesota, which drew national outrage after the [murders] of two U.S. citizens by federal immigration authorities. Morgan was charged Thursday with two counts of second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon, one count for each victim, and there is a warrant out for his arrest, Moriarty said. The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the charges.” (04/16/26)
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ice-agent-charged-assault-minnesota-metro-surge-immigration-rcna332210
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Bert Olivier
“Taken together, the seven liberal arts of the Trivium and Quadrivium formed the core undergraduate curriculum in medieval universities during the 12th and 13th centuries, serving as prerequisites for the study of philosophy and theology at a higher level. Considering that the Trivium was regarded as teaching students to master language and thought through the study of grammar, logic, and rhetoric – the ‘three ways’ of literary education – it may be seen as a powerful reminder to us today that unless one knows how to employ language at these three levels, it would be futile to proceed to a different, and higher, level of study, because an inadequate grasp of linguistic meaning, logical relations of validity, and the rhetorical nuances of speech would invalidate understanding at all further levels – even in computer science, where linguistic communication is as essential as in the humanities.” (04/16/26)
https://brownstone.org/articles/what-and-how-should-our-students-be-taught-today/
