Spain’s Courtroom Politics

Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Mark Nayler

“If there is a threat to democracy in Spain, it’s not from the ‘far right,’ that mysterious force to which Socialist prime minister Pedro Sánchez wants to attribute all the country’s problems. Recent developments have highlighted two issues that are causing much more damage to public trust in democratic institutions—namely, the politicization of the judiciary, or ‘lawfare,’ and financial corruption. Lawfare is alleged to be the reason for an unprecedented ruling against Spain’s former attorney general; while a massive fraud case centered on 95-year-old Jordi Pujol, president of Catalonia from 1980 to 2003, has tarnished the reputation of a once-revered politician.” (12/05/25)

https://fee.org/articles/spains-courtroom-politics/

AZ: Congresswoman claims gang members assaulted, pepper sprayed her

Source: Axios

“Rep. Adelita Grijalva (D-Ariz.) said Friday she was pepper sprayed and ‘pushed around’ by Immigration and Custom Enforcement [gang members] during a raid in her district. The alleged incident follows a series of physical confrontations this year between Democratic lawmakers and federal law enforcement, particularly ICE. … [Gang] spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said Grijalva’s claims are ‘not true’ and that ‘she wasn’t pepper sprayed.’ Grijalva said in a video posted to social media that roughly 40 ICE [gang members] raided a taco restaurant in Tucson that she frequents, Taco Giro, while she was present.” (12/05/25)

https://archive.is/BEP53

Home schooling — enemy of government?

Source: The Price of Liberty
by Nathan Barton

“Fifty-sixty years ago, no one had ever heard of home schooling here in the States. It wasn’t necessarily nonexistent, but incredibly rare. You might find the occasional rancher or forest ranger or other remote family teaching their own children, but truancy (mandatory attendance) laws, tradition, and above all, public perception looked upon such things as horrible and totally unacceptable. Even parochial (Catholic) and other private (religious or not) schools were seen by the mainstream and general public as tolerated but weird. And rare. Many State constitutions enshrined the idea of ‘free tuition’ – that is, public schools. Then came a combination of measures and events which started gradually to change that. Indeed, to create the modern-day homeschooling movement.” (12/05/25)

https://thepriceofliberty.org/2025/12/05/home-schooling-enemy-of-government/

Housing: Supply vs. Quantity

Source: EconLog
by David Hebert

“If there’s one thing we can count on in America, it’s that our elected officials will see an affordability crisis and respond to it by stimulating the demand side of the market. Today, we’re seeing this in the case of the housing industry, with Administration officials floating both a new (and improved!) 50-year mortgage and a portable mortgage. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says that both of these will help break the ‘logjam’ of owners who are stuck with their 3% mortgages and are reluctant to move, which will help with the affordability ‘crisis’ in the American housing market. After all, if more houses come on the market for sale, won’t that push prices down? This statement belies a fundamental misunderstanding of the difference between supply and quantity supplied.” (12/05/25)

https://www.econlib.org/econlog/housing-supply-vs-quantity

French navy shoots at five drones buzzing nuclear submarine base

Source: Politico

“The French navy opened fire at drones that were detected over a highly-sensitive military site harboring French nuclear submarines, according to newswire Agence France-Presse. Five drones were detected Thursday night over the submarine base of Île Longue, in Brittany, western France, a strategic military site home to ballistic missile submarines, the AFP reported, citing the the French gendarmerie, which is part of the military. The submarines harbored at the base carry nuclear weapons and are a key part of France’s nuclear deterrent. French navy troops in charge of protecting the base opened fire, the report said. It was unclear whether the drones were shot down.” (12/05/25)

https://www.politico.eu/article/drones-france-nuclear-submarine-base-reports/

Washington didn’t cross Delaware to create a theocracy

Source: Orange County Register
by Steven Greenhut

“Most people see America as an experiment in classical liberalism, whereby the founders created a system of limited government, religious pluralism and liberty. Religious leaders are free to spread their message through the culture — but not to take control of the levers of power and base lawmaking on their sectarian Bible interpretations. The Constitution protects everyone’s natural rights, with its main purpose limiting the sphere of government — not implementing rules to assure proper religious observance. There really is no other way to seriously read our Constitution, but many religious people still argue the founders were Christians who envisioned a Christian nation.” (12/05/25)

https://archive.is/hB2aO

Weekend Special Edition (w/ Year-End Fundraiser Update)

Hey, everyone …

We’ve got a short (10-item) “weekend special edition” for you this morning. Enjoy.

THANK YOU to subscribing contributors ACS and ERW, whose $7.50 in contributions yesterday bring our year-end fundraiser total to $1,423.84!

Our goal is $5,501. Once we’ve raised $2,750.50, supporter GL will “match funds” for the other half. But we need YOU to get us to that halfway point at:

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

Please support the freedom movement’s daily newspaper, and have a great weekend!

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

PS: Would you like RRND/FND to have a “real” office? I’ve been working from a home office in whatever corner I can find for 30 years now, but …

My family is in the process of moving — after 13 years of renting since moving to Florida, we bought ourselves a little place. Not TERRIBLY little, but this weekend I hope to look at used “camper trailers.” The idea I have is to park one out back and use it as my office, maybe (MAYBE) as a podcast studio, and for general “man cave” purposes. If I find what I’m looking for, it will cost $1-2k. If you’d like to help out with that, donating to our year-end fundraiser is the way to go about it!

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

DC: Suspect in January 6 pipe bomb case makes brief first appearance in court

Source: Washington Post

“A man accused of planting pipe bombs in Washington on the eve of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol appeared in court for the first time Friday afternoon, though the brief hearing offered no additional details into his possible motivations. Brian Cole Jr., 30, was charged Thursday with transporting an explosive device in interstate commerce and attempted malicious destruction by means of an explosive material. Dozens of FBI agents and teams in camouflage apprehended him at his Northern Virginia home. … The arrest, nearly five years after the discovery of the pipe bombs near the headquarters of the Democratic and Republican national committees, marked a breakthrough in a case mired by conspiracy theories and dead ends.” (12/05/25)

https://archive.is/C2jse