Rational Review News Digest / Freedom News Daily runs one fundraiser per year, always with a modest goal.
This year, the goal is $5,501. With about 5,000 daily readers across the web, email, and social media editions, that should be an easy mark to hit — especially with one of those 5,000 readers pledging to “match funds” for half of it once we raise the first half.
And yet, with less than two weeks left in the fundraising period, we’re still $776.66 short.
Please support the freedom movement’s daily newspaper at …
“Republicans are making mail-in voting a core part of their midterm battle plans — a sharp contrast with President Donald Trump’s efforts to abolish the practice as they scramble to turn out his base. … Rattled by electoral losses across the country this year and fearing a turnout slump in 2026 when control of Congress is on the line, Republican party chairs and operatives in battleground states Trump flipped by razor-thin margins in 2024 are turning to mail-in voting to keep lower-propensity voters engaged when he’s not on the ballot. They’re redoubling the 2024 efforts they ran successfully despite Trump alternating between promoting and railing against the practice — a turnabout after his vilification of mail ballots contributed to GOP losses in 2020. Now, back in office, Trump is escalating his war against mail ballots.” (12/17/25)
“The Senate gave final passage Wednesday to an annual military policy bill that will authorize $901 billion in defense programs while pressuring Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to provide lawmakers with video of strikes on alleged drug boats in international water near Venezuela. The annual National Defense [sic[ Authorization Act, which raises troop pay by 3.8%, gained bipartisan backing as it moved through Congress. It passed the Senate on a 77-20 vote before lawmakers planned to leave Washington for a holiday break. Two Republicans — Sens. Rand Paul and Mike Lee — and 18 Democrats voted against the bill. The White House has indicated that it is in line with President Donald Trump’s national security priorities. However, the legislation, which ran over 3,000 pages, revealed some points of friction between Congress and the Pentagon as the Trump administration reorients its focus away from security in Europe and toward Central and South America.” (12/17/25)
“One of the most widely known risks linked to the COVID-19 vaccine is myocarditis, especially in young males — and now a new Stanford study has shed some light on why this rare effect can occur. Myocarditis, which is inflammation of the heart, occurs in about one in 140,000 people who receive the first dose of the vaccine and one in 32,000 after the second dose, according to a Stanford press release. Among males 30 and younger, that rises to one in 16,750. Symptoms of the condition include chest pain, shortness of breath, fever and palpitations, which can occur just one to three days after vaccination. Another marker is heightened levels of cardiac troponin, which indicates that the heart muscle has been damaged..” (12/17/25)
“Amazon is in discussions with OpenAI to invest $10 billion in the company while supplying more of its AI chips and cloud computing services, according to The Financial Times. The deal would push OpenAI’s valuation over $500 billion but is likely to raise more questions about the company’s circular investment agreements involving chips and data centers. The two companies are also in talks about the possibility of OpenAI helping Amazon with its online marketplace, similar to deals it has made with Etsy, Shopify and Instacart. However, any agreement still wouldn’t allow Amazon to market OpenAI’s most advanced models on its developer cloud platform, as Microsoft holds the exclusive rights to those until the 2030s.” (12/17/25)
“A former manager of the Harvard Medical School morgue in Boston was sentenced to eight years in prison for stealing and selling body parts ‘as if they were baubles’. Authorities said Cedric Lodge was at the center of a ghoulish scheme in which he shipped brains, skin, hands and faces to buyers in Pennsylvania and elsewhere after cadavers donated to Harvard were no longer needed for research. His wife, Denise Lodge, was sentenced to just over a year in prison for assisting him. … In one example, Cedric Lodge provided skin to a buyer so it could be tanned into leather and bound into a book, ‘a deeply horrifying reality’, Assistant U.S. Attorney Alisan Martin said in a court filing. ‘In another, Cedric and Denise Lodge sold a man’s face — perhaps to be kept on a shelf, perhaps to be used for something even more disturbing,’ Martin said.” (12/17/25)
“Employees at the Louvre Museum voted to extend a strike that has disrupted operations at the world’s most visited museum, though the attraction partially opened Wednesday to allow visitors to enjoy the ‘Mona Lisa’ and other highlights. The museum said that visitors have started entering the building, where they had access to a limited ‘masterpiece route’ which includes Leonardo da Vinci’s ‘Mona Lisa’ and the famous Venus de Milo. … Union workers are protesting chronic understaffing, building deterioration and recent management decisions — pressures intensified by a brazen crown jewels heist in October.” (12/17/25)
“A Georgia homeowner has been charged in the shooting of two teens suspected of stealing packages from his porch last week. Rakim Bradford is facing two counts of aggravated assault and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony in the shooting of the teen boys, ages 15 and 16. The shooting happened just before 3:30 p.m. on Dec. 11 outside an Atlanta townhome. ‘Our investigation has determined that we believe a property crime was occurring — that some packages were being taken off of a front porch, which is not uncommon this time of year — and the homeowner did discharge his weapon to stop that,’ Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum said at the time. Responding officers found a 15-year-old with a gunshot wound to his right foot. He was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital for treatment.” (12/17/25)
“During President Trump’s first term, the economy was a relative strength of his. During the 2024 presidential campaign, his promises to lower prices in a country grappling with post-COVID inflation propelled him back into office. But toward the end of his first year in office this term, just 36% of Americans approve of his handling of the economy, according to the latest NPR/PBS News/Marist poll. It’s his worst mark in the six years that Marist has been asking the question. The only time in that span that Americans had a similarly negative view of a president’s handling of the economy in the poll was in February 2022, when Joe Biden was president.” (12/17/25)
“With the passage of the National Defense Authorization Act by the Senate on Wednesday, the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina is all but assured to become a federally recognized tribal nation. The state-recognized tribe, whose historic and genealogical claims have been a subject of controversy, has been seeking federal recognition for generations. Congress has considered the issue for more than 30 years, but the effort gained momentum after President Donald Trump endorsed the tribe on the campaign trail last year. ‘It means a lot because we have been figuring out how to get here for so long,’ said Lumbee Tribal Chairman John Lowery moments after celebrating the victory in the Capitol office of North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis. ‘We have been second-class Natives and we will never be that again, and no one can take it away from us.'” (12/17/25)
