After a VERY good Tuesday that I hoped would generate momentum, we had a “zero-dollar” Wednesday in our year-end fundraiser. Our total remains at $1,683.84. That’s $1,066.66 short of our $5,501 goal (once we’ve raised the first $2,750.50, supporter GL will “match funds” for the other half).
We run one formal fundraiser per year, with a pretty modest goal and one request: If you find value in the Internet’s oldest and longest-running daily news and commentary update for libertarians — and you wouldn’t be reading this if you didn’t — please return some of that value as financial support.
No, your $2.50 or $5 contribution is not “too small to bother with.” In fact, if each of our readers ponied up $2.50, we’d more than double our goal. So:
PLEASE SUPPORT THE FREEDOM MOVEMENT’S DAILY NEWSPAPER AT:
“Sperm from a donor who unknowingly carried a cancer-causing gene has been used to conceive nearly 200 babies across Europe, an investigation by 14 European public service broadcasters, including CBS News’ partner network BBC News, has revealed. Some children conceived using the sperm have already died from cancer, and the vast majority of those who inherited the gene will develop cancer in their lifetimes, geneticists said. The man carrying the gene passed screening checks before he became a donor at the European Sperm Bank when he was a student in 2005. His sperm has been used by women trying to conceive for 17 years across multiple countries.” (12/10/25)
“President Donald Trump’s administration wants the International Criminal Court to amend its founding document to ensure it does not investigate the Republican president and his top officials, a Trump administration official said, threatening new U.S. sanctions on the court if it did not. If the court does not act on this U.S. demand and two others — dropping investigations of Israeli leaders over the Gaza war and formally ending an earlier probe of U.S. troops over their actions in Afghanistan — Washington may penalize more ICC officials and could sanction the court itself, the official said. … ICC judges issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Israeli defense chief Yoav Gallant, and Hamas leader Ibrahim al-Masri last November for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity during the Gaza conflict. In March 2020, prosecutors opened an investigation in Afghanistan that included possible crimes by U.S. troops.” (12/10/25)
“Elon Musk’s space exploration company SpaceX is preparing to list on the stock market next year in a move that could raise more than $25bn (£19bn) and value the business at more than $1tn, according to reports. SpaceX, which designs, builds and launches rockets, is said to have started discussions with banks about an initial public offering (IPO). It could join the stock market in about June or July, according Reuters, which cited an unnamed source familiar with the matter. A flotation could rival the market value that the oil company Saudi Aramco achieved during its listing in 2019, which remains the biggest in history. It raised $29bn at the time, at a valuation of $1.7tn.” (12/10/25)
“Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado’s daughter accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on her mother’s behalf Wednesday, hours after officials said Machado would miss the ceremony. Machado has been in hiding and has not been seen in public since Jan. 9, when she was briefly detained after joining supporters in a protest in Caracas, Venezuela’s capital. … Jørgen Watne Frydnes, chair of the Norwegian Nobel committee, told the award ceremony that ‘María Corina Machado has done everything in her power to be able to attend the ceremony here today — a journey in a situation of extreme danger.’ ‘Although she will not be able to reach this ceremony and today’s events, we are profoundly happy to confirm that she is safe, and that she will be with us here in Oslo,’ he said to applause.” (12/10/25)
“According to a notice published in America’s federal register on Tuesday, foreign tourists would need to provide their social media from the last five years. It will be ‘mandatory’ to hand over the information, and other details – including email addresses and telephone numbers used in the last five years, as well as the names, addresses, numbers, and birthdays of family members – will also be required. … There have been several reports of travellers already having been denied entry into the US over social media posts and messages found on their personal devices after President Donald Trump took office in January.” (12/10/25)
“South Carolina’s stalled nuclear power project could finally finish construction as a private company has offered to pay $2.7 billion to the state-owned utility and a small share of the power if they can reach an agreement to get the two reactors up and running. The half-built reactors ended up so far behind schedule that the project was abandoned in 2017. However, the potential deal is a long way from complete. There will be up to two years of negotiations between utility Santee Cooper and Brookfield Asset Management on the thousands and thousands of details. The deal would also let Brookfield keep at least 75% of the power generated by the new plant that they could mostly sell to whom they want, such as energy-gobbling data centers. The exact amount of the rest that Santee Cooper receives would be determined on how much the private company has to spend to get the reactors running.” (12/09/25)
“Guinea-Bissau’s military junta adopted a 12-month transitional charter that bars the interim president and prime minister from running in the next elections, two weeks after officers staged a coup that suspended the constitution. The 29-article charter, published on Tuesday, requires presidential and legislative elections to be held at the end of the one-year transitional period, with the polling date to be set by the transitional president. Army officers in Guinea-Bissau, branding themselves the Military High Command, toppled President Umaro Sissoco Embalo on November 26 and installed Major-General Horta Inta-a as interim president the following day. … The Military High Command will control legal and institutional reforms during the transition, including drafting revisions to the suspended constitution, setting up a new Constitutional Court, changing regulations for political parties and overseeing the appointment of new electoral officials, according to the charter.” (12/10/25)
“Australia’s landmark new social media age law is set to go into effect, barring anyone under 16 from holding an account as the government moves to enforce one of the world’s strictest online safety measures. The Australian government’s Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Act, passed in November 2024, will start being enforced on Wednesday. ‘From December 10, if you’re under 16, you’re no longer allowed to have a social media account,’ said Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in a video statement that was played in classrooms ahead of the social media restrictions, according to 9 News Australia. ‘You’ll know better than anyone what it’s like growing up with algorithms, endless feeds and the pressure that can come with that.’ The platforms that will be banned for youth in Australia are Facebook, Instagram, Kick, Reddit, Snapchat, Threads, TikTok, Twitch, X (formerly Twitter) and YouTube.” (12/10/25)
“Florida is suing three major medical associations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, accusing them of pushing misinformation about gender-affirming care to drive demand for their members’ services and generate profit from membership sales. The lawsuit was announced Tuesday by Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier in a video statement, naming the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, the Endocrine Society and AAP as defendants. ‘We believe these organizations fail to disclose the risks, limits and evidence when promoting so-called gender-affirming care for children,’ he said. … All three defendants have previously come out against legislation seeking to interfere in the healthcare of children.” (12/10/25)
