“NASA’s Parker Solar Probe will make history during a flight around the Sun on Christmas Eve. ‘No human-made object has ever passed this close to a star, so Parker will truly be returning data from uncharted territory,’ said Nick Pinkine, Parker Solar Probe mission operations manager at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Maryland, in a statement. … Parker became in 2018 the first spacecraft to enter the Sun’s corona, the outermost part of the star’s atmosphere that can be seen during a total solar eclipse.” (12/23/24)
Twenty-two years ago today, the first edition of Rational Review News Digest went up on the web and out to a handful of email subscribers.
Steve Trinward, Mary Lou Seymour, Brad Spangler, the late R. Lee Wrights, and I resolved to fill a gap left by the sudden shutdown (with zero notice) of the Henry Hazlitt Foundation, and its daily news and commentary roundup, Freedom News Daily, four days earlier.
Freedom News Daily (which dated back to the mid-1990s and had purchased/incorporated Libernet, founded in 1991) was later revived by Liberty International (then known as the International Society for Individual Liberty) … who later asked us to publish it as an alternate version of RRND, which we’ve done since 2004.
Which means we’re really closer to 35 years old than 22 years old — and that we’re the oldest / longest-running daily news and commentary roundup for libertarians on the Internet.
We don’t FEEL old, though. We’re happy to still be bringing you your daily dose of news, opinion, and (for the last decade or more) audio/video. We’re glad you’re still happy to have us, and wish all of you a happy, healthy, and prosperous holiday season!
Yours in liberty,
Tom Knapp
Publisher
Rational Review News Digest / Freedom News Daily
PS: We’ll be taking (western) Christmas Day and New Year’s Day off, and will probably run shorter than usual editions in between. The news cycle tends to slow a bit during that time, and many opinion outlets and podcasts take off entirely. But we’ll bring you what we have!
“Israel pounded Gaza overnight with deadly attacks targeting displaced people in two camps and a school, as it ordered the forced evacuation of one of the last hospitals barely operating in the enclave’s besieged north. The military launched a wave of attacks on the so-called ‘safe zone’ of al-Mawasi in the south, setting refugee tents ablaze in a drone attack that killed seven people, with further strikes on a civilian car and a vehicle carrying security personnel killing four others. In separate attacks, the military targeted a school housing displaced people in Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, killing one person. It also killed four people in an area north of the camp, according to Al Jazeera Arabic and Palestinian news agency Wafa.” (12/23/24)
“President Biden signed a three-month stopgap funding measure into law on Saturday after Congress acted at the last minute to avert a government funding lapse. Both chambers of Congress passed the measure in a flurry of activity late Friday and into Saturday morning, capping a chaotic week on Capitol Hill that demonstrated President-elect Trump’s influence over lawmakers.” (12/21/24)
“Russian forces captured two villages … one in Kharkiv region in the northeast [of Ukraine] and one in [the formerly Ukrainian] eastern Donetsk region, the Russian Defence Ministry said on Sunday. Donetsk region is where Moscow is concentrating most of its efforts to seize two cities. Russian forces, making steady progress across Donetsk region, are moving on the towns of Pokrovsk, a logistics centre and site of an important coking colliery, and appear to be closing in on Kurakhove, farther south.” (12/23/24)
“Asma al-Assad, the wife of deposed Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, has filed for divorce in a Russian court and is seeking special permission to leave Moscow. Reports indicate that Asma is dissatisfied with her life in exile and is eager to return to London in the United Kingdom, where she holds dual citizenship. Bashar-al-Assad’s wife, Asma’s application for permission to leave is currently under evaluation by Russian authorities. Born in London to Syrian parents, Asma moved to Syria in 2000 at the age of 25 and married Bashar al-Assad shortly thereafter.” (12/23/24)
“The five-day strike against Starbucks reached nine states on Sunday, according to its union. The Starbucks Workers United said union workers in Missouri, New Jersey and New York began their strike Sunday after locations in Colorado, Ohio and Pennsylvania joined the strike Saturday. Workers United represents more than 10,000 workers at over 525 stores. A Starbucks Workers United spokesperson told CNN 30 stores nationwide were closed completely but it’s too early to know the total numbers for Sunday. The union has said the strike could reach ‘hundreds of stores’ by Tuesday, a small portion of Starbucks’ more than 10,000 company-operated stores with more than 200,000 employees.” (12/22/24)
“US President-elect Donald Trump has appointed British TV executive Mark Burnett, who produced him on The Apprentice, as his special envoy to the UK. Trump said it was his ‘great honour’ to pick his former colleague for the role, which is separate to the position of US ambassador to the UK. ‘Mark will work to enhance diplomatic relations, focusing on areas of mutual interest, including trade, investment opportunities, and cultural exchanges,’ he added. Burnett said in a statement: ‘I am truly honoured to serve The United States of America and President Trump as his Special Envoy to the United Kingdom.’ He created The Apprentice and produced it along with a range of other reality TV programmes, winning 13 Emmy Awards.” (12/22/24)
“The Food and Drug Administration has restricted a psychoactive mushroom used in some edibles over safety concerns. The regulator warned food manufacturers that Amanita muscaria – more commonly known as the fly agaric – and the compounds it contains are not authorized to use in food. It is listed as an active ingredient in some mushroom edibles. Unlike psilocybin, a naturally occurring ingredient found in so-called ‘magic mushrooms’ which is illegal under federal law (though decriminalized in some states), the red-and-white-spotted mushroom is not illegal. However, the FDA is prohibiting three compounds in the mushroom: muscimol, ibotenic acid and muscarine.” (12/21/24)
“Lara Trump, daughter-in-law of US President-elect Donald Trump, has withdrawn her name from consideration for a seat in the Senate. She stepped down this month as co-chairwoman of the Republican National Committee (RNC), fuelling speculation that she might replace outgoing Senator Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican, whom Trump has nominated for secretary of state. But in a post on X, she said she had removed herself from consideration ‘after an incredible amount of thought, contemplation, and encouragement from so many.’ She said she wished Florida Governor Ron DeSantis luck in hand-picking a replacement to serve out the remainder of Rubio’s six-year term, which ends in 2026.” (12/22/24)
