It’s a “Web-Only Wednesday” at the freedom movement’s daily newspaper. We’ve got about 95 news stories, opinion pieces, and audio/video links (too many for a regular email edition) lined up for you at:
Today’s “mini-goal” is to get within $1,000 by raising at least $66.66 — and your contribution, reflecting the value you find in our work, is NOT too small. Thanks in advance for making that contribution today.
Have a great day!
Yours in liberty,
Tom Knapp
Publisher
Rational Review News Digest / Freedom News Daily
“The Justice Department can publicly release investigative materials from a sex trafficking case against Ghislaine Maxwell, the longtime confidant of Jeffrey Epstein, a federal judge said on Tuesday. Judge Paul A. Engelmayer ruled after the Justice Department in November asked two judges in New York to unseal grand jury transcripts and exhibits from Maxwell and Epstein’s cases, along with investigative materials that could amount to hundreds or thousands of previously unreleased documents. The ruling, in the wake of the passage last month of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, means the records could be made public within 10 days. The law requires the Justice Department provide Epstein-related records to the public in a searchable format by Dec. 19.” (12/09/25)
“The Justice Department said in court documents on Tuesday that it plans to continue its efforts to prosecute former FBI Director James Comey. The department’s stance was revealed in a lawsuit brought by the former FBI’s director’s friend and former lawyer Dan Richman. It comes two weeks after Comey’s previous indictment was dismissed and after a judge put temporary limits on the evidence prosecutors can use in future grand jury proceedings. In the documents filed Tuesday — in a fast-moving court battle over evidence used to investigate Comey over his statements to Congress five years ago — the Justice Department refers to the situation as both a ‘pending criminal investigation’ and ‘a potential federal criminal prosecution.’ … Comey pleaded not guilty to lying to Congress before the case against him was dismissed just before Thanksgiving by a judge who found the interim US attorney, Lindsey Halligan, was serving in the role unlawfully.” (12/09/25)
“Four young men were detained by Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities and put into a rehabilitation program for walking around in public dressed up as their favorite characters from the hit British drama ‘Peaky Blinders.’ The Taliban government’s Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice said the four friends — who had become popular in their local Jibrail township, in the southern province of Herat, for strutting through the streets in trench coats and flat caps — were detained for ‘promoting foreign culture.'” (12/09/25)
“French celebrities and politicians on the left have expressed outrage after Brigitte Macron was filmed using a derogatory and sexist slur to describe feminist protesters at a theatre show in Paris. A video filmed on Sunday showed France’s first lady in discussion backstage at the Folies Bergère theatre in Paris with Ary Abittan, a French actor and comedian previously accused of rape, before a performance he was about to give. The previous night, feminist campaigners had disrupted his show with shouts of: ‘Abittan, rapist!’ Before Sunday’s performance, Macron asked him how he was feeling. When he said he was feeling scared, she referred to the protesters as ‘sales connes’ (dirty or stupid bitches) and adding that if they reappeared, ‘we’ll toss them out.’ … Politicians on the left criticised the use of a sexist slur and some said Brigitte Macron should apologise.” (12/09/25)
“The Southern District of Texas announced the seizure of more than $50 million in NVIDIA GPUs bound for China in violation of US export laws. Authorities arrested two businessmen, one of them the owner of a Houston company, accused of smuggling the chips used to train and run AI models. … The smuggling operation used a combination of falsified paperwork, purposefully misclassified goods, straw purchasers and even removing the NVIDIA labels on GPUs to ship them to both mainland China and Hong Kong. The conspirators face between 10 and 20 years in prison if convicted.” (12/09/25)
“The Lithuanian government has declared a ‘nationwide emergency situation’ in response to a series of incursions from neighbouring Belarus by weather balloons carrying smuggled cigarettes. Prime Minister Inga Ruginiene condemned the balloon incursions as a ‘hybrid attack’ by Belarus that posed a real risk to national security and civil aviation. This year alone, officials say about 600 balloons linked to smuggling and almost 200 drones have entered Lithuanian airspace, leading to the repeated closure of Vilnius airport. Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko denies being behind the incursions, alleging the issue has been ‘politicised’ by Lithuania, which is a member of both the EU and Nato.” (12/09/25)
“Judges at the International Criminal Court (ICC) sentenced a leader of the feared Sudanese Janjaweed militia to 20 years imprisonment Tuesday for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in the catastrophic conflict in Darfur more than two decades ago. At a hearing last month, prosecutors sought a life sentence for Ali Muhammad Ali Abd–Al-Rahman who was was convicted in October of 27 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity that included ordering mass executions and bludgeoning two prisoners to death with an ax in 2003-2004.” (12/09/25)
“The Supreme Court won’t get involved in states’ regulation of vanity license plates, rejecting an appeal from a Tennessee woman challenging the rejection of her controversial ’69PWNDU’ personalized plate. The court on Dec. 8 declined to hear an appeal from Leah Gilliam, who argued that states’ rules for what is and isn’t allowed on personalized plates are often unclear and can amount to a ‘dizzying array of censorship.’ She wanted the court to find that she is expressing her own views through a vanity plate, not the government’s, a decision that would have limited states’ ability to control that message.” (12/09/25)
“Jimmy Kimmel isn’t going anywhere, despite his show’s recent suspension and antagonistic interactions as of late with President Donald Trump. The ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ host has signed a one-year extension with ABC, a source with knowledge of the situation confirmed to USA TODAY on Dec. 8. His late-night show will stay on the network through May 2027.” (12/09/25)
