“The Supreme Court will decide if President Trump’s executive order to end birthright citizenship can stand, the court announced on Friday. If the justices agree with the president, the court could overrule a right guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution and upheld by SCOTUS over a century ago. … The president’s executive order leaned into a once-fringe belief that children born to undocumented immigrants have no right to U.S. citizenship as a way to deliver on his promises to cut down on illegal [sic] immigration. However, the 14th Amendment automatically offers citizenship to anyone born on U.S. soil, regardless of the citizenship status of their parents.” (12/05/25)
“The Pentagon announced on Thursday that the US military had conducted another deadly strike on a boat suspected of carrying illegal narcotics, [murdering] four men in the eastern Pacific, as questions [sic] mount over the legality of the [illegal] attacks. Video of the new strike was posted on social media by the US southern command, based in Florida, with a statement saying that, at the direction of Pete Hegseth, the defense secretary, ‘Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel in international waters operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization.’ … It is the 22nd strike the US military has carried out against boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean, bringing the [murder count] of the campaign to at least 87 people since September when the strikes began.” (12/04/25)
“The Israeli military has carried out a new round of air strikes in southern Lebanon, less than a day after Israel and Lebanon held their first direct talks in decades. Residents of the towns of Mjadel, Baraachit, Jbaa and Mahrouna were told to evacuate areas around locations that the Israeli military alleged were weapons warehouses belonging to the Iranian-backed group. No casualties have been reported. An Israeli military spokesman said the sites constituted a ceasefire violation and warned that it would continue to operate ‘to remove any threat’ to Israel. Israel has carried out near-daily strikes on Lebanon since a ceasefire took effect in November 2024, following 13 months of conflict.” (12/04/25)
“The Justice Department on Thursday failed to secure an indictment against New York Attorney General Letitia James, a person familiar with the matter told NBC News. The presentation to the grand jury came less than two weeks after the original criminal case against her was dismissed. James, a frequent political target of President Donald Trump’s who had successfully brought a fraud lawsuit against him, had previously been indicted by a grand jury on one charge of bank fraud and another of making false statements to a financial institution. James has denied any wrongdoing. Lindsey Halligan, the acting U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia and a former personal attorney to Trump with no prior prosecutorial experience, presented the case to a grand jury on her own in the first go-round — and that case was declared void on Nov. 24 when a judge found Halligan’s appointment was unlawful.” (12/04/25)
“Texas can use a congressional map drawn to give President Donald Trump and Republicans an advantage in the 2026 midterm elections, the Supreme Court said Dec. 4 in a decision that may help the GOP keep control of the U.S. House. An ideologically divided court paused a lower court’s ruling that the map likely discriminates against racial minorities by diluting the voting power of Hispanic and Black Texans. That opinion, which replaces a temporary freeze on the ruling issued by Justice Samuel Alito on Nov. 21, keeps the map in place for the midterm elections as litigation over the boundaries continues. The high court said the lower court’s ruling was improper because it came too close to the election.” (12/04/25)
“Taiwan’s government has imposed a one-year ban on a popular Chinese-owned social media app after the company failed to cooperate with authorities investigating fraud cases. Xiaohongshu, or RedNote, has grown rapidly among young people in Taiwan, attracting 3 million users on the island of 23 million. But the Instagram-like platform has also raised alarms among officials who fear it could be exploited for pro-Beijing propaganda or disinformation, a threat Taiwan says it has contended with for years. … The ban has already triggered backlash from some users and opposition politicians, who argue it infringes on free speech.” (12/05/25)
“The Government Accountability Office confirmed Thursday it opened a probe into Federal Housing Finance Agency director Bill Pulte, amid complaints about Pulte’s efforts to go after President Trump’s opponents. The GAO inquiry will raise the heat on Pulte, who is also reportedly caught up in a grand jury probe related to the various mortgage fraud investigations he has pursued this year. … As the nation’s top housing regulator, Pulte used the role to accuse perceived Trump administration rivals of mortgage fraud.” (12/04/25)
It’s a FIREHOSE FRIDAY at the freedom movement’s daily newspaper — as in “drink from the firehose.” We’ve got more than 100 news stories, opinion pieces, and audio/video links on tap for you this morning. That’s far too many to fit in our normal email/social media format, so check them out at our web edition:
THANK YOU to subscribing contributors T, SH, and MH, whose donations totaling $8 yesterday bring our year-end fundraiser total to $1416.34!
Our goal is $5,501. Once we’ve raised $2,750.50, reader GL has pledged to “match funds” for the other half. We’re $1,334.16 short of the mark. Please help us get there at:
We keep the sob stories to a minimum here, but this one’s also a matter of safety: Yesterday my fellow editor, Steve Trinward, took his car to a shop and got told he needs more than $2,000 in brake work (sounds high to me, and sounded high to him too). A shade tree mechanic friend offered him an “interim solution,” but he’s clearly going to be spending money on repairs or on other transportation, and I’d rather he gets that done quickly and lives through the experience. If that tugs at your heartstrings, far be it from me to tell you not to help out … which you can do at:
“The UK has fined a porn operator called AVS Group £1 million ($1.33 million) for failing to have strong enough age checks, regulator Ofcom announced. The company which was also hit with an additional £50,000 fine for its failure to respond to information request and now has 72 hours to introduce effective age checks or face a further penalty of £1,000 a day. In July, the UK government announced it would start checking compliance by websites that publish or display pornographic content to implement a system for ‘highly effective age checks.’ Methods approved by Ofcom include credit card checks, photo ID matching and even estimating a user’s age with a provided selfie. However, users have been circumventing the age checks via methods like using a VPN and providing a fake ChatGPT-generated photo ID.” (12/04/25)
“A Lithuanian court on Thursday convicted the leader of one of the parties in the country’s coalition government for making antisemitic comments and fined him 5,000 euros (about $5,800). The district court in the capital, Vilnius, found that Remigijus Žemaitaitis incited hatred against Jews, grossly downplayed Nazi Germany’s crimes and grossly minimized the Holocaust in an offensive and insulting manner. The punishment fell short of prosecutors’ call for him to be fined 51,000 euros (around $60,000) and ordered to pay into a fund for victims of crimes. The case relates to social media posts and public statements from May and June 2023 in which, among other things, he wrote: ‘Apparently, for our journalists and local Lithuanian Jews, the demolition of schools in Palestine is yet another pastime?!’ He also quoted an antisemitic nursery rhyme and made comments related to events during World War II.” (12/04/25)
