“Rights watchdog groups in the United States have filed a lawsuit seeking greater clarification on the legal rationale being used to justify the Trump administration’s targeting of alleged drug trafficking vessels off Latin America. The lawsuit, filed on Tuesday by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the group’s New York state affiliate NYCLU, and the Center for Constitutional Rights, seeks the release of an opinion from the internal Office of Legal Counsel (OLC), which advises the executive branch on legal matters. … At least 86 people have been killed since the Trump administration announced the first strike in early September, in what the president has depicted as a counter-narcotics effort.” (12/09/25)
“Japan issued a megaquake advisory Tuesday after a magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck the northern part of the country, causing 34 mostly mild injuries and some damage to roads and buildings. The government has estimated that an offshore megaquake could cause a tsunami of up to 98 feet and kill nearly 200,000 people. Officials said the advisory is not a prediction and the probability of a magnitude 8 or larger quake is only about 1%. But there’s hope the advisory will serve as a wake-up call for a quake that could have the devastation of the 2011 disaster that killed nearly 20,000 people and destroyed a nuclear plant. There’s said to be an increased risk of a subsequent, magnitude 8 or larger quake within the next week.” (12/09/25)
“Tensions are high in Tanzania after the government outlawed planned protests over its disputed victory in elections in October. Police and soldiers were patrolling largely empty streets in major cities on Tuesday – Tanzania’s Independence Day – after the government preemptively ruled that any protest would be illegal and treated as a coup attempt, and urged people to stay at home. … police trucks and officers on foot patrolled the commercial capital, Dar es Salaam, the administrative capital Dodoma and the northeastern city of Arusha, while roadblocks were erected near key government installations including President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s heavily guarded offices. The situation appeared calm as of late morning, although one resident and some activists on social media said small protests had begun in some parts of the city. This could not be immediately confirmed.” (12/09/25)
“Conservative Supreme Court justices on Tuesday appeared to back a Republican-led drive, supported by President Donald Trump’s administration, to overturn a quarter-century-old decision and erase limits on how much political parties can spend in coordination with candidates for Congress and president. … The limits stem from a desire to prevent large donors from skirting caps on individual contributions to a candidate by directing unlimited sums to the party, with the understanding that the money will be spent on behalf of the candidate. The Federal Election Commission and the GOP argue that the court should cast a skeptical eye on the limits, in line with recent high court decisions.” (12/09/25)
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)
