An Ideal Foreign Policy

Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger

“Americans living today have lived their entire lives under governmental systems and policies that have come with perpetual war, interventionism, embargoes, sanctions, coups, state-sponsored assassinations, extrajudicial murders, foreign aid to brutal regimes, torture, invasions, occupations, tariffs, trade wars, immigration controls, an immigration police state, wars of aggression, out of control federal spending and debt, and massive infringements on civil liberties. From the first grade on up, Americans have been inculcated with the notion that all this is ‘freedom.’ As adults and oftentimes to the day they die, they enthusiastically stand and recite the Pledge of Allegiance, sing the Star Spangled Banner, and thank the troops, the CIA, and the NSA for protecting their ‘freedom.’ Given such, I believe it’s important to periodically set forth the libertarian ideal with respect to all this statism.” (11/12/25)

https://www.fff.org/2025/11/12/an-ideal-foreign-policy-2/

Has CNN lost its soul?

Source: Washington Times
by Brent Sadler

“I can still see and hear it in my mind’s eye: cruise missiles skimming low over Baghdad during the Gulf War, the air vibrating, my voice raised above the roar and the crack of anti-aircraft fire. Back then, we were reporters, not presenters. We didn’t measure risk in ratings or clicks or choose our words from lists approved by diversity, equity and inclusion committees. We told it as it was: raw, immediate and real. Today, CNN faces yet another ‘strategic reset’ under David Zaslav’s Warner Bros. Discovery. The network confronts a reckoning far more profound than shrinking ratings or revenue. It must decide whether it stands for good, independent journalism. To my generation, good journalism matters. We bear witness. We write and broadcast the first draft of history from the front, not the studio floor or some convenient live-shot location well behind the lines.” (11/11/25)

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/nov/11/cnn-lost-soul/

Algeria: Tebboune pardons political prisoner Boualem Sansal

Source: Associated Press

“Algeria’s president on Wednesday granted a humanitarian pardon to the French-Algerian novelist Boualem Sansal, releasing him after a yearlong imprisonment that sparked widespread criticism. The 76-year-old author — whose works have been critical of Islam, colonialism and contemporary Algeria’s leaders — had been imprisoned since being arrested at the airport in Algiers in November 2024 upon his return from France. He was convicted of undermining national unity and insulting public institutions and was sentenced to five years in prison under Algeria’s anti-terrorism laws in March. Sansal has cancer, and his attorney said his health was deteriorating.” (11/12/25)

https://apnews.com/article/algeria-author-pardoned-sansal-07681fada5fadd15840eeaa40a485f9e

No historical event benefited the world more than the Revolutionary War

Source: Washington Post
by George F Will

“History’s gears are lubricated by gore. Witness America’s Revolutionary War, whose continuing reverberations have done more to improve the course of human events than any other event in history. The war was fueled by crystalline ideas couched in elegant prose authored by members of the Colonial upper crust. But from 1777 on, most bleeding was done by ‘the poorest of the poor — jobless laborers and landless tenants, second and third sons without hope of an inheritance, debtors and British deserters, indentured servants and apprentices, felons hoping to win pardons.’ So says a new telling of America’s origin story, which is a tapestry of suffering, viciousness, selflessness and nobility. Beginning Sunday, in six two-hour episodes on PBS, ‘The American Revolution’ will immerse viewers in an often bewildering, sometimes dismaying, but ultimately exhilarating documentary by Ken Burns, Sarah Botstein and David Schmidt.” (11/12/25)

https://archive.is/AdGf5

Sometimes The Media Ignoring A Major Story Becomes The Story

Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone

“One of the craziest things happening right now is how there’s been report after report confirming that Jeffrey Epstein really was an Israeli intelligence operative, based on publicly available documents, and yet it’s had no measurable impact on mainstream media or politics. Over the last month and a half, Drop Site News has published four reports about Epstein’s intelligence ties …. In the latest article, Drop Site’s Ryan Grim and Murtaza Hussein write, ‘we’re left wondering why the rest of the media, which has demonstrated no lack of excitement when it comes to the saga of Jeffrey Epstein, has all of a sudden lost its reporting capacity, in the face of reams of publicly available newsworthy documents.'” (11/12/25)

https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2025/11/12/sometimes-the-media-ignoring-a-major-story-becomes-the-story/

Switzerland: Blue diamond sells for $25.6 million

Source: New York Times

“A 9.51-carat blue diamond sold for $25.6 million at an auction in Switzerland on Tuesday — a steal compared to what it fetched a decade ago. The teardrop-shaped stone, which previously belonged to Rachel Lambert Mellon, the American heiress and art collector better known as Bunny, had last been auctioned in 2014, when it went for $32.6 million. But diamonds aren’t what they used to be. Christie’s, the auction house that put it up for bid on Tuesday, had predicted a lower selling price this time of $20 million to $30 million. It landed in the middle of that range.” (11/12/25)

https://archive.is/lSC8h

Muslim Fusionism

Source: Law & Liberty
by Jacob Williams

“The debate about Islam’s compatibility with Western freedoms often seems to have reached an impasse. Everyone knows that most Muslims are not violent extremists or actively working to undermine liberty. Everyone also knows that Muslims are more likely than other communities to support (at least in principle) the coercive imposition of religious norms. Thus, we play the game of essence and accidents: is this or that anti-liberal tendency of a particular Muslim community the result of Islam’s deep essence or of more culturally contingent accidents? I doubt such questions will ever be settled. Not because I think there is no right answer or that Islam doesn’t have an essence — as a Muslim, I am committed to thinking that there is, and it does — but because in a pluralistic society, we should not expect agreement on the essence of any religion.” (11/12/25)

https://lawliberty.org/muslim-fusionism/

Biovac starts trials on South Africa’s first domestically developed cholera vaccine

Source: SFGate

“Researchers and scientists in South Africa on Tuesday launched clinical trials on the first domestically developed vaccine. The oral cholera vaccine, developed by the Cape Town-based pharmaceutical firm Biovac, is currently undergoing trials to determine its safety in adults and will be followed by trials to compare it to existing cholera vaccines that are already in the market. Depending on the results, the vaccine could be approved and ready for use in Africa by 2028, Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said. The development of the vaccine has been praised as a significant milestone for vaccine access in the country and across the rest of the continent. Motsoaledi said that while South Africa experienced relatively low levels of cholera, many countries in Africa often hit hard by outbreaks would greatly benefit. He said the COVID-19 pandemic exposed how vulnerable African countries were to pandemics as they relied on imported vaccines.” (11/12/25)

https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/biovac-starts-trials-on-south-africa-s-first-21162780.php