The Business List, episode 30
Source: LP Alliance
“Your source for stories inside the party, across the country, and around the world!” (11/20/25)
The People of Ecuador Are Right: US Force Won’t Stop Narco-Traffickers
Source: Foreign Policy In Focus
by John Feffer
“Ecuador, once one of the most peaceful countries in Latin America, is now one of its most dangerous. The murder rate in 2020 was 7.7 homicides per 100,000 people. That was roughly comparable to the United States where it was 6.4 that year. In nearby Brazil, on the other hand, it was 22.3. By 2023, Ecuador’s homicide rate had leapfrogged over its neighbors to an astounding 46 per 100,000. In a mere three years, the number of murders had increased six-fold. The reason: narco-traffickers. Ecuador had become a convenient transshipment hub, and various gangs were warring over territory, particularly in coastal cities. In 2023, in a presidential election that featured the assassination of one of the candidates, Ecuadorians voted in Daniel Noboa, an undistinguished but telegenic conservative politician who promised an iron-fist approach to fighting drug kingpins. His tactics boiled down to unleashing the military to attack specific gangs.” (11/20/25)
https://fpif.org/us-military-is-no-answer-to-narcotraffickers/
Bulgaria: 35 Arrested for Large-Scale Trafficking of Cultural Goods
Source: US News & World Report
“Bulgaria has arrested 35 people linked to a criminal network involved in large-scale trafficking of cultural goods across Europe, BTA news agency reported on Thursday, quoting the head of the country’s anti-organised crime unit. … international raids were carried out on Thursday, led by Bulgaria and coordinated with the Europol and Eurojust agencies, during which cars, safes and other items were seized. The criminal network had been operating for over 16 years in Western Europe, the Balkans, the United States and elsewhere, Sofia Deputy City Prosecutor Angel Kanev told the media briefing.” (11/20/25)
Reason Interview: Rand Paul
Source: Reason
“Sen. Rand Paul explains why he wants the Epstein files released, lays out his case against Trump’s tariffs and military strikes in Venezuela, and argues that he and Rep. Thomas Massie are the last voices in Congress still committed to libertarian ideals.” (11/20/25)
https://reason.com/podcast/2025/11/20/rand-paul-congress-is-afraid-of-the-president/
Broaden the base, lower the (improper payment) rates
Source: Niskanen Center
by Will Raderman
“After years of deliberation, a bipartisan consensus is coalescing on the need for Congress to help states protect their Unemployment Insurance (UI) programs against improper payments and outright fraud, which cost the federal government, states, and taxpayers an estimated $135 billion during the COVID-19 pandemic alone. … An effective reform package would focus on fixing how UI administration is funded and establish new program guardrails. Congress can ensure that state UI agencies make use of more federal revenue raised specifically for program administration while offsetting past administrative funding lost to inflation.” (11/20/25)
https://www.niskanencenter.org/broaden-the-base-lower-the-improper-payment-rates
NIH Announces New Pandemic Playbook
Source: Independent Institute
by K Lloyd Billingsley
“But remember the ‘failed’ playbook quarterbacked by Dr. Anthony Fauci.” (11/20/25)
https://www.independent.org/article/2025/11/20/nih-announces-new-pandemic-playbook/
Trump opens parts of Florida, California waters up to offshore oil drilling
Source: CNN
“The Trump administration is proposing to open federal waters off the entire coastline of California to drilling, as well as an area off the coast of Florida. Neither state’s waters have been open to new drilling for decades. President Donald Trump’s Interior Department released a five-year offshore drilling plan on Thursday that would open up vast parts of California’s coastline to drilling, which hasn’t happened in that state since the late 1960s. The Department is also proposing new oil drilling in parts of the Eastern Gulf — located approximately 100 nautical miles off Florida’s coast — a decision previously opposed by Florida’s Republican leadership.” (11/20/25)
https://www.cnn.com/2025/11/20/climate/trump-oil-drilling-offshore-california-florida
The Fifth Column, episode 533
Source: The Fifth Column
“Moynihan vs. Moynihan (w/ Lydia Moynihan).” (11/20/25)
Stacey Plaskett’s Nightmare Week Continues
Source: Racket News
by Greg Collard
“Memo to members of Congress: never kick an Internet hornet’s nest, unless you’re a master bull artist.” (11/20/25)
https://www.racket.news/p/stacey-plasketts-nightmare-week-continues
Even liberal scientists agree: Time to stop the madness of medical intervention for gender-confused kids
Source: New York Post
by Kirsten Fleming
“Sensible people already know that medicalizing children in the name of so-called ‘gender-affirming care’ is not only experimental, it’s barbaric. Now, a peer-reviewed study, commissioned by the Department of Health and Human Services, reports that the evidence used to back such practices as hormone therapy for kids is flimsy at best. There just isn’t enough known to justify such drastic medical interventions for young people. Back in January, President Trump slammed the brakes on the medicalization of minors with his Executive Order 14187, restricting ‘the maiming and sterilization’ of patients under 19, and ordered a study to look at the standards of care. First released in May, the report has been affirmed by 10 researchers and groups who found no fault with the findings — and advised that doctors treating minors with gender dysphoria should focus on psychotherapy until more is known about medical interventions.” (11/19/25)