Source: CBS News
“Despite wider economic uncertainty hovering above this year’s holiday season, shoppers turned out in big numbers for Black Friday — spending billions of dollars both in stores and online. Adobe Analytics, which tracks e-commerce, said U.S. consumers spent a record $11.8 billion online Friday, marking a 9.1% jump from last year. It was a slight increase from the company’s spending estimate of $11.7 billion.” (11/29/25)
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/u-s-consumers-spent-a-record-11-8-billion-online-during-black-friday-sales/
Source: The Bulwark
by Mona Charen
“To be unmasked as an Epstein crony is about the most embarrassing revelation for a public figure one can imagine at this moment, and sure enough, former treasury secretary and Harvard president Larry Summers, who exchanged scores of emails with the convicted pedophile, has seen his reputation shredded. … Summers has withdrawn from the Center for American Progress, the Yale Budget Lab, the board of directors of Open AI, the Center for Global Development, the Brookings Institution, and the Peterson Institute for International Economics, and has taken a leave of absence from Harvard. … Why has there been no similar accountability for another of Epstein’s pen pals — Steve Bannon?” (11/30/25)
https://www.thebulwark.com/p/steve-bannon-jeffrey-epstein-comeback-consultant
Source: USA Today
“President Donald Trump is issuing a warning to avoid Venezuelan airspace as his administration is ramping up its strikes against drug trafficking organizations. In a Nov. 29 post on social media, the president told ‘all airlines, pilots, drug dealers and human traffickers,” to keep clear of the flying areas ‘above and surrounding’ the South American country as he contemplates land strikes. Tensions are rising in the region as observers suspect the Trump administration may [attempt to] topple Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro …. The U.S. positioned its largest aircraft carrier, two guided missile destroyers, and a special operations ship near Venezuela and around 12,000 troops are stationed in the area.” (11/29/25)
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/11/29/trump-venezuela-airspace/87525104007/
Source: David Friedman’s Substack
by David Friedman
“The first lesson was that Ukraine was stronger than Russian or American authorities expected. Most commenters expected Russia to win rapidly, not unreasonable given the relative size of the two countries’ population and economies. They didn’t. It took longer to learn but the second lesson was that so was Russia. Their military performance was not impressive but neither sanctions nor the cost of three and a half years of a very bloody war seems to have had much effect on the economy, the conditions for Russian civilians, or Putin’s hold on power.” (11/28/25)
https://daviddfriedman.substack.com/p/lessons-of-the-ukraine-war
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“Trump has bizarrely announced that the airspace over Venezuela is ‘closed’, posting the following on Truth Social on Saturday: ‘To all Airlines, Pilots, Drug Dealers, and Human Traffickers, please consider THE AIRSPACE ABOVE AND SURROUNDING VENEZUELA TO BE CLOSED IN ITS ENTIRETY.’ It isn’t even clear what precisely the president means by this. Are they about to start shooting down Venezuelan aircraft like they’ve been blowing up boats? Are they preparing for a ground invasion? Whatever it is, things are looking ugly. Washington is banging the war drums trying to justify regime change interventionism in Venezuela under the ridiculous claim that it’s about fighting drug trafficking just as Trump announces that he will pardon former president of Honduras Juan Orlando Hernández, who the US convicted of drug trafficking charges just last year.” (12/01/25)
https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2025/12/01/us-regime-change-interventionism-is-reliably-disastrous-and-other-notes/
Source: The Guardian [UK]
“Benjamin Netanyahu has asked Israel’s president for a pardon for bribery and fraud charges and an end to a five-year corruption trial, arguing that it would be in the ‘public interest.’ … Presidential pardons in Israel have almost never been granted before conviction, with the one notable exception of a 1986 case involving the Shin Bet security service. A pre-emptive pardon of a politician in a corruption case without an admission of guilt would be precedent-setting and highly controversial. The submission on Sunday comes weeks after Donald Trump wrote to Herzog to ask him to pardon Netanyahu, who has been on trial since 2020 on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust, involving alleged political favours for wealthy backers in return for gifts or positive media coverage.” (11/30/25)
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/nov/30/benjamin-netanyahu-asks-israel-president-isaac-herzog-for-pardon-corruption-case
Source: Fountainhead Forum
“Larry Sanger on Wikipedia and how to fix it.” (11/29/25)
https://rumble.com/v72ei86-ff-393-larry-sanger-on-wikipedia-and-how-to-fix-it.html
Source: Boston Globe
by Eugene Scott
“Some liberals assume that supporters of President Trump will allow the president to get away with anything and everything. It’s a fair assumption, considering that despite his record-low approval ratings, most Republicans still look at his job performance favorably. But a new study shows that most Republican voters have little to no appetite for an authoritarian leader. Fewer than 30 percent of Republicans support giving Trump broad authority, including the power to bypass Congress, to achieve his goals, according to a report released last week from the Johns Hopkins University Agora Institute, where I am a visiting fellow. … Despite Trump and many of his most diehard supporters often proclaiming that voters gave the president a mandate to do whatever he wants by any means necessary, the data suggest that the facts couldn’t be further from the truth.” (11/29/25)
https://archive.is/K4jBf
Thanks to subscribing contributor IH, whose $2.50 monthly donation over the weekend brings our year-end fundraiser total to $1,358.34!
I’d hoped for a bigger weekend. We’re now 2/3 of the way through the fundraiser period, but less than halfway to our goal.
We need to raise another $1,392.16 (after which supporter GL will “match funds” to get us to the final goal of $5,501) by December 31. And the sooner the better — once we hit the goal, I get to stop yammering about money entirely for the rest of the year and mostly until next October.
So please, help us over the hump by supporting the freedom movement’s daily newspaper at:
Have a great day!
Yours in liberty,
Tom Knapp
Publisher
Rational Review News Digest / Freedom News Daily
Source: Los Angeles Times
by Robin Abcarian
“The signs of lame duckery grow as Trump’s popularity dips. His party was trounced in the off-year elections this month. Inflation, which he promised to whip, has not abated. Prices remain high. Consumer confidence has plummeted. Health insurance premiums are about to skyrocket. The Supreme Court does not appear to be looking kindly on his tariff schemes, nor on his plan to end birthright citizenship. Lower courts have defied him at almost every turn, most recently tossing out the absurd criminal indictments of former FBI Director James Comey and New York Atty. Gen. Letitia James. Now members of his own party are beginning to stand up to him.” (11/30/25)
https://archive.is/NxWuv
