Source: Expression
by Dylan Hembrough
“Southern Illinois University Edwardsville claims it believes in free speech, but its administrators are disparaging the student press.” (07/03/26)
https://expression.fire.org/p/our-university-is-trying-to-discredit
Source: SFGate
“The lawyer for a prominent Palestinian doctor who was [abducted] by Israeli forces 18 months ago said his client has been abused in captivity and is in critical condition, according to the human rights group representing him. Hussam Abu Safiya who served as director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, became the face of health workers struggling to treat patients throughout the Israel-Hamas war. He led the facility through an 85-day siege by the Israeli military, releasing videos in which he pleaded for help before he was [abducted] in December 2024. He has not been charged.” (07/05/26)
Source: The Tom Woods Show
“Dominic Frisby on the Treason of the Elites and Britain’s Lost Decade.” (07/03/26)
https://tomwoods.com/ep-2775-dominic-frisby-on-the-treason-of-the-elites-and-britains-lost-decade/
Source: Reason
by Matt Welch
“Two distinctly American traits that powered the Revolution: We don’t like being told what to do by our supposed betters, and we really don’t like being told to shut up.” (07/03/26)
https://reason.com/2026/07/03/americans-will-never-shut-up-or-do-as-were-told/
Source: The American Prospect
by Nathan Thompson
“While Secretary of State Marco Rubio seemed to maintain a low profile while the Iran war’s violence was at its apex, content to focus on projects closer to his heart in the Americas, he has now re-emerged at the helm of Israel-Lebanon diplomacy. That diplomacy has produced an agreement that is roiling Lebanese society, perceived as a functional surrender to the ongoing Israeli occupation. Many commentators were impressed by Vice President JD Vance’s candid rebukes of Israeli excesses, but Rubio’s Lebanon track demonstrates how the pro-Israel wing of the White House is reasserting itself, peace with Iran be damned. The Lebanon front may receive far less media attention than the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and its economic fallout, but it has been no less central to the helter-skelter effort to end Trump and Netanyahu’s war.” (07/03/26)
https://prospect.org/2026/07/03/marco-rubios-dangerous-diplomacy-in-lebanon/
Source: Deutsche Welle [German state media]
“Monaco authorities have issued an Interpol Red Notice for a Ukrainian woman believed to have carried out a parcel bombing earlier this week that seriously wounded a Ukrainian-born oligarch and two others, including a 13-year-old. An Interpol Red Notice is a request to locate and provisionally arrest a suspect. It is not an international arrest warrant. The alert lists three charges: ‘attempted murder, placing an explosive device in a public place with criminal intent’ and ‘criminal conspiracy.’ The Red Notice identifies the suspect as a 39-year-old woman, Anastasiia Berezovska, a Ukrainian national.” (07/03/26)
https://www.dw.com/en/monaco-ids-suspect-in-bomb-attack-on-ukrainian-oligarch/a-77814163
Source: Freakonomics
“Can Universities Win Back Our Trust?” (07/03/26)
https://freakonomics.com/podcast/can-universities-win-back-our-trust/
Source: Free Association
by Sheldon Richman
“If for no other reason, the 250-year-old Declaration of Independence deserves adoration for its invocation of each individual’s rights to ‘life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.’ The significance of that phrase, which overshadows everything else in Thomas Jefferson’s composition (it clarifies the meaning of ‘all men are created equal’), cannot be exaggerated. Unfortunately, those words are so familiar—which should have been a good thing—that they long ago blended with the landscape. By and large, people have stopped noticing it and lack appreciation for it. Unlike in the 1700s, it has become a cliché.” (07/03/26)
Hey, everyone …
Friday kicks off Independence Day weekend in the US, but we’re not taking the day off! We’ve got more than 100 news stories, opinion pieces, and audio/video links lined up for you in “FIREHOSE FRIDAY” format here at the web edition.
I’m not sure the name “Independence Day” really reflects the American situation anymore, or that it has since at least as far back as FDR’s New Deal. The state revels in its hope of ruling a population of perpetually dependent serfs, not in securing our real independence as exercised in our rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
I like to think that Rational Review News Digest / Freedom News Daily is pretty independent, though.
As the freedom movement’s oldest and longest running daily news and commentary roundup, we do our best to keep you informed and energized without support from government or “the corporate establishment.” We’re funded solely by the willingness of our readers to reward us for our work.
Which you can (and I hope will) do at:
https://news.rationalreview.com/support-rrnd
If you’d like to use that support to celebrate “Independence Day,” might I suggest a contribution of $2.50, $7.04, or $17.76 (please feel free to move the decimal points) to mark “250 years of America,” 07/04, aka July 4, or the year of the Declaration of Independence? Just a suggestion, of course — any amount you think reflects the value you get out of RRND/FND is welcome.
Have a great weekend and we’ll be back on Monday!
Yours in liberty,
Tom Knapp
Publisher
Rational Review News Digest / Freedom News Daily
Source: Reuters
“Iran’s ruling clerics are preparing days of mass funeral rites for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as a show of public devotion to the Islamic Republic and proof that its revolutionary fervour still burns strong. Iran’s supreme leader was killed by U.S. and Israeli strikes in their first attack of the war and the funeral events will begin over the weekend in Tehran, with mass processions planned next week in Qom and Mashhad and ceremonies in Iraq. ‘The large public turnout at the funeral procession of the martyred leader and the other martyrs will, in effect, be another referendum for the Islamic Republic,’ Qom Friday prayer leader Ayatollah Mohammad Saidi declared to state media. If they do see it as a referendum, authorities are not leaving the result to chance. They hope to mobilise millions of supporters to flood Iran’s cities, laying on transport, accommodation and food, to proclaim the might of their theocratic state after it survived what they saw as an existential war.” (07/03/26)