FreedomFest 2025 was on June 11th through June 14th, 2025 in Palm Springs, CA. As usual, the Anthem Film Festival runs concurrently with FreedomFest.
Compared with last year’s FreedomFest, there were more talks and Anthem films that I found interesting. I think attendance was lower than last year’s FreedomFest. The main stage room was smaller than in years past, and was never completely full, even for the most popular talks. The crowds in the exhibition hall seemed smaller to me.
Attendees received a free pass to watch session recordings on Civl. Everyone else can buy a pass for $49. I don’t know if the organizers plan to upload all videos to YouTube. At the time I am writing this article, only Ross Ulbricht’s speech is available for free on YouTube.
This write-up is, as in the past, done from memory.
Anthem Films
Rainer Zitelmann’s Vietnam Film
Rainer Zitelmann has a short film on how Vietnam introduced market reforms to its economy. The Vietnamese Communists realized that a centrally planned economy was the reason Vietnam was poor. So, they introduced market reforms and transformed the country.
Zitelmann and the director, Tomasz Agencki, gave a brief talk after the screening. One thing they talked about is that the country is still authoritarian. They had a government minder who was supposed to be there during all filming and interviews. There is a scene in the film where Zitelmann is talking about censorship in Vietnam. Zitelmann and his crew filmed this scene after sneaking away from their hotel so that the minder wasn’t present.
Motherland
Motherland was one of the late night fiction selections. It takes place in a dystopian future where women are freed from the burden of childcare by having their children taken away at birth to be raised in government centers. I saw elements of 1984 and Brave New World in the movie. While I enjoyed the movie, it was very dark.
Sight
Sight is based on Dr. Ming Wang’s autobiography. Dr. Wang is an eye surgeon who grew up in China during the Cultural Revolution. He migrated to America for college. He later became an eye surgeon. Treating his patients helped him to deal with his demons from the Cultural Revolution.
Dr. Wang was at the screening. He gave a brief talk after the screening. I remember him saying that the movie was 90% true. Some things had to be modified for film. I don’t remember him talking about what had to be changed for film. After the talk, he put on a short erhu concert for us.
FreedomFest Sessions
“Why does everyone want to invest in Ireland? The capital always be Dublin!” – Art Laffer
Debate on Tariffs
Mark Skousen moderated a debate on tariffs among Art Laffer, Steve Forbes, Barbara Kolm, and Helen Raleigh.
I only remember Art Laffer and Steve Forbes arguing over what Donald Trump is doing with tariffs. Laffer says he has been talking with people in the administration who tell Laffer that Trump is a free trader using tariffs as a negotiating tool. Forbes was skeptical. Forbes, based on a combination of Trump’s actions and speech, thinks Trump likes tariffs. Forbes doesn’t like taxes, and tariffs are taxes. Forbes also commented on how Trump’s team set the tariffs assuming trade deficits are bad and also ignored services other countries purchase from America.
Debt Debate
Mark Skousen also moderated a debate on Federal government debt. The question under debate is, “Is the debt a problem or not?”. The debate was based on Oxford rules where the winning side is the side that converts the most people over to its side. The winning side was the side that thought the Federal government’s debt was bad. I don’t remember that side’s arguments. I remember some of the arguments of the side arguing the debt was not a problem. That side was made up of John Tamny and Art Laffer.
John Tamny said that the bond markets have already priced in the risk of the Federal government defaulting on its debt. Given current prices for Federal government bonds, the bond market thinks the Federal government will be able to pay off its debts. According to Tamny, to think otherwise means that you think markets are incredibly stupid. During the Q&A session at the end of the debate, Tamny received many questions on his position. Tamny repeated his position. I don’t remember any elaborations or attempts to explain from him.
Art Laffer said the debt isn’t a problem because we can grow our way out of the debt. I wondered, while he was talking, if what he was really doing was making an argument for deregulation and lowering taxes. An argument that I’m not sure he needs to make to this audience.
Exporting Freedom or Protecting it at Home?
Hekmat Aboukhater of Young Voices Debates hosted a debate between Scott Horton and Wang Dan on the question of “Should America export freedom as part of protecting it at home?” Scott Horton took the position that America should not get involved overseas. Wang Dan took the opposite. Wang Dan had an interpreter on stage as English as assistance.
I was not impressed with Scott Horton’s performance even though I am on his side in thinking the Federal government needs to cut off all foreign aid, stop the wars, leave NATO, and bring the troops home. Horton read his opening statement off of his phone, which I expected. What I didn’t expect was Horton reading off of his phone his rebuttal to Wang Dan’s opening statement. During the Q&A period, I don’t remember anything Horton saying being a response to anything Wang Dan said, even if people were asking for a response to something Wang Dan said.
Supreme Court Review
The review covered several cases. Bondi v VandDerStock on “ghost guns” was the one that interested me most. Cody Wisniewski of the Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC) was involved in the case. Wisniewski was surprised about both the ruling and Justice Gorsuch’s use of “artifact nouns”. Wisniewski worries that “artifact nouns” will be used in the future to redefine legislation. During the Q&A, someone in the audience asked Wisniewski about why the case wasn’t a 2nd Amendment case. Wisniewski said there were two reasons. The first is that at the time the Biden Administration issued the “ghost gun” rule, 80% receivers were not regulated as firearms. The second is that Wisniewski thought the rule was a clear violation of the Administrative Procedures Act (APA), and so a win on a APA should have been easy.
Some Thanks and a Wrap Up
I attended more talks and movies than these. I can’t remember enough of some to write about them, and others I think aren’t as interesting as the ones I did write about.
On my road trip, I visited a few Glibs on the way. Nephilium and his girlfriend met me for dinner in Cleveland at a good Irish pub. I stopped by the gym The Other Kevin and his wife run. Unfortunately, Kevin was sick and we didn’t get to see other. But the gym is a good place for strength training. You should stop in if you are in the area. I also spent some time visiting RJ and his family. Pat joined us one night. Thanks!
FreedomFest 2026 will be July 8th-11th, 2026 in Las Vegas at Caesar’s Forum. The theme will be “Think Independent”.
Unfortunately, I have to head into the office this afternoon. I’ll respond to comments on this article on the Afternoon Links or evening post, whichever is live, after I get back.
What was the rationality behind holding a pre-freedom event in California?
contrast?
I’m surprised California allowed it.
It’s like holding a pride parade in Saudi Arabia.
With rooftop after parties.
The Scott Horton / Wang Dan piece sounded pretty one-sided. Scott blew it if he read off his phone. There is plenty to say to break the notion that only intervention prevents a WWIII.
Would it be a World War if the US didn’t join in?
Like a political round table without a Glibertarian?
Fweeeeedom!
-CommaLA
Thanks for the shout out! We love having guests. We sell a lot of day passes to people passing through, and people needing a place to work out when the YMCA closes for holidays or whatever.
🙁
You’re dangerously close to Chicago. I typically cross Indiana Mid-state.
That’s wise. I94 and the Indiana Toll Road go through Chicago and are often a nightmare.
We’re already more than half way there, aren’t we?
Vote for me and I’ll get us all the way there!
/Mamdani
Preschool for all!
I don’t know if deregulation not connected to freedomfest is on topic, but I have to say My opinion of Zeldin keeps going up.
They’ve been promising this for months. Just do it already.
The sooner we get past the inevitable lawfare that SCOTUS will have to smack down, the better.
PS. If he gets this done it will almost make up for him losing to Hochul….
Donald Trump’s trade policy is in danger of demonstrating the truth about one of those old definitions of an economist: someone who sees something working in practice and explains why it will never work in theory.
https://www.wsj.com/opinion/if-trumps-tariffs-are-bad-why-is-there-no-recession-economy-policy-0051d45c?st=Y2SrM5&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
Deficits don’t matter. Now if I could only get my creditors to stop calling.
Give them the Nobel Prize explanation that “debt is just money we owe to ourselves”!
I’d love to go to a freedom-themed event sometime in my life. Unfortunately I’ve heard nothing but bad things about Las Vegas, even from people who love to gamble. I’ve heard it’s just 100% tourism; that nobody there appears to have any desire to make it a nice place, just to make money from whatever their enterprise is. Is that accurate or no?
There’s different levels of Vegas. There’s the Strip, which is expensive, flashy, clean, and patrolled. There’s Downtown, which attracts those looking for lower costs, things are more run down, buskers and panhandlers are more tolerated, and you can find moderate prices. Outside of that, there’s plenty of attractions and things to do, but I would recommend doing research ahead of time, as quite a few of them can be booked solid (Neon museum night shows, punk rock museum, etc.), I’d recommend the Golden Tiki, Frankie’s Tiki, Oak and Ivy, and Atomic Liquors for stops on a cocktail tour..
Don’t forget the Zombie Burlesque show!
There are some stellar Asian restaurants in China Town along Spring Mountain Road. Cirque de Soleil is worth seeing.
Sayulita’s has monstrous burritos. https://sayulitaseats.com/sayulitaslvblvd
Holy hell! I want a volcano burrito and someone to share it with!
There are great shows and overall you will have a good time, if you are going there for shows and general entertainment. A lot of people just hate blinky lights, drink specials, and average people spending lots of money just for fun. I consider those people commies (Or sometimes they are just European snobs). Vegas is an ostentatious display of capitalism and joyous freedom to me.
I hate noise and crowds.
Your mileage may vary.
Would the restaurants or comedians be worthwhile?
https://www.hungryonion.org/c/regions/los-angeles-socal/105
Further:
https://www.foodtalkcentral.com/c/usa-west/las-vegas/21
Quite a drive! Both ways?
Uphill, in the snow!
Yes, he drove both ways.
A good guy with a shopping cart
“He just ran right behind her and buried his knife into her back, right in front of me,” Kolakowski said. “He pulled the knife out of her and went to take off, then stopped and hesitated and turned around like he was going to go after her again. That’s when he noticed me with the grocery cart … I just went as hard as I could and just got him on his ankles with the grocery cart from behind.”
Kolakowski, a 39-year-old disabled veteran, was quickly joined by another man with a shopping cart, stopping the man later identified by authorities as Gille. A third man pointed a gun toward the man, repeatedly demanding he drop the knife.
Also, some doofus was waving a gun around.
Unfortunately I’ve heard nothing but bad things about Las Vegas, even from people who love to gamble. I’ve heard it’s just 100% tourism; that nobody there appears to have any desire to make it a nice place, just to make money from whatever their enterprise is. Is that accurate or no?
Get away from the strip and it’s just like any other hot dusty southwestern desert city. Good or bad? That’s for you to decide.
I will say that the Vegas strip was the fastest I’ve ever seen a neighborhood go from perfectly fine to super sketchy in half a block. The only place I’ve seen similar demarcations were in San Francisco around the Tenderloin and Fisherman’s Wharf.
That’s basically Baltimore in a nutshell.
DC is like that.
Goodly chunks along I-95 in south Florida.
Yeah, one of the remarkable things about SF is that you can’t go anywhere (whether tourist or resident) without passing through slummy bumtowns because they are literally next door to everything.
Contrasted with say NYC where you can go years and years without seeing anything as bad.
Atlantic City went from Boardwalk to Beirut pretty damn fast.
Just roll it into the new note and refinance it out to 84 months.
The average amount owed on upside-down auto loans remains historically high at $6,754, Edmunds analysts report
https://www.edmunds.com/industry/press/underwater-car-loans-on-the-rise-more-than-1-in-4-trade-ins-had-negative-equity-in-q2-2025-according-to-edmunds.html
I keep trying to fight myself over the thoughts of buying a new car.
My C-Max is in working order, only has 113k miles on it.
But I keep getting tempted towards getting a new one, even though I’m at least 7K away from being able to pay cash on the table.
If you refinance after January, interest is deductible!
Buy something Japanese (or European if the news this weekend is to believed). They currently will have lower tariffs than vehicles produced in Mexico and Canada.
I have never purchased a new vehicle while still owing money on my current one. Short of maybe getting a lower interest rate, why would that ever be a smart decision?
I traded in my Dodge Durango, I originally financed it for $26,000. I had about $5,000 left to pay when I traded in the Durango. The dealer gave me $27,000 for it toward a new Jeep. I couldn’t go wrong there. Now that was during the lockdown period so dealers were desperate for used cars. That may not happen again.
I own both of my vehicles, with no desire to trade either in.
Ick.
That article does not separate leases from loans that I can tell. Car leases are a definite problem, I know too many people who took them and ended up increasingly underwater with each deal. I have yet to be underwater with any car trade in.
I never got the idea of leasing. “So I pay a car payment’s worth to rent and in the end don’t get the car unless I pay even more again?”
Yes! It’s a bad deal that too many people take. It works well for businesses in some cases, but private individuals should be very careful about it.
Someone who claimed he was leasing for reasons other than credit claimed that a constant car payment was just a fixed expense, and he never had to drive an old car.
No surprise $3k+ repair bills is nice.
The $2k I got hit with is less than the agregate car payments I’d have accumulated since last time I needed to fix anything (since the date of that escapes me, it’s been a while, at the very least least year if not further back)
Car leases are a definite problem, I know too many people who took them and ended up increasingly underwater with each deal.
Que? I know nothing about how car leases work, except lately people seem to like them more and more because they don’t end up owning the piece of shit at the end.
The first car I bought was a ten year old MG. That was probably the “newest” car I have owned.
“ because they don’t end up owning the piece of shit at the end”
Nothing is fun about new cars. Even renting them sucks due to all the nanny “assists”
Not true. They’re shiny and no one else has likely farted on your seats. No maintenance costs for several years is a big deal.
FUN.
I tend to buy a car that’s two or three years old, then drive it for 8-10 years, well after the loan is paid. I’m looking at brand new Ford Rangers now though, so that streak may end, but I’ll likely drive it for another ten years.
Savage Geese yahoos I watched yesterday were talking about how you can’t afford not to lease an electric car. Yes I can. Seriously.
They never quite got around to asking what kind of a fucking idiot would ever be the second or third owner of one of those technological marvels.
https://www.edmunds.com/lease-deals/
That Soltera deal looks decent, if you wanted to lease an electric.
Those Mazda’s ain’t deals with WAY too much cash down.
I tend to buy a car that’s two or three years old, then drive it for 8-10 years, well after the loan is paid.
My dad used to buy dealer demos. A year or two old, dealer maintained, first big depreciation hit already taken. Then he’d drive them for years.
Don’t buy dealer loaner cars. People like me drive them.
“ I also spent some time visiting RJ and his family. Pat joined us one night. ”
Dang missed a DFW meet up and seeing DEG again. I am lurking too hard.
You are! Please use this email, it will be easier to reach you:
BrussellsSproutHead@proton.me
Crap. That had a misspelling. Use this:
BrusselsSproutHead@proton.me
👍
Someone who claimed he was leasing for reasons other than credit claimed that a constant car payment was just a fixed expense, and he never had to drive an old car.
Some people don’t care about anything but the monthly payment.
Maintenance is often rolled into it as well, or “complimentary” during ownership. Always in warranty and typically free loaners (at least around here) for any service visits.
I’ve leased twice and always found it a pain in the neck.
Depending on the state of the market when the lease expires you can be dealing with dealers that give you the run around about the lease returns or they might want your car back immediately. The issue is you don’t know what the market will be when it terminates. This is a less of an issue if you are brand loyal and repeat your leases with the same dealer. Also big difference between luxury and mass market brands in the F&I departments.
The other thing is your insurance. You have to meet your leaseholder insurance requirements and make sure the lease holder is party to the insurance. This is normal for insurance companies, but it’s one more thing they can and do screw up. It’s up to you to fix it. Lastly, luxury cars will have gap insurance built into the lease. Other makers and dealers – who knows? The gap insurance protects you and the leaseholder if you total the vehicle in the first 1-2 years of ownership when you will be underwater with a full insurance payout. It’s also something you will have to manage and deal with if things go pear shaped.
S&W marketing is apparently revisiting the 90s.
The Shield X
https://www.smith-wesson.com/products/shield-x
Not the Shield-2000?
Nice. Now could S&W fix that lame little safety?
Some furious thumbsucking! [TW Politico]
“I can’t regurgitate things said to me as ‘analysis’ by DoD sources with the desired spin for my audience if the DoD puts these things out as a press release or on X!”
Think tank event slideshows are how you want to communicate to the general public?
That revolving door isn’t gonna turn itself!
Genocide
For years the Environmental Protection Agency has pushed carmakers to reduce how much vehicles contribute to climate change.
Today the EPA laid out plans to not just weaken those rules, but end them entirely.
In 2009, the agency determined that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are a form of air pollution that the agency can regulate under the Clean Air Act. That’s because those gases contribute to climate change, which harms human health.
That determination, called the “endangerment finding,” underpins major regulations — including strict tailpipe standards for carmakers that envisioned at least half the new cars sold in the U.S. being electric or plug-in hybrids by 2030. The transportation sector is the largest source of direct greenhouse gas emissions in the United States.
Soon the planet will be shrouded in smog. Temperatures will skyrocket and the seas will boil.
But your car will no longer automatically turn its engine off at a stoplight!
An agency decided on its own what it could regulate. Good work if you can get it.
You took the words right out of my mouth.
No joke there. Send everyone home, burn the whole building down. Salt the earth.
… it has horrified environmental advocates. Environmental Defense Fund president Fred Krupp wrote in a statement Tuesday, “if there are no enforced limits on pollution, you get more of it, making life more expensive and even more dangerous. The stakes could not be higher for Americans.” Environmental advocacy group Moms Clean Air Force called the rollback “a shameful, reckless, and immoral move.”
Drama queens , to your fainting couches!
If it has ‘Moms’ in the name, shit-can it. It is certainly just another commie front group.
They should change ‘Moms’ to ‘AWFLs’
I dunno. “Moms Demand Action” is always good for a chuckle.
We’ll claw back that last 0.001 Gaia happy-point if it bankrupts the nation!
I keep hoping that these “horrified environmental advocates” will start dropping dead of apolexy, and thus leave the rest of us alone…
The federal CAFE standards, meanwhile, are still in place — for now. But the Department of Transportation is currently reviewing those rules, after stating that it costs automakers too much to comply with them, and that they drive up prices for consumers. Rewriting the rules “will lower vehicle costs and ensure the American people can purchase the cars they want,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy wrote in a statement in June. (The regulations do increase the cost of cars, but consumer groups have repeatedly found they save drivers far more in fuel over the life of the car than they create in upfront costs.)
If you can’t believe consumer groups, who can you believe? I’m sure their calculations are completely honest.
I do not believe “Consumer Groups” Sounds too much like “Anti-Human Activists”
God forbid people be allowed to make those trade-offs themselves.
They’re throwing years! decades! of
evidenceclaims of environmental destruction and climate change out the window. People will die!You can never reach peak NASA either.
When Coke and Pepsi Fought for Soft Drink Supremacy in Space
In the summer of 1985, NASA, the Reagan White House and seven talented astronauts got wrangled into an orbital chapter of the cola wars.
https://archive.fo/L7xBJ
Just saw a VDH interview on Gavin Newsome. Newsome, according to VDH is a completely amoral windsock. There is no line he will not cross, no lie he will not tell for the sake of achieving power. He will adopt any position, advocate or abandon any policy so long as it gets him into office. He would burn the country down to rule over its ashes and have no feeling about it one way or the other.
I think that is a fairly accurate measure of 99% of pols. This is how govt is born of a culture. These people gain power either through popular support or through the indifference of the populace who dont find what their leaders are doing. The only people to blame for the state of government are the people themselves.
This is the reason for the culture wars and the general demoralization of the populace. Thankfully I do see the tide turning a bit back towards sanity.
I will restate what the founders said loud and clear because apparently it cannot be repeated enough: If you concentrate power or money the worst kinds of people. will be irresistibly drawn to it like flies to shit. The democrat party seems to have become the perfect example of that.
Witness the complete 180 he did on “trans kids in sports” for evidence. Yeah, he’s one of the worst of the lot which is saying something.
See also Andrew Cuomo.
This disconnect between audience demand and streaming revenue points to platform-specific monetization limitations. Paramount+ may not have had the scale, marketing efficiency, or content bundling strategies necessary to fully capture the value of “The Late Show’s” fandom.
This seems a much more nuanced take on why Colbert’s show got tossed. TLDR – It’s not broadcast (aka linear) ratings that are driving the cancellation, but the streaming.
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/colbert-show-generated-60-million-211543982.html
I don’t believe for a second that those shows are driving any “streaming” dollars.
A lot of young people watch no entertainment any other way. I’m not suggesting repeat streaming – just initial view.
Wasn’t the average audience age 68 or something? Might have something to do with the really low streaming numbers. Those are people who cling to their cable boxes. The article dodged that point.
Good point! It fits with my point to rhywun.
Prolly just the old-folks broadcast version.
I still don’t see a lot of youngsters being drawn to those shows. They are so last century.
*pats cable box comfortingly*
There, there, don’t let the broccoli-headed space alien scare you.
Actually, we haven’t had cable or satellite as such for a number of years.
Rhy, they are actually not far from a podcast format – host who blabs for a bit, then interviews famous guests. With some tweaking, they should be portable that market.
Heh heh.
“Bitter clingers”
rhywun:
Why sit and waste 90 minutes with half of it being commercials when someone else will grab the good bits and share them the next morning?
Neph –
That would require me to pay active attention. TV is just background noise.
https://www.jim4ch.com/
This guy is the front runner for Mayor. He seems sane compared to the current Mayor, but that is a very low bar. I wished there was a candidate who ran on libertarian principles, but that person would probably get 6 votes at most in the People’s Republic of Cleveland Heights.
He’s on 4chan!
Oh.. never mind.
I had to laugh at the soon to be former mayor vetoing his own recall election.
Whut?
Suthenboy:
Cleveland Heights law director: Mayor’s attempt at vetoing a recall against him is unlawful and not timely
The mayor is such a clown. I suspect that if interest rates and housing prices weren’t so high, you would have seen an exodus by those who had the money to move to places like Solon, Chagrin Falls, and Peppers Pike.
Ed, you are correct. A Libertarian candidate could get 60 votes just by being on the ballot….but only 6 if they actually campaigned and “got the word out” on what Libertarians actually proposed.
This seems a much more nuanced take on why Colbert’s show got tossed.
I saw something the other day about how Disney apparently uses their late night show as a focused marketing platform for their other divisions to extract value from it.
On the Colbert show cancel protest – the claims are that almost no one showed up for it. That is not true. I dont know why anyone would say that. I will have you know that his entire audience showed up in force.
Remember that everything about the left is an illusion, all lies.
Best laugh I have had all day. Thank you Suthen.