“Former North Carolina Republican Rep. Madison Cawthorn was arrested Wednesday in Florida on an out-of-county warrant after he failed to show up in court, according to news coverage. Cawthorn was arrested Wednesday morning in Cape Coral for failing to make an appearance in court over an Aug. 19 citation for driving without a valid license, according to Gulf Coast News. The former one-term congressman was later released on a $2,000 bond, according to the Lee County Sheriff’s Office, Gulf Coast News reported. … The arrest comes after Axios reported on Sept. 3 that Cawthorn is preparing to launch a 2026 bid for Florida’s 19th congressional district. The open seat is currently held by Republican Rep. Byron Donalds, who announced in February that he is running for Florida governor instead of reelection.” (09/11/25)
“Who is responsible for defending liberal democracy when its norms come under attack? The philosopher Karl Popper, writing as fascist armies swept Europe, understood this was not an abstract question. Popper championed societies that were fundamentally ‘open’ — sustained by critical inquiry and peaceful disagreement, rather than imposed unity. But Popper grasped a paradox: openness could survive only if actively defended against those who would exploit its openness to destroy it.” (09/10/25)
“Cubans were in despair Wednesday after their cash-strapped communist country plunged into its fifth nationwide power blackout in a year. ‘A total disconnection of the SEN electricity system has occurred, which may be associated with an unexpected shutdown’ of the Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric power plant, the energy ministry said on its X account. It added that it was investigating the outage, which happened at around 9:15am (13:15GMT). Cuba is already in the throes of its worst economic crisis in three decades. In recent years it has been plagued by hours-long daily blackouts, recurring electricity system breakdowns and an acute shortage of fuel to keep producing power.” (09/11/25)
“At the risk of saying something controversial in a very sensitive moment, I think extrajudicial killings and vigilantism and terrorism are bad and that the rule of law, due process, and other enlightenment liberal democratic norms are good. I think Charlie Kirk, God rest his soul, was a real shitbag. But I’d rather live in a world with him in it than one in which folks kill each other to get retribution or achieve political ends. I also don’t think that how we got here is some great mystery.” (09/10/25)
