Free Speech Unmuted, 09/01/26
Source: Hoover Institution
“The Process Is The Punishment: ABC v. FCC With Stuart Benjamin.” (09/01/26)
Author: Thomas L. Knapp
Shutdown Theater performances canceled as Congress funds regime until December
Source: The Hill
“The House on Tuesday voted to send a short-term extension of government funding to President Trump’s desk, avoiding a politically risky shutdown before the midterm elections. The continuing resolution (CR), which funds the government through Dec. 11, passed the House on a 370-48 vote, with 19 Republicans and 29 Democrats voting in opposition. The Senate advanced the measure by a landslide last month. The CR now pushes the spending battle to before the holidays, when the outcome of the midterms will help determine how much leverage each party holds to set the spending agenda.” (09/01/26)
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/6063667-house-government-funding-cr-shutdown-midterms
Dog Bites Man: Florida Pols Rigged an Election Using Stolen Taxpayer Money
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp
“In 2024, Floridians voted, by a margin of 55.9% to 44.1%, to legalize recreational marijuana. Unfortunately, the threshold for passage of ‘Amendment 3’ was 60% and the measure failed. So far so bad … but it gets worse. Nearly two years later we’ve learned that state government officials misappropriated millions of dollars in taxpayer money; funneled it through a charity founded by governor Ron DeSantis’s wife and into Republican PACs operated by the man who later became the state’s attorney general, with the approval of the then sitting attorney general, now a US Senator; and poured it into a campaign to defeat the measure. We know this because someone leaked a grand jury report on the matter to CBS News Miami.” (09/01/26)
UT: Judge Lets Case Against Suspect in Charlie Kirk Killing Go to Trial
Source: New York Times
“A Utah judge found on Tuesday that prosecutors had enough evidence to try the man accused of killing the conservative activist Charlie Kirk last year and said they could seek the death penalty. The highly anticipated ruling by Judge Tony Graf was a major step in one of the country’s most scrutinized murder cases. It came nearly a year after Mr. Kirk was assassinated during an open-air speaking event attended by thousands at Utah Valley University in Orem. … [Tyler] Robinson’s lawyers have tried to delay the case with procedural fights and have questioned DNA and ballistic evidence tying Mr. Robinson to the killing on Sept. 10. But they have not offered a concrete defense, apart from arguing that Mr. Robinson should not face the death penalty.” (09/01/26)
Why is the Chinese government dictating who speaks at a religious event in Texas?
Source: Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
by Sarah McLaughlin
“In the United States, campus speakers, online expression, blockbuster movies, and printed books are all, of course, protected by the First Amendment. But that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re protected against influence and censorship by foreign powers, particularly the Chinese government. This censorship may go under the radar for many Americans, but make no mistake: It can influence not just what you encounter in the secular world, but maybe the spiritual one, too. A report this week from the National Catholic Register paints a disturbing picture: A U.S.-based Catholic organization chose to disinvite a speaker from its conference at the University of St. Thomas in Houston after facing direct pressure from Chinese officials. Apparently even the speaker lists at religious events in the U.S. cannot escape pressure from foreign officials who vest in themselves the authority to censor the world.” (09/01/26)
EU’s Kallas labels Leipzig drone attack “state-sponsored terrorism”
Source: Politico
“The EU’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, said Wednesday that the thwarted drone attack at Leipzig-Halle Airport bore ‘all the hallmarks of state-sponsored terrorism,’ after Germany blamed Russia for the incident. Speaking as the bloc’s foreign ministers gather in Wicklow, Ireland, Kallas said Germany’s attribution sent a ‘very strong signal’ and praised EU governments for closing ranks behind Berlin. … Berlin formally blamed Moscow on Tuesday for the Aug. 4 incident, in which three explosive-laden drones were detected around Leipzig-Halle Airport. Germany announced retaliatory diplomatic measures and plans to seek fresh EU sanctions. Russia denies any involvement.” (09/02/26)
https://www.politico.eu/article/kaja-kallas-labels-leipzig-drone-attack-state-sponsored-terrorism/
The framing of Chris Duncan
Source: The Watch
by Radley Balko
“In April 2025, Louisiana District Court Judge Alvin Sharp declared Duncan innocent of the crime for which he’d been convicted and sentenced to death nearly 30 years earlier. It would take another seven months before he was finally released from the Louisiana State Penitentiary, better known as Angola. … Duncan was arrested in 1993 for raping and murdering Haley Oliveaux, the 23-month-old daughter of his girlfriend. … Duncan had no history of sex offenses or abusing children. He was convicted primarily because of testimony from Steven Hayne — a now-disgraced medical examiner who performed the vast majority of autopsies in Mississippi for two decades — and his sidekick Michael West, a notorious forensics fraud best known for finding ‘bite marks’ and matching them to alleged perpetrators. Duncan is the ninth person to be exonerated after being convicted with testimony from Hayne, West, or both.” (09/01/26)
https://radleybalko.substack.com/p/the-framing-of-chris-duncan
MO: City councilman recalled after supporting corporate welfare for data center
Source: KMBC 9 News
“Voters in Independence have successfully recalled a councilman after his vote to approve a multibillion-dollar data center. District 1 Councilman John Perkins was recalled during a special election on Tuesday, with unofficial final results showing over 68 percent of voters in the district supported the recall. … Perkins, in March, voted to approve a proposed data center on 400 acres near Missouri 78 and Little Blue Parkway. He was one of five who voted to support the data center. … McKenna Cobb, who filed the recall petition, criticized the council’s decision to approve significant tax incentives for the project. ‘There’s hours of public testimony and they still vote in favor of billions of dollars in tax incentives,’ Cobb said.” [editor’s note: They left the corporate welfare part for the end of the story; it wasn’t just an “anti-data-center” thing – TLK] (09/01/26)
https://www.kmbc.com/article/independence-john-perkins-recall-data-center-election/73586616
Congress Reformed Welfare. Bureaucrats Regrew It Anyway
Source: The Daily Economy
by Jeffery L Degner
‘Voters demanded the 1996 welfare reform law that limited eligibility and emphasized work. Since then, executive agencies have used their discretion to quietly loosen those rules.” (09/01/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/congress-reformed-welfare-bureaucrats-regrew-it-anyway/
Trump vows US will take “all” of Venezuela’s oil as deal details emerge
Source: euronews [EU]
“The White House has published the terms of its Venezuela oil deal, naming the private company at its centre and confirming Washington’s majority control of more than 65 billion barrels, as President Trump vowed the US would be taking ‘all’ of it. … Venezuela’s interim authorities have granted NABEP 100-year concessions over 17 fields with the agreement signed by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth. The Venezuelan reserves dwarf America’s own, as the 65 billion barrels covered by the concessions compare with roughly 46 billion across US territory. Speaking in the Oval Office on Monday, US President Donald Trump called the reserves ‘unbelievable value that was sitting dormant’ and added that the US is ‘going to be taking all of that. We’re going to be taking that oil out.'” (09/01/26)