“With the power of the purse, Congress can pressure the president to stand down in Iran by doing what it usually does best: nothing. … To date, we’ve spent over $40 billion on the president’s Iran adventure, yet Congress has never passed specific appropriations for any of it. The administration has been paying the bills by tapping into Pentagon funds authorized for other purposes, such as military training and readiness. … Facing ‘an urgent budget shortfall,’ the Trump administration requested Epic Fury funds in June. In July, the House passed a budget resolution incorporating the ask. The supplemental request now sits with the Senate …. doing nothing—simply refusing to pass the supplemental—would be a good start.” (10/02/26)
“National controversy erupts over a rape non-prosecution at Cornell; Jeanine Pirro has various prosecutorial troubles; Sheri Mecklenburg leaves the Chicago US Attorney’s office with a bang.” (10/03/26)
“At least two tankers were struck in waters near Oman and Iran over the weekend as Tehran warned it would not fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz until its conditions for ending the war with the United States are met. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, a British maritime security service, said a crude oil tanker was struck by an unknown projectile Saturday about four nautical miles east of Oman. Another tanker was struck Sunday in the Strait of Hormuz, suffering damage to its engine room, according to UKMTO.” (10/04/26)
“In the 21rst century, the modern world has become a Frankenstein empire with a thousand terrible new machines produced per minute as resources dwindle and the emotional wellbeing of entire generations crashes with the bombs. We call this progress, but what it really amounts to is slavery in exchange for convenience. The problem isn’t even really the devices themselves, but rather the fact that human beings seem to take less and less moral inventory with every new device produced. … The end result is a brave new world where life is cheap and oppression is downright affordable. … The only bright side to this strangely convenient dystopia is that with the mass production of quite literally everything, resistance becomes as cheap as oppression.” (10/04/26)
“The Pentagon pulled all 12 B-1 bombers this weekend from the U.K.’s RAF Fairford air base to their home stations in the U.S. weeks after an alleged terror threat against a U.S.-operated post in England. … The withdrawal comes after British authorities arrested six men linked to a suspected attack on the air base that officials said was foiled. The U.K. police have released the suspects on bail, but the investigation into the incident has continued.” (10/04/26)
Source: Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
by Sarah McLaughlin
“‘We shouldn’t accept that this is the end,’ Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said this week of the UK’s looming under-16 social media ban. ‘This is a staging post to what must be a very active interventionist state, policing and regulating the online space so that people are safe.’ Next March, the initial rollout will begin to keep teens under 16 from using ‘high-risk’ social media apps, and further algorithmic restrictions will later hit those under 18. After that, more restrictions will apparently follow. What new ‘policing and regulating’ powers will officials seek?” (10/02/26)
“Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez called a snap election after facing mounting pressure from mass protests over the country’s housing crisis. Sánchez called the early election for November 29 during a televised speech to the nation from the Palace of Moncloa, his official residence in Madrid. … The announcement comes less than 72 hours after Sánchez’s government failed to secure parliamentary backing for two housing-related royal decree laws aimed at easing mounting public pressure over Spain’s housing crisis. … For days hundreds of people have camped out in Madrid’s central Puerta del Sol to protest the housing crisis gripping the country.” (10/05/26)
“Thomas Cromwell was the Lord Chancellor of England for much of the reign of King Henry VIII. He engineered the convictions and executions of many whom Henry wanted out of the way, including his two predecessors in office — one of whom was St. Thomas More — and even the king’s second wife, Queen Anne. When Cromwell’s son Gregory, who became sickened as he watched his father devolving from counselor to monster, learned that an executioner for the queen had been sent for from France a week before her trial, he asked his father what the purpose of her trial was if the king had preordained the queen’s guilt and prepaid the executioner. Cromwell replied that the king needed a jury to give the appearance of legitimacy to her conviction and prevent the public perception of ‘the tyranny of one man’s opinion.'” (10/02/26)
“Police in Moscow have detained around 60 people at a rally held by Russia’s Kremlin-friendly Communist Party, according to the organisation. A party statement said the arrests took place as the event was ending on Sunday, with its Moscow branch trying to secure the release of detainees, who were mostly young people. The gathering marked the anniversary of the Kremlin’s 1993 crushing of a parliamentary uprising. Telegram news channel Ostorozhno Novosti said protesters chanted slogans including ‘Freedom for political prisoners,’ ‘For fair elections,’ and ‘Down with the Tsar.’ The rally came as public frustration has been simmering in Russia during the intensifying Ukrainian drone attacks deep inside the country.” (10/04/26)
“There is no question that something terrible happened at a Cornell University fraternity in 2024. The question is what. Was it a brutal gang rape? Or was it something messier and more complicated, a sexual encounter that was unwise but nonetheless consensual? What facts we have are not enough to distinguish between the two possibilities.” (10/04/26)
