Source: The UnPopulist
by Anthony Sanders
“If the Supreme Court scraps universal injunctions, obtaining relief from unconstitutional laws will become much more expensive and time consuming for citizens.” (05/08/25)
https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/a-key-tool-for-stopping-government
Source: Electronic Frontier Foundation
by Corynne McSherry & Cory Doctorow
“President Trump’s attack on public broadcasting has attracted plenty of deserved attention, but there’s a far more technical, far more insidious policy change in the offing – one that will take away Americans’ right to unencumbered access to our publicly owned airwaves. The FCC is quietly contemplating a fundamental restructuring of all broadcasting in the United States, via a new DRM-based standard for digital television equipment, enforced by a private ‘security authority’ with control over licensing, encryption, and compliance.” (05/08/25)
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/05/fcc-must-reject-broadcast-drm
Source: New York Post
by Miranda Devine
“It didn’t take long for a gleeful new anti-Trump narrative to grip the global media after elections in Canada and Australia delivered upset defeats to conservative parties. ‘Trump Effect’ headlines blared all over the world, blaming the American president for failures far from home. Donald Trump as the kiss of death for conservative parties was the claim in most election post-mortem analyses. It is a convenient excuse for the lackluster right-of-center Liberal-National Coalition in Australia rather than facing the reason for its historic wipeout at the hands of voters last week. And it’s a comforting theory that gives Democrats hope that Trumpism will collapse in on itself at home, relieving them of any need to reform their policies or find electable leaders who aren’t weird or senile or corrupt.” (05/07/25)
Source: TomDispatch
by William J Astore
“Forty years ago this month, I was commissioned a second lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force. I would be part of America’s all-volunteer force (AVF) for 20 years, hitting my marks and retiring as a lieutenant colonel in 2005. In my two decades of service, I met a lot of fine and dedicated officers, enlisted members, and civilians. I worked with the Army, Navy, and Marine Corps as well, and met officers and cadets from countries like Great Britain, Germany, Pakistan, Poland, and Saudi Arabia. I managed not to get shot at or kill anyone. Strangely enough, in other words, my military service was peaceful. Don’t get me wrong: I was a card-carrying member of America’s military-industrial complex. I’m under no illusions about what a military exists for, nor should you be.” (05/08/25)
https://tomdispatch.com/the-real-evil-empire-may-surprise-you/
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger
“Every American who cares about liberty should be grateful to the American Civil Liberties Union for the fantastic job they have been doing to protect civil liberties, especially during the past few months. In case after case all across the country, ACLU lawyers have been filing suits and securing favorable judicial rulings in the defense of civil liberties, especially the vital concept of due process of law, a principle of liberty that stretches all the way back to the Magna Carta in 1215. Their efforts have been truly heroic and have also entailed some absolutely excellent lawyering.” (05/08/25)
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Nick Cleveland-Stout & Gabe Murphy
“What’s worse than the Pentagon spending taxpayer dollars on golf courses? Spending taxpayer dollars on golf courses that nobody uses. Even as the Department of Defense renovates some of its 145 golf courses, the Army acknowledged in a new Pentagon study on excess capacity that it owns at least six facilities labeled ‘Golf Club House and Sales’ that almost no one uses. … the problem goes far beyond golf courses. The Pentagon oversees some $4.1 trillion in assets and 26.7 million acres of land — a sprawling network of military installations across the United States and the globe. Wasted space and resources in that network could be squeezing taxpayers out of billions of dollars. … the Pentagon has a phantom infrastructure problem made up of empty storage warehouses and training facilities that collect dust. The only thing real about them is the cost, brought to you by the U.S. taxpayer.” (05/08/25)
Source: Libertarian Institute
by Patrick Carroll
“It’s no secret that one of Donald Trump’s favorite U.S. presidents is William McKinley, who led the country from 1897 until his assassination in 1901. Indeed, Trump recently changed the official name of Denali back to Mount McKinley in honor of the late president. In recent months, Trump has particularly emphasized McKinley’s protectionist policies, which Trump believes were a key part of America’s economic progress in the McKinley era. … The idea that tariffs historically helped spur American prosperity has become a common refrain for many in the Republican Party. And at first blush, it certainly seems plausible — the McKinley era witnessed a fair amount of protectionism alongside considerable economic growth. But there is a fatal flaw with this view, which has been pointed out most explicitly by Ludwig von Mises and his fellow Austrian economists.” (05/08/25)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/what-trump-misunderstands-about-william-mckinley
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob
“For decades, taxpayers have been forced to fund PBS and NPR, and with them any political tilts that we disagree with. For decades, some lawmakers have nominally agreed that taxpayers should be liberated from this unchosen obligation. But nothing has changed. Now, however, President Trump has issued an executive order to simply end ‘Taxpayer Subsidization of Biased Media.’ … I say we have a right that our tax dollars not be used at all to fund public broadcasting. And that, also contrary to the text of the order, the government is not ‘entitled to determine which categories of activities to subsidize.’ It should have no authority to pay for any activities unrelated to the proper functions of government. I will, however, accept the result of the executive order, defunding of public broadcasting. If we do get this result.” (05/08/25)
Source: The New Republic
by Laurie Clarke
“The radical libertarian city builders of the tech-bro set have an audacious new proposal: They want to convert Guantánamo Bay, host to the infamous prison, into the high-tech charter city of their wildest imaginations, which will double as a ‘proving ground’ for migrants seeking to enter the United States. The Charter Cities Institute, or CCI, which has lobbied the Trump administration on setting up so-called freedom cities in the U.S, suggests the president take advantage of Guantánamo’s special legal status to convert the controversial detention camp into ‘a beacon of 21st-century prosperity.’ … Charter cities have long been a fascination of Silicon Valley’s libertarian right. Tech billionaire Peter Thiel was an early investor in ‘seasteading,’ the dream of seaborne libertarian enclaves floating beyond sovereign jurisdiction.” [editor’s note: As soon as she invokes Thiel, it becomes obvious that Clarke doesn’t know what the word “libertarian” means – TLK] (05/08/25)
https://newrepublic.com/article/194515/freedom-city-guantanamo-bay-prison
Source: OtherWords
by Rick Claypool
“‘Corporations First’. That, and not ‘America First’, is the slogan that would truthfully describe the Trump administration’s approach to law enforcement. A new investigation by my organization shows that the Trump administration is dropping investigations and enforcement actions against corporations that showered money on Trump’s inauguration earlier this year. Seventy-one big businesses, which were facing at least 102 ongoing federal enforcement actions at the time of Trump’s inauguration, collectively gave a whopping $57 million to the Trump-Vance inaugural fund, we found. And many may now be collecting special favors. Trump’s inaugural haul from corporations facing investigations and lawsuits alone is comparable to the total amount raised for the inaugurations of former Presidents Barack Obama in 2009 ($53 million) and Joe Biden in 2021 ($62 million). And it’s just a third of the record-breaking $239 million Trump collected overall, $153 million of which came from corporate donors.” (05/08/25)