“‘We Will Never Be Rid of Google’ (The New York Times, September 30) is quite a headline for the same Julia Angwin who wrote the book on MySpace. Angwin’s comprehensive unofficial account was published in 2009 as Stealing MySpace: The Battle to Control the Most Popular Website in America (not ‘We Will Never Be Rid of MySpace’). Its subtitle didn’t remain current for long …. Still, the snapshot of the then-hip site, not yet a punchline in a David Pogue Times column exemplifying when ‘a hot property becomes a lame has-been’ (alongside action star Steven Seagal, well after his career transition from Hard to Kill to direct-to-video, and the Macarena dance craze), remains an instructive case study.” (10/02/25)
“In the same week in which President Donald Trump announced that he was federalizing 200 Oregon National Guard soldiers and dispatching them to the streets of Portland, he quietly signed a Presidential National Security Memorandum that purports to federalize policing. The Memorandum, just like the federalization of troops in Oregon, completely disregards constitutional safeguards against such practices. Here is the backstory.” (10/02/25)
“The federal government just accumulated an additional $2 trillion in debt over the last 12 months. That’s the kind of debt surge America usually racks up in wartime or during major national emergencies. But today, as Republicans and Democrats engage in another budget-driven shutdown drama, we are not at war. There is no pandemic. The economy is humming. And another shutdown is happening. Yet it will solve nothing about the fact that the political class is burning through money at a pace that would make former President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s war cabinet blush.” (10/02/25)
“Current taxation is a form of robbery where specific privileged individuals (politicians and bureaucrats) have the sole right to ‘legally’ steal. Typically, if my money were taken and used against my will, it would be called theft, just as we would declare it if a heroin addict stole another man’s money and used it for drugs. We move into the realm of robbery when those stolen goods are confiscated under the threat of violence or harm. Under direct taxation, if you refuse to go along with the confiscation of your money — refuse to pay your taxes — you will be jailed, where you could face actual physical harm.” (10/02/25)
“They didn’t call it lawfare in 1807, but the president’s use of federal prosecution to settle political scores had already begun. As President Donald Trump ramps up efforts to prosecute his political opponents, one early such episode — the treason trial of Aaron Burr — is worth revisiting. Though Trump’s personalized lawfare has historical precedent, the modern presidency probably makes the practice more destructive than it was before.” (10/02/25)
“The acquittal of Brayan Ramos-Brito is more than just a legal victory for one individual; it is a powerful reaffirmation of the American jury system. After a federal jury in Los Angeles took just over an hour to acquit Ramos-Brito of a misdemeanor assault count, it became clear that the justice system — when it functions as the Framers intended — stands as a bulwark against government oppression. The facts of the case, as they unfolded, are illustrative of a disturbing trend. … the government’s case rested heavily on the testimony of U.S. Border Patrol Sector Chief Gregory Bovino, the sole agent who claimed to have witnessed the alleged assault on Agent Jonathan Morales at a June protest. … Bovino, with a deeply troubling track record, having previously been relieved of command and encouraged to retire, has demonstrated that he cannot be trusted.” (10/02/25)
“Republicans have settled on their message for the government shutdown: A noun, a verb, and ‘illegal aliens.’ … Many Democrats have supported access to federal health care funds for undocumented immigrants, which is a component of the Medicare-for-All bill backed by most progressives in Congress. But that bill is not among the party’s demands in the shutdown fight, and Democrats have scoffed at Republicans who portray emergency room care or benefits for migrants with legal status as giveaways to the undocumented.” (10/02/25)
Source: Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
by Angel Eduardo
“On Monday, YouTube agreed to pay $24.5 million to President Trump and several others, settling a lawsuit over YouTube’s suspension of their accounts following the events at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. This marks the third major social media company to capitulate to the Trump administration this year. … in addition to media companies like Paramount Global, who bent the knee to Trump for $16 million this past July, and ABC News, who settled for $15 million late last year. … If you care about free speech, this should really piss you off. These companies and institutions traded principle — and, most importantly, the opportunity to stand on their First Amendment rights — for profit and short-term peace of mind. How do we know? Because in many cases, such as that of Paramount Global, the settlement was a thinly veiled prerequisite to FCC approval of a major — and lucrative — business deal the company was after.” (10/02/25)
“Every August I stand in the orchards of my family’s farm in Henderson County, North Carolina, looking at over 6 million pounds of apples on the trees. I’m consumed with worry and anticipation. Without enough workers to harvest on time, those apples and months of hard work could spoil right in these orchards. … I try to hire domestic employees from the community, but the reality is farm work is physically demanding and requires long hours. Americans clearly don’t want farm jobs, or they’re looking for a job that lasts longer than a season. On the rare occasion they do apply, few decide it’s the right fit for them and most resign quickly. … The stakes couldn’t be higher. Fruits and vegetables ripen on nature’s timeline, not ours. … This isn’t just about farmers. It’s about every family that counts on affordable, healthy food.” (10/02/25)
“When a police officer in the United States yells ‘Cover me!’ to colleagues, that means to be prepared to shoot – if necessary. A member of the U.S. military, however, could interpret those same words as a call to unleash lethal firepower. This distinction is just one among many complexities of engaging combat-ready troops to ‘fight’ crime or civilian unrest domestically. Fundamental differences in the roles and culture of policing and warfare can create logistical and legal troubles. ‘Police officers are taught to use time, distance and de-escalation,’ a former Los Angeles Police Department chief wrote in The New York Times in June, when 4,000 National Guard troops were deployed to Los Angeles to protect immigration officers from protesters. ‘Military training, equipment and tactics are optimized for warfare – not for safeguarding civil liberties or managing peaceful protest,’ he observed.” (10/01/25)
