“‘An elective despotism is not the government we fought for.’ Thomas Jefferson warned about the dangers of unchecked power even in a system where the people get to choose their leaders. But what if you were told that’s just what we ended up with? Because the system we live under today is virtually the same – in practice – as the British system the founders fought a long, bloody war to secede from. And it all gets down to sovereignty – or final authority. To the founders, any government that gets to determine the extent of its own power is the very definition of tyranny. America didn’t escape the British system. We rebuilt it.” (09/29/25)
“Two things can be simultaneously true. One is that President Donald Trump and his aides are petty, vindictive people who, like other members of the political class, misuse power to punish opponents. The other is that some of their targets currently or recently within government are abusive, untrustworthy, and should be held to account. That brings us to former director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) James Comey and the law enforcement agency he once led. Comey’s indictment is undoubtedly an act of political payback. But Comey and his agency really are dangerous and worthy of scrutiny and deprivation of power to prevent future harm.” (09/29/25)
“One of the more frustrating dynamics of the Trump era is being called hysterical for warning that the president would do exactly what he has said he would do. There was a lot of this before the 2024 election, as anti-anti Trumpers lectured those of us worried about authoritarianism that Trump is all bluster, or that our institutions would hold, or that he would be too incompetent to carry out his worst campaign promises. You’d think that the last nine months would have shut those people up. Alas, no.” (09/29/25)
“The Trump administration is ending one of the biggest statistical scams in Washington. For thirty years, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has issued an annual ‘food security’ report that politicians used to fabricate an illusion of mass hunger. USDA announced that it is canceling that annual survey because ‘the data is rife with inaccuracies slanted to create a narrative that is not representative of what is actually happening in the countryside.’ That annual survey was ‘costly, politicized, and [does] nothing more than fear monger,’ USDA said. Those were some of the most honest statements out of USDA since Agriculture Secretary Earl Butz confessed in 1973 that the federal peanut program was driving him crazy.” (09/29/25)
“In recent years, many have been critical of attempts to leverage TikTok in trade deals. Democratic Senator Mark Warner previously warned that treating ‘national security as a tradable item’ was dangerous. But Warner, and many Democrats, are missing the bigger picture. While debating Chinese government control over one company, the US government has been gaining control over others. … This is the Democratic Party’s fundamental problem. They keep attacking Republicans for positions the GOP abandoned years ago, while avoiding battles where the real differences lie. They fight mighty battles against the champions of free markets, limited government, and private ownership. But that Republican Party is gone.” [editor’s note: Capitalism and free markets are opposites – TLK] (09/29/25)
“Congress is threatening another ‘government shutdown’ as the September 30 deadline approaches. But here’s what most Americans don’t understand: Government has never shut down. Not once. What people call “shutdowns” affect only the most visible, least essential [sic] services. The actual machinery of government continues operating normally during shutdowns. … What does shutdown theater actually cost taxpayers? Lost Productivity, for starters. The 2013 shutdown cost $2.5 billion in back pay to 850,000 furloughed employees who missed a combined 6.6 million work days. All that productivity was permanently lost, since they were paid for work not performed. Shutdowns also result in special expenses specifically related to preparing for shutdowns.” (09/29/25)
“On July 17th, I joined a group of Vermonters for a Good Trouble Lives On action in a village near where we were staying that month. Over the past 161 straight days, a small but determined contingent of mostly White, mostly grey-haired, mostly too-polite-to-make-much-trouble residents had been gathering at noon to protest Donald Trump’s policies on a little triangle of land where two streets meet in the village center. Their number had swelled to several dozen on that very hot day, a significant turnout for a community of fewer than 1,000 people. The majority of those driving past us flashed their lights, waved, or nodded in support, including the driver of a giant Pepsi delivery truck. … A young organizer tried to start a chant of protest, but the majority made it clear that they preferred to stand quietly, and she gave up.” (09/28/25)
Source: Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
by Garrett Gravley
“That Trump’s administration chilled protected speech notwithstanding the law is distressing. Jawboning is unconstitutional, as the Supreme Court unanimously held last year in NRA v. Vullo. In that case, the state of New York pressured financial institutions and insurance companies to sever ties with the gun rights organization in the aftermath of the Parkland shooting. Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in the opinion, ‘Government officials cannot attempt to coerce private parties in order to punish or suppress views that the government disfavors.’ Yet that is exactly what happened here. We just witnessed the FCC attempt to coerce Disney to suppress Kimmel’s speech, just as New York attempted to coerce financial institutions to suppress the NRA’s advocacy.” (09/29/25)
“The United States almost bans nuclear power. Yes, the government allows existing nuclear plants to keep running, producing 19% of all U.S. electricity. But getting a new nuclear reactor approved — much less a whole new nuclear plant — is next to impossible. … Given this draconian regulation, you might think that Americans absolutely detest nuclear power. If you take a hasty look at public opinion, however, that looks totally false.” (09/29/25)
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“The single dumbest conspiracy theory in the entire world is that every major humanitarian institution on earth is conspiring to falsely frame Israel for the crime of genocide. And yet believing this bat shit insane conspiracy theory is the only way to think it’s not a genocide. There is no other way to claim that there is no genocide happening in Gaza without treating this self-evidently ridiculous theory as true. In order to believe that there is no genocide in Gaza, you need to accept it as a given that the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory is conspiring to frame Israel for this crime. You also need to believe that the International Association of Genocide Scholars is in on the conspiracy. You also need to believe the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem is in on the conspiracy.” (09/29/25)
