“When Preston Byrne received a demand from Ofcom for £20,000 last month, he printed it off, put it through the shredder and turned it into bedding for his pet hamster. The lawyer, who is representing US messageboard 4chan in its legal wrangling with Ofcom, even publicly poked fun at Britain’s communications quango, telling it that his hamster – Mr Whiskers – said the letter ‘smelled of failure.’ It’s a sign of just how confident the American attorney is in his assertion that Britain’s Online Safety Act has no legal force outside the UK, despite Ofcom’s claims to the contrary.” (11/05/25)
“American patriots began their rebellion against the British Crown in part because Parliament, in faraway London, forced them to pay taxes on imported goods without their consent. Their slogan, ‘no taxation without representation,’ evolved into a foundational principle of the United States. … You wouldn’t think we’d be relitigating this on the eve of the nation’s 250th birthday. But we are, because President Trump has asserted the power to levy tariffs without any debate or vote in Congress. Yesterday, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a lawsuit brought by small businesses and states who are affected by the tariffs and want to stop them. It’s a big deal for the economy. But it’s also a historic test of the judiciary’s willingness to act as an independent check on the executive.” (11/06/25)
“Some scholars have come up with the idea that it is not really a ‘civil war’ until there are at least a thousand dead in the fighting. While we disagree with that entire chain of logic, we note that such a milestone has long been passed when it comes to government agencies killing people over political matters, certainly in only a decade or so.” (11/05/25)
Source: Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
by Graham Piro
“At a moment of political turmoil in American history, rife with violence, mass protest, and division, one university chose neutrality. In 1967, when the president of the University of Chicago convened a faculty committee to deliberate on how the university should approach social and political issues, American higher education faced a pivotal moment. The Berkeley Free Speech Movement had changed the face of campus activism just three years prior. American society was rocked by protests against the Vietnam War and racial segregation. That the committee emerged from deliberations with the Kalven Report, which recommended that colleges and universities stay neutral on major social and political issues, was a testament to the committee’s understanding of the purpose of the university to advance knowledge and truth-seeking.” (11/05/25)
Source: The Peaceful Revolutionist
by David S D’Amato
“I suggested last time that what we need to do going forward is redirect politics, making it an exercise in interrogating and exposing the factual story of the system. This is a positive politics that has no use for the prevailing politics of impotent identity on both apparent teams. If you know my positive politics of ‘consistent Manchesterism,’ then you know that what I’m not doing here is criticizing liberalism on substantive grounds. As we’ve discussed, almost all ordinary people, irrespective of their professed political opinions, already practice some broadly liberal and pluralistic politics in their day-to-day lives, in that they are more than willing to treat others with basic decency and respect, on account of the fact that they’re dealing with another human being.” (11/05/25)
“President Donald Trump’s gerrymandering war has never looked riskier for his party. Prodded by Trump, Republicans earlier this year launched an audacious plan to entrench their congressional majority by redrawing House-district maps to squeeze out Democrats — anywhere and everywhere they could. The gambit was an exercise in political power and, coming outside of the traditional decennial redistricting process, without precedent in modern history. Yet if Democrats feared not long ago that they would be locked out of a House majority, their decisive victories across the country last night have made them, arguably, the favorites heading into next year’s midterm elections.” (11/05/25)
“If you’re a Democrat who woke up this morning with a strange and unfamiliar sensation you couldn’t name, let me help you out: It’s called optimism. After running the table in Tuesday’s off-year elections, there’s a sense that the party has at last found new voices and a message — affordability — that resonates with voters. It really hasn’t — not even close. And that’s exactly why Republicans should be scared out of their minds right about now.” (11/05/25)
“The very first economic fight under the Constitution wasn’t over a national bank. It wasn’t over building roads or canals. It was about tariffs. This was, as James Madison called it, the subject of ‘the greatest magnitude’ – demanding, he insisted, their first attention. Yet today, this foundational debate, and all its messy details, is almost completely forgotten.” (11/05/25)
“The map below shows the state of the U.S. Senate after the 2012 election: a blue state indicates both of the state’s senators are Democrats, a red state indicates both are Republicans, and a purple state means there’s one senator from each party. Notice anything interesting about this map? As a result of the 2012 election, a whopping 16 states had both a Democratic and a Republican U.S. senator. As of 2025, only two states have representation from both parties. … Meanwhile, in 2025, pundits warn of a permanent Republican majority in the Senate. Yes, the Democrats had a strong night last night with wins in Virginia’s and New Jersey’s gubernatorial races and in down-ballot races across the country, but those are a handful of elections in an off-cycle year and do not dent the Republicans’ dominance in the middle of the country and particularly in the Senate.” (11/05/25)
“When I taught at the University of Rochester from 1975 to 1979 and Santa Clara University from 1980 to 1981, I didn’t tell students my political beliefs. Here was the problem: I don’t have a poker face. So, for example, when I taught about the effects of rent controls on the quantity and quality of housing, I was probably showing with facial expressions that I thought rent controls were a bad idea. In a way, it seemed phony. Don’t tell your students your views explicitly. But tell them with your facial expressions and body language. I remember struggling with this very early in my teaching career at Rochester and discussing it with seasoned history professor Ralph Raico at Buffalo State. He pointed out that it would be strange to study a discipline carefully for years and not reach conclusions and so, according to him, there was nothing wrong with stating my views explicitly.” (11/05/25)
