Source: The Honest Courtesan
by Maggie McNeill

“The way people of later times view a dark age is, due once again to the lack of reliable records, not at all the same as the way people living in such an age view it; the only people who are in a position to recognize that they’re living in such an age are those who understand what the term means in the first place. So it’s doubtful that the authoritarian rulers of countries like India and the United States recognize (or care) what they’re doing to future history; what’s important to this discussion is that they are using modern computer technology to do it. In the last century, it would’ve been impossible for a Trump, Modi, or Xi to eliminate every single instance of a fact or opinion they disliked …. when physical media are no longer the norm, universal censorship of a work enters the realm of the possible.” (10/06/25)

https://maggiemcneill.com/2025/10/06/nightfall/

Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger

“Throughout history, there have been tyrannies that have been imposed on the citizenry through non-democratic means. Monarchies have been one example. Another example have been communist regimes in the Soviet Union, China, North Korea, and Cuba. Still other examples have been U.S.-supported national-security-state coups in Iran, Guatemala, and Chile. What many Americans fail to realize, however, is that it is entirely possible to have tyranny with a democratically elected system.” (10/06/25)

https://www.fff.org/2025/10/06/americas-democratic-tyranny/

Source: Bet On It
by Bryan Caplan

“When John Searle exposes the errors of materialists, dualists can only be delighted. Searle and dualists, both minorities in academic philosophy of mind, have something crucial in common: Namely, they agree that mental states as standardly conceived exist; they are not ‘really’ illusions, behavior, functions, or computer programs. Denial of the reality of the mental, rather than being the necessary implication of science, is in fact a profoundly unscientific attempt to say that reality can only contain what our theories adequately account for. Despite these points of agreement, Searle’s solution to the mind-body problem is avowedly anti-dualistic; and even if he requested admission to the dualist camp, it is likely that they should be uneasy to receive him.” (10/06/25)

https://www.betonit.ai/p/solving-the-mind-body-problem-dualism

Source: Reason
by CJ Ciaramella

“When the second Trump administration issued an order threatening to strip federal funding from K-12 schools that teach children ‘anti-American, subversive, harmful, and false ideologies’ related to gender and race, it was lifting from Florida’s playbook. Likewise, the administration’s campaign against universities on such issues as anti-Israel protests, transgender athletes, and critical race theory were all preceded by Florida, where a powerful executive branch, Republican-controlled Legislature, and conservative state Supreme Court allowed Gov. Ron DeSantis to apply intense pressure to public universities and school districts. … In March, Maria Rojas, a Texas midwife who operated four clinics for low-income women in Harris and Waller counties, became the first person in the state arrested for allegedly providing illegal abortions. Rojas'[s] case was the first opportunity for Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office to flex its new criminal and civil powers under a trio of anti-abortion bills passed in 2021.” (for publication 11/25)

https://reason.com/2025/10/06/culture-war-police-state/

Source: CounterPunch
by Jeff Cohen & Richard Eskow

“Parts of the plan are uncontroversial. All sane people want the war to end quickly. And few would object to point 18, which calls for ‘an interfaith dialogue …based on the values of tolerance and peaceful co-existence.’ And yet, I wonder how many Americans noticed that #5 calls on Israel to release the 1,700 people it has seized from Gaza since 2023, ‘including all women and children …’ How many Americans even knew that Israel routinely imprisons children before they saw that sentence? Our media doesn’t mention it much. … Under international law, the United States and other countries should condemn this child abuse and demand that the children be released. however, the Trump plan uses this longstanding criminal practice as leverage, saying that the children will only be released when Hamas accedes to the demands in this proposal.” (10/06/25)

https://www.counterpunch.org/2025/10/06/the-trump-peace-plan-is-itself-a-war-crime/