TX: Austin council candidate released after abduction tied to anti-gang protest

Source: Austin American-Statesman

“Misael Ramos, an Austin City Council candidate running to represent District 1 in East Austin, was released from the Travis County Jail on Saturday evening after state troopers arrested him earlier in the day. … Jeffrey Clemmons, Ramos'[s] campaign manager, said two of Ramos’ neighbors saw him being detained by several state troopers, including officers in unmarked vehicles, while Ramos was walking his dog around 8:50 a.m. Saturday. Clemmons said the officers never showed Ramos a warrant for his arrest. … Travis County Sheriff’s Office records show that Ramos was booked into Travis County Central Booking at 9:31 a.m. Saturday on a charge of participating in a riot, a Class B misdemeanor.” [editor’s note: The “riot” was a protest over the ICE gang’s attempted murder of a DoorDash driver – TLK] (09/26/26)

https://archive.is/56l0V

The Why of Food Emancipation

Source: Brownstone Institute
by Jeffrey A Tucker

“As incredible as it seems, many people today haven’t thought at all about food production, any more than driving gives us consciousness of car factories or wearing clothes makes us aware of cotton fields and robotic looms. When asked, people just assume food as we know it comes from some factory out there somewhere and who cares anyway? … an entire way of life – a way toward health, well-being, and happiness – has been stolen from us. Not neglected, not outcompeted, but literally forced out of existence. This happened not by market forces as such, not by some impersonal mind of history, but by a labyrinth of regulations, mandates, taxes, controls, subsidies, and monopoly-creating controls, all conspiring to keep the way of life of our ancestors from returning.” (09/26/26)

https://brownstone.org/articles/the-why-of-food-emancipation/

Tech Plutocrats Cannot Lead Us Into A Healthy Future

Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone

“Tech plutocrats are the high-budget expression of the ‘everyone is twelve now’ theory. You wanna go to Mars? Of course you do, you’re twelve. You think you can merge your consciousness with machinery and unlock the key to immortality? Hell yeah my twelve year-old homie. You’re gonna invent an Artificial Superintelligence God who will solve all our problems? Bless your twelve year-old heart. Their visions for the future of humanity are never particularly wise or intelligent. It’s just a bunch of drugged-up rich guys using their vast fortunes to chart a course for our species that would sound totally awesome to the average preadolescent boy.” (09/26/26)

https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2026/09/26/tech-plutocrats-cannot-lead-us-into-a-healthy-future/

Spain: 87-year-old’s eviction sparks encampment in Madrid plaza to protest housing crisis

Source: Associated Press

“Protesters outraged by the eviction of an 87-year-old woman spent the night camped in Madrid’s historic Puerta del Sol plaza, where more people — including multigenerational families — joined them Sunday for a second day of demonstrations over Spain’s housing crisis. Tens of thousands of people marched in Madrid on Saturday to protest the eviction of María del Carmen Abascal from an apartment in the upscale Retiro neighborhood which had been her home for decades. Protesters are demanding protective measures for tenants, anti-fraud rules and a ban on evictions without alternative housing.” (09/27/26)

https://apnews.com/article/spain-evictions-madrid-housing-protest-afee10896ccb41d324375f8f148e4804

American Jesus: Christian Revival and “Casinofication”

Source: CounterPunch
by David S D’Amato

“As Hannah Hartley writes this month for the Rumi Forum’s Center for Faith Identity & Globalization, ‘Christianity is not growing among Gen Z in any meaningful aggregate sense. It is consolidating, becoming smaller in total membership, more male, more politically conservative, and more legible as a vehicle for political identity.’ The clickbait mirage of religious revival has obscured these very real trends for years, forestalling a more relevant and important conversation about the role Christianity plays in American politics and culture. And that conversation is worth having for several reasons, not least of which is that it underscores the deep ambivalence and ambiguity of Jesus as a figure in our cultural history.” (09/25/26)

https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/09/25/american-jesus-christian-revival-and-casinofication/

Republican candidates can’t escape the stink of Trumpism

Source: Los Angeles Times
by LZ Granderson

“‘Daddy’s back,’ is what Florida gubernatorial candidate Byron Donalds proudly said in January 2025. Which is why removing the president’s picture from the Donalds gubernatorial campaign website, as he reportedly did earlier this month, won’t remove the smell of Trumpism. Not mentioning the president’s name in television ads or suddenly being against the war in Iran that Trump started — which is what Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers is attempting to do in Michigan — will not get Trump’s thiols off of his skin. Nor will deleting the phrase ‘Trump-endorsed candidate’ from your social media bio …. those men were endorsed by the president. Each of them knew what he smelled like. Each of them agreed to smell like him … when it was politically advantageous. Now they can’t get the Trump stink off of them fast enough no matter how many times they lather, rinse and repeat.” (09/25/26)

https://archive.is/6VDsl

Europe’s New ASEAN Deal

Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Jake Scott

“In Manila, on Tuesday, September 22, the European Union and the Philippines agreed on the substance of a free trade agreement, one that revealed the shape of Europe’s strategy in Southeast Asia. The deal, giving Philippine exporters permanent preferential access to the EU market of roughly 450 million consumers, follows agreements already in force with Singapore and Vietnam, an Indonesian pact awaiting approval, and Thai talks entering what Bangkok hopes to be their final round. Together, these agreements tie the EU, already the third-largest trading partner for the ASEAN bloc, and its largest source of foreign direct investment (FDI), into several of the largest economies in the region—but not the bloc as a whole. The EU is building its Southeast Asian relationship nation by nation, undermining the prospects of a bloc-to-bloc agreement that both sides still profess to want.” (09/25/26)

https://fee.org/articles/europes-new-asean-deal/

White House moves to block $810 million in spending through pocket rescission

Source: CNBC

“The White House on Friday evening announced plans to claw back $810 million in congressionally appropriated funding, prompting criticism from lawmakers. A year ago, President Donald Trump’s administration blocked $4.9 billion in congressionally approved foreign aid through a pocket rescission, marking the first time in roughly 50 years that the president has attempted to use that authority. The controversial budget maneuver occurs when a president submits a request to Congress to block funding so close to the end of the fiscal year that the funds can expire before Congress receives the full 45-day consideration period under the law. … The rescissions would block $567 million appropriated for Health and Human Services programs for refugees, asylees and other non-citizens and $28 million for HHS research. Additional cuts target the Department of Education’s special programs for immigrant students, among other programs.” (09/26/26)

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/09/26/white-house-810-million-pocket-rescission.html