Free Speech Future, episode 2
Source: Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
“Regulating AI: Who decides?” (04/16/26)
https://expression.fire.org/p/free-speech-future-episode-ii-regulating
US House passes short-term extension to unconstitutional warrantless spying “law”
Source: The Hill
“The House unanimously passed a short-term of the [regime’s] spy powers until in the wee hours Friday morning — pushing the deadline from April 20 to April 30 — after GOP rebels dramatically rejected a late-night, last-minute deal to extend for five years while adding some additional reforms and language intended to woo the holdouts. The move buys time for leaders to figure out how to address Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act after the deal crumbled, while avoiding a lapse in the authorization that expires on April 20. … it marked one of the most notable instances of the GOP’s right flank outright defying Trump’s wishes on a major vote.” (04/17/26)
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5835879-fisa-702-spy-powers-vote/
Unfit to Govern: We Need a 25th Amendment for the American Police State
Source: CounterPunch
by John W Whitehead & Nisha Whitehead
“[W]hat happens when the president appears unable to discharge the duties of his office in a rational, coherent, and responsible manner? In other words, what can we do when the president appears to be losing his mind? The Constitution provides a remedy. The 25th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution provides a process by which the government continues to function should the president be unable to carry out his duties. … while the president may be unraveling in plain sight, the machinery of the American Police State continues to expand—quietly, relentlessly, and with bipartisan support. Surveillance is expanding. Policing is becoming more militarized. Power is becoming more centralized and less accountable. And unlike the presidency, there is no 25th Amendment for the police state. No mechanism to declare it unfit. No procedure to remove it. Or is there?” (04/16/26)
Ukraine: Russian drones hit Danube port, officials say
Source: Reuters
“A Russian overnight drone attack damaged port infrastructure in Ukraine’s largest Danube river port Izmail and one drone strayed into Romanian territory, Ukrainian and Romanian authorities said on Friday. The port lies on the southwestern tip of Ukraine facing Romanian territory across the Danube. It has become an important and frequently hit logistical area for wartime Ukraine.” (04/17/26)
Why Donald Trump’s Blockade on Iran Won’t Work
Source: Independent Institute
by Ivan Eland
“The Trump administration believes that the US Navy will prevent Iran from earning revenue from oil exports, while allowing other nations’ shipments to pass through the strait, thus resuming the transport of oil, gas, fertilizer, and other important items for global markets. This surgical outcome, however, may be harder to achieve than it looks. … The IRGC organized its navy around a meticulously planned asymmetric model—that is, like guerrilla fighters on land, it employs hit-and-run tactics against commercial shipping using small, fast attack boats and missile boats. More than 60 percent of the fast attack boats have survived US and Israeli air strikes. These smaller boats emerge from concealed underground pens or from hiding places among civilian boats, making them difficult for satellite reconnaissance to detect. Also, the boats can lay sea mines much faster than the slow, dangerous process of finding and neutralizing them.” (04/16/26)
https://www.independent.org/article/2026/04/16/why-donald-trumps-blockade-on-iran-wont-work/
MN: ICE gangster charged with assault
Source: NBC News
“An ICE agent who was part of the federal immigration surge in Minnesota earlier this year was charged with felony second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon, a Minnesota prosecutor announced Thursday. The agent, Gregory Donnell Morgan Jr., is accused of pointing a gun at the heads of two civilians in a vehicle, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said. This is the first case of an ICE agent facing charges related to the Trump administration’s Operation Metro Surge in Minnesota, which drew national outrage after the [murders] of two U.S. citizens by federal immigration authorities. Morgan was charged Thursday with two counts of second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon, one count for each victim, and there is a warrant out for his arrest, Moriarty said. The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the charges.” (04/16/26)
What (and How) Should Our Students Be Taught Today?
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Bert Olivier
“Taken together, the seven liberal arts of the Trivium and Quadrivium formed the core undergraduate curriculum in medieval universities during the 12th and 13th centuries, serving as prerequisites for the study of philosophy and theology at a higher level. Considering that the Trivium was regarded as teaching students to master language and thought through the study of grammar, logic, and rhetoric – the ‘three ways’ of literary education – it may be seen as a powerful reminder to us today that unless one knows how to employ language at these three levels, it would be futile to proceed to a different, and higher, level of study, because an inadequate grasp of linguistic meaning, logical relations of validity, and the rhetorical nuances of speech would invalidate understanding at all further levels – even in computer science, where linguistic communication is as essential as in the humanities.” (04/16/26)
https://brownstone.org/articles/what-and-how-should-our-students-be-taught-today/
VA: Former lieutenant governor kills wife, himself
Source: CNN
“Former Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, whose tenure was marred by sexual assault allegations, shot and killed his wife, Cerina Fairfax, inside their home and then killed himself, police said. The couple’s two teenage children were inside the home when the shootings occurred, Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis said, noting their son had placed the 911 call. Fairfax County police responded to the home in Annandale, Virginia, shortly after midnight Thursday, where they found a man and woman dead inside, police said earlier. The same firearm appears to have been used in both shootings, Davis said. The shooting stemmed from an ongoing domestic dispute surrounding ‘what seems to be a complicated or messy divorce,’ Davis said.” (04/16/26)
https://www.cnn.com/2026/04/16/us/justin-fairfax-virginia-investigation
The Price of a Canadian Education?
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob
“At a convention of Canadian Liberals, tech executive Patrick Pichette proposed that youngsters eager to escape Canada be charged a half-million dollars for what he apparently regards as a privilege, not a right. We must remind ourselves that the word ‘liberal,’ here, is used in its modern, anti-liberal sense: of the ideology of ever-increasing restraints on everybody. Very illiberal. Even if Pichette means Canadian dollars, that’s still $360,000 in real USD dollars. Hardly a ten-dollar processing fee. More like extortion. He rationalizes that the kids owe that much anyway thanks to Canada’s heavily subsidized education system.” (04/26/26)
They Always Tell You Why The Empire Uses Violence, But Never Why Its Enemies Do
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“One common feature of western empire propaganda is that we are always given reasons for the empire’s violence, while the violence of those who resist the empire tends to be framed as happening for no reason at all. We’ve all been fed reasons for the US-Israeli war on Iran, and we all know what those reasons are. Even less-informed members of the western public will have heard something about the Iranians being a nuclear threat, having a tyrannical government, and maybe something about sponsoring terrorist groups. But the so-called ‘peaceful protesters’ who were killed in an uprising fomented and facilitated by the United States? They were killed for no reason, simply because the Iranian government is evil and hates dissent. … It is only by pure coincidence that this happened at the exact same time the US empire was making the decision to try to topple the Iranian government.” (04/16/26)