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1. British MPs are trying to “cancel” Russell Brand…but why?

Kit Knightly This Russell Brand story gets stranger and stranger by the day. Last night it was revealed the a senior MP had written letters to multiple social media companies requesting information on Russell Brand's income and covertly pressuring them into either demonetizing or removing his accounts. [NOTE: Before we continue you may want to …

2. UK quietly passes “Online Safety Bill” into law

Kit Knightly Buried behind the Brand-related headlines yesterday, the British House of Lords voted to pass the controversial "Online Safety Bill" into law. All that's needed now is Royal assent, which Charles will obviously provide. The bill's (very catchy) long-form title is… A Bill to make provision for and in connection with the regulation by …

3. How Not to Launch a Global Anti-Censorship Movement

CJ Hopkins So, I've been excommunicated from Michael Shellenberger's global anti-censorship movement. It's my own fault. I was sowing dissension. I engaged in harmful speech in the group chat. I was making people feel uncomfortable. I was not playing ball. I was not with the program. The program, as you may recall, was launched in …

4. Resisting Genetically Mutilated Food & the Eco-Modern Nightmare: Together, ‘Just You and Me’  

Colin Todhunter This image is symbolic of everything that is wrong with modern society. A gas leak from Union Carbide's pesticide plant in Bhopal in 1984 resulted in around 560,000 injured (respiratory problems, eye irritation, etc.), 4,000 severely disabled and 20,000 dead. Not only that, but the pesticides produced at the factory and the model …

5. DISCUSS: The Russell Brand “Investigation”

The Russell Brand scandal is big news right now. And by "big news" I mean it is quite literally the front-page story in every major newspaper in the UK… British tabloids all put out the hit piece on Russell Brand at once pic.twitter.com/gTIVRsK7rx — David Wolfe (@DavidWolfe) September 17, 2023 …that level of media coordination …

6. Death by a Thousand Cuts: The Many Ways Our Rights Have Been Usurped Since 9/11

John whitehead "We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution." Abraham Lincoln Those who gave us the Constitution and the Bill of Rights believed that the government exists at the behest of its citizens. It is there …

7. This Week in the New Normal #72

Our successor to This Week in the Guardian, This Week in the New Normal is our weekly chart of the progress of autocracy, authoritarianism and economic restructuring around the world. 1. Climate Court-case changes tack Three years ago we covered the story of six Portuguese teenagers, "climate activists" who were attempting to sue the governments …

8. Another Magical JFK Assassination Pseudo-Debate and Limited Hangout

Edward curtin Much has been made of the September 9, 2023 simultaneous reports in The New York Times and Vanity Fair of the claims of a former Secret Service agent, Paul Landis, who was part of the security detail in Dallas, Texas when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963.  Like so many reports by such …

9. Curiosity Killed the Cat; Satisfaction Brought it Back

Todd Hayen It is simply this: do not tire, never lose interest, never grow indifferent—lose your invaluable curiosity and you let yourself die. It's as simple as that. Tove Jansson, Fair Play I have been pondering for years why shrews are shrews and sheep are sheep (sorry if you don't like my terms, it is …