A FRIEND OF GLENN’S WRITES: “The Financial Times appears to have come out against free speech.”

Here’s a bit from FT’s “The real history of free speech — from supreme ideal to poisonous politics.”

So what exactly do we mean by free speech, and should there be any limits on it? In democracies, we celebrate free expression for good and hard-won reasons. Liberty of conscience is superior to enforced theocracy. The right to voice opinions without being persecuted is a hallmark of free societies as opposed to autocracies; so is the creation of challenging art and literature. Whatever your truths, freedom of expression is a valuable and inspiring ideal. 

But that doesn’t mean its principles are obvious or absolute. We often assume they must have been clearly established by great thinkers of the past, from Milton to James Madison to George Orwell, and that it’s only in the present that we’ve lost our way. But the real history of free speech is far more interesting — and it illuminates our current predicaments in surprisingly direct ways. 

Weird how “free speech” only became a problem when DOGE began disassembling the multibillion-dollar government apparatus that promoted the speech of one side, and not during (and just before) the Biden administration when those same tools, aided by social media, were used to stifle dissent.

CHANGE (IT BACK):

Received from an insider at JPMorgan Chase.

The COO sent a company-wide email saying that they are overhauling their DEI office to remove “Equity” because they want to focus on EQUAL OPPORTUNITY and not equal outcomes.

They also reinforce that they are a merit-based system and… pic.twitter.com/bYzqGlJoyW

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) March 21, 2025

FLORIDA MAN FRIDAY [VIP]: He Threatened to Fight Trump Naked. “It’s time for your much-needed break from the serious news, and this week we have a would-be naked chainsaw assassin, Florida Woman’s Steely Dan impersonation, and one shell of a good time in New Jersey.”

GAVIN NEWSOM LIES, FILM AT 11 — AND AT EVERY OTHER HOUR:

THIS IS BRUTAL! Gavin Newsom claimed on his podcast that no one in his office ever used the word "Latinx" to describe Latinos, so CNN aired a compilation of Newsom himself saying it REPEATEDLY.

It's amazing to see leftists tearing themselves apart.

Newsom: "By the way, not one… pic.twitter.com/jM1YxiWxeC

— George (@BehizyTweets) March 21, 2025

BILL WHITTLE’S HOT MIC: Why Autopen Matters.

Good stuff from Bill, as always.

HOW COOL IS THAT?

🚨 BREAKING: Trump says he will pay the astronauts who were stranded in outer space overtime out of his own pocket.

DOOCY: They didn't get any over time. $5 per day per diem, that's $1,430 in extra pay. Can the administration fix this?

TRUMP: No one mentioned this. If I have… pic.twitter.com/5WNbdzYYZa

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) March 21, 2025

NO. They’re BAAAAACK: NBC News Reports ‘The Bidens Want Back In.’

IT REALLY IS SPACEX VS. THE WORLD:

pic.twitter.com/8pfekpAAce

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 21, 2025

SpaceX last year performed about the same number of launches as everybody else around the world, but those launches accounted for approximately 84% of the total mass to orbit.

CLARIFICATION: Those SpaceX launches accounted for the 84%.

WELL, YEAH:

We told you those grants were all funding Dems! https://t.co/h4797sEXic pic.twitter.com/omhBAmZz4V

— Margot Cleveland (@ProfMJCleveland) March 21, 2025

If Newsweek’s Evan Thomas was right that media support (back when they still had something of a reputation) might lift a Democrat contender by 15 points, you have to wonder how much of the public’s support for progressive politics is an illusion created by all those siphoned tax dollars.

WELL, GOOD: New York’s Top Court Rules Noncitizen Voting in NYC Elections Is Unconstitutional.

THE NEW SPACE RACE: Space Force General: Chinese Satellites ‘Dogfighting’ in Orbit.

The vice chief of the U.S. Space Force said Chinese satellites have been observed rehearsing “dogfighting” maneuvers in low Earth orbit, a display of the communist nation’s ability to perform complex maneuvers in orbit.

The maneuvers, referred to as rendezvous and proximity operations, involve not only navigating around other objects but also inspecting them, the Air Force Times reported Tuesday.

“With our commercial assets, we have observed five different objects in space maneuvering in and out and around each other in synchronicity and in control,” Vice Chief of Space Operations Gen. Michael Guetlein said Tuesday at the McAleese Defense Programs Conference in Washington, D.C.

“That’s what we call dogfighting in space. They are practicing tactics, techniques, and procedures to do on-orbit space operations from one satellite to another.”

Things are getting real interesting up there.

AND ALL IT TOOK WAS A PRESIDENT WILLING TO ENFORCE EXISTING LAW: Tom Homan: ‘U.S. Borders Are Closed.’

INSTANT KARMA’S GONNA GET YOU:

Entitled liberal associate makes enormous political demands of Skadden Arps’ leadership and gets immediately put on leave

You love to see it pic.twitter.com/2GAPxli5Ef

— Will Chamberlain (@willchamberlain) March 21, 2025

COLORADO: Relatives of suspect react to shooting that injured 3 Pueblo officers.

Pueblo Chief of Police Chris Noeller spoke to reporters as he brimmed with emotion and strong words, holding not only anger for the suspect but also for lawmakers.

Chief Noeller said the suspect who is accused of shooting three of his officers had a lengthy record, and should never have been on the street to begin with.

“[He] had a criminal history that spans pages. He had 14 felony arrests, most of which pled to misdemeanors,” said the chief.

Police say the suspect, Billy Soto, was a self-admitted MS13 gang member. Chief Noeller says he was out on bond for three felony cases. He was also wanted on attempted murder charges, according to police.

“The blood of my officers lays at the steps of our Capitol,” said Chief of Police Chris Noeller.

Analysis: true.

MEANWHILE, OVER AT VODKAPUNDIT: Americans Are Still Fleeing Blue States — and Taking Their Electoral Votes With Them. “Is it too early to wargame the 2028 Electoral College? Of course it is, don’t be silly — that’s why we’re going to look at 2032 today.”

Investigators say a Delta jet descended too quickly before Toronto crash last month.

In releasing its preliminary report on the February 17th crash Thursday, Canada’s Transportation Safety Board noted that in the seconds before touching down, the CRJ 900 was descending at a rate of more than 1,100 feet per minute, which is nearly twice as fast as it should’ve been descending.
…
In the final seconds before touching down at Toronto’s Pearson Airport at 2:12 p.m. ET in strong, gusty winds, the TSB report shows that the plane was descending at a rate of more than 1,100 feet per minute. The report notes the aircraft’s operating manual states that a hard landing is defined as “[a] landing at a vertical descent rate greater than 600 ft/min.”

In addition, the plane was banking at an angle of 7.1° to the right, and the pitch attitude was 1° nose up.

The TSB report says that as the plane touched down, the right landing gear fractured and retracted. The right wing then scraped the ground and broke off at the fuselage, releasing a cloud of jet fuel that caught fire as the airplane overturned and moved down the runway.

The preliminary investigation does not explain why the plane was descending faster than it should have, nor what role the strong winds may have had in the crash. Much of the information in the preliminary report comes from the aircraft’s flight data recorder. No information from the cockpit voice recorder was released.

Developing…

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Trump Begins Culling the Public Education Indoctrination Herd. “The Democrats are really going to be losing their minds over this, I mean more than usual. President Trump’s executive order aims a poison arrow directly at the heart of one of their biggest cash cows and the apparatus they use to dumb down the electorate.”

JOHN DANIEL DAVIDSON: The Judicial Insurrection Is Worse Than You Think.

More nationwide injunctions and restraining orders have been issued against Trump in the past month that were issued against the Biden administration in four years. On Wednesday alone, four different federal judges ordered Elon Musk to reinstate USAID workers (something he and DOGE have no authority to do), ordered President Trump to disclose sensitive operational details about the deportation flights of alleged terrorists, ordered the Department of Defense to admit individuals suffering from gender dysphoria to the military, and ordered the Department of Education to issue $600 million in DEI grants to schools.

On one level, what all this amounts to is an attempted takeover of the Executive Branch by the Judicial Branch — a judicial coup d’état. These judges are usurping President Trump’s valid exercise of his Executive Branch powers through sheer judicial fiat — a raw assertion of power by one branch of the federal government against another.

But on another, deeper level, this is an attempt by the judiciary to prevent the duly elected president from reclaiming control of the Executive Branch from the federal bureaucracy — the deep state, which has long functioned as an unelected and unaccountable fourth branch of the government. This unconstitutional fourth branch has always been controlled by Democrats and leftist ideologues who, under the guise of being nonpartisan experts neutrally administering the functions of government, have effectively supplanted the political branches. Unfortunately, to large extent the political branches have acquiesced in the usurpation of their authority.

Trump, with a strong mandate from the American electorate, has resolved to wrest control of the government from the deep state. The deep state in turn has been forced to fall back on its last line of defense: the courts.

Read the whole thing.

I had a few thoughts on this and a couple of broader issues in this week’s VIP Thursday Essay, “Burning Down the House.”

UPDATE (FROM GLENN): I, too, have thoughts on Trump and the courts.

KEVIN DOWNEY JR TACKLES THE ISSUE OF OUR TIME AS ONLY HE CAN: Call of Doody: Elon-Hater Goes a Smudge Too Far.

YOU DON’T SAY: Net zero could CRASH Britain’s economy with poorest in society hit hardest, leaked document admits.

A leaked Whitehall assessment has revealed that the UK’s rush to achieve net zero could wipe 10 per cent off economic growth by 2030 and potentially trigger a financial crash.

The never-before-published Government document contains stark warnings about the economic consequences of poorly planned carbon neutrality efforts.

It claims the transition to net zero by 2050 comes with the “potential risk of destabilising the financial system”.

The assessment, seen by The Sun, also suggests the poorest in society will bear the heaviest burden of these economic changes.

It contains stark warnings about the economic consequences of poorly planned carbon neutrality efforts.

The document was prepared by the Business and Trade Department in November 2023.

The report warns that hundreds of billions of pounds worth of assets worldwide may need to be retired up to 30 years before the end of their useful life.

This could cause market meltdown due to sudden drops in company values, affecting both British firms and overseas investors.

The document highlights that the financial risk of these “stranded assets” is “not yet fully reflected in companies’ values”.

Proponents of Net Zero know all this — it’s the entire point.

FA, MEET FO: Molotov Cocktail Hour Is Over for Tesla Bombers After DOJ Indictments.

CENSORSHIP:

/1🚨BREAKING — Explosive new documents expose a massive government-backed censorship operation orchestrated by USAID, the Global Engagement Center, the UK government, and media firms to manipulate public discourse and silence Americans. pic.twitter.com/ScJJeYoFcJ

— America First Legal (@America1stLegal) March 20, 2025

More:

The documents reveal the Global Engagement Center (GEC), the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the UK government, and media groups working together to conduct mass censorship under the guise of “misinformation,” “disinformation,” and “malinformation.”

AFL obtained the documents through ongoing litigation against the U.S. Department of State’s GEC.

The GEC, which was forced to shut down in December 2024, was originally created to “combat foreign disinformation abroad.”

However, through litigation, AFL exposed that the GEC promoted state-sponsored propaganda, using private media organizations to suppress American speech.

AFL’s litigation also revealed that USAID created an internal “Disinformation Primer,” explicitly praising private sector censorship strategies and recommending further censorship tactics.

More at the thread.

ANALYSIS: TRUE. Musk says DOGE cuts necessary or ‘ship of America will sink.’

ISN’T EVERYTHING? Bazinga! Physics Is Racist.

CHRISTIAN TOTO: Late Night Laughs While Tesla Dealerships Burn. “Audiences at ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live,’ ‘Daily Show’ giggle over domestic terrorism.”