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The FBI’s raid of journalist’s home was the product of decades of backsliding | Seth Stern and Chip Gibbons

The FBI’s raid of journalist’s home was the product of decades of backsliding | Seth Stern and Chip Gibbons

The trend of invading newsrooms, in violation of federal law, has now spread to the highest levels of the federal government The raid of a journalist’s home, along with the jailing of their alleged source, are shocking acts of authoritarianism. And they are in line with Trump’s willingness to use the national security state as a weapon against the press, which is a serious threat to our democracy. But those weapons were not invented by Trump nor did he pioneer their use against free press. The raid of Hannah Natanson, is a shocking escalation, not a rupture. The United States has been backsliding to this point – at both the federal and local levels – for quite some time. Seth Stern is the Director of Advocacy at Freedom of the Press Foundation and a first amendment lawyer Chip Gibbons is the policy director of Defending Rights & Dissent . A journalist and researcher focusing on the US national security state, Gibbons is currently working on The Imperial Bureau, forthcoming from Verso Books; based heavily on archival research and documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act Continue reading...

Has Joe Rogan fully soured on Trump’s presidency?

Has Joe Rogan fully soured on Trump’s presidency?

With a huge audience and serving as an avatar for millions of centrist Americans, Rogan compares ICE raids to Gestapo Joe Rogan ’s comparison of US immigration raids to Gestapo operations, made during a podcast episode earlier this week, has sparked speculation about whether the wildly popular podcaster, who endorsed Donald Trump in 2024, has fully soured on Trump’s presidency – and what that might say of the millions of mainly young men who listen to Rogan’s show. Rogan’s views, as expressed in the podcast discussion, were more complicated than the Gestapo remark taken alone might make them seem. Yet even his more measured skepticism about ICE immigration raids feels somewhat significant, given Rogan’s cultural status and the evidence that Americans in general are turning against Trump’s hardline anti-immigration efforts. Continue reading...

Not keen on feeble nolo wine? Try these instead

Not keen on feeble nolo wine? Try these instead

There are some decent wine substitutes out there that are worth trying – but it’s always worth remembering that they aren’t actually ‘wine’ Are you a lover of oaky rioja, or maybe zingy Kiwi sauvignon blanc, and looking to find a non-alcoholic lookalike? To put it bluntly, I’m afraid you’re out of luck. Alcohol does much more than make you tipsy; it is the magic ingredient that gives so much of wine’s wondrous complexity, character and charm. Not only does it carry volatile compounds that make up wine’s endlessly fascinating combinations of scents and tastes, along with a sensation of warmth, it also creates that viscous body and texture – what’s rather grossly known in the trade as “mouthfeel” – of the liquid in your mouth, and the overall balance of all these factors in the wine. When the base wine is dealcoholised, however, all that character goes with it. Compared with beer’s relatively low-alcohol content, wine’s usual 11%-15% ABV means that, when the alcohol has gone, you feel its absence more, which is partly why nolo beers are generally more successful than nolo wine . That said, there are some wine substitutes that are worth trying, but, to avoid disappointment, my advice is to see them as drinks that aren’t wine because, well, they’re simply not. Continue reading...