The Trump administration has said it will require Pentagon reporters to “pledge they won’t gather any information—even unclassified—that hasn’t been expressly authorized for release, and will revoke the press credentials of those who do not obey,” the Washington Post (9/19/25) reported. It added that even being in possession of “confidential or unauthorized information, under the new rules, would be grounds for a journalist’s press pass to be revoked.”

Charlie Kirk, July 24, 2023: “Joe Biden is a bumbling dementia filled Alzheimer's corrupt tyrant who should honestly be put in prison and/or given the death penalty for his crimes against America.”

Journalists and defenders of press freedom are expressing alarm and condemnation after the Pentagon, under the command of President Donald Trump and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, announced new restrictions on reporters that include pre-approval of stories that include even unclassified material and a new pledge not to publish any material without permission from government officials.

The foreign ministers of 16 nations on Tuesday implored Israel to not attack the Global Sumud Flotilla, a fleet of around 40 boats attempting to deliver desperately needed humanitarian aid to the embattled Gaza Strip, where Palestinians are suffering 22 months of US-backed genocidal war and forced famine.

Six newborns, at least two of whom were premature, lie crammed into a single crib at Gaza City's Al-Ahli Hospital, mere days before Rosh Hashanah. It would have been better had they not been born. These are harsh words, but they are realistic.

On Friday the Bureau of Labor Statistics postponed the release of the annual report on consumer expenditures—a key report for understanding inflation—without explanation. The BLS has been under stress since President Donald J. Trump fired its head, Commissioner Erika McEntarfer, after the July jobs report showed far weaker hiring statistics than expected as well as a downgrade for previous months. Officials at the BLS said the new report will be “rescheduled to a later date.”

With apologies, this is a long post for any night, let alone a Saturday, but Trump’s abuse of the power of the prosecutor and efforts to directly control the work of the Justice Department make it essential. In a world that has become a constant barrage of horribles from this president, know that what I’m writing to you about tonight is exceptionally serious and dangerous.

A wind turbine generating electricity at a wind farm in Rhode Island in July 2022. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)

WITH HIS BROAD SHOULDERS, thick arms, and even thicker New England accent, ironworker David Langlais is exactly the sort of American who is supposed to love Donald Trump’s policies. But Langlais says he is dumbfounded by some of the president’s recent decisions, especially the one that halted work on an energy project off the coast of Rhode Island.

Jimmy Kimmel should have stuck to acceptable comments, like suggesting that homeless people be executed. (Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

"Cancel culture," "intimidation" and reminiscent of the Red Scare. That's how three First Amendment advocates described Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita's desire to publicly document and shame the controversial speech of some teachers following conservative activist Charlie Kirk's assassination.

International medical professionals who volunteered in Gaza hospitals said they treated more than 100 Palestinian children who were shot in the head or chest by Israeli forces in what appears to be a pattern of deliberate targeting, according to an investigation published Saturday by a Dutch newspaper.

Hoosiers protest potential mid-cycle redistricting outside the Indiana Statehouse on Tuesday, August 26, 2025. (Leslie Bonilla Muñiz/Indiana Capital Chronicle)

The stakes of the current redistricting debate threaten the health of our representative democracy. This is not hyperbole. Most elementary definitions of democracy indicate that free and fair elections are a prerequisite for government responsiveness. Voters get to choose their elected officials. It should not work the other way around.

Fox News host Brian Kilmeade is facing calls to resign after suggesting earlier this week that the state should execute homeless people who decline help during a live broadcast.

Free speech advocates are sounding the alarm about a bill in the US House of Representatives that they fear could allow Secretary of State Marco Rubio to strip US citizens of their passports based purely on political speech.

The bill, introduced by Rep. Brian Mast (R-Fla.), will come up for a hearing on Wednesday. According to The Intercept:

White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller vowed Friday that he and President Donald Trump would use this week’s assassination of Charlie Kirk to “dismantle” the organized left using state power.

Demonstrators in Chicago protest against President Donald Trump’s immigration policies on Sept. 6. Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images

When 30-year-old American journalist William L. Shirer arrived in Germany in 1934, he was puzzled by why the vast majority of everyday Germans had accommodated themselves to living in a totalitarian state.

As a direct result of Republicans’ controversial HEA 1447 (2023) and SEA 442 (2025), one Indiana school corporation has just banned 6 books:

Purdue University researcher Danzhou Yang is exploring a natural check on cancer that could be used to stop the disease. Yang’s work is partly funded by a current grant from the National Institutes of Health. She is not on the list of recipients with canceled grants. (Charles Jischke/Purdue University)

The nation’s largest scientific research funder abruptly canceled hundreds of millions of dollars in grants earlier this year, specifically targeting projects that addressed diversity, inclusion or vaccines.

— What if Tyler Robinson isn’t a leftie? Increasingly, as Joy Reid reports, it appears that Kirk’s alleged assassin is a rightwing “Groyper” gamer, not a leftie. This is a hard right hate-driven group/gamer-subculture that disdained Kirk as a Republican establishment sellout.

President Donald Trump speaking in the Oval Office on Wednesday. White House video

There are an estimated 500 million civilian-owned guns in the United States. There are 340.1 million people in America. It only takes 0.00000029 percent of the population—one person—with one of those half-billion guns to change our world.

Dear Fellow Vermonter,