NEW POD: DOWN IS UP FOR TRUMP

and a free speech hero and her Palestinian father want you to understand

On this week’s show:

Podcast episode in above link.

The conviction of Donald Trump feels both absurd and apocryphal and it leads this week’s podcast. Razor sharp American essayist Chris Bray brings his acute criticisms of this political mugging but ensures his smug Canadian interviewer (me) never forgets our own Alvin Bragg moment. Bray has always been outraged by the invocation of the Emergencies Act and prosecution of Freedom Convoy protestors, making the point that political lawfare is alive and well in Canada, too. Point well taken. If any of us are still up on our high horses, it’s time for a major climb-down.

The cases are similar in other ways, too. Yes, politics is driving the train but so is culture. The New Yorkers on that jury have been absorbing scarey, anti-populist propaganda for years and probably see Trump as the existential threat portrayed by the Dem’s media apparatchiks for nearly ten years. Only a fool would believe for a minute that a NYC jury could behave objectively in judging a man they’ve been conditioned, on an hourly basis, to fear and hate. The lesson is that lawfare begins not in the courtroom but inside a propaganda-driven narrative that infects the environment beforehand. And the trucker protestors have to overcome that in spades, despite our government’s official story being in tatters.

I have issues with Trump. Vaccines. Foreign policy — gone are the days back in 2016 when he was opposed to the forever war neocons, like Nikki Haley but he inches closer with every speech. Even so, I am fair-minded and want him to win in order to poke the eye of DC lawfare corruption. I live for that day, actually. Although I do wonder what will happen if he loses the election and then wins an appeal overturning the conviction. My God. Would the country survive it? How long can a voting cohort be undermined before all hell breaks loose?

Also — sit back and please lean into our interview with Munther Younes, a highly regarded professor from Cornell University and his daughter Jenin — a lawyer involved in the massive anti-censorship case; Missouri v. Biden.

A federal appeals court on Friday upheld key parts of a preliminary injunction against federal interference with content moderation on social media platforms. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit unanimously agreed that the White House, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the FBI had "coerced" or "significantly encouraged" the platforms, "in violation of the First Amendment," to suppress speech that federal officials viewed as dangerously inaccurate or misleading. But the 5th Circuit also said the injunction that U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty issued in July was excessively broad and covered too many agencies.

But she’s not on the show with her dad this week to talk about her work around free speech. Since October 7th, she’s struggled with how some people seemed quick to dehumanize all Palestinians for the actions of Hamas. And as the civilian death toll mounts and the images of blown apart children sweep social media, she’s decided to speak out. I’m happy to give Jenin and her father a platform to talk about what it’s been like for them recently but also historically for Palestinians like Professor Younes who was born in the West Bank, dirt poor and worked his way to the highest levels of academia. It is a brutal but also heartwarming story of family history and love.

On a personal note, since many have asked, I am on the comeback trail. It will be a long time before I’m back to normal but physio is helping and I’m committed to not becoming that older woman who “was never the same after that fall.” Most important of all, Chillie knows she is forgiven.

Stay critical.