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  31. <title>Research: Italy&#8217;s Piracy Shield Is Just As Big A Disaster As Everyone Predicted</title>
  32. <link>https://www.techdirt.com/2025/10/14/research-italys-piracy-shield-is-just-as-big-a-disaster-as-everyone-predicted/</link>
  33. <comments>https://www.techdirt.com/2025/10/14/research-italys-piracy-shield-is-just-as-big-a-disaster-as-everyone-predicted/#respond</comments>
  35. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Glyn Moody]]></dc:creator>
  36. <pubDate>Wed, 15 Oct 2025 02:58:46 +0000</pubDate>
  37. <category><![CDATA[1]]></category>
  38. <category><![CDATA[copyright]]></category>
  39. <category><![CDATA[domain names]]></category>
  40. <category><![CDATA[internet infrastructure]]></category>
  41. <category><![CDATA[ip addresses]]></category>
  42. <category><![CDATA[italy]]></category>
  43. <category><![CDATA[mistakes]]></category>
  44. <category><![CDATA[piracy shield]]></category>
  45. <category><![CDATA[site blocking]]></category>
  46. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.techdirt.com/?p=519325</guid>
  47.  
  48. <description><![CDATA[Walled Culture first wrote about Piracy Shield, Italy’s automated system for tackling alleged copyright infringement in the streaming sector,&#160;two years ago. Since then, we have written about&#160;the serious problems&#160;that soon emerged. But instead of fixing those issues, the government body that runs the scheme, Italy’s AGCOM (the Italian Authority for Communications Guarantees), has&#160;extended it. The [&#8230;]]]></description>
  49. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Walled Culture first wrote about Piracy Shield, Italy’s automated system for tackling alleged copyright infringement in the streaming sector,&nbsp;<a href="https://walledculture.org/a-welcome-attempt-to-take-down-piracy-shield-italys-pre-emptive-and-unfair-net-block-system/">two years ago</a>. Since then, we have written about&nbsp;<a href="https://walledculture.org/?s=piracy+shield">the serious problems</a>&nbsp;that soon emerged. But instead of fixing those issues, the government body that runs the scheme, Italy’s AGCOM (the Italian Authority for Communications Guarantees), has&nbsp;<a href="https://walledculture.org/massive-expansion-of-italys-piracy-shield-underway-despite-growing-criticism-of-its-flaws/">extended it</a>. The problems may be evident, but they have not been systematically studied, until now: a peer-reviewed study from a group of (mostly Italian) researchers has just been published as a&nbsp;<a href="https://research.utwente.nl/en/publications/90th-minute-a-first-look-to-collateral-damages-and-efficacy-of-th">preprint</a>&nbsp;(found via&nbsp;<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/piracy-shield-study-reveals-massive-overblocking-collateral-damage-250909/">TorrentFreak</a>). It’s particularly welcome as perhaps the first rigorous analysis of Piracy Shield and its flaws.</p>
  50. <p>The paper begins with a good introduction to the general area of&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Protocol">IP</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dns">DNS</a>&nbsp;blocking, also discussed in Walled Culture the book (<a href="https://walledculture.org/the-book/">free digital versions available</a>), before detailing the history of Piracy Shield. As the paper notes, one of the major concerns about the system is the lack of transparency: AGCOM does not publish a list of IP addresses or domain names that are subject to its blocking. That not only makes it extremely difficult to correct mistakes, it also – conveniently – hides those mistakes, as well as the scope and impact of Piracy Shield. To get around this lack of transparency, the researchers had to resort to a dataset leaked on GitHub, which contained 10,918&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPv4">IPv4</a>&nbsp;addresses and 42,664&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain_name">domain names</a>&nbsp;(more precisely, the latter were “<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fully_qualified_domain_name">fully qualified domain names</a>” – FQDN) that had been blocked. As good academics, the researchers naturally verified the dataset as best they could:</p>
  51. <blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
  52. <p><em>While this dataset may not be exhaustive … it nonetheless provides a conservative lower-bound estimate of the platform’s blocking activity, which serves as the foundation for the subsequent analyses.</em></p>
  53. </blockquote>
  54. <p>Much of the paper is devoted to the detailed methodology. One important result is that many of the blocked IP addresses belonged to leased IP address space. As the researchers explain:</p>
  55. <blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
  56. <p><em>This suggests that illegal streamers may attempt to exploit leased address space more intensively, even if just indirectly, by obtaining them by hosting companies that leases them, leading to more potential collateral damages for new lessees.</em></p>
  57. </blockquote>
  58. <p>This particular collateral damage arises from the fact that even after the leased IP address is released by those who are using it for allegedly unauthorized streaming, it is still blocked on the Piracy Shield system. That means whoever is allocated that leased IP address subsequently is blocked by AGCOM, but are probably unaware of that fact, because of the opaque nature of the blocking process. More generally, collateral damage arose from the wrongful blocking of a wide range of completely legitimate sites:</p>
  59. <blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
  60. <p><em>During our classification process, we observed a wide range of website types across these collaterally affected domains, including personal branding pages, company profiles, and websites for hotels and restaurants. One notable case involves 19 Albanian websites hosted on a single IP address assigned to WIIT Cloud. These sites are still unreachable from Italy.</em></p>
  61. </blockquote>
  62. <p>Italian sites were also hit, including a car mechanic, several retail shops, an accountant, a telehealth missionary program – and a nunnery. More amusingly, the researchers write:</p>
  63. <blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
  64. <p><em>we found a case of collateral damage involving a Google IP. Closer inspection revealed the IP was used by Telecom Italia to serve a blocking page for FQDNs filtered by Piracy Shield. Although later removed from the blocklist, this case suggests that collateral damage may have affected the blocking infrastructure itself.</em></p>
  65. </blockquote>
  66. <p>The academics summarize their work as follows:</p>
  67. <blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
  68. <p><em>Our results on the collateral damages of IP and FQDN blocking highlight a worrisome scenario, with hundreds of legitimate websites unknowingly affected by blocking, unknown operators experiencing service disruption, and illegal streamers continuing to evade enforcement by exploiting the abundance of address space online, leaving behind unusable and polluted address ranges. Still, our findings represent a conservative lower-bound estimate.</em></p>
  69. </blockquote>
  70. <p>It distinguished three ways in which Piracy Shield is harmful. Economically, because it disrupts legitimate businesses; technically, because it blocks shared infrastructure such as&nbsp;<a href="https://walledculture.org/?s=cdn">content delivery networks</a>, while “polluting the IP address space” for future, unsuspecting users; and operationally, because it imposes a “growing, uncompensated burden on Italian ISPs forced to implement an expanding list of permanent blocks.” The paper concludes with some practical suggestions for improving a system that is clearly not fit for purpose, and poses&nbsp;<a href="https://walledculture.org/why-italys-piracy-shield-risks-moving-from-tiresome-digital-farce-to-serious-national-tragedy/">a threat to national security</a>, as discussed previously on Walled Culture. The researchers suggest that:</p>
  71. <blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
  72. <p><em>widespread and difficult-to-predict collateral damage suggests that IP-level blocking is an indiscriminate tool with consequences that outweigh its benefits and should not be used.</em></p>
  73. </blockquote>
  74. <p>Instead, they point out that there are other legal pathways that can be pursued, since many of the allegedly infringing streams originate within the EU. If FQDN blocking is used, it should be regarded as “a last resort in tightly constrained time windows, i.e., only for the duration of the live event.” Crucially, more transparency is needed from AGCOM:</p>
  75. <blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
  76. <p><em>To mitigate damages, resource owners must be immediately notified when their assets are blocked, and a clear, fast unblocking mechanism must be in place.</em></p>
  77. </blockquote>
  78. <p>This is an important piece of work, because it places criticisms of Piracy Shield on a firm footing, with rigorous analysis of the facts. However, AGCOM is unlikely to pay attention, since it is in the process of expanding Piracy Shield to apply to vast swathes of online streaming: amendments to the relevant law mean that automatic blocks can now be applied to <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/piracy-shield-scope-widens-to-movie-tv-show-premieres-live-music-250805/">film premieres</a>, and even run-of-the-mill <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/italy-expands-piracy-shield-to-live-tv-begins-with-the-x-factor-250924/">TV shows</a>. Based on its past behavior, the copyright industry may well push to extend Piracy Shield to static Web material too, on the basis that the blocking infrastructure is already in place, so why not use it for every kind of material?</p>
  79. <p><em>Follow me @glynmoody on&nbsp;<a href="https://mastodon.social/@glynmoody" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Mastodon</a>&nbsp;and on&nbsp;<a href="https://bsky.app/profile/glynmoody.bsky.social">Bluesky</a>. Originally posted to <a href="https://walledculture.org/academic-research-finds-economic-technical-and-operational-harms-from-italys-piracy-shield/">Walled Culture</a>.</em></p>
  80. ]]></content:encoded>
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  83. <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
  86. <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">519325</post-id> </item>
  87. <item>
  88. <title>The Criminal Enterprise Masquerading As A Political Party</title>
  89. <link>https://www.techdirt.com/2025/10/14/the-criminal-enterprise-masquerading-as-a-political-party/</link>
  90. <comments>https://www.techdirt.com/2025/10/14/the-criminal-enterprise-masquerading-as-a-political-party/#comments</comments>
  92. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Mike Brock]]></dc:creator>
  93. <pubDate>Tue, 14 Oct 2025 22:36:21 +0000</pubDate>
  94. <category><![CDATA[1]]></category>
  95. <category><![CDATA[donald trump]]></category>
  96. <category><![CDATA[gop]]></category>
  97. <category><![CDATA[maga]]></category>
  98. <category><![CDATA[republicans]]></category>
  99. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.techdirt.com/?p=518839</guid>
  100.  
  101. <description><![CDATA[The Republican Party is no longer a legitimate political organization. It has transformed into a corrupt, immoral, and criminal enterprise that serves the interests of one man’s power while systematically destroying the constitutional principles this nation was founded upon. What we’re witnessing isn’t political competition but organized crime wrapped in patriotic rhetoric. When the President [&#8230;]]]></description>
  102. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The Republican Party is no longer a legitimate political organization. It has transformed into a corrupt, immoral, and criminal enterprise that serves the interests of one man’s power while systematically destroying the constitutional principles this nation was founded upon. What we’re witnessing isn’t political competition but organized crime wrapped in patriotic rhetoric.</p>
  103. <p>When the President threatens military officers’ careers for not applauding his political agenda, when he declares American cities “enemy territory” to be conquered by federal forces, when he orders the creation of “quick reaction forces” to suppress civilian dissent, this isn’t governance. It’s the systematic dismantling of constitutional constraints on executive power. The Republican Party leadership has abandoned any pretense of defending democratic institutions in favor of tribal loyalty to authoritarian rule.</p>
  104. <p>Trump has already deployed military forces against American cities. He sent troops to “protect” Portland with authorization for “full force, if necessary.” He deployed 2,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines to Los Angeles to quell immigration protests. He deployed the National Guard and federal agencies to Washington, D.C., and federalized the police force ostensibly to combat crime. Now he’s announced the creation of military “quick reaction forces” to help quell civil disturbances across the country.</p>
  105. <p>They’ve gerrymandered districts to maintain power regardless of popular will. They’ve implemented voter suppression tactics designed to prevent Democratic participation. They’ve signaled they won’t recognize electoral outcomes that threaten their control. They’ve converted the Justice Department into a revenge operation against political opponents while pardoning violent criminals who attacked law enforcement officers.</p>
  106. <p>The Republican Party has become a seditious conspiracy against constitutional governance, orchestrated by corrupt oligarchs, seditious Christian nationalists, and fascist neo-reactionaries from Silicon Valley. These actors are exploiting legitimate anti-elite sentiment among Americans who have real grievances about economic inequality and institutional failure. They use well-funded propaganda and algorithmic manipulation to trick citizens into supporting the very oligarchs who created those problems in the first place. The goal isn’t reform but permanent power and the end of competitive elections altogether.</p>
  107. <p>The corporate collaboration represents an equally damning betrayal of American principles. CEOs who pay tribute for regulatory favors aren’t engaging in normal business practice. They’re committing federal crimes while destroying the competitive capitalism they claim to defend.</p>
  108. <p>Tim Cook’s golden plaque presentation followed by immediate tariff exemptions represents textbook bribery under federal law. YouTube’s $24.5 million “settlement” payment, with $22 million funding Trump’s personal real estate projects, is a protection racket disguised as legal resolution. These aren’t complicated ethical questions requiring nuanced analysis. They’re clear violations of anti-corruption statutes that should result in federal prosecution.</p>
  109. <p>The democratic opposition should be taking careful notes and planning comprehensive public hearings once legitimate governance is restored. Tim Cook should be dragged before Congress with cameras rolling to explain his tribute payments under oath. Every CEO who handed Trump money in exchange for regulatory favors should face criminal investigation. Every company that provided services enabling human rights violations should face trust-busting and systematic accountability.</p>
  110. <p>These executives aren’t legally immune from prosecution. They’re simply calculating that their wealth and status make them functionally untouchable. They’re committing crimes in broad daylight because they assume the justice system serves their interests rather than the rule of law. If we didn’t accept “I was just following orders” at Nuremberg, we certainly shouldn’t accept “I was just protecting shareholder value” from corporate executives who funded authoritarianism for personal profit.</p>
  111. <p>But perhaps most contemptible are the conservatives who continue defending this criminal enterprise as “the lesser evil” while constructing fantasy scenarios where Democratic governance somehow represents a greater threat than systematic constitutional destruction.</p>
  112. <p>These people are morally corrupted beyond redemption. Once you reach the point of arguing “well, they’re corrupt too” while watching the President deploy military forces against American cities, you’ve lost any claim to principled political judgment. You’ve revealed that your tribal loyalty matters more than constitutional governance, that your partisan identity matters more than national dignity, that your psychological comfort matters more than democratic survival.</p>
  113. <p>There is no moral equivalency between normal political disagreement and systematic authoritarianism. There is no principled argument for supporting a criminal organization because you dislike progressive tax policy. There is no intellectual framework that makes corporate bribery acceptable because you’re worried about diversity initiatives.</p>
  114. <p>These aren’t principled conservatives making difficult political calculations. These are unprincipled tribalists desperately searching for justifications to support evil while maintaining their self-image as moral actors. Their revealed preference is clear: they prefer authoritarian corruption to progressive governance, criminal conspiracy to constitutional democracy, systematic humiliation of American institutions to higher taxes on the wealthy.</p>
  115. <p>History will remember them as collaborators who chose comfort over courage, tribe over truth, personal advantage over national dignity. They had every opportunity to choose differently. They chose complicity instead.</p>
  116. <p>The Republican Party is a criminal organization. Its corporate collaborators are willing accomplices. And anyone still defending either has forfeited any claim to principled political engagement.</p>
  117. <p><em>Mike Brock is a former tech exec who was on the leadership team at Block. Originally published at his <a href="https://www.notesfromthecircus.com/p/the-criminal-enterprise-masquerading" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Notes From the Circus</a></em>.</p>
  118. ]]></content:encoded>
  120. <wfw:commentRss>https://www.techdirt.com/2025/10/14/the-criminal-enterprise-masquerading-as-a-political-party/comments/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
  121. <slash:comments>12</slash:comments>
  124. <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">518839</post-id> </item>
  125. <item>
  126. <title>Techdirt Podcast Episode 434: The New Generation Of Independent Journalists</title>
  127. <link>https://www.techdirt.com/2025/10/14/techdirt-podcast-episode-434-the-new-generation-of-independent-journalists/</link>
  128. <comments>https://www.techdirt.com/2025/10/14/techdirt-podcast-episode-434-the-new-generation-of-independent-journalists/#respond</comments>
  130. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Leigh Beadon]]></dc:creator>
  131. <pubDate>Tue, 14 Oct 2025 20:30:00 +0000</pubDate>
  132. <category><![CDATA[1]]></category>
  133. <category><![CDATA[journalism]]></category>
  134. <category><![CDATA[marisa kabas]]></category>
  135. <category><![CDATA[podcast]]></category>
  136. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.techdirt.com/?p=519394&#038;preview=true&#038;preview_id=519394</guid>
  137.  
  138. <description><![CDATA[Support us on Patreon&#160;&#187; Techdirt recently passed its 28th anniversary as an independent online media outlet. Once, it looked like such outlets might take over, but then most were scooped up by traditional media or grew into more traditional companies themselves. But now we&#8217;re seeing a new generation emerge, especially via newsletters on platforms like [&#8230;]]]></description>
  139. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<div style="float: right; margin-left: 12px; margin-bottom: 8px; line-height: 1; padding: 8px; border: 2px solid rgb(26, 81, 143);font-weight:bold;"><a href="https://www.patreon.com/bePatron?u=4450624&amp;redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.patreon.com%2Ftechdirt">Support us on Patreon&nbsp;&raquo;</a></div>
  140. <p>Techdirt recently passed its <em>28th anniversary </em>as an independent online media outlet. Once, it looked like such outlets might take over, but then most were scooped up by traditional media or grew into more traditional companies themselves. But now we&#8217;re seeing a new generation emerge, especially via newsletters on platforms like Substack, and one such journalist is <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/marisakabas.bsky.social">Marisa Kabas</a>, creator of <a href="https://www.thehandbasket.co/">The Handbasket</a>. This week, Marisa joins the podcast to talk about <a href="https://soundcloud.com/techdirt/the-new-generation-of-independent-journalists">the modern rise of independent online journalism</a>.</p>
  141. <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-soundcloud wp-block-embed-soundcloud">
  142. <div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
  143. <iframe title="The New Generation Of Independent Journalists by Techdirt" width="500" height="400" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?visual=true&#038;url=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F2190253423&#038;show_artwork=true&#038;maxheight=750&#038;maxwidth=500"></iframe>
  144. </div>
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  146. <p>You can also <a href="https://feeds.soundcloud.com/stream/2190253423-techdirt-the-new-generation-of-independent-journalists.mp3" download="">download this episode directly</a> in MP3 format.</p>
  147. <p><em>Follow the Techdirt Podcast on <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://soundcloud.com/techdirt" target="_blank">Soundcloud</a>, subscribe via <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/techdirt/id940871872?mt=2" target="_blank">Apple Podcasts</a> or <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://open.spotify.com/show/6qXCFL3MjSpiD8O0pZgcsi" target="_blank">Spotify</a>, or grab the <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.techdirt.com/podcast.xml" target="_blank">RSS feed</a>. You can also keep up with all the latest episodes <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/blog/podcast/">right here on Techdirt</a>.</em></p>
  148. ]]></content:encoded>
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  151. <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
  153. <enclosure url="https://feeds.soundcloud.com/stream/2190253423-techdirt-the-new-generation-of-independent-journalists.mp3" length="0" type="audio/mpeg" />
  154.  
  155. <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">519394</post-id> </item>
  156. <item>
  157. <title>Justice Barrett&#8217;s Tone-Deaf Defense Of The Shadow Docket Comes As Federal Judges Revolt Against Supreme Court&#8217;s &#8220;Mystical&#8221; Orders</title>
  158. <link>https://www.techdirt.com/2025/10/14/justice-barretts-tone-deaf-defense-of-the-shadow-docket-comes-as-federal-judges-revolt-against-supreme-courts-mystical-orders/</link>
  159. <comments>https://www.techdirt.com/2025/10/14/justice-barretts-tone-deaf-defense-of-the-shadow-docket-comes-as-federal-judges-revolt-against-supreme-courts-mystical-orders/#comments</comments>
  161. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Mike Masnick]]></dc:creator>
  162. <pubDate>Tue, 14 Oct 2025 19:10:56 +0000</pubDate>
  163. <category><![CDATA[1]]></category>
  164. <category><![CDATA[amy coney barrett]]></category>
  165. <category><![CDATA[donald trump]]></category>
  166. <category><![CDATA[emergency docket]]></category>
  167. <category><![CDATA[interim docket]]></category>
  168. <category><![CDATA[judiciary]]></category>
  169. <category><![CDATA[precedent]]></category>
  170. <category><![CDATA[shadow docket]]></category>
  171. <category><![CDATA[status quo]]></category>
  172. <category><![CDATA[supreme court]]></category>
  173. <category><![CDATA[william young]]></category>
  174. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.techdirt.com/?p=519313</guid>
  175.  
  176. <description><![CDATA[When 47 out of 65 federal judges tell The New York Times that the Supreme Court is mishandling its emergency docket and creating a &#8220;judicial crisis,&#8221; you might think a Supreme Court Justice would show some humility about the criticism. Instead, Justice Amy Coney Barrett decided to go on Fox News Sunday to dismiss the [&#8230;]]]></description>
  177. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>When 47 out of 65 federal judges tell The New York Times that <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/11/us/politics/judicial-crisis-supreme-court-trump.html">the Supreme Court is mishandling its emergency docket</a> and creating a &#8220;judicial crisis,&#8221; you might think a Supreme Court Justice would show some humility about the criticism. Instead, Justice Amy Coney Barrett decided to go on Fox News Sunday to dismiss the concerns entirely, arguing that the Court&#8217;s stream of unexplained emergency orders is no big deal because they&#8217;re just &#8220;preliminary&#8221; decisions.</p>
  178. <p><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/XTci0lUieTo?si=DjVA32O0HjT3lvkX" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
  179. <p>The optics would be shocking in the past—and should be shocking today, even recognizing how much the window on partisan politicking has changed over the last few years. Supreme Court Justices traditionally maintain a careful distance from partisan media, particularly when defending controversial Court decisions. But here&#8217;s Barrett, just days into the new Court term, sitting down with Fox News—a network that has openly supported Trump and his agenda—to dismiss legitimate concerns from dozens of federal judges while simultaneously promoting her book. It&#8217;s hard to imagine a more tone-deaf response to a judicial crisis, or one that more thoroughly undermines any pretense of judicial independence.</p>
  180. <p>But Barrett&#8217;s substantive defense of the shadow docket is even more problematic than the venue she chose to make it.</p>
  181. <p>The Times survey revealed the stunning degree to which federal judges—including those nominated by both Democratic and Republican presidents—are willing to break with judicial norms to criticize the Supreme Court publicly.</p>
  182. <blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
  183. <p><em>More than three dozen federal judges have told The New York Times that the Supreme Court’s flurry of brief, opaque emergency orders in cases related to the Trump administration have left them confused about how to proceed in those matters and are hurting the judiciary’s image with the public.</em></p>
  184. <p><em>At issue are the quick-turn orders the Supreme Court has issued dictating whether Trump administration policies should be left in place while they are litigated through the lower courts. That emergency docket, a growing part of the Supreme Court’s work in recent years, has taken on greater importance amid the flood of litigation challenging President Trump’s efforts to expand executive power.</em></p>
  185. </blockquote>
  186. <p>In interviews, federal judges called the Court&#8217;s emergency orders &#8220;mystical,&#8221; &#8220;overly blunt,&#8221; &#8220;incredibly demoralizing&#8221; and &#8220;troubling&#8221; and &#8220;a slap in the face to the district courts.&#8221; One judge compared their district&#8217;s current relationship with the Supreme Court to &#8220;a war zone.&#8221; Another said the courts were in the midst of a &#8220;judicial crisis.&#8221;</p>
  187. <p>These aren&#8217;t partisan complaints from Democratic appointees. Of the 65 judges who responded, 28 were nominated by Republican presidents, including 10 by Trump himself. Nearly half of the Republican-nominated judges said they believed the orders had harmed the judiciary&#8217;s standing in the public eye.</p>
  188. <p>The judges&#8217; frustration is understandable. Time and again, district court judges have carefully considered Trump administration policies, held hearings, reviewed evidence, and issued reasoned decisions blocking overreaches—only to have the Supreme Court reverse them with a few sentences and zero explanation. As one judge told the Times, the Court was expecting district court colleagues &#8220;to read their minds about what their view of the law is.&#8221;</p>
  189. <p>Barrett&#8217;s response to this crisis? Essentially, &#8220;nothing to see here, folks.&#8221;</p>
  190. <p>When Fox News host Shannon Bream asked about Justice Sotomayor&#8217;s criticism that the Court&#8217;s &#8220;appetite to circumvent the ordinary appellate process and weigh in on important issues has grown exponentially&#8221; while &#8220;its interest in explaining itself, unfortunately, has not,&#8221; Barrett offered this dismissive response:</p>
  191. <blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
  192. <p><em>It&#8217;s a relatively new phenomenon… or at least the amount of activity on it is relatively new. You know, these are cases that are preliminary and so they are not cases in which the court has had full briefing and made a final judgment… Deciding a merits case is a painstaking process. It&#8217;s slow. It takes a lot of work. And when we write an opinion, it reflects our final judgment. On the interim docket, these preliminary decisions that we make, it&#8217;s not just about the merits, whether a case is right or wrong. We could account for other factors as well. <strong>And if we wrote a long opinion, it might give the impression that we have finally resolved the issue</strong>. And in none of these cases have we finally resolved the issue.</em></p>
  193. </blockquote>
  194. <p>This argument fundamentally misses the point—or deliberately obscures it. If these are truly preliminary decisions that don&#8217;t resolve the underlying issues, then the Court should be focused on <strong>maintaining the status quo</strong> while the cases work their way through the system. That&#8217;s how emergency relief is supposed to work: you preserve the existing state of affairs until there&#8217;s time for full consideration.</p>
  195. <p>The entire point of preliminary relief is to prevent irreversible harm while the legal system does its job. When a lower court issues a preliminary injunction blocking a government policy, it&#8217;s precisely because allowing that policy to continue would cause harm that can&#8217;t be undone later. You don&#8217;t let potentially illegal deportations proceed while you figure out if they&#8217;re legal—by the time you decide, people have already been wrongfully removed from the country. This is basic legal procedure that every first-year law student learns.</p>
  196. <p>But Barrett&#8217;s defense completely inverts this logic. She&#8217;s essentially arguing that because these aren&#8217;t final decisions, the Court doesn&#8217;t need to worry about letting potentially illegal policies proceed unchecked, no matter how much damage is done in the interim.</p>
  197. <p>The Supreme Court has, instead, <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2025/07/15/the-supreme-courts-shadow-docket-has-become-a-lawless-explanation-free-rubber-stamp-for-trumps-authoritarian-agenda/">systematically sided with Trump&#8217;s agenda</a> in nearly every emergency application, allowing his administration to implement sweeping policy changes while litigation is pending.</p>
  198. <p>Take, for example, the Court&#8217;s decision to allow Trump to <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2025/09/25/supreme-court-uses-shadow-docket-to-let-trump-fire-ftc-commissioner-while-pretending-they-havent-already-decided-the-case/">fire FTC Commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter</a>, despite nearly 90 years of settled precedent establishing that independent agency commissioners can only be removed &#8220;for cause.&#8221; The 1935 Supreme Court decision in Humphrey&#8217;s Executor v. United States made clear that such commissioners serve fixed terms and cannot be fired at the president&#8217;s whim—it&#8217;s one of the foundational principles of administrative law.</p>
  199. <p>But rather than preserve the status quo while the legal questions were properly litigated, the Court&#8217;s conservative majority allowed the firing to proceed via shadow docket order. They effectively overturned Humphrey&#8217;s Executor without admitting they were doing so, letting Trump remove a commissioner for purely political reasons while maintaining the fiction that they hadn&#8217;t actually decided anything about presidential removal powers.</p>
  200. <p>If Barrett&#8217;s logic were correct—that these emergency orders don&#8217;t resolve underlying legal issues—then the Court should have kept Commissioner Slaughter in place until they could fully consider whether the firing violated established precedent. Instead, they allowed what appears to be an illegal removal to proceed, causing immediate and irreversible harm to the independence of federal agencies.</p>
  201. <p>As a report at Newsweek noted, it’s incredible <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/amy-coney-barrett-responds-heated-dissent-supreme-court-justices-10870265">just how sweeping the changes are</a> that the Supreme Court’s conservative majority has blessed mostly without explanation via the shadow docket:</p>
  202. <blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
  203. <p><em>The high court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, has given a series of green lights to the White House without full hearings or any explanation of its reasoning, as is typical on the court’s emergency docket, also known as the shadow or interim docket. Those decisions include clearing the way for</em> <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/supreme-court-allows-trump-end-legal-protections-500000-migrants-2079038"><em>stripping legal protections from immigrants</em></a><em>,</em> <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/kagan-warns-supreme-court-foreign-aid-trump-admin-10791871"><em>keeping nearly $5 billion in foreign aid frozen</em></a> <em>and</em> <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/supreme-court-allows-trump-enforce-transgender-troop-ban-2068734"><em>ousting transgender members of the military</em></a><em>.</em></p>
  204. </blockquote>
  205. <p>Each of these decisions represents a deliberate choice to let potentially illegal policies cause real harm to real people rather than preserve the status quo. Transgender service members have been kicked out of the military. Immigrants have been subjected to racial profiling. Government workers have lost their jobs. Billions in congressionally approved aid has been withheld. All while the cases are supposedly still being &#8220;properly&#8221; litigated.</p>
  206. <p>Whatever happened to cautious judicial restraint? This is active judicial intervention on behalf of the Trump administration, wrapped in the pretense of procedural modesty.</p>
  207. <p>Barrett&#8217;s claim that writing explanations might &#8220;give the impression that we have finally resolved the issue&#8221; is particularly galling. The current approach—issuing cryptic orders that lower courts are somehow <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2025/07/24/supreme-court-to-lower-courts-ignore-actual-binding-precedent-follow-our-unexplained-shadow-docket-vibes-instead/">supposed to divine meaning from</a>—has created far more confusion about what the Court actually thinks. As the Times noted, the Supreme Court has become &#8220;more insistent that its emergency orders are supposed to serve as guideposts for the lower courts&#8221; while simultaneously refusing to explain what those guideposts actually mean.</p>
  208. <p>The real-world consequences of this approach were on full display when Justices Gorsuch and Kavanaugh <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2025/09/04/some-federal-judges-appear-done-with-scotuss-shadow-docket-bullshit/">publicly dressed down</a> respected conservative Judge William Young, an 85-year-old Reagan appointee with more than 40 years on the bench, for supposedly failing to correctly apply an unexplained emergency ruling. Judge Young issued a rare apology from the bench, expressing bewilderment with the Court&#8217;s opacity: &#8220;Never, before this admonition, has any judge in any higher court ever thought to suggest that this court had defied the precedent of a higher court — that was never my intention.&#8221;</p>
  209. <p>Several judges who responded to the Times survey singled out the treatment of Judge Young as &#8220;a particularly demoralizing breach of decorum.&#8221;</p>
  210. <blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
  211. <p><em>That view resonated with one of their retired colleagues, Jeremy Fogel, who was a federal judge for 20 years. Judge Young, he said, “has been at it for so long. He’s done the toughest cases, and he’s done them well. For a guy like that to get bench-slapped for not reading the tea leaves properly? That’s just not fair.”</em></p>
  212. <p><em>Justice Gorsuch’s opinion could be read as “promoting a disrespect for the judiciary,” one that echoed Mr. Trump’s rhetorical attacks on judges, said Nancy Gertner, a retired judge who teaches at Harvard Law School. Both, she said, “undermine the bench and promote an atmosphere of disrespect.”</em></p>
  213. </blockquote>
  214. <p>Barrett&#8217;s breezy dismissal of these concerns during a Fox News interview—while hawking her book, no less—suggests a Supreme Court Justice completely out of touch with the institutional damage the Court is inflicting on itself. When federal judges are willing to break decades of tradition to publicly criticize the Supreme Court, when they&#8217;re describing their relationship with the highest court as a &#8220;war zone,&#8221; when they&#8217;re warning of a &#8220;judicial crisis,&#8221; maybe the appropriate response isn&#8217;t to go on cable TV and tell everyone to chill out.</p>
  215. <p>But then again, this is the same Supreme Court that has spent the past few years systematically undermining its own legitimacy through a combination of ethical scandals, partisan decision-making, and now a shadow docket that operates more like an explanation-free rubber stamp for whatever the Trump administration wants to do.</p>
  216. <p>Barrett&#8217;s Fox News appearance is just the latest example of this kind of disrespect—not for any individual judge, but for the entire federal judiciary that&#8217;s trying to maintain some semblance of reasoned decision-making while the Supreme Court issues &#8220;mystical&#8221; orders from on high.</p>
  217. <p>When a federal judge describes their relationship with the Supreme Court as a &#8220;war zone,&#8221; that&#8217;s not hyperbole—it&#8217;s a constitutional crisis. The federal judiciary is supposed to operate as a coherent system, with lower courts implementing higher court guidance and the Supreme Court providing reasoned leadership. Instead, we have a Supreme Court that issues cryptic orders, expects blind obedience, and sends justices on Fox News to dismiss legitimate concerns while hawking books.</p>
  218. <p>The 47 federal judges who told the Times that the Supreme Court is mishandling its emergency docket aren&#8217;t just complaining about workload or procedure. They&#8217;re warning that the entire judicial system is breaking down when the nation&#8217;s highest court operates without explanation, consistency, or respect for the very principles it&#8217;s supposed to uphold.</p>
  219. <p>Barrett&#8217;s breezy Fox News appearance is a symptom of a Supreme Court that has lost sight of its role in our constitutional system. When federal judges are willing to risk their careers to publicly criticize the Court, when they describe their working relationship as a &#8220;war zone,&#8221; when they warn of a &#8220;judicial crisis,&#8221; maybe the problem isn&#8217;t that everyone else is overreacting.</p>
  220. <p>Maybe the problem is that the Supreme Court has forgotten that legitimacy isn&#8217;t automatic—it has to be earned, every day, through reasoned decisions and institutional humility. And you can&#8217;t earn it by going on cable TV to tell everyone that your unexplained, precedent-defying orders are actually no big deal.</p>
  221. ]]></content:encoded>
  223. <wfw:commentRss>https://www.techdirt.com/2025/10/14/justice-barretts-tone-deaf-defense-of-the-shadow-docket-comes-as-federal-judges-revolt-against-supreme-courts-mystical-orders/comments/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
  224. <slash:comments>13</slash:comments>
  227. <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">519313</post-id> </item>
  228. <item>
  229. <title>Marjorie Taylor Greene Becomes The Onion Meme; Criticizes GOP Leaders For Gov&#8217;t Shutdown</title>
  230. <link>https://www.techdirt.com/2025/10/14/marjorie-taylor-greene-becomes-the-onion-meme-criticizes-gop-leaders-for-govt-shutdown/</link>
  231. <comments>https://www.techdirt.com/2025/10/14/marjorie-taylor-greene-becomes-the-onion-meme-criticizes-gop-leaders-for-govt-shutdown/#comments</comments>
  233. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Tim Cushing]]></dc:creator>
  234. <pubDate>Tue, 14 Oct 2025 17:51:13 +0000</pubDate>
  235. <category><![CDATA[1]]></category>
  236. <category><![CDATA[conspiracy theories]]></category>
  237. <category><![CDATA[donald trump]]></category>
  238. <category><![CDATA[gop]]></category>
  239. <category><![CDATA[government shutdown]]></category>
  240. <category><![CDATA[marjorie taylor greene]]></category>
  241. <category><![CDATA[trump administration]]></category>
  242. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.techdirt.com/?p=519273&#038;preview=true&#038;preview_id=519273</guid>
  243.  
  244. <description><![CDATA[It&#8217;s a meme so famous it has its own Wikipedia page. And like plenty of memes with this sort of pedigree, its origins are humble: just another article by The Onion (or rather its Clickhole offshoot). You know the face and you know the words: Heartbreaking: The Worst Person You Know Just Made A Great [&#8230;]]]></description>
  245. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>It&#8217;s a meme so famous it has its <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heartbreaking:_The_Worst_Person_You_Know_Just_Made_a_Great_Point" data-type="link" data-id="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heartbreaking:_The_Worst_Person_You_Know_Just_Made_a_Great_Point">own Wikipedia page</a>. And like plenty of memes with this sort of pedigree, its origins are humble: just another article by The Onion (or rather its Clickhole offshoot). You know the face and you know the words: </p>
  246. <div class="wp-block-image">
  247. <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" width="421" height="237" src="https://i0.wp.com/www.techdirt.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Josep_Maria_Garcia.jpg?resize=421%2C237&#038;ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-519275" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/www.techdirt.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Josep_Maria_Garcia.jpg?w=421&amp;ssl=1 421w, https://i0.wp.com/www.techdirt.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Josep_Maria_Garcia.jpg?resize=300%2C169&amp;ssl=1 300w" sizes="(max-width: 421px) 100vw, 421px" /></figure>
  248. </div>
  249. <blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
  250. <p><strong><em>Heartbreaking: The Worst Person You Know Just Made A Great Point</em></strong></p>
  251. </blockquote>
  252. <p>To Marjorie Taylor Greene&#8217;s credit, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20230508051840/https://www.thedailybeast.com/lauren-boebert-and-majorie-taylor-greene-are-leaning-in-to-mudslinging-and-total-villainy" data-type="link" data-id="https://web.archive.org/web/20230508051840/https://www.thedailybeast.com/lauren-boebert-and-majorie-taylor-greene-are-leaning-in-to-mudslinging-and-total-villainy">she&#8217;s done this more than once</a>. She&#8217;s the wild card in the GOP party, but not the kind that might lead to another win. She&#8217;s the other kind of wild card: the unknown and unpredictable factor that occasionally delivers debacles and flame outs, rather than the easy, uncomplicated heist of democracy her party is actively engaged in. </p>
  253. <p>So, when MTG goes rogue, it means something. But it possibly means less than if a staid backbencher suddenly stood up and declared Trump wrong about <em>anything.</em> That said, we&#8217;ll take what we can get when the takings are so meager and limited in quantity. </p>
  254. <p><a href="http://politico.com/live-updates/2025/10/09/congress/marjorie-taylor-greene-shutdown-blame-00599774" data-type="link" data-id="http://politico.com/live-updates/2025/10/09/congress/marjorie-taylor-greene-shutdown-blame-00599774">Here&#8217;s Taylor Greene saying what everyone <em>knows</em></a>, but no one else in her party will <em>say:</em></p>
  255. <blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
  256. <p><em>Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) is continuing to buck GOP congressional leadership, placing blame on top Republicans Thursday morning for failing to pull the government from its ongoing shutdown.</em></p>
  257. <p>“<em>I’m not putting the blame on the president,” Greene (R-Ga.) said in an interview on CNN’s “The Situation Room.” “I’m actually putting the blame on the speaker and Leader [John] Thune in the Senate. This should not be happening.”</em></p>
  258. </blockquote>
  259. <p>Government shutdowns are a GOP specialty under Trump. This time around, though, the White House has expressly politicized the shutdown <a href="https://www.state.gov/" data-type="link" data-id="https://www.state.gov/">via its official websites</a>, which is just another line this administration feels comfortable crossing. </p>
  260. <div class="wp-block-image">
  261. <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="886" height="276" src="https://i0.wp.com/www.techdirt.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Screenshot-2025-10-12-2.00.09-PM.png?resize=886%2C276&#038;ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-519276" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/www.techdirt.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Screenshot-2025-10-12-2.00.09-PM.png?w=886&amp;ssl=1 886w, https://i0.wp.com/www.techdirt.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Screenshot-2025-10-12-2.00.09-PM.png?resize=300%2C93&amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/www.techdirt.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Screenshot-2025-10-12-2.00.09-PM.png?resize=768%2C239&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/www.techdirt.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Screenshot-2025-10-12-2.00.09-PM.png?resize=600%2C187&amp;ssl=1 600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 886px) 100vw, 886px" /></figure>
  262. </div>
  263. <p>The administration is angry because Democratic legislators won&#8217;t sign off on every ridiculous thing the Republican party is demanding in exchange for a barely-functioning government. In addition, it&#8217;s clear the GOP doesn&#8217;t actually want the shutdown ended, what with the administration using it as an excuse to lay off or fire people it wasn&#8217;t able to get rid of back when DOGE was still a going concern.</p>
  264. <p>Marjorie Taylor Greene placing the blame where it belongs (speaker of the House Mike Johnson and Senate leader John Thune) definitely bucks the trend when it comes to Republican discussions of the ongoing shutdown. The GOP has aligned with the administration, which has chosen to publicly blame (again, via <em>official government websites</em>) the Democratic party for a crisis the GOP deliberately created to use as leverage to push through even more odious legislation. </p>
  265. <p>Taylor Greene, of course, is no angel. Between her COVID conspiracy theories and her insistence that some sort of Jewish-controlled &#8220;space laser&#8221; caused California wildfires, Taylor Greene <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marjorie_Taylor_Greene#Advocacy_based_on_conspiracy_theories" data-type="link" data-id="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marjorie_Taylor_Greene#Advocacy_based_on_conspiracy_theories">has been nothing but batshit crazy</a> while somehow maintaining access to considerable public power. Pizzagate, QAnon, replacement theory, etc. have all been part of Greene&#8217;s arsenal for years. But this time, she&#8217;s actually right. There&#8217;s no conspiracy here. There&#8217;s just the GOP holding the government hostage until it gets what it wants. </p>
  266. <p>And now, her super-weird form of local advocacy has turned her into the rogue the GOP can&#8217;t control. It&#8217;s not just this recent shutdown. It&#8217;s a whole lot of things the GOP would rather pretend simply didn&#8217;t exist, beginning with the Epstein files and running right through the healthcare price hikes their constituents will be facing if the GOP manages to pass the budget bill it has proposed:</p>
  267. <blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
  268. <p><em>Greene has continued to be a thorn in the side of Republican leadership in recent weeks, splitting from President Donald Trump and the GOP on a string of major topics —&nbsp;<a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2025/07/29/maga-is-turning-on-israel-over-gaza-but-trump-is-unmoved-00482891">calling the war</a>&nbsp;in Gaza a “genocide,”&nbsp;<a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2025/07/21/mtg-trump-epstein-red-meat-no-longer-satisfies-00465179">campaigning for the release</a>&nbsp;of files related to the Jeffrey Epstein case and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2025/10/07/congress/mike-johnson-marjorie-taylor-greene-obamacare-00596240">pushing for an extension</a>&nbsp;of enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies.</em></p>
  269. </blockquote>
  270. <p>MTG &#8212; however momentarily &#8212; has just become one of us: people who can not only see through the GOP&#8217;s increasingly stupid lies, but know that America&#8217;s never going to be great again with these motherfuckers in charge. There may be hope for Taylor Greene after all. But if recent history has anything to say about it, the new, improved MTG will be just as unpredictably awful as she was prior to this brief return to reality. </p>
  271. ]]></content:encoded>
  273. <wfw:commentRss>https://www.techdirt.com/2025/10/14/marjorie-taylor-greene-becomes-the-onion-meme-criticizes-gop-leaders-for-govt-shutdown/comments/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
  274. <slash:comments>11</slash:comments>
  277. <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">519273</post-id> </item>
  278. <item>
  279. <title>Daily Deal: Cisco CCNA 200-301 Exam Course with Practical Labs</title>
  280. <link>https://www.techdirt.com/2025/10/14/daily-deal-cisco-ccna-200-301-exam-course-with-practical-labs/</link>
  281. <comments>https://www.techdirt.com/2025/10/14/daily-deal-cisco-ccna-200-301-exam-course-with-practical-labs/#respond</comments>
  283. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Daily Deal]]></dc:creator>
  284. <pubDate>Tue, 14 Oct 2025 17:46:13 +0000</pubDate>
  285. <category><![CDATA[1]]></category>
  286. <category><![CDATA[daily deal]]></category>
  287. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.techdirt.com/?p=519372&#038;preview=true&#038;preview_id=519372</guid>
  288.  
  289. <description><![CDATA[Networks are all around us and you are using one right now to access this course. The Internet is extremely important in modern life today and this reliance is only predicted to continue with the growth of the Internet of Things (IoT) in the next few years. The Cisco CCNA 200-301 Exam Course will teach [&#8230;]]]></description>
  290. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Networks are all around us and you are using one right now to access this course. The Internet is extremely important in modern life today and this reliance is only predicted to continue with the growth of the Internet of Things (IoT) in the next few years. The <a href="https://deals.techdirt.com/sales/cisco-ccna-200-301-exam-complete-course-with-practical-labs-course?utm_campaign=affiliaterundown">Cisco CCNA 200-301 Exam Course</a> will teach you how networks actually work and how you are able to connect to websites like Facebook, Google, and YouTube. Companies throughout the world (from the smallest to the largest) rely on networks designed, installed, and maintained by networking engineers. Aside from the practical knowledge, this course preps you for the newest CCNA 200-301 exam. The course is on sale for $15. </p>
  291. <div class="wp-block-image">
  292. <figure class="aligncenter size-large"><a href="https://deals.techdirt.com/sales/cisco-ccna-200-301-exam-complete-course-with-practical-labs-course?utm_campaign=affiliaterundown"><img data-recalc-dims="1" decoding="async" src="https://i0.wp.com/cdnp3.stackassets.com/6d202a50092f4498d5006d8270b2ff1bde047df6/store/00ab2e4cb7628b05f5cc06974e1b21955eb7538557ffe098d9fa61be5f6e/product_173707_product_shots1.jpg?ssl=1" alt=""/></a></figure>
  293. </div>
  294. <p><em>Note: The Techdirt Deals Store is powered and curated by StackCommerce. A portion of all sales from Techdirt Deals helps support Techdirt. The products featured do not reflect endorsements by our editorial team.</em></p>
  295. ]]></content:encoded>
  297. <wfw:commentRss>https://www.techdirt.com/2025/10/14/daily-deal-cisco-ccna-200-301-exam-course-with-practical-labs/comments/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
  298. <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
  301. <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">519372</post-id> </item>
  302. <item>
  303. <title>Musk Promised To Cut $2 Trillion. Government Spending Went Up Instead</title>
  304. <link>https://www.techdirt.com/2025/10/14/musk-promised-to-cut-2-trillion-government-spending-went-up-instead/</link>
  305. <comments>https://www.techdirt.com/2025/10/14/musk-promised-to-cut-2-trillion-government-spending-went-up-instead/#comments</comments>
  307. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Mike Masnick]]></dc:creator>
  308. <pubDate>Tue, 14 Oct 2025 16:36:50 +0000</pubDate>
  309. <category><![CDATA[1]]></category>
  310. <category><![CDATA[budget]]></category>
  311. <category><![CDATA[cbo]]></category>
  312. <category><![CDATA[doge]]></category>
  313. <category><![CDATA[elon musk]]></category>
  314. <category><![CDATA[spending]]></category>
  315. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.techdirt.com/?p=519179</guid>
  316.  
  317. <description><![CDATA[Elon Musk&#8217;s promises on government spending cuts have followed a predictable trajectory: slash $2 trillion, then $1 trillion, then a mere $150 billion. Now we have the final accounting from the Congressional Budget Office: DOGE didn&#8217;t just fail to cut spending—it presided over spending increases that exceeded even pre-DOGE projections. The CBO&#8217;s fiscal year 2025 [&#8230;]]]></description>
  318. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Elon Musk&#8217;s promises on government spending cuts have followed a predictable trajectory: <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cdj38mekdkgo">slash $2 trillion</a>, then <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/musk-says-1-trillion-us-spending-cuts-possible-without-touching-services-2025-03-27/">$1 trillion</a>, then <a href="https://fortune.com/2025/04/11/elon-musk-drastically-drops-doge-savings-goal-2-trillion-150-billion-year/">a mere $150 billion</a>. Now we have the final accounting from the <a href="https://www.cbo.gov/publication/61306">Congressional Budget Office</a>: DOGE didn&#8217;t just fail to cut spending—it presided over spending increases that exceeded even pre-DOGE projections.</p>
  319. <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-bluesky-social wp-block-embed-bluesky-social">
  320. <div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
  321. <blockquote class="bluesky-embed" data-bluesky-uri="at://did:plc:drfb2pdjlnsqkfgsoellcahm/app.bsky.feed.post/3m2pdfukeze2t" data-bluesky-cid="bafyreigi2oefjqvteqttjyofthehv4b46kcrzzdmk5fsfxzsgrcpa6aou4">
  322. <p lang="en">Elon Musk said he was going to cut spending by $2 trillion dollars, but instead spending is higher this year than we thought it would be before Trump took office. Truly incredible stuff.</p>
  323. <p>&mdash; <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:drfb2pdjlnsqkfgsoellcahm?ref_src=embed">Bobby Kogan (@bbkogan.bsky.social)</a> <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:drfb2pdjlnsqkfgsoellcahm/post/3m2pdfukeze2t?ref_src=embed">2025-10-08T19:03:39.522Z</a></p>
  324. </blockquote>
  325. <p><script async src="https://embed.bsky.app/static/embed.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
  326. </div>
  327. </figure>
  328. <p>The CBO&#8217;s fiscal year 2025 report shows that despite all the performative cruelty, mass firings, and destruction of essential programs, total federal spending (excluding interest) rose by $220 billion, or 4%, for the entire fiscal year. As budget expert Bobby Kogan notes <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/bbkogan.bsky.social/post/3m2pd4n2rw42t">in his analysis</a> of the numbers, even accounting for some accounting adjustments related to student loans, noninterest spending still increased substantially.</p>
  329. <p>This is the perfect capstone to what we&#8217;ve been documenting all along: <strong>DOGE was never about efficiency</strong>. It was always about ideological destruction masquerading as fiscal responsibility.</p>
  330. <p>The Wall Street Journal&#8217;s analysis of the year-end figures <a href="https://www.wsj.com/economy/tariffs-are-way-up-interest-on-debt-tops-1-trillion-and-doge-didnt-do-much-e8d21595">puts DOGE&#8217;s failure in stark relief</a>:</p>
  331. <blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
  332. <p><em>As the Trump administration started,</em> <a href="https://www.wsj.com/topics/person/elon-musk"><em>Elon Musk</em></a> <em>claimed his Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, could achieve</em> <a href="https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/musk-says-doges-goal-to-cut-2-trillion-in-spending-is-best-case-outcome-65cf8fbc?mod=article_inline"><em>$2 trillion in savings</em></a><em>—equal to more than a quarter of total spending in fiscal 2024.</em></p>
  333. <p><em>Not even close. DOGE did claw back some grants and fire some probationary employees. And some savings will show up later as federal workers who accepted deferred resignation drop off government payrolls in fiscal 2026.</em></p>
  334. <p><em>But that</em> <a href="https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/trump-doge-government-spending-increases-5903992d?mod=article_inline"><em>hasn’t changed the big picture</em></a> <em>much so far. Total spending excluding interest rose $220 billion, or 4%, for the entire fiscal year.</em></p>
  335. </blockquote>
  336. <p>The numbers are even more damning when you dig deeper. The WSJ notes that the Trump administration recorded a $131 billion noncash spending reduction related to modifications in student-loan programs—essentially an accounting adjustment, not actual savings. Without this paper shuffle, noninterest spending would have risen by $351 billion for the entire year. DOGE was so ineffective at cutting real spending that they had to rely on accounting gimmicks to make their numbers look less catastrophic.</p>
  337. <p>So much for revolutionary cost-cutting. The only categories where spending actually declined were the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (because fewer banks failed) and the Small Business Administration (because disaster-related loan costs from 2024 didn&#8217;t recur). Neither had anything to do with DOGE&#8217;s &#8220;efficiency&#8221; efforts.</p>
  338. <p>The real story in these numbers is what any competent budget analyst could have predicted: the biggest drivers of spending—Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid—all increased by 8%. These programs grow because of aging demographics and rising healthcare costs, not because of bureaucratic inefficiency that can be solved by firing middle managers. Addressing these trends would require serious policy work around healthcare costs, immigration to support the tax base, and long-term fiscal planning. Instead, DOGE chose X-fueled tantrums about &#8220;government waste&#8221; while the actual budget drivers continued their inexorable climb.</p>
  339. <p>The spending increases become even more damning when you remember what DOGE actually accomplished during its reign of chaos. As we documented in our previous coverage, DOGE managed to <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2025/08/08/doges-efficiency-theater-wasted-21-7-billion-while-destroying-life-saving-programs-based-on-conspiracy-theories/">waste at least $21.7 billion</a> in just six months while destroying life-saving programs based on conspiracy theories Musk found on social media. The agency eliminated USAID—which had prevented 92 million deaths between 2001 and 2021—because Musk believed fringe accounts claiming it was funding Hamas and manufacturing COVID-19.</p>
  340. <p>And then there&#8217;s the perfect metaphor for DOGE&#8217;s &#8220;efficiency&#8221;: the government is <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2025/10/01/doges-efficiency-theater-comes-full-circle-trump-admin-scrambles-to-rehire-the-very-workers-musk-fired-to-save-money/">now scrambling to rehire</a> many of the workers Musk fired in his cost-cutting blitz. The General Services Administration recently begged hundreds of federal employees to return after Musk&#8217;s cuts left the agency &#8220;broken and understaffed.&#8221; These workers had been getting paid during their forced seven-month vacation while taxpayers footed the bill for mounting costs from properties that couldn&#8217;t be properly managed without them.</p>
  341. <p>The GSA rehiring wave is spreading across multiple agencies—the IRS, Labor Department, and National Park Service have all had to bring back employees who took DOGE&#8217;s buyout offers. When you&#8217;re rehiring at multiple major agencies simultaneously, that&#8217;s not fine-tuning efficiency—that&#8217;s admitting your entire approach was fundamentally broken.</p>
  342. <p>Of course, trying to bring all those people back while all non-essential government work is shut down and many government employees are simply not getting paid suggests that it’s going to be even more difficult (and, therefore, costly) to eventually restaff the jobs that DOGE screwed up in cutting.</p>
  343. <p>This spectacular failure was entirely predictable to anyone who understood that DOGE was never a serious efficiency effort. It was performance art designed to satisfy the fantasies of people who think running a government is like optimizing a social media algorithm. Musk and his DOGE vandals assumed that complex government operations were just inefficient startups waiting to be &#8220;disrupted,&#8221; when in reality they were critical functions that keep society running.</p>
  344. <p>The CBO numbers now provide the final proof: after all the chaos, cruelty, and conspiracy theories, DOGE didn&#8217;t save money—it cost money. Government spending went up, essential services were destroyed, and taxpayers are left cleaning up the mess.</p>
  345. <p>Despite all of DOGE&#8217;s supposed efficiency measures, spending increased because the agency focused on ideological destruction rather than understanding what government actually does. You can&#8217;t achieve efficiency by firing the people who know how to do essential jobs and then having to hire them back at higher costs.</p>
  346. <p>This is what happens when you put conspiracy theorists and tech bros in charge of complex systems they don&#8217;t understand. DOGE&#8217;s legacy isn&#8217;t fiscal responsibility—it&#8217;s expensive chaos that proves some people&#8217;s expertise actually matters, especially when Silicon Valley billionaires don&#8217;t understand what that expertise does.</p>
  347. <p>DOGE&#8217;s singular achievement was proving that &#8220;move fast and break things&#8221; is catastrophically unsuited to governing a democracy. In Silicon Valley, you can break a social media feature and roll back the code. In government, you break USAID and people die. You fire essential workers and create expensive chaos that costs more to fix than the original &#8220;inefficiency&#8221; ever did.</p>
  348. <p>The CBO numbers are the final punctuation mark on this expensive lesson in the difference between actual efficiency and performative destruction. We now have the receipts showing exactly how much Musk&#8217;s conspiracy-theory-driven approach cost taxpayers—and given the ongoing government shutdown and hiring crisis, we should expect that bill to keep growing.</p>
  349. ]]></content:encoded>
  351. <wfw:commentRss>https://www.techdirt.com/2025/10/14/musk-promised-to-cut-2-trillion-government-spending-went-up-instead/comments/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
  352. <slash:comments>14</slash:comments>
  355. <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">519179</post-id> </item>
  356. <item>
  357. <title>6 Former Surgeons General Across 6 Administrations Publicly Warn Of The Danger Of RFK Jr.</title>
  358. <link>https://www.techdirt.com/2025/10/14/6-former-surgeons-general-across-6-administrations-publicly-warn-of-the-danger-of-rfk-jr/</link>
  359. <comments>https://www.techdirt.com/2025/10/14/6-former-surgeons-general-across-6-administrations-publicly-warn-of-the-danger-of-rfk-jr/#comments</comments>
  361. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Timothy Geigner]]></dc:creator>
  362. <pubDate>Tue, 14 Oct 2025 12:30:50 +0000</pubDate>
  363. <category><![CDATA[1]]></category>
  364. <category><![CDATA[cdc]]></category>
  365. <category><![CDATA[health and human services]]></category>
  366. <category><![CDATA[rfk jr.]]></category>
  367. <category><![CDATA[surgeon general]]></category>
  368. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.techdirt.com/?p=519088&#038;preview=true&#038;preview_id=519088</guid>
  369.  
  370. <description><![CDATA[Six former Surgeons General have gotten together to publicly pen an opinion piece in the Washington Post about the dangers of RFK Jr. The post is fairly long and, frankly, reads as though all six of them are part of a Techdirt fan club for posts about Kennedy. As the post cycles through what Kennedy [&#8230;]]]></description>
  371. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Six former Surgeons General have gotten together to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/10/07/surgeons-general-rfk-jr-robert-kennedy/">publicly pen an opinion piece</a> in the Washington Post about the dangers of RFK Jr. The post is fairly long and, frankly, reads as though all six of them are part of a Techdirt fan club for posts about <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/tag/rfk-jr/">Kennedy</a>. As the post cycles through what Kennedy is doing that represent this danger, it&#8217;s the greatest hits from our own posts on Kennedy. The <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2025/06/23/rfk-jr-responsible-for-more-loss-of-brain-mass-at-hhs-than-a-worm-could-hope-to-achieve/">exodus of talent</a> from HHS and its child agencies. The mismanaged <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2025/07/11/americas-measles-counts-surpass-2019-outbreak-highest-in-over-three-decades/">measles outbreak</a> that became the worst in decades and resulted in 3 deaths, including one child. The non-stop <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2025/06/16/in-the-vax-wars-rfk-jr-predictably-wields-misinformation-as-a-weapon/">misinformation</a> about vaccines. The <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2025/08/13/rfk-jr-reiterates-the-same-rhetoric-that-made-his-own-employees-targets/">dangerous rhetoric</a> in the wake of the Atlanta CDC shooting, rhetoric that led to the shooter firing hundreds of rounds at the CDC&#8217;s campus. And, of course, the bizarre turn towards <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2025/09/23/trump-admin-tells-expecting-mothers-to-avoid-tylenol-due-to-unproven-link-to-autism/">blaming acetaminophen</a> for rising autism rates.</p>
  372. <blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
  373. <p><em>Yet Kennedy continues to ignore science and the public’s wishes. Most recently,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/09/22/tylenol-autism-trump-announcement/">HHS proposed new warning labels</a>&nbsp;on products containing acetaminophen (Tylenol), citing a supposed link between prenatal use and autism. This move has been widely condemned by the scientific and medical communities, who have pointed out that the available research is inconclusive and insufficient to justify such a warning. In an extraordinary and unprecedented response, the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.aap.org/en/news-room/fact-checked/acetaminophen-is-safe-for-children-when-taken-as-directed-no-link-to-autism/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">American Academy of Pediatrics</a>, the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.acog.org/news/news-releases/2025/09/acog-affirms-safety-benefits-acetaminophen-pregnancy" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.smfm.org/news/smfm-statement-on-acetaminophen-use-during-pregnancy-and-autism" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">other leading health organizations</a>&nbsp;issued public guidance urging physicians and patients to disregard HHS’s recommendation. Instead of helping pregnant women make informed decisions during a critical period in their lives, Kennedy’s decisions risk causing confusion, fear and harm.</em></p>
  374. <p><em>Rather than combating the rapid spread of health misinformation with facts and clarity, Kennedy is amplifying it. The consequences aren’t abstract. They are measured in lives lost, disease outbreaks and an erosion of public trust that will take years to rebuild.</em></p>
  375. </blockquote>
  376. <p>This is all stuff you&#8217;ve read about here and elsewhere already. And it&#8217;s not terribly surprising that any number of doctors and healthcare professionals, including these six, would be vocally against the blatantly anti-medicine, anti-science activity that is currently being conducted at HHS.</p>
  377. <p>But, in the interest of progressing this past a never ending shriek-fest about how obviously horrible Kennedy is at his current post, it&#8217;s important to note just how bipartisan this all is. These six Surgeons General were appointed across six administrations, including one of them twice. They were appointed by both Bushes, Clinton, Obama, Biden, and, yes, Trump himself. And all six are unequivocal that this has nothing to do with politics and everything to do with protecting the health of our nation.</p>
  378. <blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
  379. <p><em>As former U.S. surgeons general appointed by every Republican and Democratic president since George H.W. Bush, we have collectively spent decades in service as&nbsp;<a href="https://www.hhs.gov/surgeongeneral/index.html">the Nation’s Doctor</a>. We took two sacred oaths in our lifetimes: first, as physicians who swore to care for our patients and, second, as public servants who committed to protecting the health of all Americans.</em></p>
  380. <p><em>Today, in keeping with those oaths, we are compelled to speak with one voice to say that the actions of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are endangering the health of the nation. Never before have we issued a joint public warning like this. But the profound, immediate and unprecedented threat that Kennedy’s policies and positions pose to the nation’s health cannot be ignored.</em></p>
  381. </blockquote>
  382. <p>Yes, <em>this</em>. Too much of our politics has been turned into a sporting event, where we have our teams and back them not because they&#8217;re right, but because we&#8217;re fans. And that makes all kinds of sense in sports, but makes zero sense at all in politics. And it makes even less sense when we&#8217;re talking about matters of public health.</p>
  383. <p>A &#8220;loss&#8221; for one side can actually be a real loss for everyone. And the converse is true. Because if what is actually winning is science and medicine, that benefits us all whether its detractors agree or not. And, sure, scientists can get things wrong. Doctors can, too.</p>
  384. <p>But the question is this: is everyone on this bipartisan list of former Surgeons General all wrong, stupid, corrupt, and compromised&#8230; or is RFK Jr. at least one of those things? The answer, it seems to me, should be obvious.</p>
  385. ]]></content:encoded>
  387. <wfw:commentRss>https://www.techdirt.com/2025/10/14/6-former-surgeons-general-across-6-administrations-publicly-warn-of-the-danger-of-rfk-jr/comments/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
  388. <slash:comments>17</slash:comments>
  391. <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">519088</post-id> </item>
  392. <item>
  393. <title>Funniest/Most Insightful Comments Of The Week At Techdirt</title>
  394. <link>https://www.techdirt.com/2025/10/12/funniest-most-insightful-comments-of-the-week-at-techdirt-180/</link>
  395. <comments>https://www.techdirt.com/2025/10/12/funniest-most-insightful-comments-of-the-week-at-techdirt-180/#comments</comments>
  397. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Leigh Beadon]]></dc:creator>
  398. <pubDate>Sun, 12 Oct 2025 19:30:00 +0000</pubDate>
  399. <category><![CDATA[1]]></category>
  400. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.techdirt.com/?p=519271&#038;preview=true&#038;preview_id=519271</guid>
  401.  
  402. <description><![CDATA[This week, our first place winner on the insightful side is Stephen T. Stone with a reply to someone pushing back on calling the Trump administration fascist: In second place, it&#8217;s That Anonymous Coward with a comment on Tim Cushing&#8217;s post about incorrect assumptions in his earlier post on the Iowa school superintendent arrested by [&#8230;]]]></description>
  403. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>This week, our first place winner on the insightful side is <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/user/regularstone/">Stephen T. Stone</a> with a reply to someone pushing back on calling the Trump administration fascist:</p>
  404. <blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
  405. <p><em>No, it isn’t. Regardless of how you feel about Democrat-led government administrations, Joe Biden didn’t…</em></p>
  406. <ul class="wp-block-list">
  407. <li><em>give a speech to the Navy in which he heavily implied that the United States Armed Forces would soon have to “take care of” (i.e., commit potentially lethal violence against) Republicans</em></li>
  408. <li><em>say that the US Armed Forces should use American cities he deems “dangerous” as training grounds, which further implies that American citizens in those cities should be seen as “the enemy” and treated like “enemy combatants”</em></li>
  409. <li><em>send the National Guard into Republican-led cities and states to “fight crime”, go after non-existent riots, and/or help ICE carry out mass deportations of people whose only crime was being in the country illegally (as opposed to such people who are reasonably suspected of committing felony-level criminal acts)</em></li>
  410. <li><em>demand that critics of his administration and his allies be silenced for their criticism</em></li>
  411. <li><em>put giant banners on government buildings featuring his face</em></li>
  412. <li><em>jump on a chance to use right-wing violence as an excuse to crack down on civil rights and paint right-wingers as inherently violent and in need of being “put down”</em></li>
  413. <li><em>mourn the loss of a public political figure by turning their memorial service into a political rally and giving a political speech</em></li>
  414. </ul>
  415. <p><em>…so when a Democrat president acts anywhere near as shitty as Donald Trump has in the ten years since he’s been an actual politician, I’ll call them a fascist, too. But I’m going to call Trump and his henchmen “fascists” because that’s what they are. That goes double for Stephen Miller. All your bothsidesism is a weak-ass attempt to equivocate Democrats being centrist needledicks with the current GOP being a fascist death cult and say “well, maybe both sides are to blame for Donald Trump saying he wants to kill Democrats and leftists”. Nobody here with any sense is going to buy into that “look what you made them do” bullshit, so go sell it at CPAC.</em></p>
  416. </blockquote>
  417. <p>In second place, it&#8217;s <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/user/jdoe668/">That Anonymous Coward</a> with a comment on Tim Cushing&#8217;s post about <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2025/10/07/it-definitely-looks-like-i-was-wrong-about-the-iowa-school-superintendent-arrested-by-ice/#comment-4821692">incorrect assumptions in his earlier post on the Iowa school superintendent arrested by ICE</a>:</p>
  418. <blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
  419. <p><em>Sorry about the crow, but I salute you owning the error.</em></p>
  420. <p><em>Given that this administration lies regularly, its very hard to accept things they claim are true.</em></p>
  421. <p><em>His autism tattoo PROVED his membership in TdA!!!</em></p>
  422. <p><em>Statements and written releases often are not worth the paper they are written on. (just ask some judges)</em></p>
  423. <p><em>I still have faith in you, mainly because you don’t mumble you might have misreported something, you admit fault, accept fault, explain how the fault came to be, &amp; promise to try harder.</em></p>
  424. <p><em>As a small consolation at least your not the background check service they were using. Does anyone think that at the same time they filed the lawsuit they considered the very serious problems if they replied on the same service to review others who now have access to children?</em></p>
  425. </blockquote>
  426. <p>For editor&#8217;s choice on the insightful side, we start out with a comment from <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/user/n00bdragon/">n00bdragon</a> about <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2025/10/08/trumps-immigration-theater-pulling-cops-off-child-sex-crimes-to-chase-landscapers/#comment-4823044">Trump&#8217;s immigration theater and its broken priorities</a>:</p>
  427. <blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
  428. <p><em>Chasing sex predators and drug dealers is hard, because there aren’t many of them and they hide. Chasing day laborers around Home Depot parking lots is easy because there are so many of them and makes for great TV (for a certain sort of sicko).</em></p>
  429. </blockquote>
  430. <p>Next, it&#8217;s <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/user/mrwilson/">MrWilson</a> with a comment about <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2025/10/10/apple-decides-ice-agents-are-a-protected-class-because-apparently-government-accountability-is-now-hate-speech/#comment-4826550">Apple&#8217;s reason for removing the DeICER app</a>:</p>
  431. <blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
  432. <p><em>By this logic, my eyes allow me to see cops and know their location and therefore they’re able to be harmed. So if cops aren’t just invisible, then they’re in terrible danger. Of course if you think this is just silly, the administration is all too happy to allow “plainclothes officers”/secret police to abduct people off the streets.</em></p>
  433. <p><em>But Apples’ logic is bullshit. Do they scan email sent on their servers that mention ICE officer locations? Do they blank the ICE facilities on Apple Maps (intentionally, I don’t mean by accident because Apple Maps just sucks in general…).</em></p>
  434. </blockquote>
  435. <p>Over on the funny side, our first place winner is <strong>tanj</strong> with a comment about <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2025/10/06/senator-cruz-figure-out-who-was-president-from-2018-to-2020-challenge-impossible/#comment-4820313">Ted Cruz&#8217;s confusion regarding who was president from 2018 to 2020</a>:</p>
  436. <blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
  437. <p><em>Yet again TD refuses to admit Biden had access to Obama’s time machine.</em></p>
  438. </blockquote>
  439. <p>In second place, it&#8217;s <strong>hooboy</strong> with another comment about <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2025/10/10/apple-decides-ice-agents-are-a-protected-class-because-apparently-government-accountability-is-now-hate-speech/#comment-4826517">Apple&#8217;s removal of DeICER</a>:</p>
  440. <blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
  441. <p><strong><em>many uses</em></strong></p>
  442. <p><em>”because its purpose is to provide location information about law enforcement officers that can be used to harm such officers individually or as a group.”</em></p>
  443. <p><em>OR, it can be used to aid flash mob gatherings of inflatable characters.</em></p>
  444. </blockquote>
  445. <p>For editor&#8217;s choice on the funny side, we start out with one more comment from <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/user/mrwilson/">MrWilson</a>, this time about <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2025/10/08/america-is-drowning-in-scam-calls-and-texts-and-donald-trump-is-making-it-worse/#comment-4822705">how Trump is making the scam call problem worse</a>:</p>
  446. <blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
  447. <p><em>The scam call was coming from inside the (White) House!</em></p>
  448. </blockquote>
  449. <p>Finally, it&#8217;s an anonymous commenter with <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2025/10/06/senator-cruz-figure-out-who-was-president-from-2018-to-2020-challenge-impossible/#comment-4820476">another response to Ted Cruz&#8217;s timeline confusion</a>:</p>
  450. <blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
  451. <p><em>I was kind of with him when he opposed Kimmel’s suspension, but now I wonder if he thought Biden did it.</em></p>
  452. </blockquote>
  453. <p>That&#8217;s all for this week, folks!</p>
  454. ]]></content:encoded>
  456. <wfw:commentRss>https://www.techdirt.com/2025/10/12/funniest-most-insightful-comments-of-the-week-at-techdirt-180/comments/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
  457. <slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
  460. <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">519271</post-id> </item>
  461. <item>
  462. <title>This Week In Techdirt History: October 5th &#8211; 11th</title>
  463. <link>https://www.techdirt.com/2025/10/11/this-week-in-techdirt-history-october-5th-11th/</link>
  464. <comments>https://www.techdirt.com/2025/10/11/this-week-in-techdirt-history-october-5th-11th/#respond</comments>
  466. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Leigh Beadon]]></dc:creator>
  467. <pubDate>Sat, 11 Oct 2025 19:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
  468. <category><![CDATA[1]]></category>
  469. <category><![CDATA[history]]></category>
  470. <category><![CDATA[look back]]></category>
  471. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.techdirt.com/?p=519253&#038;preview=true&#038;preview_id=519253</guid>
  472.  
  473. <description><![CDATA[Five Years Ago This week in 2020, Reps. Gabbard and Gosar brought out the ridiculous House companion to one of the Senate&#8217;s anti-Section 230 bills, while Donald Trump got on board the &#8220;repeal 230&#8221; bandwagon even though it was copyright that kept getting his content removed. A federal judge made a ridiculous free speech ruling [&#8230;]]]></description>
  474. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><strong>Five Years Ago</strong></p>
  475. <p>This week in 2020, Reps. Gabbard and Gosar brought out <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2020/10/06/reps-gabbard-gosar-introduce-ridiculous-house-companion-to-ridiculous-anti-230-senate-bill-senator-kennedy/">the ridiculous House companion to one of the Senate&#8217;s anti-Section 230 bills</a>, while Donald Trump <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2020/10/07/donald-trump-now-wants-to-repeal-section-230-which-will-actually-make-stuff-he-complains-about-worse/">got on board the &#8220;repeal 230&#8221; bandwagon</a> even though <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2020/10/09/while-trump-continues-to-complain-about-230-copyright-law-that-once-again-actually-gets-his-content-removed/">it was copyright that kept getting his content removed</a>. A federal judge made a ridiculous free speech ruling regarding <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2020/10/09/federal-judge-ridiculously-says-that-holding-sign-telling-people-cops-are-ahead-is-not-free-speech/">warning people about the presence of cops</a>, while another judge refused to <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2020/10/05/judge-refuses-to-dismiss-batch-nicholas-sandmanns-media-lawsuits-laziest-defamation-ruling-ive-ever-seen/">dismiss a bath of Nicholas Sandmann&#8217;s media lawsuits in a lazy ruling</a>, and Devin Nunes was <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2020/10/08/devin-nunes-asks-appeals-court-to-invalidate-bedrock-supreme-court-1st-amendment-ruling/">asking the appeals court to overturn NY Times v. Sullivan</a>.</p>
  476. <p><strong>Ten Years Ago</strong></p>
  477. <p>This week in 2015, we looked at how <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2015/10/05/hey-remember-how-net-neutrality-was-supposed-to-destroy-internet/">net neutrality was failing to &#8220;destroy the internet&#8221;</a> while the FCC quickly <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2015/10/07/fcc-quickly-shoots-down-first-incredibly-stupid-net-neutrality-complaint/">shot down the first very stupid net neutrality complaint</a>. Former NSA directors were <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2015/10/07/former-nsa-directors-coming-out-strongly-against-backdooring-encryption/">coming out strongly against backdooring encryption</a>, while Senators kept <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2015/10/09/why-do-senators-keep-lying-about-what-cisa-would-be-used/">lying about what the cybersecurity bill CISA would be used for</a>. Meanwhile, we wrote about <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2015/10/06/tpp-tobacco-carveout-bring-together-strange-bedfellows-while-highlighting-problems-tpp/">the TPP&#8217;s tobacco carve-out</a> and how the agreement <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2015/10/07/tpp-also-locks-broken-anti-circumvention-rules-that-destroy-your-freedoms/">locked in broken anti-circumvention rules</a>, and overall how it was <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2015/10/08/once-more-tpp-agreement-is-not-free-trade-agreement-protectionist-anti-free-trade-agreement/">less a free trade agreement and more a protectionist anti-free trade agreement</a>. Then, Wikileaks offered up an early release of <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2015/10/09/wikileaks-releases-final-intellectual-property-chapter-tpp-before-official-release/">the final TPP intellectual property chapter</a>.</p>
  478. <p><strong>Fifteen Years Ago</strong></p>
  479. <p>This week in 2010, the attention was on ACTA as the release of the draft text approached. The MPAA announced that it was in favor of the current agreement text <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2010/10/05/surprise-surprise-mpaa-in-favor-of-current-acta-text-before-anyone-s-supposed-to-have-seen-it/">even though nobody was supposed to have seen it yet (surprise!)</a>, EU parliament members <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2010/10/05/eu-parliament-members-not-at-all-happy-about-acta/">were not at all happy about the deal</a>, and our analysis of the text once it was released looked at how <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2010/10/06/acta-analysis-you-can-t-craft-a-reasonable-agreement-when-you-leave-out-stakeholders/">you can&#8217;t craft a reasonable agreement while leaving out stakeholders</a>. Even after the release, negotiators were still <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2010/10/07/acta-negotiators-still-claiming-secrecy-is-needed-turn-off-wifi-at-briefing/">claiming extraordinary need for for secrecy and turning off WiFi at a briefing</a>. Meanwhile, we wrote about how <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2010/10/04/historical-audio-recordings-disappearing-copyright-partly-to-blame/">historical audio recordings were disappearing due to copyright</a> and got another example of <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2010/10/07/the-dmca-vs-political-speech/">the DMCA being used to stifle political speech</a>.</p>
  480. ]]></content:encoded>
  482. <wfw:commentRss>https://www.techdirt.com/2025/10/11/this-week-in-techdirt-history-october-5th-11th/comments/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
  483. <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
  486. <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">519253</post-id> </item>
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