You may think that the (temporary?) closure of USAID and the Big Tech backlash against government censorship has given us the win against the censorship regime that is trying to shut ever dissenter up.

You would be wrong. As with the DEI regime, there has been some progress, but a lot of what we have accomplished has been cosmetic instead of fundamental change. 

I don't want to underplay our achievements--in many corporate environments, the powers-that-be are thrilled to have an excuse to pull back from some of the more extreme policies they were forced into--for the simple reason that DEI is not just stupid and unfair, but reduces efficiency and hence profits. As ESG pressures subside and government edicts discourage pursuing counterproductive policies, a lot of businesses are breathing a sigh of relief and pulling back from the moral panic. 

However, in organizations less sensitive to public opinion and more driven by ideology, any progress we are making is mostly cosmetic. Names of departments change, people get new titles, and the rhetoric is more muddled to hide the agenda, but the agenda and commitment remain. 

And since the hard core of anti-speech sentiment and policy creation lie in transnational institutions, academia, NGOs, and the European Union, the censorship regime is doing just fine. Facebook and X may be freer, but Google still imposes limits on monetization, the advertising cartels still shun conservatives, and European governments are still trying to censor Americans. 

Europeans were scandalized and angry when JD Vance gave his Free Expression/Berlin Wall speech in Europe. The Pravda Media here were outraged. Free speech is seen as a radical departure from the diversity and inclusion agenda, and Europeans who are willing to storm into people's houses and arrest people for posting memes are determined to silence people around the world. 

It is as if Xi Jinping were giving seminars to his Western counterparts. 

We here at Hot Air and Townhall Media still face the same challenges we did before Trump came into office. Advertisers are still discouraged from using our sites, the big ad buyers brush us aside, limiting our customer base to the relatively small percentage of ad dollars that aren't worried about "safe" advertising. Big corporations stay away because their consultants tell them that we spread hate, and skittish corporations play it safe. 

That's why we periodically remind you that we need your help to stay in business. Unlike Substack writers, we are not entirely subscriber-funded, but as with Substack, we depend on your assistance to keep publishing. 

I used to listen to NPR, so I know how tiresome "pledge drives" are, and we try to keep our pitches as few and as far between as possible, but the fact is that we are a business that depends on its customers, not a government that can coerce you will jail if you don't pitch in. 

If you value what we provide--and you do, since you are here--please sign up for our VIP program. There are lots of benefits for each level of subscription, and when you click the link they will all be spelled out. I won't waste your time listing them all here, because I don't think you should subscribe just to get all those fine benefits, as good as they are. 

You should subscribe because you value our work and are willing to chip in to pay to keep it going. 

Thanks so much! I am a huge fan of our readers and am humbled that you visit so often.  If I don't say that enough, it's because I am so focused on bitch-slapping the left.