Billy Binion
@billybinion.bsky.social
Journalist. Criminal justice & government accountability. Yes, this is my real name.
Younes was a public defender whose community turned on her when she spoke out against COVID mandates. Now she’s making it her mission to defend civil liberties for *everyone*—even when it comes to speech she despises. A fascinating conversation: reason.com/podcast/2025...
Defend speech even when your side hates it
Civil liberties attorney Jenin Younes recounts her role in 'Murthy v. Missouri', her opposition to pandemic mandates, and why she believes Trump poses an even greater threat to free speech than Biden.
reason.com
October 2, 2025 at 1:29 PM
Younes was a public defender whose community turned on her when she spoke out against COVID mandates. Now she’s making it her mission to defend civil liberties for *everyone*—even when it comes to speech she despises. A fascinating conversation: reason.com/podcast/2025...
Shakur's activism coincided with COINTELPRO, the notorious FBI counterintelligence program that illegally surveilled people. You can condemn that misconduct without turning Assata Shakur into a saint. She was not one. reason.com/2025/09/29/a...
Assata Shakur stood with the oppressors
The fugitive freedom fighter allied with a government known for imprisoning dissidents, curtailing civil liberties, and forging equality in the sense that people are more equally oppressed.
reason.com
September 30, 2025 at 12:10 AM
Shakur's activism coincided with COINTELPRO, the notorious FBI counterintelligence program that illegally surveilled people. You can condemn that misconduct without turning Assata Shakur into a saint. She was not one. reason.com/2025/09/29/a...
I don’t think it’s ill-intentioned, but the impulse to use a tragedy to immediately push a political talking point is unhealthy. Victims deserve better than pre-cooked press releases that have nothing to do with what actually happened. It betrays a lack of basic critical thinking.
September 12, 2025 at 7:53 PM
I don’t think it’s ill-intentioned, but the impulse to use a tragedy to immediately push a political talking point is unhealthy. Victims deserve better than pre-cooked press releases that have nothing to do with what actually happened. It betrays a lack of basic critical thinking.
The FBI agents I've met take their jobs really seriously. I'd like to think Kash Patel means well, but I can't imagine how it must feel to have to answer to him right now. He...did not meet the moment.
September 12, 2025 at 3:00 PM
The FBI agents I've met take their jobs really seriously. I'd like to think Kash Patel means well, but I can't imagine how it must feel to have to answer to him right now. He...did not meet the moment.
In both Texas and Florida (which also banned lab-grown meat), ban backers said they were *resisting* authoritarianism because "the global elite" is trying to bring down ranchers, or something. But there should be no question about who the real authoritarians are in these cases.
September 9, 2025 at 2:12 PM
In both Texas and Florida (which also banned lab-grown meat), ban backers said they were *resisting* authoritarianism because "the global elite" is trying to bring down ranchers, or something. But there should be no question about who the real authoritarians are in these cases.
The wildest thing about the Texas law is that its sponsors didn’t even try to hide that it was specifically written to protect Big Ag. The same party that likes to talk about the importance of “free markets” is making it illegal to buy a product from anyone but their friends.
September 9, 2025 at 2:12 PM
The wildest thing about the Texas law is that its sponsors didn’t even try to hide that it was specifically written to protect Big Ag. The same party that likes to talk about the importance of “free markets” is making it illegal to buy a product from anyone but their friends.