February 16th 2026

Dear Mr. President,

Today is the third Monday of February, and that means it’s Presidents’ Day. As such, I wanted to take the time to give you my appreciation.

First of all, you are the architect behind the Monroe Doctrine. While you may be saddened to learn of the bastardization of the policy under our current administration, it was the Monroe Doctrine which paved the way for the very idea of a good neighbor policy. Without the commitment to keeping European powers from new colonial ventures, we don’t lead to FDR trying to implement his own good neighbor policy in the 1930s.

We haven’t been perfect neighbors (saying the very least and putting it lightly), but the Monroe Doctrine remains an important piece in getting to that true status of good neighbor.

Even as President, your Pan-American efforts were stifled by a Jacksonian congress. We recognize your efforts to build relations with our neighbors on the Américan continent and appreciate what you attempted to do.

Without your push for a more unified and diplomatically friendly relationship with our southern neighbors, the United States Pirate Party itself may not have Pan-Americanism in our platform.

But Mr. President, you must admit: you ultimately didn’t do much as President. It isn’t your fault, per se. But rather, circumstances. You came from an elite family and your seemingly corrupt bargain with Henry Clay cost you your reputation and the presidency. A lesser man might have been remembered as the man who stole the election from Andrew Jackson (a position I do not hold).

You are not remembered for your presidency. It is what you did afterwards that I find so remarkable.

Unusual for its time, and still unusual today, you ran for congress and went to DC after already having lost your reelection bid for President.

For the modern mind, imagine if Jimmy Carter lost to Reagan in 1980, then decided to run for the House of Representatives in 1982 and won. That would be strange, right?

That’s exactly what John Quincy Adams did.

What did you do in your new position? You became slavery’s loudest opponent. You ruffled so many feathers that they implemented a gag rule just to keep you from speaking on the matter.

Still, you would get around it. You were unwavering in your beliefs and you were persistent.

Even on your dying day, you stood alone in your condemnation of the unjust Mexican-American War. You maintained your values and were a fighter to the very end.

I could sit here and talk about the great man you were. I could talk about the Amistad case, where you successfully defended the enslaved mutineers of La Amistad and helped secure their freedom.

You were among the first to hop aboard the Anti-Masonic Party (the first major third party), which you declared was driven by your belief that they were trying to secretly control the government and swearing hidden oaths to each other. To me, that reads as a commitment to openness and transparency.

You helped created the Smithsonian, which I believe speaks for itself.

But on this day, I want to not only recognize you, but thank you. I believe you are exemplary of the idea that greatness can come from anywhere. Great individuals can come from any walk of life. Whereas someone like Henry George was great and came from humble beginnings, you prove that labels such as “nepo baby” or “Northeast elite” ≠ “not a great individual.”

You, a President’s son, proved your greatness not as President yourself, but through your commitment to what you believed in and the just causes for which you fought.

You believed in abolition on the greatest and truest extension of “all men are created equal”. You opposed the secrecy and lack of transparency from the Freemason ruling class. You stood firmly behind what we’d call today anti-imperial and Pan-American beliefs.

Mr. President, if you were alive today, I believe you’d be a member of the United States Pirate Party.

But since I can’t prove that, this will have to do: a letter professing my appreciation for you, and publicly declaring you to be the most Pirate President we have ever had.

Thank you for all you did for your country, especially after you were President. May your legacy receive the honor it deserves. Today, we give you the flowers you deserve.

Sincerely Yours,
Jolly Mitch
Captain of the United States Pirate Party

uspirates.org/love-letter-jqa/

In the first Pirate News of 2026, Steve, Joe and James discuss the MBTA ending its redevelopment plans in Alewife, Trump’s Greenland fantasy and ICE and CBP continuing violence in Minnesota. Sorry it took us so long to get this out. Hope you enjoy the new public domain music that accompanies it.

youtube.com/embed/EEzQFrf8a_M?…

Sign up to our newsletter to get notified of new events, find our upcoming events or volunteer. Join us on:

• Mastodon;
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• Blue Sky;
• Twitter.

Check out:

• Surveillance Memory Bank and Resources;
• Our Administrative Coup Memory Bank;
• Our Things to Do when Fascists are Taking Over.

Some links we mentioned:

• MBTA Terminates Alewife Redevelopment Plan;
• Denmark Says US Attack on Greenland Would Mean End of NATO;
• When the Feds Come to Your City: Standing Up to ICE;
• LUCE: Immigrant Justice Network of Massachusetts.

The public domain music we used (all from the Internet Archive):

• Donald Lambert – Hold Your Temper;
• Sergei Rachmaninoff.

Image Credit: Chad Davis, CC By 4.0, Source Image.

masspirates.org/blog/2026/02/1…

ICYMI

Arizona – Arizona recently had an in-person meeting. The next in-person event will a campaign rally on March 1st, which will take place an Aquatics Center.

Candidates – Drew Bingaman’s website is live and can be visited here. Meet and Greets for the Bingaman campaign are scheduled for Feb. 19th in Danville, PA and Feb. 21st in Sunbury, PA. More details on those Meet and Greets can be found on his campaign Facebook page.

Hunter Rand had his Meet and Greet last Tuesday. Recent news regarding Hunter and everything surrounding his campaign can be found on his website and campaign Facebook page. We want to take the time to send our support to Hunter and stand with him. Hunter is running an exceptional campaign and deserves to be recognized for the good he is doing. We stand with you, Hunter Rand. Let no storm be too great to face.

Blase Henry‘s campaign, which was boosted by a recent Arizona Pirate Party in-person meeting, is seeking volunteers for canvassing and signature collecting in the Tucson area. The deadline for signatures has been bumped up to March 23rd.

If you feel so compelled to donate to these Pirate campaigns, you can donate to Blase, Drew or Hunter by clicking their names.

Committees – A request was made for a revival of the Press Committee. There will be an exploration into reviving the committee at the earliest convenience. Upon new election of PR Director, who is expected to take on a larger role in this committee, a schedule will be set and the first meeting will be planned that first week after the Feb. 22nd meeting.

Discord – With the new Age Verification rules requiring users to upload their ID, we are exploring a move from Discord to a different platform. The server will remain, but we are currently exploring options beyond Discord.

Massachusetts – The Massachusetts Pirate Party is actively undergoing voting to decide the new Pirate Council, their state equivalent of the Pirate National Committee. Ballots were sent out by February 13th and are due back by February 27th. Positions include Captain, First Officer, Quartermaster, PR/Media Director, Activism Director, Swarmwise Director, Web/Info Director, three Arbitrators and two representatives to the US Pirate Party.

A big shout out to MAPP Captain Jamie O’Keefe for not only his excellent work as Captain of our oldest and most active and successful state party, but for being among the main forces behind planning the Pirate National Conference. The conference could not happen without the help of our Massachusetts Pirates and for that we cannot thank you enough.

Pirate National Committee – There are presently two vacancies on the Pirate National Committee board: directors of PR and the Online. Next week, during our Feb. 22nd meeting (which will be livestreamed), we will hold elections for the two roles.

A bylaws change was voted upon and unanimously passed, which now allows singular members of the board to be voted off individually. This is in regards to elected board members and not PNC member states.

Pirate National Conference – Just a reminder that the Pirate National Conference will take place June 6th-7th in Boston, MA. June 6th will mark 20 years since the founding of the United States Pirate Party, and we are celebrating that with a conference and a boat. What’s not to love? Here’s to the first twenty, and the next couple twenty years, too.

You can catch up on the meeting yourself here.

uspirates.org/icymi-updates-fr…

February 13 – Today might feel unlucky. The more superstitious among you might feel like Friday the 13th is inherently a bad day.

The good news is that it’s not; today is a very good day.

Today the United States Pirate Party has some very good news:

Our project “Message in a Bottle” series, which began in February of last year as a vehicle to allow supporters of the US Pirate Party to submit editorial articles to the United States Pirate Party website, will be making its return in the coming weeks. This also serves as an open invitation for supporters to submit articles to be considered for the Pirate Party website.

Our podcast “Talk the Plank!” will also be airing more episodes in the coming weeks. With a number of candidates lined up for this and upcoming election cycles, the current plan is to highlight the candidates as best as possible.

Whether that’s Blase, Drew, Hunter or future candidates/endorsements, you won’t want to miss what they have to say. You can catch the episode with Timothy Grady here.

Finally, just another opportunity to once again show some love to the Super Bowl Half Time show. Yes, congratulations to the Seahawks, but as a party that believes in Pan-Americanism and a true good neighbor policy, Bad Bunny’s performance felt special.

Juntos somos América.

uspirates.org/it-isnt-all-bad-…

Dear Friend of Press Freedom,

The deportation case against Rümeysa Öztürk for co-writing an op-ed the government didn’t like was finally dismissed this week, although the administration can still challenge the ruling. But others, like Ya’akub Vijandre, remain locked up by Immigration and Customs Enforcement for exercising their press freedom rights. Read on for more on the week in press freedom.

Attorney regulators must push back on lawless prosecutors

Last Friday, we filed an attorney disciplinary complaint against Gordon Kromberg, the federal prosecutor who reviewed and signed the search warrant application targeting Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson. The complaint explained that Kromberg violated his duty to disclose adverse authority when his application neglected to mention a federal law that should have prohibited the raid of Natanson’s home. As we explained in a statement, his omission “now threatens to expose Natanson’s sources and cripple her ability to report, while also sending a warning shot to journalists and whistleblowers nationwide.”

Days later, the Virginia State Bar punted on the complaint, contending that it is up to the judge to whom Kromberg submitted the application to decide if the attorney misrepresented the law. That makes no sense — if attorney honesty is solely for judges to decide, then why do the ethics rules (which are enforced by regulators, not judges) include a duty of candor? As we told The New York Times: “This is the latest example of attorney disciplinary offices finding any excuse to not confront the rampant misconduct by prosecutors and other lawyers inside the Trump administration. Disciplinary offices need to rise to the moment and stop protecting the people they’re supposed to regulate.”

• Read the complaint here

Öztürk deportation case among America’s most blatant press freedom violations

We’re thrilled that Öztürk’s removal case is (hopefully) over but we remain shocked and disgusted that it ever happened. We said in a statement that the case is “arguably the most blatant press freedom violation of this century, and maybe the last century as well. The administration did not even bother to present a pretext for its actions — it arrested her, jailed her in horrific conditions, and sought to expel her solely because she expressed views shared by millions of Americans about one of the most important issues of our time.”

The administration goes after immigrants like Öztürk (who has a student visa) because they’re the easiest targets, not because they have any greater respect for the constitutional rights of citizens. They’d throw out all of us who dissent from their agenda or expose their lies if they could, regardless of citizenship status.

• Read our statement

Could the next archivist be even worse?

Secretary of State Marco Rubio was never qualified to serve as acting archivist of the United States, even if it were his only job. In normal times, we’d cheer the end of his year-long stint at the National Archives and Records Administration. But in normal times that stint would’ve never happened. And there is a real concern that his successor might not be any better.

Rubio has reportedly picked Jim Byron, who has been functioning as the agency’s day-to-day head, to take over from him. Byron’s track record is troubling, to say the least. Our Daniel Ellsberg chair on government secrecy, Lauren Harper, has more in her secrecy newsletter, The Classifieds.

• Read it here

Digital security for Valentine’s Day

Like love itself, digital security is all about trust, confidentiality, and compatibility, so our digital security team worked with our friends at Calyx Institute on this set of valentines.

Please feel free to choose your favorites, download them, print them if you like, and send them along to anyone you care for, along with our best regards.

• Get them here

What we're reading

Paramount expands offer for Warner Bros amid hostile takeover bid

Al Jazeera
“WBD shareholders should push back against any transaction that would result in CNN being controlled by people who have already shown willingness to sell out journalism and journalists to benefit their other interests,” Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF) Chief of Advocacy Seth Stern said.

Trump’s campaign against ‘left-wing’ media finds a new target: Apple News

The Washington Post
To summarize Federal Trade Commission Chair Andrew Ferguson’s ridiculous letter: “We’re not the speech police, but we reserve the right to make up nonexistent misrepresentations as a pretext to police speech.”

Landmark settlement announced in lawsuit challenging unlawful questioning of journalists at the border

American Civil Liberties Union
An important win for press freedom from the ACLU: A landmark settlement for photojournalists who had their First Amendment rights violated at the U.S.-Mexico border by ICE and Customs and Border Patrol.

LAPD replaces ‘less-lethal’ gun ‘known to maim people’ with another ‘less-lethal’ gun capable of doing the exact same thing

LA Taco
“Whatever euphemistic term people use for these weapons, all of them are known to maim people for life,” said FPF’s deputy director of advocacy, Adam Rose. “They’re only appropriate when the only alternative is lethal force.”

ICE is expanding across the US at breakneck speed. Here’s where it’s going next

Wired
In the midst of its lies about the dangers of filming law enforcement operations, ICE now claims that revealing its new office locations is a “national security” concern. It’s not.

RSVP: freedom.press/workin-FOIA

freedom.press/issues/attorney-…

The event will give the opportunity to the researchers, the University of Amsterdam and Eurecat – Centre Tecnològic de Catalunya, to showcase the results of their analyses, presenting the policy options that can inform future policy-making.

The post Information Integrity & Wikipedia: How community-governed platforms can inform future policy-making. appeared first on European Digital Rights (EDRi).

Why do our digital systems break people? Conversational AI tools like Grok or ChatGPT are promoted as a means to democratize knowledge and expand access to information. In practice, however, they have also made sexual harassment easier, reproduced harmful stereotypes, and, in some cases, encouraged people to self-harm rather than helping them. These outcomes are not rare glitches. They reveal how conversational AI and social media platforms are built, governed, and deployed at scale.

The post Against Technosolutionism: Governing Platforms as Systems of Care appeared first on European Digital Rights (EDRi).

During the State of the Internet, Waag Futurelab takes the annual temperature of the internet. This edition focuses on AI and the limits of our planet. The lecture will be given by Fieke Jansen, co-founder of the Critical Infrastructure Lab.

The post The State of the Internet 2026 with Fieke Jansen appeared first on European Digital Rights (EDRi).

Media scholars Lucie Chateau and Michael Stevenson, and legal scholar Catalina Goanta on how Big Tech killed the internet.

The post Science Cafe: Why the current internet sucks appeared first on European Digital Rights (EDRi).

The Global Gathering brings together groups from around the world working on the most urgent technology-related challenges affecting human rights, social justice, civil society, and journalism at the local, regional and global levels.

The post Global Gathering 2026 appeared first on European Digital Rights (EDRi).

Digital Commons: Infrastructures, Design, and the Ethics of Autonomy is an international conference exploring how digital infrastructures shape contemporary life, and how communities, researchers, and technologists imagine and build alternatives.

The post Conference Digital Commons: Infrastructures, Design, and the Ethics of Autonomy appeared first on European Digital Rights (EDRi).

EDRi has assessed the Digital Omnibus proposals affecting the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the ePrivacy framework. While presented as simplification, the changes amount to deregulation in effect, weakening fundamental rights safeguards, increasing legal uncertainty, and advancing through a process that falls short of democratic lawmaking standards.

The post Reopening GDPR and ePrivacy through the Digital Omnibus: a risky path for EU digital rights appeared first on European Digital Rights (EDRi).

The European Commission’s dangerous and misguided Digital Omnibus proposal includes a dangerous rollback of transparency requirements in the AI Act. 60 civil society organisations, independent public authorities and individuals, including EDRi, urge EU lawmakers to reject a change that would risk weakening enforcement, legal certainty, and the protection of fundamental rights, while offering negligible benefits for companies.

The post AI Omnibus: Reject the proposals to undermine transparency in the AI Act appeared first on European Digital Rights (EDRi).