Dear ASF Community,
February saw Dr John Lott, President of the US Crime Prevention Research Center in the US, tour Australia for a week-long series of speaking engagements. At ASF’s inaugural Vox Libera community salon, Dr Lott explored the relationship between gun rights and violent crime rates—an especially topical discussion in the wake of the tragic Bondi Beach terrorist attack. You can read a summary of John’s position here. This ASF members-only salon in the private Sydney home of a generous ASF member was both intimate and informational, with our “pot luck” style bring-a-plate dinner catering format an economical success that we plan to repeat.
The next Vox Libera salon, focused on the predicament of young men in today’s world, is planned for 16 May (International Boys’ Day). Please save the date! We would also love to hear from you about other topics you’d like to see discussed in this salon-style format.
On 24–25 February, several ASF directors—fresh from their 2026 Directors’ Strategic Retreat—and many ASF full and affiliate members attended John Anderson’s invitation-only ASPIRE conference, inspired by the success of the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship. Amongst other media coverage of this high-profile event, you can watch a summary of Peter Costello’s speech from the conference here, in which he described rampant government spending and debt accumulation as a form of intergenerational theft.
The productive ASF Directors’ Retreat held in mid-February yielded a long list of plans and initiatives that we will continue with or embark upon this year. Amongst other things, we are actively on the hunt for a location for our 2026 annual Progress through Science and Freedom conference, and we are considering cities other than Sydney. If you know of a low-cost venue or a low-cost catering option, at least one of which we need in order to keep tickets accessible to the community, please let us know at admin@scienceandfreedom.org.
Alongside staying engaged with ASF, we encourage you to explore other vibrant and intellectually stimulating communities, such as Think & Think Again, a new international group centred on curiosity, meaning, and nuanced, thoughtful conversation.
In medical research there is increasing evidence that perhaps it wasn’t so wise to jab pregnant women, or adolescents with the covid shots; that perhaps the excess deaths since 2021 have something to do with the covid shots after all; and that just maybe, some of the vaccines used for other things aren’t that safe either: this recent study has found a “serious mortality safety signal” with the measles/mumps/rubella vaccines.
Overseas in covid-related developments, there is a US petition calling for a moratorium on all current and future mRNA/modRNA applications; 3 US bills have been proposed (in Arizona, Minnesota, and Tennessee) designed to declare mRNA substances as bioweapons; a Covid Justice Resolution has just been launched in the US that you can sign, aimed at preventing future government overreach in the event of a future crisis; and tens of thousands of UK students are bringing compensation claims against their universities for being short-changed during the covid period.
Princeton University Press is starting to get into the covid history business, with books like In Covid’s Wake (reviewed here for the Economic Record by ASF’s Gigi Foster) and Unvaccinated Under God.
To finish on a lighter note, we can suggest Censored: The Fight for the First Amendment, which premieres Feb 27th, or for something more playful, A Super Progressive Movie, an animated satire courtesy of Pauline Hanson and co., about ideology and Australian identity—or just some good old covid humour.
Wishing you a good start into autumn!
Jörg Probst
