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This publication is written and published independently by Fred Cochran on Substack. By reading or subscribing, you’re agreeing to what’s below, and I’d rather just say it plainly than bury it.
Everything here is my own work, or clearly credited when I’m citing someone else’s reporting, and it’s protected by copyright like anything else that gets published. Share links, quote a line or two with attribution, argue with me in the comments — all of that’s fine and welcome. What’s not fine is republishing full pieces without asking first, passing my writing off as your own, or feeding this into an AI system to train or prompt it. I don’t consent to that, and I want it said outright rather than left to assumption.
What you’re reading here is my own research and my own judgment. Where I’m documenting something, I source it honestly and name what I’m sourcing. Where I’m arguing a position — a war, a piece of legislation, the Washingtonian Voting System — I say plainly that it’s my position, not a neutral report, because you deserve to know which one you’re reading. I’m not a lawyer, not a financial advisor, not an official of any kind, and nothing here should be treated as professional advice for your own situation. Go find an actual professional for that.
I do the work to get things right, and when I get something wrong, I say so openly and correct it in the open, the same way the war record handles a correction — not a quiet edit that pretends it never happened. But I can’t promise it’s error-free, and I’m not liable for decisions anyone makes based on what they read here instead of doing their own checking.
This sits on Substack, so you’re also bound by Substack’s own Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, which govern the platform itself — payments, data, the technical side of things. If there’s ever a conflict between what’s written here and Substack’s own terms, Substack’s terms govern the platform relationship, and mine govern the relationship between me and you as the writer.
I may update this as things change, and if I do, I’ll say so plainly instead of slipping it in quiet.
Questions, reach me through the contact info on the publication.