“Government-run, tax-funded schools are the ‘standard’ – even today, most people who home-school their children, or even who use private schools (including parochial ones) are looked on as being abnormal. While there are many problems with the GRTF schools, here is one critical challenge – which usually is not overcome. Auron MacIntyre recently shared his experiences as a schoolteacher under less than ideal conditions. Since everyone is taught to be a bean counter and be obsessed with ‘balancing,’ every standard of decency and excellence has to be sacrificed.” (10/26/26)
“While perhaps bumpy, the election will proceed as expected. Millions of people will cast their ballots—in fact, many already have through early or mail-in voting. Thousands of election workers will uphold democracy by counting ballots fairly and accurately. Election officials will certify the results. Close races may lead to post-election lawsuits. All of that is normal. What is abnormal is the president meddling in election processes. It’s also unconstitutional and unprecedented. Let’s make sure the American people have that vital information in every headline, push notification, social media post, and news story.” (10/26/26)
“At least 21 people have been killed and 40 others were wounded in a drone strike in Nyala, Darfur, the AFP news agency reported, citing a medical source and witnesses. A Nyala resident said that the attack took place at around 8pm (18:00 GMT) on Monday at a market in the north of the city – which serves as the de facto capital of Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. … The Sudanese military, which has been at war with the RSF since April 2023, regularly strikes Nyala, where the RSF has declared an administration rivalling the military-backed, internationally recognised government in Khartoum. The RSF has in turn launched strikes targeting Khartoum’s airports, as well as dams and power stations in the government-controlled east.” (10/27/26)
“With a lawless administration still in power, and Trump still wielding the veto pen, it’s far from guaranteed a Democratic Congress will be able to significantly rein him in. But there are still better and worse scenarios for what Democrats can accomplish depending on how strongly the party of Trump is repudiated at the polls. Partly it depends on how much they’re willing to play hardball. But partly it depends on just how many seats they win.” (10/26/26)
“We Americans are the luckiest bunch of humans to ever live. We are more affluent than ever before, even though most Americans also have much more leisure than earlier generations. Our success is demonstrated by the large numbers of immigrants trying to permanently enter our country, often illegally [sic] at great risk. Compared with a century or even a generation ago, our houses are bigger and nicer (with air conditioning and upscale kitchen appliances), our cars are more luxurious and reliable than those of earlier generations, and we have new pleasures like social media and ocean cruises to entertain and titillate us when we are not watching movies or shows on giant screens unheard of a generation ago or on technologically advanced hand-held devices.” (10/26/26)
“A federal judge Monday night temporarily blocked the Trump administration from cutting down additional trees or closing down a public golf course that the president intends to upgrade to a championship-level course. Judge Ana Reyes, in a lengthy, cutting opinion, found that the president’s public statements were at odds with the administration’s assertions in court that the felling of more than 400 trees earlier this month was routine maintenance and not preparation for the president’s grand vision for East Potomac Golf Links. … A preservation group and two local residents asked the court to bar further tree cutting after theInterior Department earlier this month cut down more than 400 trees on short notice.” (10/26/26)
“It has often been claimed that ‘all politics is local.’ That twentieth-century phrase is sometimes said, though incorrectly, to have originated with Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill, who was known to say that the outcomes of congressional elections were determined by local issues. In other words, politicians running for national office must appeal to local voters and their concerns. Political scientists and others have since cast doubt on the influence of local voters and their concerns on national policy or trends. There may be less variety in local concerns or opinions across states or cities now than ever, and party platforms across states now resemble each other more than ever.” (10/26/26)
