“American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan visited Pope Leo XIV at the pontiff’s residence on Wednesday as part of the Vatican’s wider effort to create a bridge between the Catholic Church and popular culture. The Vatican News said the visit between the two men was brief and included a few lighthearted exchanges. Pope Leo gave Dylan a rosary and the singer gifted the pontiff a copy of his book Chronicles: Volume One. … Pope Leo quoted Dylan’s 1963 song ‘Go Away You Bomb’ in the preface of a printed collection of his speeches and reflections released in July.” (11/04/26)
“In the summer of 2003, at the age of 18, I found myself sitting in the gallery of the US House of Representatives refusing the advances of a 61-year-old congressman. It’s all come to the front of my mind lately, a place from which I am wont to arduously push it, in the wake of three men, one of them only 17 at the time, coming forward to share their experiences being paid for sex by Lindsey Graham.” (11/04/26)
“The Special School District (SSD) of St. Louis County provides public education for children with special needs throughout St. Louis County and portions of Jefferson County. It is one of two special school districts in Missouri, with the other one being Pemiscot County. (Why Pemiscot County has its own countywide special school district is a topic for another blog post.) Some St. Louis and Jefferson County residents who may not have been that familiar with the district are about to become more familiar, as it just raised its tax rates substantially without a vote of the people.” (11/04/26)
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Vincent Cook
“Being free to cast just one trifling vote among thousands or millions of votes for deciding how to run the breadline, how to assign living quarters, etc. is not some magical ‘power’ that gives you any meaningful control over your own life. Quite to the contrary, it’s the commissars and their enforcers (secret police, neighborhood watch committees, people’s tribunals, etc.) who would exercise a terrifying arbitrary power of life and death over all voters, rendering their voting rights irrelevant and any dignified life under their rule impossible.” (11/04/26)
“Orders for what one official called a ‘national no enforcement day’ began circulating on Monday inside U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement. Handed down through ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations division through internal group chats and verbal commands, the directive called for a halt to all immigration enforcement operations on Election Day, according to ICE officials across the country who spoke to The Intercept. … According to multiple ICE officials who spoke to The Intercept, the orders were handed down quietly to avoid media attention.” (11/04/26)
“Andrew Day, Luke Nicastro, and Juan Rojas discuss the stunning midterm election results, the role of the Iran War in sinking the GOP, and what comes next for Vice President J.D. Vance.” (11/04/26)
“Trump says that he accepts the midterm results today. Perhaps this is a case like Hungary and Serbia, where the margins proved too big for Viktor Orban and Aleksandar Vucic to rig. We’ll see what the mercurial president says tomorrow. But who among Trump’s henchmen will stick their necks out for him now? Once seated, the new Congress must ensure there are consequences for the administration’s overreach and malfeasance—even in the unlikely event that Trump keeps up the conciliatory tone. Failure to do so will only invite another, more competent demagogue to attack American democracy.” (11/04/26)
“Under authoritarian regimes, F.A. Hayek wrote, the worst get to the top because they are the only ones willing to engage in the kind of depravity that the Dear Leader demands. So this election season, Trump’s Own Party put its dregs on the ballot. By contrast, Democrats leaned into a strategy of liberal inclusion—meritocratic multiculturalism—and ferreted out political talent wherever it existed: Muslims, Hispanics, gays, even a Paralympian. What resulted was a contest between kakistocracy and meritocracy—and kakistocracy lost. Bigly. Even by the standards of authoritarians, Donald Trump is in a class apart—a rational strongman would have helped his party field candidates with the best shot at keeping its grip on Congress, or at least not losing as badly as it did.” (11/04/26)
