“What can the public do about the poison, the indecency, in our politics? The answer: Not reward it. Not vote for it. If you reward something, you get more of it. If you penalize it, you get less. Something else: Decent people ought to stop backing indecent candidates, party politics be damned. The current governor of Ohio, Mike DeWine, is a famously decent pol. He and his wife, Fran, are known for their many charitable works. A Republican, he has endorsed Ramaswamy to succeed him. Why? And can’t he rescind his endorsement? After 50 years in public life, he is retiring at the age of 79. What does he have to lose?” (10/22/26)
“In the wake of the Great Recession, economists faced tough questions: How could they have missed the imminent collapse of the world economy? Of what use were all their intricate models if they couldn’t predict such a huge systemic crisis? Just as economists failed to predict the Great Recession, so political scientists failed to predict a series of momentous political upsets. The most obvious is the dizzying rise of Donald Trump. But the story is bigger than that: In recent years, political scientists have overestimated the forces of stability time and again, failing to foresee Brexit, the chaos wrought in the Philippines by Rodrigo Duterte, and the serious threat posed to Polish democracy by its populist government, among other developments.” (10/22/26)
“New York City council passed a bill Thursday that would ban horse-drawn carriage rides by June 2028, pulling back the reins after the death of a teenage tourist last spring. The legislation requires Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s office to develop a plan by next April to help the more than 150 remaining drivers and the rest of the industry find other jobs, though its provisions are vague and doesn’t set clear benchmarks for displaced workers. Instead, it requires city hall to come up with a program that includes job referrals, career counselling and educational opportunities. It also allows the administration to consider some form of compensation for industry workers.” (10/22/26)
“Israel has released nine of the 10 Israeli [squatter] suspects arrested over attacks on a US journalist and European diplomats in the occupied West Bank, placing them under house arrest. An Israeli court in Jerusalem ordered the release late on Wednesday, according to Honenu, a law firm that represents Israeli [squatters]. … Masked [squatters] were filmed last week assaulting Heidi Levine, a Washington Post photojournalist covering a Palestinian olive harvest who was taken to hospital and underwent surgery on a finger. In a separate attack earlier this week, masked [squatters] assaulted French, Belgian and Polish diplomats and a French mayor in another part of the West Bank.” (10/22/26)
