“Florida Governor Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency for 25 counties that could be impacted by a tropical depression that’s quickly gaining strength in the Gulf. Tropical Depression Nine officially formed on Tuesday afternoon and is expected to start drifting toward the northeast later this week. It’s currently forecast to develop into a hurricane on Thursday and hit the northern Gulf Coast on Friday afternoon. Parts of the state are expected to experience heavy rainfall over the next few days, totaling up to nine inches in some areas. Strong winds, coastal flooding, and isolated tornadoes are also possible across North Florida.” (10/06/26)
“In June 1845, Cassius Marcellus Clay launched an anti-slavery newspaper in Lexington, Kentucky, one block from one of the largest slave markets in the United States. He called it The True American. Published by William L. Neale and edited by Clay, the paper openly challenged Kentucky’s slaveholding establishment. Its editor was a son of a Kentucky aristocrat; a cousin of the Great Compromiser, Henry Clay; and a man who understood that publishing against slavery in a slave state was not merely controversial. It was dangerous. … The office of The True American was not just a newspaper office. According to historian Herndon J. Evans, it was ‘armed with two brass cannons, iron barred windows, and an arsenal of Mexican lances and pikes.’ … Clay later said he had filled the four-pounder cannons with shot and nails.” (10/06/26)
“Iran-backed Houthi rebels [sic] in Yemen on Wednesday claimed attacks on military facilities and airports in neighboring Saudi Arabia as the escalation deepened the latest front in the Iran war and threatened a crucial shipping alternative to the Strait of Hormuz. The Houthis’ military spokesperson, Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, said on social media that the rebels launched ballistic missiles and drones in the attacks targeting King Khalid International Airport in the capital, Riyadh, but did not provide evidence. Flights to and from the airport were briefly disrupted, according to Flightradar24, a tracking platform.” (10/07/26)
Source: Cato Institute
by Matthew Cavedon & Laura Bondank-Harmon
“ALPRs (which, again, stands for ‘automated license plate readers’) are omnipresent and, at this point, misnamed. Over 6,000 cities nationwide have ALPRs, each of which can scan up to 2,000 vehicles per minute. Over 130,000 of these devices have been deployed across the U.S. ALPRs are misnamed because they do not simply read license plates anymore. The leading ALPR manufacturer, Flock Safety, used to insist that this was all its technology could do. Yet according to August reporting by Wired, Flock ‘has now built … an artificial intelligence tool for police that can identify drivers and track vehicles by their patterns of movement alone.’ … Law enforcement is using tools that can tell officers who you associate with, where you sleep, and what you believe. They call it safety. The law should call it a search and impose the safeguards and remedies that accompany one.” (10/06/26)
“Christa Pike is conscious and speaking nearly a week after a botched [killing attempt by state employees] left her critically injured and temporarily on a ventilator, her attorneys said Tuesday. … Pike, 50, continues to receive medical care after she survived being administered two lethal doses of pentobarbital and was hospitalized following the failed Sept. 30 [killing] in Nashville, her attorneys said. She has ‘severe damage’ to her arms and remains handcuffed to her bed, her attorneys said. … Her attorneys said Tuesday they continue to ask Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee to commute her sentence to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.” (10/06/26)
“Many years ago, Congress adopted a law that prohibits home whiskey distilling. That law is now under constitutional challenge. John Ream is a home whisky distiller. He points out that the Constitution grants Congress only certain enumerated (listed) powers and that regulating home distilling is not on the list. He lost in the lower courts but has filed a petition asking for Supreme Court review. … Mr. Ream’s case is not hopeless, but he is pushing uphill. In my Epoch Times series ‘How the Supreme Court Rewrote the Constitution,’ I described how, during the early 1940s, the justices converted the congressional Commerce Power (an amalgam of the Commerce Clause and the Necessary and Proper Clause) into general authority to regulate almost all human activity—at least all economic activity.” (10/06/26)
“The Trump administration pushed the FBI to investigate Los Angeles protesters in violation of their constitutional rights and the bureau’s policies, a former FBI supervisor alleges in a new whistleblower complaint. Jill Fields, a former supervisory intelligence analyst in the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office, made a formal whistleblower complaint to Senate Judiciary Committee leaders over the federal response to anti-ICE protest activity around federal buildings, as well as in a residential area, early last year. Fields asked Congress and the Justice Department’s watchdog to investigate the allegations, her attorneys said in a letter to lawmakers. She says they violated the First Amendment right to free speech and to peaceably assemble. … A person whose name is redacted in the complaint told Fields that an investigation would be opened because ‘the President wants this investigation,’ Fields’[s] whistleblower complaint says.” (10/06/26)
“Richard Reinsch joins James Patterson to discuss The Civitas Collection 250, the way in which the Declaration is like a ‘fine blended scotch,’ and how civics centers across the nation are making rich conversations like this more possible. They speculate on whether a renewed appreciation of America’s civic traditions could also lead to more philanthropy, constructive institution-building, and cultural renewal.” (10/06/26)
“With the midterms approaching, Republicans are in a real pickle. Trump and his policies are extremely, record-settingly unpopular. What do you do when: * Your party has effectively abandoned affordability, the free-market, and economic growth * Prices are higher, wages are more stagnant, and the economy is more K-shaped under one-party rule than it was three years ago * Nearly every impactful wealth transfer has gone in the exact wrong direction … You culture war and scapegoat! Enter: Muslims and Islam. … Every time I dig into conservatives’ specific claims, they fall apart upon the most cursory inspection. And when I zoom out, things look even dumber. By every practical measure, US Muslims are a non-issue.” (10/06/26)
“Workers are terrified that new machines will put them out of work. Math teachers get scared because they see how calculators would potentially eliminate the need for their instruction. Musicians believed that recordings would eliminate the popularity of live shows. Hollywood hated home recorders because why go to the movies when you can just watch at home? And they were right. All of this did happen. But they were also wrong. There’s a shortage of teachers, plant workers and machine operators. There are more creators now than ever, and more video, TV and movie content. People adapted.” (10/06/26)
