“Two leaders of India’s youth-led Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) were remanded in custody for five days on Wednesday, as police ratcheted up efforts to clamp down on anti-election commission protests. CJP activists and opposition parties have defied a security crackdown to demand the resignation of India’s chief election commissioner, accusing the poll body of manipulating voter rolls to benefit Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling party. The commission, which oversees voting in the world’s most populous nation, has denied any wrongdoing. Delhi Police said CJP leaders Ashutosh Ranka, 30, and Saurav Das, 27, were taken into custody for their ‘alleged repeated attempts to disturb public peace and violate the law’. At the end of the five-day remand period, they could have their detention extended, be granted bail or be released.” (10/14/260
“As the war in Ukraine grinds into its fifth winter, the collapse of recent diplomatic initiatives and Washington’s explicit pivot from arming Kyiv to brokering a territorial freeze have laid bare a stark new reality. In February 2022, Western leaders predicted that sanctions would cripple Russia within months and that a united West would see Ukraine through to victory. More than four years later, Russia’s economy has bent but not broken. The United States has turned from Ukraine’s chief backer into a reluctant broker. Europe is paying for a war it cannot win.” (10/14/26)
“That liberal democracy is in a state of terminal decline I take to be beyond dispute. Like Alice in the rabbit hole, those of us who dwell in democratic societies suffer from a nauseating sense of falling without ever landing on solid ground. The usual suspects blamed for this tumble—populism, inequality, the economy—are mere surface symptoms of an internal breakdown. We have arrived at the conclusion of a world-historical cycle. Liberal democracy is the procedural embodiment of Enlightenment ideology—and after two centuries of dominance, that ideology has lost all purchase and stands utterly exhausted. Radical alternatives confront us. Either we reorient our system to post-Enlightenment principles or we risk staggering into the nihilist’s paradise I have called the Endarkenment.” (10/13/26)
“The Trump administration is delaying the release of detailed data showing how Republicans’ 2025 tax cuts affected millions of Americans’ taxes, even as it tries to sell voters on the law ahead of the midterm elections. The numbers document which tax breaks were claimed by people in different income brackets, as well as information like how much they paid in taxes. The IRS typically releases the data in the wake of each filing season, but this year’s rollout is more anticipated because it’s expected to provide the first detailed look at how taxpayers are taking advantage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, including its new deductions for overtime wages and tipped income.” [editor’s note: There are no “tax cuts.” If spending is going up, taxes are going up. Borrowing is just taxation with deferred payment (and interest) – TLK] (10/14/26)
“The ruling in Bernstein v. Department of Justice held that code is speech and so is protected by the First Amendment – a precedent that underpins the internet as we know it today. This landmark case was led by Cindy Cohn, then a young pro bono lawyer working on behalf of EFF, who went on to become EFF’s legal director and then executive director.” (10/13/26)
“I am not telling you to do anything illegal. I merely note that finding out where the cameras are in your driving range gives you options.” (10/13/26)
“In the early Trump era, many prominent pundits were fairly conventional conservatives. When the audience veered towards populism and MAGA, the hosts followed the advice widely attributed to the French 19th century politician, Alexandre Auguste Ledru-Rollin: ‘There go the people, I must follow them, for I am their leader.’ (In fairness, he didn’t say it, critics ascribed it to him.) But the most dangerous realm for this dynamic isn’t political journalism. It’s politics. Politicians often are captured by their true-believing base.” (10/13/26)
