“[T]he two sets of governing principles in our society—liberalism for the state and capitalism for the economy—are second-best arrangements. In other words, they do not coincide with most people’s sense of what an ideal world would look like. (Just to be clear, they are not second-best in the real-world sense. In the real world, they are the best that we can hope to attain, at least for the foreseeable future. The problem is that they are second-best with respect to most people’s personal values and moral ideals. They are not à la hauteur de nos espérances. This is why people got so annoyed at Francis Fukuyama for declaring the end of history.’ (11/06/26)
“Israeli authorities have released Palestinian journalist Abed Abou Shhadeh after detaining him for five days without charge. Speaking after his release, Abou Shhadeh said on Sunday that his detention was part of ‘political measures’ intended not only for him ‘but to intimidate Arab society as a whole’. … Abou Shhadeh was held in a Shin Bet intelligence facility in Petah Tikva, on the outskirts of Tel Aviv, after being detained on Tuesday on suspicion of ‘contact with a foreign agent’. He was suspected of receiving money from foreign sources in order to support Israel’s Arab voters, according to the legal rights group Adalah, which is part of his defence team.” (11/08/26)
“For the last eight months, the Iran war has been a topic of fierce debate: is the war in our national interest? Was Iran an imminent threat? Should we stay the course or escalate? … The American people settled the debate. It’s time to end the war in Iran. This is irrefutable, as Vice President Vance has admitted. Over 70% of voters blamed the Iran war and our off balanced relationship with Israel for the out of control inflation that affects their daily lives and have zero tolerance for more wars of choice. With this clear message from the American people, Trump must immediately end the war – today.” (11/06/26)
“The Justice Department closed its antitrust investigation into Fox Corp.’s $22 billion acquisition of streaming platform Roku after the media company agreed to measures aimed at protecting competing streaming services, officials said Friday. The decision allowed Fox to complete its acquisition of Roku, combining its television, news and sports operations with a streaming platform reaching more than 100 million households worldwide. Federal regulators had investigated whether the merger would reduce competition or allow Fox to favor its own programming over rival content on Roku devices. DOJ officials said its investigation found that competition from other streaming platforms would likely prevent the combined company from harming consumers.” (11/07/26)
“Lindsey Granger gives her lens on Jon Stewart suggesting that Sen. Chuck Schumer should not be the Senate majority leader now that Democrats have control of the Senate.” (11/06/26)
“The Democrats elected in 1974 were elected to punish Republicans for the crimes of Richard Nixon. But some of them thought that the post-Watergate world was a wide-open ideological field in which they had decades to frolic. Six years later, Ronald Reagan won the presidency, and four years after that, he was reelected in a 49-state landslide (recount Minnesota!) with nearly 60 percent of the total vote nationwide. The lesson for the take-out-the-trash Democrats of 2026: A political moment is not the same thing as a political trend.” (11/06/26)
“Voters across the United States were loud and clear on Tuesday in their historic drubbing of Trumpism. The election was a decisive rejection of Trump’s war on Iran and its staggering costs at home. While savoring their victory and the historic opportunity to restore America’s constitutional order, the Democrats should take the anti-war message of the election to heart, because they suffered the same verdict two years ago, when voters rejected the Biden administration’s wars in Ukraine and Gaza.” (11/06/26)
“A Kenyan cult leader has been sentenced to 200 years in prison for the murder of 191 people, all but one of them children, in a campaign of abuse and forced fasting. Paul Mackenzie, founder of the Good News International Church, was sentenced Friday alongside more than two dozen others at the Mombasa High Court. Mackenzie preached that the world would end in August 2023 and that followers needed to fast in order to reach heaven. According to a Kenyan Senate report into the deaths, his teachings were based on ‘doomsday or end-times’ beliefs. Children were scheduled to die first, followed by young people and women. Men were expected to stay alive long enough to bury the bodies before dying.” (11/06/26)
