Author: Thomas L. Knapp

Source: The Bulwark
by Will Sommer

“… even if that means they have to invent it.” (10/23/25)

https://www.thebulwark.com/p/maga-media-keeps-thirsting-for-left-wing-violence

Source: Semafor
by David Weigel

“Democratic rhetoric has grown more conservative, with more appeals to tradition, than it was during Trump’s first term. (It’s also clear that this rebranding is getting under some Republicans’ skin, 100 hours after the Saturday rallies. If President Donald Trump ‘was a king,’ his eldest son quipped to Fox News, he ‘probably would just reopen the government.’) But Democrats’ goals, as elucidated at No Kings rallies, have not changed.” (10/22/25)

https://www.semafor.com/article/10/22/2025/democrats-change-their-protest-brand-but-stick-with-the-same-substance

Source: The Peaceful Revolutionist
by David S D’Amato

“The mid-century English anarchist Herbert Read suggested a very different way of thinking about progress: ‘What is our measure of progress? And again I answer that it is only to the degree that the slave is emancipated and the personality differentiated that we can speak of progress.’ Read’s model, progress as differentiation, stands as a direct challenge to GDP’s idea of progress, which collapses all difference in its reduction of every social and economic question to ‘did the number increase?'” (10/23/25)

https://dsdamato.substack.com/p/gdp-as-ideological-scam-part-6

Source: Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
by Sarah McLaughlin

“Comedy’s greatest asset is its ability to use just laughter to take the powerful down a peg. But what took place in Saudi Arabia earlier this month wasn’t so funny. Over 50 well-known comedians including Bill Burr, Kevin Hart, and Dave Chappelle all performed in recent weeks at the Riyadh Comedy Festival, despite criticism from some fellow comics who were also invited — and offered large sums to perform — but said no. One of those comedians, Atsuko Okatsuka, shared a reason why she chose to reject the offer: It came with very restrictive strings attached. … Two comedians were dropped from the lineup after making comments about how they were still willing to accept the money despite the country’s extensive human rights violations, because in doing so they acknowledged said violations. That’s a no-no.” (10/22/25)

https://www.thefire.org/news/blogs/free-speech-dispatch/high-profile-comedians-paid-handsomely-not-offend-saudi-royals

Source: Niskanen Center
by Alex Armlovich

“For decades, policymakers, researchers, and the public have struggled to answer what seems a simple question: How many homes are cities permitting? In Los Angeles, for example, the federal building permit survey suggests that the state has issued around 15,000 housing permits annually in recent years. But California’s own Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) tells a different story: closer to 20,000. This 30 percent gap isn’t merely a statistical quirk; it represents thousands of permits that don’t appear in our national housing data.” (10/23/25)

https://www.niskanencenter.org/new-census-data-a-true-picture-of-americas-housing-stock

Source: Reason
by Matt Welch

“Desperate New York influencers try to shame the longtime local activist out of the mayoral race, so that a disgraced former governor can again lose to Zohran Mamdani.” (10/22/25)

https://reason.com/2025/10/22/is-republican-nominee-curtis-sliwa-a-spoiler-in-nyc/