“There is no greater myth regarding American exceptionalism than the view that only the United States has always seen the promotion of ‘liberal democracy’ as part of its national identity. In actual fact, the United States pledges itself to ‘liberal democracy’ the world over only when its military designs are compromised or stymied. The model was President Woodrow Wilson’s ‘war to end all wars’ during World War I. When Wilson asked Congress for a declaration of war against Germany in 1917, he famously stated that the ‘world must be made safe for democracy.’ Wilson understood that the American people were not interested in a conflict as part of a larger geopolitical battle, but would rally around the idea of a moral crusade to permanently eliminate militarism and establish a lasting global peace.” (10/01/26)
“The Labor Department reported Thursday that seasonally adjusted initial jobless claims fell by 1,000 to 197,000 for the week ending September 26, the lowest reading since mid-July. The prior week’s figure was revised up by 1,000, from 197,000 to 198,000. The four-week moving average of claims slipped 2,500 to land at 200,000, a level that irons out the noise of weekly fluctuations. That figure was also revised up by 250 from the prior week, to 202,500. Continuing claims — a measure of insured unemployment and a proxy for the number of people currently receiving benefits — fell by 11,000 to a seasonally adjusted 1.701 million for the week ending September 19, the lowest since March 2023, according to Bloomberg. The insured unemployment rate held at 1.1%.” (10/01/260
Source: Cato Institute
by Ryan Bourne & Nathan Miller
“The 10-year Treasury yield exceeded 5.3 percent yesterday—its highest intraday level since 2002. It has risen by roughly half a percentage point this month. Given the scale of the US debt that needs refinancing and projections for ongoing annual federal deficits, such a surge in government borrowing costs could be a big deal for US interest spending levels and, ultimately, the path of the debt itself.” (10/01/26)
“France and Britain are abandoning a landmark migration deal that allowed the British to return migrants who crossed the English Channel illegally in exchange for those who applied to enter via official means. The deal, known as ‘one in, one out,’ struck in the summer of 2025, was intended to deter dangerous illegal crossings of the channel, which have roiled politics in Britain and raised tensions between London and Paris. The original deal was struck for one year and was extended by a month, until Oct. 1, but will not be renewed. France pulled the plug despite entreaties from London to keep it in place, according to officials in both countries, in part because the French government wants Britain to strike a broader deportation deal with the 27 countries of the European Union.” (10/01/26)
“Robby Soave gives his radar on Florida Rep. Angie Nixon suggesting that her opponent in the state Senate race, Ashley Moody, should be in prison.” (10/01/26)
“Like many of the brightest minds of his generation (not least Bill Clinton), Christopher Hitchens was seduced by the prospects of humanitarian intervention in the 1990s, after spending his formative years protesting the Vietnam War. Hitchens’[s] turn toward neocon militancy attracted notice among certain of his colleagues well before the war in Iraq. … Hitchens’[s] erstwhile colleague, the legendary Nation columnist Alexander Cockburn, felt that Hitchens ‘craved to be an insider.’ It was a trait, wrote Cockburn, ‘which achieved ripest expression when he elected to be sworn in as a US citizen by Bush’s director of Homeland Security, Michael Chertoff.’ Yet there were other expressions of this craving, equally ripe.” (10/01/26)
“A judge on Thursday dismissed the criminal case accusing former U.S. Olympic canoeist David Hearn of vandalizing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool and permanently barred prosecutors from refiling the same charges. District of Columbia Superior Court Judge Todd Edelman, in his order tossing the case ‘with prejudice,’ cited the ‘exceptional circumstances’ of the risk that President Donald Trump would pressure prosecutors to re-charge Hearn. A dismissal with prejudice prevents a case from being refiled.” (10/01/26)
“If such [a ‘self-sovereign’ AI] agent existed, how would it find its way around an economy? It cannot read the minds of the millions of strangers whose choices determine what is valuable. It does not automatically know that a mine flooded yesterday, that a restaurant has empty tables tonight, or that a particular programmer suddenly has three free hours. What can it see? The answer, I think, is the same thing you and I look at: prices.” (10/01/26)
