“The warriors who defend this country must have their votes counted. That requires two things. The first is access. They need the time, the training, and the assistance to register and cast a ballot from wherever the country sends them. The second is protection. Their votes must not be diluted by overseas civilian ballots cast under rules Congress never wrote. The Pentagon has failed on both counts. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth is correcting that. Start with access. In 2010 and 2011 I served as an infantry rifle platoon leader in Afghanistan. We operated from a remote combat outpost on the Pakistani border, fighting the Taliban and the Haqqani terror network. Those were the deadliest years of the war. I also ran the Federal Voting Assistance Program for my unit.” (10/03/26)
“We here at the Prospect like to point out the ways in which economic power routinely converts into political power. We saw a particularly gruesome example of that this week. Tech executives converged on D.C. for a lunch with Donald Trump that eventually led to a toothless, completely voluntary AI safety agreement. Public Citizen did the service of tallying up all the money that these executives, their families, or the corporations they lead have given to Trump’s campaign, his super PAC MAGA Inc., his inauguration fund, legal settlements that personally enriched the president, or various vanity projects like the White House ballroom. The total came out to $227 million. Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, who accounts for $23 million of that total, substantially devised the ‘morally binding’ self-regulatory compact to police AI models that came out of the meeting, and Nvidia’s Jensen Huang (a mere $1 million) was his key lieutenant.” (10/02/26)
“In October 2024, the High Court of American Samoa, an unincorporated territory of the United States, issued a staggering ruling that received little media attention. The justices ruled that, since American Samoa is unincorporated, the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms does not apply there. The ruling allowed a near-total gun ban to take effect. President Donald Trump and Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum can and must reverse this immediately. The issue of territories is obscure, so some background is helpful. The United States has 50 states and several territories, including Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Northern Mariana Islands and American Samoa. The District of Columbia also is not a state; however, unlike the other territories, it receives three electoral votes for the presidency pursuant to the 23rd Amendment.” (10/01/26)
“About one-third of the world’s people are between the ages of 14 and 29, the largest youth generation in history. And in recent years, this demographic bulge (dubbed Generation Z) has certainly created history. By tapping social media’s ability to both lament and liaise, youth-led protests have toppled corrupt leaders from Bangladesh to Bulgaria and pushed democratic reforms in institutions from colleges to courts. The latest example: student demonstrations in France over the poor quality of that country’s high schools. As the United Nations declared two years ago, ‘Young people are powerful forces for promoting integrity’. If the worldwide decline in democracy is ever reversed, credit might first go to this global cohort of fresh-faced netroots. One budding success could be in Serbia. Since 2024, the southeastern European country has experienced one the world’s most admired student-led uprisings.” (09/30/26)
“The decline of higher education into an ideological echo chamber has been widely discussed on this and other sites. Polls show record lows in the public trust in our universities and colleges as revenues decline and closures increase. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon responded to this meltdown with a common-sense call for greater transparency and tolerance. The response from teacher unions has been nothing short of hysteria, led by Randi Weingarten at the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and Todd Wolfson at the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) — two of the most polarizing and political figures in teaching.” (10/01/26)
“In this run-up to the 2026 mid-term elections, progressive movements and candidates remain caught up in the challenges of rising authoritarianism and militarism both at home and around the world. We are mobilizing against new US-Israeli wars against Iran and across the Middle East/West Asia region, including Israel’s US-enabled genocide in Gaza and ethnic cleansing in the West Bank. We face explosive US bombing raids and illegal military interventions in Latin America, Africa, and beyond, as well as threats to Canada, Greenland, Mexico, and elsewhere — with President Donald Trump at the center of all of it. What’s different now compared to past crises is that many bold progressive leaders have won competitive primaries in this year’s midterms — often putting opposition to war and genocide at the center of their messaging.” (10/01/26)
“We hear it every two years – some Democrat promising to solve all your problems by pushing ‘Medicare for All!’ It’s the cure for what ails you, they insist: your health insurance. But there is a lot about the healthcare industry, including insurance, that they don’t tell you. I will. This year’s model of promising Utopia is Michigan Democrat Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed. He has joined the Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) chorus insisting ‘free’ healthcare is just a vote away. We’ve heard this song before, and we’ve seen it around the world, too. It never ends up well for the people who fall for it. Abdul was unambiguous about his intentions, pledging to get rid of private health insurance completely for his government takeover. But what works well in Democrat primaries doesn’t necessarily sell all that well to normal people, and most people like their health coverage.” (10/01/26)
“About one in eight new cancer cases worldwide in 2024 — 2.3 million cases — have been linked to infections, according to a new analysis from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). The researchers identified 12 specific infections that were linked to human cancer cases, including Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori), human papillomavirus (HPV), hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), Epstein–Barr virus (EBV), Kaposi sarcoma-associated herpesvirus, Schistosoma haematobium, HTLV-1, Opisthorchis viverrini, Clonorchis sinensis, Merkel cell polyomavirus and HIV. The following five infections contributed to nearly all the global cases: H. pylori, ~760,000 cases; HPV, ~750,000 cases; HBV, ~360,000 cases; EBV, ~260,000 cases; HCV, ~160,000 cases.” (10/01/26)
“Affordability is getting worse, especially if you have to drive to work or anywhere else. By late September, the total cost of the higher gas and diesel prices triggered by President Donald Trump’s war against Iran exceeded $103 billion, according to my organization’s analysis of the federal government’s energy data. And those higher prices aren’t showing any sign of slowing. If current trends hold, the price tag by the end of this year will approach $180 billion. For the average household, that comes out to $750 extra so far, and that figure is on pace to top $1,300 by year’s end. For a family of four with two drivers, those costs are even higher, topping $1,000 already and slated to be over $1,700 by the end of the year if the war continues.” (10/01/26)
“European Union officials met Thursday to strengthen border controls and curb migration as activists presented new evidence they say shows the bloc’s border agency provides surveillance data to Libya’s coast guard to intercept migrants at sea. Home affairs ministers from the EU’s 27 countries gathered in Luxembourg to discuss border surveillance and other policies, including setting up ‘return hubs’ in third countries and efforts to increase deportations across the bloc. Ahead of the meeting, European Commissioner for Migration Magnus Brunner said he would call for a vast expansion of Frontex, including new powers, more funding and a larger workforce. The EU has hardened its migration policy over the past decade, with most member countries supporting more deportations and stricter border controls.” (10/01/26)
