Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Ian Proud
“British Defense Secretary Wes Streeting recently said the U.K. has 1000 days to be ‘ready with our allies to fight and win.’ The enemy is obvious: Russia. The catch: London doesn’t have the cash to fight, and ordinary folk aren’t interested. This latest reminder that war with our Slavic foes is imminent is vague and unspecified, and frankly tedious.” (11/03/26)
Source: Common Dreams
by Paul Josephson
“Someday soon, it will be possible to call for an orange skin cosmetology appointment with your not-made-in-America Trump phone, which has been on back order for 18 months; schedule the appointment with your Trump watch; and pay for it (and a new US passport with a likeness of President Donald Trump) with Trump bitcoins, while staying at a Trump hotel near a Trump golf course. You can already take a cross country trip to visit national parks with your Trump digital pass embossed with a picture of George Washington and a convicted felon. … There are limits to Trump merch. When you get cancer you will not be treated in Trump Hospital because there is none and your medical insurance has been eliminated.” (11/03/26)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/trump-buying-and-selling
Source: Law & Liberty
by Anne Lord
“George Caleb Bingham’s famous painting depicts the beauty and turmoil of American national character.” (11/03/26)
Source: Asia Times
by John P Ruehl
“The narrative surrounding the Ukraine war often marks its beginning on February 24, 2022, when Russia launched its full-scale invasion. But the rivalries and political decisions that brought the two countries into conflict stretch back centuries. The start of the Cold War, meanwhile, was the beginning of sustained US efforts to further antagonize Ukraine’s relationship with Moscow.” (11/03/26)
https://asiatimes.com/2026/11/boiling-point-how-america-lit-and-fueled-the-ukraine-war/
Source: The American Conservative
by Jude Russo
“[T]hese elections are different, and will be memorable—not because anything will happen, but because they constitute the last contest of the Trump era. Donald Trump will never lead the GOP to the polls again. Whatever happens today—and it’s probably not going to be very pretty for the Republicans—will set the stage for a year and a half of vicious infighting over what the post-Trump party is going to be. Analysis, spin, and recrimination will be the order of the day. Of course Trump will still have two more years to inflict war and/or peace on the rest of the world. And of course Trump is going to keep his hand in GOP politics as long as he’s alive and able to get a television crew out to wherever he’s living and golfing. But this is the day from which his power will wane.” (11/03/26)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/today-is-the-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it/
Source: Aaron Ross Powell
by Aaron Ross Powell
“My rereading of all of William Gibson’s novels has brought me to the end of the Bridge Trilogy. What struck me wasn’t (just) how much of its imagined future feels like today’s actual present. It was instead how much I felt nostalgic for the parts of its future that don’t.” (11/02/26)
Source: The Volokh Conspiracy
by Ilya Somin
“Many people, including some political theorists, believe we have a moral duty to vote. I disagree. Indeed, I think – in many cases – it’s better if you don’t vote, especially if ignorance and bias make it likely you will make a bad decision. Casting a ballot motivated by ignorance and bias is often worse than not voting at all.” (11/02/26)
Source: New York Post
by Daniel McCarthy
“Politics has high enough stakes without the losers being sent to prison — or losing their heads. Jailing opponents or condemning them to death is what dictatorships do, not democracies. But times are changing, rapidly — and democracy isn’t what it used to be, thanks to a vengeful spirit that’s taken hold from Brazil to South Korea. And we’ve had a taste of it as well. As Americans think about what’s in store for the next two years after a new Congress is sworn in next January, with the 2028 presidential election now on the horizon, we should take heed of just how far ‘lawfare’ is going in other parts of the world. In Seoul, former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has literally been on trial for his life. Prosecutors last week renewed demands that Yoon be put to death for his attempt to impose martial law in late 2024.” (11/02/26)
Source: Liberalism.org
by Keith Taylor
“I can assure you, speaking as a midwestern transplant to California, that Lake Tahoe is every bit as majestic as you’ve heard. The impossible Mediterranean blue clarity and its blinding reflection, the redwooded Sierra Nevadas rimming the basin, and not least the scrappy, outdoorsy, work-a-day people who are part of the Tahoe tapestry. Lake Tahoe’s people understand the treasure that is theirs to nurture—and for the world to experience. And we should reward them for stewarding one of the wonders of the world. Alas, American systems of rural community governance, contrary to popular belief, are not well structured for their tasks. They fail to reward either labor or entrepreneurship.” (11/02/26)
Source: JimBovard.com
by James Bovard
“In an era of clueless voters and profoundly dishonest candidates, cynicism is one of the last best checks on political power run amok. Regardless of the final vote count in Tuesday’s mid-term congressional elections, both Republicans and Democrats have earned all the distrust they will reap.” (11/02/26)
https://jimbovard.com/blog/2026/11/02/cynicism-should-win-the-mid-term-elections/