“Barack Obama is like a firefighter parachuted in by the Democratic Party at times of crisis to put out fires. So when he weighed in on Sunday on the federal investigation of Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar over potential allegations of immigration fraud and financial offenses, you just knew that the party is seriously worried about the national implications if she were to be indicted and potentially denaturalized and deported. Railing against the ‘appalling’ investigation, Obama claimed Omar was ‘a law-abiding elected official’ targeted because she ‘has dared to criticize the president’, and we should all be ‘outraged’ about the weaponization of the Justice Department. ‘It is a basic principle of American democracy that the government can’t selectively target individuals simply because of their political beliefs or what they say.’ That’s quite some chutzpah from the former president who launched the Russia-hoax persecutions of Trump.” (10/22/26)
“Yes, President Trump wants an end to the war, but not for the sake of Ukraine or the defense of NATO; rather, to secure ‘economic opportunities’ with Russia. Putin has had Kirill Dmitriev travel to Miami, Moscow, New York and Washington to entice Team Trump to win something that his military cannot deliver — Ukraine. Trump has not been able to deliver Ukraine either. Mr. Art of the Deal cannot close the deal, and he continues using tactics unbecoming of any president before him to pressure Zelensky into making a bad deal.” (10/22/26)
“What can the public do about the poison, the indecency, in our politics? The answer: Not reward it. Not vote for it. If you reward something, you get more of it. If you penalize it, you get less. Something else: Decent people ought to stop backing indecent candidates, party politics be damned. The current governor of Ohio, Mike DeWine, is a famously decent pol. He and his wife, Fran, are known for their many charitable works. A Republican, he has endorsed Ramaswamy to succeed him. Why? And can’t he rescind his endorsement? After 50 years in public life, he is retiring at the age of 79. What does he have to lose?” (10/22/26)
“Canada (thanks to just one of its 10 provinces, which holds 97.5% of national oil reserves) is among the world’s top five oil producers. But residents of that far western province, Alberta, have been increasingly frustrated by decades of environmental and green energy goals and regulations that, they say, have constrained the use of and benefits from the natural resource at their disposal. Still, on Monday, Albertans declared a clear ‘no’ to the notion of seceding from Canada in a referendum (on whether to hold a future binding referendum on separation). The 3-to-1 result bolsters Prime Minister Mark Carney’s stated goal of making Canada a ‘global energy superpower’ as well as the cause of national unity – for now.” (10/21/26)
“In the wake of the Great Recession, economists faced tough questions: How could they have missed the imminent collapse of the world economy? Of what use were all their intricate models if they couldn’t predict such a huge systemic crisis? Just as economists failed to predict the Great Recession, so political scientists failed to predict a series of momentous political upsets. The most obvious is the dizzying rise of Donald Trump. But the story is bigger than that: In recent years, political scientists have overestimated the forces of stability time and again, failing to foresee Brexit, the chaos wrought in the Philippines by Rodrigo Duterte, and the serious threat posed to Polish democracy by its populist government, among other developments.” (10/22/26)
“Years ago, I called Antifa ‘the Keyser Söze of the left’ (after the character in ‘The Usual Suspects’). In the film, the character Virgil explains how Söze stayed in the shadows: he became ‘a myth, a spook story that criminals tell their kids at night.’ The strategy was too simple: ‘the greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he did not exist.’ Democratic leaders have long fostered the myth around Antifa, the largest and most violent group on the political left. For years, they have denied the existence of the group even as members were charged with crimes (including terrorism). Now, the French authorities have found that the nonexistent group is the largest of three ‘ideologically distinct groups’ responsible for the violence in France. It appears that either the entire French security system is delusional or the trick is up for the American left.” (10/22/26)
“When the networks suspended pool coverage, they were not conspiring to manipulate prices or exclude rival news organizations. They were conducting a boycott in solidarity with their banned colleagues.” (10/22/26)
