“New York governor Kathy Hochul emphasized her gender when asked on October 3 about her appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate a possible rape at a fraternity house at Cornell University in 2024. Hochul is the first woman to serve as New York’s governor. Letitia James, the woman she appointed as special prosecutor, is the state’s first female attorney general. Seeing these two women take on the Cornell case has a special symbolism, Hochul explained. ‘I’ve heard from a lot of people,’ she said. ‘The image gives them comfort to know that two women perhaps are looking at this differently than men would in the same position.’ She is right. The approach to the law reflected in the New York Democratic officials’ handling of the Cornell case represents a distinctively female perspective. Unfortunately, that perspective is incompatible with the rule of law.” (10/12/26)
Source: ProSocial Libertarians
by Andrew Jason Cohen
“For fun, here’s a proposal: a constitutional amendment requiring that the federal and all state governments must refrain from any actions in markets except those necessary to (a) protect individuals from harm, including theft and fraud, (b) enforce contractual agreements (as this is needed to prevent harm), or (c) rectify harms it failed to prevent through (a) and (b). This proposed limitation on government interference serves at least three purposes.” (10/12/26)
“President Donald Trump’s ICE terror campaign against US cities reached a new height October 8 with the dangerous shooting of an unarmed Dominican man, with his 5-year-old child in the car, in a densely populated Manhattan neighborhood. The incident adds to a growing scandal over inhumane ICE treatment of victims they harm. ICE agents have repeatedly interfered with or denied medical care for the victims they shoot. Patients have also been pulled out of hospitals prematurely against medical advice and without authorization of their doctors and other medical professionals.” (10/12/26)
“Of course, one of our central tenets is the right, even duty, to criticize our government. But only a woeful lack of historical perspective or a perverse ideological malice (or both) allows some to pretend that ripping apart our society is a thoughtful critique.” (10/12/26)
Source: Karl Dickey’s Freedom Vanguard
by Karl Dickey
“Why is a government agency using a private company like SpaceX to take cargo up to its space station? Economics, plain and simple; SpaceX can do it for far less money than it can itself. For example, the government-run Space Shuttle cost taxpayers around $54,000 per kilogram to reach low orbit. SpaceX can do the same for $2,600 per kilogram on its Falcon 9 rocket. NASA used to just dump or burn up its rocket boosters, using them one time; SpaceX reuses its rockets many times, dramatically reducing the cost of each mission, and SpaceX continually reduces the cost per kilogram to get cargo to low orbit and space. … Removing bureaucratic friction caused by government produces local job growth in Florida, lowers costs for essential services, and improves the lives and freedom of millions.” (10/12/260
“In the spring of 1778, with the war in America going badly, a member of the House of Lords proposed that Britain withdraw its forces and recognize American independence. Charles Lennox, the third Duke of Richmond, was a great-grandson of King Charles II, one of the wealthiest men in the country, and about as well-placed in the British establishment as anyone could be. He was also, for 15 years, its most persistent critic. Richmond is not a name most Americans would recognize. Danielle Allen’s Radical Duke makes a good case that he ought to be.” (10/12/26)
Source: The American Conservative
by Peter Van Buren
“Meigs County is around 79 percent Republican; more importantly, 71 percent of adults typically vote, solidly above the U.S. average. The Democrats should take note as they try to retake Ohio in this year’s elections. Many in the area rely on food stamps. Yet people tend to see their benefits as deserved, since most work and pay taxes, unlike the way they see the people in big cities, who they think depend on the same assistance across multiple generations. It takes little more than a bottle of beer to hear anecdotes suggesting this perspective is racially tinged, as is locals’ view of democratic socialism. Public opinion here is still shaped by local daytime conservative talk radio shows listened to in the truck. Being here you understand that the jumbled beliefs people hold do not always make sense—but they vote based on those beliefs, whether you find them logical or not.” (10/12/26)
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Katherine Thompson
“When combatant commanders become more powerful than civilians in the eyes of the media, Washington, and world leaders, it throws off a critical balance.” (10/12/26)
“On October 9 in the afternoon, President Donald Trump said on Truth Social that he had struck a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin, arranging deliveries of diesel fuel to the United States and world markets. Trump said that Russia would immediately supply more than 300,000 tons of diesel, followed by an additional 500,000 tons in November and 1 million tons ‘immediately thereafter’. Russia will deliver an additional 3 million tons ‘within a short period of time after that’, Trump said. … The announcement triggered outrage in Kiev, with Zelensky condemning the U.S. and Trump personally. Zelensky said it was ‘definitely unfair’, ‘definitely not partner-like’, and ‘a weak decision by strong partners’, effectively portraying it as a stab in the back. The Trump administration had been openly asking Kiev and Zelensky not to launch attacks against Russian refineries, but Kiev rejected the American requests.” (10/12/26)
