Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“I never asked to know what a dismembered child looks like. Israel imposed that knowledge upon me. I never wanted to know what it looks like when military explosives blow an infant’s head off. I only know it because Israel forced me to know it. The reason the Gaza holocaust hit westerners so hard is because it punched through the wall of our shitbrained western supremacist narcissism and our vapid mainstream culture and shook us violently awake to something real and terrifying. All of a sudden the idea that our bombs are killing people in the middle east was no longer a vague abstraction sitting in the periphery of our awareness.” (10/08/26)
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger
“Modern-day Americans have engaged in what might be called ‘liberty suicide,’ an act by which they have willingly killed their own freedom through their support of various liberty-destroying governmental programs. The biggest example of this liberty suicide was the conversion of the federal government from a limited-government republic to a national-security state.” (10/08/26)
“There are plenty of reasons for Republican voters to be pissed off about the upcoming election. The Iran War, the economic consequences of another Middle Eastern adventure, the unfinished DOGE business, the Epstein debacle, and the seemingly endless supply of Republican congressmen who arrive in Washington promising to clean up the swamp and immediately begin looking for waterfront property. Then there are the allegations of congressional misconduct and taxpayer-funded settlements, which ought to make everybody furious regardless of party. It’s quite a spectacle, and we haven’t even gotten to the Democrats yet. … There are, however, a few things we have to keep in mind. First of all, the split within the Republican Party is nothing new.” (10/08/26)
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by John Chisholm
“[W]e don’t have to anticipate every AI harm. AI is already regulated. Generally applicable law regulates conduct and harm, not the technology used to produce them. There is no AI exemption. Fraud is fraud, with or without AI. Negligence law applies to both AI developers and deployers. In 2024, for example, a British Columbia tribunal held Air Canada negligent over a refund policy its chatbot invented, rejecting the airline’s argument that the chatbot was responsible for its own words. Courts are also weighing product-liability claims—design defect, failure to warn—against AI makers. … These bodies of law hold those responsible liable for harms, which gives developers strong reason to prevent them.” (10/08/26)
“To free the working class from MAGA’s Trumpian grasp, is a new political organization needed to topple the corporate interests that dominate both major political parties?” (10/08/26)
“The World Health Organization declared an end to the COVID-19 public-health emergency more than three years ago. Its deaths, infections, hospitalizations, and other damage still leave us with a litany of questions about what could have been done better, sooner, or differently. It’s a long list: mask mandates, lockdowns, school closures, stay-at-home orders, curfews, delayed surgeries, etc. Operation Warp Speed, the public-and-private partnership with billions of dollars to bring us a COVID-19 vaccine quickly, never seems to be on it. Rather, the partnership remains hailed as ‘a triumph of public health policy,’ ‘miraculous,’ and ‘a new model for industrial policy.’ … For all the accomplishments of Operation Warp Speed, it was not the first of its kind. In fact, it has an overlooked and largely forgotten predecessor that didn’t require any government partnership at all.” (10/08/26)
“A birth cohort study at Henry Ford followed 18,000 children to compare chronic health outcomes between vaccinated and unvaccinated from birth through long‑term follow‑up. After multivariate adjustment, vaccination exposure showed a higher risk of chronic conditions, including asthma, autoimmune disease, atopic disease, eczema, and neurodevelopmental disorders. By 10 years of follow‑up, 57% of vaccinated children had chronic illness compared with 17% of the unvaccinated. Vaccination was independently associated with a 2.5‑fold increased likelihood of chronic health conditions. Academia chose not to publish the study, citing concerns about career repercussions.” (10/08/26)
“Is one of the world’s most pernicious social stigmas finally lifting? In late September, more than 1,400 young people from nearly 70 countries locked tools at the WorldSkills competition, testing their abilities across 64 crafts, from industrial robotics to culinary techniques. This Olympics-like contest, held in Shanghai this year, has grown in stature and scope over decades. And so, perhaps, has a favorable view of blue-collar work. A survey of the skilled tradespeople pitted against each other for four days found 71% believe the public image of technical and vocational careers has improved. Three-quarters (76%) of respondents say technical and vocational skills are increasingly important to the global economy. Yet just over half had been encouraged by parents or others toward traditional academic paths. In the United States, at least, such advice nowadays makes less sense.” (10/08/26)
