Source: The Volokh Conspiracy
by Ilya Somin
“Fusionism is far preferable to nationalism and postliberalism. But it has shortcomings of its own, and its political prospects are questionable.” (10/14/26)
https://reason.com/volokh/2026/10/14/fusionism-and-its-limits/
Source: California Post
by staff
“California’s uber-lax voting system is an international disgrace. From flooding the state with ballots (with few controls on who returns them), to weeks of post-Election-Day counting, to a ban on Voter ID: The system’s almost seems engineered to seed public doubt — or worse. Yet state officials refuse to clean it up. Good for the feds, then, for pressing the issue. In recent months, Team Trump has investigated — and in some cases, prosecuted — voting fraud in California. Now, the Justice Department has given the state and LA County an ultimatum: Review and quarantine ballots that might have been sent to noncitizen voters, or face emergency litigation. And do it within 48 hours.” (10/14/26)
Source: Foreign Policy
by Howard W French
“From Hegseth’s plans to Trump’s theatrics, it’s hard to know what to be most outraged about.” (10/14/26)
Source: Independent Institute
by Ivan Eland
“President Donald Trump is correct that Ukraine’s survival matters more for Europe’s security than it does for U.S. security. After all, during the Cold War, the United States lived with a more powerful Soviet Union that included Ukraine. Therefore, he is right to expect wealthy NATO countries to pay more for Ukraine’s defense. Yet Trump has gone too far by essentially changing sides and backing aggressive Russian President Vladimir Putin; in contrast, President Joe Biden, Trump’s predecessor, had backed Ukraine wholeheartedly. Trump has blamed Ukraine for a war that Russia started by its invasion and has pressured the defending country to achieve peace by giving up territory it has not lost militarily.” (10/14/26)
https://www.independent.org/article/2026/10/14/whose-side-is-trump-really-on-in-ukraine-russia-war/
Source: David Friedman’s Substack
by David Friedman
“Someone invents an inexpensive and reliable way in which parents can choose the gender of their offspring. From the economic standpoint, this represents an increase in quality — you get a child of your preferred gender instead of a fifty-fifty chance — at no significant increase in cost. Increased quality at constant cost corresponds to decreased cost at constant quality; you are now getting more for your money. Lowering the cost of something increases the quantity demanded. Do you conclude that, as a result of the new invention, the birth rate goes up? If not, why not? Are children Giffen goods?” (10/14/26)
Source: Understanding AI
by Dan Kagan-Kans
“How do we know the company’s stated reasons for firing three safety researchers are its actual reasons?” (10/14/26)
https://www.understandingai.org/p/openais-ironic-credibility-problem
Source: Expression
by Sean Stevens
“Campus deplatforming attempts have reached a disturbing new milestone. For the first time since FIRE began tracking these incidents, more than 200 attempts to prevent invited speakers from appearing on campus have been recorded in a single year — and 2026 still has nearly three months to go. The previous record, set just last year, has already been shattered. And the problem isn’t confined to one side of the political spectrum.” (10/14/26)
https://expression.fire.org/p/campus-deplatformings-hit-record
Source: American Institute for Economic Research
by Jeffery L Degner
“This explainer examines how layers of planning and regulation have resulted in barriers to entry and broken promises.” (10/14/26)
Source: Exiled Policy
by Jason Pye
“The Senate needs to actually work. Legislation that goes through the committee process often stalls because whichever party has the majority doesn’t want to burn valuable floor time. Too often, though, the chamber looks like a glorified human resources department, with nominations taking center stage while legislation waits for an opening. Advice and consent is an important constitutional responsibility. It shouldn’t become the Senate’s entire identity.” (10/14/26)
https://exiledpolicy.substack.com/p/the-senate-should-consider-the-daines
Source: Astral Codex Ten
by Scott Alexander
“AI companies like Anthropic and OpenAI have long mentioned the possibility that their products could be existentially dangerous, but this has recently crescendoed into even more dire warnings, including suggestions that we have to pace the frontier, ie coordinate to slow AI progress. In response, cynical commentators have suggested this is a conspiracy to boost the companies’ stocks. The exact motives imputed vary from person to person. Some say the companies are hyping the product by talking about how dangerous it is …. Others say they’re trying to distract from near-term harms …. But the most popular story involves regulatory capture: if the product is unsafe, maybe it can only be trusted to a few big politically-connected companies, and everyone else should be banned. Many debates about AI are complicated and hard to resolve, but this one isn’t: all of these stories are clearly false.” (10/14/26)
https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/ai-safety-is-not-a-corporate-plot