“Elissa Slotkin was elected to the Senate in 2024 as a supposed ‘moderate’. But of course we know that, apart from Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman, that species of Democratic politician doesn’t exist in Congress anymore. Sure enough, it didn’t take long for Slotkin, a former CIA analyst who served under John Brennan, to show her true colors. The Michigan senator told students at the University of Chicago last week how she plans to use the power that will come to Democrats if they win Senate control in the midterms next month. She wants to unleash a barrage of political investigations on Trump officials in order to frighten young people away from taking jobs in the administration. ‘The people around Donald Trump … have no immunity the way the president does … So you go after the people who do his bidding,’ she told the audience during a live podcast recording Tuesday.” (10/18/26)
“Recently, Mayor Zohran Mamdani of New York City announced the launch of a new municipal Strategy to Combat Antisemitism, beginning his video with an oft-repeated Talmudic quote: ‘Whoever saves a single life is considered by scripture to have saved the whole world.’ That lesson is something of a cliché in Reform Jewish circles, and not at all controversial. But given the nature of social media, it shouldn’t be surprising that the replies to Mamdani on Elon Musk’s X were a cesspit of antisemitism, islamophobia, and general hatred. What surprised and even alarmed some observers was how much of the negative reaction came from popular left-wing influencers and journalists.” (10/19/26)
“The S&P 500 promises broad exposure to American business. But with ten companies accounting for 40 percent of its value, investors may be far less diversified than they believe.” (10/19/26)
“Social Security faces a major fiscal challenge. The program, which has provided retirement, survivor, and disability benefits to millions of Americans since its creation in 1935, is projected to soon cost more than its total income. The budgetary shortfall is already prompting the government to draw down reserves, which will reach unsustainable levels by the early 2030s. … In the early 1980s, Congress faced a similar crisis and acted. Although the solution that a bipartisan coalition put into place in 1983 has itself contributed to the challenges policymakers face today, the political approach they took remains instructive. Indeed, it is the only viable path forward.” (10/19/26)
“Expectations of a quality education and decent job prospects are common to many around the world. The notion that these are slipping away has brought young people into the streets across Asia, Africa, and Europe over the last three years. Their distress often resonates with fellow citizens who share concerns about unresponsive institutions and unethical governance. This week, for example, France began a national self-examination after youthful protests led to looting and destruction. In India, meanwhile, a Generation Z-led protest movement succeeded in forcing the resignation of the country’s education minister in July, over repeated corruption in the highly competitive national examination system. Now, that loosely organized, satirically named Cockroach Janta Party has taken on the even larger issue of election integrity in the world’s largest democracy.” (10/19/26)
“Originalism’s position seems unassailable, with both a majority of Supreme Court justices pledging fidelity to some variant of the theory, and tremendous institutional backing within the conservative legal world through institutions like the Federalist Society Despite this dominance, a number of conservative intellectuals and academics have for years expressed deep skepticism of originalism. A 2021 article coauthored in part by Professor Hadley Arkes labels originalism a positivist theory that ‘ignores both our broader Anglo-American tradition and the influence of natural law on our nation’s founding,’ forcing judges to act as ‘technocrats focused entirely on the text, with no attention to the underlying principles that give meaning to that text.’ This is not a new critique.” (10/19/26)
“Trump says that he won’t order a strike [on Iran] before the midterms. But Robert Pape, author of the Substack Escalation Trap, argues that we shouldn’t believe him — that the bombs may well drop before the midterms. And while I am not a strategic expert, I believe that Pape may well be right, because his analysis of Trump’s political position is something I recognize from financial economics. You see, it’s a well-understood proposition that the owners of businesses that are on the verge of going bust often engage in destructive behavior. And Trump is about to go bankrupt — not financially (he’s made billions through corruption) but politically. So he, like a failing businessman, has strong incentives to wreak havoc.” (10/19/26)
Source: Independent Institute
by Stephen P Halbrook
“The pattern was consistent: where the government required citizens to disarm, it supplied the protection itself. At other times, the government required citizens to arm themselves, such as in colonial times when going to church. ‘Sensitive places’ was never meant to be a blank check. … If the government takes no steps to prevent armed aggressors from entering a place, calling it a ‘sensitive’ location is meaningless and reckless joke.” (10/19/26)
