“What if Russia’s winning in Ukraine were only the beginning? The beginning of the enfeeblement of the United States? Putin strolled down Donald Trump’s red carpet in Alaska, then took none of the steps regarding Ukraine that Trump said were necessary for Russia to avoid ‘very severe consequences.’ Instead, Putin intensified Russian attacks. A connoisseur of Western dithering, Putin probably anticipated the response his current flurry of contemptuous aggressions has elicited.” (10/08/25)
“The federal government has, for decades, behaved as though the fundamentals of basic budgeting don’t apply. But that’s hardly surprising considering that Congress has rewarded this poor stewardship of taxpayer dollars again and again. Bureaucrats have every incentive to burn through taxpayer money and no incentive to save it. The widespread practice of ‘use-it-or-lose-it’ budgeting has been the result, and it has to stop. Imagine if an American family, having paid their bills to cover their monthly expenses, decided to intentionally spend their remaining paycheck as fast as they possibly could. Instead of using their remaining paycheck for investments, or add to their savings, or set money aside for a rainy day; their only objective is to spend their paycheck quickly on whatever they can find. No family spends money this way. Because money doesn’t grow on trees.” (10/08/25)
“In the weeks since the Kirk assassination, Cox has been widely praised for rising to the occasion in the wake of a national tragedy that occurred in his state. In a pair of press conferences following the assassination, the Utah governor spoke with moral clarity about both the human tragedy of the murder of a young father and how it struck at the foundational rights of all Americans. Cox pointed to Kirk’s willingness to engage in debate and Kirk’s own words imploring Americans to forgive and eschew violence as an example to live by. Part of what made Cox’s remarks so remarkable was what he didn’t say. He dispensed with the platitude that it’s a given that America’s brightest days are ahead. He didn’t pretend to be the leader — or that there is any leader — who was going to save us.” (10/08/25)
“Support for mainstream political parties in Europe is crumbling against a rising tide of nationalism as voters increasingly want their governments to prioritize domestic issues. This might not be enough to end the war in Ukraine, which will cost Europe $50 billion it can ill afford in 2026. But we may be witnessing the beginning of the end of the uniparty in Europe.” (10/08/25)
“As Steven F. Hayward lays out in his forum lead this month, the environmental legal and activist movement that started in the 1960s, and which is best known culturally for the first observance of Earth Day in 1970, is rapidly coming to an end in ways that its advocates are just beginning to realize. While the underlying motives for modern environmentalism — primitivism, naturalistic fallacy, power lust, and an atheist/materialist hatred of humanity — will likely always be with us, their combination into an allegedly benevolent political movement is well past its effective peak.” (10/08/25)
“The Department of Labor’s new rule cutting farmworker wages bluntly states that souped-up immigration enforcement has devastated the agricultural workforce and created a significant ‘risk of supply shock-induced food shortages,’ according to a document filed in the Federal Register last week. The document also indicates that American workers are simply not interested in and do not have the skills to perform agricultural jobs, at odds with Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins’s claim that the farm workforce will soon be 100 percent American. ‘The near total cessation of the inflow of illegal aliens combined with the lack of an available legal workforce, results in significant disruptions to production costs and threatening the stability of domestic food production and prices for U.S consumers,’ the document says, adding that ‘this threat will grow’ given new federal funding for immigration enforcement under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.” (10/08/25)
“‘It is essential that we (CIA/NSA/FBI/ODNI) be on the same page and are all supportive of the report,’ wrote former Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, ‘in the highest tradition of ‘that’s OUR story, and we’re sticking to it.” Clapper wrote that in a recently declassified email from late 2016. It’s about RussiaGate, which his inter-departmental team had concocted out of Clinton oppo campaign research leading up to Donald Trump’s unexpected win that year. … Do you remember where that phrase came from?” (10/08/25)
“Ten years from now, Joe Biden, Donald Trump, Benjamin Netanyahu, and countless others who enabled or excused the destruction of Gaza will almost certainly be dead – perhaps passing away peacefully one night during a restful dream. What they leave behind, however, is a legacy shaped not only by their actions but by how those actions are remembered. History books may brand them as monsters or war criminals – or, just as easily, frame them as leaders caught in a ‘complicated’ era, sanitizing their complicity.” (10/08/25)
“In the stock room at Division Vapor in Portland, Oregon, a sign affixed to a metal rack holding various nicotine solutions reminds employees to ‘Censor Before [You] Stock!’ The sign alludes to state regulations that require merchants to obscure allegedly child-enticing images and words before displaying vaping products to their adult customers. The law that authorizes those bewildering rules, which in many cases require covering almost the entire label of products sold in stores that do not even admit minors, is at the center of a case that the Oregon Supreme Court is considering today. The case illustrates how concerns about underage vaping have become a pretext for overriding the rights of adult consumers and the businesses that serve them, including the right to communicate and receive information about potentially lifesaving products that offer a harm-reducing alternative to conventional cigarettes.” (10/08/25)
“Calling in the National Guard and federal law enforcement isn’t a solution — it’s a signal that the system has cracked. Chicago is learning the hard way what happens when outdated police hiring practices collide with political cuts. Since 2019, more than 2,100 police positions have been eliminated, while the city added layers of bureaucracy. The Chicago Police Department (CPD) still has 795 unfilled vacancies, compounded by 833 position cuts under Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and 614 by former Mayor Lori Lightfoot. The result: President Donald Trump is now sending in the National Guard to cover gaps created by years of slow hiring pipelines, endless vacancies and deliberate downsizing.” [editor’s note: Snider is correct that military occupation of American cities isn’t a “solution” — to crime, anyway – TLK] (10/08/25)
