“The budget deficit for FY 2026 was just shy of $2 trillion, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). That’s a 12 percent increase over FY 2025. Some will undoubtedly attribute the budget deficit’s size to the refunds the Trump administration had to issue after the Supreme Court struck down its illegal tariff regime. That’s partly true, but it doesn’t tell the whole story about the deficit and the growing budgetary woes the federal government is experiencing.” (10/21/26)
“Toward the end of the summer, I bought a new dishwasher after agonizing over a big-ticket purchase. … The same day my dishwasher was installed, my family went out to eat, and when the bill arrived, I found the comparison almost laughable: our meal plus the tip was approaching half the price of the dishwasher. How silly I had been to put off buying an appliance that would undoubtedly make my life easier and last for thousands of wash cycles — unlike the dinner that we enjoyed and consumed in under an hour. In retrospect, there was no need to agonize over the appliance purchase. I could manage the expense by forgoing a few nights of eating out. But that realization also highlighted a familiar consumer behavior: we often scrutinize large, infrequent purchases while accepting smaller, convenient expenses with little deliberation.” (10/21/26)
“Most people value obedience more than I do. To me, doing the right thing is what matters. I was more concerned with raising children who would grow into people who respected the rights of others than with raising compliant drones who obeyed every command. If I made a dumb rule, I wanted them to point it out, even when it was annoying or inconvenient. Show me how I’m wrong or convince me with a better argument. When I was wrong, which did happen, I usually admitted it. If I didn’t, I was wrong again. I wouldn’t want to be responsible for raising a child who follows bad orders. I wouldn’t want to raise a human who will harm others and say they are just doing their job. That’s repulsive and the height of evil.” (10/21/26)
“Rubio’s speech was not without some good points. If nothing else, as the Journal notes, he ostensibly treated Europe as an ally and partner rather than a target for scolding like Vance. He said some nice words about the West’s tradition of liberty and representative government. And, amid MAGA world’s aggressive contempt for anything that smacks of intellectualism, there is something refreshing about a speech that name-checks Aristotle, Plutarch, Copernicus, Newton, and Michelangelo. Unfortunately, Rubio’s tribute to the Greek, Western, and American spirit is also a conceptual salad in which Socrates, the 300 Spartans who resisted a mighty Persian army unto death at Thermopylae, and the mythical Achilles who chose glory over long life are mashed up into the model hero willing to die for ‘a cause worthy of his loyalty.'” (10/21/26)
Source: Karl Dickey’s Freedom Vanguard
by Karl Dickey
“Bitcoin is unlikely to replace the U.S. dollar as the global reserve currency. A global reserve asset is not just the hardest money available. Central banks and trading nations hold reserve assets to settle international trade, stabilize currencies, and service massive debts. Sound money protects individual wealth. Reserve currency provides systemic liquidity. Those are two very different jobs. … Bitcoin has no sovereign issuer, no fiscal authority, and no lender of last resort. For Bitcoin holders, these are its primary strengths. For state treasuries, these features represent structural liabilities. Central banks prioritize counterparty control and crisis management. The absence of a central authority makes state adoption difficult, not attractive.” (10/21/26)
“Ohio Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy’s October surprise was supposed to make voters question Democrat Amy Acton’s character. Instead, yesterday, a leak of his attack ad featuring her estranged mother blew up in his face. By Tuesday evening, after the ad had been roundly condemned—including by other Ohio Republicans—Ramaswamy’s response was to announce he would spend $4 million promoting the ad. … This is not the first time Ramaswamy has had a problem involving a campaign ad and a child abuser. I reported just a week ago that Ramaswamy’s property-tax ad featured Vernon Edwards, a registered sex offender who pleaded guilty to two counts of gross sexual imposition involving his niece, who was younger than 13.” (10/21/26)
“I shouldn’t get so angry. It isn’t healthy. Last week, New York state summoned me to jury duty. I went, of course. It’s the law, and my duty. A jury may protect the innocent from government abuse. Ordinary citizens, not officials, decide if you are guilty. But doing our patriotic duty shouldn’t mean surrendering hours of our lives to bureaucratic indifference. Serving justice is important. Sitting around doing nothing isn’t.” (10/21/26)
“From President Donald Trump on down, Republicans are very comfortable contending that Muslim immigration threatens America and that the liberal crusade for diversity is national suicide. They love running against El-Sayed, even in the 49 states where he’s not on the ballot. … This isn’t a swerve away from the GOP’s midterm message. It is the message: Foreigners are undermining America from within, and Democrats won’t stop them. (Never mind that El-Sayed was born in Rochester Hills.) Teepell was very much in line with the Trump-era Republican rhetorical strategy to demonize the ‘other.’ Where he went wrong was, in part, failing to go toe to toe with one of the most skillful extemporaneous talkers in Democratic politics.” (10/21/26)
“Voters are concerned about high food and gas prices, and [Vivek] Ramaswamy is out here trying to use his opponent’s childhood trauma as some kind of cudgel. Perhaps the Ohio Republican was inspired by his party’s leader, President Donald Trump, who now spends his days at campaign rallies talking about what a nice rump he thinks Sen. Jon Husted of Ohio has. … Vile rhetoric and behavior won’t gain any of the GOP candidates a single vote. But I do applaud them for being their true selves.” (10/21/26)
