Government Gets to Decide What You Need for “a Dignified Life”

Source: Town Hall
by Mark Lewis

“They will say anything to get a vote. They will lie endlessly with absolutely no conscience at all. These people are totally amoral, but in one sense, they are very smart. They can make their lies sound so good. And the sad thing is, there are millions upon millions upon millions of Americans who simply do not have the intelligence and perception to see through what is happening. And the rest of us have to suffer because of it. Here is Zohran Mamdani’s latest whopper, his most recent attempt to create a totalitarian city, state, and nation. For this is indeed a pure recipe for totalitarianism. He said, ‘It’s the government’s job to give you everything you need to lead a dignified life’. I wonder if he really believes that. I doubt it. The only thing that man cares about is himself. Like most politicians.” (10/06/26)

https://townhall.com/columnists/marklewis/2026/10/06/government-gets-to-decide-what-you-need-for-a-dignified-life-n2684159

Muslims are the latest casualty in Republicans’ culture-war distraction game

Source: Sex and the State
by Cathy Reisenwitz

“With the midterms approaching, Republicans are in a real pickle. Trump and his policies are extremely, record-settingly unpopular. What do you do when: * Your party has effectively abandoned affordability, the free-market, and economic growth * Prices are higher, wages are more stagnant, and the economy is more K-shaped under one-party rule than it was three years ago * Nearly every impactful wealth transfer has gone in the exact wrong direction … You culture war and scapegoat! Enter: Muslims and Islam. … Every time I dig into conservatives’ specific claims, they fall apart upon the most cursory inspection. And when I zoom out, things look even dumber. By every practical measure, US Muslims are a non-issue.” (10/06/26)

https://cathyreisenwitz.substack.com/p/muslims-are-a-casualty-in-republicans

AI may come for your job. It’s not the end of the world — it’s the start of a new one.

Source: The Hill
by Gene Marks

“Workers are terrified that new machines will put them out of work. Math teachers get scared because they see how calculators would potentially eliminate the need for their instruction. Musicians believed that recordings would eliminate the popularity of live shows. Hollywood hated home recorders because why go to the movies when you can just watch at home? And they were right. All of this did happen. But they were also wrong. There’s a shortage of teachers, plant workers and machine operators. There are more creators now than ever, and more video, TV and movie content. People adapted.” (10/06/26)

https://thehill.com/opinion/technology/6130286-ai-risk-reward-debate/

They’re Still Trying To Rehab Biden’s Genocidal Image

Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone

“Biden insiders are still trying to redeem themselves in the eyes of history through a New York Times article titled ”Ready to Blow His Stack’: How Biden Nearly Cut Off Netanyahu Over Gaza’ about how the previous president almost nearly sorta kinda thought about not committing genocide. I am so fucking sick of this. You don’t get any points for ALMOST NOT slaughtering tens of thousands of children. Enough. For sixteen months we were inundated with bogus Biden PR about how the president is inches away from stopping the genocide so we should actually believe he’s a swell guy. Stop. He’s a genocidal monster. That’s his only legacy. End of story.” (10/04/26)

https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2026/10/04/theyre-still-trying-to-rehab-bidens-genocidal-image-and-other-notes/

The New Nineteenth Century

Source: The Realist Review
by Victor F Bruno

“It was a long time in coming, but with the still ongoing conflict in Iran and in Ukraine, it is not unreasonable to talk about the end of the rules-based international order. This is not so much due to the fact that these conflicts happen outside the framework of the United Nations. That is immaterial. The thing that matters the most is that at their heart they are about the one currency that matters the most in the international order: power. With power, you’re feared. By being feared, you’re left alone.” (10/06/26)

https://therealistreview.substack.com/p/the-new-nineteenth-century

The Education Cartel and the Blue State School Scam

Source: Jonathan Turley
by Jonathan Turley

“‘In the first place, God made idiots,’ Mark Twain once wrote in an 1879 travel book. ‘That was for practice. Then he made school boards.’ It appears that most Americans now agree with him. New polling shows that K-12 education has now reached a record low in the number of people who are even ‘somewhat satisfied’ with the state of education in the U.S. What is most troubling is that the near-total contempt for our school system does not make a bit of difference. Families and students have become largely irrelevant to an education cartel, a self-sustaining, self-perpetuating political alliance of unions and politicians. According to Gallup, only 32 percent of American adults say they are ‘completely’ or ‘somewhat’ satisfied with the quality of K-12 education. That is the lowest figure in Gallup’s 27 years of asking the question. Public satisfaction with the school system has dropped almost 20 points since just 2024.” (10/06/26)

https://jonathanturley.org/2026/10/06/the-education-cartel-and-the-blue-state-school-scam/

What the AI boom is doing for Americans

Source: Noahpinion
by Noah Smith

“Although we don’t know the long-term effects of AI on the distribution of income and wealth, right now we can see a substantial amount of economic benefit flowing — I wouldn’t say ‘trickling down’ — to regular Americans. This is not to say that regular Americans couldn’t stand to benefit more from the AI boom. I think they could. I like some (though not all) of Jared Bernstein’s ideas for spreading the benefits of the data center boom more broadly. But I think [Paul] Krugman has underestimated the benefits of the data center buildout in terms of direct employment, and has basically ignored the fiscal, macroeconomic, and consumer benefits of the current AI boom.” (10/06/260

https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/what-the-ai-boom-is-doing-for-americans

Mentally Ill Trump Thinks It’s Funny to Joke About Iran Bombing US Cities Into Oblivion

Source: Informed Comment
by Juan Cole

“In a stemwinder of a speech in Nebraska, our mentally ill president joked around that if Iran took out Los Angeles and San Diego, it would be a small price to pay for keeping the rest of the country safe. Or at least that is what he appeared to say. What his slurred free association means is often anyone’s guess. The corporate media report on his speeches as if they are in any way coherent to stay on his good side, since he threatens people who disagree with him. Angelenos and San Diegans reacted with outrage at their president’s blithe willingness to throw them under the bus. Ironically, San Diego is a major port for the US Navy, the sailors of which Trump is abusing by keeping them near the Strait of Hormuz for months at a time without a secure base for resupply or rest and recreation.” (10/06/26)

https://www.juancole.com/2026/10/trump-angeles-diego.html

The Challenge and Promise of Reflective Patriotism

Source: Law & Liberty
by Justin Buckley Dyer

“There are two kinds of love of country, Alexis de Tocqueville observed in Democracy in America. The first is a ‘sort of patriotic attachment’ that arises from the natural affections a man has for his birthplace and is ‘united to a taste for ancient customs, and to a reverence for ancestral traditions of the past.’ This kind of patriotism is instinctive, unreflective and transient. The second ‘springs from knowledge; it is nurtured by the laws; it grows by the exercise of civil rights.’ A man who loves his country this way understands that his own well-being is bound up with the prosperity of his country.” (10/06/26)

https://lawliberty.org/book-review/the-challenge-and-promise-of-reflective-patriotism/

Catholic Integralism Is a Brutal Dead End. Will Gen Z Repeat It?

Source: The Daily Economy
by Paul Mueller

‘A growing subculture is determined to subordinate America to the authority of Catholic theology. But this project has been tried before: it ends in predictable horrors.” (10/06/26)

https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/catholic-integralism-is-a-brutal-dead-end-will-gen-z-repeat-it/