“The federal government has a legitimate interest in preventing unlawful voting. Noncitizens cannot vote in federal elections, and allegations of deliberate election fraud should be investigated. Nobody should have to abandon those principles to recognize the serious problems with what the administration is doing. Investigations require evidence, and removing voters or refusing to count their ballots requires considerably more than an allegation generated by matching names against government databases. The administration’s actions have repeatedly failed to satisfy those requirements. Worse, some of its demands would have imposed consequences on eligible voters before anyone could determine whether they had done anything wrong.” (11/02/26)
“Eleven billion dollars…. Actually, more than that. Political advertising spending and reservations have now exceeded $11.6 billion, making this the most expensive election cycle for political advertising in American history. For that kind of money, you’d think somebody might have figured out how to make groceries cheaper. Instead, Americans have endured months of attack ads, apocalyptic warnings and politicians insisting that civilization itself is on the ballot. Again. As a researcher, I’ve spent much of this year studying what Americans believe, what frustrates them and, perhaps most importantly, what might motivate them to vote. And I’ve become convinced that five words explain this election better than a thousand campaign commercials. Affordability. Socialism. Corruption. Trump. Turnout. Each tells us something about the American electorate. Together, they reveal something neither party should find particularly comforting. Americans may be less interested in voting for somebody than in voting against something.” (11/02/26)
“Onslaught, the 2026 film from director Adam Wingard, did not do particularly well at the box office or with reviewers. Dropping a few months ago to mostly middling reviews and an underwhelming box office performance, it was ignored by much of the public and dismissed by many critics. Having finally gotten around to seeing it, however, I have to vociferously disagree with what appears to be the general consensus as it exists thus far. Onslaught rocks. Not just as a stand-alone film that plays homage to the classics of John Carpenter, but, more importantly, it has something to say that is far more in line with the reality of post-War on Terror America than any number of self-serious, overwrought, Meryl Streep Starring, prestige cinema beloved by the NPR set ever could.” (11/02/26)
Source: Electronic Frontier Foundation
by Jillian C York
“On November 11, Lina Attalah, founder and editor-in-chief of the independent Egyptian news outlet Mada Masr, will face trial for the second time in just two weeks. This time, she faces charges of spreading false news, an accusation that has become one of the Egyptian government’s most frequently used tools for prosecuting journalists. … Governments seeking to control the flow of information increasingly rely on a combination of legal harassment, financial pressure, criminal prosecution, and restrictions on the infrastructure that makes independent publishing possible. Egypt’s media licensing regime is a particularly troubling example.” (11/02/26)
“APOLOGIES for whoever dislikes me after this column. Praise The Big Man Upstairs for this blessed country where we’re permitted to think for ourselves. Love, hate or shrug — we’re not jailed or tortured. We can think, love or even demean the United States of America. Try that in Russia, China or Cuba. So I beg forgiveness, right now, for what I want to say. Don’t all love Donald? OK. But specialize in beauts who were not Donald? Biden? Whose son specialized in math? Previous Hizzoner whose wife possibly specialized in arithmetic? A back-aways married governor who had bedroom affairs with his knee socks still on? Also Barack, who finally opened his mouth to babble BS. So elect who?” (11/01/26)
“Anthropic recently filed for IPO. At an estimated $1.5 to $2 trillion, it will be one of the biggest IPOs of all time, rivaling SpaceX, and possibly the biggest. For reference, Facebook’s valuation when it had its blockbuster IPO in 2012 was $104 billion, and Google’s valuation in 2004 was $23 billion. Anthropic will instantly become one of the world’s most valuable companies — Google itself is now worth $3.4 trillion, and Nvidia and Apple are both worth around $5 trillion. This naturally has a lot of people asking: What’s the upside to buying Anthropic?” (11/02/26)
Source: Cato Institute
by Clark Packard & Alfredo Carrillo Obregon
“Recently, the American Primary Aluminum Association issued a report claiming as proof that the 50 percent Section 232 ‘national security’ tariffs should stay in place. Some of the report withstands scrutiny. High-purity aluminum matters for military hardware, and the report notes that no smelter in the United States or any NATO country can make it (p. 2). Aluminum also makes up a small share of costs for most finished goods, so the per-unit price effects are relatively modest. The defensible version of this argument is a very narrow, national security case. Yet the report does not make the case. Three problems stand out.” (11/02/26)
“Marc Elias is back. The notorious Democratic lawyer who played a critical role in the 2016 Russia hoax is again in the news. His law firm has been identified by the New York Times as part of the expanding scandal involving Democratic effort to confuse voters in Alaska with a decoy candidate named Daniel J. Sullivan. For those familiar with Elias’s checkered history, this is a case of rounding up the usual suspects. The scandal involving Democratic candidate Mary Peltola has quickly snowballed this week. A New York Times blockbuster investigative report quotes former staff who claim she knew of a cynical effort by her own campaign and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee to confuse voters by recruiting and fielding a decoy ‘Dan Sullivan’ candidate in the race against incumbent Sen. Daniel S. Sullivan (R-AK). State and federal investigations are now unfolding, with dozens of federal subpoenas raining down on Alaska.” (11/02/26)
“California’s state government, which has run up $11,511 in debt per resident, is asking voters to approve more billions of dollars in bonds, to be paid back by taxpayers at a later date. The cost of carrying that extra debt will be added to the roughly $6 billion the state pays each year to service bonds issued in the past. But the Golden State isn’t the most debt-burdened state in the country. Connecticut and New Jersey are the most heavily burdened per capita, while Utah carries the least debt per person. The reasons for running up those obligations vary, but the heavier the load, the more taxpayers will have to carry in the years to come.” (11/02/26)
