“Baseball is my favorite game because of the lessons it teaches. First, it’s a team game that individuals play: your at-bats and fielding are yours and yours alone, but they are put to work in the service of your team. Second, and most importantly, it is a game of individual and team failure: you are out more often than you are on base, a team winning percentage of .550 – .600 — just more than half of your games played — is a championship-caliber team, and each attempt is isolated. It is recorded. There is nowhere to hide the miss. The game forces you to live with failure as a normal outcome. Maybe as a result, a wide range of superstitions and rituals developed and many have been passed down through the generations.” (11/08/26)
“In 1954, Congress replaced the traditional ‘Armistice Day’ observance with a celebratory ‘Veterans Day.’ Instead of mourning war, we now celebrate warriors. Parades. Air shows. Political speeches. Free meals, drinks, haircuts, etc. for veterans. A lot of ‘thank you for your service’ to everyone identifiable as a veteran of the US armed forces; quite a bit of mutual back-slapping among those of us who ‘served.’ To me, the best way to celebrate veterans would be stop making so many of us — especially, but not only, of the dead, maimed, traumatized, and homeless varieties.” (11/08/26)
“While most of us spent the spring and summer working on campaigns, Michael Heise, founder of the Mises Caucus, was plotting a second takeover of the Libertarian Party. His plan to create the ‘American Liberty Party’ wouldn’t just capture the Libertarian Party, but destroy it, replacing it with a bizarre mixture of America First populist mush that, by his own admission, ‘wont be explicitly libertarian.’ … On October 27, Heise announced the American Liberty Party. If you visit the website and scroll to the bottom you will realize that it is a project of the Mises Caucus, paid for by Mises PAC and not actually a new political party.” (11/07/26)
Source: The American Conservative
by W James Antle III
“Republicans took a pounding on Tuesday that made past wave elections look like a mild drizzle by comparison. Just whatever you do, don’t blame the Iran war. … Even in 2006, Republicans had other problems besides the Iraq War. But this furious denial of the war’s impact is reminiscent of those who wanted to blame GOP congressional losses 20 years ago on earmarks.” (11/07/26)
“Free speech is in trouble, and problems are snowballing, with the First Amendment now squeezed between competing visions of unfreedom. The massacre of the Republican party at the polls last week was driven at least in part by the Trump administration’s cringeworthy failures on the issue. … Supporters of civil liberties are becoming a subculture. We’re aging out of the era when Americans reflexively understood why free speech is important.” (11/07/26)
“Money matters, but the data show that other things matter more. Minority interests routinely organize and win, even with comparatively little wealth.” (11/07/26)
“In at least one regard, California Gov. Gavin Newsom did not make history Thursday in seeking to commute the death sentences of 548 people to life without the possibility of parole. A few other U.S. governors have granted universal clemencies to those facing state execution. Yet his mass commutation, once fully enforced, would be the largest in American history. It would empty out the largest death row in the Western Hemisphere, reducing the U.S. death row population by nearly 30%. And by its moral force as an act of official mercy, it might add to the steady erosion of public support for capital punishment. While Governor Newsom cited his constitutional authority in granting clemency – with the state’s highest court still yet to review some cases – he also said he acted out of personal conscience.” (11/06/26)
“Now look, guys, I know it doesn’t feel that way. You not only took an epic thumping; you’ve probably lost any hope of holding the presidency in 2028. That doesn’t feel great, especially because Democrats are already murmuring about retribution. So I don’t blame you for failing to look on the bright side. But there is a bright side. In fact, there are two. For one thing, you have a chance to rebuild your party around something other than Donald Trump. That needed to happen. At 80, Trump has neither the energy nor the actuarial lifespan to lead the party into the future. But Trump didn’t want that to happen, and until now, he has had the power to prevent it, by ruthlessly purging anyone who tried to build an independent Republican identity. After this midterm defeat, that power will wane.” (11/08/26)
“It shows good growth achieved by sensible policies and a willingness to work. It is rising faster than most competitors, and will likely soon overtake many of them, including ourselves, in living standards. Poland is a strong bet. Few countries have done so much, so fast, from such a low base. In 1994, Poland’s GDP per capita at purchasing power parity was $7,040, less than a third of Japan’s. By 2024 it stood at $51,263, just behind Japan’s $52,039. The IMF and World Bank expected Poland to pass Japan this year, and the IMF forecasts that by 2030 Poland will also surpass Israel, Spain and New Zealand on the same measure. Twenty years ago Poland stood at 48% of the EU average, but by 2024 it had reached 82%. It is not slowing much.” (11/06/26)
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“Israel’s UN ambassador Danny Danon is acting like it’s absurd for American voters to have gotten it into their heads that Israel had something to do with the Iran war that’s costing them so much money. Asked by i24 News about JD Vance’s observation that American voters want a change in their country’s relationship with the Zionist entity, Danon framed Israel as an innocent passive witness to the Trump administration’s unprovoked attack on Iran. ‘I think it’s unfortunate, and we saw it coming from different directions, that many made the linkage between the rising prices, mainly oil prices, to the situation here in Israel,’ said Danon, adding, ‘We know that the decision to attack Iran was the decision of the United States. It wasn’t our decision.'” (11/06/26)
