“While one might assume that the most enthusiastic proponents of extending the federal government’s assistance programs would also be the most ardent fraud hunters — since fraud weakens the system they promote — one would be wrong. When individual assistance and healthcare fraud actually receive effective scrutiny, socialists and progressives can reliably found among the chief protesters. This is something to watch for, especially in light of what Vice President J. D. Vance announced yesterday — that the federal government has removed hundreds of thousands of Obamacare enrollments created for people who either do not meet eligibility requirements or … don’t exist.” (09/23/26)
“One of this year’s world-shaping elections has been largely hidden from the world. Since July, the 15 members of the United Nations Security Council have held three secret straw polls to select the U.N.’s next secretary-general by January. No clear front-runner has emerged. But here is the headline so far: Two of the top three candidates are women. In the U.N.’s 81 years, only men have been chosen as its top executive. Typically, a secretary-general ends up serving two five-year terms. What’s more, the two women leading the informal balloting are from Latin America. The last U.N. secretary-general from that region left 35 years ago. The Security Council’s choice this time will certainly reflect the usual backroom horse-trading among the body’s three major veto-wielding nations: Russia, China, and the United States. … The 193-member Assembly has the final say on the choice.” (09/22/26)
“The proposal offers vulnerable Republicans an immediate and visible response to an economic problem. It would let lawmakers say American fuel is being reserved for American consumers. That, though, ain’t the end of it. The United States would be trying to lower domestic prices by removing supply from an already undersupplied global market while interfering with the export business that helps keep American refineries operating near capacity.” (09/23/26)
“As interest costs consume an ever-larger share of the federal budget, maintaining an informal global empire becomes fiscally and strategically indefensible.” (09/23/26)
“Judicial independence is a hard-won but easily lost feature of liberal democracy. As we’ve seen in Europe, Latin America, and elsewhere, aspiring autocrats prioritize delegitimizing, intimidating, and weakening the judiciary. Court packing would, inescapably, have this effect, which is why a Democratic Congress rejected Franklin Roosevelt’s court-packing proposal, calling it a ‘direct violation of the spirit of the American Constitution.’ As in medicine, the operating motto for any intervention in statecraft is: first, do no harm.” (09/’23/26)
Source: Brennan Center for Justice
by Michael Waldman
“Political consultants warn Democratic candidates not to talk about regulating artificial intelligence, Politico reported this week. Not because that would be unpopular—it would be very popular!. No, the consultants warned, it’s that outspoken candidates could be demolished by millions of dollars suddenly dumped into their races by tech companies. This critical 2026 midterm election may be decided by dark money, big money, tech money. Above all, secret money. The money storm is now gathering. It could tip the outcome of many races. And we may never really know what happened. (09/23/26)
“The college wage premium remains substantial, but has declined sharply since 2022. Generative AI may be part of the explanation, but it is not the whole story.” (09/23/26)
“Socialism starts with a picture. Somewhere in the mind of the socialist there sits a finished society that is harmonious, planned, and fair by design. The task, as they see it, is to build toward that picture and hold reality to its measurements. Everything that resists the plan is treated as a defect to be corrected, not as evidence that the plan might be wrong. Neither Conservatism nor market liberalism work that way. Neither of them starts with a picture of the finished society. They start with what has actually happened, and they ask what it can teach.” (09/23/26)
