“A caller to my show rattled off President Donald Trump’s supposed ‘racist’ sins: Trump called African countries ‘shithole’ countries; he refused to rent to blacks; he said he did not want blacks counting his money at his casinos — he wanted Jews to do the counting; and he demeans black politicians like Democrat Rep. Maxine Waters (CA-43) by calling her ‘low IQ.’ Who does that? Donald John Trump, that’s who. Yes, Trump denounces some black politicians, specifically some black Democrat politicians whom Trump feels have unfairly and viciously attacked him. But Trump, unlike most Republicans who tiptoe around black Democratic antagonists for fear of being called racist, drops a colorblind hammer.” (10/22/26)
“When Democrats dream about how big their ‘blue wave’ might be on November 3, they tend to draw on historical comparisons: Can the party replicate its success of 2018, when Democrats picked up 40 seats in the House but failed to take back the Senate, or perhaps even 2006, when Democrats swept to majorities in both chambers? Perhaps no one is more bullish on the party’s prospects than Democratic pollster John Anzalone, who recently reached all the way back to 1994 in search of a possible precedent. This election ‘feels much more like 1994 than any other cycle I have been through in 40 years,’ Anzalone wrote on X. Now that was a wave election.” (10/22/26)
“Until recently, you’ve had no choice but to be a passive participant in the electrical grid, paying exorbitantly for the juice that flows into your home. But you’re about to play a much more active role — if you’re not already — and get paid to send power from your home battery or electric vehicle to the energy system. Even if you’re a renter, you may be able to buy solar panels that plug into a wall outlet, turning your balcony into your own tiny power plant. Earlier this month, a punishing California heat wave showed just how this more flexible grid can help absorb spikes in demand.” (10/22/26)
“Here’s a grim reality that few would have predicted in the 1990s: Neo-Nazi rhetoric and ideology have found a place in American political discourse. You don’t have to believe America is fascist to become alarmed that crackpot rhetoric has found its way into the national dialogue. Review the ravings of Timothy McVeigh, watch footage of a neo-Nazi rally, or even sit down with a 1998 movie like American History X, the story of a skinhead played by Edward Norton, and you will discern a disturbing pattern. Beyond epithets, the vocabulary of lunacy and hatred is now part of our vernacular.” (10/22/26)
Source: Libertarian Institute
by Joseph Solis-Mullen
“One of the most persistent myths about war is that it is sometimes inevitable. States are carried along by the impersonal forces of history: the balance of power, alliance commitments, ideological antagonisms, the rise and decline of great powers, et cetera. Leaders may make mistakes along the way, but these are trivia, for the ultimate outcome was determined by circumstances beyond their control. And while it is true the international environment constrains the choices available to statesmen, sometimes severely, constraints are not immutable laws, and circumstances do not make decisions. But the false and persistent narratives are politically useful to the powerful, for the invocation of historical necessity serves to excuse the decisions of those who possess the power to make war and obfuscate their ultimate responsibility for having failed to do otherwise.” (10/22/260
“On September 28, Brent crude climbed more than 2 percent after President Donald Trump rejected an Iranian proposal to end the conflict and reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Six days earlier, speaking before the United Nations, Trump had presented two possibilities: a deal with Tehran or the ‘annihilation of the Islamic Republic’. Even after rejecting the proposal, he said negotiations could continue. One president retained the power to bargain, refuse or escalate; millions of people were left to live with the consequences. That gap between who decides and who pays is the subject of the Iran war. It has a name: war livestock.” (10/22/26)
Source: The Atlantic
by Nancy A Youssef & Jonathan Lemire
“President Trump has been hearing lately from two trusted confidants, each promising a quick path to ending the war in Iran. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has argued that Iran is on the brink of economic collapse and that a U.S. blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, combined with sanctions, will force Tehran to capitulate at the negotiation table. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a series of calls with Trump, has offered a different route: one more round of devastating U.S. and Israeli strikes to topple the regime. Now the Trump administration appears to be considering combining the two approaches, betting that Iran is already on the verge of economic ruin and that a few more major strikes will be enough to trigger regime change.” (10/22/26)
“MAGA is an insidious political ‘movement’ that is the inevitable conclusion of the project started with the infamous Powell Memorandum in 1972. Formally titled ‘Attack on American Free Enterprise System’, the Powell Memo is a call to arms for the oligarchy in the US to push for a set of policies that benefit the wealthy while waging a narrative battle designed to get the working class to support these policies to their own detriment. The Powell Memo is not hypothetical: it is the blueprint that the modern conservative movement has followed, and the result some 50 years later is MAGA. The central narrative of MAGA is essentially this: Some other group of people is preventing you (typically white, Christian, straight, cisgender men) from having the basic things in life that you deserve.” (10/22/26)
“As President Donald Trump continues buying government stakes in private companies, the rest of Washington is starting to appreciate the power of his new tool. The Trump administration has so far announced 43 equity stakes in firms producing everything from minerals to semiconductors, 36 of which were negotiated without explicit legal authority — and more are yet to come. … Thanks to the precedent Trump has set, a future Democratic president could reap multiple benefits from equity stakes in private companies. Among them, as former Biden administration officials suggested: reining in the AI industry, shrinking defense spending, boxing China out of critical sectors, and pressuring gun and oil companies.” (10/22/260
