“In the early Trump era, many prominent pundits were fairly conventional conservatives. When the audience veered towards populism and MAGA, the hosts followed the advice widely attributed to the French 19th century politician, Alexandre Auguste Ledru-Rollin: ‘There go the people, I must follow them, for I am their leader.’ (In fairness, he didn’t say it, critics ascribed it to him.) But the most dangerous realm for this dynamic isn’t political journalism. It’s politics. Politicians often are captured by their true-believing base.” (10/13/26)
“States often find it easier to secure millions of dollars to replace an aging IT system than a few thousand to understand why it no longer works. They can pay a vendor to build a new website, but struggle to hire the staff who decide what to do next. These problems run deeper than budgeting. The processes that states use to procure and manage technology are largely designed for projects with defined scopes and clear endpoints. That works reasonably well when the work has a clear finish line, but less well for services that need to keep changing after launch, which is the case with most digital services.” (10/13/26)
Source: The American Prospect
by Whitney Curry Wimbish
“Immigration and Customs Enforcement is fast-tracking a $100 million domestic surveillance program to put 142 intelligence agents in more than two dozen cities and the District of Columbia, in what contracting and surveillance experts said would be a significant expansion of the agency’s ability to reach into private lives. The new program is called the Enforcement and Removal Operations Overwatch and National Security Enforcement, or ERO ONE, described in documents posted last month on federal procurement websites. Under the program, agents would analyze classified and unclassified information to identify ‘trends, patterns, relationships, threats, and intelligence gaps’, and provide ICE with briefings for Enforcement and Removal Operation missions, according to a statement of work published on September 18. A forecasting document published a week earlier said that the solicitation will likely be released on December 10. Intelligence contracting experts said the timeline suggests ICE will award the contract around February.” (10/14/26)
“The State of Wyoming, generally considered to be a conservative, not-quite one-party state, but with a strong streak of minarchist libertarianism, have some odd quirks. One of those has to do with gambling. Take an interesting little ‘fun game’ called ‘shake-a-day’ featured in many saloons, bars, and lounges in the Cowboy State. According to a recent Cowboy State Daily article, Wyoming this game is definitely illegal, since the State ‘clarified’ its laws and regulations. Which are, to put it mildly, confusing.” (10/13/26)
“With a public execution, the US regime will join an exclusive club currently comprised of Iran, Afghanistan, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, North Korea, and the Islamic State’s notional ‘caliphate.’ Those aren’t the only regimes with unlimited government. They’re just the only regimes that publicly flaunt their unlimited nature by killing disarmed, helpless prisoners in full view of the serfs they rule. I’m big on government transparency. Not on ‘good government’ grounds, but because transparency makes it easier for people to figure out that there’s no such thing as ‘good’ political government. … The US government killing Hasan is no different in principle than the Gambino crime family’s killing of Thomas DeSimone, sentenced to death for killing ‘made man’ William Bentvena (both killings are portrayed, using other names, in the film Goodfellas).” (10/13/26)
“The other day, my wife made me a sandwich, and I ate it. Who benefitted from this transaction? I enjoyed the good, but my wife did all the work. I like to think I benefitted from the transaction. It’s in the enjoyment of a good that’s the benefit of the good. The labor in creating the good is necessary, and often troublesome, but it’s not the benefit of the good. But President Donald Trump and defenders of economic protectionism who despise trade deficits think my wife cheated me because she had the privilege of doing all the work. Or, at least that’s the implication protectionists make in their public pronouncements on U.S. trade policy with the world. I now have a sandwich trade deficit with my wife, according to them.” (10/13/26)
Source: Chris’s Substack
by Chris Matthew Sciabarra
“Since having published my essay on how ‘The Russian Radical Eludes Ayn Rand’s Critics,’ I have been catching up on several shows. I am just getting to Season 13 of ‘American Horror Story: 13.’ … The writers of [episode 4] are Ned Martel and Charlie Carver. They are not just mocking criminality here; they are satirizing several polarizing, controversial women. Among ‘Mr. Nas’s favorite bad girls’—those ‘taken before they could reach their full potential’—are such luminaries as Eva Braun, Wallis Simpson, Brigitte Badot, Catherine the Great, Mamie Eisenhower, Elena Ceaușescu, Margaret Thatcher, and … you guessed it, Ayn Rand (portrayed by Mary Bacon). Mars describes her as a ‘selfish writer and welfare queen,’ before the ‘frightened’ Rand goes toppling into the fires of Hell.” (10/13/26)
“While there is much noise on the Right about the danger of socialism – and it should not be discounted – what is not discussed enough is the ‘socialism’ for the rich and well-connected. One word for this is ‘corporatism.’ It is the merger – even if temporary – of state power with ‘private’ interests. Rich Greek businessmen are not lavishing gifts on Ambassador Guilfoyle because she is a nice person. They are looking for favors that only those holding the levers of political power can grant. … Corrupt officials abuse their positions because the government is so enormous and invasive that there are endless opportunities for graft and grift.” (10/13/26)
“The latest example of Flock’s censorial methods occurred last month when it targeted Joshua Michael, a cybersecurity researcher who founded Nexanet, with a trademark complaint and a cease-and-desist letter. In November 2025, Michael discovered a vulnerability in Flock’s website that he says allowed him to retrieve extensive information about the company’s nationwide surveillance network without detection. After discovering the flaw, Michael reported it to Flock, telling the company the data was publicly available and could be found without any hacking. A few days later, after Michael followed up twice, Flock responded: ‘Thank you for the findings. We are internally triaging them and will reach back out with next steps soon.’ Michael never heard from Flock again until he made his findings known. On Sept. 23, Michael published the Flock Surveillance Map. … On Sept. 24, Doppel, Flock’s brand protection vendor, requested ‘the immediate removal’ of Michael’s ‘infringing site.'” (10/13/26)
“Could the destruction of Gaza after October 7 have been avoided? The answer is yes – had Hamas so wished. First, if the Hamas leadership had simply complied with Israeli demands to (a) return the 251 hostages and (b) surrender the architects and perpetrators of the massacre of some 1,200 Israelis, the Israelis would not have had to fight Hamas in the streets and tunnels of Gaza. Note how critics of Israel consistently fail to offer any viable alternative to the Israeli ground effort to destroy the Hamas mass murderers. Nor do Israel’s enemies ever bother to explain why Hamas did not return its hostages and give up the perpetrators of October 7. Why did nobody expect the International Criminal Court or the UN to have the slightest effect when they ineffectually interceded to demand the return of the hostages and issued arrest warrants for the ‘war criminals’ of Hamas?” (10/13/26)
