We Should be Optimistic About the Internet Again

Source: Aaron Ross Powell
by Aaron Ross Powell

“I want the internet to be better. There’s of course always the risk of nostalgia building an unearned sense that it in fact used to be, in every way. That the era before, say, Facebook was idyllic, or the time of Blogger and Movable Type a paradise of thoughtful and thought-elevating discourse. We tend not to remember the warts, and so think a return to the old ways is invariably a return to better ways. But I do think there are ways it has declined. The rise of platforms and the centralization that came with them has tipped the balance away from small and weird and obsessive and towards big and bland and optimized. … a lot of ‘making things better’ will entail making things smaller. Giving people communities they control the boundaries of, and letting them exist in multiple communities at once.” (10/26/26)

https://www.aaronrosspowell.com/3mys5oi4l7c2g

Thomas L. Knapp

Absurd court farce on noncitizen ballots leaves Voter ID as the only cure

Source: New York Post
by Joel Pollak

“Voter ID is the only way to fix California’s broken election system. That’s the only reasonable conclusion from Sunday’s extraordinary hearing at the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. A three-judge panel heard the Trump administration’s case against non-citizen voting in California. Earlier this month, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) gave California a thumb drive with 20,000 names on it, ostensibly containing the names of suspected non-citizens who had registered to vote in the state. State and county officials, who had already sent ballots out by mail, refused to open it. So the DOJ sued in district court, hoping to force California to set aside those 20,000 ballots if and when they came in. Time is of the essence: ballots are already being mailed back, and counted. And once they are in, it’s almost impossible to fish them out again.” (10/25/26)

https://nypost.com/2026/10/25/opinion/absurd-non-citizen-voting-farce-leaves-voter-id-as-only-cure/

Steve Trinward

Airline security theater: United flight turns around midair over text on passenger’s phone

Source: New York Post

“A United Airlines flight heading to New Jersey returned to Las Vegas following an apparent hijacking threat Saturday. United Flight 1681 was carrying 150 passengers and six crew members from Harry Reid International Airport to Newark Liberty International Airport on Oct. 24 when a flight attendant noticed a traveler sending messages with reference to taking control of the plane. The crew member did not engage with the passenger and quickly alerted the pilot. ‘The flight attendant saw him texting that he was going to hijack the aircraft. They called me. We went into lockdown, and we returned to Vegas,’ the flight’s pilot told an air traffic controller shortly after the plane took off, reported CBS News. When the controller inquired whether the passenger was cooperative or under restraint, the pilot said that the traveler showed ‘no restraint’ because ‘he’s unaware’.” (10/26/26)

https://nypost.com/2026/10/26/us-news/united-flight-returns-to-las-vegas-after-apparent-hijacking-threat/

Steve Trinward

China: Communist Party opens fifth plenum with focus on discipline and loyalty to Xi

Source: South China Morning Post [Hong Kong]

“The Communist Party has started a key four-day conclave focused on party discipline and fighting corruption, as official media outlets say adherence to the party’s leadership under President Xi Jinping is key to the country’s success. The meeting – the fifth plenum of the Communist Party’s 20th Central Committee – began in Beijing on Monday, according to state news agency Xinhua. It said the main agenda for the plenum included a work report by the Politburo to the Central Committee and the adoption of a document aimed at ‘deepening party self-governance’.” (10/26/26)

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3372134/chinas-communist-party-opens-fifth-plenum-focus-discipline-and-loyalty-xi

Thomas L. Knapp