Cato Weekly Podcast, 09/22/26
Source: Cato Institute
“How Hard Is It to Rig an American Election?” (09/22/26)
https://www.cato.org/multimedia/cato-weekly-podcast/how-hard-it-rig-american-election
Cape Girardeau County Has Voted No on Zoning Twice
Source: Show-Me Institute
by Patrick Tuohey
“Cape Girardeau County is the only first-class, non-charter county in Missouri without countywide planning and zoning. That fact, reported recently by Rick Fahr in the Southeast Missourian, is often cast as a deficiency waiting to be corrected. It shouldn’t be. It’s the result of voters being asked directly, more than once, and saying no both times.” (09/22/26)
https://showmeinstitute.org/article/economy/cape-girardeau-county-has-voted-no-on-zoning-twice/
UN: Pezeshkian calls out Trump and says country will fight “until our last breath”
Source: SFGate
“Iran’s president said Wednesday that his people have been ‘victims of terrorism’ by the United States, delivering a rare wartime speech at U.N. General Assembly a day after President Donald Trump said he ‘may annihilate’ the Islamic Republic if a deal isn’t reached soon to end the nearly seven-month war. The defiant speech by President Masoud Pezeshkian marked a striking instance of a foreign leader addressing the world body while their country is at war with the host nation. … ‘We have only defended ourselves. We are not terrorists,’ Pezeshkian said at the General Assembly. ‘Our innocent people have been the targets of cowardly attacks and aggressions imposed upon our country. And we defended ourselves with utmost strength. America and Israel attacked us.’ He added of the United States: ‘Yes they did hit us, but we did not bend the knee.'” (09/23/26)
Capital Record, episode 323
Source: National Review
“No One is a Libertarian Now.” (09/22/26)
https://www.nationalreview.com/podcasts/capital-record/no-one-is-a-libertarian-now/
Trio spotted emerging from manhole just steps from NYC hotel where Netanyahu set to stay
Source: New York Post
“A shady trio was spotted emerging from a manhole just steps from the hotel where Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to stay during the United Nations General Assembly, cops and sources said. The three unidentified men were spotted around 4:35 a.m. climbing out of the underground pit on Park Avenue near East 61st Street on the Upper East Side, authorities said. They fled in two separate vehicles that headed north on Park Avenue, police said. Netanyahu and other dignitaries are expected to stay at the Loews Regency New York down the block, sources said. It was not immediately clear whether the sewer incident is linked to his stay.” (09/23/26)
The autocrats may seem immovable. But their time is passing.
Source: Washington Post
by David Ignatius
“We seem to be living in the age of the autocrats, where Presidents Donald Trump, Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin bestride the globe. The gathering this week of the U.N. General Assembly in New York seems a mere sideshow to the real power game at the Trump-Xi summit. But appearances can be deceptive: This may be the twilight of the dictators’ era, not the dawn.” (09/22/26)
If You Want to Win Working-Class Votes, Run On Working-Class Issues
Source: In These Times
by Mindy Isser
“If the Left is serious about winning elections across the country, working-class voters must be at the center of this project. And yet, too many campaigns don’t make these voters’ priorities their focus. In a new report from The Center for Working Class Politics (where I am a research associate), scholars Joan Williams and Jared Abbot analyze the results of a recent Class Gaps Poll, which compares the political attitudes of working-class people with those of liberal upper-middle-class voters, who, like it or not, have steered the modern progressive movement and its agenda.” (09/22/26)
https://inthesetimes.com/article/working-class-politics-left-election-midterms-college
South Sudan: Kiir dissolves government ahead of first national elections
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir has dissolved the country’s transitional unity government and appointed a caretaker administration as the country prepares for its first-ever national elections. The decree on Tuesday ended a power-sharing arrangement set up under a 2018 peace deal that halted years of civil war, and raised concerns that Kiir could now wield unchecked power. /// The decree came a day after the parliament approved changes to the National Elections Act that allowed Kiir to stay in power during the election period, while removing all vice presidents, who were appointed under the 2018 peace deal. The changes mean that South Sudan can move towards elections scheduled for December 22, without first completing a permanent constitution or census – two processes that were previously tied to the transition.” (09/23/26)
So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast, episode 283
Source: Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
“Robby Soave on Trump’s press ban, Macklemore, and free speech culture wars.” (09/22/26)
The President’s Ban on Journalists Is Disgraceful and Illegal
Source: Cato Institute
by Dan Greenberg
“The reasons the Trump White House has given in the past for its attempts to pick and choose which journalists are allowed to cover it have varied, but all of them have one thing in common: they cannot be reconciled with the law. Jim Acosta’s press pass was revoked because he continued to ask questions and refused to yield his microphone to another journalist. Brian Karem’s press pass was revoked essentially because he made remarks that were understood as rude and confrontational. The Associated Press was excluded because it used the label ‘Gulf of Mexico,’ rather than ‘Gulf of America.’ But these justifications for exclusion—like the more recent White House complaints about negative news coverage—fail, because they are empty and unworkable under the law.” (09/22/26)
https://www.cato.org/blog/presidents-ban-journalists-disgraceful-illegal