Source: Cato Institute
by Dan Greenberg

“Lewis Carroll’s fantasy novels about Alice’s adventures have many virtues; one such virtue is that they regularly help explain the Trump administration. Indeed, one episode in Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass — his sequel to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland — illuminates an important aspect of politics and human nature. Here’s what happens: As Alice is walking through a deep forest, she suddenly realizes that she cannot recall the proper name of anything. … In a press conference last week, our vice president displayed such forgetfulness. In J.D. Vance’s discussion of new restrictions on H‑1B eligibility, he was asked what he understood ‘socialism’ to be.” (10/12/26)

https://www.cato.org/blog/j-d-vances-walk-forest-forgetfulness

Source: Persuasion
by Francis Fukuyama

“Secretary of State Marco Rubio gave a speech at the Pnyx in Athens on October 7 …. at the heart of his address he talks about thymos (he transliterates it as thumos) as the core value of Western civilization. This is correct in some fashion, but Rubio’s understanding of the idea is very deficient. … Thymos is at the core not just of Western civilization, but, as Hegel and his interpreter Alexandre Kojève noted, of politics as a whole. The first bloody battle between early human beings was driven by the desire for dominance and recognition, by the willingness to risk one’s life. This struggle for dominance leads to a society of masters and slaves, in which neither party is fully satisfied—the slave for obvious reasons, but the master as well because he is recognized by someone who is only a slave.” (10/12/26)

https://www.persuasion.community/p/thymos-and-american-foreign-policy

Source: Fox News
by Gregg Jarrett

“It was the dirtiest trick ever perpetrated in politics that produced the greatest mass delusion in American history. It was a faux scandal and an epic con job, corrupt from the outset. Fox Nation has produced a remarkable three-part documentary series, ‘Russia! Russia! Russia! The Plot to Stop Trump’. All three episodes premiere on Fox’s streaming network on Monday, Oct. 12, 2026. It tells the gripping story of lies and lying people. The damning narrative that Donald Trump somehow colluded with Russia to steal the 2016 presidential election, you’ll recall, consumed the media landscape for more than two years and dominated political discourse. It nearly brought down a duly elected president. So stunning was the abuse of power that this series must be seen to be believed. It is based on troves of recently disclosed government records and other declassified documents.” (10/12/26)

https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/gregg-jarrett-trump-framed-russia-collusion-hoax-story-exposed

Source: The Dispatch
by Lyia Dugdale

“Christa Pike’s botched execution in Tennessee last week raises a host of questions about what comes next, what Gov. Bill Lee should do, and what is meant by ‘cruel and unusual.’ These are legal questions, but they are also ethical and political questions, and they demand our consideration. As an ethicist, I’m interested in the ought questions. In this case: What ought the state to do after a failed execution attempt? This is not to debate the moral acceptability of capital punishment or even the particulars of Pike’s case. It’s simply to inquire what should come next.” (10/12/26)

https://thedispatch.com/article/christa-pike-tennessee-execution-constitution/

Source: Jonathan Turley
by Jonathan Turley

“After his recent congressional testimony, former Special Counsel Jack Smith appeared at a ‘Power to the People Fest’ sporting a ‘No Kings’ T-shirt. Aside from a midlife crisis, the most likely explanation is that Smith wanted to send a message, reaffirming his bona fides as an anti-Trump warrior. It was a Comey moment, but without the seashells. The Power to the People Fest featured many whom Smith has long cultivated in the ‘Democracy-is-Ending’ crowd. The organizers billed the event as ‘working to restore and strengthen democracy’ and featured some of Trump’s loudest critics. The top billing went to Bruce Springsteen, who has lately turned his concerts into anti-Trump rave sessions, including comparing Trump officials to ‘Gestapo’ and calling the administration ‘treasonous’. He continued those attacks at the concert with Smith, denouncing Trump as ‘lawless’ and his administration as murderers.” (10/12/26)

https://jonathanturley.org/2026/10/12/the-coming-out-of-jack-smith-a-former-special-counsel-joins-the-no-kings-movement/

Source: The Hill
by Steven J Lepper, Dan Maurer, & Eugene R Fidell

“Gen. Dan Caine, the nation’s senior-most military leader, recently told Sen Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) that the U.S. military has ‘no plans’ to be at polling places in November. But President Trump has made it impossible to dismiss fears of military interference. To the contrary, his persistent assault on the integrity of the voting process, his suggestion that Republicans ‘should take over the voting in at least 15 places,’ and his refusal to rule out invoking the Insurrection Act have led many to begin bracing for an imminent collision. Americans across the country are worrying that their constitutionally-assured right to vote will be curtailed by Trump’s increasingly frantic search for anything that will preserve his party’s congressional majorities.” (10/12/26)

https://thehill.com/opinion/civil-rights/6141788-trump-military-polling-interference/

Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone

“Israel is so evil that it’s actually illegal for Israelis to tell the truth about it. Benjamin Netanyahu has just ordered Israel’s military, its attorney general, and its security agency Shin Bet to investigate and prosecute the soldiers who anonymously shared their experiences in the Gaza Strip with the award-winning investigative documentary [sic] ‘NAZA’. According to Haaretz, Netanyahu accused the soldiers of ‘serious information security offenses, criminal defamation and harm to Israel’s diplomatic and security interests’, adding that ‘there is concern that those involved in the defamatory film committed serious criminal offenses by exposing highly classified information and creating a breach in the information security of a highly sensitive intelligence unit’. Netanyahu’s accusations of ‘defamation’ are contradicted by his other accusation of ‘exposing highly classified information’. The 24 soldiers interviewed for the film are being prosecuted not because they told lies about Israel, but because they told the truth.” (10/12/26)

https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2026/10/12/if-the-truth-is-a-threat-to-israel-then-israel-should-not-exist/