Source: Reason
by Katherine Mangu-Ward

“Usually when we’re in the midst of a government shutdown, I’m in a good mood. Sure, recent shutdowns haven’t accomplished much in terms of shrinking the cost or scope of the federal government in the long run, but it’s nice to walk around feeling a little less governed than usual. But even that small pleasure has turned sour. Yes, fiscal restraint matters. … But the intense acceleration of the quest to aggregate power in the White House is now unambiguously the more immediate threat to liberty.” [for publication 12/25)

https://reason.com/2025/10/25/how-to-ruin-a-shutdown/

Source: The American Conservative
by Harrison Berger

“[A] group of armed Israeli settlers in the West Bank staged an attack on American journalist and Drop Site News contributor Jasper Nathaniel and a group of Palestinians he was accompanying. Footage recorded by Nathaniel, a U.S. citizen, shows more than a dozen masked men chasing him and his group down a dirt road. Already horrifying, the story soon became even more egregious. When Nathaniel contacted the U.S. Embassy to report the attack, he was told that his own government could not protect him. As independent journalist Jeremy Loffredo — who was recently detained by the IDF for the ‘crime’ of doing journalism without military permission — observed on X: ‘If an American tourist was being chased and attacked by masked & armed government-backed terrorists in any country other than Israel, it would immediately become a major diplomatic crisis with wall-to-wall media coverage.’ He’s absolutely right.” (10/25/25)

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/as-israeli-settlers-attack-americans-when-will-we-say-enough/

Source: The UnPopulist
by Joshua Reed Eakle

“Liberalism’s early victories were bold and sweeping, in part because they had to be. Early liberals, advocating for human dignity and freedom against many different forms of oppression, were radicals within their own contexts. Liberalism, though, is not inherently radical: it does not possess the relentless internal logic of totalitarian systems that need an endless series of “enemies of the people” to war against. Nor does it seek to ceaselessly tear down. Neither is liberalism small-c conservative: At no point does liberalism proclaim itself satisfied with the status quo, content merely to treat politics as a defensive battle. Liberals seek to establish open and liberal societies—which sometimes requires sweeping revolution — but then to settle down to the more mundane tasks of both maintenance and refinement.” (10/25/25)

https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/liberalism-is-a-bold-force-that-ends

Source: The Dispatch
by Jonah Goldberg

“If I had to pick a single piece of writing that captures the state of American political culture today, it would be an essay published 80 years ago this month: George Orwell’s ‘Notes on Nationalism.’ … What Orwell meant by nationalism wasn’t ‘patriotism.’ Rather, he wrote: ‘By ‘nationalism’ I mean first of all the habit of assuming that human beings can be classified like insects and that whole blocks of millions or tens of millions of people can be confidently labelled ‘good’ or ‘bad’. But secondly ­– and this is much more important – I mean the habit of identifying oneself with a single nation or other unit, placing it beyond good and evil and recognizing no other duty than that of advancing its interests.‘ [emphasis mine]” (10/24/25)

https://thedispatch.com/newsletter/gfile/identity-politics-nationalism-orwell-party-loyalty/

Source: In These Times
by Michael Beyea Reagan

“If polls are to be believed, democratic socialist Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani is likely to win the mayoralty of New York City this November. An October 9 Quinnipiac University survey taken after Mayor Eric Adams dropped from the race shows Mamdani is up 13 points over his nearest competitor, disgraced former Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Despite his youth and executive inexperience, Mamdani has all the advantages …. Yet despite these electoral advantages, the deck is stacked against Mamdani’s administration. This is because the political coalition necessary to govern is quite different from that which can get him elected.” (10/23/25)

https://inthesetimes.com/article/zohran-mamdani-trump-cuomo-nyc-wall-street