Source: Jonathan Turley
by Jonathan Turley
“‘In the first place, God made idiots,’ Mark Twain once wrote in an 1879 travel book. ‘That was for practice. Then he made school boards.’ It appears that most Americans now agree with him. New polling shows that K-12 education has now reached a record low in the number of people who are even ‘somewhat satisfied’ with the state of education in the U.S. What is most troubling is that the near-total contempt for our school system does not make a bit of difference. Families and students have become largely irrelevant to an education cartel, a self-sustaining, self-perpetuating political alliance of unions and politicians. According to Gallup, only 32 percent of American adults say they are ‘completely’ or ‘somewhat’ satisfied with the quality of K-12 education. That is the lowest figure in Gallup’s 27 years of asking the question. Public satisfaction with the school system has dropped almost 20 points since just 2024.” (10/06/26)
https://jonathanturley.org/2026/10/06/the-education-cartel-and-the-blue-state-school-scam/
Source: Deadline
“The long-gestating merger of Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery officially closed Tuesday, yielding a new major player in media. Shares in the combined company, Skydance, will start trading later in the day on the New York Stock Exchange. Shares of Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery have been discontinued on the Nasdaq. The closing brings to an end a year-long saga over who would control two century-old movie studios along with a pedigreed stable of TV studios, streaming services and networks including HBO and CNN.” (10/06/26)
https://deadline.com/2026/10/skydance-merger-paramount-warner-bros-discovery-1237147750/
Source: The Next Move
“Before the midterms, dissidents share their hopes and fears.” (10/06/26)
https://www.thenextmove.org/p/we-came-to-america-for-freedom-now
Source: Libertarian Institute
“We sit down with Col. Lawrence Wilkerson to talk through what the last American forces leaving Iraq could actually mean, not just for Baghdad, but for the bigger U.S. posture across Southwest Asia and the political reality that Washington may be getting pushed out rather than choosing to leave.” (10/07/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/blog/the-kyle-anzalone-show-guest-col-lawrence-wilkerson-after-23-years-is-the-iraq-war-finally-over/
Source: Noahpinion
by Noah Smith
“Although we don’t know the long-term effects of AI on the distribution of income and wealth, right now we can see a substantial amount of economic benefit flowing — I wouldn’t say ‘trickling down’ — to regular Americans. This is not to say that regular Americans couldn’t stand to benefit more from the AI boom. I think they could. I like some (though not all) of Jared Bernstein’s ideas for spreading the benefits of the data center boom more broadly. But I think [Paul] Krugman has underestimated the benefits of the data center buildout in terms of direct employment, and has basically ignored the fiscal, macroeconomic, and consumer benefits of the current AI boom.” (10/06/260
https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/what-the-ai-boom-is-doing-for-americans
Source: Informed Comment
by Juan Cole
“In a stemwinder of a speech in Nebraska, our mentally ill president joked around that if Iran took out Los Angeles and San Diego, it would be a small price to pay for keeping the rest of the country safe. Or at least that is what he appeared to say. What his slurred free association means is often anyone’s guess. The corporate media report on his speeches as if they are in any way coherent to stay on his good side, since he threatens people who disagree with him. Angelenos and San Diegans reacted with outrage at their president’s blithe willingness to throw them under the bus. Ironically, San Diego is a major port for the US Navy, the sailors of which Trump is abusing by keeping them near the Strait of Hormuz for months at a time without a secure base for resupply or rest and recreation.” (10/06/26)
https://www.juancole.com/2026/10/trump-angeles-diego.html
Source: Yahoo! News
“Norway has become the first country to propose a temporary ban on camera-enabled and AI-powered smart glasses in public spaces, amid growing concerns around privacy. Ars Technica reports that the Norwegian Government is proposing a blanket ban in selected public spaces where it believes people are vulnerable to being recorded without their consent. It follows the news this week that Dutch eyewear retailer Hans Anders has pulled Meta Ray-Ban glasses from over 400 stores. Venues where the use of smart glasses would be prohibited include parks, beaches, museums, schools, kindergartens, shopping centers, healthcare facilities, gyms, and public events. Private use of smart glasses, for example in wearers’ homes, would still be permitted.” [editor’s note: When you’re in a “public space,” no one should need your “consent” to film – TLK] (10/06/26)
https://www.yahoo.com/news/world/articles/norway-says-proposed-smart-glasses-115613205.html
Source: The Hill
“Robby Soave gives his radar on recent comments from Sam Altman and Dario Amodei highlighting the debate around the potential benefits and potential harms of AI.” (10/06/26)
https://thehill.com/hilltv/6125210-rising-october-6-2026/
Source: Law & Liberty
by Justin Buckley Dyer
“There are two kinds of love of country, Alexis de Tocqueville observed in Democracy in America. The first is a ‘sort of patriotic attachment’ that arises from the natural affections a man has for his birthplace and is ‘united to a taste for ancient customs, and to a reverence for ancestral traditions of the past.’ This kind of patriotism is instinctive, unreflective and transient. The second ‘springs from knowledge; it is nurtured by the laws; it grows by the exercise of civil rights.’ A man who loves his country this way understands that his own well-being is bound up with the prosperity of his country.” (10/06/26)
https://lawliberty.org/book-review/the-challenge-and-promise-of-reflective-patriotism/
Source: SFGate
“Belgian-born scientist Francis Halzen won the Nobel Prize in physics Tuesday for his efforts to demystify a rare group of neutrinos, tiny cosmic particles that researchers believe offer clues to how the universe evolved. ‘It was a great surprise, and I obviously didn’t expect it,’ Halzen said, speaking to the Nobel Physics Committee by phone from Italy, in a call broadcast at the news conference to announce the winner. Halzen, a physicist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the U.S., said the work was a massive collaborative effort. He was working on a research proposal when the Nobel committee called just before lunchtime. ‘I hope that this prize will help getting it approved,’ he said to chuckles from the audience. Neutrinos are tiny cosmic particles with no electric charge and extraordinarily small mass, making them difficult to detect.” (10/06/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/nobel-prize-in-physics-to-be-awarded-in-stockholm-22464191.php