Source: Semafor
by David Weigel

“From President Donald Trump on down, Republicans are very comfortable contending that Muslim immigration threatens America and that the liberal crusade for diversity is national suicide. They love running against El-Sayed, even in the 49 states where he’s not on the ballot. … This isn’t a swerve away from the GOP’s midterm message. It is the message: Foreigners are undermining America from within, and Democrats won’t stop them. (Never mind that El-Sayed was born in Rochester Hills.) Teepell was very much in line with the Trump-era Republican rhetorical strategy to demonize the ‘other.’ Where he went wrong was, in part, failing to go toe to toe with one of the most skillful extemporaneous talkers in Democratic politics.” (10/21/26)

https://www.semafor.com/article/10/21/2026/what-the-gop-activist-who-confronted-el-sayed-really-got-wrong

Source: USA Today
by Rex Huppke

“Voters are concerned about high food and gas prices, and [Vivek] Ramaswamy is out here trying to use his opponent’s childhood trauma as some kind of cudgel. Perhaps the Ohio Republican was inspired by his party’s leader, President Donald Trump, who now spends his days at campaign rallies talking about what a nice rump he thinks Sen. Jon Husted of Ohio has. … Vile rhetoric and behavior won’t gain any of the GOP candidates a single vote. But I do applaud them for being their true selves.” (10/21/26)

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/columnist/2026/10/21/ramaswamy-acton-ad-estranged-mother-controversial-vile/92356432007/

Source: The Nation
by Alissa Quart

“I was hiking on a nature park that cuts through 45 miles of Northern Virginia, crisscrossing grassy terrain, wetlands, wooden bridges, and goldenrod, and then a dozen promontories offering the most unnatural of sights: indowless, hulking block-long data centers and their attendant transmission lines and substations. I heard ‘the hum’ of the centers before I saw them; their sound resembled a horde of cicadas on meth. I felt nervous, and somewhat overwhelmed, as I counted roughly 20 of them in just the two miles I walked on the Washington and Old Dominion Railroad Trail in Loudoun County. Here is the country’s thickest concentration of data centers—233 centers in all, over 3 percent of the county’s overall land mass. Data Center Alley, as it’s called, is a harbinger of what is to come in this country if tech hyperscaling continues unchecked.” (10/21/26)

https://www.thenation.com/article/activism/accidental-activists-data-center-alley/

Source: Liberalism.org
by Jayme Lemke

“The new republic didn’t enfranchise women, but it built the tools that later generations would use.” (10/21/26)

https://www.liberalism.org/p/the-american-revolution-and-women-s-rights

Source: American Greatness
by Edward Ring

“By the time this is published, we will be within two weeks of Election Day. To be more descriptive, in California we might say that on November 3 we will reach the end of the first half. During election season’s second half, also lasting 30 days, trained professionals will busily count ballots, cure ballots, and process ballots postmarked before but received after the end of the first half. There are good reasons to suppose the results aren’t going to be desirable for any Californian who wants lower taxes and more efficient government spending. The nightmare scenario is that those voters most likely to reject more state and local ballot initiatives that will enact higher taxes and more wasteful spending will be less likely to vote.” (10/21/26)

https://amgreatness.com/2026/10/21/californias-looming-election-day-nightmare/