The Daily Blast with Greg Sargent, 10/21/26
Source: The New Republic
“Abdul El-Sayed’s Viral Takedown of GOP Heckler Shows How to Fight MAGA.” (10/21/26)
A viable path to peace in Ukraine
Source: Asia Times
by Jeffrey D Sachs
“The war in Ukraine can be ended permanently on terms that protect Ukraine’s statehood, meet Russia’s security concerns, and lay the foundation for a durable European security order. As another round of negotiations gears up in Norway, I propose a settlement concluded as a single package, signed by Ukraine and Russia, adopted by a vote of the United Nations Security Council under Chapter VII of the Charter. It would be guaranteed jointly by the five permanent members of the Council together with other states that choose to join. The proposal rests on the principle of indivisible security set out in the Helsinki Final Act and the Charter of Paris. The package would have four core commitments.” (10/21/26)
https://asiatimes.com/2026/10/a-viable-path-to-peace-in-ukraine/
What Do You Tell a Child When a Teacher Disparages Her Religion?
Source: Common Dreams
by Maryam Hasan
“What do you tell a child attending public school when her teacher singles out and disparages her religion? That is the question parents of Muslim children in Texas schools might soon confront. The Texas State Board of Education has approved new social studies standards taking effect in 2030 that require teachers to denigrate the religion of Islam with biased, ahistorical, and offensive characterizations. One of the most controversial edits would require students to study ‘the Prophet Mohammed’s brutal military campaigns against Jewish and Christian tribes, the normalization of slavery, and the taking of female captives as harem slaves’. None of these claims stand up to a neutral reading of history.” (10/21/26)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/texas-anti-islam-teaching
Italy: Retailers Warn of Food Shortages Caused by Truck Drivers’ Protest
Source: US News & World Report
“A protest by Italian truck drivers over fuel prices and the cost of living is causing food shortages in shops, with deliveries disrupted and fresh produce rotting, retailers said on Wednesday. The protests, which began in southern Italy last week, have also disrupted operations in two regional airports in Calabria because they cannot get deliveries of aviation fuel. With traffic snarled in various parts of the country, long queues formed on the A1 motorway near the southern city of Naples after truckers restricted access. … The protests come as Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government deals with unrest last weekend in northern cities including Milan where gangs of mainly young people went on the rampage. The ANCD-Conad group, representing retailers operating under the Conad supermarket brand, said large quantities of perishable products including fruit and vegetables, as well as milk and meat were stranded on trucks and in warehouses.” (10/21/26)
LPA Two Hour Lunch Hour, episode 16
Source: LP Alliance
“Join us for our anything goes podcast every Wednesday at noon eastern!” (10/21/26)
A Lawsuit to Restore a Bit of Contractual Freedom
Source: Future of Freedom
by George Leef
“Governments at all levels have enacted laws that violate the right to contract. In every state, for example, licensing laws obstruct contractual freedom by preventing individuals who do not have a license from contracting with people who nevertheless want their services. Consider a law in North Dakota stating that only those who have obtained a license to teach from the state may enter into contracts to teach — not only in public schools, but also in private ones. Why shouldn’t the head of a private school be free to employ anyone he regards as capable of teaching? He, after all, has the strongest possible incentive to make sure that parents who pay for schooling will receive the best instruction. That is precisely the issue in a lawsuit brought by Capstone Classical Academy, a private school, along with a parent and a teacher, challenging North Dakota’s licensing law.” (10/21/26)
https://www.fff.org/explore-freedom/article/a-lawsuit-to-restore-a-bit-of-contractual-freedom/
Parallax Views w/ JG Michael, 10/21/26
Source: Parallax Views w/ JG Michael
“Epstein, Psyops, & the Launch of the CommuNoid Zine w/ ParaPower Mapping.” (10/21/26)
Why Truth Is Not Enough
Source: Law & Liberty
by Jennifer A Frey
“If we return to the cradle of Western civilization in ancient Greece and Rome, we find an idea of liberal education as one that befits a free person and citizen, in contrast to a servile education that fitted one for a life of a specific line of work or trade. The proper curriculum for such an education was always a matter of lively debate, but it was widely agreed that such study should cultivate our minds, our speech, and our character in ways that expanded our freedom, making us more fit for various forms of self-governance and human flourishing. This ideal of the liberal arts seeks the truth for its own sake, to be sure, but understands this as expanding our freedom to flourish in both public and private life, not as a laissez-faire quest for more truth simpliciter.” (10/21/26)
Naming versus explaining
Source: Adam Smith Institute
by Madsen Pirie
“In many traditional cultures, ancient civilizations, and folklore traditions, a name is not viewed as a mere label, it is considered an intrinsic part of a person’s soul, essence, or spiritual makeup. Because the name represents the core of the being, possessing it was believed to allow a sorcerer, spirit, or enemy to manipulate, curse, or summon that person. To protect themselves, many cultures practiced name avoidance. People often used nicknames, public titles, or ‘noa’ (ordinary/allowed) names in daily life while keeping their true or spiritual name hidden from strangers or enemies. … The DSM, psychiatry’s diagnostic manual, defines most conditions by clusters of symptoms, not by any identified mechanism. In 2013 Thomas Insel, then director of America’s National Institute of Mental Health, said as much. He wrote that the manual’s categories lacked validity, and his institute began moving its research away from them. The labels are not even reliable.” (10/21/26)
The Deep Roots of France’s Omnicrisis
Source: Persuasion
by Matthew Karnitschnig
“Reaction to the riots in France has followed a familiar arc: shock and disbelief, followed by dismissal and even denial. The wave of demonstrations began last month at a school in a Paris suburb, where teachers and students went on strike over staff shortages. What began as a local protest quickly morphed into a nationwide movement fueled by seemingly everything that ails France, turning particularly violent last weekend as rioters stormed city halls from Marseille to Limoges and Lille. In the aftermath, social media was awash with testimonials from Parisians insisting that the unrest was much ado about nothing. … The reaction to the storming of the Bastille in 1789 was no doubt much the same, at least until the revolutionaries started chopping off heads.” (10/21/26)
https://www.persuasion.community/p/the-deep-roots-of-frances-omnicrisis