Source: SFGate
“Ukraine received no early warning from its partners about five Russian ballistic missiles that hit civilian infrastructure in the capital of Kyiv, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Tuesday, as tensions rise between the Ukrainian leader and U.S. President Donald Trump. Zelenskyy did not specify which partners he was talking about. He characterized the barrage as ‘particularly vile’ and emphasized that receiving intelligence from partners about such attacks ‘helps save lives’ and is ‘one of the most critical issues’. ‘This is precisely what helps prevent people from being killed — when there is an early warning about ballistic missiles,’ he wrote in a post on X. Trump said the U.S. has not stopped sharing intelligence with Ukraine. ‘We are helping them, and we are sharing intel’, Trump told reporters at the White House. ‘We want the war to end, so we’re working with them and with Russia on getting the war to end.'” (10/13/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/zelenskyy-says-ukraine-received-no-intelligence-22474620.php
Source: Engadget
“NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover just broke the record for the farthest distance traveled by any vehicle on another world, the space agency announced. The six-wheeled, nuclear-powered buggy has now traveled 28.10 miles (45.22 km) as of October 11th, besting NASA’s Opportunity rover that rolled 28.06 miles (45.16 km) across the red planet’s surface. Perseverance managed the feet in just five and a half years, compared to nearly 15 for the plucky Opportunity. … Thanks to a recent software update, Perseverance can now roll more and steer less to save wear on parts, while checking its own position against orbital maps in mid-drive. Next, the team wants to overcome camera glare issues from sunlight that impede its vision, so the rover can work longer days.” (10/13/26)
https://www.engadget.com/2285013/nasa-perseverance-rover-breaks-record-for-off-world-driving-distance/
Source: The Bryan Hyde Show
“As the midterm elections get closer, the application of labels becomes ever more frenzied. Barry Brownstein has a timely reminder that the clearest distinction we must make is between collectivism and the individual.” (10/13/26)
https://www.thebryanhydeshow.com/
Source: Los Angeles Times
by Jon Duffy
“After [US defense secretary Pete] Hegseth announced plans to livestream [Nidal] Hasan’s Dec. 3 execution by firing squad, retired Admiral James Stavridis, a former NATO supreme allied commander, condemned the spectacle. ‘It is not who we are as a military or a nation,’ he said. Stavridis is right about who we should be. The moral character of the condemned does not determine the moral obligations of the state. Executing a paralyzed prisoner before a public audience demonstrates nothing about American strength. It transforms state violence into grotesque entertainment. But I fear the admiral is wrong about who we are.” (10/13/26)
https://archive.is/oaENN
Source: Cobden Centre
by Dr. Frank Shostak
“Contrary to the mainstream framework, Murray N. Rothbard held that valuations do not exist apart of the things to be valued. Whenever an individual is confronted with a good, he assesses it in accordance with it expected benefits to his life and well-being. These benefits are likely to vary given changes in individual’s circumstances. From this, it follows that an unchanged scale of preferences does not comply with the reality. Obviously, human beings do change their minds, so it is not surprising that the [behavioral economics] practitioners have ‘discovered’ that human beings’ behavior systematically deviates from the one depicted by the mainstream economics. … Since in the BE framework reason is not the key driver of individuals’ choices; individuals’ evaluations of goods are arbitrary i.e. not connected to the facts of reality.” (10/13/26)
https://www.cobdencentre.org/2026/10/emotions-versus-reason-in-economics-2/
Source: Paul Krugman
by Paul Krugman
“The Forbes 400 may only own 4 percent of U.S. wealth; but the New York Times found that 300 billionaires accounted for 19 percent of all reported federal campaign contributions in the 2024 election. And these are only reported, cash donations. Include other forms of influence — exemplified by Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter and his conversion of the former public square into a site that elevates extreme right-wing propaganda — and it’s obvious that the malign political influence of a handful of the ultra-rich is much bigger than even those stunningly large donations suggest. Now the Times reports that Musk is giving even more money in an attempt to help Republicans stave off midterm disaster than he gave in 2024 …” (10/13/26)
https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/elon-musk-shows-us-why-oligarchy
Source: Fox News
“A North Carolina man was sentenced to 18 months in prison after prosecutors said he used AI, or super intelligence, to create music and thousands of bots to fraudulently collect more than $8 million in streaming royalties. Michael Smith, 54, of Cornelius, North Carolina, pleaded guilty in March to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and was sentenced Oct. 6, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. … From 2017 to 2024, Smith created thousands of fake accounts on streaming platforms including Amazon Music, Apple Music, Spotify and YouTube Music, prosecutors said. He then used automated software to continuously stream songs he owned, many of which were generated using AI technology, allowing him to collect royalty payments for streams that did not come from real listeners.” (10/12/26)
https://www.foxbusiness.com/technology/man-used-ai-songs-10000-bots-collect-8m-fraudulent-music-royalties-prosecutors-say
Source: The Bulwark
“In the premiere episode of Psycho Politics, George Conway welcomes Jim Acosta to discuss Trump’s increasingly bizarre ramblings, his conspiracy-minded White House, and the media’s reluctance to confront his behavior. Plus, what happens if Trump loses the midterms, and just how dangerous could his reaction be?” (10/12/26)
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/trumps-mental-decline-is-now-a-national-emergency-w/id6817832097?i=1000796030053
Source: Antiwar.com
by Thomas S Karat
“Just after midnight on New Year’s Day 2024, a man and his two children stood near the harbor in the Danish town of Gråsten, watching fireworks over the water a short walk from the house where the children had been living. … masked men rushed the family and knocked the father, then forty-nine, to the ground. The same witness described one child being loaded into a car while the other fought back, held by two men who carried it by the limbs. … They were carried more than eight hundred kilometers south to a farm in Baden-Württemberg and held in a mobile home until their mother arrived to collect them …. The men she is accused of hiring were not ordinary criminals. The prosecution’s case and the testimony of the operatives themselves describe an operation brokered by the former head of Germany’s foreign intelligence service and carried out by veterans of Israel’s.” (10/13/26)
https://original.antiwar.com/thomas_karat/2026/10/12/former-spymasters-a-taped-mouth-and-the-market-in-cross-border-snatching/
Source: The Daily Economy
by Jeffrey L Degner
“Australia tried to end smoking with punitive taxes. Instead, it created a lucrative trade for smugglers and a wave of violent attacks on retailers.” (10/13/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/australias-tobacco-taxes-have-sparked-a-criminal-turf-war/
