October 28, 2026

REQUIRED READING:

Key takeaway:

This is a chronic problem with left-wing propaganda. In an ideal world, or at least an ideal world from the point of view of a left-wing organizer, propaganda would usefully deceive and demoralize everyone outside the movement while the movement itself remains in contact with reality.

But it doesn’t work that way. Really skillful propaganda has the emotional hooks to deceive everybody, including your own people. This divorces them from reality and sets them up for rude shocks when the divorce is no longer deniable.

The result seems to manifest itself as increasingly violent temper tantrums at best, and outright authoritarianism at worst.

Or, “At worse… so far,” as Homer Simpson might say.

Posted at 10:55 am by Stephen Green

DISPATCHES FROM THE BLUE ZONES: Colorado Ballot Puts ‘Tax The Rich’ And ‘Trans The Kids’ To The Test. “The midterms will show whether Colorado’s leftward shift continues by default, or whether enough residents have decided it’s gone far enough.”

Amendment 87 would eliminate the state’s flat tax and gut another provision of the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights. Propositions 134 and 135 would make boys compete on boys teams and prohibit sex “change” surgeries on minors, respectively.

Posted at 10:40 am by Stephen Green

DISPATCHES FROM ORWELL’S EURASIA:

“Under the law, they must store data on users’ actions and communications inside Russia for three years and provide it, including the content of messages, to Russian special services on request.”

Posted at 10:24 am by Stephen Green

AS P.J. O’ROURKE WROTE, COMMIES LOVE CONCRETE:

Posted at 10:22 am by Ed Driscoll

AUTOMATE AS MUCH OF THE CHAIN AS IS FEASIBLE:

Someone in the replies called it “absurd” to use Optimus to plug in the charger, “as a robotic arm would be a much more suitable fit for that task.”

What’s absurd is putting a specialty arm on a car when there’s an android in the car with two perfectly serviceable arms.

Posted at 9:22 am by Stephen Green

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: No, Really — There’s a Silver Lining If Dems Steamroll the Midterms. “Giving them the keys to the majority will lead to an impeachment frenzy, a lot of grandstanding, and precious little in the way of anything that looks like leadership. A couple of years of that — along with the resurrection of the J6 dead horse — will remind voters who abandoned the Dems in droves in 2024 of just why they did that.”

Posted at 9:07 am by Stephen Green

BANANA REPUBLIC. ALSO WHAT THE LEFT HAS IN MIND FOR THE U.S.

Posted at 8:51 am by Glenn Reynolds

I’VE BEEN TOLD REPEATEDLY IN RECENT WEEKS THAT THIS IS BASICALLY FASCISM: New Hampshire journalist says he was blocked from covering Kamala Harris political event.

A New Hampshire journalist said he was denied entry to an event Saturday featuring former Vice President Kamala Harris.

“The reception that I’ve gotten at past Democrat events from activists, from staff has mostly been positive… which is what makes this situation so disappointing,” New Hampshire Journal reporter Leonard Robinson told Fox News Digital in an interview Monday. 

Robinson wrote on X Saturday, “@NHDems often make access hard for NHJournal. I’ve been physically blocked by their operatives, they’ve hidden locations of their events from NHJournal. Nothing compares to Harris’s visit.”

The big networks will get right on this, yes?

Posted at 8:36 am by Stephen Green

FASTER, PLEASE:

Posted at 8:35 am by Ed Driscoll

MIKE WALTZ GETS IN SHOUTING MATCH WITH CUBAN DELEGATE AT UN AS AMERICAN DIPLOMAT ASSAULTED:

The broadside against “corrupt Cuban elites” at one point featured Waltz displaying a photo of late dictator Fidel Castro wearing two Rolex watches worth around $40,000 in today’s money.

“According to the regime’s own statistics, that would pay for 55 years of an average Cuban wage,” Waltz noted, before showing a photo of Miguel Díaz-Canel and saying, “It didn’t just start with Castro. This is the current Cuban president, also with a Rolex on.”

The former Florida congressman highlighted reports on the Cuban military-run conglomerate GAESA amassing $18 billion in assets that have enriched regime elites, showing further photos of them flaunting their wealth.

“It’s not just watches, colleagues, it’s also a vast real estate empire,” Waltz continued, sharing images of the Castro family’s 14,000-square-foot seaside retreat in Varadero with marble floors, a sauna and a private dock, as well as the ex-ruling family’s compound made “from cedar imported from the Brazilian Amazon rainforest.”

“But colleagues, even 20 homes and all of these lavish compounds aren’t enough,” Waltz added. “Why settle for mansions by the sea when you can have your own private island? That’s right. The Castro family has their own private island, Cayo Piedra.”

Exit quote:

 

Posted at 8:22 am by Ed Driscoll

WELL, WHAT IF THEY DIDN’T GET DELIVERED CORRECTLY?

This should have been this week’s out-of-state Florida Man Friday closing item, but I couldn’t wait.

Posted at 8:20 am by Stephen Green

WHY ELISSA SLOTKIN’S THREATS TO TRUMP STAFFERS ARE PROBABLY UNCONSTITUTIONAL:

Slotkin’s comments show a blatant disregard for the separation of powers. Congressional investigations meant to deter people from joining or working with a presidential administration would give Congress enormous power over the executive, empowering it to hold the executive branch hostage. That investigative power would have a chilling effect on the executive branch’s operations because individuals and companies would refuse to work with any presidential administration for fear of being subjected to a congressional investigation.

Mazars left many questions unanswered, and the full scope of Congress’s oversight powers remains undecided by the Supreme Court. But Slotkin’s statements not only crossed a line but also make it harder for Congress to defend its oversight powers before the Supreme Court.

Read the whole thing.

Posted at 7:45 am by Ed Driscoll