October 19, 2026

CAN’T WAIT TO READ THE ENTIRE SUBSTACK:

“That is ‘knowledge’ under the ‘aiding and abetting’ theory of criminal culpability.”

Posted at 3:33 pm by Stephen Green

THE NEW SPACE RACE: Returning the first samples from a Martian moon: Inside the science of Japan’s bold MMX mission to Mars. “The mission, known as Martian Moons eXploration (MMX), is a first-of-its-kind endeavor to study the origin of Mars’ moons Phobos and Deimos. The robust undertaking includes a landing on Phobos to collect the samples — which will likely be the first from the Mars system to return to Earth — and a search for evidence that could shed light on events during the formation of the solar system billions of years ago.”

Posted at 2:46 pm by Stephen Green

OUCH:

Posted at 2:32 pm by Stephen Green

ASKING THE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS: Where Are the Gendarmes? I’ve seen France’s Gendarmerie Nationale up close and in person, and since I just looked up the French equivalent of tough hombres, they’re the des durs à cuire you don’t want to mess with.

Posted at 2:15 pm by Stephen Green

1/3 OF FEDERAL INCOME TAX REVENUES GO TO PAY DEBT INTEREST: With interest on the National Debt reaching $1.05 Trillion in the 2026 federal budget, more than one-third of all tax revenues are being consumed to pay for spending the government couldn’t afford but spent anyway. And don’t miss how that new Washington Post/ABC News/Ipsos re-weighted its survey responses to Democrats’ advantage.

Posted at 2:10 pm by Mark Tapscott

ROUND AND ROUND IT GOES: Who’s paying whom? The circular money machine behind the AI boom (or bubble).

A chip supplier invests in a customer such as a data center builder, the customer spends the money on the supplier’s chips, and both companies report growth.

One central bank analysis found that 55.2% of investments in AI firms came from other AI firms.

What’s not clear to investors or the market is how much of this AI boom is being driven by real, end-user demand—and how much might be a bubble.

Take Nvidia. The world’s leading chipmaker is investing in ChatGPT owner OpenAI to support data centers filled with Nvidia chips.

Nvidia will invest US$30 billion in a private funding round for OpenAI and provide a guarantee of up to US$105 billion for an OpenAI data center in Ohio. It will also invest in the company building it.

That helps OpenAI remain Nvidia’s best customer, but it also raises the question: Is the chipmaker propping up the market?

I read a couple of extremely sharp business analysts who believe we might not be in a bubble, and others just waiting for it to pop — so I have no idea. But I do know it’s probably not a good idea to get so deep into bed with OpenAI’s Sam Altman.

Posted at 1:44 pm by Stephen Green

MORE FROM DATA REPUBLICAN:

Post continues:

For example, 99% of people breaking stuff on the streets believe they’re doing it out of an organic uprising. They don’t see that the police have been ordered to stand down. They don’t see that legal services have already been arranged for them. They don’t see that foundations are paying for their bonds.

Similarly here, governors aren’t participating in a pact to destroy the Constitution. Governors simply have agreed to push back on the Insurrection Act. The effect is the same: the governors end up playing a role in a grander plan.

I call this “shared epistemology” in my book Unelected. Motivations differ, people rarely agree to the big evil supervillain framing, but incentives all converge in the same end goal.

No Kings might not agree to explicitly tear down the Constitution, but they nonetheless work with DSA and will turn out millions of people if the right phone call is put in.

Here is one articulation of the plan – and crucially, since then, they have put many NGOs in their places to execute their proper role at all levels when the time is right.

Many more coming.

Buckle up.

Posted at 1:32 pm by Stephen Green

CNN’S CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR TO DEPART FROM NETWORK AFTER 43 YEARS:

Christiane Amanpour, CNN’s chief international anchor and a fixture of the 24/7 news network for more than four decades, plans to leave the company next June.

“After more than 43 years at CNN, Christiane has decided that the time is right to begin a new chapter,” Mark Thompson, CNN’s chief executive, said in a letter to newsroom employees that was obtained by NBC News.

Thompson said Amanpour, 68, plans to “scale back” her eponymous CNN International show to once a week early in 2027. “The program will conclude in May,” Thompson added, “and she will leave CNN at the end of June.”

I hope she’s prepared for the horrors of life outside the CNN bubble: Amanpour Claims She Prepared For US Visit ‘As If I Was Going to North Korea.’

And from 2010: A Profile in Bias: Christiane Amanpour, ABC’s New Host of This Week.

Posted at 1:22 pm by Ed Driscoll

CORN, POPPED:

Posted at 12:57 pm by Stephen Green

SHUT UP, THEY EXPLAINED: Rutgers student sues school over arrest for hanging ‘anti-Hamas fliers.’ “Maravelias’ complaint alleges Rutgers Law administrators ‘disfavored’ his political views and ‘perceiv[ed] him as Jewish’ (he’s not), and notes Rutgers is ‘home to the controversial Center for Security, Race and Rights,’ headed by Law Professor Sahar Aziz, whom Maravelias accuses of ‘ripping [down] his fliers from a bulletin board.'”

Posted at 12:42 pm by Stephen Green

RABBI MICHAEL BARCLAY: War Has Many Faces. “The DSA (Democratic Socialists of America), having lost their court battle to force the U.S. to withdraw support from Israel, have now created an entirely new battleground: JFK Airport. They are trying to pressure workers on the tarmac and at the airport to stop loading any goods to Israel. This would include passenger luggage, as well as any cargo such as computer or technical equipment, weapons being shipped by the U.S. government that have been bought by Israel, etc. These are the same people who put Zohran Mamdani and others in office; are seeking to make Abdul El-Sayed a senator, God forbid; and are the wing of the Democratic Party that Nithya Raman claims in her quest to become the mayor of Los Angeles, and in all cases, one of their foundation stones is antisemitism and a hatred for Israel and Jews.”

Posted at 12:11 pm by Stephen Green

THIS PREDICTION SOUNDS ABOUT RIGHT:

The funny thing is, I don’t think Elon would much mind if Europe were actually able to produce a company as formidable as SpaceX. His goal is settling the Solar System; SpaceX is a means to this goal, not an end.

Posted at 12:07 pm by Glenn Reynolds

OH, THAT LIBERAL FASCISM: Sen. Slotkin (D-Mich.) urges Dems to use prosecution to make young people afraid to serve in Trump admin.

Note: Eschew all modalities of pearlescent grasping:

 

 

Posted at 12:00 pm by Ed Driscoll

YES:

GenX here, but Melissa does almost all of the indoor cooking, and I do all of the grilling and smoking — which when the weather is nice, is often.

Posted at 10:54 am by Stephen Green