News of the Week for September 13th, 2026
- 2026 Election
- Abortion
- Gun Rights
- Hide the Decline
- Socialized Medicine
- War & Terror
- National News
- Economy & Taxes
- International News
- Opinion
2026 Election
Does Trump Really Want To Win the Midterms?
Even though Donald Trump professes confidence that the nation loves him and his policies, he isn’t putting his money where his mouth is – and that has Republicans running scared, especially if they are running for office.
The GOP Senate Campaign Gone Disastrously Wrong in Georgia
Scandals weigh on Rep. Mike Collins’s bid to topple Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff
Florida congressional candidate preparing for wire fraud trial in Illinois
Before she launched a campaign for a South Florida congressional seat, Te Mayonna Brown – or Tedora M. Brown, as she was known just a few months ago – was indicted on federal wire-fraud charges in Illinois, where she and her husband are accused of defrauding taxpayers out of $750,000.
Lenders, farmers accuse Lt. Gov candidate Derek Wulf of theft, fraud
The Iowa farmers’ phones pinged in succession the afternoon of June 12, when Republican gubernatorial nominee Zach Lahn introduced state Rep. Derek Wulf as his running mate.
Missouri’s New Congressional Map Remains in a Ping-Pong Match
Kavanaugh denied request to block the ruling throwing out the new map, but hours later, a federal judge restored it with a temporary restraining order.
Will the Feds Be a Nuisance or a Menace at the Polls in November?
A recent confrontation between federal agents and local election officials provides cause for concern—and some optimism—about the integrity of the midterm elections.
Midterms will test America’s voter turnoff problem
Cynicism grows when politicians promise everything and solve too little
Trump administration again appeals mail-in ballot dispute to the Supreme Court
The Trump administration came to the Supreme Court on Sunday morning, asking the justices to pause a ruling by a federal judge in Massachusetts that bars the government from implementing parts of a U.S. Postal Service rule on mail-in ballots. U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer told the court that Friday’s order by U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani “nullif[ies] the Postal Service’s efforts to address the risk that the federal mails will be used to perpetrate voter fraud—a particularly pernicious species of fraud that dilutes the votes of lawful voters, prevents election results from reflecting the will of the American people, and undermines ‘public confidence in the integrity of the electoral process.'”
U.S. Links Chinese Satellite Imagery to Iranian Strike That Killed Three Troops
Finding deepens U.S.-China tensions ahead of the Trump-Xi summit as officials examine possible Chinese help tracking American warships
Inflation and the midterm elections
On Friday, the Commerce Department released inflation figures for August, and what they show is … more of the same. The year-over-year inflation rate last month was 3.4%, a rate unchanged from July and one many analysts call “stubbornly high.”
Ohio Republican in Key Senate Race Fires Campaign Aide, Citing Social Media Photo of Nazis
Senator Jon Husted dismissed his political director because of activity displaying a “complete lack” of judgment, according to a spokeswoman.
Republicans fear they have a North Carolina problem
GOP Senate nominee Michael Whatley has consistently trailed Democrat Roy Cooper — and some in the party aren’t sure he can turn things around in time for November.
In scorching Kansas State Fair debate, governor candidates fight over taxes, data centers, vouchers
Candidates for governor engaged in a veritable bare-knuckle brawl when they took the stage Saturday at the Kansas State Fair for a debate punctuated by the chants and jeers of an enthusiastic crowd of dueling supporters.
Roger Marshall’s Chances of Losing Kansas Senate Race After Raucous Debate
Republican Senator Roger Marshall is holding onto a narrow lead in the Kansas Senate race, according to the latest poll of the unusually competitive contest in the normally solidly Republican state.
Trump loves talking tariffs. Downballot Republicans, not so much.
Senate candidates carefully navigate the protectionist minefield set by their party’s leader.
Abortion
Court Cases & Legislation
Virginia’s Amendment 1 Is Extreme and Deceptive
The voter referendum would allow abortion up to birth, abolish parental consent, and more.
Gun Rights
Second Amendment Roundup: 1st Volley of Briefs Filed in Viramontes
AR-15 ban issue attracts filing of 45 amicus briefs in Supreme Court.
Second Amendment Roundup: ATF’s “Firearm” and “Frame or Receiver” Rules Invalid
Supreme Court’s VanDerStok decision didn’t resolve the vagueness and Second Amendment challenges.
Hide the Decline
Environment &“Green Energy”
There have been no hurricanes in the Atlantic — Yet! Making 2026 the quietest since satellite tracking began in 1966
There are currently THREE hurricanes in the Pacific Ocean: Lowell, Karina, and Marie. The warming El Niño trend in the Pacific is increasing storm activity there while the Atlantic remains calm.
Socialized Medicine
Government in Healthcare
‘World Suicide Prevention Day’ Hypocrisy
You may not have heard, but today is the annual World Suicide Prevention Day. Usually, such efforts are almost invisible. We don’t put nearly as much emphasis on suicide prevention as we once did.
Britain is back on the assisted-suicide brink
The dominant worry among opponents I spoke with: that patients will be not just assisted but encouraged to die.
Let’s Prevent Suicide! Let’s Legalize Suicide! Britain Currently Makes No Sense
Britain cannot make up its mind. It’s either suicidal or it’s not.
Pennsylvania woman dies of measles-related complications, local coroner says
The 40-year-old woman, who was from Jefferson County was unvaccinated, according to the coroner.
War & Terror
Trump extends war timeline
If you had told Republican leaders on Feb. 28, the day President Donald Trump began the war in Iran, that the war would not be over by Memorial Day; that it would not be over by the 4th of July; that it would not be over by Labor Day; and that it would not be over by Election Day — those Republican leaders would likely have been horrified at the prospect of facing midterm voters amid an unresolved war that the president originally said would last just a few weeks.
Somaliland’s President Seeks Israeli Military Presence as Regional Threats Grow
Request comes as Iran-backed Houthi terrorists capture strategic Red Sea port, tightening control over the Bab al-Mandab Strait.
The Houthis Finally Open a Second Front in the Iran War
The Iranians seem to have finally, after many unsuccessful attempts, dragged Yemen’s Houthis into the fight. Sort of.
The Extraordinary Courage of Ordinary People on 9/11
September 11, 2001, was the lucid interval in American history where catastrophe revealed latent courage within so many. Amid the horror, greatness surfaced everywhere, from ordinary people doing extraordinary things because duty demanded it.
Boris Johnson and European officials caught up in Ukraine train panic after Russian drone strike near Polish borde
BORIS Johnson was caught up in an incident at the Polish border after a Russian drone struck train tracks.
Russia hits evacuated Kyiv-Warsaw train on line used by foreign leaders
Engine carriage struck on route used minutes earlier by ex-Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt and other officials returning from summit
Wisconsin GOP governor candidate swims from sinking plane after emergency lake landing
The Wisconsin Republican gubernatorial candidate said both sustained only minor injuries after the emergency water landing
National
LG smart TVs caught logging audio with screen off and snooping on local devices
An investigation by Gamers Nexus found LG smart TVs sweep local networks to map phones and nearby devices. Tests also showed the sets can capture microphone audio with the screen off — they then upload data once reconnected to the internet.
Wisconsin Cops Used Flock Over 100 Times To Track a Navy Veteran After He Lawfully Recorded a Traffic Stop
A federal lawsuit claims the Waukesha County Sheriff’s Office used the Flock cameras without a legitimate government purpose and in retaliation against the vet for exercising his First Amendment right.
Sanders’ Bill Threatens US AI Developers With ‘Corporate Death Penalty,’ Prison Time
“… AI right now is just going to make a few billionaires into trillionaires while making millions of Americans poorer, less safe and less free.”
Microsoft Brings “Age Verification” System To Windows
The age check arrives first as documentation, with the working machinery promised for later.
Donald Trump Hasn’t Violated Twenty-Second Amendment
Magistrate Judge rejects plaintiff’s theory that, because President Trump has claimed he was the rightful winner in 2020, he was therefore ineligible in 2024.
HOMEFRONT Act Would Let Americans Challenge Foreign Censorship Orders
A congressional answer to the internet’s increasingly international speech police
Trump Is Weaponizing the Department of Education After Pledging To Kill It
Instead of abolishing the department, the president increased its budget. It’s now pursuing investigations against school districts for seemingly political reasons.
California Is Building an Internet of Age Checks and Identity Gates
California’s child safety push comes with a passport of sorts for everyone else.
Short Circuit: An inexhaustive weekly compendium of rulings from the federal courts of appeal
Backup groomsmen, weak sauce, and interment camps.
Economy & Taxes
As Social Security fund runs dry, some Republicans say it’s time to raise taxes
Raising the payroll tax is gaining traction as a fix — even in the anti-tax GOP — to fend off deep cuts in retirement benefits.
GOP Becomes the Diet Coke of Socialism
Erick-Woods Erickson on Substack
Welfare Queens of the Right and the Diet Coke of Socialists
The Trump administration is drafting a rule that would let married couples with a stay-at-home spouse collect federal welfare benefits. The money would come from a Health and Human Services fund created in the 1990s to help low-income and working-class parents cover daycare so they could hold a job or go back to school. About 870,000 families draw on it now, roughly 80 percent of them headed by a single working parent, usually a mom, and the benefit runs around $9,000 per child per year. The program is vastly underfunded and, at present, only about one in seven eligible people can even get into the program. Vice President Vance champions the change to the program, and the administration intends to make it without a vote in Congress.
Trump says oil prices that spiked because of Iran war likely won’t come down until after midterms
President Donald Trump said Wednesday that oil prices that have surged because of the Iran war likely won’t come down until after U.S. midterm elections.
Trump makes a familiar promise: $5,000 checks for everyone
President Trump is promising $5,000 checks for every adult U.S. citizen if Republicans retain control of Congress in the upcoming midterm election.
Trump’s $5K Giveaway Just Blew Up the GOP’s Socialist Attack
Republicans spent months calling Democrats socialists. Then the president proposed the biggest cash payment in history.
Trump, hoping to salvage midterms, makes a dubious pledge to give every US adult $5,000 if GOP wins
President Donald Trump pledged Wednesday to send every American adult $5,000 if Republicans retain control of the House and Senate in the midterm elections, an extraordinary gambit to reverse his party’s sagging fortunes in November.
Trump Breaks Glass, Joins Socialists, Embraces Bribery
His pledge of $5,000 ‘dividends’ to voters if Republicans win is just preposterous.
The Flaws In JD Vance’s Plan To Boost Parenthood Among Married Couples
Steve Forbes breaks down the fundamental flaws in Vice President Vance’s proposal for the federal government to give married couples up to $9,000 a year per child if one of the parents lives at home.
The Vanceguard
Seizing the means of production to own the libs
The Bond Market Chews Up and Spits Out Scott Bessent
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent must be feeling chafed. Last month, amid rapidly rising interest rates on federal debt, he announced that his department would double its typical longer-term bond buybacks, from $2 billion to $4 billion. The idea was that, by boosting demand for Treasuries, yields might come down and the government would be able to borrow additional money at lower cost.
Be Wary of Industries Asking for Regulation
The leaders and employees of major AI developers, especially OpenAI and Anthropic, make headlines whenever they fret in public that their products might kill us all, or when they practically beg Washington to regulate their industry. As a layman, I do not know whether advanced AI models will become dangerous if left unchecked. But as a student of public choice theory, I have learned to be skeptical of any industry that begs for more regulation. Usually, when that happens, entrenched interests are hoping to stay entrenched.
A 50% Tariff on Pencil Parts? Welcome to the U.S.-Canada Trade War.
Canada’s retaliatory tariffs include the little metal band that holds an eraser onto a pencil.
Ron DeSantis swiftly shoots down Trump’s $5K dividend proposal: ‘More inflation’
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis scolded President Trump on Thursday for offering $5,000 checks to all Americans if Republicans hold the House and Senate in the 2026 midterm elections, saying the payouts would cause inflation to surge. DeSantis, who was a fiscal hawk when he served in the House from 2013 to 2018, rebuked the concept of the Trump dividends during a press conference in Miami — and suggested the president should instead consider additional tax cuts.
Treasury Tries and Fails—Again—to Manage Bond Yields
The Treasury Department has learned nothing from markets’ muted reactions to its bond price engineering schemes. Having doubled its long-end buybacks in August to at least $4 billion per operation, this week the Treasury unveiled a $6 billion operation in the 10- to 20-year sector, triple the normal size. Instead of lowering bond yields, as it was supposed to, the 10-year yield climbed to 4.85 percent, a three-year high, and the 30-year yield pushed back above 5.3 percent.
Russia Sanctions Bill Scheduled for a US House Vote Next Week
A Russia sanctions bill overwhelmingly passed by the US Senate last month will receive a vote in the House next week, a person familiar with the plans said.
Unions Once Again Using Political Power to Keep Workers Ignorant of Their Rights
In 2018, the Supreme Court decided Janus v. AFSCME, in which the plaintiff, a governmental worker in Illinois, objected to being compelled to pay dues to a union that used most of the money for political purposes with which he disagreed. The Court held that mandatory union dues in such circumstances amounted to forced political speech in violation of the First Amendment. This meant that public sector workers across the country could opt out of paying dues.
Should Scientists Decide Policies About Wealth Inequality?
The other week, I discussed a Nature editorial advocating that scientists be required to “register” with the state. That policy, if enacted, would be a step toward establishing a technocratic rule-by-experts system by controlling what would be acceptable scientific discourse and who would be authorized to communicate about such matters.
A 50% Tariff on Pencil Parts? Welcome to the U.S.-Canada Trade War.
Canada’s retaliatory tariffs include the little metal band that holds an eraser onto a pencil.
There’s No Market Failure in Choosing to Stay Home. So Why Subsidize It?
J.D. Vance would like to give money to people for choices they’re already making—without a workable plan to actually pay for it.
International
Australia: Officials Ask Parliament to Restrict Social Media Clips of Public Hearing Evidence
The officials would prefer the internet to watch the hearing, but not quite so closely.
Mark Carney’s Audacious Bid to Make Canada an ‘Associate Member’ of the EU
As trade talks with the U.S. collapse, prime minister pursues a major—and risky—pivot to Europe; an Ottawa book club plays its part
Irish, Scottish and Welsh leaders meet to plan break-up of United Kingdom
Pro-independence first ministers will sign ‘memorandum of understanding’ at Cardiff summit and demand referendums
The Perils of Populism
As we navigate a deeply divided political landscape, conservatives are facing a critical crossroads. While the left continues its drift into a fringe agenda that embraces outright socialism, we find ourselves increasingly divided on the direction of our own party. Delusion is creeping through Washington– with those in power believing that the federal government should referee corporate profit margins, dictate outcomes in the private sector, or bully private enterprise into submission.
Opinion
Taking Venezuela’s Oil: If America Becomes a Rogue, the Future Is Dark
Undermining the rule of law and a relatively free market will have long-term ramifications.
Draining the Swamp, Continued
Anyone with even a slim majority of the five senses likely sensed that Corey Lewandowski was exceptionally bad news and you wouldn’t want to trust him with the television remote control, much less an important position in the federal government. But this morning, the Wall Street Journal gives us a sense of just how morally absymal his short term at the Department of Homeland Security was, openly selling his services to foreign governments.
Trump’s Venezuelan Oil Seizure and the Chavez Crony Abetting It
Over the holiday weekend, we ran my three-part series on President Trump’s de facto seizure from Venezuela of oil reserves that, putatively, would well more than double American reserves. Here are the links to parts one, two, and three. I say “putatively” because, although the 65 billion barrels of Venezuelan reserves in question (compared to America’s 46 billion) are said to be proven, it is a long shot that the United States will actually get the oil.
The Coming Post-Trump Reality
The close of the Trump era leaves us with a choice: more decline or a return to seriousness.
Republican Conservatism Sells, Trumpian Progressivism Does Not
Republicans Should Run as Republicans
Why Lindsay Clancy’s Lawyer Appealed to Trump
President Trump probably isn’t going to attempt to intervene in the potential second murder trial of Lindsay Clancy. But that doesn’t mean that Clancy’s attorney, Kevin Reddington, isn’t going to try to goad the president, and Reddington’s seemingly nonsensical request for a presidential pardon has a deeply cynical but shrewd strategy behind it.
Democratic Socialists and MAGA Share a Dangerous Flaw
Democratic socialists and MAGA nationalists both want sweeping government control of the economy. History shows where that road leads, and how it undermines prosperity and democracy itself.
Against the Stay-at-Home-Mom Subsidy
Over the weekend, it was reported that the Trump administration — particularly Vice President Vance — is pushing a plan to open up a federal childcare subsidy program to stay-at-home parents who care for their own children. This proposal could offer around $9,000 per year to such parents whose income is low enough to qualify, in lieu of subsidies for paid childcare.
How We’ve Changed in 25 Years
We’re a dramatically different country than we were 25 years ago today. I suspect if you’re old enough to remember, you look around at America, and its political discourse, and you find it all depressingly worse. So how did we get here? Why did we end up here?
But Shouldn’t the Policy Actually Work?
Surely, true natalism has never been tried.
Pro-Natalist Policies Can Work
Government efforts to boost the birth rate, he notes, didn’t work in Hungary. Several places that have tried to encourage work by giving people money with no strings attached haven’t succeeded at that either.
Humor: Trump Pledges That If Voters Defeat Socialism In November, They Will Each Get An Equal Redistribution Of Wealth From The Government
In his keynote speech at the 2026 RNC Midterm Convention, President Donald Trump pledged that if voters defeat socialism in November, they will each get an equal redistribution of wealth from the government. Trump detailed his plan to take money from taxpayers, divide it up into equal $5,000 shares, and redistribute it to every citizen if they would simply vote to keep socialism at bay.
Populist Republicans and Democratic Socialists Are Starting to Merge
Call it the ‘Horseshoe party’: The extremes in both parties are starting to sound alike in their disdain for capitalism and centrism
Revolut Leak Shows the Cost of Constant ID Collection
Revolut’s mistake is the news, but the bigger problem is the growing number of companies being encouraged or required to keep copies of our most sensitive identity documents.
