News roundup
(1) We’re expecting a big storm with rain and winds all weekend. Will I lose power? Perhaps. Hope not.
(2) Trump gets a SCOTUS win regarding verifying voter citizenship:
The Supreme Court on Friday cleared the way for the Trump administration to move forward with its plan to use a modified centralized database to verify voters’ citizenship. In a seven-page opinion issued just 39 days before the Nov. 3, 2026, election, the justices paused a ruling by a federal judge in Washington, D.C., that had blocked the government from doing so on the ground that it violated (among other things) federal privacy laws.
Democrats want non-citizens to vote.
(3) Another day, another poll showing how leftism has been growing in the US:
More than four in ten Americans have a positive view of socialism – 43 percent – only 12 points lower than the 55 percent who view capitalism positively, a recent Gallup survey revealed.
The survey asked respondents if they have a negative or positive image of small business, free enterprise, capitalism, socialism, and big business.
Small business had the highest rating at 95 percent positive, followed by free enterprise with 77 percent positive, and capitalism with a 55 percent positive rating.
However, 43 percent now have a positive view of socialism. This is “the first time this figure has exceeded 39% in Gallup’s trend since 2010,” Gallup reported.
Notice any contradictions there?
(4) It’s deja vu all over again:
President Trump has reportedly rejected a seven-day cease-fire proposed by Iran and expects to resume bombing the country after the midterm elections.
As part of the proposed cease-fire, Tehran pledged to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and resume negotiations on dismantling its nuclear program in exchange for the US ending its blockade of Iranian ports.
However, Trump is “skeptical” Iran will agree to his demands and has told aides it is “likely” the US military restarts airstrikes after the November contests, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing US officials.
(5) I keep reading about promising new pancreatic cancer treatments. Here’s another. But what works in mice doesn’t always work in humans. And it doesn’t seem to be a cure.
Note that the development of the COVID vaccine seems to have contributed to knowledge that helped researchers come up with this treatment.
Wrt this, from item 3:
“43 percent now have a positive view of socialism.”
And:
“Small business had the highest rating at 95 percent positive, followed by free enterprise with 77 percent positive, and capitalism with a 55 percent positive rating.”
First thought: I wonder what people would say is the main difference between free enterprise & capitalism.
Second thought,:
The Venn diagram must have an overlap* of pro-small business & pro-free enterprise, each with pro-socialism.
That seems a large bit crazy, doesn’t it?!
…
* If my logic is in gear, here.
Sadly, certain NYC small biz owners are certainly experiencing some socialist pain, already.
Polls now are of less worth than toilett paper, as they come already soiled.
1. Tehran pledged reopen the Strait of Hormuz. From what I have read, it is pretty much open—except for Iran.
2.Resume negations—-we have seen enough of Iran’s “negotiations.” Total waste of time.
So, Iran wants an end to the US blockade of Iranian ports in exchange for nothing. Which is pretty much the Iranian way of negotiation.
Iran has so far made it rather clear that it has no intention of giving up its nuclear program.
Trump was right. Blockade, blockade, blockade.
I have a positive view of Santa Claus but his level of intrusion into children’s lives (naughty or nice?) would be unacceptable to everyone. And what is socialism but believing in Santa Claus as an adult?
#3a.
A warning from Sasha Stone:
‘Only MAGA Can Stop the “Islamo-Commie” Takeover of America;
‘But many of them seem more intent on destroying themselves instead.’—
https://www.sashastone.com/p/only-maga-can-stop-the-islamo-commie
H/T Powerline blog.
Related:
“You are in the middle of an intensive, carefully orchestrated information warfare campaign designed to make you believe that the midterms are already lost and that there is no hope.
“This only works if you choose to let it work…”
https://instapundit.com/825546/
— Marlene
This is important. People are using words like ‘capitalism’ and ‘socialism’ and ‘democracy’ to mean a whole bunch of different things. Polling often stumbles on this phenomenon.
We’ve seen this in action before. Back in 2012, Republicans gave themselves false hope by citing polling data saying that self-identified conservatives were 40% of the electorate and self-identified liberals 20%. or so. The trouble was in the ‘self-identified’ part. Romney used ‘conservative’ to mean business-wing, internationalist social-libertarian free trader and open borders. A huge swath of the self-identified conservatives hated free trade, hated outsourcing and globalization worse than the Dem base did, and were in a frothing fury about open borders.
Immigration hit this during the attempts at Comprehensive Amnesty in 2006, 2007, and 2013. The supporters kept citing polls saying the public supported what they bills supposedly did.
Which was likely true, the electorate did support that theoretical description. The pollsters just didn’t ask: “Do you believe the bill will actually do what they claim it will do?” to which the answer was a hard no.
So, the electorate supported the description of the bill and hated the actual bill in each case. The voters knew from experience that in practice, the legalization would happen and the subsequent enforcement would not happen.
So, the polls were not even technically wrong, but still indicated something 90 degrees away from reality.
That can happen even when the pollsters are playing it straight. They don’t always. Furthermore, the poll result will immediately be ‘spun’ by all sides in whatever way appears to serve their interests.
Polling is an art, not a science. So are interpreting polls and stories about polls.