THE FRENCH LEFT HAS MANAGED A COMPLETELY NEW KIND OF STUPID:  Le Grand Jackpotting: Activists demonstrate use of new French “Gigabyte Tax” to add €1000s to individual French website costs.

JUST RECENTLY IT OCCURRED TO ME WE’D ALREADY CROSSED INTO THE SINGULARITY:  Hmmmm. What do you think?

WE ALL WARNED YOU ABOUT ALL THIS:  I warned you all about this. They will be lying. The actual goal of the big AI providers will be to outlaw open-source and open-weight AI in order to create a regulatory moat around their business, and have some hope of earning out their astronomical capital expenditures. The claims will be about safety and equity, the reality will be a money and power grab. Brace for the bullshit avalanche that’s coming.

UNTIL OUR ELECTIONS ARE CLEANED UP, WE’RE STUCK WITH THIS:  The Normal Way American Elections Are Run by which we mean absolutely nothing at all.

THE OBSESSION, EXPLAINED:  Anyone desiring color revolution needs control of the military. That’s color revolution 101. Is it starting to make sense yet? Now you see the obsession over him in particular. It’s not a coincidence. And it damn sure isn’t because of his culture war. It’s because by all objective metrics, he runs a military that snatches rogue leaders from their beds, destroys entire militaries, and successfully mobilizes assets to save one downed pilot in the middle of enemy territory by building an Air Force base… in the middle of enemy territory. Secures the border, dominates the hemisphere. Hunts drug cartels. The list goes on. He is by all meaningful accounts, effective at wielding the machine. And that is why they drool at the thought of removing him. In years past you’d be hard pressed to find a junior Soldier who knew the name of the cabinet secretary above them. Every one of them knows Pete Hegseth.

CULTURE NOT RACE:  I agree with a remarkable amount of what the author says here. Right up until this sentence:  “And yes, race has everything to do with this.” And that’s where he loses me.  Despite making that rather extraordinary declaration, the author provides absolutely ZERO evidence that race is the cause of the behaviors he’s describing. He provides statistics. He describes experiences. He identifies behaviors he finds objectionable, but then he makes an enormous logical leap from observing behavior to attributing that behavior to race.

TL/DR THE ANTI-2A SIDE ISN’T SENDING THEIR BEST MINDS:  ESR reads the amicus briefs in the Chicago AR-15 ban appeal.

Do they have best minds?

ABSOLUTELY TRUE. SLOPCORE (YES, IT’S THE NAME, DEAL) NAILED IT:  “America Innovates, Europe Regulates”.

It was always a tendency of Europe. Having lost the lead in the race to the future circa the early 20th century, Europe prided itself on being more considerate and careful. But the EU just tied them up in red tape and blindfolded them with stories of how much worse things were in America. (All of them BS.)

WHERE, OH WHERE IS MY SHOCKED FACE?  The effects of police presence on crime perpetration are basically universal. Whether you’re looking at Africa, Brazil, America, Japan, Sweden, Russia, China, or even El Salvador, more cops nearby means fewer crimes taking place.

UTTERLY AND COMPLETELY:   The Wrong Side of History.

From the comments:

“who can no longer enter a public place without checking for the exits.”

Shows a certain type of clueless mentality. I’ve been checking for exits in every public place I’ve entered since at least the 80s. Or has this special snowflake never heard of fires, earthquakes or tornados?

WHEN HUMAN CEMETERIES ARE INSUFFICIENT TO THE DEMOCRATS:  ‘Biscuit’ the dog is latest dead felon to get their voting rights back from Spanberger, confused owner says. Del Tom Garrett demands an independent audit of Abigail Spanberger’s restoration process before Election Day ballot measure.

OUTRAGEOUS:  University of Chicago Medical Students Get Travel and Housing Help If They Witness Enough Abortions.

NOW DO DEAD PEOPLE AND IMAGINARY ONES:  Mullin to Newsmax: Noncitizens on Voter Rolls Top 300,000.

NO, MAO WAS NOT ADMIRABLE, AND PEASANTS DID NOT HAVE A BETTER QUALITY OF LIFE THAN WE HAVE TODAY:  Poverty Mao and Then. And lefty sorts who don’t get it.

CRUMBLING:

JUST IN: Another Michigan Democrat just crossed over. State Rep. Karen Whitsett is endorsing the Republican, Mike Rogers, and rejecting El Sayed.

When Democrats in Detroit start walking away, the party has a problem.

Michigan, go finish it. pic.twitter.com/WZvfTEkPPN

— Gunther Eagleman™ (@GuntherEagleman) November 2, 2026

OPEN THREAD: Ring out the weekend.

THE NEW SPACE RACE: Happy Halloween! SpaceX launches 27 Starlink satellites to orbit from California (video).

SCIENCE MARCHES ON: Does It Matter if Men Pee Sitting or Standing? A Randomized Test Has an Answer.

UPDATE:

Men piss standing because we can.

It does mean not having to plant one’s ass on some filthy public toilet seat.

We can just piss anywhere. Against trees. Against walls. There’s an indescribable if casual unremarked freedom about it. We just … pee …

Then we go off, kill the…

— Northern Barbarian (@xnoesbueno) November 2, 2026

Do you really want to be a sitzpinkler? “‘All my friends demand that their husbands or boyfriends sit down,’ said Jessica. ‘I think it shows respect for the women who clean. My brother, for example, would not dream of standing up. Among the young, leftish intelligentsia, there is also a view that to stand up is a nasty macho gesture.'”

A UNIVERSITY TRUSTEE SHOULD BE ABLE TO CRITICIZE THE UNIVERSITY HE’S SUPPOSED TO OVERSEE. After speaking out about Michigan State’s handling of the Larry Nassar sexual abuse scandal, one trustee is now suing with FIRE over a speech code restricting criticism of university leadership. Take a look at this week’s update for more.

FLASHBACK: Two Florida Men With Guns Stop Illegal Alien With Knife At Dollar General.

FASTER, PLEASE: A Natural Compound Found in Everyday Foods Shows Surprising Power Against Lung Cancer.

TUESDAY PREVIEW:

🚨 BREAKING: Teamsters President Sean O’Brien just voted for Florida Republican Senator Ashley Moody.

Yikes. Democrats aren’t having a great day. 😂 pic.twitter.com/00Y2cmc4UE

— Gina Milan (@ginamilan_) November 1, 2026

This, of course, is no cause for cockiness.

THE REAL COST OF Socialism in America.

I READ IT, I BLURBED IT, AND I RECOMMEND IT: Kurt Schlichter’s new book American Warlord.

Vic Kinkaid is a middle manager at a trucking company, answering to HR Karens and reading Roman history at night.

Then the world ends, and it turns out he's exactly the man America needs. pic.twitter.com/3SDZ4sgreq

— Kurt Schlichter (@KurtSchlichter) October 30, 2026

THE CRISIS ABSOLUTELY EVERYBODY SAW COMING: Panic and Anger Spread as Europe’s Great Pension Covenant Unravels.

Concern about the sustainability of France’s welfare state has been a key driver of the protests that have shaken the country in recent weeks. It is also calling into question the tacit generational contract under which younger workers pay for their elders’ retirement.

After losing her finance job in December, Marie Caron, 61, is worried for the first time about how she will get by in old age. She can only start collecting retirement benefits at 63—or 66 to qualify for get a full pension—so she will have to find a new job before she retires, a difficult prospect in France’s rigid labor market where recruiters rarely hire older workers. Seven job interviews this year have produced nothing.

“I’ve paid a huge amount into the system and should be entitled to a decent pension,” Caron said. “Instead, I might end up on the streets.”

While American workers have long managed their own retirement portfolios to supplement a baseline Social Security check, continental Europeans were promised a comprehensive, state-guaranteed income for life.

“You f***ed up — you trusted us.”