DISPATCHES FROM ORWELL’S EURASIA:

The Kremlin has ordered Apple and Microsoft to store and hand over Russian users’ data to security services

Roskomnadzor, Russia’s state censorship and communications watchdog, added Apple and Microsoft to the registry of information dissemination organizers.

Under the law,… pic.twitter.com/5YujoBFpmY

— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) October 28, 2026

“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.”

STOCK UP AND SAVE: Apparently, One Wife Isn’t Enough for This ‘Prophet.’

ONE WAR, TWO FRONTS: Russian Satellites Help Iran’s Allies Strike Saudi Arabia, Data and Officials Say. “‘What we found is a 100% match’ between the satellite activities and strikes, said Nawaf Obaid, founder of Geneva-based AURORAH Geosignal Intelligence.”

AUTOMATE AS MUCH OF THE CHAIN AS IS FEASIBLE:

Watch out, Amazon. Tesla’s got its eye on the delivery space.

In a recent Munro Live interview, Tesla's Lars Moravy and Eric Earley shared some Optimus nuggets:

– Optimus's battery is a single ~2.5 kWh module, and unlike in a car (where the pack is a quarter to a third of the… pic.twitter.com/U5Hwq4ka8a

— The Humanoid Hub (@TheHumanoidHub) October 26, 2026

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.

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.”

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?

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

An Illinois man allegedly mailed letters filled with white powder to four members of Congress — then put his own return address on every single one.

Matthew G. Unglesbee now faces two felony charges after the FBI says he sent the letters as a fake anthrax hoax, telling law… pic.twitter.com/IYM3rBsO7f

— Fox News Politics (@foxnewspolitics) October 27, 2026

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

ICYMI: About That Russian Air Leak on the International Space Station…

HMM: It Appears That the AI Bubble Has Just Burst in China.

A report from Reuters suggests that the AI bubble in China “has already burst.” Or it might be more apt to say that it shriveled like a rapidly deflating balloon: over the past four months, Reuters notes, the country’s STAR50 index of AI and semiconductor companies collapsed by 40 percent, wiping out $480 billion in market value. That is not a typo.

“The stock market later evolved into a speculative crazy bull,” Beijing-based fund manager Dong Baozhen told Reuters. “And now we see the bubble bursting.”

Shares of Unitree, China’s buzzy robotics company, have halved since the company went public in a much-hyped IPO in August, the reporting noted. The chipmaker CXMT, meanwhile, has lost more than a quarter of its value over the past month.

The vicissitudes of the stock market haven’t completely dampened AI investors’ spirits, though. DeepSeek, one of China’s top AI companies, recently raised $15 billion in one of the largest funding rounds in the country’s history, Bloomberg reported. The outlet also noted that Huawei clinched a $2.3 billion loan from Chinese banks to spend on more AI chips.

Maybe less of a popped bubble and more of the inevitable shakeout finally taking place.

IN WHICH WASHINGTON NOT-SO-SUBTLY TELLS BEIJING THEY KEEP A CLOSE EYE ON THINGS:

JUST IN: The Pentagon has published a remarkable image of China's secretive Shenlong spaceplane in orbit, captured by a Maxar satellite and featured in its newly released 2026 space threat assessment.

The reusable, uncrewed spacecraft launches aboard a rocket and returns to… pic.twitter.com/oihgAsMvSZ

— Outer Space Today (@outerspacetoday) October 27, 2026

“China has disclosed few details about the spacecraft’s missions or capabilities.”

To be fair, the Pentagon doesn’t say much about the X-37B, either.

YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME: Maine Absentee Ballot Envelopes Ended Up at a Soros-Tied Organization in Maryland.

RUMORS TO THE CONTRARY, WE HAVE NOT YET REACHED PEAK ABSURDITY:

'Singer' in AI-generated Chinese pop band quits the group because she's 'pregnant' https://t.co/2V8KE5XLZD

— Evan Kirstel #B2B #TechFluencer (@EvanKirstel) October 27, 2026

DISPATCHES FROM THE WORKERS’ PARADISE: ‘Zero-energy companionship’: bizarre hobby takes seed among China’s stressed young adults.

“A REPUBLIC, IF YOU CAN KEEP IT,” IS LOSING OUT TO “MUH DEMOCRACY”:

Late-stage democracy is more descriptive than “end-stage capitalism.” What you’re seeing is a predictable failure mode of a system in which people can vote themselves more money. That’s not a failure of capitalism, that’s unrestrained democracy robbing capitalism. https://t.co/ZyMi0Yry8t

— Payton Alexander (@AlexanderPayton) October 27, 2026

Inevitable? I don’t know. But it’s certainly painful.

ICYMI: North Carolina Libertarian Candidate in Custody After Armed Standoff.

THAT HARDLY SEEMS POSSIBLE: Jackie Singh’s Stolen Valor Controversy Raises Bigger Questions About Media Credibility.

You may have seen the name Jackie Singh popping up on X over the last few days. But if you’re not a member of the military or veteran community, you may not have paid attention to the details and simply scrolled by.

For those not in the know, Singh is known for her extreme left-wing independent journalism. As a brash and outspoken purveyor of progressive ideology, she has a background that many on the left do not — she served in the U.S. Army in an active combat zone. And she uses that detail to bludgeon any and all criticism of the policies she advocates. 

Except it was recently discovered that her own description of her background might not be based in reality.

Read the whole thing.

AMERICA’S NEWSPAPER OF RECORD:

Newsom Touts California As The Only State Where You Can See A Homeless Man Defecating On A Beach And On A Mountain In The Same Day https://t.co/RbAp1a5NOx

— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) October 27, 2026

BECAUSE TRUMP. AND ILLEGAL ALIENS. NEXT QUESTION? Why Don’t Democrats Want to Talk About the Record Drop in Crime?

CHANGE (IT BACK):

BREAKING: The nation’s first-ever Detransition Clinic is now open as a result of my historic settlement with Texas Children’s Hospital. pic.twitter.com/f2DfFGRL37

— Attorney General Ken Paxton (@KenPaxtonTX) October 27, 2026

Meanwhile, on the other side: James Talarico instantly names his favorite drag queen, a performer who ‘works with children.’

HEY, BIG SPENDER: Nvidia to invest $3 billion in Meta as tech giants deepen AI partnership. “Nvidia announced its investment on Tuesday, adding that Meta would expand Vera Rubin and Vera CPU deployment, and that the two companies would deepen their partnership on Muse, the social media giant’s AI agent that launched last month.”

Round and round it goes.

DEMOCRATS TAKING NOTES:

REPORT: Brazilian Senator Flávio Bolsonaro is en route to the United States, according to allies cited by Folha de S.Paulo.

His Brazilian passport was cancelled by authorities after the Supreme Court ordered him to surrender his passports. He is under criminal investigation.… pic.twitter.com/9Vikd1jzPt

— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) October 27, 2026

WELL, YES:

Elon Musk has done more for America in a single month than you’ve accomplished in your entire miserable life, you moron.

You’ve spent your career living off the American taxpayer while sneering at the very people whose hard work, ingenuity, and sacrifice keep this country… https://t.co/xx1M7XoIsi

— Ryan (@tslryn) October 27, 2026

But wait, there’s more:

Investigate your wiener

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 27, 2026

Who said trillionaires aren’t any fun?

RELATED (From Ed): Actually, perhaps there’s less:

Thread of the Day:

Senator Alex Padilla: “INVESTIGATE ELON MUSK.”

Elon Musk: “Investigate your wiener.”

Brad Shannon: Shortest congressional investigation ever.

Elon Musk: 😂 https://t.co/loun6bnLyA pic.twitter.com/BMNunqEncz

— Sam E. Antar (@SamAntar) October 27, 2026

FEDS STEP IN: DOJ Charges Illegal Alien Who Smashed the Iwo Jima Statue at Quantico. “After a woke judge released the criminal illegal alien who smashed up a statue of the Iwo Jima World War II flag raising outside Quantico Marine Base, the Department of Justice stepped in to issue federal charges and ensure the alien doesn’t get off scot-free.”

BUCKLE UP:

This is one of the most shocking drops yet.

Coordination with foreign powers to overthrow our government?

Shockingly awful.

Having said that, I'd like to correct something I said on a Spaces where I commented that organizing with a foreign power to overthrow our government is… https://t.co/vDCQ8Vuqza

— Cynical Publius (@CynicalPublius) October 27, 2026

Key bit:

The question then becomes, what is an “enemy” that must be “adhere[d]” to in order for it to be treason?

Like with most complex issues of law, there is not a 100% straightforward answer, but an 1863 SCOTUS case, U.S. v. Greathouse, suggests that an “enemy” in this context must be in an open state of armed conflict with the U.S. for a nation to be an “enemy.”

So, technically, the Color Revolution plotters are likely not legally committing “treason” unless they are coordinating with Iran, the only nation we are currently in armed conflict with. (And they may well be, who knows!)

Sedition, OTOH?

Sedition, almost certainly.

But as Steve Ferguson noted: “Fun Fact: There is no statute of limitations on treason.“

THE NEW SPACE RACE: Astroscale proposes fleet of ‘bodyguard’ spacecraft to protect satellites from orbital attacks. “Although Astroscale, headquartered in Japan but with significant presence in the U.K., is a leader in the commercial orbital rendezvous and proximity operations technology, no Western players currently match the deployed capabilities of Russia and China. Europe, in particular, is under-equipped for defense and military operations in space, according to the Secure World Foundation’s Global Counterspace Capabilities Report. With Russia’s accelerating orbital forays, the clock appears to be ticking.”