ICYMI: Trump’s Middle East Moment. “For his part, Trump seems to take it all in that odd combination of pride and stride that is uniquely his.”

VIRGINIA SHAKEUP: Earle-Sears surging, Miyares overtakes Jones.

Virginia’s races for governor and attorney general, newly jarred by a turbulent debate and a texting scandal, have suddenly changed three weeks before Election Day, giving new hope to Republicans.

After sitting in a holding pattern for months, Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears has cut Democratic gubernatorial candidate Abigail Spanberger’s lead in half, and Attorney General Jason Miyares, running for reelection, has overcome Democrat Jay Jones’ lead.

In a new Trafalgar Group poll of likely general election voters completed Friday, Earle-Sears trailed Spanberger by just 2.6%, 47.7% to 45.1%. And Miyares has overtaken Jones, 48.9% to 43.1%.

That Friday poll couldn’t include the full effect of Spanberger’s Thursday debate performance.

Previously: Watch Spanberger’s Super-Cringeworthy Semi-Demi-Backpedal. “If you watch the clip, you’ll see a candidate who would be in panic if she weren’t a total sociopath incapable of basic human emotion.”

TRUMP: Rubio Will Go Down As the ‘Greatest Secretary of State In History.’

He’s already the most consequential — in a good way — since George Schultz.

WELL PLAYED:

It's a great Indigenous People's Day for the Jewish people, who had a kingdom in Israel more than 2,300 years before Columbus, & were ejected from that land by a Western colonial empire.

— Dan McLaughlin (@baseballcrank) October 13, 2025

Similar thoughts from Randy Barnett:

Happy Indigenous Peoples Day to the people of Israel. pic.twitter.com/Yi1G0wti4A

— Randy Barnett (@RandyEBarnett) October 13, 2025

However you observe it, it’s a great day all around.

UPDATE (From Ed): JD Vance Just Cooked Tomahawk Liz on Columbus Day.

The president told me he did this on Indigenous Peoples Day in honor of you. https://t.co/KsTPzHQ2yz

— JD Vance (@JDVance) October 13, 2025

Troll Level: VPOTUS JDV.

UPDATE (1:15 am, From Ed):

It's Indigenous Peoples Day so gotta post this pic.twitter.com/MhTi2er3ZU

— Serf (@TheRoyalSerf) October 12, 2025

From the 2007 made for TV movie, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee.

PAINFUL: Watch Spanberger’s Super-Cringeworthy Semi-Demi-Backpedal.

FAIL, BRITANNIA:

4chan's constitutional rights remain completely unaffected by this foreign e-mail.

4chan will obey UK censorship laws when pigs fly.

In the meantime, there's litigation pending in DC. Ofcom hasn't yet answered. We'll see Ofcom in court. https://t.co/i50rOqMbc3

— Preston Byrne (@prestonjbyrne) October 13, 2025

Read the whole thread.

Background here: 4chan to British Censors: Get Stuffed.

THIS IS TRUE WHENEVER AND WHEREVER BULLIES, THUGS, AND STATISTS (BUT I REPEAT MYSELF) CAN GET AWAY WITH IT: In Great Britain, ‘Speech Is Free for Me but Not for Thee.’

THE ENEMY WITHIN: How China could use U.S. farmland to attack America. “The ability to own large tracts of land, especially close to sensitive U.S. military and government facilities, can pose an enormous problem given the nature of technology today, which is that hostile actor from all across the world can very easily exploit access to land, access to buildings and warehouses, access just to a shipping container or two and do enormous damage, either in intelligence terms or in military terms.”

I ALWAYS HATE THIS PART: Israeli Reveals the Jihadis It Released to Bring Back the Hostages.

THEY DESERVE EACH OTHER (AND SO DOES CALIFORNIA), BUT I DON’T KNOW WHAT AMERICA DID TO DESERVE THEM: The Kamala-Gavin rivalry builds to possible 2028 showdown.

Why it matters: Their public niceties toward each other cloud a longtime, behind-the-scenes tension that’s beginning to surface as both weigh runs for president.

Zoom in: Harris set off rare public sniping between the pair last month when she took a dig at Newsom in her new book “107 Days,” about her short run for president in 2024.

After then-President Biden dropped out of the race in July, Harris called Democratic lawmakers to ask for their endorsement.

She wrote in her book that when she reached Newsom, he said he was hiking and would call her back.

Newsom did post his endorsement online hours later, but Harris wrote that Newsom never called back.

Newsom recently said he privately asked Harris why she didn’t mention in her book that he had quickly endorsed her, and she responded: “On book tour. Get back to you later.”

Harris has been using her tour to argue that even with only a 107-day campaign, she got close to beating Donald Trump.

Newsom, meanwhile, told Stephen Colbert last month: “As the Democratic Party, we have a lot of work to do to make up for our failures in the past. We got crushed in this last election.”

Much more at the link, plus this: Kamala Harris’ flaws on full display during her tour de farce book tour.

The thing about being a monied Democrat coming up in California politics is that you’re left completely unprepared for actually having to compete for voters.

If you thought Harris was bad on the national stage — and she was — I get the feeling that Newsom is going to look like the Boy in Bubble spending his first day out in a Wuhan lab.

THEY’RE REALLY PUTTING THE DERANGEMENT IN THE TDS TODAY:

pic.twitter.com/LJ70diquYv

— David Kensinger (@DavidKensi54601) October 13, 2025

NSFW DISPATCHES FROM THE BLUE ZONES: After its Teletubby Offensive at ICE HQ Fizzles, Portland Antifa Goes for Full Frontal Rudity.

WORST. WARMONGER. EVER. Trump’s Israel-Hamas Peace Plan Gets A Big ‘Thumbs Up’ From U.S. Voters.

INSURRECTION, STRAIGHT UP: Anti-ICE Terrorists Ground Portland Trauma Helicopters After Threatening to Play ‘Laser Tag’

PRIORITIES: California Authorities Concerned They’re Not Confiscating Nearly Enough Guns. “It’s been about a decade since gun-violence restraining orders were enabled by California law, but their use is still middling in the state, according to data from the California Department of Justice. That has prompted some of the law’s architects and most prominent backers to make a renewed push to increase awareness both among the public and law enforcement.”

WE TRULY ARE: Trump’s Middle East Moment: The Hostages Are Free, and the World Is Watching. “So today we got to witness the release of 20 hostages, the suspension of a brutal urban warfare campaign, and one more perfectly placed swipe at the Biggest Bitterest Loser in Democrat history, Hillary Clinton.”

UPDATE (FROM GLENN):

Today is a great day for all who love freedom, western values and the human spirit.

It’s a bad day for Progressives, Jihadists and select right wing influencers.

— Dave Rubin (@RubinReport) October 13, 2025

PSA: "Bittersweet" today is that some hostages came home and some died in torturous captivity NOT that some hostages came home and you have to give Trump credit for it.

— Karol Markowicz (@karol) October 13, 2025

Plus: The Peace Deal Proves That Netanyahu’s Critics Were Wrong: They kept insisting the prime minister was prolonging the war for political reasons. “Mr. Netanyahu has accepted a deal to end the war, and on the terms he always said he would: the release of all hostages and the dismantling of Hamas’s military and governing capabilities. The Trump deal promises this and, unlike previous proposals, leaves Israeli troops in a position to enforce it should the international stabilization force fail to do so. In that case, President Trump says that Israel will have his ‘full backing’ to act. Given his record, Israelis have reason to believe him. That wasn’t the case with President Biden.”

If Hamas breaks the peace deal, I expect Trump to endorse mass assassinations of Hamas leaders — and financial backers — as well as military action in Gaza that will make what came before look mild. It’s useful to send the message that you don’t break deals with us.

CHANGE? ‘The only solution’: Elon Musk backs call to deploy federal troops to San Francisco.

Elon Musk has backed Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff’s call for federal troops to be sent to San Francisco, a city that has become the latest flash point in President Donald Trump’s escalating campaign to deploy the National Guard to Democratic-led cities.

“It’s the only solution at this point,” Musk wrote Sunday on X. “Nothing else has or will work.”

Musk’s endorsement came in response to a post by T. Wolf, a recovery advocate and former homeless resident, who cited data showing more than 4,300 overdose deaths since 2020 and 90 kilograms of fentanyl seized by the San Francisco Police Department in the past year.

Wolf referenced a March 2025 survey by the conservative Voice of San Francisco, which found that 61% of voters support federal intervention to deport undocumented fentanyl dealers. When those who “somewhat agree” are included, the total rises to 83%.

It seems easier to maybe try electing a Republican (or two) for the first time since 1964, but this is San Francisco.

PAINFUL: Watch Spanberger’s Super-Cringeworthy Semi-Demi-Backpedal. “Spanberger never did answer the question, BTW. She’d rather talk about literally anything than sickos in the girls’ room, so I’m forced to assume their internal polls look like Hans Gruber taking a dive off 30th floor of the Nakatomi Plaza.”

CORN, POPPED: Outbursts by Katie Porter threaten gubernatorial ambitions.

Porter, the 2026 gubernatorial candidate who has a narrow edge in the polls, came under scrutiny this week when a recording emerged of her brusquely threatening to end a television interview after growing increasingly irritated by the reporter’s questions.

After CBS reporter Julie Watts asked Porter what she would say to the nearly 6.1 million Californians who voted for President Trump in 2024, the UC Irvine law professor responded that she didn’t need their support if she competed against a Republican in the November 2026 runoff election.

After Watts asked follow-up questions, Porter accused Watts of being “unnecessarily argumentative,” held up her hands towards the reporter’s face and later said, “I don’t want this all on camera.”

The following day, a 2021 video emerged of Porter berating a staffer who corrected her about electric vehicle information she was discussing with a member of the Biden administration. “Get out of my f— shot!” Porter said to the young woman after she came into view in the background of the video conference. Porter’s comments in the video were first reported by Politico.

Porter did not respond to multiple interview requests.

To be fair, she’s terrible at them.

BELMONT CLUB: The Irreplaceability of Politicians. “The one group that isn’t worried about being replaced is government officials. The obvious question is why, if AI can replace doctors, coders and, now, actors, it can’t ever replace politicians or educators. The recent scandals involving school superintendent Ian Roberts and the catatonic performance of candidate Abigail Spanberger suggest it cannot be on account of their superlative talent. Some have fake degrees and mediocre intellects. The probable reason for their job security is that politicians and educators represent a class of occupations where competence is not a qualification. Therefore they are not in competition with AI.”

YOUR TERMS ARE ACCEPTABLE: Vance warns ‘deeper’ cuts ahead for federal workers as shutdown enters 12th day.

Vance warned that as the federal shutdown entered its 12th day, the new cuts would be “painful,” even as he said the Trump administration worked to ensure that the military is paid this week and some services would be preserved for low-income Americans, including food assistance.

Still, hundreds of thousands of government workers have been furloughed in recent days and, in a court filing on Friday, the Office of Management and Budget said well over 4,000 federal employees would soon be fired in conjunction with the shutdown.

“The longer this goes on, the deeper the cuts are going to be,” Vance said on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures.” “To be clear, some of these cuts are going to be painful. This is not a situation that we relish. This is not something that we’re looking forward to, but the Democrats have dealt us a pretty difficult set of cards.”

It’s Schumer’s Shutdown — the administration is just doing what it must.

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Happy Columbus Day, Sane People of America! “Leftists got their grubby commie paws on Columbus Day as part of their ‘fundamental transformation’ of America project. They can ruin anything they touch and they’ve had American history in their sights for a long time. Once that all kicked off, I was suddenly a huge fan of Columbus Day.”

DISPATCHES FROM THE BLUE ZONES: The controversial solution Long Beach has picked to battle shoplifters.

Tired of rampant shoplifting scaring away citizens and shoppers, Long Beach is trying to force stores to add staff and reduce dependence on self-checkout.

The beachfront city, with a population of around half a million, last month started requiring major food and pharmacy retailers to do more to stop theft. So far, the measures have led to a heated debate and longer lines.

Employees like the new law. The retail chains warn that the restrictions could backfire. Shoppers are confused.

The city’s “Safe Stores are Staffed Stores” ordinance is the first of its kind in the country. It requires large stores to increase the number of employees relative to self-checkout stands and also puts a limit on the number of items and types of goods that can be rung up at self-checkout.

Since this is California, I’m forced to assume that the only thing Long Beach hasn’t tried is cracking down on shoplifters.

In any case, self-checkout is for high-trust communities, and those seem to be in short supply on the West Coast.

THEY’RE JUST DOING THE JOBS CHICAGO POLICE AREN’T ALLOW TO DO: ICE Arrests Double Murderer, Thwarts Chicago Would-Be Shooter.

STOLEN: The Algorithm That Rigged the Census: How One Bureaucrat Stole the House and Billions in Funding.

The 2020 census was marketed as an “actual enumeration,” a neutral count of people for apportionment and funding. It was not. The same official who helped block a basic citizenship question in 2018, John M. Abowd, then the Census Bureau’s Chief Scientist, pushed through a new, opaque methodology in 2020 called differential privacy. The new system deliberately injected mathematical noise into every block count in America, turning the census from a headcount into a model with knobs. The knob that mattered most was a single parameter, epsilon, a secrecy shroud known only to a small inner circle. Abowd argued that a single added question about citizenship posed an intolerable risk to data quality because there was, he said, not enough time to test it. Then he rushed an untested algorithm that altered every count in every neighborhood. The irony is so sharp it cuts: the man who warned that one question might distort the census approved a method that guaranteed distortion.

Start with the record. On January 19, 2018, Abowd sent Commerce a technical memo urging rejection of a citizenship question. He then testified for several days in federal court. The transcript, nearly 700 pages, cemented a narrative that any citizenship question would degrade data and impede participation. The courts cited this drumbeat of doubt, and the question was blocked. The administration lost the public fight. But the inside fight over how to publish the data was only beginning. Abowd immediately advanced a quiet revolution in disclosure avoidance, adopting differential privacy for the first time ever in a US census. That choice, made outside the glare that attended the citizenship question, had far more sweeping consequences.

Read the whole thing.

Plus: “If all this is true, President Trump’s call for a mid-decade census is more than justified.”