IS THE PENTAGON REALLY ABOUT TO PASS ONE OF THESE THINGS? Hegseth Audit Shocker Seems Almost Impossible.

OBSOLETE IN THE AGE OF OZEMPIC: University of Illinois health institute promotes ‘fat liberation’ through DEI resources.

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: The Deep Midterms.

The new Islamist-allied socialist Democratic Party is confident, largely because the party holding the White House has increased its share of House seats in a midterm election only three times since 1900. Each of those exceptions arose under unusual circumstances.

In 1934, FDR was still riding the wave of his New Deal promises to end the Depression.

In 1998, Bill Clinton enjoyed backlash support after the Republicans’ unpopular impeachment inquiry, at a time when the economy was robust, and the budget was finally being balanced.

In 2002, George W. Bush had united the nation after 9/11 and had not yet begun what proved to be an unpopular Iraq War.

In other words, the party in the White House has gained House seats in only about 10 percent of the 31 midterms over the past 126 years. Pundits also point to Trump’s approval rating, now below 40 percent in most polls, and the persistently high price of regular gasoline ($4.33). Uncertainty over the 33-week Iran war, they argue, makes it difficult for Trump to preserve his majorities in either the House or the Senate.

Those are the issues ostensibly at stake. But the choice goes much further than that: voters face a “deep” midterm election that will help determine the very future existence of the nation.

Vote as though your life, liberty, and property depend upon it — at least.

And do read the whole thing.

FIFTY YEARS OF EVIDENCE, AND SOME IN ACADEMIA STILL WANT TO START THE DEBATE OVER FROM SQUARE ONE. Defenders of the status quo, including many within the AAUP, demand endless studies, move the goalposts, and dismiss critics as having political cooties. Now an AAUP article even questions whether political imbalance in higher education exists at all. That’s the Academic Filibuster in action.

CONGRATULATIONS TO PRESIDENT TRUMP FOR HELPING NEWSOM ADVANCE TO STEP #2:

Remember, the communists always process their "myths" in 3 phases:

1) X is not happening, fascist.
2) OK, but X so small, it's insignificant, fascist.
3) X is happening a lot & actually it's a GOOD thing! Fascist.

Every time. We now have Sparkle Beach Ken at phase 2. https://t.co/TgpbLsEBI1

— Spencer Pratt (@spencerpratt) October 20, 2026

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Lying, Stupid, and Viewer-less Is No Way to Go Through Life, CNN. “The number of half-truths, non-truths, and brain-dead statements that Abby Phillip makes in a week are difficult to track without NSA computers. It’s not surprising that she’s passionate about one of the most absurd spin attempts we have seen in a long time. Most of CNN’s on-camera personalities are immune to the smell of bull you-know-what.”

DESTINATION: COLOR REVOLUTION.

Even before Trump entered office, although well after the Obama administration, Hillary Clinton and the FBI had already begun working on destroying Trump. Chuck Schumer gleefully told Rachel Maddow that the intelligence community was going to go after Trump and that they knew how to do it. . . .

DataRepublican has been doing a very deep dive into the current Deep State project to take Donald Trump out after the Midterm elections, dropping chunks of her investigation, including receipts from an insider who leaked video, audio, and documents from a wide-ranging, shall we call it a “plot,” to amp up resistance to Trump and to create a Constitutional crisis that would, they hope, reshape the entire political landscape.

Including the Constitution.

The core groups involved are military alumni, various intelligence agencies, and, of course, the USAID folks. You may recall that as Trump closed down USAID, a bureaucrat walking out the door darkly insinuated that it was the biggest mistake Trump ever made.

Seditious conspiracy is a federal felony.

THE NEW SPACE RACE: Does anyone actually want to win the medium-lift race in the United States?

SpaceX already won the race with Falcon 9, but is retiring that workhorse to focus on super-heavy lift with Starship.

CONSCIOUSNESS OF GUILT: UC Berkeley Law Review Poised To Delete All Application Records After Editors Pledged To Select Applicants Based on Race. “The flagship law review at the University of California, Berkeley, is poised to delete all internal application records after the Washington Free Beacon reported on the journal’s use of personal statements to promote a ‘diverse membership,’ sparking concerns that the journal is attempting to destroy evidence that could be used against it in the event of a discrimination probe.”

GOODER AND HARDER, FUN CITY: Mamdani Administration Announces 1,200 Sidewalk Sheds Taken Down, Unveils New Designs to Brighten City Streets.

There may be a problem here, though:

Wait a second…did that stupid communist pitch the roofs to drain INTO the buildings??

Holy shit. This is why you can’t let communists run anything. WTF https://t.co/he04DgeMxG

— Spencer Pratt (@spencerpratt) October 21, 2026

YES:

My take on the Nathan Fielder Elizabeth Holmes documentary is that a film that gets Generation Z to be more critical of the media they consume and aware the ways in which supposed documentaries can manipulate them is performing an enormous public service.

— Zack Stentz (@MuseZack) October 20, 2026

From the replies: “Every generation can benefit from this type of media literacy.”

ICYMI: This TDS Sufferer Actually Left the Country, and the Schadenfreude Is Almost Unbearable.

SOUNDS ABOUT RIGHT:

Translation:

‘Our propaganda apparatus is crumbling, only the most credulous are receptive to our dissembling, we have lost our powers of persuasion.’ https://t.co/SKlGTsKazl

— Coddled Affluent Professional (@feelsdesperate) October 20, 2026

DISPATCHES FROM THE EDUCATION APOCALYPSE:

It seems like a really bad idea to utterly alienate one of the two parties when you rely on government largesse. But then again, there’s no one dumber than an academic. https://t.co/dIoQN9YEob

— Kurt Schlichter (@KurtSchlichter) October 20, 2026

LIGHTNING DEAL: Upstreman 12,000 BTU DIY Mini Split AC & Heat Pump 230V. #CommissionEarned

HARDBALL: Trump administration withholds $1.2 billion in federal Medicaid funding from California.

“I’ll make this announcement today on behalf of Secretary [Robert F.] Kennedy, Health and Human Services, that we are going to defer $1.2 billion more dollars from California,” Oz told reporters at the White House on Tuesday. “They just got the note, and we’re doing that because the growth of personal care services in California, just that one little area where you’re paying someone to carry groceries upstairs for your mom, which many of you would carry groceries upstairs for your mom for free, I would think.”

Oz added that California’s approval of Medicaid-covered personal care services has grown by 24% in the last three years.

“That is twice the rate of every other state average in the country, impossible for us to understand how that could be so,” he said. “So we’re taking major action in California again – $1.2 billion deferred in their Medicaid payments directed to personal care services.”

We used to just call that “helping out,” and, yeah, we did that for mom for free.

TRUE:

The ability to lay mines by drone-subs will be the biggest use case for them in a war with China.

The problem is China can and will do the same to Western ports. https://t.co/tccV6r2IlE

— Trent Telenko (@TrentTelenko) October 20, 2026

REQUIRED READING: The Last Gate.

THE LAST GATE

You may be wondering why there has been a full on attack against the War Department the past couple of years. Coupled with disturbing reports of communists planning some form of uprising, and the picture becomes clearer. Let's break it down so you can remain… https://t.co/NrKjfC8bo1

— InfantryDort (@infantrydort) October 19, 2026

Key bit:

If the Secretary of War is weak and the generals begin deciding for themselves which lawful presidential orders deserve obedience, then the republic has a problem far bigger than whoever is SECWAR.

At that point, the uniform is no longer serving the Constitution through civilian command. It’s becoming its own political authority. That’s what every red revolution wants.

That’s how republics die from the inside. Not always with gunfire. Sometimes with memos, hesitation, professional pressure, and men convincing themselves that disobedience is virtue.

And do read the whole thing.

AND THEN THERE ARE THE FACTS: About Medicaid spending, which Democrats claim Trump is slashing, that is. To the contrary, Medicaid spending under Trump is up a bunch. And so I again pose THE question, yet again: When are politicians in both parties going to stop the Talk, Talk, Talk about cutting federal spending and paying off the National Debt?

VENEZUELA: María Corina Machado Has a Message for Midterm Voters. “She said that in the end, dignity comes from honest, productive ideas and effort. She also said that ultimately, she has trust in the voters in the United States.”

I REMEMBER WHEN HIGHER EDUCATION WAS JUSTIFIED ON THE GROUNDS OF OPENING PEOPLE’S MINDS:

“Such opinions simply should not be permitted, argued the Columbia Political Review.”

Are these some of the kids who are supposedly always on the right side of history? https://t.co/ROzqFIWlRH

— Steve McGuire (@sfmcguire79) October 20, 2026

OPEN THREAD: Tuesday’s groovy.

AMERICA’S NEWSPAPER OF RECORD:

Ilhan Omar Furiously Denies Immigration Fraud Charges, Says She Only Married Brother For Love https://t.co/5etgCfDDfY

— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) October 20, 2026

THE ORIGINAL EARTH-SHATTERING KABOOM: Did a giant object collide with Earth to form the moon?

REPORT: Jay-Z ‘picks himself for Super Bowl 2027 Halftime Show as Miley Cyrus and Justin Bieber miss out.’

Flashback: Halftime S***Show: Even NFL Players Have No Idea Who Bad Bunny Is (Just Like the Rest of Us).

Why not choose yourself and cash in?