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Weekend of October 23, 2026

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PONDERABLE

"Your son is at five your master, at ten your servant, at fifteen your double, and after that, your friend or foe, depending on his upbringing."

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Inspired Living
The Idiot Genius Problem
By Rabbi Yonason Goldson

Why Intelligence Is a Terrible Proxy for Wisdom

Breaking!
AIPAC to no longer endorse, directly give to candidates
By Praveena Somasundaram

One of the most influential forces in U.S. politics says, through its super PAC, the United Democracy Project, it still plans to financially support pro-Israel candidates

Reality Check
The war against the Jews in Judea and Samaria
By Melanie Phillips

"Settler violence" is a malevolently distorted canard

For more than three decades, the writer, a long-time JWR contributor, has served as Britain's political conscience. A journalist and author, in 1996, she was awarded the prestigious Orwell Prize for journalism

Democracy In Action
These states are set to settle school culture wars at the ballot box
By Lauren Lumpkin

Voters in 10 states will address prayer, trans athletes and other education issues, with some initiatives aiming for long-term change by amending constitutions

Past, Present
A woman fleeing the Nazis left behind a painting. Her family just got it back
By Sophia Solano

In a rare restitution ceremony, a great-grandson called the artwork "one of the few surviving witnesses to my family's life . before persecution."

Fantas-Tech?
Cops left the force. They kept tracking people with a powerful camera network
By Douglas MacMillan, Drew Harwell & Aaron Schaffer

Police kept access to Flock's vast surveillance system long after they left the force. Some used it to track the locations of romantic partners

Well + Being
Scientists uncover a clue that could hint at why we regain weight after diets
By Daniel Wu

A chemical mechanism may cause weight regain by creating a "memory" of obesity in fat cells, a study suggests

Must-Know Info
How to tell your career story when you are bouncing from job to job
By Julia Carpenter

It can be hard for people to establish themselves in the gig economy since it can mean having to prove themselves to each new boss and client

Ess, Ess/ Eat, Eat!
The Kosher Gourmet
By Ellie Krieger

This pumpkin spice smoothie is as delightful as a latte, but better for you

[ W O R T H  1 0 0 0  W O R D S  ]

• Speed Bump by Dave Coverly

• 9 to 5 by Harley Schwadron

• Bottom Liners by Eric and Bill Teitelbaum

• Moderately Confused by Jeff Stahler

[ T O D A Y  I N  H I S T O R Y ]

On this day in . . .

• 425, Valentinian III is elevated as Roman Emperor, at the age of 6

• 1642, Battle of Edgehill: first major battle of the First English Civil War

• 1812, Claude François de Malet, a French general, begins a conspiracy to overthrow Napoleon Bonaparte, claiming that the Emperor died in Russia and that he was now the commandant of Paris. de Malet is executed on October 29

• 1855, Kansas Free State forces set up a competing government under their Topeka, Kansas, constitution, which outlaws slavery in the United States territory

• 1861, President Abraham Lincoln suspends the writ of habeas corpus in Washington, D.C., for all military-related cases

• 1911, first use of aircraft in war: an Italian pilot takes off from Libya to observe Turkish army lines during the Turco-Italian War

• 1915, woman's suffrage: In New York City, 25,000-33,000 women march on Fifth Avenue to advocate their right to vote

• 1929, after a steady decline in stock market prices since a peak in September, the New York Stock Exchange begins to show signs of panic. ALSO: The first North American transcontinental air service begins between New York City and Los Angeles, California

• 1930, the first miniature golf tournament was completed in Chattanooga, Tennessee

• 1941, Field Marshal Georgy Zhukov takes command of Red Army operations designed to prevent the further advance into Russia of German forces and to prevent the German armies from capturing Moscow

• 1942, the Second Battle of El Alamein, in northern Egypt, starts; the British Eighth Army under Field Marshal Montgomery begin a critical offensive to expel the Axis armies from Egypt, never to return

• 1944, the Battle of Leyte Gulf begins. It was the largest naval battle in history begins in the Philippines; and also, the Soviet Red Army enters Hungary

• 1946, the United Nations General Assembly convened for the first time, at an auditorium in Flushing Meadow, New York

• 1956, a student-sparked revolt against Hungary's Communist rule began; as the revolution spread, Soviet forces started entering the country, and the uprising was put down within weeks

• 1973, President Richard M. Nixon agrees to turn over subpoenaed audio tapes of his Oval Office conversations about the scandal. ALSO: A United Nations sanctioned cease-fire officially ends the Yom Kippur War between Israel and Syria

• 1983, practitioners of that "religion of peace" use a a truck bomb to attack the U.S. Marines barracks in Beirut, killing 241 U.S. Marines. Also: A French army barracks in Lebanon is also hit that same morning, killing 58 troops

• 1989, Hungarian Republic is officially declared by president Matyas Szu"ros, replacing the communist Hungarian People's Republic

• 1992, Emperor Akihito becomes the first Emperor of Japan to stand on Chinese soil

• 1998, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Chairman Yasser Arafat, ym"sh, reach a "land for peace" agreement

• 1999, 16 members of the Ku Klux Klan held a silent rally in New York City as thousands of counter-demonstrators jeered them

• 2001, the Provisional Irish Republican Army of Northern Ireland commences disarmament after peace talks

• 2002, Chechen rebels seize the House of Culture theater in Moscow and take approximately 700 theater-goers hostage

• 2007, evacuations due to out-of-control wildfires in Southern California topped 500,000; President Bush declared a federal emergency for seven counties

• 2008, badgered by lawmakers on the House Oversight Committee, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan denied the nation's economic crisis was his fault but conceded the meltdown had revealed a flaw in a lifetime of economic thinking and left him in a "state of shocked disbelief."

• 2012, a father in Hangzhou, China, was sentenced to five years in prison for selling his 27-day-old baby for $10,300 to pay off debts. ALSO: Former Penn State football assistant Jerry Sandusky was transferred to a Pennsylvania state prison from the county jail where he'd been held since his conviction on child molestation charges t

• 2013, two days after a 12-year-old boy with a gun killed a teacher, wounded two children and then killed himself at a middle school in Nevada, a 24-year-old math teacher at Danvers High School in Massachusetts, Colleen Ritzer, was found dead in woods near the school. (A 14-year-old boy was arrested on charges including aggravated 'violation' and murder.)

• 2018, Chinese President Xi Jinping inaugurated the world's longest sea bridge, the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge, which is 34 miles long.

• 2019, the Hong Kong government officially withdrew a proposed extradition bill that led to months of protests, violence and other types of unrest in the Chinese territory. ALSO: Republicans briefly brought the Democratic-led impeachment investigation to a halt when around two dozen GOP House members stormed into a closed-door deposition with a Defense Department official

• 2020, Second Libyan Civil War: The Second Libyan Civil War comes to an end as all parties to the 5+5 Joint Libyan Military Commission agree to a ceasefire

• 2022, Xi Jinping is elected as General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party by the Central Committee, beginning a third term of the paramount leader of China. ALSO: Myanmar Air Force airstrikes a concert in Hpakant Township, Kachin state killing at least 80 people, including senior Kachin Independence Organisation officials, in the Hpakant massacre

[ I N S I G H T ]

(THOUGHT PROVOKING) Victor Davis Hanson: The deep midterms

• News of the Weird: The Tech Revolution

• Greg Crosby: Two Halves Make a Whole

• Argus' Rogue Report (SUPER-SIZED)

Josh Hammer: November's Stark Choice: Two Visions for Justice and the Rule of Law

• MediaWatch by Tim Graham: Lesley Stahl Engages in Anti-Journalism on California Voting

Michael Barone: What's Ahead If the Polls Are Right -- or Wrong