Why Does Hegseth Want the Public to Watch an Execution? Isn't That What ISIS Does?

October 10, 2026

A commentary by Yiannis Damellos

A government reveals its political order not only through the punishments it imposes but also through the reasons it gives for making the public watch those punishments unfold. The Trump administration plans to livestream a military execution to punish a man convicted of what it describes as radical Islamist terrorism. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth argues that the public must see that serious crimes have serious consequences. However, this reasoning echoes a disturbing precedent: ISIS filmed executions of those it branded infidels to terrorize audiences and advertise its power. Hegseth is not ISIS, and the circumstances are different. Yet, when a self-proclaimed Christian defender of Western values turns an execution into a public spectacle, the contradiction is unavoidable. If the purpose is justice, why must the world watch a man die? And where is the evidence that broadcasting his death will prevent another attack?

AI breakthroughs in robotics won’t change your life any time soon

Artificial intelligence 

October 8, 2026

Advances in AI offer tantalizing glimpses of a future in which robots navigate the world the way humans do. The question is whether the same techniques that fueled AI’s recent progress will be enough to get there, or if an entirely new path is required.

By Jamie Condliffe

Illustration Sasha Papercut

The story is a collaboration between MIT Technology Review and Aventine, a non-profit research foundation that creates and supports content about how technology and science are changing the way we live.

New Documents Add to Evidence in Climate Deception Case Against ExxonMobil

Fossil Fuels

Court filings by the Massachusetts attorney general’s office include previously undisclosed documents, revealing new details about internal deliberations at the oil giant.

By Nicholas Kusnetz

October 7, 2026

If there was a year the world began waking up to climate change, it might have been 1988. That June, the NASA climatologist James Hansen testified to Congress that the climate was warming and would continue to do so as long as humans pumped fossil fuel pollution into the atmosphere. Months later, the United Nations established the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

After A Decade of Western Sanctions, Trump Opens the Energy Door to Moscow

By relaxing sanctions on Russian fuel to correct American diesel prices, Trump is raising questions about Ukraine, the war, and the price of political expediency 

By Yiannis Damellos and Mars Strangelove Jr.

Sources: Reuters and Associated Press

October 10, 2026 12.21 AM PST

On October 9, President Donald Trump announced an agreement with Vladimir Putin for Russia to supply diesel to American and international markets. The announcement came as American diesel prices approached record levels, less than a month before the November 3 midterm elections. It also came just weeks after Trump signed legislation tightening sanctions against Russia over its war in Ukraine. Washington was now making an exception to its own policy, opening the door for Russian diesel exports while the war continued. The question is straightforward: who benefits from this deal, and what, if anything, does the United States receive in return?

No More Comfortably Numb: Europe's youth is asking for a future worth believing in

October 9, 2026

By Yiannis Damellos and Mars Strangelove Jr.

Europe's young people are taking to the streets yet again, with a question that goes far beyond the classroom: what kind of future is waiting for us?

In France, the protests began with the conditions inside schools. Students complained of absent teachers, overcrowded classrooms, deteriorating buildings, and an education system that too often reproduces the inequalities it is supposed to overcome. The movement spread, drawing in university students and attracting support from teachers and parents. By October 9, the government had promised to deploy 3,000 qualified teachers to schools facing the greatest shortages. Students called it a first victory, not a reason to go home.

The Forgotten People of the Strait of Hormuz: Sailors Trapped in a War They Did Not Start

By Yiannis Damellos and Mars Strangelove Jr.

October 9, 2026

For the sailors aboard commercial ships in and around the Strait of Hormuz, the conflict is not merely a debate over strategy, sanctions, or oil prices. It is a daily question of life or death: whether their vessel will be attacked, whether essential supplies will last, and when they will be able to return home.

The International Maritime Organization reported on August 28 that as many as 400 vessels carrying approximately 6,000 seafarers had been unable to leave the Persian Gulf safely. By that date, the IMO had verified more than 70 attacks on international shipping and at least 19 seafarer deaths since the conflict began on February 28.

“There's not a Black America and White America and Latino America and Asian America; there's the United States of America.”

By Yiannis Damellos and Mars Strangelove Jr.

October 9, 2026

Obama said it in 2004. Two decades later, Abdul El-Sayed is fighting for the Senate in a country increasingly encouraged to see its neighbors as enemies. Michigan will test whether a politics of common interests can survive the politics of division. 

History Will Remember the Day Washington Defied the International Order

By Mars Strangelove Jr. and Yiannis Damellos 

Photo Reuters

October 9 2026

Hours after Navi Pillay won the Nobel Peace Prize, Washington imposed sanctions on the International Criminal Court. The timing was extraordinary, but the message was even more troubling: American hegemony must be protected at all costs, from international justice.

Isnt it ironic? In Nuremberg, the city forever associated with the trials that helped establish the modern principle of individual accountability for crimes committed by states, South African jurist Navi Pillay received news that she had won the Nobel Peace Prize. Hours later, the Trump administration imposed sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC), the institution created to prosecute genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression.

Canada's Sovereignty Is Not a Social-Media Poll and will be decided by Canadians, not by Musk or Trump

By Yiannis Damellos and Mars Strangelove Jr.

CANADA-US RELATIONS

Source: Associated Press, October 8, 2026

Elon Musk weighed in on Canada's internal political divisions with a blunt message: Quebec should separate, and Alberta and Saskatchewan should follow. Prime Minister Mark Carney's response was equally clear. Canada's future, he said, will be decided by Canadians, not by foreign governments or powerful technology companies. The exchange might have remained another social-media confrontation. Instead, it arrives at a moment when Canadian unity, relations with Washington and the country's economic independence are already under pressure.

The American Midterms: Who Watches the Poll Watchers?

October 8, 2026 

From The Newsroom

THE MIDTERMS

The November 3 midterm elections are still weeks away, but a question that should concern every American voter is already being fought in court: who has the authority to watch the people who administer elections, and who ensures that those doing the watching do not interfere with the right to vote?

The Trump administration's plan to deploy federal election monitors has prompted the NAACP to seek emergency judicial intervention. In a lawsuit announced October 5, the civil rights organization asked a federal court to compel the Justice Department to release records explaining its plans, including the legal authority for the proposed deployment, the personnel involved, and the locations where monitors might be sent.

Mr. Rubio, Trump's Power Cannot Be Compared With Athens, Because It Does Not Answer to the Citizens in Whose Name It Is Exercised

By Yiannis Damellos and Mars Strangelove Jr.

October 8, 2026

There was something almost irresistible about the setting. Marco Rubio stood on the Pnyx in Athens, the hill where citizens of classical Athens gathered to debate the affairs of their city, and delivered a speech about the civilization that gave the West the words democracy, politics, and tyranny. He spoke warmly of Greece and described the United States as deeply indebted to its ancient inheritance. The State Department subsequently highlighted the speech, including Rubio’s argument that Western nations should recover confidence in their national identity and power.

Jamie Dimon Just Put a Price Tag on AI Risk - Markets May Have to Curb Their Enthusiasm

By Yiannis Damellos and Mars Strangelove Jr.

October 10, 2026

Chill! Jamie Dimon did not say that artificial intelligence is going to destroy the world. He only said something potentially more consequential for the financial system: the cybersecurity risks created by advanced AI have, in his assessment, increased tenfold since Anthropic’s Mythos model emerged. “AI created vulnerabilities that we didn’t know about,” the JPMorgan CEO said in a Bloomberg interview.

Three years after Oct. 7, Israeli strikes in Gaza grind on and deaths climb

Almost a year has passed since President Donald Trump declared the fighting over and “peace in the Middle East” achieved

Today at 5:00 a.m. EDT

By Rachel Chason

AMMAN, Jordan — When President Donald Trump announced a ceasefire in Gaza last October, Asma Baroud thought of all of the rebuilding ahead — of the house where her family had lived; of the traditions interrupted by war; of the life they had known.

Works by Canadian authors Margaret Atwood and Ryan North among books banned in U.S. schools

A record high for book bans in American schools in 2026, according to PEN America

Hillel Italie · The Associated Press

Posted: Oct 06, 2026 8:59 AM PDT

Last Updated: 9 hours ago

Nearly 12,000 bans took place in American public schools over the past year, according to a new study from PEN America. This is the highest total since the free expression organization began tracking removals five years ago.

Canada Didn't Win the Trade War. Trump Sprawled on a Saturated Maple Leaf

By Yiannis Damellos and Mars Strangelove Jr.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, we are at BC Place, covering the local derby between the visiting United States Wise Mens' National Team and Team CANADA, and at the end of the first half, the outsider Canada wins by one-nil. Although the American team pressed hard and dominated the pitch in the first half hour, using tariffs and verbal abuse, the pressure left its defense exposed, and Canada scored an easy goal on a counterattack. So, True North is ahead at halftime, but the second half should be fascinating."

Sometimes the world of football provides a humorous lens through which to view an economic quagmire of hilarious proportions, because what happened to Canada's trade numbers in August is super comical and the joke's on Trump. The United States imposed tariffs on Canadian goods to make trade with Canada more expensive and, presumably, to put pressure on Canadian exporters. Before the tariffs even had time to bite, American buyers rushed to buy Canadian goods — while at the same time, Canadian consumers, so pissed off by Trump, seemed to have forgotten to buy anything American. The result: Canada's trade surplus with the United States jumped to C$11.2 billion, its highest level in 19 months.

Californians blast Trump remark that Iran could 'take out' Los Angeles, San Diego

Reuters

By Steve Gorman and Bo Erickson
October 6, 20262:50 AM PDT
Updated 29 mins ago
Summary

• California Governor Newsom calls president 'deranged and dangerous'
• Trump defends sacrifices from US war in Iran
• President made remarks to crowd in Nebraska
• White House says Trump meant US is fighting to stop Iran from having ability to attack US cities

LOS ANGELES, Oct 5 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump suggested to a crowd of his ​supporters in Nebraska that Iran could "take out" a major US city like Los Angeles or San Diego, drawing a swift rebuke from California's Democratic leaders and ‌some fellow Republicans.

Germany's ex-spy chief arrested for espionage

PoliticsGermany
Natalie Muller with Reuters and AFP
6 hours ago

August Hanning, the man who once led Germany's spy service, is now under investigation for passing on state secrets

Police have arrested the former head of Germany's BND foreign intelligence agency, August Hanning, on suspicion of espionage, the federal prosecutor's office announced Tuesday.

White House blocks Politico from Air Force One trip, cannot secure replacement

President Donald Trump will travel without a primary print pool reporter for the first time in recent memory

October 5, 2026 at 5:08 p.m. EDT 

By Scott Nover

President Donald Trump’s Air Force One trip Monday will not have a primary print outlet responsible for sharing updates about his activities — the first time in recent memory that the president will travel without a primary print pool reporter.