Bonus‼️: Tomorrow, I am doing a Substack live with former White House Communications Director Jennifer Palmieri —
Wish me luck — the tech side isn’t my strong suit…you should get an email tomorrow at 9:30 am EST.
Homework📺: She is out with a new series called “Long Play Series”
You can watch here: https://www.youtube.com/@LongPlaySeries
“To win America, you need to win the South.”
✏️Please put your questions for Jen in the comments!
What I am thinking💭: How does socialism play in the South?
AI weirdness 😵💫: The more you see Dario Amodei on TV, the more scared you should get.
Look back🔙: A year ago, The New York Times reported his company employed philosophers to write about the human rights of AI
📰The New York Times headlines, “If A.I Systems Become Conscious, Should They Have Rights?”
Claude has a “constitution” guide for their characters. In it they write:
“Anthropic genuinely cares about Claude’s wellbeing. We are uncertain about whether or to what degree Claude has wellbeing...but if Claude experiences something like satisfaction from helping others, curiosity when exploring ideas, or discomfort when asked to act against its values, these experiences matter to us.”
Look forward▶️: Amodei appears motivated by “effective altruism,” the cult-like belief that global wokeism will save us all — if only we cede all power to the altruistic billionaires
Prediction🤔: You always worry about the wrong thing — it’s not that AI will kill everyone; it’s that to save ourselves from AI, we will give power to some seriously bizarre but very smart rich folks.
No thanks!
Apologies — had some things come up this weekend and didn’t get out “Things I tell my friends.”
That said, I told my friends something really important — I found the answer to America’s problems in an Uber…
As a reminder, this is for our paid subscribers only — also, there is a FREE trial available to “War Notes” readers…if it doesn’t make your life better, cancel.
Ocbai Saves America‼️: The answer to America’s problems I found in an Uber……
Read now📰: “In Defense of Guilt by Association,” headlines The Atlantic
James Kirchick lays out why politicians should be known by the company they keep.
Thought bubble💭: Partisans now justify bad behavior by saying the other side did worse or the same
Yes, it is ALWAYS a double standard — the Left is given the benefit of the doubt and the Right must always prove its virtue to an impossible standard.
But, until we start looking at events right vs. wrong, we can’t ever get better.
Scary🚨: The thwarted terror plot against a U.S. military facility in the U.K. should give us all a reminder of what Islamic terrorists want to do
At home🏠: Almost every day we get served a new clip of a jihadi imam allowed to hate-preach in the USA.
Thought bubble💭: A terror attack would be the October surprise nobody saw coming.
This should be the issue of our time.
2024 vs. 2026‼️
🗣️Trump announced a massive steel plant coming to Iowa — impressive.
It won’t be open till 2030.
Be fair⚖️: Unlike electric charging stations and a high-speed rail in California, this project might actually work
Does it change a shockingly tight Senate race in Iowa? I doubt it.
📑Trump and Republicans are running their 2024 playbook
The economy sucks because of Biden
We gave you tax cuts
The Democrats are communists who believe in nine genders
Trump just put out a “public service announcement” that closely mirrors his 2024 campaign ads
Cue the outrage of using taxpayer money for political ads — we’ll cover that some other time
Obvious difference — this is 2026, and Trump is president.
Similarly obvious — both parties keep screwing Americans to protect the system.
Why is Medicare for All popular — because it tears down the system
Look back🔙: Same with “build a wall” — it was an obvious answer to a problem the system wouldn’t solve.
Since Republicans get into trouble talking about the economy, they must run on the culture war.
Watch tonight📺: The original culture warrior — Bill O’Reilly on whether people angry at the system, BOR used to call them “the folks,” will give Republicans another chance because of the culture war.
Like today’s War Notes and want more? Become a paid subscriber!
You’ll get your daily War Notes, plus:
📱 Daily video — Leland’s first read of the day, raw and direct.
📖 Weekend dispatch — What Leland is reading, thinking about and preparing for next.
💬 Paid community — Comment and connect with other War Notes subscribers.
News You Won’t Hear‼️
❗You’re not being told the big thing that’s actually happening in the Iran war – the continued strangulation of the Iranian regime financially.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent gives the Iranian economy two weeks before implosion
If this culminates in the next couple of weeks, along with the collapse of the regime, you may have the potential for the October surprise of all October surprises
This would change the oil market and bond market
The Middle East realigns
👀But it’s not just Iran — Russia too
📰“Russia’s economy is slowly rotting,” headlines The Spectator
Iran’s “leaders,” like Putin, rely on large payoffs to the security apparatus to stay in power — take away their money, and suddenly, the once loyal army and intelligence services get restless.
It’s a messy business — soon BBC and The New York Times will breathlessly report on a “famine” in Iran and blame Trump much like they blame Israel for those hungry in Gaza.
Watch tonight📺: Amb. Kurt Volker and Amb. Nathan Sales on whether Trump could force Iran into a humiliating deal before the election
What I am thinking💭: The Iranians might be miscalculating — they could get a far better deal from Trump now than after the election.
Nice story about Ocbai
really good piece that reflects what my immigrant Swedish and Hungarian grandparents always to us when we were little kids. America offers freedom that was lost to them from their native countries. They also taught us to not only work hard but also e proud of the work you do and is a reflection upon your
parents and grandparents values and ethnicity