For Britain This is Radical, Even For the Conservative Party

9/23/26 Daily Mail:

Kemi Badenoch on Wednesday night launched plans for a tough crackdown on Britain's ballooning benefits bill.

The jobless who have paid little in taxes will see their handouts docked and be banned from spending them on vices such as drinking, smoking or gambling if the Tories return to power.

Under the proposals, targeting those who can work but choose not to, the long-term unemployed who have not contributed enough to the system would see their Universal Credit payments cut by 30 per cent.

And instead of receiving the reduced welfare support in cash, claimants would be given money on a 'Back To Work' card that could not be used to buy alcohol or cigarettes, withdraw cash or gamble. 

More than 300,000 people would be moved on to the lower 'Subsistence Allowance', saving taxpayers half a billion pounds a year by the end of the decade, it is claimed. 

On Wednesday night, Mrs Badenoch said: 'If you can work, you should work. Helping people into work is not punishment.

'The best welfare is a well-paid job. So, we will be tough on those who exploit the system because the current system is unfair to workers, taxpayers and those who truly need support.

'Welfare must be a safety net for those who genuinely need it, not a lifestyle choice for those who can't be bothered.'

Not a Newspaper Headline You Normally See

 Opera singer held in triple murder

Volume 1 of Simak's Short Stories

I did not even need to check publication dates to figure them out. They are the sort of cliched and now scientifically antique stories of the 1930s filled the native inhabitants of Mars and the Moon; Mars as a dying planet with a small remnant population. Communication by radio and sometimes by what today would seem like Zoom. Reflecting that Simak was still a newspaper reporter in the 1930s in Wisconsin, too many involve newspapers right out of The Front Page (1928) with hard-bitten, hard-drinking, stogie smoking editors and reporters and young copy boys pulling first sheets off the presses for the editor. (Hell, maybe The Front Page was not so far off reality.) Even when the newspaper is the New Chicago [Moon] Rocket. Some of this stuff does not age well.

Why We Run Deficits

 9/25/26 Department of Justice:

A federal jury in Fort Worth convicted a Texas licensed professional counselor yesterday for his role in a $26 million health care fraud, kickbacks, and money laundering scheme.

Yeah, I know, it is only $26 million  To paraphrase Sen. Dickson, "$26 million here, $26 million there, after a while it adds up to a $40 trillion national debt." 

9/27/26 Houston Chronicle reports:

The DOJ said Curry laundered some of the $17 million he received from TRICARE, putting it toward hotel stays, "a lavish casino-themed party" and what it's calling "a gold-plated Tesla Cybertruck."

I am skeptical that it was gold plated.

9/23/26 NPR:

WASHINGTON — Vice President JD Vance and other Trump administration officials said Tuesday they plan to remove 760,000 Affordable Care Act enrollees from public healthcare exchanges, alleging that the individuals were fraudulently enrolled in the program, or simply do not exist.

Vance said the discovery and canceled subsidy payments for hundreds of thousands of people from the exchanges, part of an administration-wide crackdown on fraud, would result in $2.2 billion in cost savings.

Of course, this being NPR, they have to cast doubt by the usual suspects but even NPR admits:

 The Government Accountability Office suggests fraud risks in the advance premium tax credit do exist - however it's unclear at what scale. The GAO conducted covert testing using fictitious ACA applicants enrolled in 2024 and 2025. A report released in December showed that the federal marketplace approved subsidized coverage for almost all of the GAO's 24 fake enrollees.

 

Fortunately, South Africa's Gun Laws Are Much Tougher Now

 9/27/26 NPR:

Johannesburg — A spate of mass shootings in three major South African cities killed nearly 40 people this week, with such incidents increasingly common in a country already known for its high crime rates.

On Saturday night, South African police said at least 10 people were killed at a shisanyama — a common kind of local restaurant selling barbecued meat — near Cape Town, while eleven others were injured.

Why the Oil Crisis Is Lessening

 9/24/26 Reuters:

SINGAPORE, Sept 25 (Reuters) - Crude oil flows out of the Strait of Hormuz reached 33.7 ​million barrels so far in the week starting September ‌20, preliminary ship-tracking data from Kpler showed on Friday, putting exports roughly on track with the previous week's levels.

The traffic comprised 19 tankers, of which ​17 are very large crude carriers (VLCCs) that can carry 2 ​million barrels of oil, the data showed. Most of ⁠the tankers are laden with crude from Saudi Arabia, followed ​by Iraq.

And that does not include ships transitting with transponders turned off. Still not at prewar levels but not at 0 either. 

How Did I Miss This?

ANJRPC v. Attorney-General New Jersey (3rd Cir. 2026) struck down New Jersey's ban on large capacity magazines and AR15s.

I worked on this case.