It’s Friday, October 30.
asserted
It → ’ → ?
Audrey Fahlberg reports from Ohio’s bruising governor’s race.
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Fahlberg → report → race
But first: Is Massachusetts going to just say no to legalized weed?
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Massachusetts → go → weed
You’ve heard all about the stakes of next week’s midterms: Will the Republican Party lose control of Congress?
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Party → hear → Congress
Will the far left pull off a hostile takeover of the Democratic Party?
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left → pull → Party
If you’re like me, you’re probably sick of the stump speeches, slimy attack ads, and “SOS” texts from campaigns that somehow got your phone number.
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that → ’re → number
Below the R’s and D’s are ballot measures, one of which I’ve been watching closely.
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I → watch → which
It has to do with the consequences of legal marijuana, a topic that is personal to me and that I’ve thought a lot about.
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I → have → that
In Massachusetts, Question 8 would repeal the legalization of recreational marijuana, which was passed by voters a decade ago.
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which → repeal → voters
Weed is legal in 24 states, but a cultural shift against it is underway, driven by concerns about the rising potency of marijuana, more instances of psychosis, and cannabis-related DUIs.
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shift → drive → psychosis
Question 8 will test how big this vibe shift actually is.
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shift → test → ?
Some of the Massachusetts voters I talked to who voted to legalize marijuana a decade ago now regret it.
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who → talk → it
Others see a ban as too extreme, especially now that pot is so easy to buy in many places.
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pot → see → places
Whatever the outcome next week, the fight over legal weed isn’t going anywhere.
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fight → go → weed
Is AI coming for your job?
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AI → come → job
Should the government rein it in?
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government → rein → it
Today at 2 p.m. ET, Tyler Cowen will be live on the Free Press Forum, to take your questions on all of it.
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Cowen → take → it
Post yours now and follow along live here, and catch up on his latest columns before he logs on.
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he → post → columns
EDITORS’ PICKS
Next Tuesday, Americans head to the polls to vote in midterms that could reshape the political landscape for the rest of Trump’s term.
uncertain
that → head → term
Ahead of Election Day, we brought you two pieces on the choices facing voters on both sides of the aisle.
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we → bring → aisle
If Democrats retake the Senate, it won’t be thanks to the progressive firebrands making headlines.
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it → retake → headlines
Ross Douthat argued it will be because the Democratic Party ran candidates who can pass as moderates in red and purple states.
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who → argue → states
The bigger question, he writes, is whether a party that spent years punishing its independent-minded members will let them survive once they’re in office.
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they → write → office
On the right, radio host Erick Erickson wrestled with a different question: whether to vote for his own party’s nominee at all.
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Erickson → wrestle → nominee
The rock-ribbed conservative urges fellow Republicans to stop backing bad candidates just because they have an R next to their names, and explains why he plans to leave Georgia’s Senate line on his ballot blank rather than vote for Mike Collins.
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he → rib → Collins
Wherever you’re casting your vote, Erick’s warning against closing your eyes and pulling the lever is one worth hearing.
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warning → cast → lever
Israelis went to the polls on Tuesday, and neither Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc nor challenger Gadi Eisenkot won a majority.
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bloc → go → majority
This week, we brought you two pieces on what comes next.
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what → bring → pieces
Netanyahu’s right-wing party plunged from 68 seats to 53, its worst showing in two decades.
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party → plunge → decades
Yet Haviv Rettig Gur argued that the prime minister may have done just well enough to deny Eisenkot an easy path to power, buying Netanyahu time for his top priority: bringing down the Iranian regime.
uncertain
minister → argue → regime
Many of Netanyahu’s critics abroad insist that their problem isn’t with Israel, only with him.
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problem → insist → him
Douglas Murray said that’s wishful thinking.
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that → say → ?
Whoever leads the next government, he writes, Israel’s approach to its security won’t change much, and neither will the world’s hostility to the Jewish state.
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hostility → lead → state
In 2020, Tiffany Riley lost her job as a Vermont school principal over a Facebook post questioning the tactics of Black Lives Matter.
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Riley → lose → Matter
A court later sided with her, but six years and more than 70 job applications later, she still hasn’t landed a single interview.
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she → side → interview
This week, Frannie Block reported on why Riley can’t escape her cancellation, even as the rest of the country moves on.
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rest → report → country
“It wasn’t just a loss of my job,” Riley said.
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Riley → say → job
Finally, since October 7, 2023, Jews across the West have been told to go “back to Poland,” the place where so many of their ancestors were murdered.
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many → tell → ancestors
Omar Mohammed, an Iraqi historian who anonymously documented ISIS’s reign over Mosul, decided to see what that phrase really means.
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phrase → document → what
He traveled to the concentration camps to write about being “a historian from Mosul who documented one genocide, standing for the first time at the site of another,” and came home with a demand for the Arab world.
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who → travel → world
The Aporia
