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Culture War Roundup for the week of October 12, 2026

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Let's start with something juicy

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvp8glg97393o

US immigration agents searched the home of Minnesota Representative Ilhan Omar on Monday morning as part of a "criminal investigation".

Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents "executed a judicially authorized search warrant" for the home in the Washington, DC, area, a US justice department spokesperson told the BBC.

The search "is part of an ongoing federal criminal investigation," the spokesperson said, but no further details were given. ... The justice department has a longstanding policy of refraining from most enforcement action that is "likely to raise an issue or the perception" it was being brought for the purpose of affecting any election or disadvantage a candidate.

Couple of starting points - it won't help Trump, chances of uncovering smoking guns that with tank Dems in the eventual records are slim to none. Zero chance she will be stripped of citizenship or her alleged brother deported (cue Alabama joke here). It is not escalation - the escalation was the Trump trial, but as retaliation is quite weak. If democrats obtain trifecta - I wonder what type of further escalation they will figure out.

Personally I find her the most dislikable among the squad, so I won't say I am sad.

So, did she marry her brother to bring him to the United States? It seems very plausible and I'm sure similar things happened all the time prior to 2025. At the same time, conspiracy theories about the personal lives of prominent individuals usually turn out to be fake. I'll confess to wanting to believe, which means extra caution is probably warranted.

In other news Talarico (as per my prediction) has turned up seemingly no worse for wear after a 12 day absence. But... what happened? It's a very strange absence and the official explanation (flu) should be easy to verify if he was receiving medical treatment. IIRC, a right-wing influencer on Twitter claimed to have audio from an employee at a mental health treatment facility in Ohio where Talarico supposedly was being treated after having a mental breakdown. The facility came out today with an official denial. I trust both these accounts very little.

These type of stories almost always turn out to be nothingburgers, but they are definitely fun to think about.

I never got a satisfactory account of why Hillary collapsed with a seizure on 9/11 at the height of the 2016 campaign. The official story was pneumonia, carefully elaborated as the definitely non-contagious pneumonia when her method of showing face was a quick public appearance with kids. It was a screaming cover-up. And yet what was there to cover up? Ten years later Hillary seems fine.

Actually, in the same vein, it's also bizarre that Biden was diagnosed with cancer immediately after leaving office, but definitely not while he was in office. I guess in this case it's spread to his bones (quite painful) and they believe he will die with it, so it's not quite the same disappearing flu.

Yeah I remember that too. It was weird.

But I have to think the stress of flying around the country, keeping weird hours, meeting hundreds of people, giving speeches, being attacked in the media, etc... would probably make most people break down physically and emotionally. For Hillary, her problem was that she never built up her chops in the minor leagues. She was never a super extrovert like Bill, so the crowds stole her energy instead of giving her energy. Most people like her would have gotten weeded out in single A-ball before they even had a chance to blow up in the Big Leagues.

On the other hand, Trump is perhaps the most elite person we've ever seen (certainly at his age) at being able to thrive in chaos. All the 80 year olds I know tire very easily despite having minimal responsibilities.

We often don't understand what makes politicians special. We're disappointed that they are usually midwits, but the good ones are elite in other ways. Simply being able to keep it all together is impressive.

I'm fairly sure that politicians and their staffers are coping with the high energy demands and stress with prescription pills. I think a lot of weird incidents by politicians in public can be explained by this. When you're absolutely fucking exhausted but staying on your feet and performing with stimulants, sometimes the exhaustion can suddenly win and you go down like a puppet that had its strings cut. Literally or metaphorically.

Here's what JFK was on according to ChatGPT. This is Michael Jackson level pharmacological assistance.

Records from 1955–1963 show doctors prescribed or administered several medicines over time. The reported list includes:

  • For pain: codeine, Demerol (meperidine), and methadone
  • For anxiety: meprobamate and Librium (chlordiazepoxide)
  • For sleep: barbiturates
  • For other conditions: thyroid hormone, hydrocortisone and testosterone, antispasmodics, antibiotics, antihistamines, and gamma globulin He also received injections from physician Max Jacobson that reportedly contained amphetamines, steroids, calcium, placenta, and vitamins; those were a separate treatment from his regular prescriptions. The medication list varied over time, and the records available to historians were not a complete lifetime medical file

I still want to know what the Biden cocktail was.

I will say this. Medical ethnics are actually pretty good in that we're not getting tons of leaks about the drugs politicians are taking.

Placenta?

I will say this. Medical ethnics are actually pretty good in that we're not getting tons of leaks about the drugs politicians are taking.

I mean I have personal knowledge of a few politicians and it is usually exactly what you'd expect - people using cocaine because of course. Sometimes Adderall.