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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.

12 days off with the flu is a long time, but not an insanely long time. So far the only evidence I've seen of the Ohio loony bin theory is

  1. A private plane flew from Austin to Ohio and back, and

  2. Someone called the facility with a fake code, and was told the person they were trying to reach was not there and so must have been discharged.

It also doesn't inspire confidence that the supposed, "More recordings from the Lindner Hope Center about to drop in the morning" still haven't dropped. Seems like a more effective line of attack would be to speculate about what * ahem * other infectious diseases he might have contracted on the campaign trail.

They also first tried to get it in the Daily Mail and TheBlaze which should really be quite telling on its own if even some of the lowest evidentary standards imaginable tabloids aren't willing to touch it.

How low quality must your "evidence" be for the daily mail legal team to reject it as too risky of libel?

But it's really important to note here that among the influencer right truth does not matter. It simply does not. They do not give a rat's ass if the story is real, they just want to put Talarico's name next to "mental health crisis". They are the demons from Frieren, words to the influencer right are merely a tool to trick with.

Sometimes if you catch the demons among their group, you'll find they even admit to it.

Sometimes if you catch the demons among their group, you'll find they even admit to it.

First Time?

From The Washington Post; Harry Reid lied about Mitt Romney’s taxes. He’s still not sorry.

if even some of the lowest evidentary standards imaginable tabloids

How do they have lower evidentiary standards than the average media outlet? All I know from the Blaze is their commentary channels, so evaluating evidence doesn't enter the question, but the Daily Mail in particular is definitely one of the world's top performers on this matter, and anyone who says otherwise can only do so because of blinding tribal hatred.

I talk a lot of crap about the other side (and sometimes MKC when I think he's being a dip), but the reason I feel justified in doing so is a willingness to call fair strikes.

MKC is completely right here. There is a large swath of that group that is just utterly truth-indifferent. They'll say, boost, retweet, any insane shit as long as it gets engagement and clicks and ElonBucks. Candace Owens is the poster child here.