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FIRST YEAR TUESDAY, 10 NOVEMBER 2026 — THE EVENING EDITION FREE, FOREVER — EVERY CLAIM LINKED

THE LEDGER

Billionaires spend $425 million fighting a tax on themselves, then collect $4 billion from the same ballot.

photo: New York Post

On August 25th, advocacy groups funded by Google co-founder Sergey Brin and venture capitalist Peter Thiel opened an advertising campaign against Proposition 40, under the names Building a Better California and Californians Against Wasteful Spending and Higher Taxes. On November 1st, the Hill reported the measure had split California's own Democrats, with experts raising unresolved questions about its economic impact. One day before voters went to the polls, a self-described wealthy Californian wrote in the Guardian that the tax would ease inequality and bolster healthcare without draining the state's coffers or triggering that same exodus. On November 3rd, Californians voted Proposition 40 down.

The final campaign filing closed on November 10th at $425 million spent to defeat Proposition 40, the most expensive opposition campaign in California history, outspending the measure's own backers 250 to 1.

The same day, the New York Post reported that Proposition 38 had officially passed, with more than 54 percent of the vote. …

Continued on Page F140

§88 —

On cocked and loaded

Democrat

Democrat: the needle points at TACO, out of A DRONE, A TWEET, NOT PROPORTIONATE, 3,684, TACO. A DRONE A TWEET NOT PROPORTIONATE 3,684 TACO

This is the one entry on the ledger that could have gone in a different column. By his own number the fold spared 150 people. His account of the moment was exact: "150 dead people, that would have taken place probably within a half an hour after I said go ahead. And I didn't like it" 1. It is entered here because the threat was published after the retreat.

The arithmetic has since been revised. U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran began in late February of this year, and by mid-October the war was in its eighth month 2. The rights group HRANA counted 3,684 dead in Iran through July 17; Iran's health ministry gave 3,528; the Pentagon had acknowledged 23 American military deaths by late October 3. None of those figures is final. In 2019 the president said the unmanned part was "a big, big difference" 1. The number that was not proportionate was 150. The HRANA count is more than 24 times that, and it stops in July.

Sources

  1. "150 dead people, that would have taken place probably within a half an hour after I said go ahead"; "And I didn't like it"; the drone being unmanned made a "big, big difference" — NPR, 21 June 2019 ↑
  2. U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran in late February; the war enters its eighth month — Euronews, 15 October 2026 ↑
  3. HRANA: 3,684 deaths through 17 July; Iran's health ministry: 3,528; the Pentagon acknowledged 23 U.S. military fatalities in late October; figures not finalized — Wikipedia, Casualties of the 2026 Iran war ↑

“I'm slow with these things, so I wrote it on a napkin. The Times says the planes were in the air. The president says no, "pretty soon." He says ten minutes before. He also says they came in about a half an hour before. I'm sure there's a reason. On the other side of the napkin I put 150, not proportionate. Under that I put this year's count, 3,684, and that one stops in July. Sorry, one thing before you go. The man who said 150 was too many. Did anybody bring him the second number?”— Lou

“Cocked and loaded. You know when a guy tells you that? The morning after, when there's nothing to show you. A general says 150, he stops it ten minutes out, fine, I'll buy that man a drink. Then he tells NBC the planes never went up. So what was cocked? The tweet was cocked. Nobody cuts the trailer for the movie he didn't shoot unless the trailer was the product. And hold on to that number, 150, because that was too many. Too many. Now go read this year's number and tell me who moved the line.”
Sal
“The president's restraint in 2019 proves he understands proportion, and the events of 2026 prove he understands that proportion can be revisited, which is what you want in a commander: a firm line, reviewed regularly.”
Chip
The Word today —
Continued on Page W88

Justice Department says man who plotted attack on British air base directed it from a New York jail

Today we are making an indictment that names a man who never left his cell, which is not a dish you can get over here, so I shall go slowly. You will need three men the Justice Department calls Iranian operatives, a base called RAF Fairford, twelve B-1 bombers that were there and then were not, and a telephone line out of a jail in New York.

Clive A line to a jail. I've sent verses from the box room that got a thinner reply than that.

Gary Verses. The man moved aircraft out of the country from inside a cell; you can't get the landlord round from the sofa.

Begin with September: Iranian operatives are accused of directing people to drive vans toward RAF Fairford's gates, some carrying fuel barrels, at a base housing American aircraft and crew.

That Thursday a sixth man, a dual British-Iranian national, 25, was arrested in Westminster on suspicion of preparing terrorist acts; officers searched two properties. By Saturday he was out on bail — this part of the dish never finished cooking.

Rob Let go again. That's the house rhythm — something breaks, someone's released, and we carry on as if the boiler's the crisis.

RAF Fairford itself may be taken by both ends and turned over: that same Saturday the Pentagon pulled all twelve B-1 bombers off it, back to their home stations in the United States, weeks after the threat was first identified.

Later in October, two men in London were charged under Britain's National Security Act 2023: Mohmed Abdulkarim, 24, with assisting a foreign intelligence service, and Nouman Essghir, 24, with entering a prohibited place for a purpose prejudicial to Britain, at RAF Fairford, on 22 August.

Gary Prejudicial to the state. I'm prejudicial to that shed door, and I've still got a hammer waiting its turn.

Now the part people are afraid of: the architect never got near a van. The Justice Department names him as Mohammad Dawood al-Saadi, a dual Iranian and Iraqi national, who ran the plot from inside a jail in New York, passing instructions out as coded calls to his family, who passed them on to two co-conspirators to buy chemicals for it.

France 24 has the charge as 'Iranian operatives,' quotation marks left in. CBS has them at home as Iran-backed operatives; Fox News, Iran-backed suspects — no quotes either place.

You will be looking for the attack itself. There is none; the Guardian calls this a foiled attack, which is the only kind an indictment gets to describe.

This one is eaten by the Justice Department, which gets an indictment naming an architect it never has to extradite. Britain pays at Westminster Magistrates' Court, for a base the Americans had already emptied.

Keith Running the whole thing from a cell he never left. There's a format in that — no location needed, just a phone, same as this kitchen some mornings.

Continued on Page A234

Investigative Reporting

THE RATION LINE

Chapter 3: Three Prices, One Owner

Clear a space on the table. You have three pieces of paper now and I want them in a row. On the left, the wall of a Tehran bakery, with a sangak loaf at 155,000 rials by order of the provincial authorities as of June 23, 2026. In the middle, Article 12 of a law of January 2010, which sends "all income sources resulting from implementation of this law into a special account titled subsidy targeting account with the General Treasury." On the right, a single sentence of March 1951 that put every operation of "exploration, extraction, and exploitation" of Iranian oil "in the hands of the Government." Three documents, seventy-five years apart. Look at them long enough and you notice they are not…

Continued on the Investigative Reporting page

Schumer says he already has the votes; Sanders and Slotkin say they're not among them.

photo: Truthout

On 4 November, Schumer told reporters the issue was not him, that he would be reelected majority leader next month despite the dissent of what The Hill called a handful of newly elected senators. The caucus had not voted. It still has not.

The next day, the AFL-CIO filed its own number: 639 union members had won office that week, a tally the federation called a rebuke to the money spent trying to buy a different Senate. Darline Graham in South Carolina, said the Senate needed generational change on both sides of the aisle. The machinists' union, 600,000 members, wrote him a letter asking him to step aside. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was asked whether she would back him and declined.

On Tuesday the dissent gained two names Schumer had not counted in his handful. Bernie Sanders, who says he has known Schumer for more than 30 years, told reporters: "I like Chuck. Nobody who works harder than Chuck Schumer. But in my view, the time is now for change, and I will not be supporting Chuck to be re-elected as the Democratic leader." Elissa Slotkin of Michigan was named in the same Hill story, saying no. A handful plus Hamilton, Andrews, a 600,000-member union, and two sitting senators is not a handful. It is a count, and Schumer is the only name in it who has not released his own.

That is a condition on the caucus's next leader, stated before the caucus has chosen one.

Whoopi Goldberg told the party on television, the same day, to get its act together over that leadership fight and spend its energy on gas prices and food aid instead. It was the second time in six days she delivered that warning on the air; the first came 4 November, when she told the party to take care of business after its midterm sweep.

Schumer is still telling reporters he has the votes. The reporters have started asking the other senators instead.

Continued on Page F140

Tennessee, after failing to kill Christa Pike, warns that one drug label could halt its executions

The label is the whole of it, and the label is what Tennessee will not surrender. You will have read that the execution failed. The statute did not. On September 30 the state gave Christa Pike, 50, two syringes of pentobarbital, and more than two hours later she was still breathing — critical condition, her lawyers told a court on October 2, the same day Governor Bill Lee suspended all executions in the state and ordered an inquiry. Its execution chief resigned. A judge ordered the syringes preserved. Preserved, mind you, not discarded. And now the filing: let her lawyers read the supplier's label and future executions in Tennessee could grind to a halt. Which is the arrangement stated outright. Secrecy is the consideration ... the thing the supplier is paid in, and the state cannot spend it twice. Pike paid two doses for the question. The answer stays sealed.

Continued on Page A234
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The Political Weather

65°
percent of adults disapprove of the president's job performance, barely moved since before the votes were even counted · clear

Sun holds steady over the approval numbers three days after the election, where 65 percent of adults disapprove of the president's job performance against just 32 percent who approve, barely changed from the 64-32 split this same pollster clocked in the final wave before the votes were counted. His marks run colder still on the pocketbook, with only 21 percent approving of his handling of the cost of living and 25 percent on the economy overall. Bring sunglasses, this system hasn't broken since Election Day. Back to you, everybody. — Gordy

Reuters/Ipsos, Nov 6-9, 1,705 adults — 32 percent of adults approve of the president's job performance, 65 percent disapprove, 3 percent skipped, including 50 percent who disapprove strongly; 21 percent approve of his handling of the cost of living, 72 percent disapprove; 25 percent approve of his handling of the economy, 67 percent disapprove · the prior wave

The temperature is the day’s poll, not ours: the freshest public number on whatever the country was just asked, and it opens its own sources. The season — the president’s approval, averaged and dated — waits behind the temperature until a new wave lands.

The Stand-Up

Project 2025 is 29% done

23 of the 79 tasks on the board are in effect; 28 under way, 7 stopped by a court, 21 not started. 1 got done in the last 100 days; at that pace the rest lands in March 2042, 13 years after the term ends.

20252027202907920 Jan 2025: 78 remaining. The President should immediately revoke Executive Order 14020; the United States must be prepared to take appropriate steps in respons…; The President should immediately revoke the security clearances of any…; The next conservative Administration should rescind all climate policie…; Enforce the death penalty where appropriate and applicable.; withdraw from climate change agreements that are inimical to the prospe…20 Jan 2025: 77 remaining. The President should immediately revoke Executive Order 14020; the United States must be prepared to take appropriate steps in respons…; The President should immediately revoke the security clearances of any…; The next conservative Administration should rescind all climate policie…; Enforce the death penalty where appropriate and applicable.; withdraw from climate change agreements that are inimical to the prospe…20 Jan 2025: 76 remaining. The President should immediately revoke Executive Order 14020; the United States must be prepared to take appropriate steps in respons…; The President should immediately revoke the security clearances of any…; The next conservative Administration should rescind all climate policie…; Enforce the death penalty where appropriate and applicable.; withdraw from climate change agreements that are inimical to the prospe…20 Jan 2025: 75 remaining. The President should immediately revoke Executive Order 14020; the United States must be prepared to take appropriate steps in respons…; The President should immediately revoke the security clearances of any…; The next conservative Administration should rescind all climate policie…; Enforce the death penalty where appropriate and applicable.; withdraw from climate change agreements that are inimical to the prospe…20 Jan 2025: 74 remaining. The President should immediately revoke Executive Order 14020; the United States must be prepared to take appropriate steps in respons…; The President should immediately revoke the security clearances of any…; The next conservative Administration should rescind all climate policie…; Enforce the death penalty where appropriate and applicable.; withdraw from climate change agreements that are inimical to the prospe…20 Jan 2025: 73 remaining. The President should immediately revoke Executive Order 14020; the United States must be prepared to take appropriate steps in respons…; The President should immediately revoke the security clearances of any…; The next conservative Administration should rescind all climate policie…; Enforce the death penalty where appropriate and applicable.; withdraw from climate change agreements that are inimical to the prospe…21 Jan 2025: 72 remaining. The President should eliminate OFCCP by simply rescinding EO 11246.23 Jan 2025: 71 remaining. Prevent the institution of a central bank digital currency (CBDC).24 Jan 2025: 70 remaining. Protecting life should be among the core objectives of United States fo…27 Jan 2025: 69 remaining. Reinstate servicemembers to active duty who were discharged for not rec…12 Feb 2025: 68 remaining. the next President should immediately begin to undo those changes and d…14 Feb 2025: 67 remaining. Ensure that LNG export applications are reviewed and approved expeditio…18 Feb 2025: 66 remaining. Regulatory analysis and OIRA review should also be required of the hist…3 Mar 2025: 65 remaining. Repeal the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) regulation rein…4 Mar 2025: 64 remaining. Of the utmost urgency is immediately ending CISA’s counter-mis/disinfor…21 May 2025: 63 remaining. Seek to terminate any unnecessary or outdated consent decree to which t…22 May 2025: 62 remaining. Eliminate Marxist indoctrination and divisive critical race theory prog…4 Jul 2025: 61 remaining. Re-implement work requirements. The statutory language covering food st…17 Jul 2025: 60 remaining. Several ORD offices and programs, many of which constitute unaccountabl…24 Jul 2025: 59 remaining. he will not sign an appropriations spending bill that contains a penny…7 Jan 2026: 58 remaining. Minimally, the next Administration should reform the Dietary Guidelines.29 Jun 2026: 57 remaining. The Supreme Court ruling in Humphrey’s Executor upholding agency indepe…29 Sep 2026: 56 remaining. Commence a new agency rulemaking process to rescind the current Adminis…10 Nov 2026: 56 of 79 remaining
  • Backlog 21
  • In progress 11
  • In review 17
  • Blocked 7
  • Done 23
  • Won’t do 4

The latest moves

Project 2025 is the Heritage Foundation’s 920-page plan for this term, Mandate for Leadership 2025. Every sticky note is a sentence from it, with the page number. A task counts as done only when a signed order, rule or law puts it in effect, and blocked means a judge has stopped it. The chart is how many tasks are left; the dashed line is the pace needed to finish by the end of the term. Sprint 7, day 60. The whole board.

“The front page is a ledger with better fonts. Somebody paid, somebody collected, and the flag's up there so you don't ask which one you were.”
— Sal

LOST The starter home. Median new owner now 40 years old. If found, please hold it another fifteen years. — Classifieds

FOUND 299 mass shootings, year to date, and counting. Owner not looking. Thoughts and prayers enclosed. — Classifieds

FOUND 35 unpermitted gas turbines, running in a Black neighborhood in Memphis. Cancer risk four times normal. No reward offered. — Classifieds

“A strong edition for people who enjoy being upset. The economy is historic, the deportations are orderly, and the lakes have never been better named. I'm told every story on this page is real, which — frankly, that's the part I'd have fact-checked.”
— Chip
The second winter, a man watched the pass. Salt came, and no cart brought it.
Enoch · the Ownership Desk

From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs. Our ability is the link under every claim; your need is to check it. Free, forever. Continued: the serials · the -m edition · the classic front · contact us.