Morning, Kitties. The FBI is dealing with a breach that exposed sensitive information about employees, the Justice Department plans to send a record 1,000 monitors into polling places for the midterms, and Trump suggested at a campaign rally that Iran could take out Los Angeles and San Diego while describing the consequences of war as a small price to pay. Meanwhile, defense contractors and tech billionaires are moving deeper into Pentagon decision making, ICE detention construction is becoming a multibillion dollar industry, and Trump’s taxpayer funded television ads became controversial enough that he now says political money will pay for them instead. Thirty days from the midterms, America appears to be stress testing every fucking institution simultaneously.
Shit Show Chaos
The Nobel Peace Prize Race Gets Weird Before Friday’s Announcement
The International Space Station, Donald Trump, Mark Carney, humanitarian groups, international courts, and activists are among the names being discussed before the Nobel Peace Prize announcement on October 9. The Norwegian Nobel Committee keeps nominations secret for 50 years, so public contender lists are speculation rather than confirmation of who was actually considered.
FBI Breach Traced to an Unpatched Security Vulnerability
Investigators say hackers exploited an unpatched Oracle PeopleSoft vulnerability used by an FBI contractor, exposing sensitive employee information including addresses, job descriptions, and medical records. The contractor involved has reportedly been removed while investigators assess the damage.
Brazil Heads Into a Bolsonaro Lula Runoff
Brazil’s presidential election is heading to an October 25 runoff after Flávio Bolsonaro finished the first round ahead of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva without securing a majority. The contest is unfolding amid continuing concerns inside Brazil about foreign political influence and interference.
DOJ Sued Over Plan for 1,000 Midterm Election Monitors
A watchdog is suing DOJ for records explaining its plan to deploy roughly 1,000 election monitors during the midterms, an unusually large expansion of a longstanding federal election monitoring function. DOJ says monitors will enforce federal voting laws while critics want greater transparency about where they will go and what authority they will exercise.
Healthcare Lawsuit Shows the Fallout From Federal Medicaid Cuts
Doctors and health insurers are suing California over a new healthcare tax intended partly to offset federal Medi Cal funding cuts, arguing that the state violated voter approved restrictions and could increase premiums. California says the revenue is necessary to preserve healthcare funding after changes in federal policy.
Alito Says the Supreme Court Emergency Docket Is Overwhelmed
Justice Samuel Alito says the Supreme Court is confronting an extraordinary volume of emergency applications and has also expressed concern about political rhetoric surrounding the Court, including rhetoric from Trump. The emergency docket increasingly determines major government policies before cases receive full briefing and argument.
Trump Suggests Iran Could Take Out Los Angeles and San Diego
Speaking at a Nebraska campaign rally, Trump suggested Iran could take out Los Angeles and San Diego while discussing what he called the small price of the Iran war, prompting condemnation from California officials. Whether intended as hyperbole, a joke, or something else, presidents talking casually about American cities being destroyed by a foreign adversary is not normal campaign fucking banter.
McCaul Family Trades Stock in Contractor Benefiting From Counter Drone Policy
Rep. Michael McCaul disclosed trades made through his wife’s accounts in CACI International while the contractor benefits from federal counter drone programs authorized partly through legislation McCaul helped establish. The transactions do not by themselves prove improper conduct, but the overlap between congressional policy and household investments raises familiar conflict of interest questions.
Taxpayer Funded Trump Ads Become a Political Liability
Trump says MAGA Inc. will pay for controversial television advertisements that originally carried the disclaimer Paid for by the U.S. Government after lawmakers and ethics experts questioned the use of taxpayer money. The reversal does not erase questions about how government funds were initially authorized and spent.
Trump’s Rally Crowds Are Smaller Than a Decade Ago
A PunchUp and Daily Beast analysis comparing rally venues and attendance finds Trump’s current campaign events are substantially smaller than many of the enormous rallies that defined his 2016 campaign. The White House disputes suggestions that enthusiasm has declined and says the campaign is intentionally using smaller venues in targeted midterm battlegrounds.
Musk, Luckey, and Gingrich Join Pentagon Future Warfare Project
Elon Musk, Palmer Luckey, and Newt Gingrich are co directing Project Meridian, a Pentagon commissioned initiative examining artificial intelligence, robotics, biotechnology, space, and other technologies expected to shape future warfare. Musk and Luckey lead companies with substantial government interests, making conflicts, procurement decisions, and transparency important parts of the story.
Peace Activists Take Their Message to the Streets
Organizers in eastern Massachusetts are using public demonstrations to advocate for peace and justice amid expanding international conflicts. Local organizing rarely receives the attention of national political spectacle, but civic participation happens largely through precisely these small community actions.
Who Is Paying Your Favorite Political Influencer?
The Preamble examines the increasingly complicated financial relationships behind political influencers and online content. A smiling person speaking directly into a phone can still be part of a professional political communications operation, so knowing who paid for the message matters.
New Tracker Maps ICE’s Expanding Detention Infrastructure
Project Salt Box has expanded its ICE detention tracker to cover warehouses, private detention center purchases, and new construction, documenting billions of dollars in federal spending. Its data show the government shifting away from some warehouse purchases while buying private prisons and issuing construction contracts with enormous potential values.
Trump’s Medicaid Drug Savings Claims Leave Major Questions
FactCheck.org finds that administration claims about tens of billions in Medicaid prescription drug savings depend on assumptions that cannot yet be independently tested because important details of agreements with drugmakers remain confidential. Experts say savings are possible but warn that the administration’s rhetoric goes considerably beyond what currently available evidence establishes.
Reported CIA Assessment Warns About Severe Instability in Israel
Drop Site reports that a CIA assessment warns that political and social fractures inside Israel could produce civil conflict or institutional breakdown under extreme scenarios. Because intelligence assessments deal in probabilities and scenarios rather than prophecies, the document’s exact language, confidence levels, sourcing, and authenticity are essential to interpreting the claim responsibly.
California Billionaire Tax Fight Draws Enormous Money
California’s proposed one time billionaire wealth tax has become an extraordinarily expensive political fight as wealthy opponents pour money into efforts to defeat it while supporters argue the revenue is needed to protect healthcare funding. The fight offers a particularly literal demonstration of billionaires spending millions to persuade voters how billionaires should be taxed.
Robert De Niro Attacks Trump Over the Epstein Files
Robert De Niro publicly attacked Trump over his administration’s handling of the Epstein files and accused him of protecting powerful people connected to Epstein. De Niro’s language is political advocacy rather than evidence, while the substantive questions remain what records exist, what government has withheld, and the documented reasons for withholding them.
Closing RK Thoughts
Today’s stories look unrelated until you follow the power.
The government wants a thousand people watching polling places. Hackers obtained sensitive FBI information because a critical security patch was reportedly missed. Technology billionaires with enormous commercial interests are helping the Pentagon imagine future warfare. Congressional families trade stocks in companies affected by congressional policy. Political influencers operate inside increasingly complicated financial ecosystems. ICE detention is expanding through billions in purchases and contracts.
Then the president stood at a campaign rally and casually invoked the possibility of Iran destroying two American cities.
Government power is becoming more technologically sophisticated at exactly the moment its safeguards, conflicts, databases, and political boundaries deserve more scrutiny.
So follow the contracts.
Follow the investments.
Follow the government databases.
Follow the campaign money.
And when somebody tells you not to worry about who is watching, paying, building, bombing, monitoring, or profiting, ask to see the fucking receipts.
Claws out.
Featured Resisters and Resources
- National Nurses United is an organization focused on worker rights and economic justice. Its work includes nurse organizing and advocacy on workplace protections and healthcare access.
- Arise Chicago is an organization focused on worker rights and economic justice. Its work includes worker rights education, organizing support, and immigrant worker resources.
What We Are Watching Today
- House Committee on Ways and Means | 9:00 AM Local Time | Meeting Details
- 4:30 AM MDT
Secretary Rubio Holds News Conference With Icelandic Foreign Minister - 5:00 AM MDT
Washington Journal 10/06/2026 - 6:27 AM MDT
U.S. Senate Candidate Sherrod Brown (D-OH) Votes in Columbus, Ohio - 6:46 AM MDT
U.S. Senate Candidate Sherrod Brown (D-OH) Speaks to Reporters After Voting in Columbus, Ohio - 7:35 AM MDT
NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani & NYPD Cmsr. Jessica Tisch Hold Briefing on Updated Crime Stats - 8:00 AM MDT
Supreme Court Hears Case on Retirement Fund Management - 8:22 AM MDT
Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) & U.S. House Candidate Stefany Shaheen (D-NH) Hold Campaign Event - 9:10 AM MDT
United Nations Commemorates Oct. 7 Attack on Israel Live - 9:30 AM MDT
U.S. Senate Candidate Dan Osborn (I-NE) Endorsed by Military & National Security Leaders - 10:00 AM MDT
CA Governor Candidate Xavier Becerra (D) Holds Campaign Rally Against Voter ID Ballot Measure - 11:30 AM MDT
U.S. Senate - 1:00 PM MDT
Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) & U.S. Senate Candidate Chris Pappas (D-NH) Campaign in Nashua, NH - 2:00 PM MDT
U.S. House of Representatives - 4:00 PM MDT
New Hampshire 1st Congressional District Forum - 4:30 PM MDT
U.S. Senate Candidate Abdul El-Sayed (D-MI) Holds Town Hall in Port Huron
Today’s Call to Action
1. Read Today’s Resistance Survival Guides
2. Sign these Petitions and Send These Pre Written Letters
- Stop Banning Books About Racism and LGBTQ Characters
- Tell Attorney General Todd Blanche: Don’t punish judges who exposed ICE abuses
- Sign the petition: Block White House ballroom and D.C. arch construction, and save the Kennedy Center! Stop Trump’s right-wing renovations of America.
- Tell Congress: Claw Back Noem’s $100 Million Jet Giveaway
3. Verify your voter registration status and help at least one other person check theirs
4. Save contact information for local legal aid and voting support organizations
5. Attend a Virtual Event
- Tesla Takedown, October 10: Join a peaceful protest against billionaire influence. Events are listed in California, Massachusetts, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. Check your location’s time. Action Network
- People’s Tribunal on Gaza, October 10: Attend in Seattle or watch the livestream examining alleged US government complicity in Gaza. WILPF US
- Global Day of Action for Palestine, October 10: Participate in the international mobilization. Check local organizers for confirmed locations and times. middleeastmonitor.com
- How to Have Successful Volunteer Recruitment Conversations
Tuesday, October 6, 2026, from 1 to 2 p.m. Eastern, 11 a.m. to noon Mountain. This free virtual training from the National Democratic Training Committee helps you turn conversations into volunteer commitments. mobilize.us
6. Contact Your Lawmakers Directly
- Protect workers: “I’m [NAME], a constituent in [ZIP]. Please protect union organizing, workplace safety and enforcement against wage theft. What action will your office take?”
- Defend civil rights: “I’m [NAME] from [ZIP]. Please defend equal opportunity and oppose efforts to weaken protections against discrimination. I want a written response.”
- Demand corporate accountability: “I’m [NAME] from [ZIP]. Please strengthen consumer protections and corporate political spending transparency. What specific action will you support?”
- Impeach Trump: “I’m [NAME], a constituent in [ZIP]. I urge the House to investigate grounds for impeaching Donald Trump and pursue articles of impeachment based on the evidence. Please provide a written response.”
- Impeach Pete Hegseth: “I’m [NAME], a constituent in [ZIP]. I urge the House to investigate grounds for impeaching Pete Hegseth and pursue articles of impeachment based on the evidence. Please provide a written response.”
7. Who Are We Boycotting This Week?
- Amazon: Skip Amazon purchases, Whole Foods shopping and paid subscriptions such as Prime and Audible.
- Target: Take your shopping dollars to independent retailers.
- Walmart: Buy essentials from locally owned stores when possible.
- Home Depot: Support independent hardware stores.
- Starbucks: Choose a neighborhood café.
- CBS: Avoid paid services that financially support CBS.
Keep your money in your community, kitties. Shop local, buy secondhand, borrow what you can and skip unnecessary purchases. These are ongoing boycotts, with no separate action confirmed specifically for this week.
