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Topic sheet Mon Oct 26, 2026 · News brief for this day →

Pre-Show Topic Sheet · Monday, October 26, 2026 · The Backlash, 3:00 PM PT

Updated Mon Oct 26, 11:40 AM PT
5 headlines · tap one to read

SHOW TOPICS #

Whose War, Whose Election: Trump Tells Israelis to Re-Elect Netanyahu - The Polls Say They Might Not Single-sourced
  • Israelis vote Tuesday, Oct. 27. Trump endorsed Netanyahu on Oct. 18 as "a Great Warrior Prime Minister," then again Sunday: "Vote for Bibi Netanyahu for Prime Minister, we have to finish the job that we started!" Confirmed (AP, Axios).
  • Axios, citing a U.S. source, reports Netanyahu spoke with Trump twice in three days and suggested wording for further statements; the source called it a "sign of desperation." A Likud spokesperson denied that Netanyahu asked. Single-sourced (Axios).
  • Three major Israeli networks' final polls projected 50 seats for Netanyahu's bloc in the 120-seat Knesset, with Likud at 20, and Gadi Eisenkot's opposition bloc at 52 to 56. Neither side is near the 61 needed to govern. Confirmed (Jerusalem Post).
  • Netanyahu also put out a Russian-language video courting immigrant voters and attacking rival Avigdor Lieberman. Single-sourced (Mario Nawfal on X).
  • Talking points: An American president is campaigning in a foreign election to "finish the job" in a war Congress never declared; if a foreign leader drafted lines for our president, that's the story, not the endorsement; Eisenkot is no peacenik either, so the question for Americans is why our policy should ride on who wins the Knesset; the Oleshky ceasefire starting tonight shows talking still works.
  • Source: AP, Oct 18 · Axios, Oct 25 · Jerusalem Post · Mario Nawfal on X, Oct 26
  • Why it matters: Results land Tuesday, before Wednesday's show. America First means America's interests come first, not one foreign politician's re-election, and Idaho farmers are already paying for this war at the diesel pump.
Ghostwritten Governor: Detectors Flag Little's Op-Eds as AI - While He Sells Idaho as Nuclear's "Alpha and Omega" Single-sourced
  • Idaho Education News ran officials' op-eds through two commercial AI detectors. Pangram scored a Gov. Brad Little op-ed on nuclear energy as 100% AI-written, one on "fiscal discipline" as 88% and one on teacher pay as 67%. His communications director, Emily Callihan, says "AI did not write the three op-eds you noted," but "the governor's office uses AI to assist with some writing." Single-sourced (Idaho EdNews, republished by Idaho Capital Sun).
  • At Capital for a Day in Arco, Little pitched Idaho for a federal Nuclear Lifecycle Innovation Campus covering "reprocessing fuel, interim storage, and potentially long-term fuel storage." DOE puts the upside at 25,000 jobs and up to $50 billion in investment. Lt. Gov. Scott Bedke said the 1995 settlement agreement "could be modified." Single-sourced (KIFI).
  • New today: Little ordered a Financial Fraud Working Group, led by Bedke, new U.S. Attorney John Shirts and Finance Director Salvador Cruz, to meet Nov. 17. Idahoans reported $88.7 million in fraud losses to the FBI in 2025, up 75% from 2023, and Idaho has no statewide fraud unit. Confirmed (Governor's office).
  • Talking points: A man who asks for your vote should write his own words; the hardest-flagged piece was the one selling his biggest project; "interim storage" has a way of becoming permanent; the 1995 agreement was won by Idahoans who didn't trust Washington; a working group that reports after the election is a press release, not a plan.
  • Source: Idaho Capital Sun / Idaho EdNews, Oct 26 · KIFI Local News 8, Oct 22 · Office of the Governor, Oct 26
  • Why it matters: Who is actually speaking for the governor, and what is he putting on the table for spent fuel? Both questions deserve answers before DOE names finalists at year's end.
Rule of Law, Local Edition: Spirit Lake Signs On With ICE - Coeur d'Alene Activists Want the City to Resist Confirmed
  • Spirit Lake Police Department joined ICE's 287(g) Task Force program, the second city department in North Idaho after Post Falls, which announced 15 arrests after joint operations in August. The Kootenai County Sheriff's Office and Idaho State Police have also joined. Confirmed (CdA Press, Bonner County Daily Bee).
  • Chief Michael Morlan: "All this is allowing is access to databases and to work in cooperation with ICE," and enforcement would stem from "a crime that has been committed already."
  • Idaho for All asked the Coeur d'Alene City Council for a resolution against ICE's "heavy-handed and intimidating" conduct. Chief Greg Yeager says 287(g) is "not one we've had need of," and Mayor Dan Gookin says the department "isn't interested." Councilwoman Christie Wood would back a resolution but says police would still comply with federal law. The Press editorial board's verdict: "Right now, we don't know who's right."
  • Talking points: Enforcing the law of the land is not a human rights violation; Coeur d'Alene would be on an island against its own sheriff and state police; a small town with a small budget saw the value, so what is the big city's reason; the Press can't pick a side on whether laws should be enforced.
  • Source: CdA Press, Oct 24 · Bonner County Daily Bee, Oct 25 · CdA Press editorial, Oct 25
  • Why it matters: This is a local fight viewers can show up for. A resistance resolution needs the mayor and a council majority to reach the agenda.
Prop 1 Final Week: The State Clears the Discount Abortion Ad - The Station Paperwork Still Doesn't Add Up Single-sourced
  • Idahoans United for Women and Families gave the Idaho Democratic Party $620,500, and the party ran a Prop 1 ad "authorized by" Terri Pickens' campaign, which gets cheaper candidate ad rates. The Secretary of State's office said Friday no campaign finance laws were broken. Confirmed (Boise State Public Radio).
  • The Gem State Chronicle says KIFI's files show the party-authorized version was bought at half the price of the identical issue ad, and that the party's station paperwork calls it a Pickens candidate ad while its Sunshine report calls the payment an independent expenditure for Prop 1. Single-sourced (Gem State Chronicle). Christian Welp of Too Extreme for Idaho, also the Catholic Diocese's lobbyist, urged stations to charge the full issue rate.
  • Sen. Scott Herndon says 66 of Idaho's 105 legislators have signed on against Prop 1. Single-sourced (Herndon on X). Prop 1 is a statute, not a constitutional amendment, so the Legislature could amend or repeal it if it passes. Confirmed (MultiState). Kootenai early voting runs through Oct. 30; Election Day is Nov. 3.
  • Same ballot: HJR 4 would give the Legislature sole power to legalize marijuana and "other psychoactive substances." Reclaim Idaho's Luke Mayville calls that "a very vague term." Confirmed (Spokesman-Review).
  • Talking points: The side with the money got a clean bill within days; which of the two filings is true still hasn't been answered; the Bishop's own lobbyist is the one asking; a statute can be undone, so a No vote now saves a fight later; keep pot out, but don't hand Boise a permanent veto over the people with an undefined term.
  • Source: Boise State Public Radio, Oct 23 · Gem State Chronicle, Oct 23 · Herndon on X · MultiState, Oct 20 · Spokesman-Review, Oct 24
  • Why it matters: This is the biggest Life vote on any ballot this year, with eight days left. The sermon has to become a ballot.
Who Owns North Idaho: An Employee-Owned Plant Comes to Post Falls - Out-of-State Investors Own Most of CdA's Vacation Rentals Single-sourced
  • Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, "100% employee-owned" and founded in 1982 by WSU professor Edmund O. Schweitzer III, will put about 250 jobs in a 240,000-square-foot building at 150 N. Beck Road in Post Falls, expected online mid-2027. Single-sourced (CdA Press).
  • In Coeur d'Alene, housing data show out-of-state investors own 60% to 75% of short-term rentals, and since July 1 state law means no city permit is needed to run one. Tiny homes are banned in city limits unless fixed to a foundation and up to code. Single-sourced (CdA Press).
  • Councilwoman Kiki Miller: "None of that helps our local workers find a place to live." Mayor Gookin fears a speculator "buying them all up and turning them into rentals" and would "prefer to focus on high paying jobs."
  • North Idaho builders report "extreme difficulty finding and maintaining good carpenters"; NIC's Workforce Training Center reports a 90.2% apprenticeship completion rate. Single-sourced (CdA Press).
  • Talking points: Ownership is the whole question; a worker-owned manufacturer keeps paychecks and equity here, while absentee investors turn a town into a portfolio; Gookin names the problem and then dodges the answer, which is putting small, cheap homes in local hands with limits on absentee buyers; a young man with a trade and no debt can own a home and raise a family.
  • Source: CdA Press, Oct 25 (SEL) · CdA Press, Oct 25 (tiny homes) · CdA Press, Oct 26 (trades)
  • Why it matters: This is Distributism with a North Idaho address. Same county, same week, two answers to who owns the place.

POSTS WORTH SEEING #

Real posts from the last three days found through X search. Links go to the posts.

  1. @netanyahu — Netanyahu reposts Trump's endorsement to Israeli voters in Hebrew, the day before the vote.
  2. @MarioNawfal — Netanyahu's Russian-language pitch to immigrant voters, with a shot at Lieberman.
  3. @yairlapid — Lapid (in Hebrew) credits high turnout and voters unwilling to take orders from outside.
  4. @lubinetzs — Ukraine's negotiator confirms the Oleshky ceasefire starts Oct. 27 at 3 a.m. Kyiv time.
  5. @AlexanderSoros — "Lula Lula Lula! Congrats to Brazil for standing up against authoritarianism once again!"
  6. @HerndonforIdaho — Sen. Scott Herndon: 66 of Idaho's 105 legislators now signed on against Prop 1.
  7. @IdahoFamilyPC — IFPC on its lawsuit over the Boise State OB-GYN study: "the numbers just aren't adding up."
  8. @nicksortor — Furious reaction to the Maurene Comey ruling, demanding DOJ appeal; about 80,000 views.

BENCH #

  • Breaking today: Judge Jesse Furman ruled DOJ unlawfully fired prosecutor Maurene Comey in July 2025, granting retroactive reinstatement and back pay through Dec. 20, 2025, when she took another job; she isn't returning. DOJ "will appeal in due course." A fight over whether the President can fire career prosecutors at will. Confirmed (court opinion · NBC News · The Hill).
  • Brazil: Lula beat Flávio Bolsonaro 51.79% to 48.21% after a Supreme Court justice extended voting two hours; Bolsonaro wants it annulled (BBC, Oct 26 · AP).
  • AG Raúl Labrador joins states demanding child and privacy protections in Character.AI's bankruptcy: "Corporate bankruptcy can't undo the damage that Character.AI did to children in Idaho" (Idaho AG, Oct 26).
  • Panhandle Health's interim director Dr. Thomas Fletcher vows to restore trust; the group DART asks the prosecutor to look at his pay vote. No charge or finding (Spokesman-Review, Sep 3 · CdA Press op-ed, Oct 24).
  • New York's archdiocese agrees to an $800 million abuse settlement and sold its headquarters to pay (AP, Oct 24).
  • Tariffs on Canadian plywood eased from Oct. 30 after Sen. Susan Collins lobbied (BBC, Oct 23).
  • Heather Scott on the faster foster-care clock and grandparents turned away (Gem State Patriot, Oct 24).
  • Idaho's Liberty Bell is at McEuen Park in Coeur d'Alene Tuesday, 4 to 6 p.m., for America's 250th (CdA Press, Oct 25).