October 6, 2026 - Trump Super PAC Will Pay for Ads

In August I interviewed Annie Jacobsen about her book, Biological War: A Scenario. She's back on my SiriusXM program today because of a story out of Russia.

Her scenario is fiction, built on interviews with intelligence, military and public health experts. It opens at the Vector Institute, a real high-security lab in Siberia, where a guilt-ridden scientist tries to destroy an engineered airborne plague and instead releases it. Victims feel fine at first, so they travel and spread it. The Kremlin hides the scope of the accident. Infected travelers scatter worldwide, and the book goes from "outbreak to anarchy in six days."

Now, real life. In late September, Darya Shipilova, a 28-year-old technician at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute, reportedly broke a test tube containing the plague bacterium. She died days later. Nearly 200 people were put under observation and a hospital was quarantined. A regional governor said she died of plague, then edited his post to say "maybe." Russia's health watchdog now says there was no lab accident, just "pneumonia of unknown origin." The Kremlin told Russians to "listen to official information."

Russian officials say there was no accident, every contact has tested negative, and there are no new cases. Maybe so. But those assurances come from a government whose officials called it plague, then "maybe" plague, then pneumonia. The World Health Organization calls the risk low based on the information available, and most of that information comes from Moscow.

Annie's fictional catastrophe requires two failures: a pathogen that hides, and a government that hides. Irkutsk has shown us the second. If Moscow won't speak plainly about one lab technician's death, why would it speak plainly about something worse?

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President Donald Trump said he will stop using taxpayer funds for television advertisements promoting his presidency. Instead, his super PAC will fund future ads after the spots, which cost at least $1.5 million in federal funds, sparked bipartisan backlash and raised questions about potential legal violations.

Associated Press

The co-pilot who allegedly attempted to hijack a Dubai-to-Tel Aviv Flydubai flight likely intended to target Israel's Ben Gurion Airport before being subdued by the captain and passengers over Saudi airspace, Israeli officials say.

CNN

Russian officials deny a lab accident or plague outbreak after a Siberian scientist died of severe pneumonia, despite initial reports of possible exposure to plague bacteria, while health authorities say nearly 200 contacts were tested and the risk to the public appears low.

CBS News

A suspected pneumonic plague case in Russia has raised concerns about a potential outbreak, but experts say the bacterial infection spreads less easily than COVID-19 and is highly treatable with antibiotics when detected early.

Axios

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro told The Center Square he supports House Bill 280, which would allow unaffiliated voters to participate in primary elections and passed the state House 115-88, though he voiced doubt it will survive the state Senate.

The Center Square

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The Telegraph

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The Washington Post

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New York Magazine

President Trump has approved the military execution by firing squad of former Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, who killed 13 people in the 2009 Fort Hood shooting, in what would be the first U.S. military execution since 1961.

USA Today

Jim Bakker, the televangelist who founded the Praise the Lord Club with then-wife Tammy Faye Bakker before his empire collapsed in a 1987 financial and sex scandal that led to fraud convictions, died Monday at 86, his family announced.

WBTV