100K Milestone Reached! ICYMI - 5 Stories And One Video From Last Week! And Other Stuff…
The “So, Does It Mater” Substack featured a lot of great, original content this past week. Below are the highlights!
Was at Dodger Stadium last night, so had to get up early to make sure you would get this promptly on your Sunday morning!
First and foremost a big THANK YOU! I launched this little project on Substack a little over three months ago, and the reader support has been awesome. Week over week, month over month, more people keep visiting and subscribing! I don’t really know how significant of a milestone it is, but there’s a tracker for number of visits over the past 30 days, and it just passed 100,000 for the first time! So appreciative!
The main way that I get new readers is when YOU (people already reading this) SHARE IT! :-)
A follow up from a piece I wrote a little over a week ago…
About a week ago, I wrote a column celebrating Apple’s iOS 26 update, set to launch in September, which promises to curb the flood of unsolicited political texts by filtering unknown senders into a separate folder. This feature empowers users to reclaim their digital privacy, a win for those frustrated by relentless campaign spam. I highlighted how this could force campaigns to respect boundaries, with Android likely to follow suit, ensuring broader protection.
However, there’s a counterpoint I hadn’t considered. My friend,
, in a Washington Post opinion piece, argues that this update could disrupt high-quality polling by limiting outreach for probability sampling, crucial for representative surveys. This risks undermining accurate public opinion measurement, especially for local elections, potentially weakening democratic accountability. (No clue if the WP Pay Wall with stymie you from reading it.)I still think that the privacy rights of phone users is the higher good here. I kind of feel like those who have been exploiting texting for their nefarious purposes have ruined it for the good actors.
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Okay, the week that was on the “So, Does It Matter?” Substack!
California Patriot Profile: Charles Kesler: Principle Over Personality
Charles Kesler stands as a scholar and defender of constitutional clarity—eschewing personalities for principles. From editing the Claremont Review of Books to shaping future leaders, his steady voice champions limited government. He reminds us that, in politics, ideas—not egos—must guide the way.
Eight Tribes, One Unraveled Electorate
A new Echelon Insights poll divides voters into eight tribes—from Hard Right to Disillusioned and Diverse—revealing ideological overlaps and trust gaps that defy the traditional left-right binary. For campaigns, the lesson is clear: broad appeal now means mastering nuance, not party slogans.
Newsom’s Gerrymander Plan Might Sail Through, But…
In a move rooted more in electoral calculation than principle, Governor Newsom is pushing a constitutional amendment to redraw California’s U.S. House map—jumping the independent commission entirely. But with legislative squabbles, lawsuits, polling uncertainty, and even Texas’s inertia, his gerrymander gambit could still fizzle
Olympics Chaos Looms Early
The countdown to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics is already marred by budget shortfalls, disaster recovery delays, homelessness, and a pricey ballot initiative threatening venues. Add a fraught federal intervention and cultural flashpoints. If this is the pre-game, the main event could be in real trouble…
California Post Challenges Media Fog
News Corp is launching The California Post, a brash, tabloid-style outlet to bring a “common-sense” counterpoint to California’s heavily slanted media landscape. With national backing and a bite, it may just give readers something they’ve been missing: journalism that doesn’t bend to orthodoxy.
IF YOU ARE OVERCOME WITH FOMO - it may be because while we have highlighted five posts from last week — there were actually 12 different original items published on So, Does It Matter? Click to the main page below and scroll down to see anything you may have missed!
ONE VIDEO! On Friday, Emerson College released some results from a statewide survey in California. I wrote about it on Friday, but it’s not one of the five featured posts above. This is my sly way of sneaking in a sixth post I guess. My analysis below pairs with the post here. Bottom line is that it was not great news for Newsom’s plans to redraw U.S. House District lines in California in time for the 2026 elections.
ON THIS DATE in 1927, the first ceremonial drilling took place at Mount Rushmore after President Calvin Coolidge hands sculptor Gutzon Borglum, the son of Dutch immigrants, a set of drill bits! The rest, as they say, is history…
This is a pretty quick but cool overview video of this amazing monument to four iconic former Presidents. It’s less than two minutes, but really informative.
Now this video is for the “deep dive” — this one is over eight minutes long, and is complementary to the first one, but really goes into the “how” of Mt. Rushmore…
Do you have FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out)? Go to the main page via the link below, and click on “Posts” — and see what you may have missed!
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Have a great Sunday - And if you made it down this far, the question is — would you drink this? (See below!) If you do, let me know how it goes. 🤮
Jon
