“On Monday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced it would ‘make $8 billion available for one-time payments to American farmers this harvest season to provide relief during temporary market disruptions and increased input costs.’ … The $8 billion program is part of a windfall of taxpayer money the Trump administration has sent to farmers as relief for harms caused by the president’s actions. Last December, the USDA sent $11 billion in one-time bridge payments to more than half a million farmers nationwide. Earlier this month, the USDA announced it would provide a record $13.8 billion in gross payments to agricultural producers to cover revenue losses.” (10/20/26)
Source: David Friedman’s Substack
by David Friedman
“My previous post proposed an economics course built around World of Warcraft. I have much less experience teaching statistics than teaching economics and I suspect the game is less suited for the former than the latter purpose but it does provide quite a lot of opportunities for observing data and trying to infer patterns from it so could be used to both explain and apply statistical inference. And I suspect that, as in the case of economics, application to a world with which the student was familiar and to problems of actual interest to him would have a significant positive effect on attention and understanding.” (10/20/26)
“Scott interviews Robert Wright, author of the book The God Test, about how AI will impact our future. They discuss the threats AI poses to our safety and our economies. And they talk about the right and wrong ways to minimize those risks without sacrificing the genuine benefits offered by the technology.” (10/20/26)
Source: Indepenent Institute
by Stephen P Halbrook
“On October 15, I published a post arguing that true ‘sensitive places’ where guns are banned must have armed protection. The same day, a murderer broke into a ‘gun-free-zone’ school in Oregan and began shooting children and teachers. A dad of two girls at the school just happened to be driving by and grabbed his pistol, rushed into the school, and ‘neutralized’ the killer with several shots. He was a concealed pistol licensee. … the brave community member who entered the school and ended the carnage would have violated the law, but for a ‘choice-of-evils’ justification defense.” (10/20/26)
“A decision by Elon Musk led to restrictions on Ukraine’s use of SpaceX’s satellite communications network, people familiar with the matter told CBS News. The satellite service, which is used for drone operations, hitting certain targets and protecting sites in Ukraine, was slowed significantly last week. Musk held multiple conversations with administration officials leading up to the order, the sources said. He wanted clarity on the president’s thinking on the matter. Musk has expressed distaste with his company being seen as profiting from the continued war between Russia and Ukraine. It’s not clear how Musk’s order to curtail service was executed.” (10/20/26)
“Politicians routinely promise benefits to current voters at future taxpayers’ expense. The president’s offer simply strips away the pretense.” (10/20/26)
“You can plug a 1,500-watt space heater into your living room wall without asking anyone. Plug in a 1,200-watt solar panel, however, and Missouri treats you like a small power plant. The two aren’t identical, since the panel can push power back into the wiring. But that difference calls for a safety standard, not a permit process built for commercial grade rooftop arrays. Under Missouri’s net-metering law, a panel that feeds power into a home’s wiring is a ‘customer-generator.’ Its owner must file an interconnection application with a wiring diagram, wait for the utility’s approval, and have a qualified electrician or engineer certify the installation. Bright Saver, a nonprofit that sells plug-in solar kits, won’t ship them to Missouri until the law changes. Two bills filed in the 2026 legislative session would have fixed that.” (10/20/26)
Yesterday was a “zero-dollar day” in our annual fundraiser. We’re stuck, as of 5am, at $1,003 — 36% of the way to our $5,503 goal (once we’ve raised $2,751.50, supporter GL will “match funds” for the second half).
None of this “we’ll have to shut our doors if you don’t smash that donate button” stuff. We’ve been at this for nearly a quarter century as RRND and for more than 30 years as Freedom News Daily and Libernet before that. We plan to keep on going.
On the other hand, we gotta eat, and this is the one time of the year when we lean on you about that. The big prize for getting across the finish line is that I’ll stop badgering you about money completely for the rest of 2026, and mostly for the first nine months of 2027.
So:
PLEASE SUPPORT THE FREEDOM MOVEMENT’S DAILY NEWSPAPER!
“U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff arrived in St. Petersburg on Wednesday for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, as U.S. President Donald Trump pushes Kyiv to make a deal that stops the fighting. The visit came a day after Witkoff met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and some European leaders in the Norwegian capital, Oslo. … Russia and Ukraine are still far apart in their terms for a settlement, as their armies remain locked on the battlefield and they pummel each other with daily long-range strikes.” (10/21/26)
