“A federal judge on Friday ordered the Trump administration to continue to fund Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) during the ongoing government shutdown, delivering near-term relief to roughly 42 million Americans who received the aid just hours before the funding was slated to dry up. The emergency order from U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani said the Trump administration must resume SNAP benefits, which were slated to expire Nov. 1, ruling that plaintiffs who filed the lawsuit are likely to succeed on their claims that the suspension of the benefits is unlawful. She ordered the government to provide the court no later than Monday, Nov. 3, with additional details on how it plans to keep the program funded, and whether the appropriated benefits must be distributed in full or in part. Moments later, a separate federal judge in Rhode Island ordered the Trump administration to continue paying for food stamps during the shutdown.” (10/31/25)
Disney’s channels have gone dark on YouTube TV after the companies failed to reach an agreement by their October 30 deadline. The affected channels include ESPN, local ABC stations, ABC News, FX, NatGeo, Disney Channel and Freeform. ‘Last week Disney used the threat of a blackout on YouTube TV as a negotiating tactic to force deal terms that would raise prices on our customers,’ YouTube said in an announcement on its blog. ‘They’re now following through on that threat, suspending their content on YouTube TV.’ YouTube added that Disney’s decision harms its subscribers while benefiting its own live TV products, such as Hulu+Live TV and Fubo. In a statement sent to the Los Angeles Times, however, Disney accused Google’s YouTube TV of choosing to deny ‘subscribers the content they value most by refusing to pay fair rates for [its] channels, including ESPN and ABC.'” (10/31/25)
“Tanzania’s main opposition party has claimed that hundreds of people were killed in protests following this week’s disputed elections, while the United Nations says it has ‘credible reports’ at least 10 people died. ‘As we speak, the number of deaths in [Dar-es-Salaam] is around 350 and there are more than 200 in Mwanza,’ Chadema party spokesperson John Kitoka told the AFP news agency on Friday, referring to the commercial capital in northern Tanzania. ‘If we add the figures from other places in the country, we arrive at a total of around 700 deaths.’ … Demonstrations erupted on Wednesday in Dar-es-Salaam, a city of more than seven million people, after disputed and chaotic elections that saw the two main opposition parties barred from participating.” (10/31/25)
“President Donald Trump has called on Republicans in the US Senate to scrap the filibuster [sic] rule in a bid to end the ongoing government shutdown, now entering its 30th day. The filibuster [sic] is a long-standing senate rule that requires 60 of the 100 members to approve most legislation. With a 53-47 majority, removing the rule would allow Republicans to pass a funding bill without Democratic support. … Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune has previously rejected calls to change the filibuster [sic] rule to end the shutdown.” [editor’s note: The filibuster involves extended speeches to delay voting. The 60-vote rule is for “cloture,” which ends debate, but there need not be a filibuster occurring for cloture to fail of 60 votes. They’re not the same thing – TLK] (10/31/25)
“Major crypto ETFs (Bitcoin and Ethereum) posted $672 million in combined outflows on Thursday, October 30. BlackRock’s IBIT ETF lost $291 million, and ETHA shed $118 million. Meanwhile, a $500 million telecom-financing fraud tied to BlackRock’s private-credit arm has rocked institutional markets, raising new concerns about risk management and due diligence. … As institutional money exits Bitcoin ETFs, leveraged traders now face more risk. Whale Insider noted on X that more than $3 billion in Bitcoin short positions could be liquidated if the price reaches $112,600. With Bitcoin trading near $109,287 as of this writing, it is just 2.48% away from this threshold. Therefore, even a modest rally might trigger a short squeeze and rapid market turnaround.” (10/31/25)
“Prince Andrew is being stripped of his titles and must surrender his lease to Royal Lodge, the mansion in Windsor where he lives, according to a statement from Buckingham Palace. ‘Prince Andrew will now be known as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor,’ the statement said. ‘Formal notice has now been served to surrender the lease and he will move to alternative private accommodation.’ Andrew had recently said he would stop using his royal titles and honors, including the Duke of York, but Thursday’s statement on behalf of King Charles III and Queen Camilla initiated the formal process of revoking all his titles, including prince. … Andrew has come under intense scrutiny over his friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and accusations from Virginia Giuffre that she was trafficked to engage in sex with the prince while she was underage. Andrew has denied the allegations.” (10/30/25)
“A federal judge in Boston indicated Thursday that she will intervene in a high-stakes fight over the Trump administration’s decision to not tap into billions of dollars in emergency funds to help cover food stamp benefits for tens of millions of Americans in November. ‘Right now, Congress has put money in an emergency fund for an emergency, and it’s hard for me to understand how this isn’t an emergency when there’s no money and a lot of people are needing their SNAP benefits,’ US District Judge Indira Talwani said near the end of a hearing, referring to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, the formal name for food stamps. Though the judge’s options vary, one possibility is that she issues an emergency order that essentially compels the administration to tap into the emergency funds.” (10/30/25)
“Russia launched a barrage of drones and missiles at Ukraine’s energy infrastructure and other targets, forcing nationwide power restrictions and killing seven people, including a seven-year-old girl, Ukrainian officials said on Thursday. Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko accused Moscow of targeting Ukrainian people and power supplies as the cold winter months approach. … Russia’s defence ministry said its forces launched a strike on facilities of the Ukrainian military-industrial complex overnight. Moscow denies targeting civilians and has said its strikes are responses to Ukraine’s attacks on Russian infrastructure.” (10/30/25)
“Authorities in Tennessee have dropped a felony charge against a man who was jailed for more than a month over a Facebook post he made about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. … Bushart spent more than five weeks in jail before being released.” (10/30/25)
It’s a FIREHOSE FRIDAY at the freedom movement’s daily newspaper. With FAR too much content to fit in a regular daily email edition — 111 news stories, opinion pieces, and audio/video links as I write this, maybe more by the time you read it — all of our content is only available at the web edition today.
As of 5:30am today, we are 1/3 of the way through our year-end fundraiser period (this is the ONLY fundraiser we run each year), and just a hair over 1/3 of the way to our goal. We’re at $922.34. The goal is $5,501, but once we’ve raised $2,750.50, supporter GL will “match funds” for the other half.
“Mini-goal”: Let’s make the $1,000 mark by tomorrow morning. We’re only $77.66 away. If you haven’t supported the freedom movement’s daily newspaper this year (maybe ever), help out at:
I’ll probably do a short “weekend special edition” tomorrow or Sunday, but I’ll go ahead and set a second “mini-goal” right now: $1,200 by Monday.
Why the “mini-goals?” The theory is that maybe they help create a little momentum. We seem to be having more “zero-dollar days” than usual this year, so I’m doing what I can.
Remember, the sooner we hit our goal, the sooner I stop talking about money ENTIRELY for the rest of the year and MOSTLY until next October. If you find the idea of me being silent kinda scary, no better day than Halloween to help make that happen at:
