It’s a “hybrid Thursday” at the freedom movement’s daily newspaper — a full email/social media edition below, and 20+ MORE news stories, opinion pieces, and audio/video links lined up for you at our web edition:
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“Israeli [pirates] stopped 14 boats carrying foreign activists and aid bound for Gaza, flotilla organisers said on Thursday, but 23 boats are continuing to sail towards the war-ravaged Palestinian enclave, according to the flotilla’s tracking system. … The flotilla is the latest sea-borne attempt to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza, much of which has been turned into a wasteland by almost two years of war. The flotilla’s organisers denounced Israel’s action as a ‘war crime.’ They said the [pirates] used aggressive tactics, including the use of water cannon, but that no one was harmed. ‘Multiple vessels … were illegally intercepted and boarded by Israeli [pirates] in international waters,’ the organisers said in a statement.” (10/02/25)
“Bitcoin jumped to its highest in over two months as the U.S. government shut down operations, likely setting the stage for a positive fiat liquidity impulse. The leading cryptocurrency has risen nearly 4% in the past 24 hours, with prices briefly rising to $119,455 for the first time since mid-August, CoinDesk data show. Other major tokens such as ether, XRP, solana and DOGE have risen 4% to 7%. The CoinDesk 20 Index (CD20) has jumped 5% to 4,217 points.” (10/02/25)
“The White House published an executive order on Wednesday vowing to defend Qatar in the event of an attack from another country …. The order, which President Donald Trump signed Monday, states that the White House will now consider ‘any armed attack’ on Qatar ‘as a threat to the peace and security of the United States.’ And, in the event of any attack, the U.S. would take ‘all lawful and appropriate measures — including diplomatic, economic and, if necessary, military — to defend the interests of the United States and the State of Qatar.’ Trump signed the executive order on the same day that he hosted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House and orchestrated a phone call with the Qatari prime minister during which Israel’s leader apologized for missile strikes last month targeting Hamas officials while they were in Doha for ceasefire talks.” (10/01/25)
“Concerns are again mounting over the safety of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which has been cut off from an external supply of electricity for more than a week. Captured by Russian forces early in the war, the facility no longer supplies power to the grid but still needs electricity to cool its six inactive reactors and spent fuel. Emergency generators are currently keeping the systems running. Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said conditions remain stable for now but warned that restoring reliable external power is vital.” (10/01/25)
“FBI Director Kash Patel is cutting ties with the Anti-Defamation League that the bureau forged under its former boss James Comey. ‘James Comey disgraced the FBI by writing ‘love letters’ to the ADL and embedding agents with an extreme group functioning like a terrorist organization and the disgraceful operation they ran spying on Americans. That was not law enforcement, it was activism dressed up as counterterrorism, and it put Americans in danger,’ Patel told Fox News Digital. … The ADL has recently faced backlash from Elon Musk and Republican lawmakers for listing Turning Point USA (TPUSA), Charlie Kirk’s organization, as an extremist group. As a result, the group removed its entire ‘Glossary of Extremism and Hate’ on Tuesday.” (10/01/25)
“Private payrolls saw their biggest decline in 2½ years during September, a further sign of labor market weakening that compounds the data blackout accompanying the U.S. government shutdown. Companies shed a seasonally adjusted 32,000 jobs during the month, the biggest slide since March 2023, payrolls processing firm ADP reported Wednesday. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been looking for an increase of 45,000. In addition to the drop in September, the August payrolls number was revised to a loss of 3,000 from an initially reported increase of 54,000.” (10/01/25)
“The Pentagon plans to impose strict nondisclosure agreements and random polygraph testing for scores of people in its headquarters, including many top officials, the Washington Post reported on Wednesday. All military service members, civilian employees and contract workers within the office of the defense secretary and the Joint Staff would be required to sign a nondisclosure agreement that ‘prohibits the release of non-public information without approval or through a defined process,’ the Post reported, citing a draft memo.” (10/01/25)
“An Alabama construction worker and U.S. citizen who says he was [abducted] twice by immigration agents within just a few weeks has filed a lawsuit in federal court demanding an end to Trump administration workplace raids targeting industries with large immigrant workforces. The class-action lawsuit, filed Tuesday by concrete worker Leo Garcia Venegas with the public interest law firm Institute for Justice, demands an end to what the firm calls ‘unconstitutional and illegal immigration enforcement tactics.'” (10/01/25)
“The United States government is taking a minority stake in Lithium Americas, a company that is developing one of the world’s largest lithium mines in northern Nevada. The Department of Energy will take a 5 percent equity stake in the miner, which is based in Vancouver. It will also take a 5 percent stake in the Thacker Pass lithium mining project, a joint venture with General Motors. … The equity stake in Lithium Americas is the latest example of the direct intervention by President Donald Trump’s administration in private companies.” (10/01/25)
