Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 10/28/25
Source: Antiwar.com
“IDF Chief: ‘Gaza War Not Yet Over,’ US Bombs Somalia Twice, US Bombers Near Venezuela, and More.” (10/28/25)
Shareholder Primacy
Source: David Friedman’s Substack
by David Friedman
“How can decentralized coordination incorporate firms as well as individuals and still take account of costs and benefits to everyone? For the firm as well as for the individual the price it must pay for inputs, including labor, transfers to it the cost to others of it using them. For the firm as for the individual, the price it is paid for its outputs transfers to it the benefits to others of what it produces. But the decision makers, the executives and board of directors, are not, like the individual producer, collecting the difference between revenue and cost. What should they be maximizing in order for decentralized coordination to take into account the effect on everyone affected of decisions they make? How can we make it in their interest to do so?” (10/27/25)
Shutdown puzzle: When will Democrats get back in touch with reality?
Source: New York Post
by staff
“As the government shutdown enters its fifth week, we wonder when Democrats in Congress will regain touch with reality, or if that’s even a thing for most of them anymore. LAX shut down for hours last weekend thanks to an air-traffic-controller shortage; flight delays and cancellations will only get worse nationwide the longer this goes on. And the pain is starting to hit what used to be core Democratic values: Food stamps (SNAP) won’t be funded after this week, nor Head Start.” [editor’s note: The Republicans control the White House and both houses of Congress. They can end the shutdown any time they want it ended. Right now, they don’t want it ended – TLK] (10/27/25)
TX: Paxton sues Tylenol makers over autism claims
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed a lawsuit against Kenvue and Johnson & Johnson, claiming the use of Tylenol leads to higher risk of autism and that the over-the-counter drug is deceptively marketed to pregnant women as safe. Many medical experts have disputed such claims. The lawsuit, dated Monday, alleges Johnson & Johnson and Tylenol maker Kenvue, which separated from Johnson & Johnson in 2023, knew for decades ‘that acetaminophen — Tylenol’s active ingredient — is dangerous to unborn children and young children. Yet they hid this danger and deceptively marketed Tylenol as the only safe painkiller for pregnant women.’ In the lawsuit, Paxton pointed to the Trump administration’s claims about acetaminophen’s risks, saying that ‘the federal government confirmed what Defendants knew for years: acetaminophen use during pregnancy likely causes conditions like [autism] and [attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder].'” (10/28/25)
The engines of state capitalism, part 6: the shift to authoritarian statism
Source: The Peaceful Revolutionist
by David S D’Amato
“We have discussed the state-capital system’s sleight of hand, through which the technical or formal separation between the dominating group and the exploiting group obscures the character of the system. But the twenty-first century increasingly seems to be an age when this kind of obscurantism is no longer either operable or necessary, where the state can reveal itself and its true character, openly tipping the balance in economic affairs. American leaders have begun to see our traditional form of capitalism (perhaps ‘liberal’ capitalism) – already shot through with state intervention and special privilege, but hiding it in the so-called private sector – as outmoded, as holding the country back in a contest with, for example, China’s ruling Communist Party.” (10/27/25)
https://dsdamato.substack.com/p/the-engines-of-state-capitalism-part-45b
Trump appeals his criminal conviction in New York hush money case
Source: Politico
“President Donald Trump on Monday asked a New York appeals court to overturn his criminal conviction in the Manhattan hush money case that made him a felon as he plotted a path back to the White House last year. In a 96-page filing, Trump’s lawyers relied on many of the same arguments that Trump previously made before, during and immediately following the 2024 trial, including that the conviction should be thrown out in light of the Supreme Court’s ruling on presidential immunity and that the judge who oversaw the trial should have recused himself because he made political contributions. … The appeal is just one of Trump’s attempts to overturn his conviction last May of 34 counts of business fraud for his effort to conceal a hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels.” (10/28/25)
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/10/28/donald-trump-appeal-hush-money-conviction-00624382
System Update, episode 538
Source: System Update
“The Unhinged Reactions to Zohran’s Rise; Dems Struggle to Find a Personality; DHS, on Laura Loomer’s Orders, Arrests UK Journalist and Israel Critic.” (10/27/25)
The State of Liberty in America vs. Europe
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Paul Schwennesen
“Some ninety years ago, Rose Wilder Lane penned ‘Give Me Liberty,’ extolling the remarkable freedoms Americans had, especially in contrast to their European counterparts. Written in the 1930s, Lane’s piece is both a stirring defense of American freedoms and a damning portrait of European societies still writhing under the weight of bureaucratic statism. Written just as the state interventions of Roosevelt’s New Deal began to bite, her notes stand as a useful portal into a different era — challenging and checking our current assumptions about the trajectory of transatlantic liberty. In a nutshell, Europe has leapt forward since Lane’s day, while America has wallowed, indeed probably regressed, on the frontiers of individual liberty. Revisited today, Lane’s observations prompt an uncomfortable question: what if the roles have reversed?” (10/27/25)
https://fee.org/articles/the-state-of-liberty-in-america-vs-europe/
Judge orders senior gang shot-caller to meet her daily to discuss use of force
Source: SFGate
“U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis on Tuesday ordered a senior U.S. Border Patrol official to meet her daily ‘to hear about how the day went’ after weeks of confrontations between immigration agents and the public in the Chicago area. The immigration sweeps from Operation Midway Blitz have produced more than 1,800 arrests and complaints of excessive force. Ellis also asked Border Patrol’s Greg Bovino to submit by Friday all use-of-force reports from Border Patrol agents involved in the operation from Sept. 2 through Tuesday. The courtroom on Tuesday gave the feeling of a principal’s office as Ellis detailed examples of incidents where she felt her previous order restricting the use of force, including tear gas, was not being followed.” (10/28/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/politics/article/the-latest-trump-meets-with-newly-elected-21123519.php
FDA’s Bizarre Decisions about Nicotine Pouches Lead to the Wrong Products on Shelves
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Roger Bate
“A walk through a dozen convenience stores in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, says a lot about how US nicotine policy actually works. Only about one in eight nicotine-pouch products for sale is legal. The rest are unauthorized — but they’re not all the same. Some are brightly branded, with uncertain ingredients, not approved by any Western regulator, and clearly aimed at impulse buyers. Others — like Sweden’s NOAT — are the opposite: muted, well-made, adult-oriented, and already approved for sale in Europe. Yet in the United States, NOAT has been told to stop selling. In September 2025, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued the company a warning letter for offering nicotine pouches without marketing authorization.” (10/27/25)