Source: San Diego Union-Tribune
“U.S. consumer confidence declined again in September as Americans’ pessimism over inflation and the weakening job market continued to grow. The Conference Board said Tuesday that its consumer confidence index fell by 3.6 points to 94.2 in September, down from August’s 97.8. That’s a bigger drop than analysts were expecting and the lowest reading since April, when President Donald Trump rolled out his sweeping tariff policy. A measure of Americans’ short-term expectations for their income, business conditions and the job market fell to 73.4, remaining well below 80, the marker that can signal a recession ahead. Consumers’ assessments of their current economic situation dipped by 7 points to 125.4.” (09/30/25)
https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2025/09/30/us-consumer-confidence-declines-again/
Source: EconLog
by Pierre Lemieux
“A VAT is a consumption tax, similar to a sales tax, charged to final domestic consumers within a given territory. It is different from an ordinary sales tax in that it is collected from businesses at each stage where value is added along the chain of production. But it is a consumption tax and carries no net burden on businesses (except in terms of regulatory cost).” (09/30/25)
https://www.econlib.org/what-is-a-value-added-tax
Source: Town Hall
by Derek Hunter
“The story opens, ‘The Mormon Church shooter who killed at least four people in an attack on Sunday had a Trump sign outside his house and wore MAGA merch’. After weeks of being lectured by the left about how it was ghoulish to point out that mentally disturbed leftists were murdering people for political reasons, suddenly they saw a Google Street View image of what kind of looks like a ‘Trump/Pence’ sign on a fence and they knew all they needed to know: Donald Trump had inspired one of his followers to murder Mormons. Missing, naturally, was anything Trump has ever said about Mormons. Democrats didn’t even try. If they had, they probably could have come up with something critical of Mitt Romney which was even too flimsy for them to try.” (09/30/25)
https://townhall.com/columnists/derekhunter/2025/09/30/democrats-are-always-guilty-of-what-they-accuse-us-of-doing-always-n2664159
Source: France 24 [French state media]
“South Africa’s ambassador to France, formerly a long-serving cabinet minister, was found dead on Tuesday outside a Paris hotel after the window of his room in the high rise building was forced open, prosecutors said. Nkosinathi Emmanuel Nathi Mthethwa, 58, usually known as Nathi Mthethwa, had ‘reserved a room on the 22nd floor whose secured window had been forced open,’ the office of the Paris prosecutor told AFP. … A source close to the case, who asked not to be named, said the ambassador suffered from depression and his death could have been suicide. An investigation has been opened.” (09/30/25)
https://www.france24.com/en/france/20250930-south-african-ambassador-to-france-found-dead-at-foot-of-paris-hotel-tower
Source: The Bryan Hyde Show
“Eric Peters from Eric Peters Autos joins me to talk about current happenings. We cover the growing pinch of inflation, our shrinking automotive choices and how to build self-reliance in your home and community.” (09/30/25)
https://www.podbean.com/ep/pb-9utx3-197d206
Source: The Daily Economy
by Kevin Lavery
“On May 9, 1959, Aurora Vargas was forcibly carried out of her home by police officers. There was no clear justification for this; Vargas had broken no laws, and her family’s home was not under foreclosure. This clear violation of property rights is common in countries ruled by totalitarian dictatorships, but this scene occurred in Los Angeles, California. Aurora Vargas and her family were evicted from their home by LA County Sheriffs to clear the way for what would become Dodger Stadium. Although the Vargas family was given $17,500 as compensation, few would dare to say that this displacement was just.” (09/30/25)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/blight-and-renewal-how-the-state-declared-war-on-the-disadvantaged/
Source: The Hill
by James Zirin
“On the face of it, there should be no prohibition against the chief law enforcement officer of the country indicting someone he doesn’t like. And as my old boss in the U.S. Attorney’s office, Bob Morgenthau, famously said of his pursuit of Trump’s unsavory mentor Roy Cohn, ‘A man is not immune from prosecution just because a United States attorney happens not to like him.’ Comey’s lawyers will doubtless mount a motion to dismiss on grounds of selective prosecution — that Comey was singled out for prosecution for political or other base purposes. Normally, that’s a hard one to prove, and a harder one to win, but not in this case. It is typically difficult or impossible to prove that the government had some impermissible motive. But here, Trump gave Comey the selective prosecution argument on a silver platter.” (09/30/25)
https://thehill.com/opinion/criminal-justice/5527278-comeys-indictment-corrupt-attack/
Source: South China Morning Post [Hong Kong]
“Chinese President Xi Jinping issued a sharp warning over the issue of Taiwan in his annual National Day address on Tuesday, saying Beijing must firmly oppose ‘external interference’ and safeguard its territorial integrity. … He said Beijing must deepen cross-strait exchanges with Taiwan, ‘firmly oppose separatist activities seeking ‘Taiwan independence’ and external interference, and resolutely safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity,’ according to his speech released by state news agency Xinhua.” [editor’s note: Taiwan is not now and never has been part of the People’s Republic of China, and hasn’t been ruled by any mainland Chinese regime since 1895 – TLK] (09/30/25)
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3327431/national-day-address-xi-warns-against-taiwan-independence-external-interference
Source: Yascha Mounk
“David Bau on How Artificial Intelligence Works.” (09/30/25)
https://yaschamounk.substack.com/p/david-bau
Source: The Dispatch
by Gil Guerra
“One of the first actions President Donald Trump took upon resuming office in January was to sign an executive order that characterized U.S. foreign aid programs as ‘not aligned with American interests’ and marked the beginning of a dramatic reduction in U.S. foreign assistance. Just nine months later however, the Trump administration has committed $20 billion in emergency financial assistance to Argentina in a move that outraged farmers reeling from a collapse in soybean sales to China that Argentina has exacerbated.” (09/30/25)
https://thedispatch.com/article/united-states-argentina-bailout-explained/
