Source: Antiwar.com
by Kelley Beaucar Vlahos
“‘Neocon’ may have become a dirty word, but after a few years, their agenda is back in play. And no doubt many of their players, too. After being banished to the wilderness for plunging the nation into a 20-year war, the neocons fell flat with the Trump base in Ukraine and lost the thread with MAGA in Israel. Venezuela and the Western Hemisphere are another matter. The neocons have evolved, and regime change is back on the menu. How? Rather than pushing ‘democracy’ and ‘freedom’ like George W. Bush’s famous second inaugural speech at the height of the Iraq War, neoconservatives have adopted the prevailing MAGA/New Right language of ‘America First’ to inject regime change back into fashion.” (10/27/25)
https://original.antiwar.com/kelley_beaucar_vlahos/2025/10/26/the-neocons-have-finally-found-a-way-into-maga-hearts/
Source: CNN
“A US Navy helicopter and a fighter jet both crashed in the same half hour on Sunday during separate routine operations over the South China Sea, with all crew members safely rescued, the Navy’s Pacific Fleet said. The Navy has launched an investigation into the cause of both incidents that occurred over strategic waters seen as a potential flashpoint for global conflict. … US President Donald Trump called the back-to-back crashes ‘very unusual’ and raised the possibility of a fuel problem while speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, en route from Malaysia to Japan on Monday. ‘They think it might be bad fuel. We’re gonna find out. Nothing to hide, sir,’ Trump said in response to a question.” (10/26/25)
https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/26/politics/navy-aircraft-crash-south-china-sea
Source: Pink Flame of Liberty
“Fear and Loathing on the LNC — JC Edition.” (10/26/25)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZqTpK4p-GU
Source: Orange County Register
by Matt Fleming
“Throughout his time as Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent has regularly fought against claims that the tariffs adored by his boss, President Donald Trump, are really just taxes on consumers. ‘Tariffs are a surcharge, not a tax,’ Bessent told a reporter this week. ‘They could be paid by the exporter, they could be paid by the country.’ Bessent likely thinks that’s a great point, but he shouldn’t drop the mic just yet. Regardless of the word games, Americans are suffering from the end result. We are paying higher prices as a result of Trump’s tariffs. According to analysis from the Tax Foundation, Trump’s tariffs have raised consumer prices by 4.9 percentage points. … make no mistake: tariffs are taxes.” (10/26/25)
https://archive.is/QlDtV
Source: New York Post
by Miranda Devine
“Democrats have lost their minds. This time last year, the conversation was about what is the acceptable number of apartment complexes in Colorado that we can tolerate being taken over by Venezuelan gangs of illegal migrants. Now the big issue is the president’s big, beautiful ballroom. The ‘No Kings’ folk are melting down. In just two days last week, there were 10,000 comments on The Washington Post’s website railing against the ballroom, which is being built at a cost to the taxpayer of zero dollars. ‘I can’t wait for the day they hold Trump’s funeral in that gaudy ballroom,’ was a typical ‘recommended’ comment from someone calling herself CindyintheSuburbs. Donald Trump is living inside their heads.” [editor’s note: He’s obviously living in Devine’s head. Alone, with nothing else in there – TLK] (10/26/25)
https://nypost.com/2025/10/26/opinion/miranda-devine-trump-derangement-syndrome-has-morphed-into-something-far-more-lethal-trump-projection-disorder/
Source: Reuters
“Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Monday she spoke with U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday and that the two agreed to extend a looming trade deadline ‘for a few more weeks’ to discuss pending issues with Washington. The U.S. agreed in July to pause for 90 days an increase in tariffs on some [American buyers of] Mexican goods to 30% — from 25% — as the two countries continued talks aimed at reaching a new trade deal. That pause was set to end this week.” (10/27/25)
https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/mexicos-sheinbaum-trump-spoke-about-pending-trade-demands-2025-10-27/
Source: exile in happy valley
by Nicky Reid
“To put it bluntly, this wasn’t a peace deal; it was an attempt to cover up an ongoing genocide by dressing the tombstones of the killing fields in shiny yellow ribbons, and Trump’s supposed opponents in the EU and on the mainstream liberal media backed it because they are all just as complicit in this heinous slaughter as the man they pretend to oppose in front of the cameras. While the US is by far the largest financier of Benjamin Netanyahu’s crusade against impoverished infants, kicking up $22 billion in military aid to his regime since October 2023, the rest of the ‘free’ world did their part too.” (10/26/25)
https://exileinhappyvalley.blogspot.com/2025/10/a-false-and-toxic-peace-spreads-across.html
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“Mali’s military government has announced schools and universities nationwide will be closed for two weeks, as the landlocked country continues to suffer from the effects of a crippling blockade on fuel imports imposed by an armed group in September. Education Minister Amadou Sy Savane said on Sunday the suspension until November 9 was ‘due to disruptions in fuel supplies that are affecting the movement of school staff.’ … It comes nearly two months after the Jama’at Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM) armed group, one of the several operating in the Sahel, declared a blockade on fuel imported from neighbouring countries. Since then, the al-Qaeda affiliate has been targeting fuel tankers coming mainly from Senegal and the Ivory Coast, through which most imported goods transit.” (10/27/25)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/10/27/mali-shuts-schools-as-fuel-blockade-imposed-by-fighters-paralyses-country
Source: Free Talk Live
“SNAP funding to end November 1st :: messed up healthcare system :: whiskey rebellion :: individual rights :: Sarah from NM calls about automated police tech :: Skeeter calls to ‘destroy’ libertarianism, fails again :: China pays too much for water plant in Nashua NH? :: Parker from CT calls about Chinese buying mineral rights and ‘national security’ :: Dave Ridley calls about AI risk, was asked to submit an article to reason magazine :: $14 billion in bitcoin seized from Cambodian ‘pig butchering’ scam operation :: 2025-10-26 Hosts: Stu, Penguin, Angelo.” (10/26/25)
https://soundcloud.com/freetalklive/ftl2025-10-26
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Michael Alcorn
“A ballot measure passed in Massachusetts last November gives [sic] rideshare drivers the right to unionize. At first glance, this sounds good. After all, ‘supporting workers’ is a message that resonates with many of us, but the reality is worrisome for rideshare drivers who value flexibility and independence. … I saw firsthand at Trader Joe’s what happens when a union inserts itself where it isn’t wanted. If Massachusetts wants to help rideshare drivers, it should protect their flexibility, not undermine it by forcing independent rideshare drivers into a union they never voted for.” [editor’s note: All workers always have a right to join a union. Whether they can get other workers to also join it, or get an employer to bargain exclusively with it, isn’t a matter of the unionized workers’ rights, it’s a matter of everyone else’s – TLK] (10/26/25)
https://fee.org/articles/massachusetts-voters-support-unions-for-uber-drivers/
