Freakonomics Radio, episode 650
Source: Freakonomics
“The Doctor Won’t See You Now.” (10/24/25)
https://freakonomics.com/podcast/the-doctor-wont-see-you-now/
No need for hysteria over federal cuts to homeless housing
Source: Orange County Register
by Steven Greenhut
“The upset is palpable. News reports that the Trump administration is planning to cut state grants to build permanent housing for homeless people has led state officials and homeless activists to claim that the likely decision will send thousands of people back on the streets just as California is turning the corner on this massive problem. … It’s time to take the proverbial chill pill. Yes, I believe the homelessness situation is a travesty and addressing it is a legitimate government function — for the sake of people living on the streets and the rest of us who want to reclaim public parks and sidewalks. But dig a little deeper and the cuts might not be as troubling as expected.” (10/24/25)
Dems’ Obamacare lies reveal how flimsy their government shutdown excuses actually are
Source: New York Post
by staff
“Strip away the lies about Obamacare subsidies set to expire this year, and Democrats’ main excuse for shutting the government goes up in smoke. Above all else, Dems claim they’re looking to protect health care, that expiring Bamcare subsidies will send premiums soaring and cost many their coverage. The truth? Premiums are expected to rise by $1,665, or 20%, on average, a Paragon Health Institute study found — yet the expiring subsidies account for only four of those percentage points, or just $333. Fact is, most ObamaCare subsidies are not expiring. What’s set to vanish is merely the added cash Democrats in Congress agreed to pay insurers (using taxpayer money) during COVID. That’s it.” (10/25/25)
How “anti-woke” laws and cancel culture combine to chill classroom speech
Source: Expression
by Michael Hurley
“Over the past several years, some politicians have tried to ban or limit discussion of controversial ideas in higher education, particularly those related to critical race theory, gender identity, and diversity, equity, and inclusion. FIRE has been on the front lines of this fight, opposing bills that target classroom speech and challenging those that become law. We’ve warned legislators that attempts to ban ideas from the college classroom are unconstitutional. As the Supreme Court explained, the First Amendment ‘does not tolerate laws that cast a pall of orthodoxy over the classroom.’” (10/24/25)
https://expression.fire.org/p/how-anti-woke-laws-and-cancel-culture
France: Two arrested over brazen jewel theft from Louvre
Source: CNN
“Police have arrested suspects in connection with the theft of priceless jewels from the Louvre museum, just as one attempted to leave the country, the Paris prosecutor’s office said. Thieves last week targeted the Louvre’s Apollo Gallery in a brazen daylight raid, fleeing with jewelry worth tens of millions in a matter of minutes. … French media first broke news of the arrests, with CNN-affiliate BFMTV reporting that two suspects in their thirties and known to police were detained on Saturday evening local time. At least two other individuals suspected of being involved in the heist remain at large, according to BFMTV.” (10/26/25)
https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/26/europe/louvre-robbery-france-arrests-intl
System Update, episode 537
Source: System Update
“Glenn Takes Your Questions on Bill Ackman’s Meddling in the NYC Election, Dems’ Refusal to Endorse Zohran; MAGA Abandoning ‘America First,’ and More.” (10/24/25)
https://rumble.com/v70qpfg-glenn-takes-your-questions-system-update-537.html
Republics, democracies, and the dangers of all human government
Source: The Price of Liberty
by Nathan Barton
“[A]lthough republics are limited in power and have other features far superior to democracies, they are still mandatory human government, and only marginally better than unbridled democracy. As TPOL has recently stated, we need no kings, no presidents, no chairmen, no prime ministers. And we do not need people who claim that The People or a majority or a plurality of people can have the power of a king or prime minister or any other ‘ruler.’ As Mama Liberty pointed out, we have a hard time governing our individual selves, let alone other people. And as TPOL also points out, the intelligence of a committee (or any significant group of people) is calculated by taking the IQ of the smartest person in the group and dividing it by the total number of persons (or feet, or fingers) in the group.” (10/24/25)
Trump says he’s “open” to meeting with Kim Jong Un during Asia trip
Source: Fox News
“President Donald Trump said Saturday that he is ‘open’ to meeting with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un at the demilitarized zone (DMZ) while he is in South Korea during his trip to Asia. ‘I’d be open to it, 100%. I got along very well with him, Kim Jong Un,’ Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One. ‘They don’t have a lot of telephone service,’ the president said. ‘They have a lot of nuclear weapons, but not a lot of telephone service.’ Trump, who departed for Asia on Friday night, told reporters that they could ‘put out the word’ that he was willing to meet the dictator.” (10/25/25)
Tribal Markers
Source: David Friedman’s Substack
by David Friedman
“Red Tribe drives a pickup truck, SUV or sports car, Blue Tribe drives an EV or at least a hybrid, probably a Prius. A cybertruck, both EV and pickup truck, codes Red. Red Tribe owns guns. Blue Tribe doesn’t own guns, thinks that people who do are being stupid. Blue Tribe owns sailboats, Red Tribe power boats. … Blue Tribe believe that they are moral relativists, take seriously the ‘you shouldn’t stop the Eskimo from putting his grandfather on an ice floe to die because in his moral system that is not wicked’ argument. Like almost all humans they are actually moral realists, take it for granted that their moral beliefs are true, including the belief that you shouldn’t …. Red Tribe are also moral realists but it never occurs to them that they shouldn’t be.” (10/24/25)
Trump’s Faltering Economy
Source: The American Prospect
by Robert Kuttner
“The Consumer Price Index for September increased at an annual rate of 3.0 percent, the Labor Department reported this morning. This was an increase from 2.9 percent in August, 2.7 percent in July, and around 2.3 percent this past spring, before Trump’s perverse policies began to bite. Inflation of 3 percent doesn’t seem too bad, but it conceals a great deal of softness in the economy. That weakness will be sufficiently worrisome for the Fed to likely proceed with its planned quarter-point rate cut when the Federal Open Market Committee meets next week. But after that, both inflation and unemployment are likely to worsen, leaving the Fed with no good options. On the inflation front, Trump’s on-again, off-again tariffs have yet to fully bite, but their impact is likely to increase over time.” (10/24/25)