Hooked on the State

Source: Free Association
by Sheldon Richman

“Since the government partial shutdown began, we’ve been seeing panicked headlines about states being denied federal money for promised or already-started energy and infrastructure projects. Other sorts of subsidies are also in jeopardy. You’d think that not getting money from Washington was the worst thing that could happen. Oh my goodness, federalism might be breaking out! … It’s a good time to remember, or realize for the first time, that throughout the 20th century, American classical liberals, or libertarians, warned of the dangers of national funding for every sort of thing. ” (10/10/250

https://sheldonfreeassociation.blogspot.com/2025/10/tgif-hooked-on-state.html

Trump directs Pentagon to use “all available funds” to ensure troops are paid during shutdown

Source: SFGate

“President Donald Trump said Saturday that he has directed the Defense Department to use ‘all available funds’ to ensure U.S. troops are paid Wednesday despite the government shutdown, a short-term fix that will not apply to the hundreds of thousands of federal workers who have been furloughed. Trump said in a social media post that he was acting because ‘our Brave Troops will miss the paychecks they are rightfully due on October 15th.’ The Republican president’s directive removes one of the pressure points that could have forced Congress into action, likely ensuring that the shutdown — now in its 11th day and counting — extends into a third week and possibly beyond. But no similar action seems forthcoming for federal employees also working without pay while thousands are now being laid off during the lapse in government operations. The White House budget office started the layoffs on Friday.” (10/11/25)

https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/trump-directs-the-pentagon-to-use-all-available-21096091.php

When Presidents Kill

Source: Antiwar.com
by Andrew P Napolitano

“During the past six weeks, President Donald Trump has ordered U.S. troops to attack and destroy four speed boats in the Caribbean Sea, 1,500 miles from the United States. The president revealed that the attacks were conducted without warning, were intended not to stop but to kill all persons on the boats, and succeeded in their missions. Trump has claimed that his victims are ‘narco-terrorists’ who were planning to deliver illegal drugs to willing American buyers. He apparently believes that because these folks are presumably foreigners, they have no rights that he must honor and he may freely kill them. As far as we know, none of these nameless faceless persons was charged or convicted of any federal crime. We don’t know if any were Americans. But we do know that all were just extrajudicially executed. Can the president legally do this? In a word: NO.” (10/10/25)

https://original.antiwar.com/andrew-p-napolitano/2025/10/09/when-presidents-kill-2/

The Peacemaker in Chief

Source: Town Hall
by Michael Reagan

“It was fun watching Kaitlan Collins of CNN the other day as she marveled at Donald Trump’s boundless energy and accessibility. Collins recently said Trump (unlike his sleepy and media-shy predecessor) hardly ever sleeps and is super-accessible to the press. But I doubt if Ms. Collins has suddenly decided that Trump isn’t so bad after all. The CNN anchor and the rest of the liberal mainstream news media will never forgive Trump for his New York-size ego, his unfiltered talk, his mean public persona or his great sense of humor. And the most deranged of them will never stop believing he is a fascist who’s intent on becoming a dictator, which is absurd.” (10/11/25)

https://townhall.com/columnists/michaelreagan/2025/10/11/the-peacemaker-in-chief-n2664791

Kremlin warns the West over “dramatic” escalation moment in Ukraine war

Source: Reuters

“The Kremlin said on Sunday Russia was deeply concerned about the possibility of the U.S. supplying Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine, warning that the war had reached a dramatic moment with escalation from all sides. … [Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry] Peskov said that if Tomahawks were launched at Russia, Moscow would have to take into account that some versions of the missile can carry nuclear warheads. … Russian President Vladimir Putin said earlier this month that it was impossible to use Tomahawks without the direct participation of U.S. military personnel and so any supply of such missiles to Ukraine would trigger a ‘qualitatively new stage of escalation.'” (10/12/25)

https://archive.is/BxD9F

It’s time to impeach Donald Trump again

Source: The Peaceful Revolutionist
by David S D’Amato

“In our political system, impeachment is designed as a check on executive overreach, a constitutional remedy for ‘high crimes and misdemeanors,’ which has been understood to encompass abuses of office that threaten the foundations of a republican government. Importantly, the high crimes and misdemeanors standard doesn’t necessarily require criminal or unlawful conduct, and a president’s neglect of duty can meet the test. In Federalist No. 65, Alexander Hamilton, writing as Publius, made it clear that impeachment is a specifically political process of inquest into the public conduct of public officials, that is, again, that the conduct in question need not even break the law. I’m afraid it is time to impeach Donald Trump again, this time removing him from office.” (10/11/25)

https://dsdamato.substack.com/p/its-time-to-impeach-donald-trump

Year-End Fundraiser Update

Hey, everyone … we had a “zero-dollar day” yesterday — our year-und fundraiser total remains, as of 5:30am on Wednesday, at $522.50.

We’re about 20% of the way to our goal: Once we reach $2,750.50, reader GL will “match funds” to get us to $5,501.

The quicker we get there, the quicker I get to stop hectoring you about money entirely for the rest of the year and mostly until NEXT October, so please support the freedom movement’s daily newspaper at:

https://news.rationalreview.com/support-rrnd

Our “mini-goal” for this morning was $165.13 in donations, getting us to the 25% point($687.63). We obviously missed that, so how about TOMORROW morning? That URL again:

https://news.rationalreview.com/support-rrnd

Have a great day!

Yours in liberty,
Tom Knapp
Publisher
Rational Review News Digest / Freedom News Daily

Three women, three Nobel Peace Prize winners

Source: Christian Science Monitor
by staff

“The winner of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize, Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, has many striking similarities to two previous winners: Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi and Iran’s Narges Mohammadi. Yes, all three are women. Yes, all are champions for democracy inside dictatorships. And all are either in prison or in hiding. On those aspects alone, they are worthy of a Nobel and inspiring to millions of followers. Yet what really links them in a meaningful way is how they describe a mental strength that helps them stand for civic virtues such as individual freedom and democratic equality.'” (10/10/25)

https://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/the-monitors-view/2025/1010/Three-women-three-Nobel-Peace-Prize-winners