Source: Reuters
“Foreign ministers of some Muslim countries will meet in Istanbul on Monday to discuss the Gaza ceasefire and next steps there, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Friday, voicing concern over whether the ceasefire will continue. Speaking at a press conference in Ankara, Fidan said the gathering would include foreign ministers of countries represented at a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump in New York in September. … Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hinted last week at his opposition to any role for Turkish security forces in the Gaza Strip as part of a mission to monitor a U.S.-backed ceasefire with the Palestinian militant group Hamas.” (10/31/25)
https://archive.is/Tz5hR
Source: Free Association
by Sheldon Richman
“We may be sure that the ‘separation of powers’ doctrine is of no interest to the vulgar egotist currently residing in the White House, which happens to be undergoing the most glorious renovation the world has ever known. Or so we hear. But it stands to reason that the doctrine is vital to personal liberty. No imagination is needed to understand what concentrated political power is likely to mean for the individual and society. … If political power must exist, it must be contained, and the way to do that is dispersion among branches and levels.” (10/31/25)
https://sheldonfreeassociation.blogspot.com/2025/10/tgif-separating-powers.html
Source: ReImagining Liberty
“Liberalism’s Common Ground (w/ Matt Zwolinski and Matthew McManus).” (10/31/25)
https://audio2.redcircle.com/episodes/c45b691e-496e-4582-bb6b-2b30a5bfee8d/stream.mp3
Source: The Bulwark
by Mona Charen
“The United States is engaged in summary executions on the high seas. That bald fact is being obscured by talk of drug interdiction and war powers and whether we’re certain the drugs on those boats were headed for the United States or somewhere else. Let’s be clear. Even if we knew for certain that the boats being destroyed in the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific 1) contained illegal drugs; 2) those drugs were headed for our shores; and 3) all on board were criminals, it would still be grossly illegal and immoral to blast them out of the water as we have now done some 14 reported times, killing 61 people. This is not drug enforcement. This is murder.” (10/31/25)
https://www.thebulwark.com/p/trump-targeting-narcoterrorists-crime-itself-boats-caribbean-pacific
Hey, everyone …
We’ve got a short (18-item) “weekend special edition” for you today — mostly, as you might guess, because we’re running our one fundraiser of the year and every edition is a chance to 1) update you as to its status and 2) ask you to support the freedom movement’s daily newspaper.
Thanks to long-time supporter CF, whose $20 donation yesterday brings our total, as of 5am on Saturday, to $942.34!
We WERE shooting for $1,000 by today, and ARE hoping to hit $1,200 by Monday.
Once we reach $2,750.50, reader GL will “match funds” to get us to our $5,501 goal … and I’ll stop running my mouth at you about money entirely for the rest of the year and mostly until next October.
If you find our work here valuable, please return some of that value as financial support at:
In the meantime, enjoy your weekend!
Yours in liberty,
Tom Knapp
Publisher
Rational Review News Digest / Freedom News Daily
Source: Fox News
“A federal judge on Friday ordered the Trump administration to continue to fund Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) during the ongoing government shutdown, delivering near-term relief to roughly 42 million Americans who received the aid just hours before the funding was slated to dry up. The emergency order from U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani said the Trump administration must resume SNAP benefits, which were slated to expire Nov. 1, ruling that plaintiffs who filed the lawsuit are likely to succeed on their claims that the suspension of the benefits is unlawful. She ordered the government to provide the court no later than Monday, Nov. 3, with additional details on how it plans to keep the program funded, and whether the appropriated benefits must be distributed in full or in part. Moments later, a separate federal judge in Rhode Island ordered the Trump administration to continue paying for food stamps during the shutdown.” (10/31/25)
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/two-judges-rule-trump-admin-must-keep-snap-benefits-place-shutdown-drags
Source: The Daily Economy
by Peter C Earle
“Electricity prices have moved from the background of daily life to the front lines of politics. What was once a quiet household expense is now a visible burden and a potent symbol of policy failure. Prices are rising not because of corporate greed or runaway markets, but because regulation, politically directed investment, and top-down energy planning have collided with the explosive growth of artificial intelligence. Inflation, supply constraints, and government mandates have turned the grid — once a model of steady reliability — into an arena where economics, technology, and politics now clash.” (10/31/25)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/electricity-prices-are-the-new-inflation-flashpoint/
Source: The New Republic
“Trump ICE Raids Take Jarring Turn as Dem Gov Drops Scary New Warning.” (10/31/25)
https://newrepublic.com/article/202499/trump-ice-raids-take-jarring-turn-dem-gov-drops-scary-new-warning
Source: Engadget
Disney’s channels have gone dark on YouTube TV after the companies failed to reach an agreement by their October 30 deadline. The affected channels include ESPN, local ABC stations, ABC News, FX, NatGeo, Disney Channel and Freeform. ‘Last week Disney used the threat of a blackout on YouTube TV as a negotiating tactic to force deal terms that would raise prices on our customers,’ YouTube said in an announcement on its blog. ‘They’re now following through on that threat, suspending their content on YouTube TV.’ YouTube added that Disney’s decision harms its subscribers while benefiting its own live TV products, such as Hulu+Live TV and Fubo. In a statement sent to the Los Angeles Times, however, Disney accused Google’s YouTube TV of choosing to deny ‘subscribers the content they value most by refusing to pay fair rates for [its] channels, including ESPN and ABC.'” (10/31/25)
https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/youtube/youtube-tv-loses-espn-abc-and-other-disney-channels-113026329.html
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Paul R Pillar
“Even a limited pause in the unspeakable suffering that residents of the Gaza Strip have endured for two years is welcome, and thus it is unsurprising that the deal on Gaza that was reached in early October was widely and mistakenly termed a ‘peace agreement.’ The deal was instead a prisoner exchange and limited ceasefire. It came about because the slaughter and starvation of Gazans had gone so far that Hamas was willing to give up its scant leverage in the form of the remaining Israeli hostages. With their release, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu removed the main immediate domestic source of opposition to his policies, while the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) got a needed break before resuming operations.” (10/31/25)
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/netanyahu-gaza-2674252261/
