“The defense acquisition system as you know it is dead,” Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said in a major speech delivered to industry representatives Nov. 7 at the National War College in Washington, D.C.

The US government shutdown is inflicting “far worse” economic damage than had been estimated and could cut fourth quarter GDP growth in half, White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett has warned.

The 38-day shutdown, the longest in US history, is hitting travel, hotel and construction sectors particularly hard, he told Fox Business in an interview on Friday.

”The impact on the economy is far worse than we expected because it’s gone on for so long,” he said.

The repercussions of the shutdown could slice 1% to 1.5% from US GDP growth in the October-December period, Hassett said, citing recent estimates from Goldman Sachs.

“We were going to have at least 3% growth in the fourth quarter… now we’re expecting something like half that,” he added.

Former prime minister (and journalist) Tony Abbott has published a political history of Australia.

Across 18 well-written chapters, he narrates the nation’s trajectory, starting with the establishment of a penal colony in 1788 and ending with the failed Voice referendum of 2023. Abbott’s aim is to restore national pride by showing that our past was “far more good than bad”.

Jane Lydon

On 7 March, Syrian security forces and affiliated armed factions perpetrated the massacre of more than 1,500 Alawite civilians, including many elderly, women, and children, in 58 separate locations on the Syrian coast.

Though the killings were executed by sectarian forces loyal to Syrian president Ahmad al-Sharaa (Abu Mohammad al-Julani), a former Al-Qaeda commander, the path to the massacre was paved by a covert Israeli strategy aimed at inciting an Alawite uprising. 

Pat Buchanan’s recent birthday leads me to speculate: how much better would we be today if he had been elected President in 1992 rather than George H.W. Bush? He would have avoided “Operation Desert Storm” against Iraq, with all its disastrous consequences for us ever since. He was wrong about tariffs, but, as Murray Rothbard always said, war is the most important issue, and Pat Buchanan was a strong non-interventionist. That’s why he supported Buchanan.

Friday Philosophy
Gunning for Kagan

David Gordon

[GUSNOTE: ROBERT KAGAN IS A VILE WARMONGER AND GUS DOES NOT ENDORSE THE PRAISE FOR KAGAN IN THIS ARTICLE.]

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – US President Donald Trump said on Friday that he intends to address the conflict in Ukraine, along with topics related to trade and energy, during his meeting with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban at the White House.

Trump, Orban Express Optimism About Ending Ukraine Conflict Soon

Meeting With Putin

US President Donald Trump has not ruled out the possibility of a meeting with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in Budapest.

“There’s always a chance,” he told reporters during a meeting with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

Trump noted that he intends to discuss with Orban the possibility of meeting with Putin.

It’s that time of the great proxy war crusade against Russia again. Someone in the mainstream West has woken up to, if not the facts about the politics of Ukraine, then at least a quantum of disquiet.

The last major wave of the likes of the Financial Times, The Economist, and the Spectator suddenly noticing – all at the same time, as if on cue – that Ukraine has an authoritarianism and corruption problem (and then some) took place less than half a year ago.

The West discovers Zelensky is not really a good guy
In a fleeting glimpse of lucidity, the mainstream media has noticed a tiny fraction of the corruption and authoritarianism in Kiev

BY Tarik Cyril Amar

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's interview with Ultrahang Youtube Channel, Moscow, October 26, 2025

Question: Thank you, Mr. Foreign Minister, thank you for giving us your time.

Sergey Lavrov:  My pleasure.

Question: So we are here in Moscow. And I came from Hungary, from Budapest, just a few days ago. And Moscow is beautiful. This is the first time for me in Moscow. And when we planned this interview, there was a plan for you to come to Budapest with Marco Rubio, the US Secretary of State. You were going to help to set up a negotiation between President Putin and President Trump. But finally, you didn't come. We heard many different stories about why. What really happened? Is everything ok between you and Mr. Rubio and between Russia and the United States?

Moves to restrict just what journalists can report on defence and intelligence matters are underway – and journalists need to get up to speed fast.

Documents obtained by Declassified Australia show that following the June 2019 Federal Police raids on the ABC and News Corp, the Department of Home Affairs began secret efforts to revive a four-decade dead system to censor the Australian media.

William Evans

Ever notice that Western foreign interference hysteria inherently presumes that everyone in the general population is just a giant baby?

The observation really leaped out during a court case last week in Paris. Russia was tried in absentia, by headline and soundbite, in what’s being called a “Russian interference case.” The problem? The three Bulgarians actually present in the Paris courtroom weren’t charged with Russian interference.

Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani was elected on Tuesday as the 111th mayor of New York City, defeating the former governor Andrew Cuomo and Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa and making history as the city’s first Muslim mayor.

The 34-year-old democratic socialist and state assembly member from Queens, secured victory with more than 50% of the vote. Cuomo, 67, finished second with just over 40%, while Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa received just over 7% of the vote.

German arms giant Rheinmetall has reported a surge in operating profit for the first nine months of 2025 and a record backlog of orders, citing the Ukraine conflict and growing EU defense budgets.

Company shares have nearly tripled over the past year on rising demand for military hardware. Rheinmetall produces a wide range of weapons supplied to Ukraine, including tanks, armored vehicles, artillery shells, and ammunition.

Sales jumped by 20% to €7.5 billion ($8.7 billion), while operating profit rose by 18% to €835 million, according to the Dusseldorf-based firm’s third-quarter results released on Thursday. Rheinmetall said its order backlog reached a record €64 billion.

LIFE AND DEATH IS THE ESSENCE OF CREATIVE DESTRUCTION… THIS HAS BEEN THE MESSAGE FROM MR GUS LEONISKY FOR MILLIONS OF YEARS… 

THUS THE THEORY PUSHED BY PROFESSOR PHILIPPE AGHION THAT GAVE HIM THE NOBEL PRIZE IN ECONOMICS IS A STEAL FROM NATURAL LAWS — AND FROM SCHUMPETER, WHO STOLE IT FROM THE SAID NATURE AS WELL. WE KNOW. 

THE JEWISH SURVIVAL CODE IS BASED ON THE SAME PRINCIPLE — A PRINCIPLE THAT ISRAEL HAS APPLIED WITH FERVOUR IN GAZA, ON THE FOOTSTEPS OF A DUDE CALLED HITLER… ONE DOES NOT CREATE SOMETHING WITHOUT DESTROYING SOMETHING ELSE. ALLELUYAH…

FROM CHARLIE HEBDO:

Nancy Pelosi, the first woman to serve as the powerful Speaker of the US House of Representatives, said on Thursday that she will not run for re-election to Congress in 2026, ending a four-decade career of a progressive Democratic icon often vilified by the right.

The 85-year-old congresswoman, first elected in 1987, made her announcement two days after voters in California on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved “Proposition 50”, a state redistricting effort aimed at flipping five House seats to Democrats in next year’s midterm elections.

“I will not be seeking re-election to Congress. With a grateful heart, I look forward to my final year of service,” Pelosi said in a video posted on X.