Announcement, Nobel Peace Prize 2025  —  The Nobel Peace Prize for 2025 goes to a brave and committed champion of peace - to a woman who keeps the flame of democracy burning amid a growing darkness.  —  The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the Nobel Peace Prize for 2025 to Maria Corina Machado.

Vought sounds layoff siren: ‘The RIFs have begun’ … It's unclear how many people were laid off and Vought provided no further details.  —  But an administration official granted anonymity to discuss the layoffs said they hit agencies including: Interior, Homeland Security, Treasury, EPA, Commerce, Education, Energy, HHS and HUD.

Regarding the Compact  —  The U.S. Department of Education recently sent MIT and eight other institutions a proposed “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education,” along with a letter asking that MIT review the document.  —  From the messages I've received, I know this is on the minds …

Transcript: Trump ICE Raids Worsen as Pritzker Drops Bombshell Warning  —  The following is a lightly edited transcript of the October 10 episode of the Daily Blast podcast.  Listen to it here.  —  (After we recorded, a judge temporary blocked National Guard deployments in Illinois).

The Justice Department's Dangerously Weak Case Against Letitia James  —  Lindsey Halligan didn't have a strong case against Letitia James.  She indicted her anyway.  —  Meet The Authors … Earlier this week, the Justice Department seemed poised to pursue an indictment …

Timely troop pay is now in Trump's hands  —  President Donald Trump is now the only person with the power to keep 1.3 million active-duty military members from missing their paychecks Wednesday after the Senate failed to act on spending legislation Thursday then left Washington for the long holiday weekend.

Trump's antifa roundtable made some wild claims about Portland.  Here's the truth about 7 of them  —  President Donald Trump held a roundtable on Wednesday, which featured prominent administration officials and independent journalists, billed as a “Roundtable on antifa.”

Trump threatens ‘massive’ tariff hike on China over rare earths dispute … President Donald Trump on Friday threatened to slap a “massive increase of Tariffs” on Chinese products imported into the United States to “financially counter” new export controls that China imposed on rare earths from that country.

Inside billionaire Peter Thiel's private lectures: Warnings of ‘the Antichrist’ and U.S. destruction  —  The Washington Post reviewed leaked audio from four off-the-record lectures the tech investor delivered in San Francisco over the last month that fused beliefs about religion and technology.

DHS top lawyer says ‘no legal barrier’ to actions officers can take to defend federal property  —  In a memo obtained exclusively by The Handbasket, Federal Protective Service (FPS) officers were given free rein. … Staffers at a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) law enforcement agency received …

1 big thing: The 22 states close to (or in) recession … - Their problems are driven largely by a mix of slowing immigration, increasing tariffs and federal job cuts, Zandi argues.  — The analysis is based on Zandi's calculation of where things stood in the economy at the end of August …

Some killed in explosion at Hickman County plant felt miles away — everything we know  —  Kirsten Fiscus Vivian Jones Craig Shoup Angele Latham Liz Schubauer Austin Hornbostel Hadley HitsonNashville Tennessean  —  Hickman County emergency services are warning people to stay away …

Key Trump nominee accused of sexual harassment … What's not disputed is that the two ended up sharing a room on the business trip, and that it resulted in an official investigation.  —  The fallout from the incident has been the talk of the upper echelons of DHS ever since.

Esmeralda 7 Solar Project Has Been Canceled, BLM Says  —  The Bureau of Land Management says the largest solar project in Nevada has been canceled amidst the Trump administration's federal permitting freeze.  —  Esmeralda 7 was supposed to produce a gargantuan 6.2 gigawatts of power …

UPS is ‘disposing of’ U.S.-bound packages over customs paperwork problems  —  Shifting Trump tariffs have created a nightmare for UPS, as thousands of packages from overseas pile up at its hubs while they await customs clearance.  —  Thousands of U.S.-bound packages shipped by UPS are trapped …

Senate Shame  —  I first came to the Senate in early 1970—55 years ago!  I worked for George McGovern, but most of the time I was working for a coalition of five senators seeking an end to the war in Vietnam—including three Republicans, Jacob Javits and Charlie Goodell of New York, and Mark Hatfield of Oregon.

Is the Democratic Party dominated by progressives or by centrists?  —  Perhaps the only thing the various factions of the Democratic Party agree upon is that Donald Trump winning two of the past three presidential elections has been a disaster for the party.

WGN-TV producer detained during ICE enforcement action in Lincoln Square  —  A WGN-TV video editor and producer was roughly detained by two Border Patrol agents on Friday morning during a highly visible rush hour enforcement action in Lincoln Square.  —  Debbie Brockman, who has worked …