Plus: Jane Goodall, a force of nature.

• This was CBS.

• Democrats were desperate to force a government shutdown to show their resolve to fight President Trump, and now they have one. Usually, the side that wants the shutdown and opposes a so-called “clean continuing resolution” to keep government funded at its current levels loses these battles, and that will likely be the case here. Democrats think they have a winning issue in demanding the extension of what were supposed to be temporary Covid-era Obamacare subsidies, but there’s no reason for Republicans to give ground on the subsidies as part of this fight (even if there are worrying signs they will surrender later). The White House is trying to establish leverage of its own with threats of large-scale cuts to the federal workforce and by withholding funding for Democratic priorities. There’s also an ongoing meme war involving sombreros, because—why not? The republic will survive, and sooner or later, the government will be fully funded again.

• While just last week Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. promised a long-overdue review of the safety of the abortion drug mifepristone, this week the Food and Drug Administration approved a generic version of the drug. Pro-lifers—some of whom previously claimed to have wrung meaningful concessions from Kennedy in return for supporting the nomination of the longtime supporter of abortion—are outraged. The FDA is saying it has “very limited discretion” to block approval. It does, however, have the power to reinstate the safeguards that governed the use of mifepristone until the Biden administration abolished them. It’s the least that pro-lifers should be asking.

• Pete Hegseth, the secretary of defense, convened a gathering of nearly all U.S. generals and admirals in Quantico, Va. Hegseth wanted to speak to his senior subordinates, in person, as he announced a renewed focus for the Pentagon: a merit-based culture and high standards of physical fitness and training in order to deter and, if necessary, win wars. “No more identity months, DEI offices, dudes in dresses,” Hegseth declared. “No more climate change worship, no more division, distraction, or gender delusions.” “We are done with that sh**,” the secretary of defense said, turning to rather blue language that will no doubt be popular with the troops. In addition to new PT requirements and changes to the way grooming standards will be enforced, Hegseth announced that each service will ensure that every “designated combat arms position returns to the highest male standard only.” Trump followed up Hegseth’s tight remarks with an hour-and-15-minute-long rambling political stump speech that was unseemly from a commander in chief speaking to that audience in that setting. Much depends on the details and execution, but if implemented with both verve and prudence, Hegseth’s commonsense reforms will profit the American profession of arms.

• Trump fired the interim Virginia U.S. attorney he’d appointed and dressed down Attorney General Pam Bondi via social media for failing to prosecute former FBI Director James Comey and some of the president’s other political enemies. The inexperienced loyalist he had Bondi install to replace the U.S. attorney—Lindsey Halligan, who had never prosecuted a criminal case—then indicted Comey on false-statement and obstruction charges. There were supposed to be three counts, but the grand jury did not need to hear a defense to drop the second false-statement charge. The counts the grand jury did approve do not explain the conduct alleged to be criminal. Comey is said to have misled the Senate by testifying that he’d never authorized an FBI official (denominated “PERSON 3”) to be an anonymous media source regarding “PERSON 1.” It’s reasonably certain that PERSON 1 is Hillary Clinton, but there’s intrigue regarding PERSON 3. If the point of lawfare is to make the process the punishment, though, it doesn’t really matter if there’s a viable case.

• Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu unveiled a 20-point plan for Gaza. The deal is imaginative, somewhat Trumpy, and has gained a notable and respectful hearing from various Arab and European capitals. Trump would serve as the chairman of a new organization meant to reconstruct Gaza. Tony Blair would play a role. The president is, of course, hardwired to believe that a deal can always be struck: It’s just a question of finding the right accommodations and terms, or the right place to split the baby. But there can be no deal—at least no deal that brings peace and that lasts—with sharia-supremacist Islam; Hamas, the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, aims to destroy Israel through jihad. It will never meaningfully agree to Trump’s offer, which means that Israel will have to finish the job of destroying it root and branch.

• Led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, some Trump officials are laying the groundwork for missile strikes and potentially ground troops in Venezuela. Ostensibly, the goal would be to destroy narcotics trafficking infrastructure. More plausible is that some hawks hope to oust Nicolás Maduro, the dictator who stole Venezuela’s last presidential election and who has been under a Justice Department narco-terrorism indictment since Trump’s first term. A relevant precedent is President George H. W. Bush’s dispatching 20,000 troops in 1990 to invade Panama and apprehend Manuel Noriega, who was similarly wanted on American narcotics charges (and later convicted). This would be a major escalation from what is already a serious military operation: In September, Trump approved missile strikes against three boats in the Caribbean that he claimed were in the act of shipping illegal drugs to the U.S., killing 17. The suggestion is that they are operated by Tren de Aragua in collaboration with Maduro (and Trump has designated both TdA and Maduro as terrorists). Trump, however, has not said whether the third boat was from Venezuela—just that it was importing drugs, which he analogizes to a hostile foreign military attack that the commander in chief is constitutionally empowered to resist with lethal force. The president has neither sought nor been given authorization from Congress—which seems to like it that way.

• On September 26, Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested Ian Andre Roberts, a Guyanese national serving as superintendent of Des Moines Public Schools. Following the arrest, the Iowa State Education Association and Des Moines Education Association praised Roberts’s “leadership and compassion” and branded him a “beacon of light.” Roberts has lived in the United States since 1999, when he entered the country on a student visa and then overstayed. According to the Department of Homeland Security, he was served a final order of removal by an immigration judge in 2024. After his arrest, it emerged that Roberts concealed the order from the school board throughout the hiring process, along with a firearms offense on his criminal record. He also allegedly provided fraudulent evidence of his right to work in the United States and falsely claimed to hold a Ph.D. in the esteemed academic discipline of “urban educational leadership.” When the full extent of his lies became clear, Des Moines School Board Chairwoman Jackie Norris was forced to acknowledge that his “deception” had threatened the safety of students, parents, and teachers in the district. Some people learn more slowly than others.

• Trump likes to surprise his audiences with the unexpected, and no one expected the degree to which he embraced the Ukrainian cause at the annual gathering of world leaders at the United Nations in September. “I think Ukraine, with the support of the European Union, is in a position to fight and WIN all of Ukraine back in its original form,” he wrote in a social media post. Trump followed that up in remarks in which he criticized Russia’s “embarrassing” performance on the battlefield and agreed when a reporter asked if NATO forces should “shoot down” Russian assets that penetrate the alliance’s airspace. And this was not so much cheap talk. The Wall Street Journal reported on October 1 that the United States will provide Kyiv with intelligence that will help U.S.-provided long-range missiles target Russian energy infrastructure inside the Federation. And more American ordnance may be on the way—not funneled indirectly through European nations but directly, and with the strategic goal of making the continuation of Russia’s war of conquest a cost-prohibitive endeavor. The president has been reluctant to wield sticks as well as carrots in his efforts to cajole Moscow into a cease-fire, but this escalation indicates that Trump may have genuinely reached the end of his patience with Vladimir Putin.

• Yet again, a group of twenty- and thirty-somethings has convinced themselves that communism works and that their version will somehow succeed where every other has failed. Forget about the USSR, Cuba, or China—because, according to a recent Wall Street Journal report, a meeting of “15 comrades” in Pennsylvania discussed how to best bring communism to America. Many cited the 2008 financial crisis as the moment that capitalism supposedly collapsed, using the group as an echo chamber to reinforce their ideology. Communism may have historically meant corruption, suppression of free speech, and often mass starvation, but surely it won’t lead to the same outcomes this time . . . right? The Revolutionary Communists of America are only one example of the troubling resurgence of support for communism among young Americans. Disturbingly, a Cato Institute/YouGov survey found that 62 percent of Americans ages 18–29 hold a favorable view of socialism, while 34 percent support communism outright. As Cato warns, “To favor socialism is to flirt with tyranny.” Indeed, but look at the bright side: Anti-communists have a new opportunity to send this satanic utopianism to the ash heap of history.

• Gold has been seen as a safe haven for centuries. Alarmingly, its price has nearly doubled since January 2024 in dollar terms, driven higher by the combination of mounting geopolitical tension and increasing concern that the U.S., land of the greenback, is losing (or has already lost) control of its finances. Trump’s tariff policy and his pressuring of the Fed to cut rates have only increased those worries. The latest surge in the gold price followed the speech by Fed Chairman Jerome Powell in August in which, with inflation still well above targeted levels, he signaled that rate cuts were on the way. Since then, the dollar has fallen against gold but so have other major currencies, against which the greenback has remained relatively stable. This suggests that lack of fiscal discipline is not seen as a solely American problem. A broader crisis of confidence is on the way. Keep a close eye on France and the U.K.

• The world awoke on Sunday, September 28, to the news that someone or something known as “Bad Bunny” would be performing at Super Bowl LX. The announcement was greeted with mystification from some of the NFL’s typical fans. The young Puerto Rican rapper appeals to two audiences, one of which (young males) is the NFL’s core demographic, and the other of which (Latinos) the league’s marketing executives are extremely keen on courting. Most of Mr. Bunny’s work is sung in Spanish, which may be a barrier to mass understanding come February. But aside from a recognition of American football’s increasing commercial grasp, it is a recognition that musical trends have not only left the Boomers in the dust; they perplex even Millennials these days.

• Joanne Chesimard passed away peacefully at 78 in September. At least, that’s what we’ve heard from the authorities in Cuba, where Chesimard resided as a fugitive from American justice since at least 1984. Chesimard, better known in the United States by her nom de guerre, Assata Olugbala Shakur, should have died in jail. She spent much of her youth as a revolutionary guerrilla with the Black Liberation Army. She robbed banks and churches; planned and executed attacks on police; and, in 1973, was involved in a shootout on the side of a New Jersey highway in which Trooper Werner Forrester was killed with his own gun. But Chesimard is not reviled on the left. Rather, she was eulogized. The Guardian described her as somehow “exiled” to Cuba. She was “a towering figure” for “black liberation and racial justice,” according to NPR’s Alisa Chang. Chesimard lived the life of “a revolutionary fighter, a fierce writer, a revered elder of Black liberation, and a leader of freedom whose spirit continues to live in our struggle,” the Chicago Teachers’ Union gushed. She was, in fact, a “revolutionary fighter,” and she fought against the United States government in a treasonous campaign of death and destruction along with dozens of Marxist guerrilla groups in the 1960s and ’70s. In death as in life, Chesimard was revered by her compatriots on the left not for her poetry but for the violence of which she, and they, were so fond.

• Much of the best of science involves observation, patience, a point of view, a willingness to learn—and to be proved wrong. Jane Goodall suspected that the great apes, our closest relatives, might have something to teach us about early (and perhaps modern) man himself. So Goodall, a formidable autodidact (she eventually was awarded a Ph.D., without going through the usual undergraduate preliminaries) went to Kenya, initially with her mother and a cook in tow, to spend what became a long time hanging with chimpanzees in the wild. A great primatologist and ethologist was born. She saw that chimps were social creatures and established that they could make tools and—vegans avert your eyes—that they ate meat. To her horror, she found that, contrary to her earlier conviction that they were “nicer” than us, they indulged in organized warfare and could go in for cannibalism, too. Unsurprisingly, she was a conservationist, and the great apes certainly needed her help. Perhaps surprisingly to some, she was open to the idea that Bigfoot exists. Sadly, her instincts also led her into our era’s cruder, more superstitious environmentalism—from climatism to opposition to GMOs. She died at 91, while on a lecture tour. A force of nature. R.I.P.