Well, howdy there, internet people, it's Bell again. And welcome to the Roads with Bell.

Today is October 26, 2025. And this is episode 114 of the Roads Not Taken, which is a weekly series where we go over the news that was unreported, underreported,

didn't get the coverage we thought it deserved or we just found it interesting.

And then we go through a few questions from y'all.

Today is October 26th and today is National Pumpkin Day.

And on this date in 1861, the Pony Express officially ended.

And starting with foreign policy.

U.S. influence in Southeast Asia is collapsing, and China is filling the vacuum.

Trump is expected to try to patch it up, but he's

facing an uphill climb. Trump has imposed sanctions on Colombia's president. You know, when

considering military action in one country, it's always a good idea to anger a neighboring country.

Trump deployed a carrier to the waters near Venezuela. Congress seems unwilling to check Trump's

march toward an unnecessary war. There are a number of indications that Trump is preparing to target substance production

facilities or trying to topple Maduro.

Trump has also imposed some sanctions on Russian oil.

We got a question about this and secondary sanctions, so I'll try to get a full video out about that.

Sweden has offered Ukraine a deal for 150 advanced fighter jets.

Can't wait to get comments about that and my tiny little lady brain.

In U.S. news, on Friday, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals

stayed the order that was issued on Monday by a panel of three judges within the circuit.

In short, Trump is once again blocked from deploying troops to Portland.

Trump dropped his plans to surge troops or federal law enforcement to San Francisco.

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