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Hey, everyone …

We had another “zero dollar day” yesterday, leaving our year-end fundraiser total (as of 5:30am on Tuesday, October 15) at $402. Please help unpause this thing at:

https://news.rationalreview.com/support-rrnd

Friends, we go through this period every year. We trudge slowly toward our goal and eventually make it, for which I’m grateful.

But we COULD have the whole thing done with early, meaning a longer period of blessed, golden silence about money.

Once we hit $2,675.50, supporter GL’s “matching funds” offer kicks in and takes us to the finish line, $5,351.

And once THAT happens, I bring up money not so much as a single time for the rest of the year, and then only occasionally until next October.

But it only happens once we get where we’re going, and right now we’re $2,273.50 short.

Hit the accelerator pedal and push us toward the finish line by supporting the freedom movement’s daily newspaper at:

https://news.rationalreview.com/support-rrnd

Have a great day!

Yours in liberty,
Tom Knapp
Publisher
Rational Review News Digest / Freedom News Daily

The Mystic of Silicon Valley

Source: Law & Liberty
by John-Paul Heil

“What do libertarian Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, Republican vice-presidential candidates, staunchly left New York playwrights, writers for HBO prestige dramas, Catholic bishops, and the top academic institutions in France have in common? All have explicitly drawn influence from French scholar René Girard. Girard devoted his life to championing three key anthropological insights: * We want what we want through the imitation of others’ desires. * This imitative structure of human desire leads to rivalry and eventually to collective violence of all against a scapegoat. * This violence forms the basis for all archaic sacrificial religions.” (10/15/24)

https://lawliberty.org/book-review/the-mystic-of-silicon-valley/

NC: Robinson sues CNN over report about posts on porn site

Source: SFGate

“North Carolina Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson sued CNN on Tuesday over its recent report that he made explicit racial and sexual posts on a pornography website’s message board, calling the reporting reckless and defamatory. The lawsuit, filed in Wake County Superior Court, comes less than four weeks after a report that led many fellow GOP elected officials and candidates, including presidential nominee Donald Trump, to distance themselves from Robinson’s gubernatorial campaign. Robinson, who announced the lawsuit at a news conference in Raleigh with a Virginia-based attorney, has denied authoring the messages. CNN ‘chose to publish despite knowing or recklessly disregarding that Lt. Gov. Robinson’s data — including his name, date of birth, passwords, and the email address supposedly associated with the NudeAfrica account — were previously compromised by multiple data breaches,’ the lawsuit states, referencing the website.” (10/15/24)

https://www.sfgate.com/news/politics/article/north-carolina-governor-candidate-mark-robinson-19838259.php

Let’s Go Israel! Bomb Iran!

Source: Antiwar.com
by Yves Engler

“Canadian officials are encouraging Israeli violence in Iran. Once again, they are supporting the neoconservatives who view the genocide in Gaza, weakening of Hezbollah and Iran’s response to Israeli provocations as a bid to remake the Middle East just like in the build-up to the last US invasion of Iraq. As former Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett crowed, ‘Israel has now its greatest opportunity in 50 years, to change the face of the Middle East.’ Last week Bill Blair said it would be ‘appropriate’ for Israel to bomb Iranian oil facilities.” (10/15/24)

https://original.antiwar.com/yves_engler/2024/10/14/lets-go-israel-bomb-iran/

NC: Armed man arrested over threats to FEMA workers, sheriff says

Source: Axios

“North Carolina authorities confirmed Monday the arrest of a man over alleged threats against Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) workers responding to Hurricane Helene. … Officials identified the suspect as William Jacob Parsons, 44, of Bostic, North Carolina. Parsons was arrested Saturday and charged with ‘Going Armed to the Terror of the Public,’ the sheriff’s office said. Parson was armed with a rifle and a handgun at the time of his arrest, the office added. He was released on a $10,000 bond later that evening. ‘The initial report stated that there was a truck load of militia that was involved,’ but those reports turned out to be false, the sheriff’s office said.” (10/14/24)

https://www.axios.com/2024/10/14/north-carolina-arrest-suspect-fema-threats

The Economic Impact of Superstars

Source: EconLog
by Scott Sumner

“Bloomberg has an article discussing the economic impact of superstars like Taylor Swift and Shohei Ohtani: ‘Move over, Taylor Swift. The economic might of baseball star Shohei Ohtani is bringing some big winners, and also some losers to the Japanese corporate world.’ How should we think about ‘economic impact?’ It’s not an easy question to answer, as there are a number of issues that must be untangled. Here I’ll consider five approaches, but the list will be far from exhaustive …” (10/14/24)

https://www.econlib.org/the-economic-impact-of-superstars/

Kamala Harris Wants America to Have the World’s Highest Death Tax

Source: Town Hall
by Stephen Moore

“Here is something no one in the media is reporting as Vice President Kamala Harris continues to duck and weave like Muhammad Ali in the ring to avoid any questions about her economic plan. The American Business Defense Foundation reports that under the Harris tax plan, the number of Americans subject to the hated death tax would double or triple. This would happen because Harris has declared she will let the Trump tax cut expire next year if she becomes president. Thanks to the Trump tax cut, the amount of an estate that is currently exempt from tax is roughly $13.6 million. But according to the IRS: ‘Under the tax reform law, the increase is only temporary. Thus, in 2026, the exemption is due to revert to its pre-2018 level of $5 million, as adjusted for inflation.'” (10/15/24)

https://townhall.com/columnists/stephenmoore/2024/10/15/kamala-harris-wants-america-to-have-the-worlds-highest-death-tax-n2646226

Biden (Finally) Threatens to Halt Arms to Israel Over Gaza Carnage

Source: Common Dreams

“After a year of outrage over U.S. support for Israel’s devastating assault on the Gaza Strip, multiple media outlets reported Tuesday that the Biden administration threatened to cut off U.S. weapons if the Israeli government does not ‘take urgent and sustained actions’ to improve humanitarian conditions in the Palestinian territory within 30 days. The October 13 letter from U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin is addressed to Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant and Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer. Axios reporter Barak Ravid published images of the letter on social media and The Washington Post reported that ‘its authenticity was confirmed by U.S. and Israeli officials.’ Blinken and Austin noted requirements under federal law (which critics of the war have often cited in arguments that continuing to provide Israel with weapons is illegal) and National Security Memorandum 20, which President Joe Biden issued in February.” (10/15/24)

https://www.commondreams.org/news/us-sending-weapons-to-israel

250 Years Ago: The Forgotten Declaration that Set the Course for Independence

Source: Tenth Amendment Center
by Michael Boldin

‘To these grievous measures, Americans cannot submit.’ That bold declaration helped spark coordinated resistance across the colonies in 1774. Today marks the 250th anniversary of the Declaration and Resolves of the First Continental Congress, passed unanimously on October 14, 1774. Almost forgotten today, the Declaration and Resolves were a precursor to both the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights. It reaffirmed that acts beyond the Constitution are void and must be resisted and nullified.” (10/14/24)

https://tenthamendmentcenter.com/2024/10/14/250-years-ago-the-forgotten-declaration-that-set-the-course-for-independence/