THANK YOU to long-time supporters KL and MJ! Their donations yesterday, totaling $150, bring our year-end fundraiser total (as of 5:3am on Thursday) to $297.50!
Our goal is $5,501.00 — and with reader GL’s “matching funds” offer, we only have to raise $2,750.50 from our other readers. We’re a little past the 10% mark … will YOU help us make it to the 25% mark by Monday?
https://news.rationalreview.com/support-rrnd
The quicker we reach our goal, the sooner I stop flapping my gums at you about money ENTIRELY for the rest of the year, and MOSTLY until next October. So please, consider how valuable you find the freedom movement’s daily newspaper and return some of that value to us at:
https://news.rationalreview.com/support-rrnd
Have a great day!
Yours in liberty,
Tom Knapp
Publisher
Rational Review News Digest / Freedom News Daily
Source: Reuters
“China tightened its rare earth export controls on Thursday, expanding restrictions on processing technology and spelling out its intention to limit exports to overseas defence and semiconductor users. The Ministry of Commerce’s announcement, which follows a U.S. lawmakers’ call on Tuesday for broader bans on the export of chipmaking equipment to China, expands sweeping controls Beijing announced in April that caused shortages around the world before a series of deals with Europe and the U.S. eased the supply crunch. The controls are a major bargaining chip for China in its trade talks with the United States, and the tightening comes weeks ahead of a face-to-face meeting between Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping in South Korea.” (10/09/25)
https://archive.is/X8n7O
Source: The Fifth Column
“War is Over (If Hamas Wants It).” (10/09/25)
https://www.wethefifth.com/p/527-war-is-over-if-hamas-wants-it
Source: The Hill
by John Mac Ghlionn
“Governments rise and fall on a simple promise: opportunity. When citizens believe hard work leads to advancement, they stay loyal. When that promise breaks, regimes crumble. Artificial intelligence isn’t just changing the job market. It is shattering the social contract that keeps nations stable. AI displacement creates something far more dangerous than unemployment. It creates educated, capable revolutionaries with nothing left to lose.” (10/09/25)
https://thehill.com/opinion/technology/5545232-educated-dissidents-ai-rise/
Source: Fox News
by Hugh Hewitt
“When the troops don’t get paid, the ‘Schumer shutdown’ will cross a red line in the eyes of most normal Americans. The men and women in uniform got their paychecks on October 1 and are scheduled to receive their next check on October 15. Unlike almost everyone else in the federal government currently not getting paid because of the showboating of Chuck Schumer and most of the Senate Democrats, soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines and the Coast Guard do not have that option of quitting because they have not been paid. Every other civil servant impacted by the ‘Schumer shutdown’ can simply quit and seek other work.” [editor’s note: The Republicans have the votes to end the shutdown any time they want to. It hasn’t ended yet because they don’t want to end it – TLK] (10/09/25)
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/morning-glory-senator-chuck-schumer-must-end-his-government-shutdown
Source: Fox News
“Microplastics are a known threat to overall health — and eating and drinking from plastic containers, like water bottles, could be a great offender, researchers suggest. A new study published in the Journal of Hazardous Materials analyzed 141 existing scientific papers on microplastics and nanoplastics from single-use plastic water bottles to gauge how much plastic people may be ingesting. Researchers at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada, discovered that the average person consumes 39,000 to 52,000 microplastic particles per year, according to a university press release. Individuals who drink bottled water regularly ingest up to 90,000 more particles each year than those who drink mainly tap water, the study found. The researchers noted that nanoplastics are especially concerning, as they’re invisible to the naked eye and smaller than 1 micron. They can also enter human cells, cross biological barriers and have the potential to reach organs and tissues, they cautioned.” (10/09/25)
https://www.foxnews.com/health/hidden-reason-scientists-say-bottled-water-may-not-cleaner-choice
Source: Politico
“What Trump said about a peace deal in the Middle East.” (10/09/25)
https://traffic.megaphone.fm/POLL6189681944.mp3?updated=1759987705
Source: The Daily Economy
by Amir Iraji
“When mainstream economists forget that only individuals act, bad policy follows. Some economists never stopped reminding us. We ignore them at our continued peril.” (10/09/25)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/badger-of-economics-why-we-still-need-the-austrian-school/
Source: CBC News [Canadian state media]
“The Ebola outbreak in Congo shows signs of containment, with no new confirmed or probable cases since the World Health Organization’s last update on Oct. 1, the UN health agency said on Wednesday. As of Sunday, a total of 64 cases, including 11 probable cases and 43 deaths, were reported in Congo’s Kasai Province, the WHO added. The total deaths included 11 probable deaths.” (10/08/25)
https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/ebola-congo-who-9.6932065
Source: Yascha Mounk
“Yascha Mounk and David French have a therapy session about Trump 2.0. and the weakness of the Democrats.” (10/09/25)
https://yaschamounk.substack.com/p/david-french
Source: CounterPunch
by Rev. Dr. Caleb Lines & Rev. Dr. Mark Sandlin
“[Charlie] Kirk’s service turned heartbreak into the Christian nationalist’s playbook: turn tragedy into recruitment, pulpit into a political rally, and grief into a grievance. As Christian pastors, we know we must speak out loudly against this political abuse of our faith. When our country has a Christian nationalism problem, Christianity itself has a Christian nationalism problem. Christian nationalism is neither Christian nor patriotic. It violates the teachings of Jesus while spitting in the face of the First Amendment.” (10/09/25)
https://www.counterpunch.org/2025/10/09/christian-nationalism-is-neither-christian-nor-patriotic/
