Annual Fundraiser Update: C’mon, Man … You Know, The Thing!

Hey, everyone …

After a “zero-dollar day,” our annual fundraiser total remains stuck (as of 5am) at $1,093.50.

We’re $1,658 short of our goal — and I’m as tired of hectoring you about money as you are of hearing it. Once we’ve hit the target, I get to shut up about money entirely for the rest of 2026 and mostly for the first nine months of 2027. Have a great day — but first,

PLEASE SUPPORT THE FREEDOM MOVEMENT’S DAILY NEWSPAPER!

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

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

Election Day Through Russian Eyes

Source: The Next Move
by Garry Kasparov

“How do I see Election Day through Russian eyes? In Russia, we had a couple of elections in the 1990s after the collapse of the Soviet Union. At first, they were free and mostly fair. After Boris Yeltsin forced through a new constitution and invaded Chechnya, those elections were free but no longer fair. Anyone could run, and anyone could vote, but the playing field was tilted heavily in the government’s favor. Yet even this stunted democracy proved to be an aberration in Russian history. By the end of the decade, we fell back into our old habits. Every other freedom rests on the freedom to choose our leaders. That is why, in the early days of Vladimir’s Putin’s reign, I joined a broad-based opposition movement.” (11/03/26)

https://www.thenextmove.org/p/election-day-through-russian-eyes

Senegal: Opposition-dominated parliament rejects revised budget bill

Source: France 24 [French state media]

“Senegal’s National Assembly, which is dominated by the opposition, rejected a key budget bill Tuesday, a text that was seen as crucial to restoring public finances as the country finalises an IMF bailout. Senegal in September announced it had struck a $2.2-billion International Monetary Fund debt programme aimed at stabilising its public finances. But the IMF has yet to announce executive board approval and the bailout is subject to certain conditions. The country’s powerful Pastef party, which holds an overwhelming majority in parliament, has long made clear its rejection of the 2026 revised budget, which came before parliament Tuesday.” (11/03/26)

https://www.france24.com/en/africa/20261103-senegal-powerful-opposition-rejects-crucial-budget-bill

Brussels Eyes Europe’s Savings

Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Cláudia Ascensão Nunes

“On October 9, EU finance ministers reached a political agreement to move supervision of Europe’s largest cross-border trading venues and market infrastructure from national regulators to the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) in Paris. EU leaders want the package agreed by the end of the year. ‘Europe has the savings. Now it’s time to put them to work,’ said Ireland’s finance minister, Simon Harris, whose country holds the rotating Council presidency until the end of 2026. He meant the roughly €10 trillion that, according to the Council, European households keep in low-yield bank deposits. Brussels insists no one will be forced to move a single euro. Meanwhile, it is building an entire system to move that euro where it wants it to go. The plan raises a question about the legitimacy of a state that treats family savings as a resource it can exploit.” (11/03/26)

https://fee.org/articles/brussels-eyes-europes-savings/

Poll: More Democrats Now Support Socialism Over Capitalism

Source: Jonathan Turley
by Jonathan Turley

“The divisions in this election are deep and widening across the country. When I called this ‘an age of rage’ years ago, I noted that the rage historically tends to burn off in time. We are clearly still at the flow rather than the ebb stage as rage politics continues. However, the most worrisome elements of this period are fundamental changes being demanded to our constitutional and economic systems. A new poll by The Economist/YouGov is consistent with other polls showing rising support among Democrats for socialism. More Democrats (38%) prefer socialism to capitalism (25%). Other polls show 60% had a favorable view of socialism and only 32% had favorable views of capitalism. Capitalism is still favored by 79% of Republicans in comparison to only 5% favoring socialism. The poll of independents showed 44% favored capitalism, with only 21% favoring socialism.” (11/03/26)

https://jonathanturley.org/2026/11/03/poll-more-democrats-now-support-socialism-over-capitalism/

Rubio urges Venezuelan regime to release remaining political prisoners

Source: BBC News [UK state media]

“The US has urged Venezuela to release the remaining political prisoners being held in the South American country. More than 1,000 political prisoners have been freed since US forces seized Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro in a military raid on Caracas on 3 January and took him to New York, where he faces trial on drug-trafficking and torture charges. But Venezuelan prisoners’ rights group Foro Penal says 322 people remain in detention. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio met his Venezuelan counterpart, Oliver Blanco, on Monday where he called for their release and discussed reforms aimed at laying the groundwork for free, fair, and credible elections, the US state department said.” (11/03/26)

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cxg5jln586pno

Controlling the Narrative Is Not the Same As Controlling the World

Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Charles Hugh Smith

“The core dynamic of this era is the notion that controlling the narrative controls the world, as persuading the populace to believe something is true controls their convictions which then control their behaviors. Centralized powers discovered the potential for narrative control to control the world in the 20th century, as mass communications enabled centralized control of what is presented as true and important. Propaganda has an ugly tone, so now we say narrative control, which is of course a comically obvious propaganda technique. … But narrative control doesn’t actually control the world.” (11/03/26)

https://mises.org/power-market/controlling-narrative-not-same-controlling-world