THANK YOU to subscribing contributor T, whose $5 monthly payment yesterday broke our “zero-dollar day” streak! Our annual fundraiser total currently (as of 5am) stands at $1,058.
That’s $1,693.50 short of our $5,503 goal (once we’ve raised half, $2,751.50, supporter GL will “match funds” for the other half).
This year, I’ve tried to be a little less verbose in appealing to you for support, but I guess it’s time to thump the podium and yell a bit:
You already know the story! We’re coming up on 24 years as Rational Review News Digest, with another 11 years before that as Libernet and Freedom News Daily! We’re the Internet’s oldest daily news and commentary roundup for libertarians!
We’re solid, reliable, we get the job done for you, and we only come to you once per year with the “fundraising telethon” schtick!
Once we reach a fairly modest goal, we STFU about money entirely for the rest of the year and mostly for the first three quarters of the following year!
I’d love to STFU about money entirely for the next two months and mostly for nine more months after that! You’re in control of whether or not I get to!
Stop me before I exclaim again! Oh, no, too late!
And, of course, have a great day!
Yours in liberty,
Tom Knapp
Publisher
Rational Review News Digest / Freedom News Daily
Source: The Hill
by Jeremy Tedesco
“For years, Americans who lost their bank accounts over their beliefs were told they were imagining things. Banks sent form letters. Customer service read from scripts. Nobody would say why. The federal regulator that oversees the nation’s largest banks recently confirmed what many of us have argued all along: Politicized debanking was real, it was widespread, and it can easily happen again. … Trump’s executive order declared that no American should be denied financial services because of protected beliefs, affiliations or political views, and it set this report in motion. But executive orders and regulators change with administrations. Laws passed by legislatures provide more durable protection. That’s why the states matter.” (10/28/26)
https://thehill.com/opinion/finance/6176942-trump-order-fair-banking/
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“Humanity has the freedom to fail this test and go the way of the dinosaur. We’re allowed to take that path if that’s what we collectively choose to do. We can allow a few massively outnumbered plutocrats and empire managers to drive our species to extinction via climate disaster, nuclear holocaust, or AI apocalypse if we want to. We are completely free to do that. I don’t know about you, but I actually find this a comforting thought. When you take a close look at the existential hurdles that humanity is faced with, it can feel pretty bleak. Global capitalism is destroying the biosphere we all depend on for survival. The western empire is getting increasingly comfortable engaging in reckless brinkmanship with nuclear-armed rivals.” (10/28/26)
https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2026/10/28/revolution-or-extinction-the-choice-is-ours/
Source: Independent [UK]
“A judge in Milan has freed a 30-year-old researcher accused by police of helping orchestrate violent protests in Italy this month, in a ruling that has infuriated Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who denounced the decision as ‘shameful’. Youssef Siher, an Italian freelance journalist and geopolitics graduate of Moroccan origin, was detained by Milan prosecutors on 24 October on charges of incitement to commit crimes, aggravated by alleged terrorist purposes. … Prosecutors had portrayed Siher as a dangerous militant, but Milan judge Tiziana Landoni said in her ruling that the investigation appeared deeply flawed. ‘There are no serious grounds for believing that (Siher) committed the offences with which he has been charged, nor is there a risk of flight,’ Landoni wrote in her ruling.” (10/28/26)
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/italy-protests-meloni-youssef-siher-b3074930.html
Source: The Daily Economy
by Paul McDonnold
“The entrepreneur behind the peanut butter cup once worked at Hershey’s. In his own basement, he discovered the power of turning failure into opportunity.” (10/28/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/how-h-b-reese-turned-failure-into-sweet-success/
Source: Free the People
“Join Free the People for Liberty Pub Live with Jack Hunter, Jim Antle, and Matt Kibbe to prognosticate on the coming midterm elections. What are the policies, good, bad, and ugly, that will determine who wins, and who loses? Spoiler: It ain’t pretty.” (10/28/26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sL5fZeuPAcE
Source: Time
by Philip Wang
“In recent days, Trump officials have sued to potentially block the certification of a Senate race in Alaska, threatened election officials in California with jail time, and implied that the outcome in a Senate race in Minnesota couldn’t be trusted if the Republican didn’t win. Trump’s allies have also been urging the President to potentially take drastic measures, including declaring martial law to seize ballots. Election officials in dozens of states are preparing for a wide range of possible interference on Tuesday when millions of voters will cast ballots, as well as in the days that follow as the votes are counted, the final batches of mail-in ballots come in and the election outcomes are certified. … Here’s how the Trump Administration could potentially interfere in each step of the election process—and how state and local officials, and various outside groups, are preparing for each scenario …” (10/28/26)
https://time.com/article/2026/10/28/Trump-voting-election-interference-ballots-DOJ-fraud-investigation/
Source: New York Post
by Daniel McCarthy
“Latin American democracy is being put to the test in Brazil and Venezuela. At stake is whether the left-wing government in either country can countenance the idea of legitimate opposition. The day after losing Brazil’s presidential election, Sen. Flavio Bolsonaro was ordered to hand over his passports and remain in Brazil. His uncle, also a senator, had warned him to flee or face certain arrest if he was defeated. The opposition leader seems to have heeded this advice — he’s reportedly trying to reach the United States. As Brazilians went to the polls Sunday to choose between Bolsonaro and leftist incumbent President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, another Latin American opposition leader had just returned to her home country after nearly a year in exile: Venezuela’s María Corina Machado.” (10/27/26)
https://nypost.com/2026/10/27/opinion/brazil-and-venezuela-face-a-tough-road-back-to-sanity/
Source: The Hill
“Alaska’s GOP-led government is urging a federal court to dismiss the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) lawsuit seeking to bar the state from certifying its midterm election results, according to a Monday court filing. The DOJ lawsuit, filed last week, claimed the presence of a candidate with the same name as incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan (R) could give Democratic Senate nominee Mary Peltola an unfair advantage in the upcoming election. In a motion to dismiss, attorneys representing Alaska and the other defendants named in the lawsuit said the state’s elections division ‘has taken significant steps to distinguish them on the ballot so that voters can easily determine which candidate is which.’ The state’s filing also noted ‘the United States lacks authority to intervene in state elections at all, much less in support of a favored candidate,’ adding ‘the complaint has no legal basis.'” (10/28/26)
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/6177625-alaska-gop-moves-dismiss-doj-lawsuit
Source: Reason
by Jacob Sullum
“A Supreme Court Case Underlines the Absurdity of the Federal Ban on Home Distilling.” (10/28/26)
“https://reason.com/2026/10/28/a-scotus-case-underlines-the-absurdity-of-the-federal-ban-on-home-distilling
Source: The Daily Economy
by Thomas Savidge
“If a 5-percent levy chases billionaires out of Cali, the long-term income tax gap (not to mention litigation costs) will swallow any wealth-tax windfall.” (10/28/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/californias-billionaire-tax-may-cost-more-than-it-raises-reports-find/
