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Today is a “Firehose Friday” at RRND/FND with more than 100 items awaiting your attention at our web edition. We don’t do those very often anymore, because starting earlier this year we began supplementing our 60-item email edition with extra web-only content (usually 10-20 additional items) EVERY day. But every once in a little while (like, say, during our annual fundraiser), we like to really push you toward the web edition.
Now, back to the fundraising lecture:
Other than the occasional “we’re reader-supported” mention, we come to you once, and only once, a year to ask for a fairly modest bit of money.
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Have a happy, healthy, and prosperous weekend, and we’ll be back Monday with the regular email edition!
Yours in liberty,
Tom Knapp
Publisher
Rational Review News Digest / Freedom News Daily
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“A father and son who worked at a Mississippi smoke shop have been arrested and charged in connection with the death of at least one university student who died from a suspected overdose of kratom, sometimes called ‘gas station heroin’ in the US. The pair worked at a shop that allegedly sold derivatives of the substance to University of Mississippi students. US prosecutors charged Yahya Mohamed Mosleh, 51, and Islam Yahya Mosleh, 18, for possession with the intent to distribute controlled substances in connection with the death investigation of two Ole Miss students last month. Although their deaths have not officially been attributed to kratom, officials afterward issued warnings about consuming kratom.” (10/03/26)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c6qjnlk4r2jjo
Source: The New Republic
“Trump’s Weird Tirade on Midterms Accidentally Reveals Key GOP Weakness.” (10/02/26)
https://newrepublic.com/article/216151/trump-weird-tirade-midterms-accidentally-reveals-key-gop-weakness
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Mark Nayler
“If the EU Commission didn’t take itself so seriously, you might think that the so-called Industrial Accelerator Act (IAA) had been given its name as a self-deprecating joke. Unveiled in March, the initiative aims to boost the bloc’s industrial capacity and decarbonization efforts, in order to compete with China and achieve Brussels’s stringent climate goals; but seven months on, its progress through the EU’s bureaucratic obstacle course is steadily decelerating. Like many EU initiatives before it, the IAA is causing internal division—in this case over the scope of the phrase ‘Made in Europe.’ The question at the center of the dispute is whether protectionist measures will help or harm flagging EU industries.” (10/02/26)
https://fee.org/articles/made-in-europe/
Source: Los Angeles Times
by LZ Granderson
“Ideally, the screams of infancy and the insolence of toddlerhood fade as a person grows and the scalpel of life begins sculpting away. Yes, problems still persist, but part of maturing is understanding that ‘he that is slow to wrath is of great understanding but he that is hasty of spirit exalteth folly.’ As the Bible story goes, King Solomon asked God for wisdom, and that proverb was among the things he told him. Of course it’s not necessary to be a Bible follower to understand the drawbacks of hot-headedness as an adult. … President Trump’s tendency to erupt at journalists and others is more than embarrassing or unprofessional. It’s informative.” (10/02/26)
https://archive.is/p9mSD
Source: Dallas Express
“A federal judge ruled that a deputy violated the Fourth Amendment by searching a driver’s historical vehicle-location records without a warrant through license plate reader systems, including Flock Safety. U.S. District Judge Sara E. Hill of the Northern District of Oklahoma issued the 38-page ruling Thursday in United States v. Melisa Susan Kyle. She ordered prosecutors to exclude all evidence officers obtained after the deputy initiated the search. Federal prosecutors charged Kyle with possessing more than 500 grams of methamphetamine with intent to distribute. Hill’s October 1 order addressed how officers obtained evidence, not whether Kyle committed the alleged offense.” (10/03/26)
https://dallasexpress.com/national/federal-judge-rules-warrantless-flock-search-violated-fourth-amendment/
Source: The Corbett Report
“James talks to Barry Cooper about his remarkable journey from being one of the top narcotics officers in Texas law enforcement to an activist busting crooked cops and helping drug users avoid arrest.” (10/02/26)
https://corbettreport.com/how-to-bust-the-cops/
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Blaise Malley
“On Monday, as the war with Iran crossed the seven-month mark, Governor Greg Abbott declared a statewide disaster in Texas as a result of a massive increase in diesel prices and a deepening fuel shortage. Texas is hardly alone. Diesel prices have climbed nationwide since the war began …. As the midterm elections near and the war’s costs hit voters’ wallets, Abbott’s declaration is a window into a larger problem for Republicans across the country, including some in deep red states. An increasing number of Republicans are being forced to spend money and political capital defending seats that they carried easily in recent elections.” (10/02/26)
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/trump-republicans-midterms/
Source: Fox News
by Tyler Hassen
“My book about my time inside DOGE launched last week, and I’ve watched friends who privately cheer me on go completely silent in public. That’s how toxic the stigma around DOGE has become. And that stigma is built on a version of events I barely recognize. My experience inside DOGE was almost nothing like what I read about in the mainstream news. The fairest and most balanced coverage I can remember was our interview on Fox News with Bret Baier in March 2025 — but let me tell you what it was actually like. As the DOGE lead and acting assistant secretary for the U.S. Department of the Interior, I saw the accusations that we cut everything indiscriminately. That could not be further from the truth.” (10/02/26)
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/saw-real-doge-inside-why-media-got-doge-elon-wrong
Source: New York Post
“‘Monty Python’ legend John Cleese is doubling down on his months-long string of incendiary posts about Islam after activists filed a complaint that asked Britain’s counter-radicalization program to scrutinize him over the missives. ‘How exciting,’ the 86-year-old comedian wrote after learning that a member of the public had referred him to Prevent, a British government program designed to intervene when authorities believe someone may be vulnerable to radicalization or becoming involved in terrorism. The September 22 referral, first reported by Muslim-focused British news outlet 5Pillars, accused Cleese of ‘a sustained pattern’ of online activity that ‘demonizes, dehumanizes, and collectively attributes violence and criminality to Muslims and Islam’.” (10/03/26)
https://nypost.com/2026/10/03/entertainment/monty-python-legend-john-cleese-doubles-down-after-incidiary-posts-about-islam/
Source: Crooked Media
“Beardos, Weirdos, and Donald Trump.” (10/02/26)
https://audioboom.com/posts/8959700-beardos-weirdos-and-donald-trump
