I can say that with reasonable certainty because, sadly, cute little puppies die every day whether you donate to our annual fundraiser or not.
Donating to our annual fundraiser won’t save any of those cute little puppies (at least not directly), but you should do it anyway because you value our work and want to support it.
Nobody donated yesterday, so our total remains (as of 5am today) at $1,058 … and lots of cute little puppies are no longer with us. Coincidence? I think not.
Once we’ve raised $2,751.50, we have a “matching funds” pledge from supporter GL for the second half of our $5,503 goal.
Won’t someone PLEASE think of the poor, cute little puppies?
Note: My wife, Tamara, has (thankfully minor) surgery scheduled for today. Between time at the hospital and waiting on her hand and foot while she rests/recovers, I’ll be more pressed for time than usual, so I expect tomorrow’s edition to be a “web-only” affair.
If the puppy trick didn’t work on you, how about “my wife needs an operation?”
Have a happy, healthy, and prosperous day!
Yours in liberty,
Tom Knapp
Publisher
Rational Review News Digest / Freedom News Daily
Source: The American Prospect
by Zachary Groz
“Earlier this month, former Republican congressman and Michigan Senate candidate Mike Rogers appeared on the campaign trail with his wife Kristi, handing out $10 gift cards at a Detroit gas station. ‘We’re all struggling with incredibly high gas prices’, Ms. Rogers said in a video taken from the scene. ‘And Mike knows this[‘. What voters would not have known from that video is that Ms. Rogers runs a Beltway trade group representing energy traders, mining companies, and manufacturers in their efforts to influence federal officials and federal policy. According to ethics watchdogs, Ms. Rogers’s position, which has not been previously reported, raises the potential for serious conflicts of interest should her husband win his hotly contested Senate race against Democrat Abdul El-Sayed.” (10/29/26)
https://prospect.org/2026/10/29/mike-rogerss-wife-runs-a-consultancy-that-sells-government-access/
Source: France 24 [French state media]
“North Korea fired ‘around a dozen’ short-range ballistic missiles off its east coast on Thursday, Seoul’s defence ministry said, less than a week after South Korea proposed talks over a growing border row. The launches follow a slew of recent weapons tests by Pyongyang, including a new precision-guided torpedo system and an intermediate-range hypersonic missile, both of which were said to employ AI technology. … Thursday’s missile flurry comes against the backdrop of growing tensions over a landmine explosion along the heavily fortified border between the two Koreas that saw three South Korean soldiers wounded.” (10/29/26)
https://www.france24.com/en/asia-pacific/20261029-north-korea-launches-around-a-dozen-ballistic-missiles-amid-rising-tensions-with-south-korea
Source: Parallax Views w/ JG Michael
“UFOs, High Strangeness, and the Excluded Middle w/ Red Pill Junkie.” (10/29/26)
https://parallaxviews.podbean.com/e/mromero10-29-26/
Source: Niskanen Center
“How well can we predict elections?” (10/28/26)
https://www.niskanencenter.org/how-well-can-we-predict-elections/
Source: The Daily Economy
by John Phelan
“Friedman challenged the idea that governments could spend their way to prosperity. Fifty years after receiving the Nobel Prize, his most enduring lessons remain crucial — and largely ignored.” (10/29/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/fifty-years-ago-milton-friedman-upended-economic-expertise/
Source: Adam Smith Institute
by Madsen Pirie
“The recent rioting in France, and in the past in the UK, set me wondering ifrioting and looting are more likely to be done by groups that feel themselves to be marginalized. There is an important qualification. Feeling marginalized raises the odds of joining a riot. It does not explain who loots, or when. The current European wave makes the point. On October 17th some 550,000 people marched in France against the cost of living by the Interior Ministry’s count, and the processions were mostly calm. The violence and looting broke out on the margins, in cities from Limoges and Lyon to Marseille and Paris.” (10/29/26)
https://www.adamsmith.org/blog/the-marginalized-and-the-rioters
Source: Paul Krugman
by Paul Krugman
“The boom in AI-related spending is already enormous relative to the size of the U.S. economy and is widely expected to grow even bigger. Indeed, a widely cited projection by Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh of the Columbia Business School concludes, based on announced plans by major players in the industry, that this will be the biggest investment boom in U.S. history, measured as a percentage of GDP …. Well, I’m going to make a prediction: This will not happen. Instead, the splurge on AI will run into two walls that will force either postponement or cancellation of many of those announced projects.” (10/29/26)
https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/will-the-ai-investment-splurge-last
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“The defeated candidate in Brazil’s presidential election, Flávio Bolsonaro, has referred to himself as ‘leader of Brazil’ in a letter he published on social media after leaving the country for the United States. Bolsonaro lost to his left-wing rival, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, in the run-off on Sunday by a difference of 4.4 million votes, but has not conceded defeat. In the letter, Bolsonaro alleges, without offering evidence, that he was the victim of ‘electoral fraud’ and says that he will lead the opposition from the US. He left Brazil on Tuesday after failing to comply with an order to surrender his passports, a decision which Lula described as ‘a shameful act’. Bolsonaro starts his letter, which he posted on his X account, saying ‘I address the Brazilian people and the international community as the leader of Brazil’.” (10/29/26)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3x2w4109pj8o
Source: mint [India]
“New World screwworm was found in Arizona for the first time, detected in a dog, as cases of the deadly parasite accelerate. The US Department of Agriculture confirmed the infection late Wednesday in a dog in Cochise County, Arizona. The spread of the parasitic fly, whose larvae burrow into the wounds of animals, had remained relatively contained since the pest was first detected in the US in June. Most of the early cases were limited to Texas. However, the pace of infections has increased this month, particularly in New Mexico.” (10/29/26)
https://www.livemint.com/news/us-news/screwworm-detected-for-first-time-in-arizona-as-outbreak-spreads-11793231283631.html
Source: New York Times
“A Plan for Two Dans: How Democrats Manipulated Alaska’s Ballot.” (10/29/26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObJ-BJ50Onc
