Hey, everyone …
I always like to open these daily appeals with thank-yous, so I’ll just RE-thank MB, JM, and RW, whose combined $470 in donations on Tuesday brought our annual fundraiser total to $755.50.
Which is exactly where it still sits, as of 5am, after a “zero-dollar Wednesday.”
We’re 27% of the way to our goal ($2,751.50, after which supporter GL will “match funds” to get us to the $5,503 finish line) … and need YOU to keep that ball rolling.
The sooner we reach our goal, the sooner I stop talking about money ENTIRELY for the rest of the year and MOSTLY until NEXT October, so …
… and after you do that, have a wonderful Thursday!
Yours in liberty,
Tom Knapp
Publisher
Rational Review News Digest / Freedom News Daily
Source: US News & World Report
“The United States wants its global partners to rename artificial intelligence as ‘super intelligence,’ convinced that the new moniker better reflects the emerging technology, a top US Treasury official told Reuters in an interview on Thursday. Treasury Undersecretary for International Affairs Erin Browne said Washington was in negotiations with other shareholders of the International Monetary Fund about using the new term in a statement being drafted by the fund’s steering committee, the International Monetary and Financial Committee. US President Donald Trump last month directed US government agencies to use the words ‘super intelligence’ instead of ‘artificial intelligence’ when referring to the technology. Browne said the United States, which holds the rotating presidency of the Group of 20 major economies, wanted the change to take hold internationally as well.” [editor’s note: Based on this nonsense, I have to believe that “Treasury Undersecretary for International Affairs” is a vestigial position with no plausible case for retention – TLK] (10/15/260
https://www.usnews.com/news/top-news/articles/2026-10-15/us-treasury-pushes-global-partners-to-rename-ai-as-super-intelligence
Source: The Blessings of Liberty with Jeffrey Rosen
“What did Madison, Washington, and Jefferson think about Religious Liberty?” (10/15/26)
https://rosenjeffrey.substack.com/p/what-did-madison-washington-and-jefferson
Sourc: Asia Times
by John P Ruehl
“From the Houthis to Mexican cartels, non-state actors are forging global networks that private-sector ties make hard to hamper.” (10/15/26)
https://asiatimes.com/2026/10/how-non-state-alliances-are-reshaping-the-global-order/
Source: The Next Move
by Garry Kasparov
“After the diesel deal and Starlink restrictions, Ukraine’s friends must act.” (10/14/26)
https://www.thenextmove.org/p/trump-betrayed-ukraine-heres-whats
Source: Liberalism.org
by Radley Balko
“A little-known law closes off federal appeals, even for the admittedly innocent. That’s by design.” (10/14/26)
https://www.liberalism.org/p/how-the-antiterrorism-and-effective-death-penalty-act-made-a-bad-situation-worse
Source: New York Times
“A computer error caused a backlog of hundreds of thousands of voter registrations in Texas, sending election workers scrambling to process them before early voting starts on Monday, county election officials said. The backlog of nearly 600,000 applications stemmed from a glitch in software run by the Texas Department of Public Safety, according to a lawsuit filed last week by voting rights groups. They accused the agency, as well as the secretary of state, who serves as Texas’ chief election officer, of failing to to maintain a reliable online voter registration system. … The backlog appeared to have been mostly cleared by Wednesday, according to county election officials, several of whom said there was little risk that Texans who tried to register would be unable to vote. But some voting advocates said they worried that the episode might discourage voters from turning out at all.” (10/15/26)
https://archive.is/Isz1A
Source: Quillette
“Former Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg tells Claire Lehmann why he believes Bondi was preventable, and what Australia needs on antisemitism, tax and economic reform.” (10/14/26)
https://quillette.com/2026/10/14/josh-frydenberg-on-bondi-antisemitism-and-a-grateful-son/
Source: Free the People
“The Radical Life of Thomas Sowell | Guest: Clifton Duncan.” (10/14/26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fHF9APPySo
Source: The Volokh Conspiracy
by Ilya Somin
“Fusionism is far preferable to nationalism and postliberalism. But it has shortcomings of its own, and its political prospects are questionable.” (10/14/26)
https://reason.com/volokh/2026/10/14/fusionism-and-its-limits/
Source: California Post
by staff
“California’s uber-lax voting system is an international disgrace. From flooding the state with ballots (with few controls on who returns them), to weeks of post-Election-Day counting, to a ban on Voter ID: The system’s almost seems engineered to seed public doubt — or worse. Yet state officials refuse to clean it up. Good for the feds, then, for pressing the issue. In recent months, Team Trump has investigated — and in some cases, prosecuted — voting fraud in California. Now, the Justice Department has given the state and LA County an ultimatum: Review and quarantine ballots that might have been sent to noncitizen voters, or face emergency litigation. And do it within 48 hours.” (10/14/26)
https://nypost.com/2026/10/14/opinion/california-election-officials-offer-absurd-excuses-in-fight-against-illegal-voting/
