Author: Thomas L. Knapp

Government Failure Is Still Failure

Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Shahid Islam

“Introductory economics textbooks devote considerable attention to market failure: monopoly power, externalities, public goods and asymmetric information. However, government failure deserves the same scrutiny. Markets are made up of imperfect human beings and so are governments. Legislators, regulators, and civil servants possess limited knowledge, imperfect foresight and incentives of their own. Evidence of market failure is not evidence that government intervention will improve the outcome. The relevant comparison is between feasible alternatives.” (10/02/26)

https://mises.org/power-market/government-failure-still-failure

Thomas L. Knapp

The China factor behind the Iran war

Source: Asia Times
by Altaf Moti

“The war between the United States and Iran is no longer just a confrontation between Washington and Tehran. A second contest is taking shape alongside and behind it. China is not fighting the United States directly, but its economic, technological and diplomatic links to Iran are complicating Washington’s strategy and ability to win the conflict.” (10/02/26)

https://asiatimes.com/2026/10/the-china-factor-behind-the-iran-war/

Thomas L. Knapp

Spencer Foresaw the “Coming Slavery”

Source: Free Association
by Sheldon Richman

“For laissez-faire liberal Herbert Spencer (1820-1903), political trouble began with ‘the unhesitating belief … that evils of all kinds should be dealt with by the State.’ The fatal first step is a government promise to rescue people from their own bad choices, such as their preference for indolence and other irresponsibility. That was a mistake because, as Spencer wrote elsewhere, ‘The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly, is to fill the world with fools.’ Shielding people from their folly is not only bad in itself, but it also sets in motion a perverse political dynamic that, if allowed to persist, would doom freedom itself.” (10/02/26)

https://sheldonrichman.substack.com/p/tgif-spencer-foresaw-the-coming-slavery

Thomas L. Knapp

Trump, Cotton tussle over daylight saving after cell phone number leak

Source: The Hill

“President Trump repeatedly berated Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) on Saturday over his stance on a daylight savings [sic] bill after posting the Republican Congress member’s cell phone number on social media. In a morning Truth Social post, the president encouraged his supporters to call the senator and urge him to back legislation that would make daylight savings [sic] time the permanent standard time. After Cotton stood by his position in a brief statement shared later Saturday, which didn’t directly mention the president or the leak, Trump went back on the offensive. … Trump blamed the GOP lawmaker for holding up the bill in the upper chamber after the House passed the legislation in July with broad bipartisan support.” (10/03/26)

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/6127691-trump-cotton-fued-daylight-savings-posts/

Thomas L. Knapp

Sal and Mark, episode 22

Source: Free Talk Live

“Sal checks in from lunch in Florida on his way to Prague, where he’s speaking at Dark Prague on agorism and crypto anarchy. … Mark Edge is joined by Jody Underwood of Education Options (EdOpt) to talk school choice in New Hampshire. They cover tuition-free charter schools, Education Freedom Accounts, runaway school spending, and why the families who could benefit most are often the hardest to reach.” (10/02/26)

https://soundcloud.com/freetalklive/samep22

Thomas L. Knapp

Glimmers of Hope in the Hormuz?

Source: The American Conservative
by Jude Russo

“The headline news is good for a change: Energy flows through the Strait of Hormuz are picking up. As of Monday, a seven-day average of 13.5 million barrels of crude oil were transiting the waterway, roughly matching pre-war levels. Two questions arise out of this happy circumstance: First, what has changed operationally? Second, why aren’t markets more jubilant? The second question is easier to answer. A week of good flows does not erase six months of supply disruption.” (10/02/26)

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/glimmers-of-hope-in-the-hormuz/

Thomas L. Knapp

Fundraiser Update / Firehose Friday

Hey, everyone …

Thanks to subscribing contributor JS, whose $10 payment yesterday marks the first move toward our annual fundraiser goal!

Our goal is $5,503, which means we’re only $2,741.50 short — and no, that’s not bad math. Reader GL has pledged to “match funds” for half the goal, so we “only” need a total of $2,751.50 from the rest of you. More on that in a minute, but first the call to action: PLEASE SUPPORT THE FREEDOM MOVEMENT’S DAILY NEWSPAPER at:

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

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.

After 35 years (as RRND, 24 years next month) of reliably (every non-holiday weekday!) bringing you the Internet’s oldest daily news and commentary roundup for libertarians, we hope we’re still earning your support by delivering value. Please return some of that value in the form of financial support at:

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

I’ve been asked by at least one reader whether we’re perhaps just relying on artificial intelligence to do the work these days while we lie on the beach, sipping drinks with little umbrellas in them and working on our tans while robots do all the heavy lifting.

The answer is a hard no. We remain “hand-made,” with two humans personally scouring the news and political media each day, manually choosing, excerpting, and linking the content we expect you’ll find interesting. Nothing against AI as such, but we’re big on the human touch.

And those little drinks with umbrellas in them (actually, I think Steve is more into a beer now and again, and I’m partial to budget diet soda) won’t pay for themselves.

So please, help get us to our goal ASAP so we can stop talking about money entirely for the rest of 2026 and mostly for the first nine months of 2027. That URL one last time:

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

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

Thomas L. Knapp