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).
PLEASE SUPPORT THE FREEDOM MOVEMENT’S DAILY NEWSPAPER!
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!
“Votes were being counted as dawn broke in Israel on Wednesday morning, but exit polls suggested that its momentous national election left no clear winner. That likely meant the beginning of weeks of wrangling among parties to form a governing coalition and declare a new prime minister. In the meantime, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remains as interim caretaker head of the government. Exit polls released by major Israeli TV stations right after polls closed on Tuesday night and revised overnight indicated that neither Netanyahu’s political bloc nor that of his main rival, former military chief Gadi Eisenkot, secured the 61 seats needed for a majority in the parliament, known as the Knesset. … With 60% of votes counted, Netanyahu’s Likud party has 21.4% and Eisenkot’s Yashar has 16.2%, according to official election data.” (10/28/26)
“This month, a Trump administration report confirmed Joe Biden’s White House secretly connived to destroy Americans’ financial freedom. Those bureaucrats were upholding hallowed precedents stretching back to the Nixon era, when Congress passed the Bank Secrecy Act. That law made it a crime for banks to keep secrets from the government. … This is like a bad horror show that gets repeated at least once a decade. During the Barack Obama administration, the FDIC and the Justice Department launched the original Operation Choke Point, supposedly to ‘choke’ illegal businesses’ access to financial services. But the target list was stretched to include attempts to destroy financial access for porn stars, coin dealers, online tobacco companies, and other targets.” (10/27/26)
“A ceasefire that began with the aim of getting food and medicine to the Russian-occupied Ukrainian city of Oleshky has been extended across the wider southern region of Kherson, according to sources. Several thousand residents are trapped in the city with no access to food, water and electricity. On one side is the Dnipro river, while Russian forces are on the other and all the roads out are too dangerous. However, no breaches of the truce that began early on Tuesday have so far been reported. US First Lady Melania Trump, who helped broker the ceasefire along with Pope Leo XIV, said on Tuesday that the area involved had been expanded to provide ‘safe passage’ for humanitarian convoys.” (10/27/26)
“In a rather strange lawsuit — United States v. State of Alaska, filed on October 23 — the US Department of Justice asked a court to block that state’s election authority from certifying an election result that isn’t even known yet and won’t be known until, at the earliest, November 3. Weird enough, but it gets even weirder: DOJ wants certification of the result blocked if, and only if, incumbent US Senator Dan Sullivan loses the election. If he wins? Move along, nothing to see here. The ‘problem,’ DOJ claims, is that voters may be ‘confused’ by the presence of two Dan Sullivans on the ballot — the aforementioned Daniel S. Sullivan, a Republican, and ‘independent’ Daniel J. Sullivan — in addition to Democrat Mary Peltola and a second Republican, Gerald L. Heikes. In other words, DOJ wants the court to rule that Alaska’s voters are really, really stupid.” (10/27/26)
“Datavault AI (DVLT) shares plunged nearly 50% on Tuesday after a filing revealed that the company had been unable to withdraw bitcoin from crypto exchange Biconomy since June and would have to restate its financial results. The stock closed at $0.067, down 49.55%, with roughly 244 million shares traded. The problem traces back to a September 2025 agreement with Scilex Holding Company, which agreed to purchase $150 million of Datavault shares and warrants using bitcoin.” (10/28/26)
Source: Rutherford Institute
by John & Nisha Whitehead
“This time of year, there is no shortage of monsters to frighten us. Hollywood has given us vampires, zombies, mad scientists, masked killers and creatures that emerge from the darkness to prey upon the unsuspecting. But perhaps the most frightening monster of all is the government that has become so accustomed to wielding extraordinary power that it cannot imagine a future in which that power is diminished. Enter the Doomsday Plan. Imagine it: The power grid goes down. Supply chains collapse. Communications fail. Cities are plunged into darkness. Ordinary Americans are left scrambling for food, water, medicine and shelter. Not to worry, though. The government has a plan for the coming apocalypse.” (10/27/26)
“An Egyptian court on Tuesday ordered the closure of independent news website Mada Masr after convicting its editor-in-chief, Lina Attalah, of operating without a license. Attalah, one of Egypt’s most prominent journalists, was detained for several hours following the verdict before being released after paying a fine. The court imposed a fine of 3 million Egyptian pounds (around $53,400; €48,112), the maximum penalty for the offense. It also ordered the website to shut down and its equipment to be confiscated. Mada Masr, founded in 2013, is one of Egypt’s few remaining independent news outlets. It is known for investigating corruption, human rights violations and the military’s powerful role in the country.” (10/27/26)
Source: The Hill
by Georgy Egorov & Konstantin Sonin
“Fear of artificial intelligence is spreading fast. In the United States, momentum is building for a regulatory framework that would slow progress at the technological frontier. Leaders of the industry sound partial to slowing down. The problem with this approach is that any effective regulation would create risks of its own. In particular, enforcing an AI slowdown would require an extraordinary expansion of the government’s surveillance and investigative powers. History shows that the risks of such an expansion might outweigh the very real risks of unregulated development.” (10/27/26)
