“The UN General Assembly condemned the US economic embargo of Cuba for the 34th year on Wednesday, even as Washington’s campaign to influence the outcome led to a number of countries voting against the resolution or sitting out the decision for the first time. The vote was 130-17, with 25 abstentions – a notable decrease in support from last year, when more than 160 nations supported the measure and only 12 abstained. While such resolutions at the UN General Assembly are not legally binding, they do reflect world opinion. For the first time in 34 years, Western countries like Germany, Italy and Latvia were among those that refrained from voting. Bosnia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Lithuania, Morocco, North Macedonia, Paraguay and Slovenia are among those member states that voted no – most for the first time.” (10/28/26)
“A Romanian court has extended the pre-trial detention of far-right politician Calin Georgescu by 30 days, in an investigation into an alleged 1.1 million euros ($1.2m) fraud case. The decision by the Bucharest Court of Appeal overturned an October 13 ruling by a lower court that ordered the pro-Russian former frontrunner in Romania’s cancelled 2024 presidential election to be moved from police custody to house arrest for 30 days pending the fraud probe. Prosecutors said Georgescu and two other suspects persuaded a Romanian businessman to give them 1.1 million euros by making him believe they could help him secure a credit line of up to 15 million euros ($16.7m) from a foreign financial institution. Georgescu denied any wrongdoing and claimed the investigations were ‘politically motivated’.” (10/28/26)
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?”
PLEASE SUPPORT THE FREEDOM MOVEMENT’S DAILY NEWSPAPER!
“Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party on Wednesday said that voter fraud perpetrated by Arab citizens prevented him from winning a clear victory in the country’s election. In a statement from Likud reposted on social media by Netanyahu, the right-wing party railed against early results from Tuesday night’s elections, claiming ‘evidence of election theft in many Arab polling stations’ and urging law enforcement agencies to ‘act harshly and swiftly.’ Those accusations have not been verified, nor did Likud provide any evidence to support its claims. According to local media, Israeli police have said there is no evidence to suggest Arab parties meddled in the election. Results of Tuesday night’s election are not yet clear.” (10/28/26)
“The identities of over 41,000 officials from the Department of Homeland Security have allegedly been exposed in a massive data breach by a hacktivist group calling itself the Department of Peace. Late Wednesday stateside, the database was posted on Distributed Denial of Secrets, a nonprofit dedicated to news leaks, with claims that it was obtained from an Okta single sign-on service used by the DHS. It appears to reveal employee names, offices, contact information and assignments, and is searchable. … The searchable database appears to include employees from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Customs and Border Protection and the DHS headquarters.” (10/29/26)
“The Federal Reserve held interest rates steady on Wednesday after hiking borrowing costs in September to clamp down on inflation. The central bank left the federal funds rate at a target range of 3.75% to 4%, keeping it unchanged after raising rates last month for the first time in three years. In a statement, the Fed said economic activity is growing at a ‘strong pace’ while acknowledging that inflation remains elevated.” (10/28/26)
“The U.S. military said vessels that have no need to move between ports in the Gulf of Oman and the Strait of Hormuz should stay away, as tensions ratchet up in the region. ‘Due to the current geopolitical situation, vessels which do not need to transit the area are advised to remain well clear to avoid unnecessary delays to their voyage,’ the U.S. Naval Forces Central Command said in an advisory on Oct. 28 issued via the Joint Maritime Information Center. … It remains unclear what prompted the advisory. The U.S. military last publicly issued a similar notice in mid-July, when it began its blockade of Iranian shipping.” (10/28/26)
“President Donald Trump demanded Wednesday that Democrat Mary Peltola be removed from Alaska’s Senate ballot following a report linking her campaign to a secret effort to peel away votes from Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan by recruiting a candidate of the same name. With less than a week before the midterms, the report intensified a fight over the competitive Senate race, drawing condemnation from Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski and a warning from Attorney General Todd Blanche that the Justice Department could take further action. … The president’s comments come after The New York Times reported Wednesday that Peltola campaign aides and officials with the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee participated in a monthslong operation to recruit another Dan Sullivan and other potential spoilers to the ballot in Alaska.” [editor’s note: Dirty trick? Sure. But in what universe is it illegal to recruit candidates for public office? – TLK] (10/28/26)
“Brazil’s defeated right-wing presidential candidate Flavio Bolsonaro arrived at a Miami-area airport on Wednesday, after the US State Department said it would issue visas to him and his family following his loss to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in Sunday’s runoff election. … Bolsonaro’s arrival in the United States follows conflicting reports about his movements after leaving Brazil despite a court order banning him from travelling abroad. … Bolsonaro, who received tacit support from US President Donald Trump, is under investigation in Brazil for alleged corruption, money laundering and tax evasion. He was ordered to surrender his passport and is expected to lose his parliamentary immunity following his election defeat.” (10/28/26)
“A judge in Milan has freed a 30-year-old researcher accused by police of helping orchestrate violent protests in Italy this month, in a ruling that has infuriated Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who denounced the decision as ‘shameful’. Youssef Siher, an Italian freelance journalist and geopolitics graduate of Moroccan origin, was detained by Milan prosecutors on 24 October on charges of incitement to commit crimes, aggravated by alleged terrorist purposes. … Prosecutors had portrayed Siher as a dangerous militant, but Milan judge Tiziana Landoni said in her ruling that the investigation appeared deeply flawed. ‘There are no serious grounds for believing that (Siher) committed the offences with which he has been charged, nor is there a risk of flight,’ Landoni wrote in her ruling.” (10/28/26)
