“OpenAI has confirmed that it is reviewing a report of a failed hacking attempt against a Canadian government body in the latest incident to highlight cybersecurity concerns about artificial intelligence. The AI giant said on Wednesday that it was reviewing the alleged cyberattack against Canada’s national archives agency and had provided an initial briefing to Canadian officials. … The attempted hacking, if confirmed, would be the first publicly known case of an AI-led cyberattack against Canada’s government, following a series of incidents of rogue agents targeting agencies in the United States and Australia.” (10/01/26)
“A federal judge approved a Paramount Skydance antitrust settlement with California and other states Wednesday, allowing the company’s merger with Warner Bros. Discovery to move forward. The settlement, reached last week, resolves a lawsuit that 12 states’ attorneys general brought against the company. The lawsuit argued that the acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery would give the company too much control of the market.” (09/30/26)
Yes, it’s “year-end fundraiser” time again. We keep our appeals limited to the occasional “we’re reader-supported” reminder nine months out of the year, but starting each October 1 we set a goal and hammer you every dang day with that goal until we make it.
The bare bones:
1) You can, and should, support the freedom movement’s daily newspaper at:
2) Our goal this year is $5,503, and reader GL has pledged to “match funds” for half of that, meaning we only need to raise $2,751.50 from the rest of our readers!
3) Once we’ve reached the goal, we’ll stop talking about money ENTIRELY for the rest of the year, and MOSTLY for the first nine months of NEXT year.
As for trivial asides:
Why $5,503? Well, last year it was $5,501. I didn’t want to raise the goal TOO much because I know inflation hits you as hard as it hits us, so I just escalated to the next prime number (I have a thing about prime numbers).
How long have we been doing this? As Rational Review News Digest, for 24 years as of this coming December 23. As Freedom News Daily, since 1994. And before that was Libernet, dating to 1991, making us the libertarian movement’s oldest and longest-surviving daily Internet news and commentary roundup.
So, again: Please support us, based on your assessment of how much value you find in our work, at …
“Christa Pike, convicted of murdering a classmate three decades ago, has survived Tennessee’s effort to [kill] her by means of lethal injection, prison officials said. Her lawyers said late on Wednesday that she had been taken away from the prison in an ambulance and was being treated at a hospital, but they said they had not been told about her condition. Officials gave Pike two doses of pentobarbital, her lawyers said in court filings. Journalists who witnessed the attempted [killing] described snoring, loud exhales, gasps and complaints from Pike about pain, as well as her kicking her feet so often that she knocked off the sheets laid over her, according to NBC News. Tennessee Governor Bill Lee said in a statement that he has ordered ‘a comprehensive, third-party review to determine exactly what occurred’ and that the remaining scheduled [prisoner killing] will not take place this year.” (10/01/26)
“Russia has unleashed a widely anticipated air campaign against Ukraine’s energy grid, hitting power facilities and infrastructure around Kyiv and other regions in the heaviest combined attack on energy sites in months. The strikes on Wednesday, in which Ukrainian officials said seven people were killed, came after days of intensifying drone barrages primarily on the capital, a prelude to what many Ukrainians expect to be a winter of attacks intended to plunge cities into cold and darkness while Ukraine is short of air defences. State power grid operator Ukrenergo said it had imposed emergency power cuts as a result of the attack in Kyiv and three surrounding regions – the first time such a measure had been imposed in the capital since the spring.” (10/01/26)
“California has enacted new legislation to protect workers from AI-powered layoffs and surveillance, governor Gavin Newsom announced. The new laws are mostly aimed at companies using AI to initiate job cuts or monitor employees, not about harnessing the tech to replace workers. However, it’s some of the first legislation in the nation that gives employees rights [sic] about how AI can be deployed in the workplace. … Divided into multiple bills, the new law prohibits employers from only relying on AI when making a disciplinary action or termination decision, and forces companies to provide transparency if any mass layoff, relocation or termination is caused by an AI system. It also protects against the use of surveillance tools in workplace bathrooms and prohibits lawyers from ‘fully handing over core legal work’ like drafting briefs, to AI.” (10/01/26)
“Pakistan has launched fresh airstrikes in Afghanistan, targeting the alleged hideouts of Islamist militants blamed for deadly cross-border attacks, officials said on Thursday. At least two hideouts were targeted in the provinces of Helmand and Kunar in early morning airstrikes, Pakistani Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said. At least 22 militants were killed and their arms and ammunition were destroyed, Tarar said in a statement. Afghanistan’s Taliban government, however, said homes were hit in the strikes, killing nine civilians, including women and children.” (10/01/26)
“Senate Democrats on Wednesday blocked a bill sponsored by vulnerable GOP incumbent Sen. Pete Ricketts (Neb.) to restrict members of Congress from buying new stocks of publicly traded companies, arguing the legislation didn’t go far enough to crack down on possible corruption. The Stop Insider Trading Act failed by a vote of 53-47. No Democrat voted in support of the measure. It needed 60 votes to advance on the Senate floor. Ricketts, who is facing a competitive race in Nebraska, argued before the vote that his bill would ‘ban congressional insider trading’ and touted it as a ‘commonsense’ reform that ‘we need to pass.’ It passed the House in July by a vote of 232-198 with the support of 13 Democrats.” (09/30/26)
“Before Stonehenge was raised, before Egypt’s first pyramid broke ground, before the Nazca people drew their famous lines across the Peruvian desert, someone in what is now southern Arizona shaped a 272-foot fish into the earth. On April 23, 2026, a border-wall contractor drove heavy equipment across it. Conservation advocates describe the damage as irreparable. … The Las Playas Intaglio sits inside the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge, west of Ajo, Arizona. A geoglyph is an image made by scraping or arranging the desert surface; this one, shaped like a fish, stretches roughly 272 feet in length. … Earlier estimates placed the carving at roughly 1,000 years old. Archaeologists David S. Whitley and geologist Ronald I. Dorn …. revised that estimate dramatically. Their findings, published in The SAA Archaeological Record in September 2026, date the intaglio conservatively at 6,500 to 7,300 years old, with the possibility it is closer to 7,500 years old.” (09/30/26)
“On Tuesday, President Donald Trump and top AI leaders announced a signed pledge called a ‘Joint Commitment on Frontier Responsibilities’ — a voluntary promise to implement more controls and safety measures as the rapid development of artificial intelligence continues. But there seems to be a catch — namely that the ‘United States’ was misspelled as ‘Unites States’ in a photo of the signed agreement the President shared to Truth Social. … Via an executive order, the President is also mandating that all government departments and agencies now change their phrasing from ‘artificial intelligence’ to ‘superintelligence’ or ‘SI.'” (09/30/26)
