Source: Reason
by Autumn Billings
“Since the beginning of President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown in January 2025, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) claims more than 1.1 million people have been arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) combined. But so far, the names of most arrestees have been kept secret. This lack of public disclosure threatens Americans’ ability to hold the government accountable.” (10/23/26)
https://reason.com/2026/10/23/the-founders-warned-against-secret-arrests-ice-is-testing-that-principle/
Source: The Dispatch
“Vivek Ramaswamy’s Vicious Attack Ad May Backfire.” (10/23/26)
https://thedispatch.com/podcast/dispatch-podcast/vivek-ramaswamys-vicious-attack-ad-may-backfire/
Source: SFGate
“At least 12 people were injured, including six children, in a shooting Saturday near a football stadium in Tallahassee on homecoming weekend for Florida A&M University, authorities said. Tallahassee Police Chief Lawrence Revell told reporters that no arrests had been made. In a statement, police said the preliminary investigation indicates that a fight broke out prior to the shooting. It followed a football game in a crowded area. Eleven of the victims sustained gunshot wounds, and at least three victims sustained serious injuries, according to police. The university said on social media that the shooting happened near its campus and that it remained safe.” (10/24/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/at-least-12-people-injured-in-shooting-near-a-22493148.php
Source: Liberal Currents
by Nicholas Grossman
“AI apocalypse fears went mainstream last month after an Anthropic researcher resigned, saying the technology has more than a 10% chance of wiping out humanity. Leaders of AI companies called for a collective slowdown of development. In the process, the public learned that the tech industry’s conception of AI safety is dominated by a small group of people who believe, with a certainty and devotion resembling religion, that an artificial superintelligence will arrive soon and take over the world. Befitting that millenarian outlook, they appear to have an unhealthy internal culture, part of which sure looks like a sex cult.” (10/23/26)
https://www.liberalcurrents.com/the-plausible-techno-dystopian-future/
Source: The Daily Economy
by Matthew Schaffer
“With prices rising and nominal spending running hot, the Fed’s own projections and policy rules suggest further tightening ahead.” (10/23/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/the-fed-may-pause-but-inflation-wont/
Source: Common Dreams
by Timothy Scott
“Universities are making a consequential concession: allowing privately owned generative AI systems into the very processes through which students learn to read, write, reason, and exercise judgment. Their adoption is increasingly presented as inevitable. AI exists, so higher education must adapt. Under this logic, adoption is expected, while refusal requires an explanation. But technological availability is not educational justification. Before reorganizing teaching and learning around these systems, universities should answer the question that advocates of adoption too often avoid: Why should AI be there at all? The language of inevitability obscures who is responsible.” [editor’s note: The language of inevitability is the language of fact; since AI exists, students will use it, end of story. No amount of whining about it will change it – TLK] (10/24/26)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/do-universities-need-ai
Source: Politico
“A drone has hit a commercial ship off the coast of Romania, killing at least one crew member with three more still missing, Romanian President Nicușor Dan said Friday. … The Khoryv ship, flying under the flag of Comoros, suffered significant damage, capsized and partially sank, according to Romania’s Interior Ministry. The incident is the latest in a string of drone attacks on commercial shipping in the Black Sea.” (10/23/26)
https://www.politico.eu/article/drone-hits-another-ship-in-black-sea-near-romania-killing-at-least-one-sailor/
Source: The Anarchist Experience
“Rich and Riley talk about this week’s online security breach, healthcare around the world, and this HEADLINE: Hero Oregon Dad Showed the Importance of Defying Restrictive Gun Laws.” (10/23/26)
https://theanarchistexperience.wordpress.com/2026/10/23/the-anarchist-experience-603/
Source: The American Conservative
by Jude Russo
“Sometimes you have to restate the obvious—dirty work, but someone has to do it: Another round of strikes is unlikely to accomplish this war’s stated political goals, which themselves change on a regular basis. While never-ending, mindless destruction for its own sake has its charms, I guess, generally speaking a war is supposed to accomplish something; the ‘something’ here has been at various times and non-exclusively the end of the Iranian nuclear program, reopening the Strait of Hormuz (which was open before the war), and regime change. The going theory among the teeming intellects downtown appears to be that yet another movement in the symphony of death, in concert with Scott Bessent’s exotic economic maneuvers, will get the Iranians to cry uncle and/or provoke a change of management in Tehran. Anything is possible, but I wouldn’t hold my breath.” (10/23/26)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/what-is-another-round-of-bombing-in-iran-actually-going-to-achieve/
Hey, everyone …
THANK YOU to long-time supporter JR, whose $25 donation yesterday (with a note: “Not sure how much your copay is, but hopefully this helps” brings our annual fundraiser total to (as of 5am) $1,028!
Before going any further (it gets a little weird), let me mention that today is a “FIREHOSE FRIDAY” at the freedom movement’s daily newspaper, with no email edition but about 100 news stories, opinion pieces, and audio/video links lined up for you here at our web edition.
That “copay” remark from JR refers to yesterday’s update, in which I mentioned a medical appointment. I expected a 45-minute thing, but it turned into a four-plus-hour thing (not including an hour or so of travel time). A big chunk out of my usual work time, which is why I decided to go “web-only” today. Why more than four hours? Read on if you’re interested. But first:
We’re $1,723.50 short of our goal. Once we reach $2,751.50, supporter GL will “match funds” to get us to our goal of $5,503.
So: I went to the doctor to find out what kind of procedure I’d need to repair a hole in my left retina. Good news! The hole is too small to bother with, no surgery needed.
BUT!
Well, let me go with more good news: I PROBABLY don’t have cancer.
The four hours was all about multiple rounds of imaging because they saw something else in my eye. Optometrists doing regular eye exams have been mentioning a “freckle” in my eye for a decade or so, but the imaging at the specialist says it’s bigger than that. Ultrasound (one of, IIRC, four kinds of scans) says it is shaped “consistent with a choroidal melanoma.”
Which means more imaging every three months for probably a year to see if it is growing, changing, etc. It’s hard to biopsy the back of the eye, so all they can really do is watch and guess, then (if necessary) hit it with radiation, lasers, or surgery to remove the mass (or, possibly, the eye).
Am I worried? Yes. But there are worse things than rocking a Snake Plissken eyepatch for the rest of my life, which sounds like both a stretch and the worst even remotely likely outcome. Fortunately I have decent health coverage (through my wife’s employer).
If I was cynical, I’d say a cancer scare was just the thing I could use to get y’all to
Good thing I’m not cynical, huh?
I do hope you’ll support us because we bring you important content reliably, not because ooh, scary, poor Tom.
And I also hope you have a happy, healthy, and prosperous weekend!
Yours in liberty,
Tom Knapp
Publisher
Rational Review News Digest / Freedom News Daily
