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?”
Have a happy, healthy, and prosperous day!
Yours in liberty,
Tom Knapp
Publisher
Rational Review News Digest / Freedom News Daily
Source: Politico
“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)
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/10/28/netanyahu-israel-stolen-election-claims-01139962
Source: Eastern New Mexico News
by Kent McManigal
“Those who depend on ruling others to make money, secure their position, or to gain power won’t let it go. Respecting your natural human rights isn’t in their interest. It’s up to you to secure your rights — to assume your liberty in the face of all those who want to rule you. Those who govern you hate your realization that liberty is your natural birthright as a human being. They’ll treat you like a criminal if you don’t pretend they have the right to rule you. Which they don’t, because this ‘right’ can’t exist. … Remember: you own your life and your property. You don’t owe them to everyone who demands them.” (10/28/26)
https://www.easternnewmexiconews.com/story/2026/10/28/voices/opinion-you-own-your-life-and-property/234465.html
Source: Reason
“Author Neal Stephenson explores the forgotten history of the atomic bomb, how Big Tech transformed the internet, and the enduring value of the Enlightenment.” (10/28/26)
https://reason.com/podcast/2026/10/28/the-untold-story-behind-the-race-for-the-atomic-bomb/
Source: CNBC
“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)
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/10/29/dhs-data-breach-ice-cdp-deportations.html
Source: Reason
by JD Tuccille
“In the country with arguably the most successful market economy on Earth, it’s not unreasonable to ask for just one major political party to favor a system of relatively unfettered voluntary exchange. And yet, the midterm elections offer Americans a ‘choice’ between a party openly embracing socialism by name, and one that increasingly embraces state-directed economic activity in the cause of nationalism. Not every candidate running as a Democrat or Republican is on board with their parties’ statist transformations, and there are certainly other issues separating the two dominant political tribes. But if you want reliable advocacy of economic freedom, you won’t find it in the two major parties.” (10/28/26)
https://reason.com/2026/10/28/the-midterms-offer-a-choice-between-two-brands-of-socialism/
Source: CBS News
“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)
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/federal-reserve-holds-interest-rates-steady-inflation/
Source: Adam Smith Institute
by Madsen Pirie
“What does Jeff Bezos add to my life? And Elon Musk? and Mark Zuckerberg? and Steve Jobs? and Jimmy Wales? Jeff Bezos gave me the everything store. … Elon Musk made electric cars desirable rather than dutiful. … Mark Zuckerberg gave me free tools to keep in touch with almost anyone I’ve ever met. … Steve Jobs put a powerful computer in my pocket and made it simple enough for a child or a grandparent. … Jimmy Wales gave me the largest encyclopedia in history, free, ad-free, and in hundreds of languages. … The striking point is how little of this value the founders keep. The economist William Nordhaus estimated that innovators capture only around two percent of the social value their innovations create.” (10/28/260
https://www.adamsmith.org/blog/what-have-the-tech-giants-ever-done-for-us
Source: Transport Topics
“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)
https://www.ttnews.com/articles/us-ships-avoid-hormuz
Source: The American Conservative
by Ted Galen Carpenter
“Moscow’s anger and frustration is rising, as indicated by the mounting number of incidents in the gray zone category in recent months. Yet policymakers on both sides of the Atlantic appear to have given little thought to the likely consequences of even a sustained, limited war in their countries. The ugly reality is that the impact would be highly disruptive at best—and catastrophic at worst. To the extent that experts examine the issue at all, they usually focus on the least likely scenario: a full-scale nuclear war between Russia and NATO. … But what if Russian or NATO leaders conclude that it’s possible to wage a limited war without either side resorting to the thermonuclear option? (10/28/26)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/a-non-nuclear-nato-russia-war-would-still-be-disastrous/
