Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“French President Emmanuel Macron has declined Interior Minister Laurent Nunez’s offer to resign after nationwide demonstrations by students protesting educational conditions and groups angry over the high cost of living turned into widespread riots and looting, the Elysee presidential office says. Macron said Nunez should stay in his position to ensure the chain of command is maintained within the police and security forces and asked the interior minister to establish new methods to deal with looters, the Elysee said in a statement on Monday. … The Ministry of the Interior said more than 2,300 people were arrested and almost 1,000 police and gendarmes injured in protests on Saturday. Injuries were also reported among protesters, with one demonstrator’s hand blown off by a police crowd-control grenade.” (10/19/260
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/10/19/frances-macron-declines-ministers-resignation-after-violent-protests
Source: Antiwar.com
“Trump Wants Netanyahu To ‘Finish the Job’ Against Iran, Saudis Kill More Civilians in Yemen and More.” (10/18/26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltkSFW09heI
Source: The American Conservative
by Peter Van Buren
“The struggle over who is better at the job, political appointees or careerists, will never conclusively end. It has been a factor of American diplomacy for decades, under all flavors of administrations. The mainstream media negatively focus on some of Trump’s ambassadorial choices, but to anyone familiar with diplomacy it is nothing more than another round in a century-old political argument. The new question, unique to the second Trump administration, is whether or not the president should appoint anyone at all, career or political, to a particular ambassadorial job. … Ambassadors are increasingly curiosities left over from the 19th century, a past when Washington, DC, needed trusted representatives empowered to make decisions a world away. Embassies as they exist today were created for a world without Zoom, encrypted messaging, presidential and cabinet travel, celebrity special envoys, global media reporting, and easy direct leader-to-leader calls.” (10/19/26)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/do-we-actually-need-ambassadors/
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Rational Review News Digest / Freedom News Daily
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“At least one person has been killed, and five others injured after Ukraine launched more than 1,000 drones at Russia, one of Kyiv’s largest aerial strikes in the war. St Petersburg Governor Alexander Beglov said firefighters were battling fires sparked by Sunday’s attacks on the St Petersburg oil terminal, the Ruchi oil depot and industrial warehouses in the Kolpinsky district south of the city. … The strikes came as tensions between Kyiv and Washington deepened, with US President Donald Trump criticising Ukraine’s attacks on Russian oil infrastructure, and the prospect of further US sanctions against Moscow still uncertain.” (10/19/26)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/10/19/ukrainian-drone-attack-on-russias-st-petersburg-kills-1-hits-energy-sites
Source: JimBovard.com
by James Bovard
“President Trump’s protectionism gives Ameircans the same ‘protection’ that the wolf gave to the lamb. The Food and Drug Administration and Customs Border Protection will effectively ban almost all personal prescription imports in January. Millions of Americans who rely on Canadian pharmacies will be whipsawed by higher prices. The new policy is spurred by Trump’s hostility to Canada and his devotion to protecting Big Pharma profits.” (10/18/26)
https://jimbovard.com/blog/2026/10/18/new-york-post-bitter-pills-trump-takes-americans-like-me-hostage-for-big-pharma/
Source: Unattended Baggage
“I can’t go for that (no can do).” (10/17/26)
https://unattendedbaggage.substack.com/p/episode-359-i-cant-go-for-that-no
Source: NBC News
“A candidate for lieutenant governor of Massachusetts, Republican Shawn Oliver, was arrested on drunken driving charges after a crash late Saturday that left several parked vehicles damaged and his own overturned, police said. On Sunday, Oliver, a New Bedford City Council member, announced he was suspending his campaign, as his running mate, Mike Minogue, had called for him to do. … He faces charges of operating under the influence of liquor, negligent operation of a motor vehicle, a marked lanes violation and speeding, New Bedford police said Sunday. They said Oliver’s vehicle overturned after it hit five parked vehicles, two of which were extensively damaged, near a shopping plaza on Dartmouth Street about 11:40 p.m.” (10/18/26)
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/massachusetts-shawn-oliver-lt-governor-suspends-campaign-drunk-driving-rcna604183
Source: The UnPopulist
by Jonathan Rauch
“What in the world is going on? Why are Western publics so disillusioned with liberalism? Why gravitate to authoritarian populism, which is invariably corrupt, repressive, and incompetent? Why now, when Western countries are objectively richer and safer than any time before the end of the Cold War—if not ever? … While no one disputes that liberal governments committed mistakes and oversights, none of their failings explains, much less justifies, the movement of an enviably privileged electorate like Germany’s toward a party like AfD.” (10/18/26)
https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/even-perfect-liberal-governance-could
Source: Deutsche Welle [German state media]
“Kenya’s Health Ministry on Sunday confirmed another case of Ebola, bringing the number of confirmed infections in the country to eight. News of another patient in the East African state came as health officials in Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) reported that the outbreak there had spread to an eighth province. … It’s currently the deadliest outbreak in Congo’s history with authorities recording at least 9,400 cases, including over 4,500 deaths, in the outbreak declared in mid-May.” (10/18/26)
https://www.dw.com/en/ebola-kenya-cases-rise-to-8-spreads-to-8th-congo-province/a-79694614
