Marie Burns: October 2026

October 17, 2026

RAS & Akhilleus are amused/aghast that Trump can't find his ride & walks -- zigzag fashion -- right past it. Secret Service agents corral him moments later & lead him back to the Beast's open door, which he had just skirted. It's remarkable: ~~~

oh man remember when the media used to creatively edit videos to make it look like Biden was wondering off?

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— Henry (@henrythedog.bsky.social) October 16, 2026 at 9:33 PM

~~~ Marie: I get that these rallies are exhausting & it's all Trump can do to hang on for the hour or so of free-association ramblings. He won't have to do these rallies anymore, but I still don't see how he can last for two more years-plus. I told my local ACLU lady in December 2024 that I was afraid Trump would make it till maybe June 2028, then die or be 25th-ed out, leaving the presidency* to JayDee. Then all would be forgiven & everybody would vote for JayDee because they felt so sad about Trump. That remains my biggest fear.

Israel. Gerry Shih, et al., of the Washington Post: “ A group of European diplomats was assaulted in the West Bank on Saturday, allegedly by Israeli settlers, a day after an attack by settlers that seriously injured Washington Post photographer Heidi Levine near the Palestinian village of Abu Falah. Israeli police and military officials said they had opened an investigation into the incident involving the diplomats in Taybeh, northeast of Ramallah, and about a half-hour drive south of Abu Falah. Video showed the delegation, including representatives of France, Belgium and Poland, being assaulted by masked figures.... U.S. ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, on Saturday called the attack on Levine 'vicious' and 'cowardly,' in a post on X.” A New York Times story is here; this is a gift link. ~~~

~~~ Lucia Sang of CBS News: "A police investigation is underway after European diplomats said they were assaulted by Israeli settlers while visiting the occupied West Bank on Saturday, authorities said. Meanwhile, the prime minister's office urged caution before 'drawing conclusions,' and the reports come 'amid concerns about a coordinated campaign to smear Israel.'"

Madison Kircher of the New York Times: “'No Kings,' the coalition known for blanketing the country in protests against ... [Donald] Trump, is setting its sights on a new target as midterm elections approach: voter turnout. On Oct. 17, organizers around the United States will hold 'No Kings: Vote Early' events to promote early voting and help people form voting plans like requesting absentee ballots, checking on their voter registrations or finding neighbors to help them drive to the polls.... Over 2,500 are planned around the country. The organization is maintaining a live map for people looking to find events in their area. There is also a virtual option for those who cannot physically attend an event. Stacey Abrams, the former Democratic candidate for governor in Georgia, is among the speakers at that virtual event.” The link is a gift link.

⭐What Is an American? Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times: “For Trump and his movement, real Americans are defined by race and ancestry. The administration’s war on birthright citizenship stems from that belief. It’s the reason Trump, who accused immigrants of 'poisoning the blood' of our country, has limited refugee resettlement almost exclusively to white South Africans. JD Vance channeled the same idea last year when, attacking the Jewish Anti-Defamation League, he said, 'I think the people whose ancestors fought in the Civil War have a hell of a lot more claim over America than the people who say they don’t belong.' And now the Trump administration is attempting to strip Democratic congresswoman Ilhan Omar, who was born in Somalia, of her citizenship so as to deport her. This is more than just another persecution of one of Trump’s political enemies. Rather, his government is tacitly declaring the citizenship of all foreign-born people provisional, their Americanness something that can be revoked. It’s a frontal attack on the idea of constitutional equality.” The link is a gift link. Read on. ~~~

~~~ Jeremy Roebuck, et al., of the Washington Post: “Lawyers for Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minnesota) on Friday accused federal authorities of ignoring key restrictions that a judge placed on the search of the lawmaker’s D.C. residence this week and demanded the immediate return of all property seized from the home.... Among the restrictions the attorneys said agents did not follow were provisions requiring investigators to provide Omar’s lawyers with a copy of the warrant and to contact the House Office of General Counsel before carrying out the search. That would have given Omar the chance to consult with congressional attorneys on any legislative work product that might have been exempt from federal seizure, her lawyers said.” ~~~

~~~ Nicole Sganga of CBS News: "Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin [volunteered while a guest on a right-wing podcast Friday that] federal agents executed multiple search warrants on the same day they searched Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar's Washington home.... Mullin described the ongoing investigation as a 'strong case' while suggesting cases of coordinated immigration fraud could be prosecuted under federal racketeering laws.... 'We had a judge sign it, and we expect to be able to take the case to a grand jury,' Mullin said.... 'But I will tell you, we wouldn't move forward, and President Trump didn't want to move forward either, unless we knew that it couldn't be politically driven.'... [Donald] Trump previously stated he didn't know anything about the investigation.... Mullin suggested that a racketeering prosecution could allow investigators to examine conduct extending back decades, arguing that statutes of limitations generally would not apply to such cases.... Under federal law, criminal RICO prosecutions are generally subject to a five-year statute of limitations, although in certain cases prosecutors can incorporate older acts...." ~~~

~~~ Marie: Like Katie Zacharia, Markwayne is not a lawyer, but I guess he's playing one on podcasts now. At least Katie Z. studied law; I think Markwayne studied wrestling & plumbing for a while. While one certainly does not have to be a lawyer to express an opinion on a particular law or a particular case, a high-ranking government official who suggests he has insider information should be very discreet in offering opinions that could sway members of a jury pool & deprive a defendant of her rights. Anyway, from what little I know, the case against Omar doesn't sound like "a strong case," inasmuch as the events happened some 25 years ago when she was less than 18 years old & any substantive misstatements of fact may have been made by her father, who is deceased. Meanwhile, Markwayne has let on that Trump lied again when he claimed not to have knowledge of the case. (In fairness, Markwayne is not particularly familiar with standard English grammar & sentence structure, so here his remark requires interpretation & assumptions: "... unless we knew that it couldn't be politically driven"?? What does that mean exactly, Markwayne?) Until further notice, I'm sticking with Goldberg's theory of the case.

Implausible Deniability.

Marie: At various times yesterday, it looked as if cartoonist Mike Luckovich might have unfairly implicated one of the SOBs depicted in the cartoon above, a cartoon Luckovich released Thursday. Plus, another of the SOBs claimed no knowledge of how Ukraine's Starshield system just happened to go down at the very time he & President Zelensky were publicly feuding. On Thursday, Elon wrote on X, “Starshield systems are owned and controlled by the U.S. government. Any limits on speed or usage are decided by the US military and ultimately POTUS.” Seemingly backing up Elmo, Reuters reported that someone -- ID unknown -- in the White House ordered the Pentagon to slow down Starshield, thus imperiling not only Ukraine's war effort but also the lives of its residents, including some Americans. ~~~

~~~ But Friday, said POTUS* unequivocally claimed innocence:

~~~ Mira Bhakta of the Hill: Donald “claimed on Friday that neither he nor SpaceX founder caused Ukraine’s Starlink outage earlier this week as the president clashed with Ukrainian President over resumed strikes on Russian oil refineries. 'I didn’t do that. No, we didn’t do that at all. In fact, I don’t even think it was slowed down from what I understood. Because I just checked this morning,' Trump told reporters Friday while on his way to a campaign rally in Georgia. 'I heard about it from the news, the media. And we didn’t slow it down at all. And I think it’s probably functioning, from what I understand,' he continued. When asked by a reporter if Musk was involved, Trump said, 'I don’t know if there’s anybody because it wasn’t me, and it wasn’t Elon, as I understand.'” ~~~

~~~ In yesterday Comments thread, RAS pointed out that if Trump didn't order the slowdown, he sure as hell should have known who in the White House did. Why doesn't he know what his own staff are doing, even in a life-or-death matter? In any normal White House, a real president (a) would have been fully briefed on the matter and would have had to give the final go-ahead on such a drastic action. Or (b) if a rogue staffer had made the call, it would have been easy to track her down. Is Trump not interested in finding the perp? His indifference is suspicious, innit? ~~~

~~~ MEANWHILE, Erin Banco, one of the reporters on the Reuters scoop, appeared on MS NOW Friday and said that Reuters still was unable to determine who in the White House ordered the slowdown of Starshield. But, she said, SpaceX would have to have been involved at the operational level because SpaceX, not the Pentagon, controls the system. The Pentagon might have told SpaceX engineers to slow down the system, but Pentagon officials themselves could not have "flipped a switch" & effected the slowdown. So the mystery persisted. Until this: ~~~

~~~⭐"They Were Both In On It." Abbey Fenbert & Polina Moroziuk of the Kyiv Independent: "SpaceX CEO Elon Musk approached ... Donald Trump with the idea of restricting Starlink speeds for Ukrainian forces, the Telegraph reported on Oct. 16, citing four sources familiar with the matter.... Conflicting reports about the reason for the cutoff — and who was responsible — have left Ukraine with questions even after Starlink service stabilized on the front lines. But the Telegraph on Oct. 16 reported that it was Musk who proposed the speed cap to Trump — and Trump 'agreed,' one source said.... [In denying responsibility for the slowdown,] Musk neglected to mention his own role in the change. A senior source told the Telegraph that after the chaos and violence that followed the restriction, Musk was concerned about negative consumer reactions in Europe. 'He tweeted out that he was innocent and that it was the U.S. administration that did it,' the source reportedly said. 'The reality is that they were both in it.' This account was confirmed by two Ukrainian sources and a high-ranking European official, according to the Telegraph." ~~~

~~~ Would you buy a used car from Elmo? See Akhilleus' comments on Musk in today's thread. ~~~

~~~ Heather Cox Richardson posts a pretty helpful narrative on how the tall tales went down. And who knows? maybe months from now, we'll get a definitive answer from the Pentagon's inspector general, thanks to a request from Democratic & Republican senators. ~~~

~~~ Marie: Earlier this week, we learned in a Washington Post report that four White House staffers were ready to finger Trump for choosing a completely incompetent, lying press secretary without even consulting his own chief-of-staff or arranging for the vetting of said incompetent liar. Now, once again, four people -- all of whom probably work in Trump's White House -- outed Trump for lying on an even more important matter. Same four? Probably not (though there could be a bit of overlap), because the two matters involve different White House ops. The Trump Train is jumping the tracks, car by car. And the cars, of course, are connected.

The Traitorous Trump Mocks Congress. Alan Rappaport of the New York Times: Donald “Trump signed an executive order on Friday night exempting Russia from a new sanctions measure that Congress passed last month, offering another economic lifeline to Russian President Vladimir V. Putin as the United States turns to Russia for help in lowering gas prices. The sanctions were intended to target Russian officials, oligarchs and financial institutions, and were part of a law that was named after Senator Lindsey Graham, the South Carolina Republican who died in July after spending more than a year building support for the measure. The law, which is intended to squeeze the financial lifelines sustaining Russia’s war against Ukraine, also provided Mr. Trump with additional tariff authority that he could use to punish countries that continue to trade with Russia.” The link is a gift link. ~~~

~~~ Marie: To be clear, Congress -- led by Republicans -- signed a law -- promoted by one of Trump's most ardent sycophants -- to sanction Russia. Trump signed the law, then promptly exempted Russia from the law. As ABC News puts it, "The move effectively neutralizes the law by lifting provisions that barred the president from removing sanctions against Russia and preventing a host of new sanctions and penalties from taking effect on Oct. 18 -- the deadline set by the law."

~~~ Scott Lemieux in LG&$: Trump & Musk are "both fascist warmongers who want Putin’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine to succeed, and will do whatever they think is politically possible to achieve this." ~~~

~~~ Kateryna Denisova of the Kyiv Independent: "President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Oct. 17 that ... Donald Trump was 'wrong' to further 'block' sanctions against Russia, while expressing hope that the U.S. leader would do 'everything possible' to stop the war.... 'Unfortunately, I don't think this is a way to stop (Russian President Vladimir) Putin. On the contrary, he feels joy that he has such support,' Zelensky told reporters. He described bipartisan support for the Russia sanction bill in September as 'a major victory,' calling the decision to 'scrap' it 'wrong.'"

According to a report in the Financial Times, E.U. leaders intended to urge President Zelensky to "tone down" his criticism of the Fat Fascist Liar & PutinPuppet. So perhaps that explains Zelensky's response when, at the European Council meeting in Brussels, a Sky News reporter asked him if he thought Donald Trump was making him a scapegoat: ~~~

We now take a break from reports of the usual Trumpian atrocities to briefly return to waiting room fare: Trump's Architectural Digest: ~~~

~~~ Arc de Trump News. Dan Diamond of the Washington Post: “The Trump administration on Friday released final plans for ... Donald Trump’s 250-foot-tall triumphal arch that do not include drones, snipers or other features of the 'military complex' that Trump said he would add to the project. The National Capital Planning Commission, a federal panel that reviews major construction projects, posted new renderings and accompanying documents provided by the Interior Department, which is overseeing the controversial project. None of the new documents mentions a military purpose for the arch, with officials instead offering information on planned tourist visits and other ceremonial functions. Asked Friday about the discrepancy between Trump’s announcement about a military complex and the newly posted plans, a White House official disputed that Trump’s plans had changed.... An Interior Department spokesperson, Katie Martin, wrote in an email, 'The current design of the Triumphal Arch is capable of accommodating the national security functions — and more — highlighted in the President’s Truth Social post.'” ~~~

~~~ Marie: If you are confused or skeptical, then you just don't appreciate fascistic coded language & subordination of facts. Get with it! Meanwhile, look forward to seeing drone attacks from the observation towers. The children of some lucky visitors will get to launch drones on their own, and everybody can try out the weapons in the Arc-senal. If you hit somebody you claim is ripping up the lining of the Reflecting Pool, you win a MAGA-hat-wearing kewpie doll.

Julian Barnes, et al., of the New York Times: “Less than three weeks from elections that could shift the balance of power in Congress, more signs are emerging that Russia and other foreign governments are once again seeking to influence American voters.... The influence operation known as Doppelgänger has created a flood of social media posts pushing themes of how bipartisan support for Israel is collapsing, according to Alethea, the threat intelligence company. Doppelgänger is run by Russia’s Social Design Agency, a public relations firm. Both the U.S. government and the European Union have imposed punitive sanctions upon it. On Wednesday, X, the social media platform, announced it had banned 13,000 accounts linked to three separate influence operations connected to Iran, Russia and China. The platform said the fake accounts amplified 'content about U.S. politics, targeting candidates and public figures across the political spectrum.'” The link is a gift link. (Also linked yesterday.)

They Really Don't Know What They're Doing. Shawn Hubler & Nicholas Nehamas of the New York Times: “California election officials looking into Trump administration demands to verify the citizenship or block the votes of suspected noncitizens said on Friday that the government had sent them lists so sloppily compiled, and on such short notice, that it was difficult, if not impossible, to comply. Officials said that they received thousands of names lacking critical identifying information like Social Security numbers, and that many of the names were paired with California addresses over which they had no jurisdiction. 'It was basically a data dump' said Mike Sanchez, a spokesman for Los Angeles County’s registrar’s office. The method by which the federal government transmitted the list — a thumb drive with a sticky note containing a password — also initially threatened the security of voter rolls, and made elections officials reluctant to use it, Mr. Sanchez said. The government later sent a spreadsheet that was an unsubstantiated jumble, he said.” The link is a gift link.

Isaac Arnsdorf & Perry Stein of the Washington Post: “The White House task force that ... Donald Trump charged with uncovering evidence of election fraud hasn’t produced any. Instead, it has shifted to releasing records that his administration is using to help build a public case against officials who investigated him. The president initially promoted the task force, led by pro-Trump journalist John Solomon, as part of a push to uncover election fraud. But more recently, the task force has been releasing law enforcement records from past investigations into Trump, including special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into Trump’s handling of classified documents.... Trump allies ... view those materials as useful evidence in the ongoing Florida-based grand conspiracy case — the Justice Department’s most complex and ambitious effort to indict past administration officials who investigated Trump. Even with the fanfare around the release of the files, legal experts and former law enforcement officials said the records show investigators following normal, court-authorized procedures.”

Half Life of a Scaramucci = a Zacharia. Shawn McCreesh, et al., of the New York Times: Donald “Trump's new press secretary, Katie Zacharia, was fired Friday, after less than a week on the job, according to three people familiar with the matter..... Neither the White House nor Ms. Zacharia responded to requests for comment. But Mr. Trump told reporters on Friday that he had encouraged Ms. Zacharia to 'reconsider' the job. 'Honestly, if I were you, I’d reconsider,' he told reporters, recounting his conversation with his press secretary. He said he added: 'Katie, do you need this? I don’t think you need this.' He said Ms. Zacharia might continue to work for him 'in some form, but maybe a more pleasant form.'... The end was nigh after she appeared on Fox News on Thursday night to be interviewed by the president’s friend Sean Hannity, who asked her a few tough questions and treated her with rare skepticism....

“The firing of the administration’s top spokeswoman capped off a week of remarkable upheaval inside Trumpworld. Kimberly Guilfoyle, the ambassador to Greece, was fired on television on Tuesday (during Ms. Zacharia’s only briefing). The president spent time in the Oval Office trying to get to the bottom of a vicious fight between two of his loyalists, Richard Grenell and Alina [Habba] Mildon. Paolo Zampolli, a longtime Trump confidant who claimed to have introduced the president to his wife, was pushed out at the State Department after one of his internecine feuds spilled into the press. And the daughter of Susie Wiles, the White House chief of staff, and others in her circle, came under scrutiny for their moneymaking overseas.” The link is a gift link. (Also linked yesterday.) Politico's report is here. ~~~

~~~ Marie: Most of us oppose fascism because of its cruel, dictatorial, dehumanizing, discriminatory, violent excesses. But it also doesn't work very well. ~~~

~~~ “A Sanctioned Hit.” Sophia Cai, et al., of Politico: “White House chief of staff Susie Wiles helped set up Katie Zacharia’s appearance on Fox News Thursday night, when the embattled new press secretary struggled to answer questions about her rocky first days on the job, according to two people familiar with the internal dynamics. She was ousted hours later on Friday. The interview with host Sean Hannity, which aired during prime time, turned into a pointed examination of Zacharia’s first press briefing and her legal credentials. One of the people ... described the appearance as a 'sanctioned hit' on Zacharia, who was not Wiles’ preferred choice for the role. '[White House spokesperson] Danielle [Alvarez] and Susie fed her to Hannity, a second person familiar with the matter said, noting that Wiles and Hannity are friendly and speak often. [Another White House official disagreed, saying that arranging a set-up was not Wiles' style.]... White House communications director Steven Cheung in a statement called the reporting on Wiles’ involvement 'speculation.'” MB: Probably an intentional, pointed non-denial denial. ~~~

~~~ Jonathan Chait of the Atlantic has fond memories of the hilarious days of Trump 1.0: "... what matters more than her press-secretarial contributions, or the ideas she stood for, is the period Zacharia represents: the Trump administration’s reversion to the hapless chaos of the president’s first term. Trump’s initial go-round was primarily a farce, setting bumbling aides against challenges such as finding the light switches in the Cabinet room, hurling burgers against the White House wall, and booking the wrong Four Seasons. Trump cycled through personnel like Spinal Tap drummers, as one hired helper after the next left in frustration or shame.... [In the second term,] Chief of Staff Susie Wiles turned the executive branch from an exploding fireworks factory into a machine relentlessly processing the president’s whims into law. Yet as the midterm elections draw near, the machine has begun to sputter." Chait's description of Zacharia's ~~first~~ only putative press conference is quite funny, and one would feel great empathy for Zacharia -- were she not a lying Trump troll. Thanks to akaWendy for this gift link. ~~~

~~~ Marie: If Zacharia were not such a dim bulb, she could get a book out of Smiling through Five Days in Hell, as Anthony Scaramucci did from his 11-day stint. But she'll need a brilliant ghostwriter.

Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times: “The board overseeing the National Institutes of Health research hospital delivered a harsh rebuke of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Friday, voting unanimously to support a statement by its chairman accusing Mr. Kennedy of undermining trust in science and politicizing the hospital’s work. The chairman, Jack Leslie, opened the board’s quarterly meeting by reading aloud a six-minute statement that said he was 'troubled' by Mr. Kennedy’s recent unannounced visit to the N.I.H., where the secretary held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a new clinic to study vaccine injuries and led a round table discussion with patients who said they had been injured by vaccines. Mr. Leslie said that serious vaccine injuries are 'rare but real' and that rigorous research is required. But after Mr. Kennedy announced the initiative on social media last week, along with a video of the round table featuring signs that said 'Vaccine Injured,' Mr. Leslie said he grew concerned.... Mr. Leslie said the signs suggested a foregone conclusion to the research, ordered by a secretary who is openly critical of vaccination.” The link is a gift link.

Alan Rappaport of the New York Times: “The United States budget deficit approached $2 trillion in the 2026 fiscal year, its highest level since the pandemic, as spending on the military, safety net programs and interest on the debt dwarfed the Trump administration’s cost cuts, Treasury Department figures showed on Friday. The widening gap between what the government spends and what it collects in taxes and other revenue comes at a critical moment. Investors are nervous about America’s surging debt load, along with stubborn inflation, and have driven up borrowing costs. Treasury bond yields, which influence interest rates for mortgages, credit cards and auto loans, hit their highest levels in two decades earlier this month before easing....

“The rising deficit, which increased to $1.99 trillion this fiscal year from $1.78 trillion in 2025, is notable because it comes at a time when the economy is growing steadily. The last time the deficit topped $2 trillion was in 2021, when the pandemic prompted Congress to approve a huge stimulus package to help keep the economy afloat. But there is not an immediate crisis that the nation is tackling. Instead, the shortfall stems from increased spending on the military, interest payments on the debt and Social Security benefits, coupled with falling corporate tax receipts as a result of the tax cut package.” The link is a gift link. (Also linked yesterday.)

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New York. Debra Kamin, et al., of the New York Times: “The online campaign to unmask Jane Doe began with pleas on X. 'Please help me discover the Cornell girl,' Aidan Thompson, a 23-year-old man who regularly praises Hitler and disparages women on the social media platform, wrote in one of the first posts. 'I have a good lead, but I need your help.' Within hours of Mr. Thompson’s post, another user had offered a bounty of $5,000 for the name and photos of the woman who had sued Cornell University under the pseudonym, claiming she had been gang raped at a fraternity party. Within a day, commenters were circulating a woman’s name and images of her from a social media account. On the fringes of the internet, bigots, attention-seekers and trolls have long seized on polarizing legal cases to air anger and disgust at women — and boost their following. Now they were coming for Jane Doe. A little more than a week after Mr. Thompson’s post about the former Cornell student, more than 11,000 accounts had made almost 25,000 posts that purported to name her....” The link is a gift link.

Oregon. The New York Times continues to liveblog developments following an elementary school shooting yesterday in Bend, Oregon. This is a gift link. From the pinned item at 5:00 pm Friday: “The man who cut short a deadly rampage at an Oregon elementary school by fatally shooting the 16-year-old attacker was the father of two students at the school. Officials had not yet identified the man on Friday, but family members, including his mother, confirmed his identity. The man, Kaylub Giamanco, intervened on Thursday as the teenage assailant attacked Silver Rail Elementary School with a shotgun, blasting through locked doors and killing a teacher and three children, ages 5, 8 and 11. A 7-year-old and another teacher were critically injured. Investigators have searched the home of the 16-year-old suspect, John J. Griffin II, according to a law enforcement official granted anonymity to discuss details of the case. His mother was cooperative, the official said, and investigators took the boy’s electronic devices under a search warrant. They believe the shooter used a weapon that belonged to his mother.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Anna Griffin, et al., of the New York Times: “As the makeshift memorial in front of Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Ore., grew Friday..., police and school officials began offering a clearer picture of how the attack unfolded — and how much worse it could have been.” The link is a gift link. The story recounts events. A CBS News report is here.

Virginia. Dana Hedgpeth of the Washington Post: “Just outside Richmond, along a two-lane road near a convenience store, cornfields stretch toward the James River. Thousands of years ago, Native Americans hunted and fished for shad and sturgeon here. It became the birthplace of Powhatan, the powerful Indigenous leader and father of Pocahontas. Now, the roughly 520-acre property is slated for a sprawling housing and retail development. But a coalition of tribes, historians and conservation groups is trying to stop the project, arguing that the land is a culturally significant and sacred place that could hold burial sites and undiscovered artifacts.... 'It’s like going to Mount Vernon and destroying that or building condos,' [Kevin Brown, chief of the Pamunkey Indian Tribe] said.”

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O, Canada! Voldymyr Zelensky is not the only world leader mocking Trump. This one is more talkative. Thanks to RAS for the link:

The crowd absolutely erupts when Carney says the Pacific Link pipeline will reduce Canada's dependence on the U.S. Mark Carney: "Careful. They might think that's election interference. They're a little touchy down there. We're not. We're getting on with it."

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— MeidasTouch (@meidastouch.com) October 16, 2026 at 12:06 AM

Israel. Suheir Hashimeh & Steve Hendrix of the Washington Post: “Dozens of masked Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian villagers trying to gather their autumn olive harvest on Friday, setting groves on fire and slinging rocks in a coordinated assault that fits a pattern of accelerating settler violence across the occupied West Bank. They also attacked Heidi Levine, a veteran photographer for The Washington Post. Levine, wearing a protective vest clearly marked 'PRESS' on front and back, was knocked to the ground, kicked repeatedly and stripped of her cameras and phone. She was treated at hospitals in Ramallah and Israel for lacerations across her body, a broken rib and four broken vertebrae. She will need surgery on one hand after a finger was ripped open, exposing bone. People who were at the scene described a mass-coordinated attack in which dozens of men in black came down from a hilltop settlement near the village of Abu Falah, northeast of Ramallah, where Palestinian families were picking their olives. Video of the incident corroborate the witness accounts.” The New York Times story is here; this is a gift link. Both accounts are horrifying.

October 16, 2026

It's Friday, Have A Freakin Beer......

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— M Meerkat (@kackbro.bsky.social) October 16, 2026 at 7:45 AM

~~~ Thanks to RAS for the link above. And below: ~~~

MEANWHILE, in a Tiny Kingdom Far Far Away. At the European Council meeting in Brussels, Sky News reporter asks President Zelensky if he thinks Donald Trump is making him a scapegoat: ~~~

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⭐Dancing with the Big Grifter at the Oligarchs' Ball. Jonathan O'Connell, et al., of the Washington Post: “A list obtained by The Washington Post reveals all the major donors to ... Donald Trump’s White House ballroom project, including previously undisclosed contributors who have benefited from regulatory decisions, government contracts and, in one case, a pardon for a family member. Tech giants Nvidia and Apple each committed $25 million, the top contribution amount, the list shows. The Adelson family, one of the GOP’s largest donor dynasties, committed that sum as well, as did billionaire Charles Ergen, co-founder and chairman of telecommunications company Dish Network. Absent from the list is Trump himself, who has said that he is helping to pay for the project. 'It’s being paid for a hundred percent by me and some friends of mine,' he said last year, days after demolition began on the old East Wing....

“The list and other documents offer a panoramic view of a fundraising campaign that is extraordinary both for its size and opacity. Ordinary political giving requires public disclosure and is subject to campaign finance rules. The ballroom donations are collected by a nonprofit and then channeled to the government and into a White House account the president directly controls. Independent experts and scholars have expressed alarm at the potential the arrangement has for influence buying and coerced giving.” Emphasis added. The link is a gift link. (Also linked yesterday.)

Steven Portnoy & Katherine Faulders of ABC News: "... Donald Trump is making a broad assertion of executive privilege to keep secret the conversations he has had about plans to renovate the Kennedy Center, the Justice Department said in a court filing this week. A White House lawyer says in court documents released on Wednesday that Trump's executive privilege -- which is the right of a president to keep confidential the communications he has with advisers -- would also cover his conversations with advisers who don't serve in government. The move comes as Democratic Rep. Joyce Beatty, an ex officio trustee of the Kennedy Center, seeks to obtain information in her ongoing lawsuit challenging the planned closure and renovation of the performing arts center, and whether Trump has plans to demolish it." ~~~

~~~ Marie: What next, Donald? Droit du seigneur?

Maura Judkis of the Washington Post: “This week the administration’s effort to remove trees from a public golf course in D.C. that ... Donald Trump hopes to overhaul was halted by a federal judge, Ana C. Reyes, who wrote a blistering opinion on the case, saying the work was being rushed because President Trump demands haste on his redesign....Here,' she wrote, 'the Court can measure the evidence of environmental injury by looking at the tree trunks.' In a footnote she added: 'Just ask the Lorax.' As Dr. Seuss fans know, the reference invokes the author’s famous book about a little orange guy who rebukes an industrialist for cutting down all the trees and spoiling his habitat.” Judkis responds with a Seussian poem (but with footnotes!). (Also linked yesterday.)

Jack Detsch & Gregory Svirnovskiy of Politico: “... Donald Trump on Thursday called off livestreaming the execution of the convicted Fort Hood shooter, following widespread backlash to the planned broadcast of his death. 'Streaming the execution for all to see might have been a strong deterrent for the World to witness how America deals with Terrorists and SCUM like [Nidal] Hasan but, many very good and well meaning people would rather not watch him die, through streaming, or through any other visual device,' he wrote on social media. 'He will die, as scheduled, by firing squad, but this event will not be streamed.' Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth last week announced plans to livestream the Dec. 3 firing squad execution of Hasan that were immediately denounced by Republicans, Democrats and the Catholic Church.... Until Thursday, the president had stood by the Pentagon chief’s plan.” Thanks to RAS for the lead. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Marie: This has to be a bitter disappointment to Drunk Pete, who -- as one could tell from a video embedded here last week -- was positively giddy at the thrilling prospect of livestreaming a death-by-firing-squad snuff video. See results of related opinion poll, linked below, to understand the reason for Trump's sudden fake display of prudence, as RAS implies in Thursday's Comments.

Via Tom Sullivan of Hullabaloo.

France 24: "Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky sought Thursday to rally European allies after saying Kyiv would no longer abide by ... Donald Trump's demands not to strike Russian oil refineries. Relations between Kyiv and Washington have soured since last week, when Trump eased sanctions on Russia in exchange for Moscow releasing large amounts of diesel onto global markets. Anger in Ukraine has been further heightened by outages to a critical US-provided satellite system that has hampered its military's ability to counter Russia's intense bombardments. Against the backdrop of his latest falling-out with Trump, Zelensky met NATO chief Mark Rutte in Brussels and held a string of bilateral meetings with European leaders before he was set to join an EU summit on Friday.... European leaders have broadly thrown their support behind Zelensky, as they look to weather the latest storm in Trump's volatile relations with Kyiv. French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday said it was 'crucial' that Ukraine receive 'all the means necessary to protect itself' after meeting Zelensky." ~~~

Well, look, I have to make deals with people, so I don’t go around calling them names. I’m a dealmaker. I’ve always been a very good dealmaker. I became very rich because of deals. So I don’t go around mocking people. You know, part of the reason you have that war in the first place is Biden went around mocking Russia and mocking everybody else and didn’t know what he was doing. – Donald Trump, when asked by a reporter why he doesn’t call Putin a dictator

Right meatball Ron, Talafreako, Little Marco, Trannie Andrews, AOC of Tennessee, Sleepy, slow and Autopen Joe, Mini Mike, Fat Alvin, Alfred E. Neuman (Pete Buttigieg), Sloppy Chris Christie, Crooked Hillary, Slimeball James Comey, Liddle' Bob Corker, Lying Ted Cruz, Crazy Kamala, Peekaboo (Letitia James), Mamdani the Commie, Governor Newscum, Pee-wee Herman (Jon Ossoff), Jerome Too Late Powell, Shifty Schiff, Deranged Jack Smith, Pocahontas, and Marjorie "Traitor" Brown. ALL TRUMP nicknames. F this guy. -- James Tate on X, via Joe.My.God.

I know he is a liar, but it still can twist my brain sometimes listening to him describe the opposite of everything he fundamentally is. -- RAS, in Thursday's Comments

~~~ Erin Banco & Gram Slattery of Reuters, published by Yahoo! News: "The order to limit a satellite system used by Ukraine for battlefield communications and drone operations came from inside the White House, according to two US officials and a Western official briefed on the matter. The officials said leaders at the Defense Department received ‌a message that the SpaceX Starshield service for the Ukrainian military needed to be slowed. The officials ... did not specify who in ‌the White House made the decision or who was responsible for implementing the order.... Ukrainian officials said this week that military-grade Starlink receptors stopped working in Ukraine when mounted on fast-moving objects, interfering with the performance of Ukrainian drones that rely on them for onboard guidance systems over Ukrainian territory. A person in Ukraine's Defence Ministry said on Thursday that the receptors were now working when in motion, but only at speeds of up to 100 miles per hour (160 kph)." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Lim Hui Jie of CNBC: “SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk said Wednesday that the U.S. government and ... Donald Trump are responsible for any curbs on Ukraine’s military-grade Starlink network. Writing on X, Musk said that 'Starshield systems are owned and controlled by the U.S. government. Any limits on speed or usage are decided by the US military and ultimately POTUS.'” (Also linked yesterday. ~~~

~~~ Robert Jimison of the New York Times: “A bipartisan group of senators on Thursday demanded an investigation into disruptions to critical satellite communications and intelligence-sharing systems in Ukraine that they warned had undermined the country’s defenses against Russian attacks and endangered U.S. military and diplomatic personnel. In a letter to the Pentagon, the lawmakers, led by Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, the top Democrat on the Foreign Affairs Committee, called on the Defense Department’s inspector general to determine whether the Trump administration or its contractors were responsible for the disruptions.... Republican Senators Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and John Cornyn of Texas signed the letter. Ms. Shaheen was also joined by fellow Democratic Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the ranking member of the Armed Services Committee, as well as Senators Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, Chris Coons of Delaware and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut.” The link is a gift link. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Ford McCracken of the Hill: “Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) called Ukraine’s loss of access to Starshield, the military version of Starlink internet, a 'major problem' and said Congress would respond if the U.S. abandons its support for Ukraine.... Fitzpatrick threatened 'consequences' if the U.S. 'goes dark' on Ukraine, telling The Wall Street Journal that Congress could halt funding for federal agencies responsible.... Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.), who is retiring at the end of the term, said Congress will not advance Trump’s agenda if he abandons Ukraine.” (Also linked yesterday.)

Anton Troianovski & Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: “On the campaign trail in 2024..., [Donald] Trump promised lower prices and a swift end to the war in Ukraine. Two years on, neither has been accomplished. And in his scramble to ease fuel prices ahead of the midterm elections, Mr. Trump has wreaked further havoc in his efforts to make peace in Ukraine. Mr. Trump’s relationship with President Volodymyr Zelensky, already strained after last week’s U.S. decision to lift sanctions on Russian diesel, hit new headwinds on Thursday when the Ukrainian leader declared he would not abide by the U.S. plea not to attack Russian refineries.... The spat with Mr. Zelensky and the escalating conflict have combined to create a new liability for the White House, highlighting Mr. Trump’s remarkable friendliness toward Russia and his inability to end Europe’s biggest war in generations.... Mr. Trump’s friendly attitude toward Mr. Putin puts him on the fringe of American public opinion, even among Republicans, polls show.” The link is a gift link.

~~~ Marie: To this day, I do not understand why anybody relied on, or pretended to rely on, Donald Trump to negotiate the end of Russia's war of aggression on Ukraine. Trump is as dumb as a post, he favors big-power aggression, he is somehow beholden to Vladimir Putin, he is morally bankrupt and he doesn't care about the fate of Ukraine's young, struggling democracy (nor of an older one [U.S.]). He & his special ~~envoys~~ oligarchs Jarhead & Witless should be forced to step aside & let somebody who cares about peace and fairness -- say, Navi Pillay or Jack Smith -- sit at the head of the negotiating table.

Marie: As Ken W. wrote, David French of the New York Times gives a helpful tick-tock of Trump's betrayal of Ukraine, his embrace of and aid to Putin, and I would add, his anti-American, anti-democracy, acts of treason. Trump -- and French -- go all the way back to 2015 & '16. The link is a gift link. Trump is not consistent about much, but for at least a decade he has been mostly consistent in his deference to Putin. (Also linked yesterday.)

Samantha Schmidt & Arturo Torres of the Washington Post: A U.S. “strike on [a fishing boat operating off Ecuador's coast on] Sept. 2 was part of a new phase in the Trump administration’s military campaign against alleged drug boats in waters near Ecuador. Instead of blowing up go-fast boats with crew members on board, U.S. forces are seizing and destroying large fishing vessels accused of providing drug traffickers with fuel to make their journeys toward the United States. In eight interdictions in less than a month, U.S. forces detained 160 crew members at sea before blowing up their fishing boats, calling them “narco-terrorist” refueling vessels. But most detainees have been released without charges or acquitted as Ecuadorian courts ruled, in case after case, that prosecutors failed to prove any crime.

“The interdictions are being conducted jointly with Ecuador, where the government of President Daniel Noboa has welcomed U.S. troops to fight drug-related violence. Unlike in most other strikes in the U.S. military’s year-long campaign, the crew on these vessels are not killed.... Ecuadorian officials agreed to support and join the U.S. operations as long as the attacks did not involve blowing up the boats with crews still aboard” ~~~

~~~ Marie: I'm delighted to see that, at least in some cases, our Trump-approved serial killers have switched from killing to catch-and-release. But the fact that these Ecuadorian fishermen are being released without charges surely implicates the U.S. government as serial murderers of people who are either innocent or not proved guilty of drug trafficking. The new tactic is an implicit condemnation of the previous policy of proudly blowing up people and releasing evidence of guilt in the form of Hegseth-endorsed snuff videos disseminated on government Websites. It's notable that the government of President Noboa, a right-wing autocrat himself, at least in this matter is more respectful of human life than is Donald Trump. And, again, another disappointment for Drunk Pete.

Team of Cannibals. Nancy Cook, et al., of the Washington Post: “White House aides ... have begun jostling ... for power as they brace for widespread midterm election losses and internal upheaval.... Believing that Chief of Staff Susie Wiles might step down after the election, a handful of Trump aides, including Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, top housing official Bill Pulte and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, have begun angling for the position should it become available.”

ICE Barbie Loses Another Job. Olivia Gazis of CBS News: "Former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is no longer serving as the Trump administration's special envoy for the Shield of the Americas initiative, a State Department official said Thursday, though she remains involved in the administration's efforts to coordinate security cooperation across the Western Hemisphere. 'Kristi Noem's envoy status expired last month and she is no longer in the role,' a State Department official told CBS News Thursday. 'She is now a senior advisor to Deputy Secretary [Christopher] Landau and continues to work on the Shield of the Americas portfolio.' The Shield of the Americas is a coalition made up of the United States and several Caribbean and Latin American countries established by the Trump administration earlier this year to cooperate on economic matters, anti-cartel enforcement and other issues."

Scott Nover of the Washington Post: “Katie Zacharia, the new White House press secretary, appeared to confirm Thursday that she didn’t pass the California bar exam, saying the results were 'somewhat inconsequential' because she planned to move to China in 2011 for her husband’s work.... The White House repeatedly told The Post and other outlets that Zacharia practiced with 'all the appropriate credentials.' Two nonprofit groups on Wednesday filed formal complaints over Zacharia, asking the State Bar of California to investigate whether she engaged in the 'unlawful practice of law' by providing legal advice in media appearances and in her work as general counsel at Fix California, a nonprofit started by Trump administration official Richard Grenell. One group asked California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D) to investigate as well.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Shawn McCreesh of the New York Times: Katie Zacharia sat for an interview Thursday with “one of the Trump administration’s favorite right-wing influencers, Jack Posobiec, who rose to prominence online by stoking conspiracies about pedophilia and Democratic elites — theories that Ms. Zacharia once helped spread.” Oh, and she wants to have a “Scarlett Johansson-type character” play her on “Saturday Night Live.” MB: Scarlett Johansson, of course, is not a “character type” but is a real live human who is a professional actor. It is hardly surprising that a person who has a long career playing a lawyer on teevee would confuse a real actor with a fictional character. Zacharia is, after all, a fictional character herself who also believes in, as McCreesh notes, outlandish fictional right-wing conspiracy stories. All of Donald Trump's press secretary have, by necessity, been liars, but Zacharia might be the first one stupid enough to believe all the tall tales she is set to tell in the briefing room (if she doesn't get fired first). ~~~

~~~ Alec Dent of the Washington Post: “During the 2024 presidential campaign, [Donald] Trump repeatedly derided then-Vice President Kamala Harris for not passing the bar exam. (Harris did, in fact, pass it on her second attempt, in 1990.)... 'She’s not an intelligent person,' Trump said.... Trump similarly criticized Hillary Clinton when he ran for president against her, saying at an Oct. 12, 2016, rally that Clinton 'went to Washington D.C., she took her bar exam and she failed, right? Oh, she’s a genius. No, no. She failed on a bar exam.'” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Sarah-Jane Collins of the Daily Beast, republished by Yahoo! News: "Katie Zacharia spent time shilling for a health supplement company as part of a 'sort of pyramid scheme,' she admitted Thursday.... [She was] an affiliate of Beachbody—a fitness company that ran a multi-level marketing operation, she said Thursday. The role, she told WIRED, was part of 'some sort of pyramid scheme,' selling supplement shakes.... The company has a long history of legal issues, including being accused of making false or misleading income promises to contractors, like those in the role Zacharia once held." ~~~

Oh, so you think a QAnon conspiracy theorist engaged in what she knew was a Ponzi scheme even as she illegally posed as a lawyer is a bad choice for a top government job? Well, what about this guy! ~~~

~~~ Trump's First AG Pick Sued for Running Sex Trafficking Ring. Sammy Westfall of the Washington Post: “Two women are accusing former congressman Matt Gaetz (R-Florida) and two other men of involvement in a sex trafficking scheme involving recent high school graduates and drugs, according to a federal lawsuit filed Thursday. The plaintiffs, identified as Jane Does 1 and 2, allege that Gaetz and former Seminole County, Florida, tax collector Joel Micah Greenberg coordinated 'recruitment, payments, drugs, and travel' to obtain 'commercial sexual acts' from young women. The lawsuit also accuses former Florida state representative Chris Dorworth (R) of having knowingly participated in these events' by making his home available for them. The alleged 'sexual exploitation' took place from 2017 through January 2019, when Gaetz was a sitting member of Congress, according to the complaint, filed in the Middle District of Florida.” (Also linked yesterday.)

Chris Cameron of the New York Times: “Paolo Zampolli, a close friend and ally of ... [Donald] Trump’s who served as a presidential special envoy in the State Department, said on Thursday that he had left the post.... In a social media post, Mr. Zampolli, a former modeling agent, suggested that his exit was routine and that he was going back into the business world. But earlier on Thursday, Politico reported that a U.S. official said that Mr. Zampolli was fired and that his status 'as an envoy has been terminated and he is no longer a government employee.' Mr. Zampolli, who is said to have introduced Mr. Trump to his wife, Melania, is the second person in Mr. Trump’s orbit to leave the diplomatic service this week. His departure follows the ouster of Kimberly Guilfoyle, the U.S. ambassador to Greece and ex-fiancée of Mr. Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr....

“Mr. Zampolli’s exit comes hours after Politico reported a feud between the special envoy and Christopher Landau, the deputy secretary of state. According to messages obtained by Politico, emails between them devolved into arguments and allegations of leaks and defamation.... The New York Times reported in March that Mr. Zampolli asked a top official at Immigration and Customs Enforcement last year if his ex-wife, with whom he was in a custody battle over their teenage son, could be put in ICE detention. The official agreed to help, and the woman, Amanda Ungaro, was placed in ICE custody and ultimately deported.” The link is a gift link.

~~~ Marie: I guess this is Trump's week of living dangerously. He has ousted two people who know where the bodies are buried, two people who might have kept the mortuary receipts (Heather Cox Richardson has heard rumors that Guilfoyle kept a “burn book” about the Trump family), two people who are as crass and transactional as Trump is. They were diplomats last week; don't expect the ordinary discretion that diplomacy demands to carry over into their after-lives as private citizens.

Brittany Gibson of Axios: "MAGA activists are pushing for ... [Donald] Trump to resort to extraordinary measures — including martial law — if they believe the midterm elections are 'rigged.'... Some of the proposals go far beyond Trump's legal authority — and there's no evidence that the elections will be rigged. But people in this orbit have close access to the president.... On a Sept. 30 video call for MAGA election activists streamed on Rumble, speakers warned of widespread election security breaches they believe will occur in November — and urgently pushed for remedies. [Peter] Ticktin, Trump's childhood friend and attorney for Tina Peters, the Mesa County, Colorado, clerk who was convicted of four felonies for illegally accessing voting machines], said on the call 'there would have to be martial law in the event... [of] another rigged election.'" Peters & Ticktin met with Trump in June.

Devlin Barrett & Laurel Rosenhall of the New York Times: “The Trump administration on Thursday sued the state of California and a Los Angeles County official, seeking to temporarily block the state from counting mail ballots submitted by voters it suspects are noncitizens. The suit, which would apply to some 20,000 people in the state the administration has cast as 'likely noncitizens,' is a long shot.... Over the past 18 months, the Trump administration has sued California and other states over voter rolls, and has lost resoundingly in court.... Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement that California ... was given 'an opportunity to self-correct its records, and we requested that it segregate the suspected illegal ballots for the upcoming election,' he said. 'California has refused to comply and intends to facilitate noncitizens in voting, which is a violation of federal law.'” The link is a gift link. (Also linked yesterday.) A Courthouse News Service report is here.

This next story gives us an idea of how accurate the federal list of supposed non-citizen voters is: ~~~

~~~ Jazmine Ulloa of the New York Times: “When immigration agents struck a man with an S.U.V. in Houston over the weekend, they said they were chasing an undocumented Mexican man facing deportation and multiple criminal charges. But the photo they shared of their target was of a man whose family says he died almost a decade ago. In a statement on Saturday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement said that agents conducting a surveillance operation had seen their target, Jose Mendoza-Cervantes, climb into a vehicle driven by Miguel Parra Hernandez. When they tried to pull over the vehicle, Mr. Parra Hernandez, a 48-year-old construction worker, and a second man fled on foot. Surveillance footage captured an agent striking Mr. Parra Hernandez with an S.U.V. from behind as he ran away. The impact shattered the man’s leg, hip and ankle. The second man escaped.

“That day, ICE released a photo of the man they said they were seeking and said he had not been captured. But Jamie Jimenez, of Dallas, said the man in the photo was her father and that he died in 2017. He plunged to his death from a cliff as he fled immigration agents near the southern border, she said.... Sean Teare, the Harris County district attorney, said his office and the local sheriff’s office were investigating the traffic pursuit that left Mr. Parra Hernandez injured as a possible aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. ICE said Mr. Parra Hernandez had run in front of one of the agency’s vehicles and was struck. But surveillance video appeared to show the SUV veering toward Mr. Parra Hernandez.” The link is a gift link. ~~~

~~~ Marie: When it comes to Homeland Security personnel in particular, "They really don't know what they're doing" is a far-from-adequate adage. There's more to it than that. After (1) they screw up because they really don't know what they're doing, (2) they turn to excessive, life-threatening or life-taking violence, then (3) they lie about it.

Luis Ferré-Sadurní of the New York Times: “A federal judge [-- Ramón E. Reyes Jr. of the U.S. District Court in Brooklyn --] on Thursday rejected the Trump administration’s lawsuit against New York City’s sanctuary laws, ruling that the U.S. government can’t compel police officials and other city agencies to help enforce civil immigration laws. The dismissal was the latest defeat for ... [Donald] Trump as he attempts to force cities and states to work with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency’s mass deportation campaign. Across the United States, federal judges have spurned the administration’s legal challenges to sanctuary laws in nearly a dozen localities led by Democrats, including Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Colorado and Minnesota.” The link is a gift link.

Ted Hesson, et al., of the Washington Post: “Seven years ago, a political appointee in the first Trump administration approached U.S. immigration authorities with a request that alarmed career staffers: Scrub the immigration records of Rep. Ilhan Omar, then a newly elected Democratic lawmaker from Minnesota, for evidence of fraud.... The request sparked a swift review examining Omar’s history.... Homeland Security Investigations — the investigative arm of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement — ultimately determined there was insufficient evidence of wrongdoing.... The idea of pursuing a full investigation was eventually abandoned. Now, though, with Trump back in the White House and his administration using federal power to take aim at perceived enemies, Omar has once again found herself in federal crosshairs. She is now facing an inquiry over some of the same allegations investigators previously deemed not worth pursuing.” The link has been changed to a gift link.

~~~ Digby on what motivates voters. ~~~

~~~ Marie: Though digby doesn't discuss this at all, she reminded me of something that suggests I've been unfair to some voters. It has irked me that so many voters seem to care about their own selfish needs far more than they care about or even consider general societal needs. That is a reasonable criticism of voters who are getting along just fine, yet still want fatter & fatter slices of the pie. But I got to thinking about Maslow's hierarchy of needs (or rather a bastardization of Maslow's hierarchy), and I realized I was being unfair to people who are truly in need. The Republican-forced drift away from "the nanny state" and toward higher and higher income inequality has meant, of course, a hollowing-out of a robust middle-class, a spike in the number of "have-nots." The basic needs of those have-nots -- food, shelter, health care, general education -- are not being met. So it is natural and sensible that their first concerns are those kitchen-table issues that digby writes about in the linked post.

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Illinois. Steve Zalusky & Madhu Krishnamurthy of the Chicago Tribune: "A jammed gun and workers at an Arlington Heights[, Illinois] Taco Bell restaurant prevented a potentially devastating mass shooting Sunday at a Hindu temple in Aurora[, Illinois]. Those were among the details to emerge Thursday as authorities released additional information about the arrest of a 19-year-old Palatine[, Illinois,] man accused of plotting a terrorist attack on the Sri Venkateswara Swami Balaji Temple. Cook County prosecutors said Alexandros Paporakis told a Taco Bell co-worker he had gone to the temple Sunday and attempted to shoot someone from his car, but his rifle jammed.

"He indicated he intended to return later Sunday to try again, but a co-worker called 911 and stopped the potential massacre, authorities said.... Palatine police said they arrested Paporakis Sunday evening as he left his home in the 1300 block of North Baldwin Court. Investigators later found a manifesto attributed to Paporakis entitled “Why I Fought: A.K.A. (Aurora Shooter’s Manifesto)” and containing statements expressing white supremacist and extremist ideologies, police said.... U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi said he and his family were at the Aurora Hindu temple Sunday." (Also linked yesterday.)

Maine Senate Race. Going to the Candidates' Debate. Emily Davies of the New York Times: “Senator Susan Collins, the Republican incumbent in Maine, and Troy Jackson, the Democratic challenger, faced off on Thursday evening for the fourth and final debate in one of the most closely watched Senate races of the cycle.... Polls show the candidates running neck and neck with 19 days until Election Day. Here are five takeaways from the debate.... It was ... the first debate to be staged in front of a live audience — and the decision came with some consequences. A protester in the audience, at Husson University in Bangor, interrupted the proceedings, yelling: 'A.I. data centers are destroying our climate. They’re poisoning our water.' Ms. Collins quickly quipped that the demonstrator was 'obviously one of Troy’s supporters.' Mr. Jackson, visibly irked, replied in his vintage Maine accent: 'Oh, shut up. I don’t even know that kid.' 'Oh, right,' Ms. Collins replied sarcastically.” The link is a gift link. An Axios item is here.

Oregon. The New York Times liveblogged developments in a grade school shooting in Bend, Oregon. This is a gift link. From the pinned item at 7:30 pm ET Thursday: “Three children and one adult were killed on Thursday in a shooting at an elementary school in Oregon, and the shooter was also dead, a senior law enforcement official briefed on the investigation said. The suspect, who was not identified, was shot and killed, possibly by a bystander, the Bend Police Department said in a news release. The senior law enforcement official ... cautioned that the information was preliminary and could change as the investigation developed. Dispatchers were called at about 1 p.m. to Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Ore., for a report of gunshots fired into a car..., a spokeswoman for the Bend Police Department, told local reporters in streamed remarks. At least two people were transported to St. Charles Bend, a hospital less than five miles from the school, the authorities said. They did not provide information about their condition.” (Also linked yesterday.)

Texas Senate Race. Musk Buys a Paxton. Theodore Schleifer of the New York Times: Elon Musk, “the world’s richest person, who has become the biggest known midterm donor, gave $158 million to a group that quickly spent that much to help [Republican Ken] Paxton’s Senate bid in Texas.... Mr. Musk also donated $10 million to a separate pro-Paxton super PAC, money that allowed the group to start running television ads in late August.” The link is a gift link. ~~~

~~~ Cheyanne Daniels of Politico: “... Donald Trump is blaming fellow Republicans as his endorsed candidate, Ken Paxton, appears to be in a fierce struggle for a Senate seat in Texas with Democratic challenger James Talarico in a state the GOP has long taken for granted. Trump, in a lengthy post to Truth Social Thursday, singled out longtime Republican strategist Karl Rove and Sen. John Cornyn, the incumbent who failed to secure the president’s endorsement in a heated primary.”

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Venezuela/U.S. Julie Turkewitz of the New York Times: “Venezuela’s exiled opposition leader, María Corina Machado, said in an extensive interview this week that Washington’s new oil partner in Venezuela, Alejandro Betancourt, was responsible for 'obscene corruption' and would not be a viable business associate were she to take power.... The conversation with Ms. Machado took place after months in which the U.S. government has kept her at a distance — passing her over in favor of an autocratic leader, Delcy Rodríguez, to lead the country in January and striking closed-door deals with embattled figures like Mr. Betancourt. Mr. Betancourt made a fortune through no-bid contracts for power plants, which involved overbilling state entities, according to an independent Venezuelan energy auditor. MB: As you will recall, Machado won the Nobel Peace Prize last year, and Trump was so upset by it that she handed the medal over to Trump. This year's Peace Prize winner Navi Pillay made a joke of that pathetic transaction.” The link is a gift link.