AP, published by the Guardian: “States and cities sued the Trump administration on Thursday for repealing rules that limit planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions from power plants fueled by coal and natural gas. Twenty-one states, led by New York, are challenging the Environmental Protection Agency’s power plant rule. The Democratic-led coalition also includes Pennsylvania’s governor, the District of Columbia, New York City, Chicago and the city and county of Denver. They argue that 'gutting one of the country’s most significant climate protections' will set the nation back decades and worsen the climate crisis. The EPA announced last month it was revoking the Biden-era rule, and said it was taking a separate but related step to prevent future administrations from regulating climate pollution from power plants. The New York attorney general, Letitia James, said the federal government was showing 'callous disregard' for Americans’ health and the environment, and future generations will pay the price. Power plants that burn fossil fuels are a major source of planet-warming pollution.” Thanks to RAS for the link.
New Hampshire Senate Race. Marie: The Washington Post finally got around to featuring the New Hampshire Senate race. Ben Binday, the reporter, could not have been kindlier to Democrat Chris Pappas. So Pappas, at least IMO, came across as boring. As he always does. His ads are depressing (so are his opponent's). And, yes, there's a good chance Pappas could lose, even in a state where Kamala Harris won two years ago: “The nonpartisan election prognosticator Cook Political Report recently shifted the race from 'Lean Democratic' to 'toss up' even while moving other ratings in Democrats’ favor.” Chuck Schumer must have picked Pappas.
Tennessee. Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: “Tennessee’s embattled prison chief, Frank Strada, will step down later this month after overseeing the botched execution of Christa Pike, Gov. Bill Lee said on Saturday. Mr. Strada has been at the center of national backlash over Tennessee’s second failed attempt at lethal injection this year and has faced bipartisan calls for his resignation. His departure comes ahead of an independent investigation into what went wrong Wednesday, when Ms. Pike survived two doses of the drug pentobarbital.” The link is a gift link. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Bill Lee hired that incompetent sadistic executioner "after a string of mishaps in executions in Arizona," according to a Times story (linked below). Wouldn't it be a good idea for Bill Lee to "step down," too?
~~~~~~~~~~
Jeff Cox of CNBC: "The U.S. economy created far fewer jobs than expected in September, pointing to a surprising soft spot in the labor market and broader economy. Nonfarm payrolls rose a seasonally adjusted 29,000 for the month while the unemployment rate increased to 4.2%, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been looking for job growth of 84,000 and an unemployment rate of 4.1%. In addition to the weakness in September, the August jobs count was revised lower to reflect a gain of 133,000 while July switched from a gain to a loss as payrolls fell by 10,000. The revisions in total showed 60,000 fewer jobs than previously reported." MB: The only thing good about this report is that it's bad for Trump & Assoc. ~~~
~~~ There Must Be a Pony! Joe Jervis finds that Director of the National Economic Council Kevin Hassett looked at the last jobs report before the election and concluded that what most of us would see as alarmingly bad news, is actually very good! Thanks to RAS for the link. MB: I have rarely seen a still or video of Hassett where he wasn't smiling. He will be grinning ear-to-ear when he sees, off in the distance, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse approaching in a cloud of dust. A pony? No, four ponies!
Maggie Haberman, et al., of the New York Times: Donald “Trump personally instructed his budget director to use taxpayer money for TV ads praising him and his presidency, setting in motion a $20 million contract that used funds from the Department of Homeland Security, according to people familiar with the matter. The ads have run across cable and network television — on Fox News, CNN and MS Now, with football games on Fox and with national newscasts on CBS, ABC and NBC, including 'Meet the Press,' which Mr. Trump is known to watch.
“Mr. Trump was eager to see the laudatory ads on the air and told Russell T. Vought, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, to come up with the money from within the government, the people said. Mark Paoletta, the budget office’s counsel, and Will Scharf, the White House counsel, both said it would be legal to use D.H.S. funds. The president and Susie Wiles, the White House chief of staff, both spoke with Markwayne Mullin, the homeland security secretary, about the ads. On Sept. 20, U.S. Customs and Border Protection — which falls under D.H.S. — awarded the contract to LMD, a Maryland marketing firm, federal records show.... It was not clear why taxpayer funds, and not money from [Mr. Trump's] super PAC, were used for the spots.” The link is a gift link. ~~~
ric Lipton of the New York Times: “The Trump administration’s talks with Russia about ending the war in Ukraine have expanded to include a multibillion-dollar oil deal that would benefit Middle Eastern business executives with ties to the two main U.S. negotiators, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. The deal, which is contingent on approval from the U.S. government and the Kremlin, is for a sprawling set of oil fields, refineries and gas stations around the world owned by Lukoil, one of Russia’s biggest energy companies. The leading group seeking the deal includes an American investor, Todd Boehly, who has donated $2 million to ... [Donald] Trump’s political causes; two Middle Eastern groups that have done business with Mr. Kushner or Mr. Witkoff’s family; and an arm of the U.S. government itself. The monthslong negotiations, which were described by eight people familiar with them, shed new light on Mr. Trump’s latest approach to settling a four-year war that has killed hundreds of thousands. The people spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the negotiations.” The link is a gift link.
New York Times: Donald Trump returned to Mobile, Alabama, last night, the city that hosted the first triumph of his 2015-16 campaign. In August 2015, “some 30,000 people showed up [to his rally in a Mobile football stadium], much to the shock of the establishment and the candidate himself. The president relived those glorious days from the stage Friday night. 'We packed the stadium and the rest was history,' he said, 'right here in Mobile.' But that was then. These days, Mr. Trump is in political trouble, even with members of his famously loyal base. The indoor arena that he spoke at on Friday was a fraction of the size of the football stadium he once spoke in ... and still the place was not full. Some upper sections were almost completely empty.” The link is a gift link. ~~~
~~~ Heather Cox Richardson recalls some of the lies Trump told at the August 2015 rally and some of the -- now broken -- promises he made.
~~~ It's Not the Economy, Stupid. Tony Romm of the New York Times: “To ... [Donald] Trump, the U.S. economy is as strong as ever. The only thing missing, he says, is 'good public relations.'... As Americans tough out another month of high prices and slow job growth, the president has tried to make the case that the problem isn’t actually the state of the economy — but, rather, the messaging around it.... In a series of appearances in Alabama, Oklahoma, Texas and the nation’s capital, Mr. Trump emphasized that the economy was growing, financial markets were booming and construction was on the upswing.... But ... hiring overall cooled last month, while wages once again failed to keep pace with the rise in consumer prices. As a result, the story told by Mr. Trump bore little resemblance to the lived experience of the economy for many Americans, who have grappled for months with surging costs at the gas pump and rising rates on their auto loans, credit cards and mortgages.” The link is a gift link. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Amazingly, Romm manages to get through a whole report on Trump's economy without once faulting Trump for his policies designed to raise prices -- tariffs, Iran war -- and lower ordinary Americans' share of the economy -- big ugly bill.
Hey, My Check Is in the Mail! Ben Berkowitz of Axios: Donald "Trump late Friday night said the administration would send just under $100 to more than 20 million senior citizens to help pay for Medicare benefits.... A month before the midterm, the president is adding another roughly $2 billion to a recent spate of promised refunds, rebates and dividends for various Americans. 'I am pleased to announce that my Administration will, immediately, begin sending "Checks" of nearly $100 to over 20 MILLION wonderful Seniors to help pay for their Medicare Part B premiums, which we have already reduced by significant amounts,' Trump said in a Truth Social post just before 11 p.m. ET Friday. Trump said the money would come from the Medicare Improvement Fund, which he criticized as a 'Slush Fund.' The White House, in a separate fact sheet, said eligible seniors would receive a direct deposit of $90 in early October, or paper checks if they don't have direct deposit. Per Medicare, the standard Part B premium is $202.90 a month, so the $90 credit will offset less than half of one month's bill." ~~~
~~~ Marie: I just checked my account, and so far I am not one of the "wonderful Seniors."
New York Times: Donald “Trump will give Jay Clayton, the director of national intelligence, an additional position focused on helping develop the administration’s policies and regulations on artificial intelligence, according to current and former officials. Mr. Trump said last month that he would create an 'AI “Czar’” as concerns grow about his administration’s approach to the technology. Amid broad political and public backlash against artificial intelligence, the administration is under pressure to develop new regulations or safety standards for the industry. But Mr. Trump has expressed skepticism of government regulations or any notion that A.I. research labs should slow down the development of new models.” The link is a gift link.
Erik Wemple of the New York Times: “In a court filing on Friday, the White House again argued that its move last month to bar CNN, MS NOW and Politico from its grounds was squarely within the bounds of presidential authority and asked a federal judge to deny a motion from the media outlets for a court order extending their access.” The link is a gift link.
 |
~~~ Regarding my remarks above, to be fair I should admit that these guys are not the real stand-ins for Sun Tzu. No, the modern-day U.S.A. answer to Sun Tzu is not a mere philosopher-general. No, he of the addled very good brain is the mighty commander of all generals. He is Don Tzu:
(... Some Sad News from the Gossip Pages. Faiz Siddiqui of the Washington Post: “Elon Musk broke off his relationship with Shivon Zilis, his partner and longtime confidante who has worked for several of his businesses, in what Zilis said was a sudden change from 'in love to let go in a week with no warning.' Zilis, mother of four children with Musk, said she hopes they 'can be great friends and coparents.' Zilis, who has held executive and advisory roles at his companies, had appeared at Musk’s side at gatherings of political elite in recent years.”) MB: And he seemed like such a nice guy.
Asmaa Elkeurti & Claire Millerof the New York Times: “All American children will be automatically enrolled in Trump accounts for investing in the stock market, the Treasury Department announced this week.... In addition to Trump accounts (also known as 530As), families have two main options: 529s, which are for college savings, and custodial brokerage accounts, which are standard brokerage accounts in a child’s name (known as UTMA or UGMA accounts). Our calculator can help parents estimate which account would be worth the most when a child turns 18, if they started investing now. You can compare different scenarios here, and learn more about each account below.... In most cases, the differences in total savings aren’t huge, but there are important distinctions, like flexibility in how the money can be used and how it’s taxed. The 529 almost always wins because of the tax benefits for education savings. And a custodial account is more flexible than a Trump account for other savings goals.” Emphasis added. The calculator is included in the article. The link is a gift link.
Adam Sella, et al., of the New York Times: “The National Science Foundation, one of the biggest sources of federal research funding, withheld $1.4 billion that Congress had intended for research over the course of the past year.... The extraordinary move — holding back about one-fifth of the N.S.F.’s primary research budget — is the latest sign of how the Trump administration is finding creative ways to work around Congress. Lawmakers from both parties have consistently opposed White House-led proposals to cut funding to major science agencies.... Since the N.S.F. was founded over 75 years ago, the agency has spent nearly all of its budget on so-called basic research from a wide range of scientific fields, which has led to major advances in technology such as M.R.I.s, semiconductors and the internet. The White House wants to redirect the money to a limited set of administration priorities, including artificial intelligence and quantum computing, according to two people with knowledge of the administration’s plans.” The link is a gift link. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Oh, "the White House" wants to divert allocations to quantum computing, does it? I urge some inquisitive reporter to ask the occupant of "the White House" -- who is very smart because he inherited his good genes from his uncle the M.I.T. professor and not from his father the Alzheimer's patient -- what quantum computing is and just why he should steal funds to support it. We have seen enough of these stories to be able to state with certainty that Trump has treated all Congressional funding as a giant piggy bank to be spent any way Trump wants and not as money designated for special projects or specific department and agency requirements.
RAS writes, "Another scary thought is how crazy this administration will get after they aren't 'appealing' to voters anymore after the election." ~~~
~~~ Eric Katz & "The White House has instructed the Justice Department to move slowly on any abortion-related actions ahead of the midterm elections.... In a series of discussions, senior White House officials, led by White House chief of staff Susan Wiles, directly delivered the message to Attorney General Todd Blanche, according to a senior administration official.... Wiles suggested that an aggressive approach on abortion would generate unwanted attention, something the officials worried could alienate voters ahead of the November elections." Thanks to RAS for the link. The Washington Sun, formerly NOTUS, is now subscriber-firewalled. I was able to read this story, probably because were in the first of the month and I haven't used up whatever freebies the Sun may grant.
Huh. Jacob Rosen & Joe Walsh of CBS News: "In a possible blow to the Trump administration's efforts to charge noncitizens with voting in U.S. elections, a judge has dismissed a federal case against a Jamaican national accused of illegally voting, finding the law she was charged under is unconstitutional. Miami-based U.S. District Judge David S. Leibowitz ruled Thursday in a 31-page order that the criminal case against Chelsea Cox, who was charged in October 2025 with a misdemeanor for illegally voting in 2020, must be dismissed. He said a decades-old federal law that prohibits a non-U.S. citizen from voting in a federal election, 18 U.S.C. § 611, is unconstitutional. Under the U.S. Constitution, Leibowitz wrote, only states can set voter qualifications, not Congress. The judge said state prosecutors in Florida could prosecute Cox under state law for unlawfully voting, not the federal government. The decision applies only to Cox and appears to be the first time a court has deemed the statute unconstitutional."
Casey He of Politico: “The Department of Justice will not reopen its criminal investigation into former Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell over the central bank’s building renovation project, Attorney General Todd Blanche said Friday.... [His statement follows] an inspector general report released earlier this week that found no evidence of criminal wrongdoing [on Powell's part].”
David Goodman of the New York Times: “A federal judge in El Paso on Friday halted border wall construction across the Big Bend region, dealing a blow to the Trump administration’s effort to erect hundreds of miles of barriers despite fierce local opposition. The federal government 'shall not build border barrier or related infrastructure, or engage in any construction or ground disturbing activities, in the Big Bend sector,' the judge, Kathleen Cardone, wrote in her order, which she read from the bench. In a two-page order granting an injunction in the case, the judge said the federal government could not rely on waivers of environmental and other laws it had granted itself to speed up the construction, writing that it 'must comply with all applicable laws.' Judge Cardone ruled that the government could not use the waivers until the case was resolved. She wrote that the plaintiffs were likely to succeed on the merits of at least one of their claims.” The link is a gift link. The Texas Tribune story is here.
Tom McKay of Gizmodo: “Department of Homeland Security agents compiled extensive dossiers on people observing Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations in the field, then stored them in a system called the Investigative Case Management (ICM) designed and managed by Palantir Technologies, according to Wired. The magazine’s report on Friday stems from a proposed class action lawsuit fthat our observers have brought to state courts in Maine; the case was put under seal in September and a redacted version released Friday, according to Wired. JoAnna Suriani, an attorney for Protect Democracy representing the plaintiffs, told Wired, 'The government is treating people who exercise their First Amendment rights and seek to hold it accountable as criminal suspects, and that’s what we’re asking the court to stop.'”
Jeremy Roebuck & Teo Armus of the Washington Post: “A former Florida congressman and political mentor to Secretary of State Marco Rubio was sentenced to a decade in federal prison Friday for his role in a secret $50 million campaign to lobby officials in Washington on behalf of the Venezuelan government. David Rivera, a Republican from Miami who served one term in the U.S. House from 2011 to 2013, was convicted in May on counts of failing to register as a foreign agent and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Prosecutors had accused him of accepting the $50 million, three-month contract with a U.S. subsidiary of Venezuela’s state-owned oil company after his stint in Congress. Rivera then sought to lean on his relationships in Washington, including his decades-long ties to Rubio, to persuade the first Trump administration to soften its stance toward Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and ease sanctions on the South American nation.... Rivera, who has been held in federal custody since his trial, has vowed to appeal and filed an application for a pardon with the Justice Department earlier this year.” The link is a gift link. An interesting read, and yet another reminder that most Republican politicians are inherently corrupt.
Jasmine Golden of the Washington Post: “The Right Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde, the Episcopal bishop of Washington who became a well-known figure in large part for her disputes with ... Donald Trump, has announced her resignation.... Perhaps most notably, during the interfaith inauguration prayer service to mark Trump’s second term, she pleaded with him to 'have mercy' on immigrants, LGBTQ children and others.” ~~~
~~~ The Quality of Mercy. Marie: Mercy is a central Christian ethic; in fact, it's probably what most sets Christianity and later, Pharisaic Judaism apart from early Judaism. (See, as one of many examples from the Gospels, the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant, Matthew 18:21-25.) So an appeal to mercy is hardly an unusual Christian message. But Donald I.M.Ur.Retribution Trump is especially hostile to this foundational Christian teaching. First, "he told reporters the sermon 'wasn't too exciting' and added he 'didn't think it was a good service.'" That was graceless enough, but he got more agitated later. "... in a Truth Social post early Wednesday morning, Trump called the bishop of Washington, the Right Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde, a Radical Left hard line Trump hater.... She brought her church into the World of politics in a very ungracious way. She was nasty in tone, and not compelling or smart.... Apart from her inappropriate statements, the service was a very boring and uninspiring one. She is not very good at her job! She and her church owe the public an apology!'"
Drew Harwell of the Washington Post: “A federal judge in Oklahoma said Thursday that a police search of the license-plate-reader system Flock amounted to 'indiscriminate mass surveillance,' adding fuel to a growing debate over whether the controversial policing technology conflicts with Americans’ constitutional rights. The judge, Sara E. Hill, ruled that a deputy who used Flock to search the license plate of a car traveling toward the border of California had done so without probable cause, engaging in an 'unconstitutional warrantless search.' The judge’s order strikes a notable contrast to years of legal precedent concerning the technology, in which judges generally held that Flock and other license-plate readers did not violate Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches because they only recorded cars on public roads.”
Ashley Ahn of Politico: “Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito has confirmed that he is considering retirement, leaving open the possibility that he could leave after next year’s term and hand another nomination to ... Donald Trump. Alito said in excerpts of a CBS News interview released Friday that he thought about retiring this year and will do so again in 2027.” The interview excerpt is here.
The Young Entrepreneurs. Paulina Villegasof the New York Times: There is “a growing network of American high school students and young adults that are helping to arm some of Mexico’s most powerful and violent cartels, according to U.S. officials and trafficking experts who are tracking the trend. They source weapons ranging like handguns and high-caliber rifles, and sell them almost exclusively to cartel operatives based in the United States.... In repeated interviews, four weapons traffickers ages 16 to 19 — all current or former high school students in west Phoenix — allowed me to observe how they buy firearms and sell them to the highest bidder. Sometimes, they said, they steal the guns and then resell them. They aren’t loyal to one criminal group or another; instead, they say, they are motivated by making money, gaining status and having a sense of belonging." The link is a gift link.
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Hawaii. What Climate Change? Neil Vigdorof the New York Times: “For more than half a millennium, one of Hawaii’s most cherished geological marvels, an arch 90 feet high composed of lava rock, withstood a battering from the Pacific and evoked a sense of awe. But that formation, the Holei Sea Arch at Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park, is now gone from the coastline on the Big Island, having crumbled into the ocean around the same time as a tropical storm brought strong winds and heavy rain to Hawaii in late September, the National Park Service said on Thursday.” The link is a gift link.
New York. Michael Rothfeld & Hurubie Meko of the New York Times: “The Tompkins County district attorney said recently that the evidence he reviewed in 2024 made it impossible for him to bring charges in the Cornell University rape inquiry. But records obtained by The New York Times show that the same district attorney’s office declined to review any additional evidence gathered by the campus police department beyond a six-page statement signed by the former student, now known as Jane Doe.... On Nov. 25, 2024, a Cornell police investigator, Jeffrey Northrop, spoke to a member of the district attorney’s staff, Jeff Huddle, about additional interviews the police had done, the records show. Prosecutors did not express interest, saying they agreed that based on the woman’s statement, 'criminal charges would not be pursued in this case,' Mr. Northrop wrote in a note documenting their call. By that point, the police had conducted numerous interviews, reviewed chat messages, logged anonymous tips, reached out to lawyers for the some of the accused men and spoken to at least two others, the records show.
“On Friday, Gov. Kathy Hochul harshly criticized the district attorney and the Cornell police for the way they handled the investigation and appointed Attorney General Letitia James as a special prosecutor, giving her power to bring criminal charges.” The link is a gift link. ~~~
~~~ Marie: I suppose we should ask the POTUS* what he thinks about this alleged horrific sex crime and the botched official response to it: ~~~
~~~ Mabinty Quarshie of the Washington Examiner: “... Donald Trump denounced New York Attorney General Letitia James‘s ability to serve as special prosecutor for the reopened case surrounding gang rape allegations at Cornell University on Friday. 'Letitia James is a corrupt person,' Trump told reporters while speaking on the South Lawn. 'She’s totally corrupt, and I can’t imagine it. And I feel badly for whoever she’s looking at because they won’t get a fair shake. Letitia James is a corrupt person.'” MB: Oh, he took the side of the accused rapists. I wonder why.
~~~ Maia Coleman of the New York Times: “One of the seven men accused by a Cornell student of sexual assault sued the university in March seeking to overturn the punishment given to him after a school administrative investigation and expunge references to the assault allegation from his academic record, according to court records unsealed in Tompkins County Supreme Court, N.Y., this week. The man, identified in the filings as John Doe, was among the seven members of the Chi Phi fraternity who were accused of assault by a fellow student in a lawsuit filed on Sept. 16. (Although the fraternity members were identified by name in that lawsuit, it was not clear which filed the suit seeking to overturn his punishment under the name John Doe.) All of the men accused in the woman’s suit have denied any wrongdoing.” The link is a gift link.
Tennessee. Behold the Lord High Executioner. Eduardo Medina, et al., of the New York Times: “The head of the agency that botched the execution of Christa Pike was brought to Tennessee three years ago to save the state’s death penalty. But the official, Frank Strada, had overseen three problem-plagued executions when he was a top prison official in Arizona.... The questions swirling around Ms. Pike’s failed execution echo some of the questions that arose in 2022 after a string of mishaps in executions in Arizona, where Mr. Strada was in charge of the teams that carried out death sentences. In each instance, according to lawyers and court records, the teams struggled to insert IVs into the condemned prisoners’ arms.... But in 2023, Gov. Bill Lee of Tennessee recruited Mr. Strada to lead the state’s Department of Correction and help restart executions, which had been put on hold in 2022.” The link is a gift link. ~~~
~~~ We Are the Barbarians, Ctd. Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: “Christa Pike was unconscious, intubated and on a ventilator in a Nashville hospital as of Thursday evening, a day after surviving a botched execution attempt, her lawyers said in a court filing[.] Ms. Pike was critically ill, they wrote in a Friday filing in Davidson County Chancery Court, and both of her arms were swollen, burned and blistered when she arrived at the hospital. Ms. Pike’s medical condition, some legal experts said, raises questions about whether the state could attempt to execute her again if she is not fully cognizant or capable of understanding what is happening. The disclosure is the most detailed update on Ms. Pike’s health since she survived two rounds of pentobarbital, the drug used as part of Tennessee’s lethal injection protocol, on Wednesday evening.” The link is a gift link. ~~~
~~~ Shaila Dewan & Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: “This account of [Christa Pike's] failed execution has been pieced together from the witnesses and lawyer who were at Riverbend.... Her legal team had repeatedly warned that her execution could go wrong. On Wednesday, they were proven right.” The link is a gift link.
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Times of Israel & Agencies: "The flydubai copilot who attempted to crash a plane full of Israelis earlier this week was previously banned from flying by Oman’s national airline over concerns that he had been radicalized, multiple sources said on Friday and Saturday. Despite this, the Omani copilot was subsequently hired by flydubai, and flew the Dubai to Tel Aviv route. US media outlets on Friday named him as Hamam al-Hammami, 29."
19 comments:
You need this.
https://misscellania.blogspot.com/2026/09/dancing-in-movies.html
"Canada’s Mark Carney Favoured To Win The Nobel Peace Prize.
Here’s what happened. On Monday, Mark Carney briefly became the favourite to win the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize on Kalshi, the American prediction market, with traders putting his odds at 14%. The odds bounced around after that, because that’s what gamblers do, and nobody outside the Norwegian Nobel Committee actually knows who’s on the shortlist. The announcement comes October 9 in Oslo. But the fact that a Canadian prime minister is even in the conversation, in the same year Trump has been slapping 50% tariffs on our steel and banning nearly a billion dollars’ worth of our products, is the funniest thing to happen in global politics since Rudy sweated hair dye on live television.
And it gets better. Over on the Time Person of the Year markets, Carney sits second, behind only New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani."
Environment
"US states and cities sue over Trump EPA’s repeal of emissions rules
States and cities sued the Trump administration on Thursday for repealing rules that limit planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions from power plants fueled by coal and natural gas. Twenty-one states, led by New York, are challenging the EPA’s power plant rule."
"Trump Consulted GROK Prior To Invasion Of Venezuela
At the time, Trump was ordering missile strikes on boats off Venezuela that he claimed were running drugs. So he asked Grok how Venezuelans would react if the U.S. grabbed Nicolás Maduro. Grok told him Maduro was a repressive, deeply unpopular dictator and that a lot of Venezuelans would probably celebrate his downfall."
This feels right,
"So the lesson Trump took from that whole episode is that his instincts are right, and the chatbot that agreed with his instincts is a genius. You can see how that’s going to go."
Thanks, Patrick. I did need it.
Post Office
"Each election year, the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) takes extra steps to ensure ballots sent through the mail arrive at election offices on time. This year, it’s delaying those efforts.
The USPS has pushed back the start date for its “extraordinary measures” by five days, in comparison to past elections, according to a memo sent out to all USPS employees Wednesday.
The measures, including USPS’ new Regional Transportation Optimization (RTO) policy, will begin on Oct. 24. That gives Postal Service workers 10 days before Election Day to handle the inevitable extra work that comes with the millions of ballots mailed throughout the country in the lead-up to Nov. 3."
Pay to Play
"Trump administration gave firm with ties to ballroom donor the green light to do business with a sanctioned Russian bank
Private equity investor Konstantin Sokolov was also appointed to run a government enterprise fund."
From the Check is in the mail (suckers!) Department
So I checked my account also…no $100 from Fatty. Gee, and he’s usually so truthful.
Oh hey, and what about this Trump Account supposedly for every kid in America? Will families with non-white Christian sounding names be gifted with this latest Fat Hitler largesse (bribe)? And let’s ask why the stock market, a notoriously easy place to lose money (while giant corporations and various mutual funds suck it up)?
Will holders of these accounts be schooled in how to actually make money in the market? How about some classic Trump strategies: market manipulation, stock swindles, and tips on insider trading?
Nah. Too many crooks would fuck it up for the really big swindlers, the Trump Crime Family.
Here’s your $5,000. Now over here is a great place to invest that money: Uday&Qusay Inc., LLC. 7,000% return guaranteed in less than 6 months. Step right up…
"Trump tomato tariffs could spell the end of free chips, salsa at restaurants"
RAS,
Free chips and salsa on the MAGA chopping block? Republicans for decades have been finger wagging at the rest of us that "there is no free luch", harrumph! What about for Fatty? What about senators and members of Congress? Do they pay for their healthcare or for any of the many perks they get? How about all the taxpayer money Fatty absconds with for his personal vanity projects? What about all the breaks handed out to corporations and pals of the administration?
"There's no free lunch" applies only to poor people, immigrants, people without (free) healthcare.
But no free chips and salsa? In Texas? Maybe Abbott can declare a national security emergency. I'm sure Fatty would blame Mexico for this because nothing is EVER his fault.
The MAGA Way.
This horrific botched execution in Tennessee puts a couple of classic MAGA issues front and center. First, it seems Gov. Bill ('We'll get 'em next time") Lee has had a number of botched executions. Hmm...what to do? I know...we'll hire this guy from Arizona who has overseen THREE botched executions and bring him here so he can do it for us. The idea here is that competency never matters to MAGA (although being competent at killing people strapped to a table isn't something I'd like to see on my resume). What matters is ideological purity.
Next up....So we have a problem. Lethal injection isn't working like it should. We adopted it because strapping condemned prisoners to ol' Sparky and seeing their hair catch on fire was determined in almost all states to be pretty fucking inhumane (although the only states that still have electric chairs as an option are all MAGA states. Weird, right? ).
But why not go back to Sparky?
The original execution in the electric chair wasn't exactly the picture of humane.
From the New York Herald, August 6, 1890:
"The scene of Kemmler’s execution was too horrible to picture. Men accustomed to every form of suffering grew faint as the awful spectacle was unfolded before their eyes. Those who stood in the sight were filled with awe as they saw the effects of this most potent of fluids [i.e., electricity], which is only partially understood by those who have studied it most faithfully, as it slowly, too slowly, disintegrated the fiber and tissues of the body through which it passed. The heaving of the chest which, it had been promised, would be stilled in an instant of peace as soon as the circuit was completed, the foaming of the mouth, the bloody sweat, the writhing of shoulders and all other signs of life. Horrible as these all were, they were made infinitely more horrible by the premature removal of the electrodes and the subsequent replacing of them for not seconds but minutes, until the room was filled with the odor of burning flesh and strong men fainted and fell like logs upon the floor."
Yow!
Robert G. Elliott, and electrician who became New York’s official state electrocutioner in 1926 oversaw 387 deaths by electrocution. In his memoirs of this grisly profession, he determined that the electric chair, indeed all capital punishments, were nothing more than ensuring vengeance for the state:
"He thought the death penalty should be abolished. He saw no good that came come from it. It wasn’t an effective deterrent to crime and simply amounted to societal revenge. He even had a suggestion on how to get rid of it: 'So long as capital punishment exists … witnessing an electrocution [should] be made a civic duty, just as jury service has been. Thus would the repugnant horror of, and responsibility in, legal slaying be impressed on the average person. I venture to predict that if this were done, the abolishment of the death penalty would soon follow.'"
But vengeance is an essential, indeed existential element of MAGAhood. Just look at the Dear Leader. He LIVES for revenge. And so another MAGA big mouth, Marsha Blackburn, in the wake of the botched execution in Tennessee is now screaming for the return of the electric chair as the primary tool of vengeance, despite the fact that several red states have determined that electrocution is inalterably inhumane.
But inhumanity is the point, ain't it? Otherwise, why vote for an inhuman monster like Trump?
Maybe they should just go back to drawing and quartering. Or maybe burning at the stake. If vengeance is the goal, make that shit as painful as possible. Hey, they're dropping people who have have no criminal records off in war torn countries where they are sure to be tortured and maybe killed just because they're not white. Inhumanity is baked in.
The MAGA way!
When your friends fuck you worse than your enemies...
Here's Shady Vance, the Couch Fucker, saying--out loud--that sexual predator, rapist, and pedophile, is a great character reference for Fatty.
Yup. He said it.
Sorry...I should have added that that character reference Shady mentions comes from Jeffrey Epstein.
More from the Open Mouth, Insert Foot Department
Here's bow tie boy, TuKKKer KKKarlson asserting that fighting that nice Mr. Hitler was a bad idea for Britain.
But it gets better. While interviewing Jacob Rees-Mogg, a member of the Conservative Party, and former MP, TuKKKums asks what Britain got out of going to war with Hitler. Rees-Mogg answered that at least the Brits aren't speaking German right now.
TuKKKums response was "So what?" He continued that if Hitler had won, at least the Brits would be speaking a decent language, not one of those languages from shithole countries.
Getting booted from Fox has allowed KKKarlson to go full Nazi without any pesky producer telling him to keep his fascism on the down low, not that Fox has done much of that. Still....WTF?
On the other hand, there are likely a ton of MAGAts out there who agree with this shit stain who don't see this is as a gaffe.
And they vote. Aren't we lucky?
Um...what?
Fat Hitler is flailing. Maybe he's sensing the coming Armageddon. Here he is, the staunch enemy of mail in voting (except when he does it), instructing the MAGA faithful to...main in their ballots.
??
"Trump, Critic of Voting by Mail, Urges Republicans to Do It in Midterms
It was the latest mixed messaging from President Trump, who regularly votes by mail, but has made baseless claims that the practice is 'inherently corrupt.'"
In the Times story, Fatty sez “Vote early. Vote by mail. Or vote in person on Election Day"...after reading the first two words, I fully expected them to be followed by "vote often".
He's all over the place, but beside himself with the idea that he may be a LOSER in November. I'm surprised he isn't using "Vote early, vote often" as a rallying cry for the droolers.
Ruling is Tiring
"Chinese officials made unusual demands that the U.S. accommodate Xi Jinping’s need for rest during a summit with President Trump, offering a rare glimpse of the 73-year-old leader’s emerging physical limitations, said people familiar with the visit planning.
Chief among the requests was a private room inside the West Wing for Xi to take a break between events, with only his wife, Peng Liyuan, permitted to join him, the people said. No others from the Chinese delegation were allowed to use the “hold room,” as it was called—not even Cai Qi, Xi’s chief of staff, they added. The result was a roughly five-hour gap in the summit agenda, a long stretch of downtime during a visit that lasted barely two days."
Samuel Alito Defends Constitutional “Originalism”.
I love that his originalist analogy for how judges should interpret how the framers would have originally interpreted the Constitution is about driving down a highway "I envision an originalist judge driving down a highway. Along the way, he sees seven off-ramps. Six of these are wrong turns, and the seventh places an originalist judge at a crucial crossroads.". The dumbass could at least use a horse and buggy analogy for his stupid fake philosophy of pretending we still live in a world from 250 years ago.
RAS,
C’mon now. Poor Sammy is doing the best he can for a hate filled fantasy world fascist. Remember, he’s the guy who says Druidic runes carved into rocks near Stonehenge provided him with the legal basis for rulings that let him overturn decades of precedence and and settled law.
Maybe he thinks the founders had a time machine and once they got to the 20th century, they heard some Beach Boys songs and got themselves a little deuce coup to cruise around in. In fact, I’m pretty sure I saw James Madison pulling out of the Dollar Store the other day in a 64 T-Bird. Nice taste in wheels, Jimmy. When you get a chance, ring up Sammy and tell him exactly how much original shit he’s full of.
Why does Idiot Face the So-Called Prexy of the poor US care about daylight savings time? We know he pays no attention to anything remotely normal, like people getting up in the dark or leaving work in the dark-- seriously, I can't think of another guy who is more ill-suited to address pressing moral questions (haha) like this...He IS NOT NORMAL. He doesn't drive, or go to bars or stay in other people's hotels, or attend ball games in which he stays awake, or give a rat's patootie about how anyone else feels about anything, so why did he decide to hang Tom Cotton? Cotton is a useless piece of military fluffness, so I don't so much object to his being mean to poor wittle Tommy, but I'm sure the whole discussion is far too important and intellectual for him to even address it... I love how these ingrates employed by us (all of 'em--) spend their time on minutiae and then complain about the backbreaking work they do for us, causing them to give themselves multitudes of breaks and vacations. (When's the last town hall YOU went to with your legislators? I thought so...) Kiss my grits, Orange Toxic Doom AND Cotton. Oh, and also the Oxford-educated hayseed Kennedy.
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