Trump Makes a Deal. With Putin. Chris Cameron, et al., of the New York Times: Donald “Trump said on Friday that he had reached an agreement with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia to immediately import Russian diesel fuel to the U.S. market, undercutting U.S. sanctions. The Kremlin issued a statement saying Mr. Putin had expressed a willingness to supply more oil and other fuels to the world in a phone call with Mr. Trump. Minutes after Mr. Trump’s announcement, the Treasury Department said it was lifting sanctions on Russian diesel exports 'to allow the supply of Russian diesel to the global market.' The announcement gave Russian energy producers a general license to sell diesel fuel until April. The United States placed sanctions on Russian energy exports after the country invaded Ukraine in 2022, to limit Mr. Putin’s ability to finance that war.... Mr. Trump said in a social media post on Friday that Mr. Putin had approved shipping potentially millions of tons of diesel fuel in the coming months.... Speaking to reporters at the White House later, the president thanked Mr. Putin and said, about the diesel from Russia, that 'we’re very happy to get it.'” The link is a gift link.
Peter Baker of the New York Times: “For the first time, Americans would be invited to watch on their cellphones, laptops and other screens as a convicted murderer is put to death. Never before has an official execution been broadcast live in the United States, turning what in theory is supposed to be the solemn application of justice into an event for an audience of potentially millions. Under the plan announced this week, those who click online on Dec. 3 would see Nidal Malik Hasan, who gunned down 13 fellow Army soldiers and injured 32 others at Fort Hood in Texas in 2009, shot by rifle-bearing soldiers at the same base on the same day of the week at the same time of day that he opened fire. No limits on who would be allowed to watch were described, even though an Army manual restricts witnesses to an execution....
“Vice President JD Vance cast doubt that it would be livestreamed, telling reporters that 'I don’t know that that’s going to happen' and adding that he would not watch if it does. But Mr. Trump said he signed off on it. 'Did I approve?' he said. 'Absolutely I did.'... No public execution has been conducted in the United States in 90 years, and the decision to conduct this one in front of an audience would put the country in the company of Afghanistan, Iran, North Korea and Somalia.... Counterterrorism specialists called it self-defeating to show Mr. Hasan’s execution live, arguing that it could play into the hands of jihadist groups that celebrate the martyrdom of those who kill infidels.” The link is a gift link.
~~~ Marie: Notice how jacked up Pete is here. He cannot contain his excitement as he looks forward to a bloody execution and the associated snuff film: ~~~
Trump Orders Star Chamber to Judge Black Female Fed Governor. Colby Smith & Tony Romm of the New York Times: Donald “Trump said on Friday that the White House had formed a committee to investigate Lisa D. Cook, a Federal Reserve governor, and would hold a hearing to consider whether to fire her over unproven accusations that she committed mortgage fraud. Comprised of the president’s own deputies, Mr. Trump ordered the 'committee of inquiry' to look into claims that Ms. Cook had made 'false statements in connection with one or more' of her past mortgages, with an in-person hearing set for Nov. 5. Mr. Trump asked the committee to report back on whether there were grounds for 'Governor Cook’s removal' from office... Ms. Cook ... has not been charged with any crime. In a statement on Friday, lawyers for Ms. Cook said they had 'grave doubts that this “hearing” is a legitimate one that would conform to the law.'” The link is a gift link.
~~~ Rick Maese of the Washington Post: “The Trump administration says it still has no final plan to remake East Potomac Golf Links. It does, however, have a plan to remove more than 500 of its trees. Beginning Saturday, National Park Service crews will start another major round of cutting at the historic public golf course, according to a new filing in federal court. The first phase contains 169 trees marked for removal. A second phase covering 90 trees would follow, and the Park Service says as many as 529 could eventually come down. The disclosure came as part of the government’s response to an expanded lawsuit challenging President Donald Trump’s proposed transformation of the century-old facility into an elite course capable of hosting major championships. Although Trump said earlier this year that construction would begin Sept. 1, his administration has not released a final design, cost, funding plan or closure schedule. The course remains open, and in Friday’s filing, NPS continued to describe the broader redesign as only a 'potential project' that remains under evaluation.”
Keeping Up with Trump Bribes & Scams:
Trump Turns "Trump Accounts" into a Stunt to Help Billionaires. Catherine Rampell of the Bulwark: "SHAMELESS BRANDING ASIDE, 'Trump Accounts,' the new program that gives every baby in America access to some savings, is generally benign, and maybe even useful. But Donald Trump being Donald Trump, he can’t help but taint an otherwise inoffensive concept with a bit of good old-fashioned corruption. Or at least, corruption-adjacent activity. In this case, our president is helping rich donors offload overvalued stocks onto children, who are forced to hold the stocks for five years whether they want to or not.... SOON AFTER CONGRESS created Trump Accounts, philanthropists and employers began pledging contributions to kids around the country.... But last week, the Trump administration changed the ways that these benefactors could benefact. Now, instead of giving cash, donors can give shares of individual stocks, so long as they give the stock grants to groups of at least 5,000 kids in a given age group and geographic area. Moreover, the recipients cannot refuse the gift.... Not only are families barred from rejecting donated shares at the outset, they are also prohibited from selling those unwanted shares, in most cases for at least five years.... The whole thing feels icky, especially the fact that the design of the program seems to hew more to the interests of billionaire donors than the interests of poor families." Thanks to RAS for the lead.
Jonathan Wolfe, et al., of the New York Times: “A South African lawyer with a long record in human rights work, including leading a U.N. commission that said Israel had committed genocide, won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday, a decision that drew Israel’s condemnation and underscored the country’s deep isolation on the world stage. The lawyer, Navanethem Pillay, known as Navi, has worked for decades on human rights issues, defending anti-apartheid activists like the future president and Nobel laureate Nelson Mandela. Over the years, she has variously served as a top U.N. official and as a judge on the International Criminal Court and a tribunal investigating genocide in Rwanda....
[Donald] Trump, who ... has openly angled to win the Nobel Peace Prize himself, did not immediately address Friday’s award. He did, however, share a post on his social media platform that called Ms. Pillay 'an unabashed hater of America and Israel' and said that it was Mr. Trump who deserved the prize. After receiving the news at [a] conference [of human rights lawyers] in Nuremberg, Ms. Pillay was applauded by more than a hundred fellow attendees, a video posted by the Amnesty International head, Agnès Callamard, showed. 'If you clap a little bit more, I may share this prize with Trump,' Ms. Pillay joked, apparently referring to last year’s winner, María Corina Machado, the Venezuelan opposition leader who presented her medal to the U.S. president in January.” The link is a gift link. MB: Earlier Friday, I linked a NYT liveblog on the awarding of the prize. ~~~
~~~ Here's a clip from the video Callamard posted. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Oh, Trump did more than share a post knocking Pillay. The following story is no coincidence. ~~~
~~~ Ariana Baio of the Guardian: “The United States was accused of launching 'an assault' on the world’s legal order after imposing more sanctions on the international criminal court (ICC). Unveiling the Trump administration’s latest escalation against the court, which it has accused of politicization and unfairly targeting Americans for war crime charges, Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, declared: 'Either the ICC will end its threats, or we will end the ICC.' The ICC accused Donald Trump’s officials of attempting to 'obstruct the course of justice' as Rubio, just hours after a former ICC judge was awarded the Nobel peace prize, announced in a video that the US would move to impose financial sanctions. 'We will ban transactions with this rogue court, cutting off their resources and crippling their ability to operate against us. Because our message is clear: the United States and the American people are not subject to the jurisdiction of this fake ICC,' Rubio said in a video posted on X.” ~~~
~~~ Video of little Marco's remarks is here.
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Julian Barnes & Eric Schmitt of the New York Times: “The U.S. military is preparing options to restart major combat operations against Iran, even as ... [Donald] Trump continues to show ambivalence about restarting the war, according to American officials. Three aircraft carriers will soon be in the Middle East, a massive assembly of force, and the Pentagon, on Mr. Trump’s orders, has developed plans to strike Iran’s drone and missile arsenal, energy facilities and other military sites. But Mr. Trump has repeatedly decided not to relaunch heavy combat operations against Iran. And the U.S. military response to Iran has been more muted in recent weeks, despite Iran’s escalating attacks on oil tankers. In a social media post on Thursday, Mr. Trump said that he would not attack Iran before the midterm elections, and that the two countries were 'having productive discussions.'” The link is a gift link.
Jan Ransom & John Ismay of the New York Times: “The aircraft carrier U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln, whose crew endured food shortages and mental health struggles prompted by a near-record 322-day deployment in support of the Iran war, returned on Thursday to its home port of San Diego.... By longstanding Navy tradition, sailors whose spouses gave birth during the deployment were expected to be among the first to step off to meet their sons and daughters.” The link is a gift link. MB: I heard on a teevee news report yesterday that the number of newborns who had never seen their sailor-fathers was 132.
The Most Corrupt President* in U.S. History. Cat Zakrzewski of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump bought between $1 million and $5 million in debt issued by SpaceX just days before the White House announced a new space-travel policy, the president’s latest financial disclosure form shows. Two days after purchasing the bonds, Trump signed a memorandum setting out the new policy, which is intended to strengthen space transportation, in part by backing industry so the United States can support more than 1,000 space launches and re-entries a year by 2030. SpaceX is the largest space-launch company by a wide margin.... 'Neither President Trump nor any member of his family has any ability to direct, influence, or provide input regarding how [his] portfolio is invested or when investments are bought or sold,' [White house spokesman David] Ingle said. Ingle ... did not answer a question about who decided to buy the SpaceX debt.”
We all know Donald Trump is wasting millions of taxpayer dollars in a variety of ways that are not part of his "official" duties. For instance, the millions he has spent on producing, then airing self-promotional teevee ads; all the trips to his private clubs, the main purpose of which is to promote them. Now, not surprisingly, there's this: ~~~
~~~ I Wanna Get Lost in Your Rock 'n' Roll and Grift Away. Jenna Monnin of the Washington Sun: "... Donald Trump touted a tranche of corporate funding for Freedom 250’s private-public partnership to celebrate the semiquincentennial of the nation’s founding. But records obtained and released Thursday by a watchdog group show that taxpayers apparently were who largely supported this summer’s celebrations — raising questions about where tens of millions in private donations ended up. The Trump administration also has yet to disclose the private sector benefactors themselves, the donation amounts or how tens of millions in funds were spent, despite facing mounting pressure from Democratic lawmakers who allege that some corporate sponsors engaged in a pay-to-play scheme with the federal government."
Chris Cameron of the New York Times: “The county board in Arlington, Va., sued the Trump administration on Thursday to block the construction of President Trump’s proposed triumphal arch in Washington. Arlington County is home to the Pentagon and Arlington National Cemetery, the hallowed military gravesite that is central to the legal battle over the planned arch. The Park Service has acknowledged that the arch, given its huge scale, would 'adversely affect' the visual link between the cemetery and the Lincoln Memorial on the opposite side of the Potomac River, obstructing, for example, the view from President John F. Kennedy’s grave.” The link is a gift link. An MS NOW story is here.
So yesterday, Trump said he refrained from doing "very, very bad things" to Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden & Barack Obama out of respect for the presidency. Translation: so nobody should do very, very bad things to me, your president*. (Trump still seems to think that Hillary was once president, too. It's the second time he has publicly made that mistake recently; a short while back he said he could have impeached her -- an absolute impossibility. When Clinton was secretary of state [the only government job she held from which she could have been impeached], Trump had not held any government office, much less a Congressional seat that is the only office that would have allowed him to propose articles of impeachment.) But I digress. Trump's warped understanding of his presidential* powers -- "I can do whatever I want if I want" -- notwithstanding, former staff are fair game: ~~~
~~~ Alex Griffing of Mediaite: “Punchbowl News’s Laura Weiss reported on Thursday that ... Donald Trump’s Justice Department is actively working toward a criminal indictment for former Trump White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson.... The Atlantic’s Sarah Fitzpatrick reported last Friday that both Attorney General Todd Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel’s jobs are at risk if they do not provide Trump with indictments of those he has long viewed as his political enemies — including Hutchinson. 'The president wants indictments. He wants people in handcuffs. He wants the headlines,' one former official told Fitzpatrick, adding that Trump wants results 'no matter how thin' the fact[s].... Trump has repeatedly called for Hutchinson to be prosecuted, including in a March 2024 Truth Social screed in which he wrote, 'Our great Secret Service has totally CRUSHED Cassidy Hutchinson’s (who I barely knew) made up (FAKE!) stories about me roughing up Secret Service Agents from the back seat of the Beast (Limo).'” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Update. Perry Stein & Salvador Rizzo of the Washington Post: “The Justice Department presented evidence to a federal grand jury this week in a case against Cassidy Hutchinson, a former White House aide who was a key witness for a congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, according to two people familiar with the matter. Federal officials have accused Hutchinson of lying to lawmakers when she testified about the events surrounding the Capitol attack, said the two people.... Prosecutors have been exploring charging Hutchinson with a civil rights violation, potentially bringing a more unusual case than a simple charge of lying to Congress, one of the people familiar said. The active federal grand jury investigation against Hutchinson in D.C. is the latest example of the Justice Department wielding its law enforcement powers against perceived foes of ... Donald Trump.”
Alan Feuer & Glenn Thrush of the New York Times: The resignations of Joe diGenova and his deputy Kurt Olsen, both Trump enthusiasts who were working on Trump's so-called grand conspiracy case, “laid bare months of dysfunction. They also offered fresh evidence that Mr. Trump’s demands for revenge have divided the Justice Department, diverted resources from other investigations and continued the erosion of the principle that politics must be kept strictly separate from federal law enforcement.... The theory of the grand conspiracy case is a bedrock of Trumpist politics: that the various investigations into Mr. Trump, spanning nearly a decade, were all part of a nefarious scheme to take him down.... To date, Mr. diGenova and others involved in the case have found it difficult, and time-consuming, to meet the standards of evidence and jurisdiction needed to prove anything close to a conspiracy in a court of law.... Even if charges are never filed, Mr. Trump has already instilled fear in — and imposed steep financial costs on — potential targets, in his view giving them a taste of what he experienced when he was under investigation.” The link is a gift link.
Erik Wemple of the New York Times: “A federal judge on Thursday temporarily extended his block on ... [Donald] Trump’s effort to ban CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House, and said he would decide by next week whether to extend it for a longer stretch. Judge Timothy J. Kelly of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia said at a hearing the extension would give him time to evaluate the arguments in the case.” The link is a gift link. (Also linked yesterday.)
Anton Troianovski & Eric Lipton of the New York Times: “The Trump administration argues that its proposed multibillion-dollar Russian oil deal would advance American foreign policy interests and lower energy prices. But most of the ownership in the deal would go to a group of Middle Eastern investors, including some with business ties to key U.S. officials involved in the negotiations, according to people familiar with the talks.... The United States government, through the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, would get a stake of about 15 percent in the deal, without investing any cash up front.... The leader of the investor group, Todd Boehly, an American billionaire who has donated $2 million to pro-Trump causes in the last two years, would get a smaller minority stake. But more than half of the equity will be cumulatively held by investors in the Middle East, according to three participants in the negotiations. The investors include entities tied to the royal family in Abu Dhabi and to two billionaire Syrian-born Qatari brothers, who are business partners with Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, and Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter.” The link is a gift link. (Also linked yesterday.)
Q: How do you define socialism personally?
JD VANCE: I think in reality what it actually means in the American context is you want to replace American workers with foreigners workers, and you want boys to play in girls' sports[.] (Link via Paul Campos in LG&$.)
Erica Green of the New York Times: “Vice President JD Vance announced on Thursday that Microsoft would be suspended from using a visa program that allowed foreign workers to permanently reside in the United States after an investigation found that the tech giant had 'abused' the system. Mr. Vance made the announcement in a news conference where he and other Trump administration officials made a slew of allegations that American companies and universities were committing visa fraud. Microsoft, they announced, is just the largest of several technology companies to face such a suspension, and schools including Harvard and Yale are now under investigation.... The Trump administration has sought to overhaul the [H-1B] program, including imposing fees for the visas, claiming that it has unfairly allowed companies to sideline Americans and hire foreign workers.” The link is a gift link. (Also linked yesterday.)
Marie: One reason Old Man Trump seems to addled and out-of-touch is that a lot of his own staff tell him big fat lies all the time. Like this guy: ~~~
~~~ Natan Odenheimer & Adam Rasgon of the New York Times: “Since taking up his post in April 2025, [David] Milstein, 36, [a top aide to U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee,] has repeatedly suppressed or significantly revised embassy reporting on Israeli activities to present the Netanyahu government in a favorable light, according to a dozen people who work with or interact with Mr. Milstein[.] As settler violence in the West Bank surged in the spring, for instance, he stymied embassy reporting suggesting that the Israeli government was failing to take action, according to the three officials. Instead the embassy sent a cable to Washington, viewed by The New York Times, praising Israel for 'cracking down' on the attacks. When members of Congress pushed for accountability over the killings of Palestinian Americans by Israeli settlers and security forces, he suppressed a detailed report that the embassy staff had written, effectively stonewalling lawmakers’ efforts to gain information.... Several officials ... said they were ... concern[ed] that officials in Washington were getting a distorted view of Israeli actions through core diplomatic channels.” The link is a gift link. (Also linked yesterday.)
Ariana Baio of the Guardian: “A Trump donor accused Kimberly Guilfoyle, the US ambassador to Greece and Trump family ally, of engaging in a 'quid pro quo' by asking him to pay off her $100,000 debt in exchange for access to administration officials. Eric Deters, a former congressional candidate and lawyer, told MS Now on Thursday that Guilfoyle had 'ambushed' him last year with an offer to provide access to government officials if he paid her American Express credit card bill, before her US Senate confirmation hearing as ambassador to Greece. 'It absolutely was a quid pro quo,' Deters told the network in response to a Wall Street Journal report that she had pushed him for the money. 'Kimberly Guilfoyle is a grifter,' he added.” (Also linked yesterday.);~~~
~~~ It's worth watching a bit of this. Pick your bit:
~~~ Meagan Vazquez & Adam Taylor of the Washington Post: “Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday declined to condemn U.S. Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle over allegations that she asked a Trump donor to pay her $100,000 credit card bill as she was preparing for her confirmation hearing before the Senate. Vance, during a news conference in Washington on Thursday, said he would 'like to get the full story before offering a real opinion' on the matter. 'I don’t love that, but I don’t know exactly who you’re talking about,' he said. And at an airport outside Athens on Thursday, Rubio brushed aside questions about the U.S. ambassador. 'We don’t conduct these things in a news conference on a tarmac in a foreign country,' he added.” MB Translation: We have to see if Trump still likes Kimberley. After all, asking for pay-for-play bribes is kind of a Trumpy thing. ~~~
~~~ "Our Big Fat Greek Bribery Scandal." Andrew Egger of the Bulwark has an amusing take on the story and adds some details. As to how the story will play out, he writes: "In theory, Trump could get ahead of some headaches by cutting Guilfoyle loose now. But there’s a reason they gave her that ambassadorship in the first place: She was too close to the family for too long to put out on the streets safely. She knows where too many of the bodies are buried."
Just when you think we cannot descend any further into barbarism: ~~~
⭐The Execution Will Be Televised. Chris Cameron of the New York Times: “Pentagon officials said on Thursday that the Army officer convicted in the 2009 Fort Hood shooting would be executed in public, a practice that ended in the United States nearly a century ago and is most commonly carried out in a handful of countries, including Iran, North Korea and Afghanistan. The Pentagon said in a statement that the military execution, scheduled for Dec. 3, would also be broadcast via livestream. Such a broadcast has little precedent, and releasing video of executions is most often associated with extremist militant groups like the Islamic State. The announcement adds to the growing spectacle around the planned execution of Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, who killed 13 people and wounded 32 others when he brought a personal handgun onto the grounds of Fort Hood, Texas. The rampage was the deadliest shooting at an American military base and sent shock waves through the U.S. military. There are few countries that hold public executions. The human rights group Amnesty International has highlighted some cases in which public executions in Iran and Saudi Arabia have been filmed by bystanders.” The link is a gift link. The Guardian's story is here. RAS linked an AP story yesterday, and added some commentary. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Perhaps there is an upside. Before there were teevee ratings, when I was a preteen, I watched a news special on the Cuban revolution. In one clip, soldiers were lined up in front of a large, deep hole and were shot dead so that they fell forward into the hole. I don't remember if it was Castro's revolutionaries shooting Batista's soldiers or the other way around. What I do know is that I found even this grainy, black-and-white clip so disturbing that I've opposed the death penalty ever since. Unfortunately, I'm afraid a lot of people will enjoy the show so much they'll demand a sequel. Take for instance, the moronic Secretary of Defense. Hegseth said (using the excellent phraseology of a Trumpian), “It hadn’t been since World War II since we’ve done that. Well I kind of like the mentality we had in World War II.” ~~~
~~~ Chris Geidner, the Law Dork: "Despite the bloodthirsty excitement expressed by Hegseth..., given that this plan involves what amounts to a new execution protocol, any challenge by Hasan could mean that the December 3 date will not stand. While death penalty litigators are familiar with that reality, it’s not clear Hegseth or anyone at the Defense Department is aware of that — given that the last military execution was carried out in 1961."
Ed Shanahan, et al., of the New York Times: “A federal immigration agent shot and wounded a man in a largely residential section of New York City on Thursday, eliciting swift rebukes from Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who accused the Trump administration of 'terrorizing our city.' The shooting happened about 4 p.m. in the Marble Hill neighborhood, as agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, tried to arrest the man while he was in a car with a 5-year-old boy believed to be his son in the back seat, Jessica Tisch, the police commissioner, said at a news conference late Thursday night. Ms. Tisch said that a preliminary investigation had determined that at least one ICE agent had fired seven rounds at the car, striking the man, whom she identified as Oscar Belgal, 28, in the neck below the left ear. The child was not injured and was in the care of a family member late Thursday, she said. The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that the shooting had occurred as the agents tried to arrest an undocumented immigrant with a criminal record. The statement did not name the man or indicate why the agent fired at the car or if he knew there was a child in it.” The link is a gift link. ~~~
~~~ Silvia Foster-Frau & Tim Craig of the Washington Post: “Both [New York Police Commissioner Jessica] Tisch and New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani noted that the officers were not wearing clothing that indicated they were law enforcement personnel and said at least one officer was carrying a long gun. 'They wore construction vests and masks that concealed their faces. There was no reasonable way to identify them as ICE agents,' Mamdani said at a late-night news conference. 'School had just gotten out. The street was crowded with families and children.' When the New York City police arrived on the scene after the shooting, the wounded man was handcuffed and sitting on the ground. Police officers placed him in their vehicle and offered medical aid, Tisch said. He was taken to a nearby hospital... Mamdani said he spent two hours on the phone Thursday night with ... Donald Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin negotiating for the release of the wounded man. Instead, ICE 'put the man in an unmarked vehicle and whisked him away,' [MB: from the hospital??] Mamdani said.” ~~~
~~~ Joe Anuta & Chris Sommerfeldt of Politico: “Mayor Zohran Mamdani demanded ... Donald Trump end 'all ICE enforcement actions in our city' late Thursday after a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot a man in Manhattan, according to the NYPD.”
Marie: I can't access this firewalled Wired story, but the lede, about the ICE agent who shot Oscar Belgal on a busy New York street is: "Brenden Cuni, an ICE supervisor, has been accused of excessive force and tackling a pregnant woman to the ground. Several of his arrests were later found to be unlawful in federal court." So there's that. ~~~
~~~ Marie: The only way to stop them is to take away their guns.
Jasmine Garsd of NPR: A Department of Homeland Security "plan to convert warehouses into detention centers faced fierce backlash and legal challenges.... It was largely abandoned, and in several sites, including Roxbury[, New Jersey,] the government is legally forbidden by a court order from converting them to a detention facility, pending environmental assessments. But an NPR investigation has found signs that the New Jersey facility is being used.... NPR spoke to an official at a government contractor whose company was approached to convert several of the warehouses into ICE facilities. 'No one that we spoke to at DHS was for this idea whatsoever.... Everybody knew warehouses are horrible places to put people,' he says. At a meeting with a deputy director at DHS, he says, his company proposed a ... FEMA-style camps in Texas that would be more humane. He says that idea was swiftly shot down.... The contractor says his understanding ... was that '[Stephen] Miller did not want the facilities that were comfortable. He did not want facilities that were humane. We were told point-blank that that was not what the administration wanted.'" As RAS noted in linking this report, "Cruelty is the point." (Also linked yesterday.)
~~~ What's Wrong with This Picture? Stuart Thompson of the New York Times analyzes an AI-generated photo, and finds a lot of things wrong with it. The link is a gift link. MB: I picked up on only a couple of the mistakes, including one Thompson didn't get, either. You'll have to look at the blown-up picture in the linked article to catch most of the mistakes (tho someone sharper than I am can pick up on one of them even in the photo above); the small photo here is too hard to see. And if you're trying to find the AI mistakes from a phone or small laptop, even one with high resolution quality, well, good luck. (Also linked yesterday.)
Gregory Schmidt of the New York Times: “Mortgage rates are surging while home prices are climbing, an unwelcome combination that is dashing hopes for many Americans hoping to buy a home. On Thursday, the mortgage finance giant Freddie Mac reported that the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage had risen to 7.4 percent, up from 7.28 percent last week and the highest since November 2023. Last year at this time, the rate was 6.3 percent. Mortgage rates had dipped below 6 percent in February, just before the start of the war in Iran, raising optimism that the housing market was becoming more affordable, said Kara Ng ... of Zillow, the real estate marketplace.” The link is a gift link. ~~~
~~~ Marie: We have accepted a "system" in which most young families cannot afford the security of home ownership at the same time billionaires may be paying taxes at a lower rate than they are. For the country to thrive, it's obvious that has to change.
The New York Times is liveblogging the progress of Hurricane Isaias. From the pinned item at 6:00 am ET: “Hurricane Isaias was gathering strength as it barreled toward the Gulf Coast on Thursday, and residents of towns and cities along the water were being urged to prepare for landfall by late Friday or early Saturday morning.... Its center could strike anywhere from Mobile, Ala., to east of Pensacola, Fla., a scenario that would bring potentially damaging conditions along the coasts of Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle. Hurricane watches and warnings were in place across the region. Regardless of where it hits, forecasters warned, and even if it weakens before landfall, the storm’s damaging winds will expand, delivering storm surge, torrential rain and potential tornadoes across the Southeast. Though hurricane season began four months ago, Isaias is the first hurricane to form in the Atlantic this year.” The link is a gift link. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Also in the projected path: oil rigs and a few refineries & oil distribution points. That is to say, the hurricane has the potential to further raise the price of gas at the pump.
Jonathan Wolfe of the New York Times: “The 2026 Nobel Peace Prize winner is Navi Pillay, a South African human rights lawyer who was recognized for 'for her efforts to promote peace and international law,' the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced on Friday. Ms. Pillay, formerly the United Nations’ top human rights official, also served as a judge at the International Criminal Court and on an international tribunal investigating the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. Last year, a United Nations commission led by Ms. Pillay determined that Israel had committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, a finding that the Israeli government rejected.” The report is the pinned item in a liveblog. The link is a gift link.
Alex Marshall of the New York Times: “The Canadian poet and essayist Anne Carson was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature on Thursday by the Swedish Academy, which cited 'her bold and inventive oeuvre that, in playful dialogue with the classical tradition, has created new forms for contemporary literature.' She is the third Canadian-born writer to receive the honor, after Alice Munro in 2013 and Saul Bellow in 1976. Upon learning of the prize, Carson said 'Yikes,' according to her agent, Nicole Aragi.” The link is a gift link. MB: Yeah, I guess “Yikes” is “bold and inventive and playful within the classical tradition.” (Also linked yesterday.)
Neil Vigdor of the New York Times: “Not long after [Anne] Carson ... was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature on Thursday, Princeton University praised her in a social media post that noted that she had once taught there as a classics professor. The university’s classics department also congratulated Carson on its website on Thursday.... The university’s praise of Carson also attracted criticism, as social media users highlighted that Princeton had denied her tenure — a highly coveted continuous teaching position — in the 1980s.” The link is a gift link.
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Senate Races. Lisa Lerer, et al., of the New York Times: “A trio of debates in key Senate races on Thursday night underscored how fraught the midterms have become, as candidates in Maine, Michigan and Georgia traded personal and heated attacks. In Michigan, Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, a Democrat, said former Representative Mike Rogers, a Republican, was a warmonger, while Mr. Rogers tried to tie Dr. El-Sayed, a Muslim, to terrorism. In Georgia, Senator Jon Ossoff, a Democrat, called Representative Mike Collins, a Republican, a 'bigot.' And in Maine, Senator Susan Collins demanded a public apology after her Democratic opponent, Troy Jackson, accused her and her husband of profiting from the Iran war. Here are five takeaways from the debates across three states that could determine control of the Senate.” The link is a gift link. ~~~
~~~ Georgia. Emily Davies & Patricia Mazzei of the New York Times report on the debate between Sen. Jon Ossoff & Rep. Mike Collins. Part of the headine: Ossoff says to Collins, “You’ve hired Half the Third Reich.” The link is a gift link.
~~~ Maine. Tim Balk of the New York Times has more details on the debate between Troy Jackson & Sen. Susan Collins. The link is a gift link. ~~~
~~~ Michigan. Bayliss Wagner & Kellen Browning of the New York Times have a more detailed report of the debate between Dr. Abdul El-Sayed & Mike Rogers. Part of the headline cites Dr. El-Sayed, asking Rogers, “You going after my mom?” The link is a gift link.
New York. Dana Rubenstein, et al., of the New York Times: “Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Thursday voiced no regrets about his handling of the third anniversary of the Oct. 7 attacks, after his efforts to mark the day were transformed into one of the most wrenching moments in his brief tenure leading New York City. Instead, he reaffirmed his confidence in an approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that had caused some Jewish New Yorkers and pro-Palestinian activists to assail his leadership.... Mr. Mamdani said on Thursday that he had been clear, and would remain so, that he believed Hamas had committed war crimes in its attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 hostages abducted. He also said Israel had used that carnage to justify a prolonged assault on Gaza that had led to the deaths of more than 74,000 Palestinians, actions that he believed amount to genocide.” The link is a gift link.
Texas Senate Race. Gabby Birenbaum of the Texas Tribune: “... Donald Trump and Attorney General Ken Paxton attacked James Talarico at a rally in San Antonio Wednesday night over his recent illness-induced absence from the campaign trail, with Trump later calling for a debate between the two. Talarico has been off the trail because he was diagnosed with the flu, his campaign said. Meanwhile, Trump’s call for Talarico to 'immediately report to a Debate Stage' — meant as a jab at the Democrat’s absence — put the spotlight instead on Paxton, who has not publicly accepted any invitations for an onstage faceoff. Talarico, who has agreed to four debates and hounded Paxton for refusing to participate, seized on the opening. 'President Trump just said Ken Paxton should debate,' he posted on X. 'I agree. Ball’s in your court @KenPaxtonTX.' Talarico has been off the trail since late September. He revealed his illness during a Sept. 30 event with the U.S. Hispanic Business Council, which he joined virtually.” ~~~
~~~ Zach Despart of ProPublica & the Texas Tribune: "Records show the Texas attorney general [Ken Paxton (R), who is running for U.S. Senate] has taken nearly 1,000 trips during his tenure, costing $3.3 million in [taxpayer-funded] security. We could only connect 138 [or one in six] of those trips and $553,000 in security costs to state business." ~~~
~~~ Marie: So the "scandals" here are that (1) Talarico caught the flu and (2) Paxton spent millions of taxpayer dollars on traveling on personal matters.
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Toluse Olorunnipa, for The Atlantic, on the potential of AI disrupting the upcoming midterms
"the 2026 midterms are shaping up to be the first live, real-world test of whether the jumble of state, local, and industry policies designed to protect against a breakdown in election systems can hold up in the AI era. Few election and cybersecurity experts believe that this patchwork is well suited to stopping a serious attack.
....Sophisticated misinformation campaigns using the latest generative technology could convince voters that the election has been compromised. Election officials are also concerned that AI-assisted cyberattacks could take down critical voting infrastructure. There is little evidence that AI agents would have the ability to infiltrate vote-counting systems to manipulate actual votes, which are almost always backed up by a paper record."
I'm pretty sure I remember a little back and forth during the first Trump administration with Akhilleus about that day's atrocities and half-jokingly floating the idea that Trump would try to recreate the Schwarzenegger movie The Running Man about a televised execution game show. No idea based on cruelty or corruption can be too farfetched with Republican Deplorables. And so we have pro-war crime aficionado Pete Hegseth promoting the live televised execution to the American public and the world. My quick Google search found one retiring Republican condemning the idea repeatedly quoted for "bipartisan opposition" while Trump has apparently signed off on the spectacle. If more Republicans actually wanted to express their opposition they easily could, but the majority of Republicans' silence is deafening.
"Wiles’ Daughter Is Also on Payroll Of Pro-Russia Party
An image circulated on social media and verified by CBS News shows Katie Wiles, the daughter of White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, recently traveled to Republika Srpska, the Bosnian-controlled territory led by pro-Russian Serb strongman Milorad Dodik.
The image, shared online by conservative Albanian American activist Evi Kokalari, shows Wiles holding a rifle and standing next to a man CBS News has identified as Željko Budimir, the interior minister of the semi-autonomous Republika Srpska administration. Katie Wiles is a partner at Continental Strategy, a large political lobbying firm based in Washington, D.C., according to its website."
The Neighbors
"White House homeland security adviser Stephen Miller spoke at a training conference for counterterrorism agents at FBI headquarters just over a week ago, days before prosecutors criminally charged a man with making disturbing calls and texts to his wife, Katie, multiple sources told CBS News.
That role is further complicated by the fact that Miller and his wife have repeatedly asked the FBI's Washington Field Office to investigate political activists and others they allege have threatened or harassed them. In an unrelated case last year, Stephen Miller asked the bureau to allow agents to go undercover in his Virginia neighborhood's political activist group, several sources with knowledge of the matter told CBS News."
They are who they show themselves to be
"A decision by US officials to livestream the execution of convicted killer Nidal Hasan would amount to torture, the UN said. US defence officials said US Army psychiatrist Hasan, who shot and killed 13 people at a military base in 2009, would face a firing squad and the execution would be broadcast live, adding that details would come later.
“The livestreaming of an execution is tantamount to a public execution and would breach the absolute prohibition of torture,” the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said in a message sent to AFP."
"Trump rigs kids’ piggy banks so billionaires can dump falling stock on them: analyst
A quiet change to President Donald Trump's namesake savings program for children amounts to a gift for billionaires, according to an economic analyst.
In an article for The Bulwark on Thursday, economics columnist Catherine Rampell said the Trump administration now allows wealthy donors to stock Trump Accounts with shares of individual companies, which families have no way to turn down. In effect, "our president is helping rich donors offload overvalued stocks onto children, who are forced to hold the stocks for five years whether they want to or not.""
Lauren Underwood
"Vote, like your health care depends on it.
Vote, like your Social Security depends on it.
Vote, like your grocery bill depends on it."
Long outstanding unpaid bill
"GOP senator's woes deepen after baker accuses him of skipping a nearly $700 cookie bill
"Do you know why I will never vote for Roger Marshall?" she wrote. "Because six years ago, when I was a brand-new small business owner, his campaign ordered cookies and treats from my bakery for his primary election watch party. And I never got paid.""
She should do what Roger Marshall would do and send the cops to arrest this deadbeat, he did it for a lot less.
Having to do actual work.
"Panicked Red-State Republicans Learning Politics on the Fly
GOP candidates in places like Kansas and Texas are having to really campaign for the first time."
"Lmao crying….Navi Pillay after winning the Nobel Peace Prize says "if you clap a little bit more I may share this prize with Trump""
More Times weasel words
So the other day, the Times ran a story about how Fatty and Drunk Pete were skeedaddling on several fronts, but luckily they have the Gray (read: moribund) Lady to help them out with the bad PR.
This piece covers the way No Tab Pete ordered American bombers to skeedaddle from Britain. The subheading to the article reads: "A war that was intended to demonstrate the reach of American power has now done the opposite. It is a lesson in unintended consequences."
Didja get that? "Unintended consequences". Could they be any more anodyne? It's like describing a guy who gets hammered, jumps in his car and kills a family of four as someone who made a slight error in judgement.
Listen, When a surgeon fails to tie off a bleeding vessel and the sewn-up patient bleeds out, the Times reports that action as deadly malpractice.
When a cop fatally shoots a guy who tries to drive away from a traffic stop, the Times reports that it’s murder.
When Josh Allen throws 40 yards into double coverage and gives up the game-losing INT, the Times reports it as an inconceivably unacceptable decision.
But the stream of catastrophes that have ensued from Fat Hitler and Drunk Pete's War of. Choice?
“Unintended consequences.”
More bullshit from the tippy top of the legacy media pyramid.
RAS,
I recall that back and forth now that you mention it, largely because it seemed so out there way back then, kinda like those Andy Borowitz ledes that occasionally make me do double takes (so weird it must be true).
But not no more. Now we have a couple of make-up happy girly-men, Cadet Bone Spurs and No Tab Pete strutting their manliness by shooting someone live on TV. That'll show those liberals that we ARE tough, manly men!
Yeah, by shooting a guy in a wheelchair. Hasan is a paraplegic. I guess Drunk Pete is happy, the guy won't be able to try to run away.
What I think should happen is that those two girly-men should be the ones pulling the triggers. In fact, the only reason this thing is being live streamed is because the guy is a Muslim. If this were some roid-raged redneck who offed a bunch of soldiers in his barracks, we'd never hear about it, but this is a chance for White Supremacist Crusader Boy Kegsbreath to show off his Deus Vult tattoo and his Jerusalem Cross.
If they're gonna do this shit, I think we should demand that ALL executions be done live. As Marie pointed out, seeing people shot in the head and dumped into an open grave, or watching a man in a wheelchair shot in the chest, or seeing a woman strapped down and injected with poison twice, while twitching and gasping for breath might make a difference for some people regarding capital punishment. But only for some. Surely there will be Execution Watch parties for the fucking kill-happy MAGA lovers of deadly, vengeful violence.
I've read that in Iran, some executions are done by public hanging, but not the kind of hanging that used to be done where the knot and the drop are calculated to break the condemned person's neck for a quick death. In the show "Homeland", one of these Iranian hangings is depicted pretty graphically. A man with a rope around his neck is hoisted by a crane causing a slow, painful death by strangulation while a crowd of maniacs looks on cheering.
Are we really going to be joining extremists who livestream beheadings?
Is this how low we've descended with that EVIL fat fuck in office?
Fuck me.
Jared Yates Sexton, for Dispatches From a Collapsing State, shares some thoughts on the public execution, writing - Descent Into Madness
"A former TV host, it shouldn’t be surprising that Hegseth sees this as a potential segment in America’s unending and mind-splitting content stream. Firing up Truth Social or whatever abominable app or service to watch a man shot by firing squad at 1pm on a Thursday afternoon does feel like a natural, albeit detestable, evolution of this cesspool culture, and, so, it might be discussed or criticized, but the true magnitude of it all risks being lost.
....
When Hasan is murdered by the state in full witness of how many bloodthirsty and voyeuristic ghouls care to watch, the spectacle will both appease rubbernecking curiosity and the ritualistic need to see “the enemy” obliterated. Because the full might of the United States military cannot defeat Iran and because every maneuver and strategy only tightens an inescapable knot, his death will provide a momentary catharsis that replaces the frustration and humiliation of real-world defeat."
This Trump Account bullshit is exactly what I was on about last week. Why pick the stock market as the destination for this money? It's a notoriously easy place to lose the whole caboodle in a flash. Oh, but as long as the kiddies money will be going to FOF (Friends of Fatty) it's all jake.
Fucking crooks. I texted an old friend last night and told him I'm giving up on referring to any of these crooked schemes as a grift. Ain't no grift. It's out and out thievery. Fucking gangsters running amok with our money and making sure to grab every penny they can even now from unsuspecting children.
Jail is too good. Maybe a firing squad.
Well kids, it's Debbie Downer time (aren't you glad?).
It could be my natural inclination towards possible calamity (you grow up a Red Sox fan, you learn to live--barely--with crushing disappointment and abysmal outcomes), but all this talk of a blue wave has me a tad squeamish. I'm thinking yes, we will probably take enough seats to regain the House, but the Senate is still off in the hazy distance. Don't get me wrong, I will dance the Tarantella if we take both chambers, but the forces of evil are out there working night and day to steal this election. The legacy media is still on their side (ripping Democrats every chance they get but excusing Republican shenanigans and schemes as politics as usual-everyone does it stuff).
Predictions of Fat Hitler calling out the National Guard, grabbing ballot boxes, declaring martial law, going full national emergency and even trying to cancel the election are not waaaay out there possibilities. He's already tried it once. And even if he doesn't go that far, the fetid seeds of Fatty feculence have been sown to prepare the legacy media for agreeing that "Yeah, maybe Democrats DID try to steal the election".
And even if we win, we'll see just how far Congress can go to stopping this demon fuck in his tracks. He has the Swine Court on his side, after all (as long as whatever he's up to agrees with their sense of self-importance and their insistence of grabbing as much power for themselves as they can).
Maybe I'm going too far out on the ledge here but I don't think so. And even if we do take the House, if we don't get the Senate, the legacy media will report a huuuuuge win for the Fat Fascist.
Hope I'm wrong.
Wendy,
Yeah, killing a man in a wheelchair should definitely replace the MAGA joy of Winning the War. So disgusting.
And even better, this public terrorist-style execution will be done in December.
Merry Christmas, MAGAts! Peace on Earth.
Fat boy is attending a football game in Alabama tonight, because with the nation in a shambles, a losing war, gas prices through the roof, groceries out of reach for many Americans, ICE goons shooting people in the streets, the best thing for a president (even a president*) to do is....go to a football game.
But he's sure that this is another thing that makes Cadet Bone Spurs with his carefully made up rictus and that bird's nest on his head look MANLY and TOUGH.
To top it off, there's a hurricane heading that way. Hmmm...didn't he post something earlier on Untruth Antisocial about how he personally was responsible for the lack of hurricanes this fall? Why can't he break out the Magic Sharpie and send that hurricane to some Democrat state? He is the MAGA god, after all, right?
I was considered one of those Special Seniors deserving of a $90 Medicare rebate/bribe. Thanks ever so much to whoever pushed the Send button because that $90 is turning into campaign donations, half to Chris Pappas here in New Hampshire, half to Troy Jackson in Maine. (Deep family roots in Maine.) It was just so generous of the Trump administration to give me the funds to donate.
Remember the Supremes!
https://substack.com/home/post/p-219593154
There is no United States foreign policy. It's all Pretender policy that shifts daily as he flails in the political winds. Only hope it becomes a gale.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2026/10/09/trump-russia-putin-agreement-diesel-fuel-midterm-election/92175046007/
Ken,
"Vote like Alito is on the ballot". Got that right, brother. And he IS on the ballot, or perhaps someone even worse if Hit Man Sam decides to retire to that old Nazi bunker back home. If Democrats don't take the Senate, look for Alito to be pressured to depart so Trump can appoint an even worse and much younger authoritarian to the Swine Court. He's making noises about how he still has a lot to do. Shudder to think what those things might be.
Elizabeth: I have heard on NPR and on MSNOW that lots of people, even those who did not know about the $90 slush fund, are donating their largess to whatever Democrat's candidacy they want, not even stopping to think about it. I hope it makes a difference to people that really need a small bribe from Orange Monstro to feed their kids more Cheerios, but for those who can, congratulations on sharing with hard-working Democrats, especially in red states. I am not getting this, as I have a medicare advantage plan, and we are not considered eligible. No, no idea why...
Ossoff says that Mike Collins has "hired half the Third Reich to staff your congressional office"
Iran trolling our big strong genius leader's productive war talks.
It's not just about our elections
"United States and Israel are planning to resume the war against Iran before Israel’s election scheduled for 27th October, Israel’s Channel 12 reported on Thursday, contradicting statements by US President Donald Trump."
Trump, Rubio, Vance and their cronies are wetting themselves about the idea of international justice.
"US imposes sanctions on ICC hours after former judge wins Nobel Peace Prize"
Another Blonde Nazi Barbie
Fatty's latest Nazi Barbie is Katie Zacharia whose only real experience was a couple of weeks working with the Gnome at DHS and working for some far right wing group in California started up by Trump dickhead, Ric Grenell. No matter, we all know that competence, experience, truthfulness, honesty, and commitment to the United States Constitution are not in any way requisites for a job with the Fat Fascist.
Let's see if she can out-lie KKKaroline, the previous Nazi Barbie.
Nice to hear that Republican Appeals To Voters is helping out some Democratic campaigns.
All Trash is a perfect name for a person who willingly dates accused abuser Max Miller. Conservatives never were that creative.
"On Thursday, the woman Rep. Max Miller (R-Ohio) has been dating for nearly two years was indicted by a grand jury on three criminal counts: grand theft, telecommunications fraud, and misuse of a credit card.
The charges against Jaclyn Alatrash, first reported by Mother Jones, are in connection to allegations from her ex-husband that Alatrash used his personal credit card to purchase more than $9,000 worth of items on Instacart after they legally separated. The ex-husband, Matthew Kampert, told Mother Jones that Alatrash was never an authorized user on his credit card, even when they were married."
Oops, I think I wrote that Fatty was attending the Georgia-Alabama game tonight. It's tomorrow night. Hopefully the hurricane will spoil his time.
Can you imagine the stress in the Blight House, after the Nobel Peace Prize award was announced, among staffers who were desperately trying to excuse themselves from having to tell the obese infant war criminal that he didn't win, AGAIN?
"You tell him" "Fuck that! I'm not tellin' him, I'll get fired! You tell him." "Let's get Natalie to tell him." "No. She took off after she heard about it. He reamed her pretty good last week for not protecting him from some bad news." "Hey! Let's get Melanie to tell him. She HATES his guts." "Nah, she'd rather gargle barbed wire than talk to him." "How about JD?" "Yeah.....he's an asshole. Let him tell it."
Who thinks there's no connection between a former ICC judge winning the Nobel and Fatty's temper tantrum attack on the court?
We really are in a horrible dystopian land where Rule of Law is the enemy.
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