Friday, October 02, 2026
Modern Warfare
WASHINGTON/LONDON, Sept 17 (Reuters) - US Coast Guard and FBI personnel boarded two commercial vessels bound for the United States in the Gulf of Mexico last month after indications that hackers had broken into their computer networks, the agencies said on Thursday.
The unusual operation, carried out on August 21 and August 24 aboard two foreign-flagged ships, comes as US authorities grapple with a series of cyber incidents that media reports have linked to Iran since the outbreak of conflict between Washington and Tehran.
Prayers For Benny
Two people detained outside a Chicago-area immigration detention center last year are suing right-wing podcaster Benny Johnson for defamation, saying he falsely portrayed them as violent extremists who assaulted federal officers.It is good that genuine public figures have a hard time suing for defamation, but I do think "normal" people should feel a bit more empowered to do so than they seem to.
Illinois residents Kyle Frankovich, a data scientist at Harvard University, and Maureen Foody, a contract court reporter, filed the lawsuit Friday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. They said they were detained while protesting peacefully outside the Broadview detention center, but that Johnson knowingly framed them as criminals and “left-wing terrorists” in videos he posted to millions of viewers.
Sure Why Not
Hanging out at the drug factory, hanging out at the nuclear factory, I'm hanging out at the nuclear drug factory.Trump on Midnight Hammer strikes on Iran: They unloaded every single bomb—went right down air chutes into this uhhh drug factories, really, that's what they were doing. They were nuclear and drugs. They were doing drugs. These drug factories/nuclear factories were hit so hard pic.twitter.com/U0nY3LO315
— Acyn (@Acyn) October 2, 2026
Boom Boom
I am very sure that Trump's "plans" regarding Iran change day to day, depending on the sewage sloshing around his skull and who he talked to last, but escalation remains a serious possibility.
The United States is deploying a third aircraft carrier strike group to waters in the Middle East close to Iran, a US official has told Al Jazeera, as the war enters its eighth month and both sides weigh escalation and diplomatic engagement.
Who knows what anyone imagines it would achieve, but that was also the case with Afghanistan and Iraq and Libya. Even war's biggest champions are never able to articulate just what the fuck they want to happen.
Well Okay Then
I suppose it makes perfect sense to to him.
Bernstein, whose term on the UM board ends in 2028, said the Jewish community in Michigan faces a “grim choice” in the November election: "Either compromise my commitment to Zionism or compromise my commitment to democracy. Both of which are non-negotiable, right?"
Single issue purity politics voters. Shaking my head.
Thursday, October 01, 2026
Puddinghead
Well okay then (Time interview. It's real).
TIME: I'm curious about your dinner last night with Dario.
Trump: Oh.
Yes, exactly. Do you still disagree with his views on what he calls AI safety?
I spoke to him about his views, and they're much different, I think, than what is portrayed in the media. First of all, I liked him and his wife a lot. They had dinner, and we were going to meet at 7:00. But I was at the big Presidents Cup. I was the chairman of it in Chicago at Marion, which is great. Actually, that was yeah, Medinah, at Medinah, last year, Marion, this time of year, it was really great, and so I called, I said, "Could we make it a little bit later?" He actually saw the helicopter land, so we made it a little bit later. We got in at about 10. We stayed for more than two hours, talked about a lot of things. Very smart guy. Maybe different than I thought, a little bit. Really a little bit different. But no, he understands.
The whole thing is like that.
Unpopular President
I don't know how low it can go, but does it really matter? It's low enough.
For some reason the article doesn't give the headline result, which is that Trump's approval is at 31% (pdf), a new low for that specific poll (AP-NORC).
Strong approve is only 15%.
I don't think I ever noticed before that even at his peak popularity, his strong approval (in this poll, at least) topped out at 25%.
That's your MAGAs.
Send Yourself
Pete, big guy, chief, my main man, you're the WAR SECRETARY. Go invade Tehran yourself if you want. No one will stop you.
Except the Iranians, I guess.Hegseth: "Send me to right the Redcoats, send me to fight the communists, send me to fight the Islamists. Send me."
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 30 September 2026 at 20:53
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Respectfully, Fuck Off
Also I thought Trump already announced an export ban.
WASHINGTON/BRUSSELS/PARIS, Oct 1 (Reuters) - The Trump administration has told Germany and France to draw down emergency diesel inventories to help to ease global fuel prices or face a potential US diesel export ban, said three people close to the discussions.
He did, of course, then quickly backed off, so Mr. ART OF THE DEAL has already shown his cards here.
Why Can't We Just Talk About Tax Credits
A fantasy consultant-constructed median voter, not an actual one.
If Dems lose on these issues it's because they look like defensive losers when they talk about them.
"We" should learn a lot from how immigration played out in 2024. Dems basically agreed Republicans were right. They first thought they could put the issue behind them (you can never put issues behind you) with a BIPARTISAN BILL. When that failed, they laughably believed they could claim to be "tougher" on immigration than Trump because he was against the bill passing.
First they looked like losers because they (unsurprisingly to everybody but them) couldn't pass the bill, then they looked like fools trying to claim they hate immigrants more than Trump does. No one who saw being "tough" on immigration as a priority was going to vote for them.
Which party was the pro-immigration party? You, a savvy politics-knower, understand that the Democrats would be better and that the current horrors would not be happening under President Harris.
Wednesday, September 30, 2026
Sure Why Not
The man has some issues.
Hegseth: "The ideological clowns are out. The patriotic cowboys are in, with testosterone testing on top."
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 30 September 2026 at 20:09
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"Whatever Happened"
The government believes that Iran played a part in the RAF Fairford incident which resulted in five men being arrested and then bailed, Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said.
"There are strong indications that Iran played a part in what happened over the weekend at RAF Fairford," he told the BBC. He did not provide further details. Tehran has strongly denied any involvement.
This is almost definitely just nonsense to maintain Trump's delusions.
No Jury Would Convict
Just let him go.
Kyrsten Sinema’s ex-boyfriend and former bodyguard said he threw her paintings into her swimming pool in part because he felt disillusioned by her relationship with a major U.S. artificial intelligence software developer as the war in Gaza drags on.
Culture Wars
But just because there’s a consensus doesn’t mean it’s correct. The “economic issues not culture wars” frame shared by much of the Democratic Party is entirely wrongheaded. It’s an example of intellectual dishonesty, moral cowardice, historical inaccuracy, and flawed electoral politics all wrapped together. The sooner Democrats drop this perspective, the better off the party and country will be.
Let me start with the intellectual dishonesty. When most people think of “cultural” issues, I suspect their mind goes to movies, music, sports, or other elements of popular culture. “Democratic politicians should not focus on which musicians perform at the Super Bowl or which shows win Emmys” is perfectly fine advice. But Democratic politicians are rarely fixated on football or Taylor Swift. What gets lumped into “cultural issues” these days includes all manner of meaty matters: higher education, K-12 education, immigration, racism, transgender rights, policing, abortion, sexism, religion, voting rights, and numerous other matters. And it’s true that some Democratic politicians and activist groups emphasize those issues.
As they should. Labeling those issues as “cultural” or “social” trivializes them. But Republicans trying to restrict the teaching of sociology, African American studies, and other academic fields they disagree with, bar transgender Americans from getting the medical care they need, deport people to countries that they have never lived in, and the hundreds of other radical actions that the Trump administration and state-level Republicans have taken on the vast range of issues I listed above is very important. Overly aggressive police departments kill innocent people. Restrictive voting laws limit Americans’ participation in our democracy. These efforts to rig the political system are no mere “culture war.”
Only People Who Have Never Had A Real Job
Or been able to imagine having one could think this would actually improve "alertness" or whatever.
The Transportation Security Administration says it's taking away chairs at airport checkpoints nationwide and that TSA officers who check passengers' IDs must stand, saying the move is designed to help officers remain alert.
They will probably start checking their testosterone levels next, on Pete's suggestion.