Americas Worst Humans

Thomas Teepell

In the now-viral video, we see a young white man in a gray long-sleeve shirt standing up in a crowd and shouting a question: “Will you disavow the Muslim Brotherhood?” He aimed his question at Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed at a town hall event in Caro, Michigan, on Saturday. From the stage, El-Sayed met it with steely resolve. “Why are you asking the question?” he replied. “What are you implying?”

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The Handbasket is first to report that Tommy is Thomas Teepell, who, according to his X and Facebook profiles, currently lives in Detroit. Teepell served as Operations Director for Missouri Republican Senator Josh Hawley until February of this year, according to Legistorm. He then took a job as Political Director for the failed gubernatorial campaign of Philip Sarnecki, a Republican businessman in Kansas.

Tommy’s father is Timmy Teepell, a Republican strategist who worked for congressman and then Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal from 2004 to 2011; he also ran Jindal’s ill-fated presidential primary campaign in 2015. He joined the consulting firm OnMessage in 2011, and helped the virtually unknown Hawley get elected Attorney General of Missouri in 2016. Two years later, he helped Hawley become a United States Senator.

This is Tommy. Tommy had a question about my allegiances. Listen to the end to hear about his.

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— Abdul El-Sayed (@abdulelsayed.bsky.social) October 18, 2026 at 2:17 AM

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If European Politicians Weren't Shit

They would be turning Musk in public enemy #1.

Elon Musk approached Donald Trump with the idea of slowing down Starlink in Ukraine, The Telegraph can reveal.

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However, after what was described as a “night of carnage” in Kyiv because of the blackout, a senior source said Mr Musk had been alarmed about the possibility of adverse consumer reaction in Europe.

He shouldn't just be worried about the consumer reaction.

If only people had listened to me about Elon, years ago...

Nobody listens to Atrios.

Ah, Well, Nevertheless

These Daily Mail stories aren’t just tabloid trash, they’re simply made up. Up and down the White House, everyone has been thoroughly impressed with Katie in just a few short days on the job. At the end of this second term, she’ll be remembered as one of the all-time greats. https://t.co/DLHxX9d2wq

— Steven Cheung (@StevenCheung47) October 14, 2026

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Is The Left-Winger In The House With Us

 

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A Bit Of A Problem

Not sure I believe it, but it is a problem if random people are freelancing with such things.

Q: If it wasn't you, then who gave the order for Starlink to go down in Ukraine? TRUMP: I don't know

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— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 16 October 2026 at 18:07

That Was Fun

 BBC news alert.

Was She Hamas

Was honestly curious if the Post would cover this at all. American journalists have shown little solidarity with journalists, even their own colleagues, in Israel/Gaza/West Bank.

ABU FALAH, West Bank — Dozens of masked Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian villagers trying to gather their autumn olive harvest on Friday, setting groves on fire and slinging rocks in a coordinated assault that fits a pattern of escalating settler violence across the occupied West Bank.

Also caught up in the attack was Heidi Levine, a veteran photographer for The Washington Post. Levine, wearing a protective vest clearly marked PRESS on front and back. She was knocked her to the ground, kicked repeatedly and stripped of her cameras and phone.

She was taken to a hospital in the Ramallah area.

Witnesses described a mass, coordinated attack in which dozens of men in black came down from a hilltop settlement near the village of Abu Falah, northeast of Ramallah, where Palestinian families were picking their olives. Video of the incident corroborated the witness accounts.

The Only Man Who Deserved It

And the only man who ever will.

Donald Trump is likely to end up as the only political leader awarded the Fifa peace prize after Gianni Infantino was told at Thursday’s meeting of the Fifa council to make major changes or scrap the controversial award.

Offramp

Trump is looking for an excuse  - any excuse - to declare victory and go home but I do not think he has any way of achieving that, absent a full unreality immersion tank of AI generated "news" and groveling apologies from fake Iranian leaders.

US President Donald Trump on Thursday ruled out the possibility that he would use a nuclear weapon against Iran as he continues to issue threats to the West Asian nation. In an interview with Newsmax, Trump also said that he has no plans to deploy ground troops to the Islamic Republic.

His people might do that for him!

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 Annette Funicello Friday!

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Some People Say That There's A Woman To Blame

Well, Trump does. Every time.

According to Politico, President Donald Trump has been calling up friends and allies to inquire whether it’s time for him to sack his longest-serving chief of staff, Susie Wiles, and replace her with a fresh face atop the White House totem pole.

Citing four sources with direct knowledge of the president’s conversations, the outlet reported that Trump has been floating several names for a successor to Wiles, the veteran Florida political operative who is the first woman to serve in the chief of staff position.

He reportedly has found no shortage of people willing to encourage him to dump his loyal aide overboard, with one GOP operative noting that Wiles has “burned a lot of people” in her time leading Trump’s administration.

A Republican elected official whose views have been solicited by the president said he has mused about elevating Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller or bringing in New York Yankees executive Randy Levine to run things as his top aide. 

Not that I feel sorry for any of these people, but it is a pattern. 

Sad Pete Hegseth

The thrill was going to last him a week, at least.

US President Donald Trump has called off plans to stream the Fort Hood attacker's execution by firing squad.

As criticism over the public display has mounted, Trump said on Thursday that "many very good and well meaning people would rather not watch him die".

As I said yesterday, Trump does maintain enough sense to know that there was no way that would come across well, even to most of the people who would be inclined to enjoy such a thing. 

Sure Why Not

 "We must do something, this is something" reasoning is incredibly dangerous when the only perceived options are reaching for bigger and bigger hammers (bombs).

Another US official noted that when the military plans, it develops a menu of options for policymakers that range from the high-end to low-end. Higher-end targets, including those that are located deep underground, require bigger bombs, and the MOAB is the biggest, the official added.

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But there are questions around whether the MOAB would be an effective munition to use against Iran’s nuclear facilities and other sites that are located deep underground. While the GPS-guided bomb is capable of destroying an area equivalent to nine city blocks, it likely lacks the capability to penetrate deep enough under the surface to destroy the suspected nuclear facilities at Pickaxe, which is believed to be fortified by layers of granite, and other remaining Iranian nuclear sites, sources said.

You can blow up stuff and kill people, but Iran is a very big country. Hell, most countries, even small ones, are very big countries relative to the scale of damage that non-nuclear missiles and bombs can do. 

But we must do something! Dropping a big bomb is something!

Likely Van Jones will get on TV and inform us, after dropping some MOABs, that, once again, Donald Trump has become president on this day.

On The Trump Train

Working out for every eager participant in the Trump agenda.

Oct 14 (Reuters) - Oil giant Saudi Aramco's (2223.SE), opens new tab headquarters in Dhahran suffered extensive damage in an ​attack on Tuesday, with a fire spreading across ‌several floors, three people with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

Much is above my pay grade, in that I don't know how to unshit Trump's bed, but I do know that he will regularly shit the bed of his closest partners and leave the unshitting to them.

Unpopular

From the Economist.

 
Purely vibes-based, of course, but do we feel like press coverage reflected the relative popularity of Trump and Biden?

Biden wasn't especially popular after his first year or so, but Trump has never been popular!

Not the best labeled graph, but you get the idea.