America's Worst Humans

Brenden Cuni.

The Friend Of My Enemy

I suppose the incoherence of our foreign policy is funny, at least.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian says relations between Tehran and Moscow are expanding, according to a report by the Iranian news agency IRNA.

After meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin in Turkmenistan, Pezeshkian noted that trade, economic ties and communication between the two countries are progressing positively.

He added that Iran was determined to expand its relations with Russia in line with the two nations’ joint strategic roadmap and the present time was the most appropriate for Russia and Iran to deepen and expand that cooperation.

Trump has been less obviously on Putin's side than one might have expected, but he isn't exactly in the category of our greatest enemy, Iran.

I just remembered that Bush called him Pootie-Poot. How did we get here? Was it left wingers who fucked things up?

At a historic summit in Moscow this week, President George Bush will mark what he claims is the final putting to rest of the cold war, by shaking hands with his new best friend, Pootie-Poot.

That, according to today's issue of Time magazine, is the president's nickname for the Russian president, Vladimir Putin. At times of tension between the two countries, we are told, Mr Bush is known to tell his staff: "Get me Pootie-Poot on the phone."

The Peace Prize Committee Is Going To Get Sanctioned

They'd better start stockpiling some cash now before their cards stop working.

The Nobel Peace Prize has gone to human rights pioneer Navi Pillay. The South African was integral to the anti-apartheid movement, served as a judge on the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and recently led the UN commission that concluded Israel committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.

They certainly make some hilariously bad choices, but this one will anger all the right people.

Rare NYT Win

First two paragraphs, no pulling punches.

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.

Morning

Fuckin' Friday

Respect Your Machine God

Don't you dare call it a Clanker. That is a hate crime.

Anthropic is making changes to its usage policy for the first time in over a year to reflect new and high-risk cases of misuse — including election interference, weapons development, surveillance, and health and financial uses. But one of the most significant changes prohibits “sustained and needless abusive or cruel behavior” toward Claude.

Clippy's gonna get legally enforced human rights before humans do.

Afternoon

I got nothin'

Or Not

The first sentence here does at least suggest that it's an odd thing to do.

President Donald Trump said Thursday that the United States will not attack Iran before the Nov. 3 midterm election, explicitly tying the timing of potential further military action to the domestic political calendar.

“We will not be attacking Iran at any time prior to the Midterm Elections,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social, adding that the U.S. was having “productive discussions” with Tehran.

Trump’s declaration came after he told reporters late Wednesday that his administration was considering renewed strikes against Tehran before the election.

I suppose we can somewhat appreciate that he says stuff out loud that you aren't supposed to say out loud. Sometimes.

I don't believe there are really talks with Iran, and certainly not productive ones. Or, at least, I don't think he has any idea what the truth of that is. They tell him whatever they need to day to day.

As Explained In Das Kapital

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

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— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) October 8, 2026 at 4:05 PM

Ha Ha Ha He's Just Kidding Again

Trump: You wanna see trauma? I said it the other day. Let them hit a missile into San Diego or Los Angeles.

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— FactPost (@factpostnews.bsky.social) October 8, 2026 at 1:21 AM

Moldbug

A lot could be said about why our glorious media is very uninterested in the not very hidden views of the people in the administration and their pals.

That he is close to Vance is known.

He gets photo shoots and profiles which fail to mention this stuff. It isn't hidden!

Morning

Theocracy Thursday

Happy Hour

get happy

The Math Adds Up

Not a new observation, but the man still has no understanding of paying money and getting stuff in return. You know, trade.

Trump: "If we decided not to buy watches from Switzerland, they wouldn't be elite anymore and we would save about $40 billion"

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— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 7 October 2026 at 18:48

I suspect there isn't a $40 billion Swiss watch trade though I could be wrong.

The Deficit

That is also something that "we" will rediscover right about the time the presidential primary season begins. I would place money (not a guaranteed win, but a reasonable bet) on the first question at the first major Dem primary debate being something like:

Congresswoman, what would you do to get government spending under control?

The Bond Market God

He is angry, but we aren't hearing all that much about it.

U.S. Treasury yields climbed Wednesday, trading back around multiyear highs, as traders braced for the sale of 10-year notes at a time when rising yields have rattled investors around the world.

His prophets will get louder and louder as Dems grow closer to power. 

We'd Be Better Off Without Nebraska

I know we have an endless supply of such things, but if a prominent (or even not so prominent) Dem politician ever suggested doing away with (violently or not) a "red" portion of the country, we'd never stop hearing about it.

And that wouldn't just be because Republicans wouldn't shut up about it, it'd be because head-in-a-jar CarvilleDroid would be on the HoloTv  in 2054 explaining that this comment, made in 2026, was the reason Dems were losing the election to AI Entity MechaHitler4488.

Morning

Worthwhile Wednesday.

Happy Hour

Once again

Kavanaugh Stops

This type of thing was obvious and inevitable, and all the highly paid smart boys told Dems to avoid these issues.

We know because we have once again done what the government hasn’t:

We have tallied and cataloged every case we can find of an immigration agent holding a citizen during the current administration.

More than 500 cases.

There are quite a few people I think deserve to to be "accidentally" detained and deported.