We can debate precisely how this is best communicated, but "we are not going to put up with this shit, we are not going to move on, you fuckers will pay as soon as we are back in power" needs to be understood.
Monday, October 12, 2026
And Where Do They Live
A lot of Americans imagine they are Italian or Irish or whatever, occasionally with some justification, but I am a bit curious about where Trump imagines these Italian-American voters are.
With fuel prices surging and the war with Iran dragging on, President Trump’s popularity has slipped among nearly every demographic group. So on Friday — three days before Columbus Day and less than four weeks before the midterm elections — he made his pitch to Italian Americans.
“As you know, the radical left communists hate Columbus and they want to abolish Columbus Day,” Mr. Trump told a group of several hundred Italian Americans he had gathered in the East Room of the White House.
“These lunatics that are running,” he continued, “they’re all against Christopher Columbus. But I’ll tell you what, we’re going to be here almost two-and-a-half years. He’s going to be so protected, like nobody’s ever been protected before.”
Spoiler: northern Mid-Atlantic and southern New England (mostly).
I suppose there are a few swingy congressional districts in there, but I suspect they are mostly not the 2026 battlegrounds.
Gavin's Ex
It's pretty hard to be too corrupt for the Trump administration, though being a woman helps of course (one does not have to see her as a feminist cause to observe this).
President Donald Trump is weighing whether to dismiss Kimberly Guilfoyle from her position as US ambassador to Greece after a string of reports about misconduct, a person familiar with the matter said Sunday.
Trump has been monitoring reports claiming Guilfoyle, who was engaged to Trump’s eldest son Donald Trump Jr. for four years, accepted lavish gifts as ambassador and sought money in exchange for providing access to administration figures before she was confirmed.
People say her problem is making it too obvious, getting caught, but these fuckers get caught every day! Honey badgers of corruption, usually.
Seems Bad
I bet most Republican members of Congress, when asked about this, will claim ignorance and never be asked again.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal agents searched Democratic U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar’s home on Monday morning as part of a criminal investigation, according to people familiar with the matter.
The search was conducted by Homeland Security Investigations agents, said the people, who were not authorized to publicly discuss an ongoing investigation and spoke on the condition of anonymity. More details about the investigation were not immediately clear.
The news outlet reported that the raid followed a criminal fraud investigation into the Minnesota lawmaker's paperwork, filled out by her late father when she was a child.
Sunday, October 11, 2026
Trickle
Genuinely curious if Trump does or doesn't know that the amount of diesel coming from Russia (supposedly) is small enough to not matter at all, to the US at least. It obviously benefits Russia in various ways.
Also what of our good friend Lindsey Graham? Have we forgotten that titan of US foreign policy already?
Has a reporter asked his sister about this?
Saturday, October 10, 2026
Useful Tools
I'm sure this stuff has some genuine uses, but like a lot of this type of thing, it's much more for messing about on the computer for people who like messing about on the computer than it is actually useful for normal people. And the examples they come up with - the best examples! - are usually pretty bad.
I'm really not sure which "loved one" is going to appreciate this automated daily text. Pretty sure that's what the block button was invented for.
Even the "automatically text when you leave work" is obviously prone to errors - what if you just pop out for a quick coffee late in the day! - which will annoy everyone involved. Of course you can probably modify it, and then modify it again, and then modify it again, to stop any such possibilities!
As I said, fun for people who like messing about on the computer.
At every stage in technology development, there are always tools and software that promise various "life hacks," and while some of these things get adopted widely and we just stop thinking about them, most of them are just time wasters for people who like wasting time that way.
There's nothing wrong with playing around on the computer, if that is fun for you, but very often these timesaving things are actually time sinks.
The simplest kind of shortcut is just an action (or a series of actions) that happens when you trigger it. You can add a button to trigger a shortcut on your home screen, in the Control Center, or in the screen that pops up when you share something.
Some of the most helpful shortcuts work across Apple’s apps. For example, you can set an often-used timer or add a line to the end of a specific note in the Notes app without having to open the associated app. Always late? Make a shortcut button on your home screen to text your boss and say that you’re on the way.
The next step up from a shortcut is an automation, which runs automatically when your phone determines that certain conditions are met. You can create an automation to run at a specific time, such as sending a text to a loved one every morning at 9 a.m., or when you change location, such as sending a text when you leave work. There are more than 20 kinds of triggers, including when your phone’s battery level reaches a certain level, when you open a specific app, when you connect to a certain Bluetooth device, when you take a screenshot, or when you connect or disconnect your phone from power.
I'm really not sure which "loved one" is going to appreciate this automated daily text. Pretty sure that's what the block button was invented for.
Even the "automatically text when you leave work" is obviously prone to errors - what if you just pop out for a quick coffee late in the day! - which will annoy everyone involved. Of course you can probably modify it, and then modify it again, and then modify it again, to stop any such possibilities!
As I said, fun for people who like messing about on the computer.
At every stage in technology development, there are always tools and software that promise various "life hacks," and while some of these things get adopted widely and we just stop thinking about them, most of them are just time wasters for people who like wasting time that way.
There's nothing wrong with playing around on the computer, if that is fun for you, but very often these timesaving things are actually time sinks.
MAHA
Their beliefs aren't always... consistent with reality... but generally "putting evil chemicals in our" food, if poorly defined, is something they're supposed to be against.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is proposing to expand a controversial loophole to allow some of the world’s most toxic chemicals to be added directly to food without a safety review.
One Day, Everyone
All rungs of society, in all societies, are populated with people who, at best, are indifferent to the extermination of others. Positions of power attract people who are not even indifferent. On the film (which I have not seen and likely won't) NAZA.
But the dispassionate, technical and calm tone of the 24 men and women, as they describe in great detail the killing of people in Gaza, who are just as human as those in the surrounding buildings, brought back other associations – with men like Best and his ilk. It is the disjuncture between the familiar and intimate, on the one hand, and the coldly efficient and murderous, on the other, that makes this film unforgettable and an important statement about the world we currently inhabit.When modern societies engage in extreme violence, they rely on two types of people: those who beat, torture and kill at close quarters, and those who plan, organize and order the killing at a safe distance from the actual gore of it all. Many people prefer to believe the brutes and the sadists are responsible, largely because they are not like “us”. But modern genocide is the product of those who belong to the second category: the technocrats, bureaucrats and cold planners of extermination, who don’t get their hands dirty.
There are many people in power who I think of as cowardly serial killers. They don't want to do it themselves, but they love making it happen.
Friday, October 09, 2026
Sure Why Not
The man knows how to pretend to solve the problems he created by creating even bigger ones.
The Friend Of My Enemy
I suppose the incoherence of our foreign policy is funny, at least.
I just remembered that Bush called him Pootie-Poot. How did we get here? Was it left wingers who fucked things up?
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian says relations between Tehran and Moscow are expanding, according to a report by the Iranian news agency IRNA.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.
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.
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.
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