Links 10/1/2025

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1. Wukchumni October 1, 2025 at 7:02 am

   Antidote:

   I think that’s the nag I bet on @ the ‘oval office’ that finished next to last in a $10k claiming race @ Del Mar, or maybe a unique Unicone?
   1. Wukchumni October 1, 2025 at 9:16 am

      p.s.

      Come with me on a day at the races, circa 1978

      I was a numismatist’s apprentice for a coin dealer in Arcadia, just a hop, skip and a jump away from Santa Anita as it were, and really aside from card rooms in Gardena, race tracks were the only gambling possibility until you hit Whiskey Pete’s casino @ the Cal-Neva border.

      It wasn’t uncommon to get 30k to 40k horseplayers in attendance on most any weekend day-twas a beehive of activity, and almost all males in terms of who was wagering, and a perfect people watcher haunt, as everybody is milling about, and unlike any other sport, you can watch the spectacle from any vantage point you’d like.

      Today i’m with another aspiring underage racetrack degenerate on the infield, and he’s not as bad as some of the olde guard, whose regular ensemble includes an armpit stained Santa Anita t-shirt that was a giveaway one day in 1973, or the ever curious ‘stooper’

      A stooper was the fellow who never bet, but was on the hunt for mistakenly tossed winning tickets. Amazingly something like 5% of winning tix never get cashed at the track,
      and his mission was all about found money.

      A good stooper barely bent over in examining ducats on the ground, and deftly kicked over those wrong side up.

      Its pretty easy looking for winners on the ground for a couple races. but you have remember all the results and the losing tix on the ground begin to pile up, and a conscientious stooper will tear losers into 2.

      Anyhow, back to the infield…

      Its the only place you can partake an insular view of goings on, as your glimpse is inverse to what everybody in the stands and elsewhere is seeing, a mirror image if you will. It’s also the only place you can have green grass and high tides, out in the boonies near the inner turf fence-where it is rumored a flock of skunks live.

      I’m like every other promising gambler, in that I bet too much when I’m losing, and not enough when i’m winning-its herdreditary.

      Luckily there was a 9 stanza limit to how much I could do to support the upkeep of the great race place-as they called it.

      Back then-the lowest ranked race was a $10k claiming race (same price today-gives you an idea of interest in owning a thoroughbred) and a claiming race goes like this, in 1978 it was common to have a full 12 horse field, with as many as a dozen also-entries of other horses to fill the ranks, should one of them not compete in the race. Each of these horses that raced could be bought for $10k prior to flag fall and that’s all, after the entry gates open. The new owner owns the horse no matter what happens, and sometimes a newly claimed horse breaks down during the race and has to be put down, along with the new owner’s money.

      Jockeys always intrigued me, they’d weigh 102 dripping wet, in charge of a mighty steed a dozen times their weight, and on this day @ Santa Anita its as if the 1927 Yankees are in the saddle, with a who’s who of famous little men, Shoemaker, Pincay, Cauthen, McCarron, McHargue, Hawley, Toro (on the turf), and a host of other notables playing their bit.

      There is a myriad of ways to lose a race, and some jockeys are not good at maneuvering as others, or get walled in behind a phalanx of horseflesh with nowhere to go. It takes a gift in pushing your weight around 6 tons of ponies.

      I think yours truly was in a ‘show plunger’ stage, where by merely coming in 3rd place or better, I could cash out a winner.
      Might bet $50 on a race if I liked the prospects. Heady money for back in the day.

      1978 is peak horse racing in attendance and action, and unlike today at all race tracks that have satellite wagering on damn near every other track all over tarnation and beyond, Santa Anita only did Santa Anita.

      I enjoy flirting around the stables maybe 30 feet away from where they get horses ready to race and then the oval enclosure where 20 feet away the owners and trainers confer with jockeys in strategy prior to Riders Up! as they all mount their steeds for a stroll out onto the track to warm up on the backstretch before being put on display in the post parade prior to performing.
      1. Kengferno October 1, 2025 at 9:59 am

         Sounds like the backstory for a Dick Francis novel! He always took different angles for stories about horse racing. One from the betters point of view would’ve been good. A stooper finds something on the ground. Leads to a byzantine horse doping conspiracy.
         1. Wukchumni October 1, 2025 at 12:14 pm

            Thanks for the kudos, it was quite an education.

            We talked about math yesterday, and sussing out horseflesh in terms of whom to wager on was part math, as in workout & race times, along with distance.

            Those were givens, but it was the variables versus other variables that made a horse race, was there too much speed on the front end of a distance race-so as to burn itself out and allow a come from behind steed to shine?

            Did a horse take a dump on the track (there’s no modesty clause among the equine set) before the race?

            I know I always feel ready to greet the day after a constitutional, why wouldn’t a horse feel the same?

            Believe it or not in my less than scientific survey over years, yes, they did better than the norm by about 10%, not a great deal, but yes Virginia shit happens.
2. mrsyk October 1, 2025 at 8:08 am

   From the AP article on Kirk,

   Many prominent Republicans are filling in at the upcoming campus events Kirk planned to attend, including Utah Gov. Spencer Cox and Sen. Mike Lee at Utah State University on Tuesday.

   Dozens of students expected to attend, lol.
3. Afro October 1, 2025 at 8:20 am

   Perhaps the military buildup near Venezuela is intended as a distraction/diversion, and the real aim is Iran. Trump does that a lot.

   I’m having a hard time holding up, and I’ve quit Twitter. There is so much bleak news all over the place. It’s always been this way, but it seems worse now.
   1. mrsyk October 1, 2025 at 9:02 am

      Same, even my black heart has tired of this timeline.
   2. JMH October 1, 2025 at 9:04 am

      It is worse now. There has been a flurry of chatter and activity or so it looks to me. What is coming? Is anything coming? Is all the noise a distraction from a distraction signifying someone is making a ton of money out of sight. Nah, not that.The “someones” make their ton of money in plain sight. Maybe it is just Him being unpredictable. No doubt but He is unpredictable accidentally as often as on purpose. You think so? Looks like. what do I know. I am one of the 98.5% in the base of the corporate feudal pyramid. What’s that? It’s the world we live in. Hillary called us “proles” at the bottom “deplorables”, Obama said something about Bibles and guns but I think he was pointing to his political right. Right or left, doesn’t matter. You don’t matter. Hey wait a minute! They need our votes. They get them don’t they? Boy, did I ever get off the subject. Bleak news/noise/hidden reality? Yes, yes and who knows.
   3. ilsm October 1, 2025 at 10:29 am

      Maybe.

      US’ senile Caligula yesterday embarrassed his high ranked brass by extolling our brave tanker/refueler crews who regularly haul around 200,000 gallons of “gas to pass”….. The point for sympathy to the senile is he was briefed that the KC 46 and KC 135 can haul 200,000 pounds of gas. Gallons would weigh twice gross weight allowance for iether aircraft.

      The senility in chief is well aware what the tankers spread from UK to Greece can do…. he just gets confused.

      As a retire officer I found the little I heard of Caligula’s talk to be embarrassing.

      I am sure neither Xi nor Putin had more than a first year cadet listen in.
4. KLG October 1, 2025 at 8:44 am

   ChatGPT and the end of learning. Medical education is also suffering, not that the students seem to notice. I put this up on a white board outside of our tutorial rooms last spring. It lasted about a week before someone removed it (apologies to the original author for paraphrasing the original; I have forgotten where I first saw this):

   Generative Algorithmic Intelligence (AI) can simulate all the steps: it can summarize readings, pull out key concepts, draft text, and even generate ideas for discussion. But that would be like going to the gym and asking a robot to lift weights for you.

   This will not end well. The magic fairy dust that makes medical school “easy” has arrived, finally! The MedEd community is all-in on the (positive) utility of AI, however, believing it can be domesticated. But still, I ask the high-flyers in the class how they study and the answer is the same: We follow the syllabus, use actual textbooks, take notes by hand, pay attention when we are in tutorial group, and use supplemental resources only after we have mastered the material as well as we can. To head off one response I get often, Medical College Admission Test scores of these students is not correlated with their performance in the curriculum.
   1. ambrit October 1, 2025 at 9:08 am

      ” Medical College Admission Test scores of these students is not correlated with their performance in the curriculum.”
      It has always been that way. I remember the grind to bring up ones SAT scores. People I knew went to SAT “boot camps,” did group study sessions, and took test tests galore. All to get “that edge” on the competition for elite school admission and sometimes, aid packages. I luckily avoided that. Roughly speaking, I was good at tests, but not very good at mastering the subjects at hand. (I did not complete college. I am a classic “drop out.” I have ended up having to teach myself what I want, or need, to know at any particular time.)
      My advice, for what it is worth, to you parents of children out there is to try your best to teach your children how to think for themselves. Limit their “screentime” and make them ‘stretch’ their minds. Most of all, let them know that you care for them. Don’t give children an excuse to silo themselves in “exclusive” groups and sets. The World will always come crashing in to upset the most ‘foolproof’ plans for World Dominion.
      Stay safe and love your kids.
      1. Wukchumni October 1, 2025 at 9:25 am

         Luckily, I loathe horror films, so my scream time is strictly limited…

         Its pretty obvious they want us dumbed down and good, and youngins’ are doing their best to comply, aided and abetted by AI to do their thinkin’ for ’em.

         Not reading-not writing-and scant arithmetic is not a good Rx for what ails us.
         1. mrsyk October 1, 2025 at 9:47 am

            To be fair, this dumbing down started with smartphones. Who amongst us can remember more than a handful of phone numbers these days?
            1. Wukchumni October 1, 2025 at 9:59 am

               Yes indeedy, but those of us who grew up with an abacus being cutting edge are a bit more rounded.
               1. ambrit October 1, 2025 at 10:12 am

                  I would expect this comment to garner a lot of clicks. What are the odds?
                  1. Wukchumni October 1, 2025 at 10:39 am

                     bead there-done that
                     1. KLG October 1, 2025 at 11:04 am

                        Every classroom in my elementary school in the 1960s had an abacus…good times!
                        1. ambrit October 1, 2025 at 12:15 pm

                           I can remember the teacher taking away our slide rules, yes, some of us had them, early computers, before maths tests.
                           I remember the abacus in our maths classes in the early grades as well. This in Florida and Virginia.
                           1. Wukchumni October 1, 2025 at 12:18 pm

                              When they start taking away your slide rules, its a slippery slope.
                           2. ambrit October 1, 2025 at 2:35 pm

                              Uh oh. Time to log out?
               2. ThirtyOne October 1, 2025 at 11:48 am

                  My mom had a Soroban, the Japanese version of the abacus. She taught me how to use it as a kid.

                  https://www.sliderulemuseum.com/Abaci/THE_ABACUS_HANDBOOK.pdf
                  1. ambrit October 1, 2025 at 12:23 pm

                     I had a Texican Chinese room mate in the Poison Ivy League college I attended for a few years. He had grown up using an abacus, especially when his parents put him at the check out counter of their Chinese restaurant. He once, on a dare, and two schooners of beer were the wager, out computed one of the early hand calculators using his abacus. He shared the beer. He also had a killer sound system. Voice of the Theatre speakers no less. In the dorm, we daren’t crank that system up above the five setting. Campus cops would pay us a visit otherwise. “You guys know that you are damaging hearing for a quarter mile in all directions? Turn it down. Now.”
                     As I tell our children, even now: “There was a Golden Age.”
                     Stay safe.
            2. Kengferno October 1, 2025 at 10:05 am

               Disturbingly I can remember about 15 and 13 of those were various numbers of friends, family or pizza joints I called constantly in pre-cellphone days. I’m sure that’s indicative of something about short or long-term memory but I’m not sure what
   2. ChrisFromGA October 1, 2025 at 9:31 am

      Any chance medical schools can do what law schools do, in terms of testing?

      Everything is in-person, proctored exams with either hand-written answers, or exam software that locks down your laptop and prevents anything else from running other than the exam soft?

      Anyone caught using a phone during the exam fails the course automatically and is referred to the Dean for dismissal from the program.

      Most of your grade is the final exam, so cheating on homework by using AI will only hurt yourself.

      Schools need to put zero-tolerance AI policies in place.
      1. KLG October 1, 2025 at 11:01 am

         We do those things. Before a benighted Dear Leader changed our curriculum “for the better” in response to some bullshit paper in the MedEd literature*, each 6/7-week block ended with a comprehensive multiple choice exam (4 hours, 175-200 questions in National Board of Medical Examiners format), proctored with all computers locked down after we began using ExamSoft instead if paper. That such exams on paper are easier on the students, but not less difficult, is irrelevant these days. Now we infantilize students by giving a “mid-term” at the end of two weeks followed by a final two weeks later (6/7 weeks was too long, although it became obvious soon that cardiology and neurology could not be crammed into 4 weeks, so they were lengthened). We also give them a “formative” exam at the end of weeks 1 and 3. It is all I can do to keep my mouth shut through this. A student caught with a phone gets a flat “F”, no questions asked, no appeal granted. This has to be done only once every few years to send the message. Students in tutorial group have also lost the capacity to answer a question without looking at a screen first. I suppose this is good training for using the electronic medical records computer in the hospital room instead of actually talking to and listening to and examining the patient!

         Anyway, if a medical student cannot handle 6-7 weeks of material at a time, s/he does not belong in medical school. But the key to the old curriculum was an oral exam on the Thursday before the written final on Friday, or the reverse for the second-year students. In this exam, which came out of the syllabus somewhere but was not identical to any of the 7-20 cases covered in tutorial group, students were given a case to parse for 45 minutes followed by a 20-minute oral exam with a tutor who was not the student’s tutor for the previous 6-7 weeks. This focused the students’ minds greatly while allowing the faculty to retain control of the curriculum. It also taught students from the very beginning how to be a physician. But it was “too hard.” No, it wasn’t. But it was occasionally embarrassing (i.e., character building) for a student. As with all such exams, the tutor would lead the student to the correct answer when necessary. If that did not work, a failing grade was the result.

         I’ll return to my stool in the corner now.

         *If the leaders in MedEd were in charge of basic research, they would still be arguing whether proteins or nucleic acids are the genetic material, no matter the results of the Hershey-Chase Experiment.
5. JMH October 1, 2025 at 8:48 am

   Well golly, Sparky, of course the tankers are going to the Middle East. Iran refuses to do as they are told. Bibi told Donnie it is a threat to his bodily fluids, or was that from Dr. Strangelove, I get confused. Anyway, Donnie said, “Sure Bibi. Whatever you need. Besides Iran is a threat to My Empire, isn’t that what you told me?” And so it goes. So it goes indeed. Blasting speed boats or fishing boats because He said they are carrying drugs. Wait a minute. Drugs? But I heard that Venezuela was not a big part of the drug pipeline. Where did these cartels in Venezuela come from all of a sudden. I know! I know! It’s the oil so President Maduro must be a drug lord. But that makes no sense. Of course not, who ever said it had to make sense. Don’t you recognize a transparent excuse for thuggery when you see it. Who cares as long as we get our hooks on the oil and other stuff. There’s a fortune to be made. It’s part of the plan for Him to become Master of the Universe. Really? Of course, Sparky. Just yesterday he was leaning on all the generals and admirals. He was. Yeah. Do you think they will go along with His using them as a brute squad in those “crime ridden hellhole” cities that vote for Democrats? Who knows? Look what’s going on off the coast of Venezuela. Anybody resign rather than murder those people,in small boats? Anybody raised a voice asking why His air force bombed Iran? Anybody raised a voice asking why targeting of so-called Ukrainian strikes into Russia is done at an American base in Wiesbaden, Germany? It’s all a mystery, Sparky. I can’t figure out how the US can look like it is at war with half the world because He spoke and Biden before him and Obama before him and Bush before him and Clinton before him. Cui bono? That means who benefits, Sparky. Take a look around and see if you can spot who has been doing rather well for themselves in the last thirty years or so. Well, I can’t afford to waste the day Sparky. Nice talking to you. Gotta hustle.
   1. Wukchumni October 1, 2025 at 10:04 am

      I think we’re all going through the throes of a moral hangover, feeling rather blase in a not quite war worry feel to goings on, for in theory the world is still a peaceful place.

      Have another drink…
   2. ilsm October 1, 2025 at 10:37 am

      I retired from my federal employee “careers” in early March 2003.

      I had a lot to sell as a “defense consultant”.

      The invasion of Iraq made my gigs last to 2019 when I was worn out from all the good times selling useless “defense”.

      I repent!
   3. ChrisFromGA October 1, 2025 at 3:46 pm

      I hope that any attempt at regime change in Venezuela will become a Bay of Pigs-style fiasco.

      It’s a vast country, with a significant portion of it being jungle, and Maduro enjoys considerable popular support. In typical fashion, Trump will probably try to shock-and-awe his way to victory, with lots of bombing with stand-off weapons launched safely outside of Venezuelan airspace. He’ll probably declare victory prematurely, with Maduro emerging from some hideout safe and sound, and more popular than ever with the home crowd.

      This is the same “strategy” that failed in Yemen. Without boots on the ground, wars are not won.
6. ambrit October 1, 2025 at 8:50 am

   Mini Zeitgeist Report: North American Deep South Division.
   Out doing some unexpected shopping yesterday.
   Prices at the grocery stores up again. TV dinners up roughly ten percent at the local shops. Milk up a small amount. Carbonated drinks up a lot, in the ten to twenty percent range depending on brand. Prices at the liquor shop up also. (Liquor prices in Mississippi are heavily influenced by the State, this being a State Liquor Wholesaler regime.) I forgot to check beer prices.
   A sudden uptick in visibility of street corner panhandling. People I speak to at local thrift shops associated with human oriented charities say that their help facilities are running at near full capacity now. Homelessness is slowly becoming the new “normal.” The paper mail “begging letters” from religious charities has increased in volume enough for Phyl to remark on it. (Make a contribution to one charity now and you end up on a ‘system wide’ “suckers” list. One of the joys of modern computerized networking!)
   On the social media front, there was a surge in pro Charlie Kirk sermonizing on the Catholic oriented sites after that event. If America ever does go full on Fascist, do look for a new Reichskonkordat to emerge.
   See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reichskonkordat
   Phyllis has been searching online for a better place for us to live in the region. A small house with some land for growing is the hope. So far, the asking prices are still ridiculously high when compared with the regional average wages. One or two possibilities that she was watching, but that she considered overpriced, were snapped up quickly. It looks like that people are anxious enough that they will buy anything “cheap” at nearly any asking price. Phyl has been dealing with several real estate agents through this endeavour. Every agent started the conversation out by asking her if she was interested in financing terms. Raw land prices are still high. The cut off for “reasonable” per acre pricing seems to be ten acre lots and above. Anything under ten acres and the buyer faces stiff per acre premiums.
   Our neighbour who runs his own CNC machine shop is dealing with a sharp downturn in orders. If this is re-onshoring manufacturing, then I have a reasonably priced bridge to sell you. (Reasonable financing terms available!)
   The other neighbour who is middle management for a big national cable company was recently complaining about the poor quality of their recent college educated hires.
   He stated, “None of them can do simple math in their heads. None of them can deal respectfully with customers. Absolutely none of them want to make a decision in the field. This country is f—ed!”
   Otherwise, life is great!
   Stay safe.
   1. TimH October 1, 2025 at 12:19 pm

      On charity donations… major UK charities were caught swapping lists while claiming they didn’t.

      https://www.civilsociety.co.uk/news/more-than-30-million-donor-details-shared-unlawfully-among-at-least-60-charities.html
      1. ambrit October 1, 2025 at 12:47 pm

         Thanks. That looks like a useful website.
         Remain being safe.
         1. GF October 1, 2025 at 6:37 pm

            ambrit: Just curious – are there any “good” (according to Trump) cities in your region? I haven’t heard Trump mention any in the country yet by name. Maybe he’s just starting (the military training) with the “bad” cities and then it off to the races. If anyone has a list of Trump’s “good” cities, it would be interesting to see.
            1. ambrit October 1, 2025 at 7:29 pm

               One could consider Jackson, the capitol of Mississippi as a “bad” city from Trump’s perspective. A large, poor, mainly black metropolis that a number of years ago elected a “radical” leftist as mayor.
               See, first: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chokwe_Antar_Lumumba
               then: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chokwe_Lumumba
               Meridien, at the middle East of the State has a very high poverty rate with the accompanying high crime rate to be expected.
               The Gulf Coast is mainly a string of medium sized cities controlled by the casino interests. Nothing particularly special except for the Gulf coastal climate. A decent gathering of retirees and hangers on fuels the local economy.
               There is a strong military and retired military element in the State. It’s the South after all.
               Curiously enough, Mississippi, being just about the poorest State in the Union has a reliably small ‘c’ conservative population, black as well as white. One could say that Jim Crow survives in disguise here. These days, the oppression is equal opportunity. Really, it always was, being a case of old wine in new bottles.
               It is a ‘Right to Work (for Less)’ State. Unions are few and far between here.
               As for Our Fearless Leader naming cities he ‘likes’ is concerned, that would be favouritism. The playbook, such as it is, comes from the old “Divide and Rule” school of politics. Giving people something or someone to fear is much more ‘effective’ for the divide and rule governing system than pointing out people or places they should like and celebrate.
               As long as he keeps it vague and fearsome, Trump and his backers should prosper in their sinister designs.
               Stay safe.
               1. Wukchumni October 1, 2025 at 8:07 pm

                  Its getting weird here ensconced behind the Red Curtain, cognizant that the Blue Big Smokes are looking for a Pachyderm lackey to lash out at, and there’s Never Redoubt here.
   2. Steve H. October 1, 2025 at 12:27 pm

      All love to you and Phyllis, Ambrit. Don’t jump in the calderon. Stay off of the spit.
      1. ambrit October 1, 2025 at 12:49 pm

         Oh yes indeed. We oldsters tend to avoid being on “the point of the spear” as much as possible.
         Be watchful, stay safe.
         1. Wukchumni October 1, 2025 at 12:57 pm

            Its quite strident
            Not being on tip of trident
            4 out of 5 dent-ists agree
   3. ambrit October 1, 2025 at 12:45 pm

      Sign of the Times Addendum.
      In this morning’s e-mail queue was an ad from my local bank that we do business with. It offered “Early Pay,” a new way to lever your digitally deposited paycheque. Get your money as much as two days before it is generally available! Etc. etc.
      Some adilicious goodness from the e-mail:
      Get Ahead on Finances: Plan, pay and save smarter with faster access to your earnings.
      Peace of Mind: Cover expenses without the wait and reduce the risk of checks getting lost or stolen.
      Automatic & Effortless: Early Pay is automatically applied to eligible direct deposits—no enrollment necessary.
      Flexible: Pension and retirement payments, government benefits payments, such as Social Security, tax refund deposits and dividend payments from investments, are all eligible for Early Pay.

      If this isn’t a Sign of the Times, I know not what would be.
      Stay safe.
      1. TimH October 1, 2025 at 1:19 pm

         “Early Pay is automatically applied to eligible direct deposits—no enrollment necessary.”

         I don’t like anything that says “no enrollment necessary”. I’d be looking for the opt-out option.
         1. Duke of Prunes October 1, 2025 at 2:48 pm

            This is just normal direct deposit behavior being marketed as a feature. My DD checks always show up a day or two before pay day – been this way for +30 years.

            Nothing nefarious. I assume it was originally a carrot to get people to sign up in the early days of DD. I’m also sure there are people trying to slip a fee in there somehow.
            1. amfortas October 1, 2025 at 5:00 pm

               aye…my tiny lil teachers pension shows up the day before the first of the month.
               when i was getting the paper check…because im a surly luddite…it would sometimes be the 1oth.
               only time im actually OK with being “nudged” this wyay.

               and speaking of luddism,lol.
               im clearing 2 lots in the Old Barrio for Tam’s Great Uncle(ancient house he was actually born in, along with all 7 of his older(now gone) siblings.im finding all manner of artifacts…and theres an hundred year old outhouse, and 2 hand dug wells.almost stepped right into one of them(ive covered them both))
               initially, i was to mow it…but it had been left to run riot for 15 years, so i first had to cut and haul to my house a buncha dead wood(pecan, mostly, perfectly seasoned,lol).
               dude lives in austin, which takes an hour just to get out of, then a further 2 hours to get here.
               i offered my son’s cashapp thing for to pay me…but he insists on coming all the way out here and handing me a paper check.
   4. Screwball October 1, 2025 at 1:26 pm

      The other neighbour who is middle management for a big national cable company was recently complaining about the poor quality of their recent college educated hires.
      He stated, “None of them can do simple math in their heads. None of them can deal respectfully with customers. Absolutely none of them want to make a decision in the field. This country is f—ed!”

      I’ll bet. I just quit teaching a college STEM class that I taught for the last 6 years. The students have continually gotten worse over those 6 years. Their reading, math, and logic skills are horrible. This is just what I see on the surface. Their phone skills – not so much – they are really go with them.

      I would agree – we are so f—ed!
   5. LilD October 3, 2025 at 11:00 pm

      Times are changing…
      I live in what has been a pretty safe neighborhood, a bit upscale but on quality not size ( 5000sf lots with 2-story townhouses). Popular trick or treating venue…. Nice casual backyard parties. Populated by physicians, engineers, college professors, nurses, retired professionals…
      Recently has been a huge uptick in porch pirates. Before this summer, basically zero. Now, there are Nextdoor posts weekly about stolen packages, often with ring camera footage. Police blotter in the local weekly corroborates…. Not any news of arrests though.
7. ChrisFromGA October 1, 2025 at 8:58 am

   Re: Shutdown

   “A pox on both their houses” seems apropos … how Congress failed to pass a single appropriations bill for a single cabinet-level department this year through regular order, when they’ve had months to do so, amazes me … this is fundamental incompetence. Or deliberate malfeasance.

   On the one hand, Schumer probably would have blocked an attempt to pass, say a Department of Commerce appropriations bill for FY 2026, but on the other hand, you have the GOP who could have used budget reconciliation to remove the 60-vote requirement. And the rules are set by the Senate, so what is there to stop Thune from changing the rules, and making it a simple majority to pass a CR?

   There were 3 Democrat defections yesterday on the Senate vote to pass the “clean” CR that sets funding at the levels of Biden’s last budget. Fetterman, Cortez-Masto, and Angus King (ME.) The odds of a Donkey Show fold-o-rama are higher than some think. But then again, the GOP always caves on fiscal spending.

   Either way, it’s a travesty, with the federal civil service workers being used as pawns in a stupid game.
   1. Jason Boxman October 1, 2025 at 11:42 am

      The Democrat Party has been dealt a weak hand, which they’re playing weakly. For Republicans this is an opportunity to carry out further mass firings are federal agencies, a longtime goal that Trump is effectuating. From a sensible standpoint, the CR ought to be clean, and Democrats fostering a shutdown over this, instead of making these ObamaCare “subsidies” for Big Health permanent under… Biden, is an own goal. (If they cared about human lives, which is not in evidence, see: doubling of childhood poverty under Biden.)

      The shutdown will be long forgotten by the time House Republicans are up for reelection, and Trump is in his final term anyway and the gloves are off. Perversely, if Democrats succeed, it will help Republican fortunes in 2026, as the lose of subsidies and nuking of Medicare is naturally inflicting pain that shall be apparent in time for 2026.

      Strange times.

      But I do expect liberal Democrats to capitulate on this. And Republicans to therefore own-goal themselves, politically. But in effect the damage to the federal government and public programs is the goal, so it’s an ideological success in their long term project of dismantling any semblance of the public commons.
      1. ChrisFromGA October 1, 2025 at 1:29 pm

         Why aren’t the liberal Democrats tying the Epstein files to the shutdown?

         Mike Johnson has shamelessly shut down the House until at least October 7th, to avoid having to swear in Arizona rep Adelita Grijalva:

         https://www.msn.com/en-us/politics/government/arizona-representative-elect-accuses-mike-johnson-of-delaying-swearing-in-to-avoid-epstein-files-vote/ar-AA1NFVaj?ocid=BingNewsSerp

         This is a no-brainer for the Dems, instead of working on appropriations bills to fund the government, the House republicans are in hiding … it’s almost like pro wrestling, the Dems are scripted to be losers.
         1. lyman alpha blob October 1, 2025 at 1:50 pm

            I don’t understand the Democrat take on the “Epstein files” at all. When Trump took office again and talked about releasing them, the Democrats tried to paint it as a big nothingburger, and urged Trump to clown himself again by wasting time with that old news. Then they changed tack and tried to tie Trump personally to Epstein (not hard to do) and demanded more information in yet another attempt to bring him down.

            But while it isn’t hard to tie Trump to Epstein, it’s even easier to tie Democrat patriarch Bubba Clinton to Epstein. Have they come up with some way to release these “Epstein files” so only the info about Trump is made public and anything concerning Clinton is kept secret? Because otherwise it sure seems like a lot of people from both sides of the political aisle are going to go down here. In the past in situations like this (anybody remember the BCCI scandal?) where members of both parties are likely to be implicated, the elites make sure everything gets swept right under the rug.
            1. ChrisFromGA October 1, 2025 at 2:03 pm

               I think you’re on to something … both sides have a lot to lose if the Epstein files are made public, so they are complicit in covering up the names contained therein.

               On Oct. 7th, presuming that the House actually comes back into session, they have to swear in the Democrat from Arizona. She has promised to sign the discharge petition and become the 218th vote, forcing a floor vote no later than one week later.

               The Senate would still have to go along with it, and then there is a Trump veto to overcome. So, I wouldn’t hold my breath on getting the Epstein client list public anytime soon.

               M T-G has promised to read the list of names on the House floor if she can get a copy. That might be the best chance – somebody inside the DoJ leaking it.
         2. mrsyk October 1, 2025 at 1:57 pm

            The Epstein Affair had bipartisan participation.

            That further exploration might implicate various three-lettered government organizations as well might explain Team Blue’s ineffectiveness in producing results.

            Team Clinton certainly doesn’t want to catch the attention of Trump’s Eye of Sauron. The Clinton Foundation is low hanging fruit on the tree of political prosecution. This might be another explanation.
   2. Norton October 1, 2025 at 12:06 pm

      Schumer keeps pushing unpopular budget items like medical insurance for all those millions of recent Biden guests. The public overwhelmingly is against that, so is he positioning himself to try to narrow his likely loss against AOC?
      1. chris October 1, 2025 at 8:14 pm

         Best information I have been able to find is that the current state of play with respect to immigrants and them being able to qualify for programs like Medicaid is complicated. This article is a useful summary. I think a reasonable take on this mess is that we really shouldn’t be subsidizing private insurance companies like this. Single payer would be so much cheaper. Also, the people who are saying immigants, regardless of status, don’t get access to these Healthcare programs are obscuring important details that enrage the right. If nothing else, the expanded coverage and funds freed up money at hospitals to cover other obligations which they incur by dealing with the large immigrant populations in some areas of the US.

         I wish Schumer and others would just stand up and say what they really mean. They think the US can’t survive without slave labor. The Dems want these people to be pariahs that their elite donors can abuse as gardeners and nannies. Some kind of legalized existence, coupled with enforcement against those who hire immigrants that do not have lawful permission to live and work in the US, is really the only humane option at this point. And then, we could maybe stop destroying the climate and economies of the places these people are coming from.

         But I think we’ll have passed budget with reductions for the DOW before that happens. Also, pigs will fly.
8. Wukchumni October 1, 2025 at 9:09 am

   During his first term in office, President Donald Trump let parks stay open and operating under skeleton staffing. That resulted in vandalism reported in Joshua Tree National Park, visitors erecting illegal campsites in Death Valley National Park, and reports of illegal off-road travel, metal detecting on battlefields in the park system, and other damage to resources.

   Sequoia National Park and neighboring Kings Canyon National Park closed entirely because of human waste issues and trash that was being spread around by wildlife looking for meals.

   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
   For want of a duty the doody was lost;
   for want of doing doody the forest was lost;
   and for want of a forest the trash was lost,
   being overtaken and stained by a litter of poopies,
   all for want of care by a fuloughed NPS sanitary engineer.
   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

   National Park System sites will remain open during the government shutdown, though the National Park Service staff will be greatly reduced and visitor services could be significantly affected, according to the Interior Department.

   The plan announced by Interior said law enforcement rangers and firefighters would remain on the job, but that most others would be furloughed. Visitor services could continue for 24 hours once the government shuts down, or through Wednesday.

   https://www.nationalparkstraveler.org/2025/09/national-parks-remain-open-during-shutdown
9. mrsyk October 1, 2025 at 9:13 am

   TrumpRx, 21st century America’s version of nationalized healthcare. Will there be special offers in Viagra?
   1. Wukchumni October 1, 2025 at 9:29 am

      Humbly report, sir:

      Saltpeter
      1. mrsyk October 1, 2025 at 9:43 am

         Heh heh, little blue pill special only available to the uniformed services then.
         1. ambrit October 1, 2025 at 10:22 am

            Sounds like a “Libya Strategy” then. Give the troops hands full of “Little Blue Pills” and set them loose in American cities.
            The sexual degradation of a regions female population is an eternal method of crushing dissent and maintaining control over a region. Doing this in America is a ‘natural’ outcome of the militarization of the domestic police forces.
            Stay safe. Go gray.
            1. ilsm October 1, 2025 at 10:40 am

               Julius Caesar’s legion after crossing the Rubicon sang “Romans lock away your wives….”
               1. ambrit October 1, 2025 at 12:27 pm

                  What would be the ‘Rubicon’ for America? The Anacostia Flats?
                  1. Wukchumni October 1, 2025 at 12:49 pm

                     K-Y Line?
                     1. ambrit October 1, 2025 at 3:08 pm

                        Hmmm…. That sounds like an outfit you go cruising on.
      2. Karen October 1, 2025 at 4:23 pm

         Nice reference to “The Good Soldier Svejk”.
         1. Wukchumni October 1, 2025 at 6:59 pm

            Its so full of gems, pick it up at any point and laugh until it hurts…

            There was a magnificent legal staff, a mechanism such as is possessed by every state before its political, economic and moral collapse.
   2. Jokerstein October 1, 2025 at 2:19 pm

      Two of sand, one of cement…
10. ADU October 1, 2025 at 9:19 am

    The ChatGPT argument is interesting. We all see a lack of accountability so I wonder if students begin failing courses, they will learn from their mistakes (of using AI). In my day, if one failed a class in college, it had to be taken again. I wonder if it’s that way now.
    1. lyman alpha blob October 1, 2025 at 12:35 pm

       Failing a college course is so 20th century. These days a B+ is the new F – https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2023/12/06/nearly-80-percent-grades-yale-were-last-year
11. thrombus October 1, 2025 at 9:22 am

    Scoop: Turkey To Declare S-400 ‘Inoperable’ To Gain F-35 Stealth Fighter Deal National Security Journal

    As a part of the deal, Turkey will also declare that Trump bought the Bosphorus Bridge.
12. AG October 1, 2025 at 9:22 am

    re: Moldova

    German NACHDENKSEITEN with brief comment by former Hungarian ambassador to Moldova

    use google-translate

    Decision-making pressure with a bitter aftertaste – Ambassador György Varga on elections in Moldova
    https://www.nachdenkseiten.de/?p=139853
    1. Kouros October 1, 2025 at 12:52 pm

       “External influence: The “Romanianization” of the political elite

       Another disturbing example for Varga is the identity of the current political leadership, which often holds Romanian citizenship. He listed the leadership positions: “The President of Moldova is a Romanian citizen. The Prime Minister of Moldova is a Romanian citizen. The Foreign Minister of Moldova is a Romanian citizen. The Head of the Secret Service of Moldova is a Romanian citizen.”

       Anyone who raises this issue is accused of “spreading false news.” Varga asked provocatively: “Isn’t it strange that a citizen of Romania, a NATO member, who previously worked for the Soros Foundation for eight years, is now, as head of the Moldovan intelligence service, providing the report on which the European Parliament is assessing Russian interference?””

       Wiki is saying that “Between 1 January 2010 and 5 November 2021 as many as 1,027,091 Moldovan citizens acquired Romanian citizenship, of which 746,695 were adults and 280,396 minors.”

       And one cannot claim that there is a “Romanization” of the “elite” in R of Moldova when 70% of the population is ethnically Romanian. Yes, the name of Moldovan comes from the region. As such, in Romania are about 4.5 “Moldovans”. There are “Oltenians”, “Muntenians”, etc., depending on the region of the country, with slightly different design on their folk costumes, and way of singing and dancing and manner of speaking. There are more “Moldovans” in Romania than in R of Moldova.

       For three generations, the Soviets gaslighted Moldovans that they were not Romanians. Moldova is the stain on the face of Russia, which forcefully split a nation, an ethnicity, and they persist on this. RT, when mentions R of Moldova only calls it a former soviet republic, when Moldova is so much more. ANd RT never ever acknowledges the fact that Moldovans are in fact ethnic Romanians. Maria Zacharova, the sinologue still claims that there is a distinct Moldovan language.

       That doesn’t mean I condone the stealing of voting rights. I think that the majority of Romanians would rather be together and neutral in this war, and the previous stolen elections in Romania are a testament to this fact.

       The Hungarian ambassador has a deep seated interest to keep Moldova and Romania apart. The reunification would only increase the national sentiment in Romania, killing any dreams Hungary might have about Transylvania.
       1. AG October 1, 2025 at 4:33 pm

          Thanks for weighing in.
          I won´t attempt to comment. My time in Romania as I wrote before is too long ago. So even though several artists there who I was acquainted with had spent much time in
          Kishinev I can´t offer an exepertise of my own today. Certainly it would have been helpful to have their take now. Unfortunately that´s not possible. I remember them being rather critical of the EU in this regard even though they received funding for their projects from them. (altogether very “adult” views among most Romanian artists in fact back then). But that´s 15 years ago now. All the other current info out re: the elections I need not summarize. On NC at least everyone knows about those.
       2. vao October 1, 2025 at 5:31 pm

          “The Hungarian ambassador has a deep seated interest to keep Moldova and Romania apart.”

          Seeing how things are going, I have come to suspect that the Moldavian political elite has a deep-seated interest to keep Moldavia and Romania apart, too. Consider:

          1) After a reunification, they would no longer count. All the interesting political and economic position would naturally remain in the hands of the non-Moldavian Romanians — there are more of them, they already know their way and have their well-established networks in the EU, and the reunification would constitute an absorption of Moldavia anyway, so former Moldavian bigwigs would become pretty much nobodies — just like former GDR bigwigs failing to become FRG bigwigs after the German reunification (Merkel being the notable exception).

          2) By remaining separate and a “hot frontline country” in EU’s opposition to Russia, there will be funds and other concrete advantages allocated to Moldavia as such, eliminating the risk of them being siphoned out to other places if they would be granted to the overall entity (i.e. Romania). Besides, in the EU, funds allocated to Moldavia would have to be bitterly fought over with all other European developing regions, within a normal budget that is subject to increasing constraints. Better to be a single new member that will require more help to lift it up for years, specifically allocated and not diluted in the overall Romanian bucket.

          My guess though, is that if Moldavia becomes part of the EU as an independent country it will end up like the Baltic states: depopulated (people leaving for greener pastures in the EU), deindustrialized (this has been the fate of almost every small country joining the EU in the last 40 years), and falling into a rabid russophobia — discriminating against the Russian-speaking minority and loudly demanding troops and support to thwart the Russian threat. If Moldavia reunites with Romania, this evolution will probably be limited to depopulation and deindustrialization. Maia Sandu will conclude her career in some think-tank or as a special EU representative of some sort.
13. Matthew October 1, 2025 at 9:24 am

    As a gay guy and public health professional I had no idea we stopped calling it monkeypox.

    “America reverts to calling mpox ‘monkeypox’ in anti-woke drive”
    1. Louis Fyne October 1, 2025 at 9:28 am

       calling your own kids a gaggle of monkeys is not PC amymore, lmao
       1. Wukchumni October 1, 2025 at 9:43 am

          Sparking of that, didja see Jay Powell negotiating the primate the other day, going mano y mano with the big ape?
       2. thrombus October 1, 2025 at 9:46 am

          Calling your own kids your own kids is not PC anymore.
       3. ambrit October 1, 2025 at 10:23 am

          Not to mention the Sothron Pejorative “Porch Monkeys.” (About as un-PC as it gets.)
    2. Jason Boxman October 1, 2025 at 11:34 am

       We stopped calling it anything at all; It disappeared from the radar and public consciousness back in 2022; and given the CDC’s track record, I don’t believe for a moment that is because it isn’t now endemic to the US.
14. principle October 1, 2025 at 9:36 am

    Ukraine assassinates Russian lieutenant colonel far from front lines, intelligence claims Kyiv Independent

    The assassinated officer was identified as the commander of the Avangard unit of Russia’s National Guard, tasked with maintaining public order and combating “terrorism” and “illegal armed groups.”
    North Caucasus
    “Caucasus Liberation Movement”

    Sounds like run-of-the-mill CIA/MI6/etc stuff, only Ukrainian intelligence is taking credit now (Budanov, who is CIA/MI6/etc asset).
    1. LifelongLib October 1, 2025 at 3:57 pm

       FWIW I have a friend who’s late dad was a U.S. army colonel. He says lt colonel is like top middle management. Seems strange to me a guy like that would be on anybody’s radar.
       1. ambrit October 1, 2025 at 4:20 pm

          It depends on what his specialty was.
          1. LifelongLib October 1, 2025 at 5:20 pm

             “whose late dad”

             Hope that was a spell check ding…
             1. ambrit October 1, 2025 at 7:33 pm

                Fear not. Ye Internet Dragons are not known for their prophesizing abilities.
       2. principle October 1, 2025 at 5:27 pm

          They are “engaging targets of opportunity”. They can’t assassinate who they want, so they kill who they can. For example, they have assassinated countless local administration officials (civilians, and as middle management as it gets). The latest one being in Nova Kakhovka.
          https://kyivindependent.com/drone-attacks-collaborator-in-russian-occupied-nova-kakhovka-in-kherson-oblast-kremlin-proxy-claims/

          Everyone is on their radar. Terrorist states do terrorism because they are terrorist states (Ukraine, USA, UK, Israel, you name it). It’s just how they are.
15. AG October 1, 2025 at 9:48 am

    1/2 re: German government v. journalist

    This is a longer piece but hair-raising in its harrowing details and important as a normative case in point for German media from now on.

    German NACHDENKSEITEN with one of Florian Warweg´s exceptional so far regular reports from the government´s press conferences.

    machine-translation

    Scandal in the BPK: Federal government defames German journalist Hüseyin Doğru as a “disinformation agent”

    Things are becoming more authoritarian and defamatory in this republic. A particularly blatant example of this trend was the recent government press conference. When asked by NachDenkSeiten whether the German government considered it justified that Hüseyin Doğru, a German journalist and citizen sanctioned by the EU on the basis of highly questionable “evidence,” should be subjected to a general work ban in addition to having his account frozen and leaving the country, the Foreign Office responded in a highly manipulative manner. It denied his colleague journalist status, moreover based on allegedly false factual allegations, thereby justifying severe infringements on his fundamental rights.

    By Florian Warweg .
    https://archive.is/xMlk9

    original German
    https://www.nachdenkseiten.de/?p=139878

    excerpts:

    “(…)
    Through a source in the EU administration, NachDenkSeiten was able to access the Council of Ministers’ “evidence pack.” We can therefore confirm that the tweets cited by the Red Media editor-in-chief are indeed the only “evidence” with which the EU and the German government justify maintaining the sanction against a journalist and German citizen. Contrary to the German Foreign Office’s portrayal, there is not a single piece of evidence in the EU’s entire official “evidence package” that supports the alleged connection with Russia. Likewise, the tweets cited by the EU as evidence do not constitute “disinformation.” For example, see this tweet about Chancellor Merz in the “evidence pack”:
    (…)”

    Of course the worst part and not even addressed and discussed any more is that Russian affiliation by now is simply a reason to be put behind bars or ruined in other forms. Disgusting, shocking and sobering considering the dozens of people who I know who agree with this S.H.I.T. Or simply still believe this is all just an exception and the journalist in question just outlier.
16. pjay October 1, 2025 at 9:52 am

    – ‘Former Trump campaign manager registers as foreign agent for Israel’ – The Hill

    Parscale will use his $6 million budget to target “Gen Z audiences across platforms, including TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, podcasts, and other relevant digital and broadcast outlets” to “combat antisemitism.” But this must be a worthwhile endeavor, since as the author Laura Kelly helpfully informs us:

    “Antisemitism has risen dramatically in the U.S. amid two years of Israel’s war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, triggered by the U.S.-designated terrorist group’s attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. The Anti-Defamation League recorded 9,354 antisemitic incidents across the U.S. in 2024, the highest number on record since the ADL began tracking incidents 46 years ago.”

    If the ADL says it…

    Thanks to Laura and The Hill for illustrating two key interrelated problems: the power of the Israel lobby and the worthlessness of the media in reporting about it.
    1. mrsyk October 1, 2025 at 10:49 am

       This six million dollar man is going to need more than bionics to teach GenZ not to believe their lyin’ eyes.
17. Carolinian October 1, 2025 at 9:55 am

    Re Liberals Are the Catylists–it doesn’t get any more “right on” than this piece although in a previous century the Marxists probably would have used the word bourgeoisie. Fortunately for the oligarchs Marxism was tossed aside when history ended in the 1990s. Unfortunately for the oligarchs the social forces that created Marxism didn’t end. Reports of the death of history may have been wildly exaggerated.
    1. Wukchumni October 1, 2025 at 10:38 am

       El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles del Río de Porciúncula is but one of the Blue Big Smokes smiting from Harkism*…

       About 20 years my mom went on a cruise and one of the stops was Ensenada, and shortly after getting off the boat she saw policemen in balaclavas-which freaked her out, on account for the bad guise usually being so attired. I remember her telling me, she just went back on the ship.

       I notice that LA visitation numbers are woeful this summer of our ICE mask masquerade and National Guard jamborees. Why would you want to harsh your vacation mellow?

       * as in: ‘Hark this war-weary city in need of truth, justice and the American way of occupation.
       1. Carolinian October 1, 2025 at 11:44 am

          I think Trump is always testing the waters of what he can get away with. I find dubious the notion that he has any plan after that. But no question that some of his minions have notions that could even be called “fascist.” So not letting him get away with thin gs is important.

          Also “catalyst” of course.
       2. Norton October 1, 2025 at 12:09 pm

          Such a poetic name for the old Los Angeles :)
    2. Rod October 1, 2025 at 1:44 pm

       yea, imo that was some pretty blunt truth saying
       paired ominously with ‘Trump’s NSPM-7 Alarms Law Firms While Congress Is Silent Ken Klippenstein ‘ gave me a cold chill—the NGO ‘Indivisible’ has been organizing monthly very well attended protests in the 5th largest red city in the great red state
       becoming more of a “fish or cut bait” decision to stand along the street with a sign…
       as an aside–wikipedia describes NC as—Naked Capitalism is a liberal American financial news and analysis group blog. Susan … my emphasis
18. AG October 1, 2025 at 9:55 am

    2/2 re: German government v. journalist

    “(…)
    The daily newspaper junge Welt recently asked the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWE) whether it could hire Hüseyin Doğru, a German journalist and citizen who was sanctioned by the EU, presumably at the initiative of the federal government, and the former editor-in-chief of Red Media , as an editor. Sven Sattler, head of the Sanctions Enforcement Unit at the BMWE, then explained that the so-called “prohibition of provision” applies in this case. This means that individuals sanctioned by the EU “may no longer receive any economic benefits” – not even in exchange for paid work.
    (…)”
    1. ambrit October 1, 2025 at 10:26 am

       Hah! The return of “unpersons!”
       The West is becoming the old Soviet Union.
       1. hunkerdown October 1, 2025 at 3:33 pm

          Aquae et ignis interdictio: prohibited from fire and water. Roman national security laws and excommunication rituals were highly “creative”.
19. lyman alpha blob October 1, 2025 at 10:00 am

    RE: the MeidasTouch post

    That is the first “evidence” I’ve seen that the attacks on Venezuela that Trump keeps bragging about might be real. Of course the “evidence ” here is a short unsourced quote from an anonymous person who claims their fisherman husband went out to work and never came back. Clicked through and couldn’t find where this interview originated, so how do we know it actually occurred? If anyone has seen the original source for this claim, I’d love to see it. Pretty sure even I could produce a short text blurb like the one presented in the post. And Trump’s claims rely on the videos he posted which could be repurposed footage or AI generated garbage.
20. Carolinian October 1, 2025 at 10:15 am

    Ian Welsh on AI.

    https://www.ianwelsh.net/the-next-big-crash-is-on-its-way/
    1. neutrino23 October 1, 2025 at 2:59 pm

       I’m becoming more and more concerned about the coming AI bubble crash. Nothing I can do about it personally. I’m wondering how to protect myself financially. I’ll bet most of the funds in my 401k have substantial exposure to NVIDIA et al.
21. Trees&Trunks October 1, 2025 at 10:20 am

    In these continuous dark times, if you want some high quality, fun and kind children’s and adult (not in the modern internet-sense) program to watch, I strongly recommend Professor Balthazar. I like the innovation-techno-optimism in the program used for kind purposes.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELOKT6Y0REQ&list=PLLL1eg8LgxXPN2kpmyxAuyhi_IYeIoaZc
    1. Lazar October 1, 2025 at 10:30 am

       I watched those as a kid, back in the day when wars were considered cold.
22. Boshko October 1, 2025 at 10:24 am

    re: Italy withdraws from Gaza aid flotilla as ‘Israel’ threat looms Al Mayadeen. Not going to be a good look for Meloni govt if/when the 50 Italians on board are harmed and strikes shut down the country.

    Was in Sicily / Aeolian islands last week and heartened by the prolific flying of palestinian flags everywhere. It’s clear where the people’s support lies.
    1. .Tom October 1, 2025 at 4:45 pm

       The tracker notes 4 interceptions since I went to feed and walk the dogs an hour or two ago.

       https://flotilla-orpin.vercel.app/

       On the one hand I hope these folk get safely back to their homes. On the other I fear that maximum public exposure of Israeli brutality is the only thing working for Palestinians right now.
23. Wukchumni October 1, 2025 at 10:25 am

    THE CLIMATE CASINO: INSIDE THE MARKETS BETTING ON OUR PLANET’S FUTURE Atmos
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Its pretty sick what has become of us, gambling on everything that moves-a mighty win is possible.

    Back in my days of being an out of control gambler, proximity was an issue. It was only a few miles to Santa Anita for me, 250 to Las Vegas. You had to be there-you couldn’t phone it in.

    Only when I’m watching the NFL do I really get the plethora of online gambling commercials, one of them upping the ante in the ‘bet $5-get a matching bet of $300’ or words to that effect.

    All of them informing me how I can WIN! with any issues of a gambling problem being small worded silently towards the bottom of the screen in the 28th second of a 30 second commercial.

    Right through the French Revolution, people high and low were inveterate gamblers, has the same feel in the prelude to our 2nd Revolution.
    1. Ken Murphy October 1, 2025 at 8:42 pm

       So glad I’ve been able to avoid gambling. I mean with a last name of Murphy I already know that any attempt will end only in tears. Not that I haven’t tried it; I remember driving up to OK with my girlfriend for my birthday many years ago, with a couple hundred dollars burning a hole in my pocket. I plopped down at a One-armed Bandit, which was a touch screen, much to my disappointment. After about an hour of twitch, twitch, twitch…twitch I got bored and we went home.
       I only play the big lottos when they get to $1.0Bn – that’s the only way I’d be able to afford a trip to space.
24. AG October 1, 2025 at 10:26 am

    re: AI & Hollywood

    World Soundtrack Awards Celebrate Landmark 25th Edition by Promoting Orchestral Music as Film Composers Grow ‘Wary’ of AI
    https://variety.com/2025/film/global/world-soundtrack-awards-celebrate-25th-edition-1236535930/

    AI Actress Tilly Norwood Condemned by SAG-AFTRA: Tilly ‘Is Not an Actor… It Has No Life Experience to Draw From, No Emotion’
    https://variety.com/2025/film/news/sag-aftra-tilly-norwood-ai-actress-1236534779/
    1. Wukchumni October 1, 2025 at 10:43 am

       AI Actress Tilly Norwood Condemned by SAG-AFTRA: Tilly ‘Is Not an Actor… It Has No Life Experience to Draw From, No Emotion’

       Academy Award acceptance speech:

       ‘You’re like me, you’re really like me…’
       1. TimH October 1, 2025 at 12:27 pm

          SAG would be better off not whining in defense, but starting a BDS movement to encourage people to reject (as in not-view) material with AI characters. I suspect that with so many jobs going across all industries with AI as the excuse, this should be reasonably easy to get off the ground.
25. mrsyk October 1, 2025 at 11:00 am

    Trump, to parse, “To punish the democrats we will punish our citizens.” That this is not the headline on every news rag tells its own story.
    1. Wukchumni October 1, 2025 at 11:06 am

       Other than line it was a dreadfully boring tale of rehashing old and new vendettas, with far flung brass flown in to witness it in person.

       It aint Tutsi versus Hutu, or Hatfield versus McCoy yet…
26. pjay October 1, 2025 at 11:02 am

    I’ve had an interesting multi-stage reaction to the Great Assemblage of Generals that is reflected in today’s Links offerings on the subject. The first reporting on it I encountered yesterday happened to be by the Due Dissidents guys, and I laughed along with them at the sight of Hegseth fat-shaming a bunch of Generals. But then as I read/listened to Hegseth’s comments I began to get more uncomfortable with the “Let’s Bash Some Skulls” rhetoric. This discomfort grew more serious with Trump’s disturbing demagogic comments about using US cities as military “training grounds.” And now, with the observations by Larry Johnson (following Yves), I’m back to my usual position that even the most ridiculous absurdities in today’s political climate can mask the most despicable Evils. It’s getting harder to laugh at this stuff.
    1. .Tom October 1, 2025 at 1:23 pm

       Yeah, it’s like that.

       First, Hegseth is adrift on the Ocean of Stupid, i.e. social media. This convocation of generals, it turned out, was stage dressing for Hegseth to promulgate new bureaucratic idpol policies. In other words, it was his attempt at an epic troll of the libs, one that reflects both routine Trump/Maga/Republican positions and Hegseth’s personal deep, chronic neurosis regarding his manliness. Pathetic.

       However, what does the war that finally ends Western imperial and colonial global domination look like? The more than 100 years of this war that’s already in the past is visible but it’s not over. The West still has a lot of weapons and it has powers of borrowing and credit creation that allow production of a lot more. The Western economic model, capital accumulation by dispossession, is running out of road. The Trump admin looks desperate. Its vassals clearly are. They say, and behave as though they believe, the future is only crisis, its management (totalitarian), and war.

       So what does the coming war look like? It looks like Hegseth, NSPM-7, military police in blue cities, etc. An explosion of rage. Hegseth and Trump are as screwed up and evil as Netanyahu and they all have nukes.
       1. anahuna October 1, 2025 at 4:26 pm

          Ser below for several nauseating clips of Hegseth, and for Col. Wilkerson’s speculation about what those generals whom Hegseth name-dropped would have done to him if still alive and in the audience.

          🔴 Dialogue Works is live now: Col. Larry Wilkerson: Warning Signs: Is the United States on the Path to Disaster?
          1. .Tom October 1, 2025 at 5:19 pm

             I love Wilkerson. I do. He talks about how the generals and admirals sat in silence listening to Hegseth and Trump because what they were supposed to react to is just political. Ok. But elsewhere I keep hearing that generals and admirals are yes men. So what does that silence mean?

             Then Nima talks about the upcoming war with Iran and without discussion, simple presumption, Wilkerson says that the US will go to war with Iran for Israel. How is that anything more than politics? The US does not need to defend itself against Iran. It is supporting Israel’s political objective: regime change in Iran. It wants Iran to be as broken as Iraq, and then Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan…
    2. erstwhile October 1, 2025 at 5:05 pm

       But couldn’t you argue that trump is every bit the symptom of a weak and corrupt political system in much the same way as was the younger bush, obama, and biden? Or are you saying that these others are rightly seen as symptoms of a government in decay, while trump is somehow different? Are you saying that trump is THE DISEASE itself? And that I must present my professional credentials? Oh well, if I must. Please allow me to introduce myself: dr. erstwhile TDS. Welcome to my world.
       1. .Tom October 1, 2025 at 5:48 pm

          > But couldn’t you argue that trump is every bit the symptom of a weak and corrupt political system in much the same way as was the younger bush, obama, and biden?

          Yes and no. Yes, Trump initially captured the Republican Party against its will. No, in the end the oligarchs captured Trump well enough for their purposes and brought the Republican Party and Trump into a good enough alignment.

          > Or are you saying that these others are rightly seen as symptoms of a government in decay, while trump is somehow different?

          They are all symptoms of corruption. You’ve gotta be deeply invested in the culture war to care which side the oligarch with its boot on your neck is claiming to be on with idpol, gunz, or abortion.

          > Are you saying that trump is THE DISEASE itself?

          Who in their right mind would? He’s an ideal avatar in a machine that generates power and profit from culture war. Trump is, first and foremost, a TV game show host. His cabinet is his cast. All struggle for his attention and approval. Some believe they can influence him. Some believe they can build their own career by participating. Everybody that can keep the public watching in amazement, glee, or horror profits.
          1. Henry Moon Pie October 2, 2025 at 12:49 am

             “in a machine that generates power and profit”

             Here’s Brit Paul Kingsnorth talking about The Machine (or Superorganism or Moloch) and his new book about the same a few days ago. He’s been writing about it since the days of The Dark Mountain Project.
          2. erstwhile October 2, 2025 at 7:38 am

             The disease is capitalism. Trump, obama, et. al., are servants to this system. This system is wholly dedicated to wealth, and to the power that makes unending wealth possible. Here, in america, the capitalists have captured nearly all facets of public life. Being anti-capitalist means living a private life, means being a rebel to this system largely in your mind. One must step out of this secret life and face the capitalist world as it is. It can rightly be seen as overpowering and impregnable. Scary, in a word. But if you’re called, in much the same way that a person of faith feels called by a god, you must come out and confront this system. If capitalism is the disease, maybe a leftist, or socialist, becomes a sort of medical figure, and fights the disease. And capitalism is a killer, have no doubt about it. The capitalists have dragged the world into an existential climate crisis where a human future is increasingly problematic. Trump has given another shitty directive in which he labels anti-capitalists the enemy within. And, he might be right. The role of an anti-capitalist is to resist in all ways the system that trump and both parties support. In that way, a leftist is trump’s enemy. But while trump calls for more coal to more quickly burn the entire planet, the leftist is properly seen as the champion of all humanity, and trump, and his ghastly kind, are the destroyers of life. Look around. Is this a healthy society? Shootings are an everyday occurrence. People are unhappy, drug use continues to kill americans. This is the open-air american gas chamber, ladies and gentlemen. Take your place in it, or not.
       2. .Tom October 1, 2025 at 6:11 pm

          By “game show host” I mean The Apprentice. It was on NBC 2004 thru 2017 for 15 seasons and 194 episodes and paid Trump over 400MUSD. I haven’t seen very much of it but in terms of understanding the psychology of the man it seems to me as instructive as anything else. He’s in a lala land of being the ultimate tough-guy bigshot surrounded by extravagant, telegenic, competitive brown-nosers. Except now he’s POTUS and commander of entire US military including its nukes. It’s like a validation of some Pynchon view of American nonsense consumer economy married to violence on a global scale.
       3. bertl October 1, 2025 at 7:51 pm

          The relationship between Trump and the US political system is like a malignant tumor coursing through the organs of a body collapsing from long Covid. Trump is the disease within the disease. We’ve long had the same problem in the UK. It’s just that Starmer makes the same point here without having to try as hard as Trump.
27. antidlc October 1, 2025 at 11:15 am

    RE: New Study Indicates Children’s Risk of Long COVID Could Double Following a Second Infection – The Lancet Infectious Diseases

    The study was also mentioned in yesterday’s NY Times:
    Long Covid Risk for Children Doubles After a Second Infection, Study Finds
    https://archive.ph/WVlDO
    1. Jason Boxman October 1, 2025 at 11:32 am

       Children and teenagers are twice as likely to develop long Covid after a second coronavirus infection as after an initial infection, a large new study has found.

       The study, of nearly a half-million people under 21, published Tuesday in Lancet Infectious Diseases, provides evidence that Covid reinfections can increase the risk of long-term health consequences and contradicts the idea that being infected a second time might lead to a milder outcome, medical experts said.

       Dr. Laura Malone, director of the Pediatric Post-Covid-19 Rehabilitation Clinic at Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore, who was not involved in the study, said the findings echo the experience of patients in her clinic.

       “Just because you got through your first infection and didn’t develop long Covid, it’s not that you are completely out of the woods,” she said.

       So it turns out, contra what Emily Oster would have you believe, children are human beings and like adult human beings can get COVID and get long COVID. Michelle Obama endorsed Oster’s clothing line, so I guess it all turned out okay.

       But the true toll we definitely don’t know

       The study, conducted as part of the National Institutes of Health’s RECOVER Initiative, examined electronic medical records for about 465,000 young people at 40 children’s hospitals in the United States. They had either a first or a second coronavirus infection between Jan. 1, 2022, and Oct. 13, 2023. The study focused on the Omicron wave, but researchers said the conclusions are most likely relevant to more recent variants.

       As IM Doc has stated on many occasions, these EHR systems are a dumpster fire. So who really knows what’s going on. But chronic absenteeism is still elevated, across income levels, in multiple states I’ve looked at previously, MA, FL, CO, and doubtless elsewhere as well. So certainly something is happening.

       My guess is this is an undercount of children and young adults that Biden’s mass infection policy, continued by Trump is causing great harm. Surprise.
28. Jason Boxman October 1, 2025 at 11:28 am

    MAGA on the March

    Private payrolls declined in September by 32,000 in key ADP report coming amid shutdown data blackout (CNBC)

    Private payrolls saw their biggest decline in 2½ years during September, a further sign of labor market weakening that compounds the data blackout accompanying the U.S. government shutdown.

    Companies shed a seasonally adjusted 32,000 jobs during the month, the biggest slide since March 2023, payrolls processing firm ADP reported Wednesday. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been looking for an increase of 45,000.

    In addition to the drop in September, the August payrolls number was revised to a loss of 3,000 from an initially reported increase of 54,000.

    Should be okay, because so many jobs are now opening up that immigrants, both legal and otherwise, were previously doing, yes?
29. Bill B October 1, 2025 at 11:35 am

    The Supreme Court’s newest decision could make it impossible to end the shutdown
    How do you negotiate with a man who can break his promises at any time? https://www.vox.com/politics/463335/supreme-court-shutdown-aids-vaccine-trump-impoundment

    Has Trump evah broken a promise? https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2025/08/cbo-confirms-trump-budget-law-will-trigger-over-500-billion-in-automatic-medicare-cuts.html

    https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-medicaid-republican-bill-cut-benefits/story?id=121756481
    1. mrsyk October 1, 2025 at 11:51 am

       Trump literally says “We’re not going to do that.” (cut benefits) in the Acyn tweet up above.
30. Wukchumni October 1, 2025 at 11:39 am

    Give me an ICE job, give me security
    Give me a chance to survive
    I’m just a poor soul in the unemployment line
    My God, I’m hardly alive

    My mother and father, my wife and my friends
    You see them laugh in my face
    But I’ve got the power, and I’ve got the will
    I’m not a charity case

    I’ll take those long nights, impossible odds
    Keeping my eye in the keyhole
    If it takes all that to be just what I am
    Well, I’m gonna be a brown collar man

    Make me an offer that I can’t refuse
    Make me respectable, man
    This is my last time in the unemployment line
    So like it or not, I’ll take those

    Long nights, impossible odds
    Keeping my back to the wall
    If it takes all night to be just what I am
    Well, I’m gonna be a brown collar man

    Keeping my mind on a better life
    When happiness is only a heartbeat away
    Paradise, can it be all I heard it was?
    I close my eyes and maybe I’m already there

    I’ll take those long nights, impossible odds
    Keeping my back to the wall
    All that to be just what I am
    Well, I’m gonna be a brown collar man

    Do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do
    (You don’t understand)
    Do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do
    Do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do
    Do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do

    I’ll take those long nights, impossible odds
    Keeping my eye to the keyhole
    If it takes all that to be just who I am
    Well, I’m gonna be a brown collar
    Gotta be a brown collar-
    Gonna be a brown collar man

    Alright!

    Blue Collar Man, by Styx

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=astDDt5OUYM&list=RDastDDt5OUYM
31. Tom Stone October 1, 2025 at 11:48 am

    I had been wondering when Homophobia would once again be formal policy and there it is in Trump’s National Security Memorandum, ” Those who are opposed to Traditional American Morals and Values”.
    At this rate the US Government will be as Moral as the IDF in a matter of Months!
    1. raspberry jam October 1, 2025 at 1:59 pm

       On the subject of homosexuality in the IDF they are, generally speaking, much more progressive than the US armed forces. It will be interesting to see how that changes as the Kahanist faction solidifies their electoral dominance over secular Israel as most of the Kahanist/settler faction are homophobic and also draft dodgers.
       1. GF October 1, 2025 at 7:00 pm

          Speaking of draft dodgers, when will trump deport the Ukrainians that are draft age but currently residing in the USA?
32. Wukchumni October 1, 2025 at 11:51 am

    To Hide From Predators, Some Animals Camouflage Into Their Surroundings While Others Display Bright Colors as a Warning. What Keeps Them Safest? Smithsonian Mag
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Sierra Newts are kind of reddish, my favorite being the ones I term ‘Gummy Newts’ as that’s what they look like. It practically screams FA & FO to would be diners

    Like other genus Taricha members, the glands in the skin of Taricha sierrae secrete the potent neurotoxin tetrodotoxin, which is hundreds of times more toxic than cyanide.

    https://armi.usgs.gov/gallery/species.php?genus=Taricha
33. CitizenGuy October 1, 2025 at 12:00 pm

    From Politico this morning, regarding the government shutdown: article

    “While Social Security checks, mail, student loan bills and funds for Ukraine will still be delivered, millions of workers are set to suffer financial hardship — at least among those who still have jobs after months of deep staffing cuts and a deferred resignation program.”

    Well thank friggen’ Christ. My chief concern in this shutdown is whether Zelenski can cough up enough cash for a round of Bolivian booger sugar. How tone deaf is this!
    1. Jason Boxman October 1, 2025 at 1:39 pm

       Heh, well, Democrats did impeach Trump 1.0 over Ukraine funding, so we know the Establishment has a hardon for it.
    2. ChrisFromGA October 1, 2025 at 2:26 pm

       Technically, there is no official (as in officially appropriated by Congress) money left other than the $4B that was leftover from the Biden administration’s cache of unspent funds from the April 2024 $61B tranche passed by Congress (Mike Johnson’s parting gift.)

       That money should have been long gone, as Biden was spending roughly $5B/month and when Trump took office, only $4B was left. It is possible that Trump has been “nursing” that last $4B, doling it out in tiny dribs and drabs, though.

       Coincidentally. ex-head of USAID Samantha Power just confessed that “we have been transferring $1.5B in cash to Ukraine every month since 2022 without reporting to Congress. But alas, the tap has been turned off.” Likely related to the defenestration of USAID. That’s also one reason why I was very alarmed by the prospects of a CR – all the cuts to USAID were done after Biden left office, so technically a CR that restores agency funding line by line would perhaps allow USAID to spring back to life like a zombie.

       I am very skeptical that much in the way of funds is left, unless it’s being done illegally as Power confessed to.

       That might explain why Europe is suddenly making so much noise about using seized Russian assets to fund Ukraine. The money from the US has either run out or is down to couch change.
       1. ThirtyOne October 1, 2025 at 5:00 pm

          ‘Earlier, former head of the US Agency for International Development Samantha Power told Russian pranksters that the agency had been transferring $1.5 billion in cash to Ukraine every month since 2022.’

          https://tass.com/politics/2023859

          Sam is looking rather haggard these days.
34. Jason Boxman October 1, 2025 at 1:54 pm

    The AI party continues

    Spam and Scams Proliferate in Facebook’s Political Ads (NY Times via archive.ph)

    An ad that appeared in thousands of Facebook feeds this summer featured an altered video of the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, at a regular press briefing. In it, she appeared to say Americans could claim a $5,000 relief check on an official government site. An arrow that then appeared instead led to an advertiser called Get Covered Today.

    Similar ads showed fabricated videos of Senators Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts promising similar rebates that did not exist. “This is not a gimmick,” the impersonation of Ms. Warren says.

    In fact, it was.

    Great technology!
    1. Roland October 1, 2025 at 6:25 pm

       On Youtube, there have been a lot of fraudulent ads with Mark Carney touting investment schemes. But it’s all AI.

       The simulation is pretty good. And the script doesn’t sound much different from what you’d expect a guy like Carney to say, if he were touting an investment scheme.

       Unfortunately, these scams will probably lead to more censorship, while the government uses the tech to frame or defame those they don’t like. Eventually, there could be a realistic video made of almost any of us, saying or doing almost anything.
       1. Jason Boxman October 1, 2025 at 9:20 pm

          Interesting — I can make videos of myself living the life I never had.

          Business idea?

          Wasn’t this, in fact, sort of the plot of Total Recall?
    2. Wukchumni October 1, 2025 at 7:27 pm

       Y$5K

       There’s a Zucker born every minute~

       Zuckerberg translates to: Sugar Mountain, by the way…

       Oh to live on Sugar Mountain
       With the barkers and the colored opinions
       You can’t be on 24/7 on Sugar Mountain
       Though you’re thinking that
       You’re leavin’ there too soon
       You’re leavin’ there too soon

       It’s so noisy at the Facebook fair
       But all your friends are there
       And the Karen videos you had
       And a better time waster fad

       Oh to live on Sugar Mountain
       With the barkers and the colored opinions
       You can’t be on 24/7 on Sugar Mountain
       Though you’re thinking that
       You’re leavin’ there too soon
       You’re leavin’ there too soon

       There’s a girl with a cute bio
       Oh to friend her and see her smile
       You can hear the words she wrote
       As you read her often daily dear diary notes

       Oh to live on Sugar Mountain
       With the barkers and the colored opinions
       You can’t be on 24/7 on Sugar Mountain
       Though you’re thinking that
       You’re leavin’ there too soon
       You’re leavin’ there too soon

       Now your profile photo is more of a stare
       And you’re giving back some glares
       To the people who you just met
       And it’s your first vignette

       Oh to live on Sugar Mountain
       With the barkers and the colored opinions
       You can’t be on 24/7 on Sugar Mountain
       Though you’re thinking that
       You’re leavin’ there too soon
       You’re leavin’ there too soon

       Now you say you’re never leaving home
       Because you want to be alone
       Ain’t it funny how you feel
       When you’re findin’ out it’s real?

       Oh to live on Sugar Mountain
       With the barkers and the colored opinions
       You can’t be on 24/7 on Sugar Mountain
       Though you’re thinking that
       You’re leavin’ there too soon
       You’re leavin’ there too soon

       Oh to live on Sugar Mountain
       With the barkers and the colored opinions
       You can’t be on 24/7 on Sugar Mountain
       Though you’re thinking that
       You’re leavin’ there too soon

       Sugar Mountain, by Neil Young

       https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L86gQQBYSc4&list=RDL86gQQBYSc4
35. antidlc October 1, 2025 at 2:24 pm

    NC reported on NSPM-7 in the LINKS on 9/28.

    Newsweek:

    What Is NSPM-7? Over 3,000 Nonprofits Sound Alarm on New Trump Directive
    https://www.newsweek.com/what-is-nspm-7-over-3000-nonprofits-sound-alarm-on-new-trump-directive-10807321
36. Tom Stone October 1, 2025 at 4:19 pm

    It will be interesting to watch the Suck Ups surrounding Trump spin things to reassure him that everything is going to plan.
    Kellog telling him that the Russian harvest is so bad that they are eating their refrigerators, the BLS reporting the huge job gains resulting from mass layoffs, AI giving ‘Murica total dominance over everything as soon as another $300,000,000,000 is spent…
    Ukraine at the gates of the Kremlin.
    One thing that would help is having a dedicated TV channel that looks like Fox just for the Magnificent one, with every segment beginning with a tune based on the most popular song in Haiti back in the day, ” We love you Papa Doc”.
    Every one would be happy, no one would worry!
    1. erstwhile October 1, 2025 at 5:13 pm

       Everyone will smile till it hurts.
       1. ChrisPacific October 1, 2025 at 11:25 pm

          Welcome to Alpha Complex! Happiness is mandatory. Use of the word ‘no’ may be treasonous. Thank you for your attention to this matter!
    2. ThirtyOne October 1, 2025 at 6:35 pm

       Speaking of Trump:
       https://youtu.be/ct_qM7dDuaQ?t=667

       I have the LP this video is based on, ca 1973.
37. michael99 October 1, 2025 at 5:31 pm

    22,500 homes lost. Over five years later, only 38% rebuilt: What California fire survivors face – LA Times

    Excellent overview of how the rebuilding process has gone in the aftermath of the five biggest wildfires in California between 2017 and 2020.
38. alrhundi@outlook.com October 1, 2025 at 7:01 pm

    https://old.reddit.com/r/smallbusiness/comments/1nuuitr/so_how_fucked_are_you_next_year_re_health/

    US health insurance premium anecdotes… Not looking good.

    Some anecdotes:

    “Our premium now is a manageable $600/mo for a plan with a $15k deductible. Next year it’s estimated to go to $1600 per month. That’s nearly 20% of our income on…nothing. We get our yearly checkups, and occasionally have to call in about meds for tick bites because we live in a rural area.”

    “Early 60s for married Bronze is $2200 a month plus similar $15k deductible- insane, one of us will need to keep working”

    “I’m in the same boat. I’m 62, wife is 54. She’s a private practice psychologist, I’m an independent lighting technician for TV/film. Union work has dried up, so I work for no benefits and we’re on Obamacare. $1200 per month for Bronze, $8,000 deductible for us and our kids. When/if the subsidies end, we fully expect our premiums to go up to somewhere around $3000 a month. Completely unaffordable. We’ll have to buy some sort of catastrophic plan, because at our age, we can’t afford not to have protection against something disastrous. We are completely fucked if the subsidies end.”

    “Small business owner here too. We already pay $1,834 a month ($12,000 deductible) and I’m sure it’ll go up to $2,500 if not more. We’re cooked. Really considering looking into Medical Tourism if possible”
39. Wukchumni October 1, 2025 at 7:08 pm

    Are we really happy here
    With this round up game we play
    Looking for words to say
    Searching but not finding
    Understanding anywhere
    We’re lost in a mask masquerade

    Both afraid to say we’re just too far away
    From being close together from the start
    We tried to talk it over but the words got in the way
    We’re lost inside this lonely game we play

    Thoughts of self-deporting disappear
    Every time I see ICE
    No matter how hard I try

    To understand the reasons
    That we carry on this way
    We’re lost in a mask masquerade

    Both political parties afraid to say we’re just too far away
    From being close together from the start
    We tried to talk it over but the words got in the way
    We’re lost inside this lonely game we play

    Thoughts of leaving disappear
    Every time I can’t see your face
    No matter how hard I try

    To understand the reasons
    Why we carry on this way
    We’re lost in a mask masquerade

    This Masquerade, by George Benson

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9W0g3NGSj4&list=RDj9W0g3NGSj4
    1. AG October 1, 2025 at 8:03 pm

       nice one, thanks
40. AG October 1, 2025 at 8:01 pm

    re: Germany immigration polling

    BERLINER ZEITUNG

    nation-translation

    AfD breaks clichés: Study shows high approval among migrants

    For a long time, the image of the “typical AfD voter” was considered clear. A study by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation now paints a completely different picture.
    https://archive.is/fbxV2
41. Ben Panga October 1, 2025 at 9:39 pm

    Petition for a new section: IceDF

    Drones, Helicopters, Hundreds of Arrests: Trump’s Immigration Crackdown in Chicago So Far (NYT via archive.ph)

    And early on Tuesday, federal agents, using drones, helicopters, trucks and dozens of vehicles, conducted a middle-of-the-night raid on a rundown apartment building on the South Side of Chicago, leaving the building mostly empty of residents by morning and neighbors stunned.
    “It felt like we were under siege,” said one bystander, Darrell Ballard, 63, showing videos on his cellphone of officers entering the apartment building in the dark.

    A U.S. Border Patrol official involved with the operation, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly, said that the effort involved nearly 300 federal agents from various agencies. The agents came from various directions around the building.

    The operation that night targeted an apartment complex that federal officials said was frequented by members of the Tren de Aragua gang. The Border Patrol official said that snipers rappelled down from helicopters on top of the apartment complex, as a precaution from potential violence. Federal authorities said that at least 37 people without legal immigration status were arrested.

    America is run and policed by guys that came up in the War on Terror. Now it’s just a War on Everything.
42. AG October 1, 2025 at 9:51 pm

    re: Tomahawks Ukraine?

    RESPONSIBLE STATECRAFT

    Russia likely laughing off Trump’s ‘open door’ to Tomahawks

    The idea that the US would send this advanced weapon system to Ukraine is not serious. So why are we talking about it?
    https://responsiblestatecraft.org/trump-tomahawks-ukraine/
43. AG October 1, 2025 at 10:58 pm

    re: judge v. Trump on Palestine protests

    CONSORTIUMNEWS

    Judge Slams Trump Admin for Targeting Pro-Palestine Protesters

    Judge William Young found Trump acted illegally against Pro-Palestine students, calling the decision his most important in 30 years on the bench. “In all our history, we have never tolerated an armed, masked secret police,” the judge ruled.

    October 1, 2025
    https://consortiumnews.com/2025/10/01/judge-slams-trump-admin-for-targeting-pro-palestine-protesters/
44. AG October 1, 2025 at 11:01 pm

    re: US – RU

    Ray McGovern on NEUTRALITY STUDIES

    Ukraine Is LOST, And USA Knows It
    64 min.
    Oct. 1st 2025
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOLAdsh88vY
45. AG October 1, 2025 at 11:51 pm

    re: US deep state

    COVERT ACTION MAGAZINE

    What Dirty Tricks Does the Grandson of Former CIA Director William Colby—a Key Man Running U.S. Foreign Policy in the Trump Administration—Have in Store for Us?
    By Alexis Baden-Mayer

    October 1, 2025
    https://covertactionmagazine.com/2025/10/01/what-dirty-tricks-does-the-grandson-of-former-cia-director-william-colby-a-key-man-running-u-s-foreign-policy-in-the-trump-administration-have-in-store-for-us/

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