Sunday, October 11, 2026

Watching The Donuts

Rick Wilson:
The news of Ukraine attacking Yandex data centers across Russia will have bigger implications for the 2026 election than most people understand yet. Ukraine is dismantling Donald Trump’s biggest online flamethrower: an AI-driven troll army that distorts, divides, and amplifies the worst voices. Once more, Ukraine might be saving the world.
Meanwhile: Ukraine saves the world. Trump lies about everything.

This is where I came into this picture.
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One Has To Think Very Hard…

... to realize what a COLOSSAL fuck up Donald Trump is.
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The Adults Are Coming

"He made us shoot him when he pulled away from the curb after a guy in a mask started beating in his car window.”
Mamdani: "There is a reason why the NYPD would not be shooting at a moving vehicle. There is a reason why law enforcement agents are supposed to wear identifiable information and uniforms. What you could see in the videos is bystanders outside unsure as to what they were even seeing. Because in that imagery, it feels as if you’re almost looking at a mass shooter as opposed to seeing someone who’s purportedly representing a federal agency."
Mamdani: "We are talking a federal agency that is ripping families apart, that is willing to endanger the lives of a 5 year old child as well as any New Yorker in the surrounding area, and then after the fact, seeks to blame the person and the city at large as opposed to reflect upon their own actions"

So if some random, masked stranger started beating on your car window while your kids are in the car, you’d drive away?
BRENNAN: Nidal Hasan is in a wheelchair. Doesn't the administration risk livestreaming this and making him a martyr? Couldn't this be a risk to the homeland?

MARKWAYNE MULLIN: No one has to watch it

BRENNAN: Well then why are you livestreaming it?

MULLIN: The president is restoring American values
A firing squad shooting a man in a wheelchair?👨‍🦽 That livestream is never gonna happen.
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But Russia Can Still Attack Apartment Buildings?

Or it’s just more 🐂 💩.
Analyst Comment:

It should be noted that both sides have reasons to not abide by such a ceasefire, with Ukraine looking to beggar Russian energy export ventures and Russia looking to tax Ukraine’s energy grid during the winter months. Amongst others, it’s these reasons why the past 4-5 “energy ceasefire” announcements have amounted to very little if anything at all.
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All Over But The Shoutin’

Every time you think the GOP can’t go any lower:
Talarico, 37, has Type I diabetes, a diagnosis he received during his 2018 campaign for the Texas House. During that race, he went into a state of ketoacidosis and fell asleep for 36 hours after walking the length of his district for a set of town halls. Earlier this year, Talarico’s campaign aired TV ads promoting legislation he championed that caps monthly out-of-pocket insulin costs.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, people with diabetes, an autoimmune condition, have a higher risk for “serious flu complications,” and are more prone to getting sick and staying sick for longer.

“I guess I’ve been shaking too many hands on the campaign trail, and so I want to keep everybody safe,” Talarico said Sept. 30, when he called into an event with the U.S. Hispanic Business Council while appearing sickly. “If I was passing on this illness to somebody and got someone’s grandmother or someone’s baby sick, I couldn’t live with myself.”

Talarico added during that event that his sickness sent him to urgent care in Dallas the night before.
Talarico was out 9 days. Paxton exaggerated it into two weeks, and then demanded “proof of life.” One still wonders how many public appearances Paxton has made. He makes more news for leaked tapes from private fundraisers where he complains about how hard he has it. To recap: Talarico is a diabetic. For his own health, and the health of others, he took 9 days off the campaign trail. 

And Ken Paxton still won’t debate him. 

Early voting in Texas starts Monday, October 19, 2026.
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Trumpenomics

Keeping it simple for the simpletons. Yes, one ship. Not even a noticeable drop in the bucket of U.S. consumption.  Trump has repeatedly bragged about “billions” of barrels of Venezuelan crude on its way to America, but gas prices remain stubbornly high. And yes, he made the arrangement for the one shipment of diesel with Putin some time ago, not in a phone call last week. International trade agreements don’t actually work that way. But how much diesel did Russia agree to deliver? Is this it?

And then there’s this “blockbuster:”
Except it’s just Bessent being an ass to a U.S. Senator and former Harvard professor:
Exclusive: FOX Business obtained the response from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to the latest request for information from Senator Elizabeth Warren.

The Senator has sent more than 100 letters to Treasury asking for information in the past 21 months. The Secretary snarky at times in the response saying, "Rather than take my suggestion of studying introductory economics, you have continued your letter-writing crusade and participation in tabloid fodder about the Treasury Department." Secretary Bessent also added a hand-written note at the bottom of the letter. (Picture attached)

Senator Warren sent a letter dated October 10th asking for more information about what the Trump Administration is doing to lower borrowing costs for average Americans. In the letter the Senator accuses the Treasury Secretary of increasing costs saying, "The surge in Treasury yields is self-inflicted and follows the Fed's decision to raise the federal funds rate by a quarter of a percentage point, driven by concerns about inflation." The Treasury Secretary refuted that characterization in his letter, adding, "It is difficult to treat your concern as sincere." Adding, "As the federal funds rate climbed from near zero to its highest level in 22 years, with inflation hitting a 40-year high, you were a cheerleader for the Biden Administration's reckless spending."

The Secretary finishes the letter offering "a Foreign Exchange for Dummies tutorial still, and if you receive a passing grade to the Yale metric, not the Harvard curve, I would be happy to also include a Fixed Income for Dummies."
All it proves is that Bessent is looking up to see bottom (especially the childish and gratuitous Yale  v. Harvard rivalry swipe, that would embarrass children on a schoolyard). Oh, and the FoxNews “exclusive” fail: This is really all they’ve got. A Treasury Secretary reduced to childish taunts because he’s failed so thoroughly, and a President who leads that effort with his failures.
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Saturday, October 10, 2026

This Really Seems To Be All They Have

😹
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American Exceptionalism

U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner raised the possibility of cutting off intelligence sharing with Ukraine if Kyiv does not stop striking Russian oil refineries, according to the Financial Times, citing people familiar with Friday's talks in Miami. The special envoys made the point during nearly eight hours of talks. Ukraine uses U.S. intelligence for the strikes, the FT reports.

The meeting was derailed when President Donald J. Trump announced a deal with Russia to release diesel onto the world market, three people with direct knowledge told the FT. The Ukrainian team was blindsided. One person said the envoys told them the U.S. was poised to lift sanctions on Russian diesel and that Moscow intended to lift its export ban. The FT reports President Trump has pressed Zelenskyy to halt the drone strikes, citing strain on global energy prices from the Iran war.

Zelenskyy called the move "a weak decision made by strong partners." A senior Ukrainian official said, "We will burn refineries." Hours later, Ukrainian forces struck the Yug Rusi oil terminal in Rostov-on-Don, according to Russian authorities (video below). Ukraine's team cut its trip short. Witkoff said in a post on X that the talks were "productive" and the sides agreed to continue diplomacy.

Ukrainian officials viewed the request to halt strikes without Russia doing the same as unfair, the FT's sources said. The Trump administration paused intelligence sharing for eight days in March 2025 after an Oval Office clash with Zelenskyy, per the FT.

Ukrainian authorities say a Russian glide bomb attack on Zaporizhzhia on Saturday killed at least 15 civilians, including three children. Russian ballistic missiles and jet powered drones also attacked Kyiv.
Meanwhile:
It is literally against the law to buy oil from
Russia until the war with Ukraine has ended, Russia has withdrawn, and disavowed all claims to Ukrainian territory. Not that the diesel is coming anytime soon, anyway. If at all. What’s Trump going to do? Sue Putin for specific performance?

Ah, here it is:
Citing actual text of the Ending Importation of Russian Oil Act, signed into law on April 8, 2022 (Public Law 117-109):

Section 3 requires the president to certify to Congress that:

Russia has reached an agreement to withdraw its forces and end hostilities, accepted by Ukraine's independent government.

Russia poses no immediate military threat of aggression to any NATO member.

Russia recognizes Ukrainians' right to freely choose their own government.

Two important details: The law requires an agreement to withdraw, not necessarily a completed withdrawal. It also requires a 90-day waiting period after certification, during which Congress can block the termination of the ban.
😈 👇
Hillary Clinton: When I was at the opening of the Obama library—Michelle Obama gave that speech about all of the things that her husband had done that the other guy has not, when she got to the Nobel peace prize, I just burst into laughter. I thought it was so perfect. Barack Obama turned around and grinned at me. I leaned forward and said I really hope that Donald Trump is watching this. Barack said, “me too”
I still wonder how different American history would be if we hadn’t been afraid to elect a woman president. Twice.

And then I realize it wouldn’t be American history.

American exceptionalism is our curse and our weakness, not our greatest strength and source of pride.
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“Let My Diesel Go!”

No, try another country, a little closer to home. Also starts with a “U,” if that helps. We do need their diesel. OOP! Not supposed to say that, am I? Trump has a vision of the future. I’m sensing a pattern here. Tennessee. 👆 New York. Even Texas.  No shit. Well, now we know what he’s worried about. They’re in a line a mile long outside, watching on a Jumbotron.

They’ve all moved down to the floor.
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Walking It Back

"Wealth" defined as property has always been disproportionately distributed to the old, who are more likely to accumulate it. The house I’m sitting in is paid for,  which means I have that much more wealth (no debt) than I had for nearly 40 years. It has also increased in value, adding to my “wealth” without me doing a thing except being fortunate. (My grandparents moved from the house I knew in childhood to another because the neighborhood declined.  My grandfather worked all his life, and if I had lived as long as he did, I’d be three years dead. He never accumulated any real wealth. Not by this standard.) My father accumulated more wealth than his father ever had. I’m pretty sure that the post-war years were the aberration in American history, and we foolishly let it revert to the mean. States made education available, and Boomers took advantage of it. My education kept me away from stoop labor (I did enough of that between semesters), but it better me up for life.  So we (the Boomers) decided education was too expensive, and not producing enough “A” students, so we quit investing in it. Well, except for our kids. You know, Hid fearing white kids. Rich white people don’t want to pay to educate non-whites.

And Boomers all but invented generational animosity. “The Grneration Gap.” “Never trust anyone over 30.” We sowed the dragon’s teeth; now we reap the whirlwind.  But the lesson of the Prodigal applies here, too. Impatient child that he was, he told his father to give him his inheritance while he was young and could enjoy it. The framing in that tweet has some of that flavor. 

I worked hard all my life, suffered many setbacks and reversals. I’ve fallen ass backwards into a retirement I never really anticipated. Should I apologize to people under 35 who are being forced backwards? More properly I should sympathize, because I went through that when I was under 35. What, you thought everything came up roses until 2000?

I mean: “Been there, done that.” But why should you go through it? It was unjust and unfair when I had to struggle with it, and that struggle didn’t “make me a man.” It was bullshit. It was a broken system working for the benefit of the system and the few, not for people and all of us. So the real problem is not the rich taking from the poor (oh, they are; but “poor” is a very relative term in that analysis), or the old taking from the young (as my parents and grandparents and ancestors built the world I enjoyed in youth, do too I built it for today’s youth). But that raises the question: could it have been built more equitably?

Aye, there’s the rub. It’s not always a matter of taking; sometimes it’s a matter of structuring. Maybe it’s a matter of restructuring; and if I need to make some sacrifices to make this society more equitable, I will.

But there’s the other rub, the one Niebuhr recognized: a society cannot require sacrifice for meaning and belonging. That’s coercion, not morality. Except, of course, we do require sacrifice by some, so the rest of us can be comfortable. This is Omelas, after all.

Maybe, instead of bitching about who has and who has not, we address that root problem. It’s not like we can walk away. And we don’t have to act like the bargain of Omelas us absolute and irrevocable.
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The Rule Of Law Is A Quaint Concept

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🧊

And what they see is construction workers and random rabbis standing around, holding guns. Come ‘27, burn it to the ground, fire everyone involved, start over from scratch. With severe restrictions that keep Miller from ever getting his hands on it again.
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We Could Still Import Diesel…

... that could get here before Election Day.
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No Wonder People Were Leaving

Trump does an incoherent ramble as a confused audience listens in complete silence:

"And you know what they're doing? They go straight down, you know, you can make those drill bits talk. You can make 'em sing, you can make them go, they go down. New York's over here, Pennsylvania-- they go down and they take a sharp left. And they suck our oil out. Can you believe it? Lines of different states, and you'll see one has Cadillacs, because they like Cadillacs better than they like Mercedes, but one has an Escalade, and one has a 50 year old Chevy. And you're talking about 3 ft. It's a line that goes right up. One has some beautiful drilling plants, and one has no drilling plants, it's got no money, it's got poverty.
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Did Trump Really Think Ukraine Didn’t Have A Vote?

To Ukraine, the American money for Russian diesel would fuel Russia’s war effort. And Russia is not attacking industrial sites in Ukraine:
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Vote Like You’re As Gullible As An Infant 👶

 According to my stats, there’s suddenly a flood of interest in my posts from 7 years ago. This is one of them, which reaffirmed my conviction that Jefferson is overrated. He thought farmers the backbone of American democracy. I can’t help but see them as useful idiots to… well, not we, the people.

In electoral politics, at least, farmers are, by popular definition, insane. They keep doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different outcome.

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“I Ain’t Readin’ All That”

"Sorry it happened to you, though. Or I’m happy for you.”
“This is the woman who received the Nobel Peace Prize over the Great United States of America, whose Representative, ME, settled eight Wars, and many other things,” Trump wrote. “I know nothing about this woman, and neither does anyone else!”
Which clearly should be the deciding factor.
“In actuality, I should have won 8 Nobel Peace Prizes, not just 1,” he wrote, before listing the eight conflicts he claims to have ended. “Egypt and Ethiopia” made the list, even though the two countries haven’t been at war. So did “Israel and Iran,” with his own administration still fighting Iran.
Was he just running through the alphabet? Poor Shouty Grandpa didn’t get a pony for Xmas again this year.
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“It Was A Pleasure To Burn.”🔥

 I worked in a small, independent bookstore for a few years, what now seems many years ago. I went back yesterday to see friends and browse again, and celebrate the owner’s 30th anniversary of the store. 

Part of her success (and I hasten to add, pre-emptively, that business is good), was selling books to local school libraries. She told us she doesn’t do that anymore. Not because she fell out with the schools (there was some friction years back with a local school board that went MAGA, but that only lasted ‘til the next election), but because the schools have all fired their librarians. Every single one. 

Budget constraints, in part. But largely due to state law, which now requires every book on the shelf be probationary. It must be available first for review by the parents for 30 days. If no one objects, it can go on the library shelves for the students. If they do, well…it never gets there. I’m not sure of the finer points of the law, but that’s how it works in real time. 

Later, the Lovely Wife pointed out that it would take a librarian to keep track of which new books had passed their probationary period, and which had just started. I pointed out that was another reason the schools didn’t have librarians. It was a feature, not a bug. I pointed out to my friend the bookstore owner that, when I was young, I read Fahrenheit 451, but I never imagined I’d be living in it one day.

If my daughter ever has a child, I’m going to make it my life’s last work to see it goes to a good private school. It’s the only hope I would have for my grandchildren.

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Friday, October 09, 2026

Everybody Owes Trump

Three year olds are less self-centered. 🤦‍♂️ Uh-huh. (He "got” what we already had.) And the sun comes up to shine on his countenance, and the tide comes in and goes out to pay him homage. But does Norway care? Do they show respect? 🫡  🙄 Nobody does, Grandpa. Just to prove he’s as dumb as a box of rocks…. It was $90. By next week it’ll be $900 he sent out. To every man, woman, and child in America. Grandpa needs his nap. They’re moving down to the floor. Right, Grandpa? This election is going to be over by Election Day. Lagniappe.
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I Should Have Realized….

Trump: "I have just concluded a highly successful discussion with President Vladimir Putin, of Russia, wherein it was agreed that Russia will immediately supply over 300,000 Tons of Diesel Fuel to the American and Global Marketplace, another 500,000 Tons during the month of November, and 1,000,000 Tons immediately thereafter. Additionally, based on the condition of their Diesel Refineries, Russia will then deliver, within a short period of time, 3,000,000 Tons of Diesel Fuel."
... Trump has no idea what the fuel consumption is in this country. No idea at all:
On an average day, the U.S. transportation sector consumes about 2.94 million barrels of diesel.

Russia has historically been a major diesel exporter. A year ago, it was shipping about 2.5 million tons per month, but had been estimated to be shipping around 1 million metric tons in June, Reuters reported.

Andy Lipow, president of consulting firm Lipow Oil Associates, said he was “skeptical” that Russia would be able to come up with the promised barrels.

“I’m quite skeptical about those type of volumes being exported, given that currently Russia has imposed a diesel export ban in October,” Lipow told The Hill.

“Now, it’s certainly possible that once the harvest season ends in Russia, that we do see an increase in diesel exports, but I believe that Ukraine is going to continue to attack Russian refineries to impact on their ability to produce transportation fuels,” he said.

If Russia is able to come up with the barrels, Lipow said that the 300,000 ton and 500,000 ton figures are “quite small” compared to the entire global diesel market, though he said 3 million tons was more significant.

He says that if Russia does come up with the diesel to export, he expects there will be “some relief on diesel prices.”
Not soon; if at all. Certainly not before Election Day.

Trump really has no fucking idea what he’s doing. 
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