Highlights: Hidden Hand: Conservative attorney Cleta Mitchell has shaped virtually every aspect of the Trump administration's norm-busting agenda on American elections.
Movement Builder: After working to overturn Trump's 2020 defeat, Mitchell forged a national grassroots movement to overhaul voting. Some of her allies now hold top administration jobs.
More Drastic Steps: With the midterms approaching, Mitchell has pressed the Trump administration to take actions that even some who've worked with her say go too far.
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) " A federal judge on Sunday dismissed a Justice Department lawsuit seeking to block certification of Alaska's U.S. Senate race if Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan loses, the latest development in a ballot controversy that has roiled the final days of one of the nation's most closely watched races.
A Learjet carrying nine people crashed in a residential area near Cresthaven on Sunday afternoon, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. The FAA said the Learjet 60 crashed around 12:50 p.m. The aircraft had departed Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Texas and was headed to North Eleuthera Airport in the Bahamas. Nine people were on board, according to the FAA. Information about their conditions has not yet been released. Video from the scene shows flames, thick black smoke and debris scattered across the roadway.
Timothy Ryback is the author of a number of books, including a particularly interesting and original one on Hitler's book collection. ... His new offering, "53 Days: How Hitler Dismantled a Democracy," is a readable tour of the remarkable period from Jan. 30, 1933, when Hitler was sworn in as Reich chancellor, to March 23, when he cajoled and bullied the Reichstag to pass an "Enabling Act" solidifying his dictatorial power. The speed and violence of this transition were shocking to everyone.
Iran's strikes on more than two dozen U.S. bases in the Middle East focused on early-warning systems before hitting aircraft and buildings, causing billions of dollars in equipment damage, according to an Associated Press analysis. The AP independently verified damage to American targets using satellite imagery from multiple providers and spoke to four regional officials who were briefed or have firsthand knowledge of what was hit. The AP found that, through August, more than 115 drone or missile strikes claimed by Iran or Iranian-backed militias damaged or destroyed structures on 26 military bases and other sites with U.S. equipment.
Whew! Only kidding, here I am
Itchy Boots (pro geologist) takes us on her first ride in Japan through a valley of young sister active volcanoes on the southernmost island.
C'mon Bolts! Don't Stink Up the Place!
News coverage of Trump misses the point. Sure, he is racist, cruel, ignorant, corrupt and a pawn of Russia. But the reason he's unfit to be president is that he is a loathsome human being.
Halloween is the season for haunted houses, campfire ghost stories, and manufactured frights. In politics, however, one of the scariest stories is told year-round. The perennial bogeyman? The all-powerful corporate behemoth allegedly buying elections and haunting our democracy. We are told that, unless the government takes radical measures, shadowy corporate titans will devour our civic life whole.
Scare up some good tunes this weekend, any kind you like.
Thread link is:
Creedence Clearwater Revival - I Put A Spell On You
In a priceless troll, a man attending a Trump rally in South Carolina stunned Fox News viewers on live TV. Read more
Europe looks past rioters to their parents and the apps in their pockets
Dockworkers in 22 countries will strike on Friday, protesting against war and the use of ports for arms exports in action organisers say could disrupt over 40% of Mediterranean cargo and snarl over $2 billion worth of freight. 'WE WILL NOT WORK FOR WAR' Read more
At a Dummkopf Trumpf political rally in Rock Hill, South Carolina, an attendee floored a Faux News reporter during an interview, as follows:
Senile Satan
Novelist Patricia Highsmith (1921 " 1995), who gave us The Talented Mr. Ripley, neatly summarizes America in this paragraph from Strangers on a Train (1950). This suspense novel was published decades before NYS Judge Juan Merchan sentenced Dummkopf Trumpf to "unconditional discharge" (10 Jan 2025). Here, protagonist Guy Haines reveals to his fiance Anne his disgust with his soon-to-be ex-wife Miriam (p. 44): She's everything that should be loathed ... .Sometimes I think I hate everything in the world. No decency, no conscience. She's what people mean when they say America never grows up. America rewards the corrupt ... .. This excerpt explains how abolitionist John Brown could be caught, tried, sentenced, and executed, all within an astonishing 45 days (18 Oct - 2 Dec 1859), yet treasonous Jefferson Davis could outlive A. Lincoln unscathed by 24 years or how Jeffrey Epstein or Senile Satan could get away with their evil for so long: Corruption in America.
