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Wednesday, October 21, 2026

Halley Froehlich was sure she'd spend her scientific career in the United States. Her family has been in America since the 1700s. But over the past two years, delayed federal grants and fears about the future motivated her to pack her life into boxes. She moved to Finland with her husband and daughter and is continuing her research ...


The US State Department is preparing to issue an ordered departure of some personnel and family members from US embassies across the Gulf region, three US officials said on Wednesday. The move was due to a possible resumption of hostilities, particularly with Iran-aligned Houthi militia in Yemen, two of the US officials said.


President Donald Trump's approval rating has hit a record low. Democratic enthusiasm levels are off the charts. The party holds a clear edge on the generic congressional ballot question. By most measures, the polls point to something like a blue wave this November. The question, for many, is whether they can be trusted.


Tuesday, October 20, 2026

Federal authorities charged more than two dozen foreign nationals Monday in California as part of a statewide sweep targeting people who officials say have illegally registered or voted in U.S. elections. read more


The Wall Street Journal editorial board laced into President Donald Trump over his recent "assistance" to Russia -- accusing him of sticking "a shiv in the back" of Lindsey Graham's legacy. read more


Comments

More from the article ...

... When the Trump administration began upending U.S. scientific research last year, dismantling the federal grant-giving process and attempting to exert more political influence over what projects get funded, foreign universities saw an opportunity. They adopted programs to lure U.S. researchers abroad, promising more stable streams of funding and academic freedom.

Since then, many have taken the bait. While there is no way to quantify the overall change across the nation, scientists, researchers and professional groups say the shift is clear, unprecedented and concerning.

"You can almost talk to any vice president for research at a university and they will tell you of one or two top faculty that they've lost," said Tobin Smith, senior vice president of government relations and public policy for the Association of American Universities.

White House spokesperson Liz Huston said Trump is "ending waste" and is "committed to keeping America the world leader in scientific innovation, and that means funding real science."

But more than half of American states have lost scientists to recruitment programs in other countries, according to an April report from the Business for Federal Research Funding Coalition. Last March, early-career biomedical scientists were about 20 percentage points less likely to say they would "now" stay in the U.S., compared to their recollection of how they felt six months earlier. And physics Ph.D. graduates in 2025 left the U.S. at the highest rate in 30 years, according to the American Institute of Physics.

Countries including Canada, France, Belgium and Finland are touting their recruits from U.S. institutions, a disturbing and surprising development, scientists say, for a country that far and away leads the world in Nobel prizes for medicine, physics and chemistry. ...


Opinion: As it turns out, America lost the Cold War
www.msn.com

... It is starting to feel like all the history we learned was wrong.

We were taught we won the Cold War. But today, the President of the United States openly serves the interests of Russia. We have become, in fact, in crucial economic and security matters, a satellite of Moscow. The U.S. chief executive has publicly and repeatedly declared his loyalty to Russia's head of state. For more than a decade he has openly and covertly been advancing Russian foreign policy, often at the expense of the national security of the United States, the laws of the United States, and the interests of the United States and our allies.
Expand article logo Continue reading

It is such a shocking turn of events, so inconceivable to anyone who lived through the Cold War or its aftermath, that many Americans have been in denial about it for years. But the evidence is not only incontrovertible, but in recent days, the U.S. president has made the situation more explicit.

Trump's recent announcement that he had entered into an agreement with Russia to purchase diesel was a shock even to those who had long been in denial. Not only was Trump setting aside congressionally mandated U.S. sanctions policy, but he was offering a financial lifeline of billions of dollars to a cash-strapped Kremlin that could and almost certainly would use the extra liquidity to help fund its brutal, criminal aggression against Ukraine.

Never mind that the amount of fuel involved would make no impact on U.S. supplies, or that Trump could have gotten a better price purchasing the fuel elsewhere.

Never mind that the deal failed on its merits, economically and politically, as a form of relief for U.S. truckers and farmers squeezed by high prices.

What was worse and undeniable was that the U.S. was now helping to underwrite Russian attacks that were daily killing Ukrainian civilians and destroying Ukraine's infrastructure.

Furthermore, we were offering to help Russia at precisely the moment when the futility of its four-year escalation of a conflict that began in 2014 was becoming clear. Russia was no longer gaining ground. Russia was paying a huge price militarily, with over 1.5 million dead and wounded troops. Russia's economy could no longer afford the war. Ukraine had momentum. ...

Perhaps even more nauseatingly (if such a thing is imaginable), the world knows that Russia is actively supporting Iran. Credible reports suggest that Russia has been supplying vital intelligence to the Iranians and helping to resupply their missile stockpiles.

Which means that Donald Trump is directly sending U.S. taxpayer dollars to a country that will indirectly and yet inevitably serve to support potential attacks on our own military.

Trump is living up to his reputation as America's greatest enemy by actually using U.S. dollars to pay not only for attacks on our allies and, by extension, on the Western Alliance, but also by making it possible for Iran to target and kill more Americans.

Our president is at war with us. ...



Meta may have a larger problem ...

Meta ordered to pay $25 billion penalty in New Mexico Cambridge Analytica case
www.cnbc.com

Meta was ordered to pay $25 billion in penalties related to the Cambridge Analytica scandal in New Mexico.

The penalty comes after a jury in a Santa Fe courthouse found the social media giant liable for misleading state citizens about how it safeguards and collects user data.

New Mexico district court judge said in the filing that "Facebook did not conduct the comprehensive investigation that it promised" following the Cambridge Analytica revelations. ...


@#2

2020 Electoral College Map
www.realclearpolling.com

...
Biden/Harris: 216
Toss Ups: 197
Trump/Pence: 125
...

Did you mean 2016?

www.realclearpolling.com

...
Clinton/Kaine: 203
Toss Ups: 171
Trump/Pence: 164
...



More from the article ...

... There is reason for concern. In addition to high-profile misses " the most prominent among them, the 2016 presidential contest that elected Trump " recent election cycles have witnessed cratering survey response rates, flawed weighting and turnout assumptions, and a rise in bad-faith actors, not to mention the challenge of vanishing landline phones.

This year, a handful of episodes have further undermined confidence. Polls predicted a slam-dunk victory for Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan's Democratic Senate primary -- he won by 1 percentage point. Francesca Hong, the democratic socialist running in Wisconsin's Democratic primary for governor, held a double-digit lead in preelection surveys -- she narrowly lost. And a poll in the Los Angeles mayoral race -- which spread widely after one of the candidates, Mayor Karen Bass, touted it on social media -- turned out to be entirely bogus. The Los Angeles Times later reported that the individual behind the sham poll said it was part of a "short-term social experiment" to examine how polling numbers could "spread through the political information ecosystem without independent verification."

The polling misfires, however, don't reflect the changes in the industry. There are new methods of reaching people, and new ways to account for the most elusive voters.

Those corrections have seemingly paid off; you may not realize it, but the polls largely nailed the results of the past two midterms.

Still, polls aren't meant to be predictive. They represent a snapshot in time, offering insight into public sentiment and voters' most pressing concerns.

"Certainly, given the polling misses in 2016 and, to some extent, 2020, there's an obvious fear factor," says Charles Franklin, director of the Marquette Law School Poll. "We've done a lot over this past decade to try to improve the control we have over those kinds of errors, but ultimately we can't force people to do polls, and so this remains always a background fear factor." ...

[emphasis mine]

@#9

fwiw ...

obtuse
www.wordnik.com

...
from The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

adjective Lacking quickness of perception or intellect.
adjective Characterized by a lack of intelligence or sensitivity.
adjective Not distinctly felt.
adjective Not sharp, pointed, or acute in form; blunt.
adjective Having an obtuse angle.
adjective Botany Having a blunt or rounded tip.
...


disingenuous
www.wordnik.com

...
from The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

adjective Not straightforward or candid; insincere or calculating.
adjective Pretending to be unaware or unsophisticated; faux-naf.
adjective Usage Problem Unaware or uninformed; naive.
...


And back to the thread topic...

@#10 ... Actually, he's a Republican operative ...

There now seem to be some issue around that ...

WaPo Bashed for 'Journalistic Malpractice' After Failing to Report That Voter Who Tangled With El-Sayed Is GOP Operative
www.mediaite.com

... The Washington Post is facing criticism for an article about a viral video featuring a "young man" questioning Democratic Michigan Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed but omitting the fact that "Tommy" was a Republican operative.

The incident in question happened during one of El-Sayed's campaign events over the weekend, in which an attendee who identified himself as "Tommy" asked about the Muslim Brotherhood, a talking point pushed by the Republican nominee, former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI). ...




Reathel Bean & The Doonesbury Break Crew - Rap Master Ronnie (1984)
www.youtube.com

Lyrics excerpt ...

genius.com

...
[Intro]
[Voice]
Ready when you are, Mr. President

[Reagan]
Well, okay, everybody ready? Uh, Nancy?

[Nancy]
Ready dear

[Reagan]
Jim, Mike, Cap?

[Men]
Yes

[Reagan]
Okay, right, let's do it

[Voice]:
Ok, Reagan campaign message for minority voters, take 37
Can it off, Mr. President

[Reagan]
5, 6, 7, 8, uh.. 9..
Ah!
Oh yeah, Lord have mercy
Now let me here a little bass now Nancy
So good, So fine
You're cooking now mama

[Nancy]
Thank you dear

[Reagan]
Al. Smokin'
We're in a grove now

[Man]
That's groove sir

[Reagan]
Groove, we're in a groove now
Slip me a little keyboard cap
Al, you're God
Now that be fine

[Verse 1]
Okay people, gotta get down
Brother Ron Reagan has hit the ground
Gotta believe he's the dude of the hour
Got the glory, got the power
Ronny can communicate, the cat can rap
I even let Nancy sit on Mr.T's lap
Loves the needy, loves them dearly
Love to read graffitti if they'd only print it clearly
He can break

[Men]
Huh!

[Reagan]
He be trying to make the big box beat
Trying to get those voters on their feet
Get their consent, all I need is 10 percent

[Hook]
Say we want Ron
The guy's pure sex
He's the man
Who signs your monthly welfare checks
Ha ha ... ha ... ha haha!

[Verse 2]
[Al]
Ronny's the boss, he wears the pants

[Nancy]
But that man of mine sure loves to dance

[Al]
Got an open mind on civil rights
[Reagan]
My youngest son grew up in tights

[Men]
Check him out!

[Reagan]
He's heavy

[Men]
Ronny be a legend. Ronny be unique

[Reagan]
Hard to even function with such mystique
He gets down

[Men]
Huh!

[Reagan]
Loves to take to town those dancing feet
He be getting brothers off the street
Hey! Least I've tried
If only more were qualified

[Reagan]
Uh, Ed
Take it easy, Ed
For Gosh sakes, Ed
Debby Boone gave me that album personally
Ed...

[Men]
Everybody's scratchin'
Scratchin' for a wage
Scratchabacha scratch
From the want ad page
Good time scratching
Ronny got a plan
And if that don't hatch
Catch as catch can

...

[Men]
Ronny be a fighter, Ronny will defend

[Reagan]
Lieutenant Bob Goodman is a personal friend

[Men]
Ronny he be tough, Ronny always win

[Reagan]
Don't need cardboard for my shoulder spins

He can freeze

[Men]
Huh!

[Reagan]
He be trying to save those suckers' souls
Trying to get those mothers to the polls
Get their consent. I'll settle for just two percent

[Hook]
Say we, want, Ron
The cat's ok
He's the man
Who's got more juice than Jessie J

Say we, want, Ron
The guy's pure sex
He's the man
Who signs your monthly welfare checks
Ha ha ... ha ... ha ha ha!

[Outro]
That's my [?]
Trust me though
[?]

[Voice]
One more time Mr. President
Bring it on home, sir

[Reagan]
Okay
Light my fire black people, light my fire
Give me your sweet jelly roll
Turn on your love life
Papa got a new safety net for you
Yeah, Fritz, Jelly beans
[?]

That be all
...


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