2/. Heather Cox Richardson with a snapshot of the Trump corruption, incompetence and insanity of his administration......
Just a random day in the middle of a random week.....
However this week he seems to be collapsing.....wonder why.....
A blockbuster story in the Wall Street Journal tonight by Alexander Ward, Natalie Andrews, and Josh Dawsey says that it was billionaire Elon Musk who ordered Space X to slow down its service in Ukraine, rendering some drones that stopped incoming missiles and others aimed at Russian targets useless.
The reporters say it is unclear if Musk operated without input from White House officials. Some of their sources say he did; others say he coordinated with multiple senior officials, including Trump.
3/. Hmmmmm.....this looks pretty real!
4/. Thomas Edsall details how financially regressive the past two years have been for all Americans.....except the wealthy.
The good news is even the stupidest MAGAS are catching on....
One of the most memorable lines in President Trump’s first Inaugural Address on Jan. 20, 2017, was: “The forgotten men and women of our country will be forgotten no longer.’
It was so good, in fact, that he recycled it in his speech accepting the Republican presidential nomination for the third time, on July 18, 2024: “To all of the forgotten men and women who have been neglected, abandoned and left behind, you will be forgotten no longer.”
Politicians routinely overpromise, with the candidate and the voters privately recognizing that there will be no land of milk and honey on the other side of the election .https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/20/opinion/trump-campaign-promises-affordability.html
5/ Mr Newberger with "Space Force World", a parody of Westworld, starring you know who.
Very clever, lots of zingers - amusing! About 5 minutes.....
6/ Vivek Ramaswarmy's disgusting ad about Amy Acton featuring her pedophile protecting mother has sunk his campaign.
The ad itself is embedded in this story.
So glad he got trounced - disgusting billionaire.....
the campaign of Vivek Ramaswamy, the Republican running for governor in Ohio, sparked controversy this week with an ad featuring the estranged mother of his Democratic opponent, Dr. Amy Acton. In the ad, Acton’s mother calls her a “liar” who is being dishonest about her past
But court documents — as well as contemporaneous news articles and statements by Acton’s brother — corroborate key elements of Acton’s account of her difficult childhood. Acton has said she was removed from her mother’s custody at age 12 after her stepfather was charged with raping her. She says she hasn’t seen or spoken to her mother since. https/www.factcheck.org/2026/10/controversial-ohio-ad-calls-acton-a-liar-but-records-back-her-account-of-childhood/?fbclid=IwY2xjawVLVJpleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBwZG9mBXNydGMGYXBwX2lkEDIyMjAzOTE3ODgyMDA4OTIAAR7rllJWh3x5XMygBfEWeYl2e8nSpJt1jdiDC_bIz7X0DZkiGP81n5RjSaxbeQ_aem_uc6yqbaBPo6usXUhgBPe7A
7/. They are all like this.....
8/. Like you, I have read some critical reviews of Tom Cruise's new movie "Digger", but what I didn't realise these negative comments have been generated by right wing influencers. As Thom Hartmann says, the movie is a revelation about the fossil fuel industry.
OK, Mary we're off to the movies!
Louise and I went to see Digger this weekend. Don’t believe the negative reviews coming from the rightwingers; this is a brilliant movie about one of the most important issues of our day, climate change, and the fossil fuel industry’s complicity in knowingly destroying our planet and our culture.
That Tom Cruise made the movie at all blew my mind; this guy has spent his entire career being the most apolitical no-issues superstar in Hollywood. Something has shifted when that guy puts on a fat suit and a tangle of white hair to play a Texas oil baron who wrecks the planet.
Digger is directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu, who made the movie The Revenant that won Leonardo DiCaprio — who is an outspoken advocate for climate action — an Oscar. Now it looks like Cruise has jumped on board, making what’s probably the best movie about climate change in a generation.
9/. Did you know SNL now has a UK version?
Here's their cold open, with Andy Burnham and Zelensky - plus a surprise guest! An amusing 6 minutes.....
10/. No matter what happens in the Israeli election, they are a pariah state .
Very good article from Ezra Klein,
Israelis are days away from choosing their next government. The opposition bloc, led by Gadi Eisenkot, a former Israel Defense Forces military chief, has a modest lead in the polls. But the election has played out on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s terms.
The opposition bloc’s main leaders have, in crucial ways, accepted Netanyahu’s worldview, and even run to his right. Eisenkot has sworn his opposition to the formation of a Palestinian state and said he would end Hamas’s rule of Gaza within 18 months, by military means if necessary.
12/ And if you watch Fox News, you end up a prepper - scared to death.
This week it's the Democratic Socialists of America......
13/. A most interesting article ....
By now it is clear to most of America and much of the world that America and what it stands for have changed. The dominant face of that change is President Trump and his determined and deliberate efforts to accumulate greater powers than the Constitution apportioned to the president, to create a cult of personality based on grievance and vengeance and to challenge every aspect of the postwar global order, demeaning allies and courting autocrats.
Is that the future of America in the world? An increasingly autocratic, rude and unpredictable superpower guided by populism, rancor and whim? Or will Americans, once Mr. Trump is gone, try to restore the United States as the world’s repository of democratic values and human rights? the US has abdicated our role as the Democratic leader of the free world, there are three scenarios of what the future structure of the global political and economic order could be.
14/. What an evil little man.....now humiliated by the Texas results!
15/. Heather Cox Richardson nails it again.....but we've made a start of getting it back....
Everything feels out of whack in the United States.
First of all, the president’s behavior is becoming more and more erratic. Earlier this week, he walked past the open door of his armored car, known as “The Beast” and wandered toward an open field before Secret Service agents redirected him.
And he is losing any filter he used to have. At campaign rallies, he has taken to commenting on how he finds Ohio Republican senator Jon Husted physically attractive. “I looked at his a‑‑, and then I looked at his legs, and my—I said, ‘His a‑‑ is like, it’s like a pile of muscle.’ Then I looked at his legs, and I said, ‘Man, his feet are big.’ Then I looked at his shoulders, and I tapped him on the shoulder, and it actually hurt my hand. It was like a piece of steel. I said, ‘This guy’s a monster.’” https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/october-21-2026?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=20533&post_id=221598524&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=false&r=2cwgv&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email
16/. Jordan Klepper tries to get MAGA to define Communism.....3 minutes of amusing stupidity......
17/. Black Doves Season 2......
We watched Season 1 and it was pretty good provided you suspend your critical functions......
like the plot holes.....but it was still watchable.
I
s Helen Webb Britain’s busiest mum? Or Britain’s least busy mum? On the one hand, she’s got two kids, is the wife of the recently promoted prime minister and also a deep cover spy, who spends her days passing information about her husband’s work to a shady intelligence organisation and her nights on covert missions which often involve acts of bloody slaughter. Yet the reason she can do all this is that nobody expects her to do anything at all: she doesn’t have to look after her children (she has an ever-present nanny – who, unbeknown to Helen, is in fact another spy), manage the household, hold down a job or even sleep in her own bed at night. Forget getting away with murder – how does she get away with not doing the school run?!
Today's video - Born to Create Drama [3], including a new one.....
Today's geezer joke....
Rich and Russ, two friends, met in the park every day to feed the pigeons, watch the squirrels and discuss world problems.
One day Rich didn't show up. Russ didn't think much about it and figured maybe he had a cold or something..
But after Rich hadn't shown up for a week or so, Russ really got worried.
However, since the only time they ever got together was at the park, Russ didn't know where Rich lived, so he was unable to find
out what had happened to him.
A month had passed, and Russ figured he had seen the last of Rich, but one day, Russ approached the park and-- lo and behold! -- there sat Rich!
Russ was very excited and happy to see him and told him so.
Then he said, 'For crying out loud Rich, what in the world happened to you?'
Rich replied, 'I have been in jail.'
'Jail!' cried Russ. What in the world for?'
'Well,' Rich said, 'you know Sue, that cute little blonde waitress at the coffee shop where I sometimes go?'
'Yeah,' said Russ, 'I remember her. What about her?'
'Well, the little gold-digging witch figured I was rich and she filed rape charges against me; and, at 89 years old, I was so proud that when I got into court, I pleaded 'guilty'.
'The judge gave me 30 days for perjury.'
Today's salesman joke
A young guy from Texas moves to California and goes to a big department store looking for a job. The manager says, “Do you have any sales experience?” The kid says, “Yeah, I was a salesman back home in Texas. “Well, the boss liked the kid so he gave him the job. “You start tomorrow. I’ll come down after we close and see how you did.”
His first day on the job was rough but he got through it. After the store was locked up, the boss came down. “How many sales did you make today?” The kid says, “One.” The boss says, “Just one? Our sales people average 20 or 30 sales a day. How much was the sale for?”
Kid says, “$101,237.64.” Boss says, “$101,237.64? What the hell did you sell?”
Kid says, “First I sold him a small fish hook. Then I sold him a medium fish hook. Then I sold him a larger fish hook. Then I sold him a new fishing rod. Then I asked him where he was going fishing and he said down at the coast, so I told him he was gonna need a boat, so we went down to the boat department and I sold him that twin engine Chris Craft. Then he said he didn’t think his Honda Civic would pull it, so I took him down to the automotive department and sold him that 4X4 Blazer.”
The boss said, “A guy came in here to buy a fish hook and you sold him a boat and truck?”
Kid says, “No, he came in here to buy a box of tampons for his wife and I said, ‘Well, your weekend’s shot, you might as well go fishing”
Todays Doctor joke
A friend of mine, after 7 years of medical school and training, has been fired for one minor indiscretion.
He slept with one of his patients and can no longer work in the profession.
What a waste of time, effort, training, and money. Even worse is the fact that he's still paying on his school loans.
This just goes to show how one little mistake can ruin your life.
Thoughts for him and his family.
He really is a great person, and a brilliant veterinarian.
