1/. This is great news - Trump is making the midterms all about him.
"Pretend I'm on the Ballot" he says.
Donald Trump has framed his theme for the midterm elections. It has come to him as naturally and inevitably as staring into the mirror, beyond any logic or argument, his definitive answer to no specific issue, providing no understanding of any particular problem, but transcending all of them. His political theme is more primal than programmatic, more instinctive than analytical, a heartfelt expression to protect his greatest romantic attachment, his obsessive fixation, his idealized object: himself.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/aug/28/trump-midterm-campaign-devotion?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
2/. Some of this is coming......
3/. So many Dolly Parton stories, but this column is especially good.
What a wonderful woman!
The books arrived, like clockwork, once a month. They were often wrapped in transparent paper so that you could see at least part of the cover. The return address read “Imagination Library,” and I’d immediately know where it came from.
“We got another book from Dolly,” I’d say. My wife and I would tear it from the wrapping, sometimes immediately read it to our kids, and add it to a large and growing collection. Some of the books were so well-loved that they fell to pieces, slowly but surely — tiny hands had turned the pages so very many times.
We raised our kids in Tennessee, and so were among the first families with access to Dolly Parton’s literacy program for young people. She started the program in 1995, in Sevier County, and by 2000 she took it national. If you signed your child up at birth, you got one free children’s book per month, every month, for five years.
4/. Bill McKibben thinks we are at the point of no return - the climate tipping point is here....
And there is zero signs of our present suicidal course changing.
So mentally, get ready, just like the guy in the picture.....
In our political life, reality hardly matters any more. Earlier today the president of the United States, in a fit of pique, proposed renaming Lake Ontario “Lake America.” He hides in a food cart and sends journalists out as decoys to be killed on his behalf. His winsome aide hands him an endless stream of flattering tweets. And yet the world stumbles on. People die, obviously, as a result of this folly—in the Middle East, and in middle America, where suddenly measles is a serious threat again. (Hell, the deaths attributable to Elon Musk’s decision to destroy USAid put him in the Stalin and Mao category for negligent manslaughter.) But human societies are for a while resilient; we assume that there’s always a chance for a reset. After the next election normal service will resume. If you start with a rich country like the U.S., it can absorb a lot of decline.
But that’s not how physical systems work. You push them and then past a certain point things change. If the temperature drops below 32 degrees water freezes, and if it rises above 212 then it boils, more or less. This newsletter spends a lot of time in the world of politics, because that’s where we need to make changes. But sometimes we need to remind ourselves that ultimately that political world is a subset of the physical one, simply because that’s how things work.
And we’re now reaching, I think, the point where that physical system is running out of margin.
5/. We
CANNOT let the old elites screw this up.....
6/. Wow. Interesting article, "How Britain Became as Poor as Mississippi"....
It wasn't just Brexit.....
who broke britain? Someone—or something—must have. The past 18 years, enough time for a whole lost generation to be born and brought up, have yielded nothing but stagnation and mass disillusionment. In 2007, before the global financial crisis, Britain was at its postimperial zenith. Median household income had just surpassed that of Germany. A pound was worth more than $2, and London was arguably displacing New York as the center of international banking.
But since then, Britain has been left behind. The country’s output per person is now only just above that of Mississippi, America’s poorest state—and that slight lead is only achieved thanks to London. Outside the capital, in places where tourists do not visit, living standards fall well below Mississippi’s.https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/2026/07/uk-productivity-economy-reform-party/687303/?utm_campaign=one-story-to-read-today&utm_content=20260827&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&lctg=61b66f6492e9391e6c7cfe96&utm_term=One%20Story%20to%20Read%20Today
7/. Just in case you think Google is a "good" company, here's Google Maps......
They have caved to this lunatic like every other large corporation......
And they're trying to have it both ways - do a search in Canada, it's still Lake Ontario.....
- The Trade Context: The decision came amid a sharp trade war and rising tariff disputes between the U.S. and Canada. [1, 2]
- Map Updates: Google Maps updated its platform to show "Lake America" for users in the United States, while continuing to display "Lake Ontario" in Canada and both names internationally, following its policy for names that vary by region. [1]
8/. Nina Conti, the wonderful ventriloquist, with "Project Manager"......6 very funny minutes......
9/. This is how Republicans treat the poor - with deliberate cruelty......
marcella patino was hunched over a table at the South Salt Lake Community Center, her pizza getting cold and her nerves fraying. Patino is a single mom with three kids, and kidlike in her own way, tiny and sweet-voiced. When I met her, in the summer of 2024, she was 33 years old and earning $300 a week doing manicures and pedicures. To bump up her income, she had recently gotten a degree from aesthetician school, meaning she could start offering her clients facials and eyebrow lamination too. She would start making $450 a week soon—$23,400 a year, assuming she was able to work year-round with no breaks.
10/. The delusional life of the MAGAS.....amusing.....
11/. Thom Hartmann likens Natalie Harp to Rasputin, who helped destroy the Russian Tsar....
The people around Trump, according to reports, call it “the Natalie situation.” The word they’re trying to avoid saying out loud is “Rasputin.”
In the past two weeks we’ve discovered that for quite some time his inner circle been trying hard to keep “Trump’s binky” away from the President of the United States.
So much so that they denied her a room at Bedminster (so she slept in the locker room), refused to give her a golf cart while at his golf motel in Scotland (so she chased Trump’s cart all over the golf course), and tried to keep her out of the motorcade going to Trump’s rape and defamation trial in New York (so she hopped into the trunk of one of the limousines). And let’s not forget her hiding with him in the food service truck in Turkey while the press and Secretary of State were relegated to the decoy plane.
12/. This toon applies to quite a few Democrats.......
13/. "How To Spot A Psychopath".
When you read the traits, not just Trump but every tech bro, Musk etc spring to mind.
And quite a few CEO's too.....
The classic checklist for psychopathy was developed in 1980 by Prof Robert Hare, who is still the recognised giant of the territory. The 20 traits, which ranged from pathological lying to a lack of empathy, were based entirely on prison populations. This worked because not only did Hare have the benefit of a large sample, with pronounced psychopathic behaviours, but he was able to compare interviews and self-reporting with data collected about the individuals – so inconsistencies could be identified.
However, Hare knew this approach was limited. In 1976, he said that he simply didn’t know to what extent his results could be generalised to non-incarcerated psychopaths, including female ones. “Research into the socially successful psychopath is badly needed,” he concluded. Even decades later in the early 2000s, when Hare wanted to look into psychopaths in politics, he still needed to go to prison to find them (Pinochet’s henchmen in Chilean jails). Research into the higher-functioning psychopath – who doesn’t get caught, or maybe doesn’t even resort to crime – has proved elusive, not least because self-reporting questionnaires don’t work. Psychopaths lie; arguably, that’s their main thing.
14/. Wow - I had not seen this. "Hurt"
Johnny Cash at 71, an old man going over his life and regrets.
Cash died 7 months after the video was recorded. His wife June died 4 months earlier. Truly his swan song.
A powerful 3 minutes.
15/. Dara Centers, the issue that unites Americans regardless of party.....
Thom Hartmann with a good article....
There’s a growing movement across America that’s turning conventional politics on its head. For example:
— Mostly-Republican farmers in Nebraska are joining up with mostly-Democratic environmentalist to fight a proposed 1,300-acre data center complex.
— Conservative ranchers and rural residents in New Mexico are challengingbillionaire Larry Ellison’s Oracle over a massive water-consuming data center project.
— Communities in Texas that voted overwhelmingly for Trump are demandingmoratoriums on the computer-rack warehouses that are increasingly pockmarking rural America.
This is the 2026 wave of a new populism, and Democrats are jumping on it. https://hartmannreport.com/p/big-tech-is-coming-for-your-water-362?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=302288&post_id=212913036&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=false&r=2cwgv&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email
16/. This one is true.......and it's only taken 18 months......
The leader of Ontario suggests we change Lake Michigan to Lake Epstein!
17/. The
REAL Trump Derangement Syndrome......
18/. "The Airport Chaplain".......good review from the Guardian - on Netflix....
Hugo Weaving plays the eponymous airport chaplain in this pacy and moreish eight-part series, which was co-created by Elise McCredie and Jude Troy, and directed with jittery flair by Bonnie Moir and Tig Terera. In case you were wondering, yes, that profession really does exist.
I doubt the lives of real airport chaplains are anywhere near as frenetic as those of this show’s protagonist, Tobias Wallace (Weaving), whose existence is a testament to that old saying: “Not all heroes wear capes.” Sometimes, they wear hi-vis.
The Airport Chaplain wastes no time establishing Tobias as a gallant do-gooder determined to save the day, as he rescues the toy rabbit of a distressed child. Tobias is a problem-solver, finding out-of-the-box solutions to all kinds of prickly situations, from locating lost baggage to transporting dead bodies, from intervening in cases of domestic violence to playing matchmaker, helping online lovers connect in real life. And sometimes, God forbid, he even provides spiritual counsel, such as helping a grieving son to deal with his father’s death.
19/. Bob Lefsetz likes "Furious".....
Some lessons are immutable. We learned this in record retail. If the album is not available when the customer walks in to buy it, chances are they’ll purchase something else, or walk out without buying anything, and the odds of them returning for the original disc are extremely low.
I wouldn’t have watched “Time” if “Furious” was available. And if “Furious” wasn’t so damn good, I wouldn’t go back to it.
But “Furious” is GREAT!
I found it via research.
I ask everybody what they’re watching. And when they come up with the usual suspects, my eyes roll into the back of my head and I shut up, because nothing I say will resonate with them, because they haven’t seen anything I have.
And not one single person has contacted me about “Furious.” Never has a show so good generated so little scuttlebutt.
Now what we’ve got in “Furious” is a serial killer.
https://lefsetz.com/wordpress/2026/08/24/furious/
20/. The Guardian with movies to watch out for soon.....
Old favourites Shaun the Sheep, Dune 3, Jane Austen and Godzilla join Charles de Gaulle, the Peasants’ Revolt
and queer identity in Spain.
Today's guys joke
I mowed the lawn today, and after doing so I sat down and had a cold beer.
The day was really quite beautiful, and the drink facilitated some deep thinking.
My wife walked by and asked me what I was doing, and I said, "Nothing."
The reason I said "nothing" instead of saying "just thinking" is because she then would have asked, "About what? "
At that point I would have had to explain that men are deep thinkers about various topics, which would lead to other questions.
Finally I pondered an age old question: Is giving birth more painful than getting kicked in the nuts?
Women always maintain that giving birth is way more painful than a guy getting kicked in the nuts, but how could they know?
Well, after another beer, and some more heavy deductive thinking, I have come up with an answer to that question.
Getting kicked in the nuts is more painful than having a baby, and even though I obviously couldn't really know, here is the reason for my conclusion.
A year or so after giving birth, a woman will often say, "It might be nice to have another child."
On the other hand, you never hear a guy say, "You know, I think I would like another kick in the nuts."
I rest my case. Time for another beer, and then maybe a nap
Today's Irish joke
A London lawyer runs a stop sign and gets pulled over by an Irish cop.
He thinks that he is smarter than the cop because he is a lawyer from LONDON and is certain that he has a better education then any Irish cop. He decides to prove this to himself and have some fun at the Irish cop's expense!
Irish cop says,"License and registration, please."
London Lawyer says, "What for?"
Irish cop says,"Ye didnae come to a complete stop at the stop sign."
London Lawyer says, "I slowed down, and no one was coming."
Irish cop says,"Ye still didnae come to a complete stop. License and registration, please"
London Lawyer says, "What's the difference?"
Irish cop says, "The difference is, ye huvte come to complete stop, that's the law. License and registration,please!"
London Lawyer says, "If you can show me the legal difference between slow down and stop, I'll give you my license and registration and you give me the ticket. If not, you let me go and don't give me the ticket."
Irish cop says, "Sounds fair. Exit your vehicle, sir."
The London Lawyer exits his vehicle.
The Irish cop takes out his baton and starts beating the living s**t out of the lawyer and says, "Daeye want me to stop, or just slow down? "
Today's medical joke
Two medical students were walking along the street when they saw an old man
walking with his legs spread apart. He was stiff-legged and walking slowly.
One student said to his friend: "I'm sure that poor old man has Peltry Syndrome. Those people walk just like that."
The other student says: "No, I don't think so. The old man surely has Zovitzki Syndrome. He walks slowly and his legs are apart, just as we learned in class."
Since they couldn't agree they decided to ask the old man.
They approached him And one of the students said to him, "We're medical students and couldn't help But notice the way you walk, but we couldn't agree on the syndrome you might have. Could you tell us what it is?"
The old man said, "I'll tell you, but first you tell me what you two fine medical students think."
The first student said, "I think it's Peltry Syndrome."
The old man said, "You thought - but you are wrong."
The other student said, "I think you have Zovitzki Syndrome."
The old man said, "You thought - but you are wrong."
So they asked him, "Well, old timer, what do you have?"
The old man said, " Well, I thought it was GAS - but I was wrong, too!"
