Been on vacation!
1/. Thom Hartmann with an excellent discussion of what's at stake in November, and how the billionaires are
trying to manipulate us with deceitful ads.....
Will the worldwide revolt against oligarchy reach America before the billionaires buy our elections this fall?
Two weeks ago tomorrow, on September 23rd, Madrid’s police had to cordon off a downtown street to carry an 87-year-old woman named María del Carmen Abascal out of the apartment she’d lived in for seven decades. She normally uses a wheelchair, so they carried her out on a stretcher, which provided some truly inflammatory social media video. All because her landlord wanted to raise the rent, which requires a change of tenants.
The pictures of María being carried out of her apartment lit Spain on fire; she’s become the face of the nation’s housing crisis which has seen average rents nearly double in the past ten years. This past weekend tens of thousands marched again, with about a thousand people camped out in Madrid’s Puerta del Sol: one banner read “Looking for an apartment, selling a kidney.”
2/. Now the fascists want to be "respectable"......
3/. You know Trump and his toadies are planning to steal the election, and this article describes how they might do it......
But the only way to crush them is for a massive blue wave to happen......
Having lost his mail-in ballot case, Donald Trump will probably resort to ever more extreme ways to try to hold a Republican Congress in November’s elections.
His last-ditch effort to count Joe Biden out in 2020 was for Republicans to “investigate” states Biden narrowly won; proclaim fabricated allegations of “stolen elections” to be true; and then reassign those states’ electoral votes to Trump. I have previously described how that same playbook could be used to try to steal the midterms if a Democratic margin of victory in the House is relatively narrow.
Less discussed, however, has been what Senate Democrats could do to stop the danger.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/sep/29/senate-democrats-trump-midterms?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
5/. Bob Lefsetz on politics - you may not agree with everything he says, but it's worth reading anyway......
People didn’t love Donald Trump in 2024.
But they did hate Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.
Meanwhile, we constantly have to hear about Harris possibly running again, makes me tear out what little hair I have left, she is an inauthentic loser who couldn’t even get one delegate back in the 2020 primary season!
There, I said it, positively heresy. She’s Black, she’s a woman, how could I say anything negative?
Now let me see… Joe Biden was too old and they said he was not and then he evidenced this on television and told us not to believe our eyes while he dilly-dallied for weeks deciding to retire, like a baseball player who has lost a step. And we Democrats are pissed. Because the team has been managed so poorly. It’s hard to be a fan when the General Manager denies the truth and when changes are made, they are worse.
6/. Boy I wish this was funny!
7/ Medicare for all is a winning strategy for Democrats, but we will be up against the monster health insurance giants.....
Also Hakim Jefferies and many of the corporate Dems have been bought by the industry, so they will resist it.
Tayler Gonzalez is 32 years old, athletic, and engaged to be married; earlier this year, he suffered a stroke and needed extended rehab to recover. His insurance company, UnitedHealthcare, inserted themselves between Tayler and his doctor, saying that they wouldn’t pay for it, so Tayler and his fiancée just put up a GoFundMe page to cover the cost. Welcome to America, where six Republicans on the Supreme Court say that it’s totally legal for massive corporations to pay off judges and politicians to keep their profits up. Even politicians slated to possibly become the Speaker of the House.
8/. This is amusing - parts of an episode of Star Trek dubbed into Italian, with completely inappropriate subtitles.
Seven minutes....
9/. It's open enrollment time for Medicare, so as this article says get ready for some Trumpie increases in costs.
Also - if you are 60-ish and considering Medicare Advantage, DO NOT sign up for it. Go for traditional Medicare and a supplemental plan.
Medicare open enrollment starts October 15th and continues through December 7th. Everyone who has Medicare, in whatever form, should pay close attention to their coverage for the year ahead. You may be surprised at how much is about to change – in both costs and coverage.
Here’s a look at the headline changes seniors will be forced to confront. And in next week’s column, I’ll show you how to find trusted advice to guide you through the process. Ignoring Medicare during Open Enrollment is not an option for any senior. https://www.terrysavage.com/medicare-open-enrollment-4/
10/. It's Musk and Zuck in their silos!
11/. Excellent story on the blatant corruption of Florida Republicans.....
On Sept. 30 of last year — almost exactly a year ago to the day — Attorney General James Uthmeier voted to spend $83 million of taxpayer money buying four acres of vacant land in the Panhandle owned by a prominent developer and political donor.Florida’s Republican attorney general — who holds one of three seats on the statewide Cabinet, which must approve major property purchases — cast his vote in favor of the controversial land deal just a few months after his fundraising committee deposited a $25,000 donation from a company run by Robert Guidry, a developer who does business in Florida and Louisiana and who was the owner of the tiny spit of land in Destin that Florida bought for more than $20 million an acre. https://jasongarcia.substack.com/p/top-republicans-are-raising-money?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=687064&post_id=218692890&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=2cwgv&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email
12/. Bill McKibben with climate news.....and some cautious optimism.....
I have been open about feeling a little exhausted and despairing of late (if by open, one means publishing an essay about it on the Sunday oped
page of the Times). Part of it is the ever-growing sense that AI is out-of-control (listen to Ezra Klein’s interview with David Robinson yesterday) and part of it is the psychic toll of the daily dispatches from our nation’s leader (today: anyone who doesn’t use the “highly accepted new and more accurate term Super Intelligence is THE ENEMY.”) And much of it is the news from the physical world. I’m going to start with that hard scientific update today, but I promise I’m not going to end there—the arc of this short essay is going to tend towards the more hopeful. Because there are ways to fight, and this is the moment to be doing it, and because if you’re like me you need some of that spirit right now.
13/. Trump TV.....rot your brain!
14/. David Wallace-Wells does a summary of where we are politically, as of late September/early October.
Most interesting - there are signs of hope.....
It’s been six months since President Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth attacked Iran. There are now street protests over fuel costs around the world. But the price of oil is down below $100 again, as it has been for much of the war. In America, we are dealing with higher gas prices and some additional inflation, but given the loud warnings of economic catastrophe we heard in the spring, the economic impact looks relatively modest. As with the tariffs, the war has hurt the economy, but you could also be forgiven for whistling into the fall thinking the panic back in March was a story of the boy who cried wolf.
15/. It's getting like this!
16/. John Oliver does some excellent comedic reporting, and this is an excellent example.
He dives into the world of health insurance, concentrating on United Healthcare which appears to be one of the most ruthless ones.
You will learn a lot from this show, as well as be amused. About 30 minutes.....
17/. Painfully amusing....
18/. A five star review from the Guardian - "Youth", with Sharon Horgan......on HBO...
There’s a moment in Sharon Horgan’s new show, Youth, when – as protagonist Alex (Horgan) is seeing her son off to university – she inadvertently begins to run after the car that’s taking him away. And then she catches herself, and slows. And then she starts up again. It was such a tender, vicious glimpse into the future that I found myself sobbing into the sofa and cursing her name.
All of which is to say: Sharon Horgan is back and she’s better than ever. Youth is the representation every woman who has ever slapped on an oestrogen patch after a divorce, looked around and thought “What the hell now?” has been waiting for.
19/. Ten films to look out for in the coming months.....
Defining Toronto’s place within the fall festival season has become a little harder in recent years. As fewer studios and film-makers want to brave the risks that come attached to premiering on such a stage (last year’s best picture winner One Battle After Another skipped festivals entirely and went straight to cinema), those that do tend to prefer Venice, Telluride and, especially this year, New York.
Last year’s biggest Toronto breakout was Obsession, a micro-budget, up-for-sale horror that played as part of the midnight madness strand, and while that film is now being pushed as an awards contender, it’s not what crowds and pundits typically expect from the starry, prestige-first festival. Is it best viewed now as a rough-and-ready genre hub or maybe a sales market, where perhaps we can still expect some Oscar contenders to be unveiled. It can make figuring out what to see and what to avoid a little harder – but here are some films to keep an eye on over the next week or so.
20/. Like period soaps? "East Of Eden" is for you. On Netflix
It is rarely difficult to distinguish between a John Steinbeck novel and a ray of sunshine. The new adaptation of his 1952 book East of Eden doesn’t buck the trend and wastes no time plunging us into the murk. The opening scene follows a beaten, bloodied woman as she crawls across a muddy field towards the only house for miles around. Out of the house come two brothers. One rushes to rescue her. The other takes one look and announces: “This is a mistake.” Brother, you have no idea.
The rescuer is Adam Trask (Christopher Abbott), the sceptic Charles (Mike Faist). Cut back 25 years to watch them being raised in misery in an essentially motherless household by their monstrous father, Cyrus (Tracy Letts), a civil war veteran and ceaseless recounter of his heroics therein. Charles longs to follow in his footsteps. Adam is beaten for his lack of aggressive instinct. But it is Adam whom Cyrus sends to enlist and Charles he forces to stay behind and work on the family farm. “Because,” he says to Adam in a rare instance of paternal wisdom, “there are loose things in him that should be reined down.”
21/. A five star review of the Elizabeth Holmes documentary "You Can See Everything"....
In theaters Oct, 16, no streaming date yet......
For anyone remotely near the worlds of documentary, comedy or medical fraud, there has been one thing on the mind for weeks now: a single-minute clip of Nathan Fielder, the absurdist comedian whose boundary-pushing HBO series The Rehearsal cemented his status as docu-reality’s premier auteur, staring into the deep blue eyes ofElizabeth Holmes, the disgraced founder of the blood-testing startup Theranos. Unblinking, faces inches apart, the famously dry purveyor of harebrained business schemes and the convicted fraudster appeared locked in a battle of wills. “Are you being real right now?” Fielder asked her, in a classically meta bit – could Fielder really have spent years filming a secret documentary with one of Silicon Valley’s most notorious pariahs?
Today's silly, rude but amusing joke
A young man was showing off his new sports car to his girlfriend.
She was thrilled at the speed.
"If I do 150 mph, will you take off your clothes?" he asked.
"Yes!" said his adventurous girlfriend.
And as he gets up to 150, she peeled off all her clothes.
Unable to keep his eyes on the road, the car skidded onto some gravel and flipped over.
The naked girl was thrown clear, but he was jammed beneath the steering wheel.
"Go and get help!" he cried.
"But I can't. I'm naked and my clothes are gone!"
"Take my shoe", he said, "and cover yourself."
Holding the shoe over her pubes, the girl ran down the road and found a service station.
Still holding the shoe between her legs, she pleaded to the service station proprietor, "Please help me! My boyfriend's stuck!"
The proprietor looked at the shoe and said, "There's nothing I can do...he's in too far."
Another rude joke
A man enters a confessional, and says to the Irish Priest,
"Father, it has been one month since my last confession, and I've sinned with Fannie Green every week for the last month."
The Priest tells the sinner, "You are forgiven. Go out and say three Hail Mary's."
Soon, another man enters the confessional.
"Father, it has been two months since my last confession. I have sinned with Fannie Green twice a week for the last two months."
This time the Priest asks, "Who is this Fannie Green?"
"A new woman in the neighbourhood," the sinner replies.
"Very well," says the Priest. "Go and say ten Hail Mary's."
The next morning in church, the Priest is preparing to deliver his sermon, when a gorgeous, tall woman enters the church.
All the men's eyes fall upon her as she slowly sashays up the aisle, and sits down in front of the Altar.
Her dress is green and very short, with matching shiny emerald green shoes.
The Priest and altar boy gasp as the woman sits down with her legs slightly spread apart, Sharon Stone-style.
The Priest turns to the altar boy and asks in a whisper, "Is that Fannie Green?"
The altar boy replies ................. "No Father,
I think it's just the reflection off her shoes"
Today's lawyer jokes
HOW DO COURT REPORTERS KEEP STRAIGHT FACES????
These are from a book called Disorder in the American Courts and are things people actually said in court, word for word, taken down
and published by court reporters that had the torment of staying calm while the exchanges were taking place.
ATTORNEY: What was the first thing your husband said to you that morning?
WITNESS: He said, 'Where am I, Cathy?'
ATTORNEY: And why did that upset you?
WITNESS: My name is Susan!
______________________________
ATTORNEY: What gear were you in at the moment of the impact?
WITNESS: Gucci sweats and Reeboks.
____________________________________________
ATTORNEY: Are you sexually active?
WITNESS: No, I just lie there.
____________________________________________
ATTORNEY: What is your date of birth?
WITNESS: July 18th.
ATTORNEY: What year?
WITNESS: Every year.
_____________________________________
ATTORNEY: How old is your son, the one living with you?
WITNESS: Thirty-eight or thirty-five, I can't remember which.
ATTORNEY: How long has he lived with you?
WITNESS: Forty-five years.
_________________________________
ATTORNEY: This myasthenia gravis, does it affect your memory at all?
WITNESS: Yes.
ATTORNEY: And in what ways does it affect your memory?
WITNESS: I forget..
ATTORNEY: You forget? Can you give us an example of something you forgot?
___________________________________________
ATTORNEY: Now doctor, isn't it true that when a person dies in his sleep, he doesn't know about it until the next morning?
WITNESS: Did you actually pass the bar exam?
____________________________________
ATTORNEY: The youngest son, the 20-year-old, how old is he?
WITNESS: He's 20, much like your IQ.
___________________________________________
ATTORNEY: Were you present when your picture was taken?
WITNESS: Are you shitting me?
_________________________________________
ATTORNEY: So the date of conception (of the baby) was August 8th?
WITNESS: Yes.
ATTORNEY: And what were you doing at that time?
WITNESS: Getting laid
____________________________________________
ATTORNEY: She had three children , right?
WITNESS: Yes.
ATTORNEY: How many were boys?
WITNESS: None.
ATTORNEY: Were there any girls?
WITNESS: Your Honor, I think I need a different attorney. Can I get a new attorney?
____________________________________________
ATTORNEY: How was your first marriage terminated?
WITNESS: By death..
ATTORNEY: And by whose death was it terminated?
WITNESS: Take a guess.
___________________________________________
ATTORNEY: Can you describe the individual?
WITNESS: He was about medium height and had a beard
ATTORNEY: Was this a male or a female?
WITNESS: Unless the Circus was in town I'm going with male.
____________________________________
ATTORNEY: Is your appearance here this morning pursuant to a deposition notice which I sent to your attorney?
WITNESS: No, this is how I dress when I go to work.
______________________________________
ATTORNEY: Doctor , how many of your autopsies have you performed on dead people?
WITNESS: All of them. The live ones put up too much of a fight.
_________________________________________
ATTORNEY: ALL your responses MUST be oral, OK? What school did you go to?
WITNESS: Oral...
_________________________________________
ATTORNEY: Do you recall the time that you examined the body?
WITNESS: The autopsy started around 8:30 PM
ATTORNEY: And Mr. Denton was dead at the time?
WITNESS: If not, he was by the time I finished.
____________________________________________
ATTORNEY: Are you qualified to give a urine sample?
WITNESS: Are you qualified to ask that question?
______________________________________
And last:
ATTORNEY: Doctor, before you performed the autopsy, did you check for a pulse?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: Did you check for blood pressure?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: Did you check for breathing?
WITNESS: No..
ATTORNEY: So, then it is possible that the patient was alive when you began the autopsy?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: How can you be so sure, Doctor?
WITNESS: Because his brain was sitting on my desk in a jar.
ATTORNEY: I see, but could the patient have still been alive, nevertheless?
WITNESS: Yes, it is possible that he could have been alive and practicing law.
Today's golfer joke
Only a golfer would understand this story of a…GOLFER AT THE DENTIST
A man and his wife walked into a dentist's office.
The man said to the dentist, "Doc, I'm in one heck of a hurry. I have two buddies sitting out in my car waiting for us to go play golf, so forget about the anesthetic, I don't have time for the gums to get numb. I just want you to pull the tooth, and be done with it!
We have a 10:00 AM tee time at the best golf course in town and it's 9:30 already... I don't have time to wait for the anesthetic to work!'
The dentist thought to himself, "My goodness, this is surely a very brave man asking to have his tooth pulled without using anything to kill the pain."
So the dentist asks him, "Which tooth is it, sir?"
The man turned to his wife and said, "Open your mouth honey, and show him.
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