Excerpt: A source close to the issue said refrigeration control systems from Danish manufacturer Danfoss were targeted. Danfoss told AFP in a statement that most of the affected equipment was “legacy” products which “no longer receive software or security updates.”

Me again: Can a source close to sanity explain why refrigerators are online?

Too late for me, damn it. Wife’s dead and I’m pushing 70 and absolutely not looking for love.

Well, let’s see. President Trump is building a bomb-proof military bunker adjacent to the White House, and an arch that’s actually a sniper nest and drone and weapons repository.

America sides with notorious killer-states like Russia, North Korea, and always Israel, invades Venezuela and seizes that country’s oil, goes to war with Iran on a whim, and blockades and starves Cuba.

Flock cameras watch virtually all roads in America and feed data to police and authorities, mass surveillance data centers are under construction near wherever you are, billions of dollars are budgeted for construction of more and more concentration camps politely called “detention centers,” and the President of the United States never stops saying that American elections are rigged and can’t be trusted.

And now the news…

Good Christ, it’s Thomas Friedman making sense. Pretty sure that was foretold in the Book of Revelations.

Trump refers to Somali Americans as “garbage” and has made racist insults specifically about Omar, so this is jack and also shit.

The claim is that Rep Omar’s father fudged facts on immigration paperwork when Omar was a child, but who’s looking through decades-old immigration paperwork, unless you’re an enemy of Trump?

And in the highly unlikely event there’s a smidgen of truth behind this raid, we turn now to Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, an immigration advocate and expert: “An important bit of immigration law which is relevant here; there is already a waiver process — Section 212(k) of the INA — by which immigrants who obtain status through fraud that they didn’t know about can avoid consequences like losing a green card. So this is even weaker than it already seems.”

Rep. Ilhan Omar’s phone seized and relatives subpoenaed in criminal probe, AP source says

Trump officials scrutinized Omar in 2019. They didn’t find citizenship issues.

Startlingly gullible journalism, or more likely propaganda from the Wall Street Journal — an entire article built on the non-credible and evidence-free claim that the Trump airstrikes in the Caribbean are targeting drug smugglers.

Yeah, blowing fishermen out of the water and leaving them to drown won’t have much effect on drug smuggling.

Zelensky explains

Boring article, not worth reading, except for this odd line: “Ms. Collins, who supports abortion rights, has stood by her vote for Mr. Kavanaugh as it has become a central issue in the election.”

Senator Susan Collins supports abortion rights? On this planet? When? How? Is there even the slightest evidence this claim is true? Did Collins say once in a 1980s speech that she supports abortion rights? Did she wear a NOW pin on her jacket, on her way to voting to confirm Kavanaugh and overturn Roe v Wade?

Excerpt: The NY Times posted a 15-minute video today in which I got to tell NYT what’s wrong with its coverage. They said they saw my critical posts on Bluesky and invited me to do a video with them to air my grievances. Weird, right? I didn’t hold back. I blasted their sanewashing of MAGA extremism.

Me again: And listen to the Times guy’s breathtakingly mealy-mouthed response.

The joke might be a bit too subtle, so lemme ‘splain: When police kill someone, the news headline never says police killed someone. It’s virtually always phrased “[Perp] dies in officer-involved shooting.” Propaganda happens.

Assuming that reporters follow the news, it simply can’t be ‘accidental’ when the New York Times‘ extended analysis of Elon Musk’s big-budget election spending can’t spare a paragraph or even a sentence to mention that Musk is buddy-buddy with Nazis and near-Nazis all over the world.

Excerpt: Traders had grown accustomed to prices lurching wildly on developments in the Middle East. But this time, some bettors had timed it perfectly. Billions of dollars’ worth of contracts predicting oil would fall and the S&P 500 would rise were placed about 15 minutes before the president announced his U-turn in a post on Truth Social, fueling widespread speculation about whether someone had an unfair advantage.

Responsibility for looking into the incident fell to the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the federal derivatives regulator whose remit — and profile — has soared with the advent of cryptocurrencies and prediction markets. There, a team of career forensic analysts embarked on their usual task of pulling together data on the day’s winners and losers. …

What happened next, they said, was highly unusual: Mel Gunewardena, a senior adviser to the agency’s Trump-appointed chairman, Michael Selig, told a supervisor within the market oversight team to retract the referral.

Excerpt: [Federal Judge Ana Reyes] fumed at the hearing that she had given the Trump administration “the benefit of the doubt” at every turn to disclose its plans for the course, only to learn while traveling that the government had moved ahead.

Me again: The only thing I know about Judge Reyes is that it’s October of 2026 and she’s still giving the Trump regime the benefit of the doubt. Which means she’s a fool and/or a tool, but maybe, maybe she’s wising up?

Of course. They don’t want you to see what they’re doing.

Houston man ICE was pursuing was already killed by immigration agents, in 2017

Ken Paxton took campaign funds from donors with interests before his office

Paxton is the second most openly-corrupt politician in America, behind only Donald Trump, yet Paxton is in a very close race for the Senate in Texas.

Is that closeness an indictment of Texans, that they haven’t recoiled in disgust from Paxton, or is it a sad statement about Democrats, after so many quisling Dem candidates and decades of Dems doing diddlysquat for Americans?

If we were allowed an actual opposition party, I believe that fictional party would be polling 50 points ahead, everywhere.

Ken Paxton partied in Dubai with fugitives ahead of high-stakes Texas Senate race

Enjoying the fireworks

Before it was called off, I asked BetOnline if they had any moral qualms about users betting on whether or not the execution of a human being by firing squad will be live-streamed

This is flamboyantly illegal, of course, but so’s everything else Republicans are doing.

Do tell, New York Times, what’s the difference between promoting a false rumor and telling a lie?

Excerpt: The New York Times reviewed time-stamped images from a security camera at Mr. Talarico’s home, which were provided by his campaign on the condition they not be published for security reasons. The images showed Mr. Talarico around the exterior of the home and at its entrances between Oct. 1 and Oct. 8.

Me again: We’re dealing with endless lies from lying Republicans who lie endlessly, and I don’t think the liars deserve even the courtesy of taking their lies so seriously.

Then he said a reporter couldn’t record him — during a press conference

As White House press secretary, she’s supposed to convey accurate information, so I do hope a reporter asks her which elites in Hollywood and the Democratic Party are sexually trafficking kids and eating people.

Why bother voting for a Democrat who doesn’t want to oppose Republicans, doesn’t care about the Trump’s lawbreaking, Constitution-shredding, daily sprint toward fascism, etc? Like the Dems need to be more milquetoast?

Excerpt: When asked if impeachment was a top priority, [House Dem Leader Hakeem] Jeffries said “of course not” during an appearance on Fox News Sunday. “I’ve made clear from the very beginning that our top priority is going to be to drive down the high cost of living.”

Excerpt: “The timing of this raid and reports that a White House official was involved raise serious questions that should concern all Americans, regardless of political party.”

Me again: No, the raid does not “raise serious questions.” The questions have been answered. We are miles and miles and miles past “raising serious questions.”

This is, I think, the first AI startup to declare bankruptcy, at least among the (too) many I’ve heard of.

Character.AI’s bankruptcy documents show the economics of AI don’t work

Why is it even legal to run a company renting mercenaries?

Excerpt: In the past 72 hours, Donald Trump has dropped all pretense, torched a couple decades of American policy, and undermined 18 months of his own diplomacy. He lifted sanctions on the import of Russian diesel fuel, in violation of the letter and spirit of laws that he himself signed. He has threatened to stop sharing intelligence with Ukraine, unless Ukraine agrees not to target Russian refineries, thus demanding that Kyiv give up its most effective weapon while asking nothing from Russia in exchange. He has not criticized Russian attacks on Ukrainian power plants or factories, even those owned by American companies. He has offered no condolences for the recent deaths of Ukrainian children in Russian bombing raids.

He has lied repeatedly. He declared that Ukraine and Russia had agreed to an “energy cease-fire,” an announcement that surprised the Ukrainians and that in any case the Russians immediately broke, hitting a power plant in Kharkiv only hours later. He accused Ukraine of blocking negotiations, when in reality the Ukrainians have repeatedly proposed cease-fires and Russia has never agreed to a cease-fire or any meaningful negotiation at all.

He has described Ukraine’s democratically elected president as an obstacle to negotiations and told him to leave office. But on Friday, before making these new decisions, he held yet another long, friendly telephone conversation with the Russian dictator, who really could end the war today. All Vladimir Putin has to do is tell his soldiers to stop fighting, and then the war is over. The Ukrainians cannot stop fighting because, if they do, their country will be conquered and they will suffer the fate of their occupied territories: leaders murdered, children kidnapped, repression and concentration camps for everyone else. If Trump knows this, then he does not care.

NATO details plan to shield Ukraine’s European allies from Russia

Excerpt: “Anyone who, for any reason — treason, stupidity, or money — wants to weaken Ukraine in its defense against Russian aggression is clearly acting against their own nation, the security of their own state, and its sovereignty,” [the Polish Prime Minister] said.

Zelensky comment raises fears over US intelligence sharing

Excerpt: His statement came days after the Trump administration appeared to threaten to cut off intelligence sharing unless Ukraine stopped striking Russian oil refineries.

Elon Musk throttles Ukraine’s Starlink access, limiting drone warfare

Presumably at the Trump regime’s request, the world’s richest man has decided that Russia will win its war on Ukraine.

It’s important, I believe, that Russia not win its war against Ukraine, same as it’s important America not win its war against Iran. Aggressor tyrants must be repelled, or you get world wars and such shit.

But Trump has aligned America with Russia the aggressor, against Ukraine the victim. This is a betrayal of … really, everything America pretends to stand for.

Order to limit SpaceX Starshield for Ukraine came from inside White House, sources say

World, please understand: There’s no longer any such thing as being an ally of the United States. You’re either an ally of Trump, or an enemy.

Excerpt: The proposed rule states that “any substance used in food (both directly or indirectly added) will be exempted from regulation as a food additive” if there is “no appreciable risk to human health”.

Advocates say the problem lies in the definition of “appreciable risk”. Chemicals like perchlorate, some phthalates, some bisphenols, some Pfas “forever chemicals” and some flame retardants are not classified as carcinogenic, but they can cause harm at doses far lower than 0.5ppb. These could in theory be used as TOR ingredients, as could chemicals that are neurotoxic, cause brain damage, attack the immune system, harm the microbiota or give rise to any number of other adverse health impacts.

Excerpt: A fifth of all fish pulled from the world’s oceans is now put to uses other than human consumption — mostly to make fishmeal and fish oil.

OMG, this employee didn’t respect the privacy of executives at the world’s #3 gang of privacy-thieves, after only the CIA and Facebook.

Well, every time it happens, Antrhopic must be held legally liable. The legal standard must be, AI manufacturers are responsible for whatever their AI software does.