Jessie J. - H.A.P.P.Y.

Happy Halloween

So Much for Trump's Historical "Peace" Deal

Republican elected officials, right-wing pundits, and gullible reporters all heaped mountains of praise onto President Donald Trump after Hamas and Israel agreed to a ceasefire on Oct. 9, which secured the release of hostages Hamas had taken in exchange for Israel to stop its military strikes in Gaza.

On its cover, Time magazine ran a photo of Trump alongside the words "HIS TRIUMPH." GOP lawmakers demanded the president be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for “brokering historic deals to end wars that have lasted for decades.” And The Washington Post’s editorial board said Trump had achieved a “generational accomplishment.” Others criticized Democrats for not giving Trump credit for the Middle East peace he supposedly brokered.

But those toadies now have egg on their face. The ceasefire between Hamas and Israel appears to be collapsing not even three weeks after the ceasefire deal was announced.  Israel unilaterally carried out military strikes in Gaza, and then claimed the ceasefire was now back on after it completed the attacks.

What kind of ceasefire is it if every so often either side is launching strikes or violating the terms of a peace deal that is supposedly in place?  It's almost as if a lot of people preemptively celebrated the end to a decades-old crisis that no politician has ever been able to solve.

“How long is the U.S. media going to pretend that there is really a ceasefire in place?” Tommy Vietor, who was a spokesman for former President Barack Obama’s National Security Council, wrote in a post on X. “Clearly [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu's plan is to bomb Gaza whenever he wants in perpetuity. Hamas has not been disarmed. Trump took a huge victory lap but none of the big problems are solved.”

 

History-Making Hurricane Slams Jamaica

Hurricane Melissa (the most powerful Atlantic hurricane in history) has made landfall in Jamaica, slamming the coastline near New Hope (a town on the southwestern coast of the Caribbean island) around 1 p.m. Eastern. 

"The central pressure (892 mb) and maximum sustained winds (185 mph) of Melissa are on par with the 1935 Labor Day Hurricane at landfall in the Florida Keys," AccuWeather Senior Director of Forecast Operations Dan DePodwin said. 

U.S. Air Force photo of the eye of the storm, taken yesterday to collect data for the National Hurricane Center.              

The northern edge of Hurricane Melissa’s eye wall, bringing some of its most violent winds, produced flash flooding and storm surges as its pushed onto Jamaica’s coast. The storm’s intensification — with sustained winds stronger than those of Hurricane Katrina at its peak — came with dire warnings from officials. “Jamaica, this is not the time to be brave,” Desmond McKenzie, the minister coordinating disaster response.  Just before landfall, the majority of hospitals in Jamaica continued to have power, while a few others were relying on generators, Daryl Vaz, the country’s minister of energy and transportation, said at a news conference. “There is no plan at this point to shut down the grid,” he added.

Melissa will track directly over Jamaica for the next few hours, bringing catastrophic winds, flooding rain and life-threatening storm surge. Central parts of Jamaica could see as much as 30 inches of rain over the next two days, said Evan Thompson, principal director of Jamaica’s Meteorological Service. A restaurant owner in the village of Alligator Pond on the southwestern coast of Jamaica (75km southeast of where the hurricane made landfall) said the “whole coastline is gone.” 

Hegseth and His Weird Thing With Beards

Pete Hegseth is laser-focused on what is really important: making sure America’s armed forces are clean-shaven.   What? You were expecting that his priority would be overseeing a bombing campaign that is quite clearly extrajudicial murder?

While in South Korea, Hegseth has declared that he will not be meeting with any troops who are not clean-shaven,  The beard thing is an absolutely unhinged and bigoted obsession for Hegseth. Service members are required to be clean-shaven, but they can obtain a shaving waiver and maintain a beard if they have a medical necessity or a religious exemption. However, since Hegseth’s eyes cannot abide the sight of a beard, he’s eliminated permanent shaving waivers. 

This fixation is not just a weird idiosyncratic thing for Hegseth (something on which he places outsized importance but doesn’t really matter to others). What's really underlying it is Hegseth’s constant obsession with stripping the military of everyone except white men. 

Most soldiers who need a shaving waiver for medical necessity are Black, because Black men get pseudofolliculitis barbae, where curly hair grows back into the skin and causes painful bumps and scarring. The only real treatment for it is not to shave closely. About 3% of white men have the condition, but for Black men it’s anywhere from 45-80%.   So, Hegseth’s “no beardos” rule is going to disproportionately affect Black men, which is precisely what Hegseth wants. Now, anyone who requires a shaving waiver for longer than a year will be involuntarily separated from the military. 

There are also religions that require men to maintain beards-- and let’s just guess they are probably not religions Hegseth thinks should exist. Both Islam and Sikhism require beards, so this policy may also have the effect of forcing those troops to choose between their faith and their jobs. Real nice religious freedom you got there!

 

Trump is Making Your Halloween Candy More Expensive

Has anyone else felt a chill while walking down the candy aisle this year?   It's not the unseen ghosts of the Biden administration causing a shudder, but the price of chocolate. The cost of the popular sweets has been on the rise for quite some time, and this past year was no exception.

According to research conducted by Finance Buzz, the price tag of 100-piece candy bags rose on average by about $2 this year (after Trump was elected).  Convicted felon Donald Trump promised he would do something to lower the prices affecting families, but that (like most everything else coming out of his mouth) was complete bullshit. 

Chocolate has been facing a cost crisis since Trump took office. When Trump’s chaotic tariffs came for major cocoa exporters like Brazil, West Africa, and Ecuador over the summer, that set the stage for higher Halloween candy prices. 

Trump later issued an exemption for cocoa products coming out of Indonesia, but that was peanuts compared to the largest exporters of cocoa.  Trump continued to hold a personal grudge against Brazil, since former Brazilian president Bolsonaro was convicted of crimes related to the Brazilian coup.  As for West Africa and Ecuador, who knows-- maybe they haven't yet nominated Trump for the Nobel Prize. 

But it’s climate change that’s emerging as the major challenge for chocolate makers trying to keep prices low.  Major cocoa exporters like West Africa have been hit hard by increasingly tumultuous weather patterns. And with dwindling supply—well, you know how it goes. 

The spookiest part of all of this geopolitical chocolate talk is that the Trump administration has been doing its part to ensure cocoa—and all other crops—might never see their glory days again.   Environmental Protection Agency Secretary Lee Zeldin has dismantled programs studying climate change while proudly announcing he was prepared to “drive a dagger through the heart of climate change religion.”  To make matters worse, Zeldin has openly said that he no longer believes in the harmful effects of greenhouse gases. 

In other words, don’t expect the Trump administration to help make your candy bars any cheaper.

   

Trump's Demolition of History and Precedence

President Donald Trump’s vision for a billionaire-backed ballroom is coming to fruition. What used to be the East Wing, housing the first lady’s offices, staff and other historic rooms, is now an empty plot of land. Initially, White House staffers were told not to share photos of the demolition. But satellite images released Thursday reveal the full extent of the destruction. 

The photos stand in stark contrast to Trump’s promise that his new ballroom wouldn’t “interfere” with the integrity of the White House, adding that it will "be near it, but not touching it"  That was obviously a lie.  Americans aren’t too pleased with the vanity project, with a recent YouGov survey finding that 53% of Americans somewhat or strongly disapprove of the demolition.

Trump has already left his gilded mark all over the White House, completely transforming the Oval Office and paving over the Rose Garden. And while presidents are free to make updates to the White House, this is the largest demolition in recent history.

And people are mourning the loss of such a significant portion of the White House. In an op-ed for USA Today, Chelsea Clinton expressed her grief for the destruction of the East Wing. “The White House belongs to the American people, and that’s why we call it the People’s House,” she wrote. “A disregard for history is a defining trait of President Trump’s second administration.”

“This is what happens when we take a wrecking ball to our heritage,” Clinton continued. “What was dismantled today isn’t just marble or plaster; it is a reflection of how easily history can be erased when power forgets purpose."

 

Sam Ryder - Better Man

ICE Recruitment Process is a Hot Mess

NBC News is out with a report about ICE’s current training regime (or lack thereof) and it’s tough to figure out what part is worst!  How about the part where new recruits are starting training before DHS has finished vetting them, a thing that seems out of place for law enforcement jobs? How about the part where ICE only figures out mid-training that recruits have failed drug tests, have criminal backgrounds, or can’t meet the physical and academic requirements?  Or is it the part where recruits don’t submit their fingerprints for background checks even though ICE requires that as part of the hiring process?

the administration is doing everything it can to smooth the path forward for wannabe fascists, but how much more can they do? Training had been slashed from 13 weeks to eight, and is now down to six weeks. The fitness requirements are startlingly low-key for a job that ostensibly requires you to be able to chase people down, but more than a third of the new recruits couldn’t do the required 15 push-ups, 32 sit-ups, and run 1.5 miles in 14 minutes. 

Almost half of the new recruits who arrived for training in the last three months were sent home because they couldn’t pass an open-book written exam on the Immigration and Nationality Act and the Fourth Amendment! To be fair, it isn’t like the administration cares if any of these people follow the law, but presumably they have to go through this fiction.   

Also, no more pesky age limits! “Border czar” and bribe aficionado Tom Homan says age is only a number, so ICE is pulling out all the stops to woo back ICE and Border Patrol retirees with the promise of up to a $50,000 hiring bonus.  

The administration wants more agents because it is convinced that part of the bottleneck in hitting the 3,000/day arrest goal set by Chief White House Nazi Stephen Miller is a lack of staff.  Meanwhile, any federal law enforcement that isn’t about hurting immigrants is on hold, as the administration froze all other training at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers, preventing dozens of other federal law enforcement agencies from training.

New Pentagon Press Corps is a Joke

The Trump administration has announced that a group of far-right media outlets have been given press access to the Pentagon.  The announcement comes a week after actual journalists staged a walkout and refused to sign on to new rules that require all reporting to be pre-approved by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Even Fox News stood against the new rules.

Among the Pentagon’s new pool of outlets is Timcast, conspiratorial racist Tim Pool’s podcast, on which he has claimed that “multiculturalism” is behind mass shootings and that women should face public shame for how many sexual partners they’ve had.  Pool has been given Pentagon access even though he was among a group of right-wing influencers paid by the Russian government to spread disinformation. He received payments from the Russian Tenet Media to make politically divisive videos to weaken the U.S. government and its opposition to Russia.  Russia likely had no idea that one of its paid stooges would be given a front-row seat to the inner workings of the U.S. military.

Similarly, MyPillow founder and election conspiracy theorist Mike Lindell’s outlet, LindellTV, will now regurgitate Hegseth’s nonsense to the public. Lindell was among the Trump sycophants who have falsely insisted that Trump won the 2020 election.

Gateway Pundit, the conservative blog founded and operated by Jim Hoft, also received Pentagon credentials. Hoft, once described by the media watchdog group Media Matters for America as the “dumbest man on the internet,” has spent decades promoting debunked right-wing conspiracy theories and other falsehoods.  More recently, Gateway Pundit paid out a settlement in a 2024 defamation lawsuit brought by two Georgia election workers after it falsely accused them of rigging the 2020 election results. 

Pentagon reporting is of dire importance at the moment.  The Trump administration is engaged in warfare in South America, which some experts say is illegal. Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin has ignored Trump’s halfhearted attempt to end Russia’s war on Ukraine, which has most recently included the bombing of a kindergarten with children present. And in the Middle East, Israel’s conflict with Hamas has continued despite Trump’s claims that he secured a “peace deal.”

The Pentagon’s new right-wing press corps is beyond ill-equipped to handle independent reporting. But when it comes to producing stories that get Hegseth’s approval, it’ll pass with flying colors.

 

 

Racism Isn't the Only Legacy That Trump Passed Down to the Young Republicans

After news broke of the world’s most racist group chat last week, the New York Young Republicans decided to disband in order to spend more time with their racist memes families.

But before they disintegrated, they stiffed a whole lot of people—including other Republicans. It seems that the Young Republican types like to dine out, having fancy meals and expensive drinks, and run up enormous bills. But what they do not like is paying for it.

Last year, the racists held their summer awards ceremony at a hotel in Syracuse, New York. The hotel didn’t make them pay in advance, which meant that they just tried not to pay at all. After running up a $23,000 bill, 31-year-old Peter Giunta—one of the racists from the group chat—offered what the president of the Greater Syracuse Hospitality and Tourism Association called “every excuse in the book.”  The hotel spent four months trying to collect on it, with Giunta making sporadic payments to bring it down to around $7,000 before he stepped down in September, partly over the group’s failure to pay a $14,000 bill to the National Women’s Republican Club for a 2023 Christmas party. 

The group also allegedly stiffed Nashville’s Redneck Riviera Bar & BBQ about $7,000. The bar is owned by transphobic and pro-Trump country star John Rich. So again, just stealing from their own allies.  It’s ridiculous that we have to pretend that conservatives are somehow the more morally grounded people when they’re literally led by a con artist who begets smaller, weaker, even stupider con artists.

Long before becoming a politician, Trump was infamous for refusing to pay his bills. During his 2016 campaign, USA Today reviewed at least 60 lawsuits and hundreds of liens, judgments, and other government filings against Trump for failing to pay.  Remember the Washington, D.C., Trump Hotel? Five separate contractors had to sue him to try to get paid.  And once he took to the campaign trail, Trump found other people to screw over in new and exciting ways. His refusal to pony up to cities for his unpaid bills after rallies was endemic. At the end of his 2024 campaign, he still owed Albuquerque nearly $450,000—and that was just one of more than a dozen cities he is indebted to. 

He wouldn’t even pay police bills. Way to back the blue, right?  Since then, of course, Trump has turned the federal government into a personal grift machine. Those racist Young Republicans should’ve just held on a little longer, and they probably would have gotten jobs in the administration.  They’d fit right in. 

 

Justice in the Trump Era

Andrew Windsor Finally Kicked to the Curb

The King of England and Prince William have finally brought the curtain down on disgraced Prince Andrew over his tawdry relationship with the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

After years of scandal that has slowly eaten away at the heart of the monarchy, the man once known as the late Queen’s “favorite son” has at last found nowhere to turn. Following tense discussions with the monarch and the future king, Andrew had no choice but to relinquish the titles that still provided a veil of respectability by clinging on to his association with the royal family. 

Having recently been exposed for lying over claims he made in his disastrous 2019 Newsnight interview, that he cut off all contact with pedophile Epstein after flying to New York to see him in December 2010, Randy Andy's spectacular fall from grace is now complete. Further allegations over his relationship with Chinese spies also sent shock waves through the establishment.

The final straw came in recent weeks, after Andrew was exposed in a cache of emails being examined by prosecutors in the United States and further claims reportedly set to be made in Virginia Giuffre’s memoir-- that he chillingly described abusing her as his “birthright”. Andrew has always denied the allegations made by Virginia Giuffre, but her suicide in April this year left an even greater and disturbing cloud over this most devastating of scandals. 

The memoir is also expected to reveal that Giuffre lost a baby days after having an orgy with Prince Andrew and eight other girls.  Giuffre will reveal that she was forced to have sex with Andrew three times and settled with the royal prince outside of court on February 15 2022, for a reported £12million.  The King and Prince William effectively wielded the axe on him being able to use his Duke of York title and the prestigious Knight of the Garter honor, that he even used to sign off in emails to Epstein. 

For her part in this episode, Andrew’s ex-wife Sarah Ferguson, who took thousands of pounds from Epstein as she struggled with mounting debts and was revealed to have praised him as a “steadfast, generous and supreme friend” even after his conviction for sex offenses, will also never again use her 'Duchess of York' title.   Last month, Ferguson was dumped by a raft of charities as their patron and ambassador, after her closeness with Epstein was exposed. Fergie has for years traded on her royal connection to earn fortunes from book deals and contracts with companies such as Weight Watchers, but will now simply be known by her name.

Despite having no discernable income, the two will remain living at Andrew's crumbling Royal Lodge mansion, much to the King's frustration following attempts to force him to give up his lease on the property in the shadow of Windsor Castle. The pair may mull over their respective catastrophic decisions when they spend Christmas together having been told they are not welcome to spend the festive period with the King and his family.

Reports this week that Andrew held meetings on at least three occasions with a top Chinese official at the center of a Beijing spy case that was stopped in the courts at the eleventh hour, while also inviting him to Buckingham Palace for lunch, caused further alarm at the palace. Royal sources disclosed that several high profile meetings between the King, Prince William and their most senior officials, took place to finally force Andrew into action.

For years Andrew, (who at 65 years old is far off what is normally considered time to retire from royal life) had held onto the belief that he would find a way back to public life. This latest development brings to a close any such hope, as he is finally exiled in disgrace.

 

Nicknames For You to Use on Your "No-Kings" Signs

Honorable mentions:

Acetaminofelon

Adolf Twitler

Cheeto in Charge 

Count of Mostly Crisco 

Donnie D Cups

Founding Farter 

Marmalade Monarch 

President Oompa J. Loompa 

Tangerine Palpatine

Jeff Tweedy - Lou Reed Was My Babysitter

Trump Can't Stop Talking About Karoline Leavitt's Lips

While returning to the U.S. on Air Force One, convicted felon Donald Trump made an offbeat comment about White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt’s appearance.  The 79-year-old president was talking to reporters following the release of hostages as part of the Middle East ceasefire agreement.  Towards the end of a 15-minute gaggle with the press, Trump swung from discussing Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to land on Leavitt’s facial features.  

“How’s Karoline doing? Is she doing good?” Trump asked the reporters. He then asked the press, “Should Karoline be replaced?”  When one reporter replied, “That’s up to you, sir,” Trump quickly stated, “It’ll never happen. That face... and those lips, they move like a machine gun, right?”

It is not the first time Trump has made the bizarre analogy about his press secretary’s lips and ammunition.  In August, in an interview with Newsmax’s Rob Finnerty, he said almost the same thing.  “She’s become a star,” Trump said of Leavitt. “It’s that face. It’s that brain. It’s those lips, the way they move. They move like she’s a machine gun... She’s a star and she’s great.”

“She’s a great person, actually,” he added. “But she’s–I don’t think anybody has ever had a better press secretary than Karoline. She’s been amazing.” Leavitt first worked for Trump in his first administration as an assistant press secretary from 2019 to 2021.  After a failed congressional election bid, she began working for Trump in January 2024 as his national press secretary during his election campaign. 

After Trump appointed her to her current position last year, she became the youngest press secretary in White House history. She married real estate developer Nicholas Riccio, 59, in January—days before Trump’s second inauguration. Earlier this month, Leavitt upgraded to one of the largest offices in the White House after it was vacated by Taylor Budowich, one of Trump’s deputy chiefs of staff.

 

 

 

 

Cronkite and Murrow Are Rolling Over in Their Graves

Former CBS News anchor Dan Rather has criticized CBS News for making journalist Bari Weiss its editor-in-chief.  Rather said that the hiring of the "anti-woke" opinion writer, as well as CBS coming under the control of billionaire David Ellison (whose father is a friend of President Donald Trump) meant that CBS News will be catering to the Trump agenda.  “The American people will pay the price for this move, as will the journalists of CBS News who can no longer credibly serve as watchdogs because the ones they are meant to hold to account are signing their paychecks and hobnobbing with the president,” the veteran journalist wrote.  He warned, “It is a dark day in the halls of CBS News.”

Bari Weiss is the whiny opinion writer that quit her job at the New York Times because she thought she was being bullied by co-workers and that her editors seemed to take their cues from Twitter discourse.  She liked to make herself the champion of 'anti-wokesters', but Weiss crying about ‘cancel culture’ when she spent her college years trying to get Arab professors fired for criticizing Israel has always been laughable.  Her NYT resignation letter bounced back and forth between trying to argue that "cancel culture" is this massive problem to then whining that the New York Times bosses wouldn't fire her coworkers who say her works sucks. You can't have it both ways, Bari.

CBS’ parent company, Paramount, named Weiss the editor-in-chief of CBS News following the company’s acquisition of “The Free Press” for $150 million. The move angered journalists and media figures, as Weiss’ outlet has made waves for challenging DEI, gender ideology, and supporting Israel.

Rather also questioned Weiss’ credentials.  “The former opinion writer for The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times is not a reporter. She has never worked in television news and she has never led a staff larger than a few dozen,” Rather wrote. “That all changed this week when David Ellison, whose Skydance Media recently acquired CBS, installed Weiss in a position created for her. She will not report to the president of CBS News — as one might expect — but to David Ellison directly.”

The former CBS anchor also addressed Weiss’ recent statement that she wants to combat illiberalism on both the right and left in her new role, criticizing her for going after both sides when one side has Trump.  “While one must keep an open mind, it is hard to do so when such a statement portends a push for ‘both-sidesism’ and arguments reliant on false equivalences. There can be no equivalences drawn between the two political extremes in this country, especially when one extreme is led by a man who rarely speaks without lying.”

Weiss’ hiring comes months after Paramount’s merger with Skydance that resulted in Ellison, the former Skydance CEO, being named CEO of the new joint company. In addition to being close to Trump, Ellison’s father, Larry, is a pro-Israel tech mogul worth around $300 billion.

Rather continued, saying that the deal and hiring of Weiss are “signals to everyone, especially to the man in the Oval Office, that CBS is no longer independent, but under the tutelage of a conservative billionaire who is putting more than his thumb on the scale.”  “Anything that runs afoul of Trump’s agenda may be flagged and is unlikely to be aired unaltered, if aired at all. No journalist or their work can remain unaffected by toiling in such an environment,” he said.   “It is a dark day in the halls of CBS News, where the portraits of television news pioneers once hung — Cronkite, Murrow, Sevareid, Collingwood. They were journalists who made television a trusted source of information. Whom and what are we to believe today?” Rather asked.

 

Other Notes on the Egyptian Peace Conference

As he sat alongside the Egyptian leader Abdel Fattah el-Sisi yesterday, Trump returned to one of his favorite topics to discuss: crime.  During an impromptu bilateral meeting, Trump called el-Sisi “very powerful” and noted that there is “no crime” in Egypt.

“They have very little crime, you know. Because they don’t play games,” Trump said, adding: “Because they don’t play games like we do in the United States, with governors that have no idea what they’re doing.”   Later, Trump again remarked on the crime levels in Egypt and said el-Sissi “puts it out very quickly.”  “Some people think that’s not nice, but I think it’s great because people don’t want to be mugged and smashed, and they don’t want to be stupid people,” Trump said.

Egypt, home to over 115 million people, does in fact face crime, particularly the harassment of women. However, its police use heavy-handed tactics, including torture.

Actually, Egypt is ranked 92nd out of 193 countries based on its criminality score from the Global Initiative.  Egypt is is ranked 29th out of 54 countries in Africa, and ranked 2nd out of 6 countries in Northern Africa.  

There were also reports that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan launched a diplomatic initiative to prevent Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from attending the summit in Egypt.  An official, speaking to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity, said Netanyahu ultimately decided not to participate after Turkey’s effort gained support from several other nations.  There were also other reports that Erdogan’s plane circled above the Red Sea as the president threatened to boycott the meeting, and that it only landed once it was clear Netanyahu would not be present.   Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, also threatened to withdraw from the summit if Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu participated. 

 

Old Man With Dementia Announces Peace Deal Between Israel and Hamas

At a press briefing in Egypt today, convicted felon Donald Trump called on other world leaders to “put the old feuds and bitter hatreds” aside-- just as he (a minute later) called the Biden administration the "worst administration ever."  Trump also repeated his (false) claim that he ended the war between Armenia and Azerbaijan.  In reality, the agreement brokered by Trump has not been ratified by either country-- and several issues remain to be resolved. Most notably, Azerbaijan is demanding that Armenia changes its constitution – a move that would likely be rejected by Armenian voters in a referendum.  

Trump also added fuel to the debate over his dementia, saying that there were four months to go in the year (there are 2 1/2) and claiming that if you said a woman was "beautiful" in the U.S., it would be the end of your career (utterly ridiculous, of course).  Nevertheless, here are the 20 points in the plan negotiated by Trump between Israel and Hamas: 

1.  Gaza will be a deradicalized terror-free zone that does not pose a threat to its neighbors.

2.  Gaza will be redeveloped for the benefit of the people of Gaza, who have suffered more than enough.

3.  If both sides agree to this proposal, the war will immediately end. Israeli forces will withdraw to the agreed upon line to prepare for a hostage release. During this time, all military operations, including aerial and artillery bombardment, will be suspended, and battle lines will remain frozen until conditions are met for the complete staged withdrawal.

4.  Within 72 hours of Israel publicly accepting this agreement, all hostages, alive and deceased, will be returned.

5.  Once all hostages are released, Israel will release 250 life sentence prisoners plus 1700 Gazans who were detained after October 7, 2023, including all women and children detained in that context. For every Israeli hostage whose remains are released, Israel will release the remains of 15 deceased Gazans.

6.  Once all hostages are returned, Hamas members who commit to peaceful co-existence and to decommission their weapons will be given amnesty. Members of Hamas who wish to leave Gaza will be provided safe passage to receiving countries.

7.  Upon acceptance of this agreement, full aid will be immediately sent into the Gaza Strip. At a minimum, aid quantities will be consistent with what was included in the January 19, 2025, agreement regarding humanitarian aid, including rehabilitation of infrastructure (water, electricity, sewage), rehabilitation of hospitals and bakeries, and entry of necessary equipment to remove rubble and open roads.

8.  Entry of distribution and aid in the Gaza Strip will proceed without interference from the two parties through the United Nations and its agencies, and the Red Crescent, in addition to other international institutions not associated in any manner with either party. Opening the Rafah crossing in both directions will be subject to the same mechanism implemented under the January 19, 2025, agreement.

9.  Gaza will be governed under the temporary transitional governance of a technocratic, apolitical Palestinian committee, responsible for delivering the day-to-day running of public services and municipalities for the people in Gaza. This committee will be made up of qualified Palestinians and international experts, with oversight and supervision by a new international transitional body, the "Board of Peace", which will be headed and chaired by President Donald J. Trump, with other members and heads of State to be announced, including former prime minister Tony Blair. This body will set the framework and handle the funding for the redevelopment of Gaza until such time as the Palestinian Authority has completed its reform program, as outlined in various proposals, including President Trump's peace plan in 2020 and the Saudi-French proposal, and can securely and effectively take back control of Gaza. This body will call on best international standards to create modern and efficient governance that serves the people of Gaza and is conducive to attracting investment.

10.  A Trump economic development plan to rebuild and energize Gaza will be created by convening a panel of experts who have helped birth some of the thriving modern miracle cities in the Middle East. Many thoughtful investment proposals and exciting development ideas have been crafted by well-meaning international groups, and will be considered to synthesize the security and governance frameworks to attract and facilitate these investments that will create jobs, opportunity, and hope for future Gaza.

11.  A special economic zone will be established with preferred tariff and access rates to be negotiated with participating countries.

12.  No one will be forced to leave Gaza, and those who wish to leave will be free to do so and free to return. We will encourage people to stay and offer them the opportunity to build a better Gaza.

13.  Hamas and other factions agree to not have any role in the governance of Gaza, directly, indirectly, or in any form. All military, terror, and offensive infrastructure, including tunnels and weapon production facilities, will be destroyed and not rebuilt. There will be a process of demilitarization of Gaza under the supervision of independent monitors, which will include placing weapons permanently beyond use through an agreed process of decommissioning, and supported by an internationally funded buy back and reintegration program all verified by the independent monitors. New Gaza will be fully committed to building a prosperous economy and to peaceful coexistence with their neighbors.

Kentucky Rural Residents Getting What They Voted For

Glasgow, Kentucky (just outside Mammoth Cave National Park) is proud Trump country. Its home county of Barren gave 76% of its vote to President Donald Trump last year.   The rural town of about 15,000 is 78% white, with a per capita income of around $29,000. It’s the kind of place that has long benefited from subsidies generously funded by Democrats, blue states, and urban areas. Between 1995 and 2024, Barren County received more than $67 million in farm subsidies, according to the nonprofit Environmental Working Group.

But rather than support the party supporting them, Barren County went for convicted felon Donald Trump. And now, thanks to the orange man's so-called 'Big Beautiful Bill', the town of Glasgow is losing its all-inclusive elder care facility.  “We [were] told that this [facility] is closing down on November third due to Medicaid not letting people in fast enough,” one patient told a local news outlet. “Don’t let it close. We need our family. We need our group. Please don’t let this Horizon close. There’s too many of us that want to stay here.”

When Republicans run the country like a business and brag about cutting “waste, fraud, and abuse,” it turns out that rural health services are what get labeled wasteful—an “abuse” of resources provided by the more economically productive parts of America.  Democrats don’t believe in running the country as a business. We believe everyone deserves dignity and equal treatment. But we were outvoted—by the very people who’ve benefited most from that generosity.

But this sad story if just a preview of what’s coming for Kentucky’s rural population.  One hospital executive warned that the Big Beautiful Bill—supported by the entire Kentucky GOP congressional delegation—will cost the state’s hospital system $15.1 billion in lost revenue.   And a KFF study found Kentucky will be hit harder than any other state, losing over $10 billion in funding over the next decade. Unfortunately, that estimate came from an early draft of the bill. The final version slashed Medicaid even deeper.  Had Kentucky gone for Democrat Kamala Harris last year, Glasgow’s elder care facility wouldn’t be in danger. 

But that’s not the reality we live in. Glasgow is getting what it voted for.

 

Cruelty to Elderly Nuns in Austria Knows No Bounds

Three Austrian nuns in their 80's ran away from the retirement home where they were placed and went back to their former convent.  Sister Bernadette, 88, Sister Regina, 86, and Sister Rita, 82, are the last three nuns at the Kloster Goldenstein convent in Elsbethen, just outside Salzburg.

They regained access with the help of former students and a locksmith.  Church authorities are not happy - but the nuns are.  "I am so pleased to be home," Sister Rita said. "I was always homesick at the care home. I am so happy and thankful to be back."  The trio say they were taken out of the convent against their will in December 2023.  "We weren't asked," Sister Bernadette said. "We had the right to stay here until the end of our lives and that was broken."

The three nuns have spent much of their lives at Schloss Goldenstein, a castle which has been a convent and a private girls' school since 1877. The school, which started accepting boys in 2017, is still functioning.  Sister Bernadette attended the school herself, arriving as a teenager in 1948. One of her fellow students was the Austrian film actress Romy Schneider. Sister Regina arrived at the convent in 1958, and Sister Rita four years later.  All three went on to work at the school as teachers for many years. Sister Regina was headmistress.  But the numbers of nuns dwindled.

In 2022, the building was taken over by the Archdiocese of Salzburg and the Reichersberg Abbey, an Augustinian monastery. Provost Markus Grasl from the abbey became the nuns' superior.  The community was officially dissolved at the beginning of 2024, and the remaining nuns were granted lifelong right of residence, as long as their health and mental capacity allowed.

In December 2023, the decision was made to transfer them to a Catholic care home, where they were unhappy.  At the beginning of September, Sister Bernadette, Sister Rita and Sister Regina moved back, helped by a group of former students.  "I have been obedient all my life, but it was too much," Sister Bernadette said.  They packed up a few belongings and came back to the convent. The locks to their former apartments had been changed so a locksmith was called.

Robert Plant - Chevrolet

GOP Making a Mess of Their Shutdown

Don't watch me while I make a fool of myself! 

The Republican Party has devolved into a circular firing squad as its government shutdown enters its second week, with GOP leaders struggling to stay on message to avoid blame.

As Democrats remain unified and steadfast in their assertion that Republicans need to negotiate with them on extending health care subsidies to prevent Americans’ from seeing massive spikes in insurance premiums, congressional Republicans are unable to get on the same page about their strategy as polling shows that voters blame them for the shutdown.

On Tuesday, House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune gave conflicting answers at the same news conference (!) about whether Republicans will pass legislation to ensure that members of the military and air traffic control will still get paid while the government is shut down. 

“I’m certainly open to that,” Johnson said. “We’ve done it in the past. We want to make sure that our troops are paid.”  But then Thune immediately shot that down.

“You don’t need that,” Thune interjected. “The simplest way to end it is not try to exempt this group or that one or that group. It’s to get the government open.”

 

Sad But True

Speaker Johnson Thwarting the Will of the Voters to Hide the Epstein Files

It's been two weeks since Democratic Representativ-elect Adelita Grijalva won a special election for Arizona's 7th Congressional District, defeating her Republican opponent in a landslide that dwarfed the 22-point margin Democrats won the seat by in 2024.  But Speaker Mike Johnson still hasn't sworn Grijalva into the seat, which became vacant when her father died of complications from cancer.

And GOP lawmakers are now admitting Johnson is slow-walking Grijalva’s swearing in because of the Epstein files.  Once she's sworn in, Grijalva will be the final signature on the petition that would force Johnson to hold a vote on a bipartisan bill that would compel the Trump administration to release the files it possesses on convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. If the bill came up for a vote before the full House, it would likely pass—embarrassing Johnson's Dear Leader Donald Trump, who wants to keep the files secret likely because his name has been confirmed to be littered throughout the documents.

"Contrary to what he says, @SpeakerJohnson is doing everything he can, including delaying the swearing in of the most recently elected member of Congress and spreading misinformation about the legislation, to block a vote in Congress on legislation to release the Epstein files," Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), who co-sponsored legislation, wrote Monday in a post on X.

Grijalva has been demanding that Johnson swear her in so she can get to work for her constituents—who have been without congressional representation since her father died on March 13.  "The people of Southern Arizona deserve representation and I’m ready to get to work. Swear me in NOW @SpeakerJohnson!" Grijalva wrote Monday in a post on X.

Johnson, for his part, claims he can't swear Grijalva in because Congress isn't in session.  But that, too, is an absurd lie, as back in April Johnson swore in two GOP lawmakers the day after they won special elections in Florida— even though Congress was in recess at the time.

 

How AI Was Born

Ooops! More Rigth-wingers Committing Voter Fraud

If there’s one thing that Jack Posobiec of “Pizzagate” fame wants everyone to know, it’s that he’s very, very concerned about “election integrity”—especially in Pennsylvania, where he votes but does not appear to actually reside.  Looks like we’ve found ourselves some actual voter fraud just like President Donald Trump warned us about. And, of course, just like Posobiec himself warned us about. 

According to Slate, Posobiec has voted in Pennsylvania—which is a swing state—since 2004, despite living in Maryland—which is solidly blue. He pulled this off with a mix of in-person, absentee, and on-demand mail voting, and he used his parents’ home address in Montgomery County to vote in 2018, 2022, and 2024.  A grown man of 40 years old, still using Mommy and Daddy’s address to vote-- I wonder if mum does his laundry for him too! 

Imagine the sheer level of gall and hypocrisy that has to course through your veins to falsely accuse someone of voting illegally when you yourself have been voting illegally—in that same county—for at least the past three election cycles.   But Posobiec can take heart that he has now joined an elite group of other high-profile right-wingers who whip people into a frenzy about voter fraud while committing voter fraud themselves.

Indeed, when Trump took office for the first time back in 2017, he brought along a whole passel of voting scofflaws: Steve Mnuchin was registered to vote in both New York and California, and Sean Spicer was registered in both Virginia and Rhode Island.   And we can’t forget Jared Kushner, who was registered in both New Jersey and New York, or Tiffany Trump, who was registered in both New York and Pennsylvania.  Oh, and Steve Bannon? Registered in New York and Florida. 

To be fair, it’s not just high-profile right-wingers doing this. There are plenty of low-profile right-wingers as well. 

Trump Ballroom is More Important Than Healthcare for Peasants

You can bet that as the government shutdown continues, convicted felon Donald Trump is laser-focused on maintaining mission-critical operations. And what does Trump consider mission-critical? Continuing construction on his big, garish, stupid new ballroom.  According to the White House, it’s totally fine that construction will continue despite the government shutdown because the funds aren’t tied to 2026 appropriations, but are instead from private donors.

Yeah, that doesn’t really make it any better. The fact that YouTube just bribed Trump with $22 million to help build the thing still doesn’t make it so essential that construction needs to continue during the shutdown.   YouTube isn’t alone in currying favor with the president by giving him money. Other ballroom bribers/donors—reportedly include R.J. Reynolds, Palantir, and Lockheed Martin. In a real classy touch, Trump is weighing etching the names of donors onto the ballroom building. 

While the incredibly crucial work of building an ugly monument to Trump’s ego goes on, the actual work of government? Not so much.  The Office of Management and Budget took the opportunity to use the shutdown to kill $8 billion in energy funding, calling it “Green New Scam funding.” In what is surely just a coincidence, all of the canceled funding affects states with at least one Democratic senator who voted against the GOP’s continuing resolution, which led to the shutdown.  It’s so cool that government funding is now just something doled out based on the rage-fueled whims of people like Trump and OMB head Russell Vought. 

Also closed during the shutdown? Government oversight websites—at least 15 of them. The Office of Inspector General websites for multiple departments, including Agriculture, Education, Justice, Interior, and Veterans Affairs, are all dark.   OMB is also withholding funds for the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE), which means there are no funds for the inspectors general. So, any access to watchdog reports and whistleblower hotlines is just … gone, replaced with a message that they’ve been shuttered “due to a lack of apportionment of funds.” 

Yeah, about that.  CIGIE isn’t funded by appropriations, so it shouldn't affected by the shutdown. It’s such a ridiculously corrupt move by the administration that it spawned a letter from GOP Sens. Susan Collins and Chuck Grassley demanding answers about the move.  According to the administration, the watchdogs must be shut down not because of a lack of funds, but because they are corrupt. An OMB spokesperson said that “inspectors general are meant to be impartial watchdogs identifying waste and corruption on behalf of the American people. Unfortunately, they have become corrupt, partisan, and in some cases, have lied to the public.”

So in review: not corrupt and totally important to continue during a shutdown? Construction on Trump’s hideous ballroom, possible only because private companies are currying favor with the president by paying for the thing. Totally corrupt and unnecessary during a shutdown? Government watchdogs.

At least this all makes the administration’s priorities crystal clear—and they don’t include the work of government. 

 

Sheryl Crow - The New Normal

Whiskey Pete Seems to be Buckling Under the Stress

There are now reports that Pete Hegseth  fears for his safety in the wake of Charlie Kirk's assassination, with Pentagon insiders saying he's so rattled he looks to be 'crawling out of his skin.'  Two insiders in the defense secretary's newly-named "Department of War" say their boss has in the last few weeks been erupting in tirades, raging at staffers and obsessing about matters related to his security.

"There's a manic quality about him. Or let me rephrase, an even more manic quality, which is really saying something," one insider told us, describing Hegseth as visibly distracted, fidgeting and even standing up and pacing during meetings.  "Dude is crawling out of his skin," said the other.

Both sources spoke on the condition of anonymity, fearing for their jobs at a time when they say Hegseth has been firing Pentagon officials for speaking to journalists and other watchdogs, including congressional staffers.  His department has recently threatened to yank media credentials from journalists who refuse to sign pledges that they will only publish information that it sanctions for public release.

Hegseth has also insisted on pushing through the Department of Defense's name change to the Department of War months earlier than his staff was ready, berating those who tried to delay the announcement.  They also say he has had tirades in response to legal advisors' and congressional members' suggestions that the military's recent killings of alleged Venezuelan narco-traffickers on boats in the Caribbean broke international law.

The insiders told us he also has lashed out against Pentagon staffers who have urged him to be more consistent when discussing the military's potential involvement in the Middle East, Europe, Asia and domestically in public.  'He takes things personally when challenged - like full-blown tantrums,' one of our sources said.

Hegseth's safety fears are being stoked by his wife, Jennifer, whose recent demands for added security for him, their family and their homes apparently go far beyond measures taken to protect any other Trump administration officials.  Jennifer Rauchet Hegseth, a Fox News alumnus like her husband, found herself under scrutiny last spring when it was revealed that she was looped in on group messages about sensitive military details of a US strike on Houthi rebels in Yemen before it started in March.

Pentagon staff started nicknaming her 'Yoko Ono' for her attendance at Pentagon meetings and outsized involvement in her husband's job overseeing the nearly three million-strong United States military.  Although  it's said that she has stepped back from overt participation in his work, they note she has stayed closely involved, quietly advising Pentagon staff on ways to instill a more conservative, Christian and anti-woke culture in the military and shaping a narrative around her husband as the embodiment of those values.