(click on images to enlarge)
(Chip Bok, Creators.com)
(Steve Sack, stevesack.substack.com)
(Jack Ohman, Tribune Content Agency)
(Dave Whamond, caglecartoons.com, Canada)
(Nick Anderson, Raw Story)
(Rob Rogers, Tinyview.com)
(Michael de Adder, The Contrarian, Canada; context here)
(Jimmy Margulies, King Features; context here)
(Christian Adams, The Telegraph, UK; context here)
(Asher Perlman, @asherperlman)
The Epstein-Trump files coverup --
“The fact that I’m even having to sue and fight in a court of law for this is mind-boggling,” @katiephang.bsky.social told me. “I should be joined by every member of Congress...in saying, ‘Shame on Todd Blanche for continuing to protect the Epstein elite.’” open.substack.com/pub/america/...
— Steven Beschloss (@stevenbeschloss.bsky.social) August 27, 2026 at 9:52 AM
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Trump's tariffs and inflation --
Goods prices were flat or falling when Trump entered office. Then came his "Liberation Day" tariffs, which have driven the spike in goods and overall inflation.
— Steve Rattner (@steverattner.bsky.social) August 26, 2026 at 2:35 PM
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Trump's projection and denial --
This is legitimately hilarious. Dude is so oblivious and surrounded by sycophants that he can’t understand he’s the problem.
— The Tennessee Holler (@thetnholler.bsky.social) August 26, 2026 at 10:42 PM
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ICE's ethnic cleansing operation / back to school edition --
The highest percentage of people ICE is rounding up have committed no crime. The lowest percentage of people ICE is rounding up have committed a violent crime. IOW, what's happening in practice is the exact opposite of what Trump promised. 🙃
— scarylawyerguy.bsky.social (@scarylawyerguy.bsky.social) August 27, 2026 at 8:38 AM
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A 5-year-old Texan just spent the first day of school in an ICE detention center. ICE kidnapped Liam Tadeo on his way to a soccer game with his dad. Liam should be in kindergarten. Instead, our government has thrown him in a prison camp hundreds of miles from home.
— James Talarico (@jamestalarico.bsky.social) August 26, 2026 at 10:54 PM
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This morning in Danbury, ICE was arresting parents at school bus stops. But it’s more sinister. ICE waited until the kids were on the bus so when they are dropped off at the end of the day, they are alone, scared to death they can’t find their parents. I’m heading to Danbury.
— Chris Murphy (@chrismurphyct.bsky.social) August 26, 2026 at 3:44 PM
An ICE officer charged with shooting a man in Minnesota was released from a Texas jail after a judge refused to order his extradition.
— The Associated Press (@apnews.com) August 27, 2026 at 9:01 AM
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Making America Sick Again / measles deaths and lying liar Bobby Brainworm --
To underscore why this is especially awful for those who may not know, the measles vaccine is usually given at 12 months. Newborns rely on community immunity to prevent exposure, which until recently we have had in the US. This quite literally could be anyone's newborn. None of this had to happen.
— Roby Bhattacharyya (@roby-b.bsky.social) August 27, 2026 at 9:33 AM
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RFK Jr. said a Samoa trip had nothing to do with vaccines. New documents obtained by The AP and The Guardian refute that.
— The Associated Press (@apnews.com) August 27, 2026 at 8:05 AM
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Destroying the Census Bureau, and facts --
The Census Bureau's report is more than just a bad number. Our government is destroying the institutions charged with telling the truth. https://newsletter.platypuseconomics.com/p/how-to-fake-a-voting-scandal
— Justin Wolfers (@justinwolfers.bsky.social) August 26, 2026 at 12:04 PM
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Welcome to reality! --
Texas Republican voting for Talarico and Hinojosa: "The Texas Republican Party has given us nothing but the middle finger"
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) August 27, 2026 at 12:08 AM
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Your tax dollars at work --
Quite a community note here. Reminder that your taxpayer dollars are paying for these Nazi social media accounts.
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) August 26, 2026 at 7:45 PM
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Trump's crypto at work --
New: Donald Trump's crypto ventures have left investors at least $4.7 billion underwater. me, for @publiccitizen.bsky.social
— Zach Everson (@zacheverson.com) August 27, 2026 at 8:55 AM
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Tim Curry, 1946-2026 --
Today's Muppet GIF of the Day is dedicated to the memory of Tim Curry, whose illustrious acting career included playing Long John Silver in Muppet Treasure Island.
— Muppet GIF of the Day (@gifs-of-puppets.bsky.social) August 27, 2026 at 8:16 AM
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"... The Trump administration’s political tactics have made securing a deal harder while providing powerful political incentives for Canada to stand firm. But that understates the strategic fiasco of this trade war. A hidden source of American power through the years has been that in contrast to every great power rival, the United States faces minimal security threats near its borders. This holds with particular force for Canada. And yet, in pushing for this trade war, Trump is also pushing our closest neighbor into diversifying its trade and strategic relationships as much as possible. This seems… how to put it… really dumb. [snip]
"To sum up: there is no secret plan. There is no five-dimensional chess. This is just an idiotic, senseless trade war that the United States will lose even if Canada makes any concessions. Because Trump is turning a friendly neighbor into something far more hostile to U.S. interests." -- excerpts from Tufts University distinguished professor of international politics Dan Drezner, in his "Drezner's World" Substack, summarizing what most sentient people grasp about the Malignant Fascist's attempt at international dominance display that's going to end up making us worse off while alienating our top trading partner (and close ally), perhaps for decades to come. Drezner also points out the way the politics are working out on both sides of the border, much to PM Carney's advantage and to the MF's disadvantage. When you elect a dumb clown, you get a dumb clown show.
A grifting, pay-to-play Republican shitshow to keep the Malignant Fascist's needy ego inflated right before the solemn 9/11 anniversary and the mid-term disaster they're facing -- how on-brand:
The Republican Party’s first-ever midterm convention is quickly becoming a Trump-style grift.
Puck reports that the National Republican Campaign Committee, which is hosting the September event, is asking for House members to pay a minimum of $25,000 to attend the two-day event in Dallas with a guest, with higher packages costing as much as $100,000. On top of that, the event is taking corporate sponsorship dollars, which are going to a nonprofit that doesn’t have to disclose its donors.
All this is for a convention that doesn’t include any actual party business, since no candidates are being nominated like in presidential election years. The whole thing appears to have been planned haphazardly, with invitations only going out in the last few weeks to Republican leaders and lawmakers, many of whom have other commitments. [Ed.: they have commitments to keeping their jobs by distancing from the tanking MF.]
“It’s yet another opportunity to shake down corporate America,” one Republican strategist told Puck, adding that it has turned into a “shit show.”
“Nobody understands why we’re doing a midterm convention. It’s just another show that Trump is going to put on to remind the voters that he is sitting there, and maybe they don’t want to be reminded of that,” the strategist added.
The convention is also taking place on September 9 and 10, right before the twenty-fifth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. The images out of the event are going to be of the wealthy Republican elite partying right before commemorating one of the biggest tragedies in American history.
That’s a bit on the nose for President Trump’s second term, which has seen him focus on lavish, unnecessary projects and celebrations rather than the Americans struggling due to his unnecessary war in Iran and mismanagement of the economy. This convention, much like his Freedom 250 celebrations this summer, will most likely end up being an expensive, sparsely attended dumpster fire benefiting only himself and his wealthy allies. (our emphasis)
Like the big Malignant Fascist- funded ad buys the Republicans are planning that purportedly will be only talking about the MF's "achievements" (Ed.: like the Iran quagmire, $4+ gas, $5.60 diesel, rampant corruption, measles and cyclosporiasis outbreaks, etc.), the "convention" was clearly ginned up as an opportunity for the MF to feel adored and relevant in front of a select audience. Transparently operating as an adjunct to the Trump crime organization now, the shakedowns, graft, and Gilded Age displays we hope will only fortify public revulsion toward this collection of corrupt fascist bootlickers. Hope.
A horrific wall of water, ice, mud, and debris hit Gyirong Port Wednesday near the Nepal-China border. From AP:
Rescue teams searched Thursday for hundreds of missing people along the Nepal-Tibet border after the collapse of a glacier sent a deadly wall of water and mud several stories high tearing through communities a day earlier. [snip]
Police in Nepal said Thursday that the death toll in the flash floods that hit communities along the Nepal-Tibet border a day earlier has risen to 353.
Abi Narayan Kafle, the central spokesman for the Nepal Police, told The Associated Press 353 people were dead in the floods as of Thursday.
Rescue teams were searching for hundreds of people after the disaster, which has left more than 1,300 are missing, including scores of foreigners and pilgrims. Hundreds others have been displaced across the Himalayan region. [snip]
The U.S. Geological Survey first reported a magnitude 4.4 earthquake early Wednesday, about 65 kilometers (40 miles) north of Kathmandu, near the border.
The USGS later updated its analysis to say the seismic event was instead a magnitude 5.2 glacier collapse that sent debris flowing downstream.
Climate experts at the Kathmandu-based International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development said an avalanche from a glacier likely caused Wednesday’s flash flood.
Here's the moment it hit the border crossing:
Election law attorney Ben Ginsberg said Monday that President Trump’s executive order imposing restrictions on mail-in voting will largely impact Republican voters.
“One thing is, I think you’re going to see some blowback from Republicans in the coming weeks, because after all, Republicans are the older party and older folks like to vote by mail. They’re the rural party,” Ginsberg said during a Monday appearance on CNN’s “The Source.”
“And certainly vote by mail is important to people in rural areas. And thanks to Donald Trump, there are many more low propensity voters in the Republican Party,” he added.
Ginsberg has served as counsel to the Republican National Committee, National Republican Senatorial Committee, National Republican Congressional Committee and Republican Governors Association. [snip]
“Republican operatives in the states know that putting up those barriers to that part of the Republican base makes Republican turnout less likely,” Ginsburg said Monday.
“So this is kind of a flawed political strategy wrapped in a rather vocally charged policy from the president,” he added.
Despite criticism, the Trump administration moved forward with an appeal Tuesday to lift the nationwide block on the executive order restricting mail-in ballots.
... While every modern American president largely gave up on fundraising after winning a second term, Trump did not. On the contrary, the incumbent has spent much of the past year and a half making a concerted effort to fill the coffers of his aligned super PAC, called MAGA Inc., which is sitting on hundreds of millions of dollars with 10 weeks remaining in the midterm elections.
The good news for Republicans is that Trump is prepared to start spending some of that money. The bad news for Republicans is that the president apparently intends to spend the money on advertising that celebrates him, not them. The Atlantic reported:President Trump gathered his top political advisers in the Oval Office early this month to solve a problem of riches: how to spend his super PAC’s $400 million political war chest with fewer than 100 days to go before the midterm elections. […]
Some GOP strategists favor focusing entirely on specific races in an effort to convince voters of the merits of individual candidates and local issues. But Trump himself has rejected that approach.
The Atlantic’s report, which has not been independently verified by MS NOW, went on to note that the president “ordered a series of television advertisements about his own record,” adding that Trump “suggested that the ad makers mine his own on-camera statements as building blocks.”
To put it mildly, this is an unconventional approach. Given the circumstances, Democrats want to turn the 2026 elections into a referendum on the unpopular president, his flailing party and the discouraging status quo. Republicans, in contrast, want to make the midterms less of a referendum and more of a choice, with a focus on individual races and candidates.
Dare we say, "please proceed," Very Stable Genius and your cult of incompetent goons!
(click on images to enlarge)
(Ann Telnaes, anntelnaes.substack.com)
(Jeff Koterba, caglecartoons.com)
(Dave Whamond, caglecartoons.com, Canada)
(Matt Davies, Newsday)
(Rick McKee, caglecartoons.com)
(Nick Anderson, The Contrarian)
(Robert Ariail, Spartanburg Herald-Journal, SC)
(John Deering, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)
(Bill Bramhall, New York Daily News)
(Jak Ohman, Tribune Content Agency)
(Bob Englehart, caglecartoons.com)
(Paul Noth, @paulnoth)
Fallout from Trump's insane trade war with Canada / wrecking stuff / what a shame! --
Wiped out: US faces surging toilet paper prices amid trade war with Canada Paper products among hardest-hit sectors after trade negotiations broke down, with 25-50% tariffs estimated.
— Jon Cooper (@joncooper-us.bsky.social) August 26, 2026 at 8:09 AM
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The same story repeats itself everywhere in the culture: dumb rich guys who don't know what anything is or does, who are too lazy/smug to learn and ideologically committed to the idea that everything they don't control is Woke Bullshit, wrecking stuff on principle. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/25/w...
— David_j_roth (@davidjroth.bsky.social) August 25, 2026 at 12:22 PM
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The key thing to understand about Trump's trade war with Canada is that there is no logic, strategy, or theory behind it. Not even Trump's ideological allies think this was a good idea. It's almost *entirely* about Trump's personal desire to dominate and humiliate Canada www.vox.com/politics/500...
— Zack Beauchamp (@zackbeauchamp.bsky.social) August 26, 2026 at 9:14 AM
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NEW from me and @delaneyrules.bsky.social Trump’s rapidly escalating trade war with Canada could be a political disaster for Republican Senate candidates, esp the four in competitive races in states bordering Canada and heavily reliant on cross-border trade www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-...
— Jen Bendery (@jbendery.bsky.social) August 25, 2026 at 4:42 PM
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Trump ruining the US-Canada alliance is terrible for the country, and hurts the economy. His Iran war is terrible for the country, and hurts the economy. But at least he was dumb enough to hurt the economy, especially in swing states, right before the midterms. My latest, in @liberalcurrents.com:
— Nicholas Grossman (@nicholasgrossman.bsky.social) August 26, 2026 at 7:27 AM
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... and Trump's economy about to get worse --
“We’ll grow our way out of it.” 🇺🇸
— Carl Quintanilla (@carlquintanilla.bsky.social) August 26, 2026 at 9:58 AM
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Dems say "Thanks for your help, Trump!" --
I’m shocked that Trump’s plan to help Republican candidates in the midterms is to spend millions on ads promoting Trump. I’m sure they are thrilled with that announcement. Who could’ve seen that coming?
— Ron Filipkowski (@ronfilipkowski.bsky.social) August 26, 2026 at 6:11 AM
Our Pentagon leader Whiskey Pete Hegseth, ladies and gentlemen --
IN THE MIDDLE OF LOSING A WAR, Whiskey Pete appears to have fired General Randy George bc George refused to drop a probe into Kid Rock. www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
— emptywheel (@emptywheel.bsky.social) August 26, 2026 at 7:53 AM
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Gates jumps on the anti- AI bandwagon --
🟡 NEW: Bill Gates says it’s time to hit the AI panic button. The technology has crossed dangerous thresholds in biology, cybersecurity, white-collar work, and human relationships, Gates said in an interview with Semafor. www.semafor.com/article/08/2...
— Semafor (@semafor.com) August 26, 2026 at 10:04 AM
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"Woke" Dolly --
Just remembered the Dolly Parton bus.
— Alistair Coleman (@alistaircoleman.bsky.social) August 26, 2026 at 4:43 AM
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One thing that's been bugging me today: people who claim Dolly Parton wasn't political. False. She was very political. Her art and life's work were about interrogating power + amplifying the powerless. You only think she wasn't political because she did this by example, not bullshit slogans.
— Charlotte Clymer (@charlotteclymer.bsky.social) August 25, 2026 at 10:42 PM
— The Tennessee Holler (@thetnholler.bsky.social) August 25, 2026 at 3:28 PM
long live our political, non-political queen #slavaukraine 🇺🇦
— shauna (@goldengateblond.bsky.social) March 2, 2025 at 3:23 PM
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Who else but National treasure and world-class mensch Dolly Parton, today and always.
The Malignant Fascist's bootlicking weasels on the Kennedy Center board are making a new pitch to put the MF's name back on the iconic cultural center, threatening to tear the place down if they don't get their way. Well, why not? Look what the moron Malignant Fascist did to the East Wing of the White House.
The Trump administration is, for the first time, threatening the demolition of the Kennedy Center if the arts institution isn’t allowed to follow its plans for the site, including adding President Donald Trump’s name to the front of the building.
“Without those efforts, the Center will deteriorate further into an unsafe, decrepit structure that will be required to be taken down, with a determination to follow on what to build on the site, such as a large outdoor amphitheater overlooking the Potomac River that has been proposed, by some, for many years,” Justice Department attorney Brantley T. Mayers wrote in a court filing on Monday.
The filing notes that any potential outdoor amphitheater would “fail to adequately honor” President John F. Kennedy, “but would be simpler and more economical to build, operate, and maintain.”
The DOJ attorneys called the Kennedy Center “structurally unsound, fundamentally unsafe, and embarrassing to the Nation’s Capital.”
They said the center’s board, which was handpicked by self-appointed chairman Trump, “recognizes that President Trump’s efforts and prestige provide the sole hope for the Center’s financial survival, and structural renewal.”
“The Board also underscores, and the undisputed evidence demonstrates, that without the prominent recognition of The Trump Administration, and President Trump’s efforts, the donors will not contribute, and the Center will continue to be in a financial and structural death spiral. The Trump Administration, and President Donald J. Trump, should, therefore, be given the respect and dignity of acknowledgement,” the filing says.
It notes that Trump “obtained $258 million in funding from Congress for capital restoration, and has marshalled a new donor base to finance an endowment for the Center,” but does not say what has happened to that money.
The filing makes a dramatic twist in the monthslong saga to renovate the historic arts institution, which has faced multiple legal challenges and criticism from Democrats, musicians and members of the Kennedy family. [snip]
Trump is appealing and the board voted this month to add his name back to the building in a slightly different way- going from the since-stricken “The Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts” to “The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Restored and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump.”
There is a hearing scheduled on the planned name change and closure in D.C. on Thursday afternoon. The judge said in his earlier decision that only Congress has the power to rename the site.
These cultists appear to be willing to stop at nothing, even the most transparent extortionist demands, to honor their dishonorable cult leader. We have to be every bit as relentless in seeing to it that they don't succeed.
The midterm elections are already upon us, and every Democrat and Independent running against a Republican should ask voters the question Ronald Reagan asked October 28, 1980, at the end of his televised debate against Jimmy Carter: Are you better off now than you were before this presidency?
Unless you’re very, very rich, the answer is obviously No, I’m worse off. [snip]
My humble advice to Democratic candidates in the midterms: Don’t be distracted. Don’t take the bait and discuss socialism, “woke”ism, or anything else.
Just ask this simple question: Are you better off now than you were before this presidency? And explain how badly Trump and congressional Republicans have screwed average working people.
You’re better off than you were before the start of this presidency only if you’re a major investor in the stock market, a top corporate executive, or a beneficiary of Trump’s largesse to his billionaire backers.
But if you’re an average working American, you’re indubitably worse off. Hopefully, you’ll vote your economic interests November 3 and deposit Trump’s congressional lapdogs into the dustbin of history..." -- former Labor Secretary Robert Reich, in his Substack, on "What Every Democratic Candidate Should Be Saying." There are few messages that seem to sink in better with voters than the one posed here. Given what the corrupt, incompetent Malignant Fascist and his team of Epstein class oligarchs have done, and are doing, to our country (and Reich provides plenty of facts on that), it's a potent political punch.
Guest host and country music star Jelly Roll is substituting for Jimmy Kimmel this week, and ICYMI Monday's monologue was a keeper. Hilarious zingers about Trump and more, and great rapport with the audience. The whole monologue is on fire. Watch:
(click on images to enlarge)
(Bill Bramhall, New York Daily News)
(Jimmy Margulies, King Features)
(Pat Bagley, The Salt Lake Tribune)
(Clay Bennett, Chattanooga Times Free Press)
(Clay Jones, claytoonz.substack.com)
(John Deering, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)
(Christopher Weyant, Boston Globe)
(John Darkow, Columbia Missourian)
(Rob Rogers, Tinyview.com)
(Pedro Molina, Tribune Content Agency)
(Phil Hands, Wisconsin State Journal; context here)
(Michael de Adder, caglecartoons.com, Canada)
She lifted people up without tearing people down.
A light that we all needed has gone out in the world, yet somehow it will always be there whenever we hear her voice or see her image or recall her many, many good works.
Rest in peace and power.
BONUS: One of her greatest acts of humanity. And the rest.
(Photo: David McClister)
The Trump - Epstein Files: Blanche defending his pedo client / boss, Maxwell loses --
Blanche really, really doesn't want to hand over these Epstein documents. Can't imagine why </s>
— Allison Gill (@muellershewrote.com) August 24, 2026 at 4:00 PM
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BREAKING: A federal judge has rejected Ghislaine Maxwell's bid to overturn her sex trafficking conviction on "new evidence" grounds.
— The Associated Press (@apnews.com) August 25, 2026 at 9:48 AM
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Oh, Canada, we stand on guard for thee. And f*ck Trump --
Having failed at and then become bored with a shooting war, Donald Trump is returning to what really gets him up in the morning: an economic war. prospect.org?p=143351
— The American Prospect (@prospect.org) August 25, 2026 at 6:00 AM
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Stephen Marche: Canada accurately sees Trump's America as a pseudo-democratic fiscal basketcase of a nation, whose only apparent foreign policy objective has become domination for the gratification of its president’s slapdash vanity.
— Scott Horton (@robertscotthorton.bsky.social) August 24, 2026 at 11:13 PM
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People are missing something big about Trump's insane new trade war with Canada: Its impact will hit right in the heart of the Midwest, where many midterm races will be decided. I talked to Dems in the region. They're already using this against Rs. 1/ (new piece) newrepublic.com/article/2146...
— Greg Sargent (@gregsargent.bsky.social) August 25, 2026 at 7:35 AM
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Pathetic
— Clara Jeffery (@clarajeffery.bsky.social) August 25, 2026 at 7:39 AM
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"Against Canada, Trump is fighting a trade war that very few Americans support, under leadership that most Americans reject, to achieve results that virtually all Americans would dismiss as pointless if not crazy" Read David Frum: www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
— Anne Applebaum (@anneapplebaum.wsocial.eu) August 23, 2026 at 2:28 PM
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Operation Epic Failure: farm economy hit hard by fertilizer, diesel costs. Winning! --
“.. The [Iran] war has made so much uncertainty for us as farmers,” said Pam Johnson, a former president of the National Corn Growers Association. “It’s projected that farmers aren’t going to make any money for the next two years.” @financialtimes.com www.ft.com/content/acb6...
— Carl Quintanilla (@carlquintanilla.bsky.social) August 25, 2026 at 5:49 AM
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Make America Sick Again, measles edition --
Two people have died from measles in Pennsylvania. They are the first people in the state to die from measles in 35 years.
— Headquarters (@headquartersnews.bsky.social) August 25, 2026 at 10:30 AM
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Bari "Bad News" Weiss continues her project to destroy See BS News --
She's going to wind up hiring Mark Halperin, isn't she? At this point, why not?
— Bill Grueskin (@bgrueskin.bsky.social) August 24, 2026 at 9:38 PM
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It's past 25th Amendment time to remove the mentally ill Malignant Fascist --
He’s just days away from appointing his horse to the Senate.
— Sanho Tree (@sanho.bsky.social) August 25, 2026 at 8:44 AM
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This hurts so much. So beloved and undeserving of the times we live in --
Dolly Parton, the beloved global entertainment icon who sold more than 100 million records and whose songwriting prowess and sure-handed approach to her career reshaped the face of country music, popular music, and the entertainment industry at large, has died. 🕊️
— Rolling Stone (@rollingstone.com) August 25, 2026 at 2:06 PM
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BREAKING: Dolly Parton, iconic songwriter, singer and actor, dies at 80.
— The Associated Press (@apnews.com) August 25, 2026 at 2:13 PM
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