(click on images to enlarge)
(Joe Heller, hellertoon.com)
(Monte Wolverton, caglecartoons.com)
(Chris Britt, Creators.com)
(Walt Handelsman, The Times-Picayune, New Orleans)
(Nick Anderson, Reform Austin News/ Tribune, TX)
(Matt Davies, Newsday)
(Rick McKee, caglecartoons.com)
(Randy Bish, @Bishtoons)
(Mike Smith, Las Vegas Sun)
(Evan Lian and Evan Allgood, The New Yorker)
Trump appears lost, confused, and frozen on stage as multiple songs play for 30+ minutes and the crowd pours out of the venue early pic.twitter.com/6r0TE2qCYM
— Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ) October 15, 2024
A much easier way to do a town hall when you’re in cognitive decline- Trump decides to abandon taking questions and just play music. He sways uncomfortably, as his supporters file out. Notice how the host Kristi Noem talks to him like a toddler. pic.twitter.com/yZjJZQMvkZ
— Mike Sington (@MikeSington) October 15, 2024
It’s time to wheel him into a fake Oval Office on the back nine of Trump National, tell him he won, hand him a Diet Coke, a “Noble Prize”, a pic of Ivanka and a Happy Meal, play a montage video of despots praising him, quietly close the door & walk away.pic.twitter.com/ChJzjJ8Ecx
— Jo (@JoJoFromJerz) October 15, 2024
"This is not normal behavior. This is not a competent, normal person. This is crazy, but there he is. "
— Morning Joe (@Morning_Joe) October 15, 2024
— @Eugene_Robinson reacts to Trump's "bizarre" PA rally on Monday night, where he stood onstage swaying to songs like "YMCA" and "November Rain" for nearly 40 minutes pic.twitter.com/jd2cVVpCVN
That DJT rally last night was like actually being in the White House to see Nixon talking to the pictures on the wall.
— Charles P. Pierce (@CharlesPPierce) October 15, 2024
Something has gone very wrong with him https://t.co/59NSiAxN8R
— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) October 15, 2024
The NYT says Trump was just doing an "improvisational departure," like John Coltrane or something, when he behaved like a complete madman on stage tonight pic.twitter.com/iZdiuJjSgy
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 15, 2024
Note to MAGAts: Your senile leader says vote on January 5. Do it! --
MAGA, you heard the man. Hit those ballot boxes on *January 5th* and no sooner! https://t.co/hTw0h3sk5Z
— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) October 14, 2024
Meanwhile the media ignores Gov. Walz's barnburner in Detroit --
My new piece: This Awesome Walz Speech Got Almost No Press Coverage. Coach revs up the Motor City
— Scott Dworkin (@funder) October 15, 2024
A must read: https://t.co/4Ql5K5XRsY
Trump militia thugs threatening FEMA workers in NC. Throw the thugs in jail NOW --
NOW: You can thank Trump!
— Brian J. Karem (@BrianKarem) October 14, 2024
Some FEMA operations paused in North Carolina after reports National Guard troops saw ‘armed militia’ threatening them - CNN https://t.co/0aeDFZ9EjZ
Elect the Malignant Loser and you'll get economic decline --
WSJ survey of economists:
— John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) October 14, 2024
"Most think inflation, interest rates and deficits would be higher under the policies Trump would pursue than under those proposed by Harris." https://t.co/XSuOole3GP
CA firefighters union endorse Harris, breaking with intimidated national union --
The California Professional Firefighters union just endorsed Vice President Harris — breaking with the national union (which endorsed no one) — citing Trump's threats to withhold wildfire aid from the state.
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) October 15, 2024
"California's firefighters and residents alike can’t afford a President…
On-the-job emotional support pet --
— cats with jobs 🛠(@CatWorkers) October 14, 2024
Saudi Arabia, despite having a U.S. military "umbrella" over it for decades and having a hugely beneficial economic relationship with the United States, has never been fully allied with us, preferring to play realpolitik games. Partly, it's due to their absolute monarchy's hedging its bets with the West, as well as its fear of the anti-American "Arab street." Now, Ryan Hogg at Fortune Magazine writes that the Saudis have plans to cut prices in an attempt to increase market share, which would have a major impact on the Russian regime's ability to finance its war in Ukraine:
"Russia’s war machine in Ukraine has been funded for two and a half years by its vast oil reserves, even in the face of rising sanctions that have cut it off from key Western customers. However, a bold move by Saudi Arabia could jeopardize that strategy.
Saudi Arabia is reportedly planning to abandon its unofficial price target of $100 per barrel for crude oil in a bid to grab market share by upping supply, according to a Financial Times report in September.
A potential increase in supply set the price of OPEC+ oil, which represents 60% of oil traded globally, tumbling in the wake of the news, suggesting that the post-COVID era of high-priced fossil fuels could be coming to an end." (our emphasis)
Hogg notes that one of the aims of the Saudis is (naturally) to challenge U.S. crude oil production, which, along with Russia's, is more difficult and expensive to extract. Nonetheless, it would have far more impact on the Russian regime:
“'For Russia, this is the worst of both worlds,' Luke Cooper, a research fellow at the London School of Economics, wrote for the IPS journal.
'Unlike the United States, it has an oil-dependent economy, which benefits from the cartel power of OPEC+. Yet, unlike Saudi Arabia, its oil is not cheap to extract, making it poorly equipped to deal with low-price conditions.'" (our emphasis)
For once, the Saudis may be doing us -- and especially Ukraine -- a favor.
(photo: "I have a surprise for you, Vlad." Amilcar Olfali / Getty)
From the Washington Post's Eugene Robinson, who says fight the urge to "doomscroll" and get out, volunteer, contribute and vote:
"Snap out of it, Democrats. Take a deep breath and stop hyperventilating. Vice President Kamala Harris has maintained a consistent lead in the national polls, and there is no way anyone can be certain which way the swing states are swinging until the votes are counted. Stop all the doomscrolling and go win the election. [snip]
The nation has been here twice before, facing the possibility that Donald Trump will be elected president. In 2016, we didn’t take the threat seriously enough — hence the angst that the “Never Trump” majority is feeling right now. But don’t forget 2020, when Joe Biden not only defeated Trump but also won traditionally Republican states such as Georgia and Arizona. There is no rule that says all Election Day surprises must be bad."
Many of us are guilty of the political jitters, when we see that almost half the population is willing to vote for a felon, adjudicated rapist, con man and national security threat, and nothing seems to break their cultish devotion to the Malignant Loser. Despite the Malignant Loser's manifest unfitness for any office of public trust, his brainwashed / low information followers will ignore his declining mental state and vote for him. Turnout will be absolutely vital to victory for our side in what is shaping up to be a very close election, and it needs to be big and convincing.
Stephen Colbert covers Vice President Harris' excellent bill of health, as contrasted with the Malignant Loser's very obvious cognitive decline, which Colbert documents in his usual hilarious way. The show aired before Colbert could include the Malignant Loser's bizarre "town hall/ musical" in Pennsylvania on Monday, in which he stopped the questions and ordered music to play while he swayed on stage for 40 minutes! So we included a snippet from it, below. (Btw, you may recognize the song he's grooving on -- it's "Time To Say Goodbye," and is often played at funerals. Bwahaha!)
Umm… so this just happened
— The Tennessee Holler (@TheTNHoller) October 15, 2024
(We did not alter the audio) pic.twitter.com/2XKH5iWiMN
(click on images to enlarge)
(Steve Brodner, @sbrodner; context here)
(Jack Ohman, Tribune Content Agency)
(Jeff Danziger, The Rutland Herald)
(Michael Ramirez, Las Vegas Review-Journal)
(Marian Kamensky, caglecartoons.com)
(Jeff Koterba, caglecartoons.com)
(Bob Englehart, caglecartoons.com)
(Brian McFadden, gocomics.com)
(Peter Steiner, @plsteiner)
It's hard to believe (but we must) that the election might be close:
Donald Trump supporters were left “stranded” for hours in sweltering conditions at the Coachella Valley rally impacted by a suspected assassination attempt on the former president.
The Republican presidential nominee spoke in California on Saturday at an event plagued with issues from the offset.
Along with Trump facing an altercation with a heckler, an armed Las Vegas man who held ID documents under multiple names was arrested outside the rally. Authorities claim Trump may have been the target of a third assassination attempt in as many months.
While thousands of supporters were bussed into Calhoun Ranch, which was situated about five miles away from where they parked their vehicles, people attending claimed the event organizers had neglected transport for the return journey.
And instead of being shuttled away from the venue after Trump exited the stage at about 7pm PT following a near-90-minute address, many attendees were left stranded in 93F heat, according to video footage on social media...
True!
Y'all, they the Trump campaign left his followers in the desert stranded again.. pic.twitter.com/iAEAGOC9dr
— Horseshoe Crab🪷🪷🪷 (@eiralaVpr7) October 13, 2024
Look at these morons after Trump’s rally at the Coachella manure farm 🤣 pic.twitter.com/jfZJXxmTWe
— Wu Tang is for the Children (@WUTangKids) October 14, 2024
Sadly, morons are allowed to vote.
Donald Trump’s campaign has limited ability to know whether their ground game operation is reaching target voters in battleground states, as the software being used needs fast internet service to properly track canvassers, according to multiple people familiar with the situation.
The Trump campaign this cycle is targeting so-called low propensity Trump voters, who are often in rural areas, as part of their bet that hitting those people who don’t typically vote but would cast a ballot for Trump if they did, could make a difference in a close election.
But the Trump campaign and the Elon Musk-backed America Pac, which is now doing an outsized portion of the Trump ground game, use a management app called Campaign Sidekick that struggles in areas with slow internet and means canvassers have to use an offline version.
The Campaign Sidekick app effectively forces canvassers who have less than 40mbps of internet – sufficient to stream 4K video – to use “offline walkbooks” which have no geo-tracking feature and do not always upload after a route is completed, the people said.
As a result, the Trump campaign and America Pac then have little way to know whether canvassers are actually knocking on doors or whether they are cheating – for instance, by “speed-running” routes where they literally throw campaign materials at doors as they drive past...
We're not dealing with a competent, well- oiled, deathstar campaign apparatus here, folks. An operation with a sociopathic narcissist at the helm, with campaign minions selected for their loyalty rather than their competence; with fellow narcissist /exploding car and X/Twitter- destroying magnate/ campaign neophyte Elon Musk "doing an outsize portion of the Trump ground game" ... well, you can draw your own conclusions.
The real danger will be on Election Day and beyond, when the Malignant Loser declares victory despite losing, and his Republican cultists rally around to try to deny Vice President Harris a victory. A main difference versus 2021 is that the insurrectionists have already shown us what they're prepared to do. Whether the bold actions needed to forestall their plans take place in a timely manner or not, as well as Harris' margin of victory, will make all the difference.
An impactful policy proposal the media largely ignored --
Vice President Harris: There are so many people in our country who fall in the Sandwich Generation. They're taking care of their kids and they're taking care of their aging parents. It’s just almost impossible to do it all. So I am proposing that we expand Medicare to cover… pic.twitter.com/J2697zdwf3
— Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ) October 13, 2024
... Meanwhile, they're sleepwalking into a fascist dystopia --
New: Major newspapers are giving Trump’s federal criminal indictment a fraction of the coverage they gave former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server in 2016 pic.twitter.com/zmPmMv305P
— Media Matters (@mmfa) October 10, 2024
Yet again a neutral headline to avoid displeasing Trump. He is not campaigning in any traditional sense: he is spreading propaganda and inciting violence. Call it for what it is. https://t.co/LoktzdKGAq
— Ruth Ben-Ghiat (@ruthbenghiat) October 13, 2024
The Malignant Loser's lies having consequences --
Some news: Federal emergency response officials had workers in hard-hit Rutherford County NC move to a safe area after the National Guard encountered pick up trucks of “armed militia saying there were out hunting FEMA,” per a USFS email sent to agencies https://t.co/em510yKkPI
— Brianna Sacks (@bri_sacks) October 13, 2024
Can't be emphasized enough --
Vice President Harris: Trump’s National Security Advisor, two of his Defense Secretaries, his Chief of Staff, and his own Vice President are all warning America. They are saying he is unfit to serve pic.twitter.com/jo7aPQZnqR
— Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ) October 13, 2024
Trump has elicited threats against:
— emptywheel (mountain bluebird) (@emptywheel) October 14, 2024
Haitians in Springfield
Latinos in Aurora
Meteorologists
FEMA personnel
Former spooks warning about Russia
Disinformation experts
Judges, prosecutors, the FBI
Blue state governors
Don Bacon's wife
His own Vice President
This, too --
When Donald Trump walked into the Oval Office on January 20th 2017, he INHERITED the lowest unemployment rate the U.S. had seen in nine and a half years.
— TheValuesVoter (Also on Threads and BlueSky) (@TheValuesVoter) October 12, 2024
Both Obama and Biden had to put out five-alarm fires. Trump inherited a booming economy which was on cruise control. https://t.co/slsgLRM9Qc pic.twitter.com/obasyZKh2r
Dangerous immigrants --
These immigrants are the biggest threat to America. pic.twitter.com/mMRLpxzcM4
— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) October 14, 2024
They should have had permission months ago!! WTF?! --
Ukraine's victory plan includes a request for greater numbers of ATACMS and Storm Shadow missiles and a permission to launch then against military targets in Russia, presidential advisor Mykhailo Podolyak told the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) in comments published on Oct. 14.
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) October 14, 2024
Perhaps I should name a captured town square “the Jake Sullivan war crimes plaza” in honor of his contributions.
— Darth Putin (@DarthPutinKGB) October 14, 2024
The speed of light --
The speed of light visualized on a cosmic scale.
— Wonder of Science (@wonderofscience) October 14, 2024
📽: Dr James O'Donoghue pic.twitter.com/n7trC0KWlq
The always quotable Mary Trump, the niece of the Malignant Loser, has written in Substack that her uncle has always been for sale. He's hollow as far as having any core philosophy or values, except what's best for him financially. The opening paragraphs of Mary Trump's perceptive article illustrates that fact:
"Donald Trump has always been for sale. It used to be shocking how many people were willing to prop him up in the hopes of profiting off his increasingly seamy ventures. But thanks to a morally bankrupt Republican Party and our degraded corporate media, Donald remains alarmingly close to the kind of power that’s worth shelling out massive amounts of money to be close to—and benefit from.
Any person or entity, from Putin to Saudi Arabia’s LIV Golf, willing to throw Donald a few bucks for a licensing fee or a Trump Tower condo has gained access and influence. Given this decades-long pattern, it’s not surprising that the world’s richest fascist, South African jumping bean Elon Musk, would also be interested in purchasing a few shares in a man who is willing to sell whatever he can get his hands on—whether it’s steaks or American national security—because he values money more than anything.
In exchange for Donald’s willingness to throw Musk the keys to the federal government, Musk is throwing a considerable fortune, as well as the weight of Twitter’s influence, behind the Republican candidate. For him, it’s a safe bet because he knows, if Donald is elected, he’ll do anything Musk wants him to do." (our emphasis)
Whether it's through flattery or bribes, the Malignant Loser can be manipulated, indeed owned. Foreign adversaries have discovered that over the years, starting with his Russian idol, war criminal and thug Vladimir Putin. His new owner is busy dumping his receding fortune in the Malignant Loser's campaign, not only for potential leverage over the Federal Government, but for salving his wounded ego after being rejected for his anti-labor actions and for his "free speech for Nazis" movement on social media.
(click to enlarge)
The apparent memory loss of many Americans is compounded by their limited attention to politics. Many are focused on turning a buck and not the government they elect, which is why a celebrity business fraud and failure was elevated to the Oval Office. Then, after mismanaging the response to a pandemic, two impeachments and leading a plot to overthrow our democracy, he is the now the unchallenged leader of a political cult threatening to assume power again. It's worth remembering this from our history:
Elizabeth Willing Powel: "Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?"
Benjamin Franklin: "A republic, if you can keep it." -- September 17, 1787 outside Independence Hall, Philadelphia
That's a big "if" these days.
"Evangelicals for Harris" uses the words of the late Rev. Billy Graham to skewer the Golden Calf the Malignant Loser:
Donald Trump thinks the military should handle his political opponents if there is unrest after the November election results come in.
During an interview on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures,” host Maria Bartiromo asked the former president about reports the government had thwarted a potential election-related terror attack and if the public should be worried about a violent response from immigrants come November.
Last week, the FBI arrested an Afghan man who was allegedly part of a plot to launch suicide attacks on large crowds on Election Day. Officials said the man had obtained AK-47 assault rifles, bought one-way plane tickets for his family to go to Afghanistan, and liquidated their assets while attempting to carry out his plans.
Rather than focus on real threats from foreign militants, Trump told Bartiromo that he was far more concerned with left-wing Americans in regard to Election Day.
“I think the bigger problem is the enemy from within, not even the people who are destroying our country ... I don’t think they’re the problem in terms of Election Day,” the Republican presidential nominee said. “I think the bigger problem are the people from within. We have some very bad people, we have some sick people, radical left lunatics.”
And it should be easily handled by, if necessary, by National Guard, or if really necessary, by the military,” he continued. “Because they can’t let that happen.”
He also said that he doesn’t foresee any political tumult coming from his own supporters on Election Day, telling Bartiromo, “No, I don’t think so. Not from the side that votes for Trump.”
Though Trump warned about a left-wing backlash toward election results, it is his own supporters who have a history of causing post-election chaos...
Always threatening. Always projecting. "A fascist to the core." A Nazi.
Donald Trump’s presidential campaign worked with X to prevent information about JD Vance from being posted on the social media platform, a move that resulted in the journalist who revealed the information being kicked off the site, according to reports.
The former president’s team contacted X, owned by the billionaire Trump backer Elon Musk, about a 271-page document compiled by his campaign to vet his running mate that was linked to by Ken Klippenstein, an independent journalist, the New York Times has reported.
X responded by blocking links to the material, claiming that it contained sensitive personal information such as the Ohio US senator’s social security number, and banned Klippenstein from the platform.
The materials published by Klippenstein on his Substack in September appear to be related to a hack of the Trump campaign earlier this year, which the FBI has linked to Iran. Documents from the hack have been shared with several media outlets, which have chosen to not publish them.
Media outlets did not reach the same decision when they gave significant attention to files from Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign that had been hacked and leaked by Russian intelligence before she ultimately lost that election to Trump. At one point, Trump had said he hoped Russia would be “able to find” some of Clinton’s files...
The exploding car magnate is doing everything he can to put the Malignant Loser back in the White House. The "free speech" advocating illegal immigrant from South Africa knows as much about free speech as his illiterate cult leader.
(click on image to enlarge)
NGC 5248 is one of the so-called ‘grand design’ spirals, with prominent spiral arms that reach from near the core out through the disc. It also has a faint bar structure in the centre, between the inner ends of the spiral arms, which is not quite so obvious in this visible-light portrait from Hubble. Features like these which break the rotational symmetry of a galaxy have a huge influence on how matter moves through it, and eventually its evolution through time. They feed gas from a galaxy’s outer reaches to inner star-forming regions, and even to a galaxy’s central black hole where it can kick-start an active galactic nucleus.
These flows of gas have shaped NGC 5248 in a big way; it has many bright ‘starburst regions’ of intense star formation spread across its disc, and it is dominated by a population of young stars. The galaxy even has two very active, ring-shaped starburst regions around its nucleus, filled with young clusters of stars. These ‘nuclear rings’ are remarkable enough, but normally a nuclear ring tends to block gas from getting further into the core of a galaxy. NGC 5248 having a second ring inside the first is a marker of just how forceful its flows of matter and energy are! Its relatively nearby, highly visible starburst regions make the galaxy a target for professional and amateur astronomers alike.
[Image Description: A close-in, face-on view of a spiral galaxy. It has two large arms which curve outwards from the round, bright central region to nearly the corners of the image. They are lined by bright pink, glowing points where stars are forming, and channels of dark reddish dust that blocks light. These also spread across the galaxy’s oval disc, which is cloudy in form and speckled with stars. A black background is visible behind it.]
Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, F. Belfiore, J. Lee and the PHANGS-HST Team
(click on images to enlarge)
(Jack Ohman, Tribune Content Agency)
(Michael de Adder, Globe and Mail, Toronto)
(Patrick Chappatte, The Boston Globe)
(Clay Jones, claytoonz.com)
(Dave Whamond, caglecartoons.com)
(Benjamin Slyngstad, @SlyngCartoons)
(Mike Luckovich, Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
(Guy Parsons, politicalcartoons.com)
(Dennis Goris, @DennisGoris)
(Mort Gerberg, @mortgerberg)
... [T]he Biden administration needs to be gearing up to unleash the full power of the federal government against Trump and his legal and political allies on the morning of November 6, assuming that Harris wins the election. (If Trump wins the Electoral College then it turns out the Constitution really is a suicide pact, and there’s no legal recourse for that outcome).
By that I mean that any and all federal and state laws that prohibit post-election fraud and sedition need to be enforced with absolutely no consideration for prudential arguments about not engaging in “lawfare” against one’s political opponents. If Trump and or his allies arguably violate criminal laws while trying to overturn the election they have lost — which they are practically certain to do — they need to be arrested on the spot. They can be given plenty of due process in due time, but this will not be the time for any kind of hesitation in terms of unleashing the the full legal power of the state against them. Nor will it be time to hesitate in terms of unleashing the full violence of the state against violent attempts to overturn the election, including violent protests. It’s a grim fact that a certain amount of state violence — another word for this is “law” — may have to be brought to bear against post-election seditionists, to encourage the others.
Part of this planning should include Merrick Garland’s resignation letter, dated November 6th, 2024. It would be a severe understatement to note that Garland is not a wartime consigliere, and anybody who thinks we’re not going to the mattresses on that morning — assuming again that Harris actually wins the election; after all, we are not communists — is living in the kind of reactionary centrist dreamworld we can’t afford to inhabit in America 2024. (our emphasis)
We've been thinking a lot about this, too, as likely many of you have. The Malignant Loser is stating his intentions rather loudly and clearly: he won't accept losing the election, and he intends to challenge a loss all the way to Inauguration Day and to the Republican Supreme Court. Violence is certainly on the table for him and his fascist supporters, as it was on January 6, 2021, except more so and everywhere. All the more reason, of course, to thump him soundly on November 5, a task which may prove more difficult than it should be.
Regardless, we heartily agree that the steps that need to be taken (and are already gamed out) must include nipping any seditious actions or criminal acts in the bud with the full force of law, no matter who commits them. The Malignant Loser has broadcast his plans; if countermeasures haven't been planned, it would be a fatal betrayal of the Constitution and of our (flawed) democracy.
Here's the Malignant Loser at his cult rally in Coachella, CA, yesterday, suggesting that a woman who heckled him will have "the hell knocked out of her," as his cult chants "fight, fight" behind him (starting at 1:48 in video).
