Sunday, September 27, 2026

Another Taxpayer-Paid Campaign Ad For Trump

 



Another day, another illegal campaign ad, paid for by your tax dollars, from the Malignant Fascist:

The White House has launched another taxpayer-funded television ad before the midterms, this time featuring imagery of President Donald Trump walking down a hall as audio plays of him saying “this is the final battle.”

“We will cast out the communists, Marxists, and fascists. We will throw off the sick political class that hates our country. We will rout the fake news media, and we will liberate America from these villains once and for all,” Trump says in the ad, echoing comments he made during a Veterans Day speech in 2023.

The ad aired during at least two NFL games on Sunday, during Fox’s broadcasts of the Washington Commanders-Seattle Seahawks matchup as well as the Carolina Panthers-Cleveland Browns game.

The Trump administration has drawn widespread attention for its airing of ads featuring the president just over a month before the November midterms. The White House has compared the ads to previous administrations running public service announcements about Medicare, Obamacare and promoting Covid-19 vaccination, saying in a statement that its new commercials “are very clearly not campaign ads.” [snip]

This is the third government-funded ad to be captured in recent days by the media tracker AdImpact. An ad that began airing Wednesday featured rapidly edited pictures and video of Trump over audio of him denouncing communism and socialism, with text on the screen that touts his administration’s accomplishments, such as “reigniting American manufacturing.”

A second ad features video of Trump at Mount Rushmore as his voice is heard saying, “Never before has any nation celebrated so magnificent a triumph as this one.”

Blatant lie alert:

The White House declined to elaborate on how the first ad was being funded but defended it as part of “public service announcements” to promote national pride.

“The ad is educational and unapologetically patriotic,” a White House spokesperson said in a statement. “We should be proud of our country.”

Continuing:

That ad drew scrutiny from the government watchdog group Common Cause, which suggested it could violate rules against using taxpayer dollars for “propaganda.”

“I don’t think you have to be a legal scholar and wonder why the president has to use taxpayer funds to promote his image” this close to an election, Carol Evans, the vice president for policy at Common Cause, told CNN. 

Their tactic is move fast and break things, and don't bother to ask permission.  Oh, and lie your fat ass off.

Let's get all the lickspittles involved in producing these taxpayer-funded ads in for some testimony when Democrats take control in January.

(Image:  ad screenshot / US Government)


Today's Cartoons

 

(click on images to enlarge)

(Benjamin Slyngstad, @slyngstad_cartoons)

(Bill Bramhall, New York Daily News)


(Clay Bennett, Chattanooga Times Free Press)

(Scott Stantis, Chicago Tribune)

(Mike Luckovich, Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

(Chris Britt, Creators.com)


(Mike Smith, Las Vegas Sun)

(Ann Telnaes, anntelnaes.substack.com)

(John Branch, King Features)

(Martin Rowson, The Guardian, UK)

(Michael de Adder, The Contrarian, Canada)

(Jimmy Margulies, King Features)

(Trevor Spaulding, The New Yorker)


Sunday Reflection: "Eureka!"



In 1822 on this day, French linguist / soldier Jean-François Champollion announced that he had deciphered the Rosetta Stone, which had three different languages, hieroglyphics, demotic and Ancient Greek, that enabled translation of ancient Egyptian texts.  Comparing the three translations facilitated the interpretation of ancient Egyptians hieroglyphics.  As the late Joan Acocella put it in the New Yorker:

"It was a slab of granodiorite (a cousin of granite), about four feet tall, two and a half feet wide, and a foot thick, inscribed on its front with three separate texts. The topmost text, in Egyptian hieroglyphs, was fourteen lines long. (It was probably about twice that length originally; the top of the slab had broken off.) The middle section, thirty-two lines long, was in some other script, which nobody recognized. (Called Demotic, it turned out to be a sort of shorthand derived, ultimately, from hieroglyphs.) But—eureka!—the bottom section, fifty-three lines long, was in Ancient Greek, a language that plenty of Napoleon’s savants had learned in school. One can only imagine what these men felt when they saw the third inscription, like a familiar face in a room full of strangers."

(photo: British Museum) 

 

The Desperation Of "Trump TV"

 



Salon.com's Alex Galbraith writes today about the brain rot at the core of the deranged Malignant Fascist's regime as exemplified by the launch of "Trump TV."  An excerpt:

"Trump’s poll numbers are in free fall, presaging a brutal midterm election that might make him a premature lame duck. The Big Lie of 2020 has gone stale. His promise to keep America out of new wars has fallen apart in the dumbest and most expensive way imaginable. His foundation is cracking, with at least some longtime MAGA boosters turning on him. His public rambling and late-night Truth Social screeds suggest there may be termites in the rafters. Overwhelmed with the sheer amount of work he’d have to do to actually set things right, Trump has opted for a fresh coat of paint.

The president launched Trump TV on YouTube earlier this week, and once again I can see the logic. The 24-hour propaganda stream allows him to crow about his accomplishments while avoiding the pesky questions that even sympathetic news networks have started tossing at him lately. At a moment when former supporters are visibly backing away from Trump’s moldy message and trying to seal themselves off from the toxic reputational effects of his second term, Trump is creating a safe space for his lead-poisoned die-hards. It’s almost an act of love, or about as close as someone as self-obsessed as the president can get."

The entire article is well worth the read.  

 

Trump, Xi, Trump TV, And More

 

Saturday Night Live is back, and "Weekend Update" has the latest quips on a world that may have gotten too easy to satirize.

Saturday, September 26, 2026

Today's Cartoons

 

(click on images to enlarge)

(Peter Brookes, The Times, UK)

(John Deering, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)

(Marian Kamensky, caglecartoons.com, Austria)

(Morten Morland, The Times, UK;  context here)

(Rob Rogers, Tinyview.com)

(Ed Wexler, caglecartoons.com)

(Gary Markstein, Creators.com)

(R.J. Matson, CQ/ Roll Call)

(Matt Davies, Newsday)

(Dave Whamond, caglecartoons.com, Canada)

(Clay Bennett, Chattanooga Times Free Press)

(Michael de Adder, Hill Times, Ottawa, Canada)

(Vaughan Tomlinson, @vaughantomlinson)


Skeets Of The Day

 

The Trump-Epstein files cover up continues --


Trump’s DOJ claims it has turned over unredacted handwritten FBI notes from four interviews with a woman who alleges Trump sexually and physically abused her as a minor. But there’s a major question about what else Todd Blanche actually handed the judge.

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— MeidasTouch (@meidastouch.com) September 25, 2026 at 8:16 PM


Operation Epic Quagmire: bombing will resume as diesel prices, etc. soar--

 

Exclusive: Trump has rejected Iran's proposal for a seven-day ceasefire and has told aides he expects to resume bombing Iran after the midterms, officials said.

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— The Wall Street Journal (@wsj.com) September 25, 2026 at 8:45 PM


Fellow technofascist oligarchs band together to protect fascist white supremacist Musk -- 


This is ominous. A "lamps are going out all over Europe" type moment as media is consolidated into the hands of oligarchs.

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— Brandon Friedman (@brandonfriedman.bsky.social) September 25, 2026 at 7:40 PM


Criminal Netanyahu was warned about Hamas attack by Egyptian intel --  


Exclusive: Egypt’s top spy flew to Israel shortly before October 7 with a dire warning about Gaza, Vivian Salama reports: theatln.tc/2t3svWou

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— The Atlantic (@theatlantic.com) September 26, 2026 at 10:20 AM


Knee-benders to the Malignant Fascist must not be forgotten, or forgiven -- 


Which is why the anticipatory capitulation of elite universities & national media to this regime must never be forgotten

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— Michael P. Breen (@mpbreen21.bsky.social) September 26, 2026 at 10:39 AM


The compromised MF offers another gift to war criminal Putin as Senators object -- 


“Republican Sen. Roger Wicker, chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, led the letter, which was also signed by six additional Democrats and six Republicans.”

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— Sanho Tree (@sanho.bsky.social) September 26, 2026 at 10:00 AM


Now for some good news -- 


Zuckerberg’s $9 billion loss was the biggest single-day drop among any billionaire Friday.

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— Forbes (@forbes.com) September 25, 2026 at 3:15 PM


And more good news -- 


Candace Owens calls Jeremy Boreing a "Jeffrey Dahmer character" who "never liked" Charlie Kirk, Alex Jones says Laura Loomer is a "twisted harpy," and Mark Levin calls Tucker Carlson a "thug bastard" This week in right-wing podcast wars 👇 @mmfa.bsky.social www.mediamatters.org/candace-owen...

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— Noah VanDowe (@vandowe.bsky.social) September 25, 2026 at 3:03 PM

 

That's a headline for you cmarmitage.substack.com/p/big-balls-...

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— Oregon 🕎🎲 (@oregonthedm.bsky.social) September 25, 2026 at 10:31 PM


Accurately renaming the Kennedy Center -- 

 



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— Secular Talk (@kylekulinskishow.bsky.social) September 25, 2026 at 9:36 PM

 

 

Polls Reflect Growing Dem Lead

 

As the deranged and vindictive Malignant Fascist wines and dines actual Communists in the White House, the voting public is growing increasingly angry with his policies and high prices. The poll averages for who should control Congress are bad news for the MF and his cult. From NBC News:

"Democrats are heading into the final stretch of the 2026 midterms with their largest lead yet in the race for Congress and President Donald Trump’s approval rating at a significant low, according to NBC News’ newly released polling averages.

A 9-percentage-point advantage for Democrats when it comes to control of Congress is part of a steady deterioration of the political environment for Republicans. The parties started the road to this November effectively tied in the weeks after President Donald Trump returned to office last year, but independents have gradually begun to prefer a Democratic-controlled Congress. And those voters have soured on Trump and his economic policies in particular.

The congressional average, which stands at 52% to 43% after adjusting to a likely voter scale, measures whether Americans prefer a Congress controlled by Democrats or Republicans before things like individual races and candidates come into play." (our emphasis)

The article points to the shift in independent voters, who have turned against the MF increasingly this year, as Dems hold a 16 point lead with independents in Congressional races which will be critical in swing states.  The cost of living and the related war on Iran top the list of the MF's failures that are driving the polls.

Again, polls are not ballots, and every Dem and other voter should be motivated to vote, whether in person or by mail, and not assume the election has been won.  There are 38 days before November 3, and everyone should be checking their registration and making a plan to vote. 

 

QOTD -- From Homage To Plagiarism

 



Satirist Andy Borowitz covers the latest "lawsuit" against the Malignant Fascist:

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—The estate of Adolf Hitler sued Donald J. Trump on Thursday for what it called the “blatant theft” of the late German chancellor’s design for an arch of triumph in Berlin.

“President Trump’s proposed monument is a brazen appropriation of the arch designed by Mr. Hitler’s Nazi architect, Albert Speer,” the lawsuit charged. “It is our duty as trustees of the Adolf Hitler Estate to ensure that the Fuhrer’s intellectual property rights are vigorously protected.”

Furthermore, the lawyers alleged, “Trump’s entire presidency has crossed the line from homage to outright plagiarism of Mr. Hitler’s Third Reich™.”

The attorneys cited over 900 examples to support that claim, including their assertion that White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller “is nothing more nor less than a karaoke version of Heinrich Himmler.”

"From homage to outright plagiarism."  This life we're all living feels like a nightmare satire at times, as we experience the sheer evil of the dangerous buffoon and his lickspittle fascist enablers every day, the Malignant Fascist's Hitler- style arch/ sniper tower being just one piece of the hellscape.

BONUS:  The Hitler arch --



(Images: mock up of the MF's arch/ sniper tower / via ABC13 News;  Hitler inspecting his model arch /Sueddeutsche Zeitung Photo / Alamy Stock Photo )


Long Ago And Far Away

 

This is film of Peking in the early 1900's, mostly of street and market scenes, that's been colorized and ambient sound added.  Note that the men are wearing their hair in queues.  The prominent gate that people are passing through is Zhengyang Gate, one of several impressive entrances to the central city through its ancient wall.  The three arch structure that makes an appearance at around 13:25 is known as a paifang. Nary a motorized vehicle in sight.  How things have changed.

Friday, September 25, 2026

GAO: Millions Of Taxpayer Dollars Wasted By ICE

 



Thugs gone wild -- with taxpayer money:

The Trump administration’s efforts to boost detention capacity for immigrants wasted millions of dollars in taxpayer money due to poor planning and execution, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office, the independent congressional watchdog.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement spent roughly $1 billion on 11 industrial warehouses meant to house and process immigrants, but it now plans to sell seven of those after walking back its plan.

Though some of that money will presumably be recouped through property sales, ICE dished out about $20 million in “nonrecoverable costs” related to those warehouses, such as for security and zoning assessments.

ICE could also lose additional money if it unloads the warehouses for less than it paid to purchase them.

“Waste, which occurs when agencies spend government resources carelessly or extravagantly, is also evident in other initiatives,” the GAO found.

The Defense Department spent nearly $3 million to erect tents that would hold 5,000 beds for immigrants, but that makeshift housing ended up not being used, according to the GAO.

The administration also misspent money on the infamous and now-shuttered detention facility known as “Alligator Alcatraz.” The Department of Homeland Security is reimbursing the state of Florida for running that facility and one other through a Federal Emergency Management Agency grant, paying a rate 171% higher per bed than what ICE normally pays.

The report paints a picture of an administration that was plowing ahead with its immigration crackdown without giving any thought to how wasteful it was.

“ICE pursued these detention expansion initiatives without developing a comprehensive strategic plan to guide its efforts,” the report states.

The agency failed to develop “consistent goals or objectives” for its detention space, it goes on, and didn’t bother to assess “the risks and benefits” of using high-cost facilities as opposed to its existing space.

The Department of Homeland Security, which includes ICE, did not immediately respond to a HuffPost request for comment.

The warehouse boondoggle was spearheaded by former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, whom Trump ousted earlier this year. Her successor, former Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.), said his administration would be reevaluating the project and selling several of the facilities.

The proposed facilities, known as “ICE warehouses,” have drawn bipartisan pushback in communities across the country, with residents voicing concerns about their impacts on public health and the environment. Many have also likened them to “concentration camps” and urged local officials not to abet the administration’s deportation campaign. (our emphasis)

The clowns at DHS / ICE should expect to be hauled up to House and Senate oversight committees if and when Democrats in take over Congress.  The ICE money spigot also needs to be turned off, now.

(Photo:  ICE warehouse in Social Circle, GA / Elijah Nouvelage, Getty images)

Today's Cartoons

 

(click on images to enlarge)

(Pat Bagley, The Salt Lake Tribune)

(Bill Bramhall, New York Daily News)

(Phil Hands, Wisconsin State Journal)

(Patrick Chappatte, The Boston Globe)

(Michael Ramirez, Las Vegas Review-Journal)

(Nick Anderson, Raw Story)

(Christopher Weyant, The Boston Globe)

(Ratt, caglecartoons.com)

(Rick McKee, caglecartoons.com)

(Mike Luckovich, Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

(Jonathan Brown, caglecartoons.com)

(Bob Englehart, caglecartoons.com)

(Jon Adams, @citycyclops)


Skeets Of The Day

 

Operation Epic Quagmire / FAFO Crown Prince Bonesaw --

 

Saudi Arabia is in big trouble, with their oil industry under attack from multiple directions. The Saudis spent years bribing Trump and Kushner. At first, it seemed like a good investment. But the Iran war screwed them, now they really need help, and the US can't/won't. Me, in @foreignpolicy.com:

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— Nicholas Grossman (@nicholasgrossman.bsky.social) September 24, 2026 at 2:12 PM

 

Trump's illegalities (part infinity) --

 

Ambassador Alan Wolff says President Donald Trump's novel implementation of America's tariff law is illegal and runs counter to how Congress intended the presidential power to be used. Wolff would know. He wrote the law. https://cnn.it/4AuSoLg

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— CNN (@cnn.com) September 25, 2026 at 8:02 AM

 

With the midterm elections approaching, the White House is airing a new TV ad promoting President Donald Trump and his policies that says it is “Paid for by the U.S. Government.” https://cnn.it/4Av5loz

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— CNN (@cnn.com) September 24, 2026 at 6:59 PM

 

"Stop us before we kill" --

 

Tech leaders to UN: For the sake of humanity, please control the AI technology we created. apnews.com/article/ai-a...

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— Tim O’Brien (@timobrien.bsky.social) September 24, 2026 at 5:32 AM

 

Sad! --


Deaths now outnumber births in reliably Republican counties for the first time since at least 1982. We explain how this may already be affecting voting patterns in America bit.ly/471apDL

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— The Economist (@economist.com) September 24, 2026 at 11:00 AM

 

Trump and Xi mismatch --


Diplomacy or ‘diplotainment’? Key takeaways from the Trump-Xi summit in Washington

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— The Guardian (@theguardian.com) September 25, 2026 at 3:04 AM

 

Chinese officials look on as some final adjustments to the red carpet are made for President Xi.

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— Acyn (@acyn.bsky.social) September 23, 2026 at 6:11 PM

 

While Trump had the US military on their hands and knees smoothing out a red carpet for Xi and the Chinese.

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— Ron Filipkowski (@ronfilipkowski.bsky.social) September 25, 2026 at 8:29 AM

 

So it's going to be the Xi ballroom? Figures...

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— The GREAT HOUDINI (@thegreathoudini.bsky.social) September 25, 2026 at 8:36 AM

 

no significant deliverables from the trump-xi summit. but the most extraordinary photo (via chip somodevilla)

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— ian bremmer (@ianbremmer.com) September 25, 2026 at 8:30 AM

 

Xi knows he is in the presence of an absolute buffoon. He also knows that he is in the presence of the buffoon handing him global dominance.

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— VT Commons (@vtcommons.bsky.social) September 25, 2026 at 7:31 AM


Bobby Brainworm stole from black infant care to fund his security. Shameless. -- 

 

"RKF took money earmarked to provide health care for Black infants and spent it on his personal security detail" is a ludicrous headline. Comic book villainy.

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— Radley Balko (@radleybalko.bsky.social) September 25, 2026 at 10:03 AM

 

Progress!  😁 (Happy Friday!) --

 

“He definitely isn’t fluent, and I doubt he’ll ever get there, but he’s truly come a long way from being unable to pronounce a single word intelligibly.” — Xi Jinping

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— The Onion (@theonion.com) September 24, 2026 at 9:00 PM

 

 

Weekend Autumn Music

 

Now that it's Fall (in the Northern Hemisphere!), the first hints of yellow are showing in the tulip poplars, the sycamores are well along in dropping their leaves, while the oaks, hickories and other trees are holding on to their green for a while longer.  "Autumn Leaves" is an American standard, performed in many genres, but we like trumpeter Chet Baker's jazz version, with contributions from an all-star band including Steve Gadd on drums, Paul Desmond on alto sax, Ron Carter on bass, and Bob James on piano. Hope you enjoy.

Exposing Trump's "Noncitizen Voters" Fraud [UPDATE]

 



This past summer, the Department of Homeland Security claimed that it had identified noncitizen voters on the State of Nevada's rolls, in support of the lying Malignant Fascist's oft-repeated claim that droves of illegal immigrants have been voting in our elections.  From the Las Vegas Sun (New York Times byline):

"When the Department of Homeland Security sent Nevada a list of 185 names last month that it claimed identified noncitizens who had been improperly allowed to register to vote, state election officials got to work.

On Tuesday, the state sent a strongly worded rebuke to the federal government: Every single person on the list was a lawful citizen.

'As for the 185 individuals, our records indicate that they were citizens,' Greg D. Ott, a deputy attorney general in Nevada, wrote, according to a copy of a letter sent to Department of Homeland Security officials obtained through open records requests. 'You have provided nothing of substance to suggest otherwise.'

Ott also stated that DHS officials had still not provided enough data for election officials to investigate their claims. Nor have they turned over the list of nearly 16,000 individuals they claim may be noncitizens.

'Our records do not support DHS’s claims, and DHS has still not provided evidence to change that,' Francisco Aguilar, the Democratic secretary of state in Nevada, said in a statement. 'Instead, DHS officials continue their attempts to intimidate election officials into compliance and deter voters with huge claims of fraud with no evidence. Repeating unsupported claims does not make them true.'" (our emphasis)

Be assured that this scenario is being played out across the nation, as the delusional MF tries to discredit and undermine the validity of our elections, specifically the ones where he and his cult are losing.  His private Gestapo, when they're not forcing immigrants into internment camps or shipping them to third countries, is actively throwing sand in the gears of the mid-term elections, until they're stopped by state officials like Nevada's. 

UPDATE: The MAGAt Supreme Court has OK'ed the use of the "SAVE" database, allowing states to kick legitimate voters off the rolls. Expand the Supreme Court when Dems have control!

(photo: CNN)