Trump continues slow descent into total madness; Fed shutdown approaching; China develops realistic humanoid robot
It's National Pancake Day!
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We’re off on Monday and will return on Tuesday, September 30.
Trump escalates retribution campaign with charges against Comey and threats against liberal groups. It’s an unabashed campaign that began soon after Trump returned to office and one that critics see as an abuse of power that puts every American who dares to criticize the president at risk of retaliation.
“Bad things happen”: Trump warns Dems over rising political violence. Donald Trump is openly threatening his political opponents.
Speaking of political violence, Trump nominee quietly deletes post calling for liberal’s execution. Bookmark this for the next time Republicans say the left is to blame for all political violence in this country.
Trump White House prepares for mass firings if government shuts down. The White House’s budget office directed federal agencies to draw up plans to permanently reduce their workforces if there is a government shutdown next week, raising the specter of mass firings on top of the customary furloughs during a lapse in funding.
Democrats dig in on shutdown after White House layoff threat. Democrats representing huge numbers of federal employees say they are not cowed by the layoff threats.
Trump to slap new tariffs on pharma, big trucks. “Starting October 1st, 2025, we will be imposing a 100% Tariff on any branded or patented Pharmaceutical Product, unless a Company IS BUILDING their Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Plant in America,” Trump posted.
Hegseth abruptly summons top military commanders to a meeting in Virginia next week. Getting all one-star and higher officers in one room… sounds like the opening scene of a James Bond movie.
‘We’re screwed’: Viral video of humanoid robot shows it blinking, scanning room. A Chinese robotics company has developed a terrifyingly realistic robot head that is capable of expressing a wide range of emotions.
More kids are severely ill or dying from the flu, CDC reports. As fewer children get their flu shots, cases of a rare, severe complication are rising. Last season, the U.S. experienced the highest number of pediatric flu deaths in 15 years.
We emit a visible light that vanishes when we die, says surprising study.
Fact check of the week: Trump didn’t tell the UN that ‘it burns when I pee’.
Florida!
Open carry begins in Florida, marking major change in state law.
Florida woman allegedly goes looking for her man at another woman’s house, what happens next is…complicated. A love triangle turned violent after Jahniya Meda admitted she shot a man’s girlfriend in the butt after she came to her house looking for him
Late Night and Other Videos:
Comey speaks out on his indictment: “Let’s have a trial.” (Video)
Trump trolls Biden with autopen portrait in WH and sics his DOJ on James Comey | The Daily Show (Video)
Triple sabotage at the U.N. | Biden responds to Trump’s trolling | Hegseth: women can’t be warriors - Late Show with Stephen Colbert (Video)
Trump distracts from Epstein files with escalator drama and wages war on Tylenol and TikTok - Jimmy Kimmel (Video)
Trump demands arrests for U.N. “sabotage” amid MAGA escalator conspiracy: Late Night with Seth Meyers (Video)
Keep scrolling down. Lots of interesting stuff in On This Day, Birthdays, and Death, including videos.
Quote of the Day:
The years between fifty and seventy are the hardest. You are always being asked to do more, and you are not yet decrepit enough to turn them down.
--T.S. Eliot (Wikipedia link)
(More T.S. Eliot quotes from the KGB Quotations Database)
Today’s holidays:
European Day of Languages, Hug a Vegetarian Day, Human Resource Professional Day, International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons, Johnny Appleseed Day, Love Note Day, Lumberjack Day, Mesothelioma Awareness Day, National Bakery Day, National Better Breakfast Day, National BRAVE Day, National Chimichanga Day, National Compliance Officer Day, National Dumpling Day, National Key Lime Pie Day, National Pancake Day, National Situational Awareness Day, Native American Day, Save the Koala Day, Shamu the Whale Day, Sport Purple for Platelets Day, The Last of Us Day, World Contraception Day, and World Environmental Health Day.
Astronomy Picture of the Day from NASA.
On This Day:
2024 – Hurricane Helene made landfall in Perry, Florida as a Category 4 hurricane, killing over 250 people, causing US$78.7 billion in damage and becoming the deadliest hurricane in the mainland United States since Katrina.
2005 – IRA officially disarmed.
1984 – The United Kingdom and China agreed to a transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong, to take place in 1997.
1983 – Soviet Air Force officer Stanislav Petrov identified a report of an incoming nuclear missile as a computer error and not an American first strike, thus preventing nuclear war. (Video)
1982 – “Knight Rider” premiered on NBC. (Video)
1975 – “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” was released in the U.S. (Video)
1969 – “The Brady Bunch” premiered on ABC. (Video)
1969 – “Abbey Road”, The Beatles’ 11th and final studio album, was released. (Video)
1966 – “Hawaii Five-O” premiered on CBS. (Video)
1964 – “Gilligan’s Island” premiered on CBS. (Video)
1962 – “The Beverly Hillbillies” premiered on CBS. (Video)
1960 – In Chicago, the first televised debate took place between presidential candidates Richard M. Nixon and John F. Kennedy. (Video)
1957 – “West Side Story” premiered on Broadway. (Video)
1933 – As gangster Machine Gun Kelly surrendered to the FBI, he shouted out, “Don’t shoot, G-Men!”, which becomes a nickname for FBI agents.
1914 – The United States Federal Trade Commission was established by the Federal Trade Commission Act.
1905 – Albert Einstein published the third of his Annus Mirabilis papers, introducing the special theory of relativity.
1789 – George Washington appointed Thomas Jefferson the first United States Secretary of State.
1777 – American Revolution: British troops occupied Philadelphia.
1580 – Francis Drake finished his circumnavigation of the Earth in Plymouth, England.
(For comprehensive lists of the day’s historical events, check here, here, and here.)
Some Birthdays:
1981 – Serena Williams, American tennis player
1972 – Beto O’Rourke, American politician
1968 – Ben Shenkman, American actor
1968 – Jim Caviezel, American actor (Video)
1962 – Melissa Sue Anderson, American-Canadian actress
1956 – Linda Hamilton, American actress (Video)
1948 – Olivia Newton-John, English-Australian singer-songwriter and actress (died 2022) (Video)
1947 – Lynn Anderson, American singer and actress (died 2015) (Video)
1942 – Kent McCord, American actor (Video)
1937 – Jerry Weintraub, American film producer and agent (died 2015)
1932 – Donna Douglas, American actress (died 2015) (Video)
1927 – Patrick O’Neal, American actor (died 1994)
1926 – Julie London, American singer and actress (died 2000) (Video)
1925 – Marty Robbins, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, actor, and race car driver (died 1982) (Video)
1914 – Jack LaLanne, American fitness expert (died 2011) (Video)
1902 – Albert Anastasia, Italian-American mobster (died 1957)
1901 – George Raft, American actor, singer, and dancer (died 1980)
1898 – George Gershwin, American pianist and composer (died 1937)
1889 – Martin Heidegger, German philosopher and academic (died 1976)
1888 – T. S. Eliot, English poet, playwright, critic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1965)
1875 – Edmund Gwenn, English-American actor (died 1959) (Video)
1872 – Max Ehrmann, American poet and lawyer (died 1945)
1849 – Ivan Pavlov, Russian physiologist and physician, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1936)
1774 – Johnny Appleseed, American gardener and environmentalist (died 1845)
(A more complete list of today’s birthdays.)
Some Deaths:
2016 – Toughie, last known Rabbs’ fringe-limbed treefrog (h. fl. 2005)
2010 – Gloria Stuart, American actress (born 1910)
2008 – Paul Newman, American actor, director, producer, and businessman (born 1925)
2003 – Robert Palmer, English singer-songwriter (born 1949)
2000 – Richard Mulligan, American actor (born 1932)
1973 – Anna Magnani, Italian actress and singer (born 1908)
1972 – Charles Correll, American actor and screenwriter (born 1890)
1952 – George Santayana, Spanish philosopher, novelist, and poet (born 1863)
1946 – William Strunk Jr., American author and educator (born 1869)
1945 – Béla Bartók, Hungarian pianist and composer (born 1881)
1902 – Levi Strauss, German-American businessman, founded Levi Strauss & Co. (born 1829)
1820 – Daniel Boone, American hunter and explorer (born 1734)
(A more complete list of today’s deaths.)
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Noemi, instead of deporting the worst of the worst, you hired them as ICE-men