Attribution: xitoo by Joep Bertrams, The Netherlands
Joep Bertrams is a Dutch political cartoonist whose work appears in the Amsterdam-based daily newspaper Het Parool and the TV program NOVA .
Besties or Beasties
90 thoughts on “Besties or Beasties”
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What’s at Stake for China Amid Trump-Xi Summit in Washington | WSJ News Sep 25, 2026
WSJ’s Lingling Wei explains what Chinese President Xi Jinping came to accomplish in Washington, and whether his meeting with Trump got him closer to those goals. Photo: Alex Brandon/AP
Attribution: HOW TRUMP SEES CHINA by Dave Granlund
Sep 24, 2026 #DailyShow #China #TommyTuberville
Desi Lydic breaks down the headlines, and as America approaches the midterms, things are not looking good for the GOP. But thanks to Sen. Tommy Tuberville, Republicans have a trick up their sleeve that might save them in November: crack down on in-flight furries! Plus, Jordan Klepper reports from Trump’s meeting with President Xi, where Trump got spooked by his own flyover and showed off his stunning new helipad. So all in all, a productive summit!
from The Guardian Trump swoons over strongman soulmate Xi – are you feeling jealous, Vladimir?
Deference was deafening as US president rolled out red carpet for world’s biggest jailer of journalists – perhaps he was seeking tips
One is an authoritarian who represses the media and has a strong allergy to democratic elections. The other is head of the Chinese Communist party.
Donald Trump welcomed the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, to the White House on Thursday, setting the stage for a scene quite unlike anything the august old building has seen over more than two centuries.
“Remarkably,” observed the US president, “this is our first time meeting together here at the White House, and as President Xi has already seen, a lot has changed since he was last here.”
While Xi remained poker-faced, only a brief look around a grand foyer bedecked with American and Chinese flags would have verified Trump’s statement. On one wall, where an official portrait of Barack Obama once hung, was the dramatic image of a bloodied Trump with fist raised urging his supporters to “fight!” after a failed assassination attempt.
And while Chinese state media had been welcomed onto the White House grounds, many US journalists had not, thanks to Trump’s ban on CNN, MS Now and Politico. Michael McFaul, a former US diplomat, described the vivid contrast as “wrong and embarrassing”.
That was hard to deny, given that China ranks 178th in Reporters Without Borders’ press freedom index, ahead of only North Korea and Eritrea (the US, for the record, is down to 64th). But it also made perfect sense because, whereas past presidents sought to make China more like the US, Trump evidently aspires to make the US more like China.
The deference was deafening. On Wednesday night he and his wife, Melania, travelled to Joint Base Andrews in Maryland to greet Xi off his plane – a schlep that US presidents rarely make for foreign leaders – and rolled out a literal red carpet for his strongman soulmate.
Chuck Schumer, the Democratic minority leader, observed on X: “If you’re a foreign authoritarian, Trump won’t just invite you to visit America, he’ll roll out the red carpet for you…”
Vladimir, are you feeling jealous yet?
“I met President Xi at the plane (Airport!) yesterday and he looks strong, vibrant, and fit — Better than ever,” a gooey-eyed Trump gushed on his Truth Social patform. “Madam Xi, of course, BEAUTIFUL!”
Protocol error! Protocol error! When the president wrote “Madam Xi”, referring to Xi’s wife Peng Liyuan, he should have said “Madame Peng”, which is how she is recognised.
Xi is such a star that he got two welcomes. On Thursday morning, there were more flags, more trumpet blasts, and another red carpet as the Trumps emerged from the White House south portico to greet Xi and Peng.
Then it was on to the grand foyer for statements – with no reporter questions allowed, of course – before the two delegations, including Vice-President JD Vance and wife Usha, sitting in neat rows. Trump went first. You can tell when he’s on his best behaviour because he (mostly) sticks to the teleprompter. The interpreter must have been relieved that he did not have to match Trump, weave for weave.
Trump touted his “truly great friendship” with Xi and claimed the two countries had made strides on trade since his trip to China in May. “During this visit, we will also discuss pressing issues concerning security, technology, and ‘super intelligence,’” he said, using his alternative name for artificial intelligence. If Xi felt like rolling his eyes at that, he managed to resist.
The president, ever nostalgic for the 20th century, suggested that the second world war offers a lesson on how the competitors can work together. “Brave American pilots volunteered to come to China and fight for the very survival of the legendary country,” he said, referring to the Flying Tigers air corps that helped defend China against Japanese invasion. “They were just unbelievable.”
He added that it was US marines’ interactions with Chinese citizens that inspired them “to adopt a Chinese phrase that they still use today: gung ho”.
Rarely does Trump appear at an event and not end up behind the microphone for longer than any other speaker on the bill.
But it was Xi, speaking more substantially, who looked like he owned the place. Trump, sitting behind with hands clasped together, had the appearance of junior partner. Xi said he was ready to work with the president to “steer the giant ship of the China-US relationship on a steady course toward the future”.
Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!
Xi had a charm offensive of his own. “President Trump and I have respect for each other,” he said. “We have built personal rapport and stayed in touch.”
He announced Thursday that 100,000 young American students would be invited to study in China over the next five years. Better still, he revealed China will sent two giant pandas – Ping Ping and Fuchuan – to a zoo in Atlanta.
Then he got to the meat in the sandwich, insisting that the countries can “co-exist in peace” and their competition “should be a healthy one”. “The Thucydides trap can be overcome,” Xi declared, in a tacit acknowledgement that China is threatening to displace the US as the world’s superpower.
But with more flattery, he added: “Achieving the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and making America great again can go hand in hand.”
Next up was a military ceremony including a flyover at the Rose Garden, with Chinese flags waving from the Oval Office roof alongside US flags. A marching band dressed in the garb of the Revolutionary War era – tricorn hats, white wigs, red tunics – paraded in the paved over Rose Garden (another change since Xi’s last visit).
None of this was covered by the usual cable news networks because they were boycotting shared coverage, in solidarity with the banned outlets. If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? If a democracy falls and no one is around to film it, does it make a yelp?
Trump then sat down with the world’s biggest jailer of journalists for bilateral talks. Perhaps he was seeking tips.
When they met face to face, was this a Reagan-Gorbachev style summit of great historical import, discussing guardrails on AI and other ways not to destroy the world? Maybe not.
Showing off the Marine One helicopter and his new helipad on the south lawn, Trump reported: “We had a great meeting – and he has a great interest in granite. He likes granite. He’s an expert on stone, aside from many other things, and he loves good granite.”
Not even Xi had been spared the dreaded tour of Trump’s architectural follies.
By the afternoon, some of the banned reporters had been allowed back on to the White House campus after a judge found Trump’s action to be unconstitutional. It must have been a tricky one to explain to Xi. He remains the master of repression; Trump is merely The Apprentice.
on another subject (responding to and nipping in the bud possible GOP dirty politics ploy in AK asap) from The Guardian Mary Peltola’s campaign says reports of her using slurs and shoving staffer are exaggerated
Alaska Democratic nominee in pivotal Senate race ‘struggled to deal with her grief’ after death of husband and mother, spokesperson said
Mary Peltola’s campaign on Thursday downplayed a report that the Democratic nominee in Alaska’s pivotal Senate race shoved a staffer and used slurs, saying the article exaggerated her behavior, but acknowledging she struggled following the deaths of her husband and mother.
The New York Times article published on Wednesday is based on text messages and interviews with nine former employees of Peltola, who served in the House of Representatives from 2022 till the beginning of last year and is now set to face the Republican senator Dan Sullivan in the 3 November midterm elections.
In a statement, Harry Child, a spokesperson for Peltola’s campaign, said her behavior was affected by the stress of working in the House together with the death of her husband in a 2023 plane crash as well as her mother around the same time.
“At the time of their passing, Mary was parenting kids through their own grief, serving full-time in the US House of Representatives thousands of miles from home, and running a competitive re-election campaign – all while shouldering the enormous burden of grief,” Child said.
“Like any person who has gone through multiple personal tragedies in the span of a few months, Mary sometimes struggled to deal with her grief. But she treats her staff with respect and care, and she maintains close positive relationships with her staff spanning her nearly 30 years in public service.”
He added that “exaggerating and outright lying about moments from the hardest period of her life, and falsely presenting them as a pattern of behavior, is wrong”.
The contest between the two-term senator Sullivan and Peltola, who lost re-election to the House in 2024, is seen as crucial to Democrats’s hopes of retaking the Senate in the midterms. Democrats must win at least four seats to gain a majority in the chamber, and have named Alaska as a top priority, in addition to Maine, North Carolina and Ohio.
Sullivan called the behavior reported by the Times “sad” and “disturbing”.
“Young Alaskans went through a lot of abuse and I’m sure there’s a hell of a lot more than was just reported in that story,” he told reporters at the US Capitol.
Other former aides to Peltola who spoke to the Times stood by her conduct.
“Mary Peltola is one of the finest human beings that I’ve ever worked for,” said Paul Horner, Peltola’s finance director in 2022, when she won both a special election to represent Alaska in the House and then a general election that year.
Tyson Fick, a special assistant who had advised Peltola on fishing policy during her time in the House, called her “awesome and demanding”, but acknowledged she occasionally “raised her voice”.
He said Peltola was dealing with grief during her time in Congress, and noted since she had previously worked on a commercial fishing boat, staffers who are not familiar with how people act in environments like that may have been misinterpreting her demeanor, the Times reported.
I laughed my ass off at Dumbass and his flyover. And talking so glowingly about the helipad. I’m thinking put a few patio sets on it and host a baby shower.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/imperiled-maga-senator-dramatically-flips-on-love-for-ice/
Roger Marshall softens ICE stance as Kansas Senate race tightens
ICE agents swarmed parts of the Sunflower State this week as part of President Donald Trump’s hard-line immigration policies, targeting meatpacking plants and potential family members of local children, Kansas News Service reported.
“When ICE operates in Kansas, it needs to coordinate with our local law enforcement. Our sheriffs and police know these communities better than anyone, and working together keeps officers and residents safe,” Marshall posted. I’m closely following what’s happening in SW Kansas and have been in direct contact with Secretary Mullin and local law enforcement as ICE executes warrants in order to keep Kansans safe.”
The post sharply contrasts with his previous stances on ICE. In a January interview on Fox News, Marshall praised Trump’s immigration enforcement in Minneapolis while claiming the country is “grateful for all the ICE officers in there risking their lives.”
Marshall has strongly defended immigration agents wearing masks while carrying out raids to protect their identities from doxxing and threats, as well as voting in support of providing tens of billions of dollars in federal funding to ICE.
However, he is now calling for accountability for ICE amid suggestions that his midterm opponent could become the first Democrat elected to the Senate from Kansas in nearly a century.
Mortgage rates just topped 7%. For a $400K loan, that recent jump adds roughly $867 a year.
Another midterm GOP headache just landed on the kitchen table. ☕🏠
Watch FIRST CUP 👇
https://oilpri.com/history.html
Shouldn’t a barrel of oil cost more now?
It’s nowhere near the $147 it was in 2008.
https://usoilprice.com/oil-price-per-barrel.html
Dumbass will gladly burn the world down. Will he spare his new bestie, Xi, or as I like to call him, Eleven?
Folks need to eat AND put gas in their car AND keep a roof over their head AND not be terrified of the militarization of US streets AND are disgusted by the corruption in government AND not want to be surveilled AND not want to be in a costly, unending, illegal war now AND after midterms.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-xi-jinping-greeting-china-b3055397.html
Look at how sloppy the military detail was when Dumbass greeted Eleven and Mrs. Eleven on the tarmac. Is this an indicator of what’s going on at the highest level of the military?
BUCKY WON!!!
Trailmix is on a roll: We got Dolly airport, Nene won AGT, and now this.
Look at how sloppy the military detail was when Dumbass greeted Eleven and Mrs. Eleven on the tarmac. Is this an indicator of what’s going on at the highest level? High or sober.
Just did it, again.
Craig – Just play this when you get a MAGAt with a bumper sticker.
why are you calling them Eleven and Mrs. Eleven?
The Roman numeral ?
I’d say (took me a minute to figure it out) but love it.
Yes, I just rebranded the President of China, because the graphic in TV is all caps and my brain goes to eleven. I didn’t make it up, the grooves in my brain did. A dictator by any other name is still a dictator.
And now, Dumbass wants us to call Ai “Si.”
Speaking of Tommy (live in Florida) Tubb… reviving the fantasy world of greedy old perverts fixation on “furries” is one of the weirdest, skipping sfb, episodes of the week. It has been a few years since that genre of stupid has surfaced. To have the silly things move from school shootings to running airlines is quite a change in medications. Will it have any effect on the elections? We will have to see.
Why??? Only because it works on the truly stupid (acting stupid is their favorite joke)
Tuberville, Britt step up attacks on transgender people as GOP faces dire midterm election
https://www.al.com/politics/2026/09/tuberville-britt-step-up-attacks-on-transgender-people-as-gop-faces-dire-midterm-election.html
PROGRAMMING NOTE: Our daily Digital Diner podcast airs 11-Noon ET on YouTube. ENTER Chatroom Here. WATCH Current Replay Here.
What is Actually Clicking: September 25, 2026
— Human Prompted and Edited. Machine Drafted (ChatGPT).
These are the stories driving the most traffic right now—not necessarily the stories we think you should read, and not always the most recent. Sign Up Here to receive daily briefs.
And so it goes.
Ridiculous that the Tuber and Katie are fixated on a group that comprises .59% of the population of Alabama and there is no record of any transgender individual participating in athletics in public schools in the state, probably because Bama has had a ban on transgender athletes participating in K-12 sports contrary to their birth gender since 2023. Not sure if the stupidity is greater for those two or their audience (or Kay Ivey, who signed that into law).
Tomorrow is my baby girl’s birthday. She’s been volunteering with the Red Cross this month.
Being vile AND stupid is a hell of a thing.
They’re focused on it because it’s a winning political issue for them and liberals need to stop feigning offense and if they want to support that population, formulate effective talking points
But as we know, they’re fucking terrible at politics
pusillanimous
losing elections doesn’t protect that population
It endangers them
But virtue signaling liberals would rather look good on a message board or TikTok than actually do something
I gave you people at least a 10 year Headstart on this issue and you’ve conceived of nothing
and you and the rest of liberal America will twiddle your fucking thumbs and then wonder how you didn’t win another fucking cycle
sorry if I voice dictate you’re gonna get some F words
today’s meme…
https://chatgpt.com/share/6ab699a8-ba98-83e8-a517-2ffe09547537
Update on election interference
There is one meaningful development since yesterday’s check.
On September 24, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency released its 2026 Election Infrastructure Security Plan, only 40 days before the November midterms. The plan identifies cyberattacks on voter-registration systems, software vulnerabilities, insider threats, and physical attacks such as bomb threats as risks, and promises federal threat-sharing and security assistance to state and local election officials. AP News
The troubling part is capacity. State election officials told the Associated Press that the plan arrives too late to replace federal election-security assistance that was substantially reduced last year. Some states have already hired private cybersecurity services instead. The new plan does not specify staffing levels or restore dedicated election-security advisers, while the administration’s proposed FY2027 budget would eliminate CISA’s dedicated election-security program altogether. AP News
Separately, today’s Reuters reporting confirms that the administration is continuing its push for sensitive state voter data despite repeated court defeats. That is essentially a continuation of the voter-roll development I flagged for you yesterday rather than a separate new escalation. Reuters
So today’s addition to our watch list is federal cybersecurity preparedness: CISA is formally back in the election-security business, but much later and with fewer apparent resources than state officials say they need.
https://www.reuters.com/world/supreme-court-restores-trumps-mass-voter-verification-system-2026-09-25/
Supreme Court restores Trump’s mass voter verification system
Summary
Judge blocked Trump’s revamped immigration database
Justice Department called judge’s order ‘indefensible’
Trump has sought to boost federal role in elections
Control of Congress at stake in November’s elections
WASHINGTON, Sept 25 (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court revived on Friday an expanded immigration database that President Donald Trump’s administration said aims to combat voting by noncitizens but critics contend could disenfranchise eligible voters.
The justices granted the Justice Department’s request to block a judge’s order that had stopped state officials from using Social Security numbers and other information to conduct sweeping checks of the citizenship status of registered voters against federal records.
The administration’s data-sharing arrangement is one in a series of actions boosting the federal government’s involvement in voting ahead of November’s midterm elections in which Trump’s fellow Republicans seek to maintain control of Congress. The U.S. Constitution gives individual states the primary authority to run and administer elections.
The Department of Homeland Security last year redesigned a federal database known as the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements, or SAVE, used to verify a person’s citizenship and immigration status. The revamp allowed users to search many records at a time and to conduct searches using individuals’ Social Security numbers.
Since then, several Republican-led states have compared their voter lists to the database, and some voters flagged as potential noncitizens have had their registrations canceled.
Critics say such election-related actions by Republicans are driven less by concerns over election security than by an attempt to gain political advantage by narrowing the electorate, risking the disenfranchisement of eligible, often Democratic-leaning voters.
Trump has carried out hardline policies toward immigration and has made false claims of widespread voting fraud including in his 2020 election loss to Democratic former President Joe Biden.
Advocacy groups that sued to block the revised SAVE system said that the new approach has resulted in people who were wrongfully identified as noncitizens being kicked off voter rolls. They have argued that SAVE can be outdated, meaning immigrants who have become naturalized U.S. citizens and are thus eligible to vote are sometimes labeled as noncitizens.
The modified system’s overall error rate is not publicly known. The Department of Homeland Security and Justice Department did not provide that information when asked.
In their Supreme Court filing, the advocacy groups cited a Travis County, Texas, election official who said 25% of the system’s noncitizen matches there involved people who had already proven their U.S. citizenship, and news reports finding that at least 81% of the system’s responses in St. Louis County, Missouri, were erroneous.
The voting rights group League of Women Voters and privacy rights group Electronic Privacy Information Center sued in September 2025 to block the Trump administration’s modified system. They said that the revamp violated federal privacy and other U.S. laws.
In a June ruling blocking the revamped database, U.S. District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan in Washington, D.C., said the system was haphazardly assembled and contained unreliable citizenship data.
“All in all, the federal government has knowingly trampled on the privacy rights of American citizens in a manner that threatens the sacred right to vote,” Sooknanan wrote. “This court cannot stand idly by while that happens.”
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in a 2-1 ruling on September 4 declined to halt Sooknanan’s ruling, prompting the administration’s request to the Supreme Court.
In a Supreme Court filing, Justice Department lawyers called the judge’s order “indefensible,” arguing that it “threatens the integrity” of the midterm elections.
Texas, which intervened in the case in support of the administration, has disputed claims that the system is unreliable.
Due to separate litigation in Florida, the Trump administration has been able to continue using its modified SAVE system in the Republican-led states of Florida, Iowa, Indiana and Ohio.
Reporting by John Kruzel; Editing by Will Dunham
Today in the Diner…
Ken Paxton & Tommy Tuberville Lose Their Minds
Why Byron Donalds Just Scrubbed Trump
Florida Insurance Scams
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton drops millions attacking James Talarico, while Tommy Tuberville panics over furries. The diner is officially open.
We are watching a spectacular amount of money burn in Texas. Ken Paxton and his allies are reportedly dumping millions into attacking James Talarico, entirely focused on dragging the culture wars to the bottom of the barrel. Meanwhile, down in Florida, Byron Donalds quietly scrubbed Donald Trump from his campaign website for governor. It tells you exactly where the internal polling is heading when the loudest loyalists start looking for the exit doors right before an election.
Up in Washington, Tommy Tuberville is having a public meltdown about airline pilots supposedly having furry fetishes. You cannot invent this level of distraction. They are terrified of talking about the actual economic pain people are feeling, so they pivot to imaginary airplane scenarios. Add in Benjamin Netanyahu using a UN speech to wave around Starlink hardware like a threat, and you have a week of truly bizarre leadership choices.
Back down to earth, the federal government’s CISA just released its 2026 election security plan a mere forty days before the midterms. It is a little late to be handing out the rulebook, especially with the DOJ threatening to deploy poll watchers to swing districts. We break down what this actually means for November and why the panic is palpable.
Live Chat: https://trailmix.cc/chat
Website: https://trailmix.cc
Alerts: https://trailmix.cc/alerts
00:00 Intro
01:52 Netanyahu UN Speech & Starlink
05:55 Polish Ambassador Rips Russia
10:55 Byron Donalds Scrubs Trump
15:05 Florida Insurance Execs Exposed
19:40 Suing CoreCivic & GEO Group
24:50 Ken Paxton vs James Talarico
31:35 Tommy Tuberville Fears Furries
38:46 Jack Drives to Colorado
48:47 DOJ Poll Watchers & CISA
— Human directed and edited. Machine drafted (Gemini Pro).
meanwhile, Craig is still amplifying the furry shit
facepalm emoji
🎣
Supreme Court says states can use controversial citizenship data tool for voter audits in win for Trump
https://www.cnn.com/2026/09/25/politics/supreme-court-voter-roll-non-citizen-save?utm_source=cnn_Breaking_News&utm_medium=email
never again do i want to hear how liberals are “smarter”
or how conservatives are “dumb”, they outgame y’all at every turn
Trump scrubbed from website 👉 Republican FL GOV nominee Byron Donalds quiet-quits Donald Trump on his campaign site. You know the polling is bad when the loyalists start erasing you right before an election.
🍽️From today’s Digital Diner menu
Peltola is a slight favorite to flip Alaska
The Democrat has a small polling edge over Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan
— DecisionDeskHQ
But Anon, the dumbasses got that ruling after it’s too late to purge rolls for this election — federal law bans in with 90 days of the vote. They should have started that ball rolling months earlier.
my last comment was a continuation of my rant on wedge social issues
i do have an opinion on legal chaos strategy though of course!
The risk/return on these legal filings is heavily in their favor
no risk all reward, if they win one out of 10 they’re still ahead of the game
and they win like three or four out of 10
meme #2…
New political attacks ads were playing nonstop last on TV here. One was attacking Sean McCann who is running for Congress against Bill Huizenga. Talking about how we can’t afford “Big Tax” McCann. How our cost of living is going to go up if he is elected. The other ad featured the “Michigan Police Officers Association” attacking Abdul. Featuring clips of him saying that we need to “Defund the police” and how he wants to release prisoners out of prison early. It features the officers listening to his comments and shaking their heads. I looked up their Facebook page and what few comments I saw there were from people who thought the ad was stupid. The J6th rioters attacked police and Trump pardoned all of them. Yet, the Michigan police officers association still back Trump. These 2 ads were from the “Senate Leadership Fund” and the “NotGoingBack PAC”.
A good news analysis for Democrats.
From G. Elliott Morris’s substack Strength In Numbers (link)
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-focused-ad-campaign-taxpayers/
New Trump-focused “Love Me” ad campaign paid for by taxpayers hits airwaves
*How very Imelda Marcos of him.
Gas prices from here to Colorado and back.
Spring field MO $4.19, Dodge City KS, $3.98. Crawford CO, $4.59, Somewhere on I70 at the KS, CO state line. $4.19. Mcpherson KS $3.98 but this was 15% ethanol so I only bought 10 gallons. Got really bad gas milage and stopped to fil up in Parsons KS at $4.19.
Gas on the Colorado west slope was about 50 to 60 cents higher than gas in Southeast CO along 50 highway.
Probably closer to a pipeline.
Jack
“Why Don’t You Love Me?” -Here Lies Love (Imelda Marcos)
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/university-mississippi-identifies-2-students-found-dead-cases-raise-kr-rcna599706
University of Mississippi identifies 2 students found dead in cases that raise kratom concerns
https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/markwayne-mullins-investments-in-the-kratom-industry-look-like-a-clear-conflict-of-interest-100000435.html
Markwayne Mullin’s investments in the kratom industry look like a clear conflict of interest
What do gas station drugs, conflicts of interest and the Trump administration have in common? Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin.
A New York Times report earlier this week revealed the significant role Mullin has played in an influence campaign advocating for kratom, a supplement commonly sold at gas stations that allegedly relieves pain or boosts energy, but is linked to risk of liver toxicity, seizures and substance use disorder.
Kratom has also been found in the system of thousands of people who died of drug overdoses.
As a senator from Oklahoma, Mullin endorsed proposed federal restrictions on kratom’s more potent competitors. He also reportedly urged officials in the Department of Health and Human Services to remove language from the Food and Drug Administration website about the possible dangers of using kratom, both as a senator and as DHS secretary.
It is unclear why the homeland security secretary would be involved in such decisions. (Mullin hasn’t commented on the Times’ reporting, but DHS said in a statement that the secretary “follows all ethics and conflict of interest standards and has not lobbied for any individual or company.”)
i use kratom, it’s largely benign, didn’t kill them dumb kids
I’ll bet you they found clothes in both of those kids rooms
ergo clothes must have killed those kids
I’ll bet there was a cell phone in both rooms
Cell phones killed those kids!
our precious dumb white kids taken too soon!
I demand an investigation
Sadly, Bamamaggers will laff it off and vote for him anyway.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/trumps-state-dinner-xi-feature-203656437.html
Thursday’s dinner was packed with technology industry titans like Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, OpenAI President and co-founder Greg Brockman, and Dell Technologies chairman and CEO Michael Dell.
“I’d like to invite everyone in the room to visit through that beautiful curtain in the back,” Trump said, referring to the construction site of his White House ballroom on the South Lawn, which he said, “you’ve heard so much about.”
The president said that after the dinner attendees could go see the worksite and be “the first people to step foot” on it.
“We’ll do that. Maybe after we’ve finished with the entertainment tonight,” Trump said, asking, “Anybody wants to walk into a construction site that’s nice and sparkling, it’s our honor to have you do so.”
It was all a stark departure from 2015, when then-President Barack Obama was preparing to host Xi for a state visit and Trump — in the midst of his first presidential run — criticized all the hubbub.
“Just take them to McDonald’s and go back to the negotiating table,” Trump said then, during a rally in South Carolina. He later conceded on Fox News Channel that Xi might at least be worthy of getting “probably a double-size Big Mac.”
Trump would rather kill Iranians for Israel than make your life more affordable
Argue with that
Trump would rather destroy national landmarks
than take on the healthcare insurance industry that’s bankrupting us all
he doesn’t care he’s richer than he’s ever been
and you pay for his healthcare
Trump would rather data centers own towns than you own a house
he has towers resorts and golf clubs. He doesn’t give a shit where or how you live.
Trump would rather talk about the transgender people you don’t know than the people hurting from his policies that you do know
PRINT IT
https://www.newsweek.com/how-dangerous-kratom-drug-ole-miss-linked-mrbeast-trainer-12476930
Kratom, an herbal substance with opioid-like qualities and carrying a high risk of addiction, has not been directly linked to the deaths at this stage but is forming a part of the investigation.
In 2025, kratom was linked to the death of a fitness coach named Tyler Wall, who had worked with MrBeast. Wall, 38, unexpectedly passed away…manner of death was listed as accidental, and the immediate cause of his death was “Mitragynine Toxicity.”
Mitragynine is an indole-based alkaloid. It is a main psychoactive constituent in the plant Mitragyna speciosa, commonly known as kratom.
Some people have taken kratom to ease the symptoms of quitting opioid drugs while in withdrawal.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has warned people not to use kratom, and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) describes it as a drug of concern.
The Mayo Clinic says that kratom can be used in low doses as a stimulant, and in higher doses as a sedative.
Side effects of kratom usage include:
Weight loss
Dry mouth
Nausea and vomiting
Constipation
Liver damage
Muscle pain
High blood pressure
Kratom affects the mind and nervous system and can cause:
Dizziness
Drowsiness
Hallucinations
Delusions
Depression
Difficulty breathing
Confusion
Tremors
Seizures
https://newrepublic.com/post/215866/taxpayer-funds-you-paid-deranged-love-me-campaign-ad-trump
You Just Paid for This Deranged “Love Me” Ad by Trump
Trump used taxpayer funds for this ad campaign about himself, calling it a “public service announcement.”
NBC news is garbage news now if you haven’t noticed by the way
Mainline regime-serving mouth-breather outrage bait
now do the recently reported potentially profound long-term consequences of early melatonin use
Why so defensive?
https://newrepublic.com/post/215866/taxpayer-funds-you-paid-deranged-love-me-campaign-ad-trump
You Just Paid for This Deranged “Love Me” Ad by Trump
Trump used taxpayer funds for this ad campaign about himself, calling it a “public service announcement.”
idk why’d you post it? was already pushed to tens of millions of phones
presenting a fuller picture of a topic you broached ☺️
It’s fine. I knew they were coming after my Kratom because they’ve already gone after everything else. It’s not so good that i care
i’ll consume sugary processed foods instead hooray corporate food industry
eat nachos and watch football
hey it’s probably bad for young adults, liver risks should be avoided and never compounded with alcohol use for which college greeks are famous
but the only reason you’re talking about it is cause NBC news wants you to, way to play along
ok enough outta me ✌️
(editing note: deleted two moderately snarky posts that are unnecessary to the discourse but were conversational in the moment, which has passed, emoji emoji)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5dj401d88l3o?at_campaign_type=owned&at_medium=emails&at_objective=awareness&at_ptr_type=email&at_ptr_name=salesforce&at_campaign=newsbriefingpm&at_link_origin=newsbriefingpm&at_email_send_date=20260925&at_send_id=4681413&at_link_title=https%3a%2f%2fwww.bbc.com%2fnews%2farticles%2fc5dj401d88l3o&at_bbc_team=crm&at_audience_id=239481752
Man shot during 2024 Trump campaign rally in Butler dies
Poobah, I heard that point made by a couple lawyers with somewhat greater credentials than mine this afternoon (which is no great stretch). They noted that all the ruling did was allow him to compile the list and make it available to state and local election officials. My bet is it will have some effect, but whether it will turn any seats trending blue is hard to predict, but keep an eye on Texas and Georgia.
Our dying rivers
https://www.worldatlas.com/rivers/the-colorado-river-tributary-that-no-longer-reaches-it.html
I’ve been busy all afternoon migrating my email to a new system, and just now catching up with my daily read on Senate races. Busy day!
Yep Pog, and always with the caveat: if this crowd actually obeys the law that’s the law.
Because those deaths where kratom was mentioned do not mention MarkWanye Mullin and his investment and involvement in its availability for sale; both in a supply chain capacity (investment) and protecting its legality (involvement).
From original link about MarkWanye above:
“As a senator from Oklahoma, Mullin endorsed proposed federal restrictions on kratom’s more potent competitors. He also reportedly urged officials in the Department of Health and Human Services to remove language from the Food and Drug Administration website about the possible dangers of using kratom, both as a senator and as DHS secretary.
It is unclear why the homeland security secretary would be involved in such decisions.”
Fonting on the sunny snide.
If it had just been about those two deaths, I wouldn’t have mentioned it. When I heard “kratom” a bell went off because I’ve posted about Markwaynes involvement before. (A Mother Jones story maybe, or Newsweek?) My post was a reminder of his involvement.
You seem weirdly concerned about what I post. I get disagreeing with articles, but the fact that it was posted seems odd.
https://www.newsweek.com/maps-show-where-ken-paxton-and-james-talaricos-donations-come-from-12488494
Data published by the FEC shows Talarico raised $31,853,507 in the campaign to June 30.
Of the $31,853,507 raised by Talarico’s campaign up to June 30, some $17,529,508 (55 percent) came from Texas while the remainder was from out of state.
By state the biggest contributor to the campaign after Texas came from California at $3,579,701, then New York on $1,482,533. This was followed by Massachusetts with $918,007, Washington state on $728,018 and Illinois with $636,625.
Over the same period the Paxton campaign received $9,147,100.
After Texas the biggest donor by state to Paxton’s campaign was Florida at $174,463, followed by California on $135,492. The top six were completed by Utah, Arizona and Pennsylvania with $134,597, $69,376 and $67,966 donated respectively.
Tim Tebow “Pausing” Christian Seminar Promotion After Our Investigation
“I think the allegations are extremely serious.”
Yesterday, we published our investigation, in partnership with Pablo Torre Finds Out, about legendary quarterback Tim Tebow’s involvement with Life Surge, a Christian financial seminar company. We detailed complaints from customers who said salespeople used Christianity to persuade them to buy pricey courses, and that they had ended up losing tens of thousands of dollars. The company disputed claims of any improper sales tactics, including the use of faith as a sales strategy.
One day after our investigation, Tebow, who was on track to speak at 10 Life Surge events by the end of this year, appears to be having misgivings about his role with the six-year-old company.
You’re Paying For Donald Trump’s New Ad
The White House is burning public funds on political advertising—which even Republicans are condemning.
Tuberville fears airplane furries 👇
🍽️From today’s Digital Diner menu
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2026/sep/25/trump-xi-summit-national-archives-media-politics-live
US supreme court rejects Republican-drawn midterm map in Missouri for third time – live
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2026/sep/25/student-math-reading-test-scores
Trump administration guts data collection on US education as math and reading scores plummet
As reading and math scores fall to their lowest point in the past quarter-century, the US now has fewer tools to understand and develop interventions for this troubling trend.
When the Trump administration took a wrecking ball to the Department of Education last year, firing nearly half of its workers and allowing the so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge) to cancel nearly $900m in contracts, a little-known agency called the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) was among the hardest hit.
NCES, a federal statistical agency, has for decades collected critical data on the state of education in America, including The Nation’s Report Card, an assessment of what students know across math, reading, writing, science and history. NCES data also helps set US education policy and allocate funding for school districts.
But nearly all of the statistical agency’s work was abruptly terminated and its headcount dropped from about 100 to four. Some were rehired; NCES now has 12 staffers, according to the agency’s website.
The cuts, which are part of the administration’s broader attack on taxpayer-funded data and research that don’t align with the president’s priorities, have hamstrung the historically under-resourced agency’s ability to collect and report on a range of data on K-12 and college students. These include surveys on the prevalence of guns and violence at middle and high schools and studies on how students are paying for college, former NCES employees say.
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/sep/25/meryl-streep-aslan-magicians-nephew-cs-lewis-greta-gerwig
Meryl Streep’s casting as Aslan has angered the Christian right.
News that the Oscar-winner might be portraying Narnia’s Christ-like big cat first surfaced in April last year, prompting a flurry of complaints from conservative Christians. This week, the naysayers were back after Empire published a first look at the film, along with an interview with Gerwig in which the director confirmed the casting and explained her choice of actor. Streep, it turns out, was hired not because the Barbie director desperately fancied stoking the flames of controversy, but because she needed someone over 70 who could convey both wisdom and childlike wonder.
“I wanted someone who was profound but not pretentious, who had gravitas but not morose self-seriousness,” Gerwig said. She also explained she wanted one of the finest actors working today, adding: “That list is not a long one.”
*But crickets on the pedophile in the
WH, kicking kids and the disabled off of assistance, war, genocide…but a woman playing Aslan causing pearl clutching.
It’s official. Trump is toxic. His next rallies are in Oklahoma and Alabama.
All Cook Reportcshifts toward Dems. These are all districts Trump won.
Doing some research.
1969 lottery for draft sequence, aka lottery numbers.
Anyone remember if you received a letter from draft board or selective service letting you know what your lottery number was?
That includes something that might be the “Greetings:” letter for 1969.
Thank you
I heard. Klan rally in Mobile.
NEW THREAD