Signs of the Times

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Attribution: FACIAL EXPRESSIONS FOR WAR AND PEACE. by Arcadio Esquivel, Costa Rica

[Arcadio Esquivel is a Costa Rican cartoonist, and draws for several newspapers and magazines all over the world, including La Prensa, Courrierinternational and Al Día.]

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94 thoughts on “Signs of the Times”


  1. Jimmy Kimmel returns to the air and talks about all of the people who have reached out over the last six days including fellow late night talk show hosts, fans of the show, and those who don’t support what he believes but support his right to share those beliefs anyway, and he expresses that it was never his intention to make light of the murder of a young man, how important it is to live in a country that allows us to have a show like this, the Chairman of the FCC Brendan Carr telling an American company that “We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Trump saying he has no talent and no ratings, being fortunate to work at a company that has allowed us to do the show we want to do for almost 23 years, not agreeing with the decision to have our show pulled off the air last Wednesday, Trump making it very clear he wants to see Jimmy and other late night hosts fired, and solidarity from the right, left and those in the middle. Then Jimmy talks to the new FCC Chairman (Robert De Niro), and gets into Trump’s day addressing the United Nations, the escalator breaking, having trouble with the teleprompter, and the headache he’s creating with his buddy RFK over Tylenol.


  2. California Governor Gavin Newsom comments on his use of social media to beat the president at his own game, and argues that Democrats as a whole need to go on the offensive now before it’s too late. Stick around for two more segments with Gov. Newsom.

    California Governor Gavin Newsom issues a stark warning about President Trump’s efforts to “rig” the 2026 midterm elections, and what it could mean for 2028. Stick around for more with Gov Newsom.


  3. A statue depicting President Donald Trump and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was placed along 3rd St. near the Capitol.

  6. jamie, thanks for the Fugelsang book shout-out.
    from what he said on the daily show, it’s got to be at least controversial with the rw and certainly on their burn banned books list.
    jack & pogeaux. he also was saying pretty much what you guys were saying last thread

    “Jesus’s movement was about humility, it was about service to others, it was about uplifting the marginalized, not about total right-wing domination.”
    John Fugelsang, host of “Tell Me Everything” on SiriusXM Progress and author of the New York Times Bestseller “Separation of Church and Hate,” talks to Jordan Klepper about how MAGA and the far-right have wrongly co-opted Christianity as a cloak for authoritarianism and bigotry – the opposite of Jesus’s call for individuals and states to “take care of the poor, take care of the sick, welcome the stranger, and be kind to those in prison.” Fugelsang traces back a long history of non-violent Christian activism, from the Crusades through the Civil Rights Movement, and urges all those on the left to engage with Christianity, even if only to combat the narrow version of the bible that Trump and MAGA are trying to impose.

  11. Sturg….
    the one time I went into the chat studio with Craig and his cousin, we were just about to wrap up when Magat Man showed up. He talked and talked… it was hard to get a word in edgewise. But I’m through being the polite Democrat and I forced my way into the conversation and had my say.

    I don’t mind talking to the opposition… but not when it can’t shut the hell up…

  16. I think he’s been sent as an emissary heralding the inevitable triumphant emergence of one JD Vance.

    Him or Rubio, maybe.

  17. I’m still on my first cup of coffee, I think I’ll skip Magaman. Energetic yelling at each other just isn’t my thing. I just get pissed and say shit I later regret.
    Have fun Craig and Jamie.

    Jack

  20. https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/italy-sends-navy-ship-help-113103259.html

    Italy deploys navy ship to help Gaza aid flotilla after drone attack

    An international aid flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza said on Wednesday it was attacked overnight by drones in international waters off Greece, prompting Italy to send a navy ship to come to its assistance.

    *BiBi, Orange Adolf & sons, and the Saudis who are in on the ~remodeling~ of Gaza should all be arrested & tried for war crimes.

  21. https://apnews.com/article/israel-palestinians-hamas-war-un-security-council-4977b053c12a86548a6e4c03d504ae76

    A day after France led other nations in recognizing Palestinian statehood, the U.N. Security Council once again aired a deep divide between the veto-wielding United States and most of the rest of the world over how to end the war in the Gaza Strip and resolve the Mideast conflict.

    At a special session to discuss the crisis, one representative after another expressed horror at Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack and Israel’s ongoing military offensive in the Gaza Strip, which has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, destroyed vast areas and displaced around 90% of the population, many of them starving. Most nations called for an immediate ceasefire and an influx of humanitarian aid.

    The Security Council meeting once again reflected the deep isolation that Israel and its closest ally, the United States, face when it comes to growing international demands for accountability and an end to Israel’s war in Gaza.

    *Adolf wants that luxury resort on Palestinian land more than a Nobel Peace Prize (which he wants because Obama has one).

  24. https://apnews.com/article/arizona-congress-grijalva-butierez-1d9fe8fd6f0604f8064f67f6d8cfdca7

    Southern Arizona voters on Tuesday chose Adelita Grijalva to succeed her father, the late U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva, a progressive Democrat who represented the state for more than two decades in Congress.

    She defeated Republican candidate Daniel Butierez in the 7th Congressional District, which hugs almost the entire length of Arizona’s border with Mexico.

    She said she would find ways to help take power away from President Donald Trump so he could not unilaterally decide on imposing tariffs.

    “There’s an opportunity for us to try to convince people that who they need to represent is the people that elected them and their community and not billionaires and corporations,” Grijalva told reporters at her watch party Tuesday night.

    Grijalva’s victory improves Democrats’ chances of forcing a vote on making the Justice Department release case files on the sex trafficking investigation into the late Jeffrey Epstein, the Democratic National Committee said in a statement.

    Grijalva pledged to sign the petition to force a vote on the files.

    *Release the EPSTEIN files!

  25. Blue
    Rubio’s parents came into the US two years before Castro came to power. His whole immigration story is rather muddled, and he has been called out several times to clarify as they went back when Castro came to power and then left again. He was born in the US and may have used the whole “anchor baby” provision to get them naturalized.

  26. This might be his band.

    I think I’m gonna start a Sturgeone Tribute Band
    The show will be 45 minutes of “Mustang Sally” followed by 45 minutes of Sam and Dave, Otis Redding, Carla Thomas and her dad, and James Brown Live at the Apollo.

  30. Wait…what…he’s complaining he was lied to❓❓❓

    “I can’t believe ABC Fake News gave Jimmy Kimmel his job back,” Trump wrote at 10:35 p.m. “The White House was told by ABC that his Show was cancelled! Something happened between then and now.”

  31. Trump’s Ukraine clip lit up the headlines — but here’s what he’s really doing:
    • No new U.S. aid, just a vague “Europe pays us” plan.
    • Silent on bipartisan sanctions bill.
    • Pentagon cutting aid to Europe’s Eastern bloc security.
    🎥 Watch the short:

  32. My fajita spice mix
    1/4 cup of , ancho chile, Guajillo chile, onion powder, garlic powder.
    2 tablespoons cumin.
    I use this mix when I want something to taste “Mexican” Not to be confused with a Mexican Grandma’s totally delicious cooking.

    What I’m cooking today
    2 chicken breasts,
    make a paste of about 1/4 cup of spice mix with a tomato based salsa (Pace, ect) maybe use some tomato juice/V8/bloody Mary mix to ad some liquid
    Smear this over the chicken breasts place in a baking dish, cover and let set over night.
    (There maybe more paste than you need so don’t throw away any extra, just put it in the fridge and use it later. )
    The next day (when you remember), put them in the oven, slow roast for about 2 hrs @ about 250 degrees. Let cool, then shred the meat by pulling it apart, if there is a lot of liquid put it in a saucepan to boil, reducing it and concentrating the flavors. Then stir this concentrate back into the shredded chicken. Serve as tacos, sandmiches or just use your fingers and throw it in your mouth. I’ve done all three. This is great as leftovers for a couple of days, just heat and eat.

    Jack

  34. Poobah, have to laugh – this morning while trying to get the world to focus, I responded to a comment at WaPo , disabusing the commenter from the notion that Dumbass did anything more than express an opinion, based upon nothing from us other than arm sales to (presumably) NATO countries in Europe and an assumption that Ukraine would get A LOT of help from those countries while we sit back and watch the news from Ukraine on TV.

  37. on my commute this morning I needed to merge right and there was plenty of room to do so and a car sped up aggressively to prevent me from merging right, and I thought “guaranteed Trump bumper sticker on the back of that car”

    The the car behind him politely let me merge, and I got behind the jerk who wouldn’t let me merge, and there was a Trump bumper sticker on the back of that car

    Don’t tell me I don’t know these people

  40. listen if Magaman is indeed a real human being maybe one day I’ll make him cry for you, if you catch me in the right mood

  41. https://www.pcgamer.com/software/ai/a-zero-water-zero-emissions-off-grid-ai-data-center-sounds-like-science-fiction-but-its-actually-real-and-already-running/

    While some AI companies are looking at nuclear energy as the solution to the power demands, I should imagine that if the Lambda-ECL collaboration turns out to be a successful project, then hydrogen fuel cells could become the preferred option. In terms of maintenance costs, they’re much cheaper to keep running than anything with large-scale moving parts (e.g. gas or steam turbines), plus it’s relatively simple to just add more fuel cell modules, should you need more power. The main stumbling block is the hydrogen. By itself, it’s not expensive, nor is it costly to store. However, the infrastructure for the delivery of hydrogen is nowhere near as expansive and established as other fuels, particularly gas.

    ***

    Environmental groups raise alarm on AI data center use of energy, water

    As power-hungry data centers proliferate, states are searching for ways to protect utility customers from the steep costs of upgrading the electrical grid, trying instead to shift the cost to AI-driven tech companies.

    ***
    https://www.greenmatters.com/big-impact/how-much-water-does-ai-use

    When the first artificial intelligence (AI) tools were created, innovators likely never imagined how AI tools are used today. Since 2020, the surge in specifically generative AI has created several programs, including ChatGPT, a chatbot that people have used to write emails or grocery lists.

    According to the Washington Post in collaboration with the University of California, Riverside, writing a single 100-word email in Open AI’s ChatGPT is the equivalent of consuming just over one bottle of water.

    In a more extreme example, if 1 in 10 Americans used ChatGPT weekly for a year, it would require the amount of water equal to that used by the entirety of Rhode Island — for 1.5 days.

    …servers are housed in data centers, which generate heat, explains the Washington Post. Water cools the equipment so it doesn’t overheat or break down.

    In places where water is scarce, electricity is used to cool data centers via large-scale air conditioners. How much water and/or electricity is used by a data center is largely dependent on location.

    Not to mention, hardware production pollutes water, per a study initially published in January 2015 in the Journal of Cleaner Production, due to the extraction of precious minerals like boron, silicon, and phosphorous.

    A research study quantifying the carbon footprint of BLOOM determined that training a Generative Pre-trained Transformer 3 (GPT-3) uses just under 1,300 megawatt hours (MWh) of electricity, which is the equivalent of energy for 130 homes, per the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

    Training a Generative Pre-trained Transformer 4 (GPT-4), like ChatGPT, however, uses 50 times more electricity.

    …a report from January 2025 by the International Energy Agency (IEA) reveals that should demand for AI systems double in 2026, it would equal roughly the amount of electricity used by Japan.

  43. allegedly people that live near AI server farms are getting increased power bills because the kilowatt hour rate went up due to increase demand

  45. https://www.newsweek.com/ai-data-centers-why-electric-bill-so-high-2109965

    The pressure on the grid is even more extreme in electricity managers like PJM, a little-known company that operates the electric grid that serves more than 67 million people across 13 states in the eastern U.S. In December 2024, capacity prices jumped from $30 to $270 per megawatt-day—a ninefold increase that triggered lawsuits and political backlash. Pennsylvania sued PJM, Maryland passed emergency legislation and New Jersey’s governor demanded the CEO’s resignation.
    At the heart of the price surge are massive data centers built to support AI.

  46. I stopped the devil’s advocate shit the day Trump was elected the first time because I saw the threat

    actually, it was the day he won a second primary that year, which might’ve been South Carolina if I remember correctly

  47. Holy shit, kAsh Patel likes releasing evidence in the middle of the investigation. What an idiot.

    i’m calling him “Ass Incompatel”

  49. The problem with trying to come up with cute names for Team Trump members is a limit to number ways you can play on “fucking stupid”, and they seem to have no limit to their stupidity. I know nothing in this world is infinite, but they come damn close.

    Jack

  50. lol yup

    if you hadn’t seen the news, Dear Reader, there’s been another shooting, and Ass incomPatel is fucking up the investigation as soon as it’s started

  51. https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/justice-dept-officials-statements-luigi-mangione-broke-court-rules-judge-says-2025-09-24/

    Public statements by Justice Department officials about Luigi Mangione, the man charged with killing an insurance executive last year, violated a court rule meant to protect criminal defendants against publicity that could prejudice a jury pool against them, the judge overseeing the case said on Wednesday.
    In a written order, Manhattan-based U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett instructed prosecutors to advise Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche to tell other Justice Department officials that any further violations could result in punishments including financial penalties or contempt of court.

  53. Epstein Files Vote Closing In
    BlueInDallas reports the House may have the numbers to force release of Epstein records — if no one blinks.
    📺 Binge The Epstein Files 🕵️:

  54. https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-subs-photo-biden-autopen-new-white-house/story?id=125902014

    The White House has installed a new presidential portrait gallery along the West Wing Colonnade, unveiling the wall of photos on Wednesday. While the new “Presidential Walk of Fame” features portraits of all the presidents in gilded frames, Biden’s portrait is replaced with a picture of an autopen.

    *Jeffrey’s bestie’s pube signature drawing should replace tRUMP’s portrait…if you want to go all junior high energy.

    Release the EPSTEIN files!

  55. https://www.turkiyetoday.com/region/spain-sends-naval-ship-to-assist-gaza-bound-aid-flotilla-after-drone-incidents-3207483

    Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced Wednesday that his country will dispatch a naval vessel to assist a Gaza-bound humanitarian flotilla, following reports that several boats in the convoy were targeted by drone attacks near Greece.
    “We are concerned, and that is why we will be deploying a ship to ensure that, if necessary, our citizens can be rescued and brought back to Spain,” Sanchez told a news conference in New York. The Spanish naval vessel is scheduled to depart Thursday.

    Spain’s decision follows Italy’s earlier announcement Wednesday that it had already sent a navy frigate to provide assistance to the flotilla. The coordinated European response highlights growing international concern over the safety of humanitarian vessels operating in the eastern Mediterranean.

    *Bibi, tRUMPsky & sons are attacking boats carrying nurses and rice to those being starved in Gaza to clear the way for luxury hotels

  56. BlueInDallas reports the House may have the numbers to force release of Epstein records — if no one blinks.

    Let it all hang out.

  59. Exactly. Why write “ANTI-ICE” on bullets and use them to shoot detainees? If that’s who in fact was killed, because the transparency they claim is, well, opaque.

    ps – The correct verbiage would be F*CK ICE, not “ANTI-ICE.”

  60. Shooter’s notes say he intended to target ICE officers, authorities say

    Correction, Sept. 24, 2025 at 3:13 p.m.: The Department of Homeland Security previously provided inaccurate information about the number of detainees killed and injured. It later corrected those figures and said one was killed and two were injured.

    “The shooter fired indiscriminately at the ICE building, including at a van in the sallyport where the victims were shot,” DHS said in its statement.

    *Wouldn’t someone going after ICE target the front of the van where the driver and a passenger agent would presumably sit?

  61. It is looking like sfb has decided to have the populous rise up and kill all Trans people. So far that has not happened, except in the police, fed and civilian prisons. The latest attempt to eliminate us is to immediately blame Transpeople for any bad thing that happens. Or anything that happens. Will people of the U.S., regardless of political persuasion, start attacking us, more than is already happening? I don’t know. What stupid and cult fail to understand is for the last tenish, fifteenish, twentyish, years the good people have changed their view of Trans people. From threat to non-threat crazy, harmless and hard to find anyway.

  63. I was front and center at a Joan Baez concert at Alys Stephens and made the mistake of yelling “yay” for Hillary. It went over like the proverbial fart in church.

    (I remember it every time I see her on tv like now)

  65. She told a story about sending her guitar for repair and not knowing the luthier returned it with an offensive inscription until it was discovered years later with a subsequent repair. That was the other stand-out memory to me of that encounter.

  69. BB – I’m so sorry it’s still happening. I don’t understand it, but I’ve heard it a few times from some who have probably never even been in the same room with a trans person. The crueler, the louder. I don’t get it.

  71. https://prospect.org/blogs-and-newsletters/tap/2025-09-24-bessents-bizarre-bailout-trump-milei-argentina/

    In an unhinged rant yesterday at the United Nations, Trump disparaged most of the world’s nations as dismal failures. Meanwhile, his Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, was pledging to use bottomless U.S. financial resources to prop up one of the world’s chronic economic failures, Argentina, which has lurched into its latest debt and currency crisis.

    Why bail out Argentina? Because the current president, Javier Milei, is a far-right libertarian sycophant of Donald Trump. And the two are twins when it comes to perverse economic policies.

    *Congressional crickets. Why is the US bailing out Argentina?

  78. Would love to see the Hyde Amendment get Comey’s legal bills paid…

    Hyde Amendment allows prevailing defendants in federal criminal cases to recover attorney’s fees and litigation expenses if the prosecution was “vexatious, frivolous, or in bad faith”.

  79. Pete Buttigieg is so likable, conservatives want to believe he’s not gay

    JD is so unlikable, no one gives a shit

  83. JD guest-hosted Kirk’s podcast from his government office. (Violation?)
    JD is going to try to get Kirk’s audience behind him…but he’s so unlikable. Kirk wasn’t like able either, though.
    Talk is that Erika Kirk would run as his VP, but how would that look when she should be home taking care of her kids? Plus, there’s the Romanian trafficking of minors her organization seemed to have been involved with. That may open a bigger can of worms because it involves the US military, from what I can gather.

    https://newsweek.ro/investigatii/cum-s-a-construit-un-bordel-imaginar-in-baza-sua-de-la-kogalniceanu

    How an imaginary brothel was built in the US base in Kogălniceanu Everything seemed to be normal, until Ana Maria discovered that in this military unit belonging to the NATO forces there was a real BROTHEL, where underage girls came to…

    ***
    Stephen Goebbels Miller, the unelected ghoul, is trying to get Democrats listed as a terrorist group.

    Kashew Nut is releasing info about Luigi and the Dallas shootings willie-nillie.

    Adolf’s dementia is progressing, but nobody is doing anything about him.

  86. https://apnews.com/article/colombia-drug-war-certification-trump-petro-rivalry-48f8abc371f6b8d02ae8785dcf8b980e

    Colombian president Gustavo Petro on Tuesday lashed out at the U.S. government after it added Colombia to a list of nations failing to cooperate in the drug war for the first time in three decades.

    In a message on his X account, the leftist leader accused the United States of seeking to “participate” in Colombian politics and looking for a “puppet president” as the country prepares for presidential elections next year.

    “The Colombian people will reply if they want a puppet president…or a free and sovereign nation” Petro wrote, adding in another message that he would not let his nation “kneel” to U.S. interests and allow peasants who grow coca to get “beaten up.”

    On Monday, the Trump administration designated Colombia as a country that is failing to meet its international commitments to fight drug trafficking and blamed the Colombian government for a lack of progress in the fight against the cocaine trade.

    President Petro:

    “DRUG TRAFFICKERS LIVE IN MIAMI, NEW YORK, PARIS, MADRID, AND DUBAI.
    MANY HAVE BLUE EYES AND BLOND HAIR, AND THEY DON’T LIVE ON THE BOATS WHERE THE MISSILES FALL.
    DRUG TRAFFICKERS LIVE NEXT TO TRUMP’S HOUSE IN MIAMI.”

    *As Don Jr. can probably attest.

  89. https://www.standard.co.uk/news/world/andrew-tate-romania-donald-trump-backing-white-house-b1213625.html

    Andrew Tate, the self-described misogynist who is facing trafficking and rape charges in Romania, is travelling to the US after his travel ban was lifted.
    This came after US officials allegedly raised the case with Romanian officials – but why would Donald Trump’s White House support him?

    *There is the Eastern European sex trafficking, again. Erika Kirk went to work for tRUMP in 2012, and then there is something about her work in Romania that is tied to trafficking minors to the military base? There’s not much in English, so relying on the translator. Anyway, it’s odd.

  90. Anon- It sounds like MuskRat incited violence in the UK. Jail time without his beloved ketamine might do the world some good.

  91. https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/24/politics/epstein-files-house-gop-block

    Top congressional Republicans and White House allies are working behind the scenes to prevent a politically charged floor vote to release the government’s Jeffrey Epstein case files next month, according to multiple sources familiar with the discussions.

    The intensifying effort to halt that floor vote comes as Reps. Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican, and Ro Khanna, a California Democrat, declared on Wednesday they have the 218 votes needed to compel one when Congress returns. That final signature on their petition to force the vote will come from Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva, who won a special election in Arizona Tuesday night, once she is formally sworn in.

    While the exact strategy to avoid a vote is not yet clear, some of the GOP lawmakers who have signed on are privately being pressured to withdraw their name from the petition, which would prevent a vote from taking place, one of those sources said.

    *Just as I suspected.

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