Turns out we’ve been worshiping pagan gods every time we ask what day it is.
Tuesday. Wednesday. Thursday. Friday.
There they are. Týr. Woden. Thor. Frigg. Ancient gods hiding in plain sight on the calendar, surviving Christianity, empires, kings, popes and roughly two thousand years of people saying “Thank God it’s Friday” when they really ought to be thanking Frigg.
So naturally, Digital Diner went looking for them.
We found Týr, who lost a hand to a giant wolf. Woden, who traded an eye for wisdom. Thor, who brought the hammer. Frigg, who could see the future but apparently signed a nondisclosure agreement. Then came Saturn, the Sun and the Moon.
And now the whole unruly pantheon has its own playlist: trailmix.cc/days
These are the short videos we’re using to open each day’s Digital Diner. We made them reusable because the gods have already lasted a couple thousand years. No sense giving them a 24-hour shelf life.
We’ll keep tinkering with them as we find more historical oddities, ancient footage and assorted cultural debris worth throwing into the stew.
Seven days. Seven stories. Two thousand years of history hiding on your calendar.
Craig, on the debate of picking Mani or Luna, I guess it boils down to whether one’s a mani-ac or luna-tic.
either fits describing the gilt guy with a lunatic’s erratic and senseless behavior or maniacal madness and frenzy
Donnynisus God of Disruption. Bringer of Twitter Storms. Keeper of the Divine Gut. So, gut, what do we think about climate science? God of the Greens. Blower of the Golden Dog Whistle.
from today’s The Guardian Democrats to train tens of thousands to monitor polls amid election interference fears
Project will prepare volunteers across US to monitor polls, encourage early voting and respond to disinformation
The Democrats intend to train tens of thousands of volunteers to monitor the polls and counter possible voter intimidation under a new plan to protect November’s US midterm elections from anticipated interference from Donald Trump and his allies.
The nationwide initiative, dubbed the New Battlefield Project, will help state Democratic committees build up a vast coalition of volunteers to monitor the polls, push voters to cast their ballots early and create a network to respond to disinformation.
The Association of State Democratic Committees (ASDC), an arm of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), plans to train volunteers across 57 states and territories. It hopes to train volunteers for 25% of the nation’s 95,000 election day polling places, focusing on districts with competitive races.
These volunteers will wear blue vests to provide a visible presence intended to counter any voter intimidation, including by federal agents. Each state party has a trained election protection director.
The Trump administration has not explicitly ruled out sending federal agents to cities during the election, and some of the president’s allies have called on him to send immigration agents to the polls. The homeland security secretary, Markwayne Mullin, previously said immigration agents’ job isn’t to patrol polling places, but they could go to polling places if there was a threat or to serve a warrant.
The president has personally made a series of interventions that have fanned fears that he could meddle in the upcoming elections, and even declare a national emergency in a bid to exert greater control over the process.
Jane Kleeb, the chair of the Nebraska Democratic party and president of the ASDC, said the project is much more extensive and coordinated than the party has been in the past on election protection. “We didn’t want to be caught flat-footed on election day or leading up to election day,” she said.
These volunteers will be trained to “be happy” and respond to any voter needs, including helping them find a polling location if they’re in the wrong place, or informing them they can cast provisional ballots if they need to, Kleeb said. They will also document whether others at the polls are hindering voters.
“We don’t know if there are going to be a bunch of insurrectionist types out there trying to intimidate voters, but we’re going to be there happy with information, but we’re also going to be there trained to document if the other side is doing things that are violating the law,” she said.
The party will additionally push out its first national early-vote campaign, telling voters to “bank their vote” by casting ballots early by mail or in person. This will include ad campaigns focused on communities at risk of Republican election interference.
The state parties and the DNC typically run get-out-the-vote programs, but this year’s will include more explicit directions to voters – telling them to vote early, and not let a mail ballot sit on their kitchen counter for weeks before turning it in, Kleeb said. The party will also push for people to vote early in person.
“We don’t know what Donald Trump is going to do. We’ve heard some of the things that he may do, but none of us can predict his behavior,” she said. “He’s so chaotic. All of us have witnessed certainly that. So the earlier you can vote, the better.”
The third part of the project will spin up a “democracy defense network”, led by Democratic strategist Simon Rosenberg, designed to identify and counter tactics that can sway elections, including disinformation, dark money, manipulation via artificial intelligence and election subversion.
The network will allow state parties to communicate with each other about these threats to share knowledge, with a goal to get ahead of such tactics before they gain traction.
Craig, for our next AI adventure you might wanna check this Chasing Gods article What Are the 12 Months Named After?
Each day of the week was named after a god. How about other units of time, say… months?
Well, it turns out that the 12 months of the year were also named after gods. But not all of them – some months were named after political figures, another after a ritual, and others were simply called by their ranking.
[continues]
hmm, wha-happened to my avatar? ok at 5:57 but gone at 6:20.
are we having trail clean-up time again???
Bonjour. Lundi (moon), Mardi (Mars), Mercredi (Mercury), Jeudi (Jupiter), Vendredi (Venus), Samedi (Sabbath), and Dimanche (Lord’s day).
Yep, Patd. my avatar left, too.
Investigating avatar mystery. mine here? check your profiles, make sure they’re still uploaded.
I made some adjustments to our Avatar setting and cleared its cache. see if your next comments include avatars
Edict from Kennedy Center board:
Put Gutbelly’s name on the building or it comes down!
https://www.wbaltv.com/article/kennedy-center-bankruptcy-trump-name/73717018
I like it PatD, those pagan months should get their own video introductions. So interesting that after going full Christian the English didn’t change that.
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What is Actually Clicking: September 14, 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.
AVATAR UPDATE: It appears the folks at Gravatar had an outage this morning but our local avatar bin seems fine. If you use Gravatar be sure yours is also uploaded in your profile here, and our system will use that as a backup when Gravatar hiccups.
At least we know these gods by name. The one we call God is nameless. “God” is His title, not His Name. We are so untrustworthy to not take His Name in vain, He won’t tell us what it is.
Protesters at international golf links and hotel Doonbeg, Ireland.
So now Trump’s blaming Ukraine for gas prices. Nice try. Ukraine’s refinery campaign is genuinely tightening diesel supplies and probably adding something to American fuel costs. But Trump’s claim that Ukraine—not the Middle East war and Hormuz disruption—is responsible is false. He took a secondary contributor and promoted it to starring villain, conveniently removing his own Iran war from the credits.
Good point, Ivy. Mysterious ways!
Think Positive
🌚Happy MOON Day
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On YouTube🎙️11am (ET) until 11:45
WATCH here 👇
https://www.texastribune.org/2026/09/13/bo-french-john-cornyn-republican-texas-railroad-commissioner-ut/
Several Texas Republicans condemn Bo French’s racist posts calling Asian students at UT a “problem”
On Sunday, Bo French, the Republican candidate for Texas Railroad Commissioner, posted a series of xenophobic social media posts taking aim at students of color celebrating at the University of Texas football game, and prompting a wave of intra-party rebuke just weeks before the November election.
The morning after the Texas Longhorns pulled off a major comeback to upset Ohio State, French shared a photo of students of South Asian descent cheering in burnt orange gears from the stands.
ps – UT’s comeback is being credited to Talarico showing up in the stands.
‘THE TED CRUZ CURSE IS BROKEN’ — Texas Fans Are Convinced James Talarico Had Something to Do With Ohio State Stunner
“Talarico’s aura is so strong that it overpowered the Ted Cruz curse,” a fan said.
During Saturday’s Texas game, Cruz appeared on ESPN’s “College GameDay” from the stadium to discuss the Protect College Sports Act, legislation aimed at establishing federal guidelines for college athletics. However, he was greeted with a chorus of boos from Texas fans, with the noise occasionally making it difficult to hear him.
Besides the debate surrounding the Protect College Sports Act, the senator’s appearance also frustrated fans because of the infamous “Ted Cruz curse.” The long-running sports superstition suggests that teams or athletes Cruz supports or attends games for tend to suffer losses in important games.
The Cruz curse has been a running joke among college football fans for years, and fans even circulated an online petition in 2024, urging Cruz to stay away from Longhorns games. The petition claimed his “downright sinister energy” had previously prevented the Longhorns from reaching the national championship.
Which god led to Hump Day?
Washday
Payday
today’s meme…
They lost their minds when a black man laughed at a white man in public. Very public. And high level ridicule.
That’s how he won the magats: right then….right there.
That has been “The Schtick Heard ‘Round the World.”
meme #2…
‘Alligator Alcatraz’ Used Small Cages as ‘Calming Areas,’ Report Says
The Department of Homeland Security’s internal watchdog provided new details about conditions at the now-shuttered Florida detention center.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/14/us/alligator-alcatraz-dhs-inspector-general.html?emc=edit_na_20260914&nl=breaking-news&segment_id=226482
Here’s another Boomtown Rat’s song to go with the all-night sh/t posting from the tRUMP regime; he’s stupid enough to create the nonsense being posted, but he’s not smart enough to do it by himself. Maybe they just make stupid stuff all day and set it up to auto-post all night.
“Up All Night”
https://www.newsweek.com/roger-marshall-chances-kansas-senate-race-raucous-debate-12436148
Roger Marshall’s Chances of Losing Kansas Senate Race After Raucous Debate
Republican Senator Roger Marshall is holding onto a narrow lead in the Kansas Senate race, according to the latest poll of the unusually competitive contest in the normally solidly Republican state.
But his chances of winning reelection may have dwindled as he faced a hostile crowd during his first debate with Democratic challenger Adam Hamilton, a liberal megachurch pastor, at the Kansas State Fair on Saturday.
Marshall was repeatedly booed during the debate and, at one point, the audience broke into a chant of “shame on you” as Marshall defended suing patients over unpaid medical bills.
Vice President JD Vance is scheduled to make a stop in Olathe, Kansas, on Monday to show support for Marshall, highlighting the importance of the race.
*Farmers hate JD and his predatory AcreTrader that turns landowning farmers into sharecroppers.
Today in the Diner…
SEO Focus: Donald Trump Blames Ukraine for Gas Prices
Curiosity Focus: Will Kansas Farmers Buy Trump’s Ukraine Blame?
The Punch: Trump’s Gas-Price Scapegoat
Donald Trump blames Ukraine for gas prices while Adam Hamilton takes on Roger Marshall, tariffs and farm-country anger in Kansas.
Donald Trump says Ukraine’s attacks on Russian refineries are driving up American gas prices. The table is not buying the full special. Ukraine may affect diesel markets, but the Strait of Hormuz and the wider Middle East crisis remain much bigger ingredients in this expensive stew.
In Kansas, Adam Hamilton unloads on Roger Marshall with a Wizard of Oz argument about courage, health insurance and farmers battered by tariffs. We also size up Sherrod Brown and Jon Husted in Ohio, Abdul El-Sayed and Mike Rogers in Michigan, Andrew Talarico and Ken Paxton in Texas, plus Dario Amodei, Sam Altman and Elon Musk trying to shape the coming fight over artificial intelligence.
Then Jane Kleeb takes off the earrings, Michael Massaroli delivers a powerful warning against exploiting 9/11 for hate, and the Digital Diner serves the whole unruly Monday platter.
Live Chat: https://trailmix.cc/chat
Website: https://trailmix.cc
Alerts: https://trailmix.cc/alerts
00:00 Intro
00:54 Dario Amodei and AI Regulation
04:29 Trump Targets Kennedy Center
06:11 Donald Trump’s Ireland Trip
08:00 Hakeem Jeffries Prepares
08:55 Adam Hamilton in Kansas
13:43 Bill Clinton’s Jobs Record
16:27 Ted Cruz Gets Booed
17:30 Adam Hamilton Takes on Marshall
19:25 Poland’s Robot Protest
20:00 Elon Musk and Vivian Wilson
25:07 Nate Silver’s Midterm Odds
26:47 Senate Polls and Roy Cooper
29:49 Michigan and Ohio Ad Wars
31:43 Sherrod Brown and Jon Husted
33:32 Abdul El-Sayed and Mike Rogers
33:47 Andrew Talarico and Ken Paxton
36:06 Kansas Farmers and Diesel
36:31 Trump Blames Ukraine
37:23 European Elections and Putin
38:54 Jared Kushner Blames Zelensky
47:41 Jane Kleeb Takes Off Earrings
49:29 Michael Massaroli on 9/11
— Human directed and edited. Machine drafted (ChatGPT).
https://www.kmbc.com/article/vice-president-jd-vance-covid-loan-fraud-charges-kansas-city-olathe-announcement/73720854
Vance to announce COVID loan fraud charges in Kansas City
Vance will be speaking from Kansas City’s FBI headquarters Monday morning along with Attorney General Todd Blanche, Small Business Administrator Kelly Loeffler, FBI Director Kash Patel, Senator Eric Schmitt and Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald of the Justice Department’s National Fraud Enforcement Division.
After the fraud announcement, Vance will continue on to a ticketed event at an Olathe, Kansas, manufacturing facility. Vance is scheduled to speak as part of an event with Make America Great Again Inc., a pro-President Donald Trump super political action committee that has been pushing money into supporting Republican candidates for the 2026 midterm elections. Senator Roger Marshall is expected to appear and speak alongside Vance at the Olathe event.
The slow, bass intro stops at about :30 or so.
Banana Republic
Septic Isle
Screaming in the Suffering sea
It sounds like crying
Everywhere I go
Everywhere I see
The black and blue uniforms
Police and priests
And I wonder do you wonder
While you’re sleeping with your whore That sharing beds with history Is like a-licking running sores
Forty shades of green yeah
Sixty shades of red
Heroes going cheap these days
Price; a bullet in the head
Banana Republic
Septic Isle
Suffer in the Screaming sea
It sounds like dying
Everywhere I go
Everywhere I see
The black and blue uniforms
Police and priests
Take your hand and lead you
Up a garden path
Let me stand aside here And watch you pass
Striking up a soldier’s song
I know that tune
It begs too many questions
And answers too
Banana Republic
Septic Isle
Suffer in the Screaming sea
It sounds like dying
Everywhere I go
Everywhere I see
The black and blue uniforms
Police and priests
The purple and the pinstripe
Mutely shake their heads
A silence shrieking volumes
A violence worse than the condemn
Stab you in the back yeah
Laughing in your face
Glad to see the place again
It’s a pity nothing’s changed
Banana Republic
Septic Isle
Suffer in the Screaming sea
It sounds like dying
Everywhere I go
Everywhere I see
The black and blue uniforms
Police and priests
Which means we’re really screwed…
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/live-updates_n_6aa7b695e4b054da7a2323f5/liveblog_6aa7e6fee4b0781f96934d8b
Trump Jr.’s Private Bahamas Wedding Was Financed By A Russian Oligarch Close To Putin: ProPublica
*Craig – You’re correct. The plan is to install Dumbass Junior, not Junior Dumbass.
Kremlev, who speaks limited English and had been traveling with Putin in China days before the May nuptials, was described as “a personal friend of Don,” a Trump Jr. spokesperson told ProPublica, though the report says the pair appeared to have met only recently.
Over three days, they rented out two islands, one of which Kremlev paid for, and enjoyed fireworks shot off a boat, also paid for by Kremlev, according to the report.
Only around 50 guests attended, according to the report. Trump Jr. described it as a small gathering of “really close friends.”
Why Kremlev footed part of the wedding’s bill wasn’t established.
Got a case of the Mondays? Time to snap out of it and get to work. Start your week with this 30-second check-in at The Digital Diner:
HA!
so now you’re not able to work if the big israel supporters don’t like what you’re saying, as Macklemore found out
he basically said “murdering children is bad”, how outrageous
Today was supposed the day that Moscow Mitch was going to get back to work in the Senate. So far he is a no show. Fox even put a reporter and camera at the door to his Senate office. Maybe tomorrow.
More dirt expected today on Fetterman, as something like a shadow Democratic primary emerges for his 2028 election.
The current reporting repeatedly names Chris Deluzio, Brendan Boyle and Conor Lamb.
What about the governor? Would he skip the presidential contest and do this instead? Shapiro conspicuously refused to endorse Fetterman: “John will decide if he wants to run for reelection. I appreciate the service.”
Fetterman Challengers
–:Rep. Chris Deluzio — the most explicit so far. On September 7, Deluzio confirmed that he is actively thinking about challenging Fetterman in the 2028 Democratic primary, saying people encouraged him to do it at Pittsburgh’s Labor Day parade. This week he went considerably further: “He’s not going to be a Senator after 2028 — mark my words.”
— Rep. Brendan Boyle — very much in the conversation. He says he will decide after the 2026 midterms whether remaining in House leadership or running for Senate gives him greater influence. He has nearly $5 million banked and has repeatedly criticized Fetterman.
— Rep. Summer Lee — increasingly interesting. She hasn’t declared a Senate campaign, but she’s openly talking about getting Fetterman out. After his Republican convention appearance, Lee said Pennsylvanians “are ready to see him out the door in 2028.” Her allies have publicly encouraged her to run.
— Former Rep. Susan Wild — reportedly considering a challenge and being encouraged to run.
— Former Rep. Conor Lamb — also being floated. Lamb, whom Fetterman beat decisively in the 2022 primary, has sharply escalated his attacks on him.
Earrings Come Off:
🍽️ From today’s Digital Diner menu
A new checkbox for wedding invites: Chicken, fish or geopolitical influence?
the good news is trumpco will never be rid of those influences
the bad news is neither may we
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2026/sep/14/macklemore-dropped-ed-sheeran-tour-free-palestine
Alluding to possible controversy, he added that not “speaking my heart in order to keep my own comfort, and the audience’s comfort … is the day that I no longer deserve to be on stage”, and called US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) a “terrorist organization”. He also showed images of the devastation from Israeli military attacks in Gaza during his protest anthem Hind’s Hall, which celebrated protesters’ occupation of a building they named in honor of Hind Rajab, a six-year-old killed by the Israeli military in 2024.
The comments spurred the group StopAntisemitism to accuse the musician of “ambushing” fans with “anti-Israel propaganda” in an Instagram post that was amplified by the singer Pink.
*Pink got a lot of blowback and then…Macklemore’s statement made her afraid as a Jewish mother? Imagine being a Palestinian mother.
“A big part of the reason why I wanted to do this tour in the first place is so I could stand up in stadiums like this and say two words that are very near and dear to my heart: Free Palestine.”
“To all of my Jewish brothers and sisters: Criticism of Israel, criticism of apartheid, being against genocide, is in no way a criticism of you.”
“If those words cost me the stage, while turning the conversation back to Palestine, then it was the most successful tour I’ve ever been on.”
Pink is like “i’m scared as a mother, fuck those other kids though”
https://www.newsweek.com/macklemore-free-palestine-remarks-ed-sheeran-backlash-transcript-12413361
Here’s what Macklemore said. (Ed Sheeran and his team are putzes for letting Epstein parasite classmate, Robert Kraft, push them to get rid of Macklemore. Aren’t there CONTRACTS in place to allow artists to fulfill their contracts/ticket sales?)
“I’ve been trying to figure out a way to say this all day. One of the reasons why I wanted to come on this tour was because I wanted to stand up here on stages and stadiums across America and say two words that are very near and dear to my heart: Free Palestine. I said, Free Palestine.
I want those words to be loud and clear, so the people from Gaza, all the way to the occupied West Bank, know that we have not forgotten them.
“And this next song was inspired by the bravery of Columbia University students who led an encampment movement that mobilized the entire world; open up hearts, myself included, so thank you to those students that risked their diplomas, that risked their tuition, that risked their scholarships, that stood up and said, no. CUAD students, Students for Justice in Palestine, and Jewish Voices for Peace. Thank you, guys.
To all of my Jewish brothers and sisters: criticism of Israel, criticism of apartheid, being against genocide in no way is a criticism of you. My message is for peace; love for all human beings to be treated with dignity, respect, and equality.
So I say Free Palestine, I say Free Lebanon, I say Free Cuba, I say Free Congo, Free Sudan, I say Free all people in America living in fear of this terrorist organization, ICE. None of us will be free until we are all free.”
how offensive, better shut him up
I realize forcing out Macklemore is out of Ed Sheeran’s hands, but he should cancel the rest of his tour
he’s rich enough
meanwhile Taylor Swiftbis standing up for
boxed set rereleases
she’s not obligated
which is why people like Macklemore are heroes
and i don’t even agree with half of his statement
but “i stand for peace” is not offensive
just got my hands on a sweet bay laurel, would be a good addition to the DC patio garden of someone who likes to cook
oh there is a tiny offshoot in the pot too
2 for 1 sale 😎
NYT on the case…
Investigators may have broken state laws under the direction of top Trump Homeland Security leaders by posing as voters as part of an expansive effort to find noncitizens on the nation’s voter rolls, according to a federal whistleblower’s account just released.– Free Link
Agents expressed concern about being directed by top Homeland Security leaders to use private information to look up voter records in state databases.
Well, well, well. Bless his soul. Moscow Mitch is “alive”. He was moved in a wheel chair from the home to the vehicle. Whether he knows he is alive is a different thing. It did not look like he was able to communicate, physically or verbally. He did not wave or say anything. Next stop the Senate to check in. Maybe his staff will help him “vote” this week.
📈 Job Creation: Clinton First, Trump Worst 📉
Bill Clinton added 22 million jobs. Trump’s combined record sank below zero.
🍽️ From today’s Digital Diner menu
It’s alive!
I’d it live or is it Memorex?