Naptime

So @capitalweather.bsky.social is leaving the Washington Post. Time to see how much it will cost to get the comics elsewhere vs a Post sub. Dammit, I wish there was a viable replacement for the old Metro section. I’ve already stopped reading the op-eds.

But did the JCPOA secure the opening of the Strait of Hormuz? No? Ha, I didn’t think so!

There's a reason this man who couldn't bench press a broomstick was a sex symbol for every woman for 20 years.

New screensaver.

I got academically expelled from GMU.

Once again: German universities were the envy of the world before the Nazis rose to power and took an ideological wrecking ball to the entire enterprise. If you want to know how long it took for German universities to recover… they haven’t.

BREAKING: Spinal Tap has also withdrawn from the Freedom 250 Celebration

I don't like the "[Blank] Derangement Syndrome" phrasing, but some of you all seem to have let your contempt for Musk and Bezos pretzel yourselves into posting some utterly ridiculous things about what SpaceX and Blue Origin have accomplished. Please stop beclowning yourselves like that.

Catastrophic drum solo accident.

Is this crew going to steal everything not nailed down, or are they going to try a little harder and steal the things that are nailed down too?

a time-honored tradition for key affiliates of disintegrating Nazi regimes

"At the moment, the United States is negotiating with a regime that President Trump claimed we had already changed, to open a strait that was supposed to be open last month, and to end a nuclear program that we said we had obliterated." No, things are not going well. Here's why:

Bruce will be back in D.C. on Oct. 3, as a special guest of the first-ever Power to the People Festival — joining Tom Morello to play a few songs with his band for another night of music and resistance.

"Why do we have to win independent voters when Paxton is obviously bad" is why you lose. How many times do you have to tap the strategy sign: Paxton's voters will show up. What works for Paxton will not work for you. Paxton relies on a cult, you need a coalition. Also: Life isn't fair.

Ken Paxton just gave an Epstein-style deal to a pedophile. Paxton released Adam Hoffman — an admitted child rapist — back on our streets after Paxton’s rich lawyer friend got involved. The Epstein Class has no place in Texas. Ken Paxton has no place in the US Senate.

Severe thunderstorm warning until 8:15 pm for parts of Fauquier and Prince William counties, plus Manassas. Potential for damaging wind gusts with storm.

Given some of the things he’s been posting lately I figured he smelled like skunk, and horse droppings.

Note to self: His days are numbered. So is his regime. Plan accordingly.

I get questions about Graham Platner every time I talk to people outside of Maine. I think this is a very good and measured view of how he’s been campaigning here and why a lot of Mainers are supporting him. shaystewartbouley.substack.com/p/platner-is...

trump gets shown sitting in a garbage truck, the Pope gets shown sitting in a Ferrari.

Off to the Separate But Equal Docket

What this actually says is that majority Hispanic counties backed Paxton by slightly more than majority White ones. Which doesn’t necessarily mean Hispanics preferred Paxton; it means people who live around more Hispanic people did.

Exactly. They could have ended Trump's role in public life in 2021. They didn't. So he ended theirs.

Yeah, this was my first reaction too.

He negotiated a deal with the Taliban that collapsed a government. Now he's negotiating with Iran and calling it 'largely done.' Iran disagrees. It’s a pattern…and a devestating weakness.

Clearly Al

One of the more educational discussions I’ve seen on this place. Also, I laughed loud enough that the neighbor’s cat out on the back deck is looking rather alarmed right now.

Honestly, no idea why everyone’s saying the new electric Ferrari doesn’t look like a Ferrari

“How the US lost the Iran war” will be a course at military and diplomatic academies for decades. open.substack.com/pub/charlies...

“Inflation, tariffs, meatpackers’ pricing, and a national cattle herd at its smallest in 75 years because of drought, labor shortages, high operational costs and dwindling ranch land have all played a part. ” At least three of those things caused by Trump.

This is cool!

Heads-up that I'm blocking anybody who complains about a paywall. Paywalls suck, writers hate them as much as you do, but you gotta live in reality with the rest of us. Journalism is a skeleton of its former self. If readers refuse to pay for the work, bingo, there's less writing worth reading.

We have literally turned the Terminator movies into an instruction manual instead of a warning.

Honestly I don’t think this is hyperbole — after reading the Pope’s 83-page manifesto on AI, I’m confident this pope is far more progressive and thoughtful about technology than 99% of Bluesky users. The pope is not aligned w/ the militant anti-AI wing of Bluesky or the militant pro-AI wing of X.

Pope Leo quoting Tolkien in his encyclical on AI seems like a pointed reference for the tech oligarchs who have appropriated LOTR for their own ends.

How can a car collect your sexual activity data? 👀

One of many striking statements about AI in Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical “Magnifica Humanitas” (Latin for “Magnificent Humanity”):“No computational system, however sophisticated, can create a heart that gives itself, or a conscience that discerns good from evil.”

I’m reading the Pope’s 83-page manifesto on AI. Notes/quotes 🧵 “Technology should not be considered, in itself, as a force antagonistic to humanity. On the contrary, it has formed part of our history since the beginning as ‘a profoundly human reality, linked to the autonomy & freedom of man.’” 🔥

Ouch…

The last paragraph is a real “If you voted for Trump and the GOP you voted for this” moment.

That’s the most cat thing ever, with sass. 😹

Trump, like Putin, thought his war would be over in a few days with an easy, complete and total victory.

Unpopular opinion: Iran generated real security concerns for Israel and for other regional (and global, just ask Ukraine) actors. More popular opinion: this was not a good way to resolve them.

Tired: Celebrating 1776 by giving guys attacking America $1.776 billion Wired: Celebrating 250 years by giving Iran $25,000,000,000

I genuinely do wonder if the people giving the hot takes about Bluesky being a bubble or an echo chamber really do think everyone else here is a disembodied brain in a nutrient bath that has no other contact with the world and other people aside from what they see here, it sure seems like it

After 1 to 4 inches of rain, a pause Since Thursday, most of the area has seen 1 to 4 inches of rain, with 1.5 to 3 inches most common. Plus, some additional rain fell Wednesday. A pause in the rain for now, but more coming. Details at cwg.live