Speak softly and carry a big stick. That was the core phrase behind President Theodore Roosevelt’s Big Stick Diplomacy; an American value that has apparently been replaced by something more like, Look what a big d-ck I have diplomacy, as Pete Hegseth turned a massive gathering of more than 800 military commanders into something that resembled a product launch for a new Low T miracle cure. “In the days before the event, Democratic lawmakers and military specialists questioned the cost and disruption to daily operations caused by the meeting, as well as the security risks of concentrating so many top military commanders in one place. All, it appeared, for Mr. Hegseth to be able to lecture military leaders with decades of combat experience on an enhanced ‘warrior ethos’ in a forum that was televised live.” During the meeting, the president ominously argued that “we should use some of these dangerous cities as training grounds for our military.” And he was referring to American cities. Loud talk and big sticks coming soon to a military theater near you... NYT (Gift Article): Trump and Hegseth Recount Familiar Partisan Complaints to Top Military Leaders. 2Shutdown Hearted“During the first eight months of his second presidency, Donald Trump has tried to hollow out the federal workforce by any means possible, including paying more than 200,000 people not to work, disassembling entire agencies via the Department of Government Efficiency, and fighting in court any effort by employees to hang on to their job. This week, Trump could try his most audacious move yet: using a government shutdown to conduct mass firings.” The Atlantic (Gift Article): Trump’s Grand Plan for a Government Shutdown. 3Take Your Medicine“Fever ravaged the body of 5-year-old Suza Kenyaba as she sweated and shivered on a thin mattress in a two-room clinic in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The pigtailed girl who liked pretty dresses was battling malaria and desperately needed medication that could save her life. That medication, already purchased by a U.S.-taxpayer-funded program, was tantalizingly close — a little more than seven miles away. But it hadn’t reached the clinic where Suza was being treated because President Donald Trump’s suspension of foreign aid had thrown supply chains into chaos.The injections Suza needed had traveled thousands of miles to the Central African nation, USAID and other records show, only to be stranded in a regional distribution warehouse in the same city where she was gasping for air. Less than a week after her symptoms began, Suza was dead.” WaPo(Gift Article): Trump’s USAID pause stranded lifesaving drugs. Children died waiting. (Does the Nobel committee have a prize for this?) 4Tilly PuttyTilly Norwood is an actress looking for representation in Hollywood. That may not seem unusual for a new performer looking for fame. But here’s the twist. Tilly Norwood is AI. Creator of AI Actress Tilly Norwood Responds to Backlash: “She Is Not a Replacement for a Human Being.” 5Extra, ExtraGodzilla v King Kong “We are no longer in a world where broadcast pioneers like Capital Cities/ABC’s Tom Murphy and local community owners who believed in acting in the public interest have any role. Courage in the face of governmental criticism and governmental power is barely present. Consolidation into behemoths with interests beyond the airwaves and the digital platform now rule. Whether it is Disney or Paramount, Universal or Nexstar, it is all about the bottom line, and the fear of retribution by a thuggish regime means that every value beyond the money goes out the window.” Norm Ornstein: Will Our Corporate Media Godzillas Have the Guts to Defend Democracy? “Five companies—five—now control 90 percent of the media marketplace.” (Here’s one clue: YouTube agrees to pay Trump $24.5m to settle lawsuit over account suspension.) 6Bottom of the News“Although consumers have traded down to less expensive private-label versions of coffee, peanut butter, syrup and chips, butter is a different story. Once people have tasted better butters, they don’t want to go back, said Lydia Clarke, co-owner of two Southern California cheese shops that sell specialty butters from brands including Rodolphe Le Meunier, Maison Bordier and Ploughgate Creamery. ‘You realize, ‘I can cut other things out of my life, but I cannot cut this butter out,’ Clarke said. ‘The world is on fire. We have butter and cheese.’” Bloomberg (Gift Article): The Latest Little Luxury: Fancier, Fattier Butter. (I mean, mediocre butter is pretty good, too.) |
Tuesday, September 30, 2025
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