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Sources tell Publocc that the Trump Rapid Response Team is already vetting six people to replace Katie Zacharia as White House Press Secretary.
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Friday, October 16, 2026
"Some harsh tactics were used to get Palestinians to leave during the [1948] war."*--"But I'm Jewish" friend
*The Nakba (Arabic: النَّكْبَة, romanized: an-Nakba, lit. 'the catastrophe') is the ethnic cleansing[14] of Palestinian Arabs by Zionists through their violent displacement and dispossession of land, property, and belongings, along with the destruction of their society and the suppression of their culture, identity, political rights, and national aspirations during the 1948 Palestine war.
Same "harsh tactics" to this day!
Israeli settlers torch cars and trees in West Bank villages, disrupting Palestinians’ olive harvest
ABU FALAH, West Bank (AP) — Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian villages across the occupied West Bank on Friday, setting fire to cars and trees and beating residents and a foreign journalist, in the latest violence to disrupt the territory’s annual olive harvest this month.
Local officials and the Palestine Red Crescent Society reported attacks in at least eight villages in the northern West Bank...
...
As the group of masked vigilantes approached, several members beat Washington Post photographer Heidi Levine, who was hospitalized for her injuries.
SHE BROKE SCARAMUCCI'S RECORD!
K-Zach, the human air machine, is was fired as WH press sec. after five days and one appearance.😂
Whitehouse.gov, is this still good or no?
Trump: "If Ken Paxton loses...
"If Ken Paxton loses, it will be because of WEAK and INEFFECTIVE Political Hacks like John Cornyn and Karl Rove..."
He's already thinking beyond the loss to whom to blame for the loss. That's better than any poll to me!
Look, it's Friday, my favorite day, I'm going to force myself to see blue amidst black. And tomorrow is my favorite day in the fall, so there.
We should talk to them and try to understand them
The Picture
The Pictures within the Picture
Candidates to replace Katie Zacharia as press secretary
Woke Autonepiophiliacs at Dallas convention
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"Trump’s becoming an old, crazy man. He doesn’t care anymore.”
That's really it in two sentences.
Thursday, October 15, 2026
Public Occurrences October 15, 2026
Oil: Strait of Hormuz aka "Hormuz Strait" aka Strait of America
Iran and its proxie Houthis have also been attacking the Red Sea (Saudi) oil route.
AP
9:19 pm:
Three Children, 5, 8, 11, Adult Teacher, and 16-Year Old Shooter Killed at Oregon Elementary School
11:31 am:
Wholesale inflation jumped last month by most in four years as gas prices soared
This is a problem
"But I am Jewish and am gonna see certain things differently than you."
Solely because he is Jewish and I am not. We can look at the same thing, a car; he will see a Mercedes with Nazi flags flying from the front bumpers, I will see a Chevy hatchback.
He told me once that there is a Jewish joke in New York City. A 10-year old boy comes home after watching the "Yankees" play. "Dad! I saw Micky Mantle hit three home runs!" Dad: "And how is that good for Israel?'
It is single-minded and that mind is closed. The most important issue to the Jewish father in that joke, the only issue, and it could have been on any subject, is how does that, a positive, unrelated event, or it could have been negative, the touchstone of the joke is the only thing that matters is Israel.
"We cannot agree on anything on this topic."
I have to bold that: "We cannot agree on anything on this topic." Anything that I say goes into one ear and out the other with mediation. His mind is closed. We will never agree; we "cannot" agree; "on ANYTHING"; "on this topic".
"It's not something we are able to discuss."
Can't even "discuss."
So why did we? When the discussion is doomed to result in disagreement, when he knows from the outset that it is moot, because "I am Jewish" (and I am not), why begin? I'm 71 years old. He knows that. I loathe wasting the time I have left. He knows that. So, why doe he waste my time? And his? Say it at the outset, when those sensitive chords in the human art are touched. Just tell me at the outset when a topic causes these chords to vibrate in a hum that causes him an epileptic attack, "Harris, let's not both waste our time, I'm Jewish, you're not, end of discussion"?
Turn it around:
Him: "I like olives." Me: "That's because you're Jewish."
Him: "I don't like Mercedes." Me: "That's because you're Jewish."
Him: "I think Man City's guilty." Me: "That's because you're Jewish."
Him: "I'm a Democrat." Me: "That's because you're Jewish."
If I responded "That's because you're Jewish" to every topic of discussion that however tenuously and unintentionally touches on Israel or Jewish identity, he--and any Jew--would be insulted. I would be guilty of making an antisemitic presumption. "What, you just assume 'because I'm Jewish', that I 'am gonna see certain things differently than you'?! Harris, I thought I knew you better than that, you antisemite." Well, yes I do. Because those are your words, bunko.
That's a problem.
"I am Jewish and am gonna see things differently than you."
"You will never be Chinese."
"A communist today can be a capitalist tomorrow, but an Armenian can never be a Turk."
"I am Jewish" (and you're not). We cannot agree on anything on this topic."
The text discussion started pleasantly enough. My friend was in Spain (and I was not). The distinctive Moorish architecture was beautiful. He liked the country.
"You just like it because it was ruled by Muslims", I joked (after looking it up because I wasn't sure).
"Actually, I'm surprised that Muslims and Jews get along so well here," him.
"Did Jews and Muslims, and Christians for that matter, get along in pre-Mandate Palestine?" I asked insouciantly, not knowing that either.
"I think they pretty much did until the Arabs nakba'd the Jews."
"The 'stinians (my shorthand for Palestinians) kicked the Jews out? I thought it was the other way around, that half of the Arab population was displaced in the 'catastrophe' (had not committed "nakba" to memory).
"Let me do some reading because I'm not sure." Him.
"Okay, that's fair enough. Me too."
I then looked up "palestinian catastrophe". Read the first few paragraphs of the lengthy Wikipedia entry, copied and pasted and sent to him along with the Wikipedia page.
"I don't think Wikipedia can be 100% trusted on this." Him.
Which was true enough. Wikipedia cannot be 100% trusted. But it's a darn good starting point. I went back to the Wiki entry and checked if there was a warning or whatever, an advisory, sometimes they will put at the top something like "this entry needs verification or sources." There was none.
He then sent me his own quick and dirty research. From "Friends of Israel".
"You caution me not to rely on Wikipedia on this and your counter comes from Friends of Israel?" Me, irritated.
"A British general is a pretty good source, no?" Him.
Wikipedia's entry is supported by 230 footnotes, and a further "Bibliography" of hundreds (I didn't count) subcategorized into "Books", "Book chapters", "Articles", and "Further Reading".
"The truth is somewhere between the two sides". Him.
What "two sides"? I thought but didn't write. I cite Wikipedia, not "Friends of Palestine", he cites "Friends of Israel.
"Wikipedia brushes over the Arab expulsion of Palestinians", he replied, changing the subject from his initial, Arab expulsion of Jews.
I was taken aback by the turn that this convo had taken. My brain was frying with his Orwellian propaganda, my nerves were fraying, my ears were ringing. I was shaken. I couldn't reason with him, my friend of over thirty years, on this subject, on any subject touching however remotely on Israel. I could have read everything in Wiki's bibliography, it wouldn't have mattered.
"Enough for today". Me. I tried to end it. Too much unexpected on a relaxed afternoon that began pleasantly with him on vacation.
He continued sending me stuff.
"I'm not reading!" Me.
"But I am Jewish and am gonna see certain things differently than you. We cannot agree on anything on this topic. It's not something we are able to discuss."
"On an unrelated note trying to follow football on a scroll as you do...it sucks." Him.
-30-
White House Press Secretary Katie Zacharia Didn’t Pass Bar Exam
Zacharia has previously referred to herself as lawyer in public appearances
Zacharia sat for the California bar exam after graduating from law school at Pepperdine University in 2011, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter, but she didn’t pass. She took the exam around the time she was planning a wedding and preparing to move to China with her future husband, the person said.
So surprised. You can see the intelligence in her face.
Wednesday, October 14, 2026
Public Occurrences October 14, 2026
Texas Bull Elephant Charging on Tenuous Talarico
Tenuous Talarico
6:53 pm:
TRUMP/MUSK RESTRICT STARLINK/STARSHIELD, BLIND UKRAINE IN RETALIATION FOR ATTACKS ON RUS DIESEL
"Starlink is a commercial service owned and controlled by SpaceX. Usage of Starlink is limited to civilian or defensive activities and cannot be used for offensive military action, as doing so would be inappropriate for a commercial company.
"Starlink is a commercial service owned and controlled by SpaceX. Usage of Starlink is limited to civilian or defensive activities and cannot be used for offensive military action, as doing so would be inappropriate for a commercial company.
"Starshield systems are owned and controlled by the US government. Any limits on speed or usage are decided by the US military and ultimately POTUS."
-Elon Musk
Last night, a blue wave of happiness washed over me...
Who was I kidding? Myself. The U.S. has not been the same since the Catastrophe.
I'll give a domestics relation analogy.
Immediately following a period of great tranquility and happiness a spouse suddenly leaves the other and their children. They're gone four years.
Four years later with a cheery "Honey, I'm home!" they They come back with profuse apologies and complete sincerity saying they don't know what got into them, saying they're changed now.
It's possible the jilted spouse and kids accept the apology and take them back, but anything's possible. I can't say I've heard of it after four years, but let's go with it.
There are going to be some problems in the reunification, right? That's just inevitable. That's just human. A lack of trust. Hard to overcome, it can be done, but it's hard. Resentment, especially by dependents. Wariness. Counseling, therapy, long talks, okay, let's say it comme ci, comme ça works out. "Daddy's home, oh daddy's home to stay."
That was Europe toward the U.S. 2021-2024. Relieved, glad, wary, but WELCOME BACK, UNCLE SAM! But wary. Hopeful, with doubts; relieved but realistic; accepting but suspicious; watchful. The Europeans had a word for Joe Biden's presidency, "interregnum".
And then after four years the motherfucker leaves the marital home and kids again.
What if they come back four years later again?
In my own analogoustically* imperfect way that was blue wave me last night. It's foolish but its human to squint hard and see blue peeking in the blackest cloud. It's human to distract oneself. What's the alternative? See prior post. And then you regain your rationality and it's still black outside. That's me too, tonight.
*"Analogoustically" is not a standard English word, but it is an invented adverb formed from analogous
🤣
Mixed up her husband with Trump.
"a SNL skit"-Jen Psaki
Claims to be lawyer but never passed the bar.
Looks up to rocks for their intelligence.
Photo used to illustrate "bimbo" in Merriam-Webster.
Reads at least at 4th grade level.
Tweety-birds fly around in her head for the air space.
😂
Katie Zacharia Delivers Powerful Inaugural Briefing as the 37th White House Press Secretary
Today, Katie Zacharia delivered a commanding inaugural press briefing as the 37th White House Press Secretary.
Tuesday, October 13, 2026
Public Occurrences October 13, 2026
Republicans’ Guardrails are Collapsing
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Charlie Cook
This is the election Democrats fantasized about. This is the election Republicans had nightmares about.
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...
While the party holding the White House always loses seats, there were structural or technical reasons this election shouldn't have been particularly bad for Republicans. Since late summer, however, those guardrails have evaporated, with this election very clearly headed to a very grim place for the GOP.
Charlie Cook
11:31 pm:
Republicans on the Run! Elephants "RETREAT" from Battleground House Races
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Republicans were retreating Tuesday from a handful of battleground U.S. House races while Democrats were racing to raise money to boost candidates who seemed like long shots earlier this year.
11:11 pm:
8:16 am
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Republicans were retreating Tuesday from a handful of battleground U.S. House races while Democrats were racing to raise money to boost candidates who seemed like long shots earlier this year.
...
Meanwhile, Democrats’ House campaign committee is eyeing openings in Republican-held districts and hoping to raise millions of dollars in the next week to fuel a late round of advertising that they say could net at least a half dozen more seats.
The shifting money in the final three weeks of midterm campaigns points to an increasingly defensive posture by Republicans, who have already trimmed their expectations in U.S. Senate races, and new aggression from Democrats who are trying to capitalize on President Donald Trump’s weak approval ratings.
["Pretend I'm on the ballot!" WE ARE, WE ARE!]
Republicans cut back in front-line districts
The Congressional Leadership Fund is no longer spending on advertising in Iowa’s 1st District, where three-term Republican Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks is defending her seat against Democrat Christina Bohannan.
...
Senate Republicans are pouring millions more into Nebraska [NEBRASKA!] to protect Sen. Pete Ricketts, the latest sign of how dramatically their spending priorities have shifted from battleground states toward defending seats they once expected to hold comfortably.
Ricketts is facing a challenge from independent Dan Osborn, who is backed by Democrats. Trump won Nebraska by more than 20 percentage points in 2024.
...
The Nebraska investment follows new spending by the Senate Leadership Fund in Kansas and South Carolina, two other states Trump won by double digits in 2024. All three were absent from the group’s initial $342 million advertising plan in April, which has since been reshaped as Republicans pulled back from Georgia and North Carolina, two states that were central to their original strategy.
11:11 pm:
POPE LEO HAS LUNG CANCER
The Nova Pope. Fucking lung Cancer. Jesus Christ.
8:57 pm:Trash Takes Itself Out: Kimberly Guilfoyle *Fired Resigns as Ambassador to Greece
8:16 am
World on Fire, Trump a Liar, "America on the Run", Backward-Facing Guns, Nazraeli Genocide
They call him Flipper, Flipper, faster than lightning...
"Make the election about me!"
Glad to.
His party on verge of losing both Senate and House.
"His" war with Iran: higher energy prices, especially industrial diesel, for Toilet Nation.
Signs Congress' Russia sanctions bill, tariffs India for trading with Russia...
Makes private deal with Putin for diesel.
Hails it as "massive"
Half a day's supply of diesel
Says Blame Ukraine for diesel.
Tells Ukrainians to make war about Zelensky.
Rus kills 22, including 3 babies in an apartment building strike in Kyiv
Then kills 30 more in a strike on a bus
"Totally defeated" Iran strikes Saudi main airport, killing one.
Then kills 13 more in attack on same airport the next day.
Moves bombers out of base in Britain fearing Iranian attack mimicking Ukraine's "Operation Spiderweb"
"Surprising loss": "Totally defeated" Iran has taken out eighty-one Toilet Nation war planes-"so far"-in his Operation Epic Futility. Cost: $3.3B.
Cost of weapons and munitions used (lost) "so far" in "his war" $38B.
Total cost of war--only through June 16--$113.3B
"Make the election about me!"
We are
Caldwell-Pope: 76ers success down to players "being able to be around each other and liking each other" 😬
"Our chemistry is gonna be the biggest part for us. Us liking each other, being able to be around each other and have fun on and off the court."
I was worried about this. They already had Joel Embiid. Then they got Jaylen Brown, not a blender (?), and then LeBron, who will put you in your place, teammate or coach, then KCP.
"On and off the court": I and others wondered if there was enough ball to go around on the court. Jaylen and Jayson Tatum meshed like hand in glove on the court. Never socialized off.
Monday, October 12, 2026
Florida State has a Rutgers-esque financial problem*
*Penn State Has a Florida State, Rutgers-esque Financial Problem
Both are historic tackle football programs who have won national championships. Both play in Power Four conferences. Both have humongous, passionate fan bases, and deep-pocketed boosters. Both poured money into "state of the art" facilities and upgrades after pressure by former coaches. Both gave huge contracts with guaranteed money unless fired for cause to their professors of pigskin. Both are state universities whose costs are footed by taxpayers in whole or part. Both are now heavily in debt. Both have struggled on the field in recent years, cutting into, or causing fear of cutting into, deep revenue streams. FSU fired its athletic director recently. PSU AD Pat Kraft is on the hot seat.
Kraft encumbered the athletic department and via that the university with $750M, that's three-quarters of a BILLION, in debt to "refurbish" the "Nittany Lions" playground, now known as "West Shore Home Field at Beaver Stadium" which the undersigned cannot resist compacting to "Whore Field". The upgrades are not yet complete.
How that three-quarter billion was an investment that would pay future dividends rather than a vanity project is extremely muddy to see. From Wikipedia:
Beaver Stadium has an official seating capacity of 106,572,[8] making it currently the second-largest stadium in the Western Hemisphere and the fourth-largest in the world.
On Saturday last a new stadium record 114,000+ encircled Whore Field to watch the team lose to Southern California, dropping their record to 3-3, 0-3 against their B1G peers. Tickets are not cheap to Whore Field, parking is not cheap, food and beverage, once the captives are inside, are not cheap and getting to State College is a pain in the ass. Remaining home games against Purdue, Minnesota and Rutgers are not expected to challenge the new attendance mark.
Kraft is responsible for both the three-quarter billion anchor around PSU's neck and the mediocrity on the field. On this date one year ago Kraft fired head coach James Franklin. The firing was deserved and inevitable.
Former Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley had two maxims that he followed in axing coaches. First, "When it is necessary to change eventually, it is necessary to change immediately." Change at PSU was necessary and Pat Kraft acted immediately. He followed the first Foley Maxim. Many ADs do. Where they step on their dick is on the second.
Foley kept in his pocket at all times a list of three or four replacement coaches to whom he would offer the job when eventually became immediately. "One of them will take it", Foley stated. In other words, Foley did not leap before looking. He had a plan. Kraft did not. Steve Pederson, first at Nebraska, then at Pitt, did not. Pederson violated the eventually-immediately maxim, as well. He is now selling insurance or the like in Ohio or someplace.
Kraft's mid-season firing of Franklin was eerily similar to Pederson's firing of Frank Solich at Nebraska. Both dearly departed were excellent managers at the bluest of blue-chip football factories. Both were fired for not meeting the highest expectations. Critically, neither Pederson nor Kraft saw a need to keep a Foley's List handy. This was Nebraska after all, this is Penn State, the best in the land will come crawling and groveling. Both completely misjudged the market. Pederson embarked on a 41-day odyssey criss-crossing the country, rumors of Pederson sightings reported as of a fugitive, the university plane tracked by increasingly desperate fanatics. Kraft's journey lasted fifty-four days. Both thought they could get Knute Rockne were he available. Both got doors slammed in their faces as targets were immediately locked up in new, improved contracts.
Coming back to our first analogy, FSU, current head coach Mike Norvell had ONE great season as Chief of the Seminole tribe. Alabama came knocking. Tribe headquarters in Tallahassee pushed DEFCON 1 and locked up Norvell with a new contract and new, more guaranteed money. The "Seminoles" are in a deep financial hole for the same reasons PSU are: new, improved facilities, new coaches with huge buyouts.
Pat Kraft's odyssey in Happy Valley ended happily, it seemed. A well-regarded, successful-at-his-level coach from the heartland was lured away to the B1G Time. Matt Campbell had labored long, honorably and successfully in Ames, Iowa at Iowa State in the Big XII conference. He had eastern roots, even attended Pitt on an athletic scholarship for one year, had sort of a Pa. feel to him, modest, rural. He seemed a good fit in arrogant, rural State College. Kraft locked him up to a long-term with lotsa guaranteed money.
PSU was widely expected to seriously contend for the national championship in 2025. They were loaded with talent, had an excellent coach, and shiny new facilities. They faceplanted, James Franklin was fired, and here's where it all blew up in Pat Kraft's face: Franklin was beloved by his players and when he landed at Virginia Tech he took coaches, players and recruits with him. PSU's recruiting class went from top-20 to mid-60's, behind those of Rutgers, Appalachian State, and Temple. The cupboard was bare for Campbell and he had to scramble. He re-stocked with Iowa State players he brought with him to Penn State. This has not worked out well for PSU. Virginia Tech became a reasonable facsimile of Penn State 2025 and Penn State 2026 bears too strong a resemblance to Iowa State 2025 for the taste of "Nittany Lion" faithful.
Bringing all of our analogical threads together, Rutgers football is a basket case financially and athletically; FSU is in a deep semi-hole with no clear way out; Nebraska has not YET recovered from the disastrous firing of Frank Solich in 2003, and PSU's Whore Field is covered in a layer of slippery red ink as it struggles to regain traction from Joe Paterno's firing over fifteen years ago. Welcome to the B1G Time.
Oct. 10, 12:21 am:
The Athletic Department is swimming in $430M in red ink. Mike Norvell's buyout alone is nearly $51M; those of his assistants if terminated with him adds even more, $68M. Those buyouts increase that existing $430M by 28%. There is no way out for Florida State. They are going to suffer through more football ineptitude or risk their ability to compete in major college tackle football in the very near future.
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