A text to a friend (part of a (long) chain)):

Me:

There  is no issue, no "one or two", no cluster of issues, that would have peeled away Trump supporters for Kamala. You and Barack Obama, just last week or so, think it's "issues". BHO said Trump was trying to distract because his "policies" are so unpopular. I read his comments and shook my head. Respectfully to both of you, you don't get trump supporters. Read this. Note the date:

Feb. 15, 2016:

Olivia Nuzzi

‏@Olivianuzzi (https://twitter.com/Olivianuzzi)

The problem with a lot of Trump writing is it fundamentally misunderstands his supporters, eg: theatlantic.com/politics/archi… (https://t.co/NmKsp8F6Vu)

 Follow

Olivia Nuzzi

‏@Olivianuzzi (https://twitter.com/Olivianuzzi)

They care about him. They trust him as a leader who won't allow them to be fucked over, because he himself has never been fucked over.

 Follow

Olivia Nuzzi

‏@Olivianuzzi (https://twitter.com/Olivianuzzi)

They do not care about planned parenthood or what he said last week about common core vs. what he said this week. They don't care!

 Follow

Olivia Nuzzi

‏@Olivianuzzi (https://twitter.com/Olivianuzzi)

They largely do not care about his various policy positions to the degree that he even has policy positions. That's not what it's about.

Trump supporters, his "base", the most never-die, the vanguard of MAGA, are whites. They--all of them-- are racist, sexist, is-ist and wannabes. When Nuzzi said Trump "won't allow them to be fucked over", "them" is overwhelmingly white-fright people who saw, and who see, Trump as the one white MAN to protect them from the "Great Replacement Theory" ("Jews will never replace us! Remember?), from immigration of Blacks and Browns who will make the U.S. a nation of "mud people"; who will protect them from majority-minority status by 2042. To these racists, this is THEIR country, not a woman's, not HRC's or Kamala's, not a brown-skinned, black-skinned, blackish, or southeast asian-jamaican's country. They didn't give a shit where Trump or Kamala stood on the issues. They were voting for him, the white man, not for kamala harris.

Friend: So whats your plan ??

Me: As I have said previously, my plan is to boomerang Trump's "maximum war everywhere" and go head on right at them on all issues and tell Trump's supporters to their ugly, besotted, racist faces that they are  racist, sexist, low-life scum that he calls us, and which they are in fact. As he said to his own "former" supporters, "i don't want you!" We're too polite.

"No, REALLY, we don't want you! You're  right, we ARE going to replace you; no, I don't want to talk to you, you're too dumb, dumb, as a bag of rocks [as Trump called Kamala]. No, I don't want to "listen" to you, not to your fears and resentment about being replaced and ignored and talked down to because talking down to you is the only way to talk to cockroaches who are running on the floor from the light."

I'm  only a little exaggerating for humorous effect; I believe that "those people" need to be put in their place and then replaced. What do Dems have to lose with that approach? You want to talk to them more like NYT does? You want to appeal to them on the Wall, "Ours will be better and Blue!" Fuck that. We should run on what we believe is RIGHT, on what is in our SOULS, and with the knowledge from Olivia Nuzzi l that we cannot take policy positions that are going to switch them. So fuck 'em. We need to FIGHT him and THEM. No half-measures, as your Breaking Bad character said. That  is my plan.

From a Jewish friend of 30+ years:

Harris you are the ONLY person I know who mirandizes women*, loves cats AND when he says “ Israel has no right to exist” that is making that statement with clean hands and is not an antisemite 

The others who say that are not as nuanced as you so those people are full of shit 

*I would tell women on the first date all of my bad habits, e.g. cheating, drinking too much, etc.

This is weird but if you don't eat all day you have no energy.

Public Occurrences August 26, 2025. 13❤️87

Even on bended knee, Travis is nearly as tall as Taylor!😂

Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are engaged

“Your English teacher and your gym teacher are getting married.”, the couple announced on Instagram. 😂👏

There was never any doubt, in MY mind anyway, that this is how this would end. They are both such good, down-to-earth people.

This has to be the highest-profile wedding worldwide since...Diana Spencer wed then-Prince Charles and became Princess Diana? Taylor and Travis are American and global royalty.

I am so happy, personally. This was meant to be.

Truth in Labeling

Trump hints he will change Pentagon’s name to Department of War

“I don't want to be defense only,” the president said. “We want offense 

...his administration, in coming days, will likely change the name of the Department of Defense to the Department of War.

Trump said officials would “probably” return the Pentagon to the more aggressive name it once held in about a week.

Retribution finally coming to U.S.

Public Occurrences August 25, 2025

Outrage after Israel kills five journalists in ‘double-tap’ attack on Gaza hospital

CNN

I told you. At 8:39 today I posted that this "double tap" (didn't know what it was called) was deliberate by Israel, to kill as many as many as possible rushing to the scene after the first strike.

...

The Israeli attacks hit a balcony on the hospital used by reporters for an elevated view of Khan Younis.

...

Dr. Mohammad Saqer, a hospital spokesman and head of nursing, said that five journalists and four health workers had died.

A first strike on the hospital hit the fourth floor of Nasser Medical Complex, the health ministry said, followed by a second attack a short time later that hit ambulance crews and emergency responders.

Video from the scene shows Saqer holding up a blood-soaked cloth after the first strike when another explosion rocks the building, filling the air with smoke and sending people running for cover.

A live camera from Al Ghad TV shows emergency workers on a damaged staircase at the hospital when the second attack hits the building.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in an updated statement Monday evening that it “carried out a strike in the area of” the hospital. IDF spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said the military was “aware of reports that harm was caused to civilians, including journalists.” Defin said the military was operating in an “extremely complex reality.”

That is also true, also written here at 8:39.

“The IDF does not intentionally target civilians,” Defrin insisted.

Not true.

He blamed Hamas for using civilian infrastructure, including hospitals, as bases.

Also true.

An Israeli security official with knowledge of the details of that initial inquiry said IDF forces identified a camera on the roof of the hospital that they claimed was being used by Hamas to monitor the Israeli military.

The forces received authorization to strike the camera with a drone, the source said. But instead, Israeli forces fired two tank shells: the first at the camera and the second at rescue forces.

...

The details of the inquiry are a remarkable admission from an Israeli official that it intentionally targeted the first responders that arrived at the scene after the initial strike.

...Netanyahu, in an admission that Israel had killed journalists and emergency responders, said that Israel “deeply regrets” what he called a “tragic mishap” at Nasser hospital. “Israel values the work of journalists, medical staff, and all civilians.

Not true. Not a "mishap".

...

Philippe Lazzarini, the head of UNRWA, the main UN agency for Palestinian refugees, said on social media that the strikes amounted to “silencing the last remaining voices reporting about children dying silently amid famine.”

The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate described the attack as a “heinous massacre perpetrated by the Israeli occupation forces… which directly targeted media and journalistic crews,” while Doctors Without Borders (MSF) also condemned the strikes on the “only partially functioning public hospital in the south of Gaza.” The group’s emergency coordinator in Gaza Jerome Grimaud said some MSF staffers were “forced to shelter in the laboratory as Israel repeatedly struck the building amidst rescue efforts.”

“First responders moved in, including journalists, and they were killed in the second attack." Jodie Ginsberg, president Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)

“So in both instances, it looks like Israel has committed unlawful killings, war crimes, both in the deliberate killing of the Reuters cameraman and in this so-called double tap attack,” Ginsberg added.

AP freelancer among 5 journalists killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza hospital, health officials say

AP

8:39 am

Israel hits Gaza hospital, killing at least 15 people, including journalists

Reuters

Aug 25 (Reuters) - Israeli strikes on Nasser hospital in Gaza on Monday killed at least 15 people, including four journalists, one of whom worked for Reuters, Palestinian health officials said.

Cameraman Hussam al-Masri, a Reuters contractor, was killed in the first strike, according to the officials. Photographer Hatem Khaled, who was also a Reuters contractor, was wounded in a second strike on the hospital, they said.

Witnesses said the second strike took place after rescue workers, journalists and other people had rushed to the site of the initial attack. The Reuters live video feed from the hospital, which was operated by Masri, suddenly shut down at the moment of the initial strike, Reuters footage showed.

Hamas uses hospitals as superstructure for their tunnels and as hideouts, and no political organization, much less a Nazi-like political group, is an enumerated protected collective under the law of genocide. Still, what we see here is the same murderous sadism that Israel practices at GHF aid sites, luring civilians in, in this case journalists, with a first strike (on a hospital), and then when they can maximize shriek for shekel, launching a second strike. 

The flaw of all women — thinking they can change a man’s nature and problems.

The flaw of men—- thinking a woman will look the same over decades.

That little dualism came from a friend this morning and is very wise.

A Pepsi collada with a full head, Quaker oatmeal, Publix brioche butter bread and Publix whipped butter--life is pretty good on Miami Beach.

 I bet the incremental cost of that meal is like 10 cents.

Public Occurrences August 24, 2025

 

At least 64 Palestinians killed in Gaza in the past 24 hours as Israel shifts focus to Gaza City

...

Medical sources at hospitals in the enclave say at least 16 people were killed on Sunday, including seven aid seekers.

They were traveling through a military zone in the south of the Strip, trying to reach a food distribution point near Khan Younis, ran by the Israeli-backed US contractor Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).

Eyewitnesses and hospital officials say Israeli soldiers opened fire at crowds of Palestinians marching their way to the distribution hub. It’s the latest in a string of fatal incidents surrounding the GHF operation, which commenced in late May.

euronews

Good morning agonists and antagonists

Public Occurrences August 23, 2025

Maybe Israel will get away with it. We did with slavery. History is written (mostly) by the strong. Regardless, this is the blackest stain on the Jewish state's history. Maybe I am forgetting in the moment but I can't call to mind when the U.S.! has been complicit in genocide. If we were we got away with it. We're paying for our original sin, slavery, though, and forever and a day we will.

But worldwide Jewry is neither as numerous nor as strong as the U.S. and you know, you know, that Jews all over the world will pay for this one day. This is a tin can tied to israelis' tail, and the faster they run the louder it will rattle and bang behind them. There is no escaping it ever.

5:39 pm

Israel expands Gaza City offensive, eight more starve to death

Al Jezeera

Arsenal Destroy Leeds 5-0

Oh boy...

"Disjointed" Manchester City lost 2-0 this morning to Hotspur in Manchester. Boy, I thought last weekend's trashing of Wolves heralded back to the future for us. Nah-ah.

Eleven hearing me talk with another female, 11:47 am

Eleven after Dr. Ana and I disconnect, 2:55 pm

Public Occurrences August 22, 2025

Genocide, as defined by the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, is the intentional destruction of a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group, in whole or in part. This includes acts like killing members of the group, causing them serious bodily or mental harm, deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about physical destruction, imposing measures to prevent births, and forcibly transferring children of the group. 

...

Deliberate infliction of conditions of life:
This could involve starvation, denial of medical care, or other actions that would lead to the physical destruction of the group.

Gaza City and Surrounding Areas Are Officially Under Famine, Monitors Say

At least half a million people in the enclave were facing the most severe conditions measured by U.N.-backed international experts: starvation, acute malnutrition and death.

Integrated Food Security Phase Classification...said in a report published on Friday that a combination of several factors had tipped Gaza from a hunger crisis into famine: the intensifying conflict, stringent Israeli restrictions on aid, the collapse of health care and sanitation systems, the destruction of local agriculture and the growing number of times people have been forced to flee for new shelters.

The report, which described the famine as man-made, said that it can be “halted and reversed.”

“The time for debate and hesitation has passed, starvation is present and is rapidly spreading,"

Israeli Genocide

Public Occurrences August 21, 2025

The Democrats go ‘Trump lite’ in latest plan to save democracy

CNN

YES! AND I APPLAUD GOVERNOR NEWSOM!

The latest plan, piloted by California Gov. Gavin Newsom, whose counteroffensive just won the support of former President Barack Obama, is to be a bit more like Trump...

...

Newsom — who has a long and testy history with the president — but who shares some of his instincts for stunt politics — is not just taking on Trump by leveraging the mechanics of government in the Democratic cause.

He’s also personifying the maxim that one way to defang a bully is to laugh at him. The governor’s turned his social media accounts into a parody of the president’s own huffing and puffing in block capitals on Truth Social.

Who has written that over and over and over through the years? Who has drawn on his political science background (in particular, a book on Fidel Castro) for anecdotal evidence of support? Oh that's right, me. What got under Trump's skin the most in the 2024 election? Gov. Tim Walz calling Trump and Vance "weird". How'd that play out? The Democrats DROPPED it.

“THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER! — GN” Newsom wrote after a post on X earlier this month, trolling Trump by mimicking one of his online quirks.

...

[Newsom] seized on the Texas redistricting fight because he’s one of the few Democrats who have power and know how to use it. He’s also channeling palpable demands from the Democratic base for more of a fight.

And who said, "democracy is not “self-executing"?Who said, "It took organizing and activism, and people demonstrating and sometimes getting beat or thrown in jail. It took a civil war. It took extraordinary leadership and courage in order to amend the Constitution. And then to make sure that those victories were actually manifested required people to march and go to jail and in some cases, die."

Some left wing lunatic? Some idiot blogger. Oh no, that's right, President Barack Obama.

...the California governor has created a platform to elevate himself over Democratic rivals in galvanizing demands for more urgency in the fight against Trump and his administration challenging election fairness on multiple fronts.

Whose approach is, “Maximum warfare, everywhere, all the time.”? Oh that's right, TRUMP'S.

...

Who said that Democrats need to "fight fire with fire"? Not some radical, no. Oh that's right, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul.

Good morning pins and needles

Public Occurrences August 20, 2025

Israel Begins First Attack on Gaza City

8:11 pm
Texas Trump-manders Congressional Map: President Obama Endorses Gov. Newsom's Reciprocal Cali-mander

8:51 am:

“The Smithsonian is OUT OF CONTROL, where everything discussed is how horrible our Country is, how bad Slavery was, and how unaccomplished the downtrodden have been — Nothing about Success, nothing about Brightness, nothing about the Future. This Country cannot be WOKE, because WOKE IS BROKE. We have the ‘HOTTEST’ Country in the World, and we want people to talk about it, including in our Museums.”

😂

Hi

USMLE

Last Thursday I hit a wall, and the wall hit back. I didn't have the same level of interest in medical study today despite sleeping well every night since. In other words, it was not fatigue today. Not good.

Ew Esse Em Elle Ee

This was my one great moment. Last Thursday when I hit a wall. So long ago I forget about it. Steered Dr. Ana toward the right answer on detective's instinct,  looking for clues, thinking about it, with no knowledge.

Public Occurrences August 19, 2025

The Eye of the Storm

That's  the eye of Hurricane Erin captured from one of NOAA's planes. Very cool, awe-inspiring.

 

Democrats Have Finally Found the Fight

It was gifted to them by a rattled Donald Trump

Dan Rather steady substack

We have found our FIGHT(ER).

A Happy Birthday to my D-2, Ana Eduarda Stein Schmidt!

What a difference a rest makes

For the first time...in a long time, I don't know how long, I got the sleep that I evidently needed, for I was "bone tired", not a metaphor, descriptive of my reality, and I feel younger, I am as alert and refreshed as I remember being in my 40's. What a day!

Public Occurrences August 18, 2025

NO GOING INTO NATO BY UKRAINE. Some things never change!!!

Trump tweet Sunday. 

I don't disagree with that one plank of his position.

Public Occurrences August 17, 2025

Democrats Have a Leader, and a FIGHTER

Gavin Newsom's Team Unveils New Nickname for JD Vance

"Just Dance Vance."


"NOT EVEN JD 'JUST DANCE' VANCE CAN SAVE TRUMP FROM THE DISASTROUS MAPS 'WAR' HE HAS STARTED

""AND I, THE PEACETIME GOVERNOR—OUR NATION'S FAVORITE—WILL SAVE AMERICA ONCE AGAIN. MANY ARE NOW CALLING ME GAVIN CHRISTOPHER 'COLUMBUS' NEWSOM (BECAUSE OF THE MAPS!). THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER,"

Newsom's office wrote on X on Saturday, mimicking Trump's habit to write in all-caps.
...
Giving Vance a nickname—"Just Dance Vance"—is just one of the many ways Newsom is imitating Trump's very recognizable social media posting style to mock the president.

These include using derogatory nicknames for his political opponents, writing in all-caps and overtly and exaggeratedly praising himself for real or imaginary achievements. In Trump's social media world, the California governor is often referred to as "Newscum." In his mocking posts, Newsom has repeatedly referred to Trump as "tiny hands."

Reporter: "What’s going on with those posts on X that are clearly trolling the president?" Newsom: "I hope it’s a wake up call for the president. I’m just following his example. If you have issues with what I’m putting out, you sure as hell should have concerns with what he’s putting out "I think the deeper question how have we allowed the normalization of his posts to go without similar scrutiny."

Newsweek

12:04 pm

European Leaders "Shocked", SHOCKED, by Trump's Capitulation to Putin

Financial Times

A Family Text Message

To: ex-wife (2), son, D-1, D-2

Your mother is a very strong, courageous, resilient--most importantly a supremely good--human being. She has taken some blows to her constitution over the years, and she feels things deeply, but she has come out of all with her feet firmly planted and that great soul unchanged.

Practically every day I lavish praise on one or more of you, our children. I send this not to encourage a circle jerk of reciprocal compliments. This is just an acknowledgment that I know, I know of your mother's quality. And I honor it. November 15 is Marie Osborne Day in Miami-Dade County. No one is more deserving of a day in her honor.

Good night.