I kinda buried this story a couple of days ago,  but it deserves better.  As do the people that Purzycki and the cops are trying to roust out of Buccini/Pollinville:

Last month, Wilmington officials and the ACLU of Delaware settled a lawsuit over the city’s policing of homeless people – an agreement that barred local police from arresting individuals who had asked strangers for money or who had lingered in public areas.

But, in the wake of the settlement, police appear to have taken a new strategy, one that critics say is unfairly targeting society’s most vulnerable populations.

Less than an hour after the ACLU announced its deal with the city last month, police were outside the offices of a local homeless services organization, called the Friendship House, which also had been a plaintiff in the lawsuit.

Officers had been called there following reports of people doing illegal activity on sidewalk benches that sat just outside the doors of the Friendship House.

What followed was a tense exchange between police and officials of the Friendship House and of the church that owned the property.

Police asked to remove the benches, which for more than 30 years had provided respite for homeless individuals to drink coffee or wait on an open restroom at the center.

But the leaders of the organization and of the church refused.

Officers responded by threatening to shut down the Friendship House and cease its operations, according to Kim Eppehimer, executive director of the Friendship House.

Then, they left.

About an hour later, city officials returned with tools and a police escort, and promptly cut the benches from the sidewalk, trucking them away.

They placed cones over the nearly inch-long pieces of rebar that were left protruding up from the concrete on the sidewalk.

This is unconscionable.  Although something you would expect from Mayor Mike and his Elsmere-based police force.  We know that dimwit Carney doesn’t have an iota of empathy.  So, it’s up to us.  I recommend that you at least do what Al does–donate to Friendship House.  Shout-outs to Al and Joe Connor for keeping the story alive.

Just a question: Does anybody on Wilmington City Council give a shit?  Or do they too view the homeless as inconvenient nuisances interfering with Buccini/Pollin’s ‘vision’?

Unions About To Get What They Deserve.  White House prepares to shed Union Label:

Joseph R. Biden Jr. promised to be the most pro-labor president in history. He embraced unions more overtly than his predecessors in either party, and filled his administration with union supporters.

Labor seemed to respond accordingly. Filings for unionization elections spiked to their highest level in a decade, as did union victories. There were breakthroughs at companies like Starbucks and Amazon, and unions prevailed in organizing a major foreign auto plant in the South. A United Automobile Workers walkout yielded substantial contract gains — and images of Mr. Biden joining a picket line.

As Donald J. Trump prepares to retake the White House, labor experts expect the legal landscape for labor to turn sharply in another direction.

Based on Mr. Trump’s first term and his comments during the campaign — including his praise for Tesla’s chief executive, Elon Musk, for what he said was Mr. Musk’s willingness to fire striking workers — these experts say the new administration is likely to bring fewer challenges to employers who fight unions.

Yesterday I set out to find an alternative to fill the void in the post-MSNBC phase of my life.  I’d always been intrigued with the notion of Scandinavian noir.  Perhaps because I’d never immersed myself in it.  So, I decided to binge-watch a Scandinavian noir TV show.  After consulting those ‘Best Of Scandinavian Noir’ lists, and seeing what was available on the streaming services we have, I opted for a Finnish noir called Deadwind.  12 fucking episodes, shoulda been eight at most, but I was determined to make it through.  Which I did.  Finished at about 2 this morning.

Mistake.  12 episodes, not a single joke.  Beautiful, but bleak, landscapes.  Shoulda counted how many times someone’s cellphone rang.  Those cop flashlights that illuminate everything save motive or plot.

Depressing in every way, not what you want in a post-democratic America.  However, if you’re looking for a wallow or, warning, bad Nordic noir joke ahead, Wahloo, you might want to consider it.

Me? I came, I saw, I shrugged.

The bright side?  I watched Nordic noir so that you don’t have to.

Hmmm, what rabbit hole should I dive down into next?  Any suggestions?  My wife devours fantasy fiction, but even post-democracy, I need something more rooted in an approximation of the real world.

Trump Judge Rules Illinois Assault Weapons Ban Unconstitutional.  Get used to this shit:

An Illinois law banning semiautomatic guns like AR-style rifles is unconstitutional, a federal judge ruled Friday, citing recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions that strictly interpret the Second Amendment, including a watershed 2022 ruling that law-abiding Americans have a right to carry a handgun outside the home for self-defense.

Judge Stephen McGlynn for the U.S. District of Southern Illinois determined that the Protect Illinois Communities Act, which outlaws hundreds of firearms and accessories such as bump stocks and high-capacity magazines, violates an individual’s rightto bear arms. McGlynn stayed his order for 30 days, during which time the Illinois Attorney General’s Office plans to appeal the judge’s decision.

“The Government may not deprive law-abiding citizens of their guaranteed right to self-defense as a means of offense,” McGlynn, who was appointed by President Donald Trump in 2020, wrote in a 168-page ruling.

Josh Marshall Eschews The Blame Game.  I think he’s on the right track:

I’m going to go into more depth in a future post about why I think Harris lost. But the short version is that Joe Biden owned the hardships of the post-pandemic – principally but not only economic – and the public simply rejected his presidency because of that. That’s very similar to what has happened when almost every other incumbent party in the West came up for reelection in the post-pandemic era. It’s a pretty thorough public rejection of Biden’s whole presidency. Tough to face but true.

Combined with that are a raft of stylistic challenges and cultural baggage, problems tied to communications and media and technocracy that have dogged Democrats in the past, dogged them in this cycle and need to be addressed going forward. But those issues aren’t new. They didn’t prevent Democrats from having a solid election in 2020 or beating expectations in 2022. Or 2018 for that matter. The public pretty clearly agrees with Democrats on abortion and reproductive rights because public votes on that issue won almost everywhere in the country. But the folks in charge, Joe Biden, and Kamala Harris who ended up holding too much of that blame, were rejected.

I could list ten other potential reasons. But again, I’ll get to that later. My point in addressing this is because Harris and Harris’s campaign are a distraction from this necessary conversation, a form of denial. She and her campaign weren’t where the problem was. Given the constraints she had to operate under it was a bravura performance.

Something to eschew on.

Kent County Administrator Ousted For Exposing Corruption.  Does this sound familiar?:

When Kent County Levy Court commissioners voted to fire Ken Decker, the former county administrator, they did so in a nearly empty chamber quickly after an executive session, without offering the chance for Decker to challenge the ruling.

Through his lawyer, and some testimony of his own, Decker argued his firing was retaliation for multiple referrals he made to a state ethics commission involving commissioners of the Levy Court.  Action was limited at the hearing, but should commissioners decide to adopt a final resolution sealing his termination, Decker intends to file a wrongful termination suit against the county.

The conflict in question concerned Kent County Levy Court Commissioner George “Jody” Sweeney, and his involvement with the POLYTECH School District, which operates the county’s career and technical education high school.

According to a letter sent to the PIC by Decker, Sweeney worked as a substitute teacher, and had family working in the district, yet took votes on matters related to a property used by the school district.

In the end, the PIC found there was a conflict of interest. But because the PIC is purely an advisory commission, it doesn’t have any way to enforce its findings.

Repeat after me:  The Public Integrity Commission has no authority whatsoever to enforce blatant ethical violations by government officials. Not gonna link once again to my Transparency Agenda, but this needs to change.  Otherwise, corruption continues unabated.

What do you want to talk about?

What ProPublica Will Cover In A Second Trump Presidency.  At least we can look forward to great journalism from one place that hasn’t been utterly compromised:

Sixteen years ago, we started ProPublica to do hard-hitting, rigorous journalism that exposes wrongdoing and injustice. In that time, our investigative reporters have covered three presidential administrations, from the Obama administration’s failed housing policies to the Trump administration’s immigration strategies that separated parents from their children at the border to the Biden administration’s failure to uphold U.S. law when it came to arming the Israelis.

Now that Donald Trump is the president-elect for the second time, we will once again turn our focus to the areas most in need of scrutiny at this moment in history. As our editor-in-chief wrote yesterday, that’s what our more than 150 working journalists do.

More From ProPublica:

Donald Trump’s victory marks a turning point in the American experiment, and there is much to be dissected about what it means.

We will leave that analysis to others.

Our role as an investigative news organization lies elsewhere. In the coming months and years, we will be devoting a significant portion of our staff to chronicling the effects of what promises to be a drastic change in the role of the federal government in all of our lives.

This is nothing new for us. Over the past three presidential administrations, we have closely covered the actions of the federal government, from the Navy’s propensity for building expensive ships that aren’t seaworthy to the failings of regulators to protect the public’s health and safety.

In the 21st century, “without fear or favor” means maintaining a fact-based, data-driven approach to journalism. Our job is to give readers an independent, verifiable account of what’s happening, even if the president is calling us enemies of the people or bloodsuckers. At ProPublica, our mantra is that we bring the receipts to every story we publish.

Jesse Eisinger, one of our senior editors, delivered some remarks to his staff this morning that sum up how I believe reporters at ProPublica and elsewhere should be approaching this moment.

“We face the biggest test of our professional lives,” he told them. “Now we get to see if we really meant it when we said we will hold power to account. Will we do so when our subjects have true power on their side and a willingness to use it? We may be harassed. We may be sued. We may be threatened with violence. We may be ignored. Are we just sunshine journalists or are we ready?”

Send Matt Meyer A Message–Or Your Resume.  That’s what the transitiondelaware website is for.  Me?  I’m gonna send him my transparency agenda.

Wilmington Cops Go After The Homeless.  Anyone think Carney will be any better than Purzycki?:

Last month, Wilmington officials and the ACLU of Delaware settled a lawsuit over the city’s policing of homeless people – an agreement that barred local police from arresting individuals who had asked strangers for money or who had lingered in public areas.

But, in the wake of the settlement, police appear to have taken a new strategy, one that critics say is unfairly targeting society’s most vulnerable populations.

Less than an hour after the ACLU announced its deal with the city last month, police were outside the offices of a local homeless services organization, called the Friendship House, which also had been a plaintiff in the lawsuit.

Officers had been called there following reports of people doing illegal activity on sidewalk benches that sat just outside the doors of the Friendship House.

What followed was a tense exchange between police and officials of the Friendship House and of the church that owned the property.

Police asked to remove the benches, which for more than 30 years had provided respite for homeless individuals to drink coffee or wait on an open restroom at the center.

But the leaders of the organization and of the church refused.

Officers responded by threatening to shut down the Friendship House and cease its operations, according to Kim Eppehimer, executive director of the Friendship House.

Then, they left.

About an hour later, city officials returned with tools and a police escort, and promptly cut the benches from the sidewalk, trucking them away.

They placed cones over the nearly inch-long pieces of rebar that were left protruding up from the concrete on the sidewalk.

Purzycki and his cop henchmen are soulless bloodsuckers. I hope the ACLU has them back in court ASAP.

Delaware Rethugs As Clueless As National Democrats.  Small consolation, I know:

But while Trump and his Make America Great Again movement won the nation’s popular vote as well as Pennsylvania and six other so-called swing states to regain the presidency, what message would Herninko use to attract voters to Republican red in blue Delaware?

“You gotta just go out there and let them know what your party stands for, what Republican means,’’ she said. “We’re a party of conservatives. We believe in the Constitution. We believe in the rights. We don’t want open borders. We want our guns, our country, that’s what we want.’’

I, uh, think people already know that.

What do you want to talk about?

I think Bernie Sanders got it right:

“It should come as no great surprise that a Democratic Party which has abandoned working class people would find that the working class has abandoned them,” the Vermont independent said in a statement Wednesday. “First, it was the white working class, and now it is Latino and Black workers as well. While the Democratic leadership defends the status quo, the American people are angry and want change. And they’re right.”

Sanders, who just won reelection to another Senate term in Vermont, didn’t sound optimistic the party brass would heed his calls though. “Will the big money interests and well-paid consultants who control the Democratic Party learn any real lessons from this disastrous campaign?” Sanders asked.

“Will they understand the pain and political alienation that tens of millions of Americans are experiencing? Do they have any ideas as to how we can take on the increasingly powerful Oligarchy which has so much economic and political power? Probably not.”

Hmmm, could this be why, say, the Working Families Party succeeds, at least in Delaware, more than the traditional political parties?

I have another thought as well.  Any of you who made it through ‘Hillbilly Elegy’ knows that the Vance who wrote the book did a lot of ‘victim-blaming’, a stance he completely abandoned once he decided that politics was in his future.  I think that the resentment that the R ticket cultivated  resonated with voters.  As in ‘My life sucks.  Yours should too.’  Ours most certainly will.  Randy Newman wrote a song about it:

Delaware Will Have Two Special Elections.  Sarah McBride will get sworn into Congress before the Delaware General Assembly convenes in January, and Kyle Evans Gay will be sworn in as Lt. Governor on January 21.  Since Bethany Hall Long will be the acting Governor starting on January 7 (that’s when Carney is sworn in as Mayor of Wilmington), she will almost certainly issue the writ for the special elections.  I expect that both elections will take place during the Joint Finance Committee hearings that run from the end of January through mid-March.  I don’t know whether they will be held on the same date, or on different dates, although my guess would be that they would both be on the same date.  Parties designate the nominees for these special elections, and the RD’s and/or city wards play a key role in selecting the nominees. I’m glad that the Special Elections aren’t taking place in December (and, yes, we’ve had Special Elections in December), because, let’s face it, we are, as Chuck Berry sang, Too Pooped To Pop:

That’s it for today.  Still trying to figure out what a Fascist era Open Thread should be, or if it even should exist.

What do you want to talk about?

Looks Like The Harris Surge Is–Real.  The NYTimes/Siena Poll, which has shown weaker numbers for Harris than comparable polls in the past, now shows a significant surge for Harris.  I will also add that, if there are two states where the ground game will make a difference, those two states are Michigan and Pennsylvania.   Still skeptical of that Iowa poll, though:

Kamala Harris now leads Donald Trump in Iowa — a startling reversal for Democrats and Republicans who have all but written off the state’s presidential contest as a certain Trump victory.

A new Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll shows Vice President Harris leading former President Trump 47% to 44% among likely voters just days before a high-stakes election that appears deadlocked in key battleground states.  

The results follow a September Iowa Poll that showed Trump with a 4-point lead over Harris and a June Iowa Poll showing him with an 18-point lead over Democratic President Joe Biden, who was the presumed Democratic nominee at the time.

“It’s hard for anybody to say they saw this coming,” said pollster J. Ann Selzer, president of Selzer & Co. “She has clearly leaped into a leading position.”

However, I’m not skeptical that women have broken even stronger for Harris, and that Trump’s hemorrhaging of support is not even fully captured in these latest polls.  Not predicting it, but there could be a blue wave on Tuesday.

RFK Jr. Vows To Get Fluoride Out Of The Water.  Wasn’t fluoride considered a communist plot back in the late ’50’s?   Yep. It’s why Suxco residents had rotting teeth until cooler heads (and dentists) prevailed.

One More Reason Why Pollsters May Have It Wrong.  I think this analysis may be correct:

For eight years, pollsters have been striving to accurately capture former President Donald Trump’s level of support among voters. Even today, on the eve of his third campaign for the presidency, there’s no confidence they’ve nailed it. It raises a question that not enough people are asking: If it’s taken that long to adjust for Trump, is 100 days enough to accurately poll potential Vice President Kamala Harris voters?

It’s not just an academic question. There’s reason to believe that, just as proved to be the case with Trump, there is a fuller range of Harris voters who aren’t being measured.

Specifically, Haley supporters:

The survey showed that while 66 percent of Haley primary voters supported Trump in 2016, that number dropped to 59 percent in 2020 and is expected to drop even further to 45 percent in this year’s election. Meanwhile, their support for the Democratic presidential nominee has nearly tripled from only 13 percent supporting Hillary Clinton in 2016 to 36 percent indicating an intent to vote for Kamala Harris.

Pollsters’ recent embrace of “weighting on recall vote” may be hiding the true effect these Haley-Harris voters will have on the upcoming election. This approach to polling involves pollsters asking respondents who they voted for in the previous election. Statisticians then weight responses they receive to ensure that their predicted electorate mirrors voters who have previously showed up to vote in past years. The problem is this method entirely excludes Haley voters that either supported third-party candidates in the 2020 election or chose to sit out the previous election altogether.

There are more gory mathematical details, but if the polls are trending in Harris’ direction without said polls adequately capturing these Harris supporters, it, um, could be a blue wave.

Enough with polls.  I’m not the Poll Guy.  But I just wanted to maybe make you feel better, and even more resolute, heading into Election Day.

Trump Campaign Staff Fires Arrows At–Each Other.  Sure, it’s just insider soap opera, but it presages a lot of finger-pointing after a possible loss:

In conversations with nearly a dozen of the former president’s aides, advisers, and friends, it became apparent that Trump’s feeling of midsummer tedium marked a crucial moment in his political career, setting off a chain reaction that nearly destroyed his campaign and continues to threaten his chances of victory. Even as they battled Democrats in a race that refuses to move outside the margin of error, some of Trump’s closest allies spent the closing months of the campaign at war with one another: planting damaging stories, rallying to the defense of wronged colleagues, and preemptively pointing fingers in the event of an electoral defeat.

The bull in a china shop? Corey Lewandowski:

The honeymoon period was nonexistent. Before Lewandowski worked a single day on behalf of the campaign, he complained to friends that Wiles and LaCivita had leaked the news of his hiring in an unflattering light that downplayed his role—and timed it to coincide with when he was traveling and off the grid, unable to speak for himself.

Determined to assert himself, Lewandowski arrived at Palm Beach headquarters in mid-August with designs on running the place. Wiles accompanies Trump nearly everywhere on the trail, and LaCivita, when not joining them, often works from his home in Virginia, leaving Lewandowski with a free hand in Florida. He began taking aside junior staffers and department heads alike, one at a time, informing them that he spoke for Trump himself. He made it known that he would be in charge of all spending, and that he needed people to tell him what wasn’t working so he could fix it. Meanwhile, he began calling the campaign’s key operatives in the battleground states, probing for weaknesses in Trump’s ground game and assuring them that a strategy shift was in the works.

You’ll want to read on.  I know I did.

More Attempted Voter Suppression In Georgia Rejected By Court:

A Georgia judge on Saturday rejected a Republican lawsuit trying to block counties from opening election offices on Saturday and Sunday to let voters hand in their mail ballots in person.

The lawsuit only named Fulton county, a Democratic stronghold that includes most of the city of Atlanta and is home to 11% of the state’s voters. But at least five other populous counties that tend to vote for Democrats also announced election offices would open over the weekend to allow hand return of absentee ballots.

The lawsuit was filed late Friday and cited a section of Georgia law that says ballot drop boxes cannot be open past the end of advance voting, which ended Friday. But state law says voters can deliver their absentee ballots in person to county election offices until the close of polls at 7pm on election day. Despite that clear wording, lawyer Alex Kaufman initially claimed in an emergency hearing Saturday that voters aren’t allowed to hand-deliver absentee ballots that were mailed to them.

The only purpose of this suit was to prevent otherwise-eligible voters from voting.  I’ve thought for awhile that Harris would win Georgia.  I still do.

Buccini-Pollin Can’t Enforce Own Parking Ordinances. Yet.  Betcha they’ll fare even better under the sleepy countenance of a former high school QB:

This year, Wilmington officials are educating one of the largest developers in the city on the illegalities of attempting to do their own enforcement.

Representatives of 101 Dupont Place, a residential building owned and reconstructed by the Buccini-Pollin Group, say they were simply trying to alert residents who park their cars around the building for days on end that they were at risk of a parking ticket or tow.

But after Delaware Online/The News Journal shared photos of these recent postings on vehicles, city officials said those notices aren’t allowed.

“BPG has been informed that the posting of signs on vehicles is improper and has been instructed to cease this activity,” said John Rago, Mayor Mike Purzycki’s deputy chief of staff, in an emailed response to questions.

‘Educating’ Buccini-Pollin?  That’s why they off public officials with political bribes.

Just Two Over-The Hill White Guys Hankerin’ For An Orange Crush:

Speaker Pete makes his exit from the Democratic Party official. Costal Sussex residents: Take note.
What do you want to talk about?

Does Trump WANT To Lose?  I’m starting to think so.  Because he’d rather have to reprise the ‘election was stolen’ meme from 2020 than to actually have to do the job.  I mean, why else would he go to New Mexico and say stuff like this?:

Former President Donald Trump admitted to a crowd of supporters that he was only there in Albuquerque, New Mexico, because he thought it would improve his image among Hispanic and Latino voters.

“New Mexico, look, don’t make me waste a whole damn half a day here, OK?” Trump told the crowd on Thursday.

“First of all, Hispanics love Trump, they do. True. I like them. They’re smart. They’re a lot smarter than the person running for president on the Democrat side,” he said, once again taking a shot at Vice President Kamala Harris’ abilities.

“So I’m here for one simple reason,” Trump said. “I like you very much, and it’s good for my credentials with the Hispanic or Latino community.”

He continued on, saying, “You know on the East Coast, they like being called Hispanics, you know this? On the West Coast, they like being called Latinos.” Trump said he got in an argument with an adviser over which term to use in Albuquerque, saying he wanted to use Hispanic.

JEE-zus.  Let’s look at what we know through the lens of sanity.  He’s getting swamped in the early voting in the key swing states.  Meaning, like in 2020, he needs a yu-u-u-ge turnout among Trump voters on election day.  Instead, he campaigns like he just wants to get the hell out of whatever town he’s in, is literally in low-energy mode, and says stuff that not even the folks cleaning up after the elephants can fully clean up.  Not to mention, he performed oral sex on a microphone yesterday.  Oh, and he lost in 2020.  Contrast that with the frenetic pace of Harris and her supporters, and I just don’t see how he wins.

Don’t Forget What Awaits Trump If He Loses:

“He will be facing serious legal jeopardy if he loses. He knows that,” says Bennett Gershman, a professor of constitutional law at Pace Law School who served for a decade as a New York prosecutor. “It’s probably on his mind every day. He faces four very, very serious cases, in one of which he has already been convicted as a felon. The others are easily convictable.”

The minute it becomes clear that Trump has lost the election, his legal team will be preparing for the fight of a lifetime to keep him out of prison. “This defendant will use every means at his disposal to delay the outcome and complicate the adjudication,” says Martin Horn, a professor of corrections at John Jay College and the executive director of the New York State Sentencing Commission. “Who knows what legal maneuvers are available to him?”

Wonder who’s gonna pay his legal bills if he loses.

Unsolicited Advice For Trump:  How To Survive In Club Fed.  Don’t know how that’ll contrast with doing time in a New York State cell.

Tucker Carlson Attacked By (Inner?) Demon(s)?  So he says, in some bullshit upcoming ‘Christian’ documentary:

Tucker Carlson, the former CNN and Fox News political chat host, has said he was “physically mauled” by a demon a year and a half ago, in an assault that he says left him bleeding and with scars from “claw marks”.

Carlson made the claim while speaking in an upcoming documentary, Christianities? In a preview clip on YouTube, Carlson is asked by John Heers of the non-profit First Things Foundation if he believed that “the presence of evil is kickstarting people to wonder about the good”.

“That’s what happened to me. I had a direct experience with it,” said Carlson.

Asked if he was referring to journalism, Carlson responded: “No, in my bed at night. I got attacked while I was asleep with my wife and four dogs and mauled, physically mauled.”

Ho-kay.  Just sounds to me like he’s polishing up his latest scam, but what do I know?  BTW, must have missed his Kamala Harris Spanking Fantasy.

These people are all mentally and emotionally deranged.

Misleading Headline And Pathetic Story From News-Journal:

Each small city comes with its own unique charm and sense of community.

While those are important factors in deciding where to call home, the livability of each small city also is a big component, including cost of living, quality of education and health care, the local economy and more.

A recent report from WalletHub ranked the best small cities in the United States in 2024, and three locations familiar to Delawareans made the list.

Sounds great!  Until you read the article.  There you find out that the only one of the three cities that (technical term ahead) doesn’t totally suck is Newark.

According to the survey, Wilmington and Dover suck.

What do you want to talk about?

Trump Fantasizes About Liz Cheney…With Guns Trained On Her:

During an onstage conversation with conservative commentator Tucker Carlson in Glendale, Ariz., Trump launched into a meandering diatribe against Cheney, who was one of only two Republicans on the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6 riot.

Trump said Cheney was a “radical war hawk” who wanted to keep American troops in Iraq and Syria, which he said took the lives of too many young Americans and was too expensive.

“Let’s put her with a rifle standing there with nine barrels shooting at her,” Trump said to Carlson. “Let’s see how she feels about it, you know, when the guns are trained on her face.”

“You know they’re all war hawks when they’re sitting in Washington in a nice building saying, ‘Oh, gee, let’s send 10,000 troops right into the mouth of the enemy.'”

He has previously said that Cheney was guilty of treason and should be put in jail.

The good news?:  Trump will protect her–along with all other women. Except for the ones he will execute.  Tell me again how he is closing strong.

The Internets Are Forever.  Gen Z ‘shocked’ by Trump Access Hollywood tape:

It’s been eight years since leaked audio from a conversation between Donald Trump and TV host Billy Bush made wavesfor the former president’s descriptions of kissing and grabbing women without their consent.

Now, young people are encountering the tape for the first time on TikTok, where users are sharing videos of their reactions and, in some cases, reaching large audiences.

Now, the generation that came of age during the #MeToo era is turning to social media for information about candidates and elections — 39 percent of young adults say they frequently get their news from TikTok, according to Pew Research. This week, many said on the social network they were shocked by the former president’s words and confused why the episode wasn’t a dealbreaker in 2016.

Personal To Feckless Joe: Can’t you just shut up for one more week?  Or, you know, maybe stop sending more weapons to Israel? Or both?

A Garbage Truck Named Trump.  Doubling down on the notion that lots of Americans are garbage while sitting in a garbage truck with ‘TRUMP’ emblazoned on it strikes me as some kind of stupid.  The fluorescent orange vest is a nice touch.

The Genocide Continues Unabated.

Gaza:

Israeli forces attacked Kamal Adwan Hospital on Thursday, one of the last functioning medical facilities northern Gaza, health officials reported.

Gaza’s Health Ministry said the Israeli military targeted a floor containing the remaining medicines and medical supplies, while the hospital’s director, Hossam Abu Safiya, told The Washington Post that the attack injured four people and put the dialysis department out of service.

The Israel Defense Forces, which announced earlier this week that it had withdrawn from Kamal Adwan, said it was reviewing reports of an attack at the hospital on Thursday.

Lebanon:

Israeli strikes have killed 19 people, including eight women, around Lebanon’s eastern city of Baalbek, the country’s health ministry has said.

It came hours after tens of thousands of residents fled in response to evacuation orders issued by the Israeli military that covered the entire city and two neighbouring towns.

Mayor Mustafa al-Shell told the BBC more than 20 strikes were reported on Wednesday afternoon in the Baalbek area, with five inside the city itself, where there is a Unesco-listed ancient Roman temple complex.

The Israeli military said it had struck Hezbollah command-and-control centres and infrastructure in Baalbek and Nabatiyeh, in southern Lebanon.