Dear Everybody:
The big news today is that RFK, Jr. (apparently in an attempt to take the craziness award away from Kash Patel and his “people are the real victims of bestiality, so they should be FBI agents” speech) has announced that he is opening a big investigation into…wait for it…chemtrails:
–There actually is no such thing as chemtrails. What RFK, Jr. is talking about is vapor or condensation trails from airplanes, which consist of CO2 and are the same stuff as the cloud that comes out of your mouth when it’s cold, only this is at 30,000 feet, and it’s really cold up there, so the water vapor freezes into ice crystals. End of story.
–But over in the UFO fever swamps, vapor trails are made up of drugs and/or toxic chemicals which are being dropped on the unsuspecting public by the government or aliens or other shadowy forces to 1) keep them from finding out that the aliens are among us, or b) keep the populace sedated and subdued so they won’t realize what the government is doing to them. (Note: If it’s the latter, it’s not working very well.)
–Atmospheric scientists, the EPA, and international aerospace organizations have all comprehensively rejected the existence of chemtrails.
–Jon Cooper on RFK, Jr. and the chemtrails: “What an absolute, fucking moron!”
–Tom Nichols: “Even some of the most right wing ‘let’s own the libs’ people around here have to be rolling their eyes at how stupid this is.”
–Brian J. Karem: “If you quit taking hallucinogens you won’t see the chemtrails.”
–Neil Stone: “Health Secretary of the United States is going to look into Chemtrails. After that he will focus on leprechauns and unicorns. What a fool.”
–Kevin M. Kruse: “My department has also dispatched three of our finest schooners to explore the part of our maps that say ‘here there be dragons.’ We vow to get to the bottom of this mystery.”
–Noah Schachtman: “Is there one (1) conspiracy theory this man does not believe? Like, is Bobby also looking for the lizard king’s castle at the heart of Hollow Earth?”
–Jamison Foser: “Our experiment with putting the dumbest fucking people in charge is unfolding with soul-crushing predictability.”
The other big news today was the ongoing battle over the Kennedy Center:
–Beatty’s lawyers asked the judge to tell Trump in plain words that he cannot demolish the Kennedy Center under any circumstances. “They closed the building first and plan to look for a reason afterward. This is a shell game.”
–They accused Trump of playing “shell games” in shutting down the facility despite a court order forbidding its closure. They called the administration’s closure of the building a ‘plain pretext’ to shut it permanently and said evidence suggests he intends to demolish it.
–Beatty’s lawyers: “(Demolition) would represent a monumental breach of fiduciary duty, a clear violation of the organic statute, and also potentially a violation of criminal law.”
–Trump’s lawyers maintained that the closure was a separate, seven-day safety measure ordered by the center’s executive director–not a response to the board’s vote. (Sure.) They cited the plaster fall in the lobby as the reason they had to close it, even though the plaster fell on September 4th and the Center has been open ever since then.
–Then, minutes before a court-imposed deadline Thursday, Trump’s lawyers argued that the Kennedy Center has become so dangerous that 2500-poound concrete slabs ringing the building pose an active falling hazard. They claimed that an engineering firm had found “more advanced deterioration in the overhead soffit panels than recently documented.”
–The judge ruled that the Kennedy Center board had to provide 30-days’ written notice before making any changes to its renovation plans, including potential demolition of the historic building’s main structure. The judge made clear he wants no ambiguity going forward.
–The order also demands the Kennedy Center file a detailed status report by September 23, backed by a sworn declaration from a knowledgeable center representative, explaining a recently disclosed “temporary closure” and unspecified emergency repairs. And the judge left the door open for plaintiffs to pursue discovery.
–The judge denied a request for an emergency hearing from preservation advocates, but used the order to reinforce a promise the Kennedy Center previously made in a related case: that it would alert both the court and plaintiffs if the board ever reversed its position that the building wouldn’t be demolished or replaced with new construction.
–Lillian M Heath: “There had better be watchdogs 24/7 on the building.”
–Update: As of this morning, the Kennedy Center is still standing, but that doesn’t mean we’re out of the woods. The Hill’s headline this morning was “Trump Floats Nuclear Option in Kennedy Center fight,” and NPR’s was “Trump threatens to tear down the Kennedy Center, as legal battle continues.”
In It Never Ends news:
–It turns out the Kennedy Center isn’t the only building Trump is determined to get his name on. On Thursday, the United States Institute of Peace filed an emergency motion asking a judge to stop ‘plans to carve President Trump’s name into the facade of the iconic USIP headquarters building.
–They posted an emergency message ending with the news that it’s “NOT JUST THE KENNEDY CENTER’ that’s fighting off Trump’s name.
–According to ABC News, the State Department announced the naming plans late last year.
–mike: “The Institute of Peace? The irony is palpable. Didn’t Asshole start a war with Iran?”
–Ray 186: “It’s like whack-a-mole. Can’t put my name on this building…I will put it on that building.”
–shivabeach: “The United States Institute of Peace (USIP) is an American, independent, nonprofit, national institute established and funded by the United States Congress and tasked with promoting conflict resolution and prevention worldwide. It provides research, analysis, and training in diplomacy, mediation, and other peace-building measures. Following years of proposals for a national peace academy, USIP was established in 1984 by legislation signed by President Ronald Reagan.”
In Trump dementia/madness news:
–Trump signed an executive order rolling back federal regulations on recreational boating and saltwater fishing.
–Trump told boat owners they can now “go slightly faster than 10 miles an hour, like 120 miles an hour if you’re crazy. But you can go as fast as you want, and we have that order–it’s all signed, sealed, and delivered. So congratulations, it’s common sense.”
–Aaron Rupar: “What could possibly go wrong?”
–Trump: “I could’ve banned fishing. The power of this office is crazy. I could’ve banned fishing. I think I’m gonna do that.”
–And things deteriorated from there. Trump: “Let me ask you a question: If you get a little leak and the water starts coming in your boat and you’re in electric, do you get electrocuted or not?..If I’m in an electric boat and I see I’m going down and the water is pouring in, so I know I’m going to be electrocuted, but 5 yards away there are sharks. Do I take the electrocution or do I go swimming with the sharks? I’ll take the electrocution.”
(Note: Trump used to tell this story back in 2023 and 2024 in every speech, but he hasn’t told it for awhile. I don’t know what set him off this time.)
In Iran war news:
–Two ships were hit by Iran with a projectile in the Strait of Hormuz Friday.
–South Korea formally ruled out getting involved in the Iran War. “There will be no deployment of troops or dispatch of military assets to be involved in or intervene in this war.
–A senior Iranian official said the Strait of Hormuz will remain closed until “criminal” Trump is removed from power: “Our fighters will not open the Strait of Hormuz until they bring the criminal Trump and the bloodthirsty Netanyahu down from the seat of power.”
–Trump: “I have a big decision coming up. Do I want to go in and annihilate them or do I not? It’s a big decision–anything could happen with me.”
–Bob_Douglass: “In the final Nixon days, his SecDef privately told the military not to honor any nuclear strike commands from the President. I wonder if Hegseth will do the same, probably depends on how many testosterone shots he’s taken that week.”
In oil and gas news:
–Saudi Arabia’s Aramco won’t supply oil to European buyers next month after a key pipeline of theirs was damaged.
–The Exxon Mobil refinery in Joliet, Illinois is still offline after they thought it would be opened by the end of the week. It supplies 11 million gallons of gas and diesel a day.
–Trump is now backing down from his “gas is coming down right after the elections” stance. Trump: “You have a higher gas–it’s a very inexpensive price to pay for what we’ve done. Remember that. it’s a little more. EVEN IF IT WAS A LOT MORE (caps mine).”
–And Trump has a new scapegoat for the rising oil prices: it’s all Ukraine’s fault. Trump: “Zelenskyy has to do one thing–he has to stop knocking out diesel fuel in Russia. he’s causing a shortage of diesel fuel. This isn’t done by the Middle East, this is done by what’s happening with Russia and Ukraine.”
–Ron Filipkowski: “I predicted a month ago that Trump was going to say exactly this. I said he was going to try and blame Ukraine for diesel prices and tell Zelenskyy to stop, and here it is…As I predicted as soon as Ukraine began striking Russian refineries, Trump is going to blame Ukraine for gas prices and begin to pressure them to stop doing it. Once again the US will side with Putin against a country fighting for its survival. We are morally bankrupt under Trump.”
–starviewer: “And another way to look at this is the President of the United States’s admission that Ukraine’s strategy prosecuting this war is effective. That goes directly against his and the GOP’s narrative that Ukraine is losing and therefore should just grant Putin all his demands for unlikely peace.”
In While You Weren’t Looking news:
–Trump’s White House quietly withdrew Lance Shroyer’s nomination to head ICE.
–It has only been three months since they announced his nomination with a fanfare. TRump: “Lance has firsthand experience getting illegal Aliens OFF our streets and, just like Me and our Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullins, he LOVES the men and women of ICE.”
–Shroyer was a friend of DHS Head Markwayne Mullin (who isn’t qualified either.) He’d been part of Mullin’s security detail back when Mullin served in the Senate, and his only qualification was that he had been an Oklahoma state trooper. He had no ICE experience.
–They didn’t announce their withdrawal of the nomination, they just released a brief statement posted online, offering no explanation for the reversal.
In Traveling with Natalie news:
–Natalie notoriously was in the receiving line in Ireland to meet the Irish President, Catherine Connolly, and now The Irish Star reports that Natalie appeared to be “an afterthought” in the receiving line. When Harp’s turn arrived for a handshake, Connolly kept her distance. “Harp was the last person to shake hands with Catherine Connolly, even having to take a few steps toward the Irish president, who wasn’t going to come to her.”
–Irish reporter Charlie Jones: “Her name wasn’t included in the list of the US delegation. Instead, she must have been added later, despite being officially just an aide to the president…She carried herself as a key part of the delegation and hardly just an aide. It won’t be the last time we see her front and center in the Trump circus.”
–TMID 2.0: “Someone should pull her aside and tell her what happened to Mussolini’s mistress.”
In They’re All Crooks news:
–A guy out canvassing for Susan Collins in Maine and sporting a “Stronger Maine” T-shirt (Stronger Maine is a PAC supporting Collins) was caught on a Ring doorbell video stealing a package off the porch of a house he was supposed to be canvassing.
In Not Everybody’s a Jerk news:
–A group of Ohio high school students spent their summer vacation making custom-made prosthetic hands and arms for kids in Ecuador. It’s part of a program called the Great Lakes Science Center Initiative.
–Then they went to Ecuador to give them to the kids and help fit the prosthetics.
In literary news:
–Merriam-Webster dictionary announced its new words for the year.
–They include looksmaxxing–trying to increase personal physical attractiveness, sometimes using extreme steps–rickroll (tricking a person into clicking a link for the 1987 Rick Astley song “Never Gonna Give You Up”) and parasocial (a one-sided connection to a celebrity or fictional character.)
–I knew what some of them meant, like “superfood,” which refers to foods that are really good for you, like acai berries and broccoli and salmon, and “shapewear,” which is the latest incarnation of a girdle, only all over.
–One of my favorites this year is “uncanny valley,” which is that sense of unease that images of people created by CGI or AI (or extraterrestrials) give you. It looks almost, but not entirely, human and causes feelings of eeriness, revulsion, or dread. It’s something you can’t quite put your finger on, but it’s just wrong somehow.
–Another favorite is “crashout,” which means an emotional breakdown or sudden, dramatic defeat.
–And then there were all the ones that I never heard before: “Sunday scaries” and “vibe coding” and “cuffing season.”
In scientific news:
–Tonight is the night Venus will be the brightest of the entire year. You can see it in the west after sunset and no need for a telescope or anything. The evening star (and the morning star) is the third brightest object in the sky after the sun and the moon.
In other news:
–The Pentagon said they’re considering withdrawing 25,000 troops (one-third) from Europe, a move that would make Europe less protected as Putin makes threats that he’s going to invade NATO countries.
–Russia began holding three days of elections today, though they’re not really elections. There’s no opposition, and Putin is all but certain to secure the Kremlin’s political dominance in spite of the growing unpopularity of the war over there.
–After Ted Cruz’s disastrous interview on ESPN, Republican advisers are begging Cruz to stay off TV.
In good news:
–Arizona governor Katie Hobbs vetoed a bill that would have created a Charlie Kirk memorial license plate in Arizona.
–The Shingrix shot is linked to a lower rate of heart failure, heart attacks, and stroke.
–Scientists have found that caffeine activates an ancient cellular energy system involved in stress resistance, DNA repair, and growth, which can lead to healthier aging.
Best meme of the day: A pumpkin carved to look like Trump with the caption, “Orange on the outside. Hollow on the inside. Should be thrown out in November.”
Best comment of the day (and a pretty good campaign slogan, too) from Don’t Brexit Fixit: “If Kamala Harris had become President of the United States, Trump would be in prison, the Strait of Hormuz would be open, Ukraine would be victorious, gas would be under $3 a gallon, and the US would STILL be respected and supported AROUND THE WORLD!”
Keep calm and carry on,
Connie Willis
