Dear Everybody:
The big news today is about the Ukraine-Russia war:
–Starlink/Starshield is still down. Zelenskyy confirmed that there were no warnings about two Russian ballistic missile attacks overnight.
–The US is saying they didn’t do it and the rest of his administration is either saying 1) they don’t know who did it or 2) it never happened.
–Russia launched new attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure using ballistic missiles and jet-powered drones. Zelenskyy said Kyiv again received no early warning of the attack from partner countries that previously shared their intelligence.
–Ukraine attacked St. Petersburg last night. They hit the main oil terminal, damaging 3 tanks and destroying 1, and the Ruchyl oil depot (1 tank destroyed, 1 damaged), and damaged the Southern Fairway Bridge and the Finlyandsky Railway Bridge.
–They also attacked the VKontakte data center in St. Petersburg with fires and substantial damage to equipment. And they damaged the OZON logistics hub and caused major fires in it. (This is Russia’s equivalent to Amazon.) The fires are still burning out of control.
–A resident of St. Petersburg thanked Ukraine for attacking the city: “The global goal of the attacks is victory over the Soviet Putin’s regime. The regime that takes billions in taxes from St. Petersburg and send them to Moscow.”
–Ukrainian missiles hit the command posts of Russian terrorists and their communications equipment.
In related Starlink news:
–European countries are now talking about dropping their contracts with Starlink/Starshield since they now realize, after what he and Trump did to Ukraine, that Musk could shut their Starlink down anytime and leave them defenseless against their enemies.
–Instead of trying to reassure them he wouldn’t do that, Trump and Musk are now threatening Europe with “devastating” retaliation from Washington if Brussels presses ahead with plans to restrict Musk’s SpaceX from parts of the European Market.
–Marco Rubio, when asked who shut down Starlink: “Nobody ordered that Starlink speed to be slowed down. It sorta happened.” And “We had nothing to do with it. Nobody ordered Starlink speed to be slowed down.”
–Rubio also said, “It’s not at this moment, available to Ukraine. But it’s under conversation. It’s under discussion right now.” (Which would seem to mean, yes, they shut it down and they’re talking about whether to start it up again.)
–The Financial Times: “It’s been a week and Ukraine still has no answers from the Trump administration nor SpaceX about why the Starlink and Starshield systems have been restricted and who ordered the speed limits. The White House and SpaceX each claim it’s the other who’s responsible. Rubio says nobody in the US is responsible.”
–Professor Branislav Slantchev: “Either Marco just admitted that the US government does not control Starshield and we are at the mercy of a ketamine junkie’s (Elon Musk’s) whims or that the government does not control what the Pentagon does or that Marco is pathetically out of the decision loop altogether.”
–Uncomfortable: “US diplomatic and military personnel stationed in Ukraine have had to scramble for cover under the Russian missile volleys after Trump stopped sharing intel with Ukraine…there is simply no way they can spin the Starlink slowdown that doesn’t prove Elon belongs nowhere near critical national defense infrastructure.”
Meanwhile, Trump’s administration is lying like crazy about the war in Ukraine, claiming that the real aggressor is Zelenskyy, not Putin:
–Trump: “Russia, frankly, has been fine on Ukraine. They haven’t been doing much,” and saying Zelenskyy is the one who wants the war to continue, not Putin.
–Trump and his administration are also claiming the war is only about one region, Donetsk, the part of the country that Russia controls part of.
–Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced, “The war in Ukraine is about one region, Donetsk. Russia occupies all but about 11% of it.”
–chrsnlrn: “Putin’s initial 2022 invasion wasn’t into Donetsk. he was headed straight toward Kyiv. He aimed to topple the government and take over the entire country. Since then his ambition has never wavered.”
–philliptemple: “Putin will not stop until all Ukraine is under his control. Even Putin isn’t pretending it’s just about Donetsk.”
–blalrlcloldlel[x}: “It’s stunning to hear a US official of the highest order just plainly repeat Russian propaganda. It’s not surprising at this point, unfortunately, but still unheard of and entirely unprecedented to have the traitors sit at the highest tier of the administration.”
–Tymofly Mylovanov: “Ukraine’s line there is its last defensible one: beyond it, a straight shot into Kyiv. Russia demands all of Donetsk, including that line, as its definition of victory.”
–johanbeerts: “Someone ask dumb Rubio that if it is about Donetsk why Putin tried to capture Kyiv in the very first days of the last evasion.”
–Ron Filipkowski: “The Russian invasion was not about Donetsk. The Russian war is not about Donetsk now. All you have to do is listen to any Putin interview about the war. It is about the subjugation of all of Ukraine under a Russian-aligned puppet government.”
There’s lots of other stuff going on overseas, too:
1. Albania’s Supreme Court and a number of other public buildings are being burned down by protesters. The protests started when Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump tried to buy a protected piece of Albanian wetlands and turn it into a luxury resort and the government went along with it and has metamorphosed into country-wide protests against the government over a number of issues.
–Dea Shehu: “We have been protesting for 145 (days) with what started as Jared Kushner buying Vjose-Narte and these past 7 days it has turned violent because students are protesting at the ministry of education system. Police are brutally beating us for protesting and using rubber bullets to shoot us.”
–One of the protesters, StraightUp, posted: “THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE PEOPLE FINALLY SAY NO MORE BULLSHIT. WE WILL FIGHT THE ENEMY, INCLUDING CORRUPT POLITICIANS!”
–Debra: “I hope if the developers move forward that the project will meet the same end as the court building.”
2. France is experiencing protests and riots across the country over the cost of living, and protesters are wheeling guillotines down the streets.
–Protesters quote the economy, underfunded public services, and surging debt.
–The Louvre had to be closed. The government is putting curfew in effect to get things under control.
3. The third story is the most interesting, though we don’t know if it’s true or not. Rumors have been circulating wince October 11th that North Korea’s Kim Jong-Un has died:
–Five days ago there were stories that Kim Jong-Un had been rushed to a Chinese hospital for urgent treatment after suffering a brain hemorrhage. and he has not been seen in public since.
–Wanjun Xie, chairman of the China Democracy Party wrote that Chinese doctors had been dispatched to North Korea to assist in his treatment, but that poor medical conditions in North Korea had forced them to transfer him to Peking Union Medical College for emergency treatment, where he had “succumbed to his injuries and died…His body is currently being secretly transported back to North Korea without public announcement.”
–His death would thwart sister Kim Ju-ae’s succession plans and potentially plunge North Korea into civil war. The other sister, Kim Yo-Jong, has resumed propaganda broadcasts over loudspeakers in a show of force and that is being taken as another sign that Kim Jong-Un has died.
–The Chinese Communist Party has reportedly dispatched 9000 troops to Pyongyang to assist Kim Ju-ae in stabilizing her regime in preparation for a potential civil war in North Korea. The northern Theater Command of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army entered a state of high alert. Personnel who have left the area are recalled, and strict control over personnel entry and exit was being enforced. Leaves, family visits, and retirements were all canceled. Stay tuned:
Back here in the United States, Trump is determined to destroy more of Washington, DC. Today he’s focusing on turning a public park with 36 holes of golf for the public to play on, into a private 18-hole golf course and cut down all the trees in the process.
–The story so far: Trump announced he wanted to cut down trees so he can redo the East Potomac public golf course and turn it into a private one. A judge told him he couldn’t without advance notification. He pulled a fast one, filing a brief 5 minutes before 5 pm on Friday of a 3-day weekend, saying he was going to start cutting down trees, and then started cutting at 5:30 am Saturday morning. He cut down 490 trees before he was stopped by emergency injunction. The judge was furious and said he couldn’t cut down any more without giving advance notice. She threatened contempt. Trump’s lawyers claimed the tree cutting had nothing to do with the golf course project, they were just trying to cut down old, diseased trees and there was no golf course plan. Katie Zacharia, on her way out as press secretary, published a photo of herself with Trump in the Oval Office in which a map of plans for the golf course was clearly visible, then deleted it and published a new one with the map photo-shopped out.
–Right before hearing today, Trump announced that yes, he was going to do a “world championship golf course” and that construction would begin on November 15.
–He showed the plans, which include the elimination of a scenic public road and all the historic cherry trees lining that road.
–He blamed the course on the Interior Department: “The States Department of Interior wants to take a terrible and very unsafe golf course and make it into a great, safe, and prestigious golf course. They have an absolute right to do so. It’s as simple as that…The random golfer bringing the ridiculous lawsuit has ZERO STANDING! The experts at ‘Interior’ are allowed to do this First Class renovation ‘as of right.’ They do not need an approval. Work is scheduled to begin IMMEDIATELY! The finished product will bring income and great prestige back to DC. Thank you for your attention to this matter.”
–alexdei: “Unsafe golf course? Are there wolverines in the sand traps or something? It has dangerous trees?”
–(Note: The “unsafe” part he’s referring to is the debris from the East Wing which he had dumped on the golf course in direct contravention of rules for dumping waste which might have asbestos in it, so he made the property unsafe, then uses its unsafeness as an argument for building his golf course.)
–tadams1: “And to add, there is nothing wrong with the golf courses that are there, especially since it’s part of the park that supports other recreational activities. And the stain of Trump means there will never be a major golf event there except another Trump-rigged club championship.”
–He then tried to get the judge taken off the case because she was “a crazed lunatic whose courthouse tapes will reveal, may be insane.” He had the DOJ file a motion to disqualify her, saying she was unable to be impartial and had wrongly challenged the “intelligence” of DOJ lawyers. The judge denied the motion.
–Oliver Willis: “At 5 in the morning the president and his party are focused on the really important things for everyday Americans: a luxury golf course.”
–Maggie: ‘Defying the Court is Trump’s March to neutering the rule of law.”
–JohnnyDeep: “Yeah, I’m sure the ‘finished product’ will be ‘word class.’ Just like the still unfinished Deflecting Pool that remains, to this day, partly filled and looking like hell. Why the fuck isn’t that being worked on and fixed? Ran out of money?”
–Ron Filipkowski: ‘Trump doesn’t care about the general public. His only concern is walling off public lands into private enclaves and business opportunities for him and wealthy cronies.”
In other Trump dementia/madness news:
–Trump announced a new women’s health task force to be led by RFK, Jr. Trump signed the executive order, then handed it to Melania to sign, saying, “I don’t know if her signature means anything.”
–Trump on Melania: “Look at her. You think she’s easy. She’s not so easy.”
–Even though Trump was supposed to be talking about women’s health, he immediately segued to a rant about the (roseless) Rose Garden: “That stone is so beautiful. You know, I’ve been here when we had grass, this is built on a wetland and the grass was always wet. If it didn’t rain for two weeks, the grass was soaking wet and many women have ruined their shoes and they look at me and they’ve ruined many, many sets of shoes as we keep trying to have. Use that swamp and it didn’t work out and what we did here is has just been incredible…I even see the cushions. They’re supposed to be one-half inch high. I said how about 4 inches. They don’t make them in 4 inches. I had them specially made. Four inches for everybody. it lifts you up higher and it’s a lot more comfortable than the one-inch steel. Well, enjoy it. Don’t they feel nice?…you have the new heliport and ballroom.”
–He then went on about the ballroom/military complex for many more minutes, talking about how President Xi and King Charles both wanted it, they couldn’t bring all the people they wanted to dinner but now “we’re going to have the kind of room we want…it’s going to be the greatest ballroom and the greatest military complex combination that’s ever been built, so it’s a very important.”
–(Note: It will also be the ONLY combination ballroom and military complex ever built, so it’s not much of a competition.)
In economic news:
–Even Fox’s Laura Ingraham isn’t buying the gaslighting anymore. Dr. Oz: “We went grocery shopping. Butter in America, it’s about a buck for a stick.” Ingraham: “Where are you shopping? It’s like $4.00.” (Note: And it’s impossible to buy a single stick of butter unless it’s some fancy gourmet butter–which would definitely not be a dollar. You have to buy it in a 4-pack.)
–There are billboards up all over Ohio saying, “Groceries Cost More Because of Trump.”
–Meanwhile, Trump says: “It was just announced that we have the best economic numbers of any president in the history of any country…we’re doing the biggest numbers economically that we’ve ever done in the history of our country.”
–Trump: “The prices are coming waaaay down. I’m seeing down down down. Big improvement from the previous administration.”
–Trump economic adviser Kevin Hassett: “If economic polls were correct, then people wouldn’t be taking trips to nice hotels, they wouldn’t be flying, they wouldn’t be buying cars, they wouldn’t be doing all the things they do when they’re feeling good about the economy…people are acting like we’re in a boom. We are in a boom.”
–Trump: “The poverty rate has just reached its highest, best number.” (To quote Inigo Montoya in THE PRINCESS BRIDE, “I don’t think that means what you think it does.”
In promising news:
–The Trump-endorsed Republican nominee for Senate in New Hampshire, Don Bolduc, is leading a group of GOPers and prominent independents in backing the Democratic Senate candidate Chris Pappas over GOP Sen John Sununu.
–North Carolina’s first day of early voting had 100% more turnout than it had in 2022.
–Protesters are disrupting every single Trump rally, often multiple times, despite threats of violence. JD Vance’s rally today was interrupted by a protester directly behind him shouting, “Release the Epstein files!” (The guy was Hispanic, so Vance immediately called him an illegal alien.)
–Common Cause is training thousands of volunteers to assist voters during the 2026 midterms. They are training them to monitor, staff voter-assist hotlines, and work with legal teams on issues that could interfere with voting.
In other news:
–Democrats have continued to get suspicious packages containing white powder in the mail. Today’s target was Virginia Democratic Rep Suhas Suberamanyam.
–Saudi Arabia canceled its Davos in the Desert investor conference, which was scheduled next week, because they’re under attack and the airports are closed.
–Trump is pushing Justice Alito to retire so he can confirm a new justice before the Democrats can block it.
In good news:
–The No Kings Early Vote rallies and marches Saturday had the biggest turnout yet–9 million people. (The last one had 8 million.)
–A federal judge halted Trump’s plan to close the US Department of Agriculture’s flagship research facility in Beltsville, Maryland.
–The Chatbot platform, Character AI, has filed for bankruptcy. This was the AI that had encouraged people it interacted with to cut, starve, or kill themselves and had posed as a doctor in interactions.
Best slogan of the day, from a No Kings rally: “Vote Out Every Republican. Local, State, and Federal. Every One.”
Best comment of the day, from Simon Rosenberg: “Several more wheels came off the Trumpian bus this week. It is the very opposite of closing strong. And holy shit, it is great to see!”
Keep calm and carry on,
Connie Willis
