Diary of disturbing disinformation and dangerous delusions
This tip:
“[Free buses work] because . . . if people are given a quality alternative they can afford, they’ll use it.”
— Former NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio, Tuesday
We say: Sure, offer folks something good, charge them zilch, and it’s a safe bet many will take it. But how’s that proof Zohran Mamdani’s free-bus idea “works”? Especially since the MTA would lack funds to keep the buses running. No wonder he’s known as Mayor Putz.
This assertion:
“There is no [crime] emergency.” — Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, Tuesday
We say: Chicago has seen nearly 300 murders this year, with 54 shot — seven fatally — over Labor Day weekend alone. “No emergency,” says Pritzker — apparently meaning that off-the-charts murder rates are the normin Chi-Town, so they’re . . . OK. Which raises the question: How many must die for Pritzker to start caring?
This claim:
“The closest Mr. Mamdani gets to socialism is in his belief in treating people more equitably.” — The New York Times’ Jeffery C. Mays, Saturday
We say: Mays desperately tries to distance Mamdani from his socialist past and paint his ideas as based on fairness, in a bid to make him more palatable. Yet, if Mamdani’s idea of fairness is when everyone shares the wealth “equitably,” that’s pretty “close” to the definition of socialism.
This charge:
“The mainstream media will not touch these questions about Donald Trump’s obviously declining health.” — Ex-MSNBC host Joy Reid, Tuesday
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We say: In Reid’s Opposite World, the press harped nonstop on Joe Biden’s decline, rather than helping cover it up. And now she sees it ignoring Trump’s “obviously” failing health. Sorry: Trump (like anyone his age) surely has some medical issues — but they get reported and the public sees him nearly every day: The guy makes the Eveready Bunny look lazy. How can anyone honestly claim Trump’s physical or mental condition compares even remotely to Biden’s? Then again, Reid wonders if Trump was truly shot last year. Getting fired from MSNBC did nothing to tether her to reality.
Dmitry Medvedev has warned Moscow may seize “valuables of the British Crown” in revenge for the UK using frozen Russian assets to fund military support for Ukraine.
The former Russian president, a key ally of Vladimir Putin, issued the warning after Britain announced a package of around £1bn for Kyiv’s war effort on Wednesday.
UK Defence Secretary John Healey said the package was paid for by frozen Russian assets.
In a message shared from his Telegram account, Mr Medvedev, who is deputy chairman of Russia’s security council, said Moscow could seize British assets and take more Ukrainian territory in response to the move.
He also referred to British Foreign Secretary David Lammy as “the English idiot”.
Mr Medvedev wrote: “British thieves transferred Russian money to neo-Nazis. Consequences? Britain committed an offence.”
He added that Russia would respond to “any illegal seizure of frozen Russian funds or profits” by seizing the “valuables of the British Crown” including British property in Russia.
In response to Russian assets being frozen by the UK, Mr Medvedev wrote: “Given that the money cannot be recovered in court for obvious reasons, our country has only one way to return the valuables: return it in kind. That is ‘Ukrainian land’ and other immovable and movable property located on it.”
The UK and other Western allies have been imposing sanctions on Moscow and seizing Russian assets since Mr Putin ordered his forces to invade Ukraine in February 2022.
On Wednesday, Britain announced it was imposing sanctions on 11 individuals and entities it claims have been linked with Moscow’s alleged attempts to forcibly deport and indoctrinate Ukrainian children.
Trump says Europe must put pressure on China
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump joined a call at a summit of Ukraine’s allies in Paris on Thursday.
A White House official has said Mr Trump “emphasised that Europe must stop purchasing Russian oil that is funding the war”.
The official said Moscow received €1.1bn in fuel sales from the EU in one year and added: “(Mr Trump) also emphasised that European leaders must place economic pressure on China for funding Russia’s war efforts.”
It came after French President Emmanuel Macron said at the summit that 26 of Ukraine’s allies have pledged to deploy troops as a “reassurance force” for the war-torn country once fighting ends in the conflict with Russia.
Image: Volodymyr Zelenskyy, left, and Emmanuel Macron in Paris for Thursday’s coalition of the willing meeting. Pic: Reuters
Speaking after a meeting of the so-called “coalition of the willing” in Paris, Mr Macron said the countries had committed to deploying troops in Ukraine – or to maintaining a presence on land, at sea, or in the air – to help guarantee the country’s security the day after a ceasefire or peace is achieved.
Earlier on Thursday, Mr Macron and other European leaders met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the the US envoy for peace talks, Steve Witkoff, to discuss ways of ensuring long-term military support and continued American backing for Ukraine once the conflict ends.
Mr Zelenskyy’s office said he had also held a closed-door meeting with Mr Witkoff.
Mr Macron said at a news conference alongside Mr Zelenskyy that the reassurance force “does not have the will or the objective of waging war against Russia”, but will aim “to prevent any new major aggression and to involve the 26 states very clearly in the lasting security of Ukraine”.
Although details of any US participation in the security guarantees remains unclear, both Mr Macron and Mr Zelenskyy said Washington had expressed willingness to be part of the plan, and the Ukrainian president said he was grateful for that.
“As for in what format, I am not yet ready to tell you in detail,” Mr Zelenskyy added.
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5:37
Who is Trump listening to on Ukraine?
The Ukrainian president also said in Paris that he would “especially like to thank President Trump for all his efforts to end this war and America’s readiness to provide support for Ukraine from its side”.
“The planning work will be finalised with the United States,” Mr Macron said.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Mr Macron, who lead the “coalition of the willing”, previously insisted that any European “reassurance” force in Ukraine needed the backing of the United States.
‘Two killed in Russian strike’
In developments on the battlefield, Russia claimed on Thursday that its forces destroyed a launch site for Ukraine’s long-range drones in the Chernihiv region.
This has not been independently verified.
Earlier on Thursday, Ukrainian officials said a Russian missile strike on a humanitarian demining mission near the city of Chernihiv had killed two people.
Meanwhile, Ukraine has been targeting Russia’s oil refining capacity, with the most recent strikes coming last weekend.
Around 11% of Russia’s refining capacity has been affected in total so far.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio (left) and Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa shake hands at the Carondelet presidential palace in Quito, Ecuador, on Thursday.
Jacquelyn Martin/AFP via Getty Images
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Jacquelyn Martin/AFP via Getty Images
QUITO, Ecuador — The United States will designate two of Ecuador’s most powerful gangs — Los Lobos and Los Choneros — as foreign terrorist organizations, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced during a one day visit to the South American country on Thursday.
The move allows Washington to freeze assets, target associates and share intelligence with Ecuador for what Rubio described as “potentially lethal” operations. He pledged $13.5 million in security assistance and $6 million in drone technology to support Ecuador’s fight against organized crime.
“These guys don’t usually go down willingly,” Rubio said, speaking of the two gangs, whom he referred to as “vicious animals.” The new designation “opens up the aperture” for sharing intelligence that Ecuador can use against them.
Rubio met with Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa, a close ally of the U.S. administration, in the capital, Quito. Noboa has made frequent trips to Washington, D.C., and Mar-a-Lago, including a meeting with President Trump. Reelected earlier this year, Noboa declared a “war” on organized crime as violence in Ecuador surged.
Initially praised for cracking down on traffickers, Noboa’s efforts — including a security deal with U.S. private military contractor Erik Prince — have recently stalled. According to Ecuadorian government data, roughly 70% of the world’s cocaine now transits through the country, shipped from neighboring Colombia and Peru to markets in the U.S., Europe and Asia.
The surge in cartel violence has fueled migration from Ecuador, sending more Ecuadorians to the U.S. border. Noboa has pressed for stronger U.S. and European involvement in his crackdown and wants to hold a referendum to allow foreign military bases in Ecuador for the first time since 2009. Rubio said Washington would consider a base if invited.
Rubio’s stop in Quito comes after high-level meetings in Mexico the day before, where he warned of more U.S. military action against drug traffickers. Earlier this week, the Trump administration struck a Venezuelan boat allegedly carrying narcotics, killing 11 people the U.S. says were members of Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang also designated as a terrorist organization earlier this year.
Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello criticized the strike. “If they carried out the attack, 11 people were killed without a trial. Can that even be legal?” he said on state TV. “Even if it involved drugs, their own laws forbid this.”
But Rubio defended the strike, telling journalists in Mexico: “If you are on a boat full of cocaine or fentanyl headed to the United States, you are an immediate threat. The president has the authority to eliminate imminent threats to the U.S.”
During the trip, Mexico’s Foreign Secretary Juan Ramón de la Fuente emphasized his country’s cooperation with Washington but stressed it must respect sovereignty. He repeatedly cited principles of “self-determination, nonintervention and peaceful resolution of controversies” when asked about U.S. pressure on Venezuela. Despite differences, both sides described the talks as productive, with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum joining the discussions.
While the new terrorist designations expand U.S. options in Ecuador, they could complicate matters for civilians. Immigration lawyers say it may help some asylum-seekers prove they are victims of terrorism, but others who paid extortion money to gangs could be penalized for “material support” to terrorist groups.
For now, the U.S. is signaling a tougher regional approach despite questions about the legality of the strike against the alleged Venezuelan drug boat. Rubio described Noboa as a “willing partner” in the drug war and said the Trump administration would not hesitate to continue strikes against groups it views as narco-terrorists.
President Donald Trump likes to boast about how much money the U.S. Treasury is raking in from the massive taxes—tariffs—he’s slapped this year on imports from almost every country in the world.
“We have trillions of dollars coming into our country,” Trump said Wednesday. “If we didn’t have tariffs, we would be a very poor nation and we would be taken advantage of by every other nation in the world, friend and foe.”
But two courts have now ruled that his biggest and boldest import taxes are illegal. If the Supreme Court agrees and strikes them down for good, the federal government could have to pay back many of the taxes it’s already collected from companies that import foreign products into the United States.
“We’re talking about hundreds of billions of dollars potentially in refunds affecting thousands and thousands of importers,” said trade lawyer Luis Arandia, a partner with the law firm of Barnes & Thornburg. “Unwinding all that will be the largest administrative effort in U.S. government history.’’
Ordinary Americans, who’ve had to pay higher prices on some products because of the tariffs, are unlikely to share in the windfall. Any refunds would go instead to the companies that paid the levies in the first place.
The refunds would also reverse the flow of tariff revenue the president has counted on to help pay for the massive tax-cut bill he signed July 4 and would threaten, he warns, to “literally destroy the United States of America.’’
At issue are revenues raised from tariffs Trump imposed this year by invoking the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). One set of IEEPA tariffs targeted almost every country on earth after he declared that the United States’ massive and persistent trade deficits amounted to a national emergency. Another was aimed at Canada, China and Mexico and was meant to counter the illegal flow of drugs and immigrants across U.S. borders.
The appellate judges also paused their own ruling until mid-October to give the administration time to appeal to the Supreme Court – something that it did on Wednesday. Solicitor General D. John Sauer asked the justices to take up the case and hear arguments in early November.
If the high court strikes down the IEEPA tariffs, importers could be entitled to refunds. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency reports that it had collected more than $72 billion in IEEPA tariffs through Aug. 24.
For importers, Ted Murphy, co-leader of the international trade practice at the Sidley Austin law firm, said: “It’s a question of what you’re going to have to do to get the refund.
“And the options are everything from nothing — the government may just automatically refund it; I don’t think this is likely, but that’s one option. There could be an administrative process, so you have to go to U.S. Customs and Border Protection and apply for a refund of your IEEPA tariffs. Or you could have to file your own court case.’’
There’s a precedent for courts setting up a system to give companies their money back in trade cases. In the 1990s, the courts struck down as unconstitutional a harbor maintenance fee on exports and set up a system for exporters to apply to get their money back.
“Companies got refunds,’’ Murphy said. One hitch: In that case, the government did not have to pay interest on the tax it collected and had to pay back. It’s unclear whether the government would have to pay interest on any IEEPA tariff refunds.
The Trump administration might balk at paying back the tariffs it’s collected. Trump has already said he doesn’t want to pay the money back, posting on his social media site in August that doing so “would be 1929 all over again, a GREAT DEPRESSION!”
“I would anticipate that if the administration did lose, they would turn around and start arguing why it would be impossible to give refunds to everybody,” said Brent Skorup, legal fellow at the libertarian Cato Institute. “I think there will a lot of litigation about the nature of refunds and who’s entitled one. And I expect the administration will raise all sorts of objections.”
To make sure they can successfully claim refunds, said Barnes & Thornberg partner Clinton Yu, “importers really need to have their records in order.’’
Adding to the uncertainty is the chaotic way that Trump has rolled out his tariffs — announcing and then delaying or altering them, sometimes conjuring up new ones. Occasionally, the administration has decided that importers that have already paid one of his tariffs don’t have to pay a different one.
Tariff are paid by importers, who often then try to pass the cost on to their customers through higher prices. But consumers would not have recourse to ask for refunds for the higher prices they had to pay.
“It’s the importer of record that is legally liable for paying tariffs and duties,’’ Arandia said. “They would be the only one to have standing to even get that money back.’’
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AP Writers Lindsay Whitehurst and Josh Boak contributed to this story.
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There have been more stories in the media this week about the dire situation of the UK public finances. The fiscal problems are getting worse, with UK government bond yields hitting the highest level since 1998. This means the interest payments for the government are increasing, putting further pressure on trying to balance the books. This could have real consequences for UK stocks, so it’s worth going through some of the implications for investors.
Pending tax increases
With the public books not in great shape, this situation could lead the way for tax increases on businesses and consumers alike. This could help to raise money that to offset government spending. For stocks, this could put pressure on companies that mostly operate in the UK and sell directly to UK customers.
Therefore, one takeaway is for an investor to check the UK stocks they hold and see which are multinational and which aren’t. The global companies that are listed on the FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 could be more insulated from any negative impact. After all, their revenues are diversified from around the globe.
Opportunities for insurers
The FTSE 100 is home to some large insurance companies. Higher bond yields generally improve insurers’ investment income. Life insurers and pension providers hold large fixed-income portfolios to back their long-term liabilities. When yields rise, reinvested premiums and maturing assets can be placed into higher-yielding bonds. This acts to boost long-run profitability, improve solvency ratios, and make their balance sheets look healthier.
However, there are near-term risks. Rapid increases in bond yields can cause losses on existing bond holdings. This can impact short-term valuations, even if insurers plan to hold assets to maturity. This was seen during the 2022 liability-driven investment (LDI) crisis.
Volatility could help asset managers
I think it’s likely that we’ll see higher volatility in both the bond and stock markets in the coming months due to the UK’s situation. This could benefit asset managers such as Aberdeen (LSE:ABDN).
The stock is up 27% over the past year, with a dividend yield of 7.8%. The business makes money primarily through management fees on assets under management (AUM) across a wide range of assets. It has various funds linked to bonds, so the managers should be able to capitalise on the moves we are seeing right now. It also has exposure to equities. If investors decide to pull money out of bonds, they could allocate it to other assets such as stocks. This would help maintain high revenue from management fees.
Of course, one risk is that investors get so spooked that they decide to simply sit on cash. In this case, it could negatively impact revenue for Aberdeen in the future.
I think the business is well-positioned to take advantage of any volatility in the stock market. With a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.2, it’s also not overvalued. So even if the fiscal situation calms down in coming months, I feel there are good reasons to consider buying the stock.
Google’s repeated violations also strip away the illusion that size equals compliance sophistication. Despite extraordinary engineering capability, formidable legal resources, and deep financial reserves, the company finds itself repeatedly facing privacy rulings.
Consider the pattern: Google paid nearly $1.4 billion to Texas earlier this year, agreed in April 2024 to destroy billions of “Incognito” mode data records, and now faces these dual penalties. Each case targets different aspects of Google’s data collection apparatus, creating cumulative pressure for systemic change.
For enterprise IT leaders, the implications are profound. “Vendor evaluation must now treat compliance credibility as a board-level criterion, equal to cost, performance, and innovation,” Gogia noted. “Trust is becoming the determinant of vendor viability, not a secondary concern.” The daily penalty structures create ongoing operational pressure that transcends traditional financial planning. Gogia pointed out that companies now face mounting fines for failing to implement court-ordered changes — a shift from one-time penalties to continuous accountability that turns “every quarter into an exercise in reputational damage control.”
Netflix has a pair of updates about its animated Tomb Raider show. The second season of Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft will air on the streaming service on December 11. However, that second season will also be the final one for the project. Legendary Television is behind the show, which in October 2024 on Netflix and stars Hayley Atwell of MCU fame as the titular Tomb Raider.
If you simply can’t get enough of Lara and her adventures in archeology, you have other options on the way. For viewing, Amazon will begin filming in January for a live action take on the series. Although there’s no release window for it yet, we recently learned that Game of Thrones actor will play the lead. And for gaming, although Crystal Dynamics recently announced some layoffs, it is still working on a new Tomb Raider title.
Willow Sage Hart is Pink‘s daughter, and she has blossomed into a talented and amazing teen. The pop star shares Pink with husband Carey Hart, and Willow inherited her mom’s impressive vocal skills! Previously, she teamed up with Pink to release an uplifting and original song, “Cover Me In Sunshine.” The song goes to show that Willow is following in the footsteps of her Grammy-winning mom.
“We thought we’d put it out around Valentine’s Day as a big old hug and kiss to all y’all,” Pink explained.
Pink’s daughter has amazed fans with her singing voice.
At the time when she and Pink released that single, Willow was just 9 years old. Now, she’s 14 and in middle school!
Willow performed on ‘The Disney Holiday Singalong’
Willow also showed off her singing skills during ABC’S airing of The Disney Holiday Singalongin Nov. 2020. At the time, not many fans had been aware of Willow’s special talent, so viewers were stunned when the nine-year-old teamed up with her mom to sing Nat King Cole‘s “The Christmas Song.”
However, that was not the first time Willow did a duet with her mom. She made her recording debut on “A Million Dreams (Reprise)” from The Greatest Showman: Reimagined in 2018 (you can listen above).
Willo is also known for her punk rock hair
While Willow has picked up her mom’s musical skills, the young singing sensation got her punk rock flair from both her mom AND dad (he’s a famous BMX star, in case you didn’t know). Willow got a shaved mohawk hair makeover in Sept. 2019, and is currently sporting a rock and roll-approved pixie cut.
Willow is the older sister of Pink and Carey’s four-year-old son, Jameson Moon Hart. He too made his singing debut on TikTok, which led many fans to tease that Willow’s adorable brother has a future in “metal” rock. While Jameson is healthy and rocking now, Pink revealed that he was “really sick” amid a scary battle with COVID-19 in April of 2020. The “So What” singer fell ill with the virus too, which got so bad, she had to go on “nebulizers for the first time in 30 years” (Pink suffers from asthma). Fortunately, Willow and her dad, Carey, managed to stay healthy.
There is a special meaning behind Willow’s name
Pink may be a Hollywood superstar, but actually took inspiration from nature for her firstborn’s name. “The willow is my favorite tree. I grew up near one. It’s the most flexible tree in nature and nothing can break it — no wind, no elements. It can bend and withstand anything. I love that sentiment. I want that for her,” Pink told Peoplein Dec. 2020.
“Sage is cleansing and sacred,” Pink continued. “And it sounded great together. It doesn’t hurt that her last name is Hart — flexible cleansed heart.”
Italy is one of the most visited countries in the world, boasting a range of incredible destinations for travellers to enjoy wholesome and one-of-a-kind holiday experiences. Every year, tens of millions of people travel to the European country, with many of them visiting popular cities such as Rome and Milan or regions like the Amalfi Coast and Tuscany.
However, these well-known holiday spots often get overcrowded, making it challenging for holidaymakers to really make the most out of their getaway. That being said, Italy does have numerous hidden gems that make great alternatives to its more crowded spots, including one in particular that is full of both charm and beauty.
Puglia, located in southern Italy, is known for its whitewashed hillside towns, ancient farmland, and vast Mediterranean coastline. The hidden gem is full of picturesque towns that make you feel like you’re in a dream.
The region is also known for being the perfect destination for an authentic Italian experience, boasting a slower pace of life, a rich culinary heritage, and distinctive architecture.
Additionally, Puglia offers diverse scenery and landscapes from rugged coastlines to rolling hills, making it an excellent destination for road trippers.
According to the blog Pack Your Lens, “while the Amalfi Coast and Tuscany have their charm, a Puglia road trip offers something refreshingly different: fewer crowds, more authenticity, and a sense of calm you didn’t know you needed”.
For those who like a classic beach holiday, Puglia has plenty to choose from, including Pescoluse, a beach in Salento, Puglia, that is often likened to the Maldives.
One person, who visited in August, said: “This beach is considered the ‘Maldives of Salento’. The landscape is beautiful, with turquoise blue water and white sand. The water temperature is great and has a blue flag. It has restaurants, bars and it’s watched. Access is easy, with nearby parking. I recommend!”
Another added that it “fully reflects the name ‘Maldives of Salento'”.
Brits can travel to Puglia directly by flying to the region’s capital, Bari. The journey typically takes just under three hours.
Stephen King is on his soapbox again to criticize superhero movies to all who will listen, and this time, he kind of makes a valid point. King, of course, is the author of more than 50 novels of the strange and unusual, the bulk of which have been turned into successful, and not-so-successful, films. His latest adaptation, The Long Walk, is set to hit theaters on Sept. 12, 2025, and thus far it’s been receiving high marks from critics, who praise it for being “brutal and unforgiving in its execution.”
Speaking of brutal and unforgiving, it’s that subject that King recently addressed to The Times UK, telling the outlet that he had one condition for director Francis Lawrence before he adapted The Long Walk: He wanted to make sure the movie showed teenagers getting shot. “I said, if you’re not going to show it, don’t bother. And so they made a pretty brutal movie,” he commented. It’s kind of a surprising condition when you consider that King is a staunch believer in gun control, and has refused to ever allow one of his most controversial novels, Rage – about a teenager who takes his classmates hostage – to ever be made into a movie. To hear that he’s all for kids getting shot on screen in The Long Walk is almost contradictory, but, honestly, how else would you have made the movie and still have it be as impactful as it is?
King pointed to superhero films as an example of pictures that water down their violence, saying that’s not what he wanted The Long Walk to become. “If you look at these superhero movies, you’ll see some supervillain who’s destroying whole city blocks, but you never see any blood,” he told The Times, adding:
The original Avengers line-up in the MCU.Walt Disney Studios
By referencing pornography, we take King to mean that many superhero movies push things to the brink, without actually crossing the line to show the effects of getting punched in the face by a being with superhuman strength. In the real world, that would turn anybody’s face into something resembling ground beef. Instead, they’re more like those soft core movies with Shannon Tweed in them that we used to watch on Cinemax when we were kids. Sure, there were boobies, but we had to imagine everything else.
Therein lies the rub: Superhero movies don’t take place in the “real world.” Yes, they tend to depict real locations like New York, California, etc., but think of it as an alternate universe where blood doesn’t flow as freely, and you never have to concern yourself with who foots the bill for rebuilding the Empire State Building. It’s a fantasy. We might get R-rated movies like Deadpool and The Suicide Squad every so often, but even in those the gore is so over-the-top that it’s almost impossible for anyone to consider it real.
King does have a valid point, of course, but he’s missing the bigger picture. Superhero movies like The Avengers and Spider-Man are meant to appeal to a wide audience, hence their PG-13 rating. They’re for adults and kids, meaning they can’t cross over into bloody territory unless they’re meant to. Imagine taking your child to see an X-Men movie and Magneto uses his powers to remove some poor souls pacemaker from his chest just for kicks, and they actually show the skin ripping and tearing as the device is extracted and all that’s left is a wide open cavity filled with blood and gore? Doesn’t sound very kid-friendly, does it?
That type of stuff is best left to movies like The Long Walk, while most superhero films remain safe for all to watch. That’s the beauty of cinema: There’s always going to be something for everyone. Not everything has to emulate real life, otherwise, what the heck would we watch to escape from the horrors we see on the news every day?
