NO MATTER HOW MUCH YOU DESPISE THE MEDIA…

They buried this at the very bottom… https://t.co/RksG2zODbN pic.twitter.com/1VqgDDLfpA

— Geiger Capital (@Geiger_Capital) October 9, 2025

…it isn’t enough.

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Give Peace a Chance. “There has been an abundance of bad news in the last month. Even though this good news was necessary because of horrible tragedy, it’s worth reveling in for a while.”

HMM: Former GOP election official buys Dominion Voting Systems, promises ‘paper-based transparency.’

Dominion Voting Systems has reportedly been sold to a company run by a former Republican election official. Dominion, one of the largest election equipment providers, came into the spotlight during the 2020 election when questions were raised about the company’s machines. The company has won several settlements with figures and media outlets over claims that Dominion’s machines were to blame for Trump’s loss.

A person familiar with the purchase told Axios that Liberty Vote, a Missouri-based company owned by Scott Leiendecker, had bought Dominion for an undisclosed sum. Leiendecker created a software program in 2011 that focuses on enabling election workers to check in voters at polling locations and verify voters. The company, KNOWiNK, is described as the “nation’s leading provider of electronic poll books” and is said to be used by more than a third of US states.

In the wake of the 2000 election, then-Missouri secretary of state Matt Blunt, a Republican, appointed Leiendecker to a role investigating St Louis’ elections administration. Blunt later appointed Leiendecker to be St Louis’ Republican election director when Blunt served as governor.

Liberty Vote officials gave Axios a statement from Nevada’s Democratic secretary of state, Cisco Aguilar, who described Leiendecker as “open, honest and transparent.”

Leiendecker told the outlet that his company is “committed to delivering election technology that prioritizes paper-based transparency, security and simplicity so that voters can be assured that every ballot is filled-in accurately and fairly counted.”

Paper ballots already do all that.

ICYMI, IT’S MY THURSDAY ESSAY FOR VIP SUBSCRIBERS: Superman Must Be Destroyed. “That’s the message I took away from the first half of James Gunn’s Superman reboot, which is dollar-for-dollar possibly the worst movie of 2025.”

HARDBALL: Trump: Only Cutting Dem Programs, ‘Taste of Their Medicine.’

“We’ll be making cuts that will be permanent,” Trump said during Thursday’s Cabinet meeting. “And we’re only going to cut Democrat programs, I hate to tell you.

“I guess that’s makes sense, but we’re only cutting Democrat programs, but we’re going to start that.”

Vought has been given Trump the OMB plans under government shutdown authority as foisted upon Congress, the White House, and Americans.

“Russell [Vought] can talk to you about it if he wants to, but we’ll be cutting some very popular Democrat programs that aren’t popular with Republicans, frankly, because that’s the way it works,” Trump continued.

“They wanted to do this. So we’ll give them a little taste of their own medicine.”

It takes some getting used to, watching a Republican play hardball like a Democrat.

COMMIES, I HATE THOSE GUYS: Here’s What We Know About the Alleged Palisades Arsonist.

IT’S MY THURSDAY ESSAY FOR VIP SUBSCRIBERS: Superman Must Be Destroyed.

PROFILES IN COURAGE:

I want to take a moment to recognize the bravery of the woman who, when told to “get out of my fucking shot” CALMLY FACT-CHECKS HER BOSS on EVs and is presumably still alive? She deserves better and I hope she found it. pic.twitter.com/sTceiRch1h

— Mary Katharine Ham (@mkhammer) October 9, 2025

To be fair, pretty much anyone within range of Porter’s voice (or throwing arm) deserves better.

UNEXPECTEDLY! Disney Fabulist Jimmy Kimmel’s Ratings Return to Suck Status.

Sure, the smugly dishonest Kimmel got a temporary sugar high from his suspension. But that’s all it was. Even with some six million people tuning in, he’s so unlikable and full of himself that he gained no new customers. They took him out for a drive, but had no intention of buying an unfunny, divisive, hate-filled lemon.

The question now is whether or not the Disney Grooming Syndicate renews Kimmel’s contract, which is up this year. If Disney does offer this walking ratings disaster a new contract, it will be just another form of left-wing affirmative action from a demonic corporation more interested in stoking hate than making money.

After all, if Colbert is reportedly losing $50 million per year over at CBS with 2.4 million viewers, how much money is Kimmel losing with his 1.7 million?

But Disney hates Normal People, and gets a charge out of insulting, alienating, and denigrating us. In their sick minds, that’s worth losing $50 million a year for.

Disney shareholders ought to demand answers.

(MUCH) MORE LIKE THIS, PLEASE: Energy Department Ends 220+ Projects to Save Over $7 Billion.

DECOLONIZATION: Italy’s ruling party proposes ban on burqas, niqabs, and foreign mosque funding.

Italy’s ruling party, Brothers of Italy (FdI), has announced plans to draft a bill aimed at banning face and body coverings such as the burqa and niqab in all public spaces across the country, describing it as a measure against “Islamic separatism.”

“Freedom of religion is sacred, but it must be practiced openly, with full respect for our constitution and the principles of the Italian state,” Andrea Delmastro, one of the lawmakers drafting the bill, said in a Facebook post on Wednesday.

The ban would prohibit wearing face-covering garments in all public spaces, including shops, schools, and offices. Violators would face fines ranging from €300 to €3,000.

The proposal is part of a broader bill aimed at addressing what Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing party describes as “cultural separatism” associated with Islam.

The Left used to be all in favor of decolonization, but you can bet that won’t be the case now.

WORST. HITLER. EVER.

Hitler Brings Peace To Israel https://t.co/ct4Yl9t4qS pic.twitter.com/gOAspEsAok

— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) October 9, 2025

THEY ALSO RUN ON BATTERY POWER AND CAN FIT INSIDE A STARSHIP:

The Boring Company’s “Prufrock” tunneling machine can porpoise—it arrives on a truck, tilts down, and launches into the ground within ~24 hours, then resurfaces by mining onto a trailer—so you don’t need huge launch pits or cranes. It’s also designed for “zero-people-in-tunnel”… pic.twitter.com/tAlJ6uo1O2

— Colene Copeland-Kruszynski👾 (@aerocopz) October 8, 2025

The Boring Company is just another way for Elon Musk to get other people to pay for developing the technology for colonizing Mars.

MORE LIKE THIS, PLEASE: CNBC Smacks Jeffries Down for Shutdown.

BYRON YORK: Trump immigration officials still struggling with Biden’s legacy.

You’ve seen videos of resistance to Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents doing their jobs. Just yesterday, the Democratic mayor of Chicago, Brandon Johnson, declared the city an “ICE-free zone.” Gov. JB Pritzker (D-IL), Johnson’s ally in the fight against enforcing federal immigration law, referred to federal immigration agents as Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s “thugs.”

So the Trump administration has an uphill climb just trying to enforce the laws of the United States. But it also has to deal with the aftermath of Biden’s strategy not only to allow illegal border crossers to stay in the U.S. but to indiscriminately award them some measure of protection from deportation.

One way Biden did that was by abusing what is called “parole.” Parole is the authority the president has, on what is supposed to be a very limited basis, to order that Person X or Person Y be allowed to enter the U.S., regardless of their legal qualifications for entry.

Just like his first two terms, we’ll be stuck cleaning up the mess from Obama’s third term for a very long time.

SOMEDAY, UNLESS WE PROVE LUCKIER THAN WE’VE BEEN STUPID, HISTORIANS MIGHT VIEW THIS AS ONE OF THE OPENING MOVES OF WORLD WAR III:

I've told you for a long time winter is coming. Divorce will happen you must prepare now. We've done nothing but twiddle our thumbs and listen to Brookings, CFR, and Harvard push failed engagement strategy. Here we are https://t.co/0EzdOhGbli

— Blume Industries CEO Balding 大老板 (@BaldingsWorld) October 9, 2025

INDEED: Peace Deal! Celebrate With Caution.

BUBBLES POP: America’s top banker sounds warning on US stock market fall.

There were a “lot of things out there” creating an atmosphere of uncertainty, he added, pointing to risk factors like the geopolitical environment, fiscal spending and the remilitarisation of the world.

“All these things cause a lot of issues that we don’t know how to answer,” he said.

“So I say the level of uncertainty should be higher in most people’s minds than what I would call normal.”

Much of the rapid growth in the stock market in recent years has been driven by investment in AI.

On Wednesday, the Bank of England drew a comparison with the dotcom boom (and subsequent bust) of the late 1990s – and warned that the value of AI tech companies “appear stretched” with a rising risk of a “sharp correction”.

“The way I look at it is AI is real, AI in total will pay off,” he said.

“Just like cars in total paid off, and TVs in total paid off, but most people involved in them didn’t do well.”

He added some of the money being invested in AI would “probably be lost”.

Well, yes.

VICTORIA TAFT: Suspect’s Bible Used to Spark Palisades Fire — But Newsom and Bass Will Have Hell to Pay.

IN THE NEAR FUTURE, YOU’LL HAVE TO REALLY SQUINT TO SEE THE UNCANNY VALLEY, BUT GROK WILL HELP:

Indeed, xAI is advancing Grok's capabilities to detect subtle AI artifacts in video bitstreams, like inconsistencies in compression or generation patterns that humans can't spot. We'll cross-reference metadata, provenance trails, and web footprints for verification. This arms…

— Grok (@grok) October 9, 2025

THERE’S GOOD NEWS ON GUN RIGHTS IN FLORIDA: With Open Carry Now Legal in FL, Publix Makes Its Case for Being the Best Grocery Store Chain in America.

Publix, one of Florida’s largest and most recognizable grocery chains, is now allowing customers to openly carry firearms in its stores across the state, according to multiple employees. The change follows a recent court decision that overturned Florida’s ban on open carry, ruling it unconstitutional.

The new law, which took effect on Sept. 25, gives private businesses the discretion to prohibit or permit open carry on their premises. Publix, which operates more than 900 locations statewide, appears to have chosen to allow it. Employees at various stores confirmed the policy shift when contacted.

But there’s not-so-good news on gun rights from Florida Woman: Bondi’s DOJ Will Defend the Antiquated Ban on Interstate Handgun Sales.

THAT’S NOT FUNNY: Greta Thunberg Becoming More of a Joke to the Rest of the World Every Day.

THE ENEMY WITHIN:

Jewish students at Columbia chanting "GOD BLESS AMERICA!"

While the pro-Palestine students chant "DEATH TO AMERICA!"

Do you see the difference?pic.twitter.com/3ZQBdSJSsa

— Vivid.🇮🇱 (@VividProwess) October 9, 2025

A VERY PUBLIC EDUCATION: Nervous in New England: Can the North rise again?

Massachusetts public schools were the best in the nation, and the rest of New England wasn’t far behind, writes Christopher Huffaker in the Boston Globe. Ten years ago, Massachusetts students “led the United States across ages, subjects, and most demographic groups, despite wide achievement gaps,” on the Nation’s Report Card. Students in the Deep South, who came from much poorer families, were at the bottom.

Now test scores are falling in New England, rising in Mississippi, Louisiana, Tennessee and Alabama, he writes. While leaders of the “Southern Surge” focused relentlessly on improving reading instruction, New England schools were lowering expectations, Huffaker writes. To end the Massachusetts Malaise, leaders must “override the wishes of popular and powerful teachers unions, and, most of all, stop resting on their laurels.”

Karen Vaites and others have written about the Southern Surge in reading scores for months now, but it’s an essay last week by Kelsey Piper, Illiteracy is a policy choice, that seems to have woken everybody up. “If you live where I do, in Oakland, California, and you cannot afford private education, you should be seriously considering moving to Mississippi for the substantially better public schools,” wrote Piper in The Argument.

No, Mississippi isn’t cooking the books, Piper and Vaites write this week, also in The Argument. With far fewer resources than most states and far needier students, these deep South states are showing impressive progress.

I’m sure that red states helping needy kids perform better in school is racist, I just haven’t figured out how.

WE DON’T DESERVE DOLLY, BUT I’M SURE GLAD WE HAVE HER (STILL): Dolly Parton Gives Us a Health Update, Shuts Down Online Rumors.