Blog

Thursday 17 September 2026 I don’t know where September went. It’s half over. I can hear the train whistle in the background, about a mile away. About the same distance it was from our house when I was growing up. It’s the same old train whistle too, just the same, familiar noise. My daddy used to complain that the train whistle kept him up all night. I don’t know how many times it went through town in a day or a… Read more: (no title)

LIFE AND NEWS NOTES FROM AN OVEREDUCATED, CHILDLESS OLD CAT LADY, BEAVERING AWAY IN ONE OF THE SUB-BASEMENTS OF THE MINISTRY OF SNARK Tuesday 8 September 2026 The most important new story of the day, according to my opinion, is that Benjamin Netanyahu was given explicit advanced warning of an attack on October 7. Not only did he refrain from doing anything about it, he failed to notify his military and others high up in his cabinet that an attack was… Read more: NETANYAHU KNEW

Sunday 13 September 2026 NEWS SHORTS LIFE AND NEWS NOTES · Federal Court rules there is no constitutional right to safe drinking water (Capital B, 9/13/26). · Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen claim new attacks on Saudi Arabia (AP, 9/13/26). · Yemen hits back against Houthis as Saudi shutdown limits oil flow (NBC, 9/13/26). · Saudi Arabia has few options as it faces mounting threats from Iran and its allies (AP, 9/12/26). · Saudi’s shut down oil pipeline (9/12/26, Reuters). · U.S.… Read more: NEWS SHORTS, ISRAEL

Saturday 12 September 2026 CLINTON Good for Hillary Clinton, talking about the government lying about the air quality after 9/11. She’s on Morning Joe. Who was responsible for that? Giuliani? Good grief, what a pleasure it is to hear somebody talk who sounds like they know what they are talking about. She could have been president. CUBA The Washington Examiner (9/8/26) is advocating the “extraction method” (what the U.S. did to Maduro) for Nicaraguan leader Daniel Ortega. The reporter makes an… Read more: (no title)

Friday 11 September 2026 Continuation of: Eldar, Shlomi (9/8/26) “Revealed: Netanyahu received an explicit warning days before October 7. He didn’t brief Israel’s security chiefs.” Haaretz. After direct warnings from Sinwar about an attack on Israel, and no response from Israel, the Emirati decided to hold a 45-minute conversation with the Prime Minister himself. A similar call was made by the Egyptian intelligence chief, Gen. Abbas Kamel, who warned Netanyahu of “something unusual, a terrifying operation” about to be launched by… Read more: NETANYAHU KNEW

LIFE AND NEWS NOTES FROM AN OVEREDUCATED, CHILDLESS OLD CAT LADY, BEAVERING AWAY IN ONE OF THE SUB-BASEMENTS OF THE MINISTRY OF SNARK Tuesday 8 September 2026 The most important new story of the day, according to my opinion, is that Benjamin Netanyahu was given explicit advanced warning of an attack on October 7. Not only did he refrain from doing anything about it. He failed to notify his military and others high up in his cabinet that an attack was… Read more: NETANYAHU KNEW

MONDAY 7 SEPTEMER 2026 UKRAINE “Nobody will win.” Zelensky adviser warns of mutual destruction if war with Russia continues. The Guardian. Ukraine war briefing: Zelensky links Russian strikes on Kyiv airports to US envoys’ visit. The Guardian. Ukrainian intel agencies in Kyiv firefight: What happened and why? Aljazeera How Ukraine created would-leading prostheses amid the chaos of war. New Scientist Ukraine war briefing: Zelensky calls air true as Kushner and Witkoff head for Kyiv via Moscow. The Guardian. How escalating attacks… Read more: NEWS NOTES WORTH READING

Thursday 3 September 2026 LIFE NOTES It is horribly muggy outside, muggy and hot. There’s a mist over the marsh but you can still see the travelers (that’s what I’ve taken to calling them) across the marsh, headlights passing by. Errol Flynn is hunkered down on top of the piano looking out over the back yard, the birds, the live oaks and the squirrels. Cool Mustard, our largest orangey, is hunkered down on the daybed with me in the library. That’s… Read more: Thursday

Thursday 3 September 2026 LIFE NOTES It is horribly muggy outside, muggy and hot. There’s a mist over the marsh but you can still see the travelers (that’s what I’ve taken to calling them) across the marsh, headlights passing by. Errol Flynn is hunkered down on top of the piano looking out over the back yard, the birds, the live oaks and the squirrels. Cool Mustard, our largest orangey, is hunkered down on the daybed with me in the library. That’s… Read more: (no title)

Wednesday 2 September 2026 ARTICLE: Popli, Nik ( ) “As Democratic socialists gain ground, Republicans rejoice.” Time Magazine. · The membership of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) has surged past 120,000. Members have toppled establishment-backed candidates all over the country. · “Bernie Sanders made democratic socialism legible to billions of Americans; AOC gave it a younger national face; Mandani demonstrated that a socialist could defeat the democratic establishment, govern a major city and then help elect more socialists behind him.… Read more: THE DEMOCRATS, THE DSA, JIMMY CARTER AND GAUGUIN

Saturday, Sunday 29-30 August 2026 ARTICLE: Hastings, Rob (3/27/26) “My life inside Putin’s war machine – and why I defected.” The I Paper. LIFE AND NEWS NOTES FROM AN ELDERLY, CHILDLESS, OVER-EDUCATED CAT LADY BEAVERING AWAY IN ONE OF THE SUB-BASEMENTS OF THE MINISTRY OF SNARK · Igor Salikov’s life is in danger because he defected to the West. But, after witnessing the depravity of Vladimir Putin’s military, including the Wagner mercenary group, he feels compelled to reveal his experiences. ·… Read more: 10 WAYS AMERICA IS WEAKER.

Saturday, Sunday 29-30 August 2026 ARTICLE: Hastings, Rob (3/27/26) “My life inside Putin’s war machine – and why I defected.” The I Paper. LIFE AND NEWS NOTES FROM AN ELDERLY, CHILDLESS, OVER-EDUCATED CAT LADY BEAVERING AWAY IN ONE OF THE SUB-BASEMENTS OF THE MINISTRY OF SNARK · Igor Salikov’s life is in danger because he defected to the West. But, after witnessing the depravity of Vladimir Putin’s military, including the Wagner mercenary group, he feels compelled to reveal his experiences. ·… Read more: How America is Weaker

“Israel has electionsscheduled for the fall. It will be the first such vote since Netanyahu presided over the biggest security catastrophe in recent Israeli history: the Hamas-led attacks of Oct. 7, 2023, that killed nearly 1,200 people. The Israeli public has not yet had an opportunity to hold him accountable for this failure. (Netanyahu himself has never accepted responsibility.) It is also the first Israeli election in a few cycles where the country’s Arab parties will run together. The so-called Joint… Read more: WHY NETANYAHU CHOSE NOW

Friday 28 August 2026 UKRAINE: Former Defense Minister Fedorov LIFE AND NEWS NOTES · The Kremlin is using remarks made by ousted Ukrainian Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov to allege that Kyiv is consumed by intensifying political infighting. · Fedorov told Reuters that Ukraine appeared to be losing the war against Russia. He complained about engrained corruption and patronage networks. · Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters that “the Kyiv regime is collapsing from within.” ARTICLE: Strupczewski, Jan (8/27/26) “Four EU countries… Read more: (no title)

Friday 27 August 2026 RUSSIA AND UKRAINE ARTICLE: Altman, Howard and Tyler Rogoway (8/26/26) “Claims swirl around CIA director’s reason for secret Moscow visit, nearly all of them are terrifying. TWZ Newsletter. LIFE AND NEWS NOTES FROM AN ENDERLY, CHILDLESS, OVER-EDUCATED (ACCORDING TO J. F…ING D. VANCE) CAT LADY BEAVERING AWAY IN ONE OF THE SUB-BASEMENTS OF THE MINISTRY OF SNARK · Most of the reports indicate that CIA Director Radcliff was delivering a warning to Putin. The exact nature of… Read more: (no title)

Friday 27 August 2026 RUSSIA AND UKRAINE ARTICLE: Altman, Howard and Tyler Rogoway (8/26/26) “Claims swirl around CIA director’s reason for secret Moscow visit, nearly all of them are terrifying. TWZ Newsletter. LIFE AND NEWS NOTES FROM AN ENDERLY, CHILDLESS, OVER-EDUCATED (ACCORDING TO J. F…ING D. VANCE) CAT LADY BEAVERING AWAY IN ONE OF THE SUB-BASEMENTS OF THE MINISTRY OF SNARK · Most of the reports indicate that CIA Director Radcliff was delivering a warning to Putin. The exact nature of… Read more: (no title)

Monday 24 August 2026 CUBA NEW ARTICLE: O’Grady, Mary Anastasia (8/24/26) “What a Cuban transition might look like. The Wall Street Journal.” Wall Street Journal. · Rubio is “ratcheting up U.S pressure on the top echelon of the Cuban military.” · The worry is that with nothing to take its place the 67-year-old regime will descend into “a mix of chaos and crony capitalism.” The U.S. will be responsible for cleaning it up. · “Foreign subsidies have dried up, a corrupt… Read more: LIFE AND BLOG NOTES. CUBA

Sunday 23 August 2026 CUBA ARTICLE: Balls, Katy (8/15/26) “Is the Cuban regime about to be toppled?” The Sunday Times. LIFE AND NEWS NOTES FROM AN ELDERLY, OVER-EDUCATED, CHILDLESS, CAT LADY BEAVERING AWAY IN ONE OF THE SUB-BASEMENTS O THE MINISTRY OF SNARK. · Marco Rubio is the son of Cuban immigrants. His parents left three years before the 1959 revolution. His mother tried to return a few years later but “Fidel Castro’s dictatorship made it impossible.” (Note: I have no… Read more: LIFE AND NEWS NOTES: Cuba

Wednesday 19 August 2026 NEWS SHORTS · Angie Nixon (D) has won the Democratic Senate primary in Florida. She advocates Medicare for all. She has a nice, friendly manner, she smiles while she’s talking about policy. Scarborough, of course, tries to take her on about “abolishing the police” and opening the border. She supports abolishing for-profit prisons. (Note: Good for her. She’s good.) She advocates a “clear pathway to citizenship.” BOOKS YOU WILL LOVE Unger, Craig (2024) Den of Spies: Reagan,… Read more: (no title)

9:30 AM 18 August 2026 BOOKS YOU SHOULD READ Unger, Craig (2024) Den of Spies: Reagan, Carter, and the Secret History of the Treason That Stole the White House. Boston and New York: Mariner Books. “I’ve undertaken the task of telling what happened, how and why a spy story from real life that played an enormous role in a contemporary American history. It’s the story of how master spy William Casey and his associates put together a secret network of arms… Read more: BLOG 18 August 2026

Monday 17 August 2026 BOOKS YOU NEED TO READ Unger, Craig (2024) Den of Spies: Reagan, Carter, and the Secret History of the Treason That Stole the White House. Boston and New York: Mariner Books. Reagan “had No authority. To negotiate with Iran before he took the oath of office. And Iran would not have released the hostages without some communication with Team Reagan. But they did release the hostages. And yet, despite the self-evident nature of that anomaly Americans still… Read more: NEWS NOTES ABOUT ISRAEL

Sunday 16 August 2026 MORNING SUMMER SHORTS · On Sunday, Ukraine launched hundreds of drones across Russia. It was one of the largest aerial attacks of the war (AP News). · A Spanish fighter jet shot down a drone that had entered Romanian airspace (AP News) · The Wall Street Journal blames the problems of low morale in the U.S. Navy on the Democrats (note: Of course). (Wall Street Journal) · “Gulf leaders worry the president is unable to manage the… Read more: NEWS SHORTS AND UKRAINE