Halloween is tomorrow

Salem’s witches to honor one of their own, Stormy Daniels

“I think every witch in the world has done magic against Donald Trump, but you cannot fight something if you don’t know what it is,” she said. “When I think of him, I think of that scene in ‘Men in Black’ where this robot human dies and they find a tiny alien inside controlling him.

I've heard some pretty scary stuff about Halloween but this… 

Pollsters getting their excuses ready

Has there been a shift toward Trump in the final days of the race? Here’s what the polls show.

“If the polls are off this year, chances are they’re going to be off in a similar direction, at least that’s what we saw in 2016 and 2020. Polls really had the same weakness. So we shouldn’t have a false hope that averaging is going to miraculously fix it"…

…“But it’s not the case that like, ‘Oh, we’ve figured out the silver bullet. Everybody’s fixed it, and we’re good to go.’ Instead, you have pollsters trying an array of different fixes, and we’re hopeful that in the aggregate, that will result in greater accuracy.”

Here's an idea: Let's just count the votes and find out.

Big bucks for bangs

Pentagon Runs Low on Air-Defense Missiles as Demand Surges

Since the war between Hamas and Israel began last year, U.S. ships have launched more than $1.8 billion worth of interceptors to stop Iran and its proxies from attacking Israel and ships traveling through the Red Sea, according to the Navy.

 And when does a bunch of little wars become a big one?

{"Little Wars," by the way, is the title of a book by H.G. Wells that set forth the rules for war games still widely played today. The author described it as being "for Boys from twelve years of age to one hundred and fifty and for that more intelligent sort of girl who likes boys' games and books." The book is available from gutenberg.org.]

I don't cheer for a newspaper…

Jeff Bezos defends decision to end Washington Post endorsements

…like it's some sort of team and I'm hoping it wins. And I don't care about the politics of the people who work for it, one way or another. I'll make up my own mind, thank you very much.

It seems to me when a newspaper thinks it needs to tell me how to vote it's confessing it hasn't done a very good job of keeping me informed. And not only about the news.

Newspapers have (or should have) clearly labeled opinion pages and I read them. I use them to filter their news. I can pretty well guess how they're going to vote. How I'll vote, I'll decide for myself.

So, maybe not on everything he does but on this, I'll stand with Bezos here.

The important thing is, vote. Where and when you can. Make it a thing.

Bonespur epidemic in Ukraine?

Ukraine Resorts to Shaking Down Nightlife Spots for Recruits as Troop Numbers Fall

Tensions are rising in society over how some prominent figures, including state prosecutors, evade the draft through medical exemptions, leading President Volodymyr Zelensky’s attorney general to resign last week.

Russia has about four times the population of Ukraine, this WSJ article notes, and is known to be deploying troops from North Korea as well. That's a distinct advantage in a war of attrition. 

There's a limit to how far this can go. Or should.

Cheese alert

British chef Jamie Oliver urges followers to help solve the ‘grate cheese robbery’

“If the deal seems too gouda to be true, it probably is! Let’s find these cheese stealers,” Oliver wrote.

For more cheese news, courtesy of jasperfforde.com, click here.  

[And for more about Jasper Fforde, here.]