Reading (etc.) Wednesday

Sep. 3rd, 2025 07:24 am
troisoiseaux: (reading 7)
[personal profile] troisoiseaux
Currently on a non-fiction kick:
- 74% through Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72 by Hunter S. Thompson, a 1973 collection of articles originally written for Rolling Stone, chronicling the 1972 Democratic primary and U.S. presidential election in real time.
- 35% through Bibliophobia by Sarah Chihaya, a memoir about the author's lifelong love of reading and mental health struggles and the way those two things have intersected.

I also just started Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog) by Jerome K. Jerome, a 1889 travelogue-style novel about three friends (and a dog) taking a boating trip along the Thames. I'm only two chapters in, but enjoying this a lot— shades of P.G. Wodehouse. (Although, technically, the influence must have been the other way around...?)

In other media consumption, I finally caved to a friend's recommendation to watch Hazbin Hotel, an adult animation show that can be not wholly inaccurately described as "an edgy Hot Topic version of The Good Place", and spin-off Helluva Boss, about the workplace and romantic shenanigans of a trio of demon assassins. As someone who likes musical theater and dark humor (and saw one character's design and was like "welcome back, Grell Sutcliff"), I am pretty much the target audience here, but for reasons I cannot entirely put my finger on, while I was like "this is entertaining but I can take or leave it" about Hazbin Hotel, I finished Helluva Boss and then immediately went back to rewatch it from the beginning. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Reading Wednesday

Sep. 3rd, 2025 06:55 am
sabotabby: (books!)
[personal profile] sabotabby
Just finished: Do a Powerbomb! by Daniel Warren Johnson and Mike Spicer. I'll describe the plot of this comic to you and I suspect you'll have one of two reactions: 1) why the fuck would you read this? or 2) I must read this IMMEDIATELY. It was described somewhat in snippets by some goth-type person sitting on the far side of the table from me at a bar and I heard just enough that I had reaction #2.

So, this comic is about a girl who wants to be a pro-wrestler because her mother was basically the best. Only, no one will train her because her mother died in a ring accident. She's recruited into a tournament by a necromancer, and the prize for the tournament is that he will resurrect one person of the winner's choice. Only catch—it's tag-team, so she has to find the one person who will also agree to resurrect her mother if they win: the masked luchador heel who killed her mother. He agrees for reasons more complex, as it turns out, than guilt, so off they go to the necromancer's castle in space, only to realize that Earth is the only planet on which kayfabe exists; everywhere else, it's for real. The story ends with spoiler )

If you read that and went "fuck yeah! that sounds metal!" this comic is for you. I don't read many comics anymore but this is one of the best I've read in ages. IMO more stories should be about wrestling in a necromancer's space castle.

Currently reading: Notes From a Regicide by Isaac Fellman. This is the second one I've read by him and I think he's one of those authors who writes books that are very laser-targeted at my particular tastes. It's about a young trans man, Griffon, who was adopted at 15 by an older trans couple, Etoine and Zaffre, both of whom are artists. This is in some kind of far-off, post-climate collapse future; transphobia is definitely still a thing, and Griffon's biological father is a real piece of shit about it, but isn't quite expressed in the same ways. Etoine and Zaffre are originally from a city-state called Stephensport, ruled by a prince and frozen in time, and have come to New York as refugees/emigres. Their little family was happy together, but his adoptive parents don't talk much about their pasts. After their deaths, Griffon reads Etoine's diary, kept when he was imprisoned awaiting execution, to try to find out who his parents really were. Where I'm at now, Etoine has made a career as a portrait painter, starting with an "elector," who is some kind of undead woman who lives in the stone yard. Do I know what that is? No, but I am intrigued whether or not we find out.

Everything about this is fucking awesome. Fellman writes this deep-seated pain and ever-present threat of violence in a way that's poetic and reminiscent of 19th century literature, the descriptions are strange and comment on their own strangeness, and his worldbuilding is deft—just enough to make you intrigued and never at the risk of a lore dump or anything so prosaic as that. It's the antithesis of the cute queer found family story—yes, they are wonderful characters who I love immediately, but no one talks about their feelings or processes their trauma. I'm so into it.

Five Things ladydragona Said

Sep. 3rd, 2025 10:23 am
[syndicated profile] otw_news_feed

Posted by an

Every month or so the OTW will be doing a Q&A with one of its volunteers about their experiences in the organization. The posts express each volunteer’s personal views and do not necessarily reflect the views of the OTW or constitute OTW policy. Today’s post is with ladydragona, who volunteers as a Tag Wrangler.

How does what you do as a volunteer fit into what the OTW does?

As a Tag Wrangler my job is to make sure the tags users use on their works are connected (‘synned’ or made a synonym) to the Canonical (Official) tag they most closely relate to, which allows users browsing the Archive to filter for and search for these tags! I also create new Canonical tags when specific concepts have been tagged repeatedly enough and move tags that can’t be synned anywhere, either because too many concepts are in one tag or there just isn’t one to syn it to, to their appropriate fandom.

What is a typical week like for you as a volunteer?

I work a lot of hours at my irl job so most of my volunteer work has to happen around that. I try to wrangle tags for at least an hour every day after work while Wrangling parties are hosted some weekends so I’ll usually try to attend those which means I’ll spend more time wrangling then.

What made you decide to volunteer?

I’ve always loved fanfiction and, having experienced a handful of archive purges, I wanted to be involved and help maintain this site that I love so much. When I saw a Wrangler Q&A on Tumblr I realized it was possible for normal fans like myself to volunteer and help and that Q&A really made wrangling seem to be a fun thing to do.

What has been your biggest challenge doing work for the OTW?

My biggest challenge would probably be time-management. I’m prone to getting very focused on what I’m doing and not realizing just how much time has passed, as well as wanting to do more than I realistically have the time for. I often have to set timers to remind myself to go eat or go do something else.

What fannish things do you like to do?

My main fannish activity is writing fic! In fact, I’ve posted over two million words on the archive in the last 6 years and don’t see myself stopping any time soon! When not writing fic or volunteering I also share fanart and metas on social media as well as help my fellow fans brainstorm their own fics in various discord servers. I like being involved in my fandom’s community and have made some of my bestest friends that way.


Now that our volunteer’s said five things about what they do, it’s your turn to ask one more thing! Feel free to ask about their work in the comments. Or if you’d like, you can check out previous Five Things posts.

Reading Wednesday

Sep. 3rd, 2025 10:51 am
suncani: Evy from the mummy reading a book and glaring (evy reading)
[personal profile] suncani
Mostly I've just been reading fanfic this week. I'm putting together a bunch of books to read on holiday which so far is: The Incandescent by Emily Tesh, The Queen of Fives by Alex Hay, A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett, How to Solve Your Own Murder by Kristen Perrin and The Circus Infinite by Khan Wong. I'm hoping that being away from my phone means I'll read more books rather than fic.

However I did read some things semi recently as below:

Spells for Forgetting by Adrienne Young
This was enjoyable while reading but ironically fairly forgettable. Set on a island near Seattle, its very small town dynamics mixed with very subtle magic. I did have to remind myself that the characters were meant to be in their 30's (outside of flashbacks).

The Last Hour Between Worlds by Melissa Caruso
I really liked this for a couple of reasons. Firstly the MC has a kid thats only a few months old. So some of the story is her trying to marry the idea of being a mum alongside her active dangerous job. It doesn't derail the plot or feel shoehorned in but its just little asides that round out her character. The second part I like is how the world changes as the characters go deeper and deeper into it. It's not just set dressing, it does feel like reality gets looser as they descend. I got this as an Illumicrate edition so I'm considering whether I want to buy the sequel in the matching design or just stick with an e-book as I definitely like it enough to carry on reading.

The Last Remains by Elly Griffiths

This is the final book in the Ruth and Nelson series, which have pretty much been my comfort reads this year. I think its a fairly satisfying ending to the series, although a couple of decisions early on in the book feel like they were there specifically to throw off the reader rather than a natural part of the story which made me a bit grumpy.

Here we are half-awake

Sep. 2nd, 2025 10:50 pm
sovay: (Silver: against blue)
[personal profile] sovay
The second-best part of this highly mediocre day was a gyro on which I put a phenomenal amount of tzatziki, to the point that by the end of it the meat was probably the condiment. The best part was taking a walk with [personal profile] spatch right before sunset. I remembered to bring my camera.

A blizzard in the midst of a sunny day. )

I am not sure that Series 13 of Doctor Who holds together at all, but since Kevin McNally was playing essentially Marcus Brody if he had started in parapsychology instead of classics, I enjoyed him very much.

More books, more tv

Sep. 3rd, 2025 09:48 am
selenak: (Six by Nyuszi)
[personal profile] selenak
More books:

Stella Duffy: The Purple Shroud. The sequel to her novel Theodora, this one covering the time from when Theodora becomes Empress to her death. It's as readable as the first one, though I have a few nitpicks. Not about what I feared - the novel Theodora keeps morally ambiguous, and it confronts head on that once you are in power, you cannot simultanously be "one of the people", no matter how low you were originally born or how disadvantaged a life you've lived until this point. Doesn't mean your decisions can't benefit the disadvantaged, but you yourself are no longer one of them. So far, so good, and in case I hadn't mentioned it before, Duffy's characterisation of Narses is my favourite after Gillian Bradshaw's, and Thedora's relationship with him, ditto; they're firm allies from before she married Justinian, but they also sometimes have different opinions, and his ultimate loyalty is to Justinian, not to her. Also, Antonina (Belisarius' wife) in several lhistorical novels of the period tends to be presented as a none too bright promiscuous tool of Theodora's, and not so here, where they are friends, but up to a point, and Antonina has her priorities which are neither about her sex life nor about Theodora.

Spoilery Nitpick is Spoilery Because Not Historical )

Naomi Novik: Spinning Silver. I've heard many good things about this one but didn't get around do reading it before now. Turns out it is absolutely worth the hype. I had been charmed by Novik's Temeraire saga, though less so the more books were published and stopped reading before Laurence and Temeraire got to Australia. This novel, by contrast, didn't just charm me but made me fall in love and start it all over again as soon as I was done. Rather unusually for what I've read of Novik's novels so far, almost the entire main cast is female, and she even pulls off multiple first person narrations without this reader getting confused as to who is narrating which passage (note: in my copy, this isn't marked with "Name of Character" to signal a pov switch), because the individual voices are that individual.

The setting is vaguely Russian, using various fairy tale elements (Rumpelstiskin, Cinderella, Baba Yaga) to weave something new. The main narrating ladies are: 1.) Miryem, daughter of a Jewish moneylender who isn't very good at moneylending due to being too kind and exploitable by his antisemitic village, who takes over the moneylending business, makes a success out of it and makes the fateful for fairy tales boast of being able to turn silver into gold, which gets overheard by a Staryk (= essentially fairy for the purposes of this novel) Lord who decides to take her up on it, 2.) Wanda, downtrodden but strong and determined daughter of a drunken and abusive farmer who is in debt to Miryem, which causes her to work for Miryem, 3.) Irina, daughter of the provincial Duke who through a plot device involving Miryem's business with the Staryk lord sees a chance to gain power by marrying Irina to the young Tsar despite said young Tsar's very sinister reputation. There are more first person narrators among the supporting cast, but these are the three main characters who drive the narrative, who have to use their wits to first survive increasingly dangerous situations and then get a step ahead and actually defeat the cause of said situations, and who along the way form relationships with other characters (and each other) that help them achieving this. It''s really, spinning metaphors being inevitable, a fantastic and brilliant yarn, and every time I thought "hang on, I can see where this is going, but how does that work with Character X' previously established behavior", the novel surprised me by making it work in the best way.

More tv:

Alien: Earth, episodes 1.01 - 1.04: Not a sequel but a prequel, setting wise, though made with an awareness that most of the audience will be familiar with at least the first few Alien movies. Mind you, with the heavy emphasis on AI beings already introduced in the pilot I thought, hang on, to which Ridley Scott cult movie is this supposed to be a prequel to? (Four episodes later: leaving aside the four years limit on the life span of Replicants in Blade Runner, this actually would work in a kind of shared early Ridley Scott films universe.) Not that Alien and its sequels don't have robots (robots here being used as a collective noun for various different AIs in human shape) as important parts of the plot, of course, but this show really puts them centre stage (perhaps recalling David was one of the key elements of Prometheus that worked even for people who disliked the movie?), and it absolutely works. It also so far provides a good remix of core elements. Ripley in I think not one but two of the Alien movies said that the company (not just Wayland-Yutani which she originally worked for, but also its successors in the movie plots) were the true monsters, given that the Xenomorphs "just" follow their instincts but Wayland-Yutani et al sacrifice fellow human beings for greed. If this was late 1970s and early 1980s scepticism of capitalism and where it's going, well, now we the audience live in the world of tech bros and politicians not even trying to hide their corruption anymore but boasting of it, and so this tv series so far doiubles and triples down on Ripley's observation. Not just the good old Xenomorph but newly introduced creatures like the T-Ocelius deliver the creeps, horrors and scares, sure, as they go after their organic victims, but the character you really loathe and with every episode more wish to fall to an extremely unpleasant fate is the resident main tech bro billionaire, Boy Kavalier (what he really calls himself), so covinced of his own brilliance, so utterly unconcerned with any empathy whatsoever, and seeing both human and synthetic workers as his property.

(Future eras may write their film and tv thesis about tech bro villains from Glass Onion onwards.)

But any genre that involves horror needs sympathetic characters as well, characters the audience cares for and wants to survive, not getting torn apart by the Xenomorph (and other murderous species). Which is where this show also excels, but saying why gets too spoilery to talk about it above cut. )

World building wise, the Earth as presented by this show no longer has nation states, it's run by five cooperations (this reminded me of what Mike Duncan did for the Mars part in his Podcast Revolutions, and he couldn't have known), with Weyland-Yutani as one of the older powerful ones and Boy Kavalier's company, inevitably named Prodigy, as the newbie which together with another new company changed the "Triumvirate" to "The Five". Democracy, of course, is also a thing of the past. For once, North America isn't a location (so far), instead, the Weyland-Yutani vessel in the series pilot crashes down on what used to be Thailand, and Boy Kavalier's lair seems to be located somewhere in South Asia (Vietnam, I'd say, given the scenery) as well. We all know how a Xenomorph looks in the various stages of its existence by now, but the design team came up with four other creepy species as well which are new and are excellent at bringing on body horror. Though like I said: the truest revulsion is created by human greed. Contrasted, which makes it compelling and not nihilistic, by the capacity of doing better than that, by artificial and human beings alike.

Political Rant.....

Sep. 3rd, 2025 02:39 am
vriddy: Endeavor deep in thoughts (thinking)
[personal profile] vriddy
Is anyone else having issues around images not loading on Dreamwidth, lately? For a few days (couple weeks?) I've noticed that my reading page often only shows the alt-text for pics especially for images hosted on Dreamwidth, though not only that (for example there are AO3 news on my reading page at the moment, but the logos don't load unless I open the original page).

It's particularly visible on my [community profile] vriddywrites writing comm because none of the icons load, nor the header image. Does it all look fine for most of you? I rebooted my home router in case I had landed on a banned IP or something, but no dice. The background image on my journal here also loads just fine in general... Icons also have no problems. Huh... 🤔

To-read pile, 2025, August

Sep. 3rd, 2025 07:00 am
rmc28: (reading)
[personal profile] rmc28

Books on pre-order:

  1. Queen Demon (Rising World 2) by Martha Wells (7 Oct 2025)

Books acquired in August:

  • and read:
    1. The Adventure of the Demonic Ox (Penric & Desdemona) by Lois McMaster Bujold
    2. The Work of Art (Somerset Stories 1) by Mimi Matthews
    3. The Arctic Curry Club by Dani Redd [3]

Books acquired previously and read in August:

  1. The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra by Vaseem Khan [3][May]

Borrowed books read in August:

  1. A Sorceress Comes To Call by T. Kingfisher
  2. Iron Flame (Empyrean 2) by Rebecca Yarros [2]

[1] Pre-order
[2] Audiobook
[3] Physical book
[4] Crowdfunding
[5] Goodbye read
[6] Cambridgeshire Reads/Listens
[7] FaRoFeb / FaRoCation / Bookmas / HRBC
[8] Prime Reading / Kindle Unlimited

Hot Dogs On Sale In Foyer

Sep. 3rd, 2025 12:12 am
moon_custafer: cartoon of Keith Moon (Keith)
[personal profile] moon_custafer
My map directions took me to Liberty Village/Atlantic Ave, and I was a little unsure how to get to Budweiser Stage (practice, man, practice!) but I saw some people in concert T-shirts and followed them through a tunnel and across the Exhibition grounds where the rides from the CNE were being taken down and packed for transport. After all the difficulties with the Ticketmaster website, and all the rules on the venue’s website about what couldn’t be brought in, nobody gave me any trouble at the gate.

“Yay! They let us in!” said some people near me. “Nobody got arrested!”
Read more... )
austin_dern: Inspired by Krazy Kat, of kourse. (Default)
[personal profile] austin_dern

So I guess they've proved Trump isn't dead yet. Still, when Giuliani says ``oh, he don't look good'' ...

Yesterday we were driving home from Michigan's Adventure, agreeing it was a great day, listening to podcasts, and as we got into Lansing after dark we saw fireworks. Not city fireworks, just a couple individuals shooting up stuff they get at those shops with way too many flags in front. We knew it was probably holiday fireworks but we couldn't help wondering, did they finally announce it? A couple of seemingly unmotivated car honkings in the distance would support that, but, we'd have got texts, surely.

I've been anticipating the joyful moment when we hear about his death. What will be the herald? We live in the city so cheering crowds, car horns, fireworks seem likely. Maybe a message on social media. Maybe one of those second- or third-wave messages, like, someone informing a scold how not speaking ill of the dead is meant for not bringing up Aunt Mabel's drinking problem at her funeral. Maybe an e-mail from work. It could happen any time; I might be in the office. Might be at pinball league. Might be at an amusement park. What will the crowd be as the word spreads?

Abraham Lincoln was shot as part of a conspiracy, one that also shot Secretary of State William Seward, and the way news moved in those days there was a crowd of people outside Ford's Theater become aware of Lincoln's shooting, and a separate crowd outside Seward's home aware of his assassination attempt. At some point the waves of both pieces of news collided. Someone in that mob was the first person to realize there had been two unthinkable things happening together. Imagine the despair. And someday, maybe as soon as tomorrow, will be the opposite. We may hear rumors first but we'll have news fast.

And then what after? I've been straining to think of fascist regimes that had a successful transfer of power. Germany, of course, had a comically pathetic Flensburg government for a couple weeks. Italy didn't reach that, and all the Axis puppet states were extinguished either by Soviet or western forces. Franco's Spain lasted like two years after his death. I guess Portugal hung on for six years after António de Oliveira Salazar fell into a coma. I wonder if that's a matter of small sample sizes of fascists states that survive. Or is it a side effect of how fascists insist on incompetence from all their underlings, so there can't be a successor? Or am I just that poorly informed?

Such a weekend.


You may not believe what's coming up here: it's the end of Friday at Halloweekends last year! Yes, I kept this one selective, more or less.

SAM_2459.jpeg

Here's Troika, with one of the three main arms elevated and pointing right at me. Around the edge you can see the cars for that arm.


SAM_2466.jpeg

Please do not climb this poor panhandling skeleton outside the Giant Wheel.


SAM_2469.jpeg

Getting near the end of the day; here's a fog rolled in over the Frontier Town area.


SAM_2471.jpeg

Frontier Town fog settled in over the Mine Ride.


SAM_2482.jpeg

Here's the swings ride that we remember to go on about once every three years. We took the time this trip for it.


SAM_2484.jpeg

And the gazebo in what used to be the center of Frontier Town. I believe past that is the restaurant they made out of the antique cars ride.


Trivia: In July 1893 President Grover Cleveland had two operations to remove dangerously ulcerated teeth and a cyst in his left upper jaw, all the way to the floor of his eye socket, which would be replaced with a rubber jaw. These operations were done in secret, aboard Cleveland's friend E C Benedict's private yacht the Oneida, and despite an initial flurry of rumors was kept secret for 24 years. Neither Vice-President Adlai E Stevenson nor any cabinet member besides Secretary of War Daniel S Lamont aware at the time. Source: From Failing Hands: The Story of Presidential Succession, John D Feerick.

Currently Reading: Knowing What We Know: The Transmission of Knowledge From Ancient Wisdom to Modern Magic, Simon Winchester.

PS: What’s Going On In Mary Worth? Why is Mary Worth hyping up Olive being so special? June – August 2025 if you'd like to see something strange going on that doesn't involve Trump's incredibly failing health.

maybe a second thing

Sep. 2nd, 2025 08:15 pm
finch: (dragon)
[personal profile] finch

[tumblr.com profile] ficwip posted: The Fic That Haunts You

The Fic That Haunts You is a 3-month event challenging us to make progress on fics we think about a lot but, for some reason, never work on. We'll attempt to get past this by identifying exactly what's getting in our way & making plans to get past it.

Look, I'm really bad at doing more than one thing at a time and I know this about myself.

"Then why did you sign up for this second thing?" you may ask, because I'm kind of asking myself that.

Except... well, I read the description and I know exactly what the Fic that Haunts Me is. It's the novel I've listed as my theoretical project for NaNoWriMo half a dozen times. The thing I've been trying to rewrite since 2010 or so. It's Puzzles. It's always Puzzles. And I've tried to write the first chapter or two at least four times, and never gotten past that. Read more... )

Today's Smoothie

Sep. 2nd, 2025 10:28 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Today we made a smoothie with:
1/3 cup pineapple juice
2/3 cup guava nectar
1 cup Brown Cow vanilla yogurt
1/3 cup pineapple chunks
1 banana
1/3 cup mixed frozen fruit (peaches, strawberries, pineapple, mango)
1/2 cup ice

We had the pineapple left over from the green smoothie recently and wanted to use it up.  The result is pale pink, on the thin side, with a delicious tropical flavor.  :D  Remember you can always use up extra fruit in a smoothie! 

Clicky

Sep. 2nd, 2025 09:48 pm
kalloway: Tieria from Gundam 00 looking grumpy (Tieria)
[personal profile] kalloway
The grocery store had a small rack of clicker-style Sakura Gelly Roll pens; I immediately bought a pack. (I will probably buy more.) Of course, being very used to normal Gelly Rolls, I keep trying to yank the 'cap' off them. ^^;; I'll get used to it... (I hope.)

I am not entirely sure, but last night might've been the first time in my years that we didn't even get close to finishing shop start-up. It was bad. It was not personally terrible for me; I was busy but never overwhelmed. But overall, yeah, machines hate long weekends. Or, perhaps, also do not want to go back to work after them. ^^;;

Of my international Kickstarters/Crowdfunding, one just went 'oh fuck US shipping dunno what I'm gonna do but I'll let you know', one said that a few weeks back, and I've not heard a peep from the last that I can think of. (That one is a ways out, though.) At least two other int'l projects are launching this month. I don't know what options will even be. (I wouldn't blame the one smaller one for just excluding US backers altogether.)

I picked up a September Bingo card on [community profile] lyricaltitles. Much like last year, I expect the fun will be picking songs and I won't actually manage to write anything.

458: BBC Sherlock: Gen

Sep. 2nd, 2025 09:44 pm
stonepicnicking_okapi: teacupface (teacupface)
[personal profile] stonepicnicking_okapi posting in [community profile] 100words
Title: What is it?
Fandom: BBC Sherlock
Rating: Gen
Notes: Sherlock is looking down a dark hallway.

Read more... )

Day 1686: "Unhinged."

Sep. 2nd, 2025 05:16 pm
[syndicated profile] wtfjht_feed

Posted by Matt Kiser

Day 1686

Today in one sentence: A federal judge ruled that Trump’s deployment of the National Guard and Marines to Los Angeles was illegal; Trump will deploy the National Guard to Chicago; after a federal appeals court ruled most of his global tariffs illegal, Trump vowed to ask the Supreme Court “tomorrow” to overturn the decision; Trump canceled $4.9 billion in foreign aid using a “pocket rescission”; a federal judge blocked Trump’s effort to secretly fly more than 600 Guatemalan children out of the U.S. over Labor Day weekend; the Trump administration is weighing a plan that would give Palestinians a digital land “token” in exchange for their property so Gaza can be redeveloped into luxury resorts and “AI-powered” cities; the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee released 33,295 pages of Justice Department records on Jeffrey Epstein; Trump plans to issue an unconstitutional executive order requiring voter ID for “every single vote” and banning nearly all mail-in ballots; Trump said he would award Rudy Giuliani the Presidential Medal of Freedom; a D.C. grand jury refused to indict two people accused of threatening to kill Trump; and Trump addressed online rumors that he was dead, calling them “fake news.”


1/ A federal judge ruled that Trump’s deployment of the National Guard and Marines to Los Angeles was illegal, saying the administration “systematically used armed soldiers” and turned them into “a national police force with the President as its chief.” Judge Charles Breyer found the deployment violated the 1878 Posse Comitatus Act, which prohibits the military from carrying out civilian law enforcement. “There were indeed protests in Los Angeles, and some individuals engaged in violence. Yet there was no rebellion, nor was civilian law enforcement unable to respond,” Breyer wrote. He blocked the Trump administration from using troops for arrests, searches, patrols, or crowd control, but delayed enforcement of his order until Sept. 12 to allow an appeal. Gov. Gavin Newsom said: “No president is a king — not even Trump.” (CalMatters / Politico / New York Times / NBC News / CNN / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / NPR)

2/ Trump will deploy the National Guard to Chicago, saying “we’re going in […] We have the right to do it, because I have an obligation to protect this country.” Trump also called Chicago “a hellhole right now,” referring to shootings and murders over the Labor Day weekend as justification for his plan to deploy federal forces despite opposition from Illinois and Chicago officials. Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker called Trump’s remarks “unhinged,” while Chicago’s Mayor Brandon Johnson said there is no “emergency” in Chicago. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, meanwhile, said “We haven’t taken anything off the table” and confirmed plans to “add more resources” to ICE operations. (Associated Press / Politico / New York Times / ABC News / Washington Post / ABC News / NBC News)

3/ After a federal appeals court ruled most of his global tariffs illegal, Trump vowed to ask the Supreme Court “tomorrow” to overturn the decision. The 7–4 ruling said he exceeded his authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and affirmed that tariffs are “a core Congressional power,” though it allowed the duties to remain in place until Oct. 14 while the case proceeds. Trump called the ruling “an emergency,” warning it “would be an economic disaster for the United States” and that “our country will be weak, pathetic and not rich […] If you take away tariffs, we could end up being a third-world country.” Trump also claimed that “We’re taking in $17 trillion,” but Treasury data shows tariff revenue this year totaled about $142 billion. (Axios / CNBC / Bloomberg / New York Times / Axios / CBS News / New York Times / CNBC / Axios / Washington Post / Bloomberg / Reuters)

4/ Trump canceled $4.9 billion in foreign aid using a “pocket rescission,” notifying Congress and triggering an immediate 45-day hold that runs past the Sept. 30 fiscal year deadline. The White House targeted State Department and USAID accounts, including peacekeeping and the Democracy Fund. The Government Accountability Office, however, has already ruled pocket rescissions illegal, and Senator Susan Collins said it was “a clear violation of the law.” Democrats called it an “absurd, illegal ploy” and warned Republicans not to be “a rubber stamp for this carnage.” (Politico / CNN / The Guardian / New York Times)

5/ A federal judge blocked Trump’s effort to secretly fly more than 600 Guatemalan children out of the U.S. over Labor Day weekend. Judge Sparkle Sooknanan issued a 4 a.m. order after flights were already loaded with minors, and later told government lawyers, “I have the government attempting to remove minor children from the country in the wee hours of the morning on a holiday weekend.” Justice Department attorney Drew Ensign claimed the flights were “repatriations” requested by parents, not deportations, but immigrant advocates disputed that and said many children still had pending legal cases. (Associated Press / Washington Post / NPR / New York Times / NBC News / CBS News / ABC News / Politico)

  • More than 1.2 million immigrant workers disappeared from the labor force this year. Trump has claimed his deportation efforts target “dangerous criminals,” but most people detained by ICE have had no criminal convictions, while farmers and contractors reported wasted crops and stalled projects. A labor economist warned the border influx “is essentially stopped,” cutting off a workforce that normally fuels half of U.S. job growth. (CBS News / Associated Press)

  • Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth authorized sending up to 600 military lawyers to serve as temporary immigration judges, as immigration courts face a backlog of about 3.5 million cases and more than 100 immigration judges have been fired or resigned in recent months. The(Associated Press)

6/ The Trump administration is weighing a plan that would give Palestinians a digital land “token” in exchange for their property so Gaza can be redeveloped into luxury resorts and “AI-powered” cities. The 38-page proposal calls for the “voluntary” removal of Gaza’s 2 million residents, offering $5,000, rent and food subsidies to those who leave. The plan projects a fourfold return on $100 billion in investment funding and would place Gaza under U.S. control for at least a decade. (Washington Post)

  • The Trump family booked up to $5 billion in paper wealth after World Liberty Financial’s crypto token began trading. The family holds just under a quarter of all tokens. (Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / The Hill)

7/ The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee released 33,295 pages of Justice Department records on Jeffrey Epstein. Democrats said the “overwhelming majority” was already public and that the new disclosure contain fewer than 1,000 pages of U.S. Customs and Border Protection flight-location records from 2000 to 2014. Republicans, however, said more disclosures were coming and subpoenaed Epstein’s estate for items including a “birthday book” and any “client list.” Reps. Thomas Massie and Ro Khanna, meanwhile, filed a discharge petition to force wider releases and called the committee’s approach a “placebo,” with Massie saying people were handed “a nothingburger.” Speaker Mike Johnson pushed back, saying, “I would describe virtually everything Thomas Massie says related to this issue as meaningless.” (Washington Post / The Hill / Politico / Axios / The Hill / NPR / NBC News / Politico)

⏭️ Notably Next: Trump’s D.C. police takeover authority ends Sept. 9; Congress has 28 days to pass a funding measure to prevent a government shutdown; and the 2026 midterms are in 427 days. (Politico / NBC News)


✏️ Notables.

  1. Trump plans to issue an unconstitutional executive order requiring voter ID for “every single vote” and banning nearly all mail-in ballots. The Constitution, however, gives the president no authority over elections, which are run by states and can only be changed by Congress. And, a federal judge has already struck down most of Trump’s earlier order on voter registration for exceeding presidential power. Trump, nevertheless, posted: “Voter I.D. Must Be Part of Every Single Vote. NO EXCEPTIONS! […] Also, No Mail-In Voting, Except For Those That Are Very Ill, And The Far Away Military.” (Reuters / The Guardian / Wall Street Journal / New York Times)

  2. Trump said he will move U.S. Space Command from Colorado Springs to Huntsville, Alabama – reversing Biden’s 2023 decision. He admitted Colorado’s mail-in voting “played a big factor” in the move, calling the system “very corrupt.” Colorado lawmakers warned the relocation “weakens our national security” and vowed to fight it. (Associated Press / Politico / Axios)

  3. Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe called a special session to redraw the state’s congressional map – hours after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed a new map giving Republicans more seats. Kehoe’s proposal targets Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver’s district and includes a ballot measure making citizen initiatives harder to pass. (Associated Press)

  4. A federal appeals court allowed the Trump administration to terminate $16 billion in Biden-era grants awarded to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. (Politico / New York Times / ABC News / Associated Press)

  5. The Transportation Department canceled $679 million in funding for 12 offshore wind projects. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy claimed, “Wasteful wind projects are using resources that could otherwise go toward revitalizing America’s maritime industry.” The administration also withdrew a $716 million loan guarantee for transmission upgrades in New Jersey and halted construction of the nearly finished $4 billion Revolution Wind project off Rhode Island and Connecticut, citing unspecified “national security concerns.” (New York Times / PBS News)

  6. Trump said he would award Rudy Giuliani the Presidential Medal of Freedom, calling him “the greatest Mayor in the history of New York City, and an equally great American Patriot.” The decision came two days after Giuliani was hospitalized from a car crash despite his disbarment, criminal charges in Georgia and Arizona, and a $148 million defamation judgment he later settled. Giuliani’s spokesperson said: “There is no American more deserving of this honor.” (USA Today / CNN / New York Times / Associated Press)

  7. A D.C. grand jury refused to indict two people accused of threatening to kill Trump. It was U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s fourth failed attempt to secure an indictment, and local grand juries have repeatedly rejected her cases in recent weeks, including one over a thrown sandwich. (NBC News / Associated Press)

  8. Trump addressed online rumors that he was dead, calling them “fake news.” Following several days without public appearances and photos showing bruises on his hand, Trump said he was “very active” over the weekend and that he “NEVER FELT BETTER IN MY LIFE.” (Axios / NBC News)

  • ✨ Well, that’s fantastic. Jerry Nadler will step down from Congress after 34 years, citing “generational change” and conceding that a younger Democrat “can maybe do better.” Nadler, 78, said Israel was committing “war crimes and mass murder without question” in Gaza and vowed to block offensive U.S. weapons sales. On Trump, Nadler said: “This is the most severe threat we’ve had to our system of government since the Civil War.” (New York Times)


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