Poetic Justice
Buck Banks | Sep. 1, 2026
Trump’s renaming of Lake Ontario has created a litmus test —
Yield, and rename it Lake America, at Donald Trump’s behest,
Like Google and Apple, which already capitulated,
Changing the name just like Dear Leader stipulated,
But there’s one defiant holdout — the original mapping site, Mapquest.
Verbatim
“They’ve invested heavily in AI labs. They’ve invested heavily in data centers. So, the first family has a financial stake in this industry, and as a result, the president of the United States is compromised.”
— “Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) on Monday said President Trump will likely not heed calls from technology leaders to implement guardrails on the development of artificial intelligence because of his family’s investments in the industry,” NewsNation reports.
“Young Americans today have never witnessed Congress authorize a war, they’ve never seen a U.S. administration balance its books, they’ve never watched a well-funded and empowered state department operate, and they see only mistrust between allies. They assume the situation is normal. It is not. … The real cost of forgetting the pre-9/11 world is not a country that has changed, but one that no longer knows it could be different.”
— Jane Haman
“We’re working through some political issues in Israel. I think we agree with them on the end state. They just have a crazy election, and that makes them a little irrational in certain regards.”
— Jared Kushner, quoted by CBS News, on the lack of progress in Gaza.
Numerati
470
Reuters has documented at least 470 targets of retribution under Trump’s leadership – from federal employees and prosecutors to universities and media outlets. The list illuminates the sweeping effort by the president and his administration to punish dissent and reshape the government.
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$184 million
“Iranian strikes have damaged or destroyed hundreds of buildings and other structures at bases across the Middle East, and caused about $184 million worth of damage at U.S. diplomatic facilities, according to a Pentagon watchdog report,” the Washington Post reports. “The inspector general’s report to Congress on Operation Epic Fury — the Trump administration’s name for the war with Iran — also details the extent of U.S. munitions shortages, in the first comprehensive public accounting of the war, which is now in its seventh month.”
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50%
Half (50%) of U.S. adults say they are either very concerned (23%) or somewhat concerned (27%) about the possibility that AI will cause the end of humanity, a new YouGov survey finds. Another 39% of Americans say they’re not very concerned (21%) or not at all concerned (17%) about an AI apocalypse, while 11% aren’t sure.
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38%
A majority of Americans ages 55 and up and a majority of Republicans of all ages support the use of Flock technologies in their communities, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted from August 28 to 31. Split by age, party, education level and gender, no other demographic group had a majority of support for the cameras. Among age groups, younger Americans were the least likely to support Flock, with only 21% of respondents aged 18 to 34 in favor of the technology.
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31%
About one-third (31%) of Americans strongly or somewhat approve of how the U.S. Supreme Court is handling its job, according to the latest Economist/YouGov Survey, while 53% disapprove. Almost all Democrats disapprove of the Supreme Court’s job handling (12% approve and 79% disapprove), while most Republicans approve (63% vs. 26%). Republicans who say they’re MAGA supporters overwhelmingly approve of the Supreme Court’s job handling (73% vs. 19%), while non-MAGA Republicans are more closely divided (49% vs. 36%).
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So, WTF? Miami-Dade County, at the tippy end of Florida, has been more than 50% minority (Hispanic, black) for four years. I know, because I, as a white Anglo male, have been in the minority that long, and I’ve gotten used to it. My only explanation for this map is that, as usual, assumptions were made without putting feet on the ground here in South Florida.
I know I’m being politically correct here but…Don’t you think that generalizing people of color as being against the GOP is a little presumptuous? I might not know every person of color in the U.S but..I have to say the few I have met are Republican, small business owners and are socially conservative.
Aside this chart is just a projection, not a fact. For all we know; when the time comes, these people could very well be right wing in the end.
I think you’re jumping the shark here, Jon…
Tony, I haven’t jumped the shark, not on this issue, at least — the Republican Party has.
Since 1968, the Republican Party has deployed its “Southern strategy,” using racism to rile its bigoted base into voting for the GOP. The record shows that this strategy has worked very well for them. It started with Nixon, of course. But Reagan did it, too — he opened his 1980 campaign in Philadelphia, Miss., where three civil rights workers were killed in 1964.
Just last week, GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich of Georgia used race baiting in a speech to his home state Republican convention, referring to Pres. Obama as a “food stamp president” (because more people are on food stamps now than ever, which, in reality, is a result of the Bush recession and not, as Gingrich insinuated, because the president wants people to be on food stamps) and claiming Obama is turning the country into Detroit, which is predominantly black.
The demographics of the Republican Party, meanwhile, are becoming increasingly old, white and rural. They are literally dying off.
This problem is particularly acute here in California, where the percentage of GOP voter registration is at a historic 156-year low. The California GOP brought this crisis upon themselves when Latinos here felt the party was attacking them on the issue of immigration the 1994 governor’s race. Californians with Mexican heritage have not forgotten or forgiven the GOP, and are not likely to.
If you look at the map, it’s clear that what has happened to Republicans in California could happen next in Texas, of all places.
The point is, the Republican Party is marginalizing itself with this strategy of castigating people of color, especially considering the changes that are a-coming.