- RFK Jr blames autism on Tylenol;
- Trump wants a Nobel Peace Prize but at every turn advocates war;
- Robert Reich on Trump and the art of extortion;
- They’re redacting the Epstein Files of Republicans only, is the rumor;
- Philip Glass: String Quartet #5.
As predicted, RFK Jr. has come up with a simple, simple-minded answer to the problem of autism.
CNN, 5 Sep 2025: Upcoming HHS report will link autism to common pain reliever, folate deficiency in pregnancy, Wall Street Journal reports
How clever of RFK to have found the solution after so many decades of actual autism researchers have failed to do so! (Has he checked whether this correlation exists in other countries? I doubt it.) That’s the conservative mindset for you: simple solutions to complex matters. And none of the actual medical experts are on board with this.
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We all know how much Trump wants a Nobel Peace Prize (and even a spot on Mount Rushmore!). But now he’s intent on renaming the Department of Defense the Department of War (at the cost of tens of millions of dollars to rebrand everything from buildings to stationery), he’s authorized extra-judicial destruction of 11 people on a suspected drug ship from Venezuela, and now this:
The Hill, 5 Sept 2025: Trump orders takedown of longtime protest tent at White House
President Trump ordered the removal of the White House Peace Vigil on Friday, marking an end to a 44-year protest against the nation’s nuclear weaponry and warfare.
A reporter informed the president of the ongoing protest — now manned by Philipos Melaku-Bello and a group of rotating volunteers — Friday in the Oval Office, describing the long-standing tent as an “eye sore” for visitors supported by the “radical left.”
“I didn’t know that. Take it down. Take it down today, right now,” Trump told staffers inside the White House.
Because nothing says Nobel Peace Prize than tearing down monuments to peace.
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Another perspective from Robert Reich about Trump the mob boss.
Robert Reich, 4 Sept 2025: Trump and the Art of Extortion, subtitled “How to understand his desire to control the Fed (and everything else)”
Beginning with some wonky details about Stephen Miran, Lisa Cook, and the Fed. But no one trusts Trump. If he exercises his current plans, Reich claims, the result will be the opposite of what he says he wants.
Money is not enough. He relishes the submission of others. He craves obsequiousness, groveling servility, and ass-kissing. He detests criticism. He wants to get even. He wants a Nobel Prize and his face carved on Mount Rushmore.
His goal is to achieve, or be perceived to have achieved, omnipotence.
And
Trump’s art of extortion involves finding things that other powerful actors and institutions depend on — research funding for Harvard (and other universities); access to the American market for Canada (and other countries); avoidance of environmental regulations for Big Oil; access to the government for Big Law; federal funding and freedom to operate without federal troops for mayors of “blue” cities and governors of “blue” states; supplies and components from abroad for big corporations.
Then he uses that dependence as pressure points to extort more money and submission.
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Only a rumor, but this is exactly the kind of thing they would do.
JMG graphics links are still not working, perhaps deliberately. I’ll query.
JMG, 5 Sept 2025: Top DOJ Official Caught On Secret Video Saying That “Every Republican” Will Be Redacted From Epstein Files
But not the Democratic ones.
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Philip Glass, String Quartet #5. Not a form you would think of him in. But it’s gorgeous, really.
Even people who don’t usually like Philip Glass sorta like… admire… this.
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Linus has not come home.
