The Daily Stewart This Week

If you didn't see Jon Stewart's Monday hosting of The Daily Show, his Main Story was about Trump's diesel deal with Putin and Russia. And...it was wonderful. He was Jon Stewart at this outraged and hilarious best. I will say no more about that. As the screenshot below notes, he dealt with other issues, like the Paris riots -- and his commentary was wonderful and very funny. So, the whole episode was terrific. But mainly, Trump and the Putin deal. Just great.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjI3TM__A5o

Food for Thought

Here's another example of how desperate Trump is and how the MAGOP are showing that they have nothing to run on. Yesterday afternoon, the White House retweeted a post that Trump had made. This is what it was --

I so wanted to post a detailed response, but unfortunately Twitter limits a person to just 288 characters. So, I could only point out how ludicrous this is.

Of course, the starting point with anything from Trump is to put aside whether this graphic is even remotely true. On the good side, at least it doesn't have Sharpie marking overwriting facts. Also worth noting is how teensy the credits are for this graphic. But with the help of a magnifying glass, this is prices from January, 2025 to September, 2026, from the USDA Research Service with a qualifying parenthetical (more on that in a moment). But what also leaps out first is what a paltry list this is. Just eight food items that have (supposedly dropped in price.) And only one of them is something people would consider a main dish, chicken breast. But there are three fat-based foods -- cheese, butter and olive oil. As well as hearty grapes, tomatoes and oatmeal. And eggs. But that's it.

Never mind all the other grocery items, consumer goods and gas which have risen in price, let alone skyrocketed, since Trump said he would lower prices on Day One. That said, I did decide to check out chicken breasts, since that was the only protein main dish on Trump's graph. And it turns out that chicken breasts actually 5.7% higher! (You can confirm this with the chart from Macrotrends here.)

There was also a Community Note under Trump's graph, which Twitter noted as "Reader proposed context." What others pointed out in the note is that "U.S. food-at-home prices rose approximately 3.5% from January 2025 to September 2026 per BLS data." Additionally, it was commented that "The graphic selectively highlights declines in some items and uses wholesale prices for the eggs -90% claim. (Retail prices for eggs did fall, they explain, but half what the graphic claimed, "Approximately 54%" over the period per BLS average prices.)

Regular user comments were much more pointed. Many of them relying on their own graphics, like those pointing out gas prices today at $6.31 compared to $3.63 a year ago. Or more detailed ones likes this --

But the bottomline -- putting aside that they only had one "main dish" and got the price very wrong on that (rising in its cost, rather than lowering) and left out beef, which is controversial for Trump screwing over ranchers by importing it from Venezuela -- how clueless and tone deaf do White House officials have to be to post a mere eight food items to try and convince people (who actually shop for groceries every week) that "Real food, real savings" for their food wouldn't bring scathing ridicule and "Hey, you left out..." responses, most especially when those officials know how high prices and affordability are actual concerns in all polls from the American public. And when this is what you offer, two weeks before Election Day, when early voting has started, you are telling the American Public, "We have nothing." And reminding them of everything you've made worse. But then, as I've long-written, the problem for Trump isn't just Trump and his dementia, which is degenerative, but also that he's surrounded by unqualified incompetents who not only are unable to help him, but who know their only job -- and only way to keep their job -- is to say, "Yes, sir, that's a great idea! Grapes and cheese being lower is a winning argument for the Mid-Terms, assuming that's true, because it will help us with the hors d'ouevres crowd!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgdv7Ra_aW4

And I would of course be remiss -- being me -- if I didn't point out that, yes, that's Harry Secombe carving the turkey at the 1:17 mark.

There is Nothing Like a Dame -- and a Sir

For those who missed the conversation that Judi Dench and Ian McKellen had on stage which National Theatre at Home streamed for free yesterday, the site has left the 55-minute event online.

It's wonderfully entertaining.

Here it is --

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZ31YCHM0J8