Andy Goodwin

"Later, when the cameras were off, he said, 'Billy, look, you just tell them and they believe it. That's it: you just tell them and they believe. They just do.'" -- B. Bush

@wildeerstudio Alas, while I remember the video fondly, this is the first time I've seen this beautiful clip of Greta doing Lara in the backdoor with a strap on.

There will be a Halloween animation this year too. My personal favorite is the 2021 one. Do you remember it?

On this day in 1865, Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant. Lee showed up dressed in his best, looking like a dignified gentleman. Grant was covered in mud after riding all morning. Before anything was signed, the two men spoke about their shared service in the Mexican War -- a reminder that Confederates and Union soldiers were nonetheless countrymen tied by mystic chords of memory. Grant did not create terms of surrender to humiliate the South. Grant and Lincoln understood that to unify the nation, you could not imprison half of it. Confederates were allowed to keep their sidearms and personal horses. When Grant learned that Lee's men were quite literally starving after having not eaten for days, he ordered 25,000 rations sent to them immediately. Lee said this would have "a very happy effect" on his men. When Lee rode away after signing terms of surrender, Union soldiers cheered. Grant forced them to stop, reminding Union soldiers that Confederates were "now our countrymen" and there would be no cheering over their downfall. (In fact, days later when actual ceremonial surrender occurred, Union Gen. Josh Chamberlain reportedly ordered his men to salute passing Confederates as a sign of respect) Lee also worked diligently to stop Confederates from waging guerrilla warfare, encouraging them to set their arms aside and return home and in peace. He was a titan in his own right. If the spirit of 1865 had been driven by the urge to shame and punish, the Union would not have lasted. So many people today misunderstand that and as such, they try to rewrite America history. God Bless America.

We can't have clean energy because it will destroy the oil industry. We can't have healthcare because it will destroy the health insurance industry. We can't have peace because it will destroy the weapon industry. Capitalism built a system we can't afford to do the right thing.

Bill Barr in 2023: Trump is “a consummate narcissist, and he constantly engages in reckless conduct. He will always put his own interests and gratifying his own ego ahead of everything else, including the country's interests." *Barr endorsed Trump in 2024

Did you know that Israel was putting explosives in kid’s toys in Lebanon in the 80s? Israel created its problem in Lebanon.

Israeli Minister: 'Asking why we're starving Gaza is antisemitic.' Translation: Don't ask questions. Don't investigate. Don't report. Just accept the genocide. The word 'antisemitic' no longer means hatred of Jews. It means 'stop asking about our crimes'

Prominent Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh was arrested last week while alone at her home in Tehran. Her family fear for her health and safety and they do not know where she's being held. Nasrin's daughter Mehraveh Khandan sent us this exclusive message.

BREAKING: A “Vatican source close to Pope Leo XIV” tells NBC Chicago that the Pentagon meeting between Trump officials and the Vatican’s top American diplomat “was most unpleasant and confrontational.” This is now the fourth news outlet to describe the meeting in this way.

Sam Altman has admitted he is on a waitlist for a procedure that would digitize his brain. The procedure would kill him. He considers this an acceptable trade for digital immortality. This is the person making decisions about the future of artificial intelligence for hundreds of millions of users. A man who views ending his own biological life as a reasonable step toward uploading his consciousness to the cloud. These are not the priorities of a stable leader.

Dr. Kharrazi, a distinguished diplomat and key figure in Iran’s neuroscience, was martyred after succumbing to injuries from the US-Israeli attack. Targeting political figures violates the 1973 Convention. Is anything left of international law?

JD Vance has accused European countries of 'interfering in the Hungarian election',  after he travelled to Hungary to interfere in the election

Shutting down the National Forest Service is fucking insane. What the hell is Donald Trump doing? They’re just stripping the US government for parts like some hedge fund assholes, and people are going to be killed when fire season starts.

Ex-CIA Director, Petraeus: Ukraine will be the most important military industrial complex in the free world. It is producing cutting-edge unmanned systems in the air, on the ground and at sea. Software changes come in under a week, hardware changes every few weeks. 1/

Have you ever said UK-based BBC?

Sonia Sotomayor grew up in a housing project in the Bronx. Her father died when she was nine. Her mother raised two children alone, working long hours. She was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes as a child. Brett Kavanaugh’s father was a lawyer and business executive. His mother was a judge. He attended Georgetown Preparatory School, clerked for Anthony Kennedy, and eventually filled Kennedy’s seat. At the University of Kansas this week, Sotomayor described Kavanaugh’s concurrence in a case about immigration enforcement stops. He wrote that encounters with law enforcement tend to be “typically brief” and that most people “promptly go free.” Sotomayor’s response: “This is from a man whose parents were professionals. And probably doesn’t really know any person who works by the hour. Those hours that they took you away, nobody’s paying that person. And that makes a difference between a meal for him and his kids that night and maybe just cold supper.” The case involved an emergency order pausing lower court rulings that had barred immigration agents from targeting people based on race, employment, language, or presence at car washes, bus stops, and similar locations. The people being taken for “typically brief” stops are hourly workers. An hour away from a car wash or a loading dock is not a minor inconvenience. It is a measurable economic injury to a family with no margin. Sotomayor didn’t say Kavanaugh was dishonest. She said he doesn’t know. That’s a different and in some ways more structural critique. You cannot rule well on consequences you have never seen and cannot imagine.

🚨 The Pentagon summoned the Pope’s ambassador to a closed-door meeting and threatened him. Named official. On record. Undersecretary of Defense Elbridge Colby called Cardinal Christophe Pierre to the Pentagon and delivered this message: “The United States has the military power to do whatever it wants in the world. The Catholic Church had better take its side.” Then a U.S. official invoked the Avignon Papacy — the 14th century moment when the French monarchy used military force to physically remove the Pope from Rome and bend the Church to its will. The Vatican understood the reference immediately. The Pope’s planned visit to America for the 250th anniversary celebration was cancelled. And then something remarkable happened. The Pope didn’t retreat. He pressed harder. He called the war unjust. He called Trump’s threats unacceptable. He told Americans to call Congress.

Absolute bombshell on CNN. The Justice Department is desperately trying to protect fired AG Pam Bondi from testifying about the Epstein files. They claim her subpoena is invalid because she was fired. The Trump administration coverup is completely unraveling in real time.

This is a real picture, from the New York Times, of how Israel is "honoring" a ceasefire that *indisputably* includes the land you are looking at below. Pakistan literally *wrote the ceasefire* and has publicly said that there's no fuzz on the fact that Lebanon is included in it.

One of the most brazenly corrupt events in history will take place tomorrow when Jared Kushner represents the U.S. in critical negotiations with Iran to end the war while he accepts millions in fees (and billions in investments) from the Saudi gov’t which has been lobbying Trump to continue the war

Among the dead were also scores of children, a poet, an advocate for victims of the 2020 Beirut blast, two journalists and four Lebanese Army soldiers. The health ministry said 110 of those killed were children, women and elderly people. | The 10 minutes that set Lebanon ablaze by @rayajalabi ft.com/content/5501d3… via @ft