The Roundup

Donald Trump returns to the site of his first assassination with Elon Musk, a new market for the Trump Bible, and more!

Ethel Kennedy

Ethel Kennedy, the widow of Robert F. Kennedy, died yesterday at the age of 96. She was a staunch human rights advocate who left behind quite a legacy that includes not only her advocacy work but also her extended family, which includes her son, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the former independent presidential candidate who admitted to having a worm eat parts of his brain and doing something weird with a dead bear cub. (RFK Jr. has since gone on to suspend his campaign and become a Donald Trump supporter while the rest of the extended Kennedy family are supporting Kamala Harris.) Ethel Kennedy has had more than her share of heartbreak, including witnessing her husband's assassination while she was pregnant with her 11th child and outliving two of her sons, two of her grandchildren, and two of her great-grandchildren. One can only imagine how she must have felt about RFK, Jr.’s bizarre campaign over the past year.

Rest in Peace, Ethel Kennedy.

Donald Trump Returns to Butler, Pennsylvania

Not too long ago Donald Trump was the target of his first assassination attempt during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. This past weekend Trump returned to Butler for another rally that was the usual cringe that we have all expected from a typical Trump rally.

But then Elon Musk took to the stage where he was jumping around like he was a born-again Christian preacher who has just been touched with the Holy Spirit.

And if you think that those two pictures are full of cringe, you should see the video.

More Signs That Truth Social is in Trouble

Another indication that Donald Trump's Truth Social is destined to hit rock bottom (and maybe even go out of business) some time in the near future is that the company's chief operating officer has just resigned recently.

The So-Called “Generosity” of Elon Musk

On the surface it seems like a lovely gesture for Elon Musk to offer free one-month Starlink service to the victims of Hurricane Helene who are in places where fiber and cellular infrastructure has been knocked offline. It could've been a great way of redeeming himself for helping to spread those rumors that FEMA isn't helping hurricane victims because all of the money was spent on Ukraine. Until you read the fine print like Gizmondo did and find out that the user still has to shell out $400 for the dish itself. Once the dish arrives the user will still get the free 30 days then get automatically rolled into the $120 per month subscription fee after the free 30 days end. And that's not to mention that the person would have to find a functioning wifi or cellular signal in order to make the order online then wait 2-3 weeks for the satellite dish to arrive.

Is Elon Musk Really Trying to Buy Votes on Behalf of Trump? Is This Even Legal?

Elon Musk, through his own PAC, is urging people to sign his PAC's petition to support the constitutional rights to free speech and to bear arms with the goal of getting the signatures of 1 million voters in swing states. He added this: “Also earn $47 for every person you refer to sign the petition if they're in a swing state.” That sounds a lot like buying votes, which is illegal.

I'm old enough to remember just a few years ago when Starbucks attempted an Election Day promotion to encourage voting where anyone who went inside of any Starbucks location wearing one of those official “I Voted” stickers would get a free small black coffee (without any special flavor syrups or anything else added to it) and goverment officials told Starbucks that their promotion amounted to buying votes, even if Starbucks was only giving away coffee and not money. As a result Starbucks ended up giving away free small black coffees to anyone who asked for it on Election Day regardless of whether they had that “I Voted” sticker or not. If the government felt that giving away free coffee only to voters amounted to buying votes, wouldn't giving people $47 for getting voters who live in swing states to sign a petition also an attempt to buy votes? And that's not to mention that Musk has not said what he plans to do with the information that he has gathered on the swing state voters who signed that petition.

Like Mother, Like Son

You may wonder where did Elon Musk get the attitude that it's okay to resort to borderline illegal ways to get voters to vote for Donald Trump and his MAGA Republicans. Maybe he learned it from his mother. This week Maye Musk retweeted her son's tweet urging people to register to vote, especially in Georgia, whose deadline was on Monday. She added a message of her own: “The Democrats have given us another option. You don't have to register to vote. On Election Day, have 10 fake names, go to 10 polling booths and vote 10 times. That's 100 votes, and it's not illegal. Maybe we should work the system too.”

Actually what she is proposing is illegal but if she's anything like her son, nobody will be able to convince her to change her mind.

Russians Weigh in on the Trump vs. Harris Election

A few weeks ago I mentioned the Real Ukraine YouTube channel conducted street interviews where Ukrainians weighed in on who they want to win the upcoming US presidential election. Now the 1420 YouTube channel has conducted its own street interviews where Russians are asked who they want to win the US election next month and their answers are just as fascinating to hear as the Ukrainians’.

1420 also did this short interview with a currently unemployed Russian businessman on the current state of politics and freedom in his country that shows his incredible honesty along with a bit of sadness as he admits that being too outspoken can risk a prison sentence.

A Savage J.D. Vance Parody

Last month J.D. Vance stopped by a donut shop where he had this awkward encounter with the employees there.

Jimmy Kimmel recently had this J.D. Vance parody on his show that's totally hilarious.

What's even wild is that Haley Joel Osment totally nails it as Vance. You may even recognize the name because Osment is the onetime child actor whose most famous role was in The Sixth Sense where he uttered this famous line: “I see dead people.”

A New Market for the Trump Bible

Oklahoma Superintendent Ryan Walters wants to buy Bibles for the state's public school system despite the fact that this action could violate the separation of church and state clause in the First Amendment to the US Constitution. Let's put that constitutional issue aside for a moment and focus on what kind of Bible does Walters want to purchase for the schools. According to him, not any old Bible edition will do for the Oklahoma public schools. Walters has certain specific requirements for this Bible: it must be the King James Version; it must contain both the Old and New Testaments; it must include copies of the Declaration of Independence, the Pledge of Allegiance, the US Constitution, and the Bill of Rights; and it must be bound in leather or leather-like material. There is only one Bible edition currently in existence that meets all of those requirements: the Trump Bible. That's right, the Trump Bible. You can read more about it right here.

And While We are On the Subject of the Trump Bible…

Did you know that the Trump Bibles were made in China, the same country that the former president used to accuse of stealing American jobs? Or that the US Constitution, which is reprinted in this particular Bible edition, is missing amendments 11-27, which deals with issues like abolishing slavery, giving the right to vote to women, people of color, and 18-year-olds, the Electoral College, dealing with post-Civil War loyalty, limiting a president to serve only two terms, and eliminating a poll tax?

For Those of You Who are Thinking About Voting for Jill Stein

Last month I wrote a long diatribe on why the US Green Party is seriously screwed up and it's partly based on my own experience dealing with these people in the 1980s (when the now-defunct Citizens Party declared itself as a branch of the Greens in West Germany). A major problem is that, instead of building a genuine political movement starting at the state and local levels, the Green Party only fields presidential candidates once every four years where they tend to attack Democrats while not saying much about the Republicans. After Election Day they fade away for four years until the next presidential election and the cycle repeats itself. A case in point is Green presidential candidate Jill Stein. Recently Stein gave an interview for Newsweek that says it all about how she is actually helping Donald Trump to win the election next month—Jill Stein: How and Why I Will Stop Kamala Harris Winning the White House. If she successfully stops Harris from winning the election she will be helping to elect the preferred candidate of Vladimir Putin, the same Vladimir Putin who once dined with Stein in Moscow a few years ago.

In response to that Newsweek article a former neighbor and friend of Stein’s recently wrote an open letter to her that's definitely worth showing to anyone you know who is thinking about voting for the Green Party next month called Jill Stein, What the Hell Are You Doing?

And Finally

The Lincoln Project has compiled this short video of Donald Trump at his worst titled Things Fascists Say.

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