10/01/26
Title
What An Imagination They Have
Good morning! It’s Thursday, October 1st.
International Coffee Day
Which… was also on Monday?
I don’t get it! Whatever. Happy coffee day
And now, the news.
Dubai Air
-via Reuters
Hey! A normal episode! Not a great episode, as far as like… these aren’t great stories. But hey! A normal episode.
Starting in Tel Aviv, where a flight full of passengers is feeling grateful and heroic, after a scary bit of time in the air.
A flydubai flight turned scary quickly when one of the pilots stabbed his co-pilot and attempted to crash the plane. The pilot who was stabbed was able to open the door to the cockpit. Passengers then entered the cockpit and found the co-pilot hitting a bunch of buttons of the plane. After a struggle, the passengers were able to restrain the co-pilot.
Flydubai regularly flies between Dubai and Tel Aviv, and the altercation took place over Saudi Arabia.
The exact motive for the near-crash is currently unknown, though Netanyahu has called it an attempted terrorist attack. Which… I do agree but as with anything coming from Netanyahu, you gotta take it with a grain of salt. So… tricky on either side.
But until we know more, right now the biggest thing is that everyone’s safe and sound, and tragedy was narrowly avoided because no-so-ordinary citizens stepped up.
Tennessee Execution
-via NBC News
After a lower court blocked the move, the Supremes ruled on Wednesday that 50-year-old Christa Pike can be the first woman to be executive in Tennessee in more than 200 years.
In 1995, 18-year-old Pike was with two others when they tortured and beat a 19-year-old classmate in their Job Corps program.
Pike doesn’t dispute the murder, but the jury that sentenced her to death never heard the horrors of her childhood, including sexual and physical abuse as well as neglect. Her lawyers believe if the jury had a chance to hear that, the death sentence wouldn’t have been picked.
As for the other two people who took part in the crime with her – one was 18 years old and sentenced to death as well, though the governor in 2010 changed her sentence to life in prison. Her boyfriend at the time was 17, and even though he participated just as much, he was sentenced to life in prison because he was a minor at the time of the crime. And finally, there was an 18-year-old who served as a lookout; she received probation in exchange for cooperation.
So Pike will be the only one set to die for this crime.
Paramount/WB Merger
-via NBC News
The $110 billion road to bad continues to be paved by the Ellison’s, and law, as a California judge on Wednesday approved Paramount Skydance’s settlement deal with California, and others, in order to take over Warner Bros.
Not sure what else to say here that I haven’t said already… it’s just bad. It’s bad for Los Angeles, it’s bad for consumers, it’s bad for people trying to make a career in this very silly field… it’s just bad all around.
But I guess because it’s good for Trump’s buddy’s kid, who cares?
Blackburn Sues Smith
Poor Jack Smith, aka Ted Lasso’s Coach Beard (I mean, come on… twins!), is in the news again. This guy… do you think he wishes he’d become, like, a chef or something?
First, he had to sit for Republican Senators who parade him out anytime they want to suck up to Trump, and that happened earlier this week so that they could ask him about his investigation into Trump’s various crimes. They’re just certain it was a witch hunt, all those investigations that turned into convictions for Trump.
What an imagination they have!
So they brought him back out on Tuesday and thought they had a layup when they said they had texts from his staff, talking about how he was at a Hawks game on February 3rd, which happened to be the day after Atlanta DA Fani Willis announced her relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade.
Not a great look, timing-wise
But fear not… he wasn’t at a Hawks game. He was at a Hawkeyes game… the Indiana Hawkeyes, a college basketball team that Caitlin Clark paid on. That’s the game he was at.
Professional basketball team the Hawks. College basketball team – the Hawkeyes. Two different teams!
But they thought they had him!
Republican Senator John Kennedy said Smith's actions made him “want to throw up in my mouth.” Omg… so dramatic!
Tedward Cruz said Smith's investigation was “the most egregious abuse of power in the history of the Department of Justice.”
EVER?? In the whole history??
Eric Schmitt called him a “total dirtbag” and then when he found out (I’ll circle back) that he was wrong about the basketball game, Schmitt was like “well I stand by calling him a total dirtbag.”
Also, he knew going into it that Smith was at a Hawkeyes game. He just wanted to have his little moment.
So that was Tuesday. Not really news, just an annoying thing (and super inappropriate. What a waste of our time and money)
And then on Wednesday, Senator Marsha Blackburn filed suit against Coach Beard saying he took her texts!
How dare—no wait, sorry. They’re related to the fact that Trump did an insurrection. I’m fine with that.
It’s been six years! Let it go!
Anyway, so we’ll see.. not a great week to be Coach Beard.
Coulda been anything else, actually. And yet, he spent his whole life being in service of this country and look at what he has to deal with.
And that’s it. That’s the news.
Hey, guess what… go Padres. We’re playing in October. We never get to play in October!!
I’m proud of the Padres! My gentlemen!!
Coffee, I guess? It gets multiple days.
But more than coffee, because just the very thought of you makes me energized… I’m proud of you.