“Calling all Iott Volunteers! Please join us for this very special pre-election rally with House Minority Leader, John Boehner. What a great way to start off our pre-election weekend. Please wear any Iott gear you may have!” [Iott campaign website, via The Atlantic]
Joe Manchin (D) has a new ad out for the West Virginia Senate race, and it trumps Carly’s demon sheep.
“We need 1,000 laser systems put in the sky, and we need it right now,” Raese is shown saying in the video clip.
Then in comes that John Williams Darth Vader theme music, images of people in storm trooper costumes on parade, and laser beams from the sky wiping out a public school, clean drinking water and a Social Security card. The final image: John Raese’s head on a storm trooper body, with laser beams raining down upon Earth in the background.
“John Raese’s ideas aren’t just crazy — they’re downright dangerous,” the announcer says.
[TPM]
It turns out that the Kentucky Rand Paul supporter who kicked the female Move On protester wasn’t the first old white guy to beat up on a young woman exercising her First Amendment rights. Turns out he was the second one to do so.
On October 15, Victor Phillips, 72, approached a group of five protesters standing outside the Walla Walla campaign offices of GOP senatorial candidate Dino Rossi. The group were wearing bags over their heads. He went up to one woman, aged 23, pulled the bag off of her head, and when she reflexively lifted her arm in self-defense, he hit her with “force,” according to the sheriff’s deputy who witnessed the entire incident and proceeded to arrest him for assault. According to TPM, Phillips told the police that he had wanted to “take a picture” of the woman.
[Tri-City Herald, via TPM]

Well, okay, not quite. More like field-testing:
Russian bears have grown so desperate after a scorching summer they have started digging up and eating corpses in municipal cemetries, alarmed officials said today. Bears’ traditional food — mushrooms, berries and the odd frog — has disappeared, they added.
Once offshore R&D is completed, the next phase will involve American cemeteries and Tea Party activists. Researchers hope that by ridding graveyards of their inhabitants, the chances of a Zombie Apocalypse will be greatly reduced. And with other species disappearing at an alarming rate, delicious McCorpses may be our only hope for survival.
Russian bears treat graveyards as ‘giant refrigerators’ [Guardian UK, via Yahoo]

Stinque World Domination Headquarters, Wednesday, 3:05 p.m.
We’re not sure what the Sky Gods are telling us, but it can’t be good.
“Mixing alcohol and caffeine is hardly a new concept, but a rash of cases involving students and others who landed at hospitals after drinking beverages that combine the two in a single large can has alarmed college and health officials around the country.” [NYT]
RedState is hawking a new video showing what happened prior to the Jackbootless Thug mistaking a MoveOn supporter for a cigarette stub:

NOJO • Tom Lehrer, 1928-2025 @JNOV: Does blockquote no longer work?Huh. Guess not.
JNOV • Tom Lehrer, 1928-2025 Oh shit. “ Cuban state media reported that 32 Cubans were killed in the U.S. attacks in…
JNOV • Tom Lehrer, 1928-2025 So…. Does blockquote no longer work? Am I 2026’s only loser? (see blurb)
JNOV • Tom Lehrer, 1928-2025 Welp Speaking to reporters on Air Force One, President Trump said that “Cuba looks like it is…
JNOV • Tom Lehrer, 1928-2025 My mood courtesy of Rhiannon Giddens: https://youtu.be/M7PvWw97Cq0
JNOV • Tom Lehrer, 1928-2025 A man who has his family and lackeys deeply embedded in every facet of our government is trying to…
JNOV • Tom Lehrer, 1928-2025 THIS IS NOT OKAY! WE’VE RUN THESE WAR GAMES FOR **YEARS**. SPOILER ALERT: A TON OF PEOPLE DIE.…
JNOV • Tom Lehrer, 1928-2025 FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK! WHAT. THE FUCK?!!?!
NOJO • Tom Lehrer, 1928-2025 @ManchuCandidate: Summer definitely disappeared.
MANCHUCANDIDATE • Tom Lehrer, 1928-2025 BTW, has your favorite fundies gone to Ratpure?