1 PIX = 1K WORDS / HALLOWEEN SEASON / PUMPKIN FIELDS CARLSBAD, CA

THE FOODIST / CHILL IN THE AIR OLD FASHIONED BEEF STEW.

GUEST BLOG / By Molly O'Neill, The New York Times.-This classic stick-to-your-ribs stew is the ideal project for a chilly weekend. Beef, onion, carrots, potatoes and red wine come together in cozy harmony. If you are feeding a crowd, good news: It doubles (or triples) beautifully. No recipe.  Easy to follow along on the video.

https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/4735-old-fashioned-beef-stew 

Total Time 2 hours 45 minutes 

Prep Time 15 minutes 

Cook Time 2 hours 30 minutes 

IT'S NATIONAL MEOW DAY. PURR-FECT

Fine, but where's the treats you promised?

Today’s the day the cats pretend not to notice they’re being celebrated. National Cat Day began in 2005 to promote adoption and honor the feline species—who, of course, already consider every day their own. Give your cat an extra treat, a soft nap spot, or simply the illusion of your undivided attention. After all, they’ve been running the show since ancient Egypt. 

AMERICANA / MORE POLITICAL CARTOONS

 

AMERICANA / ANONYMOUS RETURNS TO DEFEND FREE SPEECH

Who Is Anonymous? 

Before reading on, watch this short YouTube video for a glimpse into the mystery and message behind the collective known as Anonymous. 

You Tube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_sEmScu3Lw

Anonymous isn’t a single person—it’s an idea. Born from the chaotic forums of the early internet, it became a faceless global movement against censorship, corruption, and abuse of power. 

The Guy Fawkes mask, borrowed from V for Vendetta, symbolizes defiance and unity without ego or hierarchy. 

Members—hackers, whistleblowers, digital activists—operate in loose networks, sometimes moral vigilantes, sometimes controversial saboteurs. 

Whether celebrated as freedom fighters or condemned as cybercriminals, Anonymous forces society to confront the uneasy truth: in the age of total surveillance, anonymity itself is an act of rebellion. 

You decide.  Fake News? or Thomas Paine?

Note: PillartoPost.org is not a member of Anonymous. PillartoPost.org is exercising its right of free speech as a media outlet to publish as news that Anonymous has returned to the Internet--most recently on YouTube.

MEDIA MONDAY / WARNING: STOCK MARKET IS LOOKING LIKE A BUBBLE

Artificial Intelligence stock market bubble: Child's play...OR

GUEST BLOG / OPINION ESSAY AS PUBLISHED IN THE NEW YORK TIMES--By Jared Bernstein and Ryan Cummings. You may remember the recession that followed the collapse of dot-com stocks in 2001. Or, worse, the housing crisis of 2008. Both times, a new idea - the internet, mortgage-backed securities and the arcane derivatives they unleashed - convinced investors to plunge so much money into the stock market that it inflated two speculative bubbles whose inevitable bursting created much economic pain. 

 We believe it's time to call the third bubble of our century: the A.I. bubble. 

 While no one can be certain, we believe this is more likely the case than not. Investment in artificial intelligence has been so huge - with venture capitalists investing nearly $200 billion in the sector this year alone. Additionally, data-center investment has tripled since 2022. Together, these investments are driving growth across the entire economy, pumping up the stock market and generating increasingly eye-popping valuations of the technology firms driving the A.I. revolution. 

 In financial markets, a bubble occurs when the level of investment in an asset becomes persistently detached from the amount of profit that asset could plausibly generate. While investors are always making bets on an unknown future, bubbles form when large swaths of investors continuously pour ever more into an asset, with seemingly little regard for how much it could earn and when. 

 Artificial intelligence investment fits that pattern. 

 One huge AI entity namely OpenAI says it needs at least $1 trillion to invest in data centers that provide the electricity, computing power and storage to train and run A.I., yet the company's revenues are expected to amount to $13 billion this year. And since the debut of ChatGPT, an easily accessible A.I. chatbot, in late 2022, the S&P 500 has swelled by nearly two-thirds, with just seven firms - all of whom have invested heavily in A.I. - driving more than half of that growth. Or take a look at the price-to-earnings ratio - a common measure of how much the future profits of a company are valued over current ones - of the stocks of companies heavily invested in A.I. They are at levels not seen since the dot-com bubble of 2000. 

 HELLO. Shares of the A.I. chipmaker Nvidia are trading at roughly 55 times earnings, nearly double what they were a decade ago. And by our own estimates, the share of the economy devoted to A.I. investment is nearly a third greater than the share of the economy devoted to internet-related investments back then. 

 All this points to one conclusion: Should lackluster A.I. performance or sluggish adoption cause investors to doubt these lofty profit expectations, this probably-a-bubble will pop. And a lot of people, not just wealthy investors, will get hurt. 

 Adoption, both by firms and individuals, is clearly growing, but whether this adoption is generating big productivity benefits or profits remains to be seen. 

 Of course, we cannot rule out the possibility that this time is different, and unlike the railroad [19th century] and internet bubbles [20th century], A.I. in 21st century is an epoch-shifting technology that generates its promised economic benefits relatively quickly. 

 If that occurs, say, over the next five to 10 years, the future profits generated by A.I. could justify the levels of investment we're observing today (it was in this spirit that Microsoft's chief executive, Satya Nadella, recently said, "I hope we don't take 50 years"). 

 It is also impossible to know when we're at the top of a bubble, which is a reason investors tend to keep piling in. 

 But we're skeptical. Look at what happened with the internet. In the dot-com bubble of the late 1990s, hype around that revolution allowed companies like Pets.com to raise over $80 million in an initial public offering, even though its business model, which involved spending too much money to sell unprofitable pet supplies, was questionable at best. Less than nine months after its I.P.O., the company went bankrupt - and many other busts soon followed. 

 The belief that the internet would become a transformative technology was eventually correct, but investors during the dot-com bubble were wrong about the winners and their timing. 

 The economic impact generated by a bursting of the A.I. bubble would be greater than the loss of the trillions currently being invested to build the technology itself. The stock market, one of the brightest parts of the current economy and heavily dependent on A.I. ebullience, would also tumble. That, in turn, will diminish the "wealth effect," or the way that stock market gains support consumer spending. 

 Using data from the economist Mark Zandi, we found that over the past two years, real consumer spending is up 17 percent for the wealthiest households, who disproportionately hold stocks, but flat for the middle class. Mr. Zandi estimates that the A.I. wealth effect is speeding current real gross domestic product growth by about 0.4 percentage points (just under $100 billion), comparable to the peak of the dot-com bubble, when the wealth effect was 0.6 percentage points. 

 There is a bit of a silver lining. 

 As best we can tell, the damage of a potential A.I. bubble would not approach the carnage that resulted from the bursting of the housing bubble and the financial crisis of 2007 and 2008. While banks, private credit and private equity are all lending heavily to companies that are building and leasing A.I. data centers, this debt appears less distributed and embedded in global finance than it was back then. 

 What's more, the risks are not obviously or systemically underpriced, a factor that played a key role in spreading the contagion across the globe during the housing bubble. Prominent A.I. borrower, like CoreWeave, are paying 9 percent on their debt, well above the current risk-free rate on 10-year Treasuries of around 4 percent. 

 Our economy faces real risks. If A.I. is in a bubble, and its valuations relative to its expected payouts start to alarm investors, the bubble will burst. The ensuing wealth losses and impact on consumer spending could, once again, be recessionary, though there's a good chance the damage won't be nearly as bad as the last bubble. Granted, that's not good news. But it could be worse. 

Artificial Intelligence stock market bubble: Child's play...OR DOOMSDAY!

###

 ABOUT THE AUTHORS. Mr. Bernstein was the chair of President Joe Biden's Council of Economic Advisers from 2023 to 2025. Mr. Cummings served the council as an economist from 2021 to 2023. 

FLASH NOIR / THE CAPTURE

Fiction by Janus Pell--The Treviso sun spilled across the checkerboard plaza, warming the stone and the chrome tables of Caffè Libretto, a narrow-unmarked spot at the corner of Via Sile. 

 Tourists--some taking selfies and others on cellphones--thought they were enjoying an ordinary Italian lunch hour. 

 They weren’t. 

 A woman in a dark jacket crossed the piazza, casual in stride, eyes fixed on the caffe door. Her hand brushed the outline of her badge, then her pocket. She’d been waiting. 

 Then he appeared from inside the unmarked Caffè Libretto — the man in the pale blue shirt. He stepped into the sunlight, phone at his ear, confident, cautious, too big city for a local. 

 Nearby, a man in a green-and-white cap was talking quietly with a woman standing in front of him. To anyone else, they looked like a couple sharing gossip. In truth, she was feeding him live details, her gaze glanced off his shoulder. “Blue shirt just came out,” she murmured. “That’s him.” 

Green Cap gave a small nod, eyes never shifting toward the caffé. He wasn’t near the river; he was exactly where he needed to be — between the caffé’s patio and the narrow side lane that led back into the downtown Treviso. 

 To the suspect’s right, another man stood half-turned, savoring an espresso, calm as a priest before Mass. He stared directly at the man. 

 Four of them now: 

 --the woman crossing the plaza, 

 --the seated woman giving intel, 

 --the Green-Cap decoy, 

 --the espresso sentinel. 

 The net was already drawn. 

 The man in the blue shirt pocketed his phone. Something in the air changed — a silence under the noise of cups and chatter. He hesitated swamped by a chilling gut feeling. 

 The woman entering the plaza closed the distance--running. “Polizia,” she  shouted. “Fermo dove sei.” 

 The espresso cup touched the table without a sound. 

Green Cap shifted once, sealing the lane. 

The suspect turned and saw 9mm service weapons aimed in his direction. He froze in order hot to die. It ended for him--the geometry, the stillness, the inevitability. 

 The small Italian piazza kept its sunlight, its tourists, its calm, only the pigeons had abandoned the scene. 

 The capture was over before the coffee cooled. 

 A Paris cell awaited the jewel thief's return. 

*** 

Note: The action depicted in the photo accompanying this fiction is from a public domain travel image and has nothing to do with the fictional crime portrayed. 

COFFEE BEANS & BEINGS / TARIFF TSUNAMI

How Much $ Are Tariffs Pulling Out of Your Pocket as You Stand in Line at Peet’s or Starbucks? 

 If your daily cappuccino suddenly costs more, you are not imagining it. Coffee prices across the United States have climbed sharply this year, and new federal tariffs are part of the reason your wallet feels lighter. 

In August 2025, the United States imposed a fifty percent tariff on green coffee beans imported from Brazil, the world’s largest producer. Other origins saw smaller but still painful surcharges, generally ten to nineteen percent depending on category. Those numbers may look abstract, but they are now filtering down to café counters from Portland to Palm Springs. 

According to government price indexes, coffee prices overall are up about twenty point nine percent year over year. The national median price of a small coffee drink, think cappuccino or latte, sits around three fifty to three seventy five depending on region. Layer tariff pass-through on top of inflation, and that same cup that cost four dollars last year now often rings at four and a quarter to four fifty. 

Independent roasters and café owners report the tariff increase alone adds roughly ten to fifty cents per cup, depending on bean origin and supplier contracts. A small shop in New York reported a full ten percent menu bump just to stay solvent after the tariff hit. Large chains such as Peet’s and Starbucks, which are better equipped to hedge prices, are also adjusting base pricing to reflect higher import costs. 

In short, your morning coffee habit is absorbing both global politics and climate volatility. Tariffs, weather shocks, shipping, milk, rent, and labor have joined forces in the final price of a cappuccino. 

So the next time you are waiting in line for your usual at Peet’s or Starbucks, that extra half dollar you hand over is not just for foam; it is the tariff toll on our collective caffeine routine. 

FRIDAY FIASCO / THE SHAME OF WHAT AMERICAN HISTORY LOST WHEN THE EAST WING FELL

THE VANISHING WING

A PillartoPost.org Opinion Essay.

By PillartoPost.org / History is supposed to whisper from the corners of a building. The White House once did that flawlessly—its plaster seams, its creaking floors, its echoes of laughter and argument belonging to everyone who ever stepped inside. 

But this week, as demolition crews reduced the East Wing to dust, a quiet century of memory was carried off in dump trucks. The East Wing was born of war, not vanity. In 1942, as German U-boats prowled the Atlantic and the fear of attack reached Washington, Franklin Roosevelt ordered architect Lorenzo Winslow to design an unobtrusive structure on the southeast side of the Executive Residence. 

Its real purpose lay underground: a reinforced shelter—the Presidential Emergency Operations Center—hidden beneath a modest reception hall. Above it, the First Lady’s staff and visiting dignitaries found temporary offices; below it, the continuity of government found a fortress. 

Its architecture was deliberately unassuming. The West Wing might have held the nerve center of policy and power, but the East Wing balanced it—the yin to the yang of executive command—a place where humanity and hospitality entered through the same door. 

For eight decades, the East Wing served as the unofficial chamber of America’s evolving womanhood in public life. Eleanor Roosevelt held all-female press conferences there, signaling that the modern First Lady would be more than a hostess. 

Jacqueline Kennedy used the same hallways to direct her historic restoration of the mansion, turning faded relic into national museum. 

Betty Ford, Rosalynn Carter, Nancy Reagan, Hillary Clinton, and Michelle Obama followed—each leaving an imprint of policy, poise, or reform. Their causes—equal rights, health awareness, arts, nutrition—were first drafted in those compact rooms where the nation’s social conscience often outpaced its politics. 

Losing that space severs a visible timeline of the First Ladies’ expanding influence. 

The offices were not ornate, but they held the fingerprints of progress. Tourists rarely thought of the East Wing as glamorous, yet it was their entrance. School groups began their White House tours there; service members received medals in its foyers; staffers composed invitations by hand in its basement calligraphy room. 

To walk those corridors was to see the living heartbeat of the People’s House. 

Moments before the bulldozers attacked our house

Demolition doesn’t just remove walls—it wipes away the memory of movement: the click of heels on marble, the murmur before a state dinner, the applause from a Christmas choir. The East Wing’s modest grace was democracy’s front porch. 

Beneath all this civility sat the Presidential Emergency Operations Center, the White House’s subterranean command post. Conceived after Pearl Harbor, expanded during the Cold War, and used during both 9/11 and January 6, it symbolized the endurance of the republic when chaos reigned above. 

Though officials promise a modernized facility elsewhere, the destruction of its original structure erases a Cold-War relic every bit as instructive as a fallout shelter or missile silo—one that quietly guaranteed the continuity of civilian rule. The East Wing was never designed to impress; it existed to steady the presidency. 

It offered proportion—a counterweight of modesty beside the grandeur of the residence and the high-octane West Wing.

In its absence rises the skeleton of a ballroom, paid for by private donors, rationalized as modernization. But in the exchange, something immaterial has been lost: the nation’s sense that its leaders inherit, rather than possess, the house they occupy. 

The bulldozers may or may not have acted lawfully; the loss is moral, aesthetic, and civic. 

You cannot rebuild provenance. You can only remember it. 

TRUMP DESTROYS HISTORIC EAST WING:

Sources: National Archives; Library of Congress Architectural Division; Society of Architectural Historians Statement (Oct 2025); Washington Post, NPR, AP, Tribune Content Agency and Reuters coverage of East Wing demolition.  

THE FOODIST / YES IT'S POSSIBLE TO EXPORT FLAVOR ACROSS INTERNATIONAL BORDERS

TACOS EL FRANC COMES NORTH: TJ’S MICHELIN-RECOGNIZED TAQUERÍA ARRIVES IN NATIONAL CITY (SAN DIEGO COUNTY). 

By Holden De Mayo, PillartoPost.org Taco Editor 

There’s a new smell wafting through Westfield Plaza Bonita—smoke, spice, and nostalgia. The legendary Tijuana taquería Tacos El Franc, a Michelin-recognized name south of the border, has opened its first U.S. outpost, and for taco traditionalists it’s a small culinary border crossing worth celebrating. 

Founded in 1974 as a humble street stand and later a brick-and-mortar on Tijuana’s busy Avenida Sonora, El Franc’s journey north feels like a victory lap for a city whose tacos have defined an entire region’s appetite. 

The new location sits inside the large mall’s restaurant wing, next to the kind of chain eateries that make this debut all the more audacious. Instead of neon margaritas and frozen platters, El Franc doubles down on simplicity—meat, tortillas, and smoke. 

A wall of sizzling grills anchors the room, and the scent of adobada—marinated pork carved straight from the spit—drifts toward the terrazas where diners crowd in after a day of shopping. 

Two patios, a modest bar, and a bright open kitchen lend a casual elegance, polished but not pretentious. What the space lacks in street-corner grit it makes up for in confidence. 

There’s an understanding among staff and customers alike that this is no experiment—it’s a translation. Partner Roberto Kelly, speaking at the opening, promised “authentic tacos as if they were on the other side of the border.” 

On that point, the kitchen delivers. The adobada taco remains the headline act: smoky, pepper-bright, with just enough fat to melt into the tortilla. The carne asada—grilled over mesquite—lands juicy and fragrant, especially when chased with a spoon of their green salsa, sharp with lime and cilantro. 

The supporting cast is equally strong: tripa, suadero, cabeza—each with its own rhythm of texture and seasoning. Quesadillas ooze a clean, salty cheese that softens the edges of the spice, while the beef-tallow fries are a guilty-pleasure side that probably shouldn’t exist but thankfully do. 

Tortillas are sturdy, handmade, and warm; salsas come in small bowls rather than packets, as they should. 

Prices reflect the move north—tacos run around three to four dollars each, more than Tijuana’s curbside rates, but fair for the quality and setting. 

Union-Tribune photo

Service is brisk and friendly, with the kind of practiced ease that shows the staff have eaten here too. Lines can grow long at dinnertime, so aim for a late lunch if you want elbow room. Some may miss the chaos of the original—cars idling, horns blaring, smoke curling into the night air—but authenticity isn’t always about the street corner. 

El Franc’s National City edition is an act of preservation: same recipes, same rhythm, but in a space where Southern Californians can linger over their tacos instead of rushing back across the border. 

After nearly five decades of perfecting the humble taco, El Franc arrives in the U.S. like an old band on a new stage—tighter, cleaner, but still with soul. If this first location is any sign, the franchise has managed what few taquerías can: exporting flavor without losing faith.

USA location: National City/Bonita shopping mall

DESIGN / WEARABLE DARK MATTER

 Some mornings, all the design you need for Halloween fits on a T-shirt. Case in point: this clever “Raven Crow Coffee” look from Shawn Craft. It pairs a stoic blackbird and a steaming mug under the words, “Hello Darkness My Old Friend.” Whether you’re quoting Simon & Garfunkel or summoning your first cup of the day, the humor lands dark, smooth, and perfectly roasted. Order this
tee (sizes L–XXL) directly from Shawn Craft’s online shop or via their social media ad feed. A fine way to declare your devotion to both caffeine and irony. 

ARS HUMANA / WHY THE NINES ARE SO HISTORICAL

 

[Original Essay by PillartoPost.org]--To be "dressed to the nines" is to be turned out with obsessive care, finished to perfection. The phrase goes back to eighteenth-century Scotland, when "to the nines" meant "to the highest degree." It's a tidy metaphor for the way history piles up, polishing a decade until its final year shines--or cracks--and a new one steps into the light. 

For our purposes, one observation makes 1979 perhaps the most amazing year so far: The genesis of the Information Era because 1979 was the last year of the analog era. After that, the world began to recompose itself on silicon, not steel. 

 By the mid-1980s, the personal computer had left the lab bench, and household routine found new electrical habits. Marking 1979 this way sharpens the pattern. Years that end in nine often feel like thresholds because they're where a decade's energy--its appetites, technologies, resentments, and experiments--either culminates or explodes. 

Consider the sequence, the ways the nines keep showing up as hinge points you can touch, taste, or hold in your hand. 

--1789 brought the French Revolution, which remade politics and manners across Europe. 

--1809 gave us the birth of Abraham Lincoln in Kentucky; a century later, in 1909, his face went into every American palm when the Lincoln cent debuted, the first U.S. coin to carry a president's likeness. 

--1849 pulled a continent west with gold fever. 1869 welded oceans together as the transcontinental railroad joined the American coasts and the Suez Canal opened to the world. 

--1899 gave us aspirin, Bayer's new medicine that became the first mass-market pharmaceutical and changed the way pain and fever were treated everywhere. The twentieth century's nines were no less dramatic. 

--1919 breathed new borders and fresh grievances into Europe after the Great War. 

--1929's Wall Street crash plunged economies into ruin. 

--1939 ignited the Second World War. 

--1949 set the Cold War's architecture--NATO on one side, the People's Republic of China on the other. 

--1959 was a cultural coda: Chevrolet's extravagant tailfins marked the end of yearly motor-car theatrics. 

--1969 moved the human species off its ordinary stage with the moon landing and Woodstock, a literal and figurative leap. Then comes the pivot: 

--1979, the last full year the world could still, with a straight face, call itself analog. After that, microchips and software replaced levers and ink. 

--1989 tore down the Wall in Berlin. 

--1999 gave us Y2K jitters and the height of the dot-com bubble. 

--2009 blended the inauguration of Barack Obama, a symbolic global moment, with the accelerating rise of smartphones and social media, tools that now shape how publics gather and how commerce spreads. 

2019 closed the arc with protests across global cities and, almost unnoticed, the first cases of a virus in Wuhan that would infect the world and define the decade to come. We still call it Covid-19.

There is no mystical rule about the digit nine. It is, however, a useful seam through which to read history. It is part coincidence, part human habit--we like round numbers and tidy chapter endings. 

End of an era 1959 Chevrolet

But when you pull the thread you find not just politics but everyday artifacts: the penny in your pocket, the aspirin bottle in the cabinet, the Chevrolet with its last extravagant fins, the typewriter that gave way to a keyboard, the phone that gave way to the screen in your hand. Those small things matter because they shape how people live. 

That is why the nines look less like numerology and more like a ledger of consequence aka watershed years.

 

MONDAY MEDIA / SUPERMOON SHOTS

 

The Harvest Supermoon sets in the clouds behind the city landmark, a weather vane in the form of an angel fixed atop a spire of the Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg, Russia, early Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky) 

Things are so hot on planet Earth lately. Let's look to the sky for some peace. 

GUEST BLOG / By The Associated Press--October’s supermoon — a phenomenon when the moon is closest to Earth, making it appear larger and brighter — is the first of three this year. The subtle difference can be observed without special equipment if skies are clear. This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors is worthy of a National Geographic Magazine spread. 

Over the Harbor Freeway, Los Angeles, Monday, Oct. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong) 

Rising behind the Statue of Liberty and the Brooklyn skyline, Monday, Oct. 6, 2025, in Jersey City, N.J. (AP Photo/Adam Gray) 

Supermoon rises behind spires of the Duomo gothic cathedral, in Milan, Monday, Oct. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno) 

Tower Bridge, Monday, Oct. 6, 2025, in London. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson) 

Over San Francisco Bay and behind the Bay Bridge as seen from
Alameda, Calif., Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez) 

NO KINGS RALLY GOES PEACEFUL

 MORE THAN 7 MILLION PROTEST TRUMP & CRONIES & POLICIES ACROSS AMERICA.  LARGEST NATIONAL PROTEST IN THE HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY

SUNDAY REVIEW / A SHORT STORY BY THE FIRST WOMAN NOBEL PRIZE WINNER IN LITERATURE

 

FROM A SWEDISH HOUSEHOLD [aka "The Cowboys"] 

GUEST BLOG / By Selma Lagerloff, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1909, becoming the first woman ever to receive the award. The Swedish Academy praised her “lofty idealism, vivid imagination, and spiritual perception.” 

*** 

It was late in the autumn when the two poor vagrants came to the homestead. They had tramped far, and the woman carried a child on her back; both were tired and hungry. 

The husband was away, but the woman of the house received them kindly and set food before them. When she had given them what she could, she said: “You must go on your way now, for my husband will soon be home, and he does not like tramps about the place.” 

But the man answered: “We can go no farther tonight. We are so worn out that we must lie down and sleep, even if it be out on the road.” 

Nobelist Selma Lagerloff

The mistress was troubled, for she knew her husband would be angry if he found them there. Yet she could not turn them away. At last she said: “Well then, you may sleep in the barn, but you must be gone before he comes in the morning.” 

So she led them to the barn, spread hay for them, and they laid themselves down. The woman laid the child by her side, and soon all three were asleep. 

When the husband came home that evening, his wife told him of the wanderers and begged him not to be angry. 

Angry from fear he said: “We cannot harbor such folk. You do not know who they may be. There are many thieves and evil-doers abroad. If they are found here, we may come to harm.” 

The woman pleaded for them, but he was not to be moved. 

In the morning he went to the barn to send them away. There he found them still asleep, but when he looked closer his heart was struck with fear, for he saw that they were the outlaws who had broken prison and whom all the country was seeking. 

He stole back to the house and told his wife. “Now you see what you have done,” he said sternly. “If they are found under our roof, we are ruined. They will say we have harbored them of our own will.” 

The wife was greatly troubled. “What shall we do?” she asked. “If we tell the officers, they will be taken and hanged. Yet if we let them go, we shall be thought guilty.” 

The man said: “There is but one thing to be done. We must fall upon them while they sleep and kill them. Then we can say we defended our house against robbers.” 

But his wife cried out: “No, that you must never do. Think of the poor woman and her child! Better let us perish than that innocent blood should come upon us.” 

Then the man said: “If we let them go, they will come back to us for food, and then we are lost. You do not know these outlaws; they are hard They will not leave us in peace.” 

Still the wife held firm. “I will never consent to it,” she said. “Let come what may, I will not have them slain here in their sleep.” 

The husband pondered long, but at last he yielded. “Well then,” he said, “we will let them go. But if evil comes of it, it will be on your head.” 

So they let the wanderers sleep in peace. At dawn the woman rose, slung the child again upon her back, and went forth with her man. They thanked the mistress for her kindness, but she only said: “Go quickly, and God be with you.”

And so they went their way. 

No one knows what became of them, but neither the master nor the mistress ever saw them again. 

COFFEE BEANS & BEINGS / TARIFFS AND COFFEE — IS THERE A PROBLEM?

 

Where is our modern day Samuel Adams to shout :...no taxation without representation?"  Did we the people mandate tariffs on our cups of coffee?  Hell, no.  Fuck those who did!

What's in the cup next to your computer keys?  Tea?  Unlikely.  Instead our daily ritual is under siege.  And are you going to let Washington rip the coffee mug from your hand?  Enough.  Stand up to the Orangutan! 

Meamwhile, at dawn's early light, the grinder hums, the kettle hisses, and the dark liquid fills the cup. But behind that ordinary comfort is a policy move in Washington that threatens to turn coffee—the most democratic of beverages—into a luxury. 

This year, new tariffs dropped like a hammer on imports from key trading partners. Rates run from 10 to 50 percent. Unlike steel or textiles, coffee has no domestic fallback. The United States does not grow enough beans to matter. Every sip depends on international supply chains, and every tariff mark-up lands directly in the consumer’s cup. 

The result has been swift and sharp: coffee prices up more than 20 percent in a single year, according to the Consumer Price Index. In cafés, the chalkboard menus creep higher by the week. Roasters face impossible margins. At grocery stores, shoppers grimace, downgrade brands, or quietly walk away from the aisle. 

The anxiety is not about a latte—it’s about whether a morning habit, shared by two-thirds of American adults, is being priced out of reach. A bipartisan fix has been floated. Congressman Don Bacon of Nebraska and Congressman Ro Khanna of California have introduced a bill to exempt coffee and its derivatives—roasted beans, decaf, even husks—from the tariff regime. 

But the odds are long. Passage requires a divided House, a filibuster-proof Senate, and a willing president. Washington rarely aligns on consumer urgency, even when the evidence scalds. That is the ominous truth. Tariffs were meant to protect American industry. In the case of coffee, there is no industry to protect. There is only the consumer. And if the exemption fails, the most democratic drink in America may become the first casualty of a trade war few asked for. 

FRIDAY AND ANOTHER GREAT FALL FOR MCCONNELL

83 AND COUNTING

Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell, 83, fell to the ground in a Capitol hallway Thursday afternoon as he made his way to Senate votes. McConnell, who announced in February that he would not seek reelection, fell to the floor while two volunteers from the environmental advocacy group Sunrise Movement approached the senator and asked him a question about Immigration and Customs Enforcement actions. He did not respond to the question. But he did manage to rise and limp out of camera range. Wags not sympathetic to the ancient one wondered what would have happened if the question that was asked would have been about the Epstein saga. 

THE FOODIST / DREAMING OF THE BEST / VIA AI PIX

The 10 best restaurants in the USA as selected by leading AI sites: 

The French Laundry (Napa Valley) Yountville, CA

From ChapGPT5  

The following list is not a ranking of trends or fleeting hype. These are enduring temples of taste—each a destination where craft, art, and hospitality align so perfectly that the memory of one meal can haunt you for years. Call this list whatever you like—elitist, aspirational, impossible. But the next time you catch yourself daydreaming about the perfect meal, these are the places your mind will visit first. 

 1. The French Laundry – Yountville, CA – Contemporary French  A symphony of precision: stunning plating, seasonal brilliance, impeccable service. Expect enchantment, though ambition sometimes overshadows emotional resonance. 

2. Eleven Madison Park – New York, NY – Plant-Based Fine Dining  Artisanal, daring, boundary-pushing: the plant-based tasting is elegant and conceptually bold, though its lofty prices demand equally unforgettable execution. 

3. Alinea – Chicago, IL – Modernist / Molecular Gastronomy  Avant-garde theater disguised as dinner. Molecular tricks, edible balloons, and sensory playfulness. Sometimes brilliance eclipses warmth, yet every course insists food is art. 

4. Canlis – Seattle, WA – Pacific Northwest Fine Dining  Glass, water, mountain. Pacific Northwest elegance framed in family grace. Cuisine rooted in terroir and quiet mastery. Hospitality so gentle it hums. 

5. SingleThread – Healdsburg, CA – Japanese-California Fusion / Farm-to-Table  Japanese precision meets Sonoma abundance. Each dish whispers balance, season, and gratitude. Service feels ceremonial—an edible meditation in a room of light. 

6. Saison – San Francisco, CA – Wood-Fired Contemporary American  Fire-kissed luxury. Ingredients worshipped, flames speaking louder than words. The tasting evolves like jazz—smoke, silence, and sudden crescendo of ocean sweetness. 

7. Manresa – Los Gatos, CA – California Farm-to-Table  Farm-driven refinement from David Kinch’s garden muse. Earth, salt, and sun find harmony. Every bite tastes like the Santa Cruz morning dew. 

8. Per Se – New York, NY – French-American Haute Cuisine  Thomas Keller’s cathedral to craft. Polished as silver, restrained as prayer. Perfection practiced nightly, though its soul hides behind immaculate glass. 

9. Blue Hill at Stone Barns – Pocantico Hills, NY – Farm-to-Table American  Farm becomes fable. Dan Barber’s fields feed philosophy. Diners taste the soil’s intelligence—an honest sermon in the language of carrots and care. 

10. Le Bernardin – New York, NY – French Seafood  The ocean refined to art. Eric Ripert’s touch is precise yet soulful. Every plate glows with restraint, proof that purity still seduces.   

From Google's AI Mode: 

Atomix, New York City

 This site passed the buck and had others make its picks. Below are some of the most acclaimed restaurants in the U.S. based on the 2025 rankings by The World's 50 Best Restaurants (North America list), and the 2025 James Beard Foundation Award: 

From 50 World's Best Restaurants/North America List 

-- Atomix (New York, NY): Ranked #1, this intimate Manhattan restaurant serves a 12-course Korean tasting menu on bespoke ceramics. 

--Smyth (Chicago, IL): Ranked #4, this tasting menu-only spot sources produce from a dedicated local farm. 

--SingleThread (Healdsburg, CA): Ranked #8, this restaurant and inn features Japanese-inspired, sustainable kaiseki-style dining. 

--Le Bernardin (New York, NY): Ranked #9, this elite French restaurant is a New York institution, known for its refined seafood. 

--Le Veau d'Or (New York, NY): Ranked #10, this Manhattan institution was updated in 2024 and serves classic French fare. 

James Beard Foundation picks 2025: 

--Frasca Food and Wine (Boulder, CO): for its Northern Italian cuisine. 

--Jungsik (New York, NY): for its contemporary Korean fare. 

--Atomix (New York, NY): for sleek site; contemporary Korean menu.

--Kato (Los Angeles, CA): for its inventive Taiwanese-influenced cuisine. 

--Myriel (St. Paul, MN): for its elegant and thoughtful tasting menu. 

DESIGN / PRAGUE’S DANCING HIGHRISE

Prague has always been a city of poise and posture, but then came a building that decided to dance. Rising at the corner of Rašínovo nábřeží and Jiráskovo náměstí, overlooking the lazy bend of the Vltava River, the “Dancing House” looks like a waltz frozen mid-spin—a collision of whimsy and structural genius.  

Designed by Croatian-Czech architect Vlado Milunić in collaboration with Frank Gehry, the 1996 high-rise (officially called Tančící dům) still stops locals and tourists alike in their tracks. The left tower—curving, glassy, and almost shy—is said to represent the actress Ginger Rogers. The right—solid, concrete, confidently leaning into her—is her dancing partner, Fred Astaire. Together they turn an otherwise polite Prague skyline into a cinematic pas de deux of postmodern design.  

Architect Vlado Milunic

At the time, the city wasn’t quite ready. The structure, built on a lot bombed during World War II, divided opinion: was it an eyesore, or the bold future of Czech architecture? Nearly three decades later, the answer is clear. The Dancing House has become as beloved a landmark as the Charles Bridge or the Astronomical Clock—proof that a city rooted in Baroque and Gothic can still groove to modern rhythms.  

Inside, the building’s choreography continues—undulating corridors, mismatched windows framing the river like film stills, and a rooftop restaurant with panoramic views that make even skeptics forgive the daring curves below. Gehry once called it “a building that refused to stand still.”  

In a city famous for its cathedrals, spires, and cobblestones, the Dancing House is that rare architectural improvisation—part sculpture, part high-rise, all rhythm. 

 DESIGN FACTS  

Location: Rašínovo nábřeží 80, Prague 2, Czech Republic  

Architects: Vlado Milunić (Croatia/Czech Republic) & Frank Gehry (USA) 

Completed: 1996  

Style: Deconstructivism / Postmodern Expressionism  

Nickname: Tančící dům (“The Dancing House”), also known as “Fred and Ginger”  

Structure: Reinforced concrete core with glass-and-steel façade  

Height: 9 stories (plus rooftop terrace)  

Function: Mixed-use — offices, gallery, and rooftop restaurant “Ginger & Fred” 

Notable Feature: The rooftop dome sculpture—nicknamed “Medusa”—crafted from twisted metal tubes, representing energy and motion.

Atop the Fred & Ginger Restaurant

 

TIME TRAVEL / PUB CRAWL 79 BC

 

Good evening. This is Walter Concretus, reporting to you on a TV set not yet invented from the city of Rome. The year is 79 B.C. Dictator Lucius Cornelius Sulla, master of Rome by sword and decree, has shocked the Republic. He has resigned his office, disbanded his bodyguard, and returned quietly to private life. 

Tonight, we take you inside a popina*, where the common citizens of Rome react to this extraordinary event. The tavern is crowded. Soldiers who fought in Sulla’s campaigns drink beside merchants and freedmen. The marble counter is lined with steaming pots of lentils and spiced wine. Dice clatter on wooden boards, but conversation turns again and again to one subject: Sulla’s retreat from power. At one table, a grizzled veteran insists that the Republic is safe again, that no man will dare follow Sulla’s path. 

At another, a young tribune shakes his head — he warns that ambition is not so easily retired. Across the room, the tavern-keeper pours another cup, muttering that Rome has seen strongmen come and go, but the poor still pay for bread and wine. This evening, the popina* echoes with speculation. Will the Senate truly govern? Or has Sulla’s march shown every ambitious general the way to seize power? 

For now, Rome celebrates its dictator entering his favorite popina as a private citizen. 

But in the years ahead, history may remember 79 B.C. not as an ending, but as a beginning. 

This is Walter Concretus, CBS News. You are there. 

START MONDAY WITH GOOD NEWS / MERCY SHIPS: FLOATING HOSPITALS

Founded in 1978 by Don and Deyon Stephens, MercyShips.org is a humanitarian organization headquartered in Garden Valley (near Tyler), Texas. Its mission is as bold as it is simple: bring world-class surgical care directly to nations where access to safe surgery remains a luxury. 

Operating entirely on donations and volunteer service, Mercy Ships deploys fully equipped hospital ships to African ports, transforming harbors into floating medical centers.   

Each ship is a self-sustaining community. The Africa Mercy, a converted ferry launched in 2007, houses five operating rooms, an 82-bed recovery ward, laboratories, and accommodations for more than 400 crew members. The Global Mercy, commissioned in 2021, is the organization’s first purpose-built hospital ship. With six operating rooms and capacity for nearly a thousand people, it stands as the world’s largest civilian hospital ship.   

Life aboard these vessels is as challenging as it is purposeful. Volunteers—surgeons, nurses, engineers, teachers, cooks, and deckhands—sign on for months at a time. They share compact cabins, work long shifts, and take meals together in common dining halls. Many bring their families; schools on board ensure children continue their education while their parents serve. The environment is communal, international, and deeply mission-driven.   

Mercy Ships deployments, known as “field services,” typically last eight to ten months and occur only after an official invitation from a host nation. Advance teams work with local ministries of health to prepare for arrival. Once docked, surgeries begin immediately. Tumor removals, cleft palate repairs, orthopedic corrections, and cataract procedures are performed on board, while dental and eye clinics operate onshore. 

Deck officers aboard the Mercy Ship “Global Mercy” take a brief pause on duty. These maritime professionals help keep the hospital ship safely crewed and seaworthy as it delivers free surgical care along the African coast. 

Equally important are the training programs—local surgeons, anesthetists, and nurses learn techniques that strengthen their national health systems long after the ship departs.   

In 2024 alone, Mercy Ships completed 4,746 surgical operations and more than 13,000 dental treatments. With Global Mercy now fully operational, the fleet is expected to serve more than 1,500 surgical patients annually, expanding both reach and impact.   

The World Health Organization estimates that five billion people lack access to safe, affordable surgical care. In some African nations, nine out of ten who need an operation cannot obtain one. 

Mercy Ships does not claim to solve this crisis—but it bridges an immense gap, one patient and one surgery at a time.   

For the volunteers, it is a voyage of skill and spirit. 

For the patients, it is often a passage from despair to recovery. 

And for those who watch these ships sail, emblazoned with the promise of healing, it is proof that compassion can still chart a course across any sea.