Source: exile in happy valley
by Nicky Reid

“Agnes was who I was on the inside before the abuse, before being me became just too painful to consciously bare, and she has haunted me throughout my life, with terrifying flashbacks and a deep sense of guilt over some confusing notion that I had left something or someone behind. For a long time, I didn’t know what she was. I would get repeated waking visions of a little girl in pigtails and a black velvet party dress smashing all the stained-glass windows in my church. I took to calling her the little girl with the hammer, but it was only when I gave her the name Agnes and decided to listen to what she had to say that she began talking back to me …” (11/01/26)

https://exileinhappyvalley.blogspot.com/2026/11/my-life-in-skull-of-ghosts-confessions.html

Source: CounterPunch
by Binoy Kampmark

“Should criminals be allowed the softening joys of favourite foods and longed for staples? The overcooked roast, the undercooked dumpling? And, for Australians, a foodstuff (hardly a food) so reprehensible it would draw disapproval from any respectable panel from UNESCO? Last month, Andre McKenchnie, a convicted murderer detained at Victoria’s Barwon Prison, attempted to test the judicial waters that not being allowed to consume the famous yeast spread of Vegemite was a denial of human rights under the Victorian Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act, specifically the right to ‘enjoy his culture’ as an Australian.” (11/02/26)

https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/11/02/prison-gastronomy-vegemite-as-a-cultural-right/

Source: The American Prospect
by Davide Mamone

“Her full name is Regina Inez Hinojosa, but almost nobody in Texas calls her that. From the people she met on the streets during the final stretch of her campaign to her own staff, Hinojosa is simply ‘Gina’. Her hope, and that of the Democratic Party, is that her nickname will soon become ‘Governor Gina’, as volunteers and supporters chanted while welcoming her to Fort Bend County ahead of a canvassing event this weekend. A civil rights lawyer by training and a former Austin school board president, Hinojosa challenged incumbent Greg Abbott for Texas governor with a message that goes beyond the usual Democratic arguments about Republican extremism. Unlike many of her predecessors, she has explicitly focused her campaign on reining in corporate welfare, while supporting public education and expanding the safety net for middle-class families.” (11/02/26)

https://prospect.org/2026/11/02/texas-gina-hinojosa-greg-abbott-corporate-welfare-consensus/

Source: Big Head Press
by Scott Bieser

Cartoon. (11/01/26)

https://www.quantumvibe.com/strip?page=2613

Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L. Knapp

“I’d like to say ‘don’t panic,’ and that’s exactly what I will say — not because I’m convinced nothing bizarre is about to happen, but because ‘prepping’ is always good advice anyway. These news cycle indicators may or may not be predictive in the near term, but laying in some shelf-stable food and bottled water can’t hurt and will stand you in good stead for even the smaller ‘disasters’ that have always been part of life (blizzards, hurricanes, etc.). IS something big coming? I haven’t the faintest. I don’t move in circles of power where I’d pick up that kind of thing before you. That said, we live in a time of multiple escalating crises.” (11/01/26)

https://thegarrisoncenter.org/archives/20962