Only in Tennessee...
TENNESSEE SAYS IT FOLLOWED THE EXECUTION PROTOCOL PERFECTLY. THE WOMAN IS AWAKE AND TALKING.
Tennessee tried to execute Christa Pike on September 30 at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville. The state pushed two doses of pentobarbital. Media witnesses said she kept breathing, and at one point she appeared to snore. At 9:15 that night an ambulance and a fire truck pulled up to the prison, which is not a step in anybody's protocol. Later that night the Department of Correction said it had followed every step of the state's lawful, established execution protocol. So the official state position is that the procedure went exactly as written and the woman went to the hospital on a ventilator. Pike's lawyers say the IV lines were never placed correctly, that her veins blew, and that the drug pooled in her tissue instead of her bloodstream. They described her arms as swollen, burned and blistered. On Tuesday she woke up and started talking. Her own attorneys had believed she was brain dead and had been told she might be coming off life support. They call the recovery medically unprecedented, say she is angry and confused, and note that she is still shackled to the bed by arms she may never use again. Pike was sentenced in 1996 for the 1995 torture and killing of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, and Slemmer's family has backed the death sentence while saying the state handled this attempt absolutely terribly. Governor Bill Lee has halted executions for the year and ordered an outside review. He also halted them in 2022, after an investigation found officials breaking their own injection rules.
BRAZIL'S FRONTRUNNER IS THE SON OF A MAN DOING 27 YEARS FOR A COUP
Thousands of students filled downtown Rio on Wednesday, dressed in red and marching between two historic squares with signs reading "Never again Bolsonaro" and "No to the father, no to the son." The father is Jair Bolsonaro, serving 27 years for plotting a coup after losing in 2022. The son is Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, 45, who just took the first round with 47 percent to 80-year-old incumbent Lula's 45. Flavio has backed amnesty for dad, which is a bold thing to run on when your opponent can simply point at the prison. Nobody saw this coming, least of all the people paid to see it coming. Pre-election polling had Lula up by around three points. The actual count flipped that, and because neither man cleared 50 percent, they go again on October 25. Then there's Washington. Lula's campaign asked for a probe into the sudden US shutdown of consular services, calling it election interference, and points at tariffs of up to 50 percent, sanctions on a Supreme Court justice, and the revoked visa of Brazil's ambassador. The Trump administration declined to say whether it's trying to swing the vote. Trump has never formally endorsed Flavio, which at this point is about the only favor he hasn't done him.
MAN SKIPS HIS DELTA FLIGHT TO STEAL A JET TUG, CRASH IT, AND GO AFTER AMERICAN'S TOILET TRUCK
A 26-year-old was sitting in Terminal A at John Wayne Airport on Tuesday evening, booked on a Delta flight to Seattle. Instead he walked over to Terminal B, got an emergency exit door open, and stepped out onto the tarmac around 5:30 p.m., which is apparently a thing that can just happen in Orange County. He took an Alaska Airlines tug, the vehicle that tows jets and baggage carts, drove it around a live ramp, crashed it into another vehicle near Gate 7, then tried to steal an American Airlines lavatory service truck before Airport Police Services took him down. That is the truck that empties airplane toilets. Cops stopped him one airline short of the sweep. A SkyWest pilot got on the radio to ask ground control why law enforcement was swarming the vehicles behind his plane, and the controller told him someone stole a tug and a ground stop was in effect. The airport says no official ground stop was ever issued. So the tower and management watched two different evenings. Gate 7 shut for about ten minutes while crews checked the route for debris. Delta said it is cooperating with police and has "zero tolerance for unlawful behavior." Skyler Jay Barr of Everett, Washington was booked on suspicion of vehicle theft, trespassing and vandalism.
VIKINGS ARE 4-0, DEAD LAST IN PASSING, AND JUST SIGNED A RECEIVER WITH ZERO CATCHES
Minnesota is 4-0 and last in the NFL in passing yards, which means they are winning football games without meaningfully throwing the ball to anyone. The fix, announced Wednesday: Odell Beckham Jr. Not to the 53-man roster. To the practice squad, alongside Michael Briscoe and Dillon Bell. Beckham arrives from the Giants, who released him Sept. 29 after three games with one target and no catches. Twenty offensive snaps total, six of them in a 12-7 win over Tennessee, which is a final score and not a typo. Coach John Harbaugh said New York wasn't getting enough out of the roster spot, which is a gentle way of saying they were paying a grown man to stretch. Kevin O'Connell called him personally, and he does have receipts. O'Connell was the Rams offensive coordinator in 2021 when Beckham put up 27 catches and five touchdowns in eight games, then tore his ACL in the Super Bowl he helped win. Since then: a year in Baltimore, a year in Miami, a six-game PED suspension, and all of 2025 out of football. He's 33, he's got 7,987 career receiving yards, and he's wearing No. 9 in Minnesota because Tai Felton already took 13. O'Connell has not ruled out elevating him Sunday at New Orleans. Justin Jefferson's ankle and Jordan Addison's hamstring may make that decision for him.
Sources (3)
HUBSPOT CUTS 660 JOBS FOR AI REASONS THAT ARE ABSOLUTELY NOT AI REASONS, SAYS CEO
HubSpot is cutting about 660 people, 7% of the company, and CEO Yamini Rangan would like it on the record that this is not AI taking jobs. It's a reorganization around delivering customer outcomes with AI. She said the cuts are "not driven by AI-related efficiencies" and also "not simply a cost-cutting exercise," which leaves a fairly narrow lane for what it actually is. The board approved it October 1, the memo landed October 6, and the restructuring runs $65 million to $75 million, mostly severance. The company is not in trouble. Q2 revenue came in at $911.7 million, up 20% year over year, with 306,446 customers. The stock is down roughly 45% on the year because investors think small businesses will eventually have AI build their own CRM, so 660 people got cut over a thing that might happen. The phrasing is going around. Monday.com cut 20% of staff in July, about 620 jobs, and co-founder Eran Zinman said it "was not made to reduce costs or replace people with AI." Microsoft cut roughly 4,800 roles and said those jobs were "not being replaced by AI," then noted AI is changing how work gets done. Same sentence, three HR departments. FT counts nearly 140,000 US tech jobs gone this year, with Amazon, Oracle, Meta and Microsoft responsible for about 50,000 of them.
Sources (3)
- investing.com - Factbox-Companies cutting jobs as investments shift toward AI
- finance.yahoo.com - Monday.com is the latest tech company to blame AI for layoffs - here are 20 others
- fastcompany.com - HubSpot layoffs: CEO says job cuts are not driven by AI 'efficiencies,' but AI is still behind the sweeping changes
|
Mr. Mug presents
Get on the | |||
| |||
|
Then be the dude
who sets it. Earn a slot. Set the day's puzzle. Your clues, your number, your name on it. Be the dude → |
