Bombshell Leaked Audio Shows Ken Paxton Dissing Trump’s Convention — Blaming It for His Bad Polls: ‘Everybody’s Numbers Dropped’

Tom Durante Sep 30th, 2026, 8:24 am

Looks like Ken Paxton (R-TX) has finally had enough of President Donald Trump’s attacks on his looks.

The Senate candidate, involved in a tense Senate race with Democrat James Talarico, was caught on leaked audioadmitting that Trump’s midterm convention in the Lone Star State hurt him more than it helped.

“Do you feel like he’s a little bit of a drag?” Paxton is asked in the clip obtained by The New York Times.

“So to be honest with you, the numbers — when we did that convention — it dropped our numbers,” Paxton replied. “Everybody’s numbers dropped. Right now, yeah, not good.”

The Times was given the audio by an attendee at a recent fundraiser, who wished to remain anonymous. The source told the paper that he’s opposed to Paxton’s candidacy.

During the convention earlier this month, Trump gave a speech in which he urged Texans to vote for Paxton, though he “may not be the best-looking guy.”

Paxton emerged as the Republican candidate in May after securing the endorsement of Trump, who snubbed incumbent John Cornyn.

Trump intervened in the race over the objections of many in the party establishment — who worried Paxton’s various corruption and infidelity scandals would plague him in the general election, and put a safe Senate seat in play.

And those fears seem to be playing out. Despite the president’s backing, Paxton has failed to hold off Talarico in recent polls, putting Republicans at risk of losing a Senate race in reliably-red Texas for the first time in 38 years.

Even legendary GOP strategist Karl Rove has said that Paxton’s time “is running out!”

Rove added, “If the president wants to have Paxton win, he needs to be tossing a lot of money Paxton’s way.”

https://www.mediaite.com/media/news/bombshell-leaked-audio-shows-ken-

paxton-dissing-trumps-convention-blaming-it-for-his-bad-polls-everybodys-numbers-dropped/

>>25092129

I believe that's been done already, and maybe the elections will be delayed, for quite a while. Maybe we will see it at the end of October. There is no way to stop all of their schemes for cheating. It's built in the sauce, on both sides.

Delta CEO Reportedly Trashes Elon Musk To Explain Rejecting Starlink—“It’s All True What They Say About Him”

by Gary Leff on September 29, 2026

World airline standard wifi is quickly moving to Starlink. It’s the fastest in the sky today by a wide margin, available and quick to install. Customers love it – there’s basically no latency. You enter a website and it comes up That’s an advantage of low earth orbit satellites.

Delta is on the verge of getting left behind, as United and Southwest quickly move to complete installation on their fleets, and American and Alaska will soon offer it on a true critical mass of aircraft. Unfortunately, Delta chose Amazon for their low earth orbit satellite wifi.

And CEO Ed Bastian is trashing Elon Musk as he makes excuses for his airline’s bungled plan to get truly fast wifi in their planes.

• Amazon’s Leo service won’t even go into beta until next year – United and Southwest will be done with their rollouts before Delta even starts installation. (But Delta only even plans to do about half their fleet.)

• It’s untested – we don’t yet know how it will perform

• But it’s cheaper, and Delta could get a better financial deal bundling wifi with Amazon Studios content and cloud services.

• Plus Amazon would allow their system to be gated by Delta’s Sync portal and Starlink reportedly wouldn’t.

According to Delta CEO Ed Bastian, though, they chose not to go with Starlink because they didn’t want to do business with Elon Musk. That’s reporting by aviation watchdog JonNYC about Bastian’s remarks to employees at two internal events.

“We do not want to be with Elon Musk. Trust me.”

Side note: at a different, earlier event, Ed also said that [Delta] did test with starlink, but did not want to partner with Elon. “If you know his reputation, it’s all true what they say about him.”

Among other carriers, Starlink is being rolled out by IAG airlines (e.g. Aer Lingus, British Airways, Iberia); Lufthansa Group airlines (e.g. Lufthansa, SWISS, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, ITA Airways); Hanjin Group carriers (Korean Air, Asiana Airlines, Jin Air, Air Busan, Air Seoul); Air France, Air New Zealand, Alaska Airlines; American Airlines; Emirates; flydubai; Gulf Air; Qatar Airways; SAS; Virgin Atlantic; Southwest Airlines; WestJet; ZIPAIR. JSX was actually first. Delta really is getting left behind in this crucial area.

Bastian also says that Delta will represent 70% of the airline industry’s profits.

For 2025, they were about 55% of profit. The 20% market share figure he cites is roughly correct.

In July Bastian estimated that Delta would generate 60% of second quarter industry profits, before competitors reported. He likes to make estimates! And though Delta profit will be impacted by higher fuel expense, implicitly he’s saying that the rest of the industry will suffer more than Delta because he’s projecting that their share of profits are growing.

https://viewfromthewing.com/delta-ceo-reportedly-trashes-elon-musk-to-explain-rejecting-starlink-its-all-true-what-they-say-about-him/

(It’s weird Delta didn’t pick Starlink because Musk is difficult to work with, I suspect that decision is going to have an effect of ticket sales. Delta chose a stupid corporate emotions over quality.)

DEMOCRATS: Sen Kirsten Gillibrand Dons a Hijab at Bronx Mosque, Alongside Cleric Who Praises Hamas and Osama Bin Laden’s Mentor, in Under-the–Radar Visit

The mosque in ‘Little Yemen’ has multiple ties to Muslim extremists and Hamas supporters

Chuck Ross September 29, 2026

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand wore a hijab during a visit last week to a Bronx mosque where the powerful New York Democrat sat alongside a cleric who once celebrated Hamas for "causing so much trouble for the Jews"and has hailed Osama bin Laden's spiritual mentor.

Gillibrand, who chairs the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, appeared at the Bronx Muslim Center, located in New York City's "Little Yemen," on Sept. 21, according to photos posted by the center's outreach director. The photos show Gillibrand wearing a pink headscarf and seated next to Hamud Alsilwi, a Yemeni cleric who has led the Bronx Muslim Center since 1998. A banner soliciting donations for the center's new 32,000-square-foot mosque is seen in the photos that prominently featured the senator.

The Bronx mosque is a branch of the Muslim American Society,which federal prosecutors have described as an "overt arm" of the Muslim Brotherhood in the United States.

Alsilwi has praised Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood and hailed Sheikh Abdul Majeed al-Zindani, an influential Islamic scholar designated as a terrorist over his ties to bin Laden.

‘The Muslim Brotherhood came to power in Palestine, and they harmed no one except the Jews and Israel," Alsilwi wrote in October 2016, according to an English translation of his post.

In social media posts in January 2016, Alsilwi praised Hamas founder Ahmed Yassin—who was killed in an Israeli airstrike after being linked to multiple murders—for "causing so much trouble for the Jews in Palestine," the Middle East Forum reported in 2024, after Rep. Ritchie Torres (D., N.Y.) secured $1 million in earmarks for the Bronx Muslim Center.

Alsilwi mourned al-Zindani after his death in April 2024, posting numerous photos and videos of the cleric, referring to him as an "eminent scholar" and praying, "O God, grant him spacious gardens in Paradise."

The U.S. government designated al-Zindani a terrorist in 2004 over his position as spiritual adviser to bin Laden and for allegedly recruiting al Qaeda members and aiding "the purchase of weapons on behalf of al-Qaeda and other terrorists."

Gillibrand has not promoted her Bronx mosque visit on social media or her Senate website, though she posted footage from other events she attended the same day in East Harlem and the Bronx. Those photos show Gillibrand wearing the same suit as the one at the Bronx Muslim Center, sans hijab.

"It was an honor to welcome U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand to Little Yemen today and have her spend time directly with members of our community," wrote Yahay Obeid, the mosque's director of outreach.

Other prominent New York lawmakers have faced criticism for wearing hijabs. President Donald Trump and New York gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman excoriated Gov. Kathy Hochul (D.) last month for donning a hijab at an event for the Islamic Cultural Center of Manhattan's Upper East Side.

"Hijab Hochul. Kathy's Latest Costume: Whatever the Audience Wants,"wrote Blakeman.

Trump called Hochul the "Worst Governor in the Country," and said she "wears the hijab" to "get the Arab Vote."

Conservatives and human rights activists blasted Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.) earlier this year for sporting a hijab at an outdoor Eid event. Masih Alinejad, an Iranian dissident, accused the "Squad" leader of hypocrisy for wearing the hijab while claiming "to fight for women's self-determination."

(Gillibrand's office and the Bronx Muslim Center did not respond to requests for comment.)

https://freebeacon.com/democrats/sen-kirsten-gillibrand-dons-a-hijab-at-bronx-mosque-alongside-cleric-who-praises-hamas-and-osama-bin-ladens-mentor-in-under-the-radar-visit/

Western F-16s promised safe skies over Kiev: Why could they all go MIA soon?

The donated jets could be grounded due to maintenance delays, The Wall Street Journal has claimed

Published 30 Sep, 2026 15:241/2

Ukraine’s NATO-donated F-16 fleet is out of commission more often than it engages Russian drones, The Wall Street Journal has claimed.

The American-produced fighter jets were touted as the latest “gamechanger” weapon in Kiev’s conflict with Russia, a tool that will help “achieve goals outside of Ukraine,” as Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said when the first batch was set to arrive in the summer of 2024.

However, a key EU member in the European-led scheme cannot keep up with necessary maintenance of the fleet, according to the newspaper.

What is the F-16 initiative?

The plan was launched in 2023, as Ukraine’s fleet of Soviet-built military aircraft was dwindling. Pro-Kiev propaganda implied that the US-made multirole jets would help Ukrainian forces challenge Russia’s air dominance over the front line. But it was hardly a secret that they would be kept far away from Russian SAMs and fighter jets and only engage long-range drones and cruise missiles.

Donor nations announced they were prepared to spend years training Ukrainian pilots, refurbishing the aircraft they were willing to spare, and happily signing deals for modern replacements to bolster their own militaries –the F-16 initiative was effectively a NATO-backed pyramid schemeallowing everyone to spend big and upgrade their air forces.

Ukraine has since received about 40 jets, roughly half of what the donors pledged, and lost several of them during combat missions, reportedly after corners were cut for expediency during training courses. It is now facing winterwith an acute shortage of air defense systems.

What’s the problem?

Belgium’s Sabena Aerospace Engineering, awarded a $235.5 million contract for maintenance of Ukraine’s F-16 fleet, is not keeping up with the demand, according to the Wall Street Journal editorial board.

An inspection that normally takes two to six weeks lasts “as long as 40 weeks in Belgium,” retired US Navy Rear Admiral Mark Montgomery said. Another Western source said more than half of Ukrainian jets are now in maintenance limbo, with the rest set to become grounded by the end of the year.

Was the issue unexpected?

Media reports saying that theUkrainian F-16 fleet is being overworkedsurfaced as early as July, as Kiev’s shortage of ground-launched interceptor missiles became more acute. There were also indicators pointing to a bottleneck in Belgium.

In April, the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation reported that not one of the six F-16s that Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store pledged to Ukraine in 2023 had been delivered. Four of them were not airworthy to begin with, but the two others were previously used to train Ukrainian pilots in Denmark.

The six jets were stuck at a Sabena workshop in Belgium due to “significant capacity problems,” the report said.

https://www.rt.com/russia/646500-ukraine-f16s-belgium-maintenance/

>>25092322

2/2

Is Ukraine getting more jets?There were delays in deliveries as well.

Belgium promised in 2024 to transfer 30 aircraft set to be phased out by its air force, which was expecting F-35 replacements. Then-Defense Minister Ludivine Dedonder said Ukraine would start receiving the old jets “as soon as the F-35s arrive on Belgian soil,” but no transfers have been reported since.

Most of the aircraft that Kiev did get reportedly came from the Netherlands and Denmark, the co-leaders of the F-16 initiative.

Why does Ukraine have air defense problems?

A shortage of Western weapons partially caused Ukraine’s current situation.

When this summer Vladimir Zelensky announced a 40-day “pressure campaign” of long-rage strikes on refineries, civilian ships, and commercial warehouses, his team reportedly hoped that images of smoke-plumes stretching over big Russian cities would support his bid to receive more Patriot missile interceptors from the limited US stockpile.

If true, the plan backfired. NATO nations are scrambling to provide what Kiev wants, while the economic damage caused by Russian retaliation is mounting. And Ukraine already has a $27 billion military budget hole that European donors are struggling to fill.

Ukrainian forces previously learned that Western arms gifts come with caveats. Donated NATO artillery systems lacked interoperability and were described as a “zoo” by troops. Much-hyped NATO battle tanks turned out to be mostly useless in drone-driven warfare and had to be kept away from the front line.

Can Ukraine come up with alternatives?

Ukraine admits failure to plug $27 bn defense gap

Zelensky puts on a brave face talking about the dire situation. Last week he claimed Ukraine had successfully tested four new interceptor drones designed to shoot down faster-moving jet UAVs – the kind of targets the WSJ claimed F-16s are well-suited to take down.

But an earlier Reuters report said trials in July “did not go to plan” as the prototypes lost control and “crashed into nearby fields and forests.”

Ukrainian opposition lawmaker Sergey Rakhmanin, who sits on the national defense committee, has said Kiev missed Russia’s rapid development of jet kamikaze drones. He said Ukrainian interceptors cost up to $100,000 apiece and that scaling up production would require too much time, even if funding becomes available.

https://www.rt.com/russia/646500-ukraine-f16s-belgium-maintenance

Russian Navy traverses Arctic passage for first time(VIDEO)

The Shokalsky Straitlies along the strategically important Northern Sea Route, the shortest maritime passage between Asia and Europe

Published 29 Sep, 2026 15:05 | Updated 30 Sep, 2026 08:32

Russian Navy ships have for the first time passed through the iceberg-filled Shokalsky Strait along the strategically important Northern Sea Route in the Arctic.

The press office of Russia’s Northern Fleet announced the passage on Tuesday, releasing a short video showing the vessels navigating the narrow waterway. The strait lies between October Revolution Island and Bolshevik Island in the Severnaya Zemlya archipelago.

The Russian Navy group, consisting of the ice-class patrol ship Ivan Papanin, the large landing ship Kondopoga, the salvage tug Pamir, and the naval tanker Sergey Osipov, successfully passed from the Laptev Sea into the Kara Sea.

Before the vessels entered the hazardous waters of the strait, a Ka-29 naval transport and assault helicopter was dispatched to conduct aerial reconnaissance of the route.

Given the “challenging ice conditions,” the warships were placed on alert, with their crews repeatedly having to change course and speed at short notice to avoid icebergs.

The Russian Navy group also appraised the area for future operational purposes, according to the statement.

The passage of the Shokalsky Strait was part of a broader mission by the Russian Navy that covers multiple seas in the Arctic Region and is aimed at ensuring the safety of maritime traffic in the area.

Russia has bet big on the development of the Northern Sea Route, which is the shortest maritime passage between the Asia-Pacific region and northern Europe.

While use of the corridor remains limited at present due to accessibility constraints and the need for icebreakers to clear passage for cargo vessels, Moscow expects traffic to increase in the coming years as climate changes and other key maritime routes find themselves at the center of military conflicts.

Speaking in July, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Moscow boasts the world’s largest icebreaker fleet, made up of more than 40 conventional vessels and eight nuclear-powered ships, with a new generation under development.

https://www.rt.com/russia/646408-russian-navy-traverses-arctic-strait-first-time/

(Pretty cool video, if an anon can catch it and post it here, I’m not able to do this.)

Kremlin dismisses Atlantic US-Russia swap claim

Spokesman Dmitry Peskov has rejected as “inappropriate” the notion that the measures could be curtailed in exchange for the release of prisoners

Published 30 Sep, 2026 13:49 | Updated 30 Sep, 2026 14:50

The Kremlin hascategorically deniedthat Moscow and Washington discussed a plan whereby sanctions targeting Russia could be eased in return for the release of US nationals imprisoned in Russia.

Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Wednesday responded to a question about an article in the Atlantic citing anonymous sources that claimed the administration of US President Donald Trump was considering relaxing some economic restrictions if Moscow would release individuals Washington considers unjustly imprisoned.

“The issue was not discussed in those termsand could not have been, because we categorically reject the notion that there are any political prisoners in Russia and consider framing the issue in this way entirely inappropriate,” Peskov told journalists.

Russian and US special services continue regular contacts concerning various prisoner exchanges, he added.

According to The Atlantic, the proposal was advanced by White House envoy John Coale and approved by Trump for exploration several months ago.

The initiative, the outlet's sources speculate, could have reportedly allowed Washington to broaden its engagement with Moscow beyond negotiations over Ukraine and pursue deals involving Russian oil, diesel, rare earth minerals and other commodities.

Trump’s envoys have been exploring ways to revive economic ties with Russia but have so far viewed at least a partial ceasefire in Ukraine as a prerequisite, the outlet wrote on Tuesday.

Washington and Moscow have separately discussed potential economic cooperation. Following talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Trump envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner in Moscow earlier this month, Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov said thesides had discussed possible “major, mutually beneficial Russian-American projects.”

The Atlantic also claimed that Washington is seeking to arrange lower-level talks between the US, Russia and Ukraine as early as next month, could focus on a limited ceasefire covering energy infrastructure, potentially in the UAE.

Moscow has repeatedly said it opposes a temporary truce that would allow Ukraine to regroup and rearm, insisting that hostilities can end only through a comprehensive settlement that addresses the root causes of the conflict. Peskov was not asked to respond to the claim.

Speaking at the UN Security Council last week, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Moscow would not agree to pause military operation because such a step could be used by Ukraine’s European backers to supply Kiev with more weapons.

The prospect of renewing US-Russian business ties before the Ukraine conflict is resolved has been sharply criticized by Vladimir Zelensky, who told The Atlantiche would try to “block” any sanctions relief for Moscow before hostilities end.(KEK he has no power to do this.)

https://www.rt.com/news/646447-trump-considering-easing-russia-sanctions-atlantic/