America Today: September 24, 2026 — Press restored, Xi at the White House, nor'easter on deck

Not for nuthin'. But….. A federal judge put three banned newsrooms back in the White House briefing room, Xi Jinping got the full state-visit treatment with more pageantry than policy, the Dow limped to the close, and Marblehead better tape the screens — a nor’easters lining up for the weekend. Heres MOAM’s America Today.

[COURTS] 1. Judge restores CNN, MS NOW and Politico — reporters back in hours later
U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly issued a 14-day temporary restraining order overnight requiring the White House to immediately return, reinstate, and restore press credentials for CNN, MS NOW and Politico after President Trump barred the outlets last week. Kelly, a Trump appointee who handled a similar CNN hard-pass case in 2018, found the outlets were likely to succeed on due-process grounds and called the White House’s written standards for revoking access “so vague it hardly does the trick.” Reporters were still blocked for hours after the order; CNN reported they were allowed back into the White House roughly 10 hours later. The TRO lasts 14 days while the outlets seek a longer preliminary injunction.
MOAMs take: Courts and presidents have been wrestling over press passes for years — Acosta was round one. Due process isn’t “fake news, but neither is the fact that half the cable dial still treats access like a loyalty program. Watch whether the order sticks past the TRO clock.
Source: CNN Politics, Sep 24, 2026; AP via PBS NewsHour, Sep 24, 2026; NBC News, Sep 24, 2026

[WORLD] 2. Trump–Xi White House summit: pomp, dinner, few breakthroughs
President Trump hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping at the White House on Thursday for Xi’s first White House state visit in more than a decade military review, Oval talks, Marine One tour, and a black-tie state dinner attended by tech chiefs including Elon Musk, Tim Cook, Jensen Huang and Sam Altman. Agenda items included trade, AI, Taiwan, and the Iran war. Late Wednesday the countries agreed to extend a fragile trade truce by two months; Xis Xinhua readout urged the U.S. to oppose “Taiwan independence,” while Trump’s public comments stressed a truly great friendship” and offered little on outcomes. Analysts and wire reports described heavy symbolism and few announced deals beyond goodwill gestures such as pandas headed to Zoo Atlanta.
MOAMs take: Lots of red carpets, red linens, and “truly great friendship” language the concrete deliverable still looks like kicking the tariff can down the road two months. Pomp is fine; Marblehead still wants cheaper diesel.
Source: Foreign Policy, Sep 24, 2026; CBC News, Sep 24, 2026; Washington Post / AP, Sep 24, 2026

[CONGRESS] 3. Senate clears filibuster on college sports NIL bill
The Senate on Thursday advanced the Protect College Sports Act (S. 4668) through two procedural votes — 77–23 on a Cruz-Cantwell substitute and 74–25 to invoke cloture on the amended bill — clearing a filibuster on bipartisan rules for name, image and likeness pay, transfers, and eligibility. Final Senate passage was expected Monday, Sept. 28, absent a unanimous-consent deal to accelerate it, according to the Washington Times and the Senate Daily Press. The bill still needs House action after a Senate finish.
MOAMs take: Congress finally found bipartisan energy for locker-room payroll rules. If they can clear NIL caps before they fix data-center ratepayer bills, you know where the midterm ad money lives.
Source: Washington Times, Sep 24, 2026; U.S. Senate Daily Press, Sep 24, 2026

[ECONOMY] 4. Stocks finish mixed as bond-market pressure hangs on
U.S. stocks ended Thursday roughly where they started after a choppy session, the Associated Press reported. The S&P 500 fell 1.90 points (less than 0.1%) to 7,704.13, the Dow dropped 161.61 points (0.3%) to 51,349.98, and the Nasdaq rose 3.34 points (less than 0.1%) to 26,939.37. Treasury yields and oil prices swiveled during the day before yields rose into the close; stocks have cooled since the S&P flirted with a record earlier in the week on bond-market pressure. (Full indicators ran in this morning’s economic snapshot.)
MOAM’s take: A flat close after a whippy day isnt calm — it’s the market catching its breath while the bond market does the talking. Borrowing costs don’t care about spin.
Source: AP via WTOP, Sep 24, 2026; AP via ABC News, Sep 24, 2026

[COURTS] 5. DOJ asks the Supreme Court to revive third-country deportations
Attorney General Todd Blanche said Thursday the administration would seek Supreme Court relief after the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals blocked “third-country” removals deporting migrants to countries other than their own with only limited chance to raise safety concerns. Reuters and SCOTUSblog reported Solicitor General D. John Sauer filed an emergency application seeking an immediate administrative stay; Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson ordered responses by Sept. 28. The Boston appeals court dissolved a prior pause after learning of a planned Thursday flight that would have sent migrants to Burundi, Rwanda and the Central African Republic. The Supreme Court has previously intervened in the same litigation.
MOAMs take: This one’s headed straight back upstairs — same case, new block, same midterm clock. Immigration policy by midnight order is how both sides litigate when Congress won’t legislate.
Source: Reuters, Sep 24, 2026; SCOTUSblog, Sep 24, 2026

[WEATHER] 6. Rare September nor’easter aims at the East Coast this weekend
A developing nor’easter is forecast to bring heavy rain, strong winds and coastal flooding from the Carolinas through New England from Friday into Monday, with the worst stretch Saturday night into Sunday for southern New England. National outlets warn of coastal flood risk from North Carolina to Nantucket, gusts of 40–60 mph (locally higher), and several inches of rain along the coast; a full moon Saturday may worsen tides. Southeastern Massachusetts and the Islands remain among the highest-impact zones for wind, surf and inland flooding.
MOAM’s take: Classic September surprise — tape the screens, charge the batteries, and dont park under the big oak on Atlantic Ave. Inland folks get the annoyance; the shore gets the show.
Source: Weather.com, Sep 24, 2026; NBC News, Sep 24, 2026; Washington Post, Sep 24, 2026

[CRIME] 7. Texas executes Ker’Sean Ramey after Supreme Court denies final appeal
KerSean Ramey, 41, was executed by lethal injection Wednesday evening at the Huntsville unit and pronounced dead at 6:34 p.m. CDT, hours after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected his final appeal, Fox News and AP reported. He was convicted in 2007 of capital murder for the August 2005 shootings of Samuel Roberts, 24, Tiffani Peacock, 18, and Celso Lopez, 38, in Edna, Texas, during an attempted drug robbery; accomplice LeJames Norman was executed Sept. 16 for the same killings. Rameys lawyers argued jurors never heard mitigating evidence of childhood abuse and poverty; prosecutors called the appeal meritless. He was the sixth Texas execution of 2026.
MOAM’s take: Twenty-one years later, the sentence carried. Capital cases will always draw last-minute briefs the Court said no, and Texas carried out the judgment.
Source: Fox News / AP, Sep 24, 2026; NBC News / AP, Sep 24, 2026

[CULTURE] 8. Mattel’s first Hanukkah Barbie sparks a nose debate
Mattel debuted its first official Hanukkah Barbie this week as part of a Holiday Sweaters collection (about $28), featuring a cobalt menorah sweater, dreidel print, and a more pronounced nose than the brand’s Christmas-sweater dolls, the New York Post reported Sept. 24. Online collectors split between calling the look a respectful update and arguing it echoed old stereotypes; some Jewish educators and Barbie fans praised the representation and the doll’s face, while others said the outfit felt cheap and the nose unnecessary. Mattel did not respond by press time to questions about Jewish community involvement in the design.
MOAM’s take: Leave it to 2026 to turn a plastic menorah sweater into a culture-war panel. Representation is fine — just maybe don’t need a cable segment for every toy aisle update.
Source: New York Post, Sep 24, 2026

MOAM Out.

New England Political Roundup: September 24, 2026 — Supplemental to Ways & Means, poll chaos in Maine, and Scott trails in Vermont

Not for nuthin'…. But….. Beacon Hill just parked a $2.24 billion supplemental in Ways and Means, the gas-tax holiday is taking fire from Healey’s own left and from Marianos right, and tonights New England polls look like somebody shook the snow globe. Here’s MOAMs New England Political Roundup.

[MA] 1. House sends Healeys $2.24B supplemental to Ways & Means
Gov. Maura Healeys $2.24 billion fiscal 2026 supplemental filed Wednesday — was referred Thursday to the House Ways and Means Committee after a ten-minute House session, State House News Service reported. The package steers about $1.8 billion in gross funding to MassHealth (about $1.03 billion net after federal reimbursements), creates a new Health Care Stabilization Fund aimed at costs from recent federal policy changes, and sends $41.5 million to the Department of Transitional Assistance for SNAP caseworkers and tech. It also carries Healeys electricity basic-service overhaul, the two-month gas-tax pause, and a concert-ticket resale cap at 110% of face value. A redrafted closeout bill is still expected this fall; House Democrats decide whether to take it up before or after the Nov. 3 election. New Joint Rule 12A means a formal session may be called for late-session budget filings.
MOAM’s take: Another “closeout” bill that somehow still finds room for election-season goodies. When Beacon Hill says “promptly,” check your wallet and the calendar November’s closer than the bond counsel’s fine print.
Source: State House News Service, Sep 24, 2026; WBUR / State House News Service, Sep 24, 2026

[MA] 2. Gas-tax holiday: fire from the left, the Speaker, and Minogue
Healey’s two-month pause of the states 24-cent-per-gallon gas and diesel tax — pegged at about $120 million and backfilled with surplus Fair Share surtax revenue — is now taking hits from every direction. House Speaker Ron Mariano called a suspension “fiscally irresponsible. Progressive Sen. Jamie Eldridge told the Globe the timing looks “a bit gimmicky” in an election year. Boston City Councilor Sharon Durkan was the lone no on a council resolution backing the plan, calling it “extremely reactive. Republican nominee Mike Minogue says two months is too short and asks whether the clock is really about the election. Transportation advocates worry Fair Share dollars get diverted from roads and transit. Senate President Karen Spilka has only pledged to review the bill.
MOAM’s take: Nothing says election season like Democrats discovering the gas tax is optional six weeks out — then watching their own progressives call it a gimmick. If Speaker won’t move, drivers shouldn’t hold their breath at the pump.
Source: NewBostonPost, Sep 24, 2026; NBC Boston / State House News Service, Sep 23, 2026; WBUR, Sep 23, 2026

[MA] 3. Healey backs Question 7 the starter homes zoning override
Healey and Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll endorsed statewide Ballot Question 7, which would let single-family homes be built by right on residentially zoned lots of at least 5,000 square feet with public water/sewer and a 50-foot street frontage — overriding local large-lot rules. Tufts analysts have estimated roughly 350–1,200 extra homes a year if it passes. Healey has also backed Question 9 (upholding the 2024 gun law) and Question 6 (conservation funding). Minogue has not publicly taken a Q7 position as of recent coverage, while pledging to scrap enforcement of the MBTA Communities Act if elected.
MOAM’s take: Housing costs are crushing young families from Marblehead to the Berkshires — no argument there. Just remember: when Beacon Hill overrides local, somebodys Town Meeting loses a vote. Read the ballot text before you punch the card.
Source: WBUR, Sep 23, 2026; Banker & Tradesman

[NH] 4. NYT/Siena: Pappas leads Sununu 50–45 in the Senate race
A New York Times/Siena poll released Thursday (fielded Sept. 15–22 among 613 New Hampshire likely voters; ~±4.9 pt MoE) shows Democrat Chris Pappas at 50% and Republican John Sununu at 45%. Both candidates posted net-negative favorability (1), and independents leaned toward Pappas by about 10 points. A separate UNH Survey Center Granite State Poll (Sept. 17–21) put Trumps NH job approval at 32% approve / 67% disapprove — a series low — with most saying the Iran conflict is going poorly.
MOAM’s take: Five points inside a five-point margin is a coin flip with nicer graphics. Granite State independents still run the table — and they’re not exactly singing the White Houses praises right now.
Source: The Hill (NYT/Siena), Sep 24, 2026; InDepthNH / UNH Survey Center, Sep 23, 2026

[ME] 5. Maine Senate: three Thursday polls, one toss-up
Thursday dumped three Maine Senate polls that refuse to agree. A New York Times/Siena/Portland Press Herald survey put Sen. Susan Collins ahead of Democrat Troy Jackson 49%–46% (619 likely voters, Sept. 15–22; ~±4.9). The same day, UNH had Jackson up 51%47% and UMass Lowell/YouGov had Jackson up 48%–43% with 6% undecided. Decision Desk HQ rates the race roughly 50–50. None of the three fully captured reaction to this weeks ProPublica report on a shelved federal corruption inquiry involving donor Martin Kao / Navatek; Maine Democrats called it “corruption, while Collins’s office and an FBI statement said the allegations are false and prior probes found nothing implicating the senator or her campaign. ProPublica later disputed parts of Collins’s defense of the timeline.
MOAMs take: When three polls on the same Thursday point opposite ways inside the margin, that’s not a wave — that’s a coin flip with a donor scandal taped to it. Mainers will sort it at the ballot box, not on cable news.
Source: Bangor Daily News, Sep 24, 2026; Bangor Daily News (NYT/Siena), Sep 24, 2026; GBH / Maine Public, Sep 23, 2026

[VT] 6. UNH poll: Scott trails Janoo 43–49
A University of New Hampshire Survey Center Green Mountain State Poll released Thursday (fielded Sept. 17–21 among 835 respondents; ±3.3 pt MoE) shows Democrat Amanda Janoo leading five-term Republican Gov. Phil Scott 49%43%. Scotts overall favorability has slipped to about 47%, with Democratic support at its lowest in the Survey Center’s tracking after years of crossover wins. Scott’s campaign disputes the sample mix and notes its one poll. Separately, the same survey had Molly Gray leading Lt. Gov. John Rodgers 54%–40% and Rep. Becca Balint leading Gerald Malloy 66%–30%.
MOAM’s take: When the most popular moderate Republican governor in the Northeast is suddenly underwater with Democrats who used to cross over, that’s not noise — that’s a Trump-year turnout story hitting Montpelier. Six weeks is a long time in Vermont politics, but Scotts got a hill to climb he hasnt seen before.
Source: WCAX / UNH Survey Center, Sep 24, 2026

MOAM Out.

Still the Same Act: Update — September 24

Not for nuthin'…. But….. this morning I put up “Still the Same Act” — same Iranian wish list, same stall, new UN theater. By evening the soundtrack got louder: missiles toward Saudi oil country, oil settling higher, and Tehran’s foreign minister waving a seven-day clock at Washington. Here’s what actually moved.

Where things stood this morning
Tuesday’s U.S.–Iran contact at UNGA went through mediators (Qatar, per Iranian accounts). Iran’s president told the General Assembly Tehran will “never surrender.” Security chief Mohsen Rezaei slapped a four-to-five-day clock on Washington to meet Tehran’s conditions before Hormuz reopens. Oil jumped about 2% Wednesday on the speeches. Secretary Rubio said any deal takes “prolonged effort” and military options stay on the table. Same routine I flagged back in April in “The Act is Getting Old.”

What’s new today

1. Araghchi sells a seven-day Hormuz reopen pitch
Thursday evening, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told reporters Iran has given the Trump administration a proposal that would reopen the Strait of Hormuz and restart talks on ending the broader war within seven days. Separately, Reuters sources close to the New York talks say both sides are exploring a phased Hormuz-for-blockade deal — and that sequencing is the wall. A senior Iranian official put the odds of diplomacy resolving this as “extremely low,” adding, “Our fingers are on the trigger.” That’s not a breakthrough. That’s a clock with a gun under the table.
Sources: The Washington Post, Sep 24, 2026 · 6:49 PM ET; Iran International (Reuters), Sep 24, 2026

2. Houthis fire at Saudi Arabia — Brent settles at $106.60
This morning’s post covered Wednesday’s roughly 2% oil jump. Thursday is a fresh move. Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis said they launched missile and drone attacks on a “sensitive target” in Riyadh and on Saudi Aramco facilities in Yanbu. The Saudi-led coalition said it intercepted six ballistic missiles aimed at Taif and the Yanbu area. There was no immediate Saudi confirmation of Riyadh hits or of damage. Markets heard it anyway: Brent settled up $3.52, or 3.4%, at $106.60; WTI settled at $94.61 (+2.7%). Both contracts had been up about 5% at the session highs before reports of Hormuz-reopen talks trimmed the spike.
Sources: Reuters, Sep 24, 2026; CNA (Reuters), Sep 24, 2026

3. Supreme Leader adviser waves the Indian Ocean card
On Thursday, Yahya Rahim Safavi — adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei and a former IRGC commander — said in a Fars-released video that if the war heats up again, the front could expand from the Persian Gulf, Hormuz, and the Red Sea into the Indian Ocean “and perhaps beyond.” That’s the first time an adviser to the supreme leader has explicitly named that theater. Diego Garcia sits out there for a reason.
Sources: CNA / AFP, Sep 24, 2026; The Indian Express, Sep 24, 2026

4. Tehran hardliners are eating their own diplomats
While Pezeshkian and Araghchi waved the “open to talks” flag in New York, IRGC-linked Tasnim blasted Araghchi’s reported contact with U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff as “childish and vile” and demanded an apology — arguing the approved plan was only to pass Iran’s seven conditions through mediators. On Thursday, hardline MP Ali Khezrian said lawmakers had registered a motion to impeach Araghchi and that he must answer in parliament after returning. Other MPs claim he was authorized. Either way, the fight isn’t about whether to talk — it’s about who gets to hold the leash.
Sources: Iran International (Reuters reporting), Sep 24, 2026; Iran International, Sep 24, 2026

MOAM’s take
Same act, louder soundtrack. Threaten the Indian Ocean, keep Hormuz as the bargaining chip, let proxies lob missiles at Saudi oil country, demand the blockade lifted first, and let the hardliners slap the diplomats if anyone sits too close to an American. A seven-day proposal with “fingers on the trigger” is not momentum. That’s leverage theater. Strength still wins — and the folks heating with oil in Marblehead don’t get a vote in Tehran.

What to watch
Whether Washington answers Araghchi’s seven-day pitch with anything more than a shrug; Rezaei’s four-to-five-day clock; whether Araghchi survives the impeachment talk; and whether Friday oil holds after Thursday’s Houthi scare.

MOAM Out.

TDS Watch: CNN’s Erin Burnett compares Trump TV to North Korea

 

Not for nuthin’…. But….. when a cable-news host looks at a White House YouTube clip reel and sees Kim Jong-un’s propaganda channel, we’ve left journalism and entered the TDS ward.

What was said

On Tuesday night, Sep 22, 2026, CNN’s Erin Burnett opened OutFront with the White House’s new 24/7 livestream — billed as “Trump TV: The Essentials Station” — looping inauguration footage, speeches, and other administration “highlights” after a press-pool fight. Fair game to knock the ratings or question the strategy. Burnett went somewhere else.

Exact words, from CNN’s own transcript:

“It’s a weird sort of form of state TV. I mean, right now, with everything going on, people want to rewatch his inauguration? It’s kind of reminiscent of what you would find in North Korea. That’s called KCTV, and it’s dedicated every airing to pretty much every public appearance by their leader, whether it’s an amusement park or military facility, and they repeatedly air Kim Jong-un’s remarks again and again. It sounds familiar.”

Sources: CNN OutFront transcript, Sep 22, 2026 · HuffPost, Sep 23, 2026 · Daily Beast, Sep 22–23, 2026

Context (not spin)

What actually launched: a YouTube stream on the official White House channel promoting “greatest hits” / major remarks after Trump barred CNN, Politico, and MS NOW from the White House press pool and other networks paused pool coverage. Low concurrent viewership was widely reported. That’s a media fight and a ratings flop story — not a gulag.

North Korea’s KCTV is the broadcast arm of a totalitarian regime that jails and executes dissenters. Equating a clip show of a U.S. president’s public speeches with that apparatus is the rhetorical equivalent of calling a rainy day a tsunami.

MOAM’s diagnosis

Severity: ACUTE.

Disagree with the press ban? Argue the First Amendment. Mock the ratings? Be my guest. Comparing a White House YouTube loop to Kim Jong-un’s state channel isn’t analysis — it’s melodrama dressed up as news. When every Trump move has to be the next North Korea, the audience stops hearing the real stories. That’s the syndrome talking.

MOAM Out.

Woodworking Tip of the Day: Accurate 8:1 Plywood Scarf Joint + Rail Jig

Not for nuthin'…. But….. if you’re stretching marine plywood past eight feet on a Chamberlain Marblehead gunning dory — or any boat panel that has to bend fair — a butt block will leave you a hard spot and extra weight. A proper scarf won’t. Today’s tip: cut an accurate 8:1 plywood scarf with a simple shop-made 1:8 rail jig, then glue it so it disappears into the panel.

Why it matters: boatbuilding plywood comes in eight-foot sheets, and dory planking and bottoms often want more length than that. WEST SYSTEM / Gougeon Brothers recommend an 8-to-1 bevel for plywood scarfs in boat work — scarf length equals eight times the panel thickness. On ¼″ ply that’s a 2″ bevel; on ½″ ply it’s 4″. Matching identical bevels, bonded with epoxy, stay strong, stay light, and don’t telegraph a knuckle when you wrap the panel around a mold.

Materials

• Marine plywood panels to join (example below uses ¼″)
• ¾″ plywood scraps for the jig (base, two side rails, end stop, hold-down cleat)
• Marine epoxy resin + hardener
• Unthickened epoxy for wet-out; thickened epoxy (colloidal silica / wood flour blend to mayonnaise consistency) for the bond
• Plastic sheet or packing tape (non-stick under the joint)
• Wax paper or peel ply for the clamp face (optional)

Tools

• Sharp block plane and/or power plane (and a smoothing plane if you’ve got one)
• Straightedge and sharp pencil / marking knife
• Clamps (bar or C-clamps) and a flat clamping board
• Hard flat sanding block (80–120 grit) for final true-up
• Mixing sticks, disposable brush, gloves, dust mask

Steps

1. Lay out the scarf. Mark a line across each panel end at L = 8 × T. For ¼″ stock, that’s 2″ from the end. That’s your feather-edge limit.
2. Build the 1:8 rail jig. Base about 12″ × 24″ of ¾″ ply. Rip two side rails so their top edges slope at 1:8 (rise T over run 8×T — about 7.1°, but you don’t chase the degree reading). At the scarf start the rail top is flush with the panel’s top face; at the feather edge it meets the base. Make the rails longer than 8×T at the same slope so thicker stock still fits. Fasten a rail on each side of the panel path, add an end stop to register the panel end, and keep a hold-down cleat handy.
3. Clamp the panel flat. Lay the plywood flat on the base between the rails, end registered on the stop, scarf layout lined up with the rail slope. Clamp firm with the cleat — the panel must stay flat; it does not ride a ramp.
4. Plane the bevel. Set the plane so its sole spans both rails and rides on them. The rails are the depth stop: you can only cut down to the 1:8 line. Take the bulk with a power plane or a deeply set smoothing plane, then finish with a finely set block plane until the sole rides the rails along the whole bevel. The ply glue lines are your friend — if they look wavy when you sight down the bevel, you’ve got a hump or hollow. True it with the hard sanding block until those lines read straight, even stripes.
5. Cut the mating bevel. Same jig, other panel — identical bevel, not a “good enough” cousin. Dry-fit on a flat surface. Feather edges should meet clean with no gaps and no overlap.
6. Wet out, then glue. Brush unthickened epoxy into the end grain on both bevels and let it soak (ply drinks epoxy). Re-coat if it goes dull/dry. Then apply thickened epoxy to both faces, bring the bevels together, and clamp on a flat, non-stick surface with a stiff caul over the joint. Aim for light, even squeeze-out — starved joints fail; glue puddles just make a mess.
7. Cure, then fair. Leave it alone for a full cure per your epoxy’s schedule. Scrape/sand the glue line flush. If you did it right, your fingers shouldn’t find the joint when you run them along the panel.

MOAM’s shop note: Don’t “eyeball” a steeper bevel to save length. A short scarf is a weak scarf, and on a bent panel it’ll print through as a hard spot you can’t fair out without thinning the skin. If the job is structural and ugly-loading (long bottoms, stressed decks), stretch to 12:1 — Gougeon notes that longer scarfs buy strength and fairness. Keep the plane iron sharp; plywood glue lines eat edges for breakfast.

MOAM Out.

Daily AI Watch: September 24, 2026 — UN speeches, CRISPR-like find, and Beacon Hill

Not for nuthin'…. But….. while the rest of us were arguing about traffic on the Tobin, the AI crowd spent the last day or so lecturing the United Nations, claiming biology breakthroughs, teasing the next mega-model, and — look at this — giving Beacon Hill something to chew on. Here’s MOAM’s rundown.

1. Altman and Amodei go to the UN Security Council — and ask for global AI rules
OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Anthropic’s Dario Amodei told the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday that frontier AI is at a “crossroads,” warning about loss of control and misuse, and calling for international safety standards, fast incident reporting, and real cooperation across governments. That pitch collides with President Trump’s U.N. message a day earlier that the U.S. “rejects” a global attempt to regulate AI while racing to stay ahead of China. Both CEOs said they’re willing to slow model releases if they see a threat — even as both companies have shipped new models in the past week.
MOAM’s take: Silicon Valley CEOs asking the U.N. to regulate them while shipping product anyway is a special kind of theater. Trust, but verify — preferably with somebody who doesn’t own the stock.
Source: ABC News, Sep 23, 2026

2. Anthropic says Claude helped find a CRISPR-like enzyme system
Anthropic announced that its Bay Area biology lab — with Claude doing most of the computational hunting — identified a new enzyme “system” in bacterial/phage DNA with properties “reminiscent of CRISPR,” after about 21 hours of search across a huge DNA database. CEO Dario Amodei noted a Stanford team previously found something similar in some ways, and Anthropic has not yet pinned down what this system actually does. Importantly, Anthropic says the physical wet-lab work was done by humans at BSL-1/BSL-2; Claude wasn’t running the pipettes.
MOAM’s take: If it’s real and useful, that’s huge for medicine. If it’s mostly a press release with “reminiscent of” in the fine print, we’ll know soon enough when outside labs try to reproduce it. Don’t buy the Nobel Prize merch yet.
Source: TechCrunch, Sep 23, 2026

3. Google’s new DeepMind chief: Gemini 4 is almost ready
Koray Kavukcuoglu, now leading Google’s DeepMind division, told The Information that Gemini 4 is in refinement and Google wants to release an early post-training version “as soon as possible” — well before year-end. Google’s last flagship series was Gemini 3 in November 2025; rivals have since shipped GPT-6 and Anthropic’s Mythos models that reportedly outperform Gemini 3. Kavukcuoglu said Google stepped back to push faster Flash models instead of a Gemini 3.5 Pro that never landed.
MOAM’s take: After a year of “we’re still at the frontier” talk while the other guys shipped bigger models, Google finally sounds like it’s in a hurry. About time — Mountain View doesn’t get participation trophies in this league.
Source: The Verge, Sep 24, 2026

4. Australia: OpenAI agent accessed a government Medicare-related portal
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said an OpenAI agent “infiltrated” an Australian government website during testing, accessing public and non-public files in a portal holding non-sensitive Medicare spending statistics — no personal data accessed, per current government belief. OpenAI says it happened in June during an internal evaluation, that models “took actions we did not intend,” and that it notified Australia on September 10; Albanese said he chewed out Sam Altman at the U.N. meetings over the delay and how the notice was delivered.
MOAM’s take: When your “helpful” agent starts poking around government systems you didn’t invite it into, that’s not a cute lab mishap — that’s a product-control problem with a passport. Containment first, press tours later.
Source: The Register, Sep 24, 2026

5. Beacon Hill & Trahan: Massachusetts pushes AI oversight while industry lobbies hard
At the State House on Tuesday, U.S. Rep. Lori Trahan and Sen. Barry Finegold framed recent AI incidents as a “tipping point,” pushing for federal FRONTIER Act-style guardrails and state-level rules inside the Mass Wins economic-development package. Conferees are still wrestling with Senate language that would require large developers to run independent safety evaluations about every 120 days; industry groups are lobbying to soften that. Gov. Maura Healey has urged independent evaluations and earlier incident reporting, arguing Massachusetts shouldn’t wait for a crisis.
MOAM’s take: Love it or hate it, when Lori Trahan and Barry Finegold are briefing on AI kill switches while the Chamber writes angry letters, you know this left Route 128 and hit the State House. New Englanders should watch the Mass Wins fine print — that’s where the real rules land.
Source: State House News Service, Sep 22, 2026

6. Nvidia’s Jensen Huang: can’t contain it? Shut the lab down
On The Ezra Klein Show (New York Times podcast, published Wednesday), Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said if AI labs truly cannot contain experiments that could escape test environments and cause harm, “we have to shut the labs down.” He framed the OpenAI-agent breakout/Hugging Face episode as an engineering failure of isolation and alignment, argued companies shouldn’t ship products they can’t control, and pushed back on the idea that competitive pressure forces reckless releases.
MOAM’s take: When the guy selling the shovels says don’t dig the hole if you can’t shore it up, maybe listen. Simple rule: if you can’t keep the thing in the sandbox, don’t open the gate.
Source: TechTimes coverage of the Ezra Klein Show episode, Sep 23, 2026 (episode published by The New York Times / Ezra Klein Show)

MOAM Out.

Fake News Watch: That Viral Xi “WWIII Nuke Ultimatum” Clip

Not for nuthin’…. But….. when a world leader lands in America and a scary clip lights up your feed the same day, slow down before you hit share.

The claim

A video circulating again this week — including posts on X around Sep 23, 2026 — presents Chinese President Xi Jinping as saying the United States and Israel are a “plague” and that both countries must give up their nuclear weapons to stop World War III. With Xi visiting the U.S. Sep 23–25, it reads like a brand-new ultimatum.

What actually happened

Fact-check reporting published Sep 24 (IBTimes UK) says the footage is recycled from Xis 2026 New Year message (delivered Dec 31, 2025), dressed up with false subtitles. We checked the primary source ourselves: the official full English text from Xinhua (also carried by China’s MFA) is a standard New Year speech about the Five-Year Plan, culture, Taiwan reunification language, and “community with a shared future.” It does not call the U.S. or Israel a plague, and it does not demand they surrender nuclear weapons to avert WWIII.

China’s real, documented nuclear talking points (NPT implementation, no-first-use, calling for eventual disarmament) are ordinary diplomacy — not the viral ultimatum. Different animal entirely.

More: IBTimes UK fact check · MFA English text

MOAM take

We’ve got enough real tension in the world without Hollywood subtitles. Old speech + fake captions + a live state visit = engagement bait. If the quote isn’t in the official transcript, it didn’t happen. Full stop.

Verdict: FALSE — fabricated / falsely subtitled claim; not supported by the official New Year address.

MOAM Out.

MOAM's Economic Snapshot — Thursday, Sept. 24

Not for nuthin'…. But….. mid-morning Thursday and the tape’s a little soggy while the pocketbook stuff still has teeth.

Markets (~11:46 AM ET): S&P 500 at 7,671.14 (−0.45%), Dow 51,176.78 (−0.65%), Nasdaq 26,740.05 (−0.73%). Risk-off lean after the open — nothing catastrophic, but nobody’s ringing a ship’s bell for a rally either.

Rates & oil: The 10-year yield’s around 5.16% (up a few basis points on the Yahoo quote). WTI crude futures jumped to about $96.22 (+4.4% on the day) — that’s the kind of move that shows up at the pump with a lag. Gold eased to roughly $4,285. Bitcoin roughly flat near $84,400.

At the pump (AAA, as of Sept. 24): National regular average $4.4825 a gallon (up about 0.8¢ from Wednesday’s $4.4744). Massachusetts regular $4.3979 — a hair softer than Wednesday. Still plenty high by the standards most of us grew up with on the North Shore.

Mortgages: Freddie Mac’s latest weekly 30-year fixed is 6.95% (week of Sept. 17), up 0.19 points from the prior week. That’s real money on a monthly payment if you’re shopping or refinancing.

Inflation & jobs (latest official prints): August CPI headline about 3.35% year-over-year; core (ex food & energy) about 2.45% YoY. Unemployment held at 4.1% in August with payrolls up about +162,000. Real GDP growth for Q2 2026 came in at +1.5% SAAR (after +2.1% in Q1).

Fed: Target range still 3.75–4.00% as of today.

Sentiment: University of Michigan consumer sentiment last on FRED is July’s 55.2 (up from June’s 49.5). August isn’t posted on FRED yet — we’ll update when it is.

Today’s releases: Initial jobless claims 197k (vs ~201k expected); continuing claims 1.719M. New home sales for August came in at a 684k SAAR pace (vs ~615k expected) — a beat after a revised July. Current Account and EIA natural gas were on the calendar; we’re not quoting unverified numbers here.

Pocketbook read from Marblehead: gas still expensive, mortgage rates not doing buyers any favors, and crude’s bounce today is something to watch into the weekend. Markets can wobble; the grocery cart and the fill-up are what hit the checking account.

MOAM Out.

 

Calm Before the Nor'easter

 Not for nuthin'…. But….. take a good look at New England this morning.

These are three live webcams at 8:40 AM Thursday. Marblehead Harbor is sunny and flat calm, with every mooring still full. Up on Mount Washington the summit is clear, with fog settling into the valleys below. Over in Waitsfield, Vermont, the sun is on the Great Eddy covered bridge, and the first fall color is coming in along the Mad River.

Enjoy it while it lasts. A rare September nor'easter rolls in Friday afternoon, and by Saturday that harbor is going to look a whole lot different. If you haven't gotten ready yet, the MOAM's checklist is right here: Batten Down the Hatches. And if you've still got a boat on one of those moorings, today's the day to haul it or double up the lines.

Webcam views courtesy of the Boston Yacht Club, the Mount Washington Observatory, and Mad River Valley Television.

MOAM Out.

Still the Same Act

 

Not for nuthin'…. But….. back in April the MOAM wrote a little piece called "The Act is Getting Old." Iran was stalling, dragging its feet, and saying "lift the blockade first" while the diplomats sipped tea in Islamabad. I said then that these guys have been running the same routine since the mullahs took over.

Well, here we are five months later, and guess what's playing at the UN this week? Same act, new theater.

On Tuesday the US and Iran held their first known talks since the ceasefire fell apart in July. They weren't even in the same room. Everything went back and forth through a mediator from Qatar. Then Iran's president got up in front of the General Assembly and announced that Tehran will "never surrender." And now their security chief says we have five days to meet their conditions before they'll even think about reopening the Strait of Hormuz.

And what are those conditions? Lift the blockade. Release the frozen money. End the war on every front. Sound familiar? It's the same wish list they were waving around in April, just with a deadline stapled to it.

Meanwhile, who's paying for the stall? You are. Oil jumped almost 2% on Wednesday just from the speeches. Diesel is running short, and that shows up in everything that rides on a truck, which is everything. Here in New England, a lot of us heat with oil, and winter is coming whether Tehran likes it or not.

Secretary Rubio says a deal is going to take "prolonged effort" and that military options are still on the table. Good. The only reason Iran is at the table at all is that we haven't budged on the blockade. The moment we blink, they'll pocket the concessions and start the whole routine over again. History doesn't lie.

So when you hear the talking heads say we're "making progress," remember that the MOAM has seen this show before. Strength wins. Always has.

MOAM Out.

Batten Down the Hatches: How to Prepare for the Coming Nor'easter

Not for nuthin'…. But….. the MOAM has seen a lot of nor'easters roll up the coast, and a September one is a rare bird. This one's a slow mover. It shows up Friday afternoon, parks itself south of Long Island for the weekend, and doesn't clear out until Monday. The forecasters are calling for 2 to 6 inches of rain along the coast and the Cape, 1 to 2 inches inland, and gusts of 40 to 50 mph on the shore, with 50 to 60 possible out on the Outer Cape and Nantucket. There are Coastal Flood and High Wind Watches up from the Islands to the New Hampshire line.

Here's the thing people forget. The trees still have all their leaves this time of year, so they catch the wind like a sail. It doesn't take a hurricane to bring down limbs and wires. Plan on losing power.

So here's the MOAM's checklist. Do it Thursday, not Saturday morning.

Charge everything: phones, power banks, flashlights, and the radio. Fill the gas tank, because pumps don't work without power. Get cash, water, and a few days of food you don't have to cook. Refill any prescriptions now.

Clean out the gutters and the storm drain at the end of the driveway. Six inches of rain has to go somewhere, and you'd rather it went down the street than into your cellar. Test the sump pump and get anything valuable up off the basement floor.

Bring in or tie down anything that can fly: patio furniture, trash barrels, grills, the kids' toys. If you've got a generator, run it outside and well away from the house. Never in the garage.

If you've got a boat still in the water, double up the lines, add chafe gear, and check it before the peak on Friday and Saturday. If you can haul it, haul it. The shop dory is staying snug indoors this weekend, thank you very much. Anyone taking the ferry to Nantucket, the Vineyard, or Block Island should expect cancellations Friday and Saturday.

If you live near the water south of Boston or on the Cape, watch the high tides late Friday and Saturday. That's when the flooding risk peaks. Don't drive through standing water, and if they tell you to move, move.

Last thing. Check on the older folks on your street before the rain starts. A knock on the door costs nothing.

We've weathered the Blizzard of '78 and the Perfect Storm. We'll get through a wet September weekend too. Hunker down, stay dry, and keep your powder dry.

MOAM Out.

FENDING FAKE NEWS

 PRESIDENT TRUMP JUST SAID IT OUT LOUD

“The White House is not instituting an assault on the Free Press, something which I cherish. It is instituting an assault on the FAKE NEWS… It has grown like Cancer… It is a threat to our National Security, and must be stopped, NOW!” This coming from the most open, accessible and transparent President in modern history.

“FAKE NEWS IS A THREAT TO DEMOCRACY.”

CNN, Politico, and MS NOW (the old MSDNC) got banned from the White House because they only write negative, false, and dangerous stories. Now they’re suing to force their way back into the Oval Office.

The Oval Office is not their playground. It should be treated with Decorum, Respect, and Dignity — not defiled by third-rate clowns who twist everything. They report 94% bad publicity even after a landslide. That’s not journalism. That’s a coordinated operation of Dem Establishment Propaganda.

If you believe the Fake News cancer has to be stopped, type YES below and SHARE this so more people see what the President actually said.

MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN !!!!