Sunday, October 25, 2026

Sunday Happy Hour

Get happy

Vote Blue No Matter Who Update

Just trying to keep up on the rules.
Rep. Haley Stevens sidesteps whether she still supports El-Sayed, criticizes outreach to Black voters

...

BASH: I want to get everybody else in. I just want to -- you're still fully behind Abdul El-Sayed?

STEVENS: Look, I'm on the Democratic ticket. I can't say that I agree with everything that's gone on. I wish that first debate had been more about that rubber stamp for Trump, because we have got a lot of chaos in Michigan. I don't want to debate who's the enemy of the United States. It's very clear that Iran is.

I didn't run my campaign on foreign policy issues, but that was litigated in my primary. I'm not looking to be front and center right now. I'm looking to be on the team to support my next governor, Jocelyn Benson, and, frankly, these great Democrats who are working their tails off who are going to make Hakeem Jeffries the first black speaker of the House.

BASH: You didn't mention Abdul El-Sayed in that last answer. STEVENS: Well, look, I would just say, you had asked me if I'm still on the team. I'm on the team.
I know that "do more outreach to black voters," who Stevens now speaks for, is code for other things that she won't be explicit about and have little to do with black voters, and so he can't actually meet that demand, but to normal people who don't speak this particular language, having a big event with Obama would probably seem like a good first step.

There is a third option here, also, just don't go on TV right before the midterms with fellow Islamophobe Dana Bash. Keep quiet.

Sure, Like, Whatever

Larry Kudlow, interviewing Trump, claims that Californians "hate cars"

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— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) October 25, 2026 at 2:22 PM
There are places in California that have better transit/walking than people think, but there isn't a spot in that giant state that isn't 100% carbrained.

Fall Fundraising Day 5!!!

Every day is Groundhog Day here at the blog!





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It's Groundhog Day, Again

July 6:
WASHINGTON, July 6 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said on ​Monday the United States would either reach a deal ‌with Iran or "finish the job," renewing his threat of military action as Tehran projects defiance following the funeral of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Now:
US President Donald Trump says the US is considering a possible attack on Iran as soon as Sunday, pointing out that Washington might have to “finish the job” or could reach a deal with Tehran.

Morning

Sunday funday

Saturday, October 24, 2026

Saturday Evening

enjoy

That'll Fix Things

Never bet against Susan Collins, sadly, as ridiculous as this seems at this late moment.
The Trump administration is lifting some of its 50% tariffs on Canadian goods two weeks before the midterm elections, after a Republican candidate in a key US Senate race said she had lobbied for the change.

From 30 October, tariffs will be eased on products including "plywood sheets, some paper products, certain machinery and refrigeration equipment", the White House said on Friday.

Republican Senator Susan Collins, who is in a tight race to keep her seat in Maine, first announced the exemptions, saying they would help her state's agriculture industry.
Maine voters are suckers for Susan Collins (Republican) pretending to save their state from the policies of Republicans. It's too late for any real impact, but not too late for the Maine media to fluff her.

FALL FUNDRAISING DAY 4

Support the new, hawkish Atrios.





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BiBi The Dove

I miss the old peace-loving BiBi, the one who always showed such restraint. NYT:

Was that his reputation? Amazing.
He long had a reputation for being risk averse and avoiding military confrontations, even as he cultivated an image as Israel’s Mr. Security. But that image, as well as Israel’s confidence in its own defense, was badly damaged that day.

Are They Planning To Hit Or Hit Back

There is a difference between "they are planning out to retaliate against the next US strike" and "they are gonna do this soon no matter what."
The U.S. government has put employees on heightened alert across the Middle East and moved to reduce personnel levels at embassies and consulates because of intelligence showing Iran is in the advanced stages of planning attacks against Americans, U.S. officials said on Friday.

Intelligence officials raised alarms to Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a memo on Friday that warned about the dangers to State Department employees in the Middle East and other regions, the officials said.

The memo, from Jay Clayton, the director of national intelligence, said that agencies had “received intelligence that Iran has substantially increased efforts to target U.S. personnel. The lethal plotting efforts by the Iranians against U.S. citizens have reached advanced stages in both the Middle East and certain other countries.”
\


I know the Hegesth warfighting manual says it is unfair if other countries hit us back, but striking back and striking are different things!

Morning

Slacker Saturday

Friday, October 23, 2026

Happy Hour

Friday edition.

Is The Mad King About To Blow Some More Things Up

 I don't think The Markets have perfect foresight, but oil prices going up do suggest some people are getting a bit more nervous about whatever Trump's next steps are.  Or Netanyahu's.

Sure Why Not

Absurd by even current standards.
The Trump administration has preemptively filed a lawsuit seeking to block certification of Alaska’s US Senate election if the Republican incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan loses in the critical contest which could decide the balance of power in the Senate.

The lawsuit represents the latest attempt of the Trump Justice Department to insert itself in the administration of elections, running up against the minimal role the Constitution gives the Executive Branch. It alleges that a candidate named Daniel J. Sullivan could confuse voters and wants a court to potentially delay the certification of the election if Sen. Sullivan is defeated next month.

Basically it's: if Republican Dan Sullivan loses, declare he wins if you can find a couple of voters who claim they voted the wrong way due to confusion.

 The administration is asking the court to declare unlawful the certification of a result that was “impacted by voter confusion” and to block election officials from certifying that result until there was an “investigation” into whether voters meaning to vote for the incumbent had cast ballots for other Sullivan.

Small Pleasures

I hope Vivek is enjoying himself.
The sentiment proved to be a bellwether for the audience Q&A. An answer Ramaswamy gave condemning sanctuary cities wasn’t enough for a hoarse-voiced attendee who repeatedly interrupted: “Damned immigrants are hurtin’ everybody! We gotta get all of ’em out of here!”

Ramaswamy stumbled for a moment, responding that legal immigrants were still cool, which failed to satisfy the heckler. “All of ’em!” the attendee yelled. “Send in the military!”

I don't want any Republicans to win, of course, but he has made himself especially deserving of losing. 

FALL FUNDRAISER DAY 3

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The Faces Of The Democrats

Centrist Dems worry, or pretend to worry, about twitch streamers and the impact of The Groups on what voters think about them, but having Rahm Emanuel out there every day isn't exactly inspiring to a lot of voters, either.

This is the ninth (9th) major profile of Emanuel since December 2024 that failed to mention Laquan McDonald.

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— Heather Cherone (@heathercherone.bsky.social) October 22, 2026 at 9:11 PM
There's a general attitude that The Left isn't allowed to care about anything, and if they do they're just idiots for not voting for Democrats, who will at least be marginally better than Republicans. And, well, maybe not voting for Democrats does make them idiots. But lots of voters are idiots! 

Unless you believe the idiot members of The Left are less reachable than idiot supposed "swing voters" (which some people pretend to believe, but I don't think they really do), this isn't actually a smart way to approach politics.

Some prominent centrists could establish their cred by denouncing Rahm and his murder coverup now before he does more damage!

When the Rahm 2028 campaign heats up, pay attention who joins Team Rahm, on the payroll or otherwise. Flushing out shitty people has some value.

Buck Passing

I bet what's happening here is that Donald listened to the last person he talked to (often, not always). He told Musk it was a great idea then someone else told him various reasons it wasn't.
President Trump called Elon Musk last week and asked him to restore Ukraine’s full access to the Starshield satellite communications network, according to a senior administration official and a person briefed on the exchange.

Mr. Trump’s call to Mr. Musk, who owns the Starshield network, came after Ukrainian officials reported that they were encountering new limits on their ability to operate the military drones that have become essential to their war against Russia. The development raised alarms in Ukraine that Mr. Trump, who has demanded that Ukraine stop its drone attacks on Russian diesel refineries, might have instructed Mr. Musk to impose the limits.

Asked on Thursday whether he had made such a call to Mr. Musk, as first reported by The Wall Street Journal, Mr. Trump declined to say. “I don’t want to comment on it, you know, whether I called or whether ⁠somebody else called — doesn’t make any difference, I guess. The bottom line — he put it back,” the president ​told reporters.

When asked for comment, the White House pointed to Mr. Trump’s remarks.

It remained unclear on Thursday whether access to the Starshield network had been fully restored. Some Ukrainian officials said that was not yet the case.
I'm quite happy to pin it on Elon, and Dem politicians should take the opportunity to do so, too.

In part because if Elon gets mad enough he'll do another stupid thing.

Morning

Feeble Friday