When The Music Stops

I'm pretty sure we're entering the "who gets to be the bagholders" phase of the AI bubble and I know that somehow it will be you and me.

Sure Why Not

Her judgment aside, that she was being pushed by Schumer etc...

Maine Gov. Janet Mills is expected to launch a campaign for Senate on Tuesday, two Democratic sources familiar with her plans confirmed to CBS News.   

Nothing against her, but I think that at 78... 

Somewhere along the way "we" forgot the role of mentoring.

Morning

Time to invade Norway AND Venezuela.

Happy Hour

get happy

Sure Why Not

I guess we just bought $20 billion worth of Argentine pesos. Or guaranteed we would at a certain rate. Not sure which.

I am trying to figure out what we did, exactly, and it quite likely is "the dumbest possible thing" but I can't find the precise details at the moment.

Almost certainly illegal but lol no laws anymore.

Are Readers Getting An Accurate Impression Of Reality

It's gone beyond, "Can you please, Mr. Reporter, please emphasize that something is a lie, or at least false?" 

We are now at, "Shouldn't you be pointing out that none of these people, including the president, are tethered to reality, whether due to deliberate deception or delusion? Isn't that the actual story here?"

Trump on Autism: Obviously, something that is artificially induced, whether it’s the vaccines in terms of these massive vaccines twice the size of a jar like that, a glass of water like that, into a baby’s body. pic.twitter.com/ciHLZwcxFs

— Acyn (@Acyn) October 9, 2025

Besides linking Tylenol in pregnant women to autism, RFK Jr. now says circumcision is part of the reason why kids are autistic. "Children who are circumcised early have double the rate of autism, and it's highly likely because they're given Tylenol. None of this is positive..."

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— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona.bsky.social) October 9, 2025 at 6:10 PM

Seems Bad

We'll see if he makes it out.

A professor at Rutgers University who wrote a book about “antifa” almost a decade ago is trying—and struggling—to flee the US for Europe after a weeks-long online campaign against him by far-right influencers was followed by death threats.

But at the airport, after they had already scanned their passports, received boarding passes, checked in their bags, and cleared security, Bray says he and his family were not allowed to board their flight. Upon arrival at their boarding gate, their reservations had suddenly disappeared from the United Airlines system.

"For 20 minutes [United Airlines] couldn't even figure out what had happened,” says Bray. “Then they said that, basically, somehow someone had canceled our reservation, presumably in between checking through and then. I don't know what happened. There are various potential explanations, but I don't think it was a coincidence that it happened to us on that day.”

They have rebooked... not sure for when.

The Democrats (2003)

Senator Elissa Slotkin:  "If the Trump administration wants to be at war against a terrorist organization, they should come to Congress, notify us, and seek our approval ...  I actually have no real problem going against cartels" pic.twitter.com/apuNZPDW19

— Ken Klippenstein (NSPM-7 Compliant) (@kenklippenstein) October 9, 2025

Shocking Me, Too

They aren't doing it in the way I would recommend, but they are doing it at least.

Congressional Democrats are privately preparing to hold their position in the shutdown standoff for several more weeks if Republicans do not agree to their health care demands – and not even a missed paycheck for US troops will force them to yield.

Inside the party, anxiety is rising among vulnerable Democrats about active-duty military service members missing a paycheck on October 15 — something that hasn’t happened on a large scale in modern times. But Democratic leaders are confident their party will maintain its position through that deadline and longer if necessary, according to dozens of conversations with lawmakers and senior aides.

..

Remarkably few Democrats have raised concerns in private caucus meetings or in member-to-member calls in recent days, according to multiple people in attendance. (“Shockingly, everybody is in agreement,” one senior aide said, summing up the recent mood.)

I would say they should stand firm no matter what and refuse to endorse any of this. The Republicans can go ahead and blow up the filibuster and take responsibility. But at least stand firm on the demands they made.

Whoopsy

The related issue is we've all just decided the Presidential Records Act, like everything else, is fake.

On Sept. 20, Trump meant to send a private message to Attorney General Pam Bondi urging her to prosecute former FBI Director James Comey and his other favored targets, according to U.S. officials familiar with the matter. “We can’t delay any longer, it’s killing our reputation and credibility,” Trump wrote.

Trump believed he had sent Bondi the message directly, addressing it to “Pam,” and was surprised to learn it was public, the officials said. Bondi grew upset and called White House aides and Trump, who then agreed to send a second post praising Bondi as doing a “GREAT job.”

Morning

every day

Happy Hour

get happy

Sure Why Not

Brandi Kruse at today's "antifa violence roundtable" at the White House: "This is one of the reasons I recovered from it. By the way, it’s much better to not have TDS. I’m happier, healthier, more successful. I even think I got a little more attractive after I got rid of my Trump Derangement System"

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— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona.bsky.social) October 8, 2025 at 9:08 PM

Keep Spreading The News

You don't actually have to vote to indict the ham sandwich.

A federal grand jury has refused to indict a Chicago couple arrested during a violent protest outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Broadview last month, a rare move that prompted prosecutors to abruptly drop the case and signals government overreach in bringing the charges in the first place.

After the charges were officially dropped in court Wednesday morning, Richard Kling, the attorney for one of the defendants, called the grand jury’s rejection of the case an “extraordinary happenstance,” especially in Chicago’s federal court.

“I think the grand jurors in the Northern District (of Illinois) stood up for the First Amendment right to protest, and also reject Gestapo-like troops on the streets of Chicago and neighboring communities,” Kling said.

Sure Why Not

 Hopefully covered live with our journalists providing critical context.

More Like This

Governor Big Oaf:

In a scathing critique of President Donald Trump, Gov. JB Pritzker on Tuesday accused the Republican president of deploying National Guard troops to the Democratic cities of Chicago and Portland based on fixations that stem in part from his being mentally impaired.

“This is a man who’s suffering dementia,” Pritzker said in a telephone interview with the Tribune. “This is a man who has something stuck in his head. He can’t get it out of his head. He doesn’t read. He doesn’t know anything that’s up to date. It’s just something in the recesses of his brain that is effectuating to have him call out these cities.

“And then, unfortunately, he has the power of the military, the power of the federal government to do his bidding, and that’s what he’s doing.”

The value isn't just that it's satisfying trash talk, it's that he gets to explain what's happening in away that gets the attention of the press. It creates news articles that put you at the top, instead of in paragraph 12.

Always be on offense. Always be the protagonist.

Variety: Bari's Appeal Was Too Selective

Hilarious PR:

In the summer of 2021, the producers of “The View” cast a wide net to find their token conservative co-host after Meghan McCain’s exit. Bari Weiss — who had guest-hosted a few episodes of the panel show and was making waves with her just-launched news outlet The Free Press — wanted the job, and her then-CAA agents lobbied hard. But Weiss didn’t test well with audiences, who didn’t understand her centrist-right contrarian politics. In fact, her focus group scores were so low that she wasn’t invited back to guest host, according to insiders. Instead, Alyssa Farah Griffin, a former Trump White House director of strategic communications, landed the gig.

"Centrist-right (fake) contrarian politics" has been the dominant media viewpoint my entire life!

Everybody's Working For The Weekend

"Most senators think working more than 3 days per work is intolerable" explains way too much of what happens.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune is promising to keep the Senate in session through the weekend after Democrats blocked a quick vote on John Ratcliffe’s CIA director nomination and threw up new procedural hurdles for Pentagon nominee Pete Hegseth.

Thune has long promised to play hardball if Democrats try to slow-walk President Donald Trump’s Cabinet picks. But the usually mild-mannered South Dakota Republican was visibly angry on Tuesday after Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) blocked a quick vote on Ratcliffe, noting that the Intelligence Committee approved his nomination 14-3.

“Do we want to vote on these folks on Tuesday or vote on them on Friday, Saturday and Sunday? Because that’s what we’re going to do. This can be easy or this can be hard,” Thune said. “Everything we’re doing right now is just stalling. I don’t know what that accomplishes for you.”

Happy Hour

Get happy

What To Say

I admit this place hasn't been much more than a news aggregator lately. One does run out of ways to say this is bad, they are lying, etc, or to point out the media tending to, at best, privilege those lies before sneaking in the truth in paragraph 13.

Also screaming WHAT THE DEMOCRATS NEED TO DOOOO into the void often seems a little silly. I don't think they're listening to me, whether or not they should!

I suppose this shutdown is a pretty big test of whether the Dems are capable of holding, or not. They did choose the terms of the fight, and while it wouldn't have been what I would have advised, it's going to be ridiculous if they cave.