Friday, October 31, 2025

That embarrassing Martin Scorsese

Martin Scorsese hasn't made a good movie since GOODFELLAS -- which was a great movie.  CASINO began the end of his promising career.  Fat and lazy, scenes unshaped, embarrassing performances, go down the list.  


Rebecca Miller's done a 'documentary' entitled MR. SCORSESE which is garbage.  She's the wife of Daniel Day Lewis.  And it's just up Martin Scorsese's ass the whole time.


To make movies, we learn, he hooked up with Leonardo di Caprio.  You know, fat boy.  Fat boy used to have some talent.  But then he never grew up.  And he's no longer cute, he's overweight with a body that's never done a run or bicep curl in his entire life.  It's ridiculous  


That's why is new film flopped.  And hopefully it's the end of his career.


The director?  His career should have ended the minute he started working with Leo.


THE AVIATOR was pure crap and the only thing worse than the movie was hearing Scorsese talk about it and claiming it was the true love story of Howard Hughes and Katharine Hepburn.  


Love story?  Between the bisexual and the lesbian?


Bette Davis and Ava Gardner and many other women had sex with bisexual Howard Hughes  They went down on him.  He never had a kid because he was fixated on blow jobs (receiving them and given them).  Why did Scorsese have to lie?  Because he's become an elderly coward.  Could have made the film about the affair Hughes had with Douglas Fairbanks Jr. or his affair with Gary Cooper or any number of men.  

This:

 

Howard’s uncle, Rupert Hughes, a powerful Hollywood screen writer, was to write the script. It was Uncle Rupert who had introduced Howard to William Desmond Taylor.

Included in their circle was silent film star Blanche Sweet, who regularly gave Howard blow jobs, marveling at the young man’s generous endowment. But it was Taylor who became completely obsessed with Howard. He knew he could make Hughes the biggest star in all of Hollywood, and he couldn't keep his hands off him. Unfortunately, Taylor was murdered in 1922, and the case remains one of the great unsolved mysteries of Hollywood.

Immediately after Taylor’s funeral, Hughes abandoned plans to become a movie star. He told Sweet and Moreno that he had decided to become a producer, a field in which he could be the boss. He also continued to pursue his passions for horses and airplanes. Howard was a magnificent rider and a fearless aviator.

He was also handsome, tall (6'3"), well-endowed and rich – and accustomed to getting his way. Howard lived a warped reality of instant gratification. He played by no one’s rules, sampling whatever drugs, alcohol, women and men he fancied. Hughes, the son of a fabulously wealthy father, lived on an open-ended allowance, enabling him to buy cars and wildly expensive clothes for his boyfriends. One of the most important of them, Dudley Sharp, was later involved in an affair with Howard’s doting mother, who became pregnant by Dudley. Based in Houston, Allene (Howard’s mother) died from complications of the pregnancy, and a day later Dudley, Howard's boyfriend from just a few years before, attempted suicide. Howard and his father took these unsavory complications in stride and immediately returned to California to live their lives of unbridled excess. Hughes Sr. continued his torrid affairs with Gloria Swanson and Eleanor Boardman, and had Howard moved into a private bungalow at a Pasadena polo club – all paid for by his father, of course. Howard was sixteen.

[. . .]


Haines and Hughes forged a close friendship, even though Billy Haines was 100% gay and Hughes was bisexual. Billy knew everybody in Hollywood and made sure Hughes was invited to all the right parties. Haines was also a close friend of Eleanor Boardman. In fact, both Haines and Boardman had been winners of their respective divisions of the “New Faces of 1922" contest sponsored by Goldwyn Pictures. Both were sent from New York to Hollywood for screen tests, and both became big stars. Upon arrival in L.A., Boardman was already an established stage actress, but Billy Haines was 100% raw talent.

At a New Year’s Eve party in Houston, Howard’s father had humiliated him in front of other guests. After a heated argument about aviation (it was Howard’s passion, but his father refused to support his son’s desire to fly), Hughes Sr. yelled at his son, “Just like your Uncle Rupert, you’re nothing but a queer.” Turns out Hughes Sr. knew all about both his son’s and brother’s sexual dalliances with men. Howard collapsed into tears as his father slammed the door and stormed off. It is important to note that the person into whose arms Howard collapsed was none other than Dudley Sharp*, father of his mother’s unborn child, as well as being Howard’s boyhood lover. For two weeks Hughes Sr. and his son kept an icy distance from each other. On January 14, 1924, Howard’s father died suddenly of an embolism while working in his Houston office. When Howard was approached on the golf course to be told that his father had died, the first thing he did was call the family attorney. He asked the lawyer to read him his father’s will. Howard had just turned eighteen.


This:


However, his taste in the handsomest men in Hollywood continued unabated: Robert Taylor, Tyrone Power, George O’Brien, Johnny Mack Brown and many, many others. When Clark Gable first arrived in Hollywood, he dropped trou for several influential men, including Billy Haines and Howard – anything to get ahead and become a star. When über-gay George Cukor was directing Gable in Gone with the Wind, he teased him about his earlier dalliances with Haines and Hughes. Gable never spoke to Cukor again while on the set, and he led a successful effort to get Cukor fired (Cukor was replaced by Victor Fleming).


NEW YORK DAILY NEWS:

” What will surprise fresh -viewers in 2005 is that the film – whose main -characters are Doc Holliday (Walter -Huston), Billy the Kid (Jack Buetel) and Pat Garrett (Thomas Mitchell) – is about as heterosexy as “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.

While 1946 audiences were bending forward waiting for -Russell’s Rio to bend forward, Doc, Billy and Pat kept their eyes on each other. They wouldn’t have looked at Rio’s chest if it were blocking their light. I don’t know if Hughes, whom some -biographers claim was bisexual and who -apparently preferred Buetel to Russell, was in on the joke. But in splashing gay subtext throughout what was being sold as a breakthrough sex Western, there was definitely a joke.
The hot-blooded half-breed Rio is Doc’s girlfriend when the movie opens, and Billy’s girlfriend before Doc knows what hit him. 

He's an old man who's become a joke.  Time has left him behind.  In the fifth chapter of the documentary, he brags about his bravery going on and on about how Leo batters his wife in WOLF OF WALL STREET and everyone told Martin not to do that.  He's so brave!!!

He's a f**king liar and an embarrassment, a grown man who has to masquerade gay men as straight.  


He hasn't made a film worth watching since GOODFELLAS.  


It's no surprise he ended up working for FOX "NEWS."


Closing with C.I.'s "The Snapshot:"


Friday,  October 31, 2025.  Crazed psycho Chump wants to bring back the nuclear arms race, does RAW STORY pay Alexander Willis for the pro-Donald Chump propaganda he keeps turning out, cowardly  Francesca Fiorentini is out to pimp for Platner and it's not going well for her on BLUESKY, and much more.



There is no historical precedentTo put the words in the mouth of the president?There's no such thing as a winnable warIt's a lie we don't believe anymoreMister Reagan says, "We will protect you"I don't subscribe to this point of viewBelieve me when I say to youI hope the Russians love their children too

"Russians," written by Sting and Sergei Prokofiev, first appears on Stings THE DREAM OF THE BLUE TURTLE


The man is nuts.  Of course, we are speaking of Donald Chump.  What's he done this time?  Davis Winkie and Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy (USA TODAY) report:

President Donald Trump announced on Oct. 29 that the United States will "immediately" resume nuclear weapons tests, a move he said is needed to ensure the country keeps up with its rival nuclear powers.

In a Truth Social post, Trump touted progress made on nuclear weapons modernization during his first term. But he warned that China's nuclear weapons buildup will place Beijing's arsenal on equal footing with the United States and Russia "within 5 years."

He needs nuclear testing?  Well he needs cognitive testing but, no, he doesn't need -- nor does the world -- nuclear testing.  The demented and depraved Donald is attempting to restart the arms race.  That's how sick his mind is.  David E. Sanger and William J. Broad (NEW YORK TIMES) remind:

Mr. Trump’s own senior official in charge of nuclear testing — Brandon Williams, a former one-term member of Congress from upstate New York — was asked point-blank during his confirmation hearing in April whether the United States needed to go back to explosive testing.

“I would not advise testing, and I think we should rely on the scientific information,” Mr. Williams said, referring to such things as data gathered from supercomputer modeling. But he quickly noted the decision would be made “above my pay grade.”


Andre Damon (WSWS) points out, "In the decades before testing was banned, over 2,000 nuclear detonations were conducted, more than half of which were carried out by the United States. These tests sickened communities both inside the American West and throughout the South Pacific and rendered entire areas uninhabitable."  Jon Gambrell (INDEPENDENT) reports:


Trump’s comments came in a post on his Truth Social website just before meeting Chinese leader Xi Jinping. In it, Trump noted other countries testing weapons and wrote: “I have instructed the Department of [Defense] to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis. That process will begin immediately.”

The president’s post raised immediate questions. America’s nuclear arsenal is maintained by the Energy Department and the National Nuclear Security Administration, a semi-autonomous agency within it — not the Defense Department. The Energy Department has overseen testing of nuclear weapons since its creation in 1977. Two other agencies before it — not the Defense Department — conducted tests.

Trump also claimed the U.S. “has more Nuclear Weapons than any other country.” Russia is believed to have 5,580 nuclear warheads, according to the Washington-based Arms Control Association, while the U.S. has 5,225. The two countries account for nearly 90% of the world’s atomic warheads.
US last carried out a nuclear test in 1992

The whack job really needs medical supervision -- immediate medical supervision.  William J. Broad (NEW YORK TIMES) explains:

The last underground explosive blast at the Nevada Test Site occurred on Sept. 23, 1992. Its power was reportedly quite small — a third of the Hiroshima bomb’s — and no public information seems to exist on the test’s purpose.

That same year, at the Cold War’s end, the United States voluntarily gave up the explosive testing of nuclear arms and eventually talked other atomic powers into doing likewise.

Then, in 1993, President Bill Clinton announced plans for a treaty in which all nations would forgo all nuclear blasts. This meant banning tests even underground, the last permissible zone.

Although the 1996 test-ban treaty never officially went into force, it created a global norm. The long, hard process of hammering out a global consensus on the merits of a ban, embraced by all the thermonuclear states at the time, led to a more stable era. Gone were the shock waves that had regularly radiated from underground test sites and ricocheted around the globe.

Since then, the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France have tested no weapons.

As some have focused on the huge damage he's doing to our country, Chump's turned his destructive eye to the whole world.

See Ben this morning for more on Chump's stupidity that risks the entire world.







Speaking of the world, Chump never had a peace plan.  He put in a pause or a cease-fire in Gaza.  It's not holding.  A number of you are e-mailing about a ridiculous and offensive piece RAW STORY published yesterday.  I didn't see it until the e-mails.  When I read through some of those e-mails, I thought, "It's going to be Alexander Willis again."  And it is.  Again?  From Saturday's "RAW STORY, please stop spreading Donald Chump's lies:"



What's up with RAW STORY?  Are new writers just stupid or are they deliberately lying?  Marcia's already called out one nut job who appeared to arguing for Chump and now we have Alexander Willis who writes a really bad article about Chump's social media posts late Friday night and early Saturday morning.

Lousy?  I think it needs to be pointed out that while he's posting to social media our government remains in shutdown -- the shutdown he caused.  I think it needs to be pointed out that late night posting isn't time working nor is it benefitting his health.  I think it especially needs to be pointed when he's lying.

And he's always lying.

Why did Alexander Willis repost Chump's lies and not call them out?  Willis treats the lies as fact.  What the hell is going on at RAW STORY?

There is no proof that, after January 6th, phone calls of members of Congress were listened in on.  I guess they could have used the NSA for archival recordings potentially.  There's no other way for you to after the fact tap a phone call.  After January 6th, as the government investigated the treasonous insurrection, they got the toll slips.  Toll slips only tell you who a number called and the duration of the call.  In the immediate hours after Marilyn Monroe's death, the Secret Service seized the toll slips from the phone company.  It told them who called the number and who called from the number.  It did not tell them the contents of any phone call.

Charles Grassley may not be lying.  He's so old, he may truly not understand.  He's 92 years old and really needs to retire.  

But whether he's lying or just confused, Grassley does not know what he's talking about.

Chump does know the difference between a tap on a phone call and toll slips -- he's known the difference long before he was president and it had to do with some of his father's illegal actives which is a whole other story.  But he does know the difference.

If Alexander Willis is unable to explain coherently that false charges repeated in the RAW STORY articles are false charges, then that's a writer who needs to find another outlet. 

This is an Alexander Willis problem.  And it needs to be looked at.   It's not a RAW STORY program.  They have many solid writers.  And RAW STORY does not normally report or 'report' the way Aelxander Willis did on the toll slips.   Click here for the garbage Willis wrote re: Gaza.

 

"Officials in the Trump administration are panicking as the president’s Gaza peace deal runs the risk " 

"President Donald Trump brokered a historic peace deal "  

"As part of Trump’s peace plan, his administration"


It was not a peace plan.  I'm tired of the f**king stupidity and the f**king lying.  Does the use of the F-word make clear how sick I am of this?  A peace plan -- pay attention those who are deeply stupid -- requires all parties getting together for negotiations.  This was a cease fire or what the press called a cease-fire under Joe Biden.  It was a pause.  We didn't accept the lie that Joe had done a cease-fire (we noted it was a pause) and we certainly won't elevate Chump's pause into a "peace plan."  What the hell is up with Alexander Willis who keeps working Republican talking points into his articles for RAW STORY?

We don't note COMMON DREAMS anymore.  Too many whores who helped depress turnout in the 2024 election.  We don't have time for whores.  Brett Wilkins focused on many issues at that site including Gaza which he always did a good job on.  So I went looking and here's his article on the same topic Willis 'wrote' 'about' -- click here -- and he calls it a cease-fire throughout.  He never calls it a peace deal.  He never licks Chump's anus the way Alexander Willis does ("a historic peace deal").  

I don't trust Alexander Willis and he's either a propagandist (for Chump) or a really bad writer (two at RAW STORY say he's a really bad writer).  Regardless, we can't afford him.  When we're in a battle to save this country, we can't afford someone at a left site ignoring reality and bending the truth to make Donald Chump look better.


Reality can't make him look any worst.  He is the absolute worst and Americans know that or are slowing figuring it out.  Jacob Gardenswartz (SCRIPPS NEWS) reports:


Health insurance premiums for plans bought on the Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplaces, often known as Obamacare, are set to increase by an average of 26% in 2026, according to a new analysis released Tuesday evening by the health research group KFF.

But that number could grow significantly if lawmakers fail to reach a deal to extend the COVID-19 era expanded tax credits that help offset ACA premium costs. And when pressed on that fact, Trump administration officials have tried to obfuscate, at times going so far as to falsely question the veracity of data highlighting the increased costs.
On Wednesday, the so-called “window shopping” period began for Americans in 30 states that rely on the federal exchange, healthcare.gov. Those consumers can now input their information and see what the costs for their 2026 plans will look like before enrollment officially begins on Nov. 1.
 

According to the KFF analysis, Americans who get their insurance through the federal exchange will actually see their premiums increase an average of 30%. The 20 states that run their own ACA exchanges will see increases of 17% on average.

But without the extension of the expanded tax credits, the amount Americans pay each month will increase by 114% on average, KFF finds. Indeed, 92% of Americans received some sort of tax credit to offset ACA costs in 2025. While not all the credits will be going away, millions could be hit with what KFF described as the “double whammy” of rising premium costs and declining government help.


Will Alexander Willis dress that up to make Chump the savior of healthcare?  Will he whore himself out further to come up with a piece insisting Chump' moves on healthcare are "historic"?  There is reality and then there are the words that flow out of Chump's sewage spout.  Kinsey Crowley and Kathryn Palmer (USA TODAY) report:


Trump has told reporters while jetting between Malaysia, Japan and South Korea that his poll numbers were high as he toyed with the idea of pursuing a third term. Though on Oct. 29, he admitted that the Constitution limits him to two terms.
But polls consistently tell a different story: His approval rating is historically low and steady, despite a tumultuous first nine months. Here is what Americans think of Trump's job performance, the "No Kings" protests and the government shutdown.

In an Economist/YouGov poll of 1,623 U.S. adult citizens conducted Oct. 24-27, Trump's approval rating slipped to 39%. It also found 58% disapprove, giving a net approval of -19 points, the lowest of his second term, according to the pollster. However, it is only two points worse than the previous week's poll. The poll's margin of error is 3.5 percentage points.

Chump's just a cheap liar.  It's repetitive, not a new observation at all; however, it remains true and the truth needs to be repeated.   Joe Light (BARRONS NEWS) reports:


President Donald Trump on Thursday touted his trade deal as a major win for U.S. soybean farmers. But even if China upholds the agreement as described by the administration, U.S. farmers at most are likely merely to see a return to the status quo before the 2025 trade war began rather than a meaningful breakthrough.
As part of the trade deal, China committed to buying 12 million metric tons of soybeans this year, as well as to purchasing a minimum of 25 million metric tons of the crop annually for the next three years, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in an interview with Fox Business’s Mornings with Maria on Thursday. Bessent said he expected Trump in the future would convince Chinese President Xi Jinping to increase their commitment.

“Our Farmers will be very happy! In fact, as I said once before during my first Administration, Farmers should immediately go out and buy more land and larger tractors,” Trump said in a Truth Social post, also pointing to other agricultural products China said it would buy.

However, the 25 million tons to which China committed are roughly comparable to what the country purchased in 2024, before the trade war started, noted Beacon Policy Advisors analyst Owen Tedford.


The thing about the ranchers?  This is their livelihood.  Chump's a liar but he's a really dumb liar.  At this point, he can't afford to lose any support.  But lies like this?  They drive your support away.

His lie this week that gas prices will soon be at $2 a gallon?  That ticks people off if they're paying attention.  But his lies regarding what cattle ranchers are dealing with and will be dealing with (and his suggestion that they just buy more land)?  They go to his seeing them as a mark, they go to his attempting to con them.  And when you're losing money over his con, it becomes a lot more serious.

They're not going to forget this and they aren't going to forgive -- nor should they.

Let's do another topic.

If you missed it, a certain group doesn't want most of us to enter Democratic Party headquarters through the front door.

No, we're expected to use the back door.  Those of us who are women (of any race), men of color, LGBTQ+, Jewish, Muslim, etc.  Basically, if you're not a White straight cis gender male with a belief in Jesus Christ, you're not allowed in the front door.  Grasp that as you read Michelle Goldberg's ridiculous columns ('he's not dead because people tell me he's not!').  We don't link to trash so go search THE NEW YORK TIMES for it.  It's her effort to join  Tricksters Turning Tricks for Graham Platner.  

The dues are rather steep for the club, you have to sell your soul. 

And even with that high price, turns out your whoring may not work for you.

Take poor Francesca Fiorentini.  Backing up a rape denier -- he denies rape -- just imploded her 'feminist' credentials for anyone stupid enough to still think she was a feminist -- loud and ugly women may fit the old media  stereotype of feminism but, point of fact, we're not all loud and ugly.  Now it's shame, shame everyone on BLUESKY knows her name.  She was back to pimping the sexist, racist, homophobic, rich boy who worked for Blackwater Graham Platner.  She tried to pimp Branko's lie-riddled article.  81 people clicked on the "heart" for her post.  

81.

Capt. Dustos, Vampire Hunter got the first reply:  "The person who lied is Graham Platner, about his NAZI TATTOO."  

Francie got 81 hearts and Capt Dustos?  959.  


Believe that's similar to being ratioed.    Poor Franci. 


SuperChill noted, "Evidence points to Platner knowing it was a Nazi tattoo but gaslighting the public about it.  Why OP thinks they have a special ability to discern Platner's true nature and motivations is a mystery.  Unfollowing OP."  Guess how many liked SuperChill's comment?  285.  


So deeply unpopular even on the BLUESKY thread she started.  

You may remember 'brave' Francie getting snaps and props from The Circle Jerk back in March because she left THE YOUNG TURKS.  This was how long after TYT had declared war on transgender people?  In other words, Francie, you didn't do anything brave as you continued to be a part of an outlet promoting transphobia and promoting White Nationalism -- let's be clear that's what Nose Job Ana's become -- was the nose job, in fact, necessary for her to be accepted by other White Nationalists?

Francie was a joke then as well.  She is one of the reasons we don't highlight ZETO that often.  Mehdi I have no problem highlighting.  But I had to block Zeteo on YOUTUBE due to the horrid people they hired.  I don't really think it's your business that a woman had a mastectomy.  No, I don't.  And if she had one and was public about how she lost her mother to breast cancer, I especially think you back the hell off.  But one strike for ZETEO for hiring that liar wo attacked the woman who had a mastectomy and then another for Francie and then one for their Socialist who poses as a Democrat and was allowed to lie in two segments in a row.  

Love and respect for Mehdi -- who we still note -- but, no, not going to pimp ZETEO.  And what is it about these charisma free podcasters that led them to ever think they could be a stand up comedian?  Francie, you're not funny.  Again, you're loud.  But even that doesn't make you Sam Kinison.  Who may have actually been physically cuter than Francie.

Kevin M. Kruse has a great thread on Platner and his groupies. Ragnarok Lobster notes, "This is why Bernie Sanders loves Graham Platner: like Bernie, Platner is a bitter White man who blames everyone else for his personal shortcomings."  Francie also wants you to know Platner passes "the smell test."  So did Cenk.  Until he fired her.  Let that sink in.  For all her 'brave' pretense, she'd probably still be with TYT if Cenk hadn't fired her in March.


I want to again note Tressie McMillan Cottom (NEW YORK TIMES):


I cannot swear to know the minds of men like Murphy and Sanders. But, were I a betting person, I’d wager someone else’s riches that they know racism and xenophobia are inextricably linked to America’s inchoate understanding of class politics. They know that “working class” has become a powerful political totem of its own — a discursive sleight of hand used to separate out white voters’ concerns as more legitimate, more materially grounded, more important than other voters’ concerns.

These senators are demonstrating a willful blindness that has become endemic in the Democratic Party. Their rhetoric — and the conventional wisdom that flows from it — suggests that we cannot talk about economic solutions without abandoning our commitment to the Black, Latino, gay, transgender and female poor that are the lifeblood of the Democratic Party’s base. The conceit at the heart of that belief is that poor white people are too racist, and too uniquely ignorant of their racism, to vote in their best interests. Therefore, Democrats have to accept a little racism to win the working class.

It is an old argument. History will tell you that negotiating with racism or fascism or authoritarianism never ends well.



Be sure to check out THE NEW YORK TIMES editorial "Are We Losing Our Democracy?" And let's note two important videos on Chump's Epstein scandal.


 

 

There are tons of topics that need addressing.  I covered ICE all week so I'm find with it not being in the snapshot today.  I'd like to cover Chump's plan with regards to having forces in every state to deal with uprisings -- is Fatty Boobs Chump planning another January 6th already? -- and several other things but a topic that came up during the roundtable for today's gina & krista round-robin has also been in the e-mails Martha and Shirley noted last night.  

So let's grab that.

There are so many things to worry about and our country needs us alive and fighting to save democracy.  So let me take one of the concerns some of you have and tell you, it's being handled already and you don't need to worry about it.


A lot of e-mails expressing outrage over the new direction of CBS under its owner.  Don't.  There are enough things to fret about.  A group of us worked -- and are working on -- making sure Chump's Branson on the Potomac is a failure. We're also preparing for PARAMOUNT+.  The new owner thinks he can shape the country.  He can't.  But We The People can shape -- harm -- his pocket book.  And that's a long term lesson he'll be taught if he can't learn reality quickly.  There's no audience for what he wants to do.  He's pissed off the artistic community going after Colbert and trying to boss Taylor  Sheridan around.  For years, Rupert Murdoch thought he was going to have impact but to survive FOX had to program shows that were not conservative and didn't reflect  conservative values.  David Ellis (who looks like  THE MIDDLE's Brad played by Brock Ciarlelli) has never really had to prove himself in the entertainment business.  He's in over his head and he's going to learn that lesson quickly and adjust or he's going to lose his money.  

He's not something you need to worry about.  He's already made a long list of enemies and we know how to handle him.  This won't be a six month project.  As we have planned now, it's going to be a three to four year plan.  And David can learn to read the room or he can find out just how hard his job truly is.

Let's wind down with this from Senator Patty Murray's office:


NEW FROM NEW YORK TIMES: Obamacare Prices Become Public, Highlighting Big Increases

NEW FROM KFF: ACA Insurers Are Raising Premiums by an Estimated 26%, but Most Enrollees Could See Sharper Increases in What They Pay

SEATTLE TIMES: WA residents shopping for health insurance hit with sticker shock

 ***WATCH PRESS CONFERENCE HERE, DOWNLOAD HERE***

Washington, D.C. – Today, on the 30th day of the Republican government shutdown and ahead of Open Enrollment beginning nationwide this Saturday, November 1st, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA)—Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee and a senior member and former chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee—held a virtual press conference with Washington State Insurance Commissioner Patty Kuderer and constituent Bridget Provalenko of Bellingham, whose family relies on the Affordable Care Act (ACA) enhanced premium tax credits to afford health insurance.

At the press conference, Senator Murray discussed how inaction by Republican Members of Congress will force Washingtonians to pay significantly more for health care next year. Last week, Washington state’s ACA marketplace, Washington Healthplanfinder, opened its “window shopping” period, allowing Washingtonians to look at health coverage plans for next year—and most are seeing dramatic increases in their premiums thanks to Republican inaction. Customers can start signing up for a plan and officially shopping for coverage through Washington Healthplanfinder once Open Enrollment begins on November 1st. On average, premiums for ACA plans in Washington state are spiking by 21 percent. Nationwide, 22 million Americans who buy health care through the ACA exchanges will see their health care costs skyrocket next year without the tax credits, premiums are more than doubling on average, and these higher costs will push 4.8 million people off their health coverage over the next decade. A Washington-state specific fact sheet on the ACA tax credits is HERE.

“Republicans don’t even have the tiniest inkling of an actual health care plan! They never have. But Democrats have a pretty simple plan to address the immediate crisis: save these tax credits, and stop premiums from doubling, tripling, quadrupling, or worse. Now, Republicans may have shut down the government over this, but they will not shut down the debate. People in Washington state and across the country are not going to be silent when they log on and see their monthly premium is going to go through the roof. They are already speaking out,” said Senator Murray. “There are over 220,000 people in Washington state alone who rely on the premium tax credits to afford health insurance. And that is literally just one percent of the 22 million people in the country who rely on them. In our state, families who lose their support are going to see their premiums more than double on average. I am hearing from families who have done the math and gotten their notices. They check online, and learn that their health insurance plans will cost hundreds—in some cases thousands—more each month… I am going to keep shouting it from the rooftops: later is too late. People are window shopping for health plans now. Open enrollment is this Saturday. That is when these price hikes really become a reality, and families who feel priced out of their coverage may just give up.”

Senator Murray played a critical role in passing the enhanced premium tax credits in the American Rescue Plan in 2021 and extending them in the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022, and she has been fighting for months to make sure these important health care tax credits don’t expire, including cosponsoring multiple pieces of legislation—the Health Care Affordability Act and theProtecting Health Care and Lowering Costs Act—that would make them permanent.

“Hard working people have relied on these tax credits to buy health insurance for themselves and their families. Some of these people have serious health conditions. For them, the idea of going without coverage can literally mean the difference between life and death, unless Congress takes immediate action to extend them the enhanced premium tax credits will expire at the end of the year,” saidWashington State Insurance Commissioner Patty Kuderer. “More than 216,000 Washingtonians in the individual market qualified for enhanced premium tax credits. That’s about two thirds of our enrollees. These subsidies are what help people afford and keep coverage. If Republicans let the enhanced premium tax credits expire, the exchange estimates that up to 80,000 Washingtonians will drop their health insurance. I’m afraid this will cause us to backslide on our state’s historically low 4.8 percent uninsured rate. That means higher costs and strains on our health care system. As people put off preventative care, these effects will be felt by people across the state, but will hurt some of our rural communities.”

“Being self-employed, we have to go out and find our own insurance, which we have done over the past few years. Fortunately, last year, we qualified for the credits on the ACA, and it’s made a huge difference. It was able to keep our premium the same as it was the prior year, which was amazing for us,” said Bridget Provalenko of Bellingham, whose family uses the Affordable Care Act (ACA) Exchange to afford health insurance. “Health insurance isn’t a Democrat or Republican issue, it’s an American issue… I just want people to understand that health insurance is very important to people. We need it. We need to make it affordable.”

Senator Murray’s remarks, as delivered on today’s press call, are below:

“Thank you all for joining this call today, because right now, families in Washington state and across the country are window shopping for health insurance coverage for next year. And they are coming face-to-face with the reality that their monthly premiums are set to skyrocket, all because of Republicans’ inaction.

“Democrats have been clear, all year long: we want to stop these price hikes and we want to save the ACA tax credits that millions of families rely on.

“But Republicans have been silent. Or worse, they’ve shrugged their shoulders. They’ve essentially said, ‘Don’t look at me, I never wanted to lower health care costs in the first place.’

“So they have literally now shut the government down instead of talking with Democrats about health care. Which is probably because Republicans don’t even have the tiniest inkling of an actual health care plan! They never have!

“But Democrats have a pretty simple plan to address the immediate crisis: save the tax credits, and stop premiums from doubling, tripling, quadrupling, or worse.

“Now, Republicans may have shut down the government over this, but they will not shut down the debate. People in Washington state and across the country are not going to be silent when they log on and see their monthly premium is going to go through the roof. They are already speaking out.

“There are over 220,000 people in Washington state alone who rely on the premium tax credits so they can afford their health insurance. And that is literally just one percent of the 22 million people in the country who rely on them.

“In our state, families who lose their support are going to see their premiums more than double on average. I’m hearing from families who have done the math and gotten their notices. They check online and learn that their health insurance plans will cost hundreds—in some cases thousands—more each month.

 

“I have heard from families trying to figure out if they can go without daily necessities—maybe have fewer, smaller meals. I have heard from small business owners wondering if they will just have to close up shop and look for a job with employer-sponsored coverage.

“I’ve heard from people who simply can’t afford it no matter what and are just preparing to just go without health insurance entirely next year.  They’re skipping checkups, they’re rationing prescriptions, and they’re rolling the dice on their health.

“This is heartbreaking. It is happening nationwide and it is completely unacceptable to me. The Republican response has been silence. The Republican solution is ‘later.’

“I am going to keep shouting it from the rooftops: later is too late. People are window shopping for health plans now. Open enrollment is this Saturday. That’s when these price hikes really become a reality, and families who feel priced out of their coverage may just give up.

 

“Every single day Republicans waste, this problem is going to get worse and harder to solve. Every day.

“So we are not going to stop sounding the alarm. We are not going to stop lifting up the stories of real families who are facing the real price hikes Republicans want to pretend don’t exist. And we are not going to stop demanding they join us at the table, and work on actually solving this and reopening the government as soon as possible.

“If Republicans want to bury their heads in the sand or plug their ears, that’s their choice. But guess what? We are going to bring a shovel. We will bring a megaphone. And we will do everything we can to make sure the American people are heard.

“So thank you all for being here, and I’m glad to be joined by two people who can speak about this issue firsthand: Patty Kuderer, our Insurance Commissioner in Washington state; and Bridget from Bellingham. Bridget, thank you for being here to share your story.”

###


The following sites updated:

Posted by at

Thursday, October 30, 2025

Don Lemon's right

Not a Don Lemon fan.  I think he runs with the pack too often.  But this story whining about him saying Megyn Kelly looks trans?  

I gotta defend him here.

First off, she does. So does Riley Gaines.  That's why, many of us wonder, if they're always attacking trans people because they themselves were mistaken for trans?


He's using trans as an insult!!!!  No, he's not. He's not attacking trans people nor is he calling them ugly.  He's merely noting that Megyn Kelly looks trans (again, she does).

This is just nonsense.  And, again, not a Don Lemon groupie.  But this is beyond stupid. 


Closing with C.I.'s "The Snapshot:"


Thursday, October 30, 2025.  Politics, politics, the candidate who needs to drop out (and take the liars who are pimping him with him), a dubious attack on Zohran, the need to understand that constituents consume information in a multitude of ways, Chump's shutdown continues and continues to harm the country, a look at some of the many attacks ICE is carrying out as they break the law, and much more.


Let's start with campaign politics.  Specifically the trash that is Graham Platner -- a liar, a racist, a homophobe, a denier of rape, a sexist, a mercenary who worked for Blackwater and so much more -- we noted him yesterday but there's still more to cover..  


He' got an army of whores on his side.  Including Krystal and Kyle.

When you want to know what Democrat to back, do you go to Krystal and Kyle?  I mean, in the summer of 2024, who were they endorsing?  O, that's right . . . Democratic Party candidate Jill Stein.


What's that?  She was the Green Party candidate.  Then Joe dropped out and they walked away from Jill.  But if Joe hadn't dropped out, these good' Democrats (Socialists, not Democrats) were going to vote for Jill Stein.  

Kyle has a tendency to lie off his YOUTUBE channel, he's pick some criticism online and he'll shoot these e-mails out to everyone he knows denying the criticism and calling the person a liar.  So you can click here to see the endorsement.   Or you can click here.

Kyle is a DSA-er, not a Democrat.  His Justice Democrats were all Socialists with DSA.  They couldn't run as socialsits because they were cowards.  Rashida Tlaib, to her credit, stopped her double life when she endorsed Zohran early on this year (endorsed him for NYC mayor). I don't like tricksters.  I don't like people who lie to you and try to manipulate you to get you to vote the way they want you to.


That's all Kyle and Krystal have ever been.  When they were pimping Marianne Williamson for the 2024 presidential nominee, they got all bent out of shape when people started pointing out that she wasn't just an author and guest on their show, she had also just attended their wedding.  It was like when Chris Hedges tried to pose as 'just a journalist' when he wrote about Cornel West 'getting' the People's Party's presidential nomination -- and he left out the part about the deal was negotiated by him (Hedges) and he was supposed to be the running mate until the last minute when Chris' wife said no.  You didn't get that in the pieces Chris wrote, nor in all the YOUTUBE echo chamber programs he went on -- programs like Krystal and Kyle's.  Poor Cornel.  He wasn't ready for that run to put it mildly.  And the reason we covered Chris' lies to readers and viewers, his attempts to manipulate them, was because they hadn't clued Cornel in.  Cornel went on a live program and started answering questions and answering with the truth.  Yeah, it was new, but Chris came to him and told him that he could be the People's Party's presidential nominee and he said he'd be Cornel's running mate and that was their plan but then Chris' wife . . .


We covered it here and we covered it at THIRD.  You didn't see THE NATION cover it, did you?  Or Krystal and Kyle.  Or anyone in the Circle Jerk.  That's because it wasn't news to them.  They'd known about it from the start and they'd chosen to ignore it so they manipulate you.  


And they lie like that all the time.  


Good for Rashida for coming out.  You can't run AOC for president if you all hide in a political closet.  AOC is a Socialist and Kyle and Krystal may be able to team with Sam Seder and others to lie but that's not going to hold in the real world.  And not during a real national campaign.


DSA is a joke.  It's become a bigger joke as years have gone by.  I've never had respect for it because 'the plan' was always that they'd take over the Democratic Party from within.  Why did you have to lie to do that?  


SEP?  They're Socialists.  They don't lie about being Socialists.  They run a candidate for president every four years without hiding or insisting that the candidate isn't a Socialist.  They've never done -- as Kyle did with TYT's Cenk -- come up with a group of Socialists and dub that group "Justice Democrats" in order to fool voters.


Jacob Crosse (WSWS -- the SEP's publication) has a great article on this nonsense that went up last night:


Since it was revealed earlier this month that Graham Platner, the Bernie Sanders-endorsed Democratic candidate for Maine’s Senate seat, had a Totenkopf skull and crossbones Nazi tattoo on his chest for nearly two decades while serving as a soldier/mercenary for US imperialism, the pseudo-left and self-proclaimed “progressive” Democrats have lined up in defense of the far-right candidate.

This campaign is being led by Jacobin magazine and joined by figures such as Krystal Ball of Breaking Points. They have pointed to Platner’s posting history on Reddit to claim that his comments, which Platner deleted but had written under the handle “P-Hustle,” show a man with “progressive” and “anti-fascist” views rather than a “secret Nazi.”

Last week Jacobin’s Branko Marcetic published two articles in defense of Platner. 

[. . .]

Likewise in an editorial segment on her program Breaking Points, Ball, a supporter of Sanders and the 2022 John Fetterman Senate campaign in Pennsylvania, said the revelation that Platner had a Nazi tattoo made her “more ride or die for him than ever.” She added that “we actually have access to his edgiest sh*t posts and none of them are far right.”

In fact, what Platner actually wrote under his “P-Hustle” handle, combined with his record in service of US imperialism, completely refutes these claims. Far from revealing a “progressive” outlook, his posts express open admiration for the most reactionary and murderous episodes in the history of American imperialism.


Sorry if I look askance at someone who posts about how he would have glady taken part in the Native American genocide in this country.   Or someone who bragged about violating orders in order to shoot up Ramadi?  I'm sorry, no.  No and never.  This site started as another way to try to end the Iraq War.  We don't now pretend that terrorizing Iraqis -- which is what he did in Ramadi when he shot off mortar rounds that he wasn't supposed to -- is suddenly okay. 

Back to the article:


Platner’s entire public persona—a “working-class veteran” turned “oyster farmer”—is a political fabrication. As a teenager he attended two private schools, including the $75,000-a-year Hotchkiss School, an elite Connecticut prep school whose alumni included CIA Director Porter Goss, Jonathan Bush (President George H.W. Bush’s brother and investment banker), William Clay Ford Sr. and Jr., Robert Lehman of Lehman Brothers Inc., Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart and Clinton adviser Strobe Talbott. His grandfather, Warren Platner, was a world-renowned architect and designer as his New York Times obituary notes, and Platner’s father, Bronson Platner, is a prominent Maine attorney.

Far from an economic conscript forced to sign up for the US military out of desperation, Platner belongs to the upper strata of the American bourgeoisie—a layer whose sons move effortlessly between elite schools, the military and corporate or political office. His “populism” is as phony as his claims to have been unaware that he had a Nazi tattoo on his chest for over 18 years.

[. . .]


Bernie Sanders, Platner’s most prominent backer, went even further. Asked about the Nazi tattoo in an interview with Axios last week, Sanders downplayed the issue entirely, “Between you and me there might be one or two more important issues.”


This from the man who supported apartheid.  This from the man who all but the White faux left knows has a long history of racism and, in the midst of one presidential campaign, had to pay off an employee and get her to sign an NDA when she filed a complaint about the racist work environment he had created.


And that's really what it comes down to.  The DSA is pimping racism.  They know Platner's history but they think racism is the answer.  They always do this -- it's what Liza Featherstone was doing in the piece we called out Monday.  


Tressie McMillan Cottom covers this reality very well at THE NEW YORK TIMES:


I cannot swear to know the minds of men like Murphy and Sanders. But, were I a betting person, I’d wager someone else’s riches that they know racism and xenophobia are inextricably linked to America’s inchoate understanding of class politics. They know that “working class” has become a powerful political totem of its own — a discursive sleight of hand used to separate out white voters’ concerns as more legitimate, more materially grounded, more important than other voters’ concerns.

These senators are demonstrating a willful blindness that has become endemic in the Democratic Party. Their rhetoric — and the conventional wisdom that flows from it — suggests that we cannot talk about economic solutions without abandoning our commitment to the Black, Latino, gay, transgender and female poor that are the lifeblood of the Democratic Party’s base. The conceit at the heart of that belief is that poor white people are too racist, and too uniquely ignorant of their racism, to vote in their best interests. Therefore, Democrats have to accept a little racism to win the working class.

It is an old argument. History will tell you that negotiating with racism or fascism or authoritarianism never ends well.


Exactly.  We're going to have to stop there because we have so much more to cover.  I'll work Zohran in later on but let's move to a different topic.  Back when Chump was spacing out during campaign speeches ahead of the election, some swore that he would only deport the worst of the worst.  Those with criminal records, they insisted.  But he now uses his gestapo force to not only attack non-criminals but also to attack non-immigrants. 



Shocking video shows a chaotic scene on a quiet Chicago street as Border Patrol agents in tactical gear drag a 67-year-old man from his car while children in Halloween costumes look on in horror.

According to his running club, the man, who is a U.S. citizen, was returning from a team run when agents pulled him out of his vehicle, tackled him to the ground and kneeled on top of him, allegedly breaking six ribs and causing internal bleeding.
The incident unfolded Saturday in the city’s Old Irving Park neighborhood, where residents say the agents disrupted a children’s Halloween parade amid an immigration enforcement operation.

In a statement shared on Instagram, the Chicago-based DWRunning club identified the victim as one of their athletes, although it did not name him.

“One of our athletes was on his way home from a team long run yesterday and as he turned onto his block, found that Border Control had the road blocked,” the club wrote.

“The agents threatened to break his window if he didn’t move his car. Before he could act, they pulled him out of his car, knelt on his back, and subdued him, though he never resisted. They broke six of his ribs and caused internal bleeding.”


White House creep and erectile dysfunction spokesperson Stephen Miller insists that ICE can do this.  The law, of course, says otherwise and always has.  Need another example of the gestapo in action?  Maria Villarroel (THE MIRROR) reports:


A Houston teenager said a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent choked him, beat him, and yelled racial slurs at him when he was on his way to school. He is a U.S. citizen.

The incident occurred on Thursday, Oct. 23, when Arnoldo Bazan, 16, was being driven to school by his father, Arnulfo Bazan.
As they were on their way, an unmarked vehicle pulled over their car, Bazan recalled during a press conference. When they stopped, officers who were dressed in plainclothes and wore no insignias approached their car, but did not identify themselves as law enforcement.

“Their vests, they didn’t say ‘police’ (Immigration and Customs Enforcement), nothing. And that’s when me and my dad got scared because they started hitting our window, tried to open the door,” the younger Bazan said. “Me and my dad went to fight-or-flight mode, and we just backed away.”

The dad drove away in fear, but they were chased by the agents and rammed into their car several times. Eventually, the two stopped their car and tried to flee the situation, but were instead tackled and choked by the agents in a restaurant supply store.
“I saw they started choking him, kicking him, punching him,” Barzan said. “It’s when I reacted, I just ran to my dad, and (another agent) grabbed my shirt. I didn’t hit nobody. I didn’t do nothing to nobody. I was just standing there recording on my phone. And they took my phone. Then that’s when they tackled me. I said I was underage, the dude started choking me more.”

In America, I believe those of us alive in the 90s and after are all familiar with car chases.  The most famous, of course, being the Bronco car chase.  Help me out on this, when did the police begin ramming OJ's Bronco?  Oh, that's right, never.  Because you're not supposed to do that.  Stephen Miller makes excuses and lies and, yes, encourages people to break the law.  ICE is public lice.  They have given themselves a bad name.  They are poorly trained and they are poorly supervised.  Instead of upping the standards, they're actually lowering them. Law professor John Pfaff writes at MSNBC:


 And while the low quality of ICE recruits is making it harder for them to hit their target, it also means that the ones they do hire are likely to be less qualified, and thus more likely to do even more harm when deployed. But it is clear that Trump and his immigration consigliere, deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, hope to build up ICE as a way to strike out at Democratic cities, and the ongoing struggles to hire more people suggest that goal may prove elusive.

They do not follow the law.  They threaten.  They bully.  They attack.  There are rules in place on how police officers and others can interact with the public.  ICE doesn't believe they're bound by those rules.  Yelena Mandenberg (THE MIRROR) notes:


A shocking video shows an Immigration and Customs Agent wearing an American Flag mask break in a woman's car window to arrest her in Addison, Illinois.

Several people were taken into custody during the incident. A statement from ICE says two people taken into custody are being processed to face immigration proceedings. Community members say several people were arrested, and some unnecessarily.
The incident took place near the 300 block of West Lake Street, and left the community shaken. “Me, as a U.S. citizen, even us are afraid of these guys,” said a local business leader who asked to remain anonymous. “We feel this is something that is not right, not legal," he said to WGNTV.


There's so much wrong there.  Stephen Miller, can you step up and explain one thing, who okayed the outfit of the ICE agent.  Donald Chump has done an illegal executive order on flag burning that won't stand up in court; however, an ICE agent isn't a private citizen.  I know Miller is an uneducated idiot so let's him out:


Using the American flag as a mask is a violation of the U.S. Flag Code's guidelines for respecting the flag. However, violating the Flag Code is not illegal for private citizens and carries no penalties, as the Supreme Court has ruled that laws prohibiting desecration are unconstitutional violations of the First Amendment. 


The ICE agent violated the Flag Code guidelines in public and on the clock.  That should result in firing by a president who thinks he can make it illegal to burn the flag.  And look at the wear and tear and dirt on the flag that is worn by the ICE agent.  It's a desecration of the flag of the United States of America.  Study up on that, Stephen Miller.


There was an incident in Pasadena, Texas Monday.  We're going to ignore Homeland Security and Liar Trish because they are serial liars and what people present say happened contradicts the false assertions (yes, they can be presumed to be false assertions -- you lie on legal paperwork and in court and after awhile you're seen as a liar).  Ahmed Humble (HOUSTON CHRONICLE) reports:

Family members and neighbors, however, described a chaotic scene. 

KHOU 11 spoke with Margarita Barron, who said her husband, brother and neighbor were taken into custody. The three men, she explained, left for work around 5 a.m. and were followed by immigration agents after stopping at a nearby gas station. When they realized they were being trailed, they returned home near the corner of West Houston Avenue and Dade Street. 

"They told us (to) get out of the house," she told KHOU 11 in Spanish. "They were going to tear-gas the house. We have babies inside." 
A neighbor, Gaby Gonzalez, also told the CBS affiliate she was inside her home at the time when she claimed ICE agents cut her power and tried breaking into her home through a window, the roof and underneath. She claims they never presented a warrant and only wanted the three men inside and threatened to use tear gas if they didn't surrender. After about seven hours, they turned themselves in to the authorities. 

Pasadena District C Councilman Emmanuel Guerrero, in a statement to Chron, said he understands ICE has its responsibilities but strongly disagreed with the methods used by officers. 

Stephen Miller, can we hear you defend that?  Explain how warrants aren't needed and that ICE can cut power to a house and break into a home via a window, the roof or underneath?  What country do you think you're in right now, Stephen Miller, because this is not America.


Let's move  back  over to politics.  Zohran Mamdani is in the news.  He's the Democratic Party nominee for Mayor of NYC.  A few e-mails asked what I thought of the "issue" (their term) with his father.  Jerry Dunleavy (JUST THE NEWS) reports:


Zohran Mamdani's father Mahmood - a prominent leftist in his own right - penned a book in the wake of the terrorist attacks of 9/11 where he argued that there was a "moral equivalence" between the United States and al-Qaeda, compared the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan to the terrorist destruction of the World Trade Center, blamed the U.S. for 9/11 and al-Qaeda, and much more.
Mahmood Mamdani is a longtime tenured Columbia University professor, where the school says he "specializes in the study of colonialism, anti-colonialism, and decolonization." Raised in Uganda and of Indian descent, the likely future mayor's father also previously taught at the University of Dar-es-Salaam in Tanzania, Makerere University in Uganda, and the University of Cape Town in South Africa. The leftwing academic wrote a 2004 book - Good Muslim, Bad Muslim - which may help explain his son's views on terrorism.


Ten e-mailing about that are supporting Andrew Cuomo who lost the Democratic Party nomination and is running as an independent. They're hoping that reading that will make me endorse Andrew.  I don't endorse in elections I can't vote in.  As for what I think of the "issue" (forty-three more people e-mailed about it without expressing who they would vote for or if they could vote in the election)?  

What's the problem?  Are people really that stupid?  What's the problem?

Poli sci major.  We would have consumed Mahmood Mamdani's book quickly and then spent several classes debating its points.  Some of us would agree with it, some of us wouldn't.  Some of us would split the difference.  (If this was undergrad and not grad school, I'm sure some of the ones attacking it the most would be the ones who hadn't read the book.)  College is about brain power.  He's taking a stand and he's making an argument.  It's not hate speech.  It's a simple political argument being made.  There's nothing wrong with it.

In terms of Zohran responding?  He can respond however he thinks best.  Were I him, I'd probably say something along the lines of, "My father's written many books.  Not sure I remember everything in that one but I'm proud of my father and I think it's pretty sad when a campaign tries to make someone insult their own father.  Proud of him."

Because that is what's going on.  Zohran didn't take the course.  He may or may not have read the book.  But if Cuomo's tactic is to try to shame Zohran into slamming his own father, that's pretty sad and pretty low.

I'll add that I find it interesting that right-wing outlets (like JUST THE NEWS) are working to try to take down Zohran to elect Cuomo. That's the sort of thing that should honestly make Andrew drop out.  Chris is a joke but Andrew did pay attention to what his father taught him and there's no way in the world Mario would have approved of this sort of collusion.   


Meanwhile, support for Convicted Felon Chump continues to decline.  Marni Rose McFall (NEWSWEEK) reports:


President Donald Trump’s support among young people has hit a new low, according to a poll.

The survey, conducted by YouGov/The Economist between October 24 and 27, shows that Trump has a net approval rating of around -50 points among voters under the age of 30.
Young Americans have long leaned left and voted for the Democrats. But the 2024 presidential election saw a major shift, with a much higher proportion of Gen Z voters backing Trump.

According to AP VoteCast, voters aged between 18 to 29 supported Kamala Harris over Trump by 51 percent to 47 percent in 2024. This margin was significantly narrower than in 2020, when former President Joe Biden carried the same age group by 61 percent to Trump’s 36 percent.



 

 


Let's turn to the Epstein files -- thought we may get lost in politics.  US House Rep Robert Garcia has been a leader on calling for the release of the Epstein Files and he is the Ranking Member on the House Oversight Committee.  Matt Brown (AP) notes:

 


Garcia has sought to use his position as the committee’s ranking Democrat to weave his party’s disparate stances on Trump, affordability, corruption and democracy into a single message. Oversight Democrats have also sought information on the treatment of U.S. citizens by the Department of Homeland Security, gifts and payments to administration officials and the administration's response to natural disasters.

“I continue to think this is the most corrupt administration in American history, and we have a huge responsibility to investigate that corruption and to also try to make government work better for working people,” Garcia said.

Garcia has also been a critic of House Speaker Mike Johnson's decision to delay the swearing in of Adelita Grijalva, a Democratic congresswoman-elect from Arizona. Johnson says Grijalva can't be sworn in until the government shutdown ends and legislative work resumes in the House. But Garcia and other Democrats say Johnson's real aim is to delay a vote on legislation that would broaden the subpoena for the Epstein files.

As Democrats revamp their media strategy, Garcia has encouraged Oversight Democrats to engage in new digital media to boost the party’s message. He's also been meeting with government reform groups to craft legislation around transparency that they hope to put in front of voters next year.

“I think on oversight we have a responsibility to gather the information and then to put it out to the court of public opinion, especially in front of Trump’s voters,” he said.


And he's right and he's wrong.  And I said in a previous snapshot that after the shutdown was over I'd talk about how Chuck Schumer screwed up.  These snapshots are dictated and that was actually just a private remark that I didn't realize was going in the snapshot until I heard about it after it was up. We need to reach all voters with messaging.  And one problem that some people highlight is that Democrats in office -- especially those of a certain age -- do not grasp the changing environment.  Younger voters are different and they get information differently.  That's true and Garcia and others are so right to work on that.

But the country is not just young voters.  It is also older voters.  I think at the start of the Chump government shut down, Chuck should have done a lot more.  I would've liked to have seen him speaking to MEIDASTOUCH NEWS, for example.  But he didn't and he's someone who needs to be skilled on the changing environment.  That's work that needs to be done.  And I'll cut him some slack there.

Where I won't and why I think he needs to leave leadership? 

He understands 'the world wide web' [www.] and he damn well knows that you're online office (website) is now more important than your physical office.  Once upon a time, people actually visited physical offices to get press releases and updates.  They really don't do that now.  Older voters, however, still go to the online offices. 

Chump's shut down started September 30th.  Chuck is the Senate Minority Leader.  Where was Chuck.  He issued a press release on September 19th.  And then his office didn't issue anything until October 14th (after I had been yelling about this offline along with many others).  He needed to have something out and should have been up September 30th when the shutdown started.  

That's not leadership.  I can cut him some slack for not grasping the importance of YOUTUBERS and podcasters.  He clearly needs someone to walk him through that.  But when he's not even doing what he knows needs to be done?  

Forget voters, there are reporters for periodicals whose work consists almost entirely of pull quoting from press releases.  And he provided nothing to them either.

He failed.  It was his job to lead on messaging.  

Democratic Party leadership needs to lead on messaging and that does mean podcasts, that does mean going on the awful FOX "NEWS" if you -- like Pete Buttigieg -- are good at that, that does mean doing YOUTUBE programs and it does mean continuing to do press releases at your online offices.  And some of the younger ones don't grasp that so young and old and in between Democrats in Congress should be working together to craft an information delivery system that covers all the bases -- and if you're not part of that, you shouldn't be part of leadership.

And we're failing, Democratic voters, if we think everyone needs to be Jasmine Crockett or AOC -- ready to tackle the new media and do it so wonderfully.  We need people who know the workings of the two chambers, we need people who are idea people, we need people who are thinkers (maybe not the best speakers) because everyone can contribute if they're willing to.  And, sorry to stay on this, when Chuck waits 15 days to do a press release on the shutdown, and then waits nine more days before doing another one?  And then hasn't done one since?  What the hell kind of leadership is that?  He's the Minority Leader and that's supposed to pass for leadership?  Senator Patty Murray is a workhorse.  She keeps her head down and focuses on the work and is one of the MVPs the Democrats have in the Senate. 29.  Since the shutdown started, Chuck's released two press releases on the shutdown.  Patty's released 29.  And unlike Chuck, she's also issued press releases on ICE, on Gaza, on authoritarian movement in this country, on everything imaginable. 

Chuck and his office can only issue two press releases during that same period of time?  It's time for Chuck to step down from leadership.  He lacks the energy for the job.

The shutdown?  Chump caused it and Republicans control both houses of Congress.  Why are the Democrats?  They're fighting for the American people.  They're fighting for affordable healthcare.  The Republicans (except for Marjorie Taylor Greene) aren't all concerned about the American people having affordable healthcare.  Tami Luhby (CNN) reports:


Premiums for Affordable Care Act coverage will skyrocket 26%, on average, next year, according to a KFF analysis released Tuesday evening, just days before open enrollment starts on November 1.

The price hike is one of the largest jumps since Obamacare plans debuted more than a decade ago — and it doesn’t factor in the expiration of the enhanced premium subsidies.
Premiums for Affordable Care Act coverage will skyrocket 26%, on average, next year, according to a KFF analysis released Tuesday evening, just days before open enrollment starts on November 1.

The price hike is one of the largest jumps since Obamacare plans debuted more than a decade ago — and it doesn’t factor in the expiration of the enhanced premium subsidies.


 

 
Instead of attempting to end his shutdown, Chump is focused on his Epstein Ballroom.

 

 

November 1st, people will be without food assistance.  Healthcare is going to go through the roof and instead of working with Democrats to address these issues that directly impact We The People, Chump's busying on his ballroom.

The economy is in the toilet but Chump's focus is his ballroom.


 

 
 

 

 

We're going to wind down with a press release from Senator Elizabeth Warren's office and -- please note -- Chuck Schumer hasn't issued his own press release (again, he and his office lack energy, it's time to leave leadership):

 Video of Press Conference (Youtube)

Washington, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Senator Cory Booker (D-N.J.), and Senator Tina Smith (D-Minn.) hosted a press conference alongside health care creators in the U.S. Capitol to sound the alarm on the government shutdown and health care affordability crisis.

In a first-of-its-kind format, the senators invited content creators who are also health care professionals to share their stories at the press conference. The creators include Dr. Anita Patel, Dr. Fran Haydanek, Dr. Heather Irobunda, and Nikki Sapiro Vinckier, PA.

“While Donald Trump builds a fancy new ballroom for himself and his donors, Americans across the country are getting notices in the mail telling them their health care premiums are going up by thousands of dollars a year,” said Senator Elizabeth Warren. “Democrats are fighting back because we believe that health care isn’t just for rich people. No one should go bankrupt because they got sick.”

“Every mother deserves to walk into a delivery room without fear of losing everything—her home, her health insurance coverage, or her life—just because she dared to have a baby in America. We need to extend the subsidies that make care affordable,” said Dr. Fran Haydanek, a health care content creator and board-certified OBGYN. “I became an OBGYN to deliver healthy babies. I never imagined I'd have to stand here pleading for my patients’ ability to afford the care that keeps them alive.”

“I have intubated teenagers in diabetic comas because they were rationing insulin their family couldn’t afford. I have battled uncontrolled seizures in the ICU, which can cause permanent brain damage, because parents had to choose between their child’s seizure medications and paying their rent,” said Dr. Anita Patel, a health care content creator and Board-certified pediatric critical care physician. “When health care costs become unbearable, lifesaving EpiPens do not get refilled, a child’s sinus infection turns into meningitis, and ruptured appendicitis leads to septic shock from delayed care.”

“A lot of times, my patients can't come to their prenatal appointments because they can't afford the $2.90 to take the bus or the train. Let's not make it harder for them,” said Dr. Heather Irobunda, a health care content creator and board-certified OBGYN. “These folks are my neighbors. They're my friends. They're our friends, and they're valued members of our communities.”

“Health care is not a bargaining chip. It's not a luxury. It's the foundation of all of our lives. And it's time for every lawmaker to start acting like it,” said Nikki Sapiro Vinckier, a health care content creator and OBGYN Physician Assistant. “Caring about people shouldn't be radical. It should be part of their job.”

It doesn't matter if you don't have Medicaid, if you don't have Affordable Care Act, it's going to affect all of us, because hospitals, which depend on Medicaid funding, which depend on insured patients having coverage, are going to go down as well, because they're already running on negative margins, said Dr. Karen Tang, a health care content creator and board-certified OBGYN.

Senator Warren has led the charge collaborating and working with influencers in the Senate. Senator Warren was the first member of the Senate to host a creator briefing on Capitol Hill and has hosted more than half a dozen virtual creator briefings. She was also the first member of Congress to invite a content creator—not a celebrity—to testify before Congress.

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