1. With respect to the Senate vote, it's not over. It will bring the House back to session. Jeffries says he'll hold the line. May lead to further negotiations.
Hopefully it'll be Epstein time. The most recent revelations involve money laudering allegations.
I keep posting. According to Congressman Eric Swalwell (D-CA) Trumpepstein may cause an "Epstein bomb" causing over 100 Republican members to "jailbreak" from Trump.
IMO putting all of our hopes on the Epstein files is a fools choice. If Grijalva is sworn in and signs the discharge petition for HR 4405, it still has to be brought to the floor, and there are all kinds of maneuvers , Mike Johnson and the Republicans have that can force delays, and Pam Bondi has already demonstrated that she will ignore congress
And then Pam has had the files so long that she can, and has, scrubbed them.
What needs to be done is for Ro Khanna, to stand up in the Senate, using the speech and debate clause and read aloud the names that they already have, at least 20 .
I don't think you are given the victims enough credit. They'll never let it go. If republicans continue to stall the women will take matters into their own hands. Watch.
My comment has nothing to do with Epsteins victims, ergo it can not be the case that I don't give them enough credit. In fact giving them credit is not the subject.
I doubt that individuals can charge their perps aloud, in public, without risking a back breaking defamation suit.
For instance, Trump has survived, prevailed and prospered by use of the law, civil law, he has filed over 3,000 law suits, he has a law firm at his disposal, on retainer and they are expensive, billing over $1,000 an hour.
And the people he files suit against, can't afford to hire lawyers
Do you think Epsteins victims can afford to defend against charges of slander and libel.?
That is why Ro Khanna should use the protection accorded him by the speech and debate clause, and read aloud on the floor of the House, what names that they already have. Congresspersons can't be sued for what they say officially on the floor of Congress.
Virginia Guiffre can't be sued, because she is dead.
And how do you get the subpoena power Daniel,? By gaining control of the House.
And how do we gain control of the house, without fighting down and dirty, in the dirt, in a cage match with the Republicans?
You keep mentioning that many Republicans think Trump is nutso.
I say so what. I don't care what anyone thinks, I only care what they do, or don't do. Words are cheap, thoughts even cheaper. Name me any Republican that has the guts to stand up to MAGA and Trump. If you say Massie, Boebert, Mace, MTG, that is only on one issue, and they could be performing, once Grijalva signs the petition, any or all of the four could withdraw their endorsement.
I just don't trust them, especially since MTG said on TV, that she still stands with Trump
IMO you have fallen for Kabuki theater. but we will see. If I am wrong I will admit it.
Meanwhile none of the Republicans will be turned, those that aren't MAGA to the Core, like their jobs and perks and won't dare turn against their fuhrer.
If the records are subpoened, if Bondi hasn't scrubbed them, The longer this drags out, the more time she has to scrub the records, or hasn't anybody thought of that.
The first step is for Ro Khanna to show some balls, Use the speech and debate clause to prevent him from being sued for libel, and read aloud on the Senate Floor the names that they already have.
I think you may be right. Opening the House will force the gay Louisianian to swear in Adelita Grivalda. However, he may attempt to change the rules and increase the number for the vote to release the files. As to those >100 rethuglicans who might “jailbreak” from the Dumpster, I have no faith that will happen.
Allison Gill on Meidas Touch Network---it's so much worse than you could know. Ordered to scrub TRump, hundreds of FBI agents were shook about what they saw and being asked to protect the PREDATORS:
The Epstein/ Maxwell prosecutors like Maureen Comey have propbaly seen all of them and can testify to what they saw. If records are missing, it's on the FBI and DOJ.
The new stuff, money laudering brings up stuff I hadn't thought about. CIA, DIA records. Was Epstein a CIA asset, plant, a double agent? How about all the witnesses? Guiffre was only one of maybe a thousand victims.
Black letter law: Relevant evidence is that which leads to other evidence.
Allison explains how that scrub was botched 10 ways to Sunday as far as the number of people who had full access to all the computerized files at the beginning. Later they broke-up the computer files---just too many of them.
They hate Patel and Bondi. Some of the agents had kids that age; they were very upset. This was in reference to video they saw without any warning.
Epstein was working arms deals using the blackmail materials along the way. With that, he and Ehud Barak were selling surveillance programs. Picture surfaced of Epstein with possibly military of Cote de Ivoire. That's the financial transactions for billions. The girls were a means to an end that involved weapons and surveillance.
When I was working, a "metadata" cottage industry erupted. In the law, there's a concept of ":wasting" i.e. deceiving by forging or modifying documents. Not too many written decisions, because most cases settle when culprits are disclosed but...
Metadata is "data about data" that provides information about other data to make it easier to find, use, and manage. Metadata investigations use hidden data within files and digital communications to reconstruct events, establish timelines, and verify information in both digital forensics and traditional investigations. This "data about data" can reveal crucial details like when a file was created or modified, who created it, and the user's activity, making it a vital tool for uncovering evidence, identifying discrepancies, and proving or disproving claims.
We put on several continuing judicial education programs.
Hopium, Daniel, that the FBI agents knew this and did not tamper with the evidence. Who knows who copied what to cover their ass or will blow the whistle.
Also, there were recordings of training for Kash's "scrub project". Stupid---another trail. Allison filed a FOIA request for them. FOIA dept. was on shutdown, but I guess those folks will be going back to work.
It appears that maybe some of the Dems want to relinquish their fight for Obamacare, they way Republicans don't want to fix immigration. It keeps them in the game. They're politicians, they all play the same game. How many Dems are financially supported by AIPAC? Too fucking many.
And this goddamn game of hide the penis (Epstein files) has been going on for decades. A glass eye in a ducks ass can see how they're all protecting each other. This system of pathological misogyny and sexism is beyond the fucking pale.
What makes this even more infuriating is that it’s not just weakness. It’s a misunderstood strategy. We keep seeing Democratic leaders confuse centrism with moderation. Real moderation is about shrewd compromise that builds toward power, like civil rights leaders working within New Deal constraints to gain jobs and lay the groundwork for the Voting Rights Act.
But this isn’t that. What happened in the Senate is performative centrism, the reflex to appear “reasonable” no matter the cost, even if it means throwing away healthcare leverage for a hollow promise. It’s the theater of compromise without any material win.
I wrote about this false equivalence in a piece this week, comparing the way Black leaders once made hard strategic choices with how modern Democrats seem stuck reenacting bipartisanship rituals from a political era that no longer exists.
Totally fair to ask, and I hope that’s the case. But the structure of this deal gives up real leverage now in exchange for a promise of “negotiations later,” which in DC-speak usually means: “We’ll talk once everyone’s forgotten.”
If Democrats had walked away with binding terms, a set vote with enforcement mechanisms, or even a broader coalition message to carry into 2026, then yeah, we’d be looking at strategic compromise. But as it stands, they ended the longest shutdown in history without securing the very healthcare protections they said were worth the shutdown to begin with.
So I agree, it’s not over. But if we don’t call out the hollow ritual of this kind of deal-making, we risk replaying it all over again come January.
It's a lose/lose situation so I am torn on this one. The republicans were not going to budge so by the democrats refusing to open the government people couldn't get SNAP and federal employees could't work. By voting to open up the government people won't be able to afford health insurance and some will die. One thing's for sure--people are waking up. The democratic sweep in the elections and trump getting booed by tens of thousands at the football game is heartening....
NOT A DEAL.... takes both houses of Congress. Terms casn be renegotiated.
Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.): Co-sponsored bipartisan legislation to extend the Obamacare subsidies for a year, indicating an openness to compromise.
Rep. Jeff Hurd (R-Colo.): Has voiced concern over the "dramatic increases" in premiums his constituents would face without the subsidies and was one of more than a dozen House Republicans to sign a letter calling for their preservation.
Rep. Jen Kiggans (R-Va.): The main sponsor of a bill to extend the subsidies for a year.
Well said steward What happened in the Senate is performative centrism, the reflex to appear “reasonable” no matter the cost, even if it means throwing away healthcare leverage for a hollow promise. It’s the theater of compromise without any material win.
I've posted on this thread the names of the 8 DINO's that perpetually vote with Republicans. They weren't exposed in the last congress because Manichin and Sinema voted with the Republicans and refused to exercise the nuclear option, and break the filibuster, thus providing cover for these Demopubs
To understand Shaheen and Hassan of New Hampshire the following insurance companies are Headquartered in NH, and now you know the rest of the story.
The Hartford (Hartford Financial Services Group): An investment and insurance company offering property-and-casualty operations, group benefits, and mutual funds.
Travelers (The Travelers Companies, Inc.): One of the largest property and casualty insurers in the United States, with its main office in the city, which is often referred to as the "insurance capital of the world".
Aetna (Aetna Inc.): A major health benefits company and one of the country's largest insurance and financial services organizations.
Hartford Steam Boiler (HSB): Part of Munich Re, HSB is a leading provider of equipment breakdown insurance and related inspection services in North America, and is headquartered in Hartford.
Global Atlantic Financial Group: Another insurance firm with an office and presence in Hartford.
Cigna is also a major health insurance and pharmacy-benefit management company headquartered nearby in Bloomfield, CT.
Negative, exposing and condemning turncoats.? 5th columnists.
As I keep reminding you. I am a progressive that votes Democrat. I don't belong to any team, nor do I find my identity in a team. Words are cheap, it is actions that count.
And what of the Democrats that vote with Republicans like
These are the Democrats dumb enough to consider trusting the GOP and caving.
Call them if they're your Senator.
Catherine Cortez Masto Nevada
John Fetterman Pennsylvania
Angus King (Independent) Maine
Jeanne Shaheen New Hampshire
Maggie Hassan New Hampshire
Tim Kaine, Virginia
Jacky Rosen Nevada
I take note that all of the above have a history of voting with Republicans in the past, especially in the confirmation process
I have had them on my list as DINO's or Conservadems.
Tim Kaine and Shaheen said that the Republicans made some promises. And yet again they are falling like Charlie for Lucy with the football.
Not to mention that Shaheen and Hasan represent NH which is home to some of the biggest insurance companies, and boy did they benefit from passage of the Continuing Resolution, while millions of Americans go into bankruptcy and die because they can't afford insurance.
We don't need Republican lite's Daniel, we need fire on hair,hard fighting populists that fight for the people not the corporations, the oligarchs, the plutocrats.
Synopsis of last night's episode of why some Ds are weak:
Watch 8 reprobates cheer as an orange, kiddie rapist kicks our puppy (i.e., America) down the sidewalk.
Wally says to the Beave, "WTF is wrong with the hateful 8, Beave?"
Beave: "I dunno, Wally. But they were promised a bridge in Brooklyn. An' some magic beans."
Wally: "Geeze Beave . . . And Eddie said that ole Ghislaine Maxwell --"
Beave: "The tramp?"
Wally: "Yeah. She's receiving custom meals, private exercise time, and access to a service puppy [A PUPPY!!!] And visitor arrangements that allowed computers. Staff feel pressured to cater to her, with one official complaining about being “Maxwell’s b*tch.”
Joanne, there is one thing you can believe about him. He will betray you. He did that with his investors, his "students", his wives, his vice-president, his contractors and anyone else who he decided was in the way of his "smart business" practices. In his mind lying is a tool to show strength. And those with no morals will follow him.
I totally agree. The Senate had him at his most vulnerable moment and gave him back the momentum. The timing of this betrayal could not have been worse or more damaging to the cause. I now feel more helpless than ever—we got absolutely nothing for our pain. Sh’t….
I am 80 years old and considering running against our current representative—if so it will be as an Independent. This party has forsaken me one too many times
Yet I can't ignore the upper echelon of the Democratic establishment for their explicit cooperation in bringing down our democracy. Presumably they remain in office in part because they message primarily on what Trump is doing wrong, rather than what they - the Democratic leadership - are doing right. This tactic, will fail, as it did in the 2024 election. And it's not solely a failure to message on the positives, it's the fact that there are few easily understood positives to message about. They also remain in office because, they too, are taking money from the oligarchs. In many ways, the Democratic party of this moment is little more than the left hand of the same right-handed beast.
I find myself drifting further and further away from this so called "Democratic" party. I'm so tired of the excuses, the playacting of helplessness, and the strategic catastrophe inherent in taking a stand, only to back down. They reap the ire of a stupefied nation for having put us through pain for - nothing.
People - not just stupid ones - will continue to turn away from the Democratic party rather than participate in what amounts to theater. None of us have time for this shit. Life is short. We can never expect people to show up so long as the leadership is comprised of people who are just a bit quieter while being just as dirty.
There's something peculiar about us as people - we'd rather be stabbed in the face than stabbed in the back. But I doubt this matters much to the Democratic leadership. They're not in this for us.
For the record: fuck Trump's table scraps bribe to we the peasants.
A $2000 bonus! WooHoo! Sign me up! said the fly to the flyswatter!
~~~I thought all that cash from the tariffs was supposed to pay down the debt??? No??? Did I misunderstand? Or were we lied to AGAIN? I'm going with the LIE!
~~~A for the Dems caving, well, congratulations, you may have just put a few more nails in the coffin & you sure in hell gave trump another "hit" from his ego-pipe! I never took psychology in college & I wish I had but being 77 years old gives me a bit of armchair wisdom. Have these people not learned from the many countless times that people have caved that he has grown only more despotic? Do those 8 Dems who may really have voted out of a sense of compassion realize that voting the way they did promises absolutely nothing! NOTHING! The regime will do what it wants, when it wants to whomever it wants & every time an inch is given a galactic mile is taken.
~~~So feed the people now only to have them die from lack of healthcare. What geniuses are in our Senate! So, when Obamacare dies what will replace it? The Republicans have had 15 years to come up with a plan, but when asked they say we're working on it. Working on it for 15 years it must be the perfect solution to our healthcare woes. I can hardly wait to see what it is? But, being a realist with all that armchair wisdom I will not hold my breath!
A two-thousand-dollar “dividend”? That’s not policy, it’s hush money for democracy. Trump’s basically saying, “Sure, the house is on fire, but here’s a Walmart gift card for your trouble.”
He treats the economy like a slot machine and voters like casino hosts comping him for another round.
You’re right to call it what it is. Bribery with a MAGA hat on.
Disaffected Repugnicans and Repugnican-lite Democrats compulsively assure anyone who’ll listen that the left must move to the center if Dems are to raise their abysmal poll numbers, despite the overwhelming popularity of a long list of “leftist” policies. Result: our current “government”. Those polling numbers will dramatically reverse when Democrats once again enthusiastically embrace the New Deal. They’ll remain in the cellar until then, tended by the likes of these eight useless turncoats.
Don't throw the "strategy baby" out with the bathwater.....
Senate Dems were damned if they did or didn't, so they opted to keep their filibuster. They wanted to end the shut-down to get people paid before the holidays, keep the food assistance, and make airline safety a priority.
People are going to get screwed by TRump AND the insurance companies. They estimate 50,000 unnecessary deaths per year. Let's let everyone know---Republican sadists just can't wait.
Why not spin it that Republicans started the shut down, and Dems finished it. They did so, while bravely fighting for health insurance for people who will die or get sick without it. Actually that is the TRUTH not spin. See you in the streets.
Allison Gill on Meidas Touch Network explains that all of it is so much worse than you may think. When they tried to scrub TRump, hundreds of FBI agents were shook about what they saw, and they were being asked to protect the PREDATORS:
Thom, an excellent report, as always. This statement jumped out at me. "A dividend of at least $2000 a person (not including high income people!) will be paid to everyone.”
What is the definition of "high income people!"? How will these people be identified and located? Via ICE, government files or whoever happens to whisper in tRUMP's ear? IF, and that's a YUGE word, the needy are correctly and accurately identified, the "dividend" is missing a couple of Os. Make it $200,000.
Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) nailed it when he said: “In just a handful of months, Trump and his crew have already gutted taxpayer service, weaponized IRS data against innocent taxpayers and set us up for disaster when next year’s filing season comes around."
Schumer should have been gone years ago along with your idol Nancy Pelosi. As for the Democrats who joined Republicans to end the shutdown, they are the result of the rightward movement of the Democratic Party as exemplified by the party's embrace of Dick and Liz Cheney and their almost unanimous backing of the genocide in Gaza that you continue to completely ignore. As for the issue at hand, when I told you the ACA was going to be a disastrous privatization of the health care industry (which I have been in and researched for over 30 years) you hung up on me and called me a Republican plant. Well here we are Thom, our two donor mafias fighting over if the government will get the privilege of subsidizing the for-profit health care conglomerates who deny patients care and have transformed our health care system into an unnavigable and unaffordable cattle call on the brink of collapse. https://barryjkaufmando.substack.com/p/the-american-health-care-system-is
Yes. And also a final fuck off …”that’s the last thing I’ll give you so you better make it count .” A whole 2 thousand in exchange for all the social safety net you all had over a lifetime.
Trump wants us to give him leave to keep on looting the treasury, so if he cuts us in for a measly $2K apiece, we'll let it ride. It works on Senators, but not on the people who stand to lose out when the government and economy collapse. We're in the late stages of capitalism, a moderated system of bribery coming unraveled.
1. With respect to the Senate vote, it's not over. It will bring the House back to session. Jeffries says he'll hold the line. May lead to further negotiations.
Hopefully it'll be Epstein time. The most recent revelations involve money laudering allegations.
Many Congressional Republicans privately admit Trump is nuts. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNzVt7q0W5A
I keep posting. According to Congressman Eric Swalwell (D-CA) Trumpepstein may cause an "Epstein bomb" causing over 100 Republican members to "jailbreak" from Trump.
Massive Congressional visits November 18.
https://www.instagram.com/flare.usa/p/DP_mdOyjdiG/
Visit CongressionalRepublicans.
https://www.mobilize.us/indivisible/event/851451/
I think that if we play our cards right, many can be convinced by the election outcome to come forward.
2. With repect to tariffs and the $2,000 check,
a. SCOTUS has yet to rule. Kalshi is taking bets. https://kalshi.com/?category=politics
b. Only Congress has taxing and spending authority.
IMO putting all of our hopes on the Epstein files is a fools choice. If Grijalva is sworn in and signs the discharge petition for HR 4405, it still has to be brought to the floor, and there are all kinds of maneuvers , Mike Johnson and the Republicans have that can force delays, and Pam Bondi has already demonstrated that she will ignore congress
And then Pam has had the files so long that she can, and has, scrubbed them.
What needs to be done is for Ro Khanna, to stand up in the Senate, using the speech and debate clause and read aloud the names that they already have, at least 20 .
Why won't he do, at least that?
I don't think you are given the victims enough credit. They'll never let it go. If republicans continue to stall the women will take matters into their own hands. Watch.
My comment has nothing to do with Epsteins victims, ergo it can not be the case that I don't give them enough credit. In fact giving them credit is not the subject.
I doubt that individuals can charge their perps aloud, in public, without risking a back breaking defamation suit.
For instance, Trump has survived, prevailed and prospered by use of the law, civil law, he has filed over 3,000 law suits, he has a law firm at his disposal, on retainer and they are expensive, billing over $1,000 an hour.
And the people he files suit against, can't afford to hire lawyers
Do you think Epsteins victims can afford to defend against charges of slander and libel.?
That is why Ro Khanna should use the protection accorded him by the speech and debate clause, and read aloud on the floor of the House, what names that they already have. Congresspersons can't be sued for what they say officially on the floor of Congress.
Virginia Guiffre can't be sued, because she is dead.
Victims should be represented pro bono....
Yep, but who will be the lawyers, Will the DNC fund them. Go fund me.?
There are should of's, would of's, could of's, need to be aplenty. There needs to be a national general strike against fascism.
Chances?
Pro bono means for free. There are many legal services that offer free legal services, especially in these high profile cases....
Only YOU say we put ALL our hopes on it.
We need subpoena power to initiate the Jerry Weiss scenario,
And how do you get the subpoena power Daniel,? By gaining control of the House.
And how do we gain control of the house, without fighting down and dirty, in the dirt, in a cage match with the Republicans?
You keep mentioning that many Republicans think Trump is nutso.
I say so what. I don't care what anyone thinks, I only care what they do, or don't do. Words are cheap, thoughts even cheaper. Name me any Republican that has the guts to stand up to MAGA and Trump. If you say Massie, Boebert, Mace, MTG, that is only on one issue, and they could be performing, once Grijalva signs the petition, any or all of the four could withdraw their endorsement.
I just don't trust them, especially since MTG said on TV, that she still stands with Trump
IMO you have fallen for Kabuki theater. but we will see. If I am wrong I will admit it.
Meanwhile none of the Republicans will be turned, those that aren't MAGA to the Core, like their jobs and perks and won't dare turn against their fuhrer.
We can get subpoenas via the Epstein records, and from acorns great oak trees grow.
I'm not the only one advocating for it. Includes virtually every Dem member of Congress.
If the records are subpoened, if Bondi hasn't scrubbed them, The longer this drags out, the more time she has to scrub the records, or hasn't anybody thought of that.
The first step is for Ro Khanna to show some balls, Use the speech and debate clause to prevent him from being sued for libel, and read aloud on the Senate Floor the names that they already have.
I've explained all this ad nasuum. You don't read my stuff. You don't know jack shit about it.
I think you may be right. Opening the House will force the gay Louisianian to swear in Adelita Grivalda. However, he may attempt to change the rules and increase the number for the vote to release the files. As to those >100 rethuglicans who might “jailbreak” from the Dumpster, I have no faith that will happen.
Bring on The Epstein Coverup.
Allison Gill on Meidas Touch Network---it's so much worse than you could know. Ordered to scrub TRump, hundreds of FBI agents were shook about what they saw and being asked to protect the PREDATORS:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEi77Ibr7r8&t=4s
I've written about this many times.
The Epstein/ Maxwell prosecutors like Maureen Comey have propbaly seen all of them and can testify to what they saw. If records are missing, it's on the FBI and DOJ.
The new stuff, money laudering brings up stuff I hadn't thought about. CIA, DIA records. Was Epstein a CIA asset, plant, a double agent? How about all the witnesses? Guiffre was only one of maybe a thousand victims.
Black letter law: Relevant evidence is that which leads to other evidence.
Allison explains how that scrub was botched 10 ways to Sunday as far as the number of people who had full access to all the computerized files at the beginning. Later they broke-up the computer files---just too many of them.
They hate Patel and Bondi. Some of the agents had kids that age; they were very upset. This was in reference to video they saw without any warning.
Epstein was working arms deals using the blackmail materials along the way. With that, he and Ehud Barak were selling surveillance programs. Picture surfaced of Epstein with possibly military of Cote de Ivoire. That's the financial transactions for billions. The girls were a means to an end that involved weapons and surveillance.
When I was working, a "metadata" cottage industry erupted. In the law, there's a concept of ":wasting" i.e. deceiving by forging or modifying documents. Not too many written decisions, because most cases settle when culprits are disclosed but...
Metadata is "data about data" that provides information about other data to make it easier to find, use, and manage. Metadata investigations use hidden data within files and digital communications to reconstruct events, establish timelines, and verify information in both digital forensics and traditional investigations. This "data about data" can reveal crucial details like when a file was created or modified, who created it, and the user's activity, making it a vital tool for uncovering evidence, identifying discrepancies, and proving or disproving claims.
We put on several continuing judicial education programs.
Hopium, Daniel, that the FBI agents knew this and did not tamper with the evidence. Who knows who copied what to cover their ass or will blow the whistle.
Also, there were recordings of training for Kash's "scrub project". Stupid---another trail. Allison filed a FOIA request for them. FOIA dept. was on shutdown, but I guess those folks will be going back to work.
Won't get anything through FOIA. Will get redacted material.
Can use metadata techniques to pierce some of the redactions.
Let's hope that voters see this for what it is...more lies and deceit. The corruption increases by the day. :(
It appears that maybe some of the Dems want to relinquish their fight for Obamacare, they way Republicans don't want to fix immigration. It keeps them in the game. They're politicians, they all play the same game. How many Dems are financially supported by AIPAC? Too fucking many.
And this goddamn game of hide the penis (Epstein files) has been going on for decades. A glass eye in a ducks ass can see how they're all protecting each other. This system of pathological misogyny and sexism is beyond the fucking pale.
What makes this even more infuriating is that it’s not just weakness. It’s a misunderstood strategy. We keep seeing Democratic leaders confuse centrism with moderation. Real moderation is about shrewd compromise that builds toward power, like civil rights leaders working within New Deal constraints to gain jobs and lay the groundwork for the Voting Rights Act.
But this isn’t that. What happened in the Senate is performative centrism, the reflex to appear “reasonable” no matter the cost, even if it means throwing away healthcare leverage for a hollow promise. It’s the theater of compromise without any material win.
I wrote about this false equivalence in a piece this week, comparing the way Black leaders once made hard strategic choices with how modern Democrats seem stuck reenacting bipartisanship rituals from a political era that no longer exists.
Happy to share if anyone’s chewing on the same themes: https://www.stewonthis.com/p/moderation-vs-centrism
"It’s the theater of compromise without any material win." Not over.
What if it leads to negotations re health care, all the issues you mention?
Totally fair to ask, and I hope that’s the case. But the structure of this deal gives up real leverage now in exchange for a promise of “negotiations later,” which in DC-speak usually means: “We’ll talk once everyone’s forgotten.”
If Democrats had walked away with binding terms, a set vote with enforcement mechanisms, or even a broader coalition message to carry into 2026, then yeah, we’d be looking at strategic compromise. But as it stands, they ended the longest shutdown in history without securing the very healthcare protections they said were worth the shutdown to begin with.
So I agree, it’s not over. But if we don’t call out the hollow ritual of this kind of deal-making, we risk replaying it all over again come January.
It's a lose/lose situation so I am torn on this one. The republicans were not going to budge so by the democrats refusing to open the government people couldn't get SNAP and federal employees could't work. By voting to open up the government people won't be able to afford health insurance and some will die. One thing's for sure--people are waking up. The democratic sweep in the elections and trump getting booed by tens of thousands at the football game is heartening....
NOT A DEAL.... takes both houses of Congress. Terms casn be renegotiated.
Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.): Co-sponsored bipartisan legislation to extend the Obamacare subsidies for a year, indicating an openness to compromise.
Rep. Jeff Hurd (R-Colo.): Has voiced concern over the "dramatic increases" in premiums his constituents would face without the subsidies and was one of more than a dozen House Republicans to sign a letter calling for their preservation.
Rep. Jen Kiggans (R-Va.): The main sponsor of a bill to extend the subsidies for a year.
Well said steward What happened in the Senate is performative centrism, the reflex to appear “reasonable” no matter the cost, even if it means throwing away healthcare leverage for a hollow promise. It’s the theater of compromise without any material win.
I've posted on this thread the names of the 8 DINO's that perpetually vote with Republicans. They weren't exposed in the last congress because Manichin and Sinema voted with the Republicans and refused to exercise the nuclear option, and break the filibuster, thus providing cover for these Demopubs
To understand Shaheen and Hassan of New Hampshire the following insurance companies are Headquartered in NH, and now you know the rest of the story.
The Hartford (Hartford Financial Services Group): An investment and insurance company offering property-and-casualty operations, group benefits, and mutual funds.
Travelers (The Travelers Companies, Inc.): One of the largest property and casualty insurers in the United States, with its main office in the city, which is often referred to as the "insurance capital of the world".
Aetna (Aetna Inc.): A major health benefits company and one of the country's largest insurance and financial services organizations.
Hartford Steam Boiler (HSB): Part of Munich Re, HSB is a leading provider of equipment breakdown insurance and related inspection services in North America, and is headquartered in Hartford.
Global Atlantic Financial Group: Another insurance firm with an office and presence in Hartford.
Cigna is also a major health insurance and pharmacy-benefit management company headquartered nearby in Bloomfield, CT.
Mr. Negative for the offense.
Negative, exposing and condemning turncoats.? 5th columnists.
As I keep reminding you. I am a progressive that votes Democrat. I don't belong to any team, nor do I find my identity in a team. Words are cheap, it is actions that count.
You defame people who may have valid reasons. The alterantive to Democrats you ridicule is more Republicans.
Like I said, it also very well may be a negotiating tactic.
Who am I defaming Daniel?
Name them and tell us how I am defaming them.
And what of the Democrats that vote with Republicans like
These are the Democrats dumb enough to consider trusting the GOP and caving.
Call them if they're your Senator.
Catherine Cortez Masto Nevada
John Fetterman Pennsylvania
Angus King (Independent) Maine
Jeanne Shaheen New Hampshire
Maggie Hassan New Hampshire
Tim Kaine, Virginia
Jacky Rosen Nevada
I take note that all of the above have a history of voting with Republicans in the past, especially in the confirmation process
I have had them on my list as DINO's or Conservadems.
Tim Kaine and Shaheen said that the Republicans made some promises. And yet again they are falling like Charlie for Lucy with the football.
Not to mention that Shaheen and Hasan represent NH which is home to some of the biggest insurance companies, and boy did they benefit from passage of the Continuing Resolution, while millions of Americans go into bankruptcy and die because they can't afford insurance.
We don't need Republican lite's Daniel, we need fire on hair,hard fighting populists that fight for the people not the corporations, the oligarchs, the plutocrats.
May be strategy...
Synopsis of last night's episode of why some Ds are weak:
Watch 8 reprobates cheer as an orange, kiddie rapist kicks our puppy (i.e., America) down the sidewalk.
Wally says to the Beave, "WTF is wrong with the hateful 8, Beave?"
Beave: "I dunno, Wally. But they were promised a bridge in Brooklyn. An' some magic beans."
Wally: "Geeze Beave . . . And Eddie said that ole Ghislaine Maxwell --"
Beave: "The tramp?"
Wally: "Yeah. She's receiving custom meals, private exercise time, and access to a service puppy [A PUPPY!!!] And visitor arrangements that allowed computers. Staff feel pressured to cater to her, with one official complaining about being “Maxwell’s b*tch.”
Beave: "How come?"
Wally: "That fat orange guy, I think."
Yes it is and yes, he was told he could NOT DO THIS!!!
Do not believe this man!!!, who is suppose to be our President. 🇺🇸♥️
Joanne, there is one thing you can believe about him. He will betray you. He did that with his investors, his "students", his wives, his vice-president, his contractors and anyone else who he decided was in the way of his "smart business" practices. In his mind lying is a tool to show strength. And those with no morals will follow him.
I totally agree. The Senate had him at his most vulnerable moment and gave him back the momentum. The timing of this betrayal could not have been worse or more damaging to the cause. I now feel more helpless than ever—we got absolutely nothing for our pain. Sh’t….
I am 80 years old and considering running against our current representative—if so it will be as an Independent. This party has forsaken me one too many times
Trump, bad. GOP, bad. Eternal truths.
Yet I can't ignore the upper echelon of the Democratic establishment for their explicit cooperation in bringing down our democracy. Presumably they remain in office in part because they message primarily on what Trump is doing wrong, rather than what they - the Democratic leadership - are doing right. This tactic, will fail, as it did in the 2024 election. And it's not solely a failure to message on the positives, it's the fact that there are few easily understood positives to message about. They also remain in office because, they too, are taking money from the oligarchs. In many ways, the Democratic party of this moment is little more than the left hand of the same right-handed beast.
I find myself drifting further and further away from this so called "Democratic" party. I'm so tired of the excuses, the playacting of helplessness, and the strategic catastrophe inherent in taking a stand, only to back down. They reap the ire of a stupefied nation for having put us through pain for - nothing.
People - not just stupid ones - will continue to turn away from the Democratic party rather than participate in what amounts to theater. None of us have time for this shit. Life is short. We can never expect people to show up so long as the leadership is comprised of people who are just a bit quieter while being just as dirty.
There's something peculiar about us as people - we'd rather be stabbed in the face than stabbed in the back. But I doubt this matters much to the Democratic leadership. They're not in this for us.
For the record: fuck Trump's table scraps bribe to we the peasants.
A $2000 bonus! WooHoo! Sign me up! said the fly to the flyswatter!
~~~I thought all that cash from the tariffs was supposed to pay down the debt??? No??? Did I misunderstand? Or were we lied to AGAIN? I'm going with the LIE!
~~~A for the Dems caving, well, congratulations, you may have just put a few more nails in the coffin & you sure in hell gave trump another "hit" from his ego-pipe! I never took psychology in college & I wish I had but being 77 years old gives me a bit of armchair wisdom. Have these people not learned from the many countless times that people have caved that he has grown only more despotic? Do those 8 Dems who may really have voted out of a sense of compassion realize that voting the way they did promises absolutely nothing! NOTHING! The regime will do what it wants, when it wants to whomever it wants & every time an inch is given a galactic mile is taken.
~~~So feed the people now only to have them die from lack of healthcare. What geniuses are in our Senate! So, when Obamacare dies what will replace it? The Republicans have had 15 years to come up with a plan, but when asked they say we're working on it. Working on it for 15 years it must be the perfect solution to our healthcare woes. I can hardly wait to see what it is? But, being a realist with all that armchair wisdom I will not hold my breath!
Make lemon juice out of lemons!
At least: open up the House and bring on Jeffrey Epstein.
Force another shut down in January if an Obama Care bill fails.
Never forget: vote out the Democratic culprits...
Amen.
A two-thousand-dollar “dividend”? That’s not policy, it’s hush money for democracy. Trump’s basically saying, “Sure, the house is on fire, but here’s a Walmart gift card for your trouble.”
He treats the economy like a slot machine and voters like casino hosts comping him for another round.
You’re right to call it what it is. Bribery with a MAGA hat on.
Disaffected Repugnicans and Repugnican-lite Democrats compulsively assure anyone who’ll listen that the left must move to the center if Dems are to raise their abysmal poll numbers, despite the overwhelming popularity of a long list of “leftist” policies. Result: our current “government”. Those polling numbers will dramatically reverse when Democrats once again enthusiastically embrace the New Deal. They’ll remain in the cellar until then, tended by the likes of these eight useless turncoats.
Don't throw the "strategy baby" out with the bathwater.....
Senate Dems were damned if they did or didn't, so they opted to keep their filibuster. They wanted to end the shut-down to get people paid before the holidays, keep the food assistance, and make airline safety a priority.
People are going to get screwed by TRump AND the insurance companies. They estimate 50,000 unnecessary deaths per year. Let's let everyone know---Republican sadists just can't wait.
Why not spin it that Republicans started the shut down, and Dems finished it. They did so, while bravely fighting for health insurance for people who will die or get sick without it. Actually that is the TRUTH not spin. See you in the streets.
Bring on The Epstein Coverup.
Allison Gill on Meidas Touch Network explains that all of it is so much worse than you may think. When they tried to scrub TRump, hundreds of FBI agents were shook about what they saw, and they were being asked to protect the PREDATORS:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEi77Ibr7r8&t=4s
Thom, an excellent report, as always. This statement jumped out at me. "A dividend of at least $2000 a person (not including high income people!) will be paid to everyone.”
What is the definition of "high income people!"? How will these people be identified and located? Via ICE, government files or whoever happens to whisper in tRUMP's ear? IF, and that's a YUGE word, the needy are correctly and accurately identified, the "dividend" is missing a couple of Os. Make it $200,000.
Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) nailed it when he said: “In just a handful of months, Trump and his crew have already gutted taxpayer service, weaponized IRS data against innocent taxpayers and set us up for disaster when next year’s filing season comes around."
Schumer should have been gone years ago along with your idol Nancy Pelosi. As for the Democrats who joined Republicans to end the shutdown, they are the result of the rightward movement of the Democratic Party as exemplified by the party's embrace of Dick and Liz Cheney and their almost unanimous backing of the genocide in Gaza that you continue to completely ignore. As for the issue at hand, when I told you the ACA was going to be a disastrous privatization of the health care industry (which I have been in and researched for over 30 years) you hung up on me and called me a Republican plant. Well here we are Thom, our two donor mafias fighting over if the government will get the privilege of subsidizing the for-profit health care conglomerates who deny patients care and have transformed our health care system into an unnavigable and unaffordable cattle call on the brink of collapse. https://barryjkaufmando.substack.com/p/the-american-health-care-system-is
Yes. And also a final fuck off …”that’s the last thing I’ll give you so you better make it count .” A whole 2 thousand in exchange for all the social safety net you all had over a lifetime.
Trump wants us to give him leave to keep on looting the treasury, so if he cuts us in for a measly $2K apiece, we'll let it ride. It works on Senators, but not on the people who stand to lose out when the government and economy collapse. We're in the late stages of capitalism, a moderated system of bribery coming unraveled.