Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

You would normally have to try pretty hard to self-incriminate this badly.

People really shouldn’t expect the government to help after they watched the GOP drown it in a bathtub.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

We still have time to mess this up!

Just because you believe it, that does not make it true.

The unpunished coup was a training exercise.

A tremendous foreign policy asset… to all of our adversaries.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

We are learning that “working class” means “white” for way too many people.

Petty moves from a petty man.

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

One lie, alone, tears the fabric of reality.

Disappointing to see gov. newsom with his finger to the wind.

White supremacy is terrorism.

Innocent people do not delay justice.

My right to basic bodily autonomy is not on the table. that’s the new deal.

SCOTUS: It’s not “bribery” unless it comes from the Bribery region of France. Otherwise, it’s merely “sparkling malfeasance”.

Bark louder, little dog.

Following reporting rules is only for the little people, apparently.

Relentless negativity is not a sign that you are more realistic.

You are here: Home / Politics / Domestic Politics / Fear Itself (Open Thread)

Fear Itself (Open Thread)

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Speaker Mike Johnson, who radiates hypocrisy and perversion like a Ben Franklin stove radiates heat, is lying on TV again:

Mike Johnson: “We’re so angry about it. I mean, I’m a very patient guy, but I’ve had it with these people. The theory we have right now — they have a hate America rally that’s scheduled for October 18 on the National Mall. It’s the pro-Hamas wing and antifa people … “

[image or embed]

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) October 10, 2025 at 8:28 AM

Near as I can tell, he’s lying for two reasons: 1) to shift blame for the shutdown on Dems by claiming they are the obstacle to reopening the government, whereas in reality, Johnson released his caucus for next week too, probably to avoid swearing in Adelita Grijalva (D-AZ), who will be the deciding 218th vote to release the Epstein files, and 2) to slander all Trump opponents as “pro-Hamas” and “antifa.”

Johnson references October 18, the date of the No Kings protests. More than 5 million people showed up at 2,100+ local No Kings protests in June. Indivisible says there are more than 2,200 rallies planned for October 18, and hopefully attendance will break the previous record.

I expect other Trump minions to join Johnson in slandering millions of patriotic Americans in advance of the protests. They hope to depress turnout and maybe, as a bonus, incite their frothing nut-bag supporters to commit acts of violence. Fuck that noise; I won’t be deterred, and I hope you won’t either.

***

Speaking of fascist suppression of free speech, here’s an excerpt from an Orlando Sentinel article (gift link) about heavily armed agents employed by the State of Florida who showed up to intimidate a citizen for mildly (and accurately) criticizing a DeSantis/Trump lackey via postcard:

Two armed men wearing bulletproof vests with the word “police” stenciled on them showed up Wednesday at the Largo home of Cathy O’Gara while she was getting her 11-year-old granddaughter ready for school.

Dogs were barking. There was a loud knock at the door. She greeted the men, who didn’t identify themselves or the agency they were with. They asked if her husband, James O’Gara, lived there and if they could speak to him about a postcard he’d sent to Florida CFO Blaise Ingoglia with the brief message: “You lack values.”

It was a scary “big red flag moment” for the O’Garas, a retired couple who are politically active supporters of progressive candidates, vocal critics of President Trump’s immigration policies, and helped to organize a local No Kings anti-Trump demonstration in June.

“Anything is possible, if you can send a postcard and have this happen,” Cathy O’Gara said.

Huge red flag indeed. Also, O’Gara is 100% correct about Ingoglia, who is as vapid and simpering a sycophant as you’ll find outside of a Trump cabinet meeting. He was my statehouse rep and attracted criticism for his rabid partisanship even in this Trumpy-ass district.

Only now it seems he thinks criticism isn’t allowed. Commenter prostratedragon mentioned the incident in the morning thread here. I’ll reprint the address for Ingoglia’s office, in case anyone else would like to send him a postcard.

Blaise Ingoglia
Office of the Chief Financial Officer
Florida Department of Financial Services
200 East Gaines Street
Tallahassee, FL 32399-0301

I’ll include the return address on my postcard. I don’t think state agents would make it half way down my scary-ass swamp trail before deciding it’s not worth it to harass me for exercising my First Amendment right to call Ingoglia a corrupt fascist cockwomble.

The thing is, the fascists can’t shut us all up. To achieve the authoritarian state they desire, they’ll need our cooperation. We mustn’t give it to them.

Open thread!

Reader Interactions

225Comments

  2. 2.

    WaterGirl

    @Betty Cracker:

    The thing is, the fascists can’t shut us all up.

    To achieve the authoritarian state of they desire, they’ll need our cooperation.

    We mustn’t give it to them.

    So important!  I just wanted to see that again.

  3. 3.

    Deputinize America

    OT, but I HATE homeschooling evangelical moms whose precious middle adolescent sons have knocked up 15 year olds.  So precious, so all-knowing, so superior, so fucking controlling.

    None of my advice was going to be heeded, at all, and she’s so eager to latch her claws into this unborn child and control everyone that she’s feeding delusions into her boy’s brain.

  4. 4.

    mrmoshpotato

    @waspuppet:

    Let me know whether you think out-of-state postcards would help or hurt. 

    They’d definitely annoy the corrupt fascist cockwomble.

  6. 6.

    ArchTeryx

    I hope that it truly never comes to this. But fascists do eventually decide that silencing dissent should include disappearing people and mass murder. This time these Gestapo thugs showed up for intimdation purposes. Next time they might toss the entire family in their van and ship them off to CECOT to be slowly tortured to death.

    The Nazis actually followed the same path. Famously, Albert Einstein himself was one of those that vocally dissented against the Nazi regime. He got a visit from the brownshirts who trashed his house and said next time, they’d be coming for him and his wife. Then they left.

    That gave him one chance to get the fuck out of Dodge without ending up in a death camp, and he took it. Went to a Stanford symposium and declared asylum. Being strategically invaluable, we fell over backward to accomodate him when countless poor Jews were sent back to die.

    When the brownshirts start showing up at your house, that’s a last warning. Next time, you better be prepared for either armed conflict or to get disappeared. I hope, I really hope, it never gets as far here as it did in Germany, Cambodia, Malaysia, many South American countries and countless other fascist regimes – all of whom had very very high body counts.

  8. 8.

    dm

    MIT President Sally Kornbluth tells the Department of Education that MIT don’t need no steenkin’ “Compact”:

     

    Dear Madam Secretary,
     
    I write in response to your letter of October 1, inviting MIT to review a “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education.” I acknowledge the vital importance of these matters.
     
    I appreciated the chance to meet with you earlier this year to discuss the priorities we share for American higher education.
     
    As we discussed, the Institute’s mission of service to the nation directs us to advance knowledge, educate students and bring knowledge to bear on the world’s great challenges. We do that in line with a clear set of values, with excellence above all. Some practical examples:
     

    •

    MIT prides itself on rewarding merit. Students, faculty and staff succeed here based on the strength of their talent, ideas and hard work. For instance, the Institute was the first to reinstate the SAT/ACT requirementafter the pandemic. And MIT has never had legacy preferences in admissions.

    •

    MIT opens its doors to the most talented students regardless of their family’s finances. Admissions are need-blind. Incoming undergraduates whose families earn less than $200,000 a year pay no tuition. Nearly 88% of our last graduating class left MIT with no debt for their education. We make a wealth of free courses and low-cost certificates available to any American with an internet connection. Of the undergraduate degrees we award, 94% are in STEM fields. And in service to the nation, we cap enrollment of international undergraduates at roughly 10%.

    •

    We value free expression, as clearly described in the MIT Statement on Freedom of Expression and Academic Freedom. We must hear facts and opinions we don’t like – and engage respectfully with those with whom we disagree.

     
    These values and other MIT practices meet or exceed many standards outlined in the document you sent. We freely choose these values because they’re right, and we live by them because they support our mission – work of immense valueto the prosperity, competitiveness, health and security of the United States. And of course, MIT abides by the law.
     
    The document also includes principles with which we disagree, including those that would restrict freedom of expression and our independence as an institution. And fundamentally, the premise of the document is inconsistent with our core belief that scientific funding should be based on scientific merit alone.
     
    In our view, America’s leadership in science and innovation depends on independent thinking and open competition for excellence. In that free marketplace of ideas, the people of MIT gladly compete with the very best, without preferences. Therefore, with respect, we cannot support the proposed approach to addressing the issues facing higher education.
     
    As you know, MIT’s record of service to the nation is long and enduring. Eight decades ago, MIT leaders helped invent a scientific partnership between America’s research universities and the U.S. government that has delivered extraordinary benefits for the American people. We continue to believe in the power of this partnership to serve the nation.
     
    Sincerely,

    Sally Kornbluth
     
    cc
    Ms. May Mailman
    Mr. Vincent Haley

    Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    77 Massachusetts Avenue  |  Cambridge, MA 02139

     

  9. 9.

    Shalimar

    The fascism framing is accurate, but I feel what is happening with Stephen Miller goes beyond that.  Hitler borrowed most of his evil ideas from us.  We have our own history.

    The KKK is in control of America.  ICE is basically the return of fugitive slave patrols.  Round the other up and and send them back where they came from.  We need to confront Republicans at every level and tell them they are Klansmen and we will treat them as such from now on.

  10. 10.

    dm

    (Quoting MIT President Sally Kornbluth’s reply to the Dept. of Education’s “Compact” puts me in moderation, which is reasonable.

    Anyway, MIT replied “no, thank you”.

    Hopefully, this will help more vulnerable schools reject the compact, as well.

  13. 13.

    Shalimar

    @Betty Cracker: It is on an existing air base, so i assume we’re giving them a building for their pilots and we will train them strictly at Mountain Home AFB.

    edit: I thought all of that training was done at Eglin AFB in Florida, but apparently not.

  15. 15.

    Scout211

    Related to Mike Johnson’s lies, Epstein Files! Epstein Files!

    Michael Wolff is spilling more tea.  (Web archive version)

    Jeffrey Epstein once dug into his safe to take out photos of Donald Trump posing with topless girls on his lap, author Michael Wolff revealed on a Thursday episode of Inside Trump’s Head.

    The photos became the subject of controversy earlier this week when Attorney General Pam Bondi dodged Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse’s questions about whether the FBI found the images during a search of Epstein’s belongings.

    Wolff, who Epstein once asked to write a book about him, recalled how the convicted sex offender took those photos out of his safe and spread them out on his massive dining room table during one encounter about 10 years ago.

    “I am one of the people who has seen these pictures,” Wolff told host Joanna Coles. “And these are pictures that Jeffrey Epstein would take out of his safe and kind of display on his dining room table almost as you would playing cards. This amused him to have these pictures.”

    Wolff said Epstein once stepped out of the room during a discussion about Trump and came back holding about a dozen snapshots that resembled Polaroids.

    “There were specifically three that I remember—and this is now almost 10 years ago—but the three that I remember are two in which topless young women, and I don’t know the ages of these women, but they are young, are sitting in Trump’s lap. And this is outside Jeffrey Epstein’s house in Palm Beach, around the swimming pool,” he said.

    Swear in Rep-Elect Grijalva, you pedo-protector, Pastor Johnson!

    ETA:  You can click over to read Steven Cheung’s response to this, but it’s his usual, so you can fill in the blanks with lots of swearing and smearing.  Different day, same Steven Cheung.

  16. 16.

    Miss Bianca

    @Karen Gail: Plan? Or the concept of a plan? WIth Trump, you can never be sure.

    And ye gods, just as an aside, I am SO FUCKING SICK of having to think about what this asshole may or may not be up to morning, noon, and night.

  17. 17.

    iKropoclast

    The thing is, the fascists can’t shut us all up. To achieve the authoritarian state they desire, they’ll need our cooperation. We mustn’t give it to them.

    Bears repeating.

    🧸🐻‍❄️🐻🧸🐻‍❄️🐻🧸🐻‍❄️🐻

  18. 18.

    Deputinize America

    @Shalimar:

    Remember – if ICE thugs rough you up and you’re an American citizen, its just an allowable Kavanaugh stop, and they’re probably immune from civil suits on the violation of your rights (and Trump has a pardon pen ready to excuse any crimes that happen if, say, ICE snatches AOC off the street and beats the snot out of her).

  20. 20.

    Hungry Joe

    The podcast “In Bed with the Right” has been detailing, month by month, the month-by-month Nazification of Germany in 1933. There are similarities, but the differences are heartening; we are, in reassuring fact, still a long way from anything like that. Cops showing up at someone’s doorstep because of a postcard isn’t a good sign, but it ain’t nothing like roving gangs of uniformed thugs beating up Jews in the streets.

    A comforting stat, from a source I can’t recall: The population of Germany in 1933 was about 65 million, and there were 500,000 S.A. (Storm Troopers) — i.e., one thug for every 130 citizens. All of ICE, DEA, DHS is less than 500,000, in a population of 340,000,000. And all the ICE, etc., guys are by no means thugs, and probably not many of those thugs are Storm Trooper-level.

    In other words — okay, Shelley’s — We are many, they are few. And a lot of them are bathroom-mirror-posing wimpy-ass wannabes. (That last line wasn’t from Shelley, as some of you may have guessed.)

  21. 21.

    Another Scott

    @Baud: +1

    Germany’s Bundeswehr has several locations of their “German Liaison Office for Defense Materiel,” including one near Dulles Airport in Virginia.

    We have bases in NATO countries, it makes sense that NATO members have “offices” in the USA.

    Who knows what this thing Hegseth is talking about, though…

    Thanks.

    Best wishes,
    Scott.

  22. 22.

    Scout211

    @Deputinize America:

    I’m watching this lawsuit filed last week.

    An Alabama man is suing the Trump administration after immigration agents arrested him twice in three weeks despite having a valid REAL ID and U.S. citizenship.

    . . .

    He shouted that he was an American citizen: “I’ll show you my papers now,” he told them, according to the complaint.
    The first agent fished Garcia Venegas’ wallet out of his pocket and found his REAL ID, an active driver’s license only available to U.S. citizens and lawful residents, compliant with federal guidelines. According to the complaint, agents alleged the ID was fake and held him in handcuffs for more than an hour.

    A valid REAL ID that the agent told him was fake.

  24. 24.

    Ruckus

    @mrmoshpotato:

    They’d definitely annoy the corrupt fascist cockwomble.

    Always a plus.

    Some people always want power but they really have zero positive ideas, concepts, methodologies, so if they ever get there they screw up everydamnthing. They do not want equality because the only way they can measure up is to take everyone else down to their level as they are incapable of anything positive, even if it’s only “positive” for them. Which is one of the reasons they want to bring everyone else down to their level – they have ZERO concept of anything in any way positive for ANYONE. Including themselves. Which is why they feel they have to bring everyone else down to their level. They are negatives – they have zero positive anything.

  27. 27.

    Suzanne

    “We’re so angry about it. I mean, I’m a very patient guy, but I’ve had it with these people.”

    LMAO go jack off to the porn you pretend not to watch, or take some benzos, and get over it.

    Moar Pastor Johnson tears, plz.

  28. 28.

    tobie

    I feel like I should be sending a postcard to my far right Rep with the text of the first amendment. Citing the Constitution has evidently become a suspicious act

     

    ETA: KS Senator Marshall is now threatening to send the Natl Guard to Oct 18 rallies. We’re all supposedly George Soros’s minions. Soros is 95 years old! Damn…Republicans always need a bogeyman to explain why they are so very unpopular.

    bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3m2tvpocdyo2k

  29. 29.

    NotMax

    And like a Franklin stove, not particularly efficient.

    “I’ll take ‘How many buzzwords did Johnson cram into a single sentence for 500, Alex.'”
    ;)

  31. 31.

    ArchTeryx

    @tobie: Ain’t that a son of a bitch. It’s okay for the MAGAts to carry around pocket constitutions and cite bits like they were holy writ, but the moment someone from an out-group quotes the actual text, that’s sedition and must be crushed!

  34. 34.

    Bulgakov

    I love you, Betty! Your writing is so precise and refined for maximum impact; i.e., “…my First Amendment right to call Ingoglia a corrupt fascist cockwomble”.

  36. 36.

    iKropoclast

    @piratedan: Normally I’d be pointing out that we have military bases in a great many other nations.

    If this were discussed publicly, maybe brought through Congress, done in the name of international cooperation; I’d be ok.

    But I don’t trust these Trump fuckers just doin shit.

  38. 38.

    Ruckus

    @Scout211:

    It’s the AGENT that is fake.

    One can’t be an agent without agency, that concept that you bring something to the table. And the table doesn’t like hate for hate’s sake, nor does it like negativism – but the table is just a table so it can’t fix anything. And as their current leadership has zero humanity anywhere near them, because they hate humanity, which is one reason they are always so negative – they hate anything positive because they only have/understand negativity, which is why they also hate themselves. It’s a circle of stupid and hate. It’s stupidity on steroids. The only fix is to teach them a lesson. But as they haven’t learned humanity in their entire lives one has to take the position that they have zero positivity and have to bring everyone else down to their level of ignorance and hate. It’s a vicious circle of stupidity and hate, that they seem to want to conserve, very likely because it’s all they can see, given where they’ve parked their heads…….

  40. 40.

    iKropoclast

    @Scout211: What are you afraid of, Pastor Johnson?

    Votes. Probably at least a few of them.

    Democrats won’t compromise with us, so we will close the House, foreclosing all opportunity for compromise.

  42. 42.

    kindness

    Republicans are all in on Trump throwing down The Insurrection Act.  All Republicans are right now priming the msm pumps suggesting Democrats/progrerssives hate America and are in insurrection.  Notice how they are using that word way more than they ever did in the past.  Gee, I wonder what the connection might be???

  45. 45.

    Ruckus

    @Scout211:

    What are you afraid of, Pastor Johnson?

    He’s selling hate, but he really, really doesn’t want to be on the receiving end of that hate, because he hates hate, but as he has nothing to replace that hate with……

    It’s a vicious circle of hate and stupidity. And it’s a circle and that hate and stupidity is all that’s in that circle so he knows that if that circle is all he has to stand in or on, he’s actually hating himself, he just can’t admit that.

  46. 46.

    Peale

    @piratedan: Qatar has been hit by both Iran and Israel this year. It would probably like to be able to take a bit more control of its air defense and probably is thinking “what good is any security relationship with the US going to be if we get hit when it decides to bomb Iran and it doesn’t do anything to stop Israeli planes”. So opening the training facility probably helps the US give the Qataris some sense that they actually care about them while keeping said forces dependent on US.

  47. 47.

    iKropoclast

    @kindness: All Republicans are right now priming the msm pumps suggesting Democrats/progrerssives hate America and are in insurrection

    Such a threat to the government, we are…

    Ginning up a case for state violence even as they accuse their political opponents mostly implausibly of stoking violence.

    Our feeling threatened is the real violence.

  49. 49.

    ArchTeryx

    @kindness: And when he does that is going to be the moment of truth, because that will give him authorization to declare martial law and start shooting protesters. Kent State will look like a minor tiff when they stage their own Tienamen Square.

    How we respond will directly influence whether we fall to fascism or repel these monsters.

  50. 50.

    Peale

    @ArchTeryx: Well the good news is that the No Kings Rallies are going to be all over the place, which makes it difficult for a Tiananmen square moment.

    ETA: Also, please declare a national curfew. Americans like to be told to stay indoors and away from each other. Or so COVID taught me.

  53. 53.

    ArchTeryx

    @Peale: All they need to stage is one, but I doubt they’re gonna invoke it for the No Kings protests. They’re gonna let the protests happen and use them as an excuse to invoke the Insurrection Act. They’ve been building up to invoking the IA for a long time.

    I just have the overwhelming feeling this is coming to a head, because their unity is cracking, their popularity is plummeting, and their window of opportunity is closing. Cornered animals are the most dangerous.

    I hope we are up to it when they involke the IA and then martial law in rapid succession. Things are going to be rough for a while after that. But if we beat them there, we’ve broken their fascist movement for now.

  54. 54.

    jonas

    @NotMax: I was told some time ago, the main reason is that in a country as small as Switzerland (same with Austria and a couple of other places), it’s literally not possible to take off, get to altitude, and carry out an excercise w/o crossing into another country’s airspace. So if you’re going to spend anytime in the air, you have to go to a larger country and, well, why not the desert over Utah or whatever.

  55. 55.

    Peale

    @jonas: Yep. Qatar is rather tiny and it doesn’t always have the best relationships with its neighbors, who do things like get pissy when it doesn’t agree to provide troops for its invasion of Yemen.

  56. 56.

    ArchTeryx

    @jonas: There are NOTAMS (Notices To Airmen) and temporary restrictions of airspace for these sorts of exercises – the U.S. does this all the time for military exercises.

    I’m surprisied Switzerland doesn’t have a mutual agreement with Germany to use part of their airspace for training missions every so often. They wouldn’t much like it if they had to *permanently* close the airspace, though, so maybe that’s it. If the missions were daily or frequent, they’d have to find a little used patch somewhere, and I doubt you’d find that in Europe

    I grew up in Chicago and flew with my father a lot. A lot of Lake Michigan is actually restricted airspace because the Great Lakes Naval Station conducts exercises all the time in the lake and that includes airborne exercises. So civilian traffic is limited to a narrow band at the very southern tip of the lake

    On occasion, though, if they don’t have any exercises planned, they’ll open lanes across the lake, though. And the commercial pilots all celebrate. Saves them a lot of time not having to go around Lake Michigan.

  57. 57.

    jonas

    Johnson and other Republicans lie continually because, practically speaking, there are no consequences. The media don’t call them out or shun them. Their brainwashed voters choose to accept it like cultists accept their prophets’ pronouncements. They just don’t care.

    If there are no consequences, and only possible benefits to be had (i.e. keeping their cultists loyal and quiescent), they’ll just keep doing it.

  58. 58.

    gene108

    If anyone wants to do postcards, NJ governors race is a dead heat in many polls.

    A few postcards for Mikie Sherrill might help.

    Her opponent Jack Ciaterelli is a very good campaigner. He made the 2021 race against then incumbent governor Phil Murphy closer than it should have been, considering Murphy’s pretty popular.

    activateamerica.vote/postcards

    Edit: Fixed Link

  60. 60.

    Shalimar

    @Other MJS:  Thanks.  I tried watching it and couldn’t get past video of high school Miller ranting on the school bus.  He has always been the worst humans can be.

  61. 61.

    Eyeroller

    @dm:More evidence for the assertion in the previous thread that what Trump really cares about is the Gulf States monarchies.

  65. 65.

    Denali5

    The professor who is an expert on Antifa has deported himself and his family to Spain. Antifa is not an organization, despite what the current administration claims.

  67. 67.

    Geminid

    @Karen Gail: A couple of the commenters in that post exaggerated when they said US troops would operate in Gaza. They may have known what they were doing, too. The report is pretty clear that these 200 military personnel would be stationed in Israel. Ed. Or rather, *are* stationed in Israel. Most of them are there now

    No one who has followed this plan’s evolution would be stunned by this story. It’s been known for weeks now that a key part of the plan is an international “stabilization force” drawn from Muslim nations, and that it would be under U.S. command.

    The coordination center is a neccesary part of this. CENTCOM is in charge because Israel is a CENTCOM member, and a couple of the nations sending troops are also.

  68. 68.

    Deputinize America

    @kindness:

    In fairness, I do hate their version of America. Makes me want to burn flags and bounce carryon luggage on the heads of preboarded troops.

  70. 70.

    oldgold

    The cost of the Liberace decorated flying seraglio the Qataris “gave” the Manchurian Cantaloupe is going up every damn day.

  71. 71.

    Ruckus

    @Scout211:

    What are you afraid of, Pastor Johnson?

    I’m afraid the answer to that question is everything, including whatever is in his own addled head. He’s not stupid (OK not that stupid) but the picture in his head is one of standing on a tower of hate and stupidity and what he’s been taught as a pastor is that hate is wrong. But he and his whatever the hell they are followers are so stuck in a minimal concept of humanity that maybe/possibly/likely was the major concept of life several centuries ago and they are incapable of seeing anything new, different, outside of their very limited view of, well, anything/everything else, that they can only accept that. Much of history is about people with rather limited contact with a lot of other humans. But in today’s world there are a lot of humans. Short/tall, skinny/not, black/white (while actually being neither actual color), religious or not, hateful or not, smart/educated or not, communications far, far different than not that long ago – in humanities term of time/history, such as we are doing here. I want to scream some days/EVERY DAMN DAY, about how completely fucking asinine and fucking stupid all of this is.

    I’ll put my soap box away now

    I feel so damn sorry for all of humanity that much of it can’t see past the bathroom mirror.

  72. 72.

    Melancholy Jaques

    Anybody notice the stock market today? Back when Biden was president, the entire right-wing world would be shouting about end times. Of course, they would go silent when the market went back up, but the message had impact. It reinforced the vibes that the economy was worse than the Great Depression.

  73. 73.

    CCL

    Open thread??   Perhaps what the Thing is desperate to keep hidden are photos of him being sexually dominated by more powerful men.  Would be devastating for him.   Totally, totally, totally — totally —  pure speculation on my part.

  74. 74.

    bbleh

    @ArchTeryx: I’m afraid there’s a reasonable chance — maybe not 50-50 but certainly better than 1-in-5 — that you’re right.  I hope not, but as they say, prepare for the worst.

  75. 75.

    ArchTeryx

    @NotMax: It’s less what conditions are on the ground and more if Zone Rouge is near a major commercial flyway. Airline companies hate spending fuel they don’t have to, so any suggestion of closure of airspace in their main “highways” is met with furious protest by airline lobbyists. The military has near absolute supremacy in their airspace, but when in civilian airspace they have to obey civilian ATC, so they want to close airspace.

    There’s been more than one accident when a military jet ignored ATC instructions and crashed into a commercial civilian jet, killing everyone aboard. There are very good reasons to keep military jets and civilian planes strictly separated!

  76. 76.

    Geminid

    @dm: Some Israeli commenter said Israel has been tryng for years get an Article 5-type guarantee, and Netanyahu finally got one– for Qatar!

  77. 77.

    goodmatt

    So they’re invading Portland to attack furries, meanwhile a munitions plant in Tennessee gets blown to smithereens.

  78. 78.

    Old School

    @Baud:

    The Feds assembling to confront the Antifa Army. Portland, Oregon.

    Amusing picture, but seemingly not Portland.

    This has been making the rounds as being from Portland, but it’s actually an old image from Germany. You can see one of the cops has “POLIZEI” on their back.

    Edit: It’s from a 2007 G8 Summit.

  79. 79.

    Belafon

    @ArchTeryx: Their martial law attempt will fall apart very quickly, because they won’t be able to make it happen everywhere, they just don’t have the resources.

  80. 80.

    bbleh

    “We’re so angry about it. I mean, I’m a very patient guy, but I’ve had it with these people. The theory we have right now — they have a hate America rally that’s scheduled for October 18 on the National Mall. It’s the pro-Hamas wing and antifa people … “

    For SO long they’ve been bleating to each other about how we HATE them and HATE America and hate hate hate.  And yes they do it primarily because it makes them feel like they belong to the In-Group and they’re defending Goodness against the Outside Evildoers, just like Jesus was hated for being Good, blah blah blah.  And yes EAIAC: I didn’t notice much hatred when we were trying to get affordable healthcare for 20 (now more like 35) million people who didn’t have it, or investing in infrastructure rebuilding and new clean-energy projects in areas that were having real trouble as old industries departed, or or or.

    But it seems to have ratcheted up to a new level, and I swear I AM starting to dislike them pretty intensely.  Like I don’t want to associate with the people — even my own family — who vote for and support Trump, Johnson, et al., and I feel like they’re making their own (very uncomfortable) beds and they’re just gonna have to lie in them.

    So maybe in a moderate way, they’re making their own long-held wishes come true!

  81. 81.

    trollhattan

    Po’
    Lice
    {graphic of louse}
    I can wear this and legally harass my neighbors? Whee!
    Badges, stinking, not required.

  83. 83.

    Eunicecycle

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: and some of the photos began to change public opinion. I hope the photos like the one of a woman videoing a protest had a gun pointed at her (shown clearly in the picture) and the pastor being shot in the head with pepper balls will turn more people toward the protesters.

  86. 86.

    ArchTeryx

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: The point is not to be everywhere. It’s to make an example of one protest by shooting it up and warning everyone else: You could be next. Silence protests without attacking all of them. It worked all too well for China and has worked for many fascist regimes.

    Same reason ICE is being sent to certain cities to rough them up and disappear people. They can’t be everywhere, but ask what it’s like to be in Chicago right now.

  88. 88.

    ArchTeryx

    @Baud: Summed up perfectly. People are going to die. A lot of them. The only questions are: How many, and will it cow the rest of us, or push us into storming the Bastille?

  90. 90.

    Miss Bianca

    @Melancholy Jaques: I just got the monthly statement for my modest investments and discovered that they went up this past month – again. I’ve been wondering when the hell they are going to start plunging in the opposite direction, which is what I’ve been expecting now for months. Are you saying the market is currently trending downwards? (I don’t follow these things closely on a daily basis, I confess.)

  91. 91.

    Steve Paradis

    That smug, pursed-lipped simpler of Johnson always puts me in mind of Blue Velvet’s Ben.

  93. 93.

    Ruckus

    @CCL:

    It’s not that simple.

    His problem is ego and who he actually is. Ego is a bit of humanity/survival that we all have. It’s a problem when it becomes EGO, rather than ego. We all have ego, it helps us make survival decisions, even as we don’t have to do that as often as we did not all that long ago in humanity terms. Some have more, some less and some way, way too much. So much that it guides their entire lives. And sometimes that guiding is not in any good, reasonable direction. Sometimes it becomes dangerous to themselves, sometimes to others, which is when it can become a much bigger problem.

  94. 94.

    Belafon

    @ArchTeryx: So far, the threatening and arresting hasn’t stopped protests even in the places where they’re happening. If it does it worse, it sounds like white people may have to learn that if they’re going to kill you anyway, you might as well make them work for it.

    Don’t doom yourself into compliance.

  95. 95.

    scav

    I’m torn between the image of thousands of perfectly addressed and utterly otherwise blank postcards showing up from all the ZIP codes arriving at Herr Ingoglia’s offices — for days . . .

     

    or, having a bar of “You can get anything you want at Alice’s Restaurant.” inscribed upon each and every one.

     

    Can you imagine it?

  97. 97.

    patrick II

    When the Epstein files finally come out I am sure we will find pedophilia is not an impeachable offense.

  98. 98.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Belafon: Agreed.  And I am happy that my mom’s birthday celebration is being held this weekend instead of on her actual birthday next Saturday. I don’t have to choose between my soon to be 84 y/o mom and the No Kings protest in Madison.

  100. 100.

    ArchTeryx

    @Belafon: Heh. No worries there. I already got half a dozen bullseyes on my head by this regime. Even if I were the perfect little citizen, that wouldn’t protect me. I’m one that does not expect to survive this regime. I would be quite happy to be proven wrong.

    This is less dooming and much more, “This is what I think is going to happen, but what we don’t know is what WE will do in response.” And I am hoping that the answer is, “I’M MAD AND I’M NOT GOING TO TAKE IT ANY MORE!” ala Network. My life kinda depends on it.

  101. 101.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Karen Gail: We also have sent advisors to many countries where it did not become a 20+ year debacle.  Historical analogies have value but they don’t foretell the future.

  102. 102.

    Ella in New Mexico

    @Betty Cracker: We have actually done this in the past with other countries (Germany, Italy, Israel etc. ) just we didn’t frame it as “they’re building their own airbase in our country”.

    Also, something else I’m hearing in Smarmy Mike’s reference to the No King’s Day protests are the talking points that will lead to the permission to treat ALL protesters against Trump now as “Antifa” which means King Cheetoh will be able to unleash troops/Feds on any of us he wants.

  103. 103.

    Belafon

    @ArchTeryx: I just love the fact that frog, dinosaur, and chicken costumes confuse them, that they’re too stupid to understand the problems with shooting a priest in the head, even if it’s a pepper ball, and that the protest songs are starting to come from directions they’re not expecting.

  104. 104.

    Belafon

    @Ella in New Mexico: They would like you to think that they’ll lead to that. Where are they going to get the minimum 1500 sets of people to visit the known protest spots and all of the less organized ones?

  105. 105.

    ArchTeryx

    @Belafon: Merciless mockery is very effective against the fash, and so is treating the ICE invasion like a block party. It gets people out of the street, gets them together, and makes ICE look like the idiot thugs they really are.

    Once the Insurrection Act gets involked, though, if it does (and I hope it DOESN’T, but it’s obvious Vought is laying the groundwork for it), they can just shoot the costumed figures as insurrectionists. And that’s when shit gets real.

    Despite this thread, it’s not what I hope for. But it’s the risk you take getting in the fash’s face.

  106. 106.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    Call me crazy but let cracker senators from KS somehow get the National Guard out to all those places holding No Kings rallies…all those places where the face of those rallies are white people.

    The optics would be pretty bad if anything happened (and we want nothing to happen).  As we say repeatedly, it’s one thing to show dudes in uniform oppressing POC, start doing it do 60-something white grandmas and the other normie 60-something white grandmas have a proverbial “WTF moment”.

    For better or worse, that’s where we are.  Plus, I say this repeatedly, we’ve been in a cold civil war for (debate starting point here) and I wake up every day wondering if this is the day it becomes a hot one.

  107. 107.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Belafon: There aren’t enough of them to be everywhere.  That’s one reason it is so important to have demonstrations in as many places as possible.

  109. 109.

    ArchTeryx

    @comrade scotts agenda of rage: It becomes a hot one after the Insurrection Act is invoked and the Supremes inevitably greenlight it. Right now their ROE is not to shoot to kill (it hasn’t stopped them from doing it occasionally, but right now such incidents are rare; they’re mostly using nonlethal methods). IA changes everything. I know I’m a broken record on this, but I’m of the firm belief it will get far worse before it gets better. That’s the way fascist regimes typically crumble – taking a lot of people with them. And I don’t want that at all!

  111. 111.

    Geminid

    @Karen Gail: This plan was devised by foreign ministers, intelligence chiefs and defense ministers from half a dozen nations that will be implementing the peace plan. They have consulted with US officials all along. It’s an essential part of the ceasefire process. Trump authorized it because Rubio and Witkoff told him he needed to in order to make the plan work.

  112. 112.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    Like last time, I find the No Kings rally map fascinating:

    nokings.org/

    It’s one thing to have a rally here in Denver but Beloit KS?  Anybody here been to Beloit?  I have.  Absolutely nothing to write home about, it’s just like any other red, rurl county seat in a Flyover Country state.

    3500 people, county seat in a county that went 82% for P-Tape.

    And there are some of “us” there organizing a No Kings rally.  Anybody here who’s lived in red, rurl ‘Murka (like me) will understand that while this isn’t life-threatening risky, it still takes balls to do.

  113. 113.

    japa21

    There is a No Kings protest 4 blocks from me. They aren’t doing the 32 mile chain this time. Working on sign ideas.
    So far my preferred choice is “Time to De-Ice the USA”.

  114. 114.

    Ramona

    @Ruckus: True, it’s a matter of ego. Ironically, in Trump’s case, as in the case of any narcissist, it’s a matter of a frail ego inordinately dependent on external validation.

  115. 115.

    Lucy Montrose

    @Scout211: Tuesday is the 14th, which happens to be the birthday of a certain person Rs have tried desperately to make a martyr, to the point of designating his birthday a day of remembrance.

    Congress being on vaycay means they won’t be celebrating said day of remembrance! And so the fading away of Maybe Martyr’s salient continues.

  116. 116.

    bbleh

    @Miss Bianca: the worries I have are (1) the domestic economy is beginning to “soften” in certain ways, like employment and consumer spending by other than upper-income people, (2) there are signs that international and investor confidence in the US is getting shaky, like the run up in gold prices and the shift in investments away from the US (for which they arguably have good reason, eg tariffs, Fed interference, politicization of government statistics), and (3) eighty percent (!) of the recent run-up in stock indexes is due to AI stocks, which looks like a serious bubble to me (especially since so much “AI” chatter is outright silly).

    I got nervous a while ago, so I missed out on some months of growth, but it’s hard for individuals to “time the market,” and I’d rather miss out on a little long-term gain than suffer a sudden big loss. But YMMV.

  120. 120.

    iKropoclast

    @japa21: So far my preferred choice is “Time to De-Ice the USA”.

    I like that a lot.

    I was trying to decide on sign language, myself. I was thinking:

    Option 1 Side 1 (rough notion): Honor agreements. All wars authorized by Congress. Accountability across all government.

    Side 2: Make Congress Great Again

    Or option 2, single side: Remember you are essential.

    Or taking options because I’ve never done protests before. Only canvassing and signature taking

  125. 125.

    dexwood

    Our signs are: 2 sided – Cruelty is not patriotism & Hatred is not Christianity.

    One side – Ice, ISIS, what’s the difference.

  126. 126.

    WTFGhost

    @ArchTeryx: Remember, the military can be told ROE are “shoot to kill,” but they aren’t going to just go out and slaughter people. The bigger risk (IMO) is ICE hitting a small squad with a pepperball, that they mistake for an attack, and respond with force. (Why would ICE hit the military? Beats me, nothing they do seems motivated by clear thinking. But they fire those things off so indiscriminately, they’re bound to make mistakes!)

    Soldiers facing an armed, angry, mob rushing at them might open fire. Soldiers facing a major, generally peaceful, protest won’t see any point, and if ordered to do so, will feel more comfortable refusing to follow the order. Even the IA doesn’t change the UCMJ, and the UCMJ is there to remind military folks that there are limits, no matter how emotionally charged the situation.

    I don’t expect there to be direct military conflicts with protesting civilians. And soldiers aren’t as intimidating when you know they can’t do a damn thing to you unless you do something big and obviously dangerous. I’m more concerned about isolated incidents.

  128. 128.

    Old School

    The Moody Blues vocalist John Lodge has died “suddenly and unexpectedly”, aged 82, his family have confirmed.

    The bass player and “massive-hearted man” joined the band in 1966 with fellow singer Justin Hayward, following the departure of Denny Laine and Clint Warwick.

  129. 129.

    iKropoclast

    @Omnes Omnibus: Well, I haven’t encountered any reason to see the Portland Frog as being related to any sexual fetish; but speaking broadly, I don’t see why furless animals can’t be included under the heading of furries.

  133. 133.

    iKropoclast

    @Karen Gail: ‘Angry’ Johnson lashes out — says Dems need to be ‘physically separated’ from Republicans

    Good idea.  Y’all can have Mars since you seem to want it so bad.

  134. 134.

    JiveTurkin

    Maybe some Congressperson who is retiring can utter what I think is obvious:  Jefferey Epstein was a pedophile, he has files, it stands to reason that some of the people named in those files are pedophiles.  Mike Johnsons is preventing the release of those files, in other words he may be protecting pedophiles.  Someone who protects pedophiles might as well be a pedophile.

  135. 135.

    RaflW

    Democrats need to just tell Thune to pound sand. Mikey Johnson is already – directly to reporters – saying the House will do rescissions anyway. And we know Trump + Vought won’t abide by any planned spending they object to.

    Eleanor Mueller [Semaphor congressional reporter]: On this press call with the House Freedom Caucus, Johnson tells reporters: “We worked on rescissions, and there’ll be more of that, we expect, in the days ahead.”

    Since there is no honest plan for Republicans to follow any budget bill, there’s zero reason for Dems to assist. Make Thune nuke the filibuster. It’s time anyway. And then they can pass this shit with just the execrable Fetterman joining the moron-parade.

  136. 136.

    ArchTeryx

    @WTFGhost: Professional military I’m not so worried about. Maybe I should be, but I grew up an Army brat and I trust the NCOs and enlisteds, if not the COs put there by people like Trump.

    It’s ICE themselves getting permission to shoot to kill that I worry about. They’ve already shown with their pepper paintball guns they aren’t particularly choosy about who they fire at, and a whole lot of them, I’d bet a month’s salary, are just ITCHING to carry real assault rifles into these protests and start shooting them up. There is nothing professional about that gang of Gestapo thugs, which means things could get out of control REAL fast – maybe not even with civilians, but with the actual military. And then you’d have your hot civil war.

    A horror story that I hope never, ever comes to pass. But Kent State happened less than a year before I was born. I know how quick these things can escalate.

  138. 138.

    Another Scott

    Meanwhile, … Beyer.house.gov:

    Beyer Statement On Trump’s Illegal Mass Firings Of Federal Workers
    Washington, October 10, 2025

    Tags: Federal Employees , Oversight

    Congressman Don Beyer (D-VA), who represents a Northern Virginia congressional district with one of the largest concentrations of federal workers in the U.S. House, issued the following statement today on illegal, unnecessary mass firings of federal workers announced by the Trump Administration and Director of the United States Office of Management and Budget Russ Vought:

    “The mass firings Russ Vought and the Trump Administration announced today are cruel, illegal, and yet another attack on our economy. This is a disaster for Virginia, intentionally inflicted by President Trump and his Republican allies. These firings are also already being fought in court.

    “This President is killing jobs at a disastrous rate, while forcing the continuation of a government shutdown that would end if he simply agreed to prevent skyrocketing health care price increases. Instead of doing that, however, Trump and Vought are illegally firing more workers, hurting essential services for the American people, and damaging our economy in Virginia and across the country. Vought is also further abusing power by corruptly freezing hundreds of energy infrastructure projects, which will kill even more jobs and raise electricity prices across the nation.

    “Everyone should understand that a government shutdown does not require or enable mass firings of federal workers, in fact it forbids it. President Trump and Russ Vought have been firing federal workers by the thousands continuously since the beginning of the DOGE disaster, and as numerous Republicans have admitted, they plainly hoped to use the pretext of a shutdown to fire even more American workers. But directing these firings during a shutdown violates the law, and the laws they are violating are criminal statutes.

    “This Administration’s corruption is only matched by its willingness to sabotage our economy and raise prices for the American people. Trump and Vought’s lawless contempt for Congress’ powers under the Constitution will also make it harder to get the bipartisan deal that is needed to end this shutdown.

    “I will continue doing all I can to support and protect federal workers and contractors in Northern Virginia and across the country. To those workers, I say again: you deserve so much better than this, and while I know this is yet another dark moment in a dark year, please do not lose hope. The country still sees and values your service, and your work is not in vain.”

    +1

    (Beyer is my rep.)

    Hang in there, and don’t obey in advance, everyone.

    Best wishes,
    Scott.

  139. 139.

    prostratedragon

    @Betty Cracker: 

    My hot take is that this commenter has an idea to consider:

    There are so many to choose from, but if I could choose just one issue around which a flipped Congress should center impeachment proceedings, so far it would be the whole rotten Qatar business.

  140. 140.

    Old School

    Trump Burger’s Houston location appears to be closed, at least for now.

    The restaurant at 3410 Chimney Rock Rd. had an orange “closed” sign posted during business hours when Houston Chronicle reporters drove by on Wednesday and Friday. Its Google profile has labeled it as temporarily closed since at least Monday. On Wednesday, wires were hanging and flour was strewn on a table. On Friday the place had been cleaned up.

    Roland Beainy, the face of Trump Burger who opened this location in May, said via phone that he wasn’t answering any questions at this time. The Houston Business Journal first reported the news of the closure.

  141. 141.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Do you have evidence of this? And even assuming this is true, that’s not a good excuse considering everything that’s been happening since 1/20/25

  144. 144.

    JML

    I would love for the next time Idiot Johnson calls a lawful, protected, non-violent demonstration an “I hate America” demonstration for someone to respond with “the fact that they hate you and your president doesn’t mean they hate America, mah dude. You are not America.”

    Too much to dream for.

  146. 146.

    frosty

    @Omnes Omnibus: ​
     We’re traveling to Spain and will be out of the country on 10/18. Imagine my surprise to find out there will be a protest in Sevilla! I’m planning to be there.

  147. 147.

    Suzanne

    @frosty: Mr. Suzanne has a mandatory training scheduled for that day (yes, on a Saturday), and so I have the Spawns. I am not sure I feel safe bringing them to a protest these days. I will see how things shake out.

  148. 148.

    Gretchen

    The Kansas City No Kings rally on the Plaza, which attracted thousands of people last time, is on the same day as the Kansas City marathon, which goes through the same area. So that could be a mess

  149. 149.

    Belafon

    @RaflW: I think the best response is what they’re doing right now: Add the tax credits back in so healthcare costs don’t increase for millions. Don’t do anything but that. Let Thune decide to do it on his own.

  152. 152.

    Belafon

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    Do you have evidence of this? And even assuming this is true, that’s not a good excuse considering everything that’s been happening since 1/20/25

     
    I suspect people are speculating, and it wouldn’t be hard to see a possible correlation by looking at polls. As for the excuse, I wish Americans acted rationally, even liberal ones.

  154. 154.

    brendancalling

    @Scout211: I just saw a picture on blue sky of Donald Trump, Jeffrey, Epstein, and a very, very young Pam Bondi. It is no wonder that she doesn’t want to answer questions about whether Trump is in photographs with half clothed underage girls. She looks like she was one of them in the photo. And who knows, maybe she was.

  155. 155.

    frosty

    @Suzanne: ​The three I’ve been to have been perfectly safe for kids; they were in a small PA town and a suburb of Baltimore. Looks like there are a few around the ‘burgh, depending on how far you would be willing to drive. Washington, Beaver, Greensburg. Or a little closer: South Hills.​

  159. 159.

    piratedan

    guess that means we all had J6 wrong, it was simply an embrace of Democratic norms by Conservatives….

    Thanks for the perspective change Pastor Mike.

  162. 162.

    ArchTeryx

    @Citizen Alan: From a furry that’s been around since the first years of the fandom? Yeah, a lot of reptile-adjacent furs call themselves “scalies” but they aren’t really a different fandom. More like a Special Interest Group within the larger umbrella of furry fandom. We have a TON of those. Furry interests can get incredibly diverse, and within the fandom, my closest friends have often played dragons. One of my newest friends is a fellow with a dragon/snake character named Zakk. Zakk is a whole lot of fun to hang with. One of the best safe-for-work furry artists I know has a lizard-sona named LizardBeth. Fantastic woman to work with.

    I have a soft spot for scalies.

  164. 164.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Suzanne: Moar Pastor Johnson tears, plz.​

    And always keep in mind that the “Pastor” in Pastor Johnson is pronounced bastard.

  166. 166.

    Kathleen

    @Gretchen:  Your comment prompted me to check date for Chicago Marathon, which turns out to be tomorrow. I’m hoping all the runners, spectators and first responders stay safe. I saw that one of the top female runners projected to be a possible winner is from Ethiopia. I know Chicago attracts elite runners from all over the world. Don’t want to imagine ICE even thinking about arresting any of them.

  168. 168.

    Miss Bianca

    @mrmoshpotato: Gotta love it.

    (btw, I am SO GLAD that I will be heading back to Chicago in January! Well, not so glad about the “in January” part – that might be the only thing to elevate it to “hellhole” status. But other than the weather possibilities, I am positively giddy at the thought of seeing old stomping grounds for the first time in almost – gulp – 30 years!)

  171. 171.

    ArchTeryx

    @Miss Bianca: Go hit Navy Pier. It’s a really fun place now, though sadly, the true IMAX they used to have was shuttered in 2021 thanks to COVID. A movable-seat theater amusement ride took its place.

    I watched Polar Express in that theater and it was one of the most memorable movie experiences I’ve ever had. Really sad that it’s gone now.

  172. 172.

    TONYG

    I wonder whether those “police” in Florida were really cops.  Did they show badges or a warrant?  Any idiot can buy “tactical gear” online sand scribble the word “police” on it.

  176. 176.

    cain

    @Old School: That’s because if they tried to use anything in portland, the protests are so small and filled with people in animal costumes that it just looks ridiculous.

  177. 177.

    Baud

    @Old School:

    Trump Burger’s Houston location appears to be closed, at least for now.

     

    The restaurant at 3410 Chimney Rock Rd. had an orange “closed” sign

     

    Appropriate.

  178. 178.

    prostratedragon

    @TONYG:  That is a problem the dums refuse to acknowledge, of course. But then, how did they know whom to go bully? Would be a remarkable random occurence.

  180. 180.

    cain

    @Harrison Wesley: ​
     

    Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble, cauldron burns when these groups start to mingle.

    If violence breaks out, the feds are going to have to protect the Qataris. That should be a fun image for MAGA. Will they blame Biden for that?

  181. 181.

    NutmegAgain

    @Miss Bianca: Agreed. And I am so fucking sick of hearing from him, about his latest outrage, and just all of it, filling the airwaves.  So I mostly listen to the Beeb. Sometimes they do have to cover the open suppurating orange thing, but not all the time. And it helps me feel a bit connected to the rest of the world.

  182. 182.

    Melancholy Jaques

    @Miss Bianca:

    Are you saying the market is currently trending downwards? (I don’t follow these things closely on a daily basis, I confess.)

    It’s good that you don’t follow on a daily basis. It’s not good for one’s peace of mind. I’ve only been watching lately because I am trying to decide something.

    That said, it was a down day. NASDAQ down 3.56%, S&P 500 down 2.71%, My Pile of Stuff down 2.63%.

    It might be one day so what? It might continue to go down. It might spring up Monday morning and set another record. Nobody knows anything.

    My point was that when Biden was president, a day like today would have produced a weekend of clouds of doom and it’s all Biden’s fault.

  185. 185.

    NutmegAgain

    @comrade scotts agenda of rage: There’s a movement in Germany for grannies, or just older women. “Omas gegen Rechts” is Omas (grandmas) against the (far) Right. They formed in response to the rise of AfD, but they show up all over the place.

  186. 186.

    Jeffro

    @ArchTeryx:I just have the overwhelming feeling this is coming to a head, because their unity is cracking, their popularity is plummeting, and their window of opportunity is closing. Cornered animals are the most dangerous.

    Yup.

    It’s not like trumpov knows anything but doubling down and doubling down again.

    And Speaker Johnson has made it clear that he’s willing to keep Congress shut down for as long as it takes to NOT release the Epstein Files.

  187. 187.

    Gretchen

    @tobie: I’m in Kansas and planning to go to the rally. Tried to call Marshall’s office to ask why he’s threatening to call the National Guard on me, but he’s no answering his phone.

  189. 189.

    jonas

    @Miss Bianca: To quote a certain late Fed chair, there’s a lot of “irrational exuberance” out there at the moment, driven mostly by ridiculous amounts of money being poured into anything with the words “AI” or “crypto” in the name. It’s kind of like how you could raise $10 million in venture capital a few years ago by changing the name of your brake shop to “Blockchain Brakes, LLC”.

    IOW, the recent gains in the market are almost all due to a few superstocks like Nvidia, Google (Alphabet), and OpenAI getting hit with a firehose of investor money. The broader market, dominated by companies that actually have to make and sell things other than AI hype, is not doing that great.

  191. 191.

    Central Planning

    I think if I bring a sign to a rally it might say “You don’t have to shoot me”

  192. 192.

    Super Dave

    @dm: But if you read the text of his EO you discover there’s virtually mutuality in it. All the guarantees are on the US, Qatar has almost zero responsibility to do anything for the US.

  193. 193.

    prostratedragon

    Judge orders Friday removal of fence at Broadview ICE facility

    U.S. District Judge LaShonda A. Hunt of the Northern District of Illinois issued a temporary restraining order Thursday night. The court found that ICE placed the fence on municipal property without permission, exceeding its authority. Hunt ruled that the move violated local safety codes by restricting access to first responders. Hunt emphasized that the fence caused irreparable harm to public safety and that the public interest favored its removal.

    As of a couple of hours ago the fence was still up.

  195. 195.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Baud:

    A WGN-TV video editor and producer was roughly detained by two Border Patrol agents on Friday morning during a highly visible rush hour enforcement action in Lincoln Square.[image or embed]— Chicago Tribune (@chicagotribune.com) October 10, 2025 at 1:32 PM

    "Once Brockman was handcuffed and placed in the van, the agents pulled out, clipping the rear bumper off of a stopped car partially blocking their path and speeding away past an approaching elongated CTA bus and through the busy intersection."[image or embed]— Robert Loerzel (@robertloerzel.bsky.social) October 10, 2025 at 1:37 PM

  198. 198.

    Geminid

    No joy in the Permian Basin. Oil Price Magazine tells me that the benchmark West Texas Intermediate price dropped 5.17% today, to $58.33 a barrel.

    Trump declared an energy emergency the day he was sworn in, and he has delivered one to west Texas oil producers.

  201. 201.

    BC in Illinois

    Where my mind is at.
    Saw a picture last night of “the girlfriend of the founder of antifa.”

    It was Ingrid Bergman, as Ilsa from Casablanca, gazing lovingly at Victor Laslo.

    Immediately, I thought of

    Play la Marseillaise !
    PLAY IT !!!

    Have you ever tried to go to sleep with la Marseillaise going nonstop in your head? Then think of the words:

    Allons enfants de la Patrie,
    Le jour de gloire est arrivé !
    Contre nous de la tyrannie
    L’étendard sanglant est levé,
    L’étendard sanglant est levé . . .

    Arise, children of the Fatherland, The day of glory has arrived!
    Against us, of tyranny   The blood-stained banner is raised . . .

    The words that follow – of ferocious soldiers, slit throats, blood in the fields – are words I don’t want to see applied in my time. But yes, it’s time to form . . . what ? Battalions? Battle lines? It’s certainly time to march. Next Saturday. And more.

    Now, watch the Casablanca / La Marseillaise video again. A group of fascists in the corner singing “The Watch on the Rhine/Lake Michigan/Portland.” The crowd brought to their feet, against them.

    What is our song? Our Marseillaise?
    Who is our Victor Laslo?

  202. 202.

    Geminid

    @mrmoshpotato: I would be more gleeful if New Mexico’s state budget was not so dependent on direct and indirect revenues from the oill and gas industry. New Mexico is the 4th poorest state in the US and they need that money.

  203. 203.

    bluefoot

    @Scout211: ​
      I had something similar happen once with my passport card. I was flying somewhere and the TSA person asked me if it was real, and then told me he didn’t think it was. Thankfully, I had my passport book with me and showed him that.

    I’ve also had an HR guy ask me if I was an American citizen as I was filling out an employment application as he was holding my passport card, which clearly states where in the USA I was born.

    Papers may not protect you if you’re brown.

  205. 205.

    Another Scott

    @Melancholy Jaques: Headlines I saw indicated that the drop was because 47 says he’s going to put “100%” tariffs on China because Xi won’t roll over (related to minerals, “AI” chips exports, etc.).

    AlJazeera.com:

    United States President Donald Trump has suggested he may scrap a planned meeting this month with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping over questions of technology and trade.

    Trump and Xi had been expected to meet on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, which begins October 31, in a bid to lower economic tensions.

    But in a social media post on Friday, Trump criticised China over the new controls it announced on the export of rare earth metals. The US president also threatened China with the possibility of steep tariffs.

    “I have not spoken to President Xi because there was no reason to do so. This was a real surprise, not only to me, but to all the Leaders of the Free World,” Trump said. “I was to meet President Xi in two weeks, at APEC, in South Korea, but now there seems to be no reason to do so.”

    The relationship between Trump and his Chinese counterpart has been rocky, and both have imposed new measures aimed at countering each other in areas where they are competing for influence, such as technological development.

    Rare earth metals are vital for such development, and China leads the world in refining the metals for use in devices like computers, smart phones and military weaponry.

    On Thursday, China unveiled a suite of new restrictions on the exports of those products. Out of the 17 elements considered rare earth metals, China will now require export licences for 12 of them.

    Technologies involved in the processing of the metals will also face new licensing requirements. Among the measures is also a special approval process for foreign companies shipping metallic elements abroad.

    Apparently Xi has/had not officially agreed to meeting 47.

    HappyToast is there with 47, live.

    FWIW.

    Best wishes,
    Scott.

  206. 206.

    Jeffg166

    Why does Pastor Mike hate the first amendment? Why does he hate America?

    Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

  208. 208.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @Jeffg166:

    Republicans have always hated certain amendments, ie Not All Amendments Are Created Equal.

    He probably feels it’s horribly outdated like the one about billeting troops in houses with the owner’s consent.

    Or, more likely, he feels such an amendment was wrong from the gitgo like they all feel about the 14th and 15th.

  214. 214.

    Ella in New Mexico

    So I was exactly right.

    The Republicans are running with “Extreme left wing terrorists funded by George Soros are going to stage a Hate America march that will be violent and we’ll have to call out the National Guard” talking points.

    We need to wear a lot of funny costumes and sing protest songs and dance in the streets on October 18th so that even the Fox News Bubblers see what a bunch of lies they’re being told.

  216. 216.

    Ruckus

    Just watched a bit of Steven Colbert show with guest Jimmy Kimmel from 2 months ago. Both of their shows are ending and I think there is a connection to our current president. So much is going on and going on wrong these days. I wonder how much of it is the fault of the same person who seems to really, REALLY not want them on TV.  Is this person taking over the country? Him and his boys? You know – the gang wanting to become – you know – THE ONLY AND ENTIRE FUCKING GANG. All at the expense of all the rest of us.

  217. 217.

    YY_Sima Qian

    @Another Scott: Trump is bluffing. We have already gone through the 100+% tariffs trade war in Apr. & May, which the PRC has demonstrated the willingness to reciprocate & match, & ended in TACO. (I am tempted to call it a “Phoney Trade War”, but it was all too real for the businesses & consumers impacted).

    Trump blared on Truth Social that the Xi-Trump meeting in South Korea may not happen after all (the PRC had never confirmed that the meeting was to take place), but then followed up w/ comments about wanting to give Xi a call. The “100+%” tariffs are not scheduled to be implemented until 11/1, plenty of time for Trump to beat a hasty retreat.

    Trump acts as if Xi betrayed him, but the “agreement” in Madrid was for the 2 sides to refrain from further escalations in the trade & tech. wars. However, just last week Lutnick announced amended rules that subjected all subsidiaries of parent companies on the Entity Lists to the same restrictions, as well, if the parent company has > 50% ownership. Ostensibly aimed at closing loopholes through which sanctioned companies continue to acquire US components & tech. (an impossible task), but will end up hitting much larger US exports for innocuous uses. Then there is the port fee now assessed on PRC owned, operated or built cargo ships at US ports. The PRC would have interpreted these actions as Trump going back on prior agreements, just as he is currently doing w/ the EU. While the PRC’s export control regime for rare earths/high density batteries/superhard materials/synthetic diamond would have been in the works for months, if not years, the timing of the announcement might have been influenced Lutnick’s escalation last week.

    At the end of day, though, it is just as likely (if not more so), that Trump & associates saw an opportunity to short what has been a growing stock market, before pulling a TACO a couple weeks from now to allow the markets to recover (& thus another opportunity to make a killing).

  218. 218.

    Ruckus

    @Ramona:

    B-I-N-G-O!

    Also, in the case of this very old child who has a lot of power, and one very, very frail ego, he’s convinced himself that he is the greatest human on the planet, while there seems to be a rather large percentage of the population that may be questioning if he should have any power whatsoever because power is not the basis of his job. Other than maybe sticking his tongue into a 220 volt socket. While holding onto a ground strap with both hands.

  220. 220.

    Ruckus

    @Ramona:

    I’m seeing how much I’ve forgotten in the years since I was a mental health counselor. Except I can easily see that shitforbrains has really not a lot of actual, realistic brain power. Of course I’ve thought this of him for decades. Really sorry to see that I’ve been extremely correct for decades about him. And yes what I’m really sorry about is the position he’s in – again. Obviously many people do not learn anything in any way easily. Or at all.

  221. 221.

    p.a.

    @Ruckus: May ‘stable genius” Donnie’s admin enter a rapid downward spiral similar to what another toxic narcissist is currently enjoying: Bill Belichick.

  223. 223.

    Jay

    @Ella in New Mexico:

    so that even the Fox News Bubblers see what a bunch of lies they’re being told.

    Given that Faux “News” has had a frequent unmasked, paid contributor on, who has also appeared on Faux “News” as a masked “former Cartel member” and “Mexican Mafia Expert”, also as an ISIS soldier and most recently as a high ranking Antifa member,

    Faux “News” will just run recent footage of the citizens revolt in Nepal and the Jan. 6th “Storming of the Capitol” as “No Kings Protest Footage, Live!!!!!!!!!”.

  224. 224.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Karen Gail: Are they preparing to arrest all the Democratic members of Congress, maybe as the step before declaring the Democratic Party illegal and arresting them nationwide? Been wondering that for a while.

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