NEW: Democrats will force a Senate vote on a 3-year extension of Affordable Care Act funds
Per Schumer, every Dem will vote YES.
It needs 60. Won't happen. Most Republicans want these Covid-era funds gone.
It'll becomes a 2026 issue when premiums soar.
www.nbcnews.com/politics/con…— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur.bsky.social) December 4, 2025 at 11:13 AM
🚨 Sen. Angus King, who negotiated the deal to end the shutdown, tells me he no longer sees a path to extend ACA funds, citing GOP demands for tougher abortion limits. “The Republicans have made Hyde a red line,” King said. “And that’s not gonna work.” www.nbcnews.com/politics/con…
— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur.bsky.social) December 4, 2025 at 3:51 PM
Per the Washington Post, “Senate Democrats set up last-ditch vote to extend Obamacare subsidies”:
The Senate is set to vote next week on extending Affordable Care Act health insurance subsidies for three years in a last-ditch effort to preserve them before they expire at the end of the year — but the plan is all but certain to fail…
The vote is the culmination of Democrats’ month-long campaign to extend the subsidies, which helped trigger the longest federal government shutdown in history. But it has almost no chance of winning enough Republican support to pass the Senate — and even if it passed, it’s unclear whether House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) would bring it up for a vote or if President Donald Trump would sign it….
Thune promised last month to hold a vote on a bill of Democrats’ choice to extend the subsidies by next week as part of a deal to end the shutdown. Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-New Hampshire) and Angus King (I-Maine), who played crucial roles in negotiating the bill, expressed optimism that they could negotiate a compromise to extend the subsidies that could win enough GOP backing to pass.
But those talks never went anywhere.
“They couldn’t put pen to paper,” Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vermont) told reporters, referring to Republicans. “They couldn’t propose something that was concrete, where they could say, ‘We’ve got four votes or five votes or six votes.’”…
Some Republicans have proposed changes to the subsidies — which Democrats enacted in 2021 without Republican support — in exchange for voting to extend them, including income restrictions and minimum out-of-pocket premiums. But others are vehemently opposed to extending the subsidies at all, splitting the party.
Sen. John Barrasso (Wyoming), the No. 2 Senate Republican, criticized Schumer’s proposal Thursday for not including “a single reform to deal with the waste, the fraud, the abuse and the corruption of these payments and of Obamacare.”…
Senate Republicans have discussed holding a vote next week on a health care bill of their own but have not reached a decision. Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kansas) said such a bill could include funding for health savings accounts, more money for rural hospitals and legislation he introduced with Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-Colorado) to force health care providers to make prices public…
Johnson told reporters Thursday that he intends to propose a health care plan next week and vote on it before the end of the year — but it’s unclear what that proposal would be or whether it could notch enough Republican votes to pass the House. Democrats are not expected to support the measure.
A group of more than 30 bipartisan House members led by Reps. Jen Kiggans (R-Virginia) and Josh Gottheimer (D-New Jersey) proposed a framework Thursday that would extend the credits for two years with income caps and new guardrails to prevent fraudulent payouts and would extend the open enrollment period until mid-March.
Although they don’t have a promise to vote on it, the bipartisan group said House Republican leaders recognize they have to do something. The group added that they’re willing to force a vote through a discharge petition if necessary.
“I think they understand there needs to be a plan,” said Rep. Michael Lawler (R-New York), who has signed on to the proposal. “To not put one forward is idiotic. It is not only wrong legislatively, it is stupid politically.”
Sharing is caring…
Health care costs are spiking all across the country.
The solution? Extend the ACA tax credits.
But our Republican colleagues refuse.— House Democrats (@housedemocrats.bsky.social) December 4, 2025 at 11:51 AM
214 House Democrats have signed the discharge petition to extend the ACA tax credits. We only need 4 Republicans to sign.
House GOP: Join us NOW before it's too late.— House Democrats (@housedemocrats.bsky.social) December 3, 2025 at 3:23 PM
===
MAJOR UPDATE: Speaker Mike Johnson is working behind closed doors to strip IVF coverage for all active duty members of the military.
Will the self-proclaimed "Father of IVF" Donald Trump swoop in to save it?— Elizabeth Warren (@warren.senate.gov) December 4, 2025 at 8:26 PM
===
The GOP economic platform:
Struggling to pay for food? Relax.
Can’t make next month’s rent? Relax.
Going without health insurance because it’s too expensive? Relax.
Don't worry, Republicans have the solution to your economic problems: just relax!— Representative Jim McGovern (@repmcgovern.bsky.social) December 4, 2025 at 1:26 PM
===
Apparently the Trump Administration thinks the trillions they spent on tax cuts for the wealthy wasn't enough. Now they're planning another huge tax windfall for the biggest corporations in the country.
@warren.senate.gov and I are leading the charge against this.
rollcall.com/2025/12/04/d…— Congressman Don Beyer (@beyer.house.gov) December 4, 2025 at 4:44 PM
===
Republicans Gone Wild.
— Hakeem Jeffries (@hakeem-jeffries.bsky.social) December 4, 2025 at 3:10 PM
On The Road – ema – All About You
Baud
And y’all said House Republicans are too afraid to stand up to Trump.
Baud
Working class hero.
Baud
For Betty C
EarthWindFire
Don’t get sick and if you get sick, die quickly…isn’t that tough to write down. Not even for the most illiterate Republican.
Wilson Heath
Barrasso is “concerned” about “the waste, the fraud, the abuse and the corruption” but caucuses with Rick Scott and does not exercise oversight over the Oval Office occupant.
Right.
Baud
Princess
In February they said wait until September and things will get better. Now they’re saying in another six months. Where do they think this prosperity is coming from?
Baud
@EarthWindFire:
RFK jr is working on that part of the plan.
Marleedog
The audacity of evil.
Marleedog
The impressionistic look of Captain C’s photos is marvelous.
NotMax
Reverse hijinks encountered yesterday. In this case it is the CC which is correct.
Closed captioning: “people born in the 1950s”
AI generated narration: “people born in the one thousand nine hundred fifty seconds”
;)
Matt McIrvin
@Princess: Maybe they really believe the theory Stephen Miller seems to be working from when he goes on about immigrants, that we’re all just dividing up a big finite pie of fixed size, and if we eliminate every brown immigrant in the country, everyone else’s piece of the pie will be bigger.
Deputinize America
Cloudfare down.
theguardian.com/business/live/2025/dec/05/uk-house-prices-affordability-stock-markets-us-inflation-f…
Baud
@Deputinize America:
Why are we still here?
Deputinize America
@Matt McIrvin:
“The Goldbug Theory of Labor”
Deputinize America
@Baud:
Existentially, or…..?
Baud
@Matt McIrvin:
The prices for food will certainly get bigger.
NotMax
@Baud
We blog, therefore we are.
:)
lowtechcyclist
Got a quarter-inch or so of snow in my part of southern Maryland. Looking pretty.
Deputinize America
@Baud:
“Why did my new roof take so long, why was it so expensive, why does it look so shitty and why did the slacker crackheads on the crew break in to my garage to steal my tools when I was at work on the overlong period it took them to actually do the job?”
p.a.
Every Republican issue has its own “Friedman Unit.”
prostratedragon
The CEO of Palantir 📹.
Was going reluctantly turn off the mute default to see what he was talking about, but quickly decded there’d be no use. Anyone who must have audio could do as well with the Chipminks’ version of “Fly Me To The Moon”
Deputinize America
@prostratedragon:
I was just watching that. “The Best and Brightest, Deserving of All the Financial Rewards…”
comrade scotts agenda of rage
youtube.com/watch?v=sCAuHH5EYnE
That’s John Oliver dissecting the odious beings at the so-called “Alliance Defense Fund” and Pastor Mikey’s longtime involvement with them prior to getting into politics.
Gloria DryGarden
Senate and congress need a bill that they get the same insurance as the rest of the country, not their special health insurance, not anymore.
eta They need to be in our same shoes, and in the same storm. Sure the rich ones in congress will be in nicer boats, but they’ll have to pay for their health insurance same as we do. Wish they could be in the same boat.
Baud
@Gloria DryGarden:
What special insurance do you think they get
ETA.
opm.gov/healthcare-insurance/changes-in-health-coverage/eligibility-enrollment/#url=Members-of-Congr…
YY_Sima Qian
I am surprised by the Netherlands here (link to article from the Guardian below):
Betty
@EarthWindFire: Anyone remember when Alan Grayson said that in Congress and was pilloried for it? So extreme! Tut tut.
Geminid
@YY_Sima Qian: I read that this decision was made by the participating broadcaster, and that the Netherlands’ populace and government do not neccesarily want to boycott Eurovision. Local media might shed some light on this question.
Baud
@Betty:
Unfortunately, that was the only good thing he did. But he was spot on.
Baud
prostratedragon
@Deputinize America: Hypnotic, isn’t it?
Professor Bigfoot
@Baud: AWWWWWWWW! 🥰
Soprano2
@Matt McIrvin: Oh, without a doubt they believe this. The idea that all the “undeserving” people who are getting part of the pie are depriving the “deserving” people of their fair share is a base belief of conservative voters. They need to have someone “outside” to blame their woes on.
Matt McIrvin
@Baud: Deport the immigrants who are marking up the food prices. Problem solved!
YY_Sima Qian
@Geminid: Ah, that might explain it. The current Dutch government has not had much to say about Israel’s conduct in Gaza, even less than the UK, France & Germany.
hueyplong
@Baud: “US vice president says EU should not be ‘attacking American companies over garbage.’”
So the fine was limited to the cybertruck?
lowtechcyclist
@Baud:
I say fine them
$50€120M and make them pick up the garbage.jonas
Hey, managing a hedge fund is work. Someone has to carry that hundreds of millions in interest.
marklar
@Baud: Trump IS the “Father of IVF”.
However, in this case, it stands for “In Vivo Fertilization”.
He’s fertilizing over the entire country, nay, planet.
Ohio Mom
I know IVF is expensive but the savings from taking it away from the military has to be equal to a rounding error.
And don’t Republicans want more babies, what’s more American than a service member’s offspring? Are too many service people using IVF not white?
Just seems a weird thing to get stuck on.
Matt McIrvin
@Soprano2: Supply-siders like to accuse unionists, etc. of holding the “lump of labor fallacy” (that the demand for work is a fixed-size quantity that policy can only divide in different ways) but the right ends up thinking of all kinds of things, very much including immigration, in this way, at least in their rhetoric.
Albatrossity
Betcha he won’t notice that Marshall’s proposed bill for health savings accounts has no such reforms either.
NotMax
@Baud
EU snorts in derision and leaves U.S. vice president standing alone in an IKEA.
narya
@Albatrossity: So Barrasso wants to go after Rick Scott and his ilk? And Medicare Advantage plans? Interesting! /s
Ben Cisco
@Matt McIrvin:
Tightened that up for you.
Belafon
@EarthWindFire: It’s hard for them not to write “to decrease the surplus population” at the end.
Deputinize America
@prostratedragon:
Give him all the money and power. He’s clearly better than us.
Baud
@Matt McIrvin:
Yes, the right is the pinnacle of zero-sum thinking.
Jeffro
@Matt McIrvin:
@Baud:
@Deputinize America:
“what do you mean, there’s no one to take care of Grandma at the nursing home and she needs to come live with me now?”
Belafon
@Gloria DryGarden: They’re required to get their insurance on the market. That was an amendment proposed back during the ACA by Republicans thinking Democrats would hate it, but Democrats said that was a great idea.
The difference being that most of them can afford the price increase,
lowtechcyclist
@Deputinize America:
Missed us this time, apparently. But at least here, Google Maps seems to be just spinning its wheels.
jonas
A brisk -2F this morning here in CNY. But beautiful blue skies and a foot of sparkling snow on the ground, so I’m happy. I can handle cold, but days and weeks of cloudiness just kill me.
I continue to be amazed (but perhaps not surprised) at how eagerly Republicans are still stepping on their own dicks with this ACA thing. In an election year. I guess they figure they can dust off the playbook from 2010 and try to convince people that it’s the ACA itself that’s causing the premium increase or something, but the problem there is that for the past several years, (most) people know they have been paying a lot less thanks to the subsidies and know who to blame when their premiums double or triple.
Jeffro
ok NOW can we call this the most openly racist administration this country has ever seen?
National Parks no longer free admission on MLK Day, Juneteenth…will now be free on trump’s birthday
(I thought it was an Onion piece but apparently it’s real?)
ETA: it’s real. trumpov’s birthday is noted as “Flag Day/President Trump’s birthday”. Teddy Roosevelt’s birthday has been added.
also ETA: the free days calendar notes “Fee-free days/US Residents only” for the first time.
Hey Dems, free 2028 campaign issue right here: “Erase every trace of trump”. Give out Lysol at rallies.
piratedan
@Wilson Heath: I am confused that the GOP has not consulted their own expert in Fraud with Healthcare in Senator Rick Scott, who’s own company was convicted with perpetrating fraud in Medicare billing just a couple of decades ago. Maybe they should loop Senator Scott in to figure out how to draft legislation to address these concerns of Senator Barrasso.
Belafon
Maybe we should propose an amendment that Congresspeople can only earn the median US salary, and that is the only money they are allowed to spend.
narya
I’m gonna give Jeffries and Schumer, et al., a bit of credit here: isolating health care is proving to be a useful, understandable message, and forcing votes on it will make the contrast even more stark. Channeling Professor Bigfoot, I feel like the Rs just keep filling in swimming pools rather than opening them to everyone.
Baud
What’s the point of dealing with fraud if Trump is just going to pardon the fraudsters anyway?
frosty
I missed that on my whiteboard. Imma get another piece of string.
different-church-lady
Oh.
Really.
Oh really.
OH REALLY, YOU DUMBFUCK.
Belafon
@Jeffro: not seeing anywhere else, and I couldn’t find that on the park service website, but I also am not familiar with the site.
Baud
@Jeffro:
I actually kind of like this one.
Matt McIrvin
@Belafon: That bit in A Christmas Carol always made me uncomfortable as a kid because I connected Dickens’ condemnation of the idea of “surplus population” to natalist/anti-abortion rhetoric on the right. But conservatives generally stop caring about people the moment they’re born.
And, anyway, the branch of environmentalism that focused on overpopulation (rather than overconsumption) as its main concern turned out to have all kinds of problematic connections. If what you worry about is the production of people rather than what the people are doing, you automatically end up blaming the poorest people in the world for everything rather than the richest. Dickens was undoubtedly thinking of Malthusian justifications for opposing any kind of charity.
And it turns out that the demographic transition is pretty much inevitable once a population gets a little security (a fact that conservatives oppose like they’re trying to hold back the tide). It’s not something you have to force by draconian means.
different-church-lady
@Jeffro: Vance is gonna be really surprised when Trump dies and they try to make Don Jr. president.
Baud
@Matt McIrvin:
There was more famine during that period. People didn’t predict that the food supply would be able to keep up.
Matt McIrvin
@Baud: Malthus’s fundamental wrong assumption was that the fertility rate was a cultural constant that could never change. But as someone pointed out to me ages ago, he was ignoring what was already happening in France.
Soprano2
My husband’s caretaker Shayna told me something kind of funny yesterday. She’s black, and was adopted from Liberia at the age of 2 by a white family. Her (white) brother is married to an Asian woman (they’re originally from Oregon). When Shayna went home last week for Thanksgiving, she went with her brother to the mall in Little Rock. They took his two young children with them – they are obviously Asian. She said she was sitting with the two kids, who were in a stroller, waiting for her brother to come back from some store he went to, and was getting all kinds of strange looks from people. Then, when her brother joined her, she said the looks got even stranger. I told her people better get used to it because even though the current PTB are trying to eliminate this kind of thing, it’s the future. She kind of laughed, she thought people’s reactions were funny. I didn’t tell her this, but I bet most of those people thought she was the kid’s nanny! Shayna is great, I feel fortunate to have her as a caretaker for my husband. She’s a happy, cheerful person, and young (she’s going to be 21 at the end of December). She does a good job and really cares about him. She’s attending Evangel University (yeah, I know, Assemblies of God) getting a degree in counseling and psychology.
rikyrah
Good Morning Everyone 😊 😊 😊
different-church-lady
@Baud: Well, at least Vance correctly identified Teslas as garbage.
frosty
@Professor Bigfoot: Thanks for the comment. I had completely missed Baud’s link. Consider this your Good Deed for the day!
Baud
@rikyrah:
Good morning.
NotMax
@lowtechcyclist
“Maps are woke, libtard. Look out the goldang window.”
//
Soprano2
@Baud: I think about the agents in the various federal agencies who worked hard on the cases where FFOTUS just pardoned the people they put behind bars. I cannot imagine how rage-inducing that must be for them.
Belafon
@Matt McIrvin: Since he grew up poor and spent time in a debtors prison, I suspect he had very strong feelings about the rich and their views of the refuse of society.
TONYG
@Baud: Tax cuts for the rich and elimination of corporate regulations are their only real agenda. All the rest is entertainment for the MAGA people — the stupidest, most hate-filled people in the country.
different-church-lady
@Baud: Right this second just about any of us could obtain something to eat from twelve different places within half an hour. Do we ever stop to consider what an absolute fuckin’ miracle that is in the history of the human species? Like, even just 200 years ago if you were traveling you might not know where your next meal was coming from?
frosty
@Matt McIrvin: Apparently they’re not bothering to mark up the prices at Dollar General – at least not on the shelves.
Price Gouging
Jeffro
@different-church-lady: nickel bet that Vance tries to nominate Trump Jr as his VP, so that the signs all say, “Vance/Trump”
(it’s not like the MAGAts will notice or care, much…Trump Jr is equally hateful and stupid)
frosty
Good. Now do the T***p administration attacking Somalis in Minnesota.
NotMax
@
“I’ve heard good things about Elephant & Listeria.”
//
p.a.
Announce Step One: undo everything Preznit Dementia has done to the White House turning it into TackyTrump Palace. (He’s done/overseen much worse, stuff that injures millions, but this is as close to non-political as anyone can get. Should appeal to the broadest spectrum. I think. Who knows anymore with the cult.)
different-church-lady
@frosty:
It goes beyond that, it’s another form of psychological manipulation. Even if you do notice the difference, you have the choice of making a stink at the register over a few pennies, or just accepting that you’re being played for a fool. They know people are conflict adverse, and they take advantage of it.
NotMax
Fix.
different-church-lady
“I’ve heard good things about Elephant & Listeria.”
//
different-church-lady
I’m having an ice cream sandwich for breakfast.
.
There’s nothing wrong with that, right?
Captain C
@Marleedog: Awww, thanks!
Scout211
PR campaign for JD Vance’s marriage is 🤮
I read it so you don’t have to. But I will comment, so brace yourself.
JD Vance says his marriage with Usha is ‘as strong as it’s ever been’
I’m not sure “as it’s ever been” is the endorsement he thinks it is.
Still not a great endorsement for your marriage, JD. It’s “cool” to see your spouse “develop and evolve?”
He finally said the “L” word! Good for you, JD. I can just feel the love in your distant observation and curiosity of your wife’s interests and developments.
🤮
Captain C
@Deputinize America: As opposed to the Moldbug theory of labor, which is work for next to nothing ’til you die, then get ground up and fed to your betters.
different-church-lady
@Scout211:
“And that’s why I am accepting President Trump’s decision to deport Usha to El Salvador.”
NotMax
@different-church-lady
Not so long as accompanied with an appropriate beverage.
“Coffee is a fruit, amirite?”
//
different-church-lady
@NotMax: Cognac is a beverage, yes?
NotMax
@“different-church-lady
You betcha. It’s the twist of orange peel that makes it breakfasty.
Mark’s Bubbie
@Albatrossity: Barrasso cracks me up — he wants the democrats to do all the work.
On another issue, I have a question: When I ask Google AI a question, does it tell me what it thinks I want to hear? I asked if Trump’s immigration policy was good or bad for the economy and this was the response:
“Economic analyses generally conclude that President Trump’s immigration policies are detrimental to the overall U.S. economy
. Economists from various financial firms and think tanks, including the Brookings Institution, the Penn Wharton Budget Model, and the National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP), argue that these policies, which aim to significantly reduce both legal and illegal immigration, are likely to lower economic growth, increase the federal debt, and exacerbate inflation. “
Then it went into quite a bit of detail on why this is so. I was pretty impressed, really.
hueyplong
@different-church-lady: Please let us know how that goes, because I’d love to have an ice cream sandwich for breakfast each and every day.
Ella in New Mexico
OFFS dude this is what you got for caving?
And excuse me, sounds like a canned talking point from R’s to pretend now that the issue is abortion. What ELSE do they need to eliminate abortion coverage besides the fucking Hyde Amendment? Reverse abortion?
Jeffro
JD, you fucking robot…if she evolves even a tiny bit, she’s leaving you
Omnes Omnibus
@different-church-lady: No.
trnc
“Well, make ’em vote on it again!”
(Congress votes along party lines to award itself cadillac health care at no cost)
“Dammit!”
p.a.
@Jeffro: Heh. I wonder if Vance’s “well… I hope she comes to my REAL ™ religion…” and attacks on her by MAGAts might have something to do with her evolution.
trnc
@Belafon:
I’m quite sure all MOC can. Not so sure about staffers.
rikyrah
Pablo Manríquez (@PabloReports) posted at 0:17 PM on Thu, Dec 04, 2025:
The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries is now abducting humans for ICE. t.co/QqET79VmZV
(https://x.com/PabloReports/status/1996644957944463585?t=cyllEXUySQV44XQm1Brn2g&s=03)
Belafon
@trnc: Agree, but how many Republicans care? They may only pick staff that are involved in some form of bribery or money laundering scheme.
topclimber
@Albatrossity: Gee whiz Sen. Barrasso, couldn’t propose an idea yourself and, you know, work out whatever the hell you think is wasteful about the ACA? Hint: The guy who is No. 2 in the GOP Senate must have forgotten about what the so-called World’s Greatest Deliberative Body is supposed to do.
Nah…he’s just another guy who is full of No. 2.
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: The famines were engineered by the proponents of Malthusian economics which held great sway during the Victorian era.
Any guesses about the august institution where Malthus taught
(Without using Google)
Lapassionara
@Ella in New Mexico: More evidence that negotiating with Republicans is futile.
BTW, thanks for posting the photo of Ozark. I would still like to visit the pub in Soulard where he did some carpentry work.
trnc
@Jeffro: I think Jr would fold like a cheap suit if he had to answer even nominally difficult questions in public.
Scout211
@different-church-lady:
“And by the way, I’m announcing a joint speaking tour with the new CEO of Turning Point USA. Join us for our 30 city tour!”
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Belafon: Congress does have to get their insurance on the exchange, but their employer subsidizes the cost, so they probably pay any more.
prostratedragon
Anne Appelbaum:
Whatever one thinks the US role in the world should be, simply throwing away a thing of value is outrageously bad stewardship.
trnc
@Mark’s Bubbie:
He did the hard work of perpetuating a bullshit republican claim.
Deputinize America
@NotMax:
Much like a breakfast Old Fashioned, it’s vegan!
Nelle
Agreeing with gratitude for the Ozark photo. I continue to miss him here.
trnc
@Belafon:
None. Throwing their people under the bus has become part of the party platform.
Peale
@Ohio Mom:
prostratedragon
@prostratedragon:
Shashank Joshi:
jeff47
@Ohio Mom: They’re focusing on IVF because that’s what the pro-lifers want to ban.
IVF requires creating a lot of embryos, picking out the “good” ones, and implanting a small number of them.
Which means they destroy a lot of embryos, which makes the pro-lifers sad.
Matt McIrvin
@jeff47: But a lot of Republican voters WANT and use IVF, so this is a wedge issue for them, not for us.
RevRick
@Baud: @Princess:
There are four lodestars that govern GOP economic policies:
1). Cutting taxes on the wealthy. They really do believe in trickle down, because they believe the wealthy are the job creators;
2). Reduce the size of government spending on social programs. They believe that sticks are necessary to motivate people who aren’t wealthy, but more than that they believe dependency on government aid will weaken the moral fiber of the nation;
3). Cut regulations on business. Businesses should have the freedom to expand any way they choose, because then there will be more employment opportunities for everyone else;
4). Resist all downward distribution of wealth. They believe that if you don’t earn it through your own efforts, then you have no claim on the earnings of others.
If you dig beneath these lodestars, you’ll find the beliefs that people are fundamentally flawed and will cheat whenever the opportunity presents itself, that people are basically selfish and altruism really has a nefarious motive, and ultimately, that hierarchies are the natural (and divine ordained) order, and that all hell will break loose if they are disturbed.
The ACA violates all four of these lodestars.
Soprano2
@Nelle: I miss him a lot, too.
p.a.
In other words, they judge all others by their own degraded personal “morality.”
Miss Bianca
@trnc: fortunately for him, in today’s press environment, he’s not likely to be facing any tough questions in public.
Peale
@prostratedragon: It always kind of amuses me that despite 500 years of colonization and European migration, Latin America just is skipped over for consideration as being in any way shape or form as part of Western Civilization. As if Chile and Argentina are just the natural extensions of the Incan Empire and Mexico will just go back to human sacrifices to Huitzilopochtli after the ball game if you ignored them for 20 seconds.
different-church-lady
@hueyplong: Well, so far it’s because I’m not capable of anything else. So, other than the sandwich itself, not promising.
rikyrah
Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) posted at 1:01 PM on Thu, Dec 04, 2025:
Trump takes a shouted question from a reporter who asks him about the details of troop withdrawals. Trump of course knows nothing of the details so he serves up a word salad and then ends the event. t.co/eOf7v29RVF
(x.com/atrupar/status/1996656103304614105?t=ll2cwfM6isFkIYwXFfMUFw&s=03)
scary lawyerguy (@scarylawyerguy) posted at 2:39 PM on Thu, Dec 04, 2025:
The media expected Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to have PhD level knowledge of every foreign and domestic policy issue under the sun. Trump can’t explain 101-level information and it’s crickets.
(x.com/scarylawyerguy/status/1996680743615951067?t=vZcM4kbVVl0zuxgeVgfq_w&s=03)
different-church-lady
@Omnes Omnibus: No has never sounded better.
different-church-lady
@RevRick:
They don’t even believe that. It’s just bullshit they spout so that the siphon keeps pulling the trickle upward.
Downward distribution doesn’t mean you don’t earn it — it means you get more for your efforts. It means you’re not starving the lower classes to fatten the upper. It means re-balancing an economy that’s grossly unfair. It’s not a synonym for welfare, and we shouldn’t fall in the trap of seeing it that way ourselves.
different-church-lady
@Peale: “Well of course! Those people are brown!”
rikyrah
Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) posted at 7:02 PM on Thu, Dec 04, 2025:
A Somali immigrant who campaigned for Trump responds to Trump calling Somalis “Garbage.”
“We see hope in you. Please differentiate between good, bad and evil… We’re getting killed out here.” t.co/XnEiyydVkR
(https://x.com/RpsAgainstTrump/status/1996747052651520440?t=_4WXLmBd4citDCb4KFKcxw&s=03)
Omnes Omnibus
@different-church-lady: I am rather famous for my bad life advice (as opposed to bad legal advice for which I am not famous)
Innocent party: Should I drink this?
Me: Sure, why not?
Another innocent party: Should I date this obviously crazy person?
Me: Go for it.
And so on. If you need permission to do whatever, I am your man.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
Operationally, the GOP’s governing objectives are twofold: transferring wealth upward, and staying in power.
Because the former goal is unpopular (although half the time I’m not so sure anymore), achieving the latter increasingly requires the party to rely on anti-democratic means: voter ID laws and voter roll purges designed to suppress minority and youth turnout; hyper-partisan gerrymandering; filling the federal judiciary with ideological conservatives committed to weakening the power of unions and enhancing that of corporations; and so on.
The ACA w/o subsidies, etc., is just private health insurance.
different-church-lady
@rikyrah: Christ almighty, will someone please explain to this guy he’s been duped?
different-church-lady
@Omnes Omnibus: We might not survive, but it will be a fun foxhole.
PatD
@Ella in New Mexico: it was always going to end like this. King and a few other “moderate” Dems got to preen on camera about how reasonable and bipartisan they are. I wonder if they’ll even get that token vote now. Meanwhile Trump continues to threaten to cut SNAP benefits from blue states.
PAM Dirac
@Baud:
Yes, they get a decent subsidy to pay for it (~65-70%) but they have to get insurance that is on the DC Health Obamacare exchange.
Omnes Omnibus
@different-church-lady: Damn right!
different-church-lady
@PatD: It’s like Charlie Brown went to Lucy and asked her to hold an invisible football.
rikyrah
Jim Stewartson, Antifascist 🇨🇦🇺🇦🏴☠️🇺🇸 (@jimstewartson) posted at 0:27 PM on Thu, Dec 04, 2025:
Trump has no filter left. He goes off script and says all the quiet parts. This is so disgusting.
“Today, the United States is also signing our own bilateral agreements with the Congo and Rwanda that will unlock new opportunities for the United States to access critical minerals and provide economic benefits for everybody. And we’ll be involved with sending some of our biggest and greatest companies over to the two countries. And we’re going to take out some of the rare earth and take out some of the assets and pay, and everybody’s going to make a lot of money.”
t.co/MjghDqeyMN
(x.com/jimstewartson/status/1996647557033087177?t=IZwdaWUz41jfG1B_EXZlyw&s=03)
Jackie
@jeff47:
Pro-lifers should adopt those embryos and quit reproducing. Win-win
Captain C
@Ohio Mom: Perhaps they don’t want more of the wrong babies, and think that defunding IVF for military members will help with that goal.
rikyrah
Majority Report (@majorityfm) posted at 8:59 AM on Wed, Dec 03, 2025:
Jake Tapper: Trump ‘Sleeping’ at Cabinet Meeting: ‘Not Abnormal for a 79-Year-Old’
t.co/GuZwiayzQH
(x.com/majorityfm/status/1996232873096228884?t=at-x8l7HTTCAzs9z79NH0Q&s=03)
😱 Scary Larry 😱 🇺🇦✊🏻🇺🇸🗽 (@aintscarylarry) posted at 10:04 PM on Wed, Dec 03, 2025:
Excuse the fuck out of me. Jake Tapper dragged Joe Biden through the mud for months for being “too old” but says trump sleep-shitting through meetings is “not abnormal?” BTW, Biden never fell asleep at meetings. Eat shit, Jake Tapper.
(x.com/aintscarylarry/status/1996430284884168911?t=425OKgo1CtUXvjokbJQ1qg&s=03)
RevRick
@different-church-lady: Let me be perfectly clear. I was trying to describe what Republicans believe, not what I believe. Far from it.
Captain C
@NotMax:
See, now, this would be a good horror movie. JV Divans eagerly locked in an IKEA, thinking he’s in his own personal porn movie, and then the furniture comes alive and seeks revenge…
different-church-lady
@Jackie: Those embryos deserve better than pro-life parents.
rikyrah
Acyn (@Acyn) posted at 9:51 PM on Thu, Dec 04, 2025:
Blow: When people deny racism, it says a lot about them.
Brown: It is not denying existence of racism. This is a Republican state trying to create more Republican seats.
Blow: And how did they do it? By disenfranchising black and brown people. And you don’t want to say it because it says a lot about you
t.co/SOziqqsPKJ
(x.com/Acyn/status/1996789422348775757?t=Bu4LG3B7ver_yF7rKeDXbg&s=03)
different-church-lady
@RevRick: Fair enough, but what I’m saying is we shouldn’t use “downward distribution of wealth” as synonymous with “federal financial assistance.”
mappy!
I think they’ve reduced it down to grab the money and take a baseball bat to everything else.
different-church-lady
@rikyrah: Brown: “Exactly! It’s proving the existence of racism.”
Captain C
@Scout211: “Pay no mind to the expense reports which show only one luxury hotel room* for us at each stop.”
*With one of them insert-a-quarter bed shaking machines in each one, no doubt.
Salty Sam
Could you please point out where I can see this photo? I miss him a lot still.
rikyrah
The Lever (@LeverNews) posted at 1:25 PM on Thu, Dec 04, 2025:
🚨 BREAKING: Trump is moving to privatize legal aid for migrant children — and hand it to a for-profit ICE contractor. Yes, the same agency trying to deport them would help control their “legal support.” Advocates say it breaches confidentiality, strips protections, and pushes children toward faster removal.
(x.com/LeverNews/status/1996662048256659920?t=MmwhIyB8TF834Fs-FZMKcw&s=03)
brendancalling
@Scout211: Who even talks like that about their SPOUSE?
“But our marriage is as strong as it’s ever been, and I think Usha’s really taken to it, and it’s been kind of cool to see how she’s developed and evolved in this new role.”
That’s how you talk about a new employee, or one that’s been transferred to a new position.
Fuckin’ weirdoes. I’ll be he IS banging the Widow Kirk…
Peale
@Captain C: He could just dissemble the furniture that’s attacking him using an Allen wrench. But he spends so much time complaining that its a metric rather than imperial wrench and that’s what does him in in the end.
Captain C
@rikyrah:
This person should be forced to wear a T-shirt saying “I’m too dumb to live!” for the next year.
different-church-lady
@Captain C:
Nominated.
...now I try to be amused
@Jeffro:
Damnatio memoriae!
Jackie
@Salty Sam:
Today’s sidebar photo. :-)
RevRick
@different-church-lady: I am completely on board with empowering labor unions and raising the minimum wage to a livable wage.
Jeffro
@trnc: why would trump jr face the public?
he can keep podcasting and doing rallies and never face a single person outside the MAGA bubble
Ben Cisco
@Jeffro: YES.
YES WE CAN.
Jeffro
The Squeaking Bedsprings Tour
blech
Peale
@Captain C: Oh, it was fine when he spent last year going on and on about the Haitians. You know, those Haitians…but now that he’s going after my ethnic group I’m beginning to wonder if maybe he means to harm more than just the Haitians.
Salty Sam
D’OH!
Jeffro
@prostratedragon: you have to admit, this part
is chuckle-worthy, for just a moment
partially because it read ‘trump coronary’ the first time through
Paul in KY
@Deputinize America: To buy crack. Price of that shot up too…
Jeffro
more lolz from this national strategy document:
verily, it is the truth and the light, it is the oneness of all things
“pay trump”
anyway got it peeps? It’s “muscular” and also “restrained”. Neither “hawkish” NOR “dovish”
it’s a floor wax AND a dessert topping!!!
Scout211
Judges lash out at Justice Department for still listing Lindsey Halligan on court documents
DOJ: Judges? Who needs ‘em? We don’t need no stinkin’ judges!
jonas
@Jeffro: This is essentially Cleek’s Law applied to foreign policy: America’s foreign policy is whatever Trump feels like it is, updated daily.
Jackie
Patel is jealous of all the attention Hegseth’s getting, so he’s wrestling to recapture the headline news:
schrodingers_cat
@Captain C: Anyone who voted for T2.0 after Jan6 needs that T-shirt.
Paul in KY
@Belafon: I don’t think it would take an amendment to do that. Congress could pass that themselves. Hahahahhaha!!!
Paul in KY
@Baud: I like it too! Plus, bring back the “they are sooooo weird”
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@different-church-lady:
“Downward distribution of wealth” is what we should be doing with the tax code given that starting with fucking Reagan, it was used as a vehicle for an upward distribution of wealth.
Paul in KY
@Soprano2: God bless Shayna and the work she does! Hope she does well here in US!
rikyrah
Melanie D’Arrigo (@DarrigoMelanie) posted at 7:01 AM on Thu, Dec 04, 2025:
– companies add the Trump family as “advisors”
– those companies receive taxpayer-funded contracts and regulatory approvals from the Trump administration
– Trump family profits
This is their shameless, uncomplicated grift that we need to talk about more
t.co/wy4wa5siJS
(https://x.com/DarrigoMelanie/status/1996565600802615715?t=FdAlQjEiKPF4QRmtk1LvRw&s=03)
Scout211
Uh oh.
Paul in KY
@frosty: TACO will pardon them. They’re just using the business model he has used his entire life.
Jackie
@Scout211: Oh jeezus. Sadly, with incompetent leadership, this was bound to happen. And, it won’t be the last.
Paul in KY
@Jeffro: He won’t do that, as if he was elected (please God no), he would get whacked somehow by MAGA loons so Don Jr. could get the job.
Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony
@Captain C: They want women out of the military and think defunding IVF will help with THAT goal
rikyrah
Heartland Signal (@HeartlandSignal) posted at 5:10 PM on Thu, Dec 04, 2025:
INDIANA STATE REP. MATT PIERCE (D): “You said that you didn’t consider minority characteristics at all in drawing the maps.”
STATE REP. BEN SMALTZ (R): “We wrote these maps for a political advantage, for Republicans.”
PIERCE: “OK, but isn’t there a problem in that? You have to consider minority characteristics in order to avoid diluting votes. Isn’t that a legal requirement?”
SMALTZ: “I’m not aware of that.”
t.co/nyOFRoNddD
(x.com/HeartlandSignal/status/1996718762171470163?t=CXWitJUNNuadl4BAaXBfAQ&s=03)
Adam Mockler (@adammocklerr) posted at 11:27 AM on Mon, Oct 27, 2025:
It’s almost impressive how much MAGA discourse is just them pretending not to understand things, thus making discourse impossible.
(x.com/adammocklerr/status/1982846589275455550?t=l-qVyvXqSCoKaNUTSOWMwg&s=03)
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@prostratedragon: Watching that video raises the question; so how many of these tech-bro are just stoners?
Paul in KY
@schrodingers_cat: Oxford?
Paul in KY
@rikyrah: Ha ha ha on the Somali who campaigned for TACO! Hope they have their passport with them wherever they go.
For the fine Somali citizens and non-citizens in our country, I am so freaking sorry we failed every non-white ethnic group and that this evil scumbag was elected (again!). Please stay strong and we’ll outlast that sumbitch and his freaks!
Paul in KY
@Peale: Plus he can’t get out of the store (assuming he’s on 2nd floor).
mapanghimagsik
@Mark’s Bubbie:
Yes how you phase your question steers the responses, and it can be tricky not to do so.
Asking for pros and cons can help. Surprisingly your AI can help you to generate a balanced prompt to try to remove your bias.
Always check those sources. Part pf your prompt can include “show the sources to support your answer”
Paul in KY
@Peale: If ever there was a comment that should/would elicit a ‘No shit’.
That’s the one.
WTFGhost
Thoughts and prayers, what else?
@Baud: Ask Heisenberg, if you get slow him down long enough to ask him.
(after explosion) Maybe I should have specified *which* Heisenberg, the uncertainty principle fellow….
@Ohio Mom: IVF includes discarding of unwanted fertilized eggs, or perpetual storage for later “snowflake babies.” There’s no way the military would pay for perpetual storage, just to save lives, and all, so, IVF must instead be prevented entirely, or Mike Johnson’s feefees would be hurt. And I get it, his feefees should determine the fate of our military because he was chosen, like effing MOSES, which just goes to show you, Republicans are willing to believe their God calls them to do anything, with holy fervor. “My wife, I must pull your head under the cover, and fart with holy fervor!” No, wait, this is Johnson, he’d “break wind” with holy fervor, and have a chaperone to prove he doesn’t jerk himself off in his separate bed, which is why his wife always giggles when he grabs at a head that isn’t there, for his childish hijinks.
schrodingers_cat
@Paul in KY: No a college to train East India Company officials, the East India Company College.
Fair Economist
@Mark’s Bubbie: I don’t know about Google’s AI in particular, but, yes, they are adjusting the LLMs to say what people want to hear.
Paul in KY
@jonas: You got it! Cleekism applied at the Nation State level. God help us all…
Paul in KY
@schrodingers_cat: I wish they could be made to pay extensive reparations. The bastards are all dead, so they can’t be jailed/executed.
England/Great Britain has so much blood on their hands.
Jacel
@Ella in New Mexico: Remember, always refer to the “Hyde Amendment” as the “Hypocritical Adulterer Amendment”, which should be the lasting legacy of Henry Hyde.
different-church-lady
@Mark’s Bubbie: I bet it’s very heavily dependent on whether you are logged in to Google or not when you ask the question.
Bill Arnold
@Jeffro:
Burning Stuff With Makeshift Lysol Flamethrower (YouTube, 1:08)
dr. luba
@schrodingers_cat: University of Chicago? ;)
George
@Jacel:
Didn’t Hyde attribute his affair to “youthful indiscretion” even though he was in his 40s at the time?
Google tells me that yes, yes he did.
Gloria DryGarden
@different-church-lady: eat dessert first.
until diabetes starts approaching. Then, eat veggies and protein first, and then eat dessert, even for breakfast.