Kassie Withakay 🏳️‍⚧️

I just flashed back to a Hill Street Blues storyline in 1980 or 81 where one of the cops is in love with a teenage Catholic school girl, played, btw, by Ally Sheedy. Yeesh.

Not so much in the news today is that Catholic bishops also decided to ban all gender affirming care at Catholic hospitals, so you'll forgive me if I don't heap praise on the bishops for their ethics.

Those Aspirin Council guys got to them, didn't they.

I spent $20 for a 3lb can of Kirkland coffee at Costco last week, the most I've ever paid for that.

YouTube video by The Daily Show Jon Stewart "Can't F**king Believe" Democrats Caved on the Shutdown | The Daily Show

Jon Steward pretty much captured my feelings on the Democratic "deal".

Why on Earth, @jay.bsky.team @aaron.bsky.team @support.bsky.team, would Sarah Kendzior be suspended? Hers is an important voice in today's political and social environment. Please explain yourselves or fix this mistake.

Cover of DC Comics 1973 "Prez" #1 in which the teenage President says "Cool it, man, you had your chance."

My message to aging Democrats who are too tired to fight. "Cool it, man, you had your chance."

“Pathetic”: Dems Tear Into 8 Senators Who Caved to Trump on Shutdown The deal does not actually include extending Obamacare subsidies.

If anything good can come of Chuck Schumer allowing these eight Senators to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, it would be if a majority of Democrats holding office rise up and demand new leadership. Mind you, I'm not holding my breath.

I was also able to leave a vm for Senator Padilla at his SF office at 1-415-981-9369

Thank you. I just left a vm as well.

I would watch the hell out of that.

Republicans refusing to learn one of the lessons that cost Democrats the 2024 election: pandemic-era government subsidies improved people's lives and letting them lapse is a bad idea.

After you watch it your phone rings and Donald Trump whispers "1175 days."

The Pluribus premiere giving me 1960s TV vibes of The Prisoner and the Star Trek: TOS episode "This Side of Paradise" makes me happy.

Trump is weaponizing the welfare state to attack healthcare | Moira Donegan The proposed withholding of Medicaid and Medicare to restrict gender-affirming care follows the same logic as attacks on abortion care

After the glimmer of hope offered by the election, today's SCOTUS decision on gender markers and these upcoming rules on Medicaid/Medicare reimbursement are a sobering reminder that we still have a tough 3 years ahead followed by many years of recovery to get back to where we were.

If Democrats get control of the Senate next year, there should be zero votes on any new justices for the term, and if they win the White House and Congress in 2028, SCOTUS reform damn well better be one of the first things they do.

Insanity

I really hope Democrats like Gavin Newsom and Pete Buttiegieg learn from this that entertaining transphobic messaging serves only to alienate members of their base without gaining them any votes.

A picture from the Oval Office of Trump standing passively while aides gather around someone who has passed out, and with Gladys from the movie Weapons superimposed.

Having just seen "Weapons", I think I understand now what's going on.

It was a rejection of the entire administration and Dems should see this as a signal to become an actual opposition party. On everything. You don't stop the shutdown. You don't approve another appointee. You do nothing at all. The voters saved you, not the other way around. LEARN TO LEAD.

To Sen. Padilla and Sen. Schiff: No deal! There has been news over the past few days that Senate Democrats are considering a "deal" to reopen the government in exchange for the "promise" on a vote for extending ACA subsidies. I am urging you not to accept any such deal. Republicans simply can not be trusted on this important issue and Tuesday's election showed that Democrats win when they stick to their principles. Please hold the line until Republicans agree to add ACA subsidies to the continuing resolution. Thank you. Kassandra, Constituent, Palo Alto, CA

Republicans are still trying to make a "deal" happen where squishy Democrats pass the CR in exchange for a phony vote on extending ACA subsidies. I wrote my Senators using @resist.bot to say "no deal".

Always amazing to me that Republicans who have elevated, lionized and elected leaders who shamelessly fantasize about shooting, stringing up, or running down anyone who oppose them are then shocked, shocked when Democrats do the same.

Well, yeah.

How could people not know? If this is true, this is a massive indictment of American political reporting.

Woke up this morning to find that the people of New York City have re-lit the torch of the Statue of Liberty, sending a signal out to the rest of America that Trump's bullying tactics that seek to divide and debase any notion of solidarity among diverse communities can be defeated #TurnUpTheVolume

Being a glass-half-empty kind of person, I look at last night's national repudiation of Trump and I think "why couldn't we have done this last year?"

I've been watching NBC News coverage and I'm disappointed that they aren't even mentioning the failure of the Republican ad blitz against transgender people. Not surprised, I guess, but still disappointed.

Yeah, Schumer's got to go.

Did Schumer ever say who he was voting for?

I feel like this is an important aspect to emphasize, loudly, to everyone who endorsed Cuomo. they chose to side with a known sexual predator for personal gain and frankly that should be disqualifying for public office. you knew who he was and decided the women he hurt were acceptable losses