Ari R.

This is not what they actually say. This is what they used to say, in the long ago before times when Shaheen learned to do politics. There is no kumbaya median voter anymore. The question you get knocking doors is not "why can't you all just work together?" it's "why didn't / will you fight harder?

No health care, no deal.

Should be pretty clear that without House commitment on a vote on ACA extensions, it is purely symbolic as part of the Senate deal

Dems backed Trump into a corner where he’s advocating for starving Americans and hemorrhaging support. If they vote to let him off the hook in exchange for nothing it’s a cataclysmic failure. I know people are in pain but insulating Republicans from political consequences is not the answer.

Shutting down the government is a big deal. People have been hurt in big ways as a result of the decision. To have that suffering be for nothing—to re-open the government without actually having protected people’s health insurance and economic well-being—is unconscionable.

New: Sens. King, Shaheen, Hassan led negotiations on a deal that will have enough Democratic support to pass in the Senate, I'm told. This is the package: - CR thru Jan 30 - A vote on a ACA bill by a December, on a DEM bill - Minibus WHICH INCLUDES reversal of shutdown RIFs and back pay and protections against them happening in the future PLUS SNAP is funded through the fiscal year 26

Dems have spent the past two months saying they're fighting to address the crisis of spiking healthcare costs and now they're caving for a deal that does nothing to address healthcare costs ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

If the Dems blink after all of this, for a deal that all but ensures no ACA subsidies in 2026 anyway, then what was the purpose of letting the shutdown go for 40 days in the first place?

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Feels like the Democrats should maybe put up a website showing all of the Trump Flight Cancellations?

TONIGHT should send a clear message to all those elites - the people who run Big Law or have been in charge of elite academic institutions who decided to bend their knees last 10+ months - Americans coast to coast are paying attention & thankfully their brains haven’t been cooked by X.

#NoKings

If anyone needed another reminder of how deeply unpopular the Trump-MAGA Republican agenda is, tonight was the night.

But we cannot relent and we cannot become complacent.

The midterms are right around the corner.

Populist Dems won. Moderate Dems won. We won in blue states. We won in purple states.

Maybe the take is that (a) people think Trump is out of control; and (b) people like Dems when we're taking a stand and fighting for what we believe in - as we have been for the last month.

Dismantling of US federal agencies will ‘destroy science’ From NASA to the National Institutes of Health, federal agencies conduct research that universities cannot. Agency scientists speak out about the irreplaceable facilities, institutional knowledge and ...

Reporter @virginiagewin.bsky.social interviewed 19 current and former US federal agency scientists about the science being dismantled at EPA, NOAA, NASA, CDC, NIH, & USGS.

They say it's making America unprepared for environmental and public health crises.

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

He loves lying & trolling for Trump.

"Johnson keeps peddling the same talking points on behalf of their unpopular & incoherent shutdown “strategy” even as Trump’s numbers sink to new lows & an even larger majority of the country favors the ACA he’s working tirelessly to destroy."
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SNAP benefits will be gone, small businesses will suffer, insurance premiums will double, air traffic will be delayed/halted: All of these things are happening because when the gov't shutdown ends, the Epstein Files get released.

Pundits say the problem is that Democrats fail to represent the people—but the real problem is that our political system fails to represent the people.

Everyone who follows the news already knows where this is headed.

Orwell. A police state. An authoritarian regime that disappears people—including citizens. Think Pinochet as a starting point.

The problem is that those who don't follow the news *don't* know where this is headed. We must tell them.

It's been 39 days since Adelita Grijalva was elected by the people of Arizona's seventh congressional district to represent them in Congress.

Mike Johnson still refuses to swear her in.

My way-too-early 2026 World Series prediction: Red Sox over Mets

Diversity doesn’t weaken unions. Racist bosses like Vance using racism to divide workers by race so they can exploit them weakens unions. All this stuff is arsonists complaining about the temperature in the building they set on fire. bsky.app/profile/diew...

Millions will go hungry because Trump and Republicans won't use available funds to keep SNAP running during the shutdown.

And they won't end the shutdown because they refuse to extend ACA subsidies that will keep insurance premiums from doubling for millions.

Policy choices.

This is an incredible LIE being told by the guy that manages the agency that oversees the ACA. It's obscene how easily, how frequently and how dramatically these Trump folks lie to us.

✅Fact check from the extremely reliable @kff.org (& no, KFF did not retract this.)

It’s true that neither party should engage in gerrymandering

But when one party is trying to change the maps to permanently exclude the other, the adversely affected party must do whatever it can to defend democracy

Connections
Puzzle #870
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Republicans in Congress have access to this same data

But instead of separating themselves from Trump, they’re doubling down on his disastrous policies

Now, they know they can’t win with these bad ideas

That’s why they’re trying to gerrymander every state they possibly can

#VoteYesOnProp50

Canada was caught, red handed, putting up a fraudulent advertisement on Ronald Reagan’s Speech on Tariffs. The Reagan Foundation said that they, “created an ad campaign using selective audio and video of President Ronald Reagan. The ad misrepresents the Presidential Radio Address,” and “did not seek nor receive permission to use and edit the remarks. The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute is reviewing its legal options in this matter.” The sole purpose of this FRAUD was Canada’s hope that the United States Supreme Court will come to their “rescue” on Tariffs that they have used for years to hurt the United States. Now the United States is able to defend itself against high and overbearing Canadian Tariffs (and those from the rest of the World as well!). Ronald Reagan LOVED Tariffs for purposes of National Security and the Economy, but Canada said he didn’t! Their Advertisement was to be taken down, IMMEDIATELY, but they let it run last night during the World Series, knowing that it was a FRAUD. Because of their serious misrepresentation of the facts, and hostile act, I am increasing the Tariff on Canada by 10% over and above what they are paying now. Thank you for your attention to this matter!

The president announces an arbitrary price hike on Americans because his feelings are hurt by an ad accurately quoting Ronald Reagan’s criticism of tariffs

Connections
Puzzle #867
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Dodgers in five.

World Series MVP: Mookie Betts

The government is shut down. He refuses to meet with Democrats to discuss opening it. Every interview he gives, he says he hasn't heard about X, Y, or Z, so he can't comment on it. Makes you wonder what he's busy doing.

My 2025-26 #NBA Predictions 👇🏻