Dave Holloway

Pete Hegseth is furiously screaming "I SAID NO FATTIES!"

I feel like this photo of masked, armed men pepper spraying a pastor protecting his community is going to be a defining picture of this moment in America for a long, long time.

The phone number for the U.S. Capitol switchboard is (202) 224-3121. #epstein

It was clear from the beginning that ICE staffing up was going to be a full employment program for racists, barroom bullies and wife beaters

Si’

Always interesting exactly who is called upon to denounce what.

Third, there are strong hints of sexual deviancy at every turn.

Second, there is a long uncomfortable relationship with the Soviet Union, then Russia. Putin, oligarchs, the Russian mob (heads of the same snake) are everywhere.

First, his reputation as a successful businessman is a total fraud. He’s been looting from lenders, stockholders, partners, venders etc. to fund his lavish lifestyle his entire life.

When Trump first came down the golden escalator, any citizen doing minimal due diligence should have seen 3 disqualifies that were hard nos.

Those of us who can weather a storm of many months should stop spending money on anything nonessential and give generously to food pantries and other institutions that can aid the innocents.

At any rate, the degree of complacency is staggering. “Somebody always caves, the stock market likes shutdowns etc.

Dems never want to create pain. More cynically, they’re afraid that vastly superior GOP messaging will pin it on them. At best the media will both sides it and the man in the street with a mike pushed in his face will say throw all the bums out.

Air traffic stops in a month. SS checks don’t go out in 3.
The stock and property bubbles inevitably buckle.

There will be a lot of pain from a months long shutdown.
The third who voted against Trump should accept the pain. The third who voted for him and the third who didn’t vote deserve it.

Everybody is losing the plot.
Trump immediately went full Caligula when the threat of Epstein revelations appeared.
He will keep the government shut down forever rather than face the consequences.
So make our stand now. Bring the country to a standstill.

Phillips O’Brien, Emptywheel, Dave Troy, David Cay Johnston

starfleet medical officer here. I can tell you that a 72 hour stay in a medbed indicates a serious and potentially fatal health condition.

> @deanbaker13.bsky.social

Epstein. Face the facts. Keep the damn thing shit down until SS checks haven’t arrived for 6 months.

Somebody’s going to suffer. Federal employees are going to in this scenario, and people who depend on services they provide. I’m sorry.
But if Dems cave, in the long term suffering will be much greater in the long term.
Trump will keep the government shut down forever because he’s terrified about

So the US subsidizes Argentina to sell soybeans to China, which means China doesn’t have to buy US soybeans, which means the US is going to have a massive bailout of its own soybean farmers.
This might be the single worst policy in the history of policies.

cc Sean Duffy.

Bessent on China: "At the meeting in Geneva when I asked them, 'Why didn't you continue buying soybeans and the other products' then had one word, and guess what it was? Biden."

Indeed

As to whether those who have thus far evaded the culling are brave enough to risk their pensions, etc. is another matter.

Not altogether a bad thing for nearly 100% of top military brass to see with their own eyes that their Commander in Chief is barking mad.

OTD in 2015 Russia began bombing Syria.
-we denied we'd do it
-we then did it
-we bombed lots of hospitals, shopping centers & schools to create refugees
-we said it would be WW3 if NATO got involved
-when NATO helped throw us out we just ran away

Sound familiar?

Will Jim Comey's Prosecution Prove Kash Patel Lied to Senate Judiciary Committee? - emptywheel Kash Patel may struggle to come up with some explanation for why he revisited details from a long-closed leak investigation focused on Dan Richman other than what he disclaimed under oath to the Senat...

From the weekend, my piece on what appears to be the theory of the Jim Comey prosecution, and why that means the prosecution may provide more proof Kash Patel lied to SJC than that Comey did.

www.emptywheel.net/2025/09/28/w...