Kenna Simmons

Not that he didn’t already know, but now Trump knows for sure he can roll the Dems every time and there’s no need to negotiate for anything

look I know being an engaged citizen IS the work of democracy but it is also the work of elected officials not to create situations where everyone has to be mobilized all the time to prevent them from allowing some kind of Dickensian horror on a Sunday night while you're in between loads of laundry

agreeing to make a terrible deal while your main opponent is quite literally being boo'd on live tv by an entire stadium of people is the kind of political instinct you'd normally only find in a 3 week old dead goldfish

The politics of the shutdown:
*GOP had a strong opening position
*Undercut themselves with the RIFs and unnecessary cuts to blue states/SNAP
*Polls showed GOP getting most of the blame, no reason to assume that would change
*Dem centrists then folded on their key issue of ACA subsidies

i think this is key. taking the deal would amount to taking the blame. it would turn a clear political victory into an unambiguous defeat.

Mine, too. And I’m in Georgia (where we had a little election of our own)!

A common theme of Trump II is an utterly cowardly class of elites while everyday regular people have risen to the occasion

This is exactly the same argument — and, in parts, even the same language — that segregationists advanced to argue that white people had a “right” not to live next to people who were different from them.

Because every one of those big donors wants more centrist economic policies. They think it keeps their tax bills low and is better for business. That is what is driving this, not what the Dem base (which is not white and male and working class) wants

Opinion | London’s sad decline is a warning to New Yorkers In three terms as mayor, Sadiq Khan has crushed the economic life out of Britain’s capital.

In the WaPo, a Brit columnist warns New Yorkers that London's economy was DESTROYED by electing a South Asian-named, left-ish mayor, so don't do that.

Weirdly doesn't mention how Brexit chased away foreign investment. Nope, must have been the brown guy.

www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

Donor Who Gave $130 Million to Pay Troops Is Reclusive Heir to Mellon Fortune

In spite of the headline, there is the pesky legal matter that neither billionaires or anybody else can “give” money to “pay troops” or anything else. However, a great compromise would be for billionaires to pay more money into the general treasury through “taxes.”
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/25/u...

Trump Administration Live Updates: Pentagon Accepts $130 Million Donation to Help Pay Troops During Shutdown

The amount is meaningless — less than one day of salary. But the principle is important: once the armed services are paid by the oligarchs, they become a private militia, and we no longer have a country.
www.nytimes.com/live/2025/10...

Opinion | I Quit My Job in the Face of Pro-Trump Censorship A veteran journalist says his bosses were afraid of crossing the administration.

Another disturbing example of how Trump silences dissent: "the chief content officer for our parent company... stated in a meeting that we should not run articles that could draw the attention of the Trump White House and have them try to shut us down." www.politico.com/news/magazin...

Supreme Court ruling: "This Court now concludes that independent expenditures, including those made by corporations, do not give rise to corruption or the appearance of corruption. That speakers may have influence over or access to elected officials does not mean that those officials are corrupt. And the appearance of influence or access will not cause the electorate to lose faith in this democracy."

Every now and then I go back and read the Citizens United ruling to see if it is as unhinged as I thought, and every time I do that I see it is actually far more deranged than I remembered.

levernews.com/book

federal agents stealing children and sending them south. where have i heard about that before?

"Look, the President clearly has some kind of dementia" should be how Democrats begin every single comment to reporters these days.

perhaps the biggest story TFPever ran was a catastrophically shoddy argument that George Floyd ackshully died of an overdose. When confronted with irrefutable evidence that the piece was simply wrong, Weiss didn’t take it down, she asked her critic, @radleybalko.bsky.social, to come on a podcast.

David Folkenflik is generally a good reporter but this segment was weak as hell. NPR is really both-sides bland lately (like more than usual).

This is an incredibly shitty story! And you misuse your sources.

a heartwarming story of how being an unethical and talentless hack is no barrier to success when you are willing to endlessly flatter the wretched views of rich dipshits

I imagine that’s the next step, if the midterms don’t go their way?

Another question - whether journalists have the courage to answer this question out loud

The richest man on earth owns X.

The second richest man on earth is about to be a major owner of TikTok.

The third richest man owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.

The fourth richest man owns The Washington Post.

See the problem here?

Nothing sums up America under Republican rule like turning a place of history and strength into a strip mall food court.

This is inaccurate. Please issue a correction.

I've always believed that the reason the Russians invested so much time pushing anti-vaccine sentiment in the US is that they knew if successful it could tear the country apart.

And here we are.

Opinion | We Ran the C.D.C.: Kennedy Is Endangering Every American’s Health

9 CDC Directors going back to 1977 speak out. What RFK Jr has done to our nation’s public health system "should alarm every American."

It "is unlike anything we have ever seen at the agency, and unlike anything our country has ever experienced." www.nytimes.com/2025/09/01/o...

She's talking about Dr. Demetre (Daskalakis), and he is EXACTLY the person you want as a public health leader. Whereas she is an unqualified hack who shows her ignorance every single time she briefs. But she's still managed to hit a new record here.

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