Throw cares away
It's that time of year again! And nothing starts the season off like "The Carol of the Bells", so here's a nice flash-mob version from the streets of Paris to get into the spirit. I wish you warmth and light and fellowship to help you face the cold and dark.
"86 Democrats Join GOP in Voting for ‘Very, Very Stupid’ Resolution Condemning Socialism: 'House Minority Leader Jeffries voting with the GOP in favor of this resolution is showing his ultrawealthy donors exactly who he fights for,' said one progressive leader. 'It’s not the people.' [...] 'A bunch of people with taxpayer-funded salaries, doing a job that is impossible to outsource to the private sector, are condemning the evils of socialism,' said Casten. 'Either they are stupid, or that they think you are.' 'We have a mixed economy,' he added. 'We benefit from free markets and competition in lots of sectors, and also have a judicial system, border security, national defense, economic security for seniors and those who can’t work that is socially funded. That’s a good thing! Condemning one half of that equation has no more logic—and is no more deserving of finite House floor time—than condemning defensive linemen because they never score touchdowns.'"
"Sarah Hurwitz Profanes the Holocaust: Holocaust education has worked too well for the Obama speechwriter, since when she rationalizes Israel's genocide, "I sound obscene." Maybe sit with that, Sarah [...] What Hurwitz objects to is that Holocaust education works. She is not upset that TikTok is driving misperceptions of the genocide. She is upset that the various social media vectors through which people hear directly from Palestinians drive accurate perceptions of the genocide. She is upset that those perceptions are unavoidable because of Holocaust education. Fearful of activating antisemitism, she doesn't want Israelis, or any Jews, to be thought of as rapacious murderers. I sympathize. But the only way that will happen is for Israel, whose flag displays the Star of David, to stop murdering Palestinians (and Lebanese, and Syrians, and Iranians, and Yemenis, and and and), and for Jewish institutions beyond Israel to stop rationalizing it. Hurwitz is caught in the pincer of that recognition on one side and her Zionism on the other. For her, the lesson of the Holocaust is: Never again to us. And it's darker than I can bear for someone who sat upon the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council to say these things. We can safely assume that Hurwitz is not delivering off-the-cuff remarks. She's thought about this. She has chosen the abyss. She is far from the only one."
"Former Black Panther leader H. Rap Brown dies in prison hospital at 82: BUTNER, N.C. (AP) — H. Rap Brown, one of the most vocal leaders of the Black Power movement, has died in a prison hospital while serving a life sentence for the killing of a Georgia sheriff’s deputy. He was 82. Brown — who later in life changed his name to Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin — died Sunday at the Federal Medical Center in Butner, North Carolina, his widow, Karima Al-Amin, said Monday." To this day, it is unclear whether he was framed, but it's not unbelievable.
I know I've talked before about how the poverty line is too low. "How a Broken Benchmark Quietly Broke America: [...] So when I say the real poverty line is $140,000, I’m being conservative. I’m using optimistic, national-average housing assumptions. If we plug in the actual cost of living in the zip codes where the jobs are—where rent is $2,700, not $1,900—the threshold pushes past $160,000."
Chris Hedges at Truthdig, "The Creed of Objectivity Killed the News: Don't blame the Internet. The bloodless and soulless journalism of the traditional media left newspapers on the wrong side of the growing class divide and their readers.The bloodless and soulless journalism of the traditional media left newspapers on the wrong side of the growing class divide and their readers. [...] 'The very notion that on any given story all you have to do is report what both sides say and you’ve done a fine job of objective journalism debilitates the press,' the late columnist Molly Ivins once wrote. 'There is no such thing as objectivity, and the truth, that slippery little bugger, has the oddest habit of being way to hell off on one side or the other: it seldom nestles neatly halfway between any two opposing points of view. The smug complacency of much of the press — I have heard many an editor say, ‘Well, we’re being attacked by both sides so we must be right’ — stems from the curious notion that if you get a quote from both sides, preferably in an official position, you’ve done the job. In the first place, most stories aren’t two-sided, they’re 17-sided at least. In the second place, it’s of no help to either the readers or the truth to quote one side saying, ‘Cat,’ and the other side saying ‘Dog,’ while the truth is there’s an elephant crashing around out there in the bushes.'"
23:15 GMT comment
Declinin' numbers at an even rate
"Au Reveil" by Clara Bergel is from the Life Everyday collection.
Most of the links below were collected before Tuesday when there was "A Democratic Sweep: Riding on the public's pervasive economic anxiety and its substantial but not quite so widespread fury and fear of Trump's trashing of American democracy, the Democrats won big from coast to coast yesterday." Dems won back some of the black and Latino votes they'd been bleeding, flipped seats even in Tennessee, and Mamdani won New York City's mayoral race with over 50% of the vote despite having the Democratic vote split by one of the city's highest-profile names. Billionaires there are having a meltdown in public, but no one's worried about any of them running off to live in some red state, despite their threats to do so. (They always threaten it, and they never do it.) Mario Cuomo himself, who didn't live in NYC to begin with, claimed he'd run away to Florida if Mamdani won, and has been given many offers to help him pack. The Onion Fact-Checking Claims About Zohran Mamdani here.
It seems clear that Schumer understood that they couldn't afford to cave until after the election. Democrats fighting against Republicans looks good to voters; Democrats caving does not. So they held off until after the elections — and then arranged to cave. It seems vital to kick him out of the leadership as soon as possible, because he's not up for re-election until 2028. "'Next Step Is Primaries': Calls for Schumer Ouster After Leading Shutdown Surrender: 'Until we elect Democrats that understand that fighting is what we need to do,' US Senate primary candidate Graham Platner said, 'we're going to find ourselves in this position over and over and over again.' One public opinion researcher said Sunday that there may be one positive aspect of the capitulation of eight Senate Democratic Caucus members—none of whom will face voters in a reelection campaign next year—who joined Republicans in voting to end the government shutdown without securing concessions on the central issue of healthcare. 'The only silver lining about this completely pointless, cowardly, and tone-deaf cave is that it'll accelerate the complete overhaul of the leadership—and god willing, direction—of the Democratic Party,' said Adam Carlson of Zenith Research."
I don't know if this link will work, but Charlie Savage's important piece is worth reading. "The Peril of a White House That Flaunts Its Indifference to the Law: The White House has made no legal argument explaining its bald claim that the president has wartime power to summarily kill people suspected of smuggling drugs. Since he returned to office nine months ago, President Trump has sought to expand executive power across numerous fronts. But his claim that he can lawfully order the military to summarily kill people accused of smuggling drugs on boats off the coast of South America stands apart. A broad range of specialists in laws governing the use of lethal force have called Mr. Trump's orders to the military patently illegal. They say the premeditated extrajudicial killings have been murders — regardless of whether the 43 people blown apart, burned alive or drowned in 10 strikes so far were indeed running drugs. The administration insists that the killings are lawful, invoking legal terms like 'self-defense' and 'armed conflict.' But it has offered no legal argument explaining how to bridge the conceptual gap between drug trafficking and associated crimes, as serious as they are, and the kind of armed attack to which those terms can legitimately apply. The irreversible gravity of killing, coupled with the lack of a substantive legal justification, is bringing into sharper view a structural weakness of law as a check on the American presidency."
In Maine, Graham Platner surprised a lot of people by getting some good poll numbers against Schumer's recruit for the primary, sitting governor Janet Mills, who is running to be the oldest freshman US Senator ever elected. So the Democratic establishment released some oppo research in an attempt to get Platner "cancelled". It doesn't seem to be working. "Voters Weigh In: From Waterville to Ogunquit, Mainers Are Standing By Graham Platner: A new survey finds the anti-genocide Platner with a blistering lead over sitting Gov. Janet Mills. Our correspondent finds the energy on the ground matches the numbers in the spreadsheet. [...] Platner opened his address by discussing the skull tattoo. Just a day earlier, Platner sent the internet into a frenzy over a skull tattoo revealed to be inked on his chest resembling Nazi iconography. He claimed ignorance of the tattoo's links but apologized and fully covered the tattoo with Celtic knots and dogs. 'I got it covered because I do not want something on my body that represents in any way the antithesis of my politics,' Platner said. 'I grew up as a little punk rock kid listening to Dead Kennedys and Dropkick Murphys. So, I would say hating and fighting Nazis has been a big part of how I see myself. My continued disgust of racism, anti-semitism and Nazism has been a constant throughout my life. And still today anchors much of my politics.'" And I would say it's stretching it to say that some kid would know that a skull & crossbones tattoo was necessarily a Nazi symbol. The only reasons anyone does know it is because they were looking for a way to make that association. (And this tattoo was revealed at a Jewish wedding where nobody noticed it was a "Nazi symbol". If they didn't notice, why should he?)
Anyway, Branko Marcetic says, "You're Being Lied to About Graham Platner: We read Graham Platner's whole Reddit archive. The vilification of the Maine candidate for Senate doesn't square with what he actually wrote in his posts."
Meanwhile, Andrew Cuomo is right at home on Fox pretending that Mamdani is pushing for Sharia Law, that London's mayor has got all the women wearing Burqas and that electing Mamdani will do the same to New York — you know, a bunch of bigotry. No More Mister Nice Blog reports.
"Trump Is Illegally Withholding Food From Needy Families: The White House claims it cannot fund food stamp benefits for November. But the legal authority to tap a contingency fund is quite clear. The 42 million Americans who rely on nutrition assistance are in danger of going without benefits to help them afford food if the government shutdown drags on after November 1. But that's not because the government lacks the money to fund benefits. It's because the Trump administration is flouting the law by refusing to release the funds."
"Corporate Democrats Falsely Claim Medicare for All Is 'Unpopular': This and other idiocy of the elites shows why the Democratic Establishment hasn't learned a damn thing from losing to Trump—not once, but twice. This week began with the release of a report titled 'Deciding to Win,' claiming to light the way 'toward a common sense renewal of the Democratic Party.' But the first mention of healthcare is so far from reality that the authors might have more accurately titled their report 'Deciding to Lie.' The report declares that Medicare for All is in the category of 'unpopular economic policies.' The claim is false. But it's in sync with the corporate sensibilities and wishful thinking of party operatives like James Carville, whose praise of the document appears on its first page."
The New York Times published another stupid "centrist" editorial, and McSweeny's couldn't resist. "The Partisans Are Wrong: Holding No Sincere Beliefs Is the Way to Win: American politics today can seem to be dominated by extremes. President Trump is carrying out far-right policies rooted in white supremacy and open brutality, while some of the country's highest-profile Democrats identify as democratic socialists—two exactly equal sides of the same coin. To those of you who are not writing this editorial, moderation probably feels a little outdated. It is not. So stop thinking that. Candidates who don't exhibit or reflect real beliefs, from both parties, continue to fare better in most elections than those farther to the right or left. This pattern may be the strongest one in electoral politics today, but it is one that many partisans try to obscure and many voters do not fully grasp. From our vantage point as a fundamentally innumerate body of milquetoast thinkers who are wrong about everything, holding fewer sincere beliefs is the key to electoral success."
"China found in U.S. archives an energy source that could power its future for 20,000 years - and made it work: I'm not exaggerating. In the 1960s the U.S. - specifically Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee - invented a revolutionary type of nuclear reactor that could run on thorium instead of uranium (much more abundant and cheaper), with no meltdown risk, generating 50x less waste, and requiring no water. Then, due to messy politics, they killed the program in 1969 and fired the visionary behind it. Afterwards the declassified blueprints for the project sat forgotten in archives for decades. That is until Chinese scientists found them and decided in 2011 to run an experimental project in the Gansu desert to see if they could make it work. A few days ago, after 14 years of work, they finally did."
"Ex-DOJ employee who hurled sandwich at federal agent learns fate after jury verdict" — The Sandwich Man not guilty of assault.
"Baltimore-born Pelosi won't seek reelection, ending a bicoastal political dynasty" — At last!
REST IN POWER: The legendary civil rights lawyer "Guy Saperstein (June 20, 1943 - October 28, 2025) died peacefully in his sleep in Seattle, Washington surrounded by his loving family. He was a loving and faithful husband to Jeanine, and caring father of two sons, Leon and Jacobus, and one daughter, Unmi. He will be missed by many. A true freedom fighter who lived life unabashedly to its fullest. He had a remarkable career as a civil rights attorney and mentored many while not only teaching us, but showing us how to be daring, be generous with others, appreciate nature, love music and dance, enjoy time with family, and that freedom and equality must be fought for and earned and should never be taken for granted. If you havent read one of his 3 award winning books, please do so (they are available on Amazon). If you are interested, there will be one Memorial Celebration in the Bay Area in the spring and one in Paris in the summer of 2026, so stay tuned." I'm not sure how, but he found me on the internet and kinship was instant. A lot of us are going to miss him.
RIP: "Actor June Lockhart of Lost in Space and Lassie fame dies aged 100: She achieved particular fame for her leading role on Lassie beginning in 1958. From 1965 to 1968, she portrayed the matriarch of a family of space explorers in Lost in Space. Decades later, in 2021, she made a voice cameo in Netflix's reboot of the same series." Yes, she was one of our moms, or two of them, depending on how old you were. I'm old enough to still be impressed by how well she understood Lassie's warnings.
ROT IN PERDITION: "Dick Cheney, one of the most powerful and polarizing vice presidents, dies at 84" — Too little, too late. He was a terrible man who did enormous damage and was basically like Trump, but more effective at it, and if I get started I will probably collapse in a bonfire of apoplexy so I'll leave that to others.
"Centrist Democrats Have Already Forgotten About Kamala Harris: Pivoting to the right didn't work in 2024. It won't work now. [...] Democrats' 1992 win is often attributed to Bill Clinton's embrace of 'Third Way' neoliberal politics, seasoning conservative economic policy with a pinch of putative social liberalism. However, as his secretary of labor (Robert Reich) recently observed, the 1992 campaign was far more heterogeneous than that telling lets on. In line with his iconic 'it's the economy, stupid' declaration, Clinton ran on significant fiscal stimulus, raising taxes on the wealthy, and public health care. Crediting moderation for the 1992 win misstates the order of events; tacking to the right followed winning the election. Moreover, Clinton's 'New Democrats' did worse in congressional elections following the party's embrace of Third Way politics over the course of early 1993, when advisors like Robert Rubin successfully pushed for abandoning more populist campaign promises in favor of austerity. From 1930 to 1994, Democrats controlled the House of Representatives for all but four years, or about 94 percent of the time. From 1994 to the present, the party has held a House majority only 27 percent of the time—eight years total. Democratic dominance in the Senate in the 20th century was less pronounced, with Republican majorities for 12 years between 1930 and 1994. Since 1994, Democrats have held Senate majorities for 12 years. That's a drop from controlling the upper chamber 81 percent of the time to just 40 percent." And Harris was winning with her populist messaging in the early days of her campaign, but when billionaires attacked her for it, she instantly dropped it and ran to the right and she sank like a stone. But it hasn't stopped the "moderates" from pushing a swing to the right.
Margaret Sullivan, the much-missed "Public Editor" of The New York Times, has a Substack, American Crisis, where she recently noted that
The media is largely ignoring the trauma of millions. Here's why.: I don't know about you but I'd be happy never to read another story or see another TV segment exploring the deeper feelings of Trump followers. These are easy to find, and have been for many years. Do Trump voters still like Trump? (Yes.) Why do they like Trump? (Because, don't you know, he's a businessman at heart.) Would they vote for a Democrat? (When hell freezes over.) Yes, we know. But there are a lot of people in this country — most of the 75 million who voted for Kamala Harris last year and a whole lot of others — who are disgusted, appalled and frightened by the first nine months of Trump's second administration. By the way he's turned the Justice Department into his vendetta machine, by ICE's vicious treatment of immigrants and journalists, by his damaging and whimsical decisions about tariffs and much more. But do we hear much about those regular citizens who disagree? I read and watch and listen widely, and I sure don't. Not in mainstream media, at any rate." She wrote that just before the No Kings protest weekend after noting that the only mentions of it in the media quoted Republicans on their opinions of it.
I've mostly stayed away from this story, but it makes some interesting background. "Jeffrey Epstein and the Mossad: How The Sex-Trafficker Helped Israel Build a Backchannel to Russia Amid Syrian Civil War: Hacked emails show how Jeffrey Epstein and former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak tried to engineer a Russian-led solution to remove Bashar al-Assad."
"What the Fascist Tech Bros Get Wrong About Prometheus: Those crypto boys are at it again, this time proposing a giant, 450-foot-tall statue on of San Francisco Bay's Alcatraz Island, according to local outlet KRON4. The statue would be of Prometheus, which the promoters call 'the symbol of bold transgression in service of human advancement,' according to the promotional website, who 'imbued Man with ingeniousness, indefatigable optimism and grit in service of great vision' and 'represents the spirit of innovation and courage for the purpose of building.'"
A friend of mine pointed me to a clip of the closing credits for The Other Guys and, knowing nothing about it, I said, "I have to see this movie!" Dwayne Johnson and Samuel L. Jackson are the supercops, but our heroes, such as they are, are the other guys. Adam McKay was really angry when he made this hilarious flick. No one can blame him.
The Beach Boys, "Shut Down"
23:45 GMT comment
