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| https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/BUN5TPTLRBA4TPJHMBPYVW63AM.JPG |
By Mandy Taheri
Thursday, November 13, 2025
Monday, November 10, 2025
Stabbed in the back, at least Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith were not the ones to turncoat, kneeling to the Orange Beast. Schumer opposed the surrender. Credit him for that.
A group of three former governors — New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, New Hampshire Sen. Maggie Hassan and Independent Sen. Angus King of Maine — broke the six-week stalemate on Sunday when they agreed to vote to advance three bipartisan annual spending bills and extend the rest of government funding until late January in exchange for a mid-December vote on extending the health care tax credits.
[...]
Five Democrats switch votes
In addition to Shaheen, King and Hassan, Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, home to tens of thousands of federal workers, also voted in favor of moving forward on the agreement. Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, the No. 2 Democrat, Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman and Nevada Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen also voted yes.
The moderates had expected a larger number of Democrats to vote with them as 10-12 Democratic senators had been part of the negotiations. But in the end, only five Democrats switched their votes — the exact number that Republicans needed. King, Cortez Masto and Fetterman had already been voting to open the government since Oct. 1.
The Beast won. The spineless crossed the line. Schumer did not keep solidarity, but at least was not one of the turncoats. One supposes New Hampshire and Maine will get SNAP money, or something.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
UPDATE: https://x.com/SenTinaSmith/status/1987698558145864025 Tina did right. Amy too. We will need Peggy Flanagan to carry on the work of fighting the Beast, (when succeeding Tina Smith via winning the DFL primary and the 2026 general election). Peggy can be expected to do a fine job.
Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont is wading ever more deeply into the Democratic Party’s ideological tug of war, endorsing Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan of Minnesota in her contested primary race to replace the retiring Senator Tina Smith, a Democrat. The move is Mr. Sanders’s third endorsement in a competitive primary for Senate.
Ms. Flanagan, who was elected twice as the running mate of Gov. Tim Walz, is facing off against Representative Angie Craig, a Democrat. Their race is one of many primaries next year that will help determine the direction of the party.
In a statement provided first to The New York Times, Mr. Sanders hailed Ms. Flanagan as having “the guts to stand up for working people against the billionaires and the corporate interests.”
Mr. Sanders, 84, an independent, was the runner-up in the last two competitive Democratic presidential primaries. Still one of the party’s most popular politicians, he remains determined to reshape it in his image. He has already endorsed progressive candidates in open Democratic Senate races in Michigan and Maine next year.
His latest endorsement comes a day after moderates in the Senate struck an agreement with Republicans to move toward reopening the federal government after the longest shutdown in history. The deal ignited outrage on the left, including from Mr. Sanders.
Crabgrass earlier endorsed Flanagan, and it is encouraging that Bernie is reaching out to help.
Bernie is a giant for progress for all, and curbing the billionaire oligarchy. Flanagan will fit in. Now if only something could jog Amy leftward we'd be better off for the push. Or awakening, call it either. And hope it happens sooner than later. Amy is on the righteous shutdown side of not appeasing the Beast, which is fine to see.
Can Angie Craig still exit the Senate race and run to keep the MN CD2 seat? Hope she can. Hope she does. She's built seniority. And without her seeking to continue there, that seat is in play -
Out of state Republican and AIPAC money could cascade into the CD2 race, unless Craig decides to run there again. She's not an AIPAC target, those people would shoot elsewhere if she does the DFL party a favor. It seems there should not have been any filing deadline yet against Craig making the move.
If she does, she's got a primary win assured if she'd even face a primary. Otherwise, Flanagan will retire Craig from DC entirely. She should weigh her options. We'll see.
_____________FURTHER UPDATE_____________
Should Craig stay the course, Matt Kline is a good CD2 candidate, and might even be an upgrade.
If Craig defeats Flanagan it would be a major disappointment, should she stay in the Senate race, but if that happens, she's better than a complete Republican. Yes, faint praise, but if she wins the primary, she has the Crabgrass vote to replace Tina Smith. But really, Flanagan is real and progressive. Our favorite.
FURTHER: Flanagan will not accept corporate PAC money. Craig welcomes it. In office Congress critters remember who their major donors were, and grant access.
Kline seems the current CD2 frontrunner who likely will face a primary. What he'd do if Angie reverts is anyone's guess. But Crabgrass reads the mood of distressed people statewide as a Flanagan DFL win no matter what; and hence, Flanagan as Tina Smith's successor.
FURTHER: Flanagan defeating whichever Repubican, and Kline winning CD2 against whoever, are the Crabgrass picks. At a guess it will a GOP primary result, Speaker Lisa and the smarmy lawyer from the Niska firm who outspent Blaha 2022 by 150% and lost, vs Doc Anti-Vax who ran and lost last time with Matt Birk centering his ticket; with Speaker Lisa winning that primary. GOP CD2 winner is anybody's who-cares guess. Kline could lose the general election, but let's hope not.
Make Bernie happy, vote for Peggy in the primaery! Warren is onboard too, so it's gotta be her over Craig.
Saturday, November 08, 2025
A 41 yr old Democrat backed by Bernie is running for Senator from Maine. Schumer and Gillibrand are backing a 77 yr old for two reasons, she's establishment like they are, and closeness in age (she's almost as old as they are).
Maine's Governor, two-termed out of office, seeking further politician's comfort -
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| https://www.instagram.com/kenklipp/p/DQfBn1vjqN9/ |
Click that image if you care to, but the message is -
77-year old Maine Governor Janet Mills, running for Senate (and backed by Chuck Schumer) has refused to release medical records to address questions about her age. If elected, Mills would end her first term at age 85 and would be the oldest first-term Senator in U.S. history.
The other 41 yr old front runner for Senator from Maine to Replace 72 yr old Susan Collins =
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| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graham_Platner |
Analysis
Platner's Wiki bio excerpts -
Military
Platner enlisted in the Marine Corps shortly after graduating from high school in 2003.[9] He attended the Marine Corps School of Infantry, then deployed to Iraq in 2005.[4] He served a total of eight years in the military, including three combat tours in Iraq, in areas including Ramadi and Fallujah.[10] Asked why he served in the Iraq War after protesting it, Platner said, "I thought I could do some good. And I wanted to play soldier. I might have read too much Hemingway."[11]
After four years in the military, Platner enrolled at George Washington University, funded by the G.I. Bill.[9] Shortly after starting school, he enlisted in the Maryland Army National Guard and served an additional tour of duty in the war in Afghanistan.[12][13] He returned to Washington in 2011, resuming classes at GWU and working as a bartender at the Tune Inn on Capitol Hill.[14][15] From 2011 to 2016 he alternated between living in D.C. and military deployments, before withdrawing from GWU and returning to Maine in 2016 for treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder and other military-related injuries.[13][9][11][16]
In 2018, Platner returned to Kabul, Afghanistan, for about six months as a State Department security contractor with Constellis, the private military company formerly known as Blackwater, where he provided diplomatic security to the US ambassador to Afghanistan.[17][10][18][19] He returned to Maine the same year, saying he had quickly grown more disillusioned with the military and what he called fraudulent funneling of taxpayer money to private defense companies.[12][9]
[...] U.S. Senate campaign
Platner launched his Senate campaign on August 19, 2025, with a video produced by Morris Katz, a senior adviser and admaker for New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani.[26][21] In the video, Platner highlights his military and working-class credentials, while criticizing his prospective opponent in harsh terms:[27]
I did four infantry tours in the Marine Corps and the Army. I'm not afraid to name an enemy. And the enemy is the oligarchy. It's the billionaires who pay for it, and the politicians who sell us out. And yeah, that means politicians like Susan Collins.
This video received 2.5 million views in its first 24 hours, sparking national media attention.[28][29] The campaign raised $1 million in its first nine days, and reported amassing over 2,700 volunteers.[30]
Senator Bernie Sanders endorsed Platner on August 30, ahead of a Fighting Oligarchy tour appearance in Portland with Platner and Maine gubernatorial candidate Troy Jackson.[31][32] The event had originally been scheduled to be held in an auditorium but had to be moved to a much larger arena due to high public interest.[33][34
[... keep reading into next block] On October 27, 2025, Platner's campaign manager Kevin Brown resigned, citing family reasons. On October 31, Platner's campaign finance director, Ronald Holmes, resigned.[39] His political director, Genevieve McDonald, also resigned in October, and in November his campaign treasurer, Victoria Perrone, was replaced by Ben Martello.[40]
Reddit comments and tattoo
In October 2025, various news outlets reported on Reddit posts Platner made between 2013 and 2021 in which he called himself a "communist", wrote that all cops are bastards, and agreed with a post calling rural white Americans "racist and stupid". In an interview with CNN, Platner said of those comments, "That was very much me fucking around the internet ... I don't think any of that is indicative of who I am today".[41] In a 2013 Reddit discussion about anti-rape underwear, Platner wrote that people worried about assault should "take some responsibility for themselves and not get so fucked up they wind up having sex with someone they don't mean to".[42] He also referenced political violence in multiple posts; in 2018, he wrote: "Fight until you get tired of fighting with words and then fight with signs, and fists, and guns if need be." Platner also wrote that "an armed working class is a requirement for economic justice" and urged readers to "Get Armed, Get Organized. The Other Side Sure As Hell Is."[41][43] He has said that many of the comments do not represent his current political beliefs, and that they were the product of disillusionment after his military discharge and struggles with PTSD.[44][45]
Collins called Platner's internet history "terrible" and "offensive".[46] Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin said that while he did not approve of Platner's comments, he did not consider them "disqualifying".[47]
In an interview on Pod Save America, Platner addressed claims that a skull-and-bones tattoo on his chest resembles the Totenkopf, a symbol worn by the Nazi Schutzstaffel paramilitary organization. Platner said that he and some other Marines got the tattoo while on leave in Croatia in 2007, not knowing its symbolism.[48] While acknowledging the resemblance, he said he had not been aware of it until reporters and political operatives from DC contacted him during his campaign. He said he had recently gotten it covered up.[49][50] An unnamed acquaintance of Platner's has claimed that Platner was aware that the tattoo was a Nazi symbol.[51][52] Maine Governor Janet Mills, one of Platner's opponents in the Democratic primary, called the tattoo "abhorrent". She said, "I obviously vehemently disagree with the things he's been quoted as saying and doing" but that it was "up to the people" to decide whether he should continue in the Senate race.[53]
Political views
Platner has been characterized as a populist and a progressive.[12][21][27] He has received attention for focusing on economic issues facing working-class Americans, and for being willing to criticize the Democratic Party establishment.[54] His platform includes focusing on housing affordability, universal healthcare through Medicare for All, and ending US involvement in overseas wars.[15][31][22]
Platner has explicitly declined to be identified as progressive or liberal, saying, "I think it's silly that thinking people deserve health care, that makes you some kind of lefty. But I do think those working-class policies are necessary."[15][26] He has highlighted his support for gun rights as a point where he differs from mainstream liberals,[21] and said that many of his friends and colleagues voted for Donald Trump.[26] In The American Prospect, Austin Ahlman called Platner part of "a growing wave of populist Senate candidates who are challenging modern understandings of political labels by forefronting anti-establishment, anti-corporate, and distinctly localist politics and policies".[29] Platner has cited Senator Bernie Sanders as a political influence.[15] He has also credited Frances Perkins, who served as Secretary of Labor under Franklin D. Roosevelt, and labor organizer Jane McAlevey as inspirations.[25][16]
Platner has criticized what he calls "the oligarchy", an economic and political system controlled by and benefiting the ultra-wealthy at the expense of everyone else. He advocates for higher taxes on billionaires and large corporations, and more support for the working class.[12][55] At a Labor Day rally headlined by Sanders, Platner said, "We do not live in a system that is broken. We live in a system that is functioning exactly as it's intended. We live in a system that has been built by the political class to enrich and support billionaires on the backs of working people."[55]
Platner has called the Gaza genocide "the ultimate moral test of our time", and has strongly criticized the Democratic Party establishment for not doing enough to counter Trump administration policies such as mass deportation and support for Israel's war in Gaza.[12][9][56][57] He has criticized the pro-Israel lobby group AIPAC, and pledged not to take campaign contributions from it "or any group that supports the genocide in Gaza".[58][27] Republicans and conservative outlets[59] have called Platner "Maine's Mamdani", referencing the democratic socialist mayor-elect of New York City, and have criticized Platner's outspoken criticism of Israel and its actions in Gaza. Platner called the comments "absurd".[60]
Platner credits his military experience with forming his populist politics.[12] He has called US "military adventurism" "a mechanism of moving taxpayer dollars into the private bank accounts of defense companies, all on the backs of frankly working-class men and women, and on the backs of the people living in societies that we took the wars to".[12] Platner stated that his veterans' healthcare and disability benefits have enabled him to run his small business, and argues that all Americans should have access to increased social welfare regardless of military service.[32]
He has a more moderate stance on gun regulation than some Democrats, recognizing the importance of firearms in Maine's hunting and rural communities. When asked about his position on gun control after the Annunciation Catholic Church shooting, he expressed support for red flag laws, provided they are "written in such a way that they don't impede the ability of legal gun owners to have access to their firearms".[60] Platner reportedly provided firearms instruction in the past for the Maine chapter of the Socialist Rifle Association.[6]
Asked about his stance on LGBTQ rights, Platner said, "I stand right in the fucking way of anyone who's going to try to come after the freedoms of the LGBTQIA+ community."[61]
Personal life
Platner lives in Sullivan, Maine.[23] He married his wife, Amy Gertner, in the autumn of 2024.[4] Gertner was an elementary and middle school art teacher until 2024, when she became the business manager for Waukeag Neck Oyster Co.[4][16] Platner is a competitive pistol shooter and firearms instructor.[21] Much of Platner's extended family is Jewish,[62] and his stepbrother lives in Jerusalem.[63]
Rather than only excerpt highlighted segments, a large quote was thought best to assure context.
Schumer, Gillibrand, and their candidate are the oligharchy Platner criticizes.
They, each separtely and together represent the system Platner described in saying:
"We do not live in a system that is broken. We live in a system that is functioning exactly as it's intended. We live in a system that has been built by the political class to enrich and support billionaires on the backs of working people."[55]
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
First-time Senate candidate, 77, refuses to release medical records fueling nightmare Biden flashbacks
An elderly Democratic candidate for Senate is under fire for not releasing her medical records as age has become a defining political consideration.
Maine Governor Janet Mills, 77, has not committed to releasing her medical records ahead of the state's 2026 Senate election, according to Axios.
Should she win the competition, Mills would become the oldest freshman senator elected in US history. Mills would take office at 79 if she wins.
Incumbent Senator Susan Collins, a Republican who has held the seat since 1997, would take office at 74 if she were to win. Collins has not offered her medical records either.
Democrats have been dogged by criticisms over elderly candidates since the party propped up former President Joe Biden's failed presidential run.
After Biden's disastrous debate performance against President Donald Trump in the summer of 2024, and subsequent lingering in the race before withdrawing, liberal voters have much to be wary of when it comes to older candidates.
But that has not stopped the decidedly old lawmakers from retaining power.
Newsweek -
Nov 05, 2025 at 02:30 PM EST
updated
Nov 05, 2025 at 03:53 PM EST
Nationwide victories for Democrats on Tuesday, including two high-profile gubernatorial races, the New York City mayoral election and the approval of California’s redistricting map, are fueling party optimism as it seeks to recover from heavy 2024 losses and regain the House majority in the 2026 midterms.
Democrat Jay Jones' electoral victory in Virginia’s attorney general clash came weeks after leaked text messages surfaced in which he fantasized about killing a Republican lawmaker and his family. The texts ignited a scandal that drew bipartisan condemnation.
Several political strategists have said that Jones’ win despite the late-breaking controversy could be a good sign for Maine Democratic Senate hopeful Graham Platner, who is contending with his own backlash over a tattoo and past social media posts. One strategist, Alex Patton, told Newsweek that "voters forgive plenty these days."
However, another strategist, Carter Wrenn, told Newsweek, "to argue Jones winning means scandals and faux-pas no longer matter sounds like a bit of a stretch."
Newsweek reached out to several political strategists for comment via email on Wednesday.
Why It Matters
Jones winning a prominent statewide position despite the controversy shows that voters might be willing to overlook scandals plaguing candidates while at the ballot box.
Platner, a 41-year-old oyster farmer and political newcomer running for Maine's U.S. Senate seat, is under fire from some over one of his tattoos and political social media posts that have since been deleted.
The Jones victory comes amid a political landscape that has shifted regarding cancel culture and the intensity and lasting effects of political bruises.
[...] Doug Gordon, co-founder of Upshift strategies, told Newsweek in an email: “You don’t need an advanced degree in political science to figure out why Democrats, including Jay Jones despite his offensive texts, had such a good night. Donald Trump and Republicans ran on, and won, in 2024 on lowering prices and fixing an economy that is not working for the vast majority of Americans. And instead of delivering on what they ran on, we have secret police disappearing people off the streets, Trump’s relentless focus on retribution against his opponents, the literal destruction of the White House and Trump and his cronies enriching themselves. All while the economy has not improved and prices have increased. This election was a complete and total rejection of the policies and the priorities of the Republican Party. And in the end, that was more important to voters than some offensive texts.”
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Platner's campaign site, on the issues = https://www.grahamforsenate.com/platform
His donate page = https://secure.actblue.com/donate/platner_website
Checks can be mailed to:
Graham for Maine
PO Box 570, Ellsworth, ME 04605
Whether using the actblue page (where actblue takes a percentage) or using snail mail, the same rules/limitations apply -
Contribution rules
- I am a U.S. citizen or lawfully admitted permanent resident (i.e., green card holder).
- This contribution is made from my own funds, and funds are not being provided to me by another person or entity for the purpose of making this contribution.
- I am at least eighteen years old.
- I am not a federal contractor.
- I am making this contribution with my own personal credit card and not with a corporate or business credit card or a card issued to another person.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Think you've seen enough? There is the Mills situation -
In her launch video, Mills highlighted her recent fight with President Donald Trump over transgender sports and accused Collins of enabling him. “I won’t sit idly by while Maine people suffer and politicians like Susan Collins bend the knee as if this were normal,” Mills said.
Despite initial hesitation, the governor started interviewing staff and telling local reporters she was seriously considering a bid last month.
She addressed that long contemplation in her announcement, saying in the video, “Honestly, if this president and this Congress were doing things that were even remotely acceptable, I wouldn’t be running for the U.S. Senate.”
The race sets up the latest generational clash for a party struggling to find its footing after losing the White House and both branches of Congress last year.
Politico = Chuck Schumer gets his preferred candidate, Janet Mills, in crowded Maine Senate race -- Schumer had been aggressively recruiting Mills to challenge Republican Susan Collins.
In her launch video, [dead link? as noted below, her campaign site has a video] Mills highlighted her recent fight with President Donald Trump over transgender sports and accused Collins of enabling him. “I won’t sit idly by while Maine people suffer and politicians like Susan Collins bend the knee as if this were normal,” Mills said.
Despite initial hesitation, the governor started interviewing staff and telling local reporters she was seriously considering a bid last month.
She addressed that long contemplation in her announcement, saying in the video, “Honestly, if this president and this Congress were doing things that were even remotely acceptable, I wouldn’t be running for the U.S. Senate.”
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Mills Senate campaign site = https://janetmills.com/
She has a campaign video linked from the opening page, with creepy music and noise, and identifying herself as a second generation politician. She's against Trump and Susan Collins, not liking bullies she says. It may be error, but no ISSUES page could be located by Crabgrass.
HuffPo =https://www.huffpost.com/entry/maine-senate-janet-mills-platner_n_68eff6bde4b061265b2b21a5
WASHINGTON — Senate Democratic leadership is all-in on Maine Gov. Janet Mills’ run to challenge Republican Sen. Susan Collins.
Rank-and-file Democratic senators don’t seem as certain. Very few were eager to instantly back the 77-year-old Mills, who will have to defeat progressive oyster farmer Graham Platner in a primary to battle Collins in the general, and many seemed loath to discuss a race Democratic operatives expect to poison social media timelines for the next year.
The unease about the race — and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee’s decision to intervene by backing Mills — extends to both progressives and moderates, and showcases how the Democratic Party is still torn over its ideological direction and the age of its leaders in the aftermath of the 2024 presidential election.
“I think Janet Mills is a formidable candidate. I feel very optimistic that we will defeat Susan Collins,” Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), the chair of the DSCC, told HuffPost. Asked if a bruising primary would harm Democrats’ odds of flipping the seat, Gillibrand said: “My general view is that primaries make candidates stronger.”
But Gillibrand was not joined by many of her colleagues in unequivocally backing Mills. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), who has carved out a lane as a leading moderate since the 2024 election, was the only Democratic senator to explicitly endorse her.
Similarly, many leading progressive senators — including Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Jeff Merkley of Oregon and Chris Murphy of Massachusetts — declined to weigh in on the race when HuffPost asked. Sen. Tina Smith of Minnesota, who is retiring, told HuffPost the DSCC should stay out of the race entirely.
“The DSCC shouldn’t be engaging in primary battles,” retiring Smith told HuffPost. “If the [DSCC] thinks that they know better than the voters of Maine, they’re wrong. It’s up to the voters to decide.”
Both Platner and Mills tried to claim momentum on Wednesday, one day after Mills’ entrance into the race earned her quick endorsements from EMILY’s List and caused political handicappers to move the race against Collins from “lean Republican” to “toss-up” status. Mills announced she had raised $1 million in the first 24 hours of her campaign, while Platner said he had raised $500,000 and rolled out an endorsement from United Auto Workers, which represents employees at Bath Iron Works in the state.
Democratic senators, who are old enough, on average, to qualify for Social Security benefits, did mostly brush aside concerns about Mills’ age, even if they did not want to endorse her. Mills would be the oldest freshman senator ever if she is elected next year. She’s pledged to only serve one term if that happens, a move that is likely aimed at cutting off questions about her age. [...]
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Mills in her video is running as not Trump, took him to court and won. Beyond that and opposing Collins, it speaks for itself.
Platner's video notes issues, more than being "not Trump."
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
As to big buck spending being anticipated against Platner: https://x.com/TrackAIPAC/status/1960796854091964536
That wraps it up. Mills is the AIPAC choice. Platner is not.
________________UPDATE________________
Forgot two things,
Gillibrand - Mamdami, it speaks for itself.
EMILYs List Congratulates Kirsten Gillibrand On Her Appointment as Next DSCC Chair - January 6, 2025
If you want to think Dem establishment Inner Party - Think DCCC and EMILYs List. They don't take chances. They don't mention Oligarchs.
____________FURTHER UPDATE_____________
One way voters in Maine, and Crabgrass readers worldwide, can think of Platner = the anti-Hegseth. Both served, both tattooed, one's a total scary creep, the other is liked by Bernie.
Do you think Palantir might feel it has a dog in the hunt? Along with AIPAC? Or would they prefer, "a dude?"
Friday, November 07, 2025
The man who was hit with the sandwich was CBP agent Gregory Lairmore, who told the jury earlier this week that the sandwich “kind of exploded all over my uniform” and “smelled of onions and mustard”, according to the Washington Post. The defense pushed back, as it appeared in imagery from the scene that the sandwich did not leave its wrapper.
Do a web search = Pelosi retiring
800 years a politician in office and all that time public provided medical care suppressed.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/2ySJtn6oCUA
Progress smiles. It may have a chance.
Slim chance, others like-minded remain. But - hope.
Better, faster, cheaper.
A friend/relative was a successful contractor before retirement and explained the success as that, better, faster, cheaper. So the business prospered, profit was there, and capitalism smiled and said, "See."
Like a well oiled machine.
That is a prelude for world trade - capitalism, right - being a bettter, faster, cheaper survival game.
No. The tariff monster says. Regionalism, Sovereignty, Divide and Conquer, all that above capitalism. Capitalism only is a God when we talk rich not paying taxes because - CAPITALISM. Wages kept dirt low because - CAPITALISM. A God when it fits. A devil otherwise.
Free trade, PROTECTIONISM.
And while under rule of law only the U.S. of A Congress can impose tariffs and other taxes, a fat cat narcissistic fascist does not care a whit for restraint. Tariffs are a play tool. Push other nations around. Grind their nose in it.
Fun. Boss King. That being said -
https://www.emptywheel.net/2025/11/05/were-on-the-unfuck-stage-of-trumps-abuse-of-power/
UPDATE: Written while having morning coffee. From Brazil as likely as not. Pay more for coffee because the fascist King says so? Fuck that.
Wednesday, November 05, 2025
The Supremes will have an opportunity to right the boat. Betting they decline to is not a bad bet.
 |
| https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/nov/04/trump-tariffs-supreme-court-oral-arguments |
From that Guardian item:
Treasury secretary Scott Bessent, who plans to attend the oral arguments in the case, has said the administration has “lots of other authorities” to do so.
According to the non-partisan Tax Foundation, Trump’s tariffs amount to an average tax increase per US household of $1,200 in 2025 and $1,600 in 2026.
A coalition of 12 states and small businesses, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Oregon and Vermont, have sued the Trump administration to block the tariffs.
Several other small businesses also filed suit against the Trump administration to block the tariffs. The cases, Learning Resources, Inc v Trump and Trump v VOS Selections, were consolidated by the court.
“No one person should have the power to impose taxes that have such vast global economic consequences,” Jeffrey Schwab, Liberty Justice Center’s senior counsel, said in a statement on the lawsuit filed on behalf of small businesses against the tariffs. “The Constitution gives the power to set tax rates – including tariffs – to Congress, not the President.”
About 40 legal briefs have been filed in opposition to the tariffs, including from the US Chamber of Commerce, the largest business lobby group in the US.
The US Chamber has urged Congress to reclaim its constitutional role in setting tariffs, stating in a letter on 27 October to the US Senate: “American families are facing thousands of dollars in higher prices as a result of these increased taxes. Small businesses, manufacturers, and ranchers are struggling with higher costs, with additional economic pain likely in the coming months.”
The US Senate voted 51 to 47 last week to nullify Trump’s so-called reciprocal tariffs, with four Republicans joining Democrats in the vote, though the House is not expected to take similar action.
But despite opposition in the Senate, the House of Representatives is unlikely to take similar action. House Republicans created a rule earlier this year that will block resolutions on the tariffs from getting a floor vote.
Tariffs are the opposite of "Tax the Rich" since they amount to a consumer flat tax. If consumers pay more and buy less, how is that a good thing? Other than for the Rich?
There is more to Mamdami's decisive victory than that he won. There is Schumer. There is Gillibrand. Both need to be replaced by progressives.
Guardian has the story, with a screen capture below. Read it all via the link. Give particular attention to the last paragraph of the capture.
From the link at the start of the post, you have live links to follow as you please. those in the capture show, but are not live. Schumer and Gillibrand are out of touch. They, and the soundly defeated Cuomo are New York old guard Dems. As is Jeffries who had the sense to join the win late, but not miss the train as did the deliberate pair of Senators. Gillibrand jumped and hounded Al Franken out of the Senate over a me-too lust to get the Supreme Court nominee, Kavanaugh. Short term mind. Franken is closer to Mamdani than Jeffries, Schumer or Gillibrand in world view and US political orientation.
Gillibrand replaced Hillary, and who can tell the difference? For all I know she may have made as much out of politics as the Clintons, but I doubt that. At any rate, Gillibrand has had an empowered time, with no good use of the power. Regular citizens have no universal healthcare, with too many seeing inflation eat away at security while being in paycheck to paycheck survival mode. Wall Street is not Main Street. That is a cliche, but who likes that pair of dysfunctional Senators? You can like a Mamdami, a Franken, but those two stiffs? Empty suits.
Anyway, changing of the guard is needed, yet unlikely, the inertia being heavy and solid. AOC dumped that long standing old guy with a century or so of seniority, but it was viewed as anomaly rather than trend. Mamdami, now, it's a trend. So sweep the path clear for more people-friendly office holders who might, we hope, finally make the wealthy pay a fair share. And progressive change will unseat Trump and JD and that pack of incompetent Hegseths. The sooner, the better.
Do hope for the future trending well. The alternative, Trump fascism, stinks.
________________UPDATE_______________
 |
| more Guaerdian - a changing electorate |
In summary, in short, the electorate changing means AIPAC will have to spend more to do its vain and insidious mischief.
And then, if awakening spreads, and GOTV holds among the needy, spending a ton won't cut it.
AIPAC's hunting progressives, may it backfire for a few fucking decades. And then some! They are unprincipled beyond Israel uber alles and anti-progressive mindset, so fuck 'em.
Israel's been into war criminality a lot recently, so release the politicians to be free to do good, and punish.
And spend the billions here, not subsidizing ethnic cleansing. The people would welcome that.
Tuesday, November 04, 2025
An interesting website, discovered, reported. It's not about our nation at its nicest.
Most recent post: https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/dnsa-intelligence/2025-10-30/top-secret-testimony-cias-mkultra-chief-50-years-later
Finding that, I learned something of who Sidney Gottlieb was. Strange.
First, two images from an earlier post on the site. You can follow the link if you do not recognize folks. That way you'll find out.
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| grinning for who they were and what they know and did |
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| An event today triggered search yielding this image, and finding the GWU site. |
Best and brightest, all that. Moving on to Gottlieb's MO - as fleshed out in the second of the two opening links.
The long-secret transcripts of Gottlieb’s testimony to the staff of the United States Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities (“Church Committee”) were published today by the National Security Archive, 50 years after the historic intelligence oversight hearings, along with a selection of declassified CIA memos and other records concerning MKULTRA and related projects that Gottlieb was asked about during his Senate deposition. The Church Committee transcripts are among the highlights of the Digital National Security Archive collection, CIA and the Behavioral Sciences: Mind Control, Drug Experiments and MKULTRA, published in 2024 by ProQuest. Other documents were found among the recently declassified documents archived in the CIA’s FOIA Reading Room.
Among other things, the recently declassified transcripts from the closed-door hearings held on October 15-18, 1975, shed new light on the bizarre and abusive research projects associated with Gottlieb and the Agency’s Technical Services Staff (TSS), including the administration of mind-altering drugs in situations where, in Gottlieb’s words, “the unwitting and total lack of awareness on the part of somebody who was being interrogated that way might have been the key thing.”
At one point, Senate staffers asked Gottlieb about a document indicating that one interrogee had been secretly given a large dose of LSD that induced a “severe classic paranoid reaction” so extreme that he was declared mentally ill by an equally unwitting psychiatrist and was thus “discredited in the eyes of the group with which he had been working.” Gottlieb said that “it had been recognized that this kind of thing might be a need that P-1 [LSD] might help with, to make somebody behave erratically for the purpose of his colleagues losing faith in his ability to act responsibly.”
Other parts of the hearing focused on Gottlieb’s involvement in CIA assassination plots, especially those targeting Cuban leader Fidel Castro, and its support to the activities of other federal agencies through MHCHAOS, the subject of the earlier Rockefeller Commission report. The Committee also asked Gottlieb about his own experiences taking LSD, which he characterized as “disorienting” and “otherworldly.” Gottlieb said that LSD “gave you propioceptions,” which he said meant “perceiving feeling in yourself as opposed to feelings of things outside yourself, like seeing a door as opposed to feeling something inside your own body.”
Details about MKULTRA and related programs first emerged in the mid-1970s alongside revelations about CIA assassination plots and other misdeeds that were exposed in leaks to the media and in official investigations, most notably by the Church and Pike committees and the Rockefeller Commission. In the late-1970s, the CIA’s Victims Task Force reached out to presumed victims of the CIA’s experiments, some of whom later filed lawsuits after learning that the Agency had secretly drugged them or members of their families.
As author Stephen Kinzer wrote in Poisoner in Chief, his 2019 biography of Gottlieb, it was in 1975 that journalists writing about revelations from the Rockefeller Commission “pierced Gottlieb’s shroud of anonymity for the first time” after stories linked him to the death of Army scientist Frank Olson, drug tests on unwitting U.S. citizens, and the destruction of records related to these programs. “Gottlieb was an obvious target” according to Kinzer. His chief bureaucratic ally, Richard Helms, who had been named CIA director in 1966, had been fired two years earlier. MKULTRA “was no longer well regarded.” Perhaps worst of all, “he was tainted by the fact that his Technical Services Division had collaborated with the Watergate burglars.”
But while declassified records and other evidence show that U.S. research into human behavior control and efforts to operationalize these methods extended across multiple U.S. agencies and involved numerous officials, few, if any, were more central to these programs than Gottlieb, who was involved in nearly every aspect of the program, including research, field tests, and the use of these methods in intelligence operations. The declassified evidence also shows that Gottlieb was a key bureaucratic player who signed off on hundreds of MKULTRA subprojects and who developed clandestine relationships with universities, prisons, hospitals, private laboratories, and private foundations that made it difficult to trace the programs back to the Agency.
See, also, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidney_Gottlieb -- https://wikispooks.com/wiki/Sidney_Gottlieb
https://www.msn.com/en-us/society-culture-and-history/pop-culture/what-was-project-mkultra-inside-the-cia-s-mind-control-experiments-that-may-have-involved-charles-manson/ar-AA1Aw4ZM
There is nothing like an ongoing story that admits thoughts of spin-off happenings.
Charlie Manson, Charlie Kirk, each with his own place in Americana legend. Bless the Charlies.
Good morning. Dick Cheney. Gardner Webb.
Joining Kissinger in hell if there is one. PBS online carries the AP obit. Strib had the same carry.
Mark Twain said, "I do not wish death on anyone, but certain obituaries interest me more than others."
That said, leaf raking continues. The yard seems to get bigger year by year, the trees get bigger and leafier.
Still - leaf raking today is better than being Dick Cheney today. In fact, leaf raking anytime is better than being Dick Cheney. If W is in grief, Colin Powell, to play on a phrase, "Let them eat yellow cake."
Other news, the Minnesota Golden Gopher basketball team defeated Gardner Webb.
Who? What? They only played against one guy?
Nope, looked it up:
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| click the image to read detail |
In North Carolina. Learning two things from today's newspaper. Cheney died, Gardner Webb University exists. Already knew, today there's an election in Minnesota. Bless the results, which we learn later.
With Gardner Webb a Christian endeavor, they can believe the Cheney- Kissinger thought.
__________________UPDATE_______________
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Try search = Brave New World Soma
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soma_(Brave_New_World)
We're there! Without Dick Cheney. We got Trump.
All that in one statewide newspaper, and I did not have to read any of it. Headlines suffice.
Just had to look up a thing or two.
Monday, November 03, 2025
Good morning.
The outside Temp is 39°F Clear all day is forecast.
This post is written before reading any online news, so it could be a friendly one.
Clear skies, the yard covered in fallen oak leaves, some trees have not fully cleared. Rakes are in the garage. Fall leaf raking - not enjoyable but not a super burden - at 81 y old, it would be fine enough to have another 10 years of the burden of fall leaf raking. Or that's the zen in mind to go do it.
Part of the homesite are woods behind the house, where a big leaf pile has accumulated, and it is due for enlargement. On occasion over winter deer have overnighted on the leaf pile since it's warmer and softer than bare ground. One Christmas Day there were an adult pair sleeping there.
Troubles of the world aside, it's good to not yet have croaked. So leaf raking to do, but for real. Not in the law firm sense of leaf raking.
Still dark outside and there's coffee. So, good morning, hello world.
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