The Trump administration is conducting a sweeping overhaul of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE),
with more than a dozen senior officials in various cities being
replaced by officials from Customs and Border Protection (CBP). At the heart of this effort is Greg Bovino,
commander-at-large of the Border Patrol, who is currently the public
face of the Trump administration’s current interior enforcement surges.
But what’s unfolding under Bovino isn’t law enforcement. It’s political
stagecraft directed from Washington, not the field.
Under Bovino’s command, the Department of Homeland Security has assembled something new: a hybrid, unaccountable task force reporting
directly to DHS headquarters and the White House and operating outside
the traditional command structures that govern federal law enforcement.
It isn’t ICE. It isn’t CBP. It’s a Frankenstein force, stitched together
from multiple agencies but loyal to none. Its purpose is to create a
community response designed for social media clicks, rather than to keep
communities safe.
The recent wave of ICE senior official reassignments makes the motive
behind this new structure unmistakable: It’s about control, not
competence. Seasoned career leaders — the very people who built ICE’s
investigative, detention and removal frameworks — are being pushed aside
or relocated for refusing to chase arbitrary arrest quotas or
participate in politically driven operations. These aren’t disciplinary
moves; they’re purges designed to silence dissent and clear the field
for Bovino’s task forces. In effect, the DHS has replaced law
enforcement judgment with political obedience, rewarding those who
follow orders from the top — and sidelining those who still believe in
risk-based enforcement and the rule of law.
For decades, ICE and
CBP had distinct yet complementary missions. ICE’s Enforcement and
Removal Operations (ERO) targeted serious offenders in the interior;
CBP’s Border Patrol protected the border. Each had apparent oversight,
trained professionals and accountability lines that ran through their
respective chains of command.
The new structure under Bovino upends that approach.
Under his leadership, select personnel from both agencies have been
integrated into what’s officially branded a “joint enforcement
initiative.” Still, DHS officials describe it as politically controlled,
rather than law enforcement-controlled. It doesn’t answer to ICE or CBP
leadership — it reports directly to DHS political appointees.
Well that doesn't sound at all dangerous, right? That was sarcasm. And Houser's writing as an informed and experienced person on the topic: "Jason Houser served as the chief of staff for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from 2021 to 2023. He previously served as a counterterrorism official for Customs & Border Protection (CBP)." And the minimal oversight is about to get even worse. Sam Biddle (INTERCEPT) explains:
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is considering hiring private bounty hunters to locate immigrants across the country, according to a procurement document reviewed by The Intercept. Under the plan, bounty hunters may receive “monetary bonuses” depending on how successfully they track down their targets — and how many immigrants they then report to ICE.
According to the document, which solicits information from interested contractors for a potentially forthcoming contract opportunity, companies hired by ICE will be given bundles of information on 10,000 immigrants at a time to locate, with further assignments provided in “increments of 10,000 up to 1,000,000.”
The solicitation
says ICE is “exploring an incentive based pricing structure” to
encourage quick results, with “monetary bonuses” paid out based on
performance. For example, ICE says contractors might get paid a bonus
for identifying a person’s correct address on the first try or finding
90 percent of its targets within a set timeframe. (ICE did not
immediately respond to a request for comment.)
The document closely resembles a plan reportedly circulated by a group
of military contractors, including former Blackwater CEO and Trump ally
Erik Prince.
Yeah, that would play so very well. Throwing more money around and this time to known crooks like Blackwater? Donald's a psychopath who has broken with reality. David McAfee (RAW STORY) reports:
Donald
Trump on Saturday issued a warning to Republicans, telling them not to
be "weak and stupid" and pushing them to make sure Democrats "never
again have the chance" to govern the nation.
"Never again have the chance" to govern? That sounds like a threat. Maybe someone needs to report Chump to the Secret Service. Threat or not, it's an insane remark to make. He really does need to do a series of cognitive tests and the results need to be made public. With each day, he comes off more and more unhinged, more and more deranged. The position of president is too important for blind trust. He needs to undergo a series of tests to establish that he can still function in the role.
President
Donald Trump's approach to the upcoming elections is lacking the
bluster of previous fights — and insiders suggest he thinks Republicans
have already lost, the Washington Post reported Saturday.
The
president has kept a strategic distance from candidates in races,
including in Virginia and New Jersey — and has refused to pour the
millions of dollars into contests that he has in the past.
In
Virginia, Trump has been particularly silent, with Chris Saxman, a
former GOP state delegate, commenting: "I don't think he likes to back
candidates he knows are going to lose."
The Washington Post reported that Trump's reluctance to get involved is "signaling some pessimism."
Why You Might Want To Read This: Corruption is all around us. A malignant narcissist president and his family who treat the government like their personal piggy bank. Illegal gambling in sports (shocking, shocking given that every other TV ad on a sports show is a come-on to gamble). But, the half-century, daily corruption that *really* eats away at us is rarely flagged explicitly, which goes to a fundamental question stoked today courtesy of Elon Musk, a question that shapes economics, politics and community: who creates the value of a company? And the 3 points to carry forth…
We live in an age that normalizes the illogical, the insane and the just plain outright lie. It isn’t as Jonathan Swift opined back in the 18th Century that “Falsehood flies, and truth comes limping after it”. It’s that, today, truth isn’t even part of the equation.
Today’s evergreen topic—likely familiar to most of my readers—is: who, in any industry, creates the real value of a company, the CEO or its workers?
Now, to you, dear reader, the answer seems obvious because you operate in a world of rationality, honesty and fairness.
But, if you look at the debate that happens in the public arena and how the debate translates into real life, there is a tacit acceptance among the chattering classes that CEO pay, though sometimes a bit exorbitant, is geared to generating the maximum value for company shareholders. And this notion, repeated non-stop, infects conversations about corporate behavior among even people who should know better.
Of course, this has always been pure nonsense.
CEO pay has never been tied to value. It’s always been a core element of the corrupt economic system.
When I wrote my book “The Audacity of Greed”back in 2009, I had the good fortune to talk with Graef “Bud” Crystal who was once one of the country’s premier compensation consultants—the guy who would be hired by CEOs to come up with compensation packages. He was there in the very first days of what would become a broad scam. He told me back then:
“In 1970, one CEO hired me and said, ‘we don’t have a bonus plan and do we need one?’” recalls Crystal. “I did the study and I went back to the CEO and said ‘yes you do need a bonus plan. But we have a problem area. You are making $150,000-a year and the problem is that the $150,000 is equal to the salary and the bonus to what your competitors are paying so we have to cut your pay to $100,000-a-year and then we can put in a bonus.’” Crystal laughs. “It was like a scene from The Exorcist where ice formed on the windows…he started arguing about the findings and he finally said ‘let me say this to you this way: who do you think is paying your bills anyway?’ I replied, ‘If I recall correctly the checks were drawn on the corporate account, not your personal account so the shareholders are paying me, not you.’ The meeting ended quite quickly.
The point is the whole game is fixed, a scam, and has little to do with “free market” competition. The CEO stacks his board with cronies, pays them $20,000-per-meeting board fees, places his most loyal subjects on the compensation committee and, then, makes sure his cronies approve pay packages.
The Musk-crat gives us a very opportune moment to dig into this.
You may have heard: he’s asking shareholders of Telsa to approve a one trillion dollar pay package.
Wait, did I just write casually “one trillion dollars”? Ummm… this deserves some emphasis, no?
A ONE TRILLION DOLLAR PAY DEAL!!!
And if he doesn’t get the deal voted up at Tesla’s November 6th shareholder meeting, the Musk-crat is threatening to leave the company:
Musk’s leadership was “critical” to Tesla’s success, she said, and warned that without a plan that properly incentivizes him, the company could lose his “time, talent and vision”. Musk’s role was vital as Tesla seeks to become a global leader in artificial intelligence and autonomous technology, she said.
The proposed package would grant Musk 12 tranches of stock options tied to ambitious targets, including a market capitalization of $8.5 trillion and milestones in autonomous driving and robotics.
The 3 points we need to pay attention to and bring up at every opportunity.
Point #1: The Great Man Theory.
The Musk-crat is simply riding the wave of the long-entrenched Great Man Theory: the idea that a singular person—the CEO—is responsible for a company’s success, not the thousands of people who work on the assembly lines or toil in offices or churn out valuable stuff remotely. It’s a theory that the malignant narcissist in the White House—a “businessman” who has gone bankrupt four times and saddled countless bond holders with the carnage of his incompetence—embraces with both tiny hands.
There is no company, or organization or political movement, that has risen or fallen thanks to a single person. And, yet, the Great Man Theory is a convenient cover for greed and avarice, and the impoverishment of the legions of people who are the cornerstone of progress for any company.
The Great Man Theory is also an obvious argument for the need for unions. It’s not by chance that Musk-crat is hard-core anti-union. Though it’s been a rare instance where unions can constrain a CEO’s pay, *at least* unions are able to squeeze from the CEO’s grubby, greedy hands some cash to pay folks a bit better than they get in the largely non-union economy.
CEOs have been riding this scam for a very long time, which this graph shows:
The headline of this post takes the view that this corruption is endemic, mostly slipping by. Test this for yourself: read every story in the traditional, corporate media, or watch any TV program, to see whether the absurd idea of paying Musk-crat one trillion dollars is ever paired with the concept that 99 percent of that money really belongs to all the other non-Murk-crat workers who are the ones who create the core value to Tesla.
The Great Man Theory and the CEO corporate pay thievery are subsets of what Robert H. Frank and Philip J. Cook called “The Winner-Take-All Society”. This Great Man Theory has spawned an economic kleptocracy in the private and public worlds. It’s infected every corner of society from sports to politics.
Consider: you are paying, through your tax dollars, to support ex-presidents (with robust staffing and benefits) who have all (with the exception of the late Jimmy Carter) become multi-millionaires on your dime, buying up vast estates on, say, Martha’s Vineyard or signing $100-million film production deals. Because they are “great men” and deserve, like CEOs and even more so because of public service, to be richer than everyone else—without a hint of awareness that it’s the taxpayers, the people, who bestowed upon them the elected office who created their “greatness.”
Point #2: This endemic corruption is at the root of the anger bubbling up from every corner of the country. That expresses itself with the clear disgust people have for both political parties.
To be sure, the relentless, shameless Trump family shake-down (crypto deals, Saudi money investments) is gross and brazen. These folks are amoral crooks.
But, day-to-day, what leaves millions of people in dire economic circumstances is the endemic, careful, structural siphoning off of the wealth people create at work into the pockets of Musk-crat and the other billionaires who now are worth $5.7 trillion.
Point #3: I don’t see a way to stop, in the near-term, the corporate CEO robbery. Shareholder activism, which has been in vogue for 25 years or so, is a lot of noise and fireworks but rarely stops the robbery because it’s scope is limited by the law (a longer story) and it’s an inside game (the CEO and his minions—including large investment and private equity firms—control the majority of shares).
But, that’s our money. Meaning, the value created by working people as expressed by money.
And if you believe, as I do, that it is corrupt for the richest nation in human history to have millions of people without homes, workers with full-time jobs who sleep in their cars because they can’t afford the rent, kids going hungry, then, we have a damn right to take it back.
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Friday, October 31, 2025. Crazed psycho Chump wants to bring back the nuclear arms race, does RAW STORY pay Alexander Willis for the pro-Donald Chump propaganda he keeps turning out, cowardly Francesca Fiorentini is out to pimp for Platner and it's not going well for her on BLUESKY, and much more.
There is no historical precedent To put the words in the mouth of the president? There's no such thing as a winnable war It's a lie we don't believe anymore Mister Reagan says, "We will protect you" I don't subscribe to this point of view Believe me when I say to you I hope the Russians love their children too
"Russians," written by Sting and Sergei Prokofiev, first appears on Stings THE DREAM OF THE BLUE TURTLE
President
Donald Trump announced on Oct. 29 that the United States will
"immediately" resume nuclear weapons tests, a move he said is needed to
ensure the country keeps up with its rival nuclear powers.
In
a Truth Social post, Trump touted progress made on nuclear weapons
modernization during his first term. But he warned that China's nuclear
weapons buildup will place Beijing's arsenal on equal footing with the
United States and Russia "within 5 years."
He needs nuclear testing? Well he needs cognitive testing but, no, he doesn't need -- nor does the world -- nuclear testing. The demented and depraved Donald is attempting to restart the arms race. That's how sick his mind is. David E. Sanger and William J. Broad (NEW YORK TIMES) remind:
Mr. Trump’s own senior official in charge
of nuclear testing — Brandon Williams, a former one-term member of
Congress from upstate New York — was asked point-blank during his confirmation hearing in April whether the United States needed to go back to explosive testing.
“I
would not advise testing, and I think we should rely on the scientific
information,” Mr. Williams said, referring to such things as data
gathered from supercomputer modeling. But he quickly noted the decision
would be made “above my pay grade.”
Andre Damon (WSWS) points out, "In the decades before testing was banned, over 2,000 nuclear detonations
were conducted, more than half of which were carried out by the United
States. These tests sickened communities both inside the American West
and throughout the South Pacific and rendered entire areas
uninhabitable." Jon Gambrell (INDEPENDENT) reports:
Trump’s
comments came in a post on his Truth Social website just before meeting
Chinese leader Xi Jinping. In it, Trump noted other countries testing
weapons and wrote: “I have instructed the Department of [Defense] to start
testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis. That process will begin
immediately.”
The president’s post raised
immediate questions. America’s nuclear arsenal is maintained by the
Energy Department and the National Nuclear Security Administration, a
semi-autonomous agency within it — not the Defense Department. The
Energy Department has overseen testing of nuclear weapons since its
creation in 1977. Two other agencies before it — not the Defense
Department — conducted tests.
Trump also
claimed the U.S. “has more Nuclear Weapons than any other country.”
Russia is believed to have 5,580 nuclear warheads, according to the
Washington-based Arms Control Association, while the U.S. has 5,225. The
two countries account for nearly 90% of the world’s atomic warheads.
The last underground explosive blast at the Nevada Test Site occurred on Sept. 23, 1992.
Its power was reportedly quite small — a third of the Hiroshima bomb’s —
and no public information seems to exist on the test’s purpose.
That same year, at the Cold War’s end,
the United States voluntarily gave up the explosive testing of nuclear
arms and eventually talked other atomic powers into doing likewise.
Then, in 1993, President Bill Clinton announced plans for a treaty in which all nations would forgo all nuclear blasts. This meant banning tests even underground, the last permissible zone.
Although the 1996 test-ban treaty never officially went into force,
it created a global norm. The long, hard process of hammering out a
global consensus on the merits of a ban, embraced by all the
thermonuclear states at the time, led to a more stable era. Gone were
the shock waves that had regularly radiated from underground test sites
and ricocheted around the globe.
Since then, the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France have tested no weapons.
As some have focused on the huge damage he's doing to our country, Chump's turned his destructive eye to the whole world.
See Ben this morning for more on Chump's stupidity that risks the entire world.
Speaking of the world, Chump never had a peace plan. He put in a pause or a cease-fire in Gaza. It's not holding. A number of you are e-mailing about a ridiculous and offensive piece RAW STORY published yesterday. I didn't see it until the e-mails. When I read through some of those e-mails, I thought, "It's going to be Alexander Willis again." And it is. Again? From Saturday's "RAW STORY, please stop spreading Donald Chump's lies:"
Lousy?
I think it needs to be pointed out that while he's posting to social
media our government remains in shutdown -- the shutdown he caused. I
think it needs to be pointed out that late night posting isn't time
working nor is it benefitting his health. I think it especially needs
to be pointed when he's lying.
And he's always lying.
Why
did Alexander Willis repost Chump's lies and not call them out? Willis
treats the lies as fact. What the hell is going on at RAW STORY?
There
is no proof that, after January 6th, phone calls of members of Congress
were listened in on. I guess they could have used the NSA for archival
recordings potentially. There's no other way for you to after the fact
tap a phone call. After January 6th, as the government investigated
the treasonous insurrection, they got the toll slips. Toll slips only
tell you who a number called and the duration of the call. In the
immediate hours after Marilyn Monroe's death, the Secret Service seized
the toll slips from the phone company. It told them who called the
number and who called from the number. It did not tell them the
contents of any phone call.
Charles Grassley may not be lying. He's so old, he may truly not understand. He's 92 years old and really needs to retire.
But whether he's lying or just confused, Grassley does not know what he's talking about.
Chump
does know the difference between a tap on a phone call and toll slips
-- he's known the difference long before he was president and it had to
do with some of his father's illegal actives which is a whole other
story. But he does know the difference.
If
Alexander Willis is unable to explain coherently that false charges
repeated in the RAW STORY articles are false charges, then that's a
writer who needs to find another outlet.
This is an Alexander Willis problem. And it needs to be looked at. It's not a RAW STORY program. They have many solid writers. And RAW STORY does not normally report or 'report' the way Aelxander Willis did on the toll slips. Click here for the garbage Willis wrote re: Gaza.
"Officials in the Trump administration are panicking as the president’s Gaza peace deal runs the risk "
"President Donald Trump brokered a historic peace deal "
"As part of Trump’s peace plan, his administration"
It was not a peace plan. I'm tired of the f**king stupidity and the f**king lying. Does the use of the F-word make clear how sick I am of this? A peace plan -- pay attention those who are deeply stupid -- requires all parties getting together for negotiations. This was a cease fire or what the press called a cease-fire under Joe Biden. It was a pause. We didn't accept the lie that Joe had done a cease-fire (we noted it was a pause) and we certainly won't elevate Chump's pause into a "peace plan." What the hell is up with Alexander Willis who keeps working Republican talking points into his articles for RAW STORY?
We don't note COMMON DREAMS anymore. Too many whores who helped depress turnout in the 2024 election. We don't have time for whores. Brett Wilkins focused on many issues at that site including Gaza which he always did a good job on. So I went looking and here's his article on the same topic Willis 'wrote' 'about' -- click here -- and he calls it a cease-fire throughout. He never calls it a peace deal. He never licks Chump's anus the way Alexander Willis does ("a historic peace deal").
I don't trust Alexander Willis and he's either a propagandist (for Chump) or a really bad writer (two at RAW STORY say he's a really bad writer). Regardless, we can't afford him. When we're in a battle to save this country, we can't afford someone at a left site ignoring reality and bending the truth to make Donald Chump look better.
Health
insurance premiums for plans bought on the Affordable Care Act (ACA)
marketplaces, often known as Obamacare, are set to increase by an
average of 26% in 2026, according to a new analysis released Tuesday
evening by the health research group KFF.
But
that number could grow significantly if lawmakers fail to reach a deal
to extend the COVID-19 era expanded tax credits that help offset ACA
premium costs. And when pressed on that fact, Trump administration
officials have tried to obfuscate, at times going so far as to falsely
question the veracity of data highlighting the increased costs.
On
Wednesday, the so-called “window shopping” period began for Americans
in 30 states that rely on the federal exchange, healthcare.gov. Those
consumers can now input their information and see what the costs for
their 2026 plans will look like before enrollment officially begins on
Nov. 1.
According to the KFF analysis,
Americans who get their insurance through the federal exchange will
actually see their premiums increase an average of 30%. The 20 states
that run their own ACA exchanges will see increases of 17% on average.
But without the extension of the expanded tax credits, the amount Americans pay each month will increase by 114% on average, KFF finds. Indeed, 92%
of Americans received some sort of tax credit to offset ACA costs in
2025. While not all the credits will be going away, millions could be
hit with what KFF described as the “double whammy” of rising premium
costs and declining government help.
Will Alexander Willis dress that up to make Chump the savior of healthcare? Will he whore himself out further to come up with a piece insisting Chump' moves on healthcare are "historic"? There is reality and then there are the words that flow out of Chump's sewage spout. Kinsey Crowley and Kathryn Palmer (USA TODAY) report:
Trump has told reporters while jetting between Malaysia, Japan and South Korea that his poll numbers were high as he toyed with the idea of pursuing a third term. Though on Oct. 29, he admitted that the Constitution limits him to two terms.
But polls consistently tell a different story: His approval rating
is historically low and steady, despite a tumultuous first nine months.
Here is what Americans think of Trump's job performance, the "No Kings" protests and the government shutdown.
In an Economist/YouGov poll
of 1,623 U.S. adult citizens conducted Oct. 24-27, Trump's approval
rating slipped to 39%. It also found 58% disapprove, giving a net
approval of -19 points, the lowest of his second term, according to the
pollster. However, it is only two points worse than the previous week's
poll. The poll's margin of error is 3.5 percentage points.
Chump's just a cheap liar. It's repetitive, not a new observation at all; however, it remains true and the truth needs to be repeated. Joe Light (BARRONS NEWS) reports:
President
Donald Trump on Thursday touted his trade deal as a major win for U.S.
soybean farmers. But even if China upholds the agreement as described by
the administration, U.S. farmers at most are likely merely to see a
return to the status quo before the 2025 trade war began rather than a
meaningful breakthrough.
As
part of the trade deal, China committed to buying 12 million metric tons
of soybeans this year, as well as to purchasing a minimum of 25 million
metric tons of the crop annually for the next three years, Treasury
Secretary Scott Bessent said in an interview with Fox Business’s
Mornings with Maria on Thursday. Bessent said he expected Trump in the
future would convince Chinese President Xi Jinping to increase their
commitment.
“Our Farmers will be very happy! In
fact, as I said once before during my first Administration, Farmers
should immediately go out and buy more land and larger tractors,” Trump
said in a Truth Social post, also pointing to other agricultural
products China said it would buy.
However, the
25 million tons to which China committed are roughly comparable to what
the country purchased in 2024, before the trade war started, noted
Beacon Policy Advisors analyst Owen Tedford.
The thing about the ranchers? This is their livelihood. Chump's a liar but he's a really dumb liar. At this point, he can't afford to lose any support. But lies like this? They drive your support away.
His lie this week that gas prices will soon be at $2 a gallon? That ticks people off if they're paying attention. But his lies regarding what cattle ranchers are dealing with and will be dealing with (and his suggestion that they just buy more land)? They go to his seeing them as a mark, they go to his attempting to con them. And when you're losing money over his con, it becomes a lot more serious.
They're not going to forget this and they aren't going to forgive -- nor should they.
Let's do another topic.
If you missed it, a certain group doesn't want most of us to enter Democratic Party headquarters through the front door.
No, we're expected to use the back door. Those of us who are women (of any race), men of color, LGBTQ+, Jewish, Muslim, etc. Basically, if you're not a White straight cis gender male with a belief in Jesus Christ, you're not allowed in the front door. Grasp that as you read Michelle Goldberg's ridiculous columns ('he's not dead because people tell me he's not!'). We don't link to trash so go search THE NEW YORK TIMES for it. It's her effort to join Tricksters Turning Tricks for Graham Platner.
The dues are rather steep for the club, you have to sell your soul.
And even with that high price, turns out your whoring may not work for you.
Take
poor Francesca Fiorentini. Backing up a rape denier -- he denies rape
-- just imploded her 'feminist' credentials for anyone stupid enough to
still think she was a feminist -- loud and ugly women may fit the old media stereotype of feminism but, point of fact, we're not all loud and ugly.
Now it's shame, shame everyone on BLUESKY knows her name. She was back
to pimping the sexist, racist, homophobic, rich boy who worked for
Blackwater Graham Platner. She tried to pimp Branko's lie-riddled
article. 81 people clicked on the "heart" for her post.
Believe that's similar to being ratioed. Poor Franci.
SuperChill noted,
"Evidence points to Platner knowing it was a Nazi tattoo but
gaslighting the public about it. Why OP thinks they have a special
ability to discern Platner's true nature and motivations is a mystery.
Unfollowing OP." Guess how many liked SuperChill's comment? 285.
So deeply unpopular even on the BLUESKY
thread she started.
You may remember 'brave' Francie getting snaps and
props from The Circle Jerk back in March because she left THE YOUNG
TURKS. This was how long after TYT had declared war on transgender
people? In other words, Francie, you didn't do anything brave as you continued to be a part of an outlet promoting transphobia and promoting White Nationalism -- let's be clear that's what Nose Job Ana's become -- was the nose job, in fact, necessary for her to be accepted by other White Nationalists?
Francie was a joke then as well. She is one of the reasons we don't highlight ZETO
that often. Mehdi I have no problem highlighting. But I had to block
Zeteo on YOUTUBE due to the horrid people they hired. I don't really think it's
your business that a woman had a mastectomy. No, I don't. And if she
had one and was public about how she lost her mother to breast cancer, I
especially think you back the hell off. But one strike for ZETEO for
hiring that liar wo attacked the woman who had a mastectomy and then another for Francie and then one for their
Socialist who poses as a Democrat and was allowed to lie in two segments
in a row.
Love and respect for Mehdi -- who we still note -- but, no,
not going to pimp ZETEO. And what is it about these charisma free
podcasters that led them to ever think they could be a stand up
comedian? Francie, you're not funny. Again, you're loud. But even
that doesn't make you Sam Kinison. Who may have actually been physically cuter
than Francie.
Kevin M. Kruse has a great thread on Platner and his groupies. Ragnarok Lobster notes,
"This is why Bernie Sanders loves Graham Platner: like Bernie, Platner
is a bitter White man who blames everyone else for his personal
shortcomings." Francie also wants you to know Platner passes "the smell
test." So did Cenk. Until he fired her. Let that sink in. For all
her 'brave' pretense, she'd probably still be with TYT if Cenk hadn't
fired her in March.
I cannot swear to know the minds of men
like Murphy and Sanders. But, were I a betting person, I’d wager someone
else’s riches that they know racism and xenophobia are inextricably
linked to America’s inchoate understanding of class politics. They know
that “working class” has become a powerful political totem of its own — a
discursive sleight of hand used to separate out white voters’ concerns
as more legitimate, more materially grounded, more important than other voters’ concerns.
These
senators are demonstrating a willful blindness that has become endemic
in the Democratic Party. Their rhetoric — and the conventional wisdom
that flows from it — suggests that we cannot talk about economic
solutions without abandoning our commitment to the Black, Latino, gay,
transgender and female poor that are the lifeblood of the Democratic
Party’s base. The conceit at the heart of that belief is that poor white
people are too racist, and too uniquely ignorant of their racism, to
vote in their best interests. Therefore, Democrats have to accept a
little racism to win the working class.
It is an old argument. History will tell you that negotiating with racism or fascism or authoritarianism never ends well.
Be sure to check out THE NEW YORK TIMES editorial "Are We Losing Our Democracy?" And let's note two important videos on Chump's Epstein scandal.
Let's wind down with this from Senator Patty Murray's office:
Washington, D.C. – Today, on the 30th day of the Republican government shutdown and ahead of Open Enrollment beginning nationwide this Saturday, November 1st,
U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA)—Vice Chair of the Senate
Appropriations Committee and a senior member and former chair of the
Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee—held a
virtual press conference with Washington State Insurance Commissioner
Patty Kuderer and constituent Bridget Provalenko of Bellingham, whose
family relies on the Affordable Care Act (ACA) enhanced premium tax credits to afford health insurance.
At the press conference, Senator Murray discussed how inaction by
Republican Members of Congress will force Washingtonians to pay
significantly more for health care next year. Last week, Washington
state’s ACA marketplace, Washington Healthplanfinder, opened its “window shopping” period, allowing Washingtonians to look at health coverage plans for next year—and mostare seeing
dramatic increases in their premiums thanks to Republican inaction.
Customers can start signing up for a plan and officially shopping for
coverage through Washington Healthplanfinder once Open Enrollment begins
on November 1st. On average, premiums for ACA plans in Washington state are spiking by 21 percent. Nationwide, 22 million
Americans who buy health care through the ACA exchanges will see their
health care costs skyrocket next year without the tax credits, premiums
are more than doubling on average, and these higher costs will push 4.8 million people off their health coverage over the next decade. A Washington-state specific fact sheet on the ACA tax credits is HERE.
“Republicans don’t even have the tiniest inkling of an actual
health care plan! They never have. But Democrats have a pretty simple
plan to address the immediate crisis: save these tax credits, and stop
premiums from doubling, tripling, quadrupling, or worse. Now,
Republicans may have shut down the government over this, but they will
not shut down the debate. People in Washington state and across the
country are not going to be silent when they log on and see their
monthly premium is going to go through the roof. They are already
speaking out,” said Senator Murray. “There are over
220,000 people in Washington state alone who rely on the premium tax
credits to afford health insurance. And that is literally just one
percent of the 22 million people in the country who rely on them. In our
state, families who lose their support are going to see their premiums
more than double on average. I am hearing from families who have done
the math and gotten their notices. They check online, and learn that
their health insurance plans will cost hundreds—in some cases
thousands—more each month… I am going to keep shouting it from the
rooftops: later is too late. People are window shopping for health plans
now. Open enrollment is this Saturday. That is when these price hikes
really become a reality, and families who feel priced out of their
coverage may just give up.”
Senator Murray played a critical role in passing the enhanced premium tax credits in the American Rescue Plan in 2021 and extending them in the Inflation Reduction Act in
2022, and she has been fighting for months to make sure these important
health care tax credits don’t expire, including cosponsoring multiple
pieces of legislation—the Health Care Affordability Actand theProtecting Health Care and Lowering Costs Act—that would make them permanent.
“Hard working people have relied on these tax credits to buy
health insurance for themselves and their families. Some of these people
have serious health conditions. For them, the idea of going without
coverage can literally mean the difference between life and death,
unless Congress takes immediate action to extend them the enhanced
premium tax credits will expire at the end of the year,” saidWashington State Insurance Commissioner Patty Kuderer.
“More than 216,000 Washingtonians in the individual market qualified
for enhanced premium tax credits. That’s about two thirds of our
enrollees. These subsidies are what help people afford and keep
coverage. If Republicans let the enhanced premium tax credits expire,
the exchange estimates that up to 80,000 Washingtonians will drop their
health insurance. I’m afraid this will cause us to backslide on our
state’s historically low 4.8 percent uninsured rate. That means higher
costs and strains on our health care system. As people put off
preventative care, these effects will be felt by people across the
state, but will hurt some of our rural communities.”
“Being self-employed, we have to go out and find our own
insurance, which we have done over the past few years. Fortunately, last
year, we qualified for the credits on the ACA, and it’s made a huge
difference. It was able to keep our premium the same as it was the prior
year, which was amazing for us,” said Bridget Provalenko of Bellingham, whose family uses the Affordable Care Act (ACA) Exchange to afford health insurance. “Health
insurance isn’t a Democrat or Republican issue, it’s an American issue…
I just want people to understand that health insurance is very
important to people. We need it. We need to make it affordable.”
Senator Murray’s remarks, as delivered on today’s press call, are below:
“Thank you all for joining this call today, because right now,
families in Washington state and across the country are window shopping
for health insurance coverage for next year. And they are coming
face-to-face with the reality that their monthly premiums are set to
skyrocket, all because of Republicans’ inaction.
“Democrats have been clear, all year long: we want to stop these
price hikes and we want to save the ACA tax credits that millions of
families rely on.
“But Republicans have been silent. Or worse, they’ve shrugged their
shoulders. They’ve essentially said, ‘Don’t look at me, I never wanted
to lower health care costs in the first place.’
“So they have literally now shut the government down instead of
talking with Democrats about health care. Which is probably because
Republicans don’t even have the tiniest inkling of an actual health care
plan! They never have!
“But Democrats have a pretty simple plan to address the immediate
crisis: save the tax credits, and stop premiums from doubling, tripling,
quadrupling, or worse.
“Now, Republicans may have shut down the government over this, but
they will not shut down the debate. People in Washington state and
across the country are not going to be silent when they log on and see
their monthly premium is going to go through the roof. They are already
speaking out.
“There are over 220,000 people in Washington state alone who
rely on the premium tax credits so they can afford their health
insurance. And that is literally just one percent of the 22 million
people in the country who rely on them.
“In our state, families who lose their support are going to
see their premiums more than double on average. I’m hearing from
families who have done the math and gotten their notices. They check
online and learn that their health insurance plans will cost hundreds—in
some cases thousands—more each month.
“I have heard from families trying to figure out if they can go
without daily necessities—maybe have fewer, smaller meals. I have heard
from small business owners wondering if they will just have to close up
shop and look for a job with employer-sponsored coverage.
“I’ve heard from people who simply can’t afford it no matter what and
are just preparing to just go without health insurance entirely next
year. They’re skipping checkups, they’re rationing prescriptions, and
they’re rolling the dice on their health.
“This is heartbreaking. It is happening nationwide and it is
completely unacceptable to me. The Republican response has been silence.
The Republican solution is ‘later.’
“I am going to keep shouting it from the rooftops: later is
too late. People are window shopping for health plans now. Open
enrollment is this Saturday. That’s when these price hikes really become
a reality, and families who feel priced out of their coverage may just
give up.
“Every single day Republicans waste, this problem is going to get worse and harder to solve. Every day.
“So we are not going to stop sounding the alarm. We are not going to
stop lifting up the stories of real families who are facing the real
price hikes Republicans want to pretend don’t exist. And we are not
going to stop demanding they join us at the table, and work on actually
solving this and reopening the government as soon as possible.
“If Republicans want to bury their heads in the sand or plug their
ears, that’s their choice. But guess what? We are going to bring a
shovel. We will bring a megaphone. And we will do everything we can to
make sure the American people are heard.
“So thank you all for being here, and I’m glad to be joined by two
people who can speak about this issue firsthand: Patty Kuderer, our
Insurance Commissioner in Washington state; and Bridget from Bellingham.
Bridget, thank you for being here to share your story.”
