Colorado blue spruce is finally moving along with spring growth. Hope to do some careful trimming to promote buds further back on each branch. I must also balance with letting it grow stronger this season. 🌱🇳🇿

The problem of Congressional politics; in a nutshell. Republicans have never met an agreement they wouldn’t prefer to turn into a fight. Democrats have never met a fight they wouldn’t prefer to turn into a capitulation.

lib sky tonight

Anyway a great way to radicalize people is for them to realize that you just abandoned their chance at being able to access and afford health care because you didn’t like waiting in line at the airport.

The coordinated nature of this—none are facing voters in 2026—means that either Schumer approved it or failed in his job as Senate Majority Leader to stop it. Dems voting "no" get zero credit until they demand a change in leadership. Schumer out as Leader, Durbin out as Whip.

some helpful takes in the replies, including this thread. one question being how likely Dems are to filibuster on the other side of this bsky.app/profile/stem...

not snark, actually asking: after pushing a comma strategy that focused on health care, what is the case for the Democrats making a deal to end the shutdown now that doesn't involve a win on health care?

The caucus meeting was just to orchestrate who would fall on the sword but not be up for a vote in 2026.

Cannot wait for every one of these losers to get Mamdanied to hell the next cycle they’re up. They can all go live with Cuomo on an island in the sea.

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

I think Senate folders are significantly underestimating how fucking angry Democratic voters are at them

We polled Indivisible members over the weekend on whether Dems should take a deal or keep fighting for the ACA subsidies. Results: 98.67% said keep fighting. Dems who vote to surrender now are fracturing their own party in a way that will reverberate loudly in the primaries.

i do not care about "the future of the democratic party" as discussed by professional-class bozos who cannot see beyond their next client. i care about not living under a military occupation that is disappearing my neighbors

I see nothing in here that would require the White House to actually spend any available funds, prevent rescissions or withholding of payments, or do anything to change what has become an unsettling status quo in this calendar year.

not enough chatter about how frequently members fly and how attacking airport capacity directly affects them in a way that cutting SNAP does not

what are those of us without FSAs or HSAs or whatever the fuck supposed to do with this. i have a debit card and i need to go to the dentist you assholes

One of the first stories I ever wrote for money was for a trade magazine called Dermatology Business Management. It was a feature on FSA/HSA back when they were new. Every public health person I talked to was like "bad idea, also badly designed." That was like 20 years ago.

“He's got a point. The fair thing for us to do is just keep on giving up more and more stuff we want, unilaterally, until this demon is finally happy.” —The Good Place

Trump is punishing people for being poor and hungry and we're gonna just keep letting that go? Who the fuck thinks he's gonna fund SNAP when the government is open again? The fucking courts told him he had to end even THAT wasn't good enough. He's suing to be allowed to starve people

We told them we’d suffer to get away from this regime, to give ourselves a chance to turn this around…and opposition leadership has said they won’t sacrifice anything to help.

We’ve only ever asked them to try. They won’t even do that.

a vote in the senate is agreed to, which is all well and good, but it doesnt seem like House leadership has any obligation to honor that bargain.

What the fuck is the "guarantee"

Imagine coming off an incredible Election Day mandate from coast to coast and going 'you know what voters want? to be completely sold out by a bunch of craven cowards too pathetic to hold the line against a bunch of fucking weirdos'

Coward shit. Shame any Dems involved in this total sellout of Americans’ healthcare www.politico.com/news/2025/11...

One of the many reasons that Schumer straight up has to go is that, *best case scenario,* he has zero control over his caucus. The worst case scenario is considerably worse

if dems take this deal, they take ownership of the shutdown pain. fucking champions of own goals..

The problem of Congressional politics; in a nutshell. Republicans have never met an agreement they wouldn’t prefer to turn into a fight. Democrats have never met a fight they wouldn’t prefer to turn into a capitulation.

Democrats ran the table on Tuesday at state and local levels, getting not just its base excited but “normies” fed up over the last 10mo, so of course national Democrats want to do everything to pop the air in the balloon.

This is part of the tragedy of a surrender now. It invites more pain and suffering by emboldening the regime. Why should they listen to a weak opposition?

Democratic leadership: YOU MUST VOTE HARDER. Democratic voters: VOTE SUPER HARD IN MASSIVE NUMBERS AND FLIP SEATS AT MULTIPLE LEVELS OF GOVERNMENT ACROSS THE COUNTRY Democratic leadership: WE’RE CAVING. LULZ.

🚨 We’re hearing that Senate Democrats are on the verge of caving to Trump in another “Schumer Surrender.” That means your Democratic senators need to hear from you right now. Call: indivisible.org/resource/cal... Email: act.indivisible.org/sign/funding...

I'm hearing the same thing. Dems are nearing a surrender. I'm shocked. Largest protest in history + best election night in years + polling showing we're kicking their ass in public opinion. And now Dems may cave. It ain't over til it's over, so please do call if you've got a Dem senator.

You cannot separate the current nightmare we now inhabit from the collapse/crisis in how rich, powerful middle-aged men perceive masculinity, especially their own insecurities.

It's Journalism 101. Here's a handy flowchart to remind you.

Last night, the Trump Administration sent a letter suggesting Wisconsin should return our FoodShare payments. My response ⬇️

I wrote about the irony of the AI bubble, a phenomenon driven by storytelling and imagination in an industry that has contempt for both

The Golden Gingko God is starting to lose it.

I wrote about The Broken Logic of "The Best Place to Retire" www.patreon.com/posts/142988...

Interesting "if you are poor we are cutting off your food, if you're not we're gonna fuck up your holiday travel" strategy

Update from friends at Newark Airport after waiting for 2 hours to take off.

From friends flying out of Newark Airport this morning. Yikes.

That looks like it would make for quite a photo

"Even those passengers who successfully reach their destination are encountering long departure delays, extended tarmac times and highly unpredictable arrival times; many flight crews are timing out...or missing connections." - Airlines for America www.airlines.org/news-update/...

I’m always here for theological critiques of Vance’s Potemkin faith. But I’ve got no time for theological lectures from Gavin Newsom of all people, who famously has no housing plan, but loves to trash unhoused encampments across CA.

These guys are constantly saying that Dems need to abandon identity politics and run on kitchen-table issues. They get the most kitchen table-ass candidate imaginable, spend months saying he's secretly radical, then as soon as he wins they say he's secretly moderate.