“As I’ve said time again, I don't have anything to negotiate w/," he said on day 13 of the shutdown. “We did our job. We had that vote." And besides he said of the GOP lawmakers, “They are doing some of their best work in the district, helping their constituents navigate this crisis.” 9/end

Instead, the speaker, whose job is outlined in the Constitution, second in line of succession to the presidency, held almost daily press conferences on his side of the Capitol, a weekly conference call w/ GOP lawmakers, & private talks w/ Stain. 8/

The speaker has defended his decision to shutter the House during what’s now the longest gov't shutdown in U.S. history. He argued that the chamber, under the GOP majority, had already done its job passing a stopgap funding bill in Sept. It would be up to the Senate to act, he said. 7/

“When Congress decides to turn off the lights, it shifts the authority to the executive branch. That is how it works,” he said, blaming Democrats, w/ their fight over health care funds, for the closures. An empty House as a political strategy 6/

Over these past weeks, the chamber has sidestepped its basic responsibilities, from passing routine legislation to conducting oversight. The silencing of the speaker's gavel has been unusual & surprising in a system of gov't where the founders envisioned the branches would 5/

Rather than use the immense powers of the speaker’s office to forcefully steer the debate in Congress, as a coequal branch of the gov't on par w/ the executive & the courts, Mike simply closed up shop — allowing the House to become unusually deferential, particularly to Felon Orange Stain. 4/

“It’s extraordinary,” said Matthew Green, a professor at the politics dept at The Catholic University of Amer. “What Moses Mike & Repugs are doing, you have to go back decades to find an example where the House — either chamber — decided not to meet.” Gaveling in after 2 months gone 3/

100's of reps are preparing to return Wed to Washington after a nearly 8-week absence, carrying a torrent of ideas, proposals & frustrations over work that has stalled when the Repug speaker shuttered the House doors nearly 2 months ago. 2/

Moses Mike shuttered the House & amassed quiet power w/ Felon Stain:

Quote of the Day: “The deference & servility to Ms. Ghislaine Maxwell have reached such preposterous levels that one of the top officials at the facility has complained that he is ‘sick of having to be Maxwell’s bitch.’”– 14/end

Kash Patel Leaves MI5 Hanging FBI Director Kash Patel reassured the head of MI5 that he’d preserve the job of an FBI agent in London who helps w/ counterintelligence surveillance – then reneged on the promise, the NYT reports. 13/

Stain’s Murderous Misadventure Defense Sec Pete KegBreath has been busy purging at least 2 dozen flag officers & sidelining military lawyers precisely to allow the kind of unsanctioned war the Stain admin is engaged in against drug cartels & the Maduro regime in Venezuela: 12/

Mass Deportation Watch The Stain admin took steps in court late last week to deport the repeatedly brutalized Kilmar Abrego Garcia to Liberia, a country w/ which he no ties. The NYT interviewed 40 of the Venezuelan men who were unlawfully imprisoned at 11/

SCOTUS Takes Mail-In Ballot Case The SCOTUS has agreed to hear a case challenging a Miss law that allows the counting of mail-in ballots that arrive after Election Day. The case had nationwide implications, w/ some 30 states allowing the counting of mail-in ballots after Election Day. 10/

It’s hard to get the media, it’s hard to get the American people to focus on what a travesty it is when you have an individual judge be able to stop an entire operation or an entire administrative policy that’s constitutional and allowed just because he or she chooses to do so. So, it’s a war. 9/

Blanche: Stain DOJ ‘At War’ With Judges With the Stain DOJ struggling to retain lawyers & staff, Deputy Atty General Todd Blanche made a pitch to young conservative lawyers Friday at a Federalist Society event in D.C. to join the war against “activist judges.” 8/

The Corruption: Pardonpalooza Edition In addition to the latest round of Jan. 6 pardons, Felon Stain continues to give special treatment to a combination of the politically connected & the publicly corrupt: 7/

(2) It’s extremely broad: But the language in the pardon also underscores that Stain’s clemency is not limited to people named in the document. Rather, it applies to anyone who helped advocate for Stain’s strategy to use 6/

The mass pardon — the 1st in history to cover people accused of criminally conspiring w/ the Stain who issued it — comes as Stain continues to stoke false claims about rampant cheating by Democrats & sow doubts about the integrity of future elections. 5/

The Republican senators in question are Lindsey Graham (SC), Marsha Blackburn (TN), Bill Hagerty (TN), Josh Hawley (MO), Dan Sullivan (AK), Tommy Tuberville (AL), Ron Johnson (WI), and Cynthia Lummis (WI). The language in the bill came directly from Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD), 4/

Most controversially, the provision in the bill retroactively allows senators targeted by Smith to sue the federal government, the NYT reports: “Because the provision is retroactive to 2022, it would appear to make eligible the 8 lawmakers whose phone records were subpoenaed by investigators for 3/

District Judge James Boasberg of D.C. approved measures that barred phone providers from notifying lawmakers that their data from around Jan. 6 was requested as part of the investigation, Politico notes. 2/

Shutdown Deal Lets GOP Senators Personally Sue Over Jack Smith Probe: josh-hawley-raised-fist-capitol-riots- $500K For Election Subversion Tucked into a spending bill that is part of the deal to end the government shutdown is a provision that would allow GOP senators to personally sue the 1/

I rest my case...

HIs lawyers are saying: "The American People stand w/ Felon Stain as they demand an immediate end to all of the Witch Hunts." "Felon Stain will keep winning against Liberal Lawfare, as he continues to focus on his mission to MAGA." 5/end

Carroll sued Trump twice, alleging that he sexually assaulted her in a New York department store in the mid-1990s. She 1st sued him in 2019 for defamation & filed a 2nd suit in 2022 for punitive damages of psychological harm & damage to her reputation. 4/

"There were no eyewitnesses, no video evidence, & no police report or investigation," said the appeal filed Mon, which was reviewed by Axios. "Instead, Carroll waited more than 20 years to falsely accuse Orange Stain, who she politically opposes, until after he became the 45th pres., 3/

A federal appeals court last year upheld the jury's verdict, confirming the felon must pay Carroll in compensatory & punitive damages for defaming her in his statements. Her attorney told Axios in Sept that the court affirmed that "E. Jean Carroll was telling the truth, & that the Felon was not" 2/

Trump asks SCOTUS to toss E. Jean Carroll $5 million abuse, defamation verdict: Felon Stain on Mon petitioned the SCOTUS to review the $5 million civil verdict that found him liable for sexually abusing & defaming writer E. Jean Carroll. 1/

Recent polling on the economy shows flashing red lights for President Donald Trump, CNN’s chief data analyst warned.

What a slimy old bastard he was. That’s another lyric from the same song. 5/end

But you don’t have to be from the bluest of blue states to be disgusted by this blatant power grab aimed at using hungry poor children as leverage during the holiday season. 4/

Why do they ... etc.? With its customary political acumen, the admin cracked down on states most likely to tell it to go climb a tree. Up here, Gov. Maura Healey announced that the Commonwealth had paid out Nov. SNAP benefits before the SCOTUS order temp. freezing fed. disbursement. 3/

The U.S.D.A., in a late-night Saturday memo obtained by CBS News, also threatened to impose financial penalties on states that did not comply with the govt’s new orders. “To the extent States sent full SNAP payment files for Nov. 2025, this was unauthorized,” 2/

The Stain Admin Doesn’t Care About Hungry Americans: One tiny redeeming factor of the current political moment is the fact that every 4 or 5 days, the admin, or the Felon himself, gives me the chance to unlimber this lyric from Randy Newman: 1/

Orange Stain cannot force the states to do anything.

And now one of the characters became the US president!

2 more points: The Dec vote on ACA is a fake one. It will show yet again how absolutely determined Repugs are to make people’s health care costs go through the roof. The upshot of the shutdown is that Dems now own the affordability issue, & they’ve focused it on health care coverage, 6/end

So I’m going to take this step in the direction I’ve seen over the last month & pocket it & move on to the next battle. Meanwhile, keep purging all the folks who can’t get w/ the program. If a senator is from a comfortably Blue State & wasn’t vocally in favor of fighting this out, primary them. 5/

I suspect some will say it's making excuses for the Senate caucus. Not at all. You want to primary Tim Kaine (D-VA)? Great. It's already been said on Bluesky that should happen. 24 senators demand a new caucus leader? 🤔. We're not making excuses for anyone. Quite the opposite.

That’s a sea change in how the party functions in Congress. And that’s a big deal. Many people see it as some kind of epic disaster & are making all the standard threats about not voting or not contributing or whatever. That’s just not what's happening. 3/

I don’t think anyone has been more adamant than me about how essential it is for Dems to fight, not only to use what little power they currently have in Washington to secure specific things but to motivate voters & battle Stain by engaging in the performance of power. Here’s there is to see. 2/

I have what I suspect is a somewhat counterintuitive take on the deal Sen Dems’ made w/ the Repug Sen caucus 2night. This is an embarrassing deal, a deal to basically settle for nothing. It’s particularly galling since it comes only days after Dems crushed Repugs in races across the country. 1/

This is not the America I grew up with.

@rawstory.com “I am recommending to Senate Repugs that the 100's of Billions of Dollars currently being sent to money sucking Insurance Companies in order to save the bad Healthcare provided by ObamaCare,

@rawstory.com Felon Orange Stain made a stunning announcement today in recommending that Congress sign off on a multibillion-dollar payout directly to Americans as an alternative to funding gov't health care subsidies that have divided lawmakers amid the ongoing gov't shutdown. Fucking idiot👇

McConnell himself denied a request from the gov't to stay his own decision, saying, "The request for a stay of this decision, either a stay or an admin. stay, is denied. People have gone w/o for too long. Not making payments to them for even another day is unacceptable." 15/end

"The district court also accused the Felon of bad faith for declaring that full SNAP benefits would not resume until the gov't reopens. But that was just stating a fact-the appropriation has lapsed, and it is up to Congress to solve this crisis," the filing said. 14/

McConnell, in his ruling Thursday, ordered the Stain admin to fully fund SNAP for the month of Nov by Fri. He directly rebuked Orange Stain for stating "his intent to defy" a court order when Stain said earlier this week that SNAP will not be funded until the gov't reopens from the shutdown. 13/