"History has demonstrated that the most notable winners usually encountered heartbreaking obstacles before they triumphed. They won because they refused to become discouraged by their defeats" -anon This is extremely enlightening It offers us encouragement And an important lesson Read this:

My 30-mile bike reconnaissance mission thru "war-ravaged" Portland. photos.app.goo.gl/eyA7GQEHRRS2...

Thune on what he'll do if the 4th vote on the House MAGA Repub 'clean' CR fails in the Senate today: “we’ll give them the weekend to think about it. And then we’ll come back and vote on Monday.” He's banking on peeling off another 7 Dem yes votes He's banking on Dems getting "desperate" He's wrong

"[Senator Chris] Murphy offers a lengthy indictment of all of Trump’s lawlessness, corruption, malevolence, & authoritarianism. It adds up to a bracing, extraordinary takedown: Murphy says we’re dangerously close to losing democracy .." This is a very important, and enlightening interview:

Wowee Lighten up about your objections to racist memes from *the White House* Hakeem .. Jesus Slick Mike is out of his mind

Evidently he's unaware that every leader in the world knows he won't stick to yet another 'deadline'

WSJ today:

Trump has not been seen in public since Tuesday and has no public events on his calendar today

Trump promised an infrastructure bill for 4 years in his first term. Said it was coming in 2 weeks many times. Never delivered one. Democrats then delivered critically needed funding for crumbling infrastructure. Now Russ Vought is taking that away. But only in blue states.

"Trump is having 'episodes of what would be called outright lunacy, if they occurred in any other setting,' and … if he 'were in virtually any other position of responsibility, action would already be under way to remove him from that role.'"

Seeing that Thune feels another failed CR vote today "could help push Dems closer to desperation & a potential off-ramp" Also reporting today that internally the WH is "increasingly concerned" (read: freaking out) about the effect this shutdown will have on MAGA Repubs in the midterms So ..

Senate votes happening at 1:30 today Including on the House MAGA Republican 'clean' 7 wk CR -which will fail again Thune still unwilling to formally meet w/Schumer Today: "...we’ll probably cross paths on the floor..Our offices are not far apart. So if he wants to chat, he knows where to find me."

■ When it comes to gilding the White House, Trump is just getting started | by Philip Kennicott | Washington Post | August 27, 2025 • Ostentatious and anachronistic Oval Office changes don’t bode well for a 90,000-square-foot addition to the executive mansion. www.washingtonpost.com/entertainmen...

Chaos www.kqed.org/news/1205813...

Pressed on whether Russ Vought was "muddying the waters" for a funding deal with his illegal attacks on the government during the shutdown, Senate Majority Leader Thune said, “The only thing I would say about that is yes, and we don’t control what he’s going to do.” So much for Article I

"Adding insult to injury, $22M of the [Google] payoff will go to the Trust for the National Mall, [to] be spent to build the 90,000 sq ft monstrosity Trump plans to construct in the WH’s East Wing. The “ballroom” will dwarf the main WH building, which is only 55,000 sq feet." Very good read here:

MN Gov Tim Walz today: "Donald Trump has many times said if there's ever a government shutdown there is one person to blame: the president. He was wrong. It is also the Speaker of the House .."

Is it a problem for Johnson and MAGA Republicans that Jeffries isn't ignoring the behavior of a president with the emotional capacity of a 10 year old? I hope so .. Defending that behavior is definitely going to be a problem for them in the midterms

Mike Johnson's primary role now appears to be defending the president His real job: Presiding over the House of Representatives Which is part of a "separate but equal branch" of the federal government "To prevent the concentration of power and ensure balance"

Playbook: "Thune, Barrasso & other GOP last night at swanky hotspot Bistro Cacao-where filet mignon & magret de canard go for $45 a head & the cabernet sauvignon list ranges from $60 to $750 a bottle.. Fine dining on the first night of a shutdown? Those Dem attack lines almost write themselves"

From @andrewbatesnc.bsky.social on Twitter today: Trump in 2011: "A shutdown is 'a tremendously negative mark on the President of the United States. He's the one that has to get people together.'"

Note: Berenson was banned from SM for spreading false info about Covid during the Biden admin Cruz released a committee report this week accusing the Biden administration of policing free speech on social media So .. the MAGA Repub focus of this hearing won't be on Trumps attacks on Free Speech

Never one to miss an opportunity MAGA Sen Ted Cruz plans to hold a hearing as soon as next week on government censorship Semafor is reporting that FCC Chair Brendan Carr has agreed to appear before this cmte But not at this hearing Here's the hearing invite that Alex Berenson shared on Twitter 👇

“Political revenge. Clearly outlined by Trump, time & again. He sees the US as Blue and Red, and Blue states are enemies.. As he has said many times, he hates his enemies; he is the retribution. Has he announced any rescission of any projects in Florida or Texas?” www.politico.com/news/2025/10...

Yesterday In the WH press briefing room On a loop ..

This is incredibly embarrassing They all know what's going on And what upsets me most is that since late January Most people I've spoken to in other countries blame all of us We are truly the laughingstock of the world

👇

'The 51st' on the "quirky and profound ways .. shutdowns impact D.C. residents and the city's economy." 51st.news/the-federal-...

Dem Senator Tim Kaine after the bipartisan gaggle on the Senate floor yesterday: “There are Republicans telling us, ‘We agree with you. For our own interest, we have to fix this,’” So .. Thune wants Dems to acquiesce As MAGA Repubs appear to be softening on extending ACA credits Helluva standoff

On Thune's "I won't negotiate til a critical mass of Dems support the House CR" Liz Warren pointed out last night that Dems have been asking MAGA R's to make a deal on extending ACA credits since July They wouldn't talk for 4 months Thune isn't going to start negotiating now They want ACA to expire

They pretend not to see it. They change the subject when they are confronted with it. And that's why they are responsible for the fact that we have a deeply mentally ill president, surrounded by other deeply unwell people.

He knows it. They know it. They've always known it. Amongst themselves, they joke about it. They tell stories about it. They swap advice on how to deal with it. But most importantly, to everyone else, they lie about it.

House and Senate are out today for Yom Kippur Senate is back tomorrow and will vote again on the dueling CRs The House is expected back next week despite Johnson's rhetoric about keeping them out indefinitely

From @citizensforethics.org: "The Trump Administration has created massive secret databases of personal data-which the American people & Congress have consistently resisted, and the Privacy Act was designed to prevent. That's why we sued .. " www.npr.org/2025/09/30/n...

When you see how excited Trump, Russ Vought, and Republicans are about the government shutdown, it becomes pretty obvious the reason why they refused to negotiate a compromise with Democrats is because they wanted this and they completely own this, regardless of their lies.

MAGA Repubs had to deal with quite a lot of political fallout after Elon's DOGE crew gutted federal agencies And they're clearly not looking forward to having to do it again because of Russ Vought's shutdown plans .. FAFO boys

This is interesting:

WaPo conducted a flash poll of 1,010 people on who they blame for the shutdown Looks like: 47% blame Trump and MAGA Republicans in Congress 30% say Democrats in Congress Wait'll they get their insurance premium increase letters .. Gift link here: www.washingtonpost.com/politics/int...

And .. this morning he's openly admitting he's working with Vought and Project 2025 blueprints Everything that happens emboldens them more

Good fucking morning to everyone except Donald Trump and the Republican Party, who are keeping the government shut down so your healthcare premiums can double or triple. No lie can cover up the damage they’re doing to working people already struggling in this economy.

This citation was on the Trump admin's request to pause Kilmar Abrego Garcia's habeas corpus hearing next week 👇 Expect them to use the shutdown to buy time on pretty much every case they're involved in Delay .. another reason they see this shutdown as a 'win'

Raskin: "It's not lost on anyone that shutting the government down allows them not swear in our new colleague, Ms Grijalva from Arizona, who would be the 218th signature to discharge the Epstein files and to put a vote on that on the House floor."

House Democrats are holding a virtual caucus meeting Friday at noon 👇 The House is expected to be back next week

Aaron Blake: "This is really something. Trump has signed an executive order basically pledging Article 5-esque security guarantees to Qatar."

Shutdown update -- It's very early in the "way out" shutdown talks, but there's been some discussions about a 3-4 week CR, which Democrats want to align with the ACA marketplace period starting Nov. 1. Some think a shorter CR and a commitment to address the expiring subsidies could be workable

One thing the shutdown will not slow down is confirmation of Trump's nominees: Senate voting now to advance another big batch of them

Senate not expected to vote again until Friday due to the holiday, meaning government shutdown will run at least another couple days

The shutdown grift is turned all the way up right out of the gate Vought and Trump clearly using this opportunity -and Project 2025 blueprints- to openly punish blue states

Russ Vought this afternoon: "Nearly $8 billion in Green New Scam funding to fuel the Left's climate agenda is being cancelled. More info to come from @ENERGY . The projects are in the following states: CA, CO, CT, DE, HI, IL, MD, MA, MN, NH, NJ, NM, NY, OR, VT, WA" Shutdown grift on high today..