Still no sure which of these sad sacks was most pathetic in "explaining" the cave in. So far, I think it's a tie between King, and Hassan. (But unfair contest, because we didn't get to hear from Fetterman or Durbin.)

Good to see two of our stand-up governors standing together on this one. (As they have on many other issues.) @governor.ca.gov just weighed in to similar effect.

How about we shut down the government for this very popular and specific goal and then, hear me out, we hold out for like a month and a half and then, ok this part is important, after a watershed election where we ran the table, ONLY THEN, fold and don't get the one thing we said we wanted.

Your work is cut out for you, VA & NV voters

-Oct 18, more than 7 million Americans stand up and stand together. -Nov 4, millions of Dems turn out for landslide wins in VA, NJ, NY, CA, GA, many other places. -Nov 9, eight "Dems" say "Oh, this nice Mike Johnson and Mr. Trump say they care about health. If they don't, well shame on them..."

Listening to these 8 Dem Senators explain their vote convinces me that they are either idiots or liars. Either is plausible.

Listening to these pathetic rationalizations from King, Hassan, Shaheen, whoever else they have queued up. Disappointed that they're not having windup speech by Sen. Neville Chamberlain.

Agree with this. About to publish something on the airplane mess. But this too is ON THE REPUBS. It is not a reason to cave. Dems, it is a time to keep standing up.

I guess I chose the wrong moment in history to sell our little propeller plane...

Flight restrictions, day one, evening update: We *did* make it to DCA, National Airport in DC, starting from Sioux Falls. Quite late, but we're fortunate. Here was the arrival board: —Red is cancelled flights. —Yellow lettering, delayed flights. —I count only three saying "on time."

Few people are better positioned than Don Brown to point you toward realistic info on what's happening with ATC right now. Follow @gettheflick.bsky.social for informed, no-BS guidance.

Flight restrictions, day one, road report. —Notices like one at left all over O'Hare, for flights headed to major hubs. (Several flights to small cities just took off w/o delay.) —Updates like one at right in United app. I actually appreciate the frankness. Also, good to see how they list DCA.

This is what every single person with any experience in China has been warning about from the start. Very good WaPo story by Katrina Northrop and Rudy Lu. www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/1... And good, clear headline!

I actually thought the headline was written by @nytpitchbot.bsky.social

People of West River / South Dakota: Hope to see you today at Black Hills State Univ in Spearfish. bhsu.edu/campus-calen... People of East River: Hope to see you tomorrow at USD in Vermillion. www.usd.edu/the-south-da... People elsewhere: will write asap on Mamdani speech, then UPS tragedy.

does nate cohn count

Agree with this. And starting a little in-house betting pool on which big-thinking pundit or "analyst" will be the first to grace us with: "Well, actually, the Dems are still in disarray..."

Never change, NYT politics staff! Hint: Main thing Calif voters were thinking yesterday was *not* "Hmmm, what does this mean for Gavin Newsom?" But that is clearly main/only thing on mind of politics staff, or unnamed people laying out front page. Voters: Doing their job! Media: .... sigh.

Have been on airplanes, and out of news range, since early this afternoon. And just now turning on news of election results. Wow wow wow. (Showing restraint by not going into relentless "Dems in disarray" "Need a new message" MSM drumbeat.) Congrats to all who stood up and stood together.

People of California: Don't take anything for granted. If you haven't voted early, be sure to vote today, YES on Prop 50. (Conveniently, the only item on the usually clogged Calif ballot.)

Not writing on Cheney now because I wrote a ton about him at peak of his power: converting 9/11 shock into disastrous Iraq war. Whole book featuring him: 'Blind Into Baghdad' Met him when he was G Ford WH chief of staff. Faultlessly gracious in planning transition for Carter team. Something changed

As we're remembering that Dick Cheney killed a million Iraqis, remember that the death toll from cutting USAID funding will be still larger than that. www.npr.org/sections/goa...

People of South Dakota! —If you're on West River side of the state, hope to see you in Spearfish at BHSU, 5:30pm Nov 5 bhsu.edu/campus-calen... —On East River side, hope to see you in Vermillion at USD on Nov 6 www.usd.edu/the-south-da... We've learned on each visit to the state, this one too

Two of the media organizations that have really "met the moment" in national coverage are Teen Vogue and WIRED. Along with student-run college newspapers in general. And scores of local start-ups. The main hope for journalism (in its dark times) is the next wave of journalists.

My premise, starting w Duffy being named to this job and confirmed by every utterance or action since then, is that he knows nothing about aviation. Would be like appointing me to judge the world lumberjack championships. (At which Duffy was the speed-climbing winner, in 1994.)

1/n Radical hypothesis: If you're a reporter or even a columnist (umbrella 'journalist' camp), generally *least* useful thing you can do with your time and platform is tell political parties what their "messaging" should be. -Reporters have the privilege of seeing things other people can't ...

Yes. "Real" stories that come from press-room briefings are vanishingly rare. Especially now. Spend the time doing actual reporting.

On @60minutes.bsky.social Trump intrvw w N O'Donnell: (Skipping past weirdness of editing a Trump interview, after CBS payout on that very point.) IMO, O'Donnell did better job than most on TV, of persistently trying to lasso Trump back toward realm of fact. And not smiling at his 'witticisms.'

why we do not have a 24/7 media drumbeat, "the president is mentally incompetent," I will never understand

God knows how many times this has happened: Zero. Much like Vance lying about Haitian immigrants eating people's pets, this is 100% racist bullshit being spewed by an unabashed white nationalist. Congrats to everyone who patronizes the Nazi bar he runs.

Yes. Reminder number three million that college papers (and news stations) are really leading the way right now.

100% agree w this. Have lived in Calif (20+ yrs), Texas (4+ yrs), Wash state (2+ yrs), DC (long time) MA and MS and GA and outside US (long time). Not NYC. No one outside NYC spends ten seconds caring who the city elects as its mayor. But you can recognize political talent, which ZM surely has.

Am deleting a post I just did about an inane Sunday-talk-show question for Gavin Newsom, because I tagged the wrong person. Apologies! The question, to start an interview was, "Do you think the Democratic brand is broken," and it was on MTP.

In my Gmail inbox just now. These people are really razor-sharp in their recruitment targeting. /s Must by an old photo-shoot for the ad. Shows one of CBP's finest not wearing a mask.

To people of Canada: "Real" Americans are ashamed of this guy, and whole obscene squad he is part of. I grew up w LA Dodgers and was cheering for them. But this was closest, most dramatic Series in years. And for-real illustration of cliche "It's too bad either team has to lose." Grrrr

You remember the last line of 'Chinatown' ....

Abduction of Proserpina, by Giambologna, 1579 (from the @NortonSimon Museum in Pasadena), 📸 by @nturchiarophoto

Remember when people would say that baseball was boring and slow….

What's simplest way to signal you have never read Great Gatsby and have NO IDEA WHATSOEVER of its main plot points? I'd say: Posing a flapper outside 1920s car—which might even be yellow. As in first pic. Like having a "Chekhov party" with a gun on the dinner table. The cruelty. The ignorance.

Similarly: If you live in one of the 8 wards, you're in "DC." Or, for local parlance with MD or VA people, "the District." On the SoCal (not "Cali") front: Even those of us from the Inland Empire refer to the big city as LA.

My hypothesis: Not a single person at this party has actually read Great Gatsby. Of, for 1% that have, it was in high school, and they never thought about it. It is *not* a happy-ending book. Or one flattering to dressed-up Mar-a-Lago type crowds. Or to greedy rich desperate for social approval

He has already chosen, what the fuck are we doing here www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...

People of South Dakota! And surroundings. Deb and I hope to see you next Wed, Nov 6, in Spearfish, at Black Hills State Univ. bhsu.edu/news/2025/10... And then Thurs, Nov 7, in Vermillion, at U of South Dakota. www.usd.edu/the-south-da... All part of US renewal, from local level upward.

I do not buy books from Amazon. Local book stores. @bookshop.org @indiebound.bsky.social even @barnesandnoble.com for some e-books. We buy other stuff from Amazon when it is unavoidable. Which thanks to monopoly, is a lot of the time. For books I look for every alternative.

Amazon is helping fund a $300 million build of a ballroom for the White House. Independent bookstores are donating to food banks and organizations that help with food insecurity. They are not the same.

What Stuart Stevens says is perfectly obvious, and something you will not see reflected in any of the major media coverage.

Valuable NYT ed-page feature. www.nytimes.com/interactive/... But: 1) Why Qs of the "are we losing" variety. Vs "Have we now lost..?" Or "Now that we have lost.." 2) Non-snarky Q: What's the plus in saying 'authoritarian' about this era? Vs 'dictatorship'? Latter seems clearer, and accurate.

The Jewish right discovering in real time that the Trumpist right, and the open bigotries it has unleashed upon the US body politic, is not in fact going to spare Jews, is quite a trip.

Open question, for people w any form of experience in China. Lived there, studied about it, written about it, done business there, grown up there, whatever Hypothesis: Trump has been played as an absolute pawn, fool, chump, and patsy by XJP Anyone disagree? If so, what's strongest counter-case?

Re-upping from last night: -Sun setting on parts of one of the world's most beautiful capital cities. -Sun rising on another means of public coordination and resistance. (By me, photos by Deb F, no paywall.) fallows.substack.com/p/an-autumn-...