How many of you have young-adult children? And how many of them are at least as disgusted with the Democrats than the GOP? Are they even, perhaps, more disgusted, because at least the GOP says it’s the enemy of things that are important to them, while the Dems pretend to be on their side? And refuse to leave their elected positions until, like, oh, Eleanor Holmes Norton, they have to be forced or shamed out due to their physical and mental deterioration? (Note: This hasn’t happened yet, in Norton’s case. She plans to run again.)
How is the Surrender Caucus going over with those young people?
This combination photo of eight senators who are facing criticism from the Democratic party for their deal to end the government shutdown shows Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., top row from left, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill., Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., and bottom row from left, Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H. (AP Photo)
Fucking Dick Durbin in particular:
Whoa — Sen. Durbin went to up Leader Thune during the vote last night to tell him that on the shutdown vote and ACA promise that "8 of us are sticking our neck out that you're going to keep your word. I hope you will. He said 'I assure you I will,'" Durbin says just now
— Burgess Everett (@burgessev.bsky.social) November 10, 2025 at 12:59 PM
We had one week — not even! — to savor our victory before the Neville Chamberlain Caucus ripped it away.
When people tell you that the GOP is unpopular, but the Democrats are even more so, this is why. The scoundrels.
So: With that mood established, I made the mistake of reading comments on a story about a local billionaire’s divorce. Thirty-year marriage, five children, which included one son who died young of an incurable disease (neurofibromatosis). They were together when they were young, and they split up when they were rich. See if you can guess what at least some of the online reaction was?
But of course. She’s a ho’.
Can you tell it’s been cold the last two days? Bitter wind, all of it? Yep. Let’s hope the back half of the week is more promising.
Little Bird said on November 11, 2025 at 9:14 pm
I have Neurofibromatosis. There is no cure for it. It is degenerative. I’ve had several surgeries to remove tumors when they split open and started bleeding. There’s not much that can be done for it. Stress makes my tumors more likely to go kablooey. It also fucks with my immune system. Lemme tell ya, there’s nothing like feeling like you’re elderly at 40.
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alex said on November 11, 2025 at 11:27 pm
Cherchez le femme.
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Jeff Gill said on November 12, 2025 at 7:30 am
My 27 year old son is largely uninterested in politics. He does me the compliment of asking who I think is worth voting for, and votes in primaries as well as generals, but has very little interest in politics in general. Spouse & I have talked about this, and our assumption is he’s seen his dad work hard on lots of things that get randomly shot down by last-minute maneuvers of developers & investors & murky hidden interests (let’s just say he knows the history of The New Albany Company better than most 20 or 30 somethings in this area), and figures it’s mostly pointless because they’re gonna do what they’re gonna do no matter what you do, so why lose too much sleep over it?
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DavidC said on November 12, 2025 at 9:07 am
The young people who held their nose and voted Democratic have a right to be angry. If they voted for Jill Stein or stayed home to preserve their purity or because they’re accelerationists, they’re just as culpable as any Vichy Dem.
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alex said on November 12, 2025 at 9:31 am
Grijalva’s gonna get seated and we’re all gonna get treated.
E-mails between Epstein, Maxwell and author Michael Wolff have come to light and look pretty damning (gift article): https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/12/us/politics/trump-epstein-emails.html?unlocked_article_code=1.0k8.44Lh.ikHCxyvJ9UbQ&smid=url-share
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Julie Robinson said on November 12, 2025 at 9:51 am
My two are ready to burn down the party and capitalism both.
Son was heavily involved with democratic socialists before meeting his wife, now puts her first but still retains the opinions.
Daughter used to be apolitical but was radicalized by working with the marginalized as a pastor. She’s involved with a couple of groups and heads a couple others; working for immigrants, those without homes, LGBTQ+, against book banning and racism.
It’s still a two-party system so they are voting D. We’ve got several dynamic young officeholders and candidates who align with their values. Mom and Dad’s too.
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Mark P said on November 12, 2025 at 10:10 am
It has always bothered me when people say that the two parties are just alike. The accurate statement is that some Democrats are just like all Republicans — corrupt. The only logical conclusion here is that the eight were, or are going to be, paid off in some way. They will hide behind “but, but, they promised!” It’s too bad there is no way to punish them.
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Jeff Borden said on November 12, 2025 at 11:35 am
Hold your horses in the Epstein file release. There are reports Nancy Mace, the rage monkey from South Carolina, has changed her mind and won’t vote for its release. We’ll see.
The eight shitheads include two Dems who ate retiring including Durbin. What the actual fuck? They had nothing to lose by standing strong.
One possible explanation is that they saw tRump as the psychopath he is and reached the conclusion he’d be fine watching Americans starve, air transportation collapse, etc. He truly is a hideous creature.
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Dexter Friend said on November 12, 2025 at 11:39 am
Spitting out the bad taste to get into the revelations as more stuff about Epstein emerges. Something about Trump being the dog that doesn’t bark, even though he was alone in a room “for hours with (redacted: a victim female).”
We all know Trump was committing criminal acts on Epstein Island and during his teen beauty pageant days. I have no idea if his skates are sharp enough to skate completely away from all this. This bastard who tried to overthrow the United States government got away with it and is continually pardoning all his supporters no matter what crimes they were guilty of.
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Brandon said on November 12, 2025 at 12:25 pm
The New Albany Company.
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diane said on November 12, 2025 at 12:52 pm
Fedderman needs to be primaried. Years ago I admired him but I truly believe that his stroke did brain damage. He just doesn’t process the way he used to or as clearly as he used to (yes, he was always a no holds barred do his own thing kind of guy but he has become erratic and his own thing has changed).
A Republican is going to win that seat if the Democrats don’t find a viable Democrat.
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Sherri said on November 12, 2025 at 12:55 pm
My daughter was radicalized by Trump, and gets lots of her news from John Oliver. I know she votes D in the national races, but she makes up her own mind in local races without input from me, even though she knows that I know many of the people running.
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Bob (not Greene) said on November 12, 2025 at 1:03 pm
I wrote Durbin a sternly worded letter prior to the vote to cave, for as much good as it did. I have no idea what possible positive he thought comes out of this agreement to double down on funding Trump’s goon squads to terrorize the citizens of Durbin’s state, which include me and my heavily Hispanic hometown, where ICE and Bovino’s asshole brigade have been rampant in their body snatchings of dangerous landscapers, roofers and high school students on their way to school. Fuck him forever.
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Icarus said on November 12, 2025 at 1:40 pm
my comment got sent to moderation.
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Scout said on November 12, 2025 at 1:55 pm
I was livid when I heard what Schumer and Durban (plus the other 6) did, but then I started reading takes like the one below, and it kind of makes sense.
That said, it is time for new, younger leadership. Leadership that understands times have changed, leadership that realizes that desperately clinging to the antiquated notion of bipartisanship after watching the cowards on the R side protect a demented felon, conman, rapist, and liar helps absolutely no one.
~~~
“It looks like a key group of Senate Democrats are closing a deal to end the shutdown in return for an agreement from Majority Leader Thune to hold a vote on extending the ACA expanded subsidies in December.
At first glance, this may provoke a ‘Hunh? What are they thinking?’
But whenever the House or Senate Democrats do anything that doesn’t look quite right to me, I dig deeper to figure out the reason for it. Because I don’t automatically assume that the Dems are weak or complicit or stupid. I figure there’s something deeper at play – and more often than not, I’m right.
And it looks like they could be the case here.
Some folks are already melting down and accusing the Dems of caving because they say they get nothing out of a deal that includes
‘Everyone knows the vote will fail, so they get nothing!!! Dems caved again!’
But wait – let’s do a deeper dive. You will see that that getting that agreement is a brilliant strategic move, even if the vote fails.
Consider:
1. The ACA enhanced subsidies are set to automatically sunset in December if no Congressional action is taken to extend them. If there is no deal before then, they just go away on their own.
2. There was no way in hell the Republicans were going to agree to extend the subsidies, no matter how firmly the Democrats held their ground.
3. If the Democrats insisted on keeping the government closed in order to protect the subsidies, at the end of December, the subsidies would have gone away, the Dems would have gotten nothing, and people would have suffered an extended shutdown without getting anything in return.
And this would have happened without the Republicans having to do anything and bearing no responsibility for the subdidies’ disappearance.
4. When the subsidies disappeared in December, people who are affected would have blamed the Democrats, not the Republicans.
5. By extracting an agreement from Thune for a vote to extend the subsidies, the Democrats are now forcing the Republicans to AFFIRMATIVELY end the subsidies rather than just letting them die a natural death. Every Republican will have to go on record, while every Democrat can be on record voting ‘YES.’
6. While it is possible that every Republican will vote no, it is possible that the Dems could peel off enough Republicans to vote to extend the subsidies. It would only take a couple and if they put the pressure on over the next few weeks, that could actually happen.
7. If the Democrats can get enough Republicans votes to save the subsidies, that will be a huge win.
8. If the Republicans stand firm and vote no, THEY will own the expiration of the subsidies, not the Democrats.
The bottom line is that the subsidies were going to end in December, no matter what the Dems did. But now, if this deal goes through, if they do end, it will be because the Republicans voted not to extend them, not because they quietly went away. And if they can get enough Republicans on board – which is more possible than it was even just a week ago – they will save the subsidies.
The vote will ensure that either the subsidies are extended or the Republicans’ fingerprints are all over the expiration – neither of which could happen without holding a vote.
So, I think we need to back off of the condemnation and attacks and shift our focus toward what we can do to help the Democrats get the Republican votes they need to extend the ACA enhanced subsidies.
Of course, I could be completely wrong in my analysis. I don’t yet know what the underlying reasons are or the ramifications will be.
But drawing the conclusion that the Democrats are operating with a smart strategy is far more logical than assuming they are clueless traitors.
I have more than enough reason to give them the benefit of the doubt.
I think we all should.”
– Stephanie Jones
https://stephaniejones2.substack.com/…/the-aca-deal-may…
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Andrea said on November 12, 2025 at 2:16 pm
The average age of this group is 69.75 and that is only because Fetterman brings it down. Without him, the average is nearly 72 years. Only two of these folks are below the so-called retirement age of 65. I say this as someone rapidly approaching 60 myself. This gerontocracy is not doing our country any favors. They are out of touch and disconnected from what young people are experiencing, and what they wish and hope for. My three young adult children are pretty turned off and they have seen their mother work as a “do-gooder” lobbyist for their whole lives.
And honestly, as an overcommitted workaholic who is passionately driven by our organization’s mission, I do not understand why people want to work like this at their age. Imagine something different, people! Yes, I don’t want to be bored. Yes, I will still have things to contribute, but geez louise, I do not want to be working this hard for 20 more years. I am already starting to think about what comes next for me and what the off ramp is. Is power that addicting?
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Jakash said on November 12, 2025 at 3:00 pm
I was gonna comment about this vote when it happened, but figured, “what’s the use?”
That was the wiser choice, I’m sure, but since it’s the current nn.c topic, I’m plowing ahead.
I commented here months ago with the very unpopular opinion that Durbin was right to vote against the first attempt at a shutdown. I think he’s right on this vote, too. That opinion is even more unpopular.
Jeff B. says “One possible explanation is that they saw tRump as the psychopath he is and reached the conclusion he’d be fine watching Americans starve, air transportation collapse, etc. He truly is a hideous creature.” Indeed. There’s also the link that Scout posted to consider.
Here’s how I see it. 40-some days ago Democrats decided: “Let’s play a game of chicken and see who wins.” They have no power to get the Republicans to do anything that they don’t want to, but decided to cause a shutdown, because it was the only card they had to play. Not a good card, not a winning card, but dammit, it was a card!
It sucks a lot having to experience this period where the orange felon’s maniacal toadies control all three branches of government. But shutting down the government wasn’t going to change that.
Regardless, the game of chicken was between Democrats, who actually care about people and try, in their often inept ways, to make things better for them, on the one side. On the other side, you have an extremely committed, lying, delusional pack of heartless bastards. Now, when regular people began to suffer, who was likely to end the game first? Why would the Republicans give in? They’ve long wanted to drown the government in a bathtub and now they’re getting the chance to do it.
Things weren’t going well, anyway, but then you had the SNAP issue come to the fore. Democrats responded by supporting food banks and decrying the situation. The administration sued to not have to pay SNAP benefits even when ordered to do so. A pretty clear difference between the parties there, for anyone who cares to pay attention. Also, there was the election, which should have given the Republicans a fine reality-check. But it didn’t seem at all like they’d be backing down when it came to ending the shutdown because of it.
This comment is too long, so I’ll stop. But the game of chicken was really hurting millions of people and had been, the whole time. Given that, playing a game of chicken against the likes of the mango Mussolini and Mike Johnson, who care about little other than power, seems to me like it was not such a good idea. Ending it won’t solve the problem that it was meant to address, but I can understand why a guy like Durbin thought it was the right thing to do.
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David C said on November 12, 2025 at 4:27 pm
The only reason I can think of for Congresscritters to hang on until grim death is all the great stock tips they’re privy to. Even if they go in having a fairly normal net worth, they soon become multi-millionaires.
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Mark P said on November 12, 2025 at 5:14 pm
The eight agreed to end the shutdown because the Republicans promised to have a vote on restoring ACA subsidies? We’ll see soon enough how that goes.
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Deborah said on November 12, 2025 at 5:41 pm
Here’s one thing I never understood, what was the end game of the shutdown expected to be? maybe it’s right in front of my face and I’m not seeing it, but how was this supposed to end eventually? Things were going to keep getting more painful as time went on, how was that supposed to make things turn out? I’m not saying it went well in any direction, I’m just not understanding the expected outcome? Did the democrats expect the Republicans to back down or what? Is it supposed to leave a bad taste in the mouths of republicans about how their party handled it? What’s done is done I realize that, and we have to move on from here. Just curious.
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Suzanne said on November 12, 2025 at 8:33 pm
My thought is that the Dems caved because they realized that you can’t shame people with no shame into doing the right thing. I think they figured that porn app dad Johnson would be happy to never call the House back into session and simply let the US government fade into obscurity, everyone and everything else be damned. If they simply refused to reopen the government, who would make them?
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Heather said on November 12, 2025 at 11:19 pm
No one’s talking about the Epstein emails that have been released so far? They’re pretty bad. Lotta jokes on Bluesky about how these people write. But the stunning thing is how clearly beyond accountability they felt.
Also it’s clear the NY Times has sat on some stuff: a reporter received an email with pictures of Trump & young women in Epstein’s home, claiming that he “gave” a 20-year-old girlfriend to Trump after two years. Somehow that never came out.
Who knows if this will stick, but I think even some Republicans are going to be pretty scared about continuing to defend their dear leader.
https://oversightdemocrats.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/democrats-oversight.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/packet_redacted_noid.pdf
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Dexter Friend said on November 13, 2025 at 6:04 am
Damn, what is this show “Plurbis” trying to say? Creepiest show in a long time.
But wait, just 3 days before “Landman” with Billy Bob returns on Paramount. Best show in years.
I never paid any attention to Joe Rogan because I thought he was against everything I believe in, but when I saw he did 3 hours with Billy Bob, I had to watch. Very entertaining interview.
Now I am off to the TV for “Morning Joe”. Because I need to watch Karoline lie her ass off again, even though I have been watching these clips all night long.
MSNBC will morph into MS NOW in a couple days. So far, only a new weather service has emerged for the network. For now, we are told most of the show hosts will stay in place. The way they treated Joy Reid was mean.
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Icarus said on November 13, 2025 at 9:21 am
for some reason this comment didn’t post, perhaps because I gave credit to to the tok of tik?
Our current two party political system is like having one parent who is an abusive authoritarian and the other parent is too weak or indifferent to help their children.
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DavidC said on November 13, 2025 at 10:13 am
If the Epstein files don’t nail Bill Clinton on the Dem side, which I would be fine with, getting Larry Summers is a nice consolation prize.
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Jeff Borden said on November 13, 2025 at 10:35 am
We finally watched Jon Stewart’s white hot take on the Dem surrender and it almost melted our TV. His palpable rage matches ours.
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Heather said on November 13, 2025 at 11:50 am
I sent a reporter from New York Magazine my thoughts about the Democrats caving and my situation with health insurance–many certainly have it worse but the point is that people like me who have enjoyed financial security/being in the middle class see that directly threatened with the gutting of the ACA. And our health too.
https://www.thecut.com/article/democrats-caved-on-the-shutdown-these-voters-are-furious.html
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alex said on November 13, 2025 at 12:26 pm
As a retiree, I’m not happy about the prospect of suddenly having to spend so much more of my income on health insurance, but at least I’ll be eligible for Medicare a year from now. I’m bracing for the financial hit and also trying not to get too stressed out about it, as everything is overwhelming enough already.
The substack linked above by Scout seems to make good sense to me. As far as making the Republicans own the health care mess, mission accomplished.
So Kegseth came to town yesterday for a defense contractor dog-and-pony show. The local media deferentially gave him a tongue bath as you might expect.
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Jeff Gill said on November 13, 2025 at 3:13 pm
DavidC, did you see the oddly poignant yet peculiar email from Larry Summers’s spouse to Epstein, with literary suggestions that will leave you at least mildly stunned? Joyce Carol Oates on Xwitter had a comment on that I should go back & look up…
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Brandon said on November 13, 2025 at 3:35 pm
https://www.wane.com/top-stories/secretary-of-war-pete-hegseth-to-address-defense-summit-in-fort-wayne/
https://x.com/JoyceCarolOates/status/1989029980106314171
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Jeff Gill said on November 13, 2025 at 3:53 pm
Brandon, this is the one that caught my attention:
https://x.com/JoyceCarolOates/status/1988972705908158743?s=20
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jim said on November 13, 2025 at 4:29 pm
Oates has been going at Musk on X: https://www.buzzfeed.com/sienaegiljum/elon-musk-joyce-carol-oates-x
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Jakash said on November 14, 2025 at 1:38 pm
After one of Karoline Leavitt’s amazing performances lying, evading and covering up in service of her Fuhrer, somebody suggested that she’s probably being carefully coached backstage in the proper pronunciation of “ephebophile,” for when the usual lies and evasions with regard to the orange felon’s cozy relationship with Epstein no longer work. Soon, the goalposts will need to be moved once again, as they so often are in this administration, as if it will make any difference.
Cue a different blonde apologist, who offered this opinion on Wednesday, like it’s just an innocent observation:
Megyn Kelly: “I know somebody very close to this case … Jeffrey Epstein, in this person’s view, was not a pedophile … He was into the barely legal type, like he liked 15 year old girls … He wasn’t into like 8 year olds … There’s a difference between a 15 year old and a 5 year old.”
A link to the full quote on Xitter: https://tinyurl.com/3trhaj8h
Meanwhile, Ms. Kelly has a 14-year-old daughter, which you might think would give her a bit more perspective, and 15 isn’t “legal,” regardless. “Basket of deplorables,” indeed.
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alex said on November 14, 2025 at 9:26 pm
So I come home tonight to a Facebook feed full of a totally new revelation from the Epstein files: Trump blew Bill Clinton. Everything else is so surreal lately that I just don’t know what to make of this. I guess there’s an e-mail between Epstein and his brother talking about it and there’s also a photo of Trump grabbing Clinton’s dick. I’m gonna go surf some more…
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Sherri said on November 15, 2025 at 8:36 am
Suddenly, people so sure of the definition of a woman can’t define a child…
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Jeff Borden said on November 15, 2025 at 10:21 am
Chicago Sun-Times today is calling bullshit on the DHS claim that the invasion of its brownshirts resulted in a “historic reduction in crime.” These masked marvels never entered any of the city’s toughest neighborhoods. They preferred upscale neighborhoods and suburbs, where they plucked hard-working immigrants doing landscaping, roofing, etc. from their jobs. The whole invasion was a made-for-propaganda program. Period.
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tajalli said on November 15, 2025 at 2:32 pm
Jeff, if the actions of ICE and border patrol (all those invading Canadians coming in canoes down Lake Michigan or parachuting into landlocked states) during their invasions were properly categorized as the crimes they are, the crime stats would be, quite accurately, through the roof.
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Julie Robinson said on November 15, 2025 at 3:50 pm
Did you hear that SNAP benefits have been restored? But did you also hear that everyone has to reapply? We have so many desperate people calling church and stopping by for our food pantry. Now is the time to help is you can, any little amount if you can’t do much. I hit Aldi this morning for a cart full, and will keep blessing bags in my car after we make them tomorrow.
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Sherri said on November 16, 2025 at 6:52 pm
So, Mayor Pete thinks the Dems should stop focusing on identity politics. I have a question for him. How does he think that he got the right to marry his husband and adopt his children? It wasn’t by focusing on affordability and kitchen table issues.
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Sherri said on November 16, 2025 at 10:15 pm
I didn’t think it was possible for Larry Summers to be even worse than I thought he was, but I guess I should never underestimate him.
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Deborah said on November 17, 2025 at 8:56 am
Saw this on Bluesky and thought it was well said. Not anything new, but in a nutshell this is it:
They know. The men who do this know what they are doing.
The violation. is. the. point.
These men get off on transgressing and getting away with it.
Their pleasure is in the display of power and dominance, by violating women with impunity. That the pleasure is sexualized is secondary.
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Sherri said on November 17, 2025 at 1:48 pm
There’s obviously something in the Epstein files that Trump is seriously afraid of. It’s hard to conceive of anything about him personally that could be in them that would cause him harm with his supporters; they already know he’s a rapist, they’re already talking about how those girls were almost legal anyway, and besides, there were Dems in there, too! Maybe if he pimped out Ivanka, that might change things, but I don’t know.
My guess is that there are other powerful people in the files who don’t want to be exposed and have leverage on Donald. Maybe people he doesn’t think the Secret Service can protect him from.
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Dexter Friend said on November 17, 2025 at 2:15 pm
On MS NOW today a mention, finally…was made of Trump’s ongoing ramp-up for an invasion into Nigeria with the stated mission of killing every person assumed to be Boko Haram.
Onward Christian Soldiers, a crusade by no other name.
The reason given, Boko Haram are murdering all Christians. But in Nigeria, it’s reported Boko Haram are murdering Muslims and every religious sect members ,all of them.
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susan said on November 17, 2025 at 2:19 pm
I think a lot of the incriminating files have been destroyed by his flunkies and body-men. So he feels confident enough to let the files go freeeeeeeeee.
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Brandon said on November 17, 2025 at 3:17 pm
“Kitchen Tables–Not Just for Eating.”
No issues are too big or small to talk about at our collective tables. Facts and results don’t change based on your geographic proximity to a farm nor whether you gather at your table located in a kitchen to discuss them. I would say “kitchen table” has become another shibboleth like the words “political correctness” or “woke”; they just mean the person wants to stop talking about it and for you to stop asking questions.
For Democrats, it’s a plea for you to stop talking about whatever they perceive their opposition to dislike. For Republicans, it’s “whatever I, personally, don’t like” and adds next to nothing in value to any discussion.
This doesn’t mean every issue is equally important, or that an election cycle ought to hinge on every issue equally. Prioritizing issues is what we should expect from any competent campaign or leader. However, we should beware of folks using this conversation-flattening language to “return to kitchen table issues” without expanding on what they are and why they matter. The metaphor is often deployed as a cliché designed to separate “us” (real Americans with our kitchen tables) from “them” (different in some way), who probably don’t even have a kitchen table!
Much like “real Americans” or “hard work,” the phrase “kitchen table issues” seem to have lost all meaning on its own.
But it can tell us a whole heck of a lot about the person invoking it.
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