House Dems’ Problem Children Who Ended the Shutdown

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[NB: check the byline, thanks. /~Rayne]

By now you’ve read the news the shut down ended thanks to a few House Democrats caving and crossing the aisle to vote with the GOP.

These are the problem children:

Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (WA-03) – running for re-election, district rated R+2
Jared Golden (ME-02) – NOT running for re-election
Adam Gray (CA-13) – running for re-election, toss-up district
Don Davis (NC-01) – running for re-election, district rated R+1
Henry Cuellar (TX-28) – running for re-election, district rated R+2
Tom Suozzi (NY-03) – running for re-election, toss-up district

Some are the usual suspects, like Golden and Cuellar and Suozzi.

All of these races are gettable by a Democrat firmly left of these boneheads given the current dissatisfaction with the Trump administration and his party of enablers. As Charles Gaba pointed out, “Dems have overperformed an avg of 15 pts across 55 Special Elections so far, winning 36 of them including *flipping* 6 GOP seats!” Democrats running on affordability have done very well.

Golden apparently can read the weather and is bailing out. But the rest of these reps need to be primaried — even Cuellar who has been primaried in the past and survived. Suozzi must think affordability is a NYC thing and doesn’t affect his district.

Gluesenkamp Perez is particularly annoying because of her bullshit party bashing about the shutdown. She posted this on the Nazi bar site:

Tonight, I voted to end this partisan car crash of a shutdown. Nobody likes paying even more money to insurance companies – and the fight to stop runaway health insurance premiums won’t be won by holding hungry Americans hostage. Americans can’t afford for their Representatives to get so caught up in landing a partisan win that they abandon their obligation to come together to solve the urgent problems that our nation faces.

The last several weeks have been a case study in why most Americans can’t stand Congress. None of my friends who rely on SNAP would want to trade their dinner for an ambiguous D.C. beltway “messaging victory” and I’m glad this ugly scene is in the rearview mirror.

Now, it’s time for Congress to get back to work and build an economy where people aren’t yanked around by partisan interests, where we understand national health doesn’t come from insurance coverage – and reestablish a truly deliberative democracy. I’ll work with whoever is necessary to reach those goals – and I don’t give a damn which side of the aisle they sit on.
8:28 PM · Nov 12, 2025

Emphasis mine.

Bet she wouldn’t turn down money from the DCCC for her re-election campaign. Biting the hand, much?

Apparently Gluesenkamp Perez is pretty dense as are these other Dems. What leverage does the Democratic Party have now to negotiate a reinstatement of healthcare subsidies? Because if she knows of any, she can’t be arsed to offer it.

Here’s a snapshot of the problem, offered in a joking manner:

Shoshana @[email protected]
Rent: $3,200
Health Insurance: $2,600
Avocado Toast: $8

Someone who is good at the economy, please help me with my avocado toast budget

Nov 10, 2025, 04:09 PM

AltText for image above: Screenshot of healthcare plans without the ACA subsidies. 2025 plan was $45, 2026 plan will be $2,620. The deductible will increase from $800 to $6,000, primary care visits increase from $5 to $40, ER costs go from $0 to 40% co-insurance

The poster may offer this in a lighthearted fashion but the looming threat is real: a sizeable number of Americans will have to choose between paying for rent/mortgage/food and healthcare insurance. For many of these folks this will be a matter of life or death.

Trying to protect more than 20 million Americans who rely on the ACA marketplace and healthcare subsidies isn’t a partisan stunt for “messaging victory.” It’s about saving the lives of Americans who will otherwise be unable to afford healthcare insurance.

Assuming the GOP will act in good faith to address this country’s problematic for-profit healthcare system is insanely naive or ignorant. I assume Gluesenkamp Perez stuck her head in the sand every time Trump said he wanted to kill ACA, and missed Sen. John McCain’s going against his party and Trump in 2017 to vote to protect the ACA.

John McCain is dead. There’s no maverick to save Gluesenkamp Perez’s butt when her constituents lose their homes to pay for their healthcare because she didn’t want to appear to be too partisan.

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Yet More of a Lapsed Catholic’s Bible Study

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I mentioned in comments beneath my first Lapsed Catholic’s Bible Study post that I had other biblical material I was chewing on.

Funny enough, the chapter and verses I was referring to are absolutely appropriate to the Trump administration’s ethical and moral failures as well as that of the GOP’s congressional caucus.

It’s one of the most popular portions of the Bible. It may be familiar to you even if you’re not a church-going Christian as you may have heard as a reading at Christian weddings. It’s frequently used as an exhortation to the newlyweds and their future lives together.

1 Corinthians 13:1-13
13 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant
5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;
6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.
7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.
9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part,
10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.
11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.
12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Nice, huh? You can imagine the newlyweds before the altar, glowing with happiness, feeling all the wonderful attributes of love described in these verses.

Except that’s not what appears in every Bible published. In the King James version, this is 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 —

13 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.
2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.
3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.
4 Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
5 Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;
6 Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;
7 Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
8 Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.
9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.
10 But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.
11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
13 And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

I don’t ever recall this selection being read at Christian weddings, do you?

But even this version in which the word charity is used to describe the greatest of three virtues still doesn’t fully convey the intended meaning.

The English words love and charity are rough approximations of a Greek word ἀγάπη, agape — the love of humanity. Agape is both love and charity; it is the emotion of love combined with action of charity, felt for and offered to fellow humans who are God’s creations.

Trump and his minions, particularly Russell Vought, wanted to reshape the U.S. by way of Project 2025:

An influential think tank close to Donald Trump is developing plans to infuse Christian nationalist ideas in his administration should the former president return to power, according to documents obtained by POLITICO.

…

Christian nationalists in America believe that the country was founded as a Christian nation and that Christian values should be prioritized throughout government and public life. As the country has become less religious and more diverse, Vought has embraced the idea that Christians are under assault and has spoken of policies he might pursue in response.

One document drafted by CRA staff and fellows includes a list of top priorities for CRA in a second Trump term. “Christian nationalism” is one of the bullet points. Others include invoking the Insurrection Act on Day One to quash protests and refusing to spend authorized congressional funds on unwanted projects, a practice banned by lawmakers in the Nixon era.

Emphasis mine. Source: Trump allies prepare to infuse ‘Christian nationalism’ in second administration, Politico, Feb 20, 2024.

By actively choosing to starve or bankrupt Americans by refusing to extend healthcare subsidies and fully fund SNAP, thereby endangering human lives, Trump and his administration are doing the furthest thing from establishing a Christian nation. They are not acting with charity, and in this sense the demonstration of agape. They are treating persons who are marginalized by circumstances with more than disrespect but malignant disregard.

It is yet another mortal sin, on top of other mortal sins committed by knowingly seeking individuals to murder in the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean, by turning over individuals for abuse and torture abroad as part of deportations, by encouraging cruel and unusual punishments in painful forms of execution of inviduals on death row. I’m sure there are more examples in this profile of Chicago under occupation by Trump’s ICE.

Being the lapsed Catholic that I am, I don’t ordinarily ask this kind of question, however I feel I need to ask as Trump and his Christian nationalist purveyors clearly haven’t asked either. What would Jesus do if confronted with this level of hate for fellow humans? What would Christ say about consciously choosing to deny food and healthcare to those most in need, including persons who are needy because they serve now or have served in the military? This level of hate for fellow humans is creating a national security threat; we can’t expect strong defense of our nation from people who haven’t eaten, or who are worried about feeding their family.

Ed Walker examined Trumpist Moral Choice in his most recent post as part of his excellent series on Simone de Beauvoir’s The Ethics of Ambiguity. I’m beyond the eeny-meeny-miney-moe of moral choice; our fellow Americans’ urgent needs call for more than mental exercise by the Trumpists who appear unable to consider consequences in advance of decisions.

Nor are platitudes enough; they don’t pay healthcare premiums and medical bills, make the rent, or put food on the table.

We need deeds not words. Genuine, immediate demonstrations of agape, the greatest of Christian virtues.

Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.
— 1 John 3:18

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Open Thread: Generational Change Continues, Nancy Pelosi to Retire

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I am biting my tongue, resisting the urge to be extremely blunt. What I will say is already rather pointed.

Nancy Pelosi, former House Speaker, announced her plan to retire from Congress at the end of her term.

Did it take the death this week of a warmongering former vice president nine months younger than her to clue her in?

Or was it the ages of Tuesday’s three election winners?

Abigail Spanberger, at 46, is old enough to be Pelosi’s kid as is Mikie Sherrill at 53.

But Zohran Mamdani at 34 is of an age to be Pelosi’s grandchild.

There are now four generations of voters — Boomers, Gen X, Millennials, Gen Z — who are of voting age, and two of those generations are retired or approaching retirement. It’s time the youngest generations of voters had representation that understood their society and their needs.

The number of solid primary candidates in the wings should have encouraged this announcment some time ago.

This is an open thread, but let’s try to discuss what the future of the Democratic Party will look like as the oldest electeds exit the stage.

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Trump’s GOP Death Panel in Progress

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There’s been an uptick this week in reporting on the role of health care subsidies in congressional budget negotiations.

Most Americans worry about health care costs: AP-NORC poll
By ALI SWENSON and LINLEY SANDERS | Updated 1:22 PM EDT, October 21, 2025
https://apnews.com/article/poll-shutdown-health-care-insurance-costs-trump-f0282a0f5bedf3f01172ed3fa0ba4fd2

Health insurance sticker shock begins as shutdown battle over subsidies rages
Many states have shown rising premiums ahead of open enrollment for Affordable Care Act plans. Congress is deadlocked over extending covid-era subsidies that bring costs down.
By Paige Winfield Cunningham | October 22, 2025 at 6:00 a.m. EDT
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/10/22/obamacare-aca-enrollment-price-increases/

Some Americans fear high health insurance premiums if ACA enhanced subsidies expire: ‘Very much a worry’
ACA enhanced premium tax credits are set to expire at the end of the year.
ByMary Kekatos | October 21, 2025, 10:51 AM
https://abcnews.go.com/Health/americans-fear-high-premiums-aca-enhanced-subsidies-expire/story?id=126613026

News media are finally telling us what many of us have already known: Trump’s GOP congressional caucus wants to kill Americans.

There are some GOP moderates who are pressing for some, well, moderation on health care subsidies because their constituents need the assistance.

Republican moderates press leadership on health credit extension
Millions of Americans in red states rely on subsidies to keep insurance costs down
By Sandhya Raman and Jessie Hellmann | October 22, 2025 at 12:36pm
https://rollcall.com/2025/10/22/republican-moderates-press-leadership-on-health-credit-extension/

And these moderates need their seats. Check the last graf of that RollCall article — it’s a who’s who of GOP seats in districts that are flippable.

In other words, the state of health care subsidies may mean control of the House.

Trump refuses to negotiate unless the government shutdown ends, but that means giving up the only leverage Democrats have since the moderate GOP reps have been unable to persuade Trump and the rest of the GOP House caucus to budge.

Meanwhile, reality is doing a number on Americans who rely on health care subsidies, including small business owners:



These kinds of rate increases mean households will be making choices between going without health care insurance or going without paying mortgages, skipping car payments, not making the rent, cutting back on groceries they haven’t already cut because of inflation.

Do the math:

— Median weekly earnings for wage and salary workers = $1196 / week
— Average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in the U.S. = $1631 / month
— “The USDA estimates $297–558 for a monthly food budget for one person, $614–963 for a couple, and $996–1,603 for a family of four.” (This number was reported in May 2025 and has surely risen since the underlying source report.)
— Average transportation cost per U.S. household = $819 / month

That’s just the basics and doesn’t include out-of-pocket health care expenses, or any other necessities like clothing. It’s extremely grim for minimum wage workers, and for those whose work fluctuates like freelance writers or seasonal contractors.

There’s almost nothing left or worse after rent and/or health care, and it will be worse in rural areas.

Imagine having to choose between feeding your kids and getting any necessary medication including insulin. Imagine trying to pay for prenatal care let alone delivery of a healthy child, and making the rent. Heaven help you if either you or the child suffer complications before/during/after birth.

For many of us this isn’t a thought experiment. It’s a painful reality. Some of us will have to work even longer to pay for health care, well beyond age 65; some of us are already dealing with this challenge, as Business Insider reports in these slice-of-life stories that tend to blame the victim (ex. Faber shouldn’t have been a farmer).

I’m 82 and earn $16 an hour working at a boat store. I don’t have much saved and can’t retire, but everything will work out.
https://www.businessinsider.com/cant-retire-working-at-80-social-security-minimum-wage-2025-10

A trucker in his late 70s who can’t afford to retire shares the big regret he made decades ago that may have changed his circumstances
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/retirement/a-trucker-in-his-late-70s-who-can-t-afford-to-retire-shares-the-big-regret-he-made-decades-ago-that-may-have-changed-his-circumstances/ar-AA1HKHOP

These folks couldn’t save enough for retirement when health care costs were much lower. Today’s younger workers aren’t able to save much at all, not with inflation chipping away at all their expenses. We’ll be reading bleak stories of elderly who can’t retire for decades.

In essence, Trump and his GOP minions’ death panel have become Dickensian: “If they would rather die, …they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population.”

One might think this is the Trump-GOP’s approach to housing policy; if enough people go bankrupt, into foreclosure, or die, there will be more housing available.

It’s as destructive and thoughtless as taking a wrecking ball without a plan to the East Wing of the White House.

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Investigate POTUS’ Health Cover-Up

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Congress needs to investigate the cover-up of the president’s health.

No, not Biden’s health, which has become an excuse for avoiding the obvious problems with Trump’s health.

Biden’s no longer the president. He’s no longer making decisions affecting the nation’s security.

This guy, though, is:

Link to original post including the video.

This kind of confabulation is familiar to me, having a parent with dementia. They fake reality to fill in gaps in what they actually recall, and as long as they’re not called out on it they continue to roll with it. They may even believe their fabrication because they can draw on nothing that undermines it.

Depending on the time of day and who corrects them, they may back off or they may become petulant and act out if they are sundowning.

Nobody confronts him. They just let him spew that garbage and replay it to the public without context to call it into question, cementing it as alternative reality.

This is dangerous as fuck, a threat to national security.

The video in the post above was recorded August 26 in a close cabinet meeting. The meeting was held during a period when Trump wasn’t seen by the public, between August 24 and September 2, sparking questions across social media platforms asking if Trump was dead.

Photos taken of him on August 30 preparing to get into a vehicle did not assure the public of his health. He looked pale, pasty, and not very energetic.

Trump’s slack jaw open mouth appearance in several photos that day caused many to ask if he’d had a stroke.

Yesterday there was more evidence yet that Trump may have had a recent neurological event. Lauren Esposito at The Daily Beast offered several perspectives in her report:

President Donald Trump was sporting a doozy of a droopy face as he ventured outside the White House Thursday amid mounting questions about his health.

The 79-year-old president appeared at a Pentagon event commemorating the 24th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks, where the right side of his face sparked a wave of online speculation.

Matt Binder of Substack newsletter Disruptionist asked if this may be an AI avatar of Trump:

Link to original tweet on Xitter including video clips.

It’s not just the glitch Binder noted which is concerning; Trump’s right hand is covered by his left. It could be an attempt to hide the bruising frequently noted on his hand, or it could be an effort to hide both a spasm like dystonia or tardive dyskenia, or a decreasing ability to freely using his right hand and fingers. Whatever it is looks awkward and unnatural because Trump talks with his hands.

How would the average American know whether they’re looking at a sick man faking it through his duties, or an artificial construct created to replace him, operated by unelected handlers?

Some have speculated Trump has had Bell’s palsy which frequently manifests as paralysis of one side of the face – but not paralysis or weakening of one half of the body. There’s been no deeper speculation about the underlying cause of the palsy.

Has Trump one or more major neurological events which could affect his ability to fulfill his duties as president?

Has he already subordinated his duties to others around him — outside of the Constitution’s 25th Amendment — including whomever may have made an AI avatar of him used yesterday?

Why aren’t any of the White House staff speaking with media to address Trump’s obvious health problems, instead of covering it up by ignoring it?

When is Congress going to investigate this immediate concern rather than wasting time on a political witch hunt focusing on a former president?

And when is the GOP caucus in Congress going to grasp the reality they are under the thumb of a guy who’s health is clearly compromised? What happens to the GOP both in Congress and the party machine if Trump becomes further debilitated?

~ ~ ~

There is one more huge problem Congress won’t address, regardless of the party helming either house.

That’s the failure of U.S. media outlets. It’s clear based on the complete lack of coverage of Trump’s health that the largest and most influential newspapers conducted a partisan hit job on Joe Biden during his last year in office.

There has been little coverage of Trump’s disappearance for four days by The New York Times, the Washington Post, or the Los Angeles Times.

There has been limited coverage of Trump’s obvious hand bruises and his edema, but not a daily report on his health — not like that NYT and WaPo published day after day.

Biden’s health problems were far less obvious and yet they drew magnitude more coverage.

Trump’s latest health problem was picked up in The Daily Beast. Not a single story in any of the major newspapers or cable outlets over the last 20 hours.

It’s rather sad to see multiple Indian news outlets — Hindustan Times, Times of India, Times Now, for example — are doing a far better job of covering Trump’s health on a timely basis.

We’re going to have to build a better media ecosystem if we’re going to get the news we need because the major U.S. outlets prove repeatedly they are not capable of meeting this moment in history.

Their wall-to-wall coverage of a political pundit’s death avoiding altogether coverage of the seated president’s health is yet more evidence of the problem we need to fix and quickly.

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POS BFB in da’ House: Be Water, My Friend

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“Dripping water hollows out stone, not through force but through persistence.”
― Ovid

“A river cuts through rock, not because of its power, but because of its persistence.”
― James N. Watkins

I said empty your mind, be formless, shapeless, like water.
Now you put water into a cup it becomes the cup.
You put water into a bottle it becomes the bottle.
You put it into a teapot it becomes the teapot.
Now water can flow, or it can crash.
Be water, my friend.
― Bruce Lee

After passing in the Senate yesterday, the POS big fugly bill is back in the House for reconciliation where the Senate version is struggling to pull together adequate support for passage across the GOP caucus.

The Freedom Caucus in particular is unhappy with the $3.3 trillion increase to the deficit over the next decade this POS legislation represents.

Trump and J.D. Vance have been calling all the intransigent GOP members trying to coerce their support for the bill, threatening them with primaries.

No word whether Elon Musk and/or his America PAC have been making similar calls offering campaign contributions in exchange for their NO votes.

The situation is fluid. It could change rapidly.

You, too, need to be fluid and make like water. Be persistent. Keep calling your representative and let them know you want them to vote NO on this wretched bill.

Remind them, too, they are part of a co-equal branch of government and should not cow to another branch ― especially a branch which is supposed to “shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed,” not order other branches around.

Call the Congressional switchboard: (202) 224-3121 or use Resist.bot or 5Calls.org.

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The Sound of Teeth on Bone: Leopard Eating Leopards [UPDATE]

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[NB: check the byline, thanks. Update at bottom of this post. /~Rayne]

You knew eventually there would be intraparty autophagy given the conflict that emerged between Trump and his DOGE leader.

The leopard that bought a social media platform to ensure Trump and his party were elected is ready to gnaw on their faces. They were uncritical of Musk’s use of his Nazi bar X to aid their party, wholly accepting the wretchedness published alongside right-wing propaganda bolstering their position.

Now they’re going to have to face the fact the richest man in the world — the one person who could buy the lot of them with the change he can earn in a single day — is utterly enraged with them all.

I can’t blame him for feeling this way, either. I can’t stand Musk but I can understand his point of view.

Imagine burning up hundreds of millions of dollars, perhaps even billions, of personal capital by personally taking on Trump’s Project 2025 government elimination measures as leader of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The Tesla Takedown movement was in no small part a response to Musk slashing away at government without restraint.

Then the party he supported with his $44 billion dollar acquisition of Twitter completely trashed that sacrifice by increasing the budget deficit while trying to hide the $3.3 trillion increase from the public, extending the debt ceiling to pay for their bullshit including the massive expansion of ICE.

Gnaw away, Musk. You bought it, you broke it, you own it. Bon appetit!

The last time Musk threatened to launch a new political party in opposition to the GOP, Trump got pissy and made a counterthreat.

This time I would watch for more than an exchange of words. Tells about Musk’s seriousness would include:

• Establishment of one or more national PACs to fund the new party;
• Establishment of one or more state and/or national PACs to run campaigns against incumbent GOP congress members;
• Co-option of existing libertarian/GOP/conservative PACs for the same (think Russia’s dark money co-option of the National Rifle Association from 2012-2016);
• Creation of an umbrella organization and subset entities across all 50 states and the territories launching the new party presence;
• Recruitment of candidates who are willing to run under the new party banner.

Meanwhile, Musk could continue to use the dead bird app to support his efforts, this time against the GOP. It worked to get them elected, it could work against them as well. Not a lot of additional investment required, especially since Trump’s big fugly bill is so damned unpopular making weaponization of the bill against the GOP a piece of cake.

Musk was worth $363 billion dollars today, even after losing $4.38 billion since Friday. That’s $100 billion more than the next richest man, Jeff Bezos. This is the kind of money which can buy small nations — it’s already bought an American general election. A single good day’s gain in the stock market could easily yield more cash for campaign contributions than the contributions made in 2024:

Between January 2023 and April 2024, US political campaigns collected around $8.6 billion for the 2024 House, Senate, and presidential elections. Over 65% of that money, about $5.6 billion, came from political action committees (PACs).

(source: USA Facts)

The danger to the left should Musk make good his threat: a new political party aiming at taking out the GOP in thrall to their mob boss Trump may peel away some part of the Democratic Party.

Could be centrists (including the not-well-closeted racists, misogynists, and bigots) who feel threatened by the inclusiveness of those left of them.

Could be the gerontocracy within the Democratic Party who feel their death grip on power and relevance weakening.

Could be the horseshoe left which shares fewer ideals with progressives and centrists than the far right.

Whatever the case, the Democratic Party needs to stay clear of the leopards as they claw at each other; they need to offer a strong, clear vision of the future while working on the vulnerable states and districts.

North Carolina, for example, is now in play given Sen. Thom Tillis’s principled stance on the big fugly bill, choosing not to run for re-election instead of kowtowing to the GOP’s mob boss.

Let the leopards gnaw on each other. Stay clear, get busy.

~ ~ ~

Action Items:

• Check out Indivisible’s Stop The Cuts page, especially the Take Action Now section near the bottom of the page.

• Weak on federal budget terminology? See the federal budget glossary at National Priorities Project.

• Or simply keep up the pressure and contact your senators to tell them to vote NO on H.R. 1 One Big Beautiful Bill Act, recruit others to do the same. Congressional switchboard: (202) 224-3121 or use Resist.bot or 5Calls.

~ ~ ~

UPDATE — 8:30 AM ET —

Far more predictable than the weather. Somebody’s Depends are twisted about Musk’s threat.

Trump threatens to re-examine government support for Elon Musk’s companies as mogul trashes megabill
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-threatens-re-examine-government-support-elon-musks-companies-tra-rcna216156

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump threatened to sic the Department of Government Efficiency on Elon Musk’s businesses, saying in a Truth Social post shortly after midnight that there was “big money to be saved.”

“Elon may get more subsidy than any human being in history, by far, and without subsidies, Elon would probably have to close up shop and head back home to South Africa,” Trump said in the post. “No more Rocket launches, Satellites, or Electric Car Production, and our Country would save a FORTUNE.”

“Perhaps we should have DOGE take a good, hard, look at this?” the president added.

A spokesperson for the Musk-backed America PAC did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In the hours after Trump’s post, Musk reposted several graphics on X depicting a climbing national debt, which currently sits at more than $36 trillion, according to government data.

Emphasis mine. I am thinking of the aphorism, “I never argue with a man who buys ink by the barrel,” antique in the digital age.

Musk can spill a lot more bits and pixels using X than Trump can with his personal social media platform.

Still amazing even after all of Trump’s previous tantrums that he believes it’s acceptable to weaponize government against an individual exercising their First Amendment rights, to benefit his personal and partisan agenda. Is this an official act? Debatable.

Whatever the case I’m buying popcorn futures this morning ahead of Round 3.

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Graphic: Quino Al via Unsplash (mod by Rayne)

Making America Gross Again: Big Fugly Bill Hits the Senate Floor [UPDATE]

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Trump’s big ugly bill will be up for a vote in the Senate this morning.

It takes money from hungry children and gives it to the already rich as Marcy has previously said, and the Center for Budget Policy and Priorities has quantified.

But this bill is a mortal menace to many Americans because of the bill’s cuts to Medicaid.

ER doctor McNadoMD spelled out the revolting death threats this bill poses:


EMTALA: Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act of 1986. They want to ditch 39-year-old legislation which assures Americans obtain

— a medical screening examination (MSE);
— are stabilized with an emergency medical condition;
— are transferred or accepted as a patient as appropriate and needed.

What are we left with if the GOP Senate knocks off EMTALA?

We already lost so many health care professionals because of COVID and have yet to replace them. COVID also cost this nation hospitals, thanks in no small part to right-wing refuseniks who rejected vaccines and masks. Rural hospitals were at risk of closure before COVID; 19 were closed in 2019. A net 50 rural hospitals were closed between 2017 and 2023.

We simply don’t have enough health care professionals or hospitals BEFORE the damage this bill’s cuts could wreak.

My 94-year-old father-in-law, a veteran, died last August. He ended up in the ER more than three times inside his last 18 months because his nursing home couldn’t handle his needs — basically a soft form of eviction until he was stabilized and returned to the home. This happened in a small town where the resources for his care were limited. If the local hospital closed, he’d have simply been evicted and died.

But I suspect the GOP doesn’t give a shit about lifelong GOP voters once they’re as elderly as my FIL was, without the kind of money to burn on political donations. They certainly don’t care about veterans. The GOP congressional caucus has become the death panels they warned us about.

And who pays for the unpaid ER visits — before the hospital goes bankrupt? We who have private insurance do, through increases to our premiums as hospitals increase overall charges to absorb the losses. This is an invisible tax on us, where Medicaid is fully visible.

In other words this is a definite death sentence for a group of Americans and legal residents who have kidney failure.


I don’t have words for this, but this is reality.

This is a real massacre being staged in the Senate, Kellyanne.

Across America especially in smaller cities and towns, Americans are going to face increasing poverty, illness, and death if this big fugly bill passes.

~ ~ ~

I need to get this post up so that you can see the problem and start working the phones and emails. I’ll continue to add to this post for a bit because you need to read what this ER doctor says about the bill’s likely impact if it passes.

Contact your senators and tell them this bill, H.R. 1 “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” is simply not acceptable. Contact your family and friends, explain quickly how bad this bill is and tell them to contact their senators, too.

Congressional switchboard: (202) 224-3121

or use Resist.bot or 5Calls.

Call even if your senator(s) are Democrats or Independents, because they need to know how you feel, they need to know backsliding isn’t acceptable. Don’t trust they will do the right thing without hearing from you (I’m looking at Pennsylvanians especially given Sen. Fetterman’s increasing unreliability).

~ ~ ~

UPDATE — 2:09 PM ET 01-JUL-2025 —

The POS BFB passed with JD Vance casting the tie breaking vote.

Via Associated Press:

Senate Republicans hauled President Donald Trump’s big tax breaks and spending cuts bill to passage Tuesday on the narrowest of votes, pushing past opposition from Democrats and their own GOP ranks after a turbulent overnight session.

Vice President JD Vance broke a 50-50 tie to push it over the top. The three Republicans opposing the bill were Sens. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Susan Collins of Maine and Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky.

The GOP owns this POS. It’s on them, they have committed to hurting this country.

Furthermore, they have completely abandoned any pretense of being the party of fiscal responsibility having voted to add $3.3 trillion to the national debt over the next 10 years.

** Do not let this lead you to despair. Let it anger you, and let that righteous anger motivate you to action.**

Continue to call your members of Congress — excoriate them if they voted for this POS BFB, thank them for rejecting it if they didn’t.

Find out when your members of Congress will be home over this break and whether they are having in-district sessions. Be there in person to communicate with them.

Our next major concerns should be how to care for others who will be directly damaged by this GOP bullshit, and how to protect the elections ahead.

Take the holiday break to rest up and ready yourself for the next phase.

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The Sound of Teeth on Bone: You Are Here

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[NB: check the byline, thanks. /~Rayne]

Where to begin:

“Damn! You over here like, damn, Kamala, come back to me!” Akademiks joked, speculating that Ross may regret his enthusiastic endorsement of Trump on the campaign trail, now that the president’s economic policy has cost him at least $10 million.

In August 2024, Trump appeared on Ross’s livestream, where the young influencer gifted Trump a $100,000+ custom Cybertruck, Rolex, and his endorsement. While he was visibly morose over the financial hit, he didn’t have anything negative to say about Trump.

Source: Latin Times

Nothing bad to say about the man who cost him eight figures — so far.

This influencer is among many who are why Harris-Walz made no inroads with white and Latino men. They feel a need to belong to a tribe and it’s one which pulls up the tree house ladder to prevent women especially those of color from joining.

Harris warned them and they still can’t fully acknowledge she warned them and they were wrong, let alone admit that really is a leopard sitting on their chests gnawing on their cheekbones.

I’d like to laugh but my investment portfolio is down by a lot and unlike 2008 there was no safe haven I could trust thanks to DOGE Muskrats mucking about in Treasury.

At some point we’ll have to rescue these guys like Bluebeard’s last wife because we’ll be rescuing ourselves at the same time.

~ ~ ~

And now for something critically important — an urgent call to action.

Go to Indivisible.org and read the explanation about H.R. 22, a bill which will disenfranchise a massive number of voters. This is one of the methods by which Trump will attempt to hang onto the White House as well as a stranglehold over executive functions. If voters are deprived of their right to vote, they won’t be able to remove bad representation at mid-terms let alone the general election.

https://indivisible.org/campaign/trumps-new-executive-order-eo-silence-americans-what-you-need-know

While all eligible voters will be affected, those most likely to be disenfranchised are married and divorced women because they will be assessed a poll tax in the form of additional identity documentation in the form of a marriage license. Trans persons and adoptees will also be affected negatively.

The bill also has a hole in it, and I’ll tell you right now it affects me, my father, and my sibling as an example. The word “territory” never appears in this bill, and my father is an American citizen born in what was then a territory, now a state.

Bill text at: https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/119/hr22/text

This legislation needs to die and the 107 Republican House members who co-sponsored it need to hear from their constituents that they are failing their oaths of office to uphold the Constitution.

Don’t let this slip by you, take action. We can’t trust the Supreme Court to do the right thing and protect Americans’ right to vote.

Congressional switchboard: (202) 224-3121

 

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Happy (Forced) Mother’s Day!

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[NB: check the byline, thanks. /~Rayne]

Hope all of the mothers in our community are having a restful Sunday, whether mothers in fact or mothers of invention.

Not wishing a happy day to this senator, however.

Remember this GOP senator’s freakish fundie-speak rebuttal to President Biden’s State of the Union? She’s back with an attempt to move this country ever closer to Gilead of The Handmaid’s Tale.

She and 13 co-sponsors — Sen. Rubio (R-FL), Sen. Cramer (R-ND), Sen. Daines (R-MT), Sen. Grassley (R-IA), Sen. Hyde-Smith (R-MS), Sen. Marshall (R-KS), Sen. Moran (R-KS), Sen. Ricketts (R-NE), Sen. Rounds (R-SD), Sen. Schmitt (R-MO), Sen. Tillis (R-NC), Sen. Wicker (R-MS), and Sen. Lankford (R-OK) — submitted S.4296, the “More Opportunities for Moms to Succeed Act,” a.k.a. the “MOMS Act” this past week.

As Salon and the Guardian reported, the bill creates a database which allows the federal government to track persons who use a government-developed and hosted website, “pregnancy.gov,” while seeking information and resources related to pregnancy.

The bill may initially look innocuous to those who aren’t familiar with how websites work, but one doesn’t have to read very deeply to see this is horrifying:

11 “(a) WEBSITE. — Not later than 1 year after the date
12 of enactment of this section, the Secretary shall publish
13 a public website entitled ‘pregnancy.gov’. The Secretary
14 may not delegate implementation or administration of the
15 website below the level of the Office of the Secretary. The
16 website shall include the following:
17 “(1) A clearinghouse of relevant resources
18 available for pregnant and postpartum women, and
19 women parenting young children.

[page] 3
1 “(2) A series of questions through which a user
2 is able to generate a list of relevant resources of in-
3 terest within the user’s zip code.
4 “(3) A means to direct the user to identify
5 whether to list the relevant resources of interest that
6 are available online or within 1, 5, 10, 50, and 100
7 miles of the user.
8 “(4) A mechanism for users to take an assess-
9 ment through the website and provide consent to use
10 the user’s contact information, which the Secretary
11 may use to conduct outreach via phone or email to
12 follow up with users on additional resources that
13 would be helpful for the users to review.

The server on which the website is hosted would capture the user’s IP address. That’s normal for all web servers. Because we don’t have a national standard curriculum for computers and networks, the average American will not understand they shed this information whenever they visit any website.

If the prospective user then seeks any resource near them, they may not only validate their physical location but pregnancy or postpartum status.

Someone from Health and Human Services could follow up with them — *shudder* — although the bill gives a weak nod to consent.

If they speak other than English — think asylum seekers here — their ethnic/national identity might be deduced by this bit on page 5 of the bill:

3 “(d) SERVICES IN DIFFERENT LANGUAGES.— The
4 Secretary shall ensure that the website provides the widest
5 possible access to services for families who speak lan-
6 guages other than English.

Worse, all this data will be reported to Congress:

7 “(e) REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.—
8 “(1) IN GENERAL.— Not later than 180 days
9 after the date on which the website is established
10 under this section, the Secretary shall submit to
11 Congress a report on—
12 “(A) the traffic of the website;
13 “(B) user feedback on the accessibility and
14 helpfulness of the website in tailoring to the
15 user’s needs;
16 “(C) insights on gaps in relevant resources
17 with respect to services for pregnant and
18 postpartum women, or women parenting young
19 children;
20 “(D) suggestions on how to improve user
21 experience and accessibility based on user feed-
22 back and missing resources that would be help-
23 ful to include in future updates; and

[page] 6
1 “(E) certification that no prohibited enti-
2 ties are listed as a relevant resource or are in
3 receipt of a grant under subsection (b)(3).
4 “(2) CONFIDENTIALITY.— The report under
5 paragraph (1) shall not include any personal identi-
6 fying information regarding individuals who have
7 used the website.

The confidentiality requirement is a fucking joke. Once this data is released to Congress, it’d be far too easy to hunt down the users. It’s yet another opportunity to breach users’ privacy, just like every other website and application for any purpose.

There’s nothing helpful about this at all. It’s a means to allow the federal government directly into women’s uteruses across the country, not exactly small government.

This also blows away the idea of states’ rights when it comes to regulating reproductive rights, though the states are supposed to provide the contact information of approved Gilead resources to be offered through this national website. If states want to offer pregnancy or postpartum resources they can do that through state health departments. They don’t need the feds harvesting this data in a central repository.

The really aggravating part about this bill? The creation of yet more federal and state government bureaucracy intended to get deep into mothers’ and prospective mothers’ crotches, while a non-governmental solution has existed for years with federal support through block grants, eventually suppressed by far-right anti-reproductive rights lawmakers and the orange hellbeast.

Maybe you’ve even heard of it before — it’s a national nonprofit called Planned Parenthood.

~ ~ ~

Comment Operations Note

You may have noticed a change in the comments system this week. After many complaints about comments being unreadable after fourth or fifth reply to a reply to a comment especially on mobile devices, the maximum width of threaded nested comments has been set to four.

In other words, this is what will be permitted as seen on a desktop:

A fifth reply to the fourth comment in this thread will not see a Reply button.

If you wish to leave a reply to that fourth comment, preface the comment with the user’s name and date/time of the comment to which you wish to reply. You can also pick up the link to that comment by right-clicking on the date/time and then pasting into the preface of your reply. Example:

Rayne (edit)

Reply to Legonaut, May 3, 2024 at 6:11 pm

Nice or Noise?

Not an actual reply in that thread, just an example of how to leave a fifth-wide comment and what it will look like.

Will it slow your comments down? Sorry, yes, it may, but if you really feel compelled to share a comment this is a trade-off for readability. What good is your comment if it can’t be read by a substantial portion of the EW community?

I should also add here that wordy comments lacking concision have also helped force this change. You know who you are; think more about your audience here because even at four wide, some comments will still be challenging on mobile devices. Under the previous setting, those overlong comments acted like a Denial of Service to other readers.

There will be more changes to comments in the near future, though a couple tweaks to the righthand sidebar will happen first. Watch for them.

~ ~ ~

Treat this as an open thread.

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