In The Shadow Of Mt Hollywood

There were two long and contentious Senate Democrat caucus lunches this week, from which participants emerged "tight-lipped" but "unified". What they were apparently "unified" about was a Friday offer from Minority Leader Schumer: "I've spoken with my caucus, and Democrats are offering a very simple compromise," Schumer said during a Friday speech on the Senate floor. "Democrats are ready to clear the way to quickly pass a government funding bill that includes health care affordability. Leader Thune just needs to add a clean, one-year extension of the ACA tax credits to the CR so that we can immediately address rising health care costs." "Now, the ball is in the Republicans' court. We need Republicans to just say yes," he continued. Schumer is also demanding a bipartisan commission to negotiate the subsidies. Schumer is demanding a negotiation, but what he doesn't seem to underatand is that the ne...

This is a key question that nobody's asking. The Real Clear Politics average for the New Jersey governor's race had Sherrill ahead by 2.7%, and many commentators had this within the margin of error. She won by 56.3% to Ciattarelli's 43.2%, a 13.1% margin. The RCP average for the Virginia governor's race had Spanberger ahead by 8.5%. She won by 57.2% to Earle Sears's 43.6%, a 13.5% margin. I asked Chrome AI mode, "What is considered an accurate poll election prediction?" It answered, An accurate poll election prediction is one where the actual election outcome falls within the poll's stated margin of error and confidence interval. However, polls often understate the full range of potential error, meaning the reported margin of error may need to be wider in practice to be truly accurate. The RCP poll averages don't have a stated margin of error, because they are just a composite of individual polls with differing margins of error. ...

The current government shutdown, whatever else it may be, is a negotiation. Whatever rhe conventional wisdom may say about Trump's current situation, it's unwise to forget that Trump is a skilled negotiator. In the current shutdown crisis, I think he's following an established pattern. His call to nuke the filibuster is a good example. At 4:15 in the video above, he says, I've been saying for the last 30 days, we've had four or five different points, "Yes, sir, they're going to get it right now, we should have it done in a day." I've heard that about four times. I heard it after [No] Kings. . . I heard it after a couple of other moments in time. And I said, "No, I don't believe so." And now I heard it's after the election. I don't believe so. I think they're kamikaze pilots. . . . They'll take down the country if they have to. His argument is that the Democrats, althougn in the minority, will use the filibus...

Because I'm on the other side of the country, and we have enougn problems of our own in LA, I wasn't following the New York mayoral election very closely. But this piece at the Manhattan Contrarian blog provides another examination of what amounts to an alliance between the upper class and Marx's Lumpenproletariat , traditionally the urban underclass of street criminals, vagabonds, pimps, and prostitutes, which is too unrelaible to be an ally of the working class, and the upper class, the 1%. As things have been falling out in the 21st century, it see3ms to me that Marx's Lumpenroletariat has expanded beyond street criminals and other traditional riff-raff to include the homeless, whose ranks have been swelled by the easy availability of addictive drugs; illegal migrants; and sexual deviants, who form a powewrful interest group. This certainly seems to be the group whose electoral power gave Zohran Mamdani the victory in New York's mayoral election, which the ...

This morning's headline: Pelosi: Trump Is a ‘Vile Creature, He’s the ‘Worst Thing on the Face of the Earth’ Pelosi said, “He’s just a vile creature. The worst thing on the face of the Earth. But anyway.” Reporter Elex Michaelson asked, “You think he‘s the worst thing on the face of the Earth?” Peklosi said, “I do, yeah. I do.” Because it doesn't cost me anything, I asked Chrome AI mode, "Why would an 85-year-old make frequent angry outbursts?" It answered, Frequent angry outbursts in an 85-year-old are often a symptom of underlying physical, emotional, or cognitive issues, and are not a normal part of aging. It is important to consult a doctor to identify the specific cause, which could include: . . . Chronic pain from conditions like arthritis, or acute pain from an issue like a urinary tract infection (UTI), can cause significant irritability and anger, especially if the individual cannot effectively communicate the source of their discomf...

In my working career, I discovered that few things could get a boss mad at me faster than, if he complained that I was doing something wrong, I would ask him, "Can you show me how to do it right?" He's the boss, after all -- he must know how I should do my job. Of course he didn't; he wasn't promoted because he knew how to do anyone's job; that isn't what makes you a boss. He'd just go away muttering under his breath. As best I can determinme, this is how the Trump administration is responding to federal judges' instructions over the weekend to continue funding SNAP without a congressionbal appropriation. In yesterday's post, I linked to an essay by Chris Bray that raised the basic question: Defendants — the Trump administration — are required to use contingency funds to pay for current operations, whether or not Congress has funded current operations. A court has just concluded that a federal program must operate in the absence...

🚨 BREAKING: Sen. Markwayne Mullin has just learned Democrats are plotting to reopen the government likely WEDNESDAY or THURSDAY, after communist Zohran Mamdani wins "They're telling us they plan to open it up probably Wednesday or Thursday, after the election. After they elect… pic.twitter.com/MksN3k02HH — Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) November 1, 2025 As of this past Wednesday, a writer at Semafor predicted , Senators in both parties — below the leadership level — are starting to see an unmistakable shift that they hope leads to a bipartisan agreement to end the shutdown, perhaps as early as next week, according to more than a dozen sources. . . . There’s no sign yet that Democrats are willing to support the House GOP’s stopgap bill on Thursday, when it’s next scheduled for a Senate vote, but Semafor confirmed a noticeable thaw in the shutdown dynamics among members and aides across the aisle. On the other hand, Aaron Blake at CNN argues , Democrats ...