But who is Congress after the current session ends? First one in the building elects himself Speaker and votes not to seat anyone else?

Maybe not so petty if Phelan was gunning for Hegseth’s job. Corrupt but not petty.

Iran is mocking Senile Satan’s claim, saying he ‘saved 8 AI-generated people’, calling the entire story fake.

F.B.I. Said to Have Investigated Times Reporter After Article on Patel’s Girlfriend

So the FBI's priority list under Kash Patel is:

1. Investigate a journalist for reporting on the Director’s girlfriend

2. Sue The Atlantic for reporting on the Director’s drinking problem

3. Avoid arresting a single powerful man implicated in the Epstein files

Did I miss anything?

The entire administration is more suited to barking about everything than trying to run anything.

After watching Trump in action, they all overestimate their ability to bamboozle.

I think we are seeing the end of a 45 year run of Republican ascendancy that brought us to this point. Wish it could have come sooner and with less pain. Fighting harder for single payer decades ago might have helped. Blocking Israeli aggression in the West Bank might have prevented Oct 7.

Sometimes you have to stand for what is right: provide single payer health care, abolish ICE and leave Israel to fend for itself.

These mechanisms are far from perfect. But remember that a majority of Americans voted for Donald Trump. We should be grateful that there are limits on majority power.

Because history has shown that power will be used to gain more power and dominate those without power, whether that power derives from money, votes, geography, or whatever. So, we have mechanisms to protect minorities and limit accumulation of power.

Thirteen U.S. troops died trying to get these people to safety — Afghan interpreters, soldiers, and the families of our service members. Veterans spent sleepless nights during the chaotic withdrawal fighting to keep them alive. Now our own government is going to abandon them.

There is a reality that cities and blue states have financial, commercial, and media power that rural areas do not, so it makes sense to counterbalance with some additional political power, as the Constitution designed.

Trump surprised that not everyone is as stupid as his voters.

So much false equivalence in media on gerrymandering in Texas vs California & Virginia. California and Virginia maps approved by the voters. That's a huge difference not enough people pointing out

Brought on by the inability to collect a simple random sample in the modern age.

Next time we will realize that if we just shoot one missile the enemy will realize how much more they have to lose if they don’t negotiate and we won’t have to shoot any more. Flattening everything at the outset may give you a boner, but leaves the enemy with nothing to lose, no reason to negotiate

Not an issue for the Epstein Class.

But have there really been any big surprises? Or, is it just that there are too many people with more money than they know what to do with? Not playing with a different deck, but with different chips than the rest of us.

Tax assets where the assets reside, regardless of who the owner is. A 1% tax on stock value could be collected direct from the issuer, and would generate around $600 at today’s valuations. E.g., Amazon writes a check for $27B. Shareholders see reduced ROI.

China busy making new friends.

Savage video from the Iran Embassy in Indonesia.

🍿

Maybe China is showing up with Yuan ready to pay now for future delivery, but fewer buyers are ready to do that with dollars.

📌MEDIA: Stop calling Jared Kushner a "high-level negotiator." He's a damn thief operating in his repulsive family's best interests not ours.

And DiGenova is the guy who tried to bribe Ukrainians into manufacturing dirt on Biden.

Iran aiming to inflict some damage on financial markets before returning to table.

Everything you destroy leaves your enemy with less to lose. That’s why sane leaders opt for very limited strikes and why Hegseth and Trump’s need to play like tough guys for domestic consumption is so self-defeating.

But you can’t tax unrealized gains their shareholders whine. Yet, how do they imagine those grains can ever be realized if the army, police, courts, social stability, etc which private property depends on is not maintained?

I’m all for investigating, but I think it’s a symptom of a deeper problem: there are enough people with enough money to throw around that they can make these bets based on the same info that everyone else has.