Blanche’s “Doomsday” Answer: A Five-Alarm Warning on Election Certification

Avatar photoby

Asked whether the Justice Department might try to block states from certifying election results, Attorney General Todd Blanche answered, “Yes,” then tried to dismiss it as “some doomsday scenario.” But he clearly refused to rule out federal intervention.

credit: Paresh Nath

There’s no harm in overreacting to this. There’s more harm in overlooking what they might actually be plotting.

Because this sure sounds like preparing the battlefield and conditioning the public for another bid to overthrow an election.

Speaking with reporters, Blanche was asked whether DOJ might try to block a state from certifying results.

“Yes. Of course there are scenarios that we could all come up with hypothetically — some doomsday scenario, for example,” he responded. “So I don’t think it’s proper to make any kind of conclusory statements about what’s going to happen in the future because I don’t know what’s going to happen in the future. It is not DOJ’s intention — and it’s never our intention — to improperly interfere with elections or the state certification process, but to say that there’s no circumstances that we would ever do that — of course I’m not going to say that.”

“Am I planning my days around the election to be somewhere to not certify? Of course not, no,” he added.

Look at the pieces accumulating before this election: DOJ is demanding state voter data and suing California over ballots it claims could come from noncitizens. Blanche says the department may pursue more election cases. And now he won’t rule out trying to block states from certifying results.

Taken together, these moves look like preparation for a fight over the outcome: seed claims of fraud, put election officials under federal pressure, and keep in view a legal path to challenge or delay certification.

💬 Add Your Voice: Comment Now
🔴 Our Podcast: Open Live Chat

74 thoughts on “Blanche’s “Doomsday” Answer: A Five-Alarm Warning on Election Certification”

  1. Attribution: SECURING ELECTIONS THE GOP WAY by Paresh Nath
    Paresh Nath is the chief cartoonist for Indias National Herald, and his cartoons are syndicated in the United States by Cagle Cartoons.

  3. from The New Republic Todd Blanche Floats Chilling Likelihood of Trump Election Interference
    Donald Trump may try to steal the election—again.

    Attorney General Todd Blanche is open to blocking states from certifying the November midterm elections.
    Blanche made the comments during a Thursday press gaggle in Virginia.
    “Is there any scenario in which DOJ would weigh in on that certification process or try to block states from certifying?” a reporter asked.
    “Is there any scenario? Yes,” Blanche said. “Of course there’s scenarios that we could all come up with hypothetically, some doomsday scenario for example, right? I don’t think it’s proper to make any kind of conclusory statements about what’s gonna happen in the future…. It is not DOJ’s intention to—and it’s never our intention—to improperly interfere with our elections.”
    “But to say that there’s no circumstances that we would ever do that, of course I’m not gonna say that,” he continued.
    The federal government is not supposed to play a role in state certification of elections. The soundbite quickly raised alarm to Blanche’s left.
    “THIS IS CODE RED !!” wrote California Governor Gavin Newsom’s press office. “Trump’s politicized DOJ is now saying out loud that they may interfere in the election in a desperate, unprecedented, and completely unAmerican and anti-democratic attempt to keep Trump and MAGA in power.”
    “He answered the question of whether Donald Trump’s DOJ may interfere in the midterm elections with a ‘Yes,’” said Campaign for New York Health’s Melanie D’Arrigo.
    It is incredibly abnormal for a sitting attorney general to float the possibility of interfering with an election, especially one who believes the Justice Department is not independent from the president (in this case, a president who has spent six years trying to manufacture a baseless voter fraud scandal). Yet Blanche, Trump’s formal personal attorney, did it with ease.

  4. lest we forget, they warned us

    Editorial cartoon: Todd Blanche
    By The Dallas Morning News Editorial Board, Opinion Staff June 9, 2026

  5. meanwhile mark your calendar: Trail Mix will be back in the streets Wednesday to fight the arch…
    VIETNAM VETERAN RONN EASTON TO LEAD PROTEST AGAINST TRUMP’S PROPOSED ARCH NEAR ARLINGTON NATIONAL — Details
    Wednesday October 28, 2026 11am to Noon

    and from RawStory Showdown as veterans make last-minute bid to stop Trump’s arch
    Military veterans launched a last-minute push to stop President Donald Trump’s monumental arch, claiming a key approval is already a done deal.
    On Thursday, three Vietnam War veterans and a retired architectural historian asked U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan for a preliminary injunction barring any construction of the 250-foot arch at Memorial Circle without congressional approval while the case plays out. The administration told the court a day earlier that work could start as soon as Nov. 5, and the plaintiffs are asking for a ruling by Nov. 4.
    “Defendants’ plans are unlawful; the threatened harm is imminent; and the public interest leans heavily against allowing Defendants to blaze ahead,” attorneys with Public Citizen Litigation Group wrote in the filing.
    The filing argues there’s little suspense left in the planning commission’s Nov. 5 vote. The plaintiffs point out that the commission’s chairman, Mark Paoletta, recently wrote an article in The Federalist celebrating the arch and declaring he “will vote to approve this project.” The filing accuses him of “regurgitating the administration’s talking points.”
    “Approval by NCPC is not in question,” the plaintiffs wrote. They also accused the administration of seeking sign-offs “from commissions populated by friends of the administration.” The Washington Sun separately reported that the administration has replaced career officials serving as alternate commission members with political allies ahead of the vote.
    The plaintiffs also note that the National Park Service’s own review found the arch would significantly harm more than 40 historic sites, including Arlington National Cemetery and the Lincoln Memorial. Without an injunction, they warned, the administration will be “sprinting past this Court.”
    The filing points to Trump’s White House ballroom as a “cautionary tale.” The Supreme Court let the project continue after lower courts found it unlawful, reasoning that halting a partially built structure would cause practical problems. The veterans argue that letting crews start on the arch would similarly render it “a fait accompli” before Chutkan rules.
    The Trump administration’s only claimed legal basis for the arch is a 1925 law authorizing Arlington Memorial Bridge, according to the filing, which calls the argument “entirely untethered from the Act’s text.”

  6. Demonstrators protest US President Donald Trump’s proposed triumphal arch at its planned site in Memorial Circle in Washington, D.C., US, October 1, 2026. REUTERS/Kylie Cooper TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY


  7. Apr 19, 2026
    Jimmy Kimmel has ignited a major online conversation after pointing out what he sees as a serious issue with President Trump’s proposed massive triumphal-style “tacky arch.” In this viral commentary, Kimmel humorously questions the purpose, symbolism, and timing of such an extravagant monument, suggesting it may lean more toward personal legacy than national unity. The discussion quickly spreads across social media, with supporters defending the bold vision while critics argue it feels excessive and controversial. This story dives into the growing debate over political monuments, public perception, and how leaders shape their legacy through architecture and symbolism. Is this proposed arch a patriotic landmark in the making, or an over-the-top statement that misses the mark? Watch as we break down Kimmel’s remarks, public reactions, and the bigger cultural questions behind it all.

  8. I hope I’m wrong in being reminded of those who reacted to the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center by saying, “How could we know?”

    How? Because they had already tried it once before! And the second time they got it done.

  9. Could Trump try to overturn another election?
    1. AG Blanche won’t rule out intervention.
    2. Republicans could challenge seating winners.
    3. Democrats take charge months late.
    FIRST CUP tackles the warning signs. ☕ ->

    • This might be the answer to the puzzle that’s been bugging me so much lately: why are they so focused on California? — If they don’t seat that delegation, there’s no Democratic majority. And their base hates California, would be easy to bring them on board for the coup.

  10. 🔴 RED ALERT: FEDERAL JUDGE ORDERS URGENT SCHEDULING IN FIGHT TO STOP TRUMP ARCH

    DEADLINE: NOON TODAY! U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan has ordered both sides to submit a proposed briefing schedule by noon Friday, October 23, as she considers an emergency request to block construction of Trump’s 250-foot triumphal arch near Arlington National Cemetery.

    Three veterans and a retired architectural historian are seeking an injunction after the administration announced construction could begin November 5, immediately following final federal approvals.

    The challengers argue Congress never authorized the monument and warn the administration could make construction a fait accompli before the courts decide whether it’s legal.

    IMPORTANT: Chutkan has not blocked construction. Her order accelerates the scheduling process, not necessarily the final ruling. The next question is whether she will act before November 5.

    REPORTING:

  12. Putin Is Meddling in the Midterms to Help Trump by Spreading False Sex Abuse Claims

    This attempt to smear Talarico had a familiar ring, for it was similar to an operation mounted by a Russian disinformation network in 2024 that cooked up and spread a similar allegation about Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, then the Democratic vice presidential candidate. The network fabricated a video that falsely claimed Walz had inappropriately touched a foreign exchange student when he was a high school teacher.

    Disinformation trackers who analyzed the Talarico smear have attributed it to the same Russian outfit, Storm-1516, that targeted Walz. The Talarico hit is the latest indication that Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s disinformation agents are once again meddling in an American election.

    As Mother Jones and other outlets have reported, for about a month, Russian operatives have been circulating fake videos on US social media platforms that hurl scurrilous allegations at Democrats. These videos—made to resemble reports from such news outlets as CNN and Mother Jones—have falsely alleged, for example, that a Democratic gubernatorial candidate recruited minors into sex work and “while working for the Girl Scouts…organized sex parties for members of the Democratic Party.”

  13. VIVEK AD FALLOUT

    Covering the Coverage

    Coverage has shifted from whether Acton’s childhood record holds up to who in the Republican Party will defend the ad. The absurdity is hard to miss: a family rupture and childhood abuse are treated as campaign evidence, then the party argues over whether criticizing that tactic is disloyal.

    • [Mainstream] [Ongoing] AP frames the fallout as a widening Republican loyalty test: Trump says the ad is “fair game,” while DeWine and Iowa Senate candidate Ashley Hinson call for it to come down. Associated Press
    • [Mainstream Analysis] Ramaswamy’s “own the libs” approach may have limits, the Post argues, as bipartisan criticism collides with Trump’s full-throated defense. The absurdist turn: a family trauma ad becomes a test of whether shock politics still pays. The Washington Post
    • [Mainstream] TIME focuses on the party’s internal damage: Republicans are reeling as Ramaswamy and Vance double down. The ad’s odd political afterlife is that an attack on Acton is now also a loyalty test for Republicans. TIME
    • [Mainstream] CBS centers DeWine’s call to pull the ad and Vance’s charge that critics are “whining.” The coverage spotlights the inversion: a governor’s appeal to keep family out of politics is recast as disloyalty. CBS News
    • [Progressive / International] [Ongoing] The Guardian follows Trump’s attack on DeWine after the governor condemned the spot. Its framing turns the dispute into a collision between a long-standing “family members are off limits” norm and Trump’s campaign-first defense. The Guardian
    • [Local / Legal Context] [Ongoing] Ohio Capital Journal points readers to court documents that contradict the ad’s attack on Acton’s account of her childhood. The absurdist mismatch: a campaign spot calls her a liar while the historical record sits in public documents. Ohio Capital Journal
    • [Conservative] [Ongoing] National Review’s writer describes seeing the ad and then looking up the family history, foregrounding the context behind the mother’s appearance. That instinct to check the backstory cuts against the ad’s attempt to make the accusation self-explanatory. National Review
    • [Conservative] [Ongoing] The Washington Examiner casts the blowback as a campaign setback for Ramaswamy. The coverage’s political yardstick is whether the ad backfires, even as the story concerns the use of Acton’s childhood trauma. Washington Examiner
    • [Progressive Commentary] The Atlantic calls the ad appalling and frames the dispute around the use of childhood sexual abuse as a political talking point. The surreal element is the conversion of a deeply personal history into a multimillion-dollar campaign buy. The Atlantic
    • [Media Reaction] The Daily Beast spotlights CNN host Erin Burnett’s criticism of Trump’s defense. The coverage shifts the focus from the campaign’s original message to the spectacle of Trump explaining why the ad should stay on air. The Daily Beast

  15. America, America
    Morally Rotten and Unfit to Serve

    f you asked me before this Trump era whether I expected to be writing at length about depravity and moral dissolution, I would have doubted it. Yes, past presidents have made obscene choices that led to profoundly unnecessary mass deaths; look no further than George W. Bush with Iraq and Richard M. Nixon with Vietnam. The immorality of such bloodshed should never be minimized because it was carried out under the framework of war, that is, the legitimation of murder.

    But the moral failure also extends deep into everyday life. Today we find ourselves held hostage by a hateful regime whose policies force children to go hungry, poison our air and water, make food unsafe, put the lives and limbs of workers at risk, abuse vulnerable populations and make basic healthcare increasingly unaffordable. Behind every dangerously careless policy are men of doubtful moral character who demonstrate contempt for the struggles of everyday Americans and their responsibility to keep them safe.

    The last few days have seen a sickening escalation of depravity and degradation, the kind of moral rot that is rarely so visible and yet seems to be infecting a wider and wider circle. At the center of this circle, of course, is Donald J. Trump, a singularly repulsive individual who’s referenced thousands of times in the Epstein files, is an adjudicated rapist and displays his bottomless capacity for abuse—to members of the press, to the rule of law, to our country and its foundational values—virtually every day. All this on top of his treasonous betrayal of Ukraine by openly allying with Vladimir Putin.

    Just this Wednesday he could be found abusing CNN journalist Kaitlan Collins: “You’re a dummy. You’re a low-IQ person, you’re a dummy and you work for CNN.” It’s way past time when one of these access reporters—or a whole group of them—finally say that they will not take his nasty bullying any longer.

    But just as Trump tears down his perceived enemies in an effort to shame or destroy them, he often does the same with his sycophants, turning them into the worst and most degraded versions of themselves—perfect to do his bidding. Let me explain.

    First is the sniveling obeisance this week of Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff—the real estate guy who’s been transmogrified into a diplomat. You may have heard what he said to Putin—morally repugnant words that call to mind Neville Chamberlain’s kowtowing to Adolf Hitler.

    “You talk so much about my president, President Trump, being a humanitarian,” Witkoff said to Putin Wednesday in St. Petersburg. “You are a humanitarian also, sir, and I salute that. I commend you, and I thank you again.”

    This to a murderous sociopath whose imperialist fantasies have led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians and Russians, with overall casualties exceeding two million. This to the man responsible for kidnapping and starving tens of thousands of Ukrainian children, assassinating journalists and political rivals, happily escalating missile strikes on civilian targets. Witkoff glorified this sadistic war criminal ostensibly because he permitted the release of Stephen Hubbard, a 74-year-old American school teacher who was living in eastern Ukraine and was taken and tortured by Russia after its invasion in 2022.

    How soulless must you be to call a man like Putin a humanitarian? How morally rotten must you be to seek business opportunities for Trump in Moscow while your beloved Kremlin business partner is murdering innocent men, women and children?

    That, of course, would also be a question for his crony Jared Kushner as they’ve plumbed for billions in the Middle East while the death toll rises in Trump’s war of choice in Iran.

    Then there’s the odious, bottom-feeding Vivek Ramaswamy, who decided to release a video highlighting the mother of Amy Acton, his rival for Ohio governor. This is the mother that Acton has not seen since she was 12 years old, when she was removed from the woman’s custody after experiencing years of rape and sexual abuse from her stepfather. Rather than face justice, he became a fugitive and fled—and Acton’s mother went with him.

    It’s a miracle that Acton has overcome that horrific history to become a physician and an accomplished public servant. But never mind that for Ramaswamy, who saw an opportunity to shove a seriously unwell person into a political ad and falsely claim that her daughter lied about her traumatic past.

    Here’s how Acton’s younger brother described what Ramaswamy did:

    After [their stepfather] was arrested and Amy and I were removed from their custody, our birth mother stayed married to Amy’s rapist until he died. This desperate, disgusting attack reveals exactly who Vivek Ramaswamy is at his core—a pathetic excuse for a man who is willing to hurt anyone as long as it gets him what he wants.

    And here’s how candidate Acton responded: “I think it was a terrible thing to do this to someone who is not well, as my birth mother isn’t. I know my opponent will stoop to anything to get ahead.”

    It’s been encouraging to see politicians from across the political spectrum condemning the ad, including Ohio’s GOP governor Mike DeWine. But of course Ramaswamy—a Trump-bred candidate—has offered no apology. Instead, he has doubled down, spending some $4 million to keep running it.

    Now I’ve got a clearer picture of what “scum of the earth” means. Merriam-Webster dictionary defines “scum” as “a slimy film on a solid or gelatinous object” or “a low, vile or worthless person or group of people.”

    Surely this repugnant event would be an opportunity for the Donald Trump/Peter Thiel-bred JD Vance to do the right thing? Nope.

    This Catholic convert, who wears his religion on his sleeve, has been busy conveying his disgust. But not for the hideous ad or the heinous neglect and abuse that a fellow human suffered as a child. No, Trump’s vice president saw an opportunity to score political points.

    “I have to admit that I’m a little bit disgusted when I see Republicans across the country who are whining more about that advertisement than they are about what the congressional Democrats and other Democrats want to do to the United States of America,” Vance said at an Ohio campaign rally Wednesday.

    It should be no surprise that Vance’s boss Trump also defended the ad, even believing it strengthens Ramaswamy’s case for governor. This is what depravity looks like.

    In ten days, Ohioans and all Americans have the opportunity to say what they think about these morally rotten men (and others such as Pete Hegseth, Stephen Miller and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.). I hope voters take Trump’s advice and vote like he’s on the ballot. His poisonous impact is not hard to find among the Republican candidates.

    We must not let these depraved Trump loyalists continue to degrade our nation without consequence. Every day they are free to pursue their moral corruption is another day we must spend cleansing the stain they’ve made. We have much work ahead of us.

  17. yay i called it again

    trumpco already contesting Alaska senate race “if they lose”

    my prize is fear and sadness

    oh and maybe half a bunk in the camps

  18. Katie
    She was 12 when they finally did something about it.
    Probably many years too late.
    This was 1978 btw. In Youngstown Ohio. Not a hotbed of liberal feminism, then or now.
    It was a period where the court automatically assumed the mother was more competent to raise young children. In this case they were wrong.

    Jack

  19. Today in the Diner…
    Todd Blanche & Mike Johnson Election Plot Exposed

    Todd Blanche admits the DOJ could block state election certifications. We expose Vivek Ramaswamy’s disastrous ad and the Mike Johnson House loophole.

    Todd Blanche said the quiet part out loud. When asked if a Trump DOJ would try to block state election certifications, Trump’s lawyer refused to rule it out. He danced around the doomsday scenario, but we all know exactly what he meant. The federal government has no legal role in certifying winners or losers, but that won’t stop them from trying to create a constitutional crisis. Mark Elias is already ringing the five-alarm fire bell on this one.

    If they can’t rely on Mike Johnson to gavel the House in and throw out the votes, they might just lean on a partisan House clerk to do the dirty work. We are watching the plot unfold in real time. They want to create chaos in places like California to block the incoming Democratic majority.

    Meanwhile, Vivek Ramaswamy and JD Vance are learning that extreme attack ads can blow up in your face. The smear campaign against Dr. Annie Andrews in South Carolina is turning off the exact voters they need. Early voting means these desperate hits drop when millions have already cast their ballots. Get out there and vote so we can beat the cheat.

    Live Chat: https://trailmix.cc/chat
    Website: https://trailmix.cc
    Alerts: https://trailmix.cc/alerts

    00:00 Intro & Washington DC Pigeon Cam
    06:06 Howard Mortman on C-SPAN
    13:40 Richard Nixon Concession History
    16:40 Vivek Ramaswamy Ad Backfires
    26:50 Dr Annie Andrews South Carolina
    34:00 Marcy Kaptur Ohio Race
    40:59 Todd Blanche Certification Threat
    43:10 Mike Johnson House Clerk Plot
    47:20 Mark Elias Warns of Doomsday
    48:58 California Seats Targeted
    58:50 Washington DC Arch Protest
    — Human directed and edited. Machine drafted (Gemini Pro).

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4K1otauXk81022

  21. “We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. We must remember always that accusation is not proof and that conviction depends upon evidence and due process of law. We will not walk in fear, one of another. We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason, if we dig deep in our history and our doctrine, and remember that we are not descended from fearful men – not from men who feared to write, to speak, to associate, and to defend causes that were, for the moment, unpopular”

    Edward R. Murrow

  22. here I will do you a favor

    Don’t expect to know anything on election night

    Give the processes time to work

    Adjust anxiety accordingly

  23. paraphrase that in your own words and start repeating it

    Because Trump is going to demand results that night

  25. Blanche’s “Doomsday” answer gets a concrete sequel: DOJ sues over Alaska certification

    New development — October 22: The Justice Department sued Alaska in federal court, asking a judge to block certification of the U.S. Senate race if Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan loses and another candidate named Dan J. Sullivan remains on the ballot. DOJ argues that votes for the second Sullivan could have confused voters. That is the department’s allegation, not a finding by a court. The challenger denies trying to confuse voters; Alaska’s Supreme Court previously put him back on the ballot. — AP

  26. “These videos—made to resemble reports from such news outlets as CNN and Mother Jones—have falsely alleged…”

    *Craig, This is the part of that Putin story that’s extra-concerning to me.

  28. Election Interference Monitor: Federal efforts in the past 24 hours

    The federal footprint around voting, ballots and election administration widened over the past 24 hours.

    • Judge restricts DHS election operations in nine states; order stayed until Friday
    • Leon County FL supervisor files FBI complaint over CBP vehicles at voting site
    • Monroe County FL reports Border Patrol arrest at Key Largo early voting site
    • NBC Miami reports federal agents near Lee County voting sites; details unconfirmed
    • Florida U.S. attorney announces election oversight plan
    • Six Florida lawful permanent residents charged in alleged voting cases
    • Democratic groups sue over federal pressure on state election officials
    • DOJ asks appeals court to intervene in California ballot-counting case
    • DHS expands California voter-record review to more than 37,000
    • AP reports 28 California lawful permanent residents charged in election cases
    • DOJ plans monitors in Colorado’s Adams County; Douglas notice sent in error
    • Utah expects DOJ poll monitor in Salt Lake County
    • DOJ plans Election Day monitors in seven Michigan cities
    • DOJ plans poll monitors in two Indiana counties
    • Supreme Court lets New Hampshire bar student IDs as backup voter ID
    • DOJ sues Alaska to block Senate-race certification in a specific vote scenario
    • Blanche invokes “doomsday scenario” when asked about blocking certification

    — Human directed and edited. Machine Drafted (ChatGPT)

  29. Now, RamaSMARMY is calling Acton “flawed” because she was abused. A man saying a woman is spoiled because of her sexual history…which was against her will.

    He’s blaming the victim… who was a CHILD. Vivek aligns with the Pedo-In-Chief, and he is now a pedo-apologist.

  30. DOJ vs Alaska Election Lawsuit:
    SEVEN REASONS (AT LEAST) FOR DISMISSAL

    I scanned the ridiculous DOJ complaint (attached) seeking preemptory relief if Republicans lose the Alaska Senate election. At first glance here’s what comes to mind for a motion to dismiss:

    1. No legal authority. The complaint identifies no specific provision of any federal law that Alaska has violated.
    2. No enforceable violation. Without any law violated the judge would have no basis for a federal injunction.
    3. Alaska’s Supreme Court already ruled. The state’s highest court upheld the “other” Sullivan’s right to be on the ballot. DOJ identifies no federal law that permits overturning that.
    4. The alleged harm is speculative at best. DOJ assumes voters will confuse the two Sullivans, that the confusion will change the outcome, and that the Republican incumbent will lose.
    5. DOJ wants to second-guess lawful votes. How is the court supposed to determine why anyone voted for either Sullivan without making unfounded assumptions.
    6. The requested remedy threatens ballot secrecy and election integrity. DOJ wants an investigation into what voters really meant when they voted. Aside from the obvious impracticality, how could that be done without compromising privacy of the voting booth?
    7. The proposed intervention is explicitly one-sided. DOJ wants relief only if the Republican wins. But incredibly the complaint claims to seek neutral enforcement of election law. Any reasonable judge will do a spit take when reading this (is there an emojie for that? would look nice in the order).

    Read DOJ Complaint

  31. sfb and the puppet masters have already decided to block Alaska from electing a Democratic senator. Just normal fascist moves.

    Sitting around the bright computer monitor after dog work me up around 0100 to gag and wanted to go outside, I had time to wonder about things. Like what happened to all the records the military keeps of those of us who signed out weapons and then returned them? Are they still stored someplace just in case there is a need to look back to who signed out M-16’s in 1973? Or were they burned after five years or fifty years? What happened to my thirty-eight caliber police special handgun after I returned it? Two a.m. is sure quiet waiting for the dog to stop watching for monsters and come back inside.

  32. BB,
    I always enjoy your perambulations. I recently started wearing earplugs at night because of street noise from construction work nearby, and kept wearing them after that was over because it actually works well for getting a full night’s sleep. But I guess a dog could still wake me up.

    • Ear protection is good. When I am sleeping in shelters or with a roommate I use noise cancelling headset plugged into something like a cell phone or tablet with a lot of music. Often there are no cell towers functioning in disaster zones so preloading music is essential. The other important item is a sleep mask to block out light. We frequently try to catch an hour or two during the day or shelter lights are on during the night.

      Those two little tools help sleep during almost anything going on. We also learn to fall asleep when we can. Sweet dreams.

  33. Trump’s mob law firm has had a very busy week It’s a great time for real criminals to ramp up…

    Pennsylvania — DOJ announces nine new voting charges. On October 23, the U.S. attorneys for Pennsylvania’s Eastern and Middle districts announced that nine lawful permanent residents had been charged with voting as noncitizens in the 2022 or 2024 elections. The department said Homeland Security Investigations handled the cases.

  37. A man saying a woman is spoiled because of her sexual history…which was against her will.

    yeah that’s the goal but i didn’t want to say it for him

    that’s the quiet part out loud though

  38. Disgusting that attack ads are re-victimizing sexual assault survivors, most of who were children at the time.

    Is Melania gonna get nominated for a peace prize for this little made-up Ukrainian ceasefire cooked up between her and Putin?

  39. *It’s all delightful but the song at 26:33 is chef’s kiss!

    *A young Ann Richards at the 13 and 23-minute mark, Craig!

  40. Controversial “Musk” Documentary Pulled From Almost Every One of 472 Theaters After One Week by Newly Sold Bleecker Street Films

    Controversial “Musk” Documentary Pulled From Almost Every One of 472 Theaters After One Week by Newly Sold Bleecker Street Films

    Released October 9th to four theaters, it expanded to 472 last Friday.

    And now, one week later it’s gone from almost every theater in America.

    You can still find it in one or two odd places that didn’t get the memo. And even it’s one showing a day at an odd time, like 10am.

    “Musk” was released by Bleecker Street Films, which was sold in the last week to ebay founder Pierre Omidyar — not considered a friend of Elon Musk, but a billionaire nevertheless.

    Musk” — which has almost perfect scores on Rotten Tomatoes and Fandango — is a completely unvarnished three hour look at the life of Elon Musk. It covers his whole life, including all business dealings and interviews with his 14 children’s mothers.

  44. trump undermines his own argument by publicizing the difference between candidates

    not that the law matters with trump

  46. More lovely details emerging about Amy Acton’s mother, Donna Arthur:

    Animal neglect: Arthur was convicted in 2021 after cats and kittens were found in a hot, locked vehicle. But an appeals court vacated the conviction and sentence in 2023 and sent the case back for further proceedings. So saying simply that she “was convicted” leaves out an important update.

    Theft by deception: Court records show Arthur and her husband were convicted of felony theft by deception in 1996. That’s the documented basis for the TV reports calling it “fraud.”

  47. Another rape allegation:: In a 2020 interview, Donna Arthur said Cledith Arthur’s daughter from an earlier marriage had accused him of rape, but Arthur called that accusation false. Popular Information later found court and newspaper records showing that Cledith Arthur was charged with incest in 1974 for allegedly raping his eldest daughter. The records establish a charge; the report says it’s unclear how that case was resolved.

    Read the reporting from Popular Information.

  48. When someone accuses another person of lying by saying,
    “She’s a larr”
    it’s a good indication of who is lying.

    Kind of a verbal rule of thumb.

  49. Still, today Ramaswamy is cocky and belligerent in saying Dr. Amy is a chronic and constant liar.
    He is claiming press bias in ignoring his claims that he has proof that Dr. Amy has lied about Ramaswamy’s wife and other family members.
    These claims by him are just so much hot air. He is toast.

  50. there’s nothing confirmed — reporters are asking and the campaign has denied it, BUT this woman’s shady history suggests a rebuttable presumption she got paid for this

  51. https://www.texastribune.org/2026/10/23/ken-paxton-angela-blind-trust-investment/

    Ken and Angela Paxton invested $600,000 in a convicted fraudster’s business
    The blind trust’s investment in Wildcatter offers a new, unreported look at the attorney general’s financial ties with the very type of business executives whose prosecutions he typically celebrates.

    Four years after North Texas home builder Scott Sherman completed a federal prison sentence for mortgage fraud, his new construction materials business received a $600,000 cash infusion.

    The financial boost came from a blind trust set up to prevent Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and his wife, state Sen. Angela Paxton, from any overlap in their personal investments and their actions as elected officials. But previously unreleased records from the attorney general’s 2023 impeachment investigation show the trust was far from blind and did not shield the Paxtons from its business dealings, including the investment in Sherman’s business.

    Paxton’s connection to Sherman is the second revelation in recent weeks of the attorney general engaging with people charged with federal crimes. Last week, The Wall Street Journal reported that Paxton celebrated New Year’s Eve 2024 in Dubai with two Americans who failed to return to the U.S. after being indicted months before on federal healthcare-fraud charges. A spokesperson for Paxton didn’t address his association with the defendants but said in a statement to the Journal that the attorney general has been “politically persecuted for years.”

  52. To answer Nelson Garcia’s question to me :
    October 31, 2025 — the Ohio Redistricting Commission voted unanimously for the new map that day, moving Williams County from Bob Latta’s 5th to Marcy Kaptur’s 9th.
    I was thinking it had been two years ago when actually, it was only one year ago.

  53. Vivek Ad Still On The Air 👉 Ohio spotter Dexter reports still seeing the GOP ad featuring Amy Acton’s mother. Vivek wasn’t bluffing about spending another $4M to run it. Trump urged him on.

  54. Jamie….i check into the BluesCrab frequently and try to post photos from my phone, but for awhile now when I do that a sign comes up saying google wants access to all your photos. I figure, Fek groogle….
    if they ain’t already got access, they can go to the seaside, stand in the low tide, wait till the high tide, and commit suicide.

    (Fred Sanford to Aunt Esther)

  57. A Dr Who made it somehow into my comments at the old Crab of Blues. I’m going to watch it. It will be a first time that I will have seen any Who.

  61. It used to be that I pinch the photo icon in a new post and the thing would pop up with all my photos and I’d choose one and onto the post it would go. Now the googeral horns in wanting all my cookies. I don’t really have much written word there, it’s just a photo blog, so now it’s just dead in the water.

    As idle as a painted ship upon a painted ocean.

  65. After nuclear winter is over, maybe I’ll open a little tea shop and call it The Rabbit Hole…if there’s still tea. Still feeling like there won’t be a February. Dreams.

  69. Ronn Easton is the Viet Nam veteran who is out there stopping the arch construction.
    I’ll be carving “punkins” with the great grandkids on Sunday. How’s that for a non sequitor?🐸

Comments are closed.

Join the Trail Mix

Get an alert when Craig goes live, and the link when our Open Thread heats up.