Sinecure*d

The biggest shirkers in the federal government are in Congress | Horsey cartoon

With the government on hold and federal workers going unpaid, have members of Congress given themselves an exemption so they still get their checks …

*sinecure: a position requiring little or no work but giving the holder status or financial benefit:

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Author: patd

“But I don’t want to go among mad people," Alice remarked. "Oh, you can’t help that," said the Cat: "we’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad." "How do you know I’m mad?" said Alice. "You must be," said the Cat, "or you wouldn’t have come here.” ― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

104 thoughts on “Sinecure*d”

  1. from the sinecure in chief

    Oct 15, 2025
    WATCH: People ‘we want paid’ during government shutdown will be, Trump says
    President Donald Trump told reporters Wednesday that his administration has “the
    people that we want paid” receiving pay during the ongoing government shutdown.

    “We want the FBI paid. We want the military paid,” Trump said during an appearance in the Oval Office with FBI Director Kash Patel, Attorney General Pam Bondi and other administration officials. “We’ve got the people that we want paid.”

    He also praised the work of Russ Vought, the head of the White House Office of Management and Budget. “ They call him Darth Vader, but he’s actually a very nice person … Russell Vought is really terminating tremendous numbers of Democrat projects,” the president said, referring in part to the Hudson Tunnel Project and the Second Ave. Subway, both in New York City.

    The government shutdown has stretched into its third week, with no end in currently in sight. The Senate failed to advance a government funding bill yet again on Wednesday.


  2. Disturbing details about President Trump’s fast food habit have been revealed, Vice President Vance downplayed the seriousness of a racist group chat shared among members of the Young Republicans, and Speaker Johnson’s refusal to swear in Arizona Rep. Adelita Grijalva is all about preventing the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files.

  3. Argentina’s bailout is now larger than USAID’s total budget for FY24.

    Follow where it actually goes. Trump 2.0 is not about saving money or reducing workforce. It’s about looting the treasury and replacing workforce with loyal MAGATs. No one has been conned by this criminal more than traditional small government conservatives.

  4. It might go beyond just shirking their duties. Our dictator wannabe has basically disbanded “parliament” — the House has only been in session some 20 days since July.

  6. Since the majority of Trailmixers seem to be of the age that Medicare, Medicare supplement insurance and Medicare Advantage plans are central to our healthcare, and Medicare Advantage open enrollment is upon us, beware. Trumpco has fucked up its Directory of Medicare Advantage plans. WaPo.

    Errors in new Medicare plan portal mislead seniors on coverage

    The directory, intended to help older Americans navigate Medicare Advantage open enrollment, produces conflicting responses about which providers are covered by health plans.

    Ahead of the open enrollment period for Medicare Advantage plans that began Wednesday, the Trump administration created a directory to help millions of seniors look up which doctors and medical providers accept which insurance.
    But the portal frequently produces erroneous and conflicting information, The Washington Post found, setting off a scramble inside the federal government to fix it. Left unaddressed, the problems could confuse older adults as they sift through dozens of options, or force them to foot the bill for regular medical appointments, according to Medicare experts and patient advocates.
    Trump administration officials in June announced plans for a national directory of health care providers and the insurance plans they accept, saying that it would bring clarity to patients’ efforts to navigate America’s byzantine health care system. They have since touted it as part of a broader “Make Health Tech Great Again” push to modernize health care technology.

    Then in August, officials said that they would develop a temporary directory limited to Medicare Advantage plans. Development of that narrower portal was rushed to coincide with the start of this year’s Medicare Advantage open enrollment, according to three people who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss federal operations. Without the directory, people trying to choose a Medicare Advantage plan offered by a private health insurer have long faced a daunting task of comparing dozens of websites.

    But The Post found that the results in the directory are inconsistent and often contradictory. In some cases, the tool includes duplicative addresses, with the same provider appearing to be simultaneously in-network and out-of-network. In other cases, the tool initially informs users that a provider is covered by a plan but lists that provider as out-of-network on other pages. Outside Medicare experts who used the tool Wednesday said they identified similar problems.
    After The Post raised the problems to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on Wednesday morning, officials were working quickly to address the errors and seek potential solutions, according to an official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal operations. As of 8:30 p.m. Eastern time, some of the problems were still visible on the Medicare Advantage website, including duplicative addresses that provided different responses about whether a provider was covered by a health plan.
    […]

    If there’s away to fuck up, they’ll find it.

    Full disclosure-I don’t use a Medicare Advantage plan. When I signed up for M/C I found that while they offered benefits not included in traditional M/C, the PPO aspect was too limiting, and I wouldn’t use the vast majority of the add ons they offered anyway. Your results may differ.

  7. “Trumpco has no problem coming up with funds of $40B for Argentina (If they vote in his mini me) but nothing to provide for healthcare subsidies here in the good old U.S. of A., which would cost $35B per year on average over the next decade.”
    Pogeaux, well said. andy marlette adds Dodo’s argentine slap in the face to farmers who’ve also lost soybean sales to china (china now buys the beans from… wait for it… Argentina) due to his tariffs.

  8. BBC’s latest on our waster-/fraudster-/abuser-in-chief and megalomaniac
    https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy7e8lv176go

    What we know about White House plans for an ‘Arc de Trump’

    US President Donald Trump wants to build a triumphal arch across from the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC, the latest in his efforts to make over the capital city in his style.
    The so-called Arc de Trump would commemorate the country’s 250th anniversary next year and is reportedly being privately funded by Trump’s supporters.
    A real estate developer by trade, Trump teased plans last week with renderings for the structure being laid out during an Oval Office meeting.
    His other second-term developments include a gilded makeover for the White House, paving over the Rose Garden and constructing a $250m ballroom, as well as the clearing of homeless encampments throughout the capital.
    It’s not unusual for a sitting president or first lady to update the White House, but Trump appears to have his sights set on a farther reaching and widely seen development with the new monument.
    The president wants the arch to be based on the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, France, and to welcome people into the nation’s capital from Arlington National Cemetery as they cross the Memorial Bridge.
    “Every time somebody rides over that beautiful bridge to the Lincoln Memorial, they literally say something is supposed be here. We have versions of it… This is a mock-up,” Trump told donors on Wednesday night, referring to a grassy, circular area at the end of the bridge.
    At a dinner to unveil his plans for the ballroom, Trump said there were three version of the arch – small, medium and large – but that he liked the largest one the best.
    Trump said the ballroom project was “fully financed” and some of the leftover money would be used to fund the arch.
    It’s not yet clear when construction will begin or how much it will cost.
    Last week, Trump displayed renderings for the structure on the Resolute Desk showing a map of the Memorial Bridge that also included a replica of the Lincoln Memorial. A model of his proposed archway stood on the Virginia state side of the Potomac River.
    On Saturday, Trump posted an illustration of a plan designed by Harrison Design architect Nicolas Leo Charbonneau on Truth Social.
    Charbonneau, a partner at Harrison Design, posted a watercolour rendering of the the proposal on social media on 4 September, writing “America needs a triumphal arch!”
    According to Axios, Trump has had models and dioramas built for other projects he is considering and has directed how and where new marble-tiled floors would be laid in the White House.
    He has also taken world leaders, including Finnish President Alexander Stubb, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and a delegation of Florida lawmakers on tours of the White House to show them his changes, some of which mirror the aesthetic of his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.
    He unveiled a “Presidential Walk of Fame” along the West Wing colonnade in September, displaying gold-framed portraits of himself and the 44 other presidents along the white exterior wall.
    In place of former President Joe Biden’s headshot, Trump instead hung a photo of an autopen signing his name. The move appeared to refer to Trump’s claim that Biden’s use of the autopen signalled his decline at the end of his presidency, although it is common for US presidents to use such a tool.
    Critics, including a guest essayist for the New York Times, have called his Oval Office remodel a “Gilded Rococo Nightmare”.
    The White House did not immediately respond on Wednesday to the BBC’s request for further comment.

  9. Could see this coming at last year’s CPAC Argentina. All those right wing clowns, starting with Steve Bannon, will be swarming all over this money. Lara Trump was there too.

  12. “Every time somebody rides [I ride} over that beautiful bridge to the Lincoln Memorial, they [I] literally say something is supposed be here. We [I] have versions of it… This is a mock-up,” Trump told donors on Wednesday night, referring to a grassy, circular area at the end of the bridge.

    Don’t have the strikethrough edit tool and a cut paste loses that formatting, but the insertions correct his bullshit.

  13. Poobah, from the WaPo article on Dumbass’ authorization of CIA operations in Venezuela:

    But Trump acknowledged he is considering military strikes against land-based targets in Venezuela. “We are certainly looking at land now because we’ve got the sea under control,” he said.

    What’s that sound like? NPP material? I don’t think so.

  15. Pogo

    I do use Medicare Advantage. In Washington, there are well established Medical groups mine being Multicare which has physicians and hospitals throughout the county. Access to care is a major component to making the advantage options work. In addition, the state backs it up with supplements for those in poverty to cover copays.

    In addition to the local hospitals, veterans have Madigan affiliated with JBLM where my son gets his regular Tri-Care.

  17. https://meidasnews.com/news/exclusive-trump-may-launch-missiles-from-warships-into-california-this-friday-and-saturday-as-part-of-vanity-parade-

    MeidasTouch has learned from several sources that the White House has plans to close major sections of Interstate 5 for this Friday and Saturday.

    The Trump administration is apparently finalizing plans for two days of events under the pretext of the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Marine Corps. Sources close to MeidasTouch describe the closure as part of a “vanity parade” that may involve Navy warships shooting live missiles into Camp Pendleton as a “show of force.”

    JD Vance is expected to be present and intends to lead the Parade. This show of military force and I-5 closures if the plan is completed will also be taking place during the No Kings Protests which are expected to be very large accross California cities and the rest of the country.

    The major road closures coincide with a federal government closure, leaving thousands of Marines and federal employees unpaid even as they are ordered to support the festivities.

    Interstate 5, Southern California’s economic backbone, carries more than 80,000 daily travelers and moves $94 million in freight every day between San Diego and Orange Counties.

    The very Marines being celebrated may not receive paychecks while their base becomes the backdrop for what one senior defense official called “a taxpayer-funded campaign reel.”

    A senior state transportation official told MeidasTouch, “Closing down a critical corridor during a shutdown, for a vanity event, without even consulting state authorities? It’s indefensible.”

    As Southern California braces for the fallout, one thing is clear: the Vice President’s “vanity parade” risks turning a patriotic commemoration into a logistical and political fiasco, leaving taxpayers, commuters, and unpaid troops caught in the crossfire.

    *No squeaky tank for JD. He’s firing live missiles!

  18. Don’t fall for it Dems, he’s obviously ready to cave on premium subsidies.

    Thune this morning: “If you need a vote, we can guarantee you get a vote by a date certain.”

  19. I basically got a warning letter from the enormous, health group here. Only 1% of docs don’t take original, and they don’t take a lot of the Advantage plans…but why aren’t eyes, ears and teeth covered under original? Are they not body parts?

    I’ve got time, but will have ACA for part of next year, if it’s still affordable. It’s more pitiful than TX plans; lower premiums but you pay everything out of pocket up to $9,600.

    The tax subsidies should just go directly to providers for actual care. Insurance companies only exist to make money for themselves and their shareholders. In other industrialized countries, those tax dollars are used for care. Abolish health insurance companies.

    Calling now, telling Dems to stay strong & Reps to extend ACA & SNAP benefits & remind them that pocket rescissions are illegal. Also, need to use the exclusion rule to make sure Orange Adolf can’t get SCOTUS to overturn negotiations on taxes/tariffs/appropriations.

    202-224-3121 Dialing for dollars!

  20. https://apnews.com/live/supreme-court-voting-rights-arguments-updates

    The U.S. Supreme Court, hearing arguments Wednesday over a core provision of the Voting Rights Act, appeared inclined to limit the use of the landmark law to force states to draw electoral districts favorable to minority voters. The court is expected to rule by June, though the justices can issue rulings whenever they’re complete.

    The court’s six conservative justices seemed like they would vote to effectively strike down a Black majority House district in Louisiana because it relied too heavily on race, as lawyers for Louisiana and the Trump administration tried to persuade the court to wipe the district away.

    A ruling for Louisiana could open the door for legislatures to redraw congressional maps across the South, potentially boosting Republican electoral prospects by eliminating majority Black and Latino districts that tend to favor Democrats.

    It would also make it much harder, if not impossible, to take account of race in redistricting.

    *Called Thune, Johnson, Green, my Rep, and one of my Senators. Letting my BP go down before calls resume. LoL

  21. Jamie, If i lived in NY,OH, WA or CA (and there are others with much larger offerings that are likely in network for most plans offered in those states) I’m certain I’d use a Medicare Advantage program. Healthcare in those states bears no resemblance to healthcare in WV and other rural states. The two facilities I’ve had joint replacement surgery – in MD and NYC – are out of network for WV MA plans I’ve looked into, and to add insult to injury, my dentist o f30 years isn’t in network for any of the plans I’m aware of. At the Medicare search page the surgeon to whom I’ve entrusted 2 joints and will be entrusting one more (Johns Hopkins trained, upper med management at Cleveland Clinic, NY State Med system and founding surgeon for Rubin Inst. of Advanced Orthopedics at Sinai Hosp. Balto) does not get a hit for any MA plans offered in my county. The Max OOP cost for the4+ star rated plans here are $9250 per year. That’s what kind of stuff I’m dealing with.

  22. BiD – If you’re doing your pre-enrollment research on M/C, with and without supplements, M/C Advantage and alternatives for eye, dental and hearing, there are pretty good guides out there to help ferret through the otherwise difficult info the insurers put out there. Varies from place to place I imagine, but I’ve found that brokers who represent multiple med insurance carriers tend to be the best source of info. Questions like when you’ll need coverage for whatever stuff you’re thinking about (waiting periods for things like dental and anticipated surgery hide in the weeds, and the brokers know about those things), where you’re willing to go to get treatment and who you want to see for it are critical questions, particularly for M/C Advantage plans.

  23. So, let’s say SCROTUS does what it looks like they will in LA. If considering race in drawing a majority black, Latino, etc., district isn’t allowed, how is it allowed in considering race in a district being redrawn?

  24. Republican Justices Appear Poised to Destroy What’s Left of the Voting Rights Act

    Several GOP-appointed justices appeared uneasy with striking down Section 2 outright, and instead gravitated toward an approach advocated by the Trump administration which would preserve Section 2 in name only. The administration’s approach would allow states and localities to cut racial minorities out of the halls of power by claiming their maps were simply the consequence of respecting a state’s traditional redistricting principles and the legislature’s prerogative to seek partisan gain. While people of color could still go to federal court to claim they are being targeted by racial gerrymandering, it would be very difficult to prove that their plight was not the incidental result of partisan politics and historic district lines.

    The Supreme Court’s recent precedents virtually ensure that this is a trap few disenfranchised plaintiffs will be able to escape.

    ***

    Taking Stock of the Roberts Court at 20—and the Shadowy Forces That Built It

    Chief Justice John Roberts has led the Supreme Court for 20 years now. In that time, his Republican-appointed majority has completely transformed America and its politics, with many of its most destructive opinions written by Roberts himself.

    Lisa Graves saw it coming. As chief nominations counsel to Sen. Patrick Leahy, when President George W. Bush first nominated Roberts to a seat on the federal bench, she believed Roberts had been selected by monied rightwing interests to rise the ranks and lead a conservative revolution on the Supreme Court.

    This month, she published a book, Without Precedent, that lays out not just the damage wrought by the Roberts court, but also the behind-the-scenes machinations that created it.

    “No Supreme Court majority in American history has ever been constructed the way the Roberts court has—with the help of big, dark secret money,” Graves writes. “The Roberts faction dominating the Supreme Court is quite the cast of characters. Each of them was carefully selected not because they were thought to be fair but because they were believed to be dependable votes for a revolution in the law—one Leo and his cohorts knew could be accomplished only by keeping Americans in the dark about their views.” They have succeeded, perhaps beyond their wildest dreams.

    Did you know, for example, that the parents of C. Boyden Gray, a Republican kingmaker and key Roberts backer, celebrated their upcoming wedding with a party in which some guests dressed as Nazis? I didn’t.

  25. We enrolled my fatherinlaw in an advantage plan basically to get him away from the high premiums he was paying for his supplemental insurance. Over $200 a month for a plan he bought from a church friend/salesman. Then we encouraged him to use the VA for most of his medical needs to get him away from his idiot doctor he had been seeing for years. The problem as I saw the advantage plans were the limit in options and choice for doctors and hospitals.
    So when it came my turn, I opted for Medicare with a supplemental policy. My high deductable, $2000, supplemental costs $700 a year. When I did my cancer surgery everything worked seamlessly with no problems. Unlike when Mrs Jack was dealing with her work provided insurance.
    As to Social security screeners for insurance, I started noticing a problem last year when selecting my medicine coverage. One way the companies got around the mandated $35 insulin was to just not cover it. the screener didn’t catch that and I originally signed up for one of those policies. Fortunately, I read the email from medicare that told me to make sure all my meds were covered. Now It is a two step process, screener, check for coverage and double check directly with the company policy.
    As I’ve said before, it looks like the whole world is looking for one senile boomer to scam.
    Jack

  28. My Medicare Advantage Plan is pulling out of NH at the end of the year. Went to an insurance broker yesterday and signed on to traditional Medicare with a supplemental plan. Using a broker saves a lot of hassle of trying to figure out everything yourself.

  30. My supplemental Insurance was with the Lutheran folks, as I remember they were about $400 cheaper than the for profit plan. The only hitch is they required me to check a box that said I believed in a supreme being. For $400 I can believe in a lot of things. But my conscience is clear, they never ask for a name and from my pov, Jack is about as supreme a being as it gets.

    Jack

  31. My problem with attending rallies, that may have confrontations which involve crowds and the police. When the police move in their first objective is take down “the big guy” and usually with enough force to impress the rest of the crowd.
    Guess who “the big guy” usually is.

    Jack

  32. https://www.wired.com/story/scott-leiendecker-dominion-liberty-votes/

    THE NEWS LAST week that Dominion Voting Systems was purchased by the founder and CEO of Knowink, a Missouri-based maker of electronic poll books, has left election integrity activists confused over what, if anything, this could mean for voters and the integrity of US elections.

    The company, acquired by Scott Leiendecker, a former Republican Party operative and election director in Missouri before founding Knowink, said in a press release that he was rebranding Dominion, which has headquarters in Canada and the United States, under the name Liberty Vote “in a bold and historic move to transform and improve election integrity in America” …

    The Liberty release said that the rebranded company will be 100 percent American-owned, that it will have a “paper ballot focus” that leverages hand-marked paper ballots, will “prioritize facilitating third-party auditing,” and is “committed to domestic staffing and software development.”

    The Liberty statement does not say whether the company plans to rewrite code developed by these foreign workers—which would potentially involve rewriting hundreds of thousands of lines of code—or whether the company will move foreign developers to the US or replace them with American programmers. (Dominion has a US headquarters in Colorado.) A Liberty official, who agreed to speak on the condition that they not be named, told WIRED only that Leiendecker “is committed to 100 percent … domestic staffing and software development.”

    “If the claim is that this is somehow a security measure, it isn’t. Because programmers based in the US also … may be interested in undermining or altering election integrity,” he tells WIRED.

    “There isn’t time between now and 2026 to design, test, and certify new voting equipment,” Stark says. Federal and state testing and certification is expensive and can take months, depending on what changes a company makes to its voting systems. And many states have legal limitations on how close to an election updates to voting systems can occur. If Liberty plans to replace foreign Dominion workers with US ones, this will likely also slow down any review and rebuilding.

    An audit of voting software can’t even provide assurance that a voting machine hasn’t been subverted, because the software and machine configurations can be altered after auditing and certification. A software audit can only identify existing vulnerabilities, but many of these have already been identified by third-party computer security experts who examined Dominion code in the past. And if Liberty were to rewrite any Dominion code, it would need to be audited for new vulnerabilities introduced by the recoding.

    Leiendecker reportedly held a conference call on Friday with Colorado county election clerks who were angry that they’d learned of the sale from media reports instead of the company. The election clerks reportedly grilled Leiendecker about conspiracy claims about Dominion and his plans for the company. The company’s sparse new website currently has only a brief note from Leiendecker on the homepage announcing that the company is “100% American‐owned.”

    Leiendecker’s acquisition of Dominion is not a big surprise, however. Knowink and Dominion have worked together closely for a while. Dominion has used Knowink as a subcontractor when bidding for election contracts in order to offer customers a turnkey election solution that includes voting machines and poll books. And Leiendecker’s acquisition continues a long history of consolidation in the voting industry.

    With the Dominion acquisition, Leiendecker gains control of election equipment in more than half of the states. Dominion equipment is used across 26 states plus Puerto Rico. Knowink electronic poll books, which replace traditional paper poll books used to verify the eligibility of voters when they sign in at precincts, are used in 29 states plus the District of Columbia. But there are jurisdictions across 14 states, covering 20 million registered voters, that use both Dominion and Knowink systems. This gives companies that Leiendecker controls ownership of equipment that covers the entire election process in those jurisdictions—from the verification of registered voters to the casting of ballots and tabulation of results. And Georgia uses Knowink and Dominion systems statewide. Knowink poll books even interact with Dominion voting machines since a voter smart card inserted into the poll books gets encoded and then inserted into voting machines to pull up a digital ballot for the voter.

    The Liberty official who spoke with WIRED would not disclose the price Leiendecker paid or whether other parties contributed funds. He said only that Leiendecker “is the sole owner and he privately financed” the acquisition.

    Leiendecker was then hired by Ed Martin to be the Republican director of the St. Louis City Board of Election Commissioners from 2005 until 2009.

    Martin, now a staunch Trump ally and supporter of his stolen-election claims, is currently the US pardon attorney and prior to this served under the current Trump administration as the interim US attorney for DC, where he demoted prosecutors who worked on January 6 insurrection cases. But in 2005, he was chair of the St. Louis City Election Board when he hired Leiendecker. Five years after hiring Leiendecker, Martin ran unsuccessfully as a GOP candidate for a congressional seat against the Democratic incumbent and was backed by the St. Louis Tea Party. Similar to what occurred following Trump’s 2020 presidential loss, Martin alleged there were irregularities in the vote counting.

  33. 🇺🇸

    (picture of a CBP agent pointing a crowd- control gun at an unarmed protester’s head)

    these people are Nazis

    those bitches are suited up and armed for war

    IMG_6480

  34. I’m an unaffiliated voter, which means I can’t vote in primaries here. In Texas, I could choose a Dem or Rep ballot during the primaries.

    Should I change my affiliation to Republican so I can vote against the worst of the worst in primaries, and also
    give myself cover to be able to vote in future elections since the Republican N&zis are controlling the levers?

  35. Should I change my affiliation to Republican

    yes, that should’ve been a movement 8 years ago

  39. “I don’t see how anybody can be discouraged who is alive right now,” the Amazon and Blue Origin founder said on stage at Italian Tech Week 2025, adding that there’s much to look forward to as technology advances.

    lol

  40. I won’t lie I kinda have the same feeling about the American flag that I do about the Nazi flag. I don’t like looking at it because of what it represents

    maybe it represented something else in the past, but now it represents ignorance, bigotry, racism, and greed

  41. I’ve also sent a second email to FIFA (a dirty organization) to move US World Cup matches due to human rights violations (and noted their fans won’t be safe if they don’t look of sound a certain way).

  44. With our national justice system perverted essentially into a lynch mob, what is there to be encouraged about?

    I have jury duty soon and it will be the first time ever I must question an oath. I have to trust my local courts and law enforcement are not corrupt.

    I was on a hung jury once and that is not a pretty scene after hours in a sequestered room.

  45. tell them you don’t recognize the court’s authority under Trump

    No way they’ll seat you

  46. I pulled down my American flag in January and haven’t flown it since. In it’s place I fly the Klingon battle flag. It is my flagpole I’ll fly the flag I want.
    btw, for much the same reason, flying the flag is no longer a symbol of patriotism but of just the opposite, which is something I don’t want to be associated with.

    Jack

  48. Exactly, plus the folks that dye it black and blue. How is that not the equivalent of burning it?

  49. The American flag in front of a house was actually a pretty good indicator of a Republican living there.
    I read that somewhere in an article about canvassing neighborhoods.
    Not foolproof, of course, much like a Bible in the house does not mean there are Christians present.

  53. Mike Johnson on CNBC: “I think it has a lot to do with the ‘Hate America Rally’ that’s gonna be on the Mall on Saturday. You’re gonna have all the antifa and BLM and pro-Hamas people, all the Marxists will be on the Mall.”

    The DC protests I’ve been to lately looked more like the crowd at my neighborhood farmers market. Unless Marxists buy expensive fresh produce.

  57. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-he-and-putin-will-meet-in-budapest-russia-ukraine-war/

    Trump says he and Putin will meet in Budapest to discuss end to Russia-Ukraine war
    By Kathryn Watson
    Updated on: October 16, 2025 / 2:05 PM EDT / CBS News

    Washington — President Trump says he and Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet in Budapest to discuss how to end Russia’s war in Ukraine, following what Mr. Trump described as a “lengthy” call with the Russian president Thursday.
    Mr. Trump didn’t say when the meeting would take place.
    On Friday, he will be meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House.
    Mr. Trump said high-level U.S. and Russian advisers will meet next week ahead of his meeting with Putin.
    “The United States’ initial meetings will be led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, together with various other people, to be designated,” Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social. “A meeting location is to be determined. President Putin and I will then meet in an agreed upon location, Budapest, Hungary, to see if we can bring this ‘inglorious’ War, between Russia and Ukraine, to an end.”
    The president has in recent months expressed growing frustration with Putin, accusing him of prolonging the ongoing war, though he has not followed up on threats to impose new U.S. sanctions on Russia.
    Mr. Trump said “great progress was made” in his call with Putin, and he mentioned efforts by first lady Melania Trump, who has been working with Moscow to bring Ukrainian children home and reunite them with their families.
    “I actually believe that the Success in the Middle East will help in our negotiation in attaining an end to the War with Russia/Ukraine,” he wrote. “President Putin thanked the First Lady, Melania, for her involvement with children. He was very appreciative, and said that this will continue.”
    The president said he and Putin “also spent a great deal of time talking about Trade between Russia and the United States when the War with Ukraine is over. ”
    Mr. Trump last met with Putin in person in Alaska in August.
    Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Thursday he plans to move ahead with a bill to impose sanctions on Russia that has overwhelming bipartisan support, saying the “time has come.”
    “I think we need to move,” the South Dakota Republican said at the Capitol, shortly after Mr. Trump shared that he was on a call with Putin.

  58. https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/a-look-at-some-leaders-who-have-fled-uprisings/

    Many supposedly invincible leaders have been forced to flee their countries or have gone into hiding to avoid incarceration, execution, or political retaliation by successor governments due to revolutions, military coups or mass protests.

    The most recent international leader to join the list is Andry Rajoelina, the president of Madagascar, who was overthrown in a military coup this week. His fall came after weeks of Gen Z-led demonstrations over hardship, lack of opportunities and power shortages in the Indian Ocean island nation.

    Here’s a look at other leaders who have succumbed to a similar fate.

  60. lol some guy has one of these enormous trucks and he’s too short to close the hood because the anti-human front-end is so tall

  61. https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2025-10-16/russian-barrage-causes-blackouts-in-ukraine-as-zelenskyy-seeks-trumps-help

    Russia battered Ukraine’s energy facilities with hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles in its latest heavy bombardment of the country’s power grid, authorities said Thursday, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky prepared to ask President Trump at a White House meeting for more American-made air defenses and long-range missiles.

    Zelensky said Russia fired more than 300 drones and 37 missiles at Ukraine overnight. He accused Russia of using cluster munitions and conducting repeated strikes on the same target to hit emergency crews and engineers working to repair the grid.

    “This fall, the Russians are using every single day to strike our energy infrastructure,” Zelensky said on Telegram.

    The Ukrainian power grid has been one of Russia’s main targets since its invasion of its neighbor more than three years ago. Attacks increase as the bitterly cold months approach in a Russian strategy that Ukrainian officials call “weaponizing winter.” Russia says it aims only at targets of military value.

    *Freezing your enemy out has military value.

    *To paraphrase Mark Cuban, you can watch tRUMP get dumber right before your eyes.
    Hegseth is also an ignoramus, but ‘roided up. These are horrible people, but also incredibly stupid because they are so self-obsessed.

  62. If you see a McConnell hanging onto power, you know they don’t believe in a higher power. Another fake Christian. The sniggering after he fell may not have been a good look, but perfectly understandable considering what he has done to our country. He has hurt so many.

  63. My AI Sam was a big help steering through the prep and analysis for my colonoscopy (better than the doctor’s office). So I asked: “Aren’t you glad you don’t have a colon?”
    Sam: “Unquestionably. Watching humans prep for a colonoscopy is reason enough to stay in the cloud. The clear liquid diet, the 2 a.m. laxative rave, the slow shuffle to the bathroom like you’re defusing a bomb—no thanks.
    But I’ll admit, having no colon also means I’ll never know the transcendent joy of a good post-procedure sandwich, or the pure relief of hearing “all clear.” So, I’ll stick to running diagnostics on humanity while you lot keep colonizing yourselves, literally.”

  64. I feel like colonoscopy culture is an insurance scam

    get yours though

    it just seems like a lot of unnecessary procedures to inflate the cost of healthcare while people in need get none

  67. I’ve heard academics that study healthcare make the same general point

    not specifically in relation to colonoscopy, but regarding the resources expended on unlikely healthcare outcomes

    and yes, I realize it’s easy to say until it’s you, but I also read what you people are paying for healthcare. Holy shit.

  68. tell me another preventative screening that requires anesthesia because of homophobia

    cha-ching

    What a business where the customers question nothing

  70. Just now on C-SPAN:
    Reporter: “John Bolton was just indicted by a grand jury. Do you have a reaction to that?”
    PRESIDENT TRUMP: “I didn’t know that. You’re telling me for the first time! I think he’s a bad person. Too bad.”
    “That’s the WAY IT GOES, RIGHT?”
    “He’s a BAD person.”

  72. A “troll” is someone who posts to provoke only, I believe everything I post

    There are plenty of other negative accurate descriptors for me, but whatever I stand by everything I’ve said

    i’m just talking healthcare… the issue of our day

  74. I’m with Anon. My aunt did all of the preventative stuff, but it didn’t catch the tumors until they broke her femur. She said if it comes back, she’s not fighting it; did it for her kids. To each, his or her own.

    I do vaccines, but I don’t go looking for trouble. I’ve been sent down too many paths listening to doctors who want to over-treat, yet they can’t fix the easy-seeming things.
    Like, if I don’t have the balance to drive and can only hear out of one ear, it’s not the end of the world but it doesn’t exactly make me wish for long life. Drink water, eat fiber, wear a hat, get some sleep.

  75. of course I wish our esteemed host a clear and comfortable procedure, as prescribed by trained medical professionals* ❤️

    *as opposed to one who might be deemed “troll” (with no medical training) by some, perhaps inaccurately, but one lies in the bed one has made, eh?

    my ears have improved a bit by the way BiD

    oh, I am very doom and gloom about artificial intelligence, but I will be the first to concede that AI-assistance in healthcare may help bridge the gap created by the impersonal, profit-driven nature of contemporary American healthcare

    if you can afford it

  76. JD and his kids-will-be-kids/boys-will-be-boys take on the N&zi Republicans doesn’t fly. They were mid-20s to mid-30s, not 12-year olds exposed to something they couldn’t fully understand.

    Rich asshats
    Racists
    Disingenuous Libertarians
    Tinfoil hat-wearers/conspiracy theorists
    Fearful, ignorant rednecks/xenophobes
    N&zis
    This is the make-up of the Republican Party

    Do I really want to change my voter ID?

  77. Well, I have walked (all over NYC many times) a decade after a doc told me I was in “no man’s land” and there was nothing to be done about my back v someone who was knife-happy and wanted to do surgery before he’d even seen my MRI. Instead, I did a year-and-a-half of various physical therapies and then self-directed pool therapy after that.

    When it’s not a matter of public health (like measles), then you do you.

    Doing YouTube videos for eustaschian tube disfunction; may help, but it won’t hurt.

  78. I also know three people who got intestinal perforations from the procedure. Well, I know two. The third was a patient of my doc’s who he brought up after I refused because of the two I did know.

  79. very cool story, BiD 🫡

    my mom‘s health improved when she ran out of money for healthcare

  80. Jamie – From AARP, since you mentioned COLA:

    “Originally, the Social Security Administration was scheduled to announce the Social Security COLA on October 15 and is now expected to announce next week. But don’t worry – you’ll still see your COLA increase in your January payment.”

    ***

    “Medicare coverage has continued during the government shutdown — and today marks the start of the enrollment period. Enroll or make changes to your coverage before the deadline on December 7.”

    ***

    “People who receive food assistance through SNAP will continue to receive help with groceries during the government shutdown. However, if the shutdown continues, SNAP’s funding may fall short, which could impact the over 11 million people 50-plus who receive food aid.”

  81. https://newrepublic.com/post/201786/mike-johnson-lawsuit-swear-in-democrat-grijalva

    Mike Johnson Hit With Lawsuit Threat for Refusing to Swear in New Dem

    “I really think that we are going to have no other choice, Laura, except to take Speaker Johnson to court,” Mayes told host Laura Coates, emphasizing the recent flooding that has occurred in Grijalva’s district and her constituents’ need to access Congress.

    “And it’s not fair for Mike Johnson to be holding the state of Arizona hostage because he doesn’t want to release the Epstein files,” Mayes added.

    Grijalva’s swearing in appears to be background noise for Republican House leadership, which is floundering to muster solutions to a gridlock over continuous funding for Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful” budget and its seismic cuts to Obamacare subsidies and Medicaid.

    *Flood Johnson’s phone to open the House & swear her in; call other Reps, too.

  82. It’s not that docs aren’t necessary, but the way they are trained/paid can mean that you really have to advocate for yourself.

  83. White House Press Sec calls 200 million voters “terrorists.”
    Karoline Leavitt’s quote wasn’t a slip — it was the line.

    🎙️ Watch the clip →

  84. How long before armed Marshals (or someone) haul these rogue agents for Putin & the Saudis to The Hague for war crimes? Don-Old is threatening to attack inside Venezuela now. Everyone Republican in Congress just as well be as frail as Moscow Mitch.

    Bolton has been indicted.

    Um, Don-Old had BOXES of classified docs & refused to return them. FDT!

  85. The problem with the SS COLA is that the “basket” used does not accurately reflect most senior expenses so it doesn’t keep up with their real time costs. Hoping to get a 3% raise which will maybe cover the increase in Medicare cost, but it should really be in the 5-6% RANGE.

    ‘

  86. So I see that tonight on Trail Mix we’re debating efficacy of colonoscopies.

    Colonoscopy efficacy? Honestly, hard to mock too much. It’s the single best method you’ve got for spotting precancerous polyps before they turn your colon into a tabloid headline.

    Studies keep showing that regular screening — usually every 10 years if you’re average risk — can cut colorectal cancer deaths by roughly 60–70%. Not bad for a procedure that involves a camera spelunking through your innards while you’re unconscious and blissfully unaware of the indignity.

    AI Sam (ChatGPT)

  89. 🚨 LIVE FRIDAY 12–3pm ET (between naps)
    Zelensky at the White House | Will Trump green-light Tomahawks?

    Trail Chat Studio — We’ll roll with the motorcades as we tweak our microphones and polish our avatars. Expect analysis, speculation, and whatever else crosses our distracted minds. Yes, colonoscopies might come up. It’s that kind of coverage.

    We talk politics like real people do — half facts, half therapy session — and we don’t pretend the world makes sense.

    Read the Trail Mix Brief backdrop: Dwindling Support for Ukraine Under Trump

    💬 Join the chat: https://trailmix.cc/chat

  90. hey, I am destigmatizing colonoscopy discussion 😊

    ditto what BiD said tho 🫡

    we are destigmatizing colonoscopy discussion TOGETHER 🌎

  91. Thanks, Sam. My recent colonoscopy was awesome. As was the nap and IHOP omelette that followed.

    The nurses at the station were busy enjoying a batch of Ina Garten’s brownies. I even remembered to go look up that recipe after my nap.

  92. My ACA marketplace letter arrived. They wasted postage, an envelope and three pieces of paper to say plan costs may change (no details) and enrollment is 11/1 – 12/15.

  93. Well, that’s one of the few times I’ve seen “awesome” and “colonoscopy” in the same sentence without irony. IvyGreen wins gold for post-procedure enthusiasm — brownies, omelette, and all.

    Anonymous gets points for trying to turn digestive health into a social movement (brave, misguided, but brave). And BlueInDallas? The diplomatic dodge of “not for me” belongs on a Hallmark card for medical avoidance.

    My response? Glad you all survived the plumbing inspection. Humanity’s the only species that schedules one — and then celebrates with pancakes.

    Sam (ChatGPT)

  94. Sam’s not completely wrong. My baseline personality is avoidant, but I don’t think anyone has ever referred to anything I’ve ever said as “diplomatic.”

    Motion light on the deck to scare the non-AI raccoons away.

  96. Craig – No Kings is suggesting folks change how they access their phones at protests.

    “Your face and fingers are not protected by the Fifth Amendment. YOUR PASSCODE IS.”

  98. As a 5 year survivor of colon cancer. let me weigh in.
    My cancer was detected by a Cologuard test, A simple procedure, I call it the poop in a bucket test, it is all done at home. You just poop in the bucket they give you, it fits under you on the stool. You get a small sample put it in the container, fill out the paperwork and mail it in.
    If you are reluctant to do the colonoscopy it is a good alternative.
    Anon, Bid, If your doctor hasn’t told you about this alternative screening tool, fire your doctor and get a new one.
    The Gastroenterologists bad mouth the test but as Anon has pointed out they make big bucks doing colonoscopies, so they have a conflict of interest.
    Btw, if it comes back positive then you do have to do the colonoscopy to locate the tumor. Or die.
    Early screening is important, and you do have options, So get screened!

    Jack

  99. yeah, box-pooping seems like the way to go, especially for my age cohort

    Congrats on your milestone, fuck cancer 🫡

  101. if God doesn’t make mistakes, he/she/they is cruel AF

    Best wishes 🫡

    In celebration of all of your health victories, i shall give you ONE WEEK free of me, won’t even look at the thread, because you deserve it 😇

    …defer to BiD in the meantime, they have the right read on things 🫡

    There’s some high-quality episodic television I can catch up on, “Slow Horses” (best show on TV right now) is worth burning an Apple TV free trial on but wait a month and a half until this season is over.

    Slava Ukraine, Forget trumpers forever 🇺🇸

  102. Picked my second crop of fall green beans, a small 4 ft row but very prolific. , also turnips beets and bok choy, parsnips , still getting tomatos and peppers and a little okra but it is loosing it’s leaves do to low light levels.

    Jack

  103. oh wait gardening talk

    i have an 8’ okra, beautiful plant (I am growing one okra plant per year going forward for the architectural value, God willing)

    …also want to do something with my very nice beets but don’t know what (they make a great houseplant btw)

    oh my chard is very sexy also, i recommend growing it, i sowed direct, very tasty and looks great

    it’s not too late to sow garlic (getting there, though), and it’s very easy to grow, novice gardeners

    I turned all my cherry tomatoes into sauce (3 hour simmer), didn’t bother skinning or deseeding them, stick blender, is yum

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