Cello Concerto in B♭ major (G 482) by Ridolfo Luigi Boccherini
Cello solo performed by Xavier Phillips
Ridolfo Luigi Boccherini[; 19 February 1743 – 28 May 1805) was an Italian composer and cellist of the Classical era whose music retained a courtly and galante style even while he matured somewhat apart from the major classical musical centers.
He is best known for the minuet from his String Quintet in E, Op. 11, No. 5 (G 275), and the Cello Concerto in B♭ major (G 482).
Enjoy, Jack
thanks, Jack
just saying Luigi Boccherini (loo ee gee beau ka ree nee) is music in itself
Nov 8, 2026 #SNL #Druski #TheStrokes
Chuck Schumer (Sarah Sherman) and Hakeem Jeffries (Kenan Thompson) get interrupted by Trump (James Austin Johnson), JD Vance (Jeremy Culhane), Pete Hegseth (Colin Jost) and James Talarico while celebrating the Democrats’ midterm win.
Nov 8, 2026 #SNL #Druski #TheStrokes
Weekend Update anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che tackle the week’s biggest news, like Trump promoting Stephen Miller to White House Chief of Staff.
Dave does a good job of depicting what it looks like in my neighborhood right now prepping for hunting season next weekend. Time to get out blaze orange hats, vests and jackets.
Attribution: READY FOR HUNTING SEASON by Dave Granlund
Dave Granlunds cartoons have appeared in the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek.
more SNL weekend update
Nov 8, 2026 #SNL #Druski #TheStrokes
Elon Musk (Jeremy Culhane) stops by Weekend Update to discuss the midterms and Tesla and SpaceX stock prices dropping.
Nov 8, 2026 #SNL #Druski #TheStrokes
Weekend Update anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che tackle the week’s biggest news, like Wendy’s offering thicker bacon to help with declining sales.
1st thought about that Talarico cameo: he’s a reborn young bill clinton/obama/charlie kirk rolled into one.
speaking of the dem’s new david
Attribution: VOTERS SLAY TRUMPISM GOLIATH by Milt Priggee, WeAreGettingScrewed.org
Cello always a fine wake-up call for a smooth start. Thanks Jack.
Jack,
Thank you. This was lovely.
Beheading is not what we do in this country.
That one is a bit off-putting to me.
I’m sorry it just sticks in the neighborhood of my craw.
It’s labeled as trumpism but he’s holding aloft a severed head.
Progressives are pressuring Hakeem Jeffries over his Speaker bid and pushing for a bolder agenda. But 52 Democrats won Trump-carried seats. Could the fight put the majority at risk?
Hakeem needs to address what he talked about with Kushner. That was not cool, unless he can show that it somehow was,
Otherwise, just take the vote and let the chips fall where they may without a bunch of bitter internecine funkiness.
Michael Wolff says Susie Wiles abruptly quit after Trump screamed at her in front of staff, blaming her for the midterm disaster:
Pelosi faced a similar situation in 2018. She headed off a serious challenge by giving progressives stronger committee assignments and leadership roles. The lesson for Jeffries: don’t treat this as a loyalty test. Give the progressives a real voice in setting the agenda and a fair shot at votes on their priorities. Pelosi held the gavel by making room for people who wanted change.
Dems just added another Trump seat to their roster — now 53 seats in their column that Trump won two years ago. That’s a lot of difficult seats to defend.
🎶
Where have all the Pelosi’s gone,
Loooong time pa-hass-sing
(With cello accompaniment)
“Beheading is not what we do in this country.
That one is a bit off-putting to me.”
stur, my sentiments also when I saw it, but was more taken with Talarico’s reference to himself/Texas/his team as Davids taking down Goliath and shut my eyes to the offensiveness.
Thanks, Pat…
Craig
As I said yesterday, the days of the leftwing troublemakers that Pelosi had to deal with are dead. Jefferies has a much stronger hand than Pelosi had to deal with rambunctious members. Those extra 25 members will make all the difference in how he manages the Democratic caucus as to how Pelosi did.
I’m sure a lot of lefties will be bitching and moaning on MSNOW but once they realize the path to power runs through the Speaker, they will quickly get in line.
Jack
Stur, it’s a good bet Hakeem is consulting with her almost hourly, nobody can count and knock heads together better than her — she’s doing exactly what Schumer should do, backroom consigliere
The beheading was also metaphorically inaccurate as David used a sling not a sword. The more accurate depiction would be David’s foot on the head as in victor over vanquished pose.
Jack
I’d like him to agree to an up-or-down vote on medicare for all, even if it’s just a resolution. Won’t pass yet, but I’d like to see where the baseline is in the new Congress
Jack, yep “David’s foot on the head as in victor over vanquished ” was what I wanted but the Milt Priggee ‘toon was all I could find at the time. I was in a hurry and on the way to let the dog out. again, sorry for the offensiveness and the inaccuracy.
MILLER IN CHARGE
Covering the Coverage
Media frames Miller as loyalty-test chief amid midterm wipeout. Mainstream stresses double-down defiance; conservatives valorize enforcer-to-manager; progressives cast malignant tumor. Absurdist core: “US would not exist without Trump,” “absolute loyalty” oath, wife lobbying “find a new one,” wartime consigliere/Godfather, running Venezuela, invading Greenland.
— Human directed and edited. Machine drafted (Meta AI)
Most interesting item Meta AI found above was the FOX News take this morning. Seems like they’re not pleased with the Miller pick, and lining up the GOP voices against it:
Pat
No apology necessary. You take what you can get and I realized that the cartoonist is the one who is ultimately responsible for his creation.
The cartoon and now our discussion about it made me examine both it and the reasons behind my moral choices. That is a good thing.
Jack
Jamie…. from the last thread…
Ah… “Whale Rider”… it’s on my list of all-time favorite movies.
Thanks for mentioning it!
Thinking through the latest idiotic move by the mangomoron with naming Dana White the new WH press secretary on this Sunday morning a realization smacked me upside my head. “Hey Blondie” huh “looks like the real Dana White has been saved from a horrible fate and legal hell” hmm “she can live a nice life now. No need to lawyer up.” Well, ain’t that a good turn of the worm.
Sen-Elect Hamilton just now on Schumer…
Making Miller Chief of Staff is a big FU to the money wing of the Republican party. He says the quiet part out loud and those folks want to pretend that racism doesn’t exist in their ranks.
The interesting food fight is going to be in the Republican caucus this time. Like MS Bronc said yesterday, time to get some fresh popcorn.
Jack
I think Little David, after he rocked and rolled the giant, cut off his head.
Wiki
Yes, according to the biblical account in 1 Samuel 17:51, David cut off Goliath’s head.
BTW
It was the Greeks who cut off the head of Medusa. maybe a more appropriate metaphorical image. Although maybe not as the head would still turn folks to stone even after Medusa’s death and was used as a weapon. Does Trumps head have the same magical powers? Scary idea.
Enough of the Greek, Hebrew myth comparisons. I’m still on my second cup of coffee.
I think it is time for a little cello music.
Jack
Sturge
That is one of the many reasons why the old testament shouldn’t be used as an example of moral behavior.
A lot of head chopping, dashing children’s brains out and fun stuff like that.
Jack
I’ve heard it bandied about that the Philistines were actually Greeks
And yes I worry a lot less about Hak because I feel sure that he works in close and/or constant collaboration with SE Pelosi.
Yo-Yo Duncan
Breaking up is hard to do …
Now going to be singing this through the holidays.
Jack oh so sï
Not to mention Joshua’s genocide among the nice folks living in Jericho
It’s been 50 years since I took that history class but I think maybe they were cousins. There were always a lot of redheaded strangers coming down from the north.
Jack
the beheading thing is a little tasteless yes but that guy still holds a lot of levers of power
also, Jack, Tuesday was a day of progressive victories more than centrist ones, a shift left
for instance, Talarico did not throw the LGBT community under the bus and won by 1 million votes in Texas.
That is a shift left.
El Sayed won on a Medicare for all/ out of Israel platform, and comfortably
i’m not even sure what “centrism” means in a current political context, everything seems rather binary lately
for instance, everyone agrees the healthcare system is broken, is fixing it “leftist”?
is protecting some but not all rights for LGBT community “centrist”?
we’re going left because MAGA went hard right and nobody liked it
AOC is on track to become my new Pelosi. I have a lot of confidence in her.
and what say ye on Slotkin v. Schumer ???
here’s latest from Politico Slotkin declines to rule out Senate leadership bid
[…]
“Given what happened on election night, there’s a pretty clear mandate that people want a new generation [of leadership], and they want to know what the plan is to actually help their lives,” Slotkin told POLITICO on the sidelines of Crooked Media’s “Crooked Con” conference. “So one way or another, I want to see that.”
Slotkin said that “no one person can claim credit” for Democrats’ romp on Tuesday — and emphasized that she wasn’t fully sold on Schumer.
“Not until I see a plan, no. And I would certainly not vote for him if we don’t have a plan” for the first 100 days of the next Congress, Slotkin said, adding: “The American public had a very strong message for Donald Trump and a very strong message about what they wanted out of their elected leaders, which is something to help their pocketbooks and their kids.”
Slotkin’s remarks to POLITICO come after she was asked on stage at the conference about potentially running for majority leader.
“I’m not ruling anything out,” Slotkin said in response.
[continues]
The things that you’re liable to read in the bible …
AOC a better whip than a leader, a good voice for the cause
imo
she’ll get outshined by the new class, a lot of impressive people in it
Hah, Talerico?
Only if you compare him to his Republican opponent. He was the centrist choice in the primary and ran centrist campaign.
Remember, you all wanted Jasmine Crockett
Jack
lol ok whatever you say
I’d ask you to define what the Centrist platform was but there wasn’t one so I won’t bother
You’re a leftist, you just have a boomer distaste for the word
dip a toe, the water’s fine
ah the bluebirds are out, what a metaphor
bird camouflage is so effective, ai doesn’t know how to process it
hmmmmmmmm
If all goes according to plan AOC has a long and multi-faceted future ahead in the halls of Congress.
senatah corleone, governuh corleone…
whoever comes to you with the Kushner meeting…
just made friends with a hawk so i held out my arm for a perch and he was like “slow your roll”
he’s hanging out though
I wouldn’t use a bare arm for that purpose. The hawk might think you are serious about the offer.
lol not a problem
always armored in some manner
what a metaphor
Ha! I found this video from Christmas Eve 2024, with Senator-to-be Hamilton coming down the aisle.
IMG_8779
Soboroff connect discussed the Popular Vote compact.
Blue it doesn’t play.
I think AOC is going to get bored and run for a statewide office. Lose. Then start her own podcast where she can milk liberals and live a comfortable post politics life.
My prediction.
Jack
Can’t you just enjoy a huge win with your libpals
That I think you voted for
That’s twice we beat King Nazi
Today in the Diner…
Stephen Miller’s Twisted Audio Exposed
Hear the disturbing Stephen Miller high school audio as Trump builds his cabinet. Plus, Chuck Schumer fights for survival and Knesset chaos.
Stephen Miller is officially headed for the White House, but newly unearthed high school audio defending torture shows exactly who Trump is putting in charge. Meanwhile, Marco Rubio is squeezing his feet into oversized Florsheim shoes just to appease the boss, and the administration is floating UFC president Dana White for a Pentagon role. It is a total grifter circus.
Over in the Senate, Chuck Schumer is facing an uprising from his own party. While Hakeem Jeffries throws punches at the incoming administration, Schumer is desperately trying to hold onto his leadership spot against progressives like Bernie Sanders who want aggressive action on Medicare For All. We also dive into the political chaos surrounding Benjamin Netanyahu in the Knesset, plus why Tim Walz needs to run the America 250 celebration.
Live Chat: https://trailmix.cc/chat
Website: https://trailmix.cc
Alerts: https://trailmix.cc/alerts
00:00 Intro
00:06 Stephen Miller High School Audio
02:45 Chuck Schumer Israel Aid Push
05:14 Benjamin Netanyahu Knesset Chaos
13:08 Marco Rubio and Oversized Florsheims
20:19 Hakeem Jeffries vs Bernie Sanders
34:48 Strait of Hormuz Oil Tariffs
43:24 Dana White UFC Pentagon Rumors
52:42 Sunday Serendipity Cello Break
— Human directed and edited. Machine drafted (Gemini Pro).
nothing AOC has done would indicate that trajectory and she is famously the only or one of the few members of Congress that isn’t a millionaire because she doesn’t profiteer
today’s meme…
Miller Defends Torture ➡️ Hear Stephen Miller celebrate torture as a teen. Total sociopath behavior on full display.
🍽️ From today’s Digital Diner menu
She indicates it to me and I have great confidence in her aims and abilities.
no i meant a trajectory towards self-enrichment
nothing she has done would indicate that trajectory
out dear fellow afflicted by a touch O’ the misogyny
nothing a few deep breaths and little reflection can’t cure
I think it would be nice to lock in the victory but that victory didn’t come from the liberal world. It came from a coalition of uppermiddle class suburbinites, Hispanics and African American voters, none of whom are very liberal. In fact many of them are down right conservative. But Democrats got their votes not because of the great liberal agenda of the Democrats but often in spite of it.
This country doesn’t trust the Democrats or the liberal wing. It just trusts the Republican veering into the maga ditch less.
Jack
you suppose
all i know is 30 million less people voted and food and fuel prices are outrageous
I’ve heard some exit opinion polling quoted
Sounds like a job for robot
Everything points to that.
1 she doesn’t have the temperament to stay forever in the house, which is what it takes to become a leader in the house,
2. She can’t win a statewide race.
So her only options to stay in politics is to do it from the outside, thus the podcast for which she will make good money.
If making money off of gullible liberal offends you, so be it. Welcome to the real world of politics.
Jack
Jamie / It plays for me, but it takes a second to kick in.
literally no one agrees with you. She’s a rising star
You’re just making up stuff
She’s in the discussion for Senate and president 2028 still serving in Congress
Keisha Lance bottoms fell off the radar a little bit for a while, now she’s governor of Georgia
experienced, respected and still young
quite a feat
In an apples to apples comparison, Midterm to midterm.
2022, 112 million votes. 2026 123 million votes.
Jack
yeah well when King Naxi runs, people turn-out
you’re drawing definitive conclusions from incomplete or unavailable data
I’m gonna make you define centrism if you keep it up because you’re the only person in America that calls Talarico a centrist by the way
gimme 2 “centrist” policy positions for the 2026 political climate
Ha
BiD was calling him a centrist lacky 6 months ago because she wanted a real liberal, Jasmine Crockett.
Jack
if one person on a blog is your data set
i rest my case
and allow me to blow your fucking mind, Crockett was right of Talarico
I don’t think that’s how resting one’s case works
pardon me
Actually BiD and her algorithm is a really good indicator of leftist thought.
I predict:
Jacks prediction will wither on the vine as I feel that his assumptions about AOC are both flawed, and highly speculative.
BiD and their algorithm are a good indicators of BiD and their algorithm
how it works
Top House Democrat says he’s a ‘hard yes’ on Pete Hegseth impeachment
“Pete Hegseth has got to go,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told ABC News.
i’ll entertain contrarianism AFTER the elected class is sworn-in, not before
still got bad people in charge right now
They still aim for camps full of liberals.
They got a couple months.
Scrap plan A proceed to plan B….we have to save the country..
And ourselves, of course…heh heh.
they have camps
my opinion shutting down GEO group should be a priority, and all with the same model
Once sworn in Congress has the power of the purse.
Zero out ICE budget until it is completely reformed. A whole lot of firing going on.
Put tarriffs back to what they were before Trump sworn in the first time.
Cut off financing for all Trump vanity projects.
“Once sworn in…..”
If you are a MSNOW member this is live now
Rachel maddow & Chris Hayes
That is the kink in the works
https://nashvillebanner.com/2026/11/07/blackburn-appointee-tennessee-senate/
Blackburn’s current Senate term doesn’t end until 2031, and whoever is appointed will serve through 2028, before voters pick a senator during the next regular election.
Former CoreCivic CEO Damon Hininger, also once rumored to be considering a run for governor, has tried to position himself to get the appointment, including by attending Blackburn’s first press conference after the election on Wednesday, which fueled some media speculation.
Tim Burchett
Congressman Tim Burchett, an East Tennessee Republican known for his “dagum” folksy speeches, is also an ally of Blackburn’s and a frequently rumored potential successor in the Senate.
Glenn Jacobs
Jacobs, the former professional wrestler and mayor of Knox County, initially said he was planning to run for governor but quickly endorsed Blackburn when rumors began to circulate that she would run, even before she announced her campaign.
Chuck Fleischmann
Soon to be the senior member of Tennessee’s congressional delegation, Chuck Fleischmann is also apparently under consideration, though he has been less outspoken and had fewer public appearances with Blackburn throughout the campaign.
Stuart McWhorter
Tennessee Deputy Gov. Stuart McWhorter, whom Blackburn named chair of her transition committee, is also reportedly on the short list.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/nov/08/democratic-party-midterm-election-centrism
Centrism did not win the Democratic party the election
The blue wave, while a rebuke of Trump’s policies, was also a referendum on the party’s status quo
The victories were a clear rebuke of Trump’s politics, but also a referendum on the Democratic party’s own centrism that is complicit in the violence of masked men hunting immigrants, the funding of a genocide and the denial of healthcare to citizens of the world’s wealthiest country.
Constants do not produce change.
It was a Democratic party committed to “centrism” that lost the House in 2022. A promise to maintain the status quo did not win Kamala Harris the 2024 presidency.
Their victories were facilitated by Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral win in New York last year. But what paved the way for him, and them, I have argued, was the pro-Palestine movement that put their bodies on the line and that made it so that most Democrats are sympathetic to the Palestinian cause.
It is a shift that the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee (Aipac) itself recognized when it declared that it will no longer endorse candidates or give campaign contributions; that its money was now toxic and served as a flag to Democratic voters not to support their candidates.
Senators-elect Troy Jackson and El-Sayed – who are progressive, but not DSA members – have called what’s happening in Palestine a “genocide” and won contentious competitions doing so in Maine and Michigan respectively. James Talarico in Texas said “God is screaming at all of us in Gaza as we speak”.
Today 77% of Democrats (and half of all Americans) support abolishing Immigration, Customs and Enforcement (ICE), a position incredibly unpopular in the last two decades that activists have been organizing for it.
Democrats, who have long been in bed with tech, ran against AI datacenters, pushed by organizers who emphasized their destruction of the environment, water supply and social effects on everything from student learning, theft of intellectual property, to the creation of nonconsensual porn.
But these problems, while shaping candidate platforms, were secondary to economic issues for most voters. Gallup polling just before the election showed healthcare (68%) as the number one issue that registered Democrats found “extremely important”. An earlier poll from You-Gov indicates what they want: a staggering 85% of Democrats support Medicare for All.
House Progressives holding press conference now…
https://www.texastribune.org/2026/11/04/texas-abortion-ban-democrats-nathan-johnson-gina-hinojosa/
Less than 24 hours after a historic sweep of Texas’ statewide elected offices by Democrats, the state’s attorney general-elect Nathan Johnson said Tuesday he will not continue Ken Paxton’s practice of suing doctors in other states for sending abortion medication to patients here.
The first thing I do when people ask me about abortion is point out that I’m not a legislator, and I can’t change abortion law,” Johnson told The Texas Tribune. “What I can do is cease using Texas abortion laws as an instrument of persecution and intimidation, harassment and political showboating. All four of those things have happened.”
Covid constitutes the largest mass disabling event in the United States since the Americans with Disabilities Act became law in 1990. It’s hard to measure the scale: Millions of Americans, maybe tens of millions, live with Long Covid. Many, from farmworkers to white-collar executives, are still in the workforce—some by choice, some paying an unsustainable price to support themselves or their families
On the act’s anniversary in 2021, President Joe Biden announced in a White House Rose Garden speech that Long Covid would be treated as a disability under federal law. The Department of Health and Human Services in 2023 even established an office dedicated to Long Covid. In short, the ADA extends to Long Covid, which guarantees reasonable accommodations meant to allow people with the condition to work.
Lost jobs and hours of work from the condition cost over $12 billion in 2022 alone, by one estimate, with attendant issues like housing insecurity.
Now, the Trump administration’s anti-worker and anti-disability turn—HHS dismantled its Long Covid office in 2025—has created a climate of fear and difficulty around Long Covid accommodations, exacerbated by corporate backlash and the spread of AI-powered “bossware.” Employers have been emboldened to fight their staff on accommodations, despite evidence that they lead to more retention and productivity overall. And academic studies, researchers, and employment attorneys I spoke with suggest that the costs and challenges of not accommodating Long Covid are rising for both employees and firms.
Cello Break ➡ Jack serves what Craig’s grandad called “bent guitar”. Some call for the return of pigeon cam. Chaos ensues.
🍽 From today’s Digital Diner menu
“you’re the only person in America that calls Talarico a centrist by the way”
anon, you are wrong.
Rachel Maddow’s new book on the Depertment of Justice will be out on the 10th
Department of Fate
GIVE LIBERALS A CHANCE
I listened to the House progressives press conference this afternoon. They came across as the most grounded, sensible and practical folks I’ve ever seen in the House left wing. I think they get it.
Made notes from their remarks on what seems to be their top agenda items. A lot of them are what pollsters call 80/20 issues, stuff most Americans agree on:
If you are a MSNOW member this is live now
Rachel maddow & Chris Hayes
Capping credit card interest is a biggie! My position is simple. If 10% is good enough for God, it should be enough for credit cards.
When asked about her political views in 2010 by the Valley Advocate, Maddow replied, “I’m undoubtedly a liberal, which means that I’m in almost total agreement with the Eisenhower-era Republican Party platform.”
Sen Ron Johnson accuses stump administration of corruption.
Well look at the big brain on Ron.
listening to the Metropolitan Opera opening night and they issued a statement of support for Ukraine
Data centers are BS
There should definitely be a moratorium!
I went to a House progressives’ press conference and heard three proposals that sound less like fringe politics and more like pocketbook politics. Maybe Americans are progressives now. Give liberals a chance.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, who is heavily invested in the AI industry, is leading the charge to allow tech companies to build data centers on the public lands he oversees.
The White House’s point person on the effort, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, has spoken of the “AI arms race” with China as an existential issue for the nation. “AI is manufacturing intelligence, and, if we don’t manufacture more intelligence than our adversaries, it affects every job, every company and every industry,” he said during his Senate confirmation hearing in January 2025.
But advancing the administration’s AI objectives also could benefit Burgum’s own finances.
Much of his wealth is held in Arthur Ventures, an investment firm he co-founded, according to his 2026 financial disclosure form, which has not been previously reported. Between $18.1 million and $64.4 million of those investments are in AI companies, according to an analysis of the companies’ marketing materials shared with ProPublica by public lands advocacy group Save Our Parks. (Government financial disclosure forms allow filers to report wide ranges instead of the specific value of their investments.)
Right now the average social security is $2009/ month. Which means just making the minimum payment $2000 would get a whole lot of disabled out of poverty.
US needs to concentrate on making AI environmentally beneficial or it’s not worth the gains made.
There are no gains. Ai is worthless.
They just aggregated all data; robbed everyone of their creative property.
There are massive gains, but the problems are with compensation to the sources not the ability to have virtually all information at your fingertips in seconds.
talarico is pro-choice, pro-lgbt, anti-gun
if that’s ‘centrism’, congrats on the shift left
ALSO
his campaign wasn’t ‘centrist’ it was “ken paxton is corrupt” almost if not wholly exclusively
Done With Israel ➡
Keep Netanyahu, lose America. Craig calls him poison pill.
🍽 From today’s Digital Diner menu
So, nobody wants to oppose Jeffries for SOTH because they all want to run for POTUS…but you don’t have to be a member of Congress to be SOTH…so what about Stacy Abrams?
Definitely should be a total ban on any federal lands.
On federal lands. Data centers.
progressive classical harp
Exhibit A – Schumer & Jeffries gave to go!
Jeffries should go sit in the Knesset.
NEW THREAD