Open Thread

What's on your mind?

Comments

[not guilty]

Abagail Spanberger wins in Virginia and Mikie Sherill wins in New Jersey, both by very solid margins. Zohran Mamdani wins in New York City. Proposition 50, the redistricting referendum, passes by a considerable margin in California.

All in all, a good Election Day for Democrats.

[Commenter_XY]

Yawn, blue states elected Team D candidates. I know, a good night for Team D. A year ago was traumatic.

I was much more focused on my local school board election.

As for Team R in the People's Republic of NJ, they didn't do Jack. 😉

[Malika la Maize]

lol, what happened to self-immolating high energy price Democrats going to lose here in Jersey, XY?

[David Nieporent]

All in all, a good Election Day for Democrats.

Obviously Democrats didn't literally go undefeated tonight, but was there a single result that was in any doubt pre-election, or was of more than local interest, where the Democrats lost?

• Virginia statewide races.
• Virginia legislature
• NJ governor
• PA supreme court
• California redistricting
• NYC mayor

It does give me hope that Trump is not a harbinger of a new direction in the GOP, but a sui generis candidate whose movement peters out without him. Because we need two sane parties in the U.S.

[Sylvie1]

And how, precisely, will you reverse Democrat insanity?

[Martinned]

Don't be hysterical.

[wvattorney13]

You got a literal communist in the Dem party as mayor of NYC. A communist. And Trump is still the problem?

[Martinned]

Yes. Because only one of them is a danger to US democracy and the rule of law.

[Malika la Maize]

Not a fan of the Zohran but certainly a wacky President > a wacky mayor.

[Dr. Ed 2]

But now they have to deliver on those promises.

[Michael P]

... And a terrible Election Day for the country. Dems elected a trust-fund Marxist, a guy who wants to kill his political opponent and kids, a woman who at a minimum sat silent while classmates at the Naval Academy cheated, people who pledge allegiance to places like Somalia, and more.

[Sarcastr0]

Yes, we are already lying plans to murder and Marxist you!

[Frank Drackman]

Your Freudian Slip is showing.

[Michael P]

Your political allies are already murdering people who dare to wear pro-Trump shirts: https://www.oregonlive.com/crime/2025/10/police-id-39-year-old-killed-in-ne-portland-shooting.html

[Frank Drackman]

Did Common-Law carry Iowa??

[Poxigah146]

The results from Virginia, New Jersey and New York City prove what I've been saying for a long time. That a conservative party cannot win given the number of non-whites who are now citizens coupled with the number of single women. Trump was a fluke caused by a really bad Democratic president, his awful VP running and the mobilization of the white population in many states.

America literally destroyed itself by opening its borders to the third world in 1965 and before then, by allowing women to vote.

If women had never been allowed to vote, America would still be 90% white. If America was still 90% white, it would be a nation like we had in the 1950s with all of the technological advancements. Clowns like Mamdani would never have a chance of winning. We did this to ourselves over 100 years ago.

[Malika la Maize]

Racism and incels, two awful tastes that are even more gross together!

[Frank Drackman]

Maine, Vermont, and West Virginia are still 90% White.

[Moderation4ever]

I found it interesting that our local elections seem to be nationalized when I read that state officials in non election states were getting calls about their local polls not being open. These elections seem to get so much attention that people thought there were elections everywhere.

[Kazinski]

Articles of impeachment have been revived against Judge Boasberg over the Arctic Frost subpoenas and gag order:

"WASHINGTON – This morning, Congressman Byron Donalds (R-FL), Senator Rick Scott (R-FL), and Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) led a press conference to discuss the "Arctic Frost" witch hunt investigation conducted by President Biden’s Department of Justice (DOJ) and to demand the impeachment of D.C. District Court Chief Judge James Boasberg."
 
Now I don't think.Boasberg will get convicted if impeached, and I am not even sure Boasberg did anything wrong.

But the following statute forbids Judges from issuing gag orders on Subpoenas issued on communications of US Senators and their offices:

2 U.S. Code § 6628 - Treatment of electronic services provided by Sergeant at Arms

(5)

the term “remote computing service” has the meaning given that term in section 2711 of title 18;

...the term “Senate data”, with respect to a Senate office, means any electronic mail oother electronic or data communication, other data (including metadata), or other information of the Senate office; and the term “Senate office” means a committee or office of the Senate, including a Senator, an officer of the Senate, or an employee of, intern at, or other agent of a committee or office of the Senate.

(1)Retaining possession

(A)In general

A Senate office shall be deemed to retain possession of any Senate data of the Senate office, without regard to the use by the Senate office of any individual or entity described in paragraph (2) for the purposes of any function or service described in paragraph (2).....

(c)Notification

Notwithstanding any other provision of law or rule of civil or criminal procedure, the Office of the SAA, any officer, employee, or agent of the Office of the SAA, and any provider for a Senate office that is providing services to or used by a Senate office shall not be barred, through operation of any court order or any statutory provision, from notifying the Senate office of any legal process seeking disclosure of Senate data of the Senate office that is transmitted, processed, or stored (whether temporarily or otherwise) through the use of an electronic system established, maintained, or operated, or the use of electronic services provided, in whole or in part by the Office of the SAA, the officer, employee, or agent of the Office of the SAA, or the provider for a Senate office.

(d)Motions to quash or modify

Upon a motion made promptly by a Senate office or provider for a Senate office, a court of competent jurisdiction shall quash or modify any legal process directed to the provider for a Senate office if compliance with the legal process would require the disclosure of Senate data of the Senate office."

Reading the statute one might think it doesn't allow gag orders for subpoenas requiring the production of communications of US Senators, which is why we need Boasberg to explain why Federal District Judges don't have to follow the law.

Other than keeping the subpoenas secret so the Senators never find out about them of course, but that is no longer operative.

[Dr. Ed 2]

"But the following statute forbids Judges from issuing gag orders on Subpoenas issued on communications of US Senators and their offices"

Assuming you are right, i.e. the statute does forbid a judge from issuing such a gag order -- and the judge did issue such a gag order anyway -- isn't that inherently "doing something wrong?"

I can see him being both impeached and convicted when the GOP tells the Dems five words: "You want Trump doing this?"

[Kazinski]

Its worth noting that when both Verizon and ATT were issued Arctic Frost Subpoenas that while Verizon complied, ATT told the DOJ to pond sand.

Rick Scott is asking Verizon about it:

"Furthermore, Section 6628(d) states that if either a “Senate office or provider” files a motion to quash a subpoena that “require[s] the disclosure of Senate data,” the court “shall quash” the subpoena or “modify” it so as not to disclose the data. Understanding that the gag order and subpoena were unlawful, your competitor, AT&T, appears to have rightfully refused to comply. Verizon, however, appears to have rolled over and complied with the unlawful subpoena and cover-up. Verizon claims that, because “a court ordered Verizon not to tell anyone,” it “had no choice but to comply with the court order.” Yet if AT&T refused to comply and Section 6628 clearly states otherwise, then presumably Verizon did have a choice. It just failed to make the right one."

https://www.rickscott.senate.gov/2025/11/sen-rick-scott-demands-answers-from-verizon-on-release-of-cell-phone-data-in-arctic-frost-witch-hunt

But no one is disputing that ATT and Verizon have to follow the law.

However I have never heard anyone assert that Federal District Judges have any obligation to follow the law. So I am sure Boasberg is in the clear.

[Commenter_XY]

Kaz, Fed judges must follow the law. Regardless, I agree. Boasberg is in the clear (for now).

I am much more interested in his BS while heading up the FISA court. He was nothing more than a rubber stamp for the government.

[David Nieporent]

I can see him being both impeached and convicted when the GOP tells the Dems five words: "You want Trump doing this?"

There is as much chance of Boasberg being impeached or convicted as there is of you ever getting a single thing right about any past or present fact.

[Brett Bellmore]

Wouldn't that be, "You want Trump doing this, too?" To avoid losing sight of the fact that Democrats already did it.

[David Nieporent]

As far as I can tell, it was the senators' personal phones, not the senate phones, whose records were obtained. If so, the statute doesn’t apply. If the latter, it looks like the order shouldn't have been issued.

[Kazinski]

Rick Scott seems to think the Statute applies, more from his letter:

"I am a Verizon customer, and I recently discovered that my Verizon data was targeted by the subpoena and unlawful gag order. Rather than notifying my office that my Senate data was being compromised, as provided for in Section 6628(c), Verizon concealed this information from me. Verizon also failed to file a motion to quash as provided for in Section 6628(d). I am deeply disappointed in Verizon’s failure to notify me or my office that my Senate data was exposed, as well as its failure to make any effort to protect my data."

And if the statute didn't apply, how did ATT get away with noncompliance?

Boasberg has a reputation of being a hardass when his orders are flouted.

[David Nieporent]

"Rick Scott seems to think" should've been a red flag.

[Kazinski]

Well you seem to be just guessing.

[SRG2]

Wouldn't impeachment require the House to re-open, and hence compel Johnson to swear in Grijalva? Or would Johnson claim some invented rule to the contrary?

[BrotherMovesOn]

Patriots are 7-2.

[Kazinski]

I'm not sure I'm buying the Patriots yet. They do have one marquee win against the Bills, but the only other win against a team with a winning record is the Panthers. And they have an ugly opening day loss against the Raiders.

Sunday they play Tampa Bay, that could do a lot to convince me they are for real.

[Malika la Maize]

The worst loss to hold against a team is an early one. Vrabel’s done good.

[Frank Drackman]

and only won by a missed Extra Point over my Fal-Coons (doesn't matter we'd have lost anyway)

[Dr. Ed 2]

How do we balance confronting antisemitism and protecting free speech?

[Kazinski]

More speech.

[hobie]

First, you need to figure out what antisemitic means.

[Frank Drackman]

"figure"?? and you have the Balls to call others (OK, well mostly me) "Hayseeds"???

[Dr. Ed 2]

This is the flare going up about a pending budget crisis in Massachusetts. Illegal aliens have busted the budget, no matter how much Healey wants to blame Trump.

https://www.bostonherald.com/2025/11/04/seiu-local-notifies-state-government-workers-of-proposal-to-reduce-full-time-employees-with-buyouts/

[Commenter_XY]

To my fellow Tribe Members in NYC: Prepare to leave.

If you think the marxist antisemite will miraculously change his tune and become more moderate as a result of becoming Hizzoner, you are very much mistaken.

The 1K+ Rabbis who signed the letter are not wrong. And you know that to be true.

[Sarcastr0]

The strong majority of your fellow tribe members in NYC have proven to believe the facts about Mandami are very different from your take.

[Frank Drackman]

You left out "Self Hating"

[Commenter_XY]

The hamas human animals returned the remains of the last American, Itay Chen, to Israel yesterday.

https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/defense-news/article-872706

[Martinned]

Has perpetual peace erupted in the Middle East yet?

[Dr. Ed 2]

18 pounds of cocaine delivered to Healey's office....

https://howiecarrshow.com/add-aide-busted-for-coke-trafficking-to-healeys-distinctions/

[Frank Drackman]

I was wondering where that blow I ordered went.

[Malika la Maize]

Interesting to see GOP riding Trump’s coattails to defeat yesterday. Of course he handled it as one would expect:

In social media posts Tuesday, Trump claimed without evidence that there was widespread fraud surrounding California’s Proposition 50 ballot measure, a Democratic-led effort to change the state’s congressional map in response to Republican-led redistricting in Texas. He also insulted Jewish voters who supported Zohran Mamdani in New York City, and alleged that energy costs and crime would spike if Democratic gubernatorial candidates won in New Jersey and Virginia.

“The Unconstitutional Redistricting Vote in California is a GIANT SCAM in that the entire process, in particular the Voting itself, is RIGGED,” Trump wrote about Proposition 50, alleging the system is under “very serious legal and criminal review.”

California election officials said that the White House’s claims were “baseless,” and California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) called Trump’s comment “the ramblings of an old man that knows he’s about to LOSE.” The ballot measure was declared passed shortly after polls closed late Tuesday night.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/elections/2025/11/04/trump-mamdani-jewish-voters-new-york/

[Sarcastr0]

Given the baseline indicated by today, the GOP gerrymanderfest just got a lot more risky.

[Michael P]

Stock markets have already taken a dive in response to unstable, anti-commerce politicians and causes winning yesterday.

[Frank Drackman]

You could just as well say it's in response to the first CFB Playoff rankings (Texas A&M #3?? that won't end well)

[Michael P]

It's well-established that stock market moves are most truly explained by whatever cause is first posited to be the reason. By precedence, my explanation is correct.

(I mean, we've recently rehashed on these pages why Democrats' gerrymandering fantasies are fever dreams. So we might as well move on to a different take, instead of reminding Gaslight0 that he's still wrong and that his attempts to mislead us about reality still fail.)

[Kazinski]

Stock Market is just getting dizzy, its scary looking down from that high.

[Martinned]

Don't get high on pre-trading. It would be pretty silly if Wall Street cared about some local races.

[Zarniwoop]

I was wondering how Trump would melt down and whinge. Not if, just how.

[Michael P]

In more Two Tier news, a court in the UK acquitted three people who admitted to vandalizing Stonehenge, apparently because the judge directed the acquittal if the vandals' excuse for the vandalism was that they had good intentions.

Meanwhile, posting memes or true things about immigrants gets people sent to jail there.

[Malika la Maize]

Info:

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjekdqj7529o.amp

[Martinned]

And surprisingly in another trial concerning the same protest the defendants were refused the right to rely on that defence, and were convicted. I suspect this is headed to the Court of Appeal pretty quickly.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/nov/05/just-stop-oil-protesters-convicted-after-being-denied-right-to-state-climate-facts

[wvattorney13]

That's astounding. I was there last summer right after this happened and was talking to the tour guide about it. We were told that we could not touch the stones when we had the inside the circle tour. I guess I should have just whispered "Free Palestine" and reached out my hand.

What is head scratching about the ruling is that even if you entertain this ridiculous idea on its own terms, these people were not protesting Stonehenge, but environmental policy which has nothing to do with Stonehenge.

Is the idea that if I am mad about anything, I can just deface OTHER things?

[Frank Drackman]

35th Anniversary of the Assassination of Rabbi Meir Kahane, (The) Zoran Man-damn-he wasn't even a twinge in his Marxist Father's Loins. A little bit too Ironic for me.

Frank

[Michael P]

https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/inspect-all-candy-needles-found-in-halloween-candy-in-rockville/4010077/

In an update to a story about seeing needles found in candy that I mentioned the other day:

On Monday, police said their investigation determined “the incident was a hoax carried out by a 9-year-old child within the household where the report originated. The child admitted to placing sewing needles in two packages of gummy bears.”

[Frank Drackman]

Kid's got a future in Journalism, and let me guess, is he Sunni or Shit-ite??

[Malika la Maize]

Is Journalism a band, or are you ignorant of basic English and/or performing a sad copying of Trump’s weird writing style?

[Frank Drackman]

It's a Noun, capitalized in some Languages, and when I type I capitalize them it's a reflex, like how you say stupid Shit (noun Slang: Vulgar. excrement; feces.) Or like how your Ball Sack raises slightly if you stroke your inner Thigh (the "Cremaster Reflex")

Frank

[Malika la Maize]

We speak English around here:

No, journalism is not capitalized unless it is at the beginning of a sentence or is part of a proper noun, such as the title of a specific publication or course. It is a common noun, so it should be lowercase in general usage.

Do you want some links to adult education in English?

[Frank Drackman]

Some of us speak more than one language, would you like some links to broaden your monolingualism?

[Malika la Maize]

Maybe try speaking one at a time?

[Frank Drackman]

Word in the Steve Banyon-verse is that Man-damn-he lied on his Naturalization form when he denied his membership in "The Holy Land Foundation" one of the organizations that funnels money to Ham-Ass. Oath of Orifice isn't until January 1 (I don't see Mayor Adams leaving early). Like in one of those Perry Mason episodes where it turns out the suspect isn't married to his wife after all, so she CAN testify against him, (The) Zoran should never have been "naturalized" in the first place. But of course, no way "45/47/48?" would break Political norms and have the guy flown back to Uganda in the middle of the night.

Frank

[Michael P]

You said "Frank" twice. Do you like being frank?

[Frank Drackman]

Diplopia is one of the early signs of Glioblastoma, might want to check that.

[hobie]

Looks like MDS is now a thing.

[Zarniwoop]

Projection is a helluva drug!

President Trump granted a pardon last month to Changpeng Zhao, a billionaire crypto founder who pleaded guilty to money-laundering violations in 2023. Zhao’s company, Binance, had even struck a business deal in May involving World Liberty Financial, the Trump family’s own crypto venture. But when the president sat down with CBS’s “60 Minutes” recently, he gave us this unforgettable moment:

“NORAH O’DONNELL: The government at the time said that CZ had caused significant harm to U.S. national security essentially by allowing terrorist groups like Hamas to move millions of dollars around. Why did you pardon him?

DONALD TRUMP: OK, are you ready? I don’t know who he is. I know he got a four-month sentence or something like that and I heard it was a Biden witch hunt.”

https://thehill.com/opinion/lindseys-lens/5588677-trump-crypto-pardon-controversy/

[Armchair]

That's actually pretty accurate. Zhao did have a 4 month sentence. (Which he did entirely serve.)

Seems Trump did know about the pardon.

[Malika la Maize]

I just found out the loser of the Cincinnati mayoral race was Vance’s half brother.

Course who would want to be mayor of Cincinnati?

https://newrepublic.com/post/202697/jd-vance-half-brother-loss-cincinnati-mayor-race

[Martinned]

Yesterday someone mentioned the acquittal of Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (aka Tommy Robinson).

The judge's decision is here: https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/R-v-Stephen-Lennon.pdf

Some people have pointed out that the judge seemed to proceed on the basis that political beliefs are protected characteristics under the Equality Act (par. 18). On this point the judge seems to have misdirected himself on the law. Only philosophical beliefs are protected characteristics, and a lot of political beliefs are not philosophical beliefs in the sense of the law.

While I think the Equality Act's treatment of political beliefs and philosophical beliefs is generally nutty and ill conceived, I'm not sure this mess means that the judge reached the wrong conclusion. As far as I know retalliating against someone for their protected speech by criminally investigating and/or prosecuting them is forbidden by art. 10 ECHR just as much as it is under the US First Amendment. So this whole detour through the Equality Act seems unnecessary to me. (Or at least it ought to be.) Still, errors of law in a court judgment are never ideal.

[Malika la Maize]

Tom Brady revealed Tuesday that a young dog of his is actually a clone created from a family pet who died almost two years ago.

In a statement shared by Colossal Biosciences, a company that says it specializes in “species restoration,” Brady thanked it for giving him and his family “a second chance with a clone of our beloved dog.” Brady is an investor in the company.

The original dog, Lua, died in December 2023, according to Brady’s ex-wife, Gisele Bündchen. On Tuesday, Brady said he “worked with Colossal and leveraged their noninvasive cloning technology through a simple blood draw of our family’s elderly dog before she passed.” He credited the company with taking just “a few short months” to provide him with the clone, reportedly named Junie.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2025/11/04/tom-brady-dog-clone/

[Frank Drackman]

Ironic in that Brady's a Clone himself.
Actually more of a Cyborg.

[Martinned]

Has no one ever told you about Milei's dogs?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conan_(Javier_Milei%27s_dog)

[Frank Drackman]

Anyone catch MTG on "Realtime" last week and "The View" yesterday?? Reminded me of how my Sister and her friends would have the New Girl they hated over for a Slumber Party and they'd all be "Besties" afterwards.

Frank