Speaker of the House Mike Johnson is a lawyer. He was asked whether he agreed with President Felon who said Chicago’s mayor and Illinois’s governor should be imprisoned for failing to protect ICE agents.
Johnson quickly admitted he wasn’t the attorney general — that wasn’t the question — and pivoted to how safe the streets of the District of Columbia are now — again, that wasn’t the question.
Jamelle Bouie’s description of the speaker is perfect.
really can’t say enough about how mike johnson is a sniveling little coward of a man. a bayou-bred pushover with a dignity deficit that would embarrass renfield
Johnson can’t seem to keep straight how he feels about swearing in new Democratic members of Congress. He upheld his duty by swearing in two Republicans during a pro forma session, but has said Arizona’s Adelita Grijalva will have to wait.
Now he said she can be sworn in “as soon as she wants”?
Fun Fact: Grijalva has said she will be the necessary 218th congressperson who will force a vote on releasing the Epstein files.
Coincidence?
Mike Johnson says he'll swear in @adelitaforcongress.bsky.social as soon as she wants. Okay, so how about today?
Johnson, who said he didn’t even know who Bad Bunny was before being selected to headline the Super Bowl, said Lee Greenwood of “God Bless the U.S.A.” fame and who published the God Bless the U.S.A. Bible would be a better choice because a lot of impressionable children watch the sporting event.
Fun Fact: President Saint Ronald Reagan signed the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act in 1986 which requires most hospitals that have emergency departments to provide emergency care to people — regardless of immigration status, insurance coverage or ability to pay.
It should not be a surprise to anyone that Paramount Skydance’s multi-billionaire owners put a presidential-felon-friendly person in charge of CBS News.
The announcement Monday that former New York Times pundit Bari Weiss will be the storied news organization’s editor-in-chief is not receiving great reviews from those who value journalistic principals or competency.
Pierce’s kicker was that this move of hiring “a conservative affirmative-action monitor” for the newsroom in effect turns the Tiffany Network into the Dollar Store.
That said, CBS News pre-Weiss published what may be its last trustworthy poll in connection with YouGov over the weekend showing less than stellar results for the current commander-in-chief as well as both political parties.
What caught my eye was the part of the poll results that focused on the economy.
How many times during his campaign for a second term did Trump promise to do something about skyrocketing grocery prices?
During the summer of 2024, he even stood in front of a table of food items at one of his golf courses and said, “When I win, I will immediately bring prices down, starting on day one.”
Well, people remembered and noticed that “day one” has come and gone, and, according to the CBS News poll, they said “the Trump administration isn’t focused enough on lowering prices.”
People who responded to the poll said the most important issue facing the country was economy and jobs — 27 percent — and inflation — 21 percent.
Health care came in at 15 percent, and that might change in the near future because of next year’s premium payments for the Affordable Care Act Marketplace.
They are expected to go up drastically due to the enhanced premium tax credits set to expire at the end of 2025. The Democrats in Congress have been trying to no avail to get the tax credits extended.
Back to the CBS News poll, when asked what people thought of Trump’s focus on lowering prices, 75 percent said there was not enough focus, with 20 percent saying it was the right amount and 5 percent thinking he was spending too much time on the issue.
In fact, 51 percent of people said Trump’s policies were making them worse off. Thirty-two percent said they were the same and only 17 percent said they were better off.
The CBS News/YouGov poll, conducted between Oct. 1 and Oct. 3, has a ±2.3 margin of error.
— — — — —
I was a skeptic about the import of the Epstein files. But 3 invasions of cities, one military buildup outside Venezuela, a government shutdown, and so many other things meant to distract have me convinced whatever’s in there is the biggest presidential scandal in U.S. history.
Serious question: What's stopping the State of Illinois from arresting Stephen Miller & charging him with incitement? The Senate didn't confirm him. He's just a guy. At some point, the states MUST use their authority to prosecute, because the federal government certainly will not.
President Donald J. Felon and his Republican buddies in the Senate and House may constantly be out in front of reporters and television cameras saying how the radical Democrats are the ones who turned out the lights and locked the doors throughout the government.
However, according to four polls of American voters taken between late September and Oct. 1, the GOPmaga message isn’t getting much traction, NBC News reported.
FREE: Subscribe to On Second Thought:
In the middle of the third day of the shutdown, NBC said that the Washington Post found 47 percent of adults in the United States blame the president and the Republican-led Congress, with 30 percent blaming Dems and 23 percent unsure.
Polls by Marist, Siena and Morning Consult also found pluralities blaming the Republican administration/Congress.
POLLS: Who do Americans blame for the gov't shutdown?*WASH POST47% blame Trump/GOP30% blame DemsMARIST38% blame GOP27% blame DemsNYT/SIENA26% blame Trump/GOP19% blame DemsMORNING CONSULT45% blame GOP32% blame Dems[*all taken b/w late Sept & Oct 1]www.nbcnews.com/politics/con…
A deeper dig into the Siena poll, which was done with the New York Times, found that both sides were blamed equally by registered voters — 33 percent — with 26 percent blaming Trump/GOP outright and 19 percent blaming the Dems. Twenty-one percent said they didn’t have enough information to make up their minds.
Even though the GOPmagas control all three branches of government, 60 votes are needed in the Senate to pass a funding bill — there are only 53 Republicans seats in the Senate, so they definitely require some Democratic votes.
The problem is the Dems want “an extension of the expiring Affordable Care Act funds, a repeal of the Medicaid cuts and changes in Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ and assurances that Trump won’t unilaterally withhold money” that Congress previously authorized for spending, as the wannabe dictator has continued to do of late.
The White House even posted a video laying all the blame on the Democrats, who — again for the cheap seats — are the minority party in the Senate and House and do not have control of the Oval Office.
In the video, the White House claims the Dems want taxpayers to fund health care for illegal immigrants and “transgender for everyone,” whatever the hell that means.
Ironically, at one point, the video states that “Democrats are out of control.” Indeed, that is true: Republicans are the ones who are in control.
And here’s another thing to keep in mind when the Republicans say that the Dems are to blame for keeping the government closed:
Pretty tough to blame Democrats when Republicans change the Senate voting threshold to 51 whenever they want to. They could end this without any concessions to Democrats.apnews.com/article/sena…
The more that is reported about the raid of a Chicago apartment building this week the more horrific it becomes.
About 300 federal officers and members of other agencies forced their way into the apartment building on Chicago’s South Side from the air and ground, resulting in the detention of at least 30 immigrants who were in the U.S. illegally, NewsNation reported.
Officials said “violent members of the Tren de Aragua prison gang are terrorizing residents and carrying out illegal operations,” NewsNation said.
However, it seems from other reports, the agents were doing their own share of terrorizing — by breaking down doors, using flash bangs and bringing children out of their apartments half-naked and zip-tied, the New Republic wrote.
Numerous U.S. citizens were detained and the building was left “ravaged.” Some apartment unit doors were “blown off their hinges.”
One resident returned to his apartment to find his electronics and furniture missing and his clothes and shoes thrown on the floor.
This is our government now, people.
Wait until the military starts using American cities as training grounds.
shocking details out of an ICE raid on an apartment building in South Shore area of Chicago on September 30th abc7chicago.com/post/ice-chi…
Have you ever been summoned to your boss’s office and you have no idea why the meeting was called? Then you sit there and have to listen to your boss drone on and on about things you couldn’t care less about.
Now imagine you are a professional military person with years in the field with more medals on your dress uniform than anyone can believe and you are forced to sit through a “speech” by President Donald J. Felon.
I would love to be a fly on the wall when those generals leave the speech and almost in unison say, “What the f*** was that? He’s our commander-in-chief?”
FREE: Subscribe to On Second Thought:
It’s pretty certain that, if there haven’t already been those conversations, there is more than a few top generals and admirals who are saying, “Listen, call me if you get an order from this guy so we can talk it through.”
What I would give for a completely honest, anonymous assessment of this appalling and ludicrous spectacle from the commanders in the room.
The more-than-one-hour speech was considerably incoherent. It was fashioned more as one of his campaign rallies, with a list of slights, imagined and otherwise, as well as numerous grievances. Except no one in the audience was applauding — that must have been unsettling for the former reality show host.
Some of the subjects of his “weaving” included: Sleepy Joe Biden, the autopen, Canada as the 51st state, the assembled military leaders looking as if they were out of central casting, the 1950s being “woke,” all the wars he’s settled since January, the Gulf of America, fake news CNN, and on and on.
Feel free to spend your time listening to this man who has criticized Biden and former Vice President Kamala Harris for not being able to put together complete sentences. The link to C-Span’s video is here.
Perhaps the most startling thing the rambler-in-chief said, in light of saying over the weekend that the troops that were threatened to be deployed in Portland, Oregon, could use “full force” against the citizens, was seemingly setting up conditions that could lead to real violence.
“Discussing his efforts to send troops to American cities, he said: ‘We should use some of these dangerous cities as training grounds for our military‘.” the New York Times said. (The link is not behind a paywall.)
As rambling as his entire appearance was, that statement stood out.
He knows he is unpopular, he knows his “policies” are unpopular, and he knows that he will lose what power he already has if he doesn’t find a way to keep people from voting in the midterms.
The United States is no longer at the threshold of a dictatorship. We are there.
He has fiddled with freedom of speech and that didn’t turn out the way he really wanted.
Having the military use liberal urban areas as “training grounds” means that freedom of assembly is on the table as well.
As I’ve said all along, anyone who voted for him thinking he would be a strong supporter of the second amendment must be surely be thinking that right is also on the chopping block. He will have to come up with a reason to get those guns off the streets.
Let’s hope the military leaders who had to sit through the nonsense from SecDef Pete Kegseth and the Mar-a-Lago makeup man realize that these are not people who have the best interests of the nation in mind and will actually uphold the Constitution.
Remember this when you see on TV or read in the news that the Democrats are to blame for the government shutdown, which is highly likely at this point.
Republicans are in charge of the Senate.Republicans are in charge of the House.Republicans are in charge of the Executive Branch.If the government shuts down and you honestly think Democrats are to blame, you're the reason shampoo bottles have instructions.
Because we can never get away from whatever brainfart the felon-in-chief is having at any moment, news broke Saturday that the president is sending troops to Portland, Oregon.
The elderly golfer made the announcement on social media that “he was directing the Department of Defense to ‘provide all necessary Troops to protect War ravaged Portland‘,” the Associated Press reported.
As an explanation of the unexplainable, the adjudicated rapist and world leader bested by an escalator said the decision was “necessary to protect U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities, which he described as ‘under siege from attack by Antifa, and other domestic terrorists’.”
FREE: Subscribe to On Second Thought
A quick look at some of the local news online outlets Saturday morning found the top stories included anguish over the loss of a football game, Jimmy Kimmel returning to the Portland airwaves and a story on which Starbucks in the city are slated to be closed.
Screen grab from Portland Tribute website
One would think that some editor somewhere would consider being “war ravaged” newsworthy — even on a Saturday morning.
He said Friday that federal officers were neither needed nor wanted in the city,
“We did not ask for them to come,” Wilson was quoted as saying.
Earlier in the week, Trump said political activists in Portland were “professional agitators and anarchists,” and he said “we’re going to do a pretty big number on those people.”
The Mar-a-Lago makeup man is certainly ramping up the stakes, especially when he states that he is authorizing of “Full Force” by troops sent to Portland under the guidance of War Secretary Pete Kegseth.
And the breakdown is pretty telling, too, because 93 percent of Democrats, 84 percent of independents and, surprisingly, 60 percent of Republicans said this country is indeed in a political crisis.
Quinnipiac surveyed registered voters from Sept. 18 to Sept. 21, so it was in the period after Charlie Kirk’s murder and up to his memorial service.
The poll found that a majority of voters — 53 percent — are now pessimistic about freedom of speech being protected, with 43 percent saying they are optimistic.
That is a reversal from what Quinnipiac found six months ago, when 54 percent were optimistic and 43, pessimistic.
Couple that with 53 percent of voters believing that the system of democracy in the U.S. is not working, with 41 percent saying it is, while 71 percent of voters believe that politically motivated violence is a very serious problem.
Quinnipiac University Polling Analyst Tim Malloy said the Kirk assassination “lays bare raw, bipartisan concerns about where the country is heading.”
He said that the numbers tell us that few are confident that these problems will go away anytime soon.
“From a perceived assault on freedom of speech to the fragility of the democracy, a shudder of concern and pessimism rattles a broad swath of the electorate,” Malloy said.
Perhaps needless to say and perhaps not, voters are not gaining any more confidence that the administration of Donald Trump will be the way out from our troubles.
His approval ratings are largely unchanged from the poll’s August 27 survey, Quinnipiac said.
Fifty-four percent of voters disapprove of the way he is handling the job with 38 percent approving.
And the current Oval Office occupant is still underwater on each of the following issues: immigration, foreign policy, trade, the economy, gun violence, the Ukraine-Russia war and the Israel-Hamas conflict.
Trump’s troubling job performance numbers don’t do anything to help either of the two major political parties.
The recent poll found that only 30 percent of voters have a favorable opinion of the Democratic party, while 54 percent have an unfavorable opinion.
How did the Republican Party fare? Thirty-eight percent have a favorable opinion of the party with 51 percent having an unfavorable opinion.
Interestingly, Fox News First chose only to highlight the bad Dem numbers on one of their shows, ignoring how badly their Dear Leader was doing. See it here.
The poll which can be seen in full here surveyed 1,276 registered voters from Sept. 18 to Sept. 21. The margin of error is ±3.3 percentage points.
— — — — —
Secretary Pete explains why indicting the guy who reopened the investigation of Hillary’s email server just 11 days before the 2016 election is bad for all of us.
When the President uses federal law enforcement for his personal revenge, it puts all of us in danger.
Why bring up the Epstein files? Because they need to be released.
BOLDUAN: When I was asking you about Comey, you've twice now brought up the Epstein files and Tom Homan. Why?RASKIN: Because the DOJ is in full coverup mode
Jimmy Kimmel didn’t hold back in his return to late night Tuesday.
He set the right tone but still made his case.
Here’s the complete monologue from his Jimmy Kimmel Live YouTube channel.
— — — — —
During the news conference Tuesday the adjudicated rapist tried several times to say the word “acetaminophen” and didn’t really come close. That is why he kept saying, “Don’t take Tylenol.”
On this historic National Tylenol Causes Autism Day, the "RFK Jr makes some good points" people have been officially upgraded from assholes to extra-strength assholes.
Looks like we are back to the level of expertise from government akin to the “insert light into bodies” days of the COVID pandemic.
The grifter-in-chief and his merry band of sycophants told America and the world Monday that women are hurting their in utero children by taking over-the-counter pain- and fever-mitigating Tylenol.
The press release that was issued by the government had a headline that read “President Trump, Secretary Kennedy Announce Bold Actions to Tackle Autism Epidemic.”
Many of the headlines produced by news organizations disagreed: CNN — “Trump links autism to acetaminophen use during pregnancy, despite decades of evidence it’s safe”; NPR — “Trump blames Tylenol for autism. Science doesn’t back him up: Shots – Health News”; NYT — “Trump Issues Warning Based on Unproven Link Between Tylenol and Autism.”
Basically, the announcement was that the United States Food and Drug Administration was going to notify medical doctors “that the use of Tylenol during pregnancy can be associated with a ‘very increased risk of autism‘,” CNN reported.
“They are strongly recommending that women limit Tylenol use during pregnancy unless medically necessary,” the president was quoted as saying, “if you can’t tough it out.”
CNN points out that medical experts say, without treatment, a fever can be dangerous for both the mother and the fetus, with risks including miscarriage, birth defects and high blood pressure.
Acetaminophen, which is sold under the brand name of Tylenol, is considered to be the only safe non-prescription option for pain or fever for someone who is pregnant.
Experts say that ibuprofen and even regular-dose aspirin can increase the risk of serious pregnancy complications, CNN said.
So sure, tough it.
Even the FDA — the agency that is initiating the process for a label change for acetaminophen — said in the last paragraph of its own news release that a causal relationship between Tylenol and neurological conditions “has not been established and there are contrary studies in the scientific literature.”
The FDA further said in the news release that “acetaminophen is the only over-the-counter drug approved for use to treat fevers during pregnancy, and high fevers in pregnant women can pose a risk to their children. Additionally, aspirin and ibuprofen have well-documented adverse impacts on the fetus.”
Way to confuse the consumer and cover your ass when the lawsuits start rolling in, FDA.
Gupta: It is safe. That’s what the best-quality research shows. And how irresponsible, using the podium of the WH to put this out there when you’re not even offering an alternative. That is dangerous. An untreated fever is dangerous. Untreated pain in pregnancy is dangerous.
I pulled the transcript produced by Roll Call to give a few examples of what the Mar-a-Lago makeup man said during the news conference.
Now I understand why the White House press office does not issue transcripts of what he actually says.
I couldn’t in all honesty find a few examples that, in typing them out, much less in reading them, wouldn’t be enough to send someone open a bottle of acetaminophen and take the drug.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists said the announcement was “unsettling” and not based on reliable data. The National Autism Society in the United Kingdom said Trump’s statement was “dangerous, it’s anti-science and it’s irresponsible.”
We’ve seen how this administration either fails to understand scientific principals and data or refuses to in favor of conspiracy theories.
My hope is that people will continue to get their information from trusted medical sources and not be persuaded by whatever pseudo-medical bullshit is being spewed from his mouth.
Remember, he wanted the CDC to study injecting bleach in our bodies during COVID.
On this historic National Tylenol Causes Autism Day, the "RFK Jr makes some good points" people have been officially upgraded from assholes to extra-strength assholes.
We are just a couple days from reaching the eighth month anniversary of the ascension of President Donald J. Felon.
Seems a whole lot longer, doesn’t it?
Where do we stand on the scale of 1 to authoritarianism? I would say without any doubt we are completely in an authoritarian state now.
The adjudicated rapist, who has repeatedly said he wants to be a dictator, showed Wednesday that his regime will not tolerate criticism by engineering the shuttering of another late-night talk show.
Free subscription to On Second Thought:
ABC-TV’s Jimmy Kimmel on Monday had the audacity to comment on his late-night program about the accused killer of Charlie Kirk that “the MAGA gang [was] desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them, and doing everything they can to score political points from it,” according to the New York Times.
He wasn’t commenting about Kirk, mind you, but about the many characterizations of the shooter that had nothing to do with reality, at least based on information prosecutors have released.
Enter the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission Brendan Carr, a presidential sycophant.
He said on a right-wing podcast that Kimmel’s comments were part of a “concerted effort to lie to the American people” and the FCC was “going to have remedies that we can look at.”
Nexstar Media increased the pressure by saying it intended to stop airing Kimmel’s show on its television stations, at which point Disney/ABC said it would “indefinitely” pull the late-night show, Variety reported.
BTW, Nexstar is seeking approval for a $6.2 billion acquisition of TV station owner Tegna.
Yes, the transaction requires an OK from, guess who, the FCC.
Coincidence? Doubtful. The piper has to be paid.
Putting aside the fact that someone like the current grifter-in-chief is so fragile that he can’t take criticism or ribbing from the likes of late-night television personalities, it is the height of irony that in “honoring” someone who made his living from extolling the virtues of free speech, this administration is doing its best to stifle free speech.
True, but we’ve never had a crybaby as President before.
Stephen Colbert and Kimmel are shots across the bow, aimed to make people stop and think about what they should not say about Dear Leader lest he get his feelings hurt.
Democratic leadership in the House of Representatives, including Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, issued a statement accusing Carr of engaging in “the corrupt abuse of power” and said he should resign.
“Donald Trump and the Republican Party’s war on the First Amendment is blatantly inconsistent with American values. Media companies, such as the one that suspended Mr. Kimmel, have a lot to explain. The censoring of artists and cancellation of shows is an act of cowardice. It may also be part of a corrupt pay-to-play scheme. House Democrats will make sure the American people learn the truth, even if that requires the relentless unleashing of congressional subpoena power. This will not be forgotten.”
The Mar-a-Lago makeup man lied during an interview while in England that Kimmel was fired “because of bad ratings,” Deadline reported, as well as saying “bad things” about Kirk.
He also posted on social media that Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers, both of whom have shows on NBC, should be axed.
I’m hoping this will be wake up call to those Americans who haven’t been closely following what the elderly golfer has been doing or who haven’t yet been affected by his yearning to be king.
the way you know they fucked this up is that yesterday a lot of people were still talking about how the left’s rhetoric needs to cool down because it’s driving political violence and this morning everyone is talking about the government censoring free speech
Speaking of “No Kings,” the next big nationwide protest will be held Oct. 18. The purpose of the protest is to show that “America has no kings, and the power belongs to the people.”
It’s almost as if Defense War Secretary Pete Kegseth was looking for ways to white-male-ify the entire military.
I’ve lost count of the number of non-white, non-male officers in leadership positions who have been fired by the former weekend Fox & Friends host since he was installed in the Pentagon.
Soldiers with a chronic skin condition called pseudofolliculitis barbae, or PFB, have been able to receive permanent shaving waivers allowing them to grow modest facial hair.
PFB is a condition where the hairs curl back into the skin after shaving and become irritated.
Under the new policy — in March, the Marine Corps instituted a similar scheme — permanent shaving waivers would be banned and medical personnel would be required to come up with formal treatment plans for affected soldiers.
The soldiers could be directed to get laser treatment, the cost of which taxpayers would cover. The treatments can cause changes in skin pigmentation and scarring, however, and it is unknown how many sessions would be required.
If a soldier needed exemptions to shaving for more than 12 months over a two-year period, he could be kicked out of the Army.
Military.com spoke with one senior noncommissioned officer who was familiar with the plan, who said there is no tactical reason for the policy and that a soldier can look professional with facial hari.
“Of course, this is racially motivated,” the officer said, speaking anonymously to avoid retaliation.
In March, Kegseth ordered a review of military standards. That included physical fitness, body composition and grooming, CBS News reported.
He said before he was nominated to be the defense secretary that he opposed opening up all combat roles to women, a policy that has been in effect since December 2015.
“We should not have women in combat roles,” he said at the time. “It hasn’t made us more effective. Hasn’t made us more lethal.”
Kegseth tried to walk that opinion back during his confirmation hearings.
Of course, the elimination of diversity, equity and inclusion by the administration of President Donald J. Felon has allowed the current Pentagon, under Kegseth, to reduce recruiting efforts linked to minority groups.
The reality is, though, in the years between 2018 and 2023, there was a 43 percent drop in recruits identified as white, with no other demographic seeing such a major decrease.
“Much of the recent recruiting slump was attributable to men being less qualified, or willing, to don the uniform while women have been joining the ranks at a steady rate,” Military.com said.
It’s hard to imagine military readiness being maintained under this administration’s zeal to purge anyone who is not a white male from the armed services.
On Second Thought 