Barack Obama: We Have to Solve This Problem of High Healthcare Premiums I Caused Under Obamacare After Vowing to Make Health Care Affordable Forever

—Disinformation Expert Ace

You don't say.

This will be a key Democrat demand for the next two -- or hundred -- years: Fix the healthcare scheme we promised you would fix healthcare forever. Take away healthcare from Republicans and give it to Democrats.

In the final sprint to the midterm elections, former President Barack Obama has hit the campaign trail to stump for Democrat candidates.

One of his favorite talking points? Health insurance premiums, he says, are too high. Apparently, he doesn't see the irony.

"We've got to make sure that nobody has to worry about high healthcare premiums," Obama declared at a rally in Georgia recently. If that sounds familiar, it's because it's virtually word-for-word the same line Obama was feeding to audiences during his first campaign for president in 2008.
AMAC Magazine, free with membership

Perhaps the 44th president needs to be reminded that his signature legislative achievement (the one that literally bears his name) was sold to the American public as a cure-all to lower health insurance premiums. Or, perhaps he simply can't cope with the fact that Obamacare is just as much of an ugly, dismal failure as his grotesque presidential library -- a monstrosity that has turned the American healthcare system into a nightmare for virtually everyone.

Either way, voters should feel insulted at how stupid Obama apparently thinks they are. How many times do Democrats expect the public to buy the same lie?

Disney Groomer Corporation Looks to Slash Workforce by 20% Because of Declining Revenues

—Disinformation Expert Ace

Palate cleanser, and early. I think we need it.

Some good news, by which I mean bad news for bad people:

The Walt Disney Company is looking at eliminating thousands of positions and has asked some managers to target 20% in annual cost savings, according to multiple media reports.

The possible job cuts come as CEO Josh D'Amaro is reportedly facing challenges from growing AI use, weaker box office revenue, mounting competition from streaming challengers and a slowdown in theme park attendance abroad, according to Bloomberg, which first reported the news.

It's almost as if alienating your (former) core audience with divisive family-unfriendly "inserting queerness" messaging has consequences.

And this isn't the first round of cuts:

...

Still, the company has made a number of substantial cuts this year. In fact, just last week, the Walt Disney Company's theme parks division laid off between 100 and 200 people.

...

The decision came after Disney offered voluntary early retirement packages in August to executives as part of a cost-reduction effort.

...

Prior to this memo, Disney had eliminated 1,000 roles in April, as well as made staff cuts in July and September. The September staff reductions impacted an additional couple hundred employees, mainly in the tech and HR areas.

In further Everything Is Gay news, Ben Wishlaw, who played a young "Q" since Skyfall, was disinvited from returning to the series when it reboots.

He says that he was disappointed, like George Takei was, that, while his character was made Officially Gay, for some reason a franchise in which he is only a secondary player chose to focus on the main characters instead of his secondary character's sexual leanings.

Ben Whishaw has confirmed he won't be returning as Q in the Bond franchise.

Whishaw, 46, played 007's tech wizard Q for nine years, appearing in Skyfall (2012), Spectre (2015) and No Time to Die (2021).

At just 31 when he was cast, he was the youngest actor to play the MI6 gadgets master; replacing John Cleese.

He was a bit of a drip if I'm being honest but I don't know if I can blame him for that. Everyone in the "Bond" movies -- I don't know if they really were even Bond movies at all -- was a sad-sack Low Energy Jeb after Casino Royale, probably because the idiot playing Bond thought that dour and depressive = realistic and gritty.

Oh, and of course Daniel Craig wanted Bond himself to be acknowledged as gay. I guess making Q gay was the Safety School of sexuality reveals.

In a 2024 interview, the actor shared his hunch that producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G Wilson will 'start all over again' with a completely new cast following Daniel Craig's departure as 007.

Last year Amazon MGM Studios struck a deal with longtime franchise stewards Broccoli and Wilson to take full control of Ian Fleming's franchise, and with auditions finally taking place for the lead role, Whishaw has confirmed his suspicions of a complete overhaul were correct.

The Sunday Times writes that Whishaw 'won't be in the next instalment', whilst talking to the actor about his acting back catalogue.

Whishaw said in the interview: 'I rarely think about Bond... that would be weird' as he mused about the fervent speculation around the reboot.

Me too. I was a onetime Bond fanatic and now don't even care who the next Fake Bond Actor will be.

Whilst he hasn't dwelled on his time with 007, Whishaw does have one regret about his portrayal of Q -- admitting that his character's homosexuality felt 'unsatisfying' because although there is a brief reference to him going on a date with a man in No Time to Die, his sexuality isn't picked up on again.

I mean, why would it be? It's the Bond Franchise not Q's Grindr Adventures.

It's a typical corporate move to make a minor character "canonically gay" for Twitter attention and then drop the matter.

In more James Bond news (and you can tell how checked out I am because I'm adding this as an afterthought instead of featuring it as big entertainment news), they have supposedly cast the new Bond.

As Nerdorotic said: He's white, so that's something.

I think one of those geeks also said something like "He's a decent pick of you're making a realistic movie about SAS operatives from the working or middle class, but not so much for a gentleman spy franchise."

I don't know. I've never seen a movie with him in it, except one of the "Fantastic Beasts" movies where he played, I'm guessing, a very secondary role. I have no memory of him (as I don't really remember the Fantastic Beast movie, except for Randy Daytona, who I really liked).

Update: He played who I guessed he played, "Newt Scamander's" brother, who's in the second movie for like three minutes.

The Brutal Shifts in Demographic Groups That Doomed Us

—Disinformation Expert Ace

I started bolding the important parts but I stopped because it's all bold-faced important.

Dmitri Bolt:

According to preliminary exit polling data from an SSRS Voter Poll, Latino men shifted 33-points toward Republicans in 2024 before swinging 24 points back toward Democrats in 2026. Latinos overall moved 27-points right before shifting 20-points left last night, while Catholics followed a 25-point Republican swing with a 16-point Democratic reversal.

The biggest reversal came among voters ages 18-29, whose 13-point shift toward Republicans in 2024 was overwhelmed by a 35-point swing toward Democrats last night. Suburban voters swung 20 points toward Democrats after moving six points right in 2024, while Asian voters shifted 25 points left after moving 12 points right.

The losses also extended to groups often associated with the Republican base. Men shifted four-points toward Republicans between 2020 and 2024, then swung 11 points toward Democrats in the preliminary 2026 results. Voters without a college degree moved 11 points right in 2024 before shifting seven-points back left, while households earning $50,000--$99,999 followed a 20-point Republican shift with an 11-point Democratic reversal. Even rural and small-town voters moved 15-points right before swinging 11 points back toward Democrats.

Did the electorate decide we were too "harsh" on immigration by deporting illegals, including dangerous predatory illegal alien criminals?

Maybe. Keep in mind, people are stupid and weak-minded. We've seen for decades that the public agrees that taxes should be cut and that the budget should be balanced, but then cry that you're being too meeeean when you actually cut government spending and firing goldbricking federal "workers" at useless money-pits like USAID.

They want all the benefits of fiscal sanity without the meeeean actions required to enact it.

Similary, the public may have decided they don't like open borders or illegals flooding our nation. But they think it's too meeeean to actually seal the borders and deport the illegals.

Remember when Kamala Harris' big contribution as Border Czar was to say to illegals, "Don't come"?

It could be that the sad fact is that while the public does want the border secured, the "meanest" action they will accept to secure it is a drunken sixty-year-old ex-partygirl mistress telling people "Don't come." Anything more than that is "extreme."

Update: I wonder if, starting six months ago, Trump let up on the deportation raids. And then restarted them after the midterms -- similar to his easing off on Iran with the promise of action after the midterms.

It is pretty firmly established that gas prices drove votes.

Note that in the below graph, the price of gas is inverted so that high prices are represented by the line going down and low prices are shown by the line going up.

It is done this way to show the very close alignment with Trump's approval rate. As the price of gas goes up, Trump's approval goes down.

A Federal Magistrate Dismisses Charges Against the FBI Agents Who Lied About Interfering in the Hunter Biden Probe

—Disinformation Expert Ace

A change of topic for the moment.

One of the FBI agents who lied under oath about interfering in the Hunter Biden probe openly admitted she was running a "shadow government" in the US bureacracy.

A federal judge on Monday dismissed a criminal complaint against two former FBI officials accused of lying to Congress about Hunter Biden, citing what he said was "weaponization" of President Donald Trump's Justice Department just before the midterm elections.

In a scathing, hourlong ruling read from the bench, U.S. Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui said the investigation that produced the charges against Nikki Floris and Bradley Benavides was rushed, conducted at the behest of Trump and FBI Director Kash Patel and dogged by "critical mistakes" that require the dismissal of the case.

"I am deeply troubled by what has happened here in this case," Faruqui said. "Whathas transpired here cannot be described as anything other than weaponization."

Oh? We'll soon see that this magistrate -- not a real judge, and not confirmed by the Senate -- is zimself a big Weaponizer so long as that Weaponization goes against the right.

The ruling may not bring a permanent end to the matter because the Justice Department still has the option of pursuing an indictment, even though it has struggled during the Trump administration to persuade grand juries in the nation's capital to return indictments in politically charged prosecutions like this one.

The magistrate admits his decision is motivated by the political calendar:

...

"I will not bury my head in the sand and pretend that I cannot read a calendar," Faruqui said, alluding to the proximity of the charges to the elections, which will determine control of Congress for the last two years of the Republican president's second term.

Prosecutors had accused the two former FBI officials of falsely downplaying to Congress their knowledge of investigations into President Joe Biden's son and of a laptop the younger Biden dropped off at a computer repair shop in Delaware in 2019. But Faruqui said the Justice Department had failed to establish in its complaint that any statements made during 2023 testimony were intentionally false and had affected lawmakers' investigation of Hunter Biden or that the former officials had any motive to deceive.

Hans Mahncke @HansMahncke

This would be comical if it weren't so depressing. FBI officials Nikki Floris and Bradley Benavides were caught dead to rights. Anyone with two functioning brain cells who has read the documents can see that they flatly denied to Congress what they were openly discussing in their own emails. The failure to do anything about the completely out-of-control DC courts, or to at least try to start fixing a system that makes it impossible to hold Democrats accountable, will be the most damning legacy of these past two years.

Oh, and:

A federal judge on Monday dismissed a lawsuit against Harvard University by the Justice Department, which alleged the school failed to provide admissions records that could ensure it had ended affirmative action in admissions.

The DOJ had accused Harvard of stonewalling the investigation into potential racial discrimination and refusing to comply with a federal investigation, ABC News reported. The lawsuit asked a judge to force the university to turn over the requested records.

U.S. District Judge Myong Joun concluded the DOJ failed to take the necessary procedural steps to acquire the data before filing the lawsuit.

Joun added that the ruling doesn't end the dispute over the data, stressing her decision was on the limited question of whether the government had adequately satisfied the prerequisites, at this point, for judicial enforcement to occur.

Below: More on magistrate Zia Faruqui.

The Wreckage

—Disinformation Expert Ace

Sorry for bailing last night. It was painful.

It was a bloodbath.

We're in a tough position now.

I'll talk about my early reactions and theories on the night in a later post.

For now, the damage assessment:

Republicans entered the night with a 53 to 47 edge, and Democrats needed to flip four seats. They flipped at least seven, with victories in some of the most Republican states in the country. The Republican seats lost were:

Texas: James Talarico defeated Attorney General Ken Paxton.
Ohio: former Sen. Sherrod Brown beat Sen. Jon Husted.
Kansas: Adam Hamilton unseated Sen. Roger Marshall.
Iowa: Josh Turek defeated Rep. Ashley Hinson.
South Carolina: Annie Andrews upset longtime Sen. Graham.
North Carolina: former Gov. Roy Cooper beat Michael Whatley for an open seat.
Maine: Troy Jackson unseated Sen. Susan Collins, who conceded Wednesday.

Democrats also held every seat they were defending in the battlegrounds. Sen. Jon Ossoff beat Rep. Mike Collins in Georgia, Chris Pappas defeated former Sen. John E. Sununu in New Hampshire, and Abdul El-Sayed defeated former Rep. Mike Rogers for Michigan's open seat, per CBS News. Peggy Flanagan in Minnesota and Juliana Stratton in Illinois kept open seats in Democratic hands.

We don't know yet if the cheating whore Mary Peltola stole the seat in Alaska from the real Dan Sullivan.

We also lost gubernatorial races, including Texas'.

Republicans held a 26 to 24 advantage in governorships going in, with 36 races on the ballot. Democrats flipped four GOP-held offices.

Texas: Gina Hinojosa defeated three-term Gov. Greg Abbott.
Georgia: Keisha Lance Bottoms beat Rick Jackson, ending a 24-year Republican run in the governor's office.
Ohio: Amy Acton defeated Vivek Ramaswamy to succeed Gov. Mike DeWine.
Iowa: State Auditor Rob Sand beat Zach Lahn.

At least we can finally say goodbye to the annoying game show host and grifter Vivek Ramaswamy.

They're still counting House seats, but not only did the Democrats take the House, but they'll have the largest majority they've had in decades.

In the the House, Democrats will start the year with what would be its largest majority in nearly two decades, NBC News projects. Democrats flipped more than two dozen districts, some that voted for Trump by double digits in 2024.

Trump is now obviously a lame duck. Not only does he face the most intensely hostile Congress than any president has ever faced -- Lincoln got rid of most of his congressional opponents by branding them insurrectionists -- but the cowardly NeverTrumpers and GOPe Corporate Supremacists who pretended to support him for the past ten years while covertly undermining him now have no fear of him and can undermine him more openly.

Unfortunately, Trump 1.0 had a golden economy to offset many voters' intense dislike of him. Trump 2.0 has a decent economy, but people can't see beyond persistently high inflation and they think the economy is in poor shape.

I assume this All-American Solid Citizen won:

Wednesday Morning Rant

—Joe Mannix

This article was written before election returns came in, so this is not an election thread. You are welcome to discuss that anyway if desired, since election returns are probably the main topic of conversation

The past decade or so has seen a wild proliferation of stuff that falls into the general category often called the "Internet of Things," or IoT. These are things that do something and connect to the internet either to perform its work or to extend its functionality. IoT devices are often referred to as "smart" devices. "Smart" cameras, doorbells, TVs, locks, thermostats, switches and more all go online to function or to work to their maximum effect. This is all increasingly common and often underscores security and privacy issues or risks. Those risks are so real that it's not unreasonable to just assume that all of it is simply not secure at all, and implement or it not based on your risk appetite.

But that's in the household. IoT is not merely merely for consumer electronics and household gadgets, it's also industrial equipment, and the risk profile there is radically different. If someone hacks your "smart lock," he can wander in and rob your house. If he hacks your "smart camera" and catches something compromising, he could blackmail you. If he hacks your factory, that's a whole different story. If he hacks your supply chain management, that's a whole different story. The risk blast radius in industry is much greater than it is at the household level, and those risks are not merely hypothetical. There have been some very public incidents in Europe that demonstrate the problem, as multiple attacks on industrial IoT were targeted squarely at the food supply.

Mid-Morning Art Thread

—CBD

Out There
Robert Cocke

The Morning Report — 11/4 /26

—J.J. Sefton

Good morning kids. Well, here we are and after yesterday about the only kernel of normalcy I can offer is that being a midterm election it's not unexpected and indeed usually the norm that the party in power generally loses the majority in Congress. Although 2006 was a huge exception to that notion.
Besides that, at least we won't have to endure the preening, strutting and hutzpocritical crowing of slag shit-whore RINO Susan Collins despite being ousted by Nazi devotee Graham Platner. Not that she advanced the cause of freedom and the American agenda during her tenure, either sitting on her hands or otherwise joining with the Democrats to advance their heathen policies and agenda in the name of "bipartisanship."

Mercifully, she's gone, but we are in for a rough time going forward, as the tale of the tape shows.

It’s the first midterm election since 2006 that a party out of power has won back both chambers. The final scale of the wipeout was not immediately clear due to slow vote-counting, including in the Alaska Senate race, which has ranked-choice voting. Tuesday’s sweep also realized dreams Democrats have held for decades, including turning Senate seats in deep-red Texas and Kansas blue, as well as ending Republican governorships in Ohio and Texas, where three-term Gov. Greg Abbott’s loss was one of the most shocking of the night... The president had prefaced the midterm results by telling The Post’s “Pod Force One” podcast that he was ready to become “Mr. Veto” if needed after 2026.

“They’ll be sending stuff up. You veto it,” he explained.

“And eventually, after a month or two of getting all vetoed, they’re just wasting [time], they come over, and you make a deal. I think that probably would happen, but hopefully we don’t have to worry about that.”

Oh terrific, Mr. President? You'll be making deals with terrorists that let them destroy whatever still remains of America incrementally instead of in one fell swoop? As with Iran, the President is clueless as to who and what he is dealing with. So for the past two years Mr. President, what have the Democrats compromised on that conceded even a scintilla of the MAGA agenda. I believe the answer is nothing. Not one damned thing?

They spent every moment since you were first sworn in and before it trying to impeach you as well as persecuting not only your cabinet members and advisers but even average Americans for the treasonous act of buying a MAGA hat or even donating a buck to your campaign.

At best we'll have gridlock but we're going to get it right in the neck.

They have telegraphed a not-so-subtle message: reprisals are coming. . . What’s driving the desire for reprisals? First, the Democrats have long sought to invalidate the Trump phenomenon. They simply cannot accept the fact that Donald Trump became the president of the United States and that his ideas—build the wall, restore law and order, Make America Great Again—enjoy popular support. They believe Trump is an embodiment of every “ism” and “phobia” in the book: racism, sexism, nativism, Islamophobia, transphobia. To invalidate his presidency, they believe, is to invalidate these prejudices.

They want to turn Trump into another Richard Nixon. If the president ends his political career in disgrace—or in prison—it will serve as a warning to any future right-wing populist that that is the inevitable fate of his movement and, if he attempts to win the presidency, his life. The second motivation for reprisals is to create a permanent deterrent against the development of a right-wing counter-elite. In previous decades, the staffer class of Democrats and Republicans had a mutual understanding, in which Republicans in Washington agreed to the boundaries determined by the Left. The Democrats might campaign hard against someone like Mitt Romney or oppose the fiscal policies of someone like Paul Ryan, but everyone understood that both Republicans would respect Democrat-defined boundaries of what was acceptable. . . Finally, a reprisal campaign would protect the Left’s institutional hegemony. The Democrats often campaign on the slogan “our democracy,” and they mean it literally. The federal bureaucracy, public universities, and public schools are almost monolithically left-wing. Democrats believe that these institutions are proprietary tools for their political movement, and that any use of them by the Right is illegitimate. They will not only seek to roll back any incursions by the Trump administration but also engage in reprisals to ensure that it never happens again.

The ultimate risk is the Brazilification of our politics, in which the stakes become thus: if you win, you face reprisals in the future; if you lose, you go straight to prison.

With all due respect to the erudite and estimable Christopher Rufo, Brazilification is the wrong word. It's Bolshevization if not outright Nazification because win lose or draw, their opponents, meaning us and anyone who dares even raise an eyebrow in disagreement, will not be going to prison, or if so it's merely a pre-execution holding cell.

With bust-out socialists as well as a Muslim Brotherhood Senator now ensconced in power, I cannot even imagine where we go from here should PLEASE GOD the Democrats are indeed kept in check for the final years of the Trump presidency and beyond!

So the puzzler for me is how did yesterday happen especially given the fact that a Donald Trump election three times and at the barest of minimums his candidacy in the first place represent a negation of the negation that was and is Obama and Clinton and Leftism in general happened in the first place?

Solve that riddle and at the very least we have a shot at saving America. For now buy guns and ammo while we still can — I know I will be — and speak out while you still can.

Ugh, what a horrid waking nightmare. But that said, don't let yesterday get you down. Take comfort in family and friends and have faith in the LORD. We shall overcome so on that note, regardless of everything horrible, count your blessings and have a good day, one and all!

2026 MIDTERMS
• A historic series of defeats, including Democrats flipping Senate seats in Iowa, Kansas, Maine, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina and Texas — with equally staggering results in House races — positioning New Yorkers Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries to lead the Senate and House.
  Blue tsunami delivers Dems both chambers of Congress in stunning defeat for GOP and Trump’s handpicked candidates
  
• At its core, Tuesday was total beatdown of the president, his policies and personality. And it was predictable. It is not uncommon for presidents to suffer losses midway through their terms. In 2014, halfway through Barack Obama’s second term, Republicans picked up a whopping nine Senate seats.
  Michael Goodwin: How Trump reacts to this shellacking will determine his legacy
  
• Now it’s time to go on, first by resetting his core team of advisers, then by testing if Democrats are willing to work with him to do right by the country these next two years — or if they demand gridlock. Dems won purely as Trump’s opposition, without expressing any realistic vision going forward — but the public’s not likely to approve if they do nothing but continue to fight the president.
  A terrible night for Republicans leaves challenges for BOTH parties
  
• Far-left candidates backed by the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) were projected to win at least four House races, expanding the number of socialist lawmakers in the lower chamber from two to six.
  DSA bolsters Congress contingent after socialists pick up at least 4 House seats
  
• Abdul El-Sayed rode the blue tsunami to a win in Michigan.
  The Muslim Brotherhood Gets Their Man In Michigan
  
• Collins' luck ran out in what turned out to be a blue tsunami.
  End Of An Era: Susan Collins Concedes Defeat In Maine
  
• 'It's worse than anyone thought'
  Welcome to the Madhouse
  
• Minnesota Democrat Peggy Flanagan held off former NFL sideline reporter Michele Tafoya in a closely watched Senate race Tuesday, overcoming questions about her handling of multiple fraud scandals while serving as lieutenant governor in the administration of Governor Tim Walz.
  Walz’s Wingwoman Peggy Flanagan Prevails in Minnesota Senate Race

Daily Tech News 4 November 2026

—Pixy Misa

• Microsoft has made Windows 11 suck 20% less if you are running with just 8GB of RAM. (Tom's Hardware)
  
  It is at least a step in the right direction. Albeit after a double marathon in the wrong direction.
  
  I have two old laptops with 8GB of soldered RAM that I might give this a try on.
  
  
  
• Some crazy person not working for Microsoft got Windows 11 running in 128MB of RAM. (Tom's Hardware)
  
  It can even load Notepad. And the Start Menu. Well, about half the Start Menu, judging from the video. The icons never load.

Election Night ONT

—Doof

Howdy Hordelings! Welcome to the Election Night ONT. Appreciate you stopping by. Election discussion continues. Also - Open thread, as always. Anything else on YOUR mind tonight?

***

Some stuff to read while you await final(?) results

Election Technology Through the Years (from 2023)

The History of Voting Technology

Voting Equipment

A Brief Illustrated History of Voting

-----

How about a different type of old school voting tech?

Remember when the MLB All-Star voting took place mostly(?) by fans on paper ballots? Go to a big league game in the early months of the season, and they'd hand out punch card style ballots.

In later years, the ballots had cool cover art

2014 was the last year of paper ballots for MLB. All voting moved to online / digital formats after that.

-----

From our friend scampydog

My first thought was, "At least it's not the Black Panthers." Then i wondered if an AED was worse...

Nice job, Doggo!

-----

Something for our friend TJM

***

DJ Doof - Election Theme Edition

That last one is pretty obscure. You might recall Rhythm Corps from this minor radio hit of theirs from the late 80s -- which also fits the theme

***

Tonight's ONT brought to you by motivation

***

Doof Enterprises, LLC is not finding much whelm in tonight's election results.

Your feedback may or may not be very important to Doof Enterprises. Follow Mr. Doof on X @doof2112 or do the email thing – doof2112 at proton dot me.

Close it up

DDHQ Projects Democrats Will Take the House

—Disinformation Expert Ace

zerohedge @zerohedge

*DEMOCRATS WIN CONTROL OF THE HOUSE, DDHQ PROJECTS

Per the AP, Paxton trails Abbott's percentage of the vote by only 1%... That is good news. I can't imagine Abbott losing to the no name or it even being within 5 points. No hair lighting yet

Posted by: LinusVanPelt

Election Results Thread

—Disinformation Expert Ace

Here's PJ Media's election results page.

Decision Desk HQ's twitter feed.

My plan is to update this post with major headlines -- actual confirmed wins or losses, and strong evidence for coming wins or losses.

Jon Ossoff is predicted to win Georgia Senate, which was never actually seriously contested for some bizarre reason. Two, count 'em, two hard-left Democrat Senators are from Georgia and we can't do anything about it, apparently.

Ashley Moody (R) called for Florida Senator, per DDHQ.

A Democrat, Pia Dandiya, supposedly will win Floriday's redrawn 22nd District. This could be a bad harbinger.

Roy Cooper flips Tom Tillis' seat to blue in NC, which was 1, kind of baked into the cake and predicted for weeks, and 2, more or less a lateral move because Tillis was a liberal Democrat himself posing as a Republican.

Byron Daniels projected to win Florida governor, Anna Paulina Luna reelected to 13th CD. Neither unexpected.

Decision Desk HQ projects Republican Andy Barr wins the KY US Senate General Election. Via gnats local. Expected.

Spencer Pratt @spencerpratt

Hamas Piker: I HATE AMERICA! YOU DESERVED 9/11
DNC: Well, we have a big tent!

Haley Stevens: I don't think we should blame Jews for produce
DNC: YOU TRAITOR! YOU'RE NOTHING BUT A USED CONDOM!

What a time to be alive.

The Door to Nowhere Cafe

—Disinformation Expert Ace

the Uakari, a small monkey living in the
treetops of the Amazon river basin

An early Cafe, so that I can put up an election post at 7:30, when we'll start seeing numbers coming in.

Scary: Polar bear chases man and not for a hug.

Cat revs up for a dash.

Determined cat.

Broken cat wants to be a dentist.

Dude loses control of his speeding motorcycle and goes airborne. Not gory, but alarming.

Dogs who are desperate to sleep with you.

Pygmy possum is about the size of a thumb.

Cute little donk.

Sea otters going HAM on ICE!

More Election Rumors and Innuendoes

—Disinformation Expert Ace

Please take a seat and brace yourselves: staffers for the Muskily Heterosexual Group Sex Fetish Enthusiast James Talarico say his "moderation" is all fake and will disappear at 11:59 PM Central Time tonight.

The James O'Keefe Media Group just dropped a hidden video filmed in my neck of the woods, and it reveals that his staffers know his entire moderate stance is a sham:

"James [Talarico], he's not going middle."

"He's [Talarico] definitely going to play the middle ground because he's in Texas. but he is a lot more progressive on it [abortion]."

"Don't put too much stock into border security comments..."He [Talarico] and I have spoken about these issues."

"He [Talarico] probably said that to try to make himself appear more centrist. He's very liberal...but we've got to get elected, so we can do something."

Texas U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico's girlfriend, Brianna Menard, was identified by her father, Matt Menard, during an undercover conversation in which he and Williamson County Democratic Chair Kim Collins Gilby separately cast doubt on Talarico's recent moderate messaging on border security, immigration, and transgender surgeries for minors.

Menard, who claims to communicate with Talarico weekly and has personally discussed immigration policies with Talarico. Insisting James Talarico remains a progressive, opposes ICE's immigration enforcement tactics, and supports a pathway to citizenship for everyone.

Jewish voters are fed up with Jihad-curious Democrats?

For much of the last century, the Democratic Party has enjoyed ironclad support from Jewish Americans, especially in New York. As recently as 2006, exit polls from the New York governor's race showed 87 percent of the Jewish population voting Democratic.

But more recently, the seemingly unthinkable has happened. Though still likely to support Democrats, Jewish voters in the state have become more open to supporting Republicans -- a trend that has picked up steam following Hamas's terrorist attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

...

Much of the drift away from Democrats has come from Zionist Jews, who fear that the party's growing opposition to Israel is a betrayal of the Jewish community and can lead to antisemitic acts. At the same time, there are younger and more progressive Jews in New York who are frustrated with the reluctance of most Democratic leaders to take meaningful action against Israel.

Taken together, the agitation could eventually spell trouble for Democrats.

...

Asked in late October 2018 which party they wanted to control Congress, 76 percent of likely Jewish voters in New York said Democrats, while 23 percent said Republicans. When asked the same question last month, 61 percent of likely Jewish voters in the state said that Democrats should control Congress and 30 percent said Republicans.

Don't worry, though. The NYT proudly posted a list of Abdulrahman Mohamed El-Sayed's many, many Jewish supporters, which included famous Rabbinical Scholar "Jack Mehoff."

saying they would back Michigan Democrat Abdul El-Sayed for Senate included the unfortunate moniker "Jack Mehoff."

The Times initially reported Sept. 17 on the letter, which it said was signed by "more than 500 people who identify as Jewish leaders or voters" in the Mitten State and insisted that El-Sayed is "clearly the better choice for Jews."

The story included a link to a public Google Doc managed by a group calling itself Michigan Jews for Democracy.

Mehoff appears at No. 403 on the alphabetical list, which was also promoted by the El-Sayed campaign the same day the Times published its story.

Records reviewed by The Post lists someone named Jack Mehoff as living on campus at Michigan State University in East Lansing.

A university spokesman told The Post he could "confirm that MSU does not have a record (past or present) of that particular individual attending the university."

Jack Mehoff, capital fellow. I see him sometimes in shul. He sometimes joins the cantor and Heywood Jablowmi for a schvitz. He's a leader in our local Real People Who Totally Exist Club.

Leftwing f*ckery in Texas:

RNC Election Integrity @RNCVoteProtect

🚨 TEXAS VOTERS: ONCE YOU CHECK IN, DO NOT LEAVE UNTIL YOU HAVE CAST YOUR BALLOT.

The RNC identified reports in multiple counties of voters checking in, encountering issues when trying to vote, and then being told to come back later. This is NOT CORRECT.

We immediately escalated this to the Secretary of State, who is reinforcing the proper procedures with counties.

CHECKED IN? STAY UNTIL YOUR VOTE IS CAST. Report concerns

DataRepublican (small r) @DataRepublican

52m

On a same-time snapshot, Florida is over 100K votes ahead than on Election Day 2024.

Overall, Florida is currently at a D+4 shift relative to 2024.

Eesh. I mean, we have a lot of room in Florida, but not so in other districtrs.

Nevada had a sluggish start, but is ramping up quickly in the rurals, the same places where FL is surging. Lombardo will still have a tough fight, but CD-2 should be a retain.

If these 2 states represent a pattern for rural turnouts nationwide, this means good things for KS, IA, ME. Then it'd come down to OH and possibly MI/TX for Senate control.

I don't see clear evidence of TX pointing in one direction or another yet. The error margins cross right where Paxton needs to be in my models. Just stay in line and vote.

Walter Kirn @walterkirn

One BIG thing I learned behind the scenes in 2024 when Kamala was supposedly "tied with" or "slightly ahead" of Trump is that there are many powerful figures right now who know how things are going to come out. They're just not telling you. Not in any direct way. But you can start to infer it from the subtleties of their behavior.

Walter Kirn
@walterkirn

14m

I was shown that it has a lot to do with movement from unlikely to vote to likely to vote.

Dustin Grage
@GrageDustin

🚨 BREAKING: Hennepin County officials have confirmed that the poll worker wearing the blood-spattered T-shirt depicting Charlie Kirk is real.

The poll worker was sent home, but told they could return if they changed their shirt.

Excuse me, HOW was this individual not fired on the spot? Why are they being given an opportunity to return to their post?

This is actually insane.

This post at Townhall is four hours old now, but she claims that Republican turnout is high in some states. Not just in Florida, where it's huge, but also in Nevada and Arizona as well.

My respect for the predictions of the prediction markets is about the same as most people's respect for media polls, but, if you care...

Hillary Clinton's Chief Conspiracy Theorist Marc Elias Receives DOJ Letter Informing Him He Is a CRIMINAL TARGET
20 Other Democrat Criminals Targeted

—Disinformation Expert Ace

Eric Daugherty @EricLDaugh

44m

🚨 WOW! MARC ELIAS reportedly just got a CRIMINAL TARGET LETTER after his firm was involved in cheating Alaska's elections with the fake Dan Sullivan

That's in addition to nearly 20 OTHER DEMOCRATS receiving the same letter.

CHARGES POSSIBLE: Donor fraud and conspiracy

It's clear that AG Todd Blanche is NOT letting this go 🔥

Trump is not going to let Alaska's Senate seat be stolen.

The Researcher @listen_2learn

The bigger revelation from the Alaska episode isn't just that a decoy candidate was recruited. It's that lawyers from Marc Elias's law firm who were apparently involved in the scheme were also involved in the subsequent lawsuits aimed at challenging or suppressing the fallout.

I think the overlap between those orchestrating the operation and those litigating its aftermath deserves far more scrutiny than it's receiving.

Hans Mahncke
@HansMahncke

Because nobody was ever held accountable for Russiagate, the original lawfare operation, the whole machinery has only grown more brazen and sophisticated.

Marc Elias used the fake Steele dossier to push Russia collusion smears. In Alaska, his firm has taken the same playbook a step further, engineering a dirty trick and then turning to the courts to protect the result of that scheme.

Imagine Elias commissioning the Steele dossier and then marching straight into court, waving it around as evidence and demanding that a judge give legal force to the lies he had manufactured (back then, he used the FBI for that purpose, but now he simply cuts out the middleman and does it himself).

That's what happens when nobody is ever held accountable. They learn that there is no price to pay, so they keep escalating, growing bolder and more ruthless with every operation. And why wouldn't they? They've been taught that they can get away with anything.

I linked part of this recap by Jonathan Turley in the last post, but it belongs here:

Elias was the general counsel to the Clinton presidential campaign when it secretly funded the infamous Steele Dossier and pushed the false Alfa Bank conspiracy theory. (His fellow Perkins Coie partner, Michael Sussmann, was later indicted but acquitted for making a false statement to the FBI.)

Clinton campaign officials lied to reporters during the 2016 campaign, denying any involvement in the Steele Dossier. Journalists discovered the truth after the election -- that the Clinton campaign had hidden payments for the dossier as "legal fees" among the $5.6 million paid to Perkins Coie. New York Times reporter Ken Vogel said that when he tried to report the story, Elias "pushed back vigorously, saying 'You (or your sources) are wrong.'"

Times reporter Maggie Haberman later observed that "Folks involved in funding this lied about it, and with sanctimony, for a year." The Federal Election Commission ultimately sanctioned the Clinton campaign for the subterfuge.

While raising money as the self-proclaimed defenders of democracy, Elias's group has been involved in gerrymandering and efforts criticized as seeking to invalidate Republican votes, including unsuccessful efforts to challenge Democratic electoral losses.

...

Now, Elias's group is linked to the decoy scandal in Alaska, which allegedly aimed to make voters cast mistaken ballots. What distinguishes lawyers involved in this type of voter disruption is less their talent as their willingness. There are simply some things that most lawyers will not do.

Election Day News

—Disinformation Expert Ace

Jonathan Turley:

Marc Elias is back. The notorious Democratic lawyer who played a critical role in the 2016 Russia hoax is again in the news. His law firm has been identified by the New York Times as part of the expanding scandal involving Democratic effort to confuse voters in Alaska with a decoy candidate named Daniel J. Sullivan.

For those familiar with Elias's checkered history, this is a case of rounding up the usual suspects.

The scandal involving Democratic candidate Mary Peltola has quickly snowballed this week. A New York Times blockbuster investigative report quotes former staff who claim she knew of a cynical effort by her own campaign and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee to confuse voters by recruiting and fielding a decoy "Dan Sullivan" candidate in the race against incumbent Sen. Daniel S. Sullivan (R-Alaska). State and federal investigations are now unfolding, with dozens of federal subpoenas raining down on Alaska.

The effort to get voters to cast mistaken ballots is grossly unethical and, even in these rage-filled times, a uniquely disgraceful scheme. Peltola and the Democratic Party had long denied any involvement in the other Sullivan's candidacy. So when the Times produced evidence that she allegedly knew, and that Democratic staffers and lawyers had been deeply involved from the beginning, many of us were surprised -- that is, until the name "Marc Elias" emerged. Then it made more sense.

The Elias Law Group was already in the news this election cycle for threatening reporters with defamation lawsuits if they kept asking questions about the health of former Gov. Roy Cooper, the Democratic nominee for Senate in North Carolina. Earlier, Elias caused a stir during an unsuccessful Democratic gerrymandering effort, raising the idea that Democratic leaders could abolish the entire Virginia government after courts blocked their attempted radical redistricting plan.

The fact that figures such as Peltola and Cooper wanted to be associated with any law firm headed by Elias is itself an indictment of their judgment and standards.

Despite his losses in cases such as National Republican Senatorial Committee v. Federal Election Commission, Elias is still a favorite of many on the left thanks to his aggression and partisan fervor. The controversies that make him notorious to many make him popular with others.

Ryan Fournier @RyanAFournier

1h
UNREAL: Ballots in key battleground Westchester, NY aren't fitting into scanners, and the Dem County Exec says he has "no idea" why!
Total incompetence or election interference? STAY IN LINE!

Some are saying the slots the thick paper is supposed to be fed into were deliberately tightened to block them.

Jay Gatling
@apinionsvary

3h

HOCHUL'S "WRONG SIZE PAPER" EXCUSE: WESTCHESTER'S MACHINES BREAK ON THE ONE DAY MOST REPUBLICANS VOTE!

Ballot scanners at polling sites across Westchester County have been rejecting ballots since the polls opened at 6 AM. Westchester has about 1 million residents and roughly 680,000 registered voters.

That includes about 132,000 registered Republicans, 7,400 Conservatives, and 186,000 voters who aren't enrolled in any party.

County Executive Ken Jenkins called it a "county-wide issue at all of the polling locations."

The Board of Elections blamed the "thickness" of the paper, then quietly took that word out.

Governor Hochul says it could be the "wrong size paper" and could take hours to fix.

Here's why this matters: Democrats tend to vote early and by mail. Republicans show up on Election Day. So when the machines break on Election Day, the people stuck in long lines and delays are mostly Republican voters.

Some will have to get back to work.

Some will give up and go home.

Every one of them is a vote that didn't get cast.

All of this is happening with Governor Hochul on the ballot and the Lawler race on the line.

That's a very convenient coincidence for Democrats.

Westchester, don't let them win by wearing you out. Stay in line, fill out your ballot, and make sure it goes into the orange emergency bag.

Bill Melugin @BillMelugin_

4h

NEW: Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) announces new prosecutions of non-citizens accused of voting illegally, including an Uzbek national in Wyoming who falsely attested to be a US citizen & voted, but was caught after the state began participating in the federal SAVE (Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements) program to cross reference voter rolls against DHS databases.

The Uzbek man, Maksim Shakirov, has now pleaded guilty to voting as an alien and is scheduled to be sentenced in January.

HSI is also announcing the arrest of a Dominican non-citizen woman, Rosanny Fabre Villa, for illegally voting in Pennsylvania in the 2024 election, as well as the sentencing of a French national, Eliezer Kadoch, who pleaded guilty to illegally voting in the 2020, 2022, and 2024 elections in New Jersey. Feds say he also falsely claimed in a 2023 application for US citizenship that he had never voted or claimed US citizenship. He will now have to perform 50 hours of community service, pay a $1,000 fine, and be on probation for one year.

Nick Sortor @nicksortor

31m

🚨 NEW: A Kansas polling place RAN OUT of ballots this morning after the county delivered only 10 PERCENT of the ballots needed

By 8am, voters were being TURNED AWAY. It took over an HOUR AND A HALF for more ballots to be delivered.

How does this even happen?!

Is this good?

DataRepublican (small r) @DataRepublican

5h

I have minute snapshots from Florida Election Day 2024.

As of the latest data pull, we are exceeding same-snapshot margins compared to 2024 - literal Presidential turnout on a midterms.

And it's accelerating - in one ten minute pull, we pulled ahead of 2024 by 5,000 votes.

An incredible last-minute turnaround in Florida. This is the kind of performance we need to sustain across the country.

Go vote!

Benny Johnson
@bennyjohnson
Are you sitting down?

Republicans are currently showing signs of PRESIDENTIAL-LEVEL midterms turnout already on Election Day

Scott Presler reveals data from across the country showing incredible early results.

Republicans are set to flip Broward county in Florida from blue to red.

Montgomery County, Texas is BEATING Presidential level turnout this morning.

Lines are out the door at the polls in Wisconsin.

Democrats in Pennsylvania are leaving some 120,000 ballots on the table.

Republicans are showing up on Election Day.

Supposedly, polls predicted a 22 point Democrat blowout in Guam.

Instead, the Republican won narrowly:

Deranged Alcoholic Femcel Hillary Clinton and the High-Calorie Cretins of The View Say That Trump Will #Hack the Election Using Mind Control

—Disinformation Expert Ace

This doesn't sound like confidence to me.

Nicholas Fondacaro @NickFondacaro

ABC's "bona fide news program" The View brings on Hillary Clinton and Kara Swisher to push a slew of conspiracy theories about how the midterms could be stolen.
They predict:

-ICE will confront people at the polls

-Use the Justice Department and U.S. Marshals Service in a nefarious way

-The election results will be hacked and changed (teed up by Sunny Hostin)

-Use peoples Social Security numbers to manipulate their thoughts

Nicholas Fondacaro at Newsbusters:

he View cast was so confident that the midterms were going to be a blow out for Democrats, that they spent part of their Monday show priming the pump for Democratic losses with conspiracies about how Republicans were going to steal elections across the countries. Teed up by the ABC "bona fide news program" co-hosts, two-time presidential failure Hillary Clinton and leftist tech podcaster Kara Swisher spewed a slew of election theft conspiracies from intimidation, to hacking and changing results, to mind control via Social Security Numbers.

Yeah, you read that last one correctly.

"If the votes don't go his way, which we suspect they may not, will the President try to steal this election or will our systems hold?" wondered co-host Sunny Hostin, who was one of the people who claimed Trump stole the 2016 election.

Clinton claimed she had lead "war room scenarios with big groups of people to get everybody to think about the most unthinkable" ways for President Trump to steal the midterms. "Because you know, with Trump, you've got to get out of your comfort zone and say, 'well, what is the craziest thing that somebody could try to do?' and get prepared for it," she declared.

Her opening salvo was the usual assertion that Trump was going to send ICE agents to polling places across America to intimidate voters:

CLINTON: You know, having ICE or others show up and just be standing there, staring at people, you know, looking threatening to voters coming in to vote.

But you know, I do think that people are tougher than that.

GOLDBERG: Oh yeah.

[Crosstalk in agreement]

Of course, there weren't enough ICE agents to do that and there would be nothing for voters to be afraid of. They even admitted it wouldn't be intimidating.

Swisher, Clinton's podcast co-host, jumped into claim the Justice Department and U.S. Marshal Service would be used in some unexplained nefarious way. Hostin chimed in again to get Swisher to briefly warn that the election results would be hacked and presumably changed:

SWISHER: Trying all manner of attempts. Because they still control the Justice Department. They still control the Federal Marshal Service. They still control the House --

HOSTIN: And what about hacking?

SWISHER: And hacking.

This was essentially a flashback to the liberal media's greatest hoax ever, erroneously telling Americans "Russia hacked the election" in 2016, giving the false impression that results were changed to give Trump the victory.

Their craziest claim would come shortly thereafter.

Clinton tagged back in, argued that Social Security information "was literally stolen" by DOGE, and would somehow be used to mentally control voters into doing what they wanted:

If you have, in private hands, the Social Security information of every American, just as an example, which is one of the things that was alleged, that was literally stolen from the Social Security administration. I don't know if that happened, but people from inside said that it was. And that's under the control of people like Elon Musk, we need a government, and I would argue, starting in January with a new Congress, to begin to hold these people accountable. They can't get away with manipulating the data to try to influence decisions.

Attempting to give Clinton's craziness more validity, Swisher claimed it would be assured since A.I. would be involved: "Especially with A.I. And this data has never been compiled. There's a reason it's siloed in the government. If you could bring it together with A.I., there's all manner of crazy scenarios. And as crazy as you want to get."

At no point did the co-hosts of ABC's purported "bona fide news program" question these assertions or push back in any way. In fact, they were teeing them up.

Videos at the link.

Ilhan Nur Said Elmi Wrote, In Her Certficate for Her Marriage to Her Brother, That Her Given Name Was "Elmi"

—Disinformation Expert Ace

But then she crossed it out and falsified it as "Omar."

Deport this rancid walking crime spree in a burka.

Confused much?

Rep. Ilhan Omar apparently didn't know what her name was when applying in 2009 for a Minnesota marriage license to her alleged brother Ahmed Elmi, according to the document obtained by The Post.

A certified copy from the Hennepin County, Minn., government shows that the Democratic congresswoman's surname was initially written as Omar, before being crossed out and replaced with Elmi. A final edit reverted it back to Omar.

The revisions are potentially significant as the Justice Department investigates whether Omar fraudulently gained US citizenship in 2000 by failing to use her accurate legal name and birthdate.

The ongoing case builds on a probe into whether the Somalia-born politician committed immigration fraud by marrying Elmi, a British citizen who describes himself as gay.

"I'm not a Gay Pirate," Ahmad Elmi said,
while posing in his Gay Pirate Hijab

The Justice Department referred to Omar in a court filing last week as "Congresswoman Ilhan Nur Said Elmi, a/k/a Ilhan Abdullahi Omar."

A source familiar with the investigation previously told The Post that authorities believe Omar is not the congresswoman's "real" name, meaning she was born with the last name of Elmi, just like her alleged brother-husband.

The marriage certificate application -- dated Feb. 12, 2009 -- is a potentially significant piece of evidence, though not necessarily dispositive.

The government form also asks whether the bride and groom are related to each other by blood or adoption. The couple attested they were not.

Omar's office did not respond to The Post's requests for comment on the file.

It's unclear who filled out the application, but it appears to have been written with just one person's handwriting.

Unlike the Justice Department's recent reference to Omar's alleged true name, the initial revision was written as "Ilhan Omar Elmi," rather than Ilhan Nur Said Elmi, and potentially could indicate indecision about a post-marital name change.

...

"The whole thing was a joke. The marriage was a fraudulent marriage, brazenly fraudulent," [Scott Johnson of Powerline and Alpha News] added. "They didn't take it seriously. It was entered into for a fraudulent purpose."

AJ Kern, a former Minnesota congressional candidate who has dug into Omar's immigration records and discrepancies about her birthdate, said the evidence keeps piling up.

"I think it's pretty clear she married her brother and committed immigration fraud," Kern told The Post.

The bigger issue is having a non-citizen in office, she said.

"If the evidence seems to be pointing to the fact that she never obtained citizenship, Congress is failing to do their job. If we've had a foreign nationalist occupying a seat in Congress, that's a problem," Kern said.

Trump Will End the $3.8 Billion Per Year of Military Aid to Israel by Year's End;
Counterintuitively, Is This the Best Outcome for the US and Israel?

—Disinformation Expert Ace

The US will stop the payment of military aid to Israel. It will, however, continue authorizing the sale of key US weapons systems to its ally.

President Donald Trump on Tuesday said that the U.S. would stop sending military aid to Israel by the end of the year.

Trump told "Fox & Friends" that Israel is in a position to purchase its own weapons and doesn't need the U.S. to fund them.

The U.S. provides $4 billion per year in military aid, Trump said, and he and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had discussed terminating the funding for years. He said that the idea originated with Netanyahu.

"They don't need it. Israel is a very thriving country," Trump said.

It's actually $3.8 billion per year.

Why would Netanyahu favor an end to US military aid to Israel?

It makes no sense.

Or does it?

Although this may seem to be a sop to the J.D. Vance/Tucker Carlson Groyper pseudoconservatives -- and I imagine it is at least partly that -- it might not be such a bad deal for Israel at all.

Pro-Israel, right-leaning Jews have argued that the US should end aid to Israel -- because the aid is used by antisemites like Tucker Carlson to bash Jews, and because the money comes with very thick strings.

Presidents like Obama and Biden have used the threat of withdrawing the aid to demand that Israel not strike back against the Democrat Party's terrorist allies.

Jacob Siegel and Liel Leibovitz for Tablet, itself a Jewish commentary magazine:

End U.S. Aid to Israel America's manipulation of the Jewish state is endangering Israel and American Jews

July 16, 2023

Two years ago, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez famously wept in Congress after changing her vote on funding Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system from "no" to "present." The New York Times said that the incident showed progressive members of "the Squad" "caught between their principles and the still powerful pro-Israel voices in their party, such as influential lobbyists and rabbis." (The line was later removed with no correction.) In People magazine, the congresswoman's procedural maneuver to avoid voting was appreciated for its pathos: "Ocasio-Cortez Opens Up About Israel Iron Dome Vote That Left Her in Tears: 'Yes, I Wept.'" In the end, the resolution passed the House 420-9.

The Iron Dome is, of course, an entirely defensive anti-missile system which the Totally Not Antisemitic or Pro-Hamas Democrats hate because it stops 90% of Hamas and Hezbollah and Iranian missiles from hitting the Jewish population centers they're aimed at.

The Skwad and other terrorist-promoting antisemites want those missiles to kill Jews so that Hezballah and Hamas and Iran will be able to extract ransoms from Jews.

Ocasio-Cortez's bit of Kabuki theater fit neatly into the premade mythology of a domineering Israel lobby, popularized by academic John Mearsheimer, whose views are experiencing a burst of popularity in isolationist corners of the right. His central claim--that America has been pressured by an all-powerful, determined ethnoreligious lobby into acting against its own interests--is made explicit in references to "influential lobbyists and rabbis," in Rep. Ilhan Omar's tweets that U.S. support for Israel is "all about the Benjamins," and in graphics like The New York Times' infamous "Jew-tracker" that policed support for Barack Obama's Iran deal according to the religion of members of Congress.

Belief in the mythic power of "the lobby" rests on a common article of faith that is shared by Israel's loudest critics and most fervent supporters--namely, that U.S. military aid forms the cornerstone of the "special relationship" between the two nations, and that this aid is a gift that powerfully benefits Israel. Cutting off Israel's D.C. cash pipeline, it's assumed, would dramatically alter the balance of power in the Middle East: in one scenario by endangering Israel's security, and in another by forcing its recalcitrant leaders to accept the enlightened proposals of Western policymakers.

While this fantasy version of the U.S.-Israeli relationship is useful for stirring up emotions and demonstrating partisan loyalties, it does more to flatter the self-importance of Israel-aid opponents and supporters alike than it does to describe an increasingly warped reality, in which Israel ends up sacrificing far more value in return for the nearly $4 billion it annually receives from Washington. That's because nearly all military aid to Israel--other than loan guarantees, which cost Washington nothing, the U.S. gives Israel no other kind of aid--consists of credits that go directly from the Pentagon to U.S. weapons manufacturers.

In return, American payouts undermine Israel's domestic defense industry, weaken its economy, and compromise the country's autonomy--giving Washington veto power over everything from Israeli weapons sales to diplomatic and military strategy. When Washington meddles directly in Israel's domestic affairs, as it does often these days, Israeli leaders who have lobbied for these payments--including current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu--are simply reaping the rewards of their own penny-wise, pound-foolish efforts.

...

It's no wonder that one well-known regional expert we consulted, who served in high security-related positions in the U.S. government, was horrified when we proposed ending American aid to Israel. When we asked which of our arguments were overstated or mistaken, this person answered: "None of them. But my job is to represent the American interest. Aid to Israel is the biggest bargain we have on our books. Ending it would be a disaster for us. I just don't see who it benefits."

...

Ending aid would not mean the end of the U.S.-Israeli military alliance, intelligence sharing, trade, or any mutual affinity between the countries. Rather, it would allow both sides to see what each is getting in return for what. In the words of retired IDF Major General Gershon Hacohen: "Once we are not economically dependent on them, the partnership can flourish on its own merits."

...

Formal U.S. military aid to Israel, as opposed to loans and cash-on-delivery arms sales, started in 1979, when the Carter administration offered it as a carrot to get Israel to agree to withdraw from all of Sinai as part of a peace deal with Egypt. The same deal provided a comparable sum of U.S. military aid and arms to Egypt, for many years the second-largest recipient of U.S. foreign military financing after Israel. Notably, the aid to Egypt was given despite the country's displaying no capacity to deploy military force outside its own borders--the goal being to achieve a rough form of U.S.-brokered parity between the two recent foes.

Tucker Carlson never objects to paying off Egypt. I suppose he might, because the money is intended as a bribe to avoid hostilities against Isreal, and he would like every Muslim country to attack Israel.

But he and the other antisemites JD Vance insists on courting never bring up Egypt or all the other countries on the American dole, because they want to make the claim that the US is dominated by "ZOG," the Zionist Occupational Government, and bringing up the fact that the US sprays money around like P. Diddy at a Baby Oil Freak-Off would damage their bison-skulled propaganda efforts.

The writers note that Obama's promise of aid to Israel, $3.8 billion per year for ten years, was only made so that he had the power to restrain Israel from attacking his close ally, Iran:

..

In reality, the MOU advanced Obama's goal of paying lip service to Israeli fears while constraining future Israeli actions, in line with a new American strategic architecture in which the interests of traditional allies like Israel and Saudi Arabia would be "balanced" with those of their mortal enemy, Iran. It deepened Israel's reliance on U.S. arms and military spending, while extending Washington's reach into Israel's domestic affairs. Paradoxically, the "most generous" package ever was an instrument to downgrade the U.S. commitment to Israel. The MOU purchased both influence over Israel and the acquiescence of American Jews who were expected, in the face of such public generosity, to go along with the White House policy of strengthening Iran, while upholding the narrative that Obama was Israel's "best friend."

...

Last week, President Biden authorized the military to deploy up to 3,000 reservists to Europe in support of Ukraine's war effort. There are, at present, an undisclosed number of American troops operating in Ukraine alongside the other 80-some countries where the U.S. has forces stationed. By contrast, no American soldier or pilot has ever risked their lives for Israel, and no American missile or aircraft has ever flown in Israel's defense. Such are the myths and realities of "the lobby."

Another point the authors make is that by requiring Israel to buy American missiles and weapons with the aid, it necessarily -- and possibly intentionally -- starves Israel's own vital domestic industry from cash.

And that means that someone like Obama and Biden can blackmail Israel with the threat to withhold providing the American anti-missile missiles that keeps Israel cities from being destroyed.

In addition, US supplies of the Patriot missile are currently small, partly because we're sending so many to Ukraine and also shooting off a lot of them to protect our own bases from Iranian attacks. Other countries like Israel simply can't afford to be dependent on US anti-missile defenses, because the US, of course, may reprioritize delivery of the missiles to other countries (like Ukraine) or just need to use so many of them ourselves that we have few to send to overseas clients.

...

Cut the stranglehold of aid. Let America pursue its interests. Let Israel, too, follow its own interests, which sometimes align with those of Washington and sometimes don't. If Israelis think it will ensure their security to decapitate the Iranian regime, or give the Golan Heights on a platter to Bashar Assad, or develop their own homemade fighter plane and sell it to India or Saudi Arabia, let them go ahead. And let American Jews who care about being Jewish focus on observance and learning their people's history, instead of pimping for Lockheed Martin. If the commitment to Israel is deeper than mere political fashion, if it is more than a secularized idolatry, then it's time to prove it--by smashing the ideological idols of America's Israel debate.

Will this appease the rapid Nazi and cryptoislamist Tuq'r Qarlson? No, of course not; he and his allies on the Skwad will shift their attacks from aid to Israel to weapons sales to Israel paid for with Israel's money, period.

It will certainly be clarifying. And that is itself a good thing.

What I Saw at the Trump Rally in Salina, Kansas 1 November 2026 [NaCly Dog]

—Open Blogger

This was President Trumps 30th rally in 32 days. It was his final rally before the election. Trump has been in Kansas before, in Topeka , and also in Wichita for this election cycle. The initial rally was scheduled for Saturday. It was canceled. After questions from the press, the Rally was moved to Sunday. This was Trump’s second Rally of the day. He had an earlier Rally in Iowa.

There was no problem getting to the remote parking place, but we arrived 8 hours before Trump’s speech, and a full 3 hours before doors opened. My widowed friend and I did pass by 10 protesters on the way through the outer security perimeter. We passed street vendors selling Trump memorabilia, and especially hats. School busses took us through more security checkpoints. Once off the bus we walked to a serpentine holding line next to a hanger. 10,000 tickets were downloaded for a venue of 7,000 seats.

The crowd was a mix of all ages, from a few babes in arms, a number of young people, and many in their 60s to older. There was a large number of red Trump hats in view, with funny to respectful t-shirts and attire.

The line was a collection of high trust, good people. We were with some long-married
couples, one married for 52 years, and a middle-school math teacher at a local Catholic school. One couple brought a disposable chair and were very gracious to share with others in need of rest. There had been a roar when the four engine Boeing 747-800 Air Force 1 landed and taxied near the waiting crowd.

One person stood out in the line, in a black suit with a black Trump hat, and a cell phone with an external power pack. I talked to him, figuring his formal dress marked him as European. He was a Romanian member of their Parliament. His mission was to contact the 1.4 million Romanian-Americans to get them to vote for Trump. He had spent 2 months traveling all over the US. On Election Day, he will be near Mar-a-Lago. Thanks to some commenters, I could knowledgeably discuss recent Polish and French events, and the specific Romanian shenanigans. His take was Trump is ensuring the continuation of Western Civilization, and is the last barrier to barbarism. “The US is the hope of the world.”

We were in line for 4 and a half hours. After the doors opened, it took an additional hour and a half to get to a professional security screening. TSA should be so good. Our tickets were not collected, but I am pretty certain face-recognition software was in use, from all the cameras. We sat near the fence line, and I could see the personnel ramps for both doors of AF-1 and people moving inside.

Security was both viable and quiet. I noticed helicopter air cover, and then special police drones with blue flashing lights. Lots more Secret Service were around, as well as three types of local police. No police snipers were seen by me. Secret Service agents were roaming the crowd all the time.

We had an excellent sight-line to the open rostrum, protected on the sides and back by bulletproof glass. The Kansas City Chiefs game was on a large Jumbotron. With the Chiefs having a strong lead, the Jumbotron went silent.

Senator Marshall, on the ballot, and then Senator Moran came out to pitch the crowd to vote. Some policy was discussed, but mostly the negatives of opponents were mentioned. Then the Gubernatorial candidate Ty Masterson made his pitch, as did the incumbent State Attorney general (Kris Kobach, a personal favorite of the crowd and me), my Congressman, and another. All gave strong speeches, with policy to favor Kansans and denouncing the Left, their actions, and the DEM opponents, with specifics.

They left, and we waited for President Trump. He was still in Iowa at the other rally. The game came back on, and then toe-tapping rock music was played using two separate banks of 8 very large speakers. Hearing damage was possible. I could feel the bass compress my ribs and go from the ground to my femur. I was too close. We were outdoors, with bleacher seats behind the President and on the rear. Some people had to stand or squat.

There were 4 food vendors there, and the prices would make an airport blush. Two pork cheeseburgers and two waters was $46. The caps were taken off as they handed you the water, so some manual dexterity was needed.

The Chiefs lost the game, darkness descended, and we waited, being pounded by the music. Then the speakers crackled “Air Force 1 to Salina Tower, permission to do a low pass over the large crowd?” “Permission Granted.” “In sight.” Over our heads came a Boeing 757 in AF-1 livery. The plane landed and I noticed a long line of vehicles, headed by the Beast limo, head for the aircraft. They blocked any sight lines from the crowd to the deplaning group. We
could see people moving off the plane, but lighting was low. Eye of the Tiger music pounded us as the group left AF-1.

Trump came out to a frenzied crowd an hour and a half after the posted time. His voice was a tad raspy. But he talked about his achievements, with many big numbers. He talked about the good of tariffs and manufacturing, and seemed very proud of getting lower drug prices. He also said this was his last rally. Before the election. He worked the crowd very well, saying he wanted to go on after the Kansas City Chiefs game was over and praised the coach (Andy Reid) and QB Mahomes. He said he was sad they lost. When the President came out, there were a lot of vigilant and visible protection.

He urged us to vote. He spoke highly of Senator Marshall, and invited him up to speak. Then he praised Kris Kobach, and got him to talk. Later he asked the Secretary of Agriculture to speak to the farmers and ranchers.

After telling how he bullied France to help with his drug pricing, he called for Rubio to come up. Three times he said that Rubio is getting too popular. Twice he finished with “I’ll have to fire him.” My take was this was a sigh of high approval, and I moved Rubio into the status of heir apparent. VP JD Vance was mentioned once. I noticed three people that spoke talked of him calling them after midnight and before 6 AM. One said his wife was going to call Melania if it happened again.

He highlighted the threat to gun ownership several times, and there was a show of hands of gun owners. Practically the entire crowd raised their hand. Much more than when Veterans were asked to stand, or when ranchers and farmers were asked to raise hands.

Trump demonstrated a high energy level. He did not want to quit with such an enthusiastic crowd. He mentioned the fake news only three times. Without heat. Like they were sad puppies. As an aside, every time I passed the cordoned off press area, I wore my biggest sneer possible.

I had one protester shout at the President right behind where I was seated. I swirled around and got out of my chair in one movement. A look at my face, and she flipped me off with both hands, while backing up. A nearby Salina Police Sgt. passed me and led her away.

President Trump was having fun, had some sly humor, but he was dead serious that we needed to vote. He was like a priest, and I saw him evoke God and the many good pastors in his life, like Billy Graham and Norman Vincent Peale. He even pitched the book The Power of Positive Thinking. I got the feeling he was trying to pass on to a new generation what made him great, like a proud granddad to a grandchild.

We both had a great time. The school busses made for a quick exit, and clear traffic home.