Flávio

Never bet on Trump sticking by you. Why does nobody learn this.

Brazil’s leading right-wing politician, Flávio Bolsonaro, effectively conceded defeat to the incumbent left-wing president Monday, minutes after President Donald Trump indicated he would not intervene on his behalf despite saying that Sunday’s vote “looked like another rigged election.”

...

“Flávio has given up,” said an adviser to the Bolsonaro family who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share sensitive details. “He’s terrified. He is worried his father will die in jail, that he himself will be jailed this week and that he may have a long prison term ahead.”

And you have to be able to pay the price, which is a subscription, not a fee. What did Flávio have to offer?

Without defending, I get that there are people who think the Trumpers have made them an offer they can't refuse. I do not understand the people who are eager to make deals with President Deals.

There aren't many people that Trump puts above himself, and fewer and fewer as he gets more and more demented. If he puts you below him, then you are nothing but someone to extract from.

...rumor is he fled to Argentina then the US, though Argentina is denying he entered the country.

Le Pédophile Raciste

The focus of this story is largely about how out of power Dems are impotent, instead of the substance of the committee's report.

Basically, we journalists might treat this more seriously when you win the House.

I've seen this dynamic since the early aughts. Journalists then were openly mocking minority Dems when Henry Waxman was trying to do some oversight of our glorious adventure in Iraq. He held hearings in the basement!!! lol!!!

Somehow Republicans in the minority aren't treated this way.

Everybody knows the reality of Trump and Epstein, yet somehow being a supporter of Trump isn't itself scandalous.

Morning

Taco Tuesday!

Happy Hour

I bet many journalists were pissed they had to chuck out their "Bolsonaro wins/global rejection of the dastardly Left continues" prewrites.

...Ooops, double happy hour posts. Pick your favorite.

Happy Hour

Raise one to Walter Koenig, best known as Chekov but also great as Alfred Bester.

Better Things Are Possible

Pedestrianization of major streets isn't without difficulties, though the main one with this stretch of Oxford St. is about diverting buses, but generally once places are fully pedestrianized, it is quickly difficult to imagine they were otherwise before. 

Much of Britain’s most famous shopping street will be closed to traffic from Monday as the long-awaited pedestrianisation of London’s Oxford Street begins.

About half of the 1.2 mile street will initially be vehicle-free, after decades of planning and dispute over how to best use the street, an important transport thoroughfare and the home for flagship stores for big shopping chains.

London's odd, for Britain, in that most British cities have long had large pedestrianized chunks in the core and London barely does.

Not that everywhere is a car free utopia, but places for pedestrians aren't alien.

Not The Onion

There is room for disagreements in all subjects, but I really have no interest in people who fail to acknowledge the reality of the state of Israel.

800 Palestinians in Gaza displaced after Israel destroys displacement camp

800 Palestinians have been displaced after Israeli forces set fire to a displacement camp in Shujayea, Gaza City, according to the Palestinian Public Works Ministry.

 I don't care whether people personally use the word "genocide," but people who are focused on arguing about the use of such words are  prioritizing nitpicking pedantry (correct or not) over, well, genocide.

And if you are discomfited yourself, spend some time looking at the past coverage of Milosevic, and remind yourself what that was all about.

FALL FUNDRAISING DAY 6!!!

Me dê todo o seu dinheiro!

Venmo!

Or Paypal!

Or Patreon!

Thanks to all!

Translating Elon

I have no comment on the truth of any of this, but the implications:

• Elon's orbital data centers are, unsurprisingly, a joke.
• He will instead muscle out all the potential competitors by buying up everything and using his status as a special boy to ignore all laws and regulations here on planet Earth.

America's Worst Humans

Amy Griffin: 

tl;dr a NYT reporter threw some shade on this billionaire and her memoir, and Griffin responded by  trying (though she denies) to get a university to deny her daughter's admission application.

Bolsonaro Down

I don't claim to know anything about Brazilian politics other than the obvious stuff, but Lula winning is enraging all the usual horrible people, so that's good.

My guide to ignoring most commentary on foreign elections from US commenters:

1. With very occasional exceptions (Carney getting elected in Canada comes to mind), most foreign voters aren't thinking about the US or Donald Fucking Trump when they vote.
2. While Left and Right are, generally, useful heuristics for understanding political parties, other countries also have their "swing voters," critical to close elections, who are just as inscrutable as American swing voters. Moreso, if you are an outsider.
3. You can't understand American politics without understanding the role of the American press, and the equivalent is true for every other country. So if you don't know much about the daily media of other countries (generally true of people who don't speak the local language), you don't know much about the daily politics there.

You can of course know a lot of things about Brazil without knowing the daily bullshit that is politics, but you are unlikely to have much to say about how an election swung this way or that.

Morning

M is for Monday.

Sunday Happy Hour

Get happy

Vote Blue No Matter Who Update

Just trying to keep up on the rules.

Rep. Haley Stevens sidesteps whether she still supports El-Sayed, criticizes outreach to Black voters

...

BASH: I want to get everybody else in. I just want to -- you're still fully behind Abdul El-Sayed?

STEVENS: Look, I'm on the Democratic ticket. I can't say that I agree with everything that's gone on. I wish that first debate had been more about that rubber stamp for Trump, because we have got a lot of chaos in Michigan. I don't want to debate who's the enemy of the United States. It's very clear that Iran is.

I didn't run my campaign on foreign policy issues, but that was litigated in my primary. I'm not looking to be front and center right now. I'm looking to be on the team to support my next governor, Jocelyn Benson, and, frankly, these great Democrats who are working their tails off who are going to make Hakeem Jeffries the first black speaker of the House.

BASH: You didn't mention Abdul El-Sayed in that last answer. STEVENS: Well, look, I would just say, you had asked me if I'm still on the team. I'm on the team.

I know that "do more outreach to black voters," who Stevens now speaks for, is code for other things that she won't be explicit about and have little to do with black voters, and so he can't actually meet that demand, but to normal people who don't speak this particular language, having a big event with Obama would probably seem like a good first step.

There is a third option here, also, just don't go on TV right before the midterms with fellow Islamophobe Dana Bash. Keep quiet.

Sure, Like, Whatever

Larry Kudlow, interviewing Trump, claims that Californians "hate cars"

[image or embed]

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) October 25, 2026 at 2:22 PM

There are places in California that have better transit/walking than people think, but there isn't a spot in that giant state that isn't 100% carbrained.

Fall Fundraising Day 5!!!

Every day is Groundhog Day here at the blog!

Venmo!

Or Paypal!

Or Patreon!

Thanks to all!

It's Groundhog Day, Again

July 6:

WASHINGTON, July 6 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said on ​Monday the United States would either reach a deal ‌with Iran or "finish the job," renewing his threat of military action as Tehran projects defiance following the funeral of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Now:

US President Donald Trump says the US is considering a possible attack on Iran as soon as Sunday, pointing out that Washington might have to “finish the job” or could reach a deal with Tehran.

Morning

Sunday funday

Saturday Evening

enjoy

That'll Fix Things

Never bet against Susan Collins, sadly, as ridiculous as this seems at this late moment.

The Trump administration is lifting some of its 50% tariffs on Canadian goods two weeks before the midterm elections, after a Republican candidate in a key US Senate race said she had lobbied for the change.

From 30 October, tariffs will be eased on products including "plywood sheets, some paper products, certain machinery and refrigeration equipment", the White House said on Friday.

Republican Senator Susan Collins, who is in a tight race to keep her seat in Maine, first announced the exemptions, saying they would help her state's agriculture industry.

Maine voters are suckers for Susan Collins (Republican) pretending to save their state from the policies of Republicans. It's too late for any real impact, but not too late for the Maine media to fluff her.