The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly

 

The good:

... Democrats lead Republicans in the fight for Congress by 8 points, 50%-42%, the largest lead for either party on the congressional ballot in the NBC News poll since the 2018 midterms. Democrats had a negligible 1-point edge, 48%-47%, in the March survey.

“We will learn a lot in just a few days’ time in New Jersey and Virginia, among other elections, and what impact these results may have on the government shutdown,” said Democratic pollster Jeff Horwitt of Hart Research Associates, who conducted the poll along with the Republican pollster Bill McInturff of Public Opinion Strategies.  [snip]

Voters, particularly Democrats, are also fired up about the next election. Asked to rate their interest in the 2026 elections on a 10-point scale, 66% of voters responded “9” or “10” — higher interest one year out than voters registered in the weeks preceding four of the five recent midterm elections.

For Democrats, 74% rate their interest at “9” or “10,” while 67% of Republicans and 50% of independents say the same. That 7-point enthusiasm edge in the survey is on par with the 9-point enthusiasm edge Democrats enjoyed in the 2018 midterms... (our emphasis)

The only poll that counts is on Election Day.   Election Day is tomorrow in New Jersey, Virginia, New York City, California (redistricting ballot measure), and many other places.

The bad:

People across the country formed long lines for free meals and groceries at food pantries and drive-through giveaways Saturday, after monthly benefits through the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, were suddenly cut off because of the ongoing government shutdown.

In the New York borough of the Bronx, about 200 more people than usual showed up at the World of Life Christian Fellowship International pantry, many bundled in winter hats and coats and pushing collapsible shopping carts as they waited in a line that spanned multiple city blocks. Some arrived as early as 4 a.m. to choose from pallets of fruits, vegetables, bread, milk, juice, dry goods and prepared sandwiches.

Mary Martin, who volunteers at the pantry, also relies on it regularly for food to supplement her SNAP payments. She said she usually splits her roughly $200 a month in SNAP benefits between herself and her two adult sons, one of whom has six children and is especially dependent on the assistance.

“If I didn’t have the pantry to come to, I don’t know how we would make it,” Martin said.

“I’m not gonna see my grandkids suffer.”

The Department of Agriculture planned to withhold payments to the food program starting Saturday until two federal judges ordered the administration to make them. However it was unclear as to when the debit cards that beneficiaries use could be reloaded after the ruling, sparking fear and confusion among many recipients. 

In an apparent response to President Donald Trump, who said he would provide the money but wanted more legal direction from the court, U.S. District Judge John J. McConnell in Rhode Island ordered the government to report back by Monday on how it would fund SNAP accounts...

The Malignant Fascist and his rotted out party have seen their extortion attempt -- using ostensibly "Democrat" SNAP recipients as hostages in the shutdown standoff -- blow up in their faces once they discovered tens of millions of their own voters used SNAP.   The juxtaposition of families with children going hungry while the MF and his billionaire buds partied at Mar-a-Lardo while the East Wing of the White House was being demolished to make way for the Epstein Memorial Golden Ballroom was also judged to be a bad look.

The ugly:

A top FBI official with 27 years standing has reportedly been fired by the bureau after its director, Kash Patel, became enraged by press stories revealing he had used a government jet to travel to see his girlfriend sing the national anthem at a wrestling match.

Steven Palmer, who had worked at the bureau since 1998, was fired as head of the FBI’s critical incident response group which is responsible for handling major security threats as well as overseeing the agency’s fleet of jets. He was the third head of the unit to be dismissed since Patel became the second Trump administration’s FBI director in February.

Bloomberg Law, which broke the story, said that three unnamed sources had expressed astonishment at the sacking given that Patel’s flight schedules were fully public and trackable on websites. A day after her performance, Patel himself had reposted photos showing him together with his girlfriend, country singer Alexis Wilkins, on his X account.

According to Bloomberg, Patel had become furious over stories published after the event about his use of the FBI jet to go on the date with Wilkins. Soon after, Palmer had been told he could resign instantly or be fired.

The dismissal was made official on Friday.

Flight logs publicly trackable on Flight Aware for Patel’s plane, N708JH, show that the jet landed at an airport near Penn State on 25 October. That evening Wilkins performed at a Real American Freestyle wrestling event, and the flight logs show Patel’s FBI plane later flying to Nashville.  [snip]

Palmer’s dismissal makes him the third head of the FBI critical incident response group to be ditched under Patel. Wes Wheeler was fired in March, and Brian Driscoll in August.

Driscoll is now suing the Trump administration for unfair dismissal claiming he was targeted for showing lack of loyalty to the president.

Patel’s travel on a government jet for a date night was first spotted by Kyle Seraphin, a former FBI agent who has become a thorn in the side of the Trump administration. His podcast is caustically critical of the current leadership of the FBI.

“We’re in the middle of government shutdown … and this guy is jetting off to hang out with his girlfriend in Nashville on our dime?” Seraphin said in a recent podcast...

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) said it best when Kash "No Credit" Patel was nominated for this position for which he is completely, ludicrously unqualified:

“Kash Patel’s unrepentant enthusiasm for violent J6 insurrectionists, his cartoon comic books about how ‘Hillary Queenton’ ‘spread lies’ to stop King Donald from becoming our King, and his comically evasive and petulant answers to Members of the Senate refusing to acknowledge plain facts about his own statements, now tell us everything we need to know. This political operative’s wavering commitment to the rule of law and spectacular disrespect for the truth disqualify him as a candidate to lead the nation’s premiere law enforcement organization. He is a dangerous and cartoonish choice for the job.

“Trump nominated Patel to serve as FBI Director only for his unflinching subservience and sycophancy. He knew Patel would carry out his agenda of unhinged retribution and vengeance without regard to the rule of law and the Constitution..."  (our emphasis)

"Cartoonish."  He's that, but we don't think any of the professionals at the FBI are laughing.