In the last few days leading up to the mid-term elections, Dem Senate candidates have been releasing some effective ads. Here are three:
Travel and food vlogger Mei takes a break from her travels in Japan to visit Taiwan. In this episode, she explores Taiwan's oldest city, Tainan, and the city's temples,
Sicao Green Tunnel and wetlands, the Anping Tree House, restaurants and lots of food stops, markets, flowering gardens, the retro charm of Shennong Street and its shops and alleys, and more. Please watch full screen and have a nice Saturday morning getaway.
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(Nick Anderson, The Contrarian)
(Rick McKee, caglecartoons.com; context here)
(Ruben Bolling, gocomics.com)
(Bruce Plante, caglecartoons.com)
(Rob Rogers, Tinyview.com)
(Bill Day, caglecartoons.com)
(Pat Bagley, The Salt Lake Tribune; context here)
(Clay Bennett, Chattanooga Times free Press)
(Drew Sheneman, Tribune Content Agency)
(Paul Duginski, caglecartoons.com)
(Joe Heller, hellertoon.com)
(Niall Maher, The New Yorker)
In an analysis posted on MSNOW.com, Eric Garcia, author and senior correspondent for The Independent writes about the narcissistic felon's grip on his party and how it's hollowed the party out in several states:
"Earlier this week, during a rally in Greenville, North Carolina, President Donald Trump admitted that Democrat Roy Cooper is “going to become your senator and it’s crazy.”
It was especially embarrassing for Cooper’s Republican opponent. As chair of the North Carolina GOP, Michael Whatley ingratiated himself with Trump to such an extent that Trump made him chair of the Republican National Committee. [snip]
Just down the Atlantic coast, Georgia Republicans are also reeling in their Senate contest. Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., is running away with the race against Rep. Mike Collins, an ultra-MAGA conservative who has come under fire for his ties to his white nationalist influencer son-in-law.
The two Senate contests, though, are just portents of much bigger problems facing North Carolina and Georgia Republicans — two state parties hollowed out in the age of Trump. [snip]
While Trump, over the past decade, has displayed a remarkable ability to survive and win elections, his acolytes in these former GOP strongholds are losing down the ballot. These two phenomena are connected: Trump has turned the Republican Party that cares about electing like-minded individuals into a party meant to support him, and him alone. In doing so, it has lost its ability to save itself." (our emphasis)
Garcia also notes the comparable situation in formerly red Arizona, which is set to flip three MAGA Republican seats and retain their Dem Governor. The more he meddles in local politics, the more voters turn to Dems, so that's a good thing.
(photo: Trump focused on a male ass, as he dances to "YMCA")
The Epstein-Trump files coverup / crooked Blanche elides 38,000+ Trump mentions --
BULLSHIT
— Katie Phang (@katiephang.bsky.social) October 21, 2026 at 5:39 PM
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Operation Epic Quagmire / oil price surges again on prospect of new U.S. - Israel attacks --
Brent crude oil tops $116, a six-month high, with WTI topping $102, as tensions swell in the Middle East www.cnbc.com/2026/10/23/o...
— mapocoloco.bsky.social (@mapocoloco.bsky.social) October 23, 2026 at 9:54 AM
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Trump says 12-yr-old girl is "fair game"/ Smarmy Ramaswamy's corporate backers / ad backfires --
Trump says 12 year old girl is fair game is definitely the winning home stretch message.
— Schooley (@schooley.bsky.social) October 22, 2026 at 4:53 PM
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Ramaswamy has produced an attack ad weaponizing the rape of his opponent, Amy Acton, when she was 12 years old. It features Acton’s mother, who abandoned Acton after she was raped by her step-father, fleeing the state with her husband. Here is the corporate money helping fund that ad.
— Judd Legum (@juddlegum.bsky.social) October 22, 2026 at 8:37 AM
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Trump and JD Vance decided backing the vile Ramaswamy ad would galvanize MAGA voters, but it instantly backfired as many GOP officials condemned the spot. Now it could help cost them both races in Ohio. Oops! On the pod, @jimswift.bsky.social explains this so well: newrepublic.com/article/2169...
— Greg Sargent (@gregsargent.bsky.social) October 23, 2026 at 7:44 AM
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Liars Trump and Musk playing with Ukrainian lives, allies notice --
The Starlink system used by Ukraine’s military was suffering from low speeds limits early on Friday, despite President Trump saying that SpaceX Chief Executive Elon Musk had restored the service.
— The Wall Street Journal (@wsj.com) October 23, 2026 at 7:43 AM
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America's NATO allies come to the grim realization that if Trump/Musk can do this to Ukraine they can do it to the UK, Germany or France, too. Which means StarLink is not a reliable service provider; indeed it's a national security risk. www.independent.co.uk/news/world/e...
— Scott Horton (@robertscotthorton.bsky.social) October 23, 2026 at 9:22 AM
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Texas (and America) is not for sale, you ketamine- addicted South Afrikaner fascist --
NEW AD: Have you seen these anti-Talarico attack ads? Elon Musk paid for nearly all of them. The world's first trillionaire knows if he drags the most corrupt politician in Texas across the finish line, Ken Paxton will owe him everything. Elon Musk: Texas is not for sale.
— Team Talarico (@teamtalaricohq.bsky.social) October 22, 2026 at 2:44 PM
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Trump Crime Family: Prince of Thieves Jared Kushner's corruption --
The US government is literally for sale to the highest bidder.
— Maria Drutska (@mariadrutska.bsky.social) October 22, 2026 at 11:39 PM
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Give Melon the Nobel (Pulitzer?) Peace Prize and watch Trump's reaction 😆 --
Guy has been certifiably On One lately. Some real foreign policy chops as a dark wizard / talent agent
— Jake Lahut (@jakelahut.bsky.social) October 23, 2026 at 9:49 AM
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DUI hire Whiskey Pete Hicseth Hegseth's impeachable stewardship --
Man, Hegseth's Department of War is even more buffoonish than everything else. Kinda amazed how the US military didn't just have some basic war plans they could activate. Their lack of preparedness is astonishing. meidasnews.com/news/so-much...
— Laleh Khalili (@lalehkhalili.bsky.social) October 23, 2026 at 5:23 AM
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A MAGA dating site (Happy Friday!) --
Donald Trump announces MAGA dating site youtu.be/hUWA2CcYTgg?...
— J-L Cauvin (@jlcauvin.bsky.social) October 20, 2026 at 2:07 PM
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Today we're featuring "Who You Callin' Crazy," the newest release and a bonus track from The Rolling Stones' latest album, "Foreign Tongues, Loose Lips" edition. Still rocking solid in their seventh decade as a group.
Corey Lewandowski, the former "advisor" and rumored lover of disgraced Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, is under investigation by the "Justice" Department for alleged misconduct regarding DHS' contracting. From The Guardian::
"Corey Lewandowski, a former political adviser to Donald Trump and top aide at the Department of Homeland Security, is under criminal investigation over allegations he profited off his role in the US government, three US officials and a fourth person familiar with the matter told Reuters on Thursday.
The investigation began with a criminal referral to the justice department from the internal watchdog at DHS, according to the four people. The DHS inspector general’s office has been investigating Lewandowski’s involvement in the handling of certain government contracts, according to one of the people, a DHS official. [snip]
Lewandowski served as a top aide to the former homeland security secretary Kristi Noem during her tenure leading DHS. Trump fired Noem in March after months of controversy, including the fatal shootings of two US citizens by federal officers in Minneapolis and lawmakers’ questions over a $220m advertising contract promoting Noem that was awarded without a standard bidding process.
Lewandowski had signed some DHS contracts despite having questionable legal authority as a special government employee, according to the DHS official. Certain grants and contracts, including those involving the Federal Emergency Management Agency, were put on hold at Lewandowski’s direction, according to two of the people, both of whom are DHS officials."(our emphasis)
Lewandowski is alleged to have shaken down contractors for a kickback arrangement through a company owned by a Noem contributor. Noem is likely up to her neck in the allegations, too, as the couple was inseparable throughout her term in office. Stay tuned as the Trump Mafia story continues.
(photo: Birds of a feather [sleep together?] )
What else should anyone expect from a person mentioned over 38,000 times in the Epstein pedo files, who is a convicted sexual abuser, adulterer, and complete moral and ethical cipher, when commenting on Ramaswamy's scurrilous attack ad:
If that wasn't enough, he sicced his Super PAC on the family of Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre, calling them liars just as he called Amy Acton a liar (and Stormy Daniels, and E. Jean Carroll, and the 28 women who've accused him of sexual misconduct, etc.). Some might call that a pattern of behavior.
Now he has the teeny tiny brass balls to call even more victims "liars." That would get him a Nobel Pultizer Prize for Irony if they had one (don't tell the moron MF they don't). How sick a country have we become to tolerate this evil shitstain in the highest office in the land, and the most powerful in the world? And how sick does a political party have to be to follow and exalt this garbage person under any and all circumstances?
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(Clay Jones, claytoonz.substack.com)
(Jeff Stahler, gocomics.com)
(John Deering, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)
(John Darkow, Columbia Missourian)
(Arcadio Esquivel, caglecartoons.com, Costa Rica)
(Michael de Adder, caglecartoons.com, Canada)
(Drew Sheneman, Tribune Content Agency)
(Joe Heller, hellertoon.com)
(Steve Nease, caglecartoons.com, Canada)
(Bill Day, caglecartoons.com)
(Clay Bennett, Chattanooga Times Free Press)
(Marian Kamensky, caglecartoons.com, Austria)
Operation Epic Quagmire: oil futures up, more war ahead --
BRENT CRUDE FUTURES RISE BY MORE THAN 3% TO $112.55 PER BARREL, REACHING HIGHEST LEVEL SINCE MAY.
— FinTwitter (@fintwitter.bsky.social) October 22, 2026 at 6:16 AM
Twelve days from the midterms, Trump can't escape the unpopular Iran war, which continues to dominate news coverage. Yesterday the NY Times reported the U.S. and Israeli militaries have drawn up specific plans for renewed strikes on Iran after Election Day.
— Jon Cooper (@joncooper-us.bsky.social) October 22, 2026 at 9:40 AM
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Trump's bottomless corruption --
It's really not normal for a sitting president to pursue over a dozen new foreign developments while he's serving in office. Trump is truly unabashed when it comes to profiting from the presidency.
— CREW (@citizensforethics.org) October 22, 2026 at 9:24 AM
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Sen. Jon Ossoff: “Public money is going to the first family’s financial interests, and they want the rest of us to fend for ourselves if a hurricane hits.”
— The Bulwark (@thebulwark.com) October 22, 2026 at 9:21 AM
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... and his bottomless dementia --
The Pulitzer Peace Prize everyone. bsky.app/profile/meid...
— Ron Filipkowski (@ronfilipkowski.bsky.social) October 21, 2026 at 8:24 PM
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Corrupt MF personal lawyer AG Blanche saying the quiet part out loud--
🚨🚨🚨 Q: Is there any scenario in which DOJ would try to block states from certifying the election? AG TODD BLANCHE: Yes, of course. It is not DOJ's intention to improperly interfere with elections or the state certification process, but ...
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) October 22, 2026 at 11:53 AM
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Steve "Witless" Witkoff's ass kissing of "humanitarian" Putin gets rude awakening --
As Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff praised Putin as a "humanitarian," Russia unleashed a barrage of more than 20 ballistic missiles on Kyiv overnight that killed two people and injured more than 30, Ukrainian authorities said. www.ft.com/content/9f0c...
— Scott Horton (@robertscotthorton.bsky.social) October 22, 2026 at 6:13 AM
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Ramaslimey actually poll-tested his pedo- enabling ad against Amy Acton.... --
Genuinely wonder what Ramaswamy's campaign guys saw in their poll tests that made them think this would work.
— Eric Michael Garcia (@ericmgarcia.bsky.social) October 22, 2026 at 9:24 AM
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....And Amy Acton focuses on issues effecting Ohioans in contrast --
Wow! Amy Acton’s new ad is shocking. She’s talking about the issues Ohioans are concerned about and not trashing her opponent. To be fair, she doesn’t need to. Vivek already trashed himself.
— Christopher Webb (@cwebbonline.com) October 22, 2026 at 9:10 AM
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Netanyahu's "ethnic cleansing" of Gaza. Despicable --
Ethnic cleansing in broad daylight
— The Tennessee Holler (@thetnholler.bsky.social) October 22, 2026 at 8:25 AM
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Zuck's plan to weasel out of paying higher taxes in CA --
Will never understand people who have more money than they could spend in 1,000 lifetimes being like "no, I need enough for 1,001 lifetimes."
— scarylawyerguy.bsky.social (@scarylawyerguy.bsky.social) October 22, 2026 at 9:06 AM
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Cincinnati Bengals diss the horrible, pedo-protecting JD Vance --
JD Vance greeting Bengals players and most are ignoring him lol
— Razzball (@razzball.bsky.social) October 21, 2026 at 5:11 PM
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A compilation of "Assman - in - Chief" Malignant Fascist's obsession with men's bodies --
‘Assman-in-Chief’: Anderson Cooper Plays Montage of Trump Marveling at Men’s Bodies
— Mediaite (@mediaite.com) October 21, 2026 at 10:07 PM
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Speaking of which.... --
BREAKING: After publicly obsessing over how "round and muscular" GOP Senator Jon Husted's ass is, during his past three rallies, Donald Trump invites the world famous Chippendale dancers to the White House for a private meet-n-greet. #DonaldTrump #JonHusted
— Paulley Ticks (@tomadelsbach.bsky.social) October 21, 2026 at 6:19 PM
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"In modern warfare, where communication and real-time information are as important as rockets and artillery, Starlink is as central to national security as Lockheed Martin. Decisions about which countries have full access to Starlink’s capacity are as much a matter of foreign policy and national security as decisions about which countries will be allowed to buy and operate U.S. high-tech weapons.
Such decisions cannot, must not, be left up to private individuals. This would be true even if these individuals were patriots who supported democracy and American values. They definitely shouldn’t be left in the hands of this guy.
Musk will surely, and rightly, be the focus of many investigations if Democrats win the midterms. But don’t expect this to chasten him: His response to the prospect has been to make menacing threats.
Which reinforces the point that control of Starlink must, one way or another, be taken away from Elon Musk. It’s a matter of national security: we cannot let private individuals make foreign and defense policy, and it would be totally irresponsible to leave a crucial military asset in the hands of a racist, authoritarian conspiracy theorist." (our emphasis)
We would go beyond that and find a way of cutting off Musk's access to Government contracts as he poses a national security risk through his support of our foreign adversaries. SpaceX is overdue for competition, and NASA should be in control of our space efforts and of the hardware to accomplish it, not a megalomaniac zillionaire. Not, as Krugman puts it, in the hands of "this guy."
(photo: What you see is what you get)
Can this vile, rotted- out candidacy be saved? We think not (along with many Republicans). This is the political version of a cigar exploding in the face:
The fierce and bipartisan backlash to gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy's decision to feature his opponent's estranged mother in an ad left Republicans in Ohio and Washington reeling on Wednesday, as both Ramaswamy and Vice President J.D. Vance doubled down on the divisive strategy.
Publicly, Republicans were mounting a defense, led by Vance, who is from Ohio and was campaigning in Cincinnati on Wednesday, treating the ad as a gamechanging October surprise. But privately, old-guard Republicans were baffled that Ramaswamy would dare to deploy Democratic nominee Amy Acton’s own mother, who has not spoken to her daughter since 1978 when she defended Acton’s stepfather who was indicted for raping Acton as a child. Some predicted the ad was likely to draw more empathy and interest in Acton from voters, and turn them away from Ramaswamy.
“We’ve lost the plot,” says one Republican strategist. “We had a real good chance and then we do this two weeks out.”
Adds a second: “We now deserve to lose this race.”
The addition of this ad so close to Election Day roiled races in Ohio up and down the ballot. “I would not have run that ad,” Republican Sen. Jon Husted, running in a tight and expensive race for re-election against Sherrod Brown in Ohio, told The Associated Press on Wednesday. Other players in the state's Republican circles say the ad has all the pieces of a misfire, especially among women.
Recent polls have shown Acton leading but not running away with the race. A Marist University poll released this week showed her up seven points. But Ohio is a state where President Donald Trump won three times, never with fewer than eight points to spare. If elected, Acton would be the first Democrat to become Governor since 2007.
Ramaswamy’s campaign said it was putting $4 million into making sure the ad gets seen, with a goal of targeting persuadable voters still undecided between the billionaire entrepreneur and Acton, the former state health chief who steered Ohio through the pandemic. But the risk of it backfiring is incredibly high with no time to recover.
Ramaswamy’s campaign includes several operatives who previously worked for Vance, who sidestepped questions about the ad’s message on Wednesday as he urged Republicans to not allow such hard-nosed messaging to distract them from the stakes of the election. “I’m a little bit disgusted when I see Republicans across the country who are whining more about that advertisement than they are about what the congressional Democrats and other Democrats want to do to the United States of America,” he told reporters. “So I would say to Ohio Republicans: do you actually think that Amy Acton is unfit to serve as Governor of the state of Ohio? I do.”
By Wednesday afternoon, it was clear Vance might be in a decided minority. “I don’t have to agree with Amy Acton’s politics to believe that exploiting someone’s childhood trauma is wrong,” wrote Republican Lydia Mihalik, a member of Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine’s Cabinet.
Mike Murphy, a strategist who was in Sen. John McCain’s inner circle when he ran for President in 2000 and headed Gov. Jeb Bush’s super PAC in 2016, wrote a brutal assessment on social media, saying it “is looking more and more like political suicide.”
And former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who ran against Ramaswamy in the 2020 presidential primaries and was a frequent critic of him, was even more direct. “He’s a bad guy,” she said. “It’s a shame he continues to get away with it.”
In an editorial endorsement of Acton published Wednesday, The Columbus Dispatch roundly condemned the video: “It should go without saying that sexual violence against children should not be politicized or taken as lightly as Ramaswamy appears to take it.”... (our emphasis)
Vance's deflection speaks to the magnitude of the "political suicide" committed by this vulture capitalist Republican MAGAt in a state won by the MF three times. What a time to bring up the issue of child rape and pedophelia two weeks out from an election that's not going your way to begin with! It's not surprising that the Vice President of the person convicted of sexual abuse and whose name appears in the Epstein files more than 38,000 times would try to deflect attention away from the degenerate "Ramasmarmy" ad. Beyond the dishonest and smarmy content of the ad, it serves a reminder that it's this Republican MF regime that's keeping the Epstein files under wraps to protect the Pedo-in-Chief and his Epstein class oligarch cronies. Thanks for the reminder, "Ramasmarmy" and Vance!
It's not too late to support Amy Acton for Governor of Ohio!
BONUS: Scott Lemieux reminds us --
The Ohio Republican Party’s roster of elected officials includes an unrepentant domestic abuser and someone who was the accessory during and after the fact of a serial rapist, so Ramaswamy is just trying to prove that he would belong if the state’s voters shoot another brick.
Seth Meyers takes "A Closer Look" at the desperate Malignant Fascist "ranting and raving" (the MF's words) in deep red states, blame-shifting for high gas prices by deeply unpopular JD Vance, the treasonous diesel deal with war criminal Putin, and the MF's bizarre obsession with a man's ass.
(click on images to enlarge)
(Rob Rogers, Tinyview.com)
(Nick Anderson, The Contrarian)
(Garth German, garthtoons.com; context here)
(Pat Bagley, The Salt Lake Tribune)
(Mike Konopacki, The Capital Times, Madison, WI; context here)
(Mike Luckovich, Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
(John Deering, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)
(Gary Markstein, Creators.com)
(Steve Sack, stevesack.substack.com)
(Monte Wolverton, caglecartoons.com)
(Christian Adams, The Telegraph, UK)
(Peter Steiner, @plsteiner -- republished from March 2017)
Multi-genre Lake Street Dive has an album coming up in February 2027, "What About Flamingos?", Here's the title cut from that album, sung by lead singer Rachael Price. Enjoy.
