Donald Trump continues to demonstrate his history making incompetence and inability to lead by breaking his own record for longest government shutdown in American history.

https://www.axios.com/2025/11/05/government-shutdown-length-days-record-trump

The government shutdown has officially entered its 36th day, becoming the longest federal funding lapse in U.S. history—surpassing the 35-day shutdown that took place during President Donald Trump’s first term in office.

Millions are feeling the impacts: SNAP benefits used by roughly 42 million Americans will only be partially funded for November. Beyond the recipients themselves, even a short lapse in benefits could slow consumer spending—the Department of Agriculture estimates that every $1 in SNAP benefits generates $1.50 in economic activity.

Meanwhile, the usual holiday travel anxiety looms even larger this year. Nearly half of all major air traffic control facilities are facing staffing shortages, according to the FAA, while a shortage of TSA agents has led to increased security wait times at major airports. On Tuesday, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned that U.S. air travel would see “mass chaos” if the government shutdown goes on another week.

The economic impacts of this record shutdown have only deepened the longer it has dragged on—especially for small businesses. For each business day the government is closed, small businesses nationwide are unable to access $170 million in SBA-backed commercial loans, according to Forbes Research. Meanwhile, applications for new loans aren’t being approved, putting applicants’ plans on hold.

Nonprofit organizations are also feeling the crunch. Housing programs, hunger-relief networks, medical research grants and other institutions that depend on federal partnerships face uncertain futures until the government reopens, writes contributor Alexander Puutio.

https://apnews.com/article/dick-cheney-dies-079591b529f048489650e7569bc675d2

Dick Cheney, one of the most powerful and polarizing vice presidents in US history, dies at 84

Dick Cheney, the hard-charging conservative who became one of the most powerful and polarizing vice presidents in U.S. history and a leading advocate for the invasion of Iraq, has died at age 84.

Cheney died Monday night due to complications of pneumonia and cardiac and vascular disease, his family said in a statement.

“For decades, Dick Cheney served our nation, including as White House Chief of Staff, Wyoming’s Congressman, Secretary of Defense, and Vice President of the United States,” the statement said. “Dick Cheney was a great and good man who taught his children and grandchildren to love our country, and to live lives of courage, honor, love, kindness, and fly fishing. We are grateful beyond measure for all Dick Cheney did for our country. And we are blessed beyond measure to have loved and been loved by this noble giant of a man.”

https://www.fox10phoenix.com/news/halloween-t-shirt-controversy-arizona-school-district-teachers-accused-mocking-charlie-kirks-death

On November 3, AEA President Marisol Garcia released the following statement in response to death threats against educators in the Vail School District:

"Over the weekend, bad-faith actors mobilized an online mob against educators in the Vail School District. We are horrified by the barrage of death threats that followed, and we urge law enforcement to fully investigate all threats and protect the Vail community.

Vail educators deserve privacy and grace during this time. All of us lose when our classrooms become the site of political fights."

On Nov. 2, "The Charlie Kirk Show" podcast host, Blake Neff, posted on X.com about how he had "..chosen to delete my posts/RTs yesterday about the math teachers with the blood soaked shirts."

>The visual of the shirts was so incredibly evocative of recent events that I found it totally implausible they didn’t know what they were doing, but especially with evidence they’ve worn them before I realize that is at best a very unprovable assertion about people’s inner mental state. And of course, as someone extremely close to those events I must recognize I’m far more primed to see references to them than others are.

The White House slammed the Nobel committee on Friday for playing “politics” with its prestigious peace prize after President Donald Trump lobbied heavily for the honor — only to see it awarded to Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado. The committee said it was honoring her “for her tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela and for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy.” Her victory came as the Trump administration has repeatedly targeted vessels off Venezuela’s coast, claiming they were “drug ships,” escalating its campaign against Venezuela’s drug cartels.

The White House was bitter in its response to Friday’s award announcement. President Trump “has the heart of a humanitarian, and there will never be anyone like him who can move mountains with the sheer force of his will,” communications director Steven Cheung said in a post on social media. “The Nobel Committee proved they place politics over peace,” he added. Trump campaigned heavily for the prize, repeatedly boasting he had ended “seven wars” and reposting tributes on social media. But he tried to downplay expectations on Thursday, telling reporters in the Oval Office: “They’ll have to do what they do. Whatever they do is fine. I know this: I didn’t do it for that. I did it because I saved a lot of lives.” When asked about the pressure from Trump’s allies to give the president the award, Nobel Committee chair Jørgen Watne Frydnes told reporters on Friday: “We receive thousands and thousands of letters every year of people wanting to say what for them leads to peace.” He added that the award is based on “courage and integrity, so we base only our decision on the work and the will of Alfred Nobel.”

>https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/article312451909.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/29/us/politics/prosecutors-jan-6-trump.html

Two federal prosecutors in Washington were informed on Wednesday that they would be placed on leave after requesting a stiff sentence for a man granted clemency after participating in the Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021, who later turned up armed near the house of former President Barack Obama.

It was the latest act of retribution by the Trump administration against prosecutors in the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington who worked on cases related to Jan. 6, a campaign that has also included dismissals and demotions. The moves were earlier reported by ABC News.

The prosecutors, Carlos Valdivia and Samuel White, asked a federal judge on Tuesday to sentence the man granted clemency, Taylor Taranto, to 27 months in prison after he was found guilty at a bench trial of showing up near Mr. Obama’s house in Washington with two firearms and ammunition in June 2023.

In their sentencing papers, Mr. Valdivia and Mr. White wrote that Mr. Taranto had been among the “mob of rioters” on Jan. 6 and that he had promoted conspiracy theories concerning the attack. Mr. Taranto was charged with trespassing and disorderly conduct for his role in the Capitol attack, but those charges were dismissed as part of the blanket clemency that President Trump granted to all of the nearly 1,600 people accused of taking part in the riot.

In an extraordinary move, the Justice Department withdrew the sentencing papers on Wednesday afternoon, noting in a federal court database that they had been “entered in error.” Hours later, new sentencing papers were submitted that kept the same recommendation for a 27-month sentence but expunged all references to Jan. 6. The edited papers were filed by two new prosecutors appearing in the case, including Jonathan Hornok, the chief of the criminal division of the U.S. attorney’s office.

Lets see:
Get rid of anti-Fentanyl tariffs in exchange for useless promises: check
Give up restrictions on China buying cutting edge tech for more useless promises to buy soybeans: check
Can't wait for the next round of him giving up things for nothing and fucking over more Americans.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/31/china/xi-trump-us-china-deal-analysis-intl-hnk

As the dust begins to clear around a less-than-two hour meeting between Chinese leader Xi Jinping and President Donald Trump at an airbase in South Korea on Thursday, it’s clear that China’s leaders have stacked up another win for their hardball strategy with the United States.

The meeting did not secure a broad trade deal, but rather a return to an uneasy truce built on a handful of agreements meant to keep the relationship steady as the two sides move toward one.

Xi walked away with a 10% reduction in 30% tariffs newly imposed by Trump on Chinese goods this year – in exchange for ramping up efforts to control its role in the US fentanyl crisis. He also secured US agreement to put on hold a new rule that would have vastly expanded the number of Chinese companies blacklisted from buying sensitive American tech.

Trump averted Beijing imposing an expanded set of restrictions that could have hamstrung global industries reliant on China’s rare earths minerals. China will also ramp up purchases of US soybeans and other agricultural products, US officials said. Both sides also paused port fees targeting each other’s shipping sectors and will extend a truce on more elevated tariffs.

On paper, it looks like a reasonable exchange – and one that delivers, at least for now, what both leaders (and the wider global economy) wanted: stability after a tumultuous year of sparring between the world’s economic heavyweights.

Donald Trump takes a break from crying about not getting a Nobel prize for a ceasefire that lasted less than three weeks and bombing Venezuelan fishing boats to plan a land war against Mexico.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/trump-administration-planning-new-mission-mexico-cartels-current-forme-rcna241167

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has begun detailed planning for a new mission to send American troops and intelligence officers into Mexico to target drug cartels, according to two U.S. officials and two former senior U.S. officials familiar with the effort.

The early stages of training for the potential mission, which would include ground operations inside Mexico, has already begun, the two current U.S. officials said. But a deployment to Mexico is not imminent, the two U.S. officials and one of the former U.S. officials said. Discussions about the scope of the mission are ongoing, and a final decision has not been made, the two current U.S. officials said.

The U.S. troops, many of whom would be from Joint Special Operations Command, would operate under the authority of the U.S. intelligence community, known as Title 50 status, the two current officials said. They said officers from the CIA also would participate.

A U.S. mission using American forces to hit drug cartel targets inside Mexico would open a new front in President Donald Trump’s military campaign against drug cartels in the Western Hemisphere. So far, the administration has focused on Venezuela and conducting strikes on alleged drug-carrying boats.

The mission currently being planned for would be a break with past U.S. administrations, which have quietly deployed CIA, military and law enforcement teams to Mexico to support local police and army units fighting cartels but not to take direct action against them.

President Trump, in a statement sure to send the right wing shills of /news/ scrambling for new talking points, acknowledges Republicans not only have the power to end the shutdown right now using the "nuclear option", but should use it

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-urges-gop-end-shutdown-going-nuclear-senate-filibuster

President Donald Trump on Thursday urged Republicans to end the filibuster in order to end the monthlong government shutdown.

In a late-night Truth Social post, Trump noted that Democrats had tried to eliminate the Senate procedure when they had control of both chambers of Congress and the White House during the Biden administration, but then-Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema — both of whom have since left the Democratic Party to become independents — helped block the effort.

Trump revived talk of the "nuclear option," after returning from his Asia trip this week.

"The one question that kept coming up, however, was how did the Democrats SHUT DOWN the United States of America, and why did the powerful Republicans allow them to do it?" Trump wrote. "The fact is, in flying back, I thought a great deal about that question, WHY?"

The president praised Senate Majority Leader John Thune and House Speaker Mike Johnson for "doing a GREAT job," but blasted Democrats as "crazed lunatics" suffering from "Trump Derangement Syndrome."

"They want Trillions of Dollars to be taken from our Healthcare System and given to others, who are not deserving — People who have come into our Country illegally, many from prisons and mental institutions," Trump wrote. "This will hurt American citizens, and Republicans will not let it happen."

Republicans and Democrats remain at an impasse over how to end the shutdown, now in its fourth week, with both sides trading blame for the stalemate.

https://www.theverge.com/policy/806425/ice-social-media-surveillance-free-speech-assault

As Immigration and Customs Enforcement carries out raids across the country, the agency is working rapidly to expand an online surveillance system that could potentially track millions of users on the web. Federal records uncovered by The Lever reveal that ICE is paying $5.7 million to use an AI-powered social media monitoring platform called Zignal Labs, something Will Owen, the communications director at the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (STOP), calls an “assault” on democracy and free speech.

The “real-time intelligence” platform is capable of ingesting and analyzing vast amounts of publicly available data, like social media posts, according to its website. In a pamphlet shared by The Lever, Zignal Labs says it uses machine learning, computer vision, and optical character recognition to analyze more than 8 billion posts per day in over 100 languages. This allows it to process and sort data into “curated detection feeds” that ICE could use to flag individuals for deportation.

The pamphlet highlights Zignal’s ability to capture geolocated images and videos while providing alerts and information to “operators.” One example states that Zignal Labs used its technology to analyze a Telegram video showing “the precise location of an ongoing operation in Gaza.” The company says its tool identified emblems and patches to “confirm the operators involved,” allowing it to notify operators on the ground. That means ICE could potentially trace someone’s location based on the location attached to a video posted on TikTok, or even a picture on Facebook.