Screengrab from footage of Trump and Epstein ogling women at a party. The procuress Ghislaine Maxwell is in the background.

He is a foreigner, he is from nowhere, from everywhere, a citizen of the world, cosmopolitan. Do not send him back to his origins.

― Julia Kristeva, Strangers to Ourselves

The function of the Democratic Party is to [fill in the blank]…

After sweeping the elections last week, the Democrats agreed to a deal to end the shutdown that gave them almost nothing and could have been made weeks ago. It’s what they do.

The Democrats weren’t going to “win” the shutdown, but they could’ve drawn blood from Trump and his cadre of cruelty in Congress. In the end, they surrendered and all of the bleeding was on their side, from largely self-inflicted wounds.

Same as it ever was, same as it ever, ever was…

Nancy Pelosi was often awful, but she wasn’t weak or listless, like Jeffries, and she held her caucus in line and usually prevailed in the battles she chose to fight. She intimidated Trump, who rightly feels no fear from the docile tag-team of Jeffries and Schumer.

CNN: Was the shutdown worth it?

HAKEEM JEFFRIES: We have waged a battle on behalf of the American people.

CNN: But you didn’t get what you want [ie, anything].

JEFFRIES: At the end of the day, the fight lives on.

Sen. Tim Kaine on why he thinks just getting a vote on healthcare is a win: “We’re the minority party, but everybody will get to see who is standing for them when it comes to lowering their healthcare costs.” But you didn’t “stand with them”. You folded.

Sen. Dick Durbin: “During the historic roll call last night, I walked across the aisle and met with Senator John Thune, the Republican leader. I told him that I was counting on him to keep his word on this agreement. He assured me he would.” Neville Chamberlain had a stiffer spine…

At the very least, the capitulation of the Senate Democrats has prompted calls within the party to finally oust Chuck Schumer as leader. But don’t expect Sanders to join them, whose mysterious loyalty to the old guard of the party he claims not to be a member of remains iron-clad…

C’mon, Bernie…

Trump on his plan to replace ObamaCare subsidies by just giving people cash to buy their own insurance: Trump: “I want the money to go into an account for people where the people buy their own health insurance. It’s so good. The insurance will be better. It’ll cost less. Everybody is going to be happy. They’re going to feel like entrepreneurs. They will be able to go out and negotiate their own health insurance…Call it Trumpcare.” Someone might want to ask Luigi Mangione about what it’s like “negotiating with insurance companies.”

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, out-of-pocket premiums for ACA insurance policies will more than double if the subsidies aren’t renewed.

Elizabeth Warren: “Under the Big Ugly Bill, Alphabet gets $17.9B in tax breaks. That could pay for SNAP benefits for 7.5 million Americans. Amazon gets $15.7B. That could lower ACA premiums for 2.4 million people. Microsoft gets $12.5B. That could cover Medicaid for 3.8 million children.”

Basic SNAP Facts…

– Nearly 60% of Americans enrolled in SNAP are either children under 18 or adults who are 60 or older.

– About 1 in 5 non-elderly adults with SNAP benefits have a disability.

– Less than 10% of all the people receiving SNAP benefits are able-bodied adults without children who are between the ages of 19 and 49.

– Around 55% of all families with children that receive SNAP benefits include at least one employed adult.

– About 35% of the Americans who get benefits through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program are white, around 26% are Black and 16% are Hispanic.

– Undocumented immigrants are not eligible for SNAP. Only 4.4% of SNAP recipients in the 2023 fiscal year were immigrants who were not citizens but were legally present in the U.S., such as refugees. (Trump budget ended SNAP for all immigrants, regardless of status.)

The 43-day shutdown may have cost 60,000 private sector jobs.

Rep. Jim McGovern on the perks embedded in the Reopen the Government Bill:

This is a massive payday for Republicans. It would allow eight of their senators to shovel millions, millions of dollars into their own wallets. I’m talking cash money. Not for their states, not for their constituents, no, no, for their own personal bank accounts… It is wrong and it’s probably the most brazen theft and plunder of public resources ever proposed in the United States.

The Trump administration is trying to fire Ellen Mei, a program specialist at the Food and Nutrition Service, who warned that the shutdown could have negative impacts on the........

© CounterPunch