Open Thread | We Are On The Verge Of History In Mississippi

Posted on November 11, 2026 by rikyrah

UPDATE:


Mississippi Free Press

@mississippifreepress.org

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CNN is projecting that Scott Colom will defeat Cindy Hyde-Smith and become the next U.S. Senator from Mississippi, though other outlets like the Associated Press have yet to make a call on the race. Colom is also calling on Hyde-Smith to concede.

buff.ly/jRexV4W
https://bsky.app/profile/mississippifreepress.org/post/3n22z3zrfsm2q

CLAP CLAP CLAP

CNN

@cnn.com

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Scott Colom will defeat Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith in a major upset to become the first Democrat that voters in deep-red Mississippi have elected to the chamber in more than four decades, CNN projects. cnn.it/48ModTb
https://bsky.app/profile/cnn.com/post/3n22xpnauq625

I can’t even begin to explain the ground shift.
The political earthquake happening in Mississippi.


This gentleman is Blanche K. Bruce. He is the last Black person to serve statewide for Mississippi….WAS BORN A SLAVE.

Blanche Kelso Bruce (March 1, 1841 – March 17, 1898) was an American politician who represented Mississippi as a Republican in the United States Senate from 1875 to 1881. Born into slavery in Prince Edward County, Virginia, he became the second African American senator, after fellow Mississippian Hiram R. Revels, and the first to serve a full term.[1]

Bruce was later appointed Register of the Treasury by president James A. Garfield, serving from 1881 to 1885, Recorder of Deeds for the District of Columbia by Benjamin Harrison, serving from 1890 to 1894, and again Register of the Treasury by William McKinley, serving from 1897 until his death in 1898. His home, the Blanche K. Bruce House, is a National Historic Landmark.


This is Scott Colom.
He is running for Senator from Mississippi.
He is running to become the first Black person ELECTED STATEWIDE IN MISSISSIPI EVER.
EVER.

He has been leading since Election Night a week ago. But, they refuse to call the race.
He was never supposed to get this close. Because Mississippi was being Mississippi and doing their usual shenanigans.

It is harder to vote in Mississippi than it is in almost any other state in the country.
No online voter registration.
No Early Voting.
You have to have a reason to request an Absentee Ballot.

The Secretary of State initiated a PURGE of the Voter Rolls in Mississippi just months before the election…
USING DATA FROM A CREDIT REPORTING BUREAU
If we had an actual functioning Department of Justice, THAT should be investigated.
OVER 200,000 voters had their voter status changed from ACTIVE based upon USING DATA FROM A CREDIT REPORTING BUREAU.

So, when these voters showed up to vote this election, they found that their voter status had been changed, and the only way for them to vote was to fill out a Provisional Ballot.
Here’s the thing about Provisional Ballots. There are different REASONS why something is made a Provisional Ballot. And, each ballot has to be investigated one by one. So, the only thing about this entire process is that it’s slow. There is no automation process that can be applied to Provisional Ballots. So, we have had to wait to see if people who were challenged would come back to ‘cure’ their ballot to try and make it count.

At every turn, Mr. Colom has seen his lead grow, when the election jurisdictions report their batches of cured Provisional Ballots.
OF COURSE, HIS LEAD WOULD GROW.
POTENTIAL COLOM VOTERS WERE THE ONES TARGETED BY THE PURGE.
So, any reconciliation of these voters would mean that COLOM WOULD GET THE VOTES.

They have been so used to doing their shenanigans for voter suppression in Mississippi unencumbered , that they don’t know how to act now that the national spotlight is on them.
I wish the MSM would stop tiptoeing around and actual do an investigation into USING CREDIT BUREAU INFORMATION TO DO A VOTER PURGE OF OVER 200,000 VOTERS. I am damn sure that, if you get into the weeds of the data, it will become crystal clear just how targeted this purge was. For every potential Hyde-Smith voter, I am sure that there are 9 potential Colom voters.

Their usual shenanigans was supposed to work.
But, they didn’t count on a motivated Black electorate.
A Black electorate that came out to vote at nearly Presidential Election Levels.
A Black electorate that wouldn’t be turned away and filled out those Provisional Ballots.
A Black electorate that then came back to cure those Provisional Ballots.

The highest percentage of Blacks in a state’s population is in Mississippi.
The truth is, with a high Black turnout, a candidate only needs 25% of the White vote in Mississippi to be victorious.

Barack Obama only received 18% of the White vote both times in Mississippi.
Scott Colom has hit the 25% mark with White voters in this election.

The earthquake that this is, can’t be understated.
Like so many others, I have been hooked on social media, just trying to find updates on this race.
It’s been like watching a miracle in slow motion.

Because, this is Mississippi.
The saying..
There is the South….and then, there is Mississippi.
The Mississippi of…
Emmit Till
Fannie Lou Hamer
Cheney Schwerner and Goodman
The Mississippi of Nina Simone’s – MISSISSIPPI GODDAMN

Someone said that this race is right up there with a Black man being elected President of the United States. And, I don’t disagree.

Mr. Colom would be the first Black ELECTED statewide, in the state with the highest percentage of Black people in its population in the country.
He would be THE FIRST.

The SYSTEMIC BARRIERS OF VOTER SUPPRESSION that, if victorious that Mr. Colom would have had to overcome….

This is the latest from social media from about an hour ago…

@mattmfm
Matt McDermott
@mattmfm
Scott Colom’s lead in Mississippi just grew to more than 3k+ votes following a small new ballot drop. The remaining vote from heavily Democratic Hinds County is expected today, likely putting this race in position to be called.
https://x.com/mattmfm/status/2120524884287868945?s=03

I do believe that they are waiting for Hinds County – the largest county that contains Jackson, before they will finally call this race.

Mr. Colom has gone viral on social media for so many of his political ads.

My maternal family is from Mississippi

A small town in Hinds County.

I had to go to Mississippi at least three times a year until I entered college. 

I could not stand it. But, I figured out that this is what Mama considered HOME, and it was there that I understood that the literal blood of my ancestors was in the soil of this country. And, that we had been here since before America became America. 

I don’t believe that people who didn’t have ancestors that grew up under Jim Crow America, let alone Jim Crow Mississippi grasp what just happened here. 

I will always remember the night of the 2008 Iowa Caucus. The look on my mother’s face when she realized that a Black man had won, in lily-White Iowa. To someone who was raised in Jim Crow Mississippi, it had to be unthinkable. 

Mr. Colom being elected STATEWIDE is on that level of impossibility. 

Continue reading →

Posted in 2026 Elections, Black Voter Suppression, Black Voters, Breaking News, Democracy, Democratic Party, Elections, Gerrymandering, GOP, Open Thread, Politics, Voter Disenfranchisement, Voter Suppression, Voting Rights | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 29 Comments

Open Thread | The Attack on Black Federal Employees

Posted on November 9, 2026 by rikyrah

WHICH WAS THE ENTIRE POINT

Rachel Maddow

@maddow.bsky.social

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“More than half of the DOGE firing targets were Black”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2026/…

Nearly 1 in 5 federal workers left under Trump. Black workers took the biggest hit.
A Washington Post analysis shows that President Donald Trump has succeeded in reshaping the federal bureaucracy, with the largest impact on Black workers.

Hannah Natanson on X: “Trump fired him. The ‘DEI Watchlist’ shamed him. Then came 500 job rejections. Please spend some time with our story about how Trump’s DEI purge changed the life of Dia Harris — one of many Black ex-feds struggling after Trump’s federal cuts, we found: https://t.co/psUXuCAaML”
@hannah_natanson
Hannah Natanson
@hannah_natanson
Trump fired him. The ‘DEI Watchlist’ shamed him. Then came 500 job rejections.

Please spend some time with our story about how Trump’s DEI purge changed the life of Dia Harris — one of many Black ex-feds struggling after Trump’s federal cuts, we found:
https://x.com/hannah_natanson/status/2115832083692376558?s=20

Right-wingers gloat that purged Black workers can’t find jobs: ‘Cannot overstate our joy’
By:Travis Gettys
Oct 29, 2026
10:51AM ET

The head of a conservative group that publicly named federal diversity workers on an online “DEI Watchlist” is celebrating the fact that many of them still can’t find work, according to a new report.
The Washington Post found that two out of three federal employees named on the list who lost or left their government jobs remain unemployed, and when a reporter told Tom Jones, president of the American Accountability Foundation, about the finding, he was thrilled.

“If the Post’s reporting that the 2/3rds of the DEI staffers on the list can’t find work is accurate, we cannot overstate our joy that trafficking in anti-white bigotry now makes you unemployable,” Jones wrote in an email. “Our only regret about the watchlist is that we didn’t have the time or resources to profile more left wing woke bureaucrats.”

Asked about the Post’s finding that Black workers on the list were having a harder time landing jobs than White ones, Jones replied, “Sounds like hiring managers are racist, that’s very disappointing.”

The foundation, a group with ties to the Heritage Foundation, put up the site in early 2025. It profiled 93 people, about two-thirds of them Black, with photos, salaries and employment histories, calling them “behind-the-scenes bureaucrats who push divisive DEI agendas.”

The Post centered its report on Dia Harris, 53, the first chief equity officer at the Administration for Children and Families. Harris was raised by a single mother and attended Head Start, the program his agency oversaw. He was fired in 2025 despite top performance ratings. More than a year later, after over 560 job applications, he fills grocery orders at a Maryland Harris Teeter for $16 an hour and pays his mortgage out of his 401(k).

One recruiter told Harris confidentially that his company couldn’t hire him because it relies on federal contracts. “Look,” the recruiter said. “They probably support the watch list.”

Several people on the list also received unsolicited cash-on-delivery pizzas at their homes, a tactic that has also been used against judges who ruled against the Trump administration.

“They want you to know they know where you live,” one listed worker told Harris.

The Post estimated that the number of Black federal workers fell 30 percent by the end of 2025, compared with a 4 percent drop for employees of other races. Internal DOGE documents showed that more than 100 of the roughly 200 DEI-related jobs it planned to eliminate were held by Black employees, double the number held by White workers.

“They demonized my work. They took away my livelihood,” said Kiana Atkins, a former National Institutes of Health employee on the list.

An HHS spokesperson said the department is following Trump’s executive order “and all applicable federal law.”

Posted in Black Federal Employees, Employment News, Open Thread, Politics | Tagged , , , , | 17 Comments

Weekend Open Thread

Posted on November 7, 2026 by rikyrah

Good Morning.

I hope that you are enjoying this weekend with family and friends.
Since they announced a couple of weeks ago that the annual vaccines were available, please go and get your shots.

He always brings the history of racism in medicine from angles not usually thought about in medicine. How that history affects how Black patients are treated today.

Posted in Weekend Open Thread | Tagged , | 19 Comments

Open Thread | More Thoughts About The Elections

Posted on November 6, 2026 by rikyrah

The ‘Blue Wave’ Is Really a Black Tsunami
By Brittany Packnett Cunningham, an interdisciplinary creative and equity strategist.

… Black people in America have long set the blueprints the country has used to build her freedoms. November 3, 2026, must go down in history as a day our blueprints were animated yet again — to the benefit of people of every hue. According to the New York Times, 91 percent of Black voters went for Democrats last night; NBC exit polls reported that 86 percent of Black male voters and 93 percent of Black female voters rallied behind Democratic candidates and causes, whereas a stark 45 percent of white male and 52 percent of white female voters did the same. According to the NAACP, estimated ballot-return rates from Black voters were up in every state. Black young people, often incorrectly dismissed as apathetic, drove fights against voter suppression on campuses like that of North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University. According to the Times, young Black male voters in particular “shifted to the left” by around 25 points compared with 2024 numbers.

For generations, Black people in America have been forced to fight for our mere survival on every social and political issue. This year in particular, those battles seemed to come from everywhere at once. We fought an economic battle that disproportionately pushed Black children, parents, elders, and workers to the edge as health care and SNAP benefits dried up and wages woefully lagged behind the cost of living. We fought a spiritual war as 2024’s results threatened to drain our energy — energy America has long depended on — with the trauma of once again watching misogynoir at the ballot box break our hearts. We fought institutional battles as powerful forces attempted to undermine sites of necessary Black education and organizing precisely because they led to the election of a vice-president and nearly a president. The White House attacked our history and organizations while their Black and white mouthpieces in pulpits and podcasts hid behind Bibles, urging us to denounce our Divine Nine memberships, HBCU degrees, and Black church power…

But as Black prophetic traditions remind us, what regimes mean for evil, we have the power to turn around for our collective good. In May, hundreds of Black organizations met offline and in person, assembled by some of our most trusted leaders, including LaTosha Brown and Cliff Albright of Black Voters Matter, Melanie Campbell of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, DeJuana Thompson of Woke Vote, and Janai Nelson of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, who argued against Callais’s monstrous outcome before America’s lifetime-tenured justices. These individuals brought us together with a clear call to action: Put down our separate agendas, toss our budgets into a common pot, coalesce our teams, and combine our work to save our rights.

The result was the All Roads Lead to the South coalition — an assembly of national and local Black-led organizations focused on our collective freedom, not our individual egos. In just eight days of organizing, these groups turned out thousands of people over two days of rallies in Alabama and Mississippi in mid-May. Pastor Michael McBride of Live Free USA led faith leaders to Selma to pray with their mouths, organizing faith leaders to mobilize their flocks to protect voting rights. Woke Vote and Black Voters Matter led people to Montgomery to pray with their feet, assembling marchers and a who’s who of political leadership to raise the alarm on the issue. The Southern Poverty Law Center’s Mississippi office and Jackson People’s Assembly packed the Mississippi Capitol. I stood with creator groups such as Rise United, Black media organizations like the Root, and registration campaigns including 1 Million Black Voters Rising as we mobilized dozens of multiracial influencers to cover the story of this rapid organizing…

The results are clear: As I write this, Democratic Senate candidate Scott Colom seems on the verge of making history in Mississippi as the first Black senator elected to the state since 1875 — thanks in part to student action and grassroots organizing groups, including the Poor People’s Campaign, Mississippi Votes, and One Voice. New Georgia governor-elect Keisha Lance Bottoms shattered the glass ceiling in her state with the help of trusted organizations such as Transformative Justice Coalition, GA Stand-Up, and Black Male Initiative. Florida broke its statehouse GOP supermajority, a testament to grassroots funding and organizing as well as the power of leaders like Angie Nixon in a state that was all but abandoned by the Democratic Party.

No one was coming to save us, and there was little money to fund efforts to save ourselves. But to quote the Black Voters Matter Fund, “We got us.” Together, we rolled up our sleeves, as we do, and did what needed to be done — early, often, and consistently. And the All Roads coalition and other partners are guaranteed to continue to organize the organizers, ensuring our favored candidates don’t just win elections but follow through on the mandates we give them.

This country owes a debt to the thousands of local and national Black organizers, students, leaders, institutions, creators, journalists, and neighbors who have helped (and continue to help) bring democracy back from the brink and slow the threat of autocracy. Here are a few of the groups that must be highlighted and funded — not only to offer them a measure of gratitude but to allow them to keep pushing us forward in the much more taxing work of governing…

Continue reading →

Posted in 2026 Elections, Black Voters, Democracy, Democratic Party, Open Thread, Politics | Tagged , , , , , | 57 Comments

Open Thread | So…Yesterday Were Some Elections……

Posted on November 4, 2026 by rikyrah

So…let’s see what happened….

Matt Viser
@mviser
Gina Hinojosa met with Beto O’Rourke before running. “Not one person can win Texas,” he told her. “It has to be two.” She and Talarico ran as a ticket, each appealing to different areas and demographics. Together, they changed what’s possible in Texas. theatlantic.com/politics/2026/…
https://x.com/mviser/status/2117844300587549130?s=20

The comment from the tweet about the meeting between Gina and Beto.
The same can be said of Jon and Keisha.

Jon Ossoff knew the assignment.
He knew that his assignment was to get Keisha and quite frankly, the rest of the Georgia State Slate pass those split ticket voting trifling tricks that defeated Stacey Abrams twice.

HE had to provide a large enough baseline so that when those tricks did the split ticket buillshyt, the ending result was still 50%+1.

He had to run up the numbers.
And, he did.

He knew, if Keisha got pulled over the finish line – the likelihood that the entire slate would, was almost assured.

And, that’s exactly what happened.

Bravo, Senator.
Bravo, Georgia.


Continue reading →

Posted in 2026 Elections, Elections, House of Representatives, Open Thread, Politics, US Senate, Voting Rights | Tagged , , , , | 33 Comments

IT’S ELECTION DAY

Posted on November 3, 2026 by rikyrah

Hopefully, you have already voted (if you could)
And, you will spend this election day, gathering up others to vote.

LunaLuvgood2020
@lunaluvgood2020.bsky.social

Follow
DemCast
@DemCastUSA
·

If you need transportation to cast your ballot on Tuesday, the Free State Coalition is organizing free community rides to the polls. Get matched with a local driver and make your vote count by signing up at freestaterides.org!
No excuses! Vote like your life depends on it!

Rachel Janfaza
@racheljanfaza
You can register to vote on Election Day in the following states: CA, CO, CT, HI, ID, IL, IA, ME, MD, MI, MN, MT, NV, NH, NM, UT, VT, VA, WA, WI, WY, and Washington, D.C.
9:31 AM · Nov 2, 2026
·
63.1K
Views

@AuthorMJClifton
Myron J Clifton
@AuthorMJClifton
IF YOU ARE IN LINE STAY IN LINE

YOUR VOTE WILL COUNT

May as well start this early because the confederate south is doing what it does..
8:17 AM · Nov 3, 2026

Scott MacFarlane
@MacFarlaneNews
Justice Dept releases list of where it is sending 1,000 election monitors

Many, many, many are heavily Democratic districts:

Alabama
•Jefferson
•Montgomery
•Mobile

Alaska
•Anchorage
•Dillingham
•Kusilvak

Arizona
•Maricopa
•Pima
•Apache
•Navajo

Arkansas
•Pulaski
•Washington

California
•Los Angeles
•Alameda
•Sacramento
•San Diego

Colorado
•Adams

Connecticut
•New Haven

Delaware
•New Castle

Florida
•Leon
•Hillsborough
•Miami Dade
•Broward
•Palm Beach

Georgia
•Cobb
•DeKalb
•Fulton
•Gwinnett
•Chatham
•Bibb

Hawaii
•Honolulu

Idaho
•Ada

Illinois
•Chicago
•Cook
•Champaign
•Sangamon
•St. Clair
•Madison

Indiana
•Lake
•Marion

Iowa
•Linn
•Polk

Kansas
•Johnson
•Wyandotte
•Sedgwick

Kentucky
•Fayette
•Jefferson

Louisiana
•Orleans
•East Baton Rouge
•Lafayette

Maine
•Lewiston
•Portland
•South Portland

Maryland
•Prince Georges

Massachusetts
•Lowell
•Boston

Michigan
•Lansing
•E. Lansing
•Grand Rapids
•Flint
•Detroit
•Hamtramck
•Warren
•Dearborn

Minnesota
•Minneapolis
•Hennepin
•Ramsey

Mississippi
•Lafayette
•Hinds

Missouri
•St. Louis
•Jackson
•Clay

Montana
•Yellowstone

Nebraska
•Douglas

Nevada
•Clark

New Hampshire
•Manchester
•Nashua

New Jersey
•Middlesex
•Bergen
•Union

New Mexico
•Bernalillo

New York
•New York
•Westchester
•Kings
•Albany
•Erie

North Carolina
•Alamance
•Mecklenburg
•Wake

North Dakota
•Cass

Ohio
•Cuyahoga
•Franklin
•Medina

Oklahoma
•Muskogee
•Tulsa
•Oklahoma

Oregon
•Multnomah

Pennsylvania
•Philadelphia
•Allegheny
•Luzerne
•Lehigh

Rhode Island
•Pawtucket

South Carolina
•Charleston

South Dakota
•Minnehaha

Tennessee
•Davidson
•Knox
•Shelby

Texas
•Bexar
•Dallas
•Harris
•Waller
•Blanco
•Bowie
•Nueces

Utah
•Salt Lake

Vermont
•Burlington

Virginia
•Charlottesville
•Fairfax
•Prince William
•Virginia Beach

Washington
•King
•Yakima

West Virginia
•Kanawha

Wisconsin
•Madison
•Milwaukee

Wyoming
•Laramie County
Last edited 5:45 AM · Nov 3, 2026
https://x.com/MacFarlaneNews/status/2117583997551145166?s=20

Posted in 2026 Elections, Elections, Open Thread, Politics, Voting Rights | Tagged , , , , | 38 Comments

Open Thread | What’s gone up even faster than gas or rent? The cost of caregiving

Posted on November 2, 2026 by rikyrah

I have been a caregiver, twice. It’s a very hard job, taxing emotionally and physically. There is really no large scale support for families out there trying to keep their family members in the house to care for them.

There was a candidate who had a plan for this. Her name is Kamala Harris. And what she wanted to do would have helped millions of families out there who are struggling with this issue right now.

The thing is, the serious cuts to Medicare and Medicaid haven’t even really hit. The GOP designed for them to hit AFTER the midterms. The numbers of families who are about to get body blows with these cuts is enormous.

What’s gone up even faster than gas or rent? The cost of caregiving
October 28, 20269:05 AM ET
By Kat McGowan

As prices have ticked up in recent years, the cost to caregivers has skyrocketed. A study, released Wednesday by AARP and shared first with NPR, finds that family caregivers — people helping out disabled, chronically ill or elderly adults — now spend an average $11,508 out of pocket each year. That’s roughly 60% more than just five years ago, and adds up to 31% of a caregiver’s income, on average.

The increase during those years is more than twice the overall rate of inflation of 24%, as measured by the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Price Index.

What’s driving the ramp-up? Food, housing and medical expenses are the biggest chunk, finds the study, which queried 2,538 family caregivers.

In other words, just the basics.

The bump in costs comes as family caregivers take on more care and more complicated medical responsibilities at home, says Megan O’Reilly, vice president of governmental affairs at AARP. “The more care that’s needed, the more it costs.”

And increased spending is only part of the story. The demands of caregiving often require people to reduce their working hours or quit work entirely, the survey finds. It’s a double whammy: increased costs on top of lost income.

Increasing demands, falling income
Meghan Maher has seen that first-hand. Just seven weeks after the birth of her first baby, her mother was diagnosed with advanced cancer. Suddenly, Maher was a “sandwich” caregiver — parent and child needing her at the same time.

At first, she tried to manage it all. She returned to her career in cancer research after maternity leave, but keeping up with the demands of work, her mom and her newborn son was too much.

She shrank her hours to part time. But even that wasn’t manageable. There was no way to attend all her mother’s appointments, coordinate her care, and also be available for big deadlines on the job.

She quit, and the family’s income fell by half. Because her husband had a good job, they weren’t struggling, but “it was definitely scary,” she says now. As her mom got sicker her parents moved in, increasing the household expenses

Soon after her mother’s death in 2017, her father had a series of major complications from abdominal surgery and was critically ill for months. Maher needed to be by his side during hospital stays, advocating for him on a moment’s notice, so now the family also needed to pay for child care. She estimates the cost at about $10,000 a year.

Her father eventually recovered, and the family was able to manage despite the difficulties. Many aren’t so lucky.

About half of all family caregivers say they’ve made major financial sacrifices, according to the AARP report: Working more hours, cutting savings, or even drawing down on money put away for retirement.
Continue reading →

Posted in Family Caregiving, Healthcare, Medicaid, Medicare, Open Thread, Politics | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Weekend Open Thread

Posted on October 31, 2026 by rikyrah

Lost two trailblazers who were part of a legendary franchise:
Walter Koenig, who played Pavel Chekov
Sir Patrick Stewart, who played Captain Jean-Luc Picard.

Continue reading →

Posted in Weekend Open Thread | Tagged , , , , | 33 Comments

Open Thread | Voting for the Perfect Will Get You Got Everytime

Posted on October 30, 2026 by rikyrah

For those who received their rights in this country due to Amendments, we have never had the luxury of voting for ‘ The Perfect’. You vote for harm reduction and move forward from there.

Charlotte Clymer 🇺🇦
@cmclymer
Over the past few months, I’ve had folks—most often complete strangers—reach out and ask me some version of the following question:

“This Democratic candidate took an anti-trans position. Should I still vote for them?”

Folks, I acknowledge that you want to be thoughtful about all this. I appreciate that you want to get a trans person’s opinion. I understand that y’all take allyship seriously, and I’m grateful for that. I truly am.

Fortunately for all of us, the moral and ethical calculus here are very simple.

An election cycle is split into two parts: the primary season and the general election.

The primaries are over. A lot of candidates across the political spectrum stepped up, offered their ideas, and pitched the voters. The ballots were cast, and some of those candidates won and most of those candidates lost.

We are now in the general election portion of the cycle, and almost every U.S. Senate and U.S. House race offers a straightforward choice: there is a Republican and there is a Democrat.

One of those two candidates will win, and ONLY one of those two will win.

There is no third potential outcome.

On the Republican side, you have a political party led by a sociopathic pedophile who has dismantled critical federal agencies, gutted health care for tens of millions of American working class families, engaged in widespread corruption that would make Richard Nixon blush with secondhand embarrassment, hobbled our economy with deeply asinine and self-serving financial incompetence, alienated all of our longstanding diplomatic relationships with other countries, involved us in an array of irresponsible and dangerous and unnecessary military actions, lost a stupid and pointless war with the theocratic, human rights quagmire that is the Iranian government, made it clear he’s oblivious to the consequences of data centers and other unaccountable bullshit carried out by AI companies, raised our gas prices, raised our food prices, raised our housing costs, raised our childcare costs, raised our health care costs, and continues to cover-up his role in a massive child sex trafficking operation by keeping millions of files hidden from the public.

On the Democratic side, you have a party led by national leaders who are somewhat uninspiring but nevertheless deeply committed to stopping all the above and building a brighter future for working class families in our country.

On the Republican side, you have an entire political party being held hostage—some of them more than likely through blackmail—to the fleeting whims and temper tantrums and probable dementia of the aforementioned sociopathic pedophile.

On the Democratic side, you have a party that is often at each other’s throats but also the furthest thing from a cult, which, ironically, is a sign of very good health and embodying enduring faith in the democratic (small d) process.

You ask me for my thoughts on anti-trans ads or comments put out by Democratic candidates and whether you should still vote for them against Republicans?

Yes. Of course you should vote for them.
Continue reading →

Posted in 2026 Elections, Open Thread, Politics | Tagged , , , , , | 6 Comments

Open Thread | Just Reason 201938482 As to Why Congress Needs to Regulate AI NOW

Posted on October 29, 2026 by rikyrah

REGULATE IT NOW

Madison Mills
@MadisonMills22
SCOOP: Major U.S. banks are detecting unauthorized third-party AI agents inside customer accounts, including some attempting to take actions that appear to be independent of user instructions, sources told Axios.

The findings have alarmed banking executives, who are racing to restrict access to their systems as AI moves at a velocity faster than financial institutions can respond, multiple industry and bank executives told Axios.

Several banks are now preparing for worst-case and even “day after” scenarios, including how to rapidly secure or restore customer accounts if things go wrong, the people said.

Several bank executives told Axios they’re struggling to distinguish between human users and AI agents. One executive said banks also struggle to determine whether agents are authorized by customers or potentially operating without their permission, more akin to rogue agent behavior.

Read my latest for Axios here: https://www.axios.com/2026/10/22/ai-agents-banks-unauthorized-accounts-access
https://x.com/MadisonMills22/status/2113251043173683683

Posted in Government Regulations, Open Thread, Politics | Tagged , , , | 10 Comments