Thursday at the tab note …
NEW: @SecScottBessent tells reporters at the White House: “We are going to either announce after the close this afternoon or first thing tomorrow morning, a substantial pickup in Russia sanctions.”
— Mary Margaret Olohan (@MaryMargOlohan) October 22, 2025
Ed: Looks like the Rubio-Lavrov talks failed. And it appears that Trump has had enough of Putin’s intransigence. You know what that means …
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The Telegraph: Vladimir Putin has carried out nuclear missile tests and large-scale drills a day after his summit with Donald Trump was cancelled.
A Yars intercontinental ballistic missile was test-fired from the Plesetsk launch facility in northwestern Russia, and a Sineva ICBM was launched by a submarine in the Barents Sea.
Strategic bomber forces also took part, with Tu‑95 aircraft launching long‑range cruise missiles, the Kremlin added in a statement.
Ed: Putin’s trying another round of “escalate to de-escalate.” Will that bother Trump? The last time Putin tried that via his toady Medvedev, Trump threatened to escalate weapons transfers to Ukraine, and the Kremlin walked back Medvedev’s comments. With Tomahawks on the table, this seems like a bad idea for Putin. And sure enough …
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BREAKING 🔴
WSJ: The United States has lifted major restrictions on Ukraine’s use of long-range missiles, allowing strikes on targets inside Russia. pic.twitter.com/y60abKLn32
— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) October 22, 2025
Ed: Trump’s not going to back down when Putin plays this game. Trump wants the war to end, but not on Putin’s terms. What I find fascinating is how the mainstream media is ignoring how Trump is getting tough with Putin — tougher than Biden ever was — after nearly a decade of accusing Trump of being Putin’s crony.
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Ed: That is a non-denial denial. Read this very carefully. Trump is saying that the US does not restrict Ukraine on the use of missiles, which is in fact a change of policy from the Biden administration. Trump is just taking US fingerprints off of how Ukraine chooses to use these missiles.
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Mediaite: Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) gave a short and sweet beatdown to former Vice President Kamala Harris’s 2024 presidential campaign during a visit to Tim Dillon’s podcast. …
[“]I think the reason that she lost that election gets back to the point we discussed at the beginning of this podcast and that is money in politics. Kamala did not run a campaign focused on the needs of the working class, didn’t run a campaign focused on healthcare, on economics, and raising the minimum wage, on paid family and medical leave, on housing, on all of the issues that working people are struggling with right now. And I think her not focused on those issues allowed Trump to win, in my view.[“]
Ed: Mediaite sold this as a “nuke” on Kamala. It’s more of a light slap in the face, with apologies. Sanders set this up by calling Harris “an incredibly intelligent, focused person,” which argues facts not in evidence, to be kind about it. And Sanders is only partly correct in this; Harris didn’t run on ANY issues other than Trump himself.
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Jen Psuki must be transferring her own personal issues onto others. @jrpsaki is a dumbass who has no comprehension of the truth and has to overcompensate for her lack of talent by saying untrue things.
Circle back on that, moron. https://t.co/ehoV2L0ZZU
— Steven Cheung (@StevenCheung47) October 21, 2025
Ed: Might I suggest that MSNOW, née MSNBC, rethink their association with such a misogynist and bigot like Jen Psaki? Besides, this isn’t even original. Remember the Julia Roberts ad for Kamala Harris last year that assumed women who vote Republican only did so out of fear of their husbands? How well did that messaging work out in 2024, Ms. Psaki? Maybe this is one message that Democrats shouldn’t circle back on, eh?
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Politico: Nancy Pelosi, who has come under increasing pressure from fellow Democrats here to retire, will make an announcement about her plans after California’s election on a redistricting measure early next month, according to an adviser.
And if Pelosi, who is 85, does leave office, she has been publicly elevating one Democrat who could run to succeed her: San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan — who has emerged as a progressive force inside City Hall and who, much like Pelosi, is closely aligned with the city’s powerful labor movement.
At last weekend’s “No Kings” protest in downtown San Francisco, Chan was the only local elected official to speak alongside Pelosi at a related labor event to rally support for Democrats’ gerrymandering proposal.
Ed: Pelosi should have retired when Hakeem Jeffries became the House Dem caucus leader. She’s lurked in the background of leadership ever since, encroaching on Jeffries’ authority at some level. However, given the fundraising woes of the DNC in this cycle, don’t be surprised if the party convinces Pelosi to stick around for at least another term, because she has a grip on donors that may not survive her retirement.
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Tim Miller: “Biden talked way less to the press than Donald Trump does.”
Karine Jean-Pierre: “That’s not true… You weren’t paying attention”
This has to be the funniest lie from KJP lolpic.twitter.com/xy64U21UQ8
— Defiant L’s (@DefiantLs) October 22, 2025
Ed: Good to see that the Bidenistas are still consistent in their determination to lie as brazenly as ever. And this was in a FRIENDLY interview! They spent four years micturating on voters’ heads while calling it rain, and Karine Jean-Pierre was easily the most dishonest hack involved in the Sharp As A Tack™ fraud at the White House. She hasn’t changed a thing, not even when selling her 192-page memoir.
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Fred Bauer at NRO: For weeks now, progressive influencers have been calling on Republicans to nuke the filibuster and end the government shutdown. They want that to happen for a variety of reasons. In 2021 and 2022, Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema took the heat for blocking the nuclear option. That spared those Democratic senators with some institutionalist impulses (such as Delaware Senator Chris Coons) from having to disappoint progressive activists by opposing the nuclear option themselves. In a future Democratic Senate majority, the Manchin–Sinema heat shield would be gone. Maine independent Angus King would probably very much like not to be the deciding vote on nuking the filibuster. If Republicans nuke the filibuster now and create that precedent, they end up sparing the Democratic caucus from facing that uncomfortable discussion. A post-nuclear Senate would toss the keys to “the groups.” If there’s any uncertainty about whether every Senate Democrat is really on board with that agenda, it’s far better from progressive activists’ perspectives that Republicans nuke the Senate for them. (And, as Joe Manchin recognized years ago, there is no such thing as a limited “carve-out” via the nuclear option — any “carve-out” puts the whole bird on the table.)
Further, Republicans’ nuking of the filibuster would also be a tactical win for Senate Democrats. Right now, the government remains shut down until enough Senate Democrats come to the table to negotiate. However, the activist base of the party does not want any negotiations with Republicans; they want full-spectrum opposition. This puts Senate Democrats in a tough position: Either keep the government shut down (and thus give the White House increased leverage in determining federal spending), or frustrate the inflatable-clad legions. Seen in that light, the nuclear option on the filibuster would allow Democrats to have their cake and eat it, too. They would get to both engage in performative opposition to Republican governance and see the government reopen.
Ed: Fred makes a great argument on other grounds as well, but these are compelling on their own. I argued yesterday against changing the filibuster for other reasons. I believe Duane will have a post soon rebutting both of us so stay tuned.
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Virginia Dems: Angrier at John Reid for using AI than they are at Jay Jones for wanting to kill his opponent 🤔 https://t.co/mfuvfSUbKs
— Amanda Carey Elliott 💁♀️ (@AmandaCarey1) October 22, 2025
Ed: Doubling down on stupid, it seems.
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Free Beacon: Northwestern University can strip students’ financial aid, access to on-campus housing, and even their student status for refusing to complete a mandatory anti-Semitism training, a federal judge ruled Monday.
The ruling represents an early blow to the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) in the lawsuit it filed against Northwestern on behalf of the school’s Graduate Workers for Palestine, alleging the training violates federal civil rights law and bans “expressions of Palestinian identity.” The plaintiffs had asked the court for a temporary restraining order to stop the school from punishing students who boycotted the training while the case played out, but Judge Georgia Alexakis rejected that request.
Ed: This is not a final ruling, but the denial of a stay is still meaningful. The video makes the argument that the anti-Israel activists use the same arguments as the Klan did about Jews in earlier decades, and … well, CAIR is not happy about that, at all. Truth is an absolute defense, however.
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A CNN report from 2010:
$376 million White House renovation during the Obama Administration.
Where was the Democrat outrage then? pic.twitter.com/MvLVDFcTru
— Christian Collins (@CollinsforTX) October 22, 2025
Ed: Celebrating the shakedown of taxpayers? As I told Cam Edwards on our VIP Gold chat today, this is the dumbest non-troversey yet in the Trump administration — in either term.
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Lanny Davis at American Greatness: So here is the compromise plan for Democrats to publicly propose to Republican congressional leaders to place the onus on them of a continuing shutdown if they ignore the proposal:
We Democrats will vote for a continuing resolution to reopen the government and will commit to adding a “work requirement” in the future to Medicaid if you Republicans commit to an up-or-down vote in both chambers within 60 days to restore all the pre-“BBB” Medicaid cuts and enact an extension of Obamacare insurance subsidies and support.
Democrats will also commit to supporting a bipartisan commission to frame the work requirement for Medicaid, similar to the Clinton welfare reform plan, and agree to an up-or-down vote on the commission’s recommendations within six months.
Ed: I appreciate Davis’ effort to find some compromise, but this is a bad deal, and perhaps even a Wimpy deal: Davis will gladly offer a vote in six months on Republican priorities for a vote in sixty days on Democrat priorities. Meh. If the trade is workfare requirements for an extension of ObamaCare subsidies, then do them both in the same package and commit to a floor vote in both chambers on the one bill.
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An SS tattoo on your chest, that you allegedly got while drunk and didn’t know what it was, but also told people you knew what it was, and chose not to get covered for 20 years doesn’t seem like that small a skeleton. It’s a Home Depot 22-ft Halloween special skeleton. https://t.co/KjVKoMntfn
— Mary Katharine Ham (@mkhammer) October 22, 2025
Ed: MK hit the nail on the head, of course, but what if the skeleton were … a Twinkie?
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