I was clicking a link down at a place called "The Tab," in a browser named Firefox 2 ...
MICHIGAN VOTER: “I have always voted Democrat.”
— Democrats For Mike Rogers (@DemsForMike) October 19, 2026
Now she’s voting for @MikeRogersForMI:
“This could be the end of the Democratic Party as we know it... We have been completely hijacked by people that don’t share the same values that the traditional Democratic Party shares.”…
Ed: This would make a good ad in the final fortnight. In fact, given the impact of early voting, Team Rogers probably needed more of this earlier, but it's not too late for this pitch. It goes further than the essay in the Detroit News, but the combination of the two approaches give disaffected Dem voters options for sending a message to the lunatics running the asylum.
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Burgess Everett at Semafor: Former Sen. Joe Manchin, I-W.Va., is traveling to Maine this week to campaign with Republican Sen. Susan Collins, according to details shared first with Semafor.
The moderate West Virginian said his visit is motivated by the attacks on Collins for voting too often in support of President Donald Trump.
Manchin will hit Maine on Wednesday with Collins and visit Androscoggin County, a fairly evenly divided part of the state. Collins is looking to emphasize her bipartisan credentials down the stretch as her opponent, Democrat Troy Jackson, leans on his progressive allies and campaigns as a blunt check on Trump.
In an interview on Sunday, Manchin said he “can’t remember” a bipartisan effort Collins wasn’t involved in and that he wants to make sure the people of Maine understand how her style of legislating benefits the state.
Ed: Well, this is a surprise. I wonder just how worried Manchin has become about the DSA takeover of his party. Everett contrasts this appearance with Jackson's surrogates trying to close the deal for Dems: Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and AOC. Manchin's point practically makes itself, but just in case, Elissa Slotkin makes it for him as well ...
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Senator Elissa Slotkin has openly stated that she wants the threat of future prosecution to deter young conservatives from serving in a Republican administration. Her own words make clear that the deterrent effect is intentional. There is a considerable difference between prosecuting someone for criminal conduct and using the prospect of prosecution to discourage lawful political participation. The First Amendment protects political association, and federal law recognizes that intimidation and coercion can violate those protections under certain circumstances. No American should have to consider whether accepting a position in government will make them a target simply because of their political affiliation. If someone commits a crime, investigate and prosecute it based on the evidence. But the justice system must never become an instrument for frightening people away from public service. Political accountability is one thing. Political intimidation is quite another, regardless of which party is responsible.
— Supersonic Redhead🛫 (@Supersonic_Red) October 18, 2026
... prosecuting someone for criminal conduct and using the prospect of prosecution to discourage lawful political participation. The First Amendment protects political association, and federal law recognizes that intimidation and coercion can violate those protections under certain circumstances. No American should have to consider whether accepting a position in government will make them a target simply because of their political affiliation. If someone commits a crime, investigate and prosecute it based on the evidence. But the justice system must never become an instrument for frightening people away from public service.
Political accountability is one thing. Political intimidation is quite another, regardless of which party is responsible.
Ed: David wrote about this over the weekend, but I'd like to point out that this has always been the goal of Democrat lawfare. As Trump has often said, he's been the main focus, but the real targets are all those who oppose the progressive agenda. The censorship regime during COVID and the attacks on businesses that refused to close during the pandemic are more examples of how Slotkin et al want to weaponize government to shut down the opposition.
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Detroit News: Michigan U.S. Sen. Elissa Slotkin tangled online with conservatives angry over her remarks last week about holding Trump officials accountable for corruption and specifically her suggestion that such moves might dissuade young graduates from going to work for the administration.
A clip of her remarks circulating on social media prompted some threatening language in response, including from one ally of President Donald Trump who said, if Slotkin tried to do such a thing, she would "learn about the the Second Amendment, sweetheart."
Trump himself weighed in on the firestorm late Monday afternoon, telling reporters outside the White House that Democrats are the ones "weaponizing" government, and that Slotkin is "a low life who is ruining her state."
"What they're doing is really discouraging people from going into politics," Trump said.
Ed: Slotkin later accused Trump and allies of threatening her and her family with violence. Slotkin's the one playing with fire, though. She clearly stated that Democrats intend to prosecute Trump officials to discourage conservatives from working with the administration. She should not be surprised when those threats generate more threats, which is why it's stupid to brag about lawfare and its ability to punish political opponents in the first place.
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It is absolutely disgraceful to threaten young Americans for participating in politics and serving their country.
— Mike Lee (@SenMikeLee) October 17, 2026
Ed: It certainly is. It's also of a piece with the DSA's takeover of the Democrat Party. Looks like Slotkin's on board with revolutionary radicals and their approach to political "justice." It's not just Slotkin who's getting comfy with the commissariat...
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CBS News: Former Florida House District 20 candidate Elijah Manley surrendered to authorities Thursday and was booked into the Broward County Jail on two counts of making written threats to kill or cause bodily injury.
Manley, a 27-year-old Democrat, faces the charges over social media posts he made shortly after losing the August election, according to an arrest warrant obtained by CBS News Miami. Investigators said the warrant stems from a series of Facebook posts exchanged between Manley and two other people.
According to the warrant, one post said: "Every Democrat needs to get behind the Democratic nominee for Senate. Anybody not doing that, I promise you I'm going to cut your [expletive] head off."
The candidate referred to in the post was Angie Nixon.
Ed: Res ispa loquitur.
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Abdul El-Sayed in the front row of church in Flint, standing alongside Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA). https://t.co/EKJ5ET83EK
— Shane Goldmacher (@ShaneGoldmacher) October 18, 2026
Ed: Prediction: You will be able to count the number of voters this will turn out on your fingers, with a few left over. No one's going to buy El-Sayed as connected to the black voters of Michigan based on this awkward and very late appearance at a black church.
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National Catholic Register: Was Pope Leo XIV’s visit to France a moment of grace before a time of tribulation? The question is bound to arise when one considers the dramatic shift from the “miracle” of the papal visit on Sept. 25-28 to the nightmarish scenes of clashes between police and young rioters across the country only days later.
The France that emerged during the Pope’s extraordinary stay — drawing immense crowds in an atmosphere of harmony, hope and national unity — was one that many had long believed buried. Yet this enchanted interlude did not erase the country’s deep divisions. If anything, it offered a brief respite from them, restoring courage to a population increasingly accustomed to seeing its fractures laid bare.
There has been no shortage of such reminders in recent years, from the urban riots of the summer of 2023, which produced near-insurrectional scenes across the country, to the profound societal divisions surrounding the constitutional enshrinement of abortion and, more recently, the highly publicized legalization of euthanasia. The blasphemous opening ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics had spectacularly highlighted these fault lines. Its drag-queen parody of the Last Supper had not only embarrassed France on the international stage but, above all, had revealed the increasingly visible struggle over the country’s national identity and the kind of civilization it intends to preserve and pass on.
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A Muslim woman and shopkeeper named Fatma on her encounter with looters in Paris: “I defended my shop & got beaten by a man. They had knives. 80% of them were people from my Muslim community. There were thousands of them. We're screwed” https://t.co/8vwWASc74p
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) October 19, 2026
Ed: This is not about education. It is about conquest. If the US wants to prevent it from happening here, we had better start acting like it's a real threat. And I do wonder whether voters in Michigan and elsewhere are beginning to look at the Islamists taking over the Democrat Party and worry – as the woman at the top does – that the conquest has already begun, be it Islamist, Marxist, or both.
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Andrew Hussey at The Free Press: The French media called these rioters “casseurs” (“wreckers”) and some left-wing commentators stressed that these “voyous” (“criminals,” another word widely used) were entirely separate from the legitimate or orderly demonstrations against the rise in the cost of living and the deplorable state of French schools.
This was true. The casseurs wore a kind of uniform, head to toe in black and always masked. Some of them were recognizably part of the so-called “Black Bloc,” the loose international coalition of anarchists, and “professionals of chaos.” Others were opportunist kids in hip-hop gear, often from the banlieues (suburbs) and wearing Algerian football tops and flags. Palestinian flags were also everywhere.
The first anti-police banners appeared around the Gare du Nord in the mid-afternoon, with “Everybody hates you!” and “Cops mutilate kids” to the fore. This was when the looting started. I went to bed around midnight, with the most melancholy image of all in my head: the destruction by fire of the noble 19th-century town hall in the quiet town of Limoges. I have long argued that as yet there is no civil war in France. But late that night, that is precisely what it looked like.
Ed: That's because it is a civil war, and the French have been losing it for decades. The UK will be next, and then Germany.
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President Trump says immigration is to blame for the protests in France, telling reporters he has previously warned French President Emmanuel Macron to close the country's borders. “What's happening in France has to do with immigration, not schools, not anything. It's immigration,” Trump says. “They let people into their country that don't love their country.”
— CBS News (@CBSNews) October 19, 2026
... It's immigration,” Trump says. “They let people into their country that don't love their country.”
Ed: Exactly. And that's what we can expect here if we don't learn the lesson unfolding before our eyes in France.
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NY Post: The owners of a shuttered California bakery are blaming political backlash for their 50-year-old institution’s closure, calming their bold political statements — including criticism of ICE and staunch support of Palestine, saw them booted off Instagram and contributed to the eatery’s demise.
Nabloom Bakery & Pizzerra in Berkeley closed for good on Sunday after a half-century in business. The Bay Area fixture, known for its fruit Danish pastries and sourdough pizzas, initially cited rising ingredient and utility costs as the reason behind their closure.
Now, owners Julia Elliott and Sabra Stepak are going further, saying controversy over their political beliefs hurt the business.
The owners said they received backlash for a “Defund the Police” mural and a “Teach Palestine” poster they put up outside their business several years ago.
“We were also kicked off instagram for reposting an image of a BART car tagged with ‘Fuck-Ice’ in our story,” they wrote.
Ed: And they wonder why people stopped buying their wares, eh? Granted, one might have expected Berkeley to respond differently to these political stances, but maybe Berkeley isn't as lunatic as its university. I'd call this a FAFO market response. Maybe they should have just baked pastries without the poisonous politics.
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‘COYOTE VS ACME’ has passed ‘SUPERGIRL’ to become the highest-grossing movie produced by Warner Bros this Summer. The film was almost permanently deleted by Warner Bros for a tax write-off. https://t.co/aDwJ7HlULg
— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) October 19, 2026
Ed: This tickles me to no end. Bring back Batgirl! (Well ... maybe not.)
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Elon and @MichaelDell are leading a wonderful trend. 🇺🇸🫡❤️
— John Ondrasik (@johnondrasik) October 19, 2026
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Saturday's night lyric: "Mr. Roboto" by Styx.
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