11/12/25
Good morning! It’s Wednesday, November 12th.
National Happy Hour Day
Well, well, well
Looks like this hour, just got a whole lot happier. Or something more clever.
And now, the news.
Government Shutdown
Starting with the shutdown!
Welcome to Day 43. After passing through the Senate on a 60-40 vote, a funding bill has made its way to the House and, after being closed since September 19th, the House has reopened and will, apparently, vote on this bill today.
Here are the two big things I’ll be watching today (besides the big thing – will the vote happen and how will the votes fall)
First - will new wildcard Marjorie Taylor Greene vote for it? Remember, the Republicans don’t have a ton of wiggle room here. They can only lose two votes on their side. Two wiggles. And she has expressed… well, many interesting thoughts lately. From anger that the House hasn’t been in business to the belief that aliens are angels. We contain multitudes.
Among her many thoughts has been what appears to be an anger that Speaker Johnson keeps talking about how he has a secret plan to give Americans healthcare once they ditch the ACA but hadn’t ever been able to name it. So will she vote to reopen the government with a bill that will kick 20 million Americans off their insurance without Speaker Johnson’s reassurance to vote on healthcare in December?
Second - Will the Democrats stand united against this spending bill and be a no across the board?
House Minority Leader Jefferies says that he will offer an amendment to the spending bill that includes a three-year extension of the ACA subsidies.
Sure! Hey, toss in some unicorns and leprechauns too. It’s all got as much of a chance to end up in the bill. Get caught trying I guess? It’s not going to work but hey – it’s more than the Senate Dems did. The Senate Dems were like “we have all the cards – here, have them!”
At least the best he can do is: “I noticed you want to screw 20 million Americans out of healthcare. Have you considered… not?” Why not try?
We’ll see how today shapes up!
Veteran’s Day Speech
-via Axios
While the House scrambles back into action, Trump was at Arlington National Cemetery to give a speech to veterans where he announced that being politically correct no longer served him. “So we're not going to be politically correct anymore."
Also - "From now on when we fight a war, we only fight for one reason: to win."
…what was the other reason?
The other big thing is that he wants to change Veteran’s Day to Victory in World War I Day, and then May 8th would be Victory in World War II Day.
And I guess all the other veterans can suck it?
First of all… May 8th is my mom’s birthday so I’ve already got a lot on my plate that day.
Moreover – this is a country that already disrespects veterans at every turn, by taking away programs that they are promised when they sign on the dotted line.
"We won both wars, nobody was close to us in terms of strength, bravery, or military brilliance, but we never celebrate anything."
What do you think Veterans Day is for? You are there-- well, sorry, in theory, the idea is that you were supposed to be, celebrating our troops. That’s Veterans Day. Celebrating the strength, bravery, and military brilliance of our troops.
You paid to get out of serving this country. That is a proven fact - the president paid to get out of serving in Vietnam. He calls soldiers who died fighting for this country suckers and losers; he questions why someone would even sign up for the military in the first place, asking, “What’s in it for them?”; he doesn’t want Wounded Warriors in the first few rows of his events because “nobody wants to see that.”
You don’t want to honor or celebrate veterans, so of course you want to rename Veterans’ Day.
But guess what ya doofus? You don’t decide that stuff. So this means nothing as, soon enough, you will as well.
What? You’re gonna sign a proclamation? Like with the Department of War? Okie doke. That’s presidential fanfiction because only Congress can officially change the name of a federal holiday and I realize you are really into this Constitutional crisis situash, but it’s a little hat on a hat to do ANOTHER Constitutional crisis over renaming Veterans’ Day.
“We never celebrate anything!" No hun, that was you when you brought home a B+ and you wanted to celebrate but your dad had too many meetings to take you out for ice cream. And frankly, I do understand why he never wanted to hang out with you.
I don’t really have a button for this story, I just want you to know that he’s… the worst.
SCOTUS v SNAP
-via AP News
Speaking of the worst – as the House prepares to vote today to reopen the government, which we all assume will happen, but, as I mentioned, there’s not a ton of wiggle room, so it’s like – yeah, there’s a high probability, but anything can happen…
The Supreme Court has extended an order blocking full SNAP payments for a few more days. The original block was put in place by Justice Jackson, and while it may have seemed shocking, it actually is a smart move (as most things that come from her are). The original hold was to prevent the entire Court from having a say on the SNAP funding and doing more damage than they would like to do.
Here, however, she was the only justice to say she would have revived the lower court orders to keep payments going immediately.
And I just want to remind us all that none of these cases should even exist. The money is there. The money was set aside for this exact case – to make sure that, should the government shut down, folks could still receive their benefits for at least some period of time.
The only reason any of this is happening is because Donald Trump and his little buddies and followers just… just don’t want people to have these benefits. That’s it. That is literally the only reason.
Imagine being that cruel.
By choice! They chose to be like this!
50-Year Mortgage
-via CBS News
Over the weekend, apparently Trump was visited by three ghosts… no no. That would be cool though! That would be something amazing.
He was visited by a man named Bill Pulte, the Federal Housing Finance Agency Director, who pitched Trump an idea. You’ve heard about 30-year mortgages, right? Okay, now… what about 50-year mortgages?
The 30-year mortgage was born out of the Great Depression, as a way for Americans to get a lower mortgage payment and be able to buy a home.
So the idea is that, over 50 years, those payments would be even lower.
But, now you’d be stuck making payments for 50 years.
That’s… more.
Interest rates will go through the roof.
Now, I didn’t do the math on this because I live in Los Angeles and this show is worth $10 million a year Or. I. Walk… so I’m only planning on buying a $10 million home. But according to CNN…
Take a $450,000 home, for example. With a 30-year fixed mortgage at a 6.25% interest rate, a $450,000 house would have a monthly payment of about $2,771. In all, the homeowner would pay over $547,000 in interest. So that $450,000 house comes to a casual $997,000.
With a 50-year loan at the same rate, the monthly payment would be $2,452. That’s nice! Not nice? The total interest would jump to about $1.02 million - 87% more than it would have been on the 30-year loan. So now, with a 50-year mortgage, you’re spending $1,476,576 to buy a $450,000 house.
Interestingly, Trump’s take on this is: "All it means is you pay less per month. You pay it over a longer period of time. It's not like a big factor."
It’s actually a million-dollar factor.
That’s… you… you were in real estate! That’s how you started! Your whole thing got started because you wanted to be an actor and no one would let you be in school plays so your dad gave you a bunch of money to start a real estate career, the beginnings of which were you refusing to rent to Black tenants, and then you tried again to be an actor, and no one cared, so you stayed in real estate, and then you became a president.
At the very least, you should understand real estate.
And yet…
That man brain no good!
Venezuela Fights Back
-via CNN
And in Venezuela - On Tuesday, in response to the build-up of troops and warships from the United States in the Caribbean Sea, Venezuela announced that they are launching a “massive mobilization” of military personnel, weapons, and equipment with land, air, naval, and reserve forces carrying out exercises through Wednesday.
Great! You weren’t trying to sleep through the night anyway, right?
To be honest, what do you want them to do? Last month, Trump authorized the CIA to operate in the country. He’s previously said he weighed the possibility of striking within the country. He’s hitting boats in the Caribbean that he claims are trafficking drugs left and right, killing at least 76 people, and offering zero evidence that they are, in fact, drug traffickers.
Meanwhile, here in America, Trump has increased Venezuelan deportations, canceled their Temporary Protected Status, and pretty much decided any man from Venezuela is a gang member and has either been deported to a third country that they're not from or, in the case of approximately 252 Venezuelans, sent to a self-proclaimed torture prison in El Salvador. All without ever being accused of any actual crimes.
Yeah, I’m really sorry, but it makes sense to me that they’d show off a little.
I’m not saying we want them to do more than that! Not at all! I actually want us, and them, to both back off. Take a little breather.
But in the meantime, we wouldn’t just sit around not at least showing off our military. So we can’t expect another country to do it.
And that’s it. That’s the news.
I’m proud of… happy hours. I like that restaurants are just like – these are the times I want people to be happy. BUT – I’m going to make the rules super weird. Like you can only have these incredible prices if you sit in this tiny corner, or if you happen to walk in the door before 3:07 on Mondays and the 4th Thursday.
I also like that, at this one bar my friends and I like, there is one bartender that will let us place a bunch of beer orders (I mean, one beer only… sorry mom. I misspoke) so we can get it in under the wire.
But more than happy hour! Because there is no hour that could ever possibly be invented where I wouldn’t be happier just by thinking about you… I’m proud of you.