@tinsal.bsky.social
Economics/Finance person, deep into wine industry. Lifetime politics geek, data lover, third gen Democrat. NYC born, CA living.
Top Trump aides "believe the firebrand health secretary has a unique ability to galvanize anti-establishment energy on the left and the right, and argue Republicans’ fate in 2026 hinges on keeping his Make America Healthy Again movement happy."
www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
‘You can't eat if you're dead’: Dems eye RFK Jr. as their 2026 boogeyman
Inside Democrats’ effort to attack RFK Jr.’s vaccine moves without angering his base.
www.politico.com
November 15, 2025 at 11:27 PM
Top Trump aides "believe the firebrand health secretary has a unique ability to galvanize anti-establishment energy on the left and the right, and argue Republicans’ fate in 2026 hinges on keeping his Make America Healthy Again movement happy."
www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
Other than sheer callousness, why was this necessary? "The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program [SNAP] provides an average of $6 per day for nearly 42 million people, roughly 40 percent of whom are children."
Under the new law, parents & older Americans will be required to meet stricter work requirements, & states will have to share in cost of SNAP benefits, which could force further program cuts, according to CBO. Tens of thousands of legal immigrants will also lose access to the program under the law.
Dems got increase SNAP $ in CR. But could not undo BBB stricter regs - "the most significant cuts to the social safety net in decades."
www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
November 15, 2025 at 11:24 PM
Other than sheer callousness, why was this necessary? "The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program [SNAP] provides an average of $6 per day for nearly 42 million people, roughly 40 percent of whom are children."
Under the new law, parents & older Americans will be required to meet stricter work requirements, & states will have to share in cost of SNAP benefits, which could force further program cuts, according to CBO. Tens of thousands of legal immigrants will also lose access to the program under the law.
Dems got increase SNAP $ in CR. But could not undo BBB stricter regs - "the most significant cuts to the social safety net in decades."
www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
Food stamps are back, but millions will soon lose benefits permanently
Even though the shutdown is over, the GOP’s signature tax and spending law is poised to kick people off the nation’s largest anti-hunger program.
www.politico.com
November 15, 2025 at 11:22 PM
Under the new law, parents & older Americans will be required to meet stricter work requirements, & states will have to share in cost of SNAP benefits, which could force further program cuts, according to CBO. Tens of thousands of legal immigrants will also lose access to the program under the law.
Dems got increase SNAP $ in CR. But could not undo BBB stricter regs - "the most significant cuts to the social safety net in decades."
www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
Food stamps are back, but millions will soon lose benefits permanently
Even though the shutdown is over, the GOP’s signature tax and spending law is poised to kick people off the nation’s largest anti-hunger program.
www.politico.com
November 15, 2025 at 11:17 PM
Dems got increase SNAP $ in CR. But could not undo BBB stricter regs - "the most significant cuts to the social safety net in decades."
www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
Threat of discharge position."Johnson has said he’s personally open to [a congressional stock trading ban), but has argued lawmakers in some cases depend on trading stocks in order to pay for their children’s schooling and other things."
www.politico.com/newsletters/...
www.politico.com/newsletters/...
Inside Congress
Your first read on Capitol Hill politics and policy.
www.politico.com
November 15, 2025 at 10:45 PM
Threat of discharge position."Johnson has said he’s personally open to [a congressional stock trading ban), but has argued lawmakers in some cases depend on trading stocks in order to pay for their children’s schooling and other things."
www.politico.com/newsletters/...
www.politico.com/newsletters/...
"Prominent lawmakers have warned the Pentagon is undercutting national security with moves to remove U.S. troops from Romania, conduct a Pentagon review of a major nuclear-powered submarine pact, pause some Ukraine assistance and slash aid to the Baltic nations."
www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
Republicans turn on Trump’s defense policy chief
Administration allies say they are fed up with the Defense Department’s third-most senior leader and his foreign policy surprises.
www.politico.com
November 15, 2025 at 10:04 PM
"Prominent lawmakers have warned the Pentagon is undercutting national security with moves to remove U.S. troops from Romania, conduct a Pentagon review of a major nuclear-powered submarine pact, pause some Ukraine assistance and slash aid to the Baltic nations."
www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
Doing everything they can to kill the program, make it harder for those needing aid to get support.
www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
Trump administration will require SNAP participants to reapply for benefits
Food aid recipients are already required to recertify their information regularly. But the move is part of USDA chief Brooke Rollins’ effort to overhaul the program.
www.politico.com
November 15, 2025 at 9:45 PM
Doing everything they can to kill the program, make it harder for those needing aid to get support.
www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
Rubio once led GOP support for immigration path to citizenship. In 2018 hires Heritage Action CEO Needham, as Chief of Staff, now State Dept policy chief, implementing MAGA foreign & immigration policies, including State Dept mass firings.
www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
The man behind Rubio's transformation of the State Department
Michael Needham is officially the counselor and director of the secretary’s policy planning staff; unofficially, he is the implementer-in-chief of a muscular foreign policy.
www.politico.com
November 15, 2025 at 8:44 PM
Rubio once led GOP support for immigration path to citizenship. In 2018 hires Heritage Action CEO Needham, as Chief of Staff, now State Dept policy chief, implementing MAGA foreign & immigration policies, including State Dept mass firings.
www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
“Standing up to Donald Trump didn’t work,” Senator Angus King said on MSNBC Monday. “It actually gave him more power..."The bare-knuckle politics the Trump administration employed...became too brutal for the handful of centrist Senate Democrats, who never liked the idea of the shutdown much anyway."
"Early in the shutdown, White House officials had predicted Democrats would eventually fold. They saw little need for Trump to negotiate with the Democratic leaders [instead] wait out the Democrats, ramp up the pain & then watch as they eventually caved.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/10/u... Gift Article
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/10/u... Gift Article
For Trump, Nothing Was Off Limits During the Shutdown
www.nytimes.com
November 15, 2025 at 3:45 AM
“Standing up to Donald Trump didn’t work,” Senator Angus King said on MSNBC Monday. “It actually gave him more power..."The bare-knuckle politics the Trump administration employed...became too brutal for the handful of centrist Senate Democrats, who never liked the idea of the shutdown much anyway."
"Early in the shutdown, White House officials had predicted Democrats would eventually fold. They saw little need for Trump to negotiate with the Democratic leaders [instead] wait out the Democrats, ramp up the pain & then watch as they eventually caved.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/10/u... Gift Article
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/10/u... Gift Article
For Trump, Nothing Was Off Limits During the Shutdown
www.nytimes.com
November 15, 2025 at 3:43 AM
"Early in the shutdown, White House officials had predicted Democrats would eventually fold. They saw little need for Trump to negotiate with the Democratic leaders [instead] wait out the Democrats, ramp up the pain & then watch as they eventually caved.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/10/u... Gift Article
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/10/u... Gift Article
Criminals? 'Mr. Segal wrote that immigration agents “finally responded to my request to detain these criminals. As someone who lives in the neighborhood, I’ve seen how American jobs are being given away to those with no right to be here. Pump up the numbers!”
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/14/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/14/u...
Boston University Student Faces Backlash After He Called ICE on Workers
www.nytimes.com
November 15, 2025 at 3:31 AM
Criminals? 'Mr. Segal wrote that immigration agents “finally responded to my request to detain these criminals. As someone who lives in the neighborhood, I’ve seen how American jobs are being given away to those with no right to be here. Pump up the numbers!”
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/14/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/14/u...
The Western Sky from Northern California after a rain...
November 15, 2025 at 1:04 AM
The Western Sky from Northern California after a rain...
GOP likes Vance's big idea: No actual program: go back to Pre-ACA separate high cost pools for people with pre-existing conditions, then everyone else gets individual policies. Unaffordable to everyone, esp. those with pre-existing conditions. Basically, nothing.
Mike Johnson on bringing bill to extend ACA subsidies to the floor of the House if it passes the Senate: “Am I going to guarantee a vote on ACA subsidies that is just a boondoggle to insurance companies and robs the taxpayer? We have a lot of work to do on that."
open.substack.com/pub/meidasto...
open.substack.com/pub/meidasto...
Today in Politics, Bulletin 249. 11/13/25
… The latest batch of Epstein documents released by Democrats on House Oversight show how he weaved an intricate web of rich and powerful people around the globe to compromise them and use them for hi...
open.substack.com
November 14, 2025 at 7:48 AM
GOP likes Vance's big idea: No actual program: go back to Pre-ACA separate high cost pools for people with pre-existing conditions, then everyone else gets individual policies. Unaffordable to everyone, esp. those with pre-existing conditions. Basically, nothing.
Mike Johnson on bringing bill to extend ACA subsidies to the floor of the House if it passes the Senate: “Am I going to guarantee a vote on ACA subsidies that is just a boondoggle to insurance companies and robs the taxpayer? We have a lot of work to do on that."
open.substack.com/pub/meidasto...
open.substack.com/pub/meidasto...
Today in Politics, Bulletin 249. 11/13/25
… The latest batch of Epstein documents released by Democrats on House Oversight show how he weaved an intricate web of rich and powerful people around the globe to compromise them and use them for hi...
open.substack.com
November 14, 2025 at 7:44 AM
Mike Johnson on bringing bill to extend ACA subsidies to the floor of the House if it passes the Senate: “Am I going to guarantee a vote on ACA subsidies that is just a boondoggle to insurance companies and robs the taxpayer? We have a lot of work to do on that."
open.substack.com/pub/meidasto...
open.substack.com/pub/meidasto...
Whoever banned the book hasn't lived through a CA drought. “The State of Water” explores what has led to California’s current water crisis, “exposing a history of unlimited growth in spite of finite natural resources,” according to its publisher, Heyday Books.
www.sfgate.com/national-par...
www.sfgate.com/national-par...
Trump admin to ban book from Yosemite National Park, says author
The Trump administration's censorship directive has reportedly targeted Obi Kaufmann.
www.sfgate.com
November 14, 2025 at 1:47 AM
Whoever banned the book hasn't lived through a CA drought. “The State of Water” explores what has led to California’s current water crisis, “exposing a history of unlimited growth in spite of finite natural resources,” according to its publisher, Heyday Books.
www.sfgate.com/national-par...
www.sfgate.com/national-par...
Denial is a river in Egypt. Climate change and environmental reality come even to Texas.
Texas’s economy has boomed for so long that it would be easy to imagine that the growth might go on forever. But, across the state, residents are being confronted with the alarming reality of limited water supplies. https://newyorkermag.visitlink.me/5PZt9T
Texas’s Water Wars
As industrial operations move to the state, residents find that their drinking water has been promised to companies.
newyorkermag.visitlink.me
November 13, 2025 at 10:17 PM
Denial is a river in Egypt. Climate change and environmental reality come even to Texas.
Pretty obvious how Trump managed to bankrupt 6 companies, including casinos...a nepo baby with absolutely no sense.
Brilliant!
‘The center’s arrangement with soccer’s international governing body will disrupt its performance schedule, forcing relocation or postponement of several concerts at an institution that has seen a sharp decline in ticket sales since it was taken over by Trump’
www.washingtonpost.com/entertainmen...
www.washingtonpost.com/entertainmen...
November 13, 2025 at 10:16 PM
Pretty obvious how Trump managed to bankrupt 6 companies, including casinos...a nepo baby with absolutely no sense.
Why expand oil drilling in delicate environment when surplus oil sits in tankers across the globe? As China shifts to EVs, global oil demand is declining but Trump is stuck in the 1950s and oil is liquid gold.
www.reuters.com/world/trump-...
www.reuters.com/world/trump-...
www.reuters.com
November 13, 2025 at 10:00 PM
Why expand oil drilling in delicate environment when surplus oil sits in tankers across the globe? As China shifts to EVs, global oil demand is declining but Trump is stuck in the 1950s and oil is liquid gold.
www.reuters.com/world/trump-...
www.reuters.com/world/trump-...
Trump wouldn't pay court appointed attorneys, as well as Food Stamps and health care -- but ICE was on full salary.
www.reuters.com/legal/govern...
www.reuters.com/legal/govern...
www.reuters.com
November 13, 2025 at 9:39 PM
Trump wouldn't pay court appointed attorneys, as well as Food Stamps and health care -- but ICE was on full salary.
www.reuters.com/legal/govern...
www.reuters.com/legal/govern...
Or cancel tariff? "You're going to see substantial announcements over the next couple of days in terms of things we don't grow here in the United States. Coffee being one of them, bananas, other fruits. Things like that. So that will bring the prices down very quickly."
www.axios.com/2025/11/12/c...
www.axios.com/2025/11/12/c...
Bessent says "substantial" relief imminent on coffee, fruit prices
Trump's tariffs have hit coffee prices in particular.
www.axios.com
November 13, 2025 at 4:49 AM
Or cancel tariff? "You're going to see substantial announcements over the next couple of days in terms of things we don't grow here in the United States. Coffee being one of them, bananas, other fruits. Things like that. So that will bring the prices down very quickly."
www.axios.com/2025/11/12/c...
www.axios.com/2025/11/12/c...
More evidence some people just have too much money. Maybe donate to food pantry instead of paying "pumpkin stylists"?
www.wsj.com/style/pumpki...
www.wsj.com/style/pumpki...
Pumpkin Stylists Are Making a Killing This Fall
Fervor for the season is reaching new heights, with families paying pumpkin entrepreneurs and porch stylists north of $1,000 to create Insta-perfect seasonal tableaus for their homes.
www.wsj.com
November 13, 2025 at 3:07 AM
More evidence some people just have too much money. Maybe donate to food pantry instead of paying "pumpkin stylists"?
www.wsj.com/style/pumpki...
www.wsj.com/style/pumpki...
Stunning how much disdain those who know Trump, including Epstein, have for Trump. And how stupid they agree he is. Say he's lucky in his opposition. But how can Dems convey Trump's stupidity to gullible supporters convinced he is the "mogul" he played on TV?
www.wsj.com/us-news/read...
www.wsj.com/us-news/read...
Read Jeffrey Epstein Emails Released on Wednesday
Congress released thousands of documents turned over by Epstein’s estate. Here are a few of them.
www.wsj.com
November 13, 2025 at 3:03 AM
Stunning how much disdain those who know Trump, including Epstein, have for Trump. And how stupid they agree he is. Say he's lucky in his opposition. But how can Dems convey Trump's stupidity to gullible supporters convinced he is the "mogul" he played on TV?
www.wsj.com/us-news/read...
www.wsj.com/us-news/read...