Outside the Beltway

Comments

1. Scott says:
   Thursday, 23 October 2025 at 07:26

   Our Congress will just roll over.

   Hegseth changes policy on how Pentagon officials speak with Congress

   Leaders at the Pentagon have significantly altered how military officials will speak with Congress after a pair of new memos issued last week.

   In an Oct. 15 memo, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and his deputy, Steve Feinberg, ordered Pentagon officials — including the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff — to obtain permission from the department’s main legislative affairs office before they have any communication with Capitol Hill.

   I used to receive daily emails on DoD business, including any contracts let over $20M. I no longer receive those.

   If I were Schumer/Jeffries, I would continue to add to the list of demands on the government shutdown, most of which would be policy issue designed to crack the whip on the executive branch.

   I don’t have any hope.

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2. Scott says:
   Thursday, 23 October 2025 at 07:31

   Speaking of Pentagon information.

   Pentagon touts ‘next generation’ press corps of mostly right-wing outlets

   The Defense Department on Wednesday announced the “next generation” of the Pentagon press corps, including mostly right-wing outlets, following the mass exodus of legacy outlets from the building who refused to sign the department’s restrictive new press policy.

   More than 60 journalists, “representing a broad spectrum of new media outlets and independent journalists,” have signed the Pentagon’s media access policy and will join 26 journalists from 18 outlets who already had building access and agreed to the new rules, according to chief spokesperson Sean Parnell.
   …
   The Pentagon declined to release a list of the new media outlets to The Hill, but posts to social media on Wednesday indicate that the additional journalists work across far-right websites such as Human Events; its sister company, Canadian website the Post Millennial; the National Pulse; The Gateway Pundit; and LindellTV, started by MyPillow CEO and President Trump ally Mike Lindell.

   lso included are Just the News, right-wing podcast host Tim Pool’s Timcast, Turning Point USA’s media brand Frontlines, and a Substack-based newsletter called the Washington Reporter.

   They will join the likes of One America News Network, the Federalist, and the Epoch Times, a handful of foreign outlets, and freelancers and independent journalists who already had a press badge, though only One America News Network regularly reports from the building.
3. Scott says:
   Thursday, 23 October 2025 at 07:37

   Another unsurprising headline from Texas:

   Trump-supporting pastor born with no arms faces child porn charges in Texas

   A Texas Christian singer and worship minister born without arms from the Houston area became an inspiration for his performances, earning praise and even an invitation to perform the National Anthem at a 2022 Trump rally. Now, he’s facing shocking allegations of promoting child pornography.

   Jon Paul Sheptock, 49, the Worship Minister at First Montgomery Baptist Church in Montgomery, was arrested last month for the possession, production and distribution of child sexual assault materials.
4. Bobert says:
   Thursday, 23 October 2025 at 07:52

   Love this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8w3o6oKxQHI
   Proud to have been among the 7 Million!

   (BTW, my interpretation of the “RA” is to recollect the IRA’s resistance to British Monarchy Domination)

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5. Scott says:
   Thursday, 23 October 2025 at 07:56

   Two articles from ProPublica on generic drugs. Interesting to me since I’m on 4 generics: atorvastatin, lisinipril, metoprolol, and metformin. I’m not so much concerned about dirty factories and contamination but whether the pills have the drugs they says they have and in the correct amounts.

   Is Your Medication Made in a Contaminated Factory? The FDA Won’t Tell You.

   Reporting Highlights

   • Hidden Drug Names: For decades, the FDA has blacked out the names of generic drugs on inspection reports for foreign factories that were found to have safety and quality violations.

   • Patients in the Dark: The practice has prevented patients, doctors, and pharmacists from knowing whether manufacturing failures have made medications ineffective or unsafe.

   • Pill Bottle Mysteries: Consumers are limited in what they can learn about the quality of their drugs because labels on pill bottles often don’t list the manufacturer or the factory’s address.

   Here’s What Happened When ProPublica Reporters Tried to Find Out Where a Popular Prescription Drug Was Made

   We wanted to know where a widely used prescription drug that treats high cholesterol was manufactured and whether the factory had quality issues. The search led to a labyrinth of company names and databases that few would know about.
6. Scott says:
   Thursday, 23 October 2025 at 08:01

   This is what they do.

   Perry’s comments roil Democratic veterans

   Perry, a former Army National Guard brigadier general and combat veteran, said in an interview on “The Chris Stigall Show” last week that Democrats in Congress don’t care about the Constitution or the nation’s defense and suggested they only join the military when they want to run for office.

   “They join the military, they serve a little bit, they get the credential and then they run for office and wear the uniform and say, ‘Look at me — I support America.’ But let’s face it, all their votes say they don’t support America

   You can’t love America if you hate most Americans.

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7. Scott says:
   Thursday, 23 October 2025 at 08:18

   I don’t know if has any meaning but…

   Bexar County’s first two days of early voting tripled compared to 2023

   Bexar County is San Antonio.

   The first two days of early voting in Bexar County saw triple the turnout compared to the last constitutional amendment election two years ago.

   Day 1 and day 2 of early voting in this election saw 21,000 people total with 10,158 on the first day and 11,693 on the second day.

   This year’s ballot contains 17 state constitutional amendments, along with multiple school district issues. Also included are Propositions A and B related to the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo and one funding piece of a proposed new San Antonio Spurs Arena.

   I suspect the big issue driving turnout is the $1B Spurs arena.

   A lot of politics is indeed local.

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8. steve222 says:
   Thursday, 23 October 2025 at 09:43

   @Scott: This is an extension of having media agree to the restrictive rules for journalists. POTUS will control not just the budget for the military but also all communications with the military by the people we elected who are supposed to hold the power of the purse. In the past this would have been headline news but now it’s just another thing Trump does.

   Steve

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9. becca says:
   Thursday, 23 October 2025 at 10:16

   I wonder what Jax thinks…
   https://www.cnbc.com/2025/10/22/trump-ranchers-beef-tariffs-argentina.html
   Trump wants to import beef from Argentina at the expense of our ranchers and farmers, just because that doolally guy in a fright wig is such a groveling suck up.

   1
10. Kathy says:
    Thursday, 23 October 2025 at 10:27

    I’ve often thought a lot of high-end luxury products are way overpriced by the use of expensive materials that add nothing to the function or performance of a product. This video partly bears me out.

    If you skip to the end where he reviews headphones worth over $100,000 (no typo: over one hundred thousand dollars; headphones), he is impressed by the quality, sure, but the price comes more from using gold and jewels as decorations.

    In another recent video, he pits brand name products vs cheaper imitations and knockoffs, and more than a few of the cheaper ones are better than the “real” ones.

    I don’t often make purchasing decisions based on brand alone, unless I’m familiar with the brand and know it to be good. Often it’s just the “prestige” of the brand that drives up the price of an average product.

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11. Michael Reynolds says:
    Thursday, 23 October 2025 at 10:30

    Peter Zeihan says that Trump’s cut off of aid to Colombia will result in coca acreage expanding and production ramping up. I wonder if, hope that, @StevenTaylor will write about this. I like Zeihan but he’s sometimes a bit far out over his skis.

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12. Jax says:
    Thursday, 23 October 2025 at 11:27

    @becca: It’s the first time I’ve seen a crack in the ag industry’s full-throated support for Trump. They’re pissed.

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13. Kathy says:
    Thursday, 23 October 2025 at 11:42

    @becca:
    @Jax:

    Next the Taco so-called administration will claim gauchos are real ‘Murikans.

    3
14. Michael Cain says:
    Thursday, 23 October 2025 at 11:46

    @Jax: Soybean farmers have been making noises about the trade war with China ruining them.

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15. becca says:
    Thursday, 23 October 2025 at 12:55

    I thought I would find out what this guy has been up to…
    https://www.npr.org/2024/11/29/nx-s1-5210800/6-million-banana-art-piece-eaten

    Mr Sun is big supporter of 47, of course. He does some crypto-crap business with the prez. Dines with him at Maragogo. Bought himself a place at the WTO representing Grenada.
    So much corruption and depravity.

    1
16. Kathy says:
    Thursday, 23 October 2025 at 13:22

    For this week’s cooking I’m thinking a white chicken stew with beans (white beans, chickpeas, and lima beans), maybe with some white wine. the idea this time would be to cut the chicken breast into cubes before cooking, rather than to shred it afterwards.

    On the side I want to try pasta in red sauce, using canned tomatoes rather than tomato puree as I usually do (bottled pasta sauce has so much sugar). I want to try using fresh oregano this time.
17. Kurtz says:
    Thursday, 23 October 2025 at 14:47

    @Scott:

    From your first link:

    The FDA told ProPublica that divulging drug names on its inspection reports would violate federal law that protects confidential commercial information. The agency said it only releases the information with approval from drug companies or in cases where companies have already made the details public.

    Current and former officials said the restriction was imposed long ago by FDA lawyers who interpreted the law broadly because they feared being sued by drugmakers. No one could recall who made the initial decision to withhold the information or when it was made. The FDA did not respond to a request to make its general counsel available for an interview, and a half dozen former general counsels contacted by ProPublica declined to comment or did not return calls.

    Officials with the generic drug lobbying group told ProPublica they have never weighed in on the redactions. A spokesperson from PhRMA, the trade group for brand-name drugmakers, did not answer a question about whether the organization had advocated for the redactions. She said that while appropriate transparency can promote public health, the FDA must protect sensitive manufacturing information.

    Gotta protect trade secrets at all costs.

    One of the thoughts I had reading Steven’s post about zoning and solar in Alabama:

    It was jarring when I started hearing all the anti-big business chirping from Trump voters. Presumably, at least some portion of that was coming from long-term straight-ticket GOP voters who spent pre-2016 railing against regulation.

    Then, they cheered on DOGE as it slashed already under-resourced agencies founded to regulate poor business practices.

    Legal persons are superior to natural persons in US political culture. The party that for decades championed personal responsibility for natural persons simultaneously ensured that legal persons had myriad ways to avoid responsibility for anything. And they did the latter with the help of the so-called far left party.

    Not to go all Neil Postman here, but:

    One of my friends is married to a woman in her late 20s. I’m close to both of them. But she is definitely of the generation sucked into TikTok. When my friend shakes his head at it, I roll my mind’s eye. TikTok is not sui generis. It is the latest iteration of the trend away from text to video that started decades ago.

    Ah, who am I kidding. This is America. A loosely connected confederation of dunces, dupes, and derps. Some, I assume, are good people.

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18. Kathy says:
    Thursday, 23 October 2025 at 15:01

    @becca:

    Totally unrelated to your comment, and for that matter anything ever written in OTB, or anything that’s happened since January 2025, does anyone know how guillotine futures are doing?

    1
19. Kurtz says:
    Thursday, 23 October 2025 at 15:07

    Shower Thoughts:

    I don’t know if it’s still a thing, but there was that period of Evangelical church leaders claiming that America was being punished for its immorality.

    Nonsense. But I’ll play along. Maybe God is punishing America because it has engaged in ethnic cleansing and genocide, the founders compromised with slavers in order to establish a state, fought a war over abolition but then allowed Jim Crow for the sake of that state’s survival, and continued to build upon a an exclusionary system until now.

    *picks up Old Testament* oh, nevermind.

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20. Kathy says:
    Thursday, 23 October 2025 at 15:18

    @Kurtz:

    Maybe God made him orange to warn us.

    2
21. JohnSF says:
    Thursday, 23 October 2025 at 16:18

    @Kathy:
    The King in Yellow Orange

    – You, sir, should unmask.
    – Indeed?
    – Indeed it’s time. We have all laid aside disguise but you.
    – I wear no mask.
    – No mask? No mask!

    2
22. Gregory Lawrence Brown says:
    Thursday, 23 October 2025 at 16:41

    On October 23, 1915, the forces of the women’s suffrage movement mobilized to create the most ambitious gathering to date, a parade of thousands to force the issue into the consciousness of New Yorkers and American at large.
    News Photos Here

    1
23. Kathy says:
    Thursday, 23 October 2025 at 16:55

    Lula will attempt the Biden.

    Different people age differently, granted. But his boast that he has as much energy as when he was 30 is nothing more than a boast. Not to mention an abrupt deterioration late in life is far from uncommon.

    The one difference is the wingnut he ousted from the presidency will not be running next year.

    Power, even when used wisely and judiciously, is a hell of a drug.

    1
24. Scott says:
    Thursday, 23 October 2025 at 18:14

    Just got a local notification that another ground stop occurred at Bush International Airport. This has happened periodically the last few days. Due to “staffing issues”. Shutdown is having an effect.

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25. Jax says:
    Thursday, 23 October 2025 at 18:26

    @Michael Cain: Yeah, that’s the strange thing. Well, probably strange for outsiders looking in. Despite “farmers and ranchers” often being lumped together, there is a weird type of competition between the two. Like, cattle ranchers who only do cattle often get offended if someone calls them a farmer, and many times I’ve seen ranchers bash farmers getting bailouts from da gubmint for failed crops and whatnot.

    This is the first time I’ve seen the cattle side of the equation realize that the Leopard might be about to eat THEIR faces. Apparently Trump went on some kind of Truth Social rant that REALLY angered people in the industry. They just realized how fucking dumb he is, maybe? 😉 I haven’t seen the post, don’t really care.

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26. steve222 says:
    Thursday, 23 October 2025 at 21:57

    @Kathy: Fresh oregano will provide for a nice change but the best fresh additive is fresh basil. At this point in my life the hassle of fresh oregano isn’t worth the reward but basil is a different story.

    Steve

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