The Week In Review: October 10, 2025

· That uneasy feeling when you’re actually agreeing with the Georgia “bleach-blonde, bad-built, butch body” about healthcare for all.

· This just in: man who has 34 felony convictions pressures Virginia grand jury to indict successful attorney responsible for most of said convictions.

· Slate reports this week that some women are ditching their OURA rings (which collect fertility data), because the Finnish company is opening a plant in Texas to comply with a US Government defense deal, and which uses software from Palantir, a Peter Thiel company. Palantir says women’s concerns about what it will do with OURA information are overblown, and also wants Sharon Fortmund of Springfield, MA to know tomorrow is the best day to get busy with her husband if she still wants that baby by July.

· “Come and get me!” — Governor Pritzker, in response this week to Donald Trump saying he should be arrested.

· In a recent exchange between Ezra Klein and Ta-Nehisi Coates, pursuant to Coates’ discussion of MLK and how his message of love got him murdered, the political commentator responded with a Buddhist quote about ageing and death. White privilege has entered the chat, y’all.

· “Are there New Yorkers who gave money to me and gave money to Donald Trump? Of course, of course!” — Andrew Cuomo this week on MSNBC. That should be data sufficient to vote for Mamdani, but if you need more, Cuomo also wants to keep Rikers open.

· Jasmine Ray (NYC’s Director of Sports, Wellness, and Recreation) announced this week that she has been Eric Adams’ side piece for years. Oh pumpkin, did you think that was a flex?

· News outlets are reporting this week that Barron Trump, following in his father’s footsteps, shut down an entire floor of Trump Tower so he could entertain a female. No word on whether said female was over 13, or whether he grabbed her by anything.

· Dolly Parton would like you to know she’s fine.

· Pursuant to the announcement that Bad Bunny will be performing at the Superbowl, the conservative group, Turning Point (run now by the lady who sold merch at her husband’s funeral), is planning to have its own halftime show, which they say will attract more viewers and better talent . . . if you can call Kid Rock “talent”.

· “No” — retired conservative Justice Kennedy this week to CNN, when asked about whether Obergefell v. Hodges, which guarantees marriage equality was likely to be overturned. The comments came in response to Clarence Thomas’ stated hope to overturn it. You know, the black justice whose marriage to the racist white lady is guaranteed by the same Constitutional amendment in Obergefell.

· “Money is not why we do this. It’s a way of life for us” — Saul Zabar, founder of Zabar’s who died this week at 97. No schmear campaign here . . . he wasn’t just a New Yorker, he was New York!

· This week marks another week where Speaker of the House Johnson refuses to swear in Rep-elect Adelita Grijalva (believed to be the deciding vote for releasing the Epstein Files), until after the government re-opens, which places equal odds on either Speaker Johnson issuing the oath, or her undertaker.

· The Quiet Part Out Loud Award was supposed to go this week to Melania Trump, who announced publicly that she had an “open channel” to Vladimir Putin, but at the last minute, it was awarded to the more deserving Stephen “Kristallnacht” Miller. Mr. Miller blurted out on CNN live that the Article 10 gives the president “plenary authority,” then froze like a Windows 95 laptop, when he realized he was on national TV and not in the Führerbunker.

· Songwriter who wrote “Jesus Take the Wheel” has died in a plane crash. Apparently, the Savior does not know how to take the throttle.

· Kristi “ICE Barbie” Noem went on Fox News to complain that ICE agents cannot find any restaurants that are willing to serve them, and this should be illegal. Aw, I love this for you. Remember when you were U.S. Representative back in 2018, and you put out a press release applauding the Supreme Court’s ruling in Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission?

· The Supreme Court will take up a parent’s right to use conversion therapy on children (long ago debunked as harmful by competent mental health professionals). Because the cruelty is the point.

· Bari Weiss is now the head of CBS, making it Fox News.

· This week, the Nobel Committee quietly removed Donald Trump from consideration, according to the BBC, and today awarded the prize to María Corina Machado for her struggle against authoritarianism and efforts to promote democracy. Turns out being a being an authoritarian and trying to subvert democracy are but a few hindrances to consideration.

· A judge on Thursday dismissed Drake’s lawsuit over Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Not Like Us,’ finding the assertion in the song that Drake was a pedophile to be opinion, not an assertion of fact, and that listeners understood that rap battle diss tracks are nothing more than conjecture. Rumor has it the judge relied heavily on the oft-cited punk-ass bitch law which she used against Drake: don’t start none, won’t be none.

· Katie Porter is not doing this!

· Answer there: he ordered and deployed paramilitary and militarized units to enforce his domestic policies, intimidate civilians, and crush opposition to him. Who is: Donald Trump, who is treating U.S. cities like war zones, using military language and deploying militarized units to enforce domestic policy, particularly around protests and immigration enforcement. No, I’m sorry, the answer is Adolph Hitler, who created the Brownshirts (Sturmabteilung) to act as street enforcers, terrorize Jews, and report on and break up meetings organized to oppose him. Are you getting the picture?

There is a scene in Godfather II where Michael Corleane discovers his brother is responsible for an attempt on his life. It later comes out that the dim-witted brother didn’t realize his betrayal would lead to the assassination attempt. Michael kisses the brother on the lips on New Year’s and says, “you broke my heart.”

I have friends who are republicans, but on one thing we agree there is no debate: the president is tearing at the very foundation of our democracy, and he is a criminal, not to be protected or excused, but to be removed and prosecuted. This week, I discovered — quite by accident — that someone I dearly cared for is not merely a Trump supporter, but staunchly defending the president, thus showing himself to be not merely republican, but racist, ignorant, susceptible to propaganda, and (news to me) not very bright. It broke my heart.

You’ve heard the Robert Jones, Jr. quote before, but it bears repeating here. Jones, writing under Son of Baldwin (and sometimes having this quote attributed to James Baldwin) wrote, “We can disagree and still love each other unless your disagreement is rooted in my oppression and denial of my humanity and right to exist. We do not need to agree on everything, but my line gets drawn when you deny the right of my fellow humans to exist.”

Robert Jones was kind. I am more like Michael Corleone. I have removed my earrings and purchased the economy-sized jar of Vaseline, because now it’s my life on the line. As we say down here in Oakland, it’s on.