Welcome to the start of another “work” week: Monday, November 9, 2026, and they’re already putting up Christmas decorations nearly two months in advance. We’re not even at Thanksgiving yet! It’s British Pudding Day, though, and the Brits make the best puddings (I’m referring to real puddings, not the generic British term for “dessert”). My favorite is sticky toffee pudding, especially with vanilla ice cream, as in this photo from the Wikipedia article:
SIt’s also Carl Sagan Day (he was born on this day in 1934), National Fried Chicken Sandwich Day, National Greek Yogurt Day (cultural appropriation), and National Scrapple Day (I love the stuff).
Readers are welcome to mark notable events, births, or deaths on this day by consulting the November 9 Wikipedia page.
Da Nooz:
*BREAKING NEWS: The Philadelphia bike ride against “Zionists” was a bust: Jews and their supporters lined the streets around the “Zionist” eateries, and, though nonviolent, the loud and numerous counter-protestors apparently prompted the protest to end early. More later.
*The NYT explains newly-elected Texas Senator James Talarico’s “progressive” Christianity (article archived here).
Mr. Talarico slew his own giant this week, ending decades of Republican control in Texas with a decisive win that carried multiple other Democrats in the state to victory. He did it in part by speaking easily and openly about how his Christian beliefs inform his politics, starting with the biblical command to love God and “love thy neighbor,” as the sign on his lectern read on Tuesday night.
He was one of many successful Democrats across the country who framed their politics in terms of their Christian faith. The Methodist pastor Adam Hamilton pulled off a similar upset in Kansas. Two ordained ministers, Sarah Trone Garriott and Lindsay James, flipped House seats for Democrats in Iowa.
. . . More than a quarter of adult Texans are self-described evangelicals. But the state is also home to progressive Protestants like Mr. Talarico, millions of Catholics, and politically active Black congregations, including one in Dallas whose pastor was elected to Congress as a Democrat this week.
. . . .In a town hall hosted by CNN in October, a voter from his hometown of Round Rock, Texas, pressed him “Christian to Christian” about provocative past statements like “God is nonbinary.”
“Do you believe that the Bible is the absolute source of truth and God’s final authoritative word, even when our culture says otherwise?” she asked.
“Yes,” Mr. Talarico answered.
The Bible was written by humans, is full of bad stuff, and is historically inaccurate, as well as leaving out a number of things (e.g, the existence of disease-causing microbes) that surely a beneficent God would have wanted us to know. How could Talarico have possibly answered “yes” to that question? And where did he get the idea that “God is nonbinary”? Seriously, if he can believe stuff like this, can he be trusted to be absolutely rational in his political life? A bit more:
This week, some in the state wondered if they were seeing the end of one era of Texas Christianity, and the beginning of another.
“If that form of conservative Christianity was going to die out, this is what it would look like,” said Joseph Locke, an historian at the University of North Texas and the author of a recent book about religion in the state.
“It would start with these isolated victories, and you could see the cracks forming,” he said.
Well, good riddance to evangelical Christianity, but I have to say that I’m dubious about someone that religious. I wouldn’t not vote for them just because of that, but I would think less of them. People like Talarico are simply interpreting the Bible, which paints the picture of a not wholly admirable God, in light of their liberal politics. He’s forcing the words of the Bible into the Procrustean bed of his liberal political views.
*According to the Times of Israel (and other sources), Shin Bet, the Israeli internal security agency, is in the process of doing away with everyone it can identify as having participated in the October 7, 2023 massacre (Mossad had a similar mission to track down the Palestinian killers of the Israeli Olympic team in Munich in 1972).
As Israel continues to target Hamas operatives in Gaza, the Shin Bet security agency reportedly has been calling members of the terror group ahead of strikes, offering them a choice: Leave their homes and be killed alone, or be killed along with their family members.
The report published Thursday in the Arabic newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat stated that such incidents occurred at least five times in recent months, citing Palestinian sources familiar with the cases, which could not be independently verified.
The Shin Bet and Israel Defense Forces have not commented on the report, which came amid intensifying scrutiny over civilian killings in the Gaza Strip that Israeli officials say are a result of Hamas’s tactics to embed its fighters and weapons caches within civilian areas.
The report said Mohammad Alyan al-Bayouk, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Khan Younis on Wednesday, was on the roof of his home when he was targeted. Before the strike, he received a phone call from Shin Bet officers, who allegedly told him to choose between being hit alone on the roof and sparing his family, or staying inside.
Al-Bayouk, who the IDF on Friday identified as a member of Hamas’s elite Nukhba Force, chose to go up to the roof, where he was killed.
The military said al-Bayouk was one of four Hamas operative killed Wednesday in IDF strikes across southern Gaza. It named the other three operatives as Hammam Jaber al-Sayed Abu Labda, Mahmoud Abu Naameh and Mohammed Hamad Shariq Abu Sultan, who the IDF said were together at the time of the strike in Rafah.
Later Friday, the IDF confirmed it also killed two terror operatives on Thursday in central Gaza’s Nuseirat, including Ihab Jamil Abu Taqiya. The military said he was a Hamas commander involved in holding hostages taken during the October 7, 2023, invasion of southern Israel that sparked the Gaza war, including Raya Rotem, Hila Rotem Shoshani, Emily Hand, Ohad Ben Ami, Noa Argamani, Andrey Kozlov, Shlomi Ziv, Almog Meir Jan, Maxim Herkin, Yosef Haim Ohana, Segev Kalfon and Alex Lobanov.
The war against Hamas is not over, and will not be until they surrender and give up their weapons. Those involved in the October 7 attack must also face justice. But al-Bayouk was given a choice: die with his family or die alone. If this was a genocidal war, he would not have been offered that alternative: the whole family would have been killed.
*Incoming “progreessive” Democrats want Chuck Schumer dumped as the likely Senate Majority leader, for he’s a symbol of the “old” politics. But it looks as if Schumer is going to keep the job. First, from the Guardian:
Incoming Democratic senators want someone other than Chuck Schumer to become the next majority leader in the US Senate, although Schumer likely still has enough votes in his caucus to remain the top Democrat.
Annie Andrews, the Democratic senator-elect from South Carolina, told Fox News’s Bret Baier on Thursday that the Democratic party needs new leadership. When asked whether she would support Schumer’s leadership bid, she replied: “I still very much believe it’s time for generational change on both sides of the aisle.”
Adam Hamilton, the senator-elect from Kansas, told CNN on the campaign trail that he would not support Schumer as the party’s leader. Hamilton, the first Democrat to win a Kansas Senate seat in 94 years, had pitched himself as independent from the Democratic party.
Abdul El-Sayed, the senator-elect from Michigan, again declined to support Schumer as the majority leader on CNN on Thursday and said he wanted to consider other options.
Other incoming Democrats have also declined to support Schumer, including James Talarico, the senator-elect from Texas; Juliana Stratton, the senator-elect of Illinois; Chris Pappas, the senator-elect of New Hampshire; Peggy Flanagan, the senator-elect of Minnesota; and Troy Jackson, the senator-elect of Maine
Democratic voters have indicated they want newer and younger leadership in the party. Over the last two years, progressive Democrats have scored major victories in local and state elections.
It’s led some lawmakers to push for similar changes in decade-old leadership. Schumer, 75, has served as the Democrats’ leader in the Senate since 2017.
And here’s the NYT report Schumer will probably keep the job:
Last year, Democratic interest groups and voters berated Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the minority leader, for backing off a spending fight with President Trump rather than forcing a government shutdown early in his term.
Activists called for Mr. Schumer’s ouster. Some Democratic lawmakers seethed. Protesters jeered outside his Brooklyn home. The outcry reached such a pitch that he postponed public appearances to promote a new book he had written and hunkered down amid questions about whether he could continue as the Democratic leader.
Twenty months later and in the wake of a sweeping electoral victory he engineered and funded, Mr. Schumer’s aides say he has locked down another term in that post, having secured commitments of support from enough Democratic senators to be elected majority leader in a private vote scheduled for next month.
Senate Democrats have gained at least seven and potentially nine seats to capture the largest majority they have enjoyed since Barack Obama’s presidency.
None of it has quelled the outcry from the left against Mr. Schumer, 75, who was viewed favorably in a May New York Times/Siena poll by only about one-third of Democrats. Among Democrats in the Senate, there is still some resistance to his continuing at the top — including by some of the newly elected members — but no Democrat has emerged to challenge him.
I’m okay with Schumer, who has pushed through some important legislation when he was Majority Leader, and hasn’t made any notable gaffes. He’s a known quantity, surely helped promote the Democratic landslide, and it’s telling that the Republicans don’t like him because they see him as pushing the Democratic agenda. I’d just as soon have him stay on than risk him being replaced by a “progressive.”
*The WSJ names upcoming Democratic “stars” who won in the midterms and have the chance to run for President in two years.
Democrats have emerged from a resounding midterm victory with a deep bench and rising stars who have reinvigorated the party. But as they pivot to a 2028 presidential primary contest already informally under way, things could get messier.
Fresh faces helped Democrats swing deep-red states ahead of a primary that is expected to be among the most wide open in a generation for Democrats, with some candidates expected to announce their bids in the coming months.
With a sprawling field expected, the nomination race threatens to expose divisions unsettling Democrats: establishment vs. outsider, moderate vs. progressive, pro-Israel vs. Israel skeptics and youth vs. experience. And the party’s sweeping midterm success will allow for multiple interpretations of how it should move forward on politics and policy.
The “midterm stars” include James Talarico, Abdul El-Sayed, Bob Sand, and Jon Ossoff. I’ll highlight one in each category.
Sen. Jon Ossoff’s massive re-election victory this week—he won by 18 points in battleground Georgia—has spurred even more speculation about a presidential bid in 2028. Ossoff’s Sunday night rallies and viral short-form videos drove fundraising and attention—recall his reference to White House aide Natalie Harp. The senator has said he has “zero interest” in a presidential campaign. But if he changes his mind, he would be formidable.
It’s interesting that El-Sayed is not touted as a real candidate, but as a “valuable endorsement.” Doesn’t that depend on what he does in the next two years?
The “Obama/Biden alums” include Kamala Harris, Pete Buttiegieg, Rahm Emanuel, and New Orleans mayor Mitch Landrieu. Mayor Pete has long been a favorite of mine:
Sen. Jon Ossoff’s massive re-election victory this week—he won by 18 points in battleground Georgia—has spurred even more speculation about a presidential bid in 2028. Ossoff’s Sunday night rallies and viral short-form videos drove fundraising and attention—recall his reference to White House aide Natalie Harp. The senator has said he has “zero interest” in a presidential campaign. But if he changes his mind, he would be formidable.
The governors include J. B. Pritzker, Gavin Newsom, Andy Beshear, Josh Shapiro, and Wes Moore. You can rule out Shapiro and Pritker because they’re Jewish. I like Pritker, though:
If he runs for president, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker won’t have to aggressively court big-donor money. The billionaire, an heir to the Hyatt hotel fortune, won a third term on Tuesday and has invested hundreds of millions into his own campaigns. He used the midterms to make additional friends as a major party donor, giving Democrats and allied causes more than $38 million during the two-year election cycle, according to a person familiar with his giving. Pritzker rolled out a 75-page policy proposal the day after the election making suggestions to Congress.
Finally, the people on the hill include AOC, for whom I have no use (her big accomplishments are pushing herself forward on social media), Mark Kelly, Raphael Warnock, Ruben Gallego, Elissa Slotkin, Cory Booker, Chris Van Hollen and Ro Khanna. Slotkin is out because she’s a “Zionist” and several of these are too “progressive” for me.
Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona campaigned in 23 states for Democrats during the midterm election cycle, his aides said, while helping raise more than $15 million for efforts to win back the majority. His military service and time as an astronaut—along with his advocacy work on gun safety alongside his wife, former Rep. Gabby Giffords, who survived a 2011 assassination attempt and mass shooting—would give him a unique role in any campaign.
But it’s early days, and we have a few years for a dark horse to emerge.
*Willie Nelson is 93, and despite his lifelong consumption of weed and other drugs, he’s still going strong. In fact, his autobiography, The Last Leaf (a great title, also with the subtitle: Reflections on Late-Life Creativity and My Longest Love Affair) comes out tomorrow.
In the book, Nelson looks back on his artistic journey, particularly within the last decade. Over the past 12 years, the prolific songwriter has created 21 studio albums and 50 new songs, and performed hundreds of live shows.
How does he do this? “Looking to the future as I look to the past,” Nelson writes in the book, per its synopsis. “I stay in the present.”
Nelson, however, also takes on mortality within the pages of The Last Leaf. The musician reflects on his “almost-certain death” during the COVID-19 pandemic — and how his wife, Annie D’Angelo, kept him grounded.
“The backbone of this book is a love story,” Nelson tells PEOPLE. “The heroine is my wife, Annie, who kept me alive when I was sure I was gone. COVID nearly got me. I was hurting so bad I wanted out. But Annie wouldn’t let me go. The years I’ve lived since then are because of Annie. And so is this book.”
, , , , Nelson has published several books over the last few years, including 2021’s Willie Nelson’s Letters to America, his 1988 autobiography Willie: An Autobiography and the 2022 memoir Me and Paul: Untold Stories of a Fabled Friendship. Nelson and his wife collaborated on 2024’s Willie and Annie Nelson’s Cannabis Cookbook.
The Last Leaf, however, showcases Nelson’s current mindset — and the joys within.
“In every great book, at least ideally, the last chapter is the best chapter,” the book’s synopsis reads. “The Last Leaf shows how true that can be.”
Click on the cover below to go to its Amazon link:
Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili rests beneath a pear tree. But Andrzej republished a Hili dialogue from 2018 on his Facebook page:
Hili: If you’ve been looking for me, here I am.Me: Really?
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From Stacy:
From Terrible Maps; Paraguat is the only exception in the world (see below):
Here’s the flag (from reddit Vexillology):
From Beth on Facebook:
From Masih: Iran has once again hanged three young and innocent protestors: three this time.
Again, we Iranians woke up this morning to horrifying news:
The Islamic Republic has hanged three more innocent protesters.
Shocking that how hanging human beings for speaking, for demanding Freedom has become the Islamic Republic’s new normal. Worse, the world seems to be getting used to it.
Today, Hassan Dioband, Hamid Kazemi, and Reza Zanganeh were executed over January’s protests.
Three lives taken. Three families shattered.
Stop normalizing executions in Iran.
#StopExecutionsInIran
— Masih Alinejad (@AlinejadMasih) November 8, 2026
From Luana, an oldie but goodie from The Onion:
From Bryan. Here, in an interview, Eminem tells us that the word “orange,” long said to have no rhymes, can, with some rapper’s latitude, actually be made to rhyme:
Everyone says nothing rhymes with “orange.” Eminem, who never made it past ninth grade, rhymed it in a single sentence.
He doesn’t change the word. He changes how you say it.If you take “orange” at face value, nothing rhymes with it. But if you enunciate it and stretch it into more than one syllable, the word starts to bend.
Then he proves it: “I put my orange four-inch door hinge in storage and ate porridge with George.”
He says it bothers him when people claim “orange” doesn’t rhyme with anything, because he can think of plenty of things that do.
Asked if he thinks about rhymes all day, he says yes. It drives him insane.
He didn’t break the rule. He found the loophole.Is it a real rhyme, or just a trick of enunciation?
— Myroslav (@Myrvexo) November 7, 2026
From Malcolm, a remarkable video of Buffalo Bill Cody communicating with a Lakota Chief who was his friend:
Buffalo Bill in conversation with Oglala Lakota Chief Iron Tail.
William F. Cody and Oglala Lakota Chief Iron Tail shared a remarkable friendship that lasted nearly twenty years. Speaking different languages, they communicated through Plains Indian Sign Language. https://t.co/jP1M7NCpFG
— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) October 22, 2026
One from my feed: how to peacefully disarm a boycott by haters. This is lovely—from yesterday’s Philadelphia “Boycott of Zionists”
Pro-Palestine activists tried to cancel Jewish-owned restaurants in Philadelphia today with a boycott ride.
Instead? Massive lines wrapped around the block to support them.
You try to intimidate our local businesses, the community shows up in force.
You love to see it! 🇺🇸 https://t.co/ghpxMVy7ZA— Ryan Fournier (@RyanAFournier) November 8, 2026
One I reposted from The Auschwitz Memorial. This one remembers the November pogrom by the Nazis, which included Kristallnacht:
9-10 November 1938 | The November Pogrom – a pogrom against the Jews throughout Nazi Germany. Hundreds were killed (or died by suicide), 30,000 men arrested and incarcerated in concentration camps, over 1,000 synagogues burnt, over 7,000 Jewish businesses destroyed or damaged.
In an article on the evening of 11 November, Joseph Goebbels ascribed the events to the “healthy instincts” of the German people: “The German people are anti-Semitic. It has no desire to have its rights restricted or to be provoked in the future by parasites of the Jewish race.”
The pogrom changed the nature of the Nazi persecution of Jews from economic, political & social to physical with beatings, incarceration & murder. In this view, it is not only as a large-scale pogrom but also a critical stage within a process which led to genocidal stage.
Reichspogromnacht is also known as the Kristallnacht (“Crystal Night”). This name comes from the shards of broken glass that littered the streets after the windows of Jewish-owned stores, buildings and synagogues were smashed.
Only three years after the November Pogrom the physical extermination of Jews began in Germany & German-occupied European territory – first the murder was perpetrated in the East by shooting of the Einsatzgruppen & later in gas chambers of extermination camps, such as Auschwitz.
Exactly 4 years after the November Pogrom – on 9 November 1942 – a transport of 1000 Jews deported by the Germans from District of Białystok arrived at Auschwitz. 190 men & 104 women were registered. The remaining 706 people were murdered in gas chambers.
— Auschwitz Memorial (@AuschwitzMuseum) November 9, 2026
And two from Dr. Cobb. First, a rolling orang:
Orangutan just rolling through life: #AGoodPlaceSource: http://www.reddit.com/r/NatureIsFu…
— Michelle says: Be kind. Always. ❤️ (@snarkysillysad.bsky.social) 2026-11-08T11:56:07.125Z
And look at all these rays!:
Underwater footage of the massive Cownose Ray gathering near Tampa, Florida this year. The camera is attached to a long carbon fiber pole, which is in turn connected to a drone with rope. The pole eliminates the possibility of a ray getting caught in the rope. #nature #animals #naturephotography
— See Through Canoe (@seethroughcanoe.bsky.social) 2026-11-08T14:11:58.327Z
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Music: Here’s Willie singing “September Song“, written by Kurt Weill and Maxwell Anderson, and released in 1938. I think it’s the best version, for his voice is incredibly plaintive and it’s appropriate, as the object of the song could be his beloved wife.