November 22, 2025

"The bear ran so close to her 10-year son, Alvarez, that he 'even felt its fur,' she said, 'but it was going after somebody else.'"

From "Grizzly bear attack in British Columbia seriously injures 3 schoolchildren/Teachers used bear spray and a bear banger to drive the animal away, according to Canadian authorities. A parent said one teacher bore 'the whole brunt of it'" (WaPo).

"In a stunning and hasty reversal, the U.S. Coast Guard announced late Thursday that swastikas and nooses are prohibited hate symbols..."

"... erasing an attempt to soften their definition after the plan elicited furious backlash. The abrupt policy change occurred hours after The Washington Post first reported that the service was about to enact new harassment guidelines that downgraded the meaning of such symbols of fascism and racism, labeling them instead 'potentially divisive.'"

From "In reversal, Coast Guard again classifies swastikas, nooses as hate symbols/The new order came hours after The Post reported the service would instead classify such symbols as 'potentially divisive' under guidelines set for release next month" (WaPo).

Interesting. I note that Trump was asked about the policy at his press conference — the one with Mamdani — yesterday, and Trump said he didn't know about it:

"Minnesota, under Governor Waltz [sic], is a hub of fraudulent money laundering activity. I am, as President of the United States, hereby terminating, effective immediately..."

"... the Temporary Protected Status (TPS Program) for Somalis in Minnesota. Somali gangs are terrorizing the people of that great State, and BILLIONS of Dollars are missing. Send them back to where they came from. It’s OVER!"

Hard to believe your eyes.

"Tofig Aliyev from Azerbaijan just landed the world’s first full-full-full at the World Games in China. A full-full-full is a triple backflip with a 360° twist in each somersault":

Slow motion:

"Marjorie Taylor Greene Says She Plans to Resign in January."

The NYT reports: "Her announcement came days after President Trump branded her a 'traitor' for breaking with him and helping compel the Justice Department to release its files related to Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted sex offender. Ms. Greene, who was elected in 2020 and positioned herself as a die-hard Trump supporter until a series of recent ruptures with the president on a variety of issues, made the abrupt announcement in a video and statement she posted online, filmed from her home in Georgia, her Christmas tree on display behind her."

This is another one of the "certain topics" I was talking about yesterday in "I feel as though unseen readers are leaning on me to write about certain topics that I see out there." Today's news is easy to absorb, and now I don't have to react to what the NYT has been pushing at me for the last few days in things like "The Three G.O.P. Women Who Broke Trump’s Grip on Congress" and "Marjorie Taylor Greene Was Not on Our Bingo Card." 

In the "Bingo Card" conversation, Frank Bruni said to Bret Stephens:

"From the start, everyone recognized that the purpose of Texas’s redistricting effort was Republican political advantage."

"The district court erred by inferring bad faith and racial intent because the Texas Legislature’s map did not (through some hypothetical means) transform the only Democratic district in Austin — an exceptionally Democratic city — into a Republican stronghold."

Wrote Texas Solicitor General William Peterson, quoted in "Alito lets Texas reinstate gerrymandered House map that could give GOP 5 more seats/Alito’s move allowing Texas officials to continue to prepare for primary elections under the new map came just after the state asked the Supreme Court for an urgent ruling" (Politico).

This is one of the "certain topics" I was talking about yesterday in "I feel as though unseen readers are leaning on me to write about certain topics that I see out there." Today is a new day, with Alito's stay of the lower court's order. But if you want to engage with the very lengthy and emotional lower court opinions, I recommend the discussion on the podcast "Advisory Opinions," here. Excerpt: 

November 21, 2025

Sunrise — 6:38, 6:49, 7:02.

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Write about whatever you like in the comments.

Trump and Mamdani, together at last.


Question 1 (to Trump): You called him a communist! Question 2 (to Mamdani): You called him a fascist!

Trump: "And I've been called much worse than a despot, so it's not — it's not that insulting."

Later, Mamdani is pressured again: "Are you affirming that you think President Trump is a fascist?" And Trump breaks in: "That's okay, you can just say it. It's easier than explaining."

Trump and Mamdani displayed their unity: They're both practical and they both want what's good for New York. The press kept confronting them with the way they've insulted each other, but neither man took the bait. They were stunningly relaxed and friendly and entirely able to slough off each other's political remarks.

"We need policies in place that make it possible for people to live with their family and then move next door and stay with generations of families their entire life. You should be able to do that in a functioning and thriving society."

Said Matt Walsh, on this new Daily Wire podcast, which is good from the beginning but I'm going to jump you ahead to something that sheds light on the subject of families and geography.

Walsh was responding to Ben Shapiro's idea that young men should move away from their home town if that's what it takes to succeed economically:



I'm giving you written transcript even though Walsh's manner of speaking does not transcribe well:

"I can kind of understand why Machiavellian Republicans would spew conspiracy theories.... What I don’t understand is why some Democrats are hopping on this bandwagon."

Writes David Brooks, in "The Epstein Story? Count Me Out." (NYT).
They may believe that the Epstein file release will somehow hurt Trump. But they are undermining public trust and sowing public cynicism in ways that make the entire progressive project impossible. They are contributing to a public atmosphere in which right-wing populism naturally thrives. 
I have been especially startled to see Ro Khanna, a House Democrat and one of the most impressive politicians in America, use the phrase “the Epstein class” in his public statements.

"I think that I should contribute money to Jasmine Crockett and then let everybody know that she also took money from Jeffrey Epstein."

Said Dr. Jeffrey Epstein, cracking an excellent joke, after Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) "boasted on the House floor this week that she was 'gonna expose it all' after her discovery that 'somebody named Jeffrey Epstein' donated to the campaign of former Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY)."

From "Dr. Jeffrey Epstein – the Long Island neurosurgeon Jasmine Crockett confused with notorious pedophile – floats epic revenge he could exact on the congresswoman" (NY Post).

"In her rant, the Texas Democrat strongly implied that the Manhasset doctor’s April and August 2020 contributions to Zeldin, who is now head of the Environmental Protection Agency, were actually from the convicted pedophile – despite the fact that the $1,000 donations were made months after the disgraced financier died in a Manhattan jail cell."

"'I find it very difficult to convey how horrific it was... It was suffocating, wind so powerful that you had to sit down and curl into a ball...'"

"'... and turn your back to it so it didn’t knock you down the mountain. I couldn’t breathe with the ice and snow blowing so much in my face and then attempting to go up a very steep climb. It was just too many things at once.' They were two miles from their base camp and the large group of trekkers decided the safest thing to do was continue climbing for another mile or so in the hope of reaching a refuge. They would later discover it had been shut because park rangers had left to cast their mandatory votes in a presidential election the day before...."

"Men in power do not carry briefcases. Why should women?"

"Forgoing a bag simply telegraphs the impression that you have someone else to do the lifting for you. As Karla Welch, a stylist who worked with Ms. Harris at the beginning of her term, said: 'They all have bags. It’s just an aide carrying it.'"

Writes Vanessa Friedman, in "The Most Impactful Political Handbag Since Mrs. Thatcher’s/Sanae Takaichi, the new prime minister of Japan, makes a statement about work — with style" (NYT).

I jump to the middle of articles when I skim, and when I got to "a stylist who worked with Ms. Harris," I thought Who is Harris? 

Anyway, the new Japanese Prime Minister, Sanae Takaichi, a woman carries her own handbag, toting it at her side in the manner of Queen Elizabeth II and Margaret Thatcher. We're told: 
For Mrs. Thatcher, the handbag was a way of aligning herself with a respectable Everywoman accouterment.... Her bag was the kind of bag, British Vogue declared, carried by “a sensible, well-put-together person, reflective of an organized mind.”
The linked article sends us over to the OED to see this entry:

I feel as though unseen readers are leaning on me to write about certain topics that I see out there.

That provokes me to resistance. I've been writing this blog for almost 22 years, and the reason it works for me is that I only do what motivates me. I realize that this feeling that you're leaning on me to write about [whatever] must necessarily come from within — It's coming from inside the Althouse — but please know that if it were coming from you, I would be asking you to cut it out.

November 20, 2025

Sunrise — 6:42.

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You can write about whatever you like.

"It has come to my attention that a post referencing Indigenous People's Day was published from Official Alamo social media accounts..."

"... on October 13, 2025. Given that on October 9th, President Donald J. Trump issued a proclamation declaring the second Monday of October to be Columbus Day, I have serious concerns regarding the writing, approval, and posting process of the Alamo Trust, Inc. (ATI) Communications Team in coordination with ATI leadership.... This is not the first incident that has highlighted personnel who are misaligned with the culture of The Alamo.... Specifically, the second draft of the Visitors Center & Museum (VCM) script, where a 'Land Acknowledgement' plaque was to be displayed in the lobby. Additionally, 'Freedom' was only mentioned once, 'Liberty' a mere 13 times, but 'Slavery' and 'Enslaved' were mentioned nearly 70 times. This speaks to a pattern of behavior that is completely misaligned with the priorities of my office, and the vast majority of Texans who care so deeply for our Shrine of Liberty...."


And here's what Rogers had written in her 2023 PhD dissertation: “Personally, I would love to see the Alamo become a beacon for historical reconciliation and a place that brings people together versus tearing them apart, but politically that may not be possible at this time.”

(The headline says "Roger," but the rest of the article says "Rogers," which I believe is correct.)