Buck Banks, Author at Pensito

Democrat Outperforms in Louisiana Special Election

February 8, 2026 Buck Banks

37 points

Chasity Verret Martinez (D) won Saturday’s special election for Louisiana State House District 60, defeating Brad Daigle (R), 62% to 38%, the Baton Rouge Advocate reports. The Downballot reports it was “a massive 37-point overperformance compared to the 2024 presidential result.”

Trump’s Racist Post Sank the Midterms

February 8, 2026 Buck Banks

“You can kiss the midterms goodbye.”

— Former Trump Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, on NewsNation, after President Trump shared a racist post of the Obamas.

Yellow-Bellied Journalism

February 8, 2026February 8, 2026 Buck Banks

The mass layoffs at WaPo gave us a sense of bereavement,
And gutting the Post is Jeff Bezos’ crowning achievement.
We had low expectations when he bought it,
But we never foresaw the lesson he taught us
In the paper’s new tagline: Democracy Dies in Appeasement.

What Would Q Do?

February 8, 2026August 14, 2026 Buck Banks

Since 4chan in 2017 the QAnon conspiracy has been going strong,
Though the theory of a cabal of cannibal pedophiles could be wrong.
But now the facts emerging from the Epstein files
Have us starting to question our wits and wiles,
And beginning to wonder if the QAnon believers were right all along.

January Was Worst Month for Layoffs Since 2009

February 6, 2026 Buck Banks

108,435

Employers laid off 108,435 people last month, the highest January number since 2009, according to a new report from Challenger, Gray & Christmas. At the same time, hiring intentions haven’t been lower since then.

Freezing Their Assets Off

February 6, 2026 Buck Banks

The Trumps said the crypto market was a good one to enter,
But that was before the value of bitcoin began to splinter.
Now it’s worth even less
Than when Trump took office,
So welcome to 12 to 18 months of cold, cruel crypto winter.

Prescription for Obfuscation

February 6, 2026August 14, 2026 Buck Banks

For Donald Trump, media manipulation is almost a reflex,
Which is how we got to his latest diversion: TrumpRx.
It’s certainly not an affordability solution,
But it is a rather effective prescription
To divert attention away from the Epstein files and illegal sex.

Slotkin Digs In Against DOJ

February 6, 2026 Buck Banks

“I did this to go on offense. And to put them in a position where they’re tap dancing. To put them in a position where they have to own their choices of using a U.S. attorney’s office to come after a senator.”

— Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) is refusing to voluntarily comply with a Justice Department investigation into a video she organized urging U.S. military members to resist “illegal orders” — escalating a dispute that President Trump has publicly pushed, the AP reports.

Two-Thirds Say ICE Has ‘Gone Too Far’

February 6, 2026 Buck Banks

65%

A new NPR/PBS News/Marist poll finds 65% of Americans said Immigration and Customs Enforcement has “gone too far.” President Trump’s overall approval rating remains low at 39%, with 56% disapproving, and a whopping 51% strongly disapproving. That’s the highest Marist has seen in its polling since it started asking how strongly respondents approve or disapprove of presidents dating back to 2017.

The End Was Baked In When Bezos Bought the Washington Post

February 5, 2026 Buck Banks

“I finally concluded that I could provide runway—financial runway—because I don’t think you can keep shrinking the business. You can be profitable and shrinking. And that’s a survival strategy, but it ultimately leads to irrelevance, at best. And, at worst, it leads to extinction.”

Author: Buck Banks

Democrat Outperforms in Louisiana Special Election

37 points

Chasity Verret Martinez (D) won Saturday’s special election for Louisiana State House District 60, defeating Brad Daigle (R), 62% to 38%, the Baton Rouge Advocate reports. The Downballot reports it was “a massive 37-point overperformance compared to the 2024 presidential result.”

Trump’s Racist Post Sank the Midterms

“You can kiss the midterms goodbye.”

— Former Trump Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, on NewsNation, after President Trump shared a racist post of the Obamas.

Yellow-Bellied Journalism

What Would Q Do?

January Was Worst Month for Layoffs Since 2009

108,435

Employers laid off 108,435 people last month, the highest January number since 2009, according to a new report from Challenger, Gray & Christmas. At the same time, hiring intentions haven’t been lower since then.

Freezing Their Assets Off

Prescription for Obfuscation

Slotkin Digs In Against DOJ

“I did this to go on offense. And to put them in a position where they’re tap dancing. To put them in a position where they have to own their choices of using a U.S. attorney’s office to come after a senator.”

— Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) is refusing to voluntarily comply with a Justice Department investigation into a video she organized urging U.S. military members to resist “illegal orders” — escalating a dispute that President Trump has publicly pushed, the AP reports.

Two-Thirds Say ICE Has ‘Gone Too Far’

65%

The End Was Baked In When Bezos Bought the Washington Post

“I finally concluded that I could provide runway—financial runway—because I don’t think you can keep shrinking the business. You can be profitable and shrinking. And that’s a survival strategy, but it ultimately leads to irrelevance, at best. And, at worst, it leads to extinction.”

— Jeff Bezos, quoted by the New Yorker, in 2013, on why he purchased the Washington Post.

Poetic Justice

Verbatim

“One woman at a rally in New Jersey told me last week that she was ‘nauseously optimistic.’ That may capture a lot of people’s last-minute jitters.”

— Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), quoted by Axios, on what Democrats feel ahead of the midterm elections.

“I think Congress made a mistake not protesting turning the Rose Garden into what looks like the entrance to Liberace’s bathroom.”

— Former President Bill Clinton, quoted by The Wrap.

“Boy, they are scraping the bottom of the barrel. It feels like a real desperation play to me, because it has got zero basis in the law.”

— Republican election law expert Ben Ginsberg, quoted by Politico, on the Trump administration’s effort to invalidate Alaska’s election results.

Numerati

3,824

$1.4 billion

-35 points

31%

63% to 38%

KFF Poll: “With the 2026 midterm campaigns in full swing and early voting about to begin, there is a wide enthusiasm gap between partisan voters, with Democratic voters 25 percentage points more likely than Republican voters to say they are ‘more motivated’ than usual to vote (63% vs. 38%).”