SATURDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2025
But also, what Seth Moulton said: We start by thanking the ornamental pumpkins which "have brightened our pathways a while."
In this difficult time, it makes good sense for people to take their pleasure where they can honorably find it. Our neighborhood's ornamental pumpkins and winter squash—first cousins to Atticus Finch's mockingbirds—have been giving us a smile every time over the past several weeks.
Here's what Atticus said:
Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit ʼem, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird. Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy....They don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin...
We think of that statement every time we look on our neighborhood's front-steps pumpkin displays. In their vast array of presentations, the pumpkins and the winter squash seem to know how visually amusing they are. Without making a sound, they seem to be singing their hearts out for us.
They seem to be giving all that they have. For enjoyable photos, start here.
Then too, we turn to the amusing question of the World Series seventh game. We attended a seventh game once, right here in Baltimore, Maryland.
It was Game 7 of the 1971 series. We strolled roughly one mile to Memorial Stadium and bought two tickets—at the ticket booth!—on the very day of the game.
Baseball was different then. According to Baseball Reference, these were the official attendance figures for the four games played in Baltimore as roving gangs ruled the streets:
Game 1: 53,229
Game 2: 53,239
Game 6: 44,174
Game 7: 47,291
Were there really six thousand unsold tickets for that Game 7? (The Pirates won, 2-1, in two hours and ten minutes.)
We can't say we remember those empty seats. But even as game time approached, Game 7 wasn't a sellout. That was a different time.
Finally, it was Jennifer Bowers Bahney to the rescue at yesterday's Mediaite. On yesterday morning's Morning Joe, Rep. Seth Moulton had done a very unusual thing.
Instantly, Scarborough cut him off—as, of course, he should have. Bowers Bahney wrote it up and she provided the videotape:
Scarborough Shuts Down House Democrat Who Claimed Trump ‘Took Advantage of Young Girls With Epstein’
MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough jumped on a Democratic lawmaker Friday for declaring that President Donald Trump “took advantage of young girls” when he was associated with convicted sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein.
Rep. Seth Moulton’s (D-MA) comments came after Morning Joe’s Willie Geist asked, “What is the most effective message for Democrats in this moment?”
“The Democrats are here to help working people in America, and Republicans are here to protect the billionaire class,” Moulton said. “And what you see time and again from this White House, you know, if you’re a criminal, you’re going to buy your way to freedom with Trump. If you are one of the people like him who took advantage of young girls with Jeffrey Epstein, then we’re going to sort of make that go away. I mean, fundamentally, Speaker Johnson—”
Scarborough interrupted to say, “We don’t have evidence that he took advantage of young girls with Jeffrey Epstein.”
“Right, right, right.” Moulton [sarcastically] answered. “Just, common sense be damned.”
The report continues from there. That was a very unusual thing for Moulton to do. Instantly jumping in, Scarborough did what a journalist should.
Why does the Trump administration seem to be trying so hard to keep the Epstein files hidden? In Blue America, it's natural that we might want to believe that Moulton has the answer.
That said, there's no evidence of such misconduct on Trump's part. For what it's worth, Amy Wallace, who co-wrote the new book by the late Virginia Giuffre. has explicitly said that Giuffre "never talked about him in any sense that he was involved in any of this."
We saw Wallace, an experienced journalist, restate that point on cable just last week.
What may be in the Epstein files? Will the files ever go public? Could Moulton's speculation turn out to be right? Will the American government, such as it was, ever be "open" again?
We can't answer those questions. Also, we don't believe that Blue America can really expect to prosper by adopting the mud-wrestling tactics on display within the playrooms of the current head of state.
For whatever reason, the president emits a never-ending stream of false or unfounded statements. He's more skilled at that game than most Blues are. For him, a war of unfounded statements will frequently result in a win.
