As the Supreme Court term begins, keep this framework in mind: Autocratic Legalism. Instead of “rule of law” (law constrains the power), we get “rule by law” (law as a weapon for power). Authoritarians usually have to install allies. Trump started his second term with that step already complete.

If appropriations bills are not seen as enforceable contracts, why should any Member of Congress vote to fund any part of the federal government under Donald Trump? You're voting to provide money for lawlessness. www.doomsdayscenario.co/p/there-is-n...

Thanks, New Yorker

“.. Lower population growth as the president presses ahead with mass deportations will knock between 0.5 and one percentage points off America’s GDP growth between mid-2025 and mid-2026, according to S&P Global Ratings.” @telegraphnews.bsky.social www.telegraph.co.uk/business/202...

“Secretary Kennedy is entitled to his views. But he is not entitled to put people’s health at risk.” Six former surgeons general condemn RFK Jr.

“.. On closer inspection, however, it turned out that the image was not a photograph of a real event in Portland, but instead a fabrication created by combining two photographs of scenes that unfolded in South America nearly a decade apart ..” @theguardian.com www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

The Art of the Deal, huh? He only knows how to destroy, not to build.

Punt unit has been utterly catastrophic for MSU all day.

Four in ten who buy their own coverage say they would go without coverage if ACA premiums doubled. They will increase 114% if enhanced tax credits are not extended: on.kff.org/4nACyIk

As I said yesterday:

Trumpnomics: Get tariff money from US consumers on Chinese goods. Our farmers can’t sell their products because the Chinese refuse to pay our tariffs. China buys from farmers in Argentina instead. We send Argentina $20 billion. Then we pay our farmers to throw their crops away.

…

The air you breathe and food you eat could suffer because of the government shutdown, but apparently it won't stop construction of President Trump's gold-trimmed ballroom.

DOGE savaged government services. Costs went up.

Imagine under a Bernie Sanders admin, Congressional Rs and Ds agreed to give a 5% increase to DOD in exchange for big boosts to housing and nutrition. And then Bernie decided to just illegally ignore it and actually cut defense 10%. That’s what Trump is doing. How can you make a deal under that?

New piece from @radiofreetom.bsky.social answers the question: What does “nothingburger” have to do with “utterly embarrassing” “not okay” “more confused” “lost in the halls of history” “usual grievances, lies, and misrepresentation” “obsessions” & “unhinged” It’s….sobering and also a great read

Trump: Making Asia Great Again

Showing deteriorating labor market data is apparently not an essential function.

Shorter JD Vance: You are not allowed to criticize ICE. Goes along with shorter Pete Hegseth: You are not allowed to criticize the military's action at Wounded Knee. And shorter Donald Trump: You are not allowed to criticize me. It's full-on authoritarianism, all the way down.

This is how farmer “anxiety” winds up on Page One. @usapolling.bsky.social

A Week That Changed Nothing. And Everything. open.substack.com/pub/charlies...

Our Constitutional Democratic Republic depends on truth, trust, and unity in values. All of these are being destroyed before our eyes by the Trump administration. What will you do? I will contact my Congressman and Senators pleading for their action to stop this and I WILL VOTE.

the president just said the military should start shooting american civilians if they want to

“The outcry against this butchery started in the Army itself. [General Nelson] Miles was incensed that the simple surrender of a peaceful band of Lakotas had become what he called a ‘criminal military blunder and a horrible massacre of women and children.’” open.substack.com/pub/heatherc...

Trump claims he ended 7 wars. Here's the truth www.snopes.com/news/2025/09...

Mike Johnson refuses to swear in a Democrat who won her election in a landslide just so he can block a vote on the Epstein files. bsky.app/profile/acyn...

Hey Ag Sec—You reap what you and your boss sow, right?

Contact your Congressmen to demand that they extend enhanced ACA tax credits in the spending bill, this hopefully, preventing a shutdown

Summary of Trump’s speech to the UN today: 1. Your countries all suck. 2. None of you know what you are doing. 3. The US is better at everything. 4. All because of me. 5. I’m right about everything. 6. You should listen to me & do what I say. 7. And give me lots of awards.

Fact-checkers working hard to keep up…

Oh dear. It seems Dr. Oz’s company sells Trump‘s big autism cure. What a crazy happenstance.

The FDA statement ends with a paragraph undermining its own warning. They signal parents to avoid acetaminophen. Except sometimes. And then: No “causal relationship… established” with ADHD or autism AND Alternatives to acetaminophen have “well-documented adverse impacts.”

In today's Letter, @hcrichardson.bsky.social has it all: extra-judicial killings, persecution of political enemies, censorship, ongoing purge of government officials, concealing information, & colluding with enemies of the state through inaction. Welcome to fascism. We won't have it. We are America.

Apropos of nothing in particular, here's Walt Disney's testimony to HUAC in 1947, where he named employees he believed were communists, condemned labor unions, and accused "commie" groups, including the League of Women Voters, of smearing him. 🗃️ archive.org/details/walt...

Whoever wrote this @washingtonpost.com editorial has no understanding of military affairs-- and has not been reading two decades of the Post's coverage of the war in #Afghanistan: ♦️There is no way to hold #Bagram without the cooperation of the Taliban, or a Berlin Airlift level of resupply. Brief 🧵

If you're not totally aware of how bots try to sway minds, here's a good example.

On Earth 2.0, this would be The Story of the week, a firestorm of corruption, cover-ups, and scandal. Tom Homan, the thuggish head of Trump’s immigration brute squad was videotaped accepting a $50,000 cash bribe… and the Trump DOJ shut the investigation down. open.substack.com/pub/charlies...

Trump criticizes Pam Bondi for not charging his adversaries quickly enough, in a Truth Social post that looks a lot like a DM. truthsocial.com/@realDonaldT...

A. The Russians built Bagram. B. I don’t think the Taliban are scared of America. They defeated the US—and it was Trump who capitulated by signing a one-sided peace agreement that Biden carried out.

“.. Mr. Homan’s encounter with the undercover agents, recorded on audiotape, led him to be investigated for potential bribery and other crimes ..” @nytimes.com www.nytimes.com/2025/09/20/u...

File this one away for the inevitable, populist backlash to AI data-centers driving up Americans’ utility bills. @mikezaccardi.bsky.social

This is wildly illegal and he has no authority to do this

Republicans in Congress: ABC made a business decision based on ratings and input from their viewers and advertisers. Trump and Carr: No, it was us. We hated him and demanded he be fired. I kinda have to believe Trump on this one.

On Thursday as he flew back from England on the pre-Qatari Air Force One, Donald Trump said that television networks who were “against” him should have their broadcast licenses revoked. open.substack.com/pub/charlies...

Posting this for no particular reason -->

Free market, American exceptionalism, and free speech going, going…#ETTD

First and an ongoing war started by Putin’s Russia, then Poland and Romania, now Estonia. What will NATO, but especially Trump’s US do about this illegal provocation?

Yes, yes they are. Right, SCOTUS?