I just discovered my new favorite Irish Nigerian poet: www.instagram.com/monwunali_po...

I thought I would share this important public service message today: youtu.be/SUxqNqyBoGM?...

“T.P.S. should be extended until there is a democratically elected government in Venezuela, and Venezuela has been stabilized. Full stop.” #trump #tps www.americamagazine.org/politics-soc...

Naming a police officer is not doxxing. We aren’t supposed to have secret police in America.

Formerly protected Venezuelan residents now face the difficult choice of “self-deporting” back to their troubled homeland or figuring out how to evade the Department of Homeland Security’s expanding dragnet for immigrants bereft of legal standing. www.americamagazine.org/politics-soc...

The shock ending of Mr. Maduro’s 13-year reign, a period plagued by many U.N.-documented human rights abuses, immediately produced contrasting images of the Venezuelan people. www.americamagazine.org/politics-soc...

Both Ms. Velásquez and Daniel had been opposition supporters, but hours after Mr. Maduro’s arrest, they remained uncertain how to respond. Mr. Maduro may be gone, but deep fear of his regime remains. www.americamagazine.org/politics-soc...

"The N.S.S. does not express the same misgivings about hemispheric domination, following a model of regional hegemony favored by Russia and China. It accepts such spheres of influence as somehow an organic geopolitical outcome." www.americamagazine.org/politics-soc...

Why can't we have nice things like universal child and health care? Nearly $1 trillion in pentagon spending alone in next budget. And it shows no sign of ever being interrupted. #soverigndeathfund

This must have been like a thousand years ago …

Trump's reversal on US sustainable energy dev/production will likely prove among the costliest maldecisions he's made this year "What’s happening in South Africa is repeating across the continent. Key to this shift: China’s ambition to lead the world in clean energy."

Folks it's been a really rough year in many respects, but even though the @philadelphiaeagles.bsky.social won the Superbowl, this was my super bowl for a religious historian who is a Catholic..And a Pope of the Americas to boot. What a year!

God bless us everyone Christmas is coming youtu.be/Fasr2dNeFYI?... via @YouTube

Pope Leo added that “remarks that are made about Europe, also in interviews recently, I think, are trying to break apart what I think needs to be a very important alliance today and in the future.” www.americamagazine.org/politics-soc...

Wow

The great @hoffmanbruce.bsky.social: “We’re only as good as the last terrorist attack that’s been prevented. Terrorists are consummate opportunists. When they see an opportunity to take advantage of a gap in security [...] they will act.” @clarkeatamerica.bsky.social

Per NY Times’s Michael Grynbaum on X, this is Sharyn Alfonsi’s email to her “60 Minutes” colleagues in full:

Now seems like a swell time to point out that Frontline just released this excellent 11-minute mini-documentary about what happened inside CECOT.

The free press

A group of Black Maryland lawmakers plan to propose a bill that would create a commission to investigate the deaths of hundreds of Black children who died at a segregated juvenile detention facility during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

“Unfortunately, the Christmas season has been a magnet for terrorists.” www.americamagazine.org/politics-soc...

The Bondi Beach terror attack claimed 15 lives and renewed concerns about the reach of the Islamic State. Dislodged from its self-declared caliphate, the attack is a reminder that the Islamic State retains its deadly capacity. www.americamagazine.org/politics-soc...

The Islamic State has returned to its terrorist roots, decentralizing, diving underground and disseminating its message from dark corners of the internet. It remains the world’s deadliest terror organization. In 2024, ISIS and its affiliates were responsible for 1,805 deaths in 22 countries.

Wowsa Our Petty, Hollow, Squalid Ogre in Chief www.nytimes.com/2025/12/16/o...

Not that this will change the minds of the self appointed MRNA vaccine experts out there but ... jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

Dialing the bigotry up to 11. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

Catholics had wondered how often Pope Leo might be inclined to comment on the policies of his home nation. But when the world’s most affluent and powerful country sets policy on common good concerns, how could any pope refrain from engaging? www.americamagazine.org/politics-soc...

“We go to the periphery, and there are times when we definitely smell like the sheep, because sometimes you find yourself in a big herd of sheep.” www.americamagazine.org/politics-soc...

Pope Leo added that “remarks that are made about Europe...are trying to break apart what I think needs to be a very important alliance today and in the future.” www.americamagazine.org/politics-soc...

“I feel very strongly, as a Catholic, that the biggest five-alarm fire [in the world] is our potential loss of Christianity in the birthplace of Christ,” Ambassador Bowe said. But it “wouldn’t take much” to restore some “radical hope.” www.americamagazine.org/politics-soc...

Going to the periphery is no metaphor for Holy Family Hospital in #Bethlehem. Its mobile clinics reach Bedouin and other Palestinian communities where many have been cut off because of Israeli security walls and prohibited roadways on the West Bank. www.americamagazine.org/politics-soc...

gross

trump gets cheered for helping farmers ... wish I could get props for resolving problems of my own making

They're using the confinement box, one of the most horrific methods of CIA torture in the post-9/11 black sites, against migrants now. This is the direct result of the lack of consequences for the architects of the torture program. Either there will be criminal penalties for this or it will expand.

Since 1990, Holy Family Hospital has delivered more than 100,000 babies in Bethlehem, treating more than 500 infants in its neonatal care unit each year. Holy Family Hospital in Bethlehem brings hope and help to West Bank Christians www.americamagazine.org/politics-soc...

For POTUS, much of the appeal of the boat bombing scheme is that it is dramatic, performative military action. But a USCG sniper shooting out the engine of moving fast boat from a helicopter is impressive and makes for good content. Seems like entertainment wise that could substitute for bombings.

The isolated villages served by these mobile clinics are often surrounded by Israeli settlements and “people are afraid to leave, for fear of having something happen—maybe to their crops or their homes or have their land taken, particularly now.” www.americamagazine.org/politics-soc...

Going to the periphery is no metaphor for the work of Holy Family Hospital. Its mobile clinics depart from Bethlehem weekly for service visits to Bedouin and other Palestinian that have been cut off because of Israeli security walls and roadways prohibited to Palestinians across the West Bank.

“True justice,” the archbishop said, “is achieved through transparent legal procedures, accountability, and respect for life—not through violence outside the law.” Archbishop Broglio urges end to Trump administration’s Venezuela strikes www.americamagazine.org/news/2025/12...

I just find it hilarious that his whole cabinet is sloberring praise all over him with ridiculous hyperbole and he is falling asleep while they're doing it. You couldn't write comedy better than this. It's better than VEEP.

“I call on our Nation’s leaders, legislators, and those specifically charged to direct our Armed Forces to respect the consciences of those who raise their right hands to defend and protect the Constitution by not asking them to engage in immoral actions” www.americamagazine.org/news/2025/12...

Local police officials feeling obligated to encourage locals to call local police if they're unsure if they're encountering federal law enforcement — because of federal law enforcement tactics — strikes me as significant development.

Geez when you put it like that it sounds terrible

Not at all stinky Targeting Venezuela and Pardoning Honduran Ex-President, Trump Contradicts Himself www.nytimes.com/2025/11/29/u...

Drug Arrests and Gun Seizures Fell as Homeland Security Pursued Immigration www.nytimes.com/2025/11/25/u...

CNN headline. The 2 turkey's pardoned, join 1,000 + J6 traitors & Giuliani.

Democracy dies in dampness

Apple is anti-union. Tesla is anti-union. Amazon is anti-union. McDonald's is anti-union. Starbucks is anti-union. Google is anti-union. Walmart is anti-union. These mega-corporations aren’t on workers’ side and their actions make it painfully clear.