I am delighted to announce a series of talks sponsored by the Chicago Humanities Festival, curated by me, on the history, meaning and future of the Constitution, titled (not by me, I swear!) Peter Sagal's Constitution Sessions, beginning in May with three great events. www.chicagohumanities.org

There are very few situations in which people get to criticize Admin members to their face, and only one where they are required to shut up and take it. The transcript is really remarkable.

This sketch from SNL made me laugh a lot. youtu.be/59CpJqCbxXs?...

Back in 2024, the President did an interview at the Economic Club of Chicago and called Newsome “Newscum.” The interviewer said, “No CEO could call people names like that and keep his job, that’s childish.” Trump just said: “That’s what I call him.” (All this from memory)

FYI: Kent, a two-time GOP congressional candidate in WA, is a former Special Forces and Special Ops guy who was all in on “Stop the Steal” and anti-vax conspiracies. He also, as he says in his letter, lost his wife to a suicide bomber in Syria.

As always: here’s @pbump.com explaining in 2022 why President Trump hates wind farms. wapo.st/3NoxHx2

Don't leap to conclusions. It could have been one of his predecessors as a FIFA Peace Prize laureate.

Speaking of Venezuela, they just took the lead in the semi-final of the World Baseball Classic vs Italy, and if they win, the final will be between them and USA tomorrow. Should be fun!

From the ruling: “This argument [by the Government] can only be countenanced if one completely abandons the idea of objective fact…” That really is the issue at the heart of many of the legal cases against the Administration. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

No endorsement in IL-9 implied or offered (I don't live there anyway) but Ben here took on a very difficult assignment -- writing in praise of one's partner, without undue sentiment or cliche -- and did it really well.

Obvious and best answer:

A question from a musically illiterate old man: the Oscar winners for Best Song "Golden" (Yay! Love it!) were: Mark Sonnenblick, Joong Gyu Kwak, Yu Han Lee, Hee Dong Nam, Jeong Hoon Seo, Teddy Park, and EJAE. How do 7 people collaborate on a single song? (I know EJAE was the vocalist.)

The Washington Post won a Pulitzer Prize for public service in 2022 for its coverage of Jan. 6. Their entry's capstone was a mammoth feature titled "The Attack," featuring reporting by 26 journalists. By my count, 8 of them are still at the paper. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/int...

Northern NJ. Boy scout troop trip to a... wallpaper factory.

Rename it the Strait of America.

I've been reading Dana for decades, and had the pleasure of meeting him a few times, so I've been waiting for this shoe to drop. Best of luck to him and his colleagues on this new venture. I hope it lives up to these ambitions.

Delroy Lindo should have won one of those “okay, technically its for this role, but its really for a lifetime of amazing work ” Oscars. Ie, DiCaprio for “The Revenant,” Pacino for “Scent of a Woman,” etc.

The only thing I’d add to this fine story about a Dem primary in Chicago is that Kat’s t-shirt, “What if we didn’t suck?” is a reference to this iconic souvenir from the 2016 Cubs championship season: www.sportsworldchicago.com/try-not-to-s...

Welp, we all know where Wallace is.

Utterly delighted to hear the voice of that NPR legend Robert Siegel once more: www.nytimes.com/2026/03/14/o...

Michael B Jordan also played a vaguely similar character to Wallace in the truly… uh, well intentioned Keanu Reeves Little League movie, “Hardball.” It’s ridiculous, but there’s a moment when as a newly minted young gangbanger he shoots a warning look to a former friend, and it’s all right there.

Oh… THERE’s Wallace.

friend, this is Marcus Junius Brutus CAESAR has declared himself DICTATOR FOR LIFE and MUST BE STOPPED can you rush a donation of ten denarii today to show that you STAND WITH THE REPUBLIC?

On the other hand… if not now, when?

It’s crystal clear now that Trump has lost control of this war. He badly misjudged Iran’s ability to retaliate. The region is on fire. 1/ I’m going to explain to you in this🧵what I’ve learned - in part from closed door briefings - about the four biggest current crises.

House GOP leadership silent as more members post anti-Muslim statements www.npr.org/2026/03/14/g...

FCC to journalists: cover the Iran war the way the president prefers or lose your broadcast license.

Here is my best Habermas story. I am grad student waiting in LONG line for Habermas talk. There is a tall man waiting in front of me. Line moves so we are eventually visible to organizers, a woman looks over & makes horrified face. Runs out: "Prof Habermas! You don't have to wait in line!"

I believe Daniel Radcliffe in "Every Brilliant Thing" on B'way is just as great as this review says he is, but I'm just mentioning: if you'd like to enjoy this marvelous play (w/o Radcliffe, w/ its co-creator and original star) its on HBOMax. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/12/t...

The development of SSRIs (anti-depressants like Prozac) and related medications came in the middle of my adult life, so I've lived in the Before and After times, and I can assure you this is true.

The deadline to apply for our next fellowship session is April 1. ✅ paid position ✅ health insurance ✅ relocation reimbursement And you'll participate in all aspects of show production. www.thisamericanlife.org/fellowships

Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2026/03/13/o...

This is an astonishing story, or, really, the end of one that began with the building of the LA Aqueduct. The LA Aqueduct was a engineering miracle, a gravity fed system that brought water 100s of miles to LA from the Owens Valley, designed by a self-taught engineer named William Mulholland.

New: Rep. Andy Ogles, who said Muslims don’t belong in America, represents one of the largest Muslim populations in the American South. His Tennessee district includes a neighborhood known as Little Kurdistan. Some Muslims in his district fear his comments will fuel harassment and violence

Pitch an unnecessary sequel Dirty Dancing 2: Havana Nights

Whoever is the next Secretary of State is going to have some big shoes to fill.

The reporters who remain at the post after the Bezos Purge continue to show up and do the work... especially the team covering the Pentagon.

I have too many obligations to be able to quit my job, so who am I to say somebody else should, out of principle? Here's somebody who did, fully aware of the cost, and who is paying it now. Give it a listen. (The DOJ lawyer in the second segment, Julie T Le, has since been fired)

News: As you might have heard, our Judge and Scorekeeper, with a voice on loan to God, Bill Kurtis, is stepping down from “Wait Wait” at the end of May. chicago.suntimes.com/arts-and-cul...

thanks to @petersagal.bsky.social for his sterling recommendation of "American Martyr in Persia". It was a story I was completely ignorant of, written in a style that engaged me from the first page to the last. Brilliant stuff. bookshop.org/p/books/an-a...

Once again: this is @davidjbier.bsky.social, of the [Even the Conservative...] @cato.org, an expert on immigration policy who has been providing data based expertise on the issue of immigration for a while now.

“Don’t ever be the first to stop applauding.” -- Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, writing about the unfortunate director of the local paper factory mannerofspeaking.org/2010/05/12/s...

This is nuts, and I didn’t know it was happening. You may remember that Alina Habba, Trump’s personal lawyer who lost the E Jean Carroll case, was made USAttorney for NJ without Senate confirmation. A Judge ruled that she wasn’t duly appointed, and put prosecutions in jeopardy, so she resigned.

This was such a good job by the NYT's Shawn McCreesh. He asked a very pointed and direct question to Trump about the school bombing, leading the president to corner himself (was he claiming the US sold Iran Tomahawks???) before admitting he doesn't "know enough" and will abide by the final report.

Rep. Andy Ogles' social media post is the latest in a series of Islamophobic statements from House Republicans. n.pr/46P9gPM

According to this, there are about 45K Muslims in the greater Nashville Area, which includes the 5th District of TN. www.newschannel5.com/news/islamic....