Journalists talk to colleagues on Slack, reach sources via phone, email, and messaging apps, and file in Google Docs. But as the U.S. government ramps up its attacks on American journalism, it’s a good time to ask: How secure are the tools we take for granted? www.niemanlab.org/2025/09/its-...

NBCC board member Mary Ann Gwinn interviewed historian Jill Lepore for Kirkus Reviews about her new book, "We the People: A History of the U.S. Constitution":

Madison Square Garden, 1939:

Be sure you take a moment today to remember Charlie Kirk for exactly who he was.

Donald Trump is unfurling banners of his own face on government buildings across D.C. He has spent at least $56,000 so far. trib.al/UgfCGxk

I posted earlier about the Brooklyn Book Festival but I got the date wrong. It is on SUNDAY. You should all GO. brooklynbookfestival.org/event_type/f...

great news! you're not actually seeing karl rove, john yoo, and david frum criticize the administration's lawlessness more stridently than dem leadership. you, reader, were infected with rabies by a brown bat 36 hours ago and this is all just the virus working its way through your nervous system

So what's the plan after we "play down" the impacts of climate change to allegedly help win elections. What's the plan when the water rises to your doorstep

wrote about robert redford bit.ly/redfordfamin...

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the greatest to do it. on sneakers, for @bwdr.bsky.social: www.brightwalldarkroom.com/2023/08/23/s...

Updated second link: blackzonemagazine.com/not-one-but-...

maybe the sexiest a man has ever been in a movie

Karen Attiah just got fired from the Washington Post for talking about gun violence and literally quoting Charlie Kirk’s own words, but this guy called for mass extermination of a vulnerable group of ppl and he keeps his job.

met two pretty big celebs today and you know what, despite their reputation they were really chill and down to earth?

An antisemite shot two kids in Colorado, at least one of whom is Jewish. The White House “fighting antisemitism” doesn’t care, because the shooter was a student radicalized online into far right beliefs, which the regime is cool with, rather than a student verbally criticizing Israeli govt policy.

Grateful for these insights from @jeffsharlet.bsky.social, who knows Kirk's career and influence well. www.democracynow.org/2025/9/11/ch...

Equality of rights is a baseline precondition for a liberal democracy, and advocating for the end of that condition is not compatible with a commitment to the liberal democratic project.

I’m choosing to remember Charlie Kirk’s contribution to American civic life in his own words.

“Kirk & I were on different sides of most political arguments. We were on the same side of the continued possibility of American politics.” So it’s personal? B/c if you were a Black woman or transgender, Kirk would not imagine you having any role in the future of American politics.

In better news! Today we announced a program to give local kids a free book of their choosing, so they can see themselves as readers and bookstore shoppers. Open to schools, community groups, shelters, and more. Named for our resident bookshop cat, Zora!

One of the challenges of this age is these guys are basically moral chimpanzees and the rest of us have to both deal with the America they create while also protecting universal truths for ourselves to draw from AND for these people to rediscover someday.

Charlie Kirk's Turning Point USA targets college campuses, including running a professor watchlist that resulted in at least 1 professor being assaulted. as of today, its website still says its goal is to help right-wing students “take up arms in the culture war” against "the Left" @teenvogue.com

I was so happy for @laurenleblanc.bsky.social to review THE WILDERNESS, @angelaflournoy.bsky.social's thrilling new novel about what it means to be a friend. www.bostonglobe.com/2025/09/10/a...

For @bostonglobe.com, I wrote about Angela Flournoy's new novel THE WILDERNESS. www.bostonglobe.com/2025/09/10/a...

#EyesontheSouth | Mark Smith Plays On | Kathleen Flynn After meeting Mark “Tuba” Smith as he was evacuating with his sousaphone four days after Hurricane Katrina, Flynn captures his continued musical influence in New Orleans over a span of 20 years. 🔗: https://shorturl.at/NM3JZ

This Sunday evening, for the virtual @bkbookfest.bsky.social, I'll be speaking with Nicole Cuffy, Jess Walter, and Karen Russell about their new novels, the American west, and false gods. brooklynbookfestival.org/event/a-prop...

“Editing according to traffic is not editing; it’s engineering" — David Remnick in NYmag nymag.com/intelligence...

NBCC Co-Vice President/Events Lauren LeBlanc wrote about the importance of criticism, John Updike, Robert Poilidori, and Hurricane Katrina for the Oxford American:

remember how much it sucked when a covid vaccine was like 9 to 36 months away and then felt like a fucking miracle when it arrived

“The paper’s staff . . . showed the world about the city’s struggle to receive the help they desperately needed.” — @jengolbeck.bsky.social profiles two journalists at the center of the “Times-Picayune” Hurricane Katrina coverage. 🔗: https://shorturl.at/meR6r 📷: @gwenfilosamedia.bsky.social

Florida Decided There Were Too Many Children

We took the paywall down on this one. defector.com/how-the-fuck...

My mother always told me that if I was feeling bad about myself, I should go help somebody. I’ll have to tell her about these findings.

Valued users! We understand that over the past 250-odd years, you have come to rely on the services provided by the U.S. of A.: postal delivery, representative government, edible food, clean water, lifesaving vaccines, and no kings—ever, guaranteed. Well, 250 years of free is enough.

NBCC Co-VP/Awards Christoph Irmscher is the winner of Washington Monthly's 2025 Kukula Award for Excellence in Nonfiction Book Reviewing in the smaller publications category for his review of "Stolen Pride: Loss, Shame, and the Rise of the Right" by Arlie Russell Hochschild:

the big 4 sewing pattern brands are being sold off for parts. if you want patterns, get them *now*. (if you're secretly a zillionaire who likes sewing patterns, call the liquidator immediately with your chequebook) craftindustryalliance.org/parent-compa...

at no point did we defund the police. it's important when we talk about defunding the police to note it never actually happened. would it work? we don't know! but merely phrasing the idea succinctly incited a reactionary backlash that put fascists in charge of all 3 branches of government. curious!

Good morning with good news: Japan, world's 4th largest economy, cut its fossil fuel generated electricity from 73.1% in June 2018 to 54.8% in June 2025. That's 18.3 points drop or 2.6 points/year! It could be near zero FF by 2045. Gas fell from 38.1% to 27.4% Coal fell from 30% to 20% #energysky

New Mexico is overriding the federal government on the topic of COVID19 vaccines to ensure their residents can access them. States hold a tremendous amount of public health power. They should use it.

Jon Batiste is a climate activist

Today marks 20 years since Hurricane Katrina made landfall. One last thing I wanted to share is this video we did as part of Crash Course Black American History that examines the storm and its aftermath. Thinking about all my New Orleans people today. And always. youtu.be/VmqZvlj07-w

It’s easier to purchase an assault rifle in the U.S. than it is to get a COVID19 vaccine. But food dyes and wearable fitness monitors are going to fix everything.

2020 vibes. fox4kc.com/news/covid-1...

Aug 29 marks 20 years since Hurricane Katrina. @siric.bsky.social profiles 4 young climate advocates whose lives it changed—2 of whom fled New Orleans during Katrina as kids @teenvogue.com: "For them, combatting climate change, environmental racism, and structural inequality has become a calling."

“I’ve never seen a writer reveal their social biases quite so blatantly.” —Critic @laurenleblanc.bsky.social revisits John Updike’s 2006 review of Robert Polidori’s Hurricane Katrina exhibit at the Met, and points to his detachment that sparked the conversation. 🔗: https://shorturl.at/TPDaN

Many thanks to @katekilla.bsky.social who keeps assigning me reviews and allowing me to write about books that everyone should be reading. Thank you for keeping me in the conversation.

Thanks so much for sharing my essay and helping others remember what happened 20 years ago --- and happens more and more today.

This is a phenomenal essay about a city that I love and also about troubling tendency to listen to elite voices in times of crisis rather than the voices who know that crisis best. Everyone should read this piece. Thank you for writing it @laurenleblanc.bsky.social

In a sane world this would be the number one political priority www.theguardian.com/environment/...