The wrong senator is retiring. And the wrong senator is rumored to be running for governor.

Hey, wait a minute, Mark. I'm a Minnesotan, and I don't want her as my governor either!

Growing up in the 1970s Corporate Food era (plus blue collar and Midwestern), all of my go-to favorite foods now are things I discovered after age 25: avocado, pomegranate, balsamic, goat's cheese, polenta, dark chocolate, etc.

Trump has taken his fondness for overthrowing government's international. He's not going to run Venezuela, he's going to loot their oil and gold. #ProudBlue #Pinks #TrumpIsUnfitForOffice

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting has been dissolved, ending its 58 years as the primary funder for PBS, NPR and local TV and radio stations

Cartoon by Milt Prigee | cagle.com/priggee

A concept I've been meaning to float to make sense of what's happened to the US Constitution is an idea from the British constitutional tradition: "implied repeal." It's useful because it helps us to understand that Article I, & much else of the US Constitution, has been implicitly repealed.

It's amazing how one dictator Maduro is somehow under the jurisdiction of US law despite never killing an American but war criminal Netanyahu is somehow not under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court despite killing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza.

Marco Rubio is reportedly saying Maduro will stand trial in US courts. Which means it’s now the US administration’s position that US courts can hold foreign presidents, but not the US president, accountable for crimes.

I wake up more ashamed of being American than ever before. I don't like this feeling.

Inspired by road safety innovations widely used in the Netherlands, several US cities are installing safer street crossings. (from the archive)

A constitution that is firm and unshaken does not need a judge to insist that the constitution is firm and unshaken.

A look at one thing that can happen when conservative governments build bullshit arches. (Photos I took in Skopje during the "Colorful Revolution" of 2016.)

NEW: How many books did you read this year? If it was more than 2, congrats: you read more than the median American. Read on for way more @today.yougov.com polling from me on America's book-reading habits in 2025. 1/

race-affirming care

How I'm walking out of 2025.

Could there be cross-party interest in Congress in overturning this rule?

Is there an emerging consensus that Samuel Alito has passed James McReynolds on the list of most unpleasant humans to sit on the U.S. Supreme Court?

"‘It’s surreal’: US sanctions lock Intl Criminal Court judge out of daily life. Canadian judge Kimberly Prost is unable to use credit cards or access everyday services (Uber, Alexa, Ticketmaster...) in what she calls an attack on the independence of the judiciary." www.irishtimes.com/world/us/202...

"rich asshole says something" just shouldn't be news.

Except Mary, Jesus and Joseph were brown… Merry Christmas, everyone.

Maybe "golden" isn't exactly right. Given his skin tone, it might be like a yam. Or maybe a tomato. How about we call this ship "The Yamato"...?

Tonight’s dumb napkin cartoon…

Maybe they'll get this to work someday, but right now the ROI is ridiculously poor and quite funny.

The US Administration has banned Americans from *adopting babies* from much of the African continent. Adopting. Babies. What trait do those babies have that, when they grow up as fully American adults, would make them a threat to our country in any form?

a good and necessary read for many

The tree is ready.

Damnit this is good writing, @hamiltonnolan.bsky.social.

To give you a sense of how big a departure this year, the government doesn't do this for wanted criminals.

It's annual con law meme time, from my undergraduates

Perhaps visitors to D.C. will start a tradition of throwing a Trump quarter onto the White House lawn. Render unto Caesar what is Caeser's. www.cnn.com/2025/12/12/b...

"When men’s freedoms are threatened... we call it fascism. But when women are controlled through forced birth, criminalized for their trauma... or stripped of autonomy, it’s “bad men,” “culture,” “personal tragedy,” or crickets." [email protected] katemanne.substack.com/p/anti-abort...

all i'm saying is that there were better options

A work colleague just tried to sell me on the band, Ripe, but since their tour is in town tonight and I can't make the show, it's Moot.

Breaking news: Donald Trump has issued a full and unconditional pardon to Herod the Great for any slaughtered babies or attempts to murder the infant Jesus, saying, "Isn't it cool to have 'the Great' in your name? Everyone is saying I should, too. Donald the Great. Sounds pretty good, right?"

It's as if these people are sitting in a room to brainstorm new, ever more imaginative ways of being cruel.

The Supreme Court cannot “uphold the longstanding principle” or “strike down birthright citizenship.” The Supreme Court can follow the plain text of the constitution or declare itself in rebellion to the constitution. These are the only two options wrt birthright citizenship and the 14th Amendment.

Kudos to the music director at my daughter's school for choosing choir pieces like Paul McCartney (Yesterday), Journey (Don't Stop Believing). Because what higher calling could a 6th grade public school music program have than to pander to and justify parents' musical tastes?

a load-bearing component of “the magic of Christmas” is the invisible domestic labor of moms you are now realizing how much she was doing for you and instead of just thanking her you’ve decided it’s about the decline of civilization

“Politicians who later become congressional leaders trade stocks like everyone else ... until they ascend to power. After ascension, their portfolios beat peers by 47 (!!!) percentage points a year through trades timed around bills and firms that later get government contracts.”

Mentally unwell and increasingly vile, a person such as this would be pushed aside in a healthy political system. The tools are there, but the will is not. Norms have broken down, and the written Constitution is broken, too: It can no longer be trusted as an instrument of governance.

When we have our next constitutional convention, my starting position will be to eliminate the pardon power. I no longer see it as an essential element of executive power. I might favor a thoughtfully-selected national clemency board.

Does a pardon immunize you from being court martialed and stripped of your military rank? Asking for a friend.

ICE fascists: •Detained Indigenous American actor Elaine Miles, claiming her "papers look fake" •Arrested wife of Navy Vet AT HER Green card Interview •Arrested & kidnapped Brazilian immigrant & mother of Leavitt's nephew •Arrested, kidnapped,& deported to Honduras a 19-year-old student here legally

It's all corruption, all the time. Historic levels of criminality, and the pardon power and the Supreme Court is going to indemnify all of it. Having destroyed the norms and the shame that set boundaries, there's no way to reconstruct those. We need a new Constitution.

This is why they feel so threatened by the reminders that soldiers do not need to comply with illegal orders.

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