12 Artists Who Showed Some Spine in 2025... just wonderful and read to the byline/description at the end! open.substack.com/pub/contrari...

open.substack.com/pub/contrari... Pro-democracy forces will not shame or argue MAGA Republicans into capitulation or retreat. With a helping hand from diligent lower courts, an organized electorate can end the authoritarian nightmare. Everything rests on the midterms.

open.substack.com/pub/contrari... Politiciansa don’t lead… the S Ct is beyond shaming .. and other lessons from 2025

Bari Weiss really is an idiot if she thought this wouldn’t come out

Cartoons of the Year.. so proud to have such standout cartoonists open.substack.com/pub/contrari...

The 20 Most Unhinged MAGA Media Posts of 2025 (Part I)... brilliant and horrifying!! open.substack.com/pub/contrari...

she is a joke and a disaster.

Rarely have such a brave group of traumatized people spoken out for the greater good. Epstein victimized them as girls, but now they have taken on some of the most powerful people and institutions in their quest for accountability open.substack.com/pub/contrari...

Hundreds of DOJ lawyers have quit or been forced out for refusing to facilitate Trump’s authoritarian project. Others insisted on telling courts the truth—only to be fired. A parade of conscientious prosecutors in the Southern District and Main Justice quit ... open.substack.com/pub/contrari...

Two Media stars: In vivid contrast to CBS, ABC, and Washington Post (to name just a few of the enablers who disgraced the profession), stalwart defenders of the First Amendment emerged from unexpected places. open.substack.com/pub/contrari...

Bari Weiss is the Pam Bondi of journalists.

2025 Was the Year of Trump's Retribution Crusade.. phenomenal open.substack.com/pub/contrari...

I have just demanded a full refund for remaining tickets at the Kennedy Center. I did not buy anything at the "Trump Kennedy" Center. I encourage you to do the same #refundKennedy

Is a U.S.-Venezuela War on the Horizon? ... Rep. Jim Himes gets it. and explains it all open.substack.com/pub/contrari...

true faith leaders do not oppress or demonize others and certainly do not deify a noxious politician. We are grateful for genuinely religious voices who reiterate that faith without deeds is useless and remind silence in the face of hateful actions and words is abhorrent.

Pope Leo sounds as if he is directly criticizing Trump, because Trump exemplifies evils that the pontiff decries—neglect of the poor, crass materialism, embrace of violence, and bigotry. While Trump oppresses; the pontiff stands with the oppressed open.substack.com/pub/contrari...

Providing a compelling counterpart to religion-spouting hypocrites, three faith leaders stood out this year as undaunted proponents of decency, empathy, and social responsibility. open.substack.com/pub/contrari...

America's Global Power Is Flickering... a look back on 2025 and forward on foreign policy (would be nice if we had a coherent one) open.substack.com/pub/contrari...

I'm increasingly convinced Trump's inner circle is giving him busy work (the White House ballroom, Kennedy Center, presidential plaques, gold decorations, etc.) while they essentially run the government. He admits that he doesn't even know who he is pardoning anymore.

NYT columnist David Brooks wrote an op-ed a few weeks ago titled, "The Epstein Story? Count Me Out,” lamenting people are too focused on the Epstein scandal + saying "the QAnon mentality has taken over." Today he appeared in 4 photos from the Epstein dump. Welp! www.huffpost.com/entry/david-...

If the Kennedy Center is changing its name I want full refund for anyone who never bought tix to the Trump ( the felon) Kennedy Center. Also artists who booked with the old place should definitely have an out

Dispatch From Chicago: ‘Standing up to the Worst’ .. wonderful tribute to the magnificent Chicagoans open.substack.com/pub/contrari...

will legacy media challenge him on this?! accuse Leavitt of defrauding the troops? everything is a grift, a con even (especially!) to armed services: www.defenseone.com/policy/2025/...

positively disgusting to join his name to the slain president. He has to do all this stuff while he is in office cause no one will after he goes. Dem nominee in 2028 must vow to reverse this maddness

contrarian.substack.com/p/its-time-f... Worst Political Oxymoron: “Moderate Republicans” in Congress are as real as unicorns. ..quislings such as Cassidy voted to confirm RFK, Ernst and Tillis gave thumbs up to Hegseth, and Collins and Murkowski confirmed Bondi.

open.substack.com/pub/contrari... Worst of Democratic Lawmakers: There was no need nor excuse for eight Senate Democrats (one independent who caucuses with Democrats) to cave as they did on the shutdown.

contrarian.substack.com/p/its-time-f... Worst of Corporate DEI cowards: Companies ranging from Target to IBM to Goldman Sachs were quick to ditch DEI in the face of MAGA threats, or fear of retribution. (In response, consumers launched a highly effective boycott against Target.)

open.substack.com/pub/contrari... Worst of Governors: In the annals of squeamish governors unwilling to resist Trump’s demands, none showed more fervor for Trump’s authoritarian enterprise than Texas Governor Greg Abbott.

contrarian.substack.com/p/its-time-f... Worst of News Outlets: Of all the legacy outlets to turn tail, none exceeded CBS in its utter forfeiture of moral authority and journalistic principles.

www.mediaite.com/politics/mil... no shit

now THAT is how you respond to destruction of Section 2

The 15-Year-Old Ghost Haunting the Republican Party... the dam has broken and Senate Rs are now royally screwed open.substack.com/pub/contrari...

smartest piece yet on Wiles.. as for Trump what else doesn't he know about? who is running the govt? Legacy media uninterested open.substack.com/pub/contrari...

as we suspected, no coherent ideology... MAGA's turned into a pretext to persecute liberals. disgusting. www.washingtonpost.com/investigatio...

The ‘Second Nadir,’ Indeed: The Year in Race... a jaw-dropping reminder of where we have been open.substack.com/pub/contrari...

Australia shows us there is another way for democracies to function. Perpetual slaughter of our children is a choice—one no civilized country should make. open.substack.com/pub/contrari...

We have popular consensus on many gun safety measures but a democracy problem preventing passage. So long as one party (insulated by gerrymandering) remains in the thrall of a paranoid anti-government cult allergic to social responsibility, we will be stuck in the endless loop of death and paralysis

the gun lobby only partially accounts for failure to enact national common sense gun laws. We cannot ignore the role played by a reactionary ideology antithetical to US progress and reform, badly ignorant of our history and dependent on judicial fiat to get its way. open.substack.com/pub/contrari...

open.substack.com/pub/contrari... Until Trump decides to remove his embarrassing pick, Patel will persist in destroying the institution formerly regarded as the gold-standard in law enforcement.

contrarian.substack.com/p/two-countr... comparison between Australia’s response and US non-response to gun violence shows the contrast between a functional democracy and a dysfunctional one, between one governed by a grown-up and one ruled by a self-obsessed man-child with aspirations of autocracy

contrarian.substack.com/p/for-black-... magnificent first person account

Since owner Jeff Bezos overhauled the Post's editorial board earlier this year, it has been very good at cranking out billionaire-friendly propaganda. It is quite bad at everything else.

in other news, Trump continues to drive us into a recession

"The unemployment figure was the highest since September 2021..." www.ft.com/content/17a1...

In short, the Trump cult, headed by a leader who emulates the current leader of Russia’s Evil Empire, has become what the Republican Party used to despise. open.substack.com/pub/contrari...

invariably, policy inconsistencies (e.g., America First but start a war with Argentina, fiscal hawkishness but run up the debt) swallow any cogent dogma. The only consistency is subservience to Trump. (Recall that the “party” platform boiled down to “whatever Trump wants.”)

The “Republican Party” today most resembles a cult—its members may be properly characterized as Trump idolaters, followers, zealots,etc. —but this assemblage of supplicants lacks not just a concrete policy agenda but other fundamental elements of a political party. open.substack.com/pub/contrari...

what a ludicrous headline that cannot even acknowledge the man is a sociopath: wapo.st/3MEXZKH ... just testing?!?

Be a light in the darkness