“The Central Asian states are dictatorships. They are also spectacular. And it is by examining this–dictatorship as spectacle–that the parallels to Donald Trump emerge.” Spot-on analysis by @sarahkendzior.bsky.social , written with uncanny prescience in 2016

From the NYT today, 2 charts on the brokenness of American politics:

The U.S. government just banned five people from entering the country because it doesn’t like their speech. This ban, according to the State Department, is necessary to protect free speech. If that sounds insane to you, congratulations on your reading comprehension.

this is the simple answer to people who keep saying NATO expansion matters. Sure, it matters because it presented an obstacle to Russian imperial ambitions. Putin didn't invade because he hated NATO expansion, he hated NATO expansion because he wanted to invade

US fired over a dozen Tomahawk missiles at ISIS targets in Nigeria per @idreesali114.bsky.social. Appears at least 3 of these missiles warheads failed to explode.

Russia's estimated losses in Ukraine as of day 1403 of its all-out war, according to the Ukrainian Army's General Staff.

My whole life we’ve been told that The US is simply too big to have high speed rail

Pretty sure it’s illegal to fuck with people’s mail and if you’re law enforcement you have to have a warrant to touch it.

"Every accusation is a confession" remains undefeated

🚨⚖️👇🏾There are also multiple calls from Les Wexner of Victoria's Secret, the Limited, Abercrombie & Bath & Body Works to Epstein in the DOJ Epstein files. formerly at www.justice.gov/multimedia/F... now deleted.

It's almost as if the Enlightenment figures who founded the US had learned the lessons of Europe's wars of religion and created a secular state that would both protect worshippers from political interference, AND protect the polity from becoming dominated by religious sectarians.

How are these fits of presidential incontinence never covered as their own news events in NYT? Hours of sick hateful bile from the curdled joyless leader of the Christian nationalists sitting in the ruins of the tinsel trimmed White House he’s demolishing — seems like a story to me.

With fewer than 40 bills signed into law as of Dec. 22, the House and Senate set a modern record for lowest legislative output in the first year of a new presidency, according to data maintained by C-SPAN and Purdue University. https://wapo.st/3YPTQGo

Why does AP's headline say "Myanmar will hold its first general election?" It is not an election, and "Myanmar" isn't holding it. The genocidal junta is. This is journalistic malpractice. Do better, @apnews.com apnews.com/article/myan...

I'm sure the 22 million people whose healthcare premiums will triple in six days are delighted by this news, you inhuman fuck.

ICE on the Texas/Mexico border stopping and kidnapping people attempting to leave the US. (12/26/25)

Here's evidence that Trump called Epstein twice in 2004. #doj #epstein files www.justice.gov/multimedia/F....

🚨🚨 SCOOP @ms.now : The Department of Veteran Affairs has quietly implemented its abortion ban following a DOJ memo issued last week. This will affect 9 million veterans and their dependents, and has been a long time coming: It was outlined in Project 2025. Read/share 👇

Salt water laced with cancer-causing chemicals, a byproduct of oil and gas drilling, keeps shooting out of the ground in Oklahoma. Experts say it means even more wastewater is spreading underground, poisoning the state’s water supply. Published Oct. w/ @readfrontier.bsky.social

This is perfect. The DOJ's embarrassing snafu with disappearing redactions was the fault of Elon Musk. Musk cancelled government subscriptions to Adobe programs that would have made the redactions permanent. What a pack of fools.

Here's evidence Mort Zuckerman called Epstein and Fergie the Duchess of York called Epstein. #doj #epstein files www.justice.gov/multimedia/F....

Being nice and normal is an act of rebellion against the government now. They can't stand it. They're the angry guy from the meme

Clinton: Don't trust me, release the files. Trump: Don't release the files, trust me.

It’s pretty wild that the most rabidly anti-immigrant administration in recent memory is comprised of a President married to an immigrant, a VP married to the daughter of immigrants, an assistant AG in charge of Civil Rights who’s an immigrant (Dhillon), & it was all funded by an immigrant (Musk).

Don’t most peace plans feature regular airstrikes? 🤔

Refusing to faithfully execute an important law that passed Congress with only a single no vote should be an uncontroversial basis for impeachment and removal.

Trump: “Now 1,000,000 more pages on Epstein are found. DOJ is being forced to spend all of its time on this Democrat inspired Hoax. When do they say NO MORE, & work on Election Fraud etc. The Dems are the ones who worked with Epstein, not the Republicans. Release all of their names, embarrass them”

Some people will commit human rights violations rather than just go to therapy

The top is after Trump’s DOJ redactions below is without, I can almost figure out who they are protecting

"omnidirectional incoherence" captures Trumpism perfectly

vance is a genuine lunatic

Fox News is VERY upset with politicians who make unrealistic promises

we are living thorough 10 years of moral collapse. it’s happening everywhere but is concentrated in the US. we have given up on even trying to argue that there must be more to life, both individually and collectively, than bare materialism and power. we must rededicate ourselves to meaningful life.

to win this fight, we cannot limit ourselves to arguments based on competency or efficiency. we should attack incompetence where we see it, ofc, but we must be militant in arguing - ad nauseam - that the roots of this dysfunction & collapse are moral and spiritual. to do good, we must be better

This was a Jane Doe victim impact statement read in open court. www.justice.gov/epstein/file... #doj #epstein files

I had never heard of Stanley Ho before. Apparently he was a Hong Kong billionaire who died in 2020. #doj #epstein files. 👀⚖️ www.justice.gov/epstein/file...

These people. "By his third Pepsi he was unconscious." www.justice.gov/epstein/file... #doj #epstein files 👀⚖️

Seasons greetings.

To Prez, this remains one of best community notes of all time. To prove we can’t be beaten this idiot tweets a picture of 5 of our warships, 4 of which had been sunk. The remaining is probably now out of action. I am surrounded by idiocy

Plato argued in the Republic that the 'tyrant,' or someone with unlimited wealth and power, would live the worst possible life because his soul would be devoured by lawless, unlimited desires that could never be sated. I think we've gotten confirmation of this from more cases than Trump lately

"We’re monitoring what you do online. Disseminating, writing, or publishing inciting content online is considered a terrorist crime in every sense and may lead to arrest or imprisonment. We have warned you." Israel warns Palestinians that posting about their suffering will be considered terrorism.

Guess what happened to her when she finally went to the police?

Two weeks after a Dem governor's win, the North Carolina legislature’s GOP supermajority fast-tracked a bill that would transform the balance of power in the state. talkingpointsmemo.com/news/inside-...

Everyone should read this week’s WSJ story on Trump selling pardons. It’s some of the most corrupt shit I’ve ever seen—you can literally corner him at one of his lame parties and walk away with a pardon. How is this not the biggest story in the country?

A great example of how the @nytimes.com centers white Americans and Trump supporters in its anecdotal political coverage. You never see stories like this about Black Democrats whose cities are cracked in Republican gerrymandering to give them Republican elected officials.

Savvy countries will discover there’s a way to mitigate the harm incurred by Trump’s tariffs—and it’ll boost their own economies while making goods cheaper too. www.wired.com/story/us-tra...

Veronica Escobar didn’t get to celebrate her son’s 8th birthday. Victor Madrid missed picking up his children at school for the first time. Patricia Quishpe was forced to spend her first night ever away from her youngest child. https://cnn.it/3MRvXf3

When I was on CNN's northeast desk, the first job at 6a every morning was to read the local papers. That guided some of what the massive CNN machine followed every day. When those papers die, CNN doesn't hire new regional reporters. What you get instead is more panel shows, more punditry.