My statement on President Trump’s combat operations in Iran⬇️

It is surreal that we are still locked in the never-ending debate over whether military intervention on behalf of democracy and human rights is good, when the current administration has been extremely explicit they are not intervening on behalf of democracy and human rights

This is a point in favor of the "throw shit against the wall and see what sticks" theory of politics, by the way. I think they are idiots for not immediately seeing the value, but their poor judgment would matter much less if they just tried shit

“President Trump's decision to bomb Iran is indefensible. This was not about preempting an imminent threat—it was a strategically misguided power play, with no discernible endgame,” Cato Institute’s Jon Hoffman says.

this is one of those things where i think it would be useful for more people to recognize that this is completely unrecognizable compared to republican party orthodoxy for essentially the entire history of the republican party

UPDATE: Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal says that "ICE used a phony missing persons bulletin for a 5 year old girl," to lie and get into a Columbia residential building and detain a student. "It is unconfirmed at this time whether they impersonated an officer to do so," he adds.

Columbia student detained today is a day-in-the-life influencer with 100K followers. Her stories right now go from her studying for a Genetics exam in a nicely edited "ten hour study with me at Columbia" video, to a photo of her knees with the caption "dhs illegally arrested me please help"

dawg I will crawl over broken glass for the first candidate who promises to enforce FARA and get all of these fuckers thrown in jail

What’s really striking in Saruman’s speech to Gandalf is how broadly (and unusually for Tolkien) relevant it is. Take out the one specific reference to the Elves and Númenor and it is just an absolute classic rationale for collaborating with evil in the confidence you can ultimately direct it.

I have spent the past several months studying the cutting-edge research on modern democracies that have defeated authoritarian leaders. I've learned that the conventional wisdom on the topic is wrong — in ways that have clear implications for the US going forward THREAD www.vox.com/politics/479...

Interesting post about the coordinated anti-AOC smear campaign. It's 2016 again! Fake local news outlets on Facebook getting picked up until eventually it winds up in the Washington Post.

Now that's what I call a pangram.

So-called “inclusionary zoning” acts as a tax on new housing by requiring home builders to sell or rent a %age of the new homes at a loss. Without funding, IZ only “works” when the market price of new housing is significantly higher than construction costs. I am glad to see Oregon rolling it back.

Put her in a choke hold and the other kids jumped in to beat his ass. The kids are alright.

rice is life, and I got a thread to share about rice: Park Chung-hee's obsession to make South Korea rice self-sufficient in the 1970s changed everything about the country, including your favorite Korean foods and the urban environment 🧵

Positive take (relatively) on “we have lived among such people this whole time”: Yes, and that shows things don’t need to be like this. There will always be the sort of people who’d try to get the state to hurt kindergartners. We just need to keep them out of institutional power, and on the fringe.

An ICE agent shot and killed Ruben Ray Martinez, a US citizen and San Antonio resident, in March 2025. Then ICE and the Texas Department of Public Safety covered it up. He was 23 years old. I am calling for a full investigation into this shooting, including why there was an 8-month cover up.

Learning recently that this lady has some sort of bloodlust for sea lions has been really funny. Somehow on brand but really funny.

BREAKING: The Supreme Court STRIKES DOWN Trump's "emergency" tariffs. The vote is 6–3. www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25p...

Her father fled China because he organized student protests during Tiananmen. He was a political refugee. The story of this family, and Alysa Liu, would have played out very differently today. This is what we're losing. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/19/w...

New: A comedian set up a fake ICE tip line as a joke. Then 100 calls flooded in: neighbors ratting on neighbors, a teacher reporting a kindergartener. Fans say the viral TikToks revealed deportation's "banality of evil." Conservatives say he should be in prison wapo.st/4kM4qbF

There is no reason to believe Trump's foreign policy is designed to benefit America or Americans www.foreignaffairs.com/united-state...

Never in a million years did I ever fathom when I resurrected the Epstein story in 2018 that it would lead to first arrest of a British Royal in four centuries. Not since King Charles I was arrested in 1647. open.substack.com/pub/jkbjourn...

Wild that MPD tried to withhold this footage. Will Councilmember Brooke Pinto @cmbrookepinto.bsky.social have MPD release any stats about how much money MPD wasted trying to prevent the public's access to information? She chairs the DC Council committee overseeing MPD. Will she conduct oversight?

Now that's what I call a pangram.

and i think the example of washington — whose peer, in this regard, is frederick douglass — is a reminder that artifice and performance are important parts of democratic society, and that the contempt for virtue signaling is corrosive. virtue is meant to be signaled!

Wild that MPD tried to withhold this footage. Will Councilmember Brooke Pinto @cmbrookepinto.bsky.social have MPD release any stats about how much money MPD wasted trying to prevent the public's access to information? She chairs the DC Council committee overseeing MPD. Will she conduct oversight?

BREAKING — WE WON! DC Superior Court Judge Darlene Soltys ordered the DC Metropolitan Police to produce ALL body cam footage of the March 2025 DOGE raid on the US Institute of Peace within 14 days. Thanks to my @rcfp.org lawyers for their tireless work. Details on thehandbasket.co later today!

How is it possible that Kristi Noem still has this job. Imagine if you’re a family member or a shipmate of this guardsman. www.nbcnews.com/politics/imm...

Stephen Colbert said that the FCC and CBS - which is in no way a compromised or complicit organization - wouldn’t allow him to broadcast an interview with Democratic State Rep James Talarico. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/17/a...

The regime is now dictating what political views are acceptable to air on television and paramount/cbs are collaborating in that censorship bsky.app/profile/ditz...

I know this makes me an extremist but I think our baby concentration camps should be abolished.

"I was in prison and you visited me"

"I was in prison and you visited me"

Enraging that this took a court order: "Catholic nuns and clergy had visited the facility for years, offering prayer services and holy communion to detainees during visitor hours. Trump Administration immigration authorities rolled back that access in September..." www.nytimes.com/2026/02/13/u...

NYT: Trump secretly deported 9 migrants despite court orders to not remove them to their home nations. So, he sent them to prison in Cameroon: www.nytimes.com/2026/02/14/w...

i think this is what drives me nuts. people talk about how, say, the UN was founded by "starry eyed idealists" who didn't understand "reality." the truth is that the UN was founded by those who had just fought and *won* the bloodiest war in human history.

Once again, a reminder that the "free speech" crusaders were always cynics operating in bad faith

On Thanksgiving, the immigrant children held at the Dilley detention center gathered in the gym for what they thought was a holiday feast. The kids salivated over a spread of turkey, sandwiches, pastries and pies, a family told me. But the food wasn’t for detainees — it was for the staff.

[pulls out the Broad Brush] I think this lack of understanding is essential. “Understanding” is a pink job—mom’s job. One only tries to understand another to achieve comity. This administration sees empathy as weakness. They strive only to dominate, to which “understanding” is an impediment.

HORRIFYING - Dismantling USAID & cancelling >80% of aid caused ~750,000 deaths by mid-2025 🧸Most were children ⌛️ Many died within the first year 😰 Preventable deaths were mainly from: - HIV, TB, malaria - Maternal & fetal deaths - Malnutrition news.westernu.ca/2026/01/u-s-...

This is just unconscionable man

DC statehood yesterday

Every photo from Minneapolis looks like this. Cops decked out with guns and full tac gear facing off against people in bathrobes, parkas, and sweatpants armed only with whistles and cell phones. Yet every verified MAGA chode on X dutifully calls it a riot or violent insurrection.

This is the aftermath of an ICE kidnapping a few blocks from my home in St. Paul—an hour ago. A quiet street full of broken glass and at least three wrecked cars. The target of the kidnapping was taken away by ambulance. He was on a stretcher and covered by a sheet, though a cop said he was alive.

“I followed the rules. I’ve done great in the community. I’ve never abused any of the conditions of the stay or of my supervision…I’m so scared, I cannot go back." ICE brutally detained a minister in Vermont. Now, the Trump administration wants to send him back to Uganda, where he was tortured.

It's not quite Hindustani Complex Classical but the song that got all of my high school classmates onto the dance floor was the Punjabi bhangra song Tunak Tunak Tun. Absolute banger and great for many an occasion.

This technology already exists and is widely used. It doesn't involve 'government surveillance' and would not allow ICE or any other government agency to stop individual cars. Just say you think thousands of kids dying every year is worth it so you can speed! www.autoweek.com/news/a615322...

this rules and everyone opposed to it just sounds like this to me