Ofelia Torres' bravery in the face of injustice was beyond words — her courage became a symbol of strength at a time when even the strongest would have bowed. My deepest condolences to her family and loved ones. May her memory be a blessing.

After Obama’s 2008 landslide victory, I figured one of two things would happen: A. He’d be unalived by a racist scumbag before he even took office; OR… B. They’d get the fuck over it after it became clear that he wasn’t gonna order a Black Militant Uprising, etc etc. Instead we got…this.

When two young Zderad brothers, ages 13 and 14, arrived at Ellis Island from Bohemia in 1910, sent from the farming village by their parents, they were not coming for Eng-Scot-Irish culture. Each had $10 in his pocket. One would become my wife's grandfather.

Fascinating history of strongmen: The dopamine hit from power and impunity is intoxicating, but, craving a bigger hit, you go nuts -- and you lose the public. That's "autocratic backfire." With @ruthbenghiat.bsky.social @sbg1.bsky.social @janemayer.bsky.social www.newyorker.com/podcast/poli...

... Real trials of charges against Bondi and Noem and Vance and Trump. With real evidence and witnesses. Make clear to that jury of 100 that the world will forever remember their votes and whether they were faithful to the Constitution they've sworn to uphold.

🧵3/3 #SundayFunnies

🧵2/3 #SundayFunnies The last 3 are from the indomitable Clay Jones

Sunday Funnies #ABlueView 🧵1/3 #SomethingDifferent #MakesYouThink #PoliticalHumor #SundayVibes #SundayFunday

*Scrolls the newsfeed and mutters to self “people STILL can’t be this stupid, right?!”* (Logs in and scrolls the TL) K. *logs out*

This is not the oligarchs first rodeo…..

Welp. Time for some teams to go on the market

It was in the early morning of Valentine's Day 1965 that Malcolm X's home was firebombed while he, his wife, and their four daughters were inside. Everyone survived the attack, but exactly one week later Malcolm would be assassinated

People dying to defend a “multicultural economic zone”

Also, here’s a photo of people dying to defend a “multicultural economic zone”

Not only does @charlesgaba.com work tirelessly to educate us on health care - he also selflessly researches candidates & puts together ActBlue accounts to help the most likely to succeed candidates If you have ever said "I want my donation to make a difference" follow Charles & donate

A great thread of pop culture use since he tried to act like he, a self proclaimed military history buff, had no idea what it was.

Since Tattoo Boy is in the news again, a reminder that the Nazi tattoo wasn't just a "Jolly Roger" pirate flag or some obscure symbol as Platner breezily shrugged it off. It wasn't the icon used for toxic/poisonous chemicals. It wasn't the logo of Yale University's "Scull & Bones" society. 1/

Trump's Confederacy of Incompetents. Charlie Sykes: The Trump Admin has obvious and well documented problems with brutality, venality, dishonesty, extremism, racism, and recklessness. But another nagging problem was also on display this week: The gang’s festering competence deficit.

If those who claim the authority of law do not obey the law, and the law does not stop them, then they do not have the authority of law, because there is no longer any law.

They were like “it’s great because the English Irish and Scottish all have the same culture and really historically love each other” “What about the welsh?” “The who now?”

I think we are going to have a Democratic-controlled Senate. And all we will need for the leadership of that Democratic Senate to do is hold actual, real, impeachment trials. As the Constitution requires. Not the bullshit fake trials like the ones that the Senate held in 2020 and 2021...

Propaganda during WWI and WWII in fact

And current MAGA meme that "English-Scots-Irish" bloc stands for "real" [ie, nearly as white as Swedes] Americans skips over oceans of blood shed by English, Scots, Irish in fights against one other. (MAGA could at least have watched Braveheart. Or Peaky Blinders.) I'm of that bloc, but: Jeesh.

Yes, that’s why my family left Germany because they really wanted to go to Great Britain and sort of missed it by thaaat much

When Canadiens continue to avoid your country something is really, really wrong. www.travelweekly.com/Travel-News/...

Elon Musk, a pro-apartheid South African, may have come here believing the US was a bastion of English-Scots-Irish culture. (By the way, were the Irish welcomed by the English?) My grandparents and so many others came here because of the promise of freedom, tolerance, equal rights, and opportunity.

Musk is a malevolent force in American life, driven by white nationalism and incredibly influential given his obscene wealth. He's a supervillain. But people get that. He's deeply unpopular, with an approval rating in the mid-30s with Trump. We just need political leaders willing to take him on.

Seriously, this hyper concentration of wealth is one of the top problems facing the country -- the maldistribution is worse than it was before the Great Depression, and their political influence is even greater than it was then thanks to Citizens United etc.

The Epstein stuff is just the most obvious manifestation of the rot. It runs throughout our system now. Any 2028 presidential hopeful who doesn't have a plan to address this maldistribution of wealth and power doesn't deserve a second of anyone's time or attention.

File this under: ready, shoot, aim ☠️ Republicans have been pushing the SAVE Act, which requires proof of citizenship to vote, w/out realizing it screws their own voters more. Lowest passport ownership by state: W Virginia 18–21% Mississippi 19–22% Alabama 20–23% Arkansas 20–23% Louisiana 21–24%

Rep. Angie Craig: "Democrats need to hold the line. The Senate needs to hold the line. I will not forgive anyone who doesn't stand their ground at this moment in time and I don't think the American people will either."

Rep. Angie Craig: "The attacks on Black and brown people in Minnesota have been egregious. At the end of the day, what they wanted out of Minnesota was for us to riot. I think this will go down in American history as one of the greatest examples of peaceful resistance from an entire community."

The Trumpists like to present themselves as defenders of the West. There is one country fighting against brutality and barbarism, and in defense of everything we cherish about the West: Ukraine. The Trumpists are hostile to Ukraine. The Trumpists are betrayers of the West.

Ofelia Torres, the teen with cancer who fought for her father’s freedom after ICE agents arrested him, has died. blockclubchi.co/3Zzncth

Sort of gives away the lie that they're arresting hardened criminals who are drags on society when they're setting up traps to lure in Good Samaritans

"A new ruling from the Trump administration says that when the sun disappears at night, we don’t know where it goes. All remaining top scientists have been taken from their positions and tasked with getting to the bottom of this." www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/...

You can trace the idea that "Real America is rural" through presidential candidates of the 19th and early 20th century always presenting themselves as being linked to the frontier or the farm or, at the very least, a small town. But that was never entirely true then and not remotely true now.

“I think a lot of them are paid protestors. They all look the same." -- Pennsylvania's Republican treasurer and gubernatorial candidate Stacy Garrity. Who by "the same" I guess means that none of them are scary-looking dyed blondes.

It really is amazing how much of political punditry, *especially* elite outfits in NYC and Washington, still embrace this bizarre idea that rural spaces represent the "Real America" while metropolitan areas, where most (presumably real) Americans actually live, should be held in contempt.

Remember: Everyone who says that athletes or artists should stay out of politics does not just fail to understand that in moments like these politics infuses every aspect of every life in our country--they are actually part of the problem. Silence is a position. Silence serves autocrats and thugs.

“.. The exchanges include invitations to private residences, introductions to diplomats .. They also show Epstein repeatedly encouraged Barrack to move communications to encrypted messaging apps, records of which are not part of the government release.” @cbsnews.com www.cbsnews.com/news/tom-bar...

i saw this because I read @hcrichardson.bsky.social "Today, however, we have no choice but to acknowledge that the core of the problem lies with the Republican Party. The GOP has become an insurgent outlier..."--from book pub Apr 12, 2012, almost 14 years ago! @normornstein.bsky.social

The Democrats are lost, Mark Leibovich argues. He traveled around the country and interviewed about four dozen Democratic candidates, elected officials, operatives, and voters to assess if the party is capable of regaining its power: theatln.tc/6dW1IMXz

@normornstein.bsky.social conversation with @harttandsoul.bsky.social and @morgfair.bsky.social on the 2BitchesFromTexas podcast is fantastic. From 70% of Americans live in 15 states to seeing how political maneuvering from the past brought us to where we are today in a very friendly format.

valentine's day isn't just for couples, it's also a day to celebrate love. for instance, i would love it if housing prices came down.

One of my many reasons I love Chicago is that the weather has been above freezing for two days and my local restaurants are sitting people outside today. It is 44 degrees.

Sometimes moving forward requires reckoning with uncomfortable realities. My latest. open.substack.com/pub/davidrot...