1. Here are some facts about the guy, Timothy Mellon, who donated $130 million so Trump could pay the troops during the government shutdown. 🧵

Donor Who Gave $130 Million to Pay Troops Is Reclusive Heir to Mellon Fortune. The donation appears to be a potential violation of the Antideficiency Act. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/25/u...

This is my nightmare hurricane. For years I said the two scariest kinds of hurricanes were Harvey (slow soaker that won’t move) and Michael (TS to Cat 5 in like 36 hours). This is BOTH and it’s about to hit Jamaica

It’s gonna turn out that they made the new ballroom plans with AI, isn’t it

Rep. Mark Alford: "Look, I know people are hurting. They're gonna have a hard time paying these subsidies. But we've got to fix the healthcare system in America."

We’re suing for the agreements the Trump admin reached with law firms. @knightcolumbia.org knightcolumbia.org/content/knig...

This is an excellent piece from @charliesavage.bsky.social that covers some of the ground I covered in my NYT essay yesterday but provides more context and has great comments from Jack Goldsmith and Geoffrey Corn, among others. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/24/u...

The Billion Dollar Weather and Climate Disaster dataset is back and now at @climatecentral.org! Through the first half of 2025, there were 14 separate billion-dollar weather and climate disasters across the United States, costing $101.4 billion. 1/2 www.climatecentral.org/climate-serv...

Enjoy. Alison Rose, The New Yorker’s Femme Fatale, Dies at 81 www.nytimes.com/2025/10/18/b...

We’ve received a lot of questions about Trump’s demolition of the White House East Wing. Here’s how the process is supposed to work:

Trump Said to Demand Justice Dept. Pay Him $230 Million for Past Cases www.nytimes.com/2025/10/21/u...

A terrific AFP fact check uses reverse image searches to expose how a White House video took scenes from Florida, Texas, South Carolina and Nebraska and lied that they showed "Chicago is in chaos." factcheck.afp.com/doc.afp.com....

Trump’s ‘excellence’ compact kills UVA’s free speech and self-rule virginiamercury.com/2025/10/16/t...

The demise of reefs: World has entered first global climate tipping point with coral reefs in crisis due to warming oceans www.newscientist.com/article/2499...

Breaking News: The Supreme Court rejected Alex Jones’s appeal of an order to pay $1.4 billion in damages to Sandy Hook families. The families were awarded the money after suing Jones for defamation. nyti.ms/470OTQl

The reporter bylined here is the one John Oliver eviscerated last night for her reporting in The Free Press.

"The original cut of Annie Hall ran nearly two-and-a-half hours, and according to its editor Ralph Rosenblum was a shapeless mass of bits. "And so we began cutting in the direction of that relationship,” he wrote. Result: 4 Oscars. www.vulture.com/article/the-...

Today's nightmare. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/10/o...

STEPHANOPOULOS: I didn't insinuate anything. I asked you whether Tom Homan accepted $50k as was heard on an audio tape recorded by the FBI in September 2024. You did not answer the question. Thank you for your time. VANCE: No, George, I sai-- STEPHANOPOULOS: We'll be right back

The following is REAL footage from Portland, 2025. Viewer discretion is advised.

David Simon, creator of ‘The Wire’, being interviewed by Ari Shapiro (NPR)

Today my @nytimes.com colleagues and I are launching a new series called Lost Science. We interview US scientists who can no longer discover something new about our world, thanks to this year‘s cuts. Here is my first interview with a scientist who studied bees and fires. Gift link: nyti.ms/3IWXbiE

On the Colorado River, there is no more water. That's the warning from a coalition of environmental groups urging for action and transparency regarding the river's future. My latest: insideclimatenews.org/news/0610202...

Financial disclosure gaps, questionable gifts cloud Earle-Sears’ bid for governor virginiamercury.com/2025/10/08/f...

Union of Concerned Scientists report out with some nice recommendations for how to avoid captive residential customers paying for the infrastructure needs of data centers owned by tech giants (which is currently happening):

Va. could show how to manage data center growth. So far, it’s a case study in stalling legislation virginiamercury.com/2025/10/06/v...

Dr. Jane Goodall filmed an interview with Netflix in March 2025 that she understood would only be released after her death.

more important than ever to understand how with minimal energy people (and now things!) can easily persuade you to act against your own interests, if you aren’t familiar with their tactics and how your own damn brain works.

Jane Goodall, Eminent Primatologist Who Chronicled the Lives of Chimps, Dies at 91 www.nytimes.com/2025/10/01/o...

the world is a piñata that he is smashing, blindfolded

My latest on the forthcoming healthcare mess. virginiabusiness.com/health-medic...

20 years after Katrina, New Orleans’ levees are sinking and short on money. The city’s $14 billion flood system faces new threats from climate change, land subsidence, and Trump budget cuts. grist.org/extreme-weat... #NewOrleans #Louisiana #LA #Katrina #Policy #Climate #50501 #livingwithwater

My latest on the Norfolk School Board. It may vote tonight on yet another last-minute closing plan with no public comment. www.whro.org/education-ne...

you are about to see the nation’s beer distributors—aka “the toughest lobby you’ve never heard of”—lose their fucking minds

The US conservative movement has organized & funded a massive anti-wind power campaign, based on lies & bullying. Researchers at Brown University have been investigating & revealing that campaign. Now cons are pressuring the university to shut the investigators down.

As a journalist who gets fed this kind of garbage too often, I have to admire the deeply delusional spin of this announcement. We got nothing we wanted, but all is good. That white flag we're waving is a mirage.

"The Comey indictment appears to be the opening phase of a program of presidentially directed political prosecutions." -- Bob Bauer executivefunctions.substack.com/p/the-comey-...

RAJU: Are you personally okay with Trump telling the AG to go after his political opponents? MIKE ROUNDS: We need to stay in our lane, and our lane is doing our job (That's a yes)

Talk Of Fascism Dangerous, Warns Ministry Of Compliance

Thanks for following along! Article is free to read (no paywall), so please read and share. Thanks! 9/

NEW: CBP has been funneling DNA from US citizens—including kids—into the FBI’s crime database. Nearly 2,000 Americans swabbed, many with no charges. Once for violent offenders, CODIS is becoming a mass-surveillance archive. analysis by @georgetownprivacy.bsky.social

This ought to be engraved somewhere.

Fight Erupts Over Fate of U.S. Attorney Investigating Two Trump Foes www.nytimes.com/2025/09/19/u...