It would be nice if Congress cared to exist. Trump just cancels funding on a whim. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/06/u...

This is how it’s done.

At the @status.news newsletter that I read daily, they're saying... "A chaotic on-air rollout, cringe social media posts, and MAGA-friendly editorial choices have turned Tony Dokoupil’s “CBS Evening News” debut into a source of embarrassment and growing alarm inside the network’s newsroom.

Judge to Lindsey Halligan: Explain yourself. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Members of Congress also have comprehensive health insurance

"The analyst argues that Nvidia’s move could represent a “lights-out moment” for Tesla’s autonomy narrative" www.tipranks.com/news/its-onl...

U.S. manufacturing activity slumped to a 14-month low in December, with new orders contracting further and input costs grinding higher as the sector continued to bear the imprint of Trump's import tariffs.

🎁 www.wsj.com/world/russia...

1/ This guy has an SS tattoo on his neck, but that aside: CA just passed a law stating that federal immigration agents wearing masks (except medical) lose qualified immunity, meaning they can be sued. And I gotta think that the sedition hunting is going to make life very uncomfortable for many.

The pandemic brought rural America manufacturing jobs, new residents and federal support. Policy reversals are erasing all of it. www.indystar.com/story/opinio...

50 million barrels of oil (high end estimate) $60 per barrel price (higher than it’d actually be) We’re talking at most $3 billion in revenue, almost certainly less. How much has US military operations in and around Venezuela cost? Corrupt, unconstitutional, and even on its own terms a bad deal.

Russia is still getting Starlink despite sanctions. Records show the gear is routed through the Netherlands, UAE, and Hong Kong, often using false manufacturer details. These workarounds keep Starlink running for Russian troops and drones in their war effort in Ukraine. nordsint.org/2026/01/06/a...

Behind these statistics are people struggling to feed themselves and their families. Ending the collection of this data is cruel denialism.

Crockett: "When you look at the press conference Trump held, he didn't talk about democracy. I know there are a lot of people talking about how this is good for the Venezuelan people because Maduro was ba. That's not why he did it. He has not cared about Venezuelans at all. Here's the receipts ... "

The president spoke to Republican members of Congress at a GOP retreat on Tuesday.

Reporter to Kushner & Witkoff during Ukraine summit: "I know there's a reluctance to talk about Greenland today, but what value do these commitments have on the very day that at the highest levels of govt in Washington they are talking about seizing the sovereign territory of a fellow NATO member?"

“The present administration will continue to destroy evidence based public health programmes and policies unless clinicians, public health workers, and citizens fight back”. Excellent article by @jonshaffer.bsky.social and @gavinyamey.bsky.social on the phenomenon of doctors who broke bad.

They say it's not "regime change," but they changed the regime. They say it's not "war," but they bombed the country, killed scores of people and have imposed a blockade, which is an act of war. They say they acted because of drugs, but the main drug they're focused on is oil. It's 100% gaslighting.

Tim Walz is such a good and decent man. And seeing what has been done to him stirs a rage in me so strong that I can’t really grapple with it at times. I only know one way forward which is a promise to use that rage to bring about change and a return to decency.

It's becoming standard procedure across all news media to explicitly not mention in the obituary of a Republican member of congress that they voted on Jan. 6, 2021 to overturn the election

Bill Cassidy spent 2025 criticizing RFK Jr’s radical moves, but failing to actually do anything meaningful, despite his powerful committee chairmanship. In 2026, the senator is offering more of the same, indifferent to the consequences of his passivity. www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...

I've been calling out Yarvin for ~15 years, and people used to think *I* was crazy for describing these guys' vision for destroying the federal government & disenfranchising voters. When he came after me personally (the blog post is still up!), people backed away saying they "didn't want drama". So.

So as RFK ends annual flu vaccine recommendations for children, hospitalizations and deaths among children are rapidly accelerating--with prior data showing that nearly all the mortality is among those not vaccinated. www.vice.com/en/article/a...

Our Q&A (with the great @mikeschmitt.bsky.social and @rgoodlaw.bsky.social) is now updated to include the US military actions against Venezuela and seizure of Maduro: www.justsecurity.org/126156/faq-v...

For five years, Trump has whitewashed the Jan. 6 insurrection, culminating with him freeing roughly 1,500 criminals. But make no mistake: it was a devastating extremist attack on our republic—and it was led by him. The deep evidence, plus a thread on his lies 👉 www.motherjones.com/politics/202... 1x

European leaders rally behind Greenland as US ramps up threats www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j...

Ventures launched by the Trump family since Donald Trump’s reelection have generated at least $4 billion in wealth for the Trump family.

Unhook ourselves from oil and gas and we unhook ourselves from dependency on dictators, autocrats and expansionist regimes all over the planet. Renewables and other low-carbon energy sources are not just good climate sense. They are also good political sense.

This is why I’m pushing for a state escrow account that holds federal funds before sending them on to Washington. If Trump wants to steal our tax dollars that were legally appropriated by Congress, then we should just be paying ourselves.

“Minnesota, New York, California, Illinois and Colorado will be cut off from around $7 billion in funding for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, which provides cash assistance to households with children, according to two people familiar with the matter.” Monstrously cruel.

I’m begging people to please stop it with the “Donroe Doctrine” bs. We don’t need a cutesy term for these violations of intnl law & decency www.nytimes.com/2026/01/06/w...

The land of free speech, where disrespecting the Dear Leader’s image gets your pass revoked.

Big: Wyoming supreme court just struck down abortion ban. And get this: The reason is a constitutional amendment codifying a right to make health care decisions... passed in 2012 by conservatives who thought it'd screw Obamacare! Quite the backfire. We explained this lawsuit a few years back:

Why does it matter that Nicolás #Maduro told a US judge he’s still president of #Venezuela? International law prohibits prosecution of a sitting head of state in another country’s courts. @keitnerlaw.com explains head of state immunity and the Maduro case: www.justsecurity.org/128073/head-...

US justice department has released less than 1% of Epstein files, filing reveals www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

Will "non-interventionist" MAGA go along? Yup. A new WaPo poll finds only 40% overall approve of the Maduro capture and only 37% say this was appropriate without Congress. But 80% of Trump voters support the capture and 78% are fine with not going to Congress. 6/ newrepublic.com/article/2049...

Trump just said "all" of Venezuela's oil must be made accessible to US oil companies. Trump wants to emulate Putin's model: Authoritarian, expansionist rulers carving up their regions and distributing the spoils of conquest to friendly oligarchs. 1/ (new piece) newrepublic.com/article/2049...

Federal law required the Jan. 6 plaque to be hung on Capitol grounds by March 2023. It still has not been put up.

This, from Bryce Elder, City editor at the FT's Alphaville, is a laudable entry on the subject of the Elon Musk/Grok 'undressing' scandal. It identifies the senior executives at the company who are responsible for it (and 'paints' them in what seems to me to be an appropriate light).

Turns out oil companies have little interest in investing in Venezuela given that Maduro's entire political apparatus is still in charge of the country. Oops. www.wsj.com/business/ene...

This past spring, the flu very nearly killed a friend of mine - young guy, in great shape, baby on the way, he was in the hospital for weeks with multiple organ failure. It was a miracle he recovered and lived to hold his child. Get your flu shot, folks.

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting has been dissolved, ending its 58 years as the primary funder for PBS, NPR and local TV and radio stations

Just insane that the American president is taking responsibility for solving another country’s problems while people in his own would like him to take responsibility for solving theirs. We have never seen insanity like this.

'The nuance we persist in discounting is to recognize that schools alone (regardless of standards, tests, teacher quality) cannot compensate for the outsized causal influence of social, community, and family factors grounded in all sorts of inequity' substack.com/inbox/post/1...

"Military intervention without a clear path to strategic and political success" www.brookings.edu/articles/mak...

"While the man's wife and two older sons successfully applied for permission to remain in the country, at least for now, he and his daughter, instead, face deportation." https://bit.ly/4slUnh7

On the first day back following the kidnapping of Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro & first lady Cilia Flores, 6 Senate Democrats vote yea to confirm Keith Bass as an Assistant Secretary of Defense by a vote of 50-35.

When you see pessimism, share this. WHAT YOU CAN DO TO DEFEND DEMOCRACY / Join protests / Donate time & $$ to defeat Republicans / Support good media (Guardian, ProPublica etc) / Boycott bad media (CBS, Fox) / Call & write lawmakers / Remind family & friends how bad MAGA is / Vote / Get others to.

“Viruses and bacteria that were under control are being set free on our most vulnerable…It won’t work and can’t end well”. Way to go @jimalwine.bsky.social, representing @defendpublichealth.bsky.social.