The decline of the Washington Post is sad, not least because it’s a deliberate choice. It’s bad for media, bad for politics, bad for the country. But the famous hold-power-accountable newspaper is gone. Take a lesson from zombie stories: That’s not WaPo, even if it appears superficially similar.

In Going After His Foes, Trump Sets a Precedent That Would Haunt His Allies If They Had Any Intention of Allowing Free and Fair Elections in the Future

I try to resist doomerism, but I have to admit that hearing Gen Z "conservatives" describe their media diets made me want to walk into the sea. Nick Fuentes, Andrew Tate, Jordan Peterson, etc. Ben Shapiro framed as a moderate. Bari Weiss as the go to for "liberal opinions." youtu.be/fpTXMVpdyRg?...

At the same time an OR GOP leader tweeted this pro-military invasion statement last night about violence in Portland, the party's meeting in Welches, OR descended into a physical confrontation between rival factions. The hotel hosting the event kicked them out like a bunch of rowdy high schoolers.

Trump-supporting veteran murders people in a church and sets it on fire. Benny Johnson (who spoke at Kirk's memorial service) falsely claims on Twitter that this tragedy is part of some broader "attack on Christianity." This tweet from Johnson was at the top of my "for you" feed.

"And they are adamantly opposed to recognizing bad faith, so they let themselves be used, over and over, in an endless attempt to find reasonable common ground with political forces bent on division."

In which a top US Border Patrol official, incredibly, tells my tall and Anglo colleague @chipmitchell1.bsky.social that he's not the type they're looking for as they go about downtown Chicago arresting people based on "how they look" chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...

Since he’s crawled back into the limelight amid Trump’s crackdown on left-wing groups, here’s my 2019 profile of Andy Ngo. He’s an anti-antifa propagandist who has a history of whitewashing violent fascist groups, particularly in Portland. jewishcurrents.org/the-making-o...

Masked federal agents march through downtown Chicago, in shadow of Trump Tower chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...

I’ve known Steve for several years — he’s dug up a lot of stories of great importance to Chicago about a variety of topics, including CPD and now ICE. Journalism is not a crime

Just FYI: Portland as a war zone is horseshit, and deploying federal troops is horseshit.

WOW. This entire story is HORRIFIC. This is FOIA of a body cam from the raid in upstate New York the same day as the Hyundai plant. It catches a Border Patrol agent on camera only bragging about denying medical care to migrants detained at the border under Biden — who he says are all "animals." 1/3

The Antifa scares are like predictions of the rapture. Somehow the people receptive to such stories rarely think to themselves "hm, this is now the 14th time I've been told this was going to happen and it hasn't happened yet so, um, maybe this person is lying to me?"

Five years ago, @brandyzadrozny.bsky.social and I did a story about rural Oregon's fever dream that Antifa was coming to their town from Portland. Hundreds showed up armed downtown because they heard on Facebook that "Antifa buses" were coming. No buses came so they said Antifa "retreated."

"There is no place in American politics for violence," said DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin while waging political violence against the American people for the regime. www.fox32chicago.com/news/broadvi...

Trump is ordering the military to use “full force” against an American city, while the Supreme Court declares him the Sun King and Congress hides under a pile of coats. The checks and balances only work when the institutions aren’t run by utter cowards and the complicit

If we normalize the use of troops to police American streets, “we will have quietly conceded our democracy and our freedoms,” @Liza Goitein writes.

I encourage all the media outlets who are about to send people to ”war ravaged” Portland to think twice. Some of the strongest extremism reporters in the country live in this region; journalists who understand the culture of the Northwest and the history of activism here. Do it right this time okay?

As the President flouts the Posse Comitatus Act by sending troops to Portland, I can’t help but be struck by the irony that Portland was the birthplace of the Christian Nationalist and white supremacist, right wing domestic terror group called the Posse Comitatus.

If ever there was a time not to normalize Trump’s authoritarian fever dreams, this is it. This should be impeachable. ‘War ravaged’ Portland? He’s insane - & insanely power hungry. The script is set - call an imaginary group a terror group and then send in the troops.

Only an administration intent on committing war crimes in the present and future would stoop to calling Wounded Knee a "battle" rather than what it truly was: a massacre of over 250 Lakotas, mainly women, children, and the elderly. 1/

This is an infuriating and shameful scandal. The Roberts Court is condoning Trump’s law breaking, again, pure and simple. There is no serious path forward for democratic government without Supreme Court reform.

Calling it a call for violence is the real call for violence

Is this “a legal enterprise”?

Feels right on schedule to me, but ymmv

Heritage Foundation called me an extremist for calling them out on their made up lies and statistics and trans people. www.wired.com/story/herita...

“Acts of cowardice from the people best positioned to resist Trump’s authoritarian power grabs have made Trump seem exponentially more powerful than he actually is, sapping strength from others who might have discovered the courage to stand up.” Strongly seconded. I’d third it too if possible.

I hear the President has decreed that it is possibly a crime to refer to Americans as "fascists," but "fascism" is a word that has a relatively clear meaning that's worth understanding. Here's how an official publication of the US Army defined "fascism" in 1945.

Hard to exaggerate how much outside the norm of the U.S. justice system this is

For sale: Boiled Frog. Very well done.

It directly equates all anti-fascist rhetoric and activity as terrorism. We're not talking about obscure fringe "antifa" groups in Portland... we're talking about liberal think tanks, ActBlue, and non-governmental organizations that promote small-d democratic institutions.

This is way way worse than Kimmel, and also so broad that Kimmel could possibly be charged with something under these guidelines

Dave Matthews has the opportunity to do the funniest thing.

Despite everything I still have fundamental faith in the American people turning this around and making things better. [reads any New York Times focus group] Fuck this. Fuck everything. Burn it all down. [drinks directly from tequila bottle]

Oh, so we're just flat-out doing the antisemitic Orbán dictatorship schtick, eh? Okay.

“Calling the government’s authoritarian attacks on free speech ‘authoritarian’ isn’t allowed,” explained the authoritarian government official. “In the name of free speech, the government will employ state power to silence its critics,” he continued. “So watch what you say.”

I seem to remember that there was a political movement in the US that was powered by resentment over bailouts and an opposition to sending “our money” to other countries. Blanking on the name right now, but it’ll come to me.

This is, without any exaggeration, exactly how Putin and Orbán proceeded — using antisemitism to discredit the idea of civil society and political opposition, and as an excuse to undo the rule of law. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/25/u...

This week's "whataboutism" in defense of the regime's suppression of free speech is that Google caved to the regime and "confessed" it censored conservatives on behalf of the Biden administration (via Jim Jordon's committee investigation).

Tapping the sign.

"Stop telling your supporters that everybody who disagrees with you is a Nazi....[and start telling them that they are anti-Christian vermin linked to terroristic traitors in the Democrat Party who've been infected by the Soros-funded woke mind virus and are poisoning the blood of the country.]"

“Fascism” isn’t a slur for politics we don’t like. It’s a precise word with precise meaning. And in the face of what’s happening right now in America, it’s the most honest one we have. I’ll lay it out as plainly as I can. 🧵

How about we not compliment people like Joe Rogan who spew the most gut bucket, fascistic, antisemitic conspiracy theories out there while “defending” free speech? www.nytimes.com/2025/09/23/a...

Trump’s crazy speech at the UN exemplified his administration’s approach to the world. The lies, insults, and threats are not some negotiating tactic, it’s how America operates now: lawless and anti-cooperation instead of leading. I joined @gregsargent.bsky.social on the Daily Blast to discuss:

Sounds silly to say Jimmy Kimmel’s TV show was an important fight to have, and a significant victory, but it’s true. The regime’s resources are limited. Make things harder for them anywhere they push. They’re pretending they have more power than they do. Symbolic losses like this undermine that.

He stood in front of the world at the UN today, and every other word out of his mouth was a lie. I’ll say it again, we’ve not been here before. An American President who lies as he breathes. It’s a terrible place to be. Shame on the media & everyone who’s normalized his lying and/or doesn’t care.

Senator Bill Cassidy, a doctor, is 1 of only 100 Americans out of over 250 million adult citizens given the consequential responsibility to advise and consent on exec branch nominees. He used that to approve an antivax, anti-science conspiracy theorist as the nation's top public health official.

This ought to be engraved somewhere.