This shit is so unbelievably deranged. One can only hope that we, as a species, somehow and despite our worst efforts make it to a point sometime in the future when our descendants can look back at us and be aghast at how aggressively stupid we were to let this all happen.

Many Americans believe immigrants are a drain on public resources. They use more than they give, so they believe. However, according to a new report from the Cato Institute (!!!), that view is entirely wrong. Here’s my convo w/ the lead author. No paywall. WATCH lthomas.substack.com/p/immigratio...

Many Americans believe immigrants are a drain on public resources. They use more than they give, so they believe. However, according to a new report from the Cato Institute (!!!), that view is entirely wrong. Here’s my convo w/ the lead author. No paywall. WATCH lthomas.substack.com/p/immigratio...

It's been kinda funny watching the boxing crowd ponder what Zuffa Boxing has in store for the sport as if this question hasn't been thoroughly answered a million times over.

My favorite part of American democracy is the secret births of American citizens to avoid the capture of their parents.

Nikita Hand may be awarded damages against a couple who swore affidavits on behalf of former MMA fighter Conor McGregor, after judgments were awarded against the couple by the High Court today

In Dana White's UFC, the job of media is fan and promotional service. The press conference is the perfect example. Fans are invited and the entire event is designed to get them excited. Media are expected to ask questions that ONLY service this role. Anything else gets booed. Sadly, they comply.

IMO it’s for the best that hockey is getting ahead of potentially attracting a new, diverse audience by making clear that they are second only to MMA as the highest concentration of chuds in sports

A new paper shows that less than 2 months of exposure to Twitter’s algorithmic feed significantly shifts people’s political views to the right. Moving from chronological feed to the algorithmic feed also increases engagement. This is one of the most concerning papers I’ve read in awhile.

Someone should cut a promo on his gross ass sportswashing.

Even if you don't have time to read all 83 pages of Judge Reyes's opinion barring the Trump administration from rescinding Temporary Protected Status for 350,000+ Haitians, please at least check out the four-page introduction. It's a tour de force: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

I spoke to @attackerman.bsky.social about how ICE and their tyranny, methods, extra-legal justifications and ethnic cleansing campaign can't be understood properly without realizing ICE is our inheritance from the war on terror. Truly illuminating from Spencer: lthomas.substack.com/p/war-on-ter...

A Minnesota woman observing ICE agents in her car was cornered on one-way streets. An agent approached, called her by name—citing facial recognition. Days later, her Global Entry and TSA privileges were revoked, with no explanation.

Weird that hiring away a few checked-out Tory alcoholics from British dailies and emphasizing op eds about Why Your Boss Deserves A Tax Cut didn't deliver better results but what can you do? What, at the end of the day, can you do?

As strange and alarming images come out of Minneapolis, I’ve been thinking again about this article @tomscocca.bsky.social published after January 6th 🧵

To understand ICE's violence mandate, you have to understand Trump has for years claimed policing is too kind, stop-and-frisk was good and that police should have immunity from prosecution. For Trump, ICE is violent because, to him, *that is authentic policing*. New video: youtu.be/JVa66a3PeIY?...

Markey seems a bit confused here. Qualified immunity applies to state and local police. Feds have almost complete immunity (from civil liability, *not* criminal). It looks like his bill would basically strip any sort of immunity from all of them. Which is sensible, but definitely won’t pass.

To understand ICE's violence mandate, you have to understand Trump has for years claimed policing is too kind, stop-and-frisk was good and that police should have immunity from prosecution. For Trump, ICE is violent because, to him, *that is authentic policing*. New video: youtu.be/JVa66a3PeIY?...

New & free Punch-Out on @wrestlingobserver.bsky.social as the inimitable @lukethomas.bsky.social makes his show debut for an extended talk. We talk about the next stage of Morning Kombat, the evolution of his career, TKO taking over combat sports & lots more. Links below:

Some tried to turn the lady’s encouragement as a sign she didn’t have legit media chops. She does. And it’s a kind sentiment that people appreciated. But this chumminess between sports org and media within combat sports has been a total cancer and is part of the reason CS media no longer functions.

There is a crisis of impunity. The Musk/Grok stuff is just one f many examples of people who are counting on there never being any consequences. And it all makes me just incandescently mad.

ICE is now behaving in such a way that even Tucker Carlson’s favorite Holocaust minimizing, Hitler-apologist “historian” is like “hey now guys, this is getting a little out of hand.”

TKO might try to use their resources to boost Rahm’s political fortunes, but he has no juice with the Dem base. Zero. None. They could parade Rahm at every WWE and UFC event and it would do nothing. He’s the opposite of what the Dem base says they want and what they are voting for currently.

A few thoughts on the role ICE plays in a larger project of right-wing dominion: www.youtube.com/watch?v=vI3j...

A few thoughts on the role ICE plays in a larger project of right-wing dominion: www.youtube.com/watch?v=vI3j...

Luke is correct. I've been immersed in the MMA ecosystem since the 1st time I skipped school to watch a UFC event on VHS. Until I voluntarily removed myself from it 1 yr ago, this was my life. It is different now. The UFC got what it wanted: An ignorant, compliant audience. Perfect for recruitment.

We've removed the paywall from this guide so everyone can access it. 👇 Stay safe.

this was also consensus opinion for center-right types after george floyd’s murder five years ago. the state media apparatus will be working overtime the next few weeks to reprogram them

ICE agent kills woman, DHS tells obvious, insane lies about it: defector.com/ice-agent-ki...

Every video showing ICE agents is them acting without restraint. Pinning a pregnant woman to the ground, pointing weapons at bystanders unprovoked. Those who want you to not believe your lying eyes today also want you to not believe anything you've ever seen about ICE agents.

ICE is recruiting UFC fans to be deportation officers, further proof that MMA and the UFC are a vector for right-wing politics in the U.S. www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwpV...

It has never been more important in my lifetime to support independent media than right now.

RIP absolute legend deadline.com/2025/12/isia...

Exclusive: A year after Tenet Media was busted for funneling Russian money to MAGA pundits like Benny Johnson and Tim Pool, a Trump administration effort involving State and the FBI has welcomed Tenet's founders back into the US. @thebulwark.com: www.thebulwark.com/p/lauren-che...

Maybe you good folks can help me. I’ve cancelled my subs to WaPo and NYT (Gaza coverage, oligarch takeover, etc). I subscribe to many Substacks and indie media outlets, but I don’t really have a place to go for what we would consider traditional news reporting. Is there a solution to this?

These mf'ers will say this and then without a shred of irony claim the left has gotten extreme and the right has stayed the same.

The full spiked 60 Minutes CECOT package, clean & subtitled. 1/5

CBS paid the president of the United States millions in bribe money and now they censor news reports so it does not annoy him. I don’t know how much plainer we can put this.

Me: I don’t see the appeal of boxing TV: OK but what if it’s professional boxers savagely brutalizing influencers Me:

This interview is now UNLOCKED and available to all: lthomas.substack.com/p/slavery-is...

So far I've heard of one prominent person telling this guy to fuck off, and shockingly it's an MMA guy

well well well if it isn’t the blowjob brothers

An absolute bedrock institution for understanding how the planet works, just civilization-scaled vandalism by the most incurious morons on Earth

It’s also really incredible we used to have guys like this and Jordan Breen in MMA media. We are in a very different position today.

NEW: @patrickwyman.bsky.social has a history podcast not on great leaders, but more common folk. The theme for this season? World slavery: “Power is inseparable from labor. Power is inseparable from work. Slavery, studying it, what it tells us, is just how inseparable those two things are.”

NEW: @patrickwyman.bsky.social has a history podcast not on great leaders, but more common folk. The theme for this season? World slavery: “Power is inseparable from labor. Power is inseparable from work. Slavery, studying it, what it tells us, is just how inseparable those two things are.”

Instructive to watch the "how could the political figure who has done more to coarsen political discourse in our lifetime do something like this, a thing he has done many times?" right-wing cope on the Other Place timeline today.

Buried under 12 paragraphs and 4 ads is this: that an investigation into the politicization of data was conducted not by … actually reviewing any data … but just by interviewing senior officials who disliked their chief. So more politics.