“Fuck them kids.” That’s literally what an ICE agent said when ICE, the FBI et al. raided an apartment in Chicago, including with a Blackhawk helicopter, separated children from their parents, and zip-tied them to each other. abc7chicago.com/post/ice-chi...

whom among us besides all of us could have predicted that an anti-discrimination organization cozying up to American fascists for the sake of Israeli fascists would mean bootlicking in order to get kicked in the face by the regime www.reuters.com/world/us/fbi...

i’m not sure I’ve ever seen a better answer from a politician on any question, nevermind one that starts by calling them inflammatory???

it doesn’t seem possible to invent an opposition party that chooses the least important issue to bet everything on….and yet

I sat down to write some thoughts about what One Battle After Another has to say about antifascism, but then I found that @roxana-hadadi.bsky.social already said almost everything I wanted to say: www.vulture.com/article/one-...

this column is a perfect reminder that in November 2024 only some part of the red part of this chart voted for the idea of what’s actually happening now

this column is a perfect reminder that in November 2024 only some part of the red part of this chart voted for the idea of what’s actually happening now

Burn After Reading walked so that One Battle After Another could run in a bathrobe.

It’s all backwards. empty-brain.ghost.io/scavenging-f...

all this stuff today is really emphasizing the nature of our vibes-based order — we haven’t had strong rules or systems, have relied on voluntary compliance to norms, and now one entire side has decided they’re not going to play along anymore

I don’t like to brag but multiple people have told me today this blog saved them from a podcast-induced brain aneurysm, so I am also now constitutionally required to write this repost.

ICE arrests a school superintendent. The adults bow down — but the youth rise up. At least they get that this isn’t about whether he was “authorized to work” — it’s about whether we believe human beings are due any kind of dignity.

welp I guess it’s already clear which way the Washington Post is going to frame a call to do massacres at home and abroad

the president of the united states wants to use the american military to kill american citizens on american soil. that's the whole story!

reminder that removing Trump from power remains the only goal and everyone has a role to play in achieving it

Now might be a good time for Democrats to remind people that when they return to power they will not hesitate to prosecute people who murder civilians.

at least the original Nazis hadn’t seen TED Talks

sure hope we decide to fund his government for him!

I decided to investigate what strategy, exactly, Klein is expressing — and how it represents a common instinct among people in disarray empty-brain.ghost.io/scavenging-f...

I was constitutionally required* to write about Ezra Klein and misconceptions about strategy so now you are constitutionally required to read it. empty-brain.ghost.io/scavenging-f... (*the remaining functional constitution, my own)

A lot of the Klein/Coates discussion has been on the (important!) questions of morality, propriety, history. But I hadn’t seen a dissection of Klein’s position in terms of strategy — so I wrote that for you. empty-brain.ghost.io/scavenging-f...

Pritzker: "In any other country, if federal agents fired upon journalists & protesters when unprovoked what would we call it? If officials marched down streets harassing civilians & demanding their papers, what would we say? I don't think we'd have trouble calling it what it is: authoritarianism"

sounds safe and wise

Just finished editing two fascinating pieces for Heat Death, my newsletter with @saulelbein.bsky.social about history, nature, culture, and the strange intersections between them. I'm super proud of what we've published so far, and can't wait to commission more. Pitch us!

I did some important journalism this morning about our heroes at ICE

How You Can Tell These Guys Are On A Real and Important Mission: An Investigation of Their Hats 🧵

would be a shame for this video to play over and over and over and over again and everywhere at all times

The best theory of the Trump presidency continues to be that he believes whatever the last person told him.

So far today, Chuck Schumer has said his strategy for preventing Trump sending troops into blue cities is to win over Republican senators (!) while Hakeem Jeffries praised Eric Adams's courage and authenticity (!!) while refusing to endorse Mamdani. Again. These two gotta go.

Ezra says here that “political strategy is downstream from political culture.” I think it’s far more likely it’s the opposite: Political culture takes primacy when there is no political strategy towards a real political project.

The number one thing the American public knows about Eric Adams is that he is a hapless crook surrounded by a circle of cartoonishly corrupt henchmen, which is why I, the top Democrat, would like to thank him for his service as we fight against this crook President surrounded by a circle of carto—

Listening to Klein & Coates, I think it becomes clear that Ezra thinks we lost because Charlie Kirk Politics beats Scold Politics. Actually? We lost because the Charlie Kirk Politics makes a grotesque promise of some kind of ideology that beats *any kind of* politics that promises nothing.

He’s an apparent criminal who sold out the city in a rancid deal with the Trump DOJ that was so corrupt the only way out was to dismiss the charges against him.

Eric Adams dropping out redistributes, at most, a margin of error of votes. Everyone chill.

“I’ve not heard of anything this egregious — a donor calling up and saying I need help and getting it...while others may be getting denied assistance or otherwise waiting in line for help that may or may not come.”" www.propublica.org/article/kris...

periodic reminder that it is malpractice for liberals & progressives to repeat the frame “tough on crime” as a label for our opponents people like tough. people don’t like crime. “tough on crime” is actually “destructive & ineffective efforts to stop crime.” stop helping them rebrand it.

If I were a student or parent in the city of Des Moines, I might consider an indefinite school strike until he is released.

ran today with a podcast and then with music and, I love to still report, the effect of music on sports is absolutely insane

we are the victim until we exterminate every last one of our enemies

ICE is authoritarian

a visual reminder that America’s commitment to genocide is as unique as its climate denialism

Bewildering as it may be, I get that this country has a deranged obsession with Trump as a personality. That does not mean these same people love Stephen Miller, RFK, Kristi Noem, Pam Bondi, etc. — all truly unlikable villains that Democrats should be constantly villainizing!

“Fucking white men that care. Saddest of the bunch.” Killer Mike, in The Lowdown on FX, is perfect.

🎶 why’d you have to go and make things so macerated? 🎶 i see the way you’re 🎶 crushin’ like you’re somebody else, gets me fermented

I am a political strategist and this is correct — not only because successfully retrieving information creates new stories but because being blocked from retrieving information is a story itself.

My offer to Stephen Miller for a 1-1 Battle of Stephens continues to stand. He can pick any contest. Loser goes straight to The Hague.

If you appreciate my coverage and analysis— would appreciate some support!

this is why we need to bring back shame there need to be consequences for being a huge asshole, there need to be standards for how you behave in a decent society the rules cannot be set by the worst of us

Some people here love to dismiss ‘sportsball’ but S. African teams being banned from international competition was an important factor in ending Apartheid because it made their crimes real for non-political folk.

“ANTI-ICE”? Yes, of course. This is a common identifier among today’s Left, similar to “pro-environment,” “health care ally,” and“gay fan”