The Groom of the Stool (formally styled: "Groom of the King's Close Stool") was the most intimate of an English monarch's courtiers, initially responsible for assisting the king in excretion and hygiene. The physical intimacy of the role naturally led to . . . en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groom_o...

Khanna: "The problem here is there are rich and powerful people who either engaged in this abuse, covered it up, or we're on this island. What the American people want to know is who are these people? Instead of holding them accountable, Pam Bondi is breaking the law."

BRENNAN: What are you going to do to force DOJ to comply? MASSIE: The quickest way and most expeditious way to get justice for these victims is to bring inherent contempt against Pam Bondi. That doesn't require going through the courts. We're drafting that right now.

BRENNAN: This isn't everything you asked for just yet, but would you acknowledge that they are complying with the spirit if not the intent of your law? MASSIE: No. They're flouting the spirit and the letter of the law. It's very troubling the posture that they've taken.

Remember 2015 rally Trump? 2025 Grandpa Chaos can't even put together a couple of sentences. This ain't "the weave," folks. This rambling word salad is your sundowning FOTUS. Cognitive decline...brought to you by rapidly failing adventures in WH physician chemistry. 📺 bsky.app/profile/atru...

He has been fixated on Ilhan Omar and Somalis for like six years now. I went to a rally in Minnesota right as he was getting into this stuff and there were men who I suspected had white supremacist tattoos.

* Number of additional unemployed Americans since January: 982,000. * Number of federal government job losses: 271,000. 🤡

Every day Trump has to remind people that he is an obnoxious ass who only cares about himself and has no consideration for others, in case anyone forgot that. bsky.app/profile/atru...

Yes, it’s illegal. Like changing it to Department of War, like ten thousand other things. Part of the Trump strategy is to break the law and convey “the rule of law is weak and feminine and laughable and should be overridden by Our Guy.” Trump is fundamentally anti-law. /1

New in PN: The legal "defense" for Trump's ballroom is a joke "How does putting a pause on the Big Gilded Ballroom compromise national security? Well, the administration can’t say … because it would compromise national security."

One of President Kennedy's projects was building a high quality national cultural center in the nation's capital, viewing the arts as essential to American life. The result was the Kennedy Center. Today, however, it has been renamed after Donald Trump. edition.cnn.com/2025/12/18/p...

Things are going great over at X, The Everything App

TAPPER: Earlier today - this isn't the first time - Trump appeared to be struggling to keep eyes open. Does that worry you? REINER: It's jarring to see him go from basically asleep in the Oval to this rapid fire pace during a 30-minute speech he gave in 18. There's been a lot of health issues.

Dr. Jonathan Reiner on why he was alarmed by Trump's speech: "It was delivered with a manic cadence -- almost a frantic cadence ... it was disturbing to watch. It was disturbing because he's the commander in chief."

Scenes from a personalist regime: The Kennedy Center will be renamed the Trump-Kennedy Center based on a recommendation by the Trump appointed board.

You’ve lost the plot as a presidential administration when Dr. Oz is on stage handwringing about the cost of balls

“When the German nation was, thanks to the inflation instigated and carried through by Jews, deprived of the entire savings which it had accumulated in years of honest work..when we were divested of the whole of our colonial possessions” Adolf Hitler, 1939 There’s not much difference

A useful diagram that helps explain why the United States is making nice with certain murderous dictatorships, attacking and threatening to take over other countries, etc.

Note how the United States is now ranked only #57 in political freedom.

Trump says he will block Venezuelan oil exports until they return the oil assets "they stole from us." In reality, under a centrist government in the 1970s, Venezuela--under international arbitration--legally nationalized their oil by paying billions of dollars to U.S. oil companies.

HHS has "terminated seven grants totaling millions of dollars to the American Academy of Pediatrics, including for initiatives on reducing sudden infant deaths, improving adolescent health, preventing fetal alcohol syndrome and identifying autism early." wapo.st/48U8yB2

Trump: “One year ago, our country was dead!” The Economist, one year ago:

Full on neo-Nazi conspiracy theories from the president tonight — the very same invasion and replacement conspiracy theories that have fueled a cycle of deadly violence targeting so many communities including immigrants, Jews, Latinos, the Black community, Muslims, and more.

“When asked by the Journal about the meeting with Dershowitz and Trump’s current position on serving a third term, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said the country would be lucky if he served a longer period of time.”

everybody is 12

LUHAN: Is the FCC an independent agency? CARR: I think th--- L: Yes or no C: There's a test for this in the la--- L: It's yes or no, Brendan! On your website, it simply says, man, 'the FCC is independent.' This isn't a trick question C: The FCC is not L: So is your website lying? C: Possibly

KLOBUCHAR: You've launched investigations into every major broadcast network except Fox. Is that correct? CARR: I don't know if that's true or not. We do have investigations going on NPR and PBS. We have a number of investigations. (That's a yes)

Enten highlights that Trump is underwater on every key issue: "The report card is negative. Every single day since March 12 Trump has been in the red. 281 days in a row. The bottom line is Americans don't like what Trump is doing and they haven't liked what Trump's doing for a long period of time."

McGovern: "When billionaire CEOs need something, Republicans move at lightning speed. But when it comes to working people needing affordable health care, suddenly the story changes. There's hand wringing and the money is gone. My friends, if you are ok with that, we do not share the same values."

of all of the things I am going to not watch, this is the thing I am going to not watch the most

it really feels like the end is near for Mike Johnson's speakership after a critical mass of House Republicans this morning forced a vote on ACA subsidies over his resistance

LMAO McGovern is on fire right now 🔥🔥🔥

New in PN: 2025 was a political disaster for MAGA "Led by an erratic president who is failing at his only real skill — messaging — the Trump administration is losing a multifront political war, and things are likely to get worse for them before they get better."

■ Trump Says Miriam Adelson Offered Him ‘Another $250 Million’ to Run for a Third Term by Charlie Nash | MEDIAite | Dec 17th, 2025 www.mediaite.com/politics/tru...

In public, the White House says it is confronting Venezuela to curb drug trafficking. Behind the scenes, gaining access to the country’s vast oil reserves is a priority. Explore this gift article from The New York Times. You can read it for free without a subscription www.nytimes.com/2025/12/16/u...

For years, this dude has believed that stealth planes are literally invisible.

This feels like a new one. You expect me to have an opinion on someone I haven’t personally met?!?!?

Trump now says his ballroom will cost $400 million (it was supposed to cost $250 million less than two months ago)

It's very cool that the Supreme Court invented a political system that gives these lunatics unlimited influence.

Miriam Adelson encourages Trump to serve an illegal third term during a Hanukkah celebration at the White House. The crowd chants "four more years!"

The Trump promise: a foreign policy you need a massive stroke to appreciate

MAGA wants to remove studies of colonialism from universities because it might complicate the Trump line that Venezuela is a colonial power that subjugated the United States, stealing our Oil, Land, and Other Assets.

Everyone wants to make “sense” of things, but we are all currently hostage to an irrationalist epistemic environment. You might as well just read the entrails of a slaughtered goat to divine where events are headed.

Not for nothing but federal law contains several statutory provisions that restrict, if not outright prohibit, this unilateral action by the senile dementia patient in the Oval. War Powers Act. War Crimes Act. Anti-Piracy Act. Neutrality Act. All still on the books.

Every major news organization should be writing about how insane this is and how, if he takes this country to war (tomorrow?), it is the act of a madman.

The Department of Veterans Affairs plans to abruptly eliminate as many as 35,000 health care positions this month, according to an internal memo, VA staffers and congressional aides. https://wapo.st/3KSaAts

Analysis: New supersized data centers sprouting across the country are starting to transform landscapes and communities, sparking debates about what our energy systems and environment can sustain.

In interviews with Vanity Fair, Susie Wiles, the White House chief of staff, said President Trump “has an alcoholic’s personality,” . . . Explore this gift article from The New York Times. You can read it for free without a subscription. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/16/u...