🧵For those who missed it, another familiar name appears in the latest tranche of Epstein files. Nicholas Tartaglione--the former NY cop sentenced to life in prison for the brutal murder of 4 men. The same dirty ex-cop who was put in Epstein's cell with him at the Metropolitan Correctional Center

This is genius. There are a lot of hidden geniuses in these there corners of America.

grateful | adjective | appreciative of benefits received : feeling or showing thanks Thank you all for a superlative year. Here are some of our favorite posts of 2025.

"I love the American secular Christmas. None of this takes away from the 'reason for the season.' Why should it? Why can a human heart, and our nation, not be big enough for all of it?"

The New York Times should just rebrand itself as the Upper East Side Co-op Bulletin and Harvard Alumni Rumor Mill.

@andrewmcburney.bsky.social Just up your alley

The 'kin' of ‘napkin’ means "little." ‘Nap’ comes from ‘nape,' which means “tablecloth.” So a napkin is a little tablecloth. 10/10, no notes.

This is a metaphor for the tech industry overall circa 2025

shel silverstein was a prophet

In 1932, FDR was elected with 57.4% of the vote. He brought us the New Deal. In 1964, LBJ was elected with 61.1% of the vote. He brough us the Great Society. In 2025, Trump was elected with 49.8% of the vote. He's attempting to destroy everything FDR & LBJ built. The rest is commentary.

ICE detain father shopping on Christmas Eve—then steal his family's groceries. Then 3 agents divvy up his paid for food—taking what they want for themselves. "Can I just get the wife's number to call and let her know?" woman asks. "No, guess he should've complied," agent says. Yakima, Washington

Dec 26, 1941. Churchill addresses Congress: "I have been in full harmony all my life with the tides which have flowed on both sides of the Atlantic against privilege and monopoly...In my country as in yours public men are proud to be the servants of the state and would be ashamed to be its masters."

"any criticism of the election can lead to a minimum sentence of three years in prison, and even the death penalty" Another reminder that elections are not the same thing as democracy www.theguardian.com/world/2025/d...

“Enjoy what may be your last Merry Christmas!” from the certified nut holding the nuke codes. That’s just great.

I accidentally made butter by forgetting I was whipping cream in the mixer.

A government that can officially declare that Jesus is your savior can just as easily declare the opposite.

The manager of Hilbert's Grand Hotel, hearing the Christmas story and thinking "Fucksake - it's easy. You move the guest from room one..."

Or be that leader if you have the chance

Extremely funny to call the pope “holier-than-thou”

"ICE officials are also investigating the couple for other crimes. They were found with a substantial amount of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 'What are those luxury goods doing in their possession?' asked the ICE spokesman, taking a moment to adjust his mask."

Wrong. The First Amendment protects our right to record law enforcement activity in public — full stop.

Worth noting, I guess, that inside of a year we've gone from administration officials taking selfies of themselves at CECOT and bragging about how it's hell on earth to now getting their horrible little media worms to kill stories about it

Google Gemini Pro: please generate a map of the western united states showing cities of over 250K population

The New York Times investigated 346 people who donated at least $250,000 to Trump and found that more than half of them (197) have received pardons, jobs, government contracts, special treatment, or favors.

Since everyone's started sharing these again...

It's the last few days before Christmas. Buy safe gifts for kids!

HASSETT: If the Supreme Court doesn't find with us, refunds would go to whoever cut the check for the tariff BRENNAN: Doesn't the administration claim it was the country that paid that? HASSETT: Uhh --

This is a line that has long been used by white supremacists to advance the politics of white supremacy. Vance is using it that way today, just as Rivers did 70 years ago -- to warn against the "mongrelization" of America and to urge his fellow gutter racists to be unapologetic in their racism.

Ralph McQuarrie's 1994 Lucasfilm Christmas Card of Jawas enjoying some holiday gift giving.

Wishing you and your loved ones a wonderful Christmas with this beautiful illustration by Ralph McQuarrie! ✨

In the summer of 1950 most US newspapers ran an AP story about how race had become the main issue in the upcoming Georgia governor's race. Segregationist Herman Tallmadge, governor from '47 to '55 and then a Senator until 1981 made a name for himself by refusing to "apologize for being a white man."

Absolutely right. AI might be able to summarize (poorly) what we currently know, but a major goal of historical research is to find the hidden surprises out there. Let me illustrate …

57 years ago today - December 21, 1968. Apollo 8. The very first photograph of the whole Earth taken by one of us 🌎 If all goes to plan, in the next few months, the first such photograph in over half a century will be taken, on Artemis II.

Succinct description of destroying democracy

So one of the things that I think is lost on AI proponents is what I call the card catalog effect, a thing I shouldn’t call it because a lot of people probably have no experience with a card catalog.

Knowledge is never knowing the answer. It’s knowing the territory.

The answer was not the point. The answer was never the point. The process of searching is the process of learning.

1/n 2 NEW epic images of Phobos over Mars just released by @esa.int Mars Express This view is especially striking, with Phobos between the Tharsis volcanoes and Noctis Labyrinthus–Valles Marineris Full resolution 300MP(!) & info on: flic.kr/p/2rMW4so Credit: ESA/DLR/FUBerlin/AndreaLuck CC BY 🧪🔭

When viewing the fake article in Google scholar on my university network, there is a link to access the article via my uni's library. That link sends me to a library page that makes fake article appear real... Turns out library page is made programmatically from info on Google scholar 🤦

The Epstein file is the only thing Trump has ever taken his name off of

CATO INSTITUTE: Despite DOGE slashing jobs, government spending in every month of 2025 “was greater than in every other year .. An observer who did not know when DOGE started could not identify it” on a chart. 🤡 www.cato.org/blog/doge-pr...

A Very Dad Christmas

What is happening www.nytimes.com/2025/12/19/o...

Just from this morning's news. Nothing subtle or complicated about what's happening here.

I love my two blackout drunk Minnesota sons

Dave Willat was just 11 years old when he showed up for what he thought would be a routine church choir practice in 1965. He and his fellow singers ended up making history. n.pr/3KZCl3a

“Let it be told to the future world, that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive, that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet and to repulse it.” [Thomas Paine, 1776]

On the left, this week at Bondi, refugee faces deportation after tackling the gunman and getting shot by police for his efforts On the right, at Bondi last April, French guy given residency