You will be visited by three spirits.

Movie you’ve watched more than six times in a gif. Hard mode: no Star Wars, Marvel.

Remarkable back-and-forth between the Obama-appointed judge and the Trump government attorney during recent oral arguments in the lawsuit from NPR and three Colorado stations about the constitutionality of Trump's "Ending Taxpayer Subsidization of Biased Media" executive order

Heartbreaking. The University of Nebraska will terminate its entire Earth science department. One of the country's most successful and respected geology & climate programs: gone. When ideologues & politicians are threatened by the very act of studying climate change, I wonder: who of us is next?

NPR fights Trump's executive order against public media The case isn't getting much attention. But it pits the press's right not to face government retaliation over coverage against the president's assertion of vast executive powers My story: www.npr.org/2025/12/05/g...

Trump said last year that he would focus on deporting immigrants who were violent criminals. But a study of arrests in major operations in DC, LA, Illinois and Massachusetts shows that the vast majority of those swept up by ICE have no criminal record. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

A consumer group cried foul this week on protections that Ameren Missouri established to try to prevent normal customers from having to pay way more for their electricity if more data centers move to St. Louis:

Wow, Adm. Holsey didn't leave of his own accord, Hegseth pushed him out. What looked like the SOCOM head resigning rather than do war crimes now looks like SecDef canning him to facilitate war crimes. Congress should have him testify, and would've already if war-crime-sympathetic GOP didn't run it.

Rand Paul tells me that he wants the full video of the Venezuelan boat strike released. “And I think if the public sees images of people clinging to boat debris and being blown up, I think that there is a chance that finally, the public will get interested enough in this to stop this.”

Inspector General Steven Stebbins says Hegseth's use of the commercially available messaging app to discuss strikes on Houthi rebels in Yemen could have jeopardized the safety of U.S. servicemembers. n.pr/4puSfS4

The U.S. Transportation Department is threatening to shut down thousands of truck driving schools, part of the Trump administration's widening crackdown on industry.

In Congress, Pete Hoekstra warned of tariffs causing job loss + price increases. Especially for furniture makers in his Michigan district. One of them is citing tariffs as it closes after 99 years. 195 jobs will be lost. But Hoekstra — Trump’s ambassador in Canada — now sings a different tune.

Christian: “What Child Is This?” Secular: “Sleigh Ride”

Trump, who is bombing boats said to carry drug runners, pardons the former president of Honduras who was convicted of supporting one of the largest, most violent drug trafficking conspiracies in the world. @shawnmccreesh.bsky.social Annie Correal Jeff Ernst www.nytimes.com/2025/11/28/w...

Introduce yourself with five concerts you've seen REO Speedwagon Joe Henderson Allman Brothers Buddy Guy Pat Metheny

Juan Orlando Hernandez was convicted by a jury of conspiring to traffic 400 tons of cocaine into the United States.

NEW: An MPR News journalist was among those hit by less-lethal munitions and taken from the scene by ambulance. www.mprnews.org/story/2025/1...

Documents show the U.S. military is planning to sever all ties with the organization formerly known as the Boy Scouts

The Missouri Attorney General's long-awaited trial to remove St. Louis' elected sheriff came to a close on Tuesday after more than 30 witnesses took to the stand over a week. Here's what happened:

The latest emails from Jeffrey Epstein's estate show communications with a vast web of influential figures in politics, academia, business and more, even after he registered as a sex offender.

NEW: Federal prison workers are jumping ship & heading to ICE for better pay + bonuses. Already BOP lost >1400 people this year, reversing all of 2024’s staffing gains. It’s an unintended consequence of Trump’s push for mass deportations My 1st for @propublica.org www.propublica.org/article/ice-...

The Democratic lawmakers said that members of the military can and must refuse illegal orders by their superiors. n.pr/3XGEu6C

A Justice Department lawyer told a judge Tuesday that only four people were being held inside the west suburban immigration holding facility; last week 20 people were there.

A Tennessee judge has blocked the use of the National Guard in Memphis under a crimefighting operation by President Trump but also put the order on hold, giving the government five days to appeal. n.pr/49lADmE

Yes, that’s Judge Emil Bove.

St. Louis Public Schools has proposed reopening at least three of the seven schools that were damaged by the May 16 tornado in January. Drone images and a tour inside two of the schools show the extent of the damage.

Big news: Indiana Republicans signal they still do not have the votes to re-gerrymander the state, and that the Senate won't convene the Senate after all in December. Getting 1-2 seats out of Indiana was central to the GOP's redistricting-war math. www.politico.com/news/2025/11...

PBS did us a solid and dropped the whole Epstein emails. www.pbs.org/newshour/pol...

Rep. Adelita Grijalva has officially signed the discharge petition to force a vote on the Massie-Khanna bill to release the Epstein files. That's 218, meaning House GOP leaders cannot block it from the floor. (That's 214 Dems + Massie, MTG, Mace, Boebert.)

Tough news for the St. Louis native and Chaminade HS grad.

🚨 RECALL UPDATE: All ByHeart Nutrition Infant Formula products have been recalled. This includes every unexpired lot of formula cans and single-serve "anywhere" sticks. Do not use ByHeart formula until further notice.

Pro-Trump media went wild for a bombshell exposé claiming the Jan. 6th pipe bomber was a Capitol Police officer with CIA ties. But now the story looks shaky, tweets are getting deleted, and the story's backers are running for cover. My @thebulwark.com newsletter: www.thebulwark.com/p/the-blaze-...

Trying to figure out what #SCOTUS just did with #SNAP, and why Justice Jackson temporarily froze the district court's ruling? Via "One First," me on what's going on—and why I think Jackson's move was savvy, notwithstanding the awful circumstances that forced it: www.stevevladeck.com/p/190-snap-wtf

NEW: We obtained notes from a Social Security Administration management meeting, where employees grilled leadership on plans for the agency during the shutdown + shared really upsetting stories from employees unable to get to work bc they can't afford gas. from me and @zoeschiffer.bsky.social:

#BREAKING U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis in Chicago is entering a preliminary injunction governing the use of force against protesters and journalists.

A new affordable housing complex in Alton is nearly full just days after completion. The 40-unit development aims to provide a “stepping stone” for families seeking stability and future homeownership.

Full quote from Ellis: "The government would have people believe, instead, that the Chicagoland area is in a vice hold of violence, ransacked by rioters and attacked by agitators. That simply is untrue. And the government's own evidence in this case belies that assertion." @wttw.bsky.social

LOL'd

Brett Kavanaugh's behavior during today's second oral arguments has been incredibly obnoxious and rude. He is so eager to kill a service member's lawsuit against a negligent government contractor that he keeps interrupting other justices, raising his voice, and getting emotional. Weird and erratic.

🤨

The board took this bill back up and approved the blighting for another five years.

NEWS: Federal prosecutors indict Kat Abughazaleh, congressional candidate, county board candidate Cat Sharp and Dem committeeman Michael Rabbitt over September Broadview protest

NEW: Don Trump Jr.--after helping pick top Pentagon officials to join his dad's administration--has now become an investor and advisor to Pentagon drone builders. This as President Trump orders Pentagon to buy more drones. A NYT investigation of this latest conflict. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/24/u...

Records obtained by ProPublica indicate that food banks across the country were expecting more than 27 million pounds of chicken, 2 million gallons of milk, 10 million pounds of dried fruit and 60 million eggs that never arrived.

🚨NEW: After we revealed Russ Vought's "put them in trauma" video, I spent the next year reporting on him, his influence, and his vision for America. Yes, I got *new* recordings & videos of Vought. Here is the story. A @propublica.org + @newyorker.com collab: www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

An artillery shell fired during 250th anniversary celebration of the Marine Corps at Camp Pendleton on Saturday detonated prematurely over Interstate 5, damaging a California Highway Patrol vehicle on JD Vance's security detail www.nytimes.com/2025/10/19/u...

UPDATE: This summer, organizers said more than 5 million people participated in No Kings protests against President Trump. Organizers say they expect an even bigger turnout this time around.

So here's a story that made my day: My cousin messaged me, He told me our very distant cousin in Moscow had been collecting a lot of ancestry info about my grandma's parents (who were born in Grodno, Poland, and eventually moved to Ponca City, OK). Here's what I found out about my Grandpa Abe Lee:

That’s $5 billion more than the entire annual USAID budget. All to one country. To rescue one friend of the president’s.