I Look at This Country and I See a Stranger Masha Gessen examines the signs we aren’t supposed to acknowledge out loud. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/21/o...

“Neither Trump nor the MAGA right wants to discuss or deliberate; it wants to dominate,” our columnist Jamelle Bouie writes. “American politics is no longer a fight over policy; it is a fight over the character of the nation itself.”

Al Pacino on Dog Day Afternoon at 50: ‘It plays more today than it even did then’

Step 1: Cut funding for food stamps Step 2: Stop measuring hunger Step 3: There's no evidence cuts to food stamps led to a rise in hunger www.wsj.com/economy/trum...

Last night was the 90th anniversary ceremony of the Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards. I can’t think of a more relevant time to reflect on books that help us understand race and human diversity. Grateful to the jury led by the brilliant Natasha Tretheway and to the Cleveland Foundation.

Agnes Gund, Who Oversaw a Major Expansion of MoMA, Dies at 87 www.nytimes.com/2025/09/19/a...

Can we talk about the use and abuse of the term “hate speech”? Contrary to recent distortions, hate speech is understood as language that disparages or attacks a group of people based on a primary aspect of social identity… sk.sagepub.com/ency/edvol/e...

again, it is an especially great time to support & buy books from the wonderful team at @loyaltybooks.bsky.social: loyaltybookstores.com

"In every authoritarian country that has ever existed, it is a crime to criticize the regime, and that's what they are doing." @monacharen.bsky.social, joined by @monacharen.bsky.social, on Just Between Us, for Bulwark+ members only:

This particular moment is too much for Karl Rove. It’s important that he wrote this.

We seem to be on the cusp of a new patronage era of art. Where the wealthiest of the wealthy can buy their own private artists. While the rest of us only get to enjoy whatever slop gets churned out by AI.

the phrase "selecting on the dependent variable" comes to mind (to be clear, as the article notes, there's plenty of data to support rising disapproval of Trump's presidency among Latino Americans. focus groups can explore why, but they don't really provide evidence of the trend itself!)

How is this speech worthy of an avowed Christian or a public official ?

I know this show just won a bunch of Emmys but I’m on episode three and umm, give them more Emmys!

My favorite Redford roles: The Candidate and Three Days of the Condor.

Robert Redford was THE movie star. He could have coasted. He made history instead. It's a great time to rediscover some of his best work via @indiewire.com.web.brid.gy www.indiewire.com/lists/robert...

This is why hate speech laws are bad, btw. Because people like this get to decide what speech is illegal.

Use of the word "evil" in official congressional e-newsletters, over time, by party

According to the “Global Terrorism Database (GTD)—arguably the most widely-used dataset in the study of political violence—anti-abortion activists constitute the single most common perpetrators of terrorist attacks in the United States.” Source: jkertzer.sites.fas.harvard.edu/Research_fil...

I am completely biased but this might be the best year ever for the Emmys!? Adolescence. The Pitt. Hacks. AND Rebel Ridge. All bangers. And not necessarily the obvious frontrunners. Plus Colbert. I’ll take my happy news where I can get it. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/14/a...

Happy birthday to my friend, Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. Last year I recommended you read her memoir, 'Lovely One,' and this year, I REALLY recommend it. www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/737094...

Went to my local bookstore and picked up *two* (2) brand new editions of Jane Austen, both edited by the insanely brilliant @triciamatthew.bsky.social. Elizabeth Bennet and Catherine Morland never had it so good!!!

Jamelle Bouie nails the inconvenient fact we can’t afford to gloss over: “To speak of Kirk as a champion of reasoned discussion is also to ignore his frequent calls for the state suppression of his political opponents.”

Political violence is always and forever appalling and unforgivable, no matter who it's directed at. The Cato Institute has helpfully categorised politically motivated murders in the USA since 1975. Here is what it found. www.cato.org/blog/politic...

Are other mayors watching? Boston Mayor Michelle Wu stands strong and Bostonians have her back. Out of four candidates, Wu won 72 percent of the vote in the prelim election. Number 2 just dropped out. “After Kraft exits, who will appear on the November ballot?“ www.bostonglobe.com/2025/09/12/m...

EARHARDT: We have radicals on the right as well. How do we fix this country? TRUMP: I'll tell you something that's gonna get me in trouble but I couldn't care less. The radicals on the right oftentimes are radical because they don't want to see crime. The radicals on the left are the problem.

NEW development in the Epstein disaster: Bloomberg reporters gain access to Epstein’s Inbox— A trove of emails reveals Ghislaine Maxwell’s secrets. Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/features/202...

Recommended reading— Dave Karpf’s thread on the aftermath.

There is a real possibility that Charlie Kirk’s death will serve as a pretext for authoritarian purges. And our political culture does not have much experience with that. Mainstream reporters and politicians are not in the habit of recognizing or naming it.

Charlie Kirk may have been good at showing up at college campuses and talking to anyone who would listen etc. But the org he headed built a database of professors to target with harassment campaigns in the hopes of drumming them out of academia. Is that practicing politics the right way?

Here’s a story that’s becoming all too common: federal immigration agents using racial and ethnic profiling as a rationale for stopping, questioning and detaining U.S. citizens who they suspect are undocumented.

This. I don’t know why to do about this. How do we reduce the temperature without whitewashing reality? The asymmetry of expectations around speech and decorum can’t work.

condemnations of political violence are well taken but it does feel as if some prominent political commentators are of the view that violence isn’t a part of the history of American politics and that is very much not true.

Josh speaks for me here.

I am sad as hell. Political violence *SHOULD* have no place in American democracy. The reality is that is has a long and tragic history. Today’s shooting adds another horrific chapter.

UPDATE: At least three people are in critical conditions after being wounded in a shooting near Evergreen High School, officials said Wednesday. Officials said they were responding to an “active assailant” near the Jefferson County school. coloradosun.com/2025/09/10/e...

Just going to leave this from @onthemedia.bsky.social here

Tough on crime is sometimes selective.

Guys who claim the Civil War was about States’ Rights sure don’t believe in States’ Rights.

Florida launches its tax break on guns and ammo Monday. It’s the first time a state tax “holiday” includes guns and ammunition: www.tampabay.com/news/florida...

Class, race and reproductive technology are a volatile brew. “The Baby Died. Whose Fault Is It?” - WIRED When her son died in utero, a venture capitalist went to extremes to punish her surrogate. apple.news/AJC08H1qfSIO...

In Jamaica the incumbent JLP won 34 seats to the PNP’s 29, following the preliminary counting of votes on Wednesday night, to clinch a historic third consecutive term in government. ‘No weapon formed against me shall prosper’: Holness defiant in victory speech www.jamaicaobserver.com/2025/09/04/n...

OAS observers give Jamaica thumbs up for ‘calm, orderly election’ www.jamaicaobserver.com/2025/09/04/o...

A World Reshaped by A.I. Needs Museums More Than Ever “The in-person communion enabled by the physical museum is more crucial than ever in a world being reshaped by digital technology and artificial intelligence.” NYT Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2025/09/02/a...

Pope Leo pleads for end to 'pandemic of arms' after Minnesota shooting reut.rs/46fNC7i

Trump might get what he wants with regard to the Fed, not because it's intimidated by him but because of the economic slowdown his policies are causing. @talsmith.bsky.social joins @timmiller.bsky.social on today's Bulwark Podcast:

70 years ago today, 14-year old Emmett Till was kidnapped and brutally murdered by white men. The gun that was used to kill him goes on display today in Mississippi. Wright Thompson on how it got there—and why it’s a rebuke of attempts to erase history: www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

Thinking about media and politics this morning, film specifically, I want to encourage you to read this excellent piece on the limits of empathy using the example of Killers of the Flower Moon. You can read it for free without a subscription. www.nytimes.com/2024/01/25/o...

There’s always a local angle. #journalism