Trump and the Republicans are choosing to shut down the government and withhold paychecks from federal workers, all so they can take away money for health care and give it to billionaires.

1. More Americans work at the Cheesecake Factory than in the entire coal industry, and that won't change. It's because of automation, not snooty libs. 2. Coal energy is now more expensive than wind and solar. 3. So this means: higher energy prices, more pollution, no jobs benefit. Genius!

The swing-seat race against Rep. David Valadao is off to an odd start. Establishment Dem Jasmeet Bains received $280k in the state Assembly from corporations that have also given to Valadao. When populist Randy Villegas pointed that out in an ad, Bains appeared to liken that to "political violence"

ICYMI: @rynnreed.bsky.social compared the RNC's response to their 2012 loss to the Democrats' loss in 2024.

In 2012, Republicans were looking for a way out of the wilderness. They’d just lost the presidency (again). Young people, women, and people of color didn’t see themselves in the party. They feared they might never win another national election. (1/4)

My parents risked everything for a better life. I learned what it means to work hard, to sacrifice, and to push forward even when it meant going without. I’m running for Congress to make sure the families who feed the nation never go without food on our own tables.

FCC Chair Brendan Carr openly admitting on Benny Johnson's show that the Trump administration is cracking down on free media. "CBS has made some commitments to us that they're going to return to more fact-based journalism"

Colbert pulled off the air for speech. Kimmel pulled off the air for speech. Mahmoud Khalil being deported for speech. Is it fascism yet?

Missouri Republicans made an error in the gerrymander they passed last week, assigning roughly 900 voters to two congressional districts. The ACLU is citing this in its lawsuit: www.kcur.org/politics-ele...

Idk. I'm not sure "have less backbone" is the solution to Democrats' problems.

This week at Signal Break, @rynnreed.bsky.social and I wrote about how grief and mourning shape collective memory.

If we're worried about young men being radicalized by the internet now, wait until AI slop and deepfakes devour digital space.

Nothing good can come from political violence. It doesn't matter where you stand politically—it's a cancer that needs to be rooted out.

In #Rochester, #NewYork, 100 marched to surround a house where roofers were being detained by ICE. While one person was taken, several others were left alone as the crowd "shouted “shame” and "Gestapo,” and applauded as agents...drove...away on four flat tires." www.wxxinews.org/local-news/2...

NYDN reporting that Cuomo allies in NY have offered to pay eric adams (via a "lucrative private-sector job") to drop out www.nydailynews.com/2025/09/09/n...

This, this this

Americans face biggest increase in health insurance costs in 15 years on.ft.com/4g9VdaS

Lethal force against a civilian vessel in international waters is a war crime if not in self-defense. If not in self-defense, only non-lethal actions, such as warning shots or disabling fire, are allowed. "Not yielding to pursuers" or "suspected of carrying drugs" doesn't carry a death sentence.

NEW at Signal Break: To win the information war, we can't just reheat the right's nachos Read here: signalbreak.substack.com/p/we-cant-wi...

ICYMI—What the Dems get wrong about digital media strategy

I spoke with @perrybaconjr.bsky.social about why we need candidates who will fight for a government that does more for working people, not less. It's not a radical concept.

ICYMI: Trump has just about decimated the federal workforce, with more than 199,000 people pushed out since Jan, per a new report. Nearly 10% of the entire federal civilian workforce gone. “The services that Americans have come to expect are not going to be there.” www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-...

I doubt anyone signed up for the National Guard to pick up park litter or guard a Krispy Kreme.

How do we navigate and build community in an internet littered with AI slop, deepfakes, and bots? Read this piece from @rynnreed.bsky.social at Signal Break: signalbreak.substack.com/p/dead-inter...

Frost: On one end, we have the big ugly law. And then on the other, we have the federal government occupying our cities.. It's not two different things. It's the same damn thing. These aren't things that distract from one another. This is the thing to enable the other thing,

On the left: Nate Cavanagh, a 28-year-old DOGE staffer and college dropout. On the right: Mohammad Halimi, a 53-year-old exiled Afghan scholar. This is the story of how DOGE targeted Halimi on social media. Then the Taliban took his family. 🧵

TBT: "For those of us who have worked for years in social or political movements, advocacy or nonprofit spaces, we often don’t recognize how the language we use can seem strange to people outside of our own professional circles."

Two things can be true: 1) Dems have spent years bringing a pencil to a gunfight, and it’s refreshing to see Newsom bring something approximating a weapon. 2) Dem hopefuls have turned into engagement farmers, desperate to do anything that gins up attention and clicks.

What's surprising isn't Trump's authoritarian power play—but how Democrats still don't know how to talk about the crisis. At Signal Break, we talked about the serious problems with Democratic messaging.

Last week, ICE arrested a six-year-old Queens public school student at her family's scheduled check-in. This morning, she was deported along with her mother. One of her siblings remains in detention. The cruelty of this federal administration knows no bounds.

We're past authoritarian creep. Yet we still don't know how to talk about the issue. Wrote about three types of anti-authoritarian message—and where they go wrong. Read here: signalbreak.substack.com/p/were-talki...

ICE used your taxpayer dollars to trick out a bunch of trucks in new livery, all painted black with "ICE" and a logo printed in gold on the side (and Trump's name in gold on the back window), then shoot a rap video in DC to post on social media. I am not making this up.

Great piece from @aaronregunberg.bsky.social "If Democrats want to defeat MAGA Republicans, they need to stop embracing anodyne, corporate-approved messaging and start giving people something to vote for."

Wrote on the new media wars—and how the left is falling behind. Read here: signalbreak.substack.com/p/podcasting...

Why infiltrate movements when you can just use disinformation to divide them? That's exactly what the tech right is doing. Really important read: signalbreak.substack.com/p/how-techno...

How tech oligarchs are using misinformation to take away our political power. A must-read from @rynnreed.bsky.social: signalbreak.substack.com/p/how-techno...

WaPo published a list of the 18,500+ children killed in Gaza with stories and pictures from their families.

ICYMI—Why the Democrats' digital game is faltering—w/ @rynnreed.bsky.social (And subscribe to Signal Break!)

I was chatting with someone recently who pointed out that what @ravimangla.bsky.social wrote about in this article (pub date 12/27/2024) is basically what @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social put into practice in his campaign at every level. Worth a revisit. convergencemag.com/articles/we-...

Wrote on the Democrats' new digital strategy and why it doesn't work. (w/ @rynnreed.bsky.social) "Democrats expect to win back favor by turning the camera inward, on themselves. It’s digital media as reputation management, divorced from any kind of ideological project or movement building."

So excited to be launching Signal Break w/ @rynnreed.bsky.social We need a new political playbook if we're going to defeat rising authoritarianism. Subscribe here: signalbreak.substack.com

Democratic Party leaders who are polling lower than the Antichrist telling Zohran how he should govern.

On Musk's 'America Party': "Billionaires have their choice of two of the parties already. We don't need a third billionaire party." Maurice Moe Mitchell @mauricewfp.bsky.social @workingfamilies.org – on @thenation.com podcast bit.ly/46Lw8Ao

Shooting our videos is a little bit different now.

The NYT was better when it had any public editor, and arguably at its best when Margaret Sullivan was that public editor. A takedown as withering as it is plainly stated www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Border patrol walking McArthur park here in LA

"As I was filming, people came to me and said: look at your forehead. There were three green laser dots on my head: private armed U.S. contractors who were guarding the site were pointing their weapons at my head. One spoke through a loudspeaker, in English: 'No filming allowed.'"

The full-court press on Zohran isn’t simply about peeling off votes for Adams/Cuomo. It’s about chilling enthusiasm and popularity. Weakening his mandate to lead. The same playbook used against AOC after her victory.