If what Trump is doing is legal - if his loopholes are technically real loopholes - the laws need to change. An if it's illegal, folks need to go to jail. No other options unless you want *all of this* to be standard American politics from here on out. @jvl.bsky.social and @eggerdc.bsky.social:

“A federal team in El Paso that once pursued child traffickers has been disbanded. “A task force in Kansas focused on stemming fentanyl has been redirected. “Highway checkpoints near the border—on roads identified as major drug-trafficking routes—have gone unstaffed” 🎁 www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

WSJ: President Trump believed his Truth Social post demanding prosecutions of James Comey and other political foes was a private message to his attorney general, and "and was surprised to learn it was public." www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

WATCH: ‘Portland Frog’ pepper balled by ICE agents

We are in the second week of the Republican shutdown. Where are House Republicans? On vacation. Went looking around the Capitol to see if any Republicans had the common sense to come back. Featuring @mcbride.house.gov.

Wish we had a press corp that would actually ask something like “where are you getting this information from?”

Incredible. Jack Posobiec references the earliest version of antifa -- the anti-fascists in the Weimar Republic who were opposed to the Nazi Party -- as the bad guys.

Trump on Portland: "It's like the movies you see for the kids, I guess not only the kids, adults also, where you have these bombed out cities and these bombed out people. It's like, worse than that."

The Oatmeal’s take on AI art. “When I consume Al art, it also evokes a feeling…until I find out that it’s Al art. Then I feel deflated, grossed out, and maybe a little bit bored. This feeling isn’t a choice.” [theoatmeal.com]

Jessica Tarlov: I'm stunned that Republicans want to draw attention to this because... the senators who were part of this investigation are not just random names that he picked off a list, but people who were named in Jack Smith's charging documents for trying to turn over a free and fair election.

Streets are still closed off in front of the Portland ICE facility at 8:30pm. Protesters have gathered on a side street. Dance party in progress.

Only a strong and powerful leader like Trump can bring this war ravaged city back from the brink of destruction and anarchy.

the most delightful version of logging on to see what news you've missed

Holy crap. Trump will make the FCC crucify Jimmy Kimmel for this.

Oregon National Guard Adjutant General, General Gronewold says if they are federalized, that he will advise the Title 10 commander to utilize National Guard Troops to PROTECT protesters at ICE facilities. This is the right answer.

Republican politicians are raising costs and making health insurance out of reach for millions. This is why we fight.

Soybean Farmer: So now I've got a tariff war that's killing my market. I don't have any money from grain we're sending to other countries for USAID. I mean, I've got a compound problem. I don't know how you plan for next year because we don't know where we're at.

Schiff gets Bondi so flustered that she starts blurting things out while he details what a farce this "oversight" hearing has been and the Republican members' lack of interest in doing their jobs

Welch: "Is there a tape of Mr. Homan that has audio and video of the transfer of the $50,000?" Bondi: "I don't know the answer." Welch: "You do know the answer." Bondi: "Don't call me a liar!" Welch: "I didn't call you a liar?" Bondi: "You just said I know the answer!"

Durbin: "What has taken place since January 20, 2025, would make even President Nixon recoil. This is your legacy, AG Bondi."

Newsom says he’s on the verge of quitting the National Govs Association: “should not be difficult … regardless of partisan affiliation, to agree that politicizing our states’ Natl Guard and deploying… over the objections of the home-state Governor,harms the interests of states”

Update on Boomertifa from the war zone.

Trump: "I believe that Pritzker and this mayor of Chicago are scared. They're scared for their lives."

Trump on pardoning Ghislaine Maxwell: Haven't heard the name in so long. I’ll take a look at it. I’ll speak to the DOJ. A lot of people have asked me for pardons. Reporter: But she’s convicted of sex trafficking Trump: I’ll have to take a look at it.

It's a pretty big deal that the NYC Bar Association--one of the most prominent and respected bar associations in the country--is accusing the President of ordering the "unlawful summary execution," i.e. murder--of civilians in violation of US and international law. www.nycbar.org/press-releas...

Exercising fathers, enhanced endurance and metabolic heath in offspring, through sperm microRNAs (as demonstrated in mice) www.cell.com/cell-metabol...

SHERMAN: Who will own the political impact if health insurance does go up 200 percent? MIKE JOHNSON: That's putting the cart like a mile in front of the horse.

“I am living with the deep pain of watching someone I once loved become the face of evil.” From July 17th: m.facebook.com/share/p/16yL...

wizard frog is insane

Trump: Portland is burning to the ground—insurrectionists all over the place. The politicians are afraid for their lives. That’s the only reason they say there’s nothing happening.

Thousands of good union jobs are being cancelled by Donald Trump and Jack Ciattarelli is no where to be found. New Jersey deserves a fighter. #NJGov

The most important statement is that of Todd Blanche, who could well be implicated in vindictive prosecution claims in the LaMonica McIver and Jim Comey cases, too.

One point Judge Waverly Crenshaw pointed to in granting Kilmar Abrego discovery on Vindictive Prosecution is people, including Pam Bondi, kept making false claims publicly about Abrego. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Trump told NBC on Sunday that he saw some Portland riot footage on Fox and thought it reflected current events. It didn't. It was 5 years old, from the George Floyd aftermath. And we learned that due to the diligence of a local TV reporter, who got the transcript. www.cjr.org/laurels-and-...

BREAKING: The 1st Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 100-page opinion -- says it is unequivocally, lopsidedly easy to determine that the Trump administration's view of birthright citizenship is wrong. www.documentcloud.org/documents/26...

"We've been forced into a 'free speech zone.' Its very existence implies that everywhere else is a non-free speech zone, that there are places where our First Amendment rights do not apply."

I am just so fucking proud of her.

NEW: By a 6–3 vote, the Supreme Court allows the Trump administration to cancel Temporary Protected Status for Venezuelan migrants. KBJ, dissenting, says she "cannot abide our repeated, gratuitous, and harmful interference" while "lives hang in the balance." www.documentcloud.org/documents/26...

How the hell is this shutdown our fault if Republicans can’t be bothered to show up

DOKOUPIL: Republicans says what you're really fighting for is taxpayer dollars for illegal aliens. I know that's not strictly true-- ELIZABETH WARREN: Excuse me, not strictly true? It is a flat out lie!

📣 UPDATED: Two new polls confirm: Out of the gate, Americans STRONGLY support extending the #ACA tax credits. 🚨 Meanwhile, 58% of enrollees barely knew about the looming danger as of a week ago. acasignups.net/25/10/03/two...

Let's say I want to make a ranked list of "Illiad" heroes. If I use the recorded 1 vs. 1 duels and the Chess ELO rating system, I get this result. Is there an alternative method that accounts for the data being censored (ie, in most duels the loser no longer appears in the data).

I wrote about Ta-Nehisi Coates and Ezra Klein, why swallowing live frogs is a bad idea, and how context and history can release you from bright-kid syndrome, the illusion that you yourself are going to have every answer or fix the world.

Robert Hackerman still at it, I see. www.smbc-comics.com?id=2526 via @zachweinersmith.bsky.social (from 2012!)

Stephen Miller makes a persuasive argument that Stephen Miller is a terrorist. www.emptywheel.net/2025/10/02/s...

Let me be clear: this will impact ALL of us. It’s bigger than just Medicaid & Medicare. We will all pay the price.