Yesterday, Trump defended the Saudi Crown Prince in the Oval Office. He said he had “nothing” to do with the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. But I reviewed a call while serving on Trump’s NSC that I believe would be of interest to the Khashoggi family and the American people. Release the transcript.

NEW: As Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick drives billions of dollars in foreign payments to help build AI data centers in the US, his sons help run a company earning tens of millions in fees helping finance AI data centers. A NYT investigation. (Free link) www.nytimes.com/2025/11/20/u...

The Trump admin's case to the Supreme Court that the situation in Chicago justifies a National Guard deployment rests partly on the actions of two motorists. Now, prosecutors have moved to dropped charges against them. Julie Bosman reports... www.nytimes.com/2025/11/20/u...

THREAD: Judge Ellis is the first federal judge to review extensive body cam video of DHS's actions in Chicago. She finds that DHS *repeatedly* misled the public and made claims that were disproven by agents' own videos. I'll go through some of the most egregious ones here.

Detailed new look at how climate shocks are pushing down home values in certain parts of the U.S. Biggest driver seems to be rising reinsurance prices: www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Elizabeth Warren on Colbert's show: "We don't think one corporation or one man named David Ellison should be able to buy up all the shows and buy up all the sports and buy up all the news and decide who watches what and I'm gonna stay in that fight."

Before choosing bottled water over tap water, remember it takes more than 10X the water that a bottle of water holds to make the plastic bottle and transport the water. And that’s before considering the fuel and GHGs, the 1000 year bottle life, and the RIDICULOUS amount of $ we’re paying for water.

Artists in more than 40 states are spending Friday and Saturday participating in the "Fall of Freedom" – which they say represents a creative resistance to authoritarianism.

WATCH: Gov. Kathy Hochul blasts Elise Stefanik for “out-MAGAing” Trump as he dismisses her claims that Zohran Mamdani is a “jihadist.”

If the CDC is no longer the reliable source of health guidance it once was, where can Americans turn to for trustworthy information? Yasmin Tayag reported in September:

The rapid reshaping of insurance over the past decade is now prompting warnings from industry veterans, government watchdogs and economists about the potential for systemic risks that might someday undermine sacred promises to pay retirees.

The most important thing to remember about all this fantasy-engineering of the Constitution is Madison's warning: If we suck as a people, no clever constitutional schemes will save us.

Instagram is letting neo-Nazism go mainstream. Influencers like Hayden McDougall and Dylan Shane push Holocaust denial, Nazi symbols, and extremist merch to millions — all under Meta’s watch. A platform built for connection is now powering the spread of openly extremist ideology. Read more:

Republicans cheering extrajudicial killings will FINALLY understand the purpose and value of Constitutional law and rights when a suspected drug dealer or criminal is murdered instead of arrested in their neighborhood, and turns out to be someone they or someone in their family knew.

to be clear I think it’s good when the good guys successfully manipulate the malevolent idiot king into doing marginally better things

Trump feuding with Marjorie Taylor Greene but being in love with Zohran Mamdani was not on my November 2025 bingo card

BREAKING: Ontario releases new commercial with video of George Washington clarifying his opposition to murdering patriots via hanging for reminding the military of the actual law. Trump immediately threatens Canada with more illegal tariffs that U.S. citizens will pay for.

The Landman-style "fossil fuels are for real men, renewables are for sissies" thing is at once the stupidest conceivable way to approach this issue ... and, I would bet money, the single most common sentiment among Fox viewers. They get it on that side: dumb works.

Check out the @climatetown.bsky.social response to this episode if you haven’t. It’s good! youtu.be/wBC_bug5DIQ?...

All the VSPs decided that we can't talk about climate any more, and the entire climate establishment pathetically acceded, nonetheless: climate change is still very real! And Trump is going to rack up Holocaust-style numbers with his anti-climate policies.

On Friday, I am talking with @timmonsroberts.bsky.social about this magisterial recent report on the origins & nature of climate obstruction. Basically: who has sabotaged climate action, how, and why. Got questions?

One of the most striking developments of the last two decades or so is that everyone on the right -- media, politician, judge, cop, pastor -- has started sounding basically the same, ie, like an unhinged blogger. They're all in the same bubble now, w/ the same shibboleths, using the same vocab.

Elon programmed his robot to say nice things about him.

The sabotage is happening everywhere all at once; a gang of supremacists, so convinced of their own superiority that they never bothered learning much about the sum total of human knowledge, and who now, faced with their own vast ignorance about human progress, have made human progress their enemy.

If it does not, China will exploit the continent’s weaknesses

Specifically, he says the reporter's questions are *insubordinate*. Like the press owes him deference. Any MSM owners or editors or leaders out there with any pride at all? Any dignity? Any spine? [tap tap] Hello?

Is it a threat to free speech when the President of the United States threatens to yank the broadcast license of a channel whose reporters are asking him challenging questions? I ask because I feel like there used to be tons of pundits worried about free speech. Where'd they go?

Really not enjoying the relentless ubiquity of the world's worst people.

what

The notion that using state power to punish people who say things they don't like is an "about face" for the Republican Party reflects the absolutely hallucinatory dream world we've been living in these last 10 years. Literally nothing could be more characteristically conservative!

if dems win congress next year they need to introduce an impeachment resolution against emil bove

NEW: When Andrew Tate landed in the US, Customs & Border Protection seized his electronic devices. But @propublica.org found that a White House official told DHS to return the devices, emphasizing that the request came from the White House. By @robert-faturechi.bsky.social & Avi Asher-Schapiro

mr president sir theres a story coming about how you intervened to help a sex criminal. no sir, not that sex criminal you helped….no not that one either…sir, please stop guessing sex criminals that you helped. ill give you a hint sir, hes a trafficker. no sir, not that trafficker a different one

Covering Jamal Khashoggi's murder was one of the most disturbing things I've worked on. Hearing Trump say he was "extremely controversial" and people "didn't like him" is chilling. Hard to take any other way than he thinks there is moral ambiguity in the murder of a journalist.

Trump appointed Harmeet Dhillon to the Justice Department so she could own the libs and sue DEI out of existence. But she is a bad lawyer! And her utter incompetence is the main reason why a conservative Trump judge just struck down the racist Texas gerrymander. slate.com/news-and-pol...

Analysis: Trump keeps lying while accusing others of lying | CNN Politics www.cnn.com/2025/11/19/p...

"We have a 2000s housing bubble level of financial engineering on top of a 1920s level of private unregulated lending on top of something bigger than a 1990s internet (or 1870s railroad) level of technology and infrastructure build-out." prospect.org/2025/11/19/a...

Brilliant @jamellebouie.net must-read on the “tight connection between autocratic governance and extreme graft,” how Trump-Republicanism is about “clearing the way for a smash and grab” to “siphon wealth from the public.” Savage, historically illuminating. Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2025/11/19/o...

He’s held to zero standards, and yet he’s the highest officeholder in the land.

An Oral History of Destroying the Justice Department www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2025/11/an-o...

President Trump is designing glitzy ballrooms while Republicans in Congress make historic cuts to SNAP and raise the price of healthcare. Americans have had enough. More from @neeratanden.bsky.social and @lisa-pubcitizen.bsky.social in @talkingpointsmemo.com: https://tinyurl.com/2nmvje67

It is potentially cheaper and longer-lasting than lithium batteries

Today on Volts: for years, I've wanted to do a podcast on indoor air quality, and I finally found the perfect guest! Dr. Lagoudas & I discuss indoor air pollutants, the policies and technologies that can control them, and the growing need to frame indoor air quality as a basic human right.

Results from our annual State Supreme Court Diversity report: - No Black justices in 24 states - No Latino/a justices in 39 states & DC - No Asian American justices in 42 states - No Native American justices in 47 states & DC Read more: bit.ly/3JW6lN6

Today on Volts: this month's community thread! Some musings on this and that, some links, and a place for y'all to share your stories, requests, and feedback. Drop by!

But to clarify: the blast radius will not be wide enough to materially hurt *any of the billionaire assholes who got us into the mess*. They will come out of it fine, rich & happy, on to their next fuckup.

"Landman" is straight-up fossil fuel propaganda, being piped into millions of homes a week. Is there anything similar for renewables? Is anyone even pondering such an idea? [tap tap] Is this thing on?

1. Public utility commissions rubber stamping rate increases 2. Households being taxed to pay for infrastructure used by industry 3. Electric grid not designed for climate change, extreme weather driving rebuilding costs up Solutions: 1. VPPs & efficiency 2. Build clean energy 3. Accountable PUCs

From two years ago: "The third part of Mr. Trump’s authoritarian blueprint is to create a legal framework that would allow him to use govt resources to protect himself, attack his political enemies & force through his policy goals w/o congressional approval." donmoynihan.substack.com/p/what-i-wro...

Trump will not just be four years of bad management. The culture of these organizations will be fucked for a long time. The pressure to retaliate and clean house will be strong, and no-one wants to work in a war zone.