Breaking news: Donald Trump is a communist now

For USA Today, a quick question: How the fuck do you write a story that accepts unquestioningly and incuriously “the White House has a small chain of gas stations now”?

What agency owns these gas stations? What were these properties previously? Are they owned or leased? Who works at the gas stations? Are they federal employees? What funding is used to create these, by what congressional authority? What is their supplier? How is pricing established?

Yes, I have an infinite number of questions

Crypto, NFTs, and meme stocks are often seen as either scams or the future of finance—and they’re largely owned by young men. @dancassino.bsky.social’s “Bitcoin Bros” explores why in the latest blog post: https://bit.ly/42YMjYd 💙📚 #Bitcoin #Gender

A decade on from the 2016 referendum, Brexit is still being debated, analysed, and reinterpreted. Time to look at our essential books from the last 10 years, exploring the causes, consequences, and context of #Brexit. 🧵👇

Trump’s World Cup intervention has ruined the game | Robert Reich

🟣 SUBSTACK: Elon Musk Amplifies Tommy Robinson’s Call to Expel Half of All British Muslims in Speech Staged by Neo-Nazi Linked Group The demand for the expulsion of millions of Muslim people from the UK received 36 million views after being shared by Musk on his X platform… Read below.

Other governments can either learn from or ignore the lessons of the US. Musk is not changing, so either choose to adapt or accept that Musk will drive their politics.

this should frighten you

“In a preliminary MIT Media Lab study, 83% of participants who wrote essays using ChatGPT couldn’t quote a single sentence from what they’d submitted moments earlier. “It passed from the computer screen onto the homework assignment without ever entering their brain,” So said.”

Meta’s AI problems are international.

Congress Should Vigorously Oppose Bill Pulte as Acting Director of National Intelligence open.substack.com/pub/executiv...

A proposal to push federal workers to sign nondisclosure agreements is part of a bigger effort to hide government secrets—and “the message from Trump to federal workers is clear: Shut up, or else,” @qjurecic.bsky.social argues:

“It exists one evolutionary rung above a looped fireplace video”

SCOOP: The Trump administration is paying millions to quickly cover four enormous bronze horses with extra-thick 23.75 karat gold leaf. The money for the rush job is coming from National Park Service funds. In total, I found ~$100 mil spent on new DC beautification projects.

Possibly my favorite thing about physical books over all other types? Their very presence is a reminder of their existence, a reminder to read them, and a reminder to revisit their pages. All in a way that doesn’t require looking at a screen or risk the myriad of distractions from digital life.

Dictionary-definition racist. Tell me how categorizing an entire country-of-origin group as crooks is anything other than racist!

😂😂😂

Conservative family values

Truly astonishing levels of corruption and self-dealing. Every day Donald Trump does something new that, in any other period of American history, would be an immediate presidency ending scandal www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

So many things wrong with this Bezos clip. Maybe people abandoned your paper in part because of the ideological mandate on the opinion page. You lost your core audience.

"It's like poetry without rhyming. It's too easy." jfc, I mean what do you even say to that? William Carlos Williams, among others, would like a word...

WTF, NYer. "If we agree that college primarily serves a credentialling process that stamps select young people as worthy of work..." We do not. So much for the bastion of erudite journalism. This is sensationalism, damaging our most vital institution: education. www.newyorker.com/news/fault-l...

earlier this morning at the gym i was on a beastie boys kick and i was reflecting on how their music — which i discovered at like 10 — is a constitutive part of my personality, from my sensibilities to my politics and general demeanor towards the world

@tinatin.bsky.social has a fascinating and insightful story to tell about Georgia (the country, not the US state) and rising authoritarianism. harriman.columbia.edu/episode-3-hi...

This is great! Also, how to support an academic: - read their papers - cite their articles and books - tell your friends and students about their work - include their work in your reading lists and syllabi - ask your library to buy their books - tell them you liked their work or that it was helpful

Trump puts the 'Southern Strategy' made famous by Nixon and Reagan on steroids. Thwarted by resistance up north, POTUS finds friendly grand juries to indict his enemies while GOP lawmakers crush Black districts The road to perdition heads South. My new column www.inquirer.com/opinion/trum...

As far as I can tell, a map-drawer can now say, "I am going to split this community of black voters into separate districts, not because I intend to dilute the votes of black Americans, but rather because black Americans vote Dem and I want to dilute the power of Dem voters," and it's just fine

Supreme Court Overturns ‘Right v. Wrong’ https://theonion.com/supreme-court-overturns-right-v-wrong-1819573211/

The John Roberts Court has done more to reduce the political power of poor people and Black people while enlarging the voting rights of rich people and corporations than has any court since Roger Taney was Chief Justice in the 1800s. I opposed his nomination in 2005, and I stand by that.

Author event tomorrow! Join @michaelcohen.us for an in‑store talk on his book, 'Modern Political Campaigns' 📆 April 25, 2026 at 2 PM ET 📍 @barnesandnoble.com Georgetown #BookSky @modernpoliticalcampaigns.com#BookSky https://stores.barnesandnoble.com/event/9780062206369-0

I will keep criticizing the President and his administration for being a terrible president and administration

Shout out to the #librarians on National Library Workers Day!

This is a snapshot of the failure of MSM and the concomitant ignorance within the American electorate about what is happening in and to their country.

The future of literacy is extremely depressing open.substack.com/pub/samkriss...

@michaelcohen.us @modernpoliticalcampaigns.com @barnesandnoble.com #BookSky

Hey, if you're in the DC area, consider checking out Michael Cohen talk about Modern Political Campaigns at the Georgetown B&N. He has fascinating things to say about how campaigns today use technology, among other insights. stores.barnesandnoble.com/event/978006...

The disconnect further exemplified by Trump not knowing what a "corner store" is...

"You're just voluntarily complying with this whimsical cosplay" -- holy shit, Tim Kaine is *demolishing* Russ Vought

And the laugh he gets from the audience…

Interesting that Sharon Simmons, the Door Dasher from Arkansas at the White House, is also Sharon Simmons from Nevada that testified at a GOP Ways and Means field hearing about trumps ‘big beautiful bill’ in Nevada last year.

Not dunking on Zack or this post, I’m just always struck by how easily American journalists will admit that the media shapes public polling and political outcomes when they’re not talking about America.

The depth of the Republican betrayal of the American people is that even as the GOP leadership sees the president becoming increasingly deranged and dangerous, they're still thinking only of their own petty, meaningless political careers.

Discover the latest and forthcoming Bloomsbury Politics & Area Studies books in our new April–June 2026 catalogue! 🌏📚 Browse online: https://bit.ly/4bjvk6w

"The war has exposed the contradictions of the Trump admin’s geopolitical worldview. Under this president, the U.S. has rewarded Russia, ignored China, punished Europe, & abandoned its Asian allies & partners to an economic crisis that it helped set in motion." www.theatlantic.com/internationa...

This week: Orbán blocks EU support for Ukraine. New episode of Ten Minutes On… steps back from the news to explain the bigger picture: how the “Orbán model” works, why it’s lasted & if it’s starting to crack ahead of Hungary’s election. www.buzzsprout.com/2354388/epis... #Hungary #EU #Politics

According to the Cato Institute, The Trump administration is reportedly receiving millions of immigration applications, pocketing the hefty fees, and never processing the applications. It’s collected over $1 billion in fees so far. Where is the outcry over this fraud and abuse?

Just a reminder that in January of this year, Trump and Hegseth decommissioned EVERY US mine sweeper. Yep. Every. Last. One. Evidently they could never imagine a scenario in which the US needed minesweepers. In Trump's America, we are governed by idiots.