Trumpists have redefined the refusal to sell anyone out as “woke.” Time to define it correctly. Believe in people. Let them be who they are and help them succeed.

I thought of a rule of thumb for defining the outer boundary of a big-tent Democratic Party. I’m sure I’m not the first to think of it, but I just want to try it out: Don’t sell anyone out. We can disagree on spending, defense, corporate responsibility, etc. Just don’t sell out vulnerable people.

“It’s a fool-proof plan. We’ll deport all the construction workers and shrink the economy. And presto, everyone can have a house!”

I love the “cherry-picking” defense. Mass murderer on trial: “The prosecution is cherry-picking the evidence it is presenting! What about all the shots I fired that didn’t hit anyone? What about all the shots that other people fired? Why aren’t we talking about them?” From WSJ:

Corruption is a problem in Ukraine and part of the reason the country has not freed itself from Russia earlier. Now it appears the anti-corruption forces are about to win a major battle though. The news here is not that there is corruption. The news is that it's being brought to light and fought.

There were literally congressional hearings where whistleblowers in the insurance industry cried while discussing being forced by superiors to repeatedly illegally deny payment for lifesaving care in the run up to the passage of the ACA. That’s what republicans want us to return to.

There is a world of difference between, on one hand, a debate among scientists with expert knowledge over data and their meaning, and on the other random nutjobs and their imaginings. Vance does this all the time: defend the indefensible by completely misrepresenting reality in self-righteous tones.

Breaking: President Trump has pardoned Epstein to get him to shut up.

To be fair, she needs to devote all her time right now to attacking the police for not running errands for her properly.

Trump’s connection to a mass child rapist is vile, horrific, and possibly even criminal—and not even close to the worst thing he has ever done.

I’d started to wonder whether the Epstein files were a bit of a macguffin, but no no they implicate the President of the United States in a pedophilia ring—and show the entire Republican Party as well as much of the federal government has been baldly covering it up. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Breaking: President Trump has pardoned Epstein to get him to shut up.

We can expect two weeks of claims about counterfeit email before the House passes a resolution that Epstein and all his activities were normal and healthy.

African American veterans and their families and communities were essential to sustaining Black Civil War memory over the late 19th century and twentieth century. I discuss my own ancestor and others in Unforgettable Sacrifice. I proudly remembered them yesterday.

They’re not saying what they think they’re saying No. 4,792: Inflation is a measure of how fast prices rise. It isn’t a measure of absolute price levels. If prices are dropping, then we’re experiencing deflation, which is a sign of and contributor to a severe contraction of the economy.

If only deliberately starving people were a tax, then maybe the extremist SCOTUS majority might object.

It is a truism that presidents cannot do much to affect the economy. But we always assumed (1) presidents want to help the economy and (2) they’ll abide by the Constitution. Trump single-handedly drove a booming economy into recession. Idiot POTUS + destructive policies + unlimited power = ruin.

Republicans can’t govern.

“It’s a con job by the Democrats.” We Democrats are so owned. Telling voters that they’re wrong about the rise in prices they pay every day is a real winning strategy. Stick with that.

From my tribute to my grandfather, technically a veteran of World War I. His life was a monument to the quotidian weirdness of American history.

Happy Armistice Day/Veterans Day to my last lineal ancestor to serve, my grandfather, Ensign David D. Stiles Sr. Seen here on the day of my father's birth in 1931, he was born in 1897, dropped out of school to work at age 12 when his father went bankrupt, went to night school. Then we entered WW1...

scenes from a victory lap zeteo.com/p/senate-dem...

*taps sign*

Who uses SNAP? My friend, who works, raising 5 kids, husband bailed and won’t pay child support My neighbor battling cancer and her life-saving meds are so expensive, she chooses between meds or food My friend who’s a vet and struggles with mental health issues. Not one of them chose this.

A reminder of how much of our fight at the moment is simply to protect what we’ve got. Rebuilding what they’ve already destroyed will be hell. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/10/u...

Tell me you don’t understand risk pools without telling me you don’t understand risk pools

Wow. WTF, @kaine.senate.gov ? I'm a pro-markets, rule of law liberal. And I really don't think abandoning millions of Americans on the ACA exchanges to their fate is a "minor issue." It's literally a life-or-death issue for many.

Just as an aside, the Constitution does not give the president the authority to designate random thugs as a local militia in order to call them into federal service. “Creating a private army to terrorize political opponents” wasn’t as high on the framers’ list of executive powers as you might think.

How does this relate to global warming? These events involve displacement of cold air from the polar region. The arctic is still melting.

Kavanaugh detentions are an endless cycle of hell. U.S. citizens with Real ID are being arrested and held by ICE/CBP again and again. www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

*taps sign*

Republicans can’t govern.

US citizen George Retes speaks out about his unlawful detainment by ICE. Institute for Justice website: ij.org

Again, the shutdown is because Trump refuses to just talk to the Democrats.

OMG. The site is literally called the Dunning Kruger Times.

HEY! Hey now—settle down. It’s not like they’re a football coach pressuring players on a public high school team to make a demonstration of faith.

Looks like somebody’s auditioning for a job with Border Patrol or ICE!

A majority of the days the government has ever been shut down, Donald Trump was president. www.howtoreadthisch.art/red-versus-b...

it is darkly humorous that after all these years, the Republican health insurance plan ends up being to end health insurance

I think swing voters who went for Trump had a general dissatisfaction with the economy (inflation), were alarmed by border chaos (as they saw it), but really didn’t know how policy worked. Trump encouraged that ignorance with “I’ll fix it in 24 hours!” Now they see he’s only making it worse.

Perhaps Dick Cheney’s most lasting and damaging* legacy is his quote, “Reagan proved that deficits don’t matter.” Deficit fear-mongering has often been overblown before. But by setting politics on a path of limitless tax cuts & ever-increasing spending, Cheney has put us in real danger of default.

Since the election backed Trump into a corner, and he refuses to talk to Democrats, his solution is to completely destroy the ACA. Via tweet.

I’m worried that neo-Confederates will *stop* fighting these battles. (See also, “Confederate soldiers did not fight for slavery,” “my ancestors didn’t own slaves,” etc.) They fight them because they implicitly accept that slavery and white supremacy are bad. Someday soon their minds may change.

Trying to figure out what #SCOTUS just did with #SNAP, and why Justice Jackson temporarily froze the district court's ruling? Via "One First," me on what's going on—and why I think Jackson's move was savvy, notwithstanding the awful circumstances that forced it: www.stevevladeck.com/p/190-snap-wtf

This really is an excellent explainer. Hat tip to @kairyssdal.bsky.social for the link.

🧵 James Watson's death brings up Rosalind Franklin. I have a story about her. *Very* indirectly. It's more a story about George Plimpton. It's even more a story about JFK, Jesse James, and the memory of Reconstruction. Even even more a story about the insane things writers have to do for money. 1/19

I met Watson when I came early for a major public library fundraiser. He immediately spouted the most outrageous racist garbage to me. It was shocking—right out the gate, no preliminaries. I assumed he was some rich donor & rolled my eyes to the event’s organizers. They awkwardly told me who it was.

Who called him Nap-oleon? I demand to know!

They keep telling us to believe them, not our lying eyes. Source: edzarenski.com/2024/11/21/t...