Endless Column, by Constantin Brâncuși, 1938, 📸 by @stephenmally

🧵 — as Elon + others share A.I. slop videos of Venezuelans, polls show a split between Venezuelans at home (mostly AGAINST Trump’s attack and kidnapping of Maduro) and Venezuelans abroad (more are FOR it) —> x.com/dropsitenews... A.I. = weapon of mass manufacturing consent

Raptors with RJ Barrett in the lineup this season: 14-6, 121.8 points, 119.2 offensive rating, 56.6 eFG% Raptors with RJ Barrett OUT: 7-9, 105.2 points, 107.2 offensive rating, 0.508 eFG%

Of all the competitive authoritarian developments of the past year I think the fall of CBS News is among the most chilling. That this can happen to easily and so quickly freaks me the fuck out.

A CBS News staffer told me this after Tony Dokoupil kicked off his CBS Evening News tenure tonight with a lengthy Pete Hegseth interview: "If this is what Bari and Tony’s CBS Evening News is going to look like, then the we may as well just call ourselves Trump Administration State TV. Pathetic."

*head explodes*

It's unbelievable that people this dumb are in charge of the most powerful nation in human history

Is ICE going to kidnap Maduro and return him to Venezuela?

More reaction to Maduro’s “arrest”

marco rubio says cuba is run by "incompetent, senile men" WHILE STANDING IN FRONT OF AN INCOMPETENT, SENILE MAN

So we’re just announcing foreign strikes and kidnappings of foreign leaders on social media now? No Congress. No explanation. This is madness.

It’s darkly humorous he can’t even muster the ability to give some lip service to democracy or allowing the Venezuelan people to choose their leader.

Feels like a bunch of folks had "Join Bluesky" as their New Years Resolution. And they pulled it off already! If you're new (or been around) and looking for good NBA/WNBA/basketball accounts to follow, here's some. Just follow them all! go.bsky.app/FGmgtea

Hi! If you're new to Bluesky or are looking for more NBA fans to follow, here's a humongous starter pack of more than 130 active accounts who frequently to occasionally post about the league.

I've been tracking the spread of nonconsensual deepfakes on X for more than two years. Here's a timeline of how Musk's leadership allowed the practice to flourish from a once-underground market to a viral trend, with little recourse for victims or legal enforcement. spitfirenews.com/p/grok-csam-...

Giannis Antetokounmpo has been very candid in his postgame media sessions since he returned, and after the loss vs. Washington he was very pointed & outlined changes for Bucks to start winning. “I don’t think we understand this could make us or break us.” 🔖 #NBASky www.jsonline.com/story/sports...

Best players by quarter on a per-100 poss basis, no garbage time - A lot of usual names - Keldon Johnson is reasonable Most Improved candidate - Goga not scoring a lot in Q3, but D is great and shooting 86% - OT: DeRozan, SGA, Jokic, Keyonte George, Ant

actual lol

Deepfake porn and nonconsensual imagery is not a new problem in AI. It was arguably one of the first major concerns for generative AI companies. X and xAI have faced previous instances of celeb deepfakes on their properties. To allow this stuff now is a choice.

For the last few days on X, people (mainly women, and sometimes children) have had nonconsensual images of them in swimsuits (or much worse) requested by users and created by Grok. Musk's only apparent response thus far has been to crack jokes about it.

It took a while to get him the hardware, but congrats again, Kevin Durant, winner of the PBWA's 2024-25 Magic Johnson Award. (Presented on Thursday by PBWA president @howardbeck.bsky.social.)

Trump’s Tangled Web of Deal-Making, Policy and Riches An illustrated guide of the first year of profiteering. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

🧵 Their appetite for white nationalism fascism knows no bounds, but their capacity to pull it off isn't. Not to diminish the damage they will do, but they're not the unstoppable invincible force they want us to think they are. As Andor put it: power doesn't panic—and they're panicking more and more.

I'll take it.

Again, the man who’s next in line for the presidency after this walking corpse has said he’s deeply influenced by this outright Nazi, so maybe we could get a little more attention on that?

“Trump’s staff have also counseled him to try to keep his eyes open during public events,”

everyone involved in this should’ve been sued into the ground but instead will learn absolutely nothing from it because they got away with giving weak apologies

The guy everyone called a genius every day for a decade plus is actually among the biggest idiots in society. Beyond all the other awful stuff.

🚨BREAKING: One Republican lawyer who worked to overturn the 2020 election alongside leaders of the effort, and a second who was a senior member of Cleta Mitchell’s anti-voting network, were recently hired to work on voting issues at the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice.

Reggie Miller saying the quiet part out loud. #NBASky

every player who has made more 3s in the clutch than vj edgecombe this season: —steph (12) —ant edwards, derrick white (8) —harden, sga (7) that's it. edgecombe is 6-of-11 on 3s in the clutch this year.

Isiah Whitlock Jr, best known for his role as Clay Davis on “The Wire,” has died. He was 71

Oof.

Happy 41st Birthday LeBron James 🎂🎈🥳 LeBron has redefined what is possible for an NBA player in his late 30s / early 40s

Mailbag time! Got a question for @bellraja19.bsky.social, @loganmmurdock.bsky.social and me? Send them to [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] And we might answer on Tuesday’s show.

If you are a sports dad, grappling with youth sports issues and costs, you may want to have a listen to Bryan Ward's DadUp podcast as we discuss what should be the goal of the game. www.daduptribe.com/podcast/epis...

New PRESS BOX: @joelanderson.bsky.social and I recorded a mailbag episode, considering weighty matters like 2025's most over-covered story, publications we'd bring back from the dead, and people we've met in barbecue lines. open.spotify.com/episode/3U8F...

And it's up! Reposting @zachlowenba.bsky.social: New Zach Lowe Show! I was wrong about the Hawks; Trae's future/ATL options; Jazz/Clips/Nets rising; Jazz draft dilemma/OKC subplot; lottery reform?; GSW at the brink; Boston/Tatum; more -- w/ @howardbeck.bsky.social

Did a little pondcasting with the great @zachlowenba.bsky.social today. Should be up soon.

Great little thread about Die Hard. The single greatest stage performance I've ever seen live was Alan Rickman in "Les Liasions Dangereuse" on B'way. and it turns out Joel Silver saw it too, which is how Rickman was cast.

Mailbag time! Got a question for @bellraja19.bsky.social, @loganmmurdock.bsky.social and me? Send them to [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] And we might answer on Tuesday’s show.

And finally, a reminder that the fan vote listed below will comprise 50% of the total. Players (25%) and media (25%) account for the rest.

Reminder: Ballots are now POSITIONLESS, so NBA is listing a straight 1-20 ranking here. Reminder #2: Under new All-Star Game format there will be two teams of U.S. players and one squad of int'l players. Round-robin tournament, with four 12-minute games.

Luka Doncic (West) and Giannis Antetokounmpo (East) lead the voting in first returns of All-Star balloting.

MAGA may be trying to buy up -- or kill -- the culture. But it pushed back against the regime in all sorts of ways. I wrote about some of them for the @nytimes.com, including the epic return of @theonion.com ... www.nytimes.com/2025/12/27/o...

For the many who thought Giannis Antetokounmpo landed awkwardly after that dunk at the end of the #Bulls game, he is completely off of the #Bucks injury report heading into Charlotte. #NBAsky

The Tribune does here what only local journalists can do. Very good read:

Heartbreaking for an old newspaperman like myself. The noxious hedge fund that owns the Minneapolis Star-Tribune mothballs the paper's printing plant, to save money. We've lost so much.

A year ago today, I interviewed Victor Wembanyama after he spontaneously invited fans to play chess with him in Washington Square Park. I wrote about it for my Substack: open.substack.com/pub/mollyhmo...

perfect metaphors don’t exis—