this is meaningless. by that standard, venezuela can indict trump for something, go to the white house, arrest him, and he would go quietly because of the "rule of law" standards he applies to others. sure. it's just another declaration that when our president does anything, it's not illegal.

“You couldn’t possibly believe that the company owning this election machinery was an ally of Hugo Chavez, is an ally of Nicolas Maduro, and an ally of George Soros. What do we have to do to get you to the truth?” said Mr Giuliani.” www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a...

“Since ExxonMobil made its major oil discovery in Guyana in 2015, Venezuela has revived a century-old territorial dispute with Guyana and taken steps to annex the remote Essequibo region that comprises about two thirds of Guyana’s land mass.” apnews.com/article/vene...

Trump administration aware of reported explosions in Venezuelan capital, CBS reporter says reut.rs/3N0OiXb

Venezuela : de fortes explosions secouent la capitale Caracas

Attacking Ta-Nehisi Coates on live TV has its privileges.

“In an era when there has been a lot of talk about mutual respect, it is striking that a huge number of Republicans continue to go out of their way to use the epithet “Democrat Party” rather than the party’s actual name, the Democratic Party.” fivethirtyeight.com/features/dem...

it's a real symptom of widespread anti-progressive media bias that an explicitly progressive candidate is expected to feel a need to be apologetic about being progressive.

They don't even have a single point to make... No criticism of his politics... Just foaming at the mouth racism

It's 2026 and Jared Golden is still defending his pre-election column that said it'd be fine if Trump won. One of the best things that happened in #MEpolitics in 2025 was that CD-2 Dems made it clear they were ready to bounce this guy and he was forced to walk away with his tail between his legs.

They wanted Cuomo to win and now they want to make Mamdani a failure

The outgoing mayor mocked his opponent because her parents helped her pay for childcare. Katie Wilson made universal childcare a core plank of her platform. Weirdly the strategy of mocking Wilson didn't resonate with parents and young voters. Anyway, Katie Wilson is our mayor now.

nope. probably because being conservative is treated as an inherent state of being, while being progressive is seen as transient.

Great news: ✨Tascha Van Auken✨ will head the new "Office of Mass Engagement," which will oversee the Mayor's— • Public Engagement Unit • NYC Civic Engagement Commission • Office of Faith-Based and Community Partnerships Our NYC experiment in co-governance will have an excellent leader on the inside.

"51% of the vote in one election does not empower you to destroy a city or culture or society" -- Mark Levin after Mamdani won 50.8% of the popular vote "We have rejected, completely, utterly, undeniably, the Democrat Party" -- Mark Levin after Trump won 49.8% of the popular vote

Last Saturday’s World's End PPV is expected to match or slightly exceed Full Gear, which garnered around 140,000 PPV buys. (via Wrestling Observer Newsletter)

"The GOP now fuses myths of white male victimhood with censorship that erases decades of academic scholarship detailing how Black Americans—not white men—face systemic discrimination in America." www.liberalcurrents.com/promoting-a-...

The Grok Says…

starting in six weeks or so, you will hear right wing and centrist commentators on cable news, podcasts etc start to refer to Mamdani as if it's obvious that he's failed, extremely unpopular etc. its very important in order for their plot to succeed that any left wing pol be discredited

The magic of democracy (and local news): Way back in 2020 during the COVID lockdown, I interviewed @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social, who'd just won the Democratic primary for an Assembly seat. I thought he came across unusually well on TV (which is not easy to do), but had no idea what was in store!

They *cannot hear* criticism, because it’s coming from people they regard as automatically inferior. They have spent exactly no seconds listening to criticism from anyone who isn’t a right wing crackpot, and heard not one of the words. When we speak, they hear a duck quacking, or a cow mooing.

What Zohran Mamdani is saying is that the city government should be housing the homeless and not harassing and arresting them. Among other things.

What this means in practice isnt that they're gonna start talking to the average American, it's that they're gonna start quoting guys with sinecures at conservative think tanks in their stories and represent them as academics and experts

January 2, 1997: Philadelphia rookie Allen Iverson with a putback slam off a missed free throw. Iverson scored 20 PTS and Derrick Coleman had 22 PTS/20 REB for the 76ers. Seattle's Shawn Kemp had 23 PTS/12 REB and Gary Payton added 21 PTS/10 AST in the SuperSonics' 96-82 win.

“He is Sovereign and defined by exception, and thus my eyes hurt to behold Him. Yet I cannot look away. And this is a difficult subject for a journalist to know how to approach.” 🫣

Our 2nd most-read piece of 2025 is by the forever funny @mikedrucker.bsky.social, and we have no idea what he was getting at here, but it seemed to have struck a nerve with many, many readers.

Happy New Year! Start 2026 the right way: With almost 6,000 words on where the country stands, how much damage has been done, and what might come next. Where Are You Going, America?

Ask Ezra. youtu.be/_TArb0sOzZI?... HT @matthewremski.bsky.social

You don't understand the concept of people who use nice words to cover up ill intentions?

A perfect example:

Today in #DemocraticPublicFinance Mamdani in his speech challenged the casual narrative erasure of many in his coalition. Narrative erasure is the first step of an accounting trick: if someone can be said to not really exist, then their existence presents as a cost to the city that excludes them.

Zohran Mamdani became mayor of New York City on Thursday, taking over one of the most unrelenting jobs in American politics with a promise to transform government on behalf of the city's striving, struggling working class. https://to.pbs.org/4pdtoRT

I went to all 10 of the daycares Nick Shirley featured in his viral video. I got inside 4 and found children. Lots of children: www.startribune.com/day-care-fra...

I'm not a campaign strategist but if I was running against Hochul she literally handed you an excellent talking point. She doesn't care what her constituents say.

Here's your regular reminder that Steven Pinker is -not- some centrist wise man. He's a conservative who whitewashes far-right talking points, a long time participant of the Bari Weiss/Heterodox anti-"woke/progressive" disinformation network, who boosted grifters from science racists to Orbanists.

Something to keep in mind about rhetoric around Zohran is that the same billionaires and bigots who tried to smear him during the election will continue their efforts, especially if he continues to be well-liked and successful. These smear campaigns can be extremely sophisticated and convincing

I was wondering what Mamdani's first executive order would be, and I'm not disappointed by this. He has wiped off the books EVERY Eric Adams executive order issued on or after September 26, 2024, the day Adams was indicted on federal bribery charges.

Steven Pinker: dOcToRs WiThOuT bOrDeRs Is HaMaS

i am rooting as much as is appropriate for mamdani to be an effective mayor because if he manages it, he will be an important model and national leader for american progressives — one part fiorello la guardia, one part robert la folette

Al Qaeda Populating U.S. With Peaceful 'Decoy Muslims' youtu.be/drQETQ2iprU?...

They spent months and months insisting he was an antisemite, with zero evidence, and then he chooses to get sworn in as mayor by America’s most famous and beloved Jewish politician. His critics are a mix of liars and fools.

when democrats lose, blame is always shifted to voters and non-voters. basically every person who isn't the candidate, has microscopic power and zero authority in the campaign. we don't do that for anything else. if a movie bombs, we don't turn on each other and say "america failed the snowman."

This sounds like a major research finding by my colleagues: https://www.newark.rutgers.edu/news/african-americans-study-shows-adequate-sleep-may-help-prevent-dementia-those-genetic-risk

And the proof only continues to mount that the only apt name for the budget was always and is MAGA Murder Bill as the whole regime is hell bent on destroying our lives.

Viewers cheered at the Islamic Center of New York City as Zohran Mamdani took his ceremonial Oath of Office on the front steps of City Hall.

Rupert Murdoch ran the NY Post for 40+ years at a financial loss. Because it’s critical (and priceless) messaging and influence infrastructure. pressgazette.co.uk/news/new-yor...

Me for the last three hours:

The "frigidity of rugged individualism" (great phrase) also masks that those who preach this gospel are neither rugged nor - through connections, corporate government handouts or nepo connections - "individualists." They are "collectivists" for a decaying ruling class.