I hope you all remembered the relevant batteries

Kash Patel made the FBI buy a custom fleet of armored BMW X5 for him to ride around in. trib.al/9pBbwTB Patel’s FBI spokesperson claimed—without evidence—that this is actually saving the American taxpayer money. The standard version of the X5 costs about $70,000.

NEW: By a 6-3 vote, the Supreme Court blocks Trump’s deployment of the National Guard to Chicago to assist immigration agents. A majority holds that he likely lacks authority to do so. Thomas, Alito, and Gorsuch dissent. www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25p...

BREAKING: The Supreme Court has blocked Trump's effort to deploy the National Guard in Illinois to protect officials carrying out his mass-deportation policy.

Grand Central on December 23 with small child. When you speak of me, speak well.

I went to the opening for PubKey, a Bitcoin bar originally from NY with a new location in downtown DC. It was wacky and wild and had several Santas, Chinese lion dancers, a mariachi band, and more. But the weirdest thing of all were the federal employees in suits. www.theverge.com/policy/84913...

Exclusive: The U.S. moved a large number of troops and additional special-operations aircraft into the Caribbean this week.

It could be worse. You could have toilet rats. www.kuow.org/stories/toil...

Not now, haunted Victorian shoes

TIME TO SIGN UP FOR SUMMER CAMP I can't believe I am doing this December 23rd.

Merry Christmas!

Year 1 data on congestion pricing in Manhattan… * Vehicle traffic: -11% * Foot traffic: +3.4% * Storefront vacancy: -0.9% * Pollution: -22% * Revenue for mass transit: $548M So YES this has been a huge success.

A small Mexican Navy plane transporting a young medical patient and seven others crashes near Galveston, killing at least five people and setting off a search in waters along the Texas coast, officials say.

She’s makin a list Checkin it twice Because adhd makes it hard to where’s my phone

Good @telliotter.bsky.social story on the DOGEification of the government. www.wired.com/story/expire...

You’ll read Nebraska and have a picture in your mind of who is impacted, the story will tell you just how wrong you are. And Tyson is going to do as little as possible to support them.

Yes, CECOT is a concentration camp in the guise of a prison. The Venezuelans were the first people to *ever* be released from CECOT since Bukele opened the prison in January 2023. Seriously. The first.

This is 404 Media's @jasonkoebler.bsky.social waving at himself through a Flock camera; one of 60 we learned was left exposed to the open internet. Not only could anyone with a link livestream it, but some admin portals were open with no login credentials required. www.404media.co/flock-expose...

For years, people have lodged complaints about Tesla’s doors. With no official statistics, Bloomberg did its own analysis on the number of fatal crashes in the US in which door functionality played a role. Read more: bloom.bg/49tm0fF 📷️: Getty Images

If Weiss had more skill she could have spiked the CECOT segment much earlier in the process because it didn‘t reveal enough new information about a widely reported story. This would also have been a terrible decision, but would at least display some knowledge of how things actually work.

I am sure the 60 Minutes report on CECOT was very well done, but what makes the decision to kill it even more damning is that CBS was hardly out on a limb on this story. It has been extremely well documented and reported by many journalists.

Now seems like a swell time to point out that Frontline just released this excellent 11-minute mini-documentary about what happened inside CECOT.

"The emergence of Witkoff as envoy to the Kremlin is partly a story of Putin maneuvering to nudge aside America’s diplomats and clasp hands with its billionaires." www.wsj.com/world/putin-...

Read the full email Sharyn Alfonsi sent her team about CBS pulling their segment on the Trump admin’s deportations of Venezuelan migrants

Here’s a gift link to this stunner Washpost story, quoting the 60 Minutes correspondent on the CECOT story, who accuses Bari Weiss of spiking the piece all because the Trump Administration wouldn’t comment. “Government silence is a statement, not a VETO.” wapo.st/3YL4T3D

Streisand effect strikes again. I didn't even know they were going to air this. Now I know.

They deported Yuanxin www.nytimes.com/2025/12/19/n...

BREAKING: At least 16 files from the Epstein release disappeared from DOJ's webpage, including a photo of Trump, with no explanation.

BREAKING: The U.S. is preparing to stop recommending most childhood vaccines and defer to doctors instead. The plan, which is not finalized, marks a fundamental shift in the U.S. vaccine strategy, @lenasun.bsky.social & @rachelroubein.bsky.social report. Gift link: wapo.st/4aXfzn5

We Didn’t Start The Fire-ass news cycle

Happy "EOD Friday before a major holiday" to all who celebrate:

In my mayoral administration the subway will be free except if you wear cologne. Then it’s $10,000.

Data Centers! In space! With the great @sciguyspace.bsky.social slate.com/podcasts/wha...

Terrifying headline if you don’t realize they are sports teams.

When Hannah’s pharmacy began filling her tacrolimus prescription with a generic version, the lung transplant patient didn't know something very important: Months earlier, an FDA-commissioned study concluded that this generic was not equivalent to the brand drug -- and that her life was at risk.

Adding immediately www.wired.com/story/chrome...

Ahem. New York Times. Please reread. Thank you. slate.com/technology/2...

Hey. Hey it's me, perimenopause. Have you considered being awake at 4:45am? What spirit week outfit does your kid have to wear today? What about your gift list? Are you done? Surely you forgot to send a few holiday cards? Should we think about that for awhile?

After publication of this piece, House Oversight Democrats disabled comments on the photos.

NYT statement to me: "David Brooks regularly attends events to speak with noted and important business leaders to inform his columns, which is exactly what happened at this 2011 event. Mr. Brooks had no contact with him before or after this single attendance at a widely-attended dinner."

NEW: The families of two teenage boys who died by suicide filed a lawsuit today against Meta, alleging that for years the tech company ignored the danger of sexual blackmail schemes targeting teens on Instagram. www.nbcnews.com/tech/social-... I interviewed one of the parents.

if tumblr dies I need this video to make it's seasonal rotation here instead just in case, Happy holidays 🎄

Very proud of @naemas.bsky.social and my story yesterday on how thousands of the estimated 16,000 known plastic chemicals get into our food. “The problem is, none of the plastics that we have right now are safe... That’s what the data tell us.” www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...

Ladies and gentleman: The President of the United States www.nytimes.com/2025/12/18/u...

House Dems have released more photos provided to the oversight committee from Jeffrey Epstein's estate. More images of Woody Allen, Noam Chomsky, Steve Bannon, Bill Gates in this batch. New to this batch: David Brooks and David Blaine.

Everyone who is having a pleasant holiday season because they aren't in the Epstein files, step forward. Not so fast, David Brooks.

NEW: The FDA won’t tell Americans where their generic drugs are made, so ProPublica did it instead. Use information from your prescription label to locate the factory and see if the plant has a history of inspection violations.

Gift link, probably the funniest thing the Wall Street Journal has done this year.