Before the midterms of 1866, President Andrew Johnson called his congressional opponents traitors and said they should be hanged. Voters were so profoundly moved by his words... that they gave his opponents a supermajority in Congress, and the nation got the Fourteenth Amendment.

The rule of law is a precious gift. And it is slipping away.

@jimcuddyofficial.bsky.social Skeptical you’ll ever see this, but I’m in Toronto all next week and would love to reconnect. I no longer have your email. How can I find you?

Legally, this is no different from Iran sinking a Disney cruise in international waters and then saying "it's all good, they were terrorists carrying drugs." Which is to say, it's wholly illegal and has been for centuries. You couldn't even do this with a Letter of Marque and Reprisal.

It’s a strategy known as “breaking the law”

JFC

ICE detains mother dropping off child at elementary school—refuses to even look at her U.S. legal papers. "What documents?" agent sarcastically replies—holding up the folder. "The ones in your hands!" witnesses yell back. Madison Elementary School in Santa Ana, California.

Looks as if Trump is saying no Democrat will be allowed to win another national election—and he will use the FBI, the DOJ, and the CIA to make sure of that. This is a full-scale attack on American democracy, and every Republican, CEO, and conservative mouthpiece who doesn't object is complicit.

The Dem base is now way, way to the left of its elected representatives, for sure. Boomer moms are out in the streets begging Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries to get their shit together and fight back.

First, it staves off apathy, cynicism, and despair. Second, it demonstrates to those who might use violence against innocent civilians that they would be doing so against grannies, kids, neighbors. Third, it shows allies and partners that the America they need is alive.

He sees himself as a king literally shitting on American citizens. What more evidence do you need?

An ICE agent, who is being arrested for drunk driving and nearly killing his little kids & others, tries to stop the arrest by racially profiling the officers arresting him. Amazing to watch the courtesy given to him as he is belligerent and uncooperative

So the president of the United States plans to meet with Putin in Hungary, and when a reporter asked where that plan came from, this was the reply of the United States government www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-...

Trump is upfront in saying he will use the shutdown to punish Democrats, and here are the receipts. About $27.2 billion cut from Dem districts compared to about $0.7 billion in GOP districts. We all complain about the media, but need this type of in-depth journalism. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

How can the entire Oklahoma City airport not sell newspapers? Scandalous.

“Not completely correct”??? The word is incorrect.

Milk? How about Moscone?

not wrong

Pretending not to hear the whole room chanting “shame” at her is the most Susan Collins things ever

In a democratic society, leaders of govt. agencies don't bestow favors and prizes on the elected leader and thank them so profusely. They ultimately work for the public, not the president. By contrast, these embarrassing public displays of loyalty are a recurring feature of authoritarian politics.

A new level of insane stupidity

The precise moment when and where in recent weeks America crossed that invisible line from democracy into authoritarianism can and will be debated by future historians, but it’s clear that the line itself has been crossed. www.doomsdayscenario.co/p/america-ti...

“One trademark of an authoritarian regime is the use of the legal system to target opponents and forgive friends. This has the effect of undermining our conception of the law as a set of rules that is fairly and consistently applied. It also centralizes authority…” open.substack.com/pub/donmoyni...

Bottom line is that the rule of law is effectively dead. Not even a pretense that this is based on any sort of process, or in fact anything other than the whims of the ruler. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/19/u...

People are STILL minimizing b/c the worst hasn't happened. Sure, DC now has military checkpoints, but isn't crime bad there? Sure, people are being dragged away by goon squads, but aren't they mostly illegal? Sure, universities and the media are being strong-armed, but aren't they too liberal?

Scum of the earth. Need to be identified, fired, stripped of benefits, and prosecuted at first opportunity.

The road to authoritarianism is littered with people telling you you’re overreacting.

Reposting my coming NY Times Magazine piece on why the most innovative baseball owner in decades has to sell his team www.nytimes.com/2025/08/06/m...

Someone forgot to take down this webpage: www.justice.gov/usao-dc/pr/v...

Would you want to invest in a country where the regime expropriates assets from its opponents? In related news, "personalist regimes are characterized by lower total factor productivity and ... low private investment, poor public-goods provision, and conflict" www.nber.org/system/files...

That this isn’t an instant career ender is an indication of what a precarious situation the country is in

'“It’s a singular situation in baseball for certain, and all of sports, probably,' Sternberg says, 'that a team has won as much as we have but has been at or near the bottom in attendance.'” (via @bruceschoenfeld.bsky.social) www.nytimes.com/2025/08/06/m...

“Officials have begun separating children from their families in small numbers across the country, in what appears to be a more targeted version of one of the most explosive policies of President Trump’s first term.”

@adamjkucharski.bsky.social Just starting Proof! In case it comes up again, the way I explain “Monty Hall” is: there’s no doubt that the initial choice is 1/3. That doesn’t change. So if there are now two options and one is 1/3, the other must be 2/3. Think of picking from a pack of 52 cards…(1/2)

Just a heist of public funds. Why should Trump own it if taxpayers spent $1B on the retrofit?

Chilling to see a senator floating the third term idea

Today I opened it, got my first one, and saw I was down to four guesses already. What’s going on?

If the internet didn't exist, no one would walk up to a city or town news stand, point at all the dozens of magazines and newspapers, and say to the vendor: "Listen, I can't afford *all* these. Let me just leaf through a few of them for an hour and I'll give you, say, a buck."

It's almost as if he has something to hide.

The unitary executive can set the curriculum at Harvard, order the owners to change the names of professional sports teams, throw his enemies in prison, close a Cabinet-level Department, but he is powerless to ask the sycophants he put in place in the FBI and DOJ to release the Epstein files.

@baseball-reference.com Hi! I’m wondering when 2025 season D3 stats will be added to the player sites. Thanks!

@immaculategrid.com Hi! Why does the grid occasionally close me out after 8 when I haven’t missed one? It has happened maybe a dozen times over the months—and to others too. What’s the glitch and is there a way to remedy it on my end?

Padilla: "What if I was outside a Home Depot, because I like to do some work around the house, not dressed in a suit. Would I be a target of ICE enforcement under Tom Homan? Probably. And it is just wrong."

Masked, unidentifiable ICE agents are disappearing people off the streets of American cities. It's wrong. It's deeply disturbing. It's what authoritarian dictatorships do. www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Dhk...

Imagine you're a 32-year-old American citizen on your way to work when a masked, heavily armed ICE agent throws you down on the ground, arrests you and hauls you away. Wake up, Americans www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfVq...

Do the research. bsky.app/profile/adam...

Americans have questions about whether the Earth is round. They expect honesty and transparency from their government when seeking answers. For years, people who asked questions in good faith were dismissed, even vilified by “the media” and their own “government”. This ends today.

This is multiple-level sick www.bbc.com/news/article...