"The nation’s largest public funder of the humanities appears to be transforming into a vehicle narrowly tailored to the president’s agenda." Jenny Schuessler at the NYT with a deep dive into what's been happening at #NEH. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/15/a... [gift link]

“The Tucson Democrat stood on the House floor during a pro forma session that lasted less than three minutes, enough time for an opening prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance. Fellow Democrats chanted ‘Swear her in!’ But the Republican presiding over the House gaveled the session to an abrupt end.”

The Pentagon is implementing new guidelines that will require journalists to sign a pledge and agree to report only approved and officially released information.

Ezra Klein is right and it matters he's saying this. The question is not "funding the government" or "shutting down the government." It's funding *this* government versus shutting down *this* government. It's not the definite article existing independent of who's in power. It is who's in power.

BREAKING: Big moment as CDC staff stage a mass walkout. They have lined the street outside its HQ to greet and salute the four top officials who have resigned in protest at RFK Jr’s attack on the agency’s science base. (🎥 AP)

Unbelievable. Just days after the tragic flooding in Texas, NOAA is demanding that public TV stations remove equipment from towers that is critical for these stations to send weather alerts. Trump’s ideological crusade against public broadcasting will cost lives.

Now let’s arrest some actual ICE officers who aren’t identifying themselves, who knows they could be imposters

In 25 years of covering national security, I’ve never seen a story like this: Senior Trump officials discussed planning for the U.S. attack on Yemen in a Signal group--and inadvertently added the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic. www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...

NEW! Sworn declarations filed last night confirm the Trump admin sent INNOCENT people to rot in prison El Salvador, including a professional soccer player jailed and tortured by the Maduro regime, who entered this country LEGALLY to seek asylum, and who has NO CRIMINAL RECORD in either country.

Important

Yeah, this is a perennial truth -- landmark struggles over free speech typically involve people who are saying and doing things that are *unpopular* That's, uh, why they need the protection of the First Amendment. It's sort of the whole point.

Can't wait for the Party of Reagan to explain how Lech Walesa is a woke commie simp.

The award for Best Oscar Presenter goes to Da’vine Joy Randolf

Literally all he did was quote someone. Defining criticism of the government as treason is what authoritarians do. Turning a publicly funded news outlet into a state media propaganda machine is what authoritarians do.

Measles guidance provided by RFK Jr. includes information about administering vitamin A to measles patients, so I wanted to share this helpful graphic from the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases. Vitamin A alone does not prevent measles. Vaccination does. @nfidvaccines.bsky.social

Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., told NBC News that this is "a bad day for America’s foreign policy." "Ukraine wants independence, free markets and rule of law. It wants to be part of the West. Russia hates us and our Western values. We should be clear that we stand for freedom”.

fwiw if social media is any guide, pretty much every single thing Zelensky says publicly ends with a thank you. Here he is thanking Senators of both parties shortly before he got to the White House today:

Zelenky stood in front of the American government, in the seat of our democracy, and thanked our entire nation. Every farmer, teacher, engineer, nurse, and cop. Thanked us on behalf of his entire country. youtu.be/7gjwlCe5T6M?...

A personal note about the @katiephangshow.bsky.social:

This morning, the National Science Foundation fired 168 probationary employees, effective immediately. The number represents roughly 10% of its workforce. Follow Science’s coverage of President Donald Trump’s impact on U.S. research and science globally. ⬇️ scim.ag/40XtSSi

Here is the ad the Washington Post refused to run about Elon Musk this weekend. And here is the ad the Post was happy to run by a rightwing group funded by Musk that smeared me in October. I started Democracy Docket to be fiercely independent and prodemocracy. Check it out. www.democracydocket.com

Trump's flurry of action is oddly familiar to me -- recalling my time as a reporter in China. Americans sometimes see his firehose of activity as disparate steps, a kaleidescope of craziness. But there is a coherent and alarming pattern: www.nytimes.com/2025/02/15/o...

Many of you may not be familiar with #NIH grants. Here are some facts to help you understand the magnitude of this disaster. 1) NIH grants are extremely difficult to get & not "free money". Researchers must have preliminary data & write detailed proposals. Mine was >200pages & took years to put

Just got e-mail. The NIA study section I am on Jan 31st "will not meet as planned". Quoting SRO: "At the present time, all Federal advisory committee meetings are cancelled... We will be back in touch with you when we have further information."

Over 75 Nobel Prize winners have signed a letter against confirmation of RFK Jr. for head of the DHHS. Dr. Harold Varmus, who was quoted in the article, not only won the Nobel Prize for Medicine, but was also Director of the NIH. I hope the letter gets some attention. www.nytimes.com/2024/12/09/h...

Dems can protect a faithful history of Trump’s 2020 coup attempt, but they have to recognize that it will take defending, and Trump won’t stop at Big Lie litmus tests for his appointees. www.offmessage.net/p/no-democra...