thrift savings plan, to the tune of pink pony club

"The government has a legitimate responsibility to protect classified information. That responsibility, however, does not override the constitutional protections that allow journalists to do their jobs on behalf of the public."

A horrendous abuse of state power; the freedom of the press is enshrined in the Constitution.

Diamond rings are great but Mortons are twice as salty for the same size stone

High school crushes who never felt the same way I bet www.popularmechanics.com/science/a699...

No one want lore, they want fun. “Goofy Benoit Blanc is at it again! How does he feel about his mom? Who cares!” “These Avatar blue people have gills! These have wings! Now they’re red! Why? What? Are you a colonialist?”

We’re adults, we can acknowledge it’s wild he named them Sauron and Saruman

COMMENTARY: What Donald Trump is betting on is becoming the world’s largest and last petrostate. China is betting on becoming its largest and lasting electrostate. Which side would you rather be on? 🔗 #[politi.co/4sAUFAQ

Wow it’s crazy how Samwise Gamgee just walked into the river like that

The case for the fake tree is that I could benefit from still waking up to it on in the living room

@arielsabar.bsky.social I’ve been reading a lot this new year about early Christianities and just found your story on Morton Smith trying to learn more about that whole saga. Wrenching, compelling stuff. Great work.

solo parenting

Happy 13th birthday to the most essential artwork of the current era, @kcg.bsky.social ‘s “This is fine,” to all those who celebrate.

On today’s @npr.org All Things Considered, we put questions to NYC Mayor @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social about universal childcare and what today’s announcement w/ Gov. Hochul means for New Yorkers www.npr.org/2026/01/08/n...

Best TikTok thing going is the two dudes trying food from every country without leaving NYC. If you haven’t seen them yet, it’s incredible. My favorite so far is last week’s. Legit got me emotional.

My latest @npr.org story: The United States could be headed toward the largest-ever decline in representation by Black members of Congress if the Supreme Court weakens Voting Rights Act protections against racial discrimination in redistricting n.pr/49tevoK

A Times investigation from 2021. “Often, the drivers were trying to get away from officers, edging around them, not toward them, the footage shows, and the officers weren’t in the path of the vehicle when they fired.”

NEW from me: The US is losing blue-collar jobs for the first time since early COVID or the Great Recession—the country has lost 65k jobs over the last year as manufacturing, transport, & mining employment decline, while growth in construction has nearly zeroed out www.apricitas.io/p/america-is...

Putting it all together: Children's partisan endorsement looks more like affiliative "cheerleading" than epistemic trust. Public agreement with the group may be less about belief and more about belonging. 9/11

Man James Turrell out here cooking

When I was nine I or so I broke my right hand pretending to be a gorilla while climbing the stairs.

NPR’s Jan. 6 archive brings together reporting, video, documents and testimony to show what really happened during the Capitol riot. Explore the timeline, cases and evidence behind the attack.

It’s old-fashioned to defend mainstream journalism these days but some of the most reliable reporting from people actually on the ground will be the AP and Reuters the next 24 hours. Your Substack journalist writing takes will be using frontline reporting from them.

Sure I didn’t recognize the SNL cast member but she didn’t recognize me, the public radio professional, so who should really be embarrassed?

When Harry Met Sally may be the perfect film

Some “bird” “photos” I desperately asked Merlin to ID

A big hat tip to NPR, which has been making extensive use of its foreign correspondents in Latin America this morning.

By itself this would just be sort of tacky and inappropriate for a news organization, but “and make no apologies for saying so” is the real tell.

I had an excellent SAT score and was a horrible graduate student. My sister is a middling test taker and will graduate with a neuroscience doctorate from an Ivy in May

People sometimes like to talk about "young voters," "male voters" and so on as meaningful blocs, but those identities matter more to some Americans than others, and political identity is complicated. Some newly released data from us here: www.cnn.com/2026/01/02/p...

Why D.C.'s mayor doesn't have an official residence is a very D.C. story that involved fights over the location, local and federal concerns, and more: dcist.com/story/12/04/...

Today: “House Finch, you loser”

One thing I wrote about here is how technology has made buses *way* more convenient while techno-futurists were obsessed with flying taxis and self-driving cars.

Former special counsel Jack Smith also described President Trump as the "most culpable and most responsible person" in the criminal conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election results, according to a transcript of Smith's closed-door interview with the House Judiciary Committee. n.pr/49cmd6E

saw quail, no lions

Hearing some complaints that Sheba didn’t make the Christmas card and might send this out as errata

The shift from "One Big Beautiful Bill" to "Working Families Tax Cut" in official congressional e-newsletters this year:

Without intervention, higher income is strongly associated with higher car dependence across ~800 cities; doubling income ~37% more car journeys. Electrifying a car-dependent city still means congestion, space, safety risk, and asphalt eating your budget. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

The California model of “walkable downtown for people who parked in the lots a block over” is shopping malls with different ownership structure

Interesting: @brianneknadeau.bsky.social has a new bill that would require that D.C.'s mayor set five-year goals for housing construction (affordable and market) and give them additional authority to propose ways to reduce barriers to construction in places that don't meet the goals.

We're only 16 (!!!) people away from reaching 1000 new subscribers. Unlock this goal and get independent local news for D.C. in your inbox weekly: 51st.news/signup

cahlifooorniuuhhh

Dressed like they're gonna look for a third at the Clairo show

Eddie Murphy is once-in-many-generations talent

🎬 Filmmakers! The Internet Archive’s 2026 Public Domain Day Remix Contest is open! 🎥 Create a 2–3 minute short film using at least 1 piece of public domain material from 1930. 🎶🎭📚 📆 Deadline: January 7, 2026 💰 First prize: $1,500 ℹ️ Details 👉 blog.archive.org/2025/12/01/2... #publicdomain #contest

Movie opening credits always be like VINYL PRODUCTIONS A VINYL FILMS MOVIE VINYL STUDIOS presents A film by VINYL