Good to see Rocket Romano bringing the same gritty realism to the courtroom in the Margo finale that he brought to the practice of medicine in ER.

Every one of these episodes where peace is right around the corner have followed the exact same trajectory—grandiose, market-moving claim by Trump, some anonymous Iranian sources confirm progress but dispute critical details, new reporting makes it clear Iran hasn’t agreed to such terms at all.

A rare and exquisite treat is when the great @pjmaciak.bsky.social writes about whatever show I'm obsessed with atm. Read this piece about Widow's Bay (but also AI and private equity and Matthew Rhys) and then subscribe to @newrepublic.com and outlets that still pay for brilliant culture writing.

Data from Star Trek but he uses 5 billion pounds of water per day and any time you ask him anything he gets the answer wrong.

Not that it's surprising, but Trump endorsing Paxton -- a far weaker candidate than Cornyn -- is about as clear a statement as possible that the president does not care at all whether Republicans win or lose the Senate. The guy just uncritically loves corrupt megalomaniacs, consequences be damned.

"I ask all of you to think of it, graduates and families alike, let yourself dream of a future in which we can harness this amazing new technology to eliminate entry-level jobs entirely. Indeed, that work has already begun, and that future is now." /college kid booing intensifies "Wow okay,"

That they are still pursuing maneuvers like this that benefit and please no one outside of the hardcore MAGA bubble is one of many reasons Trump is falling through the polarization-era polling floor. This is the kind of thing you would not do if you properly understood your political predicament.

Greg Sargent has been tirelessly killing it as the host of one of the essential podcasts of the second Trump administration. So it was really both a blast and an honor to join him for a discussion of how the Iran fiasco is destroying Trump’s presidency and inviting ever-graver abuses at home.

The institutional culture of the Democratic Party is so deeply committed to publicly loathing and scapegoating its own left flank—as a strategy!—that long-retired, dying leaders will burn some of their few remaining hours on Earth to seize one last, glorious opportunity to shit on progressives.

Rededicate $2.50, an event to renew America’s commitment to under-$3-a-gallon gas.

Sure they may trigger a labor stoppage virtually by themselves, but I'm increasingly convinced the Dodgers' main competitive advantage in free agency is that if you sign with them you're really only needed or expected for about a third of the season. It's like PTO.

well played

Remarkable that a corrupt, incoherent president with 37% approval, who is single-handedly plunging the entire globe into a financial crisis with one of history's dumbest wars, can still just put his thumb down like Joaquin Phoenix in Gladiator and take out anyone he wants in a Republican primary.

With gas pushing $5 a gallon in Chicagoland (thanks again to the stupidest war in history!) the operating cost differential between our old gas powered car and our hybrid is really staggering.

Please give this searing essay by a dear friend—who has been terrorized by these unconscionable goons but has not let it break her spirit—about how rigid gender binaries are part of the fascist project rather than part of “nature.” Come for the compelling argument, stay for the glittering prose.

"If you have to worry about whether a vengeful president will order 'his' DOJ to ruin your life as you know it...you don’t live in a democracy." Good @davidfaris.bsky.social piece tying together many different narratives of Trumpian corruption/authoritarianism: www.thenation.com/article/soci...

For @thenation.com, I argue that even though Trump's "payback politics" may be failing to win convictions now, it is still a) a grave assault on the rule of law and b) evidence that the persecution project is being held back largely by judges who are slowly being replaced by MAGA sycophants.

US universities genuinely are like “welcome to Tennessee Agricultural College in Bumfuck Nowheresville. We invented the modern potato and our facilities include a particle accelerator, nuclear reactor, and TOP500 supercomputer. Tuition is $12,000 for instate students and we have 40,000 of them”

There’s never a right way to build a proper safety net for a fraction of this cost but there’s always a right way to lavish virtually unlimited coin on the military.

I am also outraged, and I'm not trying to pick on anyone, but predictions about how Dems would have to win the national vote by X points to take the House do not have a great track record. The actual number in 2018 was probably 3.9%. Dems won the national House vote by 3.1% in 2020 and held on.

Pass it a third time and permanently strip the state supreme court of jurisdiction over districting.

Blackboard is like the Battlestar Galactica surviving the Cylon attacks because its tech was too outdated to breach.

you fucked up a perfectly good freedom of navigation is what you did look at it, it's got tolls

We’re right around that point in the weekly market manipulation/cold hard reality cycle where Iran says that they are nowhere close to an agreement.

Hello Walgreens? I need a refill on my nightmare fuel.

Trump asking his advisors about Hormuz.

Everybody calm down! Shiv is the good one.

What a day for Project Freedom!

Oh. Uh, ok. Seems like a terrific plan.

Yeah we might need five senate seats instead of four.

Really something how using "Democrat" instead of "Democratic" has broken containment out of right-wing media and is now just an acceptable thing for mainstream media to do.

Think about all the time, energy, money and talent wasted on partisan gerrymandering. All of the social problems that energy could be devoted to solving instead of having our most visible political battles revolve around naked institutional manipulation with indisputable net negatives for democracy.

Oh hey so I started a newsletter called Bluetopia. It's about building social democracy state-by-state, but also foreign policy and elections and culture and horror movies and baseball (maybe). It'll be free unless something goes horrifically wrong in my life. bluetopia.beehiiv.com/p/a-newslett...

I'm a believer in welcoming Never Trumpers into the tent, and in general think we are dragging them to the left rather than the other way around. But today I am freshly reminded that Bush, now held up as a reasonable Republican, did this. His picks started this 20 years ago and Trump's finished it.

A pleasure to write with @davedaley.bsky.social warning folks not to assume that the redistricting wars are over. Without aggressive structural reform things will get even worse.

The WHCD shooting has me recalling @davidfaris.bsky.social's clear-eyed piece after the one in Butler, PA, and his still-vital point that however urgent the democratic emergency is that Trump has fomented, these acts destroy societies. slate.com/news-and-pol...

I will always be haunted by Josh and Lindsey’s living room decor in Beef.

You take one day off from the news....

Sounds familiar.

Let this be a lesson to whoever kicks off the next round of “Mid-decade redistricting.”

Asking again whether the people who write headlines at the Times have ever looked at a comparative politics flowchart of power in the Iranian regime.

On Earth the Strait of Hormuz Was Briefly Open

If you presented the Iran War to film critics it would be dismissed as an Idiot Plot.

beyond parody

I’m sure there’s no downside to the president telling everyone what they’ve agreed to before they’ve agreed to it.

Outlining some reasons why the blockade isn't working and isn't likely to work for @thenation.com. Yesterday Trump was back to his signature move of governance-by-Polymarket, making wild claims that appear to be contradicted, as usual, by a quick glance out the window.

Sitting down to make annual health insurance decisions and gripped with the desire to scream endlessly into a void.