Democratic primary voters in MA, MN, TN, TX, and VA handed the nomination to Biden on Super Tuesday 2020. Biden picked Merrick Garland, who waited nearly two years to appoint Jack Smith, after Trump had declared his candidacy. Trump could have stood trial in 2022–2023 if Garland had moved in time.

It's common to say that Trump's GOP is different, that the party didn't use to be so craven. But if you remember the right-wing conservative radio of the 90s, leading to Birtherism and violent rhetoric of the Tea Party... the Kochs have been flinging out their fossil fuel fortune for decades.

HELLO EVERYONE I FINALLY PUBLISHED THAT "INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS" ESSAY READ IT AT @flaminghydra.com NOW:

TODAY: @josie.zone on a stunning, unfulfilled post-war quest for revenge. “Kovner aimed to turn the old antisemitic lie on its ear: he and his group really would drop poison into the water supplies of German cities. They hoped to take millions of lives” flaminghydra.com/inglourious-...

Hey! Come hang on Jan. 15! Should be a good time with @pjsauer.bsky.social @davidjroth.bsky.social @xbennyboo.bsky.social @dirtbagqueer.rocks Tickets here: www.eventbrite.com/e/squawkin-s...

Something I see a lot of folks missing in discussions about what's happening Venezuela, particularly around oil, is the role U.S. oil majors' interest in Guyana—and the threat Venezuela posed to it—has in all of it. Explainer here: drilled.media/news/guyana-...

Congestion pricing is working. It's in effect in just part of Manhattan, the zone below 60th Street, just $9 at peak, $2.25 off-peak, w/ subsidies available. According to the Economic Development Corporation, overall visits to the central business district were up by about 2.4% over previous year.

I wrote about reporters’ refusal to use “act of war,” “invasion” or “coup” when covering Trump’s brazen attacks on Venezuela, instead echoing WH-approved euphemisms, and the broader trend of our press dutifully giving Trump’s lawlessness the vague whiff of international legitimacy when it has none.

"I'm so sorry that we could not have done this earlier...to have saved the loved ones in your life. But I thank you fopr the work that you have done...to ensure that this pain not be felt by others who call this same city home." — Mayor Mamdani at McGuinness Blvd. presser youtube.com/shorts/uwAYI...

Chevron, the only major U.S. oil company operating in Venezuela, is a top corporate donor to Republican super PACs. Over the past decade, the company has given: - $16.8 million to SLF, backing Senate GOP - $12.5 million to CLF, backing House GOP - $2.5 million to Trump 2024 inauguration, etc.

Outlets can ask the 17 House Dems who voted for Trump's trillion-dollar Pentagon budget if they still think they're right: Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez ( #WA03), Adam Gray ( #CA13), Josh Gottheimer ( #NJ05), Henry Cuellar ( #TX28), Vicente Gonzalez ( #TX34), plus Don Davis ( #NC01), etc.

TODAY: MOBY DICK WEEK concludes! With Carrie Frye looking at a possible?? erotic charge between Melville and his writerly friend. “After the picnic, Hawthorne went home and read the five books Melville had published so far.” flaminghydra.com/a-heart-as-b...

Hope you'll take in this adventuresome, thoughtfully-interviewed, marvelous historical piece by S.I. Rosenbaum: flaminghydra.com/killers/

Democratic megadonor Ron Conway must be delighted that his AI industry super PAC partner Greg Brockman gave $25 million to Trump to defend GOP seats! Someone should ask SV Angel how happy he is, ballpark.

TODAY: MOBY DICK WEEK continues! With @kimkelly.bsky.social in the high Arctic. “I love to sail forbidden seas and land on barbarous coasts, but more importantly, I was going to see a whale.” flaminghydra.com/r/e3e10391?m...

Mayor Mamdani's DOT commissioner Mike Flynn will work to get buses moving. He recently wrote: "The full benefits can only be realized with an enhanced citywide network of bus-priority routes that gets buses moving faster and provides a world-class, dignified experience for bus riders..."

3908 words on what to expect/look for during Zohran Mamdani’s first year. I wrote it all last night nygroove.nyc/everything-y...

Had to put together a few more Sludge stories this year that hopefully shed some light on what powerful forces were working to make happen. Crypto lobbying, billionaire tax cuts, the "Golden Dome" boondoggle, Joint Direct Attack Munition guidance kits, and more.

TODAY: @lauriewoolever.bsky.social visits Quick Eternity, a Moby Dick-themed bar in the South Street seaport. “. By that point in the evening you’re probably sunk anyhow.” flaminghydra.com/r/232bcacb?m...

The current leaders of House Dems like to have their primary voters deluged with ads from groups that have undisclosed donors like AIPAC. When that happens while mail ballots are out, that's great for them, if the spending is against progressives.

We’ve covered the foreign agents working to influence the U.S. on behalf of Israel, including a contract to build a social media bot army to promote pro-Israel propaganda. readsludge.com/2025/09/17/f...

AND FINALLY!!: @sirosenbaum.bsky.social with a beautiful illustrated essay on whaling, persecution, and leaving an old home for a new flaminghydra.com/killers/

The group 314 Action hopped into a Dem primary in a safe Portland, Oregon district last year to spend $1.7 million backing state rep Maxine Dexter against progressive county commissioner Susheela Jayapal. @314action.bsky.social denied it, but had received $1 million from AIPAC. More in tax docs:

ALSO TODAY: Luke O’Neil writes a memoriam to Mike Fossey, “was a luminary in the golden age of Twitter in the 2010s, up there alongside the likes of Dril and others” flaminghydra.com/in-post-memo...

House Democratic leaders gave millions in dark money to 314 Action, a group that spent millions in Democratic primaries backing AIPAC-aligned candidates as it secretly received AIPAC funding.

The group 314 Action ( @314action.bsky.social ) denied reports that its spending in Democratic primaries was fueled by AIPAC donations, then disclosed receiving $1 million from AIPAC. A new tax return shows millions more in dark money that flowed into the group, which did not respond to inquiries:

The last midterm elections broke spending records. Lobbying in D.C. will hit all-time highs. Billionaires more than doubled their political spending last cycle, mostly via super PACs. We're a two-person, reader-supported newsletter relentlessly focused on corruption. Keep us going in 2026...

Our 2-person newsroom published 180+ stories this year exposing the corrupt influence of money in politics. Here’s some of the work we’re most proud of. First up, how the DCCC is raising millions from Palantir and Elon Musk-linked lobbyists. readsludge.com/2025/02/24/d...

TODAY: MOBY DICK WEEK CONTINUES! @swordsjew.bsky.social and Jack Pendarvis discuss their heroic, unending Moby Dick studies. “There’s an entire chapter that’s just the third mate reciting a dream he had to the fourth mate about Ahab kicking him with his peg leg.” flaminghydra.com/r/00aafa2f?m...

Welcome aboard MOBY-DICK WEEK at @flaminghydra.com, debuting with @benehrenreich.bsky.social reading aloud. flaminghydra.com/issue-470/

EXCLUSIVE: @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social will be sworn in as mayor on midnight on January 1 inside the old abandoned City Hall subway station, saying that he sees the venue as a symbol for the aims of his upcoming administration.

Trump issued 225 executive orders in his first year back in power, per NYT. In 2021, progressives detailed scores of executive actions that the Biden admin could take, given Senate stonewalling. They ended 2024 with just 23 actions taken and 19 partial, about a third of the actions identified.

I wrote about reading Moby Dick aloud to a baby during the sad, hot summer of 2020.

Some ~personal news~

MOBY DICK WEEK is captained by @swordsjew.bsky.social and @mariabustillos.com. “it’s arguably the peak of American literary art both because it depicts the diversity of the whaling industry and because of its unrestrained, supersized joy, curiosity, hunger and desire.”

TODAY: MOBY DICK WEEK BEGINS! with @benehrenreich.bsky.social. “I hoped that something of it would seep into her eager, fast-growing brain even if she didn’t understand or remember it, not the plot or any details, but something of Melville’s hunger for the world” flaminghydra.com/r/f7698fd3?m...

These follow-the-money stories exist because of readers like you, who support this reporting uncovering billionaire and special interest influence in politics.

My first higher health insurance payments hit. When yours do, remember that the Senate Dems who killed a public option in the ACA were the ideological allies of the corporate-funded Blue Dog Coalition, who hurriedly revolved to lobbying.

Mr. Cuban, I'm a professor at Yale School of Public Health. Here's a paper published by one of my colleagues in the top medical journal evaluating the Medicare for All Act, which would not only get us there, but would save $450B per year. Happy to discuss! www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

This Christmas, I lost my job, lost my sight, and had some thoughts about Napoleon. A new essay for @flaminghydra.com called "Blind Spots." flaminghydra.com/issue-468/

I wrote about my Hallmark habit, and trying to be normal at parties when you know more than is normal about Lacey Chabert's filmography. (The movie where Wallace Shawn plays an angel is called Christmas At Carwright's.) (A guy grandly says "Christmas Nog!" in it.) flaminghydra.com/issue-468/#h...

Palantir gave $10 million to Trump's ballroom project, per NYT. Earlier this year, the defense contractor got a new $10 billion / 10-year package. Palantir's lobbyists at the bipartisan firm Invariant also bundle money for the DSCC and DCCC.

The Tech Mayor Project found that NYC spends billions with tech vendors. For comparison, the in-house digital service teams in Massachusetts and New Jersey spend just a percent of that. Despite over a decade of #civictech efforts, NYC hasn't developed in-government capacity, an interesting story.

It's so embarassing to see so-called progressives like @amyklobuchar.com and @senpeterwelch.govpeeps.us on this list. Blowing up Section 230 would be devastating for abortion access www.wired.com/story/sectio... It would harm LGBTQ communities www.teenvogue.com/story/some-d...

TODAY: @annamerlan.bsky.social embarks on an extraordinary voyage (of shopping). "I envisioned a Halloween costume in which I would wear just that and a bedsheet, but ultimately and with great difficulty got ahold of myself." flaminghydra.com/discomfort-s...

Julie Su, former acting Secretary of Labor, will join the Mamdani administration in NYC. Ahead of her confirmation hearings in 2023, we looked into the corporate lobbying groups moving to sink Su, from Uber and Lyft to the National Restaurant Association. Featuring an appearance from "Dr. Evil."

Confirmed: House Democratic leaders have decided to use a stock trading ban bill as a campaign issue rather than actually pass something that had the GOP support to advance. Jeffries' team is actively discouraging participation in the bipartisan bill and warning outside groups too.

The Musk-tied "dark money" group Building America's Future had an anonymous $75 million donation make up most its $100 million in funding last year. It funneled money to pro-Trump super PACs, deceptive anti-Harris campaigns, and groups offering bounties for stories of "voter fraud..."