I was born in April 1805 Napoleon was master of Europe Only the BRITISH FLEET stood before him Oceans were now battlefields

Merry Christmas!

Okay I could swear I've heard Elvis singing "O Holy Night" but apparently my brain fabricated that?

Why would the DOJ release damning Epstein files it now says are fake? It could be that they have some brilliant four-dimensional strategy to undermine faith in the releases. Or...

"It is logically impossible to simultaneously be evil, corrupt, and incompetent" is an absolutely amazing take to have in the year of 2025

The Elvis versions of Christmas songs are simultaneously the most secular and the most holy

Excellent boomcession we're having

Fusion is like AI in the sense that it requires massive capital investments and government guidance but, if it works right, will transform the world, except the payoff is clean cheap energy forever instead of massive layoffs and intellectual theft

My oil lasted nine nights

ICE agents illegally break into a woman's bathroom in a NY nutrition bar manufacturing plant. "Pull up your pants," says a male agent. The agents only had a warrant to review employer documents. They didn't have a warrant to search for, detain, or arrest anyone there.

Warning: Intensely wholesome

This is a rough time of year, forcing us to choose between the best musicians of the US and the British Isles

What are we doing here? www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

At Tusk: George HW Bush was competent, experienced, and informed, which amounted to approximately nothing when voters started blaming him for a bad economy. Trump isn't having any more success convincing people that times are good.

I mean, do they?

My recycling and compost bins are the same size and compost picks up twice as often, even though each week I produce a handful of coffee grounds and carrot peels and 10 metric tons of recycling

The story is insane. The acting head of cyber security, a Noem crony, repeatedly demanded to see highly classified information he didn’t need access to, and when staff set up a lie detector test as a condition to grant him access, he failed it. So DHS suspended the staffers.

Hot take: Of course there’s an Epstein coverup going on, but the amount of stuff that’s already out there would have compelled almost any politician other than Trump to resign long ago

New at Tusk: Trump’s speech last week wasn’t good, but even if it had been better, it wasn’t likely to be successful

Found this elsewhere and I’m passing it along for the Pluribus/David Lynch crew

NYT: Trump is trying to distract from his ties to Epstein by mentioning Bill Clinton a lot. Here's how we help.

Oh I'd say the explanation is pretty clear

When my son beats me at chess

I had a former colleague make up focus groups in local newspaper editorials. He has a laughingstock. Anyone who does this should be too.

Quilty as charged

Bari Weiss memo: “New show idea: Elise Stefanik and Claudine Gay sharing a loft in LA”

Stefanik was a young bright moderate hotshot who gave up her reputation to back Trump. -Trumped named her for UN ambassador and then pulled her. -Trumped pushed her to run for Gov then wouldn’t endorse. -Her political career is done at 41.

I remember when defacing a public building was a crime

We deserve answers

The Index of Consumer Sentiment definitely measures *something*. It's just not clear what.

One year ago today, an unforgettable panel discussion in Abu Dhabi

It's generally underappreciated how convenient "I didn't get into X university / hired by Y company because I'm white/male" is as an ego defense mechanism for white guys. It lets you off the hook for so much stuff. And now it's national policy.

Trump would probably rename all the planets, but he'd want to name at least four for himself: Earth, Mercury (the first one), Jupiter (the biggest one), and Saturn (the prettiest one). Oh also the Sun.

How can I lose!?!

Another incredible case of white racial grievance about the academic job market. He reveals at the end that he wouldn’t provide the necessary application materials!

At Tusk: Things were generally tough on higher ed before schools decided to enter a rake-stepping-on competition

This is the highest profile 2028 endorsement so far, right?

Wrote a bit about Trump, impeachment, and abuse of state structures Can We Still Govern this morning - thanks @donmoyn.bsky.social for the invitation. Books about race and the presidency make great holiday gifts! donmoynihan.substack.com/p/what-would...

The Brown/MIT investigation is operating like Lucius Fox's cell phone device but instead it's just two CRTs duct-taped together

New at Tusk: Capitulation to the Trump administration and the embrace of AI are doing massive harm to higher ed, and it didn’t need to go this way

My new favorite election loss narrative: We can't tell you why we lost newrepublic.com/article/2045...

It was unanimous among those allowed to vote

You'll never believe what event Christmas actually commemorates

(struggling to name one spice girl) garlic spice

1990s-2000s: The US has a secret agenda to seize oil from other nations 2020s: The US has an overt agenda to seize oil from other nations Progress!

Responses I received in markets when asking for Hanukkah candles: -"Maybe in the bakery by the birthday candles" -"I think they're with the international stuff" -"No our store didn't get those this year." Your average conservative Christian would do a Jan 6th if this was what it took to buy tinsel.

New at Tusk, the results of a survey on party convention delegates, from @nathankalmoe.bsky.social and @prowag.bsky.social. Party differences go beyond just policy.