American Canto or American WONTO?? (Sorry, I know this was dumb, but I had to get it out of my head)

My parents are divorced so we have two January 6ths

"This is already the Putin model: authoritarian rule that enables smash-&-grab oligarchy by those in the regime’s good favor. Trump is making it unusually explicit that in this sphere of influence, Trump-approved oligarchs will be enriched by our regional spoils.”

I enjoyed watching Sentimental Value, which was relaxingly sad

I’m watching one of the worst TV pilots I’ve seen in years and it’s almost *excitingly* terrible! Bad in a nostalgic way! Just because The Pitt got away with doing old school TV doesn’t mean everybody can

I really don’t want to be looking at TikTok but every once in a while I stumble upon something that makes me lol www.tiktok.com/t/ZTh89hjk3/

I've watched thousands of videos from the Jan. 6 riot as part of NPR's reporting and archive project on that day. Here are some of the lesser known videos that have really stuck with me. 🧵

My husband is in California and I can’t sleep, so I keep texting him positive facts about Alan Alda

What IS on people’s bingo cards?

Currently struggling with sicksadworlditis

www.nytimes.com/2025/12/18/n... They Thought They Had ‘Made It.’ Now They Can’t Afford Food.

Sad news, of course, but also smart. Shutting it down instead of simply pausing/freezing it prevents Republicans from seizing control in the meantime and creating another "zombie" right wing media outlet. Now if they want to do that, they have to start all over again. They're too lazy for that.

Trumpian imperialism in action: kidnap the head of the regime, leaving the rest of it in place so as to access the oil reserves for the US companies. Then realize the oil is actually quite expensive to extract, so go ahead and SUBSIDIZE the oil companies. Perfect. www.nbcnews.com/politics/don...

This is designed to have a chilling effect on all retired service members. The message is that if you speak out, you risk your retirement pay.

A reminder that Trump has been fantasizing about seizing oil from other countries for more than a decade, before he even ran for president: www.nationalreview.com/2015/07/dona...

Can't tell you how much it means to me for WITHOUT CONSENT to be written up in the New Yorker as part of a larger consideration of consent in general. And I will gladly be known as "taking a true-crime approach to intellectual history"!

Had a lovely time hanging out with Marc Shaiman at Joe’s Pizza and Marie’s Crisis Café: www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

I realize this will never happen, but during these press conferences, when he says something idiotic like the insane-asylum thing, I just wish somebody would respond, “What the fuck are you talking about?”

I didn’t think Jay Kelly was a good movie but Adam Sandler was surprisingly great in it, which is kind of his thing now! & because I am pathologically interested in movies about Hollywood, it fulfilled my needs regardless of actual quality

I just watched a clip from an interview with Paul Rudd and he’s finally looking a bit older, I don’t know if this is a good sign or a bad sign!

this has the ring of cold truth amid the hot fog of admin spin

If your joke is about the “Taxi” theme song and you can’t get the rights to the “Taxi” theme song, you have to write a new joke, this uncanny soundalike makes me feel like I’m in Universe B #SummerOf69

Unbelievable that this should even need to be said.

Bugonia, you so crazy

“I watched it literally like I was watching a television show.” wwnorton.com/books/978163...

Interesting reflection on why recent movie recreations of Jewish icons come with prosthetic noses but no Jewish interiority—whatever this means, in each case—to speak of (and obvs on universalism vs particularism) www.nytimes.com/2025/12/31/m...

This is actually beyond comprehension

this is the most incredible interview i’ve ever read. the aei guy tries so hard to get sliwa to trash mamdani and he simply won’t. he also brings up flaco (rip) unprompted. www.wsj.com/opinion/free...

Leave, delete the app, salt the earth behind you, do not look back.

The Stranger Things finale was smartly paced & emotionally effective

We were trying to count down the New Year’s in Mexico City by watching the Chicago live feed and instead the screen froze on this poor dude’s face. Is he the spirit of 2026??

Goodnight, sweet prince.

huckster says he’s gonna keep on hucking hellgatenyc.com/eric-adams-s...

Goddamn this is good, and also a way to fire up the real journalists working, and fighting, to tell the truth.

Reading & adoring Moss Hart’s “Act One”

This WSJ article adds some fascinating context to the NYT article that has the mother of a 14 year old model brought to Mar-a-Lago for a party having Maples come up to her and saying keep those girls away from these men and my husband. Maples denies she said it.

If I Had Legs I'd Kick You was uncompromising & strange in a way I admired a ton, darkly funny & driven fully by Byrne's flinty, wild performance. Interesting to contrast it with Rachel McAdams in the play Mary Jane, which showed a similar mom/sick-kid dynamic in a warmer but also raw/clear-eyed way

Awful, awful news. Her essay was magnificent: www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...

Lotta people arguing over a piece many probably haven’t read. This 👇 is a gift link. Reading about MTG’s journey and discussing it doesn’t mean you ignore what she’s done in the past or her current views that you loathe. But it does offer insights for why MAGA is fracturing.

The Second-Order Streisand Effect is a social phenomenon where if a party makes an effort to censor information, discussion and news about the censorship paradoxically leads to an increased awareness of Barbara Streisand, a musician whom most "Zoomers" would probably have otherwise never heard of

Smartly reported and useful profile of Marjorie Taylor Greene by Robert Draper: www.nytimes.com/2025/12/29/m...

“Ugh, turn the motion smoothing off” “That’s just what Stranger Things looks like”

2nd Uber driver in Mexico City who not only blasted pop music but sang along *loudly*, I like this city

Another way AI leads to suicide is that hearing people talk about it makes you want to jump into a jet engine

damn. I just searched and the piece I wrote for them years ago about domestic violence and Title IX is gone

My eyes just popped at the realization that Mary Rodgers wrote the music for Girl Land, the song on Free To Be You & Me I found so frightening I used to lift up the phonograph needle in order to hurry past it

This wonderful @michaelschulman.bsky.social piece about puzzles & Sondheim is stuffed with funny, sticky details: www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

I somehow missed this www.texasmonthly.com/being-texan/...

Thanks to CityLab’s daily newsletter for resharing my Pulitzer-winning essays today www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet... 2025 really was the craziest year for me: won big prize, wrote new book, helped children get into the HS and college of their choice 🫠