Rule of 3, era defined. Fred Wiseman: Titicut Follies, High School, Law and Order, Hospital Robert Duval: Godfather, Apocalypse Now , Great Santini, Tender Mercies Jesse Jackson: Selma to Montgomery, Operation Breadbasket, MLK assassination, Operation PUSH, Rainbow Coalition, presidential runs

Brava, @abigailspanberger.com. As she says of the upset right: “There’s plenty of reasons that one might be inclined to be critical of a Democrat who swung a state 17 points.” So which is the Democratic future— more great candidates like her or more great candidates like Mamdani? Both, of course.

In his new podcast conversation with @marcelias.bsky.social @jheil.bsky.social raises a good point—“sycophant” is too understated for Trump’s minions. I do like the old Maoist term “running dog.” But I think we should go with: “Pam Bondi is Trump’s North Korean.” podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/i...

I'm sorry to lose the @washingtonpost.com because a guy with $250 billion decided A) he didn't want to spend four hundredths of 1% of that per year––equivalent to $200 for somebody worth $500K––on a great cause and B) he wanted to suck up to this president as much as required.

I know there are many good, decent converts to Catholicism. But lately, jeez: in addition to this Miss USA runnerup and Trump-sycophant peg for @DavidFrenchjag.bsky.social’s very good piece, off the top of my head—J.D. Vance, Candace Owens, Russell Brand, Milo Yiannopoulos, and Rob Schneider.

Having read of the Washington Post’s radical downsizing, I searched, found the NY Times and WSJ each still employ 1500 to 2000 editorial employees. (As do, surprisingly, the network news divisions.) The #3 and #4 newspapers, the Post and LA Times, each have staffs of 300 to 400.

Alec Baldwin cosplaying Generalissimo Trump at Mar-a-Lago for our fictional presidential memoir in 2017. Costume included an actual Russian officer’s hat. Joke then, verge of reality now.

Alec Baldwin cosplaying Generalissimo Trump at Mar-a-Lago for our fictional presidential memoir in 2017. Costume included an actual Russian officer’s hat. Joke then, verge of reality now.

How long before @Polymarket creates a market for bets on whether the Trump regime allows some unauthorized outsider in their circle pull the trigger for fun in their “Blow Up A Boat” video game? share.google/jzbStLGOPIkw...

The stupidest, most pathological-lying president in history “has searched the depths of Legal Arguments not yet articulated or vetted on this subject, and will be presenting an irrefutable one in the very near future.” Very, very dark humor, yes, but in its moronic sick-dictator way, funny to me.

Been thinking about how the government that follows Trump's must constantly demonstrate to both Americans and the world that Trumpism is over. The rule of law is nothing more than a series of expectations and as such, strong and obvious signals must be sent that this shit does not fly any longer.

“I think a lot of them are paid protestors. They all look the same." -- Pennsylvania's Republican treasurer and gubernatorial candidate Stacy Garrity. Who by "the same" I guess means that none of them are scary-looking dyed blondes.

I expect to be riveted by this story for years. And in a decade or so for a K-Pop-inflected opera to open in New York and London based on it called Daughter of Heaven. Gift link: www.wsj.com/world/asia/k...

"In many ways, Trump has become a parody of a 1980s televangelist, openly grifting his followers for massive amounts of cash. .. Of course, Jim Bakker and Jimmy Swaggart put on a more convincing show. Trump can’t bother to stay on topic these days." GREAT read today!

I expect to be riveted by this story for years. And in a decade or so for a K-Pop-inflected opera to open in New York and London based on it called Daughter of Heaven. Gift link: www.wsj.com/world/asia/k...

Remember the disastrous-for-Democrats 2022 spike in food prices? Which leveled off in 2023-24 but still helped Trump win? Well, in 2025 grocery prices rose again—beef by 12.7%. And food prices in general just had their biggest monthly spike since 2022.

Noem-Miller-Tump police state loses a round to the rule of law upheld by Trump-appointed U.S. Attorney and Reagan-appointed judge. In Minneapolis. Yay.

Very highly recommend this long, very thoughtful conversation between @AnandWrites.bsky.social and @ezraklein.bsky.social. By far the best, most thoughtful, nutritious discussion I’ve heard or read about Epstein and the Epstein caste. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...

Every accusation a confession. Hitler-quoting super-MAGA Illinois congresswoman lMary Miller on the bill House Republicans passed yesterday to permit the Department of Homeland Security to seize voter rolls at will anywhere: “Cheating is the only path to victory.”

Remarkable interview with one of the inmates running the asylum in Fantasylsnd—an election-denying multi-delusional true believer employed by the Trump Administration to help with the DoJ/FBI seizure of the 2020 Georgia voting records.

Once again, this particular fascist regime doing the opposite of making the trains run on time.

Remarkable but unsurprising how many results you get today on this site or Bluesky or Threads when you search for the attorney general’s surname and the most impermissible slur for a woman. And many or most of them posted by women.

Also? A quarter of Super Bowl viewers aren’t in the U.S., and of the world’s 500 million native Spanish speakers, 40 million of live in the U.S.

A jewel. Authentic, not over-the-top satire, by guy with half a million followers.

This is the most interesting, thought-provoking and important story about anything I’ve read in a long time. Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2026/02/09/o...

As I’ve said many, many times: The Greatest Self-Parodist of All Time

The Christian anti-materialism ad and Bad Bunny are what I liked.

If the kidnapper(s) of Nancy Guthrie have indeed asked to have their ransom paid in crypto, that will be the most spectacular confirmation so far that criminality is the only compelling use case for crypto’s existence.

Ice dancing is a funny James Bondian thing, sure, but this is just amazing. As well as actually classy. I’d never heard of Chock & Bates because I know nothing of any sport, but like that they’ve been together for years, married, and she’s kept her name. youtu.be/aT3RKsnLIfE?...

Over the years whenever German pastor Martin Niemöller’s 1946 confession about his Nazi complicity was quoted about this or that act of U.S. government or cultural overreach, I rolled my eyes. Not this time.

Last night’s opening SNL opening sketch about ICE in Minneapolis was A+ smart and funny. As was the sketch about the mother who finally realized Trump “is bad for the country.” And more. Exceptionally good episode. Bravo. youtu.be/D3L7AjNfTKM?...

Good, @60Minutes.bsky.social. And good for you, Rand Paul, the one non-cowardly non-retiring Republican U.S. Senator.

The big new @pewresearch.org poll found Trump’s approval down to 37%, a number shrinking ever-closer to his hard-core quarter-of-America cult, those who still “support all or most of Trump’s policies” (27%), still say he “respects US democratic values” (25%) and “acts ethically in office” (21%).

Baffling and amusing to me that a Danish pharmaceutical company often advertises its injectable iron supplement for piglets to me in the @nytimes.com. Also, I like the ad.

I asked Claude, the my preferred AI, "When was the Spike Jonze movie Her set?" It could've just said "2025."

I don’t suppose the Republicans would agree to call it the Renee Good-Alex Pretti Act of 2026.

In addition to other mental disorders, he seems manic, no? cc: @gtconway.bsky.social

The Grift. 5th largest company pays $40 million to wife of the most corrupt president ever to make a movie about her. (Second highest bidder, Disney, bids just $14 million, a third as much.) Amazon spends maybe $5 million to make the movie, now another $35 million to market it.

Denmark, our NATO ally that Trump has threatened with war to take part of its country, has provided $12 billion in aid to Ukraine since Russia invaded—3% of its GDP. The equivalent for the U.S. would be nearly $1 trillion, five times as much as we’ve actually anted up.

At a confab of European leaders last week in Brussels after Trump’s Davos speech on Greenland, the right-wing pro-Trump prime minister of Slovakia told them that Trump had seemed “out of his mind” and “dangerous” during the one-on-one meeting he’d just with him at Mar-a-Lago.

As the Trumpists fall back on their just-deporting-violent-criminals excuse for terrorizing Minneapolis and killing two U.S. citizens so far this month, an important reminder courtesy of the conservative Cato Institute concerning that Big Lie. www.cato.org/blog/5-ice-d...

Trumps’ flying monkeys’ talking point…. 1/2

South Park - ICE! #cdnpoli

I knew “quisling” became a generic English term for “collaborator” and “traitor” during WWII because of the conservative Norwegian politician Vidkun Quisling’s 5-year collaboration with the Nazis. But I didn’t know his whole story or ending—due process, trial, severe punishment. Cautionary tale.

Imagine the reaction on the right if federal agents had killed someone under precisely these circumstances and any non-Trump Administration justified it because the person was carrying a concealed licensed handgun. As every single “conservative” apologist should be asked to address.

I bet that in addition to the intimidation value and anonymity they provide, the masks actually make them feel freer to brutalize and kill. Unmask ICE.

How many times a week do you think or say, “Imagine if Biden/Obama/anybody-but-Trump had done that!” Addressing her people, apostate MAGAn Marjorie Taylor Greene does that well here.

Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara: "People have had enough. This is the third shooting in less than 3 weeks. The MPD went the entire year last year recovering about 900 guns from the street, arresting hundreds of violent offenders, and we didn't shoot anyone ... this is not sustainable."

Good piece about a wunderkind who Mamdani calls “a close friend, and a fellow New Yorker who wasn’t smart enough to get into Stuyvesant,” who “possesses the combination of ruthlessness and principle that’s all too rare” in politics. Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2026/01/25/s...