Anyone can take this transcript ⤵️ and use it. (You don't need to credit.) I usually keep my most pungent editorial views more separate from newsy stuff to simplify other people s re-posting. I couldn't get past my outrage on this. P.S. There is full alt text. So, grab that too.

BREAKING: Per new reporting, ICE recruits have shown up to training without full vetting under Kristi Noem. One was discovered to have a history of robbery and battery related to domestic violence while already in training.

Mamdani is amazingly good. If you know a progressive or liberal who’s running for office for the first time, make them watch this video — not only a masterclass in how to do bro social media but also how to nail talking points but still be nuanced & authentic youtube.com/watch?v=yEX1...

In my white collar crime class tomorrow, I feel like I should admit that white collar crime doesn't exist anymore. Agencies enforcing laws against wage theft, illegal pollution, and corporate crimes of all sorts have been defunded - and if you actually do get convicted, you can just buy a pardon.

Rs — including leader of the House Mike Johnson — attacked the No More Kings rally, pretending it was filled w Hamas sympathizers. Meanwhile Trump is pardoning the CEO of Binance, which was indicted for facilitating the actual funding of Hamas, and Rs are fine w it

We really, really, really need to start spending at least a little time thinking about what kind of a future economy we want to build. Because otherwise the big tech oligarchs will call the shots. Exhibit A: Elon Musk says he wants “at least a strong influence” over all the robots he builds

This is the asymmetry in our politics and media. If this was the other way around, Biden had pardoned someone then charged with trying to kill Trump, it would be the biggest story in America and every Republican commentator, congressman, news outlet, would be screaming about it in unison.

NEW: Cardinal Blase Cupich, the Archbishop of Chicago, has issued a new statement declaring that Chicago "communities are shaken by immigration raids and detentions. These actions wound the soul of our city. Let me be clear. The Church stands with migrants."

@nathansnewman.bsky.social makes a pretty compelling case that when the AI bubble pops, it’s not going to play out the way a lot of folks expect

“Anyone who has ever read the Federalist Papers knows that anywhere between a third and a half of them are about Donald Trump.” talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/the-s...

When they write the history of the second Trump admin, this is the photo they’ll have on the cover

This story is extraordinary even by 2025 standards. Marco Rubio, the nation's top diplomat, made a deal with Bukele and agreed to renege on informant agreements in a years-long DOJ investigation into MS-13, totally undercutting credibility of such agreements. www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

That’s pretty impressive. So are some of the details about protests overall — eg, 4x as many protests as there were when Trump was in office the first time

In other news, the Internatonal Association of Spy Thriller Writers has lodged a protest against the Trump Administration: “how are we supposed to write new pot boilers that aren’t preposterous? Tom Clancy must be rolling over in his grave.”

This is what democracy looks like. #NoKings

Retired Army Sgt. Brian Wofford spoke to me this morning at the Oklahoma City #NoKings protest. Didn’t expect him to be carrying his DD214 so I asked some warmup questions like when he got out and whether his injury was service-related. He paused while describing the car bomb in Iraq to say this:

A crazy number of frogs showed up at Portland’s No More Kings rally

Marching down Broadway #NoKings NYC

😍 Boston, you are beautiful. #NoKings

Sen Chris Murphy just wrote to Kristi Noem demanding that she correct DHS's public falsehoods about the shooting. It's an unusual move: He is calling her to account for government propaganda about the shooting. More should be done like this. 4/ newrepublic.com/article/2019...

I’m sure Janet Mills was a perfectly fine governor. But a vote for her is a vote for keeping the filibuster. It’s a vote for unilateral disarmament — for getting absolutely nothing done. And that’s a vote for right wing authoritarianism. If you can’t meet the moment, get the f out of the way

At what point does Cuomo have to report what he says as an in-kind contribution to Mamdani?

Zoo staff: here is a pumpkin, please squash it. Tula Tu: Ole, Ole, Ole, Ole! Ole, Oregon! #jogabontia youtube.com/shorts/6vQGO...

Pritzker is one of the few D politicians who is meeting the moment. Absolutely spot on youtube.com/shorts/T6cPU...

Extraordinary NEW story: We Found That More Than 170 U.S. Citizens Have Been Held by Immigration Agents. They’ve Been Kicked, Dragged and Detained for Days. @nicolefoy.bsky.social w/ photos by @sbmaneyphoto.bsky.social

“The Democrat Party's main constituency is made up of Hamas terrorists, illegal aliens, and violent criminals” This is the president’s press secretary. Not accidentally on a hot mike. But on Fox I wasn’t a fan of Reagan/Bush. But back then this would’ve ended her political career #NoMoreKings

ICE's military raids and masked kidnappings are resonating deeply/negatively in the cultural spaces we keep hearing Dems need to reach: Manosphere, Joe Rogan, country music, disengaged voters. That's rare and it gives Dems a big opening to engage. Thoughts on this: newrepublic.com/article/2018...

Free is "bad" according to the Washington Post editorial board (Bezos now in full control) Cars have had free access to city roads for a century. So is the Washington Post demanding NYC extend congestion charges to every car driver? www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

Oh, by the way, I wrote in @thenation.com about how Trump is condeming millions of Americans to hunger this Thanksigiving with his accelarated timeline of adding work requirements for SNAP benefits. I also discussed how work requirements provably don't work, for the neoliberals in your life.

Very straightforwardly detained by secret police for speech. I honestly don't know what establishment figures are telling themselves any more to avoid cognitive dissonance over this shit.

Oooo, Platner’s good

Not that anybody comes to me for Maine politics, but the fact that the Democrats successfully convinced a 77yo Governor to primary the 41yo progressive, is today's example of why the Democrats fucking stay failing. Susan Collins is 72 and if Schumer gets his way, she'll be the YOUNGER choice!

Find your local No Kings peaceful protest: www.nokings.org?SQF_SOURCE=h...

Chris Christie: “Thie is no longer, the Department of Justice, is no longer the premier prosecuting office in America. What it is now is a capo regime who goes out and executes hits when directed by the Don to do so. That’s what it is.”

Happy Monday!

This. Is. Awesome! youtu.be/qskwNaEhU9E?...

Probably not the reaction the Trump administration was hoping to illicit

"I’m currently putting 15kW [of PV solar] on my 'shed' in Australia, at the same time I’m putting 13kW on the roof of my office building in San Francisco. My actual quotes for both projects, converted to USD/Watt is $0.53 in Australia, and $3.88 in San Francisco." Pure insanity.

The thought police are people who tell you what to think and demand you think it, not people who tell you what you think is shallow or stupid or thoughtless

YouTube has started feeding me videos of war-ravenged Portland, and one thing has become disturbingly clear: Portland protesters do _not_ know how to dance. - I've yet to see a single successfully executed flash mob - Basic Broadway numbers? Jazz hands? Fuhgettaboutit. /1

Live coverage from war-ravaged Portland youtube.com/watch?v=7tPu...

Cry Havoc, and unleash the puppies of war youtube.com/shorts/bsY8y...

George was just trying to get to work. ICE pepper-sprayed him, dragged him from his car, locked him in a detention center, and placed him on suicide watch. He even missed his young daughter’s birthday in the process. This man is a veteran and American citizen. Don't look away.

Will AGI need GA (Gamblers Anonymous)? Stay tuned…

Just brutal: “ the idea that I could have guacamole and chips in my lap and have to listen to Spanish [in the Super Bowl halftime] is just crazy… The idea that I could have a crunch wrap and have to listen to Spanish is crazy” youtube.com/shorts/4DW3h...

The Daily Show doing their part to humiliate Trump, buck up our side, and put foot to ass of the D politicians who’d rather not deal

Rogan on Trump’s cruel mass deportations, racially profiling non-criminals and ripping apart families: “This is crazy. That shows no heart. You’re not gonna get any reasonable people to go along with that. Any kind person would go ‘this can’t be the only way to do this’.”

In remarkable turn, Pope Leo - rewriting text originally written by Pope Francis - makes Liberation Theology's "preferential option for the poor" official papal doctrine. "He calls for a renewed commitment to fixing the structural causes of poverty" apnews.com/article/vati...

And that’s why decentralized green energy is very bad, and why our fearless leader is trying to get rid of it: Papa needs (another) new pair of shoes