Five corporations control 90% of the US media market. Airlines merged from 12 major carriers in 1980 to 4 today. Four giants control 80% of meat processing. A handful of companies control the pharmaceutical industry. The evidence of corporate concentration is everywhere.

What perfect album came out the year you turned 16? (Decades later, Stevie Wonder was also the most wondrous concert I've ever attended.)

I heard from a bunch of federal employees last night and this morning. They aren't happy. "I would rather be an actual pawn. At least pawn sacrifices are calculated and achieve something. All this for a fucking meaningless vote."

seems to me that those democrats inclined not to fight perceive themselves as living through a somewhat ordinary cycle of presidential overreach and backlash and not something much more significant and dangerous

Americans are out here being tased, shot with rubber bullets, and gulping tear gas to stand up for the rights of marginalized folks, but sure, fold to Trump if you don't have the guts to fight. @hakeem-jeffries.bsky.social @gallego.senate.gov

New in PN: Trump couldn't (legitimately) win a third term If he tried "What’s astonishing about the media’s 'third term' coverage is how it doesn’t clearly state the obvious: Voters are openly rejecting Trump, as seen in poll after poll."

"If you're a billionaire, why are you a billionaire?" Billie Eilish speaking directly to Mark Zuckerberg, as she donates $11.5m to food poverty and climate justice organisations.

NEW: The states with the highest proportion of people relying on disability benefits are West Virginia, Kentucky, Arkansas, Mississippi and Alabama — all states that lack their own aid programs for workers to turn to amid federal cuts.

I'll be joining Dr. Martha S. Jones, The Trouble of Color, along with Johnisha Matthews Levi, Numbers Up: Cracking the Code of an American Family, and Dr. James B. Wells, Because: A CIA Coverup & A Son's Odyssey To Find The Father He Never Knew, for the Kentucky Book Festival. See you Nov 1st!

I wrote about how Border Patrol taking the lead in immigration operations mirrors a shift that happens often in concentration-camp regimes, including Nazi Germany, and some ways we can respond.

A friend recently told me that they didn’t think ICE would deploy tear gas in well to do neighborhoods with a high density of white people. I understood their thinking, but disagreed. Today, they gassed Lakeview. Nothing is off limits to these people.

Mayor Johnson is cooking

POLLS ARE NOW OPEN. Find out where you early vote ⬇️ 🗳️ findmypollsite.vote.nyc

The post from the Reagan Foundation is just complete gibberish. The ad did not, in fact, misrepresent Reagan's views. But the idea that anyone needs the Reagan Foundation's goddamn permission to use the publicly broadcast official remarks of a former president and/or edit them for brevity is crazy

Your gentle reminder that Rep. Melissa Hortman was assassinated on June 14 and hardly anyone bothered to talk about it .

ICE detains mother dropping off child at elementary school—refuses to even look at her U.S. legal papers. "What documents?" agent sarcastically replies—holding up the folder. "The ones in your hands!" witnesses yell back. Madison Elementary School in Santa Ana, California.

Let them eat ballrooms.

Yeah, this is what I wrestle with -- a college freshman today was only nine when Trump first ran for president. They've grown up with him as a baseline, not an aberration.

If you are a service member or civil servant ordered to perform an operation in spite of concerns you raised about their legality, you have lawful options to blow the whistle. They do not involve leaking to the press. Consult with qualified counsel. You can honor your Oath without breaking the law.

"Americans have been dragged, tackled, beaten, tased and shot by immigration agents. At least two dozen citizens have reported being held for at least a day without access to a phone or a lawyer." They're blocking congress from ICE facilities because they don't want us to see how cruel this is.

“Over 170 U.S. Citizens are being arrested. Why? Because they look like me,” Rep. Robert Garcia of California said, referencing our reporting. “Or because they are suspected to not be a U.S. citizen, or because they are suspected of crimes they have not committed.”

Reagan's approach to the world prominently featured two things: 1) Russian aggression bad, Western democratic alliance good 2) Free trade good, tariffs and other barriers to trade bad Pretending it's the opposite is the sort of reality inversion only someone who rejects truth itself could buy.

🚨BREAKING: Virginia Democrats follow in California’s footsteps, and will hold a special legislative session to draw a new congressional map to counter the wave of aggressive Republican gerrymanders nationwide.

Next week! Can’t wait to talk about this book!

Looking forward to what's sure to be a powerful conversation with @megpillow.bsky.social in Louisville, Kentucky at the beautiful 21C! DM me for tickets.

I swear this entire Cabinet makes me think every day about Daniel Goleman's work on emotional intelligence. Oh, for an governing body that embraces self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management. Instead, we have these little people.

Not to be cringe, but I'm surprised I am emotional seeing the East Wing demolition. My first job in DC was interning and going to meetings there regularly. I learned everything about it while giving guided tours. The beauty of the East Wing is that everyone can go there. It's America's house.

ICE agents greeted by a hero on arrival in New York this evening. Make statues of this.

Y’all, I know a lot of “liberal wine moms” who are pissed af, volunteering for ICE rapid response teams, yelling at cops, speaking at local govt meetings, etc. What I also see a lot of is their white husbands, quiet af and sitting on their asses and watching sports. Maybe we could redirect our ire

Thank you @literaryhub.bsky.social for helping readers find this story.

Thank you @literaryhub.bsky.social for helping readers find this story.

Rand Paul: "When you kill someone, if you're not in a declared war, you really need to know someone's name at least. You have to accuse them of something. You have to present evidence. So all of these people have been blown up without any evidence of a crime."

I met Appalachia + Mid-South Newsroom journalist Derek Operle on the banks of the Ohio River in Owensboro, Kentucky, where Rainey Bethea was hanged at the last public execution in America. www.wkms.org/history/2025...

Holy crap Kara Walker chopped up a Stonewall Jackson statue and revealed a monster

"Four and a half minutes to find him guilty." Today's book pick from Damn History, a free monthly newsletter for readers/writers of #popularhistory. Congrats to author @sonyalea.bsky.social! Read/subscribe to Damn History: damn-history-16d93f.beehiiv.com/subscribe

@sonyalea.bsky.social chronicles a notorious case of white supremacist violence in Owensboro, Kentucky: “No one cared that the confessions came without counsel.”

the most delightful version of logging on to see what news you've missed

Book pub day! I never imagined that American Bloodlines would be coming into a moment that looks like a partisan civil war pushed by a president, but here we are. Really excited to get on the road to be in conversation with these brilliant women. Hope to see you out there!

So excited to be in conversation with Sonya about her excellent new book, out Oct. 7 with University Press of Kentucky! I hope some of you can attend this event. Please also preorder Sonya’s book at the link in the thread.

KIMMEL: “That sonofabitch… I never imagined we’d have a president like this, and I hope we never have another president like this again… celebrating hundreds of Americans losing their jobs - he took pleasure in that. The opposite of what a leader is supposed to be.”

Just when you thought this administration couldn't get more cruel.

I’m confused how it is despicable to ask that question. These are exactly the kinds of questions we have been begging reporters & TV hosts to ask. You see when they do get asked how sensitive they are about it. Much, much more of this. More crypto questions, Qatar, UAE, etc bsky.app/profile/atru...

85% of the National Endowment for the Humanities' Council were abruptly fired this morning. Four members remain to weigh in on all grant recommendations. #NEH "I just fear that there will not be that kind of discourse anymore. There will be one perspective." - Karen A. Stout 🎁: wapo.st/3IRQBdg

Thrilled to join in a conversation with @megpillow.bsky.social for my first book launch event in Kentucky, in Louisville, at the 21C Museum Hotel. This one is going to be like going home, hosted by my sisters, and full of connection to my community. @kentuckypress.bsky.social

Today marks the first day in public media’s history without federal funding. And we’re not going anywhere. Listeners like you keep our mission alive. Protect one of the last places where America comes together to hear itself. Stand with us today. Donate at this link: n.pr/46wamAj

If you hate the Pope because he is too “liberal”, I have some very bad news for you about Jesus.

After I wrote this last week, I learned the term, “jawboning,” when the government uses its power — or the threat of it — to indirectly bully individuals, institutions, or organizations into doing their bidding when it can’t flat-out force them.

What's not happening systemically: Cis men posing as trans women to assault women in bathrooms. What IS happening systemically: www.teenvogue.com/story/men-dr...

•ABC: fires Kimmel for mocking Trump •CBS: fires Colbert for mocking Trump •ABC: fires Moran for slamming Stephen Miller •MSNBC: fires Matt Dowd for saying “hateful thoughts lead to hateful actions” •FOX: Champions Brian Kilmeade as he calls for Nazi state murder of America’s 600K homeless people