Kang/Kodos 2028
A longform editor at The Economist. Views expressed may be the opposite of my employer’s
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Kang/Kodos 2028
Indeed www.thedailybeast.com/trump-admits...
ICE detained a Palestinian woman on her way back from US Virgin Islands, arguing that she left the US when she flew over international waters, even if she was just flying from one US territory to another (absolutely not what the law is) youtube.com/shorts/tt3y0...
how do i explain to my kids two women being married?? how explain sun go away at night but come back next day? how explain magic rectangle show people talk??? HOW
I doff my hat to the Beast's picture editor
I really hope this becomes the black eye it deserves to be www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Curious how US soybean farmers voted last year — they already took a hit from the China trade war during Trump I (one of them wrote a piece this year begging Trump to make a deal w China while saying he voted 3x for Trump because of his pro-biz policies)
2025 Democratic politics is that scene in every 70s movie where somebody gets their car stolen and runs down the street shaking their fist in the air yelling, "Hey, that's my car!!!"
This is a poorly framed question. Lots of conservatives would cut off a family member for being LGBT, for example, but that doesn’t clock as a ‘political view’ to them. Also, the narrative that leftists cut off their conservative family members too easily is extremely widespread on the right.
Making my day! And feeling’s entirely mutual ofc :). … I am proud of my sycophantic nod in that scene. Method acting really
“Don’t run away from what you believe, he says.” Right on
yo this guy is cooking
Cathartic to see Adam Friedland do this, fwiw. Need more of this kind of direct challenge in public
The authors' criticism of the pro-BDS editorial is a bit odd and telling. It got severe pushback because those who hate BDS push back hard against any support for it, regardless of the quality of argument. (Notably that includes Crimson alums who pressured the students to retract the editorial)
For the morning crowd
like i said, it's a lot easier to rationalize hurting trans people than it is dealing with the demonic extremist movements
The willingness to treat people as if their choices have moral significance continues to be the rarest, and most important, virtue amongst the American intelligentsia/punditocracy.
A good time to re-read Tocqueville's praise of the jury system for preserving liberty and educating citizens in a democracy (DA I 2.8). www.nytimes.com/2025/08/27/u...
Yep, in a major wave election — like, say, the midterms during a deeply unpopular presidency from your own party — gerrymanders can backfire
lol this is a great point, had no idea
This sounds like the American Protective League, nasty govt-backed vigilantes a century ago (see Hochschild’s “American Midnight”)
The news from the past few days is a stunning example of what happens when the state decides it wants to crush just one guy
Rosamund Pike in Gone Girl Charles Grodin in The Heartbreak Kid The mob henchman in the hotel room scene near the end of The Firm
his level of thoughtful engagement with any opinions but the ones in his own head would remain unchanged
America now
This also gets at the real flaw in the tiresome Tom Nichols “stop using woke language” argument. Reactionary politics does not rely on actual behavior by Democratic electeds to be effective; it relies on its own relentless efforts to shape perceptions
Excellent thread. I'll just add that there's a long history of blaming liberals for reactionary political dynamics that were cultivated by coordinated political campaigns by the far right. There is no law of nature that produces "backlash politics." It's politics (and propaganda) that produces it.
we see very clearly in public polling that people in california and D.C. hate the deployments and that americans broadly disapprove of them, but here we have an assertion that the smart strategy is to avoid any discussion of the situation in favor of a pivot to, you guessed it, kitchen table issues.
A whole lot of journalists and Democratic politicians believed it was bad to object to sending people to CECOT, because that would strengthen Trump by reminding Americans how much they want an immigration crackdown, and they kept saying so even after the polls showed it was wrong. Why?
Yes. Too many in power who treat public opinion as fixed and not shaped. Why are trans bathroom bans passing now when they were (rightly) viewed as beyond the pale not long ago? That didn’t happen on its own
All the while having to cling to the hope the courts will will do the right and lawful thing
This is the kind of choice that leads to a military that tells you you’ll take Kyiv the first day
Just reupped my support for Evan and @assignedmedia.org, who are part of a too-small group of journalists doing deeply reported, fact-based work on trans issues rather than the culture-war variety in plentiful supply
Almost every anti-woke commentator ends up at “you made me (or someone like me) a Nazi”
It genuinely amazes me that Rod Dreher—who is of the people who helped mainstream "Camp of the Saints" in the United States, taking it out of the domain of niche white nationalist blogs and to major pubs—doesn't see any connection to between it and what we're dealing with today.
absolutely
The FBI raided Bolton's house after Patel complained at length in his book about Bolton not wanting to hire him during the first Trump administration. Patel who also put Bolton on his published list of enemies, then this morning tweeted about the pending raid. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Straight-up evil
The FBI is raiding John Bolton's house, apparently at Kash Patel's personal direction, the NY Post is reporting:
Just so. Now if only the current crop of technologists *felt* moral obligations
Why do they all talk about bland restaurant chains changing logos like they're Winston Churchill standing before Parliament in May 1940? It's a little unbecoming.
Really does. I might send an email into the Forbes void about it
My Forbes story from 2008 on corruption in mainland Chinese journalism shows up when I search this topic. That’s cool, but this is how I learned bylines have been stripped from old Forbes stories?? www.forbes.com/global/2008/...
Well, well: “NYT reporters witnessed supporters of Mayor Eric Adams handing out cash-filled envelopes. Sometimes, that money went to reporters from Chinese-language outlets.” www.nytimes.com/2025/08/21/n...
Shameful company for Israel
Co-sign
This is right and I think true of so many people — their theory of the world is frozen in some year from the prime of their life
Ok, yeah, not great
I’m not talking about the story itself here — just that the defense of it should be more astute!
imo “Her story is one of our most-read articles this week” should not be one of the things that fits into your explanation of why it was right to do this article in this way
Toxic feedback loop has kicked in: Trump's propagandists tell credulous reporters that occupying cities is good politics for him. Media echoes this as self-evidently true. That reinforces Dem instincts not to engage. My exchange w/ @monicapotts.bsky.social on this: newrepublic.com/article/1993...
I thought that couldn’t be Kenneth Roth as in Formerly of Human Rights Watch Ken Roth but yes it is
This “red envelope”’ with cash for reporters showing up at events was such standard practice in mainland Chinese media that it inspired a novel about posing as a reporter to collect red envelopes
Meanwhile doctors are being denied entry to Gaza with baby formula and medicine bsky.app/profile/prem...
The motto for what the Free Press is doing here: “comfort the comforted and afflict the afflicted” defector.com/the-free-pre...
here’s @gregsargent.bsky.social on this new tactic of ginning up “mortgage fraud” newrepublic.com/article/1980...
Has any news org done a good job of investigating these “mortgage fraud” referrals? They’ve been going on for months now!
Very astute piece
just checking in with one of the most influential philosophers alive today
“But is it too good to last?” the story asks. Oh how often I wonder the same!
that second sentence lol, what is going on
Just went to Drudge for the first time in forever and yeah, this is … uh… good?
Hey while you're fact-checking stuff have a look at @katz.theracket.news' explanation of how the only people who "quietly changed" anything about the starvation standards were at the Free Beacon, after it turned out that this story you cite here was completely false theracket.news/p/no-the-un-...
New— Nazis with giant swastika flags marched in downtown Indianapolis on Saturday with two police escorts. They shouted “white power” and said to the woman who took this video (reshared here with her permission) “fuck you, n***** bitch.” Police did not intervene. I cannot find local news coverage.
I’m kind of speechless with this one. I can’t imagine the kind of person who continues to make the argument that it doesn’t count as real starvation if the kids were already sick.
George Will never* missed *very, very often
somewhere in america there's a polycule member arguing for another surge into Afghanistan after touching an ancient idol and switching souls with Bill
Yes, and they know that their audience is very susceptible to fearmongering
iykyk
So Tom Selleck was right, National Review is indeed a very funny magazine
Not to belabor a "I told you so", but it's been clear for years that the whole "lab leak" discourse has absolutely nothing to do with a potential lab leak and everything to do with a broader anti-science agenda. I really, and truly, hope more scientists will realize this and take corrective action.
The overlap between pro-Chesa Boudin recall in SF and anti-Mamdani in NYC is large, and telling
Andrew Cuomo's "Zohran's Law" would 1) require new rent-stabilized tenants to be rent burdened to live in those units and 2) not apply to Zohran Mamdani. More w/ @rebeccaclewis.bsky.social here www.cityandstateny.com/politics/202...
“Are you getting shot? Would you like your baby to be your first line of defense?”
Mamdani's enemies talk about socialism. Mamdani talks about transit issues of concern to the Far Rockaways. Which is why he will be elected.
Wth man
You just gotta hand it to CO2
Having lived in some of the same places as James (and at some of the same times) my view on this is that the vibe of a big city depends a lot more on you and what stage of life you’re in than on the city
A 4-year-old boy’s ongoing care for stage 4 kidney cancer was interrupted when U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers illegally deported him, his sister and mother “without even a semblance of due process.”
The bullshit and racism aren’t working and I don’t know if they have any other strategy
You mean the guy who promoted the lab leak theory because there was a virology lab in Wuhan? That’s your guy?
When I decided not to go to law school I didn’t know I was giving up the chance to depose Laura Loomer 30 years later
I cannot emphasize enough that the playbook being used against mRNA vaccines (and vaccines in general) is IDENTICAL to the playbook used to restrict voting rights after the 2020 election: actively sow public distrust, then cite the distrust you sowed as an independent reason for your desired policy
Also: A Serious Man and The Prestige
Broadcast News
Read this very carefully: *61%* of all the people who have died of starvation in Gaza over the past 22 months have died in the past *3 weeks*
Baltimore Mayor Scott response on Trump: I think it's very notable that each and every one of the cities called out by the President has a black mayor, and most of those cities are seeing historic lows in violent crime…
and there’s even a requisite quicksand scene in this reel, perfect 80s time capsule
Yes this show really happened, and would you believe without any help from AI
Dems could take some notes on rhetoric
In urban policy, it is considered bad for someone to be rent-burdened (spending at least 30% of their income on rent). But Cuomo's newly proposed law would *require* that people be rent-burdened. Absolutely insane.
Yes Israel won't let "international journalists" into Gaza because that'd make their crimes more visible. But also because their crimes include…killing journalists! It's easier to dehumanize & smear Palestinian reporters in order to justify killing them, than a Western reporter.
Redefining antisemitism to "say anything about Jewish people, do Hitler salutes, empower Nazis, fine, just don't tell the truth about the Israeli government's current actions and say that you object" is a terrible mistake that will have a lasting impact, one that is very Not Good for The Jews.
No lies detected, good stuff from @marcmaron.bsky.social
Ganz killing it here, combining a critical methodological perspective on how polling is done with fundamental political theory about what politics is & what it involves:
Senator Bill Cassidy’s vote secured the nomination of Robert F. Kennedy jr. He’s now issued a brief statement faintly calling Kennedy’s destruction of vaccine research “unfortunate”
Stanford's student paper sues Noem and Rubio, saying their policies cause non-citizen students to avoid expressing themselves freely in the Daily's pages due to fear of detention and deportation h/t @joshgerstein.bsky.social www.thefire.org/sites/defaul...
"Days after rejecting the claim that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, Jeremy Ben-Ami, president of the liberal Zionist advocacy and lobby group J Street, has said he has been “persuaded” that he was wrong." admitting you were wrong is good www.timesofisrael.com/j-street-hea...
My great-grandfather led a team of doctors that invented chemotherapy. He’s part of the legacy of breakthroughs in medical science that saved so many lives. And now we’re going to throw away years of groundbreaking research because we put a manifestly unqualified person in charge of public health.
Over 90 pages of "Alligator Alcatraz" files disappeared as I was looking at them and reporting on the situation. Our public records requests are getting stonewalled. A slew of experts told me this all seems to be illegal. talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/th...