Platner: No one cares that you pretend to be remorseful as you sell out to lobbyists. Symbolic opposition does not reopen hospitals. Weak condemnations do not bring back Roe V Wade. Maine deserves better than Susan Collins.
Columnist and editor at MSNBC Daily and WGAE member. Formerly Washington Post Opinions. DC born and raised. DC United and Montreal Canadiens fan. jim.downie@nbcuni.com; jdow.92 on Signal
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Platner: No one cares that you pretend to be remorseful as you sell out to lobbyists. Symbolic opposition does not reopen hospitals. Weak condemnations do not bring back Roe V Wade. Maine deserves better than Susan Collins.
My statement on @nadler.house.gov’s decision not to seek re-election next year.
I think about this @tomscocca.bsky.social post like once a week.
DC communities are joyful, powerful— and we're under attack. "But, what can I do?" Glad you asked! Check this out or check out tons of opportunities on the full calendar here ⬇️
Trump says the DC occupation is about crime. Some pundits say the fed presence isn't noticeable, and life hasn't really changed. I was born in DC, I've lived almost my whole life here, and I can tell you: all those claims are crap. My latest for @msnbc.com www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnb...
Correction (as noted by @districtofalex.bsky.social): His name was Bijan *Ghaisar*. My apologies. After the settlement, his mother said, "“For the rest of my life, as long as I live, I will fight to overturn qualified immunity. This is my goal in life." www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/f...
Some context: The USPP restricted vehicular pursuits after two officers chased, shot and killed a driver named Bijan Gisar in 2017. The government settled with Gisar's family for $5 million, but neither officer was charged nor lost his job. (www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...)
The event that defined the presidency of George W Bush, along with the invasion of Iraq predicated on sheer lies.
Trump says the DC occupation is about crime. Some pundits say the fed presence isn't noticeable, and life hasn't really changed. I was born in DC, I've lived almost my whole life here, and I can tell you: all those claims are crap. My latest for @msnbc.com www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnb...
Since I’ve lived in DC, two pedestrians have been killed on my block. High speed chases endanger all of us here in DC and MUST STOP: “Ten car chases. Six crashes. Park Police have new rules in Trump’s D.C.” www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/202...
Netanyahu is restricting aid trucks into Gaza—the best way to get food to starving people there—so Jordan is delivering some with air drops. The Jordanians said @merkley.senate.gov & I could join one of those flights to see the devastation, but Israel denied authorization for our scheduled flight.
@lbarronlopez.bsky.social shares her new reporting on the humanitarian crisis inside a Virginia ICE field office following Trump's DC federal takeover "This takeover has left them feeling as though they don't really have a home anymore"
"The visible health problems of the oldest president in American history barely registered in mainstream coverage." – @passantino.bsky.social www.status.news/p/trump-heal...
Related, from Walter Benjamin, before he died fleeing the Nazis:
Powerful piece by @markhertling.bsky.social. “I am infuriated that the Air Force plans to grant military funeral honors to Ashli Babbitt. She did not die defending the Constitution. She died trying to overturn it.” www.thebulwark.com/p/honoring-a...
This is good: With Trump/RFK destroying CDC, JB Pritzker's officials are exploring the possibility of buying Covid vaccines from manufacturers and distributing them in-state themselves, source tells me. Dem govs must step up and fill the void. New piece from me: newrepublic.com/article/1998...
Of COURSE it all comes down to Modi’s refusal to nominate him for a Nobel prize. 🤡
Tbf, Mike Johnson was all the way up there.
me after the tariffs are struck down as illegal
lol, and might i also say: lmao
If by "crown jewel," he means "a relic belonging to an old royal family that should never leave a museum," then sure.
"They treat us like a dog." – One meal a day (a single burrito) – 40 to 90 people crammed into a single room with no beds – Detainees held as long as seven days with no ability to bathe. @lbarronlopez.bsky.social on the conditions at ICE's Washington field office www.msnbc.com/msnbc/news/v...
Three GOP senators – Tillis, Ernst and Cassidy – were pressured into voting for Trump nominees or face losing reelection races. Now: – Tillis is retiring – Cassidy may lose anyway – And Ernst just announced her retirement. Appeasement. Doesn't. Work. www.cbsnews.com/news/joni-er...
yo this guy is cooking
oh come on www.nytimes.com/2025/08/29/u...
For a self-declared Christian this guy sure does love to bear false witness.
hmm. one of the creators mentioned in that Wired piece about liberal donors funding influencers strongly disputes most of the assertions www.instagram.com/reel/DN3xSpI...
is that good
Here's my Friday post: - U.S. voters say that crime is a serious problem, esp. in big cities. - But they do not approve of Trump exerting federal control over local police departments. - Latest example of the president moving the policy thermostat too far. www.gelliottmorris.com/p/voters-say...
This is how I learned that the co-creator of "Yes Minister" directed "My Cousin Vinny."
"In the years leading up to that moment, three catastrophic miscalculations—each rooted in short-term maneuvering and self-justification—paved the way for Hitler’s ascent." – @dziblatt.bsky.social www.foreignaffairs.com/germany/hitl...
"Our frustrations with our false democracy have corroded faith in the ideal to the benefit of antidemocratic figures on the right and the interests they serve." – from the conclusion of @ositanwanevu.com's new book, highly recommended. www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/704686...
Veep is a weird one because, like Scrubs and My Cousin Vinny, it's a comedy that gets a lot of stuff really right...and then there's also some incredibly contrived stuff like much of the tied House vote plotline.
Thousands of DC residents chanting “fuck Jeff Bezos” outside of the P Street Whole Foods
Of course, the same portion of the US code that bans federal employees from striking bans basically the entire Trump admin from working for the government too. www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/...
(The past tense is because the ad is filming tomorrow.)
I've been reading @hollyanderson.bsky.social since Grantland, and this is one of her very best.
Great @meredithshiner.com piece. newrepublic.com/article/1996...
"Six months after a job loss, an American family of four...typically receives unemployment benefits amounting to 36 percent of the family’s previous income...In Sweden, the same family would gain benefits that are almost double the American share — 70 percent ." www.nytimes.com/2025/08/25/b...
opening a Spirit Halloween where my patience used to be
Never has "first as tragedy, then as farce" been so accurate.
OH-8 is not a purple district either. Davidson won reelection 63-37, and Trump got 61.4% (and 60.3% in 2020).
🚨ICE agents are racially profiling and arresting Hispanic drivers in the DC area today, targeting work vehicles like trucks and vans. A friend who was targeted sent me video today. Here’s a picture that shows one of two agents before he pulled on his mask. Unmarked black Ford truck, plate: NTV9211.
This is me after ~75% of D.C. United games.
These are really insane numbers. Even if we only look at formal political offices, billionaires are more than 10,000x more likely to hold a national political position than the average person.
“.. democracy often erodes slowly at first .. But with each concession, autocrats become bolder.. and reversal becomes harder. Responses that, early on, can feel pragmatic—waiting it out, remaining silent, cutting a deal—only embolden ..” @dziblatt.bsky.social www.foreignaffairs.com/germany/hitl...
"We’re going to be sicker as a country, not as effective, waste resources. And for what? I don’t understand," a current CDC senior official tells @msnbc.com. @brandyzadrozny.bsky.social has the latest from inside the CDC: www.msnbc.com/msnbc/news/c...
Also 100% of mass shooters used guns, and yet...
I agree with President Trump: Republicans should nationalize the midterms immediately before Election Day.
Democrats are up 3.5 points in our average of U.S. House generic ballot polls. That would be enough to overcome the effects of additional partisan gerrymandering in red states www.gelliottmorris.com/p/data
If only Obama had listened to @radleybalko.bsky.social sooner!
"Trump allowed Nvidia to sell chip designs to China for a dubious 15 percent export fee, and waved in Apple’s overseas chips....These deals directly undermine the company whose stock Trump just seized." – @ddayen.bsky.social on Trump's economic omnishambles prospect.org/economy/2025...
WASHINGTON (AP) — Fed Gov. Lisa Cook sues Trump administration to block her attempted firing, launching unprecedented legal fight.
It’s easy to say that this is all RFK Jr., but Trump was talking about vaccines and autism at least as far back as 2014. We have to assume that Trump fully supports this and wants it.
1) A fantastic video, as usual from @lindsayellis.bsky.social 2) The continued success of the longform Youtube video (be it an essay like this, or other formats) cuts against *so* many narratives about what kinds of content people want in 2025.
Psaki: I felt a mixture of anger—a lot of anger—and emotional exhaustion about this today, as I’m sure many of you have, because we have been here so many times. And yet again, like clockwork, half the politicians in our country have little more to offer than thoughts and prayers.
Back in 2020, YouTube suspended OAN's channel, demonetized it, and noted it was not an "authoritative" source. Now, five years later, the Google-owned platform has inked a deal to put the MAGA propaganda network in millions of living rooms. Details in @status.news: www.status.news/p/youtube-oa...
I really think we need to have some mechanism in place for being able to say, in print and in the media, that a problem with a public figure is that they are insane. Not in a hyperbolic way. RFK Jr is a maniac.
I had serious doubts about CDC Director Monarez’s willingness to stand up against RFK Jr.’s personal mission to destroy public health in America—I’m glad that I was wrong. If there are any adults left in the White House: we cannot let RFK Jr. burn what's left of CDC. FIRE HIM.
Wow
Well. Because of course, now we’ve got this.
Good to hear this from Ken Martin. (via @daveweigel.bsky.social: www.semafor.com/article/08/2...)
That doesn't sound very alpha to me.
Adding just six hours of media literacy training to an American Government course significantly improved students’ ability to identify credible sources and boosted their confidence in evaluating where information comes from. theconversation.com/college-stud...
College football Bluesky posters who are not already part of the Fullcast/SZD/Phantom Island/Banner Society/etc extended universe and have no idea what this podcast is: I think you would like it and you should listen to it
Chief of staff to Gov JB Pritzker -->
I am begging my fellow Dems to emerge from the reflexive “it’s a trap” position on these issues and realize that some things are very simple: the public doesn’t like the federal government turning the military against its own citizens.The public doesn’t like the armed occupation of a city.Period.
Just to circle back, at this point in 2021 Republicans were not exclusively choosing between "Biden is screwing up COVID," "Biden is screwing up Afghanistan," and "Biden is screwing up inflation."
Fucking yikes www.nytimes.com/2025/08/27/b...
OPINION by @jamescdownie.bsky.social "Whether it’s polls or jobs numbers, though, if Trump doesn’t like the numbers, he tries to change the rules." READ MORE: www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnb...
More from Quinnipiac on Gaza: – 60% oppose more military aid to Israel, highest since Oct. 7 – 50% of voters say Israel is committing genocide – 37% sympathize more with Palestinians, the highest since QU first asked in 2001; 36% with the Israelis, the lowest since 2001. poll.qu.edu/poll-release...
Quinnipiac poll: – Voters oppose National Guard deployment to DC by 56-41 percent. 61-34 among independents. – Trump approval at 37 percent overall, 39 percent on the economy. – Just 44 percent of *Republicans* approve of how the Trump WH is handling the Epstein files. poll.qu.edu/poll-release...
"Hillary Clinton lost a close election that she could have won were it not for the Electoral College and a few key campaign decisions and events" sounds as good to me now as it did nine years ago.
This conversation between @ezraklein.bsky.social & @radleybalko.bsky.social is disturbing, informative, and important. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/27/o...
We were going to do another big marketing stunt for THE TOXIC AVENGER UNRATED. Instead, Toxie, whose life was upended by crushing medical bills, has joined forces with Undue Medical Debt to erase at least $5 million in un-payable medical debt for those who need it most. Learn more:
I wrote what is essentially a blog post (😱) about why Dems keep screwing up their efforts to build out a liberal media ecosystem and what can be done about it: www.elizabethspiers.com/why-dems-kee...
UPDATE: Our Ward 4 neighbor has been released & retrieved his car this morning. Thank you to our neighbors for showing up in numbers. This is how we get through this: we keep fighting, we keep showing up, we keep recording, we keep speaking out, and we keep organizing! We keep us safe.
Frey: And don't just say, this is about thoughts and prayers right now. These kids were literally praying. It was the first week of school. They were in a church.
Seems to me, given the deep well of support here for not-progressive pols (Newsom), that the specific stances are secondary to whether the politician is seen as an effective fighter. Which mirrors the shift among Dem voters as a whole.
Yellen not at all pulling her punches in this op-ed for the FT www.ft.com/content/d2ea...
"WGBH, the bellwether public TV station in Boston, has laid off the 13 people who worked on the history series “American Experience” and announced that no new documentaries will be produced for the show until further notice." 🗃️ www.nytimes.com/2025/08/27/a...
Just to be clear, if something like this happened during the pandemic over, say, Covid measures, before the week was over there'd be fifteen polling memos and trend stories about how Democrats are out of touch with voters.
Immediate pre-order.
I’ve been briefed on a shooting at Annunciation Catholic School and will continue to provide updates as we get more information. The BCA and State Patrol are on scene. I’m praying for our kids and teachers whose first week of school was marred by this horrific act of violence.
1/EU-US deal quickly unraveling. This is not a new peace where Europe can go about its business. Instead, it is a steady drip of asks/coercion, which threaten not only profits but also national security. Latest US target: Digital. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
I've been anticipating @sarahjones.bsky.social's piece on Dobson, and as usual, she doesn't disappoint.
Finally, the old saw about how a grand jury will indict a ham sandwich is disproven www.nytimes.com/2025/08/27/u...
"Though Trump and his acolytes claim to the cameras that he is the most successful and most popular president ever, their fears of voters’ upcoming verdicts suggest they don’t believe their own hype." My latest for @msnbc.com: www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnb...
Reuters/Ipsos poll: – 38% support Trump deploying the Nat'l Guard to DC. 46%opposed – Among independents, it's just 28% in favor, 51% opposed – Trump's approval remains at 40%. www.reuters.com/world/us/jus...
When someone started tampering with Tylenol bottles in 1982 the company recalled $100 million worth of bottles immediately even though they clearly weren't at fault
I analyzed and did interviews on Trump’s Putin and European meetings. Discussed all the details and manipulations. Then realized there was a deeper truth: Trump has absolutely no clue what he is doing. joecirincione.substack.com/p/the-idioti...
"After Dobbs, the abortion rate has gone up by roughly 10 percent every year, and that number is likely an undercount. This statistic alone makes it clear why anti-abortion crusaders have made abortion pills their next target." — @irincarmon.bsky.social nymag.com/intelligence...
Well the "eat pray love" author's new piece is simultaneously exactly what i expected from her and more horrifying than I could have imagined
My councilwoman @janeese4dc.bsky.social put out a plea to neighbors to not order food delivery because of law enforcement targeting delivery drivers.
"That deafening silence on Tuesday was Republicans and business leaders reacting to Donald Trump’s latest authoritarian power grab: his effort to fire Lisa Cook" My latest column: www.newyorker.com/news/the-fin...
Iowa's State Senate District 1 went 55-44 for Trump in November – and 50-48 for Trump in 2020. (Both numbers via @the-downballot.com: docs.google.com/spreadsheets...)
ELECTION RESULT from Alabama: Paul Prine, the former police chief of Mobile who was fired last year while facing a damning report about his department’s use of force against Black residents, has lost the mayoral race. He came in third, and will not move forward to the September runoff.
Me: *clicks "do not recommend channel"* YouTube algorithm: "Sounds good. How about [other channel that also hates video games]?"