Labor Day. I thought of the lines from Shelley’s poem “Ozymandias”, as I contemplated the poster of Donald Trump that now decorate the Department of Labor in Washington, DC. I thought of labors of creation, and of destruction. snyder.substack.com/p/look-on-my...
US foreign policy update: friends alienated, enemies united, armed forces spreading mulch in DC. MAGA
This morning 9 former CDC Directors, whose tenures date back to 1977, published this warning in the NYT: RFK Jr is a danger to public health. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/01/o...
Thank you Anna!
Until the TCJA, the top 400 US individuals by wealth and the full US population both had effective tax rates of ~30%. The TCJA reduced the Top 400 individuals’ total effective tax rates to 23.8% in 2018 – 2020, well below those of the full population (still ~30%). www.nber.org/system/files...
Walgreens has officially been bought out by private equity. Walgreens Boots Alliance has become a private company, with private equity firm Sycamore Partners acquiring the retail pharmacy giant.
Second source confirming: bsky.app/profile/mari...
“We did all of this with our hands tied behind our backs,” said a spokesperson for the families. “Even with the FBI pushing back and President Trump invoking state secrets, we created an overwhelming picture of Saudi Arabia’s role.”
New, from me: America is no longer a functioning democracy. It is a competitive authoritarian system, hurtling rapidly toward authoritarianism. This was a hard piece to write but we can't move forward if we don’t acknowledge where we are. donmoynihan.substack.com/p/the-author...
Stacey Abrams and I sound the alarm - the time to act to stop autocracy is now. time.com/7312340/stop...
Unfortunately, Bluesky is unavailable in Mississippi right now, due to a new state law that requires age verification for all users. While intended for child safety, we think this law poses broader challenges & creates significant barriers that limit free speech & harm smaller platforms like ours.
don't look away . . .
ICE, America's first interior police, are not being built up, at the cost of billions, just to monitor immigration www.nytimes.com/2025/08/14/u...
🚨LEVER TIME: Trump’s billionaire private equity booster is on tape saying his “dream” is to get access to Americans’ retirement savings — now Trump may let private equity loot your 401k. We air the billionaire’s audio on LEVER TIME — you gotta hear it👇 www.levernews.com/your-401-k-i...
On the one hand, a patriot with decades of experience defending America. On the other hand, a conspiracy theorist who hates Americans and American institutions. Presented here as "two visions of America under Trump" www.nytimes.com/2025/08/03/u...
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Donald Trump announced new tariffs yesterday, “emboldened by the fact that the economy had remained strong until now despite economists’ warnings—a fact that turned out not to be a fact at all,” Rogé Karma writes.
Here’s what they are planning. newrepublic.com/article/1986...
And we're officially at the end of being able to trust the jobs numbers in this country ever again.
"ICE Kidnapped us from the United States. At one point we asked, 'Where are we going?' And they said, 'Don't worry, you're going to love the surprise we have for you.'" First-hand accounts from the men Trump disappeared to a Salvadoran prison:
Researchers at large A.I. companies just issued a report warning that they're on the verge of not being able to monitor the A.I. they're building because the A.I. could become self-aware & start to hide things. Trump's response: trying to block all AI safety regs. Don't Look Up was a documentary.
The craziest discovery about our global water crisis -- besides the fact that the continents are drying -- is that groundwater pumping is now driving sea level rise. @hrishikeshac.bsky.social @jayfamiglietti.bsky.social www.propublica.org/article/wate...
Since joining the Trump administration, Howard Lutnick has emerged as one of the most vocal supporters of the president’s tariff policies. But his former investment bank, now led by his sons, is taking bets against them.
Given ICE brutality, it's unusual to get video evidence of how they operate. But here's chilling documentation that shows the indiscriminate and violent approach that ICE takes to arrests - here, including a US citizen: www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
“I asked whether I was being detained, and she said 'You’re not being detained,'" Chavarria said. "I said, 'Then can I go?' And she said, 'No, you may not go.'"
Pankaj Mishra has penned a through-provoking piece about the failure of so many American intellectuals to rise to our present challenges. His diagnosis: we've all chased power and comfort for too long. harpers.org/archive/2025...
Glad that Stacey Abrams finds my 10 steps useful! Honored to work with her on this. www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQPP...
Jon Stewart Reacts to Colbert's Cancellation & Trump's "Bawdy" Epstein Doodles youtu.be/TwOLo_U6bTw
A horrifying statement published today by the Editorial Committee of the Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency. "Without immediate intervention, the last reporters in Gaza will die" Translation from French to English by @cnorristrent.bsky.social:
Fuera de control
Note also that the lawsuit alleges that because race and class are correlated, providing free tuition to lower income students is also racial preference. They just want a pure aristocracy of inherited wealth
Maurene Comey's goodbye note to SDNY colleagues:
FRONTLINE goes inside the showdown between U.S. President Donald Trump and the courts over presidential power. President Donald Trump’s allies, opponents and experts talk about how he is testing the extent of his power, the legal pushback and the impact on the rule of law.
"Let's return ___ to the states" When politicians say this—eg regarding FEMA, or the Department of Education—is this "federalism"? Or is it a cowardly way of saying "let's eliminate ___, and when it's gone, I'd like to deflect blame to the states"? (Hint: it's never about federalism.) A brief 🧵
"This is the first time in memory a Democrat won without oligarchs' permission & money...Democratic leaders are not comfortable with democracy when voters choose a nominee not approved by the powers that be." Sirota just now on CNN about his Zohran reporting: www.levernews.com/whos-afraid-...
Definitely remember these rulings when Trump dissolves the Supreme Court A high court working overtime via a shadow docket to convince a megalomaniac that he is all-powerful is easily one of the most institutionally suicidal moves in the history of human civilization
BREAKING: The Supreme Court allows the Trump administration to move forward with the abolition of the Department of Education. It gives no explanation for its order. All three liberals dissent. www.documentcloud.org/documents/25... From Sotomayor's dissent:
JBS, the Brazilian meat-packing giant known for bribery and corruption scandals, just went public. The company was previously denied access to U.S. markets — until they donated millions to Trump’s inaugural fund. Now, small farms across the country are sounding the alarms.
Evangelicals helped build America's anti-AIDS program in Africa, saving millions of lives. Now Trump has destroyed it. Why don't they speak out? From Peter Wehner www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” invests over $50 BILLION per year for vouchers that let private schools pick and choose which students to educate. The American people do not want to privatize public education, they want to strengthen it.
What a recent policy reversal by Attorney General Pam Bondi on confidential sources means and why it threatens press freedom—and, in turn, democracy. Through rigorous, fair, and factual reporting, we can make the world more informed. @newyorker.com #journalism #news #US #press #pressfreedom
Remember when the federal government was supposed to be a government for all the people, and not just for one political party?
It’ll take you a little time to catch up, but it is worth following @annabower.bsky.social’s contemporaneous skeet-thread from this Kilmer Abrego Garcia hearing in Judge Xinis’s court in Maryland. The district court is where you learn what’s really going on.
"Fidelity, bravery, and integrity, forever" A senior FBI officer resigns www.lawfaremedia.org/article/good...
I cannot emphasize enough how true & real this is. In almost anywhere on the political spectrum you ID with or major issue, there’s probably a bot/troll operation to encourage your rage and vitriol. And how/where that rage gets directed, esp understandable rage, is what they are out to influence.
The Trump tax bill is the culmination of a 50-year master plan to legalize corruption so that billionaires can buy elections, politicians & legislation. Using never-before-seen documents, we tell the story in our audio series at MasterPlanPodcast.com. Pass it on.
Jon Stewart is a legend & the way this show is trying to explain to a mainstream audience the gravity what is happening in the US is amazing. It was both thrilling & terrifying to be part of it. Thank you @TheDailyShow 👏 www.youtube.com/watch?v=vG7C...
“We’re international students at Harvard. We’re afraid to write this. But we have to speak up. Three student leaders on Trump’s attempts to throw them out of the country.” www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
Check out the latest edition of my @financialtimes.com newsletter. (1/2) How poor healthcare contributes to "US economic exceptionalism" on.ft.com/4mnx03I
Thank you Anna!
1/ For ProPublica’s “Life of the Mother” series, winner of the 2025 Pulitzer Prize for public service, we reported on five pregnant women who died after not receiving timely medical care in states with strict abortion bans. These are their stories 🧵
"Corporations are bringing in hundreds of thousands of foreign workers under the H-2A visa program. Workers tell us it’s basically a human trafficking scheme — a way to replace farmworkers who unionize and fight for higher pay. Trump could expand it with little oversight."
Laura Loomer—who recently met with Donald Trump in the Oval Office and influenced the firings of top national security officials—suggests that removing people from the United States without due process isn’t so extreme when compared to the alternative: simply shooting them to death on sight.
Just before 1 a.m., #SCOTUS stepped back into the Alien Enemy Act litigation with a (remarkable) ruling that suggests, among other things, that a majority of the justices is tiring of the Trump administration’s Calvinball. For more, see the latest “One First”: www.stevevladeck.com/p/144-the-su...
Tyrants view educated citizens as their greatest enemy. Slaveholders stopped the enslaved from learning to read. Nazis burned books. Dictators censor media. That’s why Trump is attacking education, science, museums, and the arts – to prevent us from learning. It's Fascism 101.
“It is difficult in some cases to get to the very heart of the matter. But in this case, it is not hard at all. The government is asserting a right to stash away residents of this country in foreign prisons without the semblance of due process..” storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
This is the emergency. Like it or not, it’s here.
My story about @kevinh-phd.bsky.social, nutrition and metabolism scientist at N.I.H., who felt compelled to take early retirement after experiencing censorship of his work under the new administration. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/16/w...
Thank you!
"Six years ago, I walked into the lair of the tech gods - TED - to warn them democracy may not survive technology. In fact, I was the one who almost didn’t survive. This year I returned & called them complicit in a regime of fear and cruelty. Data rapists who are collaborators in a digital coup."
First Trump tore up the union contract covering 47,000 TSA workers. Then he did the same for almost a million more federal workers. Now TSA workers are sounding the alarm. They warn Trump is putting our safety in jeopardy — and it could lead to another 9/11.
"The death of democracy is a by-product of letting tech remain the most unregulated industry globally." -Maria Ressa youtu.be/jsHoX9ZpA_M?...