We have a bit of a natural experiment here. Compare the tone, quantity and duration of Charlie Kirk coverage with that of the two Dem lawmakers gunned down in their homes in Minnesota 6 months ago. May be revealing.
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We have a bit of a natural experiment here. Compare the tone, quantity and duration of Charlie Kirk coverage with that of the two Dem lawmakers gunned down in their homes in Minnesota 6 months ago. May be revealing.
👍🏾 This was really good. Thanks for doing it. Actually provided a bit of hope hearing them separately (but with consistency) speak to the need for wholesale change in direction & priorities from what’s existed since (essentially) Reagan.
"It’s not too simplistic to say that the leadership that can’t unite behind Mamdani now is the leadership that made Mamdani possible—a cynical and bloodless and compromised liberalism that’s hovering tentatively by the focus groups while real popular movements takes shape on their own."
substack.com/@jimacosta/n...
American democracy is dying because our justice system refused to hold politicians to the same standard of the law, that ordinary citizens are held to.
And the “all but” is doing a lot of work.
I’m telling you.
A 9-member superlegislature, imposing its political preferences, totally detached from the law, constitution, precedent, & plain meaning of words, just as the Founders intended.
It’s dumbfounding to me that the murder of 11 people—unafforded any due process, or attempted non violent interventions (if even contextually required)—seems to be substantively unchallenged & getting comparatively little coverage in msm.
“Democratic leaders have had six months to come up with a plan. If there’s a better plan than a shutdown, great. But if the plan is still nothing, then Democrats need new leaders.”
”I am quite certain that this moment deserves real opposition — that Democrats, morally speaking, should not fund a government that Trump is turning into a tool of personal enrichment and power.” Stop Acting Like This Is Normal www.nytimes.com/2025/09/07/o...
Thread worth reading All the way to final entry. Connects today's "standing up to Trump" w Iraq-war decision Eg how "convert who's seen the light"—eg supporter of invasion, or enabler of Trump, who years later says, "well, actually.."—somehow has more credibility than those opposed at the start.
it is always worth remembering that vance made a conscious decision to be a person of low character. he has eagerly contorted himself into evil for the sake of what amounts to a whiff of power.
substack.com/@smappygail/...
The New York Times says the boat that the Trump regime blew up was a “drug vessel.” Based on what evidence? The trustworthiness of Trump, Hegseth and Rubio?
Agree & I don’t know why that point is not getting much more scrutiny. & then, even if it was a drug vessel (which I suspect it wasn’t) that still doesn’t provide license to murder 11 people. The comparatively muted response & seeming acquiescence to this attack is mind boggling to me.
In what universe has he shown a shred of willingness or acumen to meet that moment, should Dems win back the House
If you are praying that Dems take back the house next year you should also feel preemptive horror that the man tasked with implementing that victory is Hakeem Jeffries
Enough with the backroom scheming. If Trump is serious about intervening in the mayoral race, he should come to New York City and debate me directly.
Glad you raised this. Had just finished watching it on Substack & reacted similarly. Was glad WA had on Hasan afterwards, to right the ship a bit. Was also glad WA perseverated with the direct questions when Raskin tried to dance around answering. @wajali.bsky.social
“..Republicans aggressively set..prevailing terms of debate,&Democrats..reliably freak out&flee in terror. …[Dem] establishment has clung 2the hoary commandment that a Dem.Party hoping 2succeed must always&forever shun any disturbances on its left flank.” www.thenation.com/article/poli...
We've seen what collaboration with Trump has brought us: money stolen from city accounts, cuts to essential services, New Yorkers as young as six deported. Cuomo offers more of the same. I am prepared to fight back.
something that drives me nuts is how legacy media will write that "scholars question legality" of a trump administration action when there is not a shred of evidence that it is in fact legal. it leaves room for the federal government to manufacture a legal justification when literally none exists.
Really good responses by Mamdani. youtube.com/watch?v=S34w...
1/ I worked at DoD. I literally cannot imagine lawyers coming up with a legal basis for lethal strike of suspected Venezuelan drug boat. Hard to see how this would not be "murder" or war crime under international law that DoD considers applicable. Read expert analysis by @bcfinucane.bsky.social⤵️
"It is past time for both Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer to step down and step aside. This fascist moment, this age of Trump, demands outspoken, unrelenting and fearless opposition... we all deserve better." I make the case, in my latest for The Guardian, for new leadership:
Here's the video Trump just posted to Truth Social, with the claim that 11 people aboard the boat were killed. There is zero evidence of self-defense here. Looks like a massacre of civilians at sea. Even if they had drugs aboard, that's not a capital offense.
Lethal force against a civilian vessel in international waters is a war crime if not in self-defense. If not in self-defense, only non-lethal actions, such as warning shots or disabling fire, are allowed. "Not yielding to pursuers" or "suspected of carrying drugs" doesn't carry a death sentence.
Pritzker: "I refuse to pretend that any of this is normal ... I refuse to fall into the pundit trap that demands we sacrifice vital constitutional rights if it's being done in the fake guise of fighting crime."
Thank you.
True, but imv not exclusively. Motivation too. Also, I would add Pelosi since she still holds tremendous control over the party broadly & even more so over Jeffries specifically.
@schumer.senate.gov @pelosi.house.gov @hakeem-jeffries.bsky.social
🎯 Short video; a worthwhile watch 👍🏾 www.msnbc.com/ali-velshi/w...
💯❗️🙏🏽 That was really good. Thank you. 
Americans are begging for Democratic leadership to get off the mat and back into the fight. If you’re a political leader in this country and are not prepared to fight with both hands, not prepared to make “good trouble”, then perhaps you should step aside and make space for those who will. #Velshi.
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Stuart Stevens, currently to the left of most democratic leaders on the Hill
NEW figures show that 61,226 people are currently in ICE detention — the highest number ever in US history. According to ICE data, 70% of these people have no criminal conviction.
Good Graham Platner interview youtube.com/watch?v=l9rp...
I dare you to go to Annunciation School and tell our grieving community, in effect, guns don’t kill kids, antidepressants do. Just shut up. Stop peddling bullshit. You should be fired.
The frog in the metaphorical pot of water has boiled to death. presswatchers.org/2025/08/we-h...
Agree with this. Make them fight for every inch. Worth reading this thread.
Many smart folks,yet the trajectory of pushing “bipartisanship”& abiding Merrick Garland’s passivity were abundantly clear.I will never understand how they couldn’t see where it was headed & decide to change course.Yet they didn’t; they persisted..continuing to do so even now. It’s infuriating.
“Jeffries didn't seem too worked up about any of this, delivering his talking points with a complacency that certainly did not bely that the United States is currently experiencing a militarized dismantling of representative democracy.” @hakeem-jeffries.bsky.social
“It's absolutely mind boggling to be discussing message testing in response to abductions, concentration camp construction, and unleashing [the] military on Americans."
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How does the constitution survive the SCOTUS jurisprudence this year? Really. Laws are no longer laws and the Supreme Court is letting Trump violate the constitution blatantly. We can’t really have a legal system unless we roll back quite a bit of Supreme Court opinions recently.
+ Pritzker: “This is not a time [for the press] to fall back into a reflexive crouch where I see the authoritarian creep by this administration is ignored in favor of some horse race piece of who will be helped politically by the President’s actions.” 👇👇👇👇👍🏾❗️
That aged poorly.
This party's Congressional leadership is lost
I suspect any memo re: “distraction” originated from Pelosi, while also mandating that “kitchen table” be parroted so reflexively and without context that it’s become meaningless.
Meet Shakira. Ten years ago, she was living in a shelter with her three kids, working at a non-union hotel. Now she's a member of HTC. Unions are how working people can build a dignified life. But in a city as expensive as ours, they need local government on their side.
Leading global experts just confirmed what we’ve long known: Gaza is in famine. At least half a million Palestinians are facing starvation, acute malnutrition and death. And it’s likely to spread. The U.S. government is not a bystander to this genocide. We can end it today.
Nothing normalizes criminality more than a lack of accountability. Do you think that the GOP could sell the lie that January 6th didn't happen, if Merrick Garland didn't treat it with all the urgency as a jaywalking offense??
Remember when officials US Secret Service deleted en masse all of its J6 text messages, resisted an IG investigation (such as it was), and the Democratic AG came in and did nothing about it? And the captured legacy media and watchdogs said nothing about it?
A beautiful afternoon with @bkbpreynoso.bsky.social on Brooklyn’s only Summer Street, when Eastern Pkwy is closed to vehicles and opened up for New Yorkers to gather, move and play. We should do it more often!
I can’t believe a party led by Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries is struggling to excite or motivate voters. They’ve tried nothing and they’re all out of ideas!
Everything Trump does is not a distraction from everything else that Trump does. It's all part of the same thing – the criminal enterprise previously known as the presidency.
www.theguardian.com/world/ng-int...
They get away with it not just because of a failing media but because Democrats are silent.
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I agree with every word of this.
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Agree 💯.
How are you & DC colleagues standing up?
I would add Pelosi too. Jeffries follows her lead.
The New York Times knows these BS mortgage fraud accusations by the Trump regime are the very definition of "lawfare." But NYT is headquartered on its own Neutrality Island, where the local ordinances require newspapers to pretend the fascists are operating with good intentions.
This was really good. Thank you for distilling all of it and underscoring the urgency for change.
“And, over time, the ties between the strategist class and their corporate donors and employers deepened and deepened, creating a schism within the party between those who want to move further to the Right and those who recognize change is overdue.” 🧵
youtube.com/watch?v=l-Wr...
One hundred percent this:
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Not just media but Democratic Congressional leadership too. If @schumer.senate.gov and @hakeem-jeffries.bsky.social acted and talked like this was a fascist emergency, the press would run stories about how they say this is a fascist emergency.
substack.com/@thehoneybad...
“-it’s the obituary of the Democratic Party as a vessel 4working people.The same party that once stood 4labor now takes its marching orders from WS,SV,&AIPAC. They’ve euthanized their own base,& what’s left r voters who will cheer endless wars & austerity as long as it’s wrapped in blue branding.”
www.foxnews.com/video/637696...
Tim Miller challenging Jeffries on why he hasn’t endorsed Mamdani. BS deflective answer (as usual). Also, (below that) saying Mamdani is going to have to address his rent controlled apartment. Dems need new “leadership”. youtube.com/watch?v=U8DC...
How are you and other congressional Dems standing up?
bsky.app/profile/whst...
Without exaggeration the entire mental capacity of our media industry is focused on carefully regulating their own reactions as to not seem like they've caught the dread Trump Derangement Syndrome, to such an extent that have missed Trump collapsing the constitutional system and the world order
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.
continue to think that a major issue is the extent to which too many elected democrats are mentally captive to the politics of the 1980s and 1990s in ways that leave them unable to try new things
not sure how many decades it will take America living down having elected Trump twice
I would just like to state that, while Schumer has tended to get a lot more hate from liberals than Jeffries, a lot of us haven’t been particularly enthused about Jeffries, either. bsky.app/profile/medi...
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This. Times a million.
He’s gotta’ go. Way overdue.
Agreed. I think "when they go low we go ostrich" hasn't really worked, no?
@hakeem-jeffries.bsky.social @schumer.senate.gov Newsom: "God damn it. Enough. Democrats, stop being weak. Step up. These guys have been dominating in the narrative. They have been defining the terms of the debate. It's time to get ..off our damn heels... Dominate the narrative. Flood the zone..”
Give em hell Gavin
Full interview and more from MeidasTouch here: youtu.be/G9uXWPMhXcM
Ugh. Not this CA voter, but what a disappointment to see this. Glad you posted it. It has to change.
Dems fetishize bipartisanship as if it exists They aren't dealing with Senate Rs on this. Thune is not the Majority Leader. Trump is I mean Collins is chair of Approps. Dems must know she is useless and feckless So doesn't matter what "steps" they think they see. Trump decides
Appreciate your voice on this issue.Don’t understand people demanding support of repeated failures in leadership&strategies that passively allow the destruction of democracy. In no other job would consistent failures of this magnitude be allowed, particularly w/no indication of intent to change.
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This is a garbage answer. It means nothing. At a time when the moral stakes are so clear it reflects very badly on Pete, a dedicated and smart public servant, and his prospects for higher office.
To those who say, "Calm down, Democrats have to choose their battles" I say, "Yeah? How many have they chosen?"
