Retired US academic focused on political communication. Lectured/researched for 20 years in post USSR on democratic theory/practice, media/civil society in policy making. Now focused on saving American democracy — our info systems are a major problem.
NEWS
A federal judge just agreed to FAST-TRACK her decision on whether to dismiss Trump DOJ’s lawsuit seeking to block certification of Alaska’s election if the GOP incumbent loses.
She indicated that she will rule by Wednesday at 5 pm local time.
Doc buff.ly/YeQtu5n
🚨BREAKING: In a blow to the DOJ, the 9th Circuit rejected its request to bypass a lower court to bar California from counting around 20k ballots from people it alleges are "likely" noncitizens.
The ruling comes the night before the parties are scheduled to have a hearing before a lower court.
The leaders of the groups massing under the banner of “the resistance” have an audacious agenda for a Democratic Congress—and they tell The New Republic that they are ready to fight for it. trib.al/JBRUYnE
When the next US Congress investigates corruption, Trump's oil-deal-of-the-century with Alejandro Betancourt, the face of Venezuelan corruption, should be top of its list. Two kleptocracies working together. Brilliant essay by @anneapplebaum.wsocial.euwww.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...
Everyone should read these threads I did about industry lobbyists and the EPA and understand them. Take the time to see the unambiguous evidence of what's happening now at this moment inside the EPA. Please retweet them. Please read them. Each one of the threads. It's happening in slow motion.
Around 175 House Dems just called on Trump's DOJ and DHS to end "weaponization of law enforcement" against Rep Ilhan Omar. The letter is signed by numerous ranking committee Dems, showing depth of support for Omar in leadership and signaling how Dem House will act.
newrepublic.com/article/2171...
So readers:
We've offered today a small overview of thousands of documents NYT collected as part of reporting for this story--just a tiny fraction shared here
What is clear?
Documentation matters.
Transparency matters
Accountability matters.
Thanks for reading
www.nytimes.com/2026/10/24/c...
It's really important to pay attention to the fact that Lula beat the fascist candidate not by compromising and trying to meet fascist voters in the middle, but by sticking to his guns, promising prosecutions for election interference, and mobilising his own voters to turn out in greater numbers.
Here is the TLDR of the 9th Circuit hearing:
DOJ will lose.
It will be either 2-1 or 3-0.
It will be on jurisdiction and perhaps on the merits.
The argument was a debacle for Trump and the DOJ lawyer who argued it.
Watch for details. www.youtube.com/live/EsuYPbm...
Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was driving his construction crew to work when an ICE officer shot and killed him in Houston.
He wasn’t even the person ICE was looking for.
Now Texas voters are leaving their “I Voted” stickers at his memorial.
#BlueWaveIn10Days
WELKER: Is a vote for you a vote for the Trump agenda?
MIKE ROGERS: Um, I'm apologizing. I'm having some difficultly in my earpiece. But is a vote for you? I'm not sure. I'll tell you what a vote for me is. It's a great day for the state of Michigan
Trump admin arrests Colorado priest.
Incarcerates him for over a year.
Judge orders him released without charges.
They release him without the wheelchair he needs -- other prisoners have to bodily carry him out.
He's now being tested for latent TB:
www.newsfromthestates.com/article/colo...
This was like his 3rd glitch during the speech where he just randomly stops mid-sentence and makes a weird noise or, in this case, just opens his mouth and freezes for 3 seconds while saying nothing, then continues. Pretty sad that TV networks refuse to cover this situation.
A Russian energy giant secretly financed a US gas project in Alaska, while that same project was being discussed by Putin with Witkoff and Kushner as part of talks supposedly aimed at ending Russia’s war in Ukraine.
The US company’s CEO resigned after discovering the Russian money.
A wild story: the CEO of a US energy company whose plans were discussed during the Witkoff-Kushner-Putin negotiations resigns. Why? He learned that his company's main investor is a sanctioned Russian company, not the UAE
www.nytimes.com/2026/10/23/u...
To folks who follow me on Bluesky & appreciate the journalism I do. Can you please read the EPA story and post on social media platforms if you are so moved. This kind of work is important. But it only matters if people read it and engage with it. Here's the link.
www.nytimes.com/2026/10/24/c...
The Ramaswamy campaign not only tried to capitalize on a child rape victim, they did it by using an old homeless woman who—while vile—is in no mental shape to adequately understand the stakes.
And did they pay her? Either answer is bad.
Donna Arthur — aka Amy Acton’s estranged mother, and the person whose testimony Vivek Ramaswamy devoutly trusts — has been living with her cats, in a car, in a church parking lot, having declined housing assistance.
www.nytimes.com/2026/10/24/u...
JUST POSTED: Today at The NYT we are publishing a major investigation into how President Trump used his executive powers to expose millions of Americans to greater cancer risks.
A six month-long investigation built on more than 10,000 pages of FOIA records. Read it
www.nytimes.com/2026/10/24/c...
Scoop: White House lawyers are weighing preemptive mass pardons for junior staff, sources says
Under discussion: Pardoning everyone involved in deportation, war, or trade policy
www.washingtonsun.com/whitehouse/w...
This is such a garbage way to report on anothet ludicrous, outrageous, illegal, actually criminal attempt by DOJ to disenfranchise voters and/or cast doubt on election results. Eight lazy paragraphs full of lies before the truth, attributed to “critics“. You know better, @shawnhubler.bsky.social.
BREAKING:
The Trump DOJ just sent letters to local election officials across California — every county in the state — demanding they identify potential noncitizens on their voter rolls and set aside their ballots.
Local officials would "risk significant federal scrutiny" if they failed to comply.
At some point after the election there'll be a lot of pieces puzzling out how the Republicans got away with being so generously funded by a notorious white nationalist and it wasn't treated as a big, problematic issue. From the same reporters currently not treating it as a big, problematic issue.
The charges intensified the administration’s efforts to go after the law enforcement and intelligence personnel who cast doubt on unsubstantiated claims that Joseph R. Biden Jr. engaged in corrupt dealings in Ukraine.
www.nytimes.com/2026/10/23/u...
This persecution stinks of state Sen. Louise Lucas, the 82-year-old who led VA Democrats’ redistricting effort, is esp vile bc she's got less power and resources than say a James Comey.
And of course, she's a Black woman. by @ariannacoghill.bsky.socialwww.motherjones.com/politics/202...
They made these robot dogs.
And Boston Dynamics employers are demanding the company stop its delivery of the weaponized robots to ICE.
“We cannot be proud of working at BD when that work is being used by a government agency that brutalizes civilians.”
www.bostonglobe.com/2026/10/23/b...
70 percent of the internet was vulnerable yesterday to very bad security flaws inside a coding language. Turns out, *one volunteer* is mostly responsible for maintaining that code & helping push updates. Yesterday Ondřej Surý saved the internet. So I called him up www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker is sending $1 million to Georgia Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms’ gubernatorial campaign, two people familiar with the decision granted anonymity to discuss details told POLITICO.
www.politico.com/news/2026/10...
Just as a private equity firm buys out a corporation and strips it for parts, a consultant class is raiding the Democratic Party and getting “generationally wealthy” along the way
New from me and @adambonica.bsky.socialnewrepublic.com/article/2163...
NEW: A group of Catholic bishops prayed over President Trump in the Oval Office on Thursday, 12 days before the midterm elections, at a meeting organized by an official at the Heritage Foundation.
A senior Vatican official called it “a highly inappropriate meeting and an insult to Pope Leo XIV.”
🚨BREAKING: In a loss for voters, the Supreme Court ruled to bar New Hampshire election officials from considering student IDs as evidence of identity when registering and voting during the midterms.
The broader ban on automatically accepting student IDs as valid photo ID also remains in effect.