Mickey Hawk

Welcome to Extortionland!

This is a conversation that I shared with Dr. Amy Acton last November. @amyactonoh.bsky.social snyder.substack.com/p/conversati...

A 2025 Nobel Prize winner in chemistry, Omar Yaghi is the son of Palestinian refugees who grew up in Jordan. He just left the US to move to China after raising concerns about rising anti-immigrant sentiment, like the kind shown here. donmoynihan.substack.com/p/china-than...

I don't really enjoy living in a world where "White House AI slop video" is a real thing

Love to see it. This is what that man is meant to do.

Look how many Floridians get that climate change is driving their home insurance crisis. Big majorities; nearly half of Trump voters!

Until the 20th century, only white people could claim citizenship in America. With MAGA, even being a citizen is insufficient to being an American; whiteness is all.

Protest works. Organization is decisive. Draw your own conclusions. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/o...

My reporting on the student movement in Serbia last summer. They kept at it, amazingly, for two years. And they won. snyder.substack.com/p/youth-prot...

A carefully planned Russian propaganda operation is underway. Having starved people in Oleshky for months, Russia, with the 'intervention' of Melania, will allow people to leave and pretend Ukraine was at fault. Read @zarinazabrisky.bsky.social www.kyivpost.com/analysis/88041

The same US president who treats our friend Canada as an enemy is trying to give Alaska to Russia, a country whose absolutely overt foreign policy is to destroy us. This superpower suicide has to be stopped. www.ft.com/content/e9cf...

Writing for Sunday rather than Monday this week: New column for paid subscribers will post at the website and hit inboxes early Sun. a.m. I'll send it out again Monday if I remember. Have a nice day. #CBJ #Crew96 www.thedisrespected.com/p/bb613cc4-6...

ALASKA GEORGIA IOWA MICHIGAN NORTH CAROLINA OHIO TEXAS If you’re in one of these states, you’ve got an extra important role to play to protect the results of the midterms.

Heading to Plutocracy and Oligarchy: Elon Musk Has Spent Nearly Half a Billion Dollars (NOT a Typo) to Boost Republicans in the Midterm Elections electionlawblog.org/2026/heading...

Everybody in the pro-democracy movement should have Ilhan Omar’s back.

"Pay dirt"

Hard to imagine that this is getting worse. But he's making it worse.

OK so I have never been terribly good at math so I might be completely wrong here but I did some rough calculations. According to the Fed, the median American net worth is $200,000, and if that's your net worth, this translates to donating 88 bucks.

I give CBO credit for at least trying to model the effects of administrative burdens (would not have happened a generation ago) but looks like they underestimated it. Hope it is not the same for Medicaid.

In the wake of unprecedented cuts in last year's Republican reconciliation law, SNAP participation & spending have been falling — and the decline is much deeper than the Congressional Budget Office initially projected. www.cbpp.org/blog/congres...

Aaaand …here’s another politician’s spouse cashing in bsky.app/profile/clar...

"Five state-funded charter schools have paid more than $30 million to private companies run by Erika Donalds, whose husband is Florida’s GOP candidate for governor." And one of her companies is set to be paid an additional $15.7 million in the upcoming year. www.miamiherald.com/news/politic...

Contracting and crypto seems to be the two easiest pathways to monetize political influence, and hard for non-Presidents to pull off crypto.

This is the singularity to worry about—CBS, CNN, X, TikTok etc all essentially controlled by the same ethically bankrupt owners.

According to the US government we need to worry about Canadian interference in the midterms (which amounts to objections to tariffs) but never mind Russian influence operations as long they serve a GOP that is rewarding Russia for its attacks on Ukraine. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/22/u...

Of course, the sexual predator in chief defends mocking 12 year old rape victims

What is it with billionaires and taxes? What change in his lifestyle would these taxes cause? Would the guy even notice? What, he doesn’t have enough money already? www.politico.com/news/2026/10...

Heather makes a solid point. If you're writing a story about Rahm Emanuel's presidential aspirations and don't mention that his administration as Chicago mayor covered up the police murder of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald, you're committing journalism malpractice. Chicagoans remember, believe me.

Blanche is an extraordinary hack even by Trump standards and there is a good chance Trump will ask him to declare the elections void

NEW AD: Have you seen these anti-Talarico attack ads? Elon Musk paid for nearly all of them. The world's first trillionaire knows if he drags the most corrupt politician in Texas across the finish line, Ken Paxton will owe him everything. Elon Musk: Texas is not for sale.

Democrats need to run against Elon Musk. Bravo to Talarico for doing it.

You know what pissed me off about the Ramaswamy ad beyond the obvious grotesqueries? There’s no EVIDENCE disputing Acton’s life story. There are court proceedings backing up her story. And all Ramaswamy’s got is the (accused) mother saying “nu uh” and somehow that’s enough? FOR THE REPUBLICAN PARTY

Semafor broke the story.

White House special envoy Steve Witkoff praises Putin as a “humanitarian”, Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy’s campaign ad, and Trump announces cash for tips on fraud in U.S. government programs (here’s a tip…) anntelnaes.substack.com/p/putin-rama...

Call it a metaphor. www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

So - Canadian diplomats cannot meet with any future House members because of this bullshit

“In my judgment, Ohioans never have witnessed a more depraved, amoral political attack than the one just launched by Vivek Ramaswamy against Dr. Amy Acton. Ramaswamy knows, and does not care, that his attack is provably false.” The Columbus Dispatch apple.news/AcYDVkIsNSIu...

Elon Musk boosted the lie that James Talarico stayed at a mental hospital. Meta suspended No Kings’ Instagram account during nationwide actions. Staff at the Ellison-owned CBS News were reportedly told to tie Abdul El-Sayed to the Muslim Brotherhood and 9/11. Democracy dies in billionaire hands.

Every time Vance talks I am going to give money to the Dr Amy Acton gubernatorial campaign.

Vivek Ramaswamy, at the last, has no decency.

Props to UM for this! Would love to see how my beloved #OhioState Buckeyes are supporting voting, too.