Paddy O'Mugwump ⚠️ (Patrick Downs)

"We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented." —Elie Wiesel

SpaceX is now down about $1 trillion from its all-time high. Elon Musk is no longer a trillionaire. Or even a $900 billionaire. He’s closer to $800B today.

You would think that’s something the FBI Director would know about.

'Already crossed the line': A.G. James' lawyer gives fair warning to Trump prosecutors that there are protections when officials abuse their power. "There are ways to seek redress. I can't really tip off what we're going to do, but the people on the other side should be fairly warned."

Bombshell! - Caleb Nelson, one of the most respected originalist scholars in the country, comes out against the unitary executive interpretation of Article II democracyproject.org/posts/must-a...

You know, if you can spare the money, a Bluetooth speaker hidden inside a trash can and blaring the Imperial March at full volume can be a fun little thing.

Hello journalists. If you report this you gotta say that under the Constitution he has no power to do it. Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Prof. Wurman has found another place where a dissenting interpretation favors absolute government power and disfavors immigrants, wow what a weird coincidence, he sure is concerned about academic discourse, thanks to all the profs here telling me to take him very seriously

Here's an idea: Trump's fight with Harvard is a proxy for his fight with elite universities everywhere. He thinks (probably correctly) that if he can beat Harvard into submission then all the rest will fall into line. So Harvard's victory is essential, not just for Harvard but also for /1

Our strategy of mild, triangulated, focus group-tested talking points got us within 2 points of defeating the most dangerous man to ever hold the presidency. Why on earth would we change tactics? by Chuck Schumer, Gavin Newsom, Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, and David Plouffe

The Pentagon has hired yet another openly antisemitic staffer. Remember, liberals, it takes an antisemite to stop an antisemite.

Feeling like your civilization is about to collapse? This sheet-pan beer bread will make you feel like you're in late Bronze Age Egypt.

This is a senior Justice Department official. Who is in charge of pardons. And also in charge of investigating the “politicization” of the Justice Department.

Staggering: Trump lost 96% of federal court cases in May. Even GOP-appointed judges ruled against him 72% of the time.

Current and former U.S. military pilots expressed bewilderment after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth refused to acknowledge that he should not have disclosed sensitive information in an unsecured group chat. “If you can’t admit when you’re wrong, you’re going to kill somebody,” one pilot said.

BREAKING: DOGE is starting to put together a team to migrate the SSA's computer systems entirely off one of its oldest programming languages in a matter of months, potentially putting the integrity of the system—and the benefits on which tens of millions of Americans rely—at risk.

An advance look at Barry Blitt’s “Left to Their Own Devices,” the cover for next week’s issue. #NewYorkerCovers

DOGE “seemed unsure” of what USAID programs they cut and is now attempting to reverse some of the cuts, says @propublica.org reporter Brett Murphy. “This is the opposite of a careful review."

With his permission, I'm sharing Dean Treanor's response to Ed Martin's letter:

A Whole Bunch of Bad Stuff Is Coming When things are dark, the only way through is together. By Jonathan V. Last www.thebulwark.com/p/a-whole-bu...

GOOD CONVERSATION! Listen to: A landlord and man seeking Section 8 housing have an unexpected moment of connection - one.npr.org/i/nx-s1-5252...

@picskelton.bsky.social Hey! 😎

GIFT ARTICLE 🎁 Special Counsel Jack Smith's Report Says Trump Would Have Been CONVICTED in Election Case The report, which said the special counsel’s office stood “fully behind” merits of the prosecution, amounted to an extraordinary rebuke of the president-elect. www.nytimes.com/2025/01/14/u...

Donald Trump would have been convicted in his election case if his re-election had not made a trial impossible, the special counsel report said.

sometimes a picture (or magazine cover) is all you need

In any other democratic country, including the UK, Donald Trump would have been convicted in 2020 or soon after. It would not have taken over four years for a functioning justice system to find he encouraged a violent riot. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Pete Hegseth isn't just a Christian nationalist, he's FAR to the theological right of anybody even close to national power in modern history. Ted Cruz is Ned Flanders next to Hegseth. I've been reporting on the Christian Right for 20+ years. This isn't just "another one"; this is new & worse.

Trump team apparentrly saying Hegseth FBI file too terrifying to let all but a couple of senators see it www.axios.com/2025/01/14/t...

Elon Musk and the Decline of Western Civilization Silvio Berlusconi invented the modern oligarchy. Musk is expanding it. by FRANCIS FUKUYAMA www.persuasion.community/p/elon-musk-...

Anderson Cooper has a special broadcast on LA burning, on CNN right now (Sunday, started 8:30pm PST). This is a screenshot of a thermal image satellite photo of the Altadena CA fire and every one of those dots is a building burning. Astonishing. I've never seen anything like this.

GIFT ARTICLE 🎁 The Army of God Comes Out of the Shadows Tens of millions of American Christians are embracing a charismatic movement known as the New Apostolic Reformation, which seeks to destroy the secular state. www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...

State Farm, one of the biggest insurers in California, canceled hundreds of homeowners' policies last summer in Pacific Palisades—the same area which is now being ravaged by a devastating wildfire. www.newsweek.com/california-i...

VERY BAD Pacific Palisades fire explodes as thousands of residents flee, homes are lost www.latimes.com/california/s...

GIFT ARTICLE 🎁 The Internet Is Worse Than a Brainwashing Machine In recent years, experts have worried over an online crisis of “misinformation,” Charlie Warzel and Mike Caulfield write. But that term doesn’t begin to describe what’s really happening. www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...

Take a screenshot of this GIF, and whichever new word you land on is YOUR word for 2025. May the odds be ever in your favor.

Everything stated in this post is a provable fact. You are entitled to your own opinion. You are not entitled to your own facts. Looking at YOU, 2020 election-deniers.

The Inauguration should be a great tradition, regardless who wins. But a lot of the money given to Trump for the 2016 inauguration was paid to related parties, and other funds remain mysteriously unaccounted for. To ignore this is to participate in corruption.

GIFT ARTICLE 🎁 Trump owes his victory to the millions of voters who saw him "as the stability candidate who would usher in a return to pre-COVID normalcy,” writes Rogé Karma. But his agenda “seems bound to generate conflict and chaos.” www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...

A Tesla Cybertruck exploded in front of one of Trump’s hotels last night. Here’s why that’s bad news for Joe Biden.

Here we go! Hold fast, everyone. 💪

Just a couple of reasons why I'm still on X, and trolling Elmo is the main one.

2024 has been so off the charts crazy that you may be as exhausted as I am by it. I'm trying to be optimistic about the coming year but it's difficult. Hold fast, I guess, is all we can do. It seems like the world has gone half mad.

Incredibly sad. Entirely preventable. www.mediaite.com/news/washing...

The Dogs of 2024 youtu.be/yKcQScxYdYM?...

Nick Schifrin spoke with Judy Woodruff, who has covered the Carters for more than 50 years; @jfallows.bsky.social, Carter’s speechwriter during the first two years of the administration; and Kai Bird, author of “The Outlier: The Unfinished Presidency of Jimmy Carter.” www.pbs.org/newshour/sho...

And stay out!