Feel free to congratulate me.

Campfire Politics | Substack A weekly progressive political digest. The best thinking from across the left, curated with a wry eye and zero patience for bullshit. Like The Week, but with a backbone. Click to read Campfire Politic...

Some vets of the blogosphere have just launched a new outlet on Substack. Campfire Politics is "A weekly progressive political digest. The best thinking from across the left, curated with a wry eye and zero patience for bullshit. Like The Week, but with a backbone." campfirepolitics.substack.com

Campfire Politics | Substack A weekly progressive political digest. The best thinking from across the left, curated with a wry eye and zero patience for bullshit. Like The Week, but with a backbone. Click to read Campfire Politic...

Some vets of the blogosphere have just launched a new outlet on Substack. Campfire Politics is "A weekly progressive political digest. The best thinking from across the left, curated with a wry eye and zero patience for bullshit. Like The Week, but with a backbone." campfirepolitics.substack.com

🎻

The New York Times is now blocking The Wayback Machine from accessing its articles.

That means you'll no longer be able to view archived versions of NYT stories published in 2026 and beyond on archive.org.

(All those posts you see tracking changes to NYT headlines and ledes? They relied on WBM).

Our team received a report of intermittent app outages at about 11:40pm PDT on April 15, 2026. They worked through the night to mitigate a sophisticated Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attack, which intensified throughout the day.

Hegseth Borrows Violent Prayer from ‘Pulp Fiction’ to Bless Iran War at April Pentagon Worship Service For the second month in a row, Pete Hegseth, who likes to call himself “secretary of war,” read a violent prayer — that echoes a scene in the Quentin Tarantino film Pulp Fiction — during a worship ser...

what’s funny about this is that tarantino wrote this “ezekiel 25:17“ for the film. it isn‘t actually in the bible. publicwitness.wordandway.org/p/hegseth-bo...

If you have a Bank of America account, do this. Call Bank of America at 800.283.8875, enter the last 4 digits of your SSN, listen to their recorded spiel, & say "Yes" to opt out of their unfair mandatory arbitration agreement that bars you from joining any lawsuit or class action against the bank.

Mulling Over Markwayne Mullin and Theocratic Creep in the GOP - Bucks County Beacon One thing that didn't come up during Mullin’s confirmation hearing that should have is his involvement with City Elders, a Tulsa, Oklahoma-based political organization enmeshed with the New Apostolic ...

Mulling Over Markwayne Mullin and Theocratic Creep in the GOP | One thing that didn't come up during Mullin’s confirmation hearing that should have is his involvement with City Elders, a political organization enmeshed with the New Apostolic Reformation movement, writes @fredclarkson.bsky.social.

Secretive Christian-right group City Elders: Mostly smoke and mirrors? Investigation: Is the shadowy Christian right group City Elders more than big talk about

Jim Garlow, a leading apostle in the New Apostolic Reformation, is a big fan of Viktor Orbán, the authoritarian prime minister of Hungary, who he says “may be one of the best leaders in the world… probably the most biblically grounded.”

bit.ly/4mmr8bb

MAGA and Putin bet big on Hungary's election. Will it pay off? - Salon.com JD Vance gets weird in Budapest as the far right's bromance with Viktor Orbán heads for the rocks

JD Vance gets weird in Budapest as the far right's bromance with Viktor Orbán heads for the rocks.

In France, legislation came into effect recently for all car parks that have over 80 spaces to be covered with solar panels. Estimated to add around 11GW of renewable energy capacity to the national grid. Why not do likewise in Scotland? Braehead, Silverburn, Glasgow Fort etc.

Pete Hegseth’s War on Religious Freedom and the Constitution Pete Hegseth, Trump's nominee for Secretary of Defense in an advocate for a revolutionary theocratic vision that would undo the Constitution

The theocratic actions of Secretary of Defense Hegseth have schocked democratic sensibilities. But they are not surprising considering his record. Too bad Senators did not ask him about it at his confirmation hearing.

barnraisingmedia.com/pete-hegseth...

Pete Hegseth’s War on Religious Freedom and the Constitution Pete Hegseth, Trump's nominee for Secretary of Defense in an advocate for a revolutionary theocratic vision that would undo the Constitution

The theocratic actions of Secretary of Defense Hegseth have schocked democratic sensibilities. But they are not surprising considering his record. Too bad Senators did not ask him about it at his confirmation hearing.

barnraisingmedia.com/pete-hegseth...

Wildlife trade drives animal-to-human pathogen transmission over 40 years

New in @science.org ‼️ In the most comprehensive study to date, we show that wildlife trade is driving animal-to-human zoonotic spillover at a planetary scale, with +1 spillover per host every 10 years. Live animal markets and illegal trade pose even greater risks. 🔓 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

David Austin Walsh covers this in “Taking America Back: The Conservative Movement and the Far Right,” which uses Buckley as a connecting thread. "The same features of what became MAGAism were embedded in the movement from the very beginning," he told me: 1/2

www.salon.com/2024/04/20/a...

One thing did not come up during the discussion of concerns about Mullin’s nomination: his involvement with City Elders. U.S. Senator Markwayne Mullin at the Memorial for Charlie Kirk at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.

City Elders is a Tulsa, Oklahoma-based political organization enmeshed with the theocratic New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) movement. City Elders is meant to be a model for governance at all levels that parallels the NAR’s model for the church. Screenshot of “Senator Markwayne Mullin to City Elders” YouTube video. Credit: City Elders/ Youtube.com.

The name City Elders is both a biblical reference and a description of the group’s focus on county seats as the planned locus of theocratic action. The group seeks to develop permanent political infrastructures to select and elect candidates for local bodies such as school boards and county commissions, to exert ongoing influence. Giovanni Battista Borra, 1713–1770, Napolosa in Samaria, ca. 1750, Black ink with gray wash over graphite on moderately thick

The chummy relationship between Markwayne Mullin and City Elders founder Jesse Leon Rodgers epitomizes the theocratic creep in the Republican Party. Read Frederick Clarson’s full article on Mullin’s confirmation and how the NAR is consolidating power in the GOP to learn more at https://bit.ly/MullingOverMullin. U.S. Senator Markwayne Mullin speaking with attendees at the 2024 AmericaFest at the Phoenix Convention Center in Phoenix, Arizona. Gage Skidmore/Flickr.com

PRA’s @fredclarkson.bsky.social examines Markwayne Mullin’s connection to City Elders, a theocratic political organization deeply embedded in the New Apostolic Reformation. This relationship highlights the NAR’s expanding influence and dominionist agenda. Read more: https://bit.ly/MullingOverMullin

Trump recently invoked a dead NAR prophet to claim he was Go'd choice for president. The timing suggests that he was claiming a divine mandate for what others were calling a holy war. www.salon.com/2026/04/04/t...

Trump recently invoked a dead NAR prophet to claim he was Go'd choice for president. The timing suggests that he was claiming a divine mandate for what others were calling a holy war. www.salon.com/2026/04/04/t...

Same person who:

Invoked violent biblical imagery at the Million Women March: religiondispatches.org/2024/10/17/p... (@fredclarkson.bsky.social)

And at Stop the Steal rally on Jan 5, 2021: www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024...

Disturbing to consider this person "the father" whom CA "needs."

Trump summons dead prophet to boost Iran war - Salon.com “Apostles” and “prophets” on the Christian far right are still ready to rally behind failing president

ICYMT: Don't miss my story @salon.com Trump's summoning of a dead prophet to boost the war in Iran &
Michael Flynn's ReAwaken America Tour revival.
salon.com/2026/04/04/t...

The Nicole Sandler Show - Progressive Talk Radio with an Attitude... online - YouTube Radio veteran Nicole Sandler brings her decades of experience online with a daily live program, a discussion of the day's news, with laughs and occasionally ...

I'll be on the Nicole Sandler Show today at 3:20pm Eastern. We will talk about NAR stuff, probably mostly in relation to my three recent articles.  The recording will be available after that for anyone interested. www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...

Trump summons dead prophet to boost Iran war - Salon.com “Apostles” and “prophets” on the Christian far right are still ready to rally behind failing president

Don't miss the ghoulish new politics of Michael Flynn's ReAwaken America Tour revival, and Trump's summoning of a dead prophet to boost the war in Iran.

My latest @salon www.salon.com/2026/04/04/t...

Trump summons dead prophet to boost Iran war - Salon.com “Apostles” and “prophets” on the Christian far right are still ready to rally behind failing president

Don't miss the ghoulish new politics of Michael Flynn's ReAwaken America Tour revival, and Trump's summoning of a dead prophet to boost the war in Iran.

My latest @salon www.salon.com/2026/04/04/t...

Meet the Top 24 Leaders of the New Apostolic Reformation in the U.S. Given the threat to America’s democratic institutions and aspirations posed by the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR), it’s alarming that the movement’s leading figures aren’t well or widely known. Many,...

ICYMT: Mini profiles of 24 top leaders of the New Apostolic Reformation in the U.S. @religiondispatches.org
Get to know these under-the-radar leaders of a movement that helped organize January 6 and continues to pose a threat to American democracy. religiondispatches.org/2026/04/02/m...

Meet the Top 24 Leaders of the New Apostolic Reformation in the U.S. Given the threat to America’s democratic institutions and aspirations posed by the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR), it’s alarming that the movement’s leading figures aren’t well or widely known. Many,...

ICYMT: Mini profiles of 24 top leaders of the New Apostolic Reformation in the U.S. @religiondispatches.org
Get to know these under-the-radar leaders of a movement that helped organize January 6 and continues to pose a threat to American democracy. religiondispatches.org/2026/04/02/m...

Welp.

picture of the 8th thesis. text reads: The tradition of the oppressed teaches us that the "state of emergency" in which we live is not the exception but the rule. We must attain to a conception of history that is in keeping with this insight. Then we shall clearly realize that it is our task to bring about a real state of emergency, and this will improve our position in the struggle against Fascism. One reason why Fascism has a chance is that in the name of progress its opponents treat it as a historical norm. The current amazement that the things we are experiencing are "still" possible in the twentieth century is not philosophical. This amazement is not the beginning of knowledge-unless it is the knowledge that the view of history which gives rise to it is untenable.

Benjamin wrote his "Theses on the Philosophy of History" in 1940, shortly before he died by suicide escaping the Nazis. Imagine, now, Hannah Arendt reading this aloud to fellow refugees fleeing the Third Reich on the ship that was smuggling them to the U.S.

JD Vance’s new book features a photo of their church. They don’t know Vance. The members of a tiny Methodist church in Virginia are excited — if a little confused — that Vance’s memoir of his path to Catholicism has put them in the spotlight.

The modest church on the cover of Vice President JD Vance’s new memoir unpacking his Catholic faith has a tiny but loyal congregation.

What it doesn’t have, members said: any connection to Vance or Catholicism.

The most powerful folks in politics you never hear about, other than dark money donors, are leaders of the theorcratic New Apostolic Reformation, who were vital in rallying evangelical support for Trump. Here's a great introduction to two dozen of them & some of what they've been up to.