Also from AWP this weekend: a copy of Brillo, by @p-cunning.bsky.social. Paul Thek, Warhol--really looking forward to reading this book too.

Had a good time at AWP in Baltimore this weekend. Really looking forward to reading the books I picked up there from @actionbooks.bsky.social. I'm a big fan of Jaime Saenz's poetry (his The Night is fantastic) so I was especially excited to see Two Poems, trans. by Ted Dodson and Kit Schluter.

Last week I saw Humoresque (1946) at the AFI Silver Theater, a movie I've been wanting to see for a while. A great film about artistic obsession and simmering class tensions. It's bleak but also surprisingly funny (mainly due to Oscar Levant's performance). Highly recommended.

virginia is about to be a one party democratic state again (laudatory)

The United States carried out a large-scale attack on Venezuela overnight and captured President Nicolás Maduro, U.S. President Trump says in a statement.

The Anti-Fascist Origins of Swedish Social Democracy Fifty years ago, Sweden attempted the most ambitious democratic transition to socialism ever. Its architect, a Jewish economist who witnessed the rise of Nazi Germany firsthand, was motivated by the imperative to never repeat the horrors of fascism.

Fifty years ago, Sweden attempted the most ambitious democratic transition to socialism ever.

Its architect, a Jewish economist who witnessed the rise of Nazi Germany firsthand, was motivated by the imperative to never repeat the horrors of fascism.

Healthcare premiums are set to soar in 2026 as key subsidies under the Affordable Care Act expire for millions of people. The United States "has essentially done nothing to control health care costs," says Elisabeth Benjamin of @cssnyorg.bsky.social.

Abel Ferrera is great in Marty Supreme. The guy really should be in more films.

Bari Weiss's Counter-Journalistic Crusade Targets “60 Minutes” The new editor in chief at CBS News has shown she's not merely stupendously unqualified--she's ideologically opposed to the practice of good journalism.

In the 60 Minutes controversy, Weiss is likely doing what she always does: producing a line of propaganda masquerading as news coverage that serves the interest of her patrons–in this case, David Ellison, whose interests are served by protecting Donald Trump.
https://bit.ly/45bGW9m

What arrogance. What narcissism.

I will be introducing legislation prohibiting the naming of federal buildings after sitting presidents.

Doctors in Jail? Hospitals Stripped of Fed Funding? The Criminalization of Trans Youth Healthcare The Trump administration on Thursday announced new measures to target hospitals and doctors providing care to trans youth. Under the new rules unveiled by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Dr...

“Trans people and our families are facing terror from this administration.”

Jeff Buckley on the reminder you might need.

"This promise of an AI future, is really just a collective anxiety that wealthy people have about how well they're gonna be able to control us in the future."

- @tressiemcphd.bsky.social with an absolute mic drop moment about AI bullshit.

Incredible words.
Listen to all of it!

Watched The Occupant of the Room and really enjoyed it. I'm a big fan of Christmas season ghost stories, and this one does a great job invoking an eerie, late-night, wintery atmosphere. Written and directed by @kierlajanisse.bsky.social and based on an Algernon Blackwood story.

Gaza Writer Mohammed Mhawish on Life Under Israeli Surveillance Award-winning Palestinian reporter Mohammed Mhawish, who left Gaza last year, joins us to discuss his new piece for New York magazine about Israel’s surveillance practices. It describes how Palestinia...

In Gaza, "surveillance is constant," says Palestinian writer Mohammed Mhawish. This omnipresent sense of being watched and tracked — through checkpoints, social media, drones, AI and more — creates an "enormous psychological burden" on the civilian population.

Recently watched The Honeymoon Killers (1970). It's a tense, claustrophobic character study of two truly twisted individuals, based (very loosely) on the "lonely hearts killers" case. It's riveting and deeply unsettling. Scorsese was the original director before he was fired from the project.

Ireland, Slovenia, Spain and the Netherlands to Boycott Eurovision over Israel’s Participation Public broadcasters in Ireland, Slovenia, the Netherlands and Spain said Thursday they will boycott the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest, after the European Broadcasting Union refused to hold a vote on wh...

Ireland, Slovenia, Spain and the Netherlands to Boycott Eurovision over Israel’s Participation

The University of Virginia and Cornell deals with Trump set a dangerous precedent | Serena Mayeri and Amanda Shanor The bespoke agreements are full of peril for the universities, allowing the federal government to quietly exert control

This is spot-on.

The UVA "deal" might be the worst/most dangerous (so far). With the help of UVA's leadership, Trump coerced a leading U.S. university to foreswear all efforts (including 100% lawful measures) to achieve diversity.

A betrayal of our values.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Udo Kier on Twitter: "film should not be streamed on netflix. envelop yourself in the darkness of the movie hall and submit to the artist's visioon."

Udo Kier's first and only post on Twitter 💯

Blood For Dracula 1974 intro with Udo Kier - HD YouTube video by MultiCathyU - Cassie Arc

RIP Udo Kier. The intro. to Blood for Dracula (1974) is one of my all-time favorite film openings.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErHh...

I read "One Day, Everyone Will Have Been Against This" last summer--an incredibly powerful book.

HBD, the incomparable Martin Scorsese, whose movies and commitment to art changed my life.

Trump's economy is being held up by a massive AI bubble.

A recent study found that of 300 companies that owned generative AI tools, 95% reported zero return on their investments.

We will not entertain a bailout of these companies should this bubble pop.

This is officially one of the strangest pictures in American history, and I do not doubt that it will be considered iconic a hundred years from now.

100% serious here.

Rep. Yassamin Ansari has set up a table and this sign outside Speaker Johnson’s office.

Add child kidnaspping to the ICE Nuremburg file.

Mamdani: "We can respond to oligarchy and authoritarianism with the strength it fears, not the appeasement it craves. After all, if anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it is the city that gave rise to him."

this is genuinely wild