Not only that, I read the actual book! Well worth it, high value add over the review.

Cold-blooded murder. Everyone giving or carrying out these orders must be prosecuted, full stop. Trump may enjoy executive immunity, his accomplices do not: the depraved disregard for human life exhibited by those perpetrating these murders must not go unpunished.

That'd be good. Even better: officeholders flatly shouldn't be able to sue for defamation at all. It's seditious libel by other means. If it's really that important, if your personal vindication outweighs the public interest against officials punishing criticism, then pursue it as a private citizen.

You may have noticed: American politicians are really old. You, and everyone else who follows American politics.

But you may not know that American politicians are exceptionally old compared to other democracies.

leedrutman.substack.com/p/why-americ...

It is precisely this reason that Trump didn't go in '17, '18, '19, or last year.

That he was unwilling to humble himself or reaffirm the important role of the press *in criticizing him* is a clear testament that he is unfit to be the leader of a free people (ignored by the voters, alas).

Since the 80s, the tradition form of the dinner is a roast, so the president attends and is forced to sit and smile while he is mocked while a full room applauds and approves loudly of the mockery.

The president is, in this form, forced to reify the status of the press and humble himself in public.

The AI bubble is like the dotcom bubble: It’s not that the Internet was some useless passing fad; it’s that a lot of money got poured into absolute horseshit before people started figuring out where the actual value was.

‘Simply stop giving millionaires water for literally free’ is one of the most insane sounding but actually serious policy solutions out there

This specific war is illegal and immoral, but "seizing enemy commerce" is actually a pretty standard part of how wars have worked since approximately forever, and is well-covered by international law.

I feel like I should spend a lot more time reading about the history of Argentina: A self-obsessed populist strongman leader? A raft of utterly foolish tariffs and import substitution policies? A once prosperous nation lulled into unseriousness? Hmm, I wonder where all of this leads?

Could do with a dash of being declared a public enemy by the Senate, while we're at it.

The Film That Explains Contemporary America “The Sorrow and the Pity” has lessons for how authoritarianism takes root—and how to fight against it.

"Restoring democracy required opponents of fascism—nationalists, republicans, and Communists—to work together despite serious misgivings about one another’s views. Purity tests had to wait until the war was over."

www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

Important parenting milestone: my son has reached the point in the 8th grade social studies curriculum where I have an excuse to sing the TMBG song "James K. Polk" at him repeatedly.

Among many benefits of this excellent proposal, an underrated one: it would lower the stakes of federal politics by abolishing SCOTUS nomination hearings, and raise the likelihood of supermajority consensus on judicial appointments. We desperately need more such depolarizing measures.

The ultimate example of MAGA projection is the historical fact that most of the problems they blame on immigrant cultural defects in fact trace back to the actual cultural defects of the Borderer-Cavalier tradition which produced the MAGA base.

Also, hoping the lady who says Obama is guilty of treason, the guy who thinks Trump is Jesus, the lady sleeping with her security detail and who drinks on the job, and the guy who harvests raccoon penises will vote the president mentally unfit for office doesn't seem like the soundest strategy.

it really is remarkable *how mild* the op-ed that she wrote was. It really shouldn’t matter what she said, but I think they chose to make an example of her precisely *because* she didn’t do anything remotely wrong. They wanted to show they could do this to anyone.

this is just to say

I have had an issue
fetching the posts
that were
on the timeline

and which you
were probably
hoping
to doomscroll

forgive me
the takes were so hot
and so
rate limited

Texas immigration court interpreter detained by ICE says ‘they want to make me disappear’ Meenu Batra, the state’s only licensed Punjabi, Hindi and Urdu interpreter, says she was treated ‘like a criminal’

Texas immigration court interpreter detained by ICE says ‘they want to make me disappear’
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

France seeking release of 86-year-old French widow detained by ICE “Given her age, we really want her to get out of this situation as soon as possible,” a French official said.

www.politico.com/news/2026/04...

She married a former US army captain a year ago. He died. Now we're holding her in a hell hole. She's 86.

YES

If the Court strikes down VRA districts, the easiest way to undo that damage would be to move to multi-member PR districts, which a future Congress can do by statute. Same or better minority representation results (e.g. black members in the South), no need for it to be explicitly race-conscious.

This is happening to tens of thousands of people. It is a disgrace. It is a parody of due process; after more than a decade, the government suddenly orders you to return to a court hearing in just days, thousands of miles from where you live. And it's tearing lives apart.

It’s a telling indicator of media desensitization that the US government’s ongoing program of murder on the high seas—which according to the perpetrators has killed fourteen (14) people this week— is no longer a subject for much serious or sustained news coverage.

Pity; she was absolutely right. Kavanaugh’s idealized, Pollyanaish picture of ICE stops as a trivial inconvenience rapidly terminated by those with legal status, and with no systemic chilling effects, could only have been drawn by someone mindbogglingly detatched from the reality.

ICE Has Arrested Dozens of Delivery Drivers at the Gates of a San Diego Military Base Advocates warn immigrants to avoid military bases when working for apps like Uber, Lyft and DoorDash.

ICE is arresting delivery drivers at a San Diego military base. According to an attorney interviewed by Kate Morrissey, military police at the gates call ICE on any driver who is not a citizen or green card holder, even if they have permission to be in the country. capitalandmain.com/ice-has-arre...

The next president's Attorney General needs to act with urgency to investigate and prosecute the crimes being committed to effectuate the mass deportation agenda.

More than 400 people in S.F. have sought to self-deport, many with no good options Hundreds of Bay Area asylum-seekers are accepting voluntary departures as feds seek their removal to 3rd countries.

The feds under President Trump have tried to send more than 1,300 people in San Francisco to 3rd countries to pursue their asylum cases.

For many, that has pushed them over the edge: Hundreds here are now choosing to self-deport, & give up seeking refuge.

missionlocal.org/2026/04/sf-i...

IMPORTANT: Under federal law, it's very hard, at times near-impossible, to sue federal law enforcement officers for civil rights violations. But legal theorists have said for decades that there is a possible way to sue under state law instead.

This is a VERY big test case.

Quite a flex to turn up at the presidential palace, get him to confirm you as prime minister, call him unfit to serve with no moral authority, tell him to resign, and then pose for a picture