We live in a country where the two most dynamic, charismatic, eloquent politicians of this century have the first names Barack and Zohran. This is what bothers the white supremacists so much.

Absolutely remarkable statement from Pope Leo today.
One for the history books
www.theguardian.com/world/2026/a...

Jesus Clarifies Return Will Be Strictly Limited To Carpentry Business JERUSALEM—In an effort to soften the blow for a human race eagerly awaiting His glorious arrival, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, clarified Monday that His return would be strictly limited to His carpen...

“While I will soon appear once more upon the earthly realm, My sole focus during this Second Coming will be various woodworking projects and not the establishment of a messianic kingdom,” said Christ, the Light of the World

Which raises the question of who, exactly, benefits from the Slotkin approach.

A cautious, trimmed-down, ideology-moderated party that makes the right noises and spooks nobody who matters is the wettest dream of the corporate “center.”

Fakery Is the Key to the Right’s Cultural and Political Dominance The Kid Rock alternative halftime show is a symptom of the larger unreality constantly produced by the right.

"These influential people then use their platforms to blast out that message to you and me and our parents and grandparents and coworkers. The message is always clear: The US is split down the middle in every way." www.liberalcurrents.com/fakery-is-th...

Great interview!

Questions for Markwayne Mullin What we need to hear -- but probably won't -- from Trump's nominee to replace Kristi Noem

New at The Watch:

Part one of my list of questions for Markwayne Mullin.

Discussing Disinformation #3 Professor Alan Jagolinzer Earlier this year, the CCOD sat down with Alan Jagozlinzer – Professor of Financial Accounting at the University of Cambridge and organiser of the Cambridge Disinformation Summit.

"I can flag that you’ve been manipulating and lying, but what are we going to do about it? We know some politicians right now are blatantly lying. We don’t need to run a fact-checking AI program to see that. ... There’s no courage for accountability."

ccodactivity.substack.com/p/discussing...

Americans are rejecting Donald Trump’s mass deportation assault on America. Americans don’t want to see students who are good enough and safe enough to perform at the U.S. Capitol and Carnegie Hall deported. Americans don’t want a five-year locked up at a trailer prison.

In 2020, when he finally figured out how hard Xi had played him, he raged at China. Wonder if he’s even capable of, or allowed to do that, with Netanyahu.

I was honored to attend the homegoing service of one of my heroes: Rev. Jesse Jackson.

As a pastor, he preached unity and love. As a candidate, he built a multi-racial working-class coalition.

Thank you to the Jackson Family for inviting me to celebrate his incredible life.

Dreaming of a Blue Texas Will economic progress turn Texas progressive?

open.substack.com/pub/paulkrug...
@pkrugman.bsky.social I haven’t seen any Texas based outlets saying anything like this.

Thank you, Texas! I am honored to be your Democratic nominee for Governor of our beautiful state. Together, we’re going to take on corruption and it’s going to be a new day in TX.

You have put your faith in me, and I promise to put my all into fighting for you and your families. On to November!

Here’s What TNR Readers Think About the Democratic Party The results are in from our recent readers’ poll. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez gets high marks. Kamala Harris, not so much.

The results are in from our recent readers’ poll. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez gets high marks. Kamala Harris, not so much.

trib.al/8OytsuB

Functioning democracies place anti-corruption regulation and enforcement as a high priority.

Not enforcing against corruption allows malign opportunists to garner outsized wealth and influence that helps steer policy and choose leaders. Corruption exacerbates democratic decline.

This War Will Destabilize The Entire Mideast Region And Set Off A Global Shockwave Of Anti-Americanism vs. No It Won’t George W. Bush may think that a war against Iraq is the solution to our problems, but the reality is, it will only serve to create far more.

This War Will Destabilize The Entire Mideast Region And Set Off A Global Shockwave Of Anti-Americanism vs. No It Won’t

The reason they spew some much disinformation about kids transitioning is because, in reality, trans people existing doesn't impact your life at all. Not. At. All.

So they lie, as Trump did in his State of the Union, to make you scared and angry.

Just leave trans people the fuck alone.

I think one of the best things about Bluesky and one of the things that is going to keep it from ever becoming as big as other sites is that everyone here has a real internal mistrust and dislike of people selling us something, either literally for money or for some sort of other gain

slavery is one of the rare things historically where the more you learn about it the more you realize your initial assessment was correct and it was in fact one of the most evil things ever to occur

Guy Whose Political Knowledge Is Exclusively From System of a Down Lyrics Better Informed Than 99% of People He Interacts With Nu-metalhead Roger Antesburger found that his lifelong System of a Down fandom left him better informed than the vast majority of people he interacted with on a daily basis.

Guy Whose Political Knowledge Is Exclusively From System of a Down Lyrics Better Informed Than 99% of People He Interacts With
thehardtimes.net/music/metal/...

In Texas Cities, Let a Hundred Mamdanis Bloom Our state has long-term lessons to learn from the New York socialist’s rise.

The Texas Observer debut of @alexbirnel.bsky.social: www.texasobserver.org/let-a-hundre...

I wrote about my time in Minneapolis last week, about what is involved in creating bottom-up, decentralized networks of care.

margaretkilljoy.substack.com/p/our-neighb...

Incredible work by @radleybalko.bsky.social

Two cities under siege Remarkably similar scenes from Boston and Minneapolis, 260 years apart, show a federal government betraying its founding principles.

open.substack.com/pub/radleyba...

Anyone dooming about there not being elections this fall please go register to work the polls.

Here in Texas you have to swear an oath to the US and Texas Constitution to be a poll worker.

Alex Pretti: Analysing Footage of Minneapolis CBP Shooting - bellingcat Bellingcat has analysed video of the shooting of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis. The footage appears to contradict statements made by the Department of Homeland Security.

We just published our full analysis of the ICE killing of Alex Pretti on Bellingcat
www.bellingcat.com/news/2026/01...

The events of the last 24 hours show why it's important to build functional verification structures in public and counterpublic spaces to resist the authoritarian erosion of our democratic systems, as described in this thread.

We need to get out good, verified information to the public as rapidly as possible, so counteract populist, conspiratorial, and authoritarian narratives that are produced by systems that work well in our modern information environment.

Part of what strikes me about Trump, Noem, Bovino, Miller, et al and their willingness to lie in the face of overwhelming video evidence, is their absolute certainty in the tribal stupidity and cynicism of their supporters—especially on here—who will blindly repeat their lies.

When these events happen and I check my local community fb pages, it’s like people are just reposting the same stuff you see in these tweets.

How are we ever going to build a better future when this poison is out there??