Recent posts by Public Intellectuals and Advocates on Bluesky

You could say these folks are good well-meaning people whose mistake is seeing political issues as completely abstract and divorced from real life. Or you could see them as dangerous morons. JVL is making one of those cases:

After Kash Patel took office as director of the F.B.I., the bureau has significantly stepped up use of lie-detector tests. In interviews and polygraph tests, the F.B.I. has asked senior employees whether they have said anything negative about Mr. Patel www.nytimes.com/2025/07/10/u...

This is where they lose Mike Tyson.

Dolton has closed on the purchase of Pope Leo XIV’s boyhood home in the village, but what will happen with the modest brick building is up in the air.

Among the waste uncovered by ProPublica and @cbsnews.com: Texas reimbursed anti-abortion groups $14 each time they handed out donated goods or materials, regardless of cost. Thus, handing out one pamphlet reaped the same payment as a pack of diapers. (Published July 2024)

Seems possible to me that AI unleashes a torrent of attentional pollution that renders the entire enterprise unworkable.

With its quicksilver shifts and sneaking sweetness, the experience of watching “Too Much” feels a lot like falling in love, @inkookang.bsky.social writes.

The thing about the Martin Theatre is there’s not quite enough room to dance. That didn’t stop audiences from trying anyway on Wednesday, when Irakere, the storied Cuban band, visited Ravinia for its ongoing 50-year anniversary celebrations.

Have we learned what Ken Paxton did yet? Do we know if it involved animals? Dead or alive? Just asking questions here.

The first American canonized by the Roman Catholic Church — just like the first American chosen as pope — once walked among the people of Chicago.

American Airlines will start flying from O’Hare International Airport to Mexico City late this year, the carrier announced Thursday.

The rules are simple:

Paxton’s wife left him because he had a wandering eye.

Paxton’s wife left him because he had a wondering eye.

BREAKING: Former manager Lee Elia, whose rant against Chicago Cubs fans became part of team lore, dies at 87

Congressional Republicans have gleefully hacked into the National Parks Service budget despite how much the department does for the United States. Listen to Assembly Required with @staceyabrams.com wherever you get your podcasts: Go.Crooked.com/Stacey

The Homan patented tough guy cuff shake and ring twist move.

Thirty years ago, on July 13, 1995, the temperature in Chicago was 106 degrees Fahrenheit. The heat index — what it actually feels like outside — reached 125 degrees Fahrenheit.

Analysis: The late Jane Birkin’s original Birkin bag sold for a whopping 8,582,500 euros (or about $10 million) at an auction in Paris. As the bag sells for record sums, other it-girl items are going for jaw-dropping prices.

A newly completed investigation by Wyoming’s largest county found no evidence of noncitizen voting in the 2024 elections, undercutting claims used to justify the state’s controversial proof of citizenship law. www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...

What does it mean for T-Mobile to buy up USCellular? Bigger profits for CEOs and shareholders — and higher cell phone bills for you. I’ve sounded the alarm for years: This is a bad deal for working families.

Meet Nick Adams, Trump’s new nominee for U.S. Ambassador to Malaysia: “The most persecuted group in the US is straight, white, Christian men.”

Paul McCartney is planning a tour that will conclude in Chicago this November. The former Beatle on Thursday announced a 2025 “Got Back” tour that will bring him to the United Center on Nov. 24-25.

Watch: @kyledcheney.bsky.social joins @samsteindc.bsky.social to discuss a bombshell whistleblower report accusing DOJ official Emil Bove—now nominated for a federal judgeship—of encouraging the Trump administration to defy court orders in deportation cases:

New revelations about the Trump admin response in Texas, Trump's Epstein ties come back to haunt him as even MAGA isn't buying what he's selling, ICE raids on California farms, and more. Watch the MeidasTouch Podcast at 8p ET/5p PT!

How ‘bout we try supporting people who aren’t scheming, opportunistic liars? SUPPORT HERE -- act.link/gi-jj11gH ‪@jordanwood.bsky.social‬ youtube.com/shorts/FLCos...

Note that the administration’s claim of a 700% increase in assaults on ICE agents is likely made up mostly of incidents like this: claims that a 71-year-old citizen “pushed” a masked armed agent.

Vietnam thought it had a preliminary deal with the US to lower its tariff level substantially. Then, at the last minute, Trump raised the rate. “Trump sandbagged everybody,” said a DC-based lobbyist. He described the Vietnamese government’s reaction as “surprise, as well as disappointment & anger.”

What if they just talked about his eyes?

Tammy Bruce on Trump: "He will do what is necessary to make that peace happen. And we'll have to trust him knowing that he knows more than we do, his understanding of the environment, and his willingness to do what it takes."

“Tennessee food banks have already lost significant food supplies due to budget cuts. Now, they’re worried they won’t have food for people as a result of Trump’s new spending bill.”

“For those of us in the conflict prevention and stabilization space, those of us in the human rights space, and those of us in the mass atrocity prevention and accountability space, it ends the entire industry in the United States," one State Department employee told Mother Jones.

Tammy Bruce: "President Trump has made deals most of his life ... I'm excited by his optimism ... I think we need to look at his attitude as the north star of what's possible here."

“If ICE was a military, it would have the 16th biggest budget in the world. You wanna talk about America First? Think about all the things we could do in this country, like giving a [hurricane] warning system to these folks in rural Texas, instead of plucking brown people out of their homes.”

With one week left for the Senate to pass his rescissions package, Trump singles out the anti-PBS, anti-NPR part of the package and says "any Republican that votes to allow this monstrosity to continue broadcasting will not have my support or Endorsement."

With one week left for the Senate to pass his rescissions package, Trump says "any Republican that votes to allow this monstrosity to continue broadcasting will not have my support or Endorsement."

They really nailed it when they named flies.

NEXT THURSDAY: People all across the country will gather together in honor of the late Rep. John Lewis to participate in the Good Trouble Lives On National Day of Action. In the face of an authoritarian takeover, it’s more important than ever that we stand up, speak out, and make some good trouble.

PragerU [sic] is going to develop a test for teachers in Oklahoma? Leaving aside the right wing bias, what’s the over/under on basic factual errors in there?

More than two decades after his death, Elliott Smith still isn’t particularly well known, or well understood, but he is terribly loved.

Since Kash Patel became head of the FBI, the bureau has been increasingly using polygraph tests to suss out employees' loyalty and whether they've spoken ill of Patel, according to a New York Times report. www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-...

All of the Trump administration officials in question who are attorneys must be disbarred. This is a sprawling conspiracy to undermine U.S. rule of law that involves attorneys, and that is something my profession cannot allow. There should be massive state bar investigations across the board here.

Heckuva no show, Brownie

All of the Trump administration officials in question who are attorneys mustbbe disbarred. This is a conspiracy to undermine the rule of law that involves attorneys—and that is something my profession cannot allow. There should be massive state bar investigations across the board here.

Here's the new State Department org chart, per memo leaked to me

Hey yall! Leaving to go to France soon and would love book recs for me to read during my honeymoon… I love fantasy, sci fi, historical fiction, magical realism, and for nonfiction, almost exclusively history, and I prefer recently written stuff in general. Hit me with your faves. Gonna go to B&N.

Hank and I are filming a question Tuesday video. What are your questions? (Fish and llama questions preferred.)

Trump wanted to go to bat for Brazil’s Bolsonaro. A Rio de Janeiro summit "tipped the scale."

DOGE is retreating from the center of the Trump administration’s orbit, with at least eight of the core original DOGE staffers having left government.

"Reform must ensure the country finally achieves universal coverage. The coverage must be the same for all Americans regardless of where they live, their income, or their employer. It must be simple to use without Kafkaesque rules and paperwork." And more:

it’s ok Joni everyone retires eventually

⚡️Ukrainian tech gets $58.5 million boost from global backers. Ukrainian venture capital firm Flyer One Ventures announced the first closing of its new multi-million fund, dedicated to supporting early-stage technology companies across Ukraine as well as central and eastern Europe.

FEMA Acting Administrator David Richardson is nowhere to be found, according to multiple reports. The former Marine also appears to have no experience leading disaster management.

The F the L the A the V The one and only My legacy is never phony Messy Hens written by Me and Chuck D and Sam Farrar

A former Justice Department lawyer has accused the Trump administration of “thumbing its nose at the courts,” saying his colleagues were being forced to choose between upholding the law and advancing the Trump’s agenda.

Senator @johnfetterman.com — whose wife was an undocumented immigrant, and who said he was grateful that her family “broke the law” — now speaks up supportively of ICE as they terrorize others. What a tremendous hypocrite. WATCH:

and you think YOU’RE having a rough day

The State Department will begin firing personnel “soon” as Secretary of State Marco Rubio implements his dramatic overhaul of the agency, according to an email from a top State Department official to staff Thursday evening.

This is just sick. via @ktla.com: Footage obtained by KTLA shows a young man crying, saying his mother had just been taken, and children and protesters running from tear gas that was deployed when a crowd gathered at an immigration raid at a Ventura County farm this afternoon

Donald Trump finally called “bullshit” on Vladimir Putin this week. It seems the President finally recognized what has been long been apparent to the rest of us: that Putin has been playing him.

Get paid. www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...

🤦🏼 www.upi.com/Top_News/US/...

Phang: They never learn, do they? There’s a slew of federal district court and appellate court judges telling this administration that what they’re doing is illegal and unconstitutional—but they don’t care. In response, they just call them “rogue judges.”

Donald Trump has another job for Sean Duffy.

Revenge of the Nerd.

Border czar Tom Homan says there will be "no amnesty" for undocumented farmworkers.

Now leading HuffPost:

Hegseth paused weapons to Ukraine without telling anyone, and Donold's response was, “I don’t know, why don’t you tell me?” That’s not leadership. It’s a confession.

Something to remind you Of much cooler days

Border czar Tom Homan says there will be "no amnesty" for undocumented farmworkers.

President Donald Trump is traveling to central Texas on Friday to survey the aftermath of a catastrophic flood that has killed more than 100 people and put his administration on the sudden defensive over its emergency response efforts.

Several top Chicago Public Schools staff members have left the district following the departure of former schools chief Pedro Martinez.

Some great news that's bad for Trump here:

Do your part in preventing indecent exposure by covering your offensive body with items from The Onion store. store.theonion.com/c...

I mean, we’d all *like* to. But I just haven’t seen definitive proof dispelling the Ernie Anastos Theory here.

Wilbert Awdry, who created Thomas the Tank Engine, disliked change, venerated order, and craved the administration of punishment.

US: “Do you think there’s an Epstein Client list?” Gov. @gavinnewsom.bsky.social: “Really, Trump? Where’s the transparency? Show us. What carnies. What film-flammers. What Music Men. What bullshit artists these guys are.”

Friends — I'm going on a tour for my new book, which comes out August 5. I hope you'll join me. More details below. robertreich.substack.com/p/where-ill-...

Inside the State Department, employees are packing up their belongings in anticipation of a reorganization and reduction in force that is expected to cut nearly 2,000 jobs.

Delighted to be profiled in the Summer edition of Influence Magazine. Page 154, y'all. issuu.com/influenceflo...

The wife of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said she is filing for divorce “on biblical grounds,” ending their 38-year marriage as he seeks to unseat Sen. John Cornyn in next year’s Republican Senate primary.

Today in Politics, Bulletin 168. Everything you need to know about what happened today in politics. open.substack.com/pub/meidasto...

BREAKING: The State Department just warned employees to brace for layoffs that could gut human rights programs—and that workers fear could come as soon as Friday. @pemalevy.bsky.social www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

“Blaming intense media coverage and backlash to the US military deployment in Los Angeles, DHS expects the demonstrations to “continue and grow across the nation” as protesters focused on other issues shift to immigration, following a broad “embracement of anti-ICE messaging.”

Tear-gassing farm workers. Trump’s America. 😕🇺🇸

I wrote about the rightwing outrage in response to Temple University offering a new course on Kendrick Lamar. Link below. But that got me curious: what electives did y'all take in undergrad? Did you like them? What did they mean to you? charlotteclymer.substack.com/p/why-colleg...

The first time in history a republican teen love triangle wasn't an actual crime because he was a teen himself. Behold, the 22 year old in charge of counter terrorism at DHS. www.thedailybeast.com/cops-probed-...

Here’s @andrewschulz saying the real “America First” candidates are DSA candidates like Zohran, Bernie, and AOC — and he feels betrayed by Trump’s Epstein cover-up

Author Michael Wolff, who interviewed Epstein a lot, reiterates to the Daily Beast Trump was his “closest relationship in life” — and says Bannon told Epstein he was afraid of him during the 2016 campaign. @MarshaBlackburn, any thoughts? www.thedailybeast.com/jeffrey-epst...

"All of these people, House Freedom Caucus included, predicated so much of their identities on not saddling future generations with all of this debt we can't pay off... All of these motherfuckers voted for it!"

⭐️🐕🐈‍⬛🦮🐈⭐️ Broadway Barks is this Saturday! 🐕5.00 - 6.30 in, and along, Shubert Alley🐈‍⬛ Come see your favorite B’way stars help local shelter dogs & cats find homes💕 👑Bernadette Peters & Beth Leavel host! 🩵

Texas AG Paxton has asked for privacy from colleagues, politicians, the media, and interns named Christy

WOW: Trump weighed pardoning Ghislaine Maxwell for fear that she would spill secrets about his decade-long friendship with convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

It's everybody's responsibility to restock the fridge with Monster Energy Drink

I wrote about the rightwing outrage in response to Temple University offering a new course on Kendrick Lamar. Link below. But that got me curious: what electives did y'all take in undergrad? Did you like them? What did the mean to you? charlotteclymer.substack.com/p/why-colleg...

Texas already has some of the most gerrymandered congressional districts in the country. The state GOP has launched a plan to make the problem worse.

I break down today’s big legal news: A federal judge has certified a nationwide class and entered a nationwide injunction in a birthright citizenship case. What does this mean and what’s next? youtu.be/NordC4Akbck?...