Recent posts by Public Intellectuals and Advocates on Bluesky

I keep thinking that if Donald Trump had gone to prison for January 6, as he should have, all those Iranian schoolgirls would be having dinner with their families this evening.

Wow. There really is no bottom. www.cnn.com/2026/03/13/p...

Cartoon by @andertoon.bsky.social.

there’s a player on the vanderbilt basketball team named chandler bing who was not named after the friends character and has never seen friends so i need someone in his life to confidently call him “chanandler bong” and when he blinks say “sorry, MISS chanandler bong” and tape it for my amusement

I think this was an excellent discussion with @paulwaldman.bsky.social about the political media industry, Trump’s Iran “excursion” and his waning appeal, and how Democrats can capitalize on it this year Check it out👇

Democratic House Rep. Ted Lieu to Trump’s FCC Chair Brendan Carr: “Take your fascist shit and shove it.” 🔥

Folks should read the story being derided here as being too negative www.nytimes.com/2001/10/31/w...

2 headlines from this week

Lebanon’s Ministry of Health said the death toll from Israeli strikes has reached 826, with 2009 people wounded since March 2. Officials warned the toll could rise further as attacks continue to intensify across the country. #Infograph

🚨BREAKING: Calls to FIRE Pete Hegseth are exploding. A petition demanding Hegseth be removed from office has thousands of signatures — and the number keeps climbing. calltoactivism.info/firepetehegs...

⚡️Kyiv shares details of Russian attack on Druzhba pipeline as Hungarian 'inspection' team returns home. Ukraine's Foreign Ministry and state energy giant Naftogaz briefed diplomats from 31 countries, including Hungary, about the damage to the pipeline following a Russian attack on Jan. 27.

Is Donald Trump’s FCC Chair, Brendan Carr, gonna be going after the broadcasting license of Fox News or nah? If nah, then that little fascist needs to zip his pie hole.

Trump’s sycophants are suffering. Come laugh at them with us! 😂

I gotta say, the Brightline is a great train ride experience. There’s no better way to travel to Miami from Orlando (and several other cities in Florida). Who agrees? 🚊

You know the election fraud game is in high gear when they’re bringing back the cyber ninjas! Here’s this week’s episode of #SistersInLaw.

Last week: “We don’t need your stupid aircraft carrier, UK!!!!” Today: “Hopefully, the UK will send an aircraft carrier to the Strait of Hormuz!!!” What a fool.

Israeli forces raid the home of Palestinian prisoner Azmi Abu Hleil’s family in the town of Dura, in the occupied West Bank, forcing them to evacuate before demolishing the three-storey house.

His whole life, Trump has always had someone else around to bail him out of the messes he creates: his father, Allen Weisselberg, the "adults in the room" in his first term. Now all those protectors are gone and he is openly begging for someone to save him from his own folly.

Brendan Carr is threatening the media to cover the war the way the Trump regime wants. It’s one of the most anti-American messages ever posted by a government official. 1/

Brendan Carr is threatening the media to cover the war the way the Trump regime wants. It’s one of the most anti-American messages ever posted by a government official. 1/

"The Trump Administration invoked emergency powers to allow a company to restart an oil pipeline off the California coast that state officials have kept offline since it ruptured in 2015 and caused one of the worst spills in the state’s history..." www.nytimes.com/2026/03/14/c...

Records uncovered by Bellingcat & @thetimes.com link MMA fighter and Kinahan ‘friend’ Mounir Lazzez to multimillion shipping deals, orchestrated by companies in a secrecy jurisdiction, for oil tankers later sanctioned by the US for helping the Iranian regime. www.bellingcat.com/news/2026/03...

"It would be BP's first new deepwater project in the Gulf of Mexico since the Deepwater Horizon explosion in 2010, which set off the worst oil spill disaster in U.S. history..." www.nytimes.com/2026/03/14/c...

The AAA national average for gas prices is $3.67. When will we stop “winning?” 🙄

This was a really important conversation.

Exactly this. 🎯

What I always hear: “We can’t afford to pay our workers more than $15 an hour.” What I never hear: “We can’t afford to pay our CEO millions of dollars a year.” Funny how that works.

"These middle-aged men, some of the most powerful in the world, are not allowed even to stand or walk normally. Slavishness to Donald Trump has gone beyond the merely mental; they feel it in their skin, their joints, their bones."

Trump Admin starts war. Trump Admin shocked by consequences of war. Trump Admin urgently (!) tells Americans caught by those consequences to get out! get out! and no there's no help coming from the Trump Admin, and good luck finding a land route out somewhere. www.nytimes.com/live/2026/03...

BRING US JEFF BEZOS OR WE WILL MENACE YOUR SHORELINES

@newyorkcartoons.bsky.social

The reboot of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” is not moving forward at Hulu, Variety reports

I don’t see a way out of this. Taking the Strait of Hormuz or seizing Kharg island will result in considerable loss of life. We can’t exactly apologize because we killed the Ayatollah. I doubt anyone besides Israel is gonna help us. This is a disaster.

Two people were injured after an Iranian ballistic missile struck Eilat in Southern Israel. Fragments hit three locations: a residential street, an empty park, and the city’s northern industrial zone. Emergency teams secured multiple impact sites as damage assessments continue.

Trump has lost control of the war on Iran with no off ramp or exit strategy. Trump's team failed to assess Iran's ability to retaliate nor did they have any plan for a long term sustained retaliation, and have now thrown the entire region into a fiery shitstorm.

An important read from the New York Times. The death penalty is a moral obscenity and a stain on our justice system.

Two weeks in and he’s begging for France and China to save him like a dog.

Trump boasts about his attacks on the 1st amendment

Glad to see this decision out of the EU, and I hope to god it improves the lives of some of the people in the EU nations that have recently cracked down on transgender people. www.them.us/story/europe...

Perfect scrinchy face. 🥰 Photo from my collection, no date/info.

WATCH THE NEW KRISTI NOEM 😂😂😂

Former U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema acknowledges having a romantic relationship with a member of her security detail that began while she was a lawmaker, according to legal documents. I’m not surprised at all. She’s a terrible human bejng.

Plastered Pete Kegstand is big mad at photographers for making him look like the dickbrained clown he is. I cover this and all the other dumbfuckery that happened in "this week in stupid," my every-Saturday round-up. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION to reading it. link is here: bit.ly/4bH0sOB

Orin says "It's good...I like space." He has read it four times. I'm buying five of them. www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/804068...

Donald "Excursion" Trump is a WAR CRIMINAL and must be held to account for the 2000+ lives already lost. And capital punishment for the premeditated slaughter of 165+ elementary school girls. He is an evil evil evil STUPID man - the most dangerous.

Trump has struggled to sell the war with Iran to a skeptical American public, including Mr. Trump’s own right-wing supporters. His advisers appear to have miscalculated how severely Iranian retaliation could disrupt global energy markets. Iran Defies Trump’s Threats Over Strait of Hormuz Blockade

Weird how a war supposedly about Iranian ballistic missile capabilities magicked itself overnight into Israeli adventurism in southern Lebanon that looks a hell of a lot like what its Kremlin allies are doing in Ukraine by annexing land they have no right to while slaughtering all who get in the way

People should listen to @oliviaoftroye.com's sobering predictions of where this disastrous Iran War will lead and the horrific consequences that are being unleashed as a result of Trump's utter incompetence. thelefthook.substack.com/p/the-story-...

FCC Chair Brendan Carr threatens broadcast licenses over Iran War coverage

Discussing the latest, breaking news on this escalating Iran War disaster with expert @tparsi.bsky.social on The Left Hook. Join us at 130 pm ET thelefthook.substack.com No paywalls.

The American people aren’t buying Trump’s lies about his war of choice with Iran. Zero Democrats should vote to give the regime more money for an illegal war.

⚡️Greek oil tanker in Russian waters hit in suspected drone strike. Greek Maritime Minister Vassilis Kikilias said he believed the strike may be connected to the U.S. decision to temporarily ease sanctions on Russian oil.

Which bar will cut Jeanine off first? The ABA or Joe's Pub?

SCOOP. From my OUR LAND newsletter: Trump's DOJ is helping to get a convicted FBI informant tied to Russian intelligence out of prison. The lie this guy told the FBI—Joe Biden took a $5m bribe from Burisma—was the main evidence for the GOP impeachment drive. 1/2 link.motherjones.com/public/44694...

because that's why they were calling for "freedom of speech"

Meta sucks (understatement) but a lot of non-profits are stuck with it for outreach, fundraising, and sponsorships. IF you use those platforms, following Merrymac and engaging with their posts is hugely helpful! If you don't use Meta that's great and you can just keep scrolling.

Lemme get this straight… Donald Trump has “destroyed 100% of Iran’s military capability” but he’s begging our allies (and China) to help him? Stable genius. 🙄

I’m low key astonished by the number of finance experts that didn’t anticipate problems with the Strait of Hormuz. Did they really trust Trump and Hegseth knew what they were doing? Did they take for granted all the usual experts that Trump fired? Didn’t most of us see this coming?

Can we get some renderings of lower gas prices? Cheaper groceries? A real minimum wage people can live on? Expanded ACA credits so nobody goes broke seeing a doctor? Epstein files? Trump’s MRI results?

It wasn't a "Military Academy"—it was a reform school. And that isn't an army uniform—it's a costume from a community theater production of "The Nutcracker."

NEW EPISODE: DOJ is sitting on half of the Epstein Files — and Congressman Robert Garcia says that's no accident. It's a cover-up, and Trump is leading it. Rep. Garcia and I break down where the Epstein investigation stands: who's been subpoenaed and what the DOJ is hiding. youtu.be/UE-QUZ0xB4s?...

CCTV shows the moment a car hits a Muslim woman in broad daylight in southeast London before the driver speeds away. The woman survived, and an investigation is ongoing, but no suspects have been arrested yet.

HINT TO IRAN: He's currently on the golf course in South Florida.

Ebrahim Azizi, head of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of the Iranian parliament, claims that Ukraine's drone support for Israel makes "the entire territory of Ukraine a legitimate and lawful target for Iran" under Article 51 of the UN Charter.

Illinois Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton is raising eyebrows for the colorful language used in her campaign video for U.S. Senate. @sarahlongwell25.bsky.social and David Axelrod discuss voter reactions to her 'F*ck Trump' ad.

No words. www.cnn.com/2026/03/13/p...

Exclusive: President Trump has rebuffed efforts by Middle Eastern allies to start Iran ceasefire talks reut.rs/4cIII6A

Leadership shake-ups. Staff cuts. A push for the newsroom to double productivity with half its budget. Here is the inside story of how Jeff Bezos upended the Washington Post. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/14/b...

Trump is begging France, Japan, China, South Korea, the UK, and other countries to send ships to help secure the key Strait of Hormuz oil trade route, which was blocked by Iran after the US and Israel failed to plan for it when starting their illegal war on Iran. www.bbc.com/news/live/ck...

ICE plans detention warehouse in Salt Lake City thenevadaindependent.com/article/ice-...

Cartoon by @deadder.bsky.social. ⛽️

🔴 A relentless and meticulously planned drone campaign is choking Russia’s front-line forces, expanding the so-called “kill zone” threefold in some areas. Read the full story. 👉 www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2...

A true giant. I was lucky enought to meet him and spend an evening around him and Rorty in Chicago many years ago. RIP apnews.com/article/juer...

“These middle-aged men, some of the most powerful in the world, are not allowed even to stand or walk normally. The shoes are not very expensive—about $145—but apparently even to order a replacement pair in the correct size wld risk an unacceptable breach of courtly etiquette. What if he noticed??"

While Jared Kushner is negotiating on behalf of the United States with governments in the Middle East, he is also soliciting investments in his private business ventures from the same governments www.nytimes.com/2026/03/13/b...

I was told we had already won this war.

Iran has allowed some Indian vessels through the Strait of Hormuz, saying it does not want other countries to suffer, while blocking ships linked to nations it considers hostile.

Cartoon by @mwuerker.bsky.social.

Jared Kushner pledged to bring peace to the Middle East when all he really wanted was to bring a piece of the Middle East to Jared Kushner. #OpportunisticNepoBabyConMen

"There is an active shooter at your child's school. Text your child and tell them that it's safe to walk in the halls right now, just as long as the shooter doesn't shoot."

Literally this

It brings me some solace to know that whatever's happening down here, there are still some absolutely incredible human-made and human-driven robots wandering around Mars, looking at cool rocks and dirt and sending us pictures just because we're curious about planets and our own origins in the cosmos

Any sensible person who paid even cursory attention to Donald Trump knew, even before "The Apprentice," that Donald Trump is a dishonest, stupid, unreliable man and only out for himself. If you are currently feeling "betrayed" by such a deeply flawed person, you are a gullible idiot.

The Michael Jordan of Going to the Hospital

Reminder the Senate is expected to vote on the Save America Act this week. Please contact your senator and urge them to vote no. You may be seeing a lot of apparent “support” for the bill on social media, but it is not organic. Bot accounts have been flooding senators pages urging them to vote yes.

Hey Tucson, come on down.

From personal experience, Northeastern’s rapid expansion was an administrative trash fire. My kid had a dozen swiftly rotating advisors over his time there, none of whom could explain graduation requirements or fixing problems with anything. Great teachers, awful administration.

More evidence for Trump’s next impeachment.

Sen. Hoeven on high gas prices: "In weeks, not months, those prices will be coming down" (Bookmark this one)

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian says Iran continues to operate as normal, despite the war, because of the diligent efforts of 'colleagues in the government' to maintain services. 🔴 LIVE updates: aje.news/7luaew

“We have bombed the shit out of places and napalmed the jungles but the Viet Cong keep shooting at us from the bushes, we don’t get it, that’s not fair.”

This was one of my two favorite songs — Born This Way was the other — at Lady Gaga’s concert in Miami last night. As expected, she was AWESOME!! ❤️❤️🎶 #MayhemBall #LadyGaga

Rep. Mike Flood: "Listen, we are in a conflict with Iran right now. There's going to be temporary pain. And it is painful. I don't want to discount that at all. But this will end and we will have energy independence."

On a panel today at Society for Professional Journalists - LA Press Freedom Summit at the ASU building in LA, which is the renovated Herald Examiner building. The lobby is restored to its 1910s Mission Revival style and amazing. I am semi-restored by coffee and strive to be adequate.

⚡️Russian strike razes homes in Zaporizhzhia, killing 1, injuring 11. Two people who were trapped beneath the rubble have been rescued by emergency workers. An injured 17-year-old is in serious condition following the attack.

E. Jean Carroll, one of my personal heroes, took on Trump and won. She’s one of the bravest people I’ve met. She shared some thoughts on Trump and Epstein’s awful friendship.

It's kind of "It is a huge, complete, very strong victory, we plebes just can't see it in its full majesty."

Operation Epstein Fury is also happening because President Pedophile wants to build a Trump hotel on the Gaza strip and host teen beauty pageants there.

“I’ll just have the small croissant.”