John Helling

A Trump supporter started murdering his way through an assassination list of Democratic law makers FIVE MONTHS AGO. He murdered my colleague Melissa Hortman, and her husband Mark — and attempted to assassinate my dear friend John Hoffman and his wife Yvette. I was also on the hit list. WTF

As @profhicks.bsky.social has repeatedly demonstrated with his work, services are a major factor in keeping and bringing people to towns/cities, not low taxes. Always exceptions, including bad use of funds, but it certainly holds true in this state. Latest: www.thestarpress.com/story/opinio...

Two weeks into a new program that gives New Mexico children free childcare, officials are opening up about the surge that happened day one & how it’s been moving forward. In just a short time, the state said thousands of children are now enrolled in free childcare, & daycares are lining up to join.

IPS says students' reading scores on standardized test rise with library link Indianapolis Public Schools celebrates a boost in reading proficiency, thanks to collaboration with Indianapolis Public Library.

Indianapolis Public Schools saw a 10.2% increase in proficiency in its 2024-2025 scores on the state's standardized IREAD test, with third-grade alone seeing proficiency rates soar nearly 70%. Educators say it's due to a collaboration with the Indianapolis Public Library.

Somewhere out there someone who’s the best at what they do is terrified that they have imposter syndrome while a bunch of barely literate pedophiles are very calmly running the world

New Epstein emails just dropped, and they involve Trump. 🎁🔗 www.nytimes.com/2025/11/12/u...

More than anything else, this is what led some Senate Democrats to cut a deal: Trump’s willingness to hurt people exceeds their willingness to see people get hurt. I want to give them their due on this: They are hearing from their constituents and seeing the mounting problems, and they are trying to do what they see as the responsible, moral thing. They do not believe that holding out will lead to Trump restoring the subsidies. They fear that their Republican colleagues would, under mounting pressure, do as Trump had demanded and abolish the filibuster. (Whether that would be a good or a bad thing is a subject for another column.) This, in the end, is the calculation the defecting Senate Democrats are making: They don’t think a longer shutdown will cause Trump to cave. They just think it will cause more damage. If I were in the Senate, I wouldn’t vote for this compromise. Shutdowns are an opportunity to make an argument, and the country was just starting to pay attention. If Trump wanted to cancel flights over Thanksgiving rather than keep health care costs down, I don’t see why Democrats should save him from making his priorities so exquisitely clear. And I worry that Democrats have just taught Trump that they will fold under pressure. That’s the kind of lesson he remembers.

like this is basically it, the melts melted under pressure

Now we’re cookin

Hack Exposes Kansas City’s Secret Police Misconduct List A major breach of the Kansas City, Kansas, Police Department reveals, for the first time, a list of alleged officer misconduct including dishonesty, sexual harassment, excessive force, and false arres...

For one of my final stories with @wired.com, I teamed up with @peggylowe.bsky.social at KCUR to dig through a Kansas City, KS police hack

Inside were some of the most disturbing misconduct files I’ve ever read—and a secret list of cops the department said couldnt be trusted

Here are a few of them:

This quote continues to rattle me to my core:

"So what you’re telling us is you need less evidence to kill somebody than you do to hold them."

That's Rep Adam Smith to Pentagon officials in a briefing on Trump's illegal boat bombings. As he told me in this piece, they didn't answer his objection:

after months of focus on Biden’s autopen pardons:

A truly extraordinary document. Judge Rodriguez throws out the indictment because "the Government’s conduct is so shocking to the universal sense of justice that it should be deprived of the opportunity to prosecute the Defendant." Hard to count all the different ways ICE lied throughout this case.

The DEA said it arrested 171 ‘high ranking’ Sinaloa Cartel members. A Spotlight investigation found that’s not true. - The Boston Globe A Globe investigation found that the federal agency misrepresented the stature of its targets, claiming cartel ties at a time when the Trump administration is taking lethal military action against suc...

“I can guarantee that he’s not part of the Sinaloa Cartel,” Scott Alati said of his son, Tyler ... “He isn’t a high-ranking member of anything. He’s high-ranking dumb.”
www.bostonglobe.com/2025/10/29/m...

It’s too bad only farmers are people and not librarians or artists or healthcare workers or researchers.

um, er, that's not how public records laws work

Here's my updated breakout of the Economist/YouGov weekly data. Trump is experiencing dramatic, across the board erosion. More here - www.hopiumchronicles.com/p/stuart-ste...

chart entitled "ICE spending on "small arms" January 20-october 18" with a massive spike on the right hand side once trump took office in early 2025

"Spending by ICE on guns and other weapons this year not only dwarfs spending during the Biden administration but also during Trump’s first term."

@juddlegum.bsky.social @popular.info: popular.info/p/ice-boosts...

This is a complete abdication of journalistic responsibility. A president posting something this insane and disgusting should be front and center in the news.

Getting ready to speak at the No Kings rally in DC today, the rally for democracy and freedom, alongside Bill Nye, Bernie Sanders and many other great speakers. Could be the biggest protest in modern American history.

Hoosiers brace for soaring health care costs amid government shutdown Congress has not extended subsidies for marketplace insurance plans.

Hoosiers insured through the Health Insurance Marketplace will see their premiums skyrocket.

That’s because some government subsidies are set to expire this year, leaving people with less help to pay for their coverage.

✍️ @mcmolloy.bsky.social: https://bit.ly/47faIKK

Matt Harvey never recovered from Game 5 of World Series: Steve Popper Matt Harvey's time with the Mets came to an end, one that he never could have imagined.

Counterpoint from a very casual Royals fan:

www.northjersey.com/story/sports...

JD Vance brushes off racist texts by adults in Republican group chat as ‘what kids do’ Vice-president downplays messages such as ‘I love Hitler’ in chat by 24 to 35-year-olds to ‘stupid jokes’

For those of you keeping score, 18-22 year-old students calling for an end to slaughter in Gaza are so racist they need to be expelled or deported, but 24-35 year-olds celebrating Hitler, rape, and, um, racism are just kids being kids so chill.

Also, racism is over so no need for Voting Right Act.

a real question for the roberts majority is what in their view distinguishes jim crow disenfranchisement from majority-minority districts? a related question is what in their view made the typical jim crow law — which was facially neutral — unconstitutional?

Have to say that I agree that things were better 10-15 years ago during the Obama administration and now they are a mess

Finding out that the people in charge are often petulant hypocrites is one of the most valuable things you can learn in college and will undoubtedly make these student journalists even better at their jobs.

Mayor Joe Hogsett, who has cultivated a reputation for public integrity, ignored conflicts of interest involving his former top aide Thomas Cook, a secret relationship, and millions of dollars in city incentives. New joint investigation from IndyStar and @mirrorindy.org indystar.com/story/news/i...

$12 billion deal may bring hundreds of Qatar, US Air Force members to Idaho base

I was curious about the Qatari air force base in Idaho deal, this 2022 story gives some good background (this plan didn’t appear out of thin air).

www.stripes.com/branches/air...

Good lord.

@apnews.com

If anyone can give farmers access to international markets its the guy who closed off access to international markets

MAGA’s “Voter Fraud” Watchdog Votes in a Swing State. He Doesn’t Live There. A long paper trail shows that Jack Posobiec casts a ballot in one state and lives in another.

SCOOP: PA prosecutors were alerted to possible voting irregularities by one of MAGA's leading voices. A long paper trail shows Jack Posobiec has been living in Maryland but voting using his parent's address in Pennsylvania for years. Me with @marisakabas.bsky.social

slate.com/news-and-pol...