Josh Kovensky

Bongino saying the quiet--and cynical--part out loud.

In other words: I was making money shoveling conspiracy bullshit without having any facts and conning my audience to make a buck. After I leave the FBI, I will get back to that.

What a confession.

As far as I can see, this nat sec strategy is far harsher on Europe than on Russia. There is no mention of a threat from Russia or of deterrence, only that "re-establishing strategic stability" is a priority. Europe is cast as a major threat to freedom. A radical, dangerous document.

Feds Bust into Jackson Heights Apartment Building In Pre-Dawn Raid Dozens of agents wielding assault rifles took two middle-aged, Spanish-speaking people away in cuffs early Thursday morning as a helicopter hovered overhead.

NEW: Federal agents wearing tactical gear and wielding assault rifles busted into an apartment in Jackson Heights Thursday morning as a helicopter hovered overhead, according to eyewitnesses and video obtained by THE CITY.

buff.ly/hbjzh2q

News: Senate Dems punting discussion of leadership/Schumer to after '26 elex. Dems call it a "distraction" to debate Schumer. There's been NO discussion in the caucus about anyone challenging him

Blumenthal: “the caucus is still firmly behind” Schumer.

“I don’t foresee a leadership challenge"

Some useful reporting here. I recognize the dilemmas faced by elected Dems in NY, and behind-the-scenes efforts to avert a full-blown federal invasion of NYC may be worthwhile, but it's important to recognize that folks are organized in NYC and are point-blank not going to "accommodate" this shit.

When To Accommodate, and When To Fight? NY Officials Agonize and Prepare for Federal Escalation Jackie Bray has been thinking about how quickly things could spiral out...

As New York officials plan for a possible surge of immigration agents and National Guard troops, officials face a stark choice: accommodate or fight back.
talkingpointsmemo.com/news/new-yor...

A really nice figure of population and partisan malapportionment in national legislatures around the world

from Beramendi, Boix, Guinjoan, and Rogers (yassified by The Economist) priceschool.usc.edu/wp-content/u...

The cherry on top here is Clinton pivoting from the "usual suspects" to recounting how she commiserated with Condoleezza Rice about the injustice of it all

Hillary Clinton blames TikTok and “totally made up” videos for young people’s views on Israel and Palestine.

She says social media influenced “not just the usual suspects” but also “young Jewish Americans who don’t know the history and don’t understand.”

Make Money Not War: Trump’s Real Plan for Peace in Ukraine The Kremlin pitched the White House on peace through business. To Europe’s dismay, the president and his envoy are on board.

The Kremlin pitched the White House on peace through business. To Europe’s dismay, the president and his envoy are on board.

D.C. Shooting Suspect ‘Could Not Tolerate’ the Violence of His C.I.A.-Backed Unit in Afghanistan, a Childhood Friend Said

D.C. Shooting Suspect ‘Could Not Tolerate’ the Violence of His C.I.A.-Backed Unit in Afghanistan

“The units had been trained for nighttime raids targeting suspected Taliban members, & were accused by human rights groups of widespread killings of civilians.”
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/27/u...

The Trump administration has reacted to a small scale lone wolf attack by in DC announcing a sweeping collective punishment, using the organs of government to heap blame on partisan rivals, and potentially dissuading anyone from collaborating with US forces abroad for a generation.

I mean yeah. It will continue until the Russians feel they can’t make gains by fighting (not where we are no) or as Steve Kotkin argues until the Russian govt feels that continuing the war will put the survival of its regime in jeopardy, not recognizing that is the tell

sure, though I’m not sure that the desire for a deal is uniform in either govt: it really seemed to me like there were factions in each that wanted a deal, and who then got tripped up by infighting at home

This was a weirdly useful exercise: would the Russians accept a deal that they largely wrote, save for a few concessions that allow Ukrainian statehood to continue? The answer: ofc not

And back to where we’ve been for years now. Putin rejects any deal, saying it’s legally impossible to make any deal with Ukraine’s current government bc it’s illegitimate t.me/rian_ru/327765

Chicago Protestors Reel After Fending Off Federal Charges The administration governs by propaganda. There’s bluster, threats, and even real violence...

Many demonstrators were arrested; fewer were charged. And of those charged, most cases crumbled away. Federal prosecutors declined to pursue some cases; in others, judges or grand juries declined to let them proceed. But the hyper violent conduct of DHS goons intimidates their staunchest critics.

Chicago Protestors Reel After Fending Off Federal Charges The administration governs by propaganda. There’s bluster, threats, and even real violence...

I spoke to a few of the Chicago protestors who fended off federal criminal cases against them. One still faces harassment, another is looking for a lawyer to sue the government:

talkingpointsmemo.com/news/chicago...

A good follow-up with some of the defendants against whom the cases were dismissed.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche and Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove provided DHS with legal advice regarding the Court’s order as to flights that had left the United States before the order issued, through DHS Acting General Counsel Joseph Mazzara. Mr. Mazzara then conveyed that legal advice, as well as his own legal advice, to Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem. See 6 U.S.C. § 113(a)(1)(J). After receiving that legal advice, Secretary Noem directed that the AEA detainees who had been removed from the United States before the Court’s order could be transferred to the custody of El Salvador. As explained below, that decision was lawful and was consistent with a reasonable interpretation of

BREAKING:

“After receiving that legal advice, Secretary Noem directed that the AEA detainees who had been removed from the United States before the Court’s order could be transferred to the custody of El Salvador. “

Witkoff Advised Russia on How to Pitch Ukraine Plan to Trump US presidential envoy Steve Witkoff, fresh from the triumph of the Gaza peace deal, held a phone call last month with a senior Kremlin official to suggest they work together on a similar plan for Ukraine — and that Vladimir Putin should raise it with Donald Trump.

EXCLUSIVE: US presidential envoy Steve Witkoff advised Russia on how to pitch Ukraine plans to Trump, in audio files reviewed by Bloomberg

WAPO: “.. Russia is unlikely to accept changes that the U.S. and #Ukraine are negotiating over in the new peace plan to end the war ..”

@washingtonpost.com
www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/1...

Trump’s DoJ investigating unfounded claims Venezuela helped steal 2020 election Exclusive: Discredited election-rigging conspiracy theory could strengthen Trump’s military action against Maduro

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

“Within the White House, Trump and his lieutenants aren’t planning on letting up…Trump has told some advisers that he wants RICO prosecutions and conspiracy charges leveled against the six Democrats, a source with direct knowledge of the matter tells Zeteo…
zeteo.com/p/how-we-gre...

how is that supposed to happen at this point?

Great article. Regarding the 600,000 armed forces limit, I believe Mark Galeotti cited an unnamed British source that Ukraine can’t afford that large an army in peacetime.

Chart showing detention population, among those arrested in the interior, by criminal record, May 2019 through present. There are three lines shown. (1) Prior conviction (which rises from around 9,000 in January 2025 to just over 16,000 in November 2025), (2) Pending criminal charges (which rises from around 5,000 to 15,000), and (3) No criminal record (which rises from around 1,000 to 21,000).

NEW: ICE has finally released post-shutdown detention data. The latest data reveals that a full 40%(!) of people arrested in the interior and held in ICE detention have no criminal record; no criminal charges or prior convictions. That is up from just 4% when Trump took office.

US and Ukraine draft new 19-point peace plan but defer biggest decisions The most politically sensitive elements are left for Trump and Zelenskyy to discuss

Exclusive: First interview with negotiator in the room in Geneva. Ukraine's First Deputy Foreign Minister Sergiy Kyslytsya tells me the US and Ukraine drafted a new peace deal but left the most politically sensitive elements to be decided by the countries’ presidents. www.ft.com/content/883e...

Really looks like the United States is about to launch a regime change war against Venezuela with:

-No casus belli
-No authorization from Congress
-No allies or international support
-No plan for a post-Maduro Venezuela
-No preparation for any sort of stabilization or containment of the fallout