Jonathan V. Last

On the one hand, I admire what MTG is doing.

On the other hand, only monsters put up a Christmas tree before Thanksgiving.

The Barely Legal Type: Purity Culture, Rape Culture, and America’s Lose-Lose Proposition for Girls The very parts of American culture that claim to promote teen abstinence and sexual purity operate on a parallel logic to the rape culture that enables the darkest misogynistic violence against women.

Megyn Kelly claimed Epstein was into “the barely legal type,” referring to 15 year-olds.

So I wrote about how her comments highlight the ways both purity culture and rape culture sexualize young girls and make male desire their responsibility.

www.liberalcurrents.com/the-barely-l...

Socialism is bad if the socialists try to expand access to healthcare.

Socialism is good if the socialists tell business owners exactly how to run their companies.

On the ATMA bonus episode this week, we discussed the concurrent decline of movie theaters and movie stars. Peter asked Alyssa and me the million dollar question: movieaisle.substack.com/p/can-movie-...

Throw Everything at the Wall After the Epstein vote, Dems debate shifting from just ‘kitchen table’ issues to an ‘even the kitchen sink’ approach.

The disruption the Epstein saga has caused—and the momentum it provided to their party—has sparked a reimagining of the playbook for taking on Trump.

The latest edition of The Opposition from @lauren-egan.bsky.social: www.thebulwark.com/p/throw-ever...

It would be tragic except that they voted for it.

Spoiler: We . . . Win? I come to you at the turning of the tide.

Optimism is uncomfortable. But here we are. www.thebulwark.com/p/spoiler-we...

I am plenty worried. But part of the reason Germany has been so peaceful is that the US is the counterweight to Europe, but sits across an ocean.

Remove that counterweight and Europe is back on the road to great power politics.

This is a tremendous idea. What could possibly go wrong.

[Costanza voice] Is that . . . wrong?

Kimmel and Comey Highlight the Trump Regime's Limitations Their desire for authoritarian abuse is bottomless, their ability to carry it out is not

The authoritarian threat is serious, and people should take it seriously.

AND the threat is under-resourced and full of incompetents who got their job because they put breaking the law for Trump above personal integrity or fear of consequences.

Push the regime beyond its limits and it'll break.

Trump is not have all the mentals. McDonald’s. Water. Sir! (Very strong.) An examination of the president's cognitive functioning at Monday’s McDonald’s summit.

When you pay attention to Trump talking for long stretches, his mental decline is frightfully obvious.
www.thebulwark.com/p/trump-is-n...

In the Shameless Hall of Fame, this is up there with voting against the Biden infrastructure bill and then campaigning on the infrastructure projects in your district.

Marjorie Taylor Greene and ‘Eat, Pray, Love’ On bloomin’ onions and the importance of being earnest.

I was early on MTG because anyone who sincerely believed the MAGA stuff would eventually *have* to walk away from Trump.

And my read on MTG is that, whatever else she might be, she's earnest.
www.thebulwark.com/p/marjorie-t...

Can a lawyer go to jail for this sort of thing?

A foreign country bribed the president with a bar of gold.

Where are my Originalists at?

Teenagers are old enough to have sex with middle aged men. They are not old enough to be trans.

by Megyn Kelly

What If the Trump-Epstein Relationship Was Even Worse Than We Thought? Four questions about Trump and Epstein.

I mean, we suspected it was bad. Now we *know* that it was bad.

But what if it was even worse than that?
www.thebulwark.com/p/trump-epst...

The MAGA Revolution Is Eating Its Own After years of stoking conspiracy theories, Trump and his allies now find themselves unable to dispel one.

"The MAGA faithful fervently pray for mass arrests in which the guilty will at last be separated from the innocent—a kind of secular Rapture." It was fine for Trump and the rest as long as the base thought only Democrats were the guilty ones.

I'm waiting to hear some Turley type telling me it's not that Trump is worried about what's in these documents. It's about preserving the institutional statutory rape prerogatives of the office for future presidents.

I mean, it's not nothing?

“Riots Raging”: The Misleading Story Fox News Told About Portland Before Trump Sent Troops After reviewing coverage from the network and hours of social media videos that preceded Trump’s decision, ProPublica found that Fox’s portrayal of “Portland rioters” routinely instigating violence wa...

NEW: 2020 footage said to be in 2025. A neighbor who keeps reappearing in the same clip, said to be on different days & months. A broadcast from elsewhere suggested as Portland.

How Fox News misled its viewership -- which may have included the president.

www.propublica.org/article/port...

Trump ‘Spent Hours’ With an Epstein Victim, Epstein Said What if Qanon was right?

Seriously: What if QAnon was right about everything except the role Trump played in the conspiracy? www.thebulwark.com/p/trump-spen...

Oh no. Who gave SCOTUS the wrong numbers? Will that person be fired?

Also: If entering into a tariff regime that would have to be litigated created the possibility of America not being "sustainable" then maybe they were unwise?

Welcome to Tesla Capitalism Or: JVL explains why Americans are toying with socialism.

If people look at what Tesla Capitalism has wrought and are told that any attempt to reform it would be “socialism,” they will eventually say, “Who are these socialists of who you speak, and what is their phone number?”
www.thebulwark.com/p/welcome-to...

“No one is treated more unfairly than me.”

I drink your milkshake.

They are certainly never boring.

Give Chuck a Break. It Could Have Been Worse. Even though Democrats didn’t get the biggest possible win, they still won the shutdown.

I can't believe I'm saying this, but . . . I'm on the side of establishment Dems who have no idea what time it is? I'm Ron Burgundy? www.thebulwark.com/p/give-chuck...