Benj

Trump in 2020: "We've spent $8 trillion in the Middle East. And we're not fixing our roads in this country. How stupid is it? We're not fixing our highways, our tunnels, our bridges, our hospitals, even."

One fun fact about the NYT op-ed section is that it was created specifically in response to Spiro Agnew's complaints about liberal media bias. So in a sense, the job of an op-ed page is indeed to publish the "right" opinions, as in, right-wing

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bsky.app/profile/jere...

X Is Drowning in Disinformation Following US and Israel’s Attack on Iran WIRED has reviewed hundreds of posts on X that promote misleading claims about the locations and scale of the attack.

“Almost all of the most viral posts reviewed by WIRED on Saturday came from accounts with blue check marks, meaning they…could be eligible to earn money based on how much engagement their posts generate, even if the content is false.”

From @davidgilbert.bsky.social

Of course #XisAShitHole

...lol, this is pretty funny.

🙃 Erik Prince, part of a family of billionaires who include his sister, former secretary of education Betsy DeVoss, famously runs mercenary company that profits off of chaos.

Opinion | The Billionaires Have Gone Full Louis XV

"According to the…annual Harris Poll, for the 1st time, a majority of Americans believe billionaires are a threat to democracy. A remarkable 71% believe there should be a wealth tax. A majority believe there should be a cap on how much wealth a person can accumulate." www.nytimes.com/2025/12/14/o...

Remember: If you are a billionaire, a wealth tax and cap are for your *own protection.* The income tax rate at the end of a pitchfork is 100%.

Sen. Ossoff Statement on Iran Atlanta, Ga. - U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff today released the following statement. "Eight months ago, Donald Trump lied to the country when he claimed U.S. air strikes had 'obliterated' Iran's nuclear program. "Now Trump says he's taken America to war for regime change in Iran. "Trump has launched this regime change war and put American forces at risk without presenting evidence of an imminent threat, without clear objectives, without having exhausted diplomacy, without a plan for the aftermath, and without the consent of Congress. "I oppose yet another regime change war-of-choice in the Middle East. Congress must convene immediately and pass a War Powers Resolution to assert our Constitutional authority over war and peace. "The President has presented no evidence that Iran or its nuclear program — which he falsely claimed to have 'obliterated' — pose an imminent threat to the United States, or that diplomacy was exhausted. Iran's support for terrorism and uranium enrichment have long destabilized the region. But sending American forces into harm's way should only ever be a last resort. "I pray for the safety of U.S. forces who have been ordered into battle and commend their extraordinary professionalism."

Ossoff’s statement is 1000x stronger than Schumer-Jeffries. This is a moderate Jewish Senator from a Trump state. The split isn’t moderate vs progressive, but leading vs poll-reacting

A big part of the authoritarian playbook is war. War takes over the news. War blots out criticism. War divides a nation’s people, subjecting those against it to being called unpatriotic. War grants leaders all sorts of emergency powers. War consumes everything else.

We mustn’t let this war do so.

trump is waging an open war on the constitution in general and on media freedom in particular. media orgs could defend the constitution and themselves by informing their readers of the dangers!

Of course, The Times is among the publications that gets to define the realm of reasonable opinions to begin with. Which is why their editorial choices in Opinion are justifiably scrutinized. The critics aren't always right. But it's sensible to subject their editorial decisions to critique.

I say "convince themselves they believe in" because it's morally untenable and no one would accept it as a genuine principle. If it came out that Trump & Miller were considering summarily executing undocumented people currently in custody, would the Times be obligated to run a column defending it?

...convinced, that each, was uniquely worthy & organic.
Isolated.
Specimen. Simply under examination.

All in secret, of course. Toxic titles, compartmentalized conclusions, and so forth...

No themes could emerge they say. No dress code, no boundaries, establishment, or agency. Just free range...

I pretty much can’t watch cable news anymore even in clip form.

would we consider it war if someone took out potus and our top leadership? yes i realize a lot would consider it a favor now but it normal times...

War! War! It’s the Department of War! Don’t be so afraid to say war, you beta cucks!

Is this a war?

No.

Joe Biden was absolutely pilloried when he said this...but about oil prices, not about service members dying.

What a mess...

Chaos, uncertainty, distrust...

"A pre-war CIA assessment predicted that killing Khamenei would likely lead to Revolutionary Guard hardliners taking over. Whether or not that’s right....there’s little chance a stable democratic state arises from this chaos, let alone one friendly to America and Israel."

Rolling dice war.

This seems like an accidental revelation. I don't recall Trump saying before that this was always intended to take weeks. Am I missing something?

The Trouble Covering Tehran As U.S. and Israeli forces launch deadly strikes on Iran, the inherent challenges of covering the country are exacerbated by recent newsroom cuts, social media distortion, and a White House prone to t...

As U.S. and Israeli forces launch deadly strikes on Iran, the inherent challenges of covering the country are exacerbated by recent newsroom cuts, social media distortion, and a White House prone to telling lies.

Details in @status.news: www.status.news/p/iran-war-m...

Team Bari Weiss trying to make another Shah of Iran happen is the most on-brand thing ever

This Weekend in Politics, Bulletin 318. … US Central Command: “3 US service members have been killed in action and 5 are seriously wounded as part of Operation Epic Fury. Several others sustained minor shrapnel injuries and concussions.

This Weekend in Politics, Bulletin 318. Everything you need to know about what happened this weekend in politics. open.substack.com/pub/meidasto...

Press gave Biden far worse coverage for a small number of American soldiers dying while leaving a war than to Trump for a similar number dying while starting a war for no reason. It makes you think!

Thing is, we don't actually know that it's good for anybody, and conceding this in Trump's favor isn't helpful.

Yes, everyone at the top of the Iranian government was bad. But this does not necessarily mean unilaterally killing them improves the situation! It could make it much worse!

Your kid gets killed fighting for this asshole and he responds with, "that's just the way it is"

This Weekend in Politics, Bulletin 318. … US Central Command: “3 US service members have been killed in action and 5 are seriously wounded as part of Operation Epic Fury. Several others sustained minor shrapnel injuries and concussions.

3 U.S. troops are dead. Trump says “there will likely be more.” The war is now spreading across the region. Get the latest in our Weekend Bulletin — no paywall on these critical updates.

The one qualification to be a member of Trump's Cabinet is to believe in nothing except your own money and power.