Jonathan Weisman

A Raid in a Small Town Brings Trump’s Deportations to Deep-Red Idaho

A beautiful story by Anna Griffin and Loren Elliott on an ICE raid in tiny, deep red Wilder, Idaho, and how it shattered the town's idyllic view of itself. Trump's campaign of mass deportation is everywhere, not just in the headline-grabbing urban centers. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/09/u...

Good news for @aipac1.bsky.social? More ballots have been counted in New Jersey and the candidate AIPAC dumped money against, @tommalinowski.bsky.social, is now down slightly fewer votes, 485, to the candidate who is really critical of Israel that AIPAC boosted, @analilia-mejia.bsky.social. Congrats

Trump’s Migrant Detention Pipeline Extends From Minnesota to El Paso

“I cry every day,” Judeson said in a shelter 2 days after his release, clutching head in hands and gazed at the ground. “It’s a really bad situation right now.” ICE sweeps people off the streets of Minneapolis, flies them to El Paso, then they're on their own. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/05/u...

From the former Washington Post executive editor, Marty Baron:

Comet was robbed.

A Tight Statehouse Race in Texas Offers Republicans a Warning

Folks, as David Goodman foretold in the @nytimes.com, Republicans were worried that even a narrow GOP win in this State Senate runoff in Tarrant County, TX, would be ominous for them. With half the votes counted Democrat Taylor Rehmet
leads by 13 points. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/29/u...

9 Mayors Discuss Safety and Trust in Their Cities Under Trump

"Everybody’s afraid," said Oklahoma City's Republican mayor, David Holt. "Let’s get back to an era of immigration enforcement that is manageable, legal and acceptable to a majority of Americans." Clyde McGrady talks to the mayors. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/30/u...

Administration Social Media Posts Echo White Supremacist Messaging

Tricia McLaughlin conceded it would be “morally repugnant” for DHS to be promoting a white supremacist anthem, but “I’m telling you it’s not there." Less than 40 minutes after being shown it was, the Instagram post — including audio — disappeared from social media. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/27/u...

Administration Social Media Posts Echo White Supremacist Messaging

Um, about those social media posts from White House and Department of Homeland Security and Labor Department with what sure seems like shoutouts to white nationalists ... what about those? www.nytimes.com/2026/01/27/u...

Bipartisan group launches latest effort to remove partisanship from how Illinois legislative boundaries are drawn For the third time since 2014, a bipartisan group wants to amend the Illinois Constitution to affect how state legislative boundaries are drawn.

Just in time for Trump's efforts to gerrymander every single Republican state, here comes bipartisanship in Illinois. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/07/30/i...

A Scion of Democratic Politics Defeats the Upstarts in an Arizona Primary

"Mamdani momentum withered in the deserts of southern Arizona on Tuesday night." Jack Healy on Adelita Grijalva's convincing win in Tucson against the upstarts who called for a new face and name to succeed Raul Grijalva in the House. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/15/u...

Update from Ernesto Londoño

Watch this story line. Nim Kidd, chief of the Texas Division of Emergency Management, said a National Weather Service advisory issued Thursday “did not predict the amount of rain that we saw.” Officials and residents have said they were caught off guard. www.nytimes.com/live/2025/07...

After Mamdani Mania, the Next Democratic Test Comes to Tucson

Tiring in Tucson of voting for Grijalvas. Jack Healy looks at the race to succeed the deceased Raul as the next test for Democrats. Elect his daughter? Move to the center to appeal to Hispanic men? Go full Mamdani with Deja Foxx, the Gen Z influencer? www.nytimes.com/2025/07/03/u...

Planned Parenthood at Risk of Losing Millions in Federal Funding

An element of the Big Beautiful Bill: a soft abortion ban for blue states. The bill could force Planned Parenthood to halt abortions nationally by cutting off funding for all other women's health services, impacting low-income women. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/02/u... www.nytimes.com/2025/07/02/u...

By all means, look at this story and be angry at ... the New York Times.

Remarkable.

An enjoyable paragraph from Eric Schmitt and Helene Cooper in the NYT.
www.nytimes.com/2025/06/26/u...

And so it begins, from freshman Rep. Lauren Gillen in the Long Island suburbs: “Socialist Zohran Mamdani is too extreme to lead New York City. His entire campaign has been built on unachievable promises and higher taxes, which is the last thing New York needs."

A Plan to Sell Federal Land Near This Colorado Town Looks Dead. Here’s Why.

Sen. Mike Lee's proposed federal land sale looks just about dead in reconciliation. Jack Healy went to Summit County, Colo., to show why, and just how hard it would have been to actually build the affordable housing Lee said he wanted if the sales had gone forward. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/24/u...

Former Astronaut Launches Texas Senate Run by Hitting Both Parties

Terry Virts might be a longshot in the campaign to unseat John Cornyn in Texas, but the astronaut's launch video shows two things: Democratic outsiders are hungry to take on Trump, and they're going to do it by attacking both parties. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/23/u...

Also proof that only Bluesky users think those columns are very influential, ergo we'd better expend a lot of energy on them.

There's a misconception that all the federal land that the reconciliation bill would put on the block is remote. Look at Colorado. Many cherish the green space, but the land between Colorado Springs and Denver is not remote and could alleviate housing shortages. www.arcgis.com/apps/mapview...

There's a misconception that all the federal land that the reconciliation bill would put on the block is remote. Look at Colorado. Many cherish the green space, but the land between Colorado Springs and Denver is not remote and could alleviate housing shortages. www.arcgis.com/apps/mapview...

Here we go again: It is a failure of journalism to do X, which we all remember and don't actually need to be walked through again. Why do people on Bluesky insist consumers of journalism are THIS stupid?

From CBO, re: Trump budget biil: Households would see an increase in the resources available to them. In general, resources would decrease for households twd bottom of the income distribution. Resources would increase for households in the middle and top. www.cbo.gov/system/files...

White House Pushes Texas to Redistrict, Hoping to Blunt Democratic Gains

SCOOP: Trump's political operation is pressing Texas Republicans to redraw House lines in the state, hoping to pick up 2-3 seats in the midterms and blunt Democratic gains. Some Texas Republicans worry it could backfire in a wave year. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/09/u...

O Canada was so lound in Edmonton you could hear it from outside the arena. www.instagram.com/reel/DKhfrBC...

Texas’ Migrant Tuition Break Blocked After Texas Joins D.O.J. to Kill It

For more than 20 years, with bipartisan support, Texas offered its undocumented students in-state tuition to its universities. On Wednesday, the Justice Department sued to stop it, the Texas attorney general agreed and a federal judge overturned the law. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/04/u...

Amazed how badly I want the Canadians to beat the Sunrise Panthers. Go Oilers!