Monica Potts

aeon.co/essays/your-...

I don't think political views are protected.

"He's a piece of shit, but let's get the political science stuff out of the way," Steven told me when I asked if he thought support of Tesla could be considered apolitical. "Elon Musk has platformed white supremacists and antisemites on X. He got rid of all the moderation. He put back accounts that were clearly neo-Nazis. He's changed algorithms to promote that type of hate. Him and DOGE did massive cuts in the government, including our civil services. He's cut cancer research. Did I mention he was a giant piece of shit?" "He's cut our aid to Africa, which Will result, without exaggeration, in millions of women and children and innocent people dying. Millions," he said. "I'm not a big fan of people who give the Hitler salute. I mean, I'm kind of fussy like that. He gave it twice at Trump's inauguration," he continued. "He's a Nazi. And he cheats at video games. You have another question?"

lol at this response to a “man on the street” interview with protestors at the Tesla diner

'big ass truck abundance' is incompatible with a habitable planet, with safe streets, and with public health

There are lots of extremely rich people in like, Illinois who go on vacation in Destin every year and own a boat but they didn’t go to prep school so they think they’re “working class”

Colbert actually is an entertainer and his work is the definition of a performance so this is extremely dumb.

Today's Financial Times has some striking quotes from a "person close to David Ellison" about his beliefs re: CBS and the news biz. The source spoke about CBS News and Stephen Colbert seemingly in the same breath 🤨 and said "the news lost its way."

I’m very into this. The more mismatched and eccentric star couples, the better for us all

Mayoral Candidates Navigate a Mass Shooting That Has Rattled New York

The thing about this story is that it's the kind of story desperate daily assignment editors ok when they need content. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/29/n...

D.C. lawmakers strike a new compromise on tipped minimum wage with final budget vote The D.C. Council approved capping planned increases to the tipped minimum wage after a lengthy debate on the matter. This was the most controversial part of the 2026 budget.

DC residents have TWICE passed a measure eliminating the tipped wage and yet the council has yet again undone their votes wamu.org/story/25/07/...

Inside the Private Equity Scam—and the Livelihoods It Has Destroyed Financiers have bamboozled the public for years about their expertise in “fixing” companies. Yet they often—and sometimes deliberately—run them into the ground.

Write a bit about @greenwell.bsky.social's very good book, which among other things has some excellent anecdotes about how private equity guys understand their role in the world

newrepublic.com/article/1983...

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Over the last year, WIRED has gained … something of a reputation. A good one. One that involved offering more scoops than a Ben & Jerry’s. On top of all that excellent reporting we’ve served up fantastic editorial packages. As their curator, here are my faves of 2025.
www.wired.com/v2/offers/wi...

I doubt that there is a single family in America that hasn’t benefitted directly from the NIH.

I've been seeing a lot of people on this here app living in a fantasy land where they think Pete's take is wrong.*

*signed, someone who actually talks to voters all the time.

Durbin Demands Tapes of Ghislaine Maxwell Interviews

Durbin Demands Tapes of Ghislaine Maxwell Interviews www.nytimes.com/2025/07/28/u...

If Dems want lessons from Mamdani applicable across the country “it’s less about the ideology, and more about the message discipline of focusing on what people care about and the tactical wisdom of getting out there and talking to everybody,” Pete Buttigieg says on NPR.

Why Trump’s Epstein Defense Is Failing Miserably The president is desperately trying to gin up scandals involving Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton because it (sort of) worked before. It won’t now.

I wrote about the silver lining of the Democrats existential crisis: There's no one prominent or beloved enough to take attention away from Trump's tailspin newrepublic.com/article/1984...

Something people who don't understand evangelical circles don't readily get is that white Christian nationalists will 100% let their loved ones suffer or die if they think it serves their religious and political agenda. They have a million justifications. I've seen it with my own eyes.

this is a broadly targeted subtweet but a number of you who are well educated, have the capacity for media literacy and appear to genuinely care about mis/disinformation are nonetheless among the worst offenders at sharing thinly sourced, misleading outrage bait into my feed, plz cut it out

Pretty clear to me that one function of the fantasy of pedophilic cabals that’s present in conspiracy theories is to provide an outlet for the rage and despair at indifference and impunity for actual sexual violence.

LAWRENCE COUNTY, TN: “Doctors notes no longer excuse absences…” (Under threat of juvenile court intervention)

Director of Schools Michael Adkins: “They need to learn reliability and work ethic… we’ve all gone to work sick.” 🤔

Parents: “How does that make sense?”

This is genuinely appalling.

Thinking of David Halberstam's 'Powers That Be,' with sections on mightiness of (a) CBS; (b) Wash Post; (c) Time mag; (d) LA Times.
The pillars of US journalism as civic forces (with huge flaws), and as businesses.

It is like Ozymandias now.

Shame on CBS.

Oh man if only there were a way to store energy 🤔

The thing about this that gets me, too, is what is an average person supposed to do when they know these big institutions won't have their backs?

We are seven months in, and the speed with which vital civic institutions are capitulating to authoritarian demands we once would have regarded as inconceivable in an established liberal democracy is jawdropping. I hadn't thought I was polyannaish about America, but it's really stunning.

I offer only this and only once with a huge YMMV caveat:

If people telling you to rage quit are not also inviting you into something — be it their organization, their strategy, their active movement — it isn’t a real call to action. It’s a (maybe righteous) temper tantrum.

What began as a simple traffic stop for an 18-year-old Floridian, turned into federal immigration agents telling him: “You’ve got no rights here.”

His video footage shows the agents putting one passenger into a chokehold and appearing to shoot another with a stun gun.
https://trib.al/DcjAeLg

The Gen Z New Yorkers Selling Their Parents on Mamdani

Good piece on Mamdani in…dang, the New York Times
At @thirdactorg.bsky.social there’s nothing we like more than elders and youth conspiring together about who to vote for—and elders really listening!

www.nytimes.com/2025/07/25/n...