Bryan Denton

George W. Bush: “I’m going to effect regime change in Iraq without much of a plan and we’ll figure out the details later”

Trump: “Hold my Diet Coke”

These millionaires have a suggestion for the FAA: Cancel all private jet flights during the shutdown Private jets make up one in six flights handled by the FAA, and taxpayers already foot the bill for their 'jet setting,' says Patriotic Millionaires.

Article says private jets are 1/6 of all traffic handled by FAA and entire reduction in FAA load could be shouldered by grounding private jets. No need to affect commercial flights.

Opinion | Israel Says It Killed a Hamas Commander. It Killed a Pulitzer-Winning Journalist. The killing of Anas al-Sharif marks an ominous new phase of the war in Gaza.

In @nytopinion.nytimes.com

“This is truly a war with no limits,” our columnist Lydia Polgreen writes of the war in Gaza, “and soon there may be no journalists left to document its horror.”

A “Striking” Trend: After Texas Banned Abortion, More Women Nearly Bled to Death During Miscarriage A new ProPublica data analysis adds to the mounting evidence that abortion bans have made the common experience of first-trimester miscarriage far more dangerous.

More women have nearly bled to death during miscarriage under Texas’ abortion ban.

Experts say the trend paints a troubling picture of the harms of unnecessary delays in care.

“This is striking,” one doctor said. “The trend is very clear.”

“Slow Pay, Low Pay or No Pay” Blue Cross authorized mastectomies and breast reconstructions for women with cancer but refused to pay the full doctors’ bills. A jury called it fraud and awarded the practice $421 million.

Blue Cross had refused to pay thousands of claims for the center’s patients, but on several occasions executives at the insurance company had signed special one-time deals with the center to pay for their wives’ cancer treatment.

By @tchristianmiller.bsky.social

Under Trump, America’s New Friends: Russia, North Korea and Belarus When it comes to the war in Ukraine, President Trump finds common cause with the world’s outlier states and stands against traditional U.S. allies like Britain, France, Germany, Canada, Japan and Ital...

If the old saying is true, that you are known by who your friends are, then Trump may be telling the world something about who he plans to be in this second term. The friends he teamed up with this week? Russia, North Korea, Belarus, Syria and Sudan. www.nytimes.com/2025/02/25/u...

U.S. Votes Against U.N. Resolution Demanding Russian Withdrawal from Ukraine The United States voted against a resolution, backed by most of Europe, demanding Russian withdrawal from Ukraine — a deep fissure between allies, and a sharp shift in American policy.

Whose side was Trump's America on when it came to a UN resolution condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine? Russia, North Korea and Belarus. www.nytimes.com/2025/02/24/w...

Thread on the influence of Russian and Asadist disinformation on Syria over the past decade.
bsky.app/profile/geor...

yesterday?

AP sues Trump White House for denying access over 'Gulf of Mexico' row The White House has kept the wire service from covering key events because it refuses to call the body of water between Mexico and Florida the Gulf of America, as the Trump administration prefers.

The White House has kept the wire service from covering key events because it refuses to call the body of water between Mexico and Florida the Gulf of America, as the Trump administration prefers.

The AP Sues White House Officials in Bid to Get Back Into Oval Office The suit accuses the Trump administration of violating the First Amendment and retaliating after AP refused to adopt “Gulf of America” terminology.

The Associated Press has asked a federal judge to restore its access to the White House press pool, saying in a lawsuit that the Trump administration violated the First Amendment by limiting its reporters’ movements

Even neo-Nazis say it’s getting a ‘little excessive’ following Bannon’s CPAC salute ‘The Manson Family had a more coherent ideology than MAGA. And the liberal criticism that American ‘fascism’ is merely a personality cult around Trump seems justified,’ notorious white supremacist Ric...

You know it's getting bad when Nick Fuentes and Richard Spencer are saying all the Nazi salutes at MAGA events has gotten a "little excessive" and to tone it down a notch.

www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a...

And there it is

In Trump’s telling, Ukraine, not Russia, is to blame for being invaded because it didn't surrender territory on the front end to Moscow. “You should have never started it,” Trump said, referring to Ukrainian leaders who, in fact, did not start it.

Dismissed Nuclear Bomb Specialists Recalled by Energy Department The Energy Department is seeking to bring back nuclear energy specialists after abruptly telling hundreds of workers that their jobs were eliminated, according to two people familiar with the matter.

New: The Energy Department is seeking to bring back nuclear energy specialists after abruptly telling hundreds of workers that their jobs were eliminated, according to two people familiar with the matter

Three suspected DOGE impersonators storm S.F. City Hall, demand documents Sheriff's officials said the three men demanded that City Hall employees turn over digital information related to alleged wasteful government spending and fraud

things are going great, just great

USAID Lifesaving Aid Remains Halted Despite Rubio’s Promise A new directive puts further exemptions on hold. Aid workers also say the U.S. government has made it impossible to pay partners around the world.

Top USAID officials are trying to create a false narrative that life-saving aid has continued despite Trump’s blanket halt to foreign aid. Our @nytimes.com reporting shows the exact opposite. USAID even issued an internal email to stop applications for waivers: www.nytimes.com/2025/02/12/u...

Elon Musk's Friends Have Infiltrated Another Government Agency Elon Musk’s former employees are trying to use White House credentials to access General Services Administration tech, giving them the potential to remote into laptops, read emails, and more, sources ...

NEW: Elon Musk's friends have infiltrated the GSA and they're looking for ways to use White House credentials to access agency tech, potentially allowing them to remote into laptops, read emails, and more, sources say.

w/ @zoeschiffer.bsky.social

www.wired.com/story/elon-m...

Scores of career State Dept. diplomats resign before Trump’s inauguration Trump’s team requested numerous high-level resignations from the State Department as the president-elect prepares to make a break with the Biden administration.

Scores of senior career diplomats are resigning from the State Department effective at noon on Monday after receiving instructions to do so from President-elect Donald Trump’s aides www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

Bird flu almost killed this teen. It’s a cautionary tale for Trump officials. The case of the Canadian teen and the death of a Louisiana man are stark reminders of bird flu’s capacity to ignite serious illness.

The case of the Canadian teen and the death of a Louisiana man are stark reminders of bird flu’s capacity to ignite serious illness.

Musk Said to Have Intervened to Help Free Italian Jailed in Iran (Gift Article) The Italian journalist was released soon after Elon Musk met with an Iranian ambassador, officials in Iran said. So was an Iranian detained in Italy who was wanted by the U.S.

Elon Musk secretly negotiated a prisoner swap directly with Iran and Italy that prevented a terrorism suspect indicted by DOJ, who allegedly participated in a drone attack on American servicemen, from being extradited to the United States. www.nytimes.com/2025/01/15/w...

The Washington Post’s New Mission: Reach ‘All of America’ This week, The Post began trying out a new mission statement: “Riveting Storytelling for All of America.”

The Washington Post began trying out a new mission statement this week: “Riveting Storytelling for All of America.” It comes amid turmoil in the newsroom.

The Storm Inside There are many journalists hiding from the stigma of mental health, addiction, or both, trying not to appear as damaged goods and to keep on working. I want them to know that they are not alone.

www.cjr.org/wartime/ogha...

thousands of excess deaths resulting from extreme heat conditions at increasing levels of global temperature

NEW: Mass heat mortality events are coming. In our new preprint, we project tens of thousands of deaths per week in Europe, if the weather patterns that produced heat waves historically happen again at future -- or even current -- global temperatures.

eartharxiv.org/repository/v...

Opinion | Remembering Stu Spencer, the Reagan guru who tried to save the GOP The California strategist who helped turn an actor into a political superstar is dead at 97.

"For journalists, including me, Spencer was a cherished source of wisdom and a reminder of how fun and freewheeling politics used to be," @ktumulty.bsky.social writes. Eternally grateful to Karen for letting me tag along on a visit to see Stu in Palm Desert. www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

Investors Extracted $400 Million From a Hospital Chain That Sometimes Couldn’t Pay for Medical Supplies or Gas for Ambulances Prospect Medical, which mostly serves low-income patients, has suffered a litany of problems: broken elevators, dirty surgical gear, bedbugs and more. Its owners, including Leonard Green & Partners an...

Prospect Medical announced -- at 11:02 p.m. on Saturday -- that it's filed for bankruptcy. At @propublica, we've been writing since 2020 about how private equity and Prospect's founders sucked hundreds of millions out of the troubled hospital company. www.propublica.org/article/inve...

The National Weather Service is now warning of another round of "particularly dangerous" fire weather in the Los Angeles area.

Starting early Tuesday, wind gusts could reach up to 70 mph.

"EXTREME RISK"

What caused the Palisades blaze? Visual evidence points to a recent fire nearby The Post’s analysis offers evidence that the Palisades Fire started in the area where firefighters had spent hours using helicopters to knock down a blaze six days earlier.

The Post’s analysis offers evidence that the Palisades Fire started in the area where firefighters had spent hours using helicopters to knock down a blaze six days earlier.