Nancy Flanagan 🎼

Come On People Now, Smile on your Brother So—I am a Democrat. Not a surprise to anyone who regularly reads this blog. I think Democratic thoughts—Health care is a right! Fully support public education!—and support Democratic causes. And la…

If there were ever a time when lifelong Dems & Dems Lite & Dem-ish, ought to be joining hands— at least see beyond minor differences—it’s now, when masked maybe-ICE/maybe-J6 thugs are roaming streets, beating people up before sticking them in unmarked vans teacherinastrangeland.blog/2025/06/27/c...

Larry Summers: "This is way beyond anything Nixon ever did ... this is the stuff of democracies giving way to authoritarianism. Firing statisticians goes with threatening the heads of newspapers, launching assaults on universities, launching assaults on law firms. This is really scary stuff."

Bass: We just heard that the administration’s experiment failed. The raids that were happening in Los Angeles—the random pulling and snatching of people off the streets based on the language they spoke, their appearance, where they work—the court has said that can no longer happen.

Come On People Now, Smile on your Brother So—I am a Democrat. Not a surprise to anyone who regularly reads this blog. I think Democratic thoughts—Health care is a right! Fully support public education!—and support Democratic causes. And la…

If there were ever a time when lifelong Dems & Dems Lite & Dem-ish, ought to be joining hands— at least see beyond minor differences—it’s now, when masked maybe-ICE/maybe-J6 thugs are roaming streets, beating people up before sticking them in unmarked vans teacherinastrangeland.blog/2025/06/27/c...

Jet2 Hell: Deportation, Ballrooms, and Booing the King of Grift From SummerSlam boos to ICE TikToks, Trump’s regime is collapsing under the weight of its own grotesque performance art, and still grasping for forever power

Trump claims he shot a 69 at Bedminster, # that is statistically more improbable than his hair. He posted this imaginary score on official WH social media acct--apparently now a place where presidents brag abt cheating at golf while Gaza starves, Ukraine burns marygeddry.substack.com/p/jet2-hell-...

Gross.

The War on Women When we said women and people who loved them needed to vote like their lives depended on it in 2024, it wasn’t hyperbole.

When we said women and people who loved them needed to vote like their lives depended on it in 2024, it wasn’t hyperbole. Not enough Americans understand how precarious the world had become for women. joycevance.substack.com/p/the-war-on...

The Chilling Rise of the Far Right You’re Not Ready For If you want a glimpse of how far the Overton window has shifted, and just how openly today’s far right-wing is embracing authoritarianism and dictatorship, watch the newest viral episode of Surroun…

This isn’t just trolling. It isn’t performance art. It’s the normalization of white supremacy, authoritarianism, fascism, and open disdain for democracy—and it’s happening on a YouTube channel with millions of followers. cloakinginequity.com/2025/07/22/t...

ICYMI: AFK Edition (8/3) Nothing new to report, but I wouldn't miss this wekly collection for anything.

So much good writing on education this week. @palan57.bsky.social’s roundup:

At this point they could announce that Ghislaine Maxwell is being put in charge of labor statistics and I wouldn’t even be surprised

How Close Is America’s Fascist Moment? Maybe things aren’t as bad as they seem.

Lasnick is overseeing another Trump case. Pizzas were delivered to his house & residences of 2 of his adult children. Deliveries were made to name “Daniel Salas.” Daniel Salas was child of another judge, murdered in 2020. Don't need decoder ring to get the message. www.thebulwark.com/p/how-close-...

Ghislaine Maxwell is in her new prison while her victims are either dead or tormented for life. This monster should be kept in a high security jail.

I Know Exactly What They Are Doing Rural foresight

I hear people all around me saying, “They are going to crash the economy. Surely they don’t mean to crash the economy.”

I beg to differ. This is curated failure open.substack.com/pub/jesspipe...

McGowan: He seems to be getting rid of statisticians and climate people and weather experts and scientists and anyone who doesn't agree with what he wants to tell or what he wants to say.

There is no bottom

None of the Epstein/Maxwell survivors were notified of Maxwell’s transfer to the minimum security facility.

Today in Politics, Bulletin 183. 8/1/25 … Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre’s family is outraged that Trump just had Ghislaine Maxwell moved to a minimum security prison in TX after her meeting with his former criminal defense attorney Todd B...

Bloomberg: Sr officials at FBI’s Record/Info Dissemination Section were told to redact Trump’s name out of Epstein files after FOIA requests: “Michael Seidel, the section chief for 14 yrs, pushed back on directives. Seidel was told he could either retire/be fired. www.meidasplus.com/p/today-in-p...

Never in the history of America has a more corrupt man lived to befoul the Oval Office.

Wow. Trump announces he is firing the U.S. Labor Statistics Commissioner for reporting that jobs numbers are weak under his watch.

This is what dictators do.

“This newest attempt to save Republicans from the wrath of voters after they passed Trump’s budget betrayal is an assault on Texas voters and a likely violation of the Voting Rights Act" (Ken Martin)

This hits deep.

Kamala Harris isn’t just mourning her own loss—she’s mourning with us. She’s carrying the weight of a nation battered by trauma, injustice, and cruelty.

She knows exactly what was at stake… and what we’ve all just lost.

EXCLUSIVE: Someone Waived Ghislaine Maxwell's Sex Offender Status to Move Her to a Minimum Security Camp in Texas According to sources, you can't move someone with a Public Safety Factor (PSF) designation - which Maxwell had - without waiving it. That's what happened here.

BREAKING: EXCLUSIVE: A higher up at the Bureau of Prisons WAIVED Ghislaine Maxwell's sex offender status in order to transfer her to a minimum security camp in Texas, per source. My latest: www.muellershewrote.com/p/exclusive-...

A Superintendent Was Held 5 Hours by Border Agents. What Was His Top Concern? He was returning to the country after visiting family abroad, and refused to let agents access his district laptop and phone.

Wilmer Chavarria, Supt of VT’s Winooski school dist, was detained 5 hrs by border authorities in Houston after family visit in Nicaragua. Chavarria has been US citizen since 2018. Agents demanded access to devices; he refused to let them sign into district-issued phone www.edweek.org/leadership/a...

Damn The Evil Prick Who Builds Golden Ballrooms While People Starve He is the antichrist.

President Pedo announced plans to build a $200 million golden ballroom on the White House grounds. It will replace the East Wing and seat 650 guests. It won’t be finished until after 2028.

He’s clearly not planning on ever leaving. www.thegodpodcast.com/p/damn-the-e...

Jobs report: serious revisions downward for the prior two months. May went from 144,000 jobs added to 19,000; June went from 147,000 jobs added to 14,000. We expect Trump to declare that this is Joe Biden’s economy now. (Bulwark)

Unnoticed Whistle-Blower Document Alarms Justice Department Veterans

The DOJ Inspector General “lost” an explosive whistleblower complaint about Emil Bove for over 2 months: www.nytimes.com/2025/07/31/u...

The polls have been clear for a long time on this one. Big majorities of us like our public schools:

How John Durham and Chuck Grassley Covered Up Getting Ass-Handed by Russia - emptywheel John Durham (with Chuck Grassley's help) tried to obscure that on the same day as the Russian spy report that drove his entire investigation, Russian spooks discussed seeding conspiracies about "dark ...

I've long believed 2016 Russian operation in US was most successful intelligence operation in recent history.

With disclosure that Durham investigation all predicated on disinformation, I double down on that opinion. Russia completely destroyed the United States.

www.emptywheel.net/2025/08/01/h...