Richard Tofel

Times Analysis Finds Errors in Trump’s Supreme Court Filing That Calls for National Guard in Chicago

Good judges really don’t like it when you lie to them. Let’s hope that includes the GOP justices on the Supreme Court.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/25/u...

Patel Under Scrutiny for Use of SWAT Teams to Protect His Girlfriend

Patel attacked his predecessor’s use of “a government-funded G5 to go to vacations.”
“Maybe we ground that plane. $15k every time it takes off. Just a thought.”
Instead, now, after steep FBI budget cuts, he uses it for golf outings in Scotland and hunting in Texas.

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/23/u...

One of CDC’s final blows. And what it means for you. Where to find trusted health information now?

In which a former CDC staffer, sadly, advises the public to avoid the CDC website
yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com/p/cdc-false-...

The New Energy Crisis Investigating the impact of Virginia’s data center explosion — a special series by the Fauquier Times & Prince William Times.

Important series from two small nonprofit papers in Virginia about what the data center explosion really means

thenewenergycrisis.com/the-series

Tough Questions for Google, and Thoughts on How We Got Here A confrontational interview prompts reflections on the recent history of the news business

A second rough draft of the history of how the news industry got here, the dubious role of the platforms and why it still wasn’t their fault. This week’s Second Rough Draft newsletter

dicktofel.substack.com/p/tough-ques...

The SLAPP Back Initiative The first national database of strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs) and anti-SLAPP disputes.

Proud to be supporting this important new resource on attempts to stifle free speech and press

slappback.org

The White House Intervened on Behalf of Accused Sex Trafficker Andrew Tate During a Federal Investigation Federal authorities were chided for seizing electronic devices from Tate and his brother, and told to return them, records and interviews show. Experts said the intervention was highly inappropriate.

A White House aide with a self-described “Nazi streak” tried to help shield an accused sex trafficker from a federal investigation.
He was later nominated for a job requiring Senate confirmation, and still works in the Trump Admin.
Really.
From @propublica.org
www.propublica.org/article/andr...

A reminder to reporters (and others): The Epstein files bill seeks to compel a step Trump could voluntarily take at any time.
If he’s really in favor of the bill now, why not just order Bondi to release the files?

If she wasn’t his student, but just someone he knew in their field, I don’t see the argument for liability.

This gross behavior isn’t enough to fire a tenured professor, but it sure would be good for Harvard if Larry Summers would resign.
And kudos to @theharvardcrimson.bsky.social for piecing the story together.
www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...

Not every news org can stop traffic for blocks. Fun to be at the @texastribune.org Festival

Do you think he understands the UK rules on attorney fees?

FBI Director Kash Patel Waived Polygraph Security Screening for Dan Bongino, Two Other Senior Staff As the FBI’s deputy director, Bongino receives some of the country’s most sensitive secrets, including the President’s Daily Brief. His ascent to that position without passing a standard bureau backgr...

Latest on the Trump FBI debacle: the Deputy Director was exempted from the polygraph required of all other Bureau employees.
No previous regime ever ran a security risk like that.
www.propublica.org/article/fbi-...

Firm Tied to Kristi Noem Secretly Got Money From $220 Million DHS Ad Contracts The company is run by the husband of Noem’s chief DHS spokesperson and has personal and business ties to Noem and her aides. DHS invoked the “emergency” at the border to skirt competitive bidding rule...

Another Trump team grab of taxpayer dollars to shove into their own pockets, just out from @propublica.org
www.propublica.org/article/kris...

The young journalists at the Harvard Crimson weigh in with the most thorough reporting on the Epstein - Larry Summers connection.
Trigger warning: read on an empty stomach. This will make you want to vomit.
www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...

Why Happy Talk Isn’t the Answer for Local News Overstating revenue gains and ignoring failures doesn't help

Are there warning signs in rosy announcements about funding for local news? @dicktofel.bsky.social lifts the lid. dicktofel.substack.com/p/why-happy-...

Why Happy Talk Isn’t the Answer for Local News Overstating revenue gains and ignoring failures doesn't help

We need more candor about the mixed picture in nonprofit journalism, especially at the local level. This week’s Second Rough Draft newsletter

open.substack.com/pub/dicktofe...

Trump, the Press and Defining Deviancy Down What if the Epstein story is just beginning?

Trump spent hours alone at Epstein’s with a young woman, which Maxwell confirms.
Epstein says he “gave” Trump a young girlfriend.
Epstein briefed the Russians on Trump.
And this is NOT the stuff Trump is still trying to keep secret.
Why it continues to matter:

dicktofel.substack.com/p/trump-the-...

“Riots Raging”: The Misleading Story Fox News Told About Portland Before Trump Sent Troops After reviewing coverage from the network and hours of social media videos that preceded Trump’s decision, ProPublica found that Fox’s portrayal of “Portland rioters” routinely instigating violence wa...

Fox News is celebrating the decapitation of the BBC. If Fox had decent standards, heads there would roll for this.
www.propublica.org/article/port...

New Epstein emails just dropped, and they involve Trump. 🎁🔗 www.nytimes.com/2025/11/12/u...

Kash Patel’s ‘Effin Wild’ Ride as FBI Director In just one week in October, he ticked off his bosses with premature comments about a terror investigation and squeezed in a trip to the ‘Boondoggle Ranch’ on the bureau jet.

Horrifying from the WSJ on the sloppy, dangerous, self-indulgent reign of Trump’s FBI director

www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

Opinion | The Business Elite Needs Mamdani. They Just Don’t Know It Yet.

Smart and important on the way forward for NYC from @neilbarsky.bsky.social
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/12/o...

James Watson, dead at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers James Watson, the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA who died Thursday at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers.

A Sharon Begley byline, almost 5 years after her death.

Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."

Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫

What I Learned About Dick Cheney The former vice president was certain he knew better than the citizens he served what was good for them.

A very thoughtful appraisal of Cheney from the great @bartongellman.bsky.social
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...

Unless the shutdown ends very quickly, the uncertainty now surrounding business travel will likely cause it to seriously decline nationwide, with many more trips cancelled than would be accounted for by the flights directly affected.
The economic effects could be huge, and fairly abrupt.

The Times’s Profit Jumps With 460,000 More Subscribers

As it was in his first term, Donald Trump’s presidency seems to be good for the business of the New York Times
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/05/b...

Among the lessons of last night: any political party that tries to convince itself the American people in this decade are okay with 3% inflation is in for a world of hurt.

Putting these two together, while the Ackmans of the world will argue that Cuomo would have won if Sliwa had dropped out, it seems likelier that Trump would then have loomed even larger in NYC race, sealing the deal for Mamdani.

Before you take seriously any argument about whether it matters if Mamdani’s ends up with a majority tonight, remember that Trump won 49.8% of the vote last year.

Big polling miss of the day seems to have been in New Jersey, where Trump may have cost the GOP much more than expected, as “undecideds” broke entirely to Sherrill.