Rachel Van Patten

My latest investigation reveals a guest list that includes neo-Nazis and other white nationalists for an annual conference at a Tennessee state park!

I spend 10-12 hours a day tracking this stuff and I have seen her radicalize so many people it keeps me up at night.

I’ve never seen anything like it.

YouTube video by Network State Podcast 19 - Network State Conference 2024 - Shervin Pishevar

I write about some crazy stuff that can seem far-fetched.

But here's venture capitalist Shervin Pishevar explaining why nations like the USA must be replaced with "network states."
He was an early investor in AirBNB, Uber, Slack, Warby Parker, Postmates, etc.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVkI...

White House 'Censorship' Grievance Fantasy Kicks Into High Gear | TechPolicy.Press Three related stories are each part of the larger geopolitical contest which now defines transatlantic relations, writes Dean Jackson.

Dean Jackson does a great job here connecting three major stories from this week to the now years-long "'censorship' greivance fantasy" crafted by right-wing conspiracy theorists and embraced by the Trump regime and its supporters: www.techpolicy.press/white-house-...

The thugs who stormed our Capitol are now overrunning our cities.

Like hands above the ocean tides holding onto to a shipwreck.

i think people have mostly, finally gotten over the fear that trump's going to deploy DHS troops out to every city in america, what people need to internalize next is that they will not have the money to sustain even their *current* operations within a year and a half

noem is *still* requiring that every contract over $100K be personally approved by her and we already know of multiple deals she and lewandowski are personally benefitting from through public reporting, imagine what happens when dems take over house oversight

i very sincerely think this is going to be an absolutely enormous political problem for the white house by 2027

$2B/month to illegally hold 500 detainees is how you end up running out of $170B in funding two years short of the period it was intended to cover

for those of you counting at home, that's $50M/day x more than 120 days, that DHS budget isn't going to last anywhere near as long as it was intended to

I adore bookstores and it’s extra fun now that I can also look out for books and comics from online friends and acquaintances

there’s @tkingfisher.com’s latest! oh look, a @courtneymilan.com book! over here is a @gregrucka.com comic!

support your local bookstores, they are a delight

Don’t forget the 3 attorneys, now SCOTUS judges, who helped W and Jeb pull it off : Roberts, Kavanaugh, and Coney Barrett.

the point of this post isn't to wallow in what might have been - it's to remind us that things can be better

don't waste time mourning: organize!

imagine US political culture if Ford hadn't pardoned Nixon, and instead he went to jail

The Child Who Disappeared Inside Federal Plaza | Michael Fanone & Maya May LIVE Under Trump, family separation has become an intentional tool of state power, not an accident of bureaucracy.

ICYMI: @mayaonstage.bsky.social and @michaelfanone.bsky.social sat down for Protect & Serve to discuss the 6 year-old who was separated from his father after being detained by ICE - and cannot be found by his father…

www.lincolnsquare.media/p/the-child-...

Subscribe for free today to watch!

Woman Hailed as Hero for Smashing Man's Meta Smart Glasses on Subway A New York subway rider has accused a woman of breaking his Meta smart glasses. She was later hailed as a hero.

In terms of what’s understood to be socially acceptable behavior, normalizing the filming/taking pictures of people in public who are minding their own business (and putting it online) is one of the worst developments of the past 15 years.

These are just petty, cruel people.

The NYT photo desk FTW.

www.nytimes.com/athletic/685...

Reminds me of Brezhnev's final year or so, when he attended the funeral of a general he'd known as a political officer in the Great Patriotic War. He broke down completely by the open casket, sobbing, and the TV news showed it all. Wouldn't have happened if Andropov or somebody hadn't authorized it.

I have just approved TINY CARS to be built in America. Little SEDANS that should fit four at most but when you open the door 27 clowns spill out. HOW??? They will DUST THEMSELVES OFF as they leave the car. The HORN will make the little eeooh-eeooh sound. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER.

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF VIRGINIA Norfolk Division In re: GRAND JURY PROCEEDINGS DECEMBER 4, 2025 Misc. No. 2:25 ms 17 Grand Jury No. 25-2 ORDER On December 4, 2025, the grand jury was presented with an indictment proposing federal felony charges. After review, the grand jury failed to concur in issuing the proposed indictment and returned a no true bill. To maintain a record of these proceedings, the Clerk is DIRECTED to assign a miscellaneous number to this matter and IMPOUND the proposed indictment. The Clerk is further DIRECTED to maintain the proposed indictment under this miscellaneous number and the record of the grand jurors concurring in the proposed indictment UNDER SEAL as a grand jury matter, unless otherwise ordered by the Court.

Docket entry in EDVA shows that a Norfolk grand jury returned a "no true bill" yesterday, Dec. 4. In other words: The grand jury declined to indict someone on felony charges after federal prosecutors presented the case.

This is likely the Letitia James case.

(H/t to docket watcher Ethan Lee)

Rep. Grijalva says she was pepper-sprayed by ICE

The great accountability inversion Impunity for the powerful, brutality for the powerless

Under a Trump justice system, low-level suspects face cruel and unusual treatment while powerful criminals get practically pampered. *It doesn’t have to be this way.* In our latest briefing, we cover the key to overcoming the accountability inversion, read and subscribe: https://protdem.org/44avx9x

Robert Reich The Secret Behind High Gas Prices

1 million acres of pristine public land in Alaska will now be open to fossil fuel drilling, thanks to Republicans in Congress.

Big Oil spent nearly $500 million lobbying and boosting friendly candidates last year — and now they're getting a big return on their investment.

i don't mean in an "austerity" way (though i'm sure some dummies will attempt that), but there's been a lot of lukewarm willingness to tolerate corporate power and corruption that's got to end, and that will make enemies of lukewarm allies and donors. doesn't matter, has to be done.

robert j bennett: liberalism is going to require something martial and vicious and somewhat fanatic if we want it to survive. it won't be the liberalism we grew up with. it will be an uglier, harder thing for an uglier, harder world.

the next generation of liberal leaders are going to have to be of the "we have to make hard choices now so that our children will have easier choices when it's their turn" variety

"The Trump administration has privately informed European allies that Washington will no longer remain NATO’s primary conventional defense provider beyond 2027, three people familiar with classified conversations this week told Kyiv Post."

Man Charged With Leaving Girlfriend to Freeze to Death on Mountain The experienced mountaineer is accused of abandoning his girlfriend at the top of Austria’s highest mountain.

The bear would never

Indiana House Passes Trump Gerrymander, Sending Map to Uncertain Senate Vote Read more here.

The Indiana House voted 57-41 today to approve a gerrymandered congressional map that could eliminate the state’s two districts currently held by Democrats. The GOP-controlled legislature held the vote after facing months of intensifying pressure from Trump.

The map now heads to the Indiana Senate.