1. This is a thread on freedom, and how easy it is to lose.

Over the past 2,000 years in Europe, there have been few periods and places of freedom. For much of the time we lived under highly oppressive tyrannies of various kinds, whether small or grand, local or imperial, secular or religious.🧵

So the Epstein vote isn't the only reason Mike Johnson should fear Rep. Yassamin Ansari. More of this, please.

America Begins Clapping Back at Donald Trump In a week of political exits, a reminder that Trump’s time is coming soon, too.

America begins clapping back at Trump.

My new column: www.newyorker.com/news/letter-...

NEWS: A federal judge says Gregory Bovino lied under oath. The Department of Homeland Security has a massive credibility problem. Two federal judges in Chicago have ripped the government’s credibility.

Sleeepy/corrupt Donnie

US strikes another alleged drug boat bringing death toll from campaign in Latin America to 70 US strikes have destroyed at least 18 vessels, but Washington has yet to make public any concrete evidence that its targets posed a threat to America

Wholesale murder.

At long fucking last, a group of Democratic strategy eggheads has grasped some fundamental truths about what has to change.

Head of the U.S. Military’s Southern Command Is Stepping Down, Officials Say

“At a moment when U.S. forces are building up across the Caribbean and tensions with Venezuela are at a boiling point, the departure of our top military commander in the region sends an alarming signal of instability within the chain of command...”

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/16/u...

Himes: If you've got the capability to blow a boat out of the water, you've got the capability to interdict it, arrest everyone on board, interrogate them, and find out where it was going, where it came from, who the bosses are, and what the distribution networks look like.

Questions After Quantico U.S. military commanders around the world will be working to provide steady leadership after Hegseth’s bravado and Trump’s bluster.

When Washington speaks, commanders must answer. But let’s not forget: Those commanders need a foundation of lawful, principled leadership to stand on. www.thebulwark.com/p/questions-...

So Speaker Johnson gave the congress another week off. Paid of course, while they shut the govt down.

The GOP has made it clear they have no interest in compromise with Dems. So they will have to figure how to reopen their govt that they closed.

And they get another vacation

Listen. I left evangelicalism but these motherfuckers are trying hard as hell to at least simulate all the antichrist warnings us Baptists had to sit through.

Editorial: A sun-soaked Sunday in downtown Chicago, marred by a Trumpian show of force Dozens of heavily armed immigration agents descend on downtown Chicago on a gorgeous early fall Sunday. What’s wrong with this picture?

From the Editorial Board:

A beautiful early fall weekend in downtown Chicago. Sun-splashed lakefront. Families enjoying the museums and city sights. Packs of men in military fatigues carrying high-powered long guns.

Which of those images doesn’t belong?

❗

Raskin: "It's not lost on anyone that shutting the government down allows them not swear in our new colleague, Ms Grijalva from Arizona, who would be the 218th signature to discharge the Epstein files and to put a vote on that on the House floor."

Trump told military leaders today that US cities would become “training grounds.”

Do you understand it yet, America? This IS the talk of a dictator.

I’m not afraid to say that word. I’m afraid that my former party is going along with it.

It’s Time for the States to Start Investigating Trump Democratic-led state governments can hold the aspiring autocrat’s feet to the fire.

You know Trump's long list of obvious and likely misdeeds. It's time for actual investigations. www.thebulwark.com/p/state-comm...

I'd be curious to know who much it cost the American taxpayers to flying generals in from all over the world so Pete Hegseth and Donald Trump would have a captive audience to witness their weird and dangerous witlessness live.

How Trumpworld inflates the perceived danger of the left It is stipulated at the outset that there have been gruesome acts of political violence in recent months that appear to have been motivated by hostility to right-wing politics or the administration. T...

Fox is showing viewers footage of vandalism from 2020. The White House is touting misleading statistics on violence. Trump’s allies are telling his base that the left is a dire threat, and even he is buying it. www.pbump.net/o/how-trumpw...

YouTube video by Danielle Moodie The New Phase of Chaos: Can We Stay Sane in a World Gone Mad?

Losing your mind! You are not alone!

@daniellemoodie.bsky.social with her friend, talks about how to manage the trauma of this Republican Regime.

The New Phase of Chaos: Can We Stay Sane in a World Gone Mad? youtu.be/B8Qq1-UdxRk?...

Government shutdown, farmers needing to be bailed out, troops in the streets, country bitterly divided, revolving door of appointees, Putin getting coddled, constant chaos … must be another Trump term.

Right?!

"We are asking the Department of War to deploy to our cities" should be a statement that ends any Governor's political career.

Trump Is a Weak, Failing President. These Brutal New Polls Confirm It. As new national polls show Trump’s approval tanking, a leading analyst explains how the data shows that Trump is far more unpopular than is commonly acknowledged—and details why this matters for 2026.

Media and Dems are still getting this badly wrong: Trump is deeply unpopular! Recent approval numbers:

38-54 (Quinnipiac)
39-60 (AP)
40-56 (Gallup)
41-58 (Reuters)
39-56 (Economist)

On the pod, @lakshya.splitticket.org explains these numbers brilliantly. Listen:
newrepublic.com/article/2010...

Geez, well thank goodness New Orleans doesn’t depend on tourism dollars. 🙄