Steve Varnis

Army aims to field 1 million drones in next 2-3 years The Army’s new pilot program called SkyFoundry hopes to see the service forge partnerships with private industry to churn out drones.

www.defensenews.com/breaking-new...

Cuomo Backers Burned $65 Per Vote, Including $13.3 Million From Bloomberg A blizzard of outside spending on ads, including a spot that linked Zohran Mamdani to 9/11, failed to move voters and may have even backfired.

Cuomo Backers Burned $65 Per Vote, Including $13.3 Million From Bloomberg

www.thecity.nyc/2025/11/06/c...

Lina Khan joins Zohran's transition team.

Big day for actually existing LPE.

In the election for mayor of Cincinnati the Republicans put up JD Vance’s half-brother against incumbent Aftab Pureval. The Republicans got absolutely crushed — Pureval got more than 80% of the vote.

Re-upping the dedication of Mahmood Mamdani's 2020 book, 'Neither Settler nor Native'.

Zohran Mamdani says on NY1 he didn't get a congratulatory call from either Andrew Cuomo or Eric Adams last night.

He says he got a congratulatory call from Curtis Sliwa, though.

The secretive donor circle that lifted JD Vance is now rewriting MAGA’s future Chris Buskirk put tech elites in power in Trump’s Washington. His efforts are grounded in a controversial theory: An “aristocracy” is needed to move the country forward.

They think America needs an aristocracy: themselves www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...

May 14, 2017. It was Mother’s Day and my gift was to go see Monsoon Wedding (the play) on its opening night in Berkeley.

It was also the night my brother Sam introduced me to the next mayor of NYC, Zohran Mamdani who was so clearly a kind, sparkling human being. 🤗 @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social

And right on cue, the Murdoch media has joined forces with none other than disinformation artist Bjorn Lomborg himself to promote:

I’m glad Gavin Newsom wants to be a liberal hero instead of a right-wing podcaster.

But why does he have so little to say about the tech oligarchs fueling and funding the fascist takeover? He cozies up to them, as do his closest advisors.

California incubated crypto corruption and tech fascism.

summary of climate inaction tactics described in The New Climate War

Bill Gates must have misread my book "The #NewClimateWar" (www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/micha...) as a how-to-guide rather than a cautionary tale.

oh just straight up gutter racism!

Trump administration strips Nigerian Nobel winner Wole Soyinka of US visa The first African author to win the Nobel in literature, Soyinka has been an outspoken critic of governments worldwide.

The first African author to win the Nobel in literature, Soyinka has been an outspoken critic of governments worldwide.

How a Small Elite College in Maine Influenced Mamdani’s World View

A few thoughts about this deeply-flawed Jeremy W. Peters article.(Gift link.) www.nytimes.com/2025/10/28/u...

Behold Steve Schwarzman musing. From the FT's Due Diligence newsletter:

“If you can earn 12 per cent, maybe 13 per cent on a really good day in senior secured bank debt, what else do you want to do in life?,” he mused in a Parisian ballroom in September 2023.

A wonderful, life-affirming initiative:

Three-Way Fight: An Interview w/ Matthew N. Lyons and Xtn on Antifascism in 2025 Two veteran antifascist organizers and theorists discuss how antifascism is being reconsidered with Trump's second Presidency and the rise of right-wing governments.

Recent interview with longtime antifascists I did for my newsletter on what had changed in 2025.

If you’re wondering why ICE Agents, even behind their masks, seem like a bunch of pathetic losers, it’s because that’s exactly the kinds of people who join secret police forces: people who are such failures that a repugnant job is the best they can get. Data: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1...

Attorney General James Launches Portal to Collect Photos and Videos of ICE Activity in New York NEW YORK – New York Attorney General Letitia James is encouraging New Yorkers to submit videos or other documentation of federal immigration enforcement actions in New York following yesterday’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raid on Canal Street in New York City. “Every New Yorker has the right to live without fear or intimidation,” said Attorney General James. “If you witnessed and documented ICE activity yesterday, I urge you to share that footage with my office. We are committed to reviewing these reports and assessing any violations of law. No one should be subject to unlawful questioning, detention, or intimidation.” Attorney General James is asking New Yorkers to share photos or videos of federal government actions using the Office of the Attorney General’s new online portal.

The day after the Chinatown raid, New York AG Tish James launches an online portal for the public to submit photos and videos of ICE activity.

"We are committed to reviewing these reports and assessing any violations of law," she writes.

Portal ag.ny.gov/federal-acti...

Trump refugee plan seeks 7,000 Afrikaners — and virtually no one else The Trump administration’s rush to process thousands of White South Africans as refugees coincides with plans for overall admissions set as low as 7,500.

Have you gotten the idea yet? www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

Protesting/mobilizing isn't enough - we need to organize and build power. But there are some moments when it's really important to just show up. And this was one.

Statement of support from historians at Columbia University and Barnard College. Thank you for your solidarity!

Image of a monster next to someone dressed as a stereotypical anarchist with a circle a on their sweatshirt. Caption: “Hi. I’m the Boogeyman. A mythical creature used to frighten children into doing what they’re told. This is my buddy Antifa. He does the same thing but for Republican Adults.”

The ‘antifa’ boogeyman

From: www.nj.com/opinion/2025...

If you don’t see the link between ICE and the IDF, you haven’t been paying attention. We are being asked to accept a world where whole communities are made disposable and marked for disappearance. If we accept that for anyone, no one is safe anywhere.

In Minnesota, BlackRock Is Acquiring Vital Infrastructure A multibillion-dollar deal is set to hand private equity giant BlackRock one of the Midwest’s largest utilities, Minnesota Power. Opponents of the sale fear that this will only worsen the already skyrocketing cost of electricity.

A multibillion-dollar deal is set to hand private equity giant BlackRock one of the Midwest’s largest utilities, Minnesota Power.

Opponents of the sale fear that this will only worsen the already skyrocketing cost of electricity.

Right on

ISRAEL'S WAR ON GAZA Israel's withdrawal to the 'yellow line' In the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire plan, Israel is set to withdraw its troops to the agreed 'yellow line' within 24 hours, after which a 72-hour period will begin for the handover of Israeli captives. Israel retains control of 58% of the Gaza Strip [map of Gaza showing the area still controlled by Israel in yellow, with a yellow line surrounding the area in which Palestinians are allowed to reside]

eyal weizman @weizman... 1d g ... This aerial image from the 1960s shows that the 'yellow line' of Israel's redeployment in Gaza is roughly matching with the border of the area's coastal sand dune, leaving Gaza without the absolute majority of its agricultural areas on the fertile soils in the east. [B&W aerial image of Gaza showing a yellow line separating the area where Palestinians are allowed to reside in the west from the area in the east. Sand dunes are visible in the majority of the now built-up area for Palestinans]

Israel is retaining control of 58% of the Gaza Strip, including the majority of its farmland in eastern Gaza.

Western Gaza was largely built on top of sand dunes, as you can see from the aerial image in the post below.

This is Rev David Black, minister of the First Presbyterian Church in Chicago. He was shot seven times in the head with chemical pellets by ICE agents as he was kneeling to pray at a protest. He's one of three clergymen that ICE shot in the head.

This is really fucking scary and the only thing we can do is basically show up with solidarity as much as possible. Whatever mark and their family need

Rutgers Expert on Antifa Tries to Flee to Spain After Death Threats

“A rival..petition began circulating.., calling on the Rutgers chapter of Turning Point USA to be disbanded, accusing it of inciting violence & promoting hate speech…that petition had..several hundred more than the original petition calling for Dr. Bray’s firing.”
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/08/n...