Kurt Andersen

As the Trumpists fall back on their just-deporting-violent-criminals excuse for terrorizing Minneapolis and killing two U.S. citizens so far this month, an important reminder courtesy of the conservative Cato Institute concerning that Big Lie. www.cato.org/blog/5-ice-d...

And a reminder of what Kyle Rittenhouse did in 2020 with his open-carried AR-15 at a protest in Wisconsin that made him a Republican hero, and get Donald Trump’s seal of approval. 2/2

Trumps’ flying monkeys’ talking point…. 1/2

South Park - ICE! #cdnpoli

Vidkun Quisling - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vidkun_...

I knew “quisling” became a generic English term for “collaborator” and “traitor” during WWII because of the conservative Norwegian politician Vidkun Quisling’s 5-year collaboration with the Nazis. But I didn’t know his whole story or ending—due process, trial, severe punishment.

Cautionary tale.

Imagine the reaction on the right if federal agents had killed someone under precisely these circumstances and any non-Trump Administration justified it because the person was carrying a concealed licensed handgun.

As every single “conservative” apologist should be asked to address.

I bet that in addition to the intimidation value and anonymity they provide, the masks actually make them feel freer to brutalize and kill.

Unmask ICE.

How many times a week do you think or say, “Imagine if Biden/Obama/anybody-but-Trump had done that!”

Addressing her people, apostate MAGAn Marjorie Taylor Greene does that well here.

Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara: "People have had enough. This is the third shooting in less than 3 weeks. The MPD went the entire year last year recovering about 900 guns from the street, arresting hundreds of violent offenders, and we didn't shoot anyone ... this is not sustainable."

He’s 26 and Ready to Fix the Democrats’ Strategy

Good piece about a wunderkind who Mamdani calls “a close friend, and a fellow New Yorker who wasn’t smart enough to get into Stuyvesant,” who “possesses the combination of ruthlessness and principle that’s all too rare” in politics. Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2026/01/25/s...

Nonviolence is, in fact, working. This administration is weaker than it was a year ago. More and more of the public is becoming galvanized against it; its agents are being impeded.

Best of times, worst of times, age of wisdom, age of foolishness, spring of hope, winter of despair.

That was the digital utopian dream 30 years ago.

Lucky break that when a fascist regime arrives in America, everyone carries a video camera.

A graphic comparing two quotes: "Fuckin' bitch." ICE agent after Renee Good was shot and killed two weeks ago. "Boo hoo." Federal agent after a man was shot and killed today.

These monsters are sick.

Probably lumped in with hostility.

The Emotions President Trump Evokes We asked voters to describe their emotions about President Trump’s second term so far. Most spoke of happiness or hostility.

And among everyone else, including de facto Republican independents,
only 13% say they feel “enthusiasm” or “satisfaction.” And almost three quarters report they feel confusion, disappointment, sadness, disgust, fear, anxiety, derision, hostility, outrage, etc. 2/2 www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Among Republicans, 24% say they feel “enthusiasm” or “pride” about “Trump’s presidency so far,”and another 40% say “satisfaction.”

16% of Republicans instead feel disappointment, sadness, disgust, fear, anxiety, hostility or outrage.

OTOH only 29% of Americans call themselves Republicans. 1/2

Beto lost to Cruz by only 2.6%. And 2026 is politically a very different time than 2018.

I’m such a fan of
@jamestalarico.bsky.social that when we shared an elevator I took
my first selfie. He could become the first Democrat elected Senator from Texas since 1988. Unlike @JasmineCrockett.bsky.social, as @michellegoldberg.bsky.social explains. Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2026/01/23/o...

"Rapidly dwindling audience" is an unfortunate fact to get wrong in a sentence about the "distrust" of journalism. 3/3 www.pewresearch.org/journalism/f... ustvdb.com/networks/cbs...

In fact, the combined ABC-NBC-CBS evening news audience from 2016 through 2019 was 16.4 million. From 2020 to 2025, it was 18.5 million. Furthermore, the audience for the only primetime broadcast news show, @60minutes.bsky.social, has been steady at around 8 million for years. 2/3

In the @newyorker.com's (good) piece about Bari Weiss, it says her "arrival at the network also coincided with a long-simmering crisis in broadcast news" because network news is "increasingly distrusted by a rapidly dwindling audience." I wondered, and looked up the @pewresearch.org
numbers. 1/3

I wonder who in Trump's circle knew yesterday that today he was going to retract the threat of war and of tariffs against Europe –– and who those people told, and who those people told in turn? And how many bought Exchange Traded Fund shares yesterday so they were able to ride the market up today?

Has TACO ever been a bad thing?

Fair. In 2016 it wasn't so dominant.

Does anyone use and trust any of the AI proofreading apps? Grammarly? Quillbot? Thanks.

This simple Venn diagram I made a decade ago still explains everything.

Trump just said the U.S. possessing Greenland “is important for national security, for international security, between the bad guys and the perceived good guys.”

“The 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗰𝗲𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗱 ‘good’ guys” — the ultimate tell about his absolute amorality.