Justin Baragona

Applebaum on Autocracy Anne Applebaum warns that Sudan’s descent into chaos shows what happens when institutions fail—and why a free press is essential to prevent America from following the same path.

Anne Applebaum: "If American media can’t convey how dangerous this behavior is—for our prosperity, for our health, for our democracy—then American media will eventually cease to exist."

More from our convo in @status.news: www.status.news/p/anne-apple...

The US could see a 30-40% decline in new international student enrollment, resulting in nearly $7 billion in lost revenue and more than 60,000 fewer American jobs. https://www.nafsa.org/fall-2025-international-student-enrollment-outlook-and-economic-impact

Summers is not a fire breather or some left winger. He slimmed down Obama’s stimulus and he said Biden’s Covid stimulus would overheat the economy. So him saying this is a big damn deal.

The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.

Inside the Crisis at the Anti-Defamation League The group used to believe the rights of Jews were inextricable from the rights of everyone else. Its war against anti-Zionism has changed everything.

Some victims of antisemitic hate say they didn't turn to the national ADL b/c it’s “so focused” on “calling balls and strikes on what is antisemitism… It’s less interested—in fact, maybe even not interested—in protecting the values that made America great for Jews.” (6/6)

nymag.com/intelligence...

lol lmao even

ADL Musk

I spoke with 40+ sources for a look inside the Anti-Defamation League. Here’s some of what I found.

ADL’s gentle response to Elon Musk’s infamous salute was partially driven by his support of Israel. To ADL, that indicated he didn’t have “antisemitic tendencies.” (1/x)

nymag.com/intelligence...

Make Soviet Cars Great Again

Dear God, look at the jobs report revisions for May and June! This is not at all the rosy picture it looked like to economists over the past few months.

for many of the worst people in our politics, the only real belief they have is that it should be illegal for us not to like them

If your big public health goals involve Steak n Shake fries cooked in cow lard and what kind of sugar is in Coke, you’ve amply demonstrated your seriousness

Smithsonian removes Trump from impeachment exhibit in American history museum A temporary placard, on display since 2021, described the president's historic impeachments. Officials said the exhibit was restored to an earlier version following a review of legacy content.

Under pressure from the White House, Smithsonian removes Trump from impeachment exhibit at the National Museum of American History

Fox News covered Sydney Sweeney ‘good jeans’ ad 28 times more than Epstein this week According to a study by Media Matters, the conservative cable giant has discussed the Sydney Sweeney ad a total of 85 minutes on air while devoting just three minutes of coverage to the Epstein saga.

I mean...

www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a...

I have looked for a single Dem with an opinion on the AE ad and literally can't find one. It's just "the left" which is a stand-in for "what Democrats really think."

The ask seems to be that Dems condemn Twitter randos if they say something crazy.

Welp

The Daily Beast has deleted an article that was based on Michael Wolff claiming in a recent Beast podcast that Melania was "very involved" in Epstein's social circle and that's how she met Trump.

www.thedailybeast.com/epstein-this...

More developments in the brewing Pierogi-gate scandal!

Martha's Vineyard police have now issued a press release, which reveals that officers were called when the farmer's market manager asked for "assistance at the pierogi tent" when Dersh threw a fit.

www.the-independent.com/news/world/a...

Wall Street Journal headline and deck: "New York Shooting Puts Mamdani on the Spot Over Policing Views: The killing of four people in a Midtown office building rattled a city where mass attacks are rare and violent crime has declined."

It's really weird to demand accountability from a NYC mayoral candidate for a deadly NYC shooting rather than the current NYC mayor, an ex-cop who campaigned on a "tough on crime" platform and promptly got indicted for crimes

Wow. A group of top scholars at Harvard just sent a letter to its president, Alan Garber, warning against surrendering to Trump.

Signatories include Steven Levitsky, Dani Rodrik, Ryan Enos, Theda Skocpol, and Steven Walt.

Someone forwarded it to me. Read it here:

lol, "nuanced" doing a whole lot of lifting here

She just straight up malfunctions here!

Dershowitz says he’s suing Martha’s Vineyard vendor for refusing to sell him pierogi EXCLUSIVE DETAILS: A witness told The Independent that he interjected when Dershowitz was ‘b****ing and complaining and videotaping his statements to try to dissuade people from patronizing the vendor...

I spoke to the guy who filmed Alan Dershowitz whining to police that a Martha's Vineyard vendor wouldn't sell him pierogi, who said he stepped in because Dersh was "bitching and complaining and videotaping his statements" to smear the vendor after the incident.

www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a...

One person familiar with the National Archives process said that staff there were stunned at how many papers they received from the Trump administration that were ripped, and described it internally as “unprecedented.” One senior Trump White House official said he and other White House staffers frequently put documents into “burn bags” to be destroyed, rather than preserving them, and would decide themselves what should be saved and what should be burned. When the Jan. 6 committee asked for certain documents related to Trump’s efforts to pressure Vice President Mike Pence, for example, some of them no longer existed in this person’s files because they had already been shredded, said someone familiar with the request.

Amid Fox News' push to make the Russia "burn bags" thing the latest shiny object to distract from Epstein, let's not forget that Trump used burn bags to get rid of documents related to his effort to pressure Mike Pence to overturn the election.

www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

Piers Morgan, Israel Ambassador Brutally Go At It Over Gaza Piers Morgan and Israel Ambassador Danny Danon went at it over the state of Gaza and a New York Times photo of an emaciated Palestinian child.

Credit to Piers Morgan for cutting through the BS about that New York Times photo and editor's note, which has this Israeli ambassador claiming it is "blood libel" because a starving child has pre-existing conditions.

"Why deny what we see with our own eyes?!"

www.mediaite.com/media/news/p...

Latest WH Press Secretary Leavitt statement does not help Trump: "The fact remains that President Trump kicked Jeffrey Epstein out of his club for being a creep to his female employees.”

1) That now draws connection to knowledge of sexual predation

2) Actual timeline for booting Epstein from club👇

It's summer, so it means just one thing -- Alan Dershowitz is suffering like no human before as he vacations in Martha's Vineyard.

I present you with Pierogi-gate.

Right. There's an actual existing ratified trade deal with S. Korea that is current law!

Just read the Brown University agreement and this really jumped out.

"The University will not perform gender reassignment surgery or prescribe puberty blockers or hormones to any minor child for the purpose of aligning the child's appearance with an identity that differs from his or her sex."

Virginia Giuffre’s Family Wants to Know What Trump Knows The siblings of one of Jeffrey Epstein’s most prominent accusers were shocked that the president referred to her as “stolen.”

The siblings of one of Jeffrey Epstein's most prominent accusers said they were shocked when Donald Trump said Epstein “stole her” from Mar-a-Lago—and asked that Trump share whatever else he knows, Sarah Fitzpatrick reports.

INBOX: C-SPAN is debuting a new weekly series this fall called Ceasefire, and Politico's Dasha Burns will serve as the anchor.

Another one!

The Washington Post's longtime media columnist Erik Wemple announced today that he's jumping ship and joining the New York Times.