Icymi, there's a Gay Talese essay, Frank Sinatra Has A Cold, where Sinatra, being an asshole that day, tries to pick a fight with Harlan Ellison in a bar. HE stood his ground and left before the goon squad could do some damage.

It's the GOP in Congress.

That it is.

Im very happy to have discovered this writer at an early age.

Which book?

Brian The Brave.

Was someone using it at the time?

Jeez, Oh please stop fckn up (sung to Neal Young's Fuckin Up).

Will Progressives Stop Leading With Their Chins? It’s great that Democrats are blasting “The Epstein Class” but their House candidate in New Jersey needs to avoid “Israeli genocide” and “Abolish ICE”

Will Progressives Stop Leading With Their Chins?
open.substack.com/pub/oldgoats...

House GOP passes sweeping anti-voting bill that could disenfranchise millions, sends measure to Senate The GOP’s push for the measure was driven by blatantly false claims.

🚨BREAKING: The GOP’s sweeping new anti-voting bill cleared the U.S. House Wednesday, setting up a high-stakes battle in the Senate. www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...

Pro Karaoke Tour basically.

‘Do You Speak Billionaire?’ and Other Stories From the Fall of the Washington Post I think I can say with little fear of contradiction that I...

‘Do You Speak Billionaire?’ and Other Stories From the Fall of the Washington Post talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/do-yo...

This descibes the entire Iraq War, by the way.

We’re literally killing ourselves. They’ve been working on cutting edge cancer vaccines

So we own Venezuela now?

At least the Nazis went to the trouble of passing the Nuremberg Laws and making the brutality and totalitarianism street legal. The gutlessness of the American run at fascism is that they want to do it simply by pretending the Bill of Rights never existed or meant anything.

There are still cities with people who vote.

I remember when Iowa was considered an intelligent state with good people.

Inside Kash Patel’s F.B.I.: Meltdowns, Chaos, Vendettas Forty-five current and former employees on the changes they say are undermining the agency and making America less safe.

ICYMI, cover story by Emily Bazelon and Rachel Poser for the NYT Magazine:
"A Year Inside Kash Patel’s F.B.I."
"Forty-five current and former employees on the changes they say are undermining the agency and making America less safe."
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Soulless dregs

Georges Borchardt, 97, Dies; Literary Agent Championed Wiesel’s ‘Night’

I usually hesitate to post obituaries but this one, of my literary agent, Georges Borchardt, born in 1928, is so unusual that it deserves to be widely shared.
An incredible 20th century life
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/20/o...

Reality Distortion in the Age of Trump and the Corrupt Court With a hearing on the constitutionality of birthright citizenship now on the...

Reality Distortion in the Age of Trump and the Corrupt Court talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/reali...

Strangest State: Notes from Far-Flung Texas, by Texas Observer Staff. Illustrated by Druw Wagner. Howdy, y'all! Molly Ivins here. Texas sure can be the Strangest State! Let's see what happened since our last issue. (Texas demands money from New York). Reacting to New Yorkers support for Democrat Zohran Mamdani's bid for mayor, Governor Greg Abbott posted this threat on X: "I will impose a 100^ tariff on anyone moving from Texas to NYC." (Men standing in an oil field) At a West Texas symposium, a landowner described operators who deliberately drilled nonproducing wells to defraud investors. Even after the scam was exposed, they got permission to drill again. "The Texas Railroad Commission would permit a Billy Goat," she said. (Cranes outside a gated brick wall with travel sacks) Central Texas birders were thrilled to spot grey-crowned cranes strutting around Llano COunty. But unlike native whoopers, these African birds don't belong -- they're likely zoo escapees. (A bull and a bear with pistols back to back). With enthusiastic endorsement of Donald Trump, Jr, GrabAGun -- A Coppell-based online ammo and gun seller -- is now trading on the NYSE. Well folks, that's some strange news isn't it? If you see something happening around town, give us a shout! strangest@texasobserver.org

Texas sure can be strange, sometimes! Let our pal Molly walk you through some of the latest ...

Read more from the January/February 2026 issue of our magazine: www.texasobserver.org/issues/janua...

Revealed: Palantir deals with UK government amount to at least £670m – including £15m contract with nuclear weapons agency Exclusive: Nerve investigation finds Trump ally Peter Thiel's surveillance firm has won at least 34 contracts, including management services for Britain's nuclear deterrent, with MPs warning of 'gapin...

Palantir is the US data analytics firm co-founded by billionaire Peter Thiel. It also has deep UK ties: contracts with the Department of Health and Social Care and the Ministry of Defence, plus a major London office outside the US. 2/12 www.thenerve.news/p/palantir-t...

About when I un-subscribed. So, yah.

....transferred this goof to another field office, much like the Catholic Church hiding a pedophile priest in a new parish. This is the point: Without a name there is no way to know if it is the first shooting or tenth -- and the details of such. Basic public info. Not doxxing. Has to be public

Album cover: Val Doonican plays Ornette Coleman

Album cover: Desmond O'Connor - In Pursuit of Blackness

Album cover: Mrs Mills - Round about Partytime

Album cover: James Last - But Not Least

Unreleased Blue Note UK albums from the era of cool #jazz.
#graphicdesign

No matter what happens to this country, foxnews will pocket $.

"Jeez, what a tax write-off"!

-J. Bezos

Countering Originalism This guide offers lawyers strategies, arguments, and citations to address originalist claims they encounter in litigation.

SCOTUS is hearing argument today about gun laws.

And, once again, SCOTUS is trying to resolve questions with big implications for public safety by looking to the laws of the 1700s.

What's up with SCOTUS's history fixation? And how can lawyers push back?

www.brennancenter.org/our-work/res...