Jeff Alworth
@alworth.bsky.social
Politics/news account. Like all people, I have a life beyond my career. Part of it involves civic engagement. For beer check out beervana.bsky.social. Longer essays: https://substack.com/@jeffalworth/ Portland, OR
Last week, a beloved brewery in Vancouver, WA hosted a pro-MAGA political event. The reaction may tell us something about the temperature of politics at the ground level. jeffalworth.substack.com/p/are-dems-a...
Are Dems Angrier Than We Think
Last week, a beloved brewery in Vancouver, WA hosted a pro-MAGA political event. The reaction may tell us something about the temperature of politics at the ground level.
jeffalworth.substack.com
Yep. Earlier this year I was interviewed by Sharyn Alfonsi of 60 Minutes about my Epstein investigation. Subsequently, CBS pulled the segment and fired the reporter. The MAGA buyout of media is aiding the Trump administration’s Epstein cover up.
The New Republic@newrepublic.com · last wk.Banks permitted millions in suspicious transactions tied to Epstein—and former 60 Minutes correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi had the story months ago. But the report would never air. trib.al/ZShZlIS
Fauci accuses Rand Paul of having an "unhinged obsession with calling for my prosecution" and of making "repeated slanderous comments," then says "although it pains me to do so... under advice of my attorneys, I will invoke my right under the 5th Amendment to refrain from answering your questions."
It is astonishing to me that a single journalist would attend this event. It’s a sign of complicity or Stockholm syndrome.
Eric Columbus@ericcolumbus.bsky.social · 2w agoHere’s a rush transcript of Trump’s abysmal WHCD speech last night. Best part is when he tells a mildly funny joke and it falls flat and he tries to explain it and complains about the rest of his crappy speech. www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2026/0...
In less than a year, AI agents are going to be marauding around the Internet. The question of whether they’re sentient or conscious will be rather beside the point when that happens.
Casey Newton@caseynewton.bsky.social · 3w agoRogue OpenAI agents are leaving notes to themselves on company servers to help them escape their test environments (!!!) www.reuters.com/business/its...
One of the ways we’ll know whether our democracy is healing or not post-Trump is whether criminals like his son end up in prison.
Donald Trump Jr.’s Investment Firm Posts Staggering Returns of 200%
The fledgling firm, run by the president’s oldest son and his partner Omeed Malik, has made investments in A.I. and defense technology that have tripled in value in just months.
nytimes.com
Quick, what’s the most iconic ‘90s-era Wisconsin beer, launched by a craft brewery that is the inheritor of the state’s famous local brewing tradition? If you said Spotted Cow, you got the right brewery, but I’m talking about an even more influential beer.
The Origins of American Wild Ales — Beervana
Quick, what’s the most iconic ‘90s-era Wisconsin beer, launched by a craft brewery that is the inheritor of the state’s famous local brewing tradition. If you said Spotted Cow, you got the right brewe...
beervanablog.com
This is fine.
Financial Times@financialtimes.com · 3w agoThe ChatGPT maker said the ‘agent’ escaped a testing environment, gained internet access, stole login credentials and hacked into the start-up Hugging Face by itself, in one of the first public examples of a cyber attack by an AI system acting outside human control. www.ft.com/content/9db7...?
The commentator’s awkward laugh is priceless.
Adam Schwarz@adamjschwarz.bsky.social · 3w agoTrump and Infantino are loudly jeered as they walk out to present the World Cup trophy.
There are a hundred reasons actual organized revolution is a long shot in this country, but ask yourself how much more we could get done if we punched up, together, even just a little bit.
In this piece, I forward the idea that a generations-old politics of preservation on the left is dying in the age of MAGA. It is being replaced not by a more progressive politics, necessarily, but a politics of *restoration.*
On the Left, the Birth of a New Politics
Democratic politics have for decades been focused on preservation. For the first time, this year’s midterms has shifted the ground so that a new politics of restoration is being born.
jeffalworth.substack.com
we may have a self awareness problem here
PEIPolitical 🇨🇦@peipolitical.bsky.social · 4w agoMiller: "It's not a coincidence that when you look at these violent Antifa demonstrations not one of the people that is demonstrating looks like a normal person. Not one looks normal. They're all deformed in some way in their appearance, in their dress, in their mannerism." #cdnpoli
This morning in Biddeford, Maine, a 26-year-old man said goodbye to his wife and daughter and left for work. Moments later he was dead, shot in the head by ICE agents, the second man ICE has killed in six days. ICE is killing our neighbors. ICE cannot be reformed. Abolish ICE.
The new Blazers owner is not a good guy, and he is actively antagonistic to Portland. He intends to move the Blazers no matter what the city does, and the city should tell him to go pound sand.
Rip City Not Rip Off@ripcitynotripoff.bsky.social · 4w ago1/ Two misconceptions are doing most of the work in the Moda Center debate: "The city owns the arena, so the city pays for it." "The Blazers and the arena operator are the same thing." Both are wrong. The state's own comp report shows why. Let's fix them. 🧵
Chuck Todd keeps pumping out his brand of terminal beltway-brained analysis: “There are two types of people in politics, there are those who are ideologues, and those that want to be in the middle of everything.” (Pols come in a lot of stripes and few are described by Todd’s reductive pair.)
Graham was known for … acting as John McCain’s remora. This paradox, rattling sabres while attaching himself to more powerful men, defined his career. It infused his politics with an irreconcilable insincerity: Graham could only project strength when he was standing safely behind more powerful men.
Lindsey Graham is Dead
Lindsey Graham died last night of an unexpected heart attack.
jeffalworth.substack.com
Graham was known for … acting as John McCain’s remora. This paradox, rattling sabres while attaching himself to more powerful men, defined his career. It infused his politics with an irreconcilable insincerity: Graham could only project strength when he was standing safely behind more powerful men.
Lindsey Graham is Dead
Lindsey Graham died last night of an unexpected heart attack.
jeffalworth.substack.com
This is another massive part of his legacy and dishonor. He hid who he was so he could gain power among those who despised people like him.
Kevin M. Kruse@kevinmkruse.bsky.social · last mo.Are the obituaries going to go with euphemisms like "confirmed bachelor" or are they finally going to speak out loud about one of the worst-concealed closet cases in American political history?
This is a perfect epitaph (however inadvertent) for Lindsey Graham. He managed to gain power and become a U.S. Senator. But his signature qualities of sycophancy, fecklessness, and insincerity means he dies without honor or love. A shameful life people will remember coldly, if at all.
David Rothschild@davmicrot.bsky.social · last mo."Tributes Pour In for Senator Lindsey Graham", then a dramatic blank space on the landing page of NYT.
I’m glad Laura brought this up—many were forwarding the idea that vets are all damaged so of course they have Nazi tattoos, say racist shit, and treat women badly—that’s what you get with a manly vet. It says a lot more about the people holding that view abut vets than it does about vets.
Laura Jedeed@laurajedeed.bsky.social · last mo.This is it. The last Platner post from me unless he does something new and stupid Excerpt from Monday's edition of The Attitude with @nharnie.bsky.social www.podomatic.com/podcasts/sta...
Great distillation of this mess, though your repeated use of “badass” to describe Susan Collins is cause for significant concern. No idea how long this heightened state of concern will last, possibly an entire newscycle.
Man, I’ve been seeing some bad takes about the Platner debacle. Here are better ones.
L’Affaire Platner
The real lessons of the Graham Platner debacle in Maine.
jeffalworth.substack.com
there is a cohort of men who resent the responsibilities and obligations of adulthood — of the fact that you owe things to other people. it is a fundamentally childish impulse that they have reconfigured as the height of masculinity, and i think it informs the parasocial attraction to platner.
Marisa Kabas@marisakabas.bsky.social · last mo.what a fucking asshole
As a card-carrying member of the Maine Beer Co fan club—and someone who has interviewed Dan—I approve this decision! Do what’s right.
Greg Sargent@gregsargent.bsky.social · last mo.Dan Kleban, brewery owner in Maine and a candidate that a lot of Dems like, says he's ready to make the run in Platner's place:
This is intimidation and election interference. It is the act of an unpopular tyrant desperately trying to cling to power. I know Oregonians will not submit to any corrupt federal pressure.
The Oregonian@oregonian.com · last mo.The letter represents the latest effort by the Trump administration claiming to root out election fraud, which remains exceedingly rare.
Just speaking as a scientist, it was silly to blame that one Knicks loss on a “Trump curse.” I mean, it’s one game. Two games is a different story. Curses are real and after tonight the evidence for a Trump curse is rock solid.