Hard to read things like this and not ask how AIPAC is not considered a foreign agent. Every line of this piece, much from the mouth of AIPAC staffers etc.., is about how to best shape US policy to the directly benefit a foreign country. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/05/u...

After Michigan Loss, AIPAC Weighs a Second Effort to Defeat El-Sayed

The pro-Israel organization spent $32 million in an unsuccessful effort to defeat Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary. It might try again in the general election.

nytimes.com

One of the craziest things I've had happen to me as a reporter: A shadowy campaign is systematically + successfully filing fraudulent copyright violation complaints on articles critical of GOP House candidate Michael Carbonara. "This is absolute censorship" www.wlrn.org/government-p...

'Absolute censorship': Someone doesn't want you to know about Michael Carbonara's data center ties

As early voting begins ahead of the Aug. 18 primary election, there has been a shadowy concerted effort that likely prevents most would-be voters from accessing articles critical of Michael Carbonara ...

wlrn.org

Holy shit. www.wired.com/story/a-civi...

Politics doesn't have to make sense. The left was long the most anti-free trade bloc, but now that the right has become anti-free trade, the left is taking cues from Ronald Reagan. It doesn't make sense because it is emotional.

Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈@josephpolitano.bsky.social · 2d ago

DSA-aligned Democrats are now the most pro-free-trade voting bloc in the United States, in an incredible turn of events www.theargumentmag.com/p/who-suppor...

Judge has ordered Florida to rewrite the ballot wording on Florida's big property tax ballot amendment, finding it was packed with political slogans meant to entice people to vote YES. This thing is DeSantis' legacy

WCJB TV20 News@wcjb.com · 2d ago

Judge rules Florida property tax amendment ballot wording ‘defective,’ orders a rewrite

Are people aware that a deeply red town with a GOP mayor just outside Jacksonville opened a city-owned grocery store a few years ago and it was actually a big hit

USA TODAY Opinion@usatodayopinion.usatoday.com · 3d ago

Opinion: Mamdani's idea may sound appealing, but it's NYC taxpayers who will take the hit, subsidizing discounts they may never even use.

I was in Milan last week when Patti Smith played a show there on her 80th birthday tour and guys I was very upset when it was sold out

Liv Coleman@livcolemanfl.bsky.social · 3d ago

For what it's worth I think we need to look beyond the parties and start to pay more attention to factions. The internal splintering within the parties of the last few years - on both the left and right - is very healthy. People are coming around to the fact that there's more than 2 flavors.

Mark Copelovitch@mcopelov.bsky.social · 4d ago

There is no crushing the right in a two-party system. That boils down to “Dems will win every election forever,” & we need a system in which Dems can lose & it’s not a crisis for democracy because there are other pro-democracy parties.

“May” is doing a whole lotta work here. And we can lose the “experts say…”

NPR@npr.org · 5d ago

The president's media company is offering investors early access to his Truth Social feed for up to $100,000 a month. Experts say the service may violate insider trading laws.

One of the most important lessons on government and politics is that governments (states) are territorial, and as soon as direct action threatens their monopoly on something, they tend to snap into action. They see any independent action as a threat. Think the Black Panthers' free food programs.

mtsw@mtsw.bsky.social · 6d ago

if you want to see normally sclerotic do-nothing local governments suddenly snap into action, do some quietly beneficial tactical urbanism type thing like this and watch how quickly they race to remove it

in portland someone spray painted penises around potholes, and they got filled pretty immediately www.oregonlive.com/portland/202...

A crude pothole graffiti tactic got Portland’s attention. Please don’t copy it, officials say

Nearby apartment dwellers had a bird's eye view of the graphic murals.

oregonlive.com

Finally (actually) reading Alexis de Tocqueville right now. Not about Democracy in America but his "Recollections" on the 1848 French Revolution. And guys it is phenomenal. So much of how he talks about the lead-up to the revolution reminds me of 2026 politics in the US.

So I woke up this morning to find out that Ozzy Osbourne’s son made a video falsely accusing me of using AI to write a Rolling Stone article about the Tate brothers.

"A president without a moral compass and advisers whose true north is the extreme right, helming a government with unparalleled legal, technological and financial resources, can implement...political repression that Joe McCarthy...could not have dreamt of," writes @judith-levine.bsky.social.

McCarthyism has returned to the United States – and this time it’s even more dangerous | Judith Levine

Trump’s campaign of repression echoes the red scare. But now the government has bigger ambitions and more powerful tools

theguardian.com

I don't understand how tens of thousands of people storming the border at Ceuta reflects badly on Spain and not Morocco, and I also don't understand how this has not immediately brought up the question of 'Why does Ceuta (still) exist?' Spain is not supposed to have a land border with Morocco.

Fared Al Mahlool | فريد المحلول@faredalmahlool.bsky.social · 5d ago

Spain says migrants leaving Ceuta after mass influx in which 67 died

It really is just all lies. Every phrase here is a blatant lie.

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 6d ago

Hassett: "Data centers are very good for towns bc they create so many jobs & bring people in with high incomes that can buy houses & stuff like that. So if you take a sleepy town that hasn't seen much in the last 30 years & put a data center there, there are gonna be a bunch of happy residents."

Not a surprise to anyone living in Miami. On top of higher costs the wages are much lower. The place is heading for a kind of demographic collapse and simultaneous inflationary spiral because the bartender/barista/ waiter class is moving out unless they get paid more, so prices keep going up etc.

FinTwitter@fintwitter.bsky.social · 7d ago

MIAMI'S COST OF LIVING SURPASSES NYC FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER

NEW: Concacaf joins UEFA in rejecting FFE, instead imploring FIFA to find ways to increase funding for FIFA Forward through its current means and asking that "any matter follows the proper governance processes" in future full statement: www.concacaf.com/competitions...

Clear evidence here that the president has actual malice towards large parts of the population just because they hurt his feelings politically

Murshed Zaheed@murshedz.bsky.social · last wk.

“Trump has rejected disaster aid for Democratic-run states at the highest rate in the 47-year history of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.” Right now people in blue states are basically paying federal taxes as if they’re colonized territories of red states. www.politico.com/news/2026/03...

A federal judge Miami a few weeks ago casually told a court room full of clerks and interns to transfer all the habeus cases to him so that he could order them all to finally have immigration court hearings. It was fascinating, I was in the courtroom. Other judges could do the same.

Barred and Boujee aka Madiba Dennie@audrelawdamercy.blacksky.app · last wk.

DOJ asked the 5th Circuit to save it from being "crushed" by a "flood" of habeas cases now, im just a simple legal writer, but I suspect DOJ wouldnt have to deal with so many unconstitutional detention lawsuits if it didnt unconstitutionally detain so many people ballsandstrikes.org/law-politics...

Last year Moreno gushed so hard over the Florida Brightline train he joked he was doing a commercial for them and said an irrevocable point had been proven: the government should get out of the train business, leave it to private sector. Brightline is declaring bankruptcy literally any day now.

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · last wk.

Moreno to Fauci: "Who the fuck did you think you were?"

The Alien Terrorist Removal Court, created in 1996, just heard its first case in 30 years. It lets a deportation proceed while the government keeps its evidence classified and secret. (thread) www.justsecurity.org/148285/the-a...

The Alien Terrorist Removal Court's First Case

Unpacking the Alien Terrorist Removal Court, what we know about its first case, and what to watch for going forward.

justsecurity.org

Same guy trying to eliminate the International Criminal Court for some reason.

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 2w ago

Asked about Trump's threats to bomb civilian infrastructure in Iran, Marco Rubio says "it looks like they're not ready to make a deal. So they're gonna continue to pay a price. And every night the price gets higher and higher." (This is a war crime.)

A federal judge has approved a US$1.5 billion copyright settlement in which artificial intelligence company Anthropic will pay thousands of authors about US$3,000 per book after using pirated copies of their works to train its Claude chatbot.

Judge approves a US$1.5B Anthropic settlement over pirated books used to train the Claude chatbot

A federal judge approved a US$1.5 billion copyright settlement in which artificial intelligence company Anthropic will pay authors about US$3,000 per book.

ctvnews.ca

“The Roberts Court sees only white. It refuses to acknowledge who the Equal Protection Clause was written to protect. The freed people, their descendants, and all others denied equal citizenship. The 14th Amend. is not colorblind. It never was.” Me? No a judge www.courts.state.hi.us/wp-content/u...

I'm in Bologna Italy for a few days. Yesterday police here killed Moroccan man Abderrahim Fakir while apprehending him, looking very much like a George Floyd situation. The city erupted in protest today and I caught a good part of it. That's his sister talking about justice. Then the teargas.

“Two courses for the fall of 2026 were canceled outright, while several more had to alter their syllabi to comply. Professors teaching those courses told The Chronicle they weren’t provided with any rationale for why their “exception requests” were partially or fully denied.”

What Texas A&M Will — and Won’t — Let You Teach

Newly obtained records reveal that two courses for the fall were canceled outright, while administrators demanded changes to others. Instructors say the deliberative process is a black box.

chronicle.com

People forget that in the run-up to the 2020 election Trump was pointing at the 2016 election, which he won, as evidence that elections are rigged. Tells you basically everything you need to know about the folly of using logic with him or his supporters on this issue.

Marc Elias@marcelias.bsky.social · 3w ago

Trump will lie about the 2020 election. Trump will lie about the 2026 election. But, if Trump claims powers he does not have, or tries to undermine free and fair election, we will sue and we will win. If you doubt me, take a look at my record in beating him and his allies in court.

If we can't agree this is despicable there is nothing more to say

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 3w ago

Tuberville: "We probably have four or five senators that didn't legally win. They shouldn't be up here."

Miami-Dade's brushfires helped reveal that ICE violated over 100 court orders in South Florida (via @danielrivero.bsky.social)

Miami-Dade's brushfires helped reveal that ICE violated over 100 court orders in South Florida

The incident has opened a can of worms in federal court after a federal judge was notified that 47 of those detainees were shipped outside the Southern District of Florida in direct violation of court...

wlrn.org