Joan McRobbie
@joanmcrobbie.bsky.social
Policy, communication, former journalist, HKS MPA.
This is about as upset as a NYT reporter is allowed to get:”An admission that the American president offered to sell arms to China is extraordinary.” www.nytimes.com/2026/09/27/u...
Trump Offered to Sell Arms to China, U.S. Ambassador Says
President Trump made the offer to Xi Jinping, China’s leader, said David Perdue, the ambassador to China. The White House later said the U.S. had no plans for such a sale.
nytimes.com
@vermontgmg.bsky.social "We need to return to punishing people who do obvious crimes." And how.
It's the accountability, stupid.
Doing crime
doomsdayscenario.co
@timothynoah makes a good case for why Republicans may soon finally see it in their best interest to get rid of madman Trump.
The New Republic@newrepublic.com · last wk.Already Trump’s children are frantically stuffing their pockets with cash as if this bonanza could end tomorrow. trib.al/fDbRMIq
Given the outrageous, dangerous, and outright false statements made about how the polio (and other) vaccine was a "fraud" (at the Children's Health Defense conference), here's a reminder of what a massive success it was. RFK Jr. & his minions must be stopped from destroying the US healthcare system.
@pkrugman.bsky.social points to cause for celebration: Fear of Trump declines globally as Trump hatred prevails Fear Strikes Out
Fear Strikes Out
But the hatred remains
paulkrugman.substack.com
DOJ spokeswoman Kiersten Pels said she found it “remarkable that sitting federal judges are giving on-the-record interviews.” It is remarkable! Seven judges, appointed by Dem and GOP presidents, are doing this. Why, Ms. Pels, do you think they're doing this? www.nytimes.com/2026/09/17/u...
Trump’s Minnesota Surge Threatened Democracy, Judge Warns (Gift Article)
In a rare interview, Patrick Schiltz, who served as the federal court’s chief judge last winter, called the administration’s actions “a grave threat to the rule of law.”
nytimes.com
Listen to this KY city council member's eloquent testament to how a good local newspaper enables a community to thrive. She speaks to what's being lost as new hedge fund ownership guts the Lexington Herald Leader.
Jay Rosen@jayrosen.bsky.social · 2w agoStartling speech by a city council member after newsroom cuts at the Lexington, KY Herald Leader. Urge you to watch, listen and learn of the bond that a good newspaper can create without losing its independence. Owner: Hedge fund Chatham Asset Management kiesow.net/how-to-talk-... via kiesow.net
Agree wholeheartedly with @pkrugman.bsky.social: "So let’s applaud leaders like Amodei for speaking up and applaud the growing willingness of other CEOs to warn about the dangers of their technology, even if their attack of conscience partly reflects the looming prospect of Democratic subpoenas."
The MAGA Plot(s) to Destroy Humanity
On AI and climate, it’s the same story of mass destruction
paulkrugman.substack.com
mackenzie scott really seems like the only billionaire to figure out that you can be a literal hero to millions with a relative pittance
Uplifting News@upliftingnews.bsky.social · 3w agoA $50 million gift will fund Native student scholarships for the next five years and create a permanent endowment to support Indigenous students for generations.
I've taught this many times. It's an astonishing piece, one of the best by a brilliant writer. Very hard going; worth it if you can.
s. e. smith@sesmith.lol · 3w agoSpeaking of sense memories, I always revisit this incredible @tomjunod.bsky.social feature from 2021 about "Falling Man," photographer Richard Drew, and the image's indelible impact on our culture and all that came next.
On the Just Security Podcast, @ambdanfried.bsky.social recalls NATO allies’ “spontaneous outreach” to the United States in the days and weeks after 9/11. Watch the full episode: www.justsecurity.org/156794/just-...
SCOTUS may decide the midterms, says Judge Luttig, expressing plaintive hope that the Court is aghast at what it has wrought "Surely, surely, it will understand the signal moment in Am'n constitutional history that would be presented, & this time understand its supreme obligation to the nation."
Kim Lane Scheppele@kimlanelaw.bsky.social · 3w agoHow the midterms could be stolen - a warning. judgeluttig327269.substack.com/p/january-3-...
Even now some things are beyond belief.
James Ball@jamesrball.com · 3w agoThis is the founder of Silk Road – which enabled international drugs trafficking on an industrial scale, among other things – speaking at President Trump's midterm convention (after getting a pardon from him), because lol nothing matters.
I miss eating. Thanks, Brooke Rollins.
Kevin M. Kruse@kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 3w ago"Hi there! I'm the Secretary of Agriculture in a nation where just about every single kind of food has been recalled because it will give you explosive shits and then kill you dead. Well, I'm here to tell you about how government regulation and oversight is baaaaaaaad."
Our reporters interviewed 40 of the men the Trump administration sent to a notorious prison in El Salvador: They described being beaten, sexually assaulted by guards and driven to the brink of suicide. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/08/w...
‘You Are All Terrorists’: Four Months in a Salvadoran Prison
nytimes.com
I flunked algebra and hated math, but this story was inspiring, and a testament to working collaboratively. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/06/s...
The 92-Year-Old Mathematician and the Teenage Apprentice (Gift Article)
Joan Birman thought her major discoveries were behind her. Then came an email from a young neighbor — a girl who knew little but wanted to learn.
nytimes.com
20-year-old college student Pierre Damas Bel, forced to wear an ankle bracelet simply for being Haitian, killed himself. His blood is on JD Vance’s hands.
Amanda Marcotte@amandamarcotte.bsky.social · 4w agoNever forget. JD Vance, Stephen Miller, and Donald Trump have Pierre's blood on their hands. Vance in particular is smart enough to know that libeling Haitians with the "eating cats and dogs" lie would lead to deaths. He just didn't care. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/05/o...
"But in Springfield, the heightened level of fear is so widespread, & the state-imposed terror vs a vulnerable minority so constant, that it is impossible to see this as anything but [Trump's] proof of concept for the president’s militarized vision of what America should be" - @swin24.bsky.social
Inside Trump’s Nightmare for Haitians in Springfield: ‘We’re Following Our Orders’
The most urgent moral test in all of Trump’s America today is happening in a small Ohio city – and we as a country are failing it miserably.
zeteo.com
Read this thread from @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social if you need a reminder of why we honor Gloria Steinem. Or if you are somehow unaware of how radically things have changed for women just since the 1960s--due to the leadership of Steinem & others. Some of us remember vividly.
Rebecca Solnit@rebeccasolnit.bsky.social · 4w agoThat's very untrue. Steinem once told Terry Gross that she didn't marry until her sixties because "first I had to reinvent the institution of marriage." Women had no economic equality in the workplace, no equal access, no right against marital rape, sexual harassment...
"You should write about take no-shit women like me. Girls need to know they can break the rules." ― Gloria Steinem, My Life on the Road
The New York Times@nytimes.com · 4w agoBreaking News: Gloria Steinem, the feminist crusader who galvanized the modern women’s movement, challenged sexist assumptions and fought for gender equality, has died at 92. nyti.ms/4cVollO
