This story is crazy. It would appear Trump admin officials rigged their nationally televised high school civics contest to keep a young man from a Sikh family out of the finalists. www.notus.org/national/ame...
Suspicion and Doubt at the National Civics Contest
America’s finest young scholars competed to mark their country's birthday. It led to a disputed finish in the age of mistrust.
notus.org
In other words, Platner is willing to hand the seat to Republicans if he isn't allowed to pick the next candidate. Which is exactly why he was unsuitable from the start.
Peter Baker@peterbakernyt.bsky.social · last mo.Platner aide lists terms for dropping out: “If he was to step down it would only be with a guarantee of being replaced by a candidate who he believes is true to the values and vision and policy agenda of the campaign that Maine voted for." @shanegoldmacher.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/live/2026/07...
Re: Graham Platner, I felt like I was being punked when people acted like he wasn’t obviously dishonest and untrustworthy this entire time. Starting with the unbelievable defense of his tattoo, which I was shocked to see people fall for
my dude if you actually believe any of the values you say you do, you simply do not get to hold your party’s senate hopes hostage in order to dictate terms here
Peter Baker@peterbakernyt.bsky.social · last mo.Platner aide lists terms for dropping out: “If he was to step down it would only be with a guarantee of being replaced by a candidate who he believes is true to the values and vision and policy agenda of the campaign that Maine voted for." @shanegoldmacher.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/live/2026/07...
Sounds like the annoying and shrill pro-DEI ladies who said that perhaps running someone who in adulthood knowingly had Nazi tattoos inked to their body was not a great idea were right...
Hopefully the only time I share a NY Post article here. US Soccer was about to file an appeal to CAS, FIFA relented, Trump’s call a nothing burger, still took credit because Trump.
Exclusive | How US Soccer got Folarin Balogun’s suspension overturned — including Trump’s phone call
Folarin Balogun, the dynamic U.S. striker who’s scored a goal in each of the three matches he’s played in this World Cup, will play against Belgium in Monday’s massive Round of 16 showdown.
nypost.com
The sad part is that, if the reporting is correct, FIFA dropped the suspension to avoid having the appeal heard by the Court of Arbitration for Sport and risk having a precedent set. If that’s accurate, Trump had little/no impact on the decision and is just stealing valor
Judges Reed O’Connor and James Boasberg ~consulted~ today about the FTC’s litigation tactics against trans health org WPATH over the past 24 hours. The judges appear to have reached an agreement, and the FTC’s efforts failed for now. How we got there is a wild story, though. Here it is:
The Trump admin went so far Thursday night that even Judge Reed O'Connor put a case on hold
O'Connor has been very receptive to the Trump admin and its anti-trans efforts, but an FTC request to him is now on hold after "consultation" with Judge James Boasberg in D.C.
lawdork.com
A year a half a ago, this professor made a plainly false statement that “an entire literature” existed— it didn’t—and then got multiple justices to buy into the historical fiction he backfilled, covering 800 years in a few weeks. A bastardized history, not in the search for truth, but for power.
The woman who did this should be prosecuted and shunned by decent people for the rest of her life.
A Terrible Thing Happened to My Family
Even in today's climate, there should be one fundamental principle everyone respects: whatever you think about someone in politics, you leave their kids alone.
petebuttigieg.substack.com
There is a pernicious and sustained effort to distort the historical record and do violence to the public’s memory.
a cool moment -- Kaitlin Collins tells Brad Lander that he won his primary live on air during an interview with him. Lander responds by saying, "I'm thrilled. I did not expect to be on air when the race was called."
Clearest proof we've seen that he thinks refugees claiming political asylum were refugees from an actual insane asylum. The leader of the United States is dumber than dirt but there's an entire cult enabling him and a corporate media too cowardly to call them out.
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · last mo.Trump: "Some countries had no mental institutions. The mental institutions were taken -- all of those people were taken to our southern border and allowed to just walk freely into our country under Sleepy Joe Biden."
It is extremely funny that they're not playing along with the culture war narrative that the right is trying to build around them. "Oh, no, we're just dicks."
brandon@flurryfrom30.bsky.social · 2mo agohow soon until tony resigns?
It took 250 years but American cops finally racially profiled a white guy
NBA Centel (MIRROR)@thenbacentel-m.bsky.social · 2mo agoNYPD thought Tyler Kolek was a fan and almost arrested him 😭😭 Original post
I don't care if you're not a Knicks fan. I don't care if you're not a New Yorker. Watch this speech.
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 2mo agothis is honestly an excellent celebratory and motivational speech from Mamdani at the Knicks parade. i'm ready to run through a wall, and i'm not even a Knicks fan
"So ... so I said ... why not sign your treaty here, at Versailles?"
A strange headline: It was the news outlet that sponsored the poll that chose not to "kill" it, not McMorrow. The poll apparently spelled McMorrow's name wrong and also said another candidate supported "Social Security for All" instead of "Medicare for All."
Michigan pollster accuses McMorrow campaign of killing unfavorable Senate poll
The independent poll shows her trailing with 6 percent support among likely Democratic primary voters.
politico.com
Among many stupid things about this Giants pride jersey controversy is that nobody actually is required to wear the pride jerseys. Hentges refused the pride hat and wore the orange and black Giants hat explicitly as a protest, and MLB didn't care. They just ban all writing on uniforms.
“Scots discovering tailgating” could be a real Prometheus stealing fire moment
GW never said this and neither did anybody else. The only official symbolism in the Flag Resolution is the stars are "representing a new constellation." The rest is just an iteration on the Red Ensign, and likely the East India Company's white stripes on it. The colors have no particular meaning.
It's not often that a living man gets such a vivid preview of how he will be mourned.
All the national love and attention Platner gets should have been going to Talarico this whole time send skeet.
James Talarico@jamestalarico.bsky.social · 2mo agoThere’s been a lot of talk in this race about what makes a "real man." A man does what’s right when no one is watching. He upholds his commitments to his family and neighbors. He doesn’t lie, cheat, & steal his way through life. Real men serve others. Weak men serve themselves.
Platner very much is a discernible type, but it’s not “flawed but basically decent working class joe.” It’s “prep school creep with a sadistic streak and an ironclad confidence that it will never catch up to him.“
This is so outrageous. Roberts Court said in Callais finding of intentional discrimination could invalidate gerrymandered maps. Lower court found Alabama intentionally discriminated against Black voters. SCOTUS still allowed map eliminating majority Black district to go through
Chris Geidner@chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 2mo agoBREAKING: In an unsigned, per curiam opinion on the shadow docket, the SCOTUS conservatives allow Alabama to use a congressional map held repeatedly by a lower court to have been enacted with discriminatory intent.
This heinous ruling confirms a worst-case-scenario reading of Callais as an all-purpose shield for racist lawmakers who want to gerrymander Black communities into electoral oblivion. And it’s outrageously partisan—a totally unprincipled gift to the GOP. www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25p...
Chris Geidner@chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 2mo agoBREAKING: In an unsigned, per curiam opinion on the shadow docket, the SCOTUS conservatives allow Alabama to use a congressional map held repeatedly by a lower court to have been enacted with discriminatory intent.
This is truly one of the worst things the court has done — both in terms of legitimacy and in terms of the law — since I have been covering the court.
Chris Geidner@chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 2mo agoBREAKING: In an unsigned, per curiam opinion on the shadow docket, the SCOTUS conservatives allow Alabama to use a congressional map held repeatedly by a lower court to have been enacted with discriminatory intent.
Abrego García should apply for the “Anti-Weaponization Fund.” How many other people have a district court ruling actually *finding* vindictive prosecution?
This is extremely lawless and corrupt by the Trump DOJ. So, par for the course. The presumption of regularity is a joke now, and federal prosecutors won’t recover the esteem they had from federal judges for a generation. (Which, actually, is fine.)
Liz Dye@lizdye.bsky.social · 3mo agoHOLY SHIT prosecutors kicked off grand jurors and then re-presented the case against the Broadview 6, then altered the grand jury transcripts to hide it from the judge. www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news...
