Watching this administration’s struggle to hide, lie, cover up, and defend the contents of the Epstein files reminds me of a Horcrux fighting its own destruction.

All I want in life is to persuade everyone, when encountering politics & culture, to ask, "why are we talking about this?" I mean that very literally: anything you encounter on your screens reflects a choice. Someone covered that, talked about that, rather than the many other things out there. Why?

Can someone ask this guy if he also thinks we should stop vaccinating our dogs? Everyone good with their neighbor’s dog getting rabies? Wondering how many people would care about community health then?

The Bulwark@thebulwark.com · 11mo ago

Florida Surgeon General Ladapo: "This whole 'Oh, Florida hasn't done any analysis,' that's nonsense." Tapper: "You said you hadn't done any projections?" Florida Surgeon General Ladapo: "We don't need to do a projection."

USTA to Broadcasters: DO NOT show Trump getting booed. Streisand effect:

Exactly how I’ve felt in the 🇺🇸 as well. It’s horrifying.

The Guardian@theguardian.com · 11mo ago

I thought I was growing up in a racially tolerant Britain. I now realise I was wrong | Rohan Sathyamoorthy

What can you learn from teaching pre-kindergarteners self-defense about how our media is adapting to fascism? Andrea Pitzer on why kids (and some adults) have such a hard time spotting the con.

Spot the Con: Why Journalists Ignore Reality

YouTube video by Degenerate Art by Andrea Pitzer

youtube.com

Excellent column by Ezra Klein, and you should read all of it. He gets it. Stop Acting Like This Is Normal www.nytimes.com/2025/09/07/o...

Opinion | Stop Acting Like This Is Normal

nytimes.com

Fear is the point. Our government wants to threaten us. Loss of commerce is the result. People who are afraid to leave their homes do not spend $ in their communities.

Mexican festivals in Chicago canceled amid Trump plans to deploy troops

City and suburbs pull local events tied to Mexican Independence Day on 16 September

theguardian.com

BREAKING: South Korea says it has reached a deal with the U.S. on the release of South Korean workers detained at a Hyundai plant in Georgia.

South Korea says it has reached a deal with the US for the release of workers in a Georgia plant

South Korea says it has reached a deal with the U.S. for the release of South Korean workers detained in an immigration raid at a Hyundai plant in Georgia.

bit.ly

These are the indicative estimates of Russia’s combat losses as of Sept. 7, according to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Wondering how much of this is an indictment on Kemp. First all the jobs lost at CDC and now this. #georgiapol

Jill Lawrence@jilldlawrence.bsky.social · 11mo ago

More information on the immigration raid at the Hyundai factory in Georgia. Starting with, nearly 500 people were arrested after a multi-month investigation. Gift link 🎁https://wapo.st/3JMAAFK

In 2021, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. falsely said the COVID-19 vaccine was the “deadliest vaccine ever made.” In the Sept. 4 hearing, Kennedy said that Operation Warp Speed was “genius.” (via @politifact.bsky.social) to.pbs.org/46bV6Hv

4 fact-checks from Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s Senate testimony over COVID-19 vaccines, CDC

PolitiFact fact-checked some of the most notable back-and-forth moments.

to.pbs.org

Former President Joe Biden underwent surgery recently to remove skin cancer lesions. Biden’s skin cancer procedure comes three months after he was diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer.

Biden Has Surgery to Remove Skin Cancer

Three months earlier, former President Joseph R. Biden Jr. had a diagnosis of an aggressive form of prostate cancer.

nyti.ms

The US State Department has imposed sanctions on three Palestinian human rights groups that asked the International Criminal Court to investigate and arrest Israeli leaders over accusations of war crimes in Gaza. https://cnn.it/4mNRuSV

President Trump hosted the elite of Big Tech at a White House dinner this evening, and each took turns to lavish praise on him.

Zuckerberg, Gates and Altman lavish praise on Trump at dinner

Former Trump adviser Elon Musk was missing from the dinner.

axios.com

⚡️ Update: Foreign troops in Ukraine would be 'legitimate targets for destruction by Russia, Putin warns. "If any troops appear there, especially now, during the fighting, we assume that they will be legitimate targets for destruction," Russian President Vladimir Putin said.

Foreign troops in Ukraine would be 'legitimate targets for destruction' by Russia, Putin warns

"If any troops appear there, especially now, during the fighting, we assume that they will be legitimate targets for destruction," Russian President Vladimir Putin said.

kyivindependent.com

This needs more attention.

ProPublica@propublica.org · 11mo ago

Shelby County, where Musk’s xAI facility sits, has Tennessee’s highest rate of ER visits for asthma. For the majority-Black residents of the area, emissions from the company’s methane gas turbines exacerbate longstanding public health concerns. By @wendicthomas.bsky.social, @mlk50.com

News Analysis: By ordering the U.S. military to summarily kill a group of people aboard what he said was a drug-smuggling boat, President Trump used the military in a way that had no clear legal precedent or basis, according to specialists in the laws of war and executive power.

Trump Claims the Power to Summarily Kill Suspected Drug Smugglers

The move to treat criminals as if they were wartime combatants escalated an administration pattern of using military force for law enforcement tasks at home and abroad.

nyti.ms

In an effort to ensure more New Yorkers can get the latest Covid vaccines, Gov. Kathy Hochul is planning to sign an executive order that would authorize pharmacists to provide the shot to almost anyone who wants it, the governor’s office said Thursday.

Hochul to Sign Order to Get Around U.S. Limits on Covid Vaccine

Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York plans to authorize pharmacists to provide the vaccine to almost anyone who wants it without a prescription.

nyti.ms

ProPublica identified 17 people who each shielded at least $1 billion in capital gains from the so-called Net Investment Income Tax. Together, this small group, by collectively exempting more than $35 billion, saved about $1.3 billion in taxes. (Published Dec. 2024)

How Billionaires Sidestepped a Tax Aimed at the Rich

Wall Street financiers were a clear target of the tax, but some, on questionable legal grounds, have claimed their outsized profits were exempt, sometimes avoiding hundreds of millions in taxes.

propublica.org

The Justice Department's acting deputy chief was caught on a hidden camera saying that the government will "redact every Republican" from an Epstein client list and "leave all the liberal, Democratic people."

DOJ deputy chief: government will "redact every Republican" from Epstein client list

The deputy chief later said his comments were not based on what he's learned from his role at the DOJ.

axios.com

Medical groups call on US Health Secretary Kennedy to step down reut.rs/4neBOrN

Medical groups call on US Health Secretary Kennedy to step down

Multiple health groups and medical associations called on U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to step down in a joint statement on Wednesday, saying he was disregarding decades of lifesaving science and reversing medical progress.

reut.rs

Aspirin is commonly prescribed to patients with coronary artery disease to prevent heart attacks and strokes, but a new analysis has found that another drug, clopidogrel, is more effective and just as safe. www.wired.com/story/antico...

This Blood Thinner Is More Effective Than Aspirin at Preventing Heart Attacks

Aspirin is commonly prescribed to patients with coronary artery disease to prevent heart attacks and strokes, but a new analysis has found that another drug, clopidogrel, is more effective and just as...

wired.com

⚡️ 'Coalition of the Willing' convenes in Paris as 39 countries discuss Ukraine security guarantees, call with Trump planned.

'Coalition of the Willing' convenes in Paris as 39 countries discuss Ukraine security guarantees, call with Trump planned

Later in the day, European leaders also plan to talk with U.S. President Donald Trump.

kyivindependent.com

“If this was done by another country, we absolutely would call this corruption,” said Kristofer Harrison, who served as a high-level State Department official in the George W. Bush administration. “Because it is corruption.” (Published May)

The Trump Administration Leaned on African Countries. The Goal: Get Business for Elon Musk.

The State Department has intervened on behalf of Musk’s satellite internet company in five developing nations. In Gambia, U.S. diplomats have lobbied and browbeat at least seven government ministers a...

propublica.org

Steps away from the Capitol, victims of Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced financier and sex offender, on Wednesday demanded that all people who received sexual favors through Epstein be identified. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/03/u...

All I could think about yesterday after the survivors press conference was the Huntr/X song Takedown. #EpsteinSurvivors #EpsteinList youtu.be/pCdjJcz8Bk0?...

Epstein survivors float release of unofficial client list

Epstein survivors may release unofficial client list if Justice Department stalls

Pressure is mounting after a House panel released 33,000 heavily redacted DOJ documents.

axios.com

👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

Axios@axios.com · 11mo ago

Epstein survivors float release of unofficial client list

Survivors of Jeffrey Epstein called on the federal government to release files related to the case during a news conference Wednesday on Capitol Hill.