The Atlantic, a Voice of the Crust.

A week after Donald Trump won the presidency again, I sat across from Chris Murphy in his minimalist but well-appointed D.C. office. The Connecticut senator sounded like a man who had done a speedrun through all five stages of grief and was ready to talk about what comes next: how his party could learn from its loss and win over—or win back—voters in 2026 and 2028. “I have thought for a long time that there’s a race between the Republican Party and the Democratic Party,” Murphy told me. “And the question is: Does the Republican Party become more economically populist in a genuine way before the Democratic Party opens itself up to people who don’t agree with us on 100 percent of our social and cultural issues?”

…

Murphy is doing his best to make sure that his side of the aisle beats the Republicans, but he seems far from certain that it will. In an MSNBC interview after the election, the senator sketched out something of a road map for Democrats: “We should return to the party we were in the ’70s and ’80s, when we had economics as the tent pole and then we let in people who thought differently than us on other social and cultural issues.” Murphy was quick to add that this reinvention—or rather, reversion—will be challenging to pull off. “That’s a difficult thing for the Democratic Party to do, because we’ve applied a lot of litmus tests over the years,” he observed. “Those litmus tests have added up to a party that is pretty exclusionary and is shrinking, not growing.”

Trump wants to end birthright citizenship. Can that really happen? (Politico)

Why the US has birthright citizenship and how Trump could challenge it (CNN)

FactChecking Trump’s ‘Meet the Press’ Interview (FactCheck.org)

Manhattan DA urges judge not to toss out guilty verdict in Trump hush money case (Politico)

Scoop: RFK Jr. pushes his daughter-in-law for CIA deputy director (Axios)

Biden: Trump’s tax and tariffs plans are a ‘major mistake’ (Adam Cancryn/Politico)

How Catholics can urge Joe Biden to commute death row sentences before leaving office (Krisanne Vaillancourt Murphy/America …)

“President-elect immunity does not exist:” Prosecutors on Trump hush money case (Avery Lotz/Axios)

Politico Foreign Affairs Reporter Wants to Drag Trump into Syria Mess

Scarborough Exploits Penny Acquittal To Suggest Trump Fairly Convicted In NYC

How Trump could try to deport immigrants to countries other than their own (Nicole Narea/Vox)

Here’s How Manhattan DA Plans To Keep Trump Case Alive

White House Threatens Biden Veto of Bipartisan Bill to Add New Judges (Carl Hulse/New York Times)

New York prosecutors urge judge not to toss out Trump hush money conviction (NBC News)

Yellen: Trump’s Tariffs Could Derail Inflation Progress, Raise Costs

LA Times Columnist Quits Amid Owner’s Trump Support

Biden Says Trump Economic Plan Will Be ‘Disaster’

Bragg says Trump’s crimes and ‘history of malicious conduct’ are too serious for his hush-money case to be dismissed (Laura Italiano/Business Insider)

The GOP’s top priority for 2025: Repeal the laws of arithmetic (Catherine Rampell/Washington Post)

CBS Rehashes Misogyny Attack Against Hegseth, OMITS Support Letter

‘FAKE NEWS’: Pete Hegseth’s Former Colleagues Speak Out Against Corporate Media Smears

Trump’s intellectuals will betray his base

Trump plots to steal Congress’s budget authority (Liz Dye/Public Notice)

Playbook: Inside Trump’s game of Senate hardball (Politico)

By All Means, Jail My Colleagues, Mr. President! (William Kristol/The Bulwark)

Transcript: Trump Lawyer Alina Habba Gives Away His Border Scam on Fox (New Republic)

Prosecutors Are Fighting to Make Sure Trump Remains a Convicted Felon (Nikki McCann Ramirez/Rolling Stone)

RFK’s Anti-Vaccine Zealotry Is an Existential Threat to Public Schools (Casey Quinlan/New Republic)  I like it already.

Exclusive: RFK Jr.’s secret push to prove CIA killed uncle (Axios)

You Should Be More Worried About Trump’s Planned Military Purge (Don Moynihan/Can We Still Govern?)

Colbert Spews Fake News About Hegseth’s Views On Women In The Military

Justice Department’s storied Civil Rights Division will fight DEI under Trump (CNN)

CNN Poll: Most Americans approve how Trump is handling his return to the White House (Jennifer Agiesta/CNN)

Trump outran the law. His allies haven’t. (Politico)

Read it.

The PBS News Hour avoided the nihilist-leftist take of too many media and social media liberals in its Monday evening segment on the capture of a suspect in the murder in Manhattan of UnitedHealthCare chief executive Brian Thompson.

Co-anchor Geoff Bennett strongly condemned the murder — but the interview also took a cheap shot at the Elon Musk-owned social media platform X (formerly Twitter) for the heartless comments, without noting they were coming almost exclusively from left-wing X users (there’s also plenty of left-wing pro-assassination ghoulishness on the “alternate” platform BlueSky: see Taylor Lorenz). That’s quite unlike the News Hour’s treatment of allegedly hateful comments and “disinformation” from right-wing social media, which are dutifully labeled with “extreme right”-type warning labels.

Bennett reported that the suspect, Luigi Mangione, was found carrying a document that “criticized health care companies and suggested violence as the answer. And that part of the story, the connections to the health care industry, has touched a nerve, sometimes with ugly results in the days since his murder.”

Newsbusters.

ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel reported on his Tuesday show that several members of his staff have become infatuated with UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson’s alleged murderer. During his monologue, Kimmel read several text exchanges between the staff and their friends and family, including ones who promised to bake him cookies and those who desperately wanted to get on the jury.

Kimmel declared that, “So many women and so many men are going nuts over how good-looking this killer is, and there’s a huge wave of horny washing over us right now. It’s like we’re one of the guys you work with says, ‘I had a dream about you last night.’ When it’s the FedEx guy with the big muscles and rolled-up sleeves, you’re like, ‘Oh,’ but if it’s the bald IT guy wearing Crocs with black socks, you’re on the phone with HR, it’s kind of that same dynamic.”

GOPers Suddenly Fear MAGA Nitwit MTG Is Creating a New Mess for Trump (The New Republic)

Republicans wonder if MTG’s new DOGE role will make her a leadership ally — or become a headache (Politico)

Elon Musk’s Stunning $250 Million Favor to Trump Should Wake Up Dems (Greg Sargent/New Republic)

Trump Says He Would Let ‘Dreamers’ Stay. But He Once Tried to Gut the Program. (Hamed Aleaziz/New York Times)

Playbook PM: A Jan. 6 insider on the transition team? (Bethany Irvine/Politico)

CALL DOGE: Taxpayer-Funded PBS Thinks NBC Wasn’t Hard Enough on Trump

Ron who? How Trump allies brought Hegseth back from the brink (Politico)

Biden to Warn Against Another Trump Tax Cut

Musk Warns Republicans Standing in Trump’s Way, or His

Trump’s DOJ Likely to Target DEI Programs

On Issue After Issue, Trump Promises the Moon. No Word on the Rocket. (Peter Baker/New York Times)

Republican-led states are rolling out plans that could aid Trump’s mass deportation effort (David A. Lieb/Associated Press)

Patel FBI plans spark concern over agency independence, retribution (Rebecca Beitsch/The Hill)

GOP senators feel weight of Trump’s loyalty test on nominees (Alexander Bolton/The Hill)

Bomb Threat Against Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (U.S. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene)

Kennedy’s War on Corn Syrup Brings a Health Crusade to Trump Country (Jonathan Weisman/New York Times)

Stewart Asks Aspiring DNC Chair How He Stopped GOP From ‘Diabolically’ Altering Wisconsin  By cheating, of course. That’s what Democrats do.

Elon Musk’s phishing attack on America (Jason Sattler/I Know How Much You Care)

Democrats demand answers from Trump pick Mehmet Oz on ‘Medicare privatization’ (Sahil Kapur/NBC News)  Medicare is effectively ‘privatized’ though the Medicare Advantage program.

State Department Scrambles To Scuttle $100M Censorship Network Before Trump Takes Office

NYC schools offer guidance to schools, immigrant parents ahead of Trump’s inauguration

Donald Trump Controls a Publicly Traded Company. Now He Will Pick Its Regulator. (ProPublica)

The slippery appeal of RFK Jr.’s Make America Healthy Again movement (Keren Landman/Vox)

Fed Gov Rename DEI Positions to Fool Trump Admin (Daniel Greenfield/Frontpage Mag)

Trump’s mass deportation plan could threaten workforces in industries from agriculture to health care (Kate Rogers/CNBC)

Mass Deportations Will Start ‘Right Here In Chicago,’ Trump’s Border Czar Says (Mack Liederman/Block Club Chicago)

Anti-Trump Lincoln Project Paid Millions to Founders’ Companies

Acosta Takes Hegseth Out Of Context To Imply He’s Flip-Flopping To Get Confirmed

Trump’s Defense Pick Is Now Denying Things He Said on Tape (Edith Olmsted/New Republic)

Trump lawyers and aide hit with 10 additional felony charges in Wisconsin over 2020 fake electors (Scott Bauer/Associated Press)

Progressive Democrats demand major DNC reforms to reel working class back from Trump (Rachel Schilke/Washington Examiner)

Newsbusters.

After the alleged murderer of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was caught on Tuesday, MSNBC’s Joy Reid was extra Joy Reid-y on The ReidOut. She gleefully noted that people on the internet are not angry at the murder, and when she welcomed progressive author and radio host Thom Hartmann, wondered how such reactions could be made in the same country that just elected Donald Trump. For his part, Hartmann declared that the reason why America does not have a socialist healthcare system is because of racism.

Reid began by pretending to be shocked that liberal Twitter sleuths are not eager to find lefty assassins, “Something a bit unexpected has happened following the murder… I don’t want to call it glee but, say, not unhappiness. Especially online, where the internet sleuths who often dedicate themselves to tracking down people accused of racist behavior in public places, criminals including January 6th fugitives, and more have actively been refusing to help.”

The Hill, a Voice of the Crust.

A federal court in North Dakota has blocked Affordable Care Act (ACA) coverage for immigrants that came into the U.S. illegally as children, also known as “Dreamers.”

U.S. District Judge Daniel M. Traynor on Monday granted Kansas, alongside 18 other states, a stay regarding a final rule from the Biden administration allowing some Dreamers access to the ACA marketplace, according to court documents. He also granted Kansas and the other states a preliminary injunction barring the federal government “enforcing the Final Rule against” them.

Vox, a Voice of the Crust.

Since Donald Trump defeated Kamala Harris, pundits and politicians have been trying to figure out why the country’s working class is moving to the right.

“Donald Trump Won as the Champion of Working-Class Discontent,” read one headline. “How Donald Trump Gave Democrats the Working-Class Blues,” read another. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders gave Democrats a scathing post-mortem: “It should come as no great surprise that a Democratic Party which has abandoned working class people would find that the working class has abandoned them,” he wrote in a statement after the election.

But what often gets lost in these conversations is this simple fact: There isn’t a single neat definition of “working class.” Some analysts focus on someone’s education as an indicator of class; others look at people’s incomes or jobs. A more traditional definition of “working class” encompasses both blue- and white-collar workers alike. (Many pundits also had a tendency to erroneously conflate the working class with the white working class when explaining Trump’s rise in 2016.)

Read it.

The claim that “60% of Americans live paycheck-to-paycheck” comes from a survey by the fintech company LendingClub. The company refuses to release its survey methodology, but we can get a general idea from its website, which says: “For those Americans, [living paycheck to paycheck] means that they need their next paycheck to cover their monthly financial outflows.” So what LendingClub is probably claiming is that around 60% of Americans don’t have enough cash in their bank accounts to live off of for one month.

But LendingClub’s survey is probably just flat-out wrong about this. The Federal Reserve does a very careful annual survey called the Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking, or SHED.1 This survey asks whether people have a “rainy-day fund” sufficient to cover at least three months of expenses. And it pretty consistently finds that over half of Americans do have such a fund

…

If more than half of Americans have enough money to cover three months of expenses if they lose their job, then mathematically it cannot be true that 60% of Americans lack enough money to cover just one month of expenses.

It ain’t what you know, it’a what you know that ain’t so.

Fortune, a Voice of the Crust.

Gee, I wonder why?

Read it.

When now President-Elect Donald Trump was convicted, the thrill-kill atmosphere around the courthouse and the country was explosive, but no one was more ecstatic than liberal columnist and former prosecutor Harry Litman.

The then L.A. Times columnist told MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace that it was a “majestic day” and “a day to celebrate.”

A lawfare advocate, Litman excitedly laid out how Trump could be barred from office, declaring that the raid in Mar-a-Lago was the “whole enchilada” in ending Trump’s political career.

Trump’s Biggest Lies From His ‘Meet the Press’ Interview (Peter Wade/Rolling Stone)

Trump’s FBI pick co-hosted a show for a conspiracy-filled, far-right media organization (Brandy Zadrozny/NBC News)  For the Narrative Media, there is no right but the far-right.

Trump Wants Jan. 6 Committee Members Imprisoned (Peter Wade/Rolling Stone)

Trump is stacking his White House roster with uber-rich backers (Kevin Breuninger/CNBC)

Trump says he can’t guarantee tariffs won’t raise US prices and won’t rule out revenge prosecutions (Associated Press)

Former Secret Service Agent Warns Trump Likely To Be Attacked Before Inauguration

Trump says RFK Jr. will investigate the discredited link between vaccines and autism: ‘Somebody has to find out’ (NBC News)

GOP Senator calls out NBC for ‘selectively omitting key words’ from 14th Amendment in Trump interview

Trump Vows to Deport U.S. Citizens in New Immigration Policy (Daily Beast) I have a little list .. they never would be missed.

Trump suggests deporting families with mixed immigration status (Axios) Well, either the family stays together, or it doesn’t. You can’t have it both ways.

Trump aims to end birthright citizenship, says American citizens with family here illegally may be deported (NBC) There’s an echo in here.

Trump’s business empire has expanded. Here’s where he could profit in his second term. (Jane C. Timm/NBC News)

The J. Edgar Hoover precedent for weaponizing the FBI (Public Notice)  As if Obama and Biden hadn’t already done that.

Kash-ing in: The money-making schemes of Trump’s pick for FBI Director (Popular Information)

Meet the Trump Nominees Selling Vitamins on the Side (Dominique Mosbergen/Wall Street Journal)

Transcript: Trump’s Private Rage at “Traitors” Reveals Dark 2025 Plans (New Republic)

Trump has a new family separation problem (Aaron Blake/Washington Post) It’s not a problem for Trump; it’s a problem for the illegals.

Activists Call on Biden to Clear Death Row Before Trump Takes Office (New York Times)

Trump sees the investigators, not the rioters, as the Jan. 6 criminals (Philip Bump/Washington Post)  As, indeed, they are.

What is birthright citizenship and the 14th amendment? Explaining Trump’s desired changes (Kinsey Crowley/USA Today)

Ana Navarro: You ‘Can’t Be Relaxing and Enjoying Christmas’ Because Trump

Schiff: Trump jail threat ‘about sending a message that no one better hold him to account’ (Joanne Haner/The Hill)

The World Is on Fire. And Trump’s About to Be President. Feel Better? (Michael Tomasky/New Republic)  An obvious rhetorical question.

Trump’s NIH pick wants you to believe he’s a victim of government censorship (Mike Masnick/MSNBC)

Shouting match breaks out on ‘The View’ as hosts clash over Trump threat (Sarah K. Burris/Raw Story)

DC Council Alters Progressive Bill Titles To Evade Scrutiny From Trump, Congress

Miller outlines how Trump administration would prioritize mass deportations (Axios)

Nobel Laureates Urge Senate to Turn Down Kennedy’s Nomination (Teddy Rosenbluth/New York Times)

Read it.

It finally happened. The New York Times’s ego-maniacal and perpetually wrong economics columnist is finally divorcing himself from his propaganda-mill column after nearly 25 years.

The Times Opinion Editor Kathleen Kingsbury drafted the company eulogy for Krugman’s career there, and the over the top praise for his faulty economic crystal ball was nothing short of comical.

“The authoritative voice. The lively writing. The direct style. The clear hand guiding readers through a thicket of policy, data and trade-offs,” read Kingsbury’s slobbering statement. “Paul is an important figure in the recent history of Times Opinion. Time and again, he took on the big fights, grappled with policy deeply and seriously, held the powerful to account and spoke hard truths.”

Cue the canned laughter.

What Republicans and Democrats Get Wrong About Crime (Jennifer Doleac/New York Times)

The fascinating – and important – Florida and Ohio Senate appointments (Aaron Blake/Washington Post)

Welcome to the New Dark Ages (Austin Sarat/Salon)

How Trump’s transition could end up hamstringing his agenda (Alice Miranda Ollstein/Politico)

Trump hesitates to personally lobby for endangered Cabinet picks (Washington Post)

Hegseth and Collins’ push for cutting veterans health benefits alarms servicemembers and veterans groups (CNN)

Now Is the Time for Courage – One month after the election of Donald Trump I feel more certain … (Marc Elias/Democracy Docket)

How RFK Jr. can win over a skeptical medical community (Marc Siegel/The Hill)  Don’t rock the boat.

Trump’s team weighs withholding massive research grants from universities that are too ‘woke’: Report (Gustaf Kilander/The Independent)

‘It’s like Game of Thrones’: Inside the jockeying for Trump administration jobs (NBC News)

Trump isn’t back in office but he’s already pushing his agenda and negotiating with world leaders (Jill Colvin/Associated Press)

Revealed: the tech bosses who poured $394.1m into US election – and how they compared to Elon Musk (The Guardian)

Democrats inch toward the anger phase of their election loss (Holly Otterbein/Politico)

Want a Job in the Trump Administration? Be Prepared for the Loyalty Test. (New York Times)

Climate Activists Need to Radically Change Their Approach Under Trump (Arnab Datta/New York Times)

Federal employees scramble to insulate themselves from Trump’s purge (Washington Post)

Read it.

Isaac Schorr at Mediaite penned an opinion piece titled “CNN Should Apologize for Its Obscene Fearmongering Over Trump Outlawing Gay Marriage.”

On Friday morning’s CNN Newsroom, CNN host Pamela Brown (daughter of John Y. Brown, the former Democrat governor of Kentucky) played up the alleged threat of Trump outlawing gay marriage — even though Trump never touched it in his first term.

Proglodytes are binary thinkers — people on the other side from them on any issue are presumed to be on the other side from them in all issues, even in the absence of any shred of evidence. They hate Trump, therefore Trump has to be a Nazi, has to be a racist, has to be a misogynist, has to be plotting to reverse all of the proglodyte ‘advances’ achieved under any proglodyte administration. He just has to, you see.

Most people believe something when they see it; proglodytes see it when they believe it.

Read it.

CBS Saturday Morning’s has recently taken it upon itself to deliver gushing interviews of liberal heroes. First there was actress Jane Fonda, then there was Clinton strategist James Carville. This Saturday it was author Margaret Atwood’s turn, and co-host Michelle Miller was there to help her affirm the idea that the conservative-imposed dystopia she wrote about in The Handmaid’s Tale is no longer a work of fiction.

Miller, who also conducted the Carville interview and whose husband is the former Democratic mayor of New Orleans and current president of the National Urban League, declared in a voiceover that the book “struck a chord after the 2016 election and a promise to end abortion rights. Although written in the era of another Republican president, Ronald Reagan.”

The premise behind The Handmaid’s Tale is that America has fallen into dystopia, and women have become enslaved and solely exist to get pregnant and have children. It is quite ridiculous to pretend that describes America today, but Atwood claimed it does, “It seemed less of a possibility then certainly to some readers and some reviewers, who said, ‘Don’t be silly, this would never happen in the United States.’ And now, they’re saying, ‘This should not be an instruction manual.’”

Miller played along, “What is that for you to be witnessing?” and Atwood replied, “You know, I would rather have been wrong, given the choice.”

Read it.

Imagine that.

The Washington Poop, a Voice of the Crust.

President Joe Biden and his top staffers are discussing whether to grant preemptive pardons to figures who might face the hostility of the incoming Trump administration, concerned that President-elect Donald Trump and others in his circle have threatened to go after their political adversaries.

Of course they are.

Among those being weighed for potential pardons are Anthony S. Fauci, who helped coordinate Biden’s covid-19 response; retired Gen. Mark A. Milley, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who has called Trump a “fascist”; Sen.-elect Adam Schiff (D-California), who led the first impeachment effort against Trump; and former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyoming), an outspoken GOP critic of Trump.

Obviously, they are expecting the Trump administration to bring the sort of manufactured charges that the Democrats raised against Trump. “Mommmeeee! Donald hit me back!”

New York Times, a Voice of the Crust.

The fatal shooting on Wednesday of a top UnitedHealthcare executive, Brian Thompson, on a Manhattan sidewalk has unleashed a torrent of morbid glee from patients and others who say they have had negative experiences with health insurance companies at some of the hardest times of their lives.

It is unclear what motivated the incident or whether it was tied to Mr. Thompson’s work in the insurance industry. The police have yet to identify the shooter who is still on the loose.

But that did not stop social media commenters from leaping to conclusions and from showing a blatant lack of sympathy over the death of a man who was a husband and father of two children.

“Thoughts and deductibles to the family,” read one comment underneath a video of the shooting posted online by CNN. “Unfortunately my condolences are out-of-network.”

Reuben Navarette.

Democrats are fiercely determined to flood the company with underclass immigrants who will be dependent on Democrats (The Party Of Free Stuff) for their welfare and will vote accordingly.

Unfortunately, Biden can’t issue a blanket pardon for people who have entered the country illegally, because that would encompass a bunch of criminals and terrorists, many of whom have already been convicted in American courts and are serving time. Democrats would not be prepared for the blowup that would happen if that turned out to be the case. And Biden doesn’t have enough time left in office for his minions to sort out the goats from the wolves.

The Atlantic, a Voice of the Crust.

Throughout american political history, two capable, qualified, experienced women have run for president on a major-party ticket. Both have lost to Donald Trump, perhaps the most famous misogynist ever to reach the highest office. But in 2024, what was even more alarming than in 2016 was how Trump’s campaign seemed to be promoting a version of the country in which men dominate public life, while women are mostly confined to the home, deprived of a voice, and neutralized as a threat to men’s status and ambitions.

The two women in question were neither capable nor qualified. Both owed their positions in both life and politics to the men to whom they attached themselves. Trump’s ‘misogyny’ is merely an oft-repeated slur slung by the deranged proglodyte Left in the hopes that the dimwitted will accept it without question.

Huffington Post.

Allegations! That proves it!

A Chinese national, charged with fraud by the SEC, just sent Donald Trump $18 million (Public Information) The implication, of course, being that Trump is being bribed. Unfortunately for The Narrative, 18 million is pocket change to Trump. The Narrative Media seem to believe that everybody is as much for sale as they are.

Kash Patel’s nomination signals how bad things can get (Public Notice)

No Background Checks, No Problem? (Politico)

Potential conflicts of interest may haunt Dr. Oz’s confirmation to run Medicare, Medicaid (Washington Poop) They would prefer, of course, somebody without any ‘conflicts of interest’ other than spending a life getting a government paycheck.

In Pardoning His Son, Biden Echoes Some of Trump’s Complaints (New York Times) Totally neglecting the fact that whatever he is complaining about was done by HIS ADMINISTRATION. This is as ironic as Kamala Harris campaigning on a ‘need for change’.

Trump press secretary pick removed post praising Pence on January 6, then ran for Congress as an election denier (CNN)

RFK Jr.’s past could haunt nomination process (Axios) They hope, they hope, they hope….

Swalwell tells Trump supporters to ‘sit out’ criticizing Biden pardon (Politico) This is the Eric Swalwell of the ‘Bang Fang’ fame.

Geraldo Rivera Slaps Trump Supporters With A Reality Check After Biden’s Pardon (Huffington Post)

Trump is targeting protections for almost 1 million legal immigrants (Vox) If they are legal, they are not threatened.

Trump’s Threats Against BRICS Are Based On False Premises  That never stopped Democrats.

California lawmakers to begin special session to ‘Trump-proof’ state laws (Associated Press) Good luck with that

Democratic senators urge Biden to try to limit Trump’s ability to use the U.S. military domestically (NBC) These guys need to do some research. Look up the Posse Comitatus Act.

We’re Entering a World Where the Rule of Law Is Turned Inside Out (The New Republic) He must have been asleep during the Obama and Biden presidencies.

AMERICA JUST FAILED THE TEST OF RESPONDING TO TRUMP’S POLITICIZED PROSECUTIONS (empty wheel)

Newsbusters.

Most opinion-based shows don’t stop to share legal notes.

Tell that to “The View.” Reading legal notices has become the norm on the far-Left showcase.

“The View” featured four such notes on November 22 alone, all related to President-Elect Donald Trump’s cabinet picks. The show shared similar notes earlier in the week to avoid potential lawsuits.

The Guardian.

We encourage anti-Trumpers not to reproduce. We don’t want them polluting our gene pool.

Read it.

The subtle bigotry of low expectations.

Trump’s trade threats put the world on a precipice and may say a lot about his second term (CNN)

Mexico’s president schools Trump over his threat to institute crippling tariffs (MSNBC) Joy Reid is delusional, as always.

As Jack Smith exits, Donald Trump’s allies hint at retribution (The Economist) Do to him what would have been done to Himmler.

Could U.S. citizens get caught in Trump’s mass deportation program? (Tampa Bay Times)

Trump team eyes funding showdown with ‘sanctuary cities’ over immigration (Washington Poop) And about fargin time.

Will Eric Adams Defend the City From Trump’s Mass Deportation? (New York Magazine)

Trump’s deportations could cost California ‘hundreds of billions of dollars.’ Here’s how (CalMatters)

And so it begins (Politico)

Tariff-happy presidents are not what the Constitution envisioned (CNN) As if somebody from CNN is a constitutional scholar. Tariffs were the primary funding of the Federal government until the Civil War.

Mexico suggests it would impose its own tariffs to retaliate against any Trump tariffs (Associated Press) Good. Let’s see how that works out for them.

Trump’s Latest Tariff Threat Is Straight From His First-Term Playbook (Bloomberg)

Biden Administration Wants To Protect IRS Funding As Budget Deadline Nears (Huffington Post)

Grassley: Trump’s new tariff threats are just ‘negotiating tool’ — for now (Politico) Sure, RINO, show the playbook to the other side so they’ll know it’s not serious. What a maroon.

REGIME MEDIA: The Networks Spread Terror Over Trump Tariffs

Trump Transition Team Signs Modified White House Agreement, Without Govt Technology To Conduct Surveillance [Trump signs transition agreement with Biden, but it lacks key guardrails (Washington Poop)]

“Business As Usual”: NYT, Reuters, Vox Media Reportedly Have Zero Plans To Leave ?  And here I was hoping….

The Agony of #NeverTrump: His Comeback Has Destroyed Their Prestige (The Other McCain)

California is ‘Trump-proofing’ before Inauguration Day. Will New York do the same? (Gothamist)

Sharon Stone: Trump Won Because of ‘Uneducated’ Americans Who Don’t Travel Abroad (Breitbart) I fail to see why traveling abroad is a recommendation.

Trump’s radical plan to purge the civil service (Public Notice)

Read it.

Further evidence that surface temperatures across Greenland have been cooling for around 20 years has emerged with the recent publication of findings from a group of Thai scientists and mathematicians. Processing 31,464 satellite recording from 2000-2019 over the entire area, they found that the average temperature fell by 0.11°C. This is said to indicate a “non-significant change in LST [land surface temperature]”. The latest evidence of actual cooling over a significant area of the Arctic will not be news in scientific circles since it backs up previous findings of recent temperature falls. But the information is of course kept out of the mainstream since it casts doubt on the key Net Zero scare about soaring sea levels caused by the catastrophic melting of the Greenland ice sheet.

Axios, a Voice of the Crust.

Companies in the U.S. were already backing off on DEI, then Walmart entered the chat: This week the retail giant said it would cut back its diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

Why it matters: Walmart is the largest private employer in the country, and where it goes others are likely to follow.

Between the lines: This is a win for Robby Starbuck, a 35-year-old “anti-woke” music producer-turned-activist who’s pushed around a dozen companies to retreat on DEI this year. He first announced Walmart’s move — and took credit for it — in a post on X Monday.

UPDATE: Walmart rolls back DEI commitments amid conservative backlash (Washington Poop)

UPDATE: Walmart becomes latest — and biggest — company to roll back its DEI policies (NPR)

Read it.

How will the United States foreign policy establishment and their supporting commentariat respond to the shocking political resurrection of Donald Trump? Will they grapple with painful realities and examine the deficiencies of foreign and economic policy that helped lead to this point of crisis?

Or will they do what they did last time and tell self-serving and fictitious stories about the past, a morality tale of virtuous internationalists battling primitive isolationists — the old Good Old Ways versus Orange Man Bad?

An early indication is offered by David Sanger’s article in the New York Times which is so pervaded by standard liberal nostalgia it almost writes itself.

Newsbusters.

NBC’s Today smeared Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo on Monday, after he advised state municipal governments to stop adding fluoride to their drinking water. The segment painted Ladapo as a conspiracy kook for raising concerns about water fluoridation, while spending practically no time at all actually explaining what scientific basis he had for the move.

Read it.

Corporate media outlets have buried, downplayed, or otherwise shelved a new study which reveals that “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) policies cause people to become ‘hostile’ – essentially seeing racism where none exists.

The new study from the Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI) and Rutgers University found that people exposed to DEI talking points about race, religion and gender form integroup hostility and authoritarian attitudes towards others.

“What we did was we took a lot of these ideas that were found to still be very prominent in a lot of these DEI lectures and interventions and training,” said NCRI Chief Science Officer Joel Finkelstein, a co-author of the study. “And we said, ‘Well, how is this going to affect people?’ What we found is that when people are exposed to this ideology, what happens is they become hostile without any indication that anything racist has happened.”

Researchers exposed 324 participants to two sets of reading material; a racially-neutral text about corn, or the writings of race-baiters Ibram X. Kendi or Robin DiAngelo. The participants were then exposed to a racially neutral scenario in which a student was rejected from college.

Newsbusters.

Filing this one for CBS in the better-late-than-never category (or perhaps decades late), Sunday’s episode of 60 Minutes led with a lengthy profile of the upstart University of Austin (UATX) and its classical liberal education and commitment to free speech as a way of realizing that, for lack of a better term, American universities are not only hot beds of chaos (as exhibited by the aftermath of October 7), but exhibit little to no ideological and political diversity).

Trump’s evasion of January 6 accountability will echo for next four years and generations to come (CNN)

Trump is coming for the executive branch. Does he know what he’s doing? (Dan Balz/Washington Post)

Trump hoodwinked voters about his worst policy commitments (Lisa Needham/Public Notice)

PBS Mocks Trump’s Cabinet Picks: ‘As Low as You Could Possibly Go’

Behind the Curtain: Trump’s bad-boys fixation (Axios)

GOP senators squirm over sex-related allegations against Trump Cabinet picks (Alexander Bolton/The Hill)

Trump’s mass deportation plan could clog immigration courts for years (Russell Contreras/Axios)

I Just Listened to Steve Bannon’s Show for a Week. What’s Coming Is Clear. (Molly Olmstead/Slate)

US farm groups want Trump to spare their workers from deportation (Reuters)

The man who helped roll back abortion rights now wants to ‘crush liberal dominance’ (NPR)

Could Trump sideline government watchdogs? Some are already quitting. (Politico)

Biden should pardon Trump (Washington Post)

MLK Jr.’s daughter: Americans should not ‘retreat or recoil’ after Trump win (Cheyanne M. Daniels/The Hill)

Pete Hegseth Is the Perfect Trumpworld Monster (Ana Marie Cox/New Republic)

Trump Pentagon pick attacks UN and Nato and urges US to ignore Geneva conventions (Jason Wilson/The Guardian)

Why Trump keeps insisting that his policy proposals are wildly popular (Philip Bump/Washington Post)

At the crossroads of news and opinion, ‘Morning Joe’ hosts grapple with aftermath of Trump meeting (David Bauder/Associated Press)

Washington Post Describes Distraught Lefty ‘News Quitters’ as Just… ‘Some People’

Bill Clinton: Trump interested in 100 percent loyalty ‘no matter who gets hurt’ (Lauren Irwin/The Hill)

Trump Reportedly Planning Immediate Ban On Transgenders In US Military

Jack Of No Trades: Special Counsel Officially Drops Trump Election Interference Case

Heartbreak City: ABC, CBS, NBC Crestfallen Over Smith Filing to Drop J6 Case on Trump

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams Announces Anticipated Resignation From The Southern District Of New York (US Department of Justice)

The self-named Resistance: how’s it doing this time?

Popular vote totals make Trump’s ‘mandate’ look like a mirage (Steve Benen/MSNBC)

Schiff on possible Trump retribution: ‘That’s dictator talk’ (Lauren Irwin/The Hill)

Whiners: Hostin, Whoopi Want to Disengage from Politics After Trump’s Win

Republicans Freak Out Over Trump’s Choice for Labor Secretary (Farah Stockman/New York Times)

Blinken Comes Under Fire Over State Department ‘Therapy Sessions’ After Trump Win

Donald Trump’s Luck with the Economy May Be Turning (Steven Rattner/New York Times)

New York To Close 12 Migrant Shelters Ahead Of Trump Deportation Agenda

NYT Claims Automakers Want Trump To Keep EV Mandates. One of Them Tells the Free Beacon That’s Bogus.

These Are The Countries That Triggered Democrats Are Moving To After Trump’s Resounding Victory  Don’t go away mad … just go away.

Corporate America Isn’t So Sure (Jay Kuo/The Status Kuo)

Megyn Kelly Admits Pete Hegseth Is Not Marriage Material (Lily Mae Lazarus/The Daily Beast)

Homan: ‘I guarantee’ funds will be cut from states not cooperating on deportation (Tara Suter/The Hill)  OH NOES!

A government by toxic men, for toxic men (Noah Berlatsky/Public Notice)

This is the new progressive strategy for warring with Trump (Politico)

One Major Obstacle to Trump’s Mass Deportation Promise: Local Law Enforcement (Casey Murray/NOTUS)

Playbook: Trump begins the tariff tango (Politico)

Trump ‘Border Czar’ Pledges to Throw Denver Mayor in Jail if His City Resists Mass Deportations (Sean Craig/The Daily Beast)  HOW DARE HE!

Trump’s expanding business ties come under ethics spotlight (Rebecca Beitsch/The Hill)

Trump’s evasion of January 6 accountability will echo for next four years and generations to come (Stephen Collinson/CNN)

CNN: Walmart Prices Will Skyrocket 250% Under Trump’s China Tariff!

Mexico Threatens Trump With Counter-Tariffs, China Cries Foul

Trump opens up a new war on public schools (Amanda Marcotte/Salon)  Amanda Marcotte’s war on Trump, however, is old news.

How Trump Plans to Seize the Power of the Purse From Congress (Molly Redden/ProPublica)

Immigrants’ Resentment Over New Arrivals Helped Boost Trump’s Popularity With Latino Voters (ProPublica)

Kimmel Hypes 1,200 Percent Increase in Vasectomies After Trump Win  The more the merrier.

Donald Trump Is a Weakling. That’s the Problem. (Timothy Noah/New Republic)

Russell Vought is just the man to implement Trump’s autocratic vision (James D. Zirin/The Hill)

The Teflon Endures: Jack Smith Ends Trump Prosecutions (Kim Wehle/The Bulwark)

Mexico suggests it would impose its own tariffs to retaliate against any Trump tariffs (Associated Press)  Call me when they seal off their side of the border.

Countering Trump 2.0 – O, CANADA: State Sen. Liz Krueger knows her ideas to counter … (Politico)

Dark Times for Guac Lovers (William Kristol/The Bulwark)

Medicare proposes covering weight-loss drugs, teeing up clash with RFK Jr. (Dan Diamond/Washington Post)

Stein Freaks Trump Might Arrest People ‘Because They Disagree’ With Him

CNN Continues to PANIC Over The Idea of a Musk-Owned MSNBC

Trump team eyes quick rollback of Biden student debt relief (Michael Stratford/Politico)

Trump Plans Tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China That Could Cripple Trade (New York Times)

Trump Has Late-Night Meltdown Over New York Times Story on Close Aide (Malcolm Ferguson/New Republic)

Trump’s picks to reward top donors who helped him win, watchdogs say (Peter Stone/The Guardian)

Leftist Protests Aside, Polls Show Americans Support Trump Cabinet Picks, Transition

WATCH: ‘This Show Is Just Going To Be Legal Notes’: Trump Cabinet Picks Force ‘The View’ To Play Cleanup

Would-Be Trump Assassin Ryan Routh Echoes Democratic Rhetoric, Calls Trump a ‘Dictator’ in Jailhouse Letter  If Trump were a dictator, this guy would already be in a hole in the ground.

Don Jr. Says They’re Discussing Replacing Some Journalists at the White House Press Briefing with Podcast Bros (Sean Craig/The Daily Beast)  Just to improve the tone.

The New Yorker, a Voice of the Crust.

Specifically, doctors who provide abortions, a highly profitable area of practice (like plastic surgery).

Newsbusters.

Marc Tracy, arts and culture reporter for the New York Times, for some reason wrote a 2,100-word “news analysis,” posted Sunday, on why Jews shouldn’t use the word “pogrom” to describe assaults like the one in Amsterdam against people suspected of being Jews, after a soccer match by an Israeli team there: “The Amsterdam Attacks and the Long Shadow of ‘Pogroms’ — Many have used an old word to refer to recent events. Is it accurate?” The Times doesn’t seem to think so, given it put the word in quotation marks.

Tracy worked to underplay the dangers Jews face around the world, and offered some potential mitigating circumstances to explain the latest violent anti-Semitic rampage, with marauding Jew-haters on mopeds going on an actual jodenjacht — “Jew Hunt.” All inspired by the deadliest attack on Jews since the Holocaust, committed by Hamas on October 7, 2023.

The Atlantic, Voice of the Crust.

In a populist moment, the Democratic Party had the extremely rich and the very famous, some great music, and Mark Ruffalo. And they got shellacked.

Read it.

The hosts of “The View” were forced to eat a little crow and correct the record after they casually smeared three of Donald Trump’s cabinet picks and former Rep. George Santos.

ABC’s legal team thought that the anti-Trump harridans were exposing the network to several potential libel suits and hurriedly told the hosts to read the “legal notes” on air.

During a segment discussing the 23 charges against former Rep. Santos, including wire fraud, Joy Behar “forgot” to mention that Santos pled guilty to wire fraud and identity theft. Behar left the impression that Santos’s case had yet to be adjudicated.

That brought a quick legal disclaimer from ABC legal.

“One minute, I just got a note,” Behar said. “We have to clarify that Santos eventually reached a plea deal after pleading guilty to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.”

It went downhill from there.

 

Pam Bondi’s road from Four Seasons Total Landscaping to AG pick should alarm America (Will Bunch/The Philadelphia Inquirer)

Donald Trump to kick transgender troops out of US military (Alistair Dawber/The Times)

CNN FREAKS OUT Over Elon Musk Potentially Buying MSNBC

Trump reportedly plans to kick trans troops out of the military within days of inauguration (The Independent)

Steve Sailer.

Who knew that white women “enslavers” were wandering around in the African jungle, reducing free African natives to slavery?

The Nation, a Voice of the Crust.

A recent history of the 20th-century movement to fix slouching questions the moral and political dimensions of addressing bad backs over wider public health concerns.

Because, as you know, EVERYTHING is political. Author Zoe, of course, has to mention ‘white bodies’ in the first paragraph, suggesting that she (he? it?) is a Person of Color.

The Hill, a Voice of the Crust.

Rep.-elect Sarah McBride (D-Del.), the first transgender person elected to Congress, said Sunday that House Republicans’ bathroom ban is an “attempt to distract from what they are actually doing.”

In her appearance on CBS News’s “Face the Nation” with anchor Margaret Brennan, McBride said “every single time we hear the incoming administration or Republicans in Congress talk about any vulnerable group in this country, we have to be clear that it is an attempt to distract.”

“It is an attempt to distract from what they are actually doing. Every single time, every single time we hear them say the word ‘trans,’ look what they’re doing with their right hand,” she continued.

Trump’s Trade Agenda Could Benefit Friends and Punish Rivals (Ana Swanson/New York Times)  Do tell.

Auchincloss: Senate must reject ‘dangerous’ RFK Jr. as HHS head (Ashleigh Fields/The Hill)

Not A Joke: MSNBC Invites MARC ELIAS To Condemn Pam Bondi as an Election Denier!

This Professor Has Taken on Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for Opposing Vaccines (Ryan Quinn/Inside Higher Ed)

At Journo Gala, John Oliver Delights In ‘Stupid’ Elon Musk Buying ‘Online Sewer’ Twitter

You’ll Need to Hit the Showers for a ‘Sanewash’ After This Ridiculous RFK Hit Piece (Victoria Taft/PJ Media)

As MSNBC Continues to Swirl Down the Toilet, Its Latest Excuse for Trump’s Win Is Crazy-Train Absurd (Mike Miller/RedState)

Will Trump’s former defense lawyer protect the Justice Department from Trump? (Ryan J. Reilly/NBC News)

Trump’s vow to use US troops for mass deportations could face intense resistance – starting from within the military (Lauren Frias/Business Insider)

‘The View’ hosts forced to issue four ‘legal notes’ in a single episode spent trashing Trump’s cabinet picks (Andrew Court/New York Post)

Trump Refuses to Disclose Who Is Funding His Transition (Peter Wade/Rolling Stone)  Dunh dunh DUNHHHHHHH….

Trump’s plan to dismantle DEI on day one is a “colorblind” path to Jim Crow 2.0 (Shari Dunn/Salon)

After Trump’s win, Black women are rethinking their role as America’s reliable political organizers (Kenya Hunter/Associated Press)  The grift is laid bare.

Read it.

It was twenty years ago this week (November 23, 2004) that CBS News announced Dan Rather would be leaving as anchor of the CBS Evening News after 23 years at the helm of a once top-rated newscast that had tumbled to third place during his tenure.

CBS’s announcement came amid an investigation into his pre-election 60 Minutes attack piece about Republican President George W. Bush’s National Guard service. The story relied on modern-looking documents presented by Rather as 1970s memos created on a typewriter. CBS’s investigation into the scandal, released January 10, 2005, found “fundamental deficiencies in reporting,” but stopped short of finding a political bias against Bush.

Yet anyone watching Rather over the years couldn’t help but notice how he relentlessly twisted the news to help Democrats and liberals, while punishing Republicans and conservatives. In an era when news bias was more subtle than today’s in-your-face cable clamor, Rather’s awkwardly obvious partisanship stuck out like a sore thumb.

Read it.

The left-wing cable news channel MSNBC has reportedly cut the salary of one of its top hosts, Rachel Maddow, by a staggering $5 million as the network suffers from ongoing financial problems and a steep decline in ratings.

As reported by the New York Post, Maddow saw her salary fall from $30 million to $25 million during her contract renegotiations this month. Her show, “The Rachel Maddow Show,” airs weekly on Mondays. Her show has been highlighted as one of the few on the network that is still doing well with viewership in the weeks since the 2024 election.

CNN reporter breaks down Trump’s thinking to select Scott Bessent for treasury (CNN) As if.

Israel kills Hezbollah leader who planned elaborate attack on U.S. soldiers in Iraq (NBC News) Will they even get a Thank You? Don’t bet on it.

How millions of US children would be hurt by Trump’s mass deportation plan: ‘Deep harm is intentional’ (The Guardian)

Supervolcano shows signs of waking up, which would plunge the world into chaos (Earth.com)  WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE! No pressure….

Cope Much? Hollywood Reporter Goes Full TDS with Guide on How to ‘Digitally Silence’ Trump

Stale Air! NPR Airs Hour of Leftist Shrieking About Trump’s Revenge on the Press

NY ‘Hush Money’ Judge Grants Trump Request To File For Dismissal, Postpones Sentencing Indefinitely

Trump’s Cabinet picks boast thin resumes. That’s the point (Tal Axelrod/ABC News)

Trump still hasn’t signed agreements to begin transition of power, White House says (Joey Garrison/USA Today)  Why should he need to ‘sign agreements’?

Trump’s transition team turns to Project 2025 after disavowing it during the campaign (NBC News)  Probably because it gets the right people’s panties in a wad.

Trump’s Pentagon pick Hegseth wrote of US military taking sides in ‘civil war’ (Jason Wilson/The Guardian)  OH NOES!

MSNBC Deplores ‘Dangerous and Effective’ Bondi Pick As ‘Worse Than’ Gaetz

Trump Is Pissed at True Reports His Victory Wasn’t Exactly a Landslide (Malcolm Ferguson/New Republic)

Daily Show Attacks GOP For Sticking With Capitol’s Sex-Based Restrooms

Trump Won Less Than 50 Percent. Why Is Everyone Calling It a Landslide? (Michael Schaffer/Politico)

Trump: From ‘Fascist’ to ‘Let’s Do Lunch’

Elon Musk Gets a Crash Course in How Trumpworld Works (Theodore Schleifer/New York Times)

Biden admin quietly loosening immigration policies before Trump takes office – including letting migrants skip ICE check-ins in NYC (Jennie Taer/New York Post)

Scarborough Admits: Voters Cared More About Inflation Than My Wailing About ‘Fascism’

Networks Deride Pam Bondi’s Qualifications, Downplay Her as Merely a ‘Trump Loyalist’

Democrats: Trump = Hitler? Never Mind!

Kennedy’s ‘MAHA transition team’ includes anti-vax activists (Politico)  OH NOES!

House Democrats prepare to make Mike Johnson’s life hell (Andrew Solender/Axios)  And this differs from their normal behavior how?

Trump plans to fire Jack Smith’s team, use DOJ to probe 2020 election (Washington Post)

Trump’s intel pick was placed on government watch list for overseas travel and foreign connections (CNN) Watch list! That proves it!

Biden-Harris Admin Races To Dish Out $25 Billion for Green Energy Before Trump Takes Office, Sparking Fraud Fears

The Donald Trump resistance is ready for when Democrats are done grieving (Sarah D. Wire/USA Today)

Trump Picks Key Figure in Project 2025 for Powerful Budget Role (New York Times)  OH NOES!

Team Trump Is Furious Hegseth Hid Sex Assault Claim: ‘This Is the F-king Pentagon!’ (Rolling Stone)

PBS News Airs 10 Minutes of Trans Panic Over Trump’s Win, Including the ‘Two-Spirit Kid’

Sharp elbows and raised voices: Inside Trump’s bumpy transition (Washington Post)

Brooks Fears Trump, Bondi Will Take a ‘Blowtorch to The Neutral Institutions of Justice’

Trump fills out his team of randos (Mike Debonis/Politico)

Behind the Curtain: Trump’s liberal cabinet (Mike Allen/Axios)

Trump AG Pick Pam Bondi Is About to Regret What She Just Signed Up For (Greg Sargent/New Republic)  Yeah, all the proglodytes in the Narrative media are lining up to shit on her.

Pete Hegseth’s Army unit in Iraq was rocked by a war crimes case (Dan Lamothe/Washington Post)  And he was in the same country when it happened! BURN THE WITCH!

WaPo Enthusiastically Joins Trump’s Attack on Rule of Law (emptywheel)

John Bolton Slams Trump Cabinet Pick Seb Gorka as a ‘Con Man’ (Will Neal/The Daily Beast)

Washington Post editorial warns of potential Ukraine abandonment under Trump (Ashleigh Fields/The Hill)  An editorial! That proves it!

Trump immigration crackdown: Denaturalization just a drop in the bucket (The Hill) Bare-faced lie.

Immigration Expert Outlines Who ‘Gets Targeted First’ During Trump’s Mass Deportations (The Latin Times)

The 14th Amendment and naturalized citizens have long been a target (Daily Kos) Distortion.

The Trump administration’s next target: naturalized US citizens (The Hill) Bare-faced lie.

Don’t Do Trump’s Work for Him on Mass Deportations (Dara Lind/New York Times)

Linda McMahon, Trump’s Education pick, was sued for allegedly enabling sexual abuse of children (John Towfighi/CNN)

Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy have spelled out their plans for DOGE (Jay Peters/The Verge)

Police report reveals new details from sexual assault allegation against Trump’s defense secretary nominee (CNN)

Meyers, Williams Claim Trump Won Because ‘There is a Nihilism Afoot’

How Denver’s mayor is responding to Trump’s threats to defund sanctuary cities (Kyle Harris/Denverite)

Newsom Heads to California Counties That Voted for Trump (Shawn Hubler/New York Times)

Senate Democrat: Trump wants to ‘subjugate’ GOP senators with Gaetz appointment (Juliann Ventura/The Hill)

Remember how American voters so hated Project 2025, the playbook … (Heather Cox Richardson/Letters …)  No, ‘American voters’ didn’t hate it; progressives hated it and tried, through the Narrative media, to make it appear as if American voters hated it (which never went anywhere).

A Trump Judge Just Nixed Overtime Pay for Millions–and Media Yawned (Greg Sargent/New Republic)  OH NOES! TRUMP COOTIES!

The Trump team’s plan to resuscitate a dead oil project (Ben Lefebvre/Politico)

‘I Think He’s Completely Unfit’: Michael Pollan on Why RFK Jr. Might Be Right about Processed Food But Wrong About Most Everything Else (Katelyn Fossett/Politico)

Nonprofit Laid Out Road Map for Prosecuting Trump Supporters, and Arizona’s AG Seems to Have Followed It

California Can’t Afford Newsom’s ‘$100 Million’ Trump Resistance Lawsuits, Budget Watchdog Warns

As Trump Shakes Up Bureaucracy, PBS’s Barron-Lopez Pushes New Red Scare

Chaos reigns supreme in Trump’s Washington (Zachary Basu/Axios)

Inside Trump’s dramatic potential plan to shake up the FBI (Kaitlan Collins/CNN)  As if anyone at CNN really knows Trump’s plan for anything.

Trump’s daily chaos circus is already back in full force (Aaron Rupar/Public Notice)  Rupar is the guy after whom the term “rupar” was coined.

Foreign nationals propel U.S. science. Visa limits under Trump could change that (Jon Hamilton/NPR)  That’s because American schools are crap; we have to import from overseas to get someone even marginally competent.

The ‘Landslide’ That Wasn’t: Trump and Allies Pump Up His Narrow Victory (Peter Baker/New York Times)

When Pam Bondi Protected Foreclosure Fraudsters (David Dayen/American Prospect)

A Good Country’s Bad Choice (David Frum/The Atlantic)

Read it.

CBS’s Stephen Colbert welcomed House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries to the Thursday taping of The Late Show to promote his new children’s book and to help explain the difference between Republicans and Democrats. This being The Late DNC Show, Colbert would conclude that the answer is that Republicans don’t believe everyone should have health care.

After Colbert asked the question the first time, he noticed Jefferies gave a generic answer about how Democrats wanted to make people’s lives better, “Just to drill down just a little bit deeper on that, because almost everything in what you just said, while a very good thing to say, a Republican sitting in that seat might say the same thing, other than access to health care for everybody. That might be the one thing where they would—”

The unintended joke is that there hasn’t been “a Republican sitting in that seat” for years, but nevertheless, as the audience started applauding, Colbert continued, “no, because they don’t believe in universal health care. They would like to get rid of Obamacare. That is the one big division, or that is one of the big divisions that you named. Are there other specific things that you go ‘I am a Democrat, therefore I believe this should happen. That my opponents do not believe should happen.’ That’s what I mean by define the Democratic message. What does it mean to be a Democrat as opposed to what it means to be, how you perceive the Republicans?”

Quillette

The day after the 2024 election, journalist Paul D. Thacker posted on his X account a series of expletive-filled posts from Laura Helmuth’s Bluesky account, in which she apologised “to younger voters that my Gen X is so full of fucking fascists,” upbraided high-school classmates for celebrating Trump’s win—“fuck them to the moon and back”—and described her home state of Indiana as “racist and sexist.”

The ensuing media firestorm led Helmuth to delete the comments and offer an unconvincing apology for her “offensive and inappropriate posts,” asserting that she ‘respects and values people across the political spectrum’ and remains “committed to civil communication and editorial objectivity.”

Shortly afterwards, the president of Scientific American, Kimberly Lau, released the following public statement:

Laura Helmuth has decided to move on from her position as editor in chief of Scientific American. We thank Laura for her four years leading Scientific American during which time the magazine won major science communications awards and saw the establishment of a reimagined digital newsroom. We wish her well for the future.

Helmuth made her own announcement on Bluesky, stating that she had “decided to leave Scientific American after an exciting 4.5 years” and was “going to take some time to think about what comes next (and go birdwatching).” Birdwatching here is the equivalent of an embattled politician who resigns in order to “spend more time with my family.” The pretext fools no one, but is plausible enough that the proclaimer may hope readers will believe that other people believe it.

Read it.

There is a lot of anger among the leftists in the wake of the re-election of Donald Trump. Many of them are so afflicted with TDS that their anger often seems to bleed into blind rage. So what to do? Well, The Atlantic magazine has not the cure but what they claim is the prescription. Namely they suggest reading from a recommended book list. The problem is that their book suggestions seem to be like pouring high octane fuel on the TDS fire.

Ruth Madievsky made her book suggestions on Wednesday in “What to Read If You’re Angry About the Election.” The subtitle is “These seven books aren’t a cure for rage and despair. Think of them instead as a prescription.” As you will see her book suggestions seem more like rubbing salt in a wound rather than a prescription.