The Interested Layperson📚RETURNS (end of 2026)

Back from a trip to #HK that was cut short by #coronavirus. Instead of more than a month of hoped-for exchanges w/ #HKers, I spent 9 days in an N95 mask in a city beset w/ anxiety. And guess what? HK is GLORIOUS all the same. Look forward to returning under better circumstances.

@ggreenwald Where do you stand on putting baby chicks in a blender? For or agin?

Has anyone secured Caroline Bouvier Kennedy's approval for the other Trump cabinet nominations? If not, I hope this oversight is promptly corrected.

@katjanechild Is Trump withholding funding to blackmail SA into supporting US interests at the UN etc?

There are hundreds of thousands of South Africans who suddenly can't access ARVs as Trump is no longer funding Pepfar programs for 90 days. We have the largest ARV programme in the world with 20% percent of funding from the US. People not on ARVs become infectious again...

@iwebercise @CharlesHammill @WhiteSoxic Amen. (Never seen this gif before. Priceless❣️)

@CharlesHammill @WhiteSoxic What a great movie.🍿 Quest For Fire 🔥.

Meanwhile in Florida

@jackmjenkins Can some journo ask Vance if he's affiliated with Opus Dei, and if not, what he thinks of them? Which of his closest associates are mbrs, acc to his personal knowledge? cc @gareth_gore

1. This policy was condemned by the USCCB AND Catholic Health Association AND Catholic Charities together. 2. Vance's argument about USCCB's "bottom line" is one I've only heard on the far-right. 3. False claims about sex trafficking led to threats against Catholic Charities.

@CalltoActivism So @JDVance admits that he's not worried about the double standard of raising money for J6 vandals.

Holy sh*t. KAITLAN COLLINS: So you agree that people who break in and vandalize a building should be prosecuted? JD VANCE: Yes COLLINS: Ok, I'm just checking, because you helped raise money for people who did so on January 6.

@RJacksonterror Can you cite any reliable evidence to suggest that the majority of Palestinians will condone the continued presence of all/most Israeli Sabras in a Palestinian state? Does the majority support citizenship for all/most Sabras?

@mkazin x.com/LeniDiamond/st…

Anyone who thinks "the US working class" was or is made up of people who agreed about anything besides wanting more good things for themselves and their children does not understand US history

@samhaselby @Burrite @GregGrandin As the 15yo descendant of working class Jews passing out flyers for McGovern on the streets of Manhattan, my experiences led me to be leery of non-Jewish whites -- not least of all working class Catholics & Staten Islanders. (My Mom witnessed the hardhat riots first hand).

@Burrite @GregGrandin They are very comfortable and frightened of working people

Wanting more good things for oneself and kids sounds like a good basis for solidarity, since the “good” isn’t fixed value but created through politics. I want good things for myself and Eleanor, and I define that as living in a humane world. Kazin seems to think it’s a new car.

@siastar1959 @ClickingSeason Plenty of my Boomer peers gravitated to rock/metal largely bc it made them feel cool (i.e. elevated their status). What isn't so cool is soundtrk & "classical music" (which spans from 11c to 21c minimalism & eclecticism.) The coolest pundits will never admit to liking Mancini.😁

@ClickingSeason You are right. And some are probably worship social status that comes with the classical music appreciation. It has nothing to do with the music itself

Classical music is great but you should be skeptical of its appeal to people who can only appreciate the soulless grind of discipline and obedience

@WillGFreeman On top of all that, Susan Wiles & co have made Trump far more inaccessible, whether by phone or in person; he now dwells in a more hermetically enclosed bubble, where his impulses are perhaps no longer restrained as they were when Kelly, McMaster or Mattis were around.

Possibly, this all suggests Trump and co. care far more about executing mass deportations on the promised grand scale than competing with China in the western hemisphere.

On Trump, Colombia, Petro & threatened 25-50% blanket tariffs. I can’t think of many *worse* strategic blunders for the U.S., as it competes w/ China, than going nuclear against its oldest strategic ally & last big country in S. America where it enjoys a trade advantage .. 1/2

@JoshKraushaar Trump is highly impressionable and, in many instances, easily manipulated once one has a solid grasp of his M.O. Keeping him as isolated gives the gatekeepers enormous power - to persuade and even to brainwash. My hunch: this is another win for the #Project2025 network.

“How Trump's "black box" limits outside influences” axios.com/2025/01/26/tru…

That Andreessen guy I wrote about who literally says the world's worst crisis is the regulation of tech, and "joked" that he was glad for oxy to keep the rabble in line? Forgot to mention the time he said world population will collapse once men can fuck realistic AI sex dolls.

This article by Yael Ben Moshe means the world to us! If you have a minute to spare, pls read the piece Ben Moshe's take on the media dynamics then&now, and on our attempt to expose how authoritarian strongman stage themselves w. murderous consequences:👇 jpost.com/opinion/articl…

@tackettdc @michellelprice @propublica One thing's for sure: he won't be the "neutral arbiter" that the Staff Secy is supposed to be. #normerosion #WillScharf

@tackettdc @michellelprice Respectfully, Price dropped the ball a bit here. The key thing to point out is that Scharf is part of the uber-powerful Leonard Leo/Federalist Society network. @propublica propublica.org/article/we-don…

Who's the guy handing Trump those binders of executive orders? Meet Will Scharf via @michellelprice apnews.com/article/trump-…

@PennieAlan82546 @GerardoMunck Not according to Amazon.

@LeniDiamond @GerardoMunck I wonder if it's ever been reprinted since then. It's a treasure of a book.

This interesting book by historian David Hackett Fischer surveys some common fallacies that historians commit. It is a useful, broad-ranging and even entertaining book. Free download: dn790006.ca.archive.org/0/items/Histor…

@tackettdc @AamerISmad @APDiploWriter @colvinj Hope journos will dig into their backgrounds once they're approved. (For ex, I notice that Will Scharf's wiki doesn't even have a firm DOB for him.)

Loyalty tests and MAGA checks: Inside the Trump White House's intense screening of job-seekers via ⁦@AamerISmad⁩ @apdiplowriter ⁦@colvinj⁩ apnews.com/article/trump-…

@gareth_gore Any chance you might know whether Will Scharf, a Leonard Leo acolyte, is also affiliated with Opus Dei?

Surprise, surprise. #WillScharf is another of #LeonardLeo's boys. @J_Hancock: "Scharf has been active in the #FederalistSociety for years & worked on the confirmations of Kavanaugh & Coney Barrett. He has publicly called Leo 'a dear friend and mentor.'"