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James Fallows

@jfallows.bsky.social

140K followers 1.2K following 3.9K posts

Reporter and writer: https://fallows.substack.com/ and https://www.ourtownsfoundation.org/ One-time speechwriter, long-time pilot, longer-time husband of linguist/writer Deborah Fallows. Note same wristwatch in the two photos, more than 50 years apart.

fallows.substack.com

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James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 16h

See also: 2000.

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James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 17h

It's official:

-2025 is now a more threatening year for the survival of the republic than 1968.

-John Roberts will now go down in history as a worse chief justice than Roger "Dred Scott" Taney.

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/11/u...

Federal Judges, Warning of ‘Judicial Crisis,’ Fault Supreme Court’s Emergency Orders

www.nytimes.com

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James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 17h

Re-upping:

Excellent assessment of John "Roger Taney" Roberts.

In @harvardmagazine.bsky.social , by Lincoln Caplan.

As careful, legally informed, judicious-minded writer as you're going to find. With an unsparing judgment.

www.harvardmagazine.com/legal/suprem...

What Trump Means for John Roberts's Legacy | Harvard Magazine

Executive power is on the docket at the Supreme Court.

www.harvardmagazine.com

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James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 17h

Just start calling him John "Roger Taney" Roberts.

He's earned it.

He'll notice.

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James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 17h

'Irresponsible both-sidesism' can become motto for US politics coverage.

'All the news that's fit to print' elsewhere.

(Reminder: Stories themselves are usually clear-eyed. But most people see only the headline and subhead—'hed and dek' in the parlance—and hed and dek are too often like this.)

David Corn @davidcorn.bsky.social · 20h

A classic case of irresponsible both-sidesism from the NYT. The story is that Trump and MAGA propagandists are lying about Portland to incite a conflict, not that there are different views of the matter.

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James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 1d

Hey, I found the right one decades before dating apps existed!

James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 1d

I guess we'll never be able to prove it either way. But do you rmember when there was a MAGA boomlet that Trump (not the guy from Chicago) might be the next Pope?

That was just about as plausible as Nobel prize. IMO.

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James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 1d

Corny niche humor department:

Dating app for pilots only.

Inside jokes, but some actually funny.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbSZ...

Finally a Dating App for PILOTS ONLY!

YouTube video by Just Plane Silly

www.youtube.com

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James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 1d

Any news organization that treated "Will Trump Get Nobel?" as a remotely serious question, and not one more indication of his accelerating hallucinatory patterns, has some 'splaining to do.

Looking at you, all major news orgs.

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James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 2d

Adventures in framing:

Headline presenting this as a real-world question. Rather than as another sign of deepening vortex of narcissistic delusion and detachment from reality.

Headline: Trump Has His Eyes on Nobel Prize. Will He Get It?

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James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 2d

A columnist still at WaPo.

Headline: "Yes, Trump deserves the Nobel Peace Prize."

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Reposted by James Fallows

Radley Balko @radleybalko.bsky.social · 2d

Nothing remotely resembling an insurrection is happening anywhere in the country. Any violence associated with protest has been isolated, mild, and, in nearly every case, instigated by federal law enforcement. If we let Trump get away with calling dissent an insurrection, our republic is over.

BREAKING: Trump Admin 'Seriously' Considering Using the Insurrection Act, Reports NBC

President Trump is "seriously" considering invoking the Insurrection Act in order to more easily deploy National Guard troops to major cities as part of crime crackdown, NBC reported on Wednesday

www.mediaite.com

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James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 2d

Worth reading whole article. Clear eyed about Roberts.

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James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 2d

Spoiler alert ...

Headline "Trump wants a Nobel Prize. He'll learn Friday if his campaign paid off."

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James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 2d

Truly excellent new piece by Lincoln Caplan in @harvardmagazine.bsky.social on John Roberts, seen in full.

Careful, meticulous, devastating case on how "institutionalist" has enabled destruction of crucial institutions. Including his now discredited court.
www.harvardmagazine.com/legal/suprem...

Quote:
Their outcomes, along with the Court’s actions in the last few years, carry the seeds of American tragedy. Roberts, often described as an institutionalist, has enabled the most hostile anti-institutionalist ever elected president. The leader of the nation’s judicial system has empowered the president who is the most disdainful in history of the decrees of judges, the provisos of the Constitution, and the workings of American democracy. The chief justice, attempting to thread the needle between principle and practicality, has opened the door to the possibility of the ultimate constitutional crisis: a president’s outright defiance of the Supreme Court.

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James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 3d

Same here.

James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 3d

Back in the day, Harvard had something called "reading period" — a two-week (or so) period before first-semester and second-semester big-deal exams. The whole idea of it was a time for people who had been skipping classes to cram and catch up. This included 98% of members of Crimson staff.

James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 3d

And was on the Crimson! 45+ years ago. So presumably knows this is not a new thing.

James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 3d

Your memory serves.

It was in the Atlantic. DAMHIK.

Reposted by James Fallows

Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 3d

repost this if an editor has ever saved you from yourself

violent alien @blipstress.bsky.social · 3d

An actual hot take: Too many authors are afraid of editors watering down their voice or whatever and not afraid enough of editors letting you put any old slop on the page.

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James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 3d

2/2
And to be fair:

Maybe, maybe?, someone at NYT wrote this preposterous headline and preposterously put story on page 1, as implied /s/ signal, or with a "Hey Pitchbot!" "Hey Onion!" wink, showing they can make fun of themselves and their tics too?

"Harvard man" replacing "Florida man"? Maybe?

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James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 3d

We need more leaders, Dems and (come ON!) even Republicans to speak up this way.

Governor JB Pritzker @govpritzker.illinois.gov · 3d

Donald Trump is breaching the Constitution and breaking the law.

A show of force so he can militarize our cities because of the 2026 elections.

We need to stand up together and speak up.

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James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 3d

Not anything to joke about. But quite the headline from federal prosecutors based in California.

www.justice.gov/usao-cdca/pr...

Headline "Florida Man Arrested on Federal Criminal Complaint Alleging He Maliciously Started What Became the Palisades Fire."

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James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 3d

My approach too.

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James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 3d

Yes. Because most of them who ended up in journalism spent their college time the way I did: Mainly at the Crimson, which could mean until 2am, often at the cost of morning classes.

Shocked, just shocked, to hear that kids these days are skipping classes.

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