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billnorton.bsky.social
@billnorton.bsky.social
Reposted
James Bennet's critics said that Tom Cotton was very obviously a bloodthirsty authoritarian hungry for arbitrary state violence. And I have to say that was tremendous work by James Bennet's critics. Absolute bull's eye
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), to reporters, after viewing video footage of the U.S. strikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean on Sept. 2:

"Righteous strikes." "Entirely lawful."
December 4, 2025 at 9:53 PM
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people, you have the chance to put my book ahead of Olivia Nuzzi’s on the bestseller list. put aside all other considerations and think how objectively funny this would be. #1, that Mountain Goats guy. #2, Antivax Man Has My Heart. funniest list of the century. We can do this if we try
December 4, 2025 at 3:47 AM
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The Oklahoma House of Representatives gave that girl an award for writing a terrible essay? For getting a trans person fired? This whole thing is an op.
December 4, 2025 at 2:39 AM
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/03/a...

Aw, man, what a crappy week it's been.
Steve Cropper, Guitarist, Songwriter and a Shaper of Memphis Soul Music
www.nytimes.com
December 4, 2025 at 1:53 AM
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Senate Intel Vice Chair Mark Warner on the Signalgate report: "Hegseth endangered the lives of American pilots based aboard the USS Harry S. Truman as they prepared to launch a mission against terrorist targets."

He is calling for Hegseth to resign.
December 3, 2025 at 10:40 PM
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i'd go even further and say there is a reason even nixon kept this kind of stuff to himself. you would have to go back quite a bit to find a point at which is acceptable for a president to say anything like this *in public*, to say nothing of in the oval office.
I don’t want to be pollyannish about the past, but it was basically inconceivable twenty years ago that a president would say this publicly
Trump: "It’s a hellhole right now. And those Somalians should be out of here. They've destroyed our country. And all they do is complain, complain, complain. You have her. She’s always talking about the Constitution provides me with – go back to your own country and figure out your constitution."
December 3, 2025 at 11:04 PM
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1. This is not what fog of war means.
2. There is no war
3. He's trying to distance himself from murders he had direct responsibility over
4. All I can think of when I hear this phrase now is Elon Musk complaining that he hates chess because it has no fog of war.
Q: So you didn't see any survivors after that first strike?

HEGSETH: I did not personally see survivors. The thing was on fire. This is called the fog of war. This is what you in the press don't understand. You sit in your air conditioned offices and plant fake stories in the Washington Post
December 2, 2025 at 8:20 PM
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I named my fists Troilus and Cressida because they're rarely produced, lackluster, and mostly just offer a lesson about the futility of violence.
i named my fists Rodgers and Hammerstein cuz theyre always in my own little corner
I named my fists Gilbert and Sullivan because they are slaves to duty
December 1, 2025 at 2:21 AM
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A+ headline work from the AP apnews.com/article/dona...
December 1, 2025 at 1:45 AM
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November 29, 2025 at 8:44 PM
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To put a finer point on this whole thing: "Two people with direct knowledge of the operation" — presumably uniformed military leaders — are accusing the U.S. Secretary of Defense of personally ordering specific war crimes. That's a historic accusation.
Textbook war crime/extrajudicial killing

"Two survivors were clinging to the smoldering wreck. The Special Operations commander overseeing the Sept. 2 attack ... ordered a second strike to comply with Hegseth’s instructions."

Report by @alexhorton.bsky.social @ellenwapo.bsky.social o.bsky.social
Hegseth order on first Caribbean boat strike, officials say: Kill them all
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a verbal order to kill all crew members in the Sept. 2 strike on a suspected drug boat. Navy SEALs fired a second missile.
www.washingtonpost.com
November 28, 2025 at 11:48 PM
Explore this gift article from The New York Times. You can read it for free without a subscription. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/19/o...
Opinion | The White House Gold Rush Is On
www.nytimes.com
November 28, 2025 at 6:58 PM
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This dude was vetted six ways from Sunday. Can’t say he wasn’t vetted enough. Vetted by multiple administrations.
November 27, 2025 at 7:29 PM
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I need everybody to read this and understand what’s going on. These are spouses of US citizens in the country legally. They have entry clearance and green cards, they’ve passed background checks and have no criminal records. ICE is taking them anyway.

Gift link:

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/26/u...
Green Card Interviews End in Handcuffs for Spouses of U.S. Citizens
www.nytimes.com
November 26, 2025 at 8:40 PM
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November 25, 2025 at 8:15 PM
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As someone who is this guy's age I can tell you 100% that if you were into Pixies, Nirvana, 120 Minutes stuff, etc. but didn't like the Beatles you had to have worked hard to contort yourself into that special little box. Your enemy, if you absolutely needed one, was hair metal. GTFO here with this.
November 23, 2025 at 1:27 PM
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Trump is incapable of resisting charm, (male) charisma, and - most importantly - celebrity. He has an unquenchable desire to be near it, has been chasing it his whole life.

That's mostly it. Forget all the "He's a populist!" bullshit from both the centrist commentariat and the anti-liberal Left.
Every article by a 'savvy' political analyst reads like a focus group transcript with a low-information voter.
www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...
November 22, 2025 at 2:50 PM
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the takeaway from the Zohran Trump meeting is that Trump is a gullible fool who will temporarily bend to the last charismatic person he talked to.

Zohran played him perfectly but that doesn’t mean Trump is good now. He’ll go back to fascism tomorrow morning after he talks to Stephen Miller
November 21, 2025 at 11:22 PM
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Zohran cucked Trump in less than an hour, adjust what you think political strength looks like if you don’t think it looks like him
November 21, 2025 at 8:43 PM
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Someone said that leave a charismatic person alone with Trump for an hour and Trump will come out the otherwide agreeing with a lot of what they say, and it doesn't seem to be incorrect heh
Zohran cucked Trump in less than an hour, adjust what you think political strength looks like if you don’t think it looks like him
November 21, 2025 at 8:45 PM
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this insistence that she is some preternatural journalistic talent is going to drive me insane
November 21, 2025 at 4:59 PM
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we gotta keep hammering over and over again just how fucking unpopular this guy is with every institution and every person in a position of power

people hate him and people will hate you for capitulating to him
Enten: "This is probably the worst 10 day period for the president in the polls his entire second term. The numbers are just atrocious ... when your best poll has you 14 points underwater, you know it's truly bad and it's as bad as 26 points underwater ... -43 with independents! They despise him."
November 21, 2025 at 6:07 PM
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This version of “Gallow’s Pole” is gorgeous. youtu.be/gHL5ApOqMQc?...
Robert Plant: Tiny Desk Concert
YouTube video by NPR Music
youtu.be
November 21, 2025 at 6:28 PM
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while I’m being cranky, access journalism needs to go. When the president does his “I’m alpha because I insulted you” thing somebody needs to fall on his sword and say “what the fuck is wrong with you, old man?” on a hot mic. the hero of the wizard of Oz is Toto.
November 21, 2025 at 12:11 PM
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Kash Patel's personal firing of the Pride flag-displaying employee was always absurd and unconstitutional, so I'm glad David Maltinsky is suing, but, wait.

It was a flag FLOWN BY THE FBI that was given to him BY THE FBI?! Come on.

Complaint: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
November 20, 2025 at 9:56 PM