Laura B
@brawlingback.bsky.social
Stop the Coup | Critical Thinker + Data Wonk | Pro Democracy + Human Rights Activist | World Traveler + Culture Junky
Reposted by Laura B
“South Park” just had one of its biggest years in ages by doing what it does best: absolutely roasting Trump and his Cabinet without mercy.
www.dailykos.com/stories/2025...
www.dailykos.com/stories/2025...
A look back at ‘South Park’ taking the piss out of Trump in 2025
Throughout 2025, “South Park”—the long-running Comedy Central animated series known for its sharp humor—posted some of its biggest ratings in years. Much of this resurgence stemmed from its ...
www.dailykos.com
December 30, 2025 at 3:45 PM
“South Park” just had one of its biggest years in ages by doing what it does best: absolutely roasting Trump and his Cabinet without mercy.
www.dailykos.com/stories/2025...
www.dailykos.com/stories/2025...
Reposted by Laura B
President Trump’s threats against artists who decline to perform at the renamed Kennedy Center are ultimately hollow, @jonathanbchait.bsky.social argues:
The Show Won’t Go On
President Trump’s threats against artists who decline to perform at the renamed Kennedy Center are ultimately hollow.
bit.ly
December 30, 2025 at 3:31 PM
President Trump’s threats against artists who decline to perform at the renamed Kennedy Center are ultimately hollow, @jonathanbchait.bsky.social argues:
Reposted by Laura B
Matt Gaetz was a weird choice for nominee for AG with loads of baggage. This is who Trump wanted to handle the Epstein Files.
Maybe not a coincidence.
www.cnbc.com/2024/12/23/m...
Maybe not a coincidence.
www.cnbc.com/2024/12/23/m...
Matt Gaetz, former Trump AG pick, had sex with underage girl while in Congress, House Ethics report says
Matt Gaetz resigned from Congress after President-elect Donald Trump picked him to be attorney general, putting the fate of the House Ethics report in question.
www.cnbc.com
December 30, 2025 at 12:14 AM
Matt Gaetz was a weird choice for nominee for AG with loads of baggage. This is who Trump wanted to handle the Epstein Files.
Maybe not a coincidence.
www.cnbc.com/2024/12/23/m...
Maybe not a coincidence.
www.cnbc.com/2024/12/23/m...
Reposted by Laura B
Supreme Court justicies are not supposed to help imperial presidents find technical loopholes for doing things generally understood to be outside their power
Don’t Expect Trump to Give Up on Deploying Troops Into American Cities
... despite the Supreme Court’s refusal to greenlight his use of the National Guard in Illinois.
lnk.thebulwark.com
December 30, 2025 at 12:00 AM
Supreme Court justicies are not supposed to help imperial presidents find technical loopholes for doing things generally understood to be outside their power
Reposted by Laura B
“Israel Crushed Mohammad Bakri”: Gideon Levy & Rami Khouri on Death of Iconic Palestinian Filmmaker
“Israel Crushed Mohammad Bakri”: Remembering the Iconic Palestinian Filmmaker
Journalists Gideon Levy and Rami Khouri discuss the work of acclaimed Palestinian actor and filmmaker Mohammad Bakri, who died at the age of 72 on Christmas Eve. He appeared in more than 40 films and ...
www.democracynow.org
December 30, 2025 at 3:49 PM
“Israel Crushed Mohammad Bakri”: Gideon Levy & Rami Khouri on Death of Iconic Palestinian Filmmaker
Reposted by Laura B
“The Supreme Court Has Taken Away the Hope of Ever Holding ICE to the Constitution”
—Nancy Gertner, Former Federal Judge www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
—Nancy Gertner, Former Federal Judge www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
Why the Supreme Court Is Giving ICE So Much Power
The Constitution inarguably applies to federal immigration agents—but the Supreme Court has taken away the hope of ever holding them to that standard.
www.theatlantic.com
December 30, 2025 at 12:50 PM
“The Supreme Court Has Taken Away the Hope of Ever Holding ICE to the Constitution”
—Nancy Gertner, Former Federal Judge www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
—Nancy Gertner, Former Federal Judge www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
Reposted by Laura B
Gift 🎁 link: a pretty comprehensive summary of how far Bobby Kennedy got this year on his quest to dismantle US public health. (Spoiler: it's s dangerously far, and he's just getting started.)
wapo.st/48YSPC1
wapo.st/48YSPC1
Inside RFK Jr.’s reshaping of public health in Trump’s first year
Interviews with almost 100 people reveal how Kennedy, as health secretary, has reshaped the vaccine and broader public health infrastructure in less than a year.
wapo.st
December 30, 2025 at 12:38 PM
Gift 🎁 link: a pretty comprehensive summary of how far Bobby Kennedy got this year on his quest to dismantle US public health. (Spoiler: it's s dangerously far, and he's just getting started.)
wapo.st/48YSPC1
wapo.st/48YSPC1
Reposted by Laura B
Explore this gift article from The New York Times. You can read it for free without a subscription. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/29/h...
Bullshit….someone knew.
Bullshit….someone knew.
Hundreds Sue Virginia Hospital and Executives Over Unneeded Surgeries
www.nytimes.com
December 30, 2025 at 12:31 PM
Explore this gift article from The New York Times. You can read it for free without a subscription. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/29/h...
Bullshit….someone knew.
Bullshit….someone knew.
Reposted by Laura B
Trump Set to Garnish Wages for Student Loan Defaults; The Debt Collective Lays Out Other Options
Trump Set to Garnish Wages for Student Loan Defaults; The Debt Collective Lays Out Other Options
Starting in January, the Trump administration says it will garnish the wages of student loan borrowers who haven’t been able to make their payments for at least nine months. “It’s cruel and hostile to...
www.democracynow.org
December 30, 2025 at 3:59 PM
Trump Set to Garnish Wages for Student Loan Defaults; The Debt Collective Lays Out Other Options
Reposted by Laura B
“I want their morale as low as possible because a team with low morale is ineffective.”
Meet the veteran who chases ICE on a scooter
Meet the veteran who chases ICE on a scooter
Meet the veteran who chases ICE on a scooter
Clifford “Buzz” Grambo patrols the streets of Baltimore to keep his neighbors safe—and make federal agents uncomfortable.
www.motherjones.com
December 30, 2025 at 4:00 PM
“I want their morale as low as possible because a team with low morale is ineffective.”
Meet the veteran who chases ICE on a scooter
Meet the veteran who chases ICE on a scooter
Reposted by Laura B
Today’s Daily Cartoon, by Sarah Kempa. #NewYorkerCartoons
December 30, 2025 at 4:00 PM
Today’s Daily Cartoon, by Sarah Kempa. #NewYorkerCartoons
Reposted by Laura B
"I wish I knew what Norman Rockwell might have said about Trump’s theft of his life’s work in service of state-sponsored terror. But even more than that, I wonder what he would have painted." ICYMI @crampell.bsky.social: lnk.thebulwark.com/4pU1xY5
The MAGAfication of Norman Rockwell
Trump uses the artist’s work—like other cultural icons—to promote Gestapo tactics and nativist ideas.
lnk.thebulwark.com
December 30, 2025 at 4:00 PM
"I wish I knew what Norman Rockwell might have said about Trump’s theft of his life’s work in service of state-sponsored terror. But even more than that, I wonder what he would have painted." ICYMI @crampell.bsky.social: lnk.thebulwark.com/4pU1xY5
Reposted by Laura B
"The temptation to expand the military’s role in protecting democracy is perhaps understandable in an era of polarization. But the cure must not become worse than the disease. The U.S. military’s neutrality does not lie in officer-initiated resistance to lawful authority," writes Jason Smith.
Military Neutrality Is Fidelity
Fidelity to the Constitution requires officers to protect, not supplant, constitutional institutions.
www.lawfaremedia.org
December 30, 2025 at 4:03 PM
"The temptation to expand the military’s role in protecting democracy is perhaps understandable in an era of polarization. But the cure must not become worse than the disease. The U.S. military’s neutrality does not lie in officer-initiated resistance to lawful authority," writes Jason Smith.
Reposted by Laura B
The assassinations of Charlie Kirk and Melissa Hortman shook the country.
Minnesota state senator Julia Coleman (R)
knew both personally.
Kirk was her first boss, Hortman her colleague.
She is fed up with the conspiracy theories around their deaths.
www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
Minnesota state senator Julia Coleman (R)
knew both personally.
Kirk was her first boss, Hortman her colleague.
She is fed up with the conspiracy theories around their deaths.
www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
As rumors swirl after political killings, this GOP lawmaker draws a line
Minnesota state senator Julia Coleman knew both Charlie Kirk and Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman. She is fed up with the conspiracy theories around their deaths.
www.washingtonpost.com
December 30, 2025 at 3:38 PM
The assassinations of Charlie Kirk and Melissa Hortman shook the country.
Minnesota state senator Julia Coleman (R)
knew both personally.
Kirk was her first boss, Hortman her colleague.
She is fed up with the conspiracy theories around their deaths.
www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
Minnesota state senator Julia Coleman (R)
knew both personally.
Kirk was her first boss, Hortman her colleague.
She is fed up with the conspiracy theories around their deaths.
www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
Reposted by Laura B
“Republicans have begun to openly and repeatedly defy him. Democrats have started to outmaneuver him. The Epstein scandal has once more erupted with embarrassing revelations. And every now and then, Trump seems to have a hard time even staying awake”
NEW: President Trump spent much of the year as a steamroller
But as 2025 ends, he seems much smaller now
Republicans took losses and are starting to defy him. He seems out of touch and focused on legacy. And Epstein won’t go away
A shrinking president: www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...
But as 2025 ends, he seems much smaller now
Republicans took losses and are starting to defy him. He seems out of touch and focused on legacy. And Epstein won’t go away
A shrinking president: www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...
Trump Is Suddenly Looking a Lot Smaller
The president is no longer dominating his party or the country in the way he once did.
www.theatlantic.com
December 30, 2025 at 3:02 PM
“Republicans have begun to openly and repeatedly defy him. Democrats have started to outmaneuver him. The Epstein scandal has once more erupted with embarrassing revelations. And every now and then, Trump seems to have a hard time even staying awake”
Reposted by Laura B
National security advisers from the Coalition of the Willing countries, led by the U.K. and France, have agreed to meet in Ukraine on Jan. 3. The meeting will be followed by another meeting among state leaders, planned for Jan. 6 in France.
kyivindependent.com/zelensky-ann...
kyivindependent.com/zelensky-ann...
Zelensky announces upcoming high-level meetings in Ukraine, France
National security advisers from the Coalition of the Willing countries, led by the U.K. and France, have agreed to meet in Ukraine on Jan. 3, according to Zelensky. The meeting will be followed by ano...
kyivindependent.com
December 30, 2025 at 4:06 PM
National security advisers from the Coalition of the Willing countries, led by the U.K. and France, have agreed to meet in Ukraine on Jan. 3. The meeting will be followed by another meeting among state leaders, planned for Jan. 6 in France.
kyivindependent.com/zelensky-ann...
kyivindependent.com/zelensky-ann...
Reposted by Laura B
Over 20M Americans Set to Lose Healthcare Coverage Jan. 1 After Congress Goes on Recess
Over 20M Americans Set to Lose Healthcare Coverage Jan. 1 After Congress Goes on Recess
Tens of millions of Americans are set to see their health insurance costs soar when subsidies under the Affordable Care Act expire at the end of this year. Health insurance premiums are expected to mo...
www.democracynow.org
December 30, 2025 at 4:10 PM
Over 20M Americans Set to Lose Healthcare Coverage Jan. 1 After Congress Goes on Recess
Reposted by Laura B
Border czar Tom Homan didn't receive a normal background check for his role while his bribery probe was still ongoing:
Justice officials felt sure Homan would not be able to obtain a security clearance based on the evidence gathered. It remains unclear how Homan was eventually granted clearance.
Justice officials felt sure Homan would not be able to obtain a security clearance based on the evidence gathered. It remains unclear how Homan was eventually granted clearance.
Border czar Tom Homan didn’t receive normal background check during bribery probe
President-elect Trump initially balked at submitting names of likely nominees to the FBI for background checks, a basic step intended to flag possible financial conflicts or ethical problems.
www.ms.now
December 30, 2025 at 4:10 PM
Border czar Tom Homan didn't receive a normal background check for his role while his bribery probe was still ongoing:
Justice officials felt sure Homan would not be able to obtain a security clearance based on the evidence gathered. It remains unclear how Homan was eventually granted clearance.
Justice officials felt sure Homan would not be able to obtain a security clearance based on the evidence gathered. It remains unclear how Homan was eventually granted clearance.
Reposted by Laura B
Trump’s not planning a party. He’s preparing for a siege.
Trump Isn't Building a Ballroom, He's Erecting a Fortress
Can You Say "Martial Law?"
www.newsletter.samuel-warde.com
December 30, 2025 at 4:10 PM
Trump’s not planning a party. He’s preparing for a siege.
Reposted by Laura B
“Afghan women themselves demanded legal recognition to capture the brutality they have been forced to endure.”
Sahar Halaimzai explains the importance of recognizing Taliban’s oppression of women as “gender apartheid.”
Read the full piece:
zeteo.com/p/taliban-wo...
Sahar Halaimzai explains the importance of recognizing Taliban’s oppression of women as “gender apartheid.”
Read the full piece:
zeteo.com/p/taliban-wo...
December 30, 2025 at 4:11 PM
“Afghan women themselves demanded legal recognition to capture the brutality they have been forced to endure.”
Sahar Halaimzai explains the importance of recognizing Taliban’s oppression of women as “gender apartheid.”
Read the full piece:
zeteo.com/p/taliban-wo...
Sahar Halaimzai explains the importance of recognizing Taliban’s oppression of women as “gender apartheid.”
Read the full piece:
zeteo.com/p/taliban-wo...
Reposted by Laura B
I don’t know who needs to hear this but posting “new year, new me” on social media isn’t gonna fix you. That’s what pretty new notebooks are for obviously
December 30, 2025 at 4:12 PM
I don’t know who needs to hear this but posting “new year, new me” on social media isn’t gonna fix you. That’s what pretty new notebooks are for obviously
Reposted by Laura B
Quit Whining MAGA. It’s Called Freedom And The Market At Work: Performer cancellations at the Kennedy Center continue to pile up. Now the entire New Year’s Eve show has been canceled. All bcuz Trump illegally put his name on the Center. And Trump and his sycophants are complaining about it. Tough…
Quit Whining MAGA. It’s Called Freedom And The Market At Work
Performer cancellations at the Kennedy Center continue to pile up. Now the entire New Year’s Eve show has been canceled. All bcuz Trump illegally put his name on the Center. And Trump and his sycophants are complaining about it. Tough luck. This is the market and the resistance at work.
www.youtube.com
December 30, 2025 at 4:12 PM
Quit Whining MAGA. It’s Called Freedom And The Market At Work: Performer cancellations at the Kennedy Center continue to pile up. Now the entire New Year’s Eve show has been canceled. All bcuz Trump illegally put his name on the Center. And Trump and his sycophants are complaining about it. Tough…
Reposted by Laura B
Don't fall for a rumor that DOGE found Sen. Bernie Sanders owed $1.6 million in unpaid taxes. It comes from a satirical Facebook account.
www.snopes.com/fact-check/b...
www.snopes.com/fact-check/b...
Rumor DOGE found Bernie Sanders owes $1.6M in unpaid taxes amounts to fiction
A satirical post took aim at the progressive U.S. senator, and many people seemed to believe it.
www.snopes.com
December 30, 2025 at 4:13 PM
Don't fall for a rumor that DOGE found Sen. Bernie Sanders owed $1.6 million in unpaid taxes. It comes from a satirical Facebook account.
www.snopes.com/fact-check/b...
www.snopes.com/fact-check/b...
Reposted by Laura B
Listen and watch here: lnk.thebulwark.com/3N3AwTx
Stephen Miller’s Christmas Rants Were Revolting–and Revealing
Tim Miller and Sarah Longwell take on Stephen Miller’s string of Christmas posts—a window into his obsession with immigration, his warped view of American history, and the dark instincts shaping the T...
lnk.thebulwark.com
December 30, 2025 at 4:14 PM
Listen and watch here: lnk.thebulwark.com/3N3AwTx