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John McQuaid @johnmcquaid.bsky.social · 23h

But for some reason political reporters are operating on the assumption that politics is suspended and will be for the foreseeable future

John McQuaid @johnmcquaid.bsky.social · 23h

By any conventional reading of polls/public opinion, Trump is in serious political trouble, and the fact that he's just ignoring that is making things worse for him, and us all

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John McQuaid @johnmcquaid.bsky.social · 23h

“Trump moves boldly forward” (a headline we’ve been seeing for months already) seems like a serious misreading of the current political situation
www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

Trump, Feeling Emboldened, Pushes Agenda Into Higher Gear

Recent moves by the president reflect a commander in chief who has seemingly faced little resistance to his agenda.

www.wsj.com

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Walter Olson @walterolson.bsky.social · 1d

New from me at Cato: I go through the numerous and massive First Amendment and academic-freedom violations of Trump's proffered "compact" with universities and then talk about the mechanism by which it would be enforced, by way of what I describe as a "retroactive push-button guillotine."

Universities Must Defend Their Independence by Rejecting Trump's "Compact"

The Trump administration has proffered a “compact” to universities that would require them to surrender their independence and academic freedom. How many First Amendment violations can we identify in ...

www.cato.org

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John McQuaid @johnmcquaid.bsky.social · 4d

What Holly Hunter's character Jane in "Broadcast News" (based on Susan Zirinsky, later head of CBS News) would do in a single conversation with Bari Weiss, that's what we're all about to see play out

John McQuaid @johnmcquaid.bsky.social · 4d

Licht was appointed in 2022 and left in 2023, yet it feels like an eon ago.

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John McQuaid @johnmcquaid.bsky.social · 4d

Have people forgotten Chris Licht's tenure at CNN? He was an experienced TV executive (unlike Bari Weiss), appointed by David Zaslav, who tried to move coverage to the "ideological center." It didn't go well
www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...

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Kevin Collier @kevincollier.bsky.social · 4d

Not an expert on this stuff but I have the sense that no one backing Weiss understands that what she has done her whole career, opinion-based news-flavored content, is distinct from news reporting.

max tani @maxtani.bsky.social · 4d

Bari Weiss introduced herself to CBS News staff today on the network's 9AM call, saying she wants to "win," which requires restoring trust to CBS. She also said she was excited for staff to get to know the Free Press, and ended her remarks by saying: "Let's do the fucking news."

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Barred and Boujee aka Madiba Dennie @audrelawdamercy.bsky.social · 8d

‼️ literally. I know I've written about this before (most recently, when the Court gave our Social Security data to Big Balls) but it bears repeating imo that the theoretical purpose of emergency shadow docket relief is to prevent serious, imminent real world harm

ballsandstrikes.org/scotus/big-b...

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John McQuaid @johnmcquaid.bsky.social · 8d

The shadow docket decisions lash them closely to Trump and pit them against a majority of the public (and the judiciary itself) in a much more salient, understandable, and, if Ds choose, politically exploitable way than ever before with the Roberts court

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John McQuaid @johnmcquaid.bsky.social · 8d

Seems like the 6, like the Trump White House, operate on the assumption that they are, and will continue to be, completely insulated from public opinion. Maybe. But the risks of that bet are increasing.

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John McQuaid @johnmcquaid.bsky.social · 8d

There is an entire PhD dissertation waiting to be written on the NYT's use of the word "some" and the fuzzy, conditional space it opens up around facts – and why that appears so important to its self-conception as a journalistic institution. Also throw in "experts"
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/u...

Trump Offered Universities an Invitation for a Deal. Some See a Trap.

www.nytimes.com

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John McQuaid @johnmcquaid.bsky.social · 8d

Meme-maker didn't get the memo about calling it the "Democrat Party"

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John McQuaid @johnmcquaid.bsky.social · 8d

"Some experts say" really can do whatever a journalist wants

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dan sinker @dansinker.com · 8d

What. The. Fuck.

NPR @npr.org · 9d

As President Trump ramps up efforts to send federal officers and troops into cities, criminologists are watching closely. Are the feds doing this in a smart way?

National Guard presence may deter crime, but experts warn of the long-term costs

As President Trump ramps up efforts to send federal officers and troops into cities, criminologists are watching closely. Are the feds doing this in a smart way?

n.pr

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John McQuaid @johnmcquaid.bsky.social · 10d

What Pope Leo says here isn't necessarily unexpected, but it's a new experience to hear an American Pope speaking knowledgeably about US politics
www.politico.com/live-updates...

But Leo, in remarks that appeared both careful and bold, urged Catholics not to view the senator — or any political figure — through a single-issue lens.

“I think it’s important to look at the overall work that a senator has done during, if I’m not mistaken, in 40 years of service in the United States Senate,” the pope, a Chicago-area native, told reporters, responding to a question from EWTN News.

“I understand the difficulty and the tensions,” he said. “But I think as I myself have spoken in the past, it’s important to look at many issues that are related to the teachings of the church.”

More pointedly, the pope said, “Someone who says, ‘I’m against abortion,’ but is in favor of the death penalty is not really pro-life. Someone who says, ‘I’m against abortion but I’m in agreement with the inhuman treatment of immigrants in the United States,’ I don’t know if that’s pro-life.”

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Sean T. Collins @seantcollins.com · 11d

the evil Imperial News reporter from Andor

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John McQuaid @johnmcquaid.bsky.social · 10d

Interesting how this closely parallels the NYT's own struggles with Trumpism, from the post-2016 "how did we miss this?!!" freakout followed by endless rust belt diner safaris, now culminating in the current "some experts say extrajudicial killings may be illegal" state of denial

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Dr Abeba Birhane @abeba.bsky.social · 12d

this is not gonna go down well

www.reuters.com/technology/o...

OpenAI's new Sora video generator to require copyright holders to opt out, WSJ reports

OpenAI is planning to release a new version of its Sora generator that creates videos featuring copyrighted material, unless right holders opt out of having their work appear, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday, citing people familiar with the matter.

www.reuters.com

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John McQuaid @johnmcquaid.bsky.social · 14d

This was Biden's problem. Kind of analogous to his Israel stance. He saw political arrangements that had been manageable for his whole career break down, but – at that moment, still in power, where he could have made a big difference – he could not bring himself to abandon them.

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John McQuaid @johnmcquaid.bsky.social · 14d

A political necessity for a return to democratic governance. One problem is, the (now clearly and manifestly false) idea of SCOTUS as an institution above/outside of politics, and thus not something that can be attacked/changed, still has a hold on a lot of Democratic politicians and the news media

Josh Marshall @joshtpm.bsky.social · 14d

For 26 but especially 2028 it's time for Democrats to make clear that the current Supreme Court will have to be reformed (expanded in number, reformed in structure) to allow popular govt to continue in the United States. Not so much a litmus test as precondition for any other promise to be credible.

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John McQuaid @johnmcquaid.bsky.social · 19d

Things are really bad. But a lot of the caving to Trump, and the rampant despair over it, seems predicated on the wrongheaded idea that politics in America – driven by public opinion as expressed through elections, protests, boycotts and other means – just spontaneously ceased to exist on January 20

G Elliott Morris @gelliottmorris.com · 19d

The backlash to ABC/Disney canceling Kimmel has been swift, and severe. The whole episode underscores something I've been blogging about for a while: A lot of powerful people just don’t realize how unpopular Trump is
www.gelliottmorris.com/p/a-lot-of-p...

A lot of people just don’t realize how unpopular Trump is

The backlash to ABC/Disney canceling Kimmel shows why it's important for businesses and the public to understand that two-thirds of Americans are not Trump voters

www.gelliottmorris.com

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Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 21d

Somebody over on The Hellsite asked me which institutions are still standing in the face of Trump's blitzkrieg. Here's my partial answer, please LMK if I'm missing anything:

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Conrad Hackett @conradhackett.bsky.social · 24d

Is it important that the media can report the news without government censorship?
In the United States, 92% say it is important.
www.pewresearch.org/global/2025/...

A median of 61% across the 35 countries surveyed say it is very important that the media are able to report the news without state or government censorship in their country. A median of 23% say this is somewhat important; 11% say it’s not too or not at all important.

Majorities of adults in Canada (77%) and the U.S. (67%) believe having freedom of the press is very important in their country.

In Europe, the shares saying freedom of the press is very important range from 56% in Poland to 89% in Greece. Majorities across all countries in the region hold this view.

In the Asia-Pacific region, varying shares say it’s very important that the media can report the news without censorship. About four-in-ten hold this view in Bangladesh, India and Singapore, compared with about six-in-ten in Australia. Shares in other Asia-Pacific countries fall in between.

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Scott L Greer @scottlgreer.bsky.social · 21d

“52% of all autocratization episodes become U-Turns, which increases to 73% when focusing on the last 30 years. The vast majority of U-Turns (90%) lead to restored or even improved levels of democracy”

V-Dem data

When autocratization is reversed: episodes of U-Turns since 1900

The world is in a “wave of autocratization.” Yet, recent events in Brazil, the Maldives, and Zambia demonstrate that autocratization can be halted and reversed. This article introduces “U-Turn” as ...

www.tandfonline.com

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