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Jonathan M. Katz
@katz.theracket.news
77K followers 750 following 10K posts
Author of GANGSTERS OF CAPITALISM and THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY. Subscribe to my newsletter: http://theracket.news | Signal: jmkatz.18 | @KatzOnEarth on TikTok & Insta | Avi by @mollycrabapple.bsky.social
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Jonathan M. Katz @katz.theracket.news · Nov 10
Hello new followers and fellow Twitter refugees. I’m a journalist & author; an international and disaster correspondent turned analyst of U.S. empire and America’s fascist turn. I’m going to keep fighting from here.

Subscribe to my newsletter TheRacket.news

Books and bio: jonathanmkatz.com
The Racket
Explore the unseen connections behind world affairs, politics, disaster, and more. By Jonathan M. Katz
TheRacket.news
Reposted by Jonathan M. Katz
iwriteok.bsky.social
If I was this woman's lawyer i would advise her not to stop suing until she owned Glenn Beck's house

www.cbsnews.com/news/jan-6-p...
How an innocent woman's name was tied to the Jan. 6 pipe bombs
The FBI has ruled the woman out as a suspect in the 2021 plot, sources said, but only after her name circulated on social platforms and a conservative news site.
www.cbsnews.com
November 26, 2025 at 3:59 AM
katz.theracket.news
👀
bencollins.bsky.social Tim Onion @bencollins.bsky.social · 10h
"A woman with a family connection to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has been arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Revere, Massachusetts."

www.wcvb.com/article/karo...
REVERE, Mass. — A woman with a family connection to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has been arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Revere, Massachusetts. The woman, Bruna Ferreira, has an 11-year-old son with Michael Leavitt, Karoline Leavitt's brother. Ferreira migrated with her family to the United States from Brazil as a child and is currently in custody at an ICE facility in southern Louisiana. Michael Leavitt released a statement, saying that his "only concern has always been the safety, well-being, and privacy of [his] son."
November 26, 2025 at 6:01 AM
katz.theracket.news
Credit where it’s due. But I don’t think it’s a coincidence that this new framing comes out after a Democratic wave election, the ascendance (and surprisingly broad acceptance) of Mamdani, and his steadily crashing poll numbers.

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/25/u...
Shorter Days, Signs of Fatigue: Trump Faces Realities of Aging in Office
www.nytimes.com
November 26, 2025 at 3:01 AM
Reposted by Jonathan M. Katz
reichlinmelnick.bsky.social
The first official confirmation that Noem herself made the decision not to turn the planes around. A couple hundred men were tortured as a result — and soon after, the Supreme Court confirmed that the Trump admin’s Alien Enemies Act process was a total violation of due process.
juliedicaro.bsky.social Julie DiCaro @juliedicaro.bsky.social · 12h
BREAKING:

“After receiving that legal advice, Secretary Noem directed that the AEA detainees who had been removed from the United States before the Court’s order could be transferred to the custody of El Salvador. “
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche and Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove provided DHS with legal advice regarding the Court’s order as to flights that had left the United States before the order issued, through DHS Acting General Counsel Joseph Mazzara. Mr. Mazzara then conveyed that legal advice, as well as his own legal advice, to Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem. See 6 U.S.C. § 113(a)(1)(J). After receiving that legal advice, Secretary Noem directed that the AEA detainees who had been removed from the United States before the Court’s order could be transferred to the custody of El Salvador. As explained below, that decision was lawful and was consistent with a reasonable interpretation of
November 26, 2025 at 1:45 AM
katz.theracket.news
I’m going for always
tullyundead.bsky.social Tully 👽Undead👽 @tullyundead.bsky.social · 12h
You can be truly insufferable at times
November 26, 2025 at 1:58 AM
katz.theracket.news
Yeah the other thing is that Duffy clearly doesn’t fly
korey4tomorrow.bsky.social Korey @korey4tomorrow.bsky.social · 12h
And the snacks were pretty solid on my United flights recently. Stroopwafel and crispy cookies?

Way better than nuts and unsalted pretzels.
November 26, 2025 at 1:57 AM
katz.theracket.news
This is the ultimate “bring back a past I’m nostalgic for without recreating any of the material conditions that made that possible.” Peak MAGA brain.
nytimes.com The New York Times @nytimes.com · 13h
Sean Duffy, the U.S. transportation secretary, has been urging people for the past week to dress and comport themselves better as a way of restoring “civility” to air travel. On Tuesday, he added another item to his list of concerns: the quality of the snacks handed out on commercial flights.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy Wants Healthier In-Flight Snack Options
Sean Duffy, who has been promoting greater decorum among air travelers, said he would like to see choices besides salty pretzels and buttery cookies.
nyti.ms
November 26, 2025 at 1:24 AM
katz.theracket.news
Best Star Wars movies, ranked:

1. The Empire Strikes Back
2. Star Wars
3. Star Trek (2009)
4. Aliens
5. The Last Jedi
6. The People vs. George Lucas
7. Dune: Part One (2021)
8. Dune (1984)
9. Flash Gordon (1980)
10. Spaceballs
November 26, 2025 at 1:18 AM
Reposted by Jonathan M. Katz
reichlinmelnick.bsky.social
This is called “chain refoulment” and it’s illegal under both U.S. and international law. And the State Department and ICE know very well what Ghana is doing and simply don’t care.
davidjbier.bsky.social David Bier @davidjbier.bsky.social · 21h
ICE deported a woman who owned a home in the US for 30 years. A judge banned ICE from deporting her to Sierra Leone where she had been tortured, so it deported her to Ghana, which kidnapped her and sent her back Sierra Leone anyway. ICE is part of this illegal conspiracy.
November 25, 2025 at 7:30 PM
Reposted by Jonathan M. Katz
jamellebouie.net
ah yes, the people yearn for the dersh
thelincoln.bsky.social Lincoln Michel @thelincoln.bsky.social · 1d
"elevate charismatic figures such as Alan Dershowitz"

-____________-
Bari Weiss says she wants to use her new perch at CBS News to “redraw the lines of what falls in the 40 yards of acceptable debate” in American political and cultural life. She says the aim is to sideline voices like Hasan Piker, Tucker Carlson and Nick Fuentes, and elevate “charismatic” figures such as Alan Dershowitz and Dana Loesch who reflect “where the vast majority of Americans actually are.”
November 25, 2025 at 10:54 AM
katz.theracket.news
Excuse me? haitiantimes.com/2025/11/21/t...
Texas men charged in plot to attack Haitian island and enslave women, children as sex slaves | Breaking News
Texas men face federal charges for planning to invade Haiti's La Gonâve island and enslave women and children.
haitiantimes.com
November 25, 2025 at 3:02 PM
katz.theracket.news
Tbf they’re all pretty gross
kebrightbill.bsky.social Kathryn Brightbill ✒️ @kebrightbill.bsky.social · 1d
Why do so many reporters so obviously want to fuck the grossest Kennedy?
November 25, 2025 at 5:30 AM
katz.theracket.news
What was I supposed to do? *Not* ask the monkey's paw to boost sales?
dash-notheactualworddash.com Al @dash-notheactualworddash.com · 1d
I am really not appreciating how much Gangsters of Capitalism is increasing in relevance the more I read it. I’m starting to wonder if @katz.theracket.news cast some kind of curse
atrupar.com Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1d
Rep. Salazar on Venezuela: "We're about to go in ... we need to go in ... Venezuela for the American oil companies will be a field day"
November 25, 2025 at 3:12 AM
katz.theracket.news
OTOH the woods are nice
karenho.bsky.social Karen K. Ho @karenho.bsky.social · 1d
If Isaac Chotiner ever said this to me, I would move to the woods.
Isaac Chotiner: "I’m not making any allegation. I’m making a simple point about how an average reader—myself included—might respond after reading this ridiculous piece" Ben Smith: "Also — and I'll stop now! — the question he's trying to get at of how you cover monarchies with endless time horizons as a journalist (this is a thing people from most major publications do) is genuinely interesting." Chotiner, with the kill shot: "Come on Ben. I refuse to pretend that both of us are dumber than we are."
November 25, 2025 at 3:06 AM
Reposted by Jonathan M. Katz
mariabustillos.com
Here is @katz.theracket.news, sanely explaining why the Epstein case matters a lot (pace David #$*&@#)(*$ Brooks)

The chaos and noise all around makes it real hard to focus on the obvious, which is why everyone needs real journalists like @katz.theracket.news

theracket.news/p/why-the-ep...
The late Marxist literary critic Fredric Jameson once described conspiracy as “the poor person's cognitive mapping in the postmodern age; it is the degraded figure of the total logic of late capital, a desperate attempt to represent the latter’s system, whose failure is marked by its slippage into sheer theme and content.” When people can’t access or even learn about the actual mechanisms by which elites control our lives and fortunes, they resort to stories. Those stories are often wrong — they can, in fact, be dangerous — but they come from a genuine and rational impulse to make sense of a world in which power really does operate through networks of personal relationships and constantly evades democratic accountability. The Epstein case is fascinating precisely because it collapses those distinctions. It was an actual elite network, operating through personal relationships and mutual protection, flying on private jets and meeting on an exclusive tropical island — more or less what the paranoid style typically imagines. And — and this is really key — it involves, in ways we are getting glimpses of but do not yet fully understand, the sitting president of the United States, whose former chief political adviser, former labor secretary, current attorney general, and others were all tied in.
November 22, 2025 at 5:30 PM
Reposted by Jonathan M. Katz
dddetray.bsky.social
This was a very good read. Worth your time.
November 22, 2025 at 3:27 PM
katz.theracket.news
War criminal says what
SUBSCRIBE FOREIGN AFFAIRS How to Topple Maduro And Why Regime Change Is the Only Way Forward in Venezuela ELLIOTT ABRAMS November 20, 2025 MENU Q=
November 23, 2025 at 8:24 PM
katz.theracket.news
[brain worm intensifies]
brian-goldstone.bsky.social Brian Goldstone @brian-goldstone.bsky.social · 2d
Unreal: "The EPA is moving forward with approvals for pesticides containing 'forever chemicals' as an active ingredient... The agency also announced plans to relax a rule requiring companies to report products containing PFAS and has proposed weakening drinking water standards for the chemicals."
November 23, 2025 at 2:58 PM
Reposted by Jonathan M. Katz
michaelhobbes.bsky.social
November 22, 2025 at 2:45 PM
katz.theracket.news
There’s a great children’s book about this too, called Brave Girl. My girls now love running around the house shouting “general strike” in Yiddish [kvells]

www.harpercollins.com/products/bra...
November 22, 2025 at 3:31 PM
Reposted by Jonathan M. Katz
katz.theracket.news
Some thoughts on the case everyone is talking about and a response to David Brooks.

New Racket.

theracket.news/p/why-the-ep...
Why the Epstein case matters
Dismissing public interest in the Epstein case as heedless conspiracy-mongering ignores the power of the story.
theracket.news
November 21, 2025 at 10:18 PM
Reposted by Jonathan M. Katz
chasemiddaugh.bsky.social
"This is, in fact, one of the big reasons why Epstein and his well-known links to Trump and his administrations have been so politically salient: They expose the hypocrisy of a right-wing populist movement..." - @katz.theracket.news theracket.news/p/why-the-ep...
Why the Epstein case matters
Dismissing public interest in the Epstein case as heedless conspiracy-mongering ignores the power of the story.
theracket.news
November 22, 2025 at 12:24 AM
Reposted by Jonathan M. Katz
makenakelly.bsky.social
when he posts you on grid UwU
November 22, 2025 at 12:10 AM
katz.theracket.news
Some thoughts on the case everyone is talking about and a response to David Brooks.

New Racket.

theracket.news/p/why-the-ep...
Why the Epstein case matters
Dismissing public interest in the Epstein case as heedless conspiracy-mongering ignores the power of the story.
theracket.news
November 21, 2025 at 10:18 PM
katz.theracket.news
Since this Epstein guy is in the news again, re-upping my deep dive into the material reality of his island, the much-ignored role that Virgin Islanders play in the story, and how it all fits into the much bigger saga of American and European empires.

theracket.news/p/epstein-an...
Epstein and Empire
There's an angle to the Trump-Epstein affair that most people are missing: In the Virgin Islands, silence and impunity have long been the price of paradise.
theracket.news
November 21, 2025 at 6:49 PM