Mollie Wilson O'Reilly
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mollieoreilly.bsky.social
Mollie Wilson O'Reilly
@mollieoreilly.bsky.social
Editor at large for Commonweal magazine; writing at https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/users/mollie-wilson-oreilly-0 and sometimes other places, too. She/her.
Reposted by Mollie Wilson O'Reilly
RFK Jr. is neither a joke nor a well-intentioned proponent of public health with a few kooky beliefs. He's a menace, evil even by the standards of Trump's inner circle, and the failure of the political press to convey this is maddening
I actually think it’s okay to take a ridiculous scandal seriously when it involves a wingnut conspiracy theorist in charge of things like vaccine policy and pandemic preparedness

Sorry to be a wet blanket 🤷🏻‍♀️
She never misses a beat, of course, but Marina's first paragraph this week is *chef's kiss*

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
November 25, 2025 at 11:44 PM
Reposted by Mollie Wilson O'Reilly
he’s a deeply ignorant, horrifically needy egoist who wants to get sole credit for sending people checks, so he’s going to immiserate millions and possibly kill thousands by destroying the heath insurance system.
NEW: Donald Trump says he wants ACA funds to end after 2025

“I’d rather not" extend them, he tells reporters on AF1. "I don’t want to extend them for two years. I’d rather not extend them at all."

He wants cash to go "directly" to people. Unclear how that'd work.

www.nbcnews.com/politics/don...
Trump says he would 'rather not' extend Obamacare tax credits 'at all'
The president said he prefers to let the Affordable Care Act subsidies expire on schedule at the end of December, saying if anything he wants the money to go to "the people directly."
www.nbcnews.com
November 26, 2025 at 3:51 AM
Reposted by Mollie Wilson O'Reilly
Here's how Greg Bovino denies tackling Scott Blackburn, while watching a video showing him tacking Scott Blackburn.

legacy.www.documentcloud.org/documents/26...
November 25, 2025 at 4:42 PM
Reposted by Mollie Wilson O'Reilly
Here for this.

Nothing in the Scout Oath or Law has ever required identifying as male.
This is the Scout Law (say it with me!): "A Scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent." Scouting America hasn't changed its values at all. It has simply recognized that they aren't exclusively male.
Is it a 'masculine value' to melt down about some new fake shit every week?
November 25, 2025 at 2:03 PM
Reposted by Mollie Wilson O'Reilly
Scouting was where I learned that there are forms of authority that don't rely solely on assertion of will. That there is a masculinity that doesn't involve dominance. But I'm also the kind of man Hegseth would probably find "weak."

Then again, I'm an Eagle Scout and he never held any rank, so.
This is the Scout Law (say it with me!): "A Scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent." Scouting America hasn't changed its values at all. It has simply recognized that they aren't exclusively male.
Is it a 'masculine value' to melt down about some new fake shit every week?
November 25, 2025 at 1:55 PM
This is the Scout Law (say it with me!): "A Scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent." Scouting America hasn't changed its values at all. It has simply recognized that they aren't exclusively male.
Is it a 'masculine value' to melt down about some new fake shit every week?
November 25, 2025 at 1:44 PM
Neither the military nor scouting is an all-male safe space, and Pete Hegseth can cry all he wants about that! (Scouting is also not a paramilitary organization. I'm very involved, and I had to read this story to find out what links Scouting America has to the U.S. military in the first place.)
November 25, 2025 at 12:32 PM
I am very curmudgeonly about so-called "Advent Calendars" that are just a parade of little luxuries all month long. I mean, luxuries are nice, but that's not what Advent is. So this piece from Heidi in Commonweal is singing my song.
November 24, 2025 at 4:33 PM
This is an excellent anaylsis and response to the Epstein email cache, and a direct riposte to David Brooks's useless blather (even though the NYT won't let him say it in so many words).
Opinion | How the Elite Behave When No One Is Watching: Inside the Epstein Emails
www.nytimes.com
November 24, 2025 at 12:03 PM
You know what I hate more is the pre-wave of "Happy Thanksgiving" emails from every corporation AND not-for-profit that has me on a list. I don't wamt to spend my holiday deleting your emails! Leave me in peace!
November 24, 2025 at 11:34 AM
This is the Christ the King preaching you've been waiting for.
November 24, 2025 at 2:56 AM
See, this is more like it.
November 22, 2025 at 7:50 PM
I listened to the audio of this appearance, and when Leo responded to a comment about a gift of socks he'd received by declaring, "I only wear white socks..." and then pausing for the laugh—that's when I said to myself, this pope has rizz.
November 22, 2025 at 6:58 PM
Fascinated to learn that David Brooks thinks his relationship to "the American elite," in the minds of his readers, is adversarial.
Someday you, too, could have the moral fortitude to look upon a years-long rape circus organized by the nation's most powerful elites and declare, "The people upset about this are speaking about it the wrong way."
November 22, 2025 at 2:11 PM
Reposted by Mollie Wilson O'Reilly
Trump frickin' loves this guy lmao
November 21, 2025 at 9:04 PM
Reposted by Mollie Wilson O'Reilly
remember when he was super impressed after his Obama Oval Office meeting and kept showing everyone the nice letter he left him?
Donald Trump shows off ‘beautiful’ letter from Barack Obama – video
President Donald Trump shows his staff the letter his predecessor Barack Obama left for him in the Oval Office
www.theguardian.com
November 21, 2025 at 9:35 PM
Reposted by Mollie Wilson O'Reilly
but really: a very funny meeting but also this is just what Trump does, a product of his total shamelessness. After the 2018 midterms he praised Pelosi for her great accomplishment and said they were gonna get lots of stuff done together despite what people thought!
November 21, 2025 at 9:28 PM
Reposted by Mollie Wilson O'Reilly
The correct answer to MAGA outrage over the Dem video is this: Are you effing kidding me? Of course it's reasonable to warn that Trump might be giving illegal orders.

The evidence is strong that he actually is giving illegal orders! I went through that evidence here:
newrepublic.com/article/2035...
Is Trump Giving Illegal Orders? Dems Just Blew That Question Wide Open
From the boat bombings to deportations to prosecutions, the evidence mounts. And the speaker of the House could get to the bottom of it if he wanted to. Yeah, right.
newrepublic.com
November 21, 2025 at 6:44 PM
Second this! I read it every year in the week after Christmas (or listen to it, on my chilly winter runs), and it is both entertaining and edifying. My favorite audiobook version is performed by Patrick Horgan, who is as fluent in Dickensian prose as anyone I've ever heard:
pca.st/podcast/9f38...
November 21, 2025 at 1:38 PM
Reposted by Mollie Wilson O'Reilly
that's what you get when you (Europe) rely on a country (the US) that is now led by maniacs and amateurs. Remember that Trump openly said he would "encourage" Russia to attack European countries "if they don't pay" (for defence)
The US is extorting Zelenskyy to sign away territory Russia doesn't even hold, as well as Ukraine's ability to defend itself, on the basis of Putin's word he'll honor a peace and Trump's word the US will make him.

Just so we're clear what's happening here.
November 21, 2025 at 1:11 PM
This is a good start, but if you want to make your repellent subject line REALLY stand out, you must remember the rule of threes. Try mentioning something else disgusting: Andrew Cuomo, perhaps, or Olivia Nuzzi's new memoir? So much to choose from!
November 20, 2025 at 2:46 PM
Reposted by Mollie Wilson O'Reilly
a lot of you are probably too young to remember this but presidents dont normally wage war against americans
November 20, 2025 at 1:38 PM
Reposted by Mollie Wilson O'Reilly
The Trump Administration killed over 383 active clinical trials and directly harmed more than 74,000 Americans with lasting future impacts for the public at large.

Trump' s war on scientific research and public health is costing Americans lives and livelihoods.
Trump admin axed 383 active clinical trials, dumping over 74K participants
It’s a “violation of foundational ethical principles of human participant research.”…
arstechnica.com
November 19, 2025 at 6:09 PM
Affordability indicator: the cashier at the supermarket apologized, unprompted, before telling me the total. "I don't want to say it..." I guess she's getting some blowback lately?
November 19, 2025 at 8:55 PM
"The thing that’s new is the unmistakable suggestion that Khashoggi got what was coming to him, and it was coming to him because he made Trump’s friends unhappy. (His meaning is only unclear if you are unfamiliar with the way mobsters talk, as no American adult is.)" Always read @edroso.bsky.social
Bonesaw blues
When Trump’s Khashoggi bit tells me
open.substack.com
November 19, 2025 at 6:53 PM