New, from me:
America is no longer a functioning democracy. It is a competitive authoritarian system, hurtling rapidly toward authoritarianism.
This was a hard piece to write but we can't move forward if we don’t acknowledge where we are.
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/the-author...

Katie Ledecky set a new world record in the 800-meter freestyle, beating her own nine-year-old mark by over a half-second.

🔗
www.nytimes.com/athletic/633...

This is the message federal employees receive after trying to send in their mandatory “5 bullets” email about what they did this week:

I can’t believe this has to be said, but: You cannot tell the story of Jackie Robinson—as a ballplayer, serviceman, or human—without discussing our country’s history of racism.

From Around the Horn:

Elon Musk’s team posted an online “wall of receipts,” celebrating how much it had saved by canceling federal contracts.

Now it has deleted all of the five biggest “savings” on that original list, after The New York Times and other media outlets pointed out they were riddled with errors.

A federal judge paused Thursday’s deadline for federal employees to accept the Trump administration’s offer of buyouts.

The judge said he would hear arguments at a court hearing on Monday on the merits of a lawsuit challenging the legality of the buyout.

Bears matriarch Virginia McCaskey died today at the age of 102. From the family: “While we are sad, we are comforted knowing Virginia Halas McCaskey lived a long, full, faith-filled life and is now with the love of her life on earth."

I wrote about Musk and this bureaucratic coup as plainly as I could. There's reporting in here & the particulars are overwhelming but what's happening is so clear: He's not trying to run the federal govt like a software company He's trying to turn it into a political weapon. (gift link)

Musk’s allies were granted access to the U.S. Treasury payment system.

Treasury stays silent.

White House stays silent.

Why the secrecy? Time for an explanation and full transparency.

Checks out. Widespread tariffs for developed countries are idiotic.

Several conversations today w people in the key executive departments. And while the particulars are hard to pin down my impression is that the Musk take over stuff is considerably worse than is being presented in the press. By this I don’t necessarily things they *done* yet but the level of …

What could potentially be a massive, massive issue

This outrageous action is retaliation, pure and simple. These prosecutors and FBI Agents worked to uphold the rule of law and hold accountable people who broke it by interfering with the peaceful transfer of power.

This comments section is the first time I've felt even a shred of hope in eight days.