Music: Jazzanova — ‘Coffee Talk’
How Trump lost control of the Epstein spin cycle
David Gilbert writes: For almost a decade, President Donald Trump has managed to control the conspiracy theory spin around disgraced financier and registered sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The conspiracy theories benefited him; they were one of the factors buoying him to office. It’s only been in the last few weeks—spurred by the release of new Epstein documents and the public defection of GOP lawamkers—that the complex web of misinformation has spun out of Trump’s control. It all began with QAnon….
Trump capitulation plan would gift Russia parts of Ukraine that it doesn’t already control
The Guardian reports: US and Russian officials have quietly drafted a new plan to end the war in Ukraine that would require Kyiv to surrender territory and severely limit the size of its military, it was reported on Wednesday as Russian drone and missile strikes killed at least 25 people in the city of Ternopil. The draft plan, which was reportedly developed by Donald Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, and the Kremlin adviser Kirill Dmitriev, would force draconian measures on Ukraine…
Republicans are suing to kill California’s pro-Democratic gerrymander. They have a huge problem
Matthew Cooke and Richard L. Hasen write: California Republicans, now joined by the Trump administration’s Department of Justice, have sued California in federal court to stop implementation of Proposition 50, a voter-passed ballot measure that creates a Democratic gerrymander of the state’s congressional districts, adding up to five more Democratic seats. The lawsuit argues that the Legislature had an unconstitutional race-focused intent on the state’s Latino voters when it passed the maps. In fact, whatever the Legislature intended should be…
A White House banquet for the oligarchy in honor of an alleged murderer
The New York Times reports: The world’s richest man. One of the world’s most famous soccer players. The president of soccer’s governing body. Dozens of executives from the finance, tech and energy sectors. These are some of the guests who attended President Trump’s black-tie dinner for Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia at the White House Tuesday evening. The red carpet welcome for Prince Mohammed is an extraordinary moment in diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia. It is his…
The Charlie Kirk purge: How 600 Americans were punished in a pro-Trump crackdown
Reuters reports: When Lauren Vaughn, a kindergarten assistant in South Carolina, saw reports that right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk had been shot at an event in Utah, she opened Facebook and typed out a quote from Kirk himself. Gun deaths, Kirk said in 2023, were unfortunate but “worth it” if they preserved “the Second Amendment to protect our other God-given Rights.” Following the quote, Vaughn added: “Thoughts and prayers.” Vaughn, a 37-year-old Christian who has taken missionary trips to Guatemala, said…
‘Ticking time bomb’: A pregnant mother kept getting sicker. She died after she was denied an abortion in Texas.
By Kavitha Surana and Lizzie Presser This story was originally published by ProPublica Tierra Walker had reached her limit. In the weeks since she’d learned she was pregnant, the 37-year-old dental assistant had been wracked by unexplained seizures and mostly confined to a hospital cot. With soaring blood pressure and diabetes, she knew she was at high risk of developing preeclampsia, a pregnancy complication that could end her life. Her mind was made up on the morning of Oct. 14,…
William Blake, poet and prophet, was a prescient critic of capitalist alienation
Jonathan Agin writes: Comparing the poet, painter, and master engraver William Blake to his contemporary William Wordsworth in a 1991 London Review of Books article, Jonathan Bate wrote that “Blake’s wildness was what shaggy men like Ginsberg needed a generation ago, but Wordsworth’s sobriety and steady eye can do more for us now.” A generation further on, it’s time we get back to Blake, who was indeed “wild” in his radically anti-imperialist, counter-enlightenment spirit. Though some of his contemporaries would…
Music: Trio Caldeira — ‘Entrega’
The White House intervened on behalf of accused sex trafficker Andrew Tate during a federal investigation
By Robert Faturechi and Avi Asher-Schapiro This story was originally published by ProPublica Online influencer Andrew Tate, a self-described misogynist who has millions of young male followers, was facing allegations of sex trafficking women in three countries when he and his brother left their home in Romania to visit the United States. “The Tates will be free, Trump is the president. The good old days are back,” Tate posted on X before the trip in February — one of many…
‘A lot of people didn’t like’ Khashoggi, said Trump as MBS was questioned about the journalist’s murder
I pressed Trump on MBS's role in the Khashoggi killing during a tape-recorded interview on Jan. 22, 2020:“I’ve gotten involved very much,” Trump said. “I know everything about the whole situation.”So what happened, sir? I asked.“I saved his ass," Trump said. “That’s what… — Bob Woodward (@realBobWoodward) November 18, 2025 The New York Times reports: “Things happen.” That was how President Trump described the murder of the columnist Jamal Khashoggi on Tuesday afternoon while sitting beside Crown Prince Mohammed bin…
Epstein pursued Swiss Rothschild bank to finance Israeli cyberweapons
Ryan Grim and Murtaza Hussain reports: With an avalanche of new documents released by the House Oversight Committee, and looming legislation mandating further disclosures, the press has renewed its relentless coverage of the life and times of Jeffrey Epstein. Yet, with some notable exceptions, a major part of his life’s work has remained outside the media’s gaze, his relationship with the state of Israel and his prominent role in helping advance the Israeli cyberweapons industry. And so our series continues….
‘Openly misogynistic and racist’ conduct inside the Heritage Foundation shines a light on the right’s inner workings
Zack Beauchamp writes: For the past several weeks, the American conservative movement has been publicly embroiled in a bitter, existential conflict between factions seeking to win control of its future. And after speaking with a number of people on the right, including a well-placed source who describes seeing some ugly events at the Heritage Foundation, one of the most influential think tanks in the conservative movement, I’ve come to think this is not a one-off struggle. Rather, it’s a harbinger…
Law-abiding immigrants in ICE detention, stripped, shackled, and starved
We heard it over and over on the campaign trail: Donald Trump’s promise of a crackdown on criminals and undocumented immigrants at a scale and breadth this country had never seen before. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, commonly known as ICE, has swept into American cities and is detaining more people than ever before. However, 71 percent of those held in immigrant detention by the end of September did not have criminal convictions, according to the Migration Policy Institute, a…
Trump’s incompetent Justice Department may have accidentally handed Democrats five House seats
Ian Millhiser writes: In a decision that could potentially reshape the 2026 midterm elections and cement the Democratic Party’s future control of the US House, a federal court just struck down the gerrymandered Texas maps that President Donald Trump pressured that state to enact. If the decision holds, it could cost Republicans as many as five House seats. And that’s not all. The most remarkable thing about the three-judge panel’s decision in League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) v….
The rise of the white-nationalist streamer, Nick Fuentes, should worry us even more than it already does
Jay Caspian Kang writes: Part of what separates Fuentes from his fellow-streamers is that he is capable of keeping his thoughts in a coherent, if odious, order. He once offered a trollish, occasionally captivating, and always grossly bigoted hour-long act; that has evolved into something more like a daily address, one that presents a code of behavior and a set of distinct ideas. As recently as a year ago, I’m not sure I could have told you what Fuentes thought…