“The NFL craves Canada more than ever. There’s untapped corporate money, growth in youth football, philanthropic connections and long-term fans to help build a league with massive, global plans. Buffalo, a small-market club with 60 percent of its market population lying across the border, needs it most. But are Canadians in the mood to play along?”
“I recently spoke with a dozen current and former ICE agents and officers about morale at the agency since Trump took office. Most spoke on the condition of anonymity, for fear of losing their job or being subjected to a polygraph exam. They described varying levels of dissatisfaction but weren’t looking to complain or expecting sympathy—certainly not at a time when many Americans have been disturbed by video clips of masked and hooded officers seizing immigrants who were not engaged in any obvious criminal behavior. The frustration isn’t yet producing mass resignations or major internal protests, but the officers and agents described a workforce on edge, vilified by broad swaths of the public and bullied by Trump officials demanding more and more.”
“An estimated 6 percent of lawyers in the United States are Hispanic and 41 percent are women — though they make up a larger share of the country’s immigration lawyers. Women represented 60 percent of respondents to a recent membership survey by the American Immigration Lawyers Association, which has more than 17,000 members.”
“The Trump administration wants to take away citizenship from naturalized Americans on a massive scale.”
“Being the subject of a federal civil or criminal denaturalization process in federal district court and up through whatever appeals level is inherently incredibly destabilizing, disorienting, and often expensive, even if you win. The process is a sort of punishment, which is certainly the point. So although the administration’s chances of going through with anything resembling a true mass denaturalization campaign seem extraordinarily unlikely, we should expect to see the White House wield it as a political weapon.”
The most unflattering sports cards of all time.
“Easy there, Mr. Lefty Movie Director. Human kindness? That sounds like soft, liberal talk, not the kind of toughness I want to see in a fictional character who, as long as I ignore everything about Superman laid out in decades of comic-book and film lore, stands for being an America-first, take-no-prisoners badass.”
“You can trick AI chatbots like ChatGPT or Gemini into teaching you how to make a bomb or hack an ATM if you make the question complicated, full of academic jargon, and cite sources that do not exist.”
“The Trump administration’s broadsides against scientific research have caused unprecedented upheaval at the National Cancer Institute, the storied federal government research hub that has spearheaded advances against the disease for decades.”
“Skenes deserved to pick his own future, and what the Pirates have done since selecting him without his input to join their diseased organization is one of the best arguments against sports drafts that I can muster.”
“Between 1950 and 2008, the name Bill (or more specifically William), became gradually and increasingly uncool in the United States, according to data from the Social Security Administration. Even by 1980 a kid might as well have been named Jehoshaphat, Algonquin, or Xythron The Enfeebled. Most likely, Bill is the name of your last living relative, and if it isn’t, may he rest in peace. If you have a Bill in your family, cherish the old coot. Water him regularly, and keep the air in front of his easy chair free of things he can trip over. You need him mobile and independent, at least from you. But in sports, well, forget about it. You can draft all the Ethans, Noahs, Olivers, and Jaydens you want and you’ll be lucky if you hit a single Bill.”
“Occam’s Razor continues to take an undeserved beating.”
“I first learned about Epstein the way that most Americans did — thanks to the reporting of Julie K. Brown and her team at the Miami Herald. This was a local story there in Florida, because that’s where Epstein was initially sentenced in an extravagantly lenient plea deal that still has not yet been explained.”
“Trump’s Jeffrey Epstein post contradicts what top Fox hosts have argued”.
“Don’t Ever Again Try To Claim That ‘#MeToo Went Too Far’”.
“Trump thought nothing would get in the way of his base’s loyalty to him. But it may be that the one thing that will rattle their faith is this stark reminder that he’s always been the villain, and they are his accomplices.”
“Epstein’s address book, meanwhile, has been public since Gawker published portions of it in 2015. Writer and filmmaker Leland Nally called everyone in it and wrote about the results for Mother Jones in 2020″.
“If you’re puzzled by all of this, or wondering whether it really matters (spoiler: it does), here’s a thorough breakdown of the ongoing mess known as “the Epstein List.””
“It’s a sad Sunday when ‘non believers’ have never been confronted with hate or vitriol until they are introduced to a modern American Christian💔”.
“James Gunn’s ‘Superman’ Leads to More Than 500% Surge in Dog Adoption Interest, Thanks to Krypto”.
“Trump, 79, Can’t Remember Appointing His Own Fed Chair”.
“The Miccosukee Tribe in Florida joined environmental groups on Tuesday to sue the federal and state agencies that constructed an immigrant detention center known as the “Alligator Alcatraz” and located in the Everglades National Park.”
RIP, Connie Francis, pop singer best known for “Pretty Little Baby” and “Who’s Sorry Now”.
RIP, Bryan Braman, former NFL linebacker for the Texans and the Eagles, with whom he won a Super Bowl.
RIP, Bubba McNeely, Houston-based singer, emcee, and all-around gay icon.
“I say all of this to note that we tend to see, and Trump wants us to see, the administration as a vast structure responding to his will. And in a way it is. But in another way it’s far less like that than any other administration we’ve known. And when weird stuff like the Schnabel thing happens — assuming there’s more to it than the wife contract, which might not be the case — it may be part of some skullduggery contained entirely within NIH or HHS. The rest of the administration may be as in the dark about it as we are. Something may be crooked but it might be a scam that Trump doesn’t even get a taste of. I’m not excusing them, mind you. It’s that the whole administration is more gangland than just the mafia boss at the top. Trump’s created a context in which there are lots of these gangs — lots of free-fire zones for all kinds of corruption and likely worse.”
“The CEO seemingly having an affair with the head of HR at his company at the Coldplay concert is a viral video for the ages, but it is also, unfortunately, emblematic of our current private surveillance and social media hellscape.”
“We really thought that broad bipartisan support we have had for 25 years — ever since the Trafficking Victims Protection Act passed in 2000 — would provide us some protection, and it did not. And I think people are really both surprised and disappointed.”
RIP, Bob Stein, longtime Rice University political science professor, political analyst, and bike activist. I got to know Bob over the years – he and his UH colleague Richard Murray were the twin towers of local political commentary for the news – and he was smart, engaging, and a fast talker in the way only a boy from New York can be. The local scene is a little less interesting now. Here’s Rice’s statement on his passing. Rest in peace, Bob.
Zero sympathy for ICE agents who participate in targeting gardeners (and grandmothers and construction workers and fruit pickers and other non-criminals ), often with excessive violence, finding themselves to be pariahs. Reap what you sow.
Kudos to those who said this is wrong, I quit.