Latest posts
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Bruce Willis, Dementia, and America’s Fear of Aging Out of the Script

Two years after the world learned of Bruce Willis’s frontotemporal dementia (FTD) diagnosis, his wife Emma Heming Willis sat across from Diane Sawyer in a primetime special titled “Emma & Bruce Willis: The Unexpected Journey.” The title was reverent, hushed, softened by violins. And there it was: Emma saying plainly, “His brain is failing him.”
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When Xi Jinping Plays Musical Generals — And the Tune Sounds Like Alarm Bells

In mid-2025, Beijing’s military brass found themselves in the political equivalent of a high-stakes game of musical chairs. On August 27, it emerged that President Xi Jinping—he of the teleprompter-stare and tightly rolled sleeve branding—has carried out the most sweeping purge of military leadership since Mao’s Cultural Revolution-era showdowns. Call it “Operation Guillotine General.” Up
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Trump’s Chicago Dream: Send in the Troops, Forget the Math

The problem with promising to “crack down on crime” is that crime refuses to follow your campaign calendar. It does not politely spike in the zip codes you need for next week’s rally. It rarely consults your polling numbers before deciding whether to trend upward or downward. Yet here comes Donald Trump, fresh off his
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Not Perfect, Just Us: A 10-Month Love Story

Dear Matthew, On the eve of ten months, I’m putting it all in writing, because love deserves a record—even the messy parts, even the parts where I am not the hero of the scene. I know it’s “just” a month-iversary. I know it’s supposed to be silly. But if I’m honest, I’d celebrate every Tuesday
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Proposition Hardball: California Democrats Try Redistricting à la Mode

On August 21, 2025, California Democrats, normally a party best known for their talent in staging circular firing squads and producing complicated climate bills nobody reads, pulled off something astonishing: speed and unity. In one day flat, the Legislature rammed through a mid-decade congressional redistricting plan and Governor Gavin Newsom, never one to resist a
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English-Only Nation: The Trump-Era War on Multilingualism, Now With Federal Endorsement

The Department of Education, in what can only be described as a masterclass in quiet cruelty, has decided that five million English learners across the country are now just a line item too expensive to justify. On August 20, 2025, the department formally rescinded the 2015 “Dear Colleague” guidance—the one that spelled out, in plain
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Buzzing Back: Oregon’s Sanctuary Sting to the DOJ’s Drone Strike

Ladies and gentlemen, grab your headphones: we’re about to listen to the sweetest harmony in a dystopian symphony—the sound of a governor giving the finger to federal pressure without ever raising her middle digit. On August 19, 2025, Oregon Governor Tina Kotek sent a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi that reads like the quiet
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Peacock, Plucked but Proud: Why I’ll Follow MSNBC Anywhere (Even Into MS NOW)

The news broke: MSNBC is cutting ties with NBC’s Peacock, shedding the feathers, and rebirthing itself as MS NOW. And while some people are clutching pearls over the rebrand, I have one thing to say: take my Peacock, take my vowels, take whatever you want—just don’t take Rachel Maddow’s monologues away from me. This is

