Jack Womack

Always. Read. Paul.

Lina Khan on Mamdani: "One thing we saw the mayor be very attentive to is all sorts of daily nickel and diming -- taking on junk fees, subscription traps. Those can seem very micro and targeted, but in the aggregate I see those as really designed to take on unfair methods of competition."

The truest thing JD Vance has said in a long, long time.

Remains possibly the worst spokesperson for anything, at any time

Well how's he supposed to fill a venue in a Democratic stronghold like.... [checks notes]... Mississippi

Rep. Joey Arrington over a graphic showing diesel at $6.35: "Thank God we have a commander in chief that's willing to do things that aren't in his political interest"

New in PN: Living in the long, stupid shadow of the Big Lie "Elections where Trump — or any other Republican — wins are fine, but elections where Republicans lose are corrupt. The only solution, of course, is to let the DOJ intervene both before and after any elections that Trump has fixated on."

Today's Nice Thing

This is Mendel, a photo taken through my side door, where he waits for breakfast. I can’t approach him — but sometimes he will come nearish to me.🐈‍⬛

Roll up, roll up for an American dried pork sausage at the Paris ham fair in April 1917 (Gallica, BnF) 🗃️

Charles F. Millspaugh: A native especially of the Ohio valley, flowering from March to May, grown in a protected place in Central Park but not hardy north of Cincinnati. Pawpaw (Asimina triloba), in the Materia Medica: thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/pawpaw 🗃️ #history #histsci

I’m seeing people reacting by pointing out that he’s obviously wrong. I appreciate that, but it’s also a pointless exercise. The problem isn’t that he’s wrong. The problem is that this is normal in American politics — and it’s been normal for a while.

You didn't think Jared wasn't a crook, did you?https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/26/books/review/princes-and-thieves-matthew-cole.html?smid=bs-share

“And,” he added as almost an afterthought, “we have uniquely the worst Republican opponent in the United States in Constantino.”

Mr. Gendebien, 49, a second-generation dairy farmer, attributed the tightening of the race to his message of bringing down fuel and fertilizer costs resonating with voters. “We’re thrilled we’re hitting all the right notes,” he said in an interview last week.

Oh, look: The NYT is covering my district. Gift article. It shouldn't be this close. But the Dem candidate is perfectly pitched to a conservative rural district and the GOP candidate encapsulates all the worst instincts of the MAGA movement. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/27/n...

*Planetary mayhem arrives at the breakfast table *Imagine being a "conservative" and trying to gaslight your "tradwife" about these stark kitchen realities *The contrails did it. Lesbians, Jews, somebody made the milk taste different

There are no editors anymore. I notice glaring errors (spelling, grammar & factual!) often especially in picture captions - I wonder if they are auto-generated somehow by the software the reporters type their articles into?

Thanks, but my god, a glaring lack of subeditors - or indeed anybody else who can read - at the Glasgow Times. It's "Partick" not "Patrick". And both photographs are captioned as being the "original" plaque.

@annebillson.bsky.social Honouring David McCallum www.glasgowtimes.co.uk/news/2666940...

*Three, four years ago I would have been laughingly skeptical "Sure, cheap AI slop uber alles, but it's gonna have seven fingers and it can't count to five" "A pity it's not any better" *It got lots better. Not by human standards, but better by standards that are very hard to describe

JFC

Where we are as a country: in opposition to the establishment of democracy in Venezuela because it could infringe on the extractive contracts the president’s buddies have arranged with the current regime.

Every organizer and activist I spoke to for this piece had the same message to share: "we're ready" "When and if we have an uptick in federal enforcement at the polls, it's going to get documented really, really quickly, and it's going to be beamed out to the world that it's happening.” 8/8

Following an absolute farcical trial that makes a mockery of the rule of law, an Egyptian court has fined Lina Attalah LE 3 million and ordered the closure of Mada Masr, Egypt's leading independent media outlet, relied on by the world's diplomats, researchers, and scholars.

A popular Japanese cartoonist has sued the government over a revised imperial succession law.

Tea break on the set of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde 1932

I spend all day worrying about what to cover and making sure that important stories don’t get left behind, and Politico is assigning three reporters to write a story to keep the police union happy? What a fucking joke.

A German postage stamp, issued in honor of Karneval in the city of Cologne. The festivities are overseen by His Craziness, the Carnival Prince, while the 'Prinzengarde' make an utter mockery of military discipline.

Find out why a state Senator wants to eliminate bus lane enforcement cameras in Harlem. Plus other news. buff.ly/dAotzNz

Netanyahu Pushed for Attack on Iran Ahead of Israeli Election, Officials Say www.nytimes.com/2026/10/26/w... check out the billboard. I didn’t vote for either of these war criminals.

One of The Masses cartoonists I wrote about in my book! Drew some political cartoons you should check out. Sloan stomped away from the magazine in 1916 during "The Artists Revolt" against the editor Max Eastman. Gave up cartoons & leaned into paintings like this, as one of the Ashcan School.

A label that cartoonist colleague Art Young gave to Sloan and the others, as a put down! Sloan quit the mag before my story got rolling, so he only makes a cameo. This cover cartoon is by Sloan. he was good, but his greatness lay in painting for sure.

That RFK clip is ghastly, but it's totally consistent with the Islamophobia that has been coming out of this administration, including Trump's rhetoric about Abdul El-Sayed. They are all in on the hatred of Muslims because it's a formula that has worked before.

Tonight in Mississippi, Trump becomes another nightmare for his security team as he walks past his predetermined left side stage exit (near the row of flags), and unexpectedly walks to the right, going behind the stage. Security scrambles.

The letters were postmarked in Springfield on Oct. 19 and contained handwritten messages, including “HA HA” and “HAH enjoy the gift,” according to an FBI affidavit.

If you build the proverbial better mousetrap (let's pretend Musk et al. did), it's only common sense that you should get to run everything.

Well played

The sleeper issue that could decide the U.S. Senate race in Texas: The race between Ken Paxton (R) and James Talarico (D) has revolved around the issue of government corruption, a top voter concern just behind the economy. 🎁Gift article: wapo.st/4zTDqgX

you can msg me on signal or email if you don’t want to hash it out here. but i need to know.