Every day there’s a new low. Debased, depraved, deplorable. There is no bottom, but they’ll try to drag us there anyway. Maybe we’ll come out the other side of the Earth, like when you were a kid on the beach building sandcastles and your parents joked that if you dug just a little farther, you might hit China.

I got my taxes done this weekend. Unlike the ultra wealthy, I paid taxes! And if that’s the cost to live in a society in a rich country that offers services to people who need them… that’s fine! Meanwhile billionaires have decided to burn everything to the ground rather than pay taxes. They’d still be obscenely rich if they had to pay more, but they won’t stand for it. In 2008, donations over $10 million made up just 4 percent of contributions for Republican campaigns. In 2024, they made up 56%. Total cash: $58 million in 2008. $2.5 billion in 2024. This extreme wealth is a direct threat to democracy and society. Smart people have been saying this for years. Their words have been drowned out by cash register noises and now it feels like it’s too late.

New playlist!

“Apocalyptic Skies” by Latchkey Kids is an immediate contender for song of the year.

Also featuring new music from: The Carolyn, Camp Trash, Sydney Sprague, Charmer, Keni Titus, Emily Hines, Little Low, phoneswithchords, Pacing, plus great covers by Weakened Friends and Perennial. Enjoy.

Film Corner

The Zone of Interest is as brilliant as it is unsettling. I remain shaken. Nazis can be just some dude with a family. Just some neat little freak, Rudolf Höss, who really cares about his lilacs and fantasizes about efficient murder. (I thought of Dorothy Thompson’s essay “Who Goes Nazi?” from 1941. Worth a reread. Mr. C is so JD Vance, right?)

It’s the loudest quiet film. It’s the quietest loud film. The constant noise of the background is jarring. An idea perfectly executed. Gunshots, screams of agony, running trains full of victims never seen, the smoke pouring out of the furnace chimneys. The sounds come any time, all the time. No one even flinches. One wall between an otherwise normal family and horrific mass murder. We don’t even need to see the other side of that wall. We know what goes on there. You can look away, but it won’t matter. We hear it.

The subtext hits hard in 2025. The proximity to unspeakable violence. The ease with which some turn the other way. A wife just casually wearing the clothes of the slaughtered. Young children just casually playing games that mock the brutality. Everyone knows what happens on the other side of the wall. Two of the more powerful and painful lines come from Höss’ wife, Hedwig. At one point, she says plainly “The Jews are just over the wall. We planted more vines in the back to grow and cover it.” As if having to see the wall is the worst thing happening in the area. As if some greenery covering up the wall means anything to those on the other side of it. No amount of plants could drown out the sound, but that won’t stop the enslaved from fertilizing the family’s lush oasis with the ashes of the dead. Later, she threatens the young Polish girl who works at their home: “I could have my husband spread your ashes across the fields of Babice.” She says it so casually for something so cruel. One group of people truly believing they are superior. Indifference is a hell of a drug.

If you plan to see the film, I recommend skipping the next paragraph.

The nightmare soundscape is done brilliantly. A constant racket, day and night. And then when the film cuts to present day, the sounds all come to the forefront. Sweeping, spraying, vacuuming. The sounds were ignored then. Will they be ignored again? The background of America 2025 is full of warnings. The noises are everywhere and they’re only getting louder.

I guess that’s what this newsletter is in its current iteration. I can’t help but follow this all closely, and I know not everyone else is, so I’m rounding it up.

Eephus is a film about baseball that truly loves both. If you’re a baseball sicko, you’ll love it. I love both, and loved every moment of this one. Every shot that lasts an extra second or two. The long shadows of autumn in New England. The breath in the air. The car headlights. The weirdos on the periphery of the field. It’s a story about pure love of the game, the power of community, and finding your people. Fields come and go, balls get lost in the woods, but the friendships and the game live on. Home run.

The Bullshit

Feels like our only hope is that they’re too stupid to get away with everything they want to get away with. But mostly, we’re so fucked.

I am chilled by every ICE kidnapping, but there is something extra scary to see one take place here, on streets I’ve driven and walked.

Rümeysa Öztürk should be free right now.

Mahmoud Khalil should be free right now.

Alireza Doroudi should be free right now.

Kseniia Petrova should be free right now.

E.M. should be free right now.

Badar Khan Suri should be free right now.

This University of Minnesota grad student should be free right now.

“Andry” should be free right now. He was sent to the foreign torture prison because he had tattoos of “mom” and “dad” with crowns above them. He has not done a single thing wrong. His filing even says “these crown tattoos are the only basis of the government’s assertion…that he is connected to Tren de Aragua.” Meanwhile Trump and Musk are going nuclear at the judges who are simply asking for some kind of evidence, any evidence at all. Due process is on its last legs, people. Without that, they can charge anyone with anything and send them anywhere, anytime.

Frengel Reyes Mota should be free right now. He’s also in the torture prison in El Salvador, all because of a mistake on his immigration records. The people in charge are very evil but also very stupid. The government uses someone else’s last name in several parts of his documents, identifies him with female pronouns, and uses two different identification numbers. They also claim he may be TdA, but later say he has no criminal record.

The same torture camp Kristi Noem went to for a photo op, standing in front of humans-as-props, wearing a watch worth $50k. This is good content to them. Some people get annoyed at the things people do just to make content, well all of a sudden an influencer at a new restaurant isn’t so bad compared to this, the worst thing imaginable. Smash that like button.

Reminder as these humans are shipped to this hellhole: this is a business. They are making money, from our tax dollars, as they commit these heinous actions.

Shoutout to the people organizing via social media to track ICE movements in real time in an attempt to foil their raids.

Gaza is this third rail that you’re just not allowed to disagree about. We’re supposed to just let Israel do anything they want. It’s somehow anti-Semitic to root for peace and a free Palestine. So when the bodies of aid workers are found in a mass grave, I guess we’re not supposed to talk about it or be outraged or we’re the bad guys.

One predictable and scary side effect of unaccountable plain-clothed officers snatching people off the street is that some people will copy that move and just straight up kidnap people. There have been reports of it in LA and a man was charged with posing as an ICE officer in Washington state.

Elon the Crybaby

The latest in Musk news: he went on Fox News and almost cried, pleading “my companies are suffering.” The same guy who just this month said “the fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy.” The same guy who is gleefully firing people in this country and killing people around the globe is big sad because his stock price is going down.

This is all really getting to him. He also just had his xAI buy X for $45 billion. He’s scared. This move is a huge scam designed to get X and his/its debts off his books. Tesla’s crashing stock price, a result of his deeply unpopular actions, has him scared. Edmunds found that March 2025 represents the highest ever share on record of Tesla trade-ins, up 300% from the previous March. He is also trying to convince anyone who will listen that the enormous and still growing Tesla protests are paid protestors, and I can tell you that is just not true. Maybe join one this week. Make a sign, meet some people, make an evil man very sad. Remember that you don’t need to post your activity on social.

While he whines about his stock price, at least Tesla has some people standing up for them. Oh, I’m sorry, they’re all extremists, or should we say huge losers. Proud Boys, armed militias, and at one event in Idaho, a guy who literally dressed as Hitler.

The DOGE kids, in their fake effort to be more efficient, may cost the US $500 billion dollars from the IRS’ inability to do tax enforcement. Chat, we are losing out on half a trillion dollars, are we cooked?

DOGE has also taken over US Institute of Peace, which isn’t even a federal agency. This is just theft. A 28-year-old Musk sycophant is now leading the group as the new president.

Musk deleted a tweet in which he said “it is improper for lawmakers to target a single person or company.” I guess when he posted it, he forgot about all the people and companies he and Trump spend all their time targeting. A simple mistake I’m sure, it’s definitely not that he thinks he can do whatever he wants but no one else can.

Musk has also spent over $20 million to try to buy a Wisconsin Supreme Court seat. He had to delete a tweet where he promised to hand over a pair of million dollar checks for voting, and slightly change his idea to not requite voting to be eligible to win. Remember in Atlanta, when lines were long, people were not allowed to give out food or water to those waiting to vote? Even in Wisconsin, the RNC warned a group they could not give out ice cream. He should have been arrested for this scheme. He got away with it in Pennsylvania to help Trump win the White House. Enough is enough.

They’re never going to admit how hypocritical they are, because in doing so their whole empire of lies would come toppling down, but this one is truly insane. For years, decades, George Soros has been this boogeyman who somehow can afford to fund every single protest in the world and has bought every election in this country, which is a gross stretching of the truth. Musk continues to be Soros on steroids, but strangely thinks it’s perfectly fine for him to do so. He got heckled last night in Wisconsin and went right to the “you must be paid for by Soros” line of attack. One of the winners last night turns out to be the chairman of the WI College Republicans. Just a coincidence, I’m sure. Oh wait, remember when he did this in PA and his own PAC admitted that the winner was not chosen by chance, but rather chosen to be a paid spokesperson for the group? Everything is a grift with these people. I expect we’ll soon learn the other winner is also connected to the GOP in some way.
Update, 4/1: no April fooling here, the other winner, Ekaterina Diestler is indeed not just some rando! That was the easiest bet ever. She works for a company, Belmark, whose founder is a major donor to Republican causes, including Schimel’s campaign, Trump, and the Wisconsin GOP. He also co-operates the Easter Foundation, which has given noney to anti-abortion crisis centers and the Heritage Foundation, among others.

The last few decades of America have been plagued by rich and powerful people doing obvious crimes, and just getting away with it. If no one’s going to stop them, I can see why they just keep pushing and pushing. The same people at the top getting away with it are focused on small crimes and red herrings, anything to take some of the spotlight off of them. It is deranged. It has to stop.

Ex-X

It is insane when I log into X, usually to search for a post or a sports highlight I can’t find on Bluesky. People are just posting like the site isn’t owned by a fucking Nazi. There are other places where you can blast your short-form thoughts out. If you’re linking to anything, it’s basically a waste of time due to their extreme downranking. It is a Nazi bar. You might not be a Nazi, but you’re willingly inside the Nazi propaganda machine. Every post on there lends legitimacy to the whole operation. There is no way to escape the fire hose of right-wing mis/disinformation. They are force feeding you bad content. You can’t avoid it. Here are two recent examples of polls from right-wing accounts just placed into my feed.

Merit is back, baby!

Look, DEI is DEAD! We are all about MERIT! That’s why Pete Hegseth, former Fox News weekend host and man who would fall for “I got your nose,” is bringing his wife to top security meetings and hired his brother to work at the Pentagon. Merit is back, baby!

Let’s say it again. DEI? No thanks! More close calls at airports? Yes please! A Delta flight leaving Reagan on Friday was diverted to avoid a potential collision with a group of Air Force jets. Maybe woke was the only thing keeping planes from falling out of the sky or colliding with one another.

The real groomers

What a mindfuck it must be for trans people right now. The same people who are actually secret pedo groomers spend all their time trying to convince the public that trans people are secret pedo groomers. Pedocon theory remains undefeated. Sexual abuse is overwhelmingly perpetrated by straight, cis men. They’re usually conservatives. Not always, and yes it’s awful when anyone does it, but it sure is strange when the people who are loudest about it are also guilty of it. Trans rights are human rights. That is a fact and it is not up for debate or discussion. Fix your heart or die.

GOP state Senator Justin Eichorn had to resign after being charged with soliciting a minor for sex. That “17-year-old” turned out to be an undercover cop. Oops!

A MAGA influencer in California, known for filming homeless people in San Francisco and making appearances on Fox News, was indicted on two counts of child pornography. He was also arrested back in November as a suspect in the sexual assault of a 15-year-old.

Trump’s former spiritual adviser — wow, what a truly cursed combination of words that is — surrendered to Oklahoma authorities on Monday on five charges of sexual abuse.

A Christian school CFO allegedly sexually assaulted his 16-year-old stepdaughter. The victim found a vibrator and a handwritten note in her underwear draw. The note read: “Some things are meant to just be between you and me. I’m trusting you with this. Please don’t break my heart.” Evil asshole.

In Kansas, a police chief has been sentenced to 60 years for producing child sexual abuse videos and sexually exploiting multiple children via social media. One of the videos involved a child under the age of 5 who had a pacifier.

We should repeat this as often as possible and not let his fans wave it away. Trump himself has been found liable for sexually assaulting E. Jean Carroll, where the court said that Trump established a “repeated, idiosyncratic pattern of conduct.” Despite his fans constantly asking for the Epstein files to be released, the FBI’s biggest field office was reprioritized last week to focus on one single task: redacting the Epstein files. Hmm. Such a mystery. Why in the world would Donald Trump, good friend of Jeffrey Epstein, want those redacted? Much to wonder about.

The government wants you dead

The government wants you dead. What other conclusion can you draw from the cancellation of cancer cure research, the termination of clinical trials, and the harming of subjects? This is evil. They’ve also pulled research funding meant to protect women from domestic violence. Considering how many of them are guilty of it, they are pro-domestic violence.

I mean, they let Andrew Tate back in the country. It only took him two weeks to commit a violent crime against a woman. Not sure if FanDuel had odds on that. Look, Trump! An immigrant to the US has committed a heinous sex crime! The White House has also hosted Conor MacGregor (multiple allegations of sexual assault); Dana White (assaulted his wife); and Dom Lucre, who infamously posted truly horrific and wildly illegal CSAM (child sexual abuse material) to Twitter, and then had his account personally reinstated by Musk. His story is insane. I mean, the people responsible for the content of the photos were all serving life sentences by the time the posted them!

RFK Jr, who looks like sentient baseball mitt that was pulled out of a cursed swamp after 200 years, has forced out the nation’s top vaccine regulator, Peter Marks. In his resignation letter, Marks wrote that Kennedy wishes “subservient confirmation of his misinformation and lies.” Bleak.

He also made sure a CDC measles forecast that stressed the need for vaccinations was buried. A CDC spokesperson told ProPublica in a written statement that the agency decided against releasing the assessment “because it does not say anything that the public doesn’t already know.” Ooooookay. He just loves killing people. You find something you love in life, and you really go for it. Too bad he couldn’t have really gotten into like, disc golf, or fly fishing, or eating lit sticks of dynamite.

Even the Wall Street Journal seems concerned about him, writing "our worst fears about Mr. Kennedy are coming true..." I mean, no shit? We all saw this coming.

A CDC clone website, full of false vaccine claims, popped up recently. It contained real CDC logos and a near-identical design. Thankfully it’s gone now, but that’s some dirty shit.

Texas is up to 400 cases of measles. 398 of them are unvaccinated or have an unknown vaccination status. Oh.

HHS has cut more than $12 billion in federal grants that were being used to track infectious diseases, mental health services, addiction treatment, among other urgent health issues.

We need to hope his science denialism doesn’t pull a Lysenko.

The Social Security Administration made it harder for parents to register their babies in Maine because Trump is mad at their Governor, Janet Mills, for standing up to him over trans athletes. The move was reversed, but it’s another glaring example of how the concept of public services being provided consistently and honesty just doesn’t mean anything to them. Their politics is all grievance and vengeance.

Speaking of Social Security, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick went on TV last week and said seniors shouldn’t “call and complain” if they stop getting their checks. He said his mom wouldn’t, so why would anyone else? Yes, I can see why the mother of a billionaire wouldn’t miss getting her checks. He also said “a fraudster always makes the loudest noise screaming and complaining.” Calling old people who rely on the checks from the system they spent their whole life paying into fraudsters… bold strategy. Again, they are killing people.

The Senate last week voted to overturn a $5 cap on overdraft fees. Yes! Finally! The banks can get back to fucking their customers over by any amount they want! Anyone involved in making this decision has enough money that this will never be part of their life in any way, but plenty of poor people will suffer from this.

Speaking of prices going up, here’s a real quote from the President, talking about automakers: “I couldn’t care less. I hope they raise prices.” That was one of three times he said “I couldn’t care less” in that interview. It’s important to remember whenever he starts talking about he’s making America rich, he just means himself. He absolutely does not mean you or me, or even his supporters.

The White House Twitter account has become indistinguishable from some sociopathic far-right extremists. The accelerationism and nilihism are coming from inside the (White) House. Some of the posts are just gleefully cruel. An actual tweet reads: “Simply put: WE WILL FIND YOU—AND WE WILL KILL YOU.”

Travel issues

Canadian travel to the US has absolutely cratered. Canadian airlines have been canceling US routes left and right. Americans severely underestimate the amount of righteous anger Canadians have right now. This chart says it all:

International tourism was a $200 billion industry. Was. All these travel warnings will make sure that number is much smaller going forward. Think of all the people, places, and businesses this will hurt. They do not care. The people making the decisions that force these countries to issue these warnings do not stand to suffer. The rest of us do.

Trans rights forever

I found this description of a transgender plaintiff who would be forced out of the military quite powerful. We know the trans ban is stupid, but this really highlights just how little sense it makes. To see a judge lay it out like this is refreshing:

Mixed Signal

They are stupid. They don’t care. They’re just going to do whatever they want. The Signal “war plans” story took a familiar ride. They denied it. They admitted it but called it a hoax. They said nothing classfied was shared. They refused to release the messages. They blamed the journalist for hacking. The journalist they added to the chat. But of course they can never admit mistakes, they must plow forward. Predictable. As colossal as this story is, there’s a bigger problem lurking right behind it. They don’t use Signal to help keep important or classified information from America’s enemies; those systems already exist and they could use them if they wanted to. But no. They use Signal to hide everything from the American people. I think it’s clear why they feel the need to do that. Crimes. It’s the crimes. They are truly incompetent, inexperienced, and unqualified. It was funny when Trump said “everything’s computer!” It’s not so funny that none of them know how anything works.

Chelsea Manning got 35 years in prison. Jack Teixeira got 16 years. These guys won’t even blink for one second.

Winner and losers of the week

Winner of the week: Kat Abughazaleh, running for Congress in Illinois. I have been a fan of hers since her days at Media Matters, and I love her adorable cat, Heater. I encourage you to watch her campaign kick off video that lays out who she is and why she’s running. I hope this is the beginning of some younger, more left-leaning people running.

Loser of the week #1: the Vance family. US officials went door-to-door in Greenland and couldn’t find anyone who wanted a visit from Usha Vance. The only place they ended up going was an American military base, because they weren’t welcome anywhere else. LOL, perhaps even LMAO. JD, fresh off telling Zelenskyy to dress better, wore an outfit that looked just like what Zelenskyy wore to the White House ambush. JD probably didn’t say thank you once, either. Two actual NYT headlines about his trip: Vance Makes Quick Trip to Greenland, a Place That Doesn’t Want Him; Visiting Greenland, Vance Finds the Weather and the Reception Chilly. Loooooooserrrrrrrrs.

Loser of the week #2: law firms obeying in advance. Trump is going after law firms. Fascist playbook stuff, but he’s 0-3 in cases brought by those firms against his illegal executive orders. I wonder if the cowards who obeyed in advance are paying attention to what a huge mistake they’ve made.

Life lessons from Oasis

“Please don’t put your life in the hands of a rock and roll band” is solid advice and currently a great source of pain and sadness for me. I’m not going to stop loving bands, but sometimes it really hurts.

That’s all for now. Did you listen to the new playlist yet?