Alan Stamm
@alanstamm.bsky.social
Recovering journalist in Michigan. Upper Manhattan roots.
The clever punsters at @semafor.com newsletter are at it again, with this slide and "Penne for your thoughts" as an index line for news that "Italian pasta could largely disappear from US supermarket shelves as producers say 107% tariffs make exports uneconomic."
November 11, 2025 at 2:47 AM
The clever punsters at @semafor.com newsletter are at it again, with this slide and "Penne for your thoughts" as an index line for news that "Italian pasta could largely disappear from US supermarket shelves as producers say 107% tariffs make exports uneconomic."
At Stop the Presses, his weekly Substack newsletter, @markjacob.bsky.social says this new NBC News slogan reflects “the media’s desire to sedate its audience.”
"This is not the time to be calm. This is the time to be scared enough to defend our democracy."
www.stopthepresses.news/p/how-news-c...
"This is not the time to be calm. This is the time to be scared enough to defend our democracy."
www.stopthepresses.news/p/how-news-c...
November 10, 2025 at 8:09 PM
At Stop the Presses, his weekly Substack newsletter, @markjacob.bsky.social says this new NBC News slogan reflects “the media’s desire to sedate its audience.”
"This is not the time to be calm. This is the time to be scared enough to defend our democracy."
www.stopthepresses.news/p/how-news-c...
"This is not the time to be calm. This is the time to be scared enough to defend our democracy."
www.stopthepresses.news/p/how-news-c...
"Top national security officials view trust and reliability as paramount to sharing critical information with allies — vital for communication between agency directors, and hard to restore once lost."
Adam Goldman writes from London about "heightened concerns . . . that the bureau is adrift."
Adam Goldman writes from London about "heightened concerns . . . that the bureau is adrift."
The head of MI5 asked Kash Patel to protect the job of a London FBI agent, who dealt with surveillance tech that British security would need to monitor a new embassy China wants to build in London, U.S. officials said. After Patel agreed to fund the agent's role, the job is now slated to disappear.
F.B.I. Director Is Said to Have Made a Pledge to Head of MI5, Then Broken It
The episode has contributed to concerns among intelligence allies that Kash Patel, brash and partisan, is also unpredictable and even unreliable.
nyti.ms
November 10, 2025 at 6:56 PM
"Top national security officials view trust and reliability as paramount to sharing critical information with allies — vital for communication between agency directors, and hard to restore once lost."
Adam Goldman writes from London about "heightened concerns . . . that the bureau is adrift."
Adam Goldman writes from London about "heightened concerns . . . that the bureau is adrift."
Unhumble brag
Wordle 1,605 3/6
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Wordle 1,605 3/6
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November 10, 2025 at 6:08 PM
Unhumble brag
Wordle 1,605 3/6
⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜
🟨🟨⬜⬜🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
Wordle 1,605 3/6
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"Apparently, Sunday night is the new big news night. . . . The courts, for a change, are moving at lightning speed."
— @joycewhitevance.bsky.social, who expects "another blockbuster, high-stakes legal week" | substack.com/home/post/p-...
— @joycewhitevance.bsky.social, who expects "another blockbuster, high-stakes legal week" | substack.com/home/post/p-...
November 10, 2025 at 4:52 PM
"Apparently, Sunday night is the new big news night. . . . The courts, for a change, are moving at lightning speed."
— @joycewhitevance.bsky.social, who expects "another blockbuster, high-stakes legal week" | substack.com/home/post/p-...
— @joycewhitevance.bsky.social, who expects "another blockbuster, high-stakes legal week" | substack.com/home/post/p-...
Reposted by Alan Stamm
Great piece from Peter Coviello about bad faith media and academia
lithub.com/maybe-dont-t...
lithub.com/maybe-dont-t...
Maybe Don’t Talk to the New York Times About Zohran Mamdani
It’s remarkable, the people you’ll hear from. Teach for even a little while at an expensive institution—the term they tend to prefer is “elite”—and odds are that eventually someone who was a studen…
lithub.com
November 8, 2025 at 10:50 PM
Great piece from Peter Coviello about bad faith media and academia
lithub.com/maybe-dont-t...
lithub.com/maybe-dont-t...
A Kent State shooting survivor’s obit, linked to here by @ronfournier.bsky.social, tells how injured student John Cleary "became a quiet yet powerful voice in warning about the dangers of poisonous political discourse and the suppression of free speech" -- relatable dangers now too.
Weaponizing the National Guard
History echoes when we let it.
substack.com
November 9, 2025 at 6:52 PM
A Kent State shooting survivor’s obit, linked to here by @ronfournier.bsky.social, tells how injured student John Cleary "became a quiet yet powerful voice in warning about the dangers of poisonous political discourse and the suppression of free speech" -- relatable dangers now too.
Compelling, cinematic stoytelling about persistent, resourceful sheriff's investigators, reconstructed by an equally dedicated journalist.
One Sunday, after attending church with his wife and three children, Ryan Borgwardt went kayaking on a lake in Wisconsin. He didn’t return home. Had he drowned? The truth, Jamie Thompson reports, was much stranger:
The Missing Kayaker
What happened to Ryan Borgwardt?
bit.ly
November 9, 2025 at 6:04 PM
Compelling, cinematic stoytelling about persistent, resourceful sheriff's investigators, reconstructed by an equally dedicated journalist.
Question of the week, via @stevenbeschloss.bsky.social
[Image by Andrew Caballero-Reynolds of @afp.com]
[Image by Andrew Caballero-Reynolds of @afp.com]
November 9, 2025 at 3:14 PM
Question of the week, via @stevenbeschloss.bsky.social
[Image by Andrew Caballero-Reynolds of @afp.com]
[Image by Andrew Caballero-Reynolds of @afp.com]
Current events and the recent death at 74 of a former Kent State student shot in 1970 are “a reminder of how history echoes. When we let it.”
This is what happens when you politicize the National Guard, weaponizing it against Americans. convulsions.substack.com/p/weaponizin...
Weaponizing the National Guard
History echoes when we let it.
convulsions.substack.com
November 9, 2025 at 2:43 PM
Current events and the recent death at 74 of a former Kent State student shot in 1970 are “a reminder of how history echoes. When we let it.”
Peter Coviello, a Chicago professor, regrets @nytimes.com interview.
"Like so many other bits of Times coverage, the whole of the piece is structured as an orchestrated encounter. Some people say this; however, others say this. ...There is zero stress put on the relation between those two 'sides'."
"Like so many other bits of Times coverage, the whole of the piece is structured as an orchestrated encounter. Some people say this; however, others say this. ...There is zero stress put on the relation between those two 'sides'."
Maybe Don’t Talk to the New York Times About Zohran Mamdani
It’s remarkable, the people you’ll hear from. Teach for even a little while at an expensive institution—the term they tend to prefer is “elite”—and odds are that eventually someone who was a studen…
lithub.com
November 9, 2025 at 1:58 PM
Peter Coviello, a Chicago professor, regrets @nytimes.com interview.
"Like so many other bits of Times coverage, the whole of the piece is structured as an orchestrated encounter. Some people say this; however, others say this. ...There is zero stress put on the relation between those two 'sides'."
"Like so many other bits of Times coverage, the whole of the piece is structured as an orchestrated encounter. Some people say this; however, others say this. ...There is zero stress put on the relation between those two 'sides'."
A @nytimes.com piece on Zohran Momdani's time at Bowdoin College makes its past chair of Africana studies feel a "kind of full-spectrum cringe of the spirit"
Peter Coviello regrets that "I did take time for this reporter, despite my misgivings.I even went so far as to write my thoughts out for him"
Peter Coviello regrets that "I did take time for this reporter, despite my misgivings.I even went so far as to write my thoughts out for him"
In my years working in public interest communications, I learned reporters often have the story they plan to tell already formed in their minds before they contact “sources” and will use—and even shape—what is told to them in the service of that narrative.
Peter Coviello testifies to that process:
Peter Coviello testifies to that process:
Maybe Don’t Talk to the New York Times About Zohran Mamdani
It’s remarkable, the people you’ll hear from. Teach for even a little while at an expensive institution—the term they tend to prefer is “elite”—and odds are that eventually someone who was a studen…
lithub.com
November 8, 2025 at 11:58 PM
A @nytimes.com piece on Zohran Momdani's time at Bowdoin College makes its past chair of Africana studies feel a "kind of full-spectrum cringe of the spirit"
Peter Coviello regrets that "I did take time for this reporter, despite my misgivings.I even went so far as to write my thoughts out for him"
Peter Coviello regrets that "I did take time for this reporter, despite my misgivings.I even went so far as to write my thoughts out for him"
"Only yesterday the Times ran this actual story, which is not parody," Peter Coviello writes, linking to "Did Liberal Feminism Ruin the Workplace? And if so, can conservative feminism fix it?" by Ross Douthat.
I havent read such a banger of an essay in a very long time. This is so well-written!
Maybe Don’t Talk to the New York Times About Zohran Mamdani
It’s remarkable, the people you’ll hear from. Teach for even a little while at an expensive institution—the term they tend to prefer is “elite”—and odds are that eventually someone who was a studen…
lithub.com
November 8, 2025 at 10:41 PM
"Only yesterday the Times ran this actual story, which is not parody," Peter Coviello writes, linking to "Did Liberal Feminism Ruin the Workplace? And if so, can conservative feminism fix it?" by Ross Douthat.
Future viewers "will dwell on the stiff figure with the red tie, standing lifelessly behind his desk, his eyes suggesting that he’s not really there or expressing his disappointment that the attention has been shifted away from him."
“Much like we may look at a photo of JFK…moments before his assassination in Dallas and wonder how that terrible tragedy could have happened, we may look at this photo of Trump and wonder how this terrible tragedy is happening in our Oval Office now.”
www.americaamerica.news/p/will-this-...
www.americaamerica.news/p/will-this-...
Will This Photo Define the Trump Years?
A Saturday Prompt
www.americaamerica.news
November 8, 2025 at 7:10 PM
Future viewers "will dwell on the stiff figure with the red tie, standing lifelessly behind his desk, his eyes suggesting that he’s not really there or expressing his disappointment that the attention has been shifted away from him."
"There is palpable hope in the air. And of course, with that comes fear of believing there is hope."
-- @joycewhitevance.bsky.social joycevance.substack.com/p/thursday-044
-- @joycewhitevance.bsky.social joycevance.substack.com/p/thursday-044
November 8, 2025 at 5:41 PM
"There is palpable hope in the air. And of course, with that comes fear of believing there is hope."
-- @joycewhitevance.bsky.social joycevance.substack.com/p/thursday-044
-- @joycewhitevance.bsky.social joycevance.substack.com/p/thursday-044
"Give yourself the gift of hoping and believing that January 2027 will be when we can begin the process of restoring our democracy after the midterm elections, and 2029 will be the end of this administration."
-- @joycewhitevance.bsky.social joycevance.substack.com/p/thursday-044
-- @joycewhitevance.bsky.social joycevance.substack.com/p/thursday-044
November 8, 2025 at 1:12 PM
"Give yourself the gift of hoping and believing that January 2027 will be when we can begin the process of restoring our democracy after the midterm elections, and 2029 will be the end of this administration."
-- @joycewhitevance.bsky.social joycevance.substack.com/p/thursday-044
-- @joycewhitevance.bsky.social joycevance.substack.com/p/thursday-044
Election week reflection from @thedanrather.bsky.social:
November 8, 2025 at 12:26 PM
Election week reflection from @thedanrather.bsky.social:
Hard no on this wildly off-base suggestion from LinkedIn 😟
November 7, 2025 at 10:05 PM
Hard no on this wildly off-base suggestion from LinkedIn 😟
Reposted by Alan Stamm
Of course the risk of doing radical mid-decade gerrymandering for Rs in midterms always was that they weakened a lot of formerly safe Repub districts by moving R voters into Dem districts, which would backfire spectacularly if you have a blue wave scenario - making it a tsunami.
November 5, 2025 at 1:15 AM
Of course the risk of doing radical mid-decade gerrymandering for Rs in midterms always was that they weakened a lot of formerly safe Repub districts by moving R voters into Dem districts, which would backfire spectacularly if you have a blue wave scenario - making it a tsunami.
"It's a long road ahead of us still, but allow yourself to feel hopeful and optimistic."
-- @joycewhitevance.bsky.social
substack.com/home/post/p-...
-- @joycewhitevance.bsky.social
substack.com/home/post/p-...
November 7, 2025 at 6:56 PM
"It's a long road ahead of us still, but allow yourself to feel hopeful and optimistic."
-- @joycewhitevance.bsky.social
substack.com/home/post/p-...
-- @joycewhitevance.bsky.social
substack.com/home/post/p-...
Reposted by Alan Stamm
He spent Biden’s entire presidency calling him ‘Sleepy Joe’. Still does. But this guy nods off in the middle of the day in meetings almost every day. Fell asleep in court all the time too.
November 7, 2025 at 12:03 PM
He spent Biden’s entire presidency calling him ‘Sleepy Joe’. Still does. But this guy nods off in the middle of the day in meetings almost every day. Fell asleep in court all the time too.
"Republicans are suddenly pivoting to claim they are good stewards of the economy. But it's a hard sell."
— @hcrichardson.bsky.social
— @hcrichardson.bsky.social
November 6, 2025
“None of this is complicated,” political data specialist Tom Bonier wrote yesterday about Tuesday’s dramatic Democratic victories around the country.
substack.com
November 7, 2025 at 1:42 PM
"Republicans are suddenly pivoting to claim they are good stewards of the economy. But it's a hard sell."
— @hcrichardson.bsky.social
— @hcrichardson.bsky.social
"The president becomes less politically powerful and influential the closer he gets to leaving office.
"Historically, it happens after the midterms. But there are indications that it might begin much sooner with this administration."
-- @thedanrather.bsky.social
"Historically, it happens after the midterms. But there are indications that it might begin much sooner with this administration."
-- @thedanrather.bsky.social
Message Sent Loud and Clear
But will it be received by the president and his party?
substack.com
November 7, 2025 at 12:20 PM
"The president becomes less politically powerful and influential the closer he gets to leaving office.
"Historically, it happens after the midterms. But there are indications that it might begin much sooner with this administration."
-- @thedanrather.bsky.social
"Historically, it happens after the midterms. But there are indications that it might begin much sooner with this administration."
-- @thedanrather.bsky.social
"You don't have to be an expert analyst to believe that the president's party will be subject to another sound thumping in next year's midterms if they stay the Trump's-way-or-the-highway course."
— @thedanrather.bsky.social [1/2]
— @thedanrather.bsky.social [1/2]
Message Sent Loud and Clear
But will it be received by the president and his party?
substack.com
November 7, 2025 at 1:10 AM
"You don't have to be an expert analyst to believe that the president's party will be subject to another sound thumping in next year's midterms if they stay the Trump's-way-or-the-highway course."
— @thedanrather.bsky.social [1/2]
— @thedanrather.bsky.social [1/2]
"What happened Tuesday night wasn't just a result; it was a release valve. . . .
"For the first time in a long time, the country can imagine that future and smile. Less chaos. Fewer threats to ballots and benefits."
-- @deanblundell.bsky.social
"For the first time in a long time, the country can imagine that future and smile. Less chaos. Fewer threats to ballots and benefits."
-- @deanblundell.bsky.social
VIDEO: Trump's First Press Conference After Yesterday's Blue Tsunami Was A Sickly Disaster
Low Energy doesn't describe Trump's defeated vibe after America told him they want their country back.
deanblundell.substack.com
November 7, 2025 at 12:10 AM
"What happened Tuesday night wasn't just a result; it was a release valve. . . .
"For the first time in a long time, the country can imagine that future and smile. Less chaos. Fewer threats to ballots and benefits."
-- @deanblundell.bsky.social
"For the first time in a long time, the country can imagine that future and smile. Less chaos. Fewer threats to ballots and benefits."
-- @deanblundell.bsky.social