Ian Gordon
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idgordon.bsky.social
Ian Gordon
@idgordon.bsky.social
19K followers 570 following 380 posts
Editorial director for teams and coverage, @MotherJones.com. Immigration, Latin America, sports, and serial commas. Dadfluencer.

Work: igordon@motherjones.com
Signal: idgordon.325
Proton Mail: idgordon@proton.me
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Reposted by Ian Gordon
dburbach.bsky.social
Fascinating
1. Admin may not have informed Congress but has been talking regime change w US oil industry
2. Oil at $60, US firms not excited about major capex to get VZ heavy sour crude
3. Sounds like WH wants to prod oil firms to make their vision happen, more than WH doing US oil's bidding
nycsouthpaw.bsky.social southpaw @nycsouthpaw.bsky.social · 13h
a lot of interesting revelations between the lines of this story www.politico.com/news/2026/01...
January 4, 2026 at 1:07 AM
Reposted by Ian Gordon
pgourevitch.bsky.social
NYT gonna NYT: "Both Mr. Mamdani and Mr. Maduro identify as socialists, though they have no relationship.” — would be funny if they did this every time you write about two capitalists.

www.nytimes.com/2026/01/03/w...
Mamdani Called Trump to Criticize Venezuela Strikes
www.nytimes.com
January 3, 2026 at 10:01 PM
Reposted by Ian Gordon
jacobrosenberg.bsky.social
Trump Freudian slips at the end: "I watched one of the most precise attacks on sovereignty."
January 3, 2026 at 5:01 PM
Reposted by Ian Gordon
monikab.bsky.social
God help US travelers and service members as we cement precedent that you can can snatch anyone, on any pretext, so long as your military is big enough
January 3, 2026 at 5:05 PM
idgordon.bsky.social
No, apparently you just have to have been the convicted former leader of Honduras to avoid justice for drug trafficking in the United States?
ericmgarcia.bsky.social Eric Michael Garcia @ericmgarcia.bsky.social · 20h
Vance pushes back and says this was not illegal, arguing "Maduro has multiple indictments in the United States for narcoterrorism. You don't get to avoid justice for drug trafficking in the United States because you live in a palace in Caracas."
A 8:42 AM · Jan 3, 2026 post from JD Vance saying "And PSA for everyone saying this was "illegal": Maduro has multiple indictments in the United States for narcoterrorism. You don't get to avoid justice for drug trafficking in the United States because you live in a palace in Caracas."
January 3, 2026 at 2:43 PM
Reposted by Ian Gordon
vermontgmg.bsky.social
Two fun historical facts: You know who was in charge of prosecuting Manuel Noriega after OPERATION JUST CAUSE?! Robert Mueller and Bill Barr.
January 3, 2026 at 2:35 PM
Reposted by Ian Gordon
adamisacson.com
Here's a dangerous effort to carve out a loophole in presidential war powers big enough to drive a tank through.

If such an authority existed, the president could invade anywhere, anytime, without involving Congress—just by claiming, without proof, that an attack is "imminent."
Mike Lee @BasedMikeLee Just got off the phone with @SecRubio He informed me that Nicolás Maduro has been arrested by U.S. personnel to stand trial on criminal charges in the United States, and that the kinetic action we saw tonight was deployed to protect and defend those executing the arrest warrant This action likely falls within the president’s inherent authority under Article II of the Constitution to protect U.S. personnel from an actual or imminent attack Thank you, @SecRubio , for keeping me apprised
January 3, 2026 at 11:03 AM
Reposted by Ian Gordon
davidcorn.bsky.social
$20 billion in loan guarantees will do that.
yasharali.bsky.social Yashar Ali 🐘 @yasharali.bsky.social · 1d
UPDATE

Argentina’s president Javier Milei, who has long had a confrontational and hostile relationship with Nicolás Maduro, is celebrating the news that Maduro has been captured by U.S. forces and taken out of Venezuela.
January 3, 2026 at 10:19 AM
Reposted by Ian Gordon
adamjschwarz.bsky.social
Maduro is a brutal and oppressive dictator of Venezuela.

Trump has no legitimate legal basis for military action against Venezuela under United States or international law.

Both of those facts are simultaneously true.
January 3, 2026 at 9:00 AM
idgordon.bsky.social
@jeremyschulman.bsky.social is a national treasure
jeremyschulman.bsky.social Jeremy Schulman @jeremyschulman.bsky.social · 10d
‘Twas the night before fascism, and from coast to coast,
Not a corporate outlet was stirring, not even the Post;
The bribes had been sent to the library with care,
In hopes of placating the FCC chair.
December 25, 2025 at 2:54 AM
Reposted by Ian Gordon
adamserwer.bsky.social
The people who profited most from the cancel culture/free speech panic were less interested in actual freedom of speech than establishing their own control over public discourse. You don't even have to take my word for it. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
Every society that has ever existed has had views that are mainstream and views that are fringe. The free-speech frauds who captured the discourse over the past decade understood this, but their true objection was that they did not unilaterally have the power to define which was which. For example, in a 2018 Times column, Weiss complained that “leftists” were engaged in a “concerted attempt to significantly redraw the bounds of acceptable thought and speech.” This was meant to sound sinister, menacing. In fact, this is politics. Every faction is always trying to “redraw the bounds of acceptable thought and speech.” In a free society, the government allows people to have those arguments. Such disputes are not a threat to free speech; they are free speech. When I say that CBS News’s Bari Weiss understood this, you needn’t take my word for it. In November, shortly after being given the reins to one of the oldest broadcast-news organizations in the country, Weiss used identical language to describe her own project: “I think it’s about redrawing the lines of what falls in the 40-yard lines of acceptable debate and acceptable American politics and culture,” Weiss said at the Jewish Leadership Conference. “And I don’t mean that in, like, a censorious, gatekeeping way.” What’s the difference between her “redrawing the lines” of acceptable speech and other people doing it? What makes one “censorious” and “gatekeeping” and the other not? Well, because she gets to decide. That’s what so much of the free-speech panic was ever about: making sure the right people were in charge of what you see, hear, and read. Notably, this has very little to do with reporting the news, which is supposed to be what CBS News does. But if the point of installing Weiss was to ensure that she would gatekeep on behalf of right-wing interests, that is precisely what she appears to be doing.
December 23, 2025 at 6:17 PM
idgordon.bsky.social
Couldn't agree more! Support @motherjones.com here:
December 22, 2025 at 11:33 PM
Reposted by Ian Gordon
dfriedman.bsky.social
Mother Jones is stepping up coverage of ICE and CBP's draconian, police-state style operations in places like New Orleans, Memphis, and Chicago. From @noturtlesoup17.bsky.social, who is chasing Bovino around around the country and writing for MJ: www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
The horns and whistles work
What it's like to watch community activists stand up to a Border Patrol raid.
www.motherjones.com
December 19, 2025 at 8:56 PM
Reposted by Ian Gordon
dfriedman.bsky.social
We hope to continue covering waste and corruption in DHS contracting. Reupping this story we did back in October on a question "self-deportation" contract that went to a new company run by a guy with links to top DHS officials. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
How a new firm with DHS ties won a $915 million contract to help immigrants "self-deport"
The “rushed” deal was handed to a firm with “no track record” as a federal contractor, a rival's lawsuit alleges.
www.motherjones.com
December 19, 2025 at 8:00 PM
Reposted by Ian Gordon
adamserwer.bsky.social
Not that it will but the willingness of Americans to obey is a very funny contrast with our self-image and should probably prompt some reflection bsky.app/profile/jonf...
December 19, 2025 at 3:46 PM
idgordon.bsky.social
There are far more important things to get upset about these days, but man, fuck this shit
rpsagainsttrump.bsky.social Republicans Against Trumpism @rpsagainsttrump.bsky.social · 17d
Trump has added new plaques under his ‘presidential walk of fame’ in the White House.

On Obama: “Barack Hussein Obama was the first Black President…One of the most divisive political figures in American history.”

On Biden: “Sleepy Joe Biden was, by far, the worst President in American History...”
December 17, 2025 at 11:15 PM
Reposted by Ian Gordon
inaeoh.bsky.social
the brutal aesthetics of MAGA 🎵 www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
December 17, 2025 at 8:32 PM
Reposted by Ian Gordon
craigcalcaterra.bsky.social
The Vanity Fair photographer from the Susie Wiles story.

Holy. Shit.

www.washingtonpost.com/style/power/...
Were there moments that you missed? Anything that happened that’s on the cutting room floor? I don’t think there’s anything I missed that I wish I’d gotten. I’ll give you a little anecdote: Stephen Miller was perhaps the most concerned about the portrait session. He asked me, “Should I smile or not smile?” and I said, “How would you want to be portrayed?” We agreed that we would do a bit of both. And then when we were finished, he comes up to me to shake my hand and say goodbye. And he says to me, “You know, you have a lot of power in the discretion you use to be kind to people.” And I looked at him and I said, “You know, you do, too.”
December 17, 2025 at 8:34 PM
Reposted by Ian Gordon
annamerlan.bsky.social
I wrote about Benny Johnson, a documented plagiarist who’s become something like MAGA’s content creator in chief: www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
How Benny Johnson went from BuzzFeed plagiarist to MAGA's chief content creator
He says he did “some very bad things.” But in Trumpworld, that's a plus.
www.motherjones.com
December 17, 2025 at 2:21 PM
Reposted by Ian Gordon
antoniafarzan.bsky.social
may be biased because she's a friend, but this piece by @h-lev.bsky.social is the best piece I've read summing up the mood in Providence right now www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Watching Providence retreat into itself after the Brown shooting
What it's like when this uniquely American horror arrives in your city.
www.motherjones.com
December 17, 2025 at 4:23 PM
Reposted by Ian Gordon
davidcorn.bsky.social
A lovely, sad, and haunting piece about Providence and Brown University—before and after the shooting—from @h-lev.bsky.social.
Watching Providence retreat into itself after the Brown shooting
What it's like when this uniquely American horror arrives in your city.
www.motherjones.com
December 17, 2025 at 3:46 PM
Reposted by Ian Gordon
h-lev.bsky.social
As a Brown alum and Providence resident, I have been trying to find the right words to capture the vast grief layered across this community and the people who love it. In the end, I’m not sure if it’s really, fully possible to articulate. But I tried: www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Watching Providence retreat into itself after the Brown shooting
What it's like when this uniquely American horror arrives in your city.
www.motherjones.com
December 17, 2025 at 3:59 PM
idgordon.bsky.social
Don't miss this lovely @h-lev.bsky.social reflection on what her city and alma mater lost when a shooter opened fire at Brown over the weekend, killing two and injuring nine: www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
I think back to the vigil I went to on Sunday at a local park, when it seemed like the authorities had the suspect in custody. In that moment, I saw what looked like the very beginnings of a community healing. Hundreds of bundled-up people stood in the park, snow flurries drifting off the trees, listening to speeches, a few singers, or simply hugging or standing quietly. But now the city has retreated back into itself. Downtown looks like an empty movie set. Parking anywhere is a breeze. The governor canceled the annual event that opens to the community the state house and its holiday decorations, and additional police were sent to local schools. Everywhere from the mall to the convention center and even the zoo are adding security. There is virtually no one on the sidewalks in my neighborhood, save for the occasional dog on a bathroom break or a person scurrying from their car into the house. With people unable to gather to process and heal, they’re instead congregating online, watching city officials’ daily press conferences and obsessing in text threads about the crumbs of information the public has about the shooter. Everyone is trying to find meaning when there isn’t any, about why this happened, who is responsible, and what the future holds. “I go into the classroom to teach in the morning and try to reassure my students that they are safe,” texted one friend, a fellow Brown alum living in Providence and a teacher at a local school. “But I don’t fully believe my own words.”
December 17, 2025 at 3:46 PM
Reposted by Ian Gordon
moatmanjourno.bsky.social
Vincenzo Latronico's slim and unsettling "Perfection" was the top 2025 novel I managed to read this year. Check out why and read my colleagues' top picks www.motherjones.com/media/2025/1...
The 24 best books we read in 2025
New nonfiction and fiction titles we loved, plus some older ones that were just right for the moment.
www.motherjones.com
December 16, 2025 at 6:47 PM
idgordon.bsky.social
Don't miss this harrowing @samanthamichaels.bsky.social dispatch from ICE-occupied Memphis
I'm a veteran criminal justice reporter. I've never seen anything like ICE-occupied Memphis.
“It’s about as sad as you can possibly imagine."
www.motherjones.com
December 16, 2025 at 3:03 PM