Jay Willis
@jaywillis.net
I write about courts, democracy, media, and the raccoon family living in a tree behind my house. Bluesky’s ONLY fantasy football guru. EIC @ballsandstrikes.org, more writing at jaywillis.net.
Reposted by Jay Willis
Well, I have no choice but to go buy some
truly ugly merch now.
truly ugly merch now.
February 9, 2026 at 3:47 AM
Well, I have no choice but to go buy some
truly ugly merch now.
truly ugly merch now.
[whispers so quietly you can barely hear me] I would have traded this for a Marines World Series though
February 9, 2026 at 3:28 AM
[whispers so quietly you can barely hear me] I would have traded this for a Marines World Series though
Dang it, now I have to find out which members of the Seahawks accept the White House invitation
February 9, 2026 at 3:14 AM
Dang it, now I have to find out which members of the Seahawks accept the White House invitation
If you’re a neutral watching this Super Bowl and trying to decide how to feel about the result, just remember Jesse Singal is sad right now
February 9, 2026 at 3:01 AM
If you’re a neutral watching this Super Bowl and trying to decide how to feel about the result, just remember Jesse Singal is sad right now
NEWS: I am pouring the good stuff
February 9, 2026 at 2:59 AM
NEWS: I am pouring the good stuff
Reposted by Jay Willis
the jason myers super bowl mvp campaign continues
February 9, 2026 at 2:53 AM
the jason myers super bowl mvp campaign continues
Started celebrating when that was in mid-air baby
February 9, 2026 at 2:28 AM
Started celebrating when that was in mid-air baby
Reposted by Jay Willis
Only one who got the ball into the end zone was Bad Bunny
February 9, 2026 at 1:32 AM
Only one who got the ball into the end zone was Bad Bunny
Super Bowl party is mostly people who haven’t listened to much Bad Bunny and the consensus on that performance is is “absolutely fantastic vibes”
February 9, 2026 at 1:35 AM
Super Bowl party is mostly people who haven’t listened to much Bad Bunny and the consensus on that performance is is “absolutely fantastic vibes”
Know that ad was AI because if Jalen Hurts really threw a flaming football at the Olympic torch he would have overthrown it by 10 yards and burned down the Coliseum heyoooo
February 8, 2026 at 11:33 PM
Know that ad was AI because if Jalen Hurts really threw a flaming football at the Olympic torch he would have overthrown it by 10 yards and burned down the Coliseum heyoooo
After my first year as a law firm associate I finally got to have an office with a window and celebrated by promptly decorating it, go Hawks
February 8, 2026 at 11:15 PM
After my first year as a law firm associate I finally got to have an office with a window and celebrated by promptly decorating it, go Hawks
Business is business, but in my view, it is very scummy for a publisher to both say it “stands” with the authors of LGTBQ children’s books targeted for bans, and also to work with Sam Alito, who just wrote a Supreme Court opinion making it easier for parents to ban those same books
Sam Alito’s Publisher Wants You to Buy the Children’s Books He Just Made It Easier to Ban
The author of Mahmoud v. Taylor is writing a book for a publisher that calls the push to ban books with LGBTQ characters an attack on “one of the most important foundations of a free society.”
ballsandstrikes.substack.com
February 8, 2026 at 12:08 AM
Business is business, but in my view, it is very scummy for a publisher to both say it “stands” with the authors of LGTBQ children’s books targeted for bans, and also to work with Sam Alito, who just wrote a Supreme Court opinion making it easier for parents to ban those same books
My healthiest online community is the YouTube comments for the cheerful Australian lady who leads Pilates classes, which are all “6 weeks ago I couldn’t do this and I just finished the whole thing!!” or “my ex made fun of me, they should see me now!!” and everyone else earnestly congratulating them
February 7, 2026 at 4:16 PM
My healthiest online community is the YouTube comments for the cheerful Australian lady who leads Pilates classes, which are all “6 weeks ago I couldn’t do this and I just finished the whole thing!!” or “my ex made fun of me, they should see me now!!” and everyone else earnestly congratulating them
An easy way to tell that the White House’s “a staffer posted the racist video, not the president, who would never do such a thing” story is a lie is that, if it were true, the obvious next steps would be to (1) name the staffer and (2) make a big show of firing them www.nytimes.com/2026/02/06/u...
February 6, 2026 at 11:51 PM
An easy way to tell that the White House’s “a staffer posted the racist video, not the president, who would never do such a thing” story is a lie is that, if it were true, the obvious next steps would be to (1) name the staffer and (2) make a big show of firing them www.nytimes.com/2026/02/06/u...
Accidentally deleted the original post that led me to this, but I think it's actually still fun without additional context
As I’ve gotten older, I’ve come to realize how important it is to maintain traditions and our connections to the past, which is why [holds aloft gallon jug like the lombardi trophy] I am now going to drink this fetid swamp water
February 6, 2026 at 11:11 PM
Accidentally deleted the original post that led me to this, but I think it's actually still fun without additional context
Reposted by Jay Willis
goddammit Dan's mom made me weepy all over again about how good my pal was and how stupid it is that he's gone.
A Message From Dan McQuade's Mom | Defector
Dan’s mom here. While I hope to thank everyone more formally, for so many of you it won’t be possible; I don’t know how to reach you. So I thought I’d reach you the way my Dan did—through the online w...
defector.com
February 6, 2026 at 10:22 PM
goddammit Dan's mom made me weepy all over again about how good my pal was and how stupid it is that he's gone.
Reposted by Jay Willis
Clapping my flippers together and honking like a harbor seal when a Super Bowl ad for a condiment or gambling app featuring two celebrities unexpectedly reveals a third celebrity as its punchline. Bouncing a ball around on my snout. My wife has to throw me a herring to get me to calm down.
February 6, 2026 at 6:24 PM
Clapping my flippers together and honking like a harbor seal when a Super Bowl ad for a condiment or gambling app featuring two celebrities unexpectedly reveals a third celebrity as its punchline. Bouncing a ball around on my snout. My wife has to throw me a herring to get me to calm down.
I don't mean to be dramatic, but if Noah Feldman's law-and-style newsletter ends up getting more readers than Balls & Strikes, I am going to drown myself in the Charles River
Noah Feldman has a new Substack where he’ll guide us during these difficult times. He wants “to be together with you on the journey that we’re all on.”
He adds: “There’s room for a little fun, and so as part of this, I’ll also talk about men’s style, a topic that is extremely dear to my heart.”
He adds: “There’s room for a little fun, and so as part of this, I’ll also talk about men’s style, a topic that is extremely dear to my heart.”
Noah Feldman (@professornoahfeldman)
Welcome to my Substack newsletter.
I’m Noah Feldman. In my day job, I’m a professor at Harvard, where I teach classes on topics like free speech, constitutional law, power, ethics, religion, technol...
substack.com
February 6, 2026 at 5:59 PM
I don't mean to be dramatic, but if Noah Feldman's law-and-style newsletter ends up getting more readers than Balls & Strikes, I am going to drown myself in the Charles River
The front page of the Hachette Book Group's website urges visitors to "join the fight against censorship" by buying banned children's books that feature LGBTQ characters. This fall, Hachette will publish a book by Sam Alito, who just wrote a Supreme Court opinion making it easier to ban these books.
Sam Alito’s Publisher Wants You to Buy the Children’s Books He Just Made It Easier to Ban
The author of Mahmoud v. Taylor is writing a book for a publisher that calls the push to ban books with LGBTQ characters an attack on “one of the most important foundations of a free society.”
ballsandstrikes.substack.com
February 6, 2026 at 5:43 PM
The front page of the Hachette Book Group's website urges visitors to "join the fight against censorship" by buying banned children's books that feature LGBTQ characters. This fall, Hachette will publish a book by Sam Alito, who just wrote a Supreme Court opinion making it easier to ban these books.
Reposted by Jay Willis
Pour one out for every professional political pundit, writer, consultant whatever that has spent the last decade trying to pretend that the Trump phenomenon was about trade or opiates and not a big chunk of white america losing its mind over having a black president bsky.app/profile/kyle...
A screenshot from a video posted on Trump's Truth Social account: truthsocial.com/@realDonaldT...
February 6, 2026 at 9:28 AM
Pour one out for every professional political pundit, writer, consultant whatever that has spent the last decade trying to pretend that the Trump phenomenon was about trade or opiates and not a big chunk of white america losing its mind over having a black president bsky.app/profile/kyle...
Genuinely, what is Tim Scott talking about. What could "it was fake" possibly mean in this context? It is real, it is a real thing he did, and it is still up right now. He's using skeptical benefit-of-the-doubt language for something that anyone with internet access can see with their own eyes.
Sen. Tim Scott, the only Black Republican in the Senate, had this to say:
February 6, 2026 at 3:05 PM
Genuinely, what is Tim Scott talking about. What could "it was fake" possibly mean in this context? It is real, it is a real thing he did, and it is still up right now. He's using skeptical benefit-of-the-doubt language for something that anyone with internet access can see with their own eyes.
Had to check and make sure this is real. It is, and the music that plays over the depiction of the Obamas as apes is the first few bars of “The Lion Sleeps Tonight”
A screenshot from a video posted on Trump's Truth Social account: truthsocial.com/@realDonaldT...
February 6, 2026 at 6:51 AM
Had to check and make sure this is real. It is, and the music that plays over the depiction of the Obamas as apes is the first few bars of “The Lion Sleeps Tonight”
Wild to me that the QAnon believers who powered Republican politics between 2017 and 2020 were basically correct that a ton of American elites were involved in a child sex trafficking ring, and just very incorrect that Donald Trump was the person fighting to put a stop to it
Trump calls for Americans to ‘move on’ from Epstein files – US politics live
Trump calls for Americans to ‘move on’ from Epstein files – US politics live
President’s commerce secretary Howard Lutnick and on-off ally Elon Musk have both featured in the Epstein files
www.theguardian.com
February 6, 2026 at 1:01 AM
Wild to me that the QAnon believers who powered Republican politics between 2017 and 2020 were basically correct that a ton of American elites were involved in a child sex trafficking ring, and just very incorrect that Donald Trump was the person fighting to put a stop to it
Reposted by Jay Willis
NEW: 150 days of Kavanaugh stops, and it just keeps getting worse.
Kavanaugh stops would always be bad. As a tool in the Trump administration's authoritarianism arsenal, they are worse. The consequences are everywhere.
This evening, at Law Dork:
Kavanaugh stops would always be bad. As a tool in the Trump administration's authoritarianism arsenal, they are worse. The consequences are everywhere.
This evening, at Law Dork:
150 days of Kavanaugh stops, and it just keeps getting worse
Kavanaugh stops would always be bad. As a tool in the Trump administration's authoritarianism arsenal, they are worse. The consequences are everywhere.
www.lawdork.com
February 5, 2026 at 11:08 PM
NEW: 150 days of Kavanaugh stops, and it just keeps getting worse.
Kavanaugh stops would always be bad. As a tool in the Trump administration's authoritarianism arsenal, they are worse. The consequences are everywhere.
This evening, at Law Dork:
Kavanaugh stops would always be bad. As a tool in the Trump administration's authoritarianism arsenal, they are worse. The consequences are everywhere.
This evening, at Law Dork: