Aman Batheja
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amanbatheja.bsky.social
Aman Batheja
@amanbatheja.bsky.social
24K followers 1K following 1.7K posts
Senior Political Editor at TIME Magazine. Background in economics and TX politics. Formerly New York Times, Texas Tribune. Dad. #washingtondc @nytimes.com
Signal: @amanbatheja.46
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amanbatheja.bsky.social
From a thoughtful obituary of James Watson, co-discoverer of DNA’s double helix

time.com/5524001/jame...
If it’s true, as former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld once said, that a country goes to war with the army it has, not the army it may wish it had, so too is it true that a culture gets the heroes it gets, not the ones it would prefer. So you can’t have Charles Lindbergh without the Nazi sympathies and antisemitism. You can’t have George Washington and Thomas Jefferson without the slave-owning. And you can’t have Nobel Laureate Watson without his 2007 observation that he was “inherently gloomy” about the future of Africa, because “social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours — whereas all the testing says not really.”
November 7, 2025 at 10:07 PM
amanbatheja.bsky.social
I love the very normal caption to this Getty photo: "A person dressed in a Halloween costume joins voters casting their ballots during early voting on October 31, 2025 in Bridgewater, New Jersey."
www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-...
New Jersey Gubernatorial Candidate Jack Ciattarelli Votes Ahead Of Election BRIDGEWATER, NEW JERSEY - OCTOBER 31: A person dressed in a Halloween costume joins voters casting their ballots during early voting on October 31, 2025 in Bridgewater, New Jersey. Republican candidate, assembly member Jack Ciattarelli will face off against Democrat Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ) in a tightly contested race for New Jersey governor on November 4. (Photo by Kena Betancur/Getty Images)
October 31, 2025 at 6:17 PM
amanbatheja.bsky.social
Trump to TIME’s Eric Cortellessa, when asked what happens if Israel tries to annex the West Bank
It won't happen. It won't happen. It won’t happen because I gave my word to the Arab countries. And you can't do that now. We've had great Arab support. It won't happen because I gave my word to the Arab countries. It will not happen. Israel would lose all of its support from the United States if that happened.
October 23, 2025 at 12:29 PM
amanbatheja.bsky.social
Via @llcamp.bsky.social
October 18, 2025 at 5:17 PM
amanbatheja.bsky.social
First time seeing this uber-specific yard sign
Blue sign that reads JD Vance puts his cast iron skillet in the dishwasher
October 18, 2025 at 3:38 PM
amanbatheja.bsky.social
A wild snapshot of the current moment: A new Harvard CAPS-Harris poll of registered US voters compiled favorability ratings for various public figures and politicians.

The three people with the highest net favorability: Charlie Kirk, Erika Kirk and Volydymr Zelensky
October 17, 2025 at 8:05 PM
amanbatheja.bsky.social
Always thought D'Angelo’s Voodoo had one of the best four-track runs ever
D’Angelo’s Voodoo tracks 5-8: Send It On, Chicken Grease, One Mo Gin, The Root
October 14, 2025 at 7:00 PM
amanbatheja.bsky.social
One of my favorite pieces of movie trivia/mistakes comes from a Diane Keaton movie—Father of the Bride
In the scene where George is flipping out in the supermarket about hotdog buns, he claims he wants to buy "8 hot dogs and 8 hotdogs buns." He then proceeds to remove 4 buns from three bags of 12. This implies that he wants to buy 24 hotdog buns. If he had only kept the buns in the bags and bought two, he actually would have gotten 24 and saved money at the same time.
October 11, 2025 at 11:01 PM
amanbatheja.bsky.social
This is the line to get into the Smithsonian’s Museum of Natural History, which will close in a few hours and not reopen until the shutdown ends
Long line of people waiting to get through security at the museum
October 11, 2025 at 7:33 PM
amanbatheja.bsky.social
As the shutdown continues, all of the Smithsonian museums and the National Zoo are about to run out of funding, They're all set to close to visitors starting this Sunday—in the middle of a holiday weekend—and won't reopen until the government does.
Screenshot of top of Smithsonian's homepage: "Our museums, research centers, and the National Zoo are open today and will remain open through Saturday, October 11. If the government shutdown continues past October 11, Smithsonian locations will be closed starting Sunday, October 12."
October 9, 2025 at 2:59 PM
amanbatheja.bsky.social
Looking through old photos and came across a piece of movie trivia I enjoyed so much I took a photo of it (Years later, I still think it’s fun trivia)
THE 2015 JAMES BOND MOVIE SPECTRE OPENS WITH A CHASE SCENE THROUGH A SPECTACULAR DÍA DE LOS MUERTOS PARADE IN MEXICO CITY. THE NEXT YEAR MEXICO CITY THREW ITS FIRST EVER DÍA DE LOS MUERTOS PARADE.
October 4, 2025 at 10:47 PM
amanbatheja.bsky.social
Excellent @maustermuhle.bsky.social look at how Washington, D.C. is impacted by a shutdown. Did not know this history about why shutdowns used to be much harder on the District
51st.news/the-federal-...
Now, D.C.’s government remaining open isn’t something that’s always happened. During federal shutdowns in the mid-1990s, D.C.’s government was forced to close, denying residents basic services like trash pickup and access to libraries. The city also had to furlough 13,000 of its workers – but not the ones who wrote parking tickets, of course. (For real.) This was because while the city operates largely independently of the federal government, its budget is still somewhat tethered to the federal government’s. That only changed after the 2013 federal government shutdown (which lasted 16 days), when D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton worked a provision into federal budget bills that exempts D.C. from any federal shutdowns.
October 1, 2025 at 3:26 PM
amanbatheja.bsky.social
Reminder: Two years ago, the President met with Congressional leaders in the Oval Office to avoid a debt ceiling default, and all people could talk about after that was footwear.

(Jeffries got the most attention, but McCarthy and McConnell were also wearing "dress sneakers" of some form)
September 29, 2025 at 8:25 PM
amanbatheja.bsky.social
White House has sent to reporters Trump's "Comprehensive Plan to End the Gaza Conflict."
Includes this map:
September 29, 2025 at 6:21 PM
amanbatheja.bsky.social
Trump just announced a 100% tariff on foreign movies—five months after he last announced he was going to do it and Hollywood freaked it and no one was ever able to pin down how a tariff on a film would even work. New post provides no further details.
Trump Truth Social post, May, 4, 2025: Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump The Movie Industry in America is DYING a very fast death. Other Countries are offering all sorts of incentives to draw our filmmakers and studios away from the United States. Hollywood, and many other areas within the U.S.A., are being devastated. This is a concerted effort by other Nations and, therefore, a National Security threat. It is, in addition to everything else, messaging and propaganda! Therefore, I am authorizing the Department of Commerce, and the United States Trade Representative, to immediately begin the process of instituting a 100% Tariff on any and all Movies coming into our Country that are produced in Foreign Lands. WE WANT MOVIES MADE IN AMERICA, AGAIN! Trump Truth Social post, Sept. 29, 2025: Our movie making business has been stolen from the United States of America, by other Countries, just like stealing “candy from a baby.” California, with its weak and incompetent Governor, has been particularly hard hit! Therefore, in order to solve this long time, never ending problem, I will be imposing a 100% Tariff on any and all movies that are made outside of the United States. Thank you for your attention to this matter. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! President DJT
September 29, 2025 at 1:54 PM
amanbatheja.bsky.social
Excellent question
A reddit post from the Washington DC subreddit shows a sign that says “Don’t block the box” in a circle with a line through it. Post title reads “So…block the box?”
September 27, 2025 at 12:30 PM
amanbatheja.bsky.social
As Trump and RFK end their announcement on autism and Tylenol use: "The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists just issued a statement stressing that the organization considers acetaminophen safe”
Sept. 22, 2025, 5:21 p.m. ET2m ago Dani BlumHealth news reporter The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists just issued a statement stressing that the organization considers acetaminophen safe. “The conditions people use acetaminophen to treat during pregnancy are far more dangerous than any theoretical risks and can create severe morbidity and mortality for the pregnant person and the fetus,” Dr. Steven J. Fleischman, the group’s president, wrote in a statement.
September 22, 2025 at 9:24 PM
amanbatheja.bsky.social
"Lewandowski has long served as Noem’s gatekeeper, described to me by DHS staff as her 'handler,' her 'bulldog,' and the 'shadow secretary.'"
The paragraph goes from there to a place I didn't expect.
nymag.com/intelligence...
Lewandowski has long served as Noem’s gatekeeper, described to me by DHS staff as her “handler,” her “bulldog,” and the “shadow secretary.” They are also widely understood by those who work with them to be romantically attached. (Noem and Lewandowski have both denied this.) In April, the Daily Mail snapped photographs of Lewandowski outside her Navy Yard complex with a duffel bag slung over his shoulder, and partly in response to the presence of the Mail’s paparazzi, which a DHS spokesperson said had led to threats and safety concerns, she moved into military housing usually reserved for the top admiral of the Coast Guard, which is under DHS’s purview. This has only fueled the rumors surrounding Noem. “They’ve sent no three- or four-stars in the Coast Guard up for confirmation,” a top administration official told me, “because she doesn’t want to get kicked out of the commandant’s house.”
September 22, 2025 at 3:03 PM
amanbatheja.bsky.social
Imagine the head of Cava’s PR department is having some weird conversations tonight

www.nytimes.com/2025/09/20/u... (gift link)
The cash payment, which was made inside a bag from the food chain Cava, grew out of a long-running counterintelligence investigation that had not been targeting Mr. Homan, according to the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the case.
September 21, 2025 at 12:31 AM
amanbatheja.bsky.social
Fascinated by this WaPo map showing where federal workers make up big parts of the total workforce
Where federal workers live across the country Source: Census 5 year ACS 2023
September 20, 2025 at 5:14 PM
amanbatheja.bsky.social
That's from TIME’s new cover story, which warns, "His killing could become not just a tragedy but a catalyst—an event that radicalizes ever more Americans”
time.com/7316280/char...
September 11, 2025 at 12:04 PM
amanbatheja.bsky.social
Kamala Harris: “When Republicans mischaracterized my role as ‘border czar,’ no one in the White House comms team helped me to effectively push back and explain what I had really been tasked to do, nor to highlight any of the progress I had achieved.”
www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...
When Republicans mischaracterized my role as “border czar,” no one in the White House comms team helped me to effectively push back and explain what I had really been tasked to do, nor to highlight any of the progress I had achieved. I won commitments of $5.2 billion in new investments by private companies for the region. I had already seen almost a billion dollars of that money deployed, thanks to enthusiastic partners such as Mastercard, Microsoft, and Nespresso. I held numerous bilateral meetings with leaders throughout the region, especially with President Alejandro Giammattei in Guatemala, and later his successor, President Bernardo Arévalo. I had multiple calls with Giammattei, warning him that I expected free and fair elections; I sent my national security adviser Phil Gordon to reinforce the message in person; and I publicly supported Arévalo once the election was called.
September 10, 2025 at 12:51 PM
amanbatheja.bsky.social
Trump this morning: "Looks like we’ve lost India and Russia to deepest, darkest, China. May they have a long and prosperous future together!"
Trump post on Truth Social with photo of leaders of China, Russia and India: Looks like we’ve lost India and Russia to deepest, darkest, China. May they have a long and prosperous future together! President Donald J. Trump
September 5, 2025 at 12:55 PM
amanbatheja.bsky.social
SCreenshot from NY Times live updates: Sept. 4, 2025, 1:05 p.m. Apoorva Mandavilli Science reporter Kennedy has been remarkably salty and dismissive with the senators. As Senator Wyden, who was sharply critical of him from the start, made some closing remarks, Kennedy took out his phone, looked down it, and began to scroll.
September 4, 2025 at 5:08 PM
amanbatheja.bsky.social
New TIME cover just dropped:
The Forgotten Crisis in Sudan

“Relief organizations estimate that the Trump Administration’s slashing of USAID has shuttered 4 of every 5 emergency food kitchens catering to displaced Sudanese.”
time.com/7313600/suda...
TIME cover: The Forgotten Crisis
September 4, 2025 at 1:40 PM