The Massachusetts Spy
@themassspy.bsky.social
Since 1770, more or less, the Commonwealth's leading journal of politics and culture. Available at realmassachusettsspy.blogspot.com
Pinned
Democracy dies in silence – Rümeysa Öztürk’s arrest is a warning - The Boston Globe
Democracy isn’t something we are. It’s something we do. And too few people in this country are doing it right now.
www.bostonglobe.com
“Resistance may or may not be futile. Acquiescence definitely is.”
- @yabraham.bsky.social
www.bostonglobe.com/2025/03/29/m...
- @yabraham.bsky.social
www.bostonglobe.com/2025/03/29/m...
Tired: All hail our wonderful Republican ally Bill Kristol!
Wired: All hail our wonderful Republican ally “Threeway” Marge!
Wired: All hail our wonderful Republican ally “Threeway” Marge!
Greene called fully releasing the Epstein files “the easiest thing in the world,” while accusing President Trump of “gaslighting” the American people. trib.al/NKTD0mu
November 14, 2025 at 5:04 PM
Tired: All hail our wonderful Republican ally Bill Kristol!
Wired: All hail our wonderful Republican ally “Threeway” Marge!
Wired: All hail our wonderful Republican ally “Threeway” Marge!
I'm sure he's more versatile than that.
Yes, I LOL every time someone refers to Corey Lewandowski as Kristi Noem's "top aide." www.propublica.org/article/kris...
Firm Tied to Kristi Noem Secretly Got Money From $220 Million DHS Ad Contracts
The company is run by the husband of Noem’s chief DHS spokesperson and has personal and business ties to Noem and her aides. DHS invoked the “emergency” at the border to skirt competitive bidding rule...
www.propublica.org
November 14, 2025 at 4:41 PM
I'm sure he's more versatile than that.
At least the leftists I know are able to change planes at Heathrow
As far as critics are concerned, the typical American leftist is at once:
1) Downwardly mobile and worse off than their parents
2) A trust fund kid so well off from family wealth they will never have to work
3) A successful, gentrifying yuppie who wants to destroy the system that benefits them
1) Downwardly mobile and worse off than their parents
2) A trust fund kid so well off from family wealth they will never have to work
3) A successful, gentrifying yuppie who wants to destroy the system that benefits them
As opposed to existing elites who KNOW it is their birthright🙄
These kind of amoralist insinuations are so funny because:
1) No aspirational egoist in the US would ever be stupid enough to hitch her wagon to socialism.
And
2) If anything self-righteous moralism is the real vice of the left.
These kind of amoralist insinuations are so funny because:
1) No aspirational egoist in the US would ever be stupid enough to hitch her wagon to socialism.
And
2) If anything self-righteous moralism is the real vice of the left.
November 14, 2025 at 4:27 PM
At least the leftists I know are able to change planes at Heathrow
An advertising emergency?
NEW: DHS invoked the “national emergency” at the border to skirt competitive bidding rules for a $220 million taxpayer-funded ad campaign.
We found that a firm with deep ties to Kristi Noem secretly benefited from the deal.
We found that a firm with deep ties to Kristi Noem secretly benefited from the deal.
Kristi Noem-Tied Firm Secretly Got Piece of $220 Million DHS Campaign
The company is run by the husband of Noem’s chief DHS spokesperson and has personal and business ties to Noem and her aides. DHS invoked the “emergency” at the border to skirt competitive bidding rules for the taxpayer-funded campaign.
www.propublica.org
November 14, 2025 at 4:25 PM
An advertising emergency?
Hell, it worked great in Iraq.
Pretend there’s a war on (there isn’t).
Pretend drug traffickers are terrorists (they’re not).
Pretend overdoses are armed foreign attacks (they’re not).
Pretend “the president says so” means Congress has no role (it doesn’t).
Voila, legal. When factual reality is irrelevant, any law can apply.
Pretend drug traffickers are terrorists (they’re not).
Pretend overdoses are armed foreign attacks (they’re not).
Pretend “the president says so” means Congress has no role (it doesn’t).
Voila, legal. When factual reality is irrelevant, any law can apply.
November 14, 2025 at 4:05 PM
Hell, it worked great in Iraq.
I AM GOING TO REPEAT THIS INSIGHT
The Epstein emails are a “skeleton key” for understanding a culture “in which the wealthy and powerful appear not as master operators but as bumbling sycophants, eager to cozy up to influence no matter how villainous or depraved,” Charlie Warzel argues. https://theatln.tc/TiM0i8bN
November 14, 2025 at 3:29 PM
I AM GOING TO REPEAT THIS INSIGHT
I’d just like to say that Corey is working hard for the money
No firm has closer ties to Noem’s political operation than the Strategy Group. It played a central role in her SD gubernatorial campaign. Corey Lewandowski, her top DHS adviser, has worked extensively with it. And its CEO is married to Noem’s chief DHS spokesperson
www.propublica.org/article/kris...
www.propublica.org/article/kris...
Firm Tied to Kristi Noem Secretly Got Money From $220 Million DHS Ad Contracts
The company is run by the husband of Noem’s chief DHS spokesperson and has personal and business ties to Noem and her aides. DHS invoked the “emergency” at the border to skirt competitive bidding rule...
www.propublica.org
November 14, 2025 at 2:22 PM
I’d just like to say that Corey is working hard for the money
And that’s why they’re calling this new reality Western “Bonanza!”
$220 million. www.propublica.org/article/kris...
Firm Tied to Kristi Noem Secretly Got Money From $220 Million DHS Ad Contracts
The company is run by the husband of Noem’s chief DHS spokesperson and has personal and business ties to Noem and her aides. DHS invoked the “emergency” at the border to skirt competitive bidding rule...
www.propublica.org
November 14, 2025 at 2:17 PM
And that’s why they’re calling this new reality Western “Bonanza!”
We certainly don’t.
DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin’s husband is CEO of The Strategy Group, which has close ties to Kristi Noem.
The Strategy Group got $$$ as a subcontractor for $220M in @homelandgov.bsky.social ad contracts.
“We don’t have visibility into why they were chosen,” McLaughlin said in an interview.
The Strategy Group got $$$ as a subcontractor for $220M in @homelandgov.bsky.social ad contracts.
“We don’t have visibility into why they were chosen,” McLaughlin said in an interview.
November 14, 2025 at 2:12 PM
We certainly don’t.
"The cheaper the hood, the gaudier the patter."
- D. Hammett
- D. Hammett
Bovino: "Whether they were criminals or individuals that were taking jobs from Americans -- you name it, that's what they were doing. And I'll tell you what's gonna happen. We're gonna go even harder on the streets. If he releases those 650, we're gonna apprehend 1,650 on the streets of Chicago."
November 13, 2025 at 11:29 PM
"The cheaper the hood, the gaudier the patter."
- D. Hammett
- D. Hammett
Oops
Pam Bondi caught submitting a false statement in the Comey and James cases.
November 13, 2025 at 11:14 PM
Oops
He might want to consider what percentage of BU and Allston area food service workers are immigrants before taking a bite of that chocolate pie.
The president of the Boston University College Republicans, apparently an international student from the UK, said last week he had been “calling ICE for months on end” to raid an Allston car wash and “detain these criminals” May Zac Segal be forever relegated to working at car washes #whiteprivilege
BU student says he called ICE ‘for months’ prior to Allston Car Wash raid - The Boston Globe
“This week they finally responded to my request,” Zac Segal wrote on Nov. 8. “As someone who lives in the neighborhood, I’ve seen how American jobs are being given away to those with no right to be he...
www.bostonglobe.com
November 13, 2025 at 6:51 PM
He might want to consider what percentage of BU and Allston area food service workers are immigrants before taking a bite of that chocolate pie.
And how did this bellend conclude that the car wash workers he wouldn’t tip didn’t have work authorization? Because they spoke Spanish?
Who does he think he is, Brett Kavanaugh?
Who does he think he is, Brett Kavanaugh?
According to the car wash owner, agents arrested employees before they could obtain their documentation from their work lockers. So many were likely here legally.
Here's hoping this article on Zac boasting about how he ruined some immigrants' lives follows him around for a very long time.
Here's hoping this article on Zac boasting about how he ruined some immigrants' lives follows him around for a very long time.
BU College Republicans president says he called ICE to ‘detain these criminals’ at Allston Car Wash
The president of Boston University College Republicans wrote on X he called the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement requesting it detain employees at Allston Car Wash, the site of a Nov. 4 raid w...
dailyfreepress.com
November 13, 2025 at 6:50 PM
And how did this bellend conclude that the car wash workers he wouldn’t tip didn’t have work authorization? Because they spoke Spanish?
Who does he think he is, Brett Kavanaugh?
Who does he think he is, Brett Kavanaugh?
Remind me: when small businesses are being squeezed by credit card oligopolies to provide lavish rewards to the richest 1%, is that class warfare?
I’ve yet to see any of the writing about this settlement grapple with what strikes me as an obvious signal of how merchants’ newfound ability to reject premium Visas and Mastercards is gonna go: U.S. merchants could already opt to reject Amex cards, which are all high swipe fee, and they don’t.
The golden age of US credit card rewards may be at an end on.ft.com/4odwGo1 | opinion
November 13, 2025 at 6:43 PM
Remind me: when small businesses are being squeezed by credit card oligopolies to provide lavish rewards to the richest 1%, is that class warfare?
Coming up on the next interesting conversation with Weird Ross Douthat:
Did Liberal Feminism Destroy Democracy?
Did Liberal Feminism Destroy Democracy?
Bring on Gilead!
Christian nationalist pastor Dale Partridge calls for repealing the 19th Amendment: Take away the right for females to vote!
“Nearly every legalized moral atrocity of the last 100 years was made possible by the female vote.” #cdnpoli
Christian nationalist pastor Dale Partridge calls for repealing the 19th Amendment: Take away the right for females to vote!
“Nearly every legalized moral atrocity of the last 100 years was made possible by the female vote.” #cdnpoli
November 13, 2025 at 6:35 PM
Coming up on the next interesting conversation with Weird Ross Douthat:
Did Liberal Feminism Destroy Democracy?
Did Liberal Feminism Destroy Democracy?
When will out of touch Democratic elites reach out to mainstream Republican apologists for pedophilia like her?
Megyn Kelly: "I know somebody very close to this case…Jeffrey Epstein, in this person's view, was not a pedophile…He was into the barely legal type, like he liked 15 year old girls…He wasn't into like 8 year olds…There's a difference between a 15 year old and a 5 year old."
November 13, 2025 at 6:10 PM
When will out of touch Democratic elites reach out to mainstream Republican apologists for pedophilia like her?
When the most rational Republican is the clown who gave machine guns to his kids, you know the Party is in rough shape
November 13, 2025 at 2:11 PM
When the most rational Republican is the clown who gave machine guns to his kids, you know the Party is in rough shape
King Arthur XVI could save some bucks by replacing his five useless white male columnists with AI prompts for “both sides,” “Berkeley,” and “Mamdani, as those boys haven’t had an original or even coherent thought in decades.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/07/b...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/07/b...
A.I. Sweeps Through Newsrooms, but Is It a Journalist or a Tool?
www.nytimes.com
November 13, 2025 at 2:06 PM
King Arthur XVI could save some bucks by replacing his five useless white male columnists with AI prompts for “both sides,” “Berkeley,” and “Mamdani, as those boys haven’t had an original or even coherent thought in decades.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/07/b...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/07/b...
It’s not inertia; it’s plutocracy. If government told the Dolans it was going to knock down horrible old Madison Square Garden and give them another site for an arena next to Yankee Stadium, you’d have a beautiful new Penn Station.
November 13, 2025 at 1:58 PM
It’s not inertia; it’s plutocracy. If government told the Dolans it was going to knock down horrible old Madison Square Garden and give them another site for an arena next to Yankee Stadium, you’d have a beautiful new Penn Station.
Who knew that Larry Summers was this loathsome?
*listens to earpiece*
I'm now informed that everyone knew.
*listens to earpiece*
I'm now informed that everyone knew.
"DO NOT REPEAT THIS INSIGHT" going into the history books alongside "DO NOT CONGRATULATE"
November 12, 2025 at 5:22 PM
Who knew that Larry Summers was this loathsome?
*listens to earpiece*
I'm now informed that everyone knew.
*listens to earpiece*
I'm now informed that everyone knew.
Probably hit too close to home for the multi-untalented ex-actor
November 12, 2025 at 4:04 PM
Probably hit too close to home for the multi-untalented ex-actor
Sorry Billy none of this is new. The Republican Party has been the tool of reactionary plutocrats since 1964. I'm surprised that in your decades of shilling for Republicans and their terrible policies you never stumbled over this simple fact.
“What is new is the confluence of three trends:
The sheer scale of wealth for the richest.
The untethering of compensation from performance.
The amount of harm these figures are willing to inflict on society.
All three are rising to a dangerously high tide.
open.substack.com/pub/thebulwa...
The sheer scale of wealth for the richest.
The untethering of compensation from performance.
The amount of harm these figures are willing to inflict on society.
All three are rising to a dangerously high tide.
open.substack.com/pub/thebulwa...
Welcome to Tesla Capitalism
Or: JVL explains why Americans are toying with socialism.
open.substack.com
November 12, 2025 at 3:59 PM
Sorry Billy none of this is new. The Republican Party has been the tool of reactionary plutocrats since 1964. I'm surprised that in your decades of shilling for Republicans and their terrible policies you never stumbled over this simple fact.
Somewhere very warm (or anywhere in Wyoming), Dick Cheney is grinning.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Venezuelans sent by Trump to El Salvador endured systematic torture, report finds
Human rights groups accuse Trump officials of complicity and draw comparison with scandal at Abu Ghraib prison
www.theguardian.com
November 12, 2025 at 3:57 PM
Somewhere very warm (or anywhere in Wyoming), Dick Cheney is grinning.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
