Excerpt: A hero of the resistance, clad in a pink polo shirt and Bermuda shorts, whipped what appears to be a footlong Subway sandwich at Trump’s occupying force in Washington, DC.

Killing people is bad, m’kay?, but a young man endlessly taunted at boot camp deserves some empathy. If he targeted specific people who’d targeted him, and didn’t just shoot soldiers at random, I’d be willing to let bygones be bygones and buy this gent a cup of coffee.

Forced detransition is torture, about the clearest case of cruel and unusual punishment I can imagine, but the Republicans’ Supreme Court will be OK with it.

Gosh — suddenly money isn’t free speech any more?

Excerpt: Police statistics show homicides, robberies and burglaries are down this year when compared with this time in 2024. Overall, violent crime is down 26% compared with this time a year ago.

Soon, the pretense will be too much bother, and the end of America will be announced. Feels like the announcement is coming closer and closer. Maybe it’ll a press release this afternoon, but I’ve been thinking it could be “this afternoon” for months.

When it happens, the media coverage will be brisk and shallow, and after two or three days of pundit hand-wringing, the top story will again be wildfires in California or a big wreck on the Interstate.

Excerpt: As night time set around the District, there was a report that the newly federalized police force had set up a checkpoint at the large intersection of New York Avenue and Bladensberg Road. Every car that passed that intersection was being stopped and its driver queried.

Police were seen in force at many metro train stop platforms throughout the day and were visible in high numbers particularly in the downtown area. Squads of police were recorded roving near the African American Museum and the Washington Monument. Groups of federalized police were also roving in downtown shopping areas.

It’s more normal than you think, at least the planning part. The doing part will be something you haven;t seen before, except in newsreels.

Excerpt: One portion which had previously described Trump’s “solicitation of foreign influence in the 2020 presidential election and defiance of Congressional subpoenas” as the impetus for his first impeachment now includes the word “alleged.”

A description of his second impeachment now omits a claim that Trump made repeated “false statements” challenging his loss in the 2020 election, as well as a quote from the impeachment article accusing Trump of delivering a speech that “encouraged — and foreseeably resulted in — lawless action at the Capitol.”

Me again: Apropos of nothing, my subscription to Smithsonian Magazine has now lapsed.

Excerpt: The driver, a 76-year-old woman, said she did not see him until he darted in front of her vehicle, the police report notes. (The driver faced no charges.)

Me again: The father’s black, the mother’s white, the prosecutor is a Republican, and this is North Carolina. And this is The New York Times, so the parents’ race isn’t even mentioned. Wouldn’t know it’s a mixed marriage if the paper hadn’t included a photo, but you can bet District Attorney Travis Page knows.

That’s so perfectly 2025.

Excerpt: The couple said the agents initially approached wearing masks, which alarmed them. “Who does that? Criminals do that. Robbers and thieves do that,” George said. “And that’s what we’re seeing by our own government.”