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Jonathan Cohn

@jonathancohn.bsky.social
36K followers 6.6K following 15K posts

Editor. Political director for Progressive Mass. Opinions are my own. Phone-banking-while-walking evangelist.

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Jonathan Cohn @jonathancohn.bsky.social · 55m
"People who suddenly pour big money into something like that aren’t just trying to “raise awareness” — whatever that really means. They are trying to influence public policy. And the public has a right to know who they are, and what they really want." www.bostonglobe.com/2026/10/03/m...
bostonglobe.com
‘Dark Money’ comes for the Boston Public Schools - The Boston Globe
The education advocacy group claims its mission is to bring awareness to what it says is the sorry plight of the city’s public schools.
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flyingrodent @flyingrodent.bsky.social · 7h
Two successive governments laid themselves open to war crimes charges, beshitted their reputations and radicalised much of the populace against them because the American government demanded we assist this man’s atrocities.
Daily Mail © @DailyMail • 4h
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Benjamin Netanyahu tells NATALIE LISBONA:
'Britain under Burnham is like a rogue state - attacking Israel while appeasing an Islamist, leftist alliance'
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Eric Lipton NYT @ericlipton.nytimes.com · 1h
The pending oil deal involves Russian Lukoil international assets (now sanctioned by the US) that would be acquired at a big discount by a Trump campaign donor, a UAE-based investor in Trump/Witkoff family crypto company, and Kushner/Ivanka's Qatari-based real estate partners.
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Karen Attiah @karenattiah.bsky.social · 13h
Mike Pompeo has been rewarded with a teaching fellowship at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. The same school that canceled my class on media, race and international affairs. @columbiasipa.bsky.social share.google/KEvTy5yER71U...
share.google
Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to join SIPA faculty
Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will join the School of International and Public Affairs as a fellow at SIPA’s Institute of Global Politics in March, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday.
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Blue sky nice ghost @rajandelman.bsky.social · 7h
Exciting way to make strangers approach you at airports like, "So you're a fascist or have insane gambling debt, huh"
Danny Trejo, Harvey Keitel and Henry Thomas to star in Daily Wire‘s new pro-ICE movie

What happened?  

I thought that Harvey Keitel starred in too few films in recent years... and now this?

"A call sheet seen by Deadline lists Danny Trejo, Harvey Keitel and Henry Thomas among the cast."

[https://deadline.com/2026/10/montana-protest-daily-wire-pro-ice-production-renee-good-1237145614/](https://deadline.com/2026/10/montana-protest-daily-wire-pro-ice-production-renee-good-1237145614/)
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Hoodlum 🇺🇸 @nothoodlum.bsky.social · 7h
A CNN investigation revealing Jared Kushner, tasked by Trump to negotiate peace in Gaza, owns a company with a major stake in a firm linked to Israel's military.
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Eric Lipton NYT @ericlipton.nytimes.com · 1h
JUST POSTED: Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff have pushed a multibillion oil deal with Russia as part of peace talks that will bring profits to their family business partners. A new front for Trump-era conflicts of interest. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/03/u...
nytimes.com
U.S.-Russia Talks on Ukraine Now Involve an Oil Deal Tied to Trump Allies (Gift Article)
President Vladimir V. Putin brought up a sale of Russian energy assets with President Trump’s envoys, Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, pushing a deal that raises new questions about conflicts of inter...
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Jason Poulos @poulos.house · 22h
You've been organizing for years and have only made friends with private equity executives?
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Chad Loder @chadloder.dev · 10h
ICE builds more prisons because the goal is explicitly to warehouse surplus labor, criminalize poverty, and assert total control over all of society. When Stephen Miller claims there are 25, 30, or even 50 million "illegal immigrants" in the US, he's betting on how many of us he'll need to imprison
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Jonathan Cohn @jonathancohn.bsky.social · 11h
Just remembered the time two drunken sophomores started making it out in a housemates' room at a party (and seemed to be about to go further), and the housemate of mine whose room it was physically dragged the guy out of the house and the girl seemed so confused by what was going on.
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Jonathan Cohn @jonathancohn.bsky.social · 11h
"All their accounts differed, frequently contradicted each other and generally ran counter to the statements given by the woman to the Cornell police in 2024." What happens when they are lying. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/01/n...
nytimes.com
Chi Phi Members Accused in Cornell Sex Assault Lawsuit Give Varying Accounts of Night
Their accounts, detailed in hundreds of pages of investigative files obtained by The New York Times, were disjointed and sometimes contradictory. All the men denied any wrongdoing.
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state song thread guy @statesongxprt.bsky.social · 12h
The purpose of California is to be America's cautionary tale but it only works if we listen
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Jonathan Cohn @jonathancohn.bsky.social · 12h
@progressivemass.bsky.social palm cards have arrived!
This November, Massachusetts will see *9* statewide ballot questions, a historic number. But we’ve got you covered. 

✅VOTE YES ON 1 to expand the public records law to cover the Governor and the Legislature. We’re the only state in the country that doesn’t do that already. Let the sunlight in.

✅VOTE YES ON 2 to enable public defenders to collectively bargain. Every worker deserves to have a union, and public defenders, who are often overworked and underpaid, should be no exception. 

❌VOTE NO ON 3 to prevent private equity billionaires from rigging our election system in their favor. Top-two primaries empower corporate PACs and self-funders, disadvantage grassroots candidates, and turn MAGA voters into election kingmakers. 

✅VOTE YES ON 4 to enable voters to register to vote or update their registration on Election Day. No eligible voter should be turned away due to a clerical error, and this reform is one of the most proven ways to increase voter turnout. 

❌VOTE NO ON 5 to protect our state’s ability to invest in health care, transportation, and public education. The rich would get millions in tax rebates, while the rest of us suffer from underfunded public services. 

⚪VOTE how you want on 6. Question 6 fell shy of our endorsement threshold: our members valued land and water conservation, but were worried about the dedication of existing funds as opposed to new ones. 

✅VOTE YES on 7 to enable  more starter homes across the Commonwealth. We have a housing crisis, and large lot size requirements mean fewer homes are able to be built. 

❌VOTE NO on 8 to protect our state’s cannabis laws. We said NO to the war on drugs back in 2016, and we shouldn’t turn back time and destroy local economies. 

✅VOTE YES ON 9 to protect our state’s landmark gun safety law, which cracked down on ghost guns, banned machine gun conversion devices, and strengthened gun violence data collection.
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Bob Van Meter @bobvm.bsky.social · 12h
This is one reason to vote no on Mass ballot question 3.
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Oliver 🏳️‍🌈 @ojc.bsky.social · 15h
If Q3 passes then rich Republicans would be able to: - Fund more Democrats to run and split the vote - Bribe Republicans (beyond the top 2) to drop out With the goal of splitting the D vote and forcing two unpopular Republicans as the only two choices in the general election.
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Oliver 🏳️‍🌈 @ojc.bsky.social · 15h
The absolute antithesis of what RCV is trying to solve. Somehow this Q3 proposal is even worse than our existing FPTP system, and that’s an impressively sh*t accomplishment.
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Jonathan Cohn @jonathancohn.bsky.social · 16h
It’s always shocking to me when RCV supporters back top two because it fixes nothing that RCV fixes and creates new problems. No on 3
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Ken Sinclair @khsinclair.bsky.social · 23h
They'll be funding 17 Democratic candidates to replace Senator Warren, one Republican, and Seth Moulton. A jungle indeed.
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David E. Sullivan @dsulliva2.bsky.social · 22h
For people who just want to reform politics, those private equity oligarchs are awfully reluctant to talk www.bostonglobe.com/2026/10/02/m...
bostonglobe.com
Why is the investment world financing a Mass. ballot question to eliminate partisan primaries? - The Boston Globe
A wave of wealthy individuals with ties to various investment, private equity, and venture capital firms has put millions of dollars behind a ballot question to scrap the state's party primaries.
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Jonathan Cohn @jonathancohn.bsky.social · 20h
Terrible for the film industry to be owned by the Saudi government. What a joke the FCC is. apnews.com/article/para...
apnews.com
FCC grants Paramount's indirect ownership request for Gulf funds in Warner Bros. Discovery buyout
As Paramount looks to take over Warner Bros. Discovery, it’s racked up billions of dollars in financial backing from three Gulf countries.
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Stephen Nuñez @socio-steve.bsky.social · 23h
Anyway I love that the news about our political class is now just constant French ancien regime debauchery all the time.
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Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
some descriptive statistics here on the civility industrial complex on college campuses that I haven’t seen analyzed before www.uncivilcollective.org/resources
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Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 23h
Big development: Dems are growing increasingly bullish on sweeping the big House races in South Texas. A DCCC official tells me internal polling shows Trump's approval cratering in key districts there: TX-15: 36% TX-28: 28% TX-34: 35% This and much more on the pod: newrepublic.com/article/2161...
newrepublic.com
Trump’s Weird Tirade on Midterms Accidentally Reveals Key GOP Weakness
As Trump’s monologue about his Texas midterm convention exposes a problem for the GOP, a Democratic operative argues that his collapse in South Texas is a real tell about what’s coming.
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Handmaid @handmaid.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
It's true that Mass Ballot Q-3 to establish "Jungle Primaries" is funded almost entirely by Private Equity Vultures, all of whom will not defend their investment to the press. Their silence, and fact that Q3 contributors have spent the most behind any of all 9 Questions, screams "No on 3" to me.
bostonglobe.com
Why is the investment world financing a Mass. ballot question to eliminate partisan primaries? - The Boston Globe
A wave of wealthy individuals with ties to various investment, private equity, and venture capital firms has put millions of dollars behind a ballot question to scrap the state's party primaries.
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Goldstein (still not a pseudonym) @goldstein.latinsky.app · 23h
If the penalty for getting caught is lower than the profit its just the cost of doing business.
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Boston Ward 4 Dems @bostonward4dems.bsky.social · 23h
Vote no on 3! www.bostonglobe.com/2026/10/02/m...
bostonglobe.com
Why is the investment world financing a Mass. ballot question to eliminate partisan primaries? - The Boston Globe
A wave of wealthy individuals with ties to various investment, private equity, and venture capital firms has put millions of dollars behind a ballot question to scrap the state's party primaries.
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Jonathan Cohn @jonathancohn.bsky.social · 23h
A very good question indeed! Remember: The most dangerous words in the English language are “We’re from private equity, and we’re here to help.” www.bostonglobe.com/2026/10/02/m...
bostonglobe.com
Why is the investment world financing a Mass. ballot question to eliminate partisan primaries? - The Boston Globe
A wave of wealthy individuals with ties to various investment, private equity, and venture capital firms has put millions of dollars behind a ballot question to scrap the state's party primaries.
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Jonathan Cohn @jonathancohn.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Meta is lying to the IRS in order to claim billions in tax breaks. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/30/t...
nytimes.com
How Meta Uses A.I. Data Centers to Avoid Billions in Federal Taxes
Meta is exploiting a lucrative tax break intended to support research and experimentation. Its own accountants say the gambit is risky.
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Rich Raho @richraho.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
The Keynote Speaker at the Annual National Catholic Prayer Breakfast in March, folks.
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Joshua Foust 🪖🎮 @joshuafoust.com · 19/09/2026
It should be illegal to buy a company with debt and then sell it off to a foreign owner, but that fight was lost long ago. Anyway, now the Saudis own a truly distressing portion of American entertainment, from Hollywood to Video Games to Sports. This is not neutral behavior. Anyway.
arstechnica.com
FCC lets Paramount sell 49.5% equity stake to Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Qatar
FCC rejects concerns about repressive governments buying influence over CBS owner.
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Jonathan Cohn @jonathancohn.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Good. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
theguardian.com
Letitia James appointed special prosecutor in alleged gang-rape at Cornell
New York attorney general brought in by governor after recent questions raised over university’s 2024 investigation
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kat 🌻 @kataclyst.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Someone tried to tell me that jungle primaries are “more democratic“ and I said,“hahaha, no on 3”.
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Greenb3ar @greenb3ar.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
jungle primaries remain the absolute worst
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Jonathan Cohn @jonathancohn.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
CA's jungle primaries created one less pickup opportunity in CA. CA-40 was recreated to be a Republican seat, but given that it's just R+6, it would be competitive in the current national environment. But because of CA's jungle primaries, it's just two Republicans in November
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Seth Miller @wandrme.paxex.aero · 02/10/2026
She went to the cops. She reported she was raped. They didn't bother writing that part down in the report. 🤬🤬🤬
At the center of the criticism has been the revelation that the woman, in her statements to the police at the time, said that she could say “with 100 percent confidence I was raped.” While the six-page statement explained that she felt some of the night’s events were a crime, it omitted the more definitive language detailed in an transcription of her interview with investigators.
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zyvara.bsky.social @zyvara.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Apparently college programs now need to prove they pay enough to deserve federal loans. Teachers, social workers, artists and public servants: your worth apparently comes with an earnings threshold. What an unbelievably stupid way to measure education 🤦‍♂️
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Jonathan Cohn @jonathancohn.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
So excited
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Jonathan Cohn @jonathancohn.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
“It’s a very difficult sell to make to anybody that the Legislature and governor shouldn’t be subject to the public records law. Straightforward good government questions will always resonate with voters.” #mapoli commonwealthbeacon.org/by-the-numbe...
commonwealthbeacon.org
Republican voters split with party on gun law; Dems want more access to public records from Democrat-dominated offices
“It’s a very difficult sell to make to anybody that the Legislature and governor shouldn’t be subject to the public records law,” said Jonathan Cohn, policy director of Progressive Massachusetts. “Str...
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Kashana @kashana.blacksky.app · 01/10/2026
Gavin in ‘28: I’m just a chill, fun loving left wing presidential candidate who’s into pervert glasses and going downtown to throw out homeless people’s shit myself
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Angie Nixon @angieforfl.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
The most ordinary man imaginable came to my home state to tell me to ‘get out of America’ while he & Absent Ashley enjoyed the comfort of buildings my ancestors helped build. Imagine standing on the shoulders of the ppl who built this country & then telling their descendants they don’t belong here/2
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Angie Nixon @angieforfl.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
I don't wanna COUCH my words here: I know JD Vance, his eyeliner, and absent Ashley Moody are used to running away from people when things get tough because they care more about themselves and their billionaire buddies than the people they represent. But this is my home. /1
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Charlie Warzel @cwarzel.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
For a long time I've wanted a sense of how trump has or hasn't interacted with chatbots (we know he posts a lot of slop sure). And this TIME anecdote about Grok arguably leading Trump into war is just extremely bracing
Since returning to office, Trump has marveled at AI’s capabilities. He is increasingly in thrall to the tech executives courting him. In December 2025, Elon Musk returned to the Oval Office for a clandestine meeting. Trump spent hours asking Grok, Musk’s AI chatbot, questions about his presidency and legacy, according to an official present. At the time, Trump was ordering missile strikes against Venezuelan boats he alleged were smuggling drugs into the U.S. He asked Grok how Venezuelans would react if the U.S. captured Maduro. According to the official present, the chatbot responded that Maduro was a repressive and deeply unpopular dictator and that many Venezuelans would likely celebrate his downfall. After Trump ordered the mission to seize Maduro, the following month, celebrations broke out in the streets. Trump, according to officials, came away thinking Grok was ingenious.
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Liz Zelnick @lizzelnick.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Phew, connecting those corporate dots takes a lot work! Check out my substack about the ballot questions, including question 3: substack.com/home/post/p-...
substack.com
Ballot Mania in Massachusetts
How I’m voting and why there are so many ballot initiatives this election
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Jonathan Cohn @jonathancohn.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
“Letting private equity executives buy their preferred election system will make the legislative audit happen” is an embarrassingly inane argument and a sign of remarkable bad faith from Yes on 3 supporters.
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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
A victory for the government in this case would greenlight long-term mass civil detention at a level not seen since Japanese internment during WWII. It would represent the largest change in how the US treats immigrants facing removal since 1996, and remind us again that the 96 law must be erased.
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tim dewey @tjdfotographist.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
My god, everything this administration does is stupid.
"Today, the passport arrives in an envelope that can look like any other letter," Rubio said. "We wanted to turn receiving a passport into an experience that people will remember and keep."
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Jonathan Cohn @jonathancohn.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
"Whether Axon is as bad as Flock is temporal, experts told me, because any concern people have with Flock that isn’t currently a concern with Axon could quickly become one. " prospect.org/2026/10/01/l...
prospect.org
License Plate and Switch - The American Prospect
Cities are succumbing to public pressure and removing Flock license plate readers. But they are substituting alternatives with the same capabilities.
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Jonathan Cohn @jonathancohn.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Putting tech executives in charge of your "future of warfare" taskforce is just asking them to provide ways they can enrich themselves off of war www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
theguardian.com
Pete Hegseth appoints Elon Musk to US taskforce on future of warfare
A year after his explosive tenure at Doge, the SpaceX CEO is back in the Trump administration’s good graces
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Jonathan Cohn @jonathancohn.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Narrating my inbox the evening of the last day of a fundraising quarter
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Jonathan Cohn @jonathancohn.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Is it too much to ask of Ed Flynn and Erin Murphy that they file things on time? www.universalhub.com/2026/council...
universalhub.com
Councilors unanimously approve emergency resolution to support burned-out Nubian Square businesses, then descend into a cauldron of castigation over emergency motions in general
The Boston City Council today unanimously supported an emergency resolution to urge city departments to do everything they can to help the businesses burned out by Monday's six-alarm fire in the Ediso...
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