Sign in

Scratched Tooth

@keencritic.bsky.social
418 followers 237 following 6K posts

Superfan of Sondheim stuff, big fan of musical theatre in general. Lover of family, cats, reading, travel, pilpul. Tend to get overwrought. Also, Lord, I am affected by a bald patch.

PostsRepliesMedia
Scratched Tooth @keencritic.bsky.social · 4h
So Alito is starting to worry about the standing of his formerly Supreme once-great Court? Couldn't happen to a nicer Christofascist! www.thedailybeast.com/trumpy-justi...
thedailybeast.com
Trumpy Justice Sends Pointed Message After President’s SCOTUS Freakout
The president’s favorite right-wing judge claims he doesn’t listen to him.
010
Reposted by Scratched Tooth
Steve Vladeck @stevevladeck.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
"Had law enforcement and prosecutors engaged more thoroughly with Jane Doe’s original complaint, they might have tempered the vigilantism that would eventually tinge much of the response to the case." This is such a critical point (made by Jessica Winter via @newyorker.com)—and a lesson for others.
newyorker.com
How the “Cornell Seven” Rape Case Became a National Scandal
The dismal responses from both the D.A. and the university reveal a larger pattern of institutional carelessness.
1542998
Scratched Tooth @keencritic.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Roberts : Hupper Island = Dershowitz : Martha's Vineyard. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/01/u...
nytimes.com
John Roberts Retreated to His Island. Supreme Court Critics Found Him. (Gift Article)
After decades of potlucks and paddle-boarding on Maine’s midcoast, rising anger and protests have left the Supreme Court’s chief justice more isolated than ever.
120
Scratched Tooth @keencritic.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
I don't know that I would describe the destruction of the Establishment Clause as being primarily Roberts' agenda, but whoever is behind it, it is like a landslide rolling downhill. Wait til the practices of the DoD under Hegseth reach the Court! www.nytimes.com/2026/09/30/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | This Case Has Flown Under the Radar. It Won’t Stay There. (Gift Article)
This case has flown under the radar, but it won’t stay there.
010
Reposted by Scratched Tooth
Ada Palmer @adapalmer.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Vivid numbers in this overview of Illinois’s new Net Zero carbon plan: “improvements in air quality alone would lead to between 392 & 631 fewer premature deaths per year. That translates to between $8.8 and $13.8 billion in avoided healthcare costs & increased worker productivity.” #ShareGoodNewsToo
hpherald.com
Illinois EPA releases ‘Comprehensive Climate Action Plan’ to reach ‘net zero’ emissions
SPRINGFIELD — Illinois has made substantial progress in reducing greenhouse gas emissions in recent years, but it is not yet on track to meet its goal of reaching net-zero emissions
112231
Reposted by Scratched Tooth
Democracy Docket @democracydocket.com · 01/10/2026
NEW: As Texas’s top attorney, Ken Paxton has the power to challenge election outcomes — including the U.S. Senate race he’s the GOP candidate for. If Paxton loses, legal experts say he could try to weaponize his power. But they also have confidence in the courts: demdock.com/4jvWgFM
918268
Reposted by Scratched Tooth
Democracy Docket @democracydocket.com · 30/09/2026
The Biden-appointed judge concluded that federal law does not authorize the DOJ's demands for the state's voter roll. She also noted that the Peach State repeatedly offered the department the public version of its voter roll, which would be enough. Read the full story:
democracydocket.com
DOJ now 0-26 after judge rejects  demand for Georgia voter rolls
The judge said the Civil Rights Act does not authorize DOJ's demands for the Peach State’s unredacted voter roll.
317742
Reposted by Scratched Tooth
Democracy Docket @democracydocket.com · 30/09/2026
🚨BREAKING: In a win for Georgia voters, a federal judge dismissed the DOJ's lawsuit seeking access to the state's unredacted voter registration list. The department is now 0-26 in its sweeping legal hunt for states' private voter data.
151070309
Scratched Tooth @keencritic.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
What is the definition of "irony"? Or, "hoist by its own petard"? www.nytimes.com/2026/09/29/u...
nytimes.com
Trump Launches America.gov, an AI Chatbot That Contradicts Some of His Claims (Gift Article)
Democrats amplified statements from America.gov that frequently contradict the president on tariffs, election fraud and other topics.
131
Scratched Tooth @keencritic.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
First sentence: "President Trump is such an awful human being that just writing about him feels degrading." Period. Full stop. The rest of the column is supererogatory. But read it anyway, to contemplate all the ways Trump is likely to kill us. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/29/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | Trump Is Going Viral in the Worst Ways (Gift Article)
On the technological, diplomatic and biological fronts, Trump is creating a disaster.
020
Scratched Tooth @keencritic.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Can we please deport the six motherfuckers to CECOT? Or South Sudan? www.nytimes.com/2026/09/29/u...
nytimes.com
Supreme Court Allows Rapid Third-Country Deportations, for Now (Gift Article)
The court also announced it would hear arguments in December on the legality of the Trump administration policy to swiftly deport immigrants to countries not their own.
010
Scratched Tooth @keencritic.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Who's the dirtbag now, Eric? newrepublic.com/post/215976/...
newrepublic.com
GOP Senator Tries to Trap Jack Smith—and Gets Every Detail Wrong
Senator Eric Schmitt accused Smith of having shady meetings while in Atlanta for a professional basketball game. In reality, Smith was in Maryland on the date in question for a college basketball game...
010
Reposted by Scratched Tooth
SARS‑CoV‑2 (COVID-19) @covid19disease.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
www.sciencedaily.com/releases/202...
sciencedaily.com
This virus therapy supercharges the immune system against brain cancer
Scientists have found a way to make one of the most aggressive brain tumors vulnerable to the immune system. A single injection of a modified virus can invade glioblastoma, kill cancer cells, and summ...
6448169
Scratched Tooth @keencritic.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Until we're prepared to govern the entire US by "town" meeting, there will always be elites. The role of the voting public is to choose which elite will govern. Shades of "We're a republic, not a democracy". www.nytimes.com/2026/09/28/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | Trump Revealed Something Essential About Elites (Gift Article)
There are always elites. The people get to decide which ones rule.
110
Scratched Tooth @keencritic.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Writing versus face-to-face conversation as the "highest cultivation of thought". www.nytimes.com/2026/09/29/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | I’m a College Professor. Writing Isn’t as Important as We Think. (Gift Article)
If I do not treat writing as essential for achieving thought, it is not clear why I should force my students to.
100
Scratched Tooth @keencritic.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Didn't even read the column--the headline says it all! Truth. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/29/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | I’m Exhausted. You’re Demoralized. We Weren’t Built for a World Like This. (Gift Article)
A greatly underappreciated virtue of other presidents was that you could forget about them for weeks at a time.
010
Scratched Tooth @keencritic.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
This is the most unequivocal Edsall has ever been. Halevai! www.nytimes.com/2026/09/29/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | Trump’s Luck Is Finally Running Out (Gift Article)
Voters are showing a growing determination to repudiate his presidency.
010
Reposted by Scratched Tooth
Democracy Docket @democracydocket.com · 29/09/2026
Coverage like this doesn't happen without support from our readers. Subscribe for free or become a member to back our work directly: demdock.com/3T3Owjg
25111
Reposted by Scratched Tooth
Democracy Docket @democracydocket.com · 29/09/2026
Rep. Mike Collins, the Trump-endorsed GOP candidate for Georgia’s U.S. Senate seat, said he was “fine” with the idea of federal troops at voting sites. In reality, deploying armed federal agents to polling places isn’t “fine” — it’s illegal: demdock.com/4ykNqzg
20483183
Scratched Tooth @keencritic.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
"What's wrong with Ohio?" from a Republican perspective. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/29/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | It Won’t Be So Easy for Democrats to Make Data Centers Their Issue (Gift Article)
The problems of technology were there before Trump and will be there after.
000
Scratched Tooth @keencritic.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Gessen is unequivocal about war crimes but somewhat equivocal on genocide. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/28/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | There Is a Word So Powerful It Need Be Spoken Only Once (Gift Article)
The film that makes a powerful statement without ever raising its voice.
021
Scratched Tooth @keencritic.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
We've heard *about* what Bill Gates fears re AI. Here we can hear his own voice as he speaks to Ezra Klein. He's scared. That makes me scared. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/29/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | Bill Gates’s Blunt Warning on A.I. (Gift Article)
As A.I. capabilities accelerate, the technologist is shocked by the “complete lack of engagement” with the question of how to manage its risks.
100
Reposted by Scratched Tooth
Marc Elias @marcelias.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
🚨BREAKING: Republican members of the Georgia State Election Board (SEB) adopted a resolution Monday seeking the Trump administration to intervene in a vague crusade against the state’s voting system just weeks before the midterm elections. www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...
democracydocket.com
Georgia election board asks for Trump admin to help go after state’s voting machines
“I think this is federal overreach," the board's lone Democrat warned.
1021417788
Scratched Tooth @keencritic.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Just read it and react. I mean, the author is a professor of philosophy, and has an obvious bias. Doesn't mean he's wrong, doesn't mean he's right. But in a universe I controlled, he would be right. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/27/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | The Id, the Ego and the Superintelligence (Gift Article)
Artificial intelligence isn’t coming for philosophers’ jobs — it needs philosophers, and always will.
021
Scratched Tooth @keencritic.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
No Catholic (or Christian) I, but *THIS*!
010
Reposted by Scratched Tooth
Marie 🇨🇦 @pawbaby2.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
This meme really asks one question: Is this the America you want? Because November 3rd is when Americans get to answer. Remember what you’ve seen. Remember what’s at stake. Then vote.🔵 #USDemocracy #RisingBlue
571630901
Reposted by Scratched Tooth
Marc Elias @marcelias.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Elias Law Group is currently litigating 85 voting and election cases in 41 states.
23897392113
Reposted by Scratched Tooth
Ada Palmer @adapalmer.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Wow #ShareGoodNewsToo
09633
Scratched Tooth @keencritic.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
It's not the stupid, unconstitutional, losing, destructive war--it's the effect it's having on prices. Duh. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/23/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | How Trump’s Iran War May Sink Republican Midterm Chances (Gift Article)
The president might be supercharging what already looked like a blue wave.
110
Scratched Tooth @keencritic.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Whatever crimes you are committing, whatever losses or failures you are experiencing, there is no better way of hiding them from the public than emasculating the press' ability to discover and report them. @davidfrenchjag.bsky.social understands this. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/24/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | What Pete Hegseth Is Hiding (Gift Article)
Soldiers want to tell their stories, and we need to hear them.
020
Reposted by Scratched Tooth
Heather Cox Richardson (TDPR) @hcrichardson.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
September 23, 2026
heathercoxrichardson.substack.com
September 23, 2026
Yesterday, William Turton, Avi Asher-Schapiro, Molly Redden, and Kirsten Berg of ProPublica published a blockbuster story reporting that the anti-corruption group of the Federal Bureau of Investigatio...
46865331
Reposted by Scratched Tooth
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Jacob Rees-Mogg, the most stereotypically Tory conservative man of the 21st Century, responded to Suella Braverman with a long-form video criticizing her position and rejecting a race-based theory of Englishness, and in response has been ratioed by the increasingly feral British online far-right.
Jacob Rees-Mogg
@Jacob_R...•22h
The English are a mongrel people, not an Aryan master race.

Underneath is an extremely English-looking man in a suit sitting in front of a large bookshelf.

There are 6.2 thousand comments compared to 6 thousand likes.
961544276
Reposted by Scratched Tooth
jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 23/09/2026
“the english are a mongrel people (laudatory)”
1074029358
Scratched Tooth @keencritic.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Works for me! H/t Steve Miller Court Orders Kennedy Name Removed From RFK Jr. share.google/hJVaKyFdRBmK...
share.google
Court Orders Kennedy Name Removed From RFK Jr.
“Henceforth, the former Mr. Kennedy will be known as Robert Francis Trump,” the judge ruled.
000
Reposted by Scratched Tooth
Democracy Docket @democracydocket.com · 23/09/2026
NEW: More than half of Americans believe U.S. democracy is in trouble, according to a new poll. To address the issues, Democrats focused on expanding voter access, while Republicans primarily proposed changes that would make voting more difficult. Find details here: demdock.com/3SYvZp1
democracydocket.com
1123365
Reposted by Scratched Tooth
bjkeefe @bjkeefe.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
More, via @phaseblowly.bsky.social bsky.app/profile/reic...
121
Reposted by Scratched Tooth
bjkeefe @bjkeefe.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
There really do have to be serious and wide-ranging prosecutions once the Dems get back in power.
1133
Reposted by Scratched Tooth
Marc Elias @marcelias.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Missouri abruptly dropped a federal lawsuit Friday that sought to exclude some noncitizens from being included in the population count used to allocate seats in Congress and Electoral College votes among the states. www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...
democracydocket.com
Missouri drops GOP-led bid to rig elections by excluding undocumented from census count
Hanaway launched the case with sweeping claims that noncitizens were improperly taking representation away from U.S. citizens and that states with large immigrant populations were benefiting at Missou...
391582509
Scratched Tooth @keencritic.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Trump and Vought versus the universe of sane humans www.nytimes.com/2026/09/20/s...
nytimes.com
White House Moves to Take Control of N.I.H. Grants (Gift Article)
Federal officials are drafting an executive order that would place grants under review by an outside panel, the latest effort to redirect billions of dollars in research spending.
030
Scratched Tooth @keencritic.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
See Pathological Lying or Mythomania: Pathological Lying, Mythomania, Compulsive Liars, Pseudologia Fantastica - Still Mind Florida share.google/TCKnFOcb09X0... www.nytimes.com/2026/09/19/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | Has Trump Lost Touch With Reality? (Gift Article)
Three Opinions writers debate whether the president’s recent behavior is really that different from what we’ve seen from him over the years.
023
Scratched Tooth @keencritic.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Hmmm... I guess if it helps the bereaved and harms no-one, why bother trying to debunk it? But should we bother trying to establish it as a fact? www.nytimes.com/2026/09/20/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | Go Ahead and Laugh at Mediums. They May Be On to Something. (Gift Article)
Research into the benefits of sensing those we’ve lost.
100
Scratched Tooth @keencritic.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
That makes me feel *much* better. www.cnn.com/2026/09/20/p...
cnn.com
Trump says proposed triumphal arch will double as military complex | CNN Politics
President Donald Trump on Sunday provided a new reason behind his proposal to build a 250-foot triumphal arch directly across Arlington National Cemetery, saying the structure would double as a “top g...
010
Scratched Tooth @keencritic.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Assumes a fact not in evidence--"democratic messianism" did not, and does not, equal "exceptionalism". We should strive to be the best society we can be without worrying about whether the rest of the world is copying us, imho. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/20/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | The End of American Exceptionalism? (Gift Article)
Liberal democracy is in worldwide retreat, including in its birthplace — the United States.
000
Scratched Tooth @keencritic.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Wouldn't Asimov's Four Laws of Robotics (including the Zeroth Law) work here? Is it possible to code it into all AI? [POV: I feel so ignorant!] www.nytimes.com/2026/09/20/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | This Is What I Fear Most About A.I. (Gift Article)
Letting A.I. patrol its own frontier is like asking Jesse James to patrol the Wild West.
000
Scratched Tooth @keencritic.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
@davidfrenchjag.bsky.social attempts to devalue the US arrival date of a family's first-to-arrive ancestor as a guide to that family's grade of citizenship/entitlement. But he does so by calling on Spiderman's ethic, "with great blessings come great responsibilities". That won't work. cont'd
nytimes.com
Opinion | JD Vance Has a Twisted Idea of What It Means to Be American (Gift Article)
I am a “heritage American,” too. How should that guide my life?
200
Scratched Tooth @keencritic.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Nor would I.
010
Scratched Tooth @keencritic.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
RIP. May he rest in Purple Summer. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/18/a...
nytimes.com
Duncan Sheik, Who Traded Pop Stardom for Broadway, Dies at 56 (Gift Article)
Weary of the heartthrob label after his 1996 hit “Barely Breathing,” he pivoted to musical theater and won two Tonys for composing “Spring Awakening.”
000
Scratched Tooth @keencritic.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
"[W]hen the new right praises meritocracy, the last thing they are is colorblind...After spending years and years complaining when the left used admissions statistics to decry disproportionate racial admissions, the new right is now doing the exact same thing." French on French.
nytimes.com
Opinion | Watching Bigots Erupt (Gift Article)
This is what I see when I look at the picture Bo French hates.
040
Scratched Tooth @keencritic.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Go Julia! www.nytimes.com/2026/09/16/t...
nytimes.com
Julia Louis-Dreyfus Is Ready to Make a Meal of Broadway (Gift Article)
The actress, last onstage over four decades ago, had a “terrifying” desire to return to the stage. “Other Desert Cities” will be her Broadway debut.
000
Scratched Tooth @keencritic.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
"His past criticism of Israel — he has said he opposes Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state — has continued to be a concern for Jewish Democratic voters in Michigan." cont'd
nytimes.com
Democrats Meet With El-Sayed, Putting Aside Rifts Ahead of Midterms (Gift Article)
Despite disagreements on Israel, more than a dozen Democratic senators huddled in Washington with the Michigan Senate nominee and emerged sounding optimistic.
300