Atlantic publishes Caitlyn Flanagan's love letter to Bari Weiss for some reason
Release Date: 10/15/2025
SCOTUS Made Gerrymandering So Easy, You’d Have to Be a Texas Republican to F It Up
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OA1209 - Are you done with legal doomerism? Us too. Take some time away from doomscrolling and join Matt and Jenessa for Rapid Response Friday as we consider four stories of legal corruption and authoritarianism failing in the face of honest federal judges, and a footnote about how one brave prison nurse exposed even more corruption in Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell’s special treatment by the Trump administration. , Northern Dist. of NY (7/9/25) in U.S. v. New York (8/4/25) Judge Mae D’Agostino’s in U.S. v. NY (11/17/25) , Eastern Dist. of VA (9/25/25) Judge...
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Epstein files reveal he was BFFs with Steve Bannon and offered him USE OF THE ISLAND. and his house.
Opening Arguments
VR14 - Part 2 of the Epstein files We continue our first look at some highlights from last week's massive release of more than 20,000 pages of material from the estate of Jeffrey Epstein released by the House Oversight Committee, including Steve Bannon and ASU professor Lawrence Krauss among others. We also consider Megyn Kelly's appalling response before leaving the last word where it belongs: with the women who have come forward to tell their stories on behalf of themselves and those who will never be able to. held outside the US Capitol (9/3/25) Check out the OA for all the...
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Emails reveal Larry Summers went to Epstein for advice on women. He STILL teaches at Harvard.
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OA1208 - We go beyond the Trump-related content in the latest round of Epstein disclosures by the House Oversight Committee to explore what we can learn from the many people in Jeffrey Epstein's orbit who flattered, patronized, and enabled him. Part 1 of 2. Robert Kuttner, The American Prospect (7/13/2020) , Dahlia Lithwick & Susan Matthews, Slate (10/5/2018) , Yale Law Women Board (10/2020) Watch this episode on YouTube here: Check out the OA for all the places to go and things to do!
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Reminder to Congress: Impeachment Exists. And It's the Only Acceptable Response to the Epstein Cover-up
Opening Arguments
OA1207 - We record a late-breaking reaction to the recent massive round of documents released from Jeffrey Epstein's estate and discuss how Trump may have just reached his most impeachable moment so far. Matt then shares some incredible news about how the end of Chevron deference has allowed federal judges to frustrate the administration's detention and deportation policies, and Jenessa gets into a lawsuit which challenges RFK Jr's replacement of the CDC’s vaccine advisory board with people who don't advise vaccines. Finally, a footgoat [sic] on how one woman’s quest to keep an unusual pet...
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Kat Abughazaleh - Indicted by Trump's DoJ for Protesting ICE while running for Congress
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Kat Abughazaleh spent years reporting on right-wing media and movements, and she is now running to represent Illinois's 9th District in Congress on an explicitly anti-authoritarian platform. Kat joins to talk about her uniquely candid platform and community-based campaign, the state of the Democratic Party, how ICE is terrorizing Chicago during the most intensive urban immigration enforcement operation in US history, and much more. at Media Matters for America
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Turns Out Our Civil Rights Come From... A Parking Garage in Wilmington, Delaware?
Opening Arguments
In our continuing Still Good Law series, Jenessa explains how a dispute arising from a parking garage in Wilmington, Delaware became the foundation for one of the most important concepts in civil rights: determining that a private or quasi-public individual or entity is operating “under color of law.” How does this concept help to hold law enforcement and other governmental agencies accountable, and how is it holding up in 2025? , 365 U.S. 715 (1961) , 365 US 167 (1961)
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GOOD THINGS HAPPENS! 100% GOOD NEWS OA DAY!
Opening Arguments
OA1205 - It’s another good news Friday! Voting rights expert Jenessa runs down some of the highlights of the off-year blue sweep in this week’s elections, as well as some recent unsung national victories for voting and disability rights. Matt then checks in on the Supreme Court’s oral arguments from the challenge to Trump’s unprecedented tariffs and why it is looking like he might actually lose his administration’s first attempt to defend one of his second administration’s policies on the merits. Finally, in today’s footnote: Why a federal judge recently decided that a...
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Night of the Living Op-Ed! (A Belated Spooktacular)
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VR12 - Yes, we absolutely thought this was coming out pre-Halloween. Halloween may be over, but NEVERTHELESS THE SPOOKTACULAR PERSISTED! In this Vapid Response double feature, Thomas, Matt, and Lydia are haunted by two ghoulish takes from the past: FEATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON: Politico’s insanely longform access journalism piece from August 2024 on how Project 2025 was so totally over, just never happening, nothing to see here EROSSERHEAD: New York Times resident traditional conservative Ross Douthat’s 2015 analysis of why Donald Trump is definitely not a fascist We then...
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What Happens When the House Refuses to Swear in a New Member?
Opening Arguments
OA1204 - As House Speaker Mike Johnson continues to pretend that he doesn’t have to seat Democrat Adelita Grijalva well over a month after she was elected to represent Arizona’s 7th Congressional district, we take a closer look at the last time that Congress refused to swear someone in and what the Warren Court had to say about it. Who was Harlem Congressman Adam Clayton Powell, why was the House so intent on excluding him in 1966, and how precedential might Powell v. McCormack be for the lawsuit which Arizona has filed on Grijalva’s behalf? , 395 U.S. 486 (1969) ) (filed...
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COURTHOUSE OF HORROR
Opening Arguments
OA1203 - Happy Halloween! We take shelter from a year of ghoulish legal news in the COURTHOUSE OF HORROR, a cabinet of macabre legal curiosities including: “SO I TRADEMARKED AN AXE MURDERER”: The historic Lizzie Borden House takes a whack at a nearby coffee shop “THE BONE DETECTOR”: Recent patent bar survivor Jenessa Seymour brings us the unbelievable story of the spookiest--and silliest!--lie detector ever registered by the US Patent & Trademark Office “ATTACK OF THE TORTIOUS CLOWNS”: Can you sue a haunted house for your fright-related injuries? “THE...
info_outlineIt’s Vapid Response Wednesday, and Thomas, Lydia, and Matt are back to take apart more bad-faith nonsense from some of the worst people in public life. First up: The Atlantic's Caitlyn Flanagan on why it is totally fine that her good friend Bari Weiss is taking over one of the most prestigious news organizations in the United States after running a glorified blog which has been liberated from any reasonable idea of journalistic standards. MAGA law professor Johnathan Turley then completely fails to explain why capital-A “Antifa”--a set of tactics and ideas which he has previously acknowledged in writing is not actually a “group” and should not be treated as one--is actually a group which should be treated as one. Finally, Newsweek-ruiner Josh Hammer makes his second appearance on Vapid Response Wednesday as he responds to some weird nonsense from Candace Owens.
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“Don’t Bet Against Bari Weiss,” Caitlin Flanagan, The Atlantic (10/7/25)
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“They Became Symbols for Gazan Starvation. But All 12 Suffer from Other Health Problems,” Olivia Reingold and Tanya Lukyanova, The Free Press
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“Antifa Denial: How a Violent Anti-Free Speech Group Became a Non-Entity in American Politics,” Jonathan Turley, JonathanTurley.org (10/13/2025)
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“Declaring Antifa A Terrorist Organization Could Achieve Its Anti-Free Speech Agenda,” Jonathan Turley (6/4/2020)
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“Are Antifa Members Domestic Terrorists? Background on Antifa and Federal Classification of Their Actions,” Congressional Research Service (6/9/2020)
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“Antiracist Skinheads and the Birth of Anti-Racist Action: An Interview With Mic Crenshaw,” Kelly Hayes, OrganizingMyThoughts.org (4/8/2024)
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“Josh Hammer Responds Directly to Candace Owens’s Attack on Him,” Youtube (10/10/2025)