Euro media reporting accounts that the American Embassy in Riyad is in flames

RFK Jr., the Martha Moxley Murder, and MAGA's Ever-Present Racial Underbelly

I listen to podcasts when I run. I often listen to - I know, cringe - true crime podcasts of various kinds. If it's a series on a single true crime topic with episodes in the 45 minutes to an hour and thirty range, all the better, as that will occupy me for several runs of different kinds. That's what brought me to Dead Certain: The Martha Moxley Murder, a recent NBC News podcast series about the 1975 murder of 15 year old Martha Moxley in tony Greenwich, Connecticut. As you may remember, Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel, a neighbor of Ms. Moxley, was eventually convicted of the murder, served about a decade in prison, and was then released when his conviction was overturned.

The conceit of the podcast series is that the narrator was once convinced of Skakel's guilt (like everybody else, goes the usual genre convention), but has since come to view the case more broadly and thinks Skakel was factually innocent. OK, that's the set up. But what does this have to do with RFJ Jr. or MAGA?

First, let me just say this: I think RFK Jr.'s decision to support Trump in the 2024 election was the deathblow to Harris' chances. I think it was the single most important event of the 2024 campaign. It gave permission to a lot of MAHA moderates to vote for Trump, and the MAGAs were triumphant about grabbing the mantle of the Kennedys. If you don't interact with a lot of MAGAs you will probably underestimate the importance of RFK Jr.'s endorsement. For me, it was the major event. I get this is a controversial point.

Back to the murder in Greenwich. RFK Jr., who is, of course, Michael Skakel's first cousin, took an interest in the case and wrote a book about it, also attempting to absolve Skakel. The book, called Framed, was published in 2016. The theory espoused in the book is covered in Episode 10 of Dead Certain, an episode called The Out of Towners. Without going into details, the theory goes like this: Martha Moxley, the young, blonde teenage girl, was not killed by any of the white suspects from Greenwich, but by a group of black teenagers visiting from New York City. Indeed, according to the account, one of the black teenagers couldn't stop talking about "going caveman" on a white girl from Greenwich. This is all based on the account of one of the black teenagers (strangely, Koby Bryant's cousin) who denies involvement, but points to his two then-friends. Notably, Tony Bryant turns out to be a criminal and fraudster, but let's put that aside.

The remarkable thing about Kennedy's claims is that they play on tropes pulled directly from something like Birth of a Nation: the marauding black "out of towners" raping and viciously murdering the young white teenage girl. They don't belong there, they're poor, they're violent, they want to go caveman, primitive. This is MAGA race politics at its finest (or lowest), and if there is a blameless rich white kid who is falsely accused for it all, so much the better. I point to this mainly because RFK Jr. has mostly gotten a pass on the race politics of MAGA. He's been seen as this MAHA kook, perhaps, but is largely outside the vicious racism exhibited by Miller, Cheung, and, of course, Trump himself. But we're talking about a guy who became so invested in a goofy racial theory of the murder of a white teenage girl that he wrote a book about it. RFK Jr. is never far from the Trump of the Central Park Jogger case: they're all of a piece.

Even where you least expect it, MAGA politics are racialized (and - which is the same thing in the US - deeply sexualized).

Is Susie Wiles the Most Incompetent WH Chief of Staff in modern history?

There's a bizarre consensus among the establishment press that goes something like this: Susie Wiles, Trump's second term Chief of Staff, is a serious and competent person who runs a tight ship; she's the traditional conservative face of the MAGA movement, well respected across Washington, etc. etc. The plaudits go on. The New York Times features glowing nonsense about her every few months. It's like an article of faith among the press that she's doing a bang up job.

Trump's latest insanity - reposting an amateur-hour MAGA video that depicts President Obama and First Lady Michele Obama as apes - points to the obvious counternarrative: in all aspects of a Chief of Staff's job, Susie Wiles has been singularly incompetent.

She has zero control over Trump, obviously, and no seeming ability to keep him on track or prevent him from his weekly rake-stepping activities.

She has zero control over Stephen Miller or Steven Cheung, both of whom should be walking around in terror of her. Some might say, no, they're doing what they do at her instruction, but that's unlikely and would spell even more incompetence if true.

She managed to shepherd through one piece of signature legislation with majorities in both chambers, but there's nothing on the horizon, and she has the longest shutdown in history on her resume as well. If polls are to be believed, her party may even have to spend to defend a Texas Senate seat. The Congressional operation out of 1600 seems nonexistent.

So, what does Susie Wiles actually DO?

Brad Karp Resigns as Paul Weiss Chairman Amid Epstein Fallout

Source: The New York Times

Brad Karp, the longtime chairman of Paul Weiss, one of the nation’s top corporate law firms, suddenly resigned on Wednesday evening after a series of embarrassing emails between him and Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced financier, became public in recent days.

The law firm’s statement announcing Mr. Karp’s resignation gave no explanation for his decision. But it included a quote from him saying, “Recent reporting has created a distraction and has placed a focus on me that is not in the best interests of the firm.”

In recent weeks, a number of top business executives, academics and politicians have faced negative attention stemming from email and text conversations they had with Mr. Epstein long after he pleaded guilty in 2008 to soliciting prostitution from a minor girl and registered as a sex offender.

Mr. Karp had been under intense scrutiny within the broader legal community after Paul Weiss reached a deal last year with President Trump to resolve an executive order that could have harmed its business. He had appeared to weather the storm.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/04/business/brad-karp-paul-weiss-resigns-epstein.html

Trump Drops Demand for Cash From Harvard After Stiff Resistance

Source: The New York Times

President Trump has backtracked on a major point in negotiations with Harvard, dropping his administration’s demand for a $200 million payment to the government in hopes of finally resolving the administration’s conflicts with the university, according to four people briefed on the matter.

Harvard has been the top target in Mr. Trump’s sweeping campaign to exert more control over higher education. Hard-liners in his administration had wanted Harvard to write a check to the U.S. Treasury as part of a deal to address claims that university officials mishandled antisemitism, The New York Times previously reported. But Harvard, wary of backlash from liberal students and faculty, has rejected the idea.

Trump administration officials have indicated in recent days that the president no longer expects such a payment, according to the Harvard and Trump officials briefed on the matter, speaking on the condition of anonymity to describe private conversations.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/02/us/politics/trump-harvard-payment.html

Senate Democrats and White House Reach Spending Deal

Senate Democrats and White House Reach Spending Deal

Source: The New York Times

Senate Democrats have struck a deal with Republicans and the White House to pass five spending bills to fund a large portion of the government for the remainder of the fiscal year, as well as a stopgap measure to fund the Department of Homeland Security for two weeks while they continue negotiating guardrails to rein in immigration agents.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2026/01/29/us/trump-news

What company sells ICE the pepper spray canisters?

They've obviously been told to always have one out and to use it freely. While this tactic was obvious before, they definitely ramped it up in Minneapolis.

Needless to say, the company that sells chemical pain-compliance products to the state is not going to respond much to "boycotts" or other consumer pressure themselves.

But are they owned by a conglomerate? Can we pressure investment funds to divest from these pain-compliance companies? Can we put these motherfuckers on blast?

Who is making and selling these canisters?

Contact your House and Senate reps for budget information about where DHS is sourcing pepper spray!

On Edit: Thank you to SSJVegeta for the Forbes article. Here's the preview:

LIVESTREAM: Minneapolis shooting site now

Federal agents shooting tear gas and rubber bullets in the shooting scene. Crowds off camera growing.

New ICE tactic (read: lie) in Minnesota: everyone they're supposedly after is a "sex offender"

I've seen at least four or five videos taken yesterday or today in which an ICE agent says "You know who we're here for? A sex offender! Why are you protecting a sex offender? Do you know who you're defending?"

These were videos of different ICE agents engaging a member of the public who is recording them / citizen observers. They appear to be in completely different locations and at different times.

Conclusion: This is obviously a talking point that these shitheads have been given to use with people questioning them. In one ase, the ICE agent wanted to arrest the observer for using a whistle! When she challenged him, he went into the whole "You're protecting a sex offender" bit. Noem was emphasizing sex offenders on the talkies this weekend as well.

In at least two videos, the person recorded turned it around on them: Why don't you go arrest your President, then.