How did an Obama speechwriter find himself getting rolled in the freezing Jersey shore surf? A search for something better, some common ground with a Joe Rogan brother-in-law. He didn't find "common'' ground. But he may have found something better. We compare our surf journeys. (His is funnier than mine).

The Pulitzer Prize winner discusses his new book about the role of the CIA since 9-11. What should they be doing? What are they getting wrong? It turns out that CIA is really bad at some things - torture and running prisons around the world. They are fairly good at other things - namely espionage and intelligence. And Weiner ends with a straight-up warning about the perils of making the CIA a play toy for Donald Trump. 

Gates, Summers, Prince Andrew and the rest of them thought they were untouchable, that the rules didn't apply to them. How did we get here - to a system of rules for some and none for everyone else? And why didn't anyone in real power do anything? Dr. Felicia Kornbluh - who specializes in the histories of feminism, gender, social welfare, and reproductive politics - explains.

Andrew Luger was the top cop in Minnesota under Obama and Biden.  He says the ICE surge was a failure because it violates what law enforcement should be about.  

Note: Luger predicted that Trump would recognize defeat and pull out, which it did shortly after we talked.  

How did we get here? Buckley had a lot to do with it and writer Sam Tanenhaus lays it all bare in his fabulous biography of the conservative writer and provocateur who planted the seeds for Goldwater to Reagan to Trump. What would he say today?

Why does a former Lt. Governor of Vermont lose a race for Congress and then return to run again for her old office. Welcome to the "Pain Cave.''

There is a book that tells you how to be an activist. Tools to Save our Home Planet tells you how to start, how to stay at it over the long term. Everyone has their own way. But the folks at Patagonia never disappoint.

Freed from mainstream media, John Harwood is right there to correct every lie on Twitter with a mix of old-school journalism experience and acerbic comment. Refreshing!

How the Dems victories affect shutdown, presidential aspirations and everything else.

My federal judge classmate tells Trump he cannot send national guard troops to Portland. Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Richard Read explains Judge Karin Imergut’s ruling.