Given recruitment difficulties and losses from disease, George Washington literally mandated smallpox inoculation for all troops in 1777

Overall, 70% of U.S. adults now say Trump is not too or not at all religious, while 24% say he is somewhat religious and 5% say he is very religious. The survey was conducted April 6-12, 2026, just before Trump criticized Pope Leo XIV and posted an image on social media depicting himself as a Jesus-like figure. Trump later deleted the image and said he intended to show himself as a doctor. Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents are much more likely than Republicans and Republican leaners to say Trump is not too or not at all religious (89% vs. 49%).

Say Trump is somewhat or very religious
Republicans 50%
White evangelicals 49%
Catholics 29%
Black Protestants 13%
Atheists 12%
Democrats 10%
www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2026/04/16/a...

The circle of death is:

Cut faculty (or non-replace) so you offer fewer classes so fewer people enroll so you cut faculty so you offer fewer classes so fewer people enroll so then the market has spoken.

Just terrible.

U.S. allows mining near Minnesota wilderness area, with waters flowing into Canada The vote, passed by Congress on Thursday, overturns a pair of decisions made by the Joe Biden administration

The mining process exposes minerals to rain that creates sulphuric acid ergo Minnesota is a bad location. The company is foreign owned, would ship to China and back, no discernible US benefit per @hcrichardson.bsky.social www.theglobeandmail.com/world/articl...

Because the whole point was always a giant bunker. Because Trump found out the billionaires were building doomsday bunkers, but he can't afford one because he's not a real billionaire.
Because he's a fake.

Sen. Murkowski voted to strip protections from the Boundary Waters. Pleas call her DC office at (202) 224-6665 and tell her to switch her vote to a No vote tomorrow on HJR 140. The vote was 51-49!!! A changed vote by Murkowski would do the trick.

pope leo: murder is bad

every republican: how dare you mention me

America's right-wing in a single exchange. It's perfect.

Is there an option of not picking a fight with the Pope, or would that be seen as disloyalty?

screencap of a tweet with a photo at the bottom of JD Vance giving a talk, gesturing smugly with his hands Eric Daugherty • @EricLDaugh • 1h • JD VANCE RESPONDS TO POPE LEO: "When the Pope says that God is never on the side of those who wield the sword - there is more than a THOUSAND year tradition of Just war Theory." "In the same way that it's important for the vice president of the United States to be careful when I talk about matters of public policy, I think it's very, very important for the pope to be careful when he talks about matters of theology." "And I think that one of these issues here is that there has been - if you're going to opine on matters of theology, you've got to be careful, you've got to make sure it's anchored in the truth, and that's one of the things that I try to do, and it's certainly something I would expect from the clergy, whether they're Catholic or Protestant."

I’ve given this a great deal of thought, trying to come up with the perfect joke for this moment, and this is what I have so far -

POPE LEO: our religion teaches that this war is bad

VANCE: wow, who died and made YOU head of the Catholic Church??

POPE LEO: well, you should know, you were there

Trump’s Dark Night on Truth Social Attacking the pope was only part of the president’s disturbing meltdown.

We can't keep looking away from his emotional and cognitive issues. The attack on the Pope was the beginning of a full night of melting down.

www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

Forest Service changes close two Montana research sites MONTANA — A U.S. Forest Service reorganization is set to close two research and development facilities in Montana, including sites in Bozeman and Hungry Horse.

“Maybe […] those forest service scientists, will be able to just work from another Forest Service office in their area, but […] if they need a laboratory space, a greenhouse space, you know, science doesn't happen at a desk, and if you lose those facilities, you can't do your research…”

#SaveUSFS

Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock on passing a war powers resolution:

"We are calling on our Republican colleagues to stand up and do their job. The American people are clear, they do not want this war, and it's up to us to hold this unhinged, unaccountable president accountable."

I feel seen.

Smaller universities employ thousands, sell products to customers across the world and export British soft power. They are successful businesses, often bringing wealth to our poorer communities. Why does the government want to stop that? Why aren't more MPs fighting for them?

I think often of the time James Russell Lowell—The Atlantic's first editor—accidentally let his hat, stuffed full with manuscripts, be blown by stray wind into the Charles River, and how horrified and then grateful he must have felt.

i wonder if JD Vance would be surprised to know many husbands don't have to make their wives promise not to jump out of airplanes

I'm having a tough time trying to figure out what my take on this is- what direction I want to go.

Ultimately, this is a wildly complicated and slippery slope to be on. And as much as I want to say this seems like SUCH a long shot, there is a pretty decent part of me that is already thinking ...🧵

If you’re looking for a bellwether mayoral election to read tea leaves about the 2026 midterms, this one very likely tells you far more than that other one that has dominated the deeply parochial National Conversation™️ from the Coastal Elites over the last 6 months 👀

Once again, I’m just a small-town political scientist, & it’s still relatively early (& sure this is technically a nonpartisan election), but it appears The Actual Democrats do not Need To Do any of the Things or Learn any of The Urgent Lessons that Ezra Douthglesias said they Must Do & Learn 🤔🧐

Teen who went to photograph L.A. 'No Kings' rally shot, blinded by Homeland Security agent, attorney says Tucker Collins, an 18-year-old freshman at USC, attended a 'No Kings' protest in Los Angeles on Mar. 28. He ended up getting shot in the eye with a less-lethal projectile by a Department of Homeland S...

"Tucker Collins, an 18-year-old freshman at USC, attended a 'No Kings' protest in Los Angeles on Mar. 28. He ended up getting shot in the eye with a less-lethal projectile by a Department of Homeland Security agent and is now blind."

Image 1

The leaked phone call revealed that Hungary's far-right leader told Putin that he was prepared to help Moscow “in any way" to win the war in Ukraine.

www.thedailybeast.com/jd-vances-trip-to-donald...

I have a father and mother in law in Iran. I have a sister in law. A niece. She's 14. She likes silly pink headbands and purses and dresses, just like kids her age all over the world. There are 93 million people like her in Iran. People who do all the normal mundane life things as the rest of us.

Recently posted by Georgy Kantor on X:

"Deeply sad news (from her son's FB post) that the great late antique and Byzantine historian, Averil Cameron, died this morning. The towering figures of Oxford of my youth are passing away."

@averilcam.bsky.social

Btw, all this while, Isfahan, beautiful and incomparable Isfahan, keeps on getting pounded every day and night. That city is like an open air museum. Like Venice. Every inch of it is historical. I cannot even imagine what has already been destroyed and pummeled.

Trump has been talking about just ending his war, even if the Strait of Hormuz isn’t reopened. Cut and run.

@chrismurphyct.bsky.social breaks down this very real possibility:

“Iran ends this war with more power… more influence in the Middle East than they started at the beginning of this war…”

📌NEW: A federal judge ruled Tuesday that Trump’s executive order barring the federal funding of NPR and PBS violated the First Amendment.

Of course it did. Yet another anti-American blast from our greatest enemy, and his odious GOP cult.

Whether it’s Kristi Noem getting Mar A Lago face or it’s Bryon Noem wearing enormous fake breasts, the Noems have emerged as unexpected practitioners of gender affirming interventions.