If you accept that for bigots the act of engaging in bigotry is essential to how they understand "good" material conditions and that inflicting harm matters more to them than healthcare, education, and a living wage, what's going on in the culture becomes intelligible, sad, and terrifying.
The implicit media consensus is that urban voters should not be able to overrule rural voters, but that rural voters should be able to overrule urban voters, an assumption so axiomatic and unquestionable that nobody even understands they're making it.
key thing we learned from Virginia campaign
Republicans are freaked the fuck out about accountability
Not just Trump, all of them - including their billionaires, like Thiel
They fear what's coming when Dems win - and Dems need to be ruthless about it
most gerrymanders are republican legislators saying fuck the voters
these ones are the voters saying fuck republican legislators
Image of a Virginia Democrats' proposed congressional map that is drawn to elect a ten-to-one Democratic majority and flip four Republican seats in 2026. The district lines are displayed over top of a basemap with major roads and cities labeled. The districts are colored by the 2024 presidential winner's margin of victory, with Kamala Harris districts in blue and Donald Trump districts in red. Darker shades represent larger margins of victory. An embedded chart shows the 2024 presidential election results and the adult population racial demographics in each district. Kamala Harris won 10 of the 11 districts, while Black voters would retain their ability to elect their preferred candidates in Districts 3 and 4, which remain safely Democratic.
Virginia votes TODAY on a referendum that would enable Democrats to redraw the congressional map for 2026 in response to new Republican gerrymanders in other states.
The map targets 4 of 5 Republicans & aims to elect a 10-1 Dem majority.
Interactive map+data: davesredistricting.org/maps#viewmap...
Today in social justice toolkit:
A dilemma action is a strategic action that forces your opponent into a lose-lose situation.
You've given them only bad options.
I give some examples
& then we talk about how to design them.
This one's pretty important.
Read and share, please?
The average person doesn’t give a fuck if AI has some niche use where it actually excels if used properly. In fact, that is what a tool is *supposed* to do and none of us will have a problem if it is used like that. What we see is AI fucking up real life in a massive way.
I’ve had the same editor since 1967. Many times he has said to me over the years or asked me, Why would you use a semicolon instead of a colon? And many times over the years I have said to him things like: I will never speak to you again. Forever. Goodbye. That is it. Thank you very much. And I leave. Then I read the piece and I think of his suggestions. I send him a telegram that says, OK, so you’re right. So what? Don’t ever mention this to me again. If you do, I will never speak to you again
Maya Angelou on the joys of being edited
100%. A lot of why Minnesota was successful in responding to Metro Surge was there was a plan. Immigrant rights organizations had been doing whistle trainings for months.
People feel let down by major institutions, so we're doing it ourselves. "We Keep Us Safe" is becoming a very popular slogan.
Thanks for this. My neighborhood group wants to do elections related stuff, and I think this just gave me a goal for us to work towards - improve our primary vote turnout. It looks like our precinct got 40% in 2024, but we can do better.
Just sobbed hardest I have since my mom died in 2020.
She missed these trials by a few months.
One of most ruthless cancers. Hard to fathom that maybe she'd still be here.
I feel such a hole inside.
In case you're wondering if we should fund mRNA research instead of another stupid war ... yes.
the basic theory of DOGE was that if powerful people said it was fine it didn’t matter what the law said.
I think proving that theory wrong is worth significant effort
In my interview with the political philosophy podcast, Toby used a phrase that stuck with me: he said that liberals are apocalyptically angry.
I think that's the best description of the current liberal mood and he unpacks it here.
To maintain connections with people you don't naturally see regularly, set up the next time you're going to get together before you leave the current one.
We created this guide for anyone who could experience a miscarriage in a state with abortion restrictions.
We wrote it in consultation with dozens of doctors, including those who regularly treat patients who are miscarrying 👇
Before you send me a message about this: Yes, the MSP feed is down. It’s not just you and I didn’t kick you out. I don’t run the back end and I can’t fix it. Jaz runs the back end and she won’t be able to fix it until she gets back home in 2 weeks. Let’s all go read books and run around the lakes
A short term reauthorization gives us another bite at the apple. We have until April 30 to keep the pressure up to make sure they don’t reauthorize Section 702 without serious reforms.
This is an important study and it is tough to recruit for because of the niche. Pls share if you can!
Looking for #autistic adults with experience of #catatonia:
community.autism.org.uk/f/adults-on-...
Ugh, one of my least favorite hymns
This is exactly the kind of thing I want my taxes to go towards! Thank you!
UPDATE: time is being held on the Senate floor tomorrow to vote on a resolution that would dismantle the 20-year mining protections for the Boundary Waters.
Call your senators: (202) 224-3121 – tell them to vote no on HJ Resolution 140.
Act now: www.savetheboundarywaters.org/action-center
@joycewhitevance.bsky.social
QOTD (book) -
"Giving Up Is Unforgivable: A Manual For Keeping A Democracy" by Joyce Vance, who served as the United States attorney for the Northern District of Alabama from 2009 to 2017.
I greatly enjoy the knowledge that many beetle species are only distinguishable by penis shape, and the fact that this led to an entomologist acquaintance, upon successfully dissecting one after multiple failures, to shout delightedly across his lab "Everyone, come look at my penis!"
me with the time machine, to my 1996 self:
the year is 2026. the Pope is the only world leader you respect. you believe unironically that the cultural mores and sexual behavior of San Francisco are destroying America. computers were a mistake
Thank you!
Me please!
Interesting. The US version calls it a "Roomba vacuum", capitalized but no tm in the blurb, but just a vacuum cleaner in the sample text.
www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-In...
Ole stands in Heirot bearing a great severed arm before him.
Lena looks up from salting cod and asks, “Ole, how do you have that smelly old thing now?”
“Well Lena,” Ole replied, “when I caught the beast Grendel in a grip o strong he could not break free, he says, I really gotta hand it to you!”
I was delighted to run into, almost literally, both Somali and Spanish speaking families on my walk this afternoon. Some of it's the weather, but I was still very happy they felt safe enough to come to the park.
If Hungary can free itself from the rule of a corrupt Russian agent, the USA can too.