"The slow drip restoring gun rights is a preview of what the [DOJ] says could be as many as 1 million annual applications under a new protocol proposed last summer."

Two out of three Black Americans do not have a valid passport and passport ownership rises with income and age. So document demands hit young, Black and poor voters first. That is what SAVE is built to do. Tell your senators to keep SAVE off the floor and vote no on it #SaveActTaxesVoters

IMO, these ideas - well meant, I'm sure - are solutions in search of a problem. The break hurt no one and, seems to me, the fairest for all players.

I'm so stealing this.

Well, you're half right on both. Lots of interpersonal bigotry in the States, and plenty of institutional racism across Europe.

US: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

EU (yes, I'm aware EU does not equal Europe & vice versa):
www.hrw.org/news/2025/03...

Yep, aurora australis:

scied.ucar.edu/learning-zon...

But, but, but...all that shopping & indoor skiing...🙄

(not knocking anyone for whom that's your thing)

I'll admit I've become a little twitchy lately, but am I the only one reading that more as a threat than a warning? Gross.

Right? My first & lasting response to this headline was "why not"? (That's rhetorical, of course, we all know "why"?)

"'We need to think very hard about what resistance looks like under these conditions,” he told The Intercept, 'where government and big tech know so much about us, can track us, can imprison, can destroy us in a variety of ways.'"

Americans’ Complicated Relationship With News Most say being informed is essential for voting. Yet views differ on the importance of following news – and many say they're worn out by it.

🧵 "Most people believe Americans have a civic responsibility to be informed when they vote.

But far fewer say regularly following news is extremely or very important in general, &

roughly half say they can stay informed even if they don’t actively follow it"

www.pewresearch.org/journalism/2...

Majority of Americans express low confidence in journalists to act in public’s best interests 57% of U.S. adults say they have not too much (40%) or no confidence (17%) in journalists to act in the best interests of the public.

🧵 TBC, I have little doubt that it's usually owners & editorial boards holding back conscientious journalists.

www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/...

About Press Forward | Revitalizing Local News Across the Country Press Forward is a network with chapters nationwide that strengthens local news so communities are informed, connected and engaged.

🧵 "In 2025, nearly a quarter of all newspapers are controlled by the 10 largest companies, as are 60% of all dailies."

BUT:

"Last year, encouraging signs emerged as philanthropic organizations and policymakers made efforts to support local news across the country." ⬇️

www.pressforward.news/about/

The State of Local News

🧵 "212 U.S. counties with zero locally-based news sources...

1,525 counties with only one local news source remaining, usually a weekly [❗] newspaper...

[ 1 in 7 ] Americans, [~] 50 million people, live with limited or no access to local news."

localnewsinitiative.northwestern.edu/projects/sta...

So very much this. ⬆️ Plus, it'd be great if editorial decisions still supported investigative & contextual journalism. Compelling article here, ICYMI:

bsky.app/profile/marc...

The State of Local News

Good point, just be sure to be familiar with their editorial stance & who owns them.

localnewsinitiative.northwestern.edu/projects/sta...

We're gonna need a bigger bingo card.

Actionable recommendations for - and a magnifying glass on - news outlets, editors, & journalists here ⬇️

"I believe that millions of Americans don’t fully understand what’s happening, and yes, I blame the press whose job it is to clearly inform the public."

#FreePress

On the brighter side, recent polls suggest either one will be a viable contender against Paxton or Cornyn in Nov. TX isn't as hard-core red as many think. Me, I'm a Crockett fan (yeah, yeah, take all y'all's perfection/purity-test ball & go home), but they both seem to have the chops.

To be fair, during DJT's congratulatory, locker-room phone call, the team itself furthered that perception by reacting supportively when he made the comment about "having" to also invite the women's team to the WH.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks - Wikipedia

Read the book. It illuminates how misogynistic and racist the Healthcare system was in the 1950s.
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Imm...

So this isn't a chilling forecast at all: 😱

⬆️ This.

It's closer than many think, though. Also, FWIW, voters in Texas don't have to declare a party affiliation when they register.

texaspolitics.utexas.edu/set/u-s-cong...

Trump Secretary Silent as Sons Poised to Make Bank From End of Tariffs The Supreme Court ruling has helped the family of one man in particular: the architect behind Trump’s tariffs.

And consider this...
Cantor Fitzgerald (CF), which Lutnick chaired, now "run by his sons", was allowing its traders to purchase the rights to hundreds of millions of dollars of refunds in the event the tariffs were struck down in court. CF takes a huge cut.

The "inside game" with the tariffs is on.

Best suggestion yet.

Trump is still waiting for Greenland/Denmark to thank him for the opportunity.

ChefJohn, yes, is the answer to both in that two-things-can-be-true-at-once sort of way. Maddeningly.

Absolutely no disagreement here.

Voter turnout, 2020-2024 Overall and across most demographic groups, Trump’s 2020 voters turned out at higher rates in 2024 than Biden’s did, a Pew Research Center analysis shows.

~86 million didn't vote in 2024. Sadly, polling suggested that, if they had, Trump still had a good chance of winning. I keep catching flack for this, but Dems must improve their connections with voters.

www.pewresearch.org/politics/202...