Seems like Dems are gonna avoid being locked out of the top two. I'll be happy to vote for either Becerra or Steyer, though I'd prefer Becerra. Porter and the others below Bianco should drop out now (as Yee did today). The candidates below Porter in particular have no reason to still be in.
The natural movement for his voters once Swalwell dropped out was Becerra. If they liked Steyer or Porter they’d have supported them since they were well in the race already. Clearly they wanted an alternative to both. Now that Yee is out this should further solidify Becerra’s position. Makes sense.
CA Top 2 primary has me on edge. 2 MAGAts in the lead b/c too many Dems running. At least Yee dropped out. But Ro Khanna & CA Nurses Assoc endorsing Steyer is surprising. Waiting for your campaign to get visible. I will vote for the Dem leading the polls to ensure we don't end up with a MAGAt gov.
Betty Yee has exited #California’s #governor’s race, citing weak polling and fundraising, a week after Eric #Swalwell withdrew amid allegations. #Democratic field narrows, with Katie Porter remaining alongside Becerra, Steyer and GOP rivals.
www.foxnews.com/politics/ano...
Betty Yee endorses Steyer
www.youtube.com/shorts/Qlw-d...
Effectively, they're saying SPLC lied to their donors, claiming they were dismantling hate groups, when in fact they were funding them.
The legal theory, as alleged (which may crumble) is pretty compelling. And all the while AL USAO has been picking through an anti-racist org w/grand jury secrecy.
Lots of this should have been worked out by all parties in advance, but as is, NJ is making some pretty clearly selective claims to justify jacking people and using them as pawns in belated jockeying.
This is entirely politically motivated to eliminate an organization that has historically fought neo nazis and the KKK. What an absolute disgrace.
www.cnn.com/2026/04/21/p...
Appeasing a bully to move product. What an excellent legacy to have.
I hate that this article of mine may be relevant again, sigh.
Also good video. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
The judge didn't just halt changes to vaccine recommendations. He also halted new recommendations for flu, Covid, and RSV shots -- which could be a problem approaching the summer Covid season and the fall.
youtube.com/shorts/xcOGo...
On a particularly maddening day in Congress, we heard the following:
“Sock puppets”
“Dirt bags”
“Rats penis”
“Whale heads”
Yet we heard precious little about authorizing war in Iran or reopening the Dept of Homeland Security
youtu.be/UGjhzWSoFBM?...
The Justice Dept’s theory of the case— that the group that single-handedly disassembled the Ku Klux Klan defrauded its donors by concealing that it was using paid informant to do that work and more— has about as much merit as the now-dismissed charges against Jim Comey.
But I guess what I’m saying is that we can’t overly rely on a parent’s rights framework here. And I see massive amounts of “it’s my baby, therefore” statements.
Virtually every (non-academic) discussion I see about the ethics of genetically-engineered babies misses an important foundation: autonomy of the child.
We’re exceptionally bad at seeing babies as independently-existing humans. And I get that; they can’t even feed themselves reliably for years.
Like there is no justification for that whatsoever, and Booker defended it as Kushner being an “advocate for prison reform” (he is a criminal who used his money and influence to peddle favors related to his criming). Booker also voted to confirm Rubio, Bessent and Rollins, and look at how that went…
I bet disillusioned voters on the left will love being lectured to “vote blue no matter who” by Cory Booker, who voted to approve MAGA felon and family member of the President, Charles Kushner, as the US Ambassador to France
The Ethicist | I am a White House official who is being blackmailed by my mistress. Would it be better to ask ICE to deport her or to do some insider trading on crude futures to get the money to pay her off?
Once RFK Jr. announced his own presidential campaign in 2023, he started to shift gears.
Less vaccine conspiracy theory content, more political stuff…
Including 3 separate guests denouncing US support for Ukraine, all who thought Russia’s invasion was at least partially justified.
Health and Human Services Secretary RFK Jr. has no public health credentials to his name, but he does have a few years of podcasting experience under his belt, which he brought to the role of Health Secretary with the launch of a new show last week.
My latest.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
Wheeeeeeeeeeee I'm a Hugo finaliiiiiiiiiist
Congratulations to all the other Hugo finalists today! It is a good day.
a soft looking and somewhat worn felt swan with a big beak and trailing feathers
thinking about this 1500 year old plush swan made of reindeer wool
Anyway, what a whirlwind trip. I know that things have been so difficult and traumatic and the future is uncertain, but it felt nice to do something good for someone and to see a family reunited after so much suffering. On the drive home, he said he’d gotten taken in winter and now it was summer.
We flew back from Austin and I just drove him home to reunite him with his family, including his baby. Obviously everyone was very emotional, and I felt a bit like an intruder when they invited me inside. They even asked for a picture with me. But it did feel like it was an important thing to do.
We spent the night at a hotel I’d booked using points, and this morning I took him to Walmart to buy some clothes and toiletries so he could clean up a bit. He was released in the work clothes from when he was detained 3 months ago. We also got some fire breakfast tacos (h/t @coltonbmc.bsky.social).
Thankfully he had made a friend with another released detainee from the area, so he had a safe place to wait for me to travel from Minnesota. But I finally got to meet this guy for the first time at 11:30pm outside of a gas station in a Texas town I’d never been to before.
At 6pm, struggling to find help, I said fuck it, I’m going to go get him myself. I bought the last flight to Austin, got his passport from his wife, and was at the SkyClub in under an hour (MSP!). I arrived in Austin, rented a car, and drove in the rain for an hour to the home of PAC-12 Texas State.
However, because he was detained in South Texas, he was released without any cash or ID at a bus station in San Marcos. The family and I were trying to figure out where he was and how to send him money or buy his bus ticket. I also looked up that a Greyhound trip would be 3 days and 4 transfers.
Alright, I’m home now so here’s the Norm update. Yesterday at 4pm, I got a text from a family I’ve been helping who had a loved one abducted a couple of days after Renée Good’s murder. This was the family that Norm Nation kept from being evicted (and you delivered). ICE had released their loved one.
more people probably died from diarrhea, malaria and typhoid during the civil war than actual fighting