"Benches are where optimistic visions of civic life meet reality. To remove them, or to curate who gets to sit, is to abandon the work of defining a civic ideal and determining, together, how to live up to it."
NEW: Why benches are slowly disappearing from public spaces — and why we need them back:
A reminder while Republicans bitch about Dems finishing the redistricting fight they started: they have full control of gov’t— they can pass a law banning gerrymandering any time they want. They won’t. Republicans aren’t mad gerrymandering exists; they’re mad that they’re not the only ones using it.
David Ellison will host an exclusive dinner “honoring” Trump next week.
It comes as he’s waiting for regulatory approval of Paramount’s proposal to buy Warner Bros., which would create a massive pro-Trump media monopoly.
What is he going to promise Trump at this dinner?
Hello???
Do you have a private jet?
No? Well, last year’s Republican Budget Bill made private jets tax deductible. When you’re filing your taxes this year, just remember who Trump and Congressional Republicans are looking out for.
Women are far too unpredictable and irrational to command our armed forces or to have access to a nuclear arsenal.
ICYMI - Samuel L. Jackson (!!) narrated this powerful video for Saturday's No Kings rally about the strength of Minnesotans protesting ICE:
"When your neighbors are being attacked and your communities are being targeted, you don't give up. You don't look away. You don't back down. You showed up."
Jane Fonda: Becca Goode, the wife of Renee Goode, has asked me to read a statement, which I am honored to do.
Oh my God. What an absolute fiasco
I still meet up once a week with my adult son and his friends to read aloud to each other. It started when they were high school age and they are now in their mid-twenties. They have a separate book group where they read on their own, then discuss the book over coffee. His wife participates too.
A Reductress post features a photo of Kristi Noem with the headline, “Kristi Noem Put Down for Being Too Hard to Train”
Screaming
We have learned - the hard way - how launching a reckless war of choice with no clear endgame can put Americans in greater danger.
They cut Meals on Wheels for seniors, doctors for the VA, and food for American children - but send billions of taxpayer dollars to the Middle East for an unnecessary war of choice.
Tillis to Noem: "A 14 month old dog is basically a teenager in dog years. You decided to kill that dog bc you hadn't invested the appropriate training, then you have the audacity to write a book & say it's a leadership lesson! ... Those are bad decisions not unlike what happened in Minneapolis"
If you know Martin Niemöller's poem and live in #Kansas they are not just coming for Trans people - they are here for Trans people right now!
Contact your state legislators (find out who they are here: pluralpolicy.com/find-your-le...) and beg them to do all they can do to stop this evil!
NEW: Rather than turn former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández over to immigration officials when he was released from prison less than four years into a 45-year sentence, the Trump administration paid to transport him 350 miles to a posh NYC hotel.
By @keribla.bsky.social
I don’t know who needs to hear Jesse Jackson leading the kids on Sesame Street in this beautiful call-and-response reminding them that every child is somebody, but here it is
No one in Wisconsin has asked for my ID to by alcohol in quite awhile. I do have to show my ID every time I vote.
“As a woman, I cannot imagine taking expert health advice from Attia seriously at this point, given the gross and dehumanizing way he talked about the female anatomy in his emails with Epstein.” www.nytimes.com/2026/02/07/o...
Donations will be matched in order to help families sheltering because of ICE. givebutter.com/bloomingtonma
No one considers a prison their home.
Yet prison gerrymandering counts incarcerated people as residents in places they don’t call home, giving power to regions of the country and elected officials who do not value their concerns.
DEVELOPING: Federal judge will let Marimar Martinez release text messages sent by Border Patrol agent who shot her
From @chicago.suntimes.com: chicago.suntimes.com/2026/02/06/f...
Every American needs to watch this:
I went to college with Aliya. Here, she speaks to Congress about being assaulted by ICE in Minneapolis, pulled violently out of her car, and taken to detention, where she blacked out.
"You have no reason to believe you will make it out alive if you already being called a body."
Jeffrey Epstein emailing Peter Thiel: Finding things on their way to collapse was much easier than finding the next bargain. ... Return to tribalism. Counter to globalization. Amazing new alliances.
Definitely seems like they destroyed the country on purpose.
Let’s stand up, together, for Alex Pretti tomorrow.
Moments before the first shot is fired, this federal agent can be seen retreating with a gun. It appears to match the general appearance of the firearm posted by DHS, including the red dot sight. This agent’s back is turned when the first shot occurs. x.com/BillMelugin_...
This must be weird news to see if you’re one of the literally hundreds or even thousands of university administrators who preemptively censored faculty, scrubbed websites, changed the names of centers, etc.
Middle age is tricky. I can still do all the things, but I can't do them spontaneously or too close together.
A masked ICE officials with a 5 year old child
This guy went to work today, put a mask on, kidnapped a 5 year old child, and then used him as bait so both he and his father could be sent behind bars
