Why voters say the Democrats are "weak," in their own words New April Strength In Numbers/Verasight polling finds both parties underwater on favorability, but Republicans are much worse off

Terrific work here from @gelliottmorris.com.

www.gelliottmorris.com/p/2026-04-23...

Doubleplusfacepalm

We have an unhealthy unspoken media agreement in this country that you can’t point out that someone harbors objectively insane, delusional beliefs that should disqualify them from being anywhere near a position of power if said beliefs are colorably linkable to a mainstream religious worldview.

I have no issue with folks using AI for a search engine, spelling/grammar, or basic editing and citation formatting.

But, to @evanbernick.bsky.social’s point, if cites are hallucinationed that means you’ve delegated your work (bad) and you’ve failed to verify (even worse). Nothing left to trust.

Big loss for Trump.

🇺🇦🇪🇺

Makes sense. Despite the language of “just asking questions,” conspiracy theorists actually harbor a deep need to “know [= believe themselves to know]” all the answers.

Quotation from the article, noted without comment:
“We’re seeing a lot more condoms actually sitting on vessels that have not arrived at their destination but are highly required.”

Condom prices could rise 30% due to Iran war, says world’s top producer Karex Karex produces more than 5 billion condoms annually and is a supplier to leading brands like Durex and Trojan, as well as the NHS

Sorry: correct link is this

www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

Open-mindedness was the strongest predictor of *rejecting* conspiracy theories in a sample of 46,745 participants in 68 nations

In particular, participants who were threatened by people who disagree with them were the most likely to believe conspiracy theories.
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

'Very fragile' Condom prices could rise 30% due to Iran war, says world's top producer Karex

Ok, who’s the Guardian subeditor who spotted this pull quote (which the source used to describe the state of the market)?
😆

Mwww.theguardian.com/society/2026/apr/22/cond...

Vote Blue No Matter Who: Party Politics as Political Agency Politics is a collective enterprise aimed at controlling the state, and requires working together as co-partisans.

"Our subnational units are best described as a two-at-most party system, with only intraparty factions offering anything like a competitive system, and some places (following Wisconsin’s example) quite brazenly enacting competitive authoritarianism." www.liberalcurrents.com/vote-blue-no...

In 1777, George Washington mandated that all members of the Continental Army be inoculated for smallpox.

In 2026, Pete Hegseth—citing the Biden administration's COVID vaccine mandate—ended the requirement that service members receive a flu vaccine.

Wow. Today the ECJ found Hungary violated EU law with its anti-gay statute, but the most revolutionary part of the decision is that the Court found that Art. 2 TEU, laying out European values, could be used as an independent legal ground in cases before the Court. curia.europa.eu/site/upload/...

The consequences of thinking “I saw a video online” trumps “millions of scientists with years of training and a deep understanding of scientific method have analyzed billions of data points and reached a judgment.”

I think Carney would love to do this—but politics is politics, and southern Ontario loves protection from competition almost as much as Detroit does.

Poetry Challenge: Memorize “The More Loving One” by W.H. Auden (Gift Article) It’s about love, the cosmos and everything in between. And all week we’ll have games and readings by poets laureate, beloved authors and an Oscar winner to help you memorize it.

My 6th grade teacher had us compete each term to memorise the most lines of poetry. Those 100s of poems and 1000s of lines still rattle around my mind, making the world, & every day in it, deeper and richer.

I also think few Americans realize that Canadians have chosen to increase defense spending not out of guilt over freeloading but because they think there’s a small but significant chance the U.S. will invade—and want to kill as many Americans as possible if that happens.
This stuff is serious.

this is a bill of attainder

That train has left the station.
Few Americans realize just how thoroughly the Trump administration has attacked and rubbished the U.S.-Canada relationship—from making 51st state references *every week* to saying there should be no cars built in Canada (!). The old relationship’s already gone.

When you elect a Dem majority at the state level, they immediately set about passing good, thoughtful policy. Nobody talks about it. Everybody talks about the Wesleyan freshman. Why is that?

YOU have probably been suckered into talking about the Wesleyan freshman instead of MD leg. Why is that?

I’ve just read it (though that would have been easier had you included a link, or even the headline in your screenshot). My opinion hasn’t changed. Anyone reading the article would conclude that Trump neither understands nor cares about Christianity—but right-wing evangelicals support him anyway.

People, I abhor sanewashing too—but in this case, does the phrase “comic understatement” mean anything to you? Nobody would read the whole graf and think Trump has actually read the Bible. Let’s keep our heads.

Exciting to see this announced:

NYT front page for Sunday, April 19, 2026, showing the article everyone was reading the day before: “The Shadow Papers” by Jodi Kantor and Adam Liptak. Gift link in the post.

Indeed, it’s in print today.
www.nytimes.com/2026/04/18/u...

To clarify: yes, it will probably be in the *Sunday* print edition.

No, I’ve just looked in the NYT print edition (I’m a dinosaur who subscribes) and it would appear the shadow docket article isn’t there. It’ll probably appear in print tomorrow; I’m like you and will wait to read it until then.

This won’t work. The stock and futures markets can fuel themselves on vibes for quite a while, but supply and demand for tangible goods and services are stubborn things.

A former New Hampshire politician is named “Dick Swett.” (Yes, his name is Richard and he goes by “Dick,” which takes, er, moxie.)
He was always known as a really nice guy with a sense of humor—yes, “he had to be”—and having met him, I can confirm that.

They create the political and legal enviroment in which all those other things get done, and when you don't have them doing that well, you get...Orban and Erdogan and Trump