Stop what you are doing and watch this slide

Fred from Scooby-Doo unmasking the bad guy at the end of a mystery, in two frames. First frame: Left side: a tied up man in a white featureless mask with eye holes. The caption over him in impact font reads, "SOMETHING I USED TO LOVE SUCKS NOW" Right side of frame, Fred has his hand on the mask, about to pull it off. The caption on him reads, "LET'S SEE WHO'S BEHIND THIS." Second frame: The unmasked bad guy has a pencil thin curling mustache, a pointy nose, and dark hair, with a widow's peak. The caption on him reads, "PRIVATE EQUITY"

Evergreen

This is horrific. I feel physically ill.

(Reposted with ALT text)

we all know I have no life, so:

I think we collectively can think of many good examples of concrete economic policies that could transform lives and move voters. That was just one example off the top of my head (and probably not even the best one--free childcare would be better).

The expanded child tax credit briefly slashed child poverty. Here's what else it did The monthly cash payments reached more than 61 million kids in December alone. Most low-income families spent the money on basic needs like food, clothing and utility bills.

I agree childcare would be even better! I just thought of this example because we have evidence they worked: www.npr.org/2022/01/27/1...

The expanded child tax credit briefly slashed child poverty. Here's what else it did The monthly cash payments reached more than 61 million kids in December alone. Most low-income families spent the money on basic needs like food, clothing and utility bills.

That's also very straightforward and probably better! I was just referring back to the payments that happened in 2021 that alleviated childhood poverty: www.npr.org/2022/01/27/1...

"Make child tax credit payments permanent" seems pretty concrete to me!

Messages tested

Message persuasiveness

The road to winning back the Biden skippers

And more importantly, I think, how to win them back:

"Biden skippers" slide deck

"Biden skippers" slide deck

"Biden skippers" slide deck

Why they didn't vote:

Decided to do a little more digging to learn more about those 2020 Biden voters who skipped 2024, why they skipped, and what sort of message might win them back, and found this helpful research by Celinda Lake from last year: waytowin.docsend.com/view/rnv5spt...

This shows exactly how unsurprising Mamdani's success is, because he offers a clear economic vision ("make the greatest city in the world and affordable place to live"), messages outside of traditional media effectively, and shows he's willing to fight.

Palantir's Manifesto Is as Subtle as a MAGA Hat Palantir's 22-point manifesto is nonsense, writes Dave Karpf. But it at least it is short enough to be clarifying, he says.

My latest, for @techpolicypress.bsky.social

When I read Alex Karp’s book last year, I thought it should’ve been a tweet. Now Palantir has turned it into a tweet-length manifesto, which could’ve just been a picture of a MAGA hat.

Karp is… not a subtle thinker.
www.techpolicy.press/palantirs-ma...

The Fatherless Fantasy Of ‘Bridgerton’ | Defector In the world of Netflix’s Bridgerton, the wildly popular Regency romance adapted from an equally popular book series, some things are constant: The women wear organza and brocade gowns; everyone takes...

I love when an essay points out something true—and, in retrospect, totally obvious—that I had never noticed before. All the dads in Bridgerton are dead.

Thalia Vrantsidis: Starkville Professor Examines Why People Gravitate to Easy Answers Mississippi State University researcher Thalia Vrantsidis won the Psychonomic Society’s 2025 Best Article Award for her paper delving into why people favor simple solutions.

"I wanted to know what makes for a good explanation of a subject and find out about what people are looking for when they try to understand something," MSU researcher Thalia Vrantsidis said. "I found that people often wanted that understanding in simpler terms."

buff.ly/05r0fa0

The National Disgrace and Danger of Kash Patel The FBI Director is a national embarrassment — and desperate to keep his job.

It’s been a few months since I wrote about how bad Kash Patel was at being FBI director, so let’s check in over at the FBI, shall we?

Wait ... what's that now? www.doomsdayscenario.co/p/the-nation...

Part of my story with one of my best friends was that the first few times we met I was enthusiastic and complemented her outfits and she was deeply suspicious of me, thinking that I must be insincere. We became friends because she realized I really meant it every time. And I know I'm not alone!

Maybe not best, but this is genuinely the most important cover in comics history.
This cover sparked the creation of the Comics Code Authority, solidified comics creators as amoral freaks and cleared the path for superheroes to dominate first comics, then all of pop culture.

I was just talking about this in my comics class today as context for The Fall Out.

A clip from The New York Times reads: "But only the entities that officially paid the tariffs are eligible to recover that money. That means that the fuller universe of people affected by Mr. Trump’s policies — including millions of Americans who paid higher prices for the products they bought — are not able to apply for direct relief. The extent to which consumers realize any gain hinges on whether businesses share the proceeds, something that few have publicly committed to do. Some have started to band together in class-action lawsuits in the hopes of receiving a payout."

The average American family paid $1,700 in tariffs last year, according to the bipartisan Congressional Joint Economic Committee. Few will ever see any of that money back. The refunds will go to companies, if doled out at all. What a joke.

Glad he's still riding!

Unique Summer Camps in North Carolina for Kids and Adults | Visit North Carolina The summer camp experience can lead to some of the most cherished memories. From making new friends to learning a new skill, spending time at a summer camp or school will enrich the kids’ vacation in ...

Seconding that--my school does this stuff in MO. Different museums or educational centers would be another bet; this seems to have a few suggested: www.visitnc.com/list/unique-...

Amazing! Love this for you.

Abolish ICE.

The Inside Story of Five Days That Remade the Supreme Court

There’s so much to say about the remarkable reporting from Jodi Kantor & Adam Liptak—and I’ll say a lot of it in Monday’s newsletter.

But the most striking thing about all of it is the role & behavior of Chief Justice Roberts. “Calling balls and strikes” this ain’t:

www.nytimes.com/2026/04/18/u...

Jamal is too nice to say "utter hypocrisy," but that's what this is.

Today's #SCOTUS treats *all* coercive relief against the executive branch as imposing irreparable harm on the government. For that proposition, they cite a 2014 opinion by ... Chief Justice Roberts.

Its absence here is deafening.

Most striking to me about these memos is the radically different assessment of the harm imposed by the president not being able to pursue his initiatives. Over the last 15 mos., that harm has in numerous cases been treated as almost per se serious and irreparable. Here, it gets no analysis at all.

The Inside Story of Five Days That Remade the Supreme Court

WOW: Jodi Kantor & Adam Liptak have the memos that describe the origins of SCOTUS shadow docket - the 2016 order halting Obama’s Clean Power Plan @jodikantor.bsky.social @adamliptak.bsky.social @nytimes.com

www.nytimes.com/2026/04/18/u...

Why do the Japanese like their buns askew (2026)

Estimates suggest that registered Democrats outnumber registered Republicans among faculty nationwide by a margin of about 10 to 1.

Why is this statistic surprising? The GOP has been at the forefront of attacking and defunding higher education for decades. Trump has made it priority to “take down” elite universities, seeking to fine them, tell them what to teach, and who to hire. JD Vance said “the universites are the enemy.”