Dick Cheney dies, Zohran Mamdani wins, a beaver moon shines in the sky… I just know the Etsy witches have been busy.

A seeming bit of history tonight as Ghazala Hashmi becomes the first Asian American to win statewide office in Virginia - and the first Muslim woman to win statewide office *anywhere* in the United States.

2 0 2 5 Updates Key Races N.Y.C. Mayor Va. Gov. County Margin Shift from 2024 pres. T Votes Loudoun Spanberger +29 * 12 pts. 164,366 Prince William Spanberger +34 × 16 pts. 161,419 Portsmouth Spanberger +47 * 8.1 pts. 29,956 Washington Earle-Sears +49 * 4.5 pts. 20,927 Louisa Earle-Sears +20 * 6.5 pts. 18,719 Orange Earle-Sears +15 * 9.3 pts. 17,127 Powhatan Earle-Sears +40 * 4.4 pts. 16,957 Pulaski Earle-Sears +38 * 7.1 pts. 12,466 Dinwiddie Earle-Sears +17 ~ 6.3 pts. 11,974 Harrisonburg Spanberger +41 × 15 pts. 11,753 Manassas Spanberger +30 * 16 pts. 11,514 Carroll Earle-Sears +57 ~ 6.1 pts. 11,277 Wise Earle-Sears +59 ~ 4.6 pts. 10,962 Fairfax City Spanberger +45 * 11 pts. 10,232 Fredericksburg Spanberger +43 * 11 pts. 10,191 Salem Earle-Sears +12 6.9 pts. 9,374 King William Earle-Sears +34 * 7.1 pts. 8,999 Russell Earle-Sears +63 * 4.9 pts. 8,860

Every single county in Virginia shifted Blue.

Fox News is crashing out right now, and Mamdani hasn't even won yet.

Jesse Watters: "They had to bring Barack in from Hawaii, they had to pump millions more dollars into these races then they should have. These are blue states! This is Virginia, Jersey, they outspent Republicans like almost 2-1!"

Zohran Mamdani, who ran on universal child care, elected New York City mayor Mamdani defeated Andrew Cuomo, who resigned as governor in 2021 in the face of sexual misconduct allegations.

Zohran Mamdani will be New York’s youngest mayor in over a century and the city’s first Muslim and first South Asian mayor. He has twice defeated Andrew Cuomo, who resigned as governor in the face of sexual harassment allegations. https://bit.ly/47pa8LH

Apparently the jurors can’t stop laughing in the sandwich throwing case in court today.

Poor Brad. He’s getting criticized & now he’s wining about it. What’s up with rich white dude politicians blaming poor people btw? And going after the good guys. Sounds like Trump.

We're at the point in the story where the FBI is showing up at a dude's house because he attended a protest. Without suspicion of a crime, agents ask important questions like who produced signs for the event.

And it had an impact--he decided not to go back to the streets to voice his opinions.

Tiny lichen (above brown spruce needles for scale) growing between the slats of a boardwalk.

Now, look down: even in the tiny spaces between the boardwalk slats, “life, uh, finds a way.”

(You were someone’s unexpected joy today, just like this Cladonia lichen was for me. Keep going.)

It’s not mysterious.

I should note: by my count, this makes at least four clergy members *that I know of* who have been shot with pepper balls or rubber bullets fired by ICE/DHS agents in recent weeks — two Presbyterians, two Methodists and a UCCer.

Precisely. Racism is the gateway to Trump’s power grab.

Trump wants to build himself a gaudy ballroom at the same time he is taking food away from children.

The average age of U.S. homebuyers is now 56, up from 49 last year.

In 1981, the year trickledown economics began, it was 31.

SF institution hangs protest banners as federal agents are sent to Bay Area "Pity the nation whose leaders are liars."

"Pity the nation whose leaders are liars."

each of my books took years of my life and indeed probably off of my life. culture warlords is even now training slop to destroy the internet and steal writing jobs. im incandescently furious about it. i worked so fucking hard on that book and they just stole it to profit from it. bastards.

The Big Tent is Working Julia Roig on why building relational infrastructure takes time

Is the big tent approach to strengthening US democracy working? Yes! Check out how The Horizons Project approaches the task--in the latest Democracy Without Exception piece ⬇️

democracywithoutexception.substack.com/p/the-big-te...

The Right's Reaction to Bad Bunny Performing in Spanish at the Super Bowl Is Ugly -- But Not New

The debate around Bad Bunny performing the Super Bowl halftime reflects decades of Latin artists — from José Feliciano to Ricky Martin — being treated with doubt, suspicion, and even outrage.

Commentary ↓

Apparently LinkedIn allows Nazis to run recruitment ads on their platform.

I do not regret to inform you that we are going to win

I’m taking a class on social movements this semester and just last week we were talking about when a symbols are hijacked and used against their original meaning. “Woke” was the example I gave.

As a longtime RATM fan and lover of frogs this particular rehabilitation is giving me much needed joy.

#NoKings event in Fairhope, Al.
A woman was arrested for "lewd conduct" because she was dressed in penis suit with a sign that said "No dick-tator"
3 cops on a 53 yo woman.

Long live the PDX frog

Bringing a Survey to a Gun Fight “Pollingism” Has Failed Democrats and Voters. Here’s Why, and What to Do Instead.

Here it is, my answer for every time I get asked "why don't (most) Dems just...[message better, be bolder, sound authentic...etc]"

www.weekendreading.net/p/bringing-a...

100% a thousand times

over and over again

repeat

The regime is acting this way because there are no consequences so it is clear that consequences—the development of them, the advocacy for them, the imposition on bad behavior—are the answer to our crisis.

history teacher in 50 years: So in September, that’s when the president signed an executive order criminalizing anti-fascism and saying all resistance would be crushed

student: oh so that’s when the whole country realized they were living under fascism

teacher: haha what? oh no lol not at all. no.

IL Congressional candidate Kat Abughazaleh: "I think Kristi Noem should have consequences. I think she should be tried at The Hague."

Woody Guthrie~ All You Fascists Bound To Lose YouTube video by UnAmericanBandstand

www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwcK...

No law enforcement role for military in US cities, ex-Veep Pence says in Boston stop "We’ve got a longstanding policy, Posse Comitatus, that does not permit the use of the American military against the American people," former Vice President Mike Pence said Wednesday.

Former VP Mike Pence is right: “We've got a longstanding policy, Posse Comitatus, that does not permit the use of the American military against the American people.”