Huge opportunity for the Liberal Democrats in the 2026 Birmingham City Council Elections

“We are now looking to win new seats across large parts of the city.”

#LibDems
🔶🔶🔶🔶🔶
www.libdemvoice.org/huge-opportu...

DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin signals closer scrutiny of customs at major sanctuary city airports DHS chief Markwayne Mullin says the agency will take a hard look at customs enforcement at international airports in sanctuary cities like LAX and JFK.

The new Homeland Security secretary wants to close all international air travel into Los Angeles. Remind me, why are we hosting the World Cup and Olympics?
www.foxnews.com/media/dhs-se...

Opinion | The Old Way of Campaigning Won’t Cut It Anymore

Plouffe thinks he is giving good advice. He's actually making a case for abandoning elections and moving to democratic models that don't require 24-7-365 digital propaganda mills.

The Old Way of Campaigning Won’t Cut It Anymore www.nytimes.com/2026/04/05/o...

At the University of Washington in Seattle this am, accidentally wandered into the cherry blossom festival

Limiting Not Just Screen Time, But Screen Space | NOEMA The internet has stopped being a place we visit — it’s now an environment we inhabit.

“Many social, historical & economic forces led me to check my work email in the bathroom. Among them is the way we have come to imagine the internet not as a place we go, but as a space we inhabit.”

— @laurajmartin.bsky.social

#internet #onlinelife #disconnect

The hidden massacre that birthed modern California OPINION: Most can’t remember the Mussel Slough massacre. Because you were never taught about it in the first place, Joe Mathews writes.

Remember Mussel Slough! The forgotten massacre (by the feds!) that spurred California to build a new kind of government. My Zócalo col @sfchronicle.com www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/open...

Allocracy: A Word for a Time That Has Come “Everybody wants to have a hand in a great discovery. All I will do is to give a hint or two as to names.” — Oliver Wendell Holmes, in a letter coining the word anesthesia, November 21, 1846 The as…

"Allocracy" is a new word, coined by Wayne Liebman of Public Democracy Los Angeles, to describe the emerging form of democracy--one he saw while organizing and moderating the LA City Charter Assembly. Read his piece: equalitybylot.com/2026/03/14/a...

A New Political Compass | NOEMA The politics of left versus right no longer make sense when the future of all earthly life is at stake.

"One camp views Life primarily as an information process to expand & enhance, the other conceives of Life as a complex system to maintain & balance; one gazes upward toward Life’s cosmic conquests, the other downward toward Life’s planetary entanglements." www.noemamag.com/a-new-politi...

Why Gen-Z Is Rising | Journal of Democracy Young people from Peru to Madagascar to Nepal—furious with political elites reaping the spoils of privilege and corruption—are rising up to demand change. But what happens when their movements succeed?

Young people from Peru to Madagascar to Nepal—furious with political elites reaping the spoils of privilege and corruption—are rising up to demand change. But what happens when their movements succeed?

And we're off! Los Angeles Charter Civic Assembly

Saving The Life We Cannot See | NOEMA Conservation has traditionally ignored the planet’s smallest life forms. Microbiologists are trying to change that — before it’s too late.

“Many of the planet’s microbiomes are under serious threat, with untold numbers of species & ecosystems flickering silently out of existence.”

— @moiradonovan.bsky.social

#microbes #microbiome #conservation #environment

So SCOTUS, with its fabricated-out-of-thin-air immunity doctrine, has actually made American presidents less accountable than LITERAL royalty.

Officials Pressed Schumer to Help Name Penn Station, Dulles for Trump

I'd be ok with renaming April for Trump. After all, it's the cruelest month.

Officials Pressed Schumer to Help Name Penn Station, Dulles for Trump www.nytimes.com/2026/02/06/u...

Do it

I love how, when it comes to their own rotting system, Americans can't see the obvious problem at the center.

The one-person American presidency is a massive threat to every living thing on this planet. It's long past time to end it.

Today's the last day to sign up for the lottery to join Rewrite La's January 11 civic assembly on the LA city charter. The assembly will consider a preamble and rights for LA's city constitution. Rewrite La.org/deliberate

This is a 750 miles radius map around Mainz, Germany, where Gutenberg deployed his first moveable type printing press in the 1440. Over the next 350 years an intellectual revolution would unfold almost entirely within this circumference, from Edinburgh to Rome, and from Barcelona to Königsberg.

The nation-state and democracy are not friends.

Riskmaxxing and the Death of the Middle Path For older generations, risk is a choice. For Gen Z, it's a trap.

“The postwar deal was simple enough that it barely needed stating: education + work + time = house, security, retirement. It worked, more or less, for three generations — long enough that people mistook it for natural law rather than policy choice.” www.collisiondetector.com/riskmaxxing-...

Revising the final recommendations at today's Rewrite LA lottery-selected mini-assembly at ICA LA. 30 Angelemis are deliberating on land use provisions of the city charter

BREAKING NEWS 2 Turkish Cities Are Short Listed for 'European Capital of Democracy'
www.democracy.community/stories/news...

Mastodon has been a lifeline in the madness, and a way to build planetary knowledge around local self-governance.

Oscar Winner Daniel Kwan “Nerds Out” on a New Passion Project: Helping Rewrite L.A.’s City Charter Kwan talks local activism and how his peers can help: "When most people hear about this kind of stuff, their eyes glaze over. But I wish that wasn’t the case because this charter affects everyone.”

Daniel has bern pushing to get everyday Angelenos into the chartter deliberation. So grateful for his passion and interest in local governance. www.hollywoodreporter.com/lifestyle/li...

Inside The Push To Rebuild Society Around Ecosystems | NOEMA As the climate crisis deepens, an old green dream is returning — with new tools and technologies.

“A growing ecological movement sees the solution [to the climate crisis] in bioregionalism: the idea of reorganizing social & economic life around the natural boundaries of the ecosystems that host & sustain us.”

— @dougbierend.bsky.social

#climatecrisis #bioregionalism #esg

NEW at DEMOCRACY LOCAL. In our "Where in the World is @brunokaufmann.bsky.social ?" feature, the intrepid democracy reporter visits Copenhagen during local elections that produced a historic shift. www.democracy.community/stories/wher...

This GIVING TUESDAY, please consider a donation to Democracy Local's parent NGO, Democracy International, which hosts and supports our publication. www.democracy.community/donate

NEW at Democracy Local. NEWSLETTER: The Planetocracy Cometh, So Wear Your White Hats. Also: Is Impact Investing Anti-Democratic? A Sub-Saharan Cities Compact; and Wisdom from a Cat-Mayor-Martyr

www.democracy.community/stories/news...

For the first time, LA public defenders will defend clients in immigration court A new unit at the LA County Public Defender’s office will do something unprecedented in the county: defend immigrants in court facing deportation.

For the first time in it's 111 year history, LA public defenders will defend clients in immigration court.
A new unit at the LA County Public Defender’s office will do something unprecedented in the county: defend immigrants in court facing deportation.
bit.ly/48KAPLm

What can Chennai learn from Kerala and Bengaluru on citizen participation in urban governance? The divergent models followed by Kerala and Bengaluru in participation of citizens in ward committees can prove vital learning for Chennai as citizens seek a greater say in local governance.

citizenmatters.in/chennai-citi...

Enjoy a wide-ranging conversation, from Mexico City to Chennai, Lagos to Los Angeles, on how big cities reckon with their democratic responsibilities.
www.democracy.community/stories/vide...