"Do you have a favorable or unfavorable view of Hasan Piker?"

Unfavorable: 15%
Favorable: 7%

Never Heard Of/Have No Opinion: 79%

Echelon / April 2026

Me, every single workday:
"Why is this taking so long? This was supposed to be QUICK!"
Still working out how this whole time thing operates, apparently.

Permitting Bottlenecks for Wind and Solar Blocked by US Judge A federal judge blocked a set of Trump administration permitting rules that renewable-energy developers say have hampered construction of solar and wind power projects.

A federal judge today blocked Republicans from enforcing their series of permitting policies meant to stop wind and solar energy new energy generation projects.
#EnergySky
news.bloomberglaw.com/litigation/p...

Conservatives think the state should protect them from the traumatizing experience of encountering people unlike them. For some reason this never came up in the heyday of “snowflake,” “trigger warning” or “safe space” discourse bsky.app/profile/kiss...

Kash’s Complaint As he said he would on Sunday morning, FBI Director Kash Patel filed a defamation case against The Atlantic and reporter Sarah Fitzpatrick this morning over a story that characterizes him as an incomp...

FBI Director Kash Patel’s defamation lawsuit against the Atlantic explained: joycevance.substack.com/p/kashs-comp...

Challenging the Pope: The Avignon Papacy

So today on Gone Medieval I have that rare thing - a medievalist emergency - wherein I had to explain the Avignon Papacy because a lot of people know the phrase *cough* the Trump administration *cough* but they don't actually know what it means. Don't let it be you.
open.spotify.com/episode/7bsa...

American Library Association Shares Book Ban Data, List of ‘Most Challenged’ Titles of 2025 - Publishing Perspectives U.S. librarians tracked 4,235 unique book challenges in 2025, nearly matching the record of 4,240 recorded in 2023, and almost double last year's count.

“2025’s censorship campaigns weren’t about protecting children—they were about erasing realities. A tiny cohort of people are trying to remove people’s lived experiences from library shelves.”

Bookcase quilt made from ties

This is mine. Made from my late husband's ties. Look at the titles

In this Indiana diner, everyone has three questions: How's the tenderloin? Is the quarry hiring? And where do you think Rod Dreher is going to move to next?

Still working that part out.

In 2023, Governor JB Pritzker was joined by Lieutenant Governor Juliana Stratton, Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias, advocates, and lawmakers at the Harold Washington Library to sign legislation outlawing book bans in Illinois.

Illinois made history as the first state to outlaw book bans once and for all.

Marginalizing people, ideas, or facts has no place in our state — and they have no place in a democracy.

This National Library Week, we continue our commitment to free thought and free speech.

Sorry about the cold snap, everyone. It’s my fault. I changed to summer sheets on Friday.

Average new UK electric car price is now lower than petrol vehicles Autotrader says average EV cost is £785 cheaper, in an important milestone in the move away from fossil fuels

Forget "total cost of ownership." In the UK, the average EV is now cheaper than the average ICE vehicle, up front. Sticker cost.

And of course the savings just keep accumulating after that.

It also looks very astroturfed.

Yes. And it compels people to ask themselves what their idea of happiness is, what it would mean to be happy, and that can be an uncomfortable and disruptive question.

Pennsylvania's motor-voter system effectively screens non-citizens from voter registration • Pennsylvania Capital-Star The audit also revealed problems with PennDOT’s data security protocols and recommended tighter internal controls.

Pennsylvania's auditor general, a Republican, audited 210,000+ new voter registrations under Gov. Shapiro's new motor voter system to see if noncitizens were registering to vote.

They found one. One.

And that was because a PennDOT staffer erred. It was fixed before the driver left the office.

MAGA wants teen births. It won't work Teen birth rates are at historic lows — and young women want to keep it that way

Republicans are getting more brazen — in rhetoric and policy — in pushing teenage girls to give birth.

The good news is that it won't work. Girls aren't going to fall for it.

An analysis.

www.salon.com/2026/04/20/m...

What if I suddenly changed my life?

That gets my vote, too.

but yeah, the whole, "Ds abandoned working people" is in fact a dog whistle that means, "Ds abandoned white people." so. treat those claims accordingly.

MASSIVE 600 ton Liebherr mining excavator converted from diesel to electric Lloyds Metals and Energy have successfully converted a massive, 650-ton class Liebherr R 996 excavators from diesel power to electric.

The future is electric

bsky.app/profile/juli...

I’ve had the same editor since 1967. Many times he has said to me over the years or asked me, Why would you use a semicolon instead of a colon? And many times over the years I have said to him things like: I will never speak to you again. Forever. Goodbye. That is it. Thank you very much. And I leave. Then I read the piece and I think of his suggestions. I send him a telegram that says, OK, so you’re right. So what? Don’t ever mention this to me again. If you do, I will never speak to you again

Maya Angelou on the joys of being edited

"Word of the the Decade: Agnotology "Within the sociology of knowledge, agnotology (formerly agnatology) is the study of deliberate, culturally induced ignorance or doubt, typically to sell a product, influence opinion, or win favour, particularly through the publication of inaccurate or misleading scientific data (disinformation)." -Wikipedia"

how am I only just learning this stunningly apt word

Gathered Meeting Project — Martha Crawford - What a Shrink Thinks A quiet space to gather, rest, share & recover

Meets today if you need to breathe deep with others in a secular space

Or are interested in learning a community group model that can be used and modified to suit your circumstances

Totally free.

Donation accepted if you want to support admin/org

@sarahquinn.bsky.social facilitating today

Jessica Chastain Says Apple TV Will Finally Release ‘The Savant’ After Postponement Following Charlie Kirk Assassination: ‘We’re Going to See It’ (EXCLUSIVE) Jessica Chastain says Apple TV will finally release ‘The Savant’ after streamer postponed it following Charlie Kirk's assassination in September.

The wild cultural overreaction in the wake of Kirk’s death looks increasingly bizarre the further we get away from it.

variety.com/2026/tv/colu...

I wish more educators and fewer lawyers would run for public office, in part b/c the best ones are naturals at explaining the whys of things.

We could use more people in public life who cultivate understanding and bring people along together instead of "voters are too dumb to appreciate language"

Connections
Puzzle #1043
🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟨🟨🟨🟨
🟪🟪🟪🟪
🟦🟦🟦🟦
“Exceptionally tricky”

'Staggering' buyer's remorse skyrocketing among Latino Trump voters Latino voters were a group that broke for President Donald Trump in a big way in the 2024 election, but now, even more evidence has emerged showing that they are feeling severe buyer's remorse as his ...

Polls show a collapse in Trump’s support among Latinos—another reason Republicans are trying so desperately to prevent people from voting.
www.alternet.org/trump-latino...