Hey Columbus area folks, I'll be giving a public talk on "Nonviolence & Peacebuilding in a Warming World" on Wednesday, November 12 at the Westerville Public Library at 7pm. It's free, but they ask you to register at this link - hope to see you there!

Der Albtraum Citizens will be on their best behavior, because we’re constantly recording and reporting everything that is going on,” Larry Ellison predicts rise of the modern surveillance state where ‘citizens will be on their best behavior’ fortune.com/2024/09/17/o...

BREAKING: Supreme Court lets Trump unilaterally freeze billions in congressionally appropriated foreign aid money apparent 6-3 vote with liberals in dissent @courthousenews.bsky.social

The richest man on earth owns X. The second richest man on earth is about to be a major owner of TikTok. The third richest man owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. The fourth richest man owns The Washington Post. See the problem here?

This is huge: “A drug that provides near-perfect protection against H.I.V. with shots just twice a year will be made available at $40 per patient annually in low- and middle-income countries, offering new hope… making lenacapavir a realistic choice in countries with constrained resources.”

“The U.S. and China have signed, signaling intent to align with the treaty’s objectives without creating legal obligations, while Japan and Russia have been active in preparatory talks.” apnews.com/article/high...

If you feel like you're not strong enough for this moment, remember - we're the first generation of our species with a 24-7, high-def, live feed of the awful going on in every corner of the world. Be gentle with yourself. It's too much for any one person to hold. Do what you can. It *does* matter.

Higher ed drives economic growth and innovation, and it’s under attack. Read the new op-ed from @paulakrebs.bsky.social‬ and @ehayot.bsky.social‬ and tell your legislators that research, teaching, and innovation are important to you and your community. www.post-gazette.com/opinion/gues...

This is the bill to call your reps about and the relevant text in it

UPDATE Bolsonaro sentenced to 27 years, 3 months for attempting a military coup, with plans to assassinate President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, VP Geraldo Alckmin and Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, to stay in power after his 2022 election loss www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...

Sedation dentistry is no longer weird. Phone cameras are really good. The price of solar panels has dropped by tens of thousands. Southern white rhinos, giant pandas, Arabian oryx and Stellar sea lions are no longer endangered. And, I can testify, modern cancer treatments are fucking amazing.

The largest SNAP cuts in history went into effect yesterday, eliminating or drastically cutting food assistance for millions of Americans. And it’s all to pay for more tax cuts that primarily benefit the super-rich. Trickle-down economics isn't just a hoax — it's cruel.

One of the reasons Georgia may consider *ending* AVR is that it “results in more voters than the national average” ... www.ajc.com/politics/202...

This feels like a spot of good news www.sciencedaily.com/releases/202...

Got my advance reader copies of Living in a DAISY Age yesterday! They look amazing! It’s hard to put into words how I feel holding a physical copy of my book 🤯 Preorder: www.simonandschuster.com/books/Living...

Jesus. Pam Bondi just purported to replace the DC police chief and revoke guidance from earlier today that instructed police to continue to comply with DC’s sanctuary laws — laws duly passed by our city council, elected by our voters. Even more radical than we’d feared.

THIS IS NOT CONSTITUTIONAL. They cannot commandeer state and local law enforcement because they want to. THIS IS NOT LAWFUL. They cannot use federalized guard or military personnel for civilian law enforcement absent rebellion and insurrection.

“The dismantling of Harvard’s diversity offices arrived at Harvard College on Wednesday as websites for centers serving minority students, LGBTQ students, and women disappeared suddenly and without fanfare.” www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...

the argument is we're going to kick tens of million people off Medicaid so they can pick crops

I’ve been saying forever that Trump’s literal climate change policy is to accelerate it.

A global minimum tax on the ultrarich could change planetary politics. Right now South Africa, Chile, France, and Spain are pushing for it

They fucking said they were going to do it. We warned they were going to do it. And militant centrists, anti-anti-Trumpers, and bro-casters ridiculed us for warning that they were going to do it. I welcome all who want to stop this nightmare. But Jesus. Have some goddamned humility, please.

Federal court in North Dakota declined to review a ruling against two tribal nations that declared only the DOJ can sue for voter discrimination. That means ND voters are stuck with an election map that illegally marginalizes Natives, because the DOJ will not intervene

US military being deployed against their own people.

No one could possibly have predicted:

Simply extraordinary. Congressional Republicans are cheering on the fact that Trump will ignore parts of a bill they passed on partisan lines without a single Democratic vote. Article I is dead.

Huge sleeper issue is how states will (or won’t) be able to absorb huge SNAP cuts in BBB. www.inquirer.com/politics/pen...

I just saw this thorough analysis by @mediaanddemocracy.bsky.social of print media coverage of No Kings Day. Big takeaway: Local papers and the AP did a great job. NYT, WaPo, WSJ, not so much. Adjust your media diet accordingly. mediaanddemocracyproject.substack.com/p/no-kings-c...

Most incredible about this is that IU-Bloomington has long been the no. 1 university in the world for teaching Asian languages and cultures, with many programs found nowhere else. They're slashing many of IU-B's most distinctive programs with zero thought or debate. They probably don't even know.

Fight because ACA repeal lost in the Senate by one vote in 2017. Fight because even if they win, the political costs we make them pay can shape what’s next. Fight because you won’t let it be said that you were silent. Fight because the future is not written. Fight because we still can.

McGovern: Listen to this quote from Murkowski who just caved and voted for this. "My hope is that the house is going to look at this and recognize we are not there yet."  If you really believe that, why the hell did you vote for the bill?

A new paper in The Lancet, one of the world’s foremost peer reviewed medical journals, estimates that USAID prevented 91 million deaths across 133 countries over 20 years. The paper estimates that Elon Musk’s DOGE funding cuts to USAID will lead to 14 million deaths by 2030 (4.5 million children).

Of course he is--this is funding for groups that aren't "real Americans": English language learners, migrant children, and teachers.

Three-quarters of Americans say democracy is under serious threat, according to a new NPR/PBS News/Marist poll.

"...24.6 million people in Sudan facing acute food insecurity —nearly half the population, according to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification. Aid workers say the war spiked market prices, limited aid delivery, and shrunk agricultural lands" apnews.com/article/suda...

This isn’t over yet. Spread the word. Republicans' Big, Beautiful Bill would: — Kick 16 million off their health care — Close 1 out of 4 nursing homes — Hike your energy bills — Add at least $4 trillion to the national debt It’s a gift to the rich and a disaster for families.

Trump team axes contracts with publishing giant Springer Nature At first, NIH told me its contracts with SN were active and that they help “advance scientific discovery”. Hours later, HHS said the opposite: "Precious taxpayer dollars should not be used on unused subscriptions to junk science.”

This chart has been widely shared on here, it’s important to see the correction

Great reporting from Colleen Marshall at @nbc4i.com about the 1 am "power grab" to take away educator voices on the STRS Board. We are asking Governor DeWine to veto this last minute, unvetted addition to the state budget.

For academics & scholars who've uploaded papers to Academia, this message I received this morning should be of major concern. I'll delete my account, but I assume damage is done & they've already scraped everything of mine. Should stand as a warning about sharing one's work on commercial websites

Here's a helpful how-to on how to delete your account: support.academia.edu/hc/en-us/art...

A national citizenship data system should shake every American to the core. Voter fraud is virtually non-existent. This is not about voter fraud. www.npr.org/2025/06/29/n...

If the GOP reconciliation bill passes, ICE gets through FY2029: - $45 billion for detention, on top of the current annual budget of $3.4 billion - $14.4 billion for transportation and removal, on top of the current annual budget of $750 million - $8 billion for hiring/retention - Billions more.

The trans healthcare ban is BACK in the bill (after the parlimentarian removed it, they put it back). Dems need to do a call and vote to remove it again. PLEASE CALL YOUR SENATORS AND TELL THEM TO VOTE AND KILL IT.

A nice reminder of the immense power contained in saying “no.” When people refuse to comply, it raises the costs ($$$, political, social, etc) of enforcing authoritarianism. They very well might try anyway, but every person that says “no” is another point of friction. www.npr.org/2025/06/28/n...

Hot on the heels of the first decision about the legality of using copyrighted works to train AI models is a second decision that criticizes the first one. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

N.I.H. Memo Pauses Cancellations of Medical Research Grants The directive, in a memo issued Tuesday, came after two court rulings that questioned the Trump administration’s swift cuts to funding. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/25/s...

He spent 2 billion, that's billion with a B, of your tax dollars for nothing. The enriched Uranium was long gone. No intelligence needed; all they had to do was read his ridiculous posts on Truth Social. www.bbc.com/news/article...