HR 7661, the Federal book banning bill, is unfortunately still alive. Please call your reps and say NO ON HR 7661! You can read the bill's full text here and see if your Congressperson is one of the 19 co-sponsors: www.congress.gov/bill/119th-c...

Brief but useful overview of India's 2027 census. Here's a slapdash #THREAD of the history of Indian census, for those interested -- www.nytimes.com/2026/04/03/w... #India #Census

If you understand Costco, you know more about the mechanics of universal programs than the New York Times does

I know this OMB is busy with its unlawful impoundments & apportionments blocking spending appropriated by Congress and spending $ that hasn't been appropriated. But it still hasn't produced a complete President's budget with both mandatory & discretionary spending with all tables and appendices.

TODAY I am writing up documentation for one of the databases that exists specifically to try to track all of the different layered funding and eligibility requirements it takes to put a little kid in Chicago into early childhood care and education.

The means-testing thing is so pernicious man. Designed in a lab to sow resentment, degrade the public good, shrink services and transfer costs away from government coffers and to individuals’ post-tax income

I hate that my mom gets the NYT and thinks they must know more than she does about stuff. She's going to call me about this universal childcare thing and ask me questions even though she used to teach govt and her grandkids went to free PK and she knows this is BS.

I love the framing of we took a bunch of this money for a while and then you busted us so now we are doing the principled thing and we're going to turn it into an opportunity to remind you that we are great guys. I believe everyone is on a journey but I have a FACE for this stuff.

Glad to see that taking Palantir money is increasingly becoming toxic. Someone should tell Dan Koh and Jake Auchincloss. thehill.com/policy/techn...

Do you do research on rural policies and policies? Submit an abstract for this special issue of Rural Sociology on Policies, Politics, and the Wellbeing of Rural People and Places. Abstracts due May 1. ruralsociology.org/rural-sociol...

Just learned the term "beachmaster" from the CANT SLEEP LETS LEARN ABOUT THE OCEANS book. His job is beach.

Turns out OpenAI is among the groups fueling dark money initiatives to introduce surveillance bills at the state level under the guise of ‘Protecting Children’ like Illinois’ HB5066, and SB3977 all of which are being pushed by @govpritzker.illinois.gov gizmodo.com/group-pushin...

Influencers message test to see what content gets responses. They semantically load this kind of content with engagement and sales opportunities. Over time new and INTENTIONALLY confusing constructs arise. This is part of how the MAHA wellness movement grew into a powerful disinfo machine.

3. Voting rights groups led by @lwvma.bsky.social (and represented by @aclu.org, @brennancenter.org, @legaldefensefund.bsky.social, @aaaj-aajc.bsky.social and @latinojustice.bsky.social) filed this lawsuit today (April 2): www.courtlistener.com/docket/73133...

Someone sent me this.

A simple question: Why?

Neighbors for Denali is officially closed as a committee with the Illinois State Board of Elections 🥂 Denali remains and can frequently be found hanging out with her neighbors.

The Marion Hammer scrub jay thing is mentioned in this article but doesn't get near enough air time. It is so so so weird. "Responding to [statements] that they were so gentle as to eat out of people’s hands, she said: “Begging for food isn’t sweet. It’s lazy and it’s a welfare mentality.”

We are at the library watching The Three Stooges movie and as a person who is very uncomfortable having my face touched this is so stressful. Also going to the movies at the library is the best.

I know I shouldn't engage but a lot of federal money goes into childcare and early childhood education including $8.831 billion for the Child Care and Development Block Grant program $12.357 billion for Head Start $315 million for Preschool Development Grants Birth through Five (PDG B-5)

Not a cognitive scientist or anything but I think a lot about people and computers and one significant difference is how they bullshit. Computers bullshit like the kid that copied someone's homework. People bullshit like a guy who caught a fish this big.

"When you're a child, your world is very small and very simple. The act of growing up is, in part, the act of accepting that it is neither of those things; it is complicated and large, so large that you will never know it all no matter how long you live or how much you learn."

My current bad Boss take is that I have been listening to this guy sing about white guy stuff forever and been like "yeah! This is about the universal conditions of life!" and then he writes an inclusive song and calls immigrants "the stranger in our midst" and I just had a massive CMON MAN moment.

The fact that Custer is running for Board President is a lot of the story according to most of the ed watchers I know and it's not mentioned until near the end of this piece. It's been hard to report and follow a lot of stuff on the Board bc it's big and new and chaotic and there is too much news.

Next week in Search & Discovery we discuss music discovery. Liz Pelly joins us for a trip to WFMU, and we document our own musical discovery memoirs — how we cultivated our tastes across phases of our lives :) crossreference.wordsinspace.net/spring2026/w...

“Restaurant Depot is a leading source of products for mostly independent restaurants and other businesses” Sold to Sysco Not good!

Your daily reminder that corporations are always playing corporation games and everyone's like "who cares they're always changing corporation names?" And I care. I care a lot.

Whenever I hear about Vance writing something I feel obligated to post Elizabeth Catte.

Being a sea turtle is really a whole thing

As detailed in the article, Bielecki previously interfered in the appointment process for the district council that covers my neighborhood to prevent the appointment of a qualified and community supported candidate.

But clarity is not the same thing as accuracy. And safety is not the same thing as justice. At SWOP Behind Bars, we’ve been clear about where we stand. Trafficking is real. It causes enormous harm. And it deserves responses that actually reduce exploitation instead of obscuring it.

Posting this excellent @annamerlan.bsky.social @flaminghydra.com piece without additional comment because I just deleted a sentence that contained the words "salad" and "post-horny" and I should really get some sleep.

Yesterday my husband was wandering around the house singing (to the tune of Peaches) "Millions of doggies here in my house. Millions of doggies because of my spouse." IN FAIRNESS it's 2 dogs and one of them is our dog now (previously a long-term foster) and the other is ALMOST READY to be rehomed 🐕

We went to a peace parade & Palm Sunday service at one of our favorite local churches and then helped purchase and transport a butt load of diapers for Albany Park Mutual Aid. You can donate so that people can keep receiving free diapers (and more!) weekly. www.instagram.com/albanyparkmu...

After the basic assumptions about people thread there should probably be a Part II about how this affects all the institutions, programs, and systems we have built that don't take into account how people (individually and collectively) operate but also I'm eating donuts.

Babies have stronger instincts about what they need than new parents have instincts about how to care for their babies. Having a new baby involves a lot of learning and no one should feel bad about not really knowing what to do. You weren't meant to do it alone anyway.

I think the idea of permanent supportive Housing sometimes makes people uncomfortable because they panic about the idea of someone never being "independent." The truth is that all of us are independent and self-sufficient to the degree that we are supported in our homes and in our communities.

I LOVE homemade signs and I think people should make them all the time.

🧵 Last year, I reported a lot about Flock's ALPRs in Evanston, and when I last wrote it seemed like all cams were on the way out. Thing is, Flock never removed two of them. Yesterday, I asked them why; today, they're suddenly gone. Full story here, and more details on the cams/the contract below ⬇️

People should take notice of what's happening in Rogers Park in Chicago right now. The right-wing media machine has zeroed in on the 40th Ward's Black queer alderman in the aftermath of a shooting, vilifying her description of the victim being in the "wrong place at the wrong time" as victim-blaming

Last year, agencies like ICE & Border Patrol cost the U.S. $41 billion. That's taxpayer money that could be better spent on investing in communities — not tearing them apart.

"Dogfighting is nothing like Pokemon" Me delivering PSAs at the bus stop

I'd like to shake the hand of the person behind the 7-11 baked in store croissants.

"Because book banners know that what they are doing violates people’s rights, they are trying to bypass those rights by claiming that, when people use libraries, those rights don’t exist. But they are wrong." This is FULL of interesting and helpful info about how they're wrong and why it matters

We shouldn't talk about this without noting that Hadden, a Black queer woman, receives an entirely different tier of personal harassment and threats AND that Hadden has drawn this kind of terrifying hate before when she has pushed back on racist political framing advanced by extremist groups.

I started doing these last year and it really helps with a whole bunch of stuff.

Panel data assembled. Now I absolutely want to do a bunch of other stuff with it so I am making myself sit for a few minutes and then make a list of what I actually need to do.

Did you know that Chicago Public Schools might be getting a new(ish) superintendent/CEO (yeah it's a slashie title now which is its own series of posts) next week? This feels like a big deal that has kind of gotten buried in so many other things that are happening.

There is so much great detail in here about what happens when you want to make changes in systems where there are lots of funding streams, programs, and structures. Also, we cannot expand childcare without childcare workers. They are amazing people who are frequently sidelined in these conversations

"He doesn't want to be the kind of person he is, so please could you all shut up." - Vigdis Hjorth with some perfect writing right here