Democrats' fight on gerrymandering needs to be a model for abolishing the filibuster and reforming the corrupt Supreme Court - the two reforms that make a civic democractic future possible talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/the-b...

This is straight up, Nazi "dual state" shit. If a naturalized citizen commits a crime, we have mechanisms in place to hold them accountable. It's called the legal system and it applies to all of us. This extra targeting of only *some* people accused of crimes is part of a broader, expulsive project.

There has been a total collapse of trust in anything that comes out of this Pentagon. They have lied freely, frequently and without shame. It means that on serious matters - like civilian casualty disputes or US casualty figures - no-one can trust what they say.

When Einstein developed general relativity the closest thing to a practical application that could even be imagined at the time was a slightly more precise description of where to look for the planet Mercury in the sky, and yet now we’d all be literally lost without it. Anyway: fund basic research.

Dying in office because you insisted on clinging to power until the very end instead of letting a new generation of leaders rise should be seen for the shameful, egomaniacal act that it is.

The fact that Trump had appointed a totally unqualified donor to be Secretary of the Navy leading into what turned into the biggest crisis for the US Navy since World War 2 could be covered like the media covered Michael "Brownie" Brown during Hurricane Katrina. They choose not to do this!

Ok, that's good stuff. Maybe if California fixes Prop 13, we can revisit Measures 5 & 50 here in Oregon

It’s time to bottom-line this next phase of the Iran War, the one that’s being presented as an extended ceasefire.

So, the guy who thinks that witches have taken over California is now the acting Secretary of the Navy? Super.

Scoop: It could take six months to fully clear the Strait of Hormuz of Iranian mines and any such operation is unlikely to be carried out until the U.S. war with Iran ends, the Pentagon has informed Congress www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

Amidst all the GOP whining tonight, a reminder that the Democrats would currently control the House were it not for the late, illegal GOP gerrymandering in GA & NC in 2024.

Conservatives have been trained for decades to think of Constitutions not as agreed-upon rules for fair governance, but as a series of cheat codes and loopholes that let them hold power even when the voters want to throw them out. They won't accept anything less than permanent domination of us.

A reminder while Republicans bitch about Dems finishing the redistricting fight they started: they have full control of gov’t— they can pass a law banning gerrymandering any time they want. They won’t. Republicans aren’t mad gerrymandering exists; they’re mad that they’re not the only ones using it.

Everyone knows the way you change the Constitution is to have six people in robes make up a new Constitution as they go along.

Trump is within sight of an under 30% overall approval rating. One of the most important causes right now is to establish a media narrative and popular support behind severe punishments and consequences to our present criminals running things.

This is monstrous. Just profoundly shameful behavior by our government. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/21/w...

the shift to a winner-take-all distribution of electoral votes? a partisan project. the development of the mass political party? a partisan project. antislavery and reconstruction? a partisan project. even direct election of senators comes out of populist agitation in the late 19th century.

And in fact Republican states like Utah and Ohio have retained their gerrymanders in open defiance of successful referendums demanding non-partisan redistricting

Starting a mid-decade redistricting war only to end up with -1 seats is the same fine strategic genius and subtle grasp of game theory that brough us the Strait of Hormuz.

“enhanced interrogation” instead of torture walked so “detention centers” instead of concentration camps could run.

how it feels to say "sprezzatura"

The Associated Press is reporting that the Virginia Redistricting Referendum has passed! Virginians land yet another blow to Donald Trump’s attempts to maintain power over Congress. One winner: Virginia State Senator & dedicated poster L. Louise Lucas, who spearheaded the “10-1!” push

they like Trump and want to help him rule us like a king

Everyone involved in this needs to be prosecuted and punished

In both foreign policy and economic policy, the core belief of Trumpism is that there is some button one can press to instantly and easily solve any problem, and every political leader this country has ever had was simply too cowardly to press it. That’s it.

Portland will never be a flyover city. It is a weird place with excellent food and as such will be a destination for probably the rest of the century. Moda Center doesn’t figure into this. A functioning transit system does though.

TIL that while Colorado basin municipal water districts pay an average of $512 per acre-foot, irrigation districts pay an average of $30--and fully a quarter of all water diversions, all going to farms, pay nothing at all prospect.org/2026/04/17/w...

The CEO of Palantir posted a fascist manifesto on X. I pointed out that it was fascist—which resulted in a permanent suspension from X (my second time!). So, when you hear the tweeters complaining that BlueSky is intolerant, remember why many of us came here in the first place.

“Another way to look at this is that billionaires have joined a war on professional administrative class of public servants precisely because of their proximity to formal mechanisms of accountability.” That part! Everything from documentation to compliance mechanisms to whistleblowing is a threat.

This is what "the power of positive thinking," Trump's actual philosophy, looks like in practice. Every defeat actually a victory, every obstacle will disappear, all the critics are just liars who are out to destroy me etc. Very dangerous!

that's right theweek.com/articles/598...

"'Lots of people think Keir Starmer is a good man who is out of his depth,' said one Labour insider. 'Wrong. He’s an asshole who’s out of his depth.'"

IDF commanders told Haaretz that southern Lebanon is being demolished “like Gaza.” The declared goal is to prevent civilians from being able to return. Both are war crimes punishable under international law. www.haaretz.com/israel-news/...

Expanding access to psychedelics for mental health seems like a good thing, but I gotta say I am not wild about this process. www.statnews.com/2026/04/18/p...

There should be Dem Fight caucuses, and members with genuine hunger for aggressive oversight should demand enforceable concessions that prevent leadership + frontline members from shutting down promising inquiries. www.offmessage.net/p/how-to-det...

"So Todd Blanche is appointing a lawyer formerly paid by Russian allies to discredit the Russian investigation to declassify and release a load of intelligence... in the guise of criminalizing counterintelligence investigations."

There’s a reason Republicans don’t constantly shit on their own voters and that’s because it is an abysmal strategy for winning elections

Forget about the substance, the reveal that “most of” the justices talked to Mollie Hemingway for her book is bananas. Hemingway is a right-wing freak who runs a conspiracy theory blog. If literally any of the justices are taking this person seriously, the Supreme Court is GONE gone.

Israeli former general Ya'akov Or: "Jewish violence, terrorism, and pogroms are a brutality that taints every Israeli, left and right. These are metastases that will spread until the disease is terminal, and it is critical to stop them while possible."

I'm not joking when I say mRNA technology is more important than "AI" and it's a tragedy we're throwing billions into one while our government is aggressively defunding the other.

Imagine if the government spent $1 billion per day on stuff like this rather than losing wars.

"there is only one majority in this country and that is the working class."

“I’m from the government and I’m here to help” is almost literally what Mayor Mamdani is saying and it’s great actually

More than anything else this reveals just how impulsive the major questions doctrine revamp is. It all ultimately stemmed from Roberts's personal antipathy to a regulation, and everything since has been a dishonest attempt to dress it up so that he doesn't look like he's just shooting from the hip.

Amazing that in the national divorce the libs are getting the NFL, butter and cooking oil, being attracted to adult women, standup comedy, Bud Light, and now also Catholicism

Authoritarianism is, at its core, performative and aesthetic. US autocrats who, not only do not recognize fictional, satirical characters, but who emulate them, are telling us who they are. They are frauds intending to deceive. Do not let them.

Make 👏🏿 Crime 👏🏿 Illegal 👏🏿 Again 👏🏿 apnews.com/article/kals...

Obvious point: If you’re a real “institutionalist” you need to be ready to reform —sometimes to radically reform—failing or corrupt institutions. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/18/u...

Seems fitting that we have the shadow docket because Roberts got mad at an EPA blog post.

A reasonable bet that these days the very online Kavanaugh and co are rubber stamping Trump regime’s decisions via secretive shadow dockets based on content they are taking in through not just through right wing cable tv but its massive conspiracy filled online media. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/18/u...