"If you're a corporation wanting to buy a politician with their PAC, I'm 'dangerous.'"

🫶 #Mamdani @mayor.nyc.gov @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social

Such a magnificent and magical world… 🦋✨🫶 www.sunnyskyz.com/blog/4101/Ch...

Spiritual nugget to ponder on a Sunday: Anthropic's Claude on a NON-ETHNOCENTRIC perspective on guilt, shame, and societal advancement: "[I]t's less about guilt vs. shame per se and more about whether a culture's regulatory mechanism is * proportionate * repair-oriented * and reversible" 1/

Walking the skyscraper-lined streets of Manhattan has long been a joyful pastime and diverting way to sneak in a modicum of exercise into New Yorkers' daily routines. 1/

It is simply not true that candidates must accept corporate donations to win.

The International Criminal Court issued an "arrest warrant [for the Israeli PM] on 21 November 2024" for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity. 1/ www.icc-cpi.int/defendant/ne...

Reminder... Any political party trying to make it harder to vote is sending a clear message — they can't win on their ideas alone.

The fastest way to find out what someone truly believes is to ask them what would make them believe the opposite. - original, in the Socratic voice

The truth does not mind waiting. It is patient precisely because it does not need your agreement to remain true. - original aphorism

"In our digital age, it has become increasingly difficult to distinguish information shaped by vested interests from that produced by independent and fair news professionals" 1/ journalismtrustinitiative.org/about-jti/

My objection to our war w/Iran is NOT because I support their policies — oppressive and misogynistic domestically, or interventionist, militaristic, and vengeful abroad — nor even strictly because "winning" would come at too high a cost — human and financial (which it very well might) 1/

As a reasonably well-informed voter, I am clear that the more influencers, politicians, and people in positions of power cast doubt on the integrity of our elections, the more important it is to vote in the next election to beat back those who seek to subvert democracy by depressing participation.

Congresswoman AOC has introduced a bill that would ban Supreme Court Justices from accepting lavish gifts from the ultra wealthy. Love that, but what I find insane is that this isn’t already illegal.

"Caricom leaders are seeking * a formal apology * education & public health improvements * development programs for Indigenous people * repatriation and resettlement for those seeking to live in their homeland * debt cancellations * monetary compensations..." Suggestion: help w/climate adaptation

What a graphic. @cnn.com #$NVDA #$TSLA #$AEO

1) Corporations and the super-rich spend billions on elections 2) Elected officials rewrite laws in the donors' favor, enact huge tax cuts, and deregulate industries 3) Donors make huge profit 4) Repeat If we want to talk about "integrity" and our political system, let's talk about this.

"It's difficult to see how Trump could have done more in a 27-minute address to weaken confidence in U.S. elections."

I wrote this last year. The smoke from the wildfire in Canada is twice as thick this year in Northern Illinois. Canadian smoke— my city wears its ghost clothes #haiku #poetry

"Conservation projects in New Zealand increasingly operate through arrangements between [#indigenous] iwi groups, government agencies and private trusts after generations of Māori land dispossession under colonial settlement." 1/

“All the propaganda of all the totalitarianism tries to make one set of people forget that certain other sets of people are human.” — Dorothy Thompson

Meanwhile, in France... "..suddenly, a tear from the President of the National Assembly,... moved at the announcement of the result [T]he deputies definitively adopted the bill creating assistance in dying, by 291 votes for, 241 against and 29 abstentions" 1/ www.lemonde.fr/societe/arti...

The best AI will ever be able to do is SIMULATE emotion.... I venture that Rumi's poetry is much-driven by deep introspection into personal experience.

"Supporters said the measure was their only way to register their opposition to the actions of the Israeli government in Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon, and their desire for a fundamental change in course in the U.S. relationship with Israel."

"Despite evidence showing pollution consistent with oil field waste, the state closed the family’s complaint and dismissed its own findings"

"At a time when politics is so absurd and disturbing, maybe political comedy is less funny. I’m not sure it’s less potent or less effective.” — James Poniewozik, the New York Times TV critic

Buttigieg: You can see it in the carnival of corruption that is Washington, D.C., today. The leader of the free world flying around in a secondhand jumbo jet from a foreign country while he makes a billion dollars on crypto deals propped up by foreign leaders.

FRANCE, SPAIN & BELGIUM BUY €5 BILLION WORTH OF RUSSIAN LNG Exported from Yamal, 10m tons f gas was bought by European nations with those three being by far the largest buyers. 16% up on 2025’s figure. Europe continues to buy 55,000 tons per day as an average. Short term gas contracts with Russia

"From July 1, 2026, households in New South Wales, South Australia, and southeastern Queensland can access at least three hours of free electricity each day through a new initiative called the Solar Sharer Offer" via No One Cares

"Japan imports virtually all of its lithium, cobalt, nickel, and rare earth elements. ... Much of the refining has historically been routed through China, creating supply chain vulnerabilities that policymakers now frame explicitly as national security concerns." 1/ glitchwire.com/news/japanes...

“Poverty is not an accident. Like slavery and apartheid, it is man-made.” — Nelson Mandela

Israel accelerates occupation of Hebron: ‘They can kill us at any moment with impunity’ english.elpais.com/internationa...

(NOTE: I say “Abolish ICE” because “Abolish ICE/CBP/HSI by dismantling DHS and moving USCS, FEMA, and CISA, USCIS, USSS, and TSA back to their pre-DHS agencies” doesn’t fit on a bumper sticker.)

A Police Executive Research Forum report from 2014 showed that CBP officers were purposely placing themselves in front of moving vehicles, and then shooting at them. This isn’t something that can be reformed. Abolish ICE. www.npr.org/sections/the...

Reading between the lines to divine motivations: * Financial insecurity (health care costs can be catastrophic...) * Obscene wealth inequality (unfair, exploitative)

Elias Law Group has defeated DOJ lawsuits to access state voter files in: California Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan New Hampshire New York Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island Wisconsin DOJ has not won a single case. It is 0-12.

"Cornell researchers found that at the current rate of AI growth, the burgeoning industry could represent 24 to 44 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions by 2030, the equivalent of adding five to ten million cars to US roadways."

"Before the.. article was published, a senior official at the FBI.. [asked] that the article be held, calling it an issue of national security.. [but] declined to explain [it] The official also asked The Times to disclose its sources for the article; the newspaper refused to do so."

"The refinery has a processing capacity of approximately 9 million tons of crude oil per year and supplies fuel to the Russian Air Force and military units in central and southern Russia, while also exporting petroleum products via the Volga River and the Caspian Sea."

All is not lost with the termination of the Platner campaign!

"When CNN asked Cuba’s Minister of Foreign Trade and Investment Oscar Pérez-Oliva Fraga about the island’s humanitarian crisis, he accused the US of collective punishment, saying: 'What is happening today against our people is a genocide' This is a developing story.." 1/ www.cnn.com/2026/07/06/a...

"'The story of America has been written by those who have so often been told by those with power and influence and wealth that they were anything but exceptional,' Mamdani said." 1/ www.commondreams.org/news/mamdani...

"Multiple provisions are specifically meant to encourage the construction of affordable housing and create more access to mortgage lending for low-income and rural communities."

ICE is surging here in Chicago, too. Cameras up and whistles at the ready, folks. news.wttw.com/2026/07/07/i...

1/

“'When you’re asking more and more of people without giving them the necessary resources, you know, mistakes happen... It feels much more like a death-of-1,000-cuts situation than there’s one particular thing that you’re concerned about.'"

"Whereas the law has for decades been interpreted as protecting endangered animals’ habitats from significant 'modification or degradation,' the administration said that offenders would have to directly injure or kill an endangered animal to be considered in violation of the law." 1/

“When corruption becomes institutionalized, such actions are the norm. Among autocrats, policymaking and diplomacy are understood as opportunities for dealmaking and shakedowns that benefit private family interests.” 𝓡𝓾𝓽𝓱 𝓑𝓮𝓷-𝓖𝓱𝓲𝓪𝓽

Not having read the articles about Platner's past, I saw him as a candidate who seemed in tv interviews like a credible progressive with lived experience as a vet and small businessman — and the character to own up to past mistakes. Had I read the coverage, I might have concluded differently. 1/

IMHO, Israeli attacks on health care facilities and professionals in Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon (not to mention onUN aid workers and medical personnel) is strong evidence not only of war crimes but also of genocidal intent. 1/