Democratic attempts to re-gerrymander their states to offset losses in the South are proper and necessary. But they can’t stem the destruction of black political power. Here’s my latest @thenation.com newsletter:

What

I feel I should alert Bluesky to the baby foxes in our yard

Read a former member of Congress explaining how lobbying and PACs control how our representatives vote. It's oily!

They literally stole as much copyrighted material as they could get their hands on to make these things. Whatever you worry they might be doing? They're definitely doing it. The only real questions are these. Will they get caught? And if they do, will there be any consequences?

NEW: A class action lawsuit is accusing OpenAI of sharing ChatGPT chat queries (!) + other personal data with Meta and Google. Reminder: no matter how friendly your chatbot is, it's probably surveilling you. futurism.com/artificial-i...

The story NOBODY is covering? USCIS is taking millions in processing fees from legal immigrants to renew DACA, DAPA & other programs but not processing. This makes them “out of status.” This in turn makes them “undocumented” & deportable. They’re stealing their money. Millions.

What was a moment in world history where the book burners were the good guys

Chicagoans, and anyone living in Cook County: you have to call your Cook County Commissioner, *now*, about this. Flock isn't just "license readers". It has been used by out of state cops to look for women who have travelled to Illinois for abortions. 🧵:

An eel in Chicago? Unusual! Tagging @greenleejw.bsky.social, the Surprised Eel Historian

Chicagoland has seen a steady pace of ICE sighting + abduction alerts all week. After one person was taken in Waukegan yesterday, this morning feds are dispersed broadly across the burbs again. Seen in Round Lake Beach and Joliet so far. A worker was snatched at a Bolingbrook Burger King at 5:30am.

The New York Times’ @nickkristof.bsky.social writes about the brutal sexual abuse, rape of male and female Palestinian prisoners, including journalists, by Israeli prison guards, soldiers, settlers, and interrogators — abuses funded in part by our U.S. tax dollars.

“The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass relates only his own views on slavery; we cannot properly assess the merits of his book without giving equal time to his slave owner.”

They look fungal

I don't love conspiracy theories, but it's kind of hilarious seeing this one indulged by over half of Americans. Trump did this to himself. And not just by being a liar. It's channeling outrage over his corruption and even gerrymandering. An analysis. www.salon.com/2026/05/13/a...

Rather alarming summation from former Congresswoman Marie Newman.

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I don’t know Bri, but she’s in a bad way through no fault of her own. Chip in if you can! xo

This might be my hottest take. Every state should have higher population than the nation’s capital district & if any state falls below that threshold they have 10 years to add the necessary population or merge with an adjacent state in order to comply.

Damn if he keeps talking like this his approval rating will still be over 30%

Voting rights

An epic webcam capture of the sun skirting the horizon at Utqiaġvik, Alaska, this morning. @alaskawx.bsky.social

We are ostensibly a free country and the degree to which we don’t know what is actually going on in a vast network of “camps” on our own soil in the year 2026 is….. something we are probably never going to come close to actually grappling with as a country

I needed more ibuprofen and had things to do, so of course I spent time researching prices of generic ibuprofen. These prices are for each store's generic brand, 200 tablet bottle, 200mg tablets - CVS $17.19 - Walgreens $10.99 - Target $4.29 - Walmart $4.28 - Aldi $1.89

Was briefly hesitant to add this to the pile, but credit where it’s due: This is how you write a headline

My annual Mother's Day post. Because some people had great mothers but lost them, some had or have mothers who never mothered them or stopped mothering them for some reason, treated them as adversaries or as worthless, and Mother's Day can be a punitive day for all those for whom this is true.

Happy Mother's Day from Chicago

Icelandic authorities just rerouted a planned hot water pipeline so as not to disturb an elf hill.

JOHN FOGERTY: I wanna know, have you ever seen the rain JAMES TAYLOR: okay, you’re not gonna fucking believe this

A little historical note on that: colorization was never actually the point. 🧵 I was in post production at Lorimar in the late eighties while the colorization was going on. I had a good friend who was involved in doing the restoration work prior to colorization.

Everything is awful. Here's a baby goat with a tiny bouquet of flowers picked right out of the lawn at The Beer Garden

Pintles and dudgeons?

Hello doctor, I think I have hauntavirus and my blood is full of hemogoblins

👀 FLASHBACK— Jim Crow returns in 2026...but recall: July 27, 2006: President Bush Signs Voting Rights Reauthorization "This bill is is named in honor of three heroes of American history who devoted their lives to the struggle of civil rights: Fannie Lou Hamer, Rosa Parks, and Coretta Scott King."

Look, the Republican Party is pushing white supremacist policies to destroy our ability to change the system through democratic electoral politics. So it's time to stop giving their billionaire benefactors our money. Cancel ONE THING from a billionaire today. You can do it! #CancelParty

Nursing careers offer much more financial security than coding jobs these days. AI can't eliminate hands-on nursing care.

wandering the Sonora desert in a carefree fashion like

No excuse for this, Sam Ezersky, especially given the rampant Islamophobia in the US. www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/m... #nytspellingbee #spellingbee #bias

I'm just gonna leave this right here #BlackSky

Gas prices today, Market at Castro, San Francisco.

I'm in this picture!

It may seem like Alan Dershowitz should stop Saying Things, but that’s the coward’s route. Instead, he should engage in a weekly Chotiner conversation. How else would we gain his wisdom.

Such aggressive backing that azz up!

Chicago’s free summer concert series is back, and highlights include Chicago DJ Ca$h Era, Atlanta hip hop ensemble Arrested Development and Prince collaborator Sheila E., often dubbed the “Queen of Percussion.”

At @jama.com today, 2 radiologists publish the correct consent form for a total body MRI in healthy people Note "no major medical society recommends whole-body MRI screening in the general population because it is unproven, and the harms likely outweigh the benefits." jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

The H.O.T.D.I.S.H. Militia is the abortion fund WITH THE BEST NAME. It serves the clinic where I escort, as well as patients at other clinics. Please consider a donation of any size to help people get the abortion care they want!

Trump: "In hockey they say, 'uncle,' right? When are they gonna cry uncle?"

We still have time to treat my mom’s cancer this month! Pls we beg anyone help desperately to save her life once again! This is an emergency! Sorry for spamming or tagging you again! Even sharing help us! @olivebrinker.bsky.social @katelynburns.com

Leave aside that I’ve never been to a restaurant that asks for ID. The bill would require you to prove citizenship. So you couldn’t register to vote without a passport or birth certificate in your current name. That’s not just a matter of showing identification. But they’re trying to hide it.

Two nights ago, I said Trump had been using our troops as pirates in Iran and a Republican got mad. Well… the president just admitted it. He literally bragged about doing piracy.