I think a lot about the story Carl Reiner told: he’d have been a sewing machine repairman if not for a free WPA drama class. That led to other theater work, to Sid Caesar, to Mel Brooks, and all the rest. All because of one free class paid for by a government that felt the arts were worth teaching.

Our gyro

"Europeans recognize his vision about free public transit and universal childcare. We expect our governments to make these kinds of services accessible to all of us,” said Verbeek. “We pay higher taxes and get civilized societies in return."

It's World Digital Preservation Day down under and soon everywhere else in the world! #WhyPreserve? This video explains. youtu.be/81H1nZzO3SA?... #WDPD2025

What a moon tonight!

!!!

If the sandwich don’t split, you must acquit

I'm loving this so much.

We go to sleep in a better country than we woke up in. Thank you to everyone who worked for these coast-to-coast victories, for this utter repudiation of Trumpism, for economic justice and a country for all of us, not for white supremacy.

After 13 years, Mississippi Democrats have broken the Republican Party’s supermajority in the Mississippi Senate. Democrats flipped two GOP-held Senate seats and one House seat in the special elections. buff.ly/nTvLlFI

The dust on a spectacular night for Democrats in general, and the left in particular, is going to settle for many hours and days. But we're starting to fill in our big board: make sure to jump in and explore! boltsmag.org/whats-on-the...

I honestly can’t remember the last time I was this happy.

i wouldn't be a total glenn youngkin hater if i didn't mention that the results tonight mean that his total tenure amounted to presiding over the destruction — at least for the next few years — of the virginia republican party. lmao.

A sneak peek at the cover of next week’s issue, which celebrates Zohran Mamdani’s historic win. #NewYorkerCovers https://newyorkermag.visitlink.me/451hFM

Mamdani cracks 1M votes, the first NYC mayor to do so since John Lindsay in 1969

NEW: The GOP mounted an unusual push to oust three supreme court justices in Pennsylvania and erase Democrats’ majority on the court. All three prevailed easily in Tuesday’s retention elections.

Heck yes to this too!

TAKE THE WIN, PEOPLE.

Looking at you, NYC and NJ!

I'd almost forgotten what optimism feels like.

Yes, Virginia! 💪

Regular reminder that the best work covering this city is done by local outlets - @wnyc.org @thecity.nyc @spectrumnewsny1.bsky.social @hellgatenyc.com and others. You don’t have to rely tonight on the newspaper you are constantly annoyed at!

This is gold.

For any unfamiliar with the quality of journalism at Teen Vogue, it's well known for hard-hitting stories on "politically sensitive" topics including climate. Then there's CBS: the only major network to increase climate coverage in the last few years. They just axed nearly their whole climate team.

Two of the media organizations that have really "met the moment" in national coverage are Teen Vogue and WIRED. Along with student-run college newspapers in general. And scores of local start-ups. The main hope for journalism (in its dark times) is the next wave of journalists.

Teen Vogue has become a top-tier political journalism authority and doing this the day before election day is just cruel.

thank you for all the support; the statement from our union is now live here with some more reporting. now that this is public I can confirm that the majority of today’s layoffs were women of color. there are no longer any Black women working at Teen Vogue.

dissatisfied by the New York Times coverage of Zohran Mamdani? great news! I talked to the guy Thursday about his campaign’s success at bringing community together beyond this election, and contextualized how it’s potentially shifted youth engagement with politics by simply listening @teenvogue.com

This is a big loss.

Possibly relevant to the terrifying UVA library-shooter alert this afternoon that had my kid and many others in lockdown: A friend shared this story from @thetrace.org about school shooting hoaxes this fall—more than 20 at college campuses in late August/September. www.thetrace.org/2025/09/swat...

In 2022, the AHA launched the most comprehensive study of the national US history teaching landscape undertaken in the 21st century. We wanted to know what is actually happening in public school classrooms across the country. Find out what we learned. 🗃️

always an immense honor to talk with @judgeluttig.bsky.social about what it means for judges to stand up to monarchic power, and then to Rick Woldenberg of Learning Resources who brought the tariffs case to SCOTUS for . . . precisely the same reason. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...

"Regardless of who prevails, the state is poised to make history by electing its first female governor. In the race for lieutenant governor, voters will choose either the first openly gay Republican, or the first Muslim woman, to serve in a statewide office anywhere in the country." wapo.st/3JzbVVp

Eminently reasonable proposed principles for professors’ use of AI, from a student refusinggenai.wordpress.com/2025/08/29/a...

Every time I try to explain to a normie why politicized hiring is bad for universities or government, will use Belichick as an example

The neighborhood had a good time last night.

We have progressed from data collection to data analysis.

honestly the head of every major religion should be from Chicago

Indiana University Alumni Pull Donations Over Student Newspaper Censorship https://bit.ly/3LvA0ge #AcademicSky #EDUSky #HigherEd

I know other media outlets around the country are running with "diseased monkeys with COVID, herpes and hepatitis are loose in Mississippi!" And yes, it makes great clickbait. Those posts have thousands of RTs. But it's just not accurate. Our factual report by @nickjudin.bsky.social:

This is so sad.

Speaking as a dude who has a yearly family reunion, "aunt" and "uncle" fill a role, what the fuck are you supposed to call all those other older people you're vaguely related to, do you think there's someone running around with an org chart saying who's a second cousin thrice removed or something

Rough times in the DC dating scene, kids. “I felt like, being in conservative politics, there would be more, like, masculine men in the conservative movement...and I find that a lot of them aren’t as masculine as I would have hoped.” wapo.st/49nAEGw

"Everything must be seen and experienced before it can be recycled, shredded or, as a last resort, binned. We must honour and mourn. We must absorb the past out of each object, so it can turn into empty rubbish. This alchemy is deeply exhausting." [Yes it is.]

Are you ready for the annual eBird/Clements taxonomy update? Happening as soon as tomorrow! Details at ebird.org and explore the species on Birds of the World (birdsoftheworld.org). The site will be open access from 29 Oct-7 Nov. birdsoftheworld.org/bow/home

State Supreme Court elections are *super* important for the rest of our democracy. Don't sleep on them.

Roxanne Roberts on the destruction of the East Wing: "Symbolically, it’s the end of an era, and has been seen as a slight to the traditional respect for the Office of the First Lady." wapo.st/3WoprOw [gift link]

As a result of an order from the California Supreme court, UC has uploaded the UCLA settlement proposal on its website. ucop.edu/communicatio...

And @philipkennicott.bsky.social has a terrific piece in the WaPo analyzing why the East Wing demo hits so hard. wapo.st/3Whz4OX [gift link]

This CityLab explainer by @kristoncapps.bsky.social is the best primer I've seen so far on the East Wing demolition. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...