On America's birthday, I want us all to think very carefully about what "allegiance" means b/c the dissents in Trump v Barbara made such a big deal about it being necessary. Is allegiance love of this country or love of supporting cruelty and desecration of the rule of law & separation of powers?

The state of his brain doesn't matter because his mouth is for sale. So the real question for me is which billionaire racist is asking him to get in rap's (and Black America's) business.

“The question comes in the tradition of the abolitionist Frederick Douglass, who in 1852 famously asked, ‘What, to the American slave, is your Fourth of July?’ (His answer included ‘mere bombast, fraud, deception and hypocrisy.’)”

For more on the movie check out Denver Brunsman's thoughtful review explaining how the film draws on 19thc myths: www.hnn.us/article/youn... /fin

This scene with indigenous people sounds as bad or worse than the (super problematic & apocryphal) "Indian Prophecy" story that GW's step-grandson George Washington Parke Custis popularized in the 19th c /1 🗃️

A single, veiled reference to slavery remains in the final Declaration, an accusation that the king “has excited domestic insurrections amongst us,” which could be taken as describing both slaves who fled to British protection and Indian uprisings. 9/9

Jefferson, who held 600 slaves over the course of his life, betrayed what could be interepreted as guilt through his denunciation of slavery. Claiming the king was responsible for this practice was absurd—Africans were bought, enslaved and forced into work almost entirely by Americans. 8/9

Jefferson later notes that the denunciation of the slave trade was deleted “in complaisance to South Carolina & Georgia,” with the agreement of Northern delegates who may not have owned slaves but whose states had been “pretty considerable carriers of them to others.” 7/9

”…and to purchase that liberty of which he has deprived them, & murdering the people upon whom he also obtruded them; thus paying off former crimes committed against the liberties of one people, with crimes which he urges them to commit against the lives of another.” 6/9

”He has prostituted his negative for suppressing every legislative attempt to prohibit or to restrain this execrable commerce: and that this assemblage of horrors might want no fact of distinguished die, he is now exciting those very people to rise in arms among us,… 5/9

One of these charges is eliminated entirely—an emotional accusation that the king is responsible for the slave trade, “a cruel war against humanity itself.” In Jefferson’s words, he violated the “most sacred rights of life & liberty in the persons of a distant people who never offended him,… 3/9

Although best known now for its introduction that upholds the people’s rights to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” the bulk of the Declaration of Independence is a list of indictments against King George III as “unfit to be the ruler of a free people.” 2/9

July 3, 1776: A day after it approved a resolution to declare American independence, Congress spends most of the day as a committee of the whole making alterations to Thomas Jefferson’s draft of the Declaration. 1/9

Environmentalists seeking to up the state's bottle recycling deposit to 10 cents rallied outside Polar Beverages' headquarters in Worcester this week to call for a two-month boycott, urging customers not to buy its products through the end of August.

"Jefferson wrote all men are created equal in a room over 200 miles from the mountain where he enslaved more than 600 people over the course of his lifetime. That contradiction is not a footnote. It is the founding American fact the one that every subsequent argument about who this country is for"

"The Declaration’s significance extends far beyond the aims of the American Revolution or an expression of American nationalism," writes Robin D.G. Kelley in Issue No. 11. hammerandhope.org/article/robi...

I'm not sure there is a more cooked brain on the planet than Joe Rogan's

it is wild that Mitch McConnell might be on death's door and its like a page 5? level story? barely breaking the surface given the media's all consuming obsession with Dianne Feinstein's much more transparent and open health issues (and less serious then a major heart attack)

explainer thread about how excommunication works because my catholic theology background is topical

Seems relevant somehow, almost as if "this marginalized group dominates sports!" is part of how right wing bigots operate to generate prejudice. time.com/archive/6881...

worth saying is that this was the sentiment behind trump's election year rhetoric about "black jobs"

LaNier is the sixth great-grandson of Thomas Jefferson… He is also a direct descendant of Sally Hemings, who was enslaved by Jefferson and bore several of his children. The exploitative relationship began after she joined him in Paris at the age of just 14 (Jefferson was 44) and lasted for decades.

Toast 2 ways: with avocado and with tomato pulp. I'm newly obsessed with fennel pollen. I got a bottle after I read about it in a cookbook. Now sprinkling on everything, esp. tomatoes. It tastes like anise at first and then citrusy. www.seriouseats.com/spice-huntin...

The Society of St Pius X is about as concerned with praying in Latin as Gamergate was about ethics in news journalism. 🙄 Oh my God when Vance comes out pro-schism someone has to check his Latin liturgical chops ON THE SPOT

I stand with Bend the Arc Jewish Action @bendthearc.bsky.social

Dear Media. Vatican II wasn’t just about praying or not in Latin. *Vatican II decided to be less antisemitic. By a lot. * And now Pope Leo (like Francis) is reading the Bible HARD, all that “love immigrants” & “care for others” “🖕 Empire” stuff?! This story is not complicated.

Citizenship was a states rights issue for a long time. Non-racial birthright citizenship began in the states first, not fed level. Excellent read.

Hey, look at that, what had been subtext is once again just text. This is a Redeemer administration.

Something that bothered me about Justice Thomas’ comments is the idea that the exclusivity of citizenship is linked to the dignity of the institution. That notion was wrong in Ancient Athens & Ancient Rome (until 212 CE). Exclusive citizenship only breeds cultural elitism & inequality—not dignity.

This is my lane. I went through the 194 Trump v Barbara opinion from yesterday section by section, noting what they got right about US migration and citizenship history, and what the dissents get wrong. Please share if you think it is helpful to others.

This is a very helpful explainer.

KAILASH: “.. Making promises is one of Mr. Musk’s strengths. Delivering on them is not. His ability to continuously move investor attention from one failure to another ‘big idea’ is unrivaled.” @barrons.com #$SPCX www.barrons.com/articles/spa...

Everybody in the "climate space" (which means everyone on earth...) needs to understand these mind-blowing figures. Google's "total electricity consumption jumped from 31 terawatt hours (TWh) in 2024 to 43 TWh in 2025." In ONE year. The AI corporate arms race is eating the world.

One thing that is apparent to those of us who study social movements is how often they lose & how quickly those losses are forgotten when they have big wins. Go back and watch Milk & see how often he lost. It’s eye opening. 🗃️

I second folks' endorsement that Living in America should be the official anthem for USMNT youtu.be/c5BL4RNFr58?...

Happy Birthday to TFH Guru Ernest Dickerson! Celebrate by revisiting his trailer commentaries: Moby Dick m.youtube.com/watch?v=9xbg... The Church m.youtube.com/watch?v=qCJ7... The Thief of Baghdad m.youtube.com/watch?v=jv6O...

You don't hate AI enough.

"you were also describing exactly how change actually happens in this country. It’s slow, and it’s messy. And it usually takes way longer than it should. And then, eventually, it happens anyway."

"The Boy Scouts changed, not because any court told them to, but because people came to understand how wrong it was to exclude a kid for who he was. That understanding built slowly, over the years, because people like you refused to disappear."

went to a watch party at soldier field for the 2014 World Cup round of 32 match & remember leaving thinking man the USMNT is just gonna be ass forever it‘s truly stunning

“.. A woman stands in a pile of ice to cool off amid a heatwave at The Great American State Fair on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.” @reuters.com

I adored THE GREAT WHEREVER, the first novel from Shannon Sanders. A fantastic and beautiful read. My review is up now digitally, and will be in print in Sunday's @bostonglobe. www.bostonglobe.com/2026/06/30/a...

Everyone remembers "shrimp" and "let's get sushi and not pay" but what about "I blame society" and, "Look at those assholes, ordinary fucking people. I hate 'em." That last one resonated with me so hard as a kid, and even now. I have basically organized my life around it.

This is Netanyahu's war with the US footing the bill. Trump is along for the ride, beholden to transnational fanatics and mafiosos, including Kushner. It won't end on Trump's terms because he didn't set the terms. An article on Israel's long-standing goals: sarahkendzior.substack.com/p/the-no-wor...

So sad. He is a wonderful human being. My brother is a USPS letter carrier and union man, and Glover has been an essential ally to their cause.

MA will likely have 9 ballot questions this November. Out of curiosity, I looked up who the top 5 funders for each are. docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

McConnell’s health has severely deteriorated and six more months might be too much for the former Senate leader. His refusal to step down has drawn the ire of his Republican colleagues and critics of gerontocracy. trib.al/K0nda5A

Reactor's Sci Fi Film Club reaches a major milestone after 2+ years of weekly film discussions; Kali Wallace offers lessons and recommendations gleaned from watching sci fi movies from all over the world, from creature features to arthouse classics!

Olivia Wilde is talking here about the scourge of actors getting Botox and then not being able to convey facial expressions … and it feels so sad that her hope is for a treatment that doesn’t freeze people’s faces, rather than a society (industry) that doesn’t disparage physical signs of aging