Data poem: Air Real time air quality index from the world’s 100 largest cities. I had to look up Riyadh and Beijing to make sure the numbers were right, I was sure I had accidentally multiplied something.

You don't have to believe in Santa to believe this is a great gift for all children worldwide. www.noradsanta.org/en/map

H. R. 4206: REMOVING BARRIERS TO TELEHEALTH COVERAGE Why it's stuck, not even scheduled for hearing since June: Referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce and to the Committee on Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker... www.congress.gov/bill/119th-c...

The guards made them drink nothing but water from their toilets.

Wintertide outside at the Port Angeles Fine Arts Center, Port Angeles, Washington, USA. Olympic Peninsula and Olympic Mountains, on the Canadian Border. 12 photos follow

Uber Cleared Violent Felons to Drive. Passengers Accused Them of Rape. The ride-hailing giant’s background check process was intended to speed drivers onto its network while keeping costs down, internal documents show. Gift article from The New York Times. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/22/b...

The Telehealth Modernization Act is critical for all in US who can't travel to see specialists or for tests/exams that are more about billing than care & can be done remotely. Details follow: 2/2. PLEASE click Contact Your Member on R to ask your rep to push for this NOW. tinyurl.com/4k5uurs7

Stephen Miller is employing state terror in service of the open goal of shifting the ethnic mix of the country. In numerous ways he's doing this at the expense of public safety. We spent weeks reporting on Miller's real aims. Here's the result. We hope you'll read: newrepublic.com/article/2041...

In case you’re looking to give something to those on the “naughty” list…

Despite all of the darkness and despair, any day we still get to see the beauty of the sun rising or setting and recognize and appreciate its wonder is a day to be grateful for.

4 short excerpts follow. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/17/o...

Washington Rep Emily Randall's 3-minute speech on the US House of Representatives floor about trans kids: www.youtube.com/watch?v=9asZ...

Excerpt:

Campaigner for Adlai Stevenson is reported to have said to him during the election campaign against Eisenhower:" You have the vote of every thinking person in the country." Stevenson replied that is not enough to win. Thus we are in Trumpland.

Today, ProPublica launched a first-of-its-kind app to help you find out where your generic drugs come from and what the factories that made them are like. Here’s how to use it.

Historians have debated, and will continue to debate, the role oil did or did not play in the Iraq War disaster. They may do the same for Venezuela--but this time the people steering us into war explicitly say it's about oil, so maybe we should take them at their word.

Senate News: Republicans are trying to sneak a provision into their latest government funding bill that would make it easier to sell off public lands and national parks, and may have the votes to do it. If you care about protecting your public lands, now’s the time to make it known.

Internal Forest Service report finds ‘unpassable trails, unsafe bridges’ www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

More important than fonts. Object! Wildlife group sues to remove Trump photo from 2026 national parks pass tinyurl.com/mt9ruta5 “The national parks are not a personal branding opportunity. They’re the pride and joy of the American people.” - Kierán Suckling, The Center for Biological Diversity.

In American high schools, many teenagers are assigned few full books to read from beginning to end — often just one or two per year, according to researchers and thousands of responses to an informal reader survey by The New York Times. trib.al/gNp7kWK

Despite years of sanctions and export controls, U.S.-made electronic components — which have unique markings and cannot be copied — continue to appear in Russian cruise missiles and drones.

My sanity protection list. So far.

DNA + all of this. Astounding! People won't do this, so we'll be left with the populace that is dumb and reactionary enough to support policies like this. May The Force be with us. We are lost.

If you need a little digital reconnection to the pulse of the living Earth, here are about 200 sandhill cranes winging south over Atlanta this afternoon. Their voices have echoed across this continent for at least 5 million years. Hopefully 5 million more

12 states joined the Washington state lawsuit challenging Trump's illegal tariffs: Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Oregon and Vermont. What's your state attorney general doing to help? Push!

"The first freeze now arrives later in 88% (179) of cities analyzed — 12 days later, on average, than in early 1970s. "A later freeze can worsen fall allergies, lengthen pest seasons, reduce summer fruit yields." Photos: Poppy that bloomed (sadly) this week www.climatecentral.org/climate-matt...

There are days when there's so much news about the regime's acts that are contrary to all reason, science, and laws that I just don't know how to cope with it anymore. How do you cope? The EPA is wiping mention of human-caused climate change from its website www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...

"Authoritarian systems give the appearance of performing, but their solutions are not thorough, they are not sustainable, and they are not fair. They will decay because the way they function is to exclude, abuse, and allow massive corruption.” - Claudia Ortiz

Excellent ideas! From an oncologist, medical ethicist, and professor. America desperately needs new health care ideas. Here are five. wapo.st/4pC0v2I

This is BRILLIANT and likely to have huge benefits for growing crops and ensuring that all on Earth have adequate food. Kudos to @georgemonbiot.bsky.social and all involved. There's a webinar about it soon, so either read the article or register for that -- or both: us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

1. Some good news at last. This week’s column is about the amazing thing a couple of us stumbled into three years ago, which we’ve now developed into a global research programme. It doesn’t change everything, of course, but it could help change quite a lot. + 🧵 www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

With 3-4 exceptions, I will NEVER vote for any current member of Congress again, because they have neglected, even abrogated their responsibilities on every front this year. I will vote, as always, but for a new and younger Congress. Please join me in adopting and sharing this policy.

Procedures that will require Medicare pre-authorization starting in 2026 for 6-year trial in 6 states: Arizona, Ohio, Oklahoma, New Jersey, Texas, and Washington. Decisions made by AI. Those companies get paid per # of procedures AI denies. tinyurl.com/789uvta2 Senator Patty Murray of WA:

"This man, in his craving for luxury and wealth, has gone completely mad.” Alexei Navalny said that about Putin, but it's true of Trump, too. Navalny also said "Putin is possibly the richest man in the world." That, alone, explains why T. wants to emulate him. www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_tF...

The baroque corruption schemes playing out in America and Russia completely outclass the kickback scandal in Ukraine. www.theatlantic.com/internationa...

Thanks to @anneapplebaum.bsky.social for her insights, integrity, and reporting and for sharing this article so we can all read it: www.theatlantic.com/internationa...

The conditions in many immigration detention centers are horrifying. Inedible food. Individuals forced to sleep on the floor next to overflowing toilets. Pregnant women shackled and suffering miscarriages. It is a system designed to break peoples’ spirit, akin to torture.

This doesn't mention that our hospital is on the waterfront (!) and the prediction is a 9.0 earthquake. Some say that would damage so much that it wouldn't be worth rebuilding -- if you survived. State study warns Port Angeles waterfront at high risk from Cascadia tsunami tinyurl.com/4e8w8vz2 #wa

If you have a Kidde or First Alert alarm, READ THIS. The lawsuit says the ionization-only models cannot pass the 2024 UL standard for smoldering fires and have been discontinued. tinyurl.com/4u6vr4hw

What Geoffrey Hinton says in both of these videos is fascinating and frightening and definitely worth watching. There's more, but this is quite enough to consider for now. 1 of 2 Godfather of AI Reveals WORST Case Scenario for 2027 www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAwm...

Department of Defense Law of War Manual, Sec. 18.3.2.1 states the "requirement" to refuse illegal orders. What’s its key example? Wait for it . . . It’s "orders to fire upon the shipwrecked."

Thanks to Paul Brown for his many years of foresight and insight about Earth and climate change. May he go gently onward to his next important assignment. www.theguardian.com/news/2025/no...

The Ukrainian front is not about to collapse. But the Russians want you to think that understandingwar.org/research/rus...

"Zillow, the country’s largest real estate listings site, has quietly removed a feature that showed the risks from extreme weather for more than one million home sale listings on its site." www.nytimes.com/2025/11/30/c...

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