In Louisiana and likely Alabama, actual, cast votes are going to be tossed out as officials speed ahead with new (or previously enjoined) maps. This is such an extreme use case for the Purcell principle that the court ignoring it here signifies that it was always a made-up toy, not law.

billionaires are fucking stupid and their propaganda isn't effective, an ongoing series over at the newsletter

Understandable concern about not just the midterms but what comes next, seating the House on Jan 3. It's not as simple as Johnson could refuse members. But there is real potential for mischief or worse. Callais has appreciably increased the danger. So here's what they might try, and how to fight it:

🚨BREAKING: The U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) has allowed Alabama to select a different map for this year’s congressional elections in a stunning, last-minute move to interfere with another state primary election that has already begun. www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...

The 6 conservative justices green light Ala Rs request to change their map in wake of Callais, acting immediately rather than waiting for next motions conference. Removes one of 2 majority minority districts. They’re now a runaway freight train, jettisoning Dem seats right & left. Really really bad.

Governments are selling age verification as a silver bullet for online safety. It's easy to see that we're just being sold a bill of goods. EFF's EFFector Podcast explains why age gates won't fix the internet, and what they'll break: www.eff.org/deeplinks/2...

Here’s how the AI Boom, such as it is, has impacted my life: it has been used as an excuse to lay off my friends for bot equivalents that never came. It has made mass culture and art immeasurably worse. I have a stalker with AI psychosis. So, no, I don’t more data centers. I want less of all that.

Someone tell Webster I want to propose a new word errogance (n) : the state of being very confident and very wrong

Are news outlets supposed to apply journalistic standards to skeptically assess what politicians say, or are they simply delivery devices that legitimize and amplify whatever bullshit politicians feel like saying? Asking for a country.

After listening to way, way too many interviews w/ Sam Altman, I realized that he has a terrible, terrible case of vocal “fry.” Why does he talk this way? More importantly: Why is he constantly talking about the dangers of “generative AI,” as if he has nothing to do w/ those dangerous outcomes?

😂😂😂 👏👏👏

“No reasonable person could believe that Comey intended to threaten the president via seashells," a DOJ official told me. "Everyone at this DOJ should be ashamed. I know I am.” www.nbcnews.com/politics/jus...

Yup, Texas. Because “freedom.”

Anyone who shows up for this travesty is knowingly choosing to act as a prop for authoritarian kabuki because they’re too cowardly or amoral to pass up vapid schmoozing and free drinks. They deserve your contempt, and possibly a few pieces of rotting produce.

The Washington Post Editorial Board was fine with Republicans gerrymandering in Texas. But when Democrats responded in Virginia, it’s a “power grab” that “plunges America deeper into the gerrymandering abyss.”

"The glasses would be only one more addition to the rapidly expanding surveillance state under the Trump administration, which is collecting massive amounts of data on people and organizations in the U.S.” newrepublic.com/post/209309/...

“Presidents don’t have much of a role in how elections are run—and that’s a good thing… The elections clause of the Constitution leaves election law in the hands of Congress and the states, and gives very little authority to the president.” bipartisanpolicy.org/issue-brief/...

“…there is now growing alarm that as we offload even more of our thinking to LLMs and other forms of AI, the effects on our memories and ability to solve problems could get worse.” www.bbc.com/future/artic...

“He is also known to drink to excess at the Poodle Room, in Las Vegas…”

Twenty-nine people have died in ICE custody since October, the start of the federal government's fiscal year, already surpassing 2004's toll of 28, the previous record, according to government data. n.pr/4sLetjV

“Presidents don’t have much of a role in how elections are run—and that’s a good thing… The elections clause of the Constitution leaves election law in the hands of Congress and the states, and gives very little authority to the president.” bipartisanpolicy.org/issue-brief/...

Hey, we've hit the big time. therecord.media/russia-crack...

It’s almost like a coordinated talking point went out on Red Cross doctor Jesus H. Trump.

Orbán's electoral crushing is a far greater achievement than most people outside Hungary realise. He systemically consolidated power for 16 years, fixed the electoral map, abused govt power for political purposes & censored media. The hurdles that Hungarians overcame for this moment were immense.

Folks, the Hungarians just ousted Orban after he spent a decade and a half consolidating power. The odds the Hungarian resistance faced were far worse than what we’re facing in the US. Like abolitionists and civil rights activists have learned here, everything seems impossible until it isn’t.

This absolutely made my day. 😊 “As of midnight local time and with more than 98% of the vote counted, the results of the Hungarian election are clear: Viktor Orbán’s 16 years in power have ended in a crushing defeat on Sunday.” www.cnn.com/2026/04/12/w...

Tonight I watched David Mamet’s 1994 film, “Oleanna,” for the first time in many yrs. The first time I saw the play was around 1992 in a tiny 75-seat black box theater at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland. The way I experience it today is very different from the way I did 35 yrs ago.

Nope, that doesn’t look like the Third Reich at all.

Important. Thoughtful. Appropriately alarmist. Recommended reading. 👇👇👇

Texas. Don’t be this person. (And no, they don’t have a placard for having a disability; I checked. It appears that they just don’t care.)

Worker productivity has exploded over my lifetime, but that never translates into higher pay or shorter hours. The benefits are reaped by the investor class while workers wages have gone down relative to inflation and the wealth gap turned into a chasm. We need to tax a new reality into existence.

No, really?!

DHS cancels policy requiring secretary to review contracts over $100,000 reut.rs/3Qf4Fkh

A single vote for Trump in the birthright citizenship case would be as bad as anything the Court has done since Bush v. Gore. This issue has been settled for more than a century. It is the jurisprudential equivalent of asking what 2+2 is. Any answer other than 4, something is deeply, deeply wrong.

The Trump administration is targeting ICE tracking apps and their developers as security threats, as revealed in intelligence documents we obtained and shared with @newyorker.com. #FOIA www.newyorker.com/news/the-led...

🇪🇸🇪🇸🇪🇸

“One of the great ironies of the AI age, such as it is, is that it wound up looking like shit.”

Over at the newsletter I wrote about the unholy scourge that is "CEO said a thing!" journalism:

With the country’s election less than two weeks away, authoritarians everywhere are betting on Budapest

The Pentagon has been blocked by a US court from punishing Anthropic over its refusal to allow unrestricted use of its technology in warfare, in a blow to the Trump administration in its row with the AI start-up. ft.trib.al/GGObEQJ

They started a war of choice for absolutely no reason, with no real strategy and no real preparation, and the end result will be a global situation that is, in every single way, worse than what it was when they started.

Turns Out That Advertisers Not Wanting To Fund Neo-Nazi-Adjacent Content Isn’t An Antitrust Violation Remember when Elon Musk told advertisers to "go fuck" themselves and then sued them for the crime of taking his advice? A federal judge has now dismissed that lawsuit — with prejudice — confirming…

Only 23% of government workers believe they “can report a suspected violation of a law, rule, or regulation without experiencing retaliation.” That's way down form the share the prior year (72%) who said they could report suspected illegal activity without fear www.thebulwark.com/p/two-more-g...

Good.

Don’t give up, pope. www.reuters.com/business/hea...

oh my god is it a calf, please tell me its a calf

Democratic rising star extends ‘love’ after Hegseth pastor prays for his death Senate nominee in Texas James Talarico says ‘Christian nationalism kills’ in response to Brooks Potteiger remark.

"Trump had in his possession some highly sensitive documents—the type of documents that only presidents and officials with the most sensitive authority have," special counsel memo says. One was "accessible by only 6 people." www.nbcnews.com/politics/tru...

Average immigration detention deaths per month from FY 2010 to FY 2024: 0.69 Average immigration detention deaths per month in FY 2025: 1.75 Average immigration detention deaths per month so far in FY 2026: 4.6 www.npr.org/2026/03/10/g...

So they are not, in fact, really good people