Smart cities know that, as hot as they already are, they’re just going to keep getting hotter. Greening the city not only cools it down, it cleans the air, quiets the noise, improves mental health & happiness, saves public money, and more. Strand Aldwych, London. 2021 vs 2025. Via @modacitylife.com

this truly is the thing that makes the united states exceptional, and right wingers hate it so much they want to destroy it

California - Governor Polling: 🔵 Becerra: 19% 🔴 Hilton: 17% 🔵 Steyer: 17% 🔴 Bianco: 11% 🔵 Porter: 10% 🔵 Mahan: 8% 🔵 Villaraigosa: 4% Emerson / May 10, 2026

Treat yourself to this read.

Tragedy after tragedy under Trump for the U.S. & all it long stood for.

Watch the whole thing and start getting your dance moves ready! I mean, just dance, bring the joy, grab this energy and bring it to the USA!

Crowd in Tennessee Capitol is singing "Which side are you?" and hollering at state troopers: "You don't have to do this! You can join us." Democrats are out and speaking to the crowd.

@paulwaldman.bsky.social details the long, now successful, push to resurrect the Confederacy.

as per melissa's thread, it is really important to understand that a major goal of this administration is the resegregation of key institutions of american society

One lesson to take from this abysmal moment is that no victory is permanent and politics never ends. The right knew it, and the left can no longer ignore it. But that also means that the horrors now being unleashed on the country can be undone. By @paulwaldman.bsky.social in @atrupar.com’s PN:

A new Iranian LEGO propaganda video drops. Brilliant stuff. youtu.be/mzldC7hz1v8?...

The DNC should take @brianbeutler.bsky.social's idea & run with it. Sue CBS news for $20 billion.

@nikobowie.bsky.social points to tools at hand to save democracy from a hostile SCOTUS.

The heroes among us.

Once the answer was "plastics." Today the future is "humanities." Says none other than Reed Hastings.

With the gutting of the VRA, this is a good time to be reading @isabelwilkerson.bsky.social

The Senate passed the Voting Rights Act renewal in 2006 by a vote of 98-0. The Supreme Court majority gutted it on the grounds that the Justices personally dislike the impact.

One of the most clarifying passages I've ever read on what "polarization" actually means in the U.S."

He's worse than Roger Taney now. He's the worst Chief Justice in history, I'd say.

RIP VRA, 1968-2026. RIP all of the civil rights leaders who were murdered while fighting for the rights it secured. www.weekendreading.net/p/americas-s...

@larryglickman.bsky.social shows how SCOTUS's conservatives eagerly participate in the white supremacy agenda, walking backwards in history to Jim Crow, voicing support for sunsetting civil rights law.

Three words for the next administration: Big Beautiful Bulldozer

Info released by the Justice Dept on what happened at the DC Hilton doesn't add up, says @vermontgmg.bsky.social, an expert on government security. The "shooter" may not have fired any weapon at all.

"Those in power may pretend not to know where the present political trajectories are taking us, but they seem to sense that they’ll have to hide." www.bostonreview.net/articles/a-y...

As Trump uses his not-close-call to make spurious claims about the need for his ballroom/bunker, @vermontgmg.bsky.social points out that everything about that project is fishy.

Elections matter (this time in Hungary)

"The more episodes a show makes, the more crew members and actors drawing a salary there are. And in Hollywood, a town rocked by AI disruption and larger tax incentives for filming in other states and overseas, this level of employment is a godsend."

Republicans don't like the taste of their own bitter medicine.

Priceless post from the official White House social media

This should go over extremely well with families struggling to get by in the heartland. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/21/b...

With the VA yes vote, Democrats will emerge with +1 House seat in the redistricting wars Trump kicked off last summer. They are very, very likely to win back the House in November

This will break your heart & fill you with rage against the likes of RFK, jr. Required reading for vaccine skeptics.

@volts.wtf : “However low your opinion of the Roberts court, it should be lower.”

@froomkin.bsky.social is right. Highlighting Trump’s mental instability can’t be a one-off for the NYT. No issue is more urgent, alarming, & consequential.

Average GOP Congressman: We err...uhhh...don't uh need uh...oversight of the DoD because uh...we trust the President to decide what's best Donald Trump: I AM JESUS CHRIST RETURNED TO EARTH THE POPE ISN'T MAGA AND HE'S WEAK ON NUCLEAR WEAPONS I AM GOING TO BUILD A HOTEL ON THE MOON

Step 1: big enough victory that they can’t claim fraud Step 2:

From new Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar's acceptance speech tonight. This is the absolute BARE MINIMUM platform for any Democrat running for President in 2028.

"Refusing to be a country without consequences."

Triumph for democracy in Hungary buoys hope for U.S. mid-term elections. Key lesson underscored for U.S. Democrats: turnout matters.

The turning point for rare diseases, which affect >300 million people around the world. A call to get rid of its many structural obstacles, to consider it as molecular surgery unlike drug treatments gift link: www.nytimes.com/2026/04/09/o...

"Moon joy" is real, but it has an important lesson for us too: Public service and public life is a gift and something to treasure—the uncommon chance to do something for a cause bigger than yourself. www.doomsdayscenario.co/p/the-pure-j...

As I’ve said: We elected the one person in the whole world who is NOT interested in reading the President’s Daily Brief.

Thought things couldn't get more bizarre?

An excellent briefing before the hugely consequential (also for the US) Hungarian elections. www.theunpopulist.net/p/if-orban-l...

My one-hour special “Rick Steves Iran: Yesterday and Today,” which helps humanize 90 million Iranian people, is streaming free and ad-free at www.ricksteves.com/watch-iran.

What humanity could have been focused on today...

All of us today