Rick Steves’ Europe just taught me something about London I never knew! The metal finials and gating painted black around the city didn’t used to be that colour! They were ordered painted black by Queen Victoria upon the death of her husband, Prince Albert, and have remained black ever since!

Why I’m a fan of the Oxford comma.

The Top 1% of U.S. earners now have more wealth than the entire middle class

Thomas Massie: “It’s ironic that we control the House, Senate, Supreme Court, and the White House, and we’re yelling ‘election fraud’? We won all the damn elections.”

Maybe they should just practice locking the door and turning off the lights and remaining silent while hiding under their desks…or is that just appropriate for kindergartners? 

most obvious policy W of all time

Opportunities Narrow for Women as Hegseth Blocks More Promotions www.nytimes.com/2026/07/14/u...

*clears throat* *taps mic* welcome to Schism Watch 2026 I am here to report a new crashout

Large protest at Monument Square in Portland, Maine. Plans to march to Susan Collins’ office after the last speaker.

A top Dem called Friday for DHS to cancel a huge contract awarded to an upstart firm to implement Trump's "self-deportation" program. The owner of the company blamed criticism of his work on competitors he says want to protect profits from mandatory deportations. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Sen. Ossoff: If the President calls Georgia's senators illegitimate, he is calling Georgia's voters illegitimate. Donald Trump tried to commit voter fraud in Georgia when he badgered Brad Raffensperger to "find" him the exact number of votes he needed to win in a state he had lost.

The mystery isn't that hard to solve. Connie Chan is against transit and parks and housing. Teachers aside, her labor support mostly comes from those unions trying to block modular offsite construction. She's best understood as a west side NIMBY, not a progressive. sfstandard.com/opinion/2026...

New w @pamherd.bsky.social: Mamdani just announced PIT Crew — an NYC tech unit that will build digital public products. Takeaway: Mamdani is reclaiming a vision of tech in govt for progressives, one not driven by consultants and which solves real problems. 🧵 donmoynihan.substack.com/p/mamdani-in...

Billionaire Warren Buffett omitted Bill Gates′ foundation from his annual donations this year after disclosures of the Microsoft co-founder's ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Collins doesn’t have to accuse ICE of murder. She doesn’t have to say it needs to be defunded. She could just say that her heart goes out to the family as she awaits results of the investigation. Angus King, meanwhile.. 3/

This baby turns 18 today 🥹

An unfathomable clean air act violation. I worked in this exact field for years, including in oil and gas, and i still can't get over how wanton and obvious this crime is. Just stunning

seeing a lot of quotes from sen angus king about info he's been able to get about this fatal shooting. you'll remember tho that maine actually has two senators and we don't seem to have heard much from that other one.

Yeah, join the ICC and get the whole lot of them rightfully prosecuted

“She was still in her bluey pajamas”

Our local newspaper, The Portland Press Herald, has lifted their paywall on coverage of the ICE shooting of a man in Biddeford, Maine this morning. They have excellent reporters and will have much more accurate information than natl news as we learn more: www.pressherald.com/2026/07/13/s...

Everyone except billionaires wants to tax billionaires, but taxing wealth at the federal level ain't gonna happen. Heck, SCOTUS won't even let Congress touch unrealized gains, the main source of income for the nation's wealthiest families. Allow me to Mikesplain (story link in replies):

Hey, New Yorkers: Mayor Mamdani is recreating the city's digital service, after Mayor Adams destroyed it. They're hiring devs, designers, and product folks to work on-site in Brooklyn, starting now. You don't even have to be a city resident. Get on it!

Our report out today adds some interesting context to the Financial Times story from March that Hegseth's broker tried to buy into a defense fund just before the US attacked Iran -- a war that Hegseth aggressively advocated. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

He's attempting international extortion to drive up prices on 1/4 of the world's oil.

Hard to put into words how big of an own-goal it is for the United States to normalize shipping tolls at all, much less tolls at 20%. It's the kind of thing that appeals to someone who has only ever known how to run short-term scams.

Assuming this math is correct, it means that the US plans to charge 15X as much as the Islamic Republic of Iran. So if you're a shipper, whom do you want to do business with -- Trump or the ayatollah?

BREAKING: WASHINGTON (AP) — Judge says Trump lawsuit against IRS was filed for 'improper purpose' and refers attorneys for disciplinary action

RIP to the incomparable Sam Neill

ICE shot and killed another person today in Maine. It’s been a little over a week since the last shooting death at the hands of ICE. ICE needs to be dismantled, it has no place in our society. Every person involved needs to be put on trial!

Japan has perfected a revolutionary process to extract lithium from dead batteries with 90% recovery rate. This brilliant technological leap guarantees Japan's absolute economic security.

Oh great a whole new Tolkien-named horribly dangerous and destructive technology

Planted a couple saratoga trees with my fellow volunteers yesterday for One City Day and they said we get to name them. This is Steve

“Was silence not an option?” — Ta-Nehisi Coates

The Millers are such lovely people.

This is an excellent explainer. Also yikes.

This is a really useful post about what you need to know about Cyclospora. I learned things. You will too

Re McConnell: so I guess he’s not dead. But have an ambulance show up, cart you and be totally MIA despite nationwide inquiries is not normal behavior. Not for any position, temperament, or generation.

Millions of people do good in their communities every single hour and if we uplifted each example, we would drown out those who spend their time doing evil. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/11/n... - RIP to both of these men.

Trump approved disaster aid requests from six red states last week. Two days later, he rejected aid requests from four blue states. Not only is he punishing states who didn’t vote for him, he’s playing politics with people’s lives. Despicable.

i’m sorry but ‘literally died of hard heartedness’ is the most hack writing yet in an already weak season

Thanks to Republicans in Congress and Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill"... An Indiana 40-year old, making $65k per year, who last year was paying $316/month for health insurance, will next year be paying $546/month for that same plan: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Over the last decade, the court—led by Chief Justice John Roberts—has increasingly relied on a fast-track way of making decisions that was once rarely used. It’s known as the shadow docket.

The younger person in this amazing and generous partnership dies of a heart attack and his partner follows him soon after. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/11/n...

Given that Graham’s father died of some kind of caridiac disease, gotta wonder if he availed himself of all that Senate free health care is reputed to offer www.nytimes.com/2026/07/12/u...

this is the perfect use of axios’s bullet point house style

Extreme (10 hr) jet lag has made struggle with higher order brain function but it is seemingly a good state for cleaning out all the bathroom cabinets