"It is the 250th anniversary of the USA and we’ve stopped asking what our country can do for us. We don’t want to know what depths of technofascism are possible. We ask what we can do to our country to get it back."

Like Clouds

Phenomenal on the Friday. This morning's sunrise in Chicago.

"Straightforward, gutter racism"

Thanking the algorithm for this ...

“Human dignity has no passport and does not lose its value when crossing a border.” - Pope Leo

“I get scared when my dad tells me we are safe, and I know we are not safe."

A profoundly rotten decision.

“Every truly just society is built upon the recognition of the inviolable dignity of the human person. Such dignity precedes any concession by the State and cannot be subordinated to shifting social consensus or the whims of the majority.” www.vatican.va/content/leo-...

Lately I've been reading Eric Hoffer, the forgotten "longshoreman philosopher." This is from a library copy of the out-of-print collection Between the Devil and the Dragon (1982).

Lawn Violets

My architecture column today. A non-profit steps in to save the ramshackle Frank Lloyd Wright-designed J.J. Walser House in the Austin neighborhood. "We’re really excited about the possibilities," Austin Coming Together Executive Director Darnell Shields said.

If You Wanna Know . . .

Susan Rothenberg, Red Bird, 2014, oil on canvas, 145 x 130 cm

Am I being over-sensitive here or does the term “side effects” have an inherent negative connotation and therefore this headline is sci-comm malpractice? The “side effects” are reduced risk of serious cardiac complications and reduced risk of all-cause cardiac events. Benefits. That’s the word.

Your Prime Day reminder that half of Amazon warehouse workers struggle with food & housing costs. A third have had to rely on government assistance like SNAP — which was gutted last year. If Bezos can spend $500M on a yacht, Amazon can afford to treat its workers with dignity.

Yucca in the city ...

Austin's Frank Lloyd Wright House, Among City's Most Endangered Buildings, Bought By Nonprofit

"Sometimes a broken face wins a movie deal. Not that you should take the bet."

article of faith vs oracle of faith #versus

The genius of El Greco

Some Theater

This hurt my brain.

"How to analyze a poetics of irreverence and improvisation—of life experienced in a perpetual present—without stifling precisely these qualities?"

Peonies at the End

Vincent van Gogh - Almond Blossoms

Young great blue herons watching a helicopter. Filmed June 20, 2026, at Oak Woods Cemetery.

The Vandal Follow my cartoons and accompanying written commentary on Substack: nickanderson.substack.com For @rawstory.com

Some not-so-gold marigolds …

Fewer than half of Americans can afford healthcare, the lowest rate since 2021. We’re saddled with the highest healthcare costs with the worst health outcomes among other rich countries. Is it any wonder that 63% of Americans now support Medicare for All? We do not have to keep living like this.

“The care of our common home is not a secret to be kept, nor a partisan plank to be quietly buried beneath safer homilies.”

"At a moment when the nation is celebrating the semiquincentennial of 1776, it is actively disremembering the quincentennial of 1526—when freedom was not declared by enslavers, but seized by the enslaved."

“She is a perfect saint for the U.S. Catholic Church." Sitting by Dorothy Day's grave, her granddaughter reflects on faith, family and war. Must-read via @camillobarone.bsky.social in NCR.. #Catholic #NYC #sainthood #DorothyDay www.ncronline.org/news/sitting...

"Black Catholic spirituality offers a powerful witness in this moment. It is a faith that has endured exclusion yet remained rooted—a faith expressed through movement, music, and communal prayer; a faith that refuses to separate joy from struggle."

A small bird in the floor mosaic of the Basilica of San Vitale, Ravenna. The sixth-century church is an important surviving example of early Byzantine art and architecture, and its mosaics in particular are some of the most-studied works in Byzantine art. #MosaicMonday

The Obama Presidential Center is not bare concrete. The museum building is clad in New Hampshire 'tapestry' granite. Up close, ribbons of warm and black tones are twisted, folded, and layered into the grey base igneous rock, adding depth, texture, and movement.

An Horizon

Morning Glory. Chicago Harbor like glass reflecting Sunday's sunrise and the skyline.

Miami’s Archbishop Wenski: “It would be an act of abject cruelty for the United States to send families back to such dangerous and unsafe conditions. To do so would only exacerbate Haiti’s ongoing humanitarian crisis.” www.miamiarch.org/CatholicDioc...

Broken Tiles 34: every rule or order

Just a normal morning in our police state

"The correct historical lesson is that violence does not in fact generate a new pristine state of human interaction in which all of your dreams are fulfilled. Instead, it simply takes politics to another level, where terrible and unpredictable things can happen."

Wendell Berry

I do believe we've got fireworks from the Obama Center tonight. Impressive.

Do you know how much the typical worker would be making today if their wages had grown as much as CEO pay? This graph holds the shocking answer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lPPsrAMtTI

Winter Sunset

Michelle and I loved reading to this bright group of kids today! We hope this new Chicago Public Library branch at the Obama Presidential Center will be a place where folks come to read, check out books, and connect with one another for years to come.