once again wishing democratic politicians and pundits would speak out in support of big-city life and culture with the same energy and reverence that all politicians have for small towns cities are "real america" just as much as any twee main street or dying industrial town

Charlie Kirk's assassination is heinous and frightening and warrants widespread condemnation. But it should not protect him or others who engage in such politics of extremism from critical review.

I’ve finally gotten my TBR down to one pile and this is what my September TBR is looking like! 💙📚

Happy Shark Awareness Day! I want people to be aware of 5 things: 1 Sharks are awesome 2 Sharks are not a threat to your safety 3 Sharks are ecologically important 4 Sharks are highly threatened 5 We can still save them- but it matters what we do, don’t reinvent the wheel, follow experts!

Don't forget that the Supreme Court has undertaken this radical expansion of executive power and personal immunity not for some ordinary Republican but for the most corrupt president In American history. They're doing it for THIS GUY, who is guaranteed to abuse every ounce of power he's given.

JUST IN: The Supreme Court rules in favor of parents who want to opt out of classes that use books with LGBTQ characters.

UPDATE: The attack marks a major escalation in the burgeoning war between Iran and Israel and came despite years of promises by President Trump to keep the U.S. from entering another Middle East conflict.

“The federal government used to prioritize domestic terrorism, and now it’s like domestic terrorism just went away overnight,” Michigan AG Dana Nessel said. “I don’t think that we’re going to get much in the way of cooperation anymore.” (Published May 2025)

My May TBR 💙📚

My April TBR…might be getting out of hand 💙📚

Israeli forces arrested Hamdan Ballal, a Palestinian co-director of the Oscar-winning documentary 'No Other Land,' in the occupied West Bank after settlers beat and injured him, according to his colleague

JUST IN: The White House has been clear that it intends to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education, and that it will be McMahon's job to oversee that effort.

If DOGE is a federal agency, it can’t shield its records from the public. If it’s not an agency, then its tens of millions of dollars in funding weren’t legally allocated and should be returned, some contend.

This is my current TBR for March. I’ve already started the top two, but I’m excited to finish all of these next month! 💙📚

“This is someone who made his money by ripping off American taxpayers and who shouldn’t come anywhere near a position of authority over tax dollars,” said Sen. Ron Wyden about Schuler’s appointment. “He’ll fit right in with the Trump administration.” By @peterelkind.bsky.social

Staffing at the HUD office that pays for housing and support services across the country is slated to be cut by 84%. Advocates warn such heavy cuts could make record-high homelessness even worse.

President Trump's executive order that the federal government recognizes only two sexes, male and female, is disrupting the lives of some trans, nonbinary and intersex people applying for passports.

Ratner predicts the appointment of Kennedy, a vaccine skeptic, will impact vaccine availability and hesitancy: "It is much easier to scare people than to un-scare them," he says.

This commission statement refers to people with Autism, ADHD, asthma, auto-immune disease, and chronic illness as a “dire threat to the American people and our way of life”. This is a manifesto against disability. This is the language of eugenics.

Israel has issued a tender for the construction of nearly 1,000 additional housing units in an illegal settlement in the occupied West Bank, reports Israeli NGO. Read more: aje.io/p68su8

2/ The rogue episode was one of the first in what diplomats and officials see as a yearslong campaign to transform U.S. foreign policy into his own. Now one of the most powerful people in government, Peter Marocco has the means to do it. By Brett Murphy & @annamaria.bsky.social

The Trump official currently dismantling USAID was caught in a secret meeting with a group of pro-Russian separatists in the Balkans. Those he met with are under American sanctions for trying to restart the Bosnian war in the name of Christian nationalism. 1/

If the Trump administration continues targeting DEI in science and seeking to slash funding, American science will look fundamentally different.

BREAKING NEWS: The federal lawsuit accuses those jurisdictions of "making it more difficult for, and deliberately impeding, federal immigration officers' ability to carry out their responsibilities."

A reminder that fiction — books, film, games, what have you — is always political. The willful absence of “politics” in any work is itself a political choice and a political act. Who gets to tell (and sell) stories is political. It might be an undercurrent — covert, not overt. But it’s there.

Gov. Greg Abbott this week directed state agencies to work with federal immigration authorities to crack down on illegal immigration.

Just finished Parable of Talents; my last Octavia Butler book. Short review: Not as good as Parable of the Sower, but still eerie in how prescient it is. The whole series is defintely worth a read, especially in these times. 💙📚

One of my favorite vampire movies! Def an underrated gem.

I picked a hell of a night to start watching Unrivaled. Lunar Owls vs Laces? What a game!!! 🔥