No better way to commemorate the intersection of AAPI Heritage Month & Military Appreciation Month than with the story of Japanese American baseball legend turned war hero Joe Takata, & the Aloha team & 100th Battalion he helped lead. That & more in my new column! 🗃️ @hcrichardson.bsky.social

This is absolutely outrageous. SCOTUS reinstated Texas gerrymander 15 weeks before primary because they claimed it was too close to election to block it but now allowing Alabama to gerrymander one week before primary after trial court found map was intentionally discriminatory against Black voters

From @hcrichardson.bsky.social -- American Conversations: Josh Marshall & Kate Riga of Talking Points Memo heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/american-c...

Last week, ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos released poll findings on how Americans view Trump. Though the headline focused on his approval rating dipping to the lowest of his term (37%), the standout statistic was that only 35% of Americans approved of the way Vance is handling his role as VP.

The U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way on Monday for Alabama Republicans to pursue a congressional voting map more favorable to their party ahead of November's midterm elections, the latest fallout from the court's seismic voting rights ruling.

Please listen to this really good discussion between @hcrichardson.bsky.social @joshtpm.bsky.social and @kateriga.bsky.social 25 years of truth telling - #SubscribeSoDemocracySurvives #IndependentMedia #Learn #AmericanConversations #BecomeAMember www.youtube.com/live/gcMsA38...

@hcrichardson.bsky.social had @joshtpm.bsky.social and @kateriga.bsky.social on to talk about what it’s like to report on today’s frenetic politics; the founding and future of TPM; and what independent media will look like in the years to come. talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/heath...

This River Day, I enjoyed cleaning up the Chicago River with Friends of the Chicago River! Together, we can help make the Chicago River cleaner and healthier for the next generation.

Out like a light

@hcrichardson.bsky.social with Talking Points Memo @talkingpointsmemo.com Kate @kateriga.bsky.social and Josh @joshtpm.bsky.social American Conversation Monday May 11, 2026 www.youtube.com/live/gcMsA38...

Great interview of TPM's @joshtpm.bsky.social and @kateriga.bsky.social by @hcrichardson.bsky.social Regarding the question of how people could find TPM in the early days, in my case, it was from a NYT column by now substacker @pkrugman.bsky.social. Subscribe to all! www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcMs...

Listen to America Actually -- last week with @hcrichardson.bsky.social

Of the 355 comments submitted by Box Elder County residents, 242 (68%) were flatly against the data center, 106 (30%) expressed concerns about it and 7 — just 2% — said they supported it. The Box Elder County Commission approved it unanimously.

Oh great. Another complete waste of taxpayer money.

What happened to I’m not bothered? Donald Trump clearly expects things to get much worse and fast. The President’s trying to save face from getting into a war that’s crushing Americans at the pump.

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries sends letter to Dem colleagues alerting about a Thursday briefing to "discuss the steps Democrats are taking to advance the largest voter protection effort in modern American history".. Adding "Democrats will take control of the House"

Worse yet, we have a president who's brain dead.

Intimidation, full stop.

More news stories like these, featuring actual people, please! www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...

Removing the gas tax doesn't target fossil fuel companies. If anything, it helps them by making it more likely consumers buy gas.

A lot of attention has been paid to the collapse of traffic to The Daily Wire and Ben Shapiro's YouTube channel. But other ragebait sites are also seeing huge drops in audience. According to The Righting, Outkick, The Federalist and The Blaze are down at least 48%. therighting.com/traffic-repo...

In other words, despite all the happy talk and propaganda there is no end in sight to this so Republicans have to pile on more debt in addition to increasing the national debt with the cost of the war, more military spending, a fortune for ICE, and a ballroom.

Four years ago, President Vladimir Putin offered Moscow and its business elite a de facto deal: 'support my war in Ukraine, and in exchange you won’t have to think about it.' In the past week, that deal was broken. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

Trump is about to hit REM sleep on camera in the Oval

good summary here from @kateriga.bsky.social talkingpointsmemo.com/live-blog-up...

More than 2,500 scientists said in a letter to Congress on Monday that President Trump’s dismissal of the National Science Foundation’s oversight board was an “alarming attack” on research funding that could put the U.S. at a disadvantage with rivals, especially China.

Happy Monday! Officially on my way to Florida for an Oversight hearing with Epstein survivors, then back to DC. Grateful to break ground on a new school for To’Hajiilee, celebrate new community center grounds in Tijeras, and welcome the opening of new family and housing services on the West Side.

If Morning Memo has helped you keep your wits about you, steady your balance, or make some sense of the senseless during the first year of the Trump II presidency, then please seriously consider becoming a TPM member. We need you—and you need us—now more than ever. talkingpointsmemo.com/memberships

With the setback Friday in Virginia, the Republicans now have what is widely considered an 8-seat advantage over Democrats that could grow to as many 10 seats depending on how aggressively Republicans target majority-Black districts in Louisiana and Alabama. talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo...

Seconded. And I'm very excited to be interviewing @joshtpm.bsky.social and @kateriga.bsky.social today at 1:00 Eastern to talk about independent media and the future.

This is crazy work by Alabama Republicans… As the Alabama Senate was being forced into the basement while tornado sirens were going off, the Republican supermajority kept moving, rammed through a cloture vote on redistricting, passed the bill, and adjourned. [video by Sen Merika Coleman]

Buckle up, folks. This likely means they expect prices to get much worse. Also: it would add an estimated $2.5 billion to the national debt every month.

The VRA is being dismantled piece by piece & we are going back to where it was born to fight for it May 16, Edmund Pettus Bridge & AL State Capitol Join us - TN 👉 blackpowerwarroom.com/dayofaction/

SOUTH CAROLINA — @repjamesclyburn.bsky.social: “Why is it when you have a 75% white district that’s not racial, but you have a 45% Black district that is racial? There’s no way the numbers bear this out… I never thought I’d see the day the Supreme Court would be so openly partisan.”

Rep. Boyle: "The medicaid cuts that Republicans passed last year as part of their big tax cut for billionaires take effect this December…15 million people are going to lose their healthcare…Tens of millions more are already paying higher premiums today because of those cuts."

It was very cool to see my dad's "Up On the Iron Range" record on the wall of the Iron Ranger in St Paul with my mom on Mother's Day Here's the song. It's a banger: www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Y7N... I miss him every day, and am blessed to have such a great mom ❤️

huh Why would that be necessary? What made gas prices go up?

#VisibilityBrigade #newjersey #democracy #jimcrow #PeacefulProtest @maddow.bsky.social #rights #dday #vote @visibilitybrigade.bsky.social @rosaliewong.bsky.social @jesscraven101.bsky.social @emmatk.bsky.social @hcrichardson.bsky.social #ice #nj #impeach #war #boycott #fascism #billionaires

www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m... the USA now becoming a haven for criminals ? @cnnipr.bsky.social @hcrichardson.bsky.social

Today’s excerpt from “Letters from an American” by @hcrichardson.bsky.social Full carousel on Instagram. www.instagram.com/p/DYMlAgalqA... #lettersfromanamerican #HeatherCoxRichardson

Sean Duffy’s reality series is getting slammed for all of the obvious reasons, but don’t look past the fact that his show is being sponsored by companies his department oversees and regulates. In other words, it’s not just a political mess, it’s also an ethical one. www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...

A winning meme by @mmpadellan.bsky.social reminding the #TrumpRegime & #GOPTraitors No matter how desperately they keep trying to distract US It's long time to #ReleaseTheTrumpEpsteinFiles Trump is a pedophile & serial sexual abuser So are way too many Republicans #StopTheTrumpEpsteinCoverUp

Note that women overwhelmingly kill their partners to escape their abuse, while men overwhelmingly kill their partners because a) the partners want to escape them, b) they want to marry someone else without loss of money/property/control of offspring, or c) both the above.

The important lesson to take away from this is not that we are all going to die of Hantavirus. We aren’t. It’s that the United States has zero pandemic prevention capacity at the present because of deliberate sabotage by the president and his appointed lackeys.

This!

Tear gas is banned in international warfare, yet classified as a “riot control agent” that law enforcement can use for crowd control. “It hits the weakest people the most, and causes the most complications in them,” an anesthesiology professor at Duke University said. From the archives:

They want us quiet; we’re getting loud. This #CupOfJoe is packed with the exact moves YOU need to make to defend our right to vote. The line is drawn—are you locked in? (Ignore the messy captions, the message is what matters. Hit play.)

So, about the War Powers Resolution's 60-day clock and "hostilities" supposedly being terminated...