This month, I got to write about an urgent issue that needs more attention: the US has a wage problem. Full-time work should be enough to support a family, but too often, it leaves workers relying on safety net programs like SNAP instead. Wages need to be higher—full stop. How do we get there?

Just so you understand, this is as if you prepared for argument in front of a panel that included Cookie Monster, and Cookie Monster asked you a question about cookies, and you had not thought about cookies in advance.

GORSUCH: Do you think Native Americans are birthright citizens under your test? SAUER: Ah, I think ... so. I have to think that through.

A judge has blocked Trump from cutting SNAP benefits from 600,000 Coloradans.  We won’t let Trump break the laws and bully Colorado.  I will continue fighting the Trump Administration’s lawless actions in the courts. And we will continue winning. #Philforgovernor #COpolitics

To do this, anti-trans lawmakers in Kansas moved fast to change the law, overrode the governor’s veto, and pushed for the legal changes to go into effect nearly immediately. That kind of power—to void gender on official documents, to compel gender conformity—is terrifying and it will not stop here.

Our story @chicagotribune.com: Chicago teen Ofelia Torres, whose father was detained by ICE while she fought cancer, dies. www.chicagotribune.com/2026/02/14/c...

Seems real bad that the end point of ~25 years of War on Terror architecture is an agency of thin-skinned goons who will send armed men to your house if you email the government asking for compassion on behalf of someone else. newrepublic.com/post/206088/...

Oh look, some enterprising reporter spent a bunch of time with the Taylor Rehmet campaign and wrote about it in the context of the regional, far-right politics!

Last February, the Trump administration zeroed out funding for all six Retirement and Disability Research Consortia across the country. They called them “wasteful government DEI programs.” The total annual cost of all six centers? $15 million.

NEW: In a revelation that undercuts the GOP narrative of widespread noncitizen voting in elections, a Utah audit of over 2 million voter registrations found only one apparent noncitizen on the rolls — and they never even voted.

Trump revoked the Obama-era policy that kept ICE out of schools. Now federal agents can enter school buildings and parking lots, and some parents are keeping kids home entirely out of fear.

You have to block them immediately. The full nuclear. They are only here to make folks angry, and that can’t happen if we lock them out.

Here is the CBS Sunday Morning piece for which I was interviewed about findings from my book Coverage Denied. Health insurance barriers ration health care by inconvenience, imposing hurdles to get prescribed care with administratively burdensome appeals many can’t navigate. youtu.be/SRPOoPDN-7w?...

Last year, a new law mandated severe cuts to SNAP benefits, including by increasing work requirements on parents and older adults. We need to know how these cuts are affecting Americans. We filed FOIA requests for impact analyses and communications about the cuts.

Take a screenshot of this GIF, and whichever new word you land on is YOUR word for 2026. Let's. Go.

Top tier joke

Has anyone told Jared?

This Yglesias piece in the NYT is horrifically bad. Almost every "fact" it cites is provably false. At best it is cocktail party banter from a pundit who knows nothing of energy. At worst, it was cut/paste from oil industry talking points. So, a rebuttal: www.nytimes.com/2025/12/18/o...

ICE pepper-sprayed this 1-year-old girl. Once at the hospital, the doctor had to call in a poison control specialist. They had never seen anyone that young pepper sprayed. Another horrific story. More details below.

After some back and forth, we're settled: 'An American Problem: How the Country Built — And the Supreme Court Broke — The Voting Rights Act' will be coming your way from Princeton University Press next fall!

This autumn's disastrous government shutdown -- and the threat to SNAP coverage for millions of Americans -- have re-spurred conversations about guaranteed income, UBI, and publicly funded cash dividend programs. theconversation.com/a-colorado-g...

With federal safety net programs more unstable & inadequate than ever, is it time to establish an income floor for everyone? In this piece, Kaitlyn Sims, Stefan Chavez-Norgaard, & I some potential costs & benefits of creating a cash dividend program in Colorado. theconversation.com/a-colorado-g...

If you believed Trump would only detain and deport "dangerous criminals" and "bad people" than I hope you realize he lied to you. This is a woman who did nothing but help children learn. Our community is worse for losing her - and everyone like her. www.denverpost.com/2025/11/17/d...

I attended a scientific conference this week and as I sat through a couple 1.5 hour sessions with 5 15-20 minute presentations back-to-back, a question began speaking very loudly in my head: WHY DO WE DO THIS? It seems like an absurd way to disseminate our work.

And we knew this. This wasn't speculation. We studied it, we had the talking points. We trained volunteers to explain this to people. It's not a surprise. Rich people don't flee places with good quality of life when we increase the quality of life. They might try to cheat us, but they don't leave.

For folks (and journalists) who want to search the Oversight Committee email texts, I made a database for searching the 20k text files: splendorous-chaja-f79791.netlify.app

If **Jeffrey Epstein** thinks you're a evil and demented sociopath, the odds are overwhelming that you are, in fact, an evil and demented sociopath.

If we still have a congress in 2026 they better vote to put every senator, rep, judge, and admin official on the second highest cost silver plan and force them to take the employer contribution part in the form of a tax credit with a whole separate schedule to fill out.

The Northern Lights made a spectacular appearance above Denver International Airport (DEN) last night #DEN #airport #avgeek 📸courtesy of DEN Operations

Boebert was one of four Republicans who went around their leadership to force a vote.

Y'all the aurora tonight!!

Producing a pound of beef requires roughly 1,800 gallons of water compared with 500 gallons for chicken. Even modest shifts in your diet could sig nificantly reduce the water needed to grow your food. buff.ly/TpENcde

Dorothy Vaughan | NASA mathematician, programmer & manager died #OTD in 2008 First Black female supervisor at NACA (precursor to NASA), expert programmer, Scout Launch Vehicle Program contributor & more. #WomenInSTEM Learn more about this "Hidden Figure:" nasa.gov/people/dorot...

NEW via CNN: “The United Kingdom is no longer sharing intelligence with the US about suspected drug trafficking vessels in the Caribbean because it does not want to be complicit in US military strikes and believes the attacks are illegal”

If you need a break from Earthly bullshit may I present to you some cosmic gloriousness? I suspect it may help. badastronomy.beehiiv.com/p/ngc-3370-s... 🧪🔭

Shapiro: He rose to some prominence by writing a book about growing up in Appalachia, where there are a whole lot of people who get SNAP. He made millions of dollars off telling their stories, and then he turned his damn back on those very people he likes to write about and claim as his own.

Early, unofficial Colorado election results Tuesday night showed progressive, union-backed and Democratic-affiliated candidates leading in many of the highest-profile races at the local level. By @chasewoodruff.bsky.social

NEW: Colorado voters approve tax increase on high earners to fund school meals, food stamps coloradosun.com/2025/11/04/p... #copolitics #coleg

We can do good things.

i can’t believe a good thing happened we should do this more often

this is objectively hilarious

Every single county in Virginia shifted Blue.

Look, I’m not saying it’s *guaranteed* we can do this in SoCal next November, but I’m not *not* saying it either

ZOHRAN MAMDANI

Poverty is the parent of revolution - Aristotle Pic of the day #photography

Dems in ARRAY