For the thousands of children who come to the US alone, a government lawyer is a lifeline. But the Trump administration won't pay the bills - so it can accelerate their deportation. Are Americans really okay with doing this to powerless children? Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

Immigrant Kids Deserve to Keep Their Lawyers

The Trump administration has jettisoned the way thousands of immigrant children receive legal help. On Friday, the Department of Health and Human Services ended the contract with the Acacia Center for...

bloomberg.com

Texas Democrats have hammered out a platform that tries to let the state party agree to disagree on Israel. The national party should be paying attention. The divide could rip their "big tent." Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

Texas Can Teach Democrats How to Disagree on Israel

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in Washington this week as the American public is undergoing a generational shift in how it views his country — especially among Democrats.

bloomberg.com

My time lapse of the Gironde #fire near Bordeaux, viewed on Friday afternoon from about 20 km distance. One minute compressed into 5 seconds. #GlobalHeating

Before we descend completely into one-party rule in every state, it's time to rethink the winner-take-all, single-member-district system. The answer is proportional representation and here's how it works: prospect.org/2026/07/22/p...

Proportional Representation Gets a New Look - The American Prospect

Supreme Court decisions and unrestrained partisan gerrymandering are focusing attention on a fundamental election reform. But one version is more feasible than the others.

prospect.org

There’s a high price when there’s no plan to end a war: Two US service members killed in Iran strike on Jordan. wapo.st/4vWmZ17

2 U.S. service members killed, 1 missing after Iran attack on Jordan, military says

Iran launched a wave of attacks on U.S. allies Jordan, Kuwait and Bahrain as the U.S. military hit Iran, in the seventh consecutive day of clashes.

wapo.st

"In normal times, these threats would engender widespread outrage. But the sheer number of attacks on the election framework in this country have become a blurry backdrop to everything else going on. It’s time to sharpen our senses." 🎁🔗

Mary Ellen Klas@maryellenklas.bsky.social · last mo.

Courts keep blocking Trump's election restrictions. He's not listening. So, everyone else: please pay attention. Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

There is a way to force dark money into the open. Hawaii and Montana have the plan. They're the test case that aims to undercut the Supreme Court's ruling that money is speech and it couldn’t have come along at a better time. via @opinion.bloomberg.com Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

Two States Are Making the Case That Money Isn't Political Speech

Who should have more power — the people of the states or the corporations that are authorized by them? For legislators in Hawaii and Montana, the answer is most definitely the former, not the latter. ...

bloomberg.com

250 years ago, Americans risked everything for a chance to govern themselves. But courage is a choice. Do we still have that kind of revolutionary courage to redirect ourselves? Here's to flashes of hope. Happy 4th! Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

US Democracy Wasn’t Inevitable. Neither Is 250 More Years

The 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence is a good time to remember that the American Revolution wasn’t inevitable. It took a series of tremendous acts of courage.

bloomberg.com

Courts keep blocking Trump's election restrictions. He's not listening. So, everyone else: please pay attention. Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

Courts Aren’t Buying Trump’s Voting Lies. He’s Not Giving Up

President Donald Trump’s assault on elections took another hit Monday when the US Supreme Court rejected a Republican bid to restrict mail voting. In a 5-4 decision, the justices upheld Mississippi’s ...

bloomberg.com

The Trump administration wanted to put an ICE mega-prison in Social Circle, Georgia. The GOP-voting town said: not today. Gift link:/1 www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

How a Conservative Georgia Town Defeated an ICE Mega-Prison

A tiny town in rural Georgia, which four months ago was destined to become the home of a massive Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center, has fought the White House and won.

bloomberg.com

The wisdom of...bats. www.wsj.com/arts-culture...

Florida needs property tax reform, just not the Soviet style version of centralized government they just put on the November ballot. Best to reject it and come back with something that preserves representative government. Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

Florida needs property tax reform, just not the Soviet style version of centralized government they just put on the November ballot. Best to reject it and come back with something that preserves representative government. Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

Texans voted for change. But Ken Paxton's blind fealty to Trump isn't exactly transformational. via @opinion.bloomberg.com www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

Ken Paxton Ran as a 'Change' Candidate. How Ironic

“Today, change was on the ballot, and change won,” Ken Paxton, the Texas attorney general, declared in his victory speech an hour after polls closed in Tuesday’s runoff election. Paxton, buoyed by a l...

bloomberg.com

Miami is the new San Francisco, with the highest out-migration rate of all large metros. jedkolko.substack.com/p/with-less-...

t's been almost two years since I suggested it was time Jill Biden do some explaining about her role in her husband's presidency. She had an obligation to do it then but is doing it now -- to sell her book. That took too long. My column from July 2024: www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

Jill Biden Has Some Explaining To Do

The first lady has gone beyond the role of protector-in-chief. She’d better be prepared for the scrutiny and questions.

bloomberg.com

"Trump and Paxton understand what Cornyn doesn’t: Voters will overlook legal transgressions and character flaws if a candidate promises change. It can be vague and aspirational — like “drain the swamp” — as long as it sounds good and signals the candidate rejects the status quo." 🎁🔗

Mary Ellen Klas@maryellenklas.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Texans voted for change. But Ken Paxton's blind fealty to Trump isn't exactly transformational. via @opinion.bloomberg.com www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

Texans voted for change. But Ken Paxton's blind fealty to Trump isn't exactly transformational. via @opinion.bloomberg.com www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

Ken Paxton Ran as a 'Change' Candidate. How Ironic

“Today, change was on the ballot, and change won,” Ken Paxton, the Texas attorney general, declared in his victory speech an hour after polls closed in Tuesday’s runoff election. Paxton, buoyed by a l...

bloomberg.com

Trump may have defeated Thomas Massie, but it came with a cost. Massie exposed the sorry condition of the Republican Party and how voters abandoned conservative principles for allegiance to a narcissist. But he also tapped into a truth. via @opinion.bloomberg.com www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

Trump’s Massie Smackdown May Cost Him in November

President Donald Trump’s GOP revenge tour reached a new level on Tuesday with the expensive defeat of Congressman Thomas Massie, the Kentucky Republican who dared to challenge the president over his a...

bloomberg.com

Georgia is that rare thing in US politics: a true swing state. It's primary today will be a glimpse of what's to come in November. Here's what I'm watching. via @opinion.bloomberg.com www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

Georgia’s Primary Offers an Early Midterms Preview

It’s primary day in Georgia. The results, perhaps more than in any other state, will give us a glimpse of what’s likely to come in November. With an open race for governor, a high-profile US Senate co...

bloomberg.com

“The Treasury Department is responsible for depositing $1.776 billion into an account that will be controlled by a group of people selected by the acting attorney general, Todd Blanche.” www.nytimes.com/2026/05/18/b...

Top Treasury Lawyer Resigns After Creation of ‘Anti-Weaponization Fund’

nytimes.com

There's a way out of the redistricting wars - and it's possible without a Constitutional amendment: Ditch the districts and elect members at large with proportional representation and restore voters' voice. But public must demand it. via @opinion.bloomberg.com www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

A Fix for Gerrymandering Both Parties Could Love

America’s political landscape has become a stinking mess. More and more states are joining the race to the bottom to gerrymander away the power of their voters. But we don’t have to hold our noses any...

bloomberg.com

Jared Kushner is both brokering peace in Iran and courting Middle East investors — an unprecedented arrangement that ethics experts say tests conflict-of-interest laws. Remarkable story via @bloomberg.com www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

Kushner Disappoints Mideast Clients Who Spent Millions Seeking Sway

Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE backed Affinity Partners in hopes of gaining White House influence and investment returns. The US war with Iran that they opposed has shown the constraints of that appr...

bloomberg.com

With the South Carolina GOP now divided over whether to crack apart Black and Hispanic communities to prevent them from electing Democrats, it's time to get one thing clear: there’s nothing "race-neutral" about it. Even some in the GOP get it. Gift link. www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

Of Course the South’s Redistricting Rush Isn’t ‘Race-Neutral’

Until South Carolina tapped the brakes on the redistricting rush on Tuesday, it seemed that throughout much of the old Confederacy, the Republican Party had decided it was finished with representative...

bloomberg.com

Can Republicans defy Trump and survive? We’re about to find out. @maryellenklas.bsky.social explains 🎥

Ossoff's campaign against “the Epstein class” is deliberately bipartisan. His focus cuts to the core of American grievance and the vulnerable Democrat now leading in the polls. Other Democrats should take note. Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

Ossoff’s Corruption Message Goes Beyond Trump

More Democrats should sound like Georgia Senator Jon Ossoff. Considered one of the most vulnerable Democrats in Congress, he’s cast aside caution and is delivering a message that cuts to the core of A...

bloomberg.com

Re-upping my latest for @opinion.bloomberg.com (no paywall!) as news of the Hantavirus outbreak evolves. We now know that, as suspected, infections are due to the Andes virus strain. But, as one expert told me, this isn't a virus that spreads like wildfire, so caution but not panic here, folks:

The Hantavirus Outbreak Is Cause for Caution, Not Panic

A suspected outbreak of hantavirus on a cruise ship sailing the Atlantic Ocean has all the hallmarks of a nightmare scenario: A handful of people have fallen gravely ill, three have died, and nearly 1...

bloomberg.com

excellent piece by @dwallacewells.bsky.social on the epochal Late Victorian Holocausts. Only caveat is that Davis didn't argue that the El Niño famines of the late 19th century were "compounded" by autocratic incompetence and colonialist cruelty - he held colonial imperialists fully responsible.

Opinion | The World Is About to Get a Preview of Life in 2035

nytimes.com

Elected officials in states across the US are rushing to draw maps that will dilute voters' power. It's the latest assault on representative democracy and voters are the big losers. Americans need to reclaim their power back in November. /1 Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

Voters, Gerrymandering Steals Your Power. Don’t Let It

Republicans in Alabama, Tennessee and Louisiana rushed to gerrymander congressional districts this week. Mississippi scheduled a special session for May 20 to revise its maps, and lawmakers in South C...

bloomberg.com

“‘I ask that [immigration authorities] help me fulfill my last wish, if possible,’ González said.”

Joaquin Castro@joaquincastrotx.bsky.social · 3mo ago

This is the total cruelty of Trump’s mass deportation machine. I'm asking for Kevin’s parents to be released immediately so that they can be with their son. www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/c...