How about we make a simple pact? Never make MAGA's arguments for them.

Bill Grueskin@bgrueskin.bsky.social · yesterday

Brown University has a widget that tracks the cost of the Iran war to American consumers (as contrasted to whatever the Pentagon is spending). Per-household cost now exceeds $600. iranwarcost.watson.brown.edu

So many layers of corruption and institutional rot all packed into one story. Wall Street! Bari Weiss’s CBS! $250M worth of sex trafficking! www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan, BofA Enabled Epstein, Wyden Report Says

Democrat Ron Wyden cited nonpublic documents held by the US Treasury in a report that says banks delayed reporting suspicious financial transactions and calls for tougher anti-money-laundering rules, ...

bloomberg.com

I think voters don't realize being a candidate is unpaid, and even if you win, the pay isn't great for the stress level and the "reward" is being a regular speaker at Elks Lodge & the Farm Bureau.

William B. Fuckley@opinionhaver.bsky.social · 23h ago

there actually isn't an infinite supply of charismatic people willing to have the most miserable year of their lives running for office, you have to actually find those people

Republicans could have stopped this every single day since literally day one. They still could stop it. They choose not to impeach, convict, and remove.They are complicit. They’re fascists.

Michelle@michelleroy78.bsky.social · yesterday

I’m old enough to remember when lying about adultery was worthy of impeachment. Feels quaint at this point.

Cutting Medicare Part D subsidies isn’t “fiscal discipline.” It’s a prescription for higher drug costs, more untreated illness, and greater long‑term healthcare spending. Seniors deserve stability, not surprise hikes in essential medication costs.

WOAH. Blazers leaked emails show they refused to respond to city emails asking basic questions, weeks before any “first-class” claim was mentioned, contradicting Dewayne Hankins claim that that claim “chilled negotiations” They were not negotiating in good faith since the beginning.

@wrightkatu.bsky.social · yesterday

NEW: Internal emails obtained by KATU show Portland Trail Blazers leaders debated whether to respond to the City of Portland's questions on key pieces of a proposed Moda Center deal, with one executive saying the city's requests felt like "a trap”. katu.com/news/investi...

12-2 bottom of the 6th. Man, the Red Sox are on fire.

Excellent. Even a $1.4 Million canvassing campaign marked by widespread and systematic misrepresentations couldn't muster enough support for this terrible idea.

Willamette Week@wweek.com · yesterday

The initiative seeking to reroute 25% of Portland Clean Energy Fund tax revenues to hiring some 400 police officers has failed to qualify for the November ballot. The initiative previously failed to qualify in its first sample. It has now failed the second and final sample.

This is great reporting by @shaanthx.bsky.social, but like all dark money stories, the original source(s) of the $100,000 to enrich the Drazans is a secret.

Oregon Capital Chronicle@oregoncapitalchronicle.com · yesterday

An Oregon nonprofit founded by state Sen. Christine Drazan, R-Canby, did not maintain a conflict of interest policy when it paid nearly $100,000 to a consulting firm she owns with her husband, missing a key step to help prove the transaction complied with tax law, records show.  buff.ly/3FAT91f

chat can anyone verify that every single Flock camera has about 2-3 Ibs of copper and about 1-2 grams of gold

Maddow asked #JamesTalarico about attacks on #trans people and those who think that to win, Dems must "moderate" on trans rights. Talarico answered, "I don't believe we win by selling people out." #Texas

BREAKING: We are within THREE POINTS of beating Greg Abbott. Across the state, Texans are done paying the Greg Abbott Corruption Tax. We’re ready for change.

Don't have an air filter? Learn how you can DIY one with a box fan and a HEPA filter.

English DIY Air Purifier

YouTube video by APANO Good Growth

youtube.com

BREAKING — Another person died at Delaney Hall. The family of Edwin Lopez Cornejo (age 39) said he was not receiving the medications required to treat his diabetes, and blames his death on the lack of medical care (via USA Today). www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...

Another detainee dies at controversial NYC-area ICE facility

Edwin Lopez Cornejo died Aug. 1, his family said. Cornejo's mother blamed her son's death on him not receiving medications needed to treat his diabetes.

usatoday.com

Another example of the lunacy of thinking discrimination against a marginalized group won't affect you if you're not part of that group bsky.app/profile/gbbr...

Gillian Branstetter@gbbranstetter.bsky.social · 2d ago

An initiative on the ballot in Washington state in November would require all athletes seeking to play girl's sports from kindergarten to high school to undergo "genetic screening, a testosterone-levels test, or an examination of their reproductive anatomy" before they can play

Every vote to confirm Todd Blanche as attorney general is a vote to continue the coverup of the Epstein Files.

And I sincerely believe that candidates should make a point of saying Republicans want to spend all their time looking in your daughter's underpants and giving tax breaks to billionaires instead of making sure families can eat and afford a place to live.

Is everyone aware of the General Motors streetcar conspiracy? In the mid-20th century, auto and oil interests bought up electric streetcar systems across the US and systematically replaced them with bus routes and paved roads, funneling commuters toward private cars.

General Motors streetcar conspiracy - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I wrote up a primer on the economic impact of stadiums, targeted to policymakers and journalists. Feel free to pass along. jcbradbury.com/stadium-econ...

I often get asked why governments continue to fund sports venues/events after decades of research shows they're not worth it. Well, here's the answer: the local insiders who run our cities love the perks that come with sports boosterism. Taxpayers are really subsidizing their cocktail parties.

Craig Calcaterra@craigcalcaterra.bsky.social · last wk.

Such events are, of course, AMAZING for interested parties and stakeholders. They likewise do wonders for the social lives, status, and fundraising of politicians who back the events. But the Olympics, World Cup, Super Bowls, All-Star Games, F1 races, etc, etc do nothing for overall local economies.

Listing alternatives gives reporters something to investigate. When they call sources in those cities, they'll find there is no interest. The Trail Blazers don't want that to happen, so they're counting on the imaginations of reporters to fill in the blanks. Don't help them.

The reason the Portland Trail Blazers are not listing potential relocation cities is because those options don't exist. Until that happens, please stop reporting on this like it's something that's likely to happen. I don't see any realistic alternate locations.

This needs to be said out loud: The Blazers are negotiating in bad faith. If matters progress to the court room, the team's conduct is not going to be viewed favorably.

Trail Blazers, city of Portland finally meet, but distance to arena deal remains ‘significant’ (Gift Article)

While both sides conceded it was positive to finally talk face-to-face, there was palpable tension and veiled threats.

nytimes.com

Look, I get that a lot of folks are mad about Portland's economic climate. But, the solution isn't to pass an arena subsidy project, which are notoriously bad public investments. Focus on fixing the perceived existing problems directly, don't compound your mistakes.

Media members, STOP parroting team propaganda, and ask follow-up questions. What city could the Trail Blazers move to and see the team's value spike? This isn't the Rams moving to LA. It's moving to a smaller market with no known venue.

The Oregonian@oregonian.com · 5d ago

Tom Dundon once said that public financing of a renovation would "of course" remove the possibility of relocation. https://mrf.lu/25_QY

How will the average Portland citizen be improved by spending $600 million to upgrade Moda? It's revealing how not even the deal's supporters try to make this case. Just some vague rationalizations about keeping a team that has nowhere better to go.

Editorial: Stay on track, Portland, and show the Trail Blazers a partnership worth keeping

As the clock ticks toward a deadline for getting a Moda Center deal done, Portland city councilors should focus on what they control — finalizing a framework to negotiate a new long-term lease and sho...

oregonlive.com

The GOP wants to repeal no-fault divorce & women's right to vote so that violent misogynists like Max Miller can un-person us fully: they want to own women, as rape toys & punching bags. We're the majority of the population. We already have fewer rights to bodily protection than corpses & animals.

The Bulwark@thebulwark.com · 3d ago

Rep. Max Miller: "My former wife has claimed that during a custody exchange at my home that day, I assaulted her…If I had assaulted her, would she have offered to cook me dinner six days later?"

“Question my judgments. Don’t question my motives.” - Anthony Blinken, borrowing from Joe Biden. Read this indictment of the mental gymnasts at the center of modern liberalism. They facilitated and manufactured support for genocide daily, for years. Now they’re losing sleep and beg for pity. No.

How Biden Enabled Israel’s Aggression Toward Gaza—and Iran

Top officials from the previous Administration now express regret over their failure to rein in Netanyahu.

newyorker.com

This is, of course, yet one more reason we need major institutional reforms to get <more> & <stronger> parties & proportional representation. The <system> produces the Messis & Magyars. They don't emerge in a two-party, FPTP/SMD, presidential system with weak parties & winner-take-all primaries.

Timothy Garton Ash@fromtga.bsky.social · 3d ago

Why the US needs a Hungarian-style landslide this November.... open.substack.com/pub/timothyg...