actually once you do vote by mail once, it feels STUPID that in-person voting is even a thing. getting to sit with your ballot in your house, easily see your options, have time to do research and consider your choice, talk with friends and neighbors about their vote. it's especially so for small local elections and primaries where you might not have heard about different candidates and really have to ask around, attend local events, or dig into local news stories to find out who they are and what they stand for. but, of course, not allowing voters to easily research and carefully consider their votes is why there is opposition to vote by mail in the first place.
Benches are microcosms of an expansive debate about who belongs in urban public spaces. When they are removed or made uninviting, we lose mo
Benches arenât just disappearing from large railroad stations, but also from subways, parks, plazas, sidewalks, and esplanades. Public transit systems in Philadelphia, Chicago, Anaheim, and New York City have lost benches, as have the entrance to Seattleâs Pike Place Market, a National Park plaza in Washington, D.C., a thoroughfare of San Franciscoâs Tenderloin, a boulevard dedicated to Korean veterans in Nashville, and a tiny riverfront park in Janesville, Wisconsin. Some of these seats were replaced with armatures for perching or leaning, but most were not. There is no firm data on how many benches have been removed in total, nor when the trend precisely started. But anecdotal evidence suggests that in the past decade, across the United States, hundreds of places to sit in public have quietly disappeared.
Benches, like other public amenities, are places where optimistic visions of civic life meet messier realities. Theyâre sites of leisure and contestation that invite a range of constituencies with vastly differing needs and desires. Office workers may lunch and seniors may rest, but teenagers might socialize at decibels unwelcome by their elders. Benches beckon skateboarders trying to perfect their nosegrinds, and men who sip drinks concealed in paper bags. Unlike parks or homeless shelters, theyâre small and relatively inexpensive interventions, six-foot-long microcosms of a far broader debate over whom our cities should be structured to serve and how best to do so. To remove benches, or to curate who gets to sit, is to abandon the work of defining a civic ideal and determining, together, how to live up to it. When seating disappears, our relationship with public space becomes more grudging and utilitarian. Benches are symbols of hospitality, an invitation to participate in the civic realm.
Make your own era-accurate Star Trek episode title cards in seconds. Boldly go!
The sitemaker (Josh Mayfield at https://bsky.app/profile/bean525.bsky.social) has asked for people to come in and kick its tires so he can work out any bugs they turn up. So do give him a hand, if you feel inclined. :)
Over the last month, there has been a notable shift in Trumpâs grip on the GOP and his cultish base. True, his support among self-identified âMAGAâ supporters remains ridiculously high (80%), but he is losing ground among âRepublicansâ writ large and Republican-leaning Independents, and is losing the gains he generated among Latinos and Black Americans in 2024.
Before congressional Republicans fled D.C. in a panic ahead of the Memorial Day recess, they were unable to pass a reconciliation bill containing supplemental funding for ICE and Border Patrol for fear they would have to vote on amendments related to the $1.8 billion thug fund. Speaker Mike Johnson sent the House home after it appeared that enough Republicans would join Democrats to pass a War Powers Resolution.
Over the weekend, Trumpâs stealth 80th birthday celebration, disguised as a 250th anniversary celebration of US independence, collapsed as entertainers canceled in droves. Trump initially suggested that he would fill in for the entertainers who withdrew, and (as of Sunday evening) is proposing to cancel the events entirely. As a result, it is not clear what celebrations will take place to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the US Declaration of Independence from Great Britain.
Per David Frum in The Atlantic, Trumpâs 250th Celebration Is a Fiasco,
Trumpâs effort to rebrand the semi-quincentennial as the Day of Trump left no time, budget, or effort available for the true purpose of the anniversary. As his own self-celebration has fizzled, a void has opened between the scheduled roster of events and the true purpose and meaning of the solemnity of July 4, 2026. This powerful date will go unmarked by any act of memory worthy of the nation.
As with most Trump failures, we must resist the temptation to gloat. His failures hurt America and its people. Celebrating 250 years of independence should be a moment of joy for all Americans. It is, instead, a mosh pit of narcissism, vulgarity, and decline-of-empire decadence.
More about the failed 250th celebration in a moment. Letâs look at the broader dynamic at work: The willingness of entertainers to disassociate themselves from a Trump command performance is part of a larger phenomenon. Indeed, the entertainers share the motivation of congressional Republicans in fleeing D.C. People are beginning to eye the exits, looking for ways to put distance between themselves and Trumpâs increasingly unhinged, corrupt, narcissistic behavior.
We can see similar distancing across the administration. Over the weekend, the US attorney overseeing the prosecution of James Comey for posting an Instagram photo of seashells abruptly withdrew from the case. See The Guardian, Lead prosecutor withdraws from criminal case against James Comey.
Two weeks ago, the general counsel of the Treasury, Brian Morrissey, resigned within hours of the announcement of Trumpâs $1.8 billion thug fund. Morrisseyâa former Sidley Austin partnerâ is a respected lawyer who apparently values his long-term reputation more than his continued service in the Trump administration.
Morrisseyâs resignation is part of a massive exodus of lawyers from the Trump administration. See NYTimes, Trump Administration Sees Striking Exodus of Legal Talent | The departure of more than 10,000 federal lawyers has left some agencies without sufficient staff and has boosted the ranks of state attorneys general offices and advocacy groups. (Gift article, accessible to all.)
Although the administration has added more than 3,000 lawyers in the last 16 months, the net losses are significantâaffecting the Trump administrationâs ability to perform the legal services necessary to support federal actions and defend Trumpâs agenda.
The chart below is extracted from information in the NYTimes article, above:
The above chart understates the impact of the departures: Many senior attorneys with significant experience and policymaking expertise have departed, only to be replaced by junior attorneys whose main qualification appears to be party affiliation or involvement in the MAGA movement. See, e.g., The DOJâs deeply unimpressive bench of MAGA lawyers is failing the easy part.
Thousands of lawyers are quitting to protect their reputations from association with the Trump administration, Congress is fleeing town to avoid votes to defend Trumpâs thug fund, and entertainers whose careers could use a boost from a high-profile gig are all coming to the same conclusion: Trump is toxic and associating with him can damage your reputation.
The only entertainer who defended his decision to remain part of Trumpâs birthday celebration was Vanilla Ice, who said, âI donât take anything too serious. I donât think anyone else should. . . . I donât even vote, so I donât even care. . . . I will go play for Putin, and I will play in Iran if you want.â
There can be no clearer indication that Trump is perceived as a loser than Vanilla Iceâs explanation of why he is willing to perform for Trump while other entertainers are not: âI will go play for Putin . . . I donât even care.â When that becomes the criterion for working for Trump, the better path is to shut down the party.
Which is where Trump is as of Sunday evening. After a weekend of desperate and frenzied posting on Truth Social, Trump moved from âI alone can perform at the nationâs 250th celebrationâ to âLetâs just cancel the whole thing.â
In one of Trumpâs posts on Truth Social on Sunday, he said:
We should have a giant MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN RALLY, for 250, instead of having overpriced singers, who nobody wants to hear, whose music is boring, and yet who do nothing but complain. Cancel it, just like I canceled my involvement with the failing and unsafe to be in Kennedy Center . . . .
Given that attack on the talent at the planned celebrations, itâs not clear why even the standardless Vanilla Ice would participate. (âOverpriced singers . . nobody wants to hear.â)
The chaos of the celebrations, caused by entertainers heading for the exit, is being exacerbated by the construction-zone mess at the White House and the National Mall. The bombed-out look of the mid-progress renovations is an apt symbol of Trumpâs second term sixteen months after his inauguration.
The desire to create distance from Trump that is motivating entertainers, Republican members of Congress, and administration lawyers is only going to get worse, starting this week. Read on!
Trump will have to defend his thug fund this week.
Trump must provide a brief defending his thug fund by Friday, June 5, in one federal case, and June 12 in another. He will face two hearings: One to determine if the settlement was a fraud on the court and another to determine if the fund was created in violation of the Administrative Procedures Act (Hint: It was).
The defense of the thug fund will be an embarrassment. It was created through fraudulent collusion that violated Articles I, II, and III of the Constitution. Trumpâs lawsuit against the IRS was time-barred and, therefore, worthless. The notion that it was worth $1.8 billion in a settlement is prima facie evidence that the settlement was fraudulent.
The fund is so corrupt that even some of Trumpâs allies are urging him to find a path to walk away from the fund. See Kaitlin Collins, CNN, Trumpâs âanti-weaponization fundâ is stalled, and some allies are urging him to scrap it entirely.
If Trump were smart (he is not), he would allow his case to be reopened solely to dismiss it without receiving any consideration in return. But Trump is likely to make a very bad situation worse by resisting any changes to his thug fund and release of scrutiny of 20 years of tax returns and tax payments.
The result will be greater efforts by allies to distance themselves from Trump as he attempts to defend the indefensible. As Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo put it,
[Trump is] accelerating into the most toxic parts of his presidency. . . . doubling down on the most unpopular parts of his agenda â or things like the ballroom and slush fund that strain the term âagendaâ â as his Capitol Hill majorities are going onto life support. . . . The New York Times put the matter this way in the sub-headline of a news analysis piece on May 23: âPresident Trump continues to act like heâs politically all-powerful, even in the face of indications that he is not.â
That disconnectâTrumpâs belief that he is politically all-powerful even as he grows weaker by the dayâexplains much of his increasingly desperate decisions. We have him on the run. Rather than reacting in fear and anxiety at his latest outrage, we should recognize that his actions betray his desperation and fear, not his strength.
Concluding Thoughts
Nearly 50% of the questions submitted in advance of my Saturday livestream asked about the new US Post Office regulations implementing Trumpâs voter-suppression executive order regarding mail ballots. That executive order directs the Post Office to limit mail ballots to voters on a federally created list of approved voters.
The executive order is illegal and unconstitutional. It will be struck down by the courts. The Constitution gives the president no authority over elections. Indeed, the SAVE Act contains a similar provision. A president cannot, by executive order, do that which Congress refuses to do under a constitutional grant of power. See Just Security, The Trump Administrationâs Elections Executive Order is Unconstitutional.
Trumpâs effort to suppress votes by using the Post Office is an act of desperation. We should see it as such. As noted in the NYTimes, above, âPresident Trump continues to act like heâs politically all-powerful, even in the face of indications that he is not.â
Of course, there is heavy lifting to be done by voting rights advocacy groups to invalidate the executive order and related Post Office regulations. But his earlier executive order attempting to regulate elections has been enjoined by several federal judges. The same reasoning would apply to the US Postal Service portion of the executive order.
Every time I cite to the law as a reason that we should have confidence that Trump will be constrained, someone asks a question that assumes that either Trump or the Supreme Court will ignore the Constitution. That is possible, but unlikely.
But, for the sake of argument, letâs assume that the US Supreme Court rules that there is a portion of the Constitution written in invisible ink that can be seen only when viewed under UV light and that the previously unknown provisions of the Constitution allow Trump to regulate elections.
What then? Do we give up? Do we assume that a significant limitation of mail ballots dooms us to failure?
No! If the rules change, however unfairly, we must adapt and push back. Voter suppression is a blunt instrument. If the Post Office must approve mail ballots, that restriction will apply to all voters. Democrats must simply do a better job of organizing voter turnout. We can do that. Democrats are better at GOTV efforts than are Republicans.
So, letâs trust our lawyers are better than Trumpâs lawyers and that the executive order will be stricken. In the meantime, letâs have confidence in our ability to adapt to changed circumstances better than our Republican counterparts.
Trump is weak and desperate. His executive order on Postal Service mail ballots is a manifestation of his weakness and fear. We should respond with strength and confidence.
Here's a link to the EFF page that contains this information:
The ad identifier - aka âIDFAâ on iOS, or âAAIDâ on Android - is the key that enables most third-party tracking on mobile devices. Disabling
On AndroidÂ
With the release of Android 12, Google began allowing users to delete their ad ID permanently. On devices that have this feature enabled, you can open the Settings app and navigate to Privacy > Ads. Tap âDelete advertising ID,â then tap it again on the next page to confirm. This will prevent any app on your phone from accessing it in the future.
On iOSÂ
To see which apps you have previously granted access to, go to Settings > Privacy > Tracking. You can set the âAllow apps to Request to Trackâ switch to the âoffâ position (the slider is to the left and the background is gray). This will prevent apps from asking to track in the future. If you have granted apps permission to track you in the past, this will prompt you to ask those apps to stop tracking as well. You also have the option to grant or revoke tracking access on a per-app basis.
Apple has its own targeted advertising system, separate from the third-party tracking it enables with IDFA. To disable it, navigate to Settings > Privacy > Apple Advertising. Set the âPersonalized Adsâ switch to the âoffâ position to disable Appleâs ad targeting.
Google, Microsoft and Amazon among companies using algorithms and AI to influence what crops are grown and how, say critics
Companies such as Google, Microsoft, Amazon, IBM and Alibaba are working with industrial agriculture firms to influence what crops are grown and how, according to a report by the thinktank International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES-Food).
The result, the experts say, is a âtop-downâ approach to farming systems where large companies tell farmers what to grow, often focusing on the most productive and profitable crops.
âCompanies are playing with the food system, and we canât afford to have that played with,â said Pat Mooney, a Canadian author and expert on agriculture who contributed to the Head in the Cloud report, adding that these companies tend to focus only on five crops: corn, rice, wheat, soya beans and potatoes.
âTheir advice is going to be: âWell, we donât know about your using [the grain] teff in Ethiopia â we never heard about teff â but we do know about how to use corn in Ethiopia, so weâll advise you on the ways you can use corn, and we know how to link corn to pesticides, because thatâs our expertiseâ,â he said.
Farmers are at risk of being locked into a globalised system where, instead of growing locally adapted crops they have cultivated for generations, they are forced to buy seeds manufactured by industrial companies that come bundled with machinery and chemical inputs from other parts of the world, Mooney added.
[...]
Lim Li Ching, co-chair of IPES-Food, said âfarming by algorithmâ is not something farmers want and there should be more focus on a bottom-up approach that prioritises the knowledge and needs of farmers.
âInnovation that actually works for people has to be grounded in their realities ⊠[It should support them] as guardians and stewards of agricultural biodiversity,â said Lim. â[We need] innovations that genuinely support sustainability, that empower farmers, that are governed locally and that can strengthen agroecological practices and not entrench further industrial agriculture or monocultures or a heavily chemical-driven agriculture.â
She said those examples already exist, pioneered by farming communities in places such as Peru, where families are protecting hundreds of varieties of potatoes; in China where farmers are conserving seeds; and in Tanzania where they are using social media to communicate with each other about weather conditions and market prices.
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