Ben D

Why is Austin known as The City of the Violet Crown, you ask?

This is astonishing. Sounds incredible, and I think I truly absorbed the lyrics for the first time ever.

Give this video a watch! It is sadly true! Credit: Seattle Indivisible

It's like when Elf's dad brought in Miles Finch to save the publishing house.

So excited. I've been waiting like 20 years for this to start becoming real.

Local team's ad for new soccer jersey leverages string quartet, poet laureate voiceover, and mad Terrence Malick vibes. Reason #12,734 that I love Austin.

What a tribute. Lump-in-my-throat stuff. And also, how do you even do that when you're at ground level?

A metaphor on an icy day in Austin. Ice can't stop the free flow of H2O. Life and liberty keep circulating.

Evil is evil. It comes out of the sewer into the open every few generations, requiring courage and blood sacrifice from freedom-loving, law-abiding citizens to defeat it. What strikes me in this image is that the ICE gestapo fully recognizes its immorality, hiding behind masks to commit its murder.

In other words, the chickens have come home to roost for our fossil fuel addiction. China invested in the future while we built bigger F-150s and subsidized big oil. Getting our ass kicked in affordable EVs is just the beginning. We've relinquished leadership of the green economy, willingly.

The government has essentially seceded from the U.S. Constitution as the majority of Americans stand up for it.

Feeling deep gratitude for democratic, freedom-loving nations that recognize the threat of authoritarian regimes and are standing up to them. Those who hunger for moral leadership in the service of the people take hope and inspiration from the courage of allies.

Water taxi turning around at the San Antonio Riverwalk.

From Goth Prom to Square Dance Lessons. Brazil Day to a Japan Festival. The Wizard of Dogz to Skunkfest. And John Cleese, too. The bulletin board at the local sub shop is a treasure.

💯

What happens if you don’t do background checks or training for thousands of people and you give them all total authority? ICE has been caught looting and destroying property at Pittsburgh restaurants. They even tried to break into the safes. They loaded food, supplies and equipment into vehicles /

I've been waiting for artists and musicians to meet the moment. Of course Quincy, MA stepped up. Of course it was Dropkick Murphys. Thank you, gents. I stand with you.

Part II

It is beyond 💯 worth the time to watch this woman. We should all be carefully fact-checking rather than seeing the title of an article and taking it as fact. I hope she knows a lot of other like her who will listen. SO worth your time. 💙💙💙 #Pinks #ProudBlue

There once was a dream that was the United States of America.

France grieves the 4th of July. They’re grieving with us. Grieving what they’d helped fight to free and the fall of it.

Let us remember the better times, a better America, run by liberals from the Southern Prairie. -OS

Hey America. Just saying.

Donald Trump does NOT want you to share this footage of his pathetically tiny birthday parade crowd.

Go Gov Healey! Stone-cold facts.

For those who need a refresher that the media CAN stand up to bullying and insults in pursuit of truth. youtu.be/0HWHhev-aag?...

I was going to be brave, but… Be brave.

The Speaker's last-minute prayer before the 1am House Rules Committee hearing. We're awake and watching, Mike.

"I want people to be safe and protected. I want to live on the right side of history. I am an immigrant. My parents are refugees from Chile. We fled a dictatorship and I was privileged enough to grow up in the United States after asylum in Denmark. I stand by those protections, always."

Love this from Pedro Pascal at Cannes: "Fear is the way that they win, so keep telling the stories and expressing yourself and fighting. F*ck the people that try to make you scared and fight back. Don’t let them win"

Facts.

A true American. More of this from people with a platform.

This can't be something we look away from. This is our nation. This must be defeated.

Salsa and popcorn are my favorite vegetables. I don't care that salsa is mainly fruit and popcorn is a grain. No one can steal my joy on this.

Barry Blitt’s cover for this week’s issue, “The First Hundred Days.” #NewYorkerCovers nyer.cm/ysrCZ47

Truth.

How does Trump keep ignoring the law? And what will it take to stop him? 🎥 Harvard Law professor @noahfeldman.bsky.social explains

Obvious, and yet I hadn't really seen it so clearly until Will spelled it out like this. Both Trump and Musk are desperate to be admired, but neither are admirable, so they extort people to make them subservient, and this forced subservience feeds their deranged egos.

An ethical firm! Need more to speak out!

Thousands of people are ditching Tesla. Here’s one of them with a message you can see from space. Location: Black Rock Sands, Wales, UK By "Led By Donkeys"

Hey non-billionaire Trump voters, do you see the con now? He was never going after only the people you hate (immigrants, the disabled, trans people, the woke, experts, believers in fact, democracy, and the Constitution). He was always coming after you...your money, health, opportunity, and rights.

Finally.

“I’m going to say this at the risk of my job. What President Trump is doing is insane. It is absolutely insane.” CNBC’s Steve Liesman goes off on Trump’s reckless trade wars.