birdsinapuddle🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️🇺🇦🆘

I’ve been waiting to talk with Leigh since I first heard her rant in front of her refrigerator years ago. This week we shared our grief, anger, determination, strategy, & a good laugh when it got too depressing. Thanks for having me on @politicsgirl.bsky.social. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/v...

Last year, Trump and 98% of elected GOP enacted the biggest Medicaid cuts in history, bigger even than Reagan's Medicaid cuts. By 2034, 7.5 million people will lose their Medicaid because of the cuts. Clinics are already closing and hospitals are already cutting services, citing OBBBA as a reason.

The cyclospora outbreak has reached 7,400 cases across 9 states. The FDA just recalled 1.6 million eggs due to salmonella contamination. Screwworm cases continue to rise. And we’ve just surpassed 2,300 measles cases — breaking 2025’s record. “Make America Healthy Again.”

The “salad is for girls” vibe jumps out, as one would expect because Everything Is Gender™.

If Andy Beshear does not push this to a conclusion that either has him appointing McConnell's replacement, or McConnell reappearing, Beshear will be out of Democratic politics. We need rabble-rousers, not the same quiet, proper Dems who keep losing.

Closing USAID is yet another ‘murderous’ act by Trump admin. He says we have supported the world & have somehow been used & abused. Truth: U.S. is the single largest consumer of natural resources,using up more than a QUARTER of Earth’s reserves! We are OBLIGED to share!! share.google/22rQH47udP4H...

Great piece on Kalshi's planned ICE betting markets from @pabloreports.bsky.social Disgusting stuff migrantinsider.com/p/kalshi-wan...

One high school student started digging through the Epstein files for the class paper. Enter: litigious adults and panicky administrators, who turned his accurate reporting into a national fracas over press freedom. The latest in @wired.com Kids package:

A father in Idaho, speaking to police after his child died by suicide: “There is a huge amount of animosity, every single day, thrown at trans kids. The whole fucking country. The whole fucking administration, every single fucking day.” Please read this important story by @joyurcaba.bsky.social

Bueno! Perfecto!

"I can see very plainly there is a hunger for Democrats to not be the party of strongly worded letters. If I can be one of a litany of voices demanding they start to embrace a willingness to fight, then I have an obligation given my position in this ecosystem to say it." My chat with @atrupar.com:

Okay listen, I know it’s easy to belittle the Tate brothers right now and call them sub-human garbage. You guys are doing great.

a majority of men 18-49 have an active online gambling account and people are all very nonchalant about the whole thing. would the headlines be different if a majority of men 18-49 were crack addicts?

I don't care how busy Gov Beshear is. Rt now he should be showing up in person at the hosp Mitch McConnell's supposedly being treated at. If he meets with Mitch, we have our answer. If he's turned away, we have our answer. This is incredibly simple & time is running out.

open.spotify.com/episode/1HZw...

Nothing will really change until Fox News goes off air

Collins got ICE to stop traffic stops Monday. Trump reversed it by 6:45 Tuesday morning on social media. The concession wasn’t real. It just lasted long enough for her to take credit for it.

In my @newrepublic.com debut, I argue that Dems' good faith efforts to spare voters from the worst of HR1/OBBBA may backfire by obscuring for voters how reckless a law it was. This will demand that Dems effectively communicate & take victory laps over burden reduction newrepublic.com/article/2125...

politicians want everyone to speak well of terrible people who died because many of them are terrible people who will die

“Even if the ED can’t adopt new policies or programs, they’ll be able to continue - Disbursing funds, certifying voting systems, convening, meetings, advisory boards. Not much impact on the midterms. Most of the grants have already gone out, voting systems were certified long ago.” #pinks

Monday, July 13 🗳 Learn how to exercise your right to vote & support community members in doing the same, including how to resist voter intimidation & get help at the polls if you need it. The link below takes you to sign up for the training. #NoKings #Midterms2026 #Pinks #JohnLewisActions

I would go even further than Alan does in the summary (he goes harder in the post itself) and say that outright hostility to children's personhood is an animating principle that explains a significant portion of MAGA obsessions/politics. (Also shout-out to @swordsjew.bsky.social on this!)

I think @govandybeshear.bsky.social should just appoint a Dem to fill McConnell’s seat. It would force proof of life, and the state law that stripped him of that power should be challenged in court. I’m sure Thune would refuse to seat the appointee, but I think it’s a fight worth having. BE BOLD!

I'm surprised they haven't passed it already. Even if a handful of Republicans have turned on Trump to the point of being replaced in primaries the entire party had already gone all in on being the bad guys in this story so there isn't really much stopping them from going full "fuck it all".

A developer made a browser extension called "Knockoff" that shows what a wasteland Amazon truly is by filtering out brands like "GODONLIF" "EHEYCIGA," ROTTOGOON," and sponsored products. Useful and illustrative even if you don't use Amazon www.404media.co/knockoff-bro...

Just talked to Mitch McConnell and he confirmed that he is dead. He said move on, I am not coming back, I’m very dead, more dead than most people get.

Hi hello I was going to do a full thread on the Great American State Fair later but it seems I'm starting early: why in the fuck are PragerU, Patriot Academy, and other far right groups the ENTIRETY of the Department of Education booth

Compelled speech is not free speech. Story: buff.ly/RusuUOq

It's hard to celebrate the ideals of the Declaration of Independence if you don't believe in them www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

Clarence Thomas says the 14th Amendment should be read narrowly because it was written for formerly enslaved people. By that logic, the 2nd Amendment was written for muskets, not AR-15s. Funny how that kind of originalism only shows up when it's convenient.

Today, in a devastating decision, SCOTUS ruled 6-3 that states can exclude trans athletes from female sports. The attacks against transgender people are the worst scaremongering campaign of our time. Transgender youth continue to pay the price.

Clarence Thomas wrote a whole concurrence just to say that he thinks trans people don't exist. There's no extra *law* there or anything. Just fired off a couple of paragraphs to say that transgender is not a thing and people who think they're trans are crazy.

With this ruling, the birthright issue is not going away. The right hasn't really begun *organizing* around getting rid of the citizenship clause. Like Roe, this will be their fight for a generation. And if the Democrats just say "we won" and ignore it, like Roe, the Republicans will eventually win.

My not-so-hot take is that what Mamdani is doing *IS* incrementalism, and the bar is so deeply in hell that a politician just doing *anything* good consistently is a total anomaly for people. And I think for now that is good and fine, because it is restoring people’s faith that better is possible.