My suburban family of five periodically split into two cars to meet up later at home or elsewhere, after my parents ran separate errands.

On those occasions, one or the other (or possibly both, in separate cars) would sing a snippet of a tune that I now know to be an 18th century Scottish folk song called “Loch Lomond.”

You take the high road, and I'll take the low road,
And I'll be in Scotland before ye

My parents were competitive, so I believed they sang the song to allude to a race between them to arrive first in the appointed place.

Here’s a fun fact: in Celtic mythology, the “low road” refers to the route by which the soul of a soldier killed in war could return home.

Who knew that the first one there would also be dead?

Generally, however, the idiom to take the high road refers to choosing the morally elevated way out of a challenging situation. I think this is what Michelle Obama meant when she said, “When they go low, we go high.”

A few years ago, Obama explained to Stephen Colbert that you can go high without losing your sense of urgency or even your rage, and she explained that going low is “unsustainable:”

“If going low worked, we’d do it. It might be a ‘quick fix’ but it doesn’t fix anything over the long term.

This is the same distinction that the High Road Strategy Center makes in explaining their strategy for getting off the low road of “convenience, greed, and contempt for others.” This low road leads to low wages and unsafe working conditions, the dominance of monied and corporate interests, and environmental destruction.

The Center explains the alternative to the low road our nation is on:

The high road principles are democracy, equity, and sustainability.

They posit that high road principles lead to public goods; in the founders’ language, they “promote the general Welfare” by creating effective systems — health care, housing, transportation, and education — that promote “shared prosperity” and “strong environmental and labor standards that improve communities and nurture equitable growth.”

Watch the High Road Strategy Center’s short animated video, What is the high road?

Which Road? by Elise Engler gouache, water soluble color pencil, color pencil, and graphite on paper 8 x 5.75”

The desire to build the high road is palpable right now, and the popularity of democratic socialists is evidence of this desire.

Nine of ten candidates backed by the DSA won their contested primaries in NYS; two incumbent Democrats were ousted. Chris Rabb, endorsed by by Philly DSA, won the primary for PA-3, and Janeese Lewis George is likely to be DC’s next mayor.

And this is not just a coastal phenomenon..

In Colorado, DSA-backed Melat Kiros won the primary for the First Congressional District, unseating 15-term incumbent Rep. Diana DeGette.

Recent polling shows that 2 in 3 self-identified Democrats view socialism positively, while only about 2 in 5 feel that way about capitalism. Younger voters have more positive views than older ones, as they are further removed from the rhetoric of the Cold War.

In a recent essay called “What Socialism Critics Can’t Admit,” David Sirota begins by clarifying what socialism is:

“collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods.”

He enumerates the socialist features of the American system:

Medicare and Medicaid . . . Social Security. . .roads, water systems, parks, public transit systems, fire departments, concert venues, community centers, and public pools, . . .publicly owned utilities and water systems . . .[and] government-funded medical research programs that subsidize the development of almost every major medicine on the market today.

These are, Sirota points out, these programs are popular. His links are intact.

And according to polls, Americans love this socialism, and they don’t want these programs privatized or eliminated. In many cases, they want this socialism expanded.

Sirota also asks the right question about those who oppose socialism:

What are they actually demanding here? What of all this socialism do they want repealed?

My hope is that this will help you as you talk to friends, family, neighbors, and coworkers about the shifts occurring among voters and what they represent.

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In what was supposedly a celebratory speech on the eve of Independence Day, Trump talked of the “communist menace,” warning that democratic socialists and other leftists pose an existential threat to America.

I don’t think people will fall for it and my sense is that fewer and fewer people are listening to Trump’s speeches.

As usual, Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani took the high road, delivering a speech just hours before, while flanked by newly naturalized US citizens.

Yes, we see America when we spend our tax dollars on bombs and bailouts, when we sell our elections to the highest bidder. Yet we see it just as clearly in every American who still believes this country belongs to we, the people.

We see America each time neighbors link arms with neighbors — without asking how long they have lived here, or what papers they have — as ICE invades our neighborhoods.

We see America each time those young and old stand in the beating rain or the stifling heat to cast their ballots.

We see America each time working people demand more — not just for themselves, but for their fellow Americans.

Watch and/or read Mamdani’s Address Marking America’s 250th Birthday.

Today’s post is the prologue to tomorrow’s good news post. See you then!

with love,

L

“The government has shown it is willing to separate loved ones across borders, cage people in squalid detention centers, bring violence into loving neighborhoods, and gun people down in the streets.” ~ Ines Soto

Dear friends,

On Tuesday, Ines Soto was sentenced to 50 years in federal prison for his participation in a solidarity demonstration outside the Prairieland ICE detention facility in Texas last July 4.

Soto’s wife, Elizabeth, received the same sentence last week. From jail, Elizabeth mused that she was punished because her book club is named for anarchist Emma Goldman.

The protesters made noise with fireworks, and several vandalized the cars of ICE employees and broke a security camera. When the police arrived, an armed protester shot a police officer in the shoulder.

The Sotos were no longer present when the shooting occurred but they were among the eight protesters who were convicted for “‘providing material support to terrorists’,” among other crimes.

For the Sotos, this “material support” included owning a “printing press” used to print anarchist zines and being part of a leftist book club, the federal government argued.

The printing press was a large commercial copier that the couple used to produce zines: “8 Things YOU can do to STOP ICE,” “Plant Propagation for the People,” and others about mutual aid, theories of revolution, and what a post-capitalist order could look like.

submitted in evidence

This was the first case brought under DOJ’s “counter-terrorism” initiatives targeting “antifa,” a so-called “domestic terrorist organization.” The charges included an

assassination attempt against a law enforcement officer.

Write a letter to one or more of the Prairieland defendants. There are detailed guidelines for writing to people in detention. If you click on a person’s name, you can learn more about them, including the name and pronouns they use.

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What follows is the text of my post from July 4, 2025, the same day as the Prairieland protest.

On this occasion, it seems fitting to offer a new declaration. The text in italics below is lifted directly from the original document.

The list of grievances is written in the style and spirit of the original and offered without citations (a departure from my usual practice). No doubt, the list of grievances is incomplete. Note: I have not updated the grievances.

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We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all [people] are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. —That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

The history of [Trump] is one of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world:

He has excited domestic insurrections, hatred, division, and political violence among us.

He has pardoned gang leaders convicted of seditious conspiracy and violent insurrectionists who assaulted law enforcement officers and threatened members of Congress and the sitting vice president.

He has dissolved and defunded government departments, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has erected a false department, and sent hither swarms of Officers and the likes of Big Balls to harass our people, and eat out their substance.

He has fired and suspended federal workers, violated labor contracts, and threatened their livelihoods and rights to free speech.

He has dismantled Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs that were designed to protect and advance Civil Rights.

He has ignored the welfare of the general public by perpetrating an economic assault on people who can no longer count on access to health care or nutrition assistance. He has done this to fund tax cuts for corporations and wealthy individuals, in return for their largesse.

He has used his office to deny bodily autonomy, and dismantle reproductive rights, and access to health care, unduly burdening and threatening the lives and health of more than half the US population.

He has been convicted of sexual abuse of one woman and has appointed to his Administration and the Courts people facing numerous allegations of sexual harassment and/or assault.

He has used his office to bully trans minors and to deny the existence and rights of trans and nonbinary people, including those who serve honorably in the military.

He has eviscerated environmental and climate regulations and expanded fossil fuel extraction in the name of a false energy emergency, while also obstructing clean energy projects.

He has removed climate information from government websites and defunded the agencies that do critical work to predict and prepare for climate emergencies and assist people in their aftermath.

He has decimated funding for the arts, museums, and libraries, as part of a dangerous assault on free expression.

He has shattered the pursuit of science by terminating funding to the National Institutes of Health and the cancelation of research projects.

He has rendered the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power by sending marines to Los Angeles and Florida and nationalizing the California guard against the will of the governor.

He has attacked birthright citizenship, by executive order and in the courts, in violation of the Constitution.

He has endeavored to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing grants of amnesty and threatening to denaturalize foreign-born citizens.

He has arrested, detained, and deported people who have committed no crimes, removing some to foreign prisons where they are subjected to torture.

He has terrorized communities with violent seizures of immigrants conducted by masked men in unmarked cars.

He has arrested local officials, seized a US Senator and prosecuted a member of Congress and a sitting judge for actions taken as part of their duties.

He has threatened to denaturalize a sitting state lawmaker and candidate for mayor of the nation’s largest city.

He has insulted our closest allies and broken international agreements.

He has perpetuated a policy of complicity with Israel to commit genocide against Palestinians.

He has shuttered the Agency for International Development, which will cause millions of additional deaths, including the premature deaths of children, all in the name of cost-cutting.

He has lied repeatedly about the results of the 2020 election.

He has threatened Judges with violence and impeachment and has obstructed the Administration of Justice with his assaults on private law firms, thereby undermining the rule of law.

He has assaulted academic freedom and campus free speech by defunding colleges and universities, withholding billions of dollars from institutions that conduct scientific research.

He has fostered a culture of corruption by launching business ventures from the White House, self-dealing, and pardoning people convicted of fraud; he has pursued business dealings with foreign nations and accepted lavish gifts.

He has relaxed enforcement of anti-corruption laws and defunded the Internal Revenue Service that enforces tax collection, abetting criminals who steal from the public.

He has called on lawmakers to pass cruel legislation, threatening and fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

In every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned for redress, using the courts, calling on our representatives and exercising our right to protest peacefully.

We have reminded [Republicans] of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their [sense of] justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity.

We, the good People of these [states and territories], solemnly publish and declare, that these United [States] are, and of Right ought to be Free. And for the support of this Declaration, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

in solidarity,

L

This week, the Supreme Court dumped on us again, and while my relief over the survival of birthright citizenship is real, I will offer a clear-eyed assessment another day about why that 6-3 ruling portends bad things yet to come.

Even the ruling that it is legal for states to allow mail-in ballots that arrive after election day to be counted is under threat, as Republicans will renew their attempt to pass the SAVE Act. Trump has refused to sign bipartisan housing legislation until it does.

Congress is in recess for two weeks, so we’ll tackle this another day.

Today’s title and the next section of this post are from two years ago on this date. It was just a few days after the disastrous debate between Biden and Trump, and we knew already that we were in for it, without fully comprehending what the return of Caligula might actually look like.

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Less than two months ago, I declared a new era of discipline — to deliver good news every Tuesday so that you can reliably recharge your batteries each week to store energy for action in the days and nights ahead.

I don’t think that any amount of discipline on my part will enable me to deliver good news today.

So, instead, I will share a strategy for days like today.

If you can’t figure out what to do to help turn the ship, it’s okay to rest and regroup. Figure out what you need. Call a friend or go lie down and listen to a song that makes you cry or put on the song that makes you dance or take a walk among the trees or fall into a good book or all of these.

On my way home from Vermont, to break up the hours of reading bad news, I flirted with a baby on the train and we had a lovely moment on the platform in Albany. Babies are the best. And the t-shirt is pretty great, too.

Fellow traveler, Burlington to New York City

After you take care of yourself, do something for someone else. It can be something tiny.

Then, think about one small thing you can do that’s useful. You’re not turning the ship today; you are moving one grain of sand.

Get involved with the Environmental Voter Project.

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My baby-flirting opportunities are limited to the lobby of my building right now. I’m feeling pretty lucky to be indoors, however.

I saw my doctor on Tuesday and I feel tremendous gratitude for good care and adequate health insurance. It was also heartening to read this morning that

Indiana, Louisiana, Maine, Oregon and Washington enacted laws this year related to medical debt. Hawaii legislators have approved a measure that is awaiting the governor’s signature, and other states have bills in committee.

In addition, legislators in 18 states introduced or approved measures related to preserving no-cost preventive care.

Last week, Undue Medical Debt announced an initiative that will erase more than $550 million in medical debt for more than 261,000 Californians.

The organization also works on the policy issues to fix our broken system. If you remember your New Deal history, you know we need relief, recovery, and reform, all at once. Here’s a small thing you can do for someone else.

Relieve a stranger of $1000 of medical debt for just $10 with Undue Medical Debt.

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One of my favorite climate writers, Emily Atkin, is plugging her friend’s book, Retro, by Jessica Goldstein. It sounds like a good read for a too-hot summer. Emily describes the set-up:

The book’s main character, Ash, is a struggling actress dealing with similar feelings of despair and hopelessness about the future. And then she gets a job at Retro, a travel agency dedicated to taking wealthy tourists on highly curated trips to the past. And slowly, her perspective begins to shift—but maybe not for the reasons you’d expect.

Goldstein herself describes it as a “big epic story,” replete with “romance and adventure and humor” that

will speak to anybody who wants to be hopeful about the future but is struggling to do it. And anybody who has ever felt that temptation to give in to the feeling of, ‘God, things were better before.’ And anybody who, from a place of maybe even deeply loving your life and being knowledgeable about the world, looks out at the future and thinks, I don’t want to have to go there.

Read Atkin’s “A powerful argument against the certainty of doom” and/or watch her interview with Goldstein.

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My renewed commitment to good news discipline begins on Tuesday, July 7. We need regular installments “against the certainty of doom.”

Stay cool!

with love,

L

I’m recovering from foot surgery (I’m fine!) and so it’s uncomfortable to sit at my desk. I’ve been reading news and scrolling through Instagram, and the very friend who inspired me to start writing an action newsletter six years ago sent me a reel from Sharon McMahon today.

In it, McMahon discusses a proposed rule from the USPS in which the Postal Service will refuse to deliver mail-in ballots in states that refuse to turn over sensitive voter information.

I wrote about this on Juneteenth, but some of you were off celebrating. So, a recap:

In March, Trump signed an executive order to task the Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration with creating a nationwide voter eligibility list; the order also directs the US Postal Service to restrict the delivery of mail-in ballots based on that list.

This is widely understood to violate the Constitution, since it is the states that have the power to administer elections. There are multiple lawsuits.

This is a naked effort to suppress the vote. And Trump’s renewed attacks on mail-in ballots are ramping up, since the USPS has now proposed a rule to require states to send it information about voters who request mail-in or absentee ballots for federal elections.

In the past, the ability to connect an individual to a ballot, which eliminates voter privacy, led to intimidation and violence. No one faced or faces more voter intimidation in the US than Black voters.

This is why systems like the one Trump seeks to recreate were dismantled. By eliminating voter privacy, the DHS-USPS federal database would suppress votes and subject voters to violence and intimidation.

McMahon raises a whole host of excellent questions about how the USPS would even follow their own rule, since some 48 million voters around the country use mail-in votes and the administration of their own nefarious and bone-headed rule would be impossible.

Submit a public comment on the DHS-USPS federal database today! I made it easy.

The deadline for public comment is this Thursday, June 2.

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Here’s some relevant good news from the Supreme Court, of all places.

In a 5-4 decision, the court sided ruled that it is legal for states to allow mail-in ballots that arrive after election day to be counted.

Don’t get excited about the five votes for allowing states to administer elections, as per the Constitution. This term, Amy Coney Barrett and John Roberts voted with the 6-3 majorities that

allow Louisiana to effectively dismantle the Voting Rights Act, depriving Black voters of their ability to elect members of Congress of their choosing and setting off a frenzy of gerrymandering across the south.

We need to keep our spirits up, celebrate the little wins, and stay in the struggle for justice.

with love,

L

P.S. If you’re not on Instagram, read Sharon McMahon on Substack. She is a civics heavyweight.

A few weeks ago, one of the members of my English conversation group requested a discussion of Juneteenth. I put it on the calendar for this week.

We opened the discussion by talking about the events that mark the beginning of each person’s home country’s history as a nation.

A participant from South Korea talked about the way Koreans celebrate their independence from Japan — by placing flowers outside their homes and visiting sites of historical importance.

This is the sort of commemoration that suits me, and captures Juneteenth’s essence as a rejoicing of liberation, education, and reclamation.

Photograph and signage by Stanley Greenberg

Above is the Lefferts Homestead, which is just a short walk from where I live.

Stanley Greenberg photographed all the remaining colonial Dutch houses in Brooklyn and then researched the slaveholding histories of the families associated with them.

This house was built in the late 18th century after the family’s house burned down. The Lefferts family were major slaveholders and power brokers in Brooklyn. The project puts those who were enslaved by Dutch landowners back into history — to name them, and where the records exist, to credit them with building the homes and farming the land of wealthy Dutch families.

Pictures of the houses can be seen here. The remaining signs will be installed over the next month.

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When the conversation group was discussing Juneteenth, many participants (who reside both in the US and elsewhere) were skeptical of the idea that people could celebrate freedom when they had no homes apart from those of the people who had stolen their labor.

They knew enough of the history of American racism, segregation, and ongoing discrimination to doubt the significance of General Granger’s order:

"The people of Texas are informed that in accordance with [the Emancipation] Proclamation, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired laborer."

I explained that one of our greatest national treasures is the irrepressible spirit of Black Americans, most of whom have deeper roots in this country than the many tens of millions of us descended from immigrants.

I told them about the symbolic foods of Juneteenth celebrations and the Miss Juneteenth pageants, in which young women compete to win college scholarships while dressing up in formal attire, an expression of the dignity of their status as free people. There was too little time to discuss the evolution of Juneteenth celebrations.

Learn more at The National Museum of African American History and Culture, aka The Black Smithsonian.

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Trump would cancel Juneteenth if he could, but that would require an act of Congress, since that was how it became a federal holiday in 2021. What he can do is make an executive order, effective for a year, that changes the way a federal holiday is celebrated; that’s what he did in January of this year: he canceled fee-free days at national parks for both Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and Juneteenth.

Trump is a small, small man, with a rock where his heart should be.

In March, he signed an executive order to task the Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration with creating a nationwide voter eligibility list; the order also directs the US Postal Service to restrict the delivery of mail-in ballots based on that list.

This is widely understood to violate the Constitution, since it is the states that have the power to administer elections. There are multiple lawsuits.

This is a naked effort to suppress the vote. And Trump’s renewed attacks on mail-in ballots are ramping up, since the USPS has now proposed a rule to require states to send it information about voters who request mail-in or absentee ballots for federal elections.

In the past, the ability to connect an individual to a ballot, which eliminates voter privacy, led to intimidation and violence. No one faced or faces more voter intimidation in the US than Black voters.

This is why systems like the one Trump seeks to recreate were dismantled. By eliminating voter privacy, the DHS-USPS federal database would suppress votes and subject voters to violence and intimidation.

Submit a public comment on the DHS-USPS federal database today! I made it easy.

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Let us end today’s post with the latest evidence of the irrepressible spirit of Black Americans:

Hundreds of demonstrators filled Georgia’s Capitol this week chanting “Black voters matter!” to protest a Republican redistricting effort to dilute Black voting power.

About one-third of eligible voters in Georgia are Black voters. The legislators backed off their rushed plan to gerrymander the state with racist voting maps just before the election, fearing a backlash that would break the Republican majority in November.

Support Color of Change’s effort to register 99,000 Black voters. Donations are matched 1:1 until midnight.

Juneteenth is a joyous holiday. It is also bittersweet: it celebrates overdue liberation and remembers the people who suffered and died while enslaved. It is a remarkable tribute to the extraordinary resilience that has prevented a society founded on White supremacy from squashing Black excellence and quashing the rights of our fellow Americans.

with love,

L

One of the sobering things about living through Trump’s second term — and we will get through, somehow — is that he has taken a wrecking ball to so many things. And we know that destruction is easier than repair.

It took little time for Trump to have his name installed on The Kennedy Center in December, but the administration asked for a 12 hour extension to remove his name, after losing a last-minute appeal. I haven’t yet seen a picture of the completed removal.

Yesterday, a judge ordered the Park Service to restore within three weeks any exhibits that it had dismantled or altered. The regime has been busy rewriting history by omitting facts they find disagreeable. It’s a temporary order, and will be appealed. Still, we celebrate this triumph.

My longest friend is a DC resident and the mother of a recent grad from architecture school. We all have our breaking point, and hers appears to be Trump’s plans for a Triumphal Arch that would obscure the Lincoln Memorial.

Cartoon by Marian Kamensky

The spatial relationships between the US Capitol, the Washington Monument, and the Lincoln Memorial were no accident; they are on a single axis. The site chosen for the Lincoln Memorial was directly across the river from Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s former home; his land became Arlington National Cemetery.

“[The relationship between different memorials carries symbolic meaning,” says Neil Flanagan, an architect and public historian in D.C. “The Potomac River was the border between the North and South, nominally, during the Civil War; it’s literally crossing the border and trying to heal those wounds.”

It is entirely on-brand for the current president to reopen old wounds. The site and scale of his proposed triumphal arch would obstruct the line of sight and dwarf the Lincoln Memorial.

If that were not insult enough, on the proposed schedule, excavation for and construction of the 250-foot-tall arch in a traffic circle at the head of the Memorial Bridge over the Potomac River would take two to three years, with crews working in two 10-hour shifts daily.

At the outset of the project, there would be “continuous heavy equipment operations” and most likely, nightmarish gridlock.

It’s public comment time! We have until Monday, June 15 at 11:59 PM to send our comments to the National Park Service. My friend has graciously shared her comment, which you can use or adapt!

Comment on the proposed Triumphal Arch by Monday evening!

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The court decision allowing the UFC fight to go on tomorrow on the monstrosity on the White House Lawn was partly predicated on the question of sunk costs.

The judge found that the plaintiffs did not have standing to challenge the event, and also

acknowledged the administration’s claim that a ruling halting the event would cause substantial harm to the people involved in the event, including Trump, the fighters and thousands of spectators.

I don’t care about the UFC and adjacent organizations losing $60 million on an event they planned, even if a federal rule that exempts events for the nation’s 250th anniversary from having to follow certain permitting regulations.

The lighting on the huge, atrocious stadium significantly impaired visibility of a commercial airline pilot, who has filed safety reports with both the FAA and NASA. The pilot had white light streaming into the cockpit as she was on the final approach to Reagan National Airport (DCA). There was a fatal midair collision near the airport this year.

The pilot’s reports suggest that the fight’s organizers did not sufficiently coordinate with aviation authorities, considering the illuminated UFC setup’s proximity to the “busiest flight corridors.”

I like regulations, even if they are sometimes cumbersome. You may not want to fly into Reagan National Airport until the stadium comes down.

The Department of Homeland Security is planning to waive dozens of environmental laws to accelerate construction of border barriers, roads, and related infrastructure through Big Bend National Park and Big Bend Ranch State Park in Texas.

The plan — to spend more than $4 billion to construct fences and roads (and install sensors and lighting) that would damage wildlife habitat and block access to the river in an area where there are few people apprehended trying to cross the border — is facing a legal challenge from the Center for Biological Diversity. The organization argues that congressional authorization is required for massive construction in a national park.

The Center for Biological Diversity needs our support to mount their legal battle against this costly and damaging construction project.

Thanks for taking action!

with love,

L

On Wednesday, I joined a spirited street-corner demonstration on Flatbush Avenue. It’s a regular Wednesday evening gathering (5:30-6:30 PM, near the Citibikes at Lincoln Road) and you can come join us next week.

We gave out voter information zines and let folks know that early voting starts tomorrow. Tomorrow is also the last day to register!

Find out what’s on your ballot in NYC or anywhere in the US.

There are three Democratic candidates for NYS Comptroller. If you are wondering what comptrolling is all about, it’s basically the work of a fiscal watchdog. The comptroller fights public corruption in state and local government, manages the state pension fund and the state retirement system, and reviews state contracts and payments.

The Working Families Party declined to endorse a candidate in the comptroller race. Thomas DiNapoli, the incumbent, has received the endorsement in the past. DiNapoli, who has been the comptroller since 2007, and the two challengers, Raj Goyle and Drew Warshaw, all sought the Working Families endorsement.

Jasmine Gripper, director of the NYS Working Families Party, acknowledged that DiNapoli has loyalists AND that others in the party wish he were more bold.

I put in some time to review the candidates for this important job.

Both Goyle and Warshaw have staked out progressive positions, including divesting from Israeli bonds.

Goyle, a tech guy who is a former Kansas state legislator, stresses that

every conservative vote he took while representing a right-wing district was meant to block something even more conservative from becoming law. “That record of fighting as a progressive in the hardest place in America to do it is actually exactly why I've got the experience to bring change to Albany.”

Warshaw, who was an executive for an affordable housing nonprofit, focuses on policy. When he announced his candidacy last year, he said:

“I am running because I have a fundamentally different vision for how to use all the power and all the money that [DiNapoli has] been sitting on for the last 18 years to address the affordability crisis that is crushing New Yorkers.”

In the debate among the three candidates last month, both challengers criticized DiNapoli for not being a tenacious auditor of local and state agencies, nor a good steward of the state’s $300 billion retirement fund.

Mr. Goyle castigated Mr. DiNapoli’s willingness to use retirement funds to purchase Israel bonds and to buy shares in Palantir, a technology defense contractor that has aided President Trump’s immigration agenda.

Mr. Warshaw attacked Mr. DiNapoli as not being “willing to challenge the governor and say ‘Yes, ma’am, we do need to raise taxes on the wealthiest.’ ”

The NYS retirement fund is heavily invested in Palantir, with double the number of shares than it had last year. Warshaw wants to see $20 billion of the state’s $295 billion retirement fund invested in affordable housing.

Warshaw supports a moratorium on state investments in private equity firms that finance data center projects. Even if the Governor signs the one-year data center moratorium, we are going to need a comptroller who understands how to use the power of the purse.

Tell Governor Hochul to sign the data center moratorium. This quick action is from Food & Water Watch.

DiNapoli sent a strongly-worded letter to big tech companies asking them to pay for their own local power and infrastructure upgrades rather than passing off those costs to New Yorkers.

I like my comptrollers wonky and progressive. I’m voting for Warshaw.

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There are some important races where the Working Families Party has made it easy. The full list is here, and below are some highlights.

For Congress:

Antonio Reynoso for NY-7

Brad Lander for NY-10

For NYS Senate:

Jessica González-Rojas - District 13

Jabari Brisport - District 25

Yuh-Line Niou - District 27

Latoya LeGrand - District 32

Brian Romero - District 34

New York City Municipal Civil Court:

Janice Purvis - District 6

There’s a Democratic Socialist on the ballot in my Congressional district, so I’m glad I did my homework. My current representative, Yvette Clarke, did not deign to submit a candidate profile to NYC Votes, which reflects her general inclination regarding communication to constituents.

Yvette Clarke is the only Black woman representing a New York district, and currently chairs the Congressional Black Caucus. Clarke has served ten terms in Congress and she co-chairs the Medicare For All Caucus. Although she has taken funds from AIPAC, Clarke has accepted PAC donations in amounts significantly below average for the House.

It is unlikely that Joshua Bristol — a young, Black DSA member who worked on campaigns for Bernie Sanders and as a local organizer for immigrant and Palestinian rights — can unseat Clarke.

Unseating Clarke is not a priority. But maybe a vote for her young challenger will focus her attention on progressive issues.

The other challenger in my district, Mike Goldfarb, is a businessman and family man who has promised to champion reforms such as term limits and a ban on stock trading by members of Congress. He is fairly progressive, although he supports “cryptocurrency innovation,” which could mean a lot of things.

I’m voting for Joshua Bristol in NY-9.

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My online English conversation group requested a discussion of voting for yesterday’s session. I explained the ins and outs of midterm elections and primaries and illustrated some of the variations in state voting laws.

I fielded questions about voter ID requirements: states already have ID requirements in place; a national voter ID law would result in voter suppression by throwing more red tape and fees in the way of participation.

Then we got to the question of redistricting and the Supreme Court’s recent acts of vandalism.

My students were rightly disturbed by the Court’s Callais decision, which has led to a cascade of state efforts to weaken Black political power through redistricting.

Contribute to Color of Change’s efforts to register Black voters.

The participants in the conversation group are unable to vote in US elections, as they are not citizens. Yesterday, I was thrilled to learn that one long-time member of the group recently began the process of becoming a citizen.

Another member of the group talked about talking to her children, who are citizens, about the importance of voting, especially because state legislators write the laws and draw the districts for their states. A third person noted that Venezuela, where she lived most of her years, is a good example of what happens when people stop voting and corruption becomes rampant.

NYS Assemblymembers serve two-year terms, so every member is up for reelection in November. Some candidates face primaries. Legislators in many states have short terms. Working Families is active in many states. Let them help you with your homework.

Use the Working Families Party endorsements. Do some research when you don’t have an endorsement you trust. Share what you learn with friends and neighbors.

with love,

L

I took the photo below on the subway a few weeks ago. I was horrified by the advertisement for a long list of reasons. It continues to haunt me.

I posted Sunday evening, which was probably not a great way to get your attention. Today, I will not address the numerous threats that AI poses to us as workers, thinkers, and members of a society.

The bee in my bonnet is data center construction. This is a one-issue post.

In an era of poisonous politics, Democrats, Republicans, and independents have found common cause over the value of tax breaks worth billions to Big Tech companies worth trillions. What residents see in exchange are higher electricity and water rates, a paltry number of new permanent jobs, and a host of unsavory environmental impacts, from the desecration of green spaces, erasures of wildlife habitats, and air and noise pollution. The public outcry has had a serious impact: Across America, at least 25 different data center projects were canceled last year, and half of all data centers expected to open in 2026 will be delayed or simply canceled, according to reporting from Bloomberg.

Most of us, I think, would like to see billionaires and the corporations they control pay more taxes, even if it won’t stop them from accruing wealth and despoiling the planet. But as Gabrielle Gurley points out, above, the data centers that power AI are being funded by us, in the form of tax breaks to Big Tech.

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On Sunday, I cited a Newsweek article that reported that stated:

There are now more than 4,300 data centers —built to train, deploy and deliver AI—across the U.S., according to Data Center Map. This includes over 600 in Virginia, more than 460 in Texas, and over 130 in New York.

screenshots from DataCenterMap

I went to the Data Center Map and found that there are 20 data centers in New York right now, including seven in the city. Most of the 20 are under construction or in the planning stages, and you can see the acceleration due to growing demand by looking at the dates.

I cannot account for the discrepancy between the Newsweek article and the Data Center Map website. Nonetheless, I believe the problem of data centers poses very real environmental and economic consequences for us.

In general, insatiable demand is a danger.

Here again is the action from Food & Water Watch:

Tell your NY state legislators that passing a moratorium on data centers is a priority.

The state Senate has 43 co-sponsors among its 63 members, but the moratorium won’t reach the floor unless more Assemblymembers take action.

Make calls to your Assemblymember and to Speaker Carl Heastie. I made it SO easy.

Thank you for taking action!

with love,

L

Memorial Day is a day for remembering. The opening paragraphs of today’s post are from last year’s post.

Drew Gilpin Faust’s essay, “We Are Not Being Asked to Run Into Cannon Fire. We Just Need to Speak Up” provides a little history of Decoration Day — now Memorial Day — to remind us what love of country looks like for us.

We are being asked not to charge into a hail of . . . artillery fire but only to speak up and to stand up in the face of foundational threats to the principles for which they gave the last full measure of devotion.

If you have days when you cannot face the news, respect that feeling and take care of yourself. Your duty to act does not require daily action.

That said, we should do what we can. We have to remember what it is that we can offer. I am always looking for ways to use my skills as a teacher to help educate and activate other people. This publication — the wiffij — is one way.

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Sometimes, I need my own reminders. And sometimes, dear readers, what we can offer are our dollars.

Last week, a federal judge ruled that ICE agents cannot arrest noncitizens inside immigration courthouses. And then a 21-year-old Honduran immigrant was arrested by ICE at 26 Federal Plaza, reminding us of the pattern of disregard for court orders. Fortunately, the young man’s lawyer secured his release.

Indivisible Brooklyn notes that ICE has intensified street abductions across NYC. Indivisible is partnering with South Brooklyn families and encouraging us to support their GoFundMe pages.

Contribute to assist families to stay housed and cover living expenses as they support loved ones who have been detained.

My friend Jeanne has assembled card holders of Know Your Rights cards in the languages most frequently spoken by deliveristas. If you would like to get some of these pre-stocked card holders to give to local restaurants or to bring to local businesses where deliveristas gather while waiting for orders,

Email jeanneheifetz@gmail.com to get card holders with Know Your Rights cards in several languages.

In her post today, Sharon McMahon reminds us that about 1 in 4 soldiers

in the Union Army were immigrants, and even more were the children of immigrants. All told, more than 40% of Union soldiers were either foreign-born or had a foreign-born parent.

Many had just arrived in the US — from Ireland and Germany (the largest groups, at roughly 150,000 to 200,000 each), as well as Hungary, Italy, and other parts of Europe. Most were poor, spoke little or no English, and had come in search of a better life.

They ran into cannon fire to save this country.

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By the end of the Civil War, roughly 179,000 Black men (10% of the Union Army) served as soldiers in the US Army and another 19,000 served in the Navy.

Nearly 1 in 5 Black servicemen in the Civil War “gave the last full measure of devotion” to “the unfinished work” of securing and advancing a government of the people, by the people, [and] for the people.”

The Supreme Court has been busy eviscerating the Voting Rights Act, most recently in the Callais decision late last month.

[The Court] struck down a Louisiana congressional map that a group of voters who describe themselves as “non-African American” had challenged as the product of unconstitutional racial gerrymandering. By a vote of 6-3, the justices left in place a ruling by a federal court that barred the state from using the map, which had created a second majority-Black district, in future elections.

The Callais decision has set in motion a cascade of state efforts to redistrict to weaken Black political power. In Alabama, where the Supreme Court previously struck down a discriminatory map which would have eliminated one of two minority opportunity districts, the state is now seeking to use the discriminatory map.

In a recent episode of Strict Scrutiny, legal scholar Melissa Murray noted that

This is . . .super anti-democratic, and super anti-Black voter.

We need to step up.

Contribute to Color of Change’s efforts to register Black voters.

The NY State legislature is running out of time to pass the Hands Off Our Vote Voter Protection Priority Package.

Call NYS legislative leaders to demand the passage of Hands Off Our Vote! The script is from Common Cause.

with love,

L

Spring in New York can be pretty extraordinary. I am fortunate to live a very short walk from Brooklyn Botanic Garden, where the bluebells are in bloom.

Many people — even urbanites — have special relationships with trees, flowers, and birds in the city. None of us can afford to take their beauty for granted.

On May 7, I had the pleasure of attending a panel discussion at the Center for Brooklyn History about birding in New York City, facilitated by Ryan Goldberg, author of Bird City.

If you missed it, you can watch it on youtube!

Among his guests was Chris Allieri of the NYC Plover Project. Piping Plovers are beautiful little shorebirds that are among the endangered species native to North America. The mission of the Plover Project is

to protect endangered Piping Plovers and other fragile beach-nesting birds on New York City’s beaches through education, community engagement, and volunteer stewardship.

Volunteer with the NYC Plover Project and/or support its work!

Allieri and the other panelists all spoke about the way in which birding intensified their concern for conserving natural areas where birds nest and feed.

Allieri made a pitch to get the audience of hundreds (!) in attendance at this talk to contact the agencies responsible for Brooklyn’s Plumb Beach, which needs better stewardship. I resolved that we would do so.

Contact the NYC Parks Department and the Gateway National Recreation Area (NPS) about the need for habitat restoration and better maintenance at Plumb Beach. I made it easy!

Beloved places and living things are what we mean when we talk about ‘the environment’.

We are rightly troubled when our water, our soil, and the products we use are contaminated by toxic substances, and when waste management systems are inadequate to address the sensation of being drowned in garbage.

Investing in the energy transition is critical to a sustainable future.

The New York League of Conservation Voters is working to

fight climate change, conserve land and water, and protect public health in New York State through political action.

We’re going to take their quick action to push the superbills — priority legislation and a major clean energy investment — to make NYS a better place to live for all of us.

Take action to get environmental and climate super-bills passed in NYS! This is a quick action!

If you want to reach out to members of Congress, which is a good thing to do even though it may seem fruitless, Stand Up For Science (SUFS) has a great make-your-own action. They call their strategy “Flood the forms,” because the idea is to fill inboxes (for constituents only) with our messages.

Flood the forms with SUFS to demand the funding for and integrity of the CDC, FEMA, NOAA, the National Weather Service, and the Environmental Protection Agency.

The week is already better if you’ve taken some action.

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One of the relationships that matters a great deal to me is the one that older people have with young people, especially those who are coming of age in a mess not-of-their-own-making.

We all inherited the messes of our forebears, but the most recent crop of adults are up against a mess of frightening proportions.

Laura Brill of The Civics Center posted today about the surge of youth voter participation that has shaped recent presidential and midterm elections.

Young people do not need to hear from their elders about apathy, especially when that message is dangerous misinformation. Here are the facts:

In the last two presidential elections, more than 80% of registered 18-year-olds voted.

In the last two midterms, more than 60% of registered 18-year-olds voted.

The Pew Research Center puts overall voter turnout at 66% and 64% for the last two presidential races, and 50% and 46% for the 2018 and 2022 midterms, respectively.

The youngest voters have above-average turnout. The key is to get eligible young people registered. The registration deadline in New York is June 13 for our June 23 primaries.

If you teach high school or work with older teens who require voter education and registration, The Civics Center has resources, including everything young people need to run their own voter registration drive.

I am also available to talk to social studies classes in NYC public schools. NYS teens can pre-register to vote once they turn 16!

Contact me at esalynn@gmail.com to arrange a visit to your class.

We are all painfully aware of the fragile relationship between the American people and our federal government at this time, particularly in light of the direct assault on voting rights.

Democracy is a special relationship, and we are fighting to keep it. Wherever you are, if you are a US citizen, check your registration.

If you recently relocated to or within NYC, you can register to vote online, by mail or in person.

with love,

L

I’m still trying to keep a healthy relationship to the unhealthy amount of bad news that is coming at us night and day.

The clusterfuck that is the war with Iran has created numerous problems — humanitarian risks, shipping disruptions and fertilizer shortages that affect food supply chains, and threats of annihilation.

The historic energy shock due to attacks on fossil fuel facilities and the blockage of the crucial strait of Hormuz trade route has caused chaos and rising energy prices, but it also causing oil companies’ earnings to soar.

On the plus side, the war is accelerating the energy transition to renewables, but remember that war itself is a climate disaster.

We know that Trump is beyond reason, so we have to direct our attention closer to home. Inexplicably, Governor Hochul is calling for a seven-year extension of an implementation deadline set by the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act.

This is unacceptable. Polling shows that most state residents favor an aggressive push to get off fossil fuels and produce more clean energy. With the federal government canceling programs, we need strong initiative at the state level.

Contact NYS legislators about protecting New York’s climate law. This quick action is from Evergreen.

Call the Governor to let her know where you stand on implementation of our climate law. I wrote you a script!

Thank you for calling and writing to move New York’s Stop Super Speeders bill forward. We did good!

Governor Hochul’s version of the long-stalled “Stop Super Speeders” bill will be included in the final budget, allowing New York City to require repeat reckless drivers to install devices that prevent the vehicles from being driven at excessive speeds.

The technology is similar to the tech that prevents convicted drunk drivers from starting their car if they’ve been drinking.

Our theme today is to work on the do-what-we-can-do issues, even though the big picture is overwhelming and terrifying.

I’m focusing on the pile of 200 postcards I promised to write for the Environmental Voter Project. I have a few friends helping me, which makes it fun. Plus, the weather is nice enough that we can write outside.

I read something that gives me hope and confirms one of my political beliefs:

Deep canvassing can move voters to elect people who will build a kinder, fairer, greener country. A number of studies — and our recent mayoral election — demonstrate the power of these interactions.

The work requires a large army of volunteers, and works best with relational organizing. When people within the community connect and listen as much as they talk, they uncover common interests.

Unlike conventional canvassers, deep canvassers engage people in

conversations that might last for 10 or 20 minutes, [listening as] people discuss their feelings. Then, without arguing or judging, they share their own experiences and ask questions (“have you ever been treated unfairly?”) that might reveal common ground.

The changes in attitudes after such conversations appear to be durable over a period of months.

What makes the difference is the listening. There’s a solid rule in life: if you don’t listen to other people, they won’t listen to you. I’m often told that people are “too exhausted” to engage in politics. That can mean they’re overwhelmed by work and family life. But it can also refer to the exhaustion of being unheard. The sense that no one is listening is alienating.

We can tackle alienation and help build a better world.

Join People’s Action for some deep canvassing with the Hear America phone bank!

Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) is the largest organization in the country that explicitly organizes white communities for justice. Instead of choosing racism, silence, or complicity, SURJ helps white communities choose justice.

SURJ is behind the training and canvassing opportunities below.

Seed the Vote is hosting training and deep canvassing phone banks on behalf of progressive candidates in NY, CA, and Maine!

with love,

L

I’m keeping my focus close to home these days.

First of all, I need to update you on an event I invited you to. It’s happening tomorrow and we’re hoping that composters, like worms, will come out after the rain!

The Stop Super Speeders bill would require the most dangerous drivers in New York City to install speed limiters in their cars, but New York State Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie seems to be the primary obstacle to getting the funding for the bill into the state budget.

The legislation is designed for people who have 16 or more speed camera tickets in a year, and it would apply to people like

James Giovansanti, a New York City police officer whose vehicle racked up 173 speed camera tickets in 2025 alone, in addition to red-light-camera tickets.

Sign the Families for Safe Streets petition to pass the Stop Super Speeders bill. For extra credit, call Heastie’s office at 518-455-3791 to demand an explanation for his obstructionism.

Meanwhile, take local action to demand street safety near Prospect Park:

Sign the petition to keep Ocean Avenue safe!

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Democratic senators overwhelmingly voted to block bomb and bulldozer sales to Israel this month, reflecting the growing anger over the war with Iran.

Although the Republicans were able to pass the funding bill anyway, the Democratic votes represent

a watershed moment in the party’s relationship with Israel and the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Israel had continued to enjoy strong support from Democratic leaders, despite outrage from the base over the war on Gaza.

We can take action locally to withhold funds from Israel.

Tell NYC Comptroller Mark Levine: No Pension Money for Israel Bonds!

We’re cultivating peace of mind in the absence of actual peace.

Take a Bird Walk next weekend with Bird City author Ryan Goldberg.

with love,

L

I have not been posting regularly. The ‘progress’ of the war and the relentless onslaught of insane news has caused me to reduce my news consumption in order to preserve my sanity.

Prior to my unscheduled break from posting, I had been thinking about why fewer people were reading posts and taking action. Everyone I am close to is still taking action, mostly on a very local level. This feels right to me. It restores our humanity to feed and sing with and help our neighbors.

This week, my neighbors and I were treated to an unexpected visit from an American Bittern, who spent an afternoon and evening perched in a tree in front of our building.

Photograph by Anne Hejny

We got a lot of joy from seeing this beautiful bird up close and sharing the sighting with passersby. This is the perfect time of year to reconnect with the natural world. It reminds us that everything changes, and that we should keep looking up.

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I have been busy with the last semester of a graduate program and the beginning of a new job teaching English to adults at Brooklyn Public Library. What am I doing? is the name of a game we play to practice the present continuous: one person mimes an action and asks the question. The class responds, “She is sewing” or “He is driving” or. . . well, you get the idea.

The work really suits me and it allows me to feel that I am doing something useful to counter the national policy of hostility to immigrants.

Mark Hellerman, who spends much of his time feeding people, turning compost, and tending his garden, is hosting an event next Saturday. If you’re in Brooklyn, come join us. There will be a compost-song singalong!

I hope you are doing well and doing things that keep you sane.

with love,

L

This is not a full post. It was meant to be Monday’s post. The dumpster fire out there is raging.

After yesterday’s disaster at LaGuardia Airport, which was small in scale compared to numerous other disasters, it’s impossible not to long for Transportation Security Administration (TSA) funding.

Democrats have been demanding major changes to the Trump administration’s immigration tactics as a prerequisite to funding the DHS, of which TSA is a part.

Now, the danger is that the Democrats will hand Trump and his party a chance to do maximum damage.

“The Democrats offered to open up everything but ICE. Ted [Cruz] and I said, ‘Ok, let’s accept their offer,’ and then at the same time we would offer a bill through reconciliation, where we don’t need any Democratic votes to do whatever we wanted to do with ICE. That way we’re out of the shutdown and DHS is back open,” said [Senator John] Kennedy, explaining the framework of the proposed deal.

Call Congressional leaders and your delegation to urge them not to support funding for DHS-without-ICE. I wrote a script.

ICE officers are at the airports now.

Apologies to Ivan Ehlers for using this excellent cartoon without permission

Perhaps you saw the upsetting video of a woman being detained at San Francisco International Airport.

The Department of Homeland Security said in an email that officers arrested Angelina Lopez-Jimenez and Wendy Godinez-Jimenez at the airport Sunday as the family had an outstanding final order of removal to Guatemala from 2019.

Tell Governor Hochul to protect New Yorkers from ICE! This quick action is from NYCLU.

It’s always a good day to address the problem of ICE from a few angles. The companies that profit from dealing with ICE should hear from us.

Tell Google and Youtube to stop taking taking money from ICE. This quick action is from Intercept Voices.

Tell Amazon to end contracts with ICE. This quick action is from The Labor Force.

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Here are some quick environmental actions for NYS residents.

Tell NY’s Public Service Commission to stop the roll-back of the state’s climate law. This quick action is from NY Renews.

Stop a giant data center from being built in NYS. Another quickie from NY Renews.

Thanks for taking action!

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A poem for you, called “Today’s Headline,” by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer:

And then one day, while I read
aloud to my husband the news
and felt the widening hole in my heart,
he raised his hand to quiet me.
I followed his gaze out the window
to see in the yard a small fluffy thing
with black and white eyespots on its head.
A northern pygmy owl beside our door,
stout body slightly smaller than my fist.
It turned its neck a full half circle
to look at me with bright yellow eyes.
In an instant, I shifted from disgust
with the world to awe. Awe for this
fierce bespeckled miracle, this wonder
of feather and beak and claw, this
small being in the grass looking back
at me as if to say, Here is also the news.
How surprising the world can be.
How quickly, when I let it, amazement
overwrites my fear and makes
of the hole in my heart a home.

with love,

L

I owe you some good news, and I have been on a treasure hunt.

There are reasons for hope, in spite of everything that is going so wrong. If you’re not seeing it, look close to home. The treasure map above was made by my neighbor Max, who is in first grade. He contributed it to our building’s sixth annual art exhibition, which has a landmarks theme.

The beginning of spring is a temporal landmark for a season of renewal. With all that’s going wrong right now, there are still people who are honoring the places that matter to them by acts of rejuvenation.

A bill legalizing ​“balcony solar” was passed last week by the Virginia legislature making Virginia the second state, after Utah to treat solar panels as an appliance you can purchase and install on your property.

It has never been a more important time to put practical energy solutions in the hands of consumers. While Europe leads the world right now in balcony solar, countries with rising electricity costs and grid instability are beginning pilot programs.

As of last month, more than 20 states are considering or have introduced bills to legalize plug-in solar.

Check the list in your state for bills to expand DIY solar!

Th!rd Act has a great explainer on the status of proposed legislation in New York, called the SUNNY Act, which is short for Solar Up Now New York.

If you are interested advocating for balcony solar in New York State, email upstateny@thirdact.org.

Communities concerned about rising electricity prices and the environmental effects of data centers are moving lawmakers in at least 11 states and some localities to introduce legislation to block the development of data centers.

While some of the measures would establish an indefinite moratorium, others would ban new data centers for several years. The Vermont measure, for example, would ban new data center projects through July 2030.

The New York measure (S9144) — sponsored by Liz Krueger, who is also behind the SUNNY Act — has backing from Food and Water Watch, an environmental organization that has also called for a national moratorium.

[A]dded demand from data centers could undermine New York’s moribund efforts to decarbonize its electric grid. More power demand without added supply also likely means higher electricity prices for consumers.

Contact your NYS legislators to urge them to support the SUNNY Act and a moratorium on data centers in our state. I made it easy!

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About 60 volunteers work in shifts to drive childcare staff from their homes in neighborhoods across the city to their jobs at a Spanish-immersion childcare center in Minneapolis.

The volunteers mobilized at the height of Operation Metro Surge and continue their work.

The effort is just one example of the elaborate systems of mutual aid and support that childcare centers have set up in the Twin Cities. While the center slowly tries to find a new normal, its organizing actions offer lessons for other communities in the future.

Most of the volunteers are in their 70s, live in the suburbs and do not have grandchildren at the childcare center. The staff refer to them affectionately as “abuelitas.”

The pace of ICE arrests nationwide has topped 1,100 per day on average in 2026; with four cities exceeding the daily average of Operation Metro Surge in Minnesota. Miami is at the top of the list, with 120 daily arrests.

Heroic street protests continue in neighborhoods where ICE is terrorizing immigrants with the support of local police. There are other good things happening in the streets, too.

The city of San Antonio painted rainbow sidewalks to beautify the cultural heritage district after Texas banned LGBTQ+ Pride crosswalks.

“We want to make sure that our community knows, while our asphalt may be regulated by the state, our sidewalks are not. . . . [T]he sidewalks are under city purview, and we want them to represent our city’s values,” City Council member Sukh Kaur told the Texas Tribune.

Cyclists in NYC got some justice this week when Mayor Mamdani announced the end of NYPD’s policy of issuing criminal summonses to cyclists for moving violations; now, cyclists will receive tickets, just like drivers.

NYPD’s data reveals [that] the overwhelming source of road carnage in the city [is] cars and trucks.

Polls consistently show New Yorkers want the city to use bike lanes, speed cameras and other tools to rein in dangerous driving.

Mamdani promised to make the city safe and affordable for everyone and he’s working on it.

Today, construction begins on a two-way bike path along Ocean Avenue that will allow cyclists to travel between Parkside Avenue and Empire Boulevard without having to dodge motorists.

The project includes wider sidewalks and shorter crossing distances, which will protect pedestrians.

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Sadly, today marks the end of three weeks of war, with no end of the widening conflict in sight. I must implore you to get on the phone:

Call Hakeem Jeffries, Chuck Schumer, and your Congressional delegation to insist that they oppose new funding for the Pentagon. There’s a script!

Today is Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan and the beginning of spring. Mayor Mamdani has broken daily fasts with Muslim New Yorkers throughout the month, including one at Rikers with men incarcerated there.

Throughout this Ramadan, New Yorkers said they see Mamdani's public observance of the holiday as a pivot point for their community, a moment after years of stigma and suspicion when they feel welcome in a new way.

We rejuvenate ourselves and our communities when we see our neighbors with welcoming eyes and learn about their experiences, traditions, and celebrations.

Eid Mubarak. Ayyamukum sa’eeda. May your days be happy.

with love,

L

I’ve been choking on the news lately. The dissonance between the facts and Trump’s insistence that we have already won the war and we are living in the golden age of America is truly head-spinning.

During the Vietnam War, the credibility gap referred to the difference between the actual progress of the war and the Johnson administration’s public statements.

More recently, the term has been used to describe the contrast between videos of the killing of Alex Pretti and the remarks of Kristi Noem, who said that Pretti had “committed an act of domestic terrorism,” words she now denies using.

Paul Krugman notes that just last week, Trump said:

Inflation is plummeting, incomes are rising, the economy is roaring back and America is respected again.

With that, Krugman published this graphic and explained the low regard of world leaders:

[E]very leader in the world — very much including the leaders of nations Trump is now begging for help in the Strait of Hormuz — has taken notice [that Trump offers no reward to nations that come to its aid and does nothing to punish nations that aid its adversaries] and will treat the United States accordingly.

The chasm between the regime’s pronouncements, on everything from health data to the Epstein files, is so great that the word gap simply does not cover it. And, of course, Trump is not the only fabulist. Kristi Noem has been referred for a criminal investigation for lying to Congress.

Call Hakeem Jeffries, Chuck Schumer, and your Congressional delegation to insist that they oppose new funding for the Pentagon. There’s a script!

I’m posting another quick action because taking no action is unconscionable.

Tell Congress to stop this war! This is from Indivisible.

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Periodically, readers ask about my sources. I read widely and often forget where I read what’s on my mind. So, I go back and search for what I remember reading and discover additional sources.

I subscribe to many newsletters, including the excellent Drop Site Daily. One of the things I have read in various places is that the situation in the Strait of Hormuz is blocking exports of nitrogen-based fertilizers and the phosphorous used to produce phosphate fertilizers, which is likely to create supply chain issues that result in food shortages.

This bad news comes at a bad time, just before spring planting season in the Northern Hemisphere. Farmers typically order fertilizer in March to apply in April or May. Now, the president of the South Carolina Farm Bureau is worried“farmers are not going to be able to finance planting their crop” while economists and fertilizer analysts expect “inflation going through the roof” over coming months as crops planted today are supposed to be arriving in supermarkets.

In short, food supplies are threatened and prices are going to spike.

The Intercept is another reliable, independent source that I read regularly. Their reporting on the conviction of anti-ICE protesters in Texas last week is chilling:

In a significant victory for the government, jurors convicted eight defendants on material support for terrorism charges for wearing black clothes to the late-night demonstration. That use of “black bloc” clothing was an antifa tactic that assisted in the shooting of the officer, prosecutors said during their closing arguments.

ICE is still terrorizing communities. When they came to South Burlington, Vermont last week, the organization Migrant Justice

sent out alerts to its network, prompting the rapid response by dozens of people. Some carried signs or brought guitars and food. They sang folk songs of peace and chanted “ICE — ya basta! La migra — ya basta!” meaning “enough is enough.”

Be ready to show up for your neighbors:

Join Gaia Music Collective this weekend at the Brooklyn Peace Center for Seeding Songs of Resistance!

As the regime intensifies its assault on major media outlets, threatening the broadcast licenses of news organizations that report unfavorably on the war in Iran, it is more important than ever to support independent media outlets.

Support The Intercept and Drop Site or other independent media.

with love,

L