YouTube video by Senator Bernie Sanders In Wake of Charlie Kirk Murder, Sen. Bernie Sanders Addresses Rising Political Violence in America

The murder of Charlie Kirk is part of a disturbing rise in political violence that threatens to hollow out our public life.

A free society relies on the premise that people can speak out without fear or humiliation.

No more political violence.

The problem with allowing guns everywhere is that no one is safe anywhere.

The Invention of “Sesame Street” Renata Adler’s 1972 review of the program that revolutionized children’s television.

“Small children from poor or middle-class families who watch ‘Sesame Street’ do better on cognitive tests and in first grade than children who do not watch it,” Renata Adler wrote, in 1972.

The fact that the people designing AI even *think* AI art/writing could be a good idea demonstrates to me that the whole thing is a bad idea. Because whatever they design, these people aren’t designing it for the right reasons.

4.6 Billion Years On, the Sun Is Having a Moment In the past two years, without much notice, solar power has begun to truly transform the world’s energy system.

In the past two years, with surprisingly little notice, renewable energy has suddenly become the obvious, mainstream, cost-efficient choice around the world.

Big Plastic wants you to think you can recycle your yogurt container Those numbered labels, vetted by private interests, can be misleading.

Most plastics are not recyclable, largely because there is no market for materials labeled 3 through 7.

from @grist.org via @climatedesk.org

Remembering this weekend how entrenched it is in American media to use language that subtly--or directly--depicts nonviolent protest (which the audience would sympathize with) as a violent riot (which the audience would not).

It might, in fact, be our longest-held media tradition.

Study begun pre-COVID finds remote work increased sleep by 1/2 hr/night, decreased commute by 4.5 hr/week replaced with work, family & leisure and led to healthier eating. Remote and hybrid employees report higher job satisfaction and well-being. farmingdale-observer.com/2025/05/16/s...

looking from under a couple trees. branches and bunches of leaves all pointing toward the center.

"They tried to bury us. They didn’t know we were seeds."

-Dinos Christianopoulos.

Chicago Pope's here

really thinking pritzker has the juice

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

Twenty Lessons, read by John Lithgow Key selections from On Tyranny, for viewing and sharing

"On Tyranny" is a #1 NYT bestseller again. I wish the moment were different. But I’m glad the book is useful. And grateful for all the kind words about putting the 20 lessons to work.
snyder.substack.com/p/twenty-les...

Autism is not a disease.
Autism is not an epidemic.
Autism is a multifactorial genetic-based neurological condition.
And it’s not caused by vaccines or nebulous “environmental toxins.”

A thread 👇🏻

1/

Home Opener Sunrise. This morning's start as the baseball season at Wrigley Field begins.

Chaos

OF THE EMPIRE We will be known as a culture that feared death and adored power, that tried to vanquish insecurity for the few and cared little for the penury of the many. We will be known as a culture that taught and rewarded the amassing of things, that spoke little if at all about the quality of life for people (other people), for dogs, for rivers. All the world, in our eyes, they will say, was a commodity. And they will say that this structure was held together politically, which it was, and they will say also that our politics was no more than an apparatus to accommodate the feelings of the heart, and that the heart, in those days, was small, and hard, and full of meanness.

From a poetry collection by Mary Oliver, where after a hundred poems showcasing gentle observations on nature and animals, she hits you with this

a field of tall grass with the words do what makes you happy Alt: a field of tall grass on a sunny day with the words do what makes you happy

Let’s talk.
I know the world looks chaotic right now.

But don’t let anyone take away the things you enjoy - (when you’re not doom scrolling).

Whether it’s being in nature, cooking, art, poetry, playing video games or spending time with a loved one watching TV; don’t stop doing those things.
🧵

Crocus defiantly growing between cobblestones. According to PlantNet app it’s Crocus tommasinianus. I am not a botanist…

In these terrible times we are going through, I wanted to share this beautiful crocus defiantly growing between cobblestones in our garden with you.
Take care! Stay strong!

Meditate today, even for just five minutes.

Then contemplate one small action you can take to bring about a world where all humans are safe and included.

Illustration shows girl reading a book with "I love to read" on the cover. Text above is a Judy Blume quote: "Having the freedom to read and the freedom to choose is one of the best gifts my parents ever gave me." Art by Debbie Ridpath Ohi.

"Having the freedom to read and the freedom to choose is one of the best gifts my parents ever gave me." - Judy Blume (whose birthday 🎂 is today!)

#Freadom #BannedBooks #Edusky

The past is only an unreliable memory held in the present.
The future is only a projection of our present conceptions.
The present itself vanishes as soon as we try to grasp it.
So why bother with attempting to establish an illusion of solid ground?

~Dilgo Khyentse
#mindfullness #buddhism

I honestly believe our most powerful position in a toxic time that feeds on cynicism, apathy,& despair is to genuinely care and act for a better world.

Cynicism is our enemy. We should check it, incl. on the left. It’s not intellectually superior. It’s the virus they’re trying to infect us with. NO

Dear FRIENDS OF BLUESKY LET'S DO THIS
OUR TRANS COMMUNITY NEEDS US

Discover five facts about WHO and its global impact ⬇️

Commit the sin of empathy.

‘Contempt is a dangerous way to lead a country’: here is the sermon that enraged Donald Trump | Mariann Edgar Budde This week, the Bishop of Washington delivered a sermon in front of President Trump urging him to show mercy towards LGBTQ+ and migrant communities. The president condemned it as ‘nasty’. We reproduce ...

“Have mercy, Mr President, on those in our communities whose children fear that their parents will be taken away. Help those who are fleeing war zones and persecution in their own lands to find compassion and welcome here.”
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

A Mindfulness Survival Kit For Caring People, Concerned Citizens, and Democratic Resisters

The MAGA movement shows what happens when democracy is NOT based in mindfulness. To resist, we must root democracy in better, more mindful civic habits. To that end I’ve created a mindfulness survival kit; I hope it brings you peace, and points toward a different democracy than the one that failed.