Lucas Osborne

Congress can pass a new VRA...tomorrow.

It can abolish IEEPA/Section 232 & end Trump's tariff power...tomorrow.

It can eliminate SCOTUS clerk funding, add seats, make justices ride the circuit, & end the shadow docket...tomorrow.

It can end DOGE & restore all the jobs/funding...tomorrow.

Etc.

This is what is happening right now.

I want to be clear about one thing since the Chicago press isn't getting it: This is NOT about gerrymandering. JB Pritzker is NOT a hypocrite. Texas is already gerrymandered.

This is happening because Texas law dictates that redistricting is to take place every 10 years. 🧵

This press conference is literally the front line in the fight against American fascism and Trump government corruption and none of the cable networks are carrying it

Harvard “is seriously considering resolving its dispute with the White House through the courts rather than a negotiated settlement.”

The university president said “the suggestion that Harvard was open to paying $500 million is ‘false’”

www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...

I think the use of chatbots for stuff like this is intended to train people to use it to avoid everything that’s painful or hard. It can write the obituary, the breakup text, the complaint letter. It’s meant to separate humans from their difficult feelings. Seems bad.

Elon Musk is a symbol of American collapse in many ways, but one of the big ones is how for years he has constantly engaged in multi-billion-dollar securities and consumer fraud, and the "consequence" has been him making billions more, including from the federal government paying him directly.

Trump’s Supreme Court Enablers Will Face History’s Verdict They will be remembered for their part in the damage done to people’s lives and to the Constitution.

The six reliably pro-Trump justices are "racking up a rap sheet of constitutional abuses of staggering import." ICYMI Philip Allen Lacovara on the coming judgment of history:

Texas Democrats are standing up for democracy.

The maps are rigged. The process is compromised.

www.texastribune.org/2025/08/03/t...

A massive regressive national sales tax imposed upon every American by a president with no constitutional authority to impose a national sales tax. The reason why the founders gave this power to Congress is because this would never pass any Congress- even this one.

so the Communications Director of the Nebraska Republican Party is a Nazi

BREAKING: Texas House Democrats have fled the state to break quorum and stop the redistricting scheme. Minority Leader Gene Wu is declaring: This corrupt special session is over.

Democrats are now on their way to Illinois and will hold a press conference with Governor JB Pritzker at 7:15pm

We have to increase the supply of all kinds of homes as fast as we can. We have to cut red tape and get out of our own way. We have to invest in affordable housing projects. We have to help our cities and counties build the infrastructure they need to start building new homes.

More of this, please.

Crockett: My former colleagues from the Texas House—decided to get the hell out of Texas… breaking quorum is where they’re at right now. And they didn’t just do it by themselves—they went to Illinois, where there is a governor that gives a damn. This fight is going to take all of us.

Domestic demand is threatened by electrification + new gen + storage. Gas competitiveness curtailed by supply constraints and export-driven prices. If AI or macro stumbles, all the worse. Alternatives too in the medium-to-long term.

You flip and break exports, prices get worse for domestic builds.

There has never been a better time to draft language for an amendment to the Constitution for the complete public funding of campaigns, with the campaign premised on the promise that no one will ever be asked to donate another penny to a politician ever again

NEW. U Mass Poll.

Trump approve/disapprove: 38%/58% (cf. April, 44/53).

How much have you read, seen, or heard about Jeffrey Epstein?
A lot 36%
Some 41%
Not much 19%
Nothing 4%.

Trump administration hiding important information on Epstein? Agree 63%. Disagree 15%.

www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/zgf7d...

📌

Which makes me think there’s a case for a permitting reform bill that “levels the playing field” between O&G and electricity projects. There’s not much juice in the former. There’s a LOT in the latter.

this is an absolute twenty alarm fire and I just cannot bring myself to believe capital, in one way or another, isn’t going to reel him in on this.

we can’t have a real economy without the goddamn labor numbers. it just doesn’t work.

Ruth Wilson Gilmore said, “No abolitionist who is a true abolitionist wants to save money. What we want is for the money to be spent, to enhance, and support human life so that it can flourish in a way that doesn’t destroy the planet. We’re not about cost-savings.” Save lives, not money.

The core problem isn’t that Trump can’t do math & doesn’t understand what it means to “cut prices” by more than 100% — rather, it’s that there are people who actually believe this can be true & an entire political movement & media ecosystem that encourage it.

The Mothership Vortex: An Investigation Into the Firm at the Heart of the Democratic Spam Machine How a single consulting firm extracted $282 million from a network of spam PACs while delivering just $11 million to actual campaigns.

losing my mind at this. apoplectic. want to punch a wall, or a human being

data4democracy.substack.com/p/the-mother...

if you want to have a nice and relaxing sunday, do not watch the new Hulu documentary on Hurricane Katrina. if you want to shake with rage and anger over the total failure of this nation's government and media establishment, watch the Hulu documentary on Katrina (this is a recommendation)

The Anxiety King When the sky is falling, there’s no better comedian than Marc Maron.

to the surprise of no one who has ever read my comedy reviews, i love the new marc maron special
www.vulture.com/article/marc...

Mastercard denies pressuring game platforms, Valve tells a different story | TechCrunch Mastercard seemingly denied playing a role in a recent marketplace crackdown on games with adult content, while Valve says the pressure was indirect.

New story by TechCrunch just dropped

techcrunch.com/2025/08/03/m...

Immigrants are leaving the US workforce in very large numbers.

Remittance payments US→MX plummeting, down 2+ million from a year ago.

Biggest decline in >30 years - a period that includes a homebuilding depression and a 100-year financial crisis.

Brutal arrest of Black student in Florida shows benefits of recording police from new vantage point A video showing the violent arrest of a Black college student in Florida has sparked calls for drivers to use cameras that show a view from inside their car.

A video that captured the brutal arrest of a Black college student pulled from his car and beaten by officers in Florida has led to an investigation and calls for motorists to consider protecting themselves by placing a camera inside their vehicles.

Yeah, as somebody also in the industry, the politicians are like “we’re gonna Frack our way to cheap gas powered energy for AI” and the actual fracking, pipeline, utility, etc. guys in the room are like “lol. Lmao, even.”