Denali

Noem joins Arizona election deniers to rally for SAVE America Act “Your state has been an absolute disaster on elections,” Noem said

NEW: DHS Secretary Kristi Noem joined election deniers in Arizona to rally support for a suppressive bill that would disenfranchise millions.

Noem also encouraged state election officials to use the department’s citizenship verification program, despite it incorrectly flagging dozens of citizens.

I saw that video too and look I can't tell you how to live your life but I can tell you that there are moments where it's really important to wear closed toed shoes.

The Story of Election Denial in America Election Deniers are running in the 2024 elections. Examine election denial, 2020 election conspiracies, January 6th, and ongoing threats to democracy.

More about those criteria here

All three IL Congressional Republican meet States United Actions criteria for election denial

Yes. If you are interested in helping people navigate the additional dangers of pregnancy do not make their lives more stressful or more dangerous. If you are not interested in making pregnancy safer and you just like harming people no one needs to hear you in good faith.

You can have this conversation (if you feel like it) with your mom or your cousin or anyone who wants to talk to you about fetal personhood. Just say "we share important concerns and here is how I think we can keep people safe. I've moved a surprising number of folks on this and you can too.

According to the CDC, the homicide rate (2018-19) for women ages 15-44 was 16% higher among those who were pregnant or within one year of pregnancy compared to those who were not.

We SHOULD treat this seriously by directly addressing it instead of creating more dangerous conditions for healthcare.

Puerto Rico governor signs law to recognize fetus as human being as critics warn of consequences Puerto Rico’s governor has signed a bill that amends a law to recognize a fetus as a human being. It's a move that doctors and legal experts warn will have deep ramifications for the U.S. territory.

Fetal personhood laws, including this one, are often passed under the cover of protecting people while they are pregnant. Outside of medical reasons, pregnancy is incredibly dangerous with increased risk of partner violence and murder.

And yet, these conversations never center the pregnant person.

“Pretextual traffic stops are the new stop-and-frisk,” said Amy Thompson, staff counsel at Impact for Equity and a researcher on the new study. Police “are not only concentrating traffic stops in communities of color, but also for drivers of color driving throughout the city.”

"A spreadsheet mistake that turned into my lived experience for a year"

Kitt...stated that it was not an issue of “delinquency,” instead young Americans were:

"angry because their parents are angry ...because there is a war going on that they don’t understand...You send the best of this country off to be shot and maimed. They rebel in the street."

Cook County’s troubled tech overhaul boils over, as political leaders start pointing fingers The latest delays to the Cook County property tax system upgrade by controversial contractor Tyler Technologies is leading to fighting among county leaders.

I am interested in as much lore about Tyler Technologies as I can get right now.

*Puts Big Freedia on in the car*

"This is my hype song"

Husband: "aren't you moderating a book talk?"

Me: "Yuuuup."

There are a million reasons why someone might not have an ID available. Most people know this. But I want you to know that a lot of people who go on to get the kind of jobs where they make decisions about what's reasonable for people have zero clue about this stuff.

So ALL of my subsequent docs including my passport had a different spelling than my birth certificate. I just kept bringing in the pile of docs and it was fine until after 9/11 when this was suddenly a HUGE issue and i a registered voter had to go through a full name change to get a valid ID.

So my sister shared my hilarious story which is that my dad misspelled my name on my birth certificate and rather than legally changing my name my parents went along with the misspelling and then realized that they could just...correct the spelling of my name and move on.

Once again since we are talking about the SAVE act

A lot of people in government now went to Yale Law at the same time as my sister. In one of her classes MULTIPLE people argued that they couldn't think up a situation where a legitimate voter couldn't present documents to verify their identity.

Congress is moving on the SAVE Act bills, all of which would restrict the freedom to vote for millions of Americans.

These Jim Crow 2.0 bills target vulnerable people in our communities, who are less likely to have ready access to the documents the bills require.

I cried at work today but it was good crying

Related to wages there are regulatory issues around FLSA, gig work, scheduling, and antitrust issues.

There are also lots of issues related to the cost of living and the cost of cars that limit people's ability to work that are part of the broader SNAP conversation.

This is specific to federal policy so federal minimum wage. But also we have seen so many ducks and dodges in worker compensation and rights that I'd say it's a greater issue than wages. Here's where state and federal minimum wages are now.

While also NOT regulating businesses to ensure they pay their workers enough to feed themselves and their families...

Gandhi is in town in conjunction with the Season for Non-violence which asks people to study and reflect on non-violence as a pathway to power, justice & restoration.

An event flyer titled "Let's Kill Gandhi?": Dinner & Discussion with Tushar Gandhi SACRED ACTS FUNDRAISER A photograph of Tushar Gandhi holding up his book Let's Kill Gandhi which is about the extremist conspiracy to that killed Gandhi Thursday February 12th 2026 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Seedos Levantine bakery 181 West Madison Street Chicago Illinois 60602 a QR code to RSVP that leads to https://tinyurl.com/ sacredactstushargandhi

If you're not doing anything tonight and want to join me in conversation with Tushar Gandhi about secular multiracial democracy and ideological extremism (local and global) there's still time/tickets!

tinyurl.com/SACREDACTSTu...

The house passed the SAVE Act last night. If you need to know more about why that’s bad and why we need to stop it in the senate, let me explain it to you (in comic form)!

aubreyhirsch.substack.com/p/the-save-act

Happy Birthday, Abe Lincoln.

Fun fact: the first time my mom met my husband was at a NY historical society exhibit about Lincoln. She wanted to be mean to him but got too excited about Abe Lincoln and forgot.

This is FORBES saying it:

"The voucher tax credit fits neatly into that broader project: route around public institutions rather than rebuild them."

Learn more from @ilfps.bsky.social here

A still from the TV show cheers with Woody Sam Cliff Carla and Norm deep in conversation about something

It's hilarious and unsurprising that visiting my kids' elementary school is the closest i get to the feeling of walking into Cheers.

‘My own government attempted to execute me,’ Chicago woman shot by Border Patrol testifies Article Summary Marimar Martinez, who was shot five times by immigration agents last year, testified at a public forum on

Martinez spoke in DC last week:

“On Friday, I was teaching the young children at the Montessori School, and we were singing and dancing...On Saturday, my own government was calling me a domestic terrorist, and I was in federal detention centers with the bullet holes all over my body.”

Everything about this story is so much but sit with the idea that there are people in DC trying to cut money to preschool classrooms so they can fund the group chat that celebrated shooting a teacher's assistant who works with young children.