Jane Thurber

I feel bad for breaking news desks tonight.

If both Crenshaw & Roy are out, I would be so pleased.

colour photograph of a sandstone building with lawns in front and a low sign reading 'Parramatta Female Factory' in the foreground

TIL that hair shaved from the heads of convict women incarcerated at the Parramatta Female Factory in the 19th century was used as a binding agent in the mortar in the building's stonework. Convicts often had to build their own prisons, but the corporeal aspect of this is particularly poignant.

After Trump Officials Cut Food Aid to Kenya, Children Starved to Death “Brutal and traumatizing”: Interviews and a trove of internal documents show government officials and aid workers desperately tried to warn Trump advisers about impending disaster and death.

Secretary Marco Rubio claimed no one died as a result of cuts to USAID. That’s not what we found.

After Trump officials cut food aid to Kenya, children starved to death in an American-made hunger crisis.

(Published Dec. 2025)

NOT JUST THIS:

Two other Democratic lawmakers in North Carolina who sided with the GOP to overturn vetoes of major bills (e.g. anti-trans legislation) are also losing in their primaries so far to progressive challengers.

This could be a major night in NC.

My thriller NOTES ON A DROWNING is 99p in ebook this month and also in the audiobook sale. Two determined women unravel a scandal involving misogyny, conspiracy and murder. A Times thriller of 2025.

www.amazon.co.uk/Notes-Drowni...

Our Learning & Participation Coordinator Billie wrote the latest blog post on Children's Poetry Summit, reflecting on our annual slam for Tower Hamlets primary schools - an occasion when we get to hear stellar rhymes like 'dinosaurs come at night creeping / they arrive while your nana's sleeping.' 🦖

TONIGHT! ✨ We’re celebrating the best in digital reading, chosen by Libby librarians & voted on by public libraries across North America. Join our READ Carpet Instagram LIVE at 6:30PM EST for all the fun! 📚 https://bit.ly/4cqacxQ

The Libby Book Awards airs Saturday, March 7 on Kanopy and YouTube.

Award-winning Authors John Scalzi, Martha Wells Coming to Pop Madness® Free fan convention at Central Library features artists, authors, activities, vendors and more.

Reminder to those in and around San Antonio this weekend: I'll be there! And so will @marthawells.com! And @robertjbennett.bsky.social! And @johnpicacio.bsky.social! And others! And you can see us! For free!

www.sa.gov/Directory/Ne...

Transgender Kansans Sue After Driver’s Licenses Are Abruptly Canceled

Kansas is ranked:

👷32nd for good jobs
💡28th for infrastructure & innovation
🩺29th for quality, affordable healthcare

But instead of prioritizing improving the lives of Kansans, this is what rightwing state lawmakers who hold power are focused on. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/27/u...

Kaine, Schumer, and Schiff: Senate to Vote on Iran War Powers Resolution Tomorrow WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA), Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and U.S. Senator Adam Schiff (D-CA) announced that the Senate will vote on their bipartisan War Powers Resolution for Iran tomorrow. The bipartisan resolution, which was introduced on January 29, would stop President Donald Trump’s illegal, unnecessary war with Iran and ensure any U.S. participation in hostilities against Iran is explicitly authorized by Congress. It does not prevent the U.S. from defending itself or Israel from an Iranian attack. “Americans want President Trump to lower prices—not drag us into unnecessary forever wars. Yet he has unilaterally launched strikes at Iran without congressional authorization, failed to articulate a clear strategy, and callously said he doesn’t ‘have the yips about boots on the ground,’” said Kaine, a member of the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committees. “The Senate will vote on our bipartisan War Powers Resolution tomorrow, and every senator will have to go on the record to declare whether it is in our best interest to send our sons and daughters into conflict against Iran. I pray that my colleagues will vote to end this dangerous and unnecessary war that has already resulted in the loss of six servicemembers and injured others. We owe it to those in uniform, their families, and all Americans to not make the same mistakes that we made in Iraq and Afghanistan.”

"Today, U.S. @SenTimKaine (D-VA), Minority Leader @SenSchumer (D-NY) and @SenAdamSchiff (D-CA) announced that the Senate will vote on their bipartisan War Powers Resolution for Iran tomorrow" bluevirginia.us/2026/03/vide...

Cheese is a perfectly reasonable coping mechanism.

‘We’re seeing chaos.’ Hundreds turned away at Dallas County polls amid switch to precincts The switch surprised and frustrated voters who stopped to vote on their way to work or between errands only to be redirected elsewhere – an outcome predicted...

There are reports of voter confusion in Dallas County, TX, where voters are being turned away for going to the wrong polling place. www.dallasnews.com/news/electio...

From Zachary Donnini, our Head of Data Science: "These numbers coming out of Dallas are absolutely terrible for Crockett. There appears to be significant cannibalization of her ED base in early voting. Talarico is clearly favored heading into tonight."

Oh this is bad.

Empowered by ICE - wild story

www.arlingtonva.us/Government/D...

Just taking note of this: the 3 elections for the Wisconsin court of appeals are all uncontested this spring, just like the 3 in 2025 and the 2 in 2024. So that's a streak of 8 consecutive uncontested elections for Wisconsin's intermediate court.

‘We’re seeing chaos.’ Hundreds turned away at Dallas County polls amid switch to precincts The switch surprised and frustrated voters who stopped to vote on their way to work or between errands only to be redirected elsewhere – an outcome predicted...

Chaos in Dallas as a switch in how elections are run leaves voters confused: www.dallasnews.com/news/electio...

Perhaps that square thing is supposed to be a box that holds NK's nuclear launch button?

Are Gulf states running out of missile interceptors? Their rulers insist not but they are burning through their stockpiles fast

I wrote on whether Gulf states are running out of interceptors, which they deny. Their day 1/2 consumption was v high relative to estimated pre-war stocks & annual production, but Iranian launches seem to be slowing. AD integration also proving an issue. www.economist.com/middle-east-...

Roughly once a week I think about Michelle Obama's observation about going into rooms with important people who had big jobs & thinking "these people are not that smart".

We learned nothing from "Dark Mirror"

Exclusive | OpenAI CEO Altman Defends Pentagon Work to Staff, Calls Backlash ‘Really Painful’ The startup’s deal to do classified work with the Defense Department drew backlash from staff and other AI researchers.

“I think this was an example of a complex but the right decision with extremely difficult brand consequences and very negative PR for us in the short term,” Altman said.

Hunger in Havana: Can the U.S. Cutoff Bring Change to Cuba? | International Crisis Group Cuba is facing its biggest humanitarian crisis and the greatest threat to its political status quo in decades, after the U.S. clamped down on its energy supply. In this Q&A, Crisis Group explains the ...

Is Marco Rubio literally going to starve the people of Cuba while everybody is paying attention to Iran? www.crisisgroup.org/qna/latin-am...

77% of Democratic voters support abolishing ICE.

Any Democrat running for office who doesn’t call for abolishing ICE is wildly outside the mainstream.

Good article about state of early voting in Tazewell

It is supposed to start Friday and absentee ballots usually would be mailed

But local court issued an injunction to prevent the Redistricting referendum

And the Virginia Supreme Court has not given any updates

A jury awarded $1.67 million to the sons of a diabetic man who died in a Philly jail

The jurors found that Louis Jung Jr.'s November 2023 death was part of a pattern of constitutional violations under the leadership of former prisons Commissioner Blanche Carney.

A deeply underreported story. I know so many people struggling to pay their electric bills

Made it so this now works much better on mobile. A pretty bleak map!

Democrats' unity against Trump faces a test after U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran The fight also revives tensions over Israel and AIPAC in key primaries.

The initial political impact of the attacks in Iran could emerge as soon as Tuesday during the first primary elections of this year's midterm campaign. https://to.pbs.org/40c8ski