Philip Eil

Call me crazy. But I think you're supposed to make the case for going to war before you go to war, not after.

The Roger Williams statue and arch at Prospect Terrace Park in Providence, viewed from behind. Snow is on the ground in the foreground.

Another photo from my walk.

The Providence skyline, photographed from Prospect Terrace Park on March 1, 2026.

Providence.

Two black cars facing each other and hugging

Darkest huggies

The Department of Education has hung a massive banner honoring a racist college dropout who built a lucrative career out of targeting professors for harassment

Britney Spears bonus track.

Hi, Max! 🥹🥹🥹

"American innovation" now refers to making a kind of atrocity cronut by combining insider trading with war crimes.

Btw I am doing this bc there's a lot of other stuff I can't do anything about but I wanted to do something about something

Agreed!

I love this quote from @ladyofsardines.bsky.social, which I hadn't seen b4.

Another from DB:

"One cannot level one’s moral lance at every evil in the universe. There are just too many of them. But you can do something, and the difference between doing something and doing nothing is everything."

Update: I could be wrong.

See my full thread, with input from @jrosevear.bsky.social, to see how the mayor's estimate is possible.

At this rate, you'd need to haul away around 10 truck loads of snow per street to hit "tens of thousands" of truck loads (20,000 at least). So, that is possible.

I may have spoken too soon!

A Map To Memory Lane: Providence Tries To Keep Street Names Straight The city of Providence is embarking on a project to sort out street names that sound alike or have similar spellings. Robert Siegel learns about Operation Karat — not "carrot," mind you.

According to this interview from 2014, there are "about 1,980 streets" in Providence.

More from John:

John says that it's possible.

"tens of thousands" of *pounds* of snow hauled away is plausible. I'd believe that.

But that's not what the mayor said. He said "tens of thousands of *truck loads.*"

a man in a suit and tie is standing in front of a sign that says channel 4 news team . Alt: a man in a suit and tie is standing in front of a sign that says channel 4 news team . He is saying "I don't believe you"

I'm no math wiz, but very lowest possible number that "tens of thousands of truck loads" could refer to is 20,000 truck loads.

And, well...

A screenshot of Brett Smily talking and saying "We've removed tens of thousands of truckloads of snow."

A post from @pvdmayor in Instagram that reads: After removing tens of thousands of truck loads of snow from our streets, the parking ban has been lifted. We still have more work to do, and the industrial snow removers we hired are hard at work alongside our DPW crews finishing the job, but I encourage you to come out tonight to support our small businesses. This has been a difficult winter for our entire community, but Providence came together and stepped up to help those who needed it most. If you or someone you know is unable to clear snow from your private property and needs help, or if you want to volunteer to help, visit https://www.providenceri.gov/snowstorm/

The city has certainly been out there doing a lot of work.

But I just don't see how it's possible that the Smiley administration has removed "tens of thousands of truck loads of snow" from Providence streets, as he's claiming on Instagram.

Words mean things?

www.instagram.com/p/DVUUxPwEXV...

Social media created this nonsense idea that not exposing yourself to hatred is isolationist. Choosing to not spend your free time with bigots isn’t living in a bubble. I don’t need to know what’s going on at X. I won’t be smarter or more knowledgeable or empathic by being there. Neither will you.

Daniel Craig from his "The Weeknd" meme, on SNL.

"Ladies and gentlemen...it's March."

Steve (@steveahlquist.bsky.social) was, as always, on hand to document our local protest in Rhode Island.

the incentives here are so obscenely terrible that the entire thing should be illegal by default

“I am sabotaging negotiations because I stand to make piles of money on Polymarket” is absolutely in play, what a horrifying clusterfuck

“They were careless people, Tom and Daisy- they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.” ― F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

This passage remains evergreen.

GOOD-NEWS How a cat stuck in tree during the blizzard was saved by an ironworker Portrait of Antonia Noori FarzanAntonia Noori Farzan Providence Journal Feb. 28, 2026, 5:05 a.m. ET A record-breaking blizzard had been pummeling Rhode Island for hours when Heather MacKinnon got up to make dinner and heard a plaintive meow. She looked outside and saw her neighbor's 1-year-old cat, Pixie, perched high in a tree in their shared East Providence backyard.

This is a lede, folks. 🐈🌳🌨️

Full story: www.providencejournal.com/story/news/g...

Via @antoniafarzan.bsky.social

How a cat stuck in tree during the blizzard was saved by an ironworker "I don't think she would have survived another day," said Matt Lyons, who shimmied up the tree and carried Pixie down in his sweatshirt.

The great @antoniafarzan.bsky.social tells the story of Pixie, the East Providence kitty who spent two days during the blizzard stuck in a tree.

Thankfully, she survived. 😭😭😭

A digital flier for a conversation with Bill Kole about his book, In Guns We Trust: The Unholy Trinity of White Evangelicals, Politics, and Firearms. The event -- in conversation with Philip Eil -- will take place at 4 p.m. on Saturday, March 7.

One week from today -- Saturday, March 7 -- I'll be chatting with @billkole.bsky.social at @symposiumbooks.bsky.social about his excellent, timely book, "In Guns We Trust: The Unholy Trinity of White Evangelicals, Politics, and Firearms."

The event is at 4 p.m.

Join us!