Daniel Cantwell

"As human, as accountable beings, why should we suffer this any longer?"

- Daniel O'Connell re: the abolition of chattel slavery (Exeter Hall, 23/4/1831)

So you’re telling me the Wizard of Oz presented itself as a towering force of overwhelming technology, only to be unmasked as just some guy, off-screen?

"Meudon". André Kertész. 1928. 

Road to the VRA:

60 years ago today, the House gives final passage to the Voting Rights Act of 1965 by a vote of 328-74.

All the pundits who criticized Biden for his preemptive pardons should be ashamed of themselves. He knew exactly who Trump is

I am starting to think maybe it wasn’t even all about the toll of inflation, or Biden’s age, or—-

Economy Updates: After a Weak Jobs Report, Trump Fires That Agency’s Commissioner Hours after data showed cracks in the U.S. economy, President Trump said without evidence that Erika McEntarfer “rigged” the data “to make the Republicans, and ME, look bad.”

Firing the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics over a bad jobs report undermines government integrity and sends a chilling message to federal employees: tell POTUS what he wants to hear or else.
www.nytimes.com/live/2025/07...

Firing the BLS Commissioner — the wonk in charge of the statisticians who track economic reality — is an authoritarian four alarm fire.

It will also backfire: You can't bend economic reality, but you can break the trust of markets. And biased data yields worse policy.

This isn't the real rendering.

It's heartbreaking and enraging to watch this administration systematically destroy every meaningful organization and policy developed within my lifetime. When I was a child we were trying to make the world a better place. Now we're letting the bottom-dwellers destroy everything.

Among the things that the BLS produces are America’s annual union membership statistics. If that agency’s work is not trustworthy, it’s a Big Fucking Deal for the labor movement.

Computers used to scream every time they connected to the Internet. They knew. They tried to warn us. We did not listen.

Boston needs *more* bike lanes so they become a contiguous system that the people can safely use. Kraft is wrong on this.

There are quite a few skilled classical architects and any one of them involved with this project should be drummed out of every professional organization to which they belong. American Institute of Architects, Institute of Classical Architecture and Art, whatever.

I'll start the ball rolling.

Obviously the current White House is rather more than a four bedroom ranch home. Its actual title is the Executive Mansion. And that’s a fair description, a mansion. This is a palace, a very visible statement of monarchical intent. No Kings, no palaces.

FLW, interestingly, doesn't get a mention.

'Your Trip Thru The Larkin Factories' - published by the Larkin Company 1918. Multiple people on the cover with a tour guide.

Larkin Administration Building, designed, constructed 1903–1906, now demolished, at Buffalo New York. Frank Lloyd Wright, architect. Exterior of the building.

Interior view of the main court of the Larkin Administration Building, designed, constructed 1903–1906, now demolished, at Buffalo New York. Frank Lloyd Wright, architect.

Larkin Administration Building, designed, constructed 1903–1906, now demolished, at Buffalo New York. Frank Lloyd Wright, architect. Interior views showing various department, mail room and order rooms.

The Larkin Company made much of its new administration building in 1918. #architecture #buffalo
archive.org/details/1918... via @internetarchive

Have you benefited from a medical treatment or know someone who has? This one man wants to shut it all down. It sounds nonsensical and mad. And it is. But Russell Vought is head of the OMB, wants to and can do it. Call your members of Congress. Get rid of Vought, not medical research.

Photos from a train-accessed hike in the forests, wetlands, and hillsides of Montagne de Reims Regional Natural Park.

Photos from a train-accessed hike in the forests, wetlands, and hillsides of Montagne de Reims Regional Natural Park.

Photos from a train-accessed hike in the forests, wetlands, and hillsides of Montagne de Reims Regional Natural Park.

Photos from a train-accessed hike in the forests, wetlands, and hillsides of Montagne de Reims Regional Natural Park.

One thing we have really learned to appreciate about living in Europe is the easy rail access to rural recreational opportunities.

Like hopping on a train in the city centre and—within 15 minutes—immersing ourselves in the forests, wetlands, and hillsides of Montagne de Reims Regional Natural Park.

This remains one of my favourite anecdotes from the English Civil War.

If you know anything - ANYTHING - about military history, then you know that logistics is how wars are won or lost.

BREAKING: Department of Defense Makes Eleventh Hour Decision to Maintain Critical Hurricane Satellites After critical feedback, Navy officials step in to keep data flowing from three U.S. Defense-operated weather satellites scheduled to go dark this week

According to a Navy spokesperson I spoke with, the 11th hour decision to keep data flowing from the three weather satellites was due to critical feedback it received. A testament that our voices and concerns do very much matter. My full afternoon update ⬇️

An insult to Thomas E. Dewey, who was a district attorney for NYC and the 47th governor of New York State.

'Trump Thumping' lol has a ring to it.

'Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.'

It is fucking insane that we had a decade of people complaining about the dangers of cancel culture, and now literally hundreds of thousands of people are being purged from government jobs for ideological reasons, but that is not cancel culture.

NYPD hails ‘record low’ number of NYC shooting victims for first half of 2025 New York City recorded its fewest number of shooting victims in three decades — and the second-lowest murder rate — in the first half of 2025, NYPD officials said.

For all the talk about violent crime in cities, anarchy in the subways, etc., NYC is on track to have the lowest murder and shooting rates in 75 years.

www.nydailynews.com/2025/07/01/n...

Congressional Watchdog Says DOGE Cuts to Head Start Violated Federal Law This is your TPM evening briefing.

The Government Accountability Office has determined that another element of the Trump administration’s DOGE rampage though the federal government was a violation of the Impoundment Control Act.

Study: Cutting $771 million from Chicagoland's transit budget could cost Illinois' economy $14 billion a year. Why is that even on the table? - Streetsblog Chicago By Ellen Steinke Ellen Steinke is a Chicago-based writer focused on transit, civic engagement, and systemic reform. Last fall, the study “Impact of Transit on Mobility, Equity, and Economy in the Chic...

“The Argonne/MIT study found that without transit, over 2 million activities would be canceled every single day. That drop in mobility would cost the region an estimated $35 billion per year in lost economic activity.” 🚇

chi.streetsblog.org/2025/07/20/s...