Taniel

This is a difficult read but you should do it. 😟

12 percent of people on death row in Alabama are Muslim, per the article.

Before Executing a Muslim Man, Alabama Denied Many of His Final Religious Requests - Bolts Keith Gavin made a number of requests about his final moments, all stemming from his Islamic faith. But the prison largely ignored them, as it has with Muslim prisoners in the past.

Alabama Senator Tuberville posted today that Muslims are the enemy.

Please read this piece about how his state of Alabama is treating Muslim prisoners. boltsmag.org/alabama-exec...

WIRED named the DOGE operative accused here of planning to take Social Security data to his new job. It's John Solly, and he works for the government contractor Leidos, a company that has millions in contracts with SSA.

read more here:

An Ohio poll has Democrats leading by 10 in the upcoming governor race and by 4 in the Senate race (that’s the Sherrod Brown race). theoec.org/wp-content/u...

Sort of incredible to think that after fighting for years just to win a narrow edge on the WI Supreme Court, liberals could go up 5-2 next month or even 6-1 by next year.

I wrote about the current race and what it means for democracy and voting rights in particular:

Wild:

Virginia’s New Governor Ends ICE Program. Local Contracts Remain, For Now. - Bolts Abigail Spanberger left the 287(g) program, which empowered state law enforcement to detain immigrants. Will Democrats also bar local police and sheriffs from the program?

A lot of explanations of how that works in this Virginia article, occasioned by the governor ending state contracts while local contracts remain in place for now: boltsmag.org/virginia-spa...

This case is such a stark encapsulation of why immigrants rights' activists try to separate policing/jails from ICE: any arrest (no matter how low-level or how absurd the reason) can put you on ICE's radar and make you vulnerable to going into their custody.

'AI Is African Intelligence': The Workers Who Train AI Are Fighting Back Kenyan workers are still the underpaid labor behind AI training, moderation, and sex chatbots. The Data Labelers Association is fighting back.

I met with AI data labelers in Kenya who are organizing their colleagues to fight the brutal working conditions and horrible pay given to the workers at the "bottom of the AI supply chain." They believe the NDAs they've signed are unenforceable so are speaking out:

www.404media.co/ai-is-africa...

Utah authorities arrested a man because he had dried pinto beans. They thought it was drugs. By the time they realized it was beans, they dropped charges, but it was too late: ICE had found and detained him.

Great point: Governor Polis' concerns about how Tina Peters is being treated are just quite hypocritical given his record.

This is Nathan Cavanaugh, another DOGE staffer explaining how he flagged grants at NEH for "DEI" which would be reviewed for termination. 404 Media has reviewed hours of this footage and we'll have more soon.

Part of a lawsuit by @acls1919.bsky.social, @modernlanguage.bsky.social + @historians.org

joint reporting from @maustermuhle.bsky.social of the 51st and @burness.bsky.social from Bolts!

D.C. Gears Up for First Ranked-Choice Election with a Citywide Voter Education Effort - Bolts Election officials and community groups are holding education campaigns ahead of Washington D.C.’s first use of ranked choice, with many focused on older and low-propensity voters.

DC voters approved a switch to ranked-choice voting, and the city is going to use that for the first time this spring to vote for mayor & city council.

So election officials are now undergoing a major voter education campaign to prepare voters.

Great reporting on what that looks like:

Morning Digest: His opponent dissed his music. Now everyone wants to party with him. The next quinceañera in South Texas might just celebrate with a Latin Grammy-winning star

“This election isn’t about who you want performing at your niece’s quinceañera,” said GOP Rep. Monica De La Cruz.

Now Democrat Bobby Pulido, a Latin Grammy-winning star, is offering to play quinceañeras in #TX15 — and everyone wants in.

We've got the full story in today's Morning Digest -->

Just noting that if there is a congressional vacancy in South Carolina, the seat will be vacant for 5-7 months (unless I'm misunderstanding this) www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t07c013...

Governor Polis defends against this case by saying that the work incarcerated people do in the state isn’t involuntary servitude.

If he—or other politicians, prosecutors, or administrators—believes that, I’m happy to explain to them how they can put their money where their mouth is. 🧵

Relevant, as Somerville begins the long process of evaluating ranked choice voting

D.C. Gears up for First Ranked-Choice Election with a Citywide Voter Education Effort - Bolts Election officials and community groups are holding education campaigns ahead of Washington D.C.’s first use of ranked choice, with many focused on older and low-propensity voters.

New: It's the first collab between @boltsmag.org & @51st.news.

Need I say more? OK, fine, it's about ranked-choice voting coming to DC:

ICYMI, the race in IL HD-40 (where I live) has fully jumped the shark. Instead of red-baiting the challenger to his Left, which hasn't worked in this district, establishment ally Jaime Andrade has doubled down the lie that immigrant rights organizer Miguel Alvelo-Rivera ... supports ICE?

This is it.

This interview with the great @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social was a "wow" moment for me. Thanks, New York Times and David Marchese.
www.nytimes.com/2026/03/07/m...

I couldn't help noticing the question that seemed the most Times-like to me.

Judge Orders Colorado to Stop Throwing Prisoners in Solitary for Refusing to Work - Bolts Years after voters amended the state's constitution to ban forced labor in prison, a court ruling could finally make Colorado change how prison guards "compel and coerce" work.

When Nadia Reed refused to work while incarcerated in Colorado, she was punished.

She was put in solitary, not allowed to talk to her family, handcuffed, shackled, & moved to a more punitive part of the prison where she was sexually assaulted.

A judge ruled Colorado has to change its policies.

Judge Orders Colorado to Stop Throwing Prisoners in Solitary for Refusing to Work - Bolts Years after voters amended the state's constitution to ban forced labor in prison, a court ruling could finally make Colorado change how prison guards "compel and coerce" work.

Voters in eight states have changed their constitutions to ban slavery in prison, but nothing has actually changed for incarcerated people. Now a groundbreaking ruling in Colorado should make forced labor a thing of the past. boltsmag.org/colorado-rul...

“Not Ready for Prime Time.” A Federal Tool to Check Voter Citizenship Keeps Making Mistakes. The Department of Homeland Security pushed out the revamped tool while it was still adding data. That led to widespread misidentification, particularly for citizens born outside the U.S.

A federal tool to identify noncitizens on voter rolls keeps making mistakes.

“This is not ready for prime time,” a county clerk in Missouri said. “And I’m not going to risk the security and the constitutional rights of my voters for bad data.”

With @texastribune.org

Idaho House approves request to US Supreme Court to overturn ruling that legalized gay marriage • Idaho Capital Sun The Idaho House passed a resolution to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn its landmark ruling that legalized gay marriage nationwide.

The Idaho House passed a resolution to ask SCOTUS to overturn Obergefell.

(Deleted my earlier post, as I had misunderstood the earlier link, and reposting this better explained article.) idahocapitalsun.com/briefs/idaho...

👀🎉

More info here in the section on legislative general elections: boltsmag.org/whats-on-the...