Stephanie M. Smith

Some inspiration just for you, from James Talarico

Our status as a democracy is in tatters. There's no easy way to build or keep a democracy. The world is watching.

I started raising the alarm on this plan in April.

open.substack.com/pub/sherrily...

🚨 Wisconsin’s Supreme Court, with its 4-3 liberal majority, has struck down the state’s 1849 abortion ban:

www.jsonline.com/story/news/p...

Crockett: We have 83 billionaires. And somehow they have 535 people that are speaking up for them every single day to make sure that when they get married for a second or third or fourth time, that they can go ahead and have another $50 million wedding

Crockett: How is it that you can explain that we still are running up the credit card and we have nothing to show for it except for the fact that we won't have food on the tables and we won’t have health care.

DOJ announces plans to prioritize cases to revoke citizenship Denaturalization is a tactic heavily used during the McCarthy era and one that was expanded during the Obama administration and grew further during President Trump's first term. It's a tool usually us...

"The Justice Department is aggressively prioritizing efforts to strip some Americans of their U.S. citizenship...At least one person has already been denaturalized...June 13, a judge ordered the revocation of the citizenship of Elliott Duke, who uses they/them pronouns."

www.npr.org/2025/06/30/n...

they're eating the checks
they're eating the balances

“Effective July 7, 2025, the National Archives at College Park, MD, will become a restricted-access federal facility with access only for visitors with a legitimate business need. It will no longer be open to the general public. Security officers will enforce these restrictions, and your cooperation is appreciated.”

👀 Spotted by @diking.bsky.social on the National Archives website:

“Effective July 7, the National Archives at College Park, MD, will become a restricted-access federal facility with access only for visitors with a legitimate business need. It will no longer be open to the public”

SCOTUS Says Human Rights Should Be Left to the Same ‘Democratic Process’ it Undermined Read more here.

NEW: Three years after SCOTUS told women to use the democratic process to regain abortion access, the Court did the same with transgender health care. But in many states, that process has been undermined thanks to the Court itself, @SusanRinkunas.com writes.
www.democracydocket.com/opinion/scot...

They pointed to commissions that preserved the record of harm done to Black Marylanders by slavery and lynching. None of those important works discuss or outline HOW to provide reparations to address any of that. To suggest otherwise is literally disinformation and a disservice to you.

There's never been one study or commission on reparations in Maryland. You have to determine the scope and eligibility. This was never about studying if reparations had merit. It was about how you designed implementation. Important policy work has been done for 55 years by the MD Black Caucus.

Dick's Sporting Goods storefront

💥 BREAKING: DICK'S Sporting Goods shareholders have voted to reject an anti-DEI proposal (tally TBA). Proposal asking DICK'S to report on "affirmative action risks" of "discrimination" cited lawsuits filed against other companies by America First Legal, a group founded by Stephen Miller.

Second bond rating agency reaffirms highest credit rating for Maryland - Maryland Matters A second bond-rating agency has reaffirmed its highest credit rating for Maryland, helping offset a downgrade by a third agency just weeks before a scheduled $1.7 billion bond sale by the state.

A second bond-rating agency has reaffirmed its highest credit rating for Maryland, helping offset a downgrade by a third agency just weeks before a scheduled $1.7 billion bond sale by the state.
marylandmatters.org/2025/05/28/s...

The blatant corruption would be staggering in any other administration.

Here? It’s just Tuesday.

Sending my condolences on the loss of your dear friend.

Actually, I don't want COVID.

Many thanks to ‪@stephaniemsmith.bsky.social‬ for an amazing session! You earned 100% from the Maryland Legislative Coalition for supporting socially oriented bills. 🎉 Full scorecards and methodology at mdlegislative.com — empowering voters with the facts!

Obama turned down a *book* to comply with ethics rules surrounding gifts.

Trump is accepting a jet.

That’s the difference.

Buttigieg: I’m not even an elected official or running for anything— I’m here. I can’t help but notice a lot of people who are elected officials aren’t. There’s a reason for that. They don’t want to have to explain this stuff

Pic of Del. Smith in statehouse.

Pic of quote from Baltimore Sun.

Pic of Governor signing the bill.

This week, @govwesmoore signed HB 879 into law! This law creates a task force to tackle chronic absenteeism across Maryland public schools.

Our children deserve the best education. Let's ensure they show up to receive it!

#EducationIsPower #Working4MD #BlackCaucusPriority

AOC: Tom Homan said he was going to refer me to DOJ because I’m using my free speech rights in order to advise people of their constitutional protections… to that I say: Come for me… Do I look like I care?

There’s nothing illegal about it and if they want to make it illegal, they can come take me.

it really is astounding that a presidential administration crashed the growth trajectory of the wealthiest country on the planet in basically two months

the jobs of the future, where you will be a hereditary serf producing goods for your betters

Vaccine experts band together to counter U.S. government misinformation Vaccine Integrity Project intends to provide scientific responses to ill-founded vaccine moves

Read this headline. It is truly something I would have never expected to see in my life. www.science.org/content/arti...

Again - what did we gain here?

We have zero new trade deals. We’ve walked back almost everything we put in place, and we’re getting ready to walk back the rest of it.

What’s the purpose?

REMINDER: Social Security has a fraud rate of 0.00625%, which is far lower than private sector retirement programs.

Q: "How do you respond to Governor Newsom?"

Sen. Van Hollen: "I think Americans are tired of elected officials or politicians who are all finger to the wind...Anybody who can't stand up for the Constitution and the right of due process doesn't deserve to lead."

Unemployment up.

Stock market down.

Mortgage rates up.

Consumer confidence at worst levels since the Great Depression.

Are we great again yet?

Federal spending is *up* under Trump according to the Wall Street Journal. Chaos is not actually the same as cost savings.

Actual budgeting is a kind of actual policy-making and takes real work spread over real time. Running around breaking stuff isn't that.

www.wsj.com/politics/pol...