1/ Whether or not Biden explicitly endorses Harris, it's hard to imagine who would a) decide to go up against her and b) wind up on top with the amount of time left.

Maybe a year ago or even six months ago. But now? 2/ Biden cannot make his delegates vote for Harris. Sure, if he was like "imho, she's the only one for the job" they'd be *even more* likely to go for her. But they're not legally bound to follow his lead.

To many, this signals chaos ahead. But another way to think about it...

1/ Today we began to roll out an incredible 2.5 year project with @reveal and @publicintegrity. We found 1250 formerly enslaved people who WERE given the 40 Acres Gen Sherman promised them, only to have it seized back after Lincoln was killed motherjones.com/politics/2024/… 2/ It began when @AlexiaCampbell found some documents deep in the US Archives…

https://twitter.com/AlexiaCampbell/status/1801266503553007787

1/For years, the mother of mass shooter Elliot Rogers has been quietly helping experts prevent future massacres. For the past two years, she's been talking to @markfollman. This is an important story, unlike any other: motherjones.com/criminal-justi… 2/ Family, friends, the many therapists he saw—they all knew he struggled. But nobody thought he was suicidal, much less murderous. How can we all learn from missed signals, and ensure that our communities have threat assessment teams to flag and help divert potential killers?

1/ Jesus, Blue Wave twitter has, yet again, completely lost its mind re @maggieNYT. Guys, texting with sources is how you get the inside dope and "start writing" isn't an order from Trump HQ, it's like, start your process and I'll maybe feed you something. 2/ Does a reporter coax info out of someone by...coaxing, yes, yes they do. It's a game of cat and mouse where each side hopes to get something from the other. The journalist: info. The source: sympathy/spin/down payment on future leakage, etc.

1/ Today, we launched a giant project on American Oligarchy.

From the rise of Trump, to crippling housing prices, to reality TV, there's nothing that explains America's crises like seemingly limitless power (and oft farcical vanity) of the super rich: motherjones.com/politics/2024/… 2/ First, a quick video preview of what a full issue of @MotherJones magazine, plus a lot more online, holds: tiktok.com/@motherjonesma…

1/ Sure seems like big news orgs should update their "what we know and don't know" stories about the bombing at the hospital to mention in the first graph that the hospital itself was not hit or even sustained much damage! npr.org/2023/10/18/120…
2/ NPR doesn't have a transcript up yet but listen to this 3-min piece that's a good rundown of the whole situation npr.org/2023/10/19/120…

1/ I want everyone to realize that Elon has set up his site so that these snuff videos will be monetized for his blue checks.

https://twitter.com/RichardEngel/status/1711437189270106323

2/ Responsible newsrooms will not shove them into your feed. Certainly @MotherJones will not. But some will. So protect yourself accordingly. Starting staying off "for you" which is now a cesspool of Nazis on the make. Use "folllowing" instead.

People who think blocking should be eliminated are exactly like the people who get mad when you turn down a free drink or tell you to smile.

https://twitter.com/BNODesk/status/1692561457341161571

Yeah, most people who harass you on twitter won't threaten you physically. But, just like the dude at the bar, you never know.

And, harassment and trolling and threats are psychologically harmful.

Clarence Thomas has always been a stain on American jurisprudence but it is Chief Justice John Roberts that bears the responsibility for the reputational implosion of the Court, by failing to institute ethics codes that all other federal judges abide by: propublica.org/article/claren… Oh look, the dude that Trump installed *as ethics counsel* at the Office of Management and Budget was part of the trips shoveling favors to Clarence Thomas

1/ Timeline cleanse from Tours, France, where today we visited the Musée de la typographie (really as much a workshop), where Muriel Mechin, a second generation artisan of typography, lithography, and small offset presses holds forth. 2/ He is a second generation printer/artist—started working with his dad at 14. He loves puns (@daudig). My French was nowhere near being good enough to extract all he wanted to convey, but he did ink up a bunch of mini presses to make us some prints…

1/ Whenever I think about Hunter Biden, I can’t help but remember that as a little kid, he watched his mother and sister die. He and Beaux were critically injured in that crash and in Hosptial for long time, during which his 29-yo dad was sworn into Senate and began commuting… 2/ who knows why one kid processes devastating trauma “better” than another. He was too young to really recount exactly what he saw and heard and felt. Anyway, spent the rest of his life in brother’s shadow, also not easy.

He should be accountable for any illegal acts and…

1/ Timeline cleanse thread from France. The epic gardens of Villandry, just after a big thunderstorm. 2/these are the formal gardens…

Below is a much longer thread on the incredible public transit/bike infrastructure/street cleaning in Paris.

This year: currently on a bus that came right in front of our hotel, straight shot to high speed train we will take to the Loire.

We can have this too, America.

https://twitter.com/clarajeffery/status/1542024797055483905

Metro is incroyable, but busses give you an incredible free tour of the sights of Paris, and also it’s army of street cleaners, out in force all day, but esp at 6 am

Trump's federal indictment: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco… Trump sharing documents with low-level randos:

1/Mini-rant on why it would be so catastrophic if @GavinNewsom @PhilTing don't rescue CA mass transit:

https://twitter.com/KidSafeSF/status/1666880764687048705

2/ It would enormously undercut any climate gains that @GavinNewsom has won. Way more CO2 emissions, way more traffic, way more particulate/sound pollution.

1/ East Coasters: you need to learn about AQI—air quality indexes—and the aps you need to figure out how dangerous the smoke is.

It can be VERY dangerous, eps for kids, asthmatics, etc.

Air Visual aka IQAir is one I recommend. 2/ here’s a view on Air Visual for Manhattan rn. Bad but out here we’ve seen far worse. Also forecasts which are ~helpful

"One issue is whether this is a good use of taxpayer time and money. Peskin said his request to hold the meeting at UN Plaza will cost $4,650: $2,000 for the SF Gov TV equipment, $2,000 for “media services” and $650 for Board of Supervisors tablecloths."
sfstandard.com/politics/polit… $650 for Board of Supervisor tablecloths, I just can't even with this city and it's endless round of performative stunts by the entire swathe of city leaders.

This @frontlinepbs is very very good but I don’t understand why their house account only runs still photos and traditional promo clips instead of just excerpts. For this or any episode!

https://twitter.com/frontlinepbs/status/1658284885486841857

Like...I went looking for the clips to show you guys how jaw-dropping some of the details in this are and couldn't find them.

This isn't just a Frontline thing, it's a whole PBS thing. You guys have video editors! Use them!

Going to distract myself from American carnage by noting that the trappings of British royalty are immensely stupid and tacky looking? Like a run-down casino: Those are just immensely ugly outfits.

One of the metrics by which you can measure SF's troubles is how people who have kids move out of the city, due to high housing costs and struggling schools, mainly. We are becoming a city of the very rich and the very poor and this bullshit isn't helping: sfchronicle.com/sf/bayarea/hea… Without an actual conservative counterweight, SF's Dems/left just increasingly turns on itself in ways that are super unhealthy, alienating to larger voter base, and...just exceedingly weird.

A story the national media—particularly Fox and @nypost—won't pick up. Allegedly the retired SFFD official who was beaten by a homeless dude has been linked to multiple assaults on homeless people, weapon of choice: bear spray.

https://twitter.com/sfstandard/status/1651308745073508359

bear spray is a thing that a lot of Californians have/have used while camping. But nobody walks around with bear spray, which is much more concentrated than mace, with a canister capable of sending the compound much much further than mace ones.