Jeff May

Liberal Louisiananian and Chihuahua lover just trying to save democracy. My pronouns are “the one who makes a good gumbo”

[Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський @ZelenskyyUa]

Our long-range sanctions have reached Russia’s Tyumen region – another oil-processing facility, over 2,000 kilometers from our state border. An effective strike.

The job was carried out by the new, upgraded FP drones that can now reach targets at distances of 3,000 kilometers. I am grateful to the Fire Point engineers.

Our mid-range strikes against military targets in the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine are also ongoing and having a real impact on Russian military logistics.

[Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський @ZelenskyyUa]

This time, the Moscow region felt the reach of Ukraine’s long-range capabilities. An oil refinery was hit at a distance of 500 kilometers. I thank the warriors of the Security Service of Ukraine, the Unmanned Systems Forces, the Special Operations Forces, the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine, and the Missile Forces for their effective work.

Russia must be forced to end its war against our people. And Ukraine’s long-range weapons are one of the important components of such pressure.

This is a just response to Russian strikes – and to the dragging out of a war that must be ended.

Glory to Ukraine!

[James Lucas @JamesLucasIT]

In 1963, New York City committed what one critic called an act of vandalism against its own soul. It tore down the most beautiful building it had ever built, and it has regretted it every day since.

The building was Pennsylvania Station, and for half a century it was one of the great rooms of the world...

It opened in 1910, designed by the architects McKim, Mead & White, and it covered eight acres in the heart of Manhattan. Its main waiting room was modeled on the Baths of Caracalla in ancient Rome, with ceilings that rose 150 feet into the air.

Sunlight poured down through vast steel-and-glass canopies onto the concourse below. To step off a train and walk up into that light was, for millions of arriving travelers, the moment New York announced itself.

A historian, Vincent Scully, famously wrote that, through it, one entered the city like a god. One scuttles in now like a rat...

Because in 1963, the railroad, losing money and sitting on immensely valuable land, sold the air rights above the station. The great building was condemned. Wave by wave, the pink granite columns were pulled down and dumped in a New Jersey swamp, and a low, windowless complex of Madison Square Garden and an office tower was built on top of the surviving tracks.

There was no law to stop it. At the time, nothing in New York protected a historic building from destruction, however beloved. Leading architects stood outside in protest as the demolition began. It made no difference...

But something came out of the loss. The destruction of Penn Station horrified the public so deeply that it gave birth to the modern preservation movement in America. New York passed its landmarks law in 1965, and that law would later save Grand Central Terminal from the very same fate.

In a way, Penn Station became more powerful in death than it had ever been in life.

It’s really true that we never truly know what we have until we lose it... the columns of Penn Station could not be saved. But every landmark that still stands in New York today stands partly because of what their loss awakened in the people who watched them fall.

Ada Louise Huxtable, the first architecture critic of The New York Times, wrote of the demolition in 1963: "The tragedy is that our own times not only could not produce such a building, but cannot even maintain it."

I started this newsletter because the people who came before us left us something extraordinary, and almost no one is teaching us how to see it anymore. Every week I try to. If that is something you would like to be part of, you can join here:

https://t.co/hgJUdR0Rb5

I write about beauty in all its forms. If you'd like to support the work, a paid subscription is what makes it possible.

[Irene Sulima @Irene5744129242]

🇪🇺🇺🇦 Thank you for this decision. Ukrainians gave a lot, hundreds of thousands of lives, destroyed cities, for this right. It is an honor for us to become a member of the European Union. We consciously paid the highest price. Because we have no other way. Ukraine is culturally and mentally Europe. Together we are stronger!

[Ursula von der Leyen @vonderleyen]

Today, the European Union took a major step forward.

All Member States agreed to open the first accession negotiations cluster with Ukraine and Moldova.

At the first Intergovernmental Conference on Monday, we will open the cluster on fundamentals; the backbone of the accession process.

It covers the core values and principles on which the EU is built, from the rule of law to strong democratic institutions.

This is a recognition of the determination, courage and hard work shown by both countries in advancing reforms, even in the face of immense challenges.

And a signal that the EU’s offer of peace, stability and opportunity is unmatchable.

Enlargement is a strategic choice.

By bringing our nations closer together, we strengthen peace, security and prosperity across our continent.

In a world marked by growing uncertainty, a larger European Union is in our common interest.

Enlargement remains one of the EU’s greatest success stories and our best investment in our shared future.

[Frank Luntz @FrankLuntz]

Last month, solar power generated 12.8% of electricity in the U.S. while coal was responsible for 12.2%.

It’s the first time in history that solar accounted for more energy than coal. 🔋 https://t.co/yMxwOduobq

[Graham Platner for Senate @grahamformaine]

Being called a thug and the worst person ever to run for office by Donald Trump might be the highest compliment I have ever received.

[Chris “Law Dork” Geidner @chrisgeidner]

BREAKING: Judge Angel Kelley blocks Interior Sec. Doug Burgum's “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History” Order as "a dangerous precedent of censorship and sanitization" and orders DOI to "restore and reinstall" removed materials "forthwith."

ORDER: https://t.co/ja7RG2qP7V

[Christopher Webb @cwebbonline]

FOOTAGE OF THE LETTERS BEING REMOVED

The irony of the Trump administration claiming to be the most transparent in history is never lost on me. Kennedy Center Workers used a tarp so cameras couldn’t see the removal.

It’s like playing hide-and-seek with a toddler: if they can’t see you, they think you can’t see them.

A huge thank you to @RepBeatty. This would not have been possible without her persistence and hard work.

[Jamie Raskin @jamie_raskin]

Last night my friend @MaxwellFrostFL showed me Donald Trump’s Truth Social posting urging MAGA to expel me from Congress. Apparently Trump doesn’t appreciate our fight against his $1.776 billion slush fund or his outrageous attack against the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Sorry, Mr. President, I’m not going anywhere but back to the front lines of the fight against corruption and authoritarianism.

[Acyn @Acyn]

Elias: Why does California have signature matching? They have it to satisfy the same right-wing zealots who claim there’s fraud, right?

So they do this whole kabuki theater that takes all of this time in order to contend with the fact that people say that if you don’t do signature matching, there’s going to be fraud. And then they get attacked for taking the time to do that very thing.

The fact that the New York Times thinks there’s a middle ground here… Here’s my message: I don’t compromise with Republicans because there is no middle ground between a firefighter and an arsonist, and they are trying to burn down democracy.

[Hunter Biden @HunterBiden]

Glorification? There was zero glory in my addiction. It was truly the most excruciatingly humiliating and degrading experience you could possibly imagine. I wanted to commit suicide almost daliy, but didn’t have the courage for even that. Instead I’d reach for the pipe or the bottle. The cowards way out. The guilt. The shame. The hurt. The absolute misery of it. Yet here I am. And I am not alone. There are millions upon millions of us. We don’t all agree on politics or people or who we root for on Sunday. But we all have the shared experience of walking through that fire and surviving. I chose to live. That’s not a joke.

[ChrisO_wiki @ChrisO_wiki]

1/ Ukraine appears to have attacked Russian aircraft under cover in concrete shelters, likely with drones flown into the entrances. Details are as yet scant. ��️

[Hunter Biden @HunterBiden]

I see your profile picture. That’s Johnny Cash. My hero too. Arrested seven times. Smuggled 668 amphetamines across the Mexican border in 1965. Took every drug there was and drank like I did. Cheated on his first wife. Slept with more woman than I ever did. Hit bottom in a cave in Tennessee in 1968 trying to crawl off and die. And then he got up. He got clean. He spent the rest of his life singing for prisoners and addicts and the people the country threw away because he knew he was one of them.

That was the whole point of the Man in Black. He wore it for the poor and the beaten down. He wore it for the prisoner who has long paid for his crime. He wore it for the ones who never heard a word of Jesus. He wore it for the addicted and the dying. He wore it as a standing witness that no one is past saving.

You picked his picture. You did not pick his message. Try listening to the words.

[Jeff May @JeffMay619]

No one elected Elon Musk!!

[Jeff May @JeffMay619]

@LindseyGrahamSC Ok Senator Graham let’s see if you and your colleagues who support Ukraine can talk him out of abandoning them

[Steve Benen @stevebenen]

Let me see if I have this straight: According to Trump and his allies, his second term would be "nasty," "bloody," and filled with "hardships" for much of the population?

There's never been a closing message quite like this one. https://t.co/bhYGVTMmPi

[Jeff May @JeffMay619]

@shellenberger This is false. The equal time provision applies only to paid advertising and not the content of programming otherwise Fox News would be shut down.

[Headquarters @HQNewsNow]

Vice President Harris makes surprise appearance on @nbcsnl

[Jen 'now @jenrubin9' Rubin @JRubinBlogger]

I like democracy’s chances this election. Ignoring the polls that are all within the margin of error (and the incessantly inane chatter about small, statistically nonsignificant changes) has its benefits; one can step back to assess the performance of the two campaigns and candidates. Vice President Kamala Harris has been doggedly working swing states; giving interviews to Black, local and mainstream media; slamming her opponent’s racism and fascist ambitions; and driving a large early vote (including a Democratic senior surge). She has come across as warm, sincere and quick on her feet. (She has about a 10-point advantage over former president Donald Trump on favorability.)
https://t.co/nAYvi46Jt0