APRIL 24, 2026

“I’m Running Because It Shouldn’t Be So Hard to Live Here”

“For the past year and a half, residents of Washington, DC, have seen the federal administration attempt to take an increasing share of control of local governance. The Trump administration has deployed the National Guard in the city (potentially through his term).This year, however, marks a crucial opportunity to reshape DC’s leadership through local elections that can push this federal overreach back. Aparna Raj announced her candidacy for Ward 1 DC Council last summer. A renter and a democratic socialist, her platform prioritizes rent control and affordable housing, universal childcare, and local autonomy.” Jacobin (interview)

DOJ readies up to $3.5 billion in law enforcement grants, 1 year after steep cuts elsewhere 
“The Justice Department is preparing to solicit applications for up to $3.5 billion in grants to pay for mostly immigration-related law enforcement programs, equipment and personnel, multiple sources familiar with the plans told CBS News. The grant solicitations, most of which are not yet public, will fund everything from the construction of immigration detention facilities and the purchase of police surveillance equipment to the hiring of law enforcement personnel.” CBS News via POLITICO Playbook

While Trump lashes out at Spain, US Democrats join a progressive rally in Barcelona (Leer en español)

“Progressive leaders from around the globe gathered in Barcelona on Saturday to try and galvanize their forces and defend a rules-based world order. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, an outspoken critic of U.S. President Donald Trump and the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran, hosted two overlapping events about democracy and progressive politics in Spain’s second-largest city. Democrats U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz were present alongside the leaders of Brazil, South Africa and high-ranking officials from other left-leaning governments. While no foreign leader criticized Trump by name in public, the staunchly unilateral position of the American president that breaks with decades of U.S. foreign policy, including his derision of NATO and the United Nations, hung over the meetings.” Associated Press

A Pillar of the Economics Establishment Admits That It Was Wrong
In a new report, the World Bank thinks better of its old free-market absolutism and tentatively embraces industrial policy –

How does a country get rich? For decades, the economics establishment generally agreed on a simple answer: Embrace free markets and avoid “industrial policy”—state-led efforts to shape what an economy produces—at all costs. No institution embodied this viewpoint, widely known as the “Washington Consensus,” quite like the World Bank.. In the 1990s, it took a hard stance against industrial policy, turning the concept almost into a taboo. But now industrial policy is back, and it has a surprising new champion: the World Bank. A report issued last month argues that the bank’s previous stance had things backward: The Atlantic

How to train your brain to see possibility instead of doom — Our minds evolved to minimize unpredictability. But if we learn to live with doubt, a world of opportunities opens up. 

Doomscrolling and the promise of socialism can be a tough mix. A neuroscientist has some alternative paths to offer. “Faced with so much uncertainty, many of us default to a sense of impending doom. But is that reaction hardwired — or can we train ourselves to keep a more open mind?…. Uncertainty has always been part of the human condition; in fact, our brains are exquisitely sensitive to uncertainty. From a neuroscientific perspective, unpredictability is costly. The brain is an energy-hungry organ that relies on following patterns and habits in order to conserve effort. When faced with ambiguity, it must work harder — analysing, predicting, recalibrating. …Our brains are prone to both negativity bias and optimism bias – the tendency to be sensitive to threat while also overestimating positive outcomes for ourselves. Navigating uncertainty well means balancing these tendencies, avoiding catastrophising at one end, and wishful thinking at the other.” The Guardian

Are the Republicans Killing You?
“When we look at state-by-state data on life expectancy, that seems like a reasonable question to ask. We can argue over the causes and mechanisms, but it is an undeniable fact that people in states that are controlled by Republicans have much shorter life expectancies than people who live in states controlled by Democrats. Internationally the comparison is even more striking; adjusting for different international metrics, life expectancy in Hawaii, our best performing state, would still be well below life expectancy in Japan, South Korea, Australia, Italy, France, Spain, and even Canada. The story gets worse as we go down the list. Kentucky is tied with Mexico and only slightly above Bangladesh. The bottom two, Mississippi and West Virginia, can still boast about being somewhat ahead of Russia and India. The domestic comparisons are most striking. The top five states are all solidly Democratic. Utah is the only Republican state to break the top 10 at number eight.” Dean Baker’s “Beat The Press,” Center for Economic and Policy Research