Card Campaign

06/01/2026

TRUE!
Link to Axios reporting in comments.

06/01/2026

Give us your thoughts!
Earlier today Rights and Reason asked how people were feeling about the upcoming 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Many people commented that they're depressed and I sure understand how they're feeling.

But one person said the following and I think it captures how we should be thinking and celebrating this July 4th.

"I refuse to drape the 250th in black because of Trump or because resisting is hard and slow. I will celebrate with friends and family. ... Celebrate the Minnesota resisters and all who are fighting this, from the overpass sign holders to the people jamming town halls and spiking corrupt AI developer deals. Celebrate as an act of resistance."

And another said: "Take back our flag."

To both I say YES, this is still OUR country!
The Power of We!

06/01/2026

Congratulations to former Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell and the people of Minneapolis-St. Paul for their well-deserved Profiles In Courage awards.

BREAKING: The Kennedy family just gave Jerome Powell their highest honor for standing up to Trump

Jerome Powell was presented with the 2026 John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award at the JFK Presidential Library in Boston today, recognized by the Kennedy family foundation for refusing to bend the Federal Reserve to Donald Trump's political will.

The award, presented by Caroline Kennedy and her son Jack Schlossberg, cited Powell's years of resistance to relentless pressure and threats originating from the highest levels of the federal government. Trump repeatedly demanded rate cuts, publicly attacked Powell, and his allies even floated the possibility of criminal charges against him. Powell didn't flinch.

The award committee put it plainly: Powell faced attacks from elected officials and partisan criticism from across the aisle, yet he refused to let political forces dictate monetary policy. He defended the Fed's integrity, affirmed his resolve to serve the American people without compromise, and in doing so protected one of the most vital apolitical institutions this country has.

The Kennedy family also honored the people of the Twin Cities, Minnesota, who stood in the streets by the tens of thousands to peacefully resist the largest federal immigration enforcement operation in American history, defending their neighbors' rights at real personal risk.

Two groups. One message to Donald Trump: some people cannot be bought, bullied, or broken.

06/01/2026

Sadly, the post of Barack, George, Joe, and Bill was AI. I did not know. I am fooled by these photographs more often now. I deleted the post. The sentiment of the post was correct, but the picture was not, since it was fake.

AND, I have this to say. ALL AI IS NOT BAD. AI was part of the process that allowed me to donate a kidney to my husband. Without AI, it would not have happened, and he would be dead.
SO I AM ALL IN ON AI THAT DOES GOOD AND DOESN’T ABUSE HUMANITY. You will never convince me that all AI is bad, so you should unfollow me now because I will say this regularly. AI saves lives, and that matters. Well, it matters to me, just like democracy does, and I campaign for that too.

06/01/2026

We have many of these data centers in Chicago, and they use almost no electricity. Cool beans, I say.

05/31/2026

A couple of weeks ago Heather Cox Richardson chatted with Kate Barr who ran for office in North Carolina. A good deal of the conversation centered around gerrymandering and its effects on our votes.

Last Saturday Card Campaign released a card talking about what gerrymandering is and how we can fight against it, but that fight starts with We, the People and the actions we have to take in our individual states. Images of the card are in comments.

Partisan gerrymandering is enormously unpopular across all party lines and demographics. The vast majority of voters want free and fair elections and balanced representation, not the tyranny of the minority forced on us through partisan gerrymandering.

There are so many issues facing voters in the upcoming midterm elections, but partisan gerrymandering must be near the top of the list. By printing and distributing the cards we can help inform voters of the urgency of this issue and the importance of electing the people to our state legislatures who will actively work for fair maps between now and the 2028 election. And, remember that gerrymandering is not limited to Congressional districts; partisan gerrymandering is used to impose unfair representation at the state level, too.

05/31/2026

CALL TO ACTION. This time we're asking people to call your Senators to defeat the Save Our Bacon Act included in the Farm Bill. Call the Capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121.

Right now, 67% of pork processing is controlled by 4 meatpacking companies. California’s Prop 12 gave family pork farmers across the country the ability to compete in a fair market. Now the Save Our Bacon Act (which has already passed the House) would take away that leverage from family farmers to compete against corporate farms, impacting every consumer in the country.

Congress comes back in session on Tuesday. Call TODAY and leave a message, then use the link in comments to call the Senators' home state offices and register your opinion.

URGENT: Congress is on the brink of wiping out countless family hog farms. This is a five-alarm fire for rural America. Why?

California’s Prop 12 set basic space requirements for pigs raised for pork sold in the state—which gave a desperately-needed lifeline to family farms competing against industrial hog operations.

Now, Congress is on the verge of overturning it with the Save Our Bacon Act, which is included in the House-passed version of the 2026 Farm Bill.

Sonja Trom Eayrs just broke down why this legislation will decide “who controls our food system, the future of rural communities, and the quality of our land, water and air” in the Minnesota Star Tribune:

Sonja’s rural Minnesota community was once held together by independent family farms.

Today, massive corporations are driving these farms out of business—and hollowing out her community.

She slammed this corporate model as a “pyramid scheme, with large meatpackers at the top” and independent farms at the bottom.

“Over the last two decades, Minnesota lost more than 55% of its hog farms.”

“Today, just four meatpackers control 67% of the pork processing industry.”

The Save Our Bacon Act would “strip away one of the only viable market opportunities available to independent hog farmers” by overturning Prop 12.

Prop 12 empowered these farmers to compete in a fair market without being “immediately undercut by corporations.”

But for industrial hog operations, Prop 12 is a “threat to business as usual.”

So their corporate lobbyists got Congress to include the Save Our Bacon Act in the 2026 Farm Bill.

The House already passed it.

Now, it’s up to the Senate to decide if Washington will force countless family farms out of business in service to Big Ag’s corporate pyramid scheme.

We need all hands on deck to save these family hog farms.

The stakes couldn’t be higher.

Join us and take a stand in supporting family farmers—not corporations.

TAKE ACTION: Thousands of Americans are speaking up for farmers and demanding that Congress save Prop 12.

Take 30 seconds to join them and speak up for family farms: https://farmaction.us/tell-congress-protect-family-farmers-not-corporations/

05/31/2026

Sunday Funnies
I did laugh. Too bad it’s not true.

05/31/2026

I was driving (shopping for groceries forced me to take the car) instead of riding the bus, my usual mode of travel now, which is cheaper than gas. Chicago’s robust public transportation system, with buses, trains, electric rail cars, scooters, and bikes, will get you most anywhere you might like to go.

Anyway, I was driving down Stony Island, approaching Chicago’s own monolith. It had been a few weeks since I last saw it, and it had changed a lot. They planted a lot of stuff, and it makes the whole area look pretty nice. The kids' playground is two acres of this nineteen-acre campus, and that is great. And the kids have workspaces for classes. And there is a public library on campus. The monolith still towers, but surrounded by trees and plants, it presents a softer appearance.

The center officially opens on Juneteenth, and then I’ll be able to see it. The pictures of the museum's interior (the monolith) show a lively space. No windows to let in sunlight protect all the art and artifacts. I’ll take pictures and post them after I visit.

Michelle grew up here on the South Side and met her husband here too. This is the right place for the Obamas’ foundation.