We’re on a knife’s edge moment — caught between promise and peril, precarity and possibility. In case you missed it: Donald Trump has deployed 700 marines alongside up to 4,100 National Guard troops to Los Angeles. This comes in direct defiance of local voices and elected leaders who made it clear they do not want this ICE-led crackdown. Protests erupted as people tried to shield their communities and loved ones. ICE escalated quickly—using tear gas and stun grenades. No one requested the National Guard. The violence began with ICE ripping families apart. Trump wants to escalate it with the military and national… Read full email…

We’re on a knife’s edge moment — caught between promise and peril, precarity and possibility. In case you missed it: Donald Trump has deployed up to 2,000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles. This comes in direct defiance of local voices and elected leaders who made it clear they do not want this ICE-led crackdown. Protests erupted as people tried to shield their communities and loved ones. ICE escalated quickly—using tear gas and stun grenades. No one requested the National Guard. The violence began with ICE. It escalated with ICE. And any reporting that suggests otherwise is distorting the truth. California Governor… Read full email…

I’ve been searching for a metaphor to grasp the meaning of Elon Musk’s departure from DOGE. The closest I can come to is when a friend in an abusive relationship makes a significant break from their partner, like moving out, but hasn’t completely ended the relationship. As a friend, you know all is not well. The threat of violence remains. The relationship is still toxic and dangerous. Still, you applaud the move. You don’t feed your friend’s aching feeling of disempowerment and loss — you feed the courage, the agency, and the strength to keep going. So it’s in that… Read full email…

It may be impossible to mentally survive the onslaught of these times if you track every piece of news. The actions under the Trump/Musk regime are a barrage: rolling back civil rights, watching government run by idiots, every institution weaponized, and dystopian spectacle passed off as governance. The sheer velocity can numb the senses, tempting us to shut down, to turn off the feed, to retreat. But you also cannot be good to the world — or yourself — if you keep your head down and pay attention to nothing. Withdrawal is understandable, even necessary at times—but permanent disengagement only cedes ground… Read full email…

Many of us are angsting these days about the mounting repression coming from the White House. In my community, many are worried about rumors of possible executive orders targeting climate and other nonprofit groups. The concern is well-founded. As Bloomberg reports, these executive orders — expected on Tuesday, Earth Day — would try to strip some groups of their tax exempt status, similar to the threats the president has made to Harvard. I’m now thinking about the many teachers, students, nonprofit staff, lawyers, university staff and faculty and beyond who are worried, concerned and uncertain about what is coming. The… Read full email…

This weekend millions celebrated the liberation from bondage and slavery in Passover seders and next weekend millions honor the resurrection of a pacifist immigrant who sacrificed his life in Easter. This as Muslims completed Ramadan, fasting for self-discipline and empathy for the less fortunate. All avenues to liberation take risk-taking and acting in faith. On Tuesday, a less auspicious day will arrive: Tax Day. We keep hearing from people that this year feels different. It’s painful, unconscionable, irritating, or wrong to pay into a federal budget getting chopped and parceled in unconstitutional and immoral ways. Or as some say, “I… Read full email…

Daniel also wanted to write a different topic on his mind. If this message isn’t for you or your group, feel free to move on, we’ll send other emails. But if your group is starting to fray, there might be some helpful insights here for you. This last week a strange thing happened. Almost a dozen organizers shared with me the same story. It went something like this: “We are all exhausted and doing good work — but this week it seems like people just snapped. Things were tough and honestly we weren’t making a ton of progress — but… Read full email…