Midday Open Thread

Denver philanthropist Tim Gill’s advocacy on behalf of gay and lesbian Americans was recognized by Joe Biden with the Presidential Medal of Freedom on Saturday at the White House. Gill grew up in the western suburbs of Denver and founded his software start-up, Quark, in 1981 after graduating from the University of Colorado.

Judge Juan Merchan has decided to sentence Donald Trump to an “unconditional discharge.” It is not the erasure of Trump’s 34 felony convictions but it is, The New York Times explains, “a rare and lenient alternative to jail or probation.” He had been facing up to four years in jail. More from The Times: An unconditional discharge would cement Mr.

MAGA Rep. Mike Johnson appeared to be struggling to hold on to the speaker's gavel, so incoming Vice President Donald unleashed a couple of posts on Truth Social to lash out at Liz Cheney, then to claim that Democrats are "giddy" that flags are set to be at half-staff in honor of the late former President Carter.

In 2015, hundreds of thousands of people fleeing war and repression were trying to reach safe havens in Europe. From his home in Norway, Tommy Olsen decided to travel to Greece, a major gateway for migrants and refugees. He joined hundreds of volunteers helping the new arrivals and later created an NGO, the Aegean Boat Report, which monitors the plight of asylum seekers in Europe. Today, Olsen is a wanted man in Greece, caught up in a crackdown on refugees and people trying to defend their right to asylum. “I didn’t know what I walked into,” Olsen says. jQuery(document).ready(function(){prx("https:\/\/play.prx.org\/e?ge=prx_149_307c92df-1fe6-40a3-a82f-de3d2faf7594&uf=https%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.revealradio.org%2Frevealpodcast", "prx-1", "embed")});Subscribe to Mother Jones podcasts on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast app. Mary Lawlor, the UN special rapporteur on human rights defenders, has condemned Greece’s harsh migration policies and the way its government is targeting activists like Olsen.

Pro-freedom patriots of the past gave us some sage words to defeat the Un-Democratic Party.

Washington State will be the cautionary tale on this one.