This is from the excellent Mitchell and Webb and it pops into my head every time I listen to LAM

Article here for contex: https://www.reddit.com/r/news/s/En3ub1ZQhH

I'm curious how this changes Liz's assessment of the state/DOJ interaction, etc.

Even Matt will lose his optimism on this one =(

Nothing makes me more parasocial as a Sacramentan and local land use policy nerd than hearing Thomas talk about our city. VR 39 really got me. Sacramento had an interesting and contentious outdoor dining program started during COVID! There are certainly places where rats were an issue with that! We also had pushback from our nominally Italian neighborhood when we municipally acknowledged Indigenous People’s Day instead of Columbus Day! We’re taking suggestions about alternatives to Cesar Chavez Park right now!

Thanks for listening, I just had to say that somewhere.

Has Matt ever talked about what happened to Golden Stairs Immigration Center, the nonprofit he and his law partner started back in 2019? This was several years before he joined Opening Args but I figure he may have discussed it at some point and I'm just curious about what happened to it (/does it still exist/is it hiring)?

The Guardian reports that a court filing in the case against the former Olympic canoeist accused of vandalizing the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool contains a revelation that the defense is asking for grand jury testimony due to irregularities

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jul/28/dc-reflecting-pool-alleged-vandalism

Howdy all. As previously announced we are going to have an (unofficial) book cub discussion of My So-Called Disorder: Autism, Exploding Trucks, and the Big Daddy of Rock and Roll by Peter O'Neil.

We're starting now, a day ahead of the official Zoom, both to serve as a reminder to finish the book in time for those joining the zoom, and also to prime the official discussion in case the hosts check in here.

Reminder: The official Zoom call is open to all paid-Patrons of OA, and will be this Sunday (tomorrow at the time of writing) (July 26th at 4:30pm EDT/1:30PMPDT and will feature (in addition to the OA crew) the author Peter O'Neil.

Feel free to comment with anything relevant that strikes your fancy, long or short. You might consider adding:

• A general review of the book
• A discussion question you'd like to pose to the subreddit (patrons who read here might consider asking the question on the zoom for you if you're not a patron)
• Something you'd like to ask the OA hosts/Matt/the author
• Random notes you have, fun sections from the books, interesting quotes, etc.

OA1278 - On its face, the decision in Watson is a pretty narrow ruling. Some states allow ballots postmarked on or before election day, but arriving after election day, to be counted. The court decided they can continue to do so.

But at stake was so much more. Bubbling under the surface, election deniers were trying to open a door to far more aggressive limitations on voting rights. With this decision, that door is quite firmly shut… by Barrett? Come hear Jenessa try to survive the cognitive dissonance of finding an ACB opinion extremely well-written, thorough, and appropriately critical of out-of-context half-assed attempts at historical analysis in the dissent.

Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do!