If some Russian officials had their way, Sarah Palin could someday actually see Russia from her house. Why stop at restoring the Soviet Union? Why not restore the Russian Empire to its former glory? After all, Putin has compared himself to Peter the Great, the tsar who expanded the Russian Empire.

In 1725, Peter ordered navigator Vitus Bering to explore the North Pacific for potential colonization opportunities.

The first union representation election in Trader Joe’s history will happen this month, as workers in Hadley, Massachusetts, vote on July 27 and 28. There are 81 workers in the store eligible to vote, according to organizer Maeg Yosef.

“We’re just really thrilled to finally have an election date and we’re really excited to get the final vote total,” Yosef told the Daily Hampshire Gazette’s Brian Steele. “We’re feeling good right now.

We all feel a bit grumpy lately. The Supreme Court. Donald Trump. State courts. Out-of-control state legislatures. Governors who want to take away rights and hold onto power however they can. It can seem a bit daunting, can’t it? 

This week on Connect! Unite! Act!, I thought maybe we could sit back and think about times when things looked bleak and the good guys managed to come through and get things done in the end.

The planes reconfigure from “ultra-luxurious” aircraft for athletes to mass deportation machines for migrants.

By Angelika Albaladejo, for Capital & Main

The top private airlines hired by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to deport immigrants also shuttle collegiate and professional sports teams, at times on the same jets tied to incidents of alleged abuse, a University of Washington Center for Human Rights report has found.

It is Friday! Exhale. It took two weeks for President Joe Biden to take action on the Supreme Court’s decision to reverse about half of the country’s rights. He took those two weeks on top of the four weeks when we already knew that those rights were being taken away. It is a good thing that Biden took some action, but more is still needed.

Sacha Baron Cohen is a brilliant prankster and comedian, but perhaps his greatest talent is making Republicans look foolish. Or, rather, more foolish. If there’s an antediluvian sentiment or three sloshing about in a MAGA mite’s rancid paella of a brain, Baron Cohen will most likely dislodge it. And the results will be both uniquely hilarious and cringeworthy (aka, “unhingeworthy”).

To some, the idea of a presidential run from California Gov. Gavin Newsom sounds like a thrilling and shiny new Democratic option. A Harvard CAPS–Harris Poll survey shared exclusively with The Hill found that 71% of Americans are not in favor of President Joe Biden running for a second term.

The people who spent the past several decades working toward overturning Roe v. Wade believe that the embryos created in fertility labs are human beings. Which means that people who have undergone fertility treatments and have embryos stored, or people who might in the future need fertility treatments, are wondering just how worried they should be.

Enter The New York Times.

Late Night Snark: SCOTUS Fallout Continues Edition

“Men have had all kinds of reactions to last week’s abortion ruling. Ever since the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade urologists have seen a spike in vasectomies. I’ve never personally performed a vasectomy, but I’d like to try my very first one on Samuel Alito.