Good morning, RVA! It's 52 °F, and we've got another great day queued up. A bit cooler than yesterday, but today will eventually see highs in the low 70s. Expect even warmer temperatures tomorrow, and then highs near 90 °F on Sunday!
Water cooler
Michael Paul Williams recaps the Bryan Stevenson event VCU held the other day. Stevenson is the best-selling author of Just Mercy, which the University chose as the focus of this year's Common Book Program. Stevenson has a lot of really excellent quotes that you need to read and think about while you're adding his book to your Amazon shopping cart, including this one: "People want truth and reconciliation, but they want to skip the truth and get to the reconciliation part...You shouldn’t live in Richmond and not know where the slave auction sites were.”
Go on and read Jackie Kruszewski interview with the mayor's on his first 100 days. I know, you've read a lot of these 100 Days pieces, but this one has an Oregon Trail reference! It's also got some of the mayor's thoughts on regionalism, gun violence, and ICE. Good stuff, mayor!
"Types of Hate Groups in VA" is a chart title that bums me out.
An anonymous RTD editorial about the East End post office is the very last place I expected to find pro public transit sentiment! Still though, I am confounded by the classic RTD-editorial-style headline—even after Googling.
Oh, hey, that was quick: Brandon Fox at Style Weekly says Rappahannock will reopen next week. It's been about a month since a fire forced them to close for repairs.
This Sunday Easter on Parade, the event hardest to describe to visitors, takes to the street. "See, it's a parade, but, like, there's not a parade? And dogs wear hats? But everyone watches from nearby balconies while day drinking?"
A small correction to yesterday's Patron question! Because I Am Not A Lawyer, my hot take on if electric-assist bikes are legal to ride on the sidewalk was probably incorrect. Again, IANAL, but it looks like the city could prohibit these bikes on the sidewalk but would need to install signage to do so.
This is wonky, but I really enjoy the analysis The Full Slate Project is doing on Republican districts across the country. Here's their analysis of the Virginia 61st, which includes Amelia, Cumberland, Lunenburg, Mecklenburg, and Nottoway Counties. When you bust down the data like this, it makes me feel like Democrats should at least field a candidate in some of these "unwinnable" (and unopposed) elections.
Sports!
- Squirrels fell to Reading (losing four of the last five) and will pick it back up today at 7:05 PM.
- Kickers host Ottawa Fury FC on Saturday at 5:00 PM. For $30 you can get a ticket, two drinks, and a limited-edition growler.
- Nats begin a series against the Phillies today at 4:05 PM and continue it through the weekend.
This morning's longread
THAT ‘MOTHER OF ALL BOMBS’ WAS JUST WAITING FOR THE RIGHT TARGET
I'm sure you heard about the Really Big Bomb we dropped on Afghanistan yesterday. This article from Wired explains a bit about it and points out an important point—we've been blowing up that country for many many years. Is this really that different?
It’s important to remember that today’s mission has garnered attention not because it represents a ramp up in the fight against ISIS, but because it involves a really, very big bomb. “Is it all that much different from having a B-1 come in and just saturate the area with 12 1,000-pound bombs? I don’t think so,” said one national security official who declined to be named. “We’ve been dropping bombs in Afghanistan for 15 years now. Does the size really matter?”