Dear nationally elected Democrats, If *now* is not the right time to make some noise, what is? What will get you out of this cowering posture where you sit on your hands, bow your heads, and watch the horrors progress without so much as a flinch? When is enough finally enough?! Your pal, me

To push these views alongside revelations of sexual predation on (mostly) American girls on a MASSIVE scale is really...dissonant. 😳 We knew they didn't care or they'd've done something sooner (powerful white men in charge who were in on it). Do they really need to rub it in that they failed us?

I was 15. #metoo

Reading this historical fiction by Stacey Lee. She is a master of the genre--but it will be hard for her to top Kill Her Twice. That novel...😘 www.goodreads.com/book/show/33...

Oof. We moved from rural OH to suburban CT in 1981, and the women in our neighborhood were...something. 😳 They'd walk en masse by our school bus stop in their color-coordinated velour tracksuits to say "good morning" to each child down the line and skip me every time. Oh...kay.

TRUTH.

Hmm. Architect of a nonsense machine accuses others of "absurd bullshit" and thinks they are in a bubble. 🤨

Same here--and teacher/mentors (high school, grad school) said years ago that my creativity gave me an edge.

The rapidity with which the GOP has worked to destroy all public health in the United States is shocking to me. It shouldn't be. I've officially been chronically ill since 1998 at age 25--I was hearing eugenics ideas before I even knew there was a name for that. 💔

TRUTH. 💔

When I met my husband, I was more educated, made more money than he did, was more independent, and had better credit. In the 25 yrs we've been married (anniversary is next week!) he's always given me credit for helping him turn all that around. 😊

They better hope consumer sentiment does NOT "catch up with reality." 😳

Legit. It's a gateway.

Oh, they're definitely coming for the ADA. 💔 www.pbs.org/newshour/pol...

LESS BULLSHIT. MORE BOUDICA. 🔥

Looks like some kind of "make a hat" party where somebody forgot to bring markers to share.🤨

Reading is a punishment from the first time a shy student or hesitant reader is made to read aloud. Reading for homework, with no direction provided whatsoever?--> Pointless exercise in drudgery for millions of people. Is reading for pleasure being modeled for kids? 🤔

I taught at a Catholic school for 4 yrs. She's not wrong.

I got "demeaning." Trump's understanding of economics is as deep as a thimble and nearly as wide. His notions of decor are akin to those of a toddler who scribbles the walls with his 1 favorite (gold) crayon. His moral compass is skewed such that Darth Vader is the hero of his Star Wars.

This is my friend's cat. Its name is Cookie Swirl, and it disappeared in the American section of Charlotte airport on 11/10. We're asking for your help. She doesn't have any other socials, so if you can post it widely to see if anyone knows where it is. It's a little thing, but matters a lot to her.

*sigh* I suppose we should be grateful there isn't one planned to commemorate Trump's birth. 🙄

Hmm. Kinda sounds like they know that they're killing fishermen. 💔

Our premiums are going up 17.6% next month--worse than that? I tried to do my homework when I chose the policy, but I found out yesterday that MY REALLY REALLY EXPENSIVE MS MEDS ARE NOT COVERED. 😳 I can appeal this. But we know how reasonable insurance companies tend to be. Trans: I'm screwed.

*nod* Go to any random store and buy 2 pencils. Sure. And those will last how long, exactly, given what happens using the average pencil sharpener and through general use? LET THEM USE PENS-->next week's msg?

Accurate. 😑

But--but--vaccines can't be healthcare! They are in a completely separate section of the dictionary. 🤨

It's Benioff's bro show now. *shrug*

RUN AWAY! RUN AWAY! 😳

So many icicles dripping down the top edge of our front stoop it looks like it's raining! 😆

Would I love to speak to my grandma again? Yeah--been missing her for 22 years! I have a nice recording of her that I made for an oral history project back in 1990 that I cherish. Do I want to "speak" to a robotic facsimile of my grandma? NOPE. 🤨

I lived and taught in Lancaster, SC, in the late '90s. Hundreds of my students were poor and Black. I spent a lot of time with them, they bagged my groceries, etc. I made mistakes out of my own ignorance trying to do what I thought was best. NO, I DON'T KNOW WHAT IT'S LIKE TO *BE* THEM. 😳

"Explode" is the word but not in the way he's using it. 😒

"Those icicles have been known to kill people!" --A Christmas Story Also, hanging off my eaves today.

This is unconscionable. Is the ADA next? 😳

The reality inhabited by his addled brain is really...something.

22nd Amendment. I suppose that would be the "they" to which he refers. 🤨

What I taught American Gov't to high school seniors, I had them spend two days in class picking through the Constitution clause by clause and answering very specific questions. Also, they had to memorize all the Amendments. At least they had read the whole thing when they finished. I tried. 💔

YIKES. Reminds me of working at Border's 20 yrs ago and ppl screaming about wanting to buy things that didn't exist. Like a mom who refused to believe that there were no Cliffs Notes for Rip Van Winkle. Or one who demanded an SAT study guide with the current year's SAT in it. Uh...🤨

I've said for more than 2 decades that today's bachelor's degrees are the high school diplomas of the '60s/'70s.

If you've never read a book by @as-king.bsky.social, I absolutely cannot say enough good things about her writing. Her understanding of the human psyche is profound. And since I haven't said this layely? KIDS' BOOKS ARE NOT JUST FOR KIDS. As a GenXer, I'm haunted by that 1 grandfather in Dig.😳

True. But the Constitution itself is no barrier to the blatant racism and incessant power-grab of our current president. I find myself thinking that he could nuke California on one of his bad days, on a whim. No one would stop him. 💔

Certainly, there's the out-of-touch aspect. But that does nothing to explain how a man with a degree in economics is so ignorant of all things economic (even basic terminology)--except that he likes lower taxes on rich people. He wasn't bright to begin with + dementia. 😳

Oh, and of course we are addicted to cheap food without any recognition that we get cheap food by grossly underpaying immigrant laborers to produce it. The extent to which Americans just don't want to know things is really staggering.

*nod* The economic recovery of the mid- to late-1980s lulled Americans into a state of acceptance when it came to nonsense like "trickle down theory" and the Laffer Curve. Meanwhile, our geriatric monied class continues to operate as if we have both a viable middle class *and* income mobility. 🤦‍♀️

And it snowed all day yesterday. Here's our grill hat.

Stupid MS. Recurring pain today like a dagger into the base of my skull--right side, below my left ear. Upward stabbing motion. Every time this happens, it saps a little more life out of me. It's even tender to the touch like a bad surface bruise. #occipitalneuralgia #needmorespoons

SPOT ON.

Making meaning out of text ought to be the whole point of reading--but trying to get students to identify bias, put info in context, and recognize misinformation has become so politicized...💔

*nod* As racism and political demonization reared its twin head during the Obama years--ushering in Trump and the revival of 1920s-style eugenics during the pandemic? Now with extreme hatred of "the other" and talks of white extermination?! We are on a nasty trajectory.💔