So they could hold the line when the brunt of the suffering was falling on low income Americans, but when rich Americans started missing flights, it was suddenly unsustainable.

There’s just a lot of daylight between “I’m rooting for the enemy of my enemy in this meme fight” and “we should make this mostly awful guy the standard bearer for our party.”

Re Newsom and the “lesser of 2 evils” bs, you do realize we haven’t narrowed it down to 2 yet. You can’t handpick an evil out of a wide variety of options and then go “omg, I guess you just hate democracy then.”

My Threads mentions are full of ostensible liberals telling me I’m missing the “nuance” when it comes to trans kids playing sports. It’s not a matter of discrimination, they say. Trans folks are such a small percentage of the population, it’s a losing issue, they say. To which I say:

I don’t want to defend the Democratic Party for not having a clear and focused vision, but it is a lot harder to build consensus on what the future should look like than enforce loyalty to an existing ideology. Progressives are by definition creating something new.

Many years ago family came for dinner (as they often did!) and one nephew had a personal meal his mother packed for him because “he might not like” what I served and I (and my kids) were *wildly* furious and still give him shit about it and this was just my ego and not my livelihood.

It has been hard to breathe under the weight of despair about the genocide in Gaza and my complicity as a citizen and taxpayer in the USA. I gave, and hope others will, also.

Normally, I would be reminding people to celebrate safely because alcohol and fireworks don’t mix BUT, if you are happily celebrating the good ol’ US of A today, I hope you blow off 3 of your fingers.

I'm sorry. This man is 30?? I know, I know, not the most pressing issue but he looks 30 in the way that the undead might resemble their once-living 30-year-old self.

This is revolting. Voters are exasperated with Dems because they keep forgetting to actually stand for what they believe and do literally anything. It’s not because they aren’t abandoning trans people fast enough. (Fun fact: many of them already kind of are!)

I appreciate all of the coverage of Omaha’s mayoral upset as evidence of the rise of Democrats and the waning power of Trumpism, but as an Omahan, I have to tell you that Stothert sucked in her own unique ways and didn’t even live here for months at a time this last term.

A report from the scene of a horrifying kidnapping on the streets of Worcester, MA today by @billshaner.bsky.social www.welcometohellworld.com/they-dont-ne...

Some people might tell you otherwise but whipsawing markets are definitely a sign of a healthy economy and a lot of consumer confidence.

I hate billionaires as much as anyone but I feel like this is less insider trading and more just watching the news. I, also, moved a lot out of the market and had no “tips” aside from all the words Trump said about what he was going to do before he did it.

I just sent Van Hollen $5 via Act Blue to thank him for meeting with Mr. Abrego Garcia. Money sends a message. I challenge you to do the same. Too many donations will scare the GOP and send a message that actions speak louder than words.

The one silver lining to all of this is that my climate anxiety is way down now that I'm actively rooting for the planet to just end us already. The oceans are rising in catastrophic ways? Thank god.

There are many injustices in the world, but one we need to talk about is today’s Semantle because what the actual fuck.

Was stalling on cancelling WP, but now I'm done. What a disgraceful end.

No worries, guys! The resistance is picking up and doing the work!! (The work=sending me texts like “Do you like Donald Trump?Text 1 for yes and 2 for no.”)

I don't have any reach at all on social media but if you happen to see this, can you please repost? It's a displaced Black family gofundme directory for people impacted by the California wildfires. If you can't donate, please share; any little bit helps. Thank you! docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

No one does smug hatefulness like Nebraskans, and Kathleen Kauth is still managing to raise the bar. Look at that demure hair-tuck. Look at that benevolent smile papered over a completely rotten soul. Phenomenal work. nebraskaexaminer.com/2025/01/11/n...

It is, or ought to be, the business of the state to defend the rights of children, especially against their parents.

One of my students wrote an essay about the importance of prayer. She included admonitions against praying for unmoral things and when we workshopped it, I was like, "look, if you're saying I can't pray for the downfall of my enemies, this is going to be a much tougher sell for me."

Thanks to Elon Musk and Donald Trump, Republicans cut $190 million for pediatric cancer research from the funding bill. Congrats to DOGE on their first victory.

100% correct. Dems promising to work with DOGE are trying to burnish their own credentials at the expense of the party’s ability to drive a clear message about what’s happening here. Democrats should be planning to fight these corrupt plutocrats, not offering to work with them.

I’m probably most annoyed about the group of Trump voters who aren’t rich enough to benefit but also aren’t poor enough to really suffer. Like, where is their comeuppance going to come from? Huge bummer to think about that.

What's not exciting is how we're all about to learn the name of someone who is somehow ten times worse than Matt Gaetz. Who will it be? Who knows! But they are guaranteed to be one of the absolute worst humans on the planet.

Fuck. (As in we are all so very fucked.)

This. It was exhausting. I don’t want to go back to knowing the names and evil histories of every cabinet member. I don’t want to know about their yachts. I don’t want to watch the press secretary say on live TV that actually trees are bad for the environment and it is safe to drink diesel fuel.

I see we are doubling down on the “liars and conmen” theme for the top of the GOP ticket.

Remember all the leaks from the Trump administration trying to reassure us that yes things were batshit but “rules and norms and adults in the room”? Yeah? Turns out this time there will be no rules no norms and the “adults” are not the kind you want to rest your hopes on. Vote accordingly.

I may be alone in this but I think the fist-pump optics are bad for Trump (outside of his base). What I see is a man wrestling his security detail and risking their lives by making himself a bigger target. I also think the “you didn’t get me” swagger is gross in the context of lives lost.

Can honestly not think of a single time I've been surprised to learn that a dirtbag is a dirtbag. (This is not because I think all men are dirtbags, but because I've had the tremendous good fortune of knowing a lot of deeply, deeply good men and as a result I feel like they're easy to spot.)

Why I Don't Vote (OK, I Do Vote, but I Would Like to Discourage You, NY Times Reader, For Doing So For Some Reason) Via @bubbaprog.ilovecitr.us

Abortion is my single issue not because it's the only thing I care about, but because it's a very clear way to know whether someone believes the power of the state should be used to dominate the people. Abortion is democracy. You cannot have a democracy if pregnant bodies are property of the state.

listen I'm just a serious reporter doing seventy five consecutive stories expressing sudden and breathless concern about how only one of two old candidates for president are old

Biden is fine and decent and he has a good team. I truly don’t care if he needs to take daily naps. The alternative is so bad, you guys. So fucking bad. Please please don’t fuck this up.

My child just tried to explain the power of intermittent fasting to me, a person who had cigarettes for 2 out of 3 meals for most of the 90s and now has the metabolism of a sloth to show for it. Please, children, I beg of you, eat your fucking breakfast. (And beware skinny eyebrow trends.)

To fly one insurrectionist flag may be regarded as a misfortune; to fly two looks like insurrection.

I cannot overstate what a mindfuck it was to put the top down on the way home this afternoon (in Nebraska, where it is both February and a beautiful 80+ degrees). So good for my immediate mood, so very bad for my existential dread.

We tried to lure the puppy into getting a nail trim with peanut butter, and I don't know what he hated more--the sound of the nail grinder or the taste of peanut butter. Wtf, puppy?

When you get up at 5:30 to cause mayhem, you need a little nap before the sun finally comes up.

I have missed having a dog at my feet. This is Hachi. He is 10 weeks old and extraordinarily chill. I expect that will change as he gets more comfortable here, but we are stupidly in love.

Today is my first day back to class after my children gave me an espresso machine for Christmas. For the sake of time, I brewed a regular pot of coffee and it tastes like sadness. Fitting.

Friendly warning: when your dog dies, remember to cancel all auto-renewals for food, toys, meds, etc. because “your Sentinel is shipping soon!” is a huge fucking bummer when it lands in your inbox.

My children gave me an espresso machine and I’ve had so much caffeine in the last few hours that I don’t need glasses anymore. I also feel like I might die, but I kind of like it? Is this what cocaine feels like?

I got distracted and failed to order photo gifts for my parents in time and as I was kicking myself about paying $$$$$ for rush shipping, the middle rolled his eyes and said, “Fuck that. Just place a normal order and assume it will work out.” And then it did? Like everything will be here Saturday.

Today is my first work morning without my dog. No one is sneaking over to try to lick my coffee when I’m not looking and it’s the worst fucking feeling in the world.

My online class opened at midnight and half of the students are already logged in and working (on a Saturday) which is how you know it's a Fiction Writing Class and not Comp II: The Term Paper From Hell.

My least favorite post-holiday tradition: receiving the dozens and dozens of photos my father takes to document our visit, all of which confirm how absolutely garbage I look 23 hours & 50 minutes out of every day (in the remaining 10 minutes, I am actually aware and posing).