Another take.... 👇 US consumer confidence dives to a more than 11-1/2-year low. www.reuters.com/business/us-...

Would be funny...if is wasn't so sadly TRUE.

On July 24, 2018 tRump said: "Just remember, what you're seeing and what you're reading is not what's happening." It's been his go to playbook throughout his life. Lie, lie more & if you get caught in a lie, keep on lying. It's been very effective for him. But maybe his time is finally running out.

@govandybeshear.bsky.social I get that your strategy team says keep your head down & just talk about all the good things you're doing as governor of KY. But if you actually are still considering a Presidential run in 2028 the fact that you have not commented at all about ICE abuses will end that.

Just finished reading 2023 Booker Prize winner Prophet Song by Paul Lynch about what happens to one family when an authoritarian government slowly takes over Ireland & civil war breaks out. Compelling, but tragic AF. Given the state of America right now, I actually felt claustrophobic reading it.

Preparation for the Next Life (film) captures a lot of truth about immigrants. Aishe is a Uyghur escaping ethnic & religious persecution by China. She's smart, speaks 4 languages & works her ass off in NYC. US' Skinner is lost, w/mental issues thanks to the military-industrial complex & no ambition.

18F in Weaverville (Asheville area) with wind chill in the low single digits & blowing snow. Definitely a real winter day! Pretty at least, and it'll make spring seem all the better.

“OUR HUMANITY” is under assault by our own government.

ICE shot Alex Pretti 10 times at point blank range after removing a weapon he legally carried & never took out during the attack on him by ICE thugs. Renee Good was shot 3 times at point blank range while trying to maneuver her car away from ICE thugs. Both were murdered.

This is who they murdered. This is who they said was a terrorist. This is us. Everyone they murder is us. They is no “other,” and there never was.

Across America and the world, people are realizing it’s not possible to appease America’s dictator. The only way to deal with him is to stand up to him — and the only way to stand up to him is by joining together against him. It's time for a massive general strike across the country.

Alex Pretti, Renee Good, and Keith Porter Jr. were murdered. Marimar Martinez was shot. Mahmoud Khalil was arrested and jailed. The next could be you. What’s at stake isn’t just our democracy. It’s also your safety and security and that of your loved ones. This is personal — to every one of us.

How many more innocent lives will be taken by ICE? #AbolishICE

How many people are going to have to die at the hands of the untrained, armed thugs who work as ICE agents before this stops? A wife & mother of 3 small children. An ICU nurse helping veterans. Killed by the fanatical White Christian Nationalist MAGA devotees who make up the ICE paramilitary force.

Minnesota is the best of us.

A new neighbor who just moved to Asheville asked why everyone in our neighborhood was being so cautious about this winter storm. I said I think everyone has Helene PTSD: Preparing To Survive Disasters. Better safe than sorry! But I still don't get panic buying of meat & chicken. Does ice kill them?

ICE, as it exists today, needs to be dismantled.

Thank you NATO Sec Gen Mark Rutte for your world leadership in dealing with our mentally unstable "genius" President tRump!

Well said. And if the federal laws won't do this, the states, which grant corporate status, can and should.

Notable shift northward with the track of this weekend's storm system by the GFS model, so that it now closely matches the European model in that the axis of heaviest snow is in a wide band stretching from Wytheville, VA to Roanoke to Emporia and #RVA to Chesapeake to Fredericksburg & eastern shore

The excellent @paulwaldman.bsky.social , whose newsletter I read, nails it again. Why AREN'T we talking about this? It's sundowning, the man is ill. paulwaldman.substack.com/p/the-presid... #USPol

tRump has stated the US needs to own Greenland because we need a place in the strategic Arctic region to put a missile defense system for national security against Russia & China. Has anyone explained to him we already have that: it's called Alaska? It's closer to China, too. #Don'tForgetAlaska

Simple but inspiring message from @jamie.agerforcongress.com in celebration of MLK Day.

This cartoon is spot on. Based on his letter to Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre alone, it's time to invoke the 25th Amendment & remove tRump from office. He is clearly not fit to serve. He is an immediate danger to not just the citizens of the US, but people all over the world. #craycray

As a patriotic American, I'd love to see the crowd lift the consulate up from its foundations, carry it to the Atlantic, put it on an ice flow and give it a good downward push in the direction of America. I believe in "Greenland for Greenlanders"!

Gov. Walz to MS NOW: "Two days ago it was Elissa Slotkin. Last week it was Jerome Powell. Before that, Mark Kelly. Weaponizing the justice system … is a dangerous, authoritarian tactic. "The only person not being investigated for the shooting of Renee Good is the federal agent who shot her."

A recent poll in NC-11 shows @jamie.agerforcongress.com ahead of Chuck "McMogul" Edwards (R) but it will be a tight race with MAGA PACs pouring $$ into Edward's campaign. At least Edwards is addressing the affordability crisis: McD's just extended $5 Meal Deals. www.newsweek.com/north-caroli...

Hey @bodhidave.bsky.social I'm taking a class where one of the recommended readings is The Tibetan Yogas Of Dream And Sleep. Are you familiar with it & if so, any thoughts to share?

Per a new CNN poll, a 67% majority of Republican-aligned adults say that ICE enforcement actions have overall made cities safe [most don't even live in a city] & 56% call the shooting of Renee Good appropriate. Remember when tRump said he could shoot someone in Times Square & get away with it? #Cult

"I want to emphasize that regardless of the death toll, the use of lethal force by security forces is concerning," Mai Sato, UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, told BBC Persian. Has the UN commented on the use of lethal force against protesters in the US?

New research links same-sex behaviors in nonhuman primates to the evolution of complex social structures

Asheville is a popular summer hiking destination, but some trails nearby are even prettier in winter. Here are the five best winter trails near Asheville.

ICE is staffed by the most hardcore MAGA supporters, J6ers, racists, misogynists & other people who were once accurately labeled as "deplorables". Stop to think about this: the tRump regime has effectively weaponized the most dangerous of his supporters, putting them on America's streets with guns!

Spotted in Minneapolis today

"When we take back this country, it will be for Renee Good" and all the other victims of tRump and his horrific, immoral regime!

As noted on the Today Show's travel segment, Asheville made Travel & Leisure's list of best places to travel to in 2026: youtu.be/GCLxQIcuZAg

Amanda Gorman wrote this poem for Renee Good and that’s it for me tonight.

She's got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in her heart!

I invite all Americans to join Minnesota in a day of unity tomorrow.

Walz: "I will continue to press that we be part of the investigation, that we do the investigation, so that Minnesotans can trust what the outcome is ... very very difficult to Minnesotas to think in any way this is going to be fair when Kristi Noem was judge, jury, and executioner yesterday."

Please support Michael de Adder, who does great work:

"An analysis of footage from three camera angles shows that the motorist was driving away from—not toward—a federal officer when he opened fire." Great video analysis of Minneapolis shooting from NYT. These frames show drawing of gun and exact moment of first shot. www.nytimes.com/video/us/100...

It's bad enough that the tRump regime does the things it does. But it adds insult to injury when they NEVER take accountability when something goes wrong. It is a direct reflection of tRump himself who seems incapable of every admitting he's wrong or that something he did caused a negative outcome.

Atlanta is not likely to win the prize for most beautiful city in the US, but it still has its charms. And if you're visiting Atlanta, Asheville is a relatively short 3+ hour drive away, so why not make it a 2fer?

Downtown Durham, mentioned in this article, is really setting an example for Missing Middle housing as part of various redevelopment & infill projects in its downtown core. Small businesses, co-working spaces, food halls & other amenities that make for a livable, walkable urban core are popping up.

The tRump regime looks so much like the mafia that one day we can only hope they'll all be convicted under the RICO Act.