I probably could, I was just feeling a bit ornery. Hope you’re having a good one out there!

Q-tips.

I follow a guy (Matt Taylor) who studies a branch of Christianity called the New Apostolic Reformation, a branch that’s like if Evangelical theology, prosperity gospel, and morals merged with traditional charismatics. Lots of prophecies. These are also the Seven Mountains Mandate people–the people who believe they should be in charge of the 7 pillars of culture, like media and education. He posted a a zoomed out version of the above picture, labeling everyone he recognizes from NAR. The NAR has been courting Trump since his first term. Trump is delivering for them.

In case anyone wants to see the post. It’s not an organization that only liberal Lutherans supported either. LCMS (the larger conservative branch) supported this organization for years, too.

that don’t believe in sky daddy the right way?

Fair warning to everyone, it’s an older doc (2006ish), but very worth watching. And I liked, later, going and watching the movies that it uses as examples to talk about issues. I’m especially thinking of “But I’m a Cheerleader”, but there are lots.

As has been well documented time and again, Texas textbooks are not neutral sources of information (podcast for anyone interested). Taking real books out of the library, controlling the content of textbooks, getting rid of Internet access specifically because it could introduce thought to children… Home of the free, my friends. Free speech absolutism.

I went to HS early/mid 00s, and for my school district of 5 highschools, there was one career center. That’s where they put shop and cosmetology and graphic design (and ASL for some reason?) I dropped band in my senior year. I wasn’t that great, hated the marching part especially. I wanted to do graphic design (not that great at it either, come to find out!). A band director literally pulled me aside one day, urging me to rethink my choice. That career center was ‘for kids who weren’t college bound.’ I guess it couldn’t help me as much as he thought band could have? 🤦‍♀️

I don’t want another fucking war. If we’re war-mongering, as happened before the Iraq war, we shouldn’t just ignore it.

Propublica also posts their content on BlueSky, if you find that any more palatable

Is it worth calling/emailing them to demand a refund? Especially if you were there for any specific journalists that are leaving? I think it would be very reasonable for WaPo to have to hear from its subscribers about these changes.

Think you’re still missing the point that he was one of the least harmful (on a presidential scale), most genuine good people we’ve had as president in a looooong while. Maybe ever.

Yeah, another heavy dramatic saga to wade through. I think I’d prefer a Simon Pegg/Nick Frost adaptation. Or maybe a Matt Stone/Trey Parker version. Something still epic, but also hilarious and full of the vibrancy of humans.

Not a gambler, I don’t think that money would feel right anyhow. There’s nothing about a trump presidency that should feel like a win.

And yeah, I grew up hearing sermons about how women should never be in positions of power over men. And then there’s also the deep and abiding racism that’s been with us longer than the idea of democracy. I hoped enough people would see the bigger picture. But no, missed out on my chance to be rich I guess.

In the States, I was getting ads during election season letting me know that I could bet on the outcome of the election. It’s madness.

I have an older family member who is severely mentally disabled and always has been. His medical records diagnosed him as r*tarded. The adults diagnosing him at the time didn’t understand enough about mental conditions and their differences when he was a child. So kids like him were diagnosed with that. It did have more ‘legitimate’ uses than it does in our current context. Doesn’t make it good or right, doesn’t mean they shouldn’t have tried to be more specific either. That legacy leads to now where we have the nuance and resources to do better. I am glad it’s more and more relagated to the past as it’s consistently been used to dehumanize people.

‘normalizing kids being part of their parents lives’ bullshit

Most jobs I’ve had would fire you if you brought your kid to work.

How is he going to be running a department on efficiency with a lil kid running around? A lot of people remember working from home with their kids at home…

Crocheting is an inexpensive, versatile hobby that could absolutely result in art that you could sell online. Seriously, with a bit of string and a funny stick, and you can make lil stuffies, hats, scarves, etc. You can make cute ones, nerdy stuff, appeal to different fandoms/online communities. If you create a decent inventory, perhaps a local place by you would also feature your products for a cut.

I’ve seen cool button making machines for relatively inexpensive ($60~), but then you would need to have access to a printer and ink, so overall that’s a more expensive project. But that’s another option to think about as well.

Drivers make a texit when they take an unpaved exit off a freeway/highway.

I’ve seen that gunman --he has an absolutely dazzling smile. $50k pls 🫱💰