It’s worth celebrating any step you take toward being your authentic self, I think.
Retired tech marketer & investor, married Quaker grandmother, TX Democrat and tree farmer, author. No bio, no posts, no follow back. I block crypto, onlyfans, donation requests, DMs. BTW, I have RA, so typing is hard. Please ignore my typos.
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It’s worth celebrating any step you take toward being your authentic self, I think.
Wishing you a quick recovery and successful treatment going forward.
Why do I think two Republican reps would be glad to name Bill Clinton but not Donald Trump and the cabinet members Maxwell hinted were involved? MTG has done nothing useful since taking office but I hope she does support the Epstein survivors.
And how many of them had me fooled into thinking they were good people.
We have similar problems in the US without the family support from the government. Where I live schools are only open 4 days, from 7 until 3 - buses pick up between 5:30 and 6:30 am. But no local large employer offers a 4-day work week or a full-time shift ending at 3.
Looks rather like an 80s style shoulder pad slipped slightly out of place, making the sleeve look puckered.
I have posted this before, but it needs to be said again. Unsolicited DMs get immediately blocked.
That’s what insurance is for - not government aid.
My 10-year-old granddaughter uses hearing aids, and I was prescribed them in May. Medicare doesn’t cover them, so I am saving for them. I expect to get them in November. (I long ago decided not to go into medical debt for anything not life threatening, so I want to pay cash.)
I laughed out loud and woke the dog from her nap.
I don’t disagree that he has no redeeming qualities. But there have been men more hated.
Hope your new device works perfectly and gives you the clear sound you deserve.
I have friends who own restaurants and were offered government backed loans.
The programs for small businesses were primarily loans. Other countries paid 80% of wages in lockdown and paid essential workers bonuses. Add in free healthcare and other social safety nets for housing, education, and utilities and their citizens had a different pandemic experience from ours.
It’s a 60 mile drive to the closest movie theater for us. If I have to drive that far, I will drive an extra 20 miles to see a live concert.
It doesn’t just employ them. It gives them the power to control billions in spending and make decisions that threaten us all.
The US had no social safety net during COVID. In other countries, people and small business owners received enough income to survive. Here we got “Trump” checks and lies from Fox News. I think the residual anger is one reason for the political mess we’re in today.
Oh, I do so hope this is true. But I seem to remember a history teacher saying 7 out of 8 times a US President has died in office, his party kept the White House in the next election.
I try to be a compassionate person, but I find it hard to care one iota about DJT’s health.
Looking at the list of allowed journalists, he isn’t likely to face many hard questions.
It is not the National Guard’s job to fight crime. Please don’t lend credence to Trump’s lies with a post that implies the Guard’s presence in DC has any bearing on crime in DC or their home state.
Woody Allen married Soon Li Previn, who was raised as his daughter by her adopted mother Mia Farrow, when she was 27 and he was 62 after “dating” her for 7 years. No wonder Trump - who has said he would be dating Ivanka is she wasn’t his daughter - likes him.
Proud to say eight of my nine grandkids (of both genders) got the HPV vaccine. The other is just 10, and her pediatrician recommends waiting until age 12 for the shot. Her mom is considering doing it early just in case.
Good boy!
Ms. Blackburn supports police use of AI face generation by poloce, but wants to make it illegal for citizens yo use to identify masked ICE agents. www.politico.com/news/2025/08...
Van Halen - Hot for Teacher comes to mind, but I am listening to Sam Ryder’s Spaceman this morning.
She is both evil and brainwashed to believe nonsense.
And how much now has to be refunded after courts rules them illegal? I can guarantee individuals and small businesses who paid higher prices won’t get refunds.
I do qualify, but it is no longer covered by my Medicare Advantage plan. I will be paying $245 for me and another $245 for my husband - total $490. Lots of people can’t pay that price.
There are non-hormonal, long-lasting, easily reversible birth control like Nexplanon. I have a granddaughter who used the 3-year injectable at her cardiologist’s suggestion, then opted for pregnancy six years later and easily conceived. No periods or bloating while using. Her cousin also uses it.
Last week, Humana quoted a $1,024 copay for my prescription. Last year I could order the meds from NZ or Canada for $400, but now NZ Post won’t ship to the US and the Canadian pharmacy no longer accepts TX prescriptions due to Abbott’s rules. So I am doing without the meds.
apnews.com/article/trum...
Except somehow Miller makes women feel uncomfortable and always looks judgmental and evil while Herman just looks goofy & unthreatening.
Looking out my back door.
I read this before the 2020 election. Wonder how much more could be revealed now with an update?
Wouldn’t that be nice? But if farmers could pay the ridiculous salaries ICE pays, we’d have plenty of farm workers.
They know, but they love us anyway. Adorable dogs!
Happy Sunday from the Arkansas/Texas state line.
I have refused to take Tylenol since I read the first toxicology reports, but because he takes a blood thinner for his heart condition, it’s the only OTC pain relief ny husband can take. I absolutely hate having this stuff in my house. Be careful if you use it. archive.ph/2025.08.30-1...
I am not a beach person — too hot, too sandy, too humid. But I could be happy on that veranda just listening to the waves. Lovely image.
Only 13 of 345 mass shooters during the same period were female. The vast majority are straight white men. www.statista.com/statistics/4...
Paxton is an adulterous crook who should be in jail, not the Senate.
It is very hard for Americans over 40 to immigrate to Australia, New Zealand and many European countries because nearly 60% of Americans who apply fail the health screen due to undiagnosed or under treated problems. NZ told my husband that at 45 he was less healthy than a UK septagenarian.
Exactly.
Well, if he adjourns Congress again it might minimize the nonsense they get away with. Though not having a super majority will help, too.
Burns had an erratic legislative history. Sponsored pro medical marijuana bills and cutting Medicaid, better pensions for National Guard troops and bans on student newspapers & cell phone recordings of school staff. PTSD or not, a violent elected official is not ok. www.koco.com/article/ty-b...
Soybeans are machine harvested, so they can be harvested without crews of migrant workers. So low sales here have a big impact on farm income already reeling from labor shortages.
King Charles is the head of state in Belize & a climate change action supporter, Mexico has a female president, and Guatemala is seeing severe climate change damage. Makes sense they are taking action. Prince William’s Earthshot prize partially funds this with satellite verified carbon credits.
He exists in a world filled with sycophants in the “media” (if you can call his WH press pool “media” and in all the places he interacts with people. They feed his delusions.
I Was Never There by The Weekend
We’ve had several days of high winds & rain, and only a few of my lilies survived. More storms are expected tonight, so I cut them to bring in.
But there should be a record. We need to document & teach Trump’s: Ukraine, Russian election interference, children in cages, ICE, internment camps, funding genocide in Gaza, gerrymandering, corruption, disregard for the law. All of it must be documented.
What nonsense. Trump’s bigotry - fueled by The Federalist’s paranoia - is on full display here. #Smithsonian www.newsweek.com/white-house-...
I live in rural Texas. I think this article understates the coming price impact of the ICE debacle. We have a tree farm, and I can guarantee lumber and paper prices will go up soon for the same reason. fortune.com/2025/08/28/t...
The Party Tree at sunset, viewed from the front door of Bag End at the Hobbiton Movie Set in Matamata New Zealand. One of my favorite images from New Zealand - doing my annual Lord Of the Rings movie marathon this weekend. #LordoftheRings #NewZealand #Hobbiton
This friend speaks for me.
One of the things beginning actors - especially those working as extras in Texas, Georgia and other anti-union states - is “universal rights” contracts that allow reuse of the actors likeness in any form, including AI, forever. All for pay as low as $88 for a 10-hour day.
I can’t sleep if the inside temp climbs above 70 and my joints lock at 75. I happily pay my electric bills the day they arrive.
The right of a celebrity to license their image is one of the most lucrative income sources available - a single image is easily worth millions of Spotify plays.
The fun would be watching Chump's reaction to it. 🤯 #ReleaseTheEPSTEIN_Files
I fell in love with a black Pomeranian my high school boyfriend had, and have always loved them though we were a Tibetan Terrier family for 40 years. Now we have one mixed breed rescue. But I get to visit a cousins poms often.
What a gorgeous dog!
What a petty, petty little man.
I have never heard anything quite like this: Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody in a Zulu dialect, so lushly orchestrated I could not stop until I listened several times. #Queen #RSA youtu.be/gbljPQbxtTQ?...
I don’t hate Taylor Swift. She simply does not perform the kind of music I like. There is a wide world of music, and we are each free to buy or listen to whatever we want. There is no need to shame anyone for their choices. And those choices don’t put anyone on the wrong side of history.
I shouldn’t complain this morning. 76F after overnight storms and the woods by the house smell fresh and lovely. I usually escape Texas August weather in a New Zealand winter but we went early this year only to arrive in a heat wave.
As I drove through Restland, one of the largest cemeteries in Dallas, I passed one of the baby gardens - older areas of the cemetery dedicated to infants and children under 2. The last burial there was in 1959. I wonder how soon new baby gardens will be needed as Medicaid and vaccines disappear?
Still not a drag queen , gay or trans person - just more “pastors” engaging in trafficking and abuse. The only thing surprising about this is that Trump & Kash Patel allowed it. youtu.be/Grmhvja6BQo?...
Bc the aim of all of this is the bleaching of America.
Well, I qualify. But do I want to give the government even more data about my health?
I think it was Oscar Wilde who said that the only problem with having a dog as a best friend is that you are guaranteed to have a broken heart when they leave you too soon. I am 72, and have outlived 14 canine friends. There are no words except that I still cherish every one of them.
I find that my opinion about Trump voters and those who support his policies dramatically changes how much time I want to spend around them. Including relatives.
I hope so, too, but see little evidence that will happen.
Saw this after spending three hours today arguing with Humana about prior authorization for a compounded prescription to treat an eye infection. (AARP Medicare Advantage) They finally approved with a $725 co-pay. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/28/h...
Looks like Berlin in the 1930s or Pyongyang today. Sickening.
A Republican governor with the guts to speak truth about Trump’s awful excuse for a presidency. Now if 26 more Republican and all 23 Democratic governors would do the same, maybe things will change.
You don’t have to live on the muskeg to know that! It kills in the Texas heat, too. 😆😆
Book advances are ridiculous unless you are a celebrity. . My last book for one top publisher sold 525,000. They asked for another and offered a $5K advance. Turned it down. I know famous authors with eatablished series who rely on Patreon, Medicaid & SNAP to survive.
My first Forbes article paid $3,500. The last, which attracted about 1.5 million clicks, paid $430. It’s like the music business now, where a million Spotify plays earns $3K for an artist where a million singles sold in the past at $1 each earned $530K.
The smart news app sets off every security software app I own, so I haven’t read the article you posted. That said, I think the premise in the headline is accurate. I have visited South Africa several times, and have a number of SA expats as friends. Trump’s racism is on full display here.
Agreed. I am retired but it’s been 25 years since anything except tech writing paid a living wage.
I started writing when a story in an airline in-flute or regional magazine paid two months rent while a national mag paid for a new car. My 1st book advance equalled half a year’s pay. Now pay is based on fractions of a cent per 10,000 clicks & book advances lower than 50 years ago.
I am in Texas. (Well, you asked where we are. 😆😊)
Her clip. This is one of the few mass shootings perpetrated by a woman, and the first I could find by a trans person.
Cracker Barrel wants happy hour customers and knows exactly who is buying their “giftware” and eating there. The gun lobby and gun manufacturers don’t care about dead children or making anyone except their shareholders happy.
Excellent BBC summary of Trump’s crimes from former Bush administration exec David Frume. youtu.be/VhwaZ_ABB6Q?...
I have been buying arthritis meds from New Zealand since 2004 - with shipping and an annual flight to NZ to see the doctor I save $11,000 a year compared to Medicare co-pays & the annual coverage gap. New tariffs tripled the price but now they won’t ship at all. I may not be walking next month.
I live in Texas where jurors are expected to recite it in some courts. Had one judge threaten me for not standing or reciting it. I said I was a Quaker who uses a walker and he backed off.
Share the link, please. It’s a two-hour drive to the closest Quaker meeting and I am always looking for resources.
Our meeting recently held a wildcat hit by a police car in the light. Sadly, the adolescent animal didn’t survive.
Yes. The power elite in the GOP divide the population into PLUs (people like us - meaning wealthy elites), Enemies (people who oppose their aims), and Others (meaning those they can exploit for power, control, and money).
Let’s not forget the 4th, 5th, 6th, 8th, and 14th Amendments, all of which protect the rights of people accused of a crime. Trump regularly violates all of them.
They aren’t sending troops to fight crime. They are supporting a slow coup as the would be dictator consolidates power.
An excellent graphic showing why Ukraine is fighting instead of capitulating.
The Constitution was designed to be unfair by creating a republic where each state has 2 Senators regardless of population. Add in the Electoral College and the result is that less populous states and area within states have far more power than they would in a direct democracy.
Hope Cottage still has the cornerstone of the original building in its current headquarters. “Donated by the benevolent Knights of the Ku Klux Klan” carved into the stone.
A pardon and a 6-figure salary from ICE in the case of a former neighbor of mine who was convicted of assaulting a Capitol police officer on January 6. But it did get him and his gun collection off my block, so there is that.
Yes we do. But we are totally civilized and violent to treat them like those Nazis they are.