Linguaphile from the US who also cares about current events. Learning Polish, also dabbling in Persian, Thai, Arabic, French, BCMS, Greek, Slovak, and other languages here and there.
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$2.11 billion of #USAID global health funding has been intentionally left unspent. The government must obligate this money by Sept 30th. After that the funding will expire and can no longer be used. We can’t let that happen. Contact your reps now: act.pih.org/sept-30-...
The special session for gerrymandering and attacking direct democracy in Missouri starts tomorrow (Wednesday, 9/3), so let's submit letters to the editor to as many newspapers as possible today! We've got tips and sample letters you can use at respectMOvoters.org/lte #moleg #mogov
As Trump attacks unions and occupies our city, we’re called to remember how we got here. Labor Day would not exist without the workers who fought and died at the Haymarket Massacre and the Pullman Strike in Chicago. It’s not a coincidence he’s targeting Chicago:
ACoM News Briefing | Feeding Gaza’s Children — When Starvation Is a Moral Imperative See More: buff.ly/qdOo67T Starvation in Gaza is not inevitable—it’s preventable. Experts call for urgent action to deliver aid and protect the most vulnerable.
🚨🚨🚨 Think every Missouri voter's vote should count the same? We do! That's why we start collecting signatures on September 10th for our amendment to protect the will of the people from Missouri politicians' attacks. Learn more and find out how you can help at respectMOvoters.org
Evening walk along Auke lake, Juneau, Alaska.
MO Gov Mike Kehoe is calling a special session to gerrymander the 5th District which encompasses Kansas City. He is specifically violating Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which bans any voting practice that denies or weakens the power of a racial minority to elect its preferred candidates.
Nine former CDC directors: Americans should be alarmed. Their health and lives are in danger. Gift link 🎁 www.nytimes.com/2025/09/01/o...
Revoking an entire nationality’s visas is collective punishment and never acceptable — especially in this moment when millions of Palestinians lack equal rights, basic healthcare, and so much more at home, forcing them out of the US is unfathomably cruel. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/31/w...
Around 250 media outlets from 50 countries, plus journalists and press freedom orgs, are uniting today to demand that Israel abides by international laws to protect journalists as civilians, and that Israel allows foreign journalists into Gaza. #protectjournalistsingaza #letreportersintogaza
"In a surprise move, Kehoe’s special session call will also include efforts to make it much harder for constitutional amendments to pass." It's more important than ever that we pass the Respect Missouri Voters amendment in November of 2026. We start collecting signatures on September 10! Join us!
The Trump plan for Gaza includes the relocation of the entire population - 2 million people - a US “trusteeship” and the creation of a tourism and tech hub. Landowners get digital tokens worth $5,000 and rent subsidies. Investors are promised 4x return on $100 billion.
Think about all those people in the West, in liberal political and media circles, on this hellsite, who insisted repeatedly for months that Hamas was the obstacle to a ceasefire deal. Have nothing but contempt for them and never listen to them ever again.
If we say he's dead enough times, gen AI bots will regurgitate it as fact.
I'm not always optimistic about the impact of online petitions. But in this case--where four countries promised to do something, and lots of people are watching and wondering when those promises will be kept--I think this could be useful. Hope you'll sign. secure.avaaz.org/campaign/en/...
Don’t forget: Nationwide protest hosted by 50501 this Labor Day!
The IRS wants Americans to weigh in on Direct File, the agency's free tax filing program. We already know Direct File has been widely popular and successful. The program could save Americans billions annually between filing fees and time costs. www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs...
If you're interested in the playbook for how our government is intentionally (and illegally) withholding funds appropriated by Congress, this @nytimes.com article explores to playbook: www.nytimes.com/2025/08/21/h...
Mt. Juneau ridge trail.
"In a stunning move, the Republican governor also called on lawmakers to weaken the state’s initiative petition process, a more than a century-old mechanism for direct democracy that allows citizens to put measures on the ballot." Signature gathering starts Sept. 10! respectMOvoters.org
2 deceased 17 injured in a Catholic school after 23 year old opens fire.
remember folks, we cant have gun restrictions because if we do the federal government will occupy our streets, imprison people without due process, ship dissidents to foreign gulags and things of that nature
A spectacular August evening. #juneau #alaska #glacier #ocean #mountains #nature #photography
Trump's use of red state National Guards in DC is really about viciously turning Americans against each other, about stoking hate and violence *among Americans.* JB Pritzker's response is so good because it lays *this* bare. Me and @brianbeutler.bsky.social on this: newrepublic.com/article/1997...
"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.” —Sinclair Lewis
AAAAAAND, it's gone. | Yeah, folks. Even though Missouri voters passed Proposition A by a big margin (57%), the Republican politicians of this state decided they don't work for Missourians, but for corporations. #Missouri #moleg
bookshop.org/p/books/one-...
Two #lichens: Amandinea punctata (with black apothecia) and Polycauliona candelaria (yellow-orange) at the base of an ash tree. Kicin, Wielkopolska (western Poland) #porosty #fungi #grzyby #lichenology #mycology #lichenfriends #fungifriends
“The Biden administration was totally feckless when it came to holding the Netanyahu government to the standard of American law and the standards that we claim to apply to every other country in the world when it comes to the duty to provide humanitarian assistance.” Senator Chris Van Hollen.
Ex-Israeli minister Danny Ayalon: "This is where Hamas is." Me: "Danny, where is the Israeli military headquarters?" Ayalon: "Tel Aviv." Me: "It's in the heart of Tel Aviv. So can a Palestinian group blow up all of Tel Aviv to get to [it]"? Ayalon: "No." Full interview: zeteo.com/p/danny-ayal...
The Trump administration plans to deploy more than 200 Homeland Security officers to a naval installation outside of Chicago to start an immigration enforcement campaign in the city.
Border Patrol keeping us safe by... *checks notes* reducing our ability to fight wildfires.
There is no conceivable interpretation of the law of war in which a camera set up nearby legitimizes a mass casualty double tap strike on a protected civilian site like a hospital. The fact that Israel is citing it as if it meets some standard should, by itself, trigger a halt in weapons to Israel.
The party that claims to care about law and order sends the military to pick up trash in DC but has nothing to say about the regular massacre of children in schools under than ‘thoughts and prayers.’
Her photos and videos documented the plight of our patients and the medical work of our colleagues across the #GazaStrip. Mariam was another eyewitness to the ongoing genocide in #Gaza. Read our latest update: ow.ly/g5Ea50WLC3O
Jesuit priest Fr. David Neuhaus on the situation in Gaza and Israel-Palestine more broadly. He is a prophetic voice. I hope you'll watch and share www.youtube.com/watch?v=1j_-...
Evernia prunastri on ash. Zielonka Forest, Wielkopolska (western Poland). #lichens #porosty #fungi #grzyby #lichenology #mycology #lichenfriends #fungifriends
A layered but also unfinished reflection for which I felt the need to share my anguish as well as my call to action www.balcanicaucaso.org/eng/Areas/Bo...
🚨Trump: “I’m not a dictator… but I can do anything I want. I’m the President of the United States.” Millions of Americans have worn the uniform and sworn an oath to defend the Constitution, not one man’s ego. Trump is spitting on that sacrifice and shredding the values we served to defend.
Israel justified its strike on the Nasser Hospital, which killed six journalists and more than a dozen others, by claiming a "Hamas" camera was set up there. The location they attacked is where Reuters and the AP livestream. From me and others (see byline/contribs) www.nytimes.com/2025/08/26/w...
"There has just never been a president in recent American history who has gone out of his way to free more criminals and accommodate more crimes than Donald Trump," says @chrislhayes.bsky.social.
Constituent: at Rep. Mark Alford's (R-MO) town hall: "I am pissed, and I am pissed at you ... You need to take your head out of Trump’s ass and start doing your representation of us."
Three Cladonias (C. coniocraea, C. chlorophaea complex, and a difficult case, perhaps C. parasitica) plus Hypogymnia physodes. Tuczno, Zielonka Forest, Wielkopolska (western Poland). #lichens #porosty #fungi #grzyby#lichenology #mycology #lichenfriends #fungifriends
From a physiotherapist in Gaza: "Two weeks ago, after we finally returned to our home, we hoped that perhaps finally we would be safe. But that hope is now gone again—crushed along with our house." https://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/latest/shattered-hearts-and-lost-memories-gaza-sabreens-story
1.5 years since Aaron Bushnell set himself on fire in protest of Israel's genocide of Gaza. If only those in power had listened back then...
Monday after work mountain view. It was a bit of a manic day, ok? #Alaska #Alaskasky #Fairbankssky
Glamor shot from Haines, Alaska
"The couple has a two-year-old daughter and an 8-month-old son."
Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the immigrant who the U.S. wrongfully deported to El Salvador, was taken into ICE custody on Monday, his lawyer said, after the Trump administration indicated it planned to deport him again, this time to Uganda.
"This could be the difference whether your child gets cancer. Are you willing for them to die because the therapy for them is delayed?" Powerful video with voices from top US scientists on the very real and devastating impacts of the funding cuts.
We denounce in the strongest possible terms Israel’s horrendous attacks on Nasser Hospital. Israeli forces killed at least 20 people and injured 50 more, including health care workers and journalists. https://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/latest/msf-denounces-israels-strikes-nasser-hospital-today
Journalists everywhere need to stand in solidarity on this killing spree and resulting news blackout. See below in this thread for some actions and stay tuned here https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israel-hits-gaza-hospital-killing-least-20-people-including-five-journalists-2025-08-25/
Can't come tonight but want to help us with our signature gathering campaign kicking off in just over two weeks? Sign up today at respectMOvoters.org/gather
¿Por qué no los dos?
6 months ago, in the shadow of the night, Israeli soldiers took 16-year-old American Muhammad Zaher Ibrahim from his family. He’s been imprisoned ever since. He’s suffered from scabies & lost 25 pounds. Remember Sayfollah Musallet, the young American killed by settlers last month? They’re cousins.
Tyrants view educated citizens as their greatest enemy. Slaveholders stopped the enslaved from learning to read. Nazis burned books. Dictators censor media. That’s why Trump is attacking education, science, museums, and the arts – to prevent us from learning. It's Fascism 101.
In case anyone is still wondering why Bolton was raided
Again I didn’t start out thinking Trump was hiding something truly horrific vis a vis Epstein, but literally every single thing he’s done…
By continuing to provide weapons to Israel — and bolstering the profits of America's military contractors — the U.S. is complicit in the genocide unfolding in Gaza. There is no moral justification in wreaking vengeance on innocent women, men, and children. www.theguardian.com/world/ng-int...
Donald Trump says he is going to deploy the National Guard to Chicago. This is what weak men do to pretend they’re strong. Stay safe, stand with your community, and most importantly, know your rights:
“It is a famine that asks ‘but what did you do?’ A famine that will and must haunt us all,” said UN aid chief Tom Fletcher. Read @premthakker.bsky.social's latest on the UN-backed report declaring famine in Gaza as Israel's genocidal campaign continues: zeteo.com/p/famine-gaz...
On the left: Nate Cavanagh, a 28-year-old DOGE staffer and college dropout. On the right: Mohammad Halimi, a 53-year-old exiled Afghan scholar. This is the story of how DOGE targeted Halimi on social media. Then the Taliban took his family. 🧵
He said it. Chicago is next. This is an authoritarian order being pushed by a racist wannabe-dictator to terrorize one of America’s bluest and most diverse cities. Video incoming re: knowing your rights when the National Guard invades our city.
The UN says the famine in Gaza is “entirely man-made” and “could be halted & reversed.” Trump is supposedly a “tough guy.” Well, it’s time for him to have the guts to stand up to Netanyahu and stop sending billions in U.S. tax dollars to Israel to starve children.
Middle East Eye has assembled statements from experts across #intLaw & #genocide studies, all in agreement that what is happening in #Gaza is genocide. I am one of those experts, along with @vukusiciva.bsky.social, @dirkmoses.bsky.social, @nimersultany.bsky.social & others youtu.be/LhT5DsSE8l4?...
Luttig is communicating vastly more clearly and honestly about Roberts and Scotus than most Democratic officials are. It’s absolutely flabbergasting.
After 22 months of Israel destroying and restricting access to critical infrastructure, the amount of water available in Gaza is wholly insufficient. We would be able to produce more, but Israel is blocking the import of critical water treatment items:
Our tax dollars are paying for the genocide of Palestinians, separation of families, tax breaks for the rich, and more but God forbid we pay for healthcare for our neighbors. Not only are our priorities totally backwards, they’re abhorrent.
In #Gaza, the Israeli authorities are using food as a weapon of war, creating widespread starvation. Blocking the entry of food and aid is a death sentence. Violations of IHL in Gaza cannot be ignored. Over 3,000 Canadians have spoken out. Sign the petition and speak up: ow.ly/kNjt50WJElu
Do you know how insane and infuriating it is to live in a country where one party claims, with media and public support, the mantle of being the ‘tough on crime’ party while its leader openly calls for convicted criminals to be released from prison ‘or else’?
BREAKING: Trump blinked. After vowing an executive order to kill mail-in voting, the White House suddenly walked it back. This is a win, but make no mistake, Republicans are still coming for your vote. Stay ready. MORE: rollcall.com/2025/08/20/w...
It’s never good news when Missouri is Trump’s focus…
Water and other necessities of life must not be used as weapons of war. https://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/latest/israel-intentionally-depriving-palestinians-water
From a retired senior Israeli general: www.972mag.com/israeli-inte...
Cladonia foliacea and its podetia. Koziegłowy, Wielkopolska (western Poland). #lichens #fungi #porosty #grzyby #lichenology #mycology #lichenfriends #fungifriends
BREAKING: Rep. Nicole Collier is told she will be charged with a felony if she continues an interview with the DNC
Catocala nupta (red underwing). Kicin, Wielkopolska (western Poland). #moths #ćmy #Lepidoptera #motyle #insects #owady #entomology
Only 23 Republican extremists supported the idea. The rest held fast that all of #Missouri should be represented in D.C., not just those who vote Republican. #moleg
Trump is leading the most anti-Veteran administration IN HISTORY. From gutting the VA to abandoning those who served, actions speak louder than any flag hug. Veterans are done being used and discarded. #DefendVeteransBenefits
The position of the Israeli government is that it has the right to indefinitely rule over 33% of its population without granting them self-government or self-determination, if you support the Israeli government, you support that proposition. It's really not that complicated.
There's a reason why sports teams don't chant "I believe that we will lose" before a game, a reason so obvious that I'm pretty sure it needs no explanation. Which is why it makes my head explode when people surrender in advance verbally, which they do all the time about politics.
Slavery wasn't just bad, it was EVIL, and a horrific violation of human rights. Hundreds of thousands of Union Troops died defeating traitors who defended slavery and turned against their country. Trump wants us to forget those Union Troops and what they fought for. To him we say: GO TO HELL
Good headline, now let’s make it stick —> Trump vows to change how elections are run. The US Constitution doesn't give him that power apnews.com/article/trum...
Texas Rep. Nicole Collier, D-Fort Worth, was confined in the Capitol overnight after she refused a police escort that Republican leaders imposed on lawmakers who participated in a two-week walkout over a GOP mid-decade redistricting plan.
Unsurprising but horrifying. Wherever there are people forced into crowded living conditions, there will be tuberculosis. Wherever people are dehumanized, there will be tuberculosis. prospect.org/health/2025-...
First came the 1992 Year of the Woman, then the 2018 reprise. Next up, thanks to Trump, RFK Jr. and a "complicit Congress," the year of the (Democratic) doctor? My latest @thebulwark.com on @314action.bsky.social's mission to make science a US superpower again. www.thebulwark.com/p/democratic...
This is from a nominee our members supported in the last cycle. We are making a difference -- it won't be fast, but it will happen. We aren't playing the two-year game. This is long term planning to change Missouri for the better. We do that by supporting difficult races.
On Aug. 16, MSF had to reduce teams & suspend all activities at Zalingei Hospital in Central #Darfur, #Sudan after a violent armed assault inside the facility. A hand grenade in front of the emergency room killed 1 person & injured 5.
sitka smells like sweetgrass today 🥰
2/4 Nicole Collier refuses to kneel to GOP bullies. So they’ve trapped her on the House floor like a prisoner. This is an assault on democracy itself—Texas Republicans are using police power to cage elected officials. ✊ Show up. Shout back. Fight harder. @queenwitha.bsky.social
It sounds conspiratorial to suggest that Vladimir Putin told Donald Trump behind closed doors to launch an assault on mail-in voting in elections administered by the states, and Trump immediately set about mobilizing federal power to do it… but that is literally Trump’s account of what happened.
Monday Morning Mountain view from work is shrouded in mists and clouds #Alaska #Alaskasky #Fairbankssky
Being against mail-in ballots is being against our Troops’ right to vote. For generations, we have cast ballots by mail, dating back to the Civil War. Denying that right is a betrayal of service, and yet another way Trump disrespects those who serve. GET STICKER: shop.votevets.org/products/vot...
🚨ACTION ALERT🚨 In an unprecedented authoritarian move, Trump is working with Gov. Kehoe & #MOLeg GOP to redraw congressional districts, break up communities, & silence our voices. 🧵 On where to join to get organized to fight back with @moworkers.org @mojwjva.bsky.social @indivisiblekc.bsky.social
Please read this
It’s much easier to just say you hate rural people than it is to argue with me that there are no progressives or Democrats or Independent folks who live in rural spaces. I ran for office and a ruby red district and got 25% of the vote. Just say what you’re thinking. You hate an entire region.
We are outraged and deeply distressed that armed federal agents came onto our campus—making arrests on the very ground where, in 1942, Japanese American families were forced to board buses bound for concentration camps. It was a deliberate act of provocation and intimidation.
Trump’s post saying he will sign an EO purporting to ban mail voting marks an appalling attack on free and fair elections. Flatly illegal and flagrantly unconstitutional. The Constitution gives states and Congress the power to run elections. Presidents have no lawful role. 1/3
We must preserve the US Postal Service because UPS or FedEx would never do this.
