Claire

Yes, yes, and yes.

Uh oh …

Printing this one out. Thanks!

Several days ago, I wrote a piece on Graham Platner in the aftermath of the reddit posts coming to light. I spoke with mutual folks we know, who all said, "Hey, he's a good guy."

Waking up to discover he has a Nazi tattoo on his chest was a gut punch.

Like, who is he?

Great article.

It’s all good. It all matters. Long time organizers should know that. Most do, I think. I loved being at the rally in South Paris today. And thank you for sharing your great photos.

Also, glad we have ranked choice.

US military brass brace for firings as Pentagon chief orders top-level meeting Pete Hegseth ordered hundreds of generals and admirals to Virginia to meet and receive address on ‘warrior ethos’

“In a post on social media on Friday, Lt Gen Ben Hodges of the army compared Tuesday’s gathering to a 1935 “surprise assembly in Berlin” where German generals were “required to swear a personal oath to the Führer”, Adolf Hitler, in the lead-up to the Holocaust and the second world war.“

Interesting to me that “gauche” is “left” in French.

Even so, I wish we could be a province of Canada.

Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.

Thank you!

I feel like I should ask that question of myself every single day.

I am easily baited. Which is one reason I so admire her steadfast clarity and focus.

And they won’t be.

Okay one last thing. Language moves from place to place, alters over time, words live and die and change and leak all over the place. Truth makes its way through the cracks. Follow the trail, don’t smooth it over. (I get pissed off when anyone tells me how to talk.)

Also, when my daughter was four she said “damn, damn, damn” one day. Okay. Better than hitting another kid over the head. “But don’t use that word at nursery school.” I said. Her reply, with full-4-year-old dignity, “Mama, I would never say damn in front of Shirley [the teacher].”

Most of these don’t “come from” academic hothouses, though some people aren’t aware of them until they make their way there. The words come from the rooms and streets where people struggle together and rename their/ourselves and a world that denies (in part with its words) their/our right to exist.

Wow! And thanks for the alt text. I had no idea!

I will have to see if Myrah-the-cat is willing to step in.

Ooh, but hard to do.

Some co-ops have a bulk preorder option with a significantly smaller markup, especially (though not always only) for members/owners. Also, sometimes not too hard to find or start a food-buying-club. Though… I imagine you’ve already checked out these options.

One of my favorite OCCUPY signs, which included an umbrella and a yellow rain: “Trickle down’s just another way of pissing on the poor.”

My wife just reminded me we also went to DC. We made a banner out of a blue flannel sheet with white sheep on it, covered with quotes and names - family, friends, community - who wanted to be there in spirit. I just found the banner upstairs in what used to be our kids’ rooms a hundred years ago.

Oh right, also a small park in a small town in western Maine.

The downtown bridge between Lewiston and Auburn, Maine.

Thank you. This made it possible for me to get a little sleep last night.

We live in a rogue and dangerous country.

Do what you need to do to maintain your internal peace. Hold the core of your spirit. Pray for peace. Commit yourself to justice. And just rest.

Yup: “ICE (and DHS more broadly) is a terrorist organisation based on its own standards of assessment.”

Got what they wanted. Now they can drop him.