The Literate Lizard

When I was a 5' 3" 130-pound psychiatrist working in ER settings, I routinely de-escalated much taller & much heavier psychotic people screaming bloody murder right in my face.

And once in a state hospital, I did the same with a man pointing a loaded gun at me, just three feet away.

South Shore Residents Return To Ransacked Apartments After ICE Raid: 'It Looks Like Hell' A "now renting" sign outside touts granite countertops. Inside, residents are trying to make sense of the raid that made their already neglected building even worse.

Trump's ICE thugs should be arrested and facing local, state and federal charges.
blockclubchicago.org/2025/10/02/s...

People like teachers and doctors and nurses are expected to de-escalate tense situations every single day without throwing people on the ground.

I visited the apartment building ICE raided on Tuesday today. Story to come, but you can walk right in. Half of the apartments have no doors on them. Children's stuff abandoned in some flats. *Citizen* residents told me they were arrested and held for hours in zipties. This is America

Even if you support massive deportation operations, under no circumstances should ANYONE be ok with US citizens being forcibly removed from their homes and detained without explanation.

This is a clear violation of their constitutional rights and should universally condemned.

Who could ever have imagined when I played a fictional rebel who joined the Resistance to oppose a criminal Authoritarian & wannabe King, it would be happening in real-life?

#TwentyfiveFortyseven

Federal agents hurled tear gas at people on a busy Logan Square street, outside a grocery store and near an elementary school.

Reckless, undertrained ICE hires are a danger to everyone. This is terrorism against US citizens.

Cover of the new book of cartoons about science by Tom Gauld: Physics for Cats

It's #Caturday! Here's Physics for Cats, by @tomgauld.bsky.social. True, not every cartoon features cats, but every science-based cartoon is hilarious. Math freaks can figure out the ratio of cat to non-cat cartoons in the book.
theliteratelizard.com/book/9781770...
#BookSky
@dandq.bsky.social

Hey GOP reps! Ask your constituents about their skyrocketing insurance premiums!
"12 million Americans in Republican-held US House districts are covered by health plans purchased through Affordable Care Act exchanges versus 9 million living in Democratic-held districts."
www.msn.com/en-us/news/p...

While millions of Americans wait to see if their health care will be stripped and hundreds of thousands of federal workers are furloughed, Mike Johnson and his Republican colleagues have announced they're going on vacation. No votes until at least Oct. 14th.

This 👇🏽 💯

Our annual October Scary Horror! And Even Scarier Politics!! promotions offers 20% off over 50 books of horror for all ages, as well as 20% off books on the horrible politics of Trump and the MAGA GOP. The graphic for this promotion shows five of the horror books, with classic horror images like ghosts, skeletons and Frankenstein. The other half of the graphic shows five of the political books, along with even scarier images like Trump, Pete Hegseth and Kristi Noem.

Thank you! I think you might enjoy taking a peek at my Scary Horror! And Even Scarier Politics!! promotion!
theliteratelizard.com/scary-horror...

This new book is one of our current 20% off picks. Thank you for the inspiring words, Tim Curry!
Rocky Horror: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Cult Classic, by Mick Rock and Tim Mohr.
theliteratelizard.com/book/9780063...

Our annual October Scary Horror! And Even Scarier Politics!! promotions offers 20% off over 50 books of horror for all ages, as well as 20% off books on the horrible politics of Trump and the MAGA GOP. The graphic for this promotion shows five of the horror books, with classic horror images like ghosts, skeletons and Frankenstein. The other half of the graphic shows five of the political books, along with even scarier images like Trump, Pete Hegseth and Kristi Noem.

October, Halloween and the SCARY season! We're offering some horror books for all ages at 20% off, which will give you moments of respite from the EVEN SCARIER politics of Trump's ruinous rush to authoritarianism. We have 20% off books for that as well: theliteratelizard.com/scary-horror...
#BookSky

2) We recommend you read Without Precedent: How Chief Justice Roberts and His Accomplices Rewrote the Constitution and Dismantled Our Rights, by @thelisagraves.bsky.social, published this week by @typemediacenter.org/Bold Type Books. We offer it for 20% off: theliteratelizard.com/book/9781645...

Cover of the new book Without Precedent: How Chief Justice Roberts and His Accomplices Rewrote the Constitution and Dismantled Our Rights, by Lisa Graves.

1) For years the media fed us stories about how Chief Justice John Roberts' central priority was preserving the legitimacy of the Court. It was all lies. Once he gained a solid conservative majority, he has overturned precedent, shredded the meaning of the Constitution, and undermined democracy... 🧵

If there is ever any justice, all the new prisons being commissioned by the government will end up being filled by the endless law-breaking by the administration, ICE, and everyone else in this Trump criminal enterprise.

"If we lose hope, we're doomed."

We must continue Dr. Jane Goodall's mission and all fight for the future of the planet.

Here are three more factual statements:

1. 25,000 of Mike Johnson's constituents are about to lose health care

2. 27,000 more are about to have their premiums skyrocket.

3. A 60 year old couple in his district would pay $19,000 more a year.

When she died, she was in Los Angeles on a speaking tour. Kept going strong right up to the end.

Cover of the book The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times, by Jane Goodall and Douglas Adams. The background picture is of a young Jane Goodall in Africa and a young chimpanzee reaching towards one another. It is the cover picture of her earlier book In The Shadow Of Man.

RIP Jane Goodall at age 91, a truly amazing woman. Her last book, The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times, is one we all need to read to nurture our hope in these trying times. Backordered right now, but should be back in stock in a couple weeks: theliteratelizard.com/book/9781250...

STEPHANOPOULOS: The Democratic proposal is designed to prevent millions of Americans from losing their health insurance, losing Medicaid coverage, or paying higher healthcare premiums. Why are you against that?

MIKE JOHNSON: That's an absurd statement

STEPHANOPOULOS: It's a factual statement

Now more than ever.
Our 20% off RESIST! promotion offers over 100 books for adults, teens and kids to help educate, inspire and empower everyone to help face the authoritarian onslaught faced by our country and the increasing threats faced by the world at large.
theliteratelizard.com/resist-2025

The cowardly, incompetent Republicans have shut down the government.
All because they would rather protect billionaire tax cuts rather than help the American people with soaring health care costs and inflation.
Trump is a failure.
The Republicans are failures.
They do not care about you.

Restless Books’ Immigrant New Writing Prize Finds New Underwriter Presented annually by Restless Books, the New Immigrant Writing Prize has found a new sponsor in one of the press’s own board members. Following a loss of $25,000 in federal funding this year,…

Presented annually by Restless Books, the New Immigrant Writing Prize has found a new sponsor in one of the press’s own board members. Following a loss of $25,000 in federal funding this year, Restless has received $300,000 in funding from professor Steven Kellman—its largest donation to date.

Happy publication day to our eight 20% off new release picks of the week. And remember, the discounts last for two weeks, so last week's picks are also still 20% off: theliteratelizard.com/front-page-b...
#BookSky

And after 40 minutes of cringe-Thunderous applause from the generals!

Just kidding. Total silence. 👀 🦗 🦗

2) and so Trump, the Commander-in-Chief, could give an appalling demonstration of his accelerating dementia and say he was ordering them to break their oaths, the law, and the Constitution by waging war on American citizens. Do I have that right?

1) So, what I gather from the news reports is Hegseth disrupted military operations around the world and endangered our military leaders for his very important meeting in which he called soldiers fat and said not to worry about being sexually abusive or racist because he didn't care, and...🧵

This looks like the inception of your next novel.