Catherine Carter

If you don't have professional liability insurance, which provides some legal costs for those unjustly fired, maybe today should be the day.

Trump admin threatens to rescind federal funds over DEI In a sweeping and unprecedented letter issued over the weekend, the Office for Civil Rights declared race-based scholarships, cultural centers and even graduation ceremonies illegal.

www.insidehighered.com/news/diversi...

Elon Musk’s mass government cuts could make private companies millions Defense and tech firms – including Musk’s own – await potential contracts as Doge decimates US agencies

Did anyone ever really think the stakes were anything else? www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Let's not forget spontaneous generation!

Invertebrate of the year 2024: all hail Earth’s spineless heroes Highly diverse and charismatic, these creatures deserve recognition as a sixth great extinction dawns

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

As someone who has participated in clinical trials as a patient, this move is extremely reckless and unethical.

To a Young Poet I don’t usually write because I’m too busy being afraid of it. Not of writing but the it.

poets.org/poem/young-p...

Can we break the anxiety habit? Writer and therapist Owen O’Kane believes we have become addicted to feeling anxious. Here, he explains how he learned to manage his fears

'Nice as it would be to see anxiety as reflective of selfless concern for the world...[ O'Kane] believes, “For somebody who struggles with anxiety, it’s never driven by altruism; it’s driven by almost an obsession to try and control what’s happening.”' www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

February 4, 2025 Shortly after 1:00 this morning, Vittoria Elliott, Dhruv Mehrotra, Leah Feiger, and Tim Marchman of Wired reported that, according to three of their sources, “[a] 25-year-old engineer named Marko Elez...

"Attracting white voters with racism was always a tool to end the liberal consensus that worked for everyone, and if Musk’s cuts stand, the U.S. is about to learn that lesson the hard way."

February 4, 2025 open.substack.com/pub/heatherc...

Perfectly captured.

Elon Musk's Attempt to Control the Treasury Payment System Is Incredibly Dangerous Donald Trump and Elon Musk could use sensitive Treasury information to punish their enemies — or they could break America’s payment system entirely.

If there was EVER a day to call Congresspeople to request a Congressional investigation, it's today. Especially if you ever want your tax returns, Social Security, or Medicare. www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...

Too cool! :-)

Weirdly, I wrote letters to them this morning saying that very thing. I have their office phones on speed dial and their contact forms bookmarked because I contact them so often.

Mississippi lawmaker introduces 'Contraception Begins at Erection Act' The bill, which is unlikely to pass, would make it unlawful for “a person to discharge genetic material without the intent to fertilize an embryo.”

And now, I think we could all use a little legislative humor. www.nbcnews.com/politics/pol...

Me too...except what makes us think there'll be a vaccine? NIH and CDC are frozen.

Trump Dismantles Healthcare in Real-Time Science is on hold, and women are bound to suffer

How your health care--not just your reproductive health care, all of it--intersects with politics and has just been compromised. open.substack.com/pub/vajenda/...

Gentlefolk, my e-mail has been hacked; I've changed the passwords and reported it to IT, hoping to slow the spread of damage, but if you get anything remotely fishy-looking from me, DO NOT OPEN IT, and report it immediately to your own IT services. I am so sorry about this.

Maybe some of you would like to join me, virtually, for this online benefit poetry reading to support Western NC on Thursday, January 23rd from 7-9pm EST via Zoom. Details and registration available through the link!
orangecountync.librarycalendar.com/event/online...

Reading a poem tonight with lots of lovely writers as a run-up to the Eastern Shore Writers' Association's 2025 Bay to Ocean Conference. You can register at this link, if you want to--or if you have trouble, message me and I'll send you the link privately. www.easternshorewriters.org/event-6004510

People's Voice Asheville: A Day of Signs and Hope Through this sign-holding event, we in Asheville aim to amplify the voices of the People's March and demonstrate our commitment to the same principles of justice and equality. This is a great opportu...

Anyone want to walk with me on Saturday?
action.womensmarch.com/events/peopl...

OMG, you remember that song?!

Not wrong. :-(

@lrmitchell.bsky.social Welcome! :-)

NC Supreme Court's Move to Block Election Certification Undermines the Will of Voters

Read more here: https://www.acluofnorthcarolina.org/en/press-releases/aclu-north-carolina-statement-block-supreme-court-election-certification

Hermit thrush on the railing, female ruby-crowned kinglet on the suet, flock of purple finches, flock of juncoes, plus the Usual Suspects. #snowydaysareforbirding

“We can disagree and still love each other unless your disagreement is rooted in my oppression and denial of my humanity and right to exist”

James Baldwin

YouTube video by BBC Earth Meet the Penis-Fencing Flatworm | The Mating Game | BBC Earth

For a first Blue Sky post, I offer you...the penis-fencing hermaphroditic Persian carpet flatworm. Because it is truly a world of mystery and wonder, and also it's really fun to hear Attenborough describe a two-pronged penis. www.youtube.com/watch?v=czOI...

If I could heart this more than once, I would. <3

I am seeing your posts! By a lovely coincidence, I just signed up today, and then saw your farewell post on FB. :-)