Karen Leonard

look I know being an engaged citizen IS the work of democracy but it is also the work of elected officials not to create situations where everyone has to be mobilized all the time to prevent them from allowing some kind of Dickensian horror on a Sunday night while you're in between loads of laundry

i can’t believe a good thing happened we should do this more often

Who is wise? One who learns from all people.

Who is a fool? One who is content with their own limited understanding of the world.

(Pirkei Avot, Ethics of our Fathers)

We need these all over the Bay Area, lol.

Late to this, but if you aren't willing to stand up for trans people that puts you on the side of the villains. There is no excuse and no "strategy" that justifies it. Either stand with people under attack from the state or get out of the way so someone with a working moral compass can step up.

The pope is so not amused.

It is officially warm bed/cold room season, and it is so hard to get up now.

I was in Monterey, CA, and there were lots of Gen Z there with signs and flags. They were not rich kids either. They were just regular people. I was so glad to see it because, with prior protests, it was all old people.

This is my favorite hike of all time. Absolutely breathtaking.

Anyone who has spent time in the South knows this. They want a return to the Jim Crow South at the least. I’ve been really struggling with this all day. This is a death blow to democracy and equal representation.

This is 100% true, which makes it so much fun to be an Auburn fan.

It would’ve been a lot less messy if they had RULED THAT A TOUCHDOWN.

She was incredible in The Godfather. She and Al Pacino were a force together. I always get chills when he closes the door on her at the end. Her face is perfection.

That’s what it’s all about

I grew up an A’s fan, and yeah, they will break your heart, even when they win. One thing I highly recommend once you’ve figured out how the game works is to keep a scorecard. It’s really fun and keeps you engaged. If it’s a meaningful game, they can be a cheap keepsake.

It’s an ethnicity and a religion. You can have a quarter of Jewish DNA (ancestry) and not be Jewish. You can have zero Jewish DNA and be Jewish.

Was your wife’s mom Jewish? Was she raised exclusively Jewish? If any of those are true, your kids are 100% Jewish. (The latter is a bit tricky, though, because only Reform and Reconstructionist would consider your wife—and thus your kids—Jewish.)

Those do look incredible, though.

Same. Also, I will pass out. I do not fast.

I remind myself of this all the time. I often mull over a chapter for half a day and maybe write a sentence. Sometimes I feel bad about not producing a lot of words, but then the next day, that chapter comes flowing out because I had planned it in my head.

Most of my social circle is like this, unfortunately. My most fiery, politically active friend is someone I didn’t even think was liberal when I first met her. Yet she has been calling reps and boycotting since the start of his second term, and she’s pissed. Everyone else? Silence and apathy.

He looks like a Brilyn Hollyhand, and that’s not a compliment.

Damn, now I want to move to Portland.

Yeah, I always just watch whatever my kids are watching when they’re on YouTube. My oldest watches people making crafts, and my youngest watches marble races, both of which are pretty benign. They don’t watch enough YT for me not to be present when they do.

Our greatest strength against authoritarianism is the American multifaith multiracial majority.

Trump knows this, which is why he acts to wedge us against another.

Zohran Mamdani proved he and New Yorkers know this too, which is why we are going to win and show every city how to.

a flock of seagulls standing on a wire Alt: A flock of seagulls standing on a wire while one squawks to the camera

Seagulls when you perform Tashlich:

To all my fellow Californians, please call!

the question to ask the republican majority on the court is “what CAN’T trump do?”

Kyle’s mom speaks for all the diaspora

just saw Lamar Jackson get tackled for no gain three straight plays, rapture might be tomorrow