stephen matlock

Thank you to everyone at the #NO_KINGS rallies for making your voices heard & being part of history.
The massive crowds were joyful, passionate & spectacular!

So were the signs...

Mike Johnson: "We're fighting for healthcare as well. Not just in word but in deed. We put in the one big beautiful bill, real reforms to Medicaid to make it work better."

(The bill in fact cuts nearly $1 trillion from Medicaid.)

Sitting near an elderly couple in the airport lounge and the husband made a corny joke (harmless, adorable) and the wife laughed and laughed and said, "Oh you scoundrel!" I am charmed.

Fight fascism by helping someone out

Finally came across video of an arrest at a #NoKings event yesterday. 🙄

Rand Paul: "When you kill someone, if you're not in a declared war, you really need to know someone's name at least. You have to accuse them of something. You have to present evidence. So all of these people have been blown up without any evidence of a crime."

Oh it’s not appropriate for your program to air the president wearing a crown and shitting on American citizens?

You’ll talk about it in euphemisms? Maybe call it the “crown video” and ignore the shitting part? Because that’s appropriate?

Tell me, was it appropriate for the president to do it?

as far as just messaging goes that video is probably the most embarrassing thing any president has done on the world stage in my life

and the fact that the sunday shows wont even describe it? total abdication of their responsibility

The 400 richest Americans are now worth a record $6.6 trillion, after getting $1.2 trillion richer over the past year alone.

Meanwhile, the rest of the country is getting squeezed by tariffs and high prices for groceries, utilities, and health care.

The system is broken.

White woman in a mask. Her sign says Over-stimulated Over-fascism. She is standing with someone in an inflatable frog costume holding an American flag

White woman in a mask. Her sign says Over-stimulated Over-fascism

White woman in a mask. Her sign says Over-stimulated Over-fascism

No kings. This is what democracy looks like.

This is Idaho 💙

Apparently there are a lot of anti-fascists.
And the only people who don’t like anti-fascists… are the fascists.

Stand strong y’all. We got this.

I didn't get a picture of the best sign I saw today, but I remember what it said:

Somewhere in America
A little Hispanic girl
Is hiding in an attic
And keeping a diary.

#NoKings

Something maybe worth noting is that all the frog costumes and signs and good-natured memeing came about because a wide spectrum of Americans saw someone in direct, brave confrontation with ICE—getting pepperballed and standing their ground—and thought “that’s awesome. That person is a hero”

Every time someone describes an athlete as “old,” they are 6 years younger than you.

It is true every day, but days like today just are huge reminders that for all it's many and varied faults this country was always great and it deserves better than what it's political branches give it in return

Why does the government need private jets is maybe a question we should be asking.

An astonishingly large crowd!
Chicago

Well, that explains my Stellars jays that have learned how to defeat my squirrel-proof birdseed feeders.

They fly up and hit the bottom of the feeder to "bounce" out the seeds, and then they gather under the feeder to get all the seeds that flew out.

They can empty the feeder in two days.

Well, you can finally cross “I’ve seen a handcuffed, inflatable penis” off your bucket list

If you measure your success and faithfulness as a Christian by your ability/power to force cultural change ... your faith is based on Caesar, not Christ.

Christ commands us to point to what is better and will be in Christ's kingdom via sacrificial example, not cultural control.

This is what democracy looks like. #NoKings

John Brown Didn’t Ask Enslaved People How to Be A Good White Ally This Substack is reader-supported.

John Brown Didn’t Ask Enslaved People How to Be A Good White Ally
open.substack.com/pub/drstacey...

There is no bailout that will solve this problem.

It took decades to create the markets for beans and months to devastate the markets for beans.

NY Times: China Bought $12.6 Billion in U.S. Soybeans Last Year. [52% of exports] Now, It’s $0.

We are lesser for these actions "done in our name," especially when done in our names as "Christians" in America.

The meaning of his execution was simply revenge, a meaning that destroyed a man's life, and a meaning that further corrupted the souls of those who thirsted for his blood in paroxysms of anger and fear.

Nothing was accomplished by withholding justice from Troy Davis, and nothing was accomplished by withholding mercy from Troy Davis.

It's hard to break away not only from this duality about people as "good" or "bad," but also to break away from this assumption about people and power itself.

There is a better way, we're told.

Some people find it and follow it.

Often in Western Christianity the people on the margins - people of the Global South - are predicted to be "bad" and so our social and political viewpoints assume this, while people of Western European descent are considered "good."

We like to categorize people as "good" or "bad" depending upon how we *want* to categorize people.