Kate Brauning

City Council, we demand half a percent of the overall city budget for libraries! In response to the NYC FY2026 Budget, adopted this June, the Brooklyn Public Library, the New York Public Library, and the Queens Public Library released a joint statement thanking City Leaders for in...

Good morning everyone. It's me again here to ask NYC residents to please send a letter to your City Council person in support of allocating 0.5% of the city expense budget to our local public libraries. Thank you. It will only take you 90 seconds. This time with the correct link:

The Gospel of Donald: Flipping Through The MAGA Translation Bible A previously undiscovered version of the Christian scriptures was recently unearthed during renovations of a Mar-a-Lago bathroom.

2 Republicans 10:2:

“White GOP Jesus stood in a Chick-fil-A dining room and said: ‘The only devil is compassion. Caring for people who are suffering or hungry or hurting or sick or alone or poor is a sign of weakness. To hell with the least of these..."

johnpavlovitz.substack.com/p/the-gospel...

More Than 170 U.S. Citizens Have Been Held by Immigration Agents. They’ve Been Kicked, Dragged and Detained for Days. The government does not track how often immigration agents grab citizens. So ProPublica did. Our tally — almost certainly incomplete — includes people who were held for days without a lawyer. And near...

Kristi Noem says no US citizens have been detained by ICE.

170 US citizens detained by ICE including kids.

Release the EPSTEIN files.

www.propublica.org/article/immi...

Actually, seeing a man of color, getting scared, and calling The Police, is pretty typical racist behavior

Blue graphic with a bright pink box at the top that says, “Apply Today!” Beneath that, in all caps are the words “Walter Grants” followed by a brief description that says, “WNDB’s Walter Dean Myers Grants provide promising unpublished writers and illustrators $2000 to support their career development” To the left of the text is an illustration of a person with long black hair sitting at a desk and writing in a word doc. At the bottom of the graphic are the dates “October 1st through October 31st,” denoting the application period for Walter Grant applications. In the bottom right hand corner of the graphic is a light green box containing the URL “bit.ly/WalterGrantsApp”, which will direct folks to the application form.

Blue graphic displaying a mock-up internet browser window. At the top of the window is a search bar containing the URL “bit.ly/WalterGrantsApp”, which will direct folks to the application form for WNDB’s Walter Grants. Beneath that, the mock-up browser window is titled “About Walter Grants” and contains the following description: “The Walter Dean Myers Grant provides a financial boost to promising writers and illustrators from diverse backgrounds who are currently unpublished. Each grantee receives $2000 to hone their craft and support their career development. The Walter Grant can be used in a variety of ways, from attending conferences to purchasing new writing devices to covering childcare.”

🔔 Apply for a Walter Dean Myers Grant today!

The Walter Dean Myers Grant program was established to provide grants of $2,000 each to promising diverse writers and illustrators who are currently unpublished. Follow the 🔗 below (also in our bio) to apply ⬇️

💻 bit.ly/WalterGrantsApp

Jane Fonda relaunches her father's McCarthy-era free speech initiative The Committee for the First Amendment was originally formed by Henry Fonda in 1947.

Jane Fonda relaunches the Committee for the First Amendment, a free speech initiative originally spearheaded by her father, Hollywood icon Henry Fonda, in response to the rise of “McCarthyism” during the 1940s.

Des Moines Public Schools Superintendent Ian Roberts detained by ICE agents The superintendent of the largest school district in Iowa has been detained by federal immigration officials. Superintendent Ian Roberts of Des Moines Public Schools was detained Friday morning, accor...

What in the absolute FUCK. The only words I have right now are F-bombs.

Oh yay! Mine was in the Ozarks. Hope you’re going somewhere relaxing too!

View from inside a dome house over a deck and the mountains

External view of a white dome house on a large deck

Night time view of an LED candelabra with a white Siberian husky and a woman’s legs stretched out on a bed

A white Siberian husky on a deck at night

I need to get myself a good one!

Yep I rented one for a personal writing retreat and it was so peaceful

Also that’s an adorable question

They’re definitely for my dogs! They’re made with safe and healthy ingredients for them since butter, sugar, and white flour are so bad for them

Thank you!! My dogs taste-tested the batter and they’re so excited

I use pumpkin, coconut flour, eggs, Greek yogurt, and the tiniest bit of baking soda in this recipe and it comes out beautifully

A muffin tin filled with pumpkin batter and a swirl of molasses and cinnamon on top

Pumpkin spice doggy muffins going into the oven! Swirl on top is blackstrap molasses, agave, and cinnamon #baking #authorswhobake #pumpkinspice

White husky laying in bed

Espresso machines are very good at that. Willow feels your pain

White square marshmallows topped with freeze-dried strawberry slices

I made some homemade strawberry marshmallows

Hi!!! I’ve been thinking about you! How are you?

This was great and I want everyone to see it. Because I want them to look at what journalism was, and what it used to do

Hi authors! Please remember to file a claim!

Here’s the link to file claims in the Anthropic case: www.lieffcabraser.com/anthropic-au...

Brightly colored fudge pieces in a floral box

Dark chocolate fudge pieces in a floral box

Pecan fudge and unicorn fudge for the farmers market

CBS canceled Colbert’s show just THREE DAYS after Colbert called out CBS parent company Paramount for its $16M settlement with Trump – a deal that looks like bribery.

America deserves to know if his show was canceled for political reasons.

Watch and share his message.

NH, you can still stop this. This bill isn’t law yet. “If you agree that there’s no room for book bans in the Live Free or Die state, please call Governor Ayotte’s office and leave a message urging her to veto HB 324.” #bannedbooks

New gray stand mixer sitting on an oak countertop

So I’ve been looking into budget-friendly pro-grade stand mixers and finally got the one from Instant. And I LOVE it.

It’s so bad. And so much of it

I Hope You Read This On expectations (and hopes) when publishing a new book, some thoughts on worldbuilding and estrangement, and some news.

The latest on my newsletter:

I Hope You Read This: On expectations (and hopes) when publishing a new book, some thoughts on worldbuilding and estrangement, and some news.

newsletter.novaren.com/i-hope-you-r...

The cover for the Honorable Con by Michele C. Shaw, a red train racing through a lush mountain range, a pair fighting on the roof, silhouetted by the setting sun. Overlaid on a green background with white text from the novel behind.

THE HONORABLE CON out September 3rd 2025.

Ailyanna was one good con away from her ticket East and escape from the looming war, and instead she’s locked in the palace dungeon staring at a lifetime sentence. You scam one prince and suddenly you’re the captain of the constable’s personal obsession.

A brown and white shepherd mix pants and watches eagerly from between the front seats of a minivan

Stitch is ready for errands

A candied lime wheel in foreground with a baking rack of lime wheels behind it

A candied lemon wheel in foreground with a glass platter of candied lemon wheels behind it

A two-tier cake on a glass cake stand overflowing with whipped cream and decorated with candied orange peel

A top-down view of a margarita with a candied lime wheel and a candied orange peel spiral

You can also make candied lemon, lime, and orange wheels! They’re so gorgeous for decorating cakes, giving as gifts, and making cocktails

I would so be ok with this