Brigid Alverson

In the Trump Presidency, the Rules Are Vague. That Might Be the Point.

@jefftiedrich.bsky.social The word for 2025 is 'vague' - “Calvinball has only one rule: There are no fixed rules.”
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/30/m...

A Brief Questionnaire Before You Adopt This Rescue Cat Thank you for your interest in CHICKEN FINGERS, an available cat with Furrever Rescue. Furrever Rescue currently has over a hundred cats that despe...

"CHICKEN FINGERS is bonded with another cat, CAPTAIN STINKY PANTS. CAPTAIN STINKY PANTS is a charming 20-lb Maine Coon mix who hates children, has moderate bowel incontinence, and only eats sushi-grade tuna. CAPTAIN STINKY PANTS and CHICKEN FINGERS must be adopted together."

This is heartbreaking. Thank you for speaking up, Shannon, and posting it for the world to see.

“.. You’ve got to really hate Halloween ‒ and children ‒ to pull that kind of crap.”

@usatoday.com @rexhuppke.bsky.social
www.usatoday.com/story/opinio...

In the end, we must judge candidates by what they have done, not what they say they will do. A well-thought-out program that looks good on paper is not the same as boots-on-the-ground experience.

You know who has that? Mayors. We need more mayors in congress.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

I know people in Kentucky, and I think it's a state that Dems could win, but not by saying "Mitch McConnell sucks! Vote for me!"

Platner needs to go quiet for a while and spend some time working in food pantries and veterans organizations, then run for local office, then maybe state legislature.

I always think the problem with Dems is we are too smart for our own good. We need less talking and more doing. We need more candidates coming up through the ranks. When Amy McGrath was running against Mitch McConnell a few years ago, I looked at the field in KY. No one had much experience.

To your point, @lizbethd.bsky.social, I don't want a Nazi either, but debating a tattoo accomplished nothing. What has he done? How has he moved past that tattoo and the moment in which he got it? I liked Platner too, but on closer examination, none of that stuff was there from the beginning.

You learn how things work - how they are supposed to work and how they really work. You learn how to bring people together and work toward consensus. You know how much work goes into making anything happen, from a soccer game to policy change, and you really appreciate the people behind the scenes.

When people run for local offices like city council or school committee, chances are they are already putting in the work, on the PTO, with youth sports leagues, in party organizations, in local groups such as the human rights commission, zoning board, etc. These jobs are invaluable in many ways.

Perhaps one of the reasons we have such a terrible Congress is that so few of its members have put in the time, and have the humility, to do the real work.

As a counterexample, consider Rep. Katherine Clark, who served on our local School Committee, then the state senate, before going to the House.

I've been thinking about Platner a lot. We've all done dumb things in our lives, but it's the entire arc that matters. I'm not seeing much of an arc with him. Aside from the military, he has not done a lot of public service. And I don't think serving in the military prepares you for government.

Opinion | A Nazi Tattoo Exposes Democrats’ Greatest Weakness

“Now, I know for a fact that the working class in this country looks more like a Latino woman who cleans houses than it looks like Platner, a former defense contractor turned oyster farmer with some leftist political beliefs.”

@tressiemcphd.bsky.social always.

my favorite thing is when, in Spanish, different countries have decided on different genders for a word—in Argentina computers are feminine, in Colombia they are masculine, CYBORG GENDER TROUBLE 4 EVERYONE

Opening Doors, Turning Pages: How Prison Libraries Help Build Second Chances Prison Banned Books Week reminds us that the freedom to read doesn’t stop at the prison gate — it starts there

Prison Banned Books Week reminds us that the freedom to read doesn’t stop at the prison gate — it starts there

medium.com/everylibrary...

These senators are demonstrating a willful blindness that has become endemic in the Democratic Party. Their rhetoric — and the conventional wisdom that flows from it — suggests that we cannot talk about economic solutions without abandoning our commitment to the Black, Latino, gay, transgender and female poor that are the lifeblood of the Democratic Party’s base. The conceit at the heart of that belief is that poor white people are too racist, and too uniquely ignorant of their racism, to vote in their best interests. Therefore, Democrats have to accept a little racism to win the working class.

This is such a great column that I can't really pull out a nut graf, but this discussion of Senators Chris Murphy and Bernie Sanders' hand-waving at Graham Platner's tattoo comes close.

Opinion | A Nazi Tattoo Exposes Democrats’ Greatest Weakness

Today's must-read column is by @tressiemcphd.bsky.social. Gift link. Read it, reflect on it, and start thinking about how to do better.

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/29/o...

This story is insane. A man who posted a meme of Trump saying “we have to get over it” in a discussion about the CK shooting has been in jail for 2 months with a $2M bond. Meanwhile, the man who actually threatened to kill Hakeem Jeffries is out on bail.

Mike "I don't know anything about that" Johnson.

Absolutely losing it that the special police unit investigating the Louvre heist is called the Paris Brigade for the Repression of Banditry 😭

I've only read the first couple of volumes, and I don't remember anything beyond the usual Shonen Jump cringy fanservice (talk about boobs, crashing into boobs, etc.). I'm not sure what happens after that, though.

7 Nature-Themed Graphic Novels to Inspire Kids to Explore the Great Outdoors From a lushly-illustrated story of the wildflowers that inspired Emily Dickinson to vivid narratives of firefighters, researchers, and policy makers confronting climate change, these books show people...

Check out my latest column on graphic novels with an environmental spin at @slj, which includes both kids' and teen-friendly adult titles: www.schoollibraryjournal.com/story/7-natu...

If I were running the DNC, there would be Democratic Party sponsored food relief banks across the country right now that specifically welcomed anyone regardless of party affiliation.

Along with the food, there could be voter registration and links to runforsomething.net

TERRORISTS: "We're going to destroy the White House!"

TRUMP: "Ha, beat you to it! ONCE AGAIN TRUMP IS THE BEST AT EVERYTHING"

That’s the whole point of New York! It’s the whole reason why it’s one of the greatest cities on earth!

It’s so weird when people do the blood and soil thing about New York City, a place that more than just about anywhere else on earth was forged from a constant churn of newcomers

This is heartbreaking. Just because I’m not a religious observer doesn’t mean others should live in fear to observe their faith. Pleased to see this creative statement.

Clocking in for another shift at the Consent Manufacturing plant. My column? Same as always: Sure, what Republicans are doing may be corrupt and disgraceful, but it's not as bad as liberal excess, which is actually what forced Republicans to betray all their principles in the first place, so.

The CBLDF's Jeff Trexler discusses the latest threats to free speech through comics with Calvin Reid for the @publisherswkly.bsky.social More to Come podcast
@newyorkcomiccon.bsky.social!

www.publishersweekly.com/pw/podcasts/...