Tanya Hannaford, M.Ed

Why is MAGA calling our system of government a "constitutional republic" rather than a democratic republic, and what is their endgame in disparaging democratic goals?

Oatmeal is the highlight of my day. That's how bad it is.

Don’t count on the Iran-Israel ceasefire lasting. What Netanyahu really wants is a forever war | Simon Tisdall Like Putin, Israel’s prime minister sees continuing destruction as an opportunity to boost support and outflank his enemies, says Guardian columnist Simon Tisdall

"Only rarely does brute force advance peaceful ends. Typically it inflames existing problems – and that’s what happened here. When will these angry old men get it? Probably never, unless and until democrats summon the courage to defy them."
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

"I think our country sinks beneath the yoke;/It weeps, it bleeds; and each new day a gash/Is added to her wounds." (Malcolm, from Macbeth Act IV scene iii)

I'm 54. I don't see this country recovering in my lifetime.

Life would feel so much easier if I just didn't care. It's times like this that I envy the ignorant.

‘Perpetual crisis mode’: how Trump uses emergency declarations to push radical agenda President’s dubious claims of ‘emergency’ threaten civic and political norms in authoritarian style, experts warn

"Critics say Trump’s drive this year to declare national emergencies with tenuous or phony legal bases pose clear dangers to democracy."
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

I want off this ride.

Last May, I got a titer check and learned I had no immunity to mumps, so I got another MMR shot.

Five things to remember about war:

Can we just have the smart, joyful woman I voted for now?

I would have been sad about the rose garden, but since he mowed that down, meh.

How am I supposed to sleep now?

I'm just...tired. *sigh* How much longer before I can quit this constant defense of democracy and go back to my natural state of introvertedness?

Quote with a black and white image of a young Hannah Arendt: "The death of human empathy is one of the earliest and most telling signs of a culture about to fall into barbarism." Hannah Arendt

Missouri continues to lag behind most states in children’s health, report finds • Missouri Independent Missouri ranked in the bottom third of all states for children’s health, according to a report released Monday — due in part to a high rate of child and teen deaths.

"Missouri generally ranks among the states with the highest rate of firearm deaths for kids."
missouriindependent.com/briefs/misso...

Authoritarians don't mind you pointing out their hypocrisy. In their minds, the hypocrisy is proof that their power is absolute.

Black garden flag reads in colorful letters, "JESUS LOVES EVERYONE YOU HATE."

Reminder:

What a buncha Nazis.

a man with glasses and the words " it 's true " behind him ALT: a man with glasses and the words " it 's true " behind him

“If pregnancy required men to gain 40 lbs, rip their genitals open, & risk death, not only would abortion be legal in all 50 states, it would be federally funded for any man who wanted to get one.”

-Ian Lightfoot

None. Drop 'em.

Similarities between ICE & the Gestapo

Don’t Believe What They’re Telling You About Misinformation People may fervently espouse symbolic beliefs, cognitive scientists say, but they don’t treat them the same as factual beliefs. It’s worth keeping track of the difference.

"[C]onservatives deem false headlines to be true more often than liberals—but...the difference drops by half when people are [financially] compensated for accuracy."
www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

Welcome to Missouri, where the vote of the people is never safe • Missouri Independent Maybe you collected signatures last year so that Missourians could vote to overturn the state’s abortion ban.  Maybe you walked door to door asking voters to support paid sick leave benefits for lower...

"A simple question keeps coming up: How can they do this to us?

"They do it because they can.

"Until enough voters decide they can’t."

missouriindependent.com/2025/05/26/w...

Just bought a physical copy of the Constitution. Never before thought I'd feel the need to do that.

Rural Missouri jails see windfall in Donald Trump’s mass deportation effort • Missouri Independent On a recent morning, thick fog lingered over the hills and hollows of Ozark County, Missouri, limiting the view of Lick Creek. It and other waterways raged out of their banks in overnight flash floodi...

The ICE contract allows them "to attract more jail staff and raise the pay from about $13 to $18 an hour. In addition to mileage, he said ICE pays $18.50 an hour for drivers transporting detainees, as well as time and a half for overtime."
missouriindependent.com/2025/05/19/r...

MAKE NOISE ON THIS ONE‼️

They didn’t just deport him—they sent him to CECOT in El Salvador.

Agelviz came here legally through the refugee resettlement program—fully vetted. But when he landed in Houston, CBP snatched him over a tattoo: a clock and a rose.

No charges. No record. Just a suspicion.

Mass Meeting To Stop the Abortion Ban · AAM Join the coalition behind the Amendment 3 campaign for an online Mass Meeting this Thursday, May 22nd at 6 PM to receive an exclusive update and take action to stop the Missouri Legislature’s proposed...

I'm attending AAM's event, “Mass Meeting To Stop the Abortion Ban” - sign up now to join me! www.mobilize.us/aam/event/79...

Missouri Capitol rally vows to fight for paid sick leave, defeat abortion ban • Missouri Independent When Missouri voters approved a ballot measure last November to provide paid sick leave to hundreds of thousands of workers, Andi Phillips felt hopeful. Gone would be the “complicated math game,” that...

“The battle’s back on.”
missouriindependent.com/2025/05/15/m...

Book cover: What Are We Doing Here? Essays by Marilynne Robinson

"[W]hen human nature is thought of as analogous to the nature of God, the consequences are extraordinary" (212).