🍁 Left of Woke Warrior

"The vitriol and menace came out of the blue for Canadians who had long been told by our political leaders not to take the bluster of Trump seriously. In America, cooler heads always prevail. Right?"

Wrong.

Canada is right to be cautious & aware. Donald may be a 🤡, but he & his admin are no joke.

Israel and the US appear to want to do to Tehran what they have done to Gaza: reduce a busy and complex society to a toxic wasteland.

Interesting though how puberty blockers (deemed safe for decades already) are apparently absolutely fine if taken by cis kids for precocious puberty, and other gender-affirming care procedures (boob jobs anyone?) also dandy as long as you're cis. 🙄

first - protect kids!
now - protect adults too!!

🥱 Morning everyone,

🎵 Getting Up Is Hard To Do... 🎵

...when your clock says 8 but your body knows it's 7... 😬

But then I saw this 👇 and laughing made it easier.

🤣

And if that isn't quite enough to lift any more-down-than-up spirits, here's an otter one!

Goodnight all. 😴

Ending the night on a lighter more pawsitive note: celebrating difference, resilience, strength, courage, playfulness, affection, and companionship. Oh, and 🐈 cleaning. 😀

May we all be more like Little T-Rex and playmate!

I posted this as well, along with a related one by Sarah Kendzior talking about the war on Iran, because at this point there are so many potential possibilities and suspects—US, Israel, Russia—and collusions between them, that who knows how it's all going to go down.

I love her daily letters.

And I'm gonna have to learn to do what you did in putting different snippets in one post!

Meanwhile, the wars against immigrants and refugees ignore that in many cases these are climate refugees and unchecked climate chaos will produce far more of them; this too is about nature. The war against trans people insists on outdated notions of biological sex in which there are exactly two of them and they are strictly segregated into airtight boxes; contemporary science recognizes that sex has many determinants that vary widely from individual to individual in our species and that across the animal kingdom there are far more possibilities. The war against women insists that women are a kind of nature men should be able to control.

There's always so many good bits in a Solnit essay that's it hard to pick which one to highlight, but I liked the linkage between these different but interconnected wars: against immigrants, climate (immigrants often being climate refugees), trans people, women... wanting to subdue/control them all.

Visions of Life / Agents of Death: On Love Thy Neighbor and Love Thy Nature Donald Trump's world is a dead and lonely world, a world in which everything is for sale and nothing really means anything and no one else matters. Earlier this year, he pressed Nobel Peace Prize winn...

Rebecca Solnit writes about the conflict between two competing worldviews underlying so many political issues: one that recognizes and stresses the aliveness and connections between humans, nonhumans and nature, the other that turns everything (people included) into dead commodities to be exploited.

You thought right, it's an excellent name. 👍

American democracy began in 1965. It will end in 2026 when the Roberts Court overturns the Voting Rights Act.

People who love war are sociopaths.

The Desire for Terror And the defense of democracy

A purpose of the war on Iran might well be to provoke a terrorist attack inside the United States. This would provide Donald Trump with a pretext to try to cancel or “federalize” the coming Congressional elections.
snyder.substack.com/p/the-desire...

Civilians in Tehran are reporting toxic oily rain following US and Israeli airstrikes on oil storage facilities. An estimated 10 million people face exposure to hazardous chemicals, with risks including skin burns and lung damage.

In first, CIA acknowledges 1953 coup it backed to overthrow leader of Iran was undemocratic While other American officials have made similar remarks in the past, the acknowledgment by the CIA in a podcast about the agency’s history comes as much of its official history of the coup still rema...

I wonder what percentage of Americans knows that the CIA helped overthrow a democracy in Iran in 1953, installing a brutal dictator who tortured and murdered people. Republicans keep citing the 1979 Islamic Revolution as if that was the start of U.S.-Iran hostilities. Go back 26 years earlier.

Living in a Time of Lunatics and Monsters Let's be honest about the roots, costs and consequences of the Iran War

Essay from which this snippet appears:

davidrothkopf.substack.com/p/living-in-...

The No World Order Meir Kahane, Netanyahu, Trump, and the war beyond Iran.

In case you're in the mood for a gripping, chilling, and eye-opening read, may I suggest Sarah (knows her history, knows her politics) Kendzior's tale of the US-Israeli war on Iran, weaving together the past, present & future complete with all its nefarious characters.

If only it were fiction. 😨

Why has Trump launched a war against Iran on a whim, attacked other countries, and upended world trade, Rothkopf asked. “Because he’s insane. Because he’s venal. Because he’s a malignant narcissist. Because he’s a sociopath. Because he has a fragile ego. Because those around him exacerbate and play to those traits to advance their own interests. Because CEOs and investors do likewise to fill their coffers. Because to some people, whether he is insane or malevolent or repugnant or not matters less than whether his actions will feather their nests, increase their power.

From March 7th letter above:

March 7, 2026 At 8:50 yesterday morning, President Donald J.

heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/march-7-2026

Glad to hear it!
G. Willickers... 😄

Good afternoon!

Sun, birds, flowers - doesn't get much better than that, oh, unless you add in chipmunks. 🐿️☺️

bsky.app/profile/woke...

Popping back in to add a hashtag (I always forget those!) in case anyone else wants to see a cute pic of a #chipmunk.

And, while I sadly missed International Squirrel Day, I'm pleased to find out that March 22 is International Chipmunk Day!

Cuz who doesn't love chippies? 🐿️

Sisters
Valerie Palmer
2000

Happy #InternationalWomen’sDay
So frustrating to try and acknowledge this day knowing nothing has really changed. My daughters are still cat called. Hockey bros are still unapologetic Pussy’s are still grabbed with impunity
#fuckthepatriarchy
#womensrights
#women
#girls

Real men stand up for women's rights, not against them. Men that bully women socially, vocationally or politically are the weakest men of all. And they know it. 🤨
#StandUpForWomenRights

"They remind us with their actions that women's rights are hard won but can be easily lost. Let's continue the fight for autonomy and equality." ✊♀️

This is a profound continental divide. Canadians overwhelmingly view other Canadians, even those unlike them, as being good people. Americans, more than any other country, view their neighbours and fellow citizens as bad people. Anti-Americanism flourishes in the United States