Amanda

I get to see my son tomorrow! He has been at college (albeit not too far away) and is coming home for the weekend: first and foremost for a doctor’s appointment … but we’re also sneaking in some horror movies and a drag show 🥹

The Thing

And the common wisdom is to not interact with them or, at minimum, don’t try to argue, like, cogently. A bunch of them aren’t actual humans anyway.

While that’s a reasonable tack, I do wonder about the cumulative effect of having to “just ignore” this cascading, unchecked torrent of shit.

The paper still exists. But it’s a skeletal version of its form 30 years ago, with barely any vestiges of original journalism. Which— this isn’t about nostalgia.

My point is, the Letters to the Editor are what live on, as THE most fucking inflammatory Facebook comments: 30 deep on every post.

When I was in high school, it would rile me SO much to read screeds by the same, few rightwing Letters to the Editor writers skulking around the Opinions section of our local daily newspaper.

I’d write thoughtful, if, er, youthfully passionate, rebuttals, which occasionally got published, too.

Right in my literal heart! And I have a bad heart! So this is not a small thing!

People hurting queer and trans kids, whether by way of sweeping legislation or individually (and everything in between), is so psychically painful to me, it starts to feel like physical pain.

Supreme Court likely to strike down Colorado's conversion therapy ban A lesson in how defining the case often resolves the case.

“The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday appeared likely to strike down Colorado’s ban on conversion therapy by licensed therapists practiced on minors — a ruling that could affect similar laws in nearly half the country and make life more difficult for LGBTQ children at an already perilous time.”

It seems like the only topics that won't attract comments of "This is NEWS?!" to our local TV, uh, news affiliates are:
(1) high school sports scores
and
(2) weather forecasts, as long as they aren't about weather pattern anomalies that could be attributed to climate change

Greta Thunberg On Her Detention: I'm "Not The Story" — It's Israel Violating International Humanitarian Law “I could talk for a very, very long time about our mistreatment and abuses in our imprisonment. Trust me. But that is not the story.”

A lawyer representing the Global Sumud Flotilla activists said 150 were still being held by Israel, and 40 were on hunger strike to push for “medical treatment [for] all detainees,” reported the Associated Press. @teenvogue.com

Pippi, a floppy-eared black Labrador retriever-Airedale mix with tan brindle markings, chews on a a stuffed toy while guarding one of many tea towels she stole from the kitchen in her short life.

Our late dog, Pippi, would have been five years old today. Here she is as a little puppy, soon after we welcomed her home in 2020.

She died just short of her fourth birthday.

I don’t think I’ll ever forgive myself for failing her.

My husband, a cool person: “Yeah, the show tonight was just a guy making drone-type music using only two drums. It was so intense that someone in the crowd had to run out to puke!”

Me: “I watched the new Superman. There was a super dog!”

Over 450 Claims of Sex Abuse of Teens in City Custody Thrown Out Due to 'Flaw' in City Council Law The ruling could also end some Epstein sex-trafficking cases. Survivors are rallying Tuesday for the law to be amended.

More than 450 lawsuits filed by people who say they were sexually assaulted as kids and teens in NYC juvenile detention centers have been tossed by a judge due to a 'flaw' in the City's law.

Survivors are rallying right now at City Hall for the law to be fixed.

If you like yelling about misuse of the passive voice, THIS IS IT.

By contrast, last year, when the climate was already fairly treacherous, the event attracted 30 families.

The organizers are absolutely not ignorant to current threats, and definitely took pains to mitigate them. But even they didn’t anticipate this.

I’m at a Spanish language resource fair for work. It was coordinated by, and only word-of-mouth advertised through, a network of, locally well-established, high-trust Hispanic orgs. It’s in a church. They have hospitality volunteers monitoring the entrance. And there are ZERO participants.

Elio’s notebook with the words “I thought he didn’t like me” written in large letters, with the names Elio and Oliver scrawled: smaller, repeating, elsewhere.

That was a lovely piece of writing; thank you for sharing it.
I just revisited CMBYN last night, on a whim, and took this screenshot. I’d never stopped to scrutinize what was written in the notebook. And what a precious detail.

Let me assure you: this is NOT about And Tango Makes Three. I will forever stan Roy and Silo.

I spent a non-zero amount of time talking about the married gay couple’s penguin children’s book grift at my workplace’s weekly clinical consultation yesterday.

Thank you for your email. There is a temporary shutdown of the U.S. government due to a lapse in appropriations. I will respond to your message as soon as possible after the temporary shutdown ends. Please visit ED.gov for the latest information on the Department's operational status. Thank you.

Thank you for contacting me. On September 19, 2025, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 5371, a clean continuing resolution. Unfortunately, Democrat Senators are blocking passage of H.R. 5371 in the Senate which has led to a lapse in appropriations. Due to the lapse in appropriations I am currently in furlough status. I will respond to emails once government functions resume.

NEW—US Department of Education sent out standard Out of Office language to employees on Wednesday in light of shutdown. Later yesterday, workers tell me they found someone had updated their auto-responses without consent to a new one blaming Democrats.

Version of original on left, updated on right:

After five back-to-back class periods filling in for a coworker on a 8th grade Healthy Relationships module, I'm beginning to understand why you go to middle school when you're a young adolescent and not, say, 46 years old.

The way the monster comes to life in this film is legitimately some of the most frightening body horror I've ever seen.

😕😕😕
💁🏻🧀?

My 7-year-old nephew: “I believe in peace and justice, I love nature. I want to connect with all living things, and I want to cause God pain.”

Happy Sunday from Ben Whishaw

When I say “older”, I don’t mean, like, Casablanca. I’m talking Dirty Harry. Tootsie. THE NOTEBOOK.

(To be fair, I think The Notebook slipped in because it’s *about* old people. And Alzheimer’s. At least they didn’t go with Amour 😭)

“Wow, there are some pretty decent older movies playing at the mall … at 10:00AM? On Thursdays? Oh. It’s the Silver Screen Senior Series. And it’s sponsored by Smith Funeral Chapel.”

God, I’m a nightmare.