Robert Vavredge

ICE detained a mother who was still breastfeeding. Her Marine veteran husband fights for her freedom | CNN Every time Noah, his two-year-old son, asks about mom, Adrian Clouatre can only reply: “Mommy will be back soon.” The little one nods with a smile, although his father knows that something inside him ...

She entered the country with her mother in 2014, when she was 14. Despite her young age when she was forced to enter the country, and the fact that she has 2 American children, a 2 year old and a 3 month old still breast feeding, she has been in detention since May 27. www.cnn.com/2025/07/05/u...

For a long time I have been struggling with the fact that I am not in Gaza helping Palestinians. I enjoy a cushy life while there is a genocide happening. My leaders are unresponsive to any appeals. I donate to organizations helping, but that feels inadequate. What obligations do individuals have?

Unfortunately I don't think the Israelis actually hate their leaders. They seem to be generally supportive of them. In fact, the mass protests in Israel about the war against Gaza were not about the genocide, but about the strategy of how to prioritize getting the hostages back.

UN runs out of food in Gaza two months after Israel’s total blockade | CNN The United Nations’ World Food Programme has run out of food in Gaza, the organization said Friday, two months into Israel’s humanitarian blockade of the besieged enclave.

Israeli is beginning to run up the score on who can be the most evil nation in the world. And the United States is providing all the assists.
www.cnn.com/2025/04/25/m...

(part 4 and final)The lack of honesty in the special education system and the steps we take to preserve that lack of honesty prevents us from making changes to the system so it can be as good as it possibly can be.

(part 3) I don't mind if the school has a complete IEP proposal together before an IEP meeting... That makes perfect sense to me. But I don't like the "polite fiction" that we are an equal team with the school in developing the IEP.

(part 2) It's not that the school ignores parent input or proposals cannot change in the meeting, but steps we take to pretend that everyone is on the same side and the IEP is not largely predetermined are fucking stupid, disadvantage students/parents, and are exposed as a lie by partial consent.

(part 1) Not sure how it works everywhere, but the idea that IEPs are not predetermined by the school and the relationship between the school and students/parents is not sometimes adversarial is a "polite fiction."

I love the phrase "polite fictions." It is a great way to describe so many beliefs and practices we lie to each other about because the truth is unsavory. They get in the way of us dealing with the world honestly and making changes if we need to.

My kid is reading for his school's spring break reading challenge! He has to read 20 minutes a day, and he is very serious about it.

Slava Ukraini

Fuck America. I have never wished for crippling sanctions to be imposed on a nation I am in, but if we don't have any effective opposition to Trump, the world has to do it for us. He is evil. He has to be taken down a notch, given a lesson in humility.

Does this extend to celebrations like Easter, and Christmas? Some people certainly view their religion as an immutable part of themselves. This might be worth it if it gets government out of the religious business. No more celebrations, funding, or decisions based on religion! It'll be paradise!

Maryland National Guard will not participate in Frederick Douglass Parade due to guidance set by DoD The Maryland National Guard will not participate in the Frederick Douglass parade due to guidance set by the Department of Defense, according to a memo.

If cultural celebrations based on immutable identities cannot go forward , does that mean Mother's Day and Father's Day are done? If sex is immutable, surely these celebrations would fall into that category.

www.wmar2news.com/local/maryla...

RFK Jr. wants to send people addicted to antidepressants to government "wellness farms" The farms will "reparent" them.

This is scary for me. I take a decent number of antidepressants and antipsychotics. I also take medicine for ADHD. And I hate farming.

www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

About a dystopian time in America's "past" where homeless people were held in government run detention facilities for the comfort of those with money. The episode takes place the last few days of August, 2024. Link to the Wikipedia article on the episode: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Past_Te...

Louisiana coerced unhoused people into an unheated warehouse – and paid $17.5m for it Dozens of New Orleanians were bused to a site with insufficient heating and blankets days before the city is to host the Super Bowl

Horrified at how this decision by the Louisiana Governor, the Supreme Court case criminalizing homelessness, and "Trump's new housing secretary refusing to rule out government-run detention camps for unhoused people" are like the DS9 episode "Past Tense."

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

My grade level was responsible for doing the equity board in my school this month. They left it up to me to do. Behold the little pockets of resistance...Immigrants Make America Great. (Also functions as a display of, tell me you're a male educator without telling me you're a male educator).

Example, Dems say they accept the science of climate change, but the vast majority only accept the science and solutions to the degree it furthers the status quo in favor of the interests of the business, political, and investor classes. We get no solutions that will actually help from them.

This is true. Science is only revered as far as it serves the interests of the business, political, and investor classes. Science is a tool to further the status quo of social and capital distribution, not what it should be, a way to learn about the world and make lives better for everyone.

Supreme Court to Hear New Affordable Care Act Case on Preventative Care Lower courts ruled that a task force that determines which treatments must be covered at no cost had not been validly appointed.

This is really horrifying. And evil. Tens of thousands of people could die each year without these free preventive care measures. Is the Constitution really a death pact?

www.nytimes.com/2025/01/10/u...

I mentioned that my wife lived in Ghana for about 5 months and we talked about how the people of Ghana were kind and welcoming to everybody. But I guess he is an American now and we are not that. He never connected his praise for Ghanaians being friendly and welcoming to his bigotry for immigrants.

I did ask him some questions and disagreed with him at certain points but he didn't seem to register my disagreements or just brushed them aside and kept ranting about how we wouldn't have a country anymore if the dems got elected.

My Uber driver yesterday was Ghanaian who immigrated to the United States in the 80s or 90s. It was sad to hear him repeat Trump's talking points as truth...immigrants are bad...deport them, the Dems would have allowed Russia to take over the country in 4 years, the LA fires are Newsom's fault, etc

I certainly wouldn't vote for them. I expect my leaders to be literal towering figures. Which is when I vote, I always vote for 1 World Trade Center. American politicians are so small compared to it.

A swing and a miss from Google AI. Associate professors maybe, but adjuncts...GTCC paid me $1770 per 3 hour course (and capped at teaching 9 credit hours a semester so I wouldn't qualify for benefits). Teaching political science was the favorite thing I ever got to do, so no hard feelings.

Or, who is the tiny person that brings up 6th?

Explaining American Football to my 6yo son made me realize it demonstrates really bad values. I said, "You have to run and tackle a guy with a football." He said, "What's tackling?" "Well it's... When you throw someone to the ground." "So I should throw someone to the ground at school?" "Shit."