Tolkkinen: Let me tell you what it’s like asking for help to buy food The government shutdown threatens food aid, bringing the “Get a job” crowd out of the woodwork.

@Karen Tolkinnen's thoughtful commentaries have impressed me since she joined the @startribune.bsky.social 18 months ago. This one is excellent IMO, a vulnerable and compelling picture into how a hardworking but unlucky family can wind up needing food aid.
www.startribune.com/tolkkinen-le...

Letters: July/August 2025 Readers write back about President McInnis,rooting for Harvard, and more.

Debunking key misinformation: namely, that all humans float in water.

"I ... bent over into the 'dead man float' position. My legs quickly headed for the bottom of the pool and the rest of me followed until I was sitting on the bottom of the pool."

yalealumnimagazine.org/articles/607...

" ... And I will resist with all my might Trump’s autocratic moves at home as if he were not taking on Iran’s autocracy abroad. All are true and need to be said."

" ... I will unapologetically praise Trump for efforts to shrink Iran’s nuclear-bomb-making capabilities, as if he were not engaged in a dangerous autocratic project at home. ..."

" ... And I will unapologetically praise Netanyahu for taking on this terrible Iranian regime, as if Israel were not in the grip of its own Bibi-led Jewish supremacists who threaten a more inclusive Middle East in their own way. ..."

""I will unapologetically resist Netanyahu’s annexationist agenda, his refusal to even consider a Palestinian state under secure conditions and his attempt to overthrow Israel’s Supreme Court, as if Israel were not at war with Iran. ..."

Opinion | How the Attacks on Iran Are Part of a Much Bigger Global Struggle

For >20 years I have found Tom Friedman of the NYTimes one of the most insightful observers of the Middle East. The following (long) quote from his piece today about the US attack on Iran is excellent, IMO:

www.nytimes.com/2025/06/22/o...

#DavidBrooks gave an extraordinary presentation last evening here in MSP about the need for a moral revival in the US, not least as a way to bring the country back from its lurch toward authoritarianism. Kudos to faith-and-life.org for hosting. Audio at faith-and-life.org/wp-content/u...

Equation showing integral from 1820(?) to Trump of CO2 dt = sad Earth.

Memorable protest signs from 2017 that are worth re-sharing:
- Brain the Swamp
- Unless someone like you cares a whole lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not! (The Lorax, by Dr. Seuss)
- We are not resistors. We are transformers. #StandingUpForScience.

And one last that needs a pic. :)

Large black dog in pill-bug position on a human bed.

An underappreciated benefit of having this particular Great Dane is that I go to bed in a pre-warmed bed.

My dad used to say that, too, and I find it coming to mind often these days.

And a personal favorite (my own):
- Jesus: "Whatever you didn't do for the least, you didn't do for me."

- A Ninja Librarian for Democracy

Favorite signs I remembered from the April 5 HandsOff march at the MN State Capitol:
- (I'm embarrassed I have to say this, but) No tariffs on penguins!
- Jesus fed the poor. You cut SNAP.
- Love thy neighbor. Feed the poor. Jesus.
- What would Bonhoeffer do?
- Tesla: 0 to 1939 in 3 seconds.