Donna LeSchander

At A Hands Off event in rural small town PA, 115 showed up. A Trump Train of four vehicles encircled the town square repeatedly. One was the county Republican chairman. Someone yelled at him, "How's your IRA doing?" and he yelled, "Great!" Another person called, "That's because you can't read it1"

In my small town police report today I wrote up an account of a woman who picked up a dude, invited him home and woke up the next morning to find both the guy and her truck gone — his mom turned him in when she was like "Where the hell you get this truck?"

A lumber mill just shut down up here in rural north central PA. One of my former-employee contacts told me that he had to turn his phone off Thursday night because "so many grown men were calling him crying" and he was too heartbroken to listen

Thank you for this - heartbreaking. Are you in Bloomsburg? I am a newspaper reporter up in Wellsboro, Pa.; I work for the Wellsboro Gazette, Free Press-Courier and Potter Leader-Enterprise (we cover two counties).

A local school board director posted this today: Tha mansfeild collage has a play. The Hunch Back of noterdame. Complete with homosexuality and drag queen content . If your school plants on kids seeing it be sure of what they are watching. (He means Comm U-Mansfield) Good God.

Write two pieces about jail reform and everyone starts contacting you from the pen. Today I got a letter from Tioga County Jail that included a correspondence with the judge where the inmate began: "Dear Judge: I can't get justice in your kangaroo court. Thanks for giving me a drunk for a lawyer."

Laughing: a local reactionary Facebook page referred to county commissioners today as "evil." Inexperienced? Yeah, they've all been there 18 months with no prior relevant experience. Cleaning up the mess that 25+ year tenured commissioners put in place? Perhaps. "Evil"? Way to hyperbolize, folks.

Our small rural PA town had an absolutely wonderful drag show in a local theater the other night, attended by families, people of all ages — standing room only. The theme was Disney; much fun was had by all. I want to be able to say you wouldn't believe the online hate today, but I bet you would.

Pointed to my 37-year-old co-worker when I needed help with a non-work-related online holiday purchase and said, "You're a young person!" and I've become the person who thinks 37 is young

Trump's Plan To 'Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias' Is Straight Of The Christian Nationalism Handbook Because they're the real victims 🙄

Of course they think they're the real victims here.

We went to a small town drag show tonight and was given bubble wands and instantly thought 'yay someone gave me cat toys'

Elon Musk’s staffers have gained unauthorized access to sensitive government employee data by installing a server at the OPM. They now have access to USAJOBS, the federal hiring portal where applicants submit personal details such as Social Security numbers, home addresses, and employment histories.

Members of Elon Musk’s secretive team, tasked with reviewing federal agencies for potential cuts, are refusing to reveal their full names to civil servants. Musk’s representatives declined to provide their surnames and refused to answer any questions.

"Those guys who whack old ladies in the back of the head with a baseball bat, these guys who whip out a gun and shoot you for no reason at all..." 3:59 p.m., Feb. 4. Go eat a freedom fry and take a deep breath, you idiot.

I think my kids would heave a heart attack if I got married in my 80s and didn't even tell them.Can you imagine?!

A lighter note from rural reporting in PA: spoke with a manager from the Area Agency on Aging today. Was concerned about budget cuts (some senior centers have closed). She mentioned two 80-somethings who met, courted and married at the senior center in front of friends and didn't (!) invite family.

This is what the government did with 120K+ Japanese Americans in 1942.

I know. I was there in those camps.

A factory is likely to go out of business here in NE Pa, and is seeking a buyer within the year. People are asking the county commissioners (!) to stop this, are asking people in the community to protest, etc. 80% voted for Trump. It's capitalism, dudes. They don't understand how any of this works.

I am sitting here in rural PA watching MAGA bleed-red-Trumpers turn on each other and it's like two weeks in. Delightful.

Had to cover a little event in a preschool today and two things happened: I got to play pretend kitchen while waiting for a guest reader and a little boy looked at me and said, "You look like my grammy."

I love your. mom's work and I'm so sorry to hear this.

What is it? Send!

I have no idea what you're talking about, but send it on!

I'm not usually one to go in this direction, but the way Trump says "Elon" is...downright unsavory. The name kind of lingers in his mouth. I bet his sons are SUPER jealous.

The scourge of our newsroom: politically-motivated conservative very local Facebook groups that believe the schools are turning kids trans, local government is lining their own pockets and that cell phone towers are burning our brains. Just the tip of the iceberg. Every week it's something nuttier.

Filling a rural newspaper is a strange thing. We got a pitch from a retired male professor about a feature about his self-published post-apocalyptic sex-filled, left-leaning novel set in Potter County. My editor skimmed it, pronounced it garbage and said, "Well, we're a little light this week."

8 p.m. on inauguration eve and Trump is signing fake-ish declarations and making odd and sleepy comments. These reporters have formed an impromptu union of sorts and are slowly, politely and collectively grilling and stretching out his evening, which includes a gala later. Well done, press pals.

Shove the Presidency Down Trump’s Throat Liberals spent the president-elect’s first term trying and failing to kick him out of office. This time out, they need to turn the White House into a prison.

Excellent piece. Let's flip it. newrepublic.com/post/190337/...

It's just SO funeral.

Spent today working on a piece about small-town rural Door Dash drivers. A nicer group of people don't exist, but they are so exploited, and they know it. Pretty depressing.