This morning, Erik and I headed out to join the Hands Off protest happening at the Minnesota State Capitol. With Donald Trump, Elon Musk, their sycophantic cabinet members, and Republican enablers in Congress and on the Supreme Court rapidly dismantling the U.S. Constitution and democracy, we wanted to push back and peacefully show how opposed we are to their destructive actions. The Hands Off protest has been weeks in the making, following many smaller protests…
Friday, January 31, 2025. That’s the day I read a Reuters article that said Elon Musk had locked Office of Personnel Management (OPM) staff out of computer systems containing the data of federal employees. I heard the same day he was seeking access to Treasury Department payments systems (the U.S. government’s bank account) and he got it that weekend. That night, while trying to fall asleep, I had the sinking feeling that this narcissistic, unelected…
It’s Indepence Day in the United States. Historian Heather Cox Richardson has a marvelous newsletter to mark the occasion, one that reminds us to live up to our highest ideals in this country, rather than sink into our lowest manifestations of a society. We haven’t been doing a good job of reaching the ideals of life, liberty, equality, or the pursuit of happiness lately. There’s a sliver of people who would rob the majority of…
I saw a bumper sticker recently that I could see slapping on my car if I were the type to use bumper stickers: “Make Orwell Fiction Again” Right on! Let’s get rid of the Big Lie, up is down, over is under, right-wing politicians making up a bunch of nonsensical propaganda so they can keep their fascist dreams alive and distract the rest of us from their criminal activities. And then I looked closely at…
This meme greeted me on Facebook one day and it irked me, as often these Facebook memes do. Usually, it’s because they strip complicated issues down and leave important parts out, serving as sound bites that rarely get analyzed. I can’t not analyze them and argue back. This one is so irksome to me that it’s generating at least 2 blog posts. Here’s the first. Until the most recent election cycle and the takeover of…