Today is our eighth anniversary. Michael presented me with this beautiful bronze statue this morning. I can’t even tell you how very grateful I am for him.
Today is our eighth anniversary. Michael presented me with this beautiful bronze statue this morning. I can’t even tell you how very grateful I am for him.
The church claims to have been fighting poverty for 2,000 years. Poverty is still here, yet the church became rich. - @walterrhein
Rising Threats and Legal Backlash: Public libraries in the U.S. are facing increasing threats and censorship, particularly in states like Florida and Texas, where laws have been passed to regulate and restrict available materials. Despite these challenges, there is a notable pushback, with states like California, Connecticut, and New Jersey proposing legislation to protect libraries and librarians from these threats.
Historical Significance and Current Impact: The article underscores the historical significance of public libraries as foundational to American democracy and intellectual freedom. It highlights how libraries have served as community centers and gateways to knowledge for all social classes, playing an essential role in education and cultural integration.
Legislative Efforts to Safeguard Libraries: The discussion includes specific legislative measures such as the “Freedom to Read Act” in various states aimed at preventing discrimination in the availability of library materials based on content or protected characteristics. These laws are designed to uphold the integrity of libraries as inclusive spaces for learning and information access, crucial for a healthy democratic society.
Source: thehill.com/opinion/c…
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I have a new favorite newsletter. Don’t worry, though, I still love Heather Cox-Richardson, but her writing style is a little bit, how shall we say, more refined than this gentleman’s?
I’ll say one thing, though - he sure knows how to write one helluva post title 😊
Well whaddya know…
Title: Dark Money and Deception: Uncovering FirstEnergy’s Secret Support for Governor DeWine
Main Takeaways:
Secret Financial Contributions: FirstEnergy Corp. made a significant secret payment of $2.5 million in 2018 to State Solutions, a 501(c)(4) nonprofit. This organization is linked to the Republican Governors Association and supported Mike DeWine’s gubernatorial campaign, highlighting the opaque nature of dark money in politics.
Implications for Political Transparency: The undisclosed financial support raises concerns about the influence of corporate money in political campaigns, especially when the funds come from a company implicated in the largest public corruption scheme in Ohio’s history. This event emphasizes the need for more stringent regulations and transparency in political funding.
Context of the Corruption Scheme: The payment occurred in the same timeframe as FirstEnergy’s involvement in a major corruption scandal, suggesting a pattern of using financial contributions to manipulate political outcomes. This connection underscores the broader issues of accountability and ethical governance within both corporate and political spheres.
Source: www.cleveland.com/open/2024…
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I’m (obvs) frustrated by & furious with GOP/MAGA fascism, but I’m also quite fed up with Dems for not fighting back harder when Republicans do what they do. Dems keep reaching over the aisle to make handshake deals only to pull back a bloody stump and a Republican 🤷🏻♂️.
I honestly don’t know who to write to or contact about my frustrations. Local headquarters? State? National? Newspaper editors? City council members?
I figured I may as well start with my state senator, Sherrod Brown. I wanted to do something that would get his attention-or at least get the attention of the poli-sci intern who opens the mail. I wanted something that would stand out from the rest of the mail, that would be eye catching, and straightforward in its meaning.
So, I turned to PunkPost. Using their app, I typed up a message for one of their handwriting artists to bring to life:
We need you to get tougher. We need you to to fight harder. Stop compromising.
They have a “request-a-doodle” feature so I requested “a kick-ass Democratic donkey.”
They assigned the work to a handwriting artist, and she totally nailed it. Look at this great work! The card is in the mail, and it’s bound to get the message across-whether that’s to a low-level intern or a high-ranking official is yet to be seen. But someone is going to know what I’m thinking, and that’s a start, I suppose.
I still highly recommend this service. PunkPost delivers. Literally and consistently. Check them out. And tell ‘em Matthew sent ya. 🤓
Get the Punkpost iPhone app: itunes.apple.com/app/apple…
Send cards online: punkpost.com
Location check in 🗺 — Fox in the Snow
Kate Bush 10” ✔️ Kristin Hersh LP ❌
Donna Summer State of Independence mixes 12” ✔️
Spoonful Records is first. Want to find both releases here. Magnolia Thunderpussy will probably be next. Then Used Kids Records or RPM. This used to be an all day affair for me. I just wanna get in, get records, get out, catalog them, and put them on a shelf to never open them; that’s what I do.
Happy Record Store Day 2024! I’m out looking for two items 1) Kate Bush’s 10” picture disc of Eat the Music from The Red Shoes (one of the first songs I never heard by her thanks to a mixtape from Emily in HS) 2) Kristin Hersh’s Hips and Makers. I’m wearing red lip gloss and a Read My Lips t-shirt.
🎵I just looked at iTunes and all the music I really love somehow turned 25-35 years old overnight.
I don’t understand time.
25: Ágætis Byrjun, When the Pawn…
30: Live through This, Dummy, Grace
35: Doolittle, Raw Like Sushi, Janet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation 1814, The Sensual World, All Hail the Queen,
Is there a way to see if a post is stuck somewhere in the ether @help ? I posted a photo with about a paragraph of text using Sunlit from the iOS share sheet, and it’s not showing up anywhere. I can’t remember all I wrote so I can’t replicate.
Giving Cowboy Carter a first listen. So far, I’ve gotten full body chills and honestly want to cry because what she’s doing is amazing. Her homage, reclamation, genre bending & blending, and inspired reinvention is easily advancing music’s agenda. It’s beautiful to see and hear.
Arguably one of the finest ice creams in America.
Darkest Chocolate Mouth-filling and palate-gripping with a pleasingly dry finish. The most amount of Fair Trade cocoa and the least amount of anything else.
What’s a pint’s fair cost? $8.00? $10.00?
Try $14.50.
Jeni has gone and lost her damn mind.
What iPhone photo cutout?
The all-Republican Arizona state Supreme Court decided in a 4-2 vote that a law from 1864 which bans abortion unless the mother’s life is in danger is in full effect. They gleefully proclaimed, “[P]hysicians are now on notice that all abortions, except those necessary to save a woman’s life, are illegal.”
Here are some things I learned today that put this 1864 law into perspective for me.
In 1864
I learned something else that put this 1864 law into perspective for me: it’s 2024. There are cars, tv, radio, electricity, penicillin, birth control, anesthesia, space travel, and computers. And best of all?
In 2024
May they turn out in droves, may their rights be protected, and may their voices be heard ringing loud and clear from sea to shining sea.
I’m not at all sorry that I have a strong and sincerely-held belief that, no matter how well-intentioned it may be, a state of the state address by a state governor in a statehouse surrounded by state representatives and state senators and state cabinet members and state Supreme Court justices all paid for with state tax dollars should not begin with a prayer in Jesus’s name.
There is no place for such a ritual in a public address.
#ohioTheHeartOfChristianSupremacy
I put together a quick playlist of some James Bond theme tunes.
My old boss and mentor and now friend Beverly got this for me when I graduated from library school. It’s sitting now prominently in my office downtown.
As he kisses goodbye in the morning, after having me set with coffee & water & meds & my lunch & getting my work stuff ready, Michael tells me, “Have a good day on purpose!” And I love him for it.
Although if I’m ever to say it to someone, I will change it to, “Have a good hair day on purpose!”
Amazon: for when you need an ad to say you don’t have ads.
WHY OH WHY has Saturday Night Live not done a parody commercial with Biden selling Trump Sux vacuum cleaners in response to all of Trump’s product hawking?!!? 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
❓ Does anyone know if there’s a way, through iOS shortcuts, that I could set up a weekly repeating omg.lol status update. I’d like to post a weekly disclaimer reminder on my LinkedIn. Right now I’ve got statuses linked to a 3rd party that pushes to LinkedIn, but I’m not sure how to repeat the same status each week.
There was a time not too long ago (read, “Thursday”) that I would have died before ever placing a quote by the notoriously cold, homophobic, and generally awful former president Ronald Reagan on a profile I use. That man let a generation of gay men die from AIDS. Rather than taking any action at all, his administration literally laughed in reporters' faces about the epidemic. (Look it up.) In fact, Ronald Reagan’s is a grave I would gladly dance upon.
But his quote on immigration struck me as worth sharing.
Of course I don’t believe he meant a word of it; he was as racist as he was homophobic. This was an act, and he was an actor, trained to say what sounded right and believable, using recitation to temper overt discrimination and harmful policy. But he did say it, so I am using it.
I’m using it to show you in what contrast it stands to the fascist rhetoric of today’s GOP. To show you how, in less than a lifetime, the GOP has gone from embracing leaders who espoused to see the country as a “land of opportunity” where immigration allowed us to “continuously renew and enrich our nation” to leaders who espouse that immigrants are “murderers and thugs,” “not really people,” and “poisoning the blood of our country.”
Y’know something? Diversity, equity, and inclusion are aspirational ideals, not profane handicaps. They are values embraced by most of the country. They are values that soldiers were willing to and have died for since our bloody founding. But the short-sighted, narrow-minded, cheating and lying GOP of today claims otherwise hawking implausible arguments that their base uncap and swallow like snake oil.
It’s the way of the MAGA Republican. And a MAGA Republican is simply a Republican.
Okay, so first he’s doin’ shoes, then he’s doin’ cologne, now he’s doin’ Bibles. How much more do we have to endure before he’s simply doin’ time?