373 Comments

Godspeed Tobie MacPhail!

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I never heard of Ivy and Bean before. Did a quick google search. Looks like a nice series for young readers.

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𝘕𝘰𝘸 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘨 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘴.

Thank you for that reference. That is one of my favorite books.

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I hope her teaching career hasn't been permanently trashed.

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If it has then I'm guessing that it will make the damages claim that much more vaild.

Of course I really hope not, almost all the teachers I ever had loved the work and did it as a calling, not a career.

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Ta, Crip Dyke. May the teacher SCORE.

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Oh please, oh please let this teacher win big against the hatemonger. Let it set a precedent nationwide.

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I hope the teacher wins big. This is the only way, given the Brandenburg Test, to stop these monsters.

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Both my parents were teachers. May he be left with nothing but the wine barrel for clothes.

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I have no clue why VA thought Youngkin would make a good governor.

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More like Virginia assumed NoVa would come through again so did not bother to show up and vote

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Same reason they thought succession would be a fine idea.

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Secession!

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Indeed. Succession is great actually, it is how one ecosystem naturally turns into another.

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Republicans were pissed after Trump lost and turned out in the off-off-year elections in NJ and VA, in 2021.

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The vest. I wish I was kidding.

Fuck Ted Cruz.

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'cause parents, even Know-nothings, know better than teachers in schools! Let's see if they fix this self-own this fall.

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How dumb do you have to be to get sued for defamation in a country where you really can say just about anything you want?

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Freedumb! It's not just snark anymore.

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Trump has encouraged MAGAts to feel they’re entitled to be huge assholes toward everyone they don’t like and that there’s nothing anyone can do about it.

Nice to see that they’re sometimes wrong.

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The nightmare of his second term will be not only because of the horrors he perpetrates. It will be because all the worst people in America will feel empowered. To kill anyone anywhere whenever they feel like it.

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(insert "It's about fucking time" image here)

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Good - decent people are fighting back against the assholes.

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Remember when there are such things as investigative journalists in American media?

Pepperidge Farms remembers.

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We've got ProPublica, at least.

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Any outfit that gets under Alito's skin is aces in my book.

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remember when 'civics' was a required course in high school in th US?

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It is in my school. I have been teaching it all year to kids with developmental disabilities.

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thank you!!!

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It was my pleasure, and the last class of my career. Retired last week after 30 years.

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We need to bring back that along with Home Ec and Shop class. Basic life skills/knowledge.

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? My spawn had both of those, and civics also

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edit: public school even

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That's good. Neither one of my public school kids had any of those. They did take American Government (required), but both had the same awesome teacher who taught them how things worked and the importance of civic involvement. They're both voters and interested in politics now as adults.

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Well, it was an opt in, the other two I mean. Though they do not call them home ec or shop anymore. They call them like domestic something and industrial trades or some such

Youngest opted for the home ec, eldest did the industrial, think it was middle school

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Exactly

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smokinglamplit

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Harry Enten freaking out about Trump getting 20% of the black vote in MI and PA. Good Lord, has the world gone mad? Black people are now falling into the cult, too?

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As terrifying as 20% sounds, according to ‘20, ‘22 exit polls, about 9% of PA voters are black. Further 6% of them voted R i. ‘20 and 8% in ‘22. So if true, and we all know how sure thing poles are, this amounts to less than 2% of voters (assuming that is also 20% of black Voters and not all black PA residents?) shifting from D to R.

Caution is advised, skepticism is healthy. Can’t count on anyone but yourself. No magical group is going to save us. Vote early and vote once, and blue of course.

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This was in the WaPo today. The nuance is Trump really hasn't added much (mostly among younger and male) but that there's a real drop in Biden enthusiasm.

Free link:

https://wapo.st/3Vsy8Gv

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Anytime I see some moron on CNN saying "I voted for Biden in 2020, but he hasn't really done anything for me, so I'm going to sit on my couch this year" I just want to smack the shit out of them. I guess they're fine with Trump being POTUS.

"In Michigan, only about half of Black Biden supporters say they’re very motivated to vote for him. In Pennsylvania, it’s about 60 percent. In both of those states, only about two-thirds of those who say they voted for him in 2020 indicate that they plan to again this year. Asked why their support has waned, the most common response was simply that Biden hasn’t done a good job as president. (In both states, some version of “has done a poor job” was twice as common a response as that Biden is too old or that the respondents opposed Biden’s foreign policy.)

The modest increase Trump sees in support among Black voters is in part a function of divides by age and gender. Younger Black voters in Michigan and Pennsylvania were less likely to support Biden and slightly more likely to back Trump. That was generally true for men as well.

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These people clearly do not watch any news or read papers, and they would find out in the (non-MAGA0) that the rethuglicans have been every possible thing to prevent many important things to get done. Apparently they think Biden can do eveything by himself.

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I get "low informed" and I get "we need change" but to literally ignore every bit of actual verifiable evidence is really a kind of collective madness I've never seen.

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To say again- willful ignorance is a sin!

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Several weeks ago there was a black diarist on DKos asking where are these voters Ainties?

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This is the benefit of the rightwing media human centipede, because its end products leak into the MSM and get laundered that way (the Republican owners like that). When you have constant flogging of "BIden is OLD" and not talking about the policies that have been signed, you're gonna get this.

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That's what kills me about the handwringing post Trump presidency where the media made all these mea culpas about how they normalized Trump and gave Trump a ton of free media and how it would never happen again and yet here we are.

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I've heard the Trump cult described as "mass psychosis," and it seems to me plausible. So many people are just throwing whatever critical intelligence and common sense they had out the window, and happily swallowing obvious lies and nonsense.

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I was alive when the cult of Reagan was formed, but even THAT wasn't like THIS. They've literally stopped believing in science, and started believing Trump and DeSantis over Dr. Anthony Fauci. It's weird as shit.

I have a feeling a LOT of people aren't going to like how things go in Trump's 2nd term, and it sucks for them that they won't be able to vote Trump out of office once he gets rid of democracy. Donie O'Sullivan did a piece on CNN last night about how all the rubes are now saying "it's not a democracy, it's a republic." That's the GQP getting the rubes all warmed up for a fascist takeover. Once the Supreme Court overturns Social Security, or Congress outlaws it, they will all be VERY angry, but won't be able to do shit about it.

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I was too and know that was the real starte of what led to Trump.

And about peope not beleiving in science, did you forget Nany Reagan, That noto only led to more people admitting they believed in asstrology, it also starrted all sorts of other scams to becone more popular

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Except die. Quickly, from MAGA mass murders and assassinations, or less quick, from mass arrests and incarcerations, or very slowly from the destruction of the social safety net. But the death rate will explode.

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They will just blame the Democrats, there's always that solution. Murc's Law can carry anyone through any crisis.

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At least Reaganism was an ethos. With actual policies. Shitty policy but policy none the less. Trump is just a free floating ragegasm at whatever you don't like at the moment.

I think back to when Colbert laid down the "truthiness" marker in 2004 and even that seems rational compared to conservatives 2024.

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from Kevin Drum:

"The New York Times writes today about Black farmers who are upset that they've seen few results from programs designed to help them...

....The lack of progress has convinced Mr. Boyd that he cannot support Mr. Biden’s re-election bid. While he did not say that he was ready to back Mr. Trump, he suggested that the Trump administration had worked harder to help white farmers than Mr. Biden had for Black farmers.

...This has gotten pathological. Students won't support Biden because Republicans killed college loan relief. Palestine supporters won't support Biden even though everyone knows Trump would be worse for their cause. Black farmers are angry at Biden because MAGA racists scuttled debt relief. Climate change hawks are mad because they've never heard of IRA. Immigration worriers think Biden is doing nothing because Republicans cynically stopped immigration reform. And voters in general are skeptical of Democrats because of debt ceiling and budget chaos caused by Republicans.

Has there ever been a president in history who's gotten less credit for his accomplishments than Joe Biden? It's one thing to be disappointed in a president who doesn't fulfill campaign promises, but it's crazy to be mad at one who has, even if Trump acolytes in the media and the Supreme Court have killed some of them. Their success in demonizing Biden has been nothing short of a master class."

https://jabberwocking.com/

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Biden approved help and RW Assholes sued. The program is paused thanks to the GOP>>>>

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Same thing with student loans but people are like "magic pen" and that message carries forth. Republicans have to be so thankful for Murc's Law.

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Meh Boyd can be a loud mouth and he's looking for attention.

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What this proves then is that vibes and lying (in an environment that lets you lie, mind you) is worth more than doing the work. That's what the Fauxifcation of news has gotten us. The problem is, this is going to hurt the Left way more because you can't solely elect Democrats based on vibes...voters punish Dems for not responding to whatever they're looking for with legislation. Voters rely on Murc's Law too.

This admin has been knocking it out of the park on policy. If they lose it means nobody will ever have an incentive to try again on this and we'll just have kakistocracy from here on out. And you're not going to like how that ends up.

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2023, as Dobbs was being overturned : "But Clinton ran a shitty campaign."

2025, as they're being herded into black vans at bayonet point: "But Biden ran a shitty campaign."

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Maybe this is why there's such a hue and cry for a "strongman" -- millions of people evidently believe presidents and other leaders should be able to wave a magic wand, or utter a charmed formula, and all good things will happen at once. So Trump's "On day one, I'll do this and that and the other" sucks in gullible, deluded fools by the bushelful.

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I thought he was going to be too busy being a dictator on Day One?

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Well, "being a dictator," to these folks, means "waving your magic wand and fixing everything." So it's the same thing, to them.

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I wonder how much of this is Russian disinfo/propaganda making inroads? My guess is 90%.

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Kevin Drum just hit the nail on the head. It is INFURIATING to me that Biden has done stuff like try to get rid of $35 junk fees for paying your credit card a day late, or capping insulin at $35 a pop, or relieving some people of their student debt, and people keep yearning for the monster who gave them $1.50 a gallon gas (because NOBODY was driving to work!!!!!) It's just maddening to me that people can't accept basic competency, and instead want someone's outragous lies about all the terrific stuff he's going to do for them (not!).

Christ, you think climate change and gun violence, and the overturning of Roe would be enough to make people do the right thing and vote for Biden.

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Even if you, like me, think that Biden is terrible, his genocide denying ass is still the lesser of two evils!

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I doubt it. Just like I look at early polling askance. Because actual voting in the primaries ... and I hate to jinx anything here ...

My tea leaves predict a Blue Wave of Brobdingnagian proportions. (I love that Jonathan Swiftian derived word, and second would be Lilliputian. Used in a sentence: "The Vulgarian's fingers are Lilliputian.")

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this has been my general feeling.

don't get me wrong. i'm the nervous-est of nellies and have been since i started caring about politics (2003? can't remember i'm old-ish). and i am/will be working, calling, canvassing, post-carding, persuading close ones, etc. UNTIL ELECTION DAY.

but that is also a feeling i have.

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I keep hoping that people will grow a conscience, and do the right thing, and vote for Biden. Unfortunately, a lot of our dipshits will piss their votes away on RFK Jr. and Jill Stein.

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It shouldn't be this close. That's what keeps me up at night. I hate living through interesting times.

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There was one series of newspaper surveys - LA, I think - that had a very disproportionate number of black voters going to PAB in 2016. Turns out they had one very persistent black responder in their very small sample and they were extrapolating beyond all reason.

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I keep hoping disgruntled Republicans will save us, because young people seem to be getting MORE Republican. I have no clue why, I think they think that Biden is personally responsible for worldwide inflation.

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the worldwide inflation that is LESS in the US than any other nation i believe.

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The older I get, the more socialism starts to look good. All my life I was told the opposite would happen.

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I'd like to live in a country like Switzerland or Sweden, where your taxes are relatively high, but you're taken care of from cradle to grave. It's scary to think of growing old in America.

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I'm in California. Republicans call it a "socialist hellhole", as if that's a bad thing.

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I envy anyone who lives in CA, since it's my favorite state in the nation. So many beautiful places! Of course I've heard that everyone is leaving because it's such a hellhole...which would certainly explain why a 900 sf bungalow in West Hollywood is $2 million dollars. I've heard it's so crowded that nobody goes there anymore!

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People have lost their gott damned minds.

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That presumes possession of functional cognition not consistently in evidence.

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I want to move to another planet

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Same! You know how Republicans always said that Democrats hated America? They're certainly making me start to hate America.

I find it hard to believe that people could be stupid enough to want a poo flinging, con man, chaos monkey, back in the WH, but half of them seem to want him back. Surely we can't be stupid enough to re-elect that loser.

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Lies is the only thing that conservative and conservative-curious media have left.

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Deflection and deception are all that they've had to work with ever since I started paying attention in 1974.

This isn't anything new.

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Don't believe it.

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Black men do seem to like something about Trump. God knows what...I'm PRETTY sure it's not that he's a felon. I think like the other dolts who worship Trump they think he's rich and strong.

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It's like 20% of polled black men.

And the papers have been caught time and time and time again cherry picking their poll respondents.

Why do we keep falling for this?

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All racial group have misogynistic quislings as well as ladder-pullers. Unfortunately, folks in the vein of Byron Donalds are one of our weak links.

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I would be freaking out too

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I'm freaking out. The fact that this race is even close is freaking me the fuck out. Trump should be getting at MOST 25% of the vote. GWB left with a 33% approval rating after crashing the economy, while Trump crashed the economy AND killed a few hundred thousand people for absolutely no reason.

Put this in your pipe and smoke it: "However, following the election of Donald Trump as the 45th president of the United States, 61% of Americans in 2018 said they had a favorable view of Bush, compared to 33% when he left office."

I remember GWB leaving with a 20% approval rating, but I might be wrong.

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Meh. The media needs a horse race narrative.

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They have a race narrative, but with no horses.

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Maybe MAGA dingleberries will have to take Matt Foley's advice and SHUT YOUR BIG YAPPER

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzPT9KqEo00

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Sniffle...Rip Phil Hartmann, and Matt Foley (Chris Farley).

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Bwahaha. That would require they take from a page in no book their Dear Leader has ever read and LEARN FROM OTHERS MISTAKES.

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Inconceivable!

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