Pool Open!

Oct. 14th, 2025 10:14 pm
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[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
[personal profile] fuzzyred is running a pool for the half-price sale in Polychrome Heroics. Initial targets are the shorter poems in Shiv, but she's also interested in the Finn Family poems if anyone else is into that. If you're interested, comment on the pool page.

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Review: Fall Baking

Oct. 14th, 2025 09:25 pm
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[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Taste of Home Fall Baking: 275+ Breads, Pies, Cookies and More!
Paperback – September 13, 2022
by Taste of Home (Editor)

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Today's Adventures

Oct. 14th, 2025 07:51 pm
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[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Today we went up to Champaign.

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Link Roundup August/September 2025

Oct. 14th, 2025 07:03 pm
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[personal profile] wepon
Hotline helps immigrants move hearings online to avoid arrest at court
Olu Orange, assistant professor of political science and international relations and founder of the USC Dornsife Agents of Change: Civil Rights Advocacy Initiative, files motions to have court hearings moved online, which prevents defendants from being seized by federal agents when they show up for court in person. Calls to AoC’s hotline — 888-462-5211 — are answered by about 15 volunteers who help the defendants fill out the necessary paperwork to request to move their hearing online. Help is available for both English and Spanish speakers. With the support of the National Immigration Project, Orange and his firm, Orange Law Office, then file the motion.


Mastercard deflects blame for NSFW games being taken down, but Valve says payment processors 'specifically cited' a Mastercard rule about damaging the brand
"Mastercard did not communicate with Valve directly, despite our request to do so," a Valve representative said. "Mastercard communicated with payment processors and their acquiring banks. Payment processors communicated this with Valve, and we replied by outlining Steam’s policy since 2018 of attempting to distribute games that are legal for distribution. Payment processors rejected this, and specifically cited Mastercard’s Rule 5.12.7 and risk to the Mastercard brand."


Rare aerial imagery shows displacement and destruction in Gaza
Sky News and BBC journalists who reported from aid flights from Jordan this week said they were told that Israel had prohibited filming Gaza from above. The organizations did not say how the directive had been conveyed. Sky reported that it was informed Israel could delay or cancel aid flights if its journalists filmed Gaza. The IDF declined to comment on the matter.


Anas al-Sharif among five Al Jazeera journalists killed by Israel in Gaza
Last month, after Israeli army spokesperson Avichai Adraee reshared a video on social media accusing al-Sharif of being a member of Hamas’s military wing, the United Nations special rapporteur on freedom of expression, Irene Khan, said she was “deeply alarmed by repeated threats and accusations of the Israeli army” against al-Sharif. “Fears for al-Sharif’s safety are well-founded as there is growing evidence that journalists in Gaza have been targeted and killed by the Israeli army on the basis of unsubstantiated claims that they were Hamas terrorists,” Khan said.


Supreme Court formally asked to overturn landmark same-sex marriage ruling
Kim Davis, the former Kentucky county clerk who was jailed for six days in 2015 after refusing to issue marriage licenses to a gay couple on religious grounds, is appealing a $100,000 jury verdict for emotional damages plus $260,000 for attorneys fees. In a petition for writ of certiorari filed last month, Davis argues First Amendment protection for free exercise of religion immunizes her from personal liability for the denial of marriage licenses. More fundamentally, she claims the high court's decision in Obergefell v Hodges -- extending marriage rights for same-sex couples under the 14th Amendment's due process protections -- was "egregiously wrong." "The mistake must be corrected," wrote Davis' attorney Mathew Staver in the petition. He calls Justice Anthony Kennedy's majority opinion in Obergefell "legal fiction."


Trump vows to change how elections are run. The US Constitution doesn’t give him that power
Relying on false information and conspiracy theories that he’s regularly used to explain away his 2020 election loss, Trump pledged on his social media site that he would do away with both mail voting — which remains popular and is used by about one-third of all voters — and voting machines — some form of which are used in almost all of the country’s thousands of election jurisdictions.


US seeks to deport Kilmar Abrego Garcia to Uganda after he refused plea offer in his smuggling case
Immigration officials said they intend to deport Kilmar Abrego Garcia to Uganda after he declined an offer to be sent to Costa Rica in exchange for remaining in jail and pleading guilty to human smuggling charges, his defense attorneys told a court Saturday. The Costa Rica offer came late Thursday and included a requirement that he remain in jail for the time being and then serve whatever sentence he would receive for pleading guilty, according to a brief filed in Tennessee, where the criminal case was brought. After Abrego Garcia left jail on Friday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement notified his attorneys that he would be deported to Uganda and should report to immigration authorities on Monday.


The Baby Died. Whose Fault Is It?
Not quite. Sanabria told me she had a great relationship with Bi but a pregnancy plagued with placental issues: first, gestational diabetes; then placenta previa, where the placenta blocks the cervix, which led to a hospitalization and a scheduled C-section. When doctors removed the baby, they found that the placenta had grown too deeply into her uterine wall, a condition known as placenta accreta. Once they removed the placenta, Sanabria began losing blood. As a nursing student and patient care technician, she knew what was going on as they called out numbers of blood loss—ultimately an astounding 5.4 liters. “The weirdest part was being awake” while she was dying, she said. An emergency hysterectomy saved her life. She woke up nine hours later, intubated, in the ICU. A 2024 survey found that naturally conceived pregnancies carry about a 2 percent risk of several adverse maternal events. A surrogate pregnancy increases that to almost 8 percent. Nobody had talked to Sanabria about these risks. Now, she posts online to educate other surrogates. As Bi pointed out repeatedly in her quest to get Leon’s placental slides, the placenta comes from the DNA of the biological parents—hers and Valdeiglesias’. In fact, Bi’s mother and sister developed diabetes while pregnant, an issue stemming from the placenta, and remained diabetic. Valdeiglesias told me that his aunt had her water break early, but everything was fine. But Bi and Valdeiglesias’s family medical histories were not disclosed to their surrogates. This is normal. If Bi and Valdeiglesias have a third child, they almost certainly won’t disclose their pregnancy complications.


Obama breaks silence on Trump’s ‘outrageous’ call to prosecute him
The statement went on to criticize claims made in an 11-page document released last week by Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, who said she was passing evidence of what she claimed was a “treasonous conspiracy” among Obama national security officials to the justice department, recommending their prosecution.


Judge orders Kilmar Abrego Garcia released from criminal custody, second judge bars ICE from immediately detaining him
A federal judge on Wednesday barred federal immigration authorities from immediately taking Kilmar Abrego Garcia into custody once he is released from criminal confinement in Tennessee and ordered the Trump administration to provide him 72 hours' notice if it plans to initiate proceedings to remove him to a country that is not his place of origin.


Immigration agents told a teenage US citizen: ‘You’ve got no rights.’ He secretly recorded his brutal arrest
Audio in the video catches the unidentified officers debriefing and appearing to make light of the stun gun use. “You’re funny, bro,” one officer can be overheard saying to another, followed by laughter. Another officer says, “They’re starting to resist more now,” to which an officer replies: “We’re going to end up shooting some of them.” Later in the footage, the officers move on to general celebration – “Goddamn! Woo! Nice!” – and talk of the potential bonus they’ll be getting: “Just remember, you can smell that [inaudible] $30,000 bonus.” It is unclear what bonus they are referring to. Donald Trump’s recent spending bill includes billions of additional dollars for Ice that could be spent on recruitment and retention tactics such as bonuses.


The U.S. is destroying $9.7 million in contraceptives. Is there another option?
A stockpile of family planning products — including IUDs, implants and pills — worth $9.7 million has been stuck at a warehouse in Belgium since the administration dismantled the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and froze foreign aid earlier this year, according to statements from multiple humanitarian groups and U.S. lawmakers.


Corporation for Public Broadcasting, funder of NPR and PBS, says it will end operations within months after federal budget cuts
President Trump signed an executive order in May instructing the organization to cease federal funding for PBS and NPR. In June, the House approved a White House request to claw back $1.1 billion in already appointed federal funds from the CPB. The Senate Appropriations Committee's 2026 appropriations bill eliminated funding for the CPB for the first time in over 50 years.


Ghislaine Maxwell moved to federal prison camp in Texas
The camp in Bryan, Texas, houses only women. A majority of its inmates are serving time for nonviolent offenses and white-collar crimes. The move comes a week after Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche met with Maxwell and her lawyer, David Oscar Markus, for nine hours over two days.


Trump fires labor statistics boss hours after the release of weak jobs report
The BLS on Friday morning reported that the U.S. economy added just 73,000 jobs in July, well below estimates. It also said it had revised the May and June numbers and they turned out to be lower than previously announced by more than 200,000 jobs.


Office of Special Counsel launches investigation into ex-Trump prosecutor Jack Smith
The U.S. Office of Special Counsel, an independent federal agency, confirmed to NBC News on Saturday that it's investigating Smith for alleged violations of the Hatch Act, a law that prohibits certain political activities by government officials. Trump and his allies have not presented specific evidence of wrongdoing.


Jim Acosta Just Interviewed an AI Version of a Parkland Victim
Manuel said one reason he and his wife, Patricia, created the AI of their son was to hear his voice again. “Patricia will spend hours asking questions,” Manuel said. “Like any other mother, she loves to hear Joaquin saying, ‘I love you, mommy.’ And that’s important.”


How Laura Loomer's pressure campaigns are reshaping the Trump administration
One in particular has remained in place despite months of criticism dating back almost to the start of Trump's second term: Attorney General Pam Bondi, who Loomer has targeted for her handling of the Epstein files and other issues.


RFK Jr. is canceling mRNA vaccine development. Can I still get a COVID vaccine?
In the video posted on X, Kennedy claimed mRNA vaccines were ineffective against mutated versions of the virus and revealed HHS is planning to reallocate the funding to research whole-virus vaccines, which use a weakened version of the virus.


‘Displaced’ teachers a lesser known story of budget moves
The process of laying off teachers in what’s known as “pink slip season” — May 15 to the last day of school — attracts most of the attention when education loyalists argue for funding. But there’s another category known as “displaced” or involuntarily transferred teachers that also stems from budget cuts. It involves keeping a teacher in the district but putting him or her up for bid to a different school.


CDC staffers voice frustration over Kennedy’s anti-vaccine rhetoric
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention staffers are voicing frustration over Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s past vaccine comments, following Friday’s shooting at the agency’s headquarters in Atlanta that left one police officer dead. Although the motive of the suspected shooter — Patrick White, 30, from Kennesaw, Georgia — remains unknown, he told a neighbor that he believed the Covid vaccines had made him sick, a source told NBC News on the condition of anonymity...Just last week, Kennedy terminated 22 contracts focused on developing mRNA vaccines — the same technology used to develop Pfizer’s and Moderna’s Covid shots. In an announcement on X, Kennedy claimed “mRNA technology poses more risks than benefits for these respiratory viruses.”


What to know about DC Home Rule Act as Trump puts DC police under federal control
Trump has long threatened to take control of D.C., saying he wants to crack down on violent crime in the district although police statistics show that in the past two years, violent crime in Washington, D.C., has fallen dramatically.


National Guard troops arrive on D.C. streets to execute Trump's anti-crime order
In an interview, Greggory Pemberton, chairman of the D.C. Police Union, expressed support for Trump’s moves, which included federalizing the Metropolitan Police Department. Pemberton said crime was still "ubiquitous" in the city, adding that while Trump’s order could be helpful in fighting crime, it would most likely have only a temporary impact without more far-reaching changes. Pemberton argued that one of the main reasons local law enforcement "can't get a handle on the crime" is a staffing shortage of more than 800 officer vacancies and said laws the City Council enacted "really prevent us from being able to do our job and being able to hold criminals accountable."...Violent crime in the district has decreased by 26% over the last year, according to police department statistics, though crime overall has gone down by only 7% during that same period.


Apple rejects Musk's App Store bias claims
In a later post Musk took aim at Apple again, asking the firm why it would not promote X - or its AI app Grok - in the "Must Have" section of the App Store. "X is the #1 news app in the world and Grok is #5 among all apps," he said in a post now pinned to his X profile. ChatGPT is currently the most downloaded free app in the UK, with Grok a close third. X does not make the top 40.


Texas Democrats return to the state, ending two-week standoff over redistricting
Democrats began setting the stage for their eventual return last week, declaring victory in Republicans' decision to end their first special legislative session without a vote. They said their second condition to return was for California Democrats to release a plan that would seek to offset any changes Texas Republicans made to their map, which they did Friday.


Democrats who fled Texas to block the GOP's redistricting effort plot their exit strategy
With Texas expected to end its first special legislative session Friday and immediately begin a new one, the dozens of Democratic legislators who fled the state to block Republicans’ redistricting proposal are hammering out a plan for their return home. Texas Democrats met late into the night Tuesday then again Wednesday, including breaking into smaller groups, to discuss their next steps and what their ultimate exit strategy looked like after spending the last 10 days out of the state, according to four sources close to the talks.


Trump says he will lead 'movement' to end mail-in voting
Trump has long sown doubts about mail-in voting, often over the objections of many Republicans. He's claimed mail-in voting contributed to his 2020 election loss, though no widespread fraud has been found. Mail-in voting has become very common and studies have shown that fraud in mail-ballot voting is rare. There are also several safeguards in place to protect against fraud, including signature requirements and barcodes to track envelopes sent by officials.


Trump Administration Revokes Security Clearances of These U.S. Officials
Some of the officials were involved in gathering information and making assessments on Russia's efforts to interfere in the 2016 U.S. election. Meanwhile, others had signed a public letter during Trump’s first term, supporting calls for an impeachment inquiry into the President.


Her spine surgery was denied. Doctors say it's all too common.
When his daughter was diagnosed, the family tried less invasive approaches than surgery such as physical therapy, steroid injections and anti-inflammatory pills. But it became clear to them — and to White’s doctors — that spine surgery was the only option to alleviate her pain.


Pentagon asks civilian employees to join ‘volunteer force’ to aid Ice deportations
The defense department has posted a job listing requesting volunteers for civilian federal employees apply to join a “volunteer force” supporting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) operations. On Wednesday, the department reportedly emailed civilian employees asking them to take up this opportunity.


FBI searches former national security adviser John Bolton's home in a probe to find classified records
CIA Director John Ratcliffe provided FBI Director Kash Patel the intelligence that was the basis of the search warrant used by federal investigators to raid Bolton’s home and office, a source familiar with the matter told NBC News. The intelligence, the source said, involved what was alleged to be a mishandling of classified material by Bolton, who served as Trump’s national security adviser during his first term, before a contentious exit strained their relationship.


Businesses face 'chaos' as EPA aims to repeal its authority over climate pollution
The Environmental Protection Agency's endangerment finding has served as the legal basis for federal climate regulations under the Clean Air Act since 2009. The finding concludes that the accumulation of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide in the atmosphere endangers people's health and the well-being of communities. Reaching that determination was a prerequisite to set limits for the pollution. Getting rid of that authority would lead to the repeal of "all greenhouse gas standards" at the federal level, according to the EPA, amounting, it says, to "one of the largest deregulatory actions in American history."


Majority of college students say they will be affected by Trump’s new tax bill: ‘Honestly, I’m cooked’
Trump’s bill sets new caps on borrowing and reduces the repayment plan options available for federal student loan borrowers who take out loans beginning in the summer of next year. It also eliminates Grad Plus loans for graduate and professional students after that date.


Try this when your doctor says 'yes' to a preventive test but insurance says 'no'
Many types of preventive care are supposed to be covered without additional cost under the Affordable Care Act. If you receive a recommended preventive screening and have private insurance, including through the Affordable Care Act marketplace, there should be no copayment at the time of service and you shouldn't get a bill later. A small number of insurance plans are "grandfathered" in, which means you may not have the same rights and protections as the ACA provides. Check with your employer's human resources benefits manager to find out for sure.


Trump moves to ban flag burning despite Supreme Court ruling that Constitution allows it
President Donald Trump on Monday signed an executive order requiring the Justice Department to investigate and prosecute people for burning the American flag, an activity that the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled is legitimate political expression protected by the U.S. Constitution.


Trump-appointed judge throws out rare DOJ lawsuit against jurists over deportations
A Trump-appointed judge threw out a rare case in which the Trump administration sued all 15 judges in a Maryland federal court to block judicial orders that slowed deportations. The administration was challenging two orders by Judge George L. Russell III, the chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, that blocked federal immigration officials from removing or altering the legal status of certain detainees for two business days. The orders were designed to give the Maryland federal court time to address court petitions before the detainees were transferred outside of the court's jurisdiction.


FDA approves fall Covid shots, but with new restrictions
Doctors will still be able to prescribe the vaccines off-label, to people not specified in the FDA approvals. However, that adds yet another barrier to access as many people get their shots at the pharmacy, not prescribed through a doctor.


Whistleblower says Trump officials copied millions of Social Security numbers
According to Borges' complaint, on June 10, days after the Supreme Court ruling, a former DOGE employee at the SSA named John Solly requested that the agency make a copy of its Numerical Identification System (NUMIDENT) database to a private cloud that would be located within the SSA's Amazon Web Services — Agency Cloud Infrastructure. The NUMIDENT database is the master file for all information submitted in applications for Social Security cards. The database includes applicant names, place and date of birth, citizenship, race and ethnicity, and parents' names — along with the Social Security numbers. The request effectively created a copy of the database where the former DOGE officials would have unfettered access, according to the complaint.


CDC Director Susan Monarez fired by Trump administration after refusing to resign, citing 'reckless directives'
At least four top officials announced their resignations, including Dr. Debra Houry, the chief medical officer; Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases; Dr. Daniel Jernigan, the director of the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases; and Dr. Jen Layden, director of the Office of Public Health Data, Surveillance and Technology.


The federal government is taking over D.C.'s Union Station. What does that mean?
The DOT has owned the building since the 1980s. But it had long outsourced the management of its daily operations and commercial aspects to a local nonprofit, the Union Station Redevelopment Corporation. Amtrak took over those responsibilities last summer — and it was at the launch of its new Acela trains that the DOT announced that management would soon change hands once again.


Mystery surrounds $1.2 billion Army contract to build huge detention tent camp in Texas desert
When President Donald Trump’s administration last month awarded a contract worth up to $1.2 billion to build and operate what it says will become the nation’s largest immigration detention complex, it didn’t turn to a large government contractor or even a firm that specializes in private prisons. Instead, it handed the project on a military base to Acquisition Logistics LLC, a small business that has no listed experience running a correction facility and had never won a federal contract worth more than $16 million. The company also lacks a functioning website and lists as its address a modest home in suburban Virginia owned by a 77-year-old retired Navy flight officer.


Inside Hawaii's 'Forbidden Island'
Keith Robinson, along with his younger brother, Bruce, and their family plantation Gay and Robinson, own 55,000 acres of Kauai and, 17 miles west, the entire 45,000-acre private island of Niihau, which their family purchased from the Hawaiian monarchy in the mid-1800s. This is more land than Oracle cofounder Larry Ellison, who purchased the entirety of Lanai for $300 million in 2012, and 40 times more than Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who's established his own 2,300-acre, $330 million outpost on the opposite side of Kauai. The Robinsons are a landlord and employer to hundreds, as they have been for more than 150 years. There isn't a person who grew up on the west side of Kauai who doesn't know who they are.


2 firefighters arrested by Border Patrol at Washington’s Bear Gulch Fire
David “Buenos” Diaz is a crew boss leading one of a few freelancer teams combating the bear Gulch Fire and witnessed the arrests. He said the lead fire management team sent workers out to cut wood Wednesday morning, and once they were finished, the division lead was going to meet them out there to see what other tasks they could do. Instead, they were met with Border Patrol to inspect the crews, Diaz said.


DC sues Trump administration to halt National Guard deployment
DC Mayor Muriel Bowser referred questions about the lawsuit to the attorney general and said she is focused on ending the 30-day emergency order that Trump signed Aug. 11 to deploy the National Guard and take greater oversight of the police.


4 takeaways after RFK Jr.'s fiery Senate hearing over CDC turmoil, vaccines
Kennedy also refused to say during the hearing that over one million Americans died from COVID-19 -- as recorded by the CDC -- and that COVID-19 vaccines saved millions of lives, as determined by analyses.


FACT FOCUS: A look at false and misleading claims made by RFK Jr. during Senate hearing
KENNEDY, on how many Americans have died from COVID-19: “I don’t think anybody knows that, because there was so much data chaos coming out of the CDC and there were so many perverse incentives.”

THE FACTS: This data is easily accessible. Approximately 1.2 million Americans have died from the virus, according to both the CDC, and the WHO.


Trump hosts dinner with tech giants at the White House, but Elon Musk didn't attend
President Trump hosted a dinner Thursday night at the White House with tech giants and other business and political leaders, but Tesla CEO Elon Musk was not be among those attending. More than a dozen tech titans were invited to the event, including Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, OpenAI founder Sam Altman, Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, according to the White House. The Hill first reported the list of invitees.


Grandparents for Vaccines launches to share stories of life before immunizations
The timing coincides with the 70th anniversary of the polio vaccine announcement on April 12, 1955, when Jonas Salk's vaccine was declared "safe, effective, and potent" — a breakthrough that transformed public health.


Supreme Court said ICE can stop you based on race, accent, job and location. What we know.
The limited-scope decision came down in an unsigned, emergency action that did not disclose which justices voted to side with President Donald Trump’s administration and offered no reasoning. But it nonetheless temporarily overturned decisions from the lower courts that blocked ICE from making stops based only on race, language, location and occupation.


'They'll hold you over a barrel': How NHL team's execs milked youth hockey families for profit
Stay-to-play requirements are somewhat common across youth sports and maddening to many parents. The organization hosting the tournament usually receives a kickback from the hotel booking revenue, and sometimes a third-party company that coordinates with the hotels also takes a cut. The difference in this case is that the kickbacks went to the same people tasked with organizing, overseeing and shaping the rules for the tournaments, as opposed to an independent entity. And those people had multiple conflicts of interest.


Immigrants with no criminal record now largest group in Ice detention
According to the official data, 16,523 people in immigration detention with no criminal record were arrested by Ice, compared to 15,725 who do have a criminal record and 13,767 with pending criminal charges. There are currently a total of 59,762 people in Ice detention across the US. The remaining number of people in Ice custody were brought in by border officials.


Republican Arizona lawmaker makes post calling for execution of Democratic congresswoman
Gillette’s comment is a continuation of a string of inflammatory far-right online invective by the Mohave county Republican and retired army reserve command sergeant major. Gillette has defended January 6 protesters, who were intent on violently overturning Trump’s defeat by Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election, as “political prisoners” and described Muslims as “terrorists”.


ICE Warden Put Transgender Detainees into Forced Labor Program: Complaint
According to complaints filed by Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, the ACLU and the National Immigration Project, the abuse took place between 2023 and 2025, across two administrations. Detention center and ICE employees allegedly subjected the four detainees to sexual assault, forcible touching, groping, physical abuse and denial of medical attention.


US anti-fascism expert leaves country day after being blocked from flying to Spain
Mark Bray, a historian who has taught courses on anti-fascism at the New Jersey university, was attempting to board a plane at Newark airport late on Wednesday when he was informed at the boarding gate that reservations for him and his family had been cancelled...“‘Someone’ cancelled my family’s flight out of the country at the last second,” Bray posted on Bluesky. “We got our boarding passes. We checked our bags. Went through security. Then at our gate our reservation ‘disappeared’.”


Axios Explains: Inside ICE's superpowers
ICE agents aren't required to wear body cameras, can cover their faces, don't have to provide badge numbers or identify themselves, can arrive in unmarked cars and don't need a warrant from a judge to detain someone.


Trump says DOGE 'might have to go back and eat' Elon Musk after his criticism of the GOP bill
In another post, Musk said that lawmakers who vote for the bill "will lose their primary next year if it is the last thing I do on this Earth." In a yet another post, Musk shared a graphic depicting Pinocchio sitting in flames, with the word “LIAR” emblazoned across the picture alongside a message about voting to raise U.S. debt.


Senate passes Trump’s big tax and spending cuts bill as Vance breaks a 50-50 tie
Three Republican senators — Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Susan Collins of Maine and Rand Paul of Kentucky — joined all Democrats in voting against it.


Here’s how Trump’s megabill will affect you
Wealthy Americans would benefit far more from the tax package than those lower on the income scale, according to a Tax Policy Center analysis of the Senate bill. While all households would see their taxes reduced, some 60% of the benefits would go to those making $217,000 or more (the top 20%). These folks would receive an average tax cut of $12,500, or 3.4% of their after-tax income, in 2026, the analysis found. But the lowest-income households, who earn about $35,000 or less, would receive an average tax cut of only $150, less than 1% of their after-tax income. Middle-income households would see their taxes reduced by about $1,800, or 2.3% of their after-tax income, on average. This analysis does not take into account the historic cuts to the nation’s safety-net program, which would hurt lower-income Americans. They would see their income reduced after factoring in the changes to Medicaid and food stamps, according to a report from the Budget Lab at Yale.


Doctors and public health organizations sue Kennedy over vaccine policy change
The American Academy of Pediatrics, American Public Health Association and four other groups — along with an unnamed pregnant doctor who works in a hospital — filed the lawsuit in federal court in Boston...Also joining the suit are the American College of Physicians, the Infectious Diseases Society of America, the Massachusetts Public Health Alliance and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine.


Heavily armed immigration agents descend on L.A.’s MacArthur Park
Immigration agents in military green surrounded MacArthur Park as the convoy readied for a show of force akin to a Hollywood movie. They came with horses and armored vehicles, carrying rifles and in tactical gear in the middle of what is the heart of immigrant Los Angeles. But there were few of their supposed targets to be found Monday — immigrants without documentation.


As women have far fewer babies, the U.S. and the world face unprecedented challenges
A 2023 study by the Brookings Institution, meanwhile, found that without significant numbers of immigrants coming to the U.S. in the future, the country's population would plunge by more than 100 million people this century. "We would be losing about a third of our population between now and 2100 if there were no immigration to the United States," said the study's author, William Frey. "What is our labor force going to be going forward? What is our productivity going forward?" Frey said. "We're going to have lots of jobs, and there's going to be nobody there to take those jobs. I think there's going to be a lot of pressure to increase immigration into the U.S."


DOGE keeps gaining access to sensitive data. Now, it can cut off billions to farmers
In early April, Jordan Wick, a former software engineer for the self-driving car company Waymo who has been identified in the media and court documents as a DOGE staffer, got high-level access to the National Payment Service system, the USDA staffer told NPR, sharing access logs as evidence. The source requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press and feared retaliation from the Trump administration. That level of access would allow Wick to both view and modify all the data entries inside the system, which tracks payments and information about loans for farmers, ranchers and agricultural producers across the United States. He could outright cancel payments or deny loans. Those payments include various different government subsidies, ranging from emergency or disaster assistance after extreme weather events, to incentives for conservation practices or participating in one of FSA's many other programs. FSA has 51 separate state offices and over 2,000 county offices.


Trump faces a MAGA rebellion over Epstein outcry
But last week, Axios reported that the Justice Department and FBI concluded that there’s no evidence Epstein kept a “client list” or was murdered in his jail cell, marking the first time Trump’s administration pushed back on unsubstantiated theories about Epstein that Bongino, FBI Director Kash Patel and others have touted previously.


CDC urges summer camps to check for measles immunity, as U.S. nears record
The CDC's new recommendations come as confirmed measles cases have climbed to 1,197 infections so far in 2025, less than 100 cases away from topping the record 1,274 cases that were confirmed for all of 2019. That marked a record since the U.S. in 2000 declared uncontrolled community spread of the virus eliminated through widespread measles vaccinations. At the time in 2019, health officials said the total number of cases added up to the worst tally on record since the 20th century. This year's wave is already deadlier than the 2019 wave of outbreaks, which health officials and experts suspect is due to missed infections that have gone unreported.


Outside groups organize to form unbiased, independent vaccine panel
Earlier this month, Kennedy fired all 17 members from ACIP, appointing in their place eight new members, many of whom have expressed vaccine-skeptical views or questioned pandemic restrictions. Kennedy himself has a long history of anti-vaccination activism.


Military parade and No Kings protests: A split screen of a divided America
The event in the nation's capital seemed at times like a cross between a military festival and an Army recruiting video. People lounged on the grass in the shadow of the Washington Monument. Amid the strains of Van Halen over the loudspeakers, tank drivers pumped their fists and revved their engines as they drove past cheering crowds down Constitution Avenue. Along the way, the announcer thanked the various corporate sponsors, including Lockheed Martin and Palantir, the data-mining firm that has a $30 million contract to help Immigration and Customs and Enforcement track migrants in the U.S.


Inside Trump's backtrack on immigration
Later Thursday, Tatum King, a senior ICE official, sent an email to agency officials nationwide, telling them to "please hold on all worksite enforcement investigations/operations on agriculture (including aquaculture and meatpacking plants), restaurants, and operating hotels."


US veterans are more likely to end up in prison than civilians. These horses might help them
Those who run Valor say they want to address disparities in incarceration rates between civil and veteran populations. Those disparities are stark: around 8% of prisoners in the US are veterans. In 2016, the most recent data available, 107,000 veterans are imprisoned in the US. And nearly one-third of the country's war veterans have at some point in their lives been arrested or jailed – nearly double the rate among civilians.


Trump, in reversal, may exempt farms and hotels from immigration raids
To meet that goal, White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller demanded last month that ICE arrest at least 3,000 undocumented people a day. Three former DHS officials told NBC News that ICE officials will have to significantly increase raids of large workplaces nationwide to meet those goals. The sites include farms, meatpacking plants, hotels and restaurants — the industries Trump appears to have exempted. A former ICE official said that only raids on “construction, dairy [and] meat processing facilities, carpet mills” would result in the large number of detentions Miller has demanded. “It’s these low-wage jobs, that is where you get the numbers,” the former official said.


New York City Comptroller Brad Lander released hours after his arrest at an immigration court
Lander can be seen in a video on his personal X account being surrounded by people, including masked officers in vests labeled with the word "police." At one point, someone says, "Put him in custody," and the men holding him scuffle with him before they pin him to a wall and handcuff him. “I’m not obstructing. I’m standing right here in the hallway. I asked to see the judicial warrant,” Lander says in the video. “You don’t have the authority to arrest U.S. citizens asking for a judicial warrant,” he adds.


The suspect in the shooting of 2 Minnesota lawmakers had a 'hit list' of 45 officials
Authorities in Minnesota said Monday that the man arrested in a Saturday attack that killed one state lawmaker and left another wounded had a "hit list" of 45 elected officials — all Democrats...At a news conference Saturday, state police said they found a list of individuals inside what they say is Boelter's vehicle. Hortman and Hoffman were on that list along with other lawmakers, including U.S. Senator Tina Smith and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, who are also both Democrats.


A Brief History of Trump’s Violent Remarks
After the second attempt on his life, Donald Trump accused his political opponents of inspiring the attacks against him with their rhetoric. The reality, however, is that Trump himself has a long record—singular among American presidents of the modern era—of inciting and threatening violence against his fellow citizens, journalists, and anyone he deems his opposition.


Charlie Kirk’s Legacy Deserves No Mourning
Charles James Kirk, 31, died on Wednesday from a gunshot to the neck at a Utah Valley University campus event just as he was trying to deflect a question about mass shootings by suggesting they were largely a function of gang violence. He died with a net worth of $12 million, which he made by espousing horrific and bigoted views in the name of advancing Christian nationalism. The foundation of his empire was the group he cofounded and led, Turning Point USA, which is a key youth-recruitment arm of the MAGA movement. Kirk was able to launch Turning Point at the age of 18 because he received money from Tea Party member Bill Montgomery, right-wing donor Foster Friess, and his own father, also a prolific right-wing donor. He was an unrepentant racist, transphobe, homophobe, and misogynist who often wrapped his bigotry in Bible verses because there was no other way to pretend that it was morally correct. He had children, as do many vile people.


Los Angeles Dodgers stop federal agents from entering stadium grounds
As anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement protests continue in Los Angeles, dozens of federal agents were seen near Dodger Stadium on Thursday but were denied entry to the famed ballpark, according to the MLB team. The agents were seen dressed in tactical gear and gathered on the street that leads into the stadium.


What’s Next for the ‘No Kings’ Movement?
Later in the call, an Indivisible colleague previewed the “1 Million Rising” initiative, aimed at building “power that lasts.” The organizer made clear that the initiative is the work of a coalition ranging from the League of Conservation Voters to the American Civil Liberties Union to the upstart grassroots group 50501. The point is not to have scores and scores of activists reinventing the wheel, but to give folks an opportunity to learn leadership skills and then “plug in” to organizations dedicated to the issues they are most passionate about, ranging from immigration and racial justice, to climate change, to voting rights and democracy building.


U.S. Supreme Court allows — for now — third-country deportations
The Supreme Court on Monday blocked a lower court order that required 15 days notice to individuals the Trump administration is trying to deport to countries other than their own. The high court's action, at least for now, reversed the lower court's order requiring that those being deported have enough time to contact their lawyers and present evidence that would show their lives would be in danger if deported to certain countries.


Trans women transferred to men’s prisons despite rulings against Trump’s order
Transgender women incarcerated in the US prison system have been transferred to men’s facilities under Donald Trump’s executive order, despite multiple court rulings blocking the president’s policy, according to civil rights lawyers and accounts from behind bars.


AOC brushes off Tom Homan’s warning about ‘trouble’ over her immigration rights webinar
Homan also recently complained that news reports about U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids were putting agents at risk of being ambushed, so Trump’s administration has clearly begun a crackdown on perceived obstacles to their immigration goals. As I reported earlier this week, Trump’s attack dog leading the Federal Communications Commission has opened a probe into a San Francisco radio station after it after it broadcast ICE agents’ live locations last month.


AOC wants to know if she's under DOJ investigation
In a letter to Bondi dated Feb. 27, Ocasio-Cortez wrote that Trump's border czar Tom Homan has "gone on multiple forums threatening political prosecution against me" for informing constituents of how to exercise their constitutional rights when talking to ICE.


A New Trump Plan Gives DHS and the White House Greater Influence in the Fight Against Organized Crime
During Trump’s first term, veteran officials of the FBI, DEA and HSI all complained that the administration’s overarching focus on immigration diverted agents from more urgent national security threats, including the fentanyl epidemic. Now, as hundreds more agents have been dispatched to immigration enforcement, those officials worry that the new task forces will focus on rounding up undocumented immigrants who have any sort of criminal record at the cost of more significant organized crime investigations. The first task forces to begin operating under the new model have not assuaged such concerns. In late May, Attorney General Pam Bondi and Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced that the Virginia Homeland Security Task Force had arrested more than 1,000 “criminal illegal aliens” in just two months, but the authorities have provided almost no details connecting those suspects to transnational criminal organizations.


The Supreme Court gives Trump a wave of victories in a blockbuster final week
The Supreme Court allowed South Carolina to bar Planned Parenthood's access to federal Medicaid funding for non-abortion services. The decision allows states to ban the organization from getting Medicaid reimbursements for cancer screenings and other care not related to abortion. At issue was a provision of the federal Medicaid law that guarantees Medicaid patients the ability to choose their doctors, or in the words of the statute, they are entitled to "any qualified and willing provider." South Carolina, however, maintained that it could disqualify Medicaid providers for "any reason that state law allows." Or as Gov. Henry McMaster, a Republican, put it, "Taxpayers should not be forced to subsidize abortion providers who are in direct opposition to their beliefs."


DOJ announces plans to prioritize cases to revoke citizenship
Other immigration experts point to another part of the guidance, which gives U.S. attorneys broader discretion to determine other eligible denaturalization cases. "These categories do not limit the Civil Division from pursuing any particular case," the memo states, and priorities for denaturalization can include "any other cases referred to the Civil Division that the Division determines to be sufficiently important to pursue."


Republicans in Congress are eager for Trump to expand his use of the military on US soil
Republicans have in recent years found political success focusing on the issue of crime. The vast majority of Americans, 81%, see crime as a “major problem” in large cities, according to recent polling from the The AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. That includes nearly all Republicans, roughly three-quarters of independents and nearly 7 in 10 Democrats. However, statistics show overall crime is down across the nation, with some cities reporting 30-year lows.


Senate Republicans eye 'nuclear option' for rules change to speed up Trump nominees
The plan would apply to nominees who are subject to two hours of debate under Senate rules; that is: executive branch nominees, sub-Cabinet level picks and ambassadors. It would not apply to judicial nominations. And it would allow Senate leaders to vote on an unlimited number of nominees in one bloc, with a single up-or-down vote to confirm or reject them all.


We Can Remove Toxic Forever Chemicals From Drinking Water. Why Aren’t We?
Last year, the Biden administration finalized a rule establishing the first-ever legal limits of PFAS in drinking water, setting strict limits for six kinds of PFAS chemicals and mandating that water utilities needed to clean up drinking water under these limits by 2029. But in May, the Environmental Protection Agency said it would be reconsidering regulations on four of the six chemicals in the original rule and extend the deadline by two years. The changes come after widespread outcry from water utilities, who say that the costs of installing PFAS filtration systems would be far beyond what the agency originally estimated.

第四年第二百七十九天

Oct. 15th, 2025 07:41 am
nnozomi: (Default)
[personal profile] nnozomi posting in [community profile] guardian_learning
部首
女 part 7
姻, marriage; 姿, looks; 威, power pinyin )
https://www.mdbg.net/chinese/dictionary?cdqrad=38

词汇
志愿, to volunteer; 志愿者, volunteer pinyin )
https://mandarinbean.com/new-hsk-3-word-list/

Guardian:
它跃动的姿态是不是很美呀, isn't the way it leaps beautiful?
[no 志愿]

Me:
他们俩就是姿态和威权的婚姻。
做志愿者很有意义的事,又是很累的。

Vert#13 [Starfall]

Oct. 14th, 2025 08:51 pm
thisbluespirit: (viyony)
[personal profile] thisbluespirit posting in [community profile] rainbowfic
Name: Storms
Story: Starfall
Colors: Vert #13 (Anchor)
Supplies and Styles: Portrait + Novelty Beads (Nightmare - from [personal profile] bookblather, Birthday Prompts 2020 & Waters - April Food Challenge 2024)
Word Count: 5326
Rating: PG
Warnings: Threat of drowning, sea-sickness.
Notes: Calla Island, 1313. Viyony Eseray, Leion Valerno, Lynah Allin. Continues on directly from Assignations.
Summary: Viyony's determined to get Leion off the island.

Storms )

Birdfeeding

Oct. 14th, 2025 01:25 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith posting in [community profile] birdfeeding
Today is mostly sunny and warm.

I fed the birds.  I've seen a few sparrows and house finches.  I heard a squirrel chattering but didn't see it.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 10/14/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

As it is now dark, I am done for the night.

Birdfeeding

Oct. 14th, 2025 01:24 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Today is mostly sunny and warm.

I fed the birds.  I've seen a few sparrows and house finches.  I heard a squirrel chattering but didn't see it.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 10/14/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

As it is now dark, I am done for the night.

Just one thing: 14 October

Oct. 14th, 2025 06:31 am
[personal profile] jazzyjj posting in [community profile] awesomeers
It's challenge time!

Comment with Just One Thing you've accomplished in the last 24 hours or so. It doesn't have to be a hard thing, or even a thing that you think is particularly awesome. Just a thing that you did.

Feel free to share more than one thing if you're feeling particularly accomplished!

Extra credit: find someone in the comments and give them props for what they achieved!

Nothing is too big, too small, too strange or too cryptic. And in case you'd rather do this in private, anonymous comments are screened. I will only unscreen if you ask me to.

Go!

Drawtober 2025 Prompt "Propped Up"

Oct. 14th, 2025 04:10 pm
leecetheartist: Copyright Alicia Smith 2009. That's *me*. (KOL)
[personal profile] leecetheartist posting in [community profile] drawesome
Title: Propped Up
Artist: leecetheartist
Rating: G
Fandom: original work
Content Notes: Dip pen and nib, the ink is Diamine's Rainbow's End chameleon. And it's a lovely purple in, quite beautiful, with that oh so hard to photograph chameleon, mostly red sparkle. I tried hard to capture it for you but I needed a third hand. rdm might assist later.

Anyway, I remember reading the Flight of Dragons some time ago and I vaguely remember that they kind of came to a conclusion that dragons were very light and filled with buoyant gas, so that's how I'm figuring these hopefully acrobatic dragons are doing what they're doing.

Otherwise we're just buoyed by enthusiasm and physics just looking the other way for a bit. The dragon on the left is, however, trying to put a stop to all this nonsense.


The Eastern Dragon must have great balance. Reminds me of my niece in law, she's tiny, but is the base for her acrobatic troupe.



Ink and Pen on stand


A bunch of acrobat dragons
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Based on an audience poll, this is the free epic for the October 7, 2025 Poetry Fishbowl reaching its $200 goal. It came out of the July 15, 2025 bonus fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from [personal profile] mama_kestrel. It also fills the "I'll Get My Revenge" square in my 7-1-25 card for the Western Bingo fest.

Read more... )

Books

Oct. 14th, 2025 01:03 am
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Naomi Rivkis — The World As It Ought to Be
Stories from a protopian future

Protopia (n.): A world that is not perfect, but is getting better; one that is on the long arc toward justice, carried by human hands.

What if the future didn't have to be dystopian?

In a time when every headline screams of crisis and many governments seek power instead of solutions, these stories dare to ask a radical question: What would it be like to create a better world?


On Dreamwidth, see the post by [personal profile] mdlbear.
mific: (Blue mandala)
[personal profile] mific posting in [community profile] drawesome
Title: Ice Dragons Against a Wispy Sky
Artist: [personal profile] mific
Rating: Gen
Fandom: original work
n Notes: Made in Procreate for the prompts dragons, wisp, and ice. Combining some prompts for a catch up.



full sized pic under here )


Half-Price Sale in Polychrome Heroics

Oct. 13th, 2025 11:01 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Damask smiling over their shoulder (polychrome)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
The half-price sale in Polychrome Heroics is now open over on LiveJournal.  Donors, start your engines!

第四年第二百七十八天

Oct. 14th, 2025 07:58 am
nnozomi: (Default)
[personal profile] nnozomi posting in [community profile] guardian_learning
部首
女 part 6
委, committee member; 姜, ginger; 姨, aunt pinyin )
https://www.mdbg.net/chinese/dictionary?cdqrad=38

语法
Uses of 倍
https://www.chineseboost.com/grammar/bei-times-fold/

词汇
至今, so far; 至少, at least pinyin )
https://mandarinbean.com/new-hsk-3-word-list/

Guardian:
阿姨啊,我想问一下团圆夜那天晚上这儿有没有发生什么事啊, Auntie, I want to ask if anything happened here on Reunion Night
老子一定会千倍万倍地还给你, I'll give you as good as I got a thousand-fold, ten thousand-fold!
至少我们的选择很有意义, at least our choice was meaningful

Me:
别放姜放得太多。
至今他的效果比你的四倍多。

Realgar #15 [The Fulcrum]

Oct. 13th, 2025 02:59 pm
[personal profile] paradoxcase posting in [community profile] rainbowfic
Name: Transtimeline Whispers
Story: The Fulcrum
Colors: Realgar #15: Murmur
Styles and Supplies: Silhouette, Life Drawing, Tempera (this spread, interpreted as need / want)
Word Count: 1394
Rating: G
Warnings: None
Characters: Setsiana, Sapfita, Qhoroali
Summary: Setsiana asks Sapfita about the strange dream.

Transtimeline Whispers )

The pillar of fire

Oct. 13th, 2025 04:46 pm
dorchadas: (Dreams are older)
[personal profile] dorchadas
I don't think I wrote about this a while back when it happened, but [instagram.com profile] sashagee and I were talking about it recently. There's a song I used to sing to Laila every single night called בשם השם B'shem Hashem--here's a video from the Plague Years of our synagogue singing it--and for years [instagram.com profile] sashagee had no idea what it meant, it was just me singing in Hebrew and she thought it was some kind of lullaby. So when I told her the actual words:
בשם השם אלוקי ישראל
מימיני מיכאל ומשמאלי גבריאל
ומלפני אוריאל ומאחורי רפאל
ועל ראשי שכינת אל

B'sheim Hashem elokei yisrael,
mimini Michael umismoli Gavriel,
Umilfanai Uriel umeachorai Rafael,
v'al roshi v'al roshi shechinat el

"In the name of G-d, the G-d of Israel,
On my right hand Michael, on my left hand Gabriel,
Before me Uriel, and behind me Raphael,
And over my head, the presence of G-d"
that it's basically a prayer for protection, hoping that the archangels will surround and protect Laila while she sleeps, she told me about a dream she had about a pillar of fire hovering above Laila while she was in her crib--some obviously Biblical imagery--before she knew what I was singing about, and got very excited and told me about her dream when I explained the lyrics to her.

Laila hasn't asked about this yet, but I'll make sure to mention all this when she does.

A week in the hospital

Oct. 11th, 2025 07:35 pm
dorchadas: (Mario SMB3 World 1 Help Castle)
[personal profile] dorchadas
Poor Laila.

Not because she was injured or anything, B"H. We knew this was coming--they wanted to put her in for a week and take her off her meds so they could get some good EEG images of what her seizures look like when they're uncontrolled (relatively speaking). Somewhat worryingly, it happened almost immediately after they stopped her medicines. The next day, she had two seizures in the night, and the night after she had at least one and possibly two, so they put her back on her medicines and she hasn't had one since. When they talked to [instagram.com profile] sashagee about what they found, they said that:
  • Laila's seizures are all coming from a single area in her brain, which is good. A lot of the really difficulty-to-solve problems show up if you have bilateral seizures.
  • Because Laila is currently on her fourth medicine and no previous medicine has controlled her seizures for longer than a few months, brain surgery is now on the table.
  • They have a new medicine they're putting her on that is supposed to work really well with one of her current medicine, so the doctors are hopeful that this might be a solution.
  • Laila's main doctor is also a professor of pediatric neurology, so they're the best person we could have taking care of her.
So we're waiting to see what happens with her new medicine.

That's not really why I felt bad for Laila, though--all her seizures happen during her sleep, I'm not sure she even knows she has epilepsy--why I feel bad is because she was stuck in a single room, attached to a set of cords hooked up to her head that she couldn't touch or move, for four days. I went to visit her and [instagram.com profile] sashagee every day after work, and around the halfway point of the week she got so frustrated with her cords on her head that were itching and that we kept not letting her scratch--and when she did manage to scratch one, it came off and the tech had to come back in and reattach it. She ended up crying herself to sleep after an hour and a half of fidgeting and scratching. It was really awful to watch, and I'm just glad that when she woke up the next morning I heard that she was a her normal, cheery self again.

She has an MRI next week so they can get a better image of her brain and try to figure out exactly what part of her brain is causing the seizures. Once they know that, they'll better be able to figure out what to do.

Birdfeeding

Oct. 13th, 2025 02:46 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith posting in [community profile] birdfeeding
Today is cloudy and mild.

I fed the birds. I've seen a few sparrows and house finches. I heard a squirrel chattering but didn't see it.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 10/13/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 10/13/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 10/13/25 -- I planted groundnut roots in two pots of the new picnic table garden.

I've seen a fox squirrel up a tree.

I picked a handful of groundcherries.

EDIT 10/13/25 -- I watered the new picnic table and septic gardens.

EDIT 10/13/25 -- I watered the irises, telephone pole garden, and savanna seedlings.

I am done for the night.

🌸


35/F, Chicago, writer/programmer/artist/rpg enthusiast/known gay/bird fan. she/they