I run a public library, and our numbers are all going up: more people through the door, more items checked out, more computer use, and a ton of new item requests. Same thing happened during the 2008 recession.

Pookleblinky@pookleblinky.bsky.social · 4mo ago

This makes me wonder: what is the strangest recession indicator that you are sure of? The most obscure thing that you're *sure* is a recession indicator, something which you don't hear basically anyone else mention?

The only good April Fools joke was when a library posted a headline saying “Study Shows Literacy Problems BC People Reply To Articles They Didn’t Read” When you clicked the link “lol April Fools there is no article. Tell no one” Then people who had not clicked the link argued about literacy all day.

Every time I feel despair, my fellow citizens give me hope with kindness, care, and compassion. The powers that be? No.

I was radicalized by a kind elderly Presbyterian minister in a brightly colored cardigan who played with puppets and told me that people could like me exactly as I am and that everyone is different and that's great and we should like them exactly as THEY are.

about a dozen stories in, my primary response to all of this apart from just profound rage and grief at these outrageously preventable deaths is a growing sense of absolute terror about what they’re doing in the dark where nobody can see it and what’s happening to the people nobody has found

we were probably all up last night staring at the ceiling with our own version of the same thought running on endless loop, but mine looked something like this: I hate these people to a degree that feels simultaneously corrosive to the soul, and also the only righteous response to this kind of evil

I have to try and forcibly remind myself that it's two things at once - that we hate Trump and his cronies not just because it's fun to dunk on the mad king for clicks, but because we love the people he is hurting and our anger is on behalf of the vulnerable, which makes it sacred and honorable

No one wants to hear that <checks notes> Iran currently has a more active & functional parliament than the United States of Just This One Guy Can Do Whatever He Wants Because No One In Congress Who Swore Oaths Will Do Their Damn Jobs

Leah McElrath@leahmcelrath.bsky.social · last yr.

This isn’t a final decision—the authority for which lies with another body—but it’s interesting to note that, unlike here in the US, the legislative arm actually is playing a role in the war planning process.

this is just who they are they do bad things everywhere all the time because they are evil and stupid and constantly indulging their very worst impulses there’s no twelve dimensional plan here

Michael Hobbes@michaelhobbes.bsky.social · 5mo ago

I am already seeing "it's a distraction!" takes and please fucking kill me

Did you know baby shampoo is mild enough, when used with water, to rinse eyes if they've been sprayed? Like when walking on or around ICE? We need to be careful and listen to this ophthalmologist about pepper spray. #ProudBlue 📹: drglaucomflecken/TT (a.k.a. Dr. William Flannary)

Christian Diaz subdued a home intruder after they had broken in and shot Diaz’s son. PHX PD then arrived and murdered Diaz right in front of his family. One of his children reports that their father’s jaw was completely shot off. Diaz was the father and provider for 12 children. Support his family:

Donate to Loving father killed by police being mistaken for intruder, organized by Jarvis Rosas

On January 26th 2025 at 6pm, in phoenix arizona at lowerbuc… Jarvis Rosas needs your support for Loving father killed by police being mistaken for intruder

gofundme.com

Robert Komaniecki@komaniecki.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Man calls Phoenix police for assistance, police arrive and shoot caller in the face

i'm being flip but when i think about the guys who are gassing preschools and putting children in camps and killing people both on and off camera--complaining about WHISTLES--i understand why dante was like no, we need way more kinds of hell. at least nine

Kare 11 local news just read, in full, this statement from Michael and Susan Pretti, the parents of Alex Pretti. "Please get the truth out about our son."

I don't want to hear another word about "reforming" ICE. I want you to run in the midterms on removing every dollar of funding for ICE and impeaching every fucking administration official you can get your hands on.

I would like the people calling for this, if they are not actually wreckers or feds, to consider why non-stupid people might be avoiding posting about starting an armed insurrection on public social media right now

Matt Baldwin@thisbrokenwheel.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Whole lotta fedposting wreckers from Britain & Canada calling for armed insurrection inside the USA today, I see.

A warrior is not defined by the fights they have won, but by what they fight for. Stand for those less privileged, stand for the powerless, stand with your neighbors, stand for those who will come after you. Stand for honor, or you stand for nothing at all, and are worth even less.

If you have love in your heart, family and friends in your life, or just help out someone in need, you've already won over these immoral pricks. You're already richer than the wealthiest, saddest losers on the Earth. No matter what, they will die miserable. They will never have what you have.

I felt like making some art last night/today and could have made something beautiful and/or meaningful but I made this instead. It's a Barbie Yaga Malibu Dream Hut. No regrets. Can't defeat fascism without joy.

and this is just a random fucking Thursday in November! I’m so tired of exciting government! Make government boring again!

We have nihilistic 8chan edgelords in charge of our nuclear arsenal because 30% of America still isn’t over the fact the South lost the Civil War

Adam Weinstein@adamweinstein.bsky.social · 10mo ago

So the president of the United States plans to meet with Putin in Hungary, and when a reporter asked where that plan came from, this was the reply of the United States government www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-...

Alt text: a picture of three leather-bound books with the caption, “My antifa membership kit arrived today.” The titles printed in gold foil on the three books are: The Declaration of Independence, The Bill of Rights, and The Constitution of the United States of America.

Amy Tidd@amytidd.bsky.social · 10mo ago

Thanks Carl!

This is the most wonderful story. Trust me on this one. youtube.com/shorts/O5yK7...

Fruit for thought. Never judge a book by its cover. #comedy #histoty #storytelling #standup

YouTube video by David Nihill

youtube.com

Libraries are so cool. Whenever I'm away from home and need a place to hang out between things, I find a library. There's a bathroom, a water fountain, chairs, and I can read, meditate, use the computers, or just be, and no one tries me make me buy anything.

I know antifa isn't a real organization because I don't get 40 texts a week from them asking for donations.

one of the common threads you will frequently find among devoted adult readers & writers is that as kids the librarian let them get away with reading whatever the fuck they wanted. so much of the scifi and fantasy I fell in love with as a kid was very much Not For Kids, but it made my brain light up

Keezy Young🌼@keezyyoung.bsky.social · 11mo ago

every time we talk about parental permission in terms of book banning I'm like fuck man. kids have rights too. a 17-year-old should be able to check out books at the library without Mom and Dad stepping in. so should a 10-year-old or 7 or whatever. kids deserve SOME goddamn freedom and privacy

Whatever you do, please don’t stop reading. Read for joy. Read for education. Read for resistance. Read banned books. Read books by marginalized authors. Read about experiences that differ from your own. Just. Keep. Reading.

you get to be "one of the good ones" right up until they decide they can go full mask off and don't need to pretend there are "good ones" anymore

rich traditions@helldude.bsky.social · 11mo ago

i would have guessed that playing footsie with reactionaries would have gotten you some kind of exemption -- guess not

I want you all to explore and celebrate all the communication options Bluesky has to offer, and with that said, if I never have to see Nazi shit from X that some of all y'all screencap just to dunk on it here, I would be so happy, I left X so I wouldn't have to see that Nazi shit you know

Goddamn. What a sobering and poignant piece of conceptual art. What an amazing artist.

There are currently more kids in Texas with measles than there are transgender collegiate athletes in all of America. Guess which one they want you to focus on.