Favorite Memes Today

Taking a break and sharing some memes I like:

Planting

Megan and I met up at the River Inn for brunch this morning. The restaurant gave each mom a potted flower for Mother’s Day. Megan gave me hers, claiming it would die if she took it home. Joe and I later drove into Elk River to the Home Depot so he could pick up potting soil for the plants I brought back. The photos are of the repotted flowers from River Inn.

 

Our sweet grandson, Caleb, wished me a happy Mother’s Day this morning with a text from his smart watch.

Yesterday, Joe got the garden planted. This is our first year using raised beds instead of planting directly in the yard. After picking out our plants, I looked each one up to find good companion plants and avoid poor pairings. We ended up filling all eight raised beds and planting vine crops in two open spots in the yard. Joe saved pumpkin seeds from a festival we went to last fall, and those are now in the ground above the patio’s retaining wall. We planted two butternut squash plants in the open space between the planter beds and the apple trees.

The raised beds are home to asparagus, basil, two varieties of sweet peppers, serrano peppers, jalapeño, broccoli, chives, cilantro, cucumber, garlic, green beans, green onions, kale, lemongrass, Italian parsley, radishes, rosemary, strawberries, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, and zucchini. We’ve tucked marigolds into each bed to help keep pests away. We also spray a safe repellent to discourage deer and rabbits. One of the drawbacks of not having a fenced yard is that deer—though we’ve never actually seen them—wander in and nibble on the garden.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms!

 

Pun for the Day

 

I love words. Reading them, writing them, saying them—there's just something about language that speaks to my soul. It’s a love I share with my granddaughter, Charlotte, a sister word-lover. One of my favorite forms of wordplay? Puns. They’re clever, surprising, and often make me groan and laugh at the same time.

Today, though, I'm in more of a reading mood than a writing one. So I’ll leave you with the pun above, and let the words do the rest. Happy reading, wherever you are.

Withdrawal Pangs

I am staying off of Facebook and Messenger this week. This is most likely healthier than checking it several times an hour. Meanwhile there is a part of my brain that is like, "What am I missing?" 

An AI search on the Internet reads: Facebook, initially named "TheFacebook," was first made available to the public in September 2006 Before that, it was limited to students at Harvard, and later other universities. By 2006, it opened its membership to anyone over the age of 13.

GIven the 2006 start date, I lived a lot of years without Facebook so I will survive thisweek with minimal withdrawals.

Can you name one thing you missed when you gave it up? 

 

Spring Reflections

This is the view from my sunroom chair this morning. That retaining wall is actually in our front yard, but it's reflected in the open window—making it look like it's in the back. I love this photo and have it saved in my library under the title Reflections.

Just goes to show: appearances can be deceiving.

Every day, we're seeing more green out there. Just last week, all of our trees were still leafless. Now, our trees are greening up and the lilac bush is thriving—you can spot the bush in the bottom right of the photo. Growing up in Ohio, we had a lilac bush in the yard, and it was always my favorite. I’m counting down the days until the first blooms.

Joe brought out the patio furniture for me today. My afternoon plan? A book and a sunny spot outside. I really do love retirement.

Motherhood - A New Perspective

Newborns require energy. As I watch my daughter, Megan, care for baby Oliver, I’m in awe of how much is poured into it. It’s a 24/7 job—even with help from family. In just ten days, Oliver will be four months old. He loves looking at everything, being held, and especially spending time with his Grandpa Joe. As I get ready to leave, I kiss his little face goodbye while he looks up at Grandpa, smiling wide.

The other day I said to Megan, “It seems like there’s so much more involved in raising a baby now than when you were born.” She quickly reminded me, “You were a working mom!” And she was right. When Megan was just six weeks old, Auntie Ginger stepped in, caring for her eight and a half hours a day while I returned to work.

This past week, I found myself reflecting on that time with new appreciation. I now see more clearly what Ginger gave—not just to Megan, but to me. Her care made it possible for me to work, to support our family, and to take a necessary step back from the exhausting demands of newborn care.

Ginger is a saint. I’ve suspected it for a long time. Honestly, I think all stay-at-home moms are practicing saints.

Opening Our Eyes - and Our Hearts

Tonight I want to share an article that offers some powerful advice for progressives. Earlier this week, I listened to Anand’s interview with Dr. Abdul El-Sayed and was struck by how clearly and compassionately he expressed some tough truths.

Many of my progressive and liberal friends are deeply troubled by how anyone could still vote for 47 after his conviction. I’ve asked myself the same question. But after talking with people who are far from MAGA, I’ve realized that many who voted Republican simply didn’t understand how far removed 47 is from the traditional Republican values their families once supported.

Joe once told me that I didn’t recognize I was in an abusive work relationship because it happened gradually. One day, I finally woke up and thought, “This isn’t healthy.” I think something similar may explain why some of my Republican friends and acquaintances supported 47. The change was slow, and the lack of trustworthy news made it worse.

Here’s where I stand: I believe in radical empathy. If we want to heal as a country, we must seek common ground and work together for a better future. Random cuts like those in the DOGE budget—made without research or care—won’t get us there.

To be clear, I don’t know anyone who identifies as MAGA. I have no respect for that movement. In my view, MAGA ideology is dangerous, even fascistic, and must be opposed at every turn.

That said, I want to leave the door open for those who sincerely believed 47 was the better choice. Someone recently asked me if I’d admit he was a good president if things worked out well for America. I said yes—but I know that won’t happen. Why? Because basic decency matters.

Even so, I won’t abandon friends or family who supported him for what they thought were good reasons. I still believe in the possibility of connection—and in building something better together.

P.S. Anand Giriharadas has a free option to subscribe on Substack.

Forwarded this email? Subscribe here for more ESSAY: A cure for Trumpism: Radical empathy and radical change Some reflections on Dr. Abdul El-Sayed’s playbook for a post-Trump America Anand Giridharadas May 4   READ IN APP   Here is a strange thing about politics. It’s a competitive arena in which people win by distinguishing themselves from others. And it’s an arena so lacking in originality. How often do you hear a political leader say something truly inspired, or even just slightly fresh? How often do you notice them actually thinking out loud, the mind still active, still with questions, not answers given to them on Post-It notes by an aide? It is rare enough that, when it happens, it sometimes takes me a second to realize it. But that’s what happened when I interviewed Dr. Abdul El-Sayed. He is a doctor and public health professional in Michigan who ran unsuccessfully for governor in 2018 and is now running for the U.S. Senate. What took me time to register was that El-Sayed was doing something more interesting than explaining why he should win his primary. He was laying out a vision for how America can finally be done with Trumpism. Like, actually done. I don’t think I’ve heard these ideas put together like this in a package before. Each one will have its share of critics. But I think the whole package is worth a look. The bottom line is this. A lot of what Democrats have ended up offering is contempt for Trump voters and moderate policy ideas. Dr El-Sayed is suggesting a reversal on both counts: radical empathy for Trump voters (which will rankle progressives) and radical change to eradicate the social conditions that enabled Trump (which will rankle moderates). Let them be rankled. The Ink is brought to you by readers. Support free and independent media that bows to no billionaire or tyrant by becoming a subscriber. Subscribed 1. The bully and the posse Growing up with the name Abdul, the son of immigrants from Egypt, El-Sayed knew a thing or two about bullying. What he sees in Trump is a bully par excellence. But bullies are often secretly weak, El-Sayed observed. What props them up is their posse. Trump’s posse is millions of voters. Without their allegiance, he is a childhood-scarred, semi-literate, narcissistic bully halfwit. With their allegiance, he has a path to making himself Caesar. El-Sayed argues, therefore, that the pro-democracy movement must obsessively seek to separate the posse from the bully. Which means adopting a posture that some fellow Democrats may not like: showing what he calls “radical empathy” for Trump voters, and viewing the choice millions made as an expression of desperation in an unresponsive system, a shout into the void. That means not lapsing into the condescension toward lay voters that feels so satisfying and, oftentimes, so justified. It means not calling them Magats and brainwashed and irredeemable racists all. It means strategically biting your tongue and opening your arms. For winning’s sake. Confront the bully. But woo the posse. Share 2. Don’t prove them wrong. Get them to right Winning movements don’t humiliate potential followers. They fix them a drink. Trump’s chaotic and economy-quaking opening months are already causing lots of pain for his own supporters, let alone all the other people in his policy crosshairs. Open any social media site, and what do you see these days? Gleeful Democrats sharing stories of MAGA types now being hurt by the policies they voted for. Understandable psychologically? Yes. Smart politically? No. Not even a little bit. Dr. El-Sayed framed the approach he favors instead succinctly: “We’ve got to get folks to being right, not prove them wrong.” What’s the difference? It’s about creating, he says, “a space within which you felt safe enough…to say, you know what?, I made a mistake.” So next time you hear a veteran who voted for Trump complaining about benefit cuts, or a shopkeeper complaining about tariffs, or a CEO complaining about the stock market, resist the temptation to gloat. If you want to save your country from hell, invite these potential newcomers to the pro-democracy cause in. Pour them a drink. Subscribed 3. America is good, actually In some of the progressive circles Dr. El-Sayed travels in, well-earned critiques of American policy and history can sometimes devolve into contempt for America. Progressives have a patriotism problem, often conceding the flag to those who would break the country rather than share it. They become so consumed with what is wrong with the country that they forget to say whether there is anything they love about it, and they leave the impression, sometimes true, sometimes not, that they think it irredeemably flawed, rotten at the root. This is fine for your academic seminar. But please keep this pose out of politics. Because it’s risking the republic itself and plays right into Donald Trump’s hands. Dr. El-Sayed, as a child of Egyptian immigrants, has a way into this issue that is compelling and worth listening to. He knows all the critiques leveled at America; he levels many of them himself. But his dualness — being from here and being from there — gives him another way of seeing. He spoke in our conversation about going back to Egypt in his youth. He would sit with his grandmother who, he said, half-jokingly (or maybe not?), would sit with him and tell him that this cousin of his was better looking than Abdul, and this one more athletic, and this one smarter. But you know what Abdul had, his greatest gift that would matter more than any of these others? He would soon be leaving Egypt. It’s a bittersweet truth that many of us with similar experiences of dualness know from childhood. And many of us who, like El-Sayed, would grow up to have criticisms of how America functions would also, like El-Sayed, never forget that America has real and profound gifts, that it offers many, many people — not enough, but more than most places — life chances and an opportunity to flourish and create and speak and become the fullest version of yourself. That this is a great country, which is, sadly, language many progressives would find way too cringe. Enjoy autocracy, guys! What El-Sayed reminds us is that to be a progressive who comes partly from somewhere else can be to hold two competing ideas in tension: that America is flawed, and is built on ideals and ways rare in history and worth defending. “America sucks” is a lazy shrug too often heard in progressive organizing spaces, and it is weirdly provincial in its obliviousness to how life is in other places around the world, and what El-Sayed is pointing toward instead is a progressive patriotism. “I love America because I know exactly what my life would have ended up as if I didn’t, but for the accident of history, get to grow up here,” he told me. And: “My critiques about America are about the difference between what she gave me…and what she has not given too many kids.” His advice to Democrats and progressives: “Wrap yourself in the flag as you demand the flag represent the things that you believe are best about this country.” Leave a comment 4. Fighting Trump isn’t enough. Win the peace Since Inauguration Day, I, like so many of you and so many across the country, have argued that Democrats need to show fight. Boneless and skinless is fine for chicken thighs. It’s not adequate for a party that purports to be interested in beating back an attempted authoritarian breakthrough. But El-Sayed challenged my thinking on the fight point. A former team captain in school sports before he became a Rhodes Scholar and a medical doctor, he pointed to scars on his face and spoke obliquely about not being afraid to fight when needed. But he argued Democrats need to be more interested in winning the peace than the war: “Nobody fights the war to just win the war. You fight the war to win the peace.” What he means is remaining focused on healing the causes of the pain that made Trump possible, instead of over-fixating on Trump as the sum total of the ill. The mantra to fight more and fight harder, which I have touted as much as anyone, risks fetishizing fight for its own sake. The real goal, El-Sayed says, must be creating conditions where the fighting is unnecessary. And how do you win the peace? The Ink is powered by readers like you. Subscribe to support independent media. Subscribed 5. The age of insecurity There are a lot of ways to frame the times we live in. But El-Sayed offered one that stuck with me: this is an age of insecurity. What’s powerful about insecurity as a grand unified theory is that it encompasses all manner of sentiments, from all sections of the political spectrum, some based in reality, others more in fantasy, but all with emotive, often explosive political effect. Brutal hyper-capitalism creates insecurity. Not being able to afford things creates insecurity. Feeling vulnerable to crime creates insecurity. Feeling deluged across a poorly managed border creates insecurity. Racial and gender progress, when you are not well prepared for your own new role and standing, creates insecurity. New and unfamiliar ideas about history and the meaning of your country create insecurity. New technology and the threat of obsolescence create insecurity. The loss of control over one’s children and their vulnerability to outside influences creates insecurity. You will no doubt identify with some forms of insecurity listed above, and not with others. El-Sayed’s point is that insecurity in general has been roiling our hearts and politics, and has achieved what he, a public health doctor, calls “epidemic” status. “The thing about insecurity is that you may have what you need right now, but you’re constantly at risk of losing it.” So part of winning the peace beyond Trumpism, rather than just making war with Trump, is addressing the roots of insecurity. And how bold should Democrats be in doing that? 6. Abolish vanilla Some of El-Sayed’s arguments above — the radical empathy part of his solution — might strike some Democrats as too solicitous of Trump voters, too eager to make accommodations. But El-Sayed is not a mushy moderate. Rather, I think of him as being in the mold of many of the organizers I wrote about in my book The Persuaders: advocating more flexibility on how you reach out to and court moderates and MAGA voters, but more stridency in policymaking. A lot of what you see from Democrats right now is the opposite: Snideness and condescension toward MAGA types, but mushy moderate policies. El-Sayed wants to flip that script: Gentle, openhearted outreach and aggressive, even radical, policy. “You can't beat something with nothing,” he told me. “And, love him or hate him, when it comes to Donald Trump, he's always saying something. And the problem that folks have with Democrats is that we say nothing, but we say it with a lot of enthusiasm. It’s like somebody screaming ‘Vanilla!’ at you. You're like, Well, I don't know, what if I like cookie dough? What if I like cookies and cream? What if I like Rocky Road? The folks are like, ‘Vanilla! vanilla!’” El-Sayed has advocated aggressive policy responses to America’s overlapping crises — including Medicare for All, which he wrote an entire book about. Whatever you think about individual policy questions, the larger point is worth grappling with: that the proper place for moderation is in the stance one shows to potentially politically adrift Americans. The place for unbending passion is on substantive policy ideas that would drastically change the country, drain some of the insecurity, and therefore heal the conditions that enabled Trump, so that we don’t keep returning to square one. Share 7. Reclaim common sense Listening to El-Sayed, it struck me that he was pushing against both his fellow progressives and the more moderate wing of the Democratic Party, in distinct ways. His message to progressives is to ditch the label. I am referring to him as a progressive, but he didn’t call himself that, although his policy vision lines up with any conventional definition. But he seemed determined to frame ideas like clean air and water, healthcare for all, ending wasteful wars, and such as basic common sense, not radical or out of the mainstream. (Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has been making similar arguments on her “Fighting Oligarchy” tour stops.) But he also has a bracing message for those moderates so singularly fixated on Trump that they think the goal of political struggle should be to return America to the day before the golden escalator ride in 2015. “That’s our own version of Make America Great Again. It just happens to be 2015 instead of 1930-something,” he told me. America wasn’t working for most people in 2015. The way to move past Trumpism is to champion drastically, boldly upending what wasn’t working, and to do so with an openhearted posture toward converts who will have many reasons to seek a new political home in the days that are coming.

Radicalized by Basic Decency

Spend a couple of hours learning about Q-Anon, and you might find yourself radicalized by basic decency. Q-Anon stands in direct opposition to everything I was taught—by my parents, my education, and my life experience—about how words should be used.

https://constitution.congress.gov/constitution/amendment-1/#amendment-1

Throughout my life, I was taught that freedom of speech comes with responsibility—or at the very least, consequences. As a writer, I’m conscientious about verifying information. Intentionally misleading people, defaming someone, lying, or inciting violence has never been part of what I understood as free speech. That was considered irresponsible.

Since the rise of the Internet, one thing has become clear: misinformation is everywhere. We’ve also seen that people aren’t always kind—and sometimes they’ll say anything, even something harmful or blatantly false, just to get attention.

So, learning more about Q-Anon and its followers hasn’t just been disturbing—it’s made me think more deeply about the idea of free speech.

My question: How do you define free speech?

Q-Nuts "All Hail the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown"

 This is why I love cartoonists! 

Follow Ruben Bolling on Substack here; Join Tom the Dancing Bug’s Inner Hive here; and here is the Tom the Dancing Bug website, with information about the new book, “It’s the Great Storm, Tom the Dancing Bug!"

I Am Probably the Last to Know ...

screen shot from: https://kalshi.com/events/politics

Wow! I learned something new this week.

Until yesterday, I had no idea that people could actually bet on politics. Sometimes it’s called “prediction.” After reading America for Sale: Kalshi, Corruption, and the Price of Power by Adam Kinzinger (I’ll add a link to the article at the bottom), I started digging deeper into the world of legalized political betting.

According to Wikipedia, the clearest explanation goes like this:

“Prediction markets, also known as betting markets, information markets, decision markets, idea futures or event derivatives, are open markets that enable the prediction of specific outcomes using financial incentives. They are exchange-traded markets established for trading bets in the outcome of various events. The market prices can indicate what the crowd thinks the probability of the event is. A typical prediction market contract is set up to trade between 0 and 100%. The most common form of a prediction market is a binary option market, which will expire at the price of 0 or 100%. Prediction markets can be thought of as belonging to the more general concept of crowdsourcing which is specially designed to aggregate information on particular topics of interest. The main purposes of prediction markets are eliciting [and] aggregating beliefs over an unknown future outcome.” ([1] “Prediction Market” – Investopedia)

Apparently, this concept goes way back. According to Wikipedia, the earliest known political “prediction” was in 1503—betting on who would become the next pope. And in the U.S., there are election betting records on Wall Street dating as far back as 1884. (https://w.wiki/T6p)

Learning all this has been fascinating. But if this practice has been around for so long, why does it suddenly feel so troubling to me?

Simple: Donald Trump Jr. is now on the board of Kalshi.

Gosh—shouldn’t that be investigated? Conflict of interest, anyone?

Oh wait—cue the usual deflection: “What about Hunter’s laptop?”

Link to America for Sale article: https://adamkinzinger.substack.com/p/america-for-sale-kalshi-corruption?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F59ee3d0a-a11c-4606-8183-eeb454cd1a41_1024x1536.png&open=false 

(This is not behind a paywall, you may have to create a substack account to read it - subscribing to Substack is free).

Bring On the Woke

Win McNamee/Getty Images (January 6, 2022 - note the Q attire)

Megan, my daughter, recommended I watch the documentary Q: Into the Storm (available on MAX) to better understand MAGA people. She's not a QAnon supporter—far from it—but she thinks it's worth trying to understand how that belief system works. I agreed, curiosity piqued.

I made it through the first of six episodes… and then had to take a nap. Listening to the Q followers is disturbing on so many levels. The logic is twisted, the claims are wild, and yet it's all taken at face value by those who believe it.

Now, I’m not saying everyone who voted for 47 is into QAnon. Most probably aren’t. But many have unknowingly fallen into the same trap: accepting conspiracy theories and misinformation without question. It’s unsettling to watch people buy into something so flimsy—especially when the facts are usually just a Google search away.

Maybe it’s my early journalism background, but I always try to check sources. I get that people are busy, but don’t you want to be sure that what you’re saying—or voting for—is based on something real? Maybe that’s too much to ask these days. Maybe that’s what they call "woke."

Fine by me.

Bring on the woke.

Raids, Deportations, and Prayer Arrests: Is This America Now?

Imagine this:You're jolted awake in the early hours of last Thursday morning. It’s still dark outside. Agents pounding on your door identify themselves as FBI, ICE, and U.S. Marshals. You're an American citizen. You moved from New Jersey to Oklahoma City just two weeks ago.

They have a warrant — but the name on it isn’t yours. You’re not even given time to put on clothes. You and your three daughters are forced out onto the law
n in the rain, wearing only your underwear. The agents offer a “solution”: they’ll form a circle so your daughters can change — right there in front of them.

Once the search ends, they take your phones, laptops, and all your cash savings — even though it becomes clear that the individuals they were looking for no longer live there. The name on the warrant matches mail you’d seen addressed to the previous tenants. You’re not who they came for. But you're the ones who paid the price.

And this is not a one-off.

We have migrants — some allegedly linked to Venezuelan gangs — being flown to the CECOT mega-prison in El Salvador without due process. This includes women who were later returned to the U.S., since CECOT holds only men. According to a 60 Minutes investigation, most of the 238 prisoners sent from the U.S. have no criminal record and no proven gang affiliation.

We have U.S. citizen children being deported along with their mothers, without any legal effort to place them with their U.S. citizen fathers. One four-year-old child was actively undergoing cancer treatment when taken.

Just yesterday, three ministers were arrested on Capitol Hill — for praying.
Rev. William Barber, wearing a stole that read “Jesus was a poor man”, said:

“We weren’t cursing. We weren’t talking extraordinarily loud... They gave us three warnings and then they arrested us, saying our prayer was an illegal activity.”
(Source: News & Observer)

Is this what people had in mind when they voted for this?

A friend told me she doesn’t like what’s happening — but says we should “give 47 a chance.”

But what about the people who’ve already been harmed?
When does their chance come?
Who’s paying the price for this “chance” to play out?
And what kind of nation will we be left with when it’s over?

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In better news: I’m thrilled about Canada’s election results! Some bright spots are still out there.

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