AND EVEN MORE CRITTERS
THE PERSON who MAKES the FIRST COMMENT WILL GET TWO CRITTERS
EVERY PERSON WHO COMMENTS WILL GET A CRITTER
RULES IN THE DIARY
WHEN YOU FIND SOMETHING in the DIARY that you LIKE
YOU CAN REPOST IT AS COMMENT in the DIARY
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Sadly, Rest In Peace, Anthony Geary. I missed it earlier, but he passed on Sunday.
For those who are scratching their heads, my mom would organize her chores so that she could fold laundry or iron while General Hospital was on, so I grew up with the show. We weren't the only fans though:
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The world is still reeling from the murders of Rob and Michelle Reiner. I'm just going to post a few more responses. First, thank you governor Beshear for saying what so many of us are feeling.
And EmptyWheel, who is spot on.
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Trump's tweets aim to 1) Reclaim attention 2) Polarize the country. It has been his secret sauce for 10 years.
Here's how it worked with Jack Posobiec.
First: Oh, we won't be utter shitholes abt Reiner.
Then, the gotchas.
Then the denials.
Trump put him right back in the tribe.
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— emptywheel (@emptywheel.bsky.social) December 15, 2025 at 11:53 AM
And Bill Kristol - although at first my brain read it as Billy Crystal - he still nails it.
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Sticking this here, just because.
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I’m just saying that if the primary source of your rage is not what’s happening to human beings, but people failing to take your social media radicalism sufficiently seriously, you might want to think whether the life of a Emoji Radical is right for you
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— 37 Dolls For Your Popehat (@kenwhite.bsky.social) December 15, 2025 at 5:56 PM
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In other news. Thank you Denver City Council.
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💥 BOOM 🖕🧊✈️
“When we’re talking about the values of our city, and we stand up here and we say time after time that we support our immigrant community and that we are a welcoming city — I cannot support a corporation that does not prescribe to that,” Council member Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez said.
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— JJ in DC (@jjindc.bsky.social) December 15, 2025 at 7:12 PM
ICE flights cited in Denver’s denial of Key Lime airport lease. coloradonewsline.com/…
Denver City Council voted against a resolution Monday that would have allowed Key Lime Air to lease ground space at Denver International Airport over concerns about the airline’s immigration enforcement flights in recent months.
The resolution would have created a lease for 1,200 feet of space at the airport for Key Lime Air, which also operates as Denver Air Connection. The space would include an area to store items like snow removal equipment, employee parking and an office trailer, according to the proposed lease agreement. Without the lease, the company can still use the common area of a cargo apron.
“When we’re talking about the values of our city, and we stand up here and we say time after time that we support our immigrant community and that we are a welcoming city — I cannot support a corporation that does not prescribe to that,” Council member Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez said.
✂️
“This is where the rubber starts to hit the road, when we start to talk about, what are we going to do in Denver, about what’s happening at the federal level,” Council member Sarah Parady said. “I have no interest in supporting this deportation machine. And if an aviation grant is what’s on the line there, it’s very clear to me where the city should stand on that.”
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VOTE VETS: “OUTRAGEOUS… It is abundantly clear Republicans and Trump want to strangle the VA til it all gets privatized”
Trump plans to eliminate 35,000 healthcare jobs at the chronically understaffed VA that already lost tens of thousands of employees. www.commondreams.org/news/trump-c...
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— The Tennessee Holler (@thetnholler.bsky.social) December 16, 2025 at 6:51 AM
This Is Outrageous’: Trump VA to Eliminate Up to 35,000 Healthcare Jobs This Month. www.commondreams.org/…
Before the end of the year, the Trump administration is planning to eliminate up to 35,000 healthcare jobs at the Department of Veterans Affairs, a chronically understaffed agency that has already lost tens of thousands of employees to the White House’s sweeping assault on the federal workforce.
The Washington Post reported over the weekend that the targeted positions—many of which are unfilled—include doctors, nurses, and support staff. A spokesperson for the VA, led by former Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.), described the jobs as “mostly Covid-era roles that are no longer necessary.”
VA workers, veterans advocates, and a union representing hundreds of thousands of department employees disputed that characterization as the agency faces staff shortages across the country.
“We are all doing the work of others to compensate,” one VA employee told the Post. “The idea that relief isn’t coming is really, really disappointing.”
Thomas Dargon Jr., deputy general counsel of the American Federation of Government Employees, said remaining VA employees “are obviously going to be facing the brunt of any further job cuts or reorganization that results in employees having to do more work with less.”
The advocacy organization VoteVets cast the job cuts as another step toward the longstanding GOP goal of privatizing the VA.
“This is outrageous,” the group wrote on social media. “It is abundantly clear that Republicans and the Trump administration want to strangle the VA until it all gets privatized.”
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Some good news. BREAKING: Cisco shareholders vote to reject anti-DEI proposal, 99-1 percent. www.impactivize.org/…
Shareholders of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) voted today to reject an anti-DEI proposal presented at its annual meeting, by a tally of 99-1 percent of voting shares.
The voting today at Cisco caps 2025 shareholder voting to overwhelmingly reject anti-DEI proposals at 31 out of 31 corporations. Investors in companies including Costco, Apple, and Coca-Cola, collectively valued at more than $13 trillion, have underscored a resounding message: Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI or by any other name) is a business imperative.
Cisco Board of Directors unanimously urged shareholders to vote to reject the anti-DEI proposal, writing in its proxy statement:
“Cisco values inclusion as an innovation accelerator,” and “Cisco endeavors to attract, retain, and develop the best talent to help our customers connect and secure their infrastructure, and accelerate their digital agility. Cisco values inclusion as an innovation accelerator to further our strategic priorities and generate stockholder value. Cisco’s customers span a diverse range of industries and markets globally and we strive to build an inclusive workforce that can effectively innovate and service them.
“Cisco believes that innovation thrives in an environment where different perspectives, experiences, and ideas come together to solve the world’s most complex challenges. By embedding these values into Cisco’s daily operations, we strive to remove barriers to success to help ensure everyone has a chance to contribute to meaningful technological advancements and create an inclusive culture that is welcoming, positive, creative, and rewarding. In addition, our Board oversees Cisco’s programs, initiatives, and risks related to talent and culture.”
Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins had defended DEI initiatives at the company during an interview with Axios in January in Davos, Switzerland. Robbins said, “You cannot argue with the fact that a diverse workforce is better. There’s too much business value,” adding “the core reasons that you have a diverse workforce are still there from a business perspective.”
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Susie's in some deep 💩.
What is the context, you ask? Let me show you. Susie Wiles, JD Vance, and the “Junkyard Dogs”: The White House Chief of Staff On Trump’s Second Term (Part 1 of 2). www.vanityfair.com/…
Throughout the first year of Donald Trump’s second administration, Vanity Fair writer Chris Whipple has interviewed Wiles amid each moment of crisis. This insider’s account joins a portfolio of portraits for an unflinching, up-close look at power—and peril.
[some lowlights]
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We often spoke on Sundays after church. Wiles, an Episcopalian, calls herself “Catholic lite.” One time we spoke while she was doing her laundry in her Washington, DC, rental.
Trump, she told me, “has an alcoholic’s personality.”
Vance’s conversion from Never Trumper to MAGA acolyte, she said, has been “sort of political.” The vice president, she added, has been “a conspiracy theorist for a decade.”
Russell Vought, architect of the notorious Project 2025 and head of the Office of Management and Budget, is “a right-wing absolute zealot.” When I asked her what she thought of Musk reposting a tweet about public sector workers killing millions under Hitler, Stalin, and Mao, she replied: “I think that’s when he’s microdosing.” (She says she doesn't have first-hand knowledge.)
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“I’m not an enabler. I’m also not a bitch,” said Susie Wiles. “I guess time will tell whether I’ve been effective.”
I guess time will tell if she still has a job.
Here's Part 2. www.vanityfair.com/...
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when you read this it is very clear that Wiles thinks she is flexing the administration's muscle. relatedly, it is also very clear that the White House is completely delusional about its standing with the public. they are high on their own supply.
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— jamelle (@jamellebouie.net) December 16, 2025 at 6:51 AM
I haven't bothered to read it, I still haven't scrubbed off the ick from reading Part One.
At least Abbe Lowell read the whole d@mn thing.
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"When they admit it’s not justice they’re after but pure revenge, believe them.”
Attorney for New York Attorney General Letitia James responds to Susie Wiles conceding that the Justice Department's highly unusual case against James “might” be “retribution.”
www.nbcnews.com/politics/whi...
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— Ryan J. Reilly “paints a vivid and urgent portrait of… disarray” (@ryanjreilly.com) December 16, 2025 at 10:57 AM
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Remember the Wisconsin judge charged with supposedly helping an undocumented immigrant flee ICE custody? Her trial began yesterday. Adam Klasfeld is covering the trial live.
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Good morning from Milwaukee.
Day Two of Judge Hannah Dugan’s trial has just begun here in federal court with the cross-examination of FBI agent Jeffrey Baker, who arrested the undocumented immigrant over whose case Dugan presided.
Look out for updates on All Rise News buff.ly/wMeyLRC
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— Adam Klasfeld (@klasfeldreports.com) December 16, 2025 at 7:07 AM
Here's his synopsis of Day One. Judge Hannah Dugan's trial begins: 'No longer business as usual'. www.allrisenews.com/…
As the trial of Judge Hannah Dugan kicked off on Monday, a federal prosecutor told a jury that arresting undocumented immigrants inside of a Milwaukee County Circuit Court building was “routine.”
That was before Judge Dugan’s clerk informed her that “five ICE guys” were waiting outside her courtroom on April 18.
“Then it was no longer business as usual,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Keith Alexander told a jury. “Then it was no longer a routine day.”
If there updates from today, i'll add them later.
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WT Actual F, Part I
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WT Actual F, Part II
Reminder, the good guy WITHOUT a gun who disarmed one of the Australian shooters, is Muslim.
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I don't know him, but congratulations Mr. Goldstein! Also, to your client and to the judge.
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Evening Shade Seekers! Happy National Barbie and Barney Backlash Day!
No more purple dinosaurs or pink convertibles with dream houses! It’s time for parents and teachers to enjoy a day that isn’t filled with over-marketed characters who bring little substance to life. It’s time for National Barbie and Barney Backlash Day!
National Barbie and Barney Backlash Day was established by Thomas and Ruth Roy of Wellcat. The purpose of founding the day was to give parents, teachers and daycare workers a break from all of the crazy-making sing-a-long songs and storytelling. It’s time to turn off those videos or music soundtracks and have some time for the kids to simply play and be creative!
(About ten minutes long)
Happy Stupid Toy Day! (No explanation needed!)
Happy Chocolate Covered Anything Day! These guys are weird, but better they try it, so we don't have to.