Barb
@blittleliu.bsky.social
Retired English professor. Mom to 4 cool cats. Traveling wherever and whenever I can.
My friend and I (and a bunch of other people) did our part for the movement today. #resistfascism #resisttrump
March 4, 2025 at 8:43 PM
My friend and I (and a bunch of other people) did our part for the movement today. #resistfascism #resisttrump
"The American people need to reckon with the mess Trump and Vance are making of this country’s once-good name—and the services they are performing for dictators and aggressors."
www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...
www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...
At Least Now We Know the Truth
It’s ugly, but necessary to face.
www.theatlantic.com
February 28, 2025 at 8:21 PM
"The American people need to reckon with the mess Trump and Vance are making of this country’s once-good name—and the services they are performing for dictators and aggressors."
www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...
www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...
A worthwhile read. Why the tech bros want an authoritarian government:
open.substack.com/pub/thebulwa...
open.substack.com/pub/thebulwa...
Winner Take All
Why the tech bros want authoritarian government.
open.substack.com
February 25, 2025 at 11:23 AM
A worthwhile read. Why the tech bros want an authoritarian government:
open.substack.com/pub/thebulwa...
open.substack.com/pub/thebulwa...
"We will prevail because we are relearning the basic truth — that we are the leaders we’ve been waiting for" open.substack.com/pub/robertre...
Ten reasons for modest optimism
Friends,
open.substack.com
February 22, 2025 at 5:07 PM
"We will prevail because we are relearning the basic truth — that we are the leaders we’ve been waiting for" open.substack.com/pub/robertre...
“when we experience our next wave of … forest fires, when …Americans begin dying from preventable diseases & faulty medical devices, remember: These disasters will be partly the fault of arrogant, ignorant men who decided to smash up a reasonably functional govt.”
open.substack.com/pub/paulkrug...
open.substack.com/pub/paulkrug...
Our Government Is Experiencing a Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly
Musk is moving fast and breaking important things
open.substack.com
February 18, 2025 at 11:02 AM
“when we experience our next wave of … forest fires, when …Americans begin dying from preventable diseases & faulty medical devices, remember: These disasters will be partly the fault of arrogant, ignorant men who decided to smash up a reasonably functional govt.”
open.substack.com/pub/paulkrug...
open.substack.com/pub/paulkrug...
“We agree we cannot continue to be beggars,” John says. “But the people who feel the most pain [from aid cuts] are the innocent.” Certainly a wholesale, overnight cessation does nothing but endanger those who are already vulnerable.
open.substack.com/pub/thebulwa...
open.substack.com/pub/thebulwa...
What USAID’s Dismantling Looks Like on the Ground in Africa
Locals in Malawi and Kenya who worked with the agency face stalled development, cancelled programming, and shortages of lifesaving supplies: ‘I think we will forget America is even there.’
open.substack.com
February 15, 2025 at 12:15 PM
“We agree we cannot continue to be beggars,” John says. “But the people who feel the most pain [from aid cuts] are the innocent.” Certainly a wholesale, overnight cessation does nothing but endanger those who are already vulnerable.
open.substack.com/pub/thebulwa...
open.substack.com/pub/thebulwa...
Those of you with Trumpers in your family, how do you deal with it? My sister-in-law (an MD and PhD) and her husband (an attorney) support Trump. We've banned political conversations at gatherings, but all I want to do is show them facts and demand, "How can you still be behind this ass wipe!?"
February 14, 2025 at 11:55 PM
Those of you with Trumpers in your family, how do you deal with it? My sister-in-law (an MD and PhD) and her husband (an attorney) support Trump. We've banned political conversations at gatherings, but all I want to do is show them facts and demand, "How can you still be behind this ass wipe!?"
"To rename the Gulf of Mexico “the Gulf of America” is to reconceptualize the United States not as a sending point, but as a receiving point; no longer a country that stamps itself upon history, but a country upon which history is stamped."
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
The ‘Gulf of America’ Is an Admission of Defeat
Trump’s renaming of the Gulf of Mexico is not triumphant but pathetic.
www.theatlantic.com
February 14, 2025 at 1:05 PM
"To rename the Gulf of Mexico “the Gulf of America” is to reconceptualize the United States not as a sending point, but as a receiving point; no longer a country that stamps itself upon history, but a country upon which history is stamped."
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
“So in addition to being dead wrong, the people who are accusing everyone of being government-funded, are—using their own preposterous rationale—probably government-funded.”
open.substack.com/pub/thebulwa...
open.substack.com/pub/thebulwa...
Elon Musk Is a Deep State Agent, According to Elon Musk
Look, we don’t make the rules.
open.substack.com
February 14, 2025 at 11:20 AM
“So in addition to being dead wrong, the people who are accusing everyone of being government-funded, are—using their own preposterous rationale—probably government-funded.”
open.substack.com/pub/thebulwa...
open.substack.com/pub/thebulwa...
Cuts would slow “Advancements in virtually all areas of research, including the leading causes of death in the U.S. It would also result in economic losses—NIH grants fund 4,769 jobs in Alabama, with an impact of $909 million.”
open.substack.com/pub/joycevan...
open.substack.com/pub/joycevan...
Cutting Cancer Research
Sometimes, it gets personal.
open.substack.com
February 12, 2025 at 11:24 AM
Cuts would slow “Advancements in virtually all areas of research, including the leading causes of death in the U.S. It would also result in economic losses—NIH grants fund 4,769 jobs in Alabama, with an impact of $909 million.”
open.substack.com/pub/joycevan...
open.substack.com/pub/joycevan...
“CFPB was created to protect Americans from financial predation, and has done a very good job of doing so. But now we have government of, by and for financial predators.”
open.substack.com/pub/paulkrug...
open.substack.com/pub/paulkrug...
Springtime for Scammers
Financial predation now has friends in high places
open.substack.com
February 11, 2025 at 11:12 AM
“CFPB was created to protect Americans from financial predation, and has done a very good job of doing so. But now we have government of, by and for financial predators.”
open.substack.com/pub/paulkrug...
open.substack.com/pub/paulkrug...
When you defund & dismantle government programs (whether to save taxpayer dollars or remove possible dissenters) and you don’t look deeply at what is being cut, it’s going to have unintended consequences, some of which will cause real pain and damage.
open.substack.com/pub/heatherc...
open.substack.com/pub/heatherc...
February 8, 2025
Yesterday the National Institutes of Health under the Trump administration announced a new policy that will dramatically change the way the United States funds medical research.
open.substack.com
February 9, 2025 at 11:24 AM
When you defund & dismantle government programs (whether to save taxpayer dollars or remove possible dissenters) and you don’t look deeply at what is being cut, it’s going to have unintended consequences, some of which will cause real pain and damage.
open.substack.com/pub/heatherc...
open.substack.com/pub/heatherc...
"Low information voters" should not be a thing! Yes, voting is a right. But it comes with a responsibility to know what or who the fuck you are actually voting for.
February 4, 2025 at 5:46 PM
"Low information voters" should not be a thing! Yes, voting is a right. But it comes with a responsibility to know what or who the fuck you are actually voting for.
Proud of my current displays at the library.
February 4, 2025 at 4:59 PM
Proud of my current displays at the library.
This is a coup d'état! Musk was not elected.
He has not been confirmed by Congress to serve in any governmental capacity.
Yet he has taken over the Treasury Department's payment system, USAID, the Office of Personnel Management. When is Congress going to stop this?!
open.substack.com/pub/robertre...
He has not been confirmed by Congress to serve in any governmental capacity.
Yet he has taken over the Treasury Department's payment system, USAID, the Office of Personnel Management. When is Congress going to stop this?!
open.substack.com/pub/robertre...
How the Muskrat is messing with your social security, your religion, and everything else
He and his goons must be stopped
open.substack.com
February 3, 2025 at 6:51 PM
This is a coup d'état! Musk was not elected.
He has not been confirmed by Congress to serve in any governmental capacity.
Yet he has taken over the Treasury Department's payment system, USAID, the Office of Personnel Management. When is Congress going to stop this?!
open.substack.com/pub/robertre...
He has not been confirmed by Congress to serve in any governmental capacity.
Yet he has taken over the Treasury Department's payment system, USAID, the Office of Personnel Management. When is Congress going to stop this?!
open.substack.com/pub/robertre...
Think of the federal government as a car. You thought that the election was like getting the car serviced. Instead, the mechanics, who somehow don’t look like mechanics, tell you that they have taken the parts of your car that work and sold them and kept the money.
open.substack.com/pub/heatherc...
open.substack.com/pub/heatherc...
February 2, 2025
Billionaire Elon Musk’s team yesterday took control of the Treasury’s payment system, thus essentially gaining access to the checkbook with which the United States handles about $6 trillion annually a...
open.substack.com
February 3, 2025 at 11:02 AM
Think of the federal government as a car. You thought that the election was like getting the car serviced. Instead, the mechanics, who somehow don’t look like mechanics, tell you that they have taken the parts of your car that work and sold them and kept the money.
open.substack.com/pub/heatherc...
open.substack.com/pub/heatherc...
This is a nightmare!
“with Musk’s people at the computers that control the nation’s payment system, they can simply stop whatever payments they want to.” That’s just one frightening development among many.
open.substack.com/pub/heatherc...
“with Musk’s people at the computers that control the nation’s payment system, they can simply stop whatever payments they want to.” That’s just one frightening development among many.
open.substack.com/pub/heatherc...
February 1, 2025
Throughout now-president Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign, it was clear that his support was coming from three very different factions whose only shared ideology was a determination to destroy the federal...
open.substack.com
February 2, 2025 at 11:23 AM
This is a nightmare!
“with Musk’s people at the computers that control the nation’s payment system, they can simply stop whatever payments they want to.” That’s just one frightening development among many.
open.substack.com/pub/heatherc...
“with Musk’s people at the computers that control the nation’s payment system, they can simply stop whatever payments they want to.” That’s just one frightening development among many.
open.substack.com/pub/heatherc...
Of for cripes sake! You've got to be frickin kidding me!
www.nytimes.com/2025/01/30/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/01/30/u...
President Blames D.E.I. and Biden for Crash Under Trump’s Watch
President Trump’s remarks, suggesting without evidence that diversity in hiring and other Biden administration policies somehow caused the disaster, reflected his instinct to immediately frame major e...
www.nytimes.com
January 30, 2025 at 8:52 PM
Of for cripes sake! You've got to be frickin kidding me!
www.nytimes.com/2025/01/30/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/01/30/u...
The choice of aircraft for deportations signifies other choices the administrations is making—about government efficiency (or in this case, willful inefficiency); about the image it wants to project; and about how it sees and may seek to use the armed forces.
open.substack.com/pub/thebulwa...
open.substack.com/pub/thebulwa...
Using Military Jets for Deportations Is an Ugly, Wasteful Spectacle
The intimidation is the point.
open.substack.com
January 30, 2025 at 11:21 AM
The choice of aircraft for deportations signifies other choices the administrations is making—about government efficiency (or in this case, willful inefficiency); about the image it wants to project; and about how it sees and may seek to use the armed forces.
open.substack.com/pub/thebulwa...
open.substack.com/pub/thebulwa...
“Their response was to point to other writers who often expressed views about policy, economic and otherwise. I tried to explain there’s a difference between having opinions about economics and knowing how to read C.B.O. analyses and recent research papers.”
open.substack.com/pub/contrari...
open.substack.com/pub/contrari...
Departing the New York Times
I left to stay true to my byline
open.substack.com
January 29, 2025 at 11:17 AM
“Their response was to point to other writers who often expressed views about policy, economic and otherwise. I tried to explain there’s a difference between having opinions about economics and knowing how to read C.B.O. analyses and recent research papers.”
open.substack.com/pub/contrari...
open.substack.com/pub/contrari...
Vaeth's wording makes clear that the only people this government serves are white men.
White House Budget Office Orders Pause in All Federal Loans and Grants www.nytimes.com/2025/01/27/u...
White House Budget Office Orders Pause in All Federal Loans and Grants www.nytimes.com/2025/01/27/u...
White House Budget Office Orders Pause in All Federal Loans and Grants
The full extent of the order was not immediately clear, but the directive sent to government agencies on Monday threatened to paralyze a vast swath of federal programs.
www.nytimes.com
January 28, 2025 at 12:32 PM
Vaeth's wording makes clear that the only people this government serves are white men.
White House Budget Office Orders Pause in All Federal Loans and Grants www.nytimes.com/2025/01/27/u...
White House Budget Office Orders Pause in All Federal Loans and Grants www.nytimes.com/2025/01/27/u...
I can't even with this shit!
Anyone know a reputable charity that might step in to bring HIV drugs to these HUMAN BEINGS? I'll donate.
Anyone know a reputable charity that might step in to bring HIV drugs to these HUMAN BEINGS? I'll donate.
The Trump administration instructed organizations in other countries to stop disbursing HIV medications purchased with U.S. aid, even if the drugs have already been obtained and are sitting in local clinics.
Read more: nyti.ms/4hvI8s0
Read more: nyti.ms/4hvI8s0
January 28, 2025 at 12:01 PM
I can't even with this shit!
Anyone know a reputable charity that might step in to bring HIV drugs to these HUMAN BEINGS? I'll donate.
Anyone know a reputable charity that might step in to bring HIV drugs to these HUMAN BEINGS? I'll donate.
Reposted by Barb
The Trump administration instructed organizations in other countries to stop disbursing HIV medications purchased with U.S. aid, even if the drugs have already been obtained and are sitting in local clinics.
Read more: nyti.ms/4hvI8s0
Read more: nyti.ms/4hvI8s0
January 28, 2025 at 11:25 AM
The Trump administration instructed organizations in other countries to stop disbursing HIV medications purchased with U.S. aid, even if the drugs have already been obtained and are sitting in local clinics.
Read more: nyti.ms/4hvI8s0
Read more: nyti.ms/4hvI8s0