Toni Blackwell Rhodes
@historynerdling.bsky.social
Writer of Picture Books and Middle Grade Historical Fiction and Nonfiction
If for a moment you thought the grown-ups were back in charge, think again. We’re still in the circus …
November 23, 2025
“Do I understand correctly that there is now a dispute within the administration about whether this ‘peace plan’ was written by Russians or Americans?” foreign affairs journalist Anne Applebaum asked ...
open.substack.com
November 24, 2025 at 11:51 AM
If for a moment you thought the grown-ups were back in charge, think again. We’re still in the circus …
In these moments, fear is contagious, but so is courage. We will continue to lead and will not be intimidated …
November 20, 2025
Trump spent this morning calling a group of military veterans in Congress traitors and saying they “should be ARRESTED AND PUT ON TRIAL.” Their crime, in Trump’s eyes, was their release Tuesday of a v...
open.substack.com
November 21, 2025 at 12:42 PM
In these moments, fear is contagious, but so is courage. We will continue to lead and will not be intimidated …
The jig was up …
November 19, 2025
Yesterday the House of Representatives passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act.
open.substack.com
November 20, 2025 at 11:26 AM
The jig was up …
“Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal” …
November 18, 2025
For three hot days, from July 1 to July 3, 1863, more than 150,000 soldiers from the armies of the United States of America and the Confederate States of America slashed at each other in the hills and...
open.substack.com
November 19, 2025 at 11:11 AM
“Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal” …
The signs were clear: Trump had lost control of the House Republicans …
November 17, 2025 (Monday)
President Donald J.
open.substack.com
November 18, 2025 at 11:23 AM
The signs were clear: Trump had lost control of the House Republicans …
Reposted by Toni Blackwell Rhodes
Here’s envelope of a letter (dated Dec 29, 1941) that my father wrote to his girlfriend, who would later become my mother. My father was in training at the US Army Signal School in NJ. The letter is addressed to Fleischer Studios, where they met. Fleischer made Betty Boop and Popeye cartoons.
November 17, 2025 at 11:37 AM
Here’s envelope of a letter (dated Dec 29, 1941) that my father wrote to his girlfriend, who would later become my mother. My father was in training at the US Army Signal School in NJ. The letter is addressed to Fleischer Studios, where they met. Fleischer made Betty Boop and Popeye cartoons.
Here’s envelope of a letter (dated Dec 29, 1941) that my father wrote to his girlfriend, who would later become my mother. My father was in training at the US Army Signal School in NJ. The letter is addressed to Fleischer Studios, where they met. Fleischer made Betty Boop and Popeye cartoons.
November 17, 2025 at 11:37 AM
Here’s envelope of a letter (dated Dec 29, 1941) that my father wrote to his girlfriend, who would later become my mother. My father was in training at the US Army Signal School in NJ. The letter is addressed to Fleischer Studios, where they met. Fleischer made Betty Boop and Popeye cartoons.
In Lincoln’s day, and in the Gilded Age, and in the 1930s, Americans pushed back against those trying to establish an aristocracy in the United States …
November 16, 2025
On Thursday, November 13, Michael Schmidt reported in the New York Times the story of the 17-year-old girl the House Ethics Committee found former representative Matt Gaetz (R-FL) likely paid to have ...
open.substack.com
November 17, 2025 at 11:12 AM
In Lincoln’s day, and in the Gilded Age, and in the 1930s, Americans pushed back against those trying to establish an aristocracy in the United States …
Reposted by Toni Blackwell Rhodes
This is the beginning of the end …
November 12, 2025
It turns out Representative Eric Swalwell (D-CA) and House Democrats were right to call it the “Epstein Shutdown” for the last several weeks on social media and in interviews.
open.substack.com
November 13, 2025 at 11:24 AM
This is the beginning of the end …
Reposted by Toni Blackwell Rhodes
I just don’t see how we can pretend even for a moment that anything involving our federal government is remotely normal when the president is covering up his involvement in a child sex trafficking ring. Like, what are we doing here
November 15, 2025 at 1:14 AM
I just don’t see how we can pretend even for a moment that anything involving our federal government is remotely normal when the president is covering up his involvement in a child sex trafficking ring. Like, what are we doing here
Putting out a fire that they started and claiming it as progress …
November 14, 2025
In a transparent attempt to distract from the many times his own name appears in the documents from the Epstein estate members of the House Oversight Committee released Wednesday, President Donald J.
open.substack.com
November 15, 2025 at 11:52 AM
Putting out a fire that they started and claiming it as progress …
This “is not law enforcement,” they wrote; “it is terror.” …
November 13, 2025
We are watching the ideology of the far-right MAGAs smash against reality, with President Donald J.
open.substack.com
November 14, 2025 at 12:14 PM
This “is not law enforcement,” they wrote; “it is terror.” …
This is the beginning of the end …
November 12, 2025
It turns out Representative Eric Swalwell (D-CA) and House Democrats were right to call it the “Epstein Shutdown” for the last several weeks on social media and in interviews.
open.substack.com
November 13, 2025 at 11:24 AM
This is the beginning of the end …
World War II gave power to the idea of trying to stop wars by establishing a rules-based international order …
November 11, 2025
In 1918, at the end of four years of World War I’s devastation, leaders negotiated for the guns in Europe to fall silent once and for all on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month...
open.substack.com
November 12, 2025 at 11:56 AM
World War II gave power to the idea of trying to stop wars by establishing a rules-based international order …
Astonishing how hard this administration is working to keep people hungry …
November 9, 2025
In order to pressure the Democrats to cave to Trump’s demands that they sign on to the House Republicans’ continuing resolution to fund the government, the administration has been refusing to fund the...
open.substack.com
November 10, 2025 at 12:26 PM
Astonishing how hard this administration is working to keep people hungry …
Reposted by Toni Blackwell Rhodes
incredible photo that's definitely worth at least 1,000 words from Andrew Harnik of Getty
November 6, 2025 at 6:10 PM
incredible photo that's definitely worth at least 1,000 words from Andrew Harnik of Getty
Reposted by Toni Blackwell Rhodes
Your cat when you're choking to death in your apartment
November 6, 2025 at 9:16 PM
Your cat when you're choking to death in your apartment
Reposted by Toni Blackwell Rhodes
The colors and textures of this are just perfection. ::Chef's kiss::
Next to last #KidLitArtPostcard day of 2025!
Hello everyone, my name's Gustavo and I'm an Illustrator available for projects in PB, KidLit, MG, GN, Editorial Projects, Board Books, you name it.
I'm also seeking representation.
#kidlitart #BRArt
Hello everyone, my name's Gustavo and I'm an Illustrator available for projects in PB, KidLit, MG, GN, Editorial Projects, Board Books, you name it.
I'm also seeking representation.
#kidlitart #BRArt
November 6, 2025 at 4:05 PM
The colors and textures of this are just perfection. ::Chef's kiss::
Trump is following House speaker Johnson’s lead and getting out of town, heading to Florida for the weekend …
November 6, 2025
“None of this is complicated,” political data specialist Tom Bonier wrote yesterday about Tuesday’s dramatic Democratic victories around the country.
open.substack.com
November 8, 2025 at 12:34 PM
Trump is following House speaker Johnson’s lead and getting out of town, heading to Florida for the weekend …
Democracy belongs to ordinary people …
November 5, 2025
New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, a member of both the Democratic Party and the Democratic Socialists of America, began his victory speech last night with a nod to Eugene V.
open.substack.com
November 6, 2025 at 11:49 AM
Democracy belongs to ordinary people …
Today voters resoundingly rejected Trump and Trumpism …
November 4, 2025 (Tuesday)
So much for obeying a court order, even if begrudgingly and with manufactured delay.
open.substack.com
November 5, 2025 at 11:04 AM
Today voters resoundingly rejected Trump and Trumpism …
Astonishing act of cruelty …
November 3, 2025
At the end of her interview with President Donald J.
open.substack.com
November 4, 2025 at 12:06 PM
Astonishing act of cruelty …
Reposted by Toni Blackwell Rhodes
Post your space art!
November 3, 2025 at 8:09 PM
Post your space art!
GEORGIA DEMOCRATS — today’s the last day to vote in the PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION race. TAKE BACK YOUR POWER! VOTE VOTE VOTE!!!
November 4, 2025 at 11:51 AM
GEORGIA DEMOCRATS — today’s the last day to vote in the PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION race. TAKE BACK YOUR POWER! VOTE VOTE VOTE!!!
The Trump administration needs to follow the law …
October 31, 2025
Yesterday a reporter asked Representative Joe Neguse, a Democrat of Colorado, about the administration’s withholding of reserve funds Congress intended would fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance...
open.substack.com
November 1, 2025 at 11:11 AM
The Trump administration needs to follow the law …