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kjbrowning.bsky.social
kjb
@kjbrowning.bsky.social
800 followers 2.1K following 2.1K posts
Exhausted idealist, entering my crone era

Here for: news, opposition, higher ed, info literacy, unraveled Christians, pop culture, laughs, whimsy

my places: Spokane/PNW, Midwest, DC/MD, Ukraine 🇺🇦.
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kjbrowning.bsky.social
Wait. She stole the styling of my 1980s Western Ken Doll.

I still have him and this outfit somewhere.
Old ad for Western Ken shows the dark haired doll posed in a little corral with fake hay. He’s wearing a white cowboy shirt with black accents and bolero tie, black “leather” pants and boots, and a cowboy hat.
November 14, 2025 at 8:07 PM
kjbrowning.bsky.social
Hey, @bsky.app! I am not interested in one single thing on the Trending List here - and why are they all stale items from yesterday?

Come on. Trending Topics should display from the last couple of hours.
November 14, 2025 at 5:03 PM
kjbrowning.bsky.social
Remind each other of the American values that make us proud
Screenshot of Facebook post in purple text: “Barnstorming speeches, record turnouts, big margin mandates, women making history, diversity as a strength, hope instead of fear, generosity over greed. [US flag emoji]”
November 5, 2025 at 4:56 AM
kjbrowning.bsky.social
Ugh, such a good year and impossible choice!

Phil Collins always takes me back to that time.

BUT ALSO: Don Henley, Tom Petty, Bonnie Raitt, Chris Isaak, FYC, Madonna, Cher, UB40, Soundgarden, Milli Vanilli, Billy Joel, Janet Jackson, Melissa Etheridge, Debbie Gibson, … & Vanilla Ice (for laughs!)
Cover of Phil Collins’ album “…But Seriously” which is a closeup of his face against a black background
October 29, 2025 at 3:43 PM
kjbrowning.bsky.social
#NoKings in Spokane, WA
October 19, 2025 at 12:02 AM
kjbrowning.bsky.social
It ain’t over until the west coast checks in!

So many people came out to #NoKings in Spokane, WA
October 19, 2025 at 12:00 AM
kjbrowning.bsky.social
NO KINGS in Spokane, WA
October 18, 2025 at 11:19 PM
kjbrowning.bsky.social
Screenshot from video: Disney studio vanity card with Disney logo and image the iconic castle at twilight with a glowing Trump tower behind it. Caption below reads: “We bring you a whole new Disney.” Screenshot from Lion King of Simba the lion cub and Pumba the warthog - except they are wearing red MAGA caps and caption (in Lion King font) reads HAKUNA MAGA-TA Screenshot: image of the red Anger character (in white dress shirt and striped tie) from the movie Inside Out with large words around his head reading: LOCK HER UP Screenshot: Image of the logo from the Cars movies except it is spelled Carrs - and has the word BRENDAN in black above it [chair of FCC]
September 19, 2025 at 6:05 PM
kjbrowning.bsky.social
Terrifying times
Screenshot from WIRED article linked in quote. The words in the brackets are highlighted in blue: One of the first names listed on the sites was Rachel Gilmore, an independent journalist at Bubble Pop Media who wrote on X that she was “terrified to think of how far-right fans of Kirk, aching for more violence, could very well turn this into an even more radicalizing moment. [Will they now believe their fears have been proven right and feel they have a right to ‘retaliate,’ regardless of who actually was behind the initial shooting?” As WIRED reported, this is exactly how much of the far right—along with Republican lawmakers including President Donald Turmp—did respond to the news], even though no suspect had been arrested and no motive had been revealed.
September 11, 2025 at 7:07 PM
kjbrowning.bsky.social
Challenge: post your last photo taken in DC to show what a hell hole it is.

(April 18, 2023 last photo and 2nd last)
Photo taken while looking up at the marble statue of Abraham Lincoln that sits in the Lincoln Memorial. It’s night time, and he is lit from above with shadows around and behind him. Picture of the Washington Monument at dusk, the white marble is glowing against the darkening sky in the top half of the photo and glowing in the mirror of the reflecting pool in the bottom half of the photo.
August 12, 2025 at 4:35 AM
kjbrowning.bsky.social
This framing comes straight from evangelical Christian culture.

50 years of sermons, books, and youth & marriage seminars selling the idea that men are driven by a need for sex in a way women (everything’s binary) aren’t, so every aspect of life must center that.

It’s patriarchy and entitlement.
Cover of a book called “every young man’s battle” with image of a young white guy looking back to check out a young white girl’s ass Book cover is orange and title appears in black - “Wild at Heart: Discovering the Secret of a Man’s Soul”
August 1, 2025 at 5:20 PM
kjbrowning.bsky.social
Books like this were canon to the political moment we are in right now. They spent 50 years centering male sexuality to take down Roe and seize power.

(Ugh, and now my Google search/ad algorithm is trash)
August 1, 2025 at 5:08 PM
kjbrowning.bsky.social
This guy is a tool who didn’t even show up at the site for days and then turned up to provide some relief like he stepped out of the 1980s, unbuttoned shirt and medallion - just missing his Camaro.

ca.news.yahoo.com/rachel-maddo...
July 23, 2025 at 5:34 PM
kjbrowning.bsky.social
There are faeries in the garden
July 11, 2025 at 6:28 PM
kjbrowning.bsky.social
The US cannot afford to keep glossing over the influence of Christian nationalist churches driving our current political/social crisis - yes, even you folks in diverse big cities that don’t see this up close!
Screenshot includes photo of a printed poster or banner with a man in a business suit and the words “EVERYONE OUGHT TO PRAY AT LEAST ONE VIOLENT PRAYER EACH DAY.” And then the first paragraph of the article: “Above is a photograph I took in March 2024 of the lobby of Christ for the Nations Institute, a Bible college in Dallas that the Minnesota political murders suspect, Vance Boelter, appears online to have claimed as part of the education that entitled him to use the title of “Dr. Vance Boelter,” security expert.“
June 17, 2025 at 9:09 PM
kjbrowning.bsky.social
It just occurred to me that he is probably trying to emulate the trying-to-look-tough vibes of this presidential portrait which has a bit of an eyebrow thing happening too.
Ridiculous official portrait of the president doing his best imitation of tough guy in authority
June 12, 2025 at 1:48 AM
kjbrowning.bsky.social
I hear you. I scribbled a bunch of notes today listening to a Tim Snyder’s video on Substack. It was good and a main point was don’t waste energy tearing our own side down.

Yet also, some of the criticism is an effort to get the attention of Dems who have power to act in ways the rest of us can’t.
Timothy Snyder Substack video, 5/26/25 some quotes from minute 17:00 on: “Please. Do not dismiss people just because you can find something not perfect about them or which you don’t like. This sweeping people away … that is Trumpism. [Criticizing or dismissing allies] is something that feels like action but isn’t. It’s a habit that will draw you away from action. The important thing is don’t treat … any other person as your excuse to disengage … that’s how we lose. Be together with other people. Recognize that action means imperfect people working together. Democracy means imperfect people working together.  Freedom means imperfect people working together, acting together.”
June 10, 2025 at 12:59 AM
kjbrowning.bsky.social
Forget the US. I have never felt so competent as when I navigated my way around foreign countries with multiple languages and currencies using just this book - and an AT&T calling card (for long distance, international phone calls) in my pocket for emergencies.
Cover of “Let’s Go Europe” budget travel guide book from 1991.
June 4, 2025 at 5:50 AM
kjbrowning.bsky.social
Ha - I literally just had this text exchange with a friend and then opened Bluesky and saw this piece. 🫠
[Text exchange in green and gray bubbles] Me: How are you guys? Friend: Ok I guess. Parenting changes but it doesn't get easier! Hbu? Me: End of the school year and middle-aged tired, but doing okay too.
June 3, 2025 at 3:50 PM
kjbrowning.bsky.social
Thank you for articulating this absolutely surreal aspect of what we are living through.

Saw these candles a few weeks ago and was so tempted to get one
Two mason jar candles from Virgins on Fire. The one on the left has a red label, rose and amber scent, and is named: “DOING MY SILLY LITTLE JOB WHILE THE WORLD BURNS” The one on the right has a white label, peppermint & eucalyptus scent, and is named: “PEACE, LOVE & RESIGNATION LETTERS”
May 23, 2025 at 4:33 PM
kjbrowning.bsky.social
Yep. I remember them selling this in my college book store. They could re-label it “woke” bedtime stories and wouldn’t have to change another thing because it’s all the same stuff
Image of the cover of a book called “Politically Correct Bedtime Stories”
May 23, 2025 at 7:03 AM
kjbrowning.bsky.social
Take the fictional characters quiz and post the first four you know: openpsychometrics.org/tests/charac...
Prairie Johnson, character from the OA Deanna Tori, character from Star Trek: The Next Generation Robin Williams as Sean Maguire in the movie Good Will Hunting Alice Cullen, character from the Twilight series
May 18, 2025 at 6:39 AM
kjbrowning.bsky.social
I might need to buy this one before the recession drains my spending money
Screenshot from The Onion store of a gray t-shirt that reads: History Sighs, Repeats Itself
May 15, 2025 at 10:42 PM
kjbrowning.bsky.social
Heads up, DC! Doug Wilson is headed your way from northern Idaho with his extremist beliefs. This is Pete Hegseth’s denomination.

TLDR: everyone should submit to white Christian men (or accept the consequences)

dougwilsonbelieves.com/beliefs/

CW: Abuse & SA, Racism, Homophobia, Ableism, Language
Screenshot from Doug Wilson Believes / Women •Women Need to be Led By Men •The Natural Order of the World Is That •Women Should Submit to their Husbands •Toxic Masculinity Was Created By Feminism •Women Were Created With a Deep Need to Submit & Be Led, Men With a Deep Need To Lead & Be Respected •Wives Must Submit To Their Husbands In Everything •True Women’s Liberation Can Only Be Found In Women Accepting Submission •A Woman’s Submission Must Be Made •Clearly Visible In a Christian Home •Women In Positions of Civil Leadership Go •Against The Natural Order of Creation •WOMEN WHO MISINTERPRET SCRIPTURE SHOULD BE CALLED CUNTS •Women Who Refuse the Protection of Men are Tacitly Accepting Rape Screenshot from Doug Wilson Believes / Race & Slavery •That Slavery Wasn’t That Bad •Southern Slavery Represented the Pinnacle of Race Relations •Slaves Were Not Raped By Their Masters, And You’re Racist For Thinking They Might Have Been •Slaves Were Well-Fed, Adequately Housed and Received Good Medical Care •The Black Family Was At Its Strongest Under Slavery •The Confederate South Was Right On All the Essential Issues •Robert E. Lee Was a Gracious Christian Gentleman •It’s Important for Christians to Defend Slavery •There Is Nothing Incompatible Between Slave Ownership & Christianity •Slavery Is Not Evil Screenshot from Doug Wilson Believes/ LGBTQ+ Issues •It’s Funny to Call Gay Men “Faggots” and “Fudgepackers” •In the Theocracy Doug Seeks to Establish, Homosexuality Will Be a Crime •Supporters of Gay Rights Should be Called “Gaytards” •Women Out-Earning Men Leads to “Gender Confusion” •Homosexual Men Sin Because They Do Not Use Women Screenshot from Doug Wilson Believes / Health, Safety & Science •Wearing a Mask During A Pandemic Is a Sign of Submission and Surrender •Condoms Do Not Stop The Transmission of HIV •The Real Purpose Behind Mask Orders During the COVID-19 Pandemic Was To Disrupt Worship Services •HIV Does Not Cause AIDS •AIDS Is Not a Real Infectious Disease •AIDS Symptoms Are Caused by Drug Use, and the Prescription Drugs Used to Treat AIDS •HIV Positive Men Don’t Need to Use Protection •It’s OK to Lie About Your COVID Vaccination Status for Most Any Reason •Many Women Take Antidepressants Because They Believe in Darwinian Evolution •The Physically Disabled Cannot Truly Enter Into Marriage
May 14, 2025 at 12:00 AM
kjbrowning.bsky.social
#SomethingBeautiful for today

Balsamroot under the pine trees near SFCC along the #Bloomsday course this morning.

It was a beautiful day for a run/walk/hobble through our Lilac City.

Spokane, WA 4/4/25
Arrowleaf balsam root blooming under a grove of pine trees. The bright flowers are wide and open like big golden daisies or small sunflowers. There are several lime trees with rough reddish brown bark, growing up through the masses of yellow flowers that fill the image and encircle the base of the trees.
May 5, 2025 at 6:43 AM