Tree Bough (they/she)
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treebough.bsky.social
Tree Bough (they/she)
@treebough.bsky.social
510 followers 1.7K following 34 posts
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treebough.bsky.social
Ta-Nehisi Coates does the correct & (in this odious political climate) courageous thing in his reflection on Charlie Kirk’s life: he copiously quotes Kirk himself.

For what does Kirk—as a so-called champion of “spirited discourse”—leave as a legacy, if not his own words & their impact?

TW: t-slur
It is not just, for instance, that Kirk held disagreeable views—that he was pro-life, that he believed in public executions, or that he rejected the separation of church and state. It’s that Kirk reveled in open bigotry. Indeed, claims of Kirk’s “civility” are tough to square with his penchant for demeaning members of the LGBTQ+ community as “freaks” and referring to trans people with the slur “tranny.” Faced with the prospect of a Kamala Harris presidency, Kirk told his audience that the threat had to be averted because Harris wanted to “kidnap your child via the trans agenda.” Garden-variety transphobia is sadly unremarkable. But Kirk was a master of folding seemingly discordant bigotries into each other, as when he defined “the American way of life” as marriage, home ownership, and child-rearing free of “the lesbian, gay, transgender garbage in their school,” adding that he did not want kids to “have to hear the Muslim call to prayer five times a day.” The American way of life was “Christendom,” Kirk claimed, and Islam—“the sword the left is using to slit the throat of America”—was antithetical to that. Large “dedicated” Islamic areas were “a threat to America,” Kirk asserted, and New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani was a “Mohammedan,” with Kirk supposing that anyone trying to see “Mohammedism take over the West” would love to have New York—a “prior Anglo center”—“under Mohammedan rule.”
September 16, 2025 at 8:42 PM
treebough.bsky.social
At book club tonight we discussed @aptshadow.bsky.social’s fantastic book, Alien Clay. Our discussion was paired with these amazing cookies by Bri (on Insta @NorthwestSugar), based on art by @alexries.com. The Elephant’s Dad was tasty!
A paperback copy of Alien Clay by Adrian Tchaikowsky is surrounded by 7 cookies illustrated with colorful aliens and landscapes from the book. A closeup of two cookies: one with the title “Alien Clay,” and the other with a green, vaguely elephantish alien.
September 10, 2025 at 3:48 AM
treebough.bsky.social
There is no riot in downtown Spokane. Abolish ICE!
(added alt text)
Commissioner Josh Kerns Condemns Spokane Riots, Voices Strong Support for Law Enforcement SPOKANE COUNTY, Wash. - Spokane County Commissioner Josh Kerns has issued a firm statement condemning the recent riots in the City of Spokane, calling for peace, order, and support for law enforcement. "The unrest we have seen in the City of Spokane is unacceptable," said Commissioner Kerns. "I stand with the dedicated men and women of law enforcement who put themselves in harm's way to protect lives, businesses, and public safety." He continued, "Thank you to our police officers, deputies, and their families tonight. We support you and have your back". Commissioner Kerns also stated, "I strongly support every American's First Amendment right to speak freely and protest peacefully— but that right does not include violence, obstruction of law enforcement, destruction of property, or putting others at risk. We must uphold both our freedoms and our responsibility to exercise them lawfully."
June 12, 2025 at 4:55 AM
treebough.bsky.social
She thinks Islamophobia is somehow a counterbalance to her prolific, gross antisemitism? Trying to universalize your anti-theist bigotry doesn’t make it virtuous, actually.

Anyway, Eid Kareem. Sorry to my Jewish siblings, who are dealing w/ the avalanche of vile antisemitism that she’s instigated.
Zinnia Jones 🐍🔅 @zinniajones.com This post is flagged for Intolerance and reads: “No one should be Muslim, though” March 28, 2025 at 12:04 PM Includes a black “Follow Back” button because she apparently follows me
March 30, 2025 at 10:59 PM
treebough.bsky.social
Eid Mubarak🌙

Liberation, love, & peace to all people, all beings.
A tortoise shell cat rests on her back playfully, looking straight at the camera from her upside down perspective. She has green eyes, a wide black nose stripe, floofy white chest and belly, and pink and black speckled toe beans.
March 30, 2025 at 6:02 AM
treebough.bsky.social
Canceled tv show that you will never stop thinking about
Lodge 49 AMC promo poster of three of the main characters, all underwater in a swimming pool. Dud (Wyatt Russell) stands smiling broadly, though his right ankle is wrapped in a bandage. A pink frosted donut floats above his raised hand. On a couch behind him sits his sister, Liz (Sonya Cassidy), and Lodge 49 member, Ernie Fontaine (Brent Jennings). Both of them look bored.
March 27, 2025 at 3:13 AM
treebough.bsky.social
I have a soft spot for Helplessness Blues
What's my name, what's my station? Oh, just tell me what I should do I don't need to be kind to the armies of night that would do such injustice to you Or bow down and be grateful and say, "Sure, take all that you see" To the men who move only in dimly-lit halls and determine my future for me And I don't, I don't know who to believe I'll get back to you someday soon you will see If I know only one thing, it's that everything that I see Of the world outside is so inconceivable often I barely can speak Yeah I'm tongue-tied and dizzy and I can't keep it to myself What good is it to sing helplessness blues, why should I wait for anyone else? And I know, I know you will keep me on the shelf I'll come back to you someday soon myself
March 20, 2025 at 5:58 PM
treebough.bsky.social
my two cat friends do a blep & a rawr
#caturday
A black cat lounges on a chair covered by a yellow-bordered, off-white blanket (to catch her drool). She’s in the middle of licking her nose, showing off her nice pink tongue. Blep. A tortoiseshell cat in mid-yawn, which looks like a fierce roar. She has a wide black nose stripe, orange muzzle, a spray of white whiskers, a white chest, and tortoiseshell marked body. Her right ear is orange tipped, like a flame.
February 9, 2025 at 2:55 AM
treebough.bsky.social
Disabled people need access to this #NSF keyword blacklist, so I’m reposting—with alt text—all the words listed in the quoted thread.
Words Flagged in Search of Current NSF Awards (maybe be incomplete. This is a cull from 1/10th of the awards flagged.) activism activists advocacy advocate advocates barrier barriers biased biased toward biases biases towards bipoc black and latinx community diversity community equity cultural differences cultural heritage culturally responsive culturally responsive disabilities disability discriminated discrimination discriminatory diverse backgrounds diverse backgrounds diverse communities diverse community diverse group diverse groups diversified diversify diversifying diversity and inclusion diversity equity enhance the diversity enhancing diversity equal opportunity equality equitable equity ethnicity excluded female females fostering inclusivity gender gender diversity genders hate speech excluded female females fostering inclusivity gender gender diversity genders hate speech hispanic minority historically implicit bias implicit biases inclusion inclusive inclusiveness inclusivity increase diversity increase the diversity indigenous community inequalities inequality inequitable inequities institutional Igbt marginalize marginalized minorities minority multicultural multicultural polarization political prejudice privileges promoting diversity race and ethnicity racial racial diversity racial inequality racial justice racially racism sense of belonging sexual preferences social justice socio cultural socio economic sociocultural socioeconomic status stereotypes systemic trauma under appreciated under represented under served underrepresentation underrepresented underserved undervalued victim women women and underrepresented advocate advocates antiracist barrier barriers biased biases bipoc community diversity disabilities disability discrimination discriminatory
February 4, 2025 at 3:18 AM
treebough.bsky.social
Words from Kelly Hayes, to provide focus for this moment:
When people react to a floating signifier, it's because something is simmering beneath the surface. When the tension at the surface breaks, and that underlying hurt begins to boil, the instigating action and actor should not be our primary focus. The question is, what can we do with the energy and outrage that is clearly roiling? At a time when the left and its movements are horribly fractured and the political landscape is marked with bitterness and despair, we need a revival of popular outrage against inequality and against the billionaire class. We need a shared recognition that we are all suffering in wholly preventable, manufactured ways-and that corporations and billionaires are our collective enemies.
December 11, 2024 at 3:00 AM
treebough.bsky.social
This is a boring first post, but iOS app users: if you’re trying to search an exact phrase, make sure you long press to use the straight quotation marks, not Apple’s angled smart quotes.
Screenshot showing the quotation mark iOS keyboard menu, with straight quotes highlighted in blue.
December 2, 2024 at 5:50 AM