Virginia Scharff
@vscharff.bsky.social
Historian, novelist, gardener, cook
Good morning!
From the past. A look back to on this day 11th November with our farmily of farm animals & friends
November 11, 2025 at 8:45 AM
Good morning!
Free speech Movement, anyone?
Felony vandalism? They were hanging a cardboard bug on a wall.
This is crazy
November 11, 2025 at 8:44 AM
Free speech Movement, anyone?
Reposted by Virginia Scharff
November 10, 2025 at 9:32 PM
Reposted by Virginia Scharff
There will be another 60 vote Friday* on the garbage shutdown deal. If we can convince just one Senator from the 52 republicans and 8 Dems that voted yes to flip, we could still stop this. Please jump on the phone today, call them, and share this widely.
*If all goes by the regular schedule
*If all goes by the regular schedule
November 10, 2025 at 5:22 PM
There will be another 60 vote Friday* on the garbage shutdown deal. If we can convince just one Senator from the 52 republicans and 8 Dems that voted yes to flip, we could still stop this. Please jump on the phone today, call them, and share this widely.
*If all goes by the regular schedule
*If all goes by the regular schedule
Reposted by Virginia Scharff
It’s as though Aunt Bea had hijacked a national political party.
Agree.
Sen Hassan, asked what will happen if Republicans don't carry out the deal, "Well, shame on them."
This is not what people were mobilizing for on Oct 18.
Sen Hassan, asked what will happen if Republicans don't carry out the deal, "Well, shame on them."
This is not what people were mobilizing for on Oct 18.
November 10, 2025 at 2:58 AM
It’s as though Aunt Bea had hijacked a national political party.
Reposted by Virginia Scharff
The word to describe the unlawful killing of civilians in international waters is "murder"
The U.S. military killed six people on Sunday in two more strikes on boats suspected of smuggling drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said, without providing evidence. The strikes raised the death toll in the campaign to 76 people.
U.S. Military Kills 6 in Strikes on Suspected Drug Boats, Hegseth Says
The latest strikes raised the death toll in the campaign to 76 people in 19 attacks in the Pacific and the Caribbean Sea since early September.
nyti.ms
November 10, 2025 at 4:38 PM
The word to describe the unlawful killing of civilians in international waters is "murder"
Reposted by Virginia Scharff
Over the last 10 months, the federal government has cracked down on political expression with a persistence and viciousness reminiscent of some of the darkest periods of U.S. history. Welcome to the Third Red Scare.
The First Amendment Won’t Go Quietly
Welcome to the third Red Scare.
www.theatlantic.com
November 10, 2025 at 3:54 PM
Over the last 10 months, the federal government has cracked down on political expression with a persistence and viciousness reminiscent of some of the darkest periods of U.S. history. Welcome to the Third Red Scare.
Reposted by Virginia Scharff
It'll be okay, little buddies
Two-day-old zebrafish larvae, as seen through a scanning electron microscope
November 10, 2025 at 3:04 PM
It'll be okay, little buddies
Thank god.
New: The Supreme Court DENIES Kim Davis' request to overturn Obergefell, the marriage equality decision. No noted dissents. www.supremecourt.gov/orders/court...
November 10, 2025 at 3:07 PM
Thank god.
Worth noting.
Lots of opportunities for Republicans to somehow fumble this and reclaim all blame for the shutdown.
Last night was a vote to invoke cloture on a motion to proceed to consideration of a CR that still expires on November 21st, by its terms.
Lots of work and lots of votes between that and reopening.
Last night was a vote to invoke cloture on a motion to proceed to consideration of a CR that still expires on November 21st, by its terms.
Lots of work and lots of votes between that and reopening.
November 10, 2025 at 1:22 PM
Worth noting.
Reposted by Virginia Scharff
Do NOT assume vote in Senate yesterday means shutdown is over.
Even Sen. King puts odds at 10% that it'll get done.
Vote yesterday was just PROCEDURAL to move to next stage.
No guarantee Senate will approve.
And House may not approve; Johnson says they won't.
And Trump wants to end ACA subsidies.
Even Sen. King puts odds at 10% that it'll get done.
Vote yesterday was just PROCEDURAL to move to next stage.
No guarantee Senate will approve.
And House may not approve; Johnson says they won't.
And Trump wants to end ACA subsidies.
November 10, 2025 at 1:10 PM
Do NOT assume vote in Senate yesterday means shutdown is over.
Even Sen. King puts odds at 10% that it'll get done.
Vote yesterday was just PROCEDURAL to move to next stage.
No guarantee Senate will approve.
And House may not approve; Johnson says they won't.
And Trump wants to end ACA subsidies.
Even Sen. King puts odds at 10% that it'll get done.
Vote yesterday was just PROCEDURAL to move to next stage.
No guarantee Senate will approve.
And House may not approve; Johnson says they won't.
And Trump wants to end ACA subsidies.
Reposted by Virginia Scharff
The average SNAP benefit per month is $177 a person.
The average ACA benefit per month is up to $550 a person.
People want us to hold the line for a reason. This is not a matter of appealing to a base. It’s about people’s lives.
And working people want leaders whose word means something to them.
The average ACA benefit per month is up to $550 a person.
People want us to hold the line for a reason. This is not a matter of appealing to a base. It’s about people’s lives.
And working people want leaders whose word means something to them.
November 10, 2025 at 1:49 AM
The average SNAP benefit per month is $177 a person.
The average ACA benefit per month is up to $550 a person.
People want us to hold the line for a reason. This is not a matter of appealing to a base. It’s about people’s lives.
And working people want leaders whose word means something to them.
The average ACA benefit per month is up to $550 a person.
People want us to hold the line for a reason. This is not a matter of appealing to a base. It’s about people’s lives.
And working people want leaders whose word means something to them.
Reposted by Virginia Scharff
look I know being an engaged citizen IS the work of democracy but it is also the work of elected officials not to create situations where everyone has to be mobilized all the time to prevent them from allowing some kind of Dickensian horror on a Sunday night while you're in between loads of laundry
November 9, 2025 at 11:37 PM
look I know being an engaged citizen IS the work of democracy but it is also the work of elected officials not to create situations where everyone has to be mobilized all the time to prevent them from allowing some kind of Dickensian horror on a Sunday night while you're in between loads of laundry
Reposted by Virginia Scharff
Reposted by Virginia Scharff
Here’s how we should all be reporting on the spurious claims from these agencies that have repeatedly been caught in lies and exaggerations:
Border patrol chief reprimanded for lying claims shots were fired at immigration officers in Chicago
Gregory Bovino was called out by a judge only two days earlier for lying about being assaulted by a protester
www.theguardian.com
November 9, 2025 at 1:59 PM
Here’s how we should all be reporting on the spurious claims from these agencies that have repeatedly been caught in lies and exaggerations:
Reposted by Virginia Scharff
Why Not Just Arrest the Protestors? CBP and ICE Officials Muse talkingpointsmemo.com/news/why-not...
Why Not Just Arrest the Protestors? CBP and ICE Officials Muse
It’s been a journey with Greg Bovino over the past few months....
talkingpointsmemo.com
November 10, 2025 at 6:24 AM
Why Not Just Arrest the Protestors? CBP and ICE Officials Muse talkingpointsmemo.com/news/why-not...
Reposted by Virginia Scharff
Exciting news for the new Ken Burns series on the American Revolution. @lizcovart.bsky.social @michaelhattem.bsky.social & Historians At The Movies are partnering to bring you a first of its kind watch party next Sunday. Detail below. Share widely. #HATM
open.substack.com/pub/jasonher...
open.substack.com/pub/jasonher...
The American Revolution on PBS
A Historians At The Movies/Ben Franklin’s World Watch Party
open.substack.com
November 9, 2025 at 8:09 PM
Exciting news for the new Ken Burns series on the American Revolution. @lizcovart.bsky.social @michaelhattem.bsky.social & Historians At The Movies are partnering to bring you a first of its kind watch party next Sunday. Detail below. Share widely. #HATM
open.substack.com/pub/jasonher...
open.substack.com/pub/jasonher...
Reposted by Virginia Scharff
“I want you to understand what it is like to live in Chicago during this time.”
aphyr.com/posts/397-i-...
aphyr.com/posts/397-i-...
November 9, 2025 at 5:26 PM
“I want you to understand what it is like to live in Chicago during this time.”
aphyr.com/posts/397-i-...
aphyr.com/posts/397-i-...
Reposted by Virginia Scharff
So here's where we are, Sunday morning:
Trump is trying to starve hungry kids in order to bully Democrats into abandoning our fight against health care premium increases.
So Trump is starving kids in order to deny families health care.
Dystopian.
Trump is trying to starve hungry kids in order to bully Democrats into abandoning our fight against health care premium increases.
So Trump is starving kids in order to deny families health care.
Dystopian.
November 9, 2025 at 5:30 PM
So here's where we are, Sunday morning:
Trump is trying to starve hungry kids in order to bully Democrats into abandoning our fight against health care premium increases.
So Trump is starving kids in order to deny families health care.
Dystopian.
Trump is trying to starve hungry kids in order to bully Democrats into abandoning our fight against health care premium increases.
So Trump is starving kids in order to deny families health care.
Dystopian.
Reposted by Virginia Scharff
Well Prof. Super is a true expert on this stuff, so you can trust this. Governors need to fight.
I asked Georgetown law prof David Super wtf is going on with this latest demand for states to claw back benefits already sent out.
He says the law doesn't allow for this, and if the USDA is mad that states already sent out SNAP money, too bad—they were following USDA's own guidance. Full comments:
He says the law doesn't allow for this, and if the USDA is mad that states already sent out SNAP money, too bad—they were following USDA's own guidance. Full comments:
November 9, 2025 at 6:50 PM
Well Prof. Super is a true expert on this stuff, so you can trust this. Governors need to fight.
Pay attention up and down the ballot.
Democrats' 2025 election wins go beyond the big races:
In Pennsylvania, Dems swept the top "row offices" in Bucks County, electing the county's first-ever Democratic DA and defeating an incumbent Republican sheriff.
Dems notched victories in county executive races in Erie, Lehigh and Northampton.
In Pennsylvania, Dems swept the top "row offices" in Bucks County, electing the county's first-ever Democratic DA and defeating an incumbent Republican sheriff.
Dems notched victories in county executive races in Erie, Lehigh and Northampton.
November 9, 2025 at 4:15 PM
Pay attention up and down the ballot.
Reposted by Virginia Scharff
So the oldest person ever to become president keeps falling asleep in his office during public events and there’s no big public discussion on how this is a coverup or how republicans are lying to us about how this government is running?
November 9, 2025 at 1:41 PM
So the oldest person ever to become president keeps falling asleep in his office during public events and there’s no big public discussion on how this is a coverup or how republicans are lying to us about how this government is running?
Reposted by Virginia Scharff
Astonishing how hard this administration is working to keep people hungry.
It's clear they are trying maximize public suffering, in hopes of getting people to blame Dems for that suffering. But it's transparently the White House working overtime to keep the suffering going!
bsky.app/profile/cram...
It's clear they are trying maximize public suffering, in hopes of getting people to blame Dems for that suffering. But it's transparently the White House working overtime to keep the suffering going!
bsky.app/profile/cram...
Yikes. USDA sent threatening letter to states telling them that if they sent out EBT money —which many states did during the window when a lower court said SNAP funds had to be released—they have to take it back (?)
Trying to sort out what this means and if states even can claw back the funds
Trying to sort out what this means and if states even can claw back the funds
November 9, 2025 at 4:06 PM
Astonishing how hard this administration is working to keep people hungry.
It's clear they are trying maximize public suffering, in hopes of getting people to blame Dems for that suffering. But it's transparently the White House working overtime to keep the suffering going!
bsky.app/profile/cram...
It's clear they are trying maximize public suffering, in hopes of getting people to blame Dems for that suffering. But it's transparently the White House working overtime to keep the suffering going!
bsky.app/profile/cram...
Reposted by Virginia Scharff
continues to be hard to say why the White House is taking such a beating for the shutdown when they keep announcing new voluntary actions they say explicitly are meant to increase pain to pressure Dems and then lots of bad things happen and people get sad.
"Even those passengers who successfully reach their destination are encountering long departure delays, extended tarmac times and highly unpredictable arrival times; many flight crews are timing out...or missing connections." - Airlines for America www.airlines.org/news-update/...
Latest Data Shows Huge Impact of the Government Shutdown on Airlines and Our Customers – Airlines For America
www.airlines.org
November 9, 2025 at 3:49 PM
continues to be hard to say why the White House is taking such a beating for the shutdown when they keep announcing new voluntary actions they say explicitly are meant to increase pain to pressure Dems and then lots of bad things happen and people get sad.