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Daniel Carlson @danielwcarlson.bsky.social · 2h

“Greg Abbott, as a man who uses a wheelchair, knows intimately what it feels like to navigate a world that wasn’t built for him. … And yet Abbott seems unwilling to see that connection — or perhaps worse, he does see it and chooses power over principle anyway.”

Charles Thomas Swan
...
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Let the record show: Houston's Pride crosswalk was created as a memorial to Alex Hill, who was struck and killed at that intersection. It was not a political stunt. It was a tribute — a reminder of a life lost, a symbol of safety, and a celebration of community.
Nonetheless, Governor Greg Abbott's decision to remove it isn't about safety, policy, or taxpayer dollars. It's about visibility — and the discomfort some people feel when they're reminded that Texas isn't, and never was, one kind of Texan.
The Pride crosswalk in Montrose wasn't a political statement. It was an affirmation - a bright, joyful reminder that LGBTQ+ Houstonians belong here, too. Abbott's order to remove it sends an equally clear message: that our existence, when seen, is a problem to be fixed.
That's not leadership. That's erasure.

And what makes it especially tragic is that the man issuing the order should understand this better than anyone. Greg Abbott, as a man who uses a wheelchair, knows intimately what it feels like to navigate a world that wasn't built for him.
He knows what it's like to be stared at, pitied, or dismissed.
He knows what it means to live in a body that forces others to confront their prejudices.
The parallels between his experience and that of queer Texans is striking — and heartbreaking in their irony. Both communities have faced systemic exclusion. Both have fought for visibility, access, and respect. Both have been told, in overt and subtle ways, that their presence makes people uncomfortable.
And yet Abbott seems unwilling to see that connection — or perhaps worse, he does see it and chooses power over principle anyway. What could have been a moment of empathy has become an act of pettiness. Instead of using his own lived experience to expand understanding, he's weaponized it to diminish others. He's chosen control over compassion, conformity over community.

The removal of a Pride crosswalk might seem minor — just paint on pavement. But symbols matter, especially to those who've been told their identity is too loud, too visible, too much. The rainbow stripes were never about decoration; they were about recognition. And by erasing them, Abbott has revealed what kind of Texas he envisions: one where difference is tolerated only when it stays quiet.
Houston deserves better. This city has always been a beacon of art, progress, and inclusion - from electing one of the nation's first openly gay mayors to championing diversity long before it was fashionable. The Pride crosswalk was simply a reflection of that legacy. Abbott's action doesn't erase it; it only exposes his inability to live up to it.
A governor who knows what exclusion feels like should be the first to fight it - not perpetuate it. The paint may fade, but the message behind those colors will not. Pride has never been about crosswalks. It's about walking freely - and that's something no governor can take away.

The Pride rainbow crosswalk at Westheimer and Taft in the Montrose neighborhood of Houston

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Patrick Dubuque @euqubud.baseballprospectus.com · 11h

FUN FACT: Every hitter on both of these teams has hit a home run before

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Suzie BOO-Z @rangerquilter.bsky.social · 11h

5 more minutes and I can Wordle even

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Suzie BOO-Z @rangerquilter.bsky.social · 12h

Update #4 ...still futzing with it. Might sew some bits together next week.

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txnurse.bsky.social @txnurse.bsky.social · 12h

Wonderful quilt from the Houston International Quilt Festival.

Expecting Expectations by Karen Diane Morgan Guthrie.

I think it stood out to me because of reading Jessica Calarco's Holding it Together, especially where she talks about the myth of the Super Mom and how that burdens/blames women.

A quilt featuring a figure of a nude woman with light brown skin, her head thrown back and mouth wide open in a yell and her arm thrown up in frustrated gesture. In the lower left of the quilt is a gray cloud filled with eyes, all focused on the woman's pregnant belly. We are able to see a small, black, tadpole-like baby inside her belly.

Expecting Expectations by Karen Diane Morgan Guthrie

Altadena, CA
USA

Available for purchase

Techniques: hand painting; machine applique and quilting; thread sketching; fusing; ink painting

Design Source: Original design

New and expecting mothers and their babies suffer a barrage of opinions and criticism. All the choices made by the parents are scrutinized and judged - along with the behavior of the child - often by their families and friends, who should be loving and supporting their choices. Being a parent is a mindbogglingly difficult task, lasting for decades. Wouldn't the world be a better place if we all just let parents choose for their family?

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Jeremy Faust, MD @jeremyfaust.bsky.social · 12h

CDC leaders asked staff to report if they’d received RIF notices—plus details like years of service and whether they’d been reinstated before.

Why?

Because these decisions weren’t made inside the agency. They came from political operatives outside CDC, apparently.

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Sheryl Gay Stolberg @sherylnyt.bsky.social · 14h

BREAKING: Friday night massacre underway at CDC. Doznes of "disease detectives," high-level scientists, entire Washington staff and editors of the MMWR (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report) have all been RIFed and received the following notice:

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Suzie BOO-Z @rangerquilter.bsky.social · 13h

Josh Naylor's earrings scare me. I worry that we're going to see them pulled out of his ear lobes. That'd be a lot of blood.

#baseball

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Hemry, Local Bartender @bartenderhemry.bsky.social · 14h

This is fascinating because the subtext of playing this at the airport is "we've fully consolidated power and your oppressed ass just has to take it" but the text that it's directly in conflict with is "we're powerless in the face of the minority party"

Ron Filipkowski @ronfilipkowski.bsky.social · 15h

A new Noem video is being played at airports trashing Democrats.

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ProPublica @propublica.org · 14h

Reps. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., and Rob Wittman, R-Va., and Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, all voted for cuts to the CFPB.

Yet collectively, they routed more than 1,000 constituent complaints to the agency, ProPublica found.

(Published August)
By @joeljacobs.bsky.social

These GOP Lawmakers Referred Constituents to the CFPB for Help. Then They Voted to Gut the Agency.

Many of the same Republican lawmakers who have targeted the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for cuts have collectively directed thousands of constituents’ complaints about banks, credit cards, lo...

www.propublica.org

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Barred and Boujee aka Madiba Dennie @audrelawdamercy.bsky.social · 17h

aaand we are officially in the hide-your-neighbors stage

Sophie Sherry @sophiesherry.bsky.social · 20h

During a military-style raid on a building in Chicago’s South Shore, one resident heard a knock on his door.   It wasn’t the feds — it was a mom and her 7-year-old daughter, pleading for help.

He let them hide in his unit for the next 3 days.

chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...

Neighbor shielded 7-year-old during South Shore federal raid: ‘I didn’t want them to take her’

During the Sept. 30 raid one tenant protected a terrified girl and her mom. Remnants at the complex, including a detailed map of all the units, offer clues to what authorities may have known before th...

chicago.suntimes.com

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Dr Susan Greaney @suegreaney.bsky.social · 19h

Has anyone ever seen Phil Harding and Neil Young in the same room?

Stereogum @stereogum.bsky.social · 21h

“BEZOS SUPPORTS THIS GOVERNMENT,” Neil Young writes. “IT DOES NOT SUPPORT YOU OR ME.”

www.stereogum.com/2325956/neil...

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David Noll @david.noll.org · 20h

i just got back from Antifa headquarters.

they're making an INSANE new set of demands.

first, the radical left is saying, "no money shall be drawn from the treasury, but in consequence of appropriations made by law."

David Noll @david.noll.org · 21h

interesting that if you say the constitution creates a separation of powers systems in which there are no kings, they think you hate america

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1d

Emmer: "This is about one thing and one thing alone -- to score political points with the terrorist wing of their party, which is set to hold a hate America rally in DC next week."

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Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 1d

One way to get him to stop uttering these obvious lies is for the people listening to him when he speaks in front of the microphone to stop taking his obviously false & unserious answers at face value & instead demand actual answers when they ask questions.

Patrick Chovanec @prchovanec.bsky.social · 3d

The Speaker of the House has firm views that Bad Bunny is a terrible pick for singing at the Super Bowl, but hasn't had time to watch the President's speech to our military leadership or form an opinion whether furloughed federal workers should be paid or Illinois' governor should be thrown in jail.

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Jim Daley @jimdaleywrites.bsky.social · 1d

I'm at the scene where ICE abducted multiple people from Lincoln and Foster this morning.

A WGN producer was among the people taken, allegedly because she was among a group of bystanders who tried to intervene. ICE agents hit this car while making their getaway.

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Oliver Willis @owillis.bsky.social · 1d

no foreign bases on american soil.

my blood pressure just shot up. this is insane.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1d

Hegseth: "I'm also proud that today we're signing a letter of acceptance to build a Qatari Emeri air force facility at the Mountain Home Airbase in Idaho."

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Suzie BOO-Z @rangerquilter.bsky.social · 1d

I grow grass for my cat. Today there is dew on the tips out here on the screen porch.

#smalljoys

Blade of grass with bubble of dew on the tip

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Francis Wilkinson @franciswilkinson.bsky.social · 1d

I frequently call the GOP a “lie-based” political party. The lie changes minute to minute. But the lying is utterly, dreadfully consistent.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 2d

Thune: "The president would like to overhaul Obamacare and give people health insurance that is higher quality and more affordable."

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Suzie BOO-Z @rangerquilter.bsky.social · 1d

I don't know if this is still true (or ever was, even), but the geographic population center of Arkansas is a town named Toadsuck

The state vegetable of Oklahoma is the watermelon

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emptywheel @emptywheel.bsky.social · 1d

Stephen Miller is murdering Venezuelans and Colombians in cold blood bc he believes it helps his propaganda campaign to paint Latinos as dangerous.

www.theatlantic.com/national-sec...

Stephen Miller views the air strikes as an opportunity to paint immigrants as a dangerous menace, according to one of the White House officials.

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Suzie BOO-Z @rangerquilter.bsky.social · 1d

I guess I just don't understand why autism is such a bad thing? I mean why are we spending so much time and energy trying to make it go away?

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Bryan Edward Stone (שָׁלוֹם) @bestonetx.bsky.social · 1d

Democrats: We follow the science.

Republicans: The science follows us.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1d

RFK Jr on Tylenol and autism: "It is not proof. We're doing the studies to make the proof."

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Kath Barbadoro @kathbarbadoro.bsky.social · 1d

Similarly describing him as an "expert on antifa" rather than an "antifascism researcher" further legitimates antifa as a proper noun in a way that makes zero sense

Karl Bode @karlbode.com · 2d

you'd think a prominent news outlet like the New York Times might mention that "antifa" isn't an actual organization in a long story about antifa, but nope!

and the subhead helps props up a false claim this professor was up to something seedy as something up for debate

NYT headline: "Rutgers Expert on Antifa Tries to Flee to Spain After Death Threats"

subheadline: "Mark Bray was teaching courses on antifascism. Turning Point USA accused him of belonging to antifa, which he denies. His flight to Spain was canceled abruptly on Wednesday night."

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Kevin Gannon (now a Moo Deng fan account) @thetattooedprof.bsky.social · 2d

Every day a new obvious metaphor

Futurism @futurism.com · 2d

Look out!

Elon Musk's Satellites Now Constantly Falling Out of the Sky

Multiple Starlink satellites from Elon Musk's SpaceX are falling to Earth every single day, an astronomer warns — and counting.

trib.al

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