Not Quiet, Not Going Away

A cat is a small creature in the middle of the food chain that is fully aware that you are a very large thing that could stomp its head in at any moment and yet it chooses to rest its tiny little head on your leg for a nap and spreads out on the floor near you exposing its belly and its most sensitive organs. It brings dead mice and bugs to you to share food.

Don’t you get it? This tiny thing trusts you. It wants to help you too. It licks your leg thinking that it’s helping. It kneads on you to find comfort. It shares its body warmth with you in the cold and gives you your space in the heat. It hisses at other mammals it sees outside including other cats in an effort to protect its family.

Jacob Knutson at Democracy Docket:

President Donald Trump tapped loyalist Bill Pulte, a top housing official, to serve as acting director of national intelligence (DNI), a cabinet position tasked with overseeing the U.S. intelligence community. Pulte currently leads the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) and has no known experience in intelligence. What he does offer is loyalty: Known in MAGA circles as “Little Trump,” Pulte has used his relatively minor federal housing post — and his chairmanship of mortgage groups Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — to help target a swath of the president’s enemies.

In a statement, Sen. Mark Warner (Va.), the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, slammed Pulte as “someone who will be willing to shape intelligence around the president’s wishes, regardless of the cost to the American people.” “This is how intelligence becomes politicized, how inconvenient facts disappear, how agencies charged with protecting our democracy become tools to manipulate it, and how Americans are left more vulnerable to a terrorist attack,” Warner said. Asked Tuesday about the appointment, Senate Republican Leader John Thune (S.D.) told reporters that Pulte would have “a lengthy road ahead of him” if Trump nominated him to take the position permanently. “He’ll have to go through a confirmation process and hearings and everything else, so we’ll see,” Thune said, adding that “we don’t need a weaponized DNI; we need professionals there.”

[part 1] [part 2]

her name was Marsha P Johnson, and we have her to thank for so much.

remember, the first Pride was a riot, and she was one of the brave souls who endured it to help carve the path which so many of us walk today. she helped found several activist groups regarding LGBT safety and wellbeing. and she was absolutely radiant, too.