pip writes occasionally (end otw racism)

Yesterday was a difficult day for my family and children… Fierce winds swept through our fragile tent—the only shelter we had, offering us a semblance of security. But it could not withstand the wrath of nature. I sat watching my children huddle together, their little eyes filled with fear, and my heart ached because all I could offer them was patience and prayers.

I don’t know when we will receive a new tent or perhaps caravans that can provide us with a minimum level of dignity. We are not asking for much—just a roof to shield our children from the cold and rain, walls that give us a little privacy, and a glimmer of hope.

To everyone reading these words, we are here… trying to endure, trying to stay strong. But we need someone to hear our voices, someone to extend a helping hand, someone who believes that every human being deserves a dignified life.

Imagine enduring a harsh winter in a tent made of tarpaulin, with nothing to shield you from the elements.

Every day brings the threat of freezing temperatures, and rainwater can flood our small space, putting us at risk of drowning. The cold can lead to serious health issues, such as chest infections and chronic illnesses.

You can see

I am pleading for help to save my family from this life-threatening situation.

Please, we need your support to escape this danger and find a safe place to live.

$3,158 USD raised of $20K goal!

Ahmad is only 14 years old and dreams of becoming a doctor. He is living with his 16-year-old sister and his parents. He is fundraising so they can buy basic necessities!

PLEASE GUYS DON'T LET MY CAMPAIGN STAGNATE MORE ! ! !

PLEASE WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT TO ESCAPE THIS DANGER AND FIND SAFE PLACE TO LIVE.

EVERY LITTLE CONTRIBUTION HELP.

PLEASE KEEP POSTING AND DONATE

Vetted!!!

(#167 on the verified fundraiser list by el-shab-hussein and nabulsi) (but we had to make a new gfm campaign cuz our old organizer stopped contacting us).

My name is Naser, and war has taken everything from me—my mother, my sister, my home, and the life I once knew. In an instant, my world was shattered, leaving behind nothing but memories and the weight of loss.

But even in the darkest moments, I refuse to give up. Because amidst the pain, I still have something worth fighting for—my three younger brothers.

🔹 One dreams of becoming a doctor, to heal others so they don’t have to endure the pain we’ve faced. 🔹 Another aspires to be an engineer, hoping to one day rebuild what war has destroyed. 🔹 And the youngest? He doesn’t have big dreams yet—he just wants to be a kid again, to wake up in a home that feels safe, to play without fear.

But how do you rebuild a life when there’s nothing left to start with?

🏡 We Need a Home. We Need Education. We Need Hope. Right now, we are not just fighting for survival—we are fighting for the chance to live, to grow, to dream again. We are fighting for a future where my brothers can become the doctor, the engineer, the child who gets to have a childhood.

💙 This is where you come in. I’m not asking for much—just a chance. A chance to rebuild, to give my brothers a future beyond war.

Your support, whether through a donation or simply sharing our story, can make all the difference. Even the smallest act of kindness can create ripples of change.

He asked somebody to raise their hand and ask him when we would use calculus in our everyday life. So one student rose their hand and asked, “When are we going to use this in our everyday life?”

“NEVER!!” the teacher exclaimed. “You will never use calculus in your normal, everyday life. In fact, very few of you will use it in your professional careers either.” Then he paused. “So would you like to know why should care?”

Several us nodded.

He picked out one of the varsity football players in the class. “You practice football a lot during the week, right Tim?” asked the teacher.

“Yeah,” replied Tim. “Almost every day.”

“Do you and your teammates ever lift weights during practice?”

“Yeah. Tuesdays and Thursdays we spend a lot of practice in the weight room.”

“But why?” asked the teacher. “Is there ever going to be a play your coach tells you use during a game that requires you to bench press the other team?”

“No, of course not.”

“Then why lift weights?”

“Because it makes us stronger,” said Tim.

“Bingo!!” said the teacher. “It’s the same thing with calculus. You’re not here because you’re going to use calculus in your everyday life. You’re here because calculus is weightlifting for your brain.”

When it’s taught right, learning math teaches you logic and how to organize your brain, how to take a problem one step at a time and make sure every step can bear weight before you move to the next one.  Most adults don’t need to know integrals, but goddamn if I don’t wish everyone making arguments on the internet understood geometric proofs.

Scientific concepts broaden our understanding of how the world is put together, which does not mean that most adults ever really understand how light is refracted through a lens or why spinning copper wire creates electricity–and they don’t need to.  But science classes in general are meant to teach the scientific method: how to make observations and use them to draw conclusions, how to test those conclusions, how to be wrong and grow stronger from it.

History isn’t about dates and names of battles, it’s about people, patterns, things we’ve tried before and ought to learn from.  It’s about how everything is linked, how changing one circumstance can lead to changes in fifty others, cascading infinitely.  Literature is about critical thinking, pattern recognition, learning to listen to what somebody is saying and decide what it means to you, how you feel about it, and what you want to do with it.

Some facts matter: every adult should know how to read a graph, how global warming works, some of the basic themes and symbols that crop up in every piece of fiction.  But ultimately, content is less important later in life than context.

More than once i have had a younger/same age queer person come up to me in public settings and say something about “finding other gays” or clearly clocking me as nonbinary and I’m like :)))))))) hey buddy I’m here with my conservative parents can you fucking not out me :))))))))

some people will be choosing to live in the closet and it is not your job to pressure them one way or the other.

Here's the billion dollar companies behind them.

and if you want to take it a step further because Vanguard and BlackRock were listed on the original graphic, their reach is lightyears beyond just media. BlackRock and/or Vanguard are among the three largest institutional investors for 505 out of 505 of the S&P 500. (100%). one or the other is the single largest institutional investor in 422 of these (84%). they, along with State Street, control about 23% of the votes of the S&P 500 single-class companies.

This could have been a moment when the Democrats stood up as one in a great Spartacist moment of political resistance... instead we got Al Green with the bravery to not back down.