Obvious Shmovious

Lawyer, technologist, tinkerer, devotee of common sense.

[Sara McGee for Texas HD 132 @SaraForTexLege]

I say this with no ill will and *some* animosity. I am a Democrat. I earned the nomination to be the person facing the Republican incumbent in Texas House District 132.

Over the last 18 months, I’ve built my own team using my OWN resources and collectively we have knocked on over 40,000 doors in that time.

Unless something crazy happens in the next 6 days, I will file a TEC report that shows that my campaign has ~$2,500 COH.

So when you say “Don't use our resources.” Literally what resources?

“Don't rely on our volunteers.” I’m sorry, WHOSE volunteers? Because you do not own volunteers.

“Don't use our infrastructure.” WHAT INFRASTRUCTURE? Because I am out here on an island in west Harris County and I may not even be able to afford yard signs ffs.

And last but not least: “Don't ask Democrats to invest their time, money, and energy in your campaign.”

Heard.

Loud and clear.

I won’t ask for anything.

I started this campaign knowing that this was a long shot. I had no money, no political experience or connections, and just a burning desire to just give something BETTER to my hometown than what they have now. And every part of my being is committed to achieving that goal.

And Jamie, I promise that I won’t use “your” resources to win.

God I hate politics.

[Lewis Miles @Maga4liberty]

Two brothers stomped a 17-year-old’s chest, broke his neck, and killed him…
They got 6 months and 18 months.
Is this what justice looks like now? 😡⚖️
#EthanLiming #SayHisName

[Turkish Archives @TurkishArc]

Canadian Major Paeta Derek.

Reported to his wife that the IDF was targeting hospitals.

Days later, he was murdered by the IDF with a precision-guided missile.

May he rest in peace.

[AIPAC Tracker @TrackAIPAC]

@SpeakerJohnson

[BeshearStan @BeshearStan]

Reminder that NY-10 is *the most Jewish district in America*, and voters still rejected pro-Israel incumbent Dan Goldman by 30+ points for Brad Lander, who called Gaza a genocide and wants to cut off all weapons to Israel.

Jewish people aren’t falling for rabid Zionism

[Megatron @Megatron_ron]

BREAKING: 🇺🇸 All mayor Mamdani-backed candidates won New York primaries in clean sweep, per CNN

- Brad Lander

- Claire Valdez

- Darializa Avila Chevalier

All three of them rejected AIPAC’s money

[mustafa yazıcı @myzccc]

🔴Eski CIA görevlisi John Kiriakou:

“İsrail, seni öldürmek istiyorsa ve bir apartman bloğundaysan, seni vurabileceklerini düşündüklerinde tüm apartmanı havaya uçurur ve seninle birlikte 2 bin kişiyi öldürürler; işte İsrail’in politikası bu.”

[Derrick Evans @DerrickEvans4WV]

WTF? Why did Republican Congressman Brian Mast wear an Israeli military uniform inside our nations capitol?

He is also the chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. He needs removed from the committee and removed from office.

No other country would allow this to happen.

[Thomas Massie @RepThomasMassie]

A good friend once informed me that my colleagues in DC were playing checkers, not chess.

My late wife Rhonda, who had met these politicians on several occasions, corrected him,

“they’re chewing on the checkers and arguing about which tastes better… red or black.”

So true.

[NOBUNAGA🇯🇵🏯_夏樹蒼依 @japan_nobunaga]

A Waffle House at three in the morning. I ordered hash browns. The waitress, Charlene, turned toward the kitchen and shouted.

"Scattered, smothered, covered!"

I rose from my stool.

These were battle commands. Shouted across a room, fast, in code, the way a captain calls a line into position. Something was happening. I prepared myself.

"Who is under attack?" I asked.

Charlene turned back. "Huh? Oh. That's just your hash browns, baby."

I sat back down slowly. "...The potatoes have their own commands?"

"Mhm. Scattered means on the grill. Smothered's onions. Covered's cheese."

"And there are more?"

She counted them off without looking at a menu. "Chunked is ham. Diced is tomato. Peppered's jalapeños. Capped's mushrooms. Topped's chili. Country's sausage gravy."

I was silent for a moment. Nine words. Nine fates, for one potato.

In my homeland, a man earns a name through a lifetime of deeds. Here, a hash brown can earn nine in a single night. I had badly underestimated this country.

"I want all of them," I said. "Every word. The potato has earned them."

"...You want it all the way?"

"All the way. To give it fewer would be an insult."

Charlene shouted the whole thing back into the kitchen, the full litany, and the cook answered without turning around, and I stood again and bowed to him, sergeant to sergeant. He did not see it. It did not matter. I knew.

It came buried. Onions, cheese, ham, tomato, peppers, mushrooms, chili, gravy. You could barely find the potato underneath, which seemed correct, because by then the potato was no longer a side dish. It was a decorated soldier.

I ate the whole thing with a fork in both fists. It was hot and filthy and magnificent. I have eaten in palaces. I have never eaten anything that was honored this thoroughly.

So tell me, America.

You can shout the same potato into nine different lives.

Who wrote this language, and where can a foreigner learn it?

And the cook who answers in code at three in the morning. Is that a kitchen, or a war room?

[NOBUNAGA🇯🇵🏯_夏樹蒼依 @japan_nobunaga]

I went to In-N-Out and ordered a cheeseburger. The cashier, a calm young woman named Destiny, asked me a question I did not expect.

"You want that Animal Style?"

I paused.

I did not know what this meant. But a samurai does not admit he does not know. So I answered with weight.

"...Animal Style."

"Cool. So that's mustard-grilled, extra spread, grilled onions, pickles. Yeah?"

I understood now. This was a sacred permission. For one meal, I was being told to put down my manners at the door. To eat the way a beast eats, without shame. I had waited my whole life for someone to give me this order.

"Yes," I said. "I will become the animal."

Destiny did not blink. "...Okay. You want your fries Animal Style too?"

I stopped. Even the potatoes?

"The potatoes also become animals?"

"I mean, they get cheese and sauce and grilled onions, so..."

"Then yes. Let the potatoes abandon their restraint as well."

"...Got it." She was the calmest woman I have ever met. "3x3, 4x4, or just the one?"

I did not know these numbers, but I knew a challenge when I heard one. "How many must I face?"

"It's, like, how many patties you want."

"How many is the most honorable?"

"...Four is a lot."

"Then four. A warrior does not ask for fewer."

She wrote it down without argument. A 4x4, Animal Style, with animal fries. She warned me once, kindly. "That's gonna be huge." I told her I was counting on it.

It arrived. It was a tower. Cheese and sauce ran down my hands the moment I lifted it. There was no clean way to eat it. There was no dignified way. That was the entire point.

I ate it like a beast. Both hands, no honor, grilled onion on my chin, and I have to be honest with you, it was the best thing I have ever put in my mouth.

For thirty years I have kept my manners at every table in the world.

They handed me a burger and told me to be an animal, and I have never felt so free.

So tell me, America.

The whole country knows the secret menu. What else are you hiding in plain sight?

And "Animal Style." Was I eating the animal, or finally becoming one?

[Cuckturd @CattardSlim]

Trump arrested a U.S. citizen for asking Oklahoma state troopers why they're in D.C guarding the reflecting pool.

[David Frum @davidfrum]

In the old USSR, people could be arrested for photographing bridges, tunnels, etc. A repressive and paranoid regime assumed the photographers must be spies and saboteurs. Americans laughed at such petty tyranny. Nothing like that could happen in their free country! Until now.

[Turkish Archives @TurkishArc]

The last e-mails of Canadian Major Paeta Derek to his wife before IDF soldiers murdered him in 2006:

“Yesterday I witnessed an [Israeli] attack helicopter fire missiles at a local school and destroy a brand new hospital.”

[Jake Shields @jakeshieldsajj]

A jew will cry out in pain as they stab you

[Acyn @Acyn]

Reporter: Some members of the Jewish community, including Democratic Congressman Josh Gottheimer, were alarmed by the language you used at the rally last week, calling AIPAC monsters who move dark money.

Mamdani: I want to be very clear. We’re talking about a status quo where children are being killed on a daily basis. More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli military since the so-called ceasefire.

Even an Al Jazeera journalist, Ahmed Wishah, was killed this past Saturday by an Israeli strike. And when I am speaking about AIPAC, I’m speaking about an organization that has been supportive of the status quo, that has fought any attempt to actually deliver safety to people not just in Palestine but, frankly, throughout much of the region.

And it is a status quo of immorality. It is one that I will not accept. And when it comes to the way in which they defend the status quo, oftentimes they defend it through direct contributions, as we are seeing right now in New York 13.

Oftentimes they also support the status quo through dark money, by funneling money that would have previously come directly from AIPAC through other organizations whose contributors’ identities are only made clear after an election.

And I think it is important that when we ask ourselves how such death and destruction is happening overseas, we also name those who allow it to take place.

[Bernie Sanders @BernieSanders]

This is not a normal statement from a normal cabinet member of a major nation. 

This statement from Israeli National Security Minister Ben-Gvir is the statement of a war criminal. 

The racist, extremist Israeli government does not deserve one nickel of U.S. support.

[Kevin W. @Brink_Thinker]

The child who meets his mommy’s twin for the first time...

[FeelGoodTales @feelgoodtale]

I want to take a moment to publicly thank Officer Walker of the Memphis Police Department
Our family was denied a hotel room at the Best Western Executive Inn simply because my husband has a service dog. He’s a disabled veteran, and the hotel had already been notified about the dog when we made the reservation. But when we arrived, they refused to honor it. The stress, the ridicule, the back-and-forth—it was becoming too much, and I was terrified it would trigger one of my husband’s PTSD episodes.

So I called for an officer.

What happened next is something I’ll never forget.

Officer Walker arrived and immediately changed the entire energy of the situation. He didn’t rush. He didn’t escalate. He calmly spoke with my husband, asked about Abby—his service dog—treated her with respect, and gently helped bring him back from a very overwhelming moment. Then he informed the hotel, clearly and professionally, that they were breaking federal ADA law.

Thankfully, Best Western corporate stepped in and ordered the hotel to give us the room we had every right to.

But what touched my heart most wasn’t just what Officer Walker said—it was what he did.

He stayed with us.

He talked to my husband with kindness and patience.

He reassured me when I was on the verge of tears.

When our 1-year-old reached out, he didn’t hesitate—he picked him up, comforted him, let him cuddle in his arms.

He even took the time to engage our anxious 10-year-old and 8-year-old, helping them feel safe again after everything they’d just witnessed.

Officer Walker didn’t just resolve a situation—he brought peace into the middle of our storm.

To Officer Walker:

THANK YOU.

You were a beacon of light in an incredibly stressful moment for our family.

Your kindness, professionalism, and compassion made a world of difference.

Memphis PD, you’ve got a good one.

By Lori.Ann.Hensley

[Not Jerome Powell @alifarhat79]

Community notes strikes again