Kathleen Ward

Pittsford Books Family Sports

[Kathleen Ward @katieward46]

@Sutherland_SB Congratulations!!

[Pittsford Sutherland Softball @Sutherland_SB]

SECTION V CHAMPIONS ‼️‼️‼️ Knights took the big dub today @Eastridge 😤😤😤 Back at for regionals qualifiers this Monday vs Penfield 🗣️🗣️🗣️

[Gandalv @Microinteracti1]

Robert Mueller died last night.

He was 81 years old. He had a wife who loved him for sixty years. He had two daughters, one of whom he met for the first time in Hawaii, in 1969, on a few hours of military leave, before he got back on the plane and returned to Vietnam. He had grandchildren. He had a faith he practiced quietly, without performance. He had, in the way of men who have seen real things and survived them, a quality that is increasingly rare and increasingly mocked in the country he spent his life serving.

He had integrity.

And tonight the President of the United States said good!

I have been sitting with that word for hours now. Good. One syllable. The thing you say when the coffee is hot or the traffic is moving. The thing a man who has never had to bury anyone, never had to sit in the specific silence of a room where someone is newly absent, reaches for when he wants the world to know he is satisfied. Good. The daughters are crying and the wife is alone in the house and good.

I want to speak directly to the Americans reading this. Not the political Americans. Just the human ones. The ones who have lost a father. The ones who know what it is to be in that first hour, when you keep forgetting and then remembering again, when ordinary objects become unbearable, when the world outside the window seems obscene in its indifference. I want to ask you, simply, to hold that feeling for a moment, and then to understand that the man you elected looked at it and typed a single word.

Good.

This is not a country having a bad day. I need you to understand that. Countries have bad days. Elections go wrong. Leaders disappoint. Institutions bend. But there is a different thing, a rarer and more terrible thing, that happens when the moral center of a place simply gives way. Not dramatically. Not with a single catastrophic event. But quietly, in increments, until one evening a president celebrates the death of an old man whose family is still warm with grief, and enough people find it acceptable that it becomes the weather. Just the weather.

That is what is happening. That is what has happened.

The world knows. From Tokyo to Oslo, from London to Buenos Aires, people are not angry at America tonight. Anger would mean there was still something to fight for, some remaining faith to be betrayed. What I see, in the reactions from everywhere that is not here, is something older and sadder than anger. It is the look people get when they have waited a long time for someone they love to find their way back, and have finally understood that they are not coming.

America is being grieved. Past tense, almost. The idea of it. The thing it represented to people who had nothing else to believe in, who came here with everything they owned in a single bag because they had heard, somehow, across an ocean, that this was the place where decency was written into the walls. That idea is not resting. It is not suspended. It is being buried, in real time, with 7,450 likes before dinner.

And the church said nothing.

Seventy million people have decided that this man, this specific man who has cheated everyone he has ever made a promise to, who has mocked the disabled and the dead and the grieving, who celebrated tonight while a family wept, is an instrument of God. The pastors who made that bargain did not just trade away their credibility. They traded away the thing that made them worth listening to in the first place. The cross they carry now is a costume. The faith they preach is a loyalty oath with scripture attached. When the history of American Christianity is written, this will be the chapter they skip at seminary.

Now I want to talk about the men who stand next to him.

Because this is the part that actually breaks my heart.

JD Vance is not a bad man. I have to say that, because it is true, and because the truth matters even now, especially now. Marco Rubio is not a bad man. Lindsey Graham is not a bad man. They are idiots, but not bad, as in BAD! These are men with mothers who raised them and children who love them and friends who remember who they were before all of this. They are not monsters. Monsters are simple. Monsters do not cost you anything emotionally because there is nothing in them to mourn.

These men are something more painful than monsters.

They are men who knew better, and know better still, and will get up tomorrow and do it again.

Every small compromise they made had a reason. Every moment they looked the other way had a justification that sounded, at the time, almost reasonable. And now they have arrived here, at a place where a president celebrates the death of an old man and they will find a way, on television, to say nothing that means anything, and they will go home to houses where children who carry their name are waiting, and they will say goodnight, and they will say nothing.

Their oldest friends are watching. The ones who knew Rubio when he still believed in something. Who knew Graham when he said, out loud, on the record, that this exact man would destroy the Republican Party and deserve it. Who sat next to Vance and thought here is someone worth knowing. Those friends are not angry tonight. They moved through anger a long time ago. What they feel now is the quiet, irrecoverable sadness of watching someone disappear while still being present. Of watching a person they loved choose, again and again, to become less.

That is what cowardice costs. Not the coward. The people who loved him.

And in the comments tonight, the followers celebrate. People who ten years ago brought casseroles to grieving neighbours. Who stood in the rain at gravesides and meant the words they said. Who told their children that we do not speak ill of the dead because the dead were someone's beloved. Those people are tonight typing gleeful things about a man whose daughters are not yet done crying. And they feel clean doing it. Righteous. Because somewhere along the way the thing they were given in exchange for their decency was the feeling of belonging to something, and that feeling is very hard to give up even when you can no longer remember what you gave for it.

When Trump is gone, they will still be here.

Standing in the silence where the noise used to be. Without the permission the crowd gave them. Without the pastor who told them their cruelty was holy. They will be alone with what they said and what they cheered and what they chose to become, and there will be no one left to tell them it was righteous.

That morning is coming.

Robert Mueller flew across the Pacific on military leave to hold his newborn daughter for a few hours before returning to the war. He came home. He buried his dead with honour. He served presidents of both parties because he understood that the institution was larger than any one man. He told his grandchildren that a lie is the worst thing a person can do, that a reputation once lost cannot be recovered, and he lived that, every day, in the quiet and unglamorous way of people who actually believe what they say.

He was the kind of American the world used to point to when it needed to believe the story was true.

He died last night. His wife is alone in their house in Georgetown. His daughters are learning what the world is without him in it. And somewhere in the particular hush that falls over a family in the first hours of loss, the most powerful man and the biggest loser on earth sent a message to say he was glad.

The world that loved what America was supposed to be is grieving tonight. Not for Robert Mueller only. For the country that produced him and then became this. For the distance between what was promised and what was delivered. For the suspicion, growing quieter and more certain with each passing month, that the America people believed in was always partly a story, and the story is over now, and there is nothing yet to replace it.

That is all it needed to be.

A man died. His family is broken open with grief.

That is all it needed to be.

Instead the President said good.

And the country that once stood for something looked away 🇺🇸

Gandalv / @Microinteracti1

[Hillary Clinton @HillaryClinton]

In Minnesota, scores of ordinary people are bravely looking out for their neighbors, defending their communities, and protesting lawless violence.

They are the best of America.

Here's how to stand with them. https://t.co/lQKjv0U7qv

[Mueller, She Wrote @MuellerSheWrote]

We are not helpless.

What follows are things ordinary people can do—legally, repeatedly and without permission, there is an action for everybody. Pick a few. Do them consistently. Bring others with you.
https://t.co/YISxuAn9FT

[MAGA Cult Slayer @MAGACult2]

ANONYMOUS LETTER FROM A MINNESOTA EDUCATOR ON THE GROUND

I am a lifelong resident of Minneapolis and an educator who teaches at both a high school and a college here in the city. I have friends, family, colleagues, and students across the political spectrum. I am writing as an American citizen who loves this country and is deeply frightened by what I am witnessing in my city.

Before becoming an educator, I worked with Homeland Security in the early 2000s as a theft and fraud investigator for a major insurance company. I had direct exposure to federal law enforcement at that time. What is happening now does not resemble the agencies or officers I knew then. The ICE agents operating here appear poorly trained, are acting with little oversight, and are being encouraged to treat residents as enemies. They are operating with total impunity. That should concern everyone.

There is widespread disinformation about what is happening in Minnesota. I am asking people, regardless of politics, to stop relying on national pundits and political talking points and instead look to local reporting and firsthand accounts from people who live here. What is happening is real, ongoing, and deeply disturbing.

I am not a protester. I have not attended demonstrations. I am in classrooms and on campuses every day. What follows is what I have personally witnessed, along with what has been consistently reported to me by colleagues, students, parents, and neighbors with a wide range of political beliefs.

Here is what I have seen and experienced:
- Female friends who are U.S. citizens aggressively restrained, choked, forced into vehicles, and detained.
- Native American individuals detained, including citizens and members of sovereign tribal nations.
- ICE agents staking out high school and college campuses, then denying their presence to administrators and local law enforcement.
- I have been followed for miles after leaving a school parking lot by an ICE agent who only turned away after prolonged tailing.
- Emergency sirens at levels I have never experienced living here, including during 9/11, the 2008 Republican National Convention, and the George Floyd uprising.
- ICE agents running residential license plates, pulling personal data, and approaching people already knowing their names and addresses.
- Agents positioned outside churches, schools, and grocery stores, blocking traffic, yelling at residents, and intimidating EVERYONE, including people who are not protesting.
- White residents being offered money or “protection” in exchange for informing on neighbors labeled as non-citizens or “leftist protesters.”
- Door-to-door activity in Minneapolis and St. Paul, with local news now running nightly segments on what to do if ICE comes to your door.
- School buses rerouted to pick up students at individual homes because children are too afraid to walk.
- Parents emailing me asking what will happen to their children if they are detained.
- School administrators stated that local police will not intervene if ICE violates rights on private school property without a warrant.
- Reports from detainees of no bathroom privacy, including officers watching women use the restroom.
- Arrests occurring on highways, with abandoned vehicles left behind, causing multiple accidents.
- There are thousands of ICE agents operating here. It feels like an occupation.
- Residents have also documented aerial surveillance during enforcement activity, including drones over neighborhoods and public spaces. Community-recorded video shows drones hovering while individuals on the ground are followed or detained. Regardless of stated purpose, the effect is widespread fear, self-censorship, and the feeling of being monitored simply for existing in public.

What makes this even more frightening is the complete failure of political leadership.

Republican lawmakers from rural Minnesota openly cheer this enforcement without concern for the harm it is causing to Minnesota families, children, and communities. Democratic leaders speak about stopping it in press conferences but are not on the ground and are not backing their words with action. They return to their homes each night while families here live in fear.

Politicians and Government officials are playing with people’s lives.

I have never been this scared living in Minnesota. Not during past protests. Not during moments of national crisis. The fear now is constant and destabilizing because it is happening in everyday places: churches, schools, grocery stores, neighborhoods, and homes.

I do not care what your politics are. This is wrong and should not be happening in America.

This is not about border security or state fraud. This is about retribution for being a “blue state,” intimidation, surveillance, and the erosion of basic civil rights in a major American city, carried out openly and without accountability. We are being made an example.

We need help. If the government, law enforcement, and politicians will not protect people, then it is up to us to protect each other.

Ways to Help:
Legal Support
Immigrant Defense Network (COPAL) https://t.co/oPfr5rlmQL
Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota https://t.co/bIJWwfdP2w
National Lawyers Guild
https://t.co/EiJXYyvnbf
MIRAC
https://t.co/ECoygXNcOA
ICE Watch & Community Defense
Defend 612 https://t.co/RQ0GcgdSAc
Minnesota 50501
https://t.co/kczWSwHxOJ

Food & Mutual Aid
HelpMe Connect https://t.co/qFkQpnoDEc
Twin Cities Mutual Aid Project https://t.co/Ov6VUaRdOp
La Viña Church
https://t.co/BiIO1W4aS1
People Helping People https://t.co/hhGS3giHVn
DHH Church Food Support https://t.co/XvRVjLVIzq

Please rely on local Minnesota news outlets, not national commentary, for accurate reporting. Please share this widely.

People are being harmed. Minnesota residents regardless of their politics are terrified and angry. Misinformation only allows this to continue.

— Sincerely,
An Anonymous Minnesota Educator

[Kathleen Ward @katieward46]

https://t.co/ID7rsdUCUJ

[Kathleen Ward @katieward46]

https://t.co/xAA8nxRsQ5

[Ted Lieu @tedlieu]

Pro Trump supporter Bari Weiss tried to suppress 60 Minutes from showing this video.

Here is the video. You know what to do.

[🌊 🛰️ Politics_PR // Ops @Politics_PR]

South Florida weatherman tells viewers he can't accurately predict hurricanes because of government cuts

[Brian Krassenstein @krassenstein]

BREAKING: The group behind the MASSIVE “Hands off” protest is now calling for another protest on April 19.

In social media posts, the group stated that they want 3.5 percent of the U.S. population—more than 11 million people—to participate. They cite this figure as the threshold for "sustained resistance in order to make a difference."

Spread the word!

[Kathleen Ward @katieward46]

Trixie is still selling #girlscoutcookies ! Season is ending soon- https://t.co/xAA8nxQV0x

[Kathleen Ward @katieward46]

@NewYorkStateAG @NIH Thank you.

[Kathleen Ward @katieward46]

Working hard on her goal! Who wants cookies?

https://t.co/xAA8nxQV0x

#girlscout #cookies #GirlBoss

[GTA @GreeceTeachers]

Parents and students in our communities are deeply concerned about proposals to eliminate the Department of Education.

Contact your representatives in Congress today and tell them to stand up for our students and our public schools!

https://t.co/pa8v0CkJBl

[Shannon Watts @shannonrwatts]

Because nothing stops avian influenza faster than unregulated backyard chickens.

[Kevin Williams @wxbywilliams]

It began just after 5:00 p.m., 34 years ago today. THE ice storm would become the most costly natural disaster in the history of the state at the time. There was no "ice storm warning" in the NWS lexicon. Should have been. 17 continuous hours of freezing rain. #ROC #Icestorm

[Anonymous @YourAnonCentral]

Cancel your plans for Tuesday, find a protest near you and join. Call, text, DM your irl moots and organize in groups.

We need everyone on the streets. #3E #USprotests #march4liberty

[Protect Kamala Harris ✊ @DisavowTrump20]

🚨NEW: Al Roker slams Trump and Musk for firing federal weather service employees: “NOAA/NWS is more than just forecasts. It’s fire weather. It’s severe weather outlooks. It’s climate. It’s informationthat our farmers use day in and day out.”

RETWEET if you stand with @AlRoker!