Valerie 📸
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yourwaitress.bsky.social
Valerie 📸
@yourwaitress.bsky.social
📸 Published film photographer
💖 #CatnamedYoda, democracy
KCMO | she/her

ALT TEXT | Avatar: me with my hair in my face and closed eyes. Banner: KC Barbie Dream Streetcar on a sunny street.

Photo-only: @ywphotos.bsky.social
https://linktr.ee/yourwaitress
Pinned
🧵 Places to get food assistance and other resources in the Kansas City Metro. MO and KS. There are so many small pantries and places to get free meals in KC, so hopefully one is near you. Please consider donating $ over goods. They can use discounts to buy more than the average consumer. #foodbanks
As SNAP benefits and federal paychecks are halted if you need help or want to donate $ or time in the Kansas City metro Harvesters is a good place to start. They are a community network with many resources helping 27 counties across Missouri and Kansas. #foodbanks

www.harvesters.org/government-s...
Government Shutdown 2025 - Harvesters
Join us in September for Hunger Action Month, when people all over the U.S. stand together with the Feeding America network to fight hunger.
www.harvesters.org
Reposted by Valerie 📸
Today was Palestinian Independence Day.

As Trump and Netanyahu’s disastrous postwar plans become clear, the U.S. must recognize and respect Palestinian statehood — as 81% of the world already does.

Agency and dignity are the only ways we can achieve lasting peace.
November 16, 2025 at 5:41 AM
Reposted by Valerie 📸
These motherfuckers moved to Charlotte and immediately started the same shit they've been up to here
5 headlines tonight on Charlotte Observer’s homepage:

“Manolo's Bakery closes to protect customers”

“Church members flee as federal agents arrive”

“Super G executive describes agents dragging out teen employee”

“Border Patrol questions people at Walmart”

“Border Patrol sweep sparks fear”
November 16, 2025 at 4:34 AM
Reposted by Valerie 📸
The culture of disposability around criminalized people set us up for this moment, and to fight fascism, we are going to have to rage against that culture of disposal. Submitting to it (or hiding behind it) is an egregious form of surrender.
November 15, 2025 at 11:15 PM
Reposted by Valerie 📸
Please stop using language that suggests that people with criminal records are appropriate targets for this administration's violence. One in three adults has a criminal record. Stop playing sacrifice games with fascists. Stop surrendering entire categories of people in your own mind.
November 15, 2025 at 11:09 PM
Reposted by Valerie 📸
I'm seeing people wonder why ICE is going after Charlotte.

ICE has been at war with Charlotte's sheriff ever since he won in 2018.

We'd covered this at Bolts back in the day; this quote is from that sheriff:
“When the 8 African American sheriffs took over the largest counties in North Carolina, it became a threat to the good ol’ boy system,” says the sheriff of Charlotte. These new sheriffs broke ties with ICE.

But GOP lawmakers cracked down this week, overbidding the governor’s veto to adopt this law:
North Carolina GOP Is Cracking Down on the Black Sheriffs Who Stood Up to ICE
Boosted by new supermajorities, Republicans are closing in on legislation to mandate more collaboration with ICE and preempt local policies hard-won by immigrants’ rights advocates.
boltsmag.org
November 15, 2025 at 10:43 PM
Reposted by Valerie 📸
A Charlotte pastor said Border Patrol came into his church and made an arrest in front of children. They cried “a lot,” he said.

“We are trying to clean the property. We didn’t know this is gonna happen.”

#borderpatrol #charlotte #nc
November 15, 2025 at 9:56 PM
Rough week but #caturday is eternal. Thank for the reminder #CatnamedYoda #catsofbsky
November 15, 2025 at 11:48 PM
This. Also using protest images labeled incorrectly such as the wrong city or date is also misinformation. Also not using alt text is not inclusive.
*sigh* I'll say it again: your A.I. generated ResistLib slopaganda doesn't have the effect on your target audience that you hope for. It doesn't make me dislike the President any more than I already do. It does make me think you are an unreliable source of credible opinion or information.
November 15, 2025 at 12:48 AM
Reposted by Valerie 📸
Calling:
Writers
Artists
Potters
Woodworkers
Fiber artists
Graphic designers
And More!*

*dropshippers & amazon affiliate links need not apply. This is for supporting people, not blind profits
Hi everyone! I made a new feed for anyone trying to sell stuff on Bluesky! I'm boycotting big box stores this holiday & wanted to aggregate the sellers on here. Please let me know if you'd like to be included. There's some unrelated posts from the setup now, but moving forward it'll all be sellers.
November 14, 2025 at 11:19 PM
This is how your email finds me. #CatnamedYoda #catsofbsky
November 14, 2025 at 11:18 PM
GOP ignoring the will of voters in Missouri. Again. #MOLeg
NEW: Missouri Republicans are in a "bare-knuckle brawl" to create legal delays in hopes of sabotaging a citizen-led ballot measure aimed at blocking the state's new Trump-backed gerrymander ahead of a major Dec. 11 deadline.
Republicans in ‘Bare-Knuckle Brawl’ to Stop Missourians From Voting on Gerrymander
Read more here.
www.democracydocket.com
November 14, 2025 at 9:52 PM
Reposted by Valerie 📸
Remember: The richest 1% evade over $160 billion in taxes every year.

That amount would fund SNAP for a year with money to spare.

Ask yourself who the real freeloaders are.
November 14, 2025 at 7:45 PM
Reposted by Valerie 📸
Those of us who are SA survivors are used to the mass shrug in response to even the most overt evidence of horrific behavior. Epstein's crimes and the complicity of many influential figures involved have been known for decades (’05 to be exact). It's never mustered much interest or consequence.
November 14, 2025 at 3:50 AM
Yes! Stop stealing and pay creatives. AI is bad for business might be the only way to stop it once and for all.
November 14, 2025 at 9:40 PM
Reposted by Valerie 📸
Tremane Wood is alive in spite of the Supreme Court, which, this morning, rejected his request to block Oklahoma from executing him at 10am as punishment for a murder he did not commit

Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt commuted the sentence to life in prison at 9:59

ballsandstrikes.org/scotus/trema...
Oklahoma Didn’t Kill Tremane Wood, No Thanks to the Supreme Court
The justices used to struggle with the constitutionality of the death penalty. Now, they rubber-stamp it.
ballsandstrikes.org
November 14, 2025 at 3:56 AM
Reposted by Valerie 📸
NEW: The first two years of Massachusetts' millionaire tax has raised $3 billion more than expected.

And rather than driving the rich away, IPS researchers found that the number of millionaires has *increased.*

Tax the rich. Greg Ryan in @bloomberg.com:
Millionaire Tax That Inspired Mamdani Fuels $5.7 Billion Haul in Massachusetts
A millionaire levy in Massachusetts that New York City mayoral frontrunner Zohran Mamdani holds up as a model for taxing the rich has generated $3 billion more in revenue than expected without forcing...
www.bloomberg.com
November 12, 2025 at 4:01 PM
Reposted by Valerie 📸
November 13, 2025 at 5:40 PM
Reposted by Valerie 📸
Why are people?
November 13, 2025 at 10:41 PM
Great news for Seattle!
Confirmed: Katie Wilson will be mayor of Seattle, ousting the incumbent from his left.

And Erika Evans will be the new city attorney, ousting the GOP city attorney after promising to take the office in a more progressive direction.

What do progressives' win mean for law enforcement? NEW IN BOLTS:
Progressives Win in Seattle, Changing Directions on Public Safety - Bolts
Voters ousted a mayor who oversaw a surge in encampment sweeps, and a Republican prosecutor who pursued punitive policies toward homeless people and drug users.
boltsmag.org
November 13, 2025 at 10:20 PM
Reposted by Valerie 📸
Here in the states, November is Native American Heritage Month. In honor of this time of year, we ask: what are some of your favorite works of Native American literature? #💙📚 #Booksky #NativeAmericanliterature #NativeAmericanHeritageMonth
November 9, 2025 at 6:09 PM
Reposted by Valerie 📸
Barbara Cameron was a Hunkpapa Lakota artist and pillar of the San Francisco community who advocated for lesbian and Two-Spirit people, people with HIV/AIDS, and women impacted by violence.

In 1975, she co-founded Gay American Indians, the first association for gay Native Americans in the U.S.
November 13, 2025 at 1:06 AM
Trump is a convicted felon and sexual abuser. He is a pedophile. He is unfit for office. Impeach. Again. Remove. Imprison. That is the only way forward. Any member of Congress covering for him is complicit and compromised.
November 13, 2025 at 8:56 PM
2025 is brutal. My brother brought Barley home after a night at a bar where some girls had puppies they were trying to give away. She was a wonderful friend who loved to explore and was the Queen of the two-poops walks. After a battle with cancer she passed on tonight. RIP my dear niece and friend.
November 13, 2025 at 3:57 AM