Tall Tree
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iamthetalltree.bsky.social
Tall Tree
@iamthetalltree.bsky.social
Artist, dog lover and avid reader fits just fine. Balmer, Merlin
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In 2022 Esquire magazine came out with a list of “80 Books every man should read” www.esquire.com/entertainmen... I’ve always liked the magazine for their coverage of politics, style, culture, etc. but I especially loved the writing, so I bit.
80 Books Every Man Should Read
These books will change you and challenge you, but above all entertain you.
www.esquire.com
Thank you, Enoch Pratt!
Kurt Vonnegut names librarians as the quiet custodians of democracy.

"So the America I loved still exists, if not in the White House or the Supreme Court or the Senate or the House of Representatives or the media. The America I love still exists at the front desks of our public libraries."
January 29, 2026 at 1:41 PM
Reposted by Tall Tree
I audibly gasped at this shortsighted move. We have failed to help the public understand that health isn't an individual issue, that you can't build a wall to keep disease out, and that community health is key to individual well-being. We see this with vaccination and we see it here. 💔
Catastrophe: Florida's Department of Health is stopping coverage for antivirals to 10,000 low-income people with HIV infection, blaming impending federal cuts to the AIDS Drug Assistance Program. 12.5% of Americans with HIV live in Florida.
Thousands to lose access to HIV drugs with new cuts
An estimated 10,000 people are about to lose access to their HIV medication as the Florida Department of Health makes cuts to the AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP).
www.fox13news.com
January 19, 2026 at 5:40 PM
This looks like a twisted Norman Rockwell painting. Sign of the times in the good old US of A
Hmong man detained by ICE today in St. Paul, Minnesota.

(Photo via Reuters)
January 19, 2026 at 1:45 PM
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Roses are red
Nazis are lurking
Beware of them here because
January 16, 2026 at 4:16 PM
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Nothing says “We’re not fragile little racist babies and DEFINITELY not Nazis” like trying to erase any history that doesn’t make you look like heroes.
January 13, 2026 at 12:31 PM
I went to see The Outsiders: The Complete Novel yesterday. Totally worth it though the added music threw me and was a bit distracting.

Seeing it on the screen for the first time since it came out in ‘83. That film rocked me then and still hits.
January 12, 2026 at 11:01 PM
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The animating force at the heart of US conservatism currently is incandescent rage at the mere idea of women's autonomy and independence. An image of a smiling woman who looks insufficiently deferential for their tastes riles them up enough to tear up the social contract.
this is all it’s really about for them. Not domestic policy, not “economic anxiety”, just an endless desire to punish stand-ins for the Mommy who forced them take a bath, even if it tanks their own quality of life.
January 12, 2026 at 7:17 AM
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If there are *any* Democrats in Congress who will still vote to keep funding this administration when it is using that money to terrorize our cities and refusing to allow congressional representatives their clear right to observe their activities, then those reps need to be primaried into retirement
I was just denied access to the ICE processing center at the Whipple Building.

Members of Congress have a legal right and constitutional responsibility to conduct oversight where people are being detained.

The public deserves to know what is taking place in ICE facilities.
JUST NOW: Huge mass of agents in a standoff, weapons drawn as Reps. Ilhan Omar, Angie Craig, and Kelly Morrison attempt to conduct congressional oversight at the Whipple Building, which has been HQ for thousands of ICE agents.

@zeteo.com
January 10, 2026 at 6:49 PM
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January 8, 2026 at 12:15 PM
“And so the CPB board members broke their plowshares lest they be beaten into swords by a deranged demagogue”
New in PN: Corporation for Public Broadcasting's patriotic goodbye

"We’re in thrall to a con man who denigrates the very idea of truth and uses media only to distract and divide. And so the CPB board members broke their plowshares lest they be beaten into swords by a deranged demagogue."
Corporation for Public Broadcasting's patriotic goodbye
Better nothing than a MAGA mouthpiece.
www.publicnotice.co
January 7, 2026 at 12:54 PM
It’s just so embarrassing
no one can snatch defeat from the claws of victory quite like John Harbaugh
January 6, 2026 at 11:58 PM
Harbye
BREAKING: The Ravens have fired head coach John Harbaugh, per source.

Harbaugh won Super Bowl XLVII and six division titles with Baltimore in 18 seasons.
January 6, 2026 at 10:56 PM
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One year this month and 7 years since this original Greenland post from @sarahkendzior.bsky.social .
My take on Trump and Greenland, written in 2019. My views haven't changed:
January 6, 2026 at 5:34 AM
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“There’s a lot of money to pay for this. It doesn’t have to be US taxpayer money,” Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz claimed about Iraq in March 2003.

That wasn’t the case, and just like what would happen in Iraq, the military campaign in Venezuela is likely to have steep costs.
The lie of "self-financing" oil wars
Trump wages into a new war with the same mistakes that led the US into Iraq.
www.motherjones.com
January 5, 2026 at 10:01 PM
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The rule defines the meaning of a postmark, the date printed or stamped on most mailed items. In the past, the postmark generally indicated the date the USPS received the item. Now, it will explicitly mean the date that the USPS processes the item. https://to.pbs.org/4qiBkTa
How this new mail rule could affect your ballot, your tax return and more
The rule, which went into effect on Christmas Eve, defines the meaning of a postmark, the date printed or stamped on most mailed items.
www.pbs.org
January 5, 2026 at 10:33 PM
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Love this from Guillermo del Toro
January 5, 2026 at 2:16 AM
Dang.
I think my favorite memory is arriving early for Avett Brothers and hanging at the upstairs bar. They came on and I just listened for about 20 mins before even putting eyes on them.
January 2, 2026 at 10:31 PM
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Chris Rufo decides what will get the MAGAverse outraged, usually something explicitly racist, the influencers all jump in with both feet...and next thing you know...funding for kids all across the country gets frozen

Great work a**holes

Kudos @atrupar.com

www.publicnotice.co/p/shirley-vi...
The blame for alleged fraud in Minnesota belongs to conservatives
Privatization and a lack of oversight creates a vicious cycle.
www.publicnotice.co
January 2, 2026 at 6:07 PM
Impossible to name a favorite but this is the first one I remember watching and being captivated by:

youtu.be/Yxep-9BQ6Uo?...
December 31, 2025 at 2:49 PM
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I’ve spent this morning morbidly watching the MTV channels close down and the final songs played were:
MTV Music - Video Killed the Radio Star (Buggles)
Club MTV - Don’t Stop the Music (Rihanna)
MTV 90s - Goodbye (Spice Girls)
MTV 80s - Together in Electric Dreams (Oakey and Moroder)
December 31, 2025 at 10:34 AM
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-A living wage
-Guaranteed healthcare
-The right to join a union
-The right to vote
-The right to choose when, how, and with whom you start a family
-The right for you and your family to live free from gun violence

These are the foundations of real freedom.
December 30, 2025 at 11:00 PM
Reposted by Tall Tree
renaming mar-a-lago "black lives matter, trans rights are human rights, and no human is illegal" and then getting mad when kid rock declines to perform there
December 30, 2025 at 7:44 PM
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After years of covering 300+ homicides, I tried to take stock of what it means for Baltimore to finally see fewer than 150 victims this year. But people kept getting killed.
2 things are true: we’ve seen historic declines, and still too many ppl are dying www.thebanner.com/community/cr...
December 29, 2025 at 3:39 PM
Somewhere in Baltimore they’re cheering! 🙋‍♂️🙋‍♂️
December 28, 2025 at 8:07 PM
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After the private equity firm Alden Capital purchased the Chicago Tribune some years ago, many of its best people left or were pushed out, diminishing the paper and its importance.

But those who remained do great work, like Mr Pratt, here. The first draft of a terrible history.
64 days in Chicago: The story of Operation Midway Blitz. Our team fanned out to cover the before, during and after of the federal government’s months-long raid on an American city. This is worth your time to understand the United States today
www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/28/c...
64 days in Chicago: The story of Operation Midway Blitz
President Donald Trump’s federal immigration enforcement operation led to most surreal autumn in Chicago history. What happened during those 64 days will be remembered for a long time.
www.chicagotribune.com
December 28, 2025 at 2:49 PM