D. Maher ☮ @dmaher1920

“I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo.  “So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times.  But that is not for them to decide.  All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”

@drvolts Absolutely brilliantly articulated and most of us are there. Struggling to understand family and friends we thought we knew.

Many don’t realize that the first people Hitler sent to his concentration camps weren’t everyday Jewish citizens, but his political opponents. So, when Trump rants about retribution, locking up his opponents, and giving them “very long sentences,” I can’t help but take him seriously… because history teaches us that is what fascist dictators do during their “Day One” period to consolidate their power. (After all, if you’re hellbent on staying in power but aren’t likely to win the next election, you can’t have your political opponents running around free.) To keep fascism out of our lives, vote for democracy!

“Virginia voters: if you've been wrongly purged from the rolls you can re-register at the polls under same-day registration & still cast a ballot.” -Bakari Sellers Let’s get this everywhere!

I see people saying “why should we give free lunches to schoolchildren?” and I think some folks truly have no idea what it’s like to grow up in poverty, never knowing where your next meal is coming from, forever being one paycheck away from eviction. Let me explain some things.

If Kamala Harris and Tim Walz WIN the election, Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, a fellow Democrat, would become Minnesota’s next governor. She would be the first female governor in Minnesota and the first Native American woman to serve as governor in the country.

Oof -- Nadler put together a brutal supercut of Trump gaffing and shorting out

Every single House Republican voted against allowing Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices.

In 1922, a group of scientists went to the Toronto General Hospital where diabetic children were kept in wards, often 50 or more at a time. Most of them were comatose and dying from diabetic ketoacidosis. These children were essentially in their death beds, awaiting what was at that time, certain death. The scientists moved swiftly and proceeded to inject the children with a new purified extract of insulin. As they began to inject the last comatose child, the first one to be injected began to wake up. Then one by one, all the children awoke from their diabetic comas. A room that was full of death and gloom suddenly became a place of joy and hope. In the early 1920s, Frederick Banting and Charles Best discovered insulin under John Macleod at the University of Toronto. With the help of James Collip, insulin was purified, making it available to successfully treat diabetes. Both Banting and Macleod earned Nobel Prizes for their work in 1923. Banting was 32 when he received the Nobel Prize, and he chose to share half the prize money with Best, who was his assistant and just 24 years old at the time. Banting refused to put his name on the patent and instead sold it to the University of Toronto for $1. He thought it was unethical to profit from a discovery that would save millions of lives. "Insulin belongs to the world, not to me," he said.

@ResisterSis20

“Those faces you see every day on the streets were not created entirely without hope: be kind to them.” — Charles Bukowski

Petition for the lads to reply to the @AllBlacks Haka with the Riverdance on Saturday 🤣💚💪🏻 #RugbyWorldCup @rugbyworldcup #COYBIG @IrishRugby ☘️

We’re canceling all remaining oil and gas leases issued under the previous administration in the Arctic Refuge and protecting more than 13 million acres in the Western Arctic. As the climate crisis warms the Arctic, we have a responsibility to protect this treasured region for all ages.

🚨 BREAKING Jamie Raskin announced today that congressional Democrats will be releasing a report detailing all the money the Trump family received from foreign governments while in office. Who else agrees it's way past time for Jared, Ivanka, and Don Jr. to be under the microscope just as much as Hunter Biden has been? 👋

You would never have heard of Vincent van Gogh if it wasn't for his sister-in-law Jo, who deserves to be better known. Because she turned Vincent from an obscure Dutch painter into the world's most famous and beloved artist. How? Well, this is the story of the other van Gogh... Johanna, or Jo, is the least famous of the van Goghs. Vincent is probably the world's best-known artist. Then there's Theo, his devoted brother, without whose undying financial, emotional, and creative support Vincent could never have done what he did. And finally we have Johanna Gezina Bonger, the daughter of an insurance broker, born in 1862. Jo was a bright and naturally artistic child. She wrote this in her diary at the age of seventeen: "I would think it dreadful to have to say at the end of my life that I’ve actually lived for nothing and have achieved nothing great or noble." Whatever her dreams may have been, she studied English and became a teacher at a girls' school. In 1884 she was introduced to Theo van Gogh by her brother; they were both art dealers. Theo was immediately taken, but it was five years later — having only met her twice — that he proposed. Jo said yes and they were married in early 1889. She left Amsterdam and went to live with Theo in Paris, where until the previous year he had been living with Vincent, who had since gone to Arles and entered the creative apotheosis of swirling colour for which he is now so famous. Theo was devoted to Vincent; Jo knew that by marrying the one she was in an intimate relationship with the other. In July 1889 Jo wrote this letter to her brother-in-law: "My dear brother, This time I’ll try to write to you in French, first I know that you like it more, and then with both of us expressing ourselves in the same language we’ll eventually understand each other better, I believe. I’m going to begin by telling you a great piece of news which has greatly occupied us lately — it is that this winter, around February probably, we’re hoping to have a baby, a pretty little boy — whom we’ll call Vincent if you’ll consent to be his godfather. Do you remember the portrait of the Roulin baby you sent Theo? Everyone admires it greatly, and many times now people have asked ‘but why have you put this portrait in this out-of-the-way corner?’ It’s because — from my place at table I can just see the child’s big blue eyes, its pretty little hands and round cheeks, and I like to imagine that ours will be as strong, as healthy and as beautiful as that one — and because his uncle will consent to do his portrait one day! Your sister, Jo" After which Vincent wrote: "I started right away to make a picture for him [Theo and Jo's child], to hang in their bedroom, branches of white almond blossom against a blue sky." But within a year Vincent had killed himself. Theo, crippled by grief, died just six months later. The tight-knit family was gone and Jo was left alone to raise her one year old son. So what did Jo do? She left Paris, moved backed to the Netherlands, and set up a boarding house. But that's not all. The chance had come to fulfil her youthful dream of doing something noble. She inherited all of Vincent's then valueless paintings and took them with her. Although Vincent had sold only one painting in his lifetime and died a nobody, Jo was committed to continuing where her beloved husband had left off and sharing Vincent's artistic genius with the world. Jo was a highly competent organiser and, even more importantly, a deep and perceptive thinker. Having known Vincent and Theo first hand, Jo was convinced that the art she had inherited could not be fully understood without a knowledge of the troubled genius who had created it. So while she organised retrospective exhibitions of Vincent's work all on her own, gradually building his reputation and even starting to sell his work, perhaps her greatest contribution to his legacy was the publication of Theo and Vincent's letters in 1914. She remarried in 1901 and when she died in 1925 the legacies of both Vincent and Theo were secured. Thanks to Jo's work he had gone from an obscure and near-forgotten Dutchman to one of the world's most renowned artists within two decades of his death. And this was not only because of his paintings but because of the story told through the letters he had written to Theo and Theo to him. She sold some of Vincent's paintings, usually with regret but consoled by the thought that more people around the world would learn about his work that way; London's National Gallery bought their version of Sunflowers from Jo. And her son, Vincent Willem, was instrumental in founding the Vincent van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam in 1973. There were people who already knew about Vincent van Gogh before Jo's work: the critic Albert Aurier was a supporter of his and he had been friends, after all, with the circle of Parisian artists who essentially created modern art and whose names are now revered. But if not for Jo's tireless work and decades-long crusade he would probably be, at best, a relatively obscure Post-Impressionist. So while Vincent van Gogh may seem like the ultimate artist — an eternal outsider, a misunderstood rebel, a troubled genius — it was through the enduring love of those closest to him that his legacy has survived. Without Jo, devoted custodian of the dreams of her husband and brother-in-law, you or I wouldn't know anything about that brilliant Dutchman. She is as much a part of the story as them. John Donne's famous words never rang so true: No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.

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@MetalJesus2 @Chicago_History Lou Malnati's is in Phoenix, our favorite deep dish.

Somebody deserves a raise.

Japanese diplomat Chiune Sugihara and his wife Yukiko spent 18 - 20 hours a day writing and signing transit visas for over 6,000 Jews from July 31 to August 28, 1940. When the time came for them to depart, Sugihara said, "Please forgive me. I cannot write anymore. I wish you the best." Sugihara and his wife are responsible for saving the lives of thousands of Jews, with an estimated 100,000+ descendants. On October 4, 1984, Yad Vashem recognized Chiune Sugihara as Righteous Among the Nations.

@OccupyDemocrats

The best way to look at Van Gogh’s Starry Night is to stare at the white dot for at least ten seconds, then look at the painting. Witness the rotation of a circular object with alternating black and white lines, spinning around a constant white point. Positioned below is an enduring masterpiece by Van Gogh, emanating an electric charge. This uncomplicated arrangement beckons you to encounter the captivating phenomenon known as the "Motion Aftereffect" - an optical deception where a moving stimulus influences your perception of a motionless one. Direct your gaze at the circle for a solid ten seconds, then shift your eyes to Van Gogh's painting. Prepare to be enchanted as the artwork appears to undulate and spring to life. It evokes curiosity as to what captivates us, as human beings, about such illusions. Is it merely a fascination with the idiosyncrasies of our visual system, or is there a deeper significance at play? Illusions have intrigued humans throughout history. From ancient toys like thaumatropes to contemporary virtual reality experiences, our appetite for these manipulations of the senses remains insatiable. Contemplating this particular visual trick made me ponder the extent to which our perception is influenced by the interplay of sensory inputs. Do illusions like this unveil the delicate and adaptable nature of our connection with the world? As you engage in this experiment, take a moment to reflect on these inquiries. Perhaps our fascination with illusions extends beyond mere sensory amusement, serving as an introspective exploration into the intricate mosaic of human perception.