There was no sense of impending doom in any of the libraries, only a sense of commitment to the local community. Lots of flyers on bulletin boards for counseling sessions, pride month celebrations, concert notices, housecleaning help, or art contests.
Hopefully we’ll be able to keep all 66 of these facilities open and thriving in the communities they serve so well.

#supportyourlibrary #books #information

I biked back to my car, which I left in New Paltz, the site of my third library. The largest of the ones I visited today, it too began in an old building, this time a house, complete with an open hearth fireplace.

The Rosendale Library is in a former chapel, it still has a rose window. Truly a lovely spot! very peaceful.

Next stop: the Walkill Valley Rail Trail where I left my car so I could ride my bike to the next two libraries.
We’ve had so much rain in June that bright yellow mushrooms were everywhere! A 7 mile ride brought me to the small town of Rosendale.

First stop: Platteville Library in Modena, NY. It’s an in old school house, with a community center on the ground floor, only two rooms upstairs: one for adult books, one for children. The children’s room has more books per shelf than I’ve ever seen in one place!

We keep hearing that work at the local level is all-important now, and one of the institutions we must protect is our library. So here’s a thread on libraries in my area.

Our local library belongs to the Mid-Hudson Library System, 66 libraries spread over 5 counties.

This summer they put together a road trip, with stickers and prizes for the number of libraries you visit. Today I visited three.

So much variety, plus local history, and lovely people.

#libraries #hudsonvalley

@Eetschrijver @GottaLaff Did you see that message from Amb Huckabee yesterday? “you’re the best prez since Truman”…..”God saved you for this”……blah, blah……encouraging him to go nuclear.

#sickening

A mylar balloon landed behind us so we turned around to fetch it. Mylar balloons take hundreds of years to decompose and pose a threat to marine animals through entanglement and ingestion. Happy graduation.

Is anyone else worried about the great Public Land Selloff that Senators Lee (UT) and Daines (MT) have inserted into the Big Ugly Bill? I’ve been perusing the maps because who needs sleep? I can’t explain the existing patchwork found in several areas (first map), except that it may be intentional to prevent total control of larger areas. The second map clearly shows that MT is exempt from the selloff.

#BigUglyBill #publiclandselloff

@paninid if they did they would grab the 2nd best opportunity to take corrective action and resign

@kimlockhartga The AP report says allergic reaction—to truth presumably. /s

New Mexico is providing free vaccines to school children 👍

https://www.krqe.com/news/free-back-to-school-vaccines-offered-for-kids-in-new-mexico/

#NewMexico #PublicHealth

@broadwaybabyto Thank you for the thoughtful update, I was wondering yesterday what her status was.
That’s a very tiny baby—weighs less than a quart of water. I saw one almost that small when my kids were in NICU, and it’s kinda scary.

Last boost: a work email came around offering staff the opportunity to give their view on the repercussions of the Supreme Court ruling on sex and gender in confidence. I just can’t face going to one of the groups in case there are gender critical harridans involved and I say something ill advised to them (I don’t see how it can be confidential in a group), so I used the email option. I expressed my displeasure at the thought of the university compelling trans staff and students to use toilets that matched the gender they were assigned at birth, and made it clear that speaking as a cis woman I do not find the thought of sharing toilet facilities with trans women remotely threatening. I reiterated that it is cis men who are the threat, and that forcing trans women to use the male toilets puts them right in the way of that threat. I then offered to talk to the equalities team more if I could be of any help in illustrating that many cis women support trans rights. I really hope they get more allies than transphobes giving their opinion.

British MPs have voted to decriminalise abortion, marking the biggest step forward in reproductive rights in almost 60 years.

(Abortion was previously legal in limited circumstances in the UK, but during COVID police began charging women under a law from 1861: they can no longer be prosecuted.)

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/jun/17/decriminalisation-abortion-vote-mps

The City of Paris is praised for their visionary, progressive city-building, but they don’t get nearly enough credit for just being really pragmatic!

Everything they’re doing is common sense.

They’re moving a lot more people with less space while cleaning the air and cooling the city.

In many cities, they should really just be considered the basics.

@jstevenyork @tomtom @arstechnica “we had superwoman”—-I like that!

@kbeninato where are the other mayoral candidates to condemn this nonsense?
where is the GOP?
where is Mayor Adams? or the NYPD chief of police?

Sen Padilla spoke on the Senate floor about his experience being removed from a press conference in LA with DHS Sec Noem. The senator grew emotional recounting the incident & recalled being "handcuffed just for trying to ask a Q."

"Padilla gave this speech on the fl pretty much as the news of Brad Lander's arrest in NY was breaking.🚨2 Dem lawmakers tackled & handcuffed by fed LE in the span of a week."
-NM Ramirez
#ICE #Immigrants #DueProcess #PoliceState #Resist #USPol https://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/watch/padilla-recounts-being-forcibly-removed-from-dhs-press-conference-in-l-a-241755717573

If Obama or Biden used federal law enforcement to effectively kidnap and detain elected officials, Republicans (and, likely, Democrats) would have justifiably lost their minds with outrage.

The silence of Republicans shows the depth of their complicity and cowardice.

https://www.thecity.nyc/2025/06/17/brad-lander-arrest-ice-immigration-court/