Dr. Melissa Harper

One reason to love the Olympics is that people who believe diversity isn’t our strength have to watch day after day as diversity is absolutely our strength.

A British writer penned the best description of Donald Trump I’ve ever read: “Why do some British people not like Donald Trump?” A few things spring to mind. Trump lacks certain qualities which the British traditionally esteem. For instance, he has no class, no charm, no coolness, no credibility, no compassion, no wit, no warmth, no wisdom, no subtlety, no sensitivity, no self-awareness, no humility, no honour and no grace – all qualities, funnily enough, with which his predecessor Mr. Obama was generously blessed. So for us, the stark contrast does rather throw Trump’s limitations into embarrassingly sharp relief. Plus, we like a laugh. And while Trump may be laughable, he has never once said anything wry, witty or even faintly amusing – not once, ever. I don’t say that rhetorically, I mean it quite literally: not once, not ever. And that fact is particularly disturbing to the British sensibility – for us, to lack humour is almost inhuman. But with Trump, it’s a fact. He doesn’t even seem to understand what a joke is – his idea of a joke is a crass comment, an illiterate insult, a casual act of cruelty. Trump is a troll. And like all trolls, he is never funny and he never laughs; he only crows or jeers. And scarily, he doesn’t just talk in crude, witless insults – he actually thinks in them. His mind is a simple bot-like algorithm of petty prejudices and knee-jerk nastiness. There is never any under-layer of irony, complexity, nuance or depth. It’s all surface. Some Americans might see this as refreshingly upfront. Well, we don’t. We see it as having no inner world, no soul. And in Britain we traditionally side with David, not Goliath. All our heroes are plucky underdogs: Robin Hood, Dick Whittington, Oliver Twist. Trump is neither plucky, nor an underdog. He is the exact opposite of that. He’s not even a spoiled rich-boy, or a greedy fat-cat. He’s more a fat white slug. A Jabba the Hutt of privilege. And worse, he is that most unforgivable of all things to the British: a bully. That is, except when he is among bullies; then he suddenly transforms into a snivelling sidekick instead. There are unspoken rules to this stuff – the Queensberry rules of basic decency – and he breaks them all. He punches downwards – which a gentleman should, would, could never do – and every blow he aims is below the belt. He particularly likes to kick the vulnerable or voiceless – and he kicks them when they are down. So the fact that a significant minority – perhaps a third – of Americans look at what he does, listen to what he says, and then think ‘Yeah, he seems like my kind of guy’ is a matter of some confusion and no little distress to British people, given that: • Americans are supposed to be nicer than us, and mostly are. • You don’t need a particularly keen eye for detail to spot a few flaws in the man. This last point is what especially confuses and dismays British people, and many other people too; his faults seem pretty bloody hard to miss. After all, it’s impossible to read a single tweet, or hear him speak a sentence or two, without staring deep into the abyss. He turns being artless into an art form; he is a Picasso of pettiness; a Shakespeare of shit. His faults are fractal: even his flaws have flaws, and so on ad infinitum. God knows there have always been stupid people in the world, and plenty of nasty people too. But rarely has stupidity been so nasty, or nastiness so stupid. He makes Nixon look trustworthy and George W look smart. In fact, if Frankenstein decided to make a monster assembled entirely from human flaws – he would make a Trump. And a remorseful Doctor Frankenstein would clutch out big clumpfuls of hair and scream in anguish: ‘My God… what… have… I… created?' If being a twat was a TV show, Trump would be the boxed set.” -Nate White

2016: Will America vote for a female president? 2022: Should women have healthcare?

lots of awful things occurring bc dudes in 1780 liked owning people and had guns that shot once every two minutes

Anyone who tells you the Founding Fathers would have chosen the 2nd Amendment over the lives of 2nd graders is a sociopath.

I wish women’s autonomy and gay marriage hadn’t rapidly murdered so many people in grocery stores and churches this weekend.

Reproductive health decisions should be made between a patient and their doctor. Full stop.

"This will fall on the poorest women in our country. This will fall on young women who have been abused, who are victims of incest." Please watch this video. @ewarren is channeling the rage we are all feeling right now. Thank you, @SenWarren.

Please share this quote from my father through #MLKDay2022: “I think the tragedy is that we have a Congress with a Senate that has a minority of misguided senators who will use the filibuster to keep the majority of people from even voting.” @LeaderMcConnell @SenatorSinema

The voting suppression, book banning, restrictions on transgender athletes, CRT panic, the restrictions on abortions all have one end game in common. To restrict the ability of those who are not white, not male, and not hetero/cis to fully participate in public life.

The women who cried on the couch on Nov. 9, 2016, knew it would get this bad. Just sayin’.

“People” don’t oppose mask mandates; it’s white people. The people who tried to overthrow the government weren’t Republicans; they were white people. “Parents” don’t object to Critical Race Theory, just white people. “ - ⁦@michaelharriot⁩ theroot.com/its-white-peop…

a friend sent me a 4th grade virginia history textbook from 1956 and it is a treat

The evidence of our eyes met at last by accountability in the eyes of justice. #DerekChauvinTrial

In America, childcare should be readily available and affordable for all who need it. Childcare workers should be paid fairly and treated with dignity and respect. And small business owners who run childcare centers must be fully supported.

I get it now. Ted and Heidi Cruz wanted their children to be safe, to have basic sanitary services like heat and running water, to leave behind a third-world apocalyptic nightmare for a safer place. Like so many parents before them, they decided to cross the Mexican border.

I don’t know who needs to hear this but blue lives don’t matter to white nationalists/supremacists. Blue lives only matter to them when the police use their authority to abuse and oppress black and brown people.

It has not escaped my attention that the day social media companies decided there actually IS more they could do to police Trump’s destructive behavior was the same day they learned Democrats would chair all the congressional committees that oversee them.

When the dust settles we need to have a serious conversation about how we equip people with the critical analytical skills they need in an increasingly online world. Sifting fact from friction must be everyone’s core skill.