Litsy

Charity Administration Handbook | Don Bawtree, Kate Kirkland

In the spirit of #ranttime and #longtimefed journalistic integrity, here‘s an update on the Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) situation I mentioned last week.

The campaign will take place this year after all, though there‘s still uncertainty about the future.

https://federalnewsnetwork.com/management/2025/09/charitable-donation-campaign-f...

marleed I absolutely don‘t understand taking away this super easy way for government employees to make (or not) charitable donations of their choice. 3d

AmyG 😩 3d

25 likes2 comments

Susanita

Charity Administration Handbook | Don Bawtree, Kate Kirkland

As a #longtimefed I contributed to the CFC every year. I appreciated the opportunity to distribute payments throughout the year and reach small organizations I might not have been able to reach otherwise. Now it‘s apparently one more casualty of the regime. An indefinite “pause” with no explanation. Just in time for the holidays!

WTF is wrong with these people? #ranttime

See links in comments.

Susanita https://wtop.com/government/2025/09/trump-administration-pauses-annual-federal-f... 1w

Susanita https://marylandmatters.org/2025/09/05/maryland-charities-concerned-over-funding... 1w

Ruthiella Awful!😞 1w

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AmyG 🤬😞 1w

ravenlee It looks like part of the Republican small-government ethos is to replace federal support with private charity (which is entirely problematic in its own right), but then this kind of crap makes it hard-to-impossible for charity to work either. Really what they‘re after is control over every aspect of our lives. 1w

Susanita @ravenlee I have wondered about that too, and yes it‘s quite problematic. It‘s possible they want to eliminate organizations whose mission they don‘t like. Also, many of the charities have incurred expenses to participate in CFC, and now they‘re in limbo. 1w

Susanita @ravenlee I mean exclude and not eliminate from existence, but… 1w

ravenlee It seems to be part of the neoliberal agenda, and it may be eliminate and not exclude. They want to police everything, and when they can‘t decide who “deserves” to receive a charity‘s services then they want that charity either gone or under their control. 1w

Tamra @ravenlee spot on, which is hypocritical. Small govt. my *ss. (edited) 1w

AnnCrystal yet funds are seemingly being continuously wasted on questionable objectives 🤬😢🤬. 1w

32 likes10 comments

Susanita

The White House: Celebrating Two Hundred Years 1800-2000 | White House Historical Association

In the truth is stranger than fiction department…

Can you imagine
Joe Biden walking around
On the White House roof?

#ranttime #longtimefed #haikuhive #haikuaday

Kristy_K, DebinHawaii, Mimi28, TheBookHippie, JenlovesJT47, Reggie, vivastory, Itchyfeetreader, jdiehr, CBee, dabbe, kelli7990, Jari-chan, ImperfectCJ, lil1inblue, The_Book_Ninja, julieclair, AnnCrystal, bellabella, BooksandCoffee4Me

TheBookHippie It just keeps getting more ridiculous… 1mo

Amiable If Biden had done ANY of the things that Trump has done, the GOP would have advanced on the White House with pitchforks. 1mo

AmyG TOTALLY NORMAL. EVERYTHING‘S FINE. 🤣 1mo

See All 12 Comments

JenlovesJT47 😳😳😳 1mo

actualdisneyprincess I just 🤯🤯🤯🤯 1mo

AnnCrystal I missed this one on the news that I seriously assumed you were joking 😂🤔🧐😵‍💫. 1mo

lil1inblue I took a vacation from both work and news last week. This is such a bizarre way to get back into the know. 🫣🤯😵‍💫 1mo

dabbe #newpromisesmade#stupidpromisesthathopefullywillnotbekept
A girl can dream. Your haiku perfectly points out the absolute INSANITY of this frickin' idiot. #ranttime 🩵💙🩵 (for you and you alone!) 1mo

Suet624 What the heck?? Why was he up there? 1mo

KadaGul @lil1inblue I think we can all use a vacation from Mango 🥭 Syndicate‘s Circus acts on repeat 🔃. Our brain 🧠 can only take on so much stupidity in a day. 1mo

Jari-chan I wish that's all Donald would do 😏 1mo

lil1inblue @KadaGul 🎯 🎯 🎯 1mo

40 likes12 comments

Susanita

The Presidential Elections of Trump and Bolsonaro, Whiteness, and the Nation | V�nia Penha-Lopes

There are many candidates for a #ranttime but I‘m going to bring up the potential tariffs on Brazilian goods. Because they‘ve put his tropical counterpart on trial. Because he attempted a coup after he lost an election. 🤔

As a #longtimefed and in my personal travels, the only place I‘ve had any trouble at Customs was Brazil in 2002. We were delayed and our luggage thoroughly searched. This was retaliation for US restrictions after 9/11.

Susanita Brazil doesn‘t play around: https://apnews.com/article/brazil-trump-tariffs-bolsonaro-lula-us-d45722a041324a... 2mo

Aims42 Fascinating!! I love your POV as a longtime Fed, thank you for sharing!! 2mo

Amiable Echoing @Aims42 —appreciate your insights! 2mo

dabbe Your viewpoint is so important. Thank you for enlightening us with the truth. 💙✊💙 2mo

39 likes4 comments

Susanita

University of Virginia Bookstore | Charlottesville, VA (Bookstore)

For today‘s #ranttime here are a couple stories that may have gone under the radar:
1. University of Virginia President resigns under pressure from the federal government because of “DEI” compliance. Note that UVa is a PUBLIC university.
2. Applicants for federal jobs will be asked to submit answers to essay questions. As a #longtimefed I can tell you this is stupid in addition to being troubling.
Links in comments.

Susanita University of Virginia President‘s statement: https://news.virginia.edu/content/uva-president-jim-ryans-statement-community 3mo

Susanita Federal application process (note that Stephen Lynch represents Massachusetts and not Maryland as the article indicates.) https://www.fedweek.com/fedweek/upcoming-questions-on-federal-job-applications-d... 3mo

Aims42 Ugh. This week sucks 😒👎 3mo

See All 9 Comments

Amiable @Aims42 Every day is somehow stupider and worse than the previous stupid and terrible days. 😖 3mo

Aims42 @Amiable sooooo true!! 😩😩😩 3mo

ncsufoxes The UVA thing is ludicrous. Last year when my husband applied to his job through the government but he‘s a contractor, one of the questions was “have you ever been convicted for trying to overthrow the government.” I‘m guessing that question is no longer on there 3mo

Susanita @ncsufoxes Hah! Right? 3mo

AnnCrystal Bravo James Ryan for standing up for DEI, even while it meant having to resign.

#2 Really?! That's insulting

Thank You for sharing these stories ✊🏼🦅✌🏼🙏🏼💝. (edited) 3mo

kspenmoll 😱 3mo

35 likes9 comments

Susanita

Untitled | Untitled

I‘ve been blocked! I guess I should be flattered? I wrote a #haikuaday about it.

Friendly reminder:
You can mute tags you don‘t like
No need to block me

In this case, the tags to mute are #ranttime & #longtimefed and I‘ll try to keep the blatant political “stuff” contained to those. I have to say, though, that blocking is the “nuclear” option, when unfollowing serves the same purpose.

I explained my rationale before. I‘ll still speak my mind.

Kristy_K, DebinHawaii, Mimi28, TheBookHippie, JenlovesJT47, Reggie, vivastory, Itchyfeetreader, jdiehr, CBee, dabbe, kelli7990, Jari-chan, lil1inblue, julieclair, AnnCrystal, bellabella, BooksandCoffee4Me

lil1inblue Well, I, for one, appreciate your posts! Especially the perspective from a long time fed! Keep doing you! 🥰💓 3mo

CBee I appreciate every post you make. Even more so, I appreciate YOU as a human and someone who has the right to say and post whatever the hell they want. Keep it up ♥️ 3mo

Tamra I also appreciate you sharing your thoughts. Times are tough - let‘s not be alone in them. 3mo

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julieclair My goodness! The #BlockedClub is getting bigger! And lots of my favorite Littens are members. 💙 3mo

Jari-chan I'm really glad for your posts, because I do learn a lot. Thank you for that. 3mo

Eggbeater Silly question. How do you know if you've been blocked? 3mo

ImperfectCJ Wow! It's never even occurred to me to block anyone on Litsy, not when unfollowing and muting hashtags is so easy. I think of blocking as an option to employ in a case of active harassment, not just posting things I don't like, but it sounds like others use it more broadly. (For the record, I do like your posts, and if I didn't, I wouldn't block you.) 3mo

ImperfectCJ @Eggbeater I have the same question! 3mo

CBee @ImperfectCJ it‘s an extreme reaction. This person (or people) doing the blocking wants Litsy to be all shiny happy people and that just isn‘t realistic. I for one don‘t want to see these perfectly coiffed posts all of the time. I want real shit, real feelings, and if you want to block someone for being human and having emotions, you must live in a very small world indeed 😢 3mo

Read4life @CBee 👍🏻 @Eggbeater I, too, am curious how one knows when they‘ve been blocked. @Susanita I appreciate your perspective and learn things or are made aware of issues through the various #ranttime posts. Thanks for posting! 3mo

Karisa Knowing that others see the surreal in this moment in history helps keep me sane. Plus so much of it does affect reading + life in general (book bans, freedom, healthcare)—how can we not be affected? @Eggbeater I‘m wondering that now too. 3mo

CBee @Read4life ♥️ 3mo

kspenmoll Thanks for being you! 🩵 3mo

ChaoticMissAdventures The SCOTUS decision yesterday throws hundred if not thousands of children into chaos that will lead to them being unable to go to school to learn to read. Everything about us is political. It is frustrating to see people being so callous and ignorant about our current situation. 3mo

ChaoticMissAdventures @CBee I agree so extreme! I have unfollowed people before due to myself being annoyed at what they post, but why block? I agree with @ImperfectCJ I would only use it if harassed, but maybe this person (people) are so ideology fragile they see facts that don't align with their world view as harassment 3mo

BarbaraJean Ugh. For what it‘s worth, I really appreciate your posts and your perspective! I‘m really curious about the ins and outs of unfollowing, muting, and blocking on Litsy. I‘ve never blocked anyone (seems extreme to me!!) but I‘ve had people‘s posts still show up in my feed after I‘ve unfollowed them 🤷🏻‍♀️ And muting only works when people spell hashtags correctly 😆 3mo

Susanita @Eggbeater @Karisa @Read4life @cbee @ImperfectCJ Long story short, if you go to their profile, you won‘t see anything and you can‘t follow them. How did I know to check? Let‘s just say I had spidey sense. 😎 3mo

ChaoticMissAdventures @Susanita I know there is someone who made a big to-do about politics and a post about leaving the site (I cannot remember the screen name). The person didn't just leave the whole site did they? It just feels so weird that people are going around blocking all of the sudden. Like we all were not very vocal during the election and inauguration. I personally feel like they don't need to announce their exit. 😂 3mo

JenlovesJT47 I really don‘t understand people. Excellent haiku. 🫂💙🩵💙 3mo

Susanita Thanks everyone for your support! I‘m off to drink some wine now but will BBL with more thoughts. 3mo

AnnCrystal 🫂🙏🏼 they feel the need to “make a point.“ Consider it a badge of honor and remember, you are on the right side of history. Continue being you, we like you just the way you are 😘🦅💝🐝💝🐝💝.

Just realized I've neglected to include my unrelated2books hashtag on my own posts 🤦🏽🤗. (edited) 3mo

Deblovestoread I was surprised to be blocked rather than unfollowed as well. And everyone has the option to scroll on by if the content doesn‘t suit but let‘s face it those that drank the kook aid can‘t face any dissent of their choice to be in the cult. Please continue to post your perspective, it matters! 3mo

dabbe We both earned some #blockedbadges this week! 🙌🏻 I gave them #ranttime; you gave them #longtimefed, and that still wasn't enough. 🤷‍♀️ I have learned so much from you and truly appreciate your insider perspective. Keep keepin' it real, m'dear. 💙✊🏻💙 Spot-on haiku. 🖤🐝🖤 3mo

squirrelbrain I‘d see it as a badge of honour. And keep on doing what you‘re doing. (edited) 3mo

CBee @ChaoticMissAdventures exactly. Just unfollow. There is no need for this blocking nonsense. But sadly, yes - it‘s them trying to make a point - however misguided and misinformed it might be 😢 3mo

Tamra @julieclair I‘m sure I‘m in it and well, I just don‘t have any f*cks left to give. 😜 (edited) 3mo

CBee @ChaoticMissAdventures trust me, it‘s only a small handful (if that) of people. Since they are in the minority here, I guess blocking gets them more attention 😂 3mo

CBee @dabbe I‘m over here trying to figure out how to get myself blocked now 😂😂😂 3mo

Tamra @Deblovestoread 😂 “kook aid” 3mo

Deblovestoread @Tamra When unintended spelling error fits the bill to T 🤣 3mo

dabbe @Tamra 🩵🎯🩵 3mo

dabbe @CBee @ChaoticMissAdventures So does announcing to the entire Litsy community that you're leaving because of the political posts. I think I know who you're referring to, @ChaoticMissAdventures, and their handle is still on here. 🤷‍♀️ 3mo

dabbe @CBee 😂😂😂 3mo

ChaoticMissAdventures @dabbe I think you can leave and not delete your profile. Just chose not to log in any longer? Maybe that is what they mean. In my olden days as a moderator for a FB travel club we just to just put “This is not the airport, you don't need to announce your departure“ and then turn off the comments which I sort of miss the ability to do now 😂 😂 3mo

jdiehr 😄 3mo

jdiehr Just to be clear - I laugh because you wrote an awesome haiku about it 😗 3mo

dabbe @ChaoticMissAdventures I guess I thought if you make an announcement like that that you are exiting the building for good and taking your id with you. But what the heck do I know? 😂 I love your airport story! 🎯🩵🎯! 3mo

CBee @Deblovestoread I totally thought you did that on purpose because I mean, spot on 😂😂👏🏻👏🏻 3mo

Tamra @Deblovestoread perfection! 3mo

Susanita I‘m out in the boonies and can‘t really tag anyone, but I appreciate ALL of your comments. I‘ve been here nearly nine years, and I could tell pretty quickly that it‘s not “just” books. It‘s a community, and we need community now more than ever. Even if we disagree. What‘s interesting to me is that person was one of the first to befriend and welcome me, and as far as I can remember we‘ve had nothing but pleasant interactions one on one. ⬇️ 3mo

Susanita I think it‘s some kind of perverse “solidarity” with their close friend. Yes, a point was made. 😏 3mo

Read4life @ChaoticMissAdventures “This is not the airport…” 😂😂😂 3mo

BarbaraBB Wow I am shocked. I didn‘t know about blocking instead of unfollowing - and I admit to having unfollowed some people. However I do enjoy your posts and rants and to me they are a way to keep catching up with American politics and news that doesn‘t automatically make it to where I live. 3mo

Amiable I‘m apparently also a member of the #BlockedClub now. 🙄😄 I had to go check because I wasn‘t following either person anymore—I was a grown up and just unfollowed them ages ago without pitching a public hissy fit about it. 🙄 And @Deblovestoread , I don‘t care if it was a typo or not —“drinking the kook aid” is the best thing I‘ve ever seen and it is now officially a thing. 🙌🏼 3mo

BarbaraJean Well, THIS is interesting. I checked profiles for the people I thought this might be about. Based on your description of profiles from the blocked person's perspective, one of them seems to have blocked me. I've had little to no interaction with her and unfollowed her years ago—no drama, I was just tired of too many game-type posts. Meanwhile, I'm over here with maybe one post in the last month that even mentions anything political-adjacent. 🙄 3mo

Susanita @BarbaraJean I learned about muting tags because of the holiday games. 😉 3mo

BarbaraJean @Susanita Hahaha—me toooo! 3mo

Librarybelle I was posting the #LiteraryCrew questions this morning through the Litsy website and discovered I too was blocked by at least one person! I‘ve got to say, it‘s really upsetting. @Susanita @Deblovestoread @dabbe @Amiable @BarbaraJean ⬇️ 3mo

Librarybelle ⬆️ I came back to this post for commiseration 😂 3mo

Amiable @Librarybelle We consider it a badge of honor for speaking the truth! Some people can‘t handle the truth because it contradicts what they prefer to believe instead. ✊🏼💪🏼 3mo

dabbe @Susanita This is EXACTLY what happened to me, too! #badgeofhonor 💙✊🏻💙 3mo

dabbe @Amiable @Deblovestoread Welcome to the #blockedclub! And best hashtag eve: #kookaid 3mo

dabbe @BarbaraJean Welcome to the #blockedclub! 😎 3mo

dabbe @BarbaraJean @Susanita Same here! All those game posts! 😱 3mo

dabbe @Librarybelle It is. But now I find it liberating, and I hope you will, too. And you're now part of the #blockedclub with us! We rock. 😎 3mo

dabbe @Librarybelle 💙✊🏻💙 3mo

dabbe @Amiable 🎯🩵🎯 Well said, sista! 3mo

Librarybelle @Amiable @dabbe I‘ll get there eventually…this year has been so tough, and honestly it‘s a bit of a mental shakeup. But, I‘m in excellent company in the #blockedclub , and if people are offended that I‘m all for the truth in history and not the Disney version, then so be it. History is not meant to be pretty. And libraries matter. And I‘ll keep posting about my cats (if that was the cause of the block)! 😂 3mo

BarbaraJean @dabbe Haha—thanks for the welcome!! And seriously, all those game posts 😫 I usually just mute the tag, but when people misspell tags or don‘t use them, so the posts STILL land in my feed—and the games are almost all that person posts? That‘s an unfollow for me. But not a block. 😂😂 3mo

BarbaraJean @Librarybelle It feels like an extra level of offense to me that a person would block someone who‘s leading a buddy read they‘re part of! So petty. Long live truth in history (and cat posts)! 3mo

Librarybelle @BarbaraJean The person was not in a buddy read, but because I was logged in through the website, I saw their name as a suggested follow, which I thought was odd. Clicking on it showed me that I was blocked, so apparently their name will appear as a suggested account to follow though it‘s really blocked. I would not have known otherwise! 3mo

Amiable @BarbaraJean @Librarybelle I‘m totally here for ALL the cat posts —bring ‘em on! 🐱🐈🐈‍⬛😻 3mo

BarbaraJean @Librarybelle Oh, that‘s fascinating!! And kind of blindsiding, too. ☹️ FB works similarly (or at least it used to)—I‘ve had people “unfriend” me and then show up in “People You May Know.” 🙄 3mo

dabbe @BarbaraJean 🩵🎯🩵! 3mo

46 likes64 comments

Susanita

The Pentagon: A History | Steve Vogel

As a #longtimefed I know that the Defense Department was created/consolidated in 1949. The name change had nothing to do with political correctness. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/06/25/trump-war-department-def...

lil1inblue I'm reading An Indigenous People's History of the United States and learned that the Department of Indian Affairs began as part of the War Department. I can't help thinking about that as I read about this name change. 3mo

KadaGul @Susanita, I feel bad for Mango 🥭 Syndicate, Trump, who is doing so much work with his useless brain 🧠, which is at full 2 % capacity. SMH 🫨 3mo

Susanita @lil1inblue I‘m not sure if I knew that, but it definitely tracks. 3mo

AnnCrystal 🧐🤔😐 that seems weird...I mean, with everything that's going on... 3mo

40 likes4 comments

Susanita

Government for the Public Good | Max Rashbrooke

Nothing says Public Service Recognition Week like arresting a mayor for trying to inspect a facility in his own city.

There‘s been so much happening, I never shared this thought from a measly three months ago. I agree that the government is already too small for the size of the population and the complexity of issues faced. Just my two cents as a #longtimefed but you can read the article via the link in the comments.

Susanita https://cepr.net/publications/federal-government-is-too-small/ 4mo

TheBookHippie Agree. 4mo

Bookwormjillk Yup. Very worried about cybersecurity also. 4mo

TieDyeDude And they'll say that states should be stepping up, but there is so much corruption and mismanagement of funds at the state level, I can't imagine what it would look like with no federal oversight. This stuff takes years to coordinate, you can't just flip a switch and say “Figure it out.“ 😡 4mo

37 likes4 comments

Susanita

Official Congressional Directory | United States. Congress, W. H. Michael

There‘s a little bit to unpack from last night‘s town hall with my congresswoman. As a first-term representative from a blue state and district, she acknowledged that she has limited tools at her disposal at the moment, but she‘s definitely using them.

She mentioned the importance of phone calls no matter what color your district is, and that including a personal story provides more impact. So let‘s keep it up! #longtimefed #psrw

Librarybelle My rep refuses to have a town hall meeting. The phones also go unanswered to his office, so it‘s so sad. I‘m glad there are reps out there willing to stand up and hear the voices of all of their constituents. 4mo

Nebklvr @Librarybelle Of my reps, only one has someone to answer phones consistently and one sends replies to reiterate the party line. However, I use 5 calls and try to call multiple times a week. If they are going to make me miserable then i will return the favor. (edited) 4mo

Susanita @Librarybelle @Nebklvr Another feature of 5Calls is that you can keep tagging your rep as unavailable so it contributes to their aggregate stats. As well as being a pest. 😎 4mo

Librarybelle Good to know! 4mo

AlaMich What a bunch of cowards they all are!! 4mo

42 likes5 comments

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