Also, now that I’m out of the infant section and into the toddler aisles, I can’t tell you, folks, how much of this “girl empowerment” stuff there is. Toys, books, clothing, backpacks, bibs, shoes, and on and on and on. Screaming “Girls are great!” at you from all sides. She persisted! Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s life story for 5-year-olds! And another one for 8-year-olds! Women who achieved! 

I feel vicariously embarrassed when I see people trying so damn hard. 

I don’t like all of these “Girls can do anything” and “I’m a girl, what’s your superpower?” logos. It’s totally protesting too much. It tells kids that there’s something wrong with girls that all these reassurances are needed. 

A pompous male reporter on MSNBC: “If you support capitalism, report people who are price-gouging. Trying to exploit people’s desperation is not capitalism!”

Oh, sweetie pie. It’s the essence of capitalism, you little dumb bit of fluff.

And just one more tiny little question on DACA. I’m seeing an enormous number of “I support DACA!” slogans on Twitter, Facebook and everywhere else. It’s an explosion, there are so many of them. I’m sure everybody who posted them is good, well-meaning person who genuinely doesn’t want anybody to suffer or get deported.

But here is what I need to understand. Why are there no posters saying, “I don’t support DACA, I support naturalization”, or “Keep DACA and make it a first step towards citizenship!”, or “DACA today, citizenship tomorrow!”, or “Dreamers should be citizens!” I put it up on my FB and got no support except from 3 people I know in person and know I can always count on. 

Tweets and FB posts don’t directly participate in the political process. You don’t have to be cautious and modest in your expectations. Dream big, say what you actually want. And that’s precisely what everybody is doing on every issue. Every issue, including this one. 

I think the most important thing right now is to take a tiny little break from “Trump is bad and I’m virtuous” and take an honest look at what’s happening.

For the first time, Russian officials started dropping hints that Kremlin might contribute to Trump’s impeachment. The calculation they have to make is simple: what will result in greater chaos, leaving him in place or bumping him out. He didn’t mishandle Harvey, so it inclined the scales towards bumping him out. 

Of course, he is likely to create a lot of chaos in the coming days because that’s his nature. The question is whether it’s enough chaos to satisfy the Russians.

I don’t even want to talk about DACA because it’s a total disaster. It’s one of the worst, most shameful parts of Obama’s legacy. He left us stuck with this horror show and should just keep very quiet about it right now instead of making condescending noises about “young strivers.”

In effect, DACA turned 800,000 people into pawns for the Democrats to use in shady dealings of all kinds whenever it’s convenient, as we’ve seen today. Keeping people suspended, uncertain, always dependent on the possibility of yet another short-term extension is a cruel and unusual punishment that is completely immoral. How can anybody, a young person especially, live like this? Imagine not being able to make any kind of plan, any strategy of your own life. This is horrible. 

The strivers part just about did me in. You make people arrive in perpetuity, dangling the rotten carrot of another short-term bit of mercy for ever and ever. And then get on a high horse and go all self-congratulating on the very people you are screwing over. 

Americans! Make up your minds. Fucking make a decision already. Stop supporting the inhuman and cruel DACA and let these 800,000 human beings just live their lives without having to beg you for something every couple of years.

Fuck DACA. Fuck deferred action. Enough deferring. Enough. 

Klara learned to use the computer mouse. You’d think from this that we live in front of the computer but it’s not true. We use Skype once a week to talk to her “Kama” (grandma) and I showed her itsy bitsy spider and wheels on the bus a few times. 

And then I went to the kitchen to fetch some sunflower seeds and came back to discover her using the mouse to choose her favorite songs from the menu like it’s the most natural thing in the world. 

Scary shit, this. 

Part of my class on Cuba was showing students a news clipping about recent events in Cuba.

“Is this fake news?” students asked.

We have messed with young people’s heads in unpardonable ways.

In personal immigration news, I got my citizenship exam scheduled for October 2. I have classes on this day but in the current environment I’m afraid to reschedule for later. 

I know many of my colleagues are reading this blog, so I want to communicate to them that I just heard from our Chancellor and he says that we’ll get our pay raise retroactive to July on our October or November paychecks.

The union is working for you.