I made this for my friend's daughter who is trying out pottery. I've been making her little instructional videos and this one is a timelapse of me trimming and putting a handle on a mug. Thought I would share in case you guys find this interesting.

Someone shared this with me who said it had been circulating in the Hasidic community. Will likely offend a lot of people these days.

Hi everyone, I haven't been active in Solid Ground for a while, but I am still alive and kicking! I now work as personal assistant to a mind-bendingly weird and diva-esque artist-lip-syncher-performer named Fiona Blueberry. She is blissfully clueless about politics and seems to be completely unaware of the culture wars. Working with her is a breath of fresh air. If you need a mood lift, I encourage you to watch this video we made together. Happy 4th, everyone! Wishing you fun/love/peace on this holiday. :) www.fionablueberry.com

Foreign funding of public institutions is one thing that really worries and angers me.
Below is a link to an article on Qatar funding K-12 PUBLIC SCHOOLS in the United States. How is this legal? They used the funding to influence and push curriculum that has their agenda.
https://www.fdd.org/analysis/2026/06/11/qatar-covers-its-tracks-gulf-state-spent-millions-to-infiltrate-american-classrooms/

This has been my suspicion with the American Library Association. They are technically private but almost all American Libraries pay membership dues to them and they TRAIN all Librarians for Librarian certification. They also tell libraries what books to carry and what books NOT to carry. The former (2004) president is a self identified "Queer Socialist" too. The current ala president "identifies" as a non-binary Republican...right 👍
It's just so infuriating that libraries are essentially CONTROLLED and very openly so, by a private organization with private donors and yet GET TONS OF TAX DOLLARS? ...

I think I understand why being in a virtue-signaling space, or seeing virtue-signaling online, gets so under my skin. I think it's something like this:

People are very outspoken about their beliefs, but it's often framed as an insult to people who don't think like they do. A lot of it is projected outward, rather than just simply sharing their values. A lot of it is exclusive and even intimidating. It's meant to be this way. It's meant to say, "If you think this way, you're not wanted." or "if you think this way, there's something wrong with you." They frame what they AREN'T by way of highlighting how (they think) other people ARE. The focus isn't on their own values as much as it is on DEvaluing others.

And I'm thinking, if these communities are as threatened and unsafe as they claim to be, why use such intimidating and insulting and abrasive tactics? Wouldn't that just make things worse?

I've been seeing posts that combine "happy pride" messages with "if you think differently..." and ...