The first Fox News contributor tapped to be part of the Trump administration is former acting director of ICE, Tom Homan.

This is the first of possibly many right-wing media operatives being put into key positions in the federal government under Donald Trump.

During a 60 Minutes interview aired on October 27th, 2024, Homan was asked about the astronomical coasts of carrying out Trump's plans and how families could be torn apart. Homan's answer sums up the Trump administration and its xenophobic policies perfectly.

HOST: We have seen one estimate that says it would cost $88 billion to deport a million people a year.

HOMAN: I don't know if that's accurate or not.

HOST: Is that what American taxpayers should expect?

HOMAN: What price do you put on national security? Is that worth it?

HOST: Is there a way to carry out mass deportation without separating families?

HOMAN: Of course there is. Families can be deported together.

These deportations are going to be a huge sh*t show. We remember the suffering children separated from their families under Homan's preview.

The scum-sucking pea-head Stephen Miller must have an orgasm after watching Homan's response.

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Speculation is that this is Putin's way of sending Trump a message in a way that Trump would understand. Putin has not called to congratulate Trump. As Julia Davis notes, "Meanwhile in Russia: this is how the most watched state TV channel in the country welcomed Melania Trump's upcoming return to the White House."

Not exactly subtle these Russians. And Putin was right. Trump called Putin today.

Source: Newsweek

A Russian state television network congratulated Melania Trump on her husband's reelection as president of the United States by showing nude photographs of her on live television, according to a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.

On the show 60 minutes, Russian television presenters, husband and wife Yevgeny Popov and Olga Skabeyeva, spoke about Donald Trump's reelection and showed numerous photos from Melania Trump's modeling days on screen, including nude photographs from a GQ profile in 2000.

Julia Davis, founder of the Russia Media Monitor watchdog group, posted video of the broadcast alongside the caption: "Meanwhile in Russia: this is how the most watched state TV channel in the country welcomed Melania Trump's upcoming return to the White House. Olga Skabeeva is trying not to laugh. This was probably her idea."

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Dipshit billionaire Leon Musk, who we fondly refer to as that stupid fuck, isn't amused by Dana Carvey's impersonation of him on Saturday Night Live. So, he took his little fingers to Xitter, the once behemoth social site he destroyed only to influence the election to his audience of conspiracy theorists and far-right edge lords that use Peppy the Frog in their postings or avatars.

Well, Leon got quite a paycheck for promoting convicted felon and adjudicated rapist Donald Trump, so at least he's happy while the rest of us remain in shock over the election results.

SNL's cold open got under Leon's fragile narcissistic skin where the actors, sort of like him, pretended to be on Trump's side with solid support.

Dana Carvey – who previously played President Joe Biden, and we didn't bitch about it -- played the part of Leon. You can see Carey's part that shook Elon at around the 3:30 mark in the cold open, and below.

“Check it out, dark MAGA,” Carvey said while impersonating Musk in a black MAGA hat. “But seriously, I run the country now,” he added.

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Rachel Maddow reminds Americans how Trump told his followers, "You don’t need to vote. I have so many votes." The Republican candidate said multiple times that he had the votes he needed to become president, implicating something other than votes would give him power.

Votes are still being counted in many states, almost one week after the election. Republicans are close to getting control of the U.S. House but Newsweek reports many races are too close to call. I'm not ready to put on a foil hat but isn't it worth looking into some of the odd things surrounding the 2024 election?

I'm not saying the election was "rigged" or unfair. All I am suggesting is that there are strange things about the 2024 election that merit a second look. Since democracy of the free world is at stake, it's worth the trouble.

Trump Doesn't Need Votes and Secret With Moses Mike

As Maddow noted, Trump telling voters he doesn't need their vote is a red flag. The GOP candidate said it multiple times. Trump also made several comments about the "secret" he and Speaker Mike Moses Johnson had about the election.

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Darwinfish 2 - dark times ahead;

Dissent - Trump has remade Americans, we must do the same;

emptywheel - two elections: you guys weren't going to fact check!

First Draft - our Fuck You Nation (set wayback machine to September 2015);

The Field Negro - post mortem.

Send tips to MBRU@crooksandliars.com

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Jesse Watters' mother, Anne Purvis, was a child psychologist. His dad, Stephen Hapgood Watters, was a teacher. Both parents came from a long line of achievers, and sent him to Penn Charter, a very liberal private Quaker school here in Philadelphia.

Despite his accomplished parents and his education, look how he turned out.

Every time he shows up on Twitter, I comment, "Your mother only talks to you so she can see her grandchildren."

Sounds like I was right, because Jesse's mother has disinvited him from the family Thanksgiving this year. Something about "scheduling." But she told him he could come the next day for leftovers.

He said no thanks, he would be at Best Buy.

Understand, this isn't just a difference of opinion. Jesse Watters is a horrible person who lies and distorts in ways that harm our country.

Time for karma, Jesse, you nasty piece of work. Guess you thought you got away with it, huh? After all, you're rich and famous!

Well, your own family doesn't want to be around you on the holiday that's all about family.

And your mom's bitten her tongue long enough.

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Stephen Miller, Trump's former racist policymaker on immigration has a new role in the Trump administration.
His xenophobic views on immigration have led to the mass deportation plans Trump plans to implement.

"In an interview with The New York Times last year, Miller said that under a second Trump term, the military would build detention centers to house immigrants who have been arrested and are facing deportation. The new camps would likely be built “on open land in Texas near the border,” he told The Times. Miller told The Times that Trump’s immigration plans are being designed to avoid having to create new substantial legislation.

Miller will do everything in his power to eliminate Congress from blocking any of his immoral ideas.

CNN's Dana Bash played a short clip that reveals his evil intentions.

BASH: I just want to play a little bit of a flavor of Stephen Miller, who he is, what he says, and what he believes.

MILLER: America is for Americans and Americans only.

You have two policy objectives that you proceed with utter determination on.

Seal the border.

No illegals in, everyone here goes out.

That's very straightforward.

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President-elect Donald Trump's reelection was credited for emboldening a group of people waving Nazi flags in Michigan over the weekend.

WLNS reported that the flags were seen in two cities, including at a Jewish play.

According to the report, "many people" were seen displaying flags with swastikas on Saturday night as the Fowlerville Community Theater performed the "Diary of Anne Frank." The same group was also seen outside the American Legion Post in Howell.

"It was upsetting," cast member Becky Frank said. "You know, just knowing the character I was playing, knowing a lot of the research that I did on my character."

Witnesses said the protest began in Howell before moving to Fowlerville. Protesters were seen wearing masks with the number 1488, a white supremacist symbol.

"There was a group of people at the four-way intersection in downtown that had swastika flags and American flags," witness Alex Sutfill told WLNS. "They were sticking their arms up and yelling hail Hitler and Hail Trump and everything like that."

Peter Damerow said the group told him to go back to his country.

"They looked at me and one of them said," Damerow recalled. "No this is Pureville now, and we're here to make sure it stays pure."

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Fox Business host Charles Payne and contributor Steve Moore did their best to soft-peddle the damage Trump's cringeworthy plan of tariffs would have to the US economy but still came up short.

Payne, subbing for Neil Cavuto, went back to a US history that is no longer relevant to us to prop up the idea of tariffs.

PAYNE: How does President Trump plan to convince his fellow Republicans that this is the right way to go?

MOORE: Well, there's two issues here, Charles.

One is how do we make his landmark 2017 tax bill permanent, because as you know, if no action is taken this year, a lot of that tax bill expires and the average family would pay about $2,500 more in taxes and it would hurt our businesses.

This is what the 2%ers and corporations want more than life itself. Letting these tax cuts expire won't hurt anybody. It makes it harder for the rich to fiddle with their tax returns.

Now comes the rub. This is where their clucking begins.

MOORE: And then, of course, there's the secondary issue about the tariffs that Trump has been talking about. Now, maybe, I'm just thinking out loud here, Charles, and I've talked to some of the top economic advisors that have worked with me in the Trump campaign, we could maybe mix these two and use tariffs as a way to pay for some of these tax cuts.

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Forget that occasionally sane Marco Rubio we've caught glimpses of, he will completely fold to Donald Trump as Secretary of State. Do we at least get closer to a Senate majority with his leaving? No, we do not.

Florida Man DeSantis gets to appoint Rubio's temporary Senate replacement. The seat doesn't open until 2028.

Whoever's appointed would serve until a 2026 special election to complete the final two years of Rubio's term - so whoever's appointed has to win again in 2028.

First off the bat, Puddin' Fingers could appoint his wife, Casey "I'm Really Jackie Kennedy" DeSantis, to hold the seat until his term as governor is up.

He could also appoint his lieutenant governor, Jeanette Nunez. That would leave the option of allowing her to appoint him to the Senate seat.

According to CBS News, Attorney General Ashley Moody and former Florida House Speaker Jose Oliva are also in the mix.

Massachusetts Sen. Liz Warren called out Donald Trump for 'corruption' even though he hasn't been sworn into office yet. Who would have thought Trump would violate a law that Warren wrote before getting the keys to the White House -- besides all of us?

Trump has not submitted a legally required ethics agreement stating he will avoid conflicts of interest, which must be signed before the presidential transaction occurs. According to the Presidential Transition Act, the signed agreement was due by Oct. 1.

Warren took to Xitter, and she was not pleased, but it doesn't do any good unless something is done about it.

Donald Trump and his transition team are already breaking the law.

I would know because I wrote the law.

Incoming presidents are required to prevent conflicts of interest and sign an ethics agreement.

This is what illegal corruption looks like. https://t.co/JJjJ59DgB5

— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) November 11, 2024

Xitter had some thoughts:

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Sure.

Well as Trump himself said, "Hitler did some good things." And Mussolini made the trains run on time, though not really.

Source: Mediaite

A Pennsylvania voter named Matt Wolfson went viral with a stunning explanation of why he voted for President-elect Donald Trump — whom Wolfson says is “like Hitler.”
...
In a new election post-mortem by The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Julia Terruso, Wolfson provided the perfect conclusion to an article devoted to explaining why the premise that Trump is a fascist — put forward by Trump’s own former national security advisers and echoed by Vice President Kamala Harris — did not dissuade the state’s voters:

This quote is absolutely insane. pic.twitter.com/OqaFOj2rct

— Philly’s Original Harden (@KHJ_Esq) November 11, 2024

Ok, that's crazy enough, but the Inquirer also published some more details on Matt Wolfson today.

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In today's edition of FAFO (F*ck Around and Find Out) we have a man who is probably going to learn the hard way that being one of the "good ones" means nothing to the Trump administration.

See, MAGA loyalty only goes one way. They want your vote, but won't do anything to make your life better. This Latino male Trump voter told CNN that mass deportation won't extend to law-abiding workers.

He actually said, with a straight face: “That wouldn’t be fair. They need to make sure that they don’t throw away, they don’t kick out, they don’t deport people that are family oriented.”

Sweetie, they don't care if you are family oriented or not. If you are working a good job or not. If you are a criminal or not. To them, being non-American is enough to get you kicked out (and probably put in a camp before). Enjoy that Trump hair visor hat, honey. The leopards are coming for your face.

"Fucketh around and ye shall findeth out" - A Twitter User in 2024

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We seem doomed to confront Christmas displays before the Halloween candy is eaten.

Open thread below...

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Over the course of the past year, M&M’s have been plastered all over the news, social media, and even Super Bowl commercials. In January 2022, Mars Wrigley gave the brown M&M shorter heels and replaced the green M&M’s boots with sneakers in a push toward more inclusive marketing.  What resulted was outrage. Tucker Carlson became […]

Hardcover, Paperback, Kindle, Audio – January 1, 1993

By Keegan Kelly Published: November 12th, 2024

Looking for a hugely entertaining alphabet book that also has an uplifting message of empowerment for young readers? I highly recommend T. REXES CAN'T TIE THEIR SHOES by Anna Lazowski and Steph Laberis, launching June 29th, 2021 from Doubleday Books For Young Readers. The back matter also has an alphabetized factoid list of "all the amazing things animals CAN do!"

This is an alphabet book that can be appreciated by grown-ups as well as young readers, with lots of potential discussion points. The illustrations of animals in ridiculous situations are so SOOOOO FUN --- omigosh, even as I'm writing this post, I went back to look through the digital ARC and can't decide which is my favourite, though I'm leaning toward the "Cheetahs can't chew bubble gum" page.

I asked debut picture book author Anna Lazowski if she had any advice for young writers, and here's what she said:

"Write what you want to write, because as you move through the publishing process, it will become incredibly important for you to truly believe in your work. The rejections in this industry are endless, and they come at every stage. Critique partners might reject elements of your manuscript, agents will reject your work, and once you're on submission to editors, they will reject your work. Then once you're finally published, some reviewers will reject your work. If you don't fully believe in your stories, this will be extremely hard to take. It's hard as it is, so make sure you're all in on the work you're doing. It will make the rest a little bit easier to navigate."

Wise advice. Thank you, Anna! And congrats to you and Steph on your upcoming launch!

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Also see other Advice For Young Writers and Illustrators From Children's Book Creators and my other Interviews With Children's Book Creators.

Image at the top of this post was created for my new #BookADay book journal. For more info about Donalyn Miller's #BookADay challenge, see Donalyn's post in the Nerdy Book Club blog.

Hazel Mitchell has helped create more than twenty children's books, including her award-winning picture book Toby (Candlewick Press). Her illustrations appear in books by Cynthia Lord, JaNay Brown-Wood (Imani's Moon was mentioned on the Stephen Colbert show!), Lynn Parrish Sutton, Liza Gardner Walsh and others. You can find out more about Hazel and her work at HazelMitchell.com, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Synopsis of SWEET PEA SUMMER (Candlewick):

During her mother’s absence, a young girl discovers the joys of gardening—and the rewards of persistence and a sharp eye—in a sweet intergenerational story. With warm, child-friendly illustrations and a simple narration, Hazel Mitchell tells a timeless story about holding on to hope in hard times and finding the strength and determination to see it through. A brief author’s note at the end offers a bit of history and a few details about sweet peas for aspiring gardeners.

Q. What inspired you to write Sweet Pea Summer?

My inspiration for the book were memories I have from staying with my grandparents when I was little (4-6 years old). They lived in a row of mill cottages in a Yorkshire town called Huddersfield. The town was born out of the wool trade and had many factories and tall towers, but was surrounded by beautiful countryside. I started to sketch my memories of staying with them - the cottage, the garden, the countryside with the moors and mill chimneys, the cats that were always scampering around, the long road that stretched away up a sloping hill to the town itself.

My granddad was an excellent gardener. I suspect this came from the war years in Britain when everyone grew their own food as much as possible. In my memory the garden was so, so long with a little greenhouse and was stuffed with veggies and flowers. Of course, my memory exaggerated everything. I was seeing through a small child's eyes. I even googled the road on Google Streetview and the cottage and the garden are still there, just much smaller than I recalled.

I decided there was a story in these sketches and my rememberings. I find that I'm often inspired by childhood memories, places and real life things, like my own dog who is the main character in the book 'Toby', also from Candlewick Press. I've even been known to use my house in books, or feature the landscape of Maine, where I live, and sometimes I draw objects from my home. it gives authenticity I think.

Q. What was the writing and illustration process like?

After some note making, more doodles and musing I decided on the main character of a girl. She's not exactly me. My sister also went to stay with my grandparents when my mother was ill and that was really the nugget that set me rolling. The girl is sad and missing her mother, so Grandpa invites her to help in the garden and, in particular, to look after the sweet peas. (My own grandfather grew chrysanthemums, but I decided children would relate more to sweet peas. Plus it is easier to say!).

The grandparents do not look like my grandparents and even though the child is not really me, I guess she shares some of my personality characteristics and DO I love gardening! (Although I always fail with sweet peas, which is ironic). I found I had all the inspiration I needed to get started on roughing out a story.

Writing and illustrating Sweet Pea Summer was a long process, as most books tend to me. There are a lot of images in the book, which is kind of graphic novelish in a way, with multiple images on some pages that follow a grid layout. Although I did preliminary character and setting sketches, I then spent time writing scene progressions and story boarding before I was ready to do the first full dummy.

I've found this saves me time in the long run, when I finally start to sketch I can be pretty certain I have the rudimentary story arc and length of book down. We had 2-3 edits and rehashes before my editors, art director and myself were all happy to go to finals. Finals are always the very long and arduous stage of the book for me. The first spark of story and hashing it out is the inspirational bit.

I did all the art for Sweet Pea in pencil and watercolor (usually I colour an under painting digitally), but I felt this book needed a traditional watercolour feel. It was a longer process for sure! Along the way I did a good amount of picture research especially on the landscapes and the flowers - plus the process of growing them, which features in the story. The parallel between the illness of the m/c's mom and the flowers failing to open was important to me. didn't want it to be too obvious to the reader.

My editor, Liz Bicknell at Candlewick Press, was very helpful, as always, keeping the story on track. Pam Consolazio was my art director, and her nickname was Sweet Pea as a child! it is lovely when you find unexpected connections. I scan my own artwork, which gives me the luxury of making any tweaks to the final art. I think the whole book took about 2 years, including edits etc.

It's wonderful when your book finally arrives in your mailbox! (Just like any birth, the pain recedes!) It was especially concerning in this time of the pandemic, but everything went well and the books arrived in time for publication.

Q. What advice do you have for young writers and illustrators?

My advice to young writers and illustrators is always work on stories that you love and feel an emotional response to whether, happy, sad, funny or just that you just love and know the subject. It will always show in your work!

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For more insights from book creators, see my Inkygirl interview archives.

By Sara Truuvert

When your novel is deemed "the greatest idea for a book ever", you're probably on to something. That certainly seems to be the case for debut author Victor Piñeiro, whose novel Time Villains has garnered a starred review from Kirkus and a spot as an Amazon Best Book of the Month. The book promises time-hopping high jinx, historic and literary Easter eggs, and even some one-sentence Puerto Rican recipes.

Time Villains follows sandwich-obsessed Javi Santiago, who has to nail his homework assignment if he wants to pass sixth grade. The assignment seems simple enough: if you could invite any three people to dinner, who would they be? Plus, Javi has his best friend Wiki and little sister Brady to help him. What could go wrong? Turns out, a lot! The trio accidentally uses an antique dining table to summon the dinner guests for real. Now, Blackbeard the Pirate is on the loose, and Javi, Wiki, and Brady must figure out how to send him back (perhaps with the help of other historical figures...). Time Villains is the first novel in a three-part series. It launched on July 6th, 2021 with Sourcebooks and is widely available to order. 

Victor Piñeiro is an author and a Creative Director at HBO Max. He has also done a multitude of other cool things, like teach, make documentaries, lead content/social strategies for Big Spaceship, YouTube, Hasbro, and Google, and answer these interview questions while caring for his two-week-old child. You can find out more about Victor on his website, Twitter, and Instagram. 

Q. A huge congratulations on your literary debut! Would you tell me a bit about your journey to publication?

A. Thank you! Being a published author has been the dream since I was a kid, so it’s been quite the journey! In my teens and twenties I couldn’t silence my inner critic long enough to write novels, so I turned to poetry and screenplays, writing and producing documentaries for a spell. I finally coaxed a book out in 2017 after writing daily on my (long) commute for three years. It was a very unconventional first book—the only kind I could coax out on my first try—so I shelved it and started working on Time Villains. 

Three drafts in I sent Time Villains to a bunch of agents, and after chatting with a few, a friend put me in touch with Elana Roth Parker. I feel so incredibly lucky to work with Elana—she saw the seed of something in my draft and we developed it into something far more compelling. When Annie Berger at Sourcebooks showed interest in the book, it felt like winning the lottery twice. Annie and the whole team have been the most incredible partners—thoroughly brilliant and a complete joy to work with. And here we are—the book just hit shelves this week and I’m not sure what to do with myself!

Q. Would you please introduce us to the novel’s hero, Javi Santiago? (I must know what level of dedication to sandwiches it takes to be classified as ‘sandwich-obsessed’!)

A. Javi’s an aspiring chef and sandwichéaste (think cinéaste but for sandwiches) who’ll do anything to pass sixth grade. He’s a zany kid with an overactive imagination and a penchant for asking deep questions about food (because what makes a sandwich a sandwich, really?). He peppers in one-sentence recipes throughout the book—some of Puerto Rico’s most delectable dishes, mixed in with his own recipes (like the Spanglish Sandwich aka The Spanglo Sando™). And while he’s fun and eccentric, underneath the silliness he’s a first generation Puerto Rican kid struggling with imposter syndrome as he tries to excel at something in his life. 

Q. You offer us such a hilarious dynamic between your protagonists – we have the almost-failing student, Javi, paired with his best friend, Wiki, the human Wikipedia/young professor (plus, Javi’s little sister, who wants to be the president’s bodyguard!). How did you land on this dynamic? Is it something you envisioned from the get-go?

A. The characters were floating around my head disparately but when I put them together I realized how fun their dynamic would be. 

I know a few folks who are so brilliant they seem weighed down by their intelligence—it’s made them world-weary. I thought that’d be really fun to capture in an extremely-precocious sixth grader. As I was coming up with the character I remembered a line in a hip hop song I love, “Catch me solving mysteries like Wikipedia Brown.” And that’s where Wiki’s name emerged and the character solidified in my head.

In terms of Brady, I knew I wanted a hot-headed sibling/partner to steal the spotlight and do much of the butt kicking because I love that dynamic in stories, going all the way back to Frodo and Sam. I also have a few friends with wild kid sister energy and they’re the life of any party, so I knew I wanted to bring that to the trio. 

Q. You had to develop a wide array of voices for this story, including kid Mozart, the Earl of Sandwich, and Blackbeard the Pirate. Was that a challenge? A joy? A spiralling research nightmare?

A. A spiralling research dream! This series gives me the best excuse to research my favorite folks in history and fiction, and it’s been a blast. I loved reading old texts on pirates, delving into the specifics of Mozart at age twelve and dusting off copies of old novels with iconic characters as I researched this book. And I knew nothing about the Earl of Sandwich before writing this, but how could Javi not invite him?

There was one aspect of research that was a bit frustrating. A big focus of this series is exploring characters more representative of the world’s history and fiction, because I’m hoping this book is ultimately a gateway to other books, characters and historical figures for kids to explore. Finding a wealth of information about some historical and mythological figures from other cultures was incredibly difficult. I knew it wouldn’t be easy, but I wasn’t prepared for it to be quite so challenging—which invigorated me to include more of them in the book!

Q. You have such lovely, concise, concrete writing advice available on your website. Is there any advice my-novel-is-getting-published Victor would give I’m-starting-to-write-a-novel Victor?

A. So much advice! I think there are a few super important things that would’ve had me writing novels decades ago, so I take any chance I can get to relay them to other aspiring/young writers.

1. An hour a day can be enough. I always thought I needed to quit my job and write eight hours a day to finish a novel, which held me back for years. Then I read a Murakami interview where he said he completed his first novel by writing an hour a day after work. In that moment I felt like the universe gave me permission to write mine. 

2. Lower the bar far lower than you’re comfortable with for that first draft. (No, lower!) There are passages in the first draft of my books that are barely intelligible, but I now know that’s okay. The first draft is about discovery and getting the story out of your head and onto the page. It’s far too early to be precious about anything. Just get it all out and see what you’ve got when you’re done.

3. Don’t dread rewriting—it’s far more fun than expected. Before writing my first book I was terrified of it, but it’s become one of my favorite aspects of writing. (Which is a good thing considering it’s 75-90% of what you do as a writer!) 

Q. Do you have any advice for young writers in general?

A. Absolutely. Besides everything I said above, read about writing and join online writing communities. Screenwriting books are great for story structure basics, Stephen King’s On Writing is great for process, Brandon Sanderson’s free writing course on YouTube is absolutely brilliant, Neil Gaiman and David Mamet’s Master Class courses are gold, and Reddit’s /r/writing is a fantastic place to learn alongside others in the trenches. I also love John Truby and Lisa Cron’s books. But maybe it’s best to start with this short Ira Glass video. Or this brilliant reflection on writing advice Chuck Wendig just wrote.

Q. Finally, I read that you used to be a documentary filmmaker and a blogger. What are some questions you would ask Blackbeard, if you met him?

A. It’d be one of those long interviews—the kind that take up the entire documentary and usually take the film crew multiple days to shoot—because I’d want to lead up to asking him how many people he actually killed. (Some historians say almost zero!) And I’d also want to ask him a lot of questions about Stede Bonnet, “The Gentleman Pirate” who was an equally fascinating and thoroughly hilarious character. He was rich, had a midlife crisis, became a pirate, and got thoroughly swindled by Blackbeard. (Side note: I was so happy when I heard the news that Taika Waititi would be creating a show about him!) Finally, I’d ask him to get battle ready. Before a skirmish Blackbeard would light fuses or small candles in his beard, since the smoke gave him a demonic appearance. It was his favorite scare tactic. I’d love to see it live!

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Sara Truuvert completed her MLitt in Creative Writing at the University of St Andrews. She also holds a Certificate in Creative Writing from the Humber School for Writers and a BA in English, Drama, and the History and Philosophy of Science from the University of Toronto. Her work has appeared in the Literary Review of Canada among other publications.

For more interviews, see the Inkygirl Interview Archive. Also see Advice For Young Writers and Illustrators, a compilation of tips generously offered by children's book creators Inkygirl.com has interviewed over the years.

New Disney+ Star Wars TV series The Mandalorian premiered on Tuesday and people haven't been able to stop tweeting about "Baby Yoda." Can you blame them? He's just so goddamn cute. The catch here is that Baby Yoda isn't actually Yoda at all, but rather of the same species. Either way, people are positively freaking over him, and we don't blame them.

Kerkopithekion says: "Our 14-week-old puppy Storm living the hard life of sofa naps and belly rubs."

Oh, what a hard life! I do not envy him... just kidding, I totally do.

-Sally Squeeps

Do you have a squee pet that you want to share with the world? Send us your pet pictures and stories, and they could end up on Daily Squee!