FAIR WARNING:!! I’m turning off the Discussion flair. Anyone can now comment. But be warned this is not the post to troll. We will strongly enforce our rules here. Keep your comments brief and on point. We are building a list of specific demands.

George Washington exhibited several unusual personal fears, eccentricities, and behavioral contradictions throughout his life.
Washington suffered from taphophobia—a common 18th-century anxiety about being prematurely pronounced dead and interred alive.

On his deathbed in December 1799, his final instructions to his secretary, Tobias Lear, were: "Have me decently buried, and do not let my body be put into the vault in less than three days after I am dead". Mount Vernon staff followed his wishes by keeping his body laid out for three days.

Washington carefully cultivated a public image of stoic grace and self-mastery, but he had a notorious, explosive temper behind closed doors.

During the Battle of Monmouth in 1778, he lost his temper so violently when General Charles Lee retreated without orders that witnesses reported nearby tree leaves seemed to quake.

Washington began losing his teeth in his twenties and suffered chronic pain and ill-fitting dentures for most of his life.

Rather than wooden teeth (a common myth), his various sets of false teeth were built from a mix of human teeth (including those purchased from enslaved workers and the poor), animal teeth (cow, horse, donkey), hippo ivory, and metal springs.

He loved and selectively bred hounds with eccentric names like Drunkard, Sweet Lips, and Madame Moose, yet he also ordered soldiers during the Revolutionary War to hang all stray camp dogs.

While publicly advocating for liberty and eventually freeing his personal slaves in his will, he enforced strict legal workarounds while president—rotating enslaved household staff out of Pennsylvania every six months to prevent them from qualifying for automatic freedom under state law.

One of my fave new black artist

So my aunt in Philadelphia put this on the family group chat, and I figured I'd do some investigating to see if this was true or not. New flash, it's not real. Just in case, make sure your family and friends know when and where and how to vote.

Message from a nice Canadian

https://apnews.com/article/fact-check-election-midterms-ballot-markings-disqualify-e3e754bf60becd7af84868e24ac1d356

https://www.wunc.org/2026-10-13/poll-worker-markings-on-ballots-will-not-invalidate-them-officials-say

https://www.eac.gov/voters/register-and-vote-in-your-state

On October 13, 2026, Yiwarr McGrath, 35, was sworn into Australia's Northern Territory Parliament as the new Member for Mulka, with Indigenous language and culture celebrated during the occasion.

McGrath grew up in poverty in Arnhem Land and lost both parents before turning 11. He went on to become the first Yolŋu registered nurse, was named the 2021 Northern Territory Young Australian of the Year, and is raising three daughters.

He won a September by-election representing the Australian Labor Party and says he intends to focus on poverty, healthcare, education, and giving Indigenous communities a stronger voice in government.

https://www.tiktok.com/@inroyalnews/video/7697033918846995743

Is this what protest without the knowledge of the civil rights movement looks like? Is this what a lack of black national leadership looks like?

Quick Points from the article:
•The Indivisible Project doesn’t believe in civil disobedience
•It doesn’t want to impeach Trump or pressure congress to slow down his appointments.

The U.S. Navy ended a 43-year partnership with The Sewing Box, a Black-owned tailor shop in Pensacola, Florida, by awarding its flight suit contract to an out-of-state vendor

Reminder that we are still not done demanding justice for Nolan Wells.

Did you know?

Martha Washington was a lifelong slaveholder who brought 84 "dower slaves" from the estate of her first husband, Daniel Parke Custis, to Mount Vernon upon her 1759 marriage to George Washington.

She held a life interest in roughly 153 to 300 enslaved individuals tied to the Custis estate. Under Virginia law, neither she nor George Washington could legally free these people; upon her death, they reverted to the Custis estate and were divided among her grandchildren.

She owned at least one person outright—a woman named Elish—whom she bequeathed directly to her grandson in her 1802 will.

When George Washington died in 1799, his will stipulated that his own 123 slaves should be freed after Martha's death. Fearing for her safety and feeling pressure, Martha freed them early on January 1, 1801.

Oney Judge was a maid for Martha. She was hotly pursued by George Washington. It's interesting to note that White House history steadfastly denies that George either loved her or had a sexual relationship with her.

"There is no historical evidence that George Washington had a romantic or sexual relationship with Oney Judge, nor that Martha Washington suspected or believed such a thing occurred."

Oney escaped from the Washingtons' household in Philadelphia in 1796 to live free in New Hampshire

Martha reacted furiously, attempted multiple times to capture her, and planned to gift her to a granddaughter.

Oney Judge came to Mount Vernon at age ten to serve as Martha Washington's personal attendant, effectively acting as part of the household staff rather than an equal or loved member of the family.

When Oney escaped from the Washingtons' Philadelphia household in May 1796, Martha Washington was deeply hurt and resentful, remarking that Oney was "more like a child to me than a servant," because Oney had been raised and trained closely under her supervision.

Oney decided to run away after learning that Martha intended to gift her to Martha's volatile granddaughter, Eliza Parke Custis Law, as a wedding present.

Both George and Martha Washington viewed Oney as fugitive property and made multiple attempts to track her down and recapture her after she fled to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where she married a free Black sailor named Jack Staines.

We know from our history that the masta visited slave women's cabins, and impregnated them as well. There was a never formally acknowledged but very real acceptance by the mistress that her husband visited slave cabins.

These lightskinned offspring were used as house slaves. There was often a love hate relationship between mistress and slave. She resented the slave for bearing children for her husband, but used her as a wet nurse. White women were considered "delicate" and did not nurse their own.

Judge learned that Martha Washington planned to give her as a wedding gift to her granddaughter, Elizabeth "Eliza" Parke Custis Law, who had a notoriously harsh temper.
While the Washingtons were occupied with dinner, Judge slipped out of the house.
She received help from Philadelphia's free Black community.

The Journey: She boarded a ship called the Nancy (commanded by Captain John Bowles) and sailed north to Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

George Washington's steward placed runaway advertisements in Philadelphia newspapers and offered a $10 reward for her return.

Washington sent Joseph Whipple (the Portsmouth customs collector) to negotiate her return, which Judge refused unless she was granted her freedom after the Washingtons died. Washington rejected herl terms.
In 1799, Martha Washington's nephew, Burwell Bassett Jr., tried to seize her, but New Hampshire Senator John Langdon secretly warned Judge, allowing her to escape to nearby Greenland, New Hampshire.

Judge married a free Black sailor named Jack Staines in 1797, had three children, and remained legally a fugitive until her death in Greenland, New Hampshire, on February 25,1848.

Mound Bayou, Mississippi, is one of the most remarkable examples of Black independence and self-government in American history