Christian, Wife, Mom, Constitutionalist, former teacher & coach, foodie, simplifier
Joined September 2012
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Michelle Sytsma retweeted
You’re not alone in this.
I know how isolating it feels when your world is falling apart. After we lost our son, someone handed Lisa and me Psalm 34:18:
“The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.”
That single sentence interrupted the automated story my brain was writing:
“You’re abandoned. This will break you.”
Here’s the neuroscience: When grief or trauma hits, your brain’s threat networks fire first and loudest. The amygdala and default mode network start looping isolation and despair as if they are facts. But when you deliberately place a true, hope-filled word in front of your mind, you recruit the prefrontal cortex to run a different operation.
You create a new neural pathway. Over time, that pathway gets stronger through neuroplasticity. The feeling of aloneness loses its automatic grip.
You are not stuck with the brain’s first draft.
You can perform surgery on it.
The Lord is near to the brokenhearted.
And you were built to get stronger on the other side of hard things.
Follow me for daily neuroscience and scripture connections to transform you.
Share with a friend who needs to know they’re not alone, and save this for when you need a reminder too.
Click the link in my bio to learn more about self-brain surgery.
#selfbrainsurgery
Michelle Sytsma retweeted
That’s a follow.
In 2005, Oneida shut the flatware factory in Sherrill, New York.
A town that had made silverware for MORE THAN 100 YEARS was supposed to be finished.
Two men refused to let that happen.
Their names are Matt Roberts and Greg Owens.
Roberts had managed that factory. Owens was another former Oneida manufacturing manager. When the company ended U.S. production, they bought the plant and the equipment and reopened it the NEXT DAY as Sherrill Manufacturing.
They did not have a giant rescue fund.
They did not have a Hollywood ending waiting.
They had a building, some machines, and a workforce that knew how to make forks, knives, and spoons.
At first they kept making product for Oneida.
Then Oneida pulled the remaining American work and sent it overseas.
That should have been the end.
It wasn’t.
They took government flatware contracts to keep the lights on. In 2010 they filed Chapter 11. They sold unused equipment. They sold space they could no longer fill. They leased back only the part of the factory they could still run.
They came out of bankruptcy in 2013.
Then they did the thing that saved the company.
They built their own brand: Liberty Tabletop.
They sold 18/10 stainless flatware straight to customers who wanted tableware MADE IN THE UNITED STATES.
Not through a department store that could drop them overnight.
Direct.
Today Liberty Tabletop is the only company still manufacturing stainless steel flatware in America.
Same town.
Same trade.
U.S. steel.
About 70 jobs.
They did not bring back 2,000 workers. Nobody did.
What they saved was the last line.
If you want American-made forks and spoons, this is the factory that still makes them.
Support Liberty Tabletop.
THIS is what keeping manufacturing in America actually looks like. 🇺🇸
Michelle Sytsma retweeted
Can we please bring back THE HUMAN BEING?
I don't want a chatbot.
I don't want 14 menu options.
I don't want to download another app.
I don't want to “visit our help centre”.
I WANT TO SPEAK TO A PERSON.
Surely I cannot be the only one?
Michelle Sytsma retweeted
If the average Michigander knows how corrupt Benson is, they will vote for James just so she won't be governor. That said, she really ought to be arrested before midterms. Fraud should not be rewarded. Will the walls close in on her in time?
Michelle Sytsma retweeted
A letter to our Senators and Representatives.
Gentlemen,
I am a 64-year-old American that has worked and paid taxes since I was fifteen years old. I have never taken any type of handout from anyone, including the US government. After 49 years of working, I have decided to retire, at least partially. According to you, it’s “early retirement”. I don’t consider 49 years of working, “early”. Had I been a government employee I could have retired 29 years ago, or had I been a senator, I could have retired, what… 39 years ago? with full retirement pay and free healthcare for life.
Because I retired before reaching my “full retirement age”; which is decided by you, I have a reduced Social Security payment, which you refer to as a “benefit”. I see it as a return of my money that I have paid in for 49 years. This reduced payment is not enough to live on. The payment at full retirement age is not enough to live on. I have to work some, to supplement my income, but low and behold I can only earn a certain amount (which is still not enough to live on) and then you start docking my Social Security.
Apparently, I earned too much at some point because I just received a letter from the SSA stating that my next three SSA payments will be cut in half, and the real kicker is I still “owe” $38.00. I can’t work more to make up the difference because I will only be further penalized.
It is extremely infuriating, as an American citizen, to be treated this way. Look at the amount of fraud, look at the number of people, many of whom have never paid a dime into the system, receiving free benefits from the government. Look at the billions paid to and on behalf of illegal immigrants. All I want is the money I paid in and a chance to retire in peace.
Michelle Sytsma retweeted
If Lindsay Clancy murdered 3 dogs by strangling them, chasing one down that tried to run away, the entire world would demand that she be sent to prison for a long time. She would definitely be held accountable and have 0 support. Killing 3 beautiful kids gets her a fan club. We are a lost society
Michelle Sytsma retweeted
The congregation doesn't need your coffee joke.
They buried someone this week.
They're sitting in pews with divorce papers in their glovebox.
Kids who won't speak to them.
Test results they haven't opened.
They drove past three churches to hear you say something that costs you something.
So open the Book.
Forget the illustration you found on Google.
Skip the movie clip.
Kill the countdown timer on your outline.
Preach like a man possessed.
Preach like you'll answer for every wasted syllable.
Preach like their blood is on your hands.
Because it is.
The pulpit isn't a stage.
Michelle Sytsma retweeted
Hey everyone I have some exciting personal news!
My husband, John Kelly, is running for mayor of Chicago. It’s a nonpartisan race—he’s running to make Chicago safe, clean up public transit, attract new businesses, and stabilize rising property taxes.
So proud of him!
Michelle Sytsma retweeted
Every American needs to listen to this entire speech. Not just clips. It is phenomenal. Thank you @SecRubio for recognizing the severity of the problem and most importantly, working to combat it.
Michelle Sytsma retweeted
Can anyone point me to a progressive who seems like a genuinely kind, decent person who lives up to their purported ideals? One who has successfully ever created a business or anything of value with those ideals? One who is tolerant of those they disagree with?
Michelle Sytsma retweeted
WHAT WE’RE ALL PAYING FOR PROPERTY TAXES IN MICHIGAN IS CRIMINAL. AND WE ALL SIT AROUND AND TAKE IT.
Michelle Sytsma retweeted
I’m going to say this as calmly as possible:
Watching Caitlin Clark in the WNBA has become genuinely hard to stomach.
Not because she struggles sometimes. Not because she makes mistakes. Not because she gets criticized. That comes with being great.
It’s hard to stomach because it has become obvious that the league, the officials, the media, the players, and even her own organization have all decided that the most important thing is not letting Caitlin Clark become too big.
And that is insane.
This league was handed the most marketable, electric, revenue-generating player women’s basketball has ever seen, and instead of building around the moment, too many people seem obsessed with humbling her.
She gets fouled. Held. Hit. Cheap-shotted. Mocked. Targeted. Then when she reacts like a normal competitor, suddenly everyone wants to analyze her attitude.
No.
Her attitude is not the story.
The story is that a generational player is being treated like a problem by the very league she helped drag into mainstream relevance.
This reminds me of the worst kind of youth coach... the one who sees a special player, feels threatened by her talent, and slowly drains the joy out of her in the name of “teaching humility.”
That is what this looks like.
The freedom she played with at Iowa is disappearing. The fire is still there, but the joy looks damaged. The confidence looks weighed down. She looks like someone constantly fighting the refs, opponents, narratives, coaching decisions, jealousy, and a league culture that should be protecting its golden opportunity instead of resenting it.
And let’s be honest: Stephanie White has not helped.
Benching Caitlin Clark randomly when she is controlling the game tempo, or having your best shooter off the floor in critical game ending minutes when a victory is within reach is basketball malpractice. Limiting her rhythm, downplaying her greatness, benching momentum, and treating her like just another piece instead of the engine is absurd.
You do not take a player who changed the economics of your sport and manage her like you’re afraid her greatness might offend the room.
Nike deserves criticism too. Other players get signature shoes rolled out with urgency, while the biggest draw in women’s basketball is somehow still waiting on that signature shoe. That is not confusing. That is revealing.
Fans are not stupid.
They see the fouls.
They see the double standards.
They see the jealousy.
They see the media resentment.
They see the league benefiting from her popularity while refusing to fully embrace her.
And here is the part the WNBA better understand quickly:
People are not tuning in to watch Caitlin Clark be humbled.
They are tuning in to watch Caitlin Clark be great.
If she walked away tomorrow, the fans would follow her. The sponsors would follow her. The energy would follow her. The high salaries and the charter jets would follow her. And the league would be forced to confront the uncomfortable truth it keeps trying to avoid:
Caitlin Clark did not need the WNBA nearly as much as the WNBA needed Caitlin Clark.
At some point, her family, her agent, and her team need to ask a hard question:
How much longer do you let a league profit from her while allowing the culture around her to beat the spirit out of her?
Because from the outside looking in, this does not look like normal adversity anymore. It looks like abuse.
It looks like a league trying to break the very player who made millions of people care.
nitter.cf/i/status/2060921884666…
Michelle Sytsma retweeted
I’m receiving reports this morning regarding two successful campaigns that occurred over the weekend.
1. No Kings. As of this morning, there are (still) no kings in the United States of America.
2. No Dukes. As of this morning, there are no Dukes in the NCAA tournament.
Michelle Sytsma retweeted
Marco Rubio telling that room of Europeans that “We in America have no interest in being polite and orderly caretakers of the west’s managed decline” may be one of the best lines of the modern era. I’m sure they hated hearing it.
Anyway, time for them to take their medicine.
Michelle Sytsma retweeted
During the ICE operation in Minnesota, 3364 trafficked children were recovered and saved. Not a peep from Walz, Frey, or Democrats. It’s sick.
Michelle Sytsma retweeted
It’s very telling that the top cop in Michigan’s second largest city cites politicians undermining law enforcement as he prepares to leave.
The men and women in law enforcement that are serving communities across Michigan deserve our support, not scorn from politicians with ulterior motives.
Whether it be local police, county sheriff deputies, or state troopers, our men and women in law enforcement across Michigan put their lives on the line to make our state a better and safer place to call home.
I support those who hold the thin blue line!
Michelle Sytsma retweeted
The screenshot below is from the end of Trump's acceptance speech and many missed it, but it came through loud and clear in Trumps speech at Davos today.
This is not to be missed. When I heard Trump say “your expectations are not big enough” I immediately sat up in my chair. Trump's thinking here shows exactly why he’s the unbridled success he is. It’s all “mindset and an understanding of the American birthright” with Trump.
Trump’s giving us permission to proudly seize our American birthright, just as he has. “Your expectations are not big enough. We are Americans. Ambition is our heritage. Greatness is our birthright.”
Absolute genius, next level American mindset. Greatness is our birthright.
🇺🇸
