(no subject)

[gwydion]

* "Australia to apologise to sex abuse victims:" http://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-42984260

* "Deadly earthquake strikes Taiwan:" http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-42966916

* "'Boko Haram wanted me to carry a bomb':" http://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-africa-35891811/escaping-boko-haram-they-wanted-me-to-carry-a-bomb

* "Violent protests as opposition leader is jailed in Bangladesh:" https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/feb/08/violent-protests-opposition-leader-jailed-bangladesh-khaleda-zia

* "Trump reportedly doesn't read his daily intel briefing:" http://www.msnbc.com/brian-williams/watch/trump-reportedly-doesn-t-read-his-daily-intel-briefing-1158376516001

* "Trump wants to cap lifetime Medicaid benefits, even for disabled people, the chronically ill, and people with Alzheimer's:" https://boingboing.net/2018/02/07/are-there-no-workhouses-3.html

* "Tim Kaine demands release of secret Trump war powers memo:" https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/sen-tim-kaine-demands-release-secret-trump-war-powers-memo-n846176

* "Trump blocks release of Democratic Russia memo:" https://www.politico.com/story/2018/02/09/trump-blocks-release-of-democratic-memo-402083

* "FBI surveillance of Carter Page might have picked up Bannon:" https://www.politico.com/story/2018/02/08/carter-page-steve-bannon-fbi-communications-398992

* "Trump doesn't get the 'best people.' He gets the worst. Here's why.:" http://theweek.com/articles/753966/trump-doesnt-best-people-gets-worst-heres-why

* "Second White House staffer resigns amid abuse allegations:" https://www.politico.com/story/2018/02/09/second-white-house-staffer-resigns-amid-abuse-allegations-402084

* "Rachel Brand to resign from Justice Dept.:" https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/09/politics/rachel-brand-resigns/index.html

* "Trump closer to ending Russia probe as Rachel Brand quits DoJ:" http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/trump-closer-to-ending-russia-probe-as-rachel-brand-quits-doj-1158335043931?playlist=associated

* "Chief of Staff John Kelly expressed to President Trump willingness to resign: Sources:" http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/sources-chief-staff-john-kelly-expressed-president-trump/story?id=52970133

* "WTF is going on with Jared Kushner’s security clearance:" https://thinkprogress.org/its-been-385-days-and-jared-kushner-still-doesnt-have-a-permanent-security-clearance-e58c4f7dfa8f/

* TW: Domestic Abuse "White House won't say when Kelly knew about alleged abuse:" http://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/white-house-won-t-say-when-kelly-knew-about-alleged-abuse-1157234755726

* "Trump wishes disgraced aide well after domestic abuse allegations:" https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-porter/trump-wishes-disgraced-aide-well-after-domestic-abuse-allegations-idUSKBN1FT2MX

* "Trump frustrated with Hicks' role in Porter scandal:" https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/09/politics/rob-porter-donald-trump-reince-priebus/index.html

* "Trump vetting failures seen in scandals, firings, security lapses:" http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/trump-vetting-failures-seen-in-scandals-firings-security-lapses-1157371971590?playlist=associated

* "Congress votes to reopen government, passes massive budget deal:" https://www.newsday.com/news/nation/congress-budget-vote-1.16646015

* "Trump gets mocked for his parade idea:" http://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/trump-gets-mocked-for-his-parade-idea-1157250627786

* "Standing Up From My Wheelchair in Public:" http://taibhsearachd.tumblr.com/post/170709622053/standing-up-from-my-wheelchair-in-public

* "Number 4- Rest in Power and Peace Celine Walker:" http://transgriot.blogspot.com/2018/02/number-4-rest-in-power-and-peace-celine.html

* "An Ancient Virus May Be Responsible for Human Consciousness:" https://www.livescience.com/61627-ancient-virus-brain.html

* "Tools near Mumbai beach trace human settlements to Middle Stone Age:" https://www.hindustantimes.com/mumbai-news/tools-near-mumbai-beach-trace-human-settlements-to-middle-stone-age/story-B8EI1618lgZq9hvcsPH0GO.html

* The Pictures are Amazing! I've only seen one of them before. "The all-black WWI regiment renowned for courage despite prejudice:" https://mashable.com/2015/11/18/harlem-hellfighters/#ei5hNIhir8qJ

* "The Queer, Disabled and Women of Colour Suffragettes History Forgot:" https://www.vice.com/en_uk/article/d3w8wy/the-queer-disabled-and-women-of-colour-suffragettes-history-forgot

* "Angela Davis On Violence:"

Watch on YouTube

* "In 1968, Three Students Were Killed by Police. Today, Few Remember the Orangeburg Massacre:" https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/1968-three-students-were-killed-police-today-few-remember-orangeburg-massacre-180968092/

* "The Trumps-Giving Day Military Parade:"

Watch on YouTube

* "Our Very Smart President Can Easily Handle Robert Mueller:"

Watch on YouTube

* "Global Warming Is Now Not ‘Necessarily A Bad Thing’:"

Watch on YouTube

* "The White House Got Rid Of A Bad Man (No, Not Trump):"

Watch on YouTube

* "Quincy Jones Dishes On JFK, MJ, And POTUS:"

Watch on YouTube

* Thing I learned today: Biathlete and Bi athlete sound pretty much the same.

* I know Librarians is meant to be silly and the last episode was pretty, but I am having some really big problems with their mythology. Humans had colour and creativity long before the Library of Alexandria was formed. I simply can't swallow that everything was dull, unimaginative and lifeless until a particular library was built in North Africa under a Macedonian Dynasty. It doesn't pass the smell test. There was a long history of art and literature in Meopotamia, Egypt, India, and China, before that first scroll went into it's cubbyhole at the Library. It's just... too big and patently false a nonsense to swallow. Also, I'd been side eyeing the Mediterranean civilization hegemony here. Shouldn't there be a counterweight library somewhere in, say, China or India, given the age and literacy of those civilizations? While travel from Western Europe to India was hard until relatively recently, there was thriving trade from Eastern Africa to Eastern Asia with the subcontinent as a hub. Could the library make doors to cities in countries not mentioned in it's tomes? How would librarians know to go there, wouldn't a second, waaaay older library make sense? What of the Americas? Would first Century north African or European Librarians be traveling to continents they had no idea existed? How could the Library have the level of influence alleged there? What of Australia, New Zealand, etc.? Again, completely unsuspected to the rest of the world until relatively recently. It is looking more and more like the oral tradition of the indigenous Australians may be alarmingly accurate further back than writing existed. How do oral traditions on that scale and civilizations that old with that much continuity fit into the world building.

I just... The library is too new and too geographically specific, and so much Art and literature and creativity existed before the Library of Alexandria was a thing, and it's gotten impossible to ignore this season what with the Librry's back story and effects on the world being too large and Universal. The Dark Ages were that super specific thing that happened in Greece when Mycenaean culture collapsed so thoroughly that they forgot how to write and suddenly the people trying to make ceramics clearly only vaguely knew how pots were made because nearly all the professional potters were dead. The European "Dark Ages" was a thing Early Modern Era historians did where they labelled everything they didn't like Medieval and Every thing they did like Renaissance and then labelled a big chunk of history the Dark Ages to contrast it with their own time which they labelled enlightenment. Yes, things got pretty chaotic for a while in particular spots in Europe, but even where things were pretty bad, people still wrote books, and civilization trundled on just fine in Ireland and the eastern Roman Empire, and pretty much the whole rest of the world. There was never any whole world dark ages, so that warring librarians catastrophe story makes zero sense from a World historical perspective. Occasionally a particular civilization or section of a civilization will crash and burn, but there has not yet been a world wide catastrophe. And again, take a look at how complex and colorful world art and literature are before the founding of the Library of Alexandria, so the causation does not make any sense and I couldn't stop worrying at it that whole last episode, which meant that it was hard to focus on what was on the screen.

It was better not knowing the larger show mythology, because everything crumbles when you do, like a meringue one has taken a hammer to. I get it, it's a silly show and not intended for thinking thoughts, but they've exceeded the suspension of disbelief, and I'm not sure I can get mine back after this season.

* "The Environment and Tolerance in Wolf Speaker:" https://www.thefandomentals.com/environment-tolerance/

* I won't be watching these. "Benioff and Weiss are Writing Star Wars Movies and Rebellions are Built on LIES:" https://www.thefandomentals.com/benioff-weiss-star-wars-announcement/

* "Once upon a time there was a city called Omelas...:" http://gwydionmisha.tumblr.com/post/170685911452/shedoesnotcomprehend-once-upon-a-time-there-was

* Jyn Erso's last Words: gwydionmisha.tumblr.com/post/170683653612/ladytharen-i-personally-love-that-jyns-last

* "The sun is probably the closest thing we’ll ever have to a true Eldritch Abomination." http://lettersfromtitan.tumblr.com/post/170625947241/ndiecity-the-sun-is-probably-the-closest-thing

* Tywin Lannister vs. Eddard Stark as Parents: http://turtle-paced.tumblr.com/post/170510636997/wasnt-there-anything-that-tywin-was-right-about

* Dany and Jorah's Role: http://turtle-paced.tumblr.com/post/170536435512/do-you-think-jorahs-role-is-a-sort-of-entry-level#notes

*****
* Full list of Resistance and charity links has been migrated to my profile as it was getting out of hand.

* "Help us stop the humanitarian crisis on Manus:" https://www.asrc.org.au/donate-now/

* "RISE (Refugees, Survivors and Ex-Detainees):" https://www.givenow.com.au/riserefugee/donate

* How to help Rohingya refugees: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/29/world/asia/rohingya-aid-myanmar-bangladesh.html?emc=edit_nn_20171012&nl=morning-briefing&nlid=50784086&te=1&_r=0

* Help fight for Net Neutrality restoration: http://gwydionmisha.tumblr.com/post/170010496350/democrats-are-just-one-vote-shy-of-restoring-net

* A list of organizations to help you run for office: http://lovingmyselfishard.tumblr.com/post/167330144634/psst-hey

* Trans Lifeline is one of those organizations you can call at (877) 565-8860 in the US and in Canada (877) 330- 6366.

* The Trevor Project has a 24 hour hotline geared toward helping our youth, and you can call it at 1-866-488-7386

* Call the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask to be connected to the representative of your choice.

* This App phones your rep for you: http://takeastance.us/

* Here is one that will send your reps a fax: https://resistbot.io/

* Help pay for cat food, litter, meds, medical copays: Paypal Lethran@gmail.com

* Birthday/Solstice master list: https://gwydion.dreamwidth.org/1925021.html

* Want Game of Thrones without the creepy? We need new players. We are very inclusive. "Game of Bones MUSH:" gobmush.wikidot.com