(no subject)

* "Labour has a week to turn this election into a winter war on austerity:" https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/dec/05/labour-election-winter-war-austerity-poverty

* "GOP expert wanted Clinton impeachment, says ‘slow down’ on Trump:" http://www.msnbc.com/am-joy/watch/gop-s-impeachment-expert-turley-says-house-should-slow-down-74708037673

* Republicans keep complaining that using the rules Republicans used for the Clinton Impeachment and the Benghazi hearings for this impeachment is by definition unfair. *sideye*

* "Amid scrutiny, Rudy Giuliani heads to Ukraine:" http://www.msnbc.com/am-joy/watch/giuliani-on-ukraine-trip-i-am-representing-my-client-74708549999

* "Legal expert says Nunes has much explaining to do over Parnas call:" http://www.msnbc.com/am-joy/watch/nunes-dodges-questions-about-phone-call-with-giuliani-associate-74708549917

* The Republican War on Small businesses and rural residents continues. "The small-town movie house braces for an unexpected threat:" https://apnews.com/43f36450e8fd4410b7bde463ab58fa50

* "Harris departure highlights lack of diversity among leading Dems:" http://www.msnbc.com/am-joy/watch/six-white-candidates-qualify-for-next-democratic-debate-so-far-74707526001

* "The Cybersecurity 202: Pennsylvania voting debacle gives ammunition to paper ballot push:" https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/the-cybersecurity-202/2019/12/02/the-cybersecurity-202-pennsylvania-voting-debacle-gives-ammunition-to-paper-ballot-push/5de3fe8b602ff1181f2641e5/

* "Installing Free Wi-Fi To Help Count Rural Communities Of Color In 2020 Census:" https://www.npr.org/2019/12/03/783002964/installing-free-wi-fi-to-help-count-rural-communities-of-color-in-2020-census

* Why would I date someone who didn't consider me human enough to deserve basic human rights? "The Real Reason People Won’t Date Across the Political Divide:" https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/dating-across-political-divide

"The risk of “polarization” this attitude supposedly causes is a red herring, disingenuously blaming the decline of democracy on leftist women who won’t fuck conservatives instead of on, say, gerrymandering, voter suppression, men who bully their wives and girlfriends into voting conservative and the influence of corporate lobbying. Rather than focus on these issues, critics blame individuals — and implicitly, those on the left — for wanting partners who share their values, and who truly value their wellbeing and lives. “The whole ‘you’re just narrow-minded’ thing gives me the shits, because it’s like, ‘No, I just don’t want to have sex with someone who thinks reverse racism is real,’” says Harriet, a 29-year-old writer in Australia who refuses to date anyone with right-wing politics.

“It’s one thing to argue policy specifics, but there’s no reckoning with ‘brown people are leeches on society’ and ‘it’s fine and good that we jail one in every 10 people,’” adds Julia, 32, from Washington, D.C. “It feels like they shouldn’t be allowed to have orgasms on principle.”"

* "Inside the Cell Where a Sick 16-Year-Old Boy Died in Border Patrol Care:" https://www.propublica.org/article/inside-the-cell-where-a-sick-16-year-old-boy-died-in-border-patrol-care

They need to be arresting people for negligent homicide and child abuse.

* They should have fired at least 32 people. "West Virginia Fires 3 Employees After Photo Shows Trainees Giving Nazi Salute:" https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/06/us/west-virginia-nazi-salute.html

* "Prosecutor drops all charges against man whose arrest and apparent choking by Baltimore police went viral:" https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/crime/bs-md-ci-cr-david-dixon-charges-dropped-20191206-c2wahvzs6bhrhbedovvjhfogki-story.html

* "Four died in a shootout with police after a UPS truck was hijacked. Could it have been avoided?:" https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/12/07/four-died-shootout-with-police-after-ups-truck-was-hijacked-could-it-have-been-avoided/

* "Critic says Barr comments imply a ‘two-tier American citizenship’:" http://www.msnbc.com/am-joy/watch/barr-communities-not-showing-respect-to-police-may-lose-protection-74708549526

* TW: Rape. "Donald Trump says "I don't know Prince Andrew,' despite meeting with the royal before Jeffrey Epstein's arrest:" https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-prince-andrew-epstein-virginia-giuffre-1475231

* We are long term fucked. This details how badly. "Nearly 30% of All Federal Judges Could Be Trump-Appointed by 2021:" https://www.advocate.com/commentary/2019/12/02/nearly-30-all-federal-judges-could-be-trump-appointed-2021

* "Senate Confirms Trump Judicial Nominee Who Fought Against Abortion, Surrogacy, and Fertility Treatment:" https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/12/sarah-pitlyk-trump-judge-ivf-abortion.html

* "Hate crimes are rising and the planet is burning, but this woman locked herself in a bathroom and cried because a gender reveal was ‘ruined’:" https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2019/12/02/reddit-gender-reveal-party-bathroom-lockdown-crying-ruined/

* "New blood donation rules for gay and bi men in the UK has not changed rates of infected blood:" https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2019/12/07/new-blood-donation-rules-gay-bisexual-men-not-changed-rates-infected-blood/

* "Lib Dem politician Phillip Lee says trans prisoners should be segregated during car crash Mumsnet interview:" https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2019/12/05/phillip-lee-mumsnet-transgender-people-segregated-prisons-liberal-democrats/

* "This Bird Went Extinct and Then Evolved Into Existence Again:" https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/vb9bpm/this-bird-went-extinct-and-then-evolved-into-existence-again

* "NATO Cafeteria Cold Open - SNL:"

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* "Them Trumps: Rally - SNL:"

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* So here’s what’s going on:

I’ve been having a bad episode with my body. It’s a chronic illness thing. Odds are the extra sleep disruption and cat messes turned up to nearly impossible and scheduled things and various pathogens and the rather brutal dentistry week before the one just past and associated infection all over stressed the system. Or it could be weather changes or just random systematic tantrum. These things happen. I’m likely allergic to something I was exposed to as I’m getting random bits of rash and some throat swelling. I’m also pretty sure I picked up a pathogen at this week’s dentist, though it’s at the nuisance stage so far. Like I said, my bet is on too many small things going on and my barely functional system can’t handle that.

The pain is not what even I consider manageable. Lying down hurts like sitting, sitting hurts like standing and anything at all involving standing or walking is for real torture. If I sit too long it ramps up near that level. The constant effort of will involved to do anything at all burns through spoons at double or triple usual rate for the same activity. Which really short circuits fine muscle control. In the last week I’ve spilled some of every single liquid I’ve poured. On the counter, on the floor, on the table, on me. More excruciating things to clean up while standing. I’ve spilled some of most of what I’ve eaten. I’ve done things like managed to make from scratch meals a few times and been too queasy to eat them from the pain.

The pain was so bad and the scheduling requirements I be up all morning for some things, that my sleep is off schedule and sporadic. I missed all the forage windows, because I’m generally not making it out of bed until well after dark. Result is, I’ve spent way too much ebt on things I could grab night shopping with a minimum of walking. I’ve a small emergency reserve, but… *shrug* I am having stupid problems like I can’t make sandwiches because I’ve not had much luck foraging bread and what I could forage has gone moldy. Hence the missing all this week being a terrible idea.

Next time you see a disabled person buying ready meals on EBT think of this. Don’t judge. Yes, I can make way cheaper things from scratch, but it’s a major effort when it’s bad like this and the food is mostly wasted and then I didn’t get enough to eat. I try to cook at least one meal a day. One a good week it’s too, but sometimes I have to fall back entirely on thing I can prep sitting down and make in a microwave or with boiled water or things I can just eat like crackers, nuts, and granola bars. It is way more important that I eat something than that I perform virtuous poor person right now for strangers in supermarkets. These are the trade offs we make.

Fuck. I forgot to restock the vegan cup of soups that actually taste good, and I burned through most of them with November pathogens.

It’s not getting any better next week, especially if I’m sick again. Basically all I did Saturday was fart around and reload the tumblr hopper because I don’t have the concentration for the real work on news stuff. Remember, aggregation requires a lot of reading and research, and I do it nearly every day, usually in quantity. Sometimes I need a day off, or at least mostly off. Sorry. I did do the research I absolutely have to do for the little thing I’m meant to be running tomorrow on horror Mush. I’ve got a list of stuff to read over for Tuesday, but that’s Monday’s problem.

I really am trying so very hard, but the difficulty on literally everything I do is turned waaaay up to eleven. I appreciate all of my readers. I hate when I let y'all down like I’ve been doing really since I got all the second degree burns last spring. This work of documenting the mess we are in as a country and as a planter is important to me.

This work of aggregation has gotten 100x harder since 2016.

I owe you all my thanks. You all help to keep me at it and I think it’s important to bear witness and rally the troops where we can.

* I’m still chipping away at the vertigo reread project I started back… I think February before last in the period when both my laptop and my car failed. I’m currently gnawing slowly through Hellblazers, starting at the very beginning. I started buying them in real time at the end of the twin plot, and my first full arc was Constantine’s lung cancer. As of now, I’m at the beginning of the big long thing with Kit.

A couple nights ago I hit an issue from late 1991 or thereabouts. For those of you too young to remember the world before google, this is back when the Internet was bboards and very, very primitive email. The world wide web is a few years in the future. Mobile phones were massive, just phones, and mostly only used by complete wankers. (I make an exception for specialist surgeons who back then often had pagers and sometimes had car phones in case the hospital called because they were air lifting someone in and they needed to prep for surgery ASAP, but mostly? Douche bags trying to show off how important they were.) smart phones with apps were still Science Fiction and would be for a long time.

So Constantine, Chas, and a couple of randos are playing poker in a bar in 1991. Constantine is generally a shit friend to poor Chas who is way more loyal and generous than Constantine could ever hope to deserve. John generally mocks him for being “thick” in between using him while giving nothing back and generally fucking up his life. Yes, I have feelings about this. *grumblegrumble* Yes, that’s part of the point. This crap human being saves the world over and over at great cost to pretty much anyone he brushes up against.

Anyway, Chas Chandler has an idea for a business. He’s a taxi driver see? And it occurred to him that only a handful of places deliver things like pizza, but that for most restaurants high and low in cost, you have to go pick it up yourself. Only maybe people are drunk or tired or whatever and don’t want to walk all the way to the chip shop or of to get pasties or whatever. Chas is like, I could go pick up their food for a percentage and deliver it like I deliver people in my taxi. O.o

They all mock him for being stupid because it’s the dumbest idea they’d ever heard of.

Chas Chandler very nearly invented Uber Eats in 1991. Blew my mind.

* ...And Squirrel's asshole cat turned off the computer "helpfully" losing the whole night of work, including a bunch of links I'd read, but not loaded here. I was trying to reboot at the time. If she's waited a literal minute, it would have been fine.

* Some RL friends of mine who were barely scraping by just lost one of the part time jobs they collectively hold and it's really fucking things up for them. These are good people, who do so much for others. Want to help? https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-a-gig-worker-get-through-the-winter/share

* Christmas Bonuses: https://twitter.com/emilygmonster/status/1202991091684925442

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

* A small, cheap thing to help climate change if you have little money to spare: https://onetreeplanted.org/products/amazon-rainforest-peru

* How to donate to Rainbow Road: https://www.rainbowrailroad.com/donate

* Here are a bunch of state level links to help people in immigrant detention: https://taibhsearachd.tumblr.com/post/186058182962/woundability-this-4th-of-july-celebrate-the

* Angry about the concentration camps on our Southern Border? Here is a list of useful things you can do: https://medium.com/@togetherandfree/feel-helpless-amidst-the-horrific-immigration-news-youre-not-how-you-can-make-difference-today-108dc42de88e

* "More Organizations to Support Helping Kids in Concentration Camps:" https://thisfinecrew.dreamwidth.org/201920.html

* Here is a massive list of things you can do to help refugees inside and outside of the Camps: https://s-leary.tumblr.com/post/185783586806/so-youve-probably-seen-the-post-going-around

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

* Have something you want to tell your Congress Critters? If you can not protest in person, here are some other options:

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/

* Some RL friends of mine who were barely scraping by just lost one of the part time jobs they collectively hold and it's really fucking things up for them. These are good people, who do so much for others. Want to help? https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-a-gig-worker-get-through-the-winter/share

* This is a cool person and the clothes are being made from an ethical source. Looking for cool inclusive Pride themed merch? www.nerdykeppie.com

* HorrorMux is currently running a Max Mad type thing. Available Archetypes are here. I'm Martyr if you want to find me.: http://horrormu.com/index.php/Available

* Help pay for cat food, litter, meds, medical copays: Paypal Lethran@gmail.com or paypal.me/Gwydion

* If you are interested in helping, right now the Cat thing we need most is:
https://www.chewy.com/wellness-core-signature-selects/dp/147047

The dry food I was going to try (less urgent) is this one: https://www.chewy.com/blue-buffalo-wilderness-flatland/dp/176663

Or possibly this: https://www.chewy.com/instinct-by-natures-variety-limited/dp/44654

* Birthday/Solstice master list: https://gwydion.dreamwidth.org/2108835.html