About Half of Wednesday

[gwydion]

* "To Make Sense of Lebanon’s Protests, Follow the Garbage:" https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/03/world/middleeast/lebanon-protests-corruption.html

* "Trump Administration Considers Sending Up to 14,000 More U.S. Troops to Middle East to Counter Iran:" https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-administration-considers-sending-up-to-14000-more-us-troops-to-middle-east-to-counter-iran

* "Trump pushes new Taliban negotiations during surprise Afghanistan trip:" https://www.politico.com/news/2019/11/28/trump-makes-surprise-thanksgiving-visit-to-us-troops-in-afghanistan-074388

* "Murphy: Trump inconsistency 'an absolute foreign policy disaster':" http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/murphy-trump-inconsistency-an-absolute-foreign-policy-disaster-74539077743

* "The Trump-Ukraine impeachment inquiry report, annotated:" https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2019/12/politics/trump-ukraine-impeachment-inquiry-report-annotated/

* "5 takeaways from the Judiciary Committee’s first impeachment hearing:" https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/12/04/early-takeaways-judiciary-committees-first-impeachment-hearing/

* "Nadler says scholars’ testimony is ‘clear and compelling evidence’ that Trump abused his power:" https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/impeachment-hearings-live-updates/2019/12/04/b7cc7b4e-1682-11ea-a659-7d69641c6ff7_story.html

* "Dems signal Mueller-related impeachment charges as witnesses assail Trump:" https://www.politico.com/news/2019/12/04/trump-impeachment-next-phase-removal-075013

* "Impeachment hearing takes vital step of consulting Constitution:" http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/impeachment-hearing-takes-vital-step-of-consulting-constitution-74539077813

* "Legal experts emphasize stakes of impeachment for nation's future:" http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/legal-experts-emphasize-stakes-of-impeachment-for-nation-s-future-74539077804

* "Democrats confident in impeachment evidence despite Trump blocks:" http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/democrats-confident-in-impeachment-evidence-despite-trump-blocks-74539077756

* "Republican counsel misquotes former Acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal:" http://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/republican-counsel-misquotes-former-acting-solicitor-general-neal-katyal-74531397920

* "Giuliani traveled to Hungary and Ukraine to meet with ex-prosecutors in effort to defend Trump:" https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/04/politics/rudy-giuliani-ukraine-visit-interviews-documentary/

* "Key Mueller witness, major Clinton and Trump donor charged with funneling $3.5 million in illegal contributions:" https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/legal-issues/key-mueller-witness-major-clinton-and-trump-donor-charged-with-funneling-35-million-in-illegal-contributions-in-2016-us-elections/2019/12/03/d1cd9166-153a-11ea-9110-3b34ce1d92b1_story.html

* "Chris Hayes on William Barr's ‘disgusting, despicable view’:" http://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/chris-hayes-on-william-barr-s-disgusting-despicable-view-74531909907

* "Hundreds of Thousands Are Losing Access to Food Stamps:" https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/04/us/politics/food-stamps.html

* Republicans: literally stealing children's lunches. "Trump's proposed SNAP changes could mean millions lose food stamp access:" https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/trump-administration-proposal-could-cause-millions-lose-food-stamps-n1092866

* "Trump admin. to kick nearly 700,000 off food stamps:" http://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/trump-admin-to-kick-nearly-700-000-off-food-stamps-74532933852

* "North Dakota company that Trump touted gets $400 million border wall contract:" https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/north-dakota-company-that-trump-touted-gets-400-million-border-wall-contract/2019/12/02/9c661132-1568-11ea-bf81-ebe89f477d1e_story.html

* "Pete Buttigieg volunteered at anti-gay Salvation Army and everyone collectively eye-rolled:" https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2019/12/04/pete-buttigieg-salvation-army-2017-twitter-reaction-anti-gay-presidential-candidate-us/

* "Congressman Introduces LGBTQ-Inclusive Antibullying Bill:" https://www.advocate.com/politics/2019/12/02/congressman-introduces-lgbtq-inclusive-antibullying-bill

* "U.S. Ambassador Threatened for Condemning Zambia's Antigay Laws:" https://www.advocate.com/world/2019/12/02/us-ambassador-threatened-condemning-zambias-antigay-laws

* TW: Child Abuse. "Dad arrested for abandoning his son on a motorway after he found him watching gay porn:" https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2019/12/04/florida-dad-abandoned-son-motorway-gay-evenaud-julmeus/

* "Trans Murder Victim's Family Enraged as Suspect Freed Until Trial:" https://www.advocate.com/crime/2019/12/02/trans-murder-victims-family-enraged-suspect-freed-until-trial

* "For HIV-Positive Babies, New Evidence Favors Starting Drug Treatment Just After Birth:" https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2019/12/04/784413421/for-hiv-positive-babies-new-evidence-favors-starting-drug-treatment-just-after-b

* "Mark Zuckerberg's Secret Meeting with Trump, Peloton Ad Blowback & Kamala Harris's Campaign Dropout:"

* "Trump Clashes with Emmanuel Macron at the NATO Summit:"

* "Cutting-Edge Meat Alternatives for Carnivores Who Want to Save the World:"

* "Upheavals and Downswings in the 2020 Democratic Primary Race:"

* "Joe Biden's Very Dated "No Malarkey" Slogan:"

* "NATO Leaders Laugh at Trump Behind His Back:"

* I ended up staying awake past one because of the contract signing meeting. By which point I was too tired to drive safely and my hips and legs were DONE. Which means none of the things got done. I absolutely have dentist tomorrow and I really, really need to do the other errands I can then. Me missing forage yet again can't be undone.

No one desecrated the sofa while I was asleep. (Elder Kitty usually sleeps most of the day in my office chair and has done so for so long it's not a conflict. The real conflict is over her reclaiming her old sofa spots and they were hammer and tongs on that the last few days. Livia literally leaves the room when they fight and she prefers napping on the chairs or the cat tree to the sofa with it's potential for sneak attack from above. This is between Elder kitty and the Tiny Terror). I am still working on the cushions in the bathroom at intervals. My body is still in tantrum mode and anything I do, including lying still really the fuck hurts even buy my standards. I really need a couple weeks off, but my schedule is heavy the next week or two, so idk.

* 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

* Gothmas Phase III: https://gwydionmisha.tumblr.com/post/189484039085/gothmas-phase-iii-2019-with-bonus-cat

* I still have so many questions about pre-reboot Trek verse.

For example, back in the day my friends and I wondered about TNG era behavioral modification and the like because we had trouble believing humans would have gone... I'm not finding the right word, but ToS crews were openly racist, rule breaking, and often on the verge of mutiny. Within the lifetime of Scotty and McCoy they went from unruly and individualistic to the cooperative most of the edges smoothed out TNG behavior. You get blips like O'Brien's racism and the bullying of Barkley, but it's not like the Enterprise nearly full on mutinying a couple times because everyone's super racist about Vulcans which I noticed on a recent rewatch.

The TNG crew felt borderline Stepford to us when we were watching them in real time week to week. That suggested heavy systemic behavior modification to us which spells dystopia. I full on hate Mudd from ToS, but can you picture a human behaving in TNG the ways he behaved in ToS? Because I can't. Other non-human races, but you don't see humans like that in TNG and that kind of creepy sexist con man awful is a very recognizable awful from RL. so what changed? So we posited conditioning from childhood and touch ups if people strayed too far off the model. Which makes the Barkley material out right scary, because what do they do if Barkley's mental illness gets noticed? Is it something like what happens to Charles Wallace and the little boy who's ball is off beat in that first Madeline Engle book? Because Deanna Troi isn't even trying to address his situation psychiatrically. In fact, she doesn't really act or function like any psychiatrist we knew of and is written to be wildly in competent at her supposed job. So what if she's really there to watch for people who are deviating too far from the conditioning and need to be hauled in for touch ups?

Similarly, for Starfleet culture to have changed as dramatically as it did between Tos and TNG, they'd have to be seriously policing things like racism, harassment, and bullying within the ranks, but they don't handle the group bullying of Barkley consistent with the things they'd need to do to create and maintain the change in Starfleet culture. They allow officers and peers to group bully him instead of coming down hard on people doing it and nipping the behavior in the bud. It's like they are antibodies or the pod people in Body snatchers pointing and screeching when they spot the assimilated. Picard doesn't react as if something is dreadfully wrong with his officer's behavior and order and discipline on his ship. He reacts as if Barkley can be forced to conform.

it just gets creepier and creepier the more one picks at it. Picard periodically asks Deanna to use her empath powers to spy on the mood of the crew and she does. Again creepy as fuck. Picard and Troi act as if this isn't a major violation of privacy, but rather a routine thing that everyone is okay with. It's also a major violation of psychiatric provider ethics.

She's not a psychiatrist. She's there to spy on the crew and report incredibly private things about their mental states to the captain. It's invasive and dystopian and her behavior makes way more sense if she's there to enforce a dystopian conditioning regime, not help people deal with things like anxiety and trauma.

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

* "How you can help Hurricane Dorian disaster relief:" https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/sep/08/hurricane-dorian-disaster-relief-how-you-can-help

* 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 open for apping the next story, which is 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