(no subject)

[gwydion]

* To my readers in Canada in areas being badly hit by storms this week, stay safe.

* "'Snowmageddon': cleanup begins after record Newfoundland storm:" https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jan/19/snowmageddon-cleanup-begins-after-record-newfoundland-storm

* To my readers in Australia, I am thinking of you. Fucksake, stay safe.

* CW: Dead Animals "Bushfires bring 'apocalypse' to Kangaroo Island:" https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-51102658

* "Indian General Talks of ‘Deradicalization Camps’ for Kashmiris:" https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/17/world/asia/india-kashmir-camps.html

* "Splits in France's strike movement trigger fears of violence:" https://apnews.com/7ca6d0272109aee9a8bd22319e3849ad

* "US troops were injured in Iran missile attack despite Pentagon initially saying there were no casualties:" https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/16/politics/service-members-injured-iran-strike/index.html

* "Prohibition's repeal shows America can correct its mistakes:" http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/prohibition-s-repeal-shows-america-can-correct-its-mistakes-76999237831

* "Trump Vowed to ‘Change’ Laws Prohibiting Companies From Bribing Foreign Officials: Book:" https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-vowed-to-change-laws-prohibiting-companies-from-bribing-foreign-officials-book-says

* "After more than 48 hours of silence, Pompeo says State will investigate possible surveillance of ex-US ambassador:" https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/17/politics/pompeo-yovanovitch-surveillance/index.html

* "Maddow shares more insights on bombshell Lev Parnas interview:" http://www.msnbc.com/am-joy/watch/lev-parnas-interview-with-rachel-maddow-discussed-with-maddow-77026373754

* "Chris Hayes: Trump definitely knows Lev Parnas (and Lev has receipts):" http://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/chris-hayes-trump-definitely-knows-lev-parnas-and-lev-has-receipts-76990533807

* "How Trump has made both Ukraine and the U.S. more corrupt:" http://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/how-trump-has-made-both-ukraine-and-the-u-s-more-corrupt-76994629580

* "DeSantis still mum on Parnas, knew nothing of Ukrainian schemes:" https://floridapolitics.com/archives/316337-desantis-parnas-ukraine

* "Parnas’ links to Florida politicians questioned by area reporter:" http://www.msnbc.com/am-joy/watch/parnas-exchanged-texts-with-fl-gov-desantis-wsj-report-alleges-77031493915

* "Trump finally gets his TV-ready lawyers — thanks to impeachment:" https://www.politico.com/news/2020/01/17/trump-impeachment-team-kenneth-starr-alan-dershowitz-100429

* "‘Alternative law:’ Constitutional scholar on the Dershowitz defense of Trump:" http://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/-alternative-law-constitutional-scholar-on-the-dershowitz-defense-of-trump-76992069803

* TW: Pedophilia. "Trump picks Epstein lawyers for impeachment:" http://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/trump-picks-epstein-lawyers-for-impeachment-76993093849

* "Legal expert says Trump should be worried about hiring Ken Starr:" http://www.msnbc.com/am-joy/watch/trump-s-impeachment-lawyer-starr-could-hurt-defense-expert-says-77030981601

* "Experts scrutinize Trump legal team, status of impeachment trial:" http://www.msnbc.com/am-joy/watch/trump-s-impeachment-senate-trial-legal-team-analyzed-by-experts-77031493717

* "GAO busts Trump 'no crime' claim with regard to Ukraine scheme:" http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/gao-busts-trump-no-crime-claim-with-regard-to-ukraine-scheme-76999749875

* "Flood of new impeachment evidence shaping views ahead of trial:" http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/flood-of-new-impeachment-evidence-shaping-views-ahead-of-trial-77000773888

Want witnesses and testimony at the impeachment? Want press access and fully televised hearings? Don't hold your breath, but if you have a moderate and/or vulnerable Republican senator now might be a good time to express your opinion.

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/

* "‘You’re a bunch of dopes and babies’: Inside Trump’s stunning tirade against generals:" https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/youre-a-bunch-of-dopes-and-babies-inside-trumps-stunning-tirade-against-generals/2020/01/16/d6dbb8a6-387e-11ea-bb7b-265f4554af6d_story.html

* "Barr Investigating Comey Again, Is Going After Trump’s Enemies One by One:" http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/01/william-barr-going-after-trumps-enemies-one-by-one-comey-fbi-department-justice.html

* Yet another Republican attack on the health of children. "More pizza, fewer vegetables: Trump administration further undercuts Obama school-lunch rules:" https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/01/17/usda-proposes-changing-school-menus-allow-more-fries-pizza-fewer-vegetables-fruits-reversing-michelle-obama-effort/

"Mary Story, a professor of Global Health, and Family Medicine and Community Health at Duke University and a member of the USDA Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, said that, with these changes, the administration “is going against their own findings from their study which showed that the updates in nutrition standards have had a positive and significant effect. This makes absolutely no sense. Politics and industry pressure should not interfere with what is best for children’s health.”"

* "Pete Buttigieg shares emotional encounters with older LGBT+ people on the campaign trail:" https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2020/01/17/pete-buttigieg-older-lgbt-people-campaign-trail-presidential-election-democrat/

* "Rep. Duncan Hunter officially vacates office representing 50th Congressional District:" https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-01-14/rep-duncan-hunter-officially-vacates-office-representing-50th-congressional-district

* "Critics, lawyers agree: Chris Collins got lucky with 26-month sentence:" https://buffalonews.com/2020/01/18/critics-lawyers-agree-chris-collins-got-off-easy-but-for-reasons/

* "Earthquake-damaged buildings cripple Puerto Rico:" https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/16/us/puerto-rico-earthquake-damaged-buildings/index.html

* "The FBI Arrested Three White Supremacists Days Before A Gun Rally That Is Attracting "Threats Of Violence":" https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/amberjamieson/white-supremacists-arrested

* "Human rights lawyer urges Japan to end forced sterilisation of trans people:" https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2020/01/18/japan-trans-forced-sterilisation-international-human-rights-lawyer-michael-kirby/

* "Owen Jones attacker found guilty of assault motivated by homophobia and anti-Left views:" https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2020/01/17/owen-jones-attacker-found-guilty-assault-homophobia-anti-left-views/

* "Gay couple blackmailed after hookup then attacked with tear gas by four masked men:" https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2020/01/18/gay-couple-france-hookup-blacmailed-attacked-in-their-home-with-tear-gas/

* "Stripper sentenced to life in prison for murdering his boyfriend with two gunshots to the head:" https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2020/01/17/life-in-prison-stripper-murder-boyfriend-shooting-atlanta-georgia-william-morgan-brian-campbell/

* "Catholic Church opposes ‘troubling’ reforms to gender recognition laws:" https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2020/01/18/catholic-church-opposes-gender-recognition-law-reforms-scotland-family-marriage/

* "Pro-Trump Republican wants to jail librarians who promote LGBT equality and it all sounds eerily familiar:" https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2020/01/17/republican-ben-baker-jail-library-librarians-donald-trump-censorship-drag-queen-story-time/

"Carrie Cline, Neosho Newton County Library Director, told KNWA: “Libraries are very much against censorship in of any kind, we are one of the last institutions left alive where no matter who you are ethnically, religiously, politically you are welcomed at the public library."

* "California just failed to pass a ban on unnecessary genital surgeries for intersex babies:" https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2020/01/17/california-intersex-babies-genital-surgeries-bill-failed/

* "Doctors Jailed for Trans Surgeries and Care? Two States Considering It:" https://www.advocate.com/transgender/2020/1/17/doctors-jailed-trans-surgeries-and-care-two-states-considering-it

"“Research shows that transgender youth whose families affirm their gender identity have a 52 percent decrease in suicidal thoughts, a 48 percent decrease in suicide attempts and significant increases in self-esteem and general health,” states a press release from the ACLU’s South Dakota affiliate. The ACLU also notes that major medical organizations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Medical Association, endorse gender-affirming care for young people, to be arranged between doctors and patients."

* "A January heat wave engulfed the eastern half of the country, toppling records:" https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2020/01/13/january-heat-wave-engulfed-eastern-half-country-toppling-records/

* "The Quiet Rescue of America’s Forgotten Fruit:" https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/growing-collecting-rare-fruit

* "KiKi Holli- CLEAN VERSION- @#%! U Moscow Mitch:"

Watch on YouTube

* Friday: I had no choice but to go out today, as the extra documentation they wanted for my Medicaid had to go in. The medicaid covers most of the Medicare payments, so I can't fuck around even though it was three silly bits of paper, two of them lteral ATM slips that i copied ion the same sheet when I got there.

Extra challenges were: 1. Extreme insomnia meaning that I could not get to sleep and every time I started to drift off something woke me: That lady calling with a wrong number like she does about once a month. Tavy aggressively biscuit making on my ribs with sharp claws. That sort of thing. A collection of discomforts that I only managed to finally get to bearable levels an hour before the alarm so that i managed a 10-15 minute nap at best instead of real sleep. 2. The extreme pain situation that is making walking and standing nightmarish. 3. The snow. Lckily Squirrel was correct that the hardest part was getting to the car and out onto the street. Bonus, I had to basically shovel three inches of hardened snow off my windshield and my passenger side wiper broke while it was parked there for a week and also I didn't discover the neighbor car had smacked my passenger rear view in a way that required manual realignment until I was literally on the highway.

Most of the roads were fine, but the ones that weren't really really weren't. The road in front of forage was dangerous enough that when I realized that there was no parking on that street and the sidewalks were nearly impassable for me, I didn't circle and wait, as he whole my tires lost purchase twice and I nearly got trapped in the snow at a stop sign. It was too dangerous to risk it again. I did library and picked up the one med I ran out of at the pharmacy, drove north to hand in my bits of paper, then stopped to pick up Kaiser rolls, TP, and litter. I knew I was in trouble less than a minute after entering the store as the other issue with my arms, neck, and shoulders was making it hard to push the cart empty and my foot was already screaming from the line to turn in the papers.

When I got home, someone had helpfully stolen our reserved belongs to us exclusively parking spot. Luckily, for the first time in literally months, the disabled spot in front of our building was open. This was ideal as the sport bit of pavement to the door was navigable and the sidewalks on the blocks in front of our apartment are too icy and even the small slope at the bottom of the drive would mean I'd have had to crawl through the snow because no way could i safely walk it.

I'm at the having trouble walking to the bathroom point here and am going to bed early.

Tavy's goon three days with the box off the sofa and him not peeing on furniture. Let us hope the trend continues.

I am concerned because her appetite seems low the last 3-4 days, I haven't seen or heard her playing, and she hasn't been hanging out on her window sill in the evening. She is cuddly and she's definitely using the litter box, but still.... Let's hope it's just the cold weather and her avoiding other cat drama.

* Saturday: Friday's activities really messed me up. Everything that was getting better is back to terrible again. My friend postponed the furniture moving until tomorrow, which is likely for the best, given my condition. The Imperial couple and I went back to bed and i kept doing that thing where I'd read a page or two of Carmilla, then go back to sleep, over and over. I did eventually strip the bed and start the washer.

When I came out I found massive die off in the office tank, literally since yesterday. I did a big water change and the water was the wrong colour. I have a lot of concerns and suspicions. Al the younger fish are dead. I'm going to do what I can to save the ones left, but I'm not hopeful.

In cat news: Good girl Livia ate most of her special girl goosh this evening, but Tavy is now insisting that the new kibbles aren't really food.

In Renovation News: the nice contractor helped me find everything but the tub. It turned out there was literally one choice of toilet in the stores we were to choose from that fit the criteria. Now to get things moved and cleaned and ready for Wednesday, plus the tub field trip somehow, despite how hard standing is right now.

Wee Hours Fish update: I've been able to count 13 live fish visible at once. Odds are there are some hiding. I'm pretty sure one of them which looked really ill earlier and now seems a lot better. I haven't seen any new bodies. *crosses fingers*

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

* Australia is on fire. Want to help? https://gwydionmisha.tumblr.com/post/190151259088
https://www.abc.net.au/classic/read-and-watch/news/bushfire-donations/11823676
Help Thirsty Koalas Devastated by Recent Fires: https://au.gofundme.com/f/help-thirsty-koalas-devastated-by-recent-fires
Mogo Zoo Fire Recovery: https://au.gofundme.com/f/mogo-zoo-fire-recovery
WIRES-Emergency Fund for Wildlife: https://www.facebook.com/donate/1386120504919105/10158318179549750/
Victorian Bushfire Appeal: https://www.vic.gov.au/bushfireappeal
"Fire Relief Fund for First Nations Communities:" https://www.gofundme.com/f/fire-relief-fund-for-first-nations-communities

* 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 Refugee Children:" 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

* The Indivisble guide exists to help you organize effective resistance: https://indivisible.org/

* Want to support Christy Smith in the primary for Katie Hill's seat?: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/dw_ca25

* Want to get rid of Mitch McConnell? Help Amy McGrath: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/am-website?refcode=website-nav

* Want to get rid of Lindsey Graham? Help Jaime Harrison: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/ms_harrison_fr_q12019_jaime-a?refcode=MS_AD_D-DD_2019.03.08_X_GG_KW__X__eyJjcmVhdGl2ZSI6IkFkZCBEb25hdGlvbiBOb3ciLCJhdWRpZW5jZSI6IkphaW1lSGFycmlzb24ifQ&recurring=TRUE&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIn4a_583I5gIVC8RkCh0MowFeEAAYASAAEgIXZfD_BwE

* There's a decent chance of flipping this Senate seat blue. Want to help? https://secure.actblue.com/donate/ads-mek-egsearch_dtd?refcode=ads-200108-gs-evergreensearch-dtd-natl-mix-8753679275-87807510469-410037583123-%2Bmark%20%2Bkelly%20%2Bdonate&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIpKSR192K5wIVAsNkCh0EeAFSEAAYASAAEgLY7fD_BwE

* 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

* 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 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