Nec Hoc Nec Ilud

* "Guatemala presidential election: Unraveling the final candidates’ platforms:" https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/8/14/guatemala-presidential-election-unraveling-the-final-candidates-platforms

* "Guatemala presidential frontrunner to keep same-sex marriage illegal and run country with ‘fear of God’:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/08/14/guatemalan-presidential-campaign-candidate-sandra-torres/

* "Let's talk about 2 things falling in Russia....:"

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* "Asylum seeker explains why ‘inhumane’ rhetoric is so hurtful: ‘See the person behind the story’:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/08/11/asylum-seeker-refugee-rishi-sunak-lee-anderson-bisexual/

* "How the ECHR has transformed LGBTQ+ rights in the UK, as Tories consider leaving it:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/08/12/echr-rwanda-lgbtq-rights/

* Doesn't undo the trauma of the police brutalizing her though. "Autistic girl arrested over ‘lesbian nanna’ comment to face no further action, police say:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/08/12/autistic-girl-arrest-west-yorkshire-police/

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* "Ukraine says two killed in Russian shelling of Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia regions:" https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukraine-says-two-killed-russian-shelling-kharkiv-zaporizhzhia-regions-2023-08-12/

* "Ukraine briefing: Russian shelling kills 7, including infant, in Kherson; cargo ship fired on in Black Sea:" https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/08/13/russia-ukraine-war-news/

* "Crimea Bridge Strikes 'Continue To Disrupt' Russian Logistics: ISW:" https://www.newsweek.com/ukraine-russia-crimea-bridge-chonhar-kerch-strait-logistics-1819386

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* "Student Loan Bills Are Higher Than Mortgage Payments for Some Borrowers:" https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-08-16/student-loan-payments-restart-borrowers-will-pay-more-than-their-mortgage?srnd=premium&sref=MIBMEEoj

* "More than 800,000 student loan borrowers are getting billions of dollars in debt forgiveness this week:" https://www.cbsnews.com/news/student-loan-forgiveness-income-driven-repayment-plans-president-biden/

* "Fed officials see ‘upside risks’ to inflation possibly leading to more rate hikes, minutes show:" https://www.cnbc.com/2023/08/16/fed-meeting-minutes-signal-coming-rate-moves.html

* "U.S. mortgage interest rates jump to 7.16%, highest since 2001:" https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/us-mortgage-interest-rates-jump-716-highest-since-2001-2022-10-26/

* "Let's talk about Colorado, Alabama, and a General's house....:"

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* "Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin blasts GOP senator's blockade of military promotions as 'unnecessary' and 'unsafe':" https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/defense-secretary-lloyd-austin-blasts-gop-senators-blockade-military-p-rcna99759

* "LGBTQ+ Community Centers: Invaluable, Imperiled:" https://www.advocate.com/voices/republicans-target-lgbtq-community-centers

* "Number of Homeless Americans Rises at Record Rate:" https://www.thedailybeast.com/number-of-homeless-americans-rises-at-record-rate-wsj

* "Texas man ticketed for feeding the homeless outside Houston library is found not guilty:" https://apnews.com/article/houston-homeless-feeding-food-not-bombs-not-guilty-530a5e5931fc6db8f0ab7d51b2331492

* "Let's talk about Texas, definitions, and people....:"

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* "Grindr Accused of Union Busting: Report:" https://www.advocate.com/business/grindr-union-busting-accusations

* "Marvel VFX Artists Will Vote to Unionize:" https://www.wired.com/story/marvel-vfx-unionization-big-deal/

* "Unionizing the Skies with Sara Nelson:"

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* "Democrat-turned-Republican who's now pushing for a Biden impeachment inquiry once opposed doing the same for Trump because it lacked 'bipartisan support' and would 'divide the country':" https://www.businessinsider.com/jeff-van-drew-democrat-republican-impeachment-inquiry-bipartisan-support-2023-8

* "Democrats call for hearing to ‘investigate attacks on democracy’ after DeSantis suspension of state attorney:" https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/4148046-democrats-call-for-hearing-investigate-attacks-on-democracy-after-desantis-suspension-of-state-attorney/

* "Trans military bans undermine ‘very essence of the American Dream’, says Marine vet:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/08/12/marine-corps-veteran-lgbtq-trans-inclusion-military-ban/

* "Anti-LGBTQ+ Groups Back New Kids Online Safety Act: Report:" https://www.advocate.com/law/kosa-anti-lgbtq-groups

* "You Can Help Stop These Bad Internet Bills:" https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/07/you-can-help-stop-these-bad-internet-bills

* Have something you want to tell your Congress Critters? If you can't safely contact them 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.

Here is one that will send your reps a fax: https://resist.bot/

* The Indivisible Guide: "A Practical Guide to defeating MAGA:" https://indivisible.org/sites/default/files/2023-01/20220104_Indivisible_%20A%20Practical%20Guide%20to%20Defeating%20MAGA.pdf

* "Judge calls new Texas election law unconstitutional but state says it will appeal ruling:" https://apnews.com/article/voting-texas-elections-harris-county-unconstitutional-2f0ee4a3a4bee1b673782544c39e36a9

* "Let's talk about the GOP trying again in Ohio....:"

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* "Let's talk about a GOP constitutional amendment....:"

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* This is terrorism. "Violent threats against public officials are rising. Here's why:" https://www.npr.org/2023/08/12/1193463117/violent-threats-against-public-officials-are-rising-heres-why

* "The President touts "Bidenomics" as administration tries to sell economic message:" https://www.msnbc.com/jonathan-capehart/watch/the-president-touts-bidenomics-as-administration-tries-to-sell-economic-message-190735941627

* "Vivek Ramaswamy: LGBTQ+ People Created 'Tyranny of the Minority':" https://www.advocate.com/politics/vivek-ramaswamy-lgbtq-people-tyranny

* "Mike Pence Runs Out of Gas:" https://www.advocate.com/voices/mike-pence-out-gas

* "Asa Hutchinson: I will prosecute Trump at the debate—whether he's there or not:" https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/asa-hutchinson-i-will-prosecute-trump-at-the-debate-whether-he-s-there-or-not-191148613887

* "Orlando Magic Donates $50K to Ron DeSantis Super PAC:" https://www.advocate.com/politics/ron-desantis-orlando-magic

* "DeSantis replaces campaign manager as he struggles to catch up to Trump:" https://www.politico.com/news/2023/08/08/ron-desantis-replaces-campaign-manager-00110253

* "‘This belongs in the Smithsonian’: Inside the meme video operation that swallowed Ron DeSantis’ campaign:" https://www.semafor.com/article/07/31/2023/desantis-meme-factory

* "DeSantis’ leaked debate memo leads us to ask: Is this guy for real?

* "Ron DeSantis Instructed to ‘Show Emotion’ at GOP Debate: Leaked Memo:" https://www.advocate.com/politics/ron-desantis-debate-memo

* "How Should DeSantis Handle Trump? Strategists Suggest Dropping Out or Becoming a Different Person.:" https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2023/08/desantis-trump-campaign-primary-political-operatives-advice.html

* "How a weird McConnell video may explain the embarrassing leak of DeSantis' debate strategy:" https://www.msnbc.com/alex-wagner-tonight/watch/how-a-weird-mcconnell-video-may-explain-the-embarrassing-leak-of-desantis-debate-strategy-191079493824

* "McConnell's Legacy in Flames as Trump Crime Show Swamps GOP:" https://www.advocate.com/voices/mcconnell-legacy-trump-crime-show

* "Spiraling Legal Bills Threaten Trump With a Cash Crunch:" https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/11/us/politics/donald-trump-legal-bills-campaign.html

* "Former Trump attorney Jenna Ellis is crowdfunding her Georgia indictment defense fees:" https://www.npr.org/2023/08/16/1194133648/former-trump-attorney-jenna-ellis-is-crowdfunding-her-georgia-indictment-defense

* "Pastor alarmed after Trump-loving congregants deride Jesus' teachings as 'weak':" https://www.rawstory.com/trump-evangelicals-2663078391/

* "DeSantis’ ‘anti-woke’ bills are costing Florida millions of dollars in business:" https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/06/economy/florida-convention-business-cancellations/index.html

* Republican Matt Gaetz is openly calling for Republicans to violently overthrow the government so a Republican fascist dictatorship can put an end to the rule of law. They aren't even pretending that's not the goal any more. "Congressman Matt Gaetz declares only “force” can bring change in Washington as he defends Trump in Iowa:" https://www.msnbc.com/american-voices/watch/congressman-matt-gaetz-declares-only-force-can-bring-change-in-washington-as-he-defends-trump-in-iowa-190749765584

* "Florida Republican chairman wants ‘perverted’ parents of LGBTQ+ youth to leave the state:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/08/15/florida-republicans-ron-desantis-christian-ziegler/

* "Republican Reportedly Called Child 'F*g' Then Sued News Outlet for Covering It:" https://www.advocate.com/media/wisconsin-lawsuit-republican-antigay-slurs

* "Texas Republican Sarah Davis explains how she became a trans ally: ‘It was very simple’:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/08/15/texas-republican-sarah-davis-trans-lgbtq-campaign/

* "A former fundraiser for Rep. George Santos has been charged with wire fraud and identity theft:" https://apnews.com/article/george-santos-fundraiser-indicted-congress-new-york-565b0a82e6ca2ceb6c69d1978254ac5b

* "Tennessee Republican with Anti-LGBTQ+ History Sentenced in Campaign Finance Case:" https://www.advocate.com/crime/tennessee-lawmaker-prison-campaign-finance

* "Police video shows Rep. Ronny Jackson swearing at Texas officers :" https://www.politico.com/news/2023/08/14/police-video-shows-rep-ronny-jackson-swearing-at-texas-officers-00111204

* "Republican finds limit to his 'back the blue' stance in aggressive arrest:" https://www.msnbc.com/alex-wagner-tonight/watch/republican-finds-limit-to-his-back-the-blue-stance-in-aggressive-arrest-190998597831

* "Canadian woman sentenced to nearly 22 years for 2020 ricin letter sent to Trump in White House:" https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/canadian-woman-sentenced-22-years-2020-ricin-letter-102348326

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* CW: Sexual Assault "Trump counterclaim against E. Jean Carroll dismissed, DA can get deposition:" https://www.cnbc.com/2023/08/07/judge-trump-deposition-in-e-jean-carroll-case-can-go-to-prosecutors.html

* "How Fani Willis oversaw what might be the most sprawling legal case against Donald Trump:" https://apnews.com/article/trump-georgia-election-investigation-fani-willis-indictment-32bfdd2cca9d3184056836b208a78379

* "Special prosecutor will examine actions of Georgia’s lieutenant governor in Trump election meddling:" https://apnews.com/article/trump-georgia-election-investigation-burt-jones-willis-16e76d68ca32a9b705b440c0c5098ef0

* "Trump, allies charged with racketeering scheme over bid to subvert election in Georgia:" https://www.politico.com/news/2023/08/14/fulton-county-trump-indictment-00111211

* "Trump is indicted in Georgia on charges of racketeering. What it means, what happens next:" https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/08/15/trump-indicted-georgia-explained/

* "Trump, Giuliani, Sidney Powell Among Many Indicted by Georgia Jury:" https://www.advocate.com/crime/trump-giuliani-powell-indicted-georgia

* "2 Chicago-area people indicted with Trump, accused of trying to overturn Georgia election results:" https://chicago.suntimes.com/politics/2023/8/15/23832765/trevian-kutti-stephen-lee-indicted-trump-overturn-georgia-election-results

* "DA seeks March 4 trial date for Trump Georgia election case:" https://www.cnbc.com/2023/08/16/da-seeks-march-4-trial-date-for-trump-georgia-election-case.html

* "4 things revealed by Trump’s Georgia indictment:" https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/08/15/takeaways-trump-georgia-indictment/

* "How Donald Trump tried to undo his loss in Georgia in 2020:" https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/interactive/2023/trump-georgia-election-investigation/?itid=hp-more-top-stories_p005_f004

* "Georgia prosecutors have messages showing Trump’s team is behind voting system breach:" https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/13/politics/coffee-county-georgia-voting-system-breach-trump/index.html

* "Georgia State Sen. Elena Parent on Donald Trump's New Indictments:" https://www.advocate.com/news/trump-indictments-georgia-elena-parent

* "A human face on the real victims: Georgia indictments offer some justice to maligned election workers:" https://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/watch/georgia-indictments-offer-some-justice-to-maligned-election-workers-190832197692

* "‘Ludicrous’: Hayes on GOP’s ‘painful’ defense of Trump after 4th indictment:" https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/-ludicrous-hayes-on-gop-s-painful-defense-of-trump-after-4th-indictment-190899269953

* "Former Kanye publicist named in Trump Georgia case; could mean justice for election workers:" https://www.msnbc.com/alex-wagner-tonight/watch/former-kanye-publicist-named-in-trump-georgia-case-could-mean-justice-for-election-workers-190907973608

* "Giuliani finds himself on the wrong end of his favorite anti-Mafia tool in Georgia case:" https://www.msnbc.com/alex-wagner-tonight/watch/giuliani-finds-himself-on-the-wrong-end-of-his-favorite-anti-mafia-tool-in-georgia-case-190908485946

* "Let's talk about how Trump's Georgia case is different....:"

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* "Authorities investigating threats to grand jurors who indicted Trump in Georgia:" https://apnews.com/article/trump-georgia-indictment-threats-grand-jurors-b489aea1bf8210224d1500895830528d

* "Trump supporters post names and addresses of Georgia grand jurors online:" https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/names-addresses-grand-jurors-georgia-trump-indictment-posted-online-rcna100239

* "Distressing but unsurprising: Targets of Trump vitriol face real threats from his followers:" https://www.msnbc.com/alex-wagner-tonight/watch/distressing-but-unsurprising-targets-of-trump-vitriol-face-real-threats-from-his-followers-190998085969

* "Hayes: Trump is ‘obviously’ fomenting violence against judges, prosecutors:" https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/hayes-trump-is-obviously-fomenting-violence-against-judges-prosecutors-191067717906

* "Mark Meadows seeks to move Georgia prosecution to federal court:" https://www.politico.com/news/2023/08/15/meadows-georgia-case-federal-court-00111382

* "Mark Meadows seeks to move Georgia conspiracy case to federal court:" https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/mark-meadows-seeks-to-move-georgia-conspiracy-case-to-federal-court-190902853685

* "Texas woman accused of threatening to kill judge overseeing Trump election case and a congresswoman:" https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-tanya-chutkan-judge-threats-texas-7d90ad3c8b552b49e269a3f842a6700c

* "With new indictments, things get real for Trump's fake electors:" https://www.msnbc.com/alex-wagner-tonight/watch/with-new-indictments-things-get-real-for-trump-s-fake-electors-190909509844

* "Special counsel obtained Trump DMs despite ‘momentous’ bid by Twitter to delay, unsealed filings show :" https://www.politico.com/news/2023/08/15/special-counsel-obtained-trump-twitter-howell-00111410

* "Judge suggests Elon Musk withheld Twitter data to ‘cozy up’ to Trump:" https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/judge-suggests-elon-musk-withheld-twitter-data-to-cozy-up-to-trump-190992965683

* "Third defendant in Trump classified documents case pleads not guilty:" https://www.politico.com/news/2023/08/15/trump-classified-docs-carlos-de-oliveira-00111252

* "Feds say Trump not entitled to ‘special treatment’ in documents case:" https://www.cnbc.com/2023/08/14/feds-say-trump-not-entitled-to-special-treatment-in-documents-case.html

* "“Dopey and Constitutionally Dubious”: Legal Experts Blast Judge Aileen Cannon’s Latest Pro-Trump Rulings:" https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/08/egal-experts-blast-judge-aileen-cannons-latest-pro-trump-rulings

* "Feds alert judge to Trump’s ‘If you go after me, I’m coming after you!’ post :" https://www.politico.com/news/2023/08/04/feds-alert-judge-to-trumps-if-you-go-after-me-im-coming-after-you-post-00109944

* "Trump attacks special counsel Jack Smith and judge assigned to 2020 election case:" https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-attacks-special-counsel-jack-smith-judge-assigned-2020-election-rcna98518

* "Judge warns Trump: ‘Inflammatory’ statements about election case could speed trial :" https://www.politico.com/news/2023/08/11/judge-warns-trump-speed-trial-00110870

* "Trump co-conspirator said plan was to use military to put down opposition to him staying in office:" https://boingboing.net/2023/08/01/the-plan-was-to-use-military-to-put-down-any-opposition-to-trump-staying-in-office-after-election-loss.html

* "Let's talk about Trump revealing his emotional state....:"

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* "Trump seeks trial on election interference charges in 2026:" https://www.politico.com/news/2023/08/17/trump-election-trial-date-proposal-00111775

* "Keeping Track of the Trump Investigations:" https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/us/trump-investigations-charges-indictments.html

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* "Prosecutors seek 30-year sentences for Proud Boys leaders in Jan. 6 case :" https://www.politico.com/news/2023/08/17/30-year-sentence-proud-boys-jan-6-00111796

* "Feds seek 30 years in prison for Philly Proud Boys president Zach Rehl’s role in Jan. 6 attack:" https://www.inquirer.com/news/zach-rehl-proud-boys-sentence-january-6th-capitol-riot-20230818.html

* "Prosecutors seek 33-year sentence for Volusia County Proud Boys leader Joseph Biggs:" https://www.news-journalonline.com/story/news/courts/2023/08/18/prosecutors-seek-33-years-prison-for-volusia-county-proud-boys-leader/70617676007/

* "Pezzola sentencing set for Aug. 29, government recommends 20 years for participation in Capitol Riot:" https://www.rochesterfirst.com/news/top-stories/pezzola-sentencing-set-for-aug-29-government-recommends-20-years-for-participation-capitol-riot-january-6-jan/

* "Top Proud Boys lieutenant thinks he should walk free for Jan. 6 seditious conspiracy conviction, while feds want decades:" https://lawandcrime.com/u-s-capitol-breach/top-proud-boys-lieutenant-thinks-he-should-walk-free-for-jan-6-seditious-conspiracy-conviction-while-feds-want-decades/

* "Proud Boy on house arrest in Jan. 6 case disappears ahead of sentencing:" https://apnews.com/article/jan-6-capitol-attack-proud-boy-1341d4596fb96ee2828b54d70ef7e126

* "Bomb threats and ‘swatting’ campaign hits dozens of synagogues:" https://forward.com/news/557648/bomb-threats-and-swatting-campaign-hits-dozens-of-synagogues/?amp=1

* "2 synagogues evacuated during livestreamed Shabbat services as wave of bomb threats enters 4th week:" https://www.jta.org/2023/08/14/united-states/2-synagogues-evacuated-during-livestreamed-shabbat-services-as-wave-of-bomb-threats-enters-4th-week

* "Fullerton synagogue evacuated during Sabbath service due to bomb threat:" https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/fullerton-synagogue-evacuated-during-sabbath-service-due-to-bomb-threat/3204919/?amp=1

* "Proud Boys, III%ers, and MAGA radicals target drag story hour in San Diego:" https://www.vpsreports.com/post/proud-boys-iii-ers-and-maga-radicals-target-drag-story-hour-in-san-diego

* "Armed Neo-Nazis With Swastika Flags Disrupt Wisconsin Pride Event:" https://www.advocate.com/news/gays-against-groomers-neo-nazis

* "North Carolina Drag Show Postponed After Man Arrested Over Death Threats:" https://www.advocate.com/crime/north-carolina-drag-show-threats

* This is Terrorism. "Oregon Medical Clinic Received Bomb Threat After Libs of TikTok Spotlight:" https://www.advocate.com/news/libs-of-tiktok-oregon-bomb

* "Illinois to outlaw gun advertisements that appeal to children, pose safety threat:" https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/illinois-to-outlaw-gun-advertisements-that-appeal-to-children-pose-safety-threat

* CW: Child Death "Child shoots and kills another child with a rifle moments after they were playing with Nerf guns, Alaska troopers say:" https://www.cbsnews.com/news/alaska-child-shoots-kills-child-with-rifle-after-playing-nerf-guns/

* "How Police Make Up The Law:"

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* CW: Rape and Torture. This is a really bad one, folks. Read at your own risk. "Mississippi “Goon Squad” Cops Plead Guilty to Racist Dildo and Taser Attacks:" https://www.advocate.com/crime/goon-squad-mississippi-police

* "All Charges Dropped Against Trans Man Beaten by Cop in Video:" https://www.advocate.com/news/trans-man-california-cop

* "Police stage ‘chilling’ raid on Marion County newspaper, seizing computers, records and cellphones:" https://kansasreflector.com/2023/08/11/police-stage-chilling-raid-on-marion-county-newspaper-seizing-computers-records-and-cellphones/

* "The ‘Stop Cop City’ Movement Is Vandalizing Pro-Police Companies Across the US:" https://www.vice.com/en/article/3ak8xy/stop-cop-city-movement-bigger-than-atlanta

* "Richard Hanania, Rising Right-Wing Star, Wrote For White Supremacist Sites Under Pseudonym:" https://www.huffpost.com/entry/richard-hanania-white-supremacist-pseudonym-richard-hoste_n_64c93928e4b021e2f295e817

* "Ex-Denver Postal Worker Goes on Bizarre Rant at Target While in Blackface: Video:" https://www.advocate.com/news/racist-former-usps-worker-blackface

* "A Gay Conservative Wrote a Fawning Tome on Tucker Carlson. It Flopped:" https://www.advocate.com/media/gay-conservative-tucker-carlson-book

* "Texas Sued Over 'Unconstitutional' Drag Ban by ACLU:" https://www.advocate.com/law/aclu-sues-texas-drag-ban

* "DeSantis' Florida approves classroom videos that compare climate activists to Nazis:" https://www.rawstory.com/prageru-florida-2662923106/

* "Kids' Cartoon From Conservative University Claims That Slavery Was 'No Big Deal' :" https://www.comicsands.com/prager-university-cartoon-justifies-slavery-2663089717.html

* "Will Florida Teachers Still Be Punished for Teaching AP Psychology?:" https://www.advocate.com/education/ap-psychology-florida-ban-confusion

* "Ron DeSantis’ Attempt to Erase Trans People From Florida Schools Is Now Underway:" https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2023/08/florida-ron-desantis-attacks-trans-students-teachers.html

* "Florida School District Bans Trans Employees From Using Their Pronouns:" https://www.advocate.com/news/trans-employees-pronouns-ban-florida

* "Florida town, students fight to preserve record against state's war on Black history:" https://www.msnbc.com/alex-wagner-tonight/watch/florida-town-students-fight-to-preserve-record-against-state-s-war-on-black-history-191154757893

* "A Bill Proposed a New Way to Teach History. It Got the History Wrong.:" https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/14/us/virginia-lincoln-douglas-debates-bill.html

* "Maryland Parents Ask Judge to Allow Students to Avoid LGBTQ+ Books:" https://www.advocate.com/law/maryland-parents-optout-lgbtq-books

* "Georgia Teacher Fired for Reading Gender-Inclusive Book Appeals Decision:" https://www.advocate.com/education/georgia-teacher-appeals-firing-book

* "Idaho ‘teacher of the year’ winner flees state after attacks on her pro-LGBTQ+ views:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/08/14/idaho-teacher-of-the-year-lgbtq-black-lives-matter-flees-illinois/

* "Question on Sexually Explicit School Library Books Upsets Virginia Parents:" https://www.advocate.com/education/sexually-explicit-book-question-spotsylvania

* "Far Right Attacks It Gets Better After Group Donates $600k to Students:" https://www.advocate.com/news/it-gets-better-project-grants

* "Federal Judge Blocks Arkansas Law Targeting Books & Librarians:" https://www.advocate.com/law/arkansas-judge-blocks-librarian-criminalization

* "Longtime Wyoming Library Director Fired For Refusing to Scrap Shelves of LGBTQ+ Books:" https://www.advocate.com/news/wyoming-library-director-fired-lgbtq

* "Starting next year, child influencers can sue if earnings aren't set aside, says new Illinois law:" https://www.kcra.com/article/starting-next-year-child-influencers-can-sue-if-earnings-arent-set-aside-says-new-illinois-law/44802567

* "MAGA judge: Abortion pill robs doctors ‘joy’ of fetus pictures:" https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/maga-judge-abortion-pill-robs-doctors-joy-of-fetus-pictures-191071301834

* "Let's talk about evil in a religious context....:"

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* "LGBTQ+ People Are Facing Increased Persecution, Violence, Ethiopian Activists Say:" https://www.advocate.com/world/ethiopia-anti-lgbtq-crackdown

* "UK government announces crackdown on gender-neutral toilets:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/08/13/gender-neutral-toilets-policy-kemi-badenoch/

* "UK crackdown on gender-neutral bathrooms could put trans people in danger – just look at the US:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/08/14/bathroom-ban-use-gender-neutral-us-uk-trans/

* "Two Brewers staff praised for ‘exemplary’ work protecting customers after Clapham stabbing:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/08/14/two-brewers-london-clapham-stabbing-lgbtq-gay/

* "Give us teachers more time to teach about LGBTQ+ lives – it could make all the difference:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/08/14/rse-relationships-sex-education-teachers-lgbt/

* "Transgender Woman Violently Attacked in Palm Springs, Video Shows:" https://www.advocate.com/crime/palm-springs-trans-woman-attacked

* "Chess regulator effectively bans trans women from competitive play for two years: ‘These are dark days’:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/08/16/chess-regulator-fide-trans-women/

* "Right-wingers are threatening to boycott yet another brand – this time, it’s Skittles:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/08/12/skittles-boycott-black-lives-matter-pride/

* "What Are the New Guidelines for Gay and Bi Men Donating Blood?:" https://www.advocate.com/health/blood-donation-gay-discrimination-ends

* "Michael Oher, former NFL tackle known for ‘The Blind Side,’ sues to end Tuohys’ conservatorship:" https://apnews.com/article/nfl-movie-blind-side-michael-oher-tuohys-c2593f08f8788db5ee267b9a23007c6d

I avoided that movie because it reeked of white savior complex. The fact that it was all a fraud to steal from Mr. Oher, is unfortunately not a huge surprise.

* Hint for Florida: if you put someone who thinks demons cause disease, not pathogens, in charge of public Health for your state, horrible shit happens. If the party in charge is committed to killing constituents with contagious disease for political gain, horrible things happen.

* "Dengue is breaking records in the Americas — what’s behind the surge?:" https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-02423-w

* "Let's talk about dengue in Florida....:"

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* "Dengue spreads to Broward County; 10 people in FL have gotten sick this year:" https://floridaphoenix.com/blog/dengue-spreads-to-broward-county-10-people-in-fl-have-gotten-sick-this-year/

* "In Florida's local malaria outbreak, forgotten bite led to surprise hospitalization :" https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/07/26/1189852024/in-floridas-local-malaria-outbreak-forgotten-bite-led-to-surprise-hospitalizatio

* "Texas man diagnosed with ‘medieval’ illness after rash:" https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/health/health-problems/texas-man-diagnosed-with-medieval-illness-after-rash/news-story/f180247bbfc5f3904b7344336c699e0b

* "Florida leprosy cases highlighted in recent report aren’t linked to COVID-19 vaccines:" https://apnews.com/article/fact-check-florida-leprosy-cases-cdc-covid-vaccines-352032756100

* "How leprosy arrived in Florida, and how it is spreading: New clues are emerging:" https://www.sun-sentinel.com/2023/08/07/how-leprosy-arrived-in-florida-and-how-it-is-spreading-new-clues-are-emerging/

* "Traveling to Florida or Texas? Here’s what CT experts say about reports of malaria, dengue fever, even leprosy :" https://www.courant.com/2023/08/14/traveling-to-florida-or-texas-heres-what-ct-experts-say-about-reports-of-malaria-dengue-fever-even-leprosy/

* "A woman with a severe peanut allergy says airline staff laughed at her and ignored her requests when she tried to fly to Costa Rica:" https://www.insider.com/woman-severe-peanut-allergy-says-airline-staff-laughed-at-her-2023-7?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=news_tab&mibextid=2JQ9oc

* CW: Suicide. "US suicides hit an all-time high last year:" https://apnews.com/article/suicides-record-2022-guns-48511d74deb24d933e66cec1b6f2d545

---

* "Rising Temperatures Are Wreaking Havoc Year-Round:" https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2023-global-warming-impacts-data/?sref=MIBMEEoj

* "Let's talk about heat, pavement, and Arizona mostly....:"

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* "Hawaii governor addresses sirens failure and 'grim' aftermath of Maui wildfire:" https://www.msnbc.com/jonathan-capehart/watch/hawaii-governor-addresses-sirens-failure-and-grim-aftermath-of-maui-wildfire-190735941609

* "Video puts scrutiny on possible cause of Maui wildfire:" https://abc7ny.com/maui-fires-hawaii-wildfire-hawaiian-electric-lawsuit-power-lines/13657819/

* "Maui’s emergency services chief resigns after facing criticism for not activating sirens during fire:" https://apnews.com/article/hawaii-wildfires-recovery-maui-lahaina-land-c8cfcacd2e63bdcd66ec13f2963cea8e

* "Left unchecked, Maui’s nonnative grasses turned into wildfire fuel:" https://www.nbcnews.com/science/science-news/maui-wildfires-grass-overgrown-nonnative-flammable-hawaii-rcna99963

* "Maui wildfire crews continue to fight "flare-ups" in Lahaina and inland, as death toll rises to 93:" https://www.cbsnews.com/news/maui-wildfires-crews-flare-ups-lahaina-upcountry-inland-death-toll-rises/

* "How did the Maui fire start? What we know about the cause of the Lahaina blaze:" https://www.cbsnews.com/news/how-did-maui-fire-start-cause-lahaina-hawaii-wildfire/

* "How Invasive Plants Caused the Maui Fires to Rage:" https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/13/us/hawaii-wildfire-factors.html

* "Fires and other disasters are increasing in Hawaii, according to this AP data analysis:" https://apnews.com/article/hawaii-fires-disaster-declarations-0344e3c954db7e0635cdaa8e87e25c92

* "Let's talk about Hawaii and theories....:"

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* Want to help the people of Maui?

Maui Food Bank: https://mauifoodbank.org/

Maui Humane Society: https://www.mauihumanesociety.org/

Center for Native Hawaiian Advancement: https://www.memberplanet.com/campaign/cnhamembers/kakoomaui

Hawai'i Red Cross: https://www.redcross.org/local/hawaii/ways-to-donate.html

* "Lookout Fire ‘growing rapidly’ in Lane County:" https://www.koin.com/news/wildfires/lookout-fire-growing-rapidly-in-lane-county/

* "Rare New England tornado lifts car from a highway as strong storms damage homes and flood roads:" https://apnews.com/article/new-england-tornado-60bdefd4dda026f349c76f17faa29975

* "Powerful Hurricane Hilary heads for Mexico’s Baja. Rare tropical storm watch issued for California:" https://apnews.com/article/hurricane-hilary-baja-california-arizona-406a3f7474eacb6222cedc33993d4657

* "‘Rare and historic’: California under first-ever tropical storm watch:" https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/-rare-and-historic-california-under-first-ever-tropical-storm-watch-191149125707

---

* "Montana judge sides with youth in historic climate trial:" https://www.politico.com/news/2023/08/14/montana-judge-sides-with-youth-in-climate-trial-00107668

* "Let's talk about Held v Montana and a win....:"

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* "The Clean Energy Future Is Arriving Faster Than You Think:" https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/08/12/climate/clean-energy-us-fossil-fuels.html

* "The first generation of solar panels will wear out. A recycling industry is taking shape:" https://apnews.com/article/recycle-solar-panel-circular-economy-sustainability-dc7284bab2180b5bd86ff5cb5c847652

* "It Gets Better Steps Back From Twitter/X Over Hate Speech Concerns:" https://www.advocate.com/business/it-gets-better-stops-twitter

* "Pornhub Sues Texas Over Age Verification Law Taking Effect Next Month:" https://www.advocate.com/law/pornhub-lawsuit-texas

* "I Would Rather See My Books Get Pirated Than This (Or: Why Goodreads and Amazon Are Becoming Dumpster Fires):" https://janefriedman.com/i-would-rather-see-my-books-pirated/

* "Bot Therapy and Informed Consent:" https://www.deeplearning.ai/the-batch/discords-kokobot-triggers-an-ethics-controversy/

* "Extreme Weather Is Coming. Someone Has to Tell the Chimps.:" https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/08/science/extreme-weather-chimpanzees.html

* "Ailing and baby hummingbirds nursed to health at woman’s apartment-turned-clinic in Mexico City:" https://apnews.com/article/mexico-hummingbirds-clinic-3f8247ca7957416aa97ccbb7b2f1aca8

* "Why Do Archaeologists Rebury Their Excavations?:" https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/why-do-archaeologists-rebury-their-excavations-180982542/

* "The Canterbury Tales, or, How Technology Changes The Way We Speak: The London History Show:"

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* "On The Fairy Dog Petitcrieu, Who Cuts In Half All Sorrows:" https://www.thechatner.com/p/on-the-fairy-dog-petitcrieu-who-cuts?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=5&post_id=135893278&isFreemail=true&utm_medium=email

* "This book vanished when Anne Boleyn was executed. Now it reveals her secrets.:" https://www.nationalgeographic.com/premium/article/anne-boleyn-book-of-hours-ultraviolet-hever

* "In Colonial Williamsburg, Thieving Rats Save History:" https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/colonial-williamsburg-bray-school-rat-nest-archaeology

* "Vintage Photos of Babies Learning to Walk Using Wicker Walkers, 1900s-1920s:" https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/wicker-walker-old-photos/

* "Heartstopper star Joe Locke wants people to ‘learn their boundaries’ after privacy violations:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/08/09/heartstopper-season-two-joe-locke-people-need-boundaries-grandma/

* I am still catching up financially from the car repairs. I had a choice to buy 2 out of these three: cat little, kibbles, and gas. I chose the kibbles and gas as they were nearly out and necessary, and I had hopes of the litter lasting the month. It's not going to. If you could kick in a little for litter, it would cut down on Tavy getting creative which he has done three times this week: paypal.me/Gwydion

* "If Republicans Said the Quiet Parts Loud:"

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* "Warrior Nun gets resurrected as film trilogy after massive fan campaign: ‘We made history’:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/08/16/warrior-nun-returns-film-trilogy-cancelled-netflix-fan-reactions/

* "Death on the Nile ~ Lost in Adaptation:"

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* "Midnight Pals: Once Upon a Time in Delain:" https://www.tumblr.com/bitterkarella/725655545417252864/midnight-pals-once-upon-a-time-in-delain?source=share

* "Midnight Pals: Chesssss:" https://www.tumblr.com/bitterkarella/725836407952785409/midnight-pals-chesssss?source=share

* "Midnight Pals: BBC:" https://www.tumblr.com/bitterkarella/725926403116236800/midnight-pals-bbc?source=share

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

The help links are at the bottom under the cut.

* Want to help the people of Maui?

Maui Food Bank: https://mauifoodbank.org/

Maui Humane Society: https://www.mauihumanesociety.org/

Center for Native Hawaiian Advancement: https://www.memberplanet.com/campaign/cnhamembers/kakoomaui

Hawai'i Red Cross: https://www.redcross.org/local/hawaii/ways-to-donate.html

* Want to help queer folk in Russia?

Queer Svit - https://queersvit.taplink.ws/ Helping LGBTQ+ and BIPOC аffected by the war and political repressions
Center-T - https://centre-t.com/english Helping transgender people in Russia
КилькоТ-Действие - https://boosty.to/kilkota
Delo LGBT+ - https://www.delo.lgbt/ || https://boosty.to/delolgbt

* BPAL Charity Fundraiser "TRIUMPH IN MY SONG:" https://blackphoenixalchemylab.com/product-category/activism/triumph-in-my-song/

* Support the WGA. "Entertainment Community Fund:" https://entertainmentcommunity.org/

* "DIY Box Fan Air Filter Directions:" https://aghealth.ucdavis.edu/sites/g/files/dgvnsk261/files/inline-files/DIY%20Air%20Purifier%20Directions_English.Spanish_0.pdf

* Useful state of trans links for making an arguement that we are real and nead human and civil rights: https://www.tumblr.com/gwydionmisha/722268284819570688/you-are-a-great-source-of-news-and-information-and?source=share

* Fundraiser to help some friends of a friend survive: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-tara-candice-survive-unemployment

* Minoan miss needs funds to get around for training: https://minoanmiss.dreamwidth.org/1232423.html#cutid1

* Cool Blackwork Embroidery Patterns for Beginners: https://www.etsy.com/shop/thehaberdasheress/?etsrc=sdt

* If you would like to help support me and the Cats: paypal.me/Gwydion

* I admit to having a wicked good time tormenting myself and other history geeks with my polls: https://www.tumblr.com/gwydpolls

( Links Underneath: )

* "Niger coup widely condemned, countries urge return to order:" https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/niger-president-says-democracy-will-be-saved-following-coup-2023-07-27/

* "Can Israel's Supreme Court Disqualify the First Law of Netanyahu's Judicial Coup?:" https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-07-24/ty-article/.premium/can-the-high-court-block-the-new-law-that-limits-its-actions-against-israeli-government/00000189-88a1-d5eb-abcb-f9e725150000

* "Netanyahu Government's Vindictive Anti-democratic Campaign Becomes Law:" https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/haaretz-today/2023-07-24/ty-article/.premium/netanyahu-governments-vindictive-anti-democratic-campaign-becomes-law/00000189-8821-d964-a789-9a2500390000

* "Protests rock Israel as it passes curbs on some Supreme Court powers:" https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israels-netanyahu-discharged-hospital-reuters-witness-says-2023-07-24/

* "‘Blood Everywhere’: As Israel’s Protests Ramp Up, the Police Crack Down:" https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-07-20/ty-article-magazine/.premium/blood-everywhere-as-israels-protests-ramp-up-the-police-crack-down/00000189-6eb8-d7ac-ab8b-ffbaa0c20000

* "Huge Protest March Reaches Jerusalem After 5-Day Trek From Tel Aviv:" https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/22/world/middleeast/jerusalem-protest-march-israel.html

* "Spanish election's nail-biting finish makes hung parliament likely:" https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/spain-heads-close-run-polls-marked-by-spectre-far-right-2023-07-23/

* "Government urged not to house LGBTQ+ refugees on ‘barbaric’ migrant barge:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/07/28/bibby-stockholm-lgbtq-migrants/

* "British Prime Minister Sunak narrowly avoids wipeout in local polls:" https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/uk-pm-sunaks-conservatives-win-boris-johnsons-former-parliamentary-seat-2023-07-21/

* "Susan Hall: Tory London mayor candidate is ‘hard-right’ Trump fan who wants trans women out of sports:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/07/20/susan-hall-tory-london-mayor-candidate-trump-gender-critical/

* "What the UK’s incoming flexible working laws mean for you:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/07/21/what-the-uks-incoming-flexible-working-laws-mean-for-you/

---

* "Russia attacks Danube grain export route vital for Ukraine:" https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russia-attack-odesa-destroys-grains-depot-injures-four-ukraine-military-2023-07-24/

* "Sea drones and the counteroffensive in Crimea:" https://www.reuters.com/graphics/UKRAINE-CRISIS/CRIMEA/gdvzwrmrlpw/

---

* "Judge knocks down Biden’s asylum policy as illegal border crossings dip:" https://www.politico.com/news/2023/07/25/biden-asylum-policy-immigration-00108074

* "Pressured by Joe Biden, AI companies agree to guardrails on new tools:" https://indianexpress.com/article/world/joe-biden-ai-companies-agree-to-guardrails-on-new-tools-8854274/

I'll believe it when I see dramatic improvement. I suspect they are just trying to duck the creation of strict federal regulation, but I'd love to be wrong.

* "Biden will designate a national monument honoring Emmett Till and his mother:" https://www.npr.org/2023/07/23/1189664409/emmett-till-national-monuments-biden

* "Don't let the black and white photos fool you, the historic fight for civil rights is still happening:" https://www.msnbc.com/alex-wagner-tonight/watch/don-t-let-the-black-and-white-photos-fool-you-the-historic-fight-for-civil-rights-is-still-happening-189280837843

* Regulations are written in blood."After decades of delays and broken promises, coal miners hail rule to slow rise of black lung:" https://apnews.com/article/black-lung-silica-dust-coal-mining-west-virginia-be722098fcf2a20b16bd73ca12c06c7e

* "Judge says she's not ready to accept Hunter Biden's plea deal:" https://www.npr.org/2023/07/26/1190211798/hunter-biden-plea-tax-charges

* "White House shuts down possibility of Hunter Biden pardon:" https://www.foxnews.com/politics/white-house-shuts-down-possibility-hunter-biden-pardon

* "Psaki on Hunter Biden probe: Biden values DOJ independence. I saw it firsthand.:" https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/psaki-on-hunter-biden-probe-biden-values-doj-independence-i-saw-it-firsthand-189359173742

* "Trump vow to weaponize DOJ against Bidens trips up case against Hunter: Analysis:" https://www.msnbc.com/alex-wagner-tonight/watch/trump-vow-to-weaponize-doj-against-bidens-trips-up-case-against-hunter-189369925589

* "Supreme Court clears path for Mountain Valley Pipeline construction to resume:" https://www.politico.com/news/2023/07/27/supreme-court-clears-path-for-mountain-valley-construction-to-resume-00108076

* "This Is How Conservatives Manufactured an LGBTQ+ Rights Supreme Court Case:" https://www.advocate.com/law/303-creative-lgbtq-rights-scotus

* "McConnell’s Dream of a Segregated U.S. Is Being Realized:" https://www.advocate.com/voices/supreme-court-anti-lgbtq

* "SCOTUS Lets Trans Woman's Discrimination Suit in Virginia Go Forward:" https://www.advocate.com/law/supreme-court-transgender-woman-discrimination

* "US economic growth accelerated in 2nd quarter, exceeding expectations and quieting recession fears:" https://abcnews.go.com/Business/us-economy-expected-grown-slowed-dispelling-recession-fears/story?id=101664985

* "The Fed's hot pause summer gets an ice bath: Interest rates rise again:" https://www.npr.org/2023/07/26/1190093285/fed-federal-reserve-interest-rates-borrowing-inflation

* "One year old, US climate law is already turbocharging clean energy technology:" https://apnews.com/article/inflation-reduction-act-renewable-energy-policy-economy-d5b0a7f15659930c6c15f0d180b193e8

* "Jaime Colindres lived at the American Hotel in the 1990s and again for about five years in the 2010s.
LA Promised to Preserve Low-Cost Housing. These Tenants’ Homes Were Turned Into Hotel Rooms Anyway.:" https://www.propublica.org/article/meet-people-uprooted-by-american-hotel-los-angeles

* "Hotel workers kick off third wave of strikes in Hollywood, Pasadena:" https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2023-07-20/hotel-workers-third-wave-strikes-hollywood-pasadena

* "For fast food workers, organizing poses extra challenges:" https://www.kcrw.com/news/shows/greater-la/traffic-filipino-protests/fast-food-strike

* "French Film Guilds Pledge ‘Full Solidarity’ With SAG-AFTRA and WGA Strikes; SFA Leader Hopes to Host Event by End of Summer:" https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/french-film-guilds-pledge-full-145927765.html

* They are determined despite not being able to to find a scrap of credible evidence. "McCarthy: GOP’s Biden probes ‘rising to the level of impeachment inquiry’ :" https://www.politico.com/news/2023/07/25/kevin-mccarthy-impeachment-inquiry-biden-00107955

* "Inside Kevin McCarthy’s secret promise to expunge Trump’s record:" https://www.politico.com/news/2023/07/20/kevin-mccarthy-donald-trump-impeachment-expunge-promise-00107236

* "‘These people look pathetic’: Pelosi slams McCarthy on expunging Trump impeachments :" https://www.politico.com/news/2023/07/23/pelosi-slams-mccarthy-expunge-trump-impeachments-00107727

* "House Democrats Introduce Gender-Neutral Laws Bill:" https://www.advocate.com/politics/democrats-push-gender-neutral-laws

* "LGBTQ+ Democrats push for America to stop funding Uganda over anti-homosexuality law:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/07/12/lgbtq-democrats-uganda-funding-robert-garcia/

* "Democrats Introduce Bill to Make PrEP Available to More Americans:" https://www.advocate.com/law/prep-drug-protection-bill

* "US senator JD Vance moves to ban all gender-affirming care for trans minors across the nation:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/07/21/gender-affirming-care-ban-jd-vance/

* "House Republicans Schedule ‘Mean-Spirited’ Hearing on Gender-Affirming Care:" https://www.advocate.com/politics/house-republicans-bigoted-care-hearing

* "National Anti-Trans Bans Loom: Will Democrats Surrender Trans Rights?:" https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/national-anti-trans-bans-loom-will

Now is an excellent time to tell your Democratic Congress Critters trans Healthcare is important

* "Heritage Foundation Says That Of Course GOP Will Use KOSA To Censor LGBTQ Content :" https://www.techdirt.com/2023/05/24/heritage-foundation-says-that-of-course-gop-will-use-kosa-to-censor-lgbtq-content/

Some Democrats are siding with their effort to let the most conservative state censor us all for being queer on the Internet.

Please, please, please don't sleep on this.

* "Another action item, this one’s worse: KOSA:" https://solarbird.dreamwidth.org/1929643.html

* Have something you want to tell your Congress Critters? If you can't safely contact them 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.

Here is one that will send your reps a fax: https://resist.bot/

* The Indivisible Guide: "A Practical Guide to defeating MAGA:" https://indivisible.org/sites/default/files/2023-01/20220104_Indivisible_%20A%20Practical%20Guide%20to%20Defeating%20MAGA.pdf

* "Democrats say new Alabama congressional map shorts Black voters:" https://www.reuters.com/world/us/alabama-lawmakers-clash-over-black-voters-redistricting-deadline-looms-2023-07-21/

* Republicans are strongly opposed to the rule of law. "Alabama Republicans refuse to draw a second Black congressional district in defiance of Supreme Court:" https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/alabama-gop-refuses-draw-second-black-district-supreme-court-order-rcna94715

* "Why Alabama Republicans may be plotting something bigger with defiance of Supreme Court:" https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/why-alabama-republicans-may-be-plotting-something-bigger-with-defiance-of-supreme-court-189197893875

* "Rudy Giuliani concedes he made false statements against 2 Georgia election workers:" https://www.npr.org/2023/07/26/1190173929/rudy-giuliani-georgia-election-workers

* "'You can't lie in the court of law': Trump's Big Lie hits brick wall in court:" https://www.msnbc.com/alex-wagner-tonight/watch/-you-can-t-lie-in-the-court-of-law-trump-s-big-lie-hits-brick-wall-in-court-189364293995

* "‘I have been indicted,’ says suspect in Michigan vote machine tampering probe:" https://www.bridgemi.com/michigan-government/i-have-been-indicted-says-suspect-michigan-vote-machine-tampering-probe

* "A Black Man Was Elected Mayor in Rural Alabama, but the White Town Leaders Won’t Let Him Serve:" https://capitalbnews.org/newbern-alabama-black-mayor/

* "‘Manchin is dreaming:’ What the third-party push gets wrong about America:" https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/-manchin-is-dreaming-what-the-third-party-push-gets-wrong-about-america-189361733734

* RFK Jr. is the worst. Please do not vote for him. "RFK Jr. Clashes With Sean Hannity, Says U.S. ‘Pushed’ Ukraine War:" https://www.thedailybeast.com/rfk-jr-clashes-with-sean-hannity-during-fox-news-town-hall-says-us-pushed-ukraine-war

* "DeSantis lets go of more than a third of campaign staff as reset continues:" https://www.politico.com/news/2023/07/25/desantis-lets-go-of-more-than-1-3-of-campaign-staff-as-reset-continues-00108046

* Well that's on brand. "Canceled Documentary Details DeSantis’ Time at Gitmo, Including Allegedly Overseeing Forced Feedings:" https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/desantis-guantanamo-force-feedings-canceled-documentary-1234793826/

* Republicans aren't even pretending they aren't NAZIs anymore. "Mask Off: DeSantis Staffer Reportedly Shares Video of DeSantis and Giant Nazi Symbol:" https://newrepublic.com/post/174555/desantis-staffer-reportedly-shares-video-desantis-giant-nazi-symbol

* "DeSantis doubles down on claim that some Blacks benefited from slavery:" https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/07/22/desantis-slavery-curriculum/

* "Dictator-wannabe Donald Trump praises Xi Jinping as a "perfect" leader who rules "with an iron fist":" https://boingboing.net/2023/07/19/dictator-wannabe-donald-trump-praises-xi-jinping-as-a-perfect-leader-who-rules-with-an-iron-fist-video.html

* "People Aren’t Facing Up to the Horrors a New Trump Term Would Bring:" https://newrepublic.com/article/174535/people-arent-facing-horrors-new-trump-term-bring

* "The Potential Danger of a Trump Second Term:" https://www.msnbc.com/jonathan-capehart/watch/the-potential-danger-of-a-trump-second-term-189092933676

* "Let's talk about Trump's angry new rhetoric....:"

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* "Rep. Paul Gosar promotes another antisemitic site that praises Hitler and denies the Holocaust:" https://www.mediamatters.org/diversity-discrimination/rep-paul-gosar-promotes-another-antisemitic-site-praises-hitler-and-denies

* "McConnell episode alarms Senate GOP:" https://www.politico.com/news/2023/07/26/mcconnell-abruptly-leaves-press-conference-after-feeling-light-headed-00108318

* "Texas A.G.'s PAC makes 'amazing' donation to Lt. Gov. presiding over his impeachment trial:" https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/ahead-of-texas-ag-s-impeachment-trial-his-pac-donates-millions-to-lt-gov-running-trial-189198917594

---

* CW: Sexual Abuse "Trump loses bid for new trial in E. Jean Carroll case:" https://www.politico.com/news/2023/07/19/trump-loses-bid-new-trial-carroll-00107025

* "Timeline: Manhattan DA's Stormy Daniels hush money case against Donald Trump:" https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/timeline-manhattan-district-attorney-case-donald-trump/story?id=98389444

* "Rep. Schiff on Trump's Potential Third Indictment:" https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/psaki-to-gop-candidates-defending-trump-what-is-your-endgame-189186629934

* "Trump grand jury hears testimony from aide who was with him on Jan. 6:" https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/trump-grand-jury-hear-testimony-aide-was-jan-6-rcna94998

* "Let's talk about Trump's legal team being surprised....:"

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* "Trump court schedule puts rule of law on the ballot; Alabama GOP already rejecting courts:" https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/trump-court-schedule-puts-rule-of-law-on-the-ballot-alabama-gop-already-rejecting-courts-189196869576

* "Feds sought surveillance video from State Farm Arena in Trump probe:" https://www.ajc.com/politics/exclusive-feds-sought-surveillance-video-from-state-farm-arena/TWLKTY4KGFB25DUPSPZXUEDFL4/

* "Trump Tried to Delete Mar-a-Lago Security Footage to Thwart Investigators:" https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/trump-carlos-de-oliveira-mar-a-lago-classified-docs-1234796376/

* "Why Jack Smith waited until now to charge Trump for secret Iran document flaunted on tape:" https://www.msnbc.com/alex-wagner-tonight/watch/why-jack-smith-waited-until-now-to-charge-trump-for-secret-iran-document-flaunted-on-tape-189453893613

* "Prosecutors looking at meeting at which Trump expressed confidence in voting security:" https://www.msnbc.com/alex-wagner-tonight/watch/prosecutors-looking-at-meeting-at-which-trump-expressed-confidence-in-voting-security-189277765722

* "I served on the Jan. 6 committee. Jack Smith is vindicating our work.:" https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/trump-indictment-looming-jan-6-committee-zoe-lofgren-rcna96471

---

* "Six months. 28 mass killings in the US. That’s the worst yet, and all but one case involved guns:" https://apnews.com/article/mass-killings-record-gun-violence-0174103c37756fe4d247fd15cd3bc009

* "Derailing the defund: How SPD manipulated the media narrative around the 2020 protests:" https://www.realchangenews.org/news/2023/07/19/derailing-defund-how-spd-manipulated-media-narrative-around-2020-protests

* "Seattle police kept mock tombstone for Black man, Trump flag in break room, video shows:" https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/law-justice/seattle-police-kept-mock-tombstone-for-black-man-trump-flag-in-break-room-video-shows/

* "Video Confirms that Officer Was Going 74 MPH, Did Not Have Siren Running When He Struck Pedestrian:" https://publicola.com/2023/07/20/video-confirms-that-officer-was-going-74-mph-was-not-running-siren-when-he-killed-pedestrian/

* "New Police Body Cam Data Exposes the True Scale of NYPD Violence Against Protesters:" https://www.wired.com/story/nypd-george-floyd-nyc-protester-settlement/

* "New York to pay $13 million to protesters arrested during George Floyd protests:" https://www.reuters.com/world/us/new-york-pay-13-million-protesters-arrested-during-george-floyd-protests-2023-07-20/

* "A Trooper Issued More than 1,000 Fake Tickets. Connecticut Police Won’t Say Whether He Still Has a Job.:" https://archive.ph/jTv5E#selection-1661.0-1675.272

"A single state trooper logged 1,350 fraudulent traffic tickets into a Connecticut database meant to detect racial profiling. The finding is key to a damning new audit of the Connecticut State Police, which reveals pervasive trooper malfeasance, including at least 26,000 false tickets logged over seven years, that masked racial bias in the force’s policing. Now, the CSP refuses to discuss the audit — or even reveal if the most-prolific ticket faker still has a badge."

* "Why Do White Supremacist Groups Often Include Latinos? :" https://advocatechannel.com/white-supremacist-groups-latinos

* Don't forget to vote in school board elections, because they will remember. "Chaos at the School Board:" https://www.propublica.org/series/chaos-at-the-school-board

* "Florida Board of Education OK's Anti-LGBTQ+ Policies, Sanitized View of Slavery:" https://www.advocate.com/education/florida-schools-anti-lgbtq

"Among the new standards OK’d for teaching about slavery and racism is one that requires “instruction for middle school students to include ‘how slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit,’” CNN reports. The NAACP issued a press release calling this “a sanitized and dishonest telling of the history of slavery in America.”

A policy on racially motivated massacres, which occurred in Florida towns and elsewhere in the 20th century, mandates inclusion of “acts of violence perpetrated against and by African Americans,” even though most of the violence was committed by whites against Blacks."

* "Florida tries to defend its revisionist history on slavery:" https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/7/21/2182564/-Florida-tries-to-defend-its-revisionist-history-on-slavery

* "Infamous right-wing online group's programming approved for Florida students:" https://www.msnbc.com/alex-wagner-tonight/watch/right-wing-online-group-s-programming-approved-for-florida-students-189279813581

* "Maxwell Frost rips new Florida curriculum as bid to ‘erase Black history’:" https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/maxwell-frost-rips-new-florida-curriculum-as-bid-to-erase-black-history-189270597974

* "School district approves materials mentioning Harvey Milk after governor threatens $1.5 million fine:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/07/22/california-school-district-materials-harvey-milk-approve-fine/

* "VA: Youngkin’s Anti-Trans School Rules Prohibit Uncommon Nicknames:" https://www.assignedmedia.org/breaking-news/va-youngkins-anti-trans-school-rules-prohibit-uncommon-nicknames

* "They Checked Out Pride Books in Protest. It Backfired.:" https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/22/us/pride-books-library-protest.html

* CW: Child Sexual Abuse. "Why Do Neo-Nazis Keep Getting Arrested For Child Sexual Abuse Material?:" https://www.vice.com/en/article/3akvbw/why-do-neo-nazis-keep-getting-arrested-for-child-porn

---

* "Infant deaths surge in Texas after abortion ban:" https://arstechnica.com/health/2023/07/infant-deaths-surge-in-texas-after-abortion-ban/

"The new grim statistics are only expected to worsen. Abortion bans and restrictions are known to increase infant deaths, maternal deaths, and maternal suffering. And the US already has the worst maternal and infant mortality rates of any other high-income country in the world."

---

* "Gender-Affirming Care Bans Often Modeled by Anti-LGBTQ+ Groups: Report:" https://www.advocate.com/politics/gender-affirming-care-bans-bills

* CW: Suicide. "80% of Transgender Americans Have Considered Suicide:" https://www.advocate.com/health/transgender-alarming-suicide-rate

* "Breaking Down Rapid-Onset Gender Dysphoria:"

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* "Lesbian mums in Italy ‘living in fear’ as government strips names from birth certificates:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/07/26/lesbian-mums-italy-birth-certificates-giorgia-meloni/

* "Yandex CEO Charged Under Russia’s Anti-LGBTQ+ “Propaganda” Laws:" https://www.advocate.com/business/yandex-ceo-russia-propaganda-lgbtq

* "Matty Healy’s gay kiss stunt is white saviourism that could harm LGBTQ+ Malaysians, says singer" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/07/26/matt-healy-malaysia-lgbtq-rufus-sivaroshan/

* "Peru court offers same-sex marriage hope for LGBTQ+ couples:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/07/22/peru-same-sex-marriage-court/

* "Teen Pleads Guilty to Brutal Attack on Lesbian Couple:" https://www.advocate.com/crime/lesbian-couple-attacked-dublin

* "Suella Braverman suggests ‘trans ideology’ book as summer reading:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/07/21/suella-braverman-helen-joyce-summer-reading/

* "Labour ‘placating gender critics’ with latest U-turn – and trans members have had enough:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/07/26/labour-trans-anneliese-dodds-keir-starmer-gender/

* "Keir Starmer repeats anti-trans dogwhistle, claiming a woman is an ‘adult female’:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/07/26/keir-starmer-labour-trans-adult-female/

* "Brianna Ghey suspect pleads not guilty to murder of trans girl:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/07/20/brianna-ghey-suspect-pleads-not-guilty-to-murder-of-trans-girl/

* "Gay man hits back at ‘disgusting’ decorator who refused work due to Christian beliefs:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/07/27/bristol-gay-man-discrimination-painter/

* "The Right Is Using the Anti-Abortion Supreme Court Ruling to Attack Trans Care. Will It Work?:" https://www.advocate.com/law/dobbs-gender-affirming-care-transgender

* "In the war over transgender rights, Florida is ground zero. One woman’s battle to survive:" https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2023-07-20/transgender-laws-florida

* "Arlington Public Schools Say "No," Refuse To Comply With Anti-Trans State Policy:" https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/arlington-public-schools-say-no-refuse

* "Mum of 11-year-old at centre of trans bathroom ban case speaks out: ‘She’s just a person’:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/07/20/wisconsin-trans-girl-mother-bathroom-ban-school-policy/

* "Judge blocks ‘hateful’ Arizona ban on trans girls playing sports:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/07/22/arizona-trans-girls-sports-ban-temporary-injunction/

* "What States Have the Most Anti-LGBTQ+ Hate Crimes? :" https://www.advocate.com/hate-crimes/hate-crime-lgbtq-states

* "Pro-LGBTQ+ church set on fire following video of visit by right-wing YouTuber:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/07/28/pro-lgbtq-church-firebombed/

* "Chris Rufo Claims Trans Acceptance Threatens Reality Itself:" https://www.assignedmedia.org/breaking-news/chris-rufo-claims-trans-acceptance-threatens-reality-itself

* "'Refugees in the USA': Transgender care bans cause families to pull up stakes:" https://www.mprnews.org/story/2023/07/20/refugees-in-the-usa-transgender-care-bans-cause-families-to-pull-up-stakes

* "How Women’s World Cup players are defying FIFA’s Pride rainbow ban:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/07/28/womens-world-cup-lgbtq-pride-onelove-armband/

* "2023 Treatment Guide: Is it Time to Change Your HIV Regimen?:" https://www.hivplusmag.com/treatment-guide/10-reasons-to-change-your-hiv-regimen

* "How Living with HIV is Criminalized:"

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* "Growing up gay with cerebral palsy: ‘Too gay for the disabled people and too disabled for the gays’:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/07/25/emmett-de-monterey-cerebral-palsy-gay/

* "We are failing young people by not trusting them to be the experts about their own lives:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/07/28/young-people-experts-disability/

* "Colorado’s new right-to-repair law ensures tractor and wheelchair owners get the parts they need:" https://techcrunch.com/2023/04/25/colorados-new-right-to-repair-law-ensures-tractor-and-wheelchair-owners-get-the-parts-they-need/?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly9jb251bHkuZHJlYW13aWR0aC5vcmcv&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAAp5W8XviPTARKL9KycaPqUgz-13Q0sIePzadxd_ULg8Y6Rbc1jutI4xxn8YVgOiIxogdxuRzqzdIOzRoZH5kityHg9tP7rLF8AbbYZtTbdJXMUYX9dmqjcitsttnkEVFFhf6y_8-B_p05FpQu0CYmLMpu7vth4pEBuii5SCvje2

* "How can businesses support disabled employees?:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/07/27/how-can-businesses-support-disabled-employees/

* "Why our voices change as we get older:" https://theconversation.com/why-our-voices-change-as-we-get-older-208640

* "Reinventing the E.R. for America’s Mental-Health Crisis:" https://www.newyorker.com/science/annals-of-medicine/reinventing-the-er-for-americas-mental-health-crisis

* I support harm reduction. "Harm Reduction: Young People in Appalachia and the South Are Addressing the Overdose Crisis:" https://www.teenvogue.com/story/harm-reduction-young-people-overdoses

---

* "Climate Disasters Daily? Welcome to the ‘New Normal.’:" https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/10/climate/climate-change-extreme-weather.html

* "Climate change role in July heatwaves 'overwhelming', scientists say:" https://www.reuters.com/world/climate-change-role-july-heatwaves-overwhelming-scientists-say-2023-07-25/

* "Gulf Stream shutoff could happen this century, scientists warn:" https://www.politico.eu/article/climate-change-gulf-stream-atlantic-ocean-global-warming-nature-ditlevsen-copenhagen/

* "What People With Disabilities Know About Surviving Climate Disasters:" https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2023-06-22/in-climate-disasters-people-with-disabilities-are-getting-left-behind

* "Let's talk about 80 million at 105 degrees....:"

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* "Maricopa County Medical Examiner at 106% capacity, bringing in coolers:" https://www.abc15.com/news/region-phoenix-metro/maricopa-county-medical-examiner-at-106-capacity-bringing-in-coolers

* I mildly burned my feet on black top Tuesday a week ago in about a minute, and it's not nearly that hot here.

Be careful folks, and keep children and animals off pavement."Toddler receives second-degree burns to feet from hot playground in Castle Rock: "It's dangerous":" https://www.cbsnews.com/colorado/news/toddler-receives-second-degree-burns-feet-hot-playground-castle-rock-dangerous/

* "Monsoon floods threaten India's Taj Mahal, but officials say the iconic building will be safe:" https://www.cbsnews.com/news/monsoon-floods-threaten-indias-taj-mahal-but-officials-say-the-iconic-building-will-be-safe/

* "Nova Scotia floods cause 'unimaginable' damage; four people missing:" https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/atlantic-canada-province-says-dam-could-breach-tell-residents-get-out-2023-07-22/

* "‘Concrete Coffins’: Surviving Extreme Heat Behind Bars:" https://www.themarshallproject.org/2023/07/22/texas-heat-prison-louisiana

* "Texas charges prisoners 50% more for water as heat wave continues:" https://www.kut.org/health/2023-07-20/texas-charges-prisoners-50-more-for-water-for-as-heat-wave-continues

---

* "Tornado damage to Pfizer plant will probably create long-term shortages of some drugs hospitals need:" https://apnews.com/article/pfizer-factory-tornado-drugs-north-carolina-3ce4b4ee0be984f751e0173091a3cdd7

* "How Bricks Made From Invasive Seaweed Clean Mexico's Beaches:"

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* "Elon Sues The Lawyers That Forced Him to Buy Twitter:"

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* "X Isn’t a Super App. It’s Just Twitter:" https://www.wired.com/story/twitter-x-rebrand-elon-musk/

* "Elon Musk’s Twitter rebrand to ‘X’ is a total disaster. Here’s what’s happened so far:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/07/26/elon-musks-twitter-x-rebrand-disaster/

* "‘Mom, these bad men have me’: She believes scammers cloned her daughter’s voice in a fake kidnapping :" https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/29/us/ai-scam-calls-kidnapping-cec/index.html

* "Legends Summarized: The Epic of Gilgamesh:"

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* "Eating The Heart Of A King:"

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* CW: Child Abuse "The Dark Secrets Buried at Red Cloud Boarding School:" https://www.wired.com/story/marsha-small-red-cloud-boarding-school/

* "Clinging to the Enigma of Rock Hudson:" https://www.advocate.com/television/rock-hudson-documentary

* "Susan Love, Outspoken Lesbian Doctor and Breast Cancer Expert, Dies at 75:" https://www.advocate.com/obituaries/susan-love-dead-breast-cancer

* "Steven Pieters, Longtime HIV Activist Interviewed by Tammy Faye Bakker, Dies at 71:" https://www.advocate.com/obituaries/steven-pieters-obituary

* "Sue Johanson, Who Gave Witty Sex Advice, Dead at 92:" https://www.advocate.com/obituaries/sex-adviser-sue-johanson-dies

* "Cheri Pies, pioneering author of lesbian parent handbook, dies of cancer, aged 73:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/07/25/cheri-pies-lesbian-parent-handbook-dies-cancer/

* "Appreciation: Sinéad O’Connor was right all along:" https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/music/story/2023-07-27/sinead-oconnor-dies-snl-catholic-church-protest

* "All the ways queer icon Sinéad O’Connor proved she was a fearless LGBTQ+ ally:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/07/27/sinead-oconnor-lgbtq-ally-irish-singer-dead/

* "Sinéad O’Connor risked it all to give voice to the powerless and call out the Catholic Church:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/07/27/sinead-o-connor-death-catholic-church-snl/

* Our movement must be intersectional. We must all have each other's backs. Leave no one's rights behind. "50+ Years Since Stonewall, 20 Years After Lawrence, We Still Fight Criminalization:" https://www.advocate.com/voices/lgbtq-criminal-justice-system

* "I’m a Luddite (and So Can You!):" https://thenib.com/im-a-luddite/

* Why people didn't come out in High School (Hate Speech, Bullying, Hate Crime, Child Abuse): https://www.tumblr.com/gwydionmisha/723812206710489088/i-figured-out-who-i-was-over-the-course-of-the?source=share

* "The Outsiders | Toxic Masculinity vs. Vulnerability:"

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* "The History of Gay Hollywood:"

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* "The Black Reclamation of the Body Snatchers:"

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* "RENT and the Mainstreaming of Queer Suffering:"

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* "Chuck Tingle Goes Mainstream...ish:" https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/authors/profiles/article/92146-chuck-tingle-goes-mainstream-ish.html

* "“Horror Is Not a Celebration of Death, It Is a Celebration of Life”: Chuck Tingle Talks Camp Damascus:" https://www.tor.com/2023/07/11/horror-is-not-a-celebration-of-death-it-is-a-celebration-of-life-chuck-tingle-talks-camp-damascus/

* "Camp Damascus is a Hopeful Story of Queer Struggle and Survival:" https://gizmodo.com/camp-damascus-chuck-tingle-review-book-horror-queer-1850668427

* "The Foggy Dew - Sinéad O’Connor & The Chieftains, 1995:"

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* "Sinéad O'Connor - Nothing Compares 2 U:"

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* "Sinéad O'Connor - I Am Stretched on Your Grave:"

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* Sunday was a trip to the Lake with Millennials. No rich children stole my crutch this time. We had a really good swim, but the current was above average strong and at some point I was like, "Oh shit! There's the swim boouy! We are in the middle of the boat lanes. We swam back. It was fine. They put in an outdoor shower this year, which is a huge help. After we showered we ate finger foods and chatted.

I stopped by the bathrooms on the way to my car and OMG! It was one of those things where there was a perfectly logical explanation from the perspective of the three of us already in the bathroom, but like opening a door into chaos for the other two people involved.

This bathroom is tiny. Three stalls on your left. Across from that a big metal communal urinal. The sink and mirror give an excellent view of the door and also a small bench they jammed in against the door wall. It's almost 6:30PM on a crowded hot weekend. it's a couple hours before sunset, so the park is less crowded than when we arrived 4ish, but people are still arriving and the bathroom is Trashed. The little beach strip is more mud then sand and people have been tracking water and black mud/sand in there for about ten hours and there is tp paper mache all over the ground and the toilets desperately need cleaning.

So I step out of the stall, just as a person is heading to the nasty ass urinal trench thing. Another guy is climbing up on the bench to change, because he understandably doesn't want to be barefoot on that floor and then put on shoes to drive home. Bench guy is soon full on pooh bear over my right shoulder as i wash my hands, which takes a while because the water keeps auto shutting off, so I have to stop and restart every few seconds. Perfectly framed over my left shoulder is the door, which swings open.

It's two gentlemen, one of whom beelines for the urinal. The other freezes in horror and starts yelling, "Wrong bathroom! Wrong bathroom!" I have very long hair. I am wearing a mask because I'm in a small, poorly ventilated place. I have on a black tee and my trunks look like goth shorts. My sandals are of an ubiquitous style worn my any gender in my region in good weather. I'm very androgynous. I think it was my hair causing the initial panic, but his head turned to follow his friend's trajectory to the 2-3 person piss trench and he saw bench guy crouched pantsless behind me like a downhill skier doing the streak, as if he was possibly about to pounce on my back, and his cries of wrong bathroom got a lot more shrill. In my head I'm picturing the Guy in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas who walks in on hippies liking a guy's jacket. His oblivious friend is doing his business, the other guy is about to leave. I turn and head towards the poor panicky guy and am like: It's the right bathroom. I have long hair.

We have accidentally traumatized a guy who was clearly not ready for the PNW weird.

A couple millennials came back for dinner. Once we arrived, I realized just how fucked I was. I'd swum too long and my arms were DONE. Luckily, I'd dropped off New Millennial to get their car and a take 'n bake, so I could just lung and rest up. They ended up staying very late talking. I closed down the apartment for the night and went to bed.

I could have gotten up nineish, but I decided to read Camp Damascus in between pettins and supplemental sleep all day, which turned out to be a good call. I have this thing where I promise the Millennials that if they are ever stranded at one of the further bits of town they can call me and if I physically can, I will come get them. Bus service is even shittier out there and there's a severe lack of shelters to wait in. It was pouring down at a rate that was threatening to flood low lying areas. A Millennial was trapped at the back of beyond with a long drenching slog to the bus. Of course I went, but it turned into a a much longer trip than intended for reasons that were no one's fault. I got them home and reasonably dry though, and I'm not sorry.

It did eat and extra chunk of evening though, and I'm really chewed up from swimming. I am very glad I got the aggregate out Friday, because I'm not up to much posting this evening.

We plan to do lake swimming on Sundays all August, which will effect posting schedule.

* Minoan miss needs funds to get around for training: https://minoanmiss.dreamwidth.org/1232423.html#cutid1

* Secrecy in Dracula: https://www.tumblr.com/vickyvicarious/724040479037161472/your-meta-made-me-think-that-secrecy-sealing?source=share

* "A princess died in the Snow:" https://www.tumblr.com/seananmcguire/723388026724745216?source=share

* "Midnight Pals: Little Longfellow War:" https://www.tumblr.com/bitterkarella/723927370035265536/midnight-pals-little-longfellow-war?source=share

* "Midnight Pals: Long Longfellow War:" https://www.tumblr.com/bitterkarella/724022759803535360/midnight-pals-long-longfellow-war?source=share

* "Midnight Pals: Escape Antics:" https://www.tumblr.com/bitterkarella/724113850793869312/midnight-pals-escape-antics?source=share

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

The help links are at the bottom under the cut.

* Want to help queer folk in Russia?

Queer Svit - https://queersvit.taplink.ws/ Helping LGBTQ+ and BIPOC аffected by the war and political repressions
Center-T - https://centre-t.com/english Helping transgender people in Russia
КилькоТ-Действие - https://boosty.to/kilkota
Delo LGBT+ - https://www.delo.lgbt/ || https://boosty.to/delolgbt

* BPAL Charity Fundraiser "TRIUMPH IN MY SONG:" https://blackphoenixalchemylab.com/product-category/activism/triumph-in-my-song/

* Support the WGA. "Entertainment Community Fund:" https://entertainmentcommunity.org/

* "DIY Box Fan Air Filter Directions:" https://aghealth.ucdavis.edu/sites/g/files/dgvnsk261/files/inline-files/DIY%20Air%20Purifier%20Directions_English.Spanish_0.pdf

* Useful state of trans links for making an arguement that we are real and nead human and civil rights: https://www.tumblr.com/gwydionmisha/722268284819570688/you-are-a-great-source-of-news-and-information-and?source=share

* Fundraiser to help some friends of a friend survive: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-tara-candice-survive-unemployment

* Minoan miss needs funds to get around for training: https://minoanmiss.dreamwidth.org/1232423.html#cutid1

* Cool Blackwork Embroidery Patterns for Beginners: https://www.etsy.com/shop/thehaberdasheress/?etsrc=sdt

* If you would like to help support me and the Cats: paypal.me/Gwydion

( Links Underneath: )

* I probably lost some things in the crash, but I'm too tired to work it out.

* "Turkey gives green light to Swedish NATO membership bid:" https://www.reuters.com/world/turkey-sweden-locked-talks-break-impasse-over-nato-membership-2023-07-10/

* "Putin's war on Ukraine backfires as NATO set to expand again:" https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/putin-s-war-on-ukraine-backfires-as-nato-set-to-expand-again-187430981956

* "NATO skirts final call on Ukraine membership, leaving unity-testing fight for later :" https://www.politico.eu/article/nato-skirts-final-call-on-ukraine-membership-leaving-unity-testing-fight-for-later/

* "Biden deems idea of Ukraine NATO membership as ‘premature’:" https://www.politico.com/news/2023/07/09/biden-deems-ukraine-nato-membership-premature-00105321

* "Israel May Have Committed War Crimes in Jenin Operation, UN Palestinian Rights Official Says:" https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-07-06/ty-article/.premium/israel-may-have-committed-war-crimes-in-jenin-raid-un-palestinian-rights-official-says/00000189-2a7b-dcb5-a5df-6f7f370a0000

* "New migrant tragedy at sea changes little as EU leaders forge ahead with tougher borders plans:" https://apnews.com/article/migration-eu-summit-libya-turkey-borders-refugees-eab33d5169ae1c147e0dc5b2dc1f8266

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* Russia has been using them on Ukrainian civilians for some time. "U.S. approves cluster bombs despite humanitarian concerns:" https://www.politico.com/news/2023/07/07/u-s-approves-cluster-bombs-in-latest-ukraine-weapons-transfer-00105234

* I am really alarmed. "One Ukrainian soldier had six extensively drug-resistant bacterial infections:" https://arstechnica.com/health/2023/07/ukraine-war-spurs-horrifying-rise-in-extensively-drug-resistant-bacteria/

* "A Boy’s Life on the Front Lines:" https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/06/26/magazine/ukraine-war-childhood.html

* "Thousands of Ukraine civilians are being held in Russian prisons. Russia plans to build many more:" https://apnews.com/article/ukraine-russia-prisons-civilians-torture-detainees-88b4abf2efbf383272eed9378be13c72

* "The Children Russia Kidnapped:" https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2023/07/russia-kidnapping-abducting-ukrainian-children/674535/

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* "U.S. drone strike kills Islamic State leader in Syria, Defense Department says :" https://www.politico.com/news/2023/07/09/drone-strike-islamic-state-leader-syria-00105334

* "Where Clarence Thomas Entered an Elite Circle and Opened a Door to the Court:" https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/09/us/clarence-thomas-horatio-alger-association.html

* "NYT: Clarence Thomas gave elite group 'unusual' access to Supreme Court:" https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/nyt-clarence-thomas-gave-elite-group-unusual-access-to-supreme-court-187414085847

* "Civil rights dominoes set to fall as conservative activists get Supreme Court's message:" https://www.msnbc.com/alex-wagner-tonight/watch/civil-rights-dominoes-set-to-fall-as-conservative-activists-get-supreme-court-s-message-188522053560

* "White House slams John Cornyn for infrastructure vote amid ‘Bidenomics’ push:" https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas/article/cornyn-biden-broadband-funding-18175221.php

* "Biden laughs at Tuberville hailing Alabama broadband funds he voted against, reviving feud with senator:" https://www.al.com/politics/2023/07/biden-laughs-at-tuberville-hailing-alabama-broadband-funds-he-voted-against-reviving-feud-with-senator.html

* "US Rep. Nancy Mace endorses Charleston bus project. But she voted against its funding.:" https://www.postandcourier.com/politics/us-rep-nancy-mace-endorses-charleston-bus-project-but-she-voted-against-its-funding/article_687b1c16-15cb-11ee-b76d-277e7ee0749f.html

* "Buttigieg calls out opponents of infrastructure bill now trying to take credit:" https://www.msnbc.com/alex-wagner-tonight/watch/buttigieg-calls-out-opponents-of-infrastructure-bill-now-trying-to-take-credit-187643973878

* "Read SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher’s fiery speech announcing actors’ strike:" https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2023-07-13/fran-drescher-speech-actors-strike-sag-aftra-strike-press-conference

* "'Complete disrespect': Fran Drescher, SAG-AFTRA president, rages at media execs over impasse:" https://www.msnbc.com/alex-wagner-tonight/watch/-complete-disrespect-fran-drescher-sag-aftra-president-rages-at-media-execs-over-impasse-188373061828

* Why the Actor's strike is important: https://www.tumblr.com/thirddoctor/722802911553437696?source=share

* "GOP’s Bombshell Anti-Biden Witness Has a Wee Credibility Problem Why does this keep happening?:" https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2023/07/gal-luft-gop-biden-witness-charged-china-justice-department-comer.html

* "'Failure': Raskin on missing GOP ‘informant’ turning out to be fugitive:" https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/-failure-raskin-on-missing-gop-informant-turning-out-to-be-fugitive-187630661543

* "McCarthy claims indictment of GOP 'informant' only makes Biden case 'stronger':" https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/mccarthy-claims-indictment-of-gop-informant-only-makes-biden-case-stronger-188365381745

* "As GOP works the law enforcement refs for Trump, important policing issues go fallow:" https://www.msnbc.com/alex-wagner-tonight/watch/as-gop-works-the-law-enforcement-refs-for-trump-important-policing-issues-go-fallow-188084293657

* Have something you want to tell your Congress Critters? If you can't safely contact them 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.

Here is one that will send your reps a fax: https://resist.bot/

* The Indivisible Guide: "A Practical Guide to defeating MAGA:" https://indivisible.org/sites/default/files/2023-01/20220104_Indivisible_%20A%20Practical%20Guide%20to%20Defeating%20MAGA.pdf

* Ohioans please vote! Early Voting has already started! "Ohio Republicans piling on in seeking closed primaries on top of Issue 1 affront:" https://www.cleveland.com/opinion/2023/07/ohio-republicans-piling-on-in-seeking-closed-primaries-on-top-of-issue-1-affront-editorial.html

* "Ohio Issue 1 isn’t about any one issue — It’s about every issue and the power Ohio voters have:" https://ohiocapitaljournal.com/2023/07/11/ohio-issue-1-isnt-about-any-one-issue-its-about-every-issue-and-the-power-ohio-voters-have/

* "‘Desperate’: Ohio Republicans pull ‘brazen stunt’ to undermine abortion rights:" https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/-desperate-ohio-republicans-pull-brazen-stunt-to-undermine-abortion-rights-188514373750

* "WA transgender youth bill targeted in national culture war:" https://crosscut.com/politics/2023/05/wa-transgender-youth-bill-targeted-national-culture-war

* "Editorial: Ballot measure isn’t about parental rights:" https://www.heraldnet.com/opinion/editorial-ballot-measure-isnt-about-parental-rights/

* "No, Washington Did Not Just Pass a Law Allowing the State to Kidnap and Transgenderify Children:" https://www.thestranger.com/news/2023/04/19/78955501/no-washington-did-not-just-pass-a-law-allowing-the-state-to-kidnap-and-transgenderify-children

* "Conspiratorial election denial bad for business pillow guy learns; GOP does damage control:" https://www.msnbc.com/alex-wagner-tonight/watch/conspiratorial-election-denial-bad-for-business-pillow-guy-learns-gop-does-damage-control-188084805617

* "Abortion complicates 2024 outlook as Republicans gear up for Iowa and primary season:" https://www.msnbc.com/alex-wagner-tonight/watch/abortion-complicates-2024-outlook-as-republicans-gear-up-for-iowa-and-primary-season-187636805929

* "GOP candidates court anti-abortion crowd; count on mass amnesia for general election:" https://www.msnbc.com/alex-wagner-tonight/watch/gop-candidates-court-anti-abortion-crowd-count-on-mass-amnesia-for-general-election-188084805859

* "We Investigated the Deepest, Darkest Corners of the Internet to Understand Ron DeSantis’ Bizarre New Video:" https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/07/08/ron-desantis-memes-lgbtq-ad-00105238

* He's targeting trans men specifically. "Why Ron DeSantis is emailing his supporters about men getting pregnant:" https://www.politico.com/news/2023/06/30/desantis-campaign-cash-gop-voters-00104323"

* "The Sequel Will Be Worse. Trump’s former Justice Department officials fear a second term.:" https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2023/07/trumps-ex-justice-department-officials-fear-a-second-term.html

* "‘Retaliation’: Why Trump’s former DOJ officials fear a second term:" https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/-retaliation-why-trump-s-former-doj-officials-fear-a-second-term-187412037687

* "A Small Town’s Fourth of July: Flags, a 5K and Trump’s Attacks on American Institutions:" https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/01/us/politics/trump-pickens-independence-day.html

* "These are the 5 state driver's licenses no longer valid in Florida under new immigration law:" https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/these-are-the-5-state-drivers-licenses-no-longer-valid-in-florida-under-new-immigration-law/3066073/

* "Misfire’: Floridians already feeling economic effect of DeSantis immigration law:" https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/-misfire-floridians-already-feeling-economic-effect-of-desantis-immigration-law-187412038002

* Who was it who said a gaffe is saying what you really believe by accident? "Tommy Tuberville reverses his claim that white nationalists are unfairly labeled racist:" https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/tommy-tuberville-triples-claim-white-nationalists-unfairly-labeled/story?id=101095697

* "‘Embarrassing’: Ex-Alabama Senator rips Tuberville's white nationalist remarks:" https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/-embarrassing-ex-alabama-senator-rips-tuberville-s-white-nationalist-remarks-188078661661

* "Ex-GOP Ohio House speaker sentenced to 20 years for role in $60M bribery scheme; appeal expected:" https://apnews.com/article/bribery-investigation-ohio-speaker-householder-sentenced-7ff5163a7d1fdbbfe6570ed34c7a7f67

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* "Disciplinary panel calls for Rudy Giuliani’s disbarment:" https://www.politico.com/news/2023/07/07/disciplinary-panel-calls-for-rudy-giulianis-disbarment-00105220

* "Attorney ethics case against Trump ally Clark moves forward in DC:" https://www.reuters.com/legal/legalindustry/attorney-ethics-case-against-trump-ally-clark-moves-forward-dc-2023-07-07/

* "DOJ won’t defend Trump in Carroll rape defamation case anymore:" https://www.cnbc.com/2023/07/11/doj-trump-in-carroll-rape-defamation-case.html

* "A grand jury sworn in Tuesday could decide whether Trump is charged over Georgia’s 2020 election:" https://apnews.com/article/trump-georgia-election-investigation-grand-jury-0cfd32492da81697879b8c8ac00f8c83

* "Trump wants classified documents trial delayed until after 2024 election:" https://www.politico.com/news/2023/07/11/trump-classified-documents-trial-date-2024-00105565

* "New targets suggest new indictments likely in Trump cases: new reports:" https://www.msnbc.com/alex-wagner-tonight/watch/new-targets-suggest-new-indictments-likely-in-trump-cases-new-reports-188521029990

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* "Let's talk about a judge's quotes at a hearing...:"

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* The republican mainstream and literal Neo-NAZIs Venn Diagram is a circle. "College Republicans Convention to Host White Nationalist Nick Fuentes:" https://newrepublic.com/post/174204/college-republicans-united-convention-antisemite-nick-fuentes

* "US citizenship test changes are coming, raising concerns for those with low English skills:" https://apnews.com/article/new-citizenship-test-naturalization-immigrants-immigration-c074aa1c92b226b4960485fb26d0f4fa

* "Immigration policies don’t deter migrants from coming to the US – Title 42 and the border rules replacing it only make the process longer and more difficult :" https://theconversation.com/immigration-policies-dont-deter-migrants-from-coming-to-the-us-title-42-and-the-border-rules-replacing-it-only-make-the-process-longer-and-more-difficult-200776

* "Domestic terrorism charges in Georgia are prompting concern over political repression:" https://www.npr.org/2023/06/28/1184782128/cop-city-atlanta-domestic-terrorism

* "A Police K-9 Took This Man’s Eye:"

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* This decision is shameful. "Oklahoma judge dismisses Tulsa race massacre reparations case filed by last known survivors:" https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/08/us/tulsa-race-massacre-reparations-case/index.html

* "Judge dismisses Tulsa reparations case as California reparations task force unveils final report:" https://www.msnbc.com/jonathan-capehart/watch/judge-dismisses-tulsa-reparations-case-as-california-reparations-task-force-unveils-final-report-187273285822

* "'This isn't over': Demand for national reparations intensifies after dismissal of Tulsa lawsuit:" https://news.yahoo.com/this-isnt-over-demand-for-national-reparations-intensifies-after-dismissal-of-tulsa-lawsuit-201152753.html

* "With race-based admissions no longer an option, states may imitate Texas Top 10% Plan:" https://www.texastribune.org/2023/06/29/texas-college-top-ten-percent-plan-supreme-court/

* The Republican War on Capitalism, Child Safety, and Free Expression continues. Note they are saying that a simple display of a rainbow constitutes pedophilia as part of their campaign to trivialize CSA. "7 Republican AGs write to Target, say Pride month campaigns could violate their state’s child protection laws:" https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2023/07/08/business/target-attorneys-general-pride-month/index.html

* "Inside Moms for Liberty’s summit: Big money and even bigger conspiracy theories:" https://www.mediamatters.org/moms-liberty/inside-moms-libertys-summit-big-money-and-even-bigger-conspiracy-theories?fbclid=IwAR1HHHab7Z60Hq7HA_-C_OsGM-8TR2FOU-Lzv0pJwXpAE5n8akFBisXzUZw

* This means libraries can't let children read e-books to get around government censorship. "HOOPLA, OVERDRIVE/LIBBY NOW BANNED FOR THOSE UNDER 18 IN MISSISSIPPI:" https://bookriot.com/hoopla-overdrive-libby-now-banned-for-those-under-18-in-mississippi/

* CW: CSA. "BBC suspends presenter alleged to have paid teen for sexually explicit photos:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/07/09/bbc-explict-photos-teen-presenter-suspended/

* CW: CSA "BBC presenter: Second young person comes forward with allegations:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/07/11/bbc-presenter-second-young-person/

* CW: CSA "Huw Edwards named as BBC presenter suspended over sexual images claim:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/07/12/bbc-presenter-huw-edwards/

* CW: Abuse "Fans Built Her an Internet Empire. Now They’re Tearing It Down:" https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/colleen-ballinger-miranda-sings-youtube-fans-allegations-1234774947/

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* "'Stop killing us': Polish women protest against strict anti-abortion law:" https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/stop-killing-us-polish-women-protest-against-strict-anti-abortion-law-2023-06-14/

* "It’s Almost Impossible to Get an Abortion in Poland. These Women Crossed the Border to Germany for Help:" https://time.com/poland-abortion-laws-protest/

* "Poland sees peril for women of extreme, ill-considered abortion bans:" https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/poland-sees-peril-for-women-of-extreme-ill-considered-abortion-bans-187296837924

* The Republican War on Freedom continues. "Most abortions now banned in Iowa after Gov. Kim Reynolds signs 'fetal heartbeat' law:" https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/politics/2023/07/14/iowa-abortion-ban-six-weeks-gov-kim-reynolds-signs-law-republicans-special-session-fetal-heartbeat/70398800007/

* For your own safety, I beg you not to give Meta's Facebook or Threads any of your data. "Teen and mom plead guilty to abortion charges based on Facebook data:" https://techcrunch.com/2023/07/11/teen-and-mom-plead-guilty-to-abortion-charges-based-on-facebook-data/

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* I admit, I wept when I realized some of the women were older than me. So few are still here, but there they are living their best lives. "Kristen Lovell, co-director of 'The Stroll,' knows sex work is real work:" https://www.npr.org/2023/07/06/1186278193/kristen-lovell-co-director-of-the-stroll-knows-sex-work-is-real-work

* "Hollyoaks star Annie Wallace expertly breaks down why so-called ‘trans ideology’ doesn’t exist:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/07/11/hollyoaks-actress-annie-wallace-sally-st-claire-trans-ideology/

* "Polish judge backs ‘homosexuals molest children’ claim in ‘shameful’ ruling:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/07/10/poland-pride-van-lgbt/

* "Trans woman found ‘brutally murdered’ in her own home in Greece:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/07/11/trans-woman-murdered-greece-anna-ivankova/

* "EuroPride slams Georgian government ‘incompetence’ after Tbilisi Pride attack:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/07/11/europride-georgia-tbilisi-pride-attack/

* "US ambassador to host Pride party in defiance of Hungary’s anti-LGBTQ+ PM:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/07/15/david-pressman-hungary-us-viktor-orban-budapest-pride/

* "Nepal makes history as first South Asian country to recognise same-sex marriage:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/07/09/nepal-same-sex-marriage-supreme-court-ruling/

* "Latvia swears in EU’s first openly gay president:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/07/10/latvia-edgars-rinkevics-president-gay/

* "‘Straight pride’ photo lands Canadian politician Danielle Smith in hot water:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/07/11/straight-pride-photo-lands-canadian-politician-danielle-smith-in-hot-water/

* "Draft civil service gender policy would ban most trans employees from bathrooms:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/07/12/civil-servants-trans-guidelines-gender-critical/

* "Government’s job to decide the definition of sex in Equality Act, says EHRC boss:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/07/12/ehrc-sex-definition-women-and-equalities-committee-trans/

* "MPs blast government for ‘unacceptable stress’ caused to LGBTQ+ community by conversion-therapy ban delay:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/07/12/conversion-therapy-ban-conservative-government-lgbtq/

* "Appeal against spiralling trans healthcare wait times argues NHS ‘breached legal duty’:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/07/12/court-of-appeal-good-law-project-nhs/

* "Oxfam, Samaritans and 100 other charities sign pledge to support trans and non-binary people:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/07/10/oxfam-samaritans-charities-sign-trans-rights-pledge/

* Vanderbilt University agrees with Republicans that HIPAA doesn't apply to trans people as we have no legal or human rights so turned over unredacted medical records not only without a fight, but without telling them thus outing and endangering their patients. Medical ethics? What medical ethics? "Tennessee A.G. uses private medical records in Republican campaign against trans people:" https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/tennessee-a-g-uses-private-medical-records-in-republican-campaign-against-trans-people-187444805726

* "US hair salon refuses to serve some trans customers after Supreme Court ruling:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/07/12/hair-salon-refuses-trans-non-binary/

* "Thousands of congregations disaffiliate from national church over LGBTQ+ issues:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/07/10/united-methodist-church-split-lgbtq/

* "Olympian Caster Semenya wins appeal at European Court of Human Rights over testosterone rules:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/07/11/caster-semenya-wins-appeal/

* "World cycling body bans trans women from female categories: ‘Impossible to rule out advantage’ :" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/07/15/uci-cycling-trans-women-sports-ban/

* "The unspoken struggles of being a high masking Autistic:"

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* "The One-Shot Drug That Keeps on Dosing:" https://www.wired.com/story/the-one-shot-drug-that-keeps-on-dosing/

* "Maternal deaths in the US more than doubled over two decades. Black mothers died at the highest rate:" https://apnews.com/article/black-maternal-mortality-american-indian-hispanic-deaths-64da18fec80f8f1790aee2e9986a757e

* "Noise could take years off your life:" https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/06/09/health/noise-exposure-health-impacts.html?unlocked_article_code=VgkBNGRcsfA0ZGckA2c6C4_95DcpKhkw4NGIrwKX-8ptavShrG8nAVm2KYEtuEkcIfTq5KSxVQ8SY4pDMWDO3U2PRJW8ZgIxhMJXVUu1h-9Qz4UVcwLw01vCRBUvnD80w7hC0baJCGFht_zJz4PbfW3ErJ2PNSd-u-3Mug1C3_45_ryX7kOTGxpQ-1qc3GjUIF4r-1rpHSiHHXv3EaKPUtEJd82-nPycZ-jouwVlp5pnliNRTR5z77PB_-fCtzQVBH_5D-JLOrifP__okHrdkFaD8TnnPLWfAyNFJwItEoBYI2H-ccP7E10kPoS6smyQ91AinKUYyWRCIyOPZ3HefifY1p3r1yAsbYb8wzLB8dLnrgHwlWE&smid=url-share

* "They Followed Doctors’ Orders. Then Their Children Were Taken Away.:" https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/29/magazine/pregnant-women-medication-suboxonbabies.html/

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* "It’s even hot in Antarctica, where it’s winter:" https://www.vox.com/climate/23792828/antarctica-heat-wave-sea-ice-level-record-el-nino

* "Record-breaking heat scorches communities around the world:" https://apnews.com/article/heat-climate-change-global-warming-hot-recordbreaking-heat-b87a7cd3bb8f70692d433cb06877975b

* "Coast-to-coast heat dome sends temperatures soaring, threatens all-time records:" https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2023/07/13/heatwave-california-arizona-florida-texas-records/

* "Florida ocean temperatures at ‘downright shocking’ levels:" https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2023/07/10/florida-ocean-temperature-heat-records/

* "How Hot Is the Sea Off Florida Right Now? Think 90s Fahrenheit.:" https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/12/climate/florida-ocean-temperatures-reefs.html

* "90 degree sea temperatures among 'most worrying signs’ of climate crisis:" https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/90-degree-sea-temperatures-among-most-worrying-signs-of-climate-crisis-188366917660

* "Record-breaking North Atlantic Ocean temperatures contribute to extreme marine heatwaves:" https://climate.copernicus.eu/record-breaking-north-atlantic-ocean-temperatures-contribute-extreme-marine-heatwaves

* "El Niño is back: Surging temperatures bring extreme weather and threaten lives:" https://www.euronews.com/green/2023/07/07/el-nino-is-back-heres-what-it-means-for-extreme-weather

* "A meteorologist got threats for his climate coverage. His new job is about solutions:" https://www.npr.org/2023/06/27/1184461263/iowa-meteorologist-harassment-climate-change-quits

* "Canadian Wildfires Burn a Record 25 Million Acres With No End in Sight:" https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-07-15/canadian-wildfires-burn-a-record-25-million-acres-with-no-end-in-sight

* "Canada sees its farthest-north 100-degree temperature as wildfires rage:" https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2023/07/10/canada-record-heat-wildfires-climate/

* "Campfire ban in place for most of B.C., state of emergency for Stikine announced as wildfire numbers spike:" https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/bc-wildfires-july-10-2023-1.6902150

* "Canadian wildfire dangers should prompt more proactive mitigation from government:" https://abcnews.go.com/US/canadian-wildfire-dangers-prompt-proactive-mitigation-government-experts/story?id=100478859

* "B.C. wildfire fighter, 19, died after being hit by falling tree while responding to blaze: RCMP:" https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/devyn-gale-bc-wildfire-fighter-dead-1.6907184

* "In fight against Canada fires, dancing South Africa crews are a familiar and uplifting sight:" https://apnews.com/article/canada-wildfires-south-africa-firefighters-smoke-ea13e9377f4696a80f30c17f7ea959dc

* "For some remote Canadian wildfires, best and fastest option is sending in the smokejumpers:" https://apnews.com/article/canada-wildfires-smoke-firefighters-smokejumpers-climate-ed33e70c86756119f631538becc9da29

* "The year of wildfire smoke: Why the U.S. faces a brutal season:" https://www.nbcnews.com/science/environment/year-wildfire-smoke-us-faces-brutal-season-rcna92453

* "Minnesota and Wisconsin issue air quality alerts amid a new round of Canada smoke:" https://www.npr.org/2023/07/15/1187943437/minnesota-wisconsin-midwest-air-quality-alert-smoke

* "Fast-moving fires force evacuations, char thousands of acres in Riverside County as heat wave continues:" https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-07-14/fires-force-evacuations-char-hundreds-of-acres-in-riverside-county

* "Wildfire in southwest Oregon puts up huge smoke column, burning near Agness:" https://www.statesmanjournal.com/story/news/2023/07/15/large-wildfire-reported-near-oak-flat-in-southwest-oregon-agness/70417528007/

* "India's monsoon rains flood Yamuna river in Delhi, forcing thousands to evacuate and grinding life to a halt:" https://www.cbsnews.com/news/india-monsoon-2023-delhi-flood-yamuna-river-record-water-level-deaths-evacuations/

* "Torrential rain, floods kill 22 across northern India:" https://www.reuters.com/world/india/torrential-rain-floods-kill-22-across-northern-india-2023-07-10/

* "Flash floods hit Spain after heavy rainfall; cars swept away, people trapped:" https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/flash-floods-hit-spain-after-heavy-rainfall-cars-swept-away-people-trapped-watch-101688868123707.html

* "Rare flash flood warning issued for New York as a woman dies trying to evacuate:" https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/rare-flash-flood-warning-issued-new-york-woman-dies-trying-evacuate-rcna93346

* "Vermont faces a rare high risk for flooding. Here’s why these days are so deadly and devastating:" https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/10/weather/vermont-flooding-high-risk-new-york/index.html

* "Five key factors that spurred the historic floods in Vermont, New York:" https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2023/07/11/vermont-flooding-cause/

* "Landslides and floods kill at least 22 as South Korea battered by torrential rains:" https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/south-korea-weather-landslides-torrential-rain-flooding-north-korea-rcna94415

* "In pricey Palos Verdes, the ocean view is great — until your house slides into a canyon:" https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-07-13/rolling-hills-estates-landslide-cause-palos-verdes-peninsula

* "Northern Mexico bakes as residents try to beat scorching heat:" https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/northern-mexico-bakes-residents-try-beat-scorching-heat-2023-07-14/

* "What 120 Degrees Looks Like in One of Mexico’s Hottest Cities:" https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/06/world/americas/hermosillo-mexico-heat.html

* "One-third of Americans under heat alerts as blistering weather spreads from Southwest to California:" https://conuly.dreamwidth.org/3398221.html#cutid1

* "The Southwest Bakes With More Heat on the Way:" https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/09/us/heat-southwest-arizona.html

* "New measures are being taken to reduce heat-related deaths in Phoenix:" https://www.npr.org/2023/07/10/1186827280/new-measures-are-being-taken-to-reduce-heat-related-deaths-in-phoenix

* "Emergency room visits surge, Texans die amid dangerous heat wave:" https://www.texastribune.org/2023/06/30/texas-heat-wave-deaths-illness/

* "As summer heats up, impacts of drought begin to appear in northwest Montana:" https://montanafreepress.org/2023/07/10/flathead-lake-at-precarious-level-as-drought-comes-to-northwest-montana/

* "Nearly 62,000 people died from record-breaking heat in Europe last summer. It’s a lesson for the US, too:" https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/10/world/deadly-europe-heatwave-2022-climate/index.html

* "How the Western drought has increased carbon emissions:" https://grist.org/energy/western-drought-hydropower-emissions-study/

* "Maryland asks some residents to conserve water amid drought conditions:" https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/environment/bs-md-water-conservation-drought-mde-20230710-fgd73j6vsve73j2frjizqg5ucy-story.html

* "Drought and extreme heat burn through farmers' margin for error — and it's only July:" https://www.nbcnews.com/business/drought-extreme-heat-burn-farmers-margin-error-only-july-rcna93862

* "Coachella Valley Rescue Mission Provides Homeless Resources in Extreme Heat:" https://nbcpalmsprings.com/2023/07/12/coachella-valley-rescue-mission-provides-homeless-resources-in-extreme-heat/

* "In Phoenix, Heat Becomes a Brutal Test of Endurance:" https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/11/us/phoenix-heat-wave.html

* "Why is this city in the Keys the hottest spot in Florida? Weather service has answers:" https://www.miamiherald.com/news/weather-news/article277277108.html

* "‘Bud Light of insurance’: Florida official blames insurer crisis on wokeness:" https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/-bud-light-of-insurance-florida-official-blames-insurer-crisis-on-wokeness-188076101690

---

* "Scottsdale bans natural grass in front yards of new houses to conserve water amid Arizona’s drought :" https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/13/us/scottsdale-arizona-grass-ban-new-houses/index.html

* "A Building Made From Cannabis? Yes, Seriously - With Hempcrete:" https://www.smartcitiesdive.com/ex/sustainablecitiescollective/building-made-cannabis-yes-seriously-hempcrete/324521/

* "Drive-thrus are creating problems for cities and towns:" https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/24/business/drive-thru-fast-food-chick-fil-a-urban-planning/index.html

* "The ACTUAL Danger of A.I. with Gary Marcus:"

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* "Tax preparers that shared private data with Meta, Google could be fined billions:" https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2023/07/meta-wont-say-what-happened-to-taxpayer-data-it-may-have-illegally-collected/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social

* "Far-right figures, including Nazi supporters, anti-gay extremists, and white supremacists, are flocking to Threads:" https://www.mediamatters.org/facebook/far-right-figures-including-nazi-supporters-anti-gay-extremists-and-white-supremacists-are

* "Meta’s vision for Threads is more mega-mall than public square:" https://techcrunch.com/2023/07/07/threads-shopping-mall-not-a-public-square/

* I stand by my avoidance of Facebook, Threads, and ChatGPT. "Hackers are increasingly using ChatGPT lures to spread malware on Facebook:" https://techcrunch.com/2023/05/03/malware-chatgpt-lures-facebook/

* "Facebook's Threads is so depressing:" https://jogblog.substack.com/p/facebooks-threads-is-so-depressing

* "Mark F***king Zuckerberg Is Not Your Friend:" https://catvalente.substack.com/p/mark-fking-zuckerberg-is-not-your

* "Elon Musk wants ‘d**k measuring contest’ with Mark Zuckerberg:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/07/10/elon-musk-wants-dk-measuring-contest-with-mark-zuckerberg/

* "Elon Musk and the dominance space:" https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/07/10/elon-musk-twitter-threads/

* "Twitter’s death spiral and what it means for LGBTQ+ rights:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/07/13/twitter-death-lgbtq/

* "“How is still being on Twitter, for whatever reason, actually ‘handing money’ to [Musk and his fascist project]?”:" https://solarbird.net/blog/2023/04/23/how-is-still-being-on-twitter-for-whatever-reason-actually-handing-money-to-musk-and-his-fascist-project/

* "Far-right Twitter influencers first on Elon Musk’s monetization scheme:" https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/07/13/twitter-creators-payments-right-wing/

* "Twitter Blue Accounts Are Spreading Misinformation About The War In Ukraine:" https://www.forbes.com/sites/petersuciu/2023/07/10/twitter-blue-accounts-are-spreading-misinformation-about-the-war-in-ukraine/?sh=77065a6f320f

* "Apple Is Taking On Apples in a Truly Weird Trademark Battle:" https://www.wired.com/story/apple-vs-apples-trademark-battle/

* "Pinanga Subterranea: New Species of Rare Palm Discovered to Flower Underground:" https://www.sciencetimes.com/articles/44551/20230627/pinanga-subterranea-new-species-rare-palm-discovered-flower-underground.htm

* "Summer is here. Where are the Fireflies?:" https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/interactive/2023/firefly-summer-extinction/

* "Flowers pollinated by honeybees make lower-quality seeds:" https://www.sciencenews.org/article/flowers-pollinate-honeybees-low-seeds

* "After being swallowed alive, water beetle stages 'backdoor' escape from frog's gut:" https://www.livescience.com/beetle-escape-frog-butt.html

* "Dolphin moms use baby talk to call to their young, recordings show:" https://apnews.com/article/dolphin-mothers-baby-talk-calves-cc0c189aa1b8e1298155b1ea78c1002a

* "What Did Viking Town Houses Look Like? And Where Did They Poop?:"

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* "Reflections In The Shadow of Tahoma: Nettie J. Asberry:" https://www.tacomaartslive.org/terms/583-in-the-shadow-of-tahoma-nettie-j-asberry

* "A hundred years on from the 'cult of the clitoris' libel trial, let's remember that fake news is nothing new:" https://www.independent.co.uk/news/long_reads/oscar-wilde-maud-allan-cult-of-the-clitoris-black-book-first-world-war-a8369811.html

* "A fire destroyed millions of veterans’ records. 50 years later, families are still seeking answers:" https://apnews.com/article/military-records-fire-veterans-2f8337c58bc87c10179a2cf6ee54136a

* "My Aunties | Father Figures:"

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* "A Short History of Naughty Literature and Zane:"

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* "Steven Pieters: One of the longest-living HIV survivors in US dies after cancer battle:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/07/10/steven-pieters-hiv-activist-dies/

* "Fast fashion retailer Shein accused of racketeering and copyright infringement in lawsuit:" https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fashion/shein-rico-charge-racketeering-lawsuit-b2375825.html

* "5-person refugee team competes at European Games in Poland:" https://www.infomigrants.net/en/post/50021/5person-refugee-team-competes-at-european-games-in-poland

* Very early Sunday morning I discovered that I no longer need four pillows on top of the two elderly wheelchair cushions on my beat up second hand office chair. I can now manage with just the two wheelchair cushions thanks to my new meds. This may seem like a small thing, but it means I get my options back for leg and hip positioning at my desk.

(I can't sit easily long term in a chair without propping my legs if I intend to use the legs for things like walking later. It's also uncomfortable to let them dangle. you know how starting ballet at a very young age changes the shape of your hip joints? Now add serious arthritic degeneration and what the current rheum thinks is hyper-mobility, but not the really obvious everyone notices it kind. Apparently they are in the process of changing diagnostic criteria based on more recent science. Apparently most ballet dancers and gymnasts would qualify under the newer guidelines, which makes sense to me.)

My shoulder is still completely fucked from the trying to clean up after the Uncleaner, but I am really noticing the difference in so many ways. Yay, new meds. I've mostly acclimated to the side effects so far. still no hallucinations and last night's test with combining with the emergency tramadol did not induce temporary psychosis, which is a really good sign. (For new readers a whole bunch of meds can induce hallucinations and paranoia in my family, including opiods, anti-psychotics, and SSRIs. At high doses we are talking full psychotic break, a thing I've seen now deceased older family members experience in the hospital. if someone is having an obvious psychotic break, they tend to administer anti-psychotics, which have a multiplying effect with the pain killers and thus make things way worse, so they administer more anti-psychotics instead of cutting the opiods and the anti-psychotics out.... you can see the obvious problem. I have only just started hallucinating with stronger opiods, but can still tolerate milder ones. They are still a little unpleasant for me at low doses. I don't use them too often because some time pain killers are necessary and due to allergies my only other options are Tylenol and my arthritis pill, which I can't take more often than every twelve hours for safety reasons. It's a whole thing. New med is a class none of us have taken before, so I'm a guinea pig). I am wary of going up to the standard for adult humans dose, however, as I am getting the weird intense dreams side effect, which for me can be a warning that a drug is about to turn ugly on me. Don't worry, everybody around me knows what's going on with my meds situation.

I other news, Tavy wants to hang out with his favorite Millennials and enjoyed watching the Friday cleaner, but still is only letting me and Squirrel touch him. he did want to be super close to goth Millennial Saturday and was interested in play, though tired easily in the heat. He also get upset when it was time for Goth Millennial to go home. It's looking like he's recovering from the Uncleaner traumatizing him. he still wants reassurance after sleep, but yesterday he didn't wake me in a panic after a bad nightmare and have trouble being soothed. I am still furious about the whole thing, but the cats are being more normal.

Goth Millennial put in the air conditioner/air filtration in the main area before they left, which is making a huge difference.

* Sunday: Tavy let Goth Millennial pet him. he’s still too distressed to sit on the sofa with Goth Millennial for TV time and pettins, but he did curl up behind us. The cats are still sleepy, I'm hoping from the heat and not the Ajax, but Tavy was himself enough to play what is a normal amount for him in summer.

Goth Millennial got some good gardening in and is starting to sort out things cleaners put away in odd locations. The air filtering in the main room is being a huge help. I worry about all the smoke injuring my cats and the Millennials. I know it's really been fucking me up, but ever running the machine for a few hours perks us all up. My room is filtered as always when I sleep, of course.

I blew through all the EBT and OTC in the first week of July and am way over budget on food already. Sigh. I gaze sadly at melons and cucumbers I can't eat safely and pass on.

* The new meds side effect wave hit hard and dangerous Thursday, but I'm not sure it didn't start a lot earlier.

Okay, so I had a vicious headache last Friday night for about three hours, which didn't particularly shock me, as my body just does stuff like that. Same Saturday. Normal. Sunday. Monday. I made a note to mention it to the doctor Tuesday morning, but forgot. I noticed Tuesday's headache at the same time was absolutely crushing for three hours, then shut off like a faucett as if it had never been. Which is creepy and wrong. So I'm now weighing if the new meds improvement is worth creepy three hour debilitating headache every day, and if I should call it in the next day.

So Wednesday I wake up to one of my body is very, very bad days. which is a thing that happens sometimes, especially if my body's been to far which between the uncleaner and the extreme heat and this being the worse time of year for my allergies and assorted RL commitments including the doctor is not weird. Plus I'm... I forget how many days in on struggling to type on Klaus Laptop because its hard to lift my arm the extra nine and a half inches, and I'm mostly having to drink with a straw because i go half my wake cycle not being ably to lift a full glass of water that high and I'm dropping things because my arms are fucked. which happens. All of it really stresses out my body though, you follow?

So sometimes the alarm goes off because I have to go somewhere and my body nopes out of it, or tries to. So I'm exhausted. I have the shakes. I end up way late to pick up Goth Millennial because it's just that hard to move. So I drive Goth Millennial around and wait in the car while they do errands. Goth Millennial goes outside to putter in the garden. I lung, then take a nap, all with Tavy glued to my chest, because it's sometimes better after a nap. Resets everything to a more acceptable level of crappy.

I make it all the way up to minimally functional by the time the other Millennials arrive for dinner. One of them had brought pre-marinated and cooked tofu. Me: I think we should make rice for it. With coconut milk and saffron and Turmeric. New Millennial: Oooo! That sounds delicious! Me: It's possible I'm edging up towards Indonesian happy rice except I don't have any lemon grass. But I do have Bay leaves.... So it ends up with New Millennial Making Rice and the two of us keep consulting on spices until I have to lie down again. The results we excellent.

Tavy is still clearly traumatized from the Uncleaner. He loves techie Millennial. Techie Millennial was the first visitor he let pet and play with him. He hid from the Millennials when they arrived after nap time. He did eventually come out and watch them for a bit and even rubbed against Techies legs, but ran if it even looked like someone might tough her. I'm still so angry about the Uncleaner traumatizing him like this.

Really, I just wanted to go to bed after they left, but I needed to stay up for the morning allergy treatment. My body was really not movi ng well, but I dragged myself there and back, which nearly did me in. I did manage to prep for bed and climb in, which really fucking hurt, at which point the first wave of hallucinations and fast heartbeat and arrhythmia hit. So that was fun. Me: Guess that's it for new Meds. They were amazing while they lasted.

They must have been really busy at the doctor because they didn't get back to me until afternoon. I left a message for my doctor's nurse, conveying that I was having severe side effects and needed to know if I should go to the ER. No one ever got back to me. The heart stuff got really bad for four or five hours, always with visual hallucinations. I thought about calling for help, but my right arm wasn't working and my left wasn't great either, and it's usually eight hours minimum to get seen at the ER and they yell at you if you bring in chest pains that turn out not to be a heart attack, and the pain only happened when I moved so it was likely just torso muscles screaming about my arms.

But the supper high irregular heart beat for hours can't be good. I wrote this waiting for receptionist call back Friday morning. I was 36 minutes in on the wait as I typed this sentence. I really think they should check my heart, but if they are this busy... Yeah. I'm assuming if it was really dangerous, they'd return my call from yesterday instead of continuing to ignore my message.

* It took about an hour and a quarter total, but we will find out if i had a heart attack or not on Tuesday. They I had to chase down the asshole agency as they had not called to tell me the cleaner wasn't coming, so it's now rescheduled for Tuesday. Then I waited on hold to try to schedule the mobility assessment, only to discover the number they gave was for central processing. They were going to transfer me when call waiting beeped, so i made them give me the direct line number and extension. (It was meds. Pharmacy was delivering meds and they only wait five minutes so that was the correct call on my part.) The making appointment direct line was faster by far, but I had no clue which wheelchair vender I was interested in. O.o apparently they have the vender in on assessment days, so that effects scheduling. I let her pick. She was like: We like this one better, but we have to offer both.

Forage delivery still hadn't arrived. It was now really hot and polleny outside. This is relevant. I can't leave food out there very long or it will spoil. Inside, I have air conditioning and extra filtering. I can breath inside, but not outside. I was exhausted and frustrated and really pissed off about the medical stuff. My chest was still tight. There is a band of intense pain keeping me from lifting my arms properly. I manage to drag the laundry basket to me room anyway, but I'm not remotely up to the pain involved in folding it. Livia wants her love. I climb into bed for Livia loves. My experience is, getting ready to sleep summons Forage Delivery somehow. Livia is done with her love. I've been in bed over an hour waiting. Tavy insists I should sleep with claws to my nipple, because health stiff makes him anxious.

The phone rings. We have the conversation where we double check which porch to put it on. I lie there a bit, working up to the pain of levering myself out of bed. I lumber out there. No food boxes. so I'm thinking did he think left instead of right? So I'm out in the mid day sun with my crutch and bare feet, struggling to breath because I can't breath in the heat on a good day and this isn't close. I have no idea how I will get the food boxes to my apartment. My best guess is crawl on the pavement pushing them ahead of me because there is zero chance of my arms even lifting them. It's not on the patios of any building facing the gazebo. Me: did they drive past and hit the wrong side of my building? So I hobble around the other side in baking heat and it's not on the logical patios. I have to then hobble all the way back to my patio, exhausted. I simply can't be out any longer or I will collapse. This is why I have forage delivery, so I don't have to seriously endanger myself getting the food. Which i am now doing and failing at miserably.

I try last call return. No one answers. Fuck! I restart the computer and look up forage delivery dispatch. I get a live human without a long wait on hold for the first time in two days. This is possibly a miracle. I am still struggling to breath when I explain and ask if they could at least give me a hint as to where the food is because I can't be out in the sun searching anymore. She puts me on hold and reaches them. She puts me on hold and reaches them. she says they will come back.

So I go lie down in my room where the air is best and wait. He’s like: I’m right here. The food is here. I go look. No man. No food. I used my stop a kid from across the playground below to see if we could get a Polo for my Marco. No dice. I had cleverly left the phone off the hook when I went to look on the grounds that the food was definitely not on my patio previously.

It turns out that they’d put it in the middle of the other side of the building, expecting me somehow to drag it all that way over carpeted halls. O.o I didn’t think to look there because we’d discussed patio locations in such a super specific way moments before he’d put it at the main entrance instead of a patio. He was nice enough to bring it around and drop it right inside my door.

I have recently learned Millennials generally don’t know the word “gazebo” and are afraid to ask or look it up because of the cleaners. I am now wondering if patio may also be too bougie to be familiar, but lots of apartments around here come with small patios if they are ground floor, even the shitty apartments I can generally afford, just like tiny balconies are super common on upper floors in this region. Surely jungle of plants and blue chair were hints though? IDK. We’ve lost a lot of delivery people in the decade we live here too. Something about the complex confuses people.

Forage delivery guy looked like a thirtyish Mr. Clean and really was very kind, just confused.

Goth Millennial was sweet enough to come in on their day off to work and extra two hours looking after me, and then we finished the back third of a movie we’d been re-watching together. I’m not great, but improving. I also have a new unexplored theory about what is wrong with my arms from the article about statins I linked in this space. I guess I’ll run it by the doctor when I see them.

* "Completely Neutral, Race-Blind College Admissions Questions:" https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/completely-neutral-race-blind-college-admissions-questions

* "You drop a small piece of food on the floor, and decide to kick it under the oven/couch/whatever because you can’t be bothered to pick it up. As you’re walking away, you hear a very quiet “Thank you!” from under it.:" https://bixbythemartian.tumblr.com/post/183910148322/you-drop-a-small-piece-of-food-on-the-floor-and

* "Midnight Pals: Body Horror:" https://www.tumblr.com/bitterkarella/722118655202181120/midnight-pals-body-horror?source=share

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

The help links are at the bottom under the cut.

* BPAL Charity Fundraiser "TRIUMPH IN MY SONG:" https://blackphoenixalchemylab.com/product-category/activism/triumph-in-my-song/

* Support the WGA. "Entertainment Community Fund:" https://entertainmentcommunity.org/

* "DIY Box Fan Air Filter Directions:" https://aghealth.ucdavis.edu/sites/g/files/dgvnsk261/files/inline-files/DIY%20Air%20Purifier%20Directions_English.Spanish_0.pdf

* Useful state of trans links for making an arguement that we are real and nead human and civil rights: https://www.tumblr.com/gwydionmisha/722268284819570688/you-are-a-great-source-of-news-and-information-and?source=share
* Cool Blackwork Embroidery Patterns for Beginners: https://www.etsy.com/shop/thehaberdasheress/?etsrc=sdt

* If you would like to help support me and the Cats: paypal.me/Gwydion

( Links Underneath: )

* The aggregate went up late this week because of chaos detailed below. My body is still completely thrashed from the Friday uncleaning. I am doing my best, but only a tiny portion of news made it up.

* "Waterloo university stabbing was ‘targeted anti-LGBTQ+ attack’, police say as suspect charged:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/06/30/waterloo-university-stabbing-was-targeted-anti-lgbtq-attack-police-say-as-suspected-charged/

* "Bigots blame stabbing attack in a Canadian University’s Gender Issues class on trans people being too trans in public:" https://www.wehuntedthemammoth.com/2023/06/29/bigots-blame-stabbing-attack-in-a-canadian-universitys-gender-issues-class-on-trans-people-being-too-trans-in-public/

* "Russia conducts tactical fighter jet drills over Baltic Sea:" https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russia-conducts-tactical-fighter-jet-drills-over-baltic-sea-2023-06-27/

* "Putin tells rebellious Russian fighters to swear allegiance or leave for Belarus:" https://www.politico.com/news/2023/06/26/putin-rebellion-troops-belarus-00103695

* "Some Russians welcomed Wagner mercenaries who appeared in their streets during brief insurrection:" https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/26/europe/russia-wagner-rostov-sympathy-ukraine-intl-cmd/index.html

* "Plot Thickens: Russian Generals Supported Wagner Mutiny but Backed Out – US Intelligence:" https://www.kyivpost.com/post/18817

* "Wagner’s Prigozhin Planned to Capture Russian Military Leaders:" https://www.wsj.com/amp/articles/wagners-prigozhin-planned-to-capture-russian-military-leaders-805345cf

* "Putin Moves to Punish Prigozhin Allies:" https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/28/world/europe/putin-prigozhin-russia.html

* "Prigozhin May Be Gone, but Not the Failings He Ranted About:" https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/29/world/europe/prigozhin-shoigu-gerasimov-surovikin-russia-military.html

* "The poppycock of Myanmar drug suppression:" https://asiatimes.com/2023/06/the-poppycock-of-myanmar-drug-suppression/

* "SNP politicians accuse Tories of ‘rank hypocrisy’ for supporting devolution ‘where it suits them’:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/06/30/snp-hannah-bardell-gender-recognition-reform/

* "Politician who allegedly said all white men should have Black slave is suspended:" https://thegrio.com/2023/04/14/british-politician-andrew-edwards-white-men-black-slave/

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* "Ukraine spy chief accuses Russia of 'mining' cooling pond at Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant:" https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukraine-spy-chief-accuses-russia-mining-cooling-pond-zaporizhzhia-nuclear-plant-2023-06-20/

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* This is a really helpful thing explaining why Biden's wanting bridges without weight restrictions is correct from a civil engineering perspective: https://www.tumblr.com/whovianuncle/721335205966823424/surely-this-is-a-good-idea-that-doesnt-have-the?source=share

* This win was essential for saving democracy and a huge relief. "Supreme Court denies state legislatures the unchecked power to set election rules:" https://www.politico.com/news/2023/06/27/supreme-court-rejects-independent-state-legislature-theory-00103793

* "Hayes: Supreme Court has ruled against the right’s ‘slow-motion insurrection’:" https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/hayes-supreme-court-has-ruled-against-the-right-s-slow-motion-insurrection-185338437718

* "Ketanji Brown Jackson Dismantles SCOTUS Conservatives in Blistering Dissent:" https://www.thedailybeast.com/ketanji-brown-jackson-dismantles-scotus-conservatives-in-blistering-affirmative-action-dissent

* "US Supreme Court's two Black justices clash over affirmative action ruling:" https://www.reuters.com/legal/us-justices-jackson-thomas-illustrate-heated-us-debate-race-2023-06-29/

* "How Clarence Thomas ‘pulled the ladder up behind him’ on affirmative action:" https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/how-clarence-thomas-pulled-the-ladder-up-behind-him-on-affirmative-action-185974341842

* "Conservative justices welcome affirmative action—of legacy students:" https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/joy-conservative-justices-welcome-affirmative-action-of-legacy-students-185984069671

* "Battle for belonging: Steps toward racial progress in U.S. met with pushback: book:" https://www.msnbc.com/alex-wagner-tonight/watch/battle-for-belonging-steps-toward-racial-progress-in-u-s-met-with-pushback-book-185401925504

* "End of affirmative action checks another box on list of long term conservative projects:" https://www.msnbc.com/alex-wagner-tonight/watch/end-of-affirmative-action-checks-another-box-on-list-of-long-term-conservative-projects-186013253633

* "How the repercussions of affirmative action's end will reach far beyond college admissions:" https://www.msnbc.com/alex-wagner-tonight/watch/how-the-repercussions-of-affirmative-action-s-end-will-reach-far-beyond-college-admissions-186014277620

* "Supreme Court: Affirmative Action Is OK — If the Students Are Getting Sent to Die in Wars:" https://theintercept.com/2023/06/29/supreme-court-affirmative-action-military-academy/

* "Biden slams SCOTUS affirmative action decision: 'Discrimination still exists in America':" https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/biden-supreme-court-affirmative-action-decision-word/story?id=100491437

* "Why the Supreme Court decision on affirmative action matters:" https://www.npr.org/2023/06/29/1176715957/why-the-supreme-court-decision-on-affirmative-action-matters

* "Harvard 'legacy' policy challenged on heels of affirmative action ruling:" https://www.reuters.com/world/us/harvard-legacy-policy-challenged-heels-affirmative-action-ruling-2023-07-03/

* "Capitol Hill reacts to Supreme Court rulings:" https://www.msnbc.com/jonathan-capehart/watch/capitol-hill-reacts-to-supreme-court-rulings-186388549870

* "Naive emphasis on 'colorblindness' ignores racial reality in U.S.:" https://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/watch/naive-emphasis-on-colorblindness-ignores-racial-reality-in-u-s-186697285583

* "Supreme Court rejects challenge to Jim Crow-era Mississippi voting law:" https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/supreme-court-rejects-challenge-jim-crow-era-mississippi-voting-law-rcna85633

* "Supreme Court strikes down Biden’s student debt relief plan:" https://www.politico.com/news/2023/06/30/supreme-court-strikes-down-bidens-student-debt-relief-plan-00104409

* "The Student Loan Case’s Unwilling Participant:" https://prospect.org/justice/2023-06-19-student-loan-cancellation-supreme-court-mohela/

The Republicans sued to end student debt relief on MOHELA's behalf against their will and against their best interests since the state government didn't have standing for the suit, and Republicans Supreme Court justices found for the state anyway because that's how much they hate poor and middle class students having access to college and want to punish them with crushing life long debt for daring to try to get an education.

All precedent and the legal requirement that the people doing the suing have an injury and standing have been thrown out.

* "Elena Kagan Has Had Enough:" https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/01/opinion/elena-kagan-dissent-supreme-court.html

* "What is the Higher Education Act —and could it still lead to student loan forgiveness?:" https://www.cbsnews.com/news/what-is-the-higher-education-act-and-could-it-still-lead-to-student-loan-forgiveness/

* "US Supreme Court says Colorado designer can refuse LGBTQ+ customers: ‘License to discriminate’:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/06/30/us-supreme-court-lgbtq/

* "The man named in the Supreme Court’s gay rights ruling says he didn’t request a wedding website:" https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-gay-rights-lgbtq-website-385ec911ce0ca2f415966078eddb66da

This doesn't say it invalidates all anti-discrimination laws in this country of any kind, but in effect, it does since there is no limit on who or why you can discriminate against in this ruling.

Bonus points for the woman they found in favour lying in her filings about nearly everything in them, basically. her business is hypothetical. The person she claimed asked for a website didn't and wasn't aware the case was happening or involved him until it was already in front of the Supreme Court, etc.

I don't understand how any of that is legal, but that's just how eager the Republican Partizans on the supreme court are to make all discrimination legal: They ruled in an entirely hypothetical lawsuit about a dispute that didn't exist based on perjured depositions and filings without even informing the other party they were in a lawsuit about a thing they didn't do.

* "Reactions to SCOTUS' major blow to LGBTQ rights:" https://www.msnbc.com/jonathan-capehart/watch/reactions-to-scotus-major-blow-to-lgbtq-rights-186388037861

* "Supreme Court rules for Christian mail carrier who refused to work Sundays:" https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/supreme-court-rules-christian-postal-worker-refused-work-sundays-rcna84868

My assumption is they will use this precedent to allow EMTs, Doctors, hospitals, and pharmacists to deny trans people life saving health care, a thing that is already happening, but not currently legal.

I absolutely think hijabs etc. should be covered under the first amendment and anti-discrimination laws. I do think if Christians get their holidays off so should the rest of us.

it’s different if you say up front you can’t work certain holidays, but for me this is of a piece with the recent SCOTUS decision striking down all anti-discrimination laws.

The web designer one allows people and businesses to discriminate against any one for any reason. They deliberately put no limits on that.

This decision contradicts that, by saying that in the case of Christians, that previous ruling doesn’t apply, since Christians can’t experience any sanctions at all for signing up for a job they then refuse to do.

Sure looks like “rules for thee, but not for me.”

I’d love to be wrong, but I'd rather not bet my life on it next time I have to go to the Christian hospital where they group pray every morning, which is the only one servicing my small city.

* "John Roberts' Supreme Court rolls back civil rights one marginalized group at a time:" https://www.msnbc.com/alex-wagner-tonight/watch/john-roberts-supreme-court-rolls-back-civil-rights-one-marginalized-group-at-a-time-186273349702

* "'Galling': Hayes on the 'imperial mindset' of the Supreme Court conservatives:" https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/-galling-hayes-on-the-imperial-mindset-of-the-supreme-court-conservatives-186215493589

* "Pressley, Ocasio-Cortez call for changes to the Supreme Court:" https://www.politico.com/news/2023/07/02/pressley-aoc-changes-supreme-court-00104537

* "Writers Strike Messaging War Reshapes Standoff With Studios:" https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/writers-strike-messaging-studios-1235523786/

* "Elizabeth Warren, Susan Collins Introduce Tax Bill to Help Married Same-Sex Couples:" https://www.advocate.com/law/elizabeth-warren-refund-equality-act


* Have something you want to tell your Congress Critters? If you can't safely contact them 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.

Here is one that will send your reps a fax: https://resist.bot/

* The Indivisible Guide: "A Practical Guide to defeating MAGA:" https://indivisible.org/sites/default/files/2023-01/20220104_Indivisible_%20A%20Practical%20Guide%20to%20Defeating%20MAGA.pdf

* "America's Family Secret:" https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-slavery-lawmakers/

* "Once a Trump target, arc of the moral universe bends for Yusef Salaam:" https://www.msnbc.com/alex-wagner-tonight/watch/once-a-trump-target-arc-of-the-moral-universe-bends-for-yusef-salaam-185706565996

* "Candidate turns lessons of public, personal struggle into winning platform:" https://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/watch/candidate-turns-lessons-of-public-personal-struggle-into-winning-platform-186699333718

* "RFK Jr. Claims ‘Vaccine Research’ Likely Responsible for HIV and the Spanish Flu:" https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2023/06/robert-f-kennedy-jr-does-vaccine-make-fork-stick-to-me.html

* "The MAGA right is going all in on RFK Jr. That could backfire.:" https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/robert-kennedy-republican-super-pac-biden-rcna91176

* "DeSantis’s latest appeal to MAGA tops Trump in performative cruelty:" https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/06/27/desantis-immigration-border-plan-trump-maga/

* "Pete Buttigieg slams Ron DeSantis for ‘trying to prove his manhood’ with anti-LGBTQ+ video:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/07/03/pete-buttigieg-ron-desantis-anti-lgbtq-video/

* "Lindsey Graham booed, called ‘traitor’ at Trump rally in his home state:" https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/lindsey-graham-booed-called-traitor-at-trump-rally-in-his-home-state-186648645849

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* "Court upholds sanctions for some − not all − lawyers for suit to overturn Mich. election:" https://www.freep.com/story/news/politics/elections/2023/06/23/court-upholds-sanctions-for-only-some-kraken-attorneys/69493140007/

* "Rudy Giuliani interviewed in DOJ probe into 2020 election:" https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/report-rudy-giuliani-interviewed-in-doj-probe-into-2020-election-185342533732

* "Giuliani, at center of Trump election subversion schemes, spoke with federal prosecutors:" https://www.msnbc.com/alex-wagner-tonight/watch/giuliani-at-center-of-trump-election-subversion-schemes-spoke-with-federal-prosecutors-185703493978

* "WSJ: Giuliani testified for 8 hours in DOJ probe, questioned on Sidney Powell:" https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/wsj-giuliani-testified-for-8-hours-in-doj-probe-questioned-on-sidney-powell-186650693895

* "Stephanie Grisham: Trump showed secret documents to Mar-a-Lago diners :" https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/stephanie-grisham-trump-showed-secret-documents-to-mar-a-lago-diners-186645573966

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* "Senate report blasts intelligence failures ahead of Jan 6; bias, 'chilling effect' noted:" https://www.msnbc.com/alex-wagner-tonight/watch/senate-report-blasts-intelligence-failures-ahead-of-jan-6-bias-chilling-effect-noted-185394757922

* "Man wanted on Jan. 6 charges arrested with weapons near Barack Obama’s Washington home:" https://apnews.com/article/jan-6-insurrection-obama-weapons-857bad453191c67480b020ec0d1f980a

* "Drag Doesn't Kill People — Guns Do:" https://www.advocate.com/voices/drag-queens-guns

* "Baltimore mass shooting leaves 2 dead; half of 28 injured were children:" https://www.reuters.com/world/us/baltimore-police-scene-mass-shooting-incident-media-2023-07-02/

* "In wake of deadly mass shooting in Baltimore, mayor decries ghost guns, trafficking:" https://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/watch/in-wake-of-deadly-mass-shooting-in-baltimore-mayor-decries-ghost-guns-trafficking-186686021667

* "The Disturbing New Face of Mass Incarceration:"

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* "Shipping containers used for Arizona's makeshift border wall are now for sale, but buyer beware:" https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/arizona/2023/06/30/arizonas-shipping-container-border-wall-boxes-are-now-for-sale/70361464007/

* "Thousands more prisoners across the US will get free college paid for by the government:" https://apnews.com/article/prison-pell-grant-college-graduation-ff3f0b80b5bc0e44dde0408c3dedea19

* "Judge awards a Black church $1M over BLM banner burned by Proud Boys during protest:" https://www.npr.org/2023/07/01/1185630152/judge-awards-a-black-church-1m-over-blm-banner-burned-by-proud-boys-during-prote

* "Georgia teacher faces termination after reading book about acceptance to class:" https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/georgia-teacher-faces-termination-after-reading-book-about-acceptance-to-class-185672261786

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* "Reproductive rights battle especially poignant in context of Black maternal health:" https://www.msnbc.com/alex-wagner-tonight/watch/reproductive-rights-battle-especially-poignant-in-context-of-black-maternal-health-184461893607

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* "Hundreds detained at banned Pride marches in Turkey: ‘They are aware of our strength’:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/06/27/turkey-pride-arrests-istanbul-izmir/

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* "Climate Central analysis shows that human-caused climate change is making the near-record heat forecast in large parts of Texas and Mexico at least 5 times more likely.:" https://www.climatecentral.org/climate-shift-index-alert

* "Forest fire centre declares 2023 already worst year ever for Canadian wildfires:" https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2023/06/26/quebec-wildfire-smoke-causes-widespread-smog-warnings-grounds-some-water-bombers.html

* "Canadian wildfire emissions hit record high as smoke reaches Europe:" https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/canadian-wildfire-emissions-reach-record-high-2023-2023-06-27/

* "Rainfall likely won’t be enough to extinguish Quebec wildfires causing US smoke, officials say:" https://apnews.com/article/canada-wildfires-smoke-quebec-rain-a0e287ea5117cccadb9e6917304635ea

* "Air quality plummets as Canadian wildfire smoke stretches across the Midwest :" https://www.npr.org/2023/06/28/1184812177/chicago-detroit-pittsburgh-canada-wildfire-smoke

* "DIY Box Fan Air Filte rDirections:" https://aghealth.ucdavis.edu/sites/g/files/dgvnsk261/files/inline-files/DIY%20Air%20Purifier%20Directions_English.Spanish_0.pdf

* "Brutal heat wave makes Texas among the hottest places on Earth:" https://www.nbcnews.com/science/science-news/brutal-heat-wave-makes-texas-hottest-places-earth-rcna91584

* "Heat and smoke are smothering most of the U.S., putting lives at risk:" https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2023/06/28/extreme-heat-wave-texas-southern-states/

* Pro-Life Republicans act swiftly to cause more deaths because they believe people aren't dying fast enough. "Workers Die in Texas Heat as Greg Abbott's Water Break Ban Comes Under Fire:" https://www.newsweek.com/workers-die-texas-heat-greg-abbotts-water-break-ban-comes-under-fire-1808610

* "Critics Blast New Law After Dallas Postman Dies Amid Extreme Heat :" https://www.dallasobserver.com/news/dallas-usps-worker-dies-in-extreme-heat-critics-slam-hb-2127-16896591

* "35-year-old lineman dies after working to restore power in East Texas :" https://www.ketk.com/news/local-news/35-year-old-lineman-dies-after-working-to-restore-power-in-east-texas/

* "Teen and Stepfather Die on Hike in Near-Record Texas Heat:" https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/26/us/texas-heat-hiker-deaths.html

* "Inmates are dying in stifling Texas prisons, but the state seldom acknowledges heat as a cause of death:" https://www.kiiitv.com/article/news/local/texas/inmates-are-dying-in-stifling-texas-prisons/503-810c66fc-2bf2-4b7c-946f-c1cbac2ad58e

* What would Jesus do? Deny prisoners succor so that they die locked up in oven like conditions they can't escape. "Push to put air conditioning in Texas prisons fails:" https://www.corsicanadailysun.com/news/push-to-put-air-conditioning-in-texas-prisons-fails/article_257e94fe-0b00-11ee-a1ea-8bf9f4e3447f.html

* "Solar power proves its worth as heat wave grips the state:" https://www.texastribune.org/2023/06/28/texas-solar-power-grid-heat-wave/

* "Gov. Greg Abbott vows to exclude renewable energy from any revived economic incentive program:" https://www.texastribune.org/2023/03/01/chapter-313-texas-renewables-economic-development/

Solar Energy is saving Texas' butt right now and keeping their crappy proprietary grid afloat, but in March Republicans decided doubling down on the oil and gas industry while planning to make renewable energy harder to develop in order to make everything so much worse.

* "As Texans suffer in the heat, state Republicans play politics:" https://www.msnbc.com/alex-wagner-tonight/watch/as-texans-suffer-in-the-heat-state-republicans-play-politics-185722949628

* "Heat wave hits Southern California with a scorching Fourth of July weekend:" https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-06-30/heat-wave-southern-california-fourth-of-july-weekend

* "The Titan Submersible Was “an Accident Waiting to Happen”:" https://www.newyorker.com/news/a-reporter-at-large/the-titan-submersible-was-an-accident-waiting-to-happen

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* "It's Called Micro Metro:" https://www.youtube.com/shorts/O-ZiycBMULI

* "National Geographic magazine has laid off the last of its staff writers:" https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/28/media/national-geographic-magazine-staff-writers/index.html

* "We Cleaned Up The Ocean Floor At 40 Meters Depth:"

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* "How to Disable Ad ID Tracking on iOS and Android, and Why You Should Do It Now:" https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/05/how-disable-ad-id-tracking-ios-and-android-and-why-you-should-do-it-now

* "Google Says It'll Scrape Everything You Post Online for AI:" https://gizmodo.com/google-says-itll-scrape-everything-you-post-online-for-1850601486

* "A Four-Decade Secret: One Man’s Story of Sabotaging Carter’s Re-election:" https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/18/us/politics/jimmy-carter-october-surprise-iran-hostages.html

* He was incredibly talented. I loved him particularly in naked Lunch, Warlock and Impromptu, but he was in so many things. It's terrible he's gone, but at least the family have him back to mourn properly. In my experience, waiting is worse than knowing. "Julian Sands’ remains found in Mt. Baldy area, San Bernardino officials confirm:" https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2023-06-27/julian-sands-remains-found-mt-baldy-san-bernardino

* "Bonus 4: Queering the Gothic:" https://www.scribd.com/podcast/655892341/Bonus-4-Queering-the-Gothic-Stephen-interviews-Dr-Jamie-Bernthal-Hooker?irclickid=3kxxPHRpOzhvU%3A11aUXpLwX1UkF2jZSFRRYS3E0&irpid=2003851&utm_source=impact&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=affiliate_pdm_acquisition_Bing%20Rebates%20by%20Microsoft&sharedid=bing&irgwc=1

* "Good Omens Parody by The Hillywood Show®:"

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* Tuesday I went to the Doctor and had a blood draw. She's mostly caught up. Nothing can likely be done about the allergy treatments unless I want to day trip to Everett every two weeks starting in September, but i am so tired and the pain meds make me even more so. there is concern about no meds causing heart palpatations, but we are going to try a pill twice a day anyway, so i can get coverage in my sleep. Let us all hope I don't start hallucinating.

Given the hallucination risk I stayed at minimum for the Wednesday errands as the last thing I wanted was to start hallucinating while driving.

Some sort of blight has hit one of the garden tubs, but only one species of volunteer plant, which we removed in hopes it isn't in the soil and hasn't spread to the others. The other volunteers and the thing that actually is meant to be growing there look okay, but we are going to try to identify the species of ick, in case we need to sterilize and start over. I will be pissed if that's the case as it's one of the big whiskey barrel planters with the most expensive things in the garden in it. *fingers crossed*

Wednesday was the first day I woke up with bad collapsey legs since I started the new meds and on the scale of bad legs it was about medium. My arms we ironically less collapsey than average for the last week.

Bodies are weird.

* I think I need to tell you about the Cleaner, because OMG, but for that you will need context on my pain/meds situation.

So less pain does not remotely equal no pain. My hip joints were a mess Wednesday, and only a little better Thursday. My shoulder joints, and thus my arms, started to go bad Thursday. The fundamental things wrong with my body aren't fixable, but the new meds are doing a stellar job on what I think of as the secondary pain, IE: everything else not joint or tendon or in their immediate vicinity. It is far more effective than the muscle relaxants I've been using for decades at this since it's hitting the nerves and not just the muscles. It also adds to the tired. So much to the tired. Bonus: on the new dose, I get dizzy if I don't rest enough, and the heart palpitations hit longer and harder when they hit.

Dramatically better means for an extreme chronic pain/chronic illness perspective, not from a remotely healthy person's perspective, if you follow. I was into about a month of unbearable torment when we tried the one pill dosage. I'm still not sure my system can handle the two pills, and I plan to stick to this dose. They are supposed to last eight hours, but I get an extra four hours of partial coverage per pill, and like I said the side effects are scaling up on me.

So right now my balance sucks, I'm exhausted, and my shoulder joints scream at me if I try to do anything remotely strenuous with them, you follow?

So far I've had four different cleaners turn up, two of them twice. Three of those are hard and thorough workers. One of those will not wear her mask. I put up with it because I am wearing mine and turn on all the fans and I'm scared if I don't take her, no one will come. (see five skipped cleaning appointments in a row).

Cleaning is a hard fucking job and they are underpaid, get no benefits, no set hours, and have to pay their own travel costs including for the ferry if they are coming from the reservation and that is a lot of gas. I respect cleaners. I've done it, after all, amoung the many shit jobs I had over the years. I trust them to know what they are doing. This has been the case in three instances. Most of the conversation with those three cleaners has been things like: Where does this go? Where is (whatever) kept? What should i do next? I refuse to micro manage. In my experience, micro managing is dramatically less efficient and just insults the person doing the job. I know I hated it, when I was the person being micro-managed. This works great for Goth Millennial and for the other three cleaners on the other four occasions.

I'm sure you are sensing the big but here.

So the cleaner who came today, turned up the other time she was here high as a kite. I don't mean a little buzzed, which is fairly normal in this town and this state. Weed's been legal here for ages. People with shitty service jobs occasionally come to work a schootch high. It doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things if, say, your barista's a little buzzed. I don't partake myself for a host of reasons, but most of my friends since... I'm going to say 1985, have/do. A little high is no big deal.

Orbiting Pluto without a suit is. She was way out of it girl at a party who's friends have to watch her like a hawk high. She was barely coherent high. She drove here. O.o. She drove home. This terrifies me. after some consultation with my friends including them seeing the mess she made and me acting out vignettes, our best guess is she must have dramatically misjudged an edible. (It had to be vape or edible. I would have smelled smoke. Edible makes the most sense for both the degree of Jesus fuck high and the thinking she was fine when she left home, but waaaay not fine when she got here. Surely she would have cancelled otherwise, right?).

So basically instead of my working away at the aggregate or tumblr queue programming or whatever, it was a lot like baby sitting a toddler who would not shut up, only the toddler would make more sense and the mess would have likely been confined to things in a toddler's reach. I had to go around after she left and actually use the forbidden to me for safety reasons ladder to save a bunch of my cups and glasses from the accident I could see happening the second Squirrel opened a dish cupboard because he had jammed them in their so precariously that the door was the only thing preventing them falling. Goth Millennial came the next day and had to take everything out and restack it. I could live with the fitted sheet being inside out, so we left that for today.

I did not turn her in to the asshole agency because 1. worker solidarity. I never went to work on a substance, but I've worked so, so many shit jobs and the Asshole Agency is terrible. 2. I was pretty sure it was a mistake involving an edible. 3. I was big on giving people another chance when I was teaching. On fuck up shouldn't lat for ever unless that fuck up was malicious or really damaging to other people.

Well, fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice shame on me.

No, she was not noticeably high this time, though I couldn't rule a mild buzz out. She also had a shamefaced and subdued demeanor that clearly told me she knew how badly she'd fucked up last time. She said she'd signed up for me on purpose instead of her other option because I was really nice to her and my apartment was full of interesting things to look at while she cleaned. My apartment is full of interesting things to look at and I suspect she liked me because I was consistently kind to her when she was a mess last time and hadn’t turned her in. She really is sweet and nice and she is clearly trying her best but not remotely the sharpest tool in the shed. Which can be fine. I've known a lot of good workers over the years with significant developmental or accident related challenges and they did fine. She wasn't in that category, but I realized she'd need extra supervision compared to the others. I underestimated how much.

She did walk right up to Tavy and start petting him right away like last time which again confused and alarmed him. Sure, Squirrel and I and a couple of the Millennials can do that because we are his particular friends, but he barely knows her and and she would NOT stop doing that last time no matter how many times I told her he was a biter and apt to maul when he was worked up. I was so proud of him because he did not attack her the first three times, and honestly the forth time, I would have bitten her too in his place.

Tavy was noticeably wary of her. He did want to watch what she was doing, but he remembered her. (By contrast, the other cleaners he'd watch from a distance for a while, and then follow around and in a couple cases, get me to pick him up so he could get a better look. He really took to the GNC person who came once, and kept sniffing their legs). He did let her pet him without biting her, and she was together enough to stop when I told her he was down, and leave him alone for the rest of the two hours when I said he was in a mood to hang out and watch but not interact.

I got her through the linen change okay and last time she was so high she forgot we had a dishwasher after she'd emptied it and it took her most of her shift except the linen change, but the dishes looked and smelled clean, so I set her to that and did not remotely supervise her enough. This I did not discover until evening, but we'll get to that.

Then I set her to sweep and mop, which... Like I've worked a lot of restaurant jobs, often with people in a supported worker with severe intellectual challenges. I've never seen one who'd been doing it for years who couldn't do it correctly. She said she'd been doing this for several years.

Assuming makes an ass out of me, doesn't it?

Oh gods the mess she made! I should have known it was too hard for her when she started prepping for mopping before sweeping. So I told her to sweep first, which she did. I told her to dump the water in the sink, not the tub, which turned out to be very, very lucky. (The tub is the most expensive thing I own. A city program that remodels for elderly and disabled people paid for it. I will never be able to afford to fix or replace it. There are super strict cleaning directions for a reason, because the mechanism is delicate.) I told her to use the liquid all purpose cleaner under the sink. I should have got it out and prepped the bucket myself, but bending hurts and I was exhausted and dizzy and my arm situation was deteriorating. I should have done it anyway, because this is So. Much. Worse.

She used a ton of water. Like way, way to much water in a way that suggested she did not wring the mop and/or she was dumping puddles out of the bucket. It was a terrifying fall risk situation because this was the end of her shift and I really really needed to get ready for bed as soon as she left and forage delivery was late so I had to go drag it in, just as I'd given up and settled into bed. So I'm dizzy with unreliable legs, using both hands and going careful back and forth over this swamp of a floor with a weird gritty, soapy texture. Which is... not what you want in a cleaner for elderly and disabled people. I could fall and end up in the hospital under those conditions. And it;'s not like I could want a couple hours for it to dry. There was no point in washing my feet in the bathroom, so I kept using wipes on them before getting into bed.

Then I woke up to pee and realized just how bad it really was. *head desk* My best guess is she used Ajax, which is stored under a bookshelf in the bathroom, not under the sink. Like a TON of Ajax. The kitchen sink and nearby counter was caked with it and the floor was tacky and gritty and full of muddy footprints. I couldn't leave it like that. I cleaned the sink. I took the other mop with the disability friendly easy to wring it out attachment which had been to complicated for her head and wet mopped it all again, frequently rinsing and wringing it out, until my arms basically gave out and I had to wash up and take a nap.

It's still incredibly dirty. I feel like crying, because I can't feel clean unless my feet are. I've been skating around on damp towels, but though my hip joints are a lot better this evening, I wear out fast and it hurts quite a bit if I do it too much. I hate leaving a terrible mess like this for the millennial, but I simply can't mop any more with these arms. I'd have been so much better off giving her something else to do, but I couldn't think of anything else simple enough for her, and I know from last time she will not leave early no matter how much I tell her she can just clock out at the end of the hour.

At this point I was debating what to do. I had settled on calling Monday and asking them to put her on my no list without giving a reason, because I simply can't go through this again. It's too hard on my body and it's incredibly could seriously injure me dangerous.

Then I went to feed the Empress Livia and discovered something worse.

I'm medically fragile. Amoung so many other things, I have an immune system that is far more interested in own goals than fighting pathogens. I can and will catch anything you expose me too. Anything. I also have a dicey digestive system. Anything I use to prepare food or eat or drink needs to be really fucking clean. We prewash for grease and stuck on food then run them through the washer to make sure the soap and anything else is off. yes, I know this is bad for the environment as it uses extra water, but it’s a serious safety issue for me.

I was very, very clear on directions because I remembered last time. “Wash the dishes and then put the in the dishwasher. The dishes in there are dirty, so don’t put them away. I will run the washer after you leave.” Did she do that? No. Were the dishes cleaned and dried, which would be reasonably acceptable as an alternative? No. They were jammed in with the clean dishes, soaking wet and covered in soap bubbles six or seven hours after she left. We'll have to go through all the pans tomorrow. I pulled the pans and dishes I remembered were in the sink yesterday. I have no way of guessing with the glasses and flatware and I don't know which things Squirrel put in there.

I am exhausted and I hurt and I've been pushed way past the limit of what my body can handle in a day and I can't trust my dishes or the glass I'm drinking out of and I can't get the dirty Ajax grit off my feet. I'm going to go take a bath, but my feet will be dirty again the second I touch the floor.

She's another poor person. I feel like a class traitor just putting her on my no list, but she could theoretically kill an elderly person with her mopping, and I can't decide if I should say something, because anything I do will be a terrible option.

This person literally uncleaned my apartment. I just....

Look, I know it’s a free service, but this is so very much worse than when they don’t send anyone.

* Squirrel was horified because he works with elderly people and he knows better than anyone that falls kill. He insisted I call right away about her. Squirrel: Even I know not to use Ajax on floors!

It turns out they take calls on the weekends. I admit i broke down a bit. My arm was screaming at me and we are looking at weeks of cleaning to get all the Ajax up. It turns out they literally don't fire people for any reason so ethically I feel a lot better about calling, but at the same time she could literally kill an elderly person and also they could send someone even more dangerous because there is no check on that. O.o. so she's blocked on the app from seeing my jobs. I ordered an extra cleaner, but I don't really think they'll send one. IDK.

I spent hours last night trying to fix it last night. Goth millenial spent hours on it today. It still is incredibly dirty. I'm scared the cats are eating the Ajax dirt that clings to their paws. Tavy is really traumatized and wouldn't even let Goth millenial pet him today and he mostly avoided the other millenials who were here breifly. he keeps needing reassurance cuddles and held blerpfest last night in the living room. I don't blame them.

At lets cancelling five times in a row wasn't actively destrucxtive. This was. It was so very very destructive.

It is freaking me out that shge's out there driveing, that she's likely endangering other people and their pets with the uncleaning.

Bonus: She waited long enough to clock out after i told her to clock out that her five minute delay stoole a half hour of cleaning from me.

* Sunday I took some of the Millennials for swimming/picnic at the Lake for the first time this season. I got to watch New Millennial fall in love with the PNW landscape exactly the way I did more than thirty years ago.

You can really tell which of us grew up with cold Northern Ocean. Me: wading steadily deeper and deeper once I'm far enough in to keep my balance by my self on the rocks and the bottom gets a little smoother, then slowly swimming out a little deeper in search of the warmer tide. (It's a run off fed lake, and the mixing of the cold inflow with the water that's been in the lowlands long enough, makes these weird little temperature striations you can very much feel even after you cold adapt). Everybody Else: Wading crotch deep and thinking for a while about whether they want to swim after all, then going way slower and stopping a lot to rethink.

I love my Millennials. The other two each had one of the newest Millennial's arms to help them over the rocks because the rocks suck and I'd forgotten to warn them. Me, urging them on: Keep coming! I found the warm current! New Millennial: Looking concerned this might be hazing, followed by the moment of delight and surprise on finding I was not. Look, it's only like ten or fifteen degrees on a good day, but it does make a difference and the activity of swimming or treading water and the adaptation once you go up to your neck and then duck your head, all add up. You just need to get into a sweet spot.

I discovered on the way back that my fucked up arms really, really don;t want to do backstroke. I managed a lopsided curve towards shore until I was far enough in to pull along the rocks with my hands and kick. So Goth Millennial is hanging close on the way to the shallows, because I can't really get out safely by myself and need help getting up onto my feet and staying there until I'm reasonably sure they are working, at which point either Goth Millennial (or Techie Millennial, who couldn't come), would grab my crutch so I could use it and their arm to get out onto the "beach."

My crutch was not where I left it. My crutch was not anywhere nearby where someone might have moved it if it were in the way of say launching a jet ski from the wrong stretch of "beach" instead of the boat and jet ski launch area. I mention jet skis as their were two anchored in the swimming area where they were not meant to be we we arrived, one of which way out past the swim buoys where it was meant to be, and the other parked on the "beach" where it emphatically should not be, surrounded by mostly kids, obscuring view of the corner where the "beach hits the cit off with the higher land and grass. But I hadn't gone near that, and I needed the crutch to get out to look to see if the crutch was there.

I am still angry about that fad a decade or so ago when asshole able bodied art students would steal poor people's wheelchairs for shitty "art projects" and then brag about it on line as if stealing an expensive thing someone couldn't afford to replace and stranding them somewhere like a park or a bathroom or an inaccessible public building was something virtuous and clever instead of an incredibly cruel things to do to someone, as if their crap project was worth more than someone else's independence. My crutch is basically one of my legs. Someone's wheels are their legs.

Every time I go into the water anywhere, I know there is a chance someone will steal my crutch. This is the PNW, and I think someone leaving a mobility aid next to the water makes sense to the ableds, whereas someone leaving a wheelchair on the pavement in a park doesn't for some asshole shitty lack of empathy and imagination neurotypical reason, I guess.

So I'm starting to get really upset and Goth Millennial is really worried and we are having a loud conversation along the lines of Me: shit! I can you see my crutch anywhere? I left it right there. I think someone may have stolen !it! Millennial standing up and going to look across the bad rock stretch craning their head around to see if some asshole maybe put it on the grassy bit above the cut: I can't see it! It's not there!" Middle School age, glaring resentfully at one of the younger kids, stomps around to the other side of the illegal parked jet ski, where we had zero chance of seeing it, retrieves it and hands it to me. Me: you're very kind! Thank you! Goth Millennial hoists me to my feet while I use their arm and the crutch to just barely get my balance. This is a complicated and painful procedure, returning to gravity after freedom, and I need to stand their awhile like two or three feet away from Asshole Jet Ski Extended family. These kids just stare at me the whole time we are doing this. It is very, very obvious that my normally invisible disability is very, very real. Grumpy teen in charge to a younger kid: You better go apologize. No one apologizes. They keep staring at us hobble slowly and carefully up the shallow stairs. After I went to pee and wash lake water off my hands before eating, I went to set my crutch down by my chair and all this water poured out of it. I'd left it on dry land.

Asshole Family who was too privileged to use the boat and jet ski launch who thus had to drive their jet skis through the swim area had stolen my fucking crutch to play with in the water and the missing adults and the grumpy teen in charge had let them, and then they hid it behind their angled jet ski so no one could see it afterwards. They could have lost it in the lake. They could have kept it.

We found out when our friends came out of the water that they’d also stolen and hid our blind friend's flip flops, which they grudgingly had returned when it was clear they were hers.

Rich people are the worst.

So we go get dinner stuff at the grocery store and drop a Millennial off and I'm in my kitchen searching for my reusable straws, of which I own four. I have one I was using for lemonade which I put in the refrigerator last night. I had assumed the other three were in the wash or something up until now, but I searched the dishwasher and they weren't there. All the flatware are in the dishwasher except the chopsticks and some specialty use items, since we didn't know which the Asshole Cleaner hadn't cleaned properly before putting back. we’d emptied the trays. I search there and around there anyway. There are no reusable straws in the kitchen except the one I was drinking out of Friday when Asshole Stoner Cleaner was uncleaning the apartment.

The time she was here high as a kite she kept wiggling them and shouting "Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle!" She was obsessed with them. They were a gift from Goth Millennial. I don't think they were that expensive, but they were cute and had a nice texture and are earth friendly. (Some people can't use reuseable straws for a bunch of reasons and we have emergency plastic straws here. This is not any sort of judgement on people who use single use. Let's ban fishing industry plastics which are most of the ocean plastic pollution before going after disabled people's straws, okay?)

I think the only reason she didn't steal the forth straw was it was right next to me so I could poke it up under the mask for brief sips. I'd left it and the cup in the fridge because I don't like to put them to wash until I see a new clean straw I can use in situations like this or when my arms are bad, and it's easier and safer to hold the cup low, or sometimes just because. They are reusable! It hurts nothing. I wanted a straw because my body wasn't working and I wanted to drink the juice I'd bought for dinner while lying down and waiting for things to stop hurting so much.

There is zero chance the other three are still here.

I had checked my bedroom right after she left for small, easily stealable things missing from the bookshelf where I put curios right after she left because the comment about my interesting things felt like something a person might say anyway, but also a things someone who might pocket once would say and I was already upset and wary of her because of everything. There are things it would be hard to check, like my BPAL Collection, but odds are she wouldn't steal those. She'd have had to climb on the bed and go through the little boxes and she was only unsupervised in there for a few minutes with the sweep and mop. I will need to see if she stole the bottle where I keep a few tramadol in case I wake up unable to get out of bet or occasionally, even roll over without an hour or more of slow, excruciating effort. While they clean, I'm sitting at my desk right next to the bottled meds collection that mostly feed assorted pill organizers, and the shelf above where the things I need to grab quick in an emergency are not surprisingly untouched. If anything had been stolen when I got up to go to the bathroom the parent tramadol bottle would be easiest to raid and the only really attractive thing to steal except throat pearls, and you'd have to know what they were and they are not recreational, just a little expensive and perscription. The altar and display shelf over the sofa seems fine, and she definitely didn't go in grabbing distance anyway.

When I went into the bathroom to bathe the lake water away, I noticed some small things missing. One of them I'd assumed was in the wash, but I have done a bunch of laundry over the weekend since the Ajax tainted clothes get washed separately and I don't want the dye to be leached by cleanser by letting them sit unwashed, and we have to wash the mop head by itself between uses to get all the ajax out. It's not in the wash. It's gone, a small, very useful thing. Nothing expensive is missing that I've noticed yet, but I haven't properly inventoried all the otc things and the prescription ointments and such, but I'm guessing those wouldn't be attractive. I doubt she'd steal books. She didn't strike me as a reader, but when I am in less pain and less exhausted, I'll inventory them better.

Asshole. Fucking asshole.

I know it could have been worse. Every little curio and most of the art except some things in the bathroom that are there because of the risk of steam or water damage have a story. They were given to me by friends or lovers or made by me when my hands still worked right or purchased at particular events or on particular occasions. These are memories and irreplaceable regardless because they are mostly hand made or limited edition from conventions.

We don't have money for replacing straws right now. They haven't paid Goth Millennial for a month and a half, not even for the supposedly paid training sessions. I owe money to the Honest Mechanic for the third time in three months and am about to burn two thirds of my bill money tomorrow on that, because you never ever fuck over a small business, just like you never ever fuck over another poor person. (I don’t steal, but I think ethically, stealing from a big chain to feed your kids is okay, and very much better than letting you kids starve, especially given the wage theft and lobbying against the social safety net and minimum wage those chains do. They steal from the poor, particularly their workers and if they hadn’t paid politicians to do things that prevent people from having enough to eat, then which is the bigger evil? Mom and pops? Family Businesses? Little micro businesses and artists and what have you? Never, ever okay. Small businesses are the life blood of a community online and RL, and letting me defer payment is a major fucking favor, so they are next after housing, whatever happens to my other bills. The other few things I spotted are replaceable if we had money for it.

I am so fucking angry anyway. I already felt my home was desecrated by her uncleaning it and distressing Tavy and the all over fuckery of it, but this small thing, this thing that wouldn't matter if I were a little better off or they weren't a gift, but feel like a big thing when added to all the rest.

It takes a lot to make me hate someone. We are not there yet, but if I do find something important I overlooked gone, I will, much like I still hate the ex-friend from first college who took three important things with sentimental value that were/are irreplaceable when he dropped out. This is how he became an ex-friend. He knew that the plaque was the last thing the artist my first freshman lover bought it from made and that it had a bunch of layered meanings in what was written on it. The things he stole from me and another friend were like that. Very personal and chosen with surgical precision to cause the most distress. (He did other, worse things, then made sure everyone thought, I’d done them and I was a monster. none of this we found out until he’d gone and we none of us could figure out why. Okay, the terrible things he needed someone to frame, but the rest... Sociopathy was the best guess for all of it really. Last I checked he was still working with children and there was fuck all provable we can do about it, but he really, really shouldn’t have been working with children). These things the Uncleaner stole were small, replaceable things, not something where there is no other one even if memories weren’t attached.

All the things missing I've looked for off and on since the time she was here high, under the belief they were misplaced or in the wash. I wouldn't be surprised if that's when she took them and that's part of why she was so embarrassed the second time, but if she were really embarrassed she could have brought them back then and I'd never have known. Like, she could have tossed them into one washer or the other, or tucked them around the sink, and I'd have just thought that was where they were.

I know the Asshole Agency will do fuck all, but I'm going to call them anyway. Goth Millennial said before we knew about the theft that she was the one who was a class traitor, because you don't do shit like this to another poor person. I have no idea when my apartment will actually be clean again. I'm doubting that an extra two hours this week even if someone turns up will do it.

We are still baffled by the thought process.

If she'd put the dishes into the dishwasher like I'd asked, it would have been fine and not tons of extra time and work cleaning everything. I still need to sit on the kitchen floor in the Ajax to go through all the pots and pans in case the extra cleaner does come. If she'd rinsed and dried them before putting them away, it would have been not ideal, but likely fine. She did neither for no reason we can understand. Putting them away wet and soapy was actually more work than racking them in the dishwasher like I asked.

Not only was the bottle of liquid all purpose cleaner right in front when I opened the cabinet under the sink to hand it to Goth Millennial Saturday when they decided wet mopping wouldn't be enough, there was a literal second full bottle behind it because I hate running out of things so I tend to buy two at once if I have enough cash for it and the trip to get the one I like that is effective but doesn't make bad smells is annoying if I don't want a big mark up. It was right there. couldn't have missed it if she'd opened the compartment. To get at the Ajax I use only for the toilet, she had to go past the dish soap for the sink and tub and the shampoo and conditioner I bought before the engine light went on last month. She could have used the dish soap and it would have been not ideal, but fine except for all the extra water. A wet mop after she left would have solved it. She had to go on her hands and knees and move things to get the Ajax. Following directions was Easier. Asking me to get it if she somehow couldn't recognize it as a bottle of liquid cleaner was easier. Getting about a third to a half of a big cylinder of Ajax out of those small holes was definitely harder than doing it properly.

WTF!?!

I get that stealing small stuff you don't need is actually a symptom of mental illness that requires therapy she likely can't afford, and given how high she was she really had no observable impulse control I could see, hence her repeatedly stopping work to pet a cat I'd warned her not to, and the 'wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, and all the many other things. This is the only explicable part of it. Like I get it. If that's all she'd done I would have been mildly miffed and reported and blocked her because I don't like people stealing my stuff and she might take something from someone else they couldn't eventually replace, but I wouldn't be this kind of furious. A compulsion to steal and/or walking away with something because one is borderline incoherent high and then going oops later are pretty easy to understand motivation wise.

Doing all this extra work to do so much damage to someone you barely know makes zero sense. I was nice to her! I sent her home with a big bag of food each time! We none of us think this was malice. It can't be laziness as this took so much extra work than not doing damage would. so seriously WTF, with the dishes and the Ajax? This question haunts us all.

UPDate: Asshole Agency now says they will file a ticket and investigate. I trust nothing they say, as they've lied to me before, most recently Saturday, when they claimed there was nothing to be done except blocking her from coming here. Today's guy says they weren't supposed to blow be off like that and their is a system. There is no way to tell which of them is lying. I hope the ticket system is not fictional like half of their cancellation calls and I hope there is an investigation system that is not made of bullshit and rubber stamps. That would be nice.

It really does scare me should could accidentally kill someone or their pets and it worries me she's out their in the homes of vulnerable elderly people who may not have a support system to handle the devastation. I'm still having trouble turning my head and lifting a full glass of liquid with my dominant arm above my shoulder. I don't know what long term health effects the Ajax will have on the cats. Livia's on a special diet for her urinary system. I did not fall and I could hide in my bed until all the water dried. The stuff she stole was small and that big a deal. I have Goth Millennial and to a lesser extent the others to help me clean up, but this is exhausting them. None of them have to do that and I appreciate that so much.

If I were older though? I could have broken a hip or had a serious head injury with no one to help.

It still freaks me out she was driving like that the previous time.

I've done a whole lot of shit jobs out of poverty. I have never harmed someone like she harmed me. I never would. I hate that I am harming her now, by reporting, but I had to try to protect whoever next after me. I hate the Asshole Agency. I hate them for the terrible way they treat the cleaners and whole fucking gig economy, and the predatory capitalism that makes this the business model now, and the shiftiness of it all. I wonder how many people before me tried to report her and how many gave up trying to get the asshole agency to care and just blocked her. Did she trash anyone's home before mine?

This was supposed to be extra help, but this is so much harm, so much extra pain, so much extra stress. Medicare pays them money to send untrained, unvetted people into the homes of vulnerable adults run by an agency who's first recourse is to lie to you if you complain about anything, and only calls you half the time to tell you the cleaner cancelled.

I am tired of being upset about all this. It will hard to be not upset about it until my apartment is clean and smells normal again. The chemicals give me a headache, which does not help either.

* On Monday night the extra cleaner I ordered for Tuesday called. They generally do this to check in. i tell them where to park and to call on arrival so I can pop out and wave them in and that they should wear a mask and headphones atre fine if they want to wear them. I began to hope a cleaner really would turn up despite the holiday.

An hour before the scheduled time of arrival, the Asshole Agency called, because they couldn't reach the cleaner. Me: she called last night. Everything seemed fine. Them: do you know how to reach her? Me: No. O.o

She was a couple minutes late, having taken the wrong entrance to my apartment complex, which happens a lot. It was fine. I explained the situation with dishes and floors. she did all the dishes and followed directions. She actually solved the floors with time to spare. O.o. i'll feel better with an extra mopping in the bathroom, but the Ajax spell is gone and she even got the caked crust around the edges in the bathroom. Then she took out the trash and organized the pots and pans, which have been a mess since the silverware drawer broke.

She was respectful of Tavy's space, which was a huge help, since the Uncleaner traimatized him to the point he's having his nightmares again. Livia hid of course, sensible girl.

Goth Millenial wanted to come hang out, so I went and got them. We had a nice dinner and watched Dark Winds. This is a rewatch for me, but they'd only seen the first episode. It's both worth a rewatch and the new season starts soon, so the timing is excellent. Tavy was so worn out from supervising the cleaner from afar, he slept through the visit.

After Lung Time Livia came out of hiding for a love and a snack, just in time for them all to be panicked by fireworks in the parking lot. They both Noped odff to their hides for hours. Livia only came out a couple hours later. She got a love and a snack, and then the fireworks started again, luckily not nearly as loud, so at least Tavy was okay.

The imperial couple decree no more fireworks ever, please.

The Ajax took the shiny protective layer off the flooring, which makes me sad, but I suspected this would be the case when I realized what she'd done to me.

Otherwise, things are normalish here at the cat asylum. It was almost midnight as I wrote this and the wind from Alaska is finally blowing the smell of Canada burning out of our little valley by the bay.

I would like to thank the donor who paid for the latest car repair and to anyone who chipped in in the last slightly over a year and a half when the catastrophic string of things falling apart including two appliances, an apartment electrical system, my teeth, A fire alarm, a tire, and.... Was it five car repairs on my aged and slowly failing vehicle?

I would like to thank you all for the kind words and support you all give me. I notice and it does matter.

* A thing I wrote for Tumblr on the evening of the 4th:

I have a lot of new followers who joined in the last year. You may have noticed that my 4th of July programming is not what one might expect from an American. It is deliberate. I think it is more valuable to see the country for what it is, what’s best and most important about it and fight for what it could be than to bellow self congratulatory platitudes wrapped in a flag.

The fight has gotten so much harder in the last 7 or so years, but it always was hard. Those of us who could never afford the rose colored glasses need to stick together, to have each other’s backs. To those who see the rising tide of fascism and are joining the cause and for those young enough that this is all pretty new, welcome.

We really do need to hang together or we really will hang separately. I said back in 2016 this was going to be a marathon and not a sprint and we have so very many miles to go. There is still time to save what is good about this country, and to build something new and better on part of the foundation that is still good. We can do it if we stick together and leave no one behind this time. We can do it if we don’t let them split us and get us all scrambling for the crumbs instead of insisting on pie for everyone.

This isn’t over. Not quite yet, though it might feel like it may be for some of us. Let us not go softly into that good night. Let us rage together at the dying of the light.

* "Midnight Pals: Jewish Noir:" https://www.tumblr.com/bitterkarella/721215690590339072/midnight-pals-jewish-noir?source=share

* "Midnight Pals: A Fable:" https://www.tumblr.com/bitterkarella/721521022058233856/midnight-pals-a-fable?source=share

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

The help links are at the bottom under the cut.

* BPAL Charity Fundraiser "TRIUMPH IN MY SONG:" https://blackphoenixalchemylab.com/product-category/activism/triumph-in-my-song/

* Support the WGA. "Entertainment Community Fund:" https://entertainmentcommunity.org/

* "DIY Box Fan Air Filter Directions:" https://aghealth.ucdavis.edu/sites/g/files/dgvnsk261/files/inline-files/DIY%20Air%20Purifier%20Directions_English.Spanish_0.pdf

* My oldest continuous friend is trying to raise money to buy games for a Cat Rescue fundraiser. This cat rescue is no kill and places most cats in foster homes until they can be adopted. They are good people there and it's a huge number of cats many needing basic or more serious healthcare.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/318lgf6fa0?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=p_cf%20share-flow-1&fbclid=IwAR1smSQTz7deMSVUBsEg30AdhQ-zeAEHGXOcHXqVUILTlF2MqnIIW49SDVU

* Cool Blackwork Embroidery Patterns for Beginners: https://www.etsy.com/shop/thehaberdasheress/?etsrc=sdt

* If you would like to help support me and the Cats: paypal.me/Gwydion

( Links Underneath: )

* "Gay Ex-Adult Film Star Antonio Moreno Elected Mayor of Small Town :" https://www.advocate.com/politics/antonio-moreno-mayor-elect

* "Russian opposition leader Navalny urges anti-Kremlin campaign as his new trial begins:" https://apnews.com/article/russia-navalny-trial-c1c5cb7936e2c4eebcb76c1289aadfd6

* "Russia bars media from new "extremism" case against Navalny:" https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russias-navalny-court-face-extremism-charges-2023-06-19/

* "A failed plot to assassinate a C.I.A. spy in 2020 in part led to expulsions of the agency’s chief in Moscow and his Russian counterpart in Washington.:" https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/19/us/politics/russia-spy-assassination.html

* "Book shows Putin broke unwritten rule with plot to kill defector on U.S. soil:" https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/book-shows-putin-broke-unwritten-rule-with-plot-to-kill-defector-on-u-s-soil-nyt-183393349660

---

* "Russian mercenary boss accuses top brass of Ukraine battlefield cover-up:" https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russian-mercenary-boss-accuses-top-brass-ukraine-battlefield-cover-up-2023-06-22/

* Let's hope the people of the Crimea aren't left behind at the end of this. "Ukraine hits bridge linking Crimea to mainland in blow to Russian supply route:" https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukraine-hits-bridge-linking-crimea-mainland-blow-russian-supply-route-2023-06-22/

* "Russia steps up aerial strikes on Ukraine, killing at least 6 amid Kyiv counteroffensive:" https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-odesa-f31bf4e312800e08803cc0190e28823a

---

* "Biden Rolls Out New LGBTQ+ Resources on Day of Historic White House Pride Celebration:" https://www.advocate.com/gay-pride-parade/biden-historic-pride-month-celebration

* "Biden Blasts ‘Prejudiced’ Lawmakers for Targeting LGBTQ+ Rights:" https://www.advocate.com/politics/joe-biden-gop-lawmakers-prejudiced

* "White House Pride Flag Display Enrages Right-Wingers:" https://www.advocate.com/gay-pride-parade/gop-pride-flag-violation

* "Fox News Says White House Flew ‘Pedophile,’ ‘Groomer’ Pride Flag:" https://www.advocate.com/media/outrageous-fox-news-pedophile-pride

* "Kamala Harris: Our One-on-One With the Vice President:" https://www.advocate.com/exclusives/exclusive-vice-president-kamala-harris

* "Justice Samuel Alito Took Luxury Fishing Vacation With GOP Billionaire Who Later Had Cases Before the Court :" https://www.propublica.org/article/samuel-alito-luxury-fishing-trip-paul-singer-scotus-supreme-court

* "Alito didn’t recuse himself from case involving billionaire fishing friend:" https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/propublica-alito-didn-t-recuse-himself-from-case-involving-billionaire-fishing-friend-183940165990

* "As Texas swelters, local rules requiring water breaks for construction workers will soon be nullified:" https://www.texastribune.org/2023/06/16/texas-heat-wave-water-break-construction-workers/

* "If Writers Lose the Standoff With Studios, It Hurts All Filmmakers:" https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/film-editor-view-writers-strike-1235511140/

* "VOCATIONAL AWE AND LIBRARIANSHIP: THE LIES WE TELL OURSELVES:" https://www.inthelibrarywiththeleadpipe.org/2018/vocational-awe/

* "House GOP vows to continue Biden probes despite Hunter’s ‘sweetheart’ deal :" https://www.politico.com/news/2023/06/20/house-republicans-hunter-biden-00102666

5 years of intensive partizan investigation and all they found were two minor tax misdemeanors that he already paid back, a fraction of what Roger stone owes and refuses to pay, and an addict in possession of a gun charge that they usually only pursue when there is other more serious crime involvement, that they are very likely only pursuing because he's the relative of a public figure.

Republicans are lying that this is a sweet heart deal. It's slightly more harsh than the average citizen. Meanwhile they are lying that Drumpf is somehow being persecuted unfairly for being investigated for a bunch of geometrically worse crimes related to various attempts to overthrow the US government where he either was caught on tape of publicly admitted them or where there is a mountain of evidence and where he doesn't get hand cuffed or mug shots or have to spend time in jail pending arraignment, and where the FBI and DOJ foot dragged and refused to even consider investigating for over a year, because those institutions don't believe that there should be equal treatment under the law for Drumpf. The Republicans agree with him that he should be allowed to shoot people in broad daylight with no consequences so even the most deferential treatment and mild consequences are unfair.

Yes, Hunter Biden made some bad decisions, mostly around his addiction, but this is penny ante stuff. He didn't kill anybody, or take bribes while in public office, or steal classified documents to compromise national security, or repeatedly try to overthrow the government. The disparity in the way Drumf is being treated vs any normal person doing similar things is massive, but Republicans are pretending that the scandal is that Hunter Biden is only getting slightly harsher than average treatment for the minor stuff he did and not being changed with the imaginary crimes they want him to have committed, and not Drumpf getting all these extra privileges.

* "‘Sheer sadism’: Hayes on the right’s fixation with Hunter Biden:" https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/-sheer-sadism-hayes-on-the-right-s-fixation-with-hunter-biden-183607877536

* "House GOP ponders action against DOJ in defense of Trump :" https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4054435-house-gop-doj-defense-trump/

* "Adam Schiff Gets John Durham to Admit Russia Helped Trump:" https://www.thedailybeast.com/adam-schiff-gets-john-durham-to-admit-russia-helped-trump

* "Rep. Ted Lieu pulls no punches during Durham report committee hearing:" https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/6/21/2176745/-Rep-Ted-Lieu-pulls-no-punches-during-Durham-report-committee-hearing

* "Lieu blasts ‘dumb’ Durham hearing: Republicans focused on ‘stupid stuff’:" https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/lieu-blasts-dumb-durham-hearing-republicans-focused-on-stupid-stuff-183949381728

* "Democrats Push for Mental Health Support for LGBTQ+ Youth in Republican-Led House:" https://www.advocate.com/lgbt-youth/lgbtq-youth-mental-health-bill

* "Republican Dan Crenshaw Says Gender-Affirming Care Ban Is ‘The Hill We Will Die On’:" https://www.advocate.com/politics/dan-crenshaw-gender-affirming-care

* Have something you want to tell your Congress Critters? If you can't safely contact them 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.

Here is one that will send your reps a fax: https://resist.bot/

* The Indivisible Guide: "A Practical Guide to defeating MAGA:" https://indivisible.org/sites/default/files/2023-01/20220104_Indivisible_%20A%20Practical%20Guide%20to%20Defeating%20MAGA.pdf

* "'Stay Woke Florida!' tour begins 15-city 2024 voter outreach effort:" https://www.wptv.com/news/political/stay-woke-florida-tour-begins-15-city-2024-voter-outreach-effort

* "No Labels Is Helping a Firm that Raises Money for Right-Wing Extremists:" https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2023/06/no-labels-is-helping-a-firm-that-raises-money-for-right-wing-extremists-anedot/

* "Poppers Cause AIDS, the Environment Makes Boys Trans Says Robert F. Kennedy Jr.:" https://www.advocate.com/politics/robert-f-kennedy-jr-poppers

Remember how that Poppers caused AIDS not HIV rumor killed so many people in the '80's? RFK Jr. is pushing it as part of his Anti-Vax presidential campaign. I thought that died when Protease inhibitors came in! RFK Jr.: The Worst Kennedy.

He peddles that anti-Autistic people ableist bullshit. He tried to get as many people killed during the worst of COVID as possible. He's now trying to get Dr. Hotez killed by anti-vax terrorists as part of his presidential campaign.

Now with bonus transmisogyny and toxic masculinity.

* "RFK Jr's campaign of conspiracies: 'The leader of everybody’s brain worms':" https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/rfk-jr-s-campaign-of-conspiracies-the-leader-of-everybody-s-brain-worms-183615557966

* "11 Republican Presidential Hopefuls and Their Awful Anti-LGBTQ+ Records :" https://www.advocate.com/politics/2024-presidential-candidates-gop-lgbtq

* "Donald Trump Gives the Game Away on Conservatives' Transgender Panic:" https://advocatechannel.com/donald-trump-transgender-schools

* "GOP presidential candidates use trans bodies as political stepping stones:" https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2023/06/gop-presidential-candidates-use-trans-bodies-as-political-stepping-stones/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon

* "Why aren’t LGBTQ people safe right now? Because Republicans want votes.:" https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/republicans-2023-pride-backlash-polls-bud-light-rcna89564

* "'New level of hypocrisy': Why the GOP is wooing Muslims after decades of hate:" https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/-new-level-of-hypocrisy-why-the-gop-is-wooing-muslims-after-decades-of-hate-183374405573

* "Miami GOP Mayor Francis Suarez jumps into presidential race:" https://www.politico.com/news/2023/06/14/francis-suarez-president-mayor-miami-00102030

* "What a trio! The Florida men — Trump, DeSantis, Suarez — are a hoot to watch:" https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/fabiola-santiago/article276552331.html

* "Will Hurd, a moderate Texas Republican and Trump critic, announces run for president:" https://www.texastribune.org/2023/06/22/will-hurd-presidential-campaign-2024/

* "Former Rep. Will Hurd jumps into 2024 race as Republican field grows:" https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/former-rep-will-hurd-jumps-into-2024-race-as-republican-field-grows-184204869811

* "DeSantis fixation on 'the woke' has a poor track record as a political strategy in Florida:" https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/desantis-fixation-on-the-woke-has-a-poor-track-record-as-a-political-strategy-in-florida-183396421714

* As if we needed more proof Ron DeSantis is terrible at even the most basic parts of his job. "Pete Buttigieg Can’t Reach Ron DeSantis to Talk Florida Transportation Projects:" https://www.advocate.com/politics/pete-buttigieg-ron-desantis-calls

* "Tallahassee Mayor Nixes LGBTQ+ Advisory Council Meeting During Pride Month:" https://www.advocate.com/politics/florida-tallahassee-lgbtq-advisory-council

* "How the Stain of Prop. 8 May Be Removed From California:" https://www.advocate.com/law/evan-low-scott-wiener-marriage

* "Trans Judge Appointed in New York, Makes History:" https://www.advocate.com/transgender/transgender-man-new-york-judge

* "Rep. Judy Chu: I am a target of the right’s new McCarthyism:" https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/rep-judy-chu-target-rights-new-mccarthyism-rcna73477

* "Marjorie Taylor Greene Revives Anti-Trans Bathroom Predator Myth:" https://www.advocate.com/politicians/marjorie-taylor-greene-anti-trans

* "California Investigates School District After Board Members Call Harvey Milk a 'Pedophile':" https://www.advocate.com/news/harvey-milk-school-district-pedophile

********************

* This is from early May. I can't remember if I posted it then, but I think it's a good reminder due to developments in Michigan and Nevada. "Judge: Wisconsin fake electors complaint must be reheard:" https://apnews.com/article/wisconsin-fake-electors-2020-trump-lawsuit-fb9cf9a5cdf109798fafc83cbaf1c72a

* "What ever happened to the federal investigation of Trump's fake elector scheme?:" https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/what-ever-happened-to-the-federal-investigation-of-trump-s-fake-elector-scheme-183395397606

* "Eastman plan to keep Trump in power faces a reckoning, as authorities seek his disbarment :" https://www.politico.com/news/2023/06/20/eastman-disbarment-trial-trump-election-plan-00102784

* "Trump’s promise of payback for prosecution follows years of attacking democratic traditions:" https://apnews.com/article/trump-retribution-indictment-documents-biden-american-democracy-5a8ec37b359fee85d0f0956139d79f51

* "The Next Big Lie:" https://statuskuo.substack.com/p/the-next-big-lie

* "U.S. judge sets Aug. 14 trial date for Trump in Florida documents case:" https://www.reuters.com/legal/us-judge-sets-aug-14-trial-date-trump-florida-documents-case-2023-06-20/

* "Barr Says Documents Case Against Trump Is ‘Entirely of His Own Making’:" https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/18/us/politics/barr-trump-documents-russia.html

* "Donald Trump's Legal Troubles Continue to Pile Up:" https://www.msnbc.com/jonathan-capehart/watch/donald-trump-s-legal-troubles-continue-to-pile-up-183135301973

* "Trump Indictment Raises Questions Over Possible Damage to National Security:" https://www.msnbc.com/jonathan-capehart/watch/trump-indictment-raises-questions-over-possible-damage-to-national-security-183135301994

* "Trump is not the first president special counsel Jack Smith has prosecuted:" https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/trump-is-not-the-first-president-special-counsel-jack-smith-has-prosecuted-184200773818

* "FBI resisted opening probe into Trump’s role in Jan. 6 for more than a year:" https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2023/06/19/fbi-resisted-opening-probe-into-trumps-role-jan-6-more-than-year/

* "DOJ resisted investigating Trump’s actions on Jan. 6 for over a year:" https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/wapo-doj-resisted-investigating-trump-s-actions-on-jan-6-for-over-a-year-183369797838

********************

* "‘Bob’s Burgers’ Actor Jay Johnston Charged in January 6 Riot:" https://advocatechannel.com/bobs-burgers-jay-johnston-charged-january-6-riot

* "Is America Already in a Civil War?:" https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/donald-trump-far-right-brad-onishi-america-civil-war-interview-1234772017/

* "MAGA pastor: Christians need people who are ‘willing to strap bombs to their chest’ like the Muslims:" https://deadstate.org/maga-pastor-christians-need-people-who-are-willing-to-strap-bombs-to-their-chest-like-the-muslims/

* "Donald Trump and the party of political violence:" https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/4049597-donald-trump-and-the-party-of-political-violence/

* "Unmasking Moms for Liberty:" https://www.mediamatters.org/critical-race-theory/unmasking-moms-liberty

* "Suspect arrested after FBI uncovers alleged mass shooting plot:" https://abcnews.go.com/US/suspect-arrested-after-fbi-uncovers-alleged-mass-shooting/story?id=100155442

* They want to murder him for the crime of saving lives. He's such a good, compassionate, and empathetic man and I am furious that Anti-vaxxer shit RFK Jr. is waging a vendetta against him for calling him on his deadly and ableist bullshit to his face. "Vaccine expert Dr. Peter Hotez harassed outside Houston home after weekend of online attacks:" https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/health-science/coronavirus/2023/06/19/454720/peter-hotez-harassed-houston-house-joe-rogan-rfk-attacks/

* "Florida says it’s responsible for transporting migrants to Sacramento:" https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2023-06-06/florida-migrants-sacramento

* "Migrants share their experience, say they were deceived when they were flown to Sacramento:" https://www.kcra.com/article/sacramento-migrants-florida-california-texas/44228637

* "Newsom calls DeSantis ‘small, pathetic man,’ implies kidnapping charges over migrant stunt:" https://www.kron4.com/news/newsom-calls-desantis-small-pathetic-man-implies-kidnapping-charges-over-migrant-stunt/

* CW: Lynching. "Was Rasheem Carter Lynched?:"

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* Kentucky Police side with a dangerous member of a terrorist organization because they don't believe Queer People are human enough to defend. "KKK Members in Kentucky Pull Gun on LGBTQ+ Activists — Police Let Them Off:" https://www.advocate.com/news/kkk-kentucky-lgbtq-gun-threat

* "Neo-Nazis Protest Outside Disney World With Swastikas & DeSantis Signs:" https://www.advocate.com/news/florida-desantis-nazi-disney-swastikas

* "Military Chief Defends Cancellation of Drag Show at Nevada Military Base:" https://www.advocate.com/news/drag-show-military-chief-cancellation

* "NH officials say they're looking into neo-Nazi incident outside drag story hour in Concord:" https://www.nhpr.org/nh-news/2023-06-19/nsc131-neo-nazi-teatotaller-drag-story-hour-concord

* "How the conservative Christian right is hijacking homeschooling:" https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/schools-are-under-attack-america-s-religious-right-n1295340

* "Most Americans OK Discussing Gender and Sexuality in Schools: Survey:" https://www.advocate.com/news/schools-gender-sexuality-okay

* "College Board says it won’t alter AP courses to comply with Florida’s laws:" https://thehill.com/homenews/education/4051993-college-board-says-it-wont-alter-ap-courses-to-comply-with-floridas-laws/

* "Ron DeSantis Objects to AP Course's LGBTQ Content, College Board Defends It:" https://www.advocate.com/politics/ron-desantis-ap-college-board

* "Don’t Let Extremists Deny LGBTQ+ Students an Education:" https://www.advocate.com/voices/point-foundation-valencia-education

* "Florida School District Offers Refunds, Erasure of Yearbook's LGBTQ+ Content:" https://www.advocate.com/news/florida-lgbtq-yearbook-refund-censorship

* In a disaster, look for helpers. "High school English teacher makes a stand over book bans, erasure of LGBTQ+ students :" https://www.sun-sentinel.com/2023/06/18/high-school-english-teacher-makes-a-stand-over-book-bans-erasure-of-lgbtq-students/

* "L.A. School Board President Gives a Lesson on LGBTQ+ Inclusion:" https://www.advocate.com/news/school-lgbtq-inclusion-la-board

* "Missouri's Largest Library System Boots Pride Displays in Kids, Teen Areas:" https://www.advocate.com/gay-pride-parade/missouri-library-bans-pride-displays

* "How Do You Fight Book Bans? GLAAD and EveryLibrary Offer a Guide:" https://www.advocate.com/books/book-bans-guide-glaad-everylibrary

* "Despite Book Bans, LGBTQ+ Fiction Sales Soar:" https://www.advocate.com/books/lgbtq-books-record

* "Queer Representation in Children's Books Is More Important Than Ever, Says Author Seamus Kirst:" https://advocatechannel.com/queer-children-books-seamus-kirst

* "'Maus' Author Art Spiegelman Deeply Concerned About 'Authoritarian' Book Bans:" https://advocatechannel.com/art-spiegelman-maus-authoritarian-book-bans

* "With 'The Little Mermaid,' young Black kids are more interested in the water than ever. What to know about swimming racial disparities.:" https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/the-little-mermaid-young-black-kids-swimming-racial-disparities-213941973.html

* CW: Human Trafficking "Romanian prosecutors change human trafficking charge against Andrew Tate:" https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/romanian-prosecutors-change-human-trafficking-charge-against-andrew-tate-2023-06-13/

* CW: Child Sexual Abuse. "Archdiocese provides District Attorney Jason Williams voluminous file on disgraced priest:" https://www.nola.com/news/courts/archdiocese-provides-jason-williams-file-on-disgraced-priest/article_9f0308da-0bc5-11ee-9e46-cf8ef429070a.html

* Bet his mama's proud of him. What would Jesus do? Harass and terrify a nine year old out of cruelty for fun, apparently. "Man Harasses 9-Year-Old at Field Day Event, Falsely Insists She’s Transgender:" https://www.advocate.com/news/canadian-field-day-transgender-girl

* "TikTok Star Barrett Pall Shares How Misogyny Hurts Men, Too:" https://advocatechannel.com/barrett-pall-tiktok-misogyny-hurts-men-too

* "Southern Baptists reject Rick Warren’s appeal to reinstate Saddleback:" https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2023/06/14/southern-baptists-rick-warren-vote/

* "Playing With Yourself Has Been Perfected Over Millions of Years:" https://www.advocate.com/news/masturbation-evolution-primates

* "Documents show how conservative doctors influenced abortion, trans rights:" https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2023/06/15/abortion-transgender-christian-doctors/?pwapi_token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWJpZCI6IjMxNjY3NzkiLCJyZWFzb24iOiJnaWZ0IiwibmJmIjoxNjg2ODAxNjAwLCJpc3MiOiJzdWJzY3JpcHRpb25zIiwiZXhwIjoxNjg4MDk3NTk5LCJpYXQiOjE2ODY4MDE2MDAsImp0aSI6IjgzMWE2MmY0LTM4ZDEtNGY5NS1hYTcyLTM2ODRiMDk1MWYzOCIsInVybCI6Imh0dHBzOi8vd3d3Lndhc2hpbmd0b25wb3N0LmNvbS9oZWFsdGgvMjAyMy8wNi8xNS9hYm9ydGlvbi10cmFuc2dlbmRlci1jaHJpc3RpYW4tZG9jdG9ycy8ifQ.Z9BU0-uG1kom8puxLC9eIUHPUoxxNtpmqRTFcH9sBL8

---

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* "Support for Same-Sex Relationships Plummets as Less Find Them "Morally Acceptable":" https://www.advocate.com/news/gay-relationships-decrease-gallup

* "Without Self-Respect, There Is No Pride:" https://www.advocate.com/voices/without-self-respect-there-is-no-pride

* "Immediate access to gender-affirming hormone therapy eases distress, depression, suicidal thoughts for transgender adults, research finds:" https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/immediate-access-gender-affirming-hormone-130021402.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly9kdWNrZHVja2dvLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAJ3DZb5dKhaU7JElIJ2zvo9piTp-qTv-k2BfF8SzC8VmSU6lC_jX829G_jM_rzgfxWgxIkv_XV7m9t_EpH4AoR06MsWbsW0zRZQmoLa_Y5njvgiLspkR0Ef-rFfx3__HxpLwexVQeyK_NfkhDub-p8zDWynfrTjLrWWfKf7QykTe

* "A Message to White Gays:" https://www.advocate.com/voices/message-to-white-gays

* "Queer Athletes on Competing in Countries with Anti-LGBTQ Laws:"

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* "31 Places Where Showing LGBTQ+ Pride Is Illegal :" https://www.advocate.com/world/where-is-it-illegal-to-be-gay-31

* "Qatar targeting LGBTQ+ people with ‘full blown force’ six months after World Cup, activist says:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/06/19/qatar-lgbq-world-cup/

* "Being LGBTQ+ in Malaysia: ‘You don’t know who to turn to’:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/06/18/malaysia-lgbtq-persecution-non-binary-musician-moreofthem/

* "Baltic Pride knife assault victim recalls ‘pain and confusion’ of homophobic attack:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/06/19/baltic-pride-knife-attack-patrick-tianen/

* "Queensland passes new law allowing trans people to self-ID on birth certificates:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/06/15/queensland-birth-certificates-trans-self-id/

* "Man Who Murdered Gay American Scott Johnson in 1988 Is Sentenced Again:" https://www.advocate.com/crime/scott-johnson-murderer-sentenced-again

* "Right-wing troll charged with harassment of LGBTQ+ activist for posting selfie with dying dad:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/06/19/bubba-pollock-end-of-life-care-dad-ontario/

* "Growing up as a queer, masc woman in a small town wasn’t plain sailing – but it wasn’t all bad:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/06/18/queer-masc-lesbian/

* "LGBTQ+ refugees don’t feel safe in the UK: ‘Everything’s attacking us, we’re demonised’:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/06/22/teslim-joel-refugee-week-nigeria-sierra-leone/

* "Gay Afghan who fled Taliban couldn’t claim LGBTQ+ asylum in UK, John Nicolson MP writes:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/06/21/john-nicolson-mp-gay-afghan-asylum/

* "Tory government and US conspiracy theories to blame for anti-drag attacks in UK, study finds:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/06/22/anti-drag-us-uk-conspiracy-theory-research/

* "Activists blast Tory conversion therapy consent loophole: ‘This will cost many lives’:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/06/21/conversion-therapy-rishi-sunak-boris-johnson-consent-loophole/

* "Electric Shock Treatment, Overt Homophobia in U.K. Armed Forces:" https://www.advocate.com/news/armed-forces-uk-homophobia-report

* "Royal College of Nursing members demand resources to better support LGBTQ+ hate crime victims:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/06/18/royal-college-of-nursing-hate-crime-lgbtq/

* "Rishi Sunak urged to drop ‘harmful’ trans schools guidance dubbed ‘new Section 28’:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/06/19/rishi-sunak-trans-schools-guidance/

* "Rishi Sunak’s ‘disgusting’ anti-trans jokes condemned by MPs and LGBTQ+ charities:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/06/19/rishi-sunak-leaked-video-trans-reaction/

* "LGBTQ+ advocates shocked by Equality Act reforms debate: ‘Distressing and infuriating’:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/06/13/westminster-debate-equality-act-sex-trans/

* "Bristol Pride calls for allyship after billboard advert is set on fire in ‘cowardly’ hate crime:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/06/19/bristol-pride-billboard-attack/

* "Lesbian couple ‘heartbroken’ by homophobic doormat attack supported by kind neighbours:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/06/19/pride-doormat-attack-bristol-lesbian-couple/

* "‘Let women speak. No not like that’: TERFs pile on female Guardian writer for pro-trans article:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/06/19/terfs-guardian-trans-allyship/

* "‘Gender-critical’ activists attempted to protest a Primark in Lincoln. Two people showed up:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/06/19/lincoln-primark-lgbtq-protest/

* "Bolt apologises after taxi driver leaves queer man stranded with ‘no gay boy’ insult:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/06/22/bolt-taxi-service-homophobia-manchester/

* "The Insidious Violence of Civility Politics:"

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* "LGBTQ+ Americans: Let's Take Back Our Flag:" https://www.advocate.com/voices/lgbtq-americans-let-s-take-back-our-flag

* "SARS-CoV-2 airborne infection probability estimated by using indoor carbon dioxide:" https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11356-023-27944-9

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* "Four alarming charts that show just how extreme the climate is right now:" https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/17/world/four-climate-charts-extreme-weather-heat-oceans/index.html

* "Greece finds no more survivors of migrant boat disaster with hundreds missing:" https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/greece-finds-no-survivors-migrant-boat-disaster-hundreds-missing-rcna89440

* "New accounts clash with official version of migrant shipwreck disaster off Greece:" https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20230619-new-accounts-clash-with-official-version-of-migrant-disaster-off-greece

* "Titanic-bound submersible suffered ‘catastrophic implosion.’ The US Navy detected an implosion Sunday and told rescuers, an official tells CNN:" https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/22/us/submersible-titanic-oceangate-search-thursday/index.html

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* "Live camera shows I-95 collapse repairs underway in Philadelphia:" https://abc7ny.com/i-95-collapse-philadelphia-i95-interstate-highway-road/13386149/

* "The Hidden Chemicals Destroying American Farms:"

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* "GLAAD: Social media companies are enabling real world violence:" https://www.axios.com/2023/06/15/glaad-social-media-companies-hate-speech-lgbtq

* Steve Huffman is vowing to send Reddit into the toilet after Twitter, looks like. "Reddit CEO praises Elon Musk’s cost-cutting as protests rock the platform :" https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/reddit-blackout-protest-private-ceo-elon-musk-huffman-rcna89700

* "Despite widespread protest, Reddit CEO says company is ‘not negotiating’ on 3rd-party app charges :" https://thehill.com/business/despite-widespread-protest-reddit-ceo-says-company-is-not-negotiating-on-changes-to-data-access/

* "Here’s the note Reddit sent to moderators threatening them if they don’t reopen:" https://www.theverge.com/2023/6/16/23763538/reddit-blackout-api-protest-mod-replacement-threat

* "Reddit CEO Steve Huffman isn’t backing down: our full interview:" https://www.theverge.com/2023/6/15/23762868/reddit-ceo-steve-huffman-interview

* "Stop Talking to Each Other and Start Buying Things: Three Decades of Survival in the Desert of Social Media:" https://catvalente.substack.com/p/stop-talking-to-each-other-and-start

* "Twitter is being evicted from its Boulder office over unpaid rent:" https://techcrunch.com/2023/06/14/twitter-is-being-evicted-from-its-boulder-office-over-unpaid-rent/

* "Twitter is the worst major social media platform when it comes to LGBTQ+ safety, says GLAAD:" https://thehill.com/homenews/ap/ap-technology/twitter-worst-among-major-social-media-platforms-when-it-comes-to-lgbtq-safety-glaad-says/

* "Musk Incites Anti-Vaccine Conspiracists By Mischaracterizing Peter Hotez:" https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshuacohen/2023/06/19/musk-incites-anti-vaccine-conspiracists-by-mischaracterizing-peter-hotez/?sh=505b10e3108f

* "Elon Musk has made some disturbing comments about Jews. Here’s a list:" https://forward.com/news/550035/elon-musk-disturbing-comments-jews/?amp=1

* "Elon Musk’s promise to treat ‘cis’ as a slur will provoke more extremism:" https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/jk-rowling-elon-musk-cisgender-trans-slur-rcna90632

* I often feel like reality has sailed on past the Onion these days. "Mark Zuckerberg agrees to fight Elon Musk in cage match:" https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mark-zuckerberg-elon-musk-fight/

* "Neanderthal adhesives were made through a complex synthesis process:" https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/06/neanderthals-seem-to-be-the-first-humans-to-make-synthetic-materials/

* "Send beer!’ Life on the Roman frontier revealed by soldiers’ private letters:" https://www.nationalgeographic.com/premium/article/vindolanda-roman-fort-england

* "The First Self-Proclaimed Drag Queen Was a Formerly Enslaved Man:" https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-first-self-proclaimed-drag-queen-was-a-formerly-enslaved-man-180982311/

* "The Bread and Roses Strike of 1912:" https://thefatovamingusfiles.wordpress.com/2023/06/16/the-bread-and-roses-strike-of-1912/

* "Jane Addams: Chicago's Haunted Sapphic Icon:"

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* "14 Inspiring Queer Protest Posters in Days of Rage from ONE Archives :" https://www.advocate.com/activism/14-inspiring-queer-protest-posters

* "The Importance of Juneteenth - the Newest Federal Holiday:" https://www.advocate.com/news/juneteenth-importance-federal-holiday

* "Treat Williams, LGBTQ+ Ally in Gay-Themed Films, Dead at 71:" https://www.advocate.com/obituaries/treat-williams-lgbtq-ally-dead

* "Pride’s Bookshelf: Unveiling The LGBTQ+ Memoirs You Must Own:" https://www.out.com/gay-lifestyle/prides-bookshelf-unveiling-the-lgbtq-memoirs-you-must-own

* "13 Vintage Photos of Los Angeles Pride from ONE Archives :" https://www.advocate.com/gay-pride-parade/vintage-photos-los-angeles-pride

* "17 Photos of the Trans Experience by Mariette Pathy Allen :" https://www.advocate.com/art/mariette-pathy-allen-breaking-boundaries#rebelltitem18

* "10 Iconic Photos of LGBTQ+ History From Getty Images:" https://www.advocate.com/photography/10-photos-lgbtq-history

* My garden makes me happy, tiny as it is. I love the way it smells of basil and tomato leaves and rosemary and spearmint. I love the lushness of it compared to the sterile looking landscaping management insists on. It feels like the glorious chaos of nature fighting back every time seeds blow out of my container garden and sprout amongst the deliberately barren patches beyond my porch border. I love being surrounded by green and all those vegetable plant flowers.

This is already shaping up to be the best year ever for my tiny strawberry patch. I likely would have been the best year for asparagus, judging from the early growth, but the compost sprouted such an abundance of other things that I fear the asparagus hasn't a chance. Maybe next year. The day after New Millennial brought over the Pride Pinwheel they painted, my beloved carnations started blooming. Some of the early tomatoes are already growing on the bigger plants, which gives me hopes of this year being as good as last year for tomatoes.

* Tuesday, I met the new, alas temporary Doctor. Today's medical theme was arthritis. For those following along, but medical records are on the scale of the complete unabridged writings of Aquinas, as it's impossible for anyone to get a handle on them quickly, so we are doing a series of appointments each centered on a major theme to help get things on track.

I have warned her about the opiods and anti-psychotics both artificially inducing hallucinations and paranoia in people of my family and how it happened to me post surpery in percacet last year so she'll know if I get in a car accident and start hallucinating so they give me an anti-pscotic which together may induce psychotic break. Brains are fun.

I have a new replacement referral for the wheelchair/mobility assessment. It turns out there is now literally one allergy doctor with a tiny practice left in the whole city, which is why we are all so fucked. Peacehealth closed two other essential specialties in which they had a monopoly, fucking over all those patients too, the bastards. she's going to check our county and the county just south for me. It's worth blowing my medical transport credits on. They just way upped the limit anyway.

Medical science has moved forward a lot in the last 10-15 years. One of the early rheums said I likely had fibromyalgia, but it wasn't worth pursuing as medicare didn't believe in it and the treatment would be the same as my way easier to document arthritis and visible to the naked eye spinal damage.

So we are trying a new class of meds to see if I can tolerate them without my brain and/or body flipping out, as so often happens when one introduces new meds to it. I'm at a sub clinical dose to test tolerance, but I can feel the difference. I also feel a bit peculiar, though I'm adjusting.

Long time readers know the drill. I am weird, but if you spot anything obviously weird for me, way off my usual sort of postings, nonsense, irrationality, that sort of thing, give me a heads up that new meds may be driving me off the rails. Squirrel and my usual chat buddies know the drill and I'll let the millennials know what to watch for. Odds are it will be fine. I'm more likely to get stopped by physical side effects on this one, but it's always good to have more spotters.

* Wednesday, Squirrel lent us his cat for errands and then we hug out. We are still looking for a better sobriquet for New Millennial. Head Millennial will henceforth be called Goth Millennial.

So Goth Millennial and I are on the sofa and Techie Millennial and New Millennial are on the chairs. The Emperor was understandably excited. Many of his personal Millennials were here. (As of this week, New Millennial is in the Clowder according to the Emperor, so he climbed onto me to enjoy, being part of the group. Pictured here, Tavy, the Tiny Terror himself, in the crook of my arm alertly participating in the group discussion.

https://www.tumblr.com/gwydionmisha/720889365153349632/wednesday-squirrel-lent-us-his-cat-for-errands?source=share

* The elderly car goes into the shop Friday for the third time in threeish months. I've no idea how expensive it will be, but I've a nasty feeling it will be bad. I have blown all my money on catching up the bills I didn't pay in April for the previous repair. If you want to chip in: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/Gwydion

* Thank you to everyone who contributed to the Cat Rescue fund raiser. They made a lot of money with the event, and the games will be used in recurring fundraisers.

* TNG: The Spot Centric Episode: https://www.tumblr.com/seananmcguire/720868927245336576?source=share

* "Midnight Pals: Dracula Sovereign of the Damned:" https://www.tumblr.com/bitterkarella/720324019247792128/midnight-pals-dracula-sovereign-of-the-damned?source=share

* "Midnight Pals: this is so stupid:" https://www.tumblr.com/bitterkarella/720767546126712832/midnight-pals-this-is-so-stupid?source=share

* "Midnight Pals: New Friends:" https://www.tumblr.com/bitterkarella/720492487495630848/midnight-pals-new-friends?source=share

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

The help links are at the bottom under the cut.

* BPAL Charity Fundraiser "TRIUMPH IN MY SONG:" https://blackphoenixalchemylab.com/product-category/activism/triumph-in-my-song/

* Support the WGA. "Entertainment Community Fund:" https://entertainmentcommunity.org/

* My oldest continuous friend is trying to raise money to buy games for a Cat Rescue fundraiser. This cat rescue is no kill and places most cats in foster homes until they can be adopted. They are good people there and it's a huge number of cats many needing basic or more serious healthcare.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/318lgf6fa0?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=p_cf%20share-flow-1&fbclid=IwAR1smSQTz7deMSVUBsEg30AdhQ-zeAEHGXOcHXqVUILTlF2MqnIIW49SDVU

* Cool Blackwork Embroidery Patterns for Beginners: https://www.etsy.com/shop/thehaberdasheress/?etsrc=sdt

* If you would like to help support me and the Cats: paypal.me/Gwydion

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