gwydion: (Default)
* "General Strike to Take Place Nationwide on April 5: Here’s What Is Impacted:" https://www.newsweek.com/general-strike-nationwide-april-5-affected-11767415

* Once again I'm having to cut it off early because Action Items.
* "Feuding French Socialists leave presidential prospects in disarray:" https://www.politico.eu/article/french-socialists-party-divisions-2027-election/

* "‘Racist ideology lodges itself amid austerity politics’: newly elected French mayor on tackling far right:" https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/apr/04/bally-bagayoko-austerity-politics-french-mayor-tackling-far-right
* Normally I try to do a big sampling of protests from around the country, but given my situation and just how bad last week was in incredibly time consuming ways, I'm going to have to limit my No Kings Coverage. About 8 million people showed up, and there were huge gains in red parts of the country. Stay strong. Stay noisy!

* "No Kings protests draw large crowds to rally against Donald Trump:" https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cq8wy7g1gd1o

* "‘The more they come down on us, the more we come together’: 14 No Kings protesters on where to go from here:" https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2026/mar/30/no-kings-protest-crowds

* "'No Kings' rallies draw crowds across U.S. and Europe as Springsteen headlines Minnesota demonstration:" https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/no-kings-rallies-draw-crowds-across-u-s-and-europe-as-springsteen-headlines-minnesota-demonstration

* "‘No Kings’ protests held to rally against Trump administration, in photos:" https://apnews.com/photo-gallery/no-kings-minnesota-springsteen-immigration-war-b4ce14b0ab16d148f4fdbe642c20fdb2?

* "No Kings: Vast Throngs Say No to Trump:" https://archive.ph/CN0Gh

* "Photos: 'No Kings' protests across the country:" https://www.npr.org/sections/the-picture-show/2026/03/28/g-s1-115637/photos-no-kings-protests-across-the-country

* "5 Takeaways From the ‘No Kings’ Rallies as the Midterms Heat Up:" https://archive.ph/L2yAK

* Transgender activists rally in D.C. as nationwide protests bring out millions:" https://www.advocate.com/politics/national/transgender-support-rally-no-kings

* "Trump Stronghold Holds Largest Ever ‘No Kings’ Protest:" https://www.newsweek.com/trump-stronghold-holds-largest-ever-no-kings-protest-11752730

* "Macon No Kings event ends abruptly when sheriff tries to address concerns about cooperation with ICE:" https://georgiarecorder.com/2026/03/28/macon-no-kings-event-ends-abruptly-when-sheriff-tries-to-address-concerns-about-cooperation-with-ice/

* "Seattle police estimate at least 75K 'No Kings' protesters marched through downtown Seattle:" https://www.king5.com/article/news/local/protests/where-no-kings-protests-are-happening-this-weekend-western-washington/281-7c1c6f6a-0367-43b5-8538-abf637568c88

* "Thousands turn out — again — as third ‘No Kings’ rallies take over Maryland streets:" https://marylandmatters.org/2026/03/28/thousands-turn-out-again-as-third-no-kings-rallies-take-over-maryland-streets/

* "So you went to a No Kings protest. Now what?:" https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2026/mar/29/no-kings-protest-next-steps-activism

* "Nationwide General Strike Planned for May 1: No Kings Organizer:" https://www.commondreams.org/news/no-kings-general-strike

* "Why all campus workers should join the May Day 2026 General Strike:" https://higheredlaborunited.org/2026/03/26/why-all-campus-workers-should-join-the-may-day-2026-general-strike/

* "Trump warns US will hit Iran ‘extremely hard’ over next two to three weeks:" https://www.politico.com/news/2026/04/01/trump-warns-u-s-will-hit-iran-extremely-hard-over-next-two-to-three-weeks-00855071

* "Trump fails to reassure investors on Iran war:" https://www.semafor.com/article/04/02/2026/trump-fails-to-reassure-investors-on-iran-war

* "‘Massive political failure’: Hayes, Wallace react to Trump prime-time address:" https://www.ms.now/all-in/watch/massive-political-failure-hayes-wallace-react-to-trump-prime-time-address-2494802499623

* "Trump Says There’s No Money for Daycare Because We Have to Fight Wars:" https://newrepublic.com/post/208523/trump-no-money-daycare-medicare-fight-wars-military

* "White House denigrates non-cisgender people on Trans Day of Visibility:" https://www.advocate.com/politics/national/white-house-trans-day-visibility

* "Over her short tenure as Trump’s attorney general, Pam Bondi terrorized LGBTQ+ Americans:" https://www.advocate.com/politics/national/pam-bondi-lgbtq-attacks-tenure

* "Trump fires staunch defender Pam Bondi:" https://www.advocate.com/politics/national/pam-bondi-fired-attorney-general

* "Once again, a woman takes the fall for an unpopular president:" https://www.advocate.com/opinion/pam-bondi-trump-women-trend

* "Thank goodness Pam Bondi’s abhorrent tenure as AG is over:" https://www.advocate.com/opinion/pam-bondi-out

* "Top Oversight Democrat says fired AG Pam Bondi ‘must answer’ for Epstein files:" https://www.advocate.com/politics/national/robert-garcia-pam-bondi-fired

* "Swalwell denies Bondi leaked to him, says Trump is ‘seeing ghosts’:" https://www.ms.now/all-in/watch/trump-seeing-ghosts-swalwell-denies-bondi-was-fired-over-leaks-to-him-2494971971554

* "The Trump Administration Admits to Medically Experimenting on Trans People in Prisons:" https://transitics.substack.com/p/the-trump-administration-admits-to
* CW: Child Abuse. "Kids can be subjected to harmful 'conversion therapy,’ U.S. Supreme Court rules:" https://www.advocate.com/news/scotus-rejects-conversion-therapy-bans

Child Abuse is now legal as the 1st Amendment right for adults to harm children all they want trumps the right to life and to not be abused for children.

* CW: Child Abuse. "The Supreme Court just handed conversion therapy a new license for violence:" https://www.advocate.com/opinion/conversion-therapy-scotus-violence

* "Kentucky governor condemns Supreme Court conversion therapy ruling:" https://www.advocate.com/politics/national/andy-beshear-scotus-conversion-therapy

* "Outrage at Stonewall after Supreme Court voids Colorado's conversion therapy ban:" https://www.advocate.com/politics/national/stonewall-conversion-therapy-protest

* "Republicans Flirt With Kicking Americans Off Health Care to Fund Iran War:" https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/republicans-health-care-cuts-fund-iran-war-1235538768/

* "Congress eyes DHS shutdown endgame:" https://www.semafor.com/article/04/02/2026/congress-eyes-dhs-shutdown-endgame

* "Trump says he’ll sign order to resume pay for Homeland Security. His move bypasses Congress:" https://apnews.com/article/senate-funding-homeland-security-shutdown-4a3e4a3e77bd33213b98888e79a81f51

* "Lindsey Graham seen dining at Disney World, as airport lines grow:" https://www.advocate.com/politics/lindsey-graham-disney-shutdown-photographs

Please call your Senators and encourage them to stay firm.

* "Only some driver’s licenses usable for voter registration under the SAVE America Act:" https://apnews.com/article/fact-check-save-act-identification-register-vote-d11d41b59f943bb72bcdca2d781293b7

I beg you to fight hard against the SAVE America Act because it's likely game over for American Democracy and absolutely deadly for trans people if they win this one.

* The goal of the SAVE Act is to make it illegal on a federal level for married women and trans people and people who can't afford expensive ID to vote.

I am really alarmed I am about to be stripped of my right to vote, that a large portion of Americans are about to be stripped of their right to vote.

Resistance in the Senate is Weakening. Please contact your Senators!

Please contact your US Senators to tell them to vote AGAINST the SAVE ACT

* Here is a model email: https://amaebi.dreamwidth.org/2767709.html
* Our until Midterms is to survive, to build grassroots resistance, to do all in our power to slow the republican Christo-fascist agenda, and to prepare for 2026 in case there is still Democracy.

"Take action with Indivisible:" https://www.mobilize.us/indivisible/

Trump 2.0 Indivisible Guide.  https://indivisible.org/resource/guide

If you can't safely contact them in person, here are some other options for contacting your Congress Critters:

Five Calls to your critters: https://5calls.org/

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

And another: https://faxzero.com/fax_senate.php

Snail Mail Campaigns: https://conuly.dreamwidth.org/3622760.html

"Congress. gov:" https://www.congress.gov/

White house (Possibly Dangerous): https://www.whitehouse.gov/

ACLU advice for writing to your Critters: https://www.aclu.org/writing-your-elected-representatives

This tracks legislation: https://www.govtrack.us/

"The Public Comment Process (+ how to write effective public comments):" https://www.tumblr.com/gwydionmisha/781844516804149248?source=share

"Swing Left:" https://swingleft.org/

Run for Something: https://runforsomething.net/

"Vote Smart:" https://justfacts.votesmart.org/

Protests: "50501 Events:" https://www.fiftyfifty.one/events

"ICE Raids Toolkit: Defend Against ICE Raids and Community Arrests:" https://www.immigrantdefenseproject.org/raids-toolkit/

Contains a raid tip hotline amoung other things. "Know Your Rights
LEARN HOW TO PROTECT YOURSELF AND YOUR FAMILY:" https://wearecasa.org/know-your-rights/
* We are in primary season now. States vote at different times, so I beg ALL of you to check when your state is voting. If you are in an in-person vote state, research ahead of time so you can vote for the candidate with views closest to your own. If you vote by mail, take the time to look them up when your ballot comes.

THIS is how you move the party further LEFT.

PLAN YOUR VOTE!!!

Primary schedule here:

* "2026 Statewide Primary Calendar:" https://www.270towin.com/2026-state-primary-calendar/

I don't know where you live, so I can't link this for you, but I find the Progressive Voter Guide online very helpful in narrowing down candidates in the often packed primaries where I live.

I also suggest looking at things like volunteer work and endorsements, because it really, really helps with things like sheriff and judicial elections, but can be useful in all sorts of primaries when you have multiple good options.

REMEMBER: Don't just vote for the big things like US Congress. Vote in every State and local race down to the smallest and on all the referendums.

State and local elections have a massive impact on your quality of life.

* Indiana! Ohio! Don't forget to vote in the Primaries May 5!

* "Idaho governor signs law making transgender bathroom use a felony:" https://www.advocate.com/politics/states/idaho-trans-bathroom-bill-signed

The goal of this is to make it a felony for trans people to exist in public as trans people can't do things like work or go to school as they need to go home every few hours to pee.

* "The Idaho legislature isn’t governing. It’s hunting transgender people:" https://www.advocate.com/opinion/idaho-bathoom-hunting-transgender-people

* "The Idaho legislature isn’t governing. It’s hunting transgender people:" https://www.advocate.com/opinion/idaho-bathoom-hunting-transgender-people

* "Idaho’s bathroom bill isn’t just about bathrooms. It never was:" https://www.advocate.com/opinion/idaho-bathroom-bill-oped

* "Tennessee House passes de facto transgender registry bill:" https://www.advocate.com/politics/states/tennessee-house-transgender-registry

There is no non-genocide reason to do this.

* "Rabbi banned from state senate gallery after protesting anti-trans bill: “I’m doing what God wants”:" https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2026/03/rabbi-banned-from-state-gallery-after-protesting-anti-trans-bill-im-doing-what-god-wants/

* "The Real Origins of the Religious Right:" https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/05/religious-right-real-origins-107133/

* CW: CSA. "The billionaires' eugenics project: how Epstein infiltrated Harvard, muzzled the humanities and preached master-race science:" https://www.thenerve.news/p/epstein-billionaires-eugenics-project-harvard-academia-john-brockman

* "Diversity Is Our Strength:" https://campaign-trails.ghost.io/diversity-is-our-strength/

* "The Incredible Shrinking CPAC:" https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/03/the-incredible-shrinking-cpac/

* "CPAC crowd humiliates Trump with cheers for impeachment:" https://www.ms.now/the-briefing-with-jen-psaki/watch/cpac-crowd-humiliates-trump-with-cheers-for-impeachment-2494170691504

* "Shots fired at Myrtle Beach gay nightclub, one detained:" https://www.advocate.com/news/shooting-myrtle-beach-gay-club

* "Prosecutor Reacts to Afroman Trial:"

Embed: )

* "Hundreds of corrections being issued for Texas’ Bible-infused curriculum:" https://apnews.com/article/bible-texas-school-curriculum-97c62dba31ea9c68e496a24085b60759

They should not be doing this at all.

* "‘BLOCKADE’: The Right Is Using AI Content Scanners to Try to Supercharge Book Banning:" https://www.404media.co/blockade-the-right-is-using-ai-content-scanners-to-try-to-supercharge-book-banning/

They should not be doing this at all.

* "Fired for refusing to remove LGBTQ+ books, Tennessee librarian says she’d do it again:" https://www.advocate.com/politics/states/fired-tn-library-director-speaks

* "I have major ethical concerns about the Adolescent and Young Adult Gender Dysphoria Outcomes Study (AYAGDOS):" https://queersciencelab.beehiiv.com/p/i-have-major-ethical-concerns-about-the-adolescent-and-young-adult-gender-dysphoria-outcomes-study-a

* "Many alleged suicides of Black trans women are in fact modern-day lynchings, report finds:" https://www.advocate.com/news/crime/black-trans-women-modern-lynching

* "As gender-affirming care gets harder to access under Trump, trans people turn to GoFundMe:" https://www.advocate.com/news/people/gofundme-transgender-care-tdov

* "This Trans Day of Visibility, help these 5 trans people afford gender-affirming surgery costs:" https://www.advocate.com/health/transgender-health/transgender-health-gofundme

* Fuck the IOC! "Olympics cave to Trump, banning transgender women from competition:" https://www.advocate.com/news/olympics-ban-transgender-women

They should not be holding games here. It's not safe for the athletes, coaches, and families.

* "The Olympics Has a New Sex Testing Policy. The Evidence Doesn’t Add Up:" https://www.coyotemedia.org/the-olympics-has-a-new-sex-testing-policy-the-evidence-doesnt-add-up/

* "The Ugly History Behind the Olympics’ New Gender Test:" https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/03/olympics-gender-testing-anti-trans-genetic-chromosomes-caster-semenya-nazis/

* "A New, Fungal STI Is Quietly Emerging: Everything You Should Know About TMVII:" https://www.them.us/story/new-fungal-sti-quietly-emerging-what-is-tmvii
* "Confronting the CEO of the AI company that impersonated me:" https://www.theverge.com/podcast/898715/superhuman-grammarly-expert-review-shishir-mehrotra-interview-ai-impersonation

* "OpenAI Will Shut Down Sora Video App; Disney Drops Plans for $1 Billion Investment:" https://variety.com/2026/digital/news/openai-shutting-down-sora-video-disney-1236698277/

* CW: Suicide. "Jury finds Meta and Google negligent in social media harms trial:" https://www.npr.org/2026/03/25/nx-s1-5746125/meta-youtube-social-media-trial-verdict

* CW: CSA. "Meta must pay $375 million for violating New Mexico law in child exploitation case, jury rules:" https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2026/03/24/jury-reaches-verdict-in-meta-child-safety-trial-in-new-mexico.html

* "I Decompiled the White House's New App:" https://blog.thereallo.dev/blog/decompiling-the-white-house-app?ICID=ref_fark

* "Witness Caught Using Smartglasses in Court Blames it all on ChatGPT:" https://www.404media.co/witness-caught-using-smartglasses-in-court-blames-it-all-on-chatgpt/

* "FCC bans import of new consumer routers made overseas, citing security risks:" https://techcrunch.com/2026/03/24/fcc-bans-import-of-new-consumer-routers-made-overseas-citing-security-risks/

* "NASA launches Artemis II astronauts on mission around the moon:" https://www.nbcnews.com/science/space/live-blog/nasa-artemis-ii-launch-time-watch-moon-mission-live-updates-rcna257132

* "See the 'amazing' photos of Earth taken on historic Artemis II moon mission:" https://www.nbcnews.com/science/space/photos-artemis-moon-earth-space-rcna266665

* "An Artemis 2 astronaut took a 'bath' on camera on the way to the moon. Mission Control's reaction was priceless (video):" https://www.space.com/space-exploration/artemis/an-artemis-2-astronaut-took-a-bath-on-camera-on-the-way-to-the-moon-mission-controls-reaction-was-priceless-video

* I ended up staying up super late last Saturday to finish fixing things after the catastrophic Firefox link loss. Really I should have put it aside for the next day, but it was really annoying me. I have things rough sorted again, and the work I put into fine sorting for Thursday lost. Sigh. Also lost was most of the Weaponized Judiciary/Push back section, the Trump-Epstein, and I think about half of SCOTUS and some things from categories usually lower on the aggregate page. Sigh.

And we are getting biannually inspected again mid April. At least my part of the Apartment is still mostly clean from one of the annual inspections in March. If it feels like I get inspected a lot, you are correct, as multiple agencies do separate annual inspections, plus the two fire/vent/etc. ones..

I still haven't done the stupid housing bureaucracy. I still need to do that one desk that's been a mess and half in boxes since the Great Contractor Disaster. Once fire inspection is over, I need to migrate the things we tucked in my room for annual inspection back out to the main room. The garden needs a big reorganization before things start growing in earnest. We already have some early lettuce and the neighborhood cherry trees are in bud. The ones out where they get the most sun on the street further towards the main road have started blooming. It's time.

I tried putting the scratchy thing Tavy was using as a chaise lounge on the living room window bench off and on for most of the last year of his life (A gift from Art and Techie Millennials) On my bed in hopes of Livia taking an interest in it. It's not her size. she like scratch boxes best, but it likely still has his scent and I was hoping maybe she'd take an interest in scratchy things again. It just upset her, so I took it away again.

* Monday: I finished the Housing paperwork. I am concerned I did it wrong, but there is nothing to do but turn it in and hope.

In related news, I've four errands to do downtown.

Update: Disabled parking was full again, but at least there was something a block away without a slope and I could sit in a chair to wait my turn, the line being literally one guy. I HAD done the paperwork wrong because the directions weren't clear, and they were just as clearly used to it, as she had one of those cool white out rollers right there. Asked several clarifying questions, whited out the wrong answers and write in correct ones herself. You have to be elderly or disabled to be in this program, so I bet most paperwork needs revision given the wording and complete lack of clarifying directions attached.

Anyway, I had inevitably turned up with Dramatically More Documentation than required. I always bring anything they could possibly want to bureaucracy, because if you turn up without something it's a big delay and maybe you can't get benefits or the like as a result. In this case ambiguous wording ended up with me bringing a thick packet when a couple pieces of paper would have done. Better safe than sorry though. (I vaguely remember this happening each re-up. They needed a lot of paper in the beginning when I first applied, but re-up they really only need the application plus a couple of things).

Anyway, I got rubber stamped and it'll be fine most like. This is one of those things, like federal income taxes where my complete lack of taxable income streamlines the shit out of things. It means no special deductions and the like because I'm already at the lowest possible income level so why bother.

I managed the other items fine. I should be able to pay housing tax end of week if nothing monstrous happens to social security and I've a leg up on document organizing for two exhausting bits of expected April bureaucracy.

I hate this. It is exhausting and stressful and time consuming.

In other news, I found a bunch of bad inter-collations after browser recovery. Sigh.

* I have had so much bureaucracy. Phone mostly after I turned Monday's papers in, and I basically had to give up on physio most nights as there were simply not enough spoons. Probably not enough to complete physio in any case, as just bare minimum is taking everything I've got. So many things to do, not enough time or energy to do them, plus bonus connectivity and website issues. I expect two more big bureaucracy packets to arrive this month. *facepalm*

* "Viktor Orbán: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO):"

Embed: )

* "Denmark Sweats the Vote, Hittler Runs for Mayor & Kim Jong Un Is a Nuclear Girl Dad | The Daily Show:"

Embed: )

* "Melania Brings a Robot to the White House & RFK Jr. Did What to a Dead Raccoon? | The Daily Show:"

Embed: )

* "Trump Bulls**ts About Iran Negotiations & Throws ICE Into Airport Chaos Mix | The Daily Show:"

Embed: )

* "No Kings Rallies Can’t Stop CPAC's Trump Glazing & Iran War Hits One Month | The Daily Show:"

Embed: )

* "Trump Gets Mystery Gift from Iran & Sends ICE Into Airports to Force the SAVE Act | The Daily Show:"

Embed: )

* "Trump Claims Iran War Is Won, But Hegseth’s New Recruitment Standards Say Otherwise | The Daily Show:"

Embed: )

* "Kristi Noem's Husband Gets Busty & Lindsey Graham Spotted at Disney World | The Daily Show:"

Embed: )

* "PeaceHealth Recruiting:" https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Qh3FY_7GxG8

* "One Fetish After Another: PTA Exploits Black Women and Averts Revolution:" https://blackgirlwatching.substack.com/p/one-battle-after-another-review

* "Julio Torres - “Color Theories” | The Daily Show:"

Embed: )

* "Hozier - The Humours of Whiskey (Traditional, a cappella):"

Embed: )

*****
* 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.

* "Transcontinental Pipeline:" https://tcpipeline.org/steps/

* "Donate to Kansas ACLU:" https://action.aclu.org/give/support-aclu-kansas

* "Project Salt Box:" https://projectsaltbox.substack.com/

* "When the Feds Come to Your City: Standing Up to ICE :" https://crimethinc.com/2025/12/03/when-the-feds-come-to-your-city-standing-up-to-ice-a-guide-from-chicago-organizers

* "MASTER LIST OF WAYS TO HELP IN MINNEAPOLIS:" https://www.tumblr.com/gwydionmisha/807223113540599808?source=share

* "Here are Minnesota groups that need your help organizing against ICE and DHS operations:" https://www.advocate.com/news/minnesota-mutual-aid-groups-ice

* Links to Help organize in advance of ICE Occupation: https://www.tumblr.com/gwydionmisha/807226885129060352?source=share

* "Swing Left:" https://swingleft.org/

* Contains link to trans girl sales pages. "Trans Girl Scouts On Cookie List Sell 71,000 Boxes Of Cookies And Growing:" https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/trans-girl-scouts-on-cookie-list

* "2026 Statewide Primary Calendar:" https://www.270towin.com/2026-state-primary-calendar/

* "The List of Shame: People frequently ask us about whether their specific US state is trying to enact a social media age verification law so they can call their state representatives and yell at them about it!:" https://dw-advocacy.dreamwidth.org/1493.html

* "Keep Android Open:" https://keepandroidopen.org/

* "Taking action against AI harms:" https://www.anildash.com/2026/02/23/taking-action-ai-harms/

* "Resist and Unsubscribe:" https://www.resistandunsubscribe.com/

More )
gwydion: (Default)
* "DR Congo internet shut day after poll:" https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-46721168

* "Meghalaya mine rescue op: Divers find wooden structures, horizontal hole. No trace of trapped miners:" https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/meghalaya-mine-rescue-op-divers-find-wooden-structures-horizontal-hole-no-trace-of-trapped-miners-1420879-2018-12-31

* "Volcano three-quarters blown away by Indonesia tsunami eruption:" https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/dec/29/volcano-was-three-quarters-blown-away-in-indonesia-tsunami-eruption

* "This Woman Only Discovered She Was Intersex After Watching A Viral Video About It:" https://www.buzzfeed.com/patrickstrudwick/this-woman-only-discovered-she-was-intersex-after-watching

* "For the First Time in More Than 20 Years, Copyrighted Works Will Enter the Public Domain:" https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/first-time-20-years-copyrighted-works-enter-public-domain-180971016/

* "The Way American Parents Think About Chores Is Bizarre:" https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2018/12/allowance-kids-chores-help/578848/

For the record, my family went with an everyone pitches in with ordinary daily or weekly chores for free, but we got paid for certain rarer, more difficult chores. (A corner store trip for groceries was free, but a half hour bike trip to get something from the Wawa was paid. Dishes or weeding the kitchen garden? Free. Cleaning the gutters? Paid.) We had no regular allowance at all, though there were situations in which we were given money for special treats, like a carnival. We were strongly motivated to find extraordinary chores we could do, such as things that needed fixing, or the summer I cleared the over grown section of front garden with the bird bath. (It was sort of hedged off, and she stopped working it the year she was bed-ridden with a dangerous pregnancy, then recovering while trying to deal with a sickly new born all spring and summer. The next year, she hadn't time and energy to sort it out for obvious reasons, so it was let go, getting worse every Summer. After I cleared it she used half of it for a secondary kitchen garden and half for flowers and it entered her regular crop rotation system). Eventually, I got old enough for baby sitting my sister, then neighborhood kids, and doing other people's yard work. By the time my sister was that age she was literally dying and was too sick for literal years after we raised enough money to save her. At that point she could do minimum wage jobs, so she missed the baby sitting/lawn work stage. I stand by the basic structure.

* I grew up poor in the '70's. Most of our store bought toys were second hand; we had a home made toy book we did crafts out of; we also drew playsets and I drew paper dolls for my sister and her friends well into the '80's. We also did a lot of non-distructive re-purposing. "The Strange, Delightful Era When Kids Made Their Own Toys:" https://slate.com/human-interest/2018/12/homemade-toys-19th-20th-century-america-pictures.html

* ""Hand Me the Wine and the Dice" from the musical, "Aspects of Love":"

Embed: )

* "Ramones - I Wanna Be Sedated:"

Embed: )

* I heard a crash and the sound of breaking glass. I saw no cats in the kitchen or my bathroom and there was no broken glass I shrugged it off, figuring I'd find it eventually. I did. At bedtime Sunday morning. It was my beloved gift Tesla lightning globe I like to play with before bed sometimes. Totally smashed and useless. You'd think I'd blame Tavy, but he stopped frequenting that bureau top when I was given the Tesla globe because he Hated and Distrusted it. No, it was clearly Livia, likely misjudging her size. I love Livia more that my lightning globe, but I rather wish I still had both. Sigh.

I managed to miss the first half hour of the parade, which I very particularly wanted to see, catching the tail end of the last fancy style costume. Sigh. I stuck it through the Giant Wench Brigades and into the comics proper. I did want to say how much better the comics are than they were when I still lived at home. It's way less half assed and inebriated, for example. It's good to see so many more PoC performers, both mixed in and doing their own clubs. A fundamental problem with the parade has always been the racism, and the more integrated the parade gets, the better it gets. I have spent my whole life longing for the day I could watch the whole damned parade without being horrified and embarrassed by the city of my origin. The one thing I miss is there used to be way more political commentary and protest in the comics, like a scaled down version of Carnivale parades in Brazil, but honestly I can see how it's a trade off and I'll take this over the unrelenting racism any day. It's good to see how many more women and girls are out there too. One of the things I truly admire about the Mummer's Parade is it's one of the very few places in our society where a woman's age and body shape count not a bit beyond the division between adult parts and children's parts that exist regardless of gender in some performances. It legitimately doesn't matter if someone is fat or thin or young or old. Seriously, where else can you truly say that in any other sort of performance?

Boy there were a lot of Elvises this year! On a related note, I'm wondering if the accidental replication of jailhouse rock themes is a reflection of the political zeitgeist. I'm betting the Blue themed police one was really blue lives matter *Sigh* I noticed hog Island (once my favorite Fancy Brigade) did bring a lot of the old school political clowning. I did particularly like the student debt one out of the few less obliquely political ones, and it was well executed too. The Lobster Club Trump one was way higher production values than old school Comics Division, but damned if it wasn't the sort of thing they would have done when I was a kid only half assed and way drunker. Comics are supposed to caricature and speak truth to power. They had a bunch of other more chaotic ones in similar more overt tone. Good for them!

They made it all the way through the Comics without doing anything horrifying. Perhaps the sensitivity training is working. I opted to nap String Bands, as they are usually the most wincingly bad, but they rebroadcast during the gap between the Parade proper and the stage performances. I had equipment trouble, but got to see most of the fancies after all on the live stream (one dubious performance in the portion I saw) and the string bands on facebook feed. They had a really good Phantom, Beauty and the Beast, the Wizard/Witch/Butterflies, Flying Dutchman, and a zombie ones, but also the usual horrifically appropriative, stereotyped, and/or racist ones. Sigh. I know why String bangs are the most unwilling to move with the times, but it's still sad and disappointing.

Oh man the Fancy Brigades were relevant to my interests this year. So many good ones: the Scotsmen, the Beauty and the beast, the space aliens, the Wonka, the marionettes, nightmare Before Christmas. I wonder if the inevitable orientalist fantasy and the appropriated Native American one (appropriating from Native Americans was also super popular in the string bands this year. Clearly there is a big gap in the sensitivity training). I wonder if either was the same people did the horrible racist African jungle one last year. Sigh.

Unfortunately, this year the feed was terrible. Seriously, I wish there was some other option than watch a parade this length poorly live streamed starting at 6AM. *shakes fist at PHL 17* I was forced to watch some of it with garbled sound on Facebook, which I hate like scabies.

* "Revolution and Spy Work Darken Trickster's Queen:" https://www.thefandomentals.com/revolution-tricksters-queen/

* "Past Looks Back from Terrier:" https://www.thefandomentals.com/past-looks-back-terrier/

* "Moments of Difference and Improvement in Bloodhound:" https://www.thefandomentals.com/moments-in-bloodhound/

* "Old favorites, outdated attitudes: Can entertainment expire?:" https://www.apnews.com/4ebd33ab2629490183763f90862e2977

* TNG: Season 7 Rewatch:

- This is a two parter. 7.4 & 5 Gambit. The crew is questioning various people of diverse species at a bar in search of Picard who seems to have been vaporized. (Of course he isn't). This is one of the better done openers I've seen so far. It starts right in the middle of the action, it uses Dian, Beverly, Riker, and Worf well, you can see the better post Roddenberry writing and the make up designs are really good instead of forehead of the week. So now Riker is in charge. He is refusing to go to the Memorial service or do the Captainy things one does to hold a crew together in his search for vengeance. Deanna rightly calls him out on his bullshit. Wait, Admiral Chakotay? Are they related? This guy looks nothing like.

Riker brutalizes the witness then leads an away team over Data's sensible suggestions. I am for real not impressed by Riker's leadership. They get attacked, then cut off by communication and transporter jamming. Mercenaries capture Riker. Data is in charge of the enterprise. They chase a mercenary ship that "disappears." Data, the only rational character, decides to investigate the planet to find out what the mercenaries wanted on the planet. Riker sasses his captors, who have a new fangled pain giver. Picard has infiltrated the mercenary ship, and argues they kill Riker, describing him as insubordinate.

The engines the Captain's been forcing past specs start to fail. Riker saves the ship, which with Picard's description of him as bad at being star fleet wins Riker an in. The Mercenaries appear to be looting artifacts. Data figures out the pattern, warns the next outpost and they go there. Picard catches Riker up on his self appointed mission to catch the looters. Picard is pretending to be a smuggler and sets Riker to make friends with the leader. Picard tries to incite the Romulan to mutiny.

The were going to destroy the Outpost, but Picard suggests they get Riker to talk their way in. The Romulan advisor seconds the plan and the leader gives in. Riker can't talk them into lowering their shields because they were warned. Picard tries a tech solution that doesn't quite work, but delays until Enterprise shows up. Riker orders them away; he offers the mercs a tech solution that he knows won't work but which tips Data off. Data has them lower their shields so it looks like Riker helped the Mercs. The Mercs fire at the Enerprise, but...

In the next episode it turns out they are just making it look like they are hitting essential systems, but really they are hitting exactly the wrong spots. Data pretends they are really damaged and lets the mercs go to help maintain Riker's cover. The Merc Captain enlists Riker to help him find out who is backing Picard's mutiny which Riker is meant to incite. Worf is wildly insubordinate publicly and Data calls him out in private. They work it out rationally which I love and are still friends.

Riker goes to pretend to befriend Picard while really filling him in on the Leader's plans. Picard reveals that an artifact is Vulcan. Picard pretends to try to start a mutiny; the Romulan confronts him about not being a smuggler and has figured out that he is a Starfleet officer who likely sent the coded message to the enterprise. She turns out to be Vulcan Security posing as a Romulan. He discloses his real identity. It turns out she thinks this is about Vulcan Isolationist Extremists. This is about ancient telepathic weapons from the time before pacifism. They agree to continue their ruse.

Data uses the message to go intercept a Klingon shuttle with a curt Captain. Worf suggests using a health and safety inspection. Data hesitates but lets it go foreward. Look at them functioning like a proper crew! It shows the conversation about the role of a security officer vs. a Second Officer has worked. Riker and Picard argue and trade accusations when the Enterprise is spotted at the rendevue. As a result, both get sent on the raiding party. The Merc Captain tells Riker to kill Picard once they get the artifact.

They are having no luck charming the Klingon and the safety inspection is not workig out, but it is at this point the raiding party beams in. Riker gets the location of the Klingon from Worf and Beverly, then shoots them. Picard grabs the artifact; he and Riker shoot at each other. Deanna pretends Riker's dead rather than stunned. He's left behind to explain it all. Picard leads the mutiny on the strength of Riker having tried to kill him on the leader's order. He switched the codes so the Merc Leader dies.

Riker learns there is no Vulcan operative undercover on the merc ship. Picard talks to her about the artifacts and their symbols. She continues the charade. He tells her Riker is meeting them at Vulcan to protect the pieces. She refuses. A lot. He's clearly worked it out. He tells her to only take one piece and they'll send the rest when they are paid. She tells them to check the coded transmission file to prove he's Starfleet. He tells them about the weapon and that she's betraying them to the Feds. Two go with to get the reward, but it's light. She uses the weapon to kill the crew and orders Picard to raise a weapon, but he won't. The feds show up and Picard orders them to drop the weapon and think peaceful thoughts, since that's the way to defeat it. The weapon doesn't work on them so she's arrested. There's a cute joke at the end.

I'm not kidding about the way better writing. Look at the intricate plotting, the better opportunities to show off the acting skills and crew dynamics.

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

* Trans Helplines: https://www.translifeline.org/

* Want to complaint about Betsy DeVos's plan to coddle college rapists? https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2018/11/29/2018-25314/nondiscrimination-on-the-basis-of-sex-in-education-programs-or-activities-receiving-federal#open-comment

* "Trump’s New Wall to Keep Out the Disabled:" https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/29/opinion/trumps-disability-public-charge.html

They are soliciting public comment on these draconian regulations until December 10th here: https://www.regulations.gov/comment?D=USCIS-2010-0012-0001

* Donate to HIAS to help refugees: https://act.hias.org/page/6048/donate/1

* Want to contribute directly to the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services fund? "Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services:" https://www.raicestexas.org/

* Support Kids at the Border: http://brigdh.tumblr.com/post/175022384240/support-the-kids-at-the-border

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

* Have something you want to tell your Congress Critters? If you can not protest in person, here are some other options:
Call the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask to be connected to the representative of your choice.

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

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

* This is a cool person and the swimsuits are being made from an ethical source. LGBTQIA+ swimsuits: https://www.etsy.com/shop/NerdyKeppie?ref=l2-shopheader-name§ion_id=24021616

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

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

May 2026

S M T W T F S
      12
3456789
10111213141516
17181920212223
24252627282930
31      

Syndicate

RSS Atom

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags