Nec Hoc Nec Ilud

* "Pattern of hacking preceded attendee of Trump camp Russia meeting:"

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* 45 has put Wilbur Ross in charge of the colonialist looting of Afghanistan's mineral resources he announced earlier this week.

* "A wounded Trump lashes out at Phoenix rally:" http://www.politico.com/story/2017/08/22/trump-arizona-phoenix-rally-241923

* "Senate investigators interview dossier firm founder:" http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/22/politics/glenn-simpson-senate-judiciary-investigators/index.html

* "Exclusive: Top Trump aide's email draws new scrutiny in Russia inquiry:" http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/23/politics/donald-trump-rick-dearborn-email-russia-investigation/index.html

* "White House prepares for Joe Arpaio pardon:" http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/23/politics/joe-arpaio-pardon-white-house-paperwork/index.html

* "Napolitano: Arpaio pardon would be a 'dis' to Arizona:"

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* "Trump goes after Flake by name, after pledging not to:" http://www.politico.com/story/2017/08/23/trump-jeff-flake-name-241941

* "Trump team escalates threats to shut down government:" https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-team-escalates-threats-shutdown-government-n795506

* "Web hosting company ordered to turn over information on anti-Trump website:" http://www.politico.com/story/2017/08/24/trump-inauguration-protest-dreamhost-court-241973

* Like rats from a sinking ship. "Infrastructure Advisers Quit, Say Trump’s Actions Threaten Homeland Security:" http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/infrastructure-advisers-trump-homeland-security_us_599ddf67e4b0821444c07fb9?ncid=tweetlnkushpmg00000067

* "Former Trump adviser Icahn on NY AG Schneiderman's radar:"

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* "Another Republican stock photo fail:"

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* "Charlottesville: United Nations warns US over 'alarming' racism:" https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/aug/23/charlottesville-un-committee-warns-us-over-rise-of-racism

* "Bryan Stevenson & Andra Day - The Ideology of White Supremacy in America - Extended Interview:"

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* "Nnamdi Asomugha & Colin Warner - From Friendship to Freedom in "Crown Heights" - Extended Interview :"

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* "Memo outlines Trump ban on transgender people in the US military:"

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* "White House gives Pentagon six months to create new trans military ban policy:" http://www.losangelesblade.com/2017/08/23/white-house-gives-pentagon-six-months-to-create-new-trans-military-ban-policy/

* "What trans soldier Albert Cashier can teach Trump about patriotism:" https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/aug/22/donald-trump-transgender-military-ban-albert-cashier

* "I am holding hands with a girl at the pet store.:" http://seananmcguire.tumblr.com/post/164547838865/ishipbadasschicks-nobodysflower-i-am-holding

* "Historic mystery at sea solved but stays a secret:"

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* "Dear Men:" http://gwydionmisha.tumblr.com/post/164588080367/dear-men

* "Good Samaritan bit trying to leash roaming iguana Mr. Jingles:" http://www.unionleader.com/animals/good-samaritan-bit-trying-to-leash-roaming-iguana-mr-jingles--20170814

* "Nuclear Waste: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO):" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwY2E0hjGuU

* "Hillary Clinton Unloads on Trump:"

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* "Serious Trump vs. Somber Trump vs. Freestyle Trump:"

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* ""Michael the Black Man": President Trump's No. 1 Fan:"

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* I gave up trying to make sense of 45's word salad Arizona rant a little before midnight on the grounds that i was exhausted and all I was getting out of it was a headache instead of meaning. I did have a lovely dream about a modern AU where Steve Rogers (me in the dream. Don't judge.) woke from the ice with no real memories of what came before, bet with the same personality and super soldier upgrades. He ended up recruited by Amanda Waller (Yes, I know I'm crossing the Marvel/DC streams) instead of Nick Fury. Meanwhile, when Natasha Romanov defected, she took the Winter Soldier with her. Bucky was exactly as confused with only vague flashes of the Before time. Natasha was running her own ring for Nick Fury out of a garage, with Bucky as mechanic and husband. Steve Rogers was sent for a team up mission between the two agencies. So there is Natasha dressed rather like the matriarch in sons of Anarchy, one elbow on Bucky's shoulder looking me over.( Cut for salaciousness: ) And off we went on a mission that was basically a large trapped enemy base infiltration, with bits of memory coming back to both Steve and Bucky. A++ would Steve/Bucky/Natasha base infiltrate again. That and the cuddling Tavy and reading Tanya Huff's Fire Stone were the only good things that happened today.

I did some calculations and determined that I could make the attempt on tires today. This was a terrible mistake. Internet directions looked straightforward. This was a lie. They had me get off in the next town up drive to the highschool make a couple turns and follow this big straight road until I saw it on my right. This was not how we got there last time, but that also involved lots of turns through back country, which is always a terrible fucking idea, as the street signs are seldom good, there are few places to turn around or ask directions, and the local teens have a habit of twisting street signs to lead strangers astray. Worse yet, the nice straight lines on maps are usually lying and things happen like if you go straight at the intersection you are on a different road and to go straight by the map you must go left or right, often with no street sign of the street sign twisted the wrong way and there is no next street sign for another ten miles to tell you you are on the wrong road. All of these things happened, of course, which was why I was dreading doing this, especially without a navigator. I burned a third of a tank of gas, pulled over in a bunch of church lots, a factory lot, and someones house to consult maps. The internet directions and the address I was aiming for did not match, as the streets did not connect....

Low on gas I hit the end of the road where it was meant to be where was a baptist church. I checked the doors on the grounds that even at a weird time on a Thursday afternoon in summer, you can sometimes catch altar guild ladies or bible study or what have you and the building was large and complicated and I couldn't tell if there was a rectory tucked away somewhere. I was exhausted hot, half panicked as I could not be sure where I was and was not all that clear where the Interstate was. I was not sanguine there was anyone there, as I didn't see cars out font, but the lot stretched behind so I gave it a shot anyway. This is the PNW, and I know full well if one looks distressed enough sometimes the act of looking obviously distressed will attract help. (This works particularly well when you are having car trouble and it is pissing down rain. Seriously folks, I live here for a Reason, and this is one of the benefits along with ideal climate until climate change started fucking with it, closeness to Canada, excellent laws, strong education system, social safety net, Queer friendliness, beauty of the landscape, access to civilized amenities....) The weather was hot and clear, but the hope was there. Doors were locked, but an elderly gentleman on a bike saw my distress an stopped. (Seriously. PNW). I braced myself for being evangelized, but I was happy to deal with that in exchange for him letting me follow him to the tires. He lived next door, so got his truck and took me there. (I didn't get the impression he was the preacher, though he may have been. He came off more like a true believer of the sort that hold those places together, especially in the middle of no where). I let him give me a new testament which he inscribed himself and let him evangelize me, and used proper church phrases. I am really good at this given my upbringing, even though obviously I did not have a baptist upbringing. I did my very best to give him all the gratefulness and interest i clearly owed him in exchange for his help. I did not tell him I had a much better translation of old and new testaments with apocrypha on my reference shelf which I keep handy for arguing with homophobes on the internet mostly. Episcopalian are hard core into Bible study, both my parents and my mother's mother were at various points vestry, mom and Grammy had both been church treasurers. My mom taught Sunday school, did bell choir, ran pageants, planning was a lector. Mom and Grammy were both on planning committees and the like at various times. All three of them were on various reverend searches. My Dad and I were in choir. I'd done Bible study pretty much since I was old enough for chapter books and went to a school with chapel three times a week where I had classes where we did things like comparative religion, bible study, history of monotheism, etc.. I was the only one in the Medieval Studies program in college who arrived with a working knowledge of Medieval heresy. My choice to break with monotheism was deeply considered and irrevocable, not out of bitterness and certainly not out of ignorance. Buddhism fit better for a host of reasons, and i am just not a theist.

But polite is polite and he went waaaaaay out of his way to help me and I really was grateful. I paid my coin in attention and good manners and took my new testament meekly. I had burned so much gas, I wasn't sure there was enough to get home, so I bought the very cheapest tires instead of second cheapest, but they looked sound, and drove well at 70 on the long flat stretch of the highway in moderate wind, and breaking and lane changes were noticeably better, so I felt like they were a pretty good deal all things considered. The man who took my money, was very likely one of my students the last two years I taught. He had a distinctive face and went to the right middle school. I gassed up and had a ridiculously easy time getting home, as the highway was RIGHT there, but the gas station down the road. If I'd known, I could have just gone north to that exit, made a right off the ramp, and another right, driven a bit and there it would have been. Fucking A! I'd have had the better tires, not had to gas up, and not had a frustrating, exhausting, and occasionally dangerous all afternoon country drive in the heat.

At least we know where it is now.

* Tavy update: I think he's finally turning into a cat, for which I am greatful. I don't just mean that he's adult shape and weight, though that is true. I've noticed he's settled down a lot in the last two weeks or so. nHis sleep/cuddle/play balance is more young adult cat than kitten, which is dramatically easier on me, given how extra he was when he arrived even for a kitten. He's more willing to entertain himself in less destructive ways while I am asleep or out of the apartment with toys, busy box, busy bag, and contents himself with stealing the half piece of paper towel I use to keep my next to the desk coaster from being overwhelmed by ice water sweat, instead of stealing entire rolls of paper toweling, tp, and or books to shred. (He really likes shredding.) I will happily sacrifice half a paper towel segment a day not to wake up to things shredded and broken all over the apartment. He's also been dramatically less violent with me in that two week span, something I've been working on since we got him. He loves wrestling, which involves launching himself at my forearm, digging teeth and claws in hard as he can and attempting to disembowel it with his hind leg, which really fucking hurts and does real damage. I happily offer diversions, such as toys he can maul, string, cat in bag, etc.., but until recently we had a minimum of a half hour a day where he persistently tries and frequently really hurts me. We're down to one or two attempts every few days, and he's way easier to divert. He' still too violent with Squirrel and LM, hence the limited contact between the cats. (No one likes being bitten, no matter how much he likes biting. He genuinely thinks he's playing). Squirrel refuses to be strict with him as far as the mauling goes, so I'm not sure how well things will generalize, but I am really hopeful seeing how much he's improving. I've also noticed how much better he's gotten over the course of the summer at compensating for his disability. He's such a sweet, cuddly little guy, and I'm really enjoying who he's growing up to be.

* Want to donate to the windshield wiper fund? (32$) Paypal Lethran@gmail.com

* So the town to the north of me has a road called "Dick Stone Lane." We assume it was named for some specific person, but Wednesday we decided "Dick Stone" ought to be the star in a noir porn parody. Dick Stone Private Dick! He should be based on Humphrey Bogart, obviously.

So this morning as I was getting dressed, I realized that it should clearly be based on the Maltese Falcon, because clearly Dick Stone needed to star in the Maltese Dildo as private dick, Hump Free Boggart. (I know backwards, but pun!) I can see the golden dildo being held aloft right now. Come on, you'd watch it. I could be hilarious and brilliant in the right hands! (Waggle brows).

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

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

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

* How to help the protesters and ordinary people in Venezuela: https://thewynne.tumblr.com/post/163738805241/softestjohn-fiftyeightminutes-softestjohn

* A list of links to Charlottesville charities if you want to give the NAZIs a financial fuck you: https://twitter.com/SaraJBenincasa/status/896260623905861633

* How white Protesters can weaponize their whiteness: http://gwydionmisha.tumblr.com/post/164390645622/alvaroarbeloa-vaspider-okay-friends-lets

* List of places to donate to help trans service members and fight the planned attack on active duty trans soldiers: https://vaspider.tumblr.com/post/163475550346/moonbian-hey-i-know-reblogging-posts-about-how

* Help pay for cat food, litter, meds, medical copays: Paypal Lethran@gmail.com

* Want Game of Thrones without the creepy? We need new players. We are very inclusive. "Game of Bones MUSH:" gobmush.wikidot.com