Nec Hoc Nec Ilud

* 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: )

* "Lebanon's soul has been eviscerated by its financial crisis. Not even the children want to play:" https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/30/middleeast/lebanon-crisis-children-cmd-intl/index.html

* "Russia lists Pussy Riot member, art collector and satirist as 'foreign agents':" https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/30/europe/pussy-riot/index.html

* "Lesbian Pop Star Denise Ho Arrested by Hong Kong Authorities:" https://www.advocate.com/world/2021/12/30/lesbian-pop-star-denise-ho-arrested-hong-kong-authorities-cantopop-china

* "The mob killing of a factory manager in Pakistan comes amid surge in anti-blasphemy violence:" https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/12/24/pakistan-blasphemy-violence-labbaik/?itid=mr_world_4

* "“Meet a Jew,” Germany’s New Scheme to Convince the Country That Jews Are People:" https://slate.com/human-interest/2021/12/meet-a-jew-germany-anti-semitism-crime.html

* "‘My grandmother hid Jewish children’: Poland’s underground refugee network:" https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/dec/24/my-grandmother-hid-jewish-children-polands-underground-refugee-network

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* "WHO: global COVID cases up 11% last week, omicron risk high:" https://www.cleveland.com/news/2021/12/who-global-covid-cases-up-11-last-week-omicron-risk-high.html

* "FDA: Antigen tests may have reduced sensitivity detecting Omicron:" https://www.politico.com/news/2021/12/28/fda-antigen-tests-reduced-sensitivity-omicron-526217

* "You might get a breakthrough case of Covid-19 this winter. Here’s how to prepare.:" https://www.vox.com/22841985/breakthrough-covid-19-winter-positive-test-how-to-prepare

* "COVID cases surge in Lebanon ahead of New Year’s Eve celebrations:" https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/12/31/warnings-lebanon-covid-rising-figures

* "NHS trusts in England declare critical incidents amid Covid staff crisis:" https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/jan/03/several-nhs-trusts-declare-critical-incidents-amid-covid-staff-crisis

* "U.S. sets new daily high for Covid cases:" https://www.politico.com/news/2021/12/28/us-new-daily-high-covid-526223

* "US children hospitalized with COVID in record numbers:" https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/us-children-hospitalized-covid-record-numbers-82004052

* "FDA Expands Pfizer Boosters for More Teens as Omicron Surges:" https://www.usnews.com/news/business/articles/2022-01-03/fda-expands-pfizer-boosters-for-more-teens-as-omicron-surges

* "Omicron makes up 95% of sequenced Covid cases in U.S. as infections hit pandemic record:" https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/04/omicron-makes-up-95percent-of-sequenced-covid-cases-in-us-as-infections-hit-pandemic-record.html

* "Hospitalizations spike amid rocketing Covid case counts; threat to hospitals renewed:" https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/hospitalizations-spike-amid-rocketing-covid-case-counts-threat-to-hospitals-renewed-130067013845

* "Intimate portraits of a hospital COVID unit from a photojournalist-turned-nurse:" https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/12/26/1066395049/intimate-portraits-of-a-hospital-covid-unit-from-a-photojournalist-turned-nurse

* "White House issues a warning to unvaccinated Americans as concerns about omicron grow:" https://www.npr.org/2021/12/17/1065312060/white-house-issues-a-warning-to-unvaccinated-americans-as-concerns-about-omicron

* "Chris Hayes: How omicron’s contagiousness is changing the pandemic normal:" https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/chris-hayes-how-omicron-s-contagiousness-is-changing-the-pandemic-normal-129800261794

* "Pfizer pill becomes 1st US-authorized home COVID treatment:" https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-pfizer-medication-f5f65e7e61d6aa9c7dfa193053e8878a

* "US Army Creates Single Vaccine Against All COVID & SARS Variants, Researchers Say:" https://www.defenseone.com/technology/2021/12/us-army-creates-single-vaccine-effective-against-all-covid-sars-variants/360089/

* "‘This was the moment’: CDC defends altered guidance amid Omicron surge:" https://www.politico.com/news/2021/12/29/cdc-defends-new-covid-guidelines-526234

* "Omicron is latest blow to pandemic-weary front-line workers:" https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-health-business-pandemics-london-7004e1f1b1847b9831623e6adcedb5f3

* "Covid-19 surges spark chain reactions that strain US hospitals everywhere:" https://www.vox.com/coronavirus-covid19/22849829/covid-omicron-variant-cases-surge-us-hospitals

* "Florida breaks state record for COVID-19 cases again, for 4th time in 7 days:" https://www.wfla.com/community/health/coronavirus/florida-breaks-state-record-for-covid-19-cases-again-fourth-time-in-7-days/

* "Orange Mayor Demings blasts DeSantis, expands COVID-19 testing, requires masks for employees:" https://www.orlandosentinel.com/coronavirus/os-ne-coronavirus-orange-update-12-28-20211229-3xmrumwt45gllkym5su6jz26nq-story.html

* "Dem Florida gov. candidate Nikki Fried calls out DeSantis’s lack of visibility as Omicron surges:" https://www.msnbc.com/the-reidout/watch/florida-gov-ron-desantis-appears-to-be-missing-in-action-as-omicron-sweeps-across-his-state-129803845777

* "Activist claims DeSantis ‘decided to just sit back, do nothing’ as Covid surged in Florida:" https://www.msnbc.com/the-reidout/watch/desantis-largely-missing-from-public-from-december-17-through-new-year-s-eve-as-covid-surged-130060869600

* "Despite vaccines, more Texans died of COVID-19 in 2021 than in first year of pandemic:" https://www.houstonchronicle.com/coronavirus/article/Despite-vaccines-Texas-COVID-deaths-35-higher-16722967.php

* "Omicron is sidelining even health care workers as it rips through Texas:" https://www.texastribune.org/2021/12/28/omicron-texas-covid-19/

* "Texas COVID-19 hospitalizations rise more than 11% in a day:" https://www.kxan.com/news/coronavirus/hospitalizations/texas-covid-19-hospitalizations-rise-more-than-11-in-a-day/

* "R.I. health care system ‘is currently collapsing,’ emergency doctors warn :" https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/12/18/metro/ri-health-care-system-is-currently-collapsing-emergency-doctors-warn/

* "Frustrated emergency doctor says R.I. isn’t doing enough to address health system ‘collapse’:" https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/12/21/metro/frustrated-emergency-doctor-says-ri-isnt-doing-enough-address-health-system-collapse/

* "Covid-19 patients at this hospital are dying 'at a rate we've never seen die before' -- and it's taking a toll on health care workers:" https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/09/us/hospital-covid-19-deaths-michigan/index.html

* "Surge in COVID-19 cases overwhelms Indianapolis hospitals:" https://www.wishtv.com/news/vaccinecentral/surge-in-covid-19-cases-overwhelms-indianapolis-hospitals/

* "'There's going to be opposition': Indiana lawmakers prep to fast track vaccine mandate bill:" https://www.indystar.com/story/news/politics/2021/12/17/covid-indiana-lawmakers-prep-fast-track-vaccine-mandate-bill/8925925002/

* "Nearly two-thirds of hospitalized COVID-19 patients in New Hampshire unvaccinated, report says:" https://www.wmur.com/article/nearly-two-thirds-of-hospitalized-covid-19-patients-in-new-hampshire-unvaccinated-report-says/38628992

* "Inside a New Hampshire hospital overwhelmed by COVID:" https://www.wbur.org/news/2021/12/20/covid-cases-overwhelm-new-england-hospitals

* "About 25% of Ohio coronavirus tests are coming back positive. Gov. Mike DeWine says actual positivity is higher.:" https://www.cleveland.com/news/2021/12/about-25-of-ohio-coronavirus-tests-are-coming-back-positive-gov-mike-dewine-says-actual-positivity-is-higher.html

* "Ohio hospital saw pediatric COVID-related hospitalizations triple in the last week:" https://www.10tv.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/ohio-hospital-pediatric-covid-related-hospitalizations-triple-in-the-last-week/530-3228dfd1-2f0b-4a15-9956-de0267ca8fdd

* "More Ohio hospitals postpone surgeries as COVID cases rise:" https://www.10tv.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/more-ohio-hospitals-postpone-surgeries-covid-cases-rise/530-4c8f04ca-8fe4-4125-8250-a71c16e970b3

* "‘We’re begging you’: Ohio hospitals have more COVID-19 patients in emergency rooms than ever before:" https://www.cleveland19.com/2021/12/20/were-begging-you-ohio-hospitals-have-more-covid-19-patients-emergency-rooms-than-ever-before/

* "'Nurses are at a breaking point': Union sounds plea as healthcare workers face continuing COVID-19 surge:" https://www.kare11.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/nurses-breaking-point-minnesota-nurses-association-pleas-healthcare-workers-covid-19-surge/89-1dd21ed7-fa65-4926-8432-0ab1860471ed

* "Mississippi in 5th wave of COVID-19, state health official says:" https://www.wapt.com/article/msdh-issues-updated-guidance-on-omicron-covid-19-treatments/38635488

* "COVID-19 cases to climb even higher as students return to school, health officials say:" https://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/local/2021/12/28/mississippi-covid-cases-rise-sharply-going-into-new-year/9035370002/

* "COVID-19 hospitalizations up dramatically in Missouri:" https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-health-st-louis-kansas-city-missouri-44e8dc99f89b812fecbe01c7b9c5a3ba

* "COVID cases surge in Kansas City as the new year arrives: here are three key takeaways:" https://www.kansascity.com/news/coronavirus/article256930162.html

* "Alabama adds 5,900 new COVID cases, positivity rate hits all-time high:" https://www.al.com/news/2021/12/alabama-covid-positivity-rate-at-all-time-high-nearly-6000-new-cases-reported-wednesday.html

* "COVID-19 hospitalizations, school cases increasing in Alabama:" https://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/story/news/2021/12/22/covid-alabama-coronavirus-cases-hospitals-schools-omicron-variant/8998336002/

* "COVID-19 cases continue to rise in New Jersey:" https://abc7ny.com/covid-in-new-jersey-gov-phil-murphy-restrictions-coronavirus-updates/11361136/

* "NJ's Largest Hospital System Expects Hospitalizations to Exceed Worst of 2020 Soon:" https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/coronavirus/njs-largest-hospital-system-expects-hospitalizations-to-exceed-worst-of-2020-soon/3473230/

* "Inmates at NYC's Rikers Island jail in the midst of 'emerging crisis' related to Omicron surge:" https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/22/us/omicron-surge-rikers-jail/index.html

* Why are cruises still a thing? "3rd Florida-based ship has outbreak, state cases hit record:" https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/3rd-florida-based-ship-outbreak-state-cases-rise-81932406

* "People should avoid cruise travel regardless of their vaccination status, the CDC says:" https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2021/12/30/1069253312/cdc-cruise-ship-travel-covid-19

* "Fauci on Fox’s Jesse Watters: He ‘should be fired on the spot’:" https://www.wkbn.com/news/national-world/fauci-on-foxs-jesse-watters-he-should-be-fired-on-the-spot/

* "Extremists shifting attention to influencing local governments expert says:" https://www.msnbc.com/the-reidout/watch/u-s-sets-global-record-of-one-million-covid-cases-reported-monday-130145349717

* "Anti-vaccination protesters targeted a Cheesecake Factory — 6 were arrested:" https://www.cbsnews.com/news/anti-vaxxer-protesers-cheesecake-factory-arrests/

* "Congress' doctor urges lawmakers to work remotely and upgrade masks as omicron rages:" https://www.npr.org/2022/01/03/1070037412/covid-congress-house-senate-omicron

* "Congress' attending physician says there are "unprecedented" cases of Covid throughout the complex. :" https://www.politico.com/minutes/congress/01-3-2022/omicron-swamps-the-hill/

* "Pentagon Chief Austin Says He Has Tested Positive for COVID:" https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2022-01-02/pentagon-chief-austin-says-he-has-tested-positive-for-covid

* "Elizabeth Warren and Cory Booker test positive for Covid amid US Omicron surge:" https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/dec/19/elizabeth-warren-tests-positive-covid-omicron-surge

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* "Alexander Vindman supports arming Ukrainians to make Russian attack ‘less palatable’:" https://www.msnbc.com/the-reidout/watch/president-joe-biden-spoke-to-vladimir-putin-as-russian-troops-remain-stationed-at-ukrainian-border-129874501741

* "No surprise, Donald Trump just endorsed Hungary homophobe Viktor Orbán:" https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2022/01/04/donald-trump-viktor-orban-hungary-election-lgbt-rights/

* "The Human Toll of America’s Air Wars:" https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/19/magazine/victims-airstrikes-middle-east-civilians.html

* "Hundreds of Afghans denied humanitarian entry into US:" https://apnews.com/article/afghanistan-immigration-massachusetts-kabul-taliban-8ea41eef2c1e1735d748fcb796faccab

* "Biden to speak with Putin on Thursday at Russian leader's request:" https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/29/politics/biden-putin-call/index.html

* "Dems fight back against GOP accusations of being weak on Russia: "That dog won't hunt!":" https://www.salon.com/2021/12/06/smacked-down-on-senate-floor-for-calling-dems-soft-on-russia-that-dog-wont-hunt_partner/

* "How Ocean Shipping Works (And Why It's Broken):"

( Embed: )

* "White House unveils plan to replace every lead pipe in the U.S.:" https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/white-house-unveils-plan-replace-every-lead-pipe-u-s-n1286079

* "Biden’s Pick for Banking Regulator Pulls Out After ‘Inappropriate Personal Attacks’:" https://www.thedailybeast.com/saule-omarova-bidens-pick-for-banking-regulator-withdraws-after-inappropriate-personal-attacks

* "Biden finishes 2021 with most confirmed judicial picks since Reagan:" https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/biden-finishes-2021-with-most-confirmed-judicial-picks-since-reagan-2021-12-28/

* And yet Manchin insists we can’t afford the infrastructure Bill. "Biden signs $768B defense policy bill that supersized his original Pentagon request:" https://www.politico.com/news/2021/12/27/biden-signs-defense-policy-bill-526171

* "Manchin says he won't vote for Build Back Better Act:" https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/19/politics/joe-manchin-build-back-better/index.html

* "Corporate donations to Sen. Joe Manchin's PAC surged as he fought President Biden's agenda:" https://www.cnbc.com/2021/12/21/joe-manchin-pac-saw-surge-of-corporate-donations-as-he-fought-biden-agenda.html

* "As Congress fails on climate (again), focus turns to executive options for Biden:" https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/as-congress-fails-on-climate-again-focus-turns-to-executive-options-for-biden-129880645576

* "They Are Essential Workers. They Pay Taxes. But They've Been Largely Excluded from Pandemic Aid.:" https://www.themarshallproject.org/2021/12/15/essential-but-excluded

* "The Undercover Anarchists’ Secret Construction Collective:" https://narratively.com/the-undercover-anarchists-secret-construction-collective/

* "Hostile Architecture: The Fight Against the Homeless:"

( Embed: )

* "Supply shortages and emboldened workers: A changed economy:" https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-lifestyle-health-business-prices-66e5f5612c0a56c18ac218425e2cd20a

* "The world as we know it is ending. Why are we still at work?:" https://www.vox.com/2021/12/16/22837830/covid-pandemic-climate-change-great-resignation-2021

* "Senate parliamentarian rejects latest Dem proposal on immigration:" https://www.politico.com/news/2021/12/16/senate-parliamentarian-rejects-latest-dem-proposal-on-immigration-525195

* "Senate Democrats renew focus on voting rights as domestic policy bill stalls and filibuster changes are considered:" https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/voting-rights-filibuster-manchin/2021/12/15/3492c0b0-5de5-11ec-ae5b-5002292337c7_story.html

* "Politics expert asks: Will Democratic leaders really listen to voters in 2022?:" https://www.msnbc.com/the-reidout/watch/senate-majority-leader-chuck-schumer-has-promised-a-vote-on-the-build-back-better-bill-in-2022-129873989697

* "'This is it': Swalwell warns 2022 could be last election if GOP wins majority:" https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/-this-is-it-swalwell-warns-2022-could-be-last-election-if-gop-wins-majority-130056261886

* "Historian: We must protect democracy in 2022, or lose it forever.:" https://www.msnbc.com/the-sunday-show/watch/historian-we-must-protect-democracy-in-2022-or-lose-it-forever-129969221954

* "How Out Texas Rep. Celia Israel Put Voting Rights First in 2021:" https://www.advocate.com/exclusives/2021/12/16/how-out-texas-rep-celia-israel-put-voting-rights-first-2021

* "Schumer tries to jump-start Dems with rules change threat:" https://www.politico.com/news/2022/01/03/schumer-threatens-vote-on-senate-rules-change-in-january-526394

* "Sen. Schumer on Manchin, Sinema: We've got to keep pressing them on voting rights:" https://www.msnbc.com/the-reidout/watch/sen-chuck-schumer-vows-vote-on-senate-filibuster-rules-changes-to-advance-voting-rights-legislation-130058821956

* Have something you want to tell your Senators? If you can't safely 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.

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

* "Lincoln County, Georgia, Where The Population Is One-Third Black, Proposes Closing Down All But One Polling Place:" https://www.theroot.com/lincoln-county-georgia-where-the-population-is-one-th-1848257870

* "Washington redistricting commission sued over transparency issues as behind-the-scenes dealings emerge:" https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/lawsuit-washington-redistricting-commission-violated-open-meetings-law/

* "Political stakes are high as trial begins in NC gerrymandering lawsuit:" https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article257010887.html

* "Congressional redistricting hits the Ohio Supreme Court:" https://ohiocapitaljournal.com/2021/12/29/congressional-redistricting-hits-the-ohio-supreme-court/

* We still have a fighting chance if we all turn out next November. "Democrats Are Doing Weirdly Well in Redistricting:" https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/12/democrats-are-doing-weirdly-well-in-redistricting.html

* "Republicans hit snags deploying gerrymandering strategy to strengthen grip on power:" https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/republicans-hit-snags-deploying-gerrymandering-strategy-to-strengthen-grip-on-power-129879109973

* "'Slow-motion insurrection': How GOP seizes election power:" https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-united-states-elections-electoral-college-election-2020-809215812f4bc6e5907573ba98247c0c

* "Colorado Election Fraud Group Is Training Conspiracists in Other States to Knock Doors in Search of 'Phantom Ballots':" https://coloradotimesrecorder.com/2021/10/colorado-election-fraud-group-is-training-conspiracists-in-other-states-to-knock-doors-in-search-of-phantom-ballots/39935/

* "A Utah group is going door to door looking for election fraud. But they don’t want you to know about it:" https://www.sltrib.com/news/politics/2021/12/06/utah-group-is-going-door/

* "Amid Texas GOP’s effort to question electoral integrity, attorney general tried to indict Travis County elections chief:" https://www.texastribune.org/2021/12/20/texas-ken-paxton-travis-county-elections/

* "‘A real conflagration’: Wisconsin emerges as front line in war over the 2020 vote:" https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/wisconsin-2020-vote-battle/2021/12/16/6c585248-5931-11ec-9a18-a506cf3aa31d_story.html

* "Most threats against election workers, stoked by Trump's Big Lie, go unpunished: Reuters :" https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/most-threats-against-election-workers-stoked-by-trump-s-big-lie-go-unpunished-reuters-129878597732

* "Trump aide admits he was behind meeting with Kanye West publicist and Georgia election worker:" https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2070502

* "Eric Adams becomes New York City's 110th mayor:" https://www.msnbc.com/the-sunday-show/watch/eric-adams-becomes-new-york-city-s-110th-mayor-129969733747

* "‘National divorce:’ Congresswoman openly advocates end to American democracy:" https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/-national-divorce-congresswoman-openly-advocates-end-to-american-democracy-129871429742

* "Dominion Voting wins key decision in lawsuit against Fox News:" https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/16/media/fox-news-court-dominion/index.html

* "Twitter Bans Personal Greene Account for COVID-19 Misinfo:" https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2022-01-02/twitter-bans-personal-greene-account-for-covid-19-misinfo

* "GOP Candidate Claims Colorado Gov. Jared Polis Not Gay, Is Abuser:" https://www.advocate.com/politics/2021/12/16/gop-candidate-claims-colorado-gov-jared-polis-not-gay-abuser

* "Herschel Walker stumbles badly on John Lewis, voting rights:" https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/herschel-walker-stumbles-badly-john-lewis-voting-rights-n1286559

* "3 retired generals: The military must prepare now for a 2024 insurrection:" https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/12/17/eaton-taguba-anderson-generals-military/

* "GOP blows off Trump’s bid to oust McConnell:" https://www.politico.com/news/2021/12/17/gop-trump-oust-mcconnell-525207

* "Trump sues NY attorney general, seeking to halt civil probe:" https://apnews.com/article/business-new-york-lawsuits-donald-trump-albany-8cd1fd3c9dc206a5b563116f3966f2a4

* "GOP agrees to pay up to $1.6 million of Trump’s legal bills in N.Y. probes:" https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/republican-party-trump-legal-bills-new-york-probe/2021/12/16/08af4524-5c3f-11ec-9c0e-a955f8a009c1_story.html

* "New York attorney general subpoenas Donald Trump Jr and Ivanka Trump:" https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jan/03/donald-trump-jr-ivanka-trump-new-york-attorney-general

* "Subpoenas for Ivanka, Trump Jr suggest NY AG investigation entering final stages:" https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/subpoenas-for-ivanka-trump-jr-suggest-ny-ag-investigation-entering-final-stages-130065477932

* "The U.S. military men spreading Trump’s baseless fraud claims:" https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-election-military/

* "Cheney: January 6 committee has 'firsthand testimony' that Ivanka asked Trump to intervene during insurrection:" https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/02/politics/bennie-thompson-trump-capitol-insurrection/index.html

* "Capitol panel to investigate Trump call to Willard hotel in hours before attack:" https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/dec/27/capitol-attack-panel-investigate-trump-call-willard-hotel-before-assault

* House panel asks Supreme Court to say by mid-January whether it's taking Trump's January 6 records case":" https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/23/politics/donald-trump-supreme-court-records-january-6/

* "Why the ‘consensus opinion’ during and right after Jan. 6 is worth remembering:" https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/why-the-consensus-opinion-during-and-right-after-jan-6-is-worth-remembering-130056773581

* "House committee seeks to interview GOP firebrand Rep. Jim Jordan about January 6:" https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/22/politics/jim-jordan-house-select-committee-january-6/index.html

* "Michael Flynn loses his legal challenge to the House January 6 probe, one day after filing it:" https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/22/politics/michael-flynn-january-6-lawsuit/index.html

* "Trump ally Straka has provided potentially significant information:" https://www.politico.com/news/2021/12/17/trump-ally-brandon-straka-information-525272

* "January 6 committee sends letter to GOP Rep. Scott Perry, asking to interview him:" https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/20/politics/scott-perry-january-6-committee/index.html

* "Trump ally Roger Stone pleads the Fifth in deposition with January 6 committee:" https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/17/politics/roger-stone-january-6-committee/index.html

* "Capitol rioters' tears, remorse don't spare them from jail:" https://apnews.com/article/capitol-siege-rioters-prison-95bdc863812cab48be3d98ada67bd582

* "Judge: Lack of charges for Trump over Jan. 6 is no basis for leniency for others:" https://www.politico.com/news/2021/12/17/judge-lack-charges-trump-jan-6-525277

* "Remembering the Jan. 6 insurrection: What it was like inside the Capitol:" https://www.msnbc.com/the-sunday-show/watch/remembering-the-jan-6-insurrection-what-it-was-like-inside-the-capitol-129968709883

* "Proud Boys member pleads guilty for role in Capitol riot:" https://www.npr.org/2021/12/22/1066944829/matthew-greene-proud-boys-jan-6-capitol-pleads-guilty

* "Capitol rioter told FBI he was "in the bathroom pooping when the violence occurred":" https://www.salon.com/2021/12/03/capitol-rioter-told-fbi-he-was-in-the-bathroom-pooping-when-the-violence-occurred_partner/

* "Proud Boys member pleads guilty for role in Capitol riot:" https://www.npr.org/2021/12/22/1066944829/matthew-greene-proud-boys-jan-6-capitol-pleads-guilty

* "'Jesus Christ Superstar' actor, an accused Capitol rioter, claimed 'divine' authority in court hearing:" https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/29/politics/january-6-jesus-christ-superstar-sovereign-citizen/index.html

* "‘Q’ Has Been Quiet, but QAnon Lives On:" https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/20/technology/qanon-conspiracy-movement.html

* "Defense seeks dismissal of indictment for Gretchen Whitmer kidnap plot:" https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/dec/26/defense-dismissal-indictment-gretchen-whitmer-kidnap-plot-michigan-governor-coronavirus-covid

* "Since Jan. 6, the pro-Trump Internet has descended into infighting over money and followers:" https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/01/03/trump-qanon-online-money-war-jan6/

* "Police: Gunman in Denver who killed 5 targeted some victims:" https://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/article256898017.html

* " Why Alex Jones Lost the Sandy Hook Lawsuits :"

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* "North Carolina 3-year-old who accidentally shot herself on Christmas Day has died:" https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/29/us/north-carolina-christmas-shooting-toddler-dies/index.html

* "How a bloody land feud in Honduras is stoking migrant flight to U.S.:" https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/honduras-migration-land/

* "Ex-officer Kim Potter found guilty of two counts of manslaughter for fatally shooting Daunte Wright:" https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/23/us/kim-potter-trial-thursday/index.html

* "A Reformist Black Police Chief Faces an Uprising of the Old Guard:" https://theintercept.com/2021/12/18/little-rock-police-chief-keith-humphrey/

* "How Paid Experts Help Exonerate Police After Deaths in Custody:" https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/26/us/police-deaths-in-custody-blame.html

* "A Rogue Climber Running From the Law Was Fleeing His Own Trauma:" https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/04/us/isaac-wright-driftershoots-ptsd.html

* "5 teenagers charged in armed carjacking of US Rep. Scanlon:" https://apnews.com/article/congresswoman-mary-gay-scanlon-carjacked-teens-charged-3b17b2cc9d2dc00f0782f0f937e960d0

* "'Unabomber' Ted Kaczynski moved to prison medical facility:" https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/unabomber-ted-kaczynski-moved-prison-medical-facility-81916720

* "Rocker Rod Stewart, son resolve Florida hotel assault case:" https://apnews.com/article/entertainment-music-arts-and-entertainment-florida-rod-stewart-3ffb512ae758f75593d0cc8f1ab5ecb1

* "Prison Phone Companies Are Recording Attorney-Client Calls Across the US:" https://www.vice.com/en/article/7kbbey/prison-phone-companies-are-recording-attorney-client-calls-across-the-us

* "Behind the Violence at Rikers, Decades of Mismanagement and Dysfunction:" https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/31/nyregion/rikers-island-correction-officers.html

* "The Injustices of the Private Prison System:"

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* "Far-right using COVID-19 theories to grow reach, study shows:" https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-business-health-race-and-ethnicity-europe-1952ea369c0f4afdb6d23c7706aaadc8

* "Debunking the right-wing’s shoplifting freak-out:" https://www.yahoo.com/now/debunking-wing-shoplifting-freak-015411156.html

* "Elizabeth Holmes found guilty on four out of 11 federal charges:" https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/03/tech/elizabeth-holmes-verdict/index.html

* "He wore a wire, risked his life to expose who was in the KKK:" https://apnews.com/article/florida-race-and-ethnicity-racial-injustice-veterans-ku-klux-klan-fa0ec4120b1457f56c527108074795b5

* "Claudette Colvin: Civil rights pioneer has record cleared:" https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-59688404

* "OK bill would pay parents $10K each day their nominated banned books remain in libraries:" https://www.newsweek.com/ok-bill-would-pay-parents-10k-each-day-their-nominated-banned-books-remain-libraries-1663511

* "Some school librarians fed up with book bans are organizing and fighting back:" https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/21/us/texas-school-librarians-book-challenges/index.html

* CW: Psychiatric Abuse, Domestic Abuse. "The Rise and Fall of Dr. Phil, Part One:"

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* CW: Child Abuse, Torture "Dr. Phil's Involvement with Turnabout Ranch is Uncomfortable :"

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* "Pushed to Perform: How Reality TV Became About Kids:"

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* CW: Pedophilia. "Joshua Bassett's childhood sexual abuser was a family member who groomed him for years:" https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2021/12/28/joshua-bassett-sexual-abuse-coming-out-zach-sang/

* CW: Sexual Abuse. "Ghislaine Maxwell found guilty of helping Jeffrey Epstein sexually abuse girls:" https://www.npr.org/2021/12/29/1066219689/ghislaine-maxwell-verdict-trial-jeffrey-epstein

* CW: Sex Trafficking, Rape, Pedophilia. "What Medieval Women Who Trafficked Girls Can Teach Us About Ghislaine Maxwell:" https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2021/12/ghislaine-maxwell-trial-history-of-female-complicity-in-sexual-abuse.html

* CW: Sex Trafficking. "Prince Andrew accuser’s 2009 deal with Jeffrey Epstein made public:" https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-59861831

* CW: Sex Trafficking, Pedophilia"A QAnon con: How the viral Wayfair sex trafficking lie hurt real kids:" https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/interactive/2021/wayfair-qanon-sex-trafficking-conspiracy/

* "Child grooms are often overlooked in the fight to stop child marriage:" https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2022/01/02/1066099271/child-grooms-are-often-overlooked-in-the-fight-to-stop-child-marriage

* CW: Sexual Assault. "Chris Noth: Two women accuse Sex And The City actor of sexual assault:" https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-59689064

* CW: Sexual Assault. "Chris Noth Is Dropped From ‘The Equalizer’ Amid Sexual Assault Allegations:" https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/20/us/chris-noth-the-equalizer-fired.html

* CW: Sexual Assault. "Prosecutor drops groping charge against former NY Gov. Cuomo:" https://apnews.com/article/new-york-andrew-cuomo-albany-david-soares-24c140df57e2cf65bea8e576bf427f74

* CW: sexual Misconduct "Chris Cuomo, newly fired from CNN, faces an allegation of sexual misconduct:" https://www.npr.org/2021/12/05/1061639233/chris-cuomo-newly-fired-from-cnn-faces-an-allegation-of-sexual-misconduct

* "Bryan Singer accused of 'controlling, abusive' relationship with young assistant:" https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2021/12/21/bryan-singer-x-men-director-abuse-allegations-blake-stuerman/

* "Alex Jones' wife arrested on domestic violence charge:" https://news.yahoo.com/alex-jones-wife-arrested-domestic-204930217.html

* CW: Domestic Abuse "Dubai ruler must pay ex-wife $700M in divorce settlement:" https://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/dubai-ruler-pay-wife-700m-divorce-settlement-81873513

* CW: Domestic Violence "Students walked out before ‘transphobic’ Rod Liddle speech 'over assault caution':" https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2021/12/08/rod-liddle-durham-assault-caution/

* "Death of pregnant woman ignites debate about abortion ban in Poland:" https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/death-pregnant-woman-ignites-debate-about-abortion-ban-poland-2021-11-05/

* "Tennessee Planned Parenthood destroyed in early morning fire:" https://apnews.com/article/health-fires-tennessee-knoxville-planned-parenthood-524edc1a8bd12e46774c1fcdf37c6c72

* "US groups behind bid to outlaw abortion linked to global attacks on human rights:" https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2021/12/07/homophobic-groups-fund-abortion-case-us/

* "Abortion bans 'certain' across America if Supreme Court overturns Roe v Wade:" https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2022/01/04/abortion-supreme-court-roe-v-wade/

* "For Young LGBTQ+ Folks, Emergency Contraception on Campus Is Essential:" https://www.advocate.com/commentary/2021/11/29/young-lgbtq-folks-emergency-contraception-campus-essential

* "Vladimir Putin uses annual four-hour speech to attack trans people:" https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2021/12/24/vladimir-putin-russia-trans-coronavirus-pandemic/

* "Hungary’s cruel anti-LGBT+ law breaches basic human rights, say legal experts:" https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2021/12/21/hungary-anti-lgbt-law/

* "Kiss-A-Thon Held at Six Flags Mexico After Queer Couple Reprimanded:" https://www.advocate.com/world/2022/1/03/kiss-thon-held-six-flags-mexico-after-queer-couple-reprimanded-kissing

* "Same-Sex Couples in Israel Will Soon Have Access to Surrogacy:" https://www.advocate.com/news/2022/1/04/same-sex-couples-israel-will-soon-have-access-surrogacy

* "Majority of Scots think trans people should be 'free to express their identity':" https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2021/12/17/trans-scotland-self-id-survation-poll/

* "All historic gay sex convictions to be pardoned: 'The UK did so much wrong':" https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2022/01/04/gay-sex-pardon-turins-law-priti-patel/

* "Crucial appeal against anti-trans LGB Alliance’s charity status to be heard in 2022:" https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2021/12/23/lgb-alliance-charity-appeal/

* "Tories should give non-binary people legal recognition by 2024, say MPs:" https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2021/12/21/non-binary-legal-recognition-inquiry/

* "The real-life stories of Grindr serial killer Stephen Port's tragic victims:" https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2022/01/04/stephen-port-victims-anthony-walgate-daniel-whitworth-gabriel-kovari-jack-taylor/

* "America's LGBT+ population could be twice as big as previously thought, study says:" https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2021/12/19/usa-lgbt-population-census-pulse-survey-trans/

* "Black Trans Woman Ke’Yahonna Stone Shot Morning After Christmas:" https://www.advocate.com/crime/2021/12/31/black-transgender-woman-keyahonna-stone-shot-morning-after-christmas-indiana

* "21-Year-Old Black Trans Woman Amarey Lej Killed in Pittsburgh:" https://www.advocate.com/crime/2022/1/04/21-year-old-black-trans-woman-amarey-lej-killed-pittsburgh

* "'Angry' students take stand after school targeted in racist, homophobic attack:" https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2022/01/04/homophobic-racist-slurs-san-dieguito-academy/

* "Billionaire Mormon quits church over relentless attacks on LGBT+ rights:" https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2021/12/22/jeff-t-green-mormon-quit-lgbt-gay/

* "Their fears are mirrors of what they desire:" https://solarbird.dreamwidth.org/1814418.html

* "Game-changing injectable PrEP taken every other month to be rolled out in US:" https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2021/12/22/prep-injection-fda/

* Child Death "They Lost Three Daughters to Sickle Cell. Can They Save a Fourth?:" https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/21/health/sickle-cell-nigeria.html

* "The whitest specialty: As medicine strives to close its diversity gaps, one field remains a stubborn outlier:" https://www.statnews.com/2021/12/13/whitest-specialty-as-medicine-strives-to-close-diversity-gaps-orthopedic-surgery-remains-stubborn-outlier/

* "New Zealand's unique cigarette ban may be a model for other countries:" https://www.npr.org/2021/12/15/1064212737/new-zealands-cigarette-ban-model

* "The Problem With the Myers-Briggs Personality Test:" https://www.discovermagazine.com/mind/the-problem-with-the-myers-briggs-personality-test

* "US population growth at lowest rate in pandemic's 1st year:" https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-immigration-health-us-census-bureau-covid-19-pandemic-d224035ee70e805f1e42da6c1a9c079c

* "Alyssa always wanted to be a doctor. Then her dad died of covid and her dream fell apart.:" https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/interactive/2021/father-covid-grief/

* "Children, Coping With Loss, Are Pandemic’s ‘Forgotten Grievers’:" https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/09/us/politics/children-lost-parents-caregivers-covid-grief.html

* "Fentanyl number one cause of death for adults 18-45, recent government data says:" https://www.abc12.com/news/fentanyl-number-one-cause-of-death-for-adults-18-45-recent-government-data-says/article_ed0bfe28-5f79-11ec-8aa0-af3f6cbff03c.html

* "States target Sackler family for opioid crisis justice after judge dumps bankruptcy deal:" https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/states-target-sackler-family-for-opioid-crisis-justice-after-judge-dumps-bankruptcy-deal-129812037758

* CW: Suicide "Hazmat incident from suspected suicide closes Main Street in Springfield:" https://news.yahoo.com/hazmat-incident-fire-police-officials-023532091.html

************************************************************************************************************

* "‘Our house was gone, it was sea and sand’: life on the vanishing coasts – in pictures:" https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/gallery/2021/dec/29/our-house-was-gone-it-was-sea-and-sand-life-on-the-vanishing-coasts-in-pictures

* "Boulder County wildfires: How to help those impacted by the disaster:" https://www.denverpost.com/2021/12/30/boulder-county-wildfires-how-to-help/

* "Alaska records all-time December high of 67 degrees:" https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/alaska-records-all-time-december-high-of-67-degrees-129871429768

* "‘Doomsday glacier’: Experts raise alarms about cracking Antarctic ice shelf:" https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/-doomsday-glacier-experts-raise-alarms-about-cracking-antarctic-ice-shelf-129872965776

* "3 people missing, nearly 1K structures scorched in Colorado wildfire, officials say:" https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2022/01/01/colorado-fire-boulder-county-2-people-believed-missing/9067357002/

* "Drivers fret about food and fuel while stranded on highway :" https://apnews.com/article/snow-storm-weather-195-virginia-660346cff578c655186ac517fb45f17f

* "The Next Disaster Coming to the Great Plains:" https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/12/kansas-aquifer-ogallala-water-crisis-drought/621007/

* "The rising threat to businesses in 2022? Water.:" https://www.cbsnews.com/news/climate-change-flooding-businesses-2022/

* "Trash for rice: Bali recycling scheme gives families pandemic lifeline:" https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/trash-rice-bali-recycling-scheme-gives-families-pandemic-lifeline-2021-12-29/

* "Inside the Chicago-area factory aiming to end US overreliance on Asia's PPE production:" https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/30/us/medical-gloves-ppe-chicago-factory/index.html

* "The First Dynasty of Egypt: The Birth of a Civilization:"

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* "The Great European Famine: The First Catastrophe of the 14th Century:"

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* "Syphilis: The Disease that Changed Europe:"

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* CW: Rape, Torture. "François L’Olonnais: The Most Savage Pirate of the Caribbean:"

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* "Emiliano Zapata: Mexico’s Greatest Revolutionary:"

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* CW: NAZIs, Holocaust, Torture. "Bayer's History is a Hard Pill to Swallow :"

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* "The Black Cop Who Infiltrated the KKK: Ron Stallworth:"

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* CW: Pedophilia, Child Murder "Inside the hunt for Christine Jessop's real killer:" https://torontolife.com/city/inside-the-hunt-for-christine-jessops-real-killer/

* "Betty White defended a Black dancer on her 1950s variety show:" https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2022/01/01/betty-white-show-arthur-duncan-black-tap-dancer-racism/

* "Betty White Understood Gay Men, and We Loved Her for It:" https://www.advocate.com/commentary/2021/12/31/betty-white-understood-gay-men-and-we-loved-her-it

* "Gay Olympic Diving Star Ian Matos Is Dead at 32:" https://www.advocate.com/sports/2021/12/24/gay-olympic-diving-star-ian-matos-dead-32

* "A Quick Memory of Harry Reid:" https://solarbird.dreamwidth.org/1815738.html

* "Mummers 2022 Fancy Brigade 06 Vikings:"

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* "Mummers 2022 Fancy Brigade 02 Avenuers:"

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* "Mummers 2022 Fancy Brigade 01 Satin Slipper:"

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* "Mummers 2022 String Band Fralinger - Orchestration Station:"

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* That’s It. That’s the movie. "Mummers 2022 String Band 10 Quaker City- Getting the Band Back Together:"

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* "Mummers 2022 South Philadelphia String Band - Circus Space-Tacular:"

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* "Psychology of a Hero: Katniss Everdeen (part 1):"

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* This latest crisis is of course happening in that weird liminal space between end of year holidays, so the fact that I got any call backs on my Wednesday round of message leaving as various social service agencies was all by itself impressive.

Thursday morning at 7AM, the phone rang. This is an alarming time for anyone to call anyone, and we are far enough north it's not yet dawn. With Squirrel's slightly longer commute to his new job (He'd have been home by then from his old job, if he hadn't stopped for groceries or gas or the like, but at 7 he's often still commuting these days) and the whole melted snow freezes into dangerous ice overnight thing, I was worried it was Squirrel having had an accident on the way home.

It was not. It was a very nice man filling in for someone on vacation at a long shot agency I called the previous day. The answer was the expected no, but he had two more leads to try.

Poverty is very time consuming. I have been poor most of my life, including all my adult life. Phone tag, the endless time consuming search for hidden little programs that might help one with whatever nightmare poverty has tossed at you this time. I fish and I wait. There is noting else to do sometimes.

It was very sweet of him to call first thing, and really kind to try to help the only way he could.

Want to help with the bills/wiring crisis? paypal.me/Gwydion

* The roads are so bad, the security guys coming to fix the fire system cancelled. Really there is nothing to be done until after the new year.

Head Millenial came in on his day off. We've got white fairy lights strung up in the kitchen and an extension cord running to the bathroom with a bedroom lamp attach. The beta now has light and heat. The lighting is dimmer than ideal but we can now see what we're doing at night and the small space heater is attached to the most stable of the household circuits, the one that is also lighting the bathroom. It's not ideal but the safety issue is abated and I have a stomache with protein in it as I typed this.

Addendum: The temperature dropped fast tonight, so it was very good we sorted out the space heater power supply.

* Friday, I'm awakened by some guy yelling about water leaking outside the interior door. So I throw on some clothes and go and answer it. It's an inspector needing to take moisture readings of his wall that connects to the neighbor on his side. So I wake squirrel up.

He hit us first, so I don't know the results of the inspection, but he had information that may be a game changer. He said that the fire suppression sprinkler cracked due to the weather, and was leaking into next door's apartment. I told him about our fire suppression and electrical issues and he said likely next door's water leak zapped us too.

If this is the case, odds are I can leverage that into getting management to pay to fix the electricals, since weather damage in another apartment leaking into ours and doing massive damage sounds a lot like the time I called in water coming out of the ceiling in the bathroom and they had to fix it for me. the Inspector said it sounded as crazy to him as it did to us that they wanted us to pay a massive repair bill caused by weather damage in someone else's apartment.

So Monday, I'll call around and verify if this is the case, and if it is, I have a good case for this being someone else's problem. Which leaves us with the bills I didn't pay so I could fix my brakes and the medical bill. I've got a few donations, including one that means I can cover the one that flips into fines on the 7th. I need to wait for money to shift around and for the electrical situation to get settled one way or another, at which point I an give an update on my level of fucked, but odds just shifted from this is my life now I guess to solvable by Spring.

In other news, the cats and I are still holed up against the cold and snow and spending a lot of time napping in a group. I am adjusting to the dim emergency lighting we've strung up and still have the battery lanterns for close work. What did I do for New Years? Pet assorted cats and read Medieval history between naps. Oh, and had spasms. So many spasms. I spent the last couple of days trying to head them off, and lost.

But we are all fed and warm and that's more than a lot of people have right now.

* The Mummer's Parade got postponed to Sunday, so I stayed up to watch it live streaming. you could see the effects of the pandemic particularly in the Comics, I think, and in some of the string Bands. Most of the parade did pretty well on the whole racism, appropriation problem. There was one thing in each section before the fancy brigades if i remember correctly, plus a really bad one by a DJ in the fancies, but trust me this is progress. It used to be so much worse.

The Fancy Brigades though? Jesus fuck! It was like some sort of racism/cultural appropriation Olympics. There were always problems in the fancies division, but this is by far the worst it's been since the '90's. no wonder the my agish black man doing the cultural sensitivity training for Mummers sounded so damned tired.

The fuck!
Anyway, money has moved around and the immediate personal financial crisis that started with the brakes on the car is under control thanks to donors. The wall I was going to hit on the seventh has been removed. If I can talk property management into fixing the electricity, it will be tight for January and possibly ugly in February, but the immediate oh shit has become a next month problem. I should know in a week or two how fucked we will be next month. I'll let you know then.

* Monday I spent all day doing bureaucracy and errands. A half an hour's argument with management rendered a hard no. Luckily, the City called and is willing to put me on the expedited waiting list. The form required me to spend two hours on hold to get a single number from an agency, but I filed the application for the city to fix the electricals the same day via email.

Going out to get the application packet turned into more of a saga than hoped, as one of my tires was on the rim flat. Luckily squirrel was awake and lent me his car. Also, I was exhausted, barely mobile and in a lot of pain. Still, the essential adulting got done.

Tuesday I spent most of the morning on more phone bureaucracy (tracking down more leads, etc.). apparently if I had 2500 I could get the electricals fixed myself. Might as well wish I had a million. I then drove on the rim to the tire store. It took two hours, which was no surprise. The line is always long there, and it was worse because of the whole people snowed in and new year thing, plus they were having computer issues which was slowing check in considerable. I couldn't not replace the tire and waiting for a better day would not make things any easier.

Apparently, the tire was under warranty, which surprised the hell out of me as I didn't know i had a warranty. I certainly hadn't paid for one. My assumption is is came automatically with the tires. As I bought these tires in February a year before the pandemic, my suspicion is if the tire had punctured say a month and a half from now, it would have expired. As it fell out, I got a free replacement tire, so that's a win.

I turned out one of the bills I didn't pay because brakes had acquired and extra 25 or so of fees; the other was the amount expected. I'll need to pay this month's bills, of course, plus the 70.00 medical bill, plus whatever they are going to charge me for car tabs later in the month, so I'm still some degree of fucked, but this could have been so much worse.

I also bought a grocery sandwich on EBT, because while it's not as bad as yesterday, my body is really not doing well at the basics. I turned in the hard copy of our application on the grounds that trying to read my arthritis handwriting on Squirrel's cell phone picture sounded dicey to me. I actually have faith that the city will help since both of the people involved in that decision are very invested in getting it sorted. It's more a matter of how long until my waiting list spot rises to an open slot and then about a three month process after that. We may even get them to replace the unreliable refrigerator and fix my broken kitchen drawer in the process.

It's going to be unpleasant, but if we can make it to April financially, we'll be okay.

* Wednesday, we didn't forage. Nearby Millennial was trapped at home because the compacted ice made her hill too dangerous. Head Millennial could make it, so we worked on stuff in the living room, while the snow invisibly piled up outside. Luckily, Squirrel took Head Millennial home before he went to work.

He called me from work. They have an outbreak and it's bad. Really, really bad. He's working directly with COVID patients. He is taking all precautions at work and is masking when he has to leave his room for food or work, but our risk just went way up.

In other news, I packed up Halloweentown today as a preliminary to taking down the interior Gothmas display. The cats had an exciting time exploring the cleared space and sitting together to stare out at the snowy landscape and occasional dog walker.

Did I mention the previous Wednesday, Head Millennial brought in a dish of snow for the cats? neither of them have much outdoor experience. (Livia escaped once and was deeply traumatized. Tavy has escaped more often, usually to the bushes in front of our patio to check for hidden Millenials). They've never been out in snow and seeing it fall only happens once or twice a year in the normal course of things, so they are fascinated and a bit alarmed whenever it happens.

The dish of snow blew the Emperor's mind. He finds snow both fascinating and alarming at the best of times. He'd never seen it indoors or been close to it. It really freaked him right out. he'd approach the bowl cautiously, tail lashing, then skitter away sideways. He did eventually sniff it, at which point he recoiled in horror. Livia basically gave it the side eye and would skirt around it.

Imperial opinion is united: It was not a hit. Snow belongs Outside, with noises and strangers.

* Since 2016, I've tried to write up a thing in the dark of every year, but this year, I didn't find the words. Looks like the Mountain Goats guy found them for me. :https://star-burp.tumblr.com/post/672168512356237312

* "Sunday Sweets For Roy G. Biv:" https://www.cakewrecks.com/home/2022/1/2/sunday-sweets-for-roy-g-biv

*****
* 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.

* "Help Kevin Strickland After Wrongful Conviction:" https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-kevin-strickland-after-wrongful-conviction

* My Oldest Continuous friend's Elder Cat is getting up there and her special diet and health care for kidney failure is expensive. Gigi is a sweet, extremely cuddly girl and could use extra help. "Click here to show your support to Karrin Jackson's story *SupportGigiInHerOldAge:" https://www.spotfund.com/story/18393388-9914-4f6c-9f99-876aa019bdee

* Help LGBTQIA+ people escape Afghanistan: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-lgbtq-afghan-refugees-rebuild-their-lives

* "The Rainbow Railroad:" https://www.rainbowrailroad.org/take-action

* Organizations working for reproductive rights in Texas: https://minoanmiss.dreamwidth.org/796848.html

* Even more Organizations working for reproductive rights in Texas: https://wendelah1.dreamwidth.org/788132.html

* Want to help Kimi Cole run for statewide office in Nevada? https://secure.actblue.com/donate/kimi-cole-4-nevada-1

* I used all the bill money to fix my brakes. I need about 250.00-300 to cover bills for the month. Paypal Lethran@gmail.com or paypal.me/Gwydion

( Links Underneath: )

* "Protesters face tear gas and bullets to oppose Sudan coup:" https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/sudanese-gather-mass-protests-against-coup-amid-tight-security-2021-11-13/

* "Lebanese government in ‘fantasy land’ amid crisis, UN envoy says:" https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/lebanese-government-fantasy-land-amid-crisis-un-envoy-says-2021-11-12/

* "Afghans facing 'hell on earth' as winter looms:" https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-59202880

* "UK counter-terrorism police arrest three after Liverpool car blast:" https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/one-person-dead-one-injured-after-car-explosion-liverpool-uk-2021-11-14/

* "Poland border crisis: EU to widen Belarus sanctions as row intensifies:" https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-59289998

* "Ethiopian Civil War Sparks Rancorous Debate Over Immigration to Israel:" https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/12/world/middleeast/israel-ethiopia-jews-immigration.html

"Further confounding the situation, Israel’s National Security Council has assessed that there is no urgency or need for immediate rescue, even though Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has just pulled the families of its diplomats out of Addis Ababa and has warned Israelis not to travel to Ethiopia."

* "Sierra Leone tanker explosion: Mass burial in Freetown:" https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-59205372

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* "Austria and Germany impose restrictions on unvaccinated people as COVID cases surge:" https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2021/11/15/1055839727/austria-and-germany-impose-restrictions-on-unvaccinated-people-as-covid-cases-su

* "As pandemic pounds Ukraine, desperate officials try to scare people into getting the jab:" https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/coronavirus-ukraine-vaccine-russia/2021/11/05/f63e23f6-3ca4-11ec-bd6f-da376f47304e_story.html

* "Germany’s Fourth Covid Wave: ‘A Pandemic of the Unvaccinated’:" https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/11/world/europe/germany-covid-unvaccinated.html

* "Ron DeSantis’ surgeon general got his medical license approved in just two days:" https://www.rawstory.com/florida-surgeon-general-medical-license/

* "Texas schools can again set their own face mask rules after federal judge overrules Gov. Greg Abbott's ban:" https://www.texastribune.org/2021/11/10/texas-schools-mask-mandate-ban-overturned/

* "A Texas hospital suspends a doctor's privileges for spreading 'misinformation' about Covid-19:" https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/13/us/houston-doctor-suspended-covid-19/index.html

* "Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signs sweeping COVID-19 legislation into law:" https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/politics/2021/11/12/tennessee-gov-bill-lee-covid-19-legislation-general-assembly-legislature-businesses-masks/6264103001/

* "Alabama health leaders say unvaccinated are contributing to COVID deaths of all ages:" https://www.cbs42.com/news/health/coronavirus/alabama-health-leaders-say-unvaccinated-are-contributing-to-covid-deaths-of-all-ages/

* "Colorado announces vaccine mandate for certain indoor events as Mountain West states grapple with Covid-19 surge:" https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/15/us/colorado-covid-surge-vaccine/index.html

* "Latest COVID surge is the “straw that broke the camel’s back,” Colorado hospital nurses say:" https://www.denverpost.com/2021/11/14/colorado-hospital-staffing-covid-nurses-icu/

* "Oklahoma National Guard rejects Pentagon’s coronavirus vaccine mandate:" https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2021/11/13/oklahoma-national-guard-vaccine-mandate/

* This prevents localities from knowing how bad the infection rates are and thus taking effective measures to stop the spread. "'A little blind': Officials, health experts frustrated after State Health Department stops publishing local COVID-19 data:" https://tulsaworld.com/news/state-and-regional/a-little-blind-officials-health-experts-frustrated-after-state-health-department-stops-publishing-local-covid/article_dfe17a6a-43d2-11ec-9880-8f0066661149.html

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* "U.S. military hid airstrikes that killed dozens of civilians in Syria:" https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/us-military-hid-airstrikes-that-killed-dozens-civilians-syria-nyt-2021-11-13/

* "World's autocrats eager to fill in where U.S. democracy falters on world stage:" https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/world-s-autocrats-eager-to-fill-in-where-u-s-democracy-falters-on-world-stage-126327365655

* "Biden finally gets the ‘big effing deal’ signing ceremony of his own:" https://www.politico.com/news/2021/11/15/biden-signs-bipartisan-infrastructure-deal-522567

* "Deere Reaches Third Tentative Deal With Union in Attempt to End Strike:" https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/13/business/john-deere-strike-union.html

* "Kaiser Permanente Reaches Tentative Deal With Unions, Averting Strike:" https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/13/business/kaiser-permanente-unions-strike.html

* "A Gay Veteran on His Experience With Discrimination:" https://www.advocate.com/commentary/2021/11/11/gay-veteran-his-experience-discrimination

* Have something you want to tell your Senators? If you can't safely 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.

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

* "Republicans Gain Heavy House Edge in 2022 as Gerrymandered Maps Emerge:" https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/15/us/politics/republicans-2022-redistricting-maps.html

* "Nevada Democrat aims to be 1st trans politician to win a statewide race:" https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-politics-and-policy/nevada-democrat-aims-be-1st-trans-politician-win-statewide-race-n1283790

Want to help Kimi Cole run for statewide office in Nevada? https://secure.actblue.com/donate/kimi-cole-4-nevada-1

* "Kimi Cole seeks to make history in run for Nevada lieutenant governor:" https://www.msnbc.com/the-sunday-show/watch/kimi-cole-seeks-to-make-history-in-run-for-nevada-lieutenant-governor-126195269785

* "The Bye Line: Kevin McCarthy is no leader:" https://www.msnbc.com/the-sunday-show/watch/the-bye-line-kevin-mccarthy-is-no-leader-126194245911

* "Trump scores legal wins with one lawsuit dropped and another dismissed:" https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/12/politics/trump-lawsuits-michael-cohen-summer-zervos/index.html

* "'Un-American': Rep. Gallego slams Flynn call for ‘one religion’ in U.S.:" https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/-un-american-rep-gallego-slams-flynn-call-for-one-religion-in-u-s-126308933963

* "Another Trump lawyer wrote another memo pressuring Pence to overturn election:" https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/another-trump-lawyer-wrote-another-memo-pressuring-pence-to-overturn-election-126306373919

* "Trump ally Steve Bannon surrenders after his indictment on two counts of contempt of Congress:" https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/15/politics/steve-bannon/

* "Bannon makes curious choice of lawyer for contempt of Congress case:" https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/bannon-makes-curious-choice-of-lawyer-for-contempt-of-congress-case-126323781967

* This one’s a wild ride. Trust me, it’s worth reading for the sheer wtf of it all. "Man convicted of threatening Dems says pretrial jail stint was enough punishment:" https://www.courthousenews.com/man-convicted-of-threatening-dems-says-pretrial-jail-stint-was-enough-punishment/

* "'One Toke Over The Line': Judge Denies Pot-Loving Capitol Rioter's Holiday Travel Request:" https://news.yahoo.com/one-toke-over-line-judge-212107756.html

* "Jenna Ryan, Texas realtor who tweeted she was 'definitely not going to jail,' gets 60 days in jail:" https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/national/capitol-riots/jenna-ryan-texas-realtor-who-tweeted-she-was-definitely-not-going-to-jail-gets-60-days-in-jail-white-skin-blonde-hair-donald-trump-guy-womack/65-fb717bf2-3a07-4581-9486-bb9d8e144abd

* "Sandy Hook families win legal victory against Alex Jones in defamation case:" https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/15/media/alex-jones-sandy-hook-defamation-legal-victory/index.html

* "Sandy Hook families win legal victory against Alex Jones in defamation suit:" https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/n-hayes-alexjones-211115-126310469952

* "Prosecutors have used the defendants' own words in the Ahmaud Arbery case:" https://www.npr.org/2021/11/13/1054869628/prosecutors-call-witnesses-in-first-week-of-testimony-in-ahmaud-arbery-case

* "Closing arguments in Kyle Rittenhouse murder trial begin Monday:" https://www.msnbc.com/the-sunday-show/watch/closing-arguments-in-kyle-rittenhouse-murder-trial-begin-monday-126194246001

* CW: Child Abuse. "This Company Profits Off the Most Vulnerable Children in the US:"

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* "More Republican leaders try to ban books on race, LGBTQ issues:" https://www.npr.org/2021/11/13/1055524205/more-republican-leaders-try-to-ban-books-on-race-lgbtq-issues

* "Texas schools resist Republican request for records on classroom books:" https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/nov/13/texas-schools-books-republican-matt-krause

* "SNP MP Joanna Cherry suggests trans conversion therapy should be legal:" https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2021/11/15/joanna-cherry-snp-trans-conversion-therapy/

* "Tory MP who's spent years opposing LGBT+ rights quietly joins equalities committee:" https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2021/11/10/jackie-doyle-price-women-equalities-committee-lgbt/

* "BBC quits Stonewall scheme over 'risk of perceived bias':" https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2021/11/10/bbc-stonewall-diversity-champions-programme/

* "BBC boss tells LGBT staff 'get used to views you don't like' amid transphobia row:" https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2021/11/15/bbc-fran-unsworth-lgbt-transgender/

* "Boyfriend of Grindr killer victim 'pushed out' by anti-gay police, inquest told:" https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2021/11/10/stephen-port-inquest-daniel-whitworth/

* "Pensioner aggressively stalked librarians because she thought they were lesbians:" https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2021/11/10/lesbian-stalker-beaconsfield-library-louisa-carlton/

* "Jenny De Leon Is Fourth Trans Woman Killed in Florida This Year:" https://www.advocate.com/crime/2021/11/14/jenny-de-leon-fourth-trans-woman-killed-florida-year

* "Can We Predict An Outbreak's Future? - Modeling: Crash Course Outbreak Science #9:"

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* "Nick had a wife, a baby and job – but he couldn't buy nappies without asking his parents:" https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-11-14/britney-spears-shines-light-on-america-conservatorship-laws/100605612

* "Sickle cell disease inquiry finds ‘serious care failings’ in NHS:" https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/nov/15/sickle-cell-disease-inquiry-finds-serious-care-failings-in-nhs

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* "What the world did and didn’t accomplish at COP26:" https://www.vox.com/22777957/cop26-un-climate-change-conference-glasgow-goals-paris

* "Hundreds of global civil society representatives walk out of Cop26 in protest:" https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/nov/12/global-civil-society-representatives-walkout-cop26-protest

* "'Atmospheric river' causes floods, evacuations in Northwest:" https://apnews.com/article/floods-mount-vernon-evacuations-a39b0e7fe7b0c5bf71256bd772d1ad25

* "This is how Venice will fall: conservation expert shares day-by-day destruction caused by rising water levels:" https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2021/10/29/this-is-how-venice-will-fall

* "Tourists having sex in the dunes is ruining a Spanish beach:" https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/gran-canaria-tourist-sex-dunes-maspalomas-scn/index.html

* ""Band-Aid on a bullet wound:" Flint locals seethe over $626M water settlement:" https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2021/11/flint-water-lead-court-settlement-residents-unhappy/

* "How a female-only line of salamanders 'steals' genes from unsuspecting males:" https://www.popsci.com/female-salamander-kleptogenesis/

* "Researchers discover first dinosaur species that lived on Greenland 214 million years ago:" https://phys.org/news/2021-11-dinosaur-species-greenland-million-years.html

* "Göbekli Tepe: The Dawn of Civilization:"

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* "What did Vikings wear, really? Attempting a historically accurate womens Viking costume:"

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* "The Black Women's Club Movement: Crash Course Black American History #23:"

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* "New Film Showcases the 'Coded' Homoeroticism of a Gay Artist:" https://www.advocate.com/film/2021/11/11/new-film-showcases-coded-homoeroticism-gay-artist-leyendecker

* "The Littlest Naval War: Britain's Insane Attempt to End German Domination of a Single African Lake:"

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* "Conrad Veidt, Magnus Hirschfeld, and the Queer History of Weimar Germany:"

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* "When Mississippi Once Banned Sesame Street:" https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/611570/when-mississippi-banned-sesame-street

* "The Impossibly Badass Story of Mills' Marauders and the Battle of Grytviken:"

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* "Father Gabriele Amorth: The Vatican’s Chief Exorcist:"

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* "Armistice Day: Tributes paid across the North East:" https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-tyne-59246982

* "How Jewish delis are evolving -- even as pastrami and matzoh ball soup become a rarity across the US:" https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/07/us/jewish-delis-closing-evolving-cec/index.html

* "Union Busting: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO):"

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* "Revolting Revolutionaries: The Feds Round Up More Jan. 6th Seditionists:"

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* "Man Park - SNL:"

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* "March of the Suitors - SNL:"

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* "Audacity in Advertising Awards - SNL:"

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* "Ted Cruz Sesame Street Cold Open - SNL:"

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* "Trump Defends Pressuring Pence over Insurrection:" https://www.cc.com/video/77rdqt/the-daily-show-with-trevor-noah-trump-defends-pressuring-pence-over-insurrection

* "Bootsie Proves Sex Parties Are Real - Uninformed Correspondent:"

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* "The Straights are Failing at Gender Reveals:"

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* "It's Plasticfest At Red Lobster!:"

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* As some of you may know we are having a lot of flooding in my area. This is the rainy season here and small amounts of flooding happen every few years. This is not that. This is large scale flooding including big patches of area that don't normally flood.

This is not normal. This is yet more of the climate crisis fucking with the local patterns.

Sunday Squirrel went out to his game and it was fine. Four hours later he was nearly cut off and trapped in a neighboring town. Luckily, the last road out was still open, though not for long.

A whole lot of communities have been cut off. Some people have been evacuated. The back bone of one of our two shopping districts is flooded. A lot of nursing homes are half staffed because people literally couldn't get there.

We are safe as of now. We are lower on the Hill than we used to be, but this part of town has excellent drainage and we are in the foothills. All of my Millenials have checked in and are safe.

I don't know how bad it's going to end up or how much will be lost.

Stay safe out there folks.

* "Sunday Sweets: Game On :" https://www.cakewrecks.com/home/2021/11/14/sunday-sweets-game-on

*****
* 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.

* My Oldest Continuous friend's Elder Cat is getting up there and her special diet and health care for kidney failure is expensive. Gigi is a sweet, extremely cuddly girl and could use extra help. "Click here to show your support to Karrin Jackson's story *SupportGigiInHerOldAge:" https://www.spotfund.com/story/18393388-9914-4f6c-9f99-876aa019bdee

* Help LGBTQIA+ people escape Afghanistan: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-lgbtq-afghan-refugees-rebuild-their-lives

* "The Rainbow Railroad:" https://www.rainbowrailroad.org/take-action

* Organizations working for reproductive rights in Texas: https://minoanmiss.dreamwidth.org/796848.html

* Even more Organizations working for reproductive rights in Texas: https://wendelah1.dreamwidth.org/788132.html

* Want to help Kimi Cole run for statewide office in Nevada? https://secure.actblue.com/donate/kimi-cole-4-nevada-1

( Links Underneath: )

* "How murder, kidnappings and a miscalculation set off Hong Kong revolt:" https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/hongkong-protests-extradition-narrative/

* "Ethiopia's surveillance network crumbles, meaning less fear and less control:" https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ethiopia-politics-surveillance-insigh/ethiopias-surveillance-network-crumbles-meaning-less-fear-and-less-control-idUSKBN1YL1C2

* "Here's what happens when you quit the Chinese military:" https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/15/asia/china-military-recruit-quit-intl-hnk-scli/index.html

* "A Surveillance Net Blankets China’s Cities, Giving Police Vast Powers:" https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/17/technology/china-surveillance.html

* "My family are among those protesting. It shows how much Indians value secularism:" https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/dec/28/indians-protesting-secularism-modi-muslims

* "India’s Prime Minister facing severe backlash over anti-Muslim citizenship law:" http://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/india-s-prime-minister-facing-severe-backlash-over-anti-muslim-citizenship-law-75733573718

* "Netanyahu: Requesting immunity from prosecution isn't avoiding trial:" https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/elections/.premium-netanyahu-even-if-i-request-immunity-from-prosecution-i-wouldn-t-be-avoiding-trial-1.8323732

* "At Japan’s Most Elite University, Just 1 in 5 Students Is a Woman:" https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/08/world/asia/tokyo-university-women-japan.html

* "Australia bushfire volunteers to get compensation:" https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-50932729

* "U.S. considers cyber-retaliation against 2020 Russian intrusion:" http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/u-s-considers-cyber-retaliation-against-2020-russian-intrusion-75736133911

* 45 called the troops to rub it in that they are in a war zone for Christmas while he's playing at his golf club in Florida.

* "Trump gets back to 'work' at golf club resort:" http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/trump-gets-back-to-work-at-golf-club-resort-75739717520

* "Fellow Navy SEALs call Edward Gallagher "toxic" and "evil" in never-before-seen interviews:" https://www.cbsnews.com/news/edward-gallagher-members-of-navy-seal-team-7-say-chief-committed-war-crimes-in-interviews-with-investigators/

* "Shocking testimony about SEAL pardoned by Trump leaked to NYT:" http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/shocking-testimony-about-seal-pardoned-by-trump-leaked-to-nyt-75777093830

* "‘The guy was toxic:’ Navy SEALs called out accused war criminal, new video reveals:" http://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/-the-guy-was-toxic-navy-seals-spoke-against-accused-war-criminal-new-video-reveals-75775557598

* "Evangelicals and Trump: Facing a final split?:" http://www.msnbc.com/am-joy/watch/trump-evangelicals-split-discussed-by-rev-dr-william-barber-75799109704

* "Former Sen. on McConnell: Trial approach ‘fundamentally wrong’:" http://www.msnbc.com/am-joy/watch/trump-touts-the-economy-amid-his-impeachment-but-will-voters-75794501996

* "Are Republicans afraid of Trump? Hell, no — he's destroying democracy and they love it:" https://www.salon.com/2019/12/17/are-republicans-afraid-of-trump-hell-no-hes-destroying-democracy-and-they-love-it/

* "Moderate GOP senator 'disturbed' by McConnell's coordination with White House:" https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/25/politics/lisa-murkowski-senate-impeachment-trial/index.html

* "Chris Hayes on Mitch McConnell’s ‘big tactical error’:" http://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/chris-hayes-on-mitch-mcconnell-s-big-tactical-error-75735109830

* "Can some senators be swayed to support Trump impeachment trial?:" http://www.msnbc.com/am-joy/watch/mcconnell-vows-total-coordination-with-white-house-on-trump-trial-75794501711

* "Trump bullying, scapegoating is decimating U.S. foreign service:" http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/trump-bullying-scapegoating-is-decimating-u-s-foreign-service-75733573937

* "Democratic primary could come down to Biden, Sanders:" http://www.msnbc.com/am-joy/watch/biden-sanders-lead-2020-democratic-presidential-contenders-75797061924

* "Andrew Yang on his place in the Democratic Party:" http://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/andrew-yang-on-his-place-in-the-democratic-party-75775557744

* "Andrew Yang explains his healthcare plan:" http://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/andrew-yang-explains-his-healthcare-plan-75775557755

* "Chicago shooting incidents down sharply:" http://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/chicago-shooting-incidents-down-sharply-75775045795

* "Early reports warned migrant kids suffered from separations. Trump ramped up practice anyway.:" https://publicintegrity.org/inequality-poverty-opportunity/immigration/migrant-children-family-separations/

* "A tale of 2 migrations: Before and after new Trump policies:" https://apnews.com/2a272a9a517747ab37777999e2ff5749

* "Texans on southern border promise to fight Trump’s efforts to take their homes for border wall:" https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/texans-on-southern-border-vow-to-fight-trumps-efforts-to-take-their-homes-for-border-wall/2019/12/06/ef7c1fa8-1525-11ea-a659-7d69641c6ff7_story.html?arc404=true

* "Texas landowners fear losing property to Trump’s border wall:" http://www.msnbc.com/am-joy/watch/trump-administration-to-take-private-land-for-border-wall-75798597771

* "‘It is beyond cruel’: Ice refuses to reunite girl with the only family she has left:" https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/dec/21/it-is-beyond-cruel-ice-refuses-to-reunite-girl-with-the-only-family-she-has-left

* "Immigration judges quit in response to administration policies:" https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/27/politics/immigration-judges-resign/index.html

* "Houses of worship attacked with deadly frequency in 2019:" https://apnews.com/bab315d2e6851d2c118b838e0b1d1382

* "When A Prisoner Returns Home With A Brain Injury, Freedom Isn't So Free:" https://www.npr.org/2019/12/17/788824775/when-a-prisoner-returns-home-with-a-brain-injury-freedom-isnt-so-free

* "‘We are sending more foster kids to prison than college’:" https://www.kansascity.com/news/special-reports/article238206754.html

* TW: Pedophilia. He pardoned a man who repeatedly raped two girls under the age of ten because he doesn't believe in science and like most republican politicians doesn't consider pedophilia a real crime unless it's extremely violent. "Former Kentucky Gov. Bevin pardoned a child rapist. One of his reasons: The 9-year-old victim's hymen was intact:" https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/20/us/former-kentucky-governor-matt-bevin-child-rapist-pardon-trnd/index.html

* "FBI looking into pardons by ex-Kentucky Gov. Bevin: report:" http://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/fbi-looking-into-pardons-by-ex-kentucky-gov-bevin-report-75734085960

* "The film about gay love shaking up Georgia:" https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-50821544

* TW: Sexual Assault "Study finds homophobic teasing is the most common ‘violent behaviour’ among teenage boys:" https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2019/12/27/study-finds-homophobic-teasing-is-the-most-common-violent-behaviour-among-teenage-boys/

* "More than 150 people have sought compensation from UK military after being fired for their sexuality:" https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2019/12/27/more-than-150-people-have-sought-compensation-from-uk-military-after-being-fired-for-their-sexuality/

* "We regret to inform you that there is a person who thinks eating meat-free burgers ‘will make you female’:" https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2019/12/29/burger-king-impossible-whopper-plant-trans/

* "Why LGBTQ People Should Vote in Their Home State:" https://www.advocate.com/exclusives/2019/12/27/why-lgbtq-people-should-vote-their-home-state

* "This White House official took a free trip to an anti-LGBT ‘hate group’ summit:" https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2019/12/27/white-house-official-free-trip-anti-lgbt-hate-group-summit-donald-trump-jennifer-lichter-alliance-defending-freedom/

* "‘Straight’ men discuss their secret sexual relationships with other men:" https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2019/12/25/straight-men-discuss-secret-sexual-relationships-with-other-men/

* TW: Hate Speech "This homophobic pastor would rather smear s**t over himself than see his son marry a man:" https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2019/12/25/homophobic-pastor-smear-st-son-marry-man-gay-kevin-swanson/

* "Trans kids are as sure of their gender as cis kids at a young age, according to science:" https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2019/12/27/transgender-children-study-gender-identity-cis-children-washington-university/

* "Gay couple beaten and one left in a concussion by gang of men for holding hands:" https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2019/12/29/gay-couple-hands-taco-truck-beaten-gang-pasco-washington/

* CW: Pictures of snakes. "How to save a country from snakebite:" https://mosaicscience.com/story/snakebite-venom-indonesia-viper-cobra-bite-poison-snake/

* "One Million Cannibal Ants Trapped in Soviet Nuclear Bunker Have Escaped:" https://www.newsweek.com/cannibal-ants-soviet-nuclear-bunker-1469573?amp=1

* "The climate-change secrets of 19th century ship's logbooks:" https://www.reuters.com/article/us-climate-change-ice-shiplogs-specialre/special-report-icebound-the-climate-change-secrets-of-19th-century-ships-logbooks-idUSKBN1YF1Q7

* "The Tweety Bird Test :" https://daily.jstor.org/the-tweety-bird-test/

* "Inside Documents Show How Amazon Chose Speed Over Safety in Building Its Delivery Network:" https://www.propublica.org/article/inside-documents-show-how-amazon-chose-speed-over-safety-in-building-its-delivery-network

* "Alicia Keys Recaps 2019 w/ Her Piano:"

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* "Harry Styles Performs a Crosswalk Concert:"

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* Friday I spent more than n hour anda halfdealing with that thing where it feels like someone is poking me in the right eye, plus lots of extra AS trouble. The AS is really ramping up on me this Autumn/Winter. I made it out to forage anyway just in time and even found parking on the second pass. Problem was the line was very long and they moved the seating away in a key area so it was a whole lot of extra standing. By the time I was done my right foot was doing the little mermaid walking on knives thing and I could barely put weight on it.

I am forgetting the name of the diagnosis for the Little Mermaid foot thing. I know I had it bad the summer I was still working in the Public Library just before coming North for my advanced degree. It legitimately felt like my feet were broken that time. It mostly stopped being a problem after I retired because i no longer have to spend long hours on my feet, which is that causes the incidents. There is no cure, cure. There are techniques to help it along, but really, you just stay off them and keep them propped.

It had been so long I had mostly forgot this was a thing. I mostly focus on the constant and frequent intermittent pain sources.

I did the library run anyway and I hobbled around in extreme pain from the AS and the foot ganging up, trying to put away forage and deal with the inevitable messes that appear while I'm asleep. Feeding myself is a nightmare under these conditions, but forage was decent which helped. I'm still short on veg, but I have things I can make reasonably quickly around. I should probably make protein, but every second standing is a nightmare, so...makeshift foraged foods I can heat up in a couple minutes.

Tavy managed to blurp in the middle of my bed between me dropping off bedside water and coming back from brushing my teeth. Which meant stripping and changing the bed in the condition I was in. Oh gods the pain!

We did not migrate the fish today. It was probably just as well as the AS and foot thing are still tag team kicking my ass. Bonus headache on top of it was just icing, really.

I still haven't touched the bureaucracy and the clock is tic tic ticking away. Fuck! I simply couldn't bring myself to start under current conditions. I'm using all my will power up on things like the hobble to the bathroom.

I really need to medicine finger the Imperial couple, but catching them is a struggle on a good day. *facepalm*

* I am always behind on figure Skating. This is because the broadcast season starts in October when I am way too busy to spend much time on the sofa staring at the screen. That’s he reality I also like watching things in order, so instead of skipping ahead, I watch when I can.

A Figure Skating fter the Olympics, I decided I’d try watching pair skating again, which slowed me way down. It seems I still have an eye for it, which helped, and I identified some couples I liked, but I just couldn’t get that into it. Trying to watch made me further behind not only because I was adding an extra 4ish hours of taping for every event, but because I’d get bogged down and reluctant to watch even with me fast forwarding over routines that weren’t working for me and most of the fillers.

IDK, I may watch the big events like the grand Prix final I taped or World’s in the spring.

The result is I’m currently up to Men’s Free skates in the Russian Grand Prix event. (Seriously, no spoilers).

Someone needs to tell the people running cameras for this event and Cup of China that this is NOT Synchro. Look, I unironically love synchro (Go Marigold Ice Unity!), but they choreography is really different. In a synchro event, it totally makes sense to shoot from above sometimes to show what the patterns look like. You know were it 100% is the opposite of helpful? In single skating when the athlete is doing spins. Single skate spins look like nothing from the top. They are meant to be watched from the side. That’s how they look most beautiful and if you cut to the top you can’t see the position changes properly and that’s something people who are watching ice skating because they like watching ice skating are going to want to see, IE: the spin positions. Um, Duh! Who thought this was a good idea? Did they run it past anyone who’d seen ice skating before? It’s annoying and frustrating. I noticed they were doing it less in Russia, so lets hope it stops.

It was good to see Shoma Uno on an upward trajectory again. he really is one of the world’s best when his shit is together and that think in france absolutely made me weep for him. He’s still not together all the way, but he looks to be on the way.

Mostly I wanted to write about Nam Nguyen, who I never paid that much attention to before, but this year is starting to turn into a real Canadian style figure skater and I love it. He’s not where he needs to be yet, but he found the thing he was missing: his artistic voice. I actually guessed he’d been working with Kurt Browning before I heard them say it. He doesn’t skate like Kurt Browning, but the thing Browning was brilliant at besides technical excellence was speaking to the audience in his performances. There was always a lot of personality in his performances. The transformation is not as extreme as Jason Brown’s was last year, but it is of a similar type. Suddenly Mr. Nguyen skates like he’s enjoying it and he wants us to enjoy watching him. Suddenly there is something of himself in his skating. He’s still a little awkward and could use some dance training, but oh man, does he have a chance to be Amazing next year if he keeps at it. I very much hope he does, because I am interested in seeing what he can do.

I do have opinions about the three Russian teenagers doing quads on the women’s side, but I’m honestly trying to figure out how to explain them. I definitely have a favorite already, and one i don’t much care for based entirely on skating style, but explaining why is beyond me just now.

* "Are We Really Going to Pretend the Gay Kiss in The Rise of Skywalker Matters?:" https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2019/12/are-we-really-going-to-pretend-the-gay-kiss-in-the-rise-of-skywalker-matters

* Glorious deadpan nonsense: https://magnesiumflare.tumblr.com/post/189893626505/jenroses-facts-i-just-made-up-robo-libra

* Disturbing Neural Network Carols: https://aiweirdness.com/post/189845472982/the-ais-carol

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

* A small, cheap thing to help climate change if you have little money to spare: https://onetreeplanted.org/products/amazon-rainforest-peru

* How to donate to Rainbow Road: https://www.rainbowrailroad.com/donate

* Here are a bunch of state level links to help people in immigrant detention: https://taibhsearachd.tumblr.com/post/186058182962/woundability-this-4th-of-july-celebrate-the

* Angry about the concentration camps on our Southern Border? Here is a list of useful things you can do: https://medium.com/@togetherandfree/feel-helpless-amidst-the-horrific-immigration-news-youre-not-how-you-can-make-difference-today-108dc42de88e

* "More Organizations to Support Helping Kids in Concentration Camps:" https://thisfinecrew.dreamwidth.org/201920.html

* Here is a massive list of things you can do to help refugees inside and outside of the Camps: https://s-leary.tumblr.com/post/185783586806/so-youve-probably-seen-the-post-going-around

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

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

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

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

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

* Have something you want to tell your Congress Critters? If you can not protest in person, here are some other options:

Call the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask to be connected to the representative of your choice.

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

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

* Some RL friends of mine who were barely scraping by just lost one of the part time jobs they collectively hold and it's really fucking things up for them. These are good people, who do so much for others. Want to help? https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-a-gig-worker-get-through-the-winter/share

* HorrorMux is currently running a Max Mad type thing. Available Archetypes are here. I'm Martyr if you want to find me.: http://horrormu.com/index.php/Available

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

* If you are interested in helping, right now the Cat thing we need most is:
https://www.chewy.com/wellness-core-signature-selects/dp/147047

The dry food I was going to try (less urgent) is this one: https://www.chewy.com/blue-buffalo-wilderness-flatland/dp/176663

Or possibly this: https://www.chewy.com/instinct-by-natures-variety-limited/dp/44654

* Birthday/Solstice master list: https://gwydion.dreamwidth.org/2108835.html

* "Half-North Korean, half-Chinese kids struggle in South Korea:" https://apnews.com/3ee96082ab384adcaac98223e5253034

* "‘Dump Trump!’ Protesters across the nation rally for impeachment:" https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/dump-trump-protesters-across-the-nation-rally-for-impeachment/2019/12/17/b010b272-213a-11ea-9c2b-060477c13959_story.html

* "A Third of Trump Judicial Appointees Are Anti-LGBTQ:" https://www.advocate.com/politics/2019/12/24/third-every-trump-judicial-appointment-anti-lgbtq

* "As a school shooting unfolded, a teen opened her mosque doors to shelter fleeing students:" https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/05/us/shelter-mosque-school-shooting-trnd/index.html

* "The Hidden Cost of Incarceration:" https://www.themarshallproject.org/2019/12/17/the-hidden-cost-of-incarceration

* "Brazil's Antigay President: Reporter's Face Is 'Like a Homosexual's':" https://www.advocate.com/world/2019/12/24/brazils-antigay-president-reporters-face-homosexuals

* "A group of boys as young as 12 are wanted by police for a suspected homophobic attack:" https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2019/12/24/netherlands-eindhoven-homophobic-attack-12-year-olds/

* TW: Sexual Assault "Kansas City Police Misgender Missing Trans Teen:" https://www.advocate.com/news/2019/12/24/kansas-city-police-misgender-missing-trans-teen

"But advocates nationwide say police not only risk offending individuals with misgendering, but as this case shows, lives can be placed at risk. The public won’t recognize the missing person if they express a different gender than appears on fliers, and often won’t respond to a name they no longer use."

* "What Quakers Can Teach Us About the Politics of Pronouns:" https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/16/opinion/sunday/pronouns-quakers.html

* "A guide to how gender-neutral language is developing around the world:" https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2019/12/15/guide-how-gender-neutral-language-is-developing-around-world/

* "Transphobia: An Analysis | Philosophy Tube:"

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* "When Will Security Go Back to Normal? | Philosophy Tube:"

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* "Elon Musk | Philosophy Tube:"

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* "When a DNA Test Says You’re a Younger Man, Who Lives 5,000 Miles Away:" https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/07/us/dna-bone-marrow-transplant-crime-lab.html

* "The Startling Secret of an Invincible Virus:" https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/12/startling-secret-invincible-virus/603412/

* "The Changing Geography of the Opioid Crisis:" https://www.citylab.com/life/2019/12/opioid-crisis-us-map-urban-rural-heroin-fentanyl-overdose/603100/

* "Separated by Design: Why Affordable Housing Is Built in Areas With High Crime, Few Jobs and Struggling Schools:" https://www.propublica.org/article/separated-by-design-why-affordable-housing-is-built-in-areas-with-high-crime-few-jobs-and-struggling-schools

* "For Tech Jobs, the Rich Cities Are Getting Richer:" https://www.wired.com/story/tech-jobs-rich-cities-getting-richer/

* "In A Warming Greenland, A Farming Family Adapts To Drought — And New Opportunities:" https://www.npr.org/2019/12/07/784557923/in-a-warming-greenland-a-farming-family-adapts-to-drought-and-new-opportunities

* "3,600-year-old disposable cup shows even our ancestors hated doing dishes:" https://www.cnn.com/style/article/ancient-single-use-cup-intl-scli-gbr-scn/index.html

* "When Dancing Plagues Struck Medieval Europe:" https://daily.jstor.org/when-dancing-plagues-struck-medieval-europe/

* "Watchmen Finale: Ending Explained + Every Easter Egg, Secret and Full BREAKDOWN:"

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* "Watchmen Sticks the Landing:" https://www.thefandomentals.com/watchmen-sticks-the-landing/

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

* A small, cheap thing to help climate change if you have little money to spare: https://onetreeplanted.org/products/amazon-rainforest-peru

* How to donate to Rainbow Road: https://www.rainbowrailroad.com/donate

* Here are a bunch of state level links to help people in immigrant detention: https://taibhsearachd.tumblr.com/post/186058182962/woundability-this-4th-of-july-celebrate-the

* Angry about the concentration camps on our Southern Border? Here is a list of useful things you can do: https://medium.com/@togetherandfree/feel-helpless-amidst-the-horrific-immigration-news-youre-not-how-you-can-make-difference-today-108dc42de88e

* "More Organizations to Support Helping Kids in Concentration Camps:" https://thisfinecrew.dreamwidth.org/201920.html

* Here is a massive list of things you can do to help refugees inside and outside of the Camps: https://s-leary.tumblr.com/post/185783586806/so-youve-probably-seen-the-post-going-around

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

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

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

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

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

* Have something you want to tell your Congress Critters? If you can not protest in person, here are some other options:

Call the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask to be connected to the representative of your choice.

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

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

* Some RL friends of mine who were barely scraping by just lost one of the part time jobs they collectively hold and it's really fucking things up for them. These are good people, who do so much for others. Want to help? https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-a-gig-worker-get-through-the-winter/share

* HorrorMux is currently running a Max Mad type thing. Available Archetypes are here. I'm Martyr if you want to find me.: http://horrormu.com/index.php/Available

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

* If you are interested in helping, right now the Cat thing we need most is:
https://www.chewy.com/wellness-core-signature-selects/dp/147047

The dry food I was going to try (less urgent) is this one: https://www.chewy.com/blue-buffalo-wilderness-flatland/dp/176663

Or possibly this: https://www.chewy.com/instinct-by-natures-variety-limited/dp/44654

* Birthday/Solstice master list: https://gwydion.dreamwidth.org/2108835.html

* "A Prosperous China Says ‘Men Preferred,’ and Women Lose:" https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/16/world/asia/china-women-discrimination.html

* "U.S. to pay farmers up to $16 billion for trade war losses, South...:" https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trade-china-idUSKCN1UK2M7

* "U.S. Economy Slows, Denying Trump 3% Talking Point:" https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/26/business/economy/us-gdp-growth.html

* "Trump knocks Fox News after poll shows him losing to Biden by 10 points:" https://www.politico.com/story/2019/07/26/trump-fox-news-biden-poll-1437265

* "Russians probably targeted election systems in all 50 states, Senate panel’s report says:" https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/senate-intelligence-panel-releases-first-chapter-of-bipartisan-report-into-russian-meddling/2019/07/25/63bce4f4-af0c-11e9-bc5c-e73b603e7f38_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.fa802e941d80

* "Judiciary Committee asks a judge to share Mueller's secret grand jury evidence:" https://www.politico.com/story/2019/07/26/mueller-report-secret-grand-jury-evidence-1436846

* "House Judiciary Committee Launches Official Impeachment Investigation:" https://www.advocate.com/politics/2019/7/26/house-judiciary-committee-launches-official-impeachment-investigation

* "Democrats broach impeachment in bid for Mueller grand jury info:" http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/democrats-broach-impeachment-in-bid-for-mueller-grand-jury-info-64685125910

* "Context of Trump impeachment improves Democrats' legal case:" http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/context-of-trump-impeachment-improves-democrats-legal-case-64689733539

* "How Science Got Trampled in the Rush to Drill in the Arctic:" https://www.politico.com/interactives/2019/trump-science-alaska-drilling-rush/

* "Trump distorts, ignores science in rush to drill Alaska refuge:" http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/trump-distorts-ignores-science-in-rush-to-drill-alaska-refuge-64688197636

* "U.S. Approves T-Mobile-Sprint Merger, a Deal That Would Reshape the Industry:" https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/26/business/media/sprint-tmobile-merger.html

* "Dem Presidential Hopefuls Speak Out on Deaths of Black Trans Women:" https://www.advocate.com/politics/2019/7/26/dem-presidential-hopefuls-speak-out-deaths-black-trans-women

* "Supreme Court gives Trump go-ahead on border wall:" https://www.politico.com/story/2019/07/26/trump-border-wall-supreme-court-1437894

* "SCOTUS permits Trump to use $2.5 billion from Pentagon for wall:" http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/scotus-permits-trump-to-use-2-5-billion-from-pentagon-for-wall-64689221530

* "Arrest of Marines Suspected of Smuggling Migrants Points to Lucrative Trade:" https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/26/us/marines-migrant-smuggling-pendleton.html

* "Active-duty U.S. troops are now just feet away from migrants in Texas:" https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/active-duty-u-s-troops-are-now-just-feet-away-n1034416

* "Judge blocks new Trump asylum rule...for now:" http://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/judge-blocks-new-trump-asylum-rule-for-now-64650309924

* "Detained American teen speaks about his ordeal:" http://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/detained-american-teen-speaks-about-his-ordeal-64681542001

* "Philadelphia to fire 13 police officers after series of racist, discriminatory Facebook posts:" https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2019/07/18/philadelphia-police-officers-face-firing-offensive-facebook-posts/1773445001/

* "What Do People in Solitary Confinement Want to See?:" https://www.newyorker.com/culture/photo-booth/photo-requests-from-solitary-confinement

* TW: Sexual Abuse "Female inmates were forced to expose their genitals in a ‘training exercise.’ It was legal, court rules.:" https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/07/19/female-inmates-were-forced-expose-their-genitals-training-exercise-it-was-legal-court-rules/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.f19219951157

* TW: Rape. "How Jeffrey Epstein Used the Billionaire Behind Victoria’s Secret for Wealth and Women:" https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/25/business/jeffrey-epstein-wexner-victorias-secret.html

* TW: Pedophilia. "Jeffrey Epstein found injured in jail cell with marks on his neck, sources say:" https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/25/us/jeffrey-epstein-injured-jail-cell/index.html

* "Detroit Billboard Declares 'Trans People Are Sacred':" https://www.advocate.com/transgender/2019/7/26/detroit-billboard-declares-trans-people-are-sacred

* "The LGBTQ Health Clinic That Faced a Dark Truth About the AIDS Crisis:" https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2019/07/us-aids-policy-lingering-epidemic/594445/

* "Rabies Kills Tens of Thousands Yearly. Vaccinating Dogs Could Stop It.:" https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/22/science/rabies-dogs-india.html

* "The U.S.’s Toxic Agent Orange Legacy:" https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2019/07/agent-orange-cambodia-laos-vietnam/591412/

* "Twelve years to save Earth? Make that 18 months...:" https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-48964736

* "New York just passed the most ambitious climate target in the country:" https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2019/6/20/18691058/new-york-green-new-deal-climate-change-cuomo

* "Gay Vietnamese-American Ballet Dancer John Lam Out to Inspire Others:" https://www.advocate.com/people/2019/7/25/gay-vietnamese-american-ballet-dancer-john-lam-out-inspire-others

* You may have noticed odd posting times. My lungs are bad even by my standards. I have an appointment on Monday morning. We'll see if anything can be done about the infection. So I have very little energy, I'm coughing constantly, and achieving anything, including sleep is difficult. It took what felt like forever to chew through the Mueller stuff and it ended up making sense to stay up Thursday to go to the library, instead of gambling that I could get it together after sleep fast enough to squeeze in there and the pharmacy before close. Which through the sleep cycle off. Friday I stayed up to forage as I hadn't been well enough to go in a week? More? Hence me not managing awake at a reasonable time.

Squirrel's sofa cover came. It is better than I feared. I was picturing the horrible plastic covers the neighbors across the street had when I was a kid. This one is quilted gray fabric on one side and rubberized plastic on the other. Not aesthetically pleasing, but I can sit on it comfortably. It's long enough, but designed for an entirely different type of sofa. I made it work, and it's far better than the alternative just now. Tavy fought a violent battle with it off and on for hours Friday.

I went to put the cushions back together, but found they weren't cleaned to my satisfaction after all. I intended to start over from scratch today, but my the time I'd full changed bathroom litter, did buckets from tank change earlier in the week, and had a bath, I simply couldn't face the level of hard manual labor involved. I frankensteined out and did some necessary night gardening instead, since I wasn't well enough to manage minimum maintenance Thursday, and they need daily water checks this time of year in this heat.

The triffid lilies are stunning this year. I'll post pics tomorrow, I think. I'm a bit concerned about the carnations, which after the first flurry of blooms are barely producing.

I am just exhausted, waking or sleeping. A serious lung infection will do that. This is the first bad one since the new vaccine came out fall before last. Given it's a partial coverage situation and things like this mutate, the fact I went this long is a minor miracle. I hate it and it's eating my summer, but it's not MRSA bad or bad like that thing that nearly took me out the winter before then new vaccine.

I'm like triple booked for Monday with too many things in the day time. I'm not going to even try to impose order on my body until I have antibiotics inside med and the Monday things conquered. Expect weird and possibly sporadic posting until mid-next week at minimum.

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

* Here are a bunch of state level links to help people in immigrant detention: https://taibhsearachd.tumblr.com/post/186058182962/woundability-this-4th-of-july-celebrate-the

* Angry about the concentration camps on our Southern Border? Here is a list of useful things you can do: https://medium.com/@togetherandfree/feel-helpless-amidst-the-horrific-immigration-news-youre-not-how-you-can-make-difference-today-108dc42de88e

* "More Organizations to Support Helping Kids in Concentration Camps:" https://thisfinecrew.dreamwidth.org/201920.html

Here is a massive list of things you can do to help refugees inside and outside of the Camps: https://s-leary.tumblr.com/post/185783586806/so-youve-probably-seen-the-post-going-around

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

* Have something you want to tell your Congress Critters? If you can not protest in person, here are some other options:

Call the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask to be connected to the representative of your choice.

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

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

* This is a cool person and the clothes are being made from an ethical source. Looking for cool inclusive Pride themed merch? www.nerdykeppie.com

* HorrorMux is open for apping the next story, which is a 1994 Lost Boys type thing. Available Archetypes are here. I'm Martyr/Angel if you want to find me.: http://horrormu.com/index.php/Available

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

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

* "Kasai bishops endorse election of DRC's Tshisekedi:" https://www.news24.com/Africa/News/kasai-bishops-endorse-election-of-drcs-tshisekedi-20190128

* "Iraqis amid Mosul's silent ruins fear the loss of a dialect:" https://www.apnews.com/124c77b4f7504015bd8617d5483eece9

* Well this is terrifying. "Pipelines, power grid vulnerable to cyber attack by China, Russia:" http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/pipelines-power-grid-vulnerable-to-cyber-attack-by-china-russia-1435041859919

* "Trump tells intel chiefs to 'go back to school' after they break with him:" https://www.politico.com/story/2019/01/30/trump-national-security-1136433

* "Sen. Chris Murphy on what keeps him up at night:" http://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/sen-chris-murphy-on-what-keeps-him-up-at-night-1434932803954

* "Trump's Wisconsin Foxconn deal on the ropes:" http://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/trump-s-wisconsin-foxconn-deal-on-the-ropes-1434942019657

* "Mueller Witness’ Team Gamed Out Russian Meddling … in 2015:" https://www.thedailybeast.com/mueller-witness-team-gamed-out-russian-meddling-in-2015

* "Russians leaked Mueller investigation evidence online, prosecutors say:" https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jan/30/mueller-evidence-leaked-online-russians

* "Russia accused of disinformation campaign in disinformation case:" http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/russia-accused-of-disinformation-campaign-in-disinformation-case-1435040835971

* "Russian propaganda ploy exploits integrity of U.S. legal system:" http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/russian-propaganda-ploy-exploits-integrity-of-u-s-legal-system-1435039299797

* "GOP delay in naming House Intelligence Committee members may have cost Mueller:" https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/gop-delay-naming-house-intelligence-committee-members-may-have-cost-n964781

* "NRA says 2015 Moscow trip wasn’t 'official.' Emails, photos reveal gun group's role:" https://abcnews.go.com/beta-story-container/Politics/nra-2015-moscow-trip-wasnt-official-emails-photos/story?id=60715741

* Then God must really hate us. "Sarah Sanders: God 'wanted Donald Trump to become president':" https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/30/politics/sarah-sanders-god-trump/index.html

* "Mitch McConnell: making Election Day a federal holiday is a Democratic "power grab":" https://www.vox.com/2019/1/30/18203936/mitch-mcconnell-election-day-federal-holiday

* "In opposing voting access, McConnell shows his hand:" http://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/in-opposing-voting-access-mcconnell-shows-his-hand-1434943555541

* This. "Howard Schultz And The Plutocrat Revolt | Crooked Media:" https://crooked.com/articles/howard-schultz-plutocrats/

* "Bipartisan bill would withhold pay for president, lawmakers during shutdowns:" https://thehill.com/homenews/house/427496-dem-lawmaker-introduces-bill-to-withhold-pay-from-president-during-shutdowns

* "Growers Sue to Roll Back Farm Workers’ Wages:" https://prospect.org/article/growers-sue-roll-back-farm-workers-wages

* "'Several thousand' more troops preparing to deploy to the border, Shanahan says:" https://www.politico.com/story/2019/01/29/american-troops-us-mexico-border-1134086

* "$11 toothpaste: Immigrants pay big for basics at private ICE lock-ups:" https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-immigration-detention/11-toothpaste-immigrants-pay-big-for-basics-at-private-ice-lock-ups-idUSKCN1PC0DJ

* "Prisons Across the U.S. Are Quietly Building Databases of Incarcerated People’s Voice Prints:" https://theintercept.com/2019/01/30/prison-voice-prints-databases-securus/

* "5 facts about crime in the U.S.:" http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/01/03/5-facts-about-crime-in-the-u-s/

* "Gillibrand vows to introduce 2.0 bill against Trump’s trans military ban:" https://www.washingtonblade.com/2019/01/22/gillibrand-vows-to-introduce-2-0-bill-against-trumps-transgender-military-ban/

* "CDC: Nearly 2 percent of high school students identify as transgender — and more than one-third of them attempt suicide:" https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2019/01/24/cdc-nearly-percent-high-school-students-identify-transgender-more-than-one-third-them-attempt-suicide/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.4986e833c29d

* "The political battle behind the dismantling of a worker safety rule:" https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-beryllium-rule-specialreport/special-report-the-political-battle-behind-the-dismantling-of-a-worker-safety-rule-idUSKCN1PG1CQ

* Fucking Anti-Vaxxers. "Pacific Northwest measles outbreak grows to 40:" https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/authorities-38-now-sickened-in-northwest-measles-outbreak/2019/01/30/069a7802-24da-11e9-b5b4-1d18dfb7b084_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.b405bfc74521

* "Opinion: Growing Up In Kenya Really Does Not Prepare You For Chicago's Deep Freeze:" https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2019/01/30/690069593/growing-up-in-kenya-really-does-not-prepare-you-for-chicagos-deep-freeze

* "Polar vortex: Your questions answered:" https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/28/us/polar-vortex-explained-wxc/index.html

* "Glaciers Are Retreating. Millions Rely on Their Water.:" https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/01/15/climate/melting-glaciers-globally.html

* "Midwest cities scramble to keep homeless from dangerous cold:" https://www.apnews.com/0a971200e68142e5bfbaf81154ffdd08

* "After the overdose: A family's journey into grief and guilt:" https://www.apnews.com/29951565580d45fc894696bada662302

* "Gwerful Mechain and the Joy of (Medieval) Sex:" http://www.medievalists.net/2019/01/gwerful-mechain-and-the-joy-of-medieval-sex/

* "Freezing Temperatures Leave Trump Confused About Global Warming :"

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* "Trump Blasts His Own Intelligence Agencies:"

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* "That's Fracked: Can a Colorado School Combat Environmental Racism?:"

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* "Roger Stone's Arrest Has Conservatives Calling Out Excessive Force:"

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* "Other Things Written On John Bolton's Notepad:"

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* "What The Hell Is Going On With 'Global Waming?':"

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* "Trump's Immigration Claims Are Right Out Of 'Sicario':"

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* I have lost track of how long I've had this lung infection. A month? I keep thinking I'm almost better, then it ramps up again. Today is what counts as bad even on my fucked up scale. (Coughing completely borking sleep, rising fever, shakes, dizzy spells, etc.). There's no proof it's bacterial, so I'm treating it as a virus until it proves not to be. It is exhausting and my concentration is not great. Quality and quantity of postings may be effected.

Someone blerped all over the office. I managed to break the pettin throne cleaning it. I am apparently out of wood epoxy and haven't really the hand dexterity r strength to fix it even if I did. I have brought out the light box, which is super fragile, too tall, and wide to be ideal for a cat of LM's years or the spot where I put it, but I know it can hold Livia's weight as she's biggest. Moving it has already rather distressed livia as she likes to nap on it where it was. As with the dying space heater, I need to start looking for some sort of replacement. I am furious at myself for ruining the pettin throne with my clumsiness when it could have easily served another generation of cats.

Update 12:13AM: LM has accepted the emergency backup temporary pettin throne. Tavy is wary; Livia is put out.

* Is it just me, or is the Republican war on Reality particularly exhausting this week?

* "The Real Villain:" https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/the-real-villain

* "Z Nation, Season 5, Episode 12: At All Costs:" http://www.fangsforthefantasy.com/2019/01/z-nation-season-5-episode-12-at-all.html

*****
* 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

* 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

* The Rainbow Road and other ways to help Gay Refugees: http://gwydionmisha.tumblr.com/post/160470723507/the-rainbow-railroad-is-helping-gay-men-escape

* 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