![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
* "The Guardian view on May’s Brexit deal: it’s over, but what’s next?:" https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jan/15/the-guardian-view-on-mays-brexit-deal-its-over-but-whats-next
* "Trump vows to ‘devastate’ Turkish economy if U.S.-backed Kurds are attacked:" https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trumps-vow-to-devastate-turkey-rattles-negotiations-over-syria-withdrawal/2019/01/14/1a61049c-17ff-11e9-88fe-f9f77a3bcb6c_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.f7f21d7faa08
* "Reports allege Trump took notes from interpreter after Putin meeting.:" https://abcnews.go.com/beta-story-container/Politics/house-lawyers-meeting-monday-evaluate-subpoenaing-trump-putins/story?id=60348411
* "John Brennan agrees: Trump is clear and present danger to U.S.:" http://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/john-brennan-agrees-trump-is-clear-and-present-danger-to-u-s-1426547779720
* "Warner: 'More than a little bizarre' if Trump took interpreter's notes:" http://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/warner-more-than-a-little-bizarre-if-trump-took-interpreter-s-notes-14265498278133
* "Alarm rises as Trump behavior aligns with Putin's fondest wishes:" http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/alarm-rises-as-trump-behavior-aligns-with-putin-s-fondest-wishes-1426659395972
* "At Trump’s Inauguration, $10,000 for Makeup and Lots of Room Service:" https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/14/us/politics/trump-inauguration-spending.html
* "Trump's legal team rebuffed request for Mueller interview in recent weeks:" https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/14/politics/trump-interview-mueller-request/index.html
* "Mueller Says Gates Continues to Cooperate in Several Probes:" https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-01-15/mueller-says-gates-continues-to-cooperate-in-several-probes
* "Mueller plows ahead, issuing more subpoenas to associates of conservative commentator:" https://abcnews.go.com/beta-story-container/Politics/mueller-plows-ahead-issuing-subpoenas-associates-conservative-commentator/story?id=60391636
* "Kremlin Blessed Russia’s NRA Operation, U.S. Intel Report Says:" https://www.thedailybeast.com/kremlin-blessed-russias-nra-operation-us-intel-report-says
* "Mueller Probes a Nunes Meeting at Trump’s D.C. Hotel:" https://www.thedailybeast.com/mueller-probes-an-event-with-nunes-flynn-and-foreign-officials-at-trumps-dc-hotel
* "11 Republican senators break with Trump in rebuke on sanctions:" http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/11-republican-senators-break-with-trump-in-rebuke-on-sanctions-1426662467735
* I don’t have much hope protest will work, but it’s worth a try. "Schumer: Barr fudged his answers on respecting Mueller probe:" http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/schumer-barr-fudged-his-answers-on-respecting-mueller-probe-1426612291921
* "Klobuchar: 'I was not satisfied' with Barr's hearing answers:" http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/klobuchar-i-was-not-satisfied-with-barr-s-hearing-answers-1426664003708
* We clearly aren’t nearly responsible enough to pick the head of the World Bank. "White House: Ivanka Trump not under consideration for World Bank chief:" https://www.politico.com/story/2019/01/14/white-house-ivanka-trump-not-head-of-world-bank-1099104
* "Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul is going to Canada for surgery:" https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/politics/2019/01/14/rand-paul-neighbor-attack-senator-have-surgery-canada/2568200002/
“With regard to the idea whether or not you have a right to health care ... It means you believe in slavery," Paul said in 2011. "You are going to enslave not only me but the janitor at my hospital, the person who cleans my office, the assistants, the nurses. … You are basically saying you believe in slavery.”
* The Republican War on the American Economy continues. "The White House thinks the shutdown will be twice as bad for the economy as expected:" https://www.cnbc.com/2019/01/15/source-white-house-believes-shutdown-will-be-twice-as-costly.html
* "McConnell blocks House bill to reopen government for second time:" https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/425414-mcconnell-blocks-house-bill-to-reopen-government-for-second-time
* "Schumer: Trump imperviousness to people's pain 'disgusting':" http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/schumer-trump-imperviousness-to-people-s-pain-disgusting-1426624067697
* If you have a Republican senator, especially one up for re-election in 2020, now is a good time to protest.
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/
* "Canceled immigration hearings exceed 40,000 amid shutdown over border wall, as troops dig in:" https://www.cnbc.com/2019/01/15/cancelled-immigration-hearings-exceed-40000-amid-shutdown-over-border-wall.html
* "Happy 90th Birthday Rev. Dr Martin Luther King Jr:" https://transgriot.blogspot.com/2019/01/happy-90th-birthday-rev-dr-martin.html
* "Trump birth control coverage rules blocked nationwide:" https://apnews.com/6bf623038da94f6ba74d71761f0cf665?utm_medium=AP&utm_campaign=SocialFlow&utm_source=Twitter
* "GENDA FINALLY Passes the New York Senate!:" https://transgriot.blogspot.com/2019/01/genda-finally-passes-new-york-senate.html
* "Trans Woman Messed With At Mississippi Casino:" https://transgriot.blogspot.com/2019/01/trans-woman-messed-with-at-mississippi.html
* "Theresa May's Brexit Deal Defeat, Netflix's Price Surge & Trump's Fast-Food Feast for NCAA Champs:"
( Embed: )
* "Trevor Noah: Racism Detective - Steve King's White Supremacy Comments:"
( Embed: )
* "The Interpreter's Notes From The Trump-Putin Meeting:"
( Embed: )
* "Is Donald Trump Working For Russia?:"
( Embed: )
* "Trump's Lonely Weekend In The White House:"
( Embed: )
* So what's the deal with me lately?
I'm nearly a week in on one of the worst AS flares I've had in a while. I'm also over a year in on the new super acute pain that started early January 2018. I'm guessing it's the new normal because none of the tricks I've learned 33ish years of often acute chronic pain can do more than temporarily dull it. The amount of medication I'd have to take to tamp it down to what I consider an average pain level comes with unacceptable side effects and problem. I only have two arrows left in the quiver and I can't afford either. (New pillows and acupuncture). So this on top of the AS really going to town on me are officially too many things. It's shredding my concentration on top of the whole every fucking thing I do is 10-100 times harder.
On top of this the kitchen sink that is built incorrectly of shitty materials is in the process of failing. Washing the dishes is hard and extra disgusting. Last week at some point spoiled milk spewed all over the kitchen and I got to clean that up. With my sensory stuff, and the pain stuff. So that was fucking special. The things we can reasonably do to prolong the life of the sink's function are coming to an inevitable conclusion.
Oh, and the tiny emergency space heater I basically inherited because I found it in my closet at some point after m X was murdered started to die last week. I took it to fix it Tuesday night, but they couldn't open it because at some time, likely since it's origin in the '80's, someone glued it shut for some reason. It still gives off heat, but about half of what it did, so eventually the other heating element will go and it will be dead.
I have a friend we does minor amateur plumbing stuff, who has the tools, and things they can probably replace the cheapest pipes possible with descent pipes in a rational configuration with a bit of research. The gamble is worth it, because the plumber we hired when we first moved in to fix the disposal charge $85.00 and just lied that they fixed it. It's still broken. I'd rather someone make a real attempt to sort it at a reasonable price than pay what a plumber would charge to lie to me. Which means I must somehow find money for pipes and to pay them for their time. And gas, and for the rest of middle sized bill, which, like also need to happen. Without the plumbing I'm $40-50 under depending on how much gas I spend on things like foraging, etc.. My bathroom sink needs the pipes replaced too, and they've been "helpfully" glued together, but that's a much longer term issue.
Oh, and I expect the tax bill any day.
So, yeah. Good times.
On top of all this, I'm burnt the fuck out. There were all sorts of things I used to do on top of firehouse of Republican horror aggregation. Since the 2016 election I've had to give a lot of those things up along with things like sleep and some measure of my mental health. I believe this is worth it. This is important work. It helps people keep up who have shit to do. It helps people organize. It bears witness. It alerts people to things going on that they may not have time to notice. I do NOT expect anybody to read everything. I don't expect even people who know me in meatspace to keep up, but it's here for anyone who wants it or needs it.
I would be doing some version of this anyway myself. I'm like that. All this? It evolved out of me sharing cool bits of archaeological news on a personal journal that was mostly about teaching and a relationship with a partner now dead. As things got darker and more horrifying under W., it got more and more political. Since the 2016 election started and especially since November 2016, politics ate nearly everything else. I had to, because our Democracy is on fire and since I can't put it out my myself, I can at least scream the fuck for help.
I have been asked why I don't stop. The thing is, what you are looking at is part of a survival strategy that was forged in childhood. I'm a know your enemy sort of person. The larger and more overwhelming the existential danger, the more intensely I study the enemy. I stare into the abyss; the abyss stares back; I stare harder. I've been fighting against one overwhelming force after another with very little in the way of resources since I was three and 3/4 years old in a context where if you don't fight smart, you don't make it. Fighting smart means knowing your enemy. It means gathering all the even vaguely useful information you can find. This you see here? Is information. This is me fighting. This is me witnessing.
Still, even I get tired. Some of you have seen me really marathon post in a crisis. Things like the family separation/internment camps situation and associated protests, Kavanaugh hearings, or the midterms and aftermath. That's me throwing all the spoons in because it's too important not to. I think there is another of these coming soon as the Mueller thing comes to a head. Also? Normally I get at least half a break in late December until Congress reopens. This year? Hahaha! No! 45 decided to shut the government down because he had a tantrum and doesn't think other people are real.
So yeah. I'm exhausted. I'm struggling with subsistence. The pain is stunning. My legs barely work most days. 45 and the Republicans keep finding new and horrible ways to harm our country and the people in it. My rights as a citizen and human being keep eroding, and...
I need to run around on a horror MUSH for a while, making Gen X in jokes in an '80's horror setting, and doing some Longest Night stuff on Marsilikos until I metaphorically rack and rally.
Don't worry, I'm not quitting. I have a ridiculous article backlog already and it's only Wednesday morning, but I'll chew through it. I always do. I just kind of need a break, even a partial one. It'd be nice if republicans would take a week or two off from actively trying to destroy America for the 1% and Vladamir Putin, but it's not that kind of world.
So be patient. I am in this fight for as long as it takes. I can't afford not to be, because Republican policies are designed to literally kill me. I am queer; I am disabled; I do not want to die. So I fight like I always have. It's okay to take a break when you need to to do a little self care. So I'm doing what I need to do now so I can be ready for the next Monstrous Marathon.
* So I'm on this Horror MUSH where it's a sort of anthology situation. You play various instances of an archetype for each story. My Archetype is the Martyr. The result is, I've been thinking hard about the difference between "playing the martyr" and being the Martyr are. I've been trying to BE the martyr when I'm Finn. I put a couple Jimmy Stewart characters in (from Destry and Liberty Valance) and a bunch of other things, but I've been thinking a lot about Steve Rogers. Pre-syrum Steve standing up to bullies who he knows are going to cream him because it's the right thing to do. Throwing himself on top of the grenade he thinks is real knowing it will kill him. Doing the hard fucking thing because it's right. Trying to make it so nobody dies today even if he has to die himself to do it.
He has his shadows like everything I play, but at his core, this is a man who wants to live, who loves being alive, but who values life so highly that when bullet hits bone, he picks the greater good over personal good.
I don't think Americans think enough about sacrifice these days, about picking the greater good first. I wanted health care reform, because it helped more people even though it made my personal health care more expensive. (That's changed a little this year with the new package, so I'm not quite as screwed, but still. I'll pick me not being able to afford the Rheumatologist and Pulmonologist, which is what it cost me until December along with money, but way more children getting basic care, over me getting more stuff free or nearly free.) I'd rather have free universal or at least medicare for all with Medicaid expansion, but I pick me having a harder time but lots of kids not dying every fucking time. I think the cost of subsidizing technologies and updating infrastructure etc. that will keep our planet habitable for another century are worth what that costs. I think funding education as an investment in the future is worth higher taxes for me. I am not a Martyr and I'm definitely not a Saint or even a particularly nice person, and I’ve no idea how I’d react to the grenade test, but I think this way. I don't understand why half the country doesn't, and is in fact, willing to harm themselves for the joy of harming others while they are at it.
*****
* 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
* 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
* "Trump vows to ‘devastate’ Turkish economy if U.S.-backed Kurds are attacked:" https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trumps-vow-to-devastate-turkey-rattles-negotiations-over-syria-withdrawal/2019/01/14/1a61049c-17ff-11e9-88fe-f9f77a3bcb6c_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.f7f21d7faa08
* "Reports allege Trump took notes from interpreter after Putin meeting.:" https://abcnews.go.com/beta-story-container/Politics/house-lawyers-meeting-monday-evaluate-subpoenaing-trump-putins/story?id=60348411
* "John Brennan agrees: Trump is clear and present danger to U.S.:" http://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/john-brennan-agrees-trump-is-clear-and-present-danger-to-u-s-1426547779720
* "Warner: 'More than a little bizarre' if Trump took interpreter's notes:" http://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/warner-more-than-a-little-bizarre-if-trump-took-interpreter-s-notes-14265498278133
* "Alarm rises as Trump behavior aligns with Putin's fondest wishes:" http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/alarm-rises-as-trump-behavior-aligns-with-putin-s-fondest-wishes-1426659395972
* "At Trump’s Inauguration, $10,000 for Makeup and Lots of Room Service:" https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/14/us/politics/trump-inauguration-spending.html
* "Trump's legal team rebuffed request for Mueller interview in recent weeks:" https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/14/politics/trump-interview-mueller-request/index.html
* "Mueller Says Gates Continues to Cooperate in Several Probes:" https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-01-15/mueller-says-gates-continues-to-cooperate-in-several-probes
* "Mueller plows ahead, issuing more subpoenas to associates of conservative commentator:" https://abcnews.go.com/beta-story-container/Politics/mueller-plows-ahead-issuing-subpoenas-associates-conservative-commentator/story?id=60391636
* "Kremlin Blessed Russia’s NRA Operation, U.S. Intel Report Says:" https://www.thedailybeast.com/kremlin-blessed-russias-nra-operation-us-intel-report-says
* "Mueller Probes a Nunes Meeting at Trump’s D.C. Hotel:" https://www.thedailybeast.com/mueller-probes-an-event-with-nunes-flynn-and-foreign-officials-at-trumps-dc-hotel
* "11 Republican senators break with Trump in rebuke on sanctions:" http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/11-republican-senators-break-with-trump-in-rebuke-on-sanctions-1426662467735
* I don’t have much hope protest will work, but it’s worth a try. "Schumer: Barr fudged his answers on respecting Mueller probe:" http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/schumer-barr-fudged-his-answers-on-respecting-mueller-probe-1426612291921
* "Klobuchar: 'I was not satisfied' with Barr's hearing answers:" http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/klobuchar-i-was-not-satisfied-with-barr-s-hearing-answers-1426664003708
* We clearly aren’t nearly responsible enough to pick the head of the World Bank. "White House: Ivanka Trump not under consideration for World Bank chief:" https://www.politico.com/story/2019/01/14/white-house-ivanka-trump-not-head-of-world-bank-1099104
* "Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul is going to Canada for surgery:" https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/politics/2019/01/14/rand-paul-neighbor-attack-senator-have-surgery-canada/2568200002/
“With regard to the idea whether or not you have a right to health care ... It means you believe in slavery," Paul said in 2011. "You are going to enslave not only me but the janitor at my hospital, the person who cleans my office, the assistants, the nurses. … You are basically saying you believe in slavery.”
* The Republican War on the American Economy continues. "The White House thinks the shutdown will be twice as bad for the economy as expected:" https://www.cnbc.com/2019/01/15/source-white-house-believes-shutdown-will-be-twice-as-costly.html
* "McConnell blocks House bill to reopen government for second time:" https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/425414-mcconnell-blocks-house-bill-to-reopen-government-for-second-time
* "Schumer: Trump imperviousness to people's pain 'disgusting':" http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/schumer-trump-imperviousness-to-people-s-pain-disgusting-1426624067697
* If you have a Republican senator, especially one up for re-election in 2020, now is a good time to protest.
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/
* "Canceled immigration hearings exceed 40,000 amid shutdown over border wall, as troops dig in:" https://www.cnbc.com/2019/01/15/cancelled-immigration-hearings-exceed-40000-amid-shutdown-over-border-wall.html
* "Happy 90th Birthday Rev. Dr Martin Luther King Jr:" https://transgriot.blogspot.com/2019/01/happy-90th-birthday-rev-dr-martin.html
* "Trump birth control coverage rules blocked nationwide:" https://apnews.com/6bf623038da94f6ba74d71761f0cf665?utm_medium=AP&utm_campaign=SocialFlow&utm_source=Twitter
* "GENDA FINALLY Passes the New York Senate!:" https://transgriot.blogspot.com/2019/01/genda-finally-passes-new-york-senate.html
* "Trans Woman Messed With At Mississippi Casino:" https://transgriot.blogspot.com/2019/01/trans-woman-messed-with-at-mississippi.html
* "Theresa May's Brexit Deal Defeat, Netflix's Price Surge & Trump's Fast-Food Feast for NCAA Champs:"
( Embed: )
* "Trevor Noah: Racism Detective - Steve King's White Supremacy Comments:"
( Embed: )
* "The Interpreter's Notes From The Trump-Putin Meeting:"
( Embed: )
* "Is Donald Trump Working For Russia?:"
( Embed: )
* "Trump's Lonely Weekend In The White House:"
( Embed: )
* So what's the deal with me lately?
I'm nearly a week in on one of the worst AS flares I've had in a while. I'm also over a year in on the new super acute pain that started early January 2018. I'm guessing it's the new normal because none of the tricks I've learned 33ish years of often acute chronic pain can do more than temporarily dull it. The amount of medication I'd have to take to tamp it down to what I consider an average pain level comes with unacceptable side effects and problem. I only have two arrows left in the quiver and I can't afford either. (New pillows and acupuncture). So this on top of the AS really going to town on me are officially too many things. It's shredding my concentration on top of the whole every fucking thing I do is 10-100 times harder.
On top of this the kitchen sink that is built incorrectly of shitty materials is in the process of failing. Washing the dishes is hard and extra disgusting. Last week at some point spoiled milk spewed all over the kitchen and I got to clean that up. With my sensory stuff, and the pain stuff. So that was fucking special. The things we can reasonably do to prolong the life of the sink's function are coming to an inevitable conclusion.
Oh, and the tiny emergency space heater I basically inherited because I found it in my closet at some point after m X was murdered started to die last week. I took it to fix it Tuesday night, but they couldn't open it because at some time, likely since it's origin in the '80's, someone glued it shut for some reason. It still gives off heat, but about half of what it did, so eventually the other heating element will go and it will be dead.
I have a friend we does minor amateur plumbing stuff, who has the tools, and things they can probably replace the cheapest pipes possible with descent pipes in a rational configuration with a bit of research. The gamble is worth it, because the plumber we hired when we first moved in to fix the disposal charge $85.00 and just lied that they fixed it. It's still broken. I'd rather someone make a real attempt to sort it at a reasonable price than pay what a plumber would charge to lie to me. Which means I must somehow find money for pipes and to pay them for their time. And gas, and for the rest of middle sized bill, which, like also need to happen. Without the plumbing I'm $40-50 under depending on how much gas I spend on things like foraging, etc.. My bathroom sink needs the pipes replaced too, and they've been "helpfully" glued together, but that's a much longer term issue.
Oh, and I expect the tax bill any day.
So, yeah. Good times.
On top of all this, I'm burnt the fuck out. There were all sorts of things I used to do on top of firehouse of Republican horror aggregation. Since the 2016 election I've had to give a lot of those things up along with things like sleep and some measure of my mental health. I believe this is worth it. This is important work. It helps people keep up who have shit to do. It helps people organize. It bears witness. It alerts people to things going on that they may not have time to notice. I do NOT expect anybody to read everything. I don't expect even people who know me in meatspace to keep up, but it's here for anyone who wants it or needs it.
I would be doing some version of this anyway myself. I'm like that. All this? It evolved out of me sharing cool bits of archaeological news on a personal journal that was mostly about teaching and a relationship with a partner now dead. As things got darker and more horrifying under W., it got more and more political. Since the 2016 election started and especially since November 2016, politics ate nearly everything else. I had to, because our Democracy is on fire and since I can't put it out my myself, I can at least scream the fuck for help.
I have been asked why I don't stop. The thing is, what you are looking at is part of a survival strategy that was forged in childhood. I'm a know your enemy sort of person. The larger and more overwhelming the existential danger, the more intensely I study the enemy. I stare into the abyss; the abyss stares back; I stare harder. I've been fighting against one overwhelming force after another with very little in the way of resources since I was three and 3/4 years old in a context where if you don't fight smart, you don't make it. Fighting smart means knowing your enemy. It means gathering all the even vaguely useful information you can find. This you see here? Is information. This is me fighting. This is me witnessing.
Still, even I get tired. Some of you have seen me really marathon post in a crisis. Things like the family separation/internment camps situation and associated protests, Kavanaugh hearings, or the midterms and aftermath. That's me throwing all the spoons in because it's too important not to. I think there is another of these coming soon as the Mueller thing comes to a head. Also? Normally I get at least half a break in late December until Congress reopens. This year? Hahaha! No! 45 decided to shut the government down because he had a tantrum and doesn't think other people are real.
So yeah. I'm exhausted. I'm struggling with subsistence. The pain is stunning. My legs barely work most days. 45 and the Republicans keep finding new and horrible ways to harm our country and the people in it. My rights as a citizen and human being keep eroding, and...
I need to run around on a horror MUSH for a while, making Gen X in jokes in an '80's horror setting, and doing some Longest Night stuff on Marsilikos until I metaphorically rack and rally.
Don't worry, I'm not quitting. I have a ridiculous article backlog already and it's only Wednesday morning, but I'll chew through it. I always do. I just kind of need a break, even a partial one. It'd be nice if republicans would take a week or two off from actively trying to destroy America for the 1% and Vladamir Putin, but it's not that kind of world.
So be patient. I am in this fight for as long as it takes. I can't afford not to be, because Republican policies are designed to literally kill me. I am queer; I am disabled; I do not want to die. So I fight like I always have. It's okay to take a break when you need to to do a little self care. So I'm doing what I need to do now so I can be ready for the next Monstrous Marathon.
* So I'm on this Horror MUSH where it's a sort of anthology situation. You play various instances of an archetype for each story. My Archetype is the Martyr. The result is, I've been thinking hard about the difference between "playing the martyr" and being the Martyr are. I've been trying to BE the martyr when I'm Finn. I put a couple Jimmy Stewart characters in (from Destry and Liberty Valance) and a bunch of other things, but I've been thinking a lot about Steve Rogers. Pre-syrum Steve standing up to bullies who he knows are going to cream him because it's the right thing to do. Throwing himself on top of the grenade he thinks is real knowing it will kill him. Doing the hard fucking thing because it's right. Trying to make it so nobody dies today even if he has to die himself to do it.
He has his shadows like everything I play, but at his core, this is a man who wants to live, who loves being alive, but who values life so highly that when bullet hits bone, he picks the greater good over personal good.
I don't think Americans think enough about sacrifice these days, about picking the greater good first. I wanted health care reform, because it helped more people even though it made my personal health care more expensive. (That's changed a little this year with the new package, so I'm not quite as screwed, but still. I'll pick me not being able to afford the Rheumatologist and Pulmonologist, which is what it cost me until December along with money, but way more children getting basic care, over me getting more stuff free or nearly free.) I'd rather have free universal or at least medicare for all with Medicaid expansion, but I pick me having a harder time but lots of kids not dying every fucking time. I think the cost of subsidizing technologies and updating infrastructure etc. that will keep our planet habitable for another century are worth what that costs. I think funding education as an investment in the future is worth higher taxes for me. I am not a Martyr and I'm definitely not a Saint or even a particularly nice person, and I’ve no idea how I’d react to the grenade test, but I think this way. I don't understand why half the country doesn't, and is in fact, willing to harm themselves for the joy of harming others while they are at it.
*****
* 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
* 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
