Nec Hoc Nec Ilud

* As is custom now, Trump stuff sort is likely a little rough. I can not guarantee anything in the tariff section is up to date, because he changes it so fast and reactions from understandably furious trading partners are basically light speed at this point.

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* "Hamas says it will only release American-Israeli hostage if ceasefire deal is implemented:" https://apnews.com/article/israel-palestinians-hamas-war-news-ceasefire-hostages-03-15-2025-b54c0c11c4d7f0ca52653edb033c70f5

* "Israel's decision to cut power to Gaza hits the strip's water supplies:" https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-03-14/israel-cuts-power-to-gaza-hits-water-supplies-hamas-ceasfire/105045700

* "Palestinians unearth fresh wounds as Gaza's al-Shifa hospital burials are relocated:" https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/bodies-buried-temporarily-gaza-hospital-during-israeli-raids-brought-cemeteries

* "Israel’s attacks on reproductive healthcare in Gaza ‘genocidal’: UN probe:" https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/3/13/israels-attacks-on-reproductive-healthcare-in-gaza-genocidal-un

******

* "Putin on a ceasefire in Ukraine, Western companies and gas:" https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/what-has-putin-said-about-ukraine-ceasefire-deal-2025-03-13/

* "In rare meeting without U.S. ally, Western army chiefs meet to show Ukraine unity:" https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/rare-meeting-without-us-ally-western-army-chiefs-meet-show-ukraine-unity-2025-03-11/

* "Poland and Baltic nations welcome Macron’s nuclear deterrent proposal:" https://apnews.com/article/france-nuclear-deterrent-umbrella-russia-55e91ab65d13559dfc55dfe376ba5268

So many countries gave up their nuclear weapons trusting our promises to protect them.

* "Poland's President Duda calls for U.S. to deploy nuclear weapons in his nation:" https://www.cbsnews.com/news/poland-president-duda-us-nuclear-weapons-deploy/

* "Germany debates issue of nuclear weapons:" https://www.dw.com/en/germany-debates-issue-of-nuclear-weapons/a-71924424

* This is disgusting and shameful. "'Say thank you' Rubio tells Poland amid Ukraine Starlink spat:" https://archive.ph/hVrjR

* "Trump puts U.S. at risk with increasing reliance on Musk and Starlink:" https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/trump-puts-u-s-at-risk-with-increasing-reliance-on-musk-and-starlink-234049093674

* "US senator accuses Trump of weakening Ukraine's defense, dismisses Musk 'traitor' insult:" https://archive.ph/d4euZ

* "'Serious mistakes': Kelly sounds alarm on Trump handling of Ukraine; Nails Musk on 'traitor' gibe:" https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/-serious-mistakes-kelly-sounds-alarm-on-trump-handling-of-ukraine-nails-musk-on-traitor-gibe-234047557512

******

* "Trump launches large-scale strikes on Yemen's Houthis, at least 31 killed:" https://archive.ph/bgr1S

* "Entire families killed during Syria's violence, UN says:" https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/un-says-entire-families-killed-syria-military-operation-2025-03-11/

* "A tinderbox conflict in Congo is ready to explode:" https://www.reuters.com/graphics/CONGO-SECURITY/MAPS/movaykzaava/?

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* Good! "Philippines' ex-President Rodrigo Duterte arrested at ICC's request over 'drugs war' killings:" https://archive.ph/1Ellj

* This includes commentary on the new Canadian PM, amoung other things. "Off the cuff news reactions:" https://sabotabby.dreamwidth.org/2648730.html

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* We are seriously threatening to go to war with Denmark. "NATO Chief Smacks Down Trump on Greenland Grab:" https://www.thedailybeast.com/nato-chief-smacks-down-trump-on-greenland-grab/

* "Pentagon asked for military options to access Panama Canal, officials say:" https://archive.ph/KH6eM

We are planning to invade Panama, apparently. We HAVE access to canal. What we are planning to do is invade another country and occupy it because we are too cheap to pay a perfectly reasonable toll.

* "Donald Trump, who has been on a mission to strip transgender people of all dignity, complains ‘everything is transgender’: He made the bizarre remarks in front of the Irish prime minister.:" https://www.advocate.com/politics/trump-everything-is-transgender

* "If our neighbor Canada hates us and Trump, what does that say for the rest of the world?:" https://www.advocate.com/voices/canada-world-hates-trump-vance

No one should trust us. Not even a tiny bit.

* "How Trump’s ‘51st State’ Canada Talk Came to Be Seen as Deadly Serious
President Trump, in an early February call, challenged the border treaty between the two countries and told Justin Trudeau he didn’t like their shared water agreements. :" https://archive.ph/56bzU

* "Amid U.S.-Canada trade war, Trump makes some false or misleading claims to justify tariffs:" https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-tariffs-canada-trade-fact-check/

* "Canada and EU announce retaliatory tariffs, escalating Trump’s trade war:" https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/canada-and-eu-announce-retaliatory-tariffs-escalating-trumps-trade-war

* "Ontario slaps 25% tax increase on electricity exports to US in response to Trump’s trade war:" https://apnews.com/article/canada-ontario-us-trump-tariffs-electricity-834dc3d9defd314923912f9bd8540e31

* "Trump Ag Secretary's Clucked-Up Advice On Eggs Has Critics Squawking: Brooke Rollins' idea to combat rising prices isn't going over very well:" https://www.huffpost.com/entry/brooke-rollins-eggs-backyard-chickens_n_67c676c9e4b044c440ed7fa7

Renters, especially in apartments aren't allowed to have chickens. A lot of cities and towns ban them even for home owners.

I literally know people who had to give away all their chickens when they moved into an apartment.

* It's almost like there might be consequences for starting a trade war for funsies. "Tesla, led by Elon Musk, warns of export retaliation due to new Trump tariffs:" https://www.npr.org/2025/03/14/g-s1-53947/tesla-led-by-elon-musk-warns-of-export-retaliation-due-to-new-trump-tariffs

* "‘Big mad’: Trump is ‘emotional’ and ‘annoyed’ over trade war he started:" https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/-big-mad-trump-is-emotional-and-annoyed-over-trade-war-he-started-234383429687

* This harms everybody. "US State Department Kills Global Air Monitoring Program Researchers Say Paid for Itself:" https://www.wired.com/story/air-monitoring-beijing-state-department-halted/

* It's all illegal, of course. Republicans absolutely do not care. "Secretary of State Rubio says purge of USAID programs complete, with 83% of agency’s programs gone:" https://apnews.com/article/trump-musk-rubio-usaid-foreign-aid-bf442d62af67918a6fc5eee839074601

* "Judge Weighs USAID Classified Document Destruction Amid Trump Shutdown:" https://www.newsweek.com/judge-weighs-usaid-classified-document-destruction-amid-trump-shutdown-2043272

* "Court hands Trump third appellate loss in birthright citizenship battle:" https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/court-hands-trump-third-appellate-loss-birthright-citizenship-battle-2025-03-11/

* Lie Detector Tests have no validity, of course, which is why law enforcement loves them so much. "DHS administering lie detector tests to employees in effort to find leakers:" https://www.cbsnews.com/news/dhs-lie-detector-tests-employees-leakers-immigration-raids/

* "The Alien Enemies Act: What to know about a 1798 law that Trump has invoked for deportations:" https://apnews.com/article/alien-enemies-trump-immigration-deportations-21a62ede23b8c493b60d00a9c125722f

* "Federal judge blocks Trump's plan to target 'alien enemies' for deportation:" https://www.npr.org/2025/03/15/nx-s1-5246028/trump-alien-enemies-act-tren-de-aragua-deportation

This is just the tip of the spear. If he wins here, he will keep expanding it to remove anyone he doesn't like.

Normal deportation proceedings would work, but he's trying to establish a precedent.

* "Japanese Americans react to Trump's plans to invoke Alien Enemies Act:" https://www.10news.com/news/local-news/japanese-americans-react-to-trumps-plans-to-invoke-alien-enemies-act#google_vignette

* "Trump reportedly keen on law at root of disgraceful chapter in American history:" https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/trump-reportedly-keen-on-law-at-root-of-disgraceful-chapter-in-american-history-234498629977

* "ICE Wastes $16M on Guantanamo Bay Operation as All Migrants Returned to US:" https://www.newsweek.com/ice-guantanamo-bay-migrants-immigration-waste-millions-back-usa-2044018

* "Judge says Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil can't be deported from U.S. as protesters call for his release:" https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/demonstrators-take-nycs-federal-plaza-mahmoud-khalil-arrested-ice-rcna195602

* "Experts say Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil, a green card holder, can't be deported without due process:" https://abcnews.go.com/US/experts-palestinian-activist-mahmoud-khalil-deported-due-process/story?id=119756360

* "Federal agents are seen arresting Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil in a newly released video:" https://apnews.com/article/columbia-university-mahmoud-khalil-ice-trump-653771d9f168c490c49d6e45e37a0893

* "New Mahmoud Khalil complaint names Trump and Rubio, and alleges 'targeted, retaliatory detention':" https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/new-mahmoud-khalil-complaint-names-trump-rubio-alleges-targeted-retali-rcna196378

* "White House allegedly asked for updates on arrest of activist Mahmoud Khalil, his attorney says:" https://abcnews.go.com/US/white-house-allegedly-asked-updates-arrest-activist-mahmoud/story?id=119811712

* "Trump admin loses in court as judge blocks deportation of Mahmoud Khalil:" https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/trump-admin-loses-in-court-as-judge-blocks-deportation-of-mahmoud-khalil-234150981981

* "Exclusive: Wife of detained Palestinian Columbia student says she was naive to believe he was safe from arrest:" https://archive.ph/bG3jK#selection-1373.88-1373.102

* "98 protesters arrested at Trump Tower sit-in for detained activist Mahmoud Khalil:" https://abcnews.go.com/US/hundreds-protesters-stage-trump-tower-sit-calling-release/story?id=119762664

* Reminder: they arrested him without a warrant in the absence of a crime for voicing an opinion Trump doesn't like. "The detention of Mahmoud Khalil is a flagrant assault on free speech:" https://www.msnbc.com/ayman-mohyeldin/watch/the-detention-of-mahmoud-khalil-is-a-flagrant-assault-on-free-speech-234524741853

* "Mahmoud Khalil's lawyer: his arrest is 'test case' for how far Trump will go to repress political enemies:" https://www.msnbc.com/ayman-mohyeldin/watch/mahmoud-khalil-s-lawyer-his-arrest-is-test-case-for-how-far-trump-will-go-to-repress-political-enemies-234525253893

---

* "Elissa Slotkin delivers rebuttal to Trump:" https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2025/03/04/trump-joint-address-to-congress/democrats-respond-00212952

* The extreme corruption continues. "People Are Paying Millions to Dine With Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago:" https://www.wired.com/story/people-paying-millions-donald-trump-mar-a-lago/

* This is discrimination and damaging. "Trump signs executive action targeting public service loan program:" https://www.npr.org/2025/03/07/nx-s1-5321313/trump-executive-action-public-service-loan-program

* "Trump order denies student loan relief to nonprofit workers engaged in ‘improper’ activity:" https://apnews.com/article/public-service-student-loan-forgiveness-trump-457a24f8dba3c52dfe58f1e72ba61fa4

* "Judge blocks Trump from enforcing 'chilling' order against law firm:" https://www.npr.org/2025/03/12/g-s1-53422/judge-blocks-trump-law-firm

* "Former DOJ official blasts interim D.C. U.S. attorney’s hiring ban on Georgetown Law grads:" https://www.advocate.com/news/doj-official-slams-georgetown-ban

* "Thousands of fired federal workers must be offered reinstatement, a judge rules:" https://www.npr.org/2025/03/13/nx-s1-5325959/federal-employees-court-firing

* "A 2nd judge orders thousands of fired federal employees temporarily reinstated:" https://www.npr.org/2025/03/13/nx-s1-5325694/maryland-court-fired-federal-employees-trump

* "Federal judges order Trump to rehire thousands of fired probationary federal employees :" https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/federal-judges-order-trump-to-rehire-thousands-of-fired-probationary-federal-employees-234392133708

* "'A sham': Federal judge blasts Trump admin on improper firings of federal workers; orders rehiring:" https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/-a-sham-federal-judge-blasts-trump-admin-on-improper-firings-of-federal-workers-orders-rehiring-234398789993

* They are ignoring the court orders to stop. "Trump poised to launch new round of layoffs despite setbacks in court:" https://archive.ph/aVPti

* "Federal workers called back to the office — or is it a shuttered Subway?:" https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/federal-workers-called-back-to-the-office-or-is-it-a-shuttered-subway/ar-AA1APHKA

You know what would be easier and cheaper? Let people continue working remotely.

* "Tech 'solution' makes a fool of Trump again; Federal return to office order bungled:" https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/tech-solution-makes-a-fool-of-trump-again-federal-return-to-office-order-bungled-234403909936

* "A Wannabe Influencer Is in Charge of Defending DOGE Cuts:" https://www.thecut.com/article/opm-mclaurine-pinover-fashion-influencer-videos-doge-cuts.html

The cheek of it to fire so many hard working productive people and to have someone like this calling them lazy and incompetent. Every Republican accusation a confession.

* "Musk And Trump Are Trying To Break The Government So Billionaires Can Take It Over - Ezra Klein:"

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* "Judge orders urgent release of DOGE records, citing ‘unprecedented’ power and ‘unusual secrecy’:" https://www.politico.com/news/2025/03/10/judge-orders-doge-record-release-00223151

* "Top lawyer at IRS removed amid DOGE push for taxpayer information: Sources:" https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/top-lawyer-irs-removed-amid-doge-push-taxpayer/story?id=119769757

* "OPM to review potential risks from DOGE’s access to sensitive federal systems:" https://www.politico.com/news/2025/03/10/opm-security-doge-access-00221620

* "Diverse groups opposing Trump-Musk agenda coalesce around date for nationwide protest:" https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/diverse-groups-opposing-trump-musk-agenda-coalesce-around-date-for-nationwide-protest-234497605740

* "‘The people hold the power’: Grassroots anti-Trump resistance outshines lawmakers:" https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/-the-people-hold-the-power-grassroots-anti-trump-resistance-outshines-lawmakers-234483781748

* "Republicans struggle to answer for Trump, Musk to alarmed constituents back home:" https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/republicans-struggle-to-answer-for-trump-musk-to-alarmed-constituents-back-home-234049093911

* "'I'm going': Tim Walz to hold town halls in Republican districts in wake of DOGE cuts:" https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/-i-m-going-tim-walz-to-hold-town-halls-in-republican-districts-in-wake-of-doge-cuts-234266693990

* "States sue Trump administration over mass firings of federal employees:" https://www.npr.org/2025/03/08/nx-s1-5321864/trump-federal-employees-lawsuit-states

* "Md. Attorney General goes deeper on lawsuits against Trump administration, expects more to come:" https://wtop.com/maryland/2025/03/md-ag-brown-goes-deeper-on-lawsuits-against-trump-administration-expects-more-to-come/

* "Billionaires at Trump’s Swearing-In Have Since Lost $209 Billion:" https://archive.ph/dRz86

* "Musk Melts Down as Tesla Stock Price Plunges:" https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/musk-tesla-stock-price-plunge-1235292855/

* "Donald Trump Calls Tesla Boycotts Illegal:" https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-tesla-boycott-illegal-2042647

* "Trump turns White House into Tesla showroom as Musk gets ‘government bailout’:" https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/trump-turns-white-house-into-tesla-showroom-as-musk-gets-government-bailout-234149957918

* "Tesla turmoil ignites political proxy war:" https://www.axios.com/2025/03/13/tesla-trump-white-house-musk

* "Trump says violence against Tesla is domestic terrorism:" https://archive.ph/fh80a

* "As Musk’s business empire falters, Trump summons a wave of conservative support:" https://archive.ph/8JNve

* "Tesla Reportedly Stops Cybertruck Deliveries Because a Massive Part Keeps Flying Off:" https://futurism.com/tesla-stops-cybertruck-deliveries-trim

* "Rep. Larson BLASTS The GOP For Blocking Elon Musk From Testifying:"

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* "Trump prepares order dismantling the Education Department:" https://www.npr.org/2025/03/05/nx-s1-5316227/trump-order-dismantling-education-department

* " Linda McMahon lays out Education Department’s ‘final mission’ :" https://www.politico.com/news/2025/03/04/linda-mcmahon-education-department-final-mission-00210057

Reminder: she's never taught or administered a school and is profoundly ignorant about the damage she is doing and doesn't care to learn.

* "Education Department cuts half its staff as Trump vows to wind the agency down:" https://apnews.com/article/education-department-layoffs-job-cuts-linda-mcmahon-ce9f6a8a63972aede0d8fbdf057ab788

* "What the Education Department layoffs could mean for students with disabilities:" https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/education-department-layoffs-students-disabilities-rcna196114

This harms students with disabilities and anyone not born rich enough to pay for college up front. Cruelty is the point.

* "US judge temporarily halts Trump plan to cut hundreds of millions of dollars for teacher training:" https://apnews.com/article/trump-department-of-education-lawsuit-teacher-training-d9f84633d57f4010e1c03fcdaf003db2

* "Trump fires 1,300 at Department of Education; programs expected to suffer with staff gutted:" https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/trump-fires-1-300-at-department-of-education-programs-expected-to-suffer-with-staff-gutted-234164805699

* "Fired Education Department worker: 'We got the sense that we were disposable.':" https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/fired-education-department-worker-sense-disposable/story?id=119732001

* "Massive Layoffs at the Department of Education Erode Its Civil Rights Division: Only five of the agency’s civil rights offices remain nationwide. Those who are still with the department say it will now be “virtually impossible” to resolve discrimination complaints.:" https://www.propublica.org/article/education-department-civil-rights-division-eroded-by-massive-layoffs

* "GOP voucher plan would divert billions in taxes to private schools:" https://archive.ph/1eNhg

This is about starving public schools which serve everyone in favor of private schools which can and do discriminate. This means concentrating the students who need the most support in schools that are having their funding cut at the same time to make it impossible to provide that support.

This is on purpose. Republicans have been trying to destroy public schools longer than I've been alive as the last thing they want is quality education for people who aren't white and also wealthy.

* "Elon Musk Teases Big Cuts to Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare:" https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/elon-musk-cuts-social-security-medicaid-medicare-1235293407/

* "Social Security Backtracks on DOGE Phone Service Cuts After Media Report:" https://www.newsweek.com/doge-pushes-social-security-administration-cut-off-phone-service-report-2043708

This is why we need an independent media. This is why we need protests.

Why is this important? The Social Security Administration has a notoriously difficult website to use. It requires a special log in thing that most people do not have. (Including me.) Sometimes they will issue you one and not tell you what it is if you get it at an SSA office. They don't, say email it to you, which would be useless in any case for people who don't have internet access or have disabilities that make using the Internet extra hard, and for people who often are older than the internet and have little to no appropriate skills, or are home bound and can't get to library, or have had their local library cut and also just had the SSA office near them closed, or.... You get the idea.

Approximately 80% of people on Social security or applying for benefits use the phone service, because it actually works if you are patient, unlike the glitchy and difficult to access web site.

This cut is really about denying people who paid into the system getting access to the benefits they paid for.

It also really fucks up seniors and people with disabilities who need things like Medicaid and EBT on top of their Medicare as those programs often require a proof of income letter once or twice a year that must be issued within 1-3 months of turning in your paperwork. (Exactly details are state by state. My state is once a year up to three months. My state is super lenient because it's been unified Democratic rule for decades and it works at keeping citizens alive instead of trying to kill them off). So do a bunch of other programs for seniors and people with disabilities. I have to interact with this phone system 2-4 times a year, depending on which of my services need re-upping.

The knock on effects of the planned cuts would have been huge!

Stay noisy! Save lives!

* They are still planning more deadly cuts: "DOGE attacks on Social Security officials could have dire consequences:" https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/doge-social-security-cuts-service-rcna196118

See the part above about people needing to go in person for a lot of things like starting benefits, updating after name changes, etc.? Yeah.

* "Here’s a ‘dead’ person on Social Security in Seattle, with plenty to say:" https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/heres-a-dead-person-on-social-security-in-seattle-with-plenty-to-say/

They are basing these cuts on a debunked lie Musk and Trump keep telling because DOGE Minions are so incompetent they couldn't recognize a COBOL language error message, Cutting people off from benefits they deserve will kill them and there is significantly less than a one percent fraud/error rate.

* "Understanding Trump's War on Research Funding & The Future:" https://www.panaccindex.info/p/understanding-trumps-war-on-research

* "The US agency that monitors weather will cut another 1,000 jobs, AP sources say:" https://apnews.com/article/noaa-job-cuts-weather-forecasts-trump-doge-musk-7e35e9d5d757d8fc3f0f50b2bd71c87d

These cuts are essential to preventing the prediction and monitoring of extreme weather so more people will die.

* People will die. People like me will die. "DOGE Is Trying to Shutter Crucial Volcano Observatory Facilities:" https://www.notus.org/health-science/doge-alaska-volcano-observatory

* "The True Cost of Trump’s Cuts to NOAA and NASA:" https://time.com/7267889/climate-cost-of-trump-staff-cuts-noaa-nasa/

* Ignore the misleading headline. "Trump wants to use the ‘God Squad’ to increase logging, but it must follow strict rules:" https://apnews.com/article/trump-logging-endangered-species-god-squad-5ddbbd117a480cdc60f5bc5580cd72ef

They are ignoring the endangered species act so as to drive endangered species extinct looks like too.

* "EPA workers silenced as agency cancels hundreds of grants:" https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/epa-workers-silenced-agency-cancels-hundreds-grants/story?id=119715963

* "Trump’s FBI Moves to Criminally Charge Major Climate Groups: The Trump administration is targeting climate organizations that received a Biden-era grant.:" https://newrepublic.com/post/192660/trump-fbi-charge-climate-organizations

It's not illegal to receive a government grant and there is zero evidence that any of these groups broke the law.

* "The FAA’s Troubles Are More Serious Than You Know:" https://archive.ph/pnaya

* "Musk Faces Complaint Over Efforts to Get FAA to Drop Verizon, Use Starlink:" https://www.pcmag.com/news/musk-faces-complaint-over-efforts-to-get-faa-to-drop-verizon-use-starlink

It is essential that Starlink loses this one.

Verizon has a contract they bid for and won fairly. Elon Musk arbitrarily cancelling it without any government authority and awarding his own company a no bid contract is illegal and corrupt on it's face in multiple ways.

This is also away to hijack our entire federal aviation system so he can hold it for hostage later, much as he did with the Ukrainian military.

* "Trump cuts environment program for low-income, minority communities:" https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20250312-trump-cuts-environment-program-for-low-income-minority-communities

* "Trump administration issues funds to NYC housing nonprofits, with new strings attached:" https://gothamist.com/news/trump-administration-issues-funds-to-nyc-housing-nonprofits-with-new-strings-attached

* He knew that he was screwing over California, and he did it anyway for the optics and revenge. "Trump's 2.2 billion-gallon dump from California reservoirs just got even uglier:" https://www.sfgate.com/centralcalifornia/article/trump-california-reservoir-dump-kaweah-success-20209496.php

* "Top US health agency makes $25,000 buyout offer to most of its employees:" https://apnews.com/article/hhs-employee-buyouts-kennedy-cdc-nih-medicaid-bf5a746518b2b3fe967ab95a8e2a1a65

* So people will go hungry. Children will go hungry. "USDA cancels $1B in local food purchasing for schools, food banks:" https://www.politico.com/news/2025/03/10/usda-cancels-local-food-purchasing-for-schools-food-banks-00222796

* This also really hurts small farmers. "USDA ends program that helped schools serve food from local farmers:" https://apnews.com/article/school-lunch-usda-trump-c1485f824573913fe9a734bbf1273e26

* "US senators to urge USDA to reinstate canceled local food programs:" https://archive.ph/jLnN2

* Which have a lot of salt. "Sen. Deb Fischer offers up ‘canned food’ as alternate to USDA food bank cuts:" https://www.politico.com/news/2025/03/13/deb-fischer-canned-food-usda-food-bank-cuts-00228164

* "Donald Trump's policies are making our kids dumber, sicker, meaner, and scared:" https://www.advocate.com/voices/trump-children-sicker-meaner-opinion

* "Harvard doctors sue Trump administration over censoring LGBTQ+ terms:" https://www.advocate.com/news/harvard-doctors-sue-trump-administration

* Transphobia harms everyone. "Trump officials kill federal research on safer period products over mention of transgender men:" https://www.advocate.com/news/usda-scraps-study-transgender-mention

* "RFK Jr. Reportedly Had a Call With Texans Helping Distribute Unproven Measles Remedies:" https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/03/rfk-jr-measles-outbreak-texas-cod-steroids-call-seminole-mennonite-community-hhs/

You know what would be way more effective than quack medicine? Vaccinating everyone who can be vaccinated.

* Case in point: "Measles cases linked to Texas outbreak grows to 259, with just 2 among fully vaccinated people:" https://abcnews.go.com/Health/measles-cases-linked-texas-outbreak-grows-259-2/story?id=119799576

* "Trump adviser Alina Habba says veterans fired by DOGE are perhaps 'not fit to have a job at this moment':" https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/doge/trump-adviser-alina-habba-says-veterans-fired-doge-are-perhaps-not-fit-rcna194721

Trump has a long standing disgust and hatred for veterans in general, but particularly ones with disabilities. This is why he appointed people who feel exactly the same to steal their jobs and their health care from them.

* "Federal judge dismantles Trump's trans military ban in explosive hearing:" https://www.advocate.com/news/judge-skeptical-trans-military-ban

* I am not convinced they will follow the ruling stopping this. "Pentagon says it will start kicking transgender people out of military this month:" https://www.advocate.com/news/trans-military-ban-moves-ahead

* "Trump's VA rescinds policy treating transgender vets with dignity (exclusive):" https://www.advocate.com/news/transgender-veterans-policy-rescinded

* "Veteran Chains Himself Outside White House to Protest Trump and Musk:" https://newrepublic.com/post/192559/veteran-chains-white-house-protest-trump-musk

* CW: Rape. We are in a constitutional crisis now. (See also Trump administration refusing to restore funding and rehire people, as well as the Military being ordered to ignore the ruling ordering them not to discharge all the trans soldiers). "Federal officials force transgender women into men’s prisons despite judge’s ruling against Trump’s order:" https://www.advocate.com/news/transgender-women-forced-mens-prisons

* "Pam Bondi reshapes the DOJ around Trump's priorities:" https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/s-trumps-justice-department-now-rcna195289

* "Justice Chucks Paper Straws in Favor of Plastic Per Trump Order:" https://news.bgov.com/bloomberg-government-news/justice-chucks-paper-straws-in-favor-of-plastic-per-trump-order

* CW: Domestic Violence. "DOJ official says she was fired after opposing the restoration of Mel Gibson's gun rights:" https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/doj-official-says-was-fired-opposing-restoration-mel-gibsons-gun-right-rcna195287

* "Trump administration eyes cuts to Justice Department public corruption unit, people familiar say:" https://archive.ph/hnuLn

The only reason you would do this is if you were planning to bribe or otherwise allow the bribing of public officials by your allies.

* They are ending the case because most of the victims are black. "Justice Dept. says ending Louisiana petrochemical case helps ‘dismantle radical DEI programs’:" https://apnews.com/article/trump-louisiana-cancer-denka-chloroprene-epa-lawsuit-89b1f870816f65370eeb75ff269e9c0e

* This only helps our enemies. "Trump’s Justice Dept. ousts national security officials in latest purge:" https://archive.ph/99SjJ

* "They're Fabricating Criminal Prosecutions Now:"

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* This next batch may look small, but Trump is seizing control of the judiciary, persecuting political opposition, and removing checks that prevent Autocracy.

* He is calling openly for political prosecutions. "Trump pledges to ‘expose’ his enemies in political speech at Justice Department:" https://apnews.com/article/trump-visits-justice-department-e9091e3721adda4d3ed39bd15119a0d4

* "The GOP aim to shutdown democracy and 'replace it with techno-state dictatorship' warns Rep. Raskin:" https://www.msnbc.com/jonathan-capehart/watch/the-gop-aim-to-shutdown-democracy-and-replace-it-with-techno-state-dictatorship-warns-rep-raskin-234523205943

* "Trump demands 'accountability' for his pursuers in Justice Department speech:" https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-demands-accountability-his-pursuers-justice-department-speech-2025-03-14/

* They are criminalizing non-violent political speech. "Acting U.S. attorney for D.C. opens inquiries into Democrats, alleging possible threats to DOGE, Supreme Court justices:" https://www.cbsnews.com/news/acting-u-s-attorney-inquiry-schumer-possible-threat-doge-supreme-court-justices/

* Luckily, push back is having an effect. "D.C. prosecutor drops bid to investigate Schumer for purported threat:" https://archive.ph/enoUV

* "D.C. U.S. attorney targets Ukraine whistleblower Rep. Vindman:" https://archive.ph/owxVo

* "Democratic senators request investigation of interim DC US attorney:" https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/democratic-senators-request-investigation-of-interim-dc-us-attorney/3862040/

Because what Ed Martin's doing is illegal and unethical.

* "Trump allies launch a bid to take control of a powerful Washington legal group:" https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-administration/trump-allies-bradley-bondi-control-dc-bar-association-rcna195253

They need to do this because Ed Martin is in danger of being disbarred for all the illegal and unethical things he is doing to persecute people Trump doesn't like.

* "Trump hones Justice Department as weapon of revenge; some dull edges remain:" https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/trump-hones-justice-department-as-weapon-of-revenge-some-dull-edges-remain-234501189653

* "‘Lawlessness’: Hayes on the ‘terrifying’ abuse of power at Trump’s EPA, FBI:" https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/-lawlessness-hayes-on-the-terrifying-abuse-of-power-at-trump-s-epa-fbi-234483781911

---

* "Supreme Court to decide whether states can protect LGBTQ+ youth from conversion therapy:" https://www.advocate.com/news/supreme-court-conversion-therapy-case
Conversion Therapy is torture. It has no validity, but it can lead to depression and suicide.

Republicans want to abuse children, knowing it's abuse for the pleasure of harming queer children.

* "Think Small: End Billionaires:" https://www.mind-war.com/p/think-small-end-billionaires

* "Two weak spots in Big Tech economics:" https://pluralistic.net/2025/03/06/privacy-last/

* "US stock market loses $4 trillion in value as Trump plows ahead on tariffs:" https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/investors-flee-equities-trump-driven-uncertainty-sparks-economic-worry-2025-03-10/

It's been suggested that doing the will he won't he with the tariffs, while extremely devastating for business, ordinary people, US Foreign Policy/trade relations, and the US Economy; would be an excellent way to manipulate the US stock market so that billionaires could buy up stocks at rock bottom prices.

I'm not saying that's what's happening, but it's the only logical reason anyone I've seen could think of to do what Trump is doing with tariffs.

I'm not suggesting Trump is bright enough to do this on his own, but I think their are a lot of very rich people who have bought their way into his inner circle who are

Again, that's speculation. I mean he could also be doing this for fun or because Putin told him to. Or all three.

* "Striking workers in WA could get unemployment insurance benefits:" https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/striking-workers-in-wa-could-get-unemployment-insurance-benefits/

* "Nestlé Purina workers in Pennsylvania on strike:" https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2025/03/11/koct-m11.html

* "Nestle Purina workers strike for better wages and benefits in South Whitehall Township:" https://www.wfmz.com/news/area/lehighvalley/lehigh-county/allentown-area/nestle-purina-workers-strike-for-better-wages-and-benefits-in-south-whitehall-township/article_d28a8caa-f79b-11ef-86f9-bf0bc337c1b6.html

* Chuck Schumer betrayed us, rather than stand firm and force them to negotiate. Sigh. "Democratic Party fractures in government shutdown fight, with anger running high:" https://apnews.com/article/democrats-congress-chuck-schumer-government-funding-shutdown-43d1acea20c34ad28d848edc08ad6375

Here's who to primary:
Chuck Schumer
John Fetterman
Kirsten Gillibrand
Maggie Hassan
Catherine Cortez Masto
Jean Shaheen
Brian Schatz
Dick Durbin

Gary Peters is retiring
Angus King is a centrist independent, but caucuses Democrat.

If these are your critters, consider telling them how you feel.

* "Republicans say Medicaid is safe. But budget math says otherwise:" https://www.npr.org/2025/03/10/1237260288/republicans-say-medicaid-is-safe-but-budget-math-says-otherwise

* "DC leaders in budget panic, saying Congress bill would financially devastate the city:" https://wtop.com/dc/2025/03/dc-leaders-in-budget-panic-saying-bill-in-congress-would-financially-devastate-the-city/

* "'Chuck Schumer's gotta go!' Dems face reckoning amid dire polls:" https://www.msnbc.com/ayman-mohyeldin/watch/-chuck-schumer-s-gotta-go-dems-face-reckoning-amid-dire-polls-234543173956

* "‘Chuck Schumer is not willing to be in the driver's seat’: Ameshia Cross on Sen. Schumer's leadership:" https://www.msnbc.com/jonathan-capehart/watch/-chuck-schumer-is-not-willing-to-be-in-the-driver-s-seat-ameshia-cross-on-sen-schumer-s-leadership-234544709839

* "House Republicans literally alter time to avoid responsibility for Trump wrecking the economy:" https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/house-republicans-literally-alter-time-to-avoid-responsibility-for-trump-wrecking-the-economy-234171974002

* "Trump administration withdraws CDC director nomination just before Senate hearing:" https://apnews.com/article/dave-weldon-cdc-director-9a3d061832e2f0f644f2c58fbae36965

* "Transgender Rep. Sarah McBride calls out 'weird' obsession by Republicans in whose minds 'I appear to live rent-free':" https://www.advocate.com/politics/sarah-mcbride-gop-weird-obsession

* "'Have you no decency?': Republican calls Sarah McBride 'mister,' but Democrats wouldn't have it:" https://www.advocate.com/politics/republican-misgender-sarah-mcbride

---

* Our job for the next two years is to survive, to build grassroots resistance, to do all in our power to slow the republican Christo-fascist agenda, and to prepare for 2026 in case there is still Democracy.

We are trying to build a good list of resistance resources.

Please add more below if you have them.

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

* "Democracy 2025:" https://www.democracy2025.org/?utm_source=df-ad&utm_medium=&utm_campaign=21912407002&utm_content=721373734297&source=df-ad-gs&gad_source=1

* "Resisting Fascism in 2025 and Beyond:" https://www.prideandpagesbookclub.com/resisting-fascism-in-2025-and-beyond

* Have something you want to tell your Congress Critters? If you can't safely contact them in person, here are some other options:

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

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

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

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

Script to complain about Elon Musk/DOGE. I also suggest contacting your AG about data privacy. "Introducing Red State Scripts, Vol. 1:" https://homewiththearmadillo.blog/2025/02/10/introducing-red-state-scripts-vol-1/

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

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

* Useful organizing links and resources: https://www.tumblr.com/gwydionmisha/771859083592613888/hater-of-terfs-ive-already-reblogged-a-link-to?source=share

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

* How to render emergency aid in a riot: https://riotmedicine.net/static/downloads/riot-medicine_a5.pdf

* "How to Safely and Ethically Film Police Misconduct:" https://www.teenvogue.com/story/how-to-film-police-safely

* Avoiding Activist Burnout: https://www.tumblr.com/veluigi/771755723969478656/on-twitter-im-seeing-dozens-of-threads-from-black?source=share

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

* Contains a raid tip hotline amoung other things. "Know Your Rights
LEARN HOW TO PROTECT YOURSELF AND YOUR FAMILY:" https://wearecasa.org/know-your-rights/

---

* "Teen targeted by homophobic school board member now running for his job:" https://www.advocate.com/news/teen-challenges-school-board-homophobe

* Wisconsin! Please don't sleep on this election. Your future chance at free and fair elections as well as so many of your rights are on the line! "The Wisconsin Supreme Court Election Is a Referendum on Elon Musk:" https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/03/elon-musk-wisconsin-supreme-court-brad-schimel-susan-crawford/

* "Crawford, Schimel clash over Musk, Soros money in $59 million court raceRecord spending in Wisconsin Supreme Court race reaches $59M as candidates debate outside influence from billionaire donors Musk and: Soros.:" https://www.wisn.com/article/crawford-schimel-clash-over-musk-soros-money-in-59-million-court-race/64176457

The polls are incredibly tight and a Schimel win means Democrats lose their majority and Trump-Musk style court decisions will do terrible damage.

* "Governor Hochul Holds Roundtable with Workers Impacted by Federal Layoffs and Announces Expansion of New York’s “You’re Hired” Initiative to Recruit Impacted Workers :" https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/governor-hochul-holds-roundtable-workers-impacted-federal-layoffs-and-announces-expansion-new

* "Protests erupt as bill allowing TN schools to refuse to enroll undocumented students moves forward:" https://www.wsmv.com/2025/03/11/protests-erupt-bill-allowing-tn-schools-refuse-enroll-undocumented-students-moves-forward/

* Texans, I beg of you to protest. Pull out the stops. "Texas Republican bill would make simply being transgender a felony:" https://www.advocate.com/politics/texas-republicans-transgender-lives-felony

* "Protesters unveil giant Pride flag in response to Utah's new bill trying to ban it:" https://www.advocate.com/politics/pride-flag-utah-protest

* "North Dakota Senate rejects resolution seeking to overturn marriage equality:" https://www.advocate.com/politics/north-dakota-marriage-equality-resolution

Watch your state level politics, folks, because protests and calls can do a lot there. Don't give up hope.

* "Andy Beshear lambastes Gavin Newsom for hosting Steve Bannon on podcast:" https://www.advocate.com/politics/beshear-lambastes-newsom-bannon

* "Wisconsin conservative admits he was wrong about his anti-trans beliefs — this was all it took:" https://www.advocate.com/politics/anti-trans-bill-wisconsin

* "Study: Long sentences for juveniles make reentry into society more difficult:" https://phys.org/news/2025-03-sentences-juveniles-reentry-society-difficult.html

Water is wet studies are essential for making arguments in court, to policy makers, and to people who haven't made their minds up yet.

* "Multiple D.C. LGBTQ+ bars pull Jack Daniel's orders over distiller's retreat from diversity & inclusion:" https://www.advocate.com/business/lgbtq-bars-pull-jack-daniels

I am old enough to remember the Coors boycott.

* "New German, Swiss, and Austrian guidelines recommend gender-affirming care, slam Cass Review:" https://www.advocate.com/health/europeans-recommend-gender-affirming-care

* "New report finds LGBTQ+ and intersex Americans faced much discrimination in 2024:" https://www.advocate.com/news/new-report-confirms-widespread-discrimination

* "LGBTQ+ youth feel safer online than in-person — and it's not close:" https://www.advocate.com/news/lgbtq-youth-feel-safer-online

Water is wet studies are essential for making arguments in court, to policy makers, and to people who haven't made their minds up yet.

* "Who is MassResistance, the far-right group behind anti-marriage equality resolutions?:" https://www.advocate.com/news/who-is-massresistance-anti-lgbtq

* "Seven suspects charged with torture, killing of trans man Sam Nordquist appeared in court:" https://www.advocate.com/crime/seven-suspects-sam-nordquist-appear-court

* "Body of 'Julie Doe' in Florida identified as transgender woman Pamela Leigh Walton:" https://www.advocate.com/news/investigation-identifies-deceased-transgender-woman

* "Trump’s anti-trans agenda takes center stage at planned 'Detrans Awareness Day' events:" https://www.advocate.com/politics/republicans-celebrate-detrans-awareness-day

* Why are people still going on these floating plague ships? "Another norovirus outbreak on Princess Cruises ship sickens dozens of passengers and crew:" https://www.cbsnews.com/news/norovirus-outbreak-princess-cruises-ship-coral-princess-sickens-dozens-passengers-crew/

* "Measles cases spike to 25-year high in Europe:" https://www.politico.eu/article/measles-cases-spike-to-25-year-high-in-europe/

---

* "“Cool” years are now hotter than the “warm” years of the past: tracking global temperatures through El Niño and La Niña:" https://ourworldindata.org/global-temperatures-el-nino-la-nina

* "A Mount Spurr eruption is ‘likely’ within weeks or months, scientists say:" https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/anchorage/2025/03/12/a-mount-spurr-eruption-is-likely-within-weeks-or-months-scientists-say/

---

* "The Global South’s Cleantech Revolution in Five Charts:" https://rmi.org/the-global-souths-cleantech-revolution-in-five-charts/?ref=fixthenews.com

* "Music industry’s 1990s hard drives, like all HDDs, are dying:" https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/09/music-industrys-1990s-hard-drives-like-all-hdds-are-dying/

* "There’s a bizarre animal in the deepest depths of the Pacific Ocean that looks like a toast rack – and it uses deadly hooks to kill its prey:" https://www.discoverwildlife.com/animal-facts/marine-animals/harp-spnge

* "When an American Town Massacred Its Chinese Immigrants:" https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/03/10/when-an-american-town-massacred-its-chinese-immigrants

* "Dora Richter Lived:" https://epgn.com/2024/06/25/dora-richter-lived/

* "How the Boredom Epidemic ruined Hobbies:"

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* "Looking for the mysterious photographer who snapped occupied Paris and mocked the Nazis:" https://www.lemonde.fr/en/summer-reads/article/2024/09/09/looking-for-the-unknown-photographer-who-snapped-occupied-paris-and-mocked-the-nazis_6725386_183.html

* "Arizona Rep. Raúl Grijalva, fierce LGBTQ+ ally & progressive champion, dies at 77:" https://www.advocate.com/obituaries/arizona-congressman-raul-grijalva-dies

* "Sen. Alan Simpson was way ahead of his party when it came to LGBTQ+ rights and marriage equality:" https://www.advocate.com/voices/alan-simpson-remembered

I didn't agree with everything he did, but this and his work for Internment camp survivors is incredibly admirable.

* "Felice Picano, acclaimed gay author, has died at 81:" https://www.advocate.com/news/author-felice-picano-dies

* "WWII bomb disposal operation in Paris causes hours of travel chaos and Eurostar line closure:" https://apnews.com/article/france-paris-gare-nord-unexploded-bomb-d76871a93baee768df2a225922f12d89

* I am making progress on spinning up Killian Laptop. I downloaded a bunch of smaller programs, I finally convinced some browsers to sync. I've added some more accessibility extensions, and Saturday, I got a couple browsers set up with things so I could run some of the standard things I do everyday of him.

He's pretty fast compared to Klaus. The main problem I'm having is I can't get Waterfox to run on him. Our theory is maybe he's too old for modern iterations. I am trying earlier versions one by one, but I may be stuck with classic Waterfox, which is not supported and can't sync, so I keep having to stop to hand customize. I'll keep at it this week when I'm not in the aggregate crunch.

* In Cat News: Sunday Tavy discovered that Goth Millenial can also administer medication.

Livia also reached the end of her patience with a Thing the Emperor has been doing. The Empress is a peaceable animal by nature as long as you aren't live prey. She is more than twice his size, but she will generally give way as it's less hassle unless he pushes her too far.

Sunday, she decided she had had enough. For the last month or two, he's been peeing on everybody's favorite spot on my bed 5-6 times a week. I am a person with a clothes washer on it's last legs that can only use hot water. I can't wash multiple cat pads every night and he's also taken to running it to pee on the bed while I am getting ready for bed, so if he does it earlier, the cats are SOL for napping in the Best spot until I do the bed time laundry. Traditionally, he then gets really angry at the humans because Someone has Peed in the best spot!!!

This is Livia's favorite spot too. In fact, she sleeps there more than he does in winter as he decamps for his heated bed for most of his Night Napping.

Tavy's refusal to pee in the box has been inconveniencing her all this time. Sure, she has her second favorite spot: the bedroom window podium, which I tricked out for her in her youth, but a lot of cold seeps in on winter nights and though she is cold adapted, she would rather be a bit further from the window in the comfy spot in the elbow of the Pillow Mountain Range. She has a number of other popular spots, including the desk box, top of pillow mountain, and three other on bed locations. (She used to love sleeping on the sofa, but that is also covered in pee pads and Tavy pee by that time of night. In warmer weather there is also Living room Window box, but the emperor peed in the spare boxes, so I'm not bothering with a new one until the weather is good for window naps.)

Before you ask, yes, we tried keeping the boxes clean. He pees in the boxes to mark them after a change, then goes right back to the sofa if no one is sitting on it, and sometimes when they are. I'd have to scoop each box myself after every use, a thing I can't do with my lungs and arthritis. I miss when he used to pee in the tub or the sink. I could just run a little water after each use, but he doesn't anymore.

Anyway, Sunday night, Livia was camped in the Best Bed Spot and was Not Moving, because if she did, he'd just pee on it after a token sit to establish dominance. he tried all of the passive aggressive tactics. Which she ignored, and when he got physical, she yelled at him and wapped him a good one. He knows he can't win a physical fight, so he is asleep in his desk bed as of this writing and she is enjoying the Best Bed Spot in peace for the first time since he started the regular bed wetting.

Good on her.

* "ICE Detention: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO):"

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* "Trump Tanks Stocks, Exhausts Wall Street | Erasing "Women" From The Internet | The King's Playlist:"

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* "Trump Trade War Wipes $4T Off The Stock Market | Rebrand Your Tesla | RFK Jr. On Measles:"

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* "Beer Will Cost More Under “Chaotic” Tariffs | Trump: Khalil Detention Is The First Of Many To Come:"

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* "Au Revoir, Champagne | EPA Is Abandoning The Environment | Vandalizing Teslas:"

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* "Meanwhile... Packing Peanuts Are Not Food | Banana Technology | Carolina Reaper World Record:"

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* "A room full of witnesses | Rose B. Simpson: Journeys of Clay | Exhibition Insights:"

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* "Ceaser's Camp 49BC:" https://www.youtube.com/shorts/P2PFY7iQNVw

* I wish I could debate some of these with him at a party. "Manic Monarchs:" https://www.youtube.com/shorts/hUkHg1A1W5o

* "Dashing Dolphins:" https://www.youtube.com/shorts/9hZRMAR3w1E

* "Charging Cavalry:" https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ww5_UiO09Ks

* "Ludicrous Ludwig II:" https://www.youtube.com/shorts/nXalZ_6m5Fg

* "True Facts: How Snakes Move:"

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* "How to play the accordion with Betsy and ‪dinosaurdinnertheatre1792‬ :"

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* "King Charles' Radio Show: An Affront To Donald Trump?:"

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* "Amazon's Deepening Relationship With The Trumps:"

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* "Is It Worth It?:"

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* "The Ballad of Tommy & Joey:" https://www.youtube.com/shorts/KPmAbERDy5A

* "The Red God Chronicles: The Folly of King Runas:" https://www.youtube.com/shorts/e5VB-DDHfk0

* "The Red God Chronicles: The Tragedy of Rudolf:" https://www.youtube.com/shorts/nF1Al07sQ3M

* "The Red God Chronicles: The Defiance of the Fae Queen:" https://www.youtube.com/shorts/JBVglBFW5GU

*****
* 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.

* "Find Non-US Alternatives: Discover alternatives to the mainstream products, services, and companies typically found in the United States and Russia, sourced from other regions.:" https://www.bankrupttrump.org/

* "Nationwide Economic Blackout: Boycott Dates for Target, Amazon, Others:" https://www.newsweek.com/nationwide-economic-blackout-boycott-dates-target-amazon-others-2037986

* Save The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Explainer and directions here with link to government comment form: https://www.tumblr.com/veluigi/776960165468684288/action-item?source=share

Direct Link to Form: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/02/25/2025-03014/removal-of-national-environmental-policy-act-implementing-regulations

* Indigenous led organizationtrying to save endangered species that just lost Federal funding. "The Buffalo Nations Grasslands Alliance:" https://www.bnga.org/

* What to do if you are an adult who is losing your gender affirming care from your physician: https://www.tumblr.com/anonymousalchemist/774948824033673217

* Help Lambda Legal Continue their fight: https://support.lambdalegal.org/site/Donation2;jsessionid=00000000.app30130a?df_id=6680&mfc_pref=T&6680.donation=form1&NONCE_TOKEN=D3311163DF16F06EEA5520010BAF90B5&_gl=1*n53ras*_gcl_au*MTMxNDYxNjc0LjE3MzgxODExMzg.*_ga*MTY0NDY4OTM4NC4xNzM4MTgxMTM4*_ga_290ZG8GMP3*MTczODE4MTEzOC4xLjEuMTczODE4MTIwMi41OC4wLjA.

* Glad Law is fighting for trans service members. Want to help? https://givebutter.com/donatetoglad?utm_src=webheader&_gl=1*1qhxi1q*_ga*NDM3MjM0Mzk1LjE3NDEwMDk5NDA.*_ga_PCJHHSV2G7*MTc0MTAwOTk0MC4xLjAuMTc0MTAwOTk0MC4wLjAuMA..

* "Donate to the ACLU:" https://action.aclu.org/give/now

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

* "Resources for California fire victims were scattered. So I created this site to help.:" https://www.advocate.com/voices/california-disaster-recovery-resources

* "Where your donations to L.A. fire victims will do the most good:" https://www.advocate.com/news/donate-los-angeles-fire-victims

* "Democracy 2025:" https://www.democracy2025.org/?utm_source=df-ad&utm_medium=&utm_campaign=21912407002&utm_content=721373734297&source=df-ad-gs&gad_source=1

* "Resisting Fascism in 2025 and Beyond:" https://www.prideandpagesbookclub.com/resisting-fascism-in-2025-and-beyond

* "Here are 26 organizations fighting Donald Trump that you can donate to:" https://www.advocate.com/politics/anti-donald-trump-charities

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

* "LGBTQ+ Victory Fund:" https://victoryfund.org/

* Where to protest the censoring and erasure of transfolk on the Stonewal Uprising monument if you can't go in person. Select no and leave a comment.: https://www.nps.gov/ston/index.htm

* "Palestine Children’s Relief Fund:" https://pcrf1.app.neoncrm.com/forms/gaza-recovery

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

* Contains a raid tip hotline amoung other things. "Know Your Rights
LEARN HOW TO PROTECT YOURSELF AND YOUR FAMILY:" https://wearecasa.org/know-your-rights/

* "The Black Consumer Advisory:" https://naacp.org/campaigns/black-consumer-advisory

* Want to help Virginia get a Democratic Governor? "Support Abigail's Campaign for Governor of Virginia!" https://secure.actblue.com/donate/blu-asfg-2025-gs-dd?refcode=BLU_ASFG_DD_GS_NT_NTL_Q1_01&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAt4C-BhBcEiwA8Kp0CcaXXWdWpVI1uyoauFCRFgrY9hsEMA4pbxF_TO6ZPHAdhNzOmcwHTxoC8lgQAvD_BwE

* Post Joann's fabric Resources: https://www.tumblr.com/omgthatdress/777133232259989504/quilted-twins-florida-based-quilting-shop-with-a?source=share

( More Links Underneath: )

* I'm doing better, but I still tire easily and the physio is already getting ugly. This means I'm going to run out of things like energy and pain resistance without much warning. Posting may vary/

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* "Israel: ‘Investigate what?’:" https://www.politico.com/newsletters/national-security-daily/2024/04/26/israel-investigate-what-00154651#:~:text=Israel's%20military%20says%20the%20Biden,they%20already%20looked%20into%20it.

* "NBC News investigation reveals Israel strikes on Gaza areas it said were safe:" https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/palestinians-killed-israeli-strikes-safe-zones-exclusive-nbc-report-rcna148008

* "Rep. Katie Porter says the State Dept. is sitting on memos of human rights violations by Israel:" https://www.msnbc.com/ayman-mohyeldin/watch/rep-katie-porter-says-the-state-dept-is-sitting-on-memos-of-human-rights-violations-by-israel-209864261812

* Food aid to Gaza for Ramadan: https://support.anera.org/a/ramadan-2024

* "Palestine Children’s Relief Fund:" https://pcrf1.app.neoncrm.com/forms/gaza-recovery

* Verified charities to help Palestinians: https://cleolinda.tumblr.com/post/737312194805612544

* Fundraisers for Gaza: https://www.tumblr.com/el-shab-hussein/742344297699999744/hi-if-its-okay-i-saw-you-were-boosting?source=share

******
* "Israel fears ICC will issue arrest warrants for Netanyahu and other top officials:" https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/israel-fears-icc-issue-arrest-warrants-netanyahu-gaza-war-hamas-rcna149739

* Ya think? "Exclusive: Some US officials say in internal memo Israel may be violating international law in Gaza:" https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/some-us-officials-say-internal-memo-israel-may-be-violating-international-law-2024-04-27/

* "US implicates 5 Israeli units in rights violations before Gaza war, no restrictions on assistance:" https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/us-found-five-israeli-military-units-committed-gross-human-rights-violations-2024-04-29/

* "U.S. pushes for Gaza cease-fire, seeing narrow window for a deal before Israel launches Rafah assault:" https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/israel-hamas-war-gaza-cease-fire-hostage-deal-antony-blinken-saudi-rcna149747

* "Protests over Israel-Hamas war continue at college campuses across the U.S. as graduation dates approach:" https://www.cbsnews.com/news/college-campus-protests-gaza-israel/

* "Police arrest dozens of pro-Palestinian protesters at Columbia University:"

* "'Tragic': Columbia community laments involvement of police in campus protests:" https://www.msnbc.com/alex-wagner-tonight/watch/-tragic-columbia-community-laments-involvement-of-police-in-campus-protests-210016837600

* "Violence erupts at UCLA as protests over Israel's war in Gaza escalate across the U.S.:" https://www.npr.org/2024/05/01/1248433624/protests-campus-ucla-universities-israel-gaza-palestinians

* "Four UCLA student journalists attacked by pro-Israel counterprotesters on campus:" https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-05-01/four-student-journalists-attacked-by-counterprotesters-at-ucla

* "Op-ed: Faculty stands with pro-Palestine protesters, demands full amnesty for all arrested:" https://dailybruin.com/2024/05/02/op-ed-faculty-stands-with-pro-palestine-protesters-demands-full-amnesty-for-all-arrested

* "79 arrested amid second crackdown on UT-Austin campus:" https://www.texastribune.org/2024/04/30/ut-austin-protest-arrests/

* "Tensions Rise at U.N.C. Chapel Hill After Dozens of Pro-Palestinian Demonstrators Are Detained:" https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/30/nyregion/unc-chapel-hill-protests.html

* "College Crackdown Shines Spotlight on Violent Cops — Yet Again:" https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/gaza-protests-colleges-violent-cops-1235012276/

* It's almost as if negotiation were more effective than force at solving conflict, but tell that to Columbia's Admin. "At Brown University, protesters and administrators reach deal to end encampment:" https://www.npr.org/2024/05/01/1248403491/at-brown-university-protesters-and-administrators-reach-deal-to-end-encampment

* "Protests at Wesleyan University can continue under one condition:" https://www.wfsb.com/2024/05/01/peaceful-protest-continues-wesleyan-university/

* "Biden says he supports the right to protest but denounces 'chaos' and hate speech:" https://www.npr.org/2024/05/02/1248669695/biden-remarks-white-house-live

* "Republican Senators Demand Biden Use National Guard to Suppress Columbia Protests:" https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/tom-cotton-josh-hawley-biden-national-guard-columbia-1235008553/

* "Opinion: The student-led protests aren’t perfect. That doesn’t mean they’re not right.:" https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/commentary/2024/04/27/opinion-student-led-protests-arent/

* "Kent State Victim’s Sister Condemns Militarized Response To Pro-Palestinian College Protests:" https://www.huffpost.com/entry/kent-state-sister-militarized-police-college-protests-israel-gaza_n_662aa18de4b09d8df9d5e1b0

* "Toxic U.S. political themes distort view of campus Gaza protests:" https://www.msnbc.com/alex-wagner-tonight/watch/toxic-u-s-political-themes-distort-view-of-campus-gaza-protests-210099781912

* "Chris Hayes: Why campus protests are 'the easier debate':" https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/chris-hayes-why-campus-protests-are-the-easier-debate-210090565985

******

* "Russia breached global chemical weapons ban in Ukraine, U.S. says as it sanctions Chinese companies over war:" https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/russia-chemical-weapons-ban-ukraine-sanctions-china-rcna150342

---

* "'Europe could die': Macron urges stronger defenses, economic reforms:" https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/macron-aims-cement-french-influence-eu-lift-party-fortunes-with-landmark-speech-2024-04-25/

* "Once a fringe Indian ideology, Hindu nationalism is now mainstream, thanks to Modi’s decade in power:" https://apnews.com/article/india-election-narendra-modi-hindu-nationalism-rss-79c30c8ae750a9c037d86b9e2c1b640c

* "To the Sound of Gunshots, Haiti Installs a New Ruling Council:" https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/25/world/americas/haiti-council-gangs-henry.html

* "Meet the members of a transitional council tasked with choosing new leaders for beleaguered Haiti:" https://apnews.com/article/haiti-transitional-council-members-cfc792b231cd245fa704e4bcc86beb81

* "UK minister claims Rwanda is safe for gay migrants – these queer organisations disagree:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2024/04/24/rwanda-lgbt-mirgrants-bill/

* "UK's Labour claim big early win over PM Sunak's Conservatives:" https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/labour-claim-early-win-uk-vote-closely-watched-results-trickle-2024-05-03/

* "Rishi Sunak’s future hangs in the balance as Tories suffer worst local election losses in 30 years:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2024/05/03/local-elections-2024-labour-rishi-sunak-conservatives/

* "Boris Johnson turned away from voting due to his own ID law amid catastrophic Conservative results:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2024/05/03/boris-johnson-rejected-from-voting/

* "Humza Yousaf quits as Scotland’s First Minister in tearful address: ‘I will not trade in my values’:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2024/04/29/humza-yousaf-resigns/

* "Who will replace Humza Yousaf as First Minister and what does it mean for LGBTQ+ rights in Scotland?:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2024/04/29/kate-forbes-humza-yousaf-scotland-snp-lgbtq/

* "Canada Agrees 200 Islands Belong to the Indigenous Haida Nation:" https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/canada-agrees-200-islands-belong-to-the-indigenous-haida-nation/

* "Ahead of Paris Olympics, police oversee evictions, leading to charges of 'social cleansing':" https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/olympics/2024/04/17/2024-olympics-social-cleansing-paris/73353671007/

* "New Biden administration Title IX rule protects transgender and nonbinary students’ bathroom and pronoun use at school:" https://www.advocate.com/news/title-ix-rule-transgender-students

* "How did the Biden administration just make health care fairer for LGBTQ+ people?:" https://www.advocate.com/news/lgbtq-healthcare-biden-restores-protections

* "Biden Just Saved the 40-Hour Work Week:" https://newrepublic.com/article/180966/biden-overtime-rule-middle-class

* "U.S. bans noncompete agreements for nearly all jobs:" https://www.npr.org/2024/04/23/1246655366/ftc-bans-noncompete-agreements-lina-khan

* "Net neutrality restored as FCC votes to regulate internet providers:" https://apnews.com/article/net-neutrality-fcc-broadband-regulation-cc8421bc4f11a3e0f6ffc22c358fbfd0

* "Coal and new gas power plants will have to meet climate pollution targets:" https://www.npr.org/2024/04/25/1236609039/epa-power-plant-climate

* "Biden forgives more than $6 billion in loans for 317,000 Art Institutes students:" https://www.npr.org/2024/05/01/1248473475/art-institutes-student-loan-forgiveness-debt-relief

* "Biden administration poised to weaken weed restrictions, a seismic shift from decades of harsh policies:" https://www.politico.com/news/2024/04/30/biden-weed-restriction-policies-00133123

* "US Supreme Court split over Idaho's strict abortion ban in medical emergencies:" https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-supreme-court-weighs-idahos-strict-abortion-ban-medical-emergencies-2024-04-24/

* "I’m an E.R. doc. Idaho’s argument to SCOTUS reveals an ignorance of what I do.:" https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/supreme-court-idaho-abortion-ban-rcna148890

* "Idaho abortion case in front of SCOTUS is 'quite shocking':" https://www.msnbc.com/jonathan-capehart/watch/-idaho-abortion-case-in-front-of-scotus-is-quite-shocking-209833541974

* "The Trumpification of the Supreme Court:" https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2024/04/trump-presidential-inmunity-supreme-court/678193/

* "This Whole King Trump Thing Is Getting Awfully Literal:" https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/26/opinion/trump-immunity-supreme-court.html

* "Trump’s 'Absolute' Immunity Case & Campus Protests Mark Inflection Point For U.S. Constitution:" https://www.msnbc.com/ayman-mohyeldin/watch/trump-s-absolute-immunity-case-campus-protests-mark-inflection-point-for-u-s-constitution-209834053671

* "Jack Smith’s odds of putting Trump on trial this year are sinking:" https://www.politico.com/news/2024/04/25/trump-supreme-court-immunity-arguments-00154324

* "Supreme Court rejects Peter Navarro's latest bid for release from prison during appeal:" https://www.cbsnews.com/news/supreme-court-peter-navarro-rejects-prison-release-appeal/

* "Fed holds interest rates steady at highest level since 2001:" https://abcnews.go.com/Business/fed-expected-hold-interests-rates-steady-highest-level/story?id=109781151

* "We Are In A Housing Trap. Can We Escape?:"

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* "How Marjorie Taylor Greene Raises Money by Attacking Other Republicans:" https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/how-marjorie-taylor-greene-raises-money-by-attacking-other-republicans

* "Majorie Taylor Greene is planning a vote next week to oust Speaker Johnson:" https://www.npr.org/2024/05/01/1248433401/marjorie-taylor-greene-motion-to-vacate-house-speaker-mike-johnson

* "House passes antisemitism bill over complaints from First Amendment advocates:" https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/05/01/antisemitism-awarness-act-campus-protests/

* "Johnson launches House-wide probes into campus antisemitism:" https://www.politico.com/news/2024/04/30/mike-johnson-campus-antisemitism-00155253

* Stop the government censoring queer and other minority voices off the Internet in the US : https://www.stopkosa.com/

* 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/
To get your Critters' numbers to call direct: https://www.congress.gov/members/find-your-member

* 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

* Well, fuck. "Court tosses map that created second Black House district in Louisiana:" https://www.politico.com/news/2024/04/30/louisiana-court-black-house-district-00155351

* "Number of Trump Allies Facing Election Interference Charges Keeps Growing:" https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/26/us/politics/trump-election-interference-charges.html

* "Meadows, Giuliani, 11 'fake electors' from 2020 are among those indicted in Arizona:" https://www.npr.org/2024/04/24/1236998675/arizona-fake-elector-charges

* "Arizona defendant Christina Bobb plays key role on RNC election integrity team:" https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/04/26/christina-bobb-arizona-charges-rnc-election-integrity/

* "Democrats retain upstate New York congressional seat in special election:" https://apnews.com/article/special-election-congress-new-york-kennedy-dickson-e7b6956b577c63109491ccf805f0bc81

* "Meet the transgender minister representing LGBTQ+ rights in Georgia:" https://www.advocate.com/news/georgia-transgender-methodist-minister

* "Gay Pennsylvania Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta wins Democratic primary for auditor general:" https://www.advocate.com/news/malcolm-kenyatta-wins-democratic-primary

* "Assisted living home lawsuit, citations add to controversy over Hovde’s nursing home remarks:" https://wisconsinexaminer.com/2024/04/24/assisted-living-home-lawsuit-citations-add-to-controversy-over-hovdes-nursing-home-remarks/

Want to help Tammy Baldwin beat this guy? https://secure.actblue.com/donate/tammy-baldwin-4

* "Where is Mr. Rogers’ neighborhood?:" https://michiganadvance.com/2024/01/30/where-is-mr-rogers-neighborhood/

* "This G.O.P. Senate Candidate Says He Grew Up on a Family Farm. Not Exactly.:" https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/19/us/politics/dave-mccormick-farm-pennsylvania.html

* "David McCormick is gearing up for a Senate run in Pennsylvania. But he lives in Connecticut:" https://apnews.com/article/pennsylvania-mccormick-residency-mansion-connecticut-oz-e84500b848f0be7efb9f9b3c495dd066

He's the son of a wealthy college president and currently resides in Connecticut, but claims to have grown up a poor farmer. He's running in Pennsylvania, because that worked so well for Dr. Oz.

* "Montana GOP Senate candidate says he lied to ranger about gunshot wound in 2015:" https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/04/06/tim-sheehy-montana-senate-gunshot-wound-national-park/

He claims he didn't shoot himself by accident being a dumbass, but rather that he had a super secret war wound no one knew about. *sideeye*

* "GOP Star Recruit Brags About ‘Rural’ Upbringing. He Grew Up 15 Minutes From the City.:" https://www.thedailybeast.com/gop-star-recruit-tim-sheehy-brags-about-rural-upbringing-that-wasnt

* "Kari Lake says 'unfortunately' Arizona isn't enforcing 1864 abortion ban, flipping again:" https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/kari-lake-says-unfortunately-arizona-isnt-enforcing-1864-abortion-ban-rcna148948

* "Republicans assemble oddly insulting set of 2024 candidates with Senate control on the line:" https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/republicans-assemble-oddly-insulting-set-of-2024-candidates-with-senate-control-on-the-line-209943621924

* Primaries are ongoing:
Important! Remember to vote in all primaries, not just presidential!!!

NOTE: There is a call for people to vote "uncommitted" in the Democratic primary as a protest against Biden's Israel policy. The time to pressure Biden with your vote is now, not in November. The pressure from all the different types of protests do seem to be working, if far slower than we'd like.

NOTE 2: There is a similar protest against Trump where people vote for a candidate who isn't running. Check your state to see who people are promoting.

NOTE 3: Important non-Presidential Primaries are also ongoing! Vote the whole ballot!

Indiana: 5/7/24 (Governer, Senate, House Primaries as well! Important!!!)

Maryland, Nebraska, West Virginia: 5/14/24 (Senate and House Primaries as well! Important!!!)

Georgia, Kentucky, Oregon, Idaho: 5/21/24 (House Primaries as well! Important!!!)

Idaho (Democrat): 5/23/24

Texas (Run Off Election): 5/28/24


Know your state's schedule and where to vote. Make sure you and your friends are registered. If you are voting in person, plan how to get there.

If you live in an open primary state consider voting strategically. Otherwise, vote your heart in the primary. Remember how all those votes for Sanders and Warren pushed Biden and the party platform further left?

Remember to vote in all the races, not just the top of the ticket even if it's in a separate primary (as it is in my state). Who runs congress, your state, and your local government really matters. In some states this is a separate primary. Check the rules for your state.

Never, ever sleep on a chance to vote.

It is always better to vote for someone who will listen to us than to let someone who is actively trying to kill us.

* "Democrats who investigated Trump say they expect to face arrest, retaliation if he wins presidency:" https://www.cbsnews.com/news/democrats-investigated-trump-expect-arrest-retaliation-if-trump-wins/

* "Opinion: We have a radical democracy. Will Trump voters destroy it?:" https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/04/24/trump-tyranny-christian-nationalist-democracy/

* "Trump does not rule out building detention camps for mass deportations:" https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-does-not-rule-out-building-detention-camps-mass-deportations-2024-04-30/

* "Trump says he’ll use National Guard to deport migrants, doubling down on anti-immigration rhetoric:" https://apnews.com/article/immigration-trump-deport-migrants-national-guard-bdbbc8e78c66adb66047e331ced6c2d3

* "Trump Refuses to Commit to Accepting 2024 Election Results:" https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/trump-refuses-commit-accepting-2024-election-results-1235013997/

* "Trump says 'it depends' if there will be violence if he loses 2024 election to Biden:" https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-asked-violence-loses-november-election-biden-depends/story?id=109787140

* "The Trump campaign embraces Jan. 6 rioters with money and pardon promises:" https://www.npr.org/2024/01/04/1218672628/the-trump-campaign-embraces-jan-6-rioters-with-money-and-pardon-promises

* "Donald Trump says states should decide on prosecuting women for abortions, has no comment on abortion pill:" https://apnews.com/article/abortion-ban-trump-criminalize-mifepristone-election-7f43c7e9ab192ebe874a1f0b1b7ba60b

* "An oral history of how exactly Trump killed Roe v. Wade:" https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/an-oral-history-of-how-exactly-trump-killed-roe-v-wade-210089029864

* "Trump paints vivid picture of extremist plans for second term in new interview:" https://www.msnbc.com/alex-wagner-tonight/watch/trump-paints-vivid-picture-of-extremist-plans-for-second-term-in-new-interview-210018885583

* "Imperial presidency: Trump lays out plan to enlist military in deporting millions:" https://www.msnbc.com/alex-wagner-tonight/watch/imperial-presidency-trump-lays-out-plan-to-enlist-military-in-deporting-millions-210100805862

* "Donald Trump says liberals wanted him to overturn Roe v. Wade: ‘Everybody wanted this to be done!’:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2024/05/03/donald-trump-roe-v-wade/

* "Undeterred by past Big Lie failures, Trump primes followers for poll confrontations:" https://www.msnbc.com/alex-wagner-tonight/watch/undeterred-by-past-big-lie-failures-trump-primes-followers-for-poll-confrontations-210180677642

* "Chaos and division erupt at Washington Republican convention in Spokane:" https://www.opb.org/article/2024/04/20/chaos-erupts-at-washington-gop-convention-in-spokane/#:~:text=On%20Friday%2C%20the%20Washington%20State,to%20the%20party's%20own%20candidates.

* "The WA GOP put it in writing that they’re not into democracy:" https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/the-wa-gop-put-it-in-writing-that-theyre-not-into-democracy/

* "Just when you think the Arizona Republican Party couldn't get any crazier ...:" https://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/laurieroberts/2024/04/28/this-just-in-from-the-arizona-republican-party-we-be-crazy/73489433007/

* "Republican Party bears Big Lie's deep scars as Trump dances to avoid accountability:" https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/republican-party-bears-big-lie-s-deep-scars-as-trump-dances-to-avoid-accountability-209946181819

* "Inslee signed the 'strippers' bill of rights' into law. Here's what will change in Washington:" https://www.king5.com/article/news/local/inslee-signs-stripper-bill-of-rights-into-law-strip-clubs/281-666642a0-0352-4741-9b07-a010f172b407

* "Arizona lawmakers vote to undo near-total abortion ban from 1864, with Gov. Hobbs expected to sign:" https://apnews.com/article/arizona-abortion-1864-ban-repeal-24578e546b69ca087e01034bcaf4aa01

* "Mississippi Republicans fail to pass trans bathroom ban and law defining sex:" https://www.advocate.com/politics/mississippi-anti-lgbtq-bills-fail

* "Iowa governor signs bill that allows for arrest of some migrants:" https://www.cbsnews.com/news/iowa-governor-kim-reynolds-signs-bill-migrants-arrests/

* "Tennessee passes anti-trans bill to ‘intimidate families of transgender youth’:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2024/04/27/tennessee-anti-trans-bill/

* "Maine signs trans and abortion sanctuary bill into law, despite violent threats:" https://www.advocate.com/news/maine-trans-abortion-sanctuary-bill

* "Here's how Ron DeSantis is still tormenting LGBTQ+ kids after failed presidential campaign:" https://www.advocate.com/politics/ron-desantis-lgbtq-youth

* "Ted Cruz could be liable for taxes on payments from his iHeartMedia podcast, experts say :" https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas/article/ted-cruz-iheart-podcast-taxes-19416633.php

* "Parent arrested as Ryan Walters called 'bully and bigot' at Oklahoma meeting:" https://www.advocate.com/news/ryan-walters-oklahoma-meeting-arrest

* CW: Animal death. "Anti-LGBTQ+ Republican Kristi Noem brags about killing dog and goat in her new book:" https://www.advocate.com/politics/kristi-noem-book-killing-dog

* "Log Cabin Republicans chapter wishes for death of Joe Biden using 'kombucha girl' meme:" https://www.advocate.com/politics/log-cabin-republicans-biden-death

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* "Federal judge rejects Donald Trump's bid for new E. Jean Carroll defamation trial, upholds $83M judgment:" https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/federal-judge-rejects-donald-trumps-bid-new-jean/story?id=109634929

* "Donald Trump ordered to pay $9,000 for violating gag order in criminal hush money trial:" https://www.npr.org/2024/04/30/1244294199/trump-gag-order-hush-money-trial

* "Emails Reveal Top Trump Accountant Had Secret Campaign Role:" https://www.thedailybeast.com/emails-reveal-top-trump-accountant-allen-weisselberg-had-secret-campaign-role

* "Trump trial casts light on dirty side of celebrity tabloids:" https://www.msnbc.com/alex-wagner-tonight/watch/trump-trial-casts-light-on-dirty-side-of-celebrity-tabloids-210179141774

---

* "Terrorist threat stops Nashville disc golf tournament with transgender player:" https://www.advocate.com/crime/nashville-disc-golf-natalie-ryan

* "Alleged Minneapolis mass shooters charged after killing one at LGBTQ+ punk rock show:" https://www.advocate.com/crime/minneapolis-mass-shooting-punk-show-charges

* "‘Faces of Gun Violence’ exhibit unveiled at inaugural survivors’ summit:" https://www.advocate.com/news/atf-faces-of-gun-violence

* "Tennessee parents beg judge not to release school shooter’s journals publicly:" https://www.advocate.com/news/covenant-school-shooter-journals

* "NYPD officers involved in fatal shooting of gay Black man Kawaski Trawick won't be disciplined:" https://www.advocate.com/news/outrage-kawaski-trawick-no-accountability

* "Cop City's Ivory Tower: Georgia State University is Ground Zero for Militarized Policing:" https://atlpresscollective.com/2024/02/13/cop-citys-ivory-tower-georgia-state-university-is-ground-zero-for-militarized-policing/?amp=1

* "Atlanta, Egypt, and Israel police forces share ‘crowd control’ weapons and military-industrial techniques:" https://www.mainlinezine.com/atlanta-egypt-israel-police-share-crowd-control-weapons/

* "Black Alliance for Peace’s Atlanta Citywide Alliance:" https://linktr.ee/bapatlanta
https://blackallianceforpeace.com/bapstatements/tortuguitaandtyrenichols

* Map of Cop Cities planned or being built: https://isyourlifebetter.net/cop-cities-usa/

* "College students, inmates and a nun: A unique book club meets at one of the nation’s largest jails:" https://apnews.com/article/jail-book-club-nun-activist-death-penalty-6307844935bdea8de812cd67f445745f

* "Catholic college accused of bias by nonbinary former DEI director for refusing to use their pronouns:" https://www.advocate.com/education/providence-college-discrimination-dei-complaint

* "After a Pennsylvania school board canceled a gay actor's talk, the community fought back:" https://www.advocate.com/news/pennsylvania-maulik-pancholy-speech

* CW: Rape "What’s Next for Harvey Weinstein After His New York Rape Conviction Was Overturned?:" https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-news/harvey-weinstein-new-york-rape-conviction-overturned-1235010866/

* CW: Child Abuse. "I Was 6 When My Father Decided We'd Sail Around The World. I Would Be Trapped On That Boat For Nearly A Decade.:" https://www.huffpost.com/entry/wavewalker-memoir-raised-sailboat-sea_n_6536be56e4b0c85561022b16

* "Transgender health care must be paid for by state insurance, says an appeals court:" https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2024/04/29/1247896150/transgender-health-insurance-west-virginia-north-carolina-appeals-court

* "More people regret having children than having gender-affirming care, study finds:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2024/05/01/transition-regret-detransitioners/

* "Florida's 6-week abortion ban is now in effect, curbing access across the South:" https://www.npr.org/2024/05/01/1247990353/florida-6-week-abortion-ban-south

* "Emergency rooms refused to treat pregnant women, leaving one to miscarry in a lobby restroom:" https://apnews.com/article/pregnancy-emergency-care-abortion-supreme-court-roe-9ce6c87c8fc653c840654de1ae5f7a1c

* "Iraq’s criminalisation of same-sex relationships and LGBTQ+ people an ‘attack on human rights’:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2024/04/29/iraq-human-rights/

* "Drag Race Brazil host shares horrific conversion therapy experience: ‘They applied electric shocks’:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2024/05/02/grag-queen-conversion-therapy-drag-race-brazil/

* "Debate over gender-neutral language divides Germany:" https://www.politico.eu/article/debate-over-gender-inclusive-neutral-language-divides-germany/

* "Fury as Tories propose that trans women be banned from female NHS wards – and Keir Starmer agrees:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2024/05/01/tories-keir-starmer-nhs-trans-ban/

* "NHS reportedly set to remove inclusive language from documents in Tory ‘gender ideology’ crackdown:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2024/04/29/nhs-constitution-victoria-atkins/

* "Man jailed for ‘vicious homophobic attack’ on two men waiting for bus after Black Pride event:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2024/05/03/brixton-homophobic-attack/

* "Trans activist Charlie Craggs threatened with ‘beating’ minutes after giving an educational talk:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2024/05/02/charlie-craggs-speech-today/

* "Drag Queen Storytime founder defiant in face of threat to ‘cut him up and throw him into the river’:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2024/05/02/drag-queen-story-hour-liverpool/

* "United Methodist Church ends 40-year ban on LGBTQ+ clergy:" https://www.advocate.com/news/united-methodist-church-lgbtq-clergy

* "Over 90% of trans youth live in states pushing anti-trans legislation: report:" https://www.advocate.com/news/transgender-youth-state-laws

* CW: Suicide. "Anti-LGBTQ+ laws lead to 'public health crisis' with higher suicide rates among queer youth:" https://www.advocate.com/news/anti-lgbtq-laws-suicide-youth

* "Anti-Trans Legislative Risk Assessment Map: May 2024 Update:" https://www.advocate.com/anti-trans-legislation-risk-map

* "Arkansas sued over new restrictions on driver's license gender markers:" https://www.advocate.com/law/arkansas-drivers-license-gender

* "Community mourns Las Vegas trans woman stabbed ‘in broad daylight’: ‘She was something special’:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2024/05/03/sasha-williams-death/

* "Trans woman Andrea Doria Dos Passos beaten to death in Miami Beach; arrest made:" https://www.advocate.com/crime/transgender-woman-killed-miami-beach

* "Serial killer of gay men in New Orleans released after 46 years in prison:" https://www.advocate.com/crime/louisiana-killer-gay-men-paroled

* "Teen girls who protested against trans athlete plan to sue after being ‘barred from future events’:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2024/05/02/trans-athlete-school-board-lawsuit-becky-pepper-jackson/

* "A visual history of lesbian activism from around the world: 58 images of dyke marches:" https://www.advocate.com/lesbian/lesbian-activismfrom-around-the-world

* "‘Only 15 people in the world have my condition’: Disability activist uses TikTok to raise awareness:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2024/04/28/dylan-lombard/

* "Human infections from rat urine on the rise in New York City:" https://abcnews.go.com/US/human-infections-rat-urine-rise-new-york-city/story?id=109339745

* "Wildfire smoke contributes to thousands of deaths each year in the U.S.:" https://www.npr.org/2024/04/18/1245068810/wildfire-smoke-contributes-to-thousands-of-deaths-each-year-in-the-u-s

---

---

* "Once praised, settlement to help sickened BP oil spill workers leaves most with nearly nothing:" https://apnews.com/article/gulf-spill-lawsuits-bp-health-chemical-exposure-f3845a3cb9da869d2689452a7dec0c9c?

* "Internet data centers are fueling drive to old power source: Coal:" https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/interactive/2024/data-centers-internet-power-source-coal/

* "You Can Still Die From World War I Dangers in France’s Red Zones:" https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/red-zones-in-france

* "The cloud under the sea:" https://www.theverge.com/c/24070570/internet-cables-undersea-deep-repair-ships

* "Suburbs Are Failing Us (for now...):"

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* "How the UN is Holding Back the Sahara Desert:"

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* "Recoding Voyager 1—NASA’s interstellar explorer is finally making sense again:" https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/04/recoding-voyager-1-nasas-interstellar-explorer-is-finally-making-sense-again/

* "A strange fungus could transform emerging cicadas into ‘saltshakers of death,’ scientists say:" https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/15/world/cicada-fungus-zombie-scn/index.html

* "Most people are disgusted by these animals. These New Yorkers are filling their homes with them.:" https://www.vox.com/climate/24112595/new-york-city-wildlife-rehabilitators-pigeons-opossums-squirrels

* "Ancient Fashion: The Oldest Pieces of Clothing and Accessories Ever Found:" https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/oldest-clothing-accessories-in-history/

* "The Former Slave Who Became a Cowboy, a Rancher, and a Texas Legend:" https://archive.is/2evqk#selection-2236.0-2236.1

* "This Chinese American Aviatrix Overcame Racism to Fly for the U.S. During World War II:" https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/this-chinese-american-aviatrix-overcame-racism-to-fly-for-the-us-during-world-war-ii-180984196/

* "Did London Have Segregation?: The London History Show:"

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* "How the FBI Destroyed the Careers of 41 Women in TV and Radio:" https://thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/how-the-fbi-destroyed-the-careers-of-progressive-women/

* "New Jersey Rep. Donald Payne Jr. Dies at 65, Just 3 Weeks After Heart Attack:" https://www.thedailybeast.com/new-jersey-rep-donald-payne-jr-dies-at-65-just-3-weeks-after-heart-attack

* "Conjoined twins Lori Schappell and trans man George Schappell dead at 62:" https://www.advocate.com/obituaries/conjoined-twins-trans-man-schappell

* 4/28/24: A massive bureaucracy packet arrived Wednesday afternoon. Sigh. It is exhausting and on top of everything handwriting with my dominant hand is difficult and unpleasant. There is nothing for it. i need the packet finished and out so I can focus on the other bureaucracy that arrived Tuesday. and Physio. And Everything else. It's time sensitive anyway.

Thursday I was still recovering from physio and I had to stay up for the cleaner. (Two times in a row! Things are clean!). Friday I spent a couple hours doing phone bureaucracy, mostly on hold. It'd be faster if Social security voice bot believed in my weird foreign name. Sigh.

Saturday was the Great Sorting. Sunday should be Actual Paperwork. I need Squirrel to print a thing out for me too which is always a drama and requires carrying the printer around.

And then there's the waiting for Things to Arrive in the Mail and the field trip to turn things in which involves highway driving, which I can hopefully manage at that point. *fingers crossed*

My arm still emphatically does not want to go up. I have devised an extra low impact stretch for myself where I rest it on the desk podium where Klaus laptop used to set before the Emperor executed Aidan lap top. It seems small and stupid, but is clearly a lot less dangerous than the official upward arm stretch. I do it in small batches when reading longer things on the internet. I wish I could do it Instead of, but I know better.

Goth Millennial has been very busy in the garden, which is needful. They are moving soon and have decided that they won't need metal outdoor shelving they had been using indoors at their place. They are therefore constructing more plant shelving on the patio. Livia is pretty sure it is actually the zombie hoard coming to get her. The garden is going pretty well despite the weird chill that has persisted most of April despite the weird late March heat wave. Climate change is do weird shit to our weather patterns.

* 5/3/24:
Monday was fire inspection. This involves about an hour of teeth rattling sirens at random interval and a Stranger in Boots invading the cat asylum. As a result, the cats have been incredibly stressed out all week, though things were finally settling down as of Thursday.

Squirrel has been having an ongoing medical issue that got acute enough that on Tuesday they agreed to fit him in extremely early Wednesday morning. I was able to cancel my medical transport for arm torture, and took him. While he was in there I cashed a bunch of the May OTC at the pharmacy and took my bureaucracy packet in to the office where it goes. The timing was excellent. I was a few blocks away when they released squirrel and there was just time enough to take him to his referral for more testing and then drop him home before my appointment. (Everyone's being reasonable about the situation including his employer. I feel a lot better knowing they are checking properly to rule out more serious things.)

Arm torture is arm torture. The new PT is really nice and a delight. We are at the lots and lots of stupid little exercise phase still. (The exercises are correct and there is already noticeable improvement, but they are also emotionally unsatisfying. It is hard to explain. This is probably an ex-athlete psychology problem. In any case, I am being good and not pushing dangerously hard. I dropped stuff my body was not up to Monday evening like I'm supposed to. I am doing everything I reasonably can, which is all of it most days. I am working the program). He added two extra ones to help my arm with the doesn't want to go up issue.

* CW: Animal Death "Kristi Noem, Puppy Killer | Did Trump Fart In Court? | Why Pecker Wouldn’t Pay Stormy Daniels:"

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* "Palestinians say Israeli troops fired at people seeking food. Israel says scene was deadly stampede:" https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-war-news-02-29-2024-f9b5a62a80d8b83eac4946d3c85af58b

* "Israel’s Cultural Genocide Is Destroying Gaza’s Very Memory:" https://www.thenation.com/article/world/gaza-cultural-genocide/

* "US military aircraft airdrop thousands of meals into Gaza in emergency humanitarian aid operation:" https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-gaza-airdrop-humanitarian-assistance-f8bc071193f89906abf21478bc70a084

* "'One step away from famine' for more than 500,000 people in Gaza, UN official says:" https://abcnews.go.com/International/half-million-people-gaza-one-step-from-famine-un-official/story?id=107630405

* "These babies were rescued from Gaza. What future awaits them?:" https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/02/15/gaza-babies-shifa-hospital-egypt/

* "Palestine Children’s Relief Fund:" https://pcrf1.app.neoncrm.com/forms/gaza-recovery

* Verified charities to help Palestinians: https://cleolinda.tumblr.com/post/737312194805612544

* Fundraisers for Gaza: https://www.tumblr.com/el-shab-hussein/742344297699999744/hi-if-its-okay-i-saw-you-were-boosting?source=share

******

* "Israel and Hamas indicate no deal is imminent after Biden signals Gaza cease-fire could be close:" https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-war-news-02-27-2024-e17abedeaf5a005fcd5e7095fecacb7a

******

* "Two Years of War in Ukraine:" https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2024/02/photos-two-years-war-ukraine/677519/

* Republicans are playing politics with Ukrainian lives and freedom by siding with Russia. "Surprisingly Weak Ukrainian Defenses Help Russian Advance:" https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/03/02/world/europe/ukraine-defenses-avdiivka.html

---

* "Billionaire politicians have become ‘shockingly common’ around the world, new study finds:" https://www.cnbc.com/2023/10/26/billionaire-politicians-shockingly-common-study.html

* "Why the 2024 elections will be a turning point for LGBTQ+ rights all over the world:" https://www.advocate.com/voices/maria-sjodin

* "It’s official: Sweden to join NATO: Hungary finally lets Sweden into the military alliance, dealing a blow to Russia.:" https://www.politico.eu/article/sweden-to-join-nato/

* "Russians embrace hope amid despair as Alexei Navalny says his final goodbye:" https://apnews.com/article/russia-alexei-navalny-funeral-c67cba86f99c0190cb3640c9e3fe67e8

* "US: Ex-FBI counterintelligence agent aided Russian oligarch:" https://www.kcra.com/article/ex-fbi-counterintelligence-agent-aided-russian-oligarch/42627263

* "A Canadian family moved to Russia to escape ‘wokeness’ and LGBTQ+ people. It did not go well:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2024/02/21/canadian-family-moved-to-russia-to-escape-wokeness/

* "An online dump of Chinese hacking documents offers a rare window into pervasive state surveillance:" https://apnews.com/article/china-cybersecurity-leak-document-dump-spying-aac38c75f268b72910a94881ccbb77cb

* "Something’s Fishy About the ‘Migrant Crisis’:" https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/02/asylum-seekers-migrant-crisis/677464/

* "Texas law allowing police to arrest migrants suspected of being in country illegally blocked by federal judge:" https://www.texastribune.org/2024/02/29/texas-arrest-migrant-illegal-senate-bill-4-blocked/

* "FTC and 9 states sue to block Kroger-Albertsons supermarket merger:" https://www.npr.org/2024/02/26/1232948796/ftc-lawsuit-krogers-albertsons-grocery-merger

* "Out State Dept. official Ned Price to be deputy to U.N. ambassador:" https://www.advocate.com/news/ned-price-deputy-ambassador

* "Supreme Court justices appear skeptical of Texas and Florida social media laws:" https://www.npr.org/2024/02/26/1233506273/supreme-court-social-media-laws

* "Supreme Court leaves sanctions in place against Sidney Powell and others over 2020 election suit in Michigan:" https://www.cbsnews.com/news/supreme-court-trump-sanctions-lawyers-sidney-powell-2020-election-michigan/#:~:text=Washington%20%E2%80%94%20The%20Supreme%20Court%20on,election%20was%20rife%20with%20fraud.

* "Bump-stock ban comes before Supreme Court:" https://www.scotusblog.com/2024/02/bump-stock-ban-comes-before-supreme-court/

* "SCOTUS torn on 'shooting device so horrifying even Trump wanted it banned':" https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/scotus-torn-on-shooting-device-so-horrifying-even-trump-wanted-it-banned-205314629675

* End of April! Fuck!!! "Supreme Court agrees to consider Trump immunity claim in further delay of election interference trial:" https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/supreme-court-decide-trumps-immunity-claim-election-interference-case-rcna139026

* "‘The fix is in’: Coup trial delay reveals Supreme Court ‘in cahoots’ with Trump:" https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/-the-fix-is-in-coup-trial-delay-reveals-supreme-court-in-cahoots-with-trump-205146693530

* "‘This is B.S.’: Maddow shreds ‘cravenness’ of Supreme Court delaying Trump trial:" https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/-this-is-b-s-maddow-shreds-cravenness-of-supreme-court-delaying-trump-trial-205144645897

* "'Historic proof': If the Supreme Court wanted to move quickly it could:" https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/-historic-proof-if-the-supreme-court-wanted-to-move-quickly-it-could-205232709938

* "'Republicans in robes': Supreme Court critics see politics behind action on Trump immunity case:" https://www.msnbc.com/alex-wagner-tonight/watch/-republicans-in-robes-supreme-court-critics-see-politics-behind-action-on-trump-immunity-case-205156933869

* "Chris Hayes Extended Interview:"

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* "Exxon, Chevron ask US Supreme Court to toss ruling in Honolulu climate change suit:" https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/exxon-chevron-ask-us-supreme-court-toss-ruling-honolulu-climate-change-suit-2024-02-28/

* "Republican states can't join appeal in abortion pill case, Supreme Court rules:" https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/republican-states-cant-join-appeal-abortion-pill-case-supreme-court-rules-2024-02-20/

* "145 GOP Members of Congress Ask Supreme Court to Slash Access to the Abortion Pill:" https://www.jezebel.com/145-gop-members-of-congress-ask-supreme-court-to-slash-access-to-the-abortion-pill

* "Justice Samuel Alito wishes homophobia was acceptable:" https://www.advocate.com/news/samuel-alito-supports-homophobia

* "Samuel Alito is afraid of being called a bigot? Jim Obergefell has heard far worse (exclusive):" https://www.advocate.com/people/alito-jim-obergefell-homophobia

* "The Scandal of Clarence Thomas’s New Clerk:" https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-scandal-of-clarence-thomass-new-clerk?utm_social-type=owned&mbid=social_twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_brand=tny&utm_source=twitter

* "These are the regressive work culture trends currently fuelling the unfair LGBTQ+ pay gap:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2024/03/01/lgbtq-pay-gap-2/

* "Feds cite meatpacking cleaning company for 'oppressive child labor' practices:" https://abc7chicago.com/feds-cite-meatpacking-cleaning-company-for-oppressive-child-labor/14458692/

* "A Life Without a Home:" https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/02/21/opinion/homelessness-crisis-america-stories.html?unlocked_article_code=1.XE0.FDQj.MKmUIJ2sijGj&utm_source=DamnInteresting

* "Congress passes stopgap spending bill, preventing a partial government shutdown:" https://www.npr.org/2024/02/28/1234679367/congress-spending-deal-government-shutdown

* ""The clue phone is ringing. Pick it up.": Rep. Balint hammers GOP for failure to draft long-term spending deal:" https://www.msnbc.com/jonathan-capehart/watch/-the-clue-phone-is-ringing-pick-it-up-rep-balint-hammers-gop-for-failure-to-draft-long-term-spending-deal-205345349602

* "Russian Dolls Trump has finally remade Republicans into Putin’s playthings.:" https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/donald-trump-republicans-vladimir-putin-puppets.html

* "Poland warns US House speaker: you're to blame if Russia advances in Ukraine:" https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/west-must-help-ukraine-more-prevent-spillover-polish-fm-says-2024-02-26/

* "Nearly two dozen European parliament leaders urge Johnson to act on Ukraine aid:" https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2024/02/28/congress/international-plea-for-johnson-ukraine-aid-house-republicans-00143828

* Extended Bernie Sanders interview: https://www.msnbc.com/alex-wagner-tonight/watch/-we-need-to-do-more-sanders-calls-for-increased-pressure-on-netanyahu-to-ease-suffering-in-gaza-205318213937

https://www.msnbc.com/alex-wagner-tonight/watch/where-sen-bernie-sanders-finds-optimism-amid-dismal-politics-205320773852

* "Ex-FBI informant will remain in jail while awaiting trial on charges of lying to FBI about Bidens:" https://www.politico.com/news/2024/02/26/fbi-informant-smirnov-hearing-california-00143335

* "Mitch McConnell will step down as Senate minority leader in November:" https://www.npr.org/2024/02/28/1163447619/mitch-mcconnell-steps-down

* "Enabling Trump, distorting the Supreme Court define McConnell legacy as he exits leadership:" https://www.msnbc.com/alex-wagner-tonight/watch/enabling-trump-distorting-the-supreme-court-define-mcconnell-legacy-as-he-exits-leadership-205159493682

* "Hyde-Smith blocks Senate vote on federal IVF protections:" https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2024/02/28/congress/blocks-ivf-vote-gop-senate-protections-00143918

* "Pelosi rips GOP anti-IVF bill: They 'need a lesson in the bird and the bees’:" https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/pelosi-rips-gop-anti-ivf-bill-they-need-a-lesson-in-the-bird-and-the-bees-205236293634

* "GOP spins in circles to reconcile anti-abortion zeal with public IVF support:" https://www.msnbc.com/alex-wagner-tonight/watch/gop-spins-in-circles-to-reconcile-anti-abortion-zeal-with-public-ivf-support-205322821774

* 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/
To get your Critters' numbers to call direct: https://www.congress.gov/members/find-your-member

* 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

* "New York Democrats reject bipartisan congressional map, will draw their own:" https://apnews.com/article/new-york-congress-redistricting-house-elections-4b8768b63e0ab7a05d184a52f8979968

* "The first trans voting centre in the US is set to open in Los Angeles:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2024/03/02/vote-centers-in-los-angeles-county/

* "Wisconsin ethics panel recommends felony charges against Trump committee, lawmaker:" https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-wisconsin-vos-ethics-7d5dd7fd8d2da6001634a747b683b748

* "Federal judge affirms MyPillow’s Mike Lindell must pay $5M in election data dispute:" https://apnews.com/article/mike-lindell-election-denial-arbitration-award-a9b27dd8d37eab1d0f22111566feba93

* "Elon Musk Is Spreading Election Misinformation, but X’s Fact Checkers Are Long Gone:" https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/25/us/politics/elon-musk-election-misinformation-x-twitter.html

* "Calls to 'fight' and echoes of Jan. 6 embraced by CPAC attendees:" https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/jack-posobiec-jan-6-2024-cpac-rcna140225

* "MAGA Republican Pledges “End of Democracy” to Rabid Cheers at CPAC:" https://newrepublic.com/post/179247/jack-posobiec-democracy-cpac-2024

* This IS the Republican Mainstream now. "Nazis mingle openly at CPAC, spreading antisemitic conspiracy theories and finding allies:" https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/nazis-mingle-openly-cpac-spreading-antisemitic-conspiracy-theories-fin-rcna140335

* "Matt Schlapp: “We have to intimidate, in the nicest of ways, all these elected officials that continue to flout the law”:" https://www.mediamatters.org/charlie-kirk/matt-schlapp-we-have-intimidate-nicest-ways-all-these-elected-officials-continue-flout

* "New Matt Schlapp Subpoenas Target Document-Shredding at CPAC:" https://www.thedailybeast.com/new-matt-schlapp-subpoenas-target-doc-shredding-at-cpac

* "Ohio Law Requires a Transgender Man to Use His Deadname on State Legislature Ballot:" https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2024/02/ohio-law-requires-a-transgender-man-to-use-his-deadname-on-state-legislature-ballot/

* "Republican Opposition to Birth Control Bill Could Alienate Voters, Poll Finds:" https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/26/us/politics/republicans-birth-control-ivf.html

* "Maddow: With each new election cycle, Republicans accept Russian help with greater ease:" https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/with-each-new-election-cycle-republicans-accept-russian-help-with-greater-ease-204987461939

* Presidential Primaries are ongoing:

NOTE: There is now a call for people to vote "uncommitted" in the Democratic primary as a protest against Biden's Israel policy, I have voted that way in my up coming primary. The time to pressure Biden with your vote is now, not in November. The more of us who do this the more likely he'll actually do something.

District of Columbia: (Republicans), 3/3/24

North Dakota: (Republicans), 3/4/24

Alabama, Alaska (Republicans), Arkansas, California, Colorado, Iowa (Democrats), Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, American Samoa (Democrats): 3/5/24

Hawaii: (Democrats): 3/6/24

American Samoa (Republicans): 3/8/24

Know your state's schedule and where to vote. Make sure you and your friends are registered. If you are voting in person, plan how to get there.

If you live in an open primary state consider voting strategically. Otherwise, vote your heart in the primary. Remember how all those votes for Sanders and Warren pushed Biden and the party platform further left?

Remember to vote in all the races, not just the top of the ticket even if it's in a separate primary (as it is in my state). Who runs congress, your state, and your local government really matters. In some states this is a separate primary. Check the rules for your state.

Never, ever sleep on a chance to vote.

It is always better to vote for someone who will listen to us than to let someone who is actively trying to kill us.

* "Magician says political consultant hired him to create AI Biden robocall ahead of New Hampshire primary:" https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/magician-says-political-consultant-hired-him-to-create-ai-biden-robocall-ahead-of-new-hampshire-primary

* "Biden's substantive border visit exposes hollow Trump stunt:" https://www.msnbc.com/alex-wagner-tonight/watch/biden-s-substantive-border-visit-exposes-hollow-trump-stunt-205246021788

* "The push to vote 'uncommitted' to Biden in Michigan exceeds goal:" https://www.npr.org/2024/02/27/1234279958/biden-uncommitted-democrats-michigan-primary-election-2024-

* "Inside the Democratic rebellion against Biden over the Gaza war:" https://www.reuters.com/world/us/inside-democratic-rebellion-against-biden-over-gaza-war-2024-02-27/

* "'He needs to listen to us': Gaza ceasefire activists make statement in Michigan Democratic primary:" https://www.msnbc.com/alex-wagner-tonight/watch/gaza-ceasefire-activists-make-statement-as-uncommitted-in-michigan-democratic-primary-205070917730

* I have already done this. "Push for WA Democrats to vote ‘uncommitted’ instead of for Biden in March 12 primary picks up steam:" https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/push-for-wa-democrats-to-vote-uncommitted-instead-of-for-biden-in-march-12-primary-picks-up-steam/

* "Washington state’s largest labor union endorses ‘uncommitted’ over Biden:" https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/washington-states-largest-labor-union-endorses-uncommitted-biden-rcna141139

* "Colorado "noncommitted" campaign launches Biden protest ahead of Super Tuesday primary:" https://www.axios.com/local/denver/2024/02/29/colorado-noncommitted-primary-vote-biden-protest-super-tuesday

* "Trump's 'rambling and incoherent' victory speech leads to Maddow bestowing new nickname:" https://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/watch/-uncle-ramble-standers-see-maddow-shred-trump-s-messy-south-carolina-victory-speech-204867141905

* "Trump wins Missouri, Michigan and Idaho caucuses, CBS News projects:" https://www.cbsnews.com/news/donald-trump-wins-missouri-michigan-idaho-republican-caucuses/

* "Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis rule out being US election running mates as their bickering continues:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2024/02/27/donald-trump-ron-desantis-not-running-mates-2024-election/

* "Illinois judge rules Trump ineligible for Republican primary ballot over Jan. 6 riot:" https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/illinois-judge-rules-trump-removed-republican-primary-ballot-jan-6-rio-rcna141065

* "The Pro-life Movement’s Not-So-Secret Plan for Trump:" https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2024/02/donald-trump-abortion-limit-republicans/677540/

* "Inside Trump's plan for mass deportations: 'America is going to target people who are not white':" https://www.msnbc.com/jonathan-capehart/watch/inside-trump-s-plan-for-mass-deportations-america-is-going-to-target-people-who-are-not-white-204901957994

* "'Burn it all down': Rule-of-law stands as bulwark against Trumpian lies, so he attacks it:" https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/rule-of-law-stands-as-bulwark-against-trumpian-lies-so-he-attacks-it-204991557767

* "An RNC member is trying to stop the party from paying Donald Trump’s legal bills:" https://apnews.com/article/trump-republican-national-committee-stop-legal-bills-ff51a7ae8b5d872344e64a9a18851350

* The Republican War on Bodily Autonomy continues. "An uptick in state personhood bills fuels growing fears over IVF restrictions:" https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/personhood-bills-ivf-restrictions-alabama-rcna140228

* "Alabama Senate and House pass bills to protect IVF after court ruling:" https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/alabama-senate-house-pass-bills-protect-ivf-rcna141184

* "The anti-trans legislation risk map: A state by state breakdown:" https://www.advocate.com/politics/anti-trans-laws-by-state

* "Wyoming bill could take trans kids from parents:" https://www.advocate.com/politics/wyoming-bill-could-take-kids

* "Mississippi bill would let those incarcerated sue state over trans inmates:" https://www.advocate.com/politics/mississippi-bill-trans-inmates

* "Florida LGBTQ+ activist is forcibly removed at a House hearing on gun laws:" https://www.advocate.com/politics/florida-lgbtq-activist-removed

* "LGBTQ+ community marches to Florida capitol en masse in powerful protest against Trans Erasure Bill:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2024/02/29/lgbtq-community-marches-to-florida-capitol-in-powerful-protest-against-trans-erasure-bill/

* "Good news: Utah kills bill banning LGBTQ+ Pride flags in classrooms:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2024/02/27/good-news-utah-kills-bill-banning-lgbtq-pride-flags-in-classrooms/

* "Montana issues rule banning gender marker changes on birth certificates:" https://www.advocate.com/news/montana-bans-trans-birth-certificates

* The Republican War on Marriage and Freedom continues. "Tennessee GOP quietly overturns marriage equality by giving officials the right to refuse:" https://www.advocate.com/politics/tennessee-marriage-licenses-officials-lgbtq

* CW: Suicide "West Virginia Republicans want to prevent suicidal transgender youth from receiving care:" https://www.advocate.com/politics/west-virginia-trans-care-suicide

* "Michael Whatley officially announces for RNC Chair:" https://www.politico.com/news/2024/02/26/michael-whatley-officially-announces-for-rnc-chair-00143364

* "America's first Black gay statewide elected official on being authentic and confident:" https://www.advocate.com/politics/erick-russell-black-gay-trailblzer

* "Virginia lieutenant governor misgenders trans senator Danica Roem, calling her ‘sir’:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2024/02/27/virginia-lt-gov-winsome-earle-sears-misgenders-trans-senator-danica-roem/

* "Fury as Oklahoma senator calls LGBTQ+ people ‘filth’ after being asked about Nex Benedict’s death:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2024/02/26/oklahoma-senator-tom-woods-lgbtq-filth-nex-benedict/

* "Utah governor condemns, censures transphobic school board member:" https://www.advocate.com/politics/utah-governor-condems-natalie-cline

* "Anti-LGBTQ+ congresswoman Lauren Boebert’s son arrested for alleged Colorado crime spree:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2024/02/28/anti-lgbtq-congresswoman-lauren-boeberts-son-arrested-for-alleged-colorado-crime-spree/

* "Watch Libs of TikTok’s Chaya Raichik exposed in stunning, cringe-worthy interview:" https://www.advocate.com/news/taylor-lorenz-chaya-raichik-interview

* "PETITION: Remove Libs of Tik Tok (Chaya Raichik) From Oklahoma Library Board:" https://www.fightforthefirst.org/petitions/petition-remove-libs-of-tik-tok-chaya-raichik-from-oklahoma-library-board

---

* "Appellate judge refuses to halt Trump’s $454 million fraud penalty while he appeals:" https://apnews.com/article/trump-james-appeal-bond-fraud-new-york-3093352e94274f9daba3d84f0c43467e

* "Architect of Trump's social media deal sues to block transaction:" https://www.reuters.com/legal/architect-trumps-social-media-deal-sues-block-transaction-2024-02-29/

* "Trump Wants a Break on $464 Million Judgment. The AG Says Trump Is Sneaking Assets to Florida.:" https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-wants-a-break-on-dollar464-million-judgment-the-ag-says-trump-is-sneaking-assets-to-florida

* "Scrambling to keep his fortune from being stripped away, Trump may have gone too far:" https://www.msnbc.com/alex-wagner-tonight/watch/scrambling-to-keep-his-fortune-from-being-stripped-away-trump-may-have-gone-too-far-205246021886

* "Donald Trump’s team tries to prevent porn star Stormy Daniels testifying at hush-money trial:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2024/02/28/donald-trump-stormy-daniels-block-testimony-hush-money-trial/

* "“More indictments await”: Experts say Jan. 6 architect’s secret tweets may lead to "felony charges”:" https://www.salon.com/2024/02/27/more-indictments-await-experts-say-jan-6-architects-secret-tweets-may-lead-to-felony-charges/

* "True the Vote fails to reveal evidence of Georgia voting fraud claims:" https://www.ajc.com/politics/true-the-vote-tells-court-it-has-no-records-to-back-up-fraud-claims/77FJUQMWBZFYHEYVF6M54BUBDQ/

* "Listen to Fani Willis' fiery testimony: 'You lied':" https://www.msnbc.com/jonathan-capehart/watch/listen-to-fani-willis-fiery-testimony-you-lied-204455493616

* "Key Witness Against Fani Willis Completely Crumbles on the Stand:" https://newrepublic.com/post/179339/key-witness-georgia-fani-willis-crumbles

* "Judge: I may not need more evidence to decide:" https://www.ajc.com/politics/judge-i-may-not-need-more-evidence-to-decide/3PXR5GV2AZEEJKU35XOCJM4B6A/

* "Judge Cannon signals doubts about Jack Smith’s timeline for Trump trial in Florida:" https://www.politico.com/news/2024/03/01/judge-cannon-signals-doubts-about-jack-smiths-timeline-for-trump-trial-in-florida-00144449

* "'Ice her': The likely scheme behind Trump's proposed start date for his classified documents trial:" https://www.msnbc.com/alex-wagner-tonight/watch/-ice-her-the-likely-scheme-behind-trump-s-proposed-start-date-for-his-classified-documents-trial-205248069764

---

* "More than 60 religious institutions have been targeted for supporting LGBTQ+ rights: report:" https://www.advocate.com/news/lgbtq-religious-institutions-report

* This is from several years ago, but I've been thinking about it lately. "You’re My Line:" https://storycorps.org/animation/youre-my-line/

* "WHY THE MOST EDUCATED PEOPLE IN AMERICA FALL FOR ANTI-SEMITIC LIES:" https://archive.is/20240216133850/https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/02/jewish-anti-semitism-harvard-claudine-gay-zionism/677454/

* "How American Gun Culture Fuels Anti-Immigrant Politics:" https://www.thetrace.org/2024/02/us-gun-culture-immigration-politics/

* "'It is historic': US poised to see record drop in yearly homicides despite public concern over crime:" https://abcnews.go.com/US/homicide-numbers-poised-hit-record-decline-nationwide-americans/story?id=105556400

* "Debunking the right-wing myth of the ‘migrant crime surge’:" https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/debunking-the-right-wing-myth-of-the-migrant-crime-surge-205235269880

* "Man convicted in first federal hate crime trial based on gender identity for murder of Black trans woman:" https://www.advocate.com/crime/federal-hate-crime-gender-identity

* "Charges dropped against Florida family accused of blinding gay man in brutal assault:" https://www.advocate.com/crime/makarenko-family-charges-dropped

* "Watch alarming video of Nex Benedict explaining to police that they were bullied:" https://www.advocate.com/news/nex-benedict-police-video

* "Federal investigation opens into Owasso Public Schools after death of Nex Benedict:" https://www.advocate.com/news/federal-investigation-nex-benedict

* "In Oklahoma, a bathroom law and other policies endanger transgender residents:" https://www.advocate.com/transgender/oklahoma-bathroom-law-dangers

* "Karine Jean-Pierre ‘absolutely heartbroken’ over Oklahoma teen Nex Benedict’s death:" https://www.advocate.com/news/white-house-highlights-nex-benedict

* "How you can support queer and trans kids in Oklahoma after Nex Benedict’s death:" https://www.advocate.com/news/how-to-help-trans-kids

* "Historic $1 Billion Donation to N.Y.C. Medical School Means Students Won't Have to Pay Tuition Anymore:" https://people.com/usd1-billion-donation-n-y-c-medical-school-students-are-tuition-free-8600732

* "West Virginia Republicans want to prosecute 'pedophile librarians' over 'obscene' material:" https://www.advocate.com/politics/west-virginia-obscene-matter-books

* "Texas high school faces backlash after cancelling upcoming LGBTQ+ play The Laramie Project:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2024/02/29/matthew-shepard-play/

* CW: Rape, CSA. "Sarah Everard’s killer Wayne Couzens ‘should never have been a police officer’, inquiry finds:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2024/03/01/sarah-everard-wayne-couzens/

* CW: CSA "Police officer quits after sending ’14-year-old boy’ Grindr messages: ‘Let’s see this skinny bod’:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2024/03/01/anthony-french/

* CW: Sexual Assault. "Conservative anti-gay movement built on foundation of questionable credibility:" https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/conservative-anti-gay-movement-built-on-foundation-of-questionable-credibility-204988997940

* CW: Sexual Assault "Album producer accuses Diddy of sexual assault and forcing him to sleep with sex workers:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2024/02/27/sean-diddy-combs-accused-sexual-assault-male-producer/

* "Women take part in Japan’s Naked Man festival for first time in 1000 years:" https://www.nzherald.co.nz/travel/women-take-part-in-japans-naked-man-festival-for-first-time-in-1000-years/BG5RWUZ5HFE5VMO3TPRDKM6RTU/

* It IS work. "Most British people think that sex work should be legal, but is it ‘real work’?:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2024/03/01/most-british-people-think-that-sex-work-should-be-legal-but-is-it-real-work/

* "World’s largest psych organisation says ‘damaging’ gender affirming care bans are wrong:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2024/02/29/gender-affirming-care-report-american-psychological-association/

* "Family planning and fertility services grind to halt in Alabama after devastating ruling:" https://www.advocate.com/news/fertility-services-alabama

* "‘Wake up, America’: Birth control, IVF in jeopardy under GOP, warns Porter:" https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/-wake-up-america-birth-control-ivf-in-jeopardy-under-gop-warns-porter-205312069829

* "A South Carolina woman was forced to leave the state for an abortion. Now, she's suing:" https://www.advocate.com/south-carolina-woman-abortion

* Help Queer Folks in Ghana: https://www.silentmajorityghana.com/donate

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* "Richard Lewis, Comedian and ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ Star, Dies at 76:" https://variety.com/2024/tv/news/richard-lewis-dead-comedian-curb-your-enthusiasm-1235925744/

* I have lost track of how many missed cleaning appointments there were. It's been weeks. I've been scheduling twice a week since November in hopes of getting one a month. Which is annoying, but not nightmarish right now, but gets ugly fast in March, when Goth Millennial is going to burn through all their hours fast taking care of me post surgery.

The Millennials are working out a cooking schedule between them, but this is a huge load on Goth Millennial's shoulders.

Basically the company Medicare is out sourcing to is falling apart because treating their contract workers like shit and lying to them about things like mileage compensation when hiring them is a terrible business model in this economy on top of being an incredible shitty way to treat humans. My decision to start calling them the Asshole Agency within a week or two of starting to deal with them continues to be vindicated. The workers there need a union since the company is devoted to it's assholery, but I get why it's easier to quit.

The system is collapsing, basically. The Medicare advantage people know this and are "discussing options."

So Friday I spent hours playing phone tag with local volunteer organizations trying to get six weeks of help, but those systems are already flooded with people who are supposed to be getting Medicare advantage help, but can't because the Asshole agency isn't sending people and hasn't been for months. Still, I was hoping a short term acute need might get me in. The secular one got right back to me. They are full up. No word yet from the Catholics and the group that coordinates a bunch of protestant organizations.

I have been told over and over to try to get a church involved, but I'm not Christian and it feels weird, especially since most of my contacts with Christian strangers in the last couple decades involve aggressive proselytizers. I have Christian friends who are cool. I have no beef with the Quakers or the Unitarians or the Episcopalians or the Catholics who are trying to change things from within (Nuns on a Bus, queer friends trying to push their parish left) or what have you. I do have a beef with extremists, which most evangelicals are and the more conservative strands of catholic, orthodox, and Protestantism and there are a lot of door to door Mormons, Jehovah's witnesses, etc. in my part of the country.

Look, a had late family members who were very involved in their churches who were decent people with reasonable views. I was a Queer Medievalist and I have some sexy late medieval saint pin ups to prove it mixed in with all my other art, some of which references assorted other religions, despite never having been Catholic. I have a Quaker friend closer to me than my own sister.

I just... Christian religious strangers in my house make me uncomfortable as a queer non-Christian in a country where Christo-fascists are trying to make me literally illegal.

I know it would likely be fine. I did fine and made lots of friends at University which doing a major that is mostly Catholics, Ex-Catholics, and people in the process of converting. I come from a debate culture. I can quote scripture like Satan. ;) I was in Philosophy before I dropped out and moved west and switched to History in one form or another. I can talk theology across a whole lot of denominations and the major "heresies." I just don't want to anymore and I haven't wanted to for a long time. That was long ago and far away when I wasn't so exhausted and in pain.

I should have started looking last August or October.

I am likely fucked because I waited too long.

Sigh.

In other news, I've been really doing well on the massive number of now mostly advanced physio things I have to do every day.

Sunday I was about a third of the way in when my arm noped out of about another third of Sunday's quota. I am trying to do all the remaining ones that don't move my arm that way, but I'm not sanguine.

I forgot to do my blood work Friday. I have an afternoon pre-op appointment Monday. Let us hope I remember then. I am so tired and it all hurts so much.

* Sunday the Millenials helped me make bread, as kneading's been beyond me for years, but I've been wanting fresh baked bread for weeks. I got started way later than intended, and then discovered my yeast was too old which added yet more delay so they went home before it was rteady, which saddened me, I was trying the recipe from B. Dylan Hollis's cookbook that went against every instinct in my body as someone who grew up poor and who's mom baked bread a lot. Like I've been involved in bread making since I was a toddler. The instinct is a well worn groove.

I made some small modifications because 1. I don't put that much salt in anything. (I put in some salt, just not as much as one is supposed to). 2. There was more yeast in it than intended as I added the fresh ayeast on top of the mostly exhausted yeast I'd already put in. 3. I wanted a round loaf rather than a loaf shape, so YMMV.

The yeast did not perform the way I am used to, which I theorize is do to the weird slurry situation they have going on instead of the classic water/sugar/yeast and wait situation I'm used to. As a result it is possible my yeast was mostly fine, but I didn't know that at this stage. Indeed, at no point did this bread rise the way I am used to bread rising, which both I and the Millenial who'd also grown up baking bread found vaguely unnerving. Like it did rise some, but not even close to our expectation.

This bread is dense. Super dense. Even knowing the ingredients and predicting it would be dense from the rise pattern, I was not remotely ready for the texture of the finished product. Don't get me wrong, it's not a bad texture, just way closer to cornbread than bread bread despite the comparatively small amount of corn meal in it. I knew this was a molasses heavy bread and was expecting it to be slightly sweeter than normal bread. I don't think I had quite envisioned the particular way the molasses shifted the flavor profile. Again, not bad, just different and with the unexpected texture I took a while to adjust.

It's very filling to the point where I'm not convinced we can eat a whole loaf before it turns. Like armies could march on this. It is exactly a thing that would be good to feed people plowing a field with horse or ox. It's hearty in a way I associate with early modern and 19th century food. I need to think about what to pair it with besides the butter I already tried on it. I'm not sorry I tried it as it is interesting. I'm not sure I'd make it again as I like other breads I know how to make better.

* The Catholics are a no go on helping. I am now waiting on the Protestant Coalition to see if they will send anyone to help. In related news, the nice lady in charge of my disability aide stuff has put in for a bunch of extra hours for Goth Millennial for March, given how much help I'm going to need. We should here back from the supervisor soon so Goth Millennial can plan. I am thinking I'm going to up reservations with the asshole agency to four a week or so after my first forty eight post surgury in hopes of getting two cleaning sessions a month instead of one. I need to think about distribution for when we have our no one is coming again conversation Friday morning.

I have done my pre-op consult thingie. It looks like as the surgery is less extreme than what had initially been projected they won't need to completely immobilize the arm, just severely limit it. I am hoping "can move it slightly in an up and down fashion" will really help with the trousers on and off situation when I need the bathroom. It is a small thing making a massive difference. I will see if I will be able to type at all when we get there.

It took me three days, a ridiculous amount of time, energy, gas, and most of the oil in my car to get the blood work they wanted. It was an infuriating saga. Hospital won't take blood work from the normal easy to access lab. The one I was sent to consists of a collection of chairs and a sign directing me to what two hours of driving through the street maze north of a certain middle school suggests is a mythical location. waited an hour with an annoyingly loud loop blasting directions in a tiny windowless waiting room to be sent home to try again. That site had the wrong hours listed on the internet and was closing also indefinitely.

This left literally two open slots at the one remaining site, which was the basement of a very pretty craftsman house with no signage visible from the street. I parked in the right place, but the person in the building proper had no idea they had a phlebotomist in the basement, so I spent the next 20 minutes driving up and down and eventually systematically trying unmarked buildings on foot until a kind older gentleman led me to the secret vampire basement. Then I had to hobble up hill back to my car.

This could have easily been solved by a larger sign instead of a tiny one half hidden by landscaping, or one of those tent signs closer to the street. Just saying.

So they have their four vials of blood.

I've had my phone consult with the hospital about meds and things, during which I discovered that the intake lady at the formerly Extremely Catholic Hospital now owned by an Evil Corporate Conglomerating that has successfully enshitified healthcare across broad sectors in at least two counties knows nothing at all about gender confirmation surgeries, literally didn't understand what I was talking about without a five minute explanation, and had no way to enter such a thing into the computer so had to hand write it into my previous surgery list in vague terms because her google fu wasn't up to trans stuff and there was no medical code for it in the computer. O.o

And this is why I never feel safe at that hospital even though I'm pretty sure they stopped having everyone drop whatever they were doing including surgery prep for mandatory prayers when the Evil Corporate Overloard took over. I trust neither super Christian hospital not evil corporate hospital that fires whistle blowers, and wish we were doing this at the modern hospital one county south, but here we are.

I do have trust in my surgeon though. The person who did my swabs, BP, and med list at the surgeons place was clearly trans. I wasn't sure which direction they were going or if they were nonbinary, but it made me feel safer. They weren't weird about my botched surgery situation when I had to partially disrobe for swabs. He also has good recommendations for joint surgery from the physios because the outcomes are excellent without much in the way of complications. My interactions with him show he listens and takes problems seriously. I am comfortable with no nonsense, which he is.

I am going to hate being mostly helpless. The rehab will Suck, but it would be harder to suck more than physio already is. I am already thinking about maybe trying for a new hip next year or the year after. Best to start cycling through the process on big four since I've already started, and that left hip is deteriorating noticeably faster than the right.

My car needs to go in Monday. I need to make a mental note that oil is now three times a year. Sigh. And jiffy lube won't touch anything under my hood for liability reasons. I am trying not to stress out about housing tax, as right now I just need to focus on doing as much physio as my arm can take, laying in supplies for March, getting through what is about to be a terrible, terrible month.

I would like to thank the donor who sent some funds to allow me to order out a couple times while I'm laid up, and the Millennials who are organizing Batch Cooking so I will have things I can heat up to eat.

* Friday I kept being awakened by medical phonecalls, as has been the case all week, but it was 8 or 9 today, which feels like a lot. Nevertheless, I think I am actually getting a handle on the last two batches of advanced exercises, which is a relief.

I think I figured out why the Emperor has been so anxious and Livia's been extra cuddly. They think something is very wrong with me from how I'm moving, poor buttons. They spent most of the week trying to herd me back into bed every time I leave it.

* "Supreme Court Ethics: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO):"

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* "Michigan Dems Vote “Uncommitted” | Biden Talks Ceasefire Over Ice Cream | GOP Targets Birth Control:"

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* "Meanwhile… Subway Surfer Sex | Airplane Mode Unnecessary | Stephen Tries KFC’s Chizza:"

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* "What’s Going On Over There? The Late Show's News From Around The World:"

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* "Trump Victory Party Cold Open - SNL:"

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* "The Republican Hip-Hop Task Force:"

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* "Call The Joe Biden Phone Sex Line:"

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* "Mitch McConnell Steps Down:"

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* Matthew Peary vs Matthew Henson: http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=208

* "Sunday Sweets Brings You SKULLS ON PLATTERS:" https://www.cakewrecks.com/home/sunday-sweets-brings-you-skulls-on-platters-2024

*****
* 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.

* People have been asking for ways to help trans people in West Virginia, given the scary shit going on there. So far this organization is suggested. I'm keeping an eye out for more ways to help. If you have suggestions, please let me know. "Fairness West Virginia:" https://fairnesswv.org/donate/

* To track more general LGBTQIA+ Legislation: https://www.lgbtmap.org/

* "How you can support queer and trans kids in Oklahoma after Nex Benedict’s death:" https://www.advocate.com/news/how-to-help-trans-kids

* An organization for the parents of trans youths: https://transparentusa.org/

* "2024 Trans Girl Scouts To Order Cookies From!:" https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/2024-trans-girl-scouts-to-order-cookies

* "World Central Kitchen:" https://wck.org/

* "Palestine Children’s Relief Fund:" https://pcrf1.app.neoncrm.com/forms/gaza-recovery

* Verified charities to help Palestinians: https://cleolinda.tumblr.com/post/737312194805612544

* Fundraisers for Gaza: https://www.tumblr.com/el-shab-hussein/742344297699999744/hi-if-its-okay-i-saw-you-were-boosting?source=share

* Help Queer Folks in Ghana: https://www.silentmajorityghana.com/donate

* "Library of Congress Launches New Website for Americans to Share COVID-19 Stories:" https://newsroom.loc.gov/news/library-of-congress-launches-new-website-for-americans-to-share-covid-19-stories/s/d5739534-fec6-4e13-9f16-68d6117ee94b

* "We’re looking for English-speaking neopronoun users (aged 18+) to participate in a paid linguistics study.:" https://allthingslinguistic.com/post/741780492503990272/kirby-conrod-is-a-cool-linguist-whos-done-neat

( More Links Underneath: )

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* "Photos of life in war: Palestinians flee south in Gaza, Israel mourns dead soldiers:" https://www.npr.org/sections/pictureshow/2024/01/29/1225728725/israel-gaza-war-photos

* Verified charities to help Palestinians: https://cleolinda.tumblr.com/post/737312194805612544

******

* "Document spells out allegations against 12 UN employees Israel says participated in Hamas attack:" https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-war-news-01-29-2024-4c49c2fb89c3bfd4963f2260b34943c1

* Sigh. "US says its Israel policy unchanged after report on leveraging weapon sales:" https://www.reuters.com/world/us-says-its-israel-policy-unchanged-after-report-leveraging-weapon-sales-2024-01-28/

* "State Department reviewing options for possible recognition of Palestinian state:" https://www.axios.com/2024/01/31/palestine-statehood-biden-israel-gaza-war

******

* "Enemy drone that killed US troops in Jordan was mistaken for a US drone, preliminary report suggests:" https://apnews.com/article/jordan-drone-attack-attack-confusion-f175962e058b9b6f668303faf248d8e6

* "U.S. blames Iran-backed militia for deadly attack, leaving Middle East on edge:" https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/u-s-blames-iran-backed-militia-for-deadly-attack-leaving-middle-east-on-edge

* "Hayes on the ‘looming threat’ of a widening Middle East conflict:" https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/hayes-on-the-looming-threat-of-a-widening-middle-east-conflict-203279941771

******

* "‘Kharkiv is their priority’: Deadly Russian attacks hit Ukraine’s northeast:" https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/1/29/kharkiv-ukraine-intensified-shelling

* "Russian mayor orders quote from ballet dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov on choreography school wall to be replaced by ‘words of a true patriot’:" https://meduza.io/en/news/2024/01/29/russian-mayor-orders-quote-from-ballet-dancer-mikhail-baryshnikov-on-choreography-school-wall-to-be-replaced-by-words-of-a-true-patriot?utm_source=email&utm_medium=briefly&utm_campaign=2024-01-30

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* "The right-wing’s latest manufactured outrage? An EU inclusive language toolkit from 2019:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2024/01/29/european-union-language-gender/

* "Why has the Maori king of New Zealand called a national meeting?:" https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/1/19/why-has-the-maori-king-of-new-zealand-called-a-national-meeting

* "China's ageing population threatens switch to new economic growth model:" https://www.reuters.com/world/china/chinas-ageing-population-threatens-switch-new-economic-growth-model-2024-01-18/

* "FBI director warns Chinese hackers aim to 'wreak havoc' on U.S. critical infrastructure:" https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/fbi-director-warn-chinese-hackers-aim-wreak-havoc-us-critical-infrastr-rcna136524

* "Two LGBTQ+ women may soon be confirmed as lifetime judges: 'It's crucial right now':" https://www.advocate.com/news/federal-judge-lgbtq

* "Lost Highway: The trials of trucking school:" https://harpers.org/archive/2024/02/lost-highway-emily-gogolak/

* "Federal Reserve holds interest rates steady as consumer confidence improves and inflation slows:" https://www.nbcnews.com/business/economy/federal-reserve-interest-rate-decision-january-2024-increase-decrease-rcna136429

* "Trump slams deal that would give Biden authority to close border:" https://www.politico.com/news/2024/01/27/trump-dunks-on-bipartisan-senate-border-deal-00138210

* ""Chaos Caucus in Action" GOP split over tanking border deal for Trump:" https://www.msnbc.com/jonathan-capehart/watch/-chaos-caucus-in-action-gop-split-over-tanking-border-deal-for-trump-203113029829

* "House GOP turns immigration issue into political theater:" https://www.msnbc.com/alex-wagner-tonight/watch/house-gop-turns-immigration-issue-into-political-theater-203382853700

* "Wyden Slams Backroom Scheme to Cut Social Security, Medicare as Bill Clears House Committee:" https://www.finance.senate.gov/chairmans-news/wyden-slams-backroom-scheme-to-cut-social-security-medicare-as-bill-clears-house-committee

* "Can Federal Transit Operations Funding Foster Healthy, Thriving, Sustainable Communities? Yes, Here’s How.:" https://cleantechnica.com/2024/01/19/can-federal-transit-operations-funding-foster-healthy-thriving-sustainable-communities-yes-heres-how/

* This is some more racist bullshit in hopes of distracting people from the fact the Republicans are backing an adjudged sexual predator for president. "House Republicans unveil Mayorkas impeachment articles:" https://www.politico.com/news/2024/01/28/house-republicans-mayorkas-impeachment-articles-00138235

* "Rep. Maxine Waters: Mayorkas impeachment inquiry all comes back to Trump:" https://www.msnbc.com/jonathan-capehart/watch/rep-maxine-waters-mayorkas-impeachment-inquiry-all-comes-back-to-trump-203112005996

* "Gay Democratic reps demand Pentagon resolve cases of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ dishonorable discharges:" https://www.advocate.com/politics/dont-ask-dont-tell-pentagon

* 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/
To get your Critters' numbers to call direct: https://www.congress.gov/members/find-your-member

* 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

* We are fucked if the Supreme Court doesn't reverse this decision. "US court will not revisit ruling limiting voting rights lawsuits:" https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-appeals-court-will-not-reconsider-ruling-limiting-voting-rights-laws-scope-2024-01-30/

* "Rep. Nancy Mace's former chief of staff files to run against her in South Carolina:" https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nancy-mace-former-chief-of-staff-daniel-hanlon-south-carolina/

* Early voting has already started in a few places.

Democrats: South Carolina votes 2/3/24

Democrats: Nevada votes 2/6/24

Republicans: Nevada votes 2/8/24
Republicans: Virgin Islands votes 2/8/24

Know your state's schedule and where to vote. Make sure you and your friends are registered. If you are voting in person, plan how to get there.

If you live in an open primary state consider voting strategically. Otherwise, vote your heart in the primary. Remember how all those votes for Sanders and Warren pushed Biden and the party platform further left?

Remember to vote in all the races, not just the top of the ticket even if it's in a separate primary. Who runs congress, your state, and your local government really matters. In some states this is a separate primary. Check the rules for your state.

Never, ever sleep on a chance to vote.

Remember, it is always better to vote for someone who will listen to us than to let someone who is actively trying to kill us.

* I forgot to mention I voted the other day. No, not in the Primary. My state is late in the calendar and has a tiny delegate count. No, it was a local special election.

A lot of people ignore special election and local elections, but as I keep saying, a lot of really important things for quality of life happen in local elections.

In this case, it was a pair of really important school funding measures, including one that made sure kids had access to modern computers.

This stuff feels small, but education funding is an important investment in the future.

Wherever you are, if you can legally vote, vote every chance you have.

* "Biden planning post-UAW endorsement trip to Michigan:" https://www.politico.com/news/2024/01/30/biden-uaw-endorsement-trip-michigan-00138594

* "'Booming' Biden economy forces GOP to shift focus to new 'shiny object':" https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/-booming-biden-economy-forces-gop-to-shift-focus-to-new-shiny-object-203368517740

* "Haley, shy with Trump attacks, reaches for alternative opponents:" https://www.msnbc.com/alex-wagner-tonight/watch/haley-shy-with-trump-attacks-reaches-for-alternative-opponents-203380805772

* "Trump stays on Illinois’ ballot as the election board says it lacks power to remove him over Jan. 6:" https://apnews.com/article/trump-14th-amendment-insurrection-ballot-illinois-8709a8dbf12f845ed30fce22c9bff469

* "Trump Urges States to Send Troops to Texas Border:" https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2024/01/trump-abbott-border-send-troops-national-guard-texas/

* "'Extraordinarily destabilizing and dangerous': 10 GOP Governors answer Trump’s call to send troops to border:" https://www.msnbc.com/ayman-mohyeldin/watch/-extraordinarily-destabilizing-and-dangerous-10-gop-governors-answer-trump-s-call-to-defy-biden-and-send-troops-to-border-203102277701

* "Trump calls UAW president a ‘dope’ after union endorses Biden:" https://www.politico.com/news/2024/01/29/trump-uaw-president-dope-biden-00138310

After all, Biden has merely stood with worker's his whole career and fought for union and worker's rights, while Trump has done the massive work of doing a few photo ops and made lies and hollow promises while helping the posses and trying to repeal things workers need.

What a dope for Fain to side with the interest of the people he represents instead of against them, like Republicans generally do.

* "Report: Trump spent $50 million in donor money on legal bills in 2023:" https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/report-trump-spent-50-million-in-donor-money-on-legal-bills-in-2023-203285061707

* "Trump Allies Pledge ‘Holy War’ Against Taylor Swift:" https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/donald-trump-more-popular-taylor-swift-maga-biden-1234956829/

* "Right-Wingers Say Super Bowl Is Rigged So Taylor Swift Can Endorse Biden:" https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/taylor-swift-targeted-conspiracies-chiefs-super-bowl-1234955940/

* "Utah is the latest state to ban diversity, equity and inclusion efforts on campus and in government:" https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/nation/utah-is-the-latest-state-to-ban-diversity-equity-and-inclusion-efforts-on-campus-and-in-government/

* This is a fundamental safety issue. "Florida criminalizes changing gender on driver’s licenses in latest attack on LGBTQ+ rights:" https://www.advocate.com/news/florida-criminalizes-changing-gender

* Republicans want you to know that as Pro-life Christians they believe in taking food out of the mouths of children for both the pleasure of it and political gain, just as Jesus would have wanted. "Republican governors in 15 states reject summer food money for kids:" https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2024/01/10/republican-governors-summer-lunch-program/

* "Ohio, Michigan Republicans in released audio: 'Endgame' is to ban trans care 'for everyone':" https://www.advocate.com/politics/ohio-republicans-ban-trans-care

* "Michigan’s GOP Chair Drama Takes Another Nasty Turn:" https://www.thedailybeast.com/ousted-michigan-gop-chair-kristina-karamo-now-claims-the-rnc-is-colluding-against-her

* "Arizona GOP boss quits after leaked tape shows him floating a job for Kari Lake to skip Senate race:" https://apnews.com/article/jeff-dewit-resigns-kari-lake-recording-bribe-07319f36b057f804f880a7e07f8d16b1

* "Oklahoma GOP rescinds censure of Sen. Lankford, calls meeting 'illegitimate':" https://okcfox.com/news/local/oklahoma-gop-censures-sen-lankford-for-open-border-deal-collaboration-with-democrats-rep-jacob-rosecrants-border-security-illegal-immigration-anthony-ferate-republican-party-bipartisanship-oath-constitution-ok-politics-chuck-schumer

* "Oregon’s newest Republican lawmaker says LGBTQ+ support is akin to child abuse:" https://www.advocate.com/dwayne-yunker-oregon-lawmaker-gop

* "Judge tosses Disney suit claiming Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis retaliated over 'don't say gay' critique:" https://www.advocate.com/law/disney-desantis-suit-dismissed

* "Nancy Mace said she wanted to 'get punched in the face' by rioters on January 6 for attention:" https://www.businessinsider.com/nancy-mace-wanted-to-get-punched-in-the-face-by-a-rioter-on-january-6-2024-1

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* "Trumps Throw Tantrum Over Court Monitor’s Financial Bombshell:" https://www.thedailybeast.com/trumps-throw-tantrum-over-court-monitors-financial-bombshell

* "Bad timing for Trump as court-appointed monitor flags accounting of tens of millions of dollars:" https://www.msnbc.com/alex-wagner-tonight/watch/bad-timing-for-trump-as-court-appointed-monitor-flags-accounting-of-tens-of-millions-of-dollars-203297349831

* CW: Rape "E. Jean Carroll says she plans to use $83 million on 'something Donald Trump hates':" https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Culture/jean-carroll-plans-83-million-donald-trump-hates/story?id=106751516

* CW: Rape "Don't fear Donald Trump, say the women who won an $83 million damages award:"
https://www.advocate.com/news/jean-carroll-trump-is-nothing

* CW: Rape "Why E. Jean Carroll's legal defeat of Donald Trump matters :" https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/why-e-jean-carroll-s-legal-defeat-of-donald-trump-matters-203201605654

* "‘We beat Donald Trump’: E. Jean Carroll and lawyers on Trump's fallibility:" https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/-we-beat-donald-trump-e-jean-carroll-and-lawyers-on-trump-s-fallibility-203205701999

* "Criminal prosecution of Trump in Georgia bogs down with attacks on Willis:" https://www.msnbc.com/alex-wagner-tonight/watch/criminal-prosecution-of-trump-in-georgia-bogs-down-with-attacks-on-willis-203382853919

* "Meet the woman who secretly taped Trump saying, ‘I need 11,000 votes’:" https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/meet-the-woman-who-secretly-taped-trump-saying-i-need-11-000-votes-203286085898

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* "Arson at Georgia gender-affirming care clinic investigated as hate crime:" https://www.advocate.com/news/gender-care-clinic-arson-georgia

* "Some supporters of a far-right convoy headed to the Texas border are calling for civil war:" https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/supporters-far-right-convoy-headed-texas-border-are-calling-civil-war-rcna136058

* "An Idealistic Cop, a Forbidden Ticket and a Police Career on the Brink:" https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/16/nyregion/mathew-bianchi-nypd-traffic-tickets.html

* "Pennsylvania man rants about ‘LGBTQ+, woke-left mob’ in YouTube video with his father’s severed head: report:" https://www.advocate.com/crime/pennsylvania-beheading-youtube-rant

* "Charlie Kirk's 'Black Pilot' Remark Sparks Fury:" https://www.newsweek.com/charlie-kirk-black-pilots-racism-accusations-1863546

* "Florida LGBTQ+ advocates slam ban on sociology, DEI at state’s universities:" https://www.advocate.com/news/dei-florida-lgbtq-advocates

* "Experts say that gender-affirming care bans amount to 'abuse.' Why won't lawmakers listen?:" https://www.advocate.com/gender-affirming-care-bans-abuse

* "Trans patient makes hundreds of paper stars to represent others receiving gender-affirming care in hospital:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2024/02/01/paper-stars-trans-patient/

* "Health workers call to make morning-after pill available ‘for everyone’ in shops and petrol stations:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2024/01/31/morning-after-pill-supermarket/

* "Uganda's Anti-Homosexuality Act must be stopped. Now.:" https://www.advocate.com/voices/uganda-anti-homosexuality-law-voices

* "Germany’s transgender community confronts surge in far-right disinformation:" https://www.advocate.com/news/german-transgender-law-disinformation

* "Doctor blames man's chronic back pain on gay sex, couple says:" https://www.advocate.com/news/doctor-blames-pain-gay-sex

* "Seattle gay bars raided over ‘lewd conduct violations’:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2024/01/30/seattle-gay-bars-raided-lewd-conduct/

"SAW director Madison Zack-Wu told Capitol Hill Seattle: “These regulations that are so paternalistic, that control people’s bodies and sexualities, pretty much only affect marginalised communities and non-conforming people."

* CW: Harassment. "New York pizzeria to pay $25,000 to settle harassment suit by transgender cook:" https://www.advocate.com/law/trans-cook-settles-pizzeria

* "Are transgender athletes allowed in the Olympics? The truth behind the myths:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2024/01/29/are-transgender-athletes-allowed-in-the-olympics-the-truth-behind-the-myths/

* "Transgender swimmer Lia Thomas files lawsuit against World Aquatics:" https://www.advocate.com/sports/lia-thomas-sues-world-aquatics

* "Amber Glenn becomes the first out queer woman to win the US Figure Skating Championship:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2024/01/29/amber-glenn-figure-skating/

* "Transgender women have a higher risk of HIV infections. A new CDC report reveals why:" https://www.advocate.com/news/transgender-women-hiv-infections-discrimination

* I can't donate, but if you can, consider doing it. "Red Cross declares an emergency blood shortage, as number of donors hits 20-year low:" https://www.npr.org/2024/01/09/1223734878/red-cross-blood-shortage-national-blood-donor-month

* "Drinking black tea linked to longevity:" https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/drinking-black-tea-linked-to-longevity#:~:text=A%20large%20study%20published%20online,associated%20with%20a%20longer%20life.

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* "Girls, ages 13 and 14, save tourists from riptide in Barbados:" https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2024/01/17/teens-save-tourists-riptide-barbados/

* "Elon Musk says he's 'Jewish by association' after Auschwitz visit, sees 'almost no antisemitism':" https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/elon-musk-says-jewish-association-auschwitz-visit-sees-almost-no-antis-rcna135271

* "LGBTQ+ people have been arrested through social media. Meta must protect them, says human rights groups:" https://www.advocate.com/news/meta-lgbtq-digital-targeting-hrw

* "Stunned devs left scrambling for livelihoods in wake of yesterday's layoff bloodbath: 'In the end the contributions didn't matter':" https://www.pcgamer.com/stunned-devs-left-scrambling-for-livelihoods-in-wake-of-yesterdays-layoff-bloodbath-in-the-end-the-contributions-didnt-matter/

* "‘Serious Sketchball’: How a Crypto Pastor Scammed His Flock:" https://www.thedailybeast.com/colorado-crypto-pastor-was-always-a-serious-sketchball-acquaintances-say#:~:text=This%20month%2C%20Colorado's%20Securities%20Commissioner,misappropriated%20for%20their%20personal%20benefit.

* "Japan becomes the fifth country to land a spacecraft on the moon:" https://apnews.com/article/japan-moon-landing-jaxa-probe-slim-845d4868636df5ced2e1818c588f29a4

* "In World First, Horned Oryx Upgraded from Extinct in Wild to Endangered Owing to Decades of Zoo Work:" https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/in-world-first-scimitar-horned-oryx-upgraded-from-extinct-in-wild-to-endangered-owing-to-decades-of-zoo-work/

* "Alligators get more intimidating after study reveals they have an amazing ability:" https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/national/article284329364.html

* "‘Incredible.’ Mangled shark off Florida took just months to repair fin, study says:" https://www.miamiherald.com/news/state/florida/article283553633.html

* "Grizzly Bears Are Mostly Vegan: But humans made them more carnivorous.:" https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2024/01/grizzly-bear-california-carnivore-meat-eating/677070/

* "Billions of cicadas will emerge in the US this year in a rare double-brood event:" https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/national-international/billions-of-cicadas-will-emerge-in-the-us-this-year-in-a-rare-double-brood-event/3317523/

* "Megalodon didn't look like a 50-foot great white shark, controversial study claims:" https://www.livescience.com/animals/extinct-species/controversial-study-claims-megalodon-didnt-look-like-a-50-foot-giant-great-white-shark

* "Broadway legend Chita Rivera dies aged 91:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2024/01/30/chita-rivera-movies-and-tv-shows/

* "Pioneering LGBTQ+ activist Ann Maguire has died at 80:" https://www.advocate.com/obituaries/pioneering-activist-ann-maguire-obituary

* Tuesday torture appointment was terrible, but not quite as bad as Thursday. Apparently the Medicare Advantage covered para-transit is also a lie as I discovered when I got picked up. Luckily I had a dollar left. so now I need to call around again to various social services that claimed it was a thing and find out WTF.

Being disabled is exhausting.

In other news, I'd forgotten our little storage closet is upstairs. Next to the elevator. The one that filled entirely with water and they had to pump out that still isn't safe to use.

So after physio I hobbled upstairs to check. There is zero chance of me pulling everything or much of anything out by myself, let alone carrying it all downstairs without an elevator. There is no one to help. Still I had to check in case I needed to try to work something out immediately. Asshole Agency Maybe? Idk.

The carpet just inside the closet was dry as were the boxes in front. There is no telling what's going on in the back. We'll still need to pull it all out and move it when they do damage inspections, but I have a little more time. Maybe the elevator will be fixed by then and we can use a dolly? Where to store it idk.

It was encouraging that the cleared and damaged ones were all closer to the waterfall, and the damage didn't look that bad. I am hoping that the closets on the other side of the elevator shaft were spared or partially spared by the water pouring down the shaft.

I think it's mostly paper records in the back in case of need, the ones that are oldest need recycling anyway as you only need to keep the seven years. I am hoping the missing photo album is further front. If the tax stuff sucked up any water it is not a loss. If it's old letter and the like, it's irreplaceable.

We are incredibly lucky. Most of the upper floors of two buildings have mostly been without electricity. some without water. People lost everything and have been living out of hotels. Dire damage happened in the apartments next door; We had a slow drip in the laundry closet that stopped on it's own.

It is apparently much worse in the other building.

Seriously, every time I look up at the darkened upper windows I think of how catastrophic this has been for so many people.

* "Meanwhile… How To Pronounce “Kelce” | Highway Horse | MTA’s $700k Fare Hack:"

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* "Trump Is Big Mad At Nikki Haley | White House Pharmacy Scandal | Many Loose Bolts Found On Planes:"

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* "Sound of Science: Skinny Sharks | Why Dogs Wag Their Tails | Blame Gen Z For The Blood Shortage:"

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* "Taylor Swift Inspires Super Bowl Conspiracies | Trump Ordered To Pay $83M | Biden Blasts Snickers:"

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* "GOP Backs Out Of Border Deal | Abbott’s Texas Rebellion Moves U.S. Towards Civil War:"

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* "MAGA’s Holy War On Taylor Swift | Elmo Taps America’s Angst | God’s Army Convoy Limps Toward Texas:"

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* "The Late Show’s I’s On Edjukashun: Furries Rumor Debunked | Florida’s Ban On Pride Flags:"

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* "The Late Show Presents: “The Twilight Zone: Just The Twists”:"

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* "Alaska Airlines Updates Its Fleet:"

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* "New From Hasbro: Trauma Me Elmo:"

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*****
* 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.

* People have been asking for ways to help trans people in West Virginia, given the scary shit going on there. So far this organization is suggested. I'm keeping an eye out for more ways to help. If you have suggestions, please let me know. "Fairness West Virginia:" https://fairnesswv.org/donate/

* To track more general LGBTQIA+ Legislation: https://www.lgbtmap.org/

* An organization for the parents of trans youths: https://transparentusa.org/

* "2024 Trans Girl Scouts To Order Cookies From!:" https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/2024-trans-girl-scouts-to-order-cookies

* "Tell your Representative to Support Rep Tlaib's Resolution for a New Streaming Royalty:" https://actionnetwork.org/letters/tell-your-representative-to-support-the-resolution-for-a-new-streaming-royalty/

* "World Central Kitchen:" https://wck.org/

* Verified charities to help Palestinians: https://cleolinda.tumblr.com/post/737312194805612544

* "Palestine Children’s Relief Fund:" https://pcrf1.app.neoncrm.com/forms/gaza-recovery

( Links Underneath: )

* Thursday's news mostly isn't on here.

---

* "Israeli Attack on Al Nasser Hospital Sends Displaced Families Fleeing:" https://www.democracynow.org/2024/1/17/headlines/israeli_attack_on_al_nasser_hospital_sends_displaced_families_fleeing

* CW: Rape. "Israeli military chief rabbi-designate under fire over remarks on rape:" https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKCN0ZS1Q0/

They are really making South Africa's case for them, aren't they.

* "Chaotic wave of attacks and reprisals in Middle East fuel worries of a broader regional war:" https://apnews.com/article/yemen-houthi-rebels-missiles-iran-seizure-us-8112fbadd3b0689c71a92890895a9368

* "U.S. puts Yemen's Houthi rebels back on global terrorist list:" https://www.axios.com/2024/01/17/houthis-terrorist-organization-biden

* "Gaza death toll tops 24,000 as UN agencies call urgently for more aid:" https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-war-live-updates-01-15-2024-966bd5a9375e7439dd3de5fc113a7e7d

* "Gaza Is Starving:" https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/gaza-is-starving

* Verified charities to help Palestinians: https://cleolinda.tumblr.com/post/737312194805612544
******

* "Netanyahu says he told the US that he opposes a Palestinian state in any postwar scenario:" https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-war-news-01-18-2024-73d552c6e73e0dc3783a0a11b2b5f67d

* And yet he still funds the war. "Biden "running out" of patience with Bibi as Gaza war hits 100 days:" https://www.axios.com/2024/01/14/biden-netanyahu-israel-gaza-war-tensions

* "Bernie Sanders: Netanyahu telling Biden, ‘Screw you’ on Gaza de-escalation:" https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/bernie-sanders-netanyahu-telling-biden-screw-you-on-gaza-de-escalation-202149445947

* "US Senate rejects measure to force human rights report on Israel:" https://www.reuters.com/world/senate-rejects-measure-force-human-rights-report-israel-2024-01-17/

* To complain to your Congress Critters:
Senate: https://contactsenators.com/senator-phone-numbers/
Congress in General: https://www.congress.gov/members/find-your-member

---

* "Home Office knew Rwanda was refusing LGBTQ+ asylum seekers in 2022, report claims:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2024/01/18/rwanda-refusing-lgbtq-asylum-seekers-home-office/

* "Labour candidate apologises for transphobia – then announces she is ‘gender critical’:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2024/01/18/laura-pascal-labour-hackney-trans-suspension/

* "President Biden Signs Food Donation Improvement Act:" https://www.environmentenergyleader.com/2023/01/president-biden-signs-food-donation-improvement-act/

* "Conservative justices seem poised to weaken power of federal agencies:" https://www.politico.com/news/2024/01/17/conservative-justices-seem-poised-to-weaken-power-of-federal-agencies-00136112

* "Maine court puts decision barring Trump from the state's primary ballot on hold:" https://www.npr.org/2024/01/17/1225178547/trump-appeal-maine-14th-amendment

* "Sex-positive adult toy store employees file for unionization:" https://www.advocate.com/business/adult-toy-store-employees-unionization

* The music industry is fucking over smaller artists over streaming rights. Want to help? "UMAW aims to organize music workers to fight for a more just music industry, and to join with other workers in the struggle for a better society. :" https://weareumaw.org/

* "Tell your Representative to Support Rep Tlaib's Resolution for a New Streaming Royalty:" https://actionnetwork.org/letters/tell-your-representative-to-support-the-resolution-for-a-new-streaming-royalty/

* Democrats are trying to block funding to the propaganda clinics that try to trick pregnant people into entering to be barraged by misinformation in the guise of medicine. "GOP tries to block proposed federal rule that restricts funds for anti-abortion centers:" https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/gop-tries-to-block-proposed-federal-rule-that-restricts-funds-for-anti-abortion-centers

* "Elise Stefanik Targeted for Censure for Jan. 6 ‘Hostages’ Comment:" https://www.thedailybeast.com/ny-rep-dan-goldman-plans-to-censure-elise-stefanik-over-hostages-comment

* "GOP Rep. Stefanik faces censure push for calling Jan. 6 rioters ‘hostages’:" https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/gop-rep-stefanik-faces-censure-push-for-calling-jan-6-rioters-hostages-202148933871

* 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/
To get your Critters' numbers to call direct: https://www.congress.gov/members/find-your-member

* 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

* "Baltimore Sun’s New Right-Wing Owner Kicks Things Off by Insulting Everyone on Staff:" https://newrepublic.com/post/178181/baltimore-sun-new-owner-smith-sinclair-insult-everyone-staff

* "Right-wing executive's media empire exemplifies dangerous bias he warns against:" https://www.msnbc.com/alex-wagner-tonight/watch/right-wing-executive-s-media-empire-exemplifies-dangerous-bias-he-warns-against-202171973898

* "MAGA's sexy beer calendar scandal cracks up the Christian right:" https://www.salon.com/2024/01/12/magas-sexy-beer-calendar-scandal-cracks-up-the-christian-right/

* "Texas theocrats are a home-grown threat to American democracy:" https://www.houstonchronicle.com/opinion/editorials/article/dunn-wilks-paxton-texas-theocracy-democracy-18380689.php

* "Republicans Are Making ‘Dark Money’ Even Darker for 2024:" https://www.thedailybeast.com/republicans-are-making-dark-money-even-darker-for-2024

* Mysterious crypto ‘dark money’ group ramps up lobbying efforts ahead of 2024 election:" https://www.cnbc.com/2024/01/08/crypto-dark-money-lobbies-as-industry-aims-to-influence-2024.html

* "Ohio Republican Governor defends trans candidates who are being disqualified:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2024/01/18/ohio-governor-trans-candidates/

* Early voting has already started in a few places.

New Hampshire votes 1/23/24.
South Carolina votes 2/3/24

Know your state's schedule and where to vote. Make sure you and your friends are registered. If you are voting in person, plan how to get there.

If you live in an open primary state consider voting strategically. Otherwise, vote your heart in the primary. Remember how all those votes for Sanders and Warren pushed Biden and the party platform further left?

Remember to vote in all the races, not just the top of the ticket even if it's in a separate primary. Who runs congress, your state, and your local government really matters. In some states this is a separate primary. Check the rules for your state.

Never, ever sleep on a chance to vote.

Remember, it is always better to vote for someone who will listen to us than to let someone who is actively trying to kill us win.

* "Biden supporters urge NH voters to embrace unusual write-in campaign:" https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/biden-supporters-urge-new-hampshire-voters-embrace-writein/story?id=106198673

* "Pranksters add insult to ignominy for Republican caucus losers:" https://www.msnbc.com/alex-wagner-tonight/watch/pranksters-add-insult-to-ignominy-for-republican-caucus-losers-202048581690

* "Iowa voting in popcorn buckets exposes GOP ‘election integrity’ hypocrisy:" https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/iowa-voting-in-popcorn-buckets-exposes-gop-election-integrity-hypocrisy-202040901861

* Republicans are proudly and openly NAZI now. The people who weren't already left the party. "CBS News analysis: Most Republicans agree with "poisoning the blood" language:" https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cbs-news-analysis-most-republicans-agree-with-poisoning-the-blood-language/

* "Trump leads GOP rightward march and other takeaways from the Iowa caucuses:" https://apnews.com/article/iowa-caucus-trump-desantis-haley-takeaways-d1b8be2d9f95969fd6d62f73fa95226b

* "Vivek Ramaswamy suspends his 2024 Republican presidential bid and endorses rival Donald Trump:" https://apnews.com/article/vivek-ramaswamy-ends-2024-presidential-campaign-4b794ed3fbb41cc7f2a6a95d20458843

* "How Vivek Ramaswamy Got Richer While Pumping Millions Into Failed Presidential Campaign:" https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnhyatt/2024/01/17/how-vivek-ramaswamy-got-richer-while-pumping-millions-into-failed-presidential-campaign/?sh=1af1a0f25e78

* "Asa Hutchinson drops out of 2024 GOP presidential race after last-place finish in Iowa:" https://www.cbsnews.com/news/asa-hutchinson-drops-out-2024-presidential-race-iowa/

* "'Sniveling coward': Once tough-talking Republicans waste no time capitulating to Trump:" https://www.msnbc.com/alex-wagner-tonight/watch/-sniveling-coward-once-tough-talking-republicans-waste-no-time-capitulating-to-trump-202172997815

* "Trump again vows to be a day-one ‘dictator’ in Iowa town hall:" https://news.yahoo.com/trump-again-vows-day-one-035107839.html?guccounter=1

* ""Tectonic shift in power": How MAGA pastors boost Trump's campaign:" https://www.axios.com/2024/01/12/how-maga-pastors-boost-trump-campaign-2024

* "'A certain kind of religion': Trump's MAGA movement hijacks evangelicalism; leaves gospel behind:" https://www.msnbc.com/alex-wagner-tonight/watch/-a-certain-kind-of-religion-trump-s-maga-movement-hijacks-evangelicalism-leaves-gospel-behind-202049605606

* "Trump, the ‘religious right’ and white Christian nationalism:" https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2024/01/05/white-christian-nationalism-rise-246538

* "Dr. Clarence Jones: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would call Donald Trump a 'moral fraud':" https://www.msnbc.com/jonathan-capehart/watch/dr-clarence-jones-dr-martin-luther-king-jr-would-call-donald-trump-a-moral-fraud-201916485532

* "Trump and the GOP are coming for you: Warren stresses reproductive rights at stake in 2024:" https://www.msnbc.com/alex-wagner-tonight/watch/trump-and-the-gop-are-coming-for-you-warren-stresses-reproductive-rights-at-stake-in-2024-202169413926

* "Stephen Colbert Chews Apart Trump's Brazenly Weird New Claim:" https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/stephen-colbert-chews-apart-trumps-brazenly-weird-new-claim_uk_65a8deade4b076abd7aa6b71

* "Trump just promised an authoritarian ‘task force’ to impose Christian ideology:" https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/trump-2024-christian-right-truth-social-rcna132082

* "Former Trump national security advisor gushes over QAnon in leaked footage:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2024/01/14/michael-flynn-donald-trump-qanon/

* "You Could Soon Be Fined for Defamation for Calling Someone Racist in Florida:" https://newrepublic.com/post/177920/florida-bill-fine-defamation-racist-discrimination?utm_campaign=SF_TNR&utm_medium=social&utm_source=Twitter

* "Erin's 2024 Anti-Trans Legislative Risk Map:" https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/erins-2024-anti-trans-legislative

* "It’s only January and 2024 is set to break records with vile anti-LGBTQ+ bills introduced in the US:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2024/01/18/anti-lgbtq-bills-trans-2024/

* "Missouri Republicans to consider removing trans people from state law:" https://www.ky3.com/2024/01/16/missouri-republicans-consider-carving-trans-people-out-state-law/

* "House GOP lawmakers introduce bill imposing near-total ban on abortion in Kansas:" https://kansasreflector.com/2024/01/11/house-gop-lawmakers-introduce-bill-imposing-near-total-ban-on-abortion-in-kansas/

* "Lauren Boebert claims abortions are the reason why the US birthrate is so low:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2024/01/18/lauren-boebert-abortions-us-birthrate/

* "Abortion foes launch campaign against abortion rights ballot initiative:" https://www.azmirror.com/2024/01/11/abortion-foes-launch-campaign-against-ballot-initiative-spread-misinformation/

* "Massachusetts governor seeks IVF coverage for veterans in same-sex relationships:" https://www.advocate.com/politics/veterans-ivf-massachusetts-maura-healey

* "Republican who voted to ban trans healthcare now wants kids to drop out of schools to work on farms:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2024/01/18/joanna-king-indiana-child-labour-trans-healthcare/

* "Lawmakers in South Carolina approve ban on gender-affirming care for trans minors:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2024/01/18/transgender-health-care-south-carolina/

* CW: Rape. "Moms For Liberty leader Bridget Ziegler still hasn’t resigned over sex scandal – and people in Florida aren’t happy:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2024/01/17/bridget-ziegler-moms-for-liberty-resign-sex-scandal/

---

* "Trump returns to a New York courtroom for second E. Jean Carroll defamation trial:" https://www.npr.org/2024/01/16/1224523186/trump-e-jean-carroll-defamation-trial

* CW: Sexual Assault "Judge threatens to boot Donald Trump from courtroom over loud talking as E. Jean Carroll testifies:" https://apnews.com/article/trump-carroll-defamation-lawsuit-70d4477120399373934253c7e450643e

* CW: Sexual Assault "Trump dares judge to kick him out of court: ‘I would love it’:" https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/trump-dares-judge-to-kick-him-out-of-court-i-would-love-it-202140741790

* CW: Sexual Assault "The Donald Trump Doom Loop:" https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-local-correspondents/the-donald-trump-doom-loop

* "'Fantastical narrative': Trump concocts DOJ, Biden conspiracy theory in new classified docs filing:" https://www.msnbc.com/alex-wagner-tonight/watch/-fantastical-narrative-trump-concocts-doj-biden-conspiracy-theory-in-new-classified-docs-filing-202046533884

---

* "Violent political threats surge as 2024 begins, haunting American democracy:" https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/01/09/public-officials-death-threats-swatting-surge/?pwapi_token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJyZWFzb24iOiJnaWZ0IiwibmJmIjoxNzA0Nzc2NDAwLCJpc3MiOiJzdWJzY3JpcHRpb25zIiwiZXhwIjoxNzA2MTU4Nzk5LCJpYXQiOjE3MDQ3NzY0MDAsImp0aSI6ImVhZmQ1MDgyLTMwYTYtNDg5Ni05YzA0LWE1ZWI2Y2MyNDI3YSIsInVybCI6Imh0dHBzOi8vd3d3Lndhc2hpbmd0b25wb3N0LmNvbS9wb2xpdGljcy8yMDI0LzAxLzA5L3B1YmxpYy1vZmZpY2lhbHMtZGVhdGgtdGhyZWF0cy1zd2F0dGluZy1zdXJnZS8ifQ.PiUCh_5cfV5fR_rdKbvfV68TcQ2d54Q7FuXeZMMbuV4

* I don't understand how this is legal. "Texas Just Took Its Border Battle With the U.S. Government Up a Notch:" https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/texas-national-guard-shelby-park-eagle-pass-border-patrol-1234945639/

* "3 migrants drowned near area where Texas has denied entry to federal border agents:" https://www.cbsnews.com/news/3-migrants-drown-near-shelby-park-eagle-pass-texas-soldiers-denied-entry-federal-border-agents/

* "Governor Says Texas Isn’t Shooting Migrants Because Biden Would ‘Charge Us With Murder’:" https://www.huffpost.com/entry/greg-abbott-podcast-shooting-migrants-murder-charges_n_65a0b537e4b0fbd2bc062957

* "3 Tacoma police officers found not guilty in 2020 death of Manny Ellis:" https://www.kuow.org/stories/3-tacoma-police-officers-found-not-guilty-in-2020-death-of-manny-ellis?utm_source=sfmc&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=BOK062520&tier=&utm_id=774005&sfmc_id=133071869&sfmc_subkey=0034R0000463jY7QAI&utm_content=NL+BoK

* "There is little scrutiny of 'natural' deaths behind bars:" https://www.npr.org/2024/01/02/1219667393/there-is-little-scrutiny-of-natural-deaths-behind-bars

* "She risked her job to care for an incarcerated woman’s newborn. Now she wants to start a center to help others in need.:" https://mississippitoday.org/2023/08/11/roberta-bell-raised-baby-of-incarcerated-woman/#:~:text=Roberta%20Bell%2C%20a%2058-year-old%20grandmother%20who%20lives%20in,of%20a%20pregnant%20woman%20jailed%20at%20her%20workplace.

* "Things to know about Minnesota's new, non-racist state flag and seal:" https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/things-minnesotas-new-racist-state-flag-seal-106064631

* "IU suspends professor after Palestine Solidarity Committee event. Other faculty denounce the decision:" https://www.idsnews.com/article/2024/01/iu-political-science-professor-sinno-suspended-psc-administration-palestine

* "In Texas, debate over school chaplains escalates school board culture wars:" https://religionnews.com/2023/12/14/in-texas-debate-over-school-chaplains-escalates-school-board-culture-wars/

* "Pornhub blocks access in two states after age verification laws take effect:" https://www.advocate.com/business/pornhub-access-north-carolina-montana

* CW: Domestic Abuse. "Gypsy Rose Blanchard released from prison early after serving time for the murder of her abusive mother:" https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/gypsy-rose-blanchard-released-prison-early-serving-time-murder-abusive-rcna131423

* "Russian rapper who attended ‘almost naked’ party jailed for second time:" https://meduza.io/en/news/2024/01/06/russian-rapper-who-attended-almost-naked-party-jailed-for-second-time

* "Leonard Leo is at the center of dark money effort to limit medication abortion:" https://minnesotareformer.com/2024/01/04/leonard-leo-is-at-the-center-of-dark-money-effort-to-limit-medication-abortion/

* "Americans Are Stockpiling Abortion Pills…Just in Case:" https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2024/01/abortion-pills-advance-provision-mifepristone/

* People have been asking for ways to help trans people in West Virginia, given the scary shit going on there. So far this organization is suggested. I'm keeping an eye out for more ways to help. If you have suggestions, please let me know. "Fairness West Virginia:" https://fairnesswv.org/donate/

---

---

* When I looked outside at dawn Wednesday, there was a lot of snow, so I figured, "I'll just call when they open and cancel Friday's appointment." Bwahahaha! No. The callback option takes 3-5 days so is useless under nearly every circumstance including this one. Waiting on hold longer than fifteen minutes breaks the hold system, which means hours of calling back over and over while three days of other people try to cancel appointments at the same time as the snow comes down alarmingly fast and hard even to my East coast Snow country trained eyes. It's basically a lottery since you start at the back of the line every fifteen minutes. I still need to do another round of physio things and eat and lung, none of which I can do while on hold. Grrrr.

I got through twice over the next two hours. They couldn't hear me.

Squirrel lent me his phone. I've now got two phones in one hand hold crap moving in and out of sync.

Bonus: My fingers are badly burned because whoever put the turn table back in the mic last time half assed it and there was a hot spot on my plate.

* I finally got through to a live human on Squirrel's phone after 11AM. It was still snowing when i went to bed Wednesday. It was also still snowing when I went to bed Thursday. It rained some in the evening, then iced over. I am worried about squirrel who keeps having to commute in this.

Some water leaked out of the bathroom ceiling from the indoor waterfall getting inside the walls. I can see damage to the plaster over my dryer. The bucket didn't catch anything Thursday. IDK. Anyway, I reported it as a slow leak when I discovered it, saying we're low priority. I'll do an addendum if there's still no more drips tomorrow.

I am trying to get up to three sets of all 14 physio exercises at 15 reps each to be the routine. I managed it two nights in a row. It is, as usual exhausting me and chewing me up generally. The imperative remains to get as much function back before surgery as possible, since that's the ceiling.

Three cleaner cancellations in a row, but this time, it's entirely reasonable. They even called for two of them to tell me. 1. Extreme cold and expectation of snow which didn't come until this week, but everyone thought it would. Forage delivery cancelled. People were not doing unnecessary travel. I didn't expect them. 2. Cleaner called out sick. She's a good worker and knows I'm a lung patient with high infection risk. I WANT people to cancel if they are sick both for their health and mine. 3. Snow and ice. No one is travelling unless they are essential workers. Squirrel is an essential worker in the health care sector. I did not expect a cleaner to the point that I called in and scheduled Tuesday about 15 minutes before the agency called to tell me no one is coming.

I should post the aggregate, but I would like to go to bed. Decisions, decisions.

*****
* 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.

* People have been asking for ways to help trans people in West Virginia, given the scary shit going on there. So far this organization is suggested. I'm keeping an eye out for more ways to help. If you have suggestions, please let me know. "Fairness West Virginia:" https://fairnesswv.org/donate/

* To track more general LGBTQIA+ Legislation: https://www.lgbtmap.org/

* An organization for the parents of trans youths: https://transparentusa.org/

* "2024 Trans Girl Scouts To Order Cookies From!:" https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/2024-trans-girl-scouts-to-order-cookies

* "Tell your Representative to Support Rep Tlaib's Resolution for a New Streaming Royalty:" https://actionnetwork.org/letters/tell-your-representative-to-support-the-resolution-for-a-new-streaming-royalty/

* "World Central Kitchen:" https://wck.org/

* Verified charities to help Palestinians: https://cleolinda.tumblr.com/post/737312194805612544

* "Palestine Children’s Relief Fund:" https://pcrf1.app.neoncrm.com/forms/gaza-recovery

( Links Underneath: )

* I meant to post this Saturday night, but kept getting distracted by other tasks. I meant to post it Sunday, but I was exhausted and went to bed. sorry. Odds are some things are out of date.

******

* "'No place to go': Gazans stuck as fodder for Hamas guerilla tactics:" https://www.msnbc.com/alex-wagner-tonight/watch/-no-place-to-go-gazans-stuck-as-fodder-for-hamas-guerilla-tactics-195296325881

******

* "Opinion | Why Did Netanyahu Want to Strengthen Hamas?:" https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-10-11/ty-article/.premium/netanyahu-needed-a-strong-hamas/0000018b-1e9f-d47b-a7fb-bfdfd8f30000

* "Hamas seeks Palestinian prisoners' release, calls non-Israeli captives 'guests':" https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/former-hamas-chief-meshaal-says-israeli-captives-include-high-ranking-officers-2023-10-16/

* "Glimmer of hope as Hamas broaches subject of releasing some hostages:" https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/glimmer-of-hope-as-hamas-broaches-subject-of-releasing-some-hostages-195764805804

* "Israel Latest: Blinken Works on Gaza Aid as Biden Set to Visit:" https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-10-16/israel-latest-blinken-set-to-return-as-us-tries-to-contain-war?srnd=premium&sref=MIBMEEoj

* "Biden to Visit Israel Amid Gaza Crisis, as Fears Grow of Wider War:" https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/10/16/world/israel-hamas-war-news-gaza

* "Biden hopes to head off any regional expansion of war with trip to Israel: Rep. Himes:" https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/biden-hopes-to-head-off-any-regional-expansion-of-war-with-trip-to-israel-rep-himes-195766341815

* I saw print coverage of this, and decided not to publicize it for these reasons. "Let's talk about what didn't happen yesterday....:"

( Embed: )

* "Israel, White House condemn Trump for remarks about Hamas attack, 'smart' Hezbollah:" https://www.reuters.com/world/trump-says-israels-netanyahu-was-not-prepared-hamas-attack-2023-10-12/

******

* "There Are No Rules: States and quasi-states are using extreme, uninhibited violence against civilian populations.:" https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2023/10/israel-war-hamas-terrorism-ukraine-russia/675590/

* "As Turkey intensifies war on Kurdish militants in Iraq, civilians are suffering :" https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/iraq-turkey-airstrikes

* "Israeli arms quietly helped Azerbaijan retake Nagorno-Karabakh, to the dismay of region’s Armenians:" https://apnews.com/article/armenia-azerbaijan-nagorno-karabakh-weapons-israel-6814437bcd744acc1c4df0409a74406c

* "French presidential candidate fined under hate-crime law after condemning lesbian mums:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/10/09/france-eric-zemmour-fined-lesbian-mums/

* "Polish opposition looks set to oust ruling nationalists in major political shift:" https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/polish-opposition-eyes-power-after-ruling-nationalists-appear-have-fallen-short-2023-10-16/

This is a huge relief! I've been watching this one closely, but most of that coverage was out of date as of this writing so i deleted it. It's so important. It'll be an uphill climb for them as it is now still for us, but getting rid of PiS is an essential first step in fixing things. I really do wish the people of Poland luck and a better next year.

* "What happens next in Poland? 5 things you need to know after a landmark election :" https://www.politico.eu/article/5-takeaways-poland-election-donald-tusk-jaroslaw-kaczynski/

* "Poland’s LGBTQ+ community celebrates right-wing election losses: ‘We’ll fight for the future’:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/10/16/poland-lgbtq-election-result-human-rights/

* "A Patois Revival: Jamaica Weighs Language Change as Ties to Britain Fray:" https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/11/world/americas/jamaica-official-language-patois.html

---

* This is how I've been reading that strategy. "Let's talk about 600 days in Ukraine and the kitchen....:"

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* "Volunteer Veterinarians in Ukraine:" https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2023/10/photos-volunteer-veterinarians-in-ukraine/675539/

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* "Biden interviewed as part of the special counsel investigation into handling of classified documents:" https://apnews.com/article/biden-special-counsel-classified-documents-025f25d04a5c0e45d758fbaaa2f231b8

* "Rudy Giuliani sues Joe Biden for calling him a ‘Russian pawn’ :" https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/04/politics/rudy-giuliani-lawsuit-joe-biden-russian-pawn/index.html

* "Clarence Thomas Wants to Go After Freedom of the Press:" https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/clarence-thomas-challenge-landmark-defamation-ruling-1234850483/

* "U.S. inflation eased slightly last month as price increases extend slow descent:" https://www.politico.com/news/2023/10/12/us-inflation-september-00121165

* Spoiler: AMPTP are being assholes. "SAG-AFTRA Strike Looks Bleaker Than Ever as Talks Break Down:" https://www.thedailybeast.com/sag-aftra-strike-looks-bleaker-than-ever-as-talks-break-down

* "SAG-AFTRA & Video Game Biz To Resume Contract Talks In Effort To Avoid New Strike:" https://deadline.com/2023/10/sag-aftra-video-game-contract-talks-1235575211/

* "Hollywood writers ratify 2023 tentative agreement with AMPTP:" https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/hollywood-writers-begin-voting-approve-contract-end-dispute/story?id=103654176

* A friend researched the story behind the corporate spin on the Disney waterslide lawsuit. It's pretty fucking horrific what happened to this woman.
https://www.tumblr.com/allaboardthecolumboat/730207489393655808/woman-sues-disney-says-typhoon-lagoon-slide

* "SNAP recipients are denied hot food. These Penn grads found a hack with a new kind of corner store.:" https://www.inquirer.com/news/philadelphia/the-community-grocer-cobbs-creek-food-20230925.html

* "The mess in Congress, explained:" https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2023-10-14/house-republican-scalise-speaker-jordan-austin-scott-kevin-mccarthy-explained

* "McCarthy loyalists vow to draw out painful speakership battle:" https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2023/10/10/congress/mccarthy-speaker-vote-israel-math-00120720

* "Some House Republicans try to change the rules so losers become winners:" https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/10/14/jim-jordan-speaker-minority-rule/

* "Let's talk about the new GOP House situation....:"

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* "Hope fades that Congress can link Ukraine and Israel aid:" https://www.politico.com/news/2023/10/11/congress-israel-ukraine-military-aid-00120974

* "Lauren Boebert Under Fire for Horrifying Transphobic Comments About Pentagon Official:" https://www.advocate.com/politics/lauren-boebert-transphobia-pentagon-official

* "Most US voters in favour of introducing more LGBTQ+ protections:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/10/12/us-voters-in-favour-pro-lgbtq-laws/

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

* Have something you want to tell your Congress Critters? If you can't safely contact them in person, here are some other options:

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

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

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

* "Dems file lawsuit challenging just-enacted, Republican-crafted North Carolina voting law :" https://www.politico.com/news/2023/10/10/dems-file-lawsuit-challenging-republican-north-carolina-voting-law-00120773

* "California Sen. Laphonza Butler on Making Black Queer History and What Her Political Future Holds:" https://www.advocate.com/politics/laphonza-butler-makes-lesbian-history

* "Franklin mayoral candidate Hanson is running as the latest outgrowth of the Trump era:" https://tennesseelookout.com/2023/09/30/franklin-mayoral-candidate-hanson-is-running-as-the-latest-outgrowth-of-the-trump-era/

* "Tennessee Neo-Nazis Show Up to Support Far-Right Mayoral Candidate:" https://www.advocate.com/politics/neo-nazis-franklin-gabrielle-hanson

* "Can Dave McCormick Go Home Again?:" https://themessenger.com/politics/can-dave-mccormick-go-home-again

* "Sylvia Swayne Aims to Make History as Alabama’s First Trans State Representative:" https://www.advocate.com/politics/alabama-transgender-candidate-sylvia-swayne

* Please don't be fooled into voting for him. "RFK Jr. says he's running for president as an independent:" https://www.npr.org/2023/10/09/1204681962/rfk-jr-independent

* "Trump Shows Love To 'Hannibal Lecter' In Killer Blunder At Iowa Rally:" https://news.yahoo.com/trump-shows-love-hannibal-lecter-042941582.html

* CW: Suicide. Sen. John Fetterman Extended Interview:

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* "George Santos's Ex-Campaign Treasurer Implicates Congressman and Pleads Guilty to Criminal Charge:" https://www.advocate.com/crime/nancy-marks-george-santos-plea

* "Sen. Bob Menendez’s wife struck and killed a pedestrian with her car in 2018, police records show:" https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/bob-menendezs-wife-killed-pedestrian-car-2018-police-records-show-rcna118876

* "The Shady Nonprofit Trying to Ruin Our Democracy:"

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* "Trump Gets the Corporate Death Penalty (And It's Getting Worse):"

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* "'I will not permit it': Judge throttles Trump's ranting to protect trial integrity:" https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/-i-will-not-permit-it-judge-throttles-trump-s-ranting-to-protect-trial-integrity-195768389566

* "Let's talk about Trump, the docs, and an extra element....:"

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---

* I am furious. "No Charges Against Georgia Police in Death of Queer Activist Shot 57 Times:" https://www.advocate.com/crime/police-not-charged-activist-death

* "Denver's STAR set to expand amid tension over its future:" https://www.axios.com/local/denver/2023/05/03/denver-star-set-to-expand-amid-tension-over-its-future

* "California Just Became the First State to Declare a Transgender History Month:" https://www.them.us/story/california-transgender-history-month

* "77-year-old man from The Villages arrested after found with $1,800 worth of illegal erectile dysfunction pills:" https://nbc-2.com/news/weird/2023/10/05/77-year-old-man-from-the-villages-arrested-after-found-with-1800-worth-of-illegal-erectile-dysfunction-pills/

* "A Rant About Transphobia:"

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* "What a striking new study of death in America misses:" https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/23895909/angus-deaton-anne-case-life-expectancy-united-states-college-graduates-inequality-heart-disease

* "An epidemic of chronic illness is killing us too soon:" https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/interactive/2023/american-life-expectancy-dropping/

* "The long-term effects of SARS-CoV-2 infection on T cell activation: autoimmune disorders and endothelial cell dysfunction:" https://www.news-medical.net/news/20230801/The-long-term-effects-of-SARS-CoV-2-infection-on-T-cell-activation-autoimmune-disorders-and-endothelial-cell-dysfunction.aspx

* "Severe COVID-19 Can Alter Long-term Immune System Response:" https://news.weill.cornell.edu/news/2023/08/severe-covid-19-can-alter-long-term-immune-system-response

* "The Standard Advice for Concussions Is Wrong:" https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2023/10/concussion-brain-injury-treatment-recovery/675554/

* "Down syndrome families' fight for access to Alzheimer’s trials, treatments:" https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/down-syndrome-families-fight-access-alzheimers-trials-treatments-2023-10-10/

* "Rural America Is Losing Nursing Homes, and Small Towns Are Reeling:" https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-10-11/us-rural-nursing-homes-are-closing-hollowing-out-small-towns?cmpid=BBD101123_CITYLAB&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_term=231011&utm_campaign=citylabdaily&leadSource=uverify%20wall

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* "World "less likely than ever" to meet Paris Agreement goal:" https://www.axios.com/2023/10/11/climate-paris-agreement-dnv

* "It's a global climate solution — if it can get past conspiracy theories and NIMBYs:" https://www.npr.org/2023/10/08/1203950823/15-minute-cities-climate-solution

* "A Revelation About Trees Is Messing With Climate Calculations:" https://www.wired.com/story/a-revelation-about-trees-is-messing-with-climate-calculations/

* "Millions of children are displaced due to extreme weather events. Climate change will make it worse:" https://apnews.com/article/climate-change-child-displacement-extreme-weather-87e933b1ee0d81f9345daa801f311ea6

* "‘Without water, there is no life’: Drought in Brazil’s Amazon is sharpening fears for the future:" https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/water-life-drought-brazils-amazon-sharpening-fears-future-103815545

* "More than 90% of people killed by western Afghanistan quake were women and children, UN says:" https://apnews.com/article/afghanistan-earthquake-death-toll-women-children-e9ef4fd77603f2203e3695194fbf7851

* "After Three Big Quakes, Too Scared to Sleep Anywhere but Outside:" https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/13/world/asia/afghanistan-earthquake.html

* Doctors without Borders Afghanistan Relief: https://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/what-we-do/where-we-work/afghanistan

---

* "New York City Is Not Built for This:" https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2023/09/new-york-heavy-rain-flooding-state-of-emergency/675505/

* "Your Sweaters Are Garbage: The quality of knitwear has cratered. Even expensive sweaters have lost their hefty, lush glory.:" https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2023/10/sweater-clothing-quality-natural-fibers-fast-fashion/675600/

* "Americans know little about how their seafood is sourced. :" https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/10/16/the-crimes-behind-the-seafood-you-eat

* "The AI Art Apocalypse:"

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* "Genetic tester 23andMe’s hacked data on Jewish users offered for sale online:" https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/10/06/23andme-hacked-data/

* "How a lonely mountain lion led to the creation of the world’s largest wildlife overpass:" https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/08/us/iyw-wildlife-overpasses/index.html

* "Man faces federal charges for allegedly killing hawks to protect squirrels on his property:" https://wpde.com/news/nation-world/man-faces-federal-charges-for-allegedly-killing-hawks-to-protect-squirrels-on-his-property-wild-animals-portsmouth-rhode-island-shooting-shot-to-death-pellet-guns-migratory-bird-treaty-act-red-tail-cooper

* "What is ‘kelping’? Why whales are making hats out of seaweed:" https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/kelping-whale-behavior-seaweed

* "Blacklight Studies Reveal That Most Mammals Secretly Glow:" https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/fluorescent-animals

* "Basil the Opossum Has One Eye, a Big Heart, and a Job to Do:" https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2023/09/one-eyed-opossum-national-zoo-backyard-animals/675482/

* "Science paints a new picture of the ancient past, when we mixed and mated with other kinds of humans:" https://phys.org/news/2023-09-science-picture-ancient-kinds-humans.html

* "Interactive Time-Lapse Map Shows How the U.S. Took More Than 1.5 Billion Acres From Native Americans:" https://www.slate.com/blogs/the_vault/2014/06/17/interactive_map_loss_of_indian_land.html

* "American Dreams: Two families, one enslaved by the other. In many ways, their journeys since emancipation illustrate a broader truth about U.S. history: the lasting impact of discrimination on economic opportunities afforded Blacks and whites.:" https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-slavery-tennessee/

* "The surprising history of America’s ‘pick-your-own’ farms:" https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/the-surprising-history-of-americas-pick-your-own-farms

* CW: Suicide. "Somerton Man Charles Webb's true identity revealed in family photographs and divorce papers:" https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-11-21/somerton-manfamily-photographs-revealed-/101643524

* "Casting the Women of Valley of the Dolls:"

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* "The Making of Valley of the Dolls:"

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* "Matthew Shepard remembered by friends 25 years after brutal homophobic killing shocked the world:" https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/10/12/matthew-shepard-friends-life-and-death-25-years-on

* "Stop Firing Your Friends: Just make more of them.:" https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/06/stop-breaking-up-with-friends/674540/

* "Hughes Van Ellis, youngest known survivor of Tulsa Race Massacre, dies at 102:" https://apnews.com/article/obituary-tulsa-massacre-hughes-van-ellis-d63087c5a8fbe097e47d394394a4df3b

* "At Colorado funeral home where 115 decaying bodies found, troubles went unnoticed by regulators:" https://apnews.com/article/colorado-funeral-home-bodies-found-investigation-ee1089fab926042fda05fe5fa79ec7ce

* "Breaking News: The 'Return to Nature Funeral Home' Scandal:"

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* Last Sunday we got the interior ornaments up on the Halloween trees, but not the lights. It was just the newest Millennial and I. It was a really nice visit. At one point Livia came to the front of her room to give Newest Millennial blinky eyes, which is astonishing. She doesn't want to interact, mind, but this is Livia we are talking about and she usually doesn't like people who aren't me and Squirrel and to a much lesser extent Goth Millennial.

https://www.tumblr.com/gwydionmisha/731111975430569984/gothmas-interior-decorations-about-half-done?source=share

* So remember how Peacehealth drove all the independent offices in four specialties out of business, thus forcing everyone to use their clinic, then closed those clinics to force everyone to go to their central clinic two counties to the south? And remember how both the Doctors who were running that clinic made a deal to operate out of a clinic a regional medical conglomerate was opening near the hospital? so instead of me spending all day on a sixty mile each way trek for my treatment I was using the last three months of skeleton crew treatment at old clinic which ended the last Thursday in September? Remember how they said we could all follow our doctors there?

Yeah, about that.

I've been dutifully calling ever two weeks to see if they were letting people schedule appointments yet. They sent out a letter saying they were open. I stayed up Tuesday to get in sorted. it was a whole drama because the automated maze to get to the scheduler was as much of a hassle as Peacehealth's and prone to dropping calls, forcing one to start from scratch each time. so that was frustrating and tine consuming.

Apparently they have no access to our health records, so it was a start from scratch situation. Me, mentally: Shit! This is going to be HOURS. Only it wasn't for all the wrong reasons. They take Medicare, but not Medicare Advantage. So if I want it covered I have to lose most of my benefits including having Medicaid pay my big Medicare copay. O.o. Or I can pay for expensive treatments myself as uninsured.

I was upset, but I remembered superstar medical social worker lady personally calling around town to talk dentists into taking medicare dental coverage for me thus opening up my small city so that medicare patients can now get root canals and crowns instead of learning to live without chewing.

So I still thought it was salvageable. Problem is she's gone and the woman replacing her is a busy supervisor who likes to call me two hours into my sleep cycle without warning and then gets angry at me for not being charming. Previous lady asked when was best to call and would schedule calls in advance for a time when I was able to be awake and functional. it is a lot easier for me to be charming when I wasn't just ripped out of REM sleep and am now being interrogated about something.

New lady is a supervisor and super busy with supervisor things and is made of no and is snippy. I can not make her understand that not only is a 120 mile round trip over mountain passes dealing with the traffic mess along the highway in the major metropolitan area where I once got caught in a four hour traffic jam and couldn't get off to pee, is an entire exhausting day for me and that plus a treatment would not only mean i could do anything useful that day, but the next day to. She can't grasp how much pain is involved in long car trips or how much treatments take out of me. She keeps hard selling me on this and then calling me resistant and recalcitrant like I'm the one being unreasonable for considering this basically insurmountable at my level of disability.

She did not fight the in town clinic for me. She did not try to argue them around.

Her, repeating a suggestion she has made over and over since the closing announcement: You should just get your GP to do it.

Me, explaining for at least the third time because we have this conversation every time we talk: I asked my GP last spring like you asked. They can't do it. It can't be administered by a GP. They'd need to hire a specialist and build new facilities for compounding and for special storage of medication.

Her: Well just ask you GP to give you a different treatment.

Me: There are no other treatments. I have medications to manage symptoms. These treatments are the cure. There is only one cure.

Her: You are being recalcitrant!

Me: There is literally only one cure. No new ones have been invented since last February. The cure is working. I'm getting better. i will get worse again with only symptom management.

But she kept arguing with me because I was being stubborn about facts being facts. My GP can't pull an entire brand new treatment regimen out of her ass. She would not let it go or let me go and I was exhausted because it was hours past when I would normally be asleep at this point and also what was the point of her hard selling me on demanding the imaginary alternative treatment or the 120 mile trip. I ended up giving and and saying something like, "I have to go now," which I know is rude, but we spent this entire conversation with her neither listing not understanding and basically acting like I was the asshole here.

So I'm fucked and I'm frustrated and angry. I was literally at the point where I was going to get better really quickly if I kept doing treatments, but if we stop now I'll be back to square one with it all to do again if another clinic opens.

And it's all like this because Obama and Biden didn't have the balls to stick to their universal free healthy care guns and decided to adopt the capitalist give away Republican health plan in pursuit of bipartisan buy in they did not get, which anyone paying attention told them they could not get, which Mitch McConnell vowed they'd never get as part of the project to make Obama a one term president at all costs. They burned all their political capital on a bullshit give away to insurance companies when they could have taken the same or less of a hit just giving up a developed country level health care system. No fucked up website needed for sign ups. No red tape or copays or catch 22 shit like I'm dealing with now.

* Tuesday, once I was allowed to sleep, people kept waking me up. Bonus, my legs weren't really working, so I just kept falling over. It's like this this time of year with the extreme temperature and barometric pressure changes. At one point during a food making attempt I managed to fuck up a toe on one side and the wrist on the other, Go me. This was an extra bad one though, and I really wasn't much functional just generally and everything was just incredibly hard to accomplish.

We did manage Wednesday errands, including the bit when I needed to get out of the car. Assorted Millennials puttered around with decorations and there was much chatting. Outside is started. The trees are mostly sorted inside, but not the rest.

At one point Goth Millennial was like, "did the barometer just drop?" and I was like, "I don't have a barometer, but according to my sinuses and joints, yes. It's the evening winds out of Alaska right on time. About five minutes ago right?" Them: "Yes. My shoulder just started hurting."

* When we were decorating Sunday, I was trying to explain to newest Millenial why the Weeping Angel tree topper horrifies Goth Millenial. "An image of an angel is an angel," etc., and they seemed really confused so I kept explaining the lore that makes them horrifying. Finally it became clear that they thought this was real angel lore, having no idea about either Doctor Who or Christian Mythology.

I love my friends.

* Saturday I got a few more things done inside (Window display stuff, more lights.) This Sunday I got outside to good enough but more to be done while Newest millennial made special pizza which was fascinating and delicious. Then Goth Millennial, New Millennial and I had floats and talked about history.

* The pictures of the Imperial couple from before that I promised. These are the best livia pics ever taken: https://www.tumblr.com/gwydionmisha/731382118597476353/the-empress-livia-spots-a-moth-the-moth-lands-on?source=share

* An old friend of mine's beloved dog needs money for vet bills and special food: https://www.gofundme.com/f/pay-rosies-dental-bills

* "Homeschooling: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver:"

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* "Trump Blabbed Nuclear Secrets at Mar-a-Lago | Election Lies Bring Down Mike Lindell:"

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* "War Misinformation Spreads on X | House GOP Therapy Session | RFK Jr.’s Dangerous Candidacy:"

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* "Meanwhile… Boston’s Annoying Accent | Drink Til You Puke at Brunch | Snoop Got Ed Sheeran High:"

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* "Scalise Nabs House Speaker Nom | George Santos Scammed His Own Donors | Bigfoot Found!:"

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* "Stephen Learns the Differences Between Hispanic and Latino:"

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* "McCarthy As Temp Speaker? | George Santos Channels Mr. T | Trump Threatens “Fire Hell” If He Loses:"

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* "Meanwhile… Shower in Your Jeans | Adopt Cheeto the Dog | UK’s Soggy Chestnuts:"

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* NOTE: Several Classic Who companions also quit, which may not be clear from the wording in this. Otherwise, I'm in complete agreement. "Martha Jones Deserved Better (And Other Correct Doctor Who Takes):"

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* "Playing Games with Classified Info:"

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* "Now You Can Bet on the House Speaker Race:"

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* "A Live Look at the Speaker Race:"

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* "I'm Just Pete - SNL:"

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* "Glamgina - SNL:"

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* "Get Out of Trouble the George Santos Way!:"

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* "Sir Gawain And The Green Knight:" https://the-toast.net/2015/06/03/sir-gawain-and-the-green-knight/

* "I grew up in a haunted house and I didn’t notice:" https://www.tumblr.com/cleolinda/730174032954212352/i-grew-up-in-a-haunted-house-and-didnt-notice

"My sister noticed:" https://www.tumblr.com/cleolinda/730177944968937472/my-sister-noticed

* They updated Stabby the Roomba: https://sepulchritude.tumblr.com/post/153838867333/on-the-topic-of-humans-being-the-intergalactic

* "Midnight Pals: Frankensexy:" https://www.tumblr.com/bitterkarella/730721721632604160/midnight-pals-frankensexy?source=share

* "Midnight Pals: The Most Divorced Time of year:" https://www.tumblr.com/bitterkarella/731355328295436288/midnight-pals-the-most-divorced-time-of-year?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.

* An old friend of mine's beloved dog needs money for vet bills and special food: https://www.gofundme.com/f/pay-rosies-dental-bills

* Apply for Project 2025 so they have to pick through resumes, using their resources: https://apply.project2025.org/ords/r/p25/pub/questionnaire?p4_qid=1

* Want to help Andy Kim beat Bob Menendez? https://www.andykim.com/

* Help Adam Frisch beat Lauren Boebert: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/defeatlaurenboebertnowz

* Want to contribute to Gloria Johnson's senate run in Tennessee? https://www.votegloriajohnson.com/

* "US Patent Bureau call for comment on AI:" https://amaebi.dreamwidth.org/2286373.html

* "STOP Moms for "Liberty":" https://www.stopmomsforliberty.com/

* Want to help the people of Maui?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

( Links Underneath: )