#Abortion Caravan

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Erin Reed at Erin In The Morning:

In 2022, Republicans in Michigan made a major mistake: They spent more money on anti-transgender ads than on reinforcing economic messaging. As a result, Democrats won a trifecta in the state for the first time in 40 years. Now, there are signs Republicans may be repeating the same error. A new set of polls in the crucial "blue wall" swing states of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania shows that Harris is matching Trump on the economy. This is happening as Trump spends more money on anti-trans advertising than immigration, housing, and the economy combined. According to the well-respected Marist poll, Harris is nearly tying Trump on the economy in Pennsylvania and Michigan and has come within five points in Wisconsin. She leads Trump in all three states, polling at plus two in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania and plus three in Michigan. The numbers were highlighted by James Singer, rapid response advisor to the Harris campaign, who noted that she had closed the gap on the economy, and shifted independent voters by 19 points in the state of Pennsylvania.

“This has been the long story of the Harris paid media campaign — just grinding on this economic message (anti-price gouging, Medicare covering home care, etc) for months as different shiny objects hit the news cycle,” said political analyst David Weigel on Twitter. Harris's late-campaign surge comes as Trump has flooded the airwaves with anti-trans advertisements during major sporting events. Meanwhile, Republican Senate candidates have also received tens of millions of dollars in support from groups like the Senate Leadership Fund, which has blanketed these swing states with ads about transgender bathroom usage, sports, and health care. Spending on transgender issues dwarfs all others; according to national political reporter Marc Caputo, the Trump campaign has spent more money on anti-trans advertisements than on any other issue, surpassing topics like the economy and immigration.

“I will never understand the Trump strategy of spending the entire month of october ignoring the economy and instead running ads exclusively on trans people existing and immigrant caravans,” posted Andrew Lawrence, deputy director of rapid response for Media Matters.

Lawrence has good reason to be stumped; Republicans have attempted this same playbook in Michigan and many other states before. In 2022, Republicans spent $50 million on anti-trans advertising. One of the primary focuses of that spending was Michigan, where they used the ads to target Democrats as well as Issue 3, an abortion rights amendment. This is similar to how Republicans are targeting abortion rights amendments today by saying reproductive freedom will codify "transgender healthcare" into law. These ads failed; Issue 3 passed, and Democrats took the trifecta in the state for the first time in 40 years. They faced similar losses in every other swing state where similar ads were deployed.

[...] The movement towards Harris on the economy is notable and not limited to the recently released Marist poll. A Time Magazine analysis of polls found similar results, and a Fox News poll released on Wednesday found Harris “nearly even” on the economy, down only two points in Michigan, whereas Trump was up 11 earlier in the year.

As Donald Trump continues to push inflammatory anti-trans attacks in his ads, Kamala Harris has been chipping away at Trump’s advantage on the economy in polls, thus putting her roughly neck-and-neck with him on the topic.

[sixhours]

Chapter 2 - The Ghosts of Babylon

Series Chapter Index | Read on AO3 | Complete

Rating: Explicit, 18+, here be smut and violence Series tags: Joel Miller x You, Joel Miller x Reader, Joel & Ellie, mostly follows canon, LGBTQ+ characters, y/n is bi/pan, y/n is ~45, violence, pregnancy, abortion, medical trauma, emotional trauma, panic attacks, sex work, suicide, smut, slow burn, angst with a happy ending, hurt/comfort, romance, no use of y/n, reader has longish hair, Joel can lift you, smallish age gap (~11 years), I've probably forgotten some so please let me know <3

~*~

Boston QZ March 2024

You were one of the lucky ones.

After the initial outbreak and the chaos that followed, you were protected, ushered into a covered military caravan and housed in relative safety. You were only a resident, but your medical experience made you valuable. Most doctors had been infected in the early hours.

Most of them hadn’t run.

If you had been anyone else, you think you would have been shot. Instead, the military sent you to the quarantine zone in Boston, and you were drafted into FEDRA without ever having signed your name on the line.

Your cowardice in the face of danger was your saving grace, and you will never let yourself forget it.

You’re six years into the pandemic when you’re summoned to the colonel’s office for a special request. FEDRA wants you to travel to a sparsely populated territory outside the QZ and embed yourself there, do threat assessments, and send the intel back to your higher-ups. They frame it as an outreach program for recruitment and a means to get ahead of terrorist threats, but you understand the unspoken implications.

They want you to be a spy.

You protest, but it’s a half-hearted attempt. You know they aren’t offering you a choice.

You train for combat and survival. You learn how to shoot, how to run, how to fight, and how to hide. And then FEDRA packs you up and sends you off into the wilderness of what used to be Pennsylvania, joining a small outpost east of Pittsburgh. There are no terrorist threats to be found, only starving, freezing civilians, hordes of infected, and so much desperation.

You return, six months older and with only a few bruises, so they send you out again. And again. And again.

As it turns out, you make a good soldier. You don’t ask what FEDRA does with the information you find, and they don’t tell you.

On your fourth mission, you come back with more than bruises. The burgh of Everglade, forty miles north of a ruined Jacksonville, Florida, wasn’t as welcoming as you would have hoped. You’d been savagely beaten and sent back to Boston, less weapons and supplies, a walking warning.

Don’t fuck with us, FEDRA.

But there’s a hard seed of grit in you that felt fair was fair, that you deserved whatever punishment you got. You sutured your gashes, reset your broken nose, and took your next assignment.

~*~

By the time Joel Miller and Ellie Williams are staggering across the Jackson threshold for the second time, in the spring of 2024, you’re opening the door of your Boston QZ apartment to a man in weathered FEDRA fatigues.

“Hey,” he says, barely meeting your eyes. “Waller wants to see you.”

“When?”

“0800 hours.”

“Fine,” you say. He doesn’t respond, lingering in the doorway until you’re forced to ask, ���Anything else?”

He ducks his head. “Got any plans tonight?”

“I do if you have the money.”

Unsurprisingly, FEDRA doesn’t pay well–doctor, spy, or shit-shoveler. But you’ve found other ways to get by.

The man– a boy, really , you think–reaches into his pocket and pulls out a crumpled stack of ration cards. You take your time counting them before pocketing the payment and stepping aside to let him enter.

His hands are on you before you can finish closing the door, greedy and wanting. You let him push you up against the wall, tipping your head to give him access to your neck, already tuning out his gasps and moans and clumsy thrusts.

~*~

Afterward, he’s panting on your mattress, and you’re fumbling on the nightstand for a lighter.

“You know those things’ll kill you,” he mumbles.

“Fascinating,” you respond dryly, finding the lighter and putting the cigarette to your lips. You allow yourself one long, slow inhale. You hold the smoky air in your lungs as long as you can, savoring that first and only hit, before tamping the cigarette out and rolling it up in a piece of foil for later. “You can go.”

You feel his hand slide over your ass and you flinch away, standing and gathering your clothes from the floor.

“C’mon, baby. I gave you extra.”

“Yeah, and you shorted me five last time. Go.”

He growls. “Fuckin’ bitch.”

You ignore this, slipping a clean-enough tank top over your head, pulling on your jeans, and heading for the kitchen. You’re putting a kettle of water on the hot plate when you hear the metallic snick of a blade behind you.

You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me.

You tense, listening, waiting, until you feel the hint of a blade at the side of your throat.

“How about you suck me off next time and we’ll call it even,” he whispers, breath hot in your ear.

You dive to one side, wrapping the man’s arm with your own, knocking the knife away. It skitters across the floor, lost under the radiator. Your left hand grips the man’s wrist and pulls it back as you slam your right hand into his shoulder, forcing him down against the counter. You twist his arm until you imagine you can hear the tendons creaking.

The man screams in pain and surprise. “Whoa no shit I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m fucking sorry don’t–”

You slam your full body weight against him and twist his arm back and up with a sharp snap , his wrist giving under your practiced hands. Another scream, this one feral, as you release the man’s arm.

“You broke my fucking wrist you fucking cunt!”

“Fuck off or I’ll break the other one,” you pant, shoving him toward the door.

“You’ll fucking hang for this!”

“Yeah?” you spit. “You say one word and I’ll make sure your dick never touches another girl in this QZ because it’ll be sitting in a jar on my fucking desk.”

He sneers, but there’s no threat in it. He slouches backward with an angry sob, cradling his broken hand and fumbling with the door, all the while trying to keep his eyes trained on you.

You lock the door behind him and slide the deadbolt home with unnecessary force. 

Fuck.

~*~

Colonel Waller doesn’t look up at you when you enter his office, his greeting just a single word.

“Wyoming.”

You frown. You’ve never been west of Ohio.

“We lost an asset in Utah. Fireflies.”

“Shit.”

“Yeah. ‘Shit’ is about the shape of it,” he sighs, finally looking up from his paperwork. “We had someone in KC but they’ve gone radio silent. We assume the worst.”

“So…I take it the target’s in Wyoming?”

He nods. “We suspect several Fireflies are holed up in a town called Jackson. It’s big,” he continues, sliding you a sheaf of folded maps across the desk. “Our scouts…haven’t made out so well.”

“How many came back?”

He looks at you blankly.

None.

“We need to know how many warm bodies, how much firepower, do they have patrols and when, are they collaborating with anyone else in the area. We need–”

“I got it,” you say, pocketing the map, an aching exhaustion deep in your gut. “When?”

“There’s a supply run headed west tomorrow. You’ll camp with them until KC, then make your way in on foot. We expect radio contact every six weeks; if we don’t hear anything by then–”

“You’ll assume I’m dead,” you finish.

He interlocks his fingers. “Any questions?”

You shake your head.

He nods and goes back to his work. “Dismissed.”

[chthonicgodling]

okay it’s a half second after midnight so I can post this

HAPPYYYYYYYY BEGINNING OF THE BIRTHDAY CARAVAN OF (NOT)TRIPLETS, from June 1st through June 3rd! Beginning with Pyralis today, then Enodia “N” tomorrow on the 2nd, and Celos after that on the 3rd - these three TODDLERS TURN THREE YEARS OLD!!

(CCrumbles into dust and drags you all with me) I know I literally can’t believe that EITHER,

seen here with pile o’ parents and in birthday order: Tory with Py! Chal and N! Maci and (IN HIS DAEMON FORM ) Celos!

ffffffor the uninformed a quick recap on the deal with these three , why tf I keep saying NOTtriplets, for thhhhose of you who didn’t watch this whole debacle unfold threee years agooooo:

Tory was just a few weeks pregnant with his and Maci’s surprise baby Celos when Elysium Drama Update Crisis Mode activated upon Chal and Bel conceiving a VERY surprise baby, leaving Chal pregnant and in utter complete meltdown panic mode. Tory & Maci had newly adopted Chal as their own daughter, Chal had newly switched genders permanently, and Chal had also newly been reckoning with healing from the nightmare situations of her birth parents. Chal’s a mess! Having a baby all of a sudden???? THE MOST HORRIFYING SUDDEN SITUATION FOR HER AND BEL. But Chal didn’t want to abort it completely and when Tory volunteered to adopt this baby too as his and Maci’s own instead, Chal and Bel thought this was the perfect solution.

Furthermore, the gang discovered that once a fetus was immortal, an immortal infant could be grown… anywhere at all, y’know, the so called ✨Dionysus method✨ With Chal panicking over being pregnant as well, Tory volunteered to carry this baby as a physical twin to Celos once able and throuhh the help of childbirth goddess Iliythia, they moved the baby over and TORY carried her to term. As time went on Chal cautiously warmed up to being semi involved in this baby’s life maybe - she and Bel even named her when Tory suggested they do so, thus Enodia.

Tory was super overdue with these babies and then like a week before he was finally induced, Ilithyia finally noticed that the constantly squirming mass of limbs she’d been clocking as Celos was… ACTUALLY TWO BABIES. Tory had been pregnant from the get go with his and Maci’s TWINS, and chucking N in there had created TRIPLETS. The two of them can each shift into weaselly daemon form and it had been hard to keep track of them! Thus, last minute surprise of all surprises- PYRALIS.

Tory was in labor with the triplets for three days (💀) hence, above, and. Well.,, when Chal and Bel actually met N face to face, Chal fell so completely and unexpectedly in love with her. They spent more time around her…. With her……… finally, after a few months, they sheepishly approached Tory about being involved in N’s life as her parents in some capacity. Tory did them one better, and entrusted her just fully into their care completely 💞

and they all lived happily ever after! almost literally over the next 3 years Chal has barely let go of N ever ever ever haha

this is all significantly less dramatic when you remember they all live in One Big Palace and we’re talking about moving like, one room down the hall. WELL! An extremely convoluted background to arrive just at the same point as if all that hadn’t even happened in the first place. It’s okay we love our weirdo wombmate kids. This all sounds like it could make some kind of great Greek myth some day fgfkkfkg LIKE,,

Tory, best of all time forever, belongs to the hiatused @fenixethekid ; all these other guys are mine! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO OUR BABBYSSSSSS

[nerianasims]

Friendly reminder that Trump's caravan had to turn around in 2016 because he was so afraid of the reception he'd get in the area of Florida in which I live.

I am so fucking sick of the anti-Florida sentiment, acting like we're the most right-wing place in the country when we voted for Obama TWICE! And hi have you seen Alabama? Btw, human beings live there too, and they don't deserve the ignorant prejudice they're subjected to either.

We've got abortion rights on the ballot this November, and they 100% WILL get through. I have no idea what kind of weirdass hellhole you snobs think Florida is. (Okay, alligators, that part's right, but when you visit y'all never pay them the respect that is due either.) This county is the most liberal I've ever lived in. My neighbors are the most diverse I've ever had.

New York City was the place that gave us Trump, and that's not a huge surprise, considering how incredibly segregated it is. Stop sniffing your farts, look at what the country is actually like, and follow Kamala Harris' lead. She's going to run a great campaign throughout the entire country. And with her, we'll silence the rude loudmouth New Yorkers, starting with the orange one.

[oliverfinalmajorproject]

Final Major Project - Thoughts 16

Protest Songs

Among social movements that have an associated body of songs are the abolition movement, prohibition, women's suffrage, the labour movement, the human rights movement, civil rights, the Native American rights movement, the Jewish rights movement, disability rights, the anti-war movement and 1960s counterculture, art repatriation, opposition towards blood diamonds, abortion rights, the feminist movement, the sexual revolution, the LGBT rights movement, animal rights movement, vegetarianism and veganism, gun rights, legalisation of marijuana and environmentalism.

Martin Luther King Jr. described the freedom songs this way: "They invigorate the movement in a most significant way... these freedom songs serve to give unity to a movement."

EXAMPLE IN EAST-ASIA

China

Chinese-Korean Cui Jian's 1986 song "Nothing to My Name" was popular with protesters in Tiananmen Square.

Chinese singer Li Zhi made references to the Tiananmen Square massacre in his songs and were subsequently banned from China in 2019. Three years later, during the anti-lockdown protests in China, this was used as a protest song across YouTube.

Hong Kong

Hong Kong rock band Beyond's "Boundless Oceans Vast Skies" (1993) and "Glory Days" (光輝歲月) (1990) have been considered as protest anthems in various social movements.

During the 2019–20 Hong Kong protests, Les Misérables' "Do You Hear The People Sing" (1980) and Thomas dgx yhl's "Glory to Hong Kong" (2019) were sung in support of the movement. The latter has been widely adopted as the anthem of these protests, with some even regarding it as the "national anthem of Hong Kong".

Philippines

From the revolutionary songs of the Katipunan to the songs being sung by the New People's Army, Filipino protest music deals with poverty, oppression as well as anti-imperialism and independence. A typical example was during the American era, as Jose Corazon de Jesus created a well-known protest song entitled "Bayan Ko", which calls for redeeming the nation against oppression, mainly colonialism, and also became popular as a song against the Marcos regime.

During the 1960s, Filipino protest music became aligned with the ideas of Communism as well as of revolution. The protest song "Ang Linyang Masa" came from Mao Zedong and his Mass Line and "Papuri sa Pag-aaral" was from Bertolt Brecht. These songs, although Filipinized, rose to become another part of Filipino protest music known as Revolutionary songs that became popular during protests and campaign struggles.

South Korea

See also: Music of South Korea and Korean protest songs

Commonly, protest songs in South Korea are known as Minjung Gayo (Korean: 민중 가요, literally "People's song"), and the genre of protest songs is called "Norae Undong", translating to the literal meaning "song movement". The starting point of Korean protest songs was the music culture of Korean students movements around 1970.[66] It was common in the 1970s~1980s, especially before and after of the June Democracy Movement in 1987, and associated with against the military governments of presidents Park Chung Hee and Chun Doo Hwan reflecting the will of crowd and voices of criticism of the day. From the middle of the 1990s, following the democratisation of South Korea, Korean protest songs have lost their popularity.

Taiwan

"Island's Sunrise" (Chinese: 島嶼天光) is the theme song of 2014 Sunflower Student Movement in Taiwan. Also, the theme song of Lan Ling Wang TV drama series Into The Array Song (Chinese: 入陣曲), sung by Mayday, expressed all the social and political controversies during Taiwan under the president Ma Ying-jeou administration.

Thailand

See also: Phleng phuea chiwit

In Thailand, protest songs are known as Phleng phuea chiwit  ("songs for life"), a music genre that originated in the '70s, by famous artists such as Caravan, Carabao, Pongthep Kradonchamnan and Pongsit Kamphee.

[elumish]

I know that this is intended as a joke, but I actually want to talk about this idea fo a second, because I think it's important to understanding a lot of conservative philosophy.

Built in to these ideas is not just the concept of self-evident, innate, immutable characteristics and hierarchies but also the concept of a power or powers determined to subvert them.

Often, this is the Devil, who is trying to undo or subvert God's will because that's what the Devil does. And so any person or group who goes against these biological hierarchies is doing the Devil's work and so must be stopped by violence.

Other times, it's Jews. In a lot of Great Replacement Theory rhetoric, it's not just that people are coming from Latin America to the United States and are going to have a million kids to replace white Americans or whatever, but that they are being brought here. Remember all of the stuff about the caravans and how they were being funded by Soros? Yeah, that's garden variety antisemitism wrapped up in other racism, all based around the idea that Jews have a large-scale plot to replace white Americans with "lesser" and more easily-controlled people so Jews can take over the United States.

This is also the idea behind the "groomers" rhetoric, and before that the "gay agenda". "They" are trying to trick you into having an abortion (and so subverting your inherent role as a mother). "They" are trying to act above their place, because they don't understand the hierarchy, or because they're greedy, or because they're evil. "They" want a weak, unmanly America, or a weak, unmanly military, because they hate America.

I'm assuming OP is talking primarily about gender in their post, but there's a quote from an article I was reading by Michael Feola about the Great Replacement Theory and anxieties about demographic replacement that people might find relevant:

...the anger that animates many of [Arlie Hochschild's] subjects stems from a consistent “deep story”: the economic and social losses of the white subject... are engineered by institutional strategies to promote other groups and cultures over the “native,” white subject. Put differently, these losses are not simply losses, but what has been taken from the white subject and given to others. (Emphasis in original)

Inherent to the idea of these hierarchies (race, gender, ability) is the notion that the people at the top deserve to be at the top, and anyone who is trying to subvert it is trying to steal something from those people at the top. Also built in to much of this philosophy is the idea that the people at the top of these hierarchies has the right to defend the status quo or themselves with violence (a right not afforded to the people below them).

Tl;dr they believe that these hierarchies are self-evident and innate but also that the Devil/Jews/Communists/Those People are trying to subvert it because they're evil or greedy, and that needs to be stopped with violence.

yeah this is a self-evident biological hierarchy. that's why we have to enforce it with violence

[allsortsoffuckedup]

A non-exhaustive list of library regulars I’ve had during my career who I’m confident I could write a sociology thesis on:

- the xenophobic sovereign citizen who was in the news for calling a sitting judge an idiot in open court and who brings an entire desk top set up into the library to work on in a bright blue suitcase

- the happy little American hoarder who prints out thousands of pages per year and apparently stores them all in his caravan

- the homophobic “colour palette adviser” (whatever the fuck that means) who often wears bright pink snakeskin boots and regularly crashes city council meetings to voice her opinions

- the meth addict who calls himself Germ and is apparently vaguely threatening with all the other staff but who happily asks me for help and thanks me for my time (a rarity in public service honestly)

- the lesbian grandmothers who bring the most well behaved, well adjusted tiny little granddaughter into the library and read to her for a couple of hours before maxing out her card with children’s books for home

- the Quakers who are the most unhinged passive aggressive collection of people I have ever had the misfortune of working with (thought your whole deal with peace, babes)

- the guy who gets freaked out if you say hi to him and sets himself up on a public computer to look at guns on Google images all day

- the former city councillor who comes in to use the microfilm reader to find validation for his anti-abortion views in past newspapers articles and mutters to himself while doing it

- the retired career librarian who comments about who overfunded libraries are most of our facebook posts

- the lady who walks her orange cat on a leash around the library which is the highlight of every librarian’s day

- the woman who comes in 10 minutes before close every Sunday and returns 24 DVDs before getting out 24 more

- the lady who only wants to read books on Frances Pryor (there aren’t that many books on Frances Pryor in general and none of them are at my particular library)

- the conspiracy theorist who comes in solely to use our public computers and their government-funded wifi network but who thinks the government is stealing her data and that’s the librarians fault. Also thinks the air fresheners are a nerve gas being deployed to brainwash her

- all of the sitting city councillors who do not have library memberships, have never set foot in the library but who seem to have very strong opinions on how fit the leaking 1970s building is for purpose

[frognosis]

reading list

current: shake hands with the devil, dallaire a small place, kincaid the abortion caravan, wells samsung rising, cain

[sublimeobservationarcade]

Trump Evangelicals Are Not Really Christians

A new study has revealed the fact that many Trump Evangelicals are not really Christians in the sense of church going folk. Their evangelical badge is more a cultural identity as white Christian nationalists than a true faith based calling. It is a very American transition that their Evangelical identity is more of a brand thing in the 21C. Many of these folk do not regularly attend church and their understanding of the gospels in the bible seems scant. How else could they match Trump with Jesus if not by blind ignorance about what is written in the gospels. Similarly how could they justify their guns and threatening behaviours if they were truly Christians? Photo by Luis Quintero on Pexels.com

White Christian Nationalists Not True Evangelicals

Jesus was forever banging on about loving your enemy and turning the other cheek. There was nothing in the gospels about storming the Capital and bringing down the government of the day. Personally, I never found any stuff about arming yourself and desecrating the Senate House. Killing police officers and damaging government property was, also, not in the gospels. Trump Evangelicals are not really Christians in the true sense of that faith calling. These are folk who have twisted the meaning of a religion to fit their own bigoted interpretation. “The evolving evangelical identity is already scrambling how politicians appeal to these voters. Mr. Burge’s research has found that “cultural Christians” care relatively little about bedrock religious-right causes like abortion and pornography. Karen Johnson went to her Lutheran church so regularly as a child that she won a perfect attendance award. As an adult, she taught Sunday school. But these days, Ms. Johnson, a 67-year-old counter attendant at a slot-machine parlor, no longer goes to church. She still identifies as an evangelical Christian, but she doesn’t believe going to church is necessary to commune with God. “I have my own little thing with the Lord,” she says.” - (Ruth Graham, New York Times, 8th Jan 2024) President Trump Postlaunch Remarks (NHQ202005300037) by NASA HQ PHOTO is licensed under CC-BY-NC-ND 2.0 Evangelical Religious Extremists & Trump The danger about all religious belief is this idea that God is speaking to the believer. Taken to extremes this idea can cause a whole lot of problems. If the religious adherent begins to discount secular leaders as lacking in true authority, then the rule of law can become something elective rather than compulsory in their eye. Religious extremism and terrorism are then only hop and a skip away. “Being evangelical once suggested regular church attendance, a focus on salvation and conversion and strongly held views on specific issues such as abortion. Today, it is as often used to describe a cultural and political identity: one in which Christians are considered a persecuted minority, traditional institutions are viewed skeptically and Mr. Trump looms large. Mr. Trump himself has become a model for embracing evangelicalism as an identity, not a religious practice. In 2020, he announced he no longer identified as a Presbyterian but as a “nondenominational Christian,” a tradition closely associated with evangelicalism. He is rarely seen in church, but a poll this fall by HarrisX for The Deseret News found that more than half of Republicans see Mr. Trump as a “person of faith.��� That’s more than any other 2024 Republican presidential candidate and substantially more than President Biden, a lifelong Catholic who attends Mass frequently.” - (https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/08/us/politics/donald-trump-evangelicals-iowa.html) Photo by Sharefaith on Pexels.com This courting of the morphing evangelical vote looks like more politics of grievance. Trump has towed his caravan around to pick up the disaffected and created a cult like circus. Former church goers attend his rallies like faith meetings where they call out in response to his promises for their return to an America which has never really existed. MAGA means blaming the usual suspects – the coloured people, the LGBTQIA folk, uppity women, and all those refugees pouring over the border. The irrational nature of this process, their induction into the Trump cult, means that the normal rules of politicking don’t apply anymore. Trump walks on water as long as he keeps rekindling the hopes and fears of the disaffected American. Jesus of Nazareth has been bumped into the background. Trump is the new orange Jesus of Queens. Robert Sudha Hamilton is the author of Money Matters: Navigating Credit, Debt, and Financial Freedom.   ©MidasWord Read the full article

[sillywolffoxwrites]

17th of Mirtul, 1368 - Day 15, Hour 16

As we gingerly passed the tightly wound gnolls who had decided to let us pass, we found a captive. They wouldn't let her go. Now they're dead and she's free. There was no way Ferrum was going to let them keep her. Neither was I. We had to kill far too many to free her. We won when they broke ranks and fled their base into the wilderness. So much wasted life. The prisoner is a human woman named Dynaheir - from Rashemen! I haven't been there since I was a very small child, but I recall the fierce matriarchs who captivated me so. To have another spellcaster in the group was also invigorating. Someone i could talk shop with. Dynaheir mentioned needing to find her bodyguard Minsc. As soon as she breathed his name I felt a tug of the weave. I knew he had to come, no, I still know, he had to go with us. We had to find Minsc. this of course led to the 6 person limit issue. Before the fortune teller had fled, she warned of exceeding a party of six. Imoen volunteered to go. Aurelia and Imoen hugged, they had begun to grow closer on this journey, it's a shame she wouldn't have a friend her age around. Imoen said she was tired of the road, and wanted to return to safety. The assassin we interrogated did not seem to have enough information to identify anyone but Aurelia, Yuze, and myself. so we took the gold thw now empty gnoll base, and used it to put her up for as long as she needed. It will also buy her passage on the next caravan to the Friendly Arm. I can't help but feeling guilty, Khalid tried to talk to me about it but I wasn't ready. It's my second time on the road, but its different now. I traveled for years on my own, studying magic, saving villages, even crawling into bed once with a prince! - but I had always plunged into those willingly. It was my choice, my risk, and my call to abort. Now it wasn't anyone's choice, we *can't* abort, and we HAVE to be proactive, yet we have so little information! Ferrum won't be able to hold me tight enough tonight. We must protect Aurelia. - Yuze

[autodaemonium]

gbntaɪreðəpʌrtŋærrɪsz

Pronounced: gbntairethuhpurtngarrisz.

Pantheon of: snootiness, naturalness, demeanor, hookup, elegance.

Entities

Bɒrtttaɪnəɪenuhwnsaɪmð

Pronounced: bourtttainuhienuhwnsaimth Naturalness: sincerity. Demeanor: manner. Legends: grand tour. Prophecies: standardization. Relations: rmsɪegaɪəədʒsrtərsfʌdɪ (immunoglobulin a), ʒotʃɪmesinʊoknhɪrleɪɪ (lunar caustic), rŋkzænrlslnəɪnlʌlmmi (appellation), ərlslyrællbwiəzdsɪən (director-stockholder relation).

Mðətʃəodðlunpwdtsdəiŋ

Pronounced: mthuhtshuhodthlunpwdtsduhing Naturalness: simplicity. Demeanor: citizenship. Legends: industrial arts, watering, up-bow, shipwreck. Prophecies: bowdlerization, actual possession, command, call, sanction. Relations: ɪenlmzʃʌɪəzimərtʃgaʊsð (morocco), rmsɪegaɪəədʒsrtərsfʌdɪ (wormwood oil), wdəswnluŋtlɪsʌerznəo (innervation), ʒotʃɪmesinʊoknhɪrleɪɪ (street name).

Pəəɪɪæzdðokðldbezəðl

Pronounced: puhuhiiazdthokthldbezuhthl Naturalness: sincerity. Demeanor: citizenship. Legends: employee-owned enterprise, undercut, clearance, mush, tanning. Prophecies: sidestep, volcanic eruption, hospitalization. Relations: ɪenlmzʃʌɪəzimərtʃgaʊsð (pyrophyllite).

Rmsɪegaɪəədʒsrtərsfʌdɪ

Pronounced: rmsiegaiuhuhjsrtuhrsfudi Naturalness: unaffectedness. Demeanor: manner. Legends: discipline, daily variation, evasion. Prophecies: riffle, ferry. Relations: rŋkzænrlslnəɪnlʌlmmi (thymol), wdəswnluŋtlɪsʌerznəo (dextrose), ɪenlmzʃʌɪəzimərtʃgaʊsð (soda lime).

Rtvɪɛədzkəɪtkzbðæwln

Pronounced: rtviayuhdzkuhitkzbthawln Naturalness: naturalization. Demeanor: impropriety. Legends: sprites, discord. Prophecies: dismemberment, hospice, unearned run, kabbalism, bait and switch. Relations: mðətʃəodðlunpwdtsdəiŋ (free radical), bɒrtttaɪnəɪenuhwnsaɪmð (kapok).

Rŋkzænrlslnəɪnlʌlmmi

Pronounced: rngkzanrlslnuhinlulmmi Naturalness: naturalization. Demeanor: citizenship. Legends: hula, pocket veto, caravan, amplitude. Prophecies: ferry, mintage, social activity. Relations: ərlslyrællbwiəzdsɪən (derivative), rtvɪɛədzkəɪtkzbðæwln (secretion).

Wdəswnluŋtlɪsʌerznəo

Pronounced: wduhswnlungtlisuerznuho Naturalness: naturalization. Demeanor: manner. Legends: knock, show trial, sailing, counterattack. Prophecies: cause celebre, stylization, brush. Relations: rmsɪegaɪəədʒsrtərsfʌdɪ (reflexive verb), rtvɪɛədzkəɪtkzbðæwln (ink).

Ərlslyrællbwiəzdsɪən

Pronounced: uhrlslyrallbwiuhzdsiuhn Naturalness: sincerity. Demeanor: propriety. Legends: crack. Relations: rmsɪegaɪəədʒsrtərsfʌdɪ (sol), rŋkzænrlslnəɪnlʌlmmi (accession), mðətʃəodðlunpwdtsdəiŋ (manganese bronze).

Əsðtnɒɑutðɒnʊɪlusənæ

Pronounced: uhsthtnouahutthounooilusuhna Naturalness: unpretentiousness. Demeanor: manner. Legends: indexing, swimming meet, arithmetic operation, stepping stone, loan approval. Prophecies: mistrial, execution, downshift, blessing, ablation.

Ɪenlmzʃʌɪəzimərtʃgaʊsð

Pronounced: ienlmzshuiuhzimuhrtshgowsth Naturalness: naturalization. Demeanor: propriety. Legends: contretemps, freshet, family therapy. Prophecies: musical. Relations: rŋkzænrlslnəɪnlʌlmmi (acetum), mðətʃəodðlunpwdtsdəiŋ (stripper), əsðtnɒɑutðɒnʊɪlusənæ (trust).

Ʒotʃɪmesinʊoknhɪrleɪɪ

Pronounced: zotshimesinoooknhirleii Naturalness: sincerity. Demeanor: impropriety. Legends: incomplete abortion, accreditation, withdrawal. Prophecies: decapitation, transmogrification, shimmer, dive. Relations: ərlslyrællbwiəzdsɪən (rickey), rŋkzænrlslnəɪnlʌlmmi (grinding).

[prettyporcelainporcupine]

For $80 a year you can maintain a National Park pass that is valid for every National Park in the US, just pack your tent and hit the road!

Remember that not all phone plans work in every state, we burned through our roaming limit with our GPS quickly, so buy an Atlas and mark your trip before you go so you can turn your phones off when outside of your coverage area. You'll be shocked how easy it gets to leave your phone behind after the second day without it.

There's plenty of campgrounds along the routes just for road trips like yours! You'll be surprised if you've never gone on a cross country camping trip, you can call ahead as you plan your route and make reservations in advance. A pop up tent and an air mattress makes setting up the bare minimum of camps a 20 minute effort.

If you're not used to camping, or if you find your planned route leads you through areas with poor camping options, pick a few hotels along the way to give you a break from camping to recover, especially on the way back home. There were days I had pushed myself on a hike without knowing and woke up the next day in rough shape. Even cheap Hotel nights can make you feel pampered after days in a tent.

You know, camping is lovely - even though I don’t live in a state that’s so great for it

[ukrfeminism]

2 minute read

TW: femicide.

A dangerous sexual predator who brutally beat to death aspiring lawyer Zara Aleena as she walked home alone from a night out with friends has admitted murder.

Jordan McSweeney, 29, trailed Ms Aleena through the streets at night before launching a ferocious attack, sexually assaulting her, and leaving her to die on the driveway of a home in Ilford, northeast London.

McSweeney, a heavily convicted criminal, carried out the attack in the early hours of June 26, just nine days after he had been set free from prison.

The “savage and brutal attack” on Ms Aleena, 35, was caught on terrifying CCTV, while McSweeney had been seen following a series of other women earlier in the evening before selecting Ms Aleena as his victim.

At the Old Bailey on Friday, he pleaded guilty to murder and sexual assault, and now faces a life sentence. The guilty plea follows a series of aborted court hearings when McSweeney had avoided psychological assessments, refused to leave his prison cell, and was suspected of attempting to disrupt court proceedings.

Mrs Justice Cheema Grubb adjourned sentencing to December 14, when members of Ms Aleena’s family will outline the impact of the murder on them.

In the days following her murder, her family paid tribute to Ms Aleena as a “joy to all of us” who had set her sights on becoming a lawyer at the age of five.

“Zara was friendly, she was everybody’s friend. She was everybody’s daughter, everybody’s niece, everybody’s sister, everybody’s cousin. She was pure of heart.”

Referencing the murders of Sarah Everard and Sabina Nessa, the family said Ms Aleena “walked everywhere” and “believed that a woman should be able to walk home”. 

“Sadly, Zara is not the only one who has had her life taken at the hands of a stranger. We all know women should be safe on our streets. She was in the heart of her community, ten minutes from home”, they said. “In a savage, sickening, act she was murdered by a stranger.”

At an earlier hearing, prosecutor Oliver Glasgow KC said the attack happened at around 2.45am when Ms Aleena was minutes away from reaching her home following a night out with friends.

He said McSweeney caused the “violent death of Zara Aleena who was attacked in the early hours of the morning of June 26”, saying she was “a lone female late at night making her way home, a woman who stood no chance”. 

“Emergency services were called after her body was discovered in a driveway on Cranbrook Road.

“She was bleeding, struggling to breathe, and had clearly sustained serious head injuries. She was also partially naked.

“The injuries she had sustained at the hands of this defendant were so severe that nothing could be done to save her.”

Ms Aleena studied law at the University of Westminster and she had recently completed a Legal Practice Course to be able to practise as a solicitor. Introducing the evidence, Mr Glasgow said: “Eyewitnesses and CCTV directly links this defendant to the savage and brutal attack on Zara Aleena.

“In the early hours, he was following and observing a number of different women. He was obviously interested in them and their movements. Tragically, for Zara Aleena, it was her on whom he became fixated.

“He is seen on CCTV to set about her on the ground. He is seen kicking and stamping repeatedly on her body.

“When the body was discovered, she was clearly already fatally wounded as a result of the onslaught.”

The court heard McSweeney was tracked to a caravan when police officers discovered a bag of blood-stained clothing and shoes.

His fingerprint was also found in blood at the scene of the attack. 

The killer, from Dagenham, refused to speak in his police interview and repeatedly refused to leave his prison cell as court proceedings progressed.

When his barrister asked for a further delay to proceedings, the judge replied: “The defendant has now had three opportunities to meet with the psychologist and he hasn’t attended on any of them. He hasn’t attended today, and I am not prepared to put the case over until November.”

The court heard he made threats to police officers after his arrest and claims to suffer from ADHD and a split personality disorder.

McSweeney has 28 convictions for 69 offences, including for assaults on police officers and members of the public.

He was released from prison on June 17, 2022, after serving his latest sentence for burglary and theft of a motor vehicle.

[qqueenofhades]

do you think the odds are in the dems’ favor to keep the house and the senate? i worry both houses are gonna flip red bc of all the focus on immigration and inflation right now…

It depends. There has been focus on both immigration and inflation, yes, but that's not the full story. The immigration narrative took a bit of a turn after DeSatan shipped a planeload of migrants to Martha's Vineyard and they're now (rightly) suing the shit out of him for kidnapping and human trafficking, and it's not really a major talking point at the moment outside of Fox News and the other bastions of right-wing drum-pounding that always discover a Big Scary Caravan of Brown People!! heading for America right when they need to distract from something terrible that the Republicans did. Inflation, although still high, is coming down, and gas prices are WAY down (over $2+) from their stratospheric May-June highs.

Additionally, this is in no way a regular midterm year (where we could expect significant losses for the incumbent president's party). There was that little thing where an illegitimate right-wing SCOTUS overturned women's basic bodily autonomy, and all the actual elections we have had since, including in deeply or traditionally red districts, have showed Democrats WAY overperforming, including topping Biden's margins vs. Trump in 2020. This is not a foolproof indicator, but it has been consistent, and it shows that there is absolutely a lot of rage (as there should be) over the Roe decision. Pro-choice people, and even people who are traditionally moderate/more conservative but are among the 60%+ of Americans who support abortion rights (I don't know why that number isn't higher, but then, this country is often a theocratic libertarian nightmare, so.... yeah), are strikingly more likely to vote for Democrats. The Republicans tried for 50 years to overturn Roe, and now they're trying to backpedal, minimize, or equivocate it, rather than proudly running on it as a campaign strategy. If it really was so popular, you think they would? But even blood-red Kansas voted overwhelmingly to keep abortion legal, so they're trying to spin it both ways.

This isn't to say that there aren't significant headwinds and steep odds, because there are. The crazies are motivated to vote to avenge the disgrace of their God-King Trump, the fascists smell power after they were beaten last time, and if Democratic voters don't get to the polls in equal or greater numbers, we're going to be in a very bad spot. I said this in 2016 and I said this in 2020, and I'm saying it again now: I do not care if you think you are as morally pure as the driven snow and there is no way you could ever sully yourself to vote for a flawed human institution like the Democratic Party. You still have to do it. There is no safe Republican or non-Democratic candidate to vote for in the 2022 midterms. Nor can you act as if you personally are exempt from the project of staving off full-on theocratic fascism for the rest of us, or that you will somehow magically escape the consequences of its imposition. I will not hear or tolerate any stupid arguments on this. If you are one of the people who reflexively whines BUT BIDEN/THE DEMOCRATS HAVEN'T DONE ANYTHING, or BOTH PARTIES ARE THE SAME!!!, I beg, BEG you to get out of the leftist social media misinformation chamber and find out what, in fact, they HAVE done (and what the other guys want to do). If the only political opinions you're hearing or ever seek out are those that already reinforce your profoundly skewed VOTING IS BAD AND I AM PERFECT conviction, there is something very, very wrong.

Doing morally good politics is not, as the Tumblr leftists like to think, a matter of opening a book, selecting all the most Morally Pure positions on paper, and immediately discarding any person who doesn't fully embody all of them (i.e. everyone). It is making the most moral choice that prevents the most harm, and right now, the Republicans are off-the-ranch crazy and harmful. If they get the House back, they have promised to spend all their time on trying to send Dr. Fauci to jail, impeaching Biden and Garland, "avenging" Trump, passing a national abortion ban, and other nonsense revenge-driven fascist cosplay. I'm not making this up, they have said it very clearly and repeatedly. There will be absolutely no progress on further legislation (including the Electoral Count Act which is meant to prevent further coups of the type that we saw on January 6, among others). They don't even care that any of this is unlikely to actually succeed. They will rip apart the country, sow division and hate, and put on revenge-spectacle nonsense all the way to 2024. They won't even try to solve any of the problems that matter to anyone, and they will make them all worse.

I think the odds are currently better for Democrats to hold the Senate, as they have to defend a relatively few number of seats while there are more GOP seats up for grabs, and the Republicans are running such an utterly terrible crop of losers that what works for the loonies in the primary is having trouble appealing to the general electorate. The House is more of a tossup and will rely on turnout in individual states. And on that note: if you are an American citizen over the age of 18, check your registration. Check it now. If you live in a state where the Republicans have rammed through restrictive voting laws, make sure you know what those are, so you aren't disqualified on a technicality. If you are registered in a state other than the one where you currently live, update your registration or make arrangements to receive an absentee ballot. Know when you need to return it for it to be counted. DO IT NOW. THE MIDTERMS ARE BARELY MORE THAN A MONTH AWAY.

Thank.

[dylanmunson]

11 with Eddie - was this your plan the whole time?!

I have two ideas so bare with me lmao, the second idea will be posted soon!

TW: death, suicidal thoughts (hinted at) idk

Prompt fic list

Wattpad | masterlist | request & prompt list

//////////

Eddie had just finished playing master of puppets, myself and Dustin shouting at him to abort mission as the bats start to surround us. "Eds we need to move now" i say as we all make our back into caravan. "That was fucking metal!" "Was great eds but we need to go like now!" I say looking at the boys hearing the bats coming down onto the roof, "now, go!" I say pushing the boys towards the gate.

"Dustin go!" I say as we push him up into the gate back into our Hawkins, "y/n you next sweet" Eddie says "come I'll help" he says getting ready to push me up, i sigh "Eddie, i - i love you" i sigh squeezing his hand "and i love you" he says kissing me softly "now come on" i nod and push myself through the gate.

Eddie looks around "no Eddie don't" i shout "Eddie, come on man" Dustin says, "we need more time" he says "Eddie no!" I shout "Eddie no!" I shout louder as he cuts the rope and moves the mattress, "Eddie!" Dustin shouts, "this mother fucker" i shout smacking my hands down.

Eddie runs off, i look to Dustin and shake my head "stay here Kay!" I say moving a chair to so i can jump up through the gate. "Dustin please, stay here" i say before pushing myself through the gate once more to run after Eddie.

//////

The bats surround Eddies body, "no, no, no" i mumble throwing myself down beside him, "Eddie, Eddie can you hear me?!" "Hi sweetheart" he chuckles dryly, coughing. "Gonna be my year sweetheart" "Eddie don't" i say as tears start to make there way down my face, "DUSTIN?!" "I need you to look after my sheepies okay?" "O, no your gonna do that yourself" "finally gonna graduate Henderson, you look after them for me Kay?" "Okay" he sobs, i hold eddies head in my lap. "No, no, your okay" i sob moving his hair from his face "was his your plan the whole time munson?" I sob, cupping his face, he smiles softly up at me, "was it?!" He smiles closing his eyes softly, almost saying yeah kinda, "i love you sweetheart" i shake my head "no eds please" he smiles softly, "i love you man" he says giving Dustin's hand a squeeze, "i love you too" Dustin sobs, "Eddie please, Dustin we need to.." i say looking around. Eddie just smiles before he stops breathing.

///////

Eddie slowly begins to wake up in the hospital bed, thank god for Steve for helping us drag Eddie back and get him to the hospital. "Eddie" i sob, "hey" he chuckles dryly, "here here" i say handing him some water, "wh-what happened? I thought i?" I shake my head, "i know that was your plan though" i sigh rubbing my face, "it wasn't.. maybe" he says looking at the glass. "Eds its okay, you were wanted for murder and getting shit on for everything" i mumble, he nods "there was no way out" he says "hoppers alive, got your name cleared, you've been out a while" i say bringing his hand to my lips. "I love you sweetheart" i nod "i love you too eds" i mumble against his hand.

——————————————————————

[coochiequeens]

A transwoman who tries to control women, spits on women and shouts at women are misgendering themselves.

A trans activist has reportedly been arrested and charged with assault after a vulgar confrontation at Edinburgh University in December. Robyn Woof, 35, spat on a woman who had been attempting to attend a screening of a documentary critical of gender ideology.

Woof, who was the Trans and Non-Binary Liberation Officer for the Edinburgh University Students Association, went viral in December after he was caught on film blocking a woman who was trying to enter the building to attend a screening of “Adult Human Female.” The documentary is critical of gender ideology’s impact on women, and the showing was hosted by Edinburgh Academics for Academic Freedom. 

Multiple camera-phone videos of Woof began to circulate on December 14, including one where he explains to the crowd of attendees attempting to enter the building that he was an “adult human female.”

During the clash, Woof was caught on film spitting at a woman.

The event was ultimately cancelled due to safety concerns, and police were called to the scene. No arrests were made at the time, and Woof congratulated protesters on successfully having blocked the showing of the film in a statement on his Instagram page. 

News of Woof’s arrest was announced by Wings Over Scotland on February 8, with the digest sharing an official statement from Police Scotland which read that a “woman” had been charged in connection to the alleged assault which took place at the screening.

In addition to his vocal trans activism, Woof is also a member of the University of Edinburgh’s rifle club. Many on social media speculated that a criminal charge will likely lose him his license to own a firearm. 

Woof has a history of staging aggressive counter protests, particularly against women.

In 2019, he became violent towards a group of elderly women who were staging a silent anti-abortion protest across from a clinic. Mancunian Matters reported the incident, describing Woof as “a six-foot aggressor.”

The seniors, who were members of the groups 40 Days For Life, were targeted by Woof as they were praying. Woof stopped his car to confront the protestors, grabbing their chairs and throwing their posters while screaming “you people fucking disgust me.”

In wake of his new charges, Woof has launched a GoFundMe seeking donations for a new van. Titled “I’ve been targeted by transphobic extremists,” the fundraiser explains that he had complained to his university about the “transphobic film,” but the administration instead recommended that he attend the screening and debate his position. 

According to to his fundraiser, Woof explained that he arrived at the first venue and due to protesters, they were moved to a new location but five protesters arrived first and blocked the door.

“Everyone went to the new venue and when I arrived in the corridor leading to the lecture theatre there were about 5 young protestors blocking a doorway,” Woof recounts in the description. He also denies assaulting anyone, despite the fact his hurling of saliva was caught on film. Women who attended the event have said his description of the incident is flawed.

Woof has stated he will be using the donations to buy a new caravan due to “death threats” he has received due to the allegations online of assault. Woof is allegedly intending to live in the caravan.

Adult Human Female, the documentary Woof and the other trans activists had disrupted, has been highly controversial since its release last year. The film was directed by Deirdre O’Neill, and focuses on the clash between gender ideology and women’s rights. Screenings across the UK have been met with protests and aggression from trans activists. 

On the film’s official Twitter account, the filmmakers announced they have made a formal complaint to GoFundMe regarding Woof’s fundraiser.

By

Shay Woulahan

Shay is a writer and social media content creator for Reduxx. She is a proud lesbian activist and feminist who lives in Northern Ireland with her partner and their four-legged, fluffy friends.