#HuffPost Live

[redcarpet-streetstyle]

[baseinlife]

Amy Oztan, the woman who started the company Amy Ever After. In addition to that, she is a podcaster and a freelance writer.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Christopher Mathias at HuffPost:

A coalition of 185 social justice and religious groups published an open letter Monday expressing support for the campus protest encampments sweeping the country in opposition to Israel’s siege of Gaza, and calling on university administrators to end the brutal crackdowns of the student-led demonstrations. “We commend the students who are exercising their right to protest peacefully despite an overwhelming atmosphere of pressure, intimidation and retaliation, to raise awareness about Israel’s assault on Gaza — with U.S. weapons and funding,” the letter states. “These students have come forth with clear demands that their universities divest from corporations profiting from Israeli occupation, and demanding safe environments for Palestinians across their campuses. ” Groups that signed the letter include Gen-Z for Change, Working Families Party, IfNotNow Movement, Young Democrats of America Black Caucus, Movement for Black Lives, Sunrise Movement, MPower Change, Jewish Voice for Peace, Palestine Legal, and the Unitarian Universalist Association.

Some 900 students have been arrested during anti-war encampments and demonstrations at American universities in the last 10 days, per a tally from Al Jazeera — a tumultuous period that mirrors volatile demonstrations against the Vietnam War in 1968, when police arrested at least 700 students. The open letter Monday represents one of the largest shows of support among progressive groups for the burgeoning student protests, and makes clear the divide between establishment Democratic figures and social justice groups when it comes to U.S. support for Israel. President Joe Biden has refused so far to condition the sale of weapons to Israel. “Our communities have been horrified to see the militarized and violent response to students protesting an ongoing genocide funded and supported by our government, and our coalition of organizations join millions of our members across the country in standing in solidarity with the students’ efforts in support of the people of Gaza,” Yasmine Taeb, one of the main organizers of the letter, told HuffPost. Taeb is a human rights lawyer and political director at MPower Change, a Muslim social justice group.

“Instead of attacking young people mobilizing for Palestinian human rights, President Biden needs to listen to the majority of Americans who have been calling on him to stop funding and supporting the atrocities committed against the people of Gaza,” Taeb said.

[...] Israel has killed over 33,000 Palestinians since Oct. 7, when the Gaza-based militant group Hamas launched an attack in which nearly 1,200 Israelis were killed. In January, the International Court of Justice ruled that Israel’s siege of Gaza — which has displaced 85% of the population and put the occupied territory on the cusp of famine — left Palestinians at risk of experiencing a genocide. Last week, health officials in Gaza said medics had discovered mass graves at hospitals raided by Israeli troops. “We join [the students] in calling for an immediate and lasting ceasefire and an end to the U.S. government’s and institutions’ role in the ongoing genocide of Palestinians in Gaza,” Monday’s letter states. “As we stand in solidarity with the students protesting in encampments across the country, we reaffirm our commitment to amplifying their voices, condemn the university administration officials’ violent response to their activism, and demand that universities remove the presence of police and other militarized forces from their campuses,” it continues.

[...] Meanwhile, Republican Party officials and right-wing media figures have accused the demonstrations of antisemitism, falsely equating criticism of Israel with bigotry towards Jews. Although there have been scattered reports of actual antisemitic incidents at or near the encampments, many were not perpetrated by students but by interlopers. Many of the student protesters across the country are Jewish. Far-right agitators, including Christian nationalist activists, have also targeted the encampments, with MAGA pastor Sean Feucht leading hundreds of Christian and Jewish Zionists on a march around the Columbia campus on Thursday. The rally ended with pro-Israel demonstrators yelling through the gate at pro-Palestinian Columbia students. “Go back to Gaza!” they screamed.

More than 185 groups, including IfNotNow, Jewish Voice For Peace, MPower Change, and Working Families Party, signed a letter in support of the campus protests against Israel Apartheid State's genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.

[sayruq]

Today was a big for the resistance. It seems people were right, they were waiting for Biden to leave so they can respond to the Ah Ahli Hospital massacre (the tweets below are arranged from the earliest reports I saw to the latest in order to show the coordination between different groups in different countries and the escalation)

Like I said, a big day for the resistance

And I see no signs of things slowing down

The Palestinian resistance has a list of objectives for this operation including damaging Israel's economy, forcing Israel citizens to flee the country, and slowing down immigration to Israel in the long term (because that leads to new settlements)

In other news, Biden's bloodlust was enough to disgust an arms dealer.

Several of his staff have also expressed discomfort with the administration's choices the past few weeks

Nonetheless, American troops have been told to prepare for deployment

The past few days I've been pointing out how Russia has gone from pro Israel to carefully neutral to increasingly critical of Israel and now we have this.

I'm so glad that Israel has continued to shoot itself on its foot by isolating itself from Russia and China

Russia is actively intervening to ensure that America and its allies can't use the Black Sea to counter the resistance in West Asia which is a big deal

So far, all signs are pointing to a regional conflict

This has to be a huge blow to Israel seeing so many countries, even a NATO nation, coming together to ensure that it can't annihilate Palestine.

More importantly, it shows that Palestine does not stand alone.

[mariacallous]

Election Day is here, and understandably, tensions seem to be growing higher as the date gets closer. An estimated 69% of Americans say the 2024 race is a significant source of stress in their lives, according to recent data from the American Psychological Association.

“The implications of the election are huge, no matter your value set, and no matter for whom you plan to vote,” Dr. Nzinga A. Harrison, co-founder and chief medical officer of Eleanor Health, told HuffPost.

Given the potential impact of the election’s result, it’s unsurprising that emotions are heightened — including feelings of anxiousness and worry.

But election-related anxiety doesn’t always manifest in ways you might expect. HuffPost spoke with professionals about the sneaky signs it may be impacting you, and how to keep it in check.

[justinsentertainmentcorner]

Ben Blanchet at HuffPost:

Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris made a surprise appearance on “Saturday Night Live” this weekend to mock Donald Trump while giving a pep talk to Maya Rudolph, who plays the vice president on the NBC comedy sketch show. “I’m just here to remind you, you got this because you can do something your opponent cannot do. You can open doors,” Harris joked, referring to the GOP nominee struggling to open a garbage truck door at a recent campaign stunt.

The vice president was initially scheduled to head to Detroit on Saturday, but instead made the unannounced trip to “SNL” to appear on its final episode before Election Day.

[...] The vice president’s cameo arrived in the show’s cold open, when Rudolph, playing Harris during a campaign stop in Pennsylvania, wished that she could talk to someone who has been in her “shoes” ― a Black and South Asian woman running for president, “preferably from the Bay Area.” Harris then appeared as Rudolph’s reflection in a mirror, as the two played around with the vice president’s first name to call for an end to the “drama-la” and to “keep calm-a-la and carry on-a-la.”

See Also:

The Guardian: FCC regulator claims Harris appearance on SNL violates ‘equal time’ rule

The Guardian: Kamala Harris finds herself on Saturday Night Live amid riff to ‘end the drama-la’ in US politics

Kamala Harris made a last-minute cameo on SNL this weekend, alongside Maya Rudolph (who portrayed Harris).

From the 11.02.2024 edition of NBC's Saturday Night Live:

[hakoniwa-h]

10th Years "Tomodachi Life" (& My blogs)

On April 18, 2023, one year ago, I wrote a very long article on my blog about Mii and Japanese politics in relation to 'Tomocore', which was released earlier in Japan. I would like to share the English translation of that article, which I used Chat GPT and DeepL to translate.

To be clear, this article contains content that is very distressing for the feminist community, the LGBTQ+ community, and those who struggle with and contemplate human rights issues...

【The original article】10周年目のトモダチコレクション新生活 （Tomodachi Collection:New life, 10th birthday) 2023.04.18 https://hakoniwa-h.tumblr.com/post/714856306541002752/

「This is a gift from everyone」

On April 18, 2013, "Tomodachi Collection: New Life" was released, and now, it has reached its 10th anniversary. Congratulations. To share the excitement of 11 PM on April 17, 2013, I updated this blog at 11 PM on April 17, 2023. Unfortunately, we can no longer recommend the always-with-you download version…

Before moving this blog, I was posting various things about Tomodachi Collection: New Life on Seesaa Blog. If you've been with us since then, you've been following this blog for over 10 years.

Thank you. Congratulations on the 10th anniversary!

↑ Kanta, the 100th resident born on Likunoko Island, has also turned 9.

Tomodachi Collection: New Life was released on June 6, 2014, under the name "Tomodachi Life" in America, the EU, Australia, and Korea …etc. Before its release, Nintendo corrected an element related to "same-sex marriage" as a bug. I remember that when some people requested not to correct it, Nintendo responded firmly, saying, "We cannot incorporate social claims," which led to protests from users and human rights groups, resulting in an apology. At that time, I felt I had to summarize this controversy in my own way, but with limited knowledge of gender and the LGBTQ community, I remember feeling uncertain about whether it was appropriate to write "same-sex marriage" or "homosexuality" (I had some hesitation about whether it was "love" when it came to Mii relationships). Therefore, I used the terms "same-sex marriage" and "same-sex relationship." I've quietly revised that clumsy blog post since moving from Seesaa, correcting parts that seemed "discriminatory" or "a bit mistaken," but the overall tone and sentiment from that time remain unchanged, and it still exists today.

Back then, I was still immature, grappling with "fighting the society I thought was normal" in the face of my favorite work and the changing times.

[Past blog post]Same-sex marriage fiasco before Tomokore's overseas launch https://hakoniwa-h.tumblr.com/post/151286653996/

[References] ・HUFFPOST - 伊藤大�� 「任天堂は同性婚にNO」？ ゲームの設定めぐり海外で波紋 https://www.huffingtonpost.jp/2014/05/08/nintendo-tomodachi_n_5292748.html ・CNET Japan – Nick Statt 任天堂が謝罪–「トモダチコレクション 新生活」欧米版で同性愛に対応せずhttps://japan.cnet.com/article/35047703/・CNET – Michelle Starr How to have same-sex relationships in Tomodachi Lifehttps://www.cnet.com/tech/gaming/how-to-have-same-sex-relationships-in-tomodachi-life/

Today, I'd like to share some serious thoughts about politics inspired by Tomodachi Collection: New Life over these past ten years.

"Let's sometimes check how seriously we are living!"

■ Mii's Achievements Almost ten years have passed since the criticism. Following this criticism, "Miitopia" was released, where Mii characters could love anyone regardless of gender (or rather, Mii's gender itself became quite ambiguous), and it was reborn as a fascinating software for the 3DS and later remade for the Switch with enhanced features.

Moreover, Mii showed a remarkable presence in "Miitomo," which was Nintendo's first mobile app launched on March 17, 2016. Unfortunately, "Miitomo" has since been discontinued, but they are now planting flowers in the city with Pikmin in "Pikmin Bloom." I believe Mii are still doing their best.

■ Games and Politics Nintendo has stated, "We strive to create an environment where each employee can demonstrate their abilities," and reportedly introduced a partnership system in March 2021, advocating respect for human rights. This initiative for a diverse workplace includes a section on "promoting women's participation," but although 30% of Nintendo (Japan)'s employees are women, which might be relatively high for a general company, the fact that there are still fewer opportunities for women hasn't changed. Consequently, the fewer female employees, the fewer chances women have to benefit from the partnership system. Although it might be unrealistic to expect a sudden 50% representation tomorrow, I hope for a gradual increase. Additionally, Japanese electronics companies, including Nintendo, have been accused of being involved in forced labor in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in 2020, and they are being asked to report on their stance regarding "modern slavery." [References]

・国際人権NGOヒューマン・ライツ・ナウ 【報告書】新疆ウイグル自治区に関連する強制労働と日本企業の関与について https://hrn.or.jp/activity_statement/18457/ ・任天堂株式会社　現代奴隷に関するステートメント(PDF) https://www.nintendo.co.jp/csr/pdf/ModernSlaveryTransparencyStatement_jp.pdf

There was also a bit of news that caught my attention. ・CNN 「任天堂米国法人が女性社員を解雇、理由を巡り物議に」https://www.cnn.co.jp/business/35080561.html・Gigazine 「ニンテンドー・オブ・アメリカで受けたひどい���クハラや女性差別について元従業員が告白」https://gigazine.net/news/20220819-nintendo-of-america-sexual-harassment/

■ Reality Pulling Us Back Now, regarding the much-desired proper sequel to "Tomodachi Collection: New Life" that I and probably the readers of this blog are hoping for, I must point out that the harsh response of Japanese society to the LGBTQ+ community is affecting the existence of the Mii characters. I can't help but think that the political issues surrounding whether to keep Mii's relationships and marriages strictly between male and female or make them more free are hindering development and release. It's likely impossible to create a "Mii who only likes one gender" now. Creating a "Mii who only likes one gender" would break the promise made during the controversy nine years ago when Tomodachi Life was released. The global fan community (honestly, excluding certain communities attacking minorities while jokingly invoking "Nintendo's legal department" and those sharing sensitive information affecting international relations and wars) is not foolish. Moreover, these issues will affect not just Tomodachi Collection but various other games. If it's judged that "human rights are being ignored for business," even the above-mentioned human rights statements will come under stricter scrutiny. Unless these issues are resolved, the development of a sequel to "Tomodachi Collection: New Life" won't be directed (or rather, can't be directed). I now think that the deterioration of Japanese politics over the past decade and the lack of "human rights education" are holding back development.

What I can say to those who wish for the release of "Tomodachi Collection: New Life" is to seriously consider Japanese politics.

If possible, think about human rights and the LGBTQ+ community because while Mii are fictional avatars, they occupy a unique position that can integrate real-life people into the game world, making them inseparable from reality and capable of influencing it.

Being aware of this, reexamining your own assumptions, and stopping discrimination are the quickest paths to development and release.

Is it natural that marriage is only possible between a man and a woman?

Wouldn't it have been acceptable for storks to deliver children to same-sex couples? Wouldn't having a slider setting for 'having children or not' solve this issue? Why is acquiring a home limited to married couples? There are many things we can reconsider.

I feel so seriously that "this country is in a bit of a crisis" that I have to say such serious things 10 years after the release of Tomodachi Collection: New Life. Please understand this small request.

I want the Switch to be imported to a new island in "Tomodachi Collection: New Life," and for Mii to play Zelda, Ring Fit Adventure, and more. I love Mii playing 3DS and WiiU on the 3DS, but I want to say, "Please export the Switch!"

If the economy were a bit better, I think many downloadable content and repairs for 3DS and Wii could have continued. What will happen if the Wii or 3DS of the Mii living on the island breaks down? It's sad to think about, but at the same time, I also feel like Mii could somehow fix it.

■ Tightening Last year, on February 24, Russia invaded Ukraine. In 2013, Russia enacted a law prohibiting the "propaganda" of "non-traditional sexual relations (homosexuality)" to minors. In 2017, a legal amendment decriminalized domestic violence.

The fact that "Miitopia" was released with an R18 rating also caused a big stir, as it was caught by this “propaganda” clause. "Tomodachi Life" might also be included.

[References] ・毎日新聞 – 菅野 蘭 「女の子」だから、抗議する　プーチン政権下のロシアの女性たちhttps://mainichi.jp/articles/20230413/k00/00m/030/139000c ・AUTOMATON – Daiki Imazato ロシア下院議員が「LGBTを宣伝するゲーム」をリストアップ。『Fallout』や『Apex Legends』など有名ゲーム多数を危険視 https://automaton-media.com/articles/newsjp/20221115-226706/・AUTOMATON – Ayuo Kawase Nintendo Switch『ミートピア』はロシアでは“18禁”だとして話題にのぼる。同性愛描写が影響かhttps://automaton-media.com/articles/newsjp/20210219-152683/ ・FRANCE 24 - Russia’s book police: Anti-gay law opens new chapter as censors target literature https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20240430-russia-s-book-police-anti-gay-law-opens-ugly-new-chapter

Additionally, last November, it became a problem that the Shinto Political League distributed a discriminatory booklet at a meeting of the Liberal Democratic Party's parliamentary group that described homosexuality as a "mental disorder" and an "addiction." Frankly speaking, I feel that Japan's stance on LGBTQ+ issues is very close to the situation described above in Russia. If a "homosexual propaganda ban law" were to be enacted in Japan, it would not only restrict the release of games related to Mii but also other imported games and works. I dread the thought that it could even lead to the halting of distribution of second-hand copies of 'Tomodachi Life' and 'Miitopia.'

[References] ・Yahoo個人 – 松岡宗嗣 「同性愛は依存症」「LGBTの自殺は本人のせい」自民党議連で配布 https://news.yahoo.co.jp/byline/matsuokasoshi/20220629-00303189 ↑（I've listed the sites and articles I referred to without changing their titles, but this article by writer Soshi Matsuoka, posting information about LGBTQ+ issues in Japan, became a scoop, particularly highlighting the LGBTQ persecution by traditional religions in Japan.） ・朝日新聞デジタル – 伊藤舞虹 議員ら会合でLGBTQ差別冊子、「加担怖い」　当事者の神職ら抗議(有料記事) https://www.asahi.com/articles/ASQCG74K2QBPOIPE00S.html ・The Asahi Shimbun - MAIKO ITO /Staff Writer Shrine workers protest Shinto body’s anti-LGBT pamphlet https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14768713 ・東京新聞 日本除いた「G6」からLGBTQの人権守る法整備を促す書簡　首相宛てに駐日大使連名　サミット議長国へ厳しい目 https://www.tokyo-np.co.jp/article/238238

The direction of Japan's game industry is also influenced by the atmosphere among users. Until now, perhaps you could adopt the attitude that as long as you could play your favorite games, you didn't care about anything else. This was because Japan was perceived to (comparatively still) have "money," and it was a country with many people who could afford to be insensitive and not care about others. Moreover, I think there was a sort of tacit racial leniency as "an island nation with strange customs in East Asia."

However, such excuses will no longer be acceptable. We are entering an era where we must feel ashamed of the business practices that have relied on such excuses. Therefore, I sincerely hope that those who love Mii and read this blog will seriously think about the future, including politics.

And, based on that, I want you to boldly wish for the development of a sequel to 'Tomodachi Life: New Life.'

"From tomorrow, I will try my best."

The next election is the second half of the unified local elections on April 23rd. Why not seriously consider how you want Mii to be portrayed in the future as one of the starting points?

--- --- --- ■Supplementary information The day I wrote this article, April 18th, was a time when local elections were looming in Japan.

On May 19, 2024, it became clear that a Japanese lesbian couple sought asylum in Canada, being recognized as refugees due to compound discrimination against women and LGBTQ+ in Japan. We live in an environment so severe that we need to seek asylum. Nintendo, the creator of 'Tomodachi Life,' is unfortunately based in Japan and sometimes absorbs the discriminatory expressions of Japanese society. This issue extends beyond games to other media like manga and anime. Feminist groups that point out these problems often face SLAPP lawsuits and other forms of harassment, making it a serious social issue that rarely comes to light.

・日本人の同性カップル、カナダで難民認定　「迫害に根拠ある恐怖」 https://www.asahi.com/articles/ASS5L2F7MS5LUTFL002M.html ・Colabo’s Fights against Sexual Exploitation and Misogyny in Japan Today | Webzine-KYEOL As you may know, in May 2014, before the release of "Tomodachi Life," it became big news that same-sex marriage was not possible in the game. At the time, I must confess, I had little understanding of LGBTQ+ issues and didn't fully grasp why this caused such anger. I believe most Japanese people felt the same.

The answer is that Japan is a society that adheres to the standard that "marriage is between a man and a woman."

Japan is a country that is (for better or worse) susceptible to external pressure. When former Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori made sexist remarks during the TOKYO Olympics, it was thanks to women around the world standing up that we finally managed to bring him down. The sad fact is that women's suffrage in Japan is shorter than his age. The reality is that few people can access the Japanese feminist communities and LGBTQ+ communities, and they are quite exhausted.

I live in a rural area (HOKKAIDO) and have never directly participated in these communities, which is an issue. Feminism in Japan feels like it belongs to those in urban areas, who can attend university, who have money, and who can participate in communities.

At the same time, this means that anti-feminists can easily infiltrate feminist communities if they have the funds.

I think Japan's situation regarding LGBTQ+ is close to Russia. Women's wages are 75% of men's. I live as a woman in this Japanese society. I encountered feminism in 2017 when Yumi Ishikawa started the hashtag activism #Kutoo, a play on #MeToo. Online visibility of feminists allowed us to see what books and media they were consuming. I was fortunate that when I encountered feminism, K-feminism, including Cho Nam-joo's "Kim Ji-young, Born 1982（KO:「82년생 김지영」 JP:「82年生まれ、キム・ジヨン」)" was spreading in Japan, and I rode that wave.

(Postscript 2024/05/26 Upon rereading, I realized there might be some confusion here. In 2017, the global hashtag movement #MeToo occurred, and I was shocked by Shiori Ito's case and the reports on it. Gradually, women's accusations started to accumulate, and although I felt I wanted to share something as well, I couldn't put my thoughts into words. This led me to read many books and articles about feminism. Among these, Yumi Ishikawa's #Kutoo (2019) movement emerged, the Flower Demo, public discrimination by a certain university professor, and the related lawsuits.)

I learned that Japan is a family-centric society, that we are bound by it, and that what I thought was "normal" since childhood was not "normal." Our rights are incomplete, and human rights education, including sex education, has not been conducted.

You may know famous feminists like CHIZUKO UENO and YOKO TAJIMA, but their books did not reach us. Japanese bookstores rarely carry feminist books. As mentioned earlier, women's wages are 75% of men's; it's not that we don't buy books but can't afford to. Moreover, many Japanese women are burdened with household chores and have no time to read.

The same applies to other cultures. There's no time to play games, no time for hobbies, but we're told to stay beautiful. The word "Jyoshi-ryoku" (women's power) became a buzzword in 2009. "Jyoshi-ryoku" is a term similar to "Tradwife," meaning always being cute, good at cooking, and perfectly entertaining men. It became a buzzword, and we were swayed by it.

Do you know what happened in 2009?

↑It's the year when the DS version of ”Tomodachi Collection” was released. Now, AI like Chat GPT has advanced greatly, allowing us to communicate like this (although it's still somewhat unstable).

The 10th-anniversary article touched on these social issues in Japan and addressed Mii fans, but it didn't get much response in Japan.

Japan still neglects the word "human rights." It is a country full of elderly people who do not get angry even if taxes are pocketed by suited old men. And I am one of the women sighing in that society. In Japan, making statements about feminism attracts trolls from all sides, creating a situation where even a small corner blog like this has to remain vigilant.

...Thank you for reading this long piece. Let me say a bit more. The point I want to make is that a society where many people suffer from various difficulties happening around the world is not only challenging for us but also for Mii. I hope for a society where it's easier to live, not only for the cute residents living on this small island but for everyone.

And I believe that applies to you, the one reading this text. I hope the English is coming across well. Thank you to ChatGPT and DeepL (and to all those developers and individuals striving for ethics), truly.

[newyorkthegoldenage]

Zelda Fitzgerald's New York

Zelda Fitzgerald loved New York, where she lived in the early 1920s. A talented painter (as well as writer and dancer), she created these works over a period of years, from the 1920s to 1943. In 1996, her granddaughter, Eleanor Lanahan, included many of her works in a book, Zelda: An Illustrated Life.

Eighty-three of her paintings are available for purchase as prints from art.com. These are the ones of New York.

Above: Central Park in the spring.

The Brooklyn Bridge, apparently after a party.

Fifth Avenue. The view is dominated by St. Patrick's Cathedral, in whose rectory Zelda and Scott were married in 1920. On 5th Avenue, everyone celebrates.

Grand Central Station

Grant's Tomb

Times Square. "Past the Rialto, the glittering front of the Astor, the jewelled magnificence of Times Square … a gorgeous alley of incandescence ahead . . . " (F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Beautiful and Damned)

Washington Square

Scottie and Jack, Grand Central Time. This is the last of the pictures, painted in 1943, when her daughter Scottie married Jack Lanahan, seen here in his Navy uniform.

Photos from art.com and HuffPost

[americanphysco]

The first incident played out at an apartment complex in Richmond, Indiana, on the afternoon of June 30. Police say that Tommy Wayne Earl, 67, told them he looked out the window of his fourth-floor apartment and spotted Michelle Dionne Peacock, a neighbor he disliked, sitting at a gazebo with another person.

Earl told investigators he’d “had enough” and went out to confront Peacock with a straight razor, allegedly slicing her throat in such a way that she bled out before she could be moved from the scene, according to a detective’s sworn affidavit that was obtained by HuffPost.

In talks with investigators, Earl referred to the victim as “a male acting like a woman,” the affidavit said.

But Peacock was a 59-year-old cisgender woman.

Incidents like this are not new and will only continue to get worse as more and more transphobic bills get passed. Your transphobia hurts everybody. Your transphobia has the potential to kill anybody. And you sick fucks think that violence is acceptable simply because you do not understand how another person chooses to live. Grow the fuck up.

[ts1989fanatic]

Have We Reached Peak Taylor Swift? The Psychology Behind When Someone Becomes Overexposed.

Is Taylor Swift about to be in her 'overexposed' era?

Midway through the Eras Tour, Taylor Swift is everywhere.

The ongoing tour ― Swift is scheduled to resume the international leg in November ― and the subsequent concert film are certifiable cultural events that have actually boosted regional economies. (In Los Angeles, for instance, where Swift performed six shows, the California Center for Jobs and the Economy predicted a $320 million boost to the county. No wonder Canada’s prime minister Justin Trudeau practically begged the Grammy winner to visit up north.)

She’s even bolstering the NFL’s viewership: Since the “Cruel Summer”

singer started attending her boyfriend Travis Kelce’s Kansas City Chiefs games, the league has seen some Super Bowl-level numbers thanks to all the Swifties tuning in.

Meanwhile, the media coverage is breathless. While daytime talk show hosts ask Kelce’s mom about Swift, there’s play-by-play of the couple’s dates around the web: “They were in a rounded booth sitting super close to each other in deep convo the whole time,” a diner at the Waverly Inn in Greenwich, where Swift and Kelce dined on Sunday, told The Messenger. “It looked super romantic and was super intimate.”

But given Swift’s cultural dominance ― and NFL fans booing an ad for her concert doc early this month ― even her fans are a little worried that Taylor fatigue might soon set in. Is Swift due for another “overexposed” era?

“Kinda overwhelmed by how close Taylor is to overexposure,” one fan tweeted on X.

“You either die the hero or live long enough to admit that you have Taylor Swift fatigue,” another wrote on the site.

On the main Swift subreddit, fans debate if Swift will eventually go back into pop star hibernation like she did after her “1989” album.

Indeed, this isn’t Swift’s first go-around with overexposure. The success of “1989” in 2014 was followed by a heightened interest in Swift’s personal life: her famous friends (or her “squad”), her ill-fated romance with Tom Hiddleston, her drama with Kanye West and Kim Kardashian. In response, Swift made a “conscious choice to disappear” and opt for a more “lowkey” life, a source close to the singer told People at the time.

Her rollout of her next album, 2017’s “Reputation,” was relatively quiet. (“There will be no further explanation. There will just be reputation,” Swift remarked on Instagram.)

Swift seems to pay close attention to her fandom and cultivate those parasocial relationships, said Lynn Zubernis, a psychologist and professor at West Chester University who researches fan psychology.

“Who knows, she might consider withdrawing from the spotlight again at some point,” Zubernis told HuffPost.

The professor likened the “Anti-Hero” singer’s ubiquity right now to Barney in the ’90s. Parents loved the purple dinosaur initially (no one kept their kids as entertained), but that love soured by the 104th listen of the “I love you, you love me” theme song.

“Familiarity is part of what drives fandom — we’re wired to attach to familiar faces, whether they’re offline or on our screens — but there’s a limit to how much repetition we can tolerate,” Zubernis said. “Too many instances of someone popping up and behaving the same way or saying the same thing can start to grate.”

The overexposure is sometimes exacerbated by the celebrity being perceived as “trying too hard” or being inauthentic, Zubernis said: Miley Cyrus, Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears, even Lady Gaga come to mind, she said.

“At first their ‘antics’ were popular, but people soon grew tired and cynical about them,” she said. “Justin Bieber, James Franco, Shai LaBeouf and Kanye West fall into that category too, and all have been on lists of ‘celebrities we’re tired of’ as a result.”

There’s also a common trajectory that fandom tends to take: Fans love to root for their favorite celebrity ― or sports team or TV series ― because of that vicarious sense of success they gain, but there’s also a cost to that success and visibility, Zubernis said. Some fans jump ship.

“Fans also relish feeling ‘special’ and seeing their fandom as exclusive ― as in, we are the only ones who see how truly special this person is and appreciate her,” the professor said.

“Once someone like Swift becomes beloved by everyone, even ‘normies,’ the fandom doesn’t feel as exclusive anymore,” she added. (Think how in high school, you used to say, “Yeah, I liked that band when they were still underground.”)

Jaye L. Derrick, an associate professor of psychology who studies parasocial relationships at the University of Houston, has a different take: She thinks that most of the people complaining about Swift were never fans to begin with.

“She has a very large following, but no celebrity can make 100% of the population like them,” Derrick told HuffPost.

“As Taylor Swift is shown to new markets, she is meeting some pushback from people who may have been aware of her before but never sought her out,” she said. “I suspect that most of the negative exposure is from people who had maybe consciously avoided her before and are not able to avoid her anymore.”

Tracy Gleason, the chair and professor of psychology at Wellesley College and an author of a paper on parasocial relationships, agrees with Derrick. The fans at the Giants game who booed her ad, for instance, might have done so because she’s dating a player on a rival team.

“Another possible explanation for the football game is that people who are fans of football, some of whom are likely women, are not necessarily fans of Taylor Swift,” Gleason told HuffPost. “Seeing Taylor get more attention than the game itself might have felt distracting and annoying.”

“Who knows, though,” she added. “Maybe they are Swifties but just want to keep each of the things they enjoy in their own lane: Taylor belongs on the stage and football belongs in the arena.”

Is misogyny at play when we deem someone “overexposed”?

When it comes to conversations about fame, some have pointed out that it tends to be women that get the whiplash “love-hate” treatment: They’re celebrated at first, then they’re deemed overexposed, like Anne Hathaway or Jennifer Lawrence were after their respective Oscar campaigns.

For the most part, men have more room to navigate fame: There’s a double-standard for the type of behavior that is considered appropriate for men versus for women, Derrick said.

For starters, men are expected to express their agency, so they are allowed to promote their projects.

“For women, it is harder to engage in agentic behavior without people viewing them as too in-your-face,” Derrick said. “In American society, we traditionally expect women to be more communal and less agentic.” (Swift addresses this complicated bind for women in the song “The Man” from 2019 album “Lover.”)

The professor thinks these women would probably get a pass if they were “trying too hard” to promote something communal, like a charity, but over-promoting yourself is a cardinal sin in celebritydom if you’re a woman.

With male examples of overexposure, it usually results from some publicly frowned-upon behavior: Bieber was a notoriously bratty teen (which is hardly a crime, of course, but his reputation persists), West was accused of antisemitism, Franco and LaBeouf were both accused of sexual misconduct, and Elon Musk has been accused of not only damaging Twitter (or as he’s rebranded, X) but threatening democracy itself.

Women celebrities are shamed for bad behavior, too, of course, but also for deviating from social expectations, Zubernis said.

“The culture still isn’t all that comfortable with women being very visible or powerful or successful in some way; that idea is vaguely threatening to the status quo,” she said. “I think that would apply to Swift, Hathaway and Lawrence.”

If you were a fan of any of those women to begin with, though, you probably stuck by them through and through. Fandoms tend to be ride or die until something truly cancellable happens.

“There are times when fans will turn on a celebrity, but those are usually cases where the celebrity did something out-of-character that led people to become disillusioned with their brand,” Derrick said.

In other words, when it comes to these “overexposed” claims ― or criticism from non-fans who wish Swift would take a sabbatical ― Swifties worldwide are probably just going to “shake it off.”

ts1989fanatic:

So Michael Jackson in his prime was everywhere and until he went off the deep end was beloved by fans and none fans worldwide. But Taylor Swift who has in my opinion reached MJ status is over exposed, you know this was not really a thing until she started dating Travis Kelce.

So to answer the question posed above

Is misogyny at play when we deem someone “overexposed”?

In the case of Taylor Swift damn straight misogyny is at play, all these talking heads and college professors and the rest of the media jackals and TS haters need to just FUCK THE HELL OFF.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Alanna Vagianos at HuffPost:

The general counsel for Florida’s Department of Health, John Wilson, resigned earlier this month — and new court records show it was because he was uncomfortable sending threats on behalf of Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) to TV stations for airing pro-choice political advertisements. A sworn affidavit from Wilson revealed on Monday that DeSantis deputies personally wrote the threats to news channels and directed Wilson to send them out under his name. Wilson said he received the drafted cease-and-desist letters the morning of Oct. 3, 2024, and that he signed and sent them out later that day. “I did not draft the letters or participate in any discussions about the letters prior to October 3, 2024,” Wilson wrote. He resigned a week later “in lieu of complying with directives from [DeSantis’ attorneys] to send out further correspondence to the media outlets, similar to the October 3, 2024, letters,” he wrote in the affidavit. Wilson wrote that DeSantis’ general counsel and deputy general counsel directed him to send the letters in his name. (Scroll all the way down to read Wilson’s full affidavit.)

Wilson hinted when he resigned that the threats to TV stations were part of his decision. “A man is nothing without his conscience. It has become clear in recent days that I cannot join you on the road that lies before this Agency,” he wrote in his resignation letter. Wilson’s statement is the first evidence that directly links DeSantis’ office to the attacks on the state’s pro-choice ballot initiative. The administration has been using taxpayer dollars to wage an all-out war against the state’s pro-choice measure, and state officials have spread misinformation about Amendment 4, which would repeal the governor’s six-week abortion ban and restore access to fetal viability. Until this point, however, the attacks have been made through DeSantis surrogates, many appointed as top administration officials. “These current stories all look past the core issue — the ads are unequivocally false and put the lives and health of pregnant women at risk — Florida’s heartbeat protection law always protects the life of a mother and includes exceptions for victims of rape, incest, and human trafficking,” Julia Friedland, deputy press secretary for DeSantis, told HuffPost.

The cease-and-desist letter Wilson signed and sent to multiple local news channels threatened to bring criminal charges against outlets that aired an ad in support of the abortion rights measure. Floridians Protecting Freedom, the group behind the amendment, sued the Health Department in response, naming Joseph Ladapo, the state’s surgeon general and head of the department, as well as Wilson.

According to former Florida Department of Health General Counsel John Wilson, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and his deputies were behind the threats to TV stations that aired a pro-Amendment 4 ad. Wilson resigned over DeSantis’s intimidation tactics.

[nanowrimo]

Five Tips for Memoir Writing When the Words Feel Too Hot to Touch

Memoir writing can be powerful, but often times, requires the writer to look back on difficult times in their lives. NaNo Participant Emily Henderson talks about her own experiences with memoirs and gives tips on navigating painful experiences.

Content Warning: Death of a child to cancer.

I've been working on a memoir for what feels like 1000 years. In the beginning, I wrote about how, by the time I was 18, I lost both of my parents, one to a plane crash and the other to breast cancer. I wrote about my descent into alcoholism and eventual path to sobriety. I wrote about marriage and motherhood, all against the backdrop of my love for running. I thought this would be my memoir.

But then, in 2019, my youngest son Aiden was diagnosed with brain cancer, and four months later, he was gone. Suddenly, the memoir I had in my mind no longer made sense, and I stopped writing. It wasn't until the pandemic that I returned to journaling and running to process my grief. I decided to run every street in my city, and thus a new shape for my memoir began to form.

In 2021, I threw my hat in the NaNoWriMo ring. I began knowing how hard it would be to write about my son and all the trauma surrounding his death. I wanted to protect my mental health while I tried to put words into the most painful moments of my life. Below are a few strategies I employed to help me win NaNo.

1. Gather Source Material

I re-read old journals, blog posts, and social media posts. I highlighted different themes and organized them into sections. For instance, I marked scenes from my childhood and those about my son with different colored highlighters. The idea is to avoid getting lost in memories when the focus should be on writing.

2. S.O.S. Journal Prompts

On days when the words just aren't flowing, I like to have a few journal prompts handy. I write them down on index cards and pull them out when I get stuck. I made some of my biggest writing breakthroughs with these prompts.

“The doctor said….”

“On a good day….”

“At my age….”

3. Change your entry point.

I wrote around and around the scene where my son dies, possibly trying to change the ending, but I couldn’t seem to get it right. Rather than bang my head against the wall, I came at it from a different angle. I wrote about my husband and how our marriage grew stronger through our son's treatment. Then when it came time to write the worst moment of my life, where my husband and I hold each other as we say our final goodbyes, I felt more relaxed and confident that I could do the scene justice.

4. Write a rant.

I have a lot of anger around the loss of my son, and I find writing a long rant about how unfair it all is, helps to clear the cobwebs to find the truth in the narrative. I like to set a timer for 20 minutes and write nonstop, even if all I write is, “I miss my son,” over and over again.

5. Non-judgmental social support

Writing about trauma is emotionally draining, and I knew I would need to decompress after tapping into the harder parts of my story. I scheduled lunch with close friends with whom I could talk openly. They often made connections I couldn’t see, and that led to even more writing breakthroughs.

Once again, life keeps happening, and in January, I gave birth to my fourth child. She is next to me as I write this, cooing and grunting while she sleeps. It seems my memoir has shifted once again, and I have a perfect epilogue to my story.

Emily Henderson is a freelance writer living with her family in Santa Barbara, CA. Her essays have appeared in HuffPost Personal, Scary Mommy, Writing Class Radio, and The Santa Barbara Independent. She is currently working on a memoir about processing the loss of her son while running every street in her city.

You can read more of Emily’s writing on her Substack, I’m Really Very Literary, or follow her on Instagram @emilykathleenwrites or visit emilykathleenwrites.com. Photo by Carli Jeen on Unsplash

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Trust Joe Biden

June 19, 2024

ROBERT B. HUBBELL

President Biden announced a significant modification to the pathway to citizenship for “undocumented spouses” of US citizens. Even the hard-to-impress headline writers at the New York Times described Biden’s action as follows: “The new policy is one of the most significant actions to protect immigrants in years.” (This article is accessible to all.)

Per the Times,

Under the new policy, some 500,000 undocumented spouses will be shielded from deportation and given a pathway to citizenship and the ability to work legally in the United States. It is one of the most expansive actions to protect immigrants since Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, was enacted 12 years ago to protect those who came to the United States as children. [¶] The policy aims to help people who have been living in the United States for more than a decade, building lives and families here. Even though marrying an American citizen generally provides a pathway to U.S. citizenship, people who crossed the southern border illegally — rather than arriving in the country with a visa — are required to return to their home countries to complete the process for a green card. To be eligible, the spouses must have lived in the United States for 10 years and been married to an American citizen as of June 17. They cannot have a criminal record. The benefits would also extend to the roughly 50,000 children of undocumented spouses who became stepchildren to American citizens.

The Republican response to Biden’s humanitarian plan descended to new depths of mind-blowing hypocrisy. As The Hill reported in its headline, Republicans slam Biden immigration order as election ploy.

“An election ploy?” Hmm. Remember that time—six months ago—when Joe Biden had successfully negotiated a bipartisan immigration reform package that was set to sail through the House and Senate? And then remember that Donald Trump asked congressional Republicans to kill the bill to preserve immigration as an election issue for Trump? See HuffPost (1/24/24) Trump Privately Pressuring GOP Senators To ‘Kill’ Border Deal To Deny Biden A Win.

So, in the absence of congressional action, President Biden is doing the only thing he can —use executive action to address areas of immigration policy within the President’s discretion. Biden wishes it were otherwise but has no choice. Rather, he is willing to work with anyone who is interested in finding solutions.

In announcing the new policy, President Biden said,

Folks, I’m not interested in playing politics on the border or immigration. I’m interested in fixing it. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again today, I will work with anyone to solve these problems. That’s my responsibility as president. That’s our responsibility as Americans.

No, Joe Biden is not playing politics. He is addressing an intractable problem despite obstructionist behavior from Republicans. A lesser president would give up in defeat. Not Joe Biden. He is a great president and deserves to be re-elected.

[Robert B. Hubbell Newsletter]

[mariacallous]

Alabama Chief Justice Tom Parker, who wrote the concurring opinion in last week’s explosive Alabama Supreme Court ruling that frozen embryos have the same rights as living children, recently appeared on a show hosted by self-anointed “prophet” and QAnon conspiracy theorist.

Parker was the featured guest on “Someone You Should Know,” hosted by Johnny Enlow, a Christian nationalist influencer and devoted supporter of former President Donald Trump. Over the course of an 11-minute interview, Parker articulated a theocratic worldview at odds with a functioning, pluralistic society.

“God created government,” he told Enlow, adding that it’s “heartbreaking” that “we have let it go into the possession of others.”

Media Matters, the liberal media watchdog group, was the first to report on Parker’s appearance on the program.

That a state’s chief Supreme Court justice would associate himself with Enlow is a cause for alarm. Enlow is a prolific conspiracy theorist, often weaving QAnon apocrypha with prophecies he claims to receive directly from God.

As reported by Right Wing Watch, Enlow has claimed that Trump “is on assignment” from God to work with the angels Michael and Gabriel to take down George Soros and Bill Gates, among others; he has claimed that Russian President Vladamir Putin is fighting “Luciferian pedophiles” in Ukraine, in a battle to stop them from deploying vaccines and 5G that would turn people into transhumanist semi-robots; and he has claimed that the majority of other world leaders are “satanic” pedophiles who “steal blood” and “do sacrifices.”

Enlow’s interview with Parker was uploaded to Rumble, the alt-tech video platform, on the same day the Alabama Supreme Court issued its opinion that sent shockwaves throughout the reproductive rights community. The ruling, which makes fertility clinics liable in wrongful death lawsuits for harming or destroying an embryo, has already imperiled access to in vitro fertilization (IVF) in the state.

“Human life cannot be wrongfully destroyed without incurring the wrath of a holy God,” wrote Parker, a longtime anti-abortion advocate sometimes credited with building the legal framework to overturn Roe v. Wade. “Even before birth,” Parker added, “all human beings have the image of God, and their lives cannot be destroyed without effacing his glory.”

Parker used similar theological language in his interview with Enlow, thanking Enlow for promoting the “Seven Mountains” on his show. As HuffPost has reported before, the “Seven Mountains Mandate” is a doctrine at the core of the New Apostolic Reformation, an evangelical movement that believes in the supernatural, including the existence of modern-day apostles and prophets, and which is characterized by a belief in Christian dominionism. The Seven Mountains Mandate is the belief that Christians must conquer the “seven mountains” of societal influence — education, media, religion, family, business, entertainment and government — and force fundamentalist Christian values onto every part of American life, in order to pave the path for Christ’s return.

“As you’ve emphasized in the past, we’ve abandoned those Seven Mountains and they’ve been occupied by the opposite side,” Parker told Enlow, suggesting the chief justice is familiar with Enlow’s show. Enlow is a big proponent of the Seven Mountains Mandate, and maintains a far-right website with his wife called “Restore Seven.”

Parker also told Enlow that God is “equipping me with something for the very specific situation that I’m facing” as the Alabama chief justice.

Enlow, as noted by Media Matters, praised Parker and appeared mindful of not dragging the judge into even more controversial topics. He told Parker that he’s “in such a key place that we don’t want to have any conversations that hurt you in any kind of way, but we appreciate who you are, who you are in the kingdom.”

[denimbex1986]

'Andrew Scott’s performance in the second season of Fleabag is still being celebrated by fans five years later – but if certain execs had their way, he’d apparently have been dropped from the show altogether.

In a new interview with Radio Times magazine, the BBC’s Director of Comedy Shane Allen recalled how Amazon came on board during Fleabag’s second season to help with funding.

According to Shane, this led to “a whole raft of US male execs turned up to the read-through”.

“Bear in mind this was a piece exploring self-destructive feminism,” he continued. “[They proceeded to tear the show apart and demand Andrew Scott was recast with only four days until the shoot started.”

While he didn’t specify exactly what the US executives’ issue with Andrew was, he did say that Fleabag creator and star Phoebe Waller-Bridge stood her ground, which is how the Spectre star ended up remaining with the show.

“Anyone less effervescently charming and smart than Phoebe would have buckled,” Allen claimed.

Phoebe seemingly always had Andrew in mind for Fleabag season two, with his character coming to be known as “Hot Priest” by fans after it aired.

He told HuffPost UK in 2019: “Phoebe and I were pals already, we did a play together about 10 years ago at the Soho Theatre in London,” Andrew explains. “And so she gave me a call out of the blue last summer. I knew it was about Fleabag, and we went and had a big catch-up and a three-and-a-half-hour walk around Soho.

“She talked about the character and we talked about where we were in our lives, and what we thought about religion and love and all that kind of stuff, and the character that was forming in her mind. It was a very special, memorable day.”

Andrew continued: “And at the end, I was like, ‘yep, I’m going to get myself involved in that, I’d be delighted to’. I hadn’t seen the script but I love Phoebe so much and I obviously loved the first series enormously, along with everybody else. So I was delighted to sort of jump in.”

His performance earned him a Golden Globe nomination, as well as recognition in the TV Baftas’ “Moment Of The Year” category and a win at the 2020 Critics’ Choice Awards...'

[justinsentertainmentcorner]

Trudy Ring at The Advocate:

Hillary Clinton and Kelly Clarkson joined in denouncing the Arizona Supreme Court’s recent abortion ruling when Clinton appeared on Monday’s edition of The Kelly Clarkson Show. The court ruled last week that Arizona could enforce a law from 1864 — before Arizona was a state or women had the right to vote — that bans abortion except in cases where the pregnant person’s life is threatened.

“Did you ever think in your lifetime that we would see that happen?” Clarkson asked Clinton. “It’s just insane to me, the thinking that went on in 1864 … it’s a very different world, we know a lot more now, that we’re going backwards.” “It is horrifying in every way,” Clinton said. “I feared it would happen, but I hoped it wouldn’t happen, and now here we are in the middle of this very difficult period for women in about half the states in our country who cannot get the care that they need, and the old law in Arizona is without exceptions, and the danger to women’s lives as well as our right to make our own decisions about our bodies and ourselves is so profound.” “And there’s another element to it which I find so troubling,” the former presidential candidate continued. “There is a kind of cruelty to it. No exceptions for rape, incest — I mean, really?” “And you don’t realize how hard it is,” Clarkson said. “The fact that you would take that away from someone [in a situation] that can literally kill them? The fact that they’re raped … by their family member? It’s just like insane to me.”

On the Monday episode of NBCU's The Kelly Clarkson Show, guest Hillary Clinton and the show's titular host Kelly Clarkson discussed how horrifyingly harmful Arizona's Civil War-era abortion ban is.

See Also:

HuffPost: Kelly Clarkson Tears Up While Recalling Pregnancy Challenges In Abortion Ban Chat

From the 04.15.2024 edition of NBCUniversal's The Kelly Clarkson Show: