#Maryland Question 1

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Nathalie Baptiste at HuffPost:

Reproductive rights have emerged as one of the most important issues this election, and millions of voters in 10 states will decide on ballot measures that would enshrine abortion rights in their constitutions. In Hail-Mary attempts to defeat these amendments in Missouri, Maryland and New York, where they seem likely to pass, conservative groups are falsely claiming that pro-choice ballot measures are really efforts to perform gender-affirming surgeries on minors without parental consent. At the Moms for Liberty annual summit in August, former President Donald Trump claimed children were getting gender reassignment surgeries at schools. There is no truth to the comment, but it plays into Republican fearmongering about trans people — and especially trans youth — that has ramped up over the last few years. The Trump campaign has spent $20 million on anti-trans ads despite polling showing that it’s not a major concern for the American public. Some conservative organizations seem to hope that sparking fears about children getting surgeries without parental consent will sink ballot measures that are actually about abortion rights, an issue that generally enjoys broad support on both sides of the political aisle. In Missouri, voters will decide on Amendment 3, which would protect the right to an abortion in the state, effectively reversing the current ban that’s in place. The Thomas More Society, a Catholic legal organization that recently sued to keep Amendment 3 off the ballot and lost, claims in its voter guide that the amendment pertains to “gender transition treatments and surgeries,” including for minors.

“I would love to hear a credible argument that replacing one’s reproductive organs is not a matter relating to reproductive health care,” Mary Catherine Martin, a lawyer for the group, told the Missouri Independent. “Because that’s the only way it’s not covered by this.” Advocates and legal experts have said the amendment has nothing to do with gender-affirming care for minors. (Missouri banned gender-affirming care for minors last year.)

[...] But even in states where abortion remains legal and reproductive advocates are looking to expand those rights further, anti-choice activists have been muddying the waters with outlandish claims about trans youth and parental rights. In Maryland, the reproductive choice amendment is Question 1. It would amend the state constitution to include the right to reproductive freedom, which further cements the right to an abortion in the reliably blue state. The measure is likely to pass. But still, Health Not Harm, a committee made up of parents, medical professionals and faith leaders, is sending text messages that claim voting “yes” would allow minors to get gender-affirming surgeries without parental consent. “VOTE NO on deceptive MD Question 1. ‘Reproductive Freedom’ = gender transitions on kids without parent consent!” read one text message signed by the group. The group’s website has similar language about voting no on the measure to protect children from gender transitions. Under Maryland law, minors do not need parental permission to get an abortion. Health Not Harm claims the same would be true for minors seeking gender-affirming care, although legal counsel for the Maryland state legislature has stated clearly that it would not.

[...] Voters are hearing similar claims in another blue state. New York is preparing to consider Proposition 1 — a state-level version of the Equal Rights Amendment, anti-discriminatory legislation that has been stalled in Congress for decades. New York’s Prop 1 expands already-existing statutes that ban discrimination based on race and religion to include sex, gender identity and pregnancy status. Coalition to Protect Kids, a right-wing group in the state, is spreading rumors that voting “yes” would harm children and women, and would allow doctors to perform gender-affirming surgeries on children without parental consent.

With abortion rights amendments likely to succeed in various states, right-wing groups are making desperation attacks on such referendums to wage anti-trans fearmongering campaigns by falsely claiming that these abortion rights measures would lead to gender-affirming care services being provided to trans youths without parental consent.

[destielmemenews]

"Officials identified the man as 26-year-old Luigi Nicholas Mangione. He was born in Maryland and his last known residence was Honoloulou. He was arrested on firearms charges and taken in for questioning related to Thompson's death. He has not been charged with Thompson's killing at this time."

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[amaditalks]

Abortion Is On The Ballot

In ten states, there are ballot measures or questions which will be decided in the November election which will impact the future of abortion access in those states. Here’s what you need to know.

Arizona

Arizona Proposition 139 the Right to Abortion Initiative will amend the state constitution to provide for the fundamental right to abortion that the state of Arizona may not interfere with before the point of fetal viability unless justified by a compelling state interest.

To enshrine abortion rights protection in the state constitution Vote Yes

Colorado

Colorado Amendment 79, the Right to Abortion and Health Insurance Coverage Initiative will amend the state constitution to create the right to an abortion and authorize the use of public funds (Medicaid) to pay for abortion care.

To enshrine abortion rights protection in the state constitution Vote Yes

Florida

Florida Amendment 4, the Right to Abortion Initiative, will amend the state constitution to declare that "no law shall prohibit, penalize, delay, or restrict abortion before viability or when necessary to protect the patient’s health, as determined by the patient’s healthcare provider.” The current constitutional provision requiring parental consent for minors' abortions will not be affected.

To enshrine abortion rights protection in the state constitution and overturn the current six week abortion ban Vote Yes

Maryland

Maryland Question 1, the Right to Reproductive Freedom Amendment, will amend the state constitution to establish a right to reproductive freedom, defined to include "the ability to make and effectuate decisions to prevent, continue, or end one's own pregnancy."

To enshrine reproductive rights protection in the state constitution Vote Yes

Missouri

Missouri Amendment 3, the Right to Reproductive Freedom Initiative will amend the state constitution to provide the right for reproductive freedom, which is defined as "the right to make and carry out decisions about all matters relating to reproductive health care, including but not limited to prenatal care, childbirth, postpartum care, birth control, abortion care, miscarriage care, and respectful birthing conditions," and providing that the state legislature may enact laws that regulate abortion after fetal viability.

To enshrine broad reproductive rights protection including abortion in the state constitution and overturn the current complete abortion ban Vote Yes

Montana

Montana CI-128, the Right to Abortion Initiative will create a constitutional "right to make and carry out decisions about one’s own pregnancy, including the right to abortion," and allow the state to regulate abortion after fetal viability, except when "medically indicated to protect the life or health of the pregnant patient."

To enshrine broad reproductive rights protection including abortion in the state constitution Vote Yes

Nebraska

The Nebraska Prohibit Abortions After the First Trimester Amendment will amend the state constitution to elevate the current twelve week abortion ban law to a constitutional provision with limited exceptions for medical emergencies or in cases of rape.

To prevent the current legislative abortion ban from being enshrined in the state constitution Vote No

Nevada

Nevada Question 6, the Right to Abortion Initiative will amend the state constitution to create a constitutional right to an abortion, providing for the state to regulate abortion after fetal viability, except where medically indicated to "protect the life or health of the pregnant patient."

To enshrine abortion rights protection in the state constitution Vote Yes

New York

New York Proposal 1, the Equal Protection of Law Amendment will amend the state constitution to provide that people cannot be denied rights based on their "ethnicity, national origin, age, and disability" or "sex, including sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, pregnancy outcomes, and reproductive healthcare and autonomy."

To enshrine equal rights protection for pregnant people and abortion patients in the state constitution Vote Yes

South Dakota

The South Dakota Constitutional Amendment G, the Right to Abortion Initiative will amend the state constitution to protect the right to an abortion based on a trimester framework, with no restrictions permitted in the first trimester, only limited medical need restrictions permitted in the second trimester and allowing deeper restrictions in the third trimester except "when abortion is necessary, in the medical judgment of the woman's physician, to preserve the life and health of the pregnant woman."

To enshrine abortion rights protection in the state constitution and overturn the state's current full abortion ban Vote Yes

If you live in one of these ten states and abortion rights matter to you, get registered or double check your registration and make your voting plan today. Every single vote matters significantly in amendment questions.

[stevetoday]

Pro-Choice - Abortion Measures on The Ballot

Florida Amendment 4, the Right to Abortion Initiative A Yes vote with 60% will Establish a constitutional right to abortion until viability, with exceptions for later pregnancies. Arizona Proposition 139, Right to Abortion Initiative (2024) A "yes" vote supports amending the state constitution to provide for the fundamental right to abortion, among other provisions.

Colorado Amendment 79, Right to Abortion and Health Insurance Coverage Initiative A  "yes" vote supports creating a right to abortion in the state constitution and allowing the use of public funds for abortion. Maryland Question 1, Right to Reproductive Freedom Amendment A "yes" vote supports adding a new article to the Maryland Constitution's Declaration of Rights establishing a right to reproductive freedom, defined to include "the ability to make and effectuate decisions to prevent, continue, or end one's own pregnancy."

Missouri Amendment 3, Right to Reproductive Freedom Initiative A "yes" vote supports adding a fundamental right to reproductive freedom, defined to include abortion and “all matters relating to reproductive health care,” to the Missouri Constitution, among other provisions. Montana CI-128, Right to Abortion Initiative

provide a state constitutional "right to make and carry out decisions about one’s own pregnancy, including the right to abortion," and

allow the state to regulate abortion after fetal viability, except when "medically indicated to protect the life or health of the pregnant patient."

Nebraska Initiative 434, Prohibit Abortions After the First Trimester Amendment A "no" vote opposes amending the state constitution to prohibit abortions after the first trimester unless necessitated by a medical emergency or the pregnancy is a result of sexual assault or incest.

Nebraska Initiative 439, Right to Abortion Initiative A "yes" vote supports amending the state constitution to establish a right to abortion until fetal viability. Nevada Question 6, Right to Abortion Initiative A "yes" vote supports providing for a state constitutional right to an abortion, providing for the state to regulate abortion after fetal viability, except where medically indicated to "protect the life or health of the pregnant patient." New York Proposal 1, Equal Protection of Law Amendment A "yes" vote supports adding language to the New York Bill of Rights to provide that people cannot be denied rights based on their "ethnicity, national origin, age, and disability" or "sex, including sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, pregnancy outcomes, and reproductive healthcare and autonomy."

South Dakota Constitutional Amendment G, Right to Abortion Initiative A "yes" vote supports providing for a state constitutional right to abortion in South Dakota, using a trimester framework for regulation:

During the first trimester, the state would be prohibited from regulating a woman's decision to have an abortion;

During the second trimester, the state may regulate abortion, but "only in ways that are reasonably related to the physical health of the pregnant woman;" and

During the third trimester, the state may regulate or prohibit abortion, except "when abortion is necessary, in the medical judgment of the woman's physician, to preserve the life and health of the pregnant woman."

[hazbin-but-good]

another hazbin hotel rewrite/redesign?

yup! and i'm so serious about it that i made a whole blog for it. i'm a white queer ex-cath tran doing this as an art and writing exercise, so feedback from other creatives + jewish and/or racialized folks is especially welcome.

i'm putting this post and only this post in the main tags for visibility. also, not gonna link my main, but i do make my own original stuff, and i encourage fans and haters alike to do the same.

anyway, here's a mostly good-faith 1.7k-word essay on the original. i think it's pretty funny and brings up some less talked-about points. correct me on the facts, disagree with my opinions, and ask clarifying questions, but don't come at me with any piss-poor reading comprehension.

the hellaverse is garbage, and here's why

cw: strong language, stronger opinions, intersectional feminist critical discourse analysis

1. vivienne medrano, the person

medrano was born as a well-off white-passing latina (salvadoran-american) in bougieass frederick, maryland. while attending new york's top art school, she got popular on deviantart-tumblr-twitter by being a prolific multifandom fujoshi furry who's more into ornamental character design than storytelling. upon graduation, she leveraged her fanbase and industry connections to make the hazbin and helluva boss pilots, get helluva made for youtube, and get hazbin made for amazon prime.

like every woman online, she gets harassed for no good reason, and as a certified autist, i will defend her right to be dumb, weird, annoying, and bad with words. however, there are legit reasons to criticize her:

racism, misogyny, homophobia, fatphobia, some antisemitism, past transphobia, past ableism

shitty boss, bad friend

cowardly, vindictive, manipulative, thoughtless behavior

skeevy friends

sucks at taking criticism

in short, i think she desperately needs a PR person and someone to clean up her digital footprint.

2. medrano's art

incurious

inauthentic

noncommittal

creatively stagnant

overindulgent, and the indulgence isn't even fun

shallow and childish framed as complex and mature

bland and boring framed as shocking and subversive

to be clear, i'm at peace with the existence of suckass art like this; i just think the money, attention, and praise it gets are unearned and should go to more interesting works, of which there are infinite.

medrano's had the time, money, and social cache to grow as an artist, learn from the best, and take creative risks, but she hasn't. if she truly has nothing more to offer, she should let her collaborators take the wheel, but she doesn't do that either. instead, she keeps getting more and more resources to make the same baby bullshit, and that pisses me off. she could be the nicest person ever, and this fundamental arrogance would still make her art blow.

stop with the pointless guilt: liking medrano's work does not make you stupid or evil. however, if you stay in the kiddie pool of culture, if you refuse to engage with a diversity of art, if the hellaverse is your point of reference for anything media-related, you can't expect to have your opinions on art, media, or culture taken seriously. you have not earned a seat at the table. you gotta hit the books first.

i cannot emphasize enough how much incredible stuff is out there if you're willing to look further than what social media and streaming services put right in front of you. if you come away from this blog having learned about just one new artist or piece of art, i'll be a happy camper.

3. the hellaverse

a. empty and confused

hazbin and helluva's content and marketing has no clear target audience. the subjects are inappropiate for teens, but the execution is too childish for adults, and lemme tell you what i don't mean by that, first.

not inherently inappropriate for teens:

sex and sexuality

violence, including when it intersects with the above

politics and religion

not inherently childish:

animation (any style)

comedy

episodic writing and/or loose continuity

young characters

fun, happiness, optimism, the power of friendship, cuteness, tenderness, sincerity, etc.

what i mean is that these shows are literally about adult characters who fuck, smoke, drink, do drugs, go clubbing, work full-time, manage their own finances, and deal with stuff like bureaucracy, sexual violence, domestic abuse, marriage, divorce, late adoption, and family estrangement.

however, none of these "adult" things are given enough specificity to create drama or comedy. it's all too stock, vague, flat, weirdly sanitized, and thus utterly banal—pure aesthetics on top of bad saturday morning cartoons. it's exactly what i'd expect from a sheltered disney kid who needs to log off and get into their local gay scene ASAP so their only contact with things like poverty, policing, addiction, and sex work stops being facile movies and TV.

if the shows were aware of this and played with it, that could be amazing, but they're not. they give you the mickey mouse version of the world with a straight face and then play looney tunes sound effects to try to make you laugh and sad_violin.mp3 to try to make you cry. now that's funny.

b. old and tired

let's make like americans and pretend that the rest of the world doesn't exist. even within the confines of the USA, home of the hays code, the red scare, and reaganite propaganda, this neopuritan fascist state ruled by 1000 megachurches in a trenchcoat, the indie/underground animation scene has been doing crazier shit for decades. anti-war films in the 60's, bakshi movies in the 70's, the simpsons shorts and r-rated movies in the 80's, adult swim and MTV in the 90's, flash/newgrounds/youtube in the 00's, streaming in the 2010's—so what are we doing in the 2020's with this wet white rice drowned in expired ketchup? i feel crazy making this point because it's obvious if you've watched these things, but if you haven't, you're gonna be like "well, there's gotta be something new here". no! there isn't! in the words of jimmy "the scot" jordan, nothing, nothing, NOTHING!

c. ideological purgatory

actually, there is one thing in these shows i've never seen before: the presbysterianism. shout out some interesting or at least intentional presbysterian art in the comments, because the way these ideas are presented here is not compelling. it just makes the rainbow neoliberalism even more confusing and contradictory.

i guess the big presbysterian things are protestanism, calvinism, and, uh, big church government? presbysterians, get your shit together. get your brand down. catholics have BDSM and vampires, evangelicals have TV and corporatism; what do you have? celtic crosses? no wonder medrano has such uninspired ideas on divinity.

d. queer deficiency

when i look at a piece of art, i ask myself: "what does this give me that i can't get from the hunchback of notre dame (1996)?" if the answer is as limp as "uhh, gay people, i guess", i can probably look for my gay shit elsewhere and rewatch the hunchback of notre dame (1996) in the meantime.

but let's say that you have no standards. you've been waiting for ages for a show about gays by the gays for the gays, and by god you're gonna get it. this is it! here we go! time for some

generic twink obliteration

male sexuality as aggression and dominance displays

WLW (sex and chemistry not included)

a couple straight femdoms

and the stalest sex jokes known to man

...yeah, it's not very queer. and by "queer", i mean "questioning or subverting gender norms (including sexual roles) within a given cultural context regardless of creator identity and intent". i'm not a queer studies scholar so LMK if there's a more specific term for this, but whatever you call it, it's not in the hellaverse much.

there's not even any transness, literal or metaphorical, just ancient drag jokes. i guess the writers thought we would've been too controversial. so much for an indie animation studio that prides itself in the diversity of its staff both above and below the line, bakshi-style. i wonder how medrano, a bisexual woman, would've felt if told that a lesbian main couple in hazbin would be "too controversial".

4. spindlehorse and the vivziepop brand

spindlehorse toons underpays its overworked staff and keeps outsourcing more and more labor to even more overworked freelancers overseas to cut costs. a rainbow sweatshop is still a sweatshop, and just because these practices may be "industry standard" doesn't make them any more ethical.

the studio has also been repeatedly accused by current and former employees and contractors of creating a hostile and abusive workplace. AFAIK, it still has no dedicated HR person, and victims are too afraid of retaliation like blacklisting and online harassment to speak out.

this is exactly the stuff that unions exist to prevent. as i'm writing this, the IATSE (the parent union of TAG, which is the parent union of all US animation unions) is negotiating with entertainment industry executives for better working conditions, and if the execs fuck around like last year, it's strike time again. so watch this space, voice your support, and don't cross any picket lines.

i hope spindlehorse unionizes, but until then and for these reasons, i don't think you should give money to the company.

first of all, all content on amazon-owned platforms is ok to pirate, and all youtube ads are ok to block. everyone involved in making the episodes has (or should have) been paid upfront, so you're not taking the bread out of anyone's mouth.

next, let's look at the succulent offerings of the official vivziepop merch shop:

$10 pins and keychains

$15 sticker packs

$20 mugs and acrylic cutouts

$25 shirts

$30 metal cards (not even tarot)

$40 lounge pants

$50 mini backpacks

random $80 skateboard deck

forgive my latin americanness, but this is all stuff you can get made by a local metalsmith, print/sublimation shop, or just crafty people in your life. it's cheaper, customizable, and better for the environment to skip all the shipping and packaging. also, not painting your own skateboard is poser shit.

the hazbin website also has $15 pins, one $20 keychain, and $6 trading card packs. people are weird about trading cards, so if for some reason you wanna gamble for a mass-produced bit of cardboard, plastic, and tinfoil, at least bulk-order for all the vivziepoppers in your area so it's less of a huge waste. better yet, trace the designs and make infinite bootlegs.

at the end of the day, buying merch is not activism. your bulk order of trading cards will not save any wage slaves from getting evicted from their overpriced studio apartments. however, the shop links you to all the credited artists/designers, and more of your bucks will actually reach them if you buy their designs directly, then turn them into body pillows or life-sized bronze statues or whatever the fuck.

go through the credits of any episode of helluva or hazbin, and you'll find even more creatives you might wanna support. get jinkx monsoon's albums on CD. subscribe to actually good artist, animator, and composer gooseworx. lots of voice actors now have patreon, cameo, or self-hosted pages where you can write better lines for their characters and have them read it. these things may not look as shiny as Official Merch™, but we all need less plastic shit and more culture anyway.

[the-evil-lgbtq-foundation]

Hello cishetallos and pottential allies and eggs, we are the lgbt foundation, we are the pinnacle of queer®

mods are:

Naminé: trans disaster bi idiot- SHOULD SPEAK IN BOLD ORANGE. Pronouns are She/They/It/Chaos/Chao. tag: Naminé's Idioty back again

Ash: abrosexual genderfluid they/them idk what else to put,

Aspen: Tboy enby mess of gender(agenderfaun with some xenogender spice). Uranic orieanted aroace and demisensual. Romance repulsed and sex repulsed. They/xe/it/he with a slight preference for it/its. AuDHD and OCD. Host of a system. Eldritch void deity. Respect romance repulsed individuals or die by my teeth and claws.

Pendoline: Call me penny or Petra, Pansexual panromantic Polyamorus Obgectum with autism and 5 girlfriends, 1 QPR and one boyfriend, Autism, Dyslexia and Dumbassery, Umnghj I was just invited so idk what else to put, also Daily reminder to tw Tag romance Sex and All that other stuff! System

Uses the tag pendoline's twirl

Bug: agender neutrois kingender creature. Apothisexual apothiroflux aroace. It/its and any gender neutral neopronouns. I'll use purple :]

Eco: demiaroace, enby, xe/them (our pronouns fluctuate depending on who's fronting), system! [aka the eco system]. we don't have autism and the amount of us agreeing with that statement depletes daily. diagnosed ocd, and almost diagnosed (in the process still) adhd. also we'll probably tag who's speaking,,,. you may recognize us from maryland-officially!. uh yeah that's it! im taking non-bold yellow

Onyx: I AM NOT NAMED LIKE A POKEMON!! any prns cuz idc tbh. I'll type in white/black italics! i autism and am otherwise currently in diagnosis or something idk and uhh yeah! i like maths. like. very much so. i usually read or learn stuff so don't expect me to be online here 24/7 lmao. I am german but please speak to me in english or alternatively spanish (or french, but im bad) as im currently learning!

Rii: They/he polyamorous bisexual gendernonconforming transmasc :3 Autism, ADHD, and misophonia. Only adult on the blog so far (and only one to use multiple colors so far!) Always happy to answer questions about almost anything :D

[mariacallous]

Just before the recent advance of Ukrainian forces into Russian territory, there were signs that Americans were becoming somewhat less confident about Ukraine’s prospects in the war with Russia. Add to this that the United States is in the middle of a heated election season where Republican politicians have been less supportive of backing Ukraine, one might have expected a drop in American public support for Kyiv.

Yet, our new University of Maryland Critical Issues Poll with SSRS shows robust, even increasing, support for Ukraine.

The poll was carried out by SSRS among a sample of 1,510 American adults from their probability-based online panel, in addition to oversamples of 202 Blacks and 200 Hispanics, July 26-August 1, just before the Ukrainian incursion into Russia’s Kursk region. The margin of error is +/- 3.0 %.  Here are some key takeaways.

Americans across the partisan divide are far more sympathetic to Ukraine than to Russia

A strong majority of Americans across the political spectrum sympathize more with Ukraine than Russia in the ongoing war: 62% of respondents express more sympathy with Ukraine than Russia, including 58% of Republicans and 76% of Democrats. At the same time, just 2% of respondents said they sympathized more with Russia in the conflict, including 4% of Republicans and 1% of Democrats. Republicans (20%) were more likely than Democrats (7%) to say they sympathized with neither side, while equal numbers of Republicans and Democrats (5%) said they sympathized with both sides equally.

More Americans want the United States to stay the course in supporting Ukraine as long as it takes

The percentage of respondents who said they want the United States to stay the course in supporting Ukraine grew from our October 2023 poll, reaching the highest level in our tracking since the spring of 2023. In our latest survey, 48% of all respondents said that the United States should support Ukraine as long as the conflict lasts, including 37% of Republicans and 63% of Democrats. All these numbers are new highs in our four polls since March-April 2023.

This shift among Republicans is especially striking considering recent campaign statements by the Republican candidates for president and vice president, Donald Trump and J.D. Vance. Both members of the Republican ticket have made statements opposing further U.S. military aid to Ukraine.

Fewer Americans say Ukraine is winning and Russia is losing

Since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, our polls have tracked the American public assessment of Russia’s and Ukraine’s performance and prospects in the war, as we had reason to think that this assessment might influence the degree of public support for backing Ukraine. In the previous three polls, since March-April 2023, we found little change in that assessment. In the latest poll, there was a marked drop in the assessment that Ukraine is winning and Russia is losing.

Overall, 30% of respondents said Russia is failing in the latest poll, compared to 37% in October; and 21% said Ukraine is succeeding, compared to 26% in October. A plurality of about one-third said each side was neither winning nor losing. Democrats were more likely to think Ukraine (29%) is winning compared to those who said the same about Russia (9%). Republicans were more likely to express equal attitudes about the extent to which Russia (17%) and Ukraine (17%) are winning.

Fewer Americans view current levels of Ukraine funding as about right

American public attitudes on the level of funding for Ukraine remain highly partisan, with more Republicans saying the level is “too much” (52%) and more Democrats saying it’s about “the right level” (39%). Fewer respondents to the question about the level of U.S. support said, “they didn’t know” (26% compared to 33% last October). At the same time, there was an increase in the overall respondents who said the United States is spending too much (35% compared to 29% in October), and there was a simultaneous increase among those who said it is spending too little (15% compared to 10% in October).

The percentage of respondents saying that U.S. support for Ukraine is at the right level has dropped from 28% last October to 24% in July-August, with Republican support dropping from 18% to 15% and Democratic support dropping from 41% to 39%.

Americans support encouraging Ukraine to engage in conflict-ending diplomacy

We asked: “How much would you support or oppose the United States urging Ukraine to engage in diplomatic negotiations with Russia and the United States as soon as possible to end the war in Ukraine?”

We found strong bipartisan support for American urging of Ukraine to engage in diplomacy with Russia, though Republican support is more intense. Overall, 77% of respondents were supportive of diplomacy, with 40% saying they “strongly support” and 37% supporting “somewhat.” Republicans were more “strongly” supportive (53%) compared to Democrats (33%).

Conclusion

Before the recent advance of Ukrainian forces into Russian territory, the American public was growing less confident about Ukraine’s prospects in the war. Surprisingly, this has not undermined overall public support for Ukraine, especially the expressed commitment to stay the course for as long as it takes, which increased since last October. However, attitudes toward the level of support, while partisan, indicated some decline: A 6-point increase among those who say the support is too much, compared to only a one-point increase among those who say either that support is at the right level or too little (from 38% in October to 39% in July-August).

The most striking finding is the degree of bipartisan overall sympathy with Ukraine that encompasses majorities of Republicans and Democrats. The significant increase in the percentage of Republicans who want to see the United States stay the course in its support for Ukraine for as long as takes is especially notable as it occurs in the middle of a presidential campaign where the presidential candidates have taken contrasting views that might lead to a deeper partisan public divide. Early reports about the success of the Ukrainian advance into Russia may have impacted U.S. public support for Ukraine further, as in our previous studies, we found a positive correlation between the degree of perceived Ukrainian success on the battlefield and the degree of public willingness to support Ukraine.

[allthegeopolitics]

https://www.cbsnews.com/baltimore/news/maryland-ballot-question-1-abortion-amendment-2024-election/

[from-the-coffee-shop-in-edoras]

Thank you for decorating my Christmas Tree! :)

Here are 12 Christmas Questions for you! 

No pressure: feel free to answer some, all, or even none. :) 

Favorite Christmas season activity?

Favorite Traditional Christmas song?

Favorite Modern Christmas song?

Favorite Christmas movie(s)?

Favorite Christmas episode (any tv show)?

Favorite food to eat or serve for the Christmas meal?

Favorite Christmas beverage or dessert? 

Most memorable Christmas gift you received as a child?

Best Christmas gift you ever gave to anyone?

If you have a Christmas tree, what’s your tree topper?

What’s your favorite version of Santa in a movie?

Which fictional character would you like to be caught under the mistletoe with?

Aw, thanks! I was glad to decorate your tree, since I’m glad to be your friend!

It hasn’t been feeling particularly Christmas-y over here this year, so hopefully this will help me get into the mood! I just picked a few:

1. My mom and sister and I bake cookies together every Christmas Eve. It’s lovely.

5. Original recipe animated Grinch for me, please. The songs are bangers and I still get choked up when his heart grows three sizes.

9. When Cameo was still a totally brand new thing, I bought my husband a video from one of his most beloved childhood actors and he had NO IDEA how I managed to pull that off and was SO THRILLED.

10. We haven’t put our tree up this year, but the topper is a crab. (He does look festive though.) (I’m from Maryland and this isn’t as weird here as it probably sounds.)

Happy holidays to you and your whole family! ♥️

[max--phillips]

Anyway I just saw a post saying that the protests here in the US are “taking away attention” from what’s actually happening in Gaza and “LARPing oppression” as if 1) the whole point of the protests is to put attention on Gaza and call for a ceasefire and 1.5) shows they’re exclusively getting their news from mainstream cable networks and 2) it’s not the fuckin media’s own fault they’re more interested in covering protests than the actual genocide, and 3) the students are somehow not facing oppression ???????

For one, what’s the solution here? Tell these students who feel very strongly (and rightfully so!) about this issue to just give up and go home? Who exactly does that benefit? Oh, right, the universities who are benefiting from this genocide, as well as the federal government. Good plan.

For two, I realize that the university at the center of this is an Ivy League school, and that the students who are there are privileged in many ways. However, that does not change the fact they are facing violence from the university and from police. That does not change the fact many of these students are Palestinian, Jewish, or other minorities. Beyond that, Columbia is not the only school where protests are happening. Emerson, USC, Yale, Harvard, MIT, Tufts, Cal Poly Humboldt, NYU, Vanderbilt, Brown, University of Michigan, UC Berkeley, Emory, Indiana University, Purdue, George Washington University, UCLA, Northeastern, Ohio State, UT Austin, Arizona State, Washington University St Louis, Cornell, University of Pennsylvania, Stanford, University of Georgia Athens, Sonoma State, San Francisco State, Sacramento State, University of Washington, Virginia Tech, Princeton, University of Minnesota, UConn, USC, University of Illinois, University of Utah, McGill, Portland State, UNC Chapel Hill, Tulane, University of Florida Gainesville, University of Colorado Denver, Case Western Reserve, City College of New York, Rutgers, Johns Hopkins, University of Maryland College Park, Barnard College, Pomona College, DePaul, Georgetown, University of Delaware, University of Arizona, University of New Mexico, University of Wisconsin, Virginia Commonwealth University, Oberlin, UC San Diego, University of San Diego, and I’m sure many others have or are currently participating in protests. Many of these schools are not elite universities only the best of the best (or the most money) get in. For crying out loud, my ass got into Indiana University.

That begs another question as well. Yes, these students at Ivy League schools have privilege. How else would you prefer they use it? When one has privilege, it is imperative to utilize it for the benefit of those one has privilege over.

Anyway. Free Palestine. Defund the police.

“Taking away attention from what’s actually going on” this is like saying the university protests against the Vietnam War were taking away attention from what’s actually going on in Vietnam. (Which I’m realizing now was probably an actual talking point at the time, but sounds ridiculous now.)

[nerdieforpedro]

Get to Know Me Tag Game

I was tagged so I'm doing it. I'm malleable that way, you know?

Thank you @bitchwitch1981 for the tag 😎

1. Were you named after anyone?

I was named after a voodoo priestess from the movie "Angel Heart." The character Lisa Bonet played. My mom is a special lady. 🤣

2. When was the last time you cried?

Sometime in the last week of 2023 when I wrote that post about my mental health journey. It was...good to write out, but a lot.

3. Do you have kids?

I have none of the tiny humans.

4. What sports do you play/ have you played?

I was allergic to them, they made me itch. I read and played video games instead like the recluse I am.

5. Do you use sarcasm?

I may, at times. Usually people don't take me seriously when I'm being direct, and they think I'm being sarcastic.

6. What is the first thing you notice about people?

Eyes, nose and stance. Tells me if I need to keep myself between them and the exit. 👀

7. What's your eye colour?

Light brown, similar to honey. 🍯

8. Scary movies or happy endings?

Happy endings. It's sappy, but I like them. I will mock both horror and happy ending equally.

9. Any talents?

I can have my fingers inside you, while asking you follow-up questions, also a knack for calming sick elderly people and finding that tricky spot where the catheter goes. 🤣🤣 (I described my job in the worst way possible)

I can sing a little. I'm funny. I teach fairly well.

10. Where were you born?

United States - Maryland

11. What are your hobbies?

Listening & singing to music, writing and reading fics, day dreaming about Pedro Pascal & Oscar Isaac, watching TV, going to the movies, burning candles, reading manga, playing video games, painting my nails.

12. Do you have any pets?

The state of my houseplants have indicated to me that no matter how much I wish it, that alone will not sustain life for a dog or a cat. 😞

13. How tall are you?

5 foot 3 inches (I'm short and round, like a rolo or peppermint patty.)

14. Favourite subject in high school?

Science (Anatomy and Physiology)

15. Dream job?

Professional fanfic writer who gets paid in the number of WIPs I have. (So I would be making millions by never finishing any work.)

NP tags: @maggiemayhemnj @for-a-longlongtime @legendary-pink-dot @megamindsecretlair @mysterious-moonstruck-musings @goodwithcheese @secretelephanttattoo @avastrasposts @angelofsmalldeath-codeine @rhoorl @laurfilijames @alltheglitterandtheroar @avastrasposts @atinylittlepain @beefrobeefcal

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Sam Levin at The Guardian:

A group of leading Democratic governors offered words of support for Joe Biden on Wednesday as pressure mounted on the president to leave the race. The governors, including Tim Walz of Minnesota, Wes Moore of Maryland, Gavin Newsom of California and Kathy Hochul of New York, held a closed-door meeting with Biden in Washington as he sought to reassure his party – and the public – that he is up to the job after a shaky debate performance. Biden met for more than an hour at the White House in person and virtually with more than 20 governors from his party. The governors told reporters afterward that the conversation was “candid” and said they expressed concerns about Biden’s debate performance last week. They reiterated that defeating Donald Trump in November was the priority, but said they were still standing behind Biden and did not join other Democrats who have been urging him to withdraw his candidacy.

“We, like many Americans, are worried,” Walz of Minnesota said. “We are all looking for the path to win – all the governors agree with that. President Biden agrees with that. He has had our backs through Covid … the governors have his back. We’re working together just to make very, very clear that a path to victory in November is the No 1 priority and that’s the No 1 priority of the president … The feedback was good. The conversation was honest.” “The president is our nominee. The president is our party leader,” added Moore of Maryland. He said Biden “was very clear that he’s in this to win it”. “We were honest about the feedback we’re getting … and the concerns we’re hearing from people,” Moore said. “We’re going to have his back … the results we’ve been able to see under this administration have been undeniable.”

The meeting capped a tumultuous day for Biden as members of his own party, and a major democratic donor, urged him to step aside amid questions over his fitness for office. Two Democratic lawmakers have called on Biden to exit the race, and a third Congressman said he had “grave concerns” about Biden’s ability to beat Trump. The White House, meanwhile, was forced to deny reports that Biden is weighing whether his candidacy is still viable. Biden, for his part, has forcefully insisted that he is staying in the race. “Let me say this as clearly as I possibly can, as simply and straightforward as I can: I am running … no one’s pushing me out,” Biden said on a call with staffers from his re-election campaign. “I’m not leaving. I’m in this race to the end and we’re going to win.”

Kamala Harris has also stood by his side, despite some insiders reportedly rallying around her as a possible replacement. “We will not back down. We will follow our president’s lead,” the vice-president reportedly told staffers on Wednesday.

At yesterday’s hybrid conference with Democratic governors with President Joe Biden, governors are largely rallying behind the incumbent President even as they have expressed worries.

[autisticthings]

I know that now may not be a great time, so feel free to ignore.

Hello :)

I am a graduate student working on a master’s thesis research study on autistic joy on Tumblr, and I plan to interview people for 30min to an hour. 

The interview would be recorded, and though you have to have your camera on initially then you can turn it off, and the interview would be over Zoom.

Anyone can participate, regardless of diagnosis status :) If you want to participate, you must be 18+, a US resident, and proficient in English. For paperwork reasons, if you have a learning/intellectual disability (not autism/ADHD/mental health issues for example), you should not disclose it. If you would like, I can tell you the topics and some questions that I would be asking.

At the end, you would receive a $5 gift card after providing an email. Would you be willing to participate?

This study has been approved by the University of Maryland Institutional Review Board (IRB #2235876-1). If you have any questions, I would be happy to answer them.

Thanks, and here, a kitty for the cat tax <3

AHHHH CAT

i am so sorry it took me so long to answer this!!! (i deleted Tumblr)

I am unfortunately unwilling to participate due to personal reasons, but I'm answering your ask nonetheless so maybe others can see it!!

i appreciate you thinking of me, have a wonderful day. and I hope you get that last person for your study <3

[antisemitism-101]

What do you wish non-Jews understood about Zionism?

Hi friend!  I am unspeakably thrilled that this is the first question I got.

What do I wish non-Jews knew about Zionism?  My number one wish?

Jews define 'Zionism' differently than non-Jews do.  Especially right now.  That's causing miserable communication problems.

I know that’s a lot to unpack, so let me break that down.

How do Jews define Zionism?  Inconsistently.

The only common thread connecting different Zionist beliefs among Jews is: a Jewish state of Israel should exist.  I've seen Jewish people call themselves 'Zionists' to refer to anything from:

"I have been fighting for Palestinian liberation for decades.  I also do not want Israel erased from the earth.  It is full of Jewish people who were kicked out of surrounding countries the moment Israel was established, and where else could they go?"

to

"How dare you criticize anything Israel has done??"

To get a sense of how diversely Jews define 'Zionism', take a look at this Wikipedia article on types of Zionism.  Nine different definitions of the main branches of Zionism, many in conflict with each other, and that's without including "Christian Zionism".

Jewish definitions of 'Zionist' are frequently also based on personal relationships to Israel.  There's a longing for a state of Israel embedded into religious Jewish ritual (small example: since the 15th century, Jews have said "Next year in Jerusalem" at the end of Passover); many USA-based Jewish people have actually been there because of the Birthright Israel program, which sends Jewish kids to Israel for a week at no cost; and many of us have family or friends there.

How do non-Jews define Zionism?  Infrequently!

You’ve probably seen calls to deplatform Zionists, or seen 'Zionist' used to mean pro-genocide, pro-settler-colonialism, and probably racist against Palestinians.  (If you haven't, keep reading: I include some examples later this post.)

But how many times have you seen anyone actually define the term?

It might seem like you don't need to!  Like everyone knows what the term means.  But in an Ipsos/University of Maryland poll last June, right before the conflict, almost 2/3 of people in the US had no idea what Zionism meant.  More than twice as many as had an opinion on it!

I blame that confusion on a lot of stuff, the lack of a single Jewish definition among them.  But when a term is that loosely understood, there’s room for whoever to come up with their own definition. 

What kinds of communication problems are happening because of differences in how 'Zionism' is defined?

1. Legitimate grievances are getting lost in arguments over language.  People are talking past each other’s pain.

In May 2024, there was supposed to be a "Confronting Hate Together" exhibition at the Wing Luke Museum in Seattle—a joint project by AAPI, Black, and Jewish groups about our shared history of facing prejudice.

That was always going to be a challenging exhibit to plan in 2024.  I already mentioned frequent Jewish personal connections with Israel.  Solidarity between Black communities and Palestinian communities is particularly strong right now (here's a history of that shift from Black support for Israel to Palestine) and AAPI groups frequently count Palestinians as members.  Collaborations were likely to be prickly and require delicacy and clear communication.

Neither happened.

Instead, a museum-approved panel written by the Washington Jewish Historical Society included the following language: "On university campuses, pro-Palestinian groups have voiced support for Hamas (which is classified as a terrorist organization by the U.S. government) and a Palestinian state stretching 'from the river to the sea,' a phrase defined by the erasure of Israel."

That phrasing shouldn't have gotten approved by the museum.  It should barely have been a first draft.  It insists on a single, hostile definition of 'from the river to the sea', one that many Palestinians would disagree with, and also to me implies that all pro-Palestinian groups are pro-terrorist: not exactly 'together' material.  Walking out over it is understandable.

But that's not what the main criticism was of the panel: it's that it was Zionist.

The accompanying Instagram post added, "Zionist language in the new exhibit "Confronting Hate Together" sets a dangerous precedent of platforming colonial, white supremacist perspectives and goes against the Museum’s mission as a community-based museum advancing racial and social equity."

Listing 'Zionist language' as the problem is too broad to be actionable. And insisting Zionism is a 'colonial, white supremacist perspective' is going to put any Jewish group whose definition of Zionism doesn't include white supremacy on the defensive-- which is basically all of them. (Side note: please, someone ask me about whiteness and Judaism! I want to answer an ask on this SO BADLY).

Even if those Jewish groups are ready to hear and adapt to specific critiques, the opportunity for them to do so has been lost.

To me, nobody won this miscommunication.  The people who walked out got their demands met, sure, but the entire exhibit got scrapped—an exhibit, again, meant to bring Black, Jewish, and AAPI communities together in solidarity.  The executive director of the Wing Luke Museum resigned four months after the walkout (it's not confirmed the two are directly connected, but I assume they are.)  And the Washington Jewish Historical Society, instead of having any further opportunities to course-correct, build solidarity, and maybe be more empathetic to pro-Palestinian groups, displayed the exhibit, alone, at a single event in September. I'm genuinely sad about the whole thing.

2. 'Zionist' is being used as an excuse to shut Jewish people up, whether or not they are Zionist.

Let me show you what I mean, and please stay with me here.

It's worth reading the whole Tumblr post this comes from, but I'm going to excerpt the most relevant part:

A few different things I would really like you to note:

A Jewish person, who is not Zionist, is being called a Zionist for literally no reason.  Nothing they said relates to Zionism or Israel; they have gone out of their way to repeatedly state that they are not Zionist; yet that is the response they are getting.

'Zionist' is being treated as a slur—a name to call someone to discredit and dismiss them.  And 'Zionist' is the last word of this post for a reason—it’s supposed to be the last impression passersby have of the argument.  Oh, of course I shouldn’t listen to this person’s concerns: they’re a Zionist. 

(You see this kind of behavior with 'pro-genocide' too, treated absolutely synonymously.  Both are popular responses when a Jewish person raises concerns about antisemitism—which I’ll show you next.)

These experiences are common enough among outspoken Jewish people that they are being collected, dated, and timestamped.

Here’s another example of this in action, this time about the celebrity Stephen Fry:

For those who don't click through, Stephen Fry's speech, in its entirety:

"I am Stephen Fry, and I am a Jew. The great Irish thinker and writer Conor Cruise O'Brien once said that antisemitism is a light sleeper. Well, it seems to have woken up of late. The horrendous events of October 7th, and the Israeli response, seem to have stirred up this ancient hatred. It's agonizing to see all violence and destruction that is unfolding, and the terrible loss of life on both sides brings me an overwhelming sadness and heartache. But whatever our opinions on what is happening, there can be no excuse for the behaviour of some of our citizens. Since October the 7th, there have been 50 separate reported incidents of antisemitism every single day in London alone, an increase of 1350%, according to the Metropolitan police. Shop windows smashed, stars of David and swastikas daubed on walls of Jewish properties, synagogues, and cemeteries. Jewish schools have been forced to close. There is real fear stalking the Jewish neighbourhoods of Britain. Jewish people here are becoming fearful of showing themselves, in Britain, in 2023."

Stephen Fry is here talking about concretely threatening acts of antisemitism that have happened since October 7.  Swastikas painted on the walls of Jewish community structures.  Jewish businesses getting their windows smashed in.

The response was "To hear him conflate antiZionism with antisemitism has shocked me.  To see him show no care or support for Palestinians has broken me… Smashed windows vs carrying your dead child?"

Once again, Zionism is being brought up and used to discredit Stephen Fry despite not being brought up once in Fry's speech

Fry, a Jewish man, goes out of his way to mention that he is explicitly holding the "terrible loss of life on both sides" in his heart, but is characterized as "showing no care or support for Palestinians."

'Anti-zionism is not antisemitism' is being used to dismiss these concretely threatening acts of antisemitism as insignificant.  Especially upsetting acts of antisemitism, even: to Jewish people, when people perform these specific acts of antisemitism, breaking the windows of businesses and forcibly labeling Jewish buildings, it feels like not just an act of vandalism but a deliberate reference to the Holocaust.  A way of saying, we might not have the institutional power to wipe you out, but we still want to, and don’t you forget it.

These aren’t outliers: they’re patterns.  Basically every Jewish person who's spoken out about antisemitism this year has had the word 'Zionist' directed at them in these antisemitic, not just anti-Zionist, ways.  I’m happy to give you more examples if you want them.

3. Personal communication problems are happening, and Jewish people are hurting over them.

Imagine you are hurting, and you reach out to a good friend.  You tell them: please help.  I am sure you do not mean this, but you are repeating language people use to silence me.  You are calling for my friends and family to be shut out of community life because of their religious beliefs and/or personal ties.  That call is spreading further and further through my community.  I am afraid. I feel unwelcome.

What response would you expect?  For me, I would expect: oh my gosh.  How am I doing that?  How can I help?  Or at least: the language you’re objecting to means something different to me.  Can we talk through some shared language instead?  I don’t want to hurt you.

Imagine, instead, getting silence. Crickets. At best.

Imagine this as the main alternative:

You're overreacting.  That language isn't actually a call to exclude your family from public life: it’s directed at someone else.  The Bad Ones.  And you have no right to be afraid, or hurt.  Stop using your pain as a distraction from other people's real pain.

That is what this year has felt like to many Jews, along many axes—"Zionist" is just one of them.  And it especially stings coming from leftist communities. 

When Jewish people see misery in the world, we must act, because we, as a people, have gone through misery too. We've been kicked out of our homes; persecuted and killed for existing; been beaten up in playgrounds and kept out of schools.  We are morally obligated to use our millennia of misery to help people through similar struggles.  To heal at least some of the pain in the world. 

We have seen leftist communities act on those principles for our whole lives.  Have lived as part of those communities, extending our hands together in kindness and compassion to those who need it.  Now we Jewish people are reaching out for those hands, and can't understand why it feels like we're constantly touching air.

(If you are Palestinian, or otherwise directly impacted by the Israel/Palestine conflict: use whatever terminology you want.  You are going through something I cannot even imagine: I would never try to police how you talk about it.)

So, my helpers.  How can you help?

Show compassion for Palestinian suffering and support Jewish people who are scared.

You, reading this, have a big enough heart to hold both Jewish fear and Palestinian suffering.  I know you do.  I'm glad you are fighting for Palestinian liberation: please engage with Jewish people compassionately about our fear too!

Reach out to a Jewish friend and just… check whether they are okay.  Post publicly about some obvious incident of antisemitism and condemn it.  Someone caring, without being prompted, is a low bar that almost no one is hitting for us this year.  Doing so will make us feel so much safer and more loved.

Refuse to use 'Zionist' to dismiss anyone's unrelated ideas.  Call out that behavior when you see it.

Remember: 'Zionist' is used to dismiss ideas that aren't Zionist, from people who aren't Zionist, because they are Jewish.   In fact:

If you are not Jewish, Israeli, or Palestinian, choose a more specific word than 'Zionist.'

You don't need a special Israelis Only term to communicate displeasure. Even if you want one, 'Kahanist,' rather than 'Zionist', is the ideology responsible for Israel’s shittiest actions right now: see what I mean here (the Otzma Yehudit party is Kahanist).

Alternate words you could consider for complaints you have about Israeli government actions:

Imperialism

Cutting off aid

Nationalism

Displacement

Even genocide, I think my Zionist friend would agree, is better than Zionist-as-slur in terms of keeping Jewish people around the world safe.  (Zionist friend: "I'm not sure I agree that "genocide" is better than "Zionist" in terms of not inflaming antisemitism. It is a SUPER loaded term.")

If you, as a non-Jew, non-Israeli, non-Palestinian, must use the term 'Zionist', and I really don't understand why you must: define it up-front so people know what definition you are working from, and acknowledge that there are alternate definitions of the term that others might be working from.

If you see anyone calling someone a 'Zio', disengage.  That term originates in white supremacist communities, and engaging with white supremacist ideas is wildly unlikely to help.

If you feel like they are people you can reach and want to keep trying— I understand! But please, do it privately. Don't amplify what they are saying on a public platform.

===

Thank you, again, for caring to learn and wanting to help.  I appreciate having you as part of this conversation, and if you have any questions about, or even disagreements with, things I am saying here, I welcome you.  And if you have other questions about antisemitism you want answered: I am here for you.

[lesbioniclepod]

Episode 7: The Mata Nui Online Game but the AI is Self-Aware

Spotify/iTunes

(episode recorded in May 2023, as the incredibly topical British monarchy jokes will show)

Breakroom 95 Theses

Charles’ Coronation

Regular Hessian vs. Canadian Revolutionary

Taipu and Nausicaä Experience the Beauty of Le-Koro

Blue Mask Gender Thesis

it is with heavy heart that I must announce: we did not do an “of course you have a blue mask and pronouns” joke, but we should’ve.

Kongu Backstory

Gukko Piloting

Dinotopia Reminisces

the skybax rider game has later been confirmed to be a dream

Lewa’s Calm Me Down From Possession Kink

Taipu’s Transgender Allegory

Spraying Kids With The Podcast Hose

Tren Krom Mind Break

The Toa Mata Hold An Intervention

Nac Mac Feegle Gender vs. Matoran Gender/Tiffany Aching’s Bionicles

Nokama’s Vtuber Gimmick

Makuta and the Franklin Expedition

we have now both since watched the terror

Do Bionicles Cook?

The Ultimate Question

Bionicle Amaat

We Learn About the Great Spirit

Incredible Crab Violence

Maryland v. Maritimes

Canceled For Crab Crimes

Kinnie Nui

Moushley and Stuart Little

Revachol-Metru

Tantalizing Glimpses of Bionicle Cuisine

The Jeb Bush of Mata Nui

Crab-Based Horrors Within Our Comprehension

Trans-Supportive Whenua

Kapura Autism Powers

The Chronicler’s (Autistic) Company

THE TOA ARE HERE

Disquisition on Bionicle Yuri v. Yaoi

Every Matoran And Also Nausicaä Is Gay For Gali

Live Reporting From The MNOG Trenches, 1:51:00 to 2:01:30

Thigh Gaps, But Not In The Way You Think

Bionicle Philosophy

Makuta Is Medium-Aware

ET IN ARCADIA VRISKA

We Both Get Really Emotional About The End Of MNOG

[chaosintheavenue]

2023 Fallout OC Census- Results

At long last, it's here! This time, we had 593 usable responses.

(There are a few categories I haven't analysed just yet, which is mostly because I have Ideas for how to display that data. Please stand by…)

Getting right into the numbers...

Game

Fallout (original): 18 Fallout 2: 8 Fallout 3: 59 Fallout New Vegas: 214 Fallout 4: 160 Fallout 76: 28 Fallout Tactics: 2 Van Buren: 13 A spin-off, AU or mod: 14 A TTRPG campaign: 13 Multiple of the above: 41 None, just the Fallout universe: 22

Are they the in-game protagonist?

Yes: 328 No: 203 It's complicated: 61

Species

Unmutated human: 444 Ghoul: 51 Synth: 41 Ghoul-ish: 13 Other mutant: 9 Supernatural/spiritual being: 7 Robot (non-humanoid): 7 Super Mutant: 6 Cyborg/android: 5 Unknown/it's complicated: 2 Other: 7

Definitions of a few categories, just to clarify exactly what's in there:

Ghoul-ish: Refers to all characters who are partially ghoulified, ghoulify during their storylines, and unique characters with primarily ghoul-like traits

Other mutant: Refers to all characters who are specified to have unique mutations from any cause, unless they better fit into the ghoul-ish category. This is a very diverse umbrella category, and in past surveys has included everything from characters specified to have 76-style mutations that basically function as perks, to a character similar in form and nature to the Master

Gender

Cis woman/girl: 217 Cis man/boy: 154 Trans man/boy: 76 Nonbinary: 47 Trans woman/girl: 27 Agender: 16 Genderfluid: 7 Genderqueer: 6 Man/boy, unknown or varies if cis or trans: 5 Transfeminine: 3 Bigender: 3 Demigirl: 3 Woman/girl, unknown or varies if cis or trans: 4 Butch: 2 Demigender: 2 Questioning: 2 Intersex: 2 Lesbian: 2 Māhū: 1 Multigender: 1 Queer: 1 Transmasculine: 1 Unlabeled: 1

Bonus answers I enjoyed: [redacted], a man in a certain sense of the word, cat, doesn't care for this, eh, God knows, a link to the Wikipedia page for Stone Butch Blues, it's complicated, man of questionable gender, no gender left beef, lost their gender in the war, people assume she's a woman but she doesn't really care, whatever's funniest, yeah

Where are they from?

In previous OC survey location maps, I've only included a single data point for each character, regardless of how many places they may have connections to. However, this time I've decided to include each place that a character has lived as one data point.

The list of assumptions I use when creating these maps:

Arroyo = Oregon

Mojave Wasteland = Nevada if no more specific locations provided

Capital Wasteland = DC if no more specific locations provided

Vault 101 = DC (I feel like this one isn't geographically accurate, but it's to fit in with the above assumption)

Washington unqualified = Washington state, not DC (even for Fallout 3 characters, especially since I know of a Fallout 3 character who is intended to be from Washington state)

Appalachia = West Virginia unless otherwise specified

NCR = California

Legion territory with no other information given = Arizona (this feels like the biggest generalisation of all to me. Maybe take the Arizona count with a pinch of salt?)

'Near X place' = in the same state as X place

I go by the current fifty US states. No splitting of California or considering Canada to be part of the US

Locations that could not be easily defined or placed in a specific state/country (examples: the US as a general answer, multistate regions of the US, continents, or extraterrestrial locations) have been excluded for the purposes of this map

The map for the US:

Massachusetts: 104 California: 79 Nevada: 77 DC: 74 Arizona: 32 West Virginia: 25 Texas: 17 Utah: 15 Oregon: 14 Colorado: 13 New Mexico: 7 Virginia: 6 Maine: 6 Idaho: 6 Pennsylvania: 5 Illinois: 3 Washington: 3 Louisiana: 3 Florida: 3 Wyoming: 3 Tennessee: 3 New York: 3 Rhode Island: 2 North Carolina: 2 Minnesota: 2 Vermont: 2 Alaska: 2 Missouri: 2 Nebraska: 2 Michigan: 2 Indiana: 2 Kentucky: 2 Oklahoma: 2 Maryland: 2 Montana: 1 Connecticut: 1 Georgia: 1 New Jersey: 1 Wisconsin: 1

And the map for the rest of the world:

Canada: 7 Mexico: 7 UK: 7 Russia: 4 China: 2 Australia: 2 France: 2 Brazil: 1 Ireland: 1 Israel: 1 Finland: 1 Germany: 1 Japan: 1 Panama: 1

Further breakdown of characters from the UK: Wales: 4 (…these are all my guys, what can I say?) England: 2 Unspecified: 1

Has this character ever lived in a vault?

Yes: 223 No: 366

Faction

Minutemen: 99 Railroad: 86 Followers of the Apocalypse: 80 Brotherhood of Steel: 77 Yes Man/Independent Vegas: 63 NCR: 50 Caesar's Legion: 38 Original faction: 36 Institute: 26 Kings: 16 Great Khans: 14 Nuka-World raiders: 13 Mr House: 13 Raiders in general: 13 Goodneighbor: 11 Enclave: 11 Arroyo: 9 Think Tank/Big MT: 8 Reilly's Rangers: 7 Underworld: 7 Ciphers: 7 (would you believe me if I said the majority here are not mine? XD) Responders: 6 Acadia: 6 New Vegas Strip in general: 6 Lyons' Pride: 5 Children of Atom: 5 Megaton: 5 Gunners: 5 Boomers: 5 Powder Gangers: 5 Cult of the Mothman (all variations): 4 Crimson Caravan: 4 Chairmen: 4 Mojave Express: 4 Necropolis: 3 Shady Sands (pre-NCR): 3 Vault 13: 3 Twin Mothers: 3 Diamond City: 3 Freeside: 3 White Glove Society: 3 Vault-Tec: 3 Bishop family: 3 Regulators: 2 Tunnel Snakes: 2 New Canaan: 2 Gecko: 2 Settlers/Foundation: 2 Abolitionists/Temple of the Union: 2 Galaxy News Radio: 2 80s: 2 Desert Rangers: 2 Unity/Master's Army: 2 Vault 76: 2 US Government: 2 Broken Hills: 2 Sanctuary: 2 Blue Ridge Caravan Company: 2 Goodsprings: 2 Cutthroat raiders: 2 Feral ghouls: 2 Hub: 2 Ghouls in general: 2 Nuka-World in general: 2 Little Lamplight/Big Town: 2

And the list of factions with one response, allegedly for the sake of something called 'brevity': Boulder scientists, Vault City, Littlehorn & Associates, Jacobstown, New Reno, Brotherhood Outcasts, Marked Men, Mole Miners, Treeminders, Forged, Junktown, Triggermen, Free States, Vault 101, Vault 81, Slags, Hubris Comics, Bunker Hill, Rivet City, Van Graffs, Ug-Qualtoth, West Tek, Vault 95, Novac, Atom Cats, The Outer Worlds factions, Commonwealth Super Mutants, caravan companies in general

I was initially planning to include a separate 'ish' category for each faction, to account for characters that are aligned with factions unwillingly/temporarily/out of necessity, but looking at the dataset, that sort of situation was so much more prevalent than I realised and quickly made everything very clunky.

Main approach to problems

Diplomacy: 211 Combat: 147 Stealth: 101 Technical skills: 79 Avoidance: 53

And finally for now- preferred weapon type

Small guns: 191 Melee: 128 Energy weapons: 91 Big guns: 82 Avoids combat altogether: 49 Explosives: 27 Unarmed combat: 24

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As always, thank you to everyone who participated and gave me a little information about your OCs! If you'd ever like to talk more about them, my inbox is always open :D. Getting to learn about everyone's brainchildren is definitely my favourite aspect of my tangential foray into the Fallout fandom sphere.

My future plan for this dataset includes… a lot of pie charts, to put it mildly. As I've done for past survey datasets, I'll be compiling pie charts for each question, separating responses by the game that the characters are from, and we'll see if any trends emerge!