#Mass Transit Trouble

[elijbrony]

Here is my last YouTube video for 2023. Happy New Year, guys.

[nomaishuttle]

AAAANYways. look at the map ive been working on :]

[judgeitbyitscover]

Southern Reach series (10th Anniversary Editions) by Jeff VanderMeer

Cover art by Pablo Delcan

MacMillan, 2014-2024

Annihilation (2014)

Area X has been cut off from the rest of the world for decades. Nature has reclaimed the last vestiges of human civilization. The first expedition returned with reports of a pristine, Edenic landscape; the second expedition ended in mass suicide, the third in a hail of gunfire as its members turned on one another. The members of the eleventh expedition returned as shadows of their former selves, and within weeks, all had died of cancer. In Annihilation, the first volume of Jeff VanderMeer's Southern Reach Trilogy, we join the twelfth expedition.

The group is made up of four women: an anthropologist; a surveyor; a psychologist, the de facto leader; and our narrator, a biologist. Their mission is to map the terrain, record all observations of their surroundings and of one another, and, above all, avoid being contaminated by Area X itself.

They arrive expecting the unexpected, and Area X delivers—but it’s the surprises that came across the border with them and the secrets the expedition members are keeping from one another that change everything

Authority (2014)

After thirty years, the only human engagement with Area X—a seemingly malevolent landscape surrounded by an invisible border and mysteriously wiped clean of all signs of civilization—has been a series of expeditions overseen by a government agency so secret it has almost been forgotten: the Southern Reach. Following the tumultuous twelfth expedition chronicled in Annihilation, the agency is in complete disarray.

John Rodríguez (aka "Control") is the Southern Reach's newly appointed head. Working with a distrustful but desperate team, a series of frustrating interrogations, a cache of hidden notes, and hours of profoundly troubling video footage, Control begins to penetrate the secrets of Area X. But with each discovery he must confront disturbing truths about himself and the agency he's pledged to serve.

In Authority, the second volume of Jeff VanderMeer's Southern Reach trilogy, Area X's most disturbing questions are answered . . . but the answers are far from reassuring.

Acceptance (2014)

It is winter in Area X, the mysterious wilderness that has defied explanation for thirty years, rebuffing expedition after expedition, refusing to reveal its secrets. As Area X expands, the agency tasked with investigating and overseeing it—the Southern Reach—has collapsed on itself in confusion. Now one last, desperate team crosses the border, determined to reach a remote island that may hold the answers they've been seeking. If they fail, the outer world is in peril.

Meanwhile, Acceptance tunnels ever deeper into the circumstances surrounding the creation of Area X—what initiated this unnatural upheaval? Among the many who have tried, who has gotten close to understanding Area X—and who may have been corrupted by it?

In this last installment of Jeff VanderMeer's Southern Reach trilogy, the mysteries of Area X may be solved, but their consequences and implications are no less profound—or terrifying.

Absolution (2024)

When the Southern Reach Trilogy was first published a decade ago, it was an instant sensation, celebrated in a front-page New York Times story before publication, hailed by Stephen King and many others. Each volume climbed the bestsellers list; awards were won; the books made the rare transition from paperback original to hardcover; the movie adaptation became a cult classic. All told, the trilogy has sold more than a million copies and has secured its place in the pantheon of twenty-first-century literature.

And yet for all this, for Jeff VanderMeer there was never full closure to the story of Area X. There were a few mysteries that had gone unsolved, some key points of view never aired. There were stories left to tell. There remained questions about who had been complicit in creating the conditions for Area X to take hold; the story of the first mission into the Forgotten Coast—before Area X was called Area X—had never been fully told; and what if someone had foreseen the world after Acceptance? How crazy would they seem?

Structured in three parts, each recounting a new expedition, there are some long-awaited answers here, to be sure, but also more questions, and profound new surprises. Absolution is a brilliant, beautiful, and ever-terrifying plunge into unique and fertile literary territory. It is the final word on one of the most provocative and popular speculative fiction series of our time

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Colin Wright

Published: Dec 23, 2024

A new study from the Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI) has revealed an alarming surge in anti-civil activity online following the assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. The NCRI study, titled “Killing with Applause: Emergent Permission Structures for Murder in the Digital Age,” highlights the profound societal implications of this event, showcasing the disturbing normalization of violence against corporate figures and the role of social media in amplifying such narratives.

While the specifics of Thompson’s murder are shocking, the NCRI warns that the broader cultural shift it appears to be facilitating may be even more worrisome. The data reveals an evolving “permission structure” online—a system in which social media platforms amplify narratives, and susceptible individuals provide justification—resulting in the normalization of violence on a scale previously confined to small extremist communities.

The murder, which occurred outside a Manhattan hotel during an investors’ conference, has sparked a wave of online glorification, memes, and merchandise celebrating the shooter, Luigi Mangione. The NCRI’s findings expose an unsettling trend: mainstream social media platforms are becoming breeding grounds for rhetoric that not only justifies violence but also facilitates its transition from the digital realm to the real world.

Public Opinion Reflects Shifting Norms

The NCRI’s research reveals a major societal shift, highlighting how public opinion has veered dangerously toward accepting violence as a legitimate response to perceived systemic injustices. Nearly half of Americans surveyed (44 percent) believe that Thompson’s murder was at least somewhat justified, reflecting a growing openness to violent means of addressing grievances. This finding is particularly alarming as it indicates that support for such extreme measures is no longer confined to isolated groups but is increasingly mainstream.

The data shows that social media plays a critical role in shaping these attitudes. Among heavy social media users—those who spend more than 5.4 hours per day on these platforms—the justification rate surges to 64 percent, starkly contrasting with just 23 percent among low-use individuals (0-1.3 hours per day).

Even more concerning is the generational divide: a staggering 78.8 percent of respondents aged 18-27 expressed at least partial justification for the murder, signaling a profound shift among younger demographics toward endorsing “targeted violence.”

The younger generation’s overwhelming approval for violent actions suggests a troubling cultural normalization of aggression as a tool for addressing grievances.

Platforms of Concern: Bluesky and Beyond

One of the most striking revelations in the NCRI study is the role of mainstream platforms like Bluesky in fostering permissive attitudes toward violence. Bluesky, widely lauded by political progressives as a kinder and friendlier alternative to X/Twitter, now exhibits the highest justification rates for the UHC CEO’s murder (78 percent), surpassing even extremist platforms like Gab and 4chan.

Bluesky’s user base skews younger and more tech-savvy, demographics that the NCRI study identifies as particularly susceptible to violent rhetoric. The combination of algorithmic amplification of extreme views and a vulnerable audience creates an environment ripe for the proliferation of violent narratives. This grim reality was recently illustrated when Bluesky users called for the murder of journalist Jesse Singal, en masse, due to his fact-based reporting on pediatric “gender medicine.” Users even posted what they believed to be his address and photos of his apartment door online.

Across social media platforms, including X, Reddit, and TikTok, there has been an alarming increase in content justifying violence. Viral hashtags like #EatTheRich and “Free Luigi” dominate many online discussions, and moderation efforts often lag behind the pace of content creation and dissemination, allowing violent rhetoric to flourish.

From Memes to Real-World Impacts

The transition of violent rhetoric from online spaces to real-world actions is perhaps one of the most troubling revelations of the NCRI study. Viral memes, fancam edits, and merchandise such as “Free Luigi” t-shirts have commodified his image. Events like the “UHC Shooter Lookalike Contest,” held in Washington Square Park, reveals how online rhetoric is influencing real-world behaviors. Participants, many of whom were dressed to mimic Mangione, gathered to celebrate and parody the assassination, demonstrating an alarming erosion of societal norms.

On social media, fancam edits and viral videos glorify Mangione’s actions, framing him as an anti-establishment icon. According to the report:

These videos frequently feature romantic or hyperbolic captions, highlight niche cultural affinities, or focus on his physical appearance, further amplifying his image and fueling narratives that glamorize his actions. This glorification fuels permission structures that could inspire others to perceive violence as a legitimate form of activism.

The hashtag #EatTheRich has surged by over 500 percent week-over-week, accompanying calls for violence against corporate figures and circulating “CEO Wanted” posters and executive “hit lists.” These posters, which feature “mocked-up mugshots of healthcare executives,” promote vigilante justice and represent “a deliberate attempt to provoke fear and destabilize corporate leadership.”

According to the NCRI report, “The murder of Brian Thompson appears to have catalyzed a dangerous feedback loop, where glorification, humor, conspiracy, and targeted harassment create an environment ripe for further violence.”

This blending of online rhetoric and offline action reflects what the NCRI describes as an “emergent permission structure,” which they describe as “a framework that justifies previously unacceptable beliefs or actions, with a clear division of labor: Social media platforms provide the amplification, while psychologically susceptible individuals provide the justification…” Taken in concert, these elements form a system that normalizes and even glamorizes acts of violence.

The Lionization of Luigi Mangione

Luigi Mangione’s transformation from an obscure figure to a symbol of anti-establishment resistance has been meteoric. Within days of his arrest, his social media following exploded from 5,000 to over 400,000. The slogan “Free Luigi” was posted 47,000 times in 48 hours, generating nearly 800,000 engagements across X and Reddit.

The commodification of Mangione’s image extends beyond social media. T-shirts, mugs, and other merchandise featuring his likeness are being sold on e-commerce platforms, trivializing his actions while profiting from the controversy. New cryptocurrency “memecoins” such as $LUIGI have also emerged, turning a deadly act into a speculative financial opportunity.

Psychological Drivers

The NCRI study identifies three key predictors of support for the murder: authoritarian tendencies, heavy social media use, and diminished personal agency. These factors interact in a synergistic way, with social media amplifying authoritarian predispositions and fostering the normalization of violence.

The combination of authoritarianism, an external locus of control, and social media’s amplifying effects appears to be a perfect storm for radicalization. These factors interact in a way that makes violence seem rational and even heroic to those who might otherwise feel marginalized or voiceless.

The interaction between these psychological drivers is particularly pronounced among younger demographics, who are both heavy social media users and more likely to experience anxiety or disillusionment with traditional systems. The NCRI study reveals that among users aged 18-27, those with high authoritarian tendencies and heavy social media use were the most likely to justify violence.

A Call to Action

The NCRI study concludes with a warning:

As digital platforms become arenas for ideological conflict, the consequences extend beyond individual incidents of violence to threaten broader public safety and societal cohesion. This transformation underscores the urgent need for strategies that address the root causes of digital radicalization and mitigate its impacts.

The challenges we face require a comprehensive and collaborative response. No single entity can address the complexities of digital radicalization alone. Policymakers, educators, platforms, and community leaders must work in unison to restore the moral boundaries against violent extremism.

The study concludes:

The spread and scope of justification for murder have significantly eroded what was once the monopoly of fringe communities in supporting violence and glorifying shooters online. This shift underscores the urgency of initiatives aimed at reinforcing the bonds of civic trust and restoring civility. Such efforts are essential not only in countering the tide of extremism but also in fostering a resilient society where dialogue and mutual respect prevail.

==

EDIT: Wow, this managed to attract the murderous psychopaths. I hope you'll be just as understanding when someone kills someone you care about and justifies it in the name of nebulous "systemic" somethingisms.

If there was ever any doubt about Colin's premise, it has been proven by the insanity of those cheering it on in the reblogs.

[divinesolas]

Ok so if you watched scream 4 Jill manipulates charlie into being with her and thinking he's her partner in crime then she kills him. So imagine that with Ethan you join him and date him you actually start to like him but kill and betray him in the end and get away or you can have reader die too if you wanna be extra angsty

Whatever it takes

Summary | You loved your boyfriend you really did, but did you love him enough?

Warnings | Carpenter!reader (tara’s twin), murder, angst, 1.6k wc, heavily jill coded reader

a/n | i loved writing this request !! i hope you like it sorry for the wait 😭

“You're an asshole!” Tara spits at ethan as he laughs, “I know!”

He turns to the other ghostface standing next to him with a smile, “Come on baby lets do this.” 

“Baby?” sam mumbles. The ghostface rips off the mask to reveal you. “y/n?” tara says in shock. “Hi tara.”

Ethan laughs, “God look at their reactions this is gold.” 

Your sisters watch in horror as ethan moves over to you and give you a deep kiss to which you smile when you pull back. “Its better than i could have imagined.”

You had always fallen into the shadows with your other sisters, Sam obviously had a mass amount of attention due to the Woodsboro attack, you would watch as people would come up and talk to her and scroll through hundreds of social media posts about her. 

You cant forget about tara. Who could? she wasnt internet popular like sam was but she was definitely popular amongst the people you knew. Everyone liked tara, of course they did she was funny and super pretty, basically everyone you knew has or had some sort of crush on her at some point and time like wes, amber, even chad. 

Then there was you. Tara’s twin sister. Nobody ever remembered you, there was sam, tara and, the other sister. You were fine with it at first but over time you grew to hate it, and hate them. Nobody ever seemed to notice you or even paid attention to you, not until him. 

You met Ethan early into your time at Blackmore University. You sat next to him during econ. You could see him stare at you out of the corner of your eye which got you thinking. When you turned to him with sweet eyes and sweetly asking if you could borrow a pen he melted and stuttered before giving you a pen and you gave him a sickly sweet smile to which he looked down and meekly smiled, he was so shy and sweet. He was perfect, exactly what you needed.

You two quickly became friends and soon enough started dating. When you two started dating your friends were happy for you, it was an easy transition since ethan was already friends with chad since they were roommates so he easily made his was into the friend group.

Ethan was quick to follow along with you. He had a troubled home life, never being shown any sort of love and affection as a kid and when he met you who showed him what it felt like to be loved it was easy to get him to do anything you watched him to just do he could please you.

You quickly learned ethan had very…. violent tendencies. He was more than eager to dawn the ghostface mask and begin to brutally, yes brutally kill the people he once called his friends. Anika, mindy, chad. It was easy to him, once he found out you hated them he began to hate them too. 

He was the perfect partner, doing all the heavy lifting because he didn't want you to hurt yourself which made you smile. 

You didn't truly like him. did you? you did. you found yourself having a warm feeling in your chest whenever he smiled at you, you would find yourself smiling and laughing after hearing his contagious laugh. it was dangerous. you never intended to actually begin to love him like he loved you when it got closer and closer to the time where you would end this you grew more and more upset. You hated it.

Before your sisters had even arrived, you had given ethan a big long hug, one he did not reject. He squeezes you tight like he always did as you bury your face in his neck, taking him in.”i love you ethan.” you can feel him laugh. “I love you too baby.” You pull back and kiss him deeply, he hums into the kiss and smiles, “i cant wait to celebrate with you afterwards.” You almost frown but nod your head leading him to give you a toothy grin.  

Sam watches in horror as ethan brutally stabs tara over and over infront of her, tears running down her face while shes sceaming for him to stop. Looking over at you her face grows angry, “Why are you doing this y/n please stop this.” 

You scoff youre growing more and more annoyed, “oh shut up itll be your turn soon.”

Ethan seems to be done having his fun with tara and he stands up turns back to you with a smile. “Fuck it felt good to kill her.” 

You barely take a glance at her dead body bleeding out with what must be twenty stab wound all over her. You smile and laugh at her empty and soulless eyes as sam hysterically continues to scream and cry.

Ethan turns to her and rolls his eyes, “god shut up.”

He turns back to you and smiles, “Your turn.”

You had told him he could deal with tara, he had his own aggression towards tara since she was always the one to pick on him so he wanted to be the one to kill her while you got to take care of sam. 

You give him your own smile and walk over to wear sam is sitting tied up and kick her in the stomach.

“You wanna know why im doing all this? why ive taken everything from you?” You run your knife along her cheek barely caring if she was actually listening to you over her tears. 

���because you took everything from ME.” you slash her arm and she cries out looking at you, “what are you talking about?” 

You scoff, “Its always been, oh sam and tara oh sam and tara but what about me! i have always been left behind, forgotten, left for last. Even my own friends i had made nyself chose you guys over me and im sick of it!” Another cut hits her along her stomach and she cries out in pain again. “once i slit your throat and watch you bleed out the news will think it was your fault, you went crazy and killed your best friends. But who will live to tell the tale y/n? im sure youre wondering. Me.”

Ethan thinks nothing if your words, glaring at sam as you make your way towards him and wipe a piece of dried blood off his cheek leading him to smile at you. Your hands shake and the grip you have on your knife grows tighter, “i have always lived in your shadow. in her shadow.” you point your knife now turned towards her dead body, “its my turn to be in the limelight and it would finally be my turn.”

You admire ethan for a moment, your eye's almost water as you stare at him, “and i cant share it. with anyone.”

The knife plunges into the side of his neck and his eyes widen as he stumbles back falling to the floor, blood pours out of his mouth and you move to stand above him.

“im sorry.” you crouch down and run your thumb along his cheek, he struggles below you, grabbing your elbows and staring at you with confused eyes which water. 

“im sorry baby, but i cant share my fame with anyone not even you. Im sorry.” 

You continue to watch and a tear falls down your cheek at his painful face, “i love you, I really do baby. forgive me.” 

With the last of his strength he reaches his hand up and cups your cheek, wiping the tear off your face before his hand falls and the light draining from his eyes. 

You frown, he was taking care of you and he did it until the very end. You rub your sleeves on your eyes wiping away any tears you had and stand up. Theres no time to mourn now. You had a job to do.

You turn over to sam, a new agression filling you body as you stalk over to sam. the knife covered in ethans blood tight in your hand.

It was her fault, everything was her fault none of this would have had to happen if it werent for her.

You lift the knife high and stare down at her ignoring any words she was saying or the tears running down his face as you slammed the knife down, hard, over and over and over and over and over. 

Admiring your handy work you check her pulse, feeling nothing you smile. it was over. but you cant celebrate yet, you make your way over to ethan trying not to look at his bloody face as you rip the ghostface suit off his body and throwing it into one of the empty trashcans and setting it on fire. 

You rushed around, you know somebody had called the police so you had to hurry, taking off your own outfit and putting it onto sams body, you had untied her and put the knives near her but not before stabbing yourself twice, “fuck” it hurt of course it did. it did make you smile, knowing that you were the one that caused sam to feel what you just felt but much worse.

You painfully drag sams body closer to where ethan was and take a minute to take a breath. 

You mess up your hair and slice at your arms leaving a couple of times hissing each time.

You can hear police sirens outside so falling to your knees and lay down on the ground, facing ethan. you smile, knowing he would be happy you had succeeded. 

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Biden should support the UAW

On September 22, I'm (virtually) presenting at the DIG Festival in Modena, Italy. That night, I'll be in person at LA's Book Soup for the launch of Justin C Key's "The World Wasn’t Ready for You." On September 27, I'll be at Chevalier's Books in Los Angeles with Brian Merchant for a joint launch for my new book The Internet Con and his new book, Blood in the Machine.

The UAW are on strike against the Big Three automakers. Biden should be roaring his full-throated support for the strike. Doing so would be both just and shrewd. But instead, the White House is waffling…and if recent history is any indication, they might actually come out against the strike.

The Biden administration is a mix of appointees from the party's left Sanders/Warren wing, and the corporatist, "Third Way" wing associated with Clinton and Obama, which has been ascendant since the Reagan years. The neoliberal wing presided over NAFTA, the foreclosure crisis, charter schools and the bailout for the bankers – but not the people. They voted for the war in Iraq, supported NSA mass-surveillance, failed to use their majorities to codify abortion rights, and waved through mega-merger after mega-merger.

By contrast, the left wing of the party has consistently fought monopoly, war, spying, privatized education and elite impunity – but forever in the shadow of the triangulation wing, who hate the left far more than they hate Republicans. But with the Sanders campaign, the party's left became a force that the party could no longer ignore.

That led to the Biden administration's chimeric approach to key personnel. On the one hand, you have key positions being filled by ghouls who cheered on mass foreclosures under Obama:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/03/06/personnel-are-policy/#janice-eberly

And on the other, you have shrewd tacticians who are revolutionizing labor law enforcement in America, delivering real, material benefits for American workers:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/06/goons-ginks-and-company-finks/#if-blood-be-the-price-of-your-cursed-wealth

Progressives in the Biden administration have often delivered the goods, but they're all-too-often hamstrung by the corporate cheerleaders the party's right wing secured – think of Lina Khan losing her bid to block the Microsoft/Activision merger thanks to a Biden-appointed, big-money-loving judge:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/14/making-good-trouble/#the-peoples-champion

These self-immolating own-goals are especially visible when it comes to strikes. The Biden admin intervened to clobber railway workers, who were fighting some of the country's cruelest, most reckless monopolists, whose greed threatens the nation:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/11/dinah-wont-you-blow/#ecp

The White House didn't have the power to block the Teamsters threat of an historic strike against UPS, but it publicly sided with UPS bosses, fretting about "the economy" while the workers were trying to win a living wage and air conditioning for the roasting ovens they spend all day in.

Now, with the UAW on strike against the monopolistic auto-makers – who received repeated billions in public funds, gave their top execs massive raises, shipped jobs offshore, and used public money to lobby against transit and decarbonization – Biden is sitting on the sidelines, failing to champion the workers' cause.

Writing in his newsletter, labor reporter Hamilton Nolan makes the case that the White House should – must! – stand behind the autoworkers:

https://www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/whose-fault-is-it?

Nolan points out that workers who strike without the support of the government have historically lost their battles. When workers win labor fights, it's typically by first winning political ones, dragging the government to the table to back them. Biden's failure to support workers isn't "neutral" – it's siding with the bosses.

Today, union support is at historic highs not seen in generations. The hot labor summer wasn't a moment, it was a turning point. Backing labor isn't just the moral thing to do, it's also the right political move:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/14/prop-22-never-again/#norms-code-laws-markets

Biden is already partway there. He rejected the Clinton/Obama position that workers would have to vote for Democrats because "we are your only choice." Maybe he did that out of personal conviction, but it's also no longer politically possible for Democrats to turn out worker votes while screwing over workers.

The faux-populism of the Republicans' Trump wing has killed that strategy. As Naomi Klein writes in her new book Doppelganger, Steve Bannon's tactical genius is to zero in on the areas where Democrats have failed key blocks and offer faux-populist promises to deliver for those voters:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/05/not-that-naomi/#if-the-naomi-be-klein-youre-doing-just-fine

When Democrats fail to bat for workers, they don't just lose worker votes – they send voters to the Republicans. As Nolan writes, "working people know that the class war is real. They are living it. Make the Democratic Party the party that is theirs! Stop equivocating! Draw a line in the sand and stand on the right side of it and make that your message!"

The GOP and Democrats are "sorting themselves around the issue of inequality, because inequality is the issue that defines our time, and that fuels all the other issues that people perceive as a decline in the quality of their own lives." If the Democrats have a future, they need to be on the right side of that issue.

Biden should have allowed a railroad strike. He should have cheered the Teamsters. He should be on the side of the autoworkers. These aren't "isolated squabbles," they're "critical battles in the larger class war." Every union victory transfers funds from the ruling class to the working class, and erodes the power of the wealthy to corrupt our politics.

When Democrats have held legislative majorities, they've refused to use them to strengthen labor law to address inequality and the corruption it engenders. Striking workers are achieving the gains that Democrats couldn't or wouldn't take for themselves. As Nolan writes:

Democratic politicians should be sending the unions thank you notes when they undertake these hard strikes, because the unions are doing the work that the Democrats have failed to accomplish with legislation for the past half fucking century. Say thank you! Say you support the workers! They are striking because the one party that was responsible for ensuring that the rich didn’t take all the money away from the middle class has thoroughly and completely failed to do so.

Republican's can't win elections by fighting on the class war. Democrats should acknowledge that this is the defining issue of our day and lean into it.

Whose fault is a strike at the railroads, or at UPS, or in Hollywood, or at the auto companies? It is the fault of the greedy fuckers who took all the workers’ money for years and years. It is the fault of the executives and investors and corporate boards that treated the people who do the work like shit. When the workers, at great personal risk, strike to take back a measure of what is theirs, they are the right side. There is no winning the class war without accepting this premise.

Autoworkers' strikes have been rare for a half-century, but in their heyday, they Got Shit Done. Writing in The American Prospect, Harold Meyerson tells the tale of the 1945/46 GM strike:

https://prospect.org/labor/2023-09-18-uaw-strikes-built-american-middle-class/

In that strike, the UAW made history: they didn't just demand higher wages for workers, but they also demanded that GM finance these wages with lower profits, not higher prices. This demand was so popular that Harry Truman – hardly a socialist! – stepped in and demanded that GM turn over its books so he could determine whether they could afford to pay a living wage without hiking prices.

Truman released the figures proving that higher wages didn't have to come with higher prices. GM caved. Workers got their raise. Truman touched the "third rail of American capitalism" – co-determination, the idea that workers should have a say in how their employers ran their businesses.

Co-determination is common in other countries – notably Germany – but American capitalists are violently allergic to the idea. The GM strike of 45/6 didn't lead to co-determination, but it did effectively create the American middle-class. The UAW's contract included cost-of-living allowances, wage hikes that tracked gains in national productivity, health care and a defined-benefits pension.

These provisions were quickly replicated in contracts with other automakers, and then across the entire manufacturing sector. Non-union employers were pressured to match them in order to attract talent. The UAW strike of 45/6 set in motion the entire period of postwar prosperity.

As Meyerson points out, today's press coverage of the UAW strike of 2023 is full of hand-wringing about what a work-stoppage will do to the economy. This is short-sighted indeed: when the UAW prevails against the automakers, they will rescue both the economy and the Democratic party from the neo-feudal Gilded Age the country's ultrawealthy are creating around us:

https://doctorow.medium.com/the-end-of-the-road-to-serfdom-bfad6f3b35a9?sk=207d6afdb89b0351b92233cc3318ab94

There's a name for a political strategy that seeks to win votes by making voters' lives better – it's called "deliverism." It's the one thing the Trump Republican's won't and can't do – they can talk about bringing back jobs or making life better for American workers, but all they can deliver is cruelty to disfavored minorities and tax-breaks for the ultra-rich:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/10/thanks-obama/#triangulation

Deliverism is how the Democrats can win the commanding majorities to deliver the major transformations America and the world need to address the climate emergency and dismantle our new oligarchy. Letting the party's right wing dominate turns the Democrats into caffeine-free Republicans.

When the Dems allowed the Child Tax Credit to lapse – because Joe Manchin insisted that poor people would spend the money on drugs – they killed a program that had done more to lift Americans out of poverty than anything else. Today, American poverty is skyrocketing:

https://thehill.com/opinion/finance/4206837-poverty-made-an-alarming-jump-congress-could-have-stopped-it/

Four million children have fallen back into poverty since the Dems allowed the Child Tax Credit to lapse. The rate of child poverty in America has doubled over the past year.

The triangulators on the party's right insist that they are the adults in the room, realists who don't let sentiment interfere with good politics. They're lying. You don't get working parents to vote Democrat by letting their children starve.

America's workers can defeat its oligarchs. They did it before. Biden says he's a union man. It's time for him to prove it. He should be on TV every night, pounding a podium and demanding that the Big Three give in to their workers. If he doesn't, he's handing the country to Trump.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/18/co-determination/#now-make-me-do-it

[sleepdeprivedsimp234]

Soooooo— Gov spawning into existence as a girl and not liking his body :<

Cue him binding his chest with bandages and cutting his hair in order to feel more masculine

And like- what if Mass (who transitioned before the Revolution) walks in on him and Gov thinks that he’s gonna get in trouble, but is pleasantly surprised when Mass actually helps him bind properly, gets Jersey to fix his hair properly, and gives him tips on how to feel more masculine :]

[messrsrarchives]

hey robyn :)

No need to respond to this if the topic is too much to deal with right now, but I've just (as I periodically do) checked jkr's twitter to keep an eye on what fresh horrors she'd inflicting and be informed of how to counteract that through petitions/ donations to trans charities etc...

and I've just seen a thread she's reposted from "SEEN in publishing" suggesting that in the wake of this indefinite puberty blocker ban, books depicting transition and/or puberty blockers and hormones ought to literally be banned. Right. Now she's advocating book bans. (As if the christian right-wing haven't been itching to do the same to her for depicting 'witchcraft' for years).

As abhorrent as this already is, it also got me thinking about the future of fanfiction. Because, although she seems most concerned about kids literature, a lot of young people (and sometimes kids) read fanfiction. And a lot of fanfiction is explicitly queer/trans, particularly in the Marauders fandom.

Although we're perhaps too large a group for her to touch, she's one of the richest authors out there, and also one of the richest people on the planet. If anyone could slam AO3 and fanfic authors with copyright violations etc, it would be her. And to be honest, I've almost stopped being shocked at the depths she will go to, so frankly, at this point I wouldn't be surprised if she came for fanfiction.

I suppose I don't even really have much of a question to ask, but perhaps just if you had any thoughts on the future of fanfiction and this community, and whether we should prepare for her wrath to turn on us.

best wishes for these troubling times,

a friend x

the puberty blocker thing is,,, hard. it's really not often i find a topic i struggle to speak on but. it's fucking difficult. i don't want to whine too much but it really is getting harder and harder. i'll speak on it at some point (because i want to, not because this feels pressuring just to clarify <3) but not just yet so onto the rest of it !

i've looked at the thread and it's just so fucking ironic. harry potter is THE most banned book in america. her books under robert galbraith are disgusting (see here) and it's all just so ironic and so hateful. and so unsurprising.

in terms of fanfiction though,,, i think fanspaces are more at risk and a distinction is needed.

because these spaces are at risk. we will most likely see a backlash against fanfiction sites as this presidency goes forward and the rest of the world follows, mass censorship of LGBTQ+ themes online etc. fanfiction however? fanfiction existed long before the internet and will continue to - we'll always create art. no one can stop the creation of it (just like banning PB isn't going to stop trans people getting them, it'll just be more covert)

but also,,, i think the future of fanfiction AND fanspaces is an issue from both sides, which some people won't like me saying but,,, if fanspaces get attacked, it's the fault of fandoms too. those selling binds, those bringing fandoms to random comment sections (i'm thinking for example ben barnes' comment sections but also random men online getting spammed with james potter comments), the negativity etc etc - fandom is only legal as long it's free, but it's also only safe so long as it's,,,, safe? you know? and i think the more legal issues we run into, the more likely we are to get targetted. and the more hateful it is, the more likely too. we're not as covert as we used to be especially in the hp fandom

and i think we've done a very poor job recently. i say we as a collective but it's not everyone - it's also not a select few, because i could rant for hours about fanfilms but it's also the people blindingly engaging with them and spending €50 on an script that isn't the fanfilms IP (and yes some people simply arent aware but far too many who are aware were involved in TMP script sellings)

i'm losing my train of thought but,,, i think we do absolutely have to think about what happens if these spaces are shut down, but we'll find new ones. we just all need to do a bit better i think, because this is a double-edge sword. but i can 100% see her coming for fanfiction next.

but yah ! potentially more coherent thoughts to follow later and this is your daily reminder that JKR is a despicable human being with a lot of power.

and also a reminder to hold your trans friends a little tighter right now. they need it 🫂

switchboard - national lgbtq+ helpline - for those that need it right now and those that are in a position to donate <3

[thelongestway]

One or two chapters more left after this. My heart goes out to all the authors that have to write endings. Ye gods the fucking things are intricate.

And long enough to give tumblr trouble posting it, apparently! Needed to edit so it would let me - let me know if the thing cuts off mid-sentence or something!

Also, take note that the cw: suicide mention stands.

With those hurdles cleared, though, I present...

Chapter 13: Friends

Dandelion regarded me for a long 3,5 seconds, and that made my threat assessment spike, so I checked to see that no one was doing anything stupid in the feed (they weren't). And all the humans in the sector had done the smart thing (gotten the hell out of our way). And the Friend was securely sedated. There wasn't anything that could possibly be taking her so long to process, so I asked, Are you crashing?

The voice she produced was carefully neutral. No. I'd just like some additional context to answer that question properly.

I gave her a cautiously affirmative ping.

She said, Do I understand correctly that you were custom made for your function? And everything irrelevant to it was a later development?

No, I was mass produced for my function. Also, what the fuck does that have to do with anything.

Let me try that again. When we first met, you attempted to copy my media archive immediately upon connection. May I ask why?

Yeah, and fuck you for your "a malware scan will be wholly sufficient, security consultant SecUnit." Again, what the fuck does that have to do with anything.

She gave the bot equivalent of a sigh.

SecUnit, I am trying to understand whether I need to explain the specific customs we have around Movie Night, or whether you have simply never seen a movie in your life, instruction videos notwithstanding.

This time I was the one who needed entire seconds to process. In the end, I just threw a directory listing of my own archives into our feed.

And that's not counting all the crap I deleted over the last 42 000 hours!

Dandelion hummed appreciatively as she skimmed the list.

I stand corrected.

Why exactly did you think I was downloading your media archive?

Iceblink and I thought you were looking for records to analyze. She briefly considered letting you believe we were all Zeelites, but we decided in favor of caution.

And that was the exact moment Indah decided to tap Dandelion's feed in order to send her a route map. Dandelion pinged me to assess the route, then patched the audio transmission through.

"Senior Medical Officer Dandelion of the Dandelion Tenacious, you and your patient are clear to proceed to the Merchant Docking ring embarkation hall via the indicated route." Indah's voice sounded like she was instructing a particularly stupid bot that it was supposed to dock at the cargo ring, not the public ring. "All civilians have been cleared from the area, and the last security personnel are withdrawing now. Be advised that transition from ring to ring will require an authentication procedure which must be initiated by your security escort."

The route Indah suggested was as direct as possible, and bad for any kind of traps. Preservation Alliance was letting them go.

I informed Dandelion, and her performance reliability wobbled, then stabilized a little higher than it had previously been.

"Acknowledged, Senior Station Security Officer Indah, and thank you for your help. We will be at the Merchant Docks shortly."

Normally Indah would close the channel at this point. Instead, she said in the same bored tone, "By way of thanks, would you mind answering a few questions for me while you walk?"

Ah. I see we are at the part where your security decides what to charge me with. Dandelion said in our private channel. Then she responded to Indah, just as dryly: "Answering security questions without legal counsel is generally considered unwise. I'm afraid I must decline."

"That's fair," Indah allowed. "You're not under any standing obligation to respond, if you were wondering. Off the record--I just find myself curious whether you could tell me any more details about a certain humanitarian-cum-terrorist organization best known for ignoring the law entirely in favor of what it considers moral. Especially seeing as it's supposedly been defunct since the early days of the Rim. Crossed one too many corporate lines back in the day."

Dandelion's processing activity spiked. She didn't add Indah as a separate threat parameter, but she was certainly paying attention now. And talking. Which she had acknowledged was stupid a second ago.

"You are remarkably well-informed about a long-defunct fringe organisation."

Indah chuckled.

"Not too many people in Preservation Alliance are interested in the very niche subject of terrorism history. Between you and me, Senior Medical Officer, it was extremely gratifying to have one up on some of the snobbier historians around Preservation. I am surprised to see a doctor recognizing such a relic from the bygone past, though."

"Do you know what a Lyson project is, Senior Security Officer?"

"I'm afraid not."

"It's the medical procedure used to create the Friends, a kind of brain-altering surgery. Abuse of the Lyson procedure had been prominent enough on pre-Javelin Earth to be banned entirely save for certain exceptions, screening for which took years at the minimum. The Friends used to be the best known such exception, but they were born of a time most people knew these things were possible.

"Once I would have said any doctor worth her salt should have recognized that brain scan, but it is becoming more and more apparent to me that a great number of things were lost or fragmented with the corporate expansion. Despite their excellence otherwise, your medical databases do not have anything listed under the Lyson name. I suspect once the procedure was no longer common knowledge, the surviving Friends took great pains to keep it that way."

"I see. Senior Medical Officer Dandelion, in your opinion, should I be worried about seeing more Lyson projects in the wild from now on?"

"Not from the Trellians, Senior Security Officer Indah. There had been six Public Universal Friends on our founding Javelin. Only one Friend made it to the node ship era, and it died 165 years ago. There is no one remaining who would carry out the induction procedure."

"But there is one doctor who would risk a great deal to stop someone else from reversing it. I would very much like to know why."

Dandelion was silent as we walked through the empty corridors, lit only by emergency lighting, and silent as I entered the codes which would let us into the Merchant Docks, and silent as the codes came back green and the lift took us to the embarkation floor. I could feel Senior Indah's presence lingering in the feed. She was patient. I hoped she knew what she was doing.

Dandelion spoke up only when the doors to the embarkation floor opened, and there were no serious physical obstacles remaining between us and the Tenacious' docking bay.

"By now, you should have Senior Engineer Haze's story."

"I do. But it is something of a second hand testament. I'd like the tale straight from the horse's mouth, as it were."

"Before I give you any details, I would like to know whether this case will be a matter of public record. Not for the sake of my own privacy, but because a second era of unchecked Lyson projects is a horrifying prospect."

"I'm glad we agree on that, Senior Medical Officer."

Senior Indah sent Dandelion several documents, and she quickly scanned them. Her performance reliability was rising steadily, and my threat assessment rose at nearly the same rate. Then she marked one form with a signature and sent it back to Indah.

"Very well, Senior Security Officer. I confirm that I had once been an initiated member of the Public Universal Friends, and later a victim of the very same reversal procedure Dr. Mrinal of the Preservation Alliance attempted to initiate on the Friend currently in my care. I wish to testify that the reversal had very nearly killed me, and that I could not in good conscience allow someone else to suffer the same."

"'Very nearly' does play a role here, Dr. Tenacious. According to Dr. Ratthi's report, you seemed very certain the procedure would, in fact, kill the patient. Yet you appear to be very much alive. Why is that?"

Dandelion's performance reliability stabilized at around 80%, oscillating with a magnitude of approximately 5%. Considering how many emotions she was having in the background, this wasn't bad. And the wobbling seemed like a good thing. I never wanted to see that number go above 98% again.

"Because I had friends, Senior Security Officer. Friends, who had forcefully removed me from medical confinement and who were my lifeline as I recovered the sense of self gutted by the procedure." Dandelion's voice became very hard. "I want to make it absolutely clear, Senior Indah, that it wasn't the operation to turn me into a Friend which destroyed who I was. It was the reversal, carried out without either my knowledge or my consent."

"Noted," Senior Indah said seriously. "Please continue."

"The doctors took me as I slept, and I woke up a different person. When I told them I had not wanted the procedure, they said it had been for my own good and that I was simply being a difficult patient. I had little recourse to demonstrate how wrong they had been, so I attempted suicide by starvation. If not for my friends, I would have succeeded."

Dandelion waited for acknowledgement of what she had said, then continued: "The Friend in my care was running a solitary operation. It has no one. Were the reversal procedure undertaken successfully, I am certain it would have killed itself once left to its own devices."

She was wrong. That Friend wasn't a doctor. It was a security officer. It wouldn't have destroyed itself in order to make a point. It would have tried to nullify the ongoing threat to others like itself.

I threw my analysis into our work space and pinged Dandelion to let it through to Indah. She complied without even scanning it.

Indah took some time to read through, then said:

"Senior Medical Officer Dandelion of the Dandelion Tenacious, are you making a formal charge of criminal negligence against Dr. Mrinal?"

"I am not. Much like the doctors who did it to me, Dr. Mrinal had never seen a Lyson project before, and acted on their understanding to the best of their ability. But regardless of their intent, and of whether or not I had the legal right to intervene, I could not let them go through with it, costs be damned."

"Thank you for your testimony, Dr. Tenacious. You have been very helpful. I will relay this information to Preservation Alliance leadership, and I will come back to you with their response."

Dandelion acknowledged the message and closed the connection. We proceeded.

Once we sighted the Tenacious' walkway, flanked by a delegation of both Preservation and Trellian humans, Dandelion suddenly tapped my feed. Her performance reliability oscillation had gone from sharp spikes to much smoother waves, and she sounded a lot calmer.

To answer your question, SecUnit, Movie Night is a custom that's even older than the node ships. Once a week, a crew member chooses media that they like, and everyone who wants to experiences it together. Movie Nights are far from mandatory--the node ships have grown much too large for that, and most have several stable movie night groups anyway--but they are usually a well-attended event. Sharing their favorite stories lets people grow closer.

For some reason I was imagining Mensah, Ratthi, Pin Lee, Arada, Overse, Bharadwaj, Volescu and weirdly even Gurathin all sitting on board ART and choosing a show. That would never have worked. ART would be an asshole like it always is, so any show would just get replaced by Worldhoppers the moment the humans lost focus.

How do you decide who gets to choose? Do you get a turn?

We draw straws, then keep the order going. New crew are added after the latest round ends, Dandelion focused her cameras on Captain Reed's gaunt face. And yes, normally I do. But not any time soon, I think.

[star-stages]

Now I'm quite curious as well :) Do you have a top 10 list of favorite AoStH episodes? ✨

Hi hi hi, gotta love these AoStH discussions xD unsurprisingly we have almost the same favorites✨️

1. Tails in Charge

2. Tails Prevails

3. Trail of the Missing Tails

4. Tails's Tale

5. Tails New Home

6. Sonic Breakout

7. High Stakes Sonic

8. Lifestyles of the Sick and Twisted

9. Mass Transit Trouble

10. Spaceman Sonic

Other faves: Mobius 5000, Fast and Easy (this one has my favorite Sonic Sez) Momma Robotnik returns, Sonic Gets Thrashed, The Magic Hassle, Robotnikland, Road Hog, and Sno Problem and full tilt tails

[donnerpartyofone]

Various people and their parents:

Yesterday we went to church between neighborhood errands. I'm always interested in, and a little unsettled by the appearances of teenagers there; kids who are starting to come under the influence of their changing bodies, and who are starting to discover their individual identities in ways related to the body and not, standing next to their parents to participate in a submission ritual heavily marked by the words "mother" and "father". One kid is handsome and unctuous, and everything about him--his posture, his nervous energy, his haunted stare--says I'D RATHER BE MASTURBATING. Another tall, lanky boy sits with his hips and shoulders touching his mother's; he caresses her and whispers to her continuously throughout the mass. His father sits a foot or two away and shoots his wife a sharp look when their son gets up and disappears. Bathroom, she mouths. Masturbating, his eyes seem to reply.

Today many people are on mass transit with their parents. On the train an attractive, affluent woman in her 30s explained to her sister and mother that she found out in the middle of pilates class that her friend's 13 year old chihuahua had died. Then the sister explained that she had been named godmother of her friend's cat. I guess the friend must be dying because the mom said "So you might wind up owning the cat!" but the daughter said, "Ugh, it's not like that. I'm just providing moral guidance to the cat." Then on the ferry a woman expounded in great detail on her troubled relationship with her ex-husband to her traveling companion, their adult son. I kept wondering, Does he appreciate this? Is this at all welcome?

I started the day reading an article about this woman whose 70-year old mother decided to have an assisted suicide in Switzerland for no other reason than that she felt like it. Part of the byline indicated that it was really evil of her not to stay alive for her adult children. I always think that's kind of fucked up; if someone kills themselves you should assume that they were experiencing a kind of pain that you, a non-suicidal person, could not imagine. After someone is dead many people are comfortable saying "That was so selfish, how could they inflict this misery on US?", but I bet a lot of them would not have had the nerve to say to the pre-suicidal person "You should continue to bear your literally unbearable pain so that I can go on with my untroubled existence." But then I read the rest of the article and it really clearly described a narcissistic psychopath who had been habitually abandoning her loved ones and dependents all along. So, shows what I know!

[cuprohastes]

The Trouble with Pebbles

Part the One-th.

The Tsin say Spite is a poison that hollows bones. The Atrix say Spite leaves no winners. Humans say "All things are possible through spite" and then printed it on a coffee cup, which is why everyone worries about humans.

"Then Again, 43 did walk into a hard vacuum and rescue Garf when everyone knows that's impossible, and I supposed that's what they might mean," said Dave The Human, official human and female-ish alien pangolin-mouse thing.

She was looking at the coffee mug in Question.

Raxy was also looking at the cup, and having put on some mass and developed the biology for it said, "I was there. Actually, it was me who went and got him. And I'm fairly sure she did it because… reality annoyed her."

Garf, paused while putting a new jumper on Un-Named. "… 43 is a her?"

Everyone paused to try and recall what 43 looked like.

"… Are you sure?" Dave said after another moment.

"No." said Raxy. "But uh, 43 is definitely my favourite aunty," they said.

To Atrix, anyone who wasn't your offspring, or partner (ex or otherwise), was an Aunty. They have twenty-three words for Aunty, ranging from one's most precious and delightful Aunt, to something that has the connotations of 'Oh. You. I'm obligated not to stab you, and that's as far as I'll go.' - Atrix is a fun language.

"I find it hard to tell them apart." Admitted Raxy, whose eyesight had only been good up to about two metres until recently.

Dave pawed at her muzzle. "Best advice, play dumb, or wait until they tell you or a couple of other humans refer to them enough times you can be sure. Sometimes even they don't know. Human gender is hard, Raxy."

Garfield "Garf" flickered an agreement and Un-Named Male said "Graak."

Raxy, in the transitional phase from Little Guy to Big Adult squinted at their tablet. "I thought they only had two genders."

Everyone took a moment to avoid looking at each other, and play non-committal face patterns or whootle a little ditty.

Dave, who had a degree in Humans said "OK so that's… not quite right? They have two common biological gender categories, a set of less common ones, and each category is sort of sub-divided into subsets, which have their own subsets. It's insanely complex." she said.

Tsin have four main genders, one of which can swap, a base family unity of four to eight individuals, and extended families that you have to be Phillipino to properly appreciate… and they took a long look at Humans, threw up both sets of hands and declared that the whole shebang was beyond them.

Meanwhile, the Atrix have one gender, and reproduction so external that Atrix parents can be absent for both the conception and birth of their offspring, and any pretence to Male or Female is purely a convenience for other species.

Which is to say Raxy was a little lost.

"So…" they said. "43 is…?"

Everyone took a moment until: "Grak." said Un-Named and Garf and Dave relaxed. "Yes! Ok, that is entirely correct, and definitive, and answers every question one might have about 43." Dave said. Raxy made a note.

"And Dave the Human - female?"

"No." said Garf flatly.

"Eh. Officially, male. Same as me." said Dave. "But they're still OK to be an Aunty. They're a good sort." she said eying the coffee cup.

"Practically Atrix." agreed Garf.

Meanwhile…

Dave the Human was sitting on a grassy log hiding from the lights down in the Atrix section of the station, discussing edible moss with Gondy.

Gondy who was recovering nicely from almost getting freeze-dried alive was still taking it easy. After several months of treatment, her eye was back to normal and there were hardly any scars. It'd taken 43 about two weeks to recover fully, and then he'd fussed over Gondy like she was the one who walked into space wearing only a paper gown and rescued him.

Dave was wearing a full copper tinted faceplate and a soft light jumpsuit under some specially made Atrix Coveralls that had been gifted to him. The jumpsuit, faceplate, hood and gloves prevented the UV in the Atrix lighting from causing damage.

Around thier feet, in the purple moss, skittered some junior Atrix, hatched within the last year or two, peeking out and chasing each other, watched over by the elder small adults - The ones about the size of Un-Named male, of about ten to twenty years old.

Several transitional Atrix - Smaller than Gondy, a little larger than Raxy were gardening. And since this was the Atrix deck and they weren't at work, like Gondy they were naked, which Dave privately considered a poor choice.

Then again Dave was a fan of pockets and disliked any state of dress where one couldn't comfortably stash a tablet, pen, snack, a string of Glowbs, and two multitools.

Gondy stuck her hand into some moss and pulled out a little junior Atrix, who immediately went limp, causing a couple of fatherly heads to pop out and watch her.

Atrix are communal child raisers. Atrix sub-adults sleep in little burrows under the moss that they blend in with, and when they're old enough they watch the younger generation until they develop enough to want to pair up with the more mobile large adults.

Gondy casually blinked colours at the youngster, who blinked back, while she talked: Atrix babytalk.

"It's an unusual cultivar. We had real trouble propagating them until they got popular on Earth. But now they're a lot hardier… but they're stronger-tasting. It's caused a bit of a shift in cooking recently. We've been trying some homeworld variants on curries." Gondy said.

The Junior scurried off of Gondy's lap, up to Dave who peered down at it and tossed it into the central water feature.

Dave gave a nod. "Yeah… we don't have many edible mosses but now you can hardly get a salad without powdered Grak on. And frankly, now Ranch comes with Graaak, who'd want it without?" he said casually, "As for the stuff you guys think of as a major weed… we can't get enough of it. It's the third biggest supplier of dietary fibre and vitamins for most ships and colonies."

Gondy flashed an amused expression, because the stuff was considered unpalatable and faintly poisonous to Atrix. And the humans had shown up with salad forks and a hungry look, and now it was a staple anywhere you could stick a UV bulb and a strip of substrate… wet paper would do it.

The soaking-wet little junior scrambled up onto Dave's leg and bounced excitedly, so he threw it again.

"Anyway, I've been seeing a few dry patches in my planters but I'm sure they're getting enough UV while I'm on shift… any ideas?" Gondy however didn't reply.

Dave peered and tried to decipher her colour patch then looked down to see a small adult holding an attractive rock out to him. "Oh. Oh dear." he said.

"Yes," said Gondy, "Awkward…"

And that meant...

O'Patel and Big Ma had to get involved.

They shared an office, which suited them both fine.

While technically co-administrators, they'd long ago worked out that neither of them wanted to play dominance games life was too short for office politics, and Big Ma, whose human name was: "Don't-Make-Me-Come-Down-There" had determined that the dark-skinned Irish administrator was both affable and competent, had settled in to nest comfortably with a desk and thirteen varieties of office plant, on one side of the office.

O'Patel had determined that Big Ma's subtle sense of humor and technical acumen was second to none, and that he'd rather have her on his side more than any five people he could think of, had promptly followed suit.

He had an aquarium, a cage of rats and a near constant floating video conference with a bewildering variety of people whom he bantered with, harangued, wheedled, and kibbitzed with in seven different languages.

Big Ma appreciated that O'Patel dealt with virtually all the people who called in to make themselves feel important, make demands or otherwise tie up Admin's time.

And right now they had the door closed, the windows tinted and the emergency biscuits out.

"Really, he gave Dave a rock?" asked O'Patel.

"A really nice one! I have no idea where he got it, that's some premium pebble. If it wasn't for… you know… he could have gotten anyone with that."

"That good?"

"That good."

"But…?"

"Yes…" said Ma. "Not too long back, he wouldn't have lasted long at all. No colours!"

"Is that… I have to ask, but is that because the condition also causes low survival?"

"No." Said Ma. "It's because we used to just straight up step on hatchlings like that. It was considered too severe to live with. It was a… Mercy." she said and lunged for a biscuit.

O'Patel could read the distress on the colour-changing skin across her forehead and muzzle.

"But we live in kinder times." he said.

"Barely. It's really awkward talking to him - Creepy, and he's usually excluded. No chance of pairing up. Ugh. I feel terrible but I couldn't imagine…" she admitted.

O'Patel could see the shame on her face, in a rippling pattern. "So… kinder but crueller." he sighed. "And so he propositioned Dave. Is there any chance it's some sort of mistake…?"

Ma indicted No, with certainty. "No. he outright stated that if we didn't want him around he'd see if anyone else would. Actually, he said 'Graaaak' - Very blunt but I admit, to the point - but I can't put that down in the report. I mean… I understand he feels strongly but… We can't allow it, can we? Can we?"

O'Patel selected a biscuit and pondered it. He took a bite, chewed thoughtfully and then shared it with the panel of rats who were lined up, watching him intently.

An Atrix little guy with a birth (hatching?) defect that meant he'd never developed the Atrix signature colour-changing display. And he'd more or less asked Dave to be his partner. A bit of an interspecies diplomatic issue to be sure.

The problem was that Dave was very popular with the Atrix crew and despite some highly unusual hijinks and events, had never actually done anything wrong - And O'Patel knew that Dave had a grasp of Atrix culture that was good enough that he'd spent a week as one of them on a technicality.

The technicality was that O'Patel and Ma had their claws out over someone who'd showed up to harass their staff and the aftermath was that while publically, Words Had Been Said, tacitly both the Atrix and the Human governance had been very pleased.

Big Ma had joked that if the humans didn't want Dave, they'd take him and find him a Little Guy - And now a Little Guy had marched up and put in a request.

"You know… You know what Dave will do if he finds out. And our other Dave will back him up."

"It's what I'm afraid of." agreed Ma.

"But what… what if?" Said O'Patel. "What if?"

They both had another biscuit and started to plot.

[infinitegest]

Freshman Dorm (II)

Horny Plot Device University returns!!

“Oh, fuck!”

“Oh yeah, oh yeah, OH…”

…

“Do you want to keep going?”

“Oh, god, yes…”

Quark looked at their phone. “Sorry guys, it’s Noah. Poor little guy probably got lost again.”

The crew waved Quark off, saying to give Noah their best and worst wishes.

“Hey, nerd, what’s up?”

“Hey, uh… can you come over to my dorm? We—I need some help.”

“Uh. I’m with the crew right now, can I talk you through… whatever it is? Also, who’s ‘we’?”

“it’s… um… kind of urgent?”

“What’s wrong?”

“So, uh…”

“You bottled someone,” Quark asked, aiding the scene transition, “in the first week of the semester?”

“You keep saying ‘bottled,’ I don’t know what the hell that means.”

“That was a missed opportunity for a Princess Bride reference right there.”

“Bite me, I’m freaking out. What do we do? What do you mean bottled?”

The two of them were standing in the men’s residence halls, just outside Noah’s dorm. Noah was sitting on the floor, barefoot, shaking, wearing a hastily assembled outfit of a Hawaiian shirt and sweatpants.

“Context, you idiot, it means exactly what you just did.”

“There’s SLANG for this? That’s fucked up!”

“Not as much as you’d think. You have much to learn, my dumb-of-ass sibling. It’s not common, but it’s not exactly rare either. Little freshies get to campus, feel the difference, and get… overenthusiastic. Don’t know when to stop. Like you two just did, apparently. But it usually takes a few weeks, you guys might have broken the record…”

“What do we DO, though? My roommate gets back from work in an hour!”

Quark looked at their anxious little brother. Noah was a good kid, he just didn’t always—what’s a nice way to put this—think, very much. Not with his head.

They took his head in their hands, and said, “Listen to me. Things are going to be fine. You’re not in trouble, at most this is going to be an inconvenience. And, I hope, a learning experience. I’ll go in and talk to her, you go and get some water for both her and you. Stay hydrated, kids.”

Noah took a deep breath, nodded, and pulled away from their hands, heading to the common area.

Quark stepped up to the door of Noah’s room, fine-tuning their “everything is gonna be okay” face, and pushed it open.

Dear god, they did NOT miss these rooms. Just enough space for two beds, two tiny desks, closets, and a mini-fridge, and not much else. Not enough space for a third person, and definitely not enough for a third person who was currently much larger than they had been when they first entered the room.

Much, much larger.

In the bed, Quark saw a sprawled pair of pale, bare legs. They also saw the face of a slender girl, no more than twenty. The girl had a light spray of freckles and wavy ginger hair, pretty, though currently screwed up in obvious distress– tears streaked her cheeks, and she was making quiet, pleading “shh, shh” sounds. Between the legs and the face (along with a slim torso wearing what looked to be one of Noah’s Iron Man shirts) was a bump.

Actually, to call it a bump would be an absolutely absurd understatement. It was easily the size of a yoga ball, perhaps larger, and was very visibly roiling with activity. The girl was stroking the bulging mass, desperately trying to soothe the squirming horde of children Noah had planted inside her.

Quark cautiously, almost reverently, approached. “Hi! You must be Caitlin?”

The girl jumped, as much as she could with what looked to be nearly ninety pounds-worth of babies inside her, drawn out of her distressed reverie. “Oh! H- hi. You must be Noah’s…?”

“Yeah, I’m Quark. Nice to meet you. Tell me how you’re feeling.”

The girl almost laughed. “How I’m feeling? I feel like, fucking, a hundred bucks. Amazing. Fantastic.”

“I know this is kind of scary, but it’s gonna be okay. Trust me.”

Caitlin chuckled darkly, and Quark noticed a slight blush coming to her face. “We were… having a really nice time, you know? It was really good. And I started growing, and we– we kept going, and I grew some more, and it felt good, so we kept going, and…”

“You realized how much you were growing.”

Caitlin nodded, tears welling in her eyes again. “And it was a scary, but it stopped, so we thought ‘Oh, it’s fine,’ but then I realized I couldn’t get up and probably wouldn’t fit through the door, and Noah started freaking out, and I started freaking out, and now I’m stuck under this stupid giant belly and the babies won’t—stop–kicking—!” Caitlin started sobbing, grabbing at her massive stomach, trying to quiet her restless brood.

“Hey, hey,” Quark said, grabbing one of Caitlin’s hands. “I was just telling Noah—this isn’t as crazy as it feels right now. Lots of freshmen don’t know when to stop, and then realize they’re stuck in someone else’s dorm, or their own dorm. Some really dumb cases get stuck in storage closets.” They paused, hoping to at least get a smile from her with that. They didn’t. 

They plunged ahead. “The thing is, it’s okay. Worst case scenario, you end up staying here for a week. You can go to classes digitally, your parents don’t need to find out…”

Caitlin’s sobs eased up a little bit. Good, Quark thought. Keep talking, distract her.

“Do you want to know a secret?”

Caitlin gulped, closing her eyes and dropping her head back against the wall again. “Sure, I guess.”

“The same thing happened to me as a freshman.”

Caitlin’s head snapped to attention. “What?”

“Noah doesn’t know, and I don’t plan on telling him. But yeah, a month into the term, I hooked up with a friend, and we went a little crazy, and I got bottled. Twelve babies, using my belly as a battle royale arena. I was stuck for about a day and a half before they could get me out.”

There it was– a quiet snort, and the slightest hint of a grin from Caitlin. Quark smiled back. “But listen, you’re lucky: I’d guess you’ve only got, say, ten in there, maybe? With a bit of elbow grease (and literal grease), I bet we can get you back to your dorm, or at least to a friend with more space.”

There was a knock at the door, and Noah stepped in with two bottles of water. “Hey…”

Caitlin smiled, weakly. “Hey.”

“Hey, nerd. Stop gawking, yes she’s beautiful, but you’ve got a job to do. Run over to the campus store, they rent out wheelchairs, and see if you can borrow lube or butter from someone along the way. Hop to it, Jeeves,” Quark said, grabbing one of the water bottles and handing it to Caitlin.

Noah saluted, took another lingering glance at Caitlin and her monument of a belly, and closed the door behind him. Then he popped back in. “Can I change my clothes, first?”

“You’re the one who owns a Hawaiian shirt in the first place, dipshit, walking across campus in that is your punishment. In a few months you’re going to be showing up to all your classes in pajamas anyway.”

“Ugh.” Exit Noah.

It was quiet for a moment. Caitlin shifted uncomfortably, pinned down by her crowded belly. “Thanks for telling me your story.”

“Sure. You want to know the crazy part?”

“I’m very nervous to hear the crazy part, but sure?”

“You know how I mentioned the few really dumb cases that get stuck in storage closets?” Quark slowly lifted a finger, pointing at themself.

Caitlin stared for a moment, and then laughed, genuinely laughed… which startled her babies and sent a visible spasm of movement rippling across her massive midriff. 

“HA! … Ohhh… god.”

“Oof, I’m sorry honey. Is it bad?”

“No, no,” she said, “It was just really stressing me out when we were panicking, I guess. It’s fine now, I think.” Caitlin stared at her belly, mesmerized by the moving bodies within her. She slowly pressed deep into one side, and grunted at the chain reaction of kicks and punches. She shivered. “Oh.”

“Yeah?”

“It actually feels really, uhm.” The big-bellied freshman really blushed this time, her pale face turning pink as she slowly flexed her legs to press her bare thighs against the churning sphere. “It feels really. Er.”

“Ah, yeah. Been there, my dude, fuckin’ been there. Do you need a moment?”

“... yes,” Caitlin whispered, her hands sliding around her belly.

“Gotcha. I’ll be just outside.”

Quark left, glancing back just as the door shut. They caught a brief glimpse of Caitlin’s face tilted back, eyes closed, mouth wide in ecstasy, hands moving lower and lower along the great pale curve...

They turned and almost immediately ran into Noah. “Hey, where’s the wheelchair?”

“I got halfway to the store before I realized I forgot my wallet. Is she okay?”

“You can borrow my card. And yeah, I think she’ll be fine. Don’t go in there.”

“What, why not?”

“Because you, young one, must learn control.”

[kakiastro]

Astrology of Doja Cat

Using whole sign

Rising/Chart Ruler

Libra Rising with Chart ruler Venus in Scorpio 2h.

She’s a private person, she knows lots of people but very few people really know her. It may take awhile for her to open up in a vulnerable way. She may constantly be in the spotlight for her fashion choices. We all know she sings and raps which makes sense because Venus rules over music. Music may be healing to her. Also her chart ruler is in the 2h that’s rules the voice and vocal chords. If you listen to any of her music than you’ll know there’s lots of sexual themes but it comes out pretty and smooth because of that Venus 😅

Libra Stellium 1h

(Sun. Mercury, Chiron, North Node)

Sun- this indicates mass fame. Your constantly in the spotlight or people always have their name in your mouth. Now this can be good and bad.

Good because if you’re a creative or businessperson than you can get exposed easier. The sun will always shine on you(1h)

Bad because the sun is always you. Your mistakes is always being highlighted or people want to know every little thing about you and if you’re a private person like Doja; this can be a nightmare.

Mercury- your words will be remembered easily because it’s in the house of self. Now I see Chiron is conj here so she has to be careful because her words can get her in trouble or there’s going to be some backlash which has happened to her already a few times

Chiron- she may self doubt herself a lot and think she’s not pretty or good enough to be where’s she’s at but that’s not true at all! People who have Chiron 1h are some of the most beautiful people but they tend to self sabotage because they think they’re not good enough which isn’t true at all!

North Node- libra is all about relationships, business, balance, peace and harmony do with that being in her 1h, she needs to learn to let people in but also put boundaries in place while still being her own boss. NN is the toughest placement because the lessons we need to learn in order for our soul growth and that usually means stepping out of our comfort zones. Her NN ruler is in the 2h so creating a legacy whether it’s in fashion or music are the themes in her life. Her South Node Aries 7h tells me that in previous life times; she may have been selfish when it came to other people especially with friends and siblings with ruler Mars in the 3h. Also very stuck in her philosophical thoughts. This lifetime is teaching her about teamwork but still having your own individuality.

I also noticed she’s about to go through a Reverse Nodal return when Transit NN enters Aries this summer which will conj her SN Aries. This means she’s going to have lots of déjà vu moments because things from early life and pass life is going to show up. Wouldn’t surprise me if she’s start to get interested in certain time periods out the blue.

The Moon

(Virgo moon 12h)

Moon-her Venus his already a private sign but her 12h moon makes her super private!

Virgo moon are more so logical than emotional but being placed in the a water house; yeah she feels a lot and probably analyze every emotion, it doesn’t help that she has a 1h Chiron that probably makes her doubt herself already😫

She also has Cancer 10h with Leo Mc so her emotions are often on public display and may be seen as overly emotional or erratic 😩

Honestly; I think taking breaks from the spotlight is actually good for her health(mental, emotional and spiritual) her NN is conj her sun so learning how to be in the spotlight is her life lesson but that doesn’t mean she can’t take breaks from it and focus on herself from time to time.

Saturn Pisces

Saturn-I see she’s about to enter her return since Saturn just entered Pisces on March 7! She has Saturn in the 6h so health, daily routine, organizations, co workers, pets are the main things this house rules over. She won’t feel this return until transit Saturn get close to her natal Saturn degree which is 18°(Virgo degree) so in late 2024-early 2025ish we may see her on the news related to these things. I’m hoping it’s all positive though😊

Pluto Aquarius Transit

I see Pluto is about to enter her 5h of creativity, passion, children and dating. I predict she’s going to take a new direction in her music career! Maybe switching genres or collaborating with people you never would’ve expected her to collaborate with.

Pluto is transformation and Aquarius is the think out of the box sign

Asteroids

(Fama and Varuna)

Fama- known as “Fame”. Is in her 4h Capricorn.

I do remember her saying she didn’t like fame a few years ago on twitter and now it makes sense why because fame is in her house of safe spaces and home. She may feel like fame robbed her of that. There’s some resentment toward it for sure. The is also tells me she’s been famous in previous lifetimes as well; may have been from a famous family. 4h can show us past life stuff as well in case you’re wondering why I said that😅.

Varuna-indicates mass fame on a world wide scale. It’s in her 10h of public relations . I love how she has a song called “woman” and “ain’t shit” that was pretty popular and have a cancer 10h😅

I hope you all enjoyed this breakdown and don’t forget to check my other post in the pinned section

Thank you!

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Bernard Lane

Published: Mar 25, 2024

The dramatic growth of gender medicine clinics around the world would have been unthinkable without the promise of puberty blockers. Children born in the wrong body could simply pause the wrong puberty. And if their self-declared transgender identity proved wrong, it was a simple matter of unpausing natural development. Or so we were told. But now, England’s National Health Service (NHS) has announced an end to puberty blockers as a routine treatment for young people who are distressed about their gender, arguing that the balance between the benefits and harms of this medical intervention cannot be known because the evidence base for blockers is too weak and uncertain.

The impact of England’s decision has been reflected in recent editorials in The New York Post and The Times of London. The Post calls puberty blockers “deadly junk science,” while The Times has declared them “a medical scandal of the first order, a reckless exercise in 21st-century quackery,” explaining:

The case for puberty blockers was that they allowed troubled children to pause while coming to terms with their gender identity. These hormone inhibitors were characterised as an on-off switch that could be flicked with impunity. This was a startling example of medical arrogance.

Gender clinics from Stockholm to San Francisco, from Florence to Melbourne, have been running an uncontrolled experiment on children, while cloaked in the mantle of human rights and denouncing any critics as hateful bigots. It will take time to understand the implications of this experiment. Even those gender clinicians who sold blockers as safe have generally acknowledged one dangerous side-effect: low bone density. Hormone-suppressed teenagers are unlikely to get full benefit of the surge in bone mass that comes with puberty; as a result, they may be prematurely exposed to the brittle bones and fractures normally seen in the elderly. And there is another lesser known but potentially more profound risk: the effects of blockers on the brain.

The NHS decision to ban blockers rested heavily on a 2022 interim report by paediatrician Hilary Cass, who has led an independent review of gender dysphoria care. In her report, she writes,

It is known that adolescence is a period of significant changes in brain structure, function and connectivity. Animal research suggests that this development is partially driven by the [natural] pubertal sex hormones, but it is unclear whether the same is true in humans. If pubertal sex hormones are essential to these brain maturation processes, this raises a secondary question of whether there is a critical time window for the processes to take place, or whether catch up is possible when [cross-sex] oestrogen or testosterone is introduced later.

This question is not new. In 2006, Dutch clinicians, who had pioneered the off-label use of puberty blockers for gender dysphoria—these drugs had previously been used for other, distinct conditions—stated that, “It is not clear yet how pubertal suppression will influence brain development."  

There was talk of a study to elucidate this, but it was never carried out. Despite this, by 2016, a key Dutch clinician was claiming that puberty blockers were “completely reversible.”  

And this was the slogan picked up by gender clinics around the world as they adopted the puberty blocker-driven “Dutch protocol” for paediatric gender transition. A crucial unknown had been memory-holed.

Puberty blockers came to be seen as a low risk, no regrets option in the popular press, too.  In 2015, men’s fashion magazine GQ ran a transgender zeitgeist article, featuring former Olympic athlete Bruce-turned-Caitlyn Jenner, “a beautiful, stylish lady.” The article cites Jenner’s fellow ex-Olympian, the gymnast-turned-doctor Michelle Telfer, who explains to readers that the onset of puberty intensifies the distress of gender dysphoria:

At that point we can start someone on puberty blockers. They don’t stop growth generally, or your brain from maturing emotionally and cognitively, they just stop the sexual characteristics from developing.

Dr Telfer is an adolescent medicine physician. In 2012, she took charge of the gender clinic at the Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne (RCH) which, under her direction, went from 18 new referrals in her first year to 821 in 2021. What were young patients at her clinic told about blockers and the brain? It is unclear. Neither the hospital nor Dr Telfer, who is now chief of medicine at RCH, have responded to my emails asking them to clarify this.

In 2022, however, the hospital did acknowledge that the effects of pubertal suppression on the brain are unknown, though it did so not in a public statement correcting the record, but in a gender clinic newsletter, which it sent out to patients and families alerting them to future recruitment of subjects for a new study of the effects of blockers on the brain. The newsletter states:

During adolescence, the brain changes considerably. However, it is unclear whether the hormonal changes of puberty help to promote these changes or if this development occurs independent of our hormones. Related to this, we do not know whether using puberty blockers affects development of the brain.

It is unclear, however, whether this new study will be robust or whether it will be yet another “gender-affirming” study whose weak design makes it impossible to deduce any clear findings. It is also unclear whether the consent information the clinic provides to its patients and their parents today provides a candid acknowledgement of the cognitive unknowns associated with blockers.  

The clinic’s gender dysphoria treatment guidelines were initially issued in 2018 by Dr Telfer and her RCH gender clinic colleagues. The Lancet lauded them as the first such guidelines specifically for children and adolescents. They include the claim that puberty suppression allows the young patient “time to develop emotionally and cognitively prior to making decisions on gender-affirming hormone use which [has] some irreversible effects.” That reassuring statement remains in the current iteration (version 1.4) of the RCH guidelines.

(The statement is also found in the hospital’s 2019 guide to fertility preservation for cancer and gender patients, accompanied by jarringly activist language that defies the normal understanding of biology. For example, the hospital advises “men”—meaning, females who identify as male—“to use contraception if they have a male partner” and states that “According to [government] Medicare data, >60 men give birth per year in Australia.”)

More relevant is the fact that administration of early puberty blockers followed by cross-sex hormones is likely to lead to sterilisation, sexual dysfunction, and lifelong status as a medical patient with symptoms that may puzzle mainstream doctors. Yet our popular culture has been bombarded with the largely unchallenged story that puberty blockers may save lives and that, if not, they have the virtue of being reversible. By uncritically repeating this and other contentious claims, Australia’s public broadcaster, the ABC, has served as an unpaid publicist for the gender clinics. For example, the popular ABC programme Australian Story recently featured an emotive profile of Dr Telfer, in which she repeats a claim she made on another high-profile ABC platform, Four Corners:

Puberty blockers are reversible. The only risk is that it can affect your bone density.

Such a claim would surprise anyone familiar with the state of the evidence base. 

Few researchers know the scientific literature better than Mikael Landén, a psychiatrist affiliated with Sweden’s Karolinska Institute and the University of Gothenburg. Earlier this month, the journal Acta Paediatrica published his signed editorial under the title “Puberty suppression of children with gender dysphoria: Urgent call for research.” In it, Landén makes the point that,

Unfortunately, the discourse surrounding the use of puberty blockers in gender dysphoria is often framed as a political human rights issue rather than as a medical issue. There is a prevailing assertion that puberty blockers are lifesaving, fully reversible, and always safe. Even though that would place gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonists [GnRHa or puberty blockers] in a unique and unlikely category—there are no other known drugs that simultaneously meet these criteria—any effort to shed light on the balance between the benefits and risks of [this] treatment is misconstrued as an attack on the LGBTQ+ community.

The same journal issue also features a paper by neuropsychologist Sallie Baxendale on the scientific literature dealing with hormone suppression and the brain.

Baxendale’s paper had previously been rejected by three other journals—not because of any fault with the science, but because anonymous reviewers were uncomfortable with its findings, which suggest that there is little evidence to support the benefits of puberty blockers. Baxendale, who holds a chair in neuropsychology at University College London, elsewhere relates her surprise at the politicised reactions her paper provoked:

the most astonishing response I received was from a reviewer who was concerned that I appeared to be approaching the topic from a ‘bias’ of heavy caution. This reviewer argued that lots of things needed to be sorted out before a clear case for the ‘riskiness’ of puberty blockers could be made, even circumstantially. Indeed, they appeared to be advocating for a default position of assuming medical treatments are safe, until proven otherwise.

Professor Baxendale was also unsettled by the paucity of convincing scientific literature on the benefits of puberty blockers:

I was surprised at just how little, and how low quality, the evidence was in this field. I was also concerned that clinicians working in gender medicine continue to describe the impacts of puberty blockers as ‘completely physically reversible’, when it is clear that we just don’t know whether this is the case, at least with respect to the cognitive impact.

These are observations that should give any serious gender clinic pause.

Professor Baxendale is particularly concerned that not enough is known about the neurological effects of puberty blockers for children and their parents to make an informed decision about their pros and cons. She writes:

Vague hints from poor quality studies are insufficient to allow people considering these [hormone suppression] treatments to make an informed decision regarding the possible impact on their neuropsychological function. Critical questions remain unanswered regarding the nature, extent and permanence of any arrested development of cognitive function that may be associated with pharmacological blocking of puberty. If cognitive development ‘catches up’ following the discontinuation of puberty suppression, how long does this take and is the recovery complete? While there is some evidence that indicates pubertal suppression may impact cognitive function, there is no evidence to date to support the oft-cited assertion that the effects of puberty blockers are fully reversible. Indeed, the only study to date that has addressed this in sheep suggests that this is not the case.

These concerns are shared by Professor Landén, who was the corresponding author for the paper describing Sweden’s systematic review of the evidence for the benefits of hormonal treatment for gender dysphoria. In that paper, Landén writes:

Against the background of almost non-existent longterm data, we conclude that GnRHa [or puberty blocker] treatment in children with gender dysphoria should be considered experimental treatment rather than standard procedure. This is to say that treatment should only be administered in the context of a clinical trial under informed consent.

As Landén has pointed out, it cannot be considered “anti-trans” to scrutinise the evidence base for puberty blockers. Far from a risk-free way to pause an unwanted puberty, these drugs are a potentially hazardous treatment promoted by politicised medical societies and ideologically driven lobby groups. We should heed his warning:   

Insisting that [puberty blocker] treatment should not be evaluated using the same rigorous criteria as other medical treatments will ultimately harm patients with gender dysphoria. The view that conducting a thorough assessment of the impacts and potential side effects of [puberty blocker] treatment is offensive, obstructs individuals with gender dysphoria from accessing treatment supported by the level of evidence expected for any other patient group. Instead, the ethical imperative to safeguard our youth demands nothing less than a concerted effort to shed light on potential cognitive and other side effects of [puberty blockers]. The outcome of such research might demonstrate significant benefits with negligible risks, or conversely, that the risks outweigh the benefits. These are empirical questions that require careful investigation. Regardless of the outcome of such investigations, it is essential to ensure that the treatment of children with gender dysphoria maintains the same standard of evidence as any other medical treatment for children. Settling for anything less would amount to discrimination based on ideology.

[isthebootylogical]

this is fully just me venting to my mutuals en masse idk where to even start bc I reblogged a post about people not thinking of themselves as trans bc they don’t have any interest in transitioning but they would gladly wake up full cis in another body and like… I have never ever thought of that as being trans bc I imagine trans people as having dysphoria that they would do almost anything to get rid of through transitioning and someone wanting or being okay with the thought of having a brand new body without the trouble of transitioning as a person who can’t be trans because they don’t want it bad enough. now i’m out of my gourd bc I don’t have dysphoria that I can pinpoint and i’ve always loved the idea of waking up a boy but transitioning hasn’t ever felt appealing and i’ve never thought of myself as trans. I don’t support the idea that all trans people have to have dysphoria but I do think of it like they have enough of a desire to be something else physically that they would make changes if given the right opportunity. like I was born a girl (kinda bc i’m technically intersex but even that feels wrong to claim considering I don’t outwardly present in any way but female) so it’s already too late for me to be something else this is just the lot I got and sure i’d rather something else but that’s not what I have and getting it (to my own degree of personal satisfaction and comfort) is just not possible with current medicine. not that anyone can decide this but me but if anyone has thoughts on this I’m all ears bc I’m losing my marbles a wee bit. no one is forcing anyone to modify their body and life after coming out as trans in reality (I hope) but it still feels wrong to even consider I might be trans when I have no intention of ever transitioning. we need maybe a secret third option like not cis but not trans enough to change anything. am I being dumb I have no idea. losing it losing it losing it