#assembled 10 may 2024

[prinkedpork]

what the fuck

O.K. A/N: There were supposed to be a few more panels where Jack withdraws, quietly leaves and wishes Ralph goodnight, and then cut to Ralph in bed still thinking about it, but there's a 30 image limit, so you'll just have to use your imagination. Also my bad.

[troythecatfish]

BY EDITH M. LEDERER

Updated 11:35 AM EDT, May 10, 2024

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UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. General Assembly voted by a wide margin on Friday to grant new "rights and privileges" to Palestine and called on the Security Council to favorably reconsider its request to become the 194th member of the United Nations.

The 193-member world body approved the Arab and Palestinian sponsored resolution by a vote of 143-9 with 25 abstentions.

The United States vetoed a widely backed council resolution on April 18 that would have paved the way for full United Nations membership for Palestine, a goal the Palestinians have long sought and Israel has worked to prevent.

U.S. deputy ambassador Robert Wood made clear on Thursday that the Biden administration opposed the assembly resolution. The United States was among the nine countries voting against it, along with Israel.

[simply-ivanka]

Who’s Afraid of Project 2025?

Democrats run against a think-tank paper that Trump disavows. Why?

Wall Street Journal

July 29, 2024

By The Editorial Board

Americans are learning more about Kamala Harris, as Democrats rush to anoint the Vice President’s candidacy after throwing President Biden overboard. Ms. Harris wasted no time saying she’s going to run hard against a policy paper that Donald Trump has disavowed—the supposedly nefarious agenda known as Project 2025. But who’s afraid of a think-tank white paper?

“I will do everything in my power to unite the Democratic Party—and unite our nation—to defeat Donald Trump and his extreme Project 2025 agenda,” Ms. Harris tweeted shortly after President Biden dropped out. She’s picking up this ball from Mr. Biden, and her campaign website claims that Project 2025 would “strip away our freedoms” and “abolish checks and balances.”

***

Sounds terrible, but is it? The 922-page document doesn’t lack for modesty, as a wish list of policy reforms that would touch every part of government from the Justice Department to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The project is led by the Heritage Foundation and melds the work of some 400 scholars and analysts from an eclectic mix of center-right groups. The project is also assembling a Rolodex of those who might work in a Trump Administration.

Most of the Democratic panic-mongering has focused on the project’s aim to rein in the administrative state. That includes civil service reform that would make it easier to remove some government workers, and potentially revisiting the independent status of agencies like the Federal Trade Commission.

The latter isn’t going to happen, but getting firmer presidential control over the bureaucracy would improve accountability. The federal government has become so vast that Presidents have difficulty even knowing what is going on in the executive branch. Americans don’t want to be ruled by a permanent governing class that doesn’t answer to voters.

Some items on this menu are also standard conservative fare. The document calls for an 18% corporate tax rate (now 21%), describing that levy as “the most damaging tax” in the U.S. system that falls heavily on workers. A mountain of economic literature backs that up. The blueprint suggests tying more welfare programs with work; de-regulating health insurance markets; expanding Medicare Advantage plans that seniors like; ending sugar subsidies; revving up U.S. energy production. That all sounds good to us.

Democrats are suggesting the project would gut Social Security, though in fact it bows to Mr. Trump’s preference not to touch the retirement program, which is headed for bankruptcy without reform. No project can profess to care about the rising national debt, as Heritage does, without fixing a program that was 22% of the federal budget in 2023.

At times the paper takes no position. For example: The blueprint features competing essays on trade policy. This is a tacit admission that for all the GOP’s ideological confusion on economics, many conservatives still understand that Mr. Trump’s 10% tariff is a terrible idea.

As for the politics, Mr. Trump recently said online that he knew “nothing about Project 2025. I have no idea who is behind it.” That may be true. The chance that Mr. Trump has read any of it is remote to nil, and he doesn’t want to be tied to anyone’s ideas since he prizes maximum ideological flexibility.

The document mentions abortion nearly 200 times, but Mr. Trump wants to neutralize that issue. The project’s chief sponsor, Heritage president Kevin Roberts, also gave opponents a sword when he boasted of “a second American revolution” that would be peaceful “if the left allows it to be.” This won’t help Mr. Trump with the swing voters he needs to win re-election.

By our lights the project’s cultural overtones are also too dark and the agenda gives too little spotlight to the economic freedom and strong national defense that defined the think tank’s influence on Ronald Reagan in 1980.

***

But the left’s campaign against Project 2025 is reaching absurd decibels. You’d think Mr. Trump is a political mastermind hiding the secret plans he’ll implement with an army of shock troops marching in lockstep. If his first term is any guide, and it is the best we have, Mr. Trump will govern as a make-it-up-as-he-goes tactician rather than a strategist with a coherent policy guide. He’ll dodge and weave based on the news cycle and often based on whoever talks to him last.

Not much of the Project 2025 agenda is likely to happen, even if Republicans take the House and Senate. Democrats will block legislation with a filibuster. The bureaucracy will leak with abandon and oppose even the most minor reforms to the civil service. The press will revert to full resistance mode, and Mr. Trump’s staff will trip over their own ambitions.

Democrats know this, which is why they fear Trump II less than they claim. They’re targeting Project 2025 to distract from their own failed and unpopular policies.

[ask-obt]

On Borrowed Time Book 2 - Fan Art Feature

It's time for another Fan Art Feature!

As Book 2 draws to a close sooner than I originally anticipated (because Chapter 10 is a little stinker that'll be roughly the size of its own book, oops), it's time to start getting everything assembled for printing. (And feel free to double dip and get those juicy points on Art Fight! Assuming it doesn't violate any of their terms, hehe)

Submissions for this Fan Art Feature will run until August 3rd, 2024. I may accept some submissions beyond that hard cut-off, but there's no guarantee beyond that point since I'll be assembling the book shortly after.

Most things will be very similar to the previous Fan Art Feature, though the main difference is that page dimensions have changed to 1800x2750 px! The other difference is that all submissions must be submitted through the form. I had a bit of stress last time around trying to track all the submissions, so this way I can make sure no one gets left behind. Of course you can still post to socials and tag me! I also have compiled a thorough guide for submissions below with some handy visual references. Please refer to the guide below before asking any questions.

Link to submission form here!

And finally, a link to the print template mentioned in the visual guide! I look forward to seeing everybody's submissions!

[sunderingstars]

☆━━━━━ ⋆⁺｡˚⋆˙‧₊☾ ◯ ☽₊‧˙⋆˚｡⁺⋆ ━━━━━━☆

✩ ‧₊˚ ⌞ SAMPO ANALYSIS M.LIST ⌝

— a compilation of my analysis surrounding the one and only sampo "silliest guy" koski from honkai star rail

— mostly elation!sampo territory, but i do touch on other topics as well (watch me go from aha!sampo to emanator!doll!sampo in real time) :3

note: this is my own interpretative opinion — it’s fine if you don’t agree! i know a lot of people don’t subscribe to these ideas, just as a lot of people do. this is an analysis i’m doing for fun and i understand there are many different & valid interpretations people can have, so please be chill. i’d love to hear any additional theories or information anyone wants to share as long as it’s respectful! thanks 🪐

☆━━━━━ ⋆⁺｡˚⋆˙‧₊☾ ◯ ☽₊‧˙⋆˚｡⁺⋆ ━━━━━━☆

🎭 completed as of 10/31/2024! 🎭

(certain sections may continue to update as new sampo

content releases!)

✩ ‧₊˚ ⌞ INTRO + OVERALL THEORIES ⌝

— introduction

— choose your fighter!

— overview of my theories

✩ ‧₊˚ ⌞ VISUAL CUES + ART ⌝

— aha splash art analysis

— kit & abilities

— outfit & design motifs

— idles & expressions

— light cone

— eidolons ➜ eidolon names as narratives & eidolon art as facets of character reference posts

✩ ‧₊˚ ⌞ VERBAL CUES + VOICELINES ⌝

— third person references

— belobog voicelines (self-awareness, views on elation, general worldview, etc.)

— penacony voicelines (identity revelations, views on the masked fools, sparkle & masks, etc.)

— character lines

— character story & brughel poisson

— gender

— name & etymology

— perception by others

✩ ‧₊˚ ⌞ SPECIFIC TOPICS ⌝

— simulated universe

— addendum: ace trash digger

— addendum: ship of fools

— divergent universe

— notable topics

✩ ‧₊˚ ⌞ THEORIES ⌝

— overview of elation!sampo

— doll theory

✩ ‧₊˚ ⌞ MISCELLANEOUS ⌝

— sex & intimacy

— mr. cold feet’s pop-up shop

— mundanite assembly

☆━━━━━ ⋆⁺｡˚⋆˙‧₊☾ ◯ ☽₊‧˙⋆˚｡⁺⋆ ━━━━━━☆

© analysis by sunderingstars. do not copy, repost, translate, modify, or claim my work as your own.

[cityof2morrow]

CDK: City Hall

Published: 9-25-2024 | Updated: N/A SUMMARY Cubic Dynamics by John B. Cube and Marcel Dusims forged the future with furnishings that were minimalist in design and maximalist in erudite pretension. Generations later, the company continues to produce edge-of-cutting-edge designs. Use the Cubic Dynamics Kitbash (Simmons, 2023-2024) collection to set up corporate, exposition, and office environments. Envisioned as an add-on to the Cubic Dynamics set (EA/Maxis, archived at GOS), it features minimalist and retro-futuristic objects. Find more CC on this site under the #co2cdkseries tag. Read the Backstory and ‘Dev Notes’ HERE. How’s that build-a-city-challenge going?...because those courtroom, town hall, and city hall chambers are lookin’ a little bald headed. Why not spruce it up with the CITY HALL set! Place one of the decorative assembly desks, then add chairs and portable assembly desks. Your council members, judges, lawyers, and other sims are ready to go to work!

DETAILS All EPs/SPs. §See Catalog for Pricing | See Buy/Build Mode You need the Company Expo (Mesh Pack) set (Simmons, 2024) for TXTRs to show properly in game. ALL files with “MESH” in their name are REQUIRED. You may need “move objects” and “grid on/off” cheats to place some objects to your liking. When placing partitions/floating shelves and tables/desks/counters on the same tile, place the partition/shelves first. I recommend using this set with Object Freedom 1.02 (Fway, 2023), which includes Numenor’s fix for OFB shelves (2006), for easier use overall. ITEMS Assembly Desks (Small/Large) (1858 poly) – use with portable desk Judge’s Chair (~835 poly) Counselor’s Chair (1377 poly) Counselor’s Desk (402 poly) HoloProjector (2546 poly, HIGH) – place on same tile as hologram Holograms (192 poly) Portable Assembly Desk (733 poly) DOWNLOAD (choose one) from SFS | from MEGA The hologram is functional and comes with 30+ recolors...

COMPATIBILITY AVOID DUPLICATES: The #co2cdkseries includes edited versions – replacements - for items in the following CC sets: 4ESF (office 3, other 1/artroom, other 2/build), All4Sims/MaleorderBride (miskatonic library, office, postmodern office), CycloneSue (never ending/privacy windows), derMarcel (inx office), Katy76/PC-Sims (bank/cash point, court/law school sets, sim cola machine), Marilu (immobilien office), Murano (ador office), Reflex Sims (giacondo office), Retail Sims/HChangeri (simEx, sps store), Simgedoehns/Tolli (focus kitchen, loft office, modus office), ShinySims (modern windows), Shoukeir via Sims2Play(reverie office, step boxes/shelving), Spaik (sintesi study), Stylist Sims (offices 1,2, & 3, Toronto set), Tiggy027 (wall window frames 1-10), Wall Sims (holly architecture, Ibiza). *The goal is link the objects to the recolors/new functions in the #co2cdkseries without re-inventing the wheel! Credit to the original creators. CREDITS Thanks: EarlyPleasantview/EPV, Panda, Soloriya, ChocolateCitySim, HugeLunatic, Klaartje, Ocelotekatl, Whoward69, LoganSimmingWolf, Gayars, Ch4rmsing, Ranabluu, Gummilutt, Crisps&Kerosene, LordCrumps, PineappleForest. Sources: Any Color You Like (CuriousB, 2010), Beyno (Korn via BBFonts), EA/Maxis, Offuturistic Infographic (Freepik). SEE CREDITS (ALT)

[cocogum]

There’s something off about Yugo now.

‼️ SPOILERS FOR SEASON 4 ‼️

LEAVE AT THE WARNING IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN THE FIRST FOUR EPISODES.

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.

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Way before 2024 hit, when Tot was still teasing us with some snippets of Season 4 on Twitter, there was a time when one of his tweets made some people think about what he meant.

The specific tweet was made on the 10th of January of 2023 at 5:10 AM which showed a small scene of Yugo once said that THIS scene in particular was going to change Yugo forever

Here’s the full translation:

“Season 4 of Wakfu is going well my friends…Here’s a small snippet of Yugo that makes me want to cry. 🥲”

We didn’t know at the time what he could’ve meant by that or what that specific scene that saddened him was even about.

But now that Wakfu Season 4 is out, we were able to watch that same scene that happened in episode 3.

And omg it makes perfect sense now.

In his tweet where he addressed his feelings for the scene, Tot specified that this moment would be the last time we see Yugo, the last scene before saying goodbye.

Some people, back when the tweet was still recent, thought Tot might have been implying that Yugo would actually die or possibly gain his adult form through this scene where he’s surrounded by his mother’s blue hues.

But now that we’ve watched the actual episode where this same scene Tot was talking about took place, we can all finally confirm that neither of those two things happened.

Because what happened ended up being far worse than that.

Yes, what’s worse than Yugo dying or growing up to an alarming speed is nothing compared to what actually happened :

Yugo’s mindset changed.

When Yugo met the Eliatrope goddess for the first time (in this life at least), he explicitly told her that he does not know her, therefore, he cannot sympathize with what she’s saying to him. Yugo could see how she was crying when she told him, Nora, and Qilby she missed them as well as her other children and that she promises them she wouldn’t be away from them any longer.

Yugo doesn’t react to this, only Nora and Qilby truly understand the power behind her words.

But as soon as the Eliatrope goddess puts Yugo to rest for a while, the moment he wakes up was as if he changed his mind completely.

He claims that his mother is the purest of the pure and that she’s so perfect that she can’t express any negative emotions. Keep this in mind for later.

He truly believes what he’s saying and cannot fathom the fact that she may be imperfect in some ways.

His mind did a complete 360 to the point where he immediately joins the Eliatrope goddess, Nora, and Qilby’s cause. He changed his mind so quickly that even Nora noticed and brought it up.

When the assembly began, Yugo was proud of showing up first to welcome his mother and he proudly stated her arrival to the rulers. He had even told Joris that he insisted on being as forward as possible to the rulers and to welcome his mother appropriately.

Now, remember when I stated that Yugo does not believe that the Eliatrope goddess can express any negative emotions?

Well, it turns out he was wrong.

Not even a full hour passed, and the Eliatrope goddess was already in a full confrontation with one of the rulers, the queen of Bonta, Astra. When someone, especially a higher being, is claimed to be a pure being with no flaws, it usually means that they cannot even fathom the idea of expressing a negative emotion or struggling to keep it in.

But the reason why this scene was just so important to focus on was because THIS is supposed to be the goddess of love, the goddess that represents purity (no wonder people were beings suspicious of her. How are you gonna be called the embodiment of ‘love’ and yet express something that is out of your agenda?)

So the reason why we need to focus on this moment, is because the goddess hesitated.

This is what makes Yugo’s claims about her being perfect completely wrong.

And since his declarations were very much flawed, his current way of thinking can only mean one thing :

Something has gone wrong.

From what we’ve been able to witness from his slumber, Yugo was able to see how he and his siblings were created by their mother, how their original planet came to be, how their mother got thrown aside, banished by the other gods and ended up in the Necroworld, and how she got saved by Nora and Efrim.

To us, this sequence must’ve probably lasted for about three minutes or so but to Yugo, this moment lasted far longer than that. He must’ve seen the details, heard a lot of recrimination from the other gods, and seen his mother’s suffering from being cast aside. All of this pain and suffering that she must’ve felt was what made Yugo side with her and her cause.

But as much as his sudden want to be closer to her makes sense, it doesn’t mean that Yugo’s portrayal of his mother is true. Anyone can tell that the Eliatrope goddess had broken a very important major rule: DO NOT use a planet for yourself. She had betrayed the trust of the other gods without any explanation other than wanting to have children and making a world for herself.

Yugo saw it all and yet he did not think that she made a mistake. He does not care if she went against the other gods (creating a world for herself), he does not care if she wants to monitor the world (she has told this in front of all the authorities of the world), he does not care if she wants to infuse vigilantism (again, she told this in front of the leaders of the world), and he does not care if all the commanders of the world do not side with her ideas (he deliberately chose to follow her as soon as she left the assembly).

But it seems like even when he was not, at the time, sleeping under her energy, he didn’t care if people with bad intentions got paralyzed for some undetermined amount of time as punishment (he was watching Nora and Adamaï fight the rogues). That could have been an early hint that he would do much more than just stand aside and not say anything in matters like these but rather silently do what his mother wishes to do.

Since he embraces everything that she is, he embraces everything that she wants to do or has done.

Another thing I should mention is the fact that ever since he woke up, he started calling the Eliatrope goddess “mother”, implying that he now felt completely comfortable with knowing and understanding that she was truly his creator, mother.

As you can see, every time he addresses her, it’s always by calling her his mother, which is factually true, but again, he has just met her and is already completely enamoured by her. His admiration and respect towards her makes sense because he has seen everything that she’s been through while sleeping.

The problem is that even when he considers her perfect, he doesn’t seem to understand that the people around her (besides Nora and Qilby) DO NOT agree with her plans.

Yugo does not understand why Adamaï left because his intuition was telling him that something was very wrong about all of this (even though Yugo wasn’t too convinced by the Eliatrope goddess, he was still taking a neutral side at the time. Even though he didn’t completely understand his mother at that moment, this still counts as an event where Yugo did not think about the Eliatrope goddess’s ways even when his brother told him something was off. Also, if Yugo did see his mother’s suffering at that moment, he would have still most likely sided with her.)

Yugo also does not understand what the leaders are trying to say and how right they are (even though they have mistreated the Eliatrope goddess in the process). One of them, the queen of Bonta, makes very good points that the goddess should have answered and explained.

But instead of taking a moment to think about it or try to at least think about how the rulers are feeling right now, Yugo simply leaves them and goes right back to the goddess.

This is a very surprising decision of his because Yugo has lived his entire life in the World of Twelve. He has not only lived here but has met a lot of different people, gone through life and death for them, saved numerous victims and fought off enemies for them, and did all that in the same world where he is currently turning his back to the very rulers of it.

Tot wasn’t wrong when he said Yugo wouldn’t be the same.

And we’re starting to see it.

It’s becoming more obvious and I’m sure that at some point, there could be another fight between Yugo and Adamaï happening, or perhaps even a misunderstanding.

[mariacallous]

A lot of the post-mortems of the 2024 election have felt impossibly grim, with Democrats grappling with the fact that most of the country lurched right to elect a felon who led an insurrection.

It’s tempting to paint that shift with a broad brush and to succumb to a profound doomerism about the future. There’s no doubt that crawling out of this hole will be difficult and will require fighting the GOP tooth and nail on all fronts. But it can be done. Just look at Wisconsin.

Wisconsin may initially seem like an odd choice to focus on as a beacon of hope. After all, though President Biden carried the state in 2020, Trump flipped it back in 2024. But that isn’t the whole story. Democrats in Wisconsin have displayed a remarkable amount of grit and tenacity in their work to shore up the fragile tools of democracy and to undo the very worst of the Scott Walker era.

There’s no One Weird Trick to quickly recapture democracy from a minoritarian party bent on keeping power at all costs. Instead, it’s a long road that proceeds in fits and starts and has setbacks, but Democrats in the Badger State have kept moving forward.

First, about that 2024 Trump victory. Yes, Wisconsin went for Trump, as did the other six swing states. However, Kamala Harris lost the state by under 30,000 votes. She got more votes than President Biden did when he carried the state in 2020. And where the national median vote margin shifted 3.2 percent to Trump from 2020 to 2024, his margin of victory in Wisconsin was only 0.86 percent. The state’s voters also reelected Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin. So, while the rightward shift was certainly present in Wisconsin, it was minuscule compared to elsewhere.

Democrats also made gains in both the state assembly and senate. They didn’t flip either chamber, but they broke a Republican supermajority in the state senate and picked up 10 seats in the assembly. Those gains were the product of a long-range, multifaceted strategy by Democrats and nonpartisan voting groups to undo one of the worst gerrymanders in the country.

How Wisconsin Democrats got back on their feet

In 2011, Wisconsin Republicans met in secret to draw state legislative districts that would ensure they retained control. Even though Democrats kept winning statewide races, Republicans kept huge majorities in the state legislature. The 2021 maps were even worse, favoring the GOP so heavily that Democrats would have needed to carry the statewide vote by 12 percentage points to get to a majority in the state assembly. The GOP, on the other hand, could get a majority of the assembly seats with only 44 percent of the vote.

The only real recourse to these maps was to sue — and here’s where you can start to see how much work had to happen, how many things had to come together, for Democrats to start making gains.

When the GOP passed the 2021 maps, the Wisconsin Supreme Court was controlled by conservatives. The conservative majority on the court did their Republican colleagues in the legislature a solid by inventing an entirely new test for redistricting — the “least change” principle. It required the 2021 maps to be as similar as possible to the already highly gerrymandered 2011 districts.

Suing over that would likely have been futile, as the conservatives had already tipped their hands that they weren’t interested in drawing fair legislative maps. The solution, then, was to flip the state supreme court. So that’s what Democrats did.

In April 2023, Janet Protasiewicz’s election gave liberals a 4-3 majority on the court. Ben Wikler, the chair of the Wisconsin Democratic Party, who just announced he’s vying for the top DNC job, oversaw a full-court press for Protasiewicz, giving her a huge fundraising edge and an 11-point victory over conservative Dan Kelly.

Only after Protasiewicz was seated, then, did the Campaign Legal Center file a lawsuit to block the use of the gerrymandered maps. When that reached the state supreme court, the now 4-3 liberal majority found the GOP maps unconstitutional because they were not contiguous. Unlike the imaginary “least change” principle, the Wisconsin Constitution actually does require that legislative districts be contiguous. But under the maps drawn by the Republican legislature, more than two-thirds of the state’s voters were in Swiss cheese, disconnected districts.

That court victory led to the state getting a nonpartisan, neutral legislative map for the 2024 elections. That’s why the state Democrats could pick up seats this year, even as the country shaded red. For the first time in 13 years, Democrats were on a level playing field. But getting there involved a ton of work in litigating, fundraising, and organizing — all the things Democrats will need to be doing over the next several years to try to reverse last month’s losses.

It isn’t just the gerrymander that has fallen. Key parts of Act 10, which stripped most public sector workers of their rights to collectively bargain, were recently struck down. Act 10 was Scott Walker’s first step in turning Wisconsin — once a strong union state — into a right-to-work state with far fewer protections for workers. It was also comically biased against traditional Democratic groups, and it was that overreach that proved its downfall.

Act 10 gutted most public sector unions, restricting what they could bargain for, limiting contracts to one year, and banning deductions of union dues from paychecks. However, it divided public sector employees into ​​general and public safety — and then exempted the latter group from much of the law. So, cops and firefighters — groups that just happen to vote Republican — were spared.

In striking down parts of the law, the judge found there was no legal basis to split public employees into those categories, and it was therefore unconstitutional for, say, teachers’ unions to be treated less favorably than one for firefighters. The decision restored collective bargaining rights to all public workers in the state.

Of course the GOP-controlled legislature has already announced it will appeal. Indeed, they’re complaining mightily, saying that the Wisconsin Supreme Court already rejected similar arguments in 2014 and that the only thing that has changed since then is the composition of the court.

They’re absolutely correct, but it’s a hilarious complaint coming from Republicans, the party that spent decades working to shift the composition of the US Supreme Court so it could go on a reversal spree, throwing out abortion rights and gutting the regulatory state. Republicans love destroying norms when it benefits them, yet find it somehow fundamentally unfair if Democrats do the same.

Holding the state supreme court is critical. Justice Ann Bradley, one of the court’s liberals, is retiring, teeing up another election contest in April 2025. Stakes for that election were already high, and they got higher with the Act 10 ruling. The future of collective bargaining in the state now depends on the future of the state supreme court, just as unwinding the gerrymander did. That’s precisely why the multipronged, incremental approach that Wikler and other Democrats have undertaken is so important and so effective.

Laboratories of democracy

Focusing on state court elections is key because litigating in state courts gets around the problem of the federal courts being utterly broken by Trump and his Federalist Society appointees. Pushing litigation forward carefully is key to making change at the state level. And fighting tooth and nail for state seats is key to stopping GOP legislatures from amassing enough votes to strip statewide elected Democrats of power.

None of these things, taken alone, feel like huge victories. Taken together, though, across the last decade in Wisconsin politics, you can see what it looks like when Democrats string together smaller wins that can lead to massive progress.

Wisconsin’s western neighbor of Minnesota provides another example of a state where the Democratic brand is strong. As Kamala Harris’s running mate, Gov. Tim Walz was a national evangelist for the array of progressive policy wins Minnesota Democrats scored after securing a trifecta in 2022, including protecting abortion rights, paid family and medical leave, common sense gun control, free school meals, and much more.

Minnesota Democrats had another strong cycle this year, preventing Republicans from taking control of either chamber of the legislature (it looks like the Minnesota House will be evenly split, pending the result of a recount for one seat). As of next year, it will have been 20 years since a Minnesota Republican won a statewide race, and the state Democratic party chair, Ken Martin, is a rising star who’s running for DNC chair against the aforementioned Wikler.

As Trump descends on the White House once again, bringing the absolute worst people with him, Democrats will need all the state-level wins they can get. Wisconsin serves as an example of how Democrats can battle back to power, while Minnesota shows how passing progressive legislation can help them keep it.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Dan Rather at Steady:

If their national convention didn’t motivate Democrats to register, volunteer, donate, and vote, perhaps the prospect of a widespread voter suppression plan at the hands of the Republican Party will. Just listen to Marc Elias, one of the foremost election lawyers in the country, who recently said that the “Republicans are building an election subversion war machine.” Last week, Elias began working with hundreds of lawyers and thousands of volunteers already teamed up with the Harris campaign to combat the Republican voter suppression effort. He will focus on recounts and post-election litigation.

This is not a new tactic for the MAGA right, but in this election cycle, “the other side is more organized, more ruthless, and more prepared [than ever before],” Elias told Rolling Stone magazine. Here’s the Republican playbook, according to The Brennan Center for Justice. “Over the last 20 years, states have put barriers in front of the ballot box — imposing strict voter ID laws, cutting voting times, restricting registration, and purging voter rolls.” But this election cycle, new MAGA tactics seem even more insidious — including delaying or refusing vote certification. So if someone in, say, Georgia doesn’t like the election results, Republican officials could question the count, seriously slowing down or stopping the process of announcing results. That’s a very big deal. The 2024 pre-election period has already seen dozens of lawsuits filed in 25 states by Republicans trying to manipulate or change laws to, among other things, make it easier to challenge ballots and voter eligibility and to deny election certifications.

In an investigation of local election boards, Rolling Stone found 70 pro-Donald Trump conspiracy theorists working as election officials in key counties in battleground states. Since 2020, Republicans have refused to certify results at least 25 times. I know I may sound like a broken record saying Donald Trump is an existential threat to American democracy. But he is, and this is a terrifying example of his cult leader-like ability to get others to do his undemocratic bidding. At an Atlanta rally, he recently called out pro-Trump members of the Georgia State Election Board as “pit bulls fighting for honesty, transparency, and victory.” Seriously. In 2020 he primed the voter suppression pump before the election, knowing he was likely to lose the race, and then promoted the “Big Lie.” Hundreds of lawyers, dozens of lawsuits, and an insurrection later, he still lost, but all those efforts laid the groundwork for a more organized Republican push, or perhaps putsch is a better word. Fortunately the Republicans aren’t the only ones gearing up for this battle. The Harris campaign has assembled the largest Democratic legal team ever to protect voting rights. It is 10 times larger than the 2020 team. Ten times.

[...] The Democrats’ voter protection program is focused on eight battleground states: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, and four states of interest: Florida, Maine, Minnesota, and Virginia. Their pre-election efforts are two-fold: First, protecting voters’ ability to register to vote while also having unfettered access to the ballot box. They are doing this by fighting all the legal challenges Republicans are launching. Second, they are educating voters. All of this is a serious shift in how elections are run in this country. “The expansive new Democratic legal team, and the opposing group at the Republican National Committee, is a reflection of the legal arms race that is the new reality of American elections since Mr. Trump’s election victory in 2016. The battle over whose votes count — not just how many votes are counted — has become central to modern presidential campaigns,” explained Nick Corasaniti of The New York Times.

The Democrats are learning to fight the battle to ensure that the votes from this election are counted properly to ensure that a repeat of 2020 doesn’t happen.

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Michael Searles

Published: Dec 10, 2024

Puberty blockers are to be permanently banned in Northern Ireland to block attempts by trans activists to “exploit a loophole”.

Members of the devolved government are understood to have voted unanimously to make a temporary ban on the drugs permanent to keep it in line with the rest of the UK.

Fears about Northern Ireland becoming a “back door” for puberty blockers to be distributed across the rest of the UK are understood to have triggered the decision.

Activists including Susie Green, the former chief executive of trans charity Mermaids, had planned to use Northern Ireland as a gateway to England, Wales and Scotland, where the drugs are permanently banned.

The Telegraph revealed in July that the Government would make a temporary ban on the powerful drugs permanent, but it only covered England, Wales and Scotland. The High Court ruled the ban in Britain was lawful after a challenge by transgender rights campaigners.

The same month, Ms Green set up a private clinic called Anne Health in Northern Ireland to provide puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to under-18s.

She told i news that lawyers behind the court challenge had advised her on how to get around the bans.

She consulted David Lock KC, and Jolyon Maugham KC, the director of the Good Law Project, who both agreed the regulations “prohibited the sale or supply [of puberty blockers] – but not the importation”.

Ms Green also planned to hire doctors who are regulated to practise medicine in the European Economic Area rather than the UK because they are free to write prescriptions and “are regulated by their own medical bodies outside of the UK”.

“We’ve got a network of Northern Ireland families who are willing to take receipt of medication sent to them,” Ms Green said. “The families just need to go over there and the kids need to get the medication and if they bring it back it exploits this legal loophole.”

In August, the ban was extended to Northern Ireland temporarily, but the government there had wanted the whole executive to agree on a ban before making one permanent. This had looked unlikely, with some parties within the Northern Ireland Assembly opposing the initial ban.

‘Safety of children first’

However, it will now no longer be legal to prescribe the drugs in Northern Ireland, after Mike Nesbitt, the health minister, pushed through the “indefinite” ban.

After making the ban permanent in the rest of the UK, Wes Streeting, the Health Secretary, said he would “always put the safety of children first” and that his approach would “continue to be informed by Dr [Hilary] Cass’s review, which found there was insufficient evidence to show puberty blockers were safe for under-18s”.

The review concluded that there was “remarkably weak” evidence to support their use, and that they put children on an affirmative pathway and “may change the trajectory of psychosexual and gender identity development”.

The drugs will only be available in future in Great Britain through an NHS-run clinical trial, which is due to start next year.

Fiona McAnena, the director of campaigns at Sex Matters, a human rights charity, said it was “a significant shift from the main parties’ stance in favour of blocking the puberty of healthy children”.

“It is now untenable for any government to back the prescription of puberty blockers to children with gender distress,” she said.

“NI’s sensible decision will be a huge blow to private clinics such as Susie Green’s Anne Health, which had planned to use the country as a loophole to avoid the GB ban so that they could distribute banned medications privately across the UK.”

‘Significant step in safeguarding’

Keith Jordan, the co-founder of Our Duty, a support and advocacy group for parents with gender-questioning children, said: “We applaud the Northern Ireland Executive’s decisive leadership in implementing an indefinite ban on private prescriptions of puberty blockers.

“This marks a significant step in safeguarding children, preventing Northern Ireland from becoming a ‘back door’ for these unregulated treatments – a concern highlighted by Susie Green’s earlier attempts to circumvent mainland restrictions.

“However, we must remain vigilant, as the demand for these drugs may drive young people to unregulated, dangerous sources.”

He added: “We urge all policymakers to look at how they might better reduce demand for medicalising gender, in addition to limiting supply of puberty blockers. Safeguarding has to be the priority.”

The Department of Health in Northern Ireland was asked for comment.

==

Reminder that Susie Green is the woman who transed her two-year-old son because his father thought the boy might be gay, and whisked him out of the country to have his penis cut open and inverted in Thailand for his 16th birthday.

[toronto-aces-and-aros]

Toronto Aces & Aros Zine issue-- call for submission!

Hey all! We’re going to be organizing a group zine for the Toronto Aces and Aros group (exactly 10 years after the last group zine issue!). The goal is to be able to finalize and print the issue in the Fall of this year.

If you’re interested in submitting a piece for the zine, please read on. Thanks!

Submission deadline August 15, 2025 (We will also be having a zine-making workshop early September and assembling everything immediately after that.)

Theme:

Asexuality and aromanticism, and various grey experiences, are frequently described in terms of a lack of attraction or sometimes a lack of desire. This zine issue seeks to both explore and challenge the framing of these experiences as “lacking” or “missing” something.

What can be learned through an absence? In what ways can we envision asexuality and aromanticism as something gained rather than something missing? What meaning do you find in negative spaces? Or perhaps you find recognition or comfort in the vocabulary of “lack” - what significance does it have to you? What have these things (or questioning these things) brought into your life? What are reasons you’re grateful to be somewhere under the ace and/or aro umbrellas? We’d love to share them!

Submissions should be generally based around this theme, but you are welcome to interpret it in any way you like. 

Submission Instructions:

Submissions may be in text format (essays, poetry, etc), or visual format (collages, comics, etc), or a combination of the two. For visual submissions, note that the zine will be printed in black & white – the online version will be available in full colour.

Text submissions: Maximum 1500 words (no minimum) - with some flexibility if needed

Visual submissions: Maximum of 4 pages (no minimum)

Please email submissions to toronto.aces.and.aros.zine@gmail.com and include the following:

Your submission

A title for your submission, if you want one

The name / pen name / username under which you would like to be published, or “anonymous” if you prefer.

Brief bio (maximum 150 words) that will be published alongside your submission and will help give context to who is writing.

You may wish to include things such as age range, gender, pronouns, racial or ethnic identity, or other aspects of your experience and/or interests. Note: we especially want to interrupt how some aspects of identity, such as whiteness, get treated as the “default” when left unnamed. For this reason we encourage contributors to include these in bios. (e.g. if you are white, we encourage including this in your bio in order to disrupt the idea of whiteness being the unspoken baseline).

Please also be mindful of the group Respect Guidelines in your submissions: https://torontoacesandaros.wordpress.com/accessibility/respect-guidelines/ 

Timeline:

We’ll be collecting submissions via email until 15 August 2024. We may reach out to contributors to do minor editing & clarification of submissions as needed.

We’ll also include submissions collected from the zine-making workshop that will be organized in early September.

Plans for the zine:

The zine will be printed for distribution to recover print costs at Toronto Aces & Aros group events, e.g. tabling at Pride events and/or zine faire type spaces. It will also be made available for free on the Toronto Aces & Aros website.

Questions?

You can email toronto.aces.and.aros.zine@gmail.com with questions, or follow up in the #zine Discord channel. For more information about Toronto Aces & Aros or to join the Discord server, please email toronto.aces.and.aros@gmail.com

[argumate]

Russian forces appear to have constructed a 30-kilometer-long barrier dubbed the “tsar train” in occupied Donetsk Oblast, possibly to serve as a defensive line against future Ukrainian assaults. Satellite imagery dated May 10, 2023, and February 6 and 10, 2024 shows that Russian forces constructed a long line of train cars stretching from occupied Olenivka (south of Donetsk City) to Volnovakha (southeast of Vuhledar and north of Mariupol) over the past nine months. A Ukrainian source reported on February 11 that Russian forces have assembled more than 2,100 freight cars into a 30-kilometer-long train. The source reported that Russian forces began assembling the train in July 2023 and suggested that Russian forces intend to use the train as a defensive line against future Ukrainian assaults. The railway line between Olenivka and Volnovakha is roughly six kilometers from ISW’s current assessed frontline southeast of Novomykhailivka at its closest point and is in an area of the front that was relatively inactive when Russian forces reportedly began construction. Russian forces have recently made marginal territorial gains in this area. The Russians could have assembled the train for other purposes as well.

loving whatever this is

[beardedmrbean]

Iranian state media reported on Monday that Jamshid Sharmahd had been executed after he was convicted last year.  

Sharmahd was sentenced to death in February 2023 following a conviction by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Court on charges linked to his involvement in a deadly 2008 attack on a mosque in Shiraz that killed 14 people.

However, the formal conviction in Iran was for the much more vague Iranian criminal offense of spreading "corruption on Earth," a catch-all phrase the Islamic regime uses for an array of purported crimes, often related to religious values.

Iranian media including the legal news site Mizan reported that the execution took place on Monday morning. 

Iran had also accused him of being in contact with "FBI and CIA officers" and of having "attempted to contact Israeli Mossad agents."

California resident likely seized in Dubai in 2020

Tehran had accused Sharmahd of being the "ringleader of the terrorist Tondar group, who directed armed and terrorist acts in Iran from America." The little-known Tondar group, the armed wing of the "Kingdom Assembly of Iran," is based in California and says it seeks to restore Iran's monarchy that was overthrown by the 1979 Islamic revolution.

Before his kidnapping, believed to have taken place in Dubai, and subsequent detention in Iran, the 69-year old Sharmahd had been residing in California.

His daughter, Gazelle, had spearheaded the fight calling for him to be spared execution.

Germany, the EU and others had also called for the death sentence to be lifted.

"I don't think words can change a terrorist regime," Gazelle Sharmahd told DW soon after her father's conviction in 2023. "This is a regime that kidnaps people like my Dad from outside of Iran, takes them over there. ... This terrorist regime will not respond to any kind of talks or diplomacy. We have seen this, unfortunately."

Amensty International lamented 'grossly unfair' trial

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock last year called Sharmahd's setence "absolutely unacceptable," and also said he had not been given a fair trial. 

Rights NGO Amnesty International made similar complaints in reports on the case, calling the legal proceedings "grossly unfair." In a report on the original conviction last April

, Amnesty said Sharmahd was denied access to an independent lawyer of his own choosing and alleged that the state-appointed defense attorney's services were inadequate. 

"His government-appointed lawyer told his family on July 2, 2022, that there was 'no point' to him objecting against the Revolutionary Court admitting his forced 'confessions' as evidence," Amnesty wrote. "Prior to this, on May 9, 2021, the government-appointed lawyer said that without payment of US$250,000 from the family, he would not defend Jamshid Sharmahd in court and would only 'sit there'."

[darkmaga-returns]

On May 10, 2024, the UN General Assembly passed overwhelmingly, with only nine negative votes (Argentina, Czechia, Hungary, Israel, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea and the United States) a resolution (https://documents.un.org/doc/undoc/ltd/n24/129/97/pdf/n2412997.pdf) which “Determinesthat the State of Palestine is qualified for membership in the United Nations and should therefore be admitted to membership in the United Nations” and “Accordingly recommends that the Security Council reconsider the matter favorably.”

Early foreign policy appointments, both formally announced and authoritatively rumored, by President-elect Donald Trump make clear that there is absolutely no chance that his incoming administration would permit the Security Council to approve an upgrade in the status of the State of Palestine from observer state to full member state.

In addition, prominent members of the Israeli government, including Prime Minister Netanyahu, are expressing the expectation (https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/11/11/far-right-israeli-minister-orders-preparations-for-west-bank-annexation) that, in 2025, the second Trump administration will bless and recognize Israel’s formal annexation of the West Bank, as the first Trump administration recognized Israel’s formal annexation of occupied East Jerusalem and the occupied Syrian Golan Heights, thereby definitively destroying any possibility of Palestinian self-determination and freedom, and Trump has named a public supporter of Israeli annexation of the West Bank as his ambassador to Israel (https://news.antiwar.com/2024/11/12/trump-picks-mike-huckabee-supporter-of-israeli-annexation-as-ambassador-to-israel).

[eretzyisrael]

by Jack Elbaum

The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) will be holding a gathering to “pay tribute” to Iran’s late president, Ebrahim Raisi, next Thursday, just days after his death, despite still not formally condemning the Iran-backed terror group Hamas’ massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7.

Raisi died on Sunday along with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and several other in a helicopter crash in the mountainous region of northwestern Iran.

The now-deceased Iranian president has for decades been accused of major human rights abuses, most notably for his role on a so-called “death committee” that sentenced thousands of political prisoners to death in 1988, when he was deputy prosecutor of Tehran. In that role, Raisi earned the nickname “the butcher of Tehran.”

Raisi, a hardline Islamist, was widely considered a potential successor to Iran’s so-called “supreme leader,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as the highest power in the Iranian regime.

The decision to swiftly honor Raisi stands in stark contrast to the UNGA’s muted reaction to Hamas’ Oct. 7 terrorist attacks in southern Israel — where Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists murdered 1,200 people and kidnapped over 250 others as hostages.

In a letter sent on Tuesday, UNGA president Dennis Francis wrote, “I have the honor to inform you that a plenary meeting of the General Assembly to pay tribute to the memory of the late President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, His Excellency Seyyed Ebrahim Raisi, will be held on Thursday, May 30, 2024 at 10 am, in the General Assembly Hall.”

Francis added that “Member States are encouraged to deliver regional group statements” to help pay tribute to Raisi.

This is not the first act of deference for the late Iranian president. Earlier this week, the UN Security Council stood for a moment of silence in memory of Raisi. Then, the UN flag was also lowered to half-staff.

Outraged at the decision, Israeli Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan wrote on X/Twitter that then UN was “founded to prevent atrocities, but today it salutes mass-murdering dictators!”

In contrast, the UNGA did not pass its first resolution in response to the Israel-Hamas war until Oct. 27 — 20 days after Hamas’ initial massacre. It called for an immediate ceasefire and demanded widespread humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip. The resolution garnered 120 votes in favor, 14 opposed, and 45 abstentions.

However, the UNGA failed to adopt an amendment to the resolution condemning the Oct. 7 attacks.

The UN Security Council has similarly pushed resolutions concerning Israel and Gaza that did not denounce Hamas over the Oct. 7 atrocities.

It also took the UN Women organization until December to condemn the sexual and gender-based violence against girls and women that took place on Oct. 7.

The inability of UN member states to condemn the mass murder of Jews in Israel but quickly mourn the passing of Raisi — the president of a country that Western intelligence agencies have consistently labeled the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism — has reinforced for many critics the belief that the UN is biased against Israel and sympathetic to authoritarian regimes.

After the UN lowered its flag in honor of Raisi, US Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) said, “The UN and the Biden administration should honor the victims of the Iranian regime, not the Butcher of Tehran. Tributes to Raisi are a slap in the face to all those who suffered under his reign.”

Anne Bayefsky — director of the Touro Institute on Human Rights and the Holocaust, and president of Human Rights Voices — told Fox News Digital that “one might say this sign of UN respect for mass murderers and terrorist executioners is not a surprise,” because it has consistently refused to condemn Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks.

[disneytva]

Disney Networks May 2024 Programming Highlights

FRIDAY, MAY 3

Original Series – Episode Premiere on Disney Channel and Disney Junior Pupstruction – “Pirate Party/A Playful Playground” (1-23) (10:00-10:30 a.m. EDT on Disney Channel/9:00-9:30 a.m. EDT on Disney Junior, TV-Y)

“Pirate Party” – The Pup Crew builds a pirate ship.

“A Playful Playground” – Pupstruction tries to build a playground that will make all the kids happy.

Original Series – Episode Premiere on Disney Channel and Disney Junior Mickey Mouse Funhouse – “Goofy’s Birthday … in Space!” (3-03) (10:30-11:00 a.m. EDT on Disney Channel/9:30-10:00 a.m. EDT on Disney Junior, TV-Y)

Goofy’s birthday party keeps getting interrupted by Rocket Mouse’s outer space emergencies.

Jaime Camil (“Jane the Virgin”) reprises his role as Rocket Mouse.

Original Series – Episode Premiere on Disney Channel and Disney Junior Firebuds – “The Drive Along/Rescue Club Rangers” (2-07) (11:30 a.m.-12:00 p.m. EDT on Disney Channel/9:55-10:25 a.m. EDT on Disney Junior, TV-Y)

“The Drive Along” – The Firebuds join Axl’s “trambulance” dad on a ride along.

“Rescue Club Rangers” – The Firebuds try to earn Rescue Club badges by completing a forest rescue course.

SATURDAY, MAY 4

Original Series – Episode Premiere on Disney Channel and Disney XD Monsters at Work – “Descent into Fear” (2-09) (10:00-10:25 a.m. EDT, TV-G)

Tylor and Val start their first days at their new jobs: Tylor as a Scarer at FearCo and Val as a Jokester at Monsters, Inc.

Original Series – Episode Premiere on Disney Channel and Disney XD Monsters at Work – “Powerless” (2-10) (10:25-10:50 a.m. EDT, TV-G)

After a devastating blackout, Tylor must reconnect with Val to bring power back to Monstropolis.

Original Series – Episode Premiere on Disney Channel and Disney XD Hailey’s On It! – “Student of the Weak/Smother Knows Best” (1-28) (11:00-11:30 a.m. EDT, TV-Y7)

“Student of the Weak” – Hailey pulls out all the stops to be named Student of the Week.

“Smother Knows Best” – When Hailey and Scott go “Running with the Goats” for a list item, Hailey tries to keep her meddling mom away.

FRIDAY, MAY 10

Original Series – Episode Premiere on Disney Channel and Disney Junior Firebuds – “Fire Tower Frenzy/What’s Cookin’” (2-08) (11:30 a.m.-12:00 p.m. EDT on Disney Channel/9:55-10:25 a.m. EDT on Disney Junior, TV-Y)

“Fire Tower Frenzy” – The Firebuds visit a mountaintop fire tower to help look out for forest fires.

“What’s Cookin’” – Flash teams up with Chef Fernando and Chef Al in a bake-and-race competition for charity. The episode features recurring guest stars José Andrés (“We Feed People”) as Chef Al, Oscar Nuñez (“The Office”) as Chef Fernando, Padma Lakshmi (“Top Chef”) as Chef Pavani, and Julie Nathanson (“Avengers Assemble”) as Chef Fran.

SATURDAY, MAY 11

Original Series – Episode Premiere on Disney Channel and Disney XD Hailey’s On It! – “The Biggest Luger/An Imposter is Born” (1-29) (11:00-11:30 a.m. EDT, TV-Y7)

“The Biggest Luger” – Scott receives an invitation to a prestigious luge academy.

“An Imposter is Born” – Hailey lives the life of her favorite pop star but finds out it’s all work and no play.

FRIDAY, MAY 17

Original Series – Episode Premiere on Disney Channel and Disney Junior Firebuds – “Woodland Wiley/P.I. Piston” (2-19) (11:30 a.m.-12:00 p.m. EDT on Disney Channel/9:55-10:25 a.m. EDT on Disney Junior, TV-Y)

“Woodland Wiley” – The Firebuds take back a mirror Wiley steals while learning outdoor skills in the woods. Pamela Adlon (“Better Things”) recurs as Principal Kagan.

“P.I. Piston” – Piston solves the mystery of the disappearing instruments during music class. “Weird Al” Yankovic (“Milo Murphy’s Law”) and Lisa Loeb (“Jake and the Never Land Pirates”) recur as Latch and Laura.

SATURDAY, MAY 18

Original Series – Episode Premiere on Disney Channel and Disney XD Hailey’s On It! – “I Wanna Dance With My Buddy” (1-30) (11:00-11:30 a.m. EDT, TV-Y7)

Hailey’s plan to tell Scott her feelings at the school dance is thrown into disarray when a compatibility app says they might not be meant for each other.

FRIDAY, MAY 24

Original Series – Episode Premiere on Disney Channel and Disney Junior Firebuds – “Mayor for the Day/Dozer Disaster” (2-18) (11:30 a.m.-12:00 p.m. EDT on Disney Channel/9:30-9:55 a.m. EDT on Disney Junior, TV-Y)

“Mayor for the Day” – Piston wins a chance to be mayor for the day but gets carried away, making Gearbox Grove the safest town ever.

“Dozer Disaster” – The Firebuds try to save a grove of trees from being bulldozed.

Original Series – Episode Premiere on Disney Channel and Disney Junior SuperKitties – “Cat’s Pajamas/Country Kitty” (2-05) (2:00-2:30 p.m. EDT on Disney Channel/9:30-10:00 a.m. EDT on Disney Junior, TV-Y)

“Cat’s Pajamas” – Cat Burglar and a mystery thief compete to steal the Kittydale banner.

“Country Kitty” – Bitsy shares her cure for homesickness with Cousin Sassy. Anika Noni Rose (“The Princess and the Frog”) guest stars as Cousin Sassy.

FRIDAY, MAY 31

Original Series – Episode Premiere on Disney Channel and Disney Junior Pupstruction – “Mayor Boots/Good Clean Race” (1-24) (10:00-10:30 a.m. EDT on Disney Channel/9:00-9:30 a.m. EDT on Disney Junior, TV-Y)

“Mayor Boots” – Bobby Boots becomes mayor for the day.

“Good Clean Race” – Pupstruction tries to save family photo day when Bailey takes her race car for a test drive outdoors.

Original Series – Episode Premiere on Disney Junior Firebuds – “Haywire Halo/Smorgasburger” (2-10) (11:30 a.m.-12:00 p.m. EDT on Disney Channel/9:55-10:25 a.m. EDT on Disney Junior, TV-Y)

“Haywire Halo” – The Firebuds perform their first aerial rescue during a mountain hike.

“Smorgasburger” – Flash wants to open a booster shake stand at a food truck festival. Padma Lakshmi (“Top Chef”) and Julie Nathanson (“Avengers Assemble”) recur as Chef Pavani and Chef Fran.