#delegalized abortion

[tomorrowusa]

Abortion is the major issue in Virginia's state legislative elections on Tuesday.

Republicans control the governor's office and the House of Delegates – the lower chamber of the Virginia legislature. Democrats hold a narrow majority in the Senate – the upper chamber.

Virginia is the only state in the South which observes full reproductive freedom. GOP Gov. Glenn Youngkin (AKA: Glenn Trumpkin) is pushing a measure to restrict abortion. Trumpkin has national ambitions and wants to re-enforce his hardline credentials by pandering to the MAGA crowd.

If Democrats do not end up with control of at least one chamber of the legislature after Tuesday's election then Virginia will join the rest of the South as a place where Republican officials have a virtual regulator in every OBGYN office in the state.

Legislative elections can be decided by very narrow margins. And the tightest race for the Virginia Senate seems to be the 24th Senate District where incumbent Democrat Monty Mason is fighting a challenge by Republican J.D. Diggs. In a Washington Post article about the race in the 24th district, Karen Tumulty reports...

Across Virginia, abortion has become the overriding issue on the airwaves for the Democrats, highlighted in more than 40 percent of their ads. Republicans are talking about it in only 3 percent of theirs, according to the tracking firm AdImpact. But Mason noted: “People bring it up to me. I don’t have to lead with it in a lot of places.” That is because Virginia is the last Southern state where the procedure has remained widely available after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. Abortion in Virginia is legal up to 26 weeks of gestation.

A vote in the Virginia legislative election is important anywhere in the state. But it's even more important in these swing districts.

^^^ those charts come from this excellent article at the UVA Center for Politics.

The Race for Virginia’s Legislature, Part Two

If you'd like to know which legislative districts you're in, in Virginia or ANY state, find out here.

Find Your Legislators Look your legislators up by address or use your current location.

There's statistical evidence that Virginia voters in the 18 to 29 group can swing an election.

In 2020, Democrat Joe Biden easily carried Virginia in the presidential election; voters 18 to 29 overall made up 14.6% of the Virginians who took part in that election. In 2021, Republican Glenn Youngkin/Trumpkin won the race for Virginia governor; 18 to 29 voters were just 9.1% of the Virginia voters in that election. (source)

VOTE! If you live outside Virginia but know people there, send them a quick message to remind them to vote.

There's no such thing as an unimportant election.

[aveline-shepard]

ALSO I need you all to know that my aunt heard me affectionately talking about someone and later when my cousin drove her home, was like "I didn't know she was gay!" And, like, kudos to my aunt who was 100% cool with that (though surprised) and did not make a big deal about it in the moment, but I later had to inform her that my bestie and I are unfortunately not a couple because she is tragically heterosexual. I mean, with that said though, she is right and I AM gay.

[yuriartillery]

I saw the DNC video too where they were screaming through a megaphone inches away from their ears. Some protestor did that to me when I was escorting people to abortion clinics. I'm fucking hard of hearing now. They are protecting their ears because people are deliberately trying to intimidate them by screaming into their ear. It hurts and it causes real damage. NOTHING THESE IRRESPONSIBLE SHITHEADS DO HELPS PEOPLE!!!!! I donate to anera and I protested for Gaza before people like you let nazis and irresponsible jackasses take over protests. They have called for a ceasefire multiple times. The DNC is not your enemy. These dipshit attacking delegates are!!!

the DNC is absolutely my enemy you fucking rube

[aquadraco20]

All the Kamala haters out there still arent grasping that Trump exists. "Kamala supported Israel!" Yeah? So does the entire Republican party, including Trump. Who do you think is going to be more open to changing that- the one who supports a ceasefire and a two state solution or the one who says Israel should "finish the job"?

"Kamala is a cop!" Ok? Have you actually seen what she did as a prosecutor? How she protected LGBTQ rights even when the law told her to do otherwise? Have you forgotten that Republicans are ready to legislate LGBTQ people out of their rights as soon as they have the power to, including Trump?

"I want to vote for a better candidate!" The delegates have already been assigned. It is not possible with our currect election system for any other candidate to win the election. If you wanted a better candidate, you either should have voted for them during the primaries, or they weren't popular enough to win regardless if you did vote for them during the primaries.

With so much at state and so little time left in the election cycle, we need to focus on surviving this election, stacking Congress with Democrats, and then we might actually have success protecting the right to abortion and the rights of LGBTQ people, and possibly even doing something positive for Palestine. That isn't going to happen with Trump, that isn't going to happen if you vote third party, and that isn't going to happen if you don't vote. We are guaranteed to get some new, hopefully better candidates next election cycle.

Not voting isn't a boycott. It just guarantees that your voice goes unheard and makes it more likely that your rights and the rights of vulnerable people will be taken away.

[astrobiscuits]

Childress (30117) persona chart - what will your pregnancy be like?

Sun placement - the central theme of your pregnancy

🧸 Sun in 1st house/Aries Sun: Your main focus will be on you and yourself only. You might become more selfish during this time, believing you deserve "the best of the best". You might take up a high-impact sport (such as boxing, martial arts, American football, hockey) or a speed sport (sprinting, speed skating). If Sun is afflicted, you might prioritize yourself in the detriment of your baby's health (it could also point out to a possible abortion, but there needs to be more indicators in the chart for that)

🧸 Sun in 2nd house/Taurus Sun: Your main focus will be on your financial assets, material possession and self-worth during your pregnancy. Most of your time will be spent on buying stuff for the baby - bassinet, bottles, clothing, room decor etc. If Sun is well aspected, you might feel more desirable as a woman during your pregnancy, embracing your new body; likewise, if Sun is badly aspected, you might criticize yourself for gaining extra weight and feel less desirable

🧸 Sun in 3rd house/Gemini Sun: Your main focus will be on learning as much as you can about pregnancy & childbirth. You will desire to be informed about different types of childbirth, different symptoms during pregnancy, whether they're normal or not. If you have friends who are already parents, you might seek advice from them about childbearing and what it is like to raise a child. If Sun is badly aspected, you might have a harder time making decisions regarding your baby

🧸 Sun in 4th house/Cancer Sun: Your main focus will be on your growing family, especially your baby. If you have family traditions passed on through generations, you might repeat those traditions while pregnant. You might start a diary where you keep record of your baby kicks. You will be emotional during your pregnancy, but you'll be able to regulate your emotions. If Sun is afflicted, you might prioritize the baby over your own well-being

🧸 Sun in 5th house/Leo Sun: Your main focus will be on children in general. If you have family and/or friends with children, you might socialize with them more, watch how they interact with their parents and other children, and imagine what your own child will be like. You might use different apps to visualize what your baby will look like. You might also enjoy your life more and consider pregnancy to be one of the best period of your life (ofcours, if Sun is well aspected)

🧸 Sun in 6th house/Virgo Sun: Your main focus will be on your physical health and your daily responsabilities. You might pay more attention to your diet during your pregnancy. Developing a relationship with your doctor/midwife will become crucial for you during pregnancy. Delegating tasks to other people might prove to become more difficult, as you want to feel like your in control of everything that happens in your life. You might resort to light physical activity to manage stress

🧸 Sun in 7th house/Libra Sun: Your main focus will be on your relationship with your partner. You will make choices according to both your opinion and your partner's opinion. You might allocate more time to pampering yourself and doing feminine activities such as getting your nails done, doing your makeup, finding new clothes which are both fashionable and fit your new body, going for photoshoots in flower fields

🧸 Sun in 8th house/Scorpio Sun: Your main focus will be on the life-altering transformations you'll be facing as your pregnancy progresses. Your life will likely change A LOT after you find out you are pregnant. You might become more private with the people around you, feeling like you have to protect yourself from those who ask too many questions and/or potential stalkers. You will pay more attention to the sex life with your partner. If Sun is afflicted, you might develop a deep fear of having a miscarriage

🧸 Sun in 9th house/Sagittarius Sun: Your main focus will be on travelling and acquiring wisdom. You will likely become more optimistic and generous during the pregnancy. As the Sun rejoices in this house, you might start thinking about the meaning of life, with its different philosophies and religious beliefs. If there are other indicators in the Childress persona chart, this placement can indicate getting pregnant in college (same goes for Moon in 9th house)

🧸 Sun in 10th house/Capricorn Sun: Your main focus will be on your career, status and public recognition during your pregnancy. You might become more popular only for the fact that you're pregnant and glowing. The father of the baby will likely become more important to you during the pregnancy. If Sun is afflicted, you might focus more on your career to the detriment of your baby

🧸 Sun in 11th house/Aquarius Sun: Your main focus will be on your wishes and aspirations, your community and your friend group, but also on eccentric matters. You might develop an interest in the latest baby gadgets, which will make your life easier after pregnancy. If you're an introvert, you might feel more extroverted during pregnancy or vice versa. You will likely post more frequently on social media or start a new page/channel focused on the pregnancy

🧸 Sun in 12th house/Pisces Sun: Your main focus will be on your spirituality, escapism methods and night life. You might have premonitory dreams about your baby, such as finding the gender of the baby, their feelings during the pregnancy or even their past life. You might also intuitively know your baby's real due date, regardless of the one mentioned by the doctor. If Sun is well aspected, you might quit addictions for good, not just during the pregnancy. Likewise, if Sun is afflicted, you might cope with potential problems during pregnancy by starting (or continuing) bad habits, which end up becoming addictions

Miscellaneous obs

🍼 Sun/Moon aspecting asteroid Child (4580) or Miminko (60000) indicates having a strong connection with your baby during pregnancy

🍼 Asteroid Juno (3) aspecting Ascendant indicates that the first child will be very similar to the spouse. If the aspect is positive (sextile, trine), the child will inherit the positive traits of the spouse. If the aspect is negative (opposition, square), the child will inherit the negative traits of the spouse. For conjunction, it will be both positives and negatives. This aspect can point out to the relationship between the child and the spouse too (positive aspect = great relationship; negative aspect = strained relationship)

🍼 Planets conjuncting one of the angles = a significant change is likely to occur in your life during pregnancy

planet conjuncting ASC - change regarding the self

planet conjuncting IC - change regarding what's familiar & home environment

planet conjuncting DSC - change in an one-on-one relationship

planet conjuncting MC - change in reputation & professional matters

[thatdiabolicalfeminist]

The Democratic party is becoming increasingly fascist just as almost all major political entities in the West are. We have to figure out solutions beyond simple electoralism, because the Democratic Party won't save us even with a blank check to do so. They're deeply invested in these systems of harm and will protect them—with full fascism, if that's what it takes.

Even if the Dem establishment did mean well and was as helpless as they pretend to be when leftists call them on blocking progress, keeping Republicans out of the white house forever isn't achievable. Fascism is coming no matter who wins the 2024 election.

We need to organize with regular people. Politicians will not save us. Only mass movements can do that now.

Given that SCOTUS has anointed the office of the presidency as a monarch role beyond all reproach (so that when 45 wins in Nov as they are intending), and we’ll never have another presidential election, I wish that Biden would assume lame duck status IMMEDIATELY, call their bluff, and start issuing executive orders like crazy now through January 2025.

He could do shit like defund the military and pour the funds into social services, repeal all nationwide laws/restrictions on abortion, make all healthcare including all reproductive services and gender affirming care accessible, instate UBI and Medicare for all, write a 100% tax rate on billionaires, push sweeping environmental protections, break up monopolistic megacorps, close federal prisons, expand and pack the court, cancel all student/personal/medical/non corporate debts, open our boarders, decriminalize all drugs, etc. etc. etc.

Maybe then the 6 block justice set of 45 worshippers would see what they’ve done.

Maybe then, if Biden immediately, decisively even did 10% of that, he might not lose the election.

Of course, he’d actually have to give a shit about any of those things in order to do this.

And that’s the whole fucking point, right? He won’t. And it’s why we’re here.

Democrats hold themselves to “the rules” only to the extent they’re spineless liberals who are in the same big money pockets as republicans. The key difference being, they let republicans be the ones to more overtly, proudly kill us all and act powerless to stopping them.

When our structures demand they are the ONLY ones who could stop them. I can’t take it anymore.

[takami-takami]

The Uncommitted Movement and Uncommitted Delegates have been petitioning to have just one Palestinian-American speak at the DNC for months; among a sea of speakers, including a random border patrol agent, Trump voters, and the CEO of Uber.

They were told three words and no other explanation: "It's a no."

The delegates and Palestine protesters have been working tirelessly to get the DNC to rescind this decision on the last day of the convention and apply pressure. There is only one ethnic background that is not allowed to speak at the DNC, and that is Palestinians.

Georgia State Representative Ruwa Romman is at the top of the list of Palestinian democrats that were offered— of which the Uncommitted Movement and delegates generously offered the DNC to take their pick.

In case they don't let her speak, this is her speech.

"My name is Ruwa Romman, and I’m honored to be the first Palestinian elected to public office in the great state of Georgia and the first Palestinian to ever speak at the Democratic National Convention. My story begins in a small village near Jerusalem, called Suba, where my dad’s family is from. My mom’s roots trace back to Al Khalil, or Hebron. My parents, born in Jordan, brought us to Georgia when I was eight, where I now live with my wonderful husband and our sweet pets.

Growing up, my grandfather and I shared a special bond. He was my partner in mischief—whether it was sneaking me sweets from the bodega or slipping a $20 into my pocket with that familiar wink and smile. He was my rock, but he passed away a few years ago, never seeing Suba or any part of Palestine again. Not a day goes by that I don’t miss him.

This past year has been especially hard. As we’ve been moral witnesses to the massacres in Gaza, I’ve thought of him, wondering if this was the pain he knew too well. When we watched Palestinians displaced from one end of the Gaza Strip to the other I wanted to ask him how he found the strength to walk all those miles decades ago and leave everything behind. 

But in this pain, I’ve also witnessed something profound—a beautiful, multifaith, multiracial, and multigenerational coalition rising from despair within our Democratic Party. For 320 days, we’ve stood together, demanding to enforce our laws on friend and foe alike to reach a ceasefire, end the killing of Palestinians, free all the Israeli and Palestinian hostages, and to begin the difficult work of building a path to collective peace and safety. That’s why we are here—members of this Democratic Party committed to equal rights and dignity for all. What we do here echoes around the world.

They’ll say this is how it’s always been, that nothing can change. But remember Fannie Lou Hamer—shunned for her courage, yet she paved the way for an integrated Democratic Party. Her legacy lives on, and it’s her example we follow.

But we can’t do it alone. This historic moment is full of promise, but only if we stand together. Our party’s greatest strength has always been our ability to unite. Some see that as a weakness, but it’s time we flex that strength. 

Let’s commit to each other, to electing Vice President Harris and defeating Donald Trump who uses my identity as a Palestinian as a slur. Let’s fight for the policies long overdue—from restoring access to abortions to ensuring a living wage, to demanding an end to reckless war and a ceasefire in Gaza. To those who doubt us, to the cynics and the naysayers, I say, yes we can—yes we can be a Democratic Party that prioritizes funding our schools and hospitals, not for endless wars. That fights for an America that belongs to all of us—Black, brown, and white, Jews and Palestinians, all of us, like my grandfather taught me, together."

[qqueenofhades]

I think the veepstakes are going to continue for another week or so, both to increase the profile of her potential running mates and see how they do with the public, time to vet, and give everyone a little more incentive to be extra enthusiastic about campaigning for her, but ALSO because there's a nonzero chance Trump may drop Vance and they'll need to pivot their strategy, though I think most choices will be sound either way(I like Walz and Beshear the best). What do you think are the odds of Trump dropping Vance versus doubling down because he doesn't want to look weak or indecisive?

She is going to have to pick pretty quickly, because the Ohio GOP attempted some fuckery by putting their ballot deadline before the DNC (and refusing to grant an extension as they always did for Republicans, so you know). I expect she will pick by the middle of next week at the latest, because the virtual nomination has to be made by, iirc, August 6th in order to outwit the attempted Republican ratfuckery. The DNC is then August 19-22, where the whole thing will be made official and everyone will pledge/endorse/etc. That leaves a pretty compressed timeline to road-test Veep picks, see how they work with Harris, how they play with the public, etc. But they've been on top of it so far, so there's that. I saw someone suggest that she let it go on as long as possible in order to have 6-10 white guys hyping her up on TV every day -- which is valid, yes, but she will have to pick soon. There are really no bad options, though I too have ones that I would like in particular. I am really warming to Walz, as I think he has a great communication style and would shore her up in the white Midwest. Though I did get a fundraising email from Mark Kelly on behalf of Kamala Harris yesterday, and lbr if you can pick an astronaut, pick an astronaut.

As for Trump dropping Vance, he's in considerably more of a pickle (everyone together now: AHAHAAHHAH! HAHAHAH! HAAHHAHAHAHAHA!) because the RNC has already happened, Vance is legally and bindingly the VP nominee, and if they change it now, there are a ton of legal and procedural steps that take time and make the GOP look incredibly weak. They will also piss off the Project 2025 people (who were all over the Vance pick because obviously, Vance loves it and they are horrible) -- which, if they were at all sensible, they might do. But they're fascists and that's actually what they want to do, so they won't. Biden was able to step aside and put Harris in so easily because he was not actually the Democratic nominee yet -- he was just the presumptive nominee, delegates are technically free to vote for whoever they want and the nominee is not official until after this convention process has happened, and he wasn't locked in. But if the GOP tries to drop Vance now, it's going to be a lot of legal hassle, they'll look incredibly foolish, and they'll piss off the core fascists they have been rallying every step of the way. Too bad, so sad. No good choice, huh? Seems karmically fitting that they can't abort Vance. Oh no. They must carry his ass to term.

[odinsblog]

One of the most durable myths in recent history is that the religious right, the coalition of conservative evangelicals and fundamentalists, emerged as a political movement in response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling legalizing abortion. The tale goes something like this: Evangelicals, who had been politically quiescent for decades, were so morally outraged by Roe that they resolved to organize in order to overturn it.

This myth of origins is oft repeated by the movement’s leaders. In his 2005 book, Jerry Falwell, the firebrand fundamentalist preacher, recounts his distress upon reading about the ruling in the Jan. 23, 1973, edition of the Lynchburg News: “I sat there staring at the Roe v. Wade story,” Falwell writes, “growing more and more fearful of the consequences of the Supreme Court’s act and wondering why so few voices had been raised against it.” Evangelicals, he decided, needed to organize.

Some of these anti- Roe crusaders even went so far as to call themselves “new abolitionists,” invoking their antebellum predecessors who had fought to eradicate slavery.

But the abortion myth quickly collapses under historical scrutiny. In fact, it wasn’t until 1979—a full six years after Roe—that evangelical leaders, at the behest of conservative activist Paul Weyrich, seized on abortion not for moral reasons, but as a rallying-cry to deny President Jimmy Carter a second term. Why? Because the anti-abortion crusade was more palatable than the religious right’s real motive: protecting segregated schools. So much for the new abolitionism.

Today, evangelicals make up the backbone of the pro-life movement, but it hasn’t always been so. Both before and for several years after Roe, evangelicals were overwhelmingly indifferent to the subject, which they considered a “Catholic issue.” In 1968, for instance, a symposium sponsored by the Christian Medical Society and Christianity Today, the flagship magazine of evangelicalism, refused to characterize abortion as sinful, citing “individual health, family welfare, and social responsibility” as justifications for ending a pregnancy. In 1971, delegates to the Southern Baptist Convention in St. Louis, Missouri, passed a resolution encouraging “Southern Baptists to work for legislation that will allow the possibility of abortion under such conditions as rape, incest, clear evidence of severe fetal deformity, and carefully ascertained evidence of the likelihood of damage to the emotional, mental, and physical health of the mother.” The convention, hardly a redoubt of liberal values, reaffirmed that position in 1974, one year after Roe, and again in 1976.

When the Roe decision was handed down, W. A. Criswell, the Southern Baptist Convention’s former president and pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas—also one of the most famous fundamentalists of the 20th century—was pleased: “I have always felt that it was only after a child was born and had a life separate from its mother that it became an individual person,” he said, “and it has always, therefore, seemed to me that what is best for the mother and for the future should be allowed.”

Although a few evangelical voices, including Christianity Today magazine, mildly criticized the ruling, the overwhelming response was silence, even approval. Baptists, in particular, applauded the decision as an appropriate articulation of the division between church and state, between personal morality and state regulation of individual behavior. “Religious liberty, human equality and justice are advanced by the Supreme Court abortion decision,” wrote W. Barry Garrett of Baptist Press.

So what then were the real origins of the religious right? It turns out that the movement can trace its political roots back to a court ruling, but not Roe v. Wade.

In May 1969, a group of African-American parents in Holmes County, Mississippi, sued the Treasury Department to prevent three new whites-only K-12 private academies from securing full tax-exempt status, arguing that their discriminatory policies prevented them from being considered “charitable” institutions. The schools had been founded in the mid-1960s in response to the desegregation of public schools set in motion by the Brown v. Board of Education decision of 1954. In 1969, the first year of desegregation, the number of white students enrolled in public schools in Holmes County dropped from 771 to 28; the following year, that number fell to zero.

In Green v. Kennedy (David Kennedy was secretary of the treasury at the time), decided in January 1970, the plaintiffs won a preliminary injunction, which denied the “segregation academies” tax-exempt status until further review. In the meantime, the government was solidifying its position on such schools. Later that year, President Richard Nixon ordered the Internal Revenue Service to enact a new policy denying tax exemptions to all segregated schools in the United States. Under the provisions of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which forbade racial segregation and discrimination, discriminatory schools were not—by definition—“charitable” educational organizations, and therefore they had no claims to tax-exempt status; similarly, donations to such organizations would no longer qualify as tax-deductible contributions.

On June 30, 1971, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia issued its ruling in the case, now Green v. Connally (John Connally had replaced David Kennedy as secretary of the Treasury). The decision upheld the new IRS policy: “Under the Internal Revenue Code, properly construed, racially discriminatory private schools are not entitled to the Federal tax exemption provided for charitable, educational institutions, and persons making gifts to such schools are not entitled to the deductions provided in case of gifts to charitable, educational institutions.”

Paul Weyrich, the late religious conservative political activist and co-founder of the Heritage Foundation, saw his opening.

In the decades following World War II, evangelicals, especially white evangelicals in the North, had drifted toward the Republican Party—inclined in that direction by general Cold War anxieties, vestigial suspicions of Catholicism and well-known evangelist Billy Graham’s very public friendship with Dwight Eisenhower and Richard Nixon. Despite these predilections, though, evangelicals had largely stayed out of the political arena, at least in any organized way. If he could change that, Weyrich reasoned, their large numbers would constitute a formidable voting bloc—one that he could easily marshal behind conservative causes.

“The new political philosophy must be defined by us [conservatives] in moral terms, packaged in non-religious language, and propagated throughout the country by our new coalition,” Weyrich wrote in the mid-1970s. “When political power is achieved, the moral majority will have the opportunity to re-create this great nation.” Weyrich believed that the political possibilities of such a coalition were unlimited. “The leadership, moral philosophy, and workable vehicle are at hand just waiting to be blended and activated,” he wrote. “If the moral majority acts, results could well exceed our wildest dreams.”

But this hypothetical “moral majority” needed a catalyst—a standard around which to rally. For nearly two decades, Weyrich, by his own account, had been trying out different issues, hoping one might pique evangelical interest: pornography, prayer in schools, the proposed Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution, even abortion. “I was trying to get these people interested in those issues and I utterly failed,” Weyrich recalled at a conference in 1990.

The Green v. Connally ruling provided a necessary first step: It captured the attention of evangelical leaders , especially as the IRS began sending questionnaires to church-related “segregation academies,” including Falwell’s own Lynchburg Christian School, inquiring about their racial policies. Falwell was furious. “In some states,” he famously complained, “It’s easier to open a massage parlor than a Christian school.”

One such school, Bob Jones University—a fundamentalist college in Greenville, South Carolina—was especially obdurate. The IRS had sent its first letter to Bob Jones University in November 1970 to ascertain whether or not it discriminated on the basis of race. The school responded defiantly: It did not admit African Americans.

Although Bob Jones Jr., the school’s founder, argued that racial segregation was mandated by the Bible, Falwell and Weyrich quickly sought to shift the grounds of the debate, framing their opposition in terms of religious freedom rather than in defense of racial segregation. For decades, evangelical leaders had boasted that because their educational institutions accepted no federal money (except for, of course, not having to pay taxes) the government could not tell them how to run their shops—whom to hire or not, whom to admit or reject.

The Civil Rights Act, however, changed that calculus.

(continue reading)

[copperbadge]

I was watching hockey earlier today and it got me wondering what sports are played in Askazer-Shivadlakia. Football & surfing’s been mentioned, what else is played in the country? Does it snow enough in the highlands for there to be any winter sports enthusiasts? What’s the state of women’s professional sports? Does the country compete in anything internationally? The Olympics are awful, but does the Ask send a delegation of athletes anyway?

It's not something I've thought a lot about outside of football, I admit, though thinking about the football program has clarified some aspects of it. Mainly I just am not entirely sure how a lot of sports...work, so I kind of stay hands-off.

Askazer-Shivadlakia has never been a super wealthy country. Jason was a bit of a traditionalist and Michaelis was concerned with modernizing but he wasn't an innovator per se, unless pushed; by the end of his reign the country was reaching a point where it had the kind of money to sustain a university or expand its public services fairly radically, but only just. Gregory is a big part of that because he trained as an economist, and while he's only been king for about two years, he's been working in the administration for much longer. He's been able to institute changes that have led to a comfortable surplus in the budget.

So for example, Michaelis wouldn't let the government fund a professional sports team of any kind because the money it would take was already being spent on the youth sports program. He felt that giving kids the chance to play sport was more important than sustaining a team, and said that their athletes were a gift they gave the world. And now that elite players are returning from playing abroad with money and the intention to spend it on supporting a team, his investment is actually, unexpectedly, paying off. Michaelis just wanted the kids of his country to learn self-discipline and good sportsmanship but in doing so he also ensured that if you leave the Ask to seek your fortune as an athlete, once you've got a fortune, you come back home to spend it. And Gregory's work means the government can help.

Football and F1 racing are the two big passion sports the Shivadh follow, though F1 is a fandom, not a pastime. There's decent surfing but that's more a tourist thing. Definitely there are regions that get cold enough for winter sports, but like surfing most of the ski/board sites are tourist-focused, places that ranch dairy cattle in the summer and then host tourists in the winter when the cows are in the warmer lowland pastures. Undoubtedly there are Shivadh snow sport enthusiasts and the country supports them if they compete internationally (both in terms of cheering them on and financially) but there's no program or deep tradition of it. If I ever actually write about those areas extensively that might change, though.

Women's sport has equal support to men's generally, whatever level that might be -- Askazer-Shivadlakia has always been relatively progressive but when Michaelis was elected, Miranda made it her business to push legislation that explicitly protected things like equal funding for women's sport and education and access to birth control and abortion. (She's also the reason weed is legal and Gerald can get Adderall in Europe, where it's banned in a lot of places; there's something to be said for the scion of old conservative nobility who is simply ready to wreck shit.)

There is no golf. Michaelis detests it personally and there's no room for it anyway. If they ever build Askazarama Amusement Park, they might get a mini-golf course.

I don't really know how the Olympics and other international competitions work. If there are talented athletes who want to compete and seem capable of qualifying, there's state funding for them, but there's no formal program where like, the MPs sit down every two years and pick out the top athletes they want to send. Likely most people interested in elite sport competition have to leave the country to train, and represent other countries as a result -- like Paolo in the football novel, who left when he was a young teen to attend a junior academy in France and entered professional play from there.

Shivadh still feel ownership of them, mind you. For example, Felix (the love interest in the football novel) played on the Italian national team and kicked a winning goal in a World Cup for Italy, but Askazer-Shivadlakia consider that cup theirs. A Shivadh did it, ergo it is a Shivadh victory. If an athlete were to say, represent France in an Olympic decathlon and take the gold, they would consider that to be a gold medal for Askazer-Shivadlakia.

The country is very excited about finally having a football team of their own. Shivadh Royal Football Club could lose every game it ever plays and still nobody would let a word be said against them. Fons-Askaz on match day is just a sea of hideous orange Shivadh RFC jerseys that say NARAN JUICE on the front. (Their major sponsor is local juice box and sports drink maker Naran Juice Box Co.)

[tomorrowusa]

It has been a bad week for Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin of Virginia. Youngkin (AKA: Glenn Trumpkin) has been trying to position himself as the savior of the Republican Party in order to gain national political traction.

Trumpkin's centerpiece of Republican salvation has been what I call Faux Roe. It's his proposal to restrict abortion to the first 15 weeks and offer almost no exceptions thereafter. His plan was to flip the Virginia Senate and enact Faux Roe into law. He had tried to portray the real Roe v. Wade and Democratic support for it as "extremist".

Not only did Trumpkin fail to flip the state Senate, but Republicans also lost control of the Virginia House of Delegates. Trumpkin will now have to face a legislature with BOTH chambers under Democratic control for the last two years of his term.

Democrats have secured full control of the Virginia state legislature, winning a majority in the house of delegates and depriving the Republican governor, Glenn Youngkin, of the opportunity to enact a 15-week abortion ban. Democrats maintained their majority in the state senate and flipped control of the house of delegates, where Republicans previously held a narrow advantage. Democrats’ victories quashed Youngkin’s hopes of securing a Republican-controlled legislature that would be able to advance his policy agenda, casting doubt upon his prospects as a potential presidential candidate. “Governor Youngkin and Virginia Republicans did everything they could to take total control of state government, but the people of the Commonwealth rejected them,” Susan Swecker, chair of the Democratic party of Virginia, said in a statement. “Virginians won’t go backwards. Instead of extremism and culture wars, people voted for commonsense leadership and problem solvers.”

Virginia's off-off year elections take place in odd years prior to Congressional and presidential elections. They provide some insight as to the direction of the prevailing political winds.

As one of the only states holding off-year elections, the Virginia results could serve as a bellwether for the presidential race next year.

Things haven't been going well for radical anti-abortion, anti-democracy Republicans in general.

The Democratic victory in Virginia was good news for President Biden.

Why Democrats’ big Virginia win is also a victory for Biden

Joe Biden wasn’t on the ballot on Tuesday in Virginia. But Democrats’ big win will bring welcome news on the other side of the Potomac. Virginia’s off-year elections have long been seen as a bellwether of the broader political environment — and a partial referendum on the incumbent president. So Democrats sweeping control of the state legislature — which both parties believed was in play — will serve as a boost to Biden’s reelection campaign next year. [ ... ] Tuesday’s wins will likely validate Democrats’ plans to continue to run on abortion next year, a strategy that has given them a series of almost uninterrupted wins since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last summer. “In hundreds of races since Donald Trump’s conservative Supreme Court appointments overturned Roe v. Wade, we’ve seen Americans overwhelmingly side with President Biden and Democrats’ vision for this country,” Biden’s campaign manager Julie Chávez Rodríguez said in a statement Tuesday night. “That same choice will be before voters again next November, and we are confident the American people will send President Biden and Vice President Harris back to the White House to keep working for them.” They also show that Youngkin doesn’t have the silver bullet for solving the GOP’s electoral problems with abortion, as his operation had hoped.

Republicans had been trying for 49 years to get Roe v. Wade overturned. When the GOP Supreme Court finally did the deed last year, it turned out to be a poison pill for Republicans running for office.

In Virginia, Democrats won 21 of 40 seats in the Senate and 51 of 100 seats in the House of Delegates.

When the official counting of late absentee ballots and provisional ballots is completed next week, Dems could end up gaining one additional seat in each chamber. 🎉

[fsfghgee]

Hi!

I saw a very funny post from a person who told what happened in their dream, in which Sektor and Bi-Han were a married couple and had a son 😅

This made me wonder what they would be like in a marriage and as parents. I think they would be strict with their son, since they both also had demanding parents.

What do you think?

Bi-Han's reaction when finding out about Sektor's pregnancy~

Sektor wasn't ready to have a baby. She didn't feel ready to be a mother. With the pregnancy test in hand, she rediscovered what it was like to have red, swollen eyes from crying so much. She hadn't shed tears in years...

Having recently married Bi-Han and still having the responsibilities of her retired armorer father on her shoulders, that pregnancy couldn't have come at a worse time.

She still wanted to make the most of all the time they spent together and make up for lost time. Help him in every way possible to evolve the clan, to make them rule.

How would she help him in everything carrying around another human being inside her? She wondered while drying her tears.

Bi-Han loved her. He had already proven that to her. But although he loved her, she couldn't remember him ever expressing a desire to have children. She wondered if he would hate her for being so careless as to get pregnant with him so early. They hadn't even been married for 5 months...

And although those had been the best 5 months of her life... — The extravagant wedding ceremony, the wedding night, moving to the palace and finally living under the same roof as Bi-Han, being able to see and feel him every day. It was like a dream come true. Bi-Han really was the love of her life. — She couldn't help but fear the worst.

With the worst thoughts in mind, she did the unthinkable.

Bi-Han had just returned with his brothers and some Lin Kuei warriors from Madam Bo's restaurant after a successful test, still angry that the farmerboy had managed to cut his arm — even though thanks to his cryomancer genes he healed faster than an average human and the deep wound was almost healed — when a servant hurriedly approached him, nervous and panting.

The servant, out of breath from running so much, spoke quickly and almost as if nothing else mattered. Upon hearing that Sektor had fallen ill, Bi-Han forgot about his brothers' taunts about Kung Lao having managed to cut him and left everyone behind as he made an ice slide. The longest and fastest ice slide of his life.

Arriving at his beloved's chambers, Bi-Han found Sektor sleeping. And hearing from one of the healers the most likely reason for her being in that state shocked him greatly.

He could hardly believe that he was going to be a father and that Sektor had tried to abort.

Stroking Sektor's silky black hair, he patiently waited for her to open her eyes and assure him that she was okay before questioning her.

Bi-Han did not expect to hear from Sektor that she feared him, that she feared his reaction to her unplanned pregnancy.

Although deep down Bi-Han was worried and nervous about Sektor's pregnancy, he assured her that the baby was welcome and that no one could be a more formidable mother than her. No other woman could be a better parent to his heir.

Sektor wished for a beautiful boy with Bi-Han's looks and innate powers.

Bi-Han did't care about the baby's gender. He did not wish for a specific gender, only that the baby be born healthy and strong. However, if a girl were born, he would want her to be named after his deceased mother.

Bi-Han had always placed great value on blood ties. He was proud of the women in his life. Just as Sektor was his queen, his daughter would be his princess. However, if a son were born, he would love and protect him just as he would a daughter. Male or female, he would spare no effort to make his heir a formidable warrior worthy of inheriting his position one day.

On the day of the birth, he delegated all his unavoidable commitments to Hydro. He stayed by Sektor's side the entire time. And Sektor was moved by him praising her for her performance and thanking her for giving him a beautiful and strong son. She had never felt so tired and vulnerable in her entire life, but having Bi-Han by her side gave her the strength to get through it all. She had never seen so much pride in his eyes.

As expected, the baby was born a cryomancer. Continuing his father's cryomancer bloodline, it didn't take long before he became a shadow of the Grandmaster to learn from him.

Although everyone in the clan saw the boy as just as attractive and strong as his father had once been, there were undeniable features of his mother in him, more specifically his mother's pale skin, her delicate, upturned nose, her slightly fuller lips… He was absurdly attractive and not only the clan members recognized this.

He had his father's strength and talent, his mother's intelligence and wits, the good looks and ruthlessness of both. Often he didn't even need to fight to get what he wanted, as he had even his enemies sighing for him.

The heir's flirtatious and manipulative behavior, although effective, disappointed Bi-Han.

Bi-Han had never been a man who avoided conflicts or tried to do things the easy way. Watching his son take this path frustrated him greatly.

Suddenly, the little boy who mimicked him in everything, who was almost his shadow and his greatest pride, became a manipulative, arrogant and sardonic teenager.

Although he had had a routine as demanding as his parents' to make him a worthy warrior and he had become a very skilled one. At no time during the boy's growth did Sektor or Bi-Han deny him anything. He had everything he wanted.

Bi-Han regretted not having punished him more and reinforced his discipline like his father had done with him.

The few quarrels that happened between Bi-Han and Sektor always started with the future of the heir under discussion. There was no other disagreement between them. And even though their son had been the subject of disagreements in their marriage several times, they loved each other way too much to stay away from each other for long. The connection they had was too deep. And over time, Bi-Han learned that he needed to give in and accept that not everything would always be under his control. Especially when it came to his own son's personality.

....

[polyacrylamidepensieve]

If you don’t vote for Biden, Trump will probably win. If Trump wins, we have someone as President who has said he will make it so that shoplifters “can just expect to be shot” when leaving the store. Trump bad is on a whole nother level. As someone who has lived in China before… yes. We do currently have free speech here in comparison.

He has plans in place to fire all of the people in government who check your food for safety and your cars for emissions, and replace them with people loyal to him.

If everyone who could stand up to him is replaced by a Trump loyalist, and if everyone who stands up to him is fired or locked up or indicted somehow on bogus charges, we’ll lose the ability to democratically oust him when his term is over.

Lots of things happened under him before that we never thought could actually happen.

As an asian american, I am going to be substantially less safe in a Trump presidency where white supremacists only get wrist slapped and then pardoned for violence like Jan 6th.

I’m scared. I’m angry as fuck at Biden for a lot of reasons. But I’m so so so scared of even the possibility of Trump winning.

It can get so much worse than the Muslim ban. He doesn’t care about the environment. He doesn’t care about humankind or human rights. He isn’t kind, and he isn’t afraid to use deadly violence to get what he wants. He wants to ban abortion nationwide. He wants to delegalize trans rights in the military.

[jackiespurnell]

trump is pissing me off right now with his old “abortion should be up to the states” agenda

like okay your excuse is the tenth amendment (which claims that “the powers not delegated to the united states by the constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people”)

but the people who wrote that tenth amendment were all men. they are called the founding fathers for a reason. they can’t get pregnant, they weren’t even thinking about abortion; it wasn’t even a legalized or accessible thing back then.

trump claims hes tryna "make america great again" but all hes doing is just alienating a large number of this country (the afab women) by only appeasing to a certain group.

what about the rape victims? the teenage girls who were drugged at parties? the innocent children harassed by male family members and school administrators? the adult women getting assaulted at work? what about them? what about the girls who aren’t ready to be mothers, the girls who died in childbirth? what about them?

it could’ve been prevented. it could’ve been stopped.

you have to be a sick person to be willing to just look the other way when shit like this is going down just because of a fucking amendment in the constitution.

my body, my choice and fuck everyone who thinks otherwise

[moniquill]

FOR FELLOW RI VOTERS

directly copy/pasted from the ACLU news dispatch on this topic:

Let's debunk some ideas about a constitutional convention (AKA con con). Some people urging you to vote for a con con seem to think we're overreacting or fear-mongering, even though our constitutional rights would be at risk in the process. We're going to fight against anything that chips away at our rights from the very start – which means urging everyone to vote against holding a convention in the first place.

Debunking #1: The idea that we just want to "keep the status quo" and avoid "government reform."

A delegate from the 1986 convention said in an interview that hot-button issues took over the last convention immediately, pivoting the conversation from government reform to social issues. And for the government reform amendments that were put before voters, many were rejected because they were too watered down.

Our job at the ACLU is to protect the civil liberties of all Rhode Islanders, and our opposition to a con con is to avoid a really damaging set of constitutional amendments.

Debunking #2: Proponents frame our words of caution as being anti-democratic and not letting the voters decide.

Our concern is not a lack of trust in Rhode Island voters, but a lack of accountability the delegates have to the voters. Unlike legislators, who assumably want to get re-elected for another term, once delegates are elected, they have free rein to propose any amendments they want to – regardless of what promises they campaign on.

Additionally, voters can't make informed decisions when they're not getting all the information. In 1986, the ballot included an amendment that restricted abortion rights, but the description of the amendment all voters received omitted ANY reference to the anti-abortion clause. It's not exactly a "let the people decide!" situation when the people themselves can't know what they're voting for.

Finally, we believe individual rights should not be subject to majority rule, especially in a process that historically has damaged the rights of minorities the most.

Debunking #3: They think we talk too much about special interest dark money affecting the result.

We're not overstating how much money will be spent on ballot amendments: In MA, over $26.7 million has already been spent on their referenda items, most of the money coming from out-of-state, according to a recent WCVB news report.

Realistically, money really matters. All the organizations in our small state working to protect our rights – many of which you may donate to – can't possibly outspend the millions of dollars that out-of-state special interests can to get specific messages in front of voters.

Fighting against bad amendments (that could have been avoided!) is not where we want to be spending our budget in the coming years.

So, for any of you who are thinking, "let a convention happen, and then we'll sort the good from the bad!" We're not waiting for a convention to be approved and then to fight against the proposed anti-civil liberties amendments. We're starting now, and we need you to reject Question 1 and spread the word.

Forward this email, or our website page explaining what Question 1 is to three friends and family to help us work preventively!

In solidarity,

Zoe Chakoian Communications Associate, ACLU of Rhode Island

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

July 22, 2024

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

JUL 23, 2024

Vice President Kamala Harris has continued to rack up endorsements and delegates since President Biden’s surprise announcement yesterday that he would not accept the 2024 Democratic presidential nomination. As of tonight, Harris has the support of at least 2,471 delegates, more than the 1,976 she will need to secure the nomination.

Endorsements have also continued to mount, with the Congressional Black Caucus, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, the Congressional Progressive Caucus, the AAPI (Asian American and Pacific Islander) Victory Fund, and the Latino Victory Fund all endorsing her. 

Labor unions have also backed her: the AFL-CIO, which represents 12.5 million workers, endorsed Harris. So did the Service Employees International Union, with 2 million workers, as well as the United Steelworkers, which represents 850,000 metal workers and miners, and the Communications Workers of America. Other unions endorsing Harris include the American Federation of Teachers, the United Food and Commercial Workers, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. 

Money continues to roll in. Since Biden’s announcement, Harris and the Democrats have raised about $250 million in donations and pledges. More than 888,000 were from small-dollar donors. Volunteers are also joining the Harris campaign, which said that more than 28,000 people have signed up to work on the campaign in the day since Biden passed the torch. Today, Beyoncé gave Harris permission to use her song “Freedom” as a campaign song, and TikTok users have jumped on the Harris trend.

Harris is keeping some of the key infrastructure of Biden’s campaign. She has announced that Biden campaign manager Julie Chávez-Rodriguez and Biden campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon will remain in their positions. Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer announced today that she, too, will stay on as co-chair for Harris’s campaign as she was for Biden’s.

Harris spoke today at campaign headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware, smoothing the transition from Biden’s campaign to her own. “I know it’s been a rollercoaster and we’re all filled with so many mixed emotions about this,” Harris said. “We love Joe and Jill. We really do. They truly are like family.” Biden called in to the meeting from Delaware, where he is isolating as he recovers from Covid, to thank the staff. “I know it’s hard, because you’ve poured your heart and soul into me, to help us win this thing,” Biden told them, but added: “The name changed at the top of the ticket. The mission hasn’t changed at all.” Biden told Harris: “I’m watching you kid, I love you. You’re the best, kid.”

Harris went on to indicate that she will be taking the fight for the presidency aggressively to Trump, highlighting his criminal behavior. “Before I was elected as Vice President, before I was elected as United States Senator,” she said today, “I was the elected Attorney General, as I've mentioned, to California, and before that, I was a courtroom prosecutor. In those roles I took on perpetrators of all kinds. Predators who abused women. Fraudsters who ripped off consumers. Cheaters who broke the rules for their own gain. So hear me when I say I know Donald Trump's type.”

She was clear, though, that the fight is not just about Trump; it is about “two different versions of what we see as the future of our country…. Donald Trump wants to take our country backward. To a time before many of our fellow Americans had full freedoms and rights. But we believe in a brighter future that makes room for all Americans.” She promised to continue the work of building the middle class, protect abortion rights, enact commonsense gun safety legislation, and protect voting rights. She contrasted the Democrats’ vision of “a country of freedom, compassion, and rule of law” with the Republicans’: “a country of chaos, fear, and hate.”

Biden’s announcement and Harris’s rapid consolidation of support and money appear to have blindsided the Trump-Vance campaign. MAGA Republicans have responded with scattershot arguments that suggest they had not thought through a scenario in which Biden would step down, an omission so astonishing it perhaps suggests they could not imagine a presumptive nominee voluntarily giving up power. 

Without a coherent strategy, MAGA Republicans today have been all over the map, suggesting among other things that Biden’s voluntarily stepping down from his presumptive nomination is a “coup” and that Harris is a “D[iversity] E[quity and] I[nclusion] hire.” 

For a party that is offering voters a popular set of policies, the opposing party’s nominee shouldn’t matter all that much, but Trump policies and the Trump campaign’s Project 2025 are both so unpopular that operatives intended to run not on policy but by firing up their base against Biden himself. In The Atlantic yesterday, journalist Tim Alberta explained that the entire Trump campaign apparatus was focused on Biden and that putting extremist Ohio senator J.D. Vance on the ticket “was something of a luxury meant to run up margins with the base in a blowout rather than persuade swing voters in a nail-biter.”

Now the energy appears to have shifted. As Anne Applebaum wrote today in The Atlantic, operatives staged the Republican National Convention of just last week to project strength and power, and Trump’s rambling and incoherent performance there seemed “deranged, sinister, and frightening.” Now, Applebaum wrote, “it just looks deranged,” as Biden’s decision to step away from power contrasts powerfully with Trump’s desperate attempts to cling to power with the Big Lie while he calls up his threadbare descriptions of national carnage.

The change Applebaum identified dovetailed neatly with a new political action committee started by conservative lawyer George Conway to highlight Trump’s “mental unfitness for office.” Frustrated by the apparent unwillingness of the press to cover Trump’s mental health while it focused on President Biden’s, Conway formed the “Anti-Psychopath PAC” to highlight Trump’s mental state. “The failure to treat Trump’s behavior as pathological has led the media and the country, perversely, to treat it as normal,” Conway told The Independent, and said that Project 2025 should be seen as an extension of Trump’s malignant narcissism “because basically he wants to turn the government into a mechanism for retribution.”

A post on Trump’s social media feed tonight suggested that Trump recognizes that being the oldest candidate ever nominated for the presidency is a campaign issue. The post said that “Lyin’ Kamala Harris…has absolutely terrible pole [sic] numbers against a fine and brilliant young man named DONALD J. TRUMP! Be careful what you wish for, Democrats???”

Today, Trump’s vice presidential pick Vance gave his first campaign speech at his former high school in Middletown, Ohio. There, dressed in a blue suit with a red tie that echoed Trump’s signature look, Vance spoke of his history in the town and promised that he and Trump are “ready to save America.” But his lack of experience on the campaign trail showed in his delivery, and the Fox News Channel, which was covering the speech, cut away from it while he was speaking. 

Media outlets gave more attention to the Ohio state senator who preceded Vance, George Lang, who began a chant of “fight, fight, fight” and told the audience: "I believe wholeheartedly Donald Trump and Butler County's JD Vance are the last chance to save our country politically. I'm afraid if we lose this one, it's going to take a civil war to save the country, and it will be saved." He later posted on social media that he regretted his “divisive remarks.” 

Later in the day, Vance spoke in Radford, Virginia, where he said that “[h]istory will remember Joe Biden as not just a quitter, which he is, but as one of the worst presidents in the history of the United States of America.” He continued: “Kamala Harris is a million times worse and everybody knows it. She signed up for every single one of Joe Biden’s failures, and she lied about his mental capacity to serve as president.”

Josh Dawsey and Michael Scherer of the Washington Post reported today on a different kind of jockeying in the 2024 presidential race. Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has recently been in talks with Trump about dropping out of the race and endorsing Trump in exchange for a position in a Trump administration. Kennedy, who opposes vaccines, is interested in a portfolio that covers health and medical issues.

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON