#nebraska humane

[omanatascha]

(via GIPHY)

[jaidacorvera]

Update regarding the issue of Human Rights in the dystopian flatland state of Nebraska - As of October 1 until November 28, minors (those under 19, which has always been the case in Nebraska) seeking HRT must receive 40 hours of gender-identity focused training and must live as their preferred gender for at least six months. https://www.ketv.com/article/pillen-administration-announces-guidelines-for-gender-care-involving-minors/45397199 Please boost this so that others realize the rights that are being slowly stripped from people. Please donate to the ACLU, who aim to fight this as much as they can.

[ophilosoraptoro]

CONSPIRACY OF SILENCE [Banned Discovery Channel Documentary]

Before Epstein, there was Boys Town.

This documentary was pulled just before its broadcast date, in 1994. It was never aired.

[catfindr]

[my-supernatural-rewatch]

Episode 12: Faith

Dean Winchester in the Supernatural episode Faith

So I've been waiting for this episode. It's literally my favorite of the entire season. We don't get much in the way of backstory but it is a tour de force for Jensen Ackles. (More on that below the cut.)

When Dean is electrocuted during a hunt and told he only has weeks to live, Sam finds a faith healer to help who might not be as benevolent as he seems.

Okay so before I start, I want to talk about Jensen for a minute. This blog's main focus is Dean not Jensen (which is why the caption on the main photo I post always says it's DEAN in the show not Jensen...I don't want to muck up the Jensen tags with this stuff and I think the fact that I focus on Dean is proof enough I'm a Jensen fan. No need to belabor the point). But it would be remiss of me not to note that the main reason Dean is such a great character is because of Jensen Ackles' performance. Period. He took a character they seemingly wanted as comic relief and turned him into (IMO) the main character, with a deep, rich, history and emotional baggage that kept us compelled for 15 seasons.

And as good as Jensen has been up to this point in the show, he fucking kills it in this one. We get dying Dean, recovered Dean, guilt-ridden Dean, angry Dean, sad Dean, and soft Dean. He covers it all and does it effortlessly. I will continually mention here that it's a crime against God that this man never even got an Emmy nomination for his portrayal of Dean Winchester, let alone the actual Emmy...and this episode is one of those instances where I want to know what the fuck is wrong with the Academy?

Back to the show.

So while battling a Rawhead (a fucking what?) Dean, using an amped up taser (he tells Sam it's 100k volts) electrocutes both himself and the monster, killing the monster and wounding his heart so badly the doctors tell him he's going to die within the month.

Sam can't have this so Sam goes a little wild trying to find something to help Dean, including calling John. Except Sam doesn't ask John for help (unlike when Dean called John)...Sam basically says "Dean's gonna die, I'll figure it out."

I hate John so much. Have I mentioned this?

One little interesting note (I found it interesting anyway) - Sam gives the hospital a medical card for a Mr. Berkovitz. Did he tell the hospital that was Dean's name? I need to know these things.

We get a rare glimpse of one of the Winchesters (Sam) talking to the cops about the case they just solved. (Basically just, 'we heard the kids screaming and ran in.')

Saving little kids and Dean getting hurt in the process sent me to the series finale and for a moment during season 1 I was mad at Sam again for not trying to get Dean help....let it go...let it go...(never!)

Shout out here for what a good job the makeup department did making Dean look like he was dying.

Good lord, my little heart.

After Dean tries to cheer up Sam with jokes (Dean thinking about someone other than himself, even while he's dying) he gives him the hard truth:

"I'm gonna die, and you can't stop it."

Sam, realizing he's the one in charge now, replies with a defiant, "Watch me."

And here is where it starts. The whole "My brother can never die" stuff that will make Sam and Dean fight for the next fifteen years.

When Sam calls John to fill him in about his oldest, he literally says, "Just wanted you to know."

He can be a passive aggressive ass, huh? (Not that John doesn't deserve it.)

Sam is surprised by Dean at the motel. He's liberated himself from the hospital because:

"I'm not gonna die in a hospital where the nurses aren't even hot."

Because even in the episode where Dean's humanity is on full display, the writers want to remind us that he's kind of a dick. (he isn't, but the writers want us to think he is for some goddamn reason.)

So Sam tells Dean they're going to see a specialist and Dean thinks that means a doctor and is PISSED when he discovers it's a faith healer. He goes all grumpy into the tent, meeting Layla, someone else who needs healing and has been to the tent a few times but never chosen. He softens around her and even flirts with her before heading in. (We also find out Layla is NOT long for this world. She has weeks if even that apparently.)

Dean has a great line in regard to good and evil: "I've seen what evil does to good people." (this is pretty much the theme of the episode.)

Against his wishes AGAIN, Sam makes Dean sit closer to the front (Dean had chosen seats near the back) and when he makes a crack about the pastor wanting people's money, the pastor hears him and ends up calling him up on stage.

Dean tries to get him to choose someone else and when that fails very reluctantly takes the stage.

Throughout this episode Dean makes it very clear he doesn't think he's worthy of saving. SEASON ONE we get this from him and Cas clocks him on it all the way in season four.

So the pastor lays hands, brings Dean to his knees, and Dean passes out momentarily....healed when he regains consciousness.

The next day Dean visits the pastor and his wife because they found out aguy Dean's age died from a heart attack the same day Dean was healed. While Dean is there to get info, he very earnestly asks the pastor flat out:

"Why me? Why save me?"

And my little heart breaks a bit.

The pastor's response: "I looked into your heart and you stood out from the rest."

So Dean needs to know: "Whad did you see in my heart?"

Get ready for the entire reason for this damn show:

"A young man with an important purpose. A job to do and it isn't finished."

This isn't good enough for Dean, though. He's just not buying it.

Meanwhile, Sam finds out that the guy who died was perfectly healthy and died at the same moment Dean was healed. When Dean returns to the motel and Sam has to tell him this news, it does not go well.

Dean: You never should've brought me here.

Sam: Dean, I was just trying to save your life.

Dean: But, Sam, some guy is dead now because of me.

Sam: I didn't know.

Couple of things here: I think it's 100% possible that Sam had no idea that Dean would react badly to someone dying in his place. Because at this point, Sam still really doesn't know a fuck ton about his brother. But I also don't think it would have mattered either way. Because I don't think Sam was thinking JUST of saving Dean, he was thinking he didn't want to be alone. Dean brought him on this journey and he wasn't going to let Dean off so easy.

Oh I skipped a part...when Dean is leaving the pastor's house, Layla and her (rightfully) cranky mother are trying to see him and the pastor's wife Lee Ann won't let them. The mother goes off on Dean, not understanding why after he got his miracle he's still taking up the pastor's time and she barks at him:

"Why do you deserve to live more than my daughter?"

And she's right. In a way. And Dean agrees with her...except he can't tell her that, so he just stands there silently while inside he's agonizing over what has transpired.

So anyway, Dean, of course, figures out that he saw a reaper when he was healed and that Roy, the pastor, is somehow controlling it. Can't kill a reaper, so Dean wants to kill Roy. Easy Peasy. But Sam won't let him. They have to do it the hard way and find the things that are binding the reaper to Roy and voila they're done.

So blah blah blah,stuff happens. Sam figures out how the victims are being picked, while Dean gets that job of stopping the next healing.

And guess who the next person was to get healed? Layla. So Dean first tries to convince her not to let him heal her and then Dean yells fire and interrupts the healing. Dean is no one's favorite except mine right now.

If there's a season 16 of Supernatural, I'd love one episode where Dean if not deals with at least acknowledges how traumatic his life has been. It's incredibly cruel that not only was he healed before Layla but that HE gets tasked with having to prevent her getting healed.

When her healing gets stopped Layla asks Dean why...but he doesn't tell her. Because right now we're in "we don't tell civilians about the monsters" mode...which doesn't last long. But at least if he told Layla she would have had a better understanding. She was a nice person, it would have helped, I think.

Layla walks away from Dean but not before sincerely saying, "I wish you luck. I really do."

KNIFE IN DEAN'S HEART

He responds with, "Same to you." And then under his breath he says, "You deserve it a lot more than me."

KNIFE IN MY HEART

So Dean and Sam figure out that it's the wife, Sue Ann, not the pastor who has bound the reaper and they have to go back that night to the pastor's house because he's going to do a private healing for Layla.

Sam thinks Sue Ann is evil but Dean sees things more rationally and tells Sam she was desperate to save her husband and did something bad. But now she's using the reaper to punish people she thinks deserve it and notes:

"God save us from half the people who think they're doing God's work."

Dean really does get all the best lines.

I won't lie. Every time I watch this episode I think that they could let Layla get healed and let one more random person die. I mean Layla dying is just as random. She got a brain tumor...that was random.

And then I realize that's a little bonkers but still...

Dean notes that if Layla doesn't get healed at this session she's going to die soon and Sam tells him they can't play God.

But they kind of play God with every hunt, don't they? (that's me asking, not Dean.)

So Sue Ann's plan is to kill Dean while Layla gets saved. Poetic, huh?

But that doesn't happen. The reaper tries to get Dean but Sam stops Sue Ann before he can kill Dean (but destroying the thing that binds the reaper) and then, guess what? Reaper kills Sue Ann just as Roy is trying to heal Layla and...nothing. His power is gone.

The episode ends in literally one of the more depressing ways we've seen. Sam contacts Layla and tells her Dean wanted to say goodbye...so she shows up at the motel and Sam fucks off to leave them alone.

Layla tells Dean Roy couldn't heal her and Dean notes it must be hard to be disappointed with something you had so much faith in and we get this nugget of wisdom from the dying woman:

"If you're gonna have faith you can't just have it when the miracles happen. You have to have it when they don't."

She's a bit of a Mary Sue but, still, she's not wrong.

Then the gut punch. As Layla is about to leave, Dean says something we won't hear him say again:

"I'm gonna pray for you." (And we know he means it.)

Layla considers THAT a miracle and I finished watching the episode sobbing.

And Dean probably did too.

(I'm gonna go cry again.)

Some notes for posterity:

Significant music in this episode: Don't Fear the Reaper by Blue Oyster Cult used in the absolute best way while showing a reaper chasing down and innocent victim. Chills. I got chills.

Everyone in town knows their first names are Dean and Sam but when Dean is in the hospital Sam gives the nurse a medical card with the name Mr. Berkovitz on it.

Sam drives the Impala when they go to the faith healer's tent for the first time because Dean is too sick to drive.

This is the first time we see a reaper.

This hunt takes place in Nebraska

Recognizable Guest Stars: Julie Benz as Layla

[chronicas]

I think it’s funny there’s four named fully non-human characters in Trigun and they’re more human looking than like 70% of the random antagonists that show up. In fact I’d say the plant angels are also more human looking than a good chunk of these random freaks that are just there for like a chapter and then gone.

[callese]

Source

[jjutt]

Malcolm X's advocacy & support of the Palestinian struggle for liberation from the western empires only adds to his many many many noble deeds - but for him it was no political calculation to be on the side of humanity and the oppressed. United we stand - divided we fall. Malcolm united people like no other person in history, at a time when folks were asked to suffer peacefully - thanks to his Garvey roots from his parents, and West Indian mother! He was a revolutionary for human rights that never gave up on himself, his family, or his community. A true internal humanist with the highest moral integrity, God/Allah Bless Malcolm X! Excellent GFX, video edit, colorized photos, written, narration. A+ 100% I believe El-Haj Malik El Shabazz was a prophet, and I am one of his proud disciples. God bless his shining example that will never extinguish as it comes from Love and this is God/Allah.

[bretmichaels]

An Incredible Feel Good Friday Story

https://x.com/bretmichaels/status/1715024576592466086?s=20

[isawken]

On those days when the wind stops blowing across the face of the southern plains, the land falls into a silence that scares people in the way that a big house can haunt after the lights go out and no one else is there. It scares them because the land is too much, too empty, claustrophobic in its immensity. It scares them because they feel lost, with nothing to cling to, disoriented. Not a tree, anywhere. Not a slice of shade. Not a river dancing away, life in its blood. Not a bump of high ground to break the horizon, give some perspective, spell the monotone of flatness. It scares them because they wonder what is next. It scared Coronado, looking for cities of gold in 1541. It scared the Anglo traders who cut a trail from Independence to Santa Fe, after they dared let go of the lifeline of the Cimarron River in hopes of shaving a few days off a seven-week trek. It even scared some of the Comanche as they chased bison over the grass. It scared the Germans from Russia and the Scots-Irish from Alabama — the Last Chancers, exiled twice over, looking to build a hovel from overturned sod, even if that dirt house was crawling with centipedes and snakes, and leaked mud on the children when thunderheads broke.

It still scares people driving cars named Expedition and Outlander. It scares them because of the forced intimacy with a place that gives nothing back to a stranger, a place where the land and its weather — probably the most violent and extreme on earth — demand only one thing: humility.

-The Worst Hard Time, Timothy Egan

[allfinehere]

Unfortunately, the bill passed anyway:

Nebraska hasn't passed a single bill this year because one lawmaker keeps filibustering in protest of an anti-trans bill: 'I will burn this session to the ground'

Damn. I thought she was just gonna up and make a fuss and her swearing to protect trans kids was a bunch of empty words (again).

But no. She's one-woman filibustering the entire Nebraska legislature into a complete standstill until they agree to protect the rights of trans kids.

She was 100% serious when she said she'd make it as painful for everyone as it is for trans kids. Gahddamn.

This is why small elections matter. She's not a country wide senator or president or shit. She's just a local official representing District 6 in Nebraska.

This is why the "smaller" elections between the presidential elections matter.

-fae

[recursive360]

(via GIPHY)

[monkeyssalad-blog]

Human Billboard -- about 1880 by Jim Griffin Via Flickr: Advertisement for the studio of Julius Leschinsky (1860 - 1937), Grand Island, Nebraska -- Collection of the Library of Congress

[petnews2day]

Reward for info on dog found duct-taped in Omaha dumpster up to $10,000

New Post has been published on https://petn.ws/UjmJl

Reward for info on dog found duct-taped in Omaha dumpster up to $10,000

OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) – The reward for information about a little dog that was duct-taped and thrown into a dumpster last week is now into five digits. PETA announced that the organization will contribute $5,000 to the reward for information leading to an arrest and animal cruelty conviction of those responsible for the incident, putting […]

See full article at https://petn.ws/UjmJl #DogNews #5000, #10000, #AnimalAbuse, #AnimalControl, #Arrest, #Charges, #Checkup, #Conviction, #DogAbused, #DogTaped, #DuctTapedDog, #Dumpster, #ErinPasillas, #Examination, #Information, #Jail, #JailSentence, #JudyOHalloran, #KevinWiederin, #Leads, #LegsTaped, #Misdemeanor, #Mistreated, #Mistreatment, #NebraskaHumaneSociety, #Nhs, #Peta, #Prosecution, #Reward, #Sedated, #Sentence, #WhatIsThePenalty, #WhatIsTheReward

[reasonsforhope]

From the AP article linked above:

True to her word, Cavanaugh has slowed the business of passing laws to a crawl by introducing amendment after amendment to every bill that makes it to the state Senate floor and taking up all eight debate hours allowed by the rules — even during the week she was suffering from strep throat. Wednesday marks the halfway point of this year’s 90-day session, and not a single bill will have passed thanks to Cavanaugh’s relentless filibustering.

Clerk of the Legislature Brandon Metzler said a delay like this has happened only a couple of times in the past 10 years.

“But what is really uncommon is the lack of bills that have advanced,” Metzler said. “Usually, we’re a lot further along the line than we’re seeing now.”

In fact, only 26 bills have advanced from the first of three rounds of debate required to pass a bill in Nebraska. There would normally be two to three times that number by mid-March, Metzler said. In the last three weeks since Cavanaugh began her bill blockade, only three bills have advanced [and absolutely none have passed]...

Democrats have had some success in using filibusters [in Nebraska], which burn valuable time from the session, delay votes on other issues and force lawmakers to work longer days. Last year, conservative lawmakers were unable to overcome Democratic filibusters to pass an abortion ban or a law that would have allowed people to carry concealed guns without a permit.

Cavanaugh said she has taken a page from the playbook of Ernie Chambers — a left-leaning former legislator from Omaha who was the longest-serving lawmaker in state history. He mastered the use of the filibuster to try to tank bills he opposed and force support for bills he backed...

But even with frustration growing over the hobbled process, the Republican speaker defended Cavanaugh’s use of the filibuster.

“The rules allow her to do this, and those rules are there to protect the voice of the minority,” Arch said. “We may find that we’re passing fewer bills, but the bills we do pass will be bigger bills we care about.”

[Left-leaning former Nebraska representative Ernie] Chambers said this is a sign that Cavanaugh’s efforts are working. Typically, the speaker will step in and seek to postpone the bill causing the delay to allow more pressing legislation such as tax cuts or budget items to move forward.

“I think you’re going to start to see some of that happen,” Chambers said. “I think if (Cavanaugh) has the physical stamina, she can do it. I don’t think she shoots blanks.”

-via AP, 3/14/23

Now THIS is allyship.

[daisylovesrumble]

petition: Thirteen Governors Refused Money to Help Feed 10 Million Children

Attention Iowa! We do NOT want to be in the same group as Florida and Texas. This proves that Republicans aren't really pro-life. They are pro-pregnancy and pro-controlling women.