#used Office Tables in Pennsylvania

[glenwoodoffice]

Looking to upgrade your office on a budget? Glenwood Office Furniture in Pennsylvania has you covered with their extensive collection of second-hand office tables. These tables offer the perfect blend of cost-effectiveness and quality, making them an ideal choice for businesses of all sizes. By choosing second-hand office tables from Glenwood Office Furniture, you can enjoy the benefits of high-quality furniture without the hefty price tag. Their selection includes a variety of styles and sizes to suit any office layout, ensuring you find the perfect fit for your needs.

[beardedmrbean]

Black Harris staffers are accusing the campaign leadership of mistreatment and "outright racial discrimination" in a damning new article outlining numerous allegations against the now defunct campaign.

The New York Times published a story Sunday titled "How Alarmed Harris Staffers Went Rogue to Reach Black and Latino Voters." The story details a clandestine operation by some campaign staffers who ignored directives from the top and took matters into their own hands after feeling frustrated by the campaign's lack of sufficient effort to reach voters of color in Philadelphia.

"Many staff members felt that Philadelphia’s racially diverse neighborhoods were ignored," the Times story reads, adding that "Black campaign staff members and political operatives said campaign leadership dismissed concerns that Democrats were taking their base for granted."

As the election drew closer, the frustration with campaign leadership on the issue reached a boiling point, according to more than 30 staffers interviewed by The Times.

"After Ms. Harris’ loss, Black campaign employees set up a call to talk about career opportunities with Angela Rye, a political strategist and podcast host. The discussion quickly shifted as they shared their anger at how the campaign had treated them, and how underfunded and haphazard their field operations had been in several battleground states, according to a recording of the call obtained by The Times," the article reads.

Some staffers were also reportedly peeved that the campaign did not hire enough people of color or contract with consulting firms that had Black or Latino owners.

The Times story cites staff members who alleged that many campaign offices in Philadelphia were "filthy and lacked basic supplies like tables, chairs, cleaning products and printers." Some campaign offices targeting predominantly Black communities were moved to upscale areas, far from the areas they were assigned to serve, according to the Times.

The Harris campaign reportedly commissioned an internal survey, which concluded "that Black staff members were frustrated with campaign leaders and felt that their ideas were ignored at a rate far higher than their peers," according to the Times.

"Some complained of outright racial discrimination. The campaign’s leadership was made aware of the survey’s results," the article says.

Staffers were reportedly afraid to leak these allegations to the press for fear of ruining future job prospects. The Times cited an all-staff call after the election hosted by Quentin Fulks, the principal deputy campaign manager, who allegedly told staffers that talking to the media would hurt their careers.

Harris campaign spokeswoman, Lauren Hitt, reportedly denied that Fulks had "used that language or tone on the call, and said that he had instead counseled staff members against saying something in a moment of anger that could come to hurt themselves or the vice president," the Times noted.

The article features Quentin James, founder of the Collective PAC, a group that focuses on Black elected officials and voters that worked with the Harris campaign, who revealed "frantic staff members in Philadelphia, Detroit and North Carolina calling him in the final weeks of the race to say they did not have enough money to provide food or water to volunteers."

Still, "Harris campaign leaders seemed in denial about the situation in Philadelphia," the Times wrote.

"Late on election night, Jen O’Malley Dillon, the campaign chair, wrote an all-staff email saying that the Harris campaign had ‘over-performed turnout expectations there,’ especially in areas with nonwhite voters."

But it was Trump who over performed with key demographics in Pennsylvania, improving his numbers in predominantly-Black and Latino areas which helped him win the critical battleground state and ultimately the presidency on Election Night.

Harris, by contrast, netted more than 30,000 less votes in Philadelphia than President Biden did in 2020.

Some Democratic operatives and campaign staffers still disagree on whether it was voter outreach that fell short with people of color or a lack of relatable messaging by the candidate.

Kellan White, a senior adviser to the Harris campaign in Pennsylvania, told the Times, "This campaign did more in Philadelphia to reach Black and Latino voters than any campaign has done in a long time. The issue is not that we didn’t knock on these doors — we knocked on a ton of doors. The problem was that the message itself didn’t connect — and that’s what we as a party need to spend our time and energy on, trying to understand why when we knocked these doors, what we had to say didn’t resonate with enough voters."

[inariedwards]

From an email of Death Penalty Action:

"We know that ending the Death Penalty is not a priority for the vast majority of people, even those who oppose it. Here's another truth: The number of people who choose how to vote based on how a candidate stands on the death penalty is minuscule. Therefore, it absolutely does not help to force the issue in a public way. That's why today we begin a low key campaign to remind President Biden of his promise to end the federal death penalty.

"I woke up this morning to an e-mail from Sister JoAn, who wrote:

"As a Catholic sister (nun), I am not able to donate. I pray for Death Penalty Action, your staff and all involved with abolition work.

"Question: What is keeping us from bombarding Pres. Biden with phone calls, emails, snail mail letters asking him to keep his promise of ending death row and executions at the Federal Level. I understood that during his campaign he said he was going to do that. I am praying and hoping he can make that happen during his last months in office.  

"Sister JoAn is absolutely right. The only thing keeping us from putting our faith and our morals into action is us, ourselves. There is no reason to hold back, so for the next 11 weeks, we must urgently and persistently remind President Biden of his promise to do all that he can to take the death penalty off the table for the next president- and to not wait until January to do so.  

"Here's the address:

"President Joe Biden, The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20500.

"You can also send an electronic message here."

-

To the Democrat-voting American Tumblr users: please help by sending President Biden a message asking him to keep his promise to end federal death penalty. He is still the president, he can do this and he promised to do this.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Michael Sainato at The Guardian:

Millions of Americans are struggling to make ends meet, Kamala Harris has said, as the Democratic presidential candidate fleshed out the economic agenda she hopes to adopt in the White House. Conceding that the cost of living in America “is still just too high”, the vice-president argued this was true “long before” the Covid-19 pandemic ravaged the global economy, and she took office with the president, Joe Biden. Harris pledged to put the middle class at the heart of the US economy – and claimed Donald Trump was only interested in helping “himself, and people like himself” if he regains the presidency.

[...] “I still remember my mother sitting at that yellow formica table, late at night, cup of tea in hand, with a pile of bills in front of her, just trying to make sure that she paid the month by the end of the month, like so many Americans trying to make it all work every day,” she continued. “Millions of Americans are sitting around their own kitchen tables and facing their own financial pressures.

[...] In her speech on Wednesday, Harris touted her proposals to enact a $6,000 tax credit for families during the first year of a child’s life; introduce a $3,600 tax credit per child for working families; and refrain from increasing taxes on households with less than $400,000 of annual income.

She also cited previously announced economic proposals from her campaign including a $25,000 tax credit and other incentives for first-time home buyers, expanding a small business creation tax break, taxing long term capital gains for wealthy individuals at 28%, universal childcare and paid family leave, and enacting a federal ban on corporate price gouging. Harris tried to contrast such plans with Trump’s policy platform, which includes plans to cut corporate tax rates and impose tariffs to protect US companies from foreign competition. “I intend to chart a new way forward and grow America’s middle class,” Harris said. “Donald Trump intends to take America backward to the failed policies of the past. He has no intention to grow our middle class. He’s only interested in making life better for himself and people like himself, the wealthiest of Americans. You can see it spelled out in his economic agenda.

“I call my vision the opportunity economy, and it’s about making sure everyone can find a job and more. Because, frankly, having a job should be baseline, and we should aspire and have the ambition and plan to do more. I want Americans and families to be able to not just get by, but be able to get ahead, to thrive.” Harris cited a goal to achieve 25 million new small business applications in the US by the end of her first presidential term, and a goal to double the number of registered apprenticeships by the end of her first term. “At the same time that Donald Trump was giving a tax cut to big corporations and billionaires, he tried to slash programs for small businesses and raise borrowing costs for them,” she said. “Instead of making it easier, he actually made it more difficult for them to access capital.”

During her appearance in front of the Economic Club in Pittsburgh on Wednesday, Kamala Harris fleshed out her economic agenda for middle and working class Americans and small businesses.

See Also:

HuffPost: Harris Calls Trump ‘One Of The Biggest Losers Ever On Manufacturing’

[democratthatlovesguns]

MAGA Pennsylvania HQ - Week of Oct 14 -20

MAGA VIP Operative 1: So?

MAGA Operative 1: So what?

MAGA VIP Operative 1: How are the bribes from the useful idiot working out?

MAGA Operative 2: Not good ... Take a look. Our projections estimated an overwhelming advantage once we got some momentum. But polls show we're still tied.

MAGA Operative 1: Maybe they caught on that it's a veiled bribe ... You know? A petition to save the first and second amendments? It does sound a little too stupid, and unnecessary.

MAGA VIP Operative 1: No, that's not it. We're not going high enough ... It's like Supreme Grandmaster President Donald Trump says, if the tariff doesn't work then you raise it to an even higher level and you keep raising it, until it does work.

MAGA Operative 1: So what are you saying?

MAGA VIP Operative 1: Let's tell the useful idiot to offer a million dollars ... Daily ...?

MAGA Operative 2: For everyone that signs the petition? That's going to cost a lot of money?

MAGA VIP Operative 1: Will you let me finish? He offers a million dollars each day for one lucky SOB that signs the petition ... It might even save him money?

MAGA Operative 1: Will they go for it? I mean will they vote for Supreme Grandmaster President Donald Trump?

MAGA VIP Operative 2: Let me tell you something ... If a million dollars doesn't get you to vote for Supreme Grandmaster President Donald Trump, you're an idiot.

MAGA Operative 1: Yeah, I know, but is that clear enough to people? And will Elon actually do it?

MAGA VIP Operative 1: Spend sixteen million to save tens of billions and maybe a hundred billion in taxes ... I think Elon is okay with that.

[All laugh.]

MAGA Operative 2: But won't they catch on ... Won't a million dollars on the table make it obvious that we're bribing them to vote for Supreme Grandmaster President Donald Trump?

MAGA VIP Operative 2: Let me tell you something ... It's not a bribe, it's a monetary incentive.

[All laugh.]

MAGA Operative 1: I'm worried guys. What about election integrity?

MAGA VIP Operative 1: Election integrity? What the fuck? What kind of pussy ass shit is that? Are you in it to win it? Or are you turning into a fucking gay beta boy Muslim Jew?

MAGA Operative 1: Fuck you! You're the one that said we could not fly our confederate and Nazi flags proudly ... Not until after the election. Don't call me a fucking Jew!

MAGA Operative 2: Hey! Guys? Let's cool it, okay. We're on the same side.

MAGA VIP Operative 1: Holy Cock on Supreme Grandmaster Ruler of the Universe President Trump! What the fuck is going on in this office? Cool it? What the fuck? That's why we're not mobilizing the vote ... That's why we are still tied with the whore Kamala in Pennsylvania. It's this fucking beta boy fucking vibes in this office.

MAGA Operative 2: That's not what I meant ...

MAGA VIP Operative 2: [at MAGA Operative 2] Let me tell you something ... If these two want to settle any matter with their fists, that's their right as Christian Americans, as Christian men. What do you want? You want them to settle their differences with words? What kind of pussy ass beta bitch shit is that?

[All laugh]

MAGA VIP Operative 1: [at MAGA Operative 1] Look, you've been here too long ... Maybe it's time to get you back in the field for a couple of days. I'll put in the request to send you to Texas for a couple of days ... We'll find you a nice sixteen year-old Taylor Swift fan, for you to set straight with your cock; sodomize the slut if you have too, but get her to understand she was born to respect and obey American Christian cock.

MAGA Operative 2: Sodomize her? Isn't that a little gay?

MAGA VIP Operative 1: No! Not when it's a woman. And not when it's about letting her know her only purpose in life is to serve and please men. See? This is what I mean ... There's a strong beta energy in this office.

MAGA Operative 1: You're right. I'll do as you say. It's the only way. I'll be back to continue the fight soon enough.

MAGA VIP Operative 1: That's the spirit! Get the little slut pregnant ... It's what she deserves for loving that whore Taylor Swift. We'll make sure her dad forces her to have the baby.

MAGA Operative 2: Congratulations buddy! You're about to be a father again.

[All laugh]

MAGA VIP Operative 2: Let me tell you something ... This is a major first step; we are going to win this. And we'll never have to worry about beta bitch energy again, we'll kill them all or send them all to prison. All hail Supreme Grandmaster President Donald Trump! Seig Heil!

All: Seig Heil!

[tomorrowusa]

^^^ a sample ballot somebody created for Nevada. 😆

Funny, but we need to take third party stand-ins for Trump seriously.

We should remind people that 1848 was the last year that a non-Democrat or non-Republican was elected president. That's not going to change in 2024. And as Rachel Maddow said on election night in 2016: "If you vote for somebody who can’t win for president, it means that you don’t care who wins for president."

When one of the two major candidates is preaching hate and violence, we really do need to care who wins for president.

In particular I'm no fan of the so called Green Party. Their candidate in 2000, Ralph Nader, ran with the intention of helping elect George W. Bush. It was part of the old and discredited Leninist theory of "heightening the contradictions". In plain English, that means making life miserable for the masses in the hope that they will turn to your party.

And Bush gave us two wars, two rounds of tax breaks for the filthy rich, and two recessions – including the Great Recession. Bush also ignored warnings of an impending attack by al-Qaeda. He appointed Chief Justice John Roberts and the odious Associate Justice Samuel Alito to the US Supreme Court. Of course, people did not turn to the Green Party for bringing this string of horrors to the country. If anything, Ralph Nader is somewhat like the Gavrilo Princip of the 21st century.

Jill Stein is in some ways worse than Nader. She had been cultivated by the Kremlin to help elect Trump in 2016 and is attempting to do a repeat in 2024.

Seriously, she was a political nobody in 2015 when she was invited to sit at Putin's table at the anniversary of Russia's propaganda outlet RT in Moscow. Also at that table, sitting next to Putin, was Trump conspiracy nut Michael Flynn.

Guess Who Came to Dinner With Flynn and Putin

People on the left who express support for Jull Stein are helping to elect Trump. If the votes which Stein got in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania in 2016 had instead gone to Hillary Clinton, Trump would not have been elected. (look up the results in those states!)

So if you notice any delusional folks pushing Jill Stein this year, be sure to give them a heavy dose of reality about the consequences of their actions. People who are helping to put Trump back in the Oval Office are no progressives – regardless of what they call themselves.

[hometoursandotherstuff]

This renovated 1928 Colonial style home in Sewickley, Pennsylvania  is the cheeriest house I’ve ever seen. It has 3bds. 1ba. and is listed for $299K.

Not only is it cheery, but it’s cutesy, too. 

Look at the hall- it’s all bright turquoise and sunflowers.

It’s also decorated in a maximalist style. But, you can never have enough turquoise.

What a profusion of flowers. There’s plenty of seating to choose from- the counter, the dining table, or a booth.

The kitchen is cute. Wish it had a DW, though. 

Continuing up the bright stairway.

Check out the main bd. If you like turquoise, this house is totally move-in ready.

This is the only bath in the house, but it’s a nice large size.

This bd. is being used as a family room.

And, this one’s an office/catch-all room.

Has a lovely sunny deck and nice backyard.

Looks like it’s close to a school and a football field.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/742-McDonald-St-Sewickley-PA-15143/11480734_zpid/

[mightyflamethrower]

A transgender student, who is accused of beating a fellow student, attacked police officers during his hearing.

The transgender student — a biological male who believes he is a female — allegedly beat a young girl with a Stanley cup at Pennbrook Middle School in Pennsylvania and had more on his so-called “hit list.”

Upper Gwynedd Police Chief David Duffy told the Washington Examiner this week that the judge “ordered that the juvenile be detained at the Youth Center,” and when the suspect heard this, he “grabbed a nearby water jug, swung it at sheriff’s deputies, and resisted being handcuffed.”

The latest act of violence from the transgender juvenile follows reports of a brutal attack of a fellow student in the school’s cafeteria. A young girl who believed she was second on the “hit list” said she warned teachers at the school hours before the attack, and they did not listen to her.

“Wednesday morning, I went to the guidance counselor and told her since I was second on the hit list, knowing that there was something going to happen because there was a girl she was targeting every day at lunch,” the girl said.

“And they would go to the counselor and tell them every day that this is going to happen. And Wednesday, I went with two others, and each of us had a whole paper full of what’s going to happen and why it’s going to happen. … I was told, watch your back. He is going to come for you and this other girl at lunch,” she said, explaining that she was “terrified” at lunch and told an adult at the school who told her, “Don’t worry about it, it’s not going to happen.”

She said she was also told she would not see the individual in question for the rest of the week. But during lunch, she heard screaming and saw the classmate she warned about “running in after somebody.”

“And everyone’s screaming and running, but the girl who got attacked didn’t see it because she was faced backwards and all of a sudden you just hear these terrible, loud bangs with the Stanley bouncing off her head,” she said. She said the attacker grabbed the girl’s hair and hit her against the table and repeatedly struck her with the Stanley cup. “There was blood going everywhere. I was [at] the table right behind and all you see is blood everywhere,” she said. “You say in your email that it was eight minutes but we timed it. It was 28 minutes.” “And we had to sit in there and watch them clean up her blood off those tables and ground and we had watched them take her out with blood dripping down her face and I will never forget that,” she said, becoming more audibly emotional recounting the horror.

She said she laid in bed repeating what happened in her heard.

“We shouldn’t have had to sit there and just watch that like watch them clean up her blood with the mop, watch her repeatedly yelling that ‘I’m gonna murder you’ and just hitting her with a Stanley,” she said, asking how they were unable to stop the attack when she warned something was going to happen hours earlier.

An adult she went to “said don’t worry it’s not going to happen, we have her under control, but clearly you didn’t,” the young girl added.

The victim was hospitalized with a head injury. According to the Daily Mail, the victim “had to be hospitalized and get staples to close the cuts in her head before undertaking concussion protocol.”

The adults who are complicit in this TRANZ insanity should be arrested and tried for child neglect/abuse.

[coderfortourette]

During an discussion about something wildly different- a thought came to mind. So with Gov for example, we see that there being no speaker of the house means that he can’t speak. What else about elected officials could effect states?

And then the thought- Governor/President gender. 

Because like- statistically for there to be 50 states and 49 of them are male? That’s some damn skewed odds. (Ok in real life it’s because Ben plats them all and he’s a guy. But Table Universe for a second here)

Something all those states had? Male governors. The first female governor didn’t take office until Jan 5th,1925.  (A second would take office Jan 29th, 1925)

What is state’s  gender/parts were determined by the gender the governor was? It’d be a reason why a lot of them are guys. Because that’s a lot of years of no female governors. 

Then bam- female governor elected and the state is now magically AFAB. 

At first they probably freaked out a bit, but now they just roll with it. Most still use he/him pronouns. But some states have decided to use other pronouns as a result. 

It could explain why they don’t care about others doing drag. Gender is a construct and for most of the states- they’ve been both genders because of their governors

There are still 18 states that haven’t had female governors yet - California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

(I find California hilarious- because in the one sketch he was trying to accuse the others of hating drag queens. The second state to have a female governor? Texas. The first was Wyoming. I imagine after almost 100 years those two are a lot more chill with gender)

If we had a female president- this would also affect Gov. 

Hawai’i I think has always identified as female. Before they were colonized, they had a queen and I think Hawai’i looks up to/respects her a lot. 

So yeah. A lot of this boils down to states magically changing every couple years whenever the governor gender changes. 

(Edit: I forgot the Wiki link for easy look up https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_female_governors_in_the_United_States)

[lesbiandarvey]

one fic that i started and will never finish is i think it’d be fun for dan and casey to do west wing 40 hours in america

like they’re on location covering some baseball game in rural iowa or something, and the press bus/their caravan leaves without them and they have to make it home from bumfuck iowa

and in my head dan left his wallet in the car that left, so casey’s the only one with any cash so they have to make it home without just paying to two plane tickets out of a commercial airport. and they don’t have cell phones so they can’t cheat there. they have to use a payphone. and in my head there’s a scene where they steal a car (it was abandoned on the side of the road, turns out dan can hotwire a car)

and like the whole thing is them on a little road trip. they stop in little convenience stores for snacks, they eat in little mom n pop diners, and it’s about them as normal people. they’re out of the office, they’re not Dan Rydell and Casey McCall of Sports Night on CSC, they’re just two guys passing through. and obviously it allows them to hook up for the first time, in some cheap motel room between ohio and pennsylvania

and there’s one scene where sitting on a picnic table outside a little burger joint they talk about just. making a break for it, just for a second they talk about dropping everything and staying there. but obviously they have to get home to their real lives and after 4-5 days on the road they wearily make it back to new york but everything’s different now cus they’re together

[thelioncourts]

NEW LOUSTAT ONESHOT??? Do tell 👀

ah, there's not much to say! it's smutty, minimal plot. a couple of months ago I wrote down about 20 smutty one-shot ideas to go back to if inspiration either hit or was lacking lol I missed loustat so I went to my list, found one that spoke to me, and started it yesterday. it's about 2k rn (shocker - no smut has gotten even close to happening. one day I'll be able to write something actually short and impactful, I promise). here's a baby preview, but, like I said, it's not much of anything and since it's a one-shot I don't want to share anything crazy

His fangs were itching, the sharpest points almost breaching, a desire for blood churning so strong within him that it made him nauseous.  Distantly, he was aware that Lestat was following him, his steps much more measured and keeping him at a distance for now.  Good.  Louis needed to calm down, needed to catch his breath, needed to stave off the need to get skin stuck between his teeth.   The door to his office slammed shut behind him in an almost mockery of The Azalea’s front doors moments ago.   Harold Kershaw.  Fucking Harold Kershaw.   Louis walked over to the server nearest the window in his office and leaned forward, bracing his hands on either side of the well-carved wood, thinking of nothing but Harold Kershaw.   A month ago, Harold “Harry” Kershaw waltzed into The Azalea with fat pockets, a smile, and a whole lot of weight behind his name.  The Kershaws were an old New Orleans family, and an old money New Orleans family at that.  Old Harry’s father, Bartholomew, had made them rich using what money was left of his own daddy’s plantation and investing it in the steel business.  It had paid off, naturally, and the Kershaws became even bigger money, investing and taking over entire city blocks in New Orleans through power alone.  A little over a decade ago, Harry had moved himself up north, somewhere in Pennsylvania, to generate even more business and revenue for his company through the establishment of yet a new business.  Railroads were all the rage now.    Rumors had spread that he was back in New Orleans, that he’d left his company up north in the capable hands of some up-and-comer, but Louis hadn’t thought much about it.  No, Louis hadn’t thought anything about Harold Kershaw until he walked into The Azalea that night.   Louis was too young to really know Harry, but he knew his father had known him.  Harry was slightly older, nearing sixty now, so Louis would have only been in his teen years when the man moved up north for his railroad business, but Louis’ own father had been involved in the business side of New Orleans for Louis’ entire life.  Thankfully, Louis’ father must have made a good impression because Harry sang him, and in turn Louis, nothing but praise that first night.   “Little Louis du Lac,” Harold had started once Louis had meandered over to the man’s exclusive table.  Moments earlier, Louis had been approached by Veronica, one of the newer girls, and she had leaned down to whisper to him about some very, very rich man who had just requested a private table up near the stage.  Bricks, more informed and always in the know about everything going on in this city, quickly approached Louis too, telling him all he actually needed to know.  

[maryihem567]

HALLOWEEN IN PENNSYLVANIA

MIW STORY

2 . Why i do this to myself on repeat .

Mary pov

After going to the mechanic, we going to there university , we walking to the corridor " mary, can you walk slowly " say re " for what " i said " Éverybody look at us " say re " don' t pay attention " I said " but look at you and what is shoker ? " say re . I m wearing a red jaket with hello kitty shoker " ho its my hello kitty shoker that make me look fancy " i said " whatever " say re in wishpering . We head to the principal office " enter " said the principal " sit down " we sit " so we found you your new cleaning lady " say jess " really with this look " she said " i can clean all your unerversity with this look " i say " ok and when can your start " she said " right now " i said " okay you start this afternoon " said the principal.

Later in the aftrernoon

This is boring and disgusting , i clean all the bathroom and the toilet Berk. I going to clean stairs and i cross re in the corridor

" hey re how you doing " i say " great i finish i m waiting to katya to drops me off at my house and you ?" She said " boring i m going to clean the stairs " i said " yeah i can' t believe she hiring you like this " re say " yeah " i said . I saw girls look in at us and lauhing " why this girls lauhing at us ? " i said " ho nothing this cindy and the others cheerleaders , she laughing at me because i look at a boy in my class" re say " really , stay there" i said and i going to the girls " no mary " said re " hey girlies , do you have fun ? " i ask " euh yeah and what are you ? " say one of the girl with dark blonde ponytail and the others continue laughing " i am mary, and you know i m bullying for all my life , so one time, i have my limit . So i destoy all the the bullid one by one and break their little heart , so this is fun hun ? " i said with a smile . She look scare and runnaway " this is true ?" say re " no this not , but i imagine in my head " i said " you crazy " re say " thank you " i said " so what it is boy ?" I continue " is name is Raphaël , this is blonde guys is not like me " she say " show me " i said. She show me is he's instagram " he cute " i said .

On the way to the house , i m feeling something follow me , but maybe its my imagination .

The next day

I m cleaning the corridor with headphone , i see the dancing class in Windows . I m dancing class before but i stop because its not matching with my agenda . This cleaning is boring, i don' t know what to do with my life , i m losin my myself that love the most . why i do this to myself on repeat." Hey mary " i turn and i see katya " hey kat what you doing here? " i say " i search re did you see her ? " she said " no " i said

Rebecca pov

I m hiding in theater , so nobody can see me crying , why this girl laughing at me , i just look at this guys because is cute." Hey re we search you everywhere " i turn and i see mary and kat , they sit with me " i... this girl laughing at me and i don' t why , and i m not feeling respected " i say crying into my sleeve " don' t look a this girl, their are nothing to you " mary said " yea she is a bitch " said kat " shss we decided the choice of the song " said the lady on the table . They take my hands " your hands are cold " say mary " yeah i don' t know why" i said " maybe because its october or because is cold here " said kat ." so since you don't wants to be silent , maybe we could help me to choice our musical , we can' t decided between nightmare before christmas or sweeney Todd " say the lady on the table " maybe sweeney Todd " said mary " show me " say the lady on the table . Mary is going into the stage , i heard people on stage " this is going terrible " they said laughing . Mary start singing not while i m around . Omg she sing perfectely the song. When she finish Éverybody was shoked " i think we found our lead Singer " say katya .

After we going to the car " i drive " say mary " okay but attention " say katya . She bigining to drive " so you not tell that you are a beautiful voice " said katya " i have not a beautiful voice " said mary " are you kidding me " said kat " yeah , you have a beautiful voice and kat too" i said " what ?" Said kat " i heard you in the toilet the other day" i said " no i have not ..okay we sing " say kat turn up the radio " hey this is the song that vinny play on drumstream " i said .mary and katya sing together, and i little bit dancing . " you sing good " say mary to kat " thank you but i don' t think " say kat "me too" mary " hey you wanna come to my house i show something cool " said kat " yeah " say mary . We come to katya's house , and come to her bedroom she open a cupboard and see a lot of weapon " is this légal " i said " i don' t know " said kat " thats so cool" said mary " you see" said kat . She play together , i love my friend .

[whatyadrawin]

Crystal Lake Shadows 18+ Only!

Masterlist

Approximately 1, 845 words

Pairing: Jason Voorhees x AMAB character

Warnings: Violence, strong language, strong sexual themes

A/n: I wanted to write a fic with a created character. This fic may not go anywhere as my life gets busy again but I like what I have done here so far and I hope to see it blossom and I hope you all want to see that too.

Chapter 1

A gentle breeze caressed the face of a scruffy looking man as the noon sun shimmered atop his thick black beard while he drove his pickup truck into the town of Crystal Lake. Sergio Lorry came to the town to make minor repairs to a small lodge that was recently bought by a private owner. Sergio was a jack of all trades craftsman who was extremely good at remodeling and repairing homes, he made his living travelling from town to town fixing up older homes and cabins.

The town of Crystal Lake was not well known to him, he grew up in a town a fair distance away called Forest City in Pennsylvania which did not have much of a population but made up for that with friendly townsfolk and gorgeous nature surrounding it. Sergio loved nature so when he got called for this job repairing a cabin on a lake he jumped at the opportunity. The drive was long and a numbness had taken over Sergio’s legs so he was eager to get out and stretch after he parked in front of an apartment complex with a small café nestled on the ground floor around the side; he was given free housing in the apartment building for the duration of his work here and the building looked like it was built in the late 70s with not much upgraded but nothing run down or unkempt. He walked up towards the double doors at the apartment lobby but they were locked “Now how the hell am I supposed to get to where the manager is?” he said. Sergio looked through the glass into the lobby and it was empty, he took out his phone and looked at the email the private buyer had sent him, the name they gave was just ‘Mrs.P’ and no phone number, the last email sent said to go to the apartment manager to get the key and she could be found in the lobby or in the café, Sergio huffed and said to himself “Cripes this better not have been a scam I swear to god” and with that statement he set out to the café lodged in the corner of the building.

The café was named ‘The Golden Apple’ and the inside was painted a warm pale yellow with white trim, it looked clean and the painted white wood chairs and tables added a rustic charm. Sergio walked up to the counter and looked around, there were two customers but he hadn’t seen a server anywhere so he asked the room “Sorry to bug you guys but do you know where the manager to the apartment is?” an older man sitting in the furthest corner of the café looked up at Sergio, his face was tan from the summer sun and his hair was grey and cut short, he began to speak “You aren’t bothering us son, the person you are looking for is Marina, she owns the apartment building and this café” he then looked over toward the kitchen area and yelled “MARINA! THAT NEW CARPENTER IS HERE!”. Sergio looked shocked, he asked the man “I guess word gets around in this town hey?”, the old man replies “Oh well there’s not too many of us left after all the hubbub at the campgrounds” Sergio raised an eyebrow and said “What hubbub? The cabin I’m working on is at the lake, is there something I should know?”, just before the old man could reply a woman’s voice picks up from behind the counter “Sweety don’t worry nothing has been going on around that lake for years and years”. A full-figured woman with unbelievable curves and heavy chest came out through the kitchen doors, her hair was bright red and curly and her light blue dress hugged her body with a clean white half apron cinching her waist; she peered through her glasses at Sergio and smiled “You must be Sergio, I have your apartment key for you in my office just let me get Bob’s pie” she spun around and went back through the doors to the kitchen. The old man sighed and said “Sorry son, I should have introduced myself. My name is Bob Deerling and I own the garage in town, so if you ever need a repair feel free to swing by”. Sergio smiled and took the business card Bob held out to him, a pie appeared under his arm followed up with “Woop just let me squeeze that in past ya there” Marina placed the food in front of Bob from behind Sergio, she then took her apron off and placed it near the register and said “Alright hun just follow me and I will get you all settled with the apartment”

The two walked towards the lobby entrance and Sergio asked “What um… hasn’t happened in years and years at the lake if you don’t mind me asking?” Marina sighed and replied “Well, don’t get freaked out or anything but there was a string of deaths…eh, murders, that occurred in and around the lake campgrounds for a while but the guy was killed and nothing has happened since 2009 so there’s nothing to worry about its very safe here”, Sergio was taken aback, he asked “Who was the killer?” Marina smirked a bit and reluctantly said “Jason Voorhees… now some of the nutty folk who live here think he’s still alive and he’s not! Its to the point where he’s become an urban legend like the sasquatch but he’s dead, HE IS DEAD OK?!” a long pause followed as Marina unlocked the lobby door, once the both of them got inside she began to speak “I’m sorry, its just that the murders have been a black mark on this town and no one ever comes by here anymore, keeping up in this economy is really tough when we have no tourists or hell even residents spending money… so you see its just… just don’t mention any of that crap to anyone in town ok?” Sergio shook his head in agreement and said “That’s fair, I will try to keep it to myself then, thanks for telling me”. Marina walked over to a front desk area and went in the back, unlocked a drawer and grabbed a key, she walked back over to Sergio and said “Here is the key to your door and the key to the lobby door as well, now I know that sounds strange but I just like to lock up when I am not in the apartment building and I expect you to do the same. No one else lives here anymore except me so you can be as loud as you like if you want, I am at the far-end of the hall upstairs if you need me” Sergio nodded and thanked her for the key, she gave a few other bits of information for his stay and promptly headed back to the café.

Sergio went to the truck and grabbed all his belongings and started bringing everything to his new living space, once all the bags were packed inside, he sat on the couch which smelled a bit dusty and he looked around. The apartment was decently sized, a living room with a TV, a full kitchen, a bathroom with a bathtub, an in-suite washer and dryer, and a large bedroom with a queen size bed and everything was fully furnished with mostly modern appliances but 90’s style furniture. Sergio sighed “Well at least it’s all free, if not a bit dusty”. The bathroom didn’t have any soap or towels and the kitchen was missing dish soap, along with a few other little essentials, he hung his head and said aloud “Ah shit I guess I need to go to the store” and with that he put on his shoes and headed down to the truck to get to the store.

The drive wasn’t even necessary since the grocery was just 2 blocks away from the apartment, the store was a small independent grocer which had a gas station right next to it on the same property, Sergio parked in the first stall and went in to start looking for his items. The store seemed so outdated and musty, all the items being new was such a flagrant clash of decades and it was off-putting. Once all the items were grabbed, he went up to the register where a chunky man stood reading a magazine with scantily clad women on the front, his head was shaved almost bald and he was pale and mean looking, like he used to be handsome but age claimed what was left of his youth. Sergio started placing his things on the counter and the man didn’t look up so Sergio cleared his throat, the man looked up at Sergio and said “Oh, sorry didn’t notice ya there lil guy” Sergio thought to himself little guy? I’m taller than him! The man started scanning the items and asked “Are you that carpenter dude whose s’posed to fix the shitty cabin on the lake?” Sergio replied “Yeah I am heading out tomorrow to see the damage” the cashier makes a coy smirk and huffs “Hmpf, I hope you aren’t a pussy” Sergio furrows his brow and says “Excuse me? It’s just a lake I am not scared of wild animals or urban legends” the cashier laughs and raises his eyebrows and says “Uh yeah it’s not the urban legends you need to worry about.” The man was being cryptic and it was getting on Sergio’s nerves, the cashier adds “The camp killer is still alive out there, I’ve fucking seen him, he’s huge and he lurks round the whole perimeter of the grounds there” he looked at Sergio waiting for a response but Sergio just glared, the man said “Well, since you aren’t a pussy, maybe he’ll spare your life haha” Sergio looked at the total on the screen and grabbed some cash and asked “What’s your name?” the man looked up at Sergio and said “Names Robert but you can call me Robbie, I own this store” Sergio started grabbing his items and replied “I’m Sergio, nice to meet you… I think” and headed out, Robbie yelled after him “You come back now y’hear? Hahaahahha!”.

Sergio got back to the apartment and lay on the bed looking up at the white popcorn ceiling that the glow of the sunset reflected onto, small gold flecks in the lumpy ceiling material sparkled and he thought to himself What have I got myself into? The people here are strange as hell and the story about that killer… I can’t believe it’s freaking me out, I am a man! Men aren’t supposed to fear anything… I’m not a fucking pussy… that asshole. The night stole the last ray of light from the sunset and Sergio got himself ready for bed, the day ahead of him was simultaneously frightening and exciting, what if the killer wasn’t dead? I better bring my pistol just in case.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Amelia Mavis Christnot at The Big Picture:

When I attended an Ivy League school in the late 1980s, rich, White, male, legacy students lamented about the evils of “affirmative action.” The school—founded in 1769—only began to admit women in 1972 and people of color were few and far between until the late 1960s.

And not surprisingly, it was assumed by most that  these admissions were given to unqualified individuals to meet a race or gender based quota.  They believed and preached the 200+ years worth of almost exclusively rich, White men were all highly qualified to attend an Ivy League institution and receive the lifelong benefits of being an alumnus. The women and BIPOC now in their midst were unqualified and unworthy individuals who stole a spot from a White man. The absurdity of this mindset never occurred to them. But as I pointed out in my piece How Men Like Donald Trump, Brett Kavanaugh And Brock Turner Are Made, the academic underachievers at my Ivy in 1987 were those crying the loudest about the unfairness of affirmative action programs. As far as test scores and GPAs of incoming freshmen, White, male students scored the lowest on average with some White students of sufficient means actually falling below the minimum scores required for admissions.

How does someone like Donald Trump who writes and speaks at a grade school level graduate—allegedly—in 1968 from University of Pennsylvania's prestigious Wharton School of Business?  Being rich, White and male.

Time and time again, elite athletes and legacy students—students whose families attended institutions for generations when those schools were exclusively for White males—score lower than so-called affirmative action students—women and BIPOC.

“DEI Hire” And The Great Replacement Theory

Today, the fear associated with the term affirmative action has lost its potency after the conservative majority of the United States Supreme Court decided enforcing equality in evaluating candidates for academic opportunities was unconstitutional. In June of 2023, the SCOTUS ruled 6-3 that affirmative action programs at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina violate the Constitution’s equal protection clause, which bars racial discrimination by government entities. Today's new conservative scare tactics and insults use DEI—diversity, equity, and inclusion—instead. It ties in well with the Great Replacement Theory promoted by White/Christian nationalists which claims a coordinated effort is being made to replace the White, Christian majority with Jews and BIPOC. Unlike affirmative action horror stories which are most often related to college admissions, private and public institutions and businesses and government entities in the United States have an office or officer dedicated to DEI. Conservative talking heads have gotten their base worked up to the point where you routinely see calls for boycotts and backlash on social media because their favorite company has a DEI office.

[...]

What Is DEI Supposed To Be?

For the underrepresented or historically excluded, DEI offers a promise of a “place at the table” for everyone who should be there. [...] Equity ensures opportunities are free from bias and discrimination. It's pointless to have a seat at the table when the diversity table is tucked in a back corner by the kitchen while the old guard carries on like always. Inclusion ensures everyone gets a chance to speak and be heard. In a past editorial job, our team discussed that the loudest voice in the room needs to be from the community affected. 

[...] While these men see diversity as the problem, the author points out the real issue is their own privilege and entitlement. Underrepresented and historically excluded peoples will see a job that they are applying and competing for, those complaining see the job, the school admission, the opportunity as rightfully belonging to them. Such attitudes are the backbone of modern movements like MAGA, White supremacy, Christian nationalism, and White nationalism. They believe the world belongs to them.

Amelia Mavis Christnot wrote in The Big Picture on how the right-wing’s war on DEI is about protecting White male privilege and backlash over being forced to compete with other (and often underrepresented folks) for spots that they earned just because they were a White man.

[read-chill-wine]

Welcome to reviews of..

✨️Books Liz Loves that you should buy if you are in the US before the orange one takes office✨️

Warnings - Spoilers, colonization, exploitation of indigenous children, Christian corruption, the horrors we put native children through, discussions of MMIW, and this isn't a book Liz loves for the content but more for the discussion it causes

📚 The Banned Book List 📚

See Liz's original banned books post here

We're just going to hop right on into this one because it's one I read around 8 or 9 years old and didn't fully understand until I was a grown woman.

Say Hello to..

Dear America, My Heart is on the Ground

The Dear America series is a collection of books written in a diary like style that are supposed to tell the stories of little girls during different time periods throughout the United States history. Think like your American Girl dolls only.. not as focused on the messages of friendship. I believe there is a similar series in Canada called These Are My Words and even a book with a similar concept. I'm not going to dig into the plot much due to how poorly this book represents what was actually happening. I have a strong love-hate relationship with this book, but because it is one that has stuck with me for over 20 years, we're going to talk about it.

This book centers around an indigenous girl, Nannie, who, with her brother, Conrad, is forced to go to attend an Indian school in good old Pennsylvania.

This book hardly touches on the horrors of these schools and spends a lot of time praising the white Christian agenda that was highly present during this moment in American history. Nannie constantly finds herself thinking white people know everything, that they have answers for things she could not understand, and the book sees Nannie slowly changing herself to align her thoughts with those of her teachers and other captors. Nannie's final "act" in this book is a scene where she has been asked to pretend to play a white woman during Thanksgiving after her brother has returned to the school claiming there is nothing left for the two of them to do but conform to the ways of the white man.

The book does mention children constantly dying from small pox and pneumonia, it does mention her brother constantly receiving punishments for wanting to preserve his way of life, it does discuss how some of these children never made it home for a variety of reasons, but it does not dive into the horrors these children faced when they were ripped from their families and tribes. This book almost sugarcoats what reality was for thousands of children forced into these so-called schools went through and what the indigenous people went through.

I recommend this book not because its content is fantastic and life changing, but because this book might explain to some what performative allyship looks like (a statement or act without understanding), why so many in the BIPOC community struggle to believe many of us when we offer ourselves as safe spaces (because this type of stuff was written glorifying the actions of white people), and because the silence around what was done to the indigenous people of the US, Canada, and Alaska has gone on for far too long.

I guess you may be asking me, "Lizzy, why is this book banned? It shows a person(s) conforming to US government? Isn't that what they want?"

It was banned for the topics it caused children to ask and discussions it brings to the table. There are vague mentions of the Trail of Tears, of genocide, and the physical, emotional, a mental abuse the tribes underwent by the whites immigrating and stealing the lands we all currently live on. The book then seems to glorify these things in Nannie's eyes and, in the end, her brother's eyes as well. The two of them ultimately end up accepting the "white way of life," and if I remember correctly, Christianity.

The Dear America diary series was problematic as a whole. From novellas about women in the BIPOC community pulling rose colored glasses over the eyes of young readers to their true treatment and stories to novellas about young white girls praising the government during some of the US's absolute worst moments. This series was canceled from production around 2004 after Dear America Hear My Cry, a novella about an Italian immigrant sweatshop working, was published. However, it was around the time that mass graves were being uncovered that this book hit the banned list.

During the 150ish years that Native Schools were in operation in Canada and the US, indigenous children had a 1 in 25 chance of dying in those schools from illness, murder, or unknown causes because their death simply wasn't recorded. This led to 10000+ children never making it home to their families and tribes and many were found in mass unmarked gravesites. The discovery of this has further fueled the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (sometimes called the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Children) movement.

If you know me outside of Tumblr and social media, you know the MMIW movement is one I hold near and dear as a feminist and a humanitarian. It is terrifying to me that in 2016, there were over 5000 missing Indigenous women and girls, and barely over 1000 were turned into cases where the FBI's missing person database had the case entered. Thousands of women and little girls are just gone. Indigenous and Alaskan Native women have a higher kidnapping, rape, and murder rate than any other background in the US, and they only make up a heart-wrenching 2% of the US population. Murder is the 3rd leading cause of death among Indigenous women. I won't stop talking about this crisis and movement, educating my friends on it, and doing what I can to help them in my personal life until they are all brought home. If I can inspire one of you to feel the same, then the banned books reviews are doing exactly what I want them to.

In talking about this book and these topics, I want to leave it with this. Stay curious, ask the uncomfortable questions, research books written from the BIPOC community to learn how to be an ally, and please check out this website to what you can do to help with this MMIW crisis, The and uplift Native Voices.

Banned Book Taglist

@ofelvesandfae

[tomorrowusa]

« Americans increasingly use polls to vent, not to vote. During the 20th century, when Americans were in a better mood about the state of the country, presidents generally had high approval ratings and broad support during their time in office. Since 2003, the national mood has grown unbelievably sour, and since 2005, sitting presidents have had underwater approval ratings during about 77 percent of their terms.

[ … ]

The median voter rule still applies. The median voter rule says parties win when they stay close to the center of the electorate. It’s one of the most boring rules in all of politics, and sometimes people on the left and the right pretend they can ignore it, but they usually end up paying a price.

The Democrats’ strong showing in elections across the country this week proves how powerful the median voter rule is, especially when it comes to the abortion issue.

[ … ]

Dull but effective government can win, and circus politics is failing. The Trumpian G.O.P. has built its political strategy around culture war theatrics — be they anti-trans or anti-woke. That culture war strategy may get you hits on right-wing media, but it has flopped for Ron DeSantis, flopped for Vivek Ramaswamy, and it flopped Tuesday night on the ballot. Gov. Andy Beshear, a Democrat, did so well in Kentucky in part because he stayed close to the practicalities, focusing on boring old governance issues like jobs, health care costs and investment in infrastructure. He also demonstrated a Christian faith that was the opposite of Christian nationalism.

[ … ]

Remember that none of us know what the political climate will be like a year from now. Neither you nor I have any clue how some set of swing voters in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin are going to see things in 12 months, or what events will intervene in the meantime. Nobody does. »

— New York Times columnist and PBS political commentator David Brooks explaining in his NYT column last week why Democrats need to "chill" about recent polls.

Democrats are sometimes too overreactive for their own good. People who are excessively nervous tend to make more mistakes.

If you have a healthy concern about next year (as opposed to paranoid worry), there are several things you can do.

First and foremost: Volunteer to register voters. Start by asking like-minded people you know if they are registered. Help them with the process. And always remind friends that they need to register whenever they change their address. ALWAYS. Do things like having voter registration tables set up outside high school graduation ceremonies. Go to where the people are.

Shoot down any talk you hear of third party or independent saviors. Not counting faithless electors, the last third party presidential candidate to score any electoral votes was segregationist George Wallace in 1968. H. Ross Perot got almost 19% of the popular vote in 1992 but got zero electoral votes. If just 539 people in Florida who voted for spoiler Ralph Nader had instead voted for Democrat Al Gore, Gore would have been president a lot of horrible things that happened under George W. Bush (like bad SCOTUS appointments) would not have happened. And if the votes cast in 2016 for bad folk singer Jill Stein in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Michigan had gone for Hillary Clinton instead, Trump never would have been president and Roe v. Wade would still be in effect. Electoral votes are all that matter in presidential elections.

Quit fussing over Biden's age. You rarely hear Republicans doing the same about Trump who was born in 1946. Biden can sign his name on bills or veto them – there's nothing wrong with his arm and he doesn't need to use a Sharpie. He has made excellent appointments to the federal judiciary. And some of the most far ranging progressive legislation enacted since the mid 1960s happened on Biden's watch. Being younger doesn't necessarily make somebody a good president; 38-year-old Vivek Ramaswamy would be atrocious. If you really want somebody young, remember that in 2028 people born in 1993 will be eligible to be president. It will be worth the wait if Trump is in the Big House instead of the White House by then.