* I likely lost some stuff from the bottom, but there is zero chance of me fixing it. Sorry. (Fuck! I just realised I lost Tumblr programming data while I slept too! D:)
* I am still gnawing my way through backlog best as I can. Some older items are going to be in here.
* "Palestinian woman in hospital after being clubbed by masked Israeli settler:"
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx20p0qx50no* "The Reality of Life in the West Bank with Jasper Nathaniel:"
https://open.spotify.com/episode/7F6mYn6931aBiJwKPfSFcPHow to Help:
Revive Gaza's farmland:
https://apnature.org/en/gazaPCRF:
https://www.pcrf.net/HEAL Palestine:
https://www.healpalestine.org/The Sameer Project:
https://linktr.ee/thesameerprojectGaza Soup Kitchen:
https://gazasoupkitchen.org/******
* "Three killed in US military strike on alleged drug vessel in the Caribbean:"
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/nov/02/three-killed-in-us-military-strike-on-alleged-drug-vessel-in-the-caribbeanWe have now murdered at least 64 fisherman to please dear leader.
******
* "South Africans trapped in Donbas after joining Russia-Ukraine war, Ramaphosa says:"
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c93djnedql3o#1* "Photos show Ukrainians dealing with blackouts as Russia strikes energy infrastructure:"
https://apnews.com/photo-gallery/russian-strikes-ukraine-energy-blackouts-photos-57d4dbe07444e55a154b4f4acba40d24******
* "Crawling to escape slaughter, people flee Sudan paramilitary group on their hands and knees:"
https://www.nbcnews.com/world/africa/sudan-rapid-support-forces-paramilitary-army-el-fasher-slaughter-rcna242062
* "Africa's ageing presidents govern world's youngest populations:"
https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/africas-ageing-presidents-govern-worlds-youngest-populations-2025-10-24/* On Canada Budget Cuts. "Budgeting for Dummies:"
https://blogcutter.dreamwidth.org/182427.html
* "Justices appear skeptical of Trump’s broad tariffs:"
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/11/05/supreme-court-tariffs-donald-trump-oral-arguments-00637544* "Bank of America said 'overwhelming evidence' showed Trump's tariffs fueled US inflation:"
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-bank-of-america-tariffs/* "US layoffs for October surge to two-decade high, Challenger data shows:"
https://archive.ph/mxA3C* Trump is lying that the economy is better when it is dramatically worse than a year ago.
* "Congressional Budget Office had a cyber ‘security incident’:"
https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2025/11/06/congress/congressional-budget-office-hacked-00640964* "Lawyers for US citizen shot by ICE agent say shooting was not self-defense:"
https://abcnews.go.com/US/lawyers-us-citizen-shot-ice-agent-shooting-defense/story?id=127180596* Here are some ways to help Immigrants and the anti-ICE Protesters:
Immigrant Defenders:
https://give.immdef.org/give/545119/#!/donation/checkoutThe Bail Project:
https://bailproject.org/National Bail Fund Network:
https://www.communityjusticeexchange.org/en/nbfn-directoryAmnesty International: protect asylum-seekers:
https://donate.amnestyusa.org/page/113080/donate/1The Young Center for Immigrant Children's Rights:
https://www.theyoungcenter.org/CHIRLA:
https://www.chirla.org/AL Otro Lado:
https://alotrolado.networkforgood.com/projects/63833-al-otro-lado-fundMid-South Immigration Advocates:
https://miamemphis.org/"Know Your Rights:"
https://www.aclu.org/know-your-rights/protesters-rights"Disappeared In America:"
https://www.disappearedinamerica.us/*** Slow Motion Civil War/Violent Illegal Occupation of Blue Cities News ***
* CHICAGO:
* "Judge calls alleged conditions at Chicago-area immigration site ‘disgusting’:"
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/judge-calls-alleged-conditions-at-chicago-area-immigration-site-disgusting* "Border Patrol official behind Chicago immigration crackdown defends tactics as Trump cheers:"
https://apnews.com/article/immigration-chicago-arrests-police-federal-5c21bcb2cd890fcb086480469c1a3a96* "Judge grants preliminary injunction against Bovino, federal agents over use of force: "Shocks the conscience":"
https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/chicago-immigration-gregory-bovino-preliminary-injunction-judge-sara-ellis/* "In Chicago, a Halloween weekend of immigration arrests and violence:"
https://www.npr.org/2025/11/02/nx-s1-5594866/chicago-evanston-ice-border-patrol-protest-immigration-illinois* "Immigration agents take day care worker from inside North Center facility:"
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/05/daycare-worker-taken-federal-agents/Cruelty is the point. There is no need to traumatize young children like this.
* Keep resisting. Protect each other. "'We're not a violent city': Chicago locals take on ICE block-by-block:"
https://archive.ph/4B1ef* "Maddow: Chicagoland sets the example for countering Trump's abuses:"
https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/maddow-chicagoland-sets-the-example-for-countering-trump-s-abuses-251256389962* Misc:
* Looks Like Child Abuse to me. "Some children were zip-tied during raid in Wilder. Will agencies own up to it?:"
https://www.idahostatesman.com/news/northwest/idaho/article312718338.html* "D.C. 'sandwich guy' not guilty of assaulting a federal agent, jury finds:"
https://www.advocate.com/crime/sean-dunn-sandwich-guy-acquitted* "Judge again bars Trump administration from deploying troops to Portland:"
https://apnews.com/article/oregon-national-guard-deployment-trump-judge-61aa5de05e761af70868842cdcb25609
* Some items may be a little older from here down to congressional stuff.
* "5 key moments from Trump's "60 Minutes" interview:"
https://www.axios.com/2025/11/03/trump-60-minutes-interview-cbs-key-moments* "CBS News heavily edits Trump 60 Minutes interview, cutting boast network ‘paid me a lotta money’:"
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/nov/03/trump-cbs-60-minutes-interview-edited* "Dems float FCC probe of "60 Minutes" trimming Trump interview:"
https://www.axios.com/2025/11/03/trump-60-minutes-editing-criticism-binance* "Trump, 79, Gets Confused Explaining Water to the Navy:"
https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-79-gets-confused-explaining-water-to-the-navy/* "Trump says he knows 'nothing' about the crypto billionaire he pardoned:"
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-knows-nothing-crypto-billionaire-cz-binance-pardon-biden-rcna241584* Let them eat cake. "Mar-a-Lago Guests Spill Tacky Details of Trump’s Gatsby Bash:"
https://www.thedailybeast.com/mar-a-lago-guests-spill-tacky-details-of-president-donald-trumps-great-gatsby-halloween-bash/He throws parties like this a tears down the warehouse while holding food hostage to try to force Democrats to rubber stamp his demand to steal health care from the families of 15-20 million American Workers.
* "Furious MAGA Customers Say They Got ‘Scammed’ by Trump Watches:"
https://www.thedailybeast.com/furious-maga-customers-say-they-got-scammed-by-trump-watches/* "Newsom Trolls Trump for Hawking Watches During Shutdown:"
https://www.thedailybeast.com/gavin-newsom-trolls-donald-trump-for-hawking-watches-during-shutdown/* "Senate Democrats demand list of donors to $300m Trump ballroom:"
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/29/trump-ballroom-donors-democrats* "Trump bulldozes top donor's family legacy in vulgar White House demolition:"
https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/trump-bulldozes-top-donor-s-family-legacy-in-vulgar-white-house-demolition-250760261736* "‘Gut-punch’: Obama photographer reacts to Trump White House demo:"
https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/-gut-punch-obama-photographer-reacts-to-trump-white-house-demo-250865733839* "Trump renovates bathrooms as his team ramps up the military machine:"
https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/trump-renovates-bathrooms-as-his-team-ramps-up-the-military-machine-251104837795* "Trump’s swift demolition of East Wing may have launched asbestos plumes:"
https://arstechnica.com/health/2025/10/trumps-swift-demolition-of-east-wing-may-have-launched-asbestos-plumes/* "Former Jack Smith Deputies Venture Into Private Practice:"
https://archive.ph/PhG9n* "Why the DOJ's cases against Trump for election interference never came to a jury:"
https://www.npr.org/2025/11/04/nx-s1-5597873/why-the-dojs-cases-against-trump-for-election-interference-never-came-to-a-jury* "'You'll go down as a wimp:' Pence's never-before-published notes key evidence in case against Trump, book says:"
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/youll-wimp-pences-published-notes-key-evidence-case/story?id=126837443* "Trump sinks to new levels of petty to rewrite history of his disgrace:"
https://www.msnbc.com/the-briefing-with-jen-psaki/watch/trump-sinks-to-new-levels-of-petty-to-rewrite-history-of-his-disgrace-250966597964* "US prosecutors suspended after calling January 6 defendants 'mob of rioters,' sources say:"
https://archive.ph/svLV6* "Trump appeals his criminal conviction in New York hush money case:"
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/10/28/donald-trump-appeal-hush-money-conviction-00624382* "The Shadow President:"
https://www.propublica.org/article/russ-vought-trump-shadow-president-omb* "Assembly of Trump's 'clown car Cabinet' was even more ridiculous than you thought: book:"
https://www.msnbc.com/the-briefing-with-jen-psaki/watch/assembly-of-trump-s-clown-car-cabinet-was-even-more-ridiculous-than-you-thought-book-250965061998* "In Big Win for Voters and Democrats, Court Blocks Trump’s Demand for Voter ID on Registration Form:"
https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/in-big-win-for-voters-and-democrats-court-blocks-trumps-demand-for-voter-id-on-registration-form/Under law, the administering of elections with very few exceptions (Some Examples: the 15th, 19th, and 26th Amendment of the constitution) are administered by the state. The president doesn't get to unilaterally change that just because he doesn't think poor people should be allowed to vote.
* "Trump's predictable bad faith on election security gives his opponents an advantage:"
https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/trump-s-predictable-bad-faith-on-election-security-gives-his-opponents-an-advantage-250753093806* "IRS Direct File won’t be available next year. Here’s what that means for taxpayers:"
https://apnews.com/article/irs-direct-file-not-available-2026-04f2d0c31bec80b55d122a0e76e08c36* "Colorado sues Trump over ‘retaliatory’ Space Command relocation:"
https://coloradonewsline.com/2025/10/29/colorado-sues-trump-space-command/ * "New Pentagon memo dictates how transgender troops must look to defend their service:"
https://www.advocate.com/politics/pentagon-transgender-dress-grooming-policy* "Attorneys urge appeals court to see Trump’s trans military ban is rooted in bigotry, not national security:"
https://www.advocate.com/news/talbott-trans-military-case-update* "Trans service members have always been part of U.S. history:"
https://www.advocate.com/history/history-of-trans-miltary-members* "Trump's NSPM-7 memo casts critics of Christianity as enemies of the state:"
https://www.friendlyatheist.com/p/trumps-nspm-7-memo-casts-critics* "MAGA Outraged At 'Demon Worshiper' Kash Patel For Being Hindu:"
https://www.wonkette.com/p/maga-outraged-at-demon-worshiper* "Kash Patel slammed FBI jets—then used one for date night:"
https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/kash-patel-slammed-fbi-jets-then-used-one-for-date-night-251038277569* "Laura Loomer Gets Pentagon Press Credentials — Despite Her Recent Attacks on Hegseth:"
https://www.mediaite.com/media/laura-loomer-gets-pentagon-press-credentials-despite-her-recent-attacks-on-hegseth/* "RFK Jr to urge Americans to eat more saturated fats, alarming health experts:"
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/25/rfk-jr-saturated-fats* "Texas's anti-LGBTQ+ attorney general sues Tylenol company over autism claims:"
https://www.advocate.com/news/texas-attorney-general-sues-tylenol-manufacturerTylenol does not cause autism, but here we are.
* "Trump looks to stop gender-affirming care for America's transgender youth: report:"
https://www.advocate.com/news/trump-gender-affirming-care-medicaid-medicare* "Judge nixes Justice Department subpoena of telehealth trans health care provider:"
https://www.advocate.com/news/judge-nixes-doj-subpoena-queerdoc* "Trump Opens Pristine Alaska Wilderness to Drilling in Long-Running Feud:"
https://archive.ph/AnTp5* "‘Mine, Baby, Mine’: Trump Officials Offer $625 Million to Rescue Coal:"
https://archive.ph/7tetS* "EPA reorganization sparks fears of ‘political interference’:"
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/09/22/epa-reorganization-political-interference-00574943* "EPA tells scientists to stop publishing studies, employees say:"
https://archive.ph/R6vZP* "Trump officials cancel major solar project in latest hit to renewable energy:"
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/10/trump-officials-drop-major-solar-power-project-in-another-renewable-energy-attack* "Trump Cancels Trail, Bike-Lane Grants Deemed ‘Hostile’ to Cars:"
https://archive.ph/rkYdX#selection-1207.0-1207.62* "Trump to withhold billions of dollars from Gateway tunnel and Second Ave. subway projects:"
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/10/01/trump-to-withhold-billions-of-dollars-from-gateway-tunnel-and-second-ave-subway-projects-00589772* "Wisconsin denied FEMA public assistance by Trump administration after August floods:"
https://www.wisn.com/article/wisconsin-denied-fema-public-assistance-by-trump-administration-after-august-floods/69145443* "Was Trump always against LGBTQ+ rights? Everything in his past says no.:"
https://www.advocate.com/politics/trump-lgbtq-rights-history* "Trump's DOE will make LGBTQ+ nonprofit workers ineligible for student loan forgiveness:"
https://www.advocate.com/politics/student-loan-forgiveness-lgbtq-nonprofits* "Two more colleges — Arizona and USC — reject Trump trans bathroom ban compact:"
https://www.advocate.com/news/colleges-reject-trump-bathroom-ban* "Federal judge rules in favor of public schools in 16 states that refused to comply with Trump's trans ban:"
https://www.advocate.com/news/judge-favor-public-schools-trump-trans-ban* "Federal judge orders Pentagon to restore LGBTQ+ books, gender & diversity lessons in military schools:"
https://www.advocate.com/news/pentagon-restore-lgbtq-books-lessons* "NYC schools sue Trump administration for nixing almost $50M in grants over trans protections:"
https://www.advocate.com/news/nyc-schools-sue-trump-administration* "Trump administration cracks down on Minnesota sports for allowing trans athletes to compete:"
https://www.advocate.com/politics/trump-minnesota-transgender-sports* "Amid shutdown, Trump administration guts department overseeing special education:"
https://www.npr.org/2025/10/13/nx-s1-5572489/trump-special-education-department-funding-layoffs-disabilities* "FCC chairman leads “cruel” vote to take Wi-Fi access away from school kids:"
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/10/fcc-chairman-leads-cruel-vote-to-take-wi-fi-access-away-from-school-kids/* "The Super-Weird Origins of the Right’s Hatred of the Smithsonian:"
https://newrepublic.com/article/199224/right-hatred-smithsonian-bible-giants* "Director of Eisenhower Library in Kansas ousted after refusing to give Trump administration a sword:"
https://www.kcur.org/politics-elections-and-government/2025-10-02/director-of-eisenhower-library-in-kansas-ousted-after-refusing-to-give-trump-administration-a-swordTrump wanted to illegally loot the library and this man protected the collection.
* "America’s Assault On Real History Comes For The Staff Of The Charles Lindbergh House And Museum:"
https://abovethelaw.com/2025/09/americas-assault-on-real-history-comes-for-the-staff-of-the-charles-lindbergh-house-and-museum/* "Trump erased trans & queer history from Stonewall. Lawmakers are fighting to get it back:"
https://www.advocate.com/news/stonewall-transgender-erasure-democrats-outraged* "Judge pauses Trump administration's VOA cuts in scathing order:"
https://www.axios.com/2025/09/30/trump-voice-of-america-cuts-judge-order-kari-lake* "Trump offers top universities funds if they boost conservative ideas:"
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/02/trump-university-funding-compact* "ACLS Statement Regarding White House “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education”:"
https://www.acls.org/news/acls-statement-regarding-white-house-compact-for-academic-excellence-in-higher-education/* "Regarding the Compact:"
https://orgchart.mit.edu/letters/regarding-compact* "UNC professor placed on leave following alleged affiliation with 'anti-racist, anti-fascist' organization:"
https://www.dailytarheel.com/article/2025/09/breaking-unc-professor-placed-on-administrative-leave* "Purdue student journalists deliver special 'solidarity' newspaper to IU Bloomington campus:"
https://www.heraldtimesonline.com/story/news/local/2025/10/17/purdue-exponent-delivers-special-solidarity-edition-to-indiana-daily-student-boxes-at-iu-bloomintgon/86751214007/?gnt-cfr=1&gca-cat=p&gca-uir=true&gca-epti=z114414p001550c001550d00----v114414b0044xxd004465&gca-ft=157&gca-ds=sophi* "YouTube Capitulates to Trump:"
( Embed: )* "White House fires much of the National Council on the Humanities:"
https://archive.ph/uldxe* "Kennedy Center plagued with dismal ticket sales as patrons stay away under Trump's anti-LGBTQ+ takeover:"
https://www.advocate.com/news/kennedy-center-struggles-under-trump**** Pretextual Indictments ****
* "In Oval Office Screed, Trump Shows Who’s Really Running DOJ:"
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo/in-oval-office-screed-trump-shows-whos-really-running-doj* "Trump's social media sloppiness could burn him in Comey case and more:"
https://www.msnbc.com/the-briefing-with-jen-psaki/watch/trump-s-social-media-sloppiness-could-burn-him-in-comey-case-and-more-249433669827* "New reporting confirms Trump accidentally posted DM to Bondi ordering prosecutions:"
https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/new-reporting-confirms-trump-accidentally-posted-dm-to-bondi-ordering-prosecutions-249425989904* "Democrats press Bondi over concerns DOJ is being weaponized to target Trump's foes:"
https://www.npr.org/2025/10/07/nx-s1-5563934/bondi-senate-judiciary-committee-testify* "Flimsiness of cases against people Trump hates shows what's really going on:"
https://www.msnbc.com/the-briefing-with-jen-psaki/watch/flimsiness-of-cases-against-people-trump-hates-shows-what-s-really-going-on-250611269666* "The pattern is the problem: No end in sight for Trump vindictiveness; Who's next?:"
https://www.msnbc.com/the-briefing-with-jen-psaki/watch/the-pattern-is-the-problem-no-end-in-sight-for-trump-vindictiveness-who-s-next-249617989823* "‘Trump’s lawyer, not America’s’: Hayes blasts Bondi as worst AG in modern history:"
https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/-trump-s-lawyer-not-america-s-hayes-blasts-bondi-as-worst-ag-in-modern-history-249318981666* "Trump’s attack on George Soros is the next step in the autocrat’s handbook:"
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/sep/27/trump-attack-george-soros* "‘Highly unusual’: New warning signs for DOJ’s Trump-ordered case against Comey:"
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/11/05/highly-unusual-new-warning-signs-for-dojs-trump-ordered-case-against-comey-00637342* "Trump’s Corrupt Case Against Comey Is A Trainwreck:"
( Embed: )* "Botched documents, confused courtroom, shaky indictment: Comey case hangs by a thread:"
https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/botched-documents-confused-courtroom-shaky-indictment-comey-case-hangs-by-a-thread-248888389983* "With AG Bondi Next To Him, Trump Says ‘Deranged’ Jack Smith Must be Investigated:"
https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/trump-jack-smith-criminal-attorney-general-pam-bondi/* "Trump calls Jack Smith a 'criminal' who should be in prison in latest attack on his perceived foes:"
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-calls-jack-smith-criminal-prison-latest-attack-perceived-foes-rcna240468* "Attorneys for former special counsel Jack Smith dispute 'inaccurate' claims he tapped senators' phones:"
https://abcnews.go.com/US/attorneys-former-special-counsel-jack-smith-dispute-inaccurate/story?id=126725433* "Jack Smith takes a veiled swipe at Trump:"
https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2025/11/07/congress/smith-lawyers-write-to-grassley-00642522* "Jack Smith calls Trump's bluff; turns the tables with open hearing request:"
https://www.msnbc.com/the-briefing-with-jen-psaki/watch/jack-smith-calls-trump-s-bluff-turns-the-tables-with-open-hearing-request-250532421521* "'We're all for it": Rep. Raskin on why Jack Smith should be allowed to publicly testify:"
https://www.msnbc.com/the-weekend-primetime/watch/-we-re-all-for-it-rep-raskin-on-why-jack-smith-should-be-allowed-to-publicly-testify-250640965590* John Bolton may or may not have done what Trump did with classified documents, but on a much smaller scale. It's likely they are going after him because trump hates him, but this one may possibly have some substance, which makes it really stand out from some of the other ones where there is no evidence of wrongdoing like in the Lisa Cook case.
* "FBI says it found classified documents in John Bolton’s DC office:"
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/09/23/fbi-classified-documents-john-bolton-dc-office-00577894* "Ex-national security adviser Bolton latest charged in Trump crackdown on critics:"
https://archive.ph/sijDT* "New York Attorney General Letitia James charged in fraud case after pressure campaign by Trump:"
https://apnews.com/article/letitia-james-fraud-justice-department-donald-trump-41d8746d4674f2be42d667647089b213* "‘Heart of tyranny’: Hayes says Trump's order to indict Tish James is impeachable:"
https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/-heart-of-tyranny-hayes-says-trump-s-order-to-indict-tish-james-is-impeachable-249602629923* "This Case is Sh*t:"
( Embed: )* "'Thin-skinned and petty and weak': Trump exposes himself, degrades U.S. legal system:"
https://www.msnbc.com/the-briefing-with-jen-psaki/watch/-thin-skinned-and-petty-and-weak-trump-exposes-himself-degrades-u-s-legal-system-249614405802* "Jeffries warns Trump’s ‘corrupt sycophants’: You don’t have immunity:"
https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/jeffries-warns-trump-s-corrupt-sycophants-you-don-t-have-immunity-249601093881**** Trump/Epstein/Maxwell, etc. CW: CSA ****
* CW: CSA "We Need to Talk About Pedocon Theory:"
https://www.liberalcurrents.com/we-need-to-talk-about-pedocon-theory/* "Inside the White House Struggle to Tame the Epstein Crisis:"
https://archive.ph/Aij2k* "Musk, Bannon and Thiel named in new Epstein estate documents:"
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/09/26/musk-bannon-thiel-epstein-documents-00582627* "'The idea is follow the money': Rep. Crockett on investigating Epstein's financial ties:"
https://www.msnbc.com/the-weekend-primetime/watch/-the-idea-is-follow-the-money-rep-crockett-on-investigating-epstein-s-financial-ties-249111109678* "DOJ silent on Epstein files since start of the shutdown:"
https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2025/10/16/congress/doj-silent-on-epstein-files-00611626* "Ted Cruz Verbatim Says, “Let’s Stop Attacking Pedophiles”:"
https://newrepublic.com/post/201177/ted-cruz-stop-attacking-pedophiles
* "The Supreme Court begins a term that will examine Trump’s expansive claims of presidential power:"
https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-trump-executive-power-lgbtq-voting-98285156a1279b2ff7fe15b8d96eef37* "Trump looms large in Chief Justice John Roberts’ legacy:"
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/10/06/john-roberts-donald-trump-supreme-court-00594600* "Judges vexed by Supreme Court 'shadow docket' rulings in Trump cases:"
https://archive.ph/ltvBe* "Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson is trying to warn us about something. Are we listening?:"
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2025/oct/04/justice-ketanji-brown-jackson-supreme-court* "Teaching tolerance isn't indoctrination. It's protection:"
https://www.advocate.com/voices/mahmoud-v-taylor* "Supreme Court will consider whether people who regularly smoke pot can legally own guns:"
https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-marijuana-guns-e86c342bf248c7822722ad027980b72b* "Supreme Court rejects Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell’s appeal of her criminal conviction:"
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/supreme-court-rejects-epstein-associate-ghislaine-maxwells-appeal-crim-rcna233281* "Supreme Court allows Trump administration's anti-trans and anti-nonbinary passport policy (for now):"
https://www.advocate.com/news/supreme-court-passport-gender-markers* "Supreme Court takes up Republican attack on Voting Rights Act in case over Black representation:"
https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-voting-rights-race-louisiana-348260f08099d087bcde4a93140aa8b2* "Conservative justices seem poised to weaken Voting Rights Act:"
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/10/15/supreme-court-voting-rights-act-argument-00609187* "Ketanji Brown Jackson Rebukes Attorney in Supreme Court Case: ‘No It’s Not’:"
https://www.newsweek.com/supreme-court-gerrymandering-case-ketanji-brown-jackson-lawyer-10884919* "'Birth certificate of multiracial democracy': NAACP attorney makes case to save Voting Rights Act:"
https://www.msnbc.com/the-weekend-primetime/watch/-birth-certificate-of-multiracial-democracy-naacp-atty-makes-case-to-save-voting-rights-act-250173509669* "Voting Rights Are On The Chopping Block:"
( Embed: )* "What would late civil rights icon and Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall say about the current court?:"
https://www.advocate.com/news/thurgood-marshall-current-supreme-court* "SCOTUS will decide whether to take up the Kim Davis marriage case, and here's what it will mean:"
https://www.advocate.com/voices/supreme-court-marriage-equality* "Is marriage equality at risk? Understanding Kim Davis's Supreme Court appeal:"
https://www.advocate.com/news/kim-davis-scotus-case-explained* "Jim Obergefell warns, ‘People should be concerned’ about Supreme Court considering marriage equality case:"
https://www.advocate.com/news/kim-davis-obergefell-scotus* "Amy Coney Barrett, conservative panelists discuss overturning marriage equality:"
https://www.advocate.com/news/conservatives-talk-marriage-equality* "Clarence Thomas says past SCOTUS rulings, like marriage equality, aren't 'the gospel' and can be overturned:"
https://www.advocate.com/politics/clarence-thomas-precedent-marriage-equality* "Samuel Alito 'not suggesting' marriage equality should be overturned:"
https://www.advocate.com/politics/samuel-alito-overturn-marriage-equalityI don't trust him even a little. I'd love to be wrong, but....
* Conversion Therapy is torture with terrible long term effects which is why all the reputable medical associations want it banned. It is literally Child Abuse.
* "Conservative Supreme Court justices appear skeptical of Colorado’s ban on harmful ‘conversion therapy’:"
https://www.advocate.com/news/scotus-skeptical-conversion-therapy-ban* "The UN calls conversion therapy ‘torture.’ Could the Supreme Court greenlight it anyway?:"
https://19thnews.org/2025/10/supreme-court-colorado-conversion-therapy/* "The sham of oral arguments on conversion therapy is meant to show SCOTUS is 'unbiased':"
https://www.advocate.com/voices/supreme-court-conversion-therapy* "Christian group defending LGBTQ+ conversion therapy at SCOTUS accused of using 'false evidence':"
https://www.advocate.com/politics/conversion-therapy-supreme-court-evidence* "I survived conversion therapy. Now it's coming back in softer words:"
https://www.advocate.com/voices/conversion-therapy-survivor*** Republican Shutdown of the Government ***
Republicans promised to negotiate when Schiff caved and voted for the Big Ugly Budget Bill. They lied of course, because their promises are always lies when they aren't threats to harm Americans. That was June and they are still refusing to start negotiations in late October.
Mike Johnson is so dedicated to preventing any negotiations and the swearing in of a duly elected congresswoman on the grounds that unlike most republicans she opposes CSA and the Republican cover up for powerful pedophiles that he has the House of Representatives on an unplanned vacation for over a month.
Normally, this wouldn't stop the swearing in and he swore in two republicans during a previous shut down right away, but he has decided that his ideological opposition to democracy and his ideological commitment to CSA is more important, so here we are.
Meanwhile Trump has ordered a stop to EBT to 45 million Americans even though there is money for it and like SSI, EBT always continues during shutdowns. This is a deliberate choice to harm Americans and particularly children because he wants to steal healthcare from American workers.
Democrats are holding out to try to save healthcare for 15-20 million working Americans. Republicans are lying that that is not the case, see they always lie unless they are threatening to harm Americans.
Please contact your critters and tell them you want the Democratic version that preserves healthcare subsidies. If you are in New York, please call Adam Schiff and Hakeem Jefferies to ask them to hold firm on the government shutdown.
Tell your Republican Congress Critters how angry you are they have shut down the government and are taking your healthcare away.
* "Senate Democrats propose 1-year Obamacare subsidies punt in new shutdown offer:"
https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2025/11/07/congress/obamacare-punt-democrats-shutdown-00642467* "‘Grow a spine’: Jasmine Crockett rips Mike Johnson’s ‘petulant child’ stunt:"
https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/-grow-a-spine-jasmine-crockett-rips-mike-johnson-s-petulant-child-stunt-251590213885* "Evident in the GOP's shutdown strategy: pitting Americans against each other:"
https://www.msnbc.com/the-briefing-with-jen-psaki/watch/evident-in-the-gop-s-shutdown-strategy-pitting-americans-against-each-other-251603525708* "Judge orders Trump administration to pay full SNAP benefits:"
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/11/06/judge-orders-trump-administration-to-pay-full-snap-benefits-00640627* This is entirely a choice on Trump's part. He could have just released the funds as he was required to do by law instead of suing to withhold food. He could have obeyed the original court order to release the funds instead of foot dragging. He could have followed the second court order instead of appealing to the Supreme Court.
* "Supreme Court issues emergency order to block full SNAP food aid payments:"
https://apnews.com/article/snap-food-government-shutdown-trump-a807e9f0c0a7213e203c074553dc1f9b* "Supreme Court agrees to Trump's request to temporarily block order to resume full SNAP benefits :"
https://www.msnbc.com/the-briefing-with-jen-psaki/watch/supreme-court-agrees-to-trump-s-request-to-temporarily-block-order-to-resume-full-snap-benefits-251593797557* Let them eat Cake! "Trump REELS as groceries gaffe, SNAP fight, and 'Great Gatsby' optics collide :"
https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/trump-reels-as-groceries-gaffe-snap-fight-and-great-gatsby-optics-collide-251586629925* "Trump learns to say 'affordability,' but doesn't seem to grasp its meaning:"
https://www.msnbc.com/the-briefing-with-jen-psaki/watch/trump-learns-to-say-affordability-but-doesn-t-seem-to-grasp-its-meaning-251594821600* "This Racist SNAP Video Is Everywhere Online — And Everyone Should Be Alarmed:"
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/ai-fake-snap-videos_l_690cbd44e4b027afb3224e1f* "How the government shutdown is affecting LGBTQ+ people — and what bad legislation is upcoming:"
https://www.advocate.com/politics/shutdown-effects-fights-ahead* "FAA flight cuts will hit major hubs across the US:"
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/11/06/faa-flight-cuts-major-hubs-00639825?nid=0000015a-dd3e-d536-a37b-dd7fd8af0000&nname=playbook-pm&nrid=fbdb35d9-f154-49a2-b74d-d8c94fcb44d2****
* "Adelita Grijalva files lawsuit to be sworn in as member of Congress :"
https://rollcall.com/2025/10/21/adelita-grijalva-files-lawsuit-to-be-sworn-in-as-member-of-congress/* "Democrat Adelita Grijalva is fighting to serve even as Speaker Mike Johnson refuses to swear her in:"
https://www.advocate.com/politics/adelita-grijalva-mike-johnson* "Are the Epstein files playing a role in delaying the GOP from swearing in new Arizona Dem?:"
https://www.msnbc.com/the-weekend-primetime/watch/are-the-epstein-files-playing-a-role-in-delaying-the-gop-from-swearing-in-new-arizona-dem-249149509784* "GOP ‘desperate’ to stop Dem swearing-in to bury Epstein vote:"
https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/gop-desperate-to-stop-dem-swearing-in-to-bury-epstein-vote-249069637964* ""Speaker Johnson Is Trying To Protect A Bunch Of Pedophiles" - Sen. Ruben Gallego:"
( Embed: )* "End arms sales to UAE:"
https://thisfinecrew.dreamwidth.org/318426.html* "US Urged to End Arms Sales to UAE as It Backs Genocidal Paramilitary in Sudan:"
https://truthout.org/articles/us-urged-to-end-arms-sales-to-uae-as-it-backs-genocidal-paramilitary-in-sudan/* "Van Hollen, Jacobs Reintroduce Bill to Prohibit U.S. Arms Sales to UAE Until They Cease Support of RSF in Sudan:"
https://www.vanhollen.senate.gov/news/press-releases/van-hollen-jacobs-reintroduce-bill-to-prohibit-us-arms-sales-to-uae-until-they-cease-support-of-rsf-in-sudan* "How anti-trans policies are disrupting efforts to prevent genital mutilation:"
https://www.advocate.com/transgender/female-genital-mutilation-activism-coopted* "Nancy Pelosi won’t seek reelection, ending her storied career in the US House:"
https://apnews.com/article/pelosi-reelection-announcement-fd95c18815fdabdaabaf26b8c2f0bafc* "Juggling Congress and Life, She Opted to Freeze Her Eggs:"
https://archive.ph/gGH1U* "Nancy Mace, who often touted her vote for marriage equality, now says, ‘Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve’:"
https://www.advocate.com/politics/nancy-mace-antigay-post* "Sarah McBride opens up about her darkest day in Congress (exclusive):"
https://www.advocate.com/politics/sarah-mcbride-darkest-day-interview
*
Our job for the next year and a half is to survive, to build grassroots resistance, to do all in our power to slow the republican Christo-fascist agenda, and to prepare for 2026 in case there is still Democracy.
We are trying to build a good list of resistance resources.
Please add more below if you have them.* "Take action with Indivisible:"
https://www.mobilize.us/indivisible/* Trump 2.0 Indivisible Guide.
https://indivisible.org/resource/guide* "Democracy 2025:"
https://www.democracy2025.org/?utm_source=df-ad&utm_medium=&utm_campaign=21912407002&utm_content=721373734297&source=df-ad-gs&gad_source=1* If you can't safely contact them in person, here are some other options for contacting your Congress Critters:
Five Calls to your critters:
https://5calls.org/Here is one that will send your reps a fax:
https://resist.bot/And another:
https://faxzero.com/fax_senate.phpSnail Mail Campaigns:
https://conuly.dreamwidth.org/3622760.html"Congress. gov:"
https://www.congress.gov/White house (Possibly Dangerous):
https://www.whitehouse.gov/ACLU advice for writing to your Critters:
https://www.aclu.org/writing-your-elected-representativesThis tracks legislation:
https://www.govtrack.us/"The Public Comment Process (+ how to write effective public comments):"
https://www.tumblr.com/gwydionmisha/781844516804149248?source=shareRun for Something:
https://runforsomething.net/"Vote Smart:"
https://justfacts.votesmart.org/Useful organizing links and resources:
https://www.tumblr.com/gwydionmisha/771859083592613888/hater-of-terfs-ive-already-reblogged-a-link-to?source=shareProtests: "50501 Events:"
https://www.fiftyfifty.one/events"ICE Raids Toolkit: Defend Against ICE Raids and Community Arrests:"
https://www.immigrantdefenseproject.org/raids-toolkit/Contains a raid tip hotline amoung other things. "Know Your Rights
LEARN HOW TO PROTECT YOURSELF AND YOUR FAMILY:"
https://wearecasa.org/know-your-rights/
* "Trump goes on posting frenzy a day after Democrats win key elections:"
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/nov/05/trump-truth-social-posts* "Trump discovers new concept: ‘They have this new word called affordability’:"
https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/trump-discovers-new-concept-they-have-this-new-word-called-affordability-251509829698* "Trump struggles to process blame for election 'thumping' :"
https://www.msnbc.com/the-briefing-with-jen-psaki/watch/trump-struggles-to-process-blame-for-election-thumping-251441733794* "Republicans scramble as Trump’s enters his ‘lame duck era’:"
https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/republicans-scramble-as-trump-s-enters-his-lame-duck-era-251513413662* "The Coming Swell of Scientists-Turned-Politicians:"
https://archive.ph/ipjGc* "Massachusetts action item - Data Privacy Act:"
https://thisfinecrew.dreamwidth.org/318922.html
* "Dick Cheney Departs The World He Made:"
https://defector.com/dick-cheney-departs-the-world-he-made* "Dick Cheney, one of America’s worst war criminals, is dead. :"
https://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2025/11/cheney* I am mostly spending a lot of time in bed with The Empress Livia, who remains distressed and jumpy. We had Feather Time for the first time since the Weekend. Tavy was too ill to join in then, but perched on me with alert interest to watch her play. Now she plays a lone.
I wore her out and she got some good sleep this evening.
I went out to drop off library books and to spend some OTC on Bread, lettuce, mushrooms, and cheese. Really I should be using it to stockpile breath right strips and tums against the coming shortage, but really I wanted to be able to make soup and sandwiches.
The grocery store was eerily underpopulated this close to dinner time and a lot of things were on sale, luckily including bread.
I suspect it is Trump's decision to illegal block SNAP payments out of spite.
Later, Nearby Millennial stopped by with homemade soup and the Good Bread. Nearby Millennial makes the best soup and with ingredients I can't manage myself, which was far better than me making soup.
So More soup and sandwiches tomorrow and the delicious potato thing New Millennial's been making lately.
We are stuck with the Debris Maze another week; the Electrician comes next Wednesday to hopefully finish.
In related news I am nearly done with fixing up my room after the Great Summer HoA Siege. The few things left are best done after the Electrician finishes. (Things that would be in the way with his work in my room if I put them where they go, things blocked by things displaced by the Great Move to the Right of the Living room furniture, Books destined for the empty shelving currently blocking my fish tanks). The work of half an hour or less when the chaos ends.
Meanwhile, what had been a straight short trip from door to door, is now twice as long because of the tetrised furniture and simple tasks like replacing batteries in the remote are a drama because Things are Displaced or In the Way.
I'm still trying to work out how best to put the living room back, which will be an even bigger task because of the extra disarray, and also because it's a logical time to clean and rearrange some things.
This has been a terrible and exhausting year.
At least the elections went well and people are still resisting.
* I keep thinking about all the ways our constitution and our political system developed weirdly compared to other modern democracies from this one thing.
About a month or so ago a friend who is not American asked a simple and entirely sensible question about the American political system that required a 2-3 hour college level, extremely nuanced and complicated answer. I rather wish I'd condensed it out of the chat to publish here because most Americans don't learn most of what I was explaining unless they took poly sci in college plus a bunch of US History (likely also college level unless they went to a very good High School), or are very nerdy about US Politics on the how sausage is made nitty gritty level.
The conversation has haunted me ever since.
One of the first things I said was something like: You have to understand that the people who wrote the Us Constitution really hated political parties and naively hoped that if they didn't write them into the constitution and told people political parties were bad, people wouldn't form them, but people being people and political reality being political reality, political parties formed immediately because it is the easiest way to do things like getting elected. Originally, the person who came in first in the election got to be president and the person who came in second got to be vice president, which pretty much ensured they were from different parties with opposing views which caused the sort of problems you would expect until they fixed it so president and vice president ran as a ticket.
My Friend from Abroad: O.o This explains So Much.
Me, nodding sadly: It does.
* Friday, I knew forage was going to take up most of the spoons, so my other goals were to try to make it all the way through SCOTUS on the aggregate and do some Tumblr programing. I actually achieved this.
There was about a day between the Court ordering EBT disbursal and SCOTUS staying pending appeal. The EBT hotline had a voice message saying my state disbursed the money. I don't trust like that, so Saturday I went to the close by store that takes EBT and OTC, with the idea if I bought something small and it wasn't covered I could burn a little OTC, and if it did go through, I'd know if I had full or partial payment and could plan accordingly.
It went through and it looks like the money is all there. I thought it was likely, as my State tends to be Johnny of the Spot when it comes to keeping citizens alive, but best to check than discover in line.
Seriously, check yours.
Now if only I had gas money so I could go to Cheap Ethical Grocery, but I burned that along with half the non-housing bill money on Tavy's final expenses. (I couldn't Not pay Housing, and if I don't cover auto-withdraws I am fucked). I have less than an 8th of a tank and I'm fascinated to see how I make that last a month.
I managed to change the sofa today, which is exhausting, but Tavy was ill on the back a few times in his final couple days. I've decided to keep covering the bed, as when Livia has the blerps, that's where it tends to happen. I'm likely going to keep the pad next to her box in my bathroom, as she occasionally goes there when stressed so she's been doing that the last couple weeks on and off, and honestly, reusable pads are easy to clean. It also means I get spot checks to see if her urinary/renal system is okay, which is a life long monitoring system and why she needs the Special Girl Food. It is kind of nice being able to cut back to laundry every 2-3 days instead of an exhausting 1-3 a day, as I'm down to the last detergent bottle.
I'm likely keeping the big whole pads on the sofa long term against stains, since they look fine, and the Upholstery was severance from a job I had in the mid-90's and assorted cats have really fucked up the arms and some of the back over the decades. I'm leaving the small pads there another week even though that was really a Tavy issue and she hasn't gone there as far as I know since she nearly died of urinary stuff when she was two. If nothing has happened there by the time the furniture is back where it goes, I can repurpose the Good Pads as back up to my room and the less nice pads can join the beat up pads in my bathroom.
Livia herself is Really Sad. Cats mourn and she is sinking hard into mourning. She's eating, but not as much as usual. I am giving her all the love and company I can.
We are trying to adjust, she and I, to all the little holes he has left in our lives and habits and hearts.
* Re: The new Robin Hood Show. (Robin Hood Critical
I was promised Sean Bean and it is a great time to be making a new anti-colonialist/anti-authoritarian show, so I gave it a try, but they are doing something so persistently annoying and ahistorical that it yanks me right out constantly and is plot critical that I had to give up. It's possibly even worse than Pillars of the Earth with is really saying something.
Look, I'm of the school of thought that Robin Hood is an amalgamation, and accretion of stories about a whole lot of different outlaws. There were at least three outlaws named some variation of Robert in the mediate post Norman invasion period. There were tons outlaw stories circulating in Medieval England, including an entire cycle under another guy's name. Most treatments put Robin Hood in the era of King Richard and King John, but there is reason to think most of the stories are from the period in the first half of the 14th century when Outlawry was rampant because of all the younger sons who basically were set loose with horse, armour, and weapons and not much in the way of prospects.
Robin Hood Stories are all basically FanFiction.
If you are a professional entertainer making your living wandering around singing songs for people, and you have a bunch of good songs about outlaws, and there is a legendary outlaw people like to hear stories about, it is in your economic interest to change the name of your outlaw to match the one people like best and they will pay better for songs about the famous guy. So you switch your main guy to Rob or Robbin, whichever fits the meter best. You make his villains a Robin Hood villain. If he has a love interest or interests, that becomes Maid Marian. If you have some cool side characters that match ones people like and already know, you map them on what's closest. If you don't? Well here's another Merry Man you just hadn't heard about yet. Add some OCs. Go to town with itMaybe add details and exaggerate or come up with a new story if you think people will like it better. If you want to make a political point but don't want to get in trouble, you can just slide that in sly like, because this stuff happened like a while ago, so you aren't directly attacking the king or the local lord or the modern clergy or the current sociopolitical situation. Same with the people who started writing the stories down. They had agendas and audiences and things they wanted to say using the blorboes from their stories.
Modern Authors aren't doing anything different when the retell Robin Hood whichever way, because it's basically fan fiction all the way down, you follow? Reinterpret away. People have been at it for more than a thousand years, maybe longer.
I'm not complaining about fucking with cannon, because there is no fixed cannon and that's kind of the beauty of Robin Hood.
What I'm complaining about is fucking with history in a major way. Again, I'm not complaining about little things nearly everybody in movie and TV get wrong about the middle ages, though those things are there to.
I'm talking about them deciding that Saxons were all Pagans in Queen Eleanor's time and that's why the Normans were stealing their lands, titles, and rights away and if they'd just convert to Christianity they'd get their stuff back.
No the fuck they would not. I know that because that's not what happened.
The Saxons were Roman Catholic like the Normans and had been for some two and a half centuries plus. Like yeah, the King Offa story is disputed as to whether it actually happened that way and not everyone would have converted all at once, but by the time of the Conquest by William the Bastard the Saxons were very much Catholic and that literally plays a part in the pretext for Invasion so seriously, WTF Robin Hood 2025!
We also know they wouldn't have gotten there land back because even what few Saxon Nobles who were allowed to keep their stuff immediately after the Invasion by swearing oaths and supporting William the Bastard lost it all within a generation. There were virtually none left. Like maybe some of the daughters married Normans but there weren't any titled Saxon Families anymore, because the point of colonizing a place is taking the locals' stuff and their power away and giving it to your friends.
Which William the bastard did and was pretty much the basis of the power structure going forward and you can actually see it in the way English changes post invasion.
Taking this particular time period and making it about good, pure pagans vs. evil corrupt Christians instead of making it about power and colonialism and what it means to have a Conqueror ignore their own laws whenever it suits them and taking all the rights of one's forefathers away.
And they clearly don't understand the Catholicism and customs and traditions of this period at all. I know this may shock you, but Medieval Catholics were not Early Modern Puritans. There were ascetic monastic orders, hermits, anchorites, etc., but the practice of every day religion was a whole other thing. See also both Saxons and Normans were literally Roman Catholic in this period.
Don't ground your story in history if you are going to lie on this scale. Make it happen in mystical legendary time if you want to tell a story like this, but don't build ahistorical nonsense so deep into your story structure that you are constantly rubbing my face in it.
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