botgal

[botgal]

Apparently Target is rethinking being anti DEI because foot traffic in their stores has been declining for like 10 weeks straight and their stock has been dropping in unison and listen, I know a lot of this is probably because consumer spending goes down in general when the economy is unstable (tarrifs, mass federal gov layoffs etc.) but I think we should just keep running boycotts of different brands to convince them that they only make money when they're woke. I know we dunked on rainbow capitalism because it was cornball and performative but I don't even give a shit. These companies shouldn't be able to be openly pro-Trump and expect us to ignore it. They should not be allowed to bend the knee to racist, xenophobic, homophobic, transphobic, abelist, generally bigoted culture war bullshit without taking a hit to their bottom line. These billionaire dipshits wanted unfettered capitalism with a madman at the helm and they should not be allowed to enable that without feeling some of the hurt along with the rest of us. Make these corporate assholes think money is stored in the woke

[botgal]

[botgal]

[botgal]

Wait wait wait.

The chapter is called what?

[botgal]

No joke though watching people on here say the most basic heterosexual catholic ass bullshit is so funny straight up wymmmm you think if someone hasn’t been proposed to in two years they should break up. Wym there’s no point to a relationship without the end goal of marriage. Wym you think liking photos on instagram is indicative of wanting to cheat. Wym you think nonmonogamy is soulless. God damn lol you’re skirting the line judging of people based on body counts and saying bisexuals are more likely to cheat at that point

[botgal]

I cannot take "fraud" talk about benefit programs seriously because I know what can get labeled as fraud. Taking a tupperware of leftovers home from a friend's birthday can be argued to be food stamp fraud. Exchanging SNAP for cash is fraud, that makes sense, except in many cases, people will let someone else use their leftover SNAP at the end of the month in exchange for cash they need for shampoo, toilet paper, Tylenol, or other essentials not covered by SNAP. Paying the nurse or attendant for the full shift even though you asked them to leave early because you wanted to go to bed is fraud, even though the alternative is either they get less pay for no fault of their own, or they have to hang around while you sleep. Meanwhile, paying someone for the full shift when the jobsite has to shut down early is policy in many workplaces. Giving your attendant or nurse cash to go pick up your medicine and letting them keep the change is fraud. In some states packing your kid lunch if you are on free lunch is fraud. Because of how strictly benefits programs are defined and regulated, for the recipients, basic human acts and impulses are defined as fraud.

If people want to talk about benefits fraud, they should be talking about third party administrators, nursing homes, and farms. That's where big ticket fraud that is malicious, deliberate, and with the aim of ripping off the government happens. It's the province of large scale service providers and contractors, not people who use benefits or the workers directly assisting them. So unless you're explicitly talking about that, shut the fuck up about "oh I'm sure there *is* fraud."

[botgal]

Lines of thought that seem Normal but are actually rooted in extreme puritanism:

-Seeing the nude human body is inherently traumatic -Sex scenes in art are pointless -Wearing kink-related clothing in public is the similar to performing a sex scene in front of unwilling participants -Depicting female characters expressing sexuality is always degrading -People's sexual fantasies are always an endorsement of the behavior they want to see in real life -Sex work is more traumatic and coercive than other types of work The goal is to treat sex as just another thing people do. That is a much healthier attitude than hiding it! It's not uniquely traumatic, it's not weird to talk about it or include it in society.

[botgal]

ok im going to #seriouspost for a second here. I don't think Harry Potter is a manifesto. I think it was a flawed passion project that millennials latched onto because of the fantasy of sticking it to their mean teachers and arbitrarily categorizing themselves (hogwarts houses; it's the thinking millennial's astrology). I think the fact that the series got popular when and how it did was very much a product of its time.

I don't think Harry Potter is the biggest symbol of JKR's bigotry. I think the most flagrant sign of that was how she responded to critics. I watched her become radicalized in real time. I watched how she doubled down on her racism when she was called out for the ways she promoted her tragically mid fantastic beasts movies. I watched her chase marginalized teenagers with a double digit follower count off of twitter for daring to criticize her thought process, and no one with any kind of power standing against her because she was the one who was paying them. This isn't to say Harry Potter is without flaws. This is to say she really didn't give a shit about that. Getting rich and powerful is a hell of a drug, and she had enough sycophants that she had no reason to care about what her critics were saying.

She was convinced that she was a martyr; a voice for the unheard; a leader for the ages, so of course her detractors were the bad guys. And I think we should take this to heart. We should see this as an example of how easy it is to get radicalized; if you think of yourself as a paragon of virtue, you are going to think that whatever you see as good and right is an objective fact. Most people don't know this, but the majority of terfs start out as trans allies. You are not immune to propaganda! You are not immune to falling into dangerous ideologies!!!

This is why the most important thing you can do as an activist is to listen. Do NOT think you're above being wrong; do NOT develop a god complex; do NOT form an identity out of being right all the time. Involve yourselves in the groups you claim to speak for. Listen to trans women; share resources that help trans women; familiarize yourself with the diversity of experiences that trans people have and the struggles they face.

No, none of you are as bad as JKR because you don't have her money or her power. You will likely never have the capacity for harm she does. But check yourselves. Do not affirm yourselves into thinking you always have the moral high ground. Watch yourselves; humble yourselves; check yourselves for signs of cult behavior and internalized prejudice. You are always learning. You will always be learning. Do not allow yourselves to get a power trip from brushing off marginalized voices.

[botgal]

The Settlers (2025), by Louis Theroux

[botgal]

I know we're all tired of political posts telling us to call people to protect our rights, but this is a big one.

H.R. 633, The TAKE IT DOWN act, could be put through a House session as early as next week according to the schedule.

While this bill's intention is to make it easier to remove AI and deepfake pornography and other nonconsensual depictions of identifiable adults and minors, the way the bill is written poses a danger to free speech and the ability to post lawful content. As the way the bill's takedown system is written, there's a mandatory 48 hour takedown notice period with no way to appeal in the event of a wrongful report. Meaning this could just as easily be misused to report lawful content and speech that someone dislikes for any reason and have it removed without proper cause.

Indeed, Donald Trump has himself said that he blatantly intends to misuse the bill himself, which he has been touting alongside Melania Trump.

" "Once it passes the House, I look forward to signing that bill into law. And I'm going to use that bill for myself too if you don't mind, because nobody gets treated worse than I do online, nobody," Trump said, drawing laughs from the crowd at Congress. "

This is a blatant admission of the intent to misuse a law which could otherwise be used to help people who are victims of a serious crime in order to silence people he feels are not treating him properly online. Don't let him get his hands on that power in a time when he is already willfully putting the powers of checks and balances in a shredder for his own ends.

Call, email, and fax your House representatives to let them know just how dangerous this bill could be for America's already endangered free speech.

If you need a basic call or email script to base your words on, you may use the one I will add below. Thank you for taking the time to contact your representatives, and do your best.

"I would like to inform my representative about the dangers posed by H.R. 633, the TAKE IT DOWN act of 2025. While this bill is well-intentioned, the provisions provided in its takedown system and overly broad language are insufficient to prevent its measures from being abused by bad actors who would use it to remove speech, images, and information they disagree with rather than using it for its proper purpose of protecting others intimate images, both real and deepfaked, from being used to harm them.

The president has said himself that he intends to misuse this bill for its own purposes, and it should be in the interest of you as my representative to prevent such a blatant misuse of legal power to silence free speech. If the language of this bill cannot be altered, then it should be rejected at all costs to protect the free speech that is held so valuable in this country.

Vote NO ON H.R. 633, The TAKE IT DOWN act."

[botgal]

Hey how about fuck off forever?

[botgal]

Odd, how the United States doesn't have enough money to give sick veterans healthcare, impoverished seniors Social Security, or hungry schoolkids lunches, but it does have enough money to pay a Central American dictator millions to torture American residents in his brutal concentration camp.

[botgal]

Just wanted to share some shockingly good news in these difficult times. The full article is really worth reading. [Find it here]

[botgal]

On April 16th 2025 the US federal government has proposed to change the interpretation of the endangered species act so that it no longer protects habitat.

This is open for public comment until the end of May 19th. Please comment and make your voice heard.

Wildlife need their habitat. If the ESA redefines harm so that habitat is no longer protected, the implications for wildlife would be catastrophic.

[botgal]

I know we're all tired of political posts telling us to call people to protect our rights, but this is a big one.

H.R. 633, The TAKE IT DOWN act, could be put through a House session as early as next week according to the schedule.

While this bill's intention is to make it easier to remove AI and deepfake pornography and other nonconsensual depictions of identifiable adults and minors, the way the bill is written poses a danger to free speech and the ability to post lawful content. As the way the bill's takedown system is written, there's a mandatory 48 hour takedown notice period with no way to appeal in the event of a wrongful report. Meaning this could just as easily be misused to report lawful content and speech that someone dislikes for any reason and have it removed without proper cause.

Indeed, Donald Trump has himself said that he blatantly intends to misuse the bill himself, which he has been touting alongside Melania Trump.

" "Once it passes the House, I look forward to signing that bill into law. And I'm going to use that bill for myself too if you don't mind, because nobody gets treated worse than I do online, nobody," Trump said, drawing laughs from the crowd at Congress. "

This is a blatant admission of the intent to misuse a law which could otherwise be used to help people who are victims of a serious crime in order to silence people he feels are not treating him properly online. Don't let him get his hands on that power in a time when he is already willfully putting the powers of checks and balances in a shredder for his own ends.

Call, email, and fax your House representatives to let them know just how dangerous this bill could be for America's already endangered free speech.

If you need a basic call or email script to base your words on, you may use the one I will add below. Thank you for taking the time to contact your representatives, and do your best.

"I would like to inform my representative about the dangers posed by H.R. 633, the TAKE IT DOWN act of 2025. While this bill is well-intentioned, the provisions provided in its takedown system and overly broad language are insufficient to prevent its measures from being abused by bad actors who would use it to remove speech, images, and information they disagree with rather than using it for its proper purpose of protecting others intimate images, both real and deepfaked, from being used to harm them.

The president has said himself that he intends to misuse this bill for its own purposes, and it should be in the interest of you as my representative to prevent such a blatant misuse of legal power to silence free speech. If the language of this bill cannot be altered, then it should be rejected at all costs to protect the free speech that is held so valuable in this country.

Vote NO ON H.R. 633, The TAKE IT DOWN act."

[botgal]

[botgal]

I find it so deeply fascinating that there are medieval and possibly even ancient texts (I can't remember specifics rn but I definitely saw one from early medieval Europe recently) that are like "oh if only I lived in an earlier age when there was literal magic in the world"

I feel like nowadays people project that back ONTO the middle ages, but even back then they were like "there used to be magic and now it's gone"

its magic turtles all the way down etc etc