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Saying that a certain group of people is too privileged to complain about the way that things are is its own sort of defense of the status quo

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getting sooooo frustrated at the people saying sabrina carpenter’s album cover is “setting back feminism” like YOU are the conservative backlash you’re scared of! censoring a woman’s ART because it’s “male-centered” (there’s no man in the photo)!

personally my feminism includes people who enjoy kink and bdsm, my feminism includes sex workers. excluding the faction of people that includes dominatrix certainly doesn’t feel like a smart move!

but above all, this shit DOESNT MATTER! it’s album art! women are losing ACTUAL RIGHTS! sabrina carpenter is NOT your enemy! patriarchy/men are your enemy!!!

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I was at the University capitol until about 3pm Central and I didn't see anyone being arrested or not being allowed to protest. It was pretty boring while I was there. Like, the energy was good, but nothing even a little bit tense.

Based on what my friends were saying, the specific area they were in started to get rowdy and a number of arrests happened leading to dispersal — but I'm not sure exactly where they were location-wise. I've been hearing that other areas have been totally fine from other folks though, so it seems like tone is varying by area.

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Two Minnesota Lawmakers Shot, No Kings Protest Continuing As Planned

June 14, 2025 12:43pm:

Two MN lawmakers and their spouses were shot by a gunman impersonating a police officer in the early hours of Saturday June 14, 2025 in Champlin and Brooklyn Park (Twin Cities suburbs). The shooter is still at large.

Due to papers found in the shooter's vehicle with "No Kings" written on them, authorities urge people not to attend political rallies across the state and recommend the events be cancelled. The NE Minneapolis No Kings event was cancelled, but Invisible Twin Cities affirmed that the No Kings march to the St. Paul Capital is continuing as planned.

Widespread news of the shootings broke around the same time the St. Paul event started at 11am, so a large number of people were already gathered.

According to reporting at the St. Paul event, organizers say the capital rally will be shortened. It appears that people attending are largely aware of both the shooting and law enforcement's recommendations to stay away.

Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband were fatally shot.

Sen. John Hoffman and his wife have been released from surgery. Authorities are "cautiously optimistic" about their recoveries.

Brooklyn Park is under shelter in place orders as law enforcement searches for the shooter, who fled on foot from Rep. Melisa Hortman's house.

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MN Democratic Representative Melissa Hortman and her husband's injuries were fatal [ ABC ]

MN Democratic Senator John Hoffman and his wife are in critical condition, but it's cautiously optimistic that they'll survive [ ABC ]

There's been a manifesto retrieved from the suspect's vehicle that names and targets Tim Walz and Ilhan Omar among other Minnesota democrats.

Two of my democratic state representatives have been shot barely 30 minutes from were I live by a man posing as a police officer — I'm feeling sick.

[ CNN article ]

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Two of my democratic state representatives have been shot barely 30 minutes from were I live by a man posing as a police officer — I'm feeling sick.

[ CNN article ]

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I think it's actually heinous and disgusting the way trans people will just lie to other trans people about how "unattainable" passing can be for SO many reasons. Especially when it comes from a place of people projecting their own insecurities and dysphoria onto others.

Like. I truly think that one of the worst things you can do to another trans person emotionally is make them feel insecure about their place in their transition or what they do or don't need to transition.

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Being stealth is not an option that only exists for trans men. Being cis passing is not an option that only exists for trans men.

If you really truly think that trans men have it easy and can go stealth whenever because being cis passing is so easily accessible to them and really truly think that trans women have it worse because they're clocky and can't pass as cis and will never be able to be fully stealth — you're just transphobic actually. Transmisogynist even.

At this point in my own personal life I literally know more stealth, cis passing trans women than I do stealth, cis passing trans men and most of those women are non-op at this point in their transitions.

Stop lying to trans women by telling them they'll never be able to pass ""as easily"" as trans men. You're just being a transmisogynist when you do.

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I am really enjoying reading about the University of Wisconsin chancellor fired after the university discovered all the pornos he and his wife were making.

Generally when someone has a public sex scandal (or “scandal”) you get the standard “I am sorry. I regret it. It was a misjudgment on my part” but this guy is like “fuck you I didn’t do anything wrong. I didn’t violate conflict of interest clauses, you are violating my first amendment rights”

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being against punitive justice doesn't mean just being against systemic cruelty it means being against the idea that punishment = justice and that for justice to be done, someone must be made to suffer. it's not just "well hurting bad people is justice, but when the government does it it could accidentally hurt some good people!" that is not anti-punitive. you are still viewing justice as requiring someone's punishment.

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The thing that gets me about a "[ X ] group of people have it objectively worse than [ Y ] group of people" framing of oppression, marginalization, and struggle in general is that it's been proven to be ineffective because it is inherently anti-solidarity.

It always makes me think about my readings on prison abolition and prisoners rights. How the most productive work gets done towards abolition and restorative justice when solidarity is formed across racial, economic, religious, ethnic, and gender lines to recognize that even though the way the damage is inflicted varies it's all the same system causing the harm.

To frame someone's experience as objectively worse than another's is objectively antithetical to the core of a lot of restorative justice. In many ways it's just a continuation of the cycle of harm with a different coat of paint.

The only way any of us will be able to strive towards freedom and justice is if we stop dividing ourselves along the same lines our oppressors draw. It's very easy to recognize our differences while recognizing the ways our plights are connected.

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had a minor crisis when 12ft.io went down yesterday and thankfully it's back now but this seems like a good opportunity to compile a list of similar paywall-evading tools in case 12ft ever gets canned for real:

12ft.io: the legend himself. definitely my favorite of the bunch by virtue of being the easiest to use (and the easiest url to remember), but it's configured to disable paywall evasion for a handful of popular sites like the new york times, so you'll have to go elsewhere for those.

printfriendly: works great; never had any issues with removing paywalls, even on domains that don't work with 12ft.io. since this site is literally designed to make sites print-friendly, it might simplify the overall formatting of the page you're trying to access, which can be a good or bad thing. my only real issue is that the "element zapper" (which lets you remove content blocks from the print-friendly preview) is a little sensitive if you're browsing on a touchscreen device, which means you might accidentally delete a paragraph when you're just trying to scroll. but if that happens you can reload the page and it'll revert everything back to its original state.

fifteen feet: basically a 12ft clone, minus 12ft's restrictions. haven't used it much since I only discovered it yesterday in the wake of 12ft's 451 error but it seems to do the trick.

archive.today: an archival tool very similar to the wayback machine, but it also works as a de facto paywall removal tool. (the wayback machine seems to remove paywalls as well, but archive.today has better UX imo and is way faster to use.)

and an honorable mention for sci-hub: only works for scientific/academic journals, not random news articles, but the other sites listed above only work for random news articles and not academic publications so you gotta have this one in your toolbelt for full coverage. pubmed is your oyster.

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You know, it really is quite frustrating the amount of times I scroll by a post that says "if men experienced [thing that trans men experience], this wouldn't happen [except it does, to trans men, usually worse than to cis women]"

"If men could have periods, tampons would be free" >>> trans man gets beaten up for requesting sanitary products in bathrooms

"If men got uterine cancer, there would be a cure" >>> trans man killed via medical neglect due to being trans as his doctors wanted to punish him for being transgender and betraying womanhood

"If men were catcalled, it would be considered assault" >>> trans man gets catcalled and then sexually assaulted for ignoring their advances

"If men had to worry about being alone at night, there would be a streetlight every 5 feet" >>> trans man murdered while walking home alone from work

But then if I say anything about it, I'm told I'm a misogynist "erasing women's struggles".

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if you have conservatives in your life and California comes up in conversations I strongly recommend pointing out to them that if Trump is allowed to deploy the military into a state, that is setting a precedent that any president of any party can do that at any time they so choose and even if they (incorrectly) support Trump in what he’s doing now, will they still feel that way if it’s a president from a different party?

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for the past two years i have been sponsoring a tuberculosis detection rat in tanzania, her name is carolina. she sniffs sputum samples & alerts her handlers when she detects TB. recently she turned 8 & aged out of the program, so they held a retirement party for her & sent me photos.

while carolina moves on to live a life of rest & luxury in the retirement kennels, her role is being passed on to her successor, tamasha. she is 2 years old & was named after the grandmother of one of her handlers.

(with her handler priscus)

here is a description of tamasha:

"Tamasha is also quite playful! She enjoys jumping, climbing, and sometimes does a joyful little dance when placed in the TB evaluation enclosure – as if celebrating her enthusiasm for the work ahead. She’s also a big fan of avocado, her favorite treat for a job well done."

im not afraid to admit that this email made me cry like a stupid baby. you can sponsor your own big beautiful TB- or landmine-detecting rat through APOPO HeroRATS. they send you an update on how your rat is doing each month, including photos.

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No matter how progressive or well-read you are, there are always going to be moments in your life where somebody pushes back against something that's so culturally ingrained you never even considered it before. And you'll say "Huh, it never occurred to me to challenge this but you're right" and that doesn't mean you were "morally toxic" before, it means you're a non-omniscient human capable of growth.

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the fact that a lot of progressive people truly cannot tell the difference between a woman who is sexually objectified, and a woman who is an active sexual participant is bad bad bad bad bad bad bad