#Protect our freedoms

[commonsensecommentary]

“Pandering and prevaricating are poor substitutes for statesmanship, and the notable weakness projected by America has clearly emboldened those tyrants and terrorists who believe that we are good at talking—but little else. Rattling your saber is meaningless if your opponent is certain you will keep it sheathed, and a country that cannot even work up the will to control its own national borders looks like an easy mark to those ready to use bullets and bombs to impose their will.”

(From my blog archive)

[phoenixduelist]

The only S3 opening I accept is Izzy literally clawing out of the grave, yelling: 'None of you absolute TWATS bothered to check for a pulse??'

In a show where every tiny movement has 26280 meanings and possible interpretations, I refuse to believe that this death has absolutely none.

And I also hope after crawling out, his first half conscious journey is into Ed's and Stede's inn, sending both into a cardiac arrest

[seethesound]

Iranian teenage girl has died after being severely beaten by Iranian morality police.

16 year old Armita Geravand was pronounced dead after Iranian female officers beat her severely on the Tehran Metro because she was not wearing a hijab.

In Iran it is mandatory for women to wear a hijab, those that don't comply are routinely beaten and killed.

She was treated at Tehran's Fajr hospital, but has passed away

[dinosaurwithablog]

I keep seeing things that say happy Memorial Day. That doesn't make sense to me because this is a solemn day. It's not a day about barbecuing and drinking beer and having a three day weekend. It's a day to remember the sacrifices of men and women who did their part to protect our freedom, to protect our families, and to protect everything that we hold near and dear. It's a day to honor our fallen heroes. It's a day to pray for those still fighting for what is right. It's a day of reflection. It's a day of respect. Hopefully, as we remember, we can find the truth and learn how to live together so that one day, we can all live in peace and harmony. Please, remember our heroes and give them the respect that they have earned and deserve. Please, let's try to find enough love and understanding in our hearts and in our souls to bring peace to this beautiful planet. As we said in the 60s,... make love, not war ✌🏼

[padawan-historian]

Palestinian teenagers released as part of the hostage swap and embraced by their families and neighbors. Israel often detains children without charge or trial. There are hundreds of Palestinian youth in Israeli prisons.

From @lsarsour

May they be protected from the occupying forces.

[our-trans-youth-experience]

Srry this is a vent.

Today was the first time i actually was scared for my safety as a trans kid. We were talking about discrimination and when the topic lgbtq was slightly mentioned i heared my deadname being said very quietly. I am not out but in a very accepting area. My class may be queerphobic, but this really made me worry that one day when i might come out some people might actually try to harm me in any way.

-Leo

Hey dude,

Leo is an awesome name btw, I love it! I have unfortunately had experience of transphobia/queerphobia as I am not out to everyone, but quite a few people.

Some people are really transphobic and do try to hurt trans people. I have been called slurs and recieved hate, those people are horrible.

But some people are really kind. The sort who will call me a boy and give me huge gender euphoria just to see me smile, those people are amazing.

As much as being trans can be hard, and people can be unkind, being yourself is so freeing and I wish I could be out to everyone.

[pawphin]

long ramble in tags tldr: kindness rules

[jammatown919]

There's a lot (and I do mean a LOT) to be said about current events in Israel and Gaza, and I'm still trying to educate myself on the history and stay updated and make sure I don't spread misinformation, but what I do think is quite cut and dry is people in Gaza are in DESPERATE need of humanitarian relief. Hospitals are overwhelmed, it seems access to basic necessities like water is spotty at best, power is frequently being cut.

If you're like me, a random person sitting in American and watching all this on the news, there is something you can do. If you've got the money to spare, consider donating to groups like Doctors Without Borders Help save lives in Gaza, Afghanistan, Sudan, and in 70+ countries | Doctors Without Borders. As well as the Palestinian Red Crescent Society. Palestine Red Crescent Society (palestinercs.org). These are well known organizations trying to provide humanitarian aid to those suffering due to the bombings in Gaza.

If you don't have the money, this one I'm less sure about, but Arab.org seems like it could also be a decent way to lend a monetary hand. You can visit the site once a day and record a click, which can generate money for various causes, one of which is Palestine.

And, of course, educate yourself as much as you're able to. Call your representatives (which you can do at ANY time) and demand that they get with Israel, whose military the US is funding, and demand a humanitarian ceasefire.

If people want to reblog with additional resources, feel free.

[seethesound]

July 25 is the birthday of a 19-year-old woman named Mahsa Mogoi, who was murdered by the rebels of the Islamic Republic in the Steel City of Isfahan.

Mahsa was a female athlete who received many titles and medals in the fields of Taekwondo and physical fitness. She took to the street during the Women's Revolution of Freedom on 31st of May. It is said that in the clash with four Basiji Batoom, all four had beaten her for her mastery of martial arts. The same day, on her way home, she was chased, and in a secluded area, several people in plain clothes shot her at close range with a machine gun and cowardly murdered her

Dear Mehsa, every year your family celebrated your birthday, but this year the good people of Iran and the world are your family. Happy birthday to you❤️❤️

[dinosaurwithablog]

Land of the free because of the brave. To our fallen comrades and their families, I want to say thank you for protecting our freedom while giving up your own. To those who made the ultimate sacrifice, I can never express my gratitude and respect for you. I pray that someday we will be able to put aside our differences and live in a world of love and understanding...an all inclusive world where we celebrate the differences and we live together in peace and harmony as one world on one planet. Until then, thank you for protecting our families, our friends, and our rights... thank you for the sacrifices you make to keep us safe. Bless you all. 🙏🏼 🫡

[foxglves]

almost forgot how much I hated military appreciation night this is so unserious

[1980ssunflower]

missing them...

[whileyoureinschoolidothisallday]

seeing everybody freak out about covid again finally but JUST because of China is like ah. I see. That’s what it takes for y’all.

Not grandma dying.

Not kids dying.

Not YOU dying.

Racism.

[wafflesrisa]

As a writer, the worst thing is not only having to justify to your friends and the FBI why you’ve been looking up types of military explosives, but also having to convince the Google algorithm that you are in fact NOT a anti-vaxx climate change denying facist redneck just because you’ve spent two days researching the US military

[snappysprinkledog]

Yall wouldn't believe the number of men I've assigned to 'could talk to at a party but never a close friend' over the realisation they're not viewing me as a person but rather as a Girl

[staff]

A message from a few of the trans staff at Tumblr & Automattic:

We want trans people, and LGBTQ+ people broadly, to feel welcome on Tumblr, in part because we as trans people at Tumblr and Automattic want it to be a space where we ourselves feel included. We want to feel like this is a platform that supports us and fights for our safety. Tumblr is made brighter and more vibrant by your presence, and the LGBTQ+ folks who help run it are fighting all the time for this, for you, internally. 

A few days ago, Matt Mullenweg (the CEO of Automattic, Tumblr’s parent company) responded to a user’s ask about an account suspension in a way that negatively affected Tumblr’s LGBTQ+ community. We believe that Matt's response to this ask and his continued commentary has been unwarranted and harmful. Tumblr staff do not comment on moderation decisions as a matter of policy for a variety of reasons—including the privacy of those involved, and the practicalities of moderating thousands of reports a day. The downside of this policy is that it is very easy for rumors and incorrect information about actions taken by our Trust & Safety team to spread unchecked. Given this, we want to clarify a few different pieces of this situation:

The reality of predstrogen's suspension was not accurately conveyed, and made it seem like we were reaching for opportunities to ban trans feminine people on the platform. This is not the case. The example comment shared in the post linked above does not meet our definition of a realistic threat of violence, and was not the deciding factor in the account suspension.

Matt thereafter failed to recognize the harm to the community as a result of this suspension. Matt does not speak on behalf of the LGBTQ+ people who help run Tumblr or Automattic, and we were not consulted in the construction of a response to these events.

Last year, the "mature" and "sexual themes" community labels were erroneously applied to some users' posts. An outside team of contractors tasked with applying community labels to posts were responsible for this larger trend of mislabeling trans-related content. When our Trust & Safety team discovered this issue (thanks largely to reports from the community), we removed the contracted team’s ability to apply community labels and added more oversight to ensure it does not happen again. In the Staff post about this, LGBTQ+ staff pushed to be more transparent but were overruled by leadership. The termination of a contractor mentioned in the original ask response was for an unrelated incident which was incorrectly attributed to this case. We regret that the mislabeling ever happened, and the negative impact it has had on the trans community on Tumblr. 

Transition timelines are not against our community guidelines, and weren’t a factor considered by the moderation team when discussing suspensions and subsequent appeals. We do not take action against content that is related to transitioning or trans bodies unless it includes violations of the Community Guidelines.

When it comes to the experience of trans folks on Tumblr encountering transphobic content, and interacting with bigoted users, we understand and share your frustrations. Tumblr’s policies, and Automattic’s policies, are written to ensure freedom of speech and expression. We prohibit harassment as defined in our Community Guidelines, but we know that this policy falls short of protecting users from the wider scope of harmful speech often used against LGBTQ+ and other marginalized people.

Going forward, Tumblr is taking the following actions:

Prioritizing anti-harassment features that will empower users to more effectively protect themselves from harassment.

Building more internal tooling for us as Staff to proactively identify and mitigate instances of harassment.

Reviewing which of the tags frequently used by the trans community are blocked, and working to make them available next week.

We’re sorry for how this all transpired, and we’re actively fighting to make our voices heard more and prevent something like this from happening again in the future. We know firsthand that having to deal with situations like this as a Tumblr user is difficult, particularly as a member of an already frequently targeted and harassed community. We know it will take time to regain your trust, and we’re going to put in the work to rebuild it.

We appreciate the space we have been given to express our concerns and dissent, and we are thankful that Matt’s (and Automattic’s) strong commitment to freedom of expression has facilitated it.

We will continue to fight to make Tumblr safe for us all.

— This statement was authored by multiple trans employees of Tumblr and Automattic.