#jo jorgensen

[exxos-von-steamboldt]

[resurrectionsadamwarlock]

Guest Starring- Legion of Substitute Podcasters Episode 713 – The Great Legion Crossover! Part One of Two

Jo goes back in time to find Tinya, or does he?!? The Subs are joined by the L.E.G.I.O.N.P.O.D.Cast crew and Derek from the Future to muddle through it all! Part 1 of 2 To be concluded on this Friday’s L.E.G.I.O.N.P.O.D.Cast, episode 103.

Find it HERE!

[aurorawest]

Reading update, part 1

Paris Daillencourt is About to Crumble by Alexis Hall - 4/5 stars

The problem with this book was that I liked Paris and Tariq, but god, it was rough to read. I also felt—and I'm going to be honest, this is an issue I've been noticing increasingly with Hall's newer novels—a little like I was reading like, the Perfect And Unproblematic Way To Date. There's this sort of preachy, social media I-don't-know-who-needs-to-hear-this quality to a lot of the dialogue. It was also just hard to read at times. But I still rated it 4 stars, so I guess I didn't hate it.

Rattlesnake by Kim Fielding - 5/5 stars

This book is about a drifter who ends up in a town because a hitchhiker dies in his car (sounds grimmer than it is!), and the hitchhiker was trying to get to said town to see his estranged son. If you said to yourself, I bet the drifter falls in love with the estranged son, you would be exactly right. This book was so poignant and sad, so the HEA was amazing.

Gold Wings Rising by Alex London - 5/5 stars

This is the last book of The Skybound Saga and it was an excellent ending.

Heart of the Steal by Avon Gale and Roan Parrish - 3.75/5 stars

I told a friend the other day that I would die for Roan Parrish, but I should have told her not to pick up this book. It wasn't awful, but...it wasn't great, either.

Rag and Bone by KJ Charles - 4/5 stars

The Reanimator's Heart by Kara Jorgensen - 4/5 stars

The Half Life of Valery K by Natasha Pulley - 5/5 stars

Look. Guys. I've raved about every Natasha Pulley book I've read, yeah? And this is no exception. I need you all to read this. Like, I'm not sure you're all taking me seriously out there. But if you read anything I've recommended, it needs to be Natasha Pulley's books. I can only rate up to 5 stars on Storygraph, so yeah, maybe it looks like I loved this book the same as I loved Rattlesnake by Kim Fielding. No. This book lives in my heart and my mind. This book is part of my soul. All of her books are. I love and hate her for A) making me feel SO MUCH and B) being a better writer than I will ever be.

I know I've said nothing about the book, but like. You just have to trust me. Read her books.

Oh yeah, this one is about a nuclear disaster in the USSR that was covered up for decades.

You & Me by Tal Bauer - 4.5/5 stars

Teddy Spenser Isn't Looking for Love by Kim Fielding - 3.25/5 stars

Man, I wanted to like this one? It felt really phoned in, though. The characters all felt very surface level.

The Whispering Dark by Kelly Andrew - 4/5 stars

Subtle Blood by KJ Charles - 5/5 stars

How did this series just keep getting better? I'm so bummed that this was the last in the trilogy, because I totally could keep reading about Will and Kim and their adventures.

Firestarter by Tara Sim - 5/5 stars

Also the last in a trilogy, and also a worthy wrap-up.

The Mayor and the Mystery Man by AJ Truman - 4.25/5 stars

Fence, Vol 5: Rise by CS Pacat with Johanna the Mad - 5/5 stars

Cattle Stop by Kit Oliver - 5/5 stars

AHHHHHHHHHH. God. This book! Looks like a romcom but will stab you in the heart repeatedly. Oliver has a gorgeous way with words and captures the dynamic between two people who have no idea how to talk to each other so well. There's something the dialogue in Oliver's books that just speaks to me.

Rookie Move by Riley Hart and Neve Wilder - 2.75/5 stars

Boyfriend Goals by Riley Hart - DNF

Please note here that it seems like I don't like Riley Hart's writing. Unfortunately I still have like 3 of her books in my TBR pile.

The Gentleman's Book of Vices by Jess Everlee - 4.75/5 stars

Even Though I Knew the End by CL Polk - 4.5/5 stars

I feel a little meh about this one, despite the rating I gave it. Like, the world was cool, the writing was excellent. I've seen this book hyped so much, though, and it was like...yeah it was fine. Definitely the best over-hyped Sapphic book I've read lately, so there's that.

Nothing Like Paris by Amy Jo Cousins - 4.5/5 stars

Necropolis by Jordan L Hawk - 4.25/5 stars

Roommate Arrangement by Saxon James - DNF

The Place Between by Kit Oliver - 5/5 stars

Yeah this Kit Oliver book was really good too. It's about academics instead of farmers but it will still stab you in the heart a bunch of times. Oh and it's fake dating.

A Dash of Salt and Pepper by Kosoko Jackson - DNF

I didn't love Kosoko Jackson's debut—there were waaaaay too many pop culture references, many of which I didn't understand, but even when I did, I found it obnoxious. But it was readable. This was...not. I hated the main character so much, and I barely even met the love interest, but I didn't like him, either.

Level Hands by Amy Jo Cousins - 4.25/5 stars

The Secret Casebook of Simon Feximal by KJ Charles - 4.25/5 stars

How to Bite Your Neighbor and Win a Wager by DN Bryn - 5/5 stars

I looooooved this book, omg. I'm not really a vampire person, but this was so cute. I guess it was kind of cozy fantasy? Sort of? With a backdrop of homelessness, medical experimentation, and bereavement.

Rule of Wolves by Leigh Bardugo - 1/5 stars

Catch me never reading a Leigh Bardugo novel again. Oof. This woman wrote Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom? I wasn't too impressed by King of Scars but that was better than this, even though the Crows actually appear in this book.

The Barkeep and the Bro by AJ Truman - 3/5 stars

Heartbreak Boys by Simon James Green - 4.5/5 stars

I don't usually laugh out loud when I read, but this book made me cackle. Obnoxious self-referential bit aside (yeah Simon James Green, I did catch you slipping a reference to your previous book into this one), this was very cute and very funny. I even got my wife to read this, despite her dislike of romance and YA, and she liked it!

Part 2 (because tumblr cut me off at 30 images)

[tomatoluvr69]

Minor gripe but growing up in a state where there was no tax on groceries and then moving to a state where this adds soooo many dollars to every trip makes me want to vote jo jorgensen*[1]

*i will not be doing this bc im a communist

[1] Jo Jorgensen (May 1, 1957–) is an American libertarian political activist and academic. Jorgensen was the Libertarian Party's nominee for president of the United States in the 2020 election, in which she finished third in the popular vote with about 1.9 million votes, 1.2% of the national total. She was previously the party's nominee for vice president in the 1996 election, as Harry Browne's running mate. She is a full-time lecturer of psychology at Clemson University.

[autolenaphilia]

I actually own a copy of this quaint 70s paperback edition. Early example of the transition timeline.

The memoir Conundrum by Jan Morris (1926-2020) created quite a stir when it was first published in 1974. It was not the first entry into the genre “memoirs by trans women about being trans”, Morris herself brings up Lili Elbe’s book (although it might be ghostwritten), and Christine Jorgensen and Hedy Jo Star had written and published memoirs before.

But Morris was a special case. She was probably the first trans person to be famous before transitioning, Jorgensen became famous because she transitioned. And she was no showgirl like Star but a serious writer, a member of the British literary establishment and one of the most respected travel writer and journalist of her day. Conundrum was probably the most respectable account of transitioning available in the 1970s.

That didn’t mean it had an easy reception. Many of the reviews were quite scathing of Morris and her ideas on gender and womanhood. Of course, these negative reviews were often very transmisogynistic, and Morris became a negative example of how transfemininity is all about gender stereotypes and misogynistic ideas about what it means to be a woman. Janice Raymond in the ur-terf text The Transsexual Empire refers to Morris quite heavily.

And reading it now, in 2023, there is a lot in the book that is worthy of criticism. Morris saw gender in binary and essentialistic ways, and writes of her transition in these terms. Morris saw traditionally feminine traits as innate to her womanhood. While she condemns misogyny and sympathizes with feminism, her writing indulges quite shamelessly in feminine stereotypes in the text and views them as natural. She even quotes C.S. Lewis approvingly about the gender binary being a “fundamental polarity which divides all created beings.” Terfs even today think trans people all believe in gender as being some mystical religious quality and I think it is a distant echo of the 70s-era fixation on Morris, who did in fact believe gender has some spiritual quality to it.

Morris was a believer in the idea of the “true transsexual” who knows from childhood and distinguishes them from the misguided trans people (like “homosexuals” and “transvestites”) who transition in error. Unlike modern truscum, she literally was treated by Harry Benjamin. And like all “true transsexual” narratives it sometimes seems tailored to appeal to cis tastes. Morris for example seems to downplay her obviously close relationship to her wife as mere close friendship while playing up her attraction to men, for the same reason that Morris had to divorce her wife as part of her transition.

There are other problematic things in the book. Morris came from a position of class privilege and was educated at an Oxford public school and was raised during the waning days of the British Empire, and she never really challenged that upbringing despite her transition. Morris was very well-travelled, but her worldview of non-white people are often racist and exoticizing and condescending at best. Even her positive depictions of non-white people come across as the exoticized “noble savage” or the orientalist trope of “Eastern Wise man”.

So in modern terms, Jan Morris had some bad takes, problematic writer for sure. And yet, the negative response to her book has been poisoned by transmisogyny. The criticism lacked nuance and was focused on invalidating her womanhood because of her internalized transmisogyny. The faults of Jan Morris as an individual quickly became ascribed to all trans women in ways that might echo even today in the anglophone debate. And due to transmisogyny, she has been judged more harshly for her failings than men or even cis women would be. The fact that most cis women have internalized misogyny, many of them severe, is often forgotten in the debate about how trans women are all problematic misogynists.

And Morris didn’t represent all trans women, far from it. And she was somewhat of an anachronism even when the book was written. She was 48 years old when the book was published, and had started transitioning around 1964. As it was written a younger generation of trans women in the post-stonewall era were challenging the narratives of womanhood and transsexuality in ways that Morris refused to do. In fact some of the more insightful criticism of Morris comes from Sandy Stone’s transfeminist classic The Empire strikes Back.

Conundrum and Jan Morris as a writer still have virtues. I don’t read to get my views affirmed or to read about paragons of virtue, I do it to read about interesting people, real or fictional. And Jan Morris was a very interesting person. She had an incredibly colorful life, and the book is full of vivid depictions of places and experiences that are now lost (even if many of these practices died for good reason). The writings about public school life, of British military life in the 1940s, of traveling across the world as a journalist, of places where Morris lived, of being trans in the mid 20th century, of transitioning in the 1960s and 70s, including a description of the Casablanca clinic of surgeon Georges Burou are well worth reading. And despite all of her prejudices and reliance on clichés about non-white people she was admired as a writer for a reason, it’s a well-written book. If you read it as an account of a flawed but accomplished and interesting trans woman, and not as some authoritative guide to gender, womanhood and transsexuality, it still has tremendous value.

[bllsbailey]

Trump Announces Plans to Make Unusual Campaign Stop on May 25

Former President Donald Trump plans to make an unusual campaign stop in an effort to woo non-Republican voters ahead of the 2024 election. 

The Libertarian National Party announced Wednesday that Trump will make an appearance at their convention on May 25. This will be the first time a former president would address its party “members, candidates, and executive committee.”

To prepare for his speech at the event, attendees will vote on the top ten topics they want to hear Trump speak about. 

The 2024 theme at this year’s Libertarian National Convention is “Become Ungovernable." The theme reflects the party’s views on what they consider authoritarian actions led by federal and state governments which "saw citizens confined, indoctrinated, lied to, and inoculated against their will." 

“Libertarians are some of the most independent and thoughtful thinkers in our Country, and I am honored to join them in Washington, DC, later this month,” Trump said. “We must all work together to help advance freedom and liberty for every American, and a second Trump Administration will achieve that goal. I look forward to speaking at the Libertarian Event, which will be attended by many of my great friends.”

The 2024 hopeful reminded Libertarian voters that the goal is to defeat “crooked” President Joe Biden, predicting that if they vote Republican in the November election, the race won’t even be close. 

“We cannot have another four years of death, destruction, and incompetence. WE WILL WORK TOGETHER AND WIN!” Trump continued. 

Recommended

According to a recent CNN poll, conducted by SSRS, Biden continues to fall short with 61 percent of Biden voters admitting his presidency has been a complete failure. 

On the contrary, 55 percent of Trump voters believe his time in office was a major success. 

In addition, 49 percent of voters support Trump in a head-to-head matchup against Biden, with the 81-year-old at just 43 percent support. 

In past years, the Libertarian Party candidate received less than five million votes in the presidential election. 

In 2016, Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson received more than 4.4 million votes—3.3 percent— of the total votes. Meanwhile, 2020 candidate Jo Jorgensen received 1.1 million votes— 1.2 percent— of the total votes. 

Recommended

Trending on Townhall Videos

[dollycas]

2023 Reading Challenges - It's A Wrap!

2023 Reading Challenges - It's A Wrap!

I am jumping the gun a little bit by posting this today. So, I have included the two books I will complete by the end of the week. I am thrilled that I actually completed all, even exceeded some of the reading challenges I committed to this year. It's amazing what you can accomplish when your body stays reasonably healthy. Hopefully, I can do the same in 2024. I reviewed most of the books and each one listed is linked to my review. There were a few I read from my personal bookshelf so didn't write reviews. Those books are linked to Amazon. 2023 Reading Challenge

LORI has completed her goal of reading 175 books in 2023! hide 202 of 175 (100%) view books

A. Against the Currant by Olivia Matthews  B. Bookclubbed to Death by V.M. Burns C. Canter With A Killer by Amber Camp D. Dial M for Meow by Ruth J. Hartman E. Engagingly Dead by Michele Scott F. Four Leaf Cleaver by Maddie Day G. The Game is a Footnote by Vicki Delany  H. Hidden in the Pines by Victoria Houston I. The Ivy Tree by Carolyn Brown J. Jasmine and Jake Rock the Boat by Sonya Lalli K. Killer Cupid by Laurien Berenson L. Lemon Curd Killer by Laura Childs M. Murder at Wedgefield Manor by Erica Ruth Neubauer N. The Name of the Rosé by Christine E. Blum O. Of Mushrooms and Matrimony by Amy Patricia Meade P. Pruning the Dead by Julia Henry  Q. Dairy Dairy Quite Contrary by Amy Lillard R. Rivalry Gone Wrong by L.C. Turner S. A Streetcar Named Murder by T.G. Herren T. Tilling the Truth by Julia Henry U. An Unholy Death by Leslie Budewitz V. Viviana Valentine Get Her Man by Emily J. Edwards W. Word to the Wise by Jenn McKinlay X. Madame X by Niobia Bryant Y. Your Time is Up by Kat Jorgensen Z. Miss Zukas and the Raven's Dance by Jo Dereske Complete 12/1/2023 Mini- Challenges January - Seasons - Winter's End by Paige Shelton February - Kitchen -  Four Leaf Cleaver by Maddie Day  March - Girl/Lady/Woman - The Girl With the Dragonfruit Tattoo by Carrie Doyle April -  Flower - Digging Up Daisy by Sherry Lynn May - Royalty -  Earl Grey and the Shattered Graves by Victoria Tait June - Position - Hidden Beneath by Barbara Ross  July - Baseball -  Dame Alice Hits Hollywood by Allie Mahoney August - Sky - The Solace of Stars by Kathleen Ernst September - Territory - Anxious in Nevada by Diana Xarissa October - I Spy -  Pumpkin Spice Peril by Jenn McKinlay November - Compound Word -Bulletproof Barista by Cleo Coyle December - Christmas - Christmas, Criminals and Campers by Tonya Kappes

A. Amy Patricia Meade - Of Mushrooms and Matrimony B. Laurien Berenson - Killer Cupid by Laurien Berenson C. Amber Camp - Canter With A Killer D. Vicki Delaney - The Game is a Footnote  E. Erica Ruth Neubauer - Murder at Wedgefield Manor  F. Sarah Fox - Six Sweets Under G. Emily George - A Half-Baked Murder H. T. G. Herren - A Streetcar Named Murder I. Ian Moore - Death and Croissants J. Jenn McKinlay - Word to the Wise K. Michelle Hillen Klump - Murder Served Neat L. Laura Scott - Dogged by Death M. Maddie Day - Four Leaf Cleaver by Maddie Day  N. Nancy J. Cohen - Star Tangled Banner O. Olivia Matthews - Against the Currant  P. Paige Shelton - Winter's End Q. Mindy Quigley - Ashes to Ashes Crust to Crust R. Ruth J. Hartman - Dial M for Meow S. Michele Scott - Engagingly Dead T. L.C. Turner - Rivalry Gone Wrong U. Lisa Unger - All My Deepest Impulses V. V.M. Burns - Bookclubbed to Death W. Michele Pariza Wacek - Murder Among Friends X. Diana Xarissa - Anxious in Nevada Y.  Samara Yew - Murder at the Seashore Z. Chad Zunker All He Had Left Complete - 10/5/2023

Alabama - Read the full article

[singeratlarge]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to June Allyson, Mary Badham, Amiri Baraka, film composer Marco Beltrami, Toni Braxton, Lewis Capaldi, the Broadway run of CATS! (1982 and went for 18 years), Simon Cowell, conductor Charles Dutiot, Allen Ginsberg’s HOWL (1955), Kevin Godley, Taylor Hicks, activist-songwriter Joe Hill, Dave Hope (Kansas), drummer Jo Jones, musician/sound engineer Sven Jorgensen (thank you for the amazing mixes), Bernard Lavilliers, Yo-Yo Ma, Al Martino, John Mellencamp, Tim Minchin, Vaughan Monroe, Nathaniel Raitleff, The Rolling Stones version of “I Wanna Be Your Man” (1963), Judee Sill, Michael W. Smith, composer William Still, Tico Torres, Desmond Tutu, Tata Vega, Thom Yorke, and singer-songwriter, guitarist extraordinaire, and journalist for Guitar Player magazine Jimmy Leslie. When he’s not doing his “freaky freehand” fretwork as guest guitarist for Shana Morrison and other acts, he’s with his band Spirit Hustler doing his cosmic rock that, on an interplanetary jukebox, would play between The Allman Brothers, David Bowie, Funkadelic, and Pink Floyd. I’m grateful for the studio sessions and live shows we’ve been able to do together…check out Jimmy’s page

https://www.facebook.com/Jimmy-Leslie-Music-244868758879482/  ...and HB JL. Thank you for your years of twanging out joy.

#jimmyleslie #birthday #guitarplayer #johnnyjblair #sanfrancisco #oakland #brisbane

[aurorawatcherak]

Contrasting Dictators

I never voted for Donald Trump. I know a lot of people who did, but I wasn’t one of them. I also didn’t vote for Hillary Clinton in 2016 or Joe Biden in 2020. There is a viable third party available for presidential elections and I voted for Gary Johnson and then Jo Jorgensen — not because they were great candidates, but because they were better candidates than the major parties were giving…

[alterannews]

Libertarianism at FreedomFest: Valerie Durham and Jo Jorgensen | The Beau Show | Trailer

Libertarianism at FreedomFest: Valerie Durham and Jo Jorgensen | The Beau Show | Trailer

(more…)

[1929crash]

Feats With Your Vote

Feats With Your Vote

Anarcho-fascist planks alienate mainstream voters Eric Boehm in a recent Reason magazine article produced a graph trying to put the best face on voter reaction to the anarchist burdening Jo Jorgensen’s otherwise-libertarian campaign. That ticket came in dead last in libertarian-friendly Travis County, Austin Texas. (link) That’s where Roe v Wade was fought and won thanks to the first Libertarian…

[serenata-your-neighborhood-lefty]

[rtf-j]

When Mama Jo doesn’t win.

[prolifeproliberty]

If you voted for Hillary in 2016 because she’s a woman, you should be voting for Jo Jorgensen this time around.

[capitalism-and-analytics]