#same with my family. a lot of them support trump but they support lgbtq folks too

[dimonds456]

Hey, guys?

People on the opposite side of the political spectrum can be good people too.

It's starting to make me really uncomfortable how divided everything is. People have adopted an "if you're not with us, you're against us" mentality when talking about the other side, and it's so jarring going from online where that's the norm to being in an Uber and your driver is the other side.

Online parties make the other side out to be monsters who want nothing more than to watch the world burn. And while that is absolutely true for some people (on BOTH SIDES), most people are far more sane than that.

Everyone's actions make sense to them. Everyone thinks they're in the right, at least to some degree.

Left-wingers aren't monsters under the bed out to kill and eat kids or something.

Right-wingers aren't shadows on the wall that stalk their prey at night.

But holy fuck the way they talk about each other, you'd think they are.

I'm not saying you gotta switch sides. What I am saying is that you're not helping out anything by "us vs them"ing the other half of the population in your head.

Most offline people either don't think some issues are as prevalent as they are, or just don't see how it applies to them and focus on their own lane. This (the second half) can be a bad thing, absolutely, but it can also be a good thing, too. Mostly it's neutral from what I've personally seen. The first half just means they should do more research, but if someone doesn't see why it matters then convincing them to do so in earnest will be hard.

That doesn't make them bad. Just means they're focused on other things. Just because someone doesn't get it doesn't mean they're the scum of the earth. There's plenty you don't know about, either. How dare you not know about every tiny conflict happening out there right now, y'know?

Love thy neighbor n all that. We're all just trying to live as best as we can at the end of the day.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Jess Piper at The View from Rural Missouri:

I am also the typical rural woman, with one exception…I am a progressive. And I’m loud. And I have a large platform. And I call out the GOP, which is why what I’m about to tell you might not shock you: my family was swatted. The swat unfolded in such an odd manner. I was gardening — no surprise — and I heard my dogs start barking. They do this when anyone pulls into the drive. I looked up to see a County Sheriff’s SUV parked down the drive. He didn’t pull up close to the house. My first instinct was panic. We have four adult children and my first thought was that something had happened to one of my kids.

The deputy was apprehensive which made me even more nervous. Then I saw he had a piece of paper in his hand. Whew! I thought maybe he was looking for someone or that I had a summons or something of the sort. He stood away from me and asked if my name was Jessica. He knew the answer, he lives down the highway, but I affirmed it. He then asked me how many kids I have. Again…panic. I asked him what this was about? He walked up to me and handed over the piece of paper he was holding. It was a printed email that had been sent to several law enforcement offices and several state offices in Missouri…it had even been mailed to my local water department. The email claimed to be from a close family relation. The letter stated that the family member had murdered me and my husband the night before. It went on to state that they intended to shoot and kill anyone who came on the property. [...]

This is going to be a long list. I can think of several state legislators who would like to see police storming my house with guns drawn. I get threats nearly every week online, but I brush them off as bots. And, then something came to mind that happened last week… I wrote a tweet last week that got the attention of an account called “The Libs of Tik Tok.”

I wrote about a doctor at the fatal Trump rally who gave medical attention to the fireman who later died at the rally. I talked about being so confused to see a doctor, an OBGYN, wearing a MAGA hat and shirt. In the tweet, I spoke about not wanting to think about the treatment an immigrant or a person of color or a woman in need of an abortion would receive from that doctor. I was horrified to know that a practicing physician could support Trump. There is an important distinction for me: The doctor wasn’t your ordinary, run-of-the-mill, conservative Republican. He attended a rally in which others had signs for mass deportation and concentration camps. That’s not okay. The tweet took off, but nothing too wild until that evening. I saw my phone blow up. I muted the tweet, but it was being quote-tweeted. A lot. So, I caved and looked at what was going on. It was the “Libs of Tik Tok.” Shit. Here we go. They were not only threatening me on Twitter, they found me on Facebook and started replying to my posts. They moved to my Tik Tok account and did the same thing. I spent a couple hours blocking and deleting comments and then really didn’t think much more about it. I thought it was over.

[...] Raichik uses her platform to harass teachers and LGBTQ folks especially, but anyone in general. I am a former teacher and a progressive activist…prime for the attack. Her minions often call in bomb threats and send police officers to the doors of progressives. Someone pulled my swatting off, but there is something they should know: I was rattled, but not terrorized. You didn’t win. I am a rural woman…most in my community know me and my politics. When an email came in claiming to be a close relation who shot and killed me, they thought better than to send a SWAT team out. They knew it sounded off because they know of me. They sent my neighbor, the Deputy Sheriff. They were right.

Read this Substack post from Jess Piper, and it’s very frightening. Piper and her family were swatted recently at their home, and anti-LGBTQ+ extremist account Libs of TikTok (run by domestic terrorist Chaya Raichik) incited the swatting.

[justsomeantifas]

there’s gonna be all these annoying questions about “WHY” so many latinos are going for Trump & like y’all really need to understand latinos are not a fucking monolith. 

1. Many latinos are far-right as fuck! not everybody who comes to america comes here for the same reasons. some people have left their country specifically because they feared losing power/wealth/status or faced persecution in a government changeover. besides that, there’s often a hella conservative leaning when it comes to LGBTQ issues and abortion. 

2. Not all latinos are POC! there are white latinos, Black latinos, indigenous folks marked as “latino,” etc. not all their voting interests are the same!!

3. Documented latinos often hold similar disgusting attitudes towards the undocumented community as your average xenophobic american. and, in my experience, even having undocumented family doesn’t seem to sway that attitude for some. 

4. Democrats are ABSOLUTELY DOGSHIT at latino outreach. Biden’s latino camp includes Ana fucking Navarro - the Contra-loving shitbag. + they basically DGAF about our communities to the point where we’re outright ignored. dems 100% need more spanish speaking canvassers and multilingual outreach in general. these communities are not being properly reached in meaningful ways by dems. especially if they want to give more confidence to get mixed-documented households registered & fight the hella misinformation the right throws at our community. 

5. Latinos are not immune to propaganda either!! Latinos often own their own businesses and a lot of them believe/fall for the messaging that “Trump will open up the economy.” A lot of them think Trump “fixed” the economy or that it’s doing better under him. Many fall for the hilariously misinformed “Biden is a socialist” line. ect. ect. basically whatever your clown ass Facebook uncle thinks, we got a bunch of those too. 

6. A lot of latino families were broken up BY the Obama/Biden administration. It’s not like Trump is likely getting their vote either, but if y’all can’t understand why latinos like that would sit out this election then idk what to tell you. asking them to choose between 2 demons who’ve wrecked their lives is not the winning strategy libs think it is. 

7. My favorite shit that’s already being said by the right is that “latinos don’t want socialism, they lived it and fled it,” or some shit like that and let me just say that’s fucking BULLSHIT. There’s a reason why Bernie Sanders had NUMBERS when it came to latinos and it’s because he had 1. good outreach and 2. “doesn’t support coups!” amazingly a lot of latinos don’t like most dems or republicans because both of y’all have been responsible for fucking over our/our parent’s home country and don’t fuck with either side *shrugs*

[voskhozhdeniye]

I had a coworker tell me today that he doesn’t have a problem when Trump and by extension white people say white power. “Black people say black power. The Black Panthers said black power in the ‘70s. What’s the difference? Black people call ourselves niggas, but we get upset when white people call us niggers.”

.....

Etan Thomas is an author and former NBA player. He’s written multiple books on the intersection between sports and social justice. He also co hosts a radio program that deals with the same subject matter here in the DMV on WPFW.

I used to listen the radio program religiously. My interest in sports is nowhere near what it used to be, but the viewpoint the show looks at sports from is one I can appreciate.

About four years ago, I was listening to the show, and near the end of the episode Etan, and his co host for the day started talking about the movement for black lives. The co host, who was standing in for the regular host Dave Zirin, said he wasn’t a fan of the movement for black lives. He took offense at the fact that the main faces seen at the forefront of the movement were women and gay men. He wanted to know where the straight men were? How could he put his trust in a movement ran by single mothers, feminist and gay men? His values as a family man prevented him from throwing his support their way. Etan agreed with everything he said. Strike one, I filed that away in my remember this bullshit file. If Etan was the scholar he claims he is he would know black women and black lgbtq+ people have always been the backbone of civil rights movements in this country.

Last year, I happen to catch the show while I was running around doing errands. At one point, Etan decided to talk about the Dave Chappelle Netflix special that had just released at the time. He talked about how much respect he had for Dave, and the stand Dave took against Netflix. During the special Dave tells the audience that he was told he could tell as many nigga jokes as he wanted, but to please avoid gay and transgender jokes. Specifically, they told him not to say faggot. Dave tells the audience that he finds this to be a double standard. Dave does not refer to himself as a nigga, it’s beneath him. So when they told him he could tell as many nigga jokes as he wanted, but not gay jokes. He took offense. After telling the crowd this, Dave tells faggot and trans jokes for about ten minutes straight.

Etan had the same takeaway as Dave. Why is it okay to be able to say nigga jokes, but not faggot jokes? He couldn’t say it like that on the radio, but he got his point across. Before I even heard Etan’s thoughts on the matter, I had heard the praise Dave was getting from the “alt-right” folks. How brave they thought he was to be telling such jokes in such a “PC” climate. When the very people you say you are dedicating your life to disrupting are agreeing with you, maybe you should take a step back, strike two.

So this man who pounds his chest about what he does to help uplift the black community has a problem when civil rights movements are spearheaded by women and the lgbtq+ community? Apparently he doesn’t realize black gay people exist either. Or maybe when Dave Chappelle says faggot it strictly means white gay guys. Listening to that episode last year really didn’t shock me, but it made me realize that the effort black women and black lgbtq+ people make for all black people are only ever cared about when straight black men benefit. That Angela Davis quote about straight black men being the weakest link in the struggle for equality was the absolute truth. Equality to them is having what white men have. What white men have is racism, misogyny, homophobia and a slew of other systems bolstering their position in the world. To see their position in the world as the goal of equality is to continue the subjugation of others to better your position.

There are a lot of black people out here saying black lives matter right now, but a lot of them don’t mean all black lives.

So let me say this again, I see people on here talking about uplifting black voices.

Please realize not all black people are in the business of uplifting other black people.

Uplift black voices, but be careful which voices you listen to.

There’s a saying, not all my skin folk are my kin folk.

Just because someone looks like me, doesn't mean they have the best intentions for me on their mind.

[rockofeye]

Unmasking

I asked my mother what the spirits think of current events in the US. I asked her this in her kitchen, while she cooked and hovered over a variety of pans bubbling at full capacity on the stove. The act of creating and sustaining through every day process is part of her gifts in this life, and she lifts us up through this quiet, backstage work.

“I don’t know,” she says with a wooden spoon in her hand. “I haven’t asked them.” 

I haven’t either, at least not directly. I have sat with them and asked ‘why’ over and over, though. Why are people like this? Why has this country prospered for so long on a foundation of genocide, enslavement, torture, and systemic inequality and racism? Why don’t they do something?

They are quiet in response, in the same way that they were quiet around the miscarriage of an election in November 2017. In the aftermath of the delivery of fascism to the highest seat in government, I took as big a step back from my utter rage and disappointment and asked the spirits why they were quiet. I spent a lot of time meditating on this and trying to see the larger picture for all the piles of stinking bullshit in the frame.

In the end, I think that this is not their problem to solve. It is not a situation that they have created--we are responsible for this in a myriad of ways and, while they grieve our suffering and the loss of lives associated with the addressing of a broken and unjust framework, we made this mess and we must clean it up. We bear responsibility and we must carry it. That is not to say that they are not with us in this--they are--but the solutions must come from our hands.

The history of vodou reflects this expectation of responsibility. It only takes a glance at Bwa Kayiman to see this particular truth. That rite and that beginning was not about the spirits swooping in to save their people, but was the people crying out that they could not take any more and that something had to change. It was only then that the spirits came to the table and offered a solution--do all these things and we will assure your success. An agreement was made and, after thirteen years (a not insignificant number) of bloody struggle, the people and the spirits were successful in liberating the island and ejecting the imperalist colonizers.

I don’t know that White America is at that point. Too many white people are surprised by the sudden exposure of the racist foundation of the United States and the systems that have both nurtured white supremacy, white nationalism, and fascism, and allowed those things to flourish in ways that white folks have refused to look at for a very long time. White folks have been comfortable with these systems and situations because we benefit from them each and every day, in every possible way. Even vodou reflects that--people finding out that I am involved in vodou will often be regarded as quaint or edgy or as me taking a walk on the wild side, whereas a Haitian or other person of color will be regarded as threatening or evil or not to be trusted.

As a priest, I can’t sit and ask my spirits what to do. That’s not what I was made for. Instead, I have to suit up and show up and know that they will have my back. That means a literal putting on of the boots and heading into the fray. When the Nazis arrive in my city this weekend for their masturbatory endeavor aimed at terrorizing people of color, Jewish folks, followers of Islam, LGBTQ+ folks, people with disabilities, women, and anyone who does not fit their perfect Aryan spankbank material, under the guise of ‘free speech’, I will be there as a visible reminder that this white person rejects any ideology that elevates whiteness by crushing and terrorizing others and that this systems of inequality in the US must be dismantled at any cost. I will support the immediate consequences to delivering hate messages and physical intimidation, and, if given the chance, I will punch a Nazi in the fucking face.

At the same time, I will pray protection on all those who show up to stand against fascism, white nationalism, and white supremacy, and especially for people of color who will be targeted above all. I will pray that the spirits of war, of revolution, of blood spilled, of a ravening thirst for destruction will deliver the righteous justice of the people upon the heads of those who seek to oppress, terrorize, and silence. I won’t pray for peace and will instead pray for a revolution that shakes the foundations of white supremacy until they crack and crumble to dust. I cannot do anything less.

In all of this, I continually return to my mother, a quiet and dignified woman who came to this country carrying the hope for a different life for her then-child and children to come. She left Haiti just after the Duvalier regime ended, having lived through state-sponsored terrorism and gaslighting. She immigrated at tremendous personal cause, leaving behind family and friends, some of whom will still not speak to her because of her departure. Once here, she began to work immediately and has not stopped since. She became fluent in her third language, earned three college degrees, raised three children on her own, and created the sort of community that draws people from all over the world to her door. She didn’t come here for any of this bullshit.

I have watched her instruct her natural daughter on how to behave if a Trump supporter should confront her. I have witnessed her tears after the election, and the fear of her daughter who has classmates who come to school in Make America Great Again hats. I have seen her worry about her son and what will happen to him out in a world where cops murder Black men and Nazis march in the streets. I love her, so how can I do anything but act?

I thank the spirits for the blessing of the unmasking of white supremacy in the United States in ways that cannot be ignored or dismissed by those who benefit from systems of inequality. I pray strength and protection upon the hands and heads of those who will not let white terrorism, supremacy, and nationalism go unanswered, and I pray as much safety as is possible for those who are targeted by these white terrorists, especially people of color. May your spirits and divinities feed you, nourish you, and hold you close as this war is fought, and may you find blessings of prosperity and hope among the bullshit and bloodshed.

Talk minus action equals zero. --D.O.A.

[thedurvin]

@vintagegeekculture You know, I never really thought of Richmond as a xenophobic area.

Well...not all of it. The image of Richmond is not. When people outside the area think of us, I believe we’re known mainly as a scruffy little hipster city with whitewater rafting in the middle of downtown, a ridiculous number of microbreweries, and at one point we had the highest percentage of tattooed people in the country. But that’s not the whole picture. Like any area (at least I assume this is normal, idk) there’s a lot of other cultures here too. Richmond is right on the cultural boundary between the North and the South, and as such we’re a weird patchwork with ultra-liberal hipsters, upper-middle-class moderate-liberals (northern Virginia, “NoVa”, is basically an extended suburb of Washington DC; we’re not officially part of the BosWash MegaCity just yet, but only because of a farming county or two to the north), poor black and immigrant families, old-money capital-S-Southern white families that want to put up more Confederate monuments, and especially in the surrounding counties out past the urban sprawl, it’s basically the rural South, with all the bow-hunting, Trump support, and homophobia you would stereotypically expect. The little patch of Henrico County called Lakeside could probably be considered the northernmost outpost of the South, like one of those lonely outpost forts right at the edge of enemy territory (and believe me they do consider liberals the enemy). Hell, even in the liberal Museum District, we have a fucking amazing free art museum/historical society, and every Saturday there’s a group of Flaggers out protesting that they took down the Stars-n-Bars they used to have flying over the old Confederate hospital that’s between the two buildings. Hollywood Cemetery is another great place to see the variety: hipsters and goths having photo shoots and picnics, while good ol’ boys with their polos tucked into their shorts complain about the young folks being disrespectful to President Jeff Davis. Diversity Thrift is an LGBTQ+ charity shop, and if you want to see an amazing microcosm of the city, check out the lines: queer hipster art kids, old black grannies laughing and buying church clothes, soft-spoken rich couples buying antique furniture to refurbish and resell, and the reddest-necked rednecks you ever saw buying baskets full of VHS tapes, all standing peacefully in line while an elderly transgender person rings them up. Someplace in my blog archive (can’t find it right now) I have pictures of where someone has “COEXIST” stickers but the background is a Confederate flag, and I have no idea what they’re going for.So, you know, if I stuck to the VCU area or the Fan or Shockhoe Slip, a rainbow scarf wouldn’t get a second glance. My apartment and my job are both outside the city in Chesterfield, though, and since I can run pretty much every errand I have at many of the local Standard American Strip Malls, I wind up spending a lot of time over here. Did I mention that one of the most stink-eyed-est old folks I’ve run into is one of the cashiers at the same Goodwill where I bought the scarf?

[shakeiron43-blog]

Deb Haaland Is One of the First Native American Congresswomen—It Took Only Two Centuries

Deb Haaland wears the same pearl necklace almost every day. Not a string of delicate iridescent beads that are usually coupled with the blazers and skirts on Capitol Hill, but a set of sturdy silver Navajo pearls that she bought at the annual Santa Fe Indian Market. Soon those beads will be making their debut in Washington, D.C., following a midterm election cycle that resulted in a historic number of women taking congressional seats in the 116th Congress.

Haaland is in that group. She's Native American. She's a single mother. She bucks the status quo. And she's New Mexico's newly minted congresswoman.

“A long time ago people knew where you were from by the jewelry you wore,” Haaland told Glamour over the summer. “They knew you were Navajo or what pueblo you were from because there’s different styles. This [necklace is] Navajo. I’m not Navajo, but I love it so I’ll wear it. Silver is protection.”

A member of New Mexico’s Pueblo of Laguna tribe, Haaland, 57, is now one of the first Native American women to serve in Congress. On Tuesday she took the lead against her opponents, Republican Janice Arnold-Jones and Libertarian Lloyd Princeton, making history alongside another Native American congresswoman, Sharice Davids of Kansas. The two share more than the obvious connection in heritage and their new House status—Haaland and Davids go back, having supported each other since attending the same summer program at the American Indian Law Center.

"Deb and I spoke soon after I announced I would run. The first time I called Deb, she was like, 'If you need to sleep on my couch, you can,'" Davids, who is also the first openly gay representative of Kansas, told Glamour in September. "In some way, I almost feel…that just hearing her on the other end in that first call, telling me, 'Yes, do this,' was the validation I needed."

It's not hard to believe. The generational power of women and unbreakable family ties are embedded in Haaland’s DNA, she says. Her mother, who served in the Navy, raised Haaland and her two sisters and brother while her father, who was in the Marine Corps, fought in Vietnam. Haaland reflects on the unseen and underappreciated work and the emotional labor that mothers often shoulder to keep the families together.

“There were four of us and she had to keep order, and she was by herself a lot,” Haaland says of her mom, who’s 83. “In spite of how strict she was, when it came to food, she would bend over backward to cook what we liked. As Pueblo Indians, food is important to us. I almost didn’t realize how wonderful she was about that. I didn’t like raw onions, so whenever she’d make enchiladas, she’d make mine without onions, and she’d put toothpicks in the top so we knew which ones were mine. You know what I mean?”

These are the little things that make Haaland who she is today. It's how she can get so laser-focused and particular about the things her constituents need and why she vows to show up, fully and completely, for the Native American community. “I will do my best to always bring in tribal leaders to speak to the issues that affect them,” she says. “I don’t want to speak for tribes. But I feel like I can speak strongly in defending tribes and the U.S. government’s aggregation of their trust responsibility.”

If anything, she has the background and résumé to do just that.

As the kid of military parents, Haaland moved around a lot, but New Mexico is her home base: She graduated from high school in Albuquerque and went to the University of New Mexico and UNM Law School. Significant to Haaland being a first is that she’s also a working-class Indigenous woman who forged her own path into politics, without a silver spoon: As a young mom, she started a salsa company in the 1990s, delivering cases of the stuff out of her Maroon GMC Safari to grocers and gift stores across New Mexico. Her then-two-year-old daughter, Somah, would ride in the passenger seat.

“I wanted her with me 24 hours a day because I felt like I needed to influence her at that early age, and it paid off,” she says.

PHOTO: Deb Haaland

Deb Haaland pictured with daughter Somah

While pursuing her law degree, Haaland made ends meet with the assistance of food stamps. And with such a busy schedule, she had to teach Somah how to ride the city bus to school in case her mom couldn’t be there. She earned her organizing chops volunteering for dozens of local and statewide campaigns, and mobilized Native voters on the 2004 John Kerry campaign and both of Barack Obama’s campaigns (she served as Obama’s Native American vote director in 2012). She eventually became the chair of the Democratic Party in New Mexico and ran for lieutenant governor in 2014. She's also served as chairwoman of her tribe’s economic development corporation.

Dedicating much of her career to getting out the Native vote has primed Haaland to work even harder to protect it: In recent weeks the Supreme Court upheld a law in North Dakota that requires voters to show identification with a current street address, when many reservations don’t use physical street addresses, leaving thousands of voters disenfranchised and unable to vote. “Native Americans couldn’t vote in New Mexico until 1948, [but] we’ve had elected officials who are deeply invested in making sure underrepresented folks get to the polls,” Haaland says. “Every time I think about the voter suppression happening in our country, it makes we want to win even more so I can go to Congress and work to overcome that," she told Glamour before Tuesday's victory.

For those who can't vote, Haaland is hoping to be their voice: Just as she stood with activists at Standing Rock to protest the Dakota Access Pipeline, Haaland is committed to expanding the use of renewable energy in her state and securing strong health care and education. Her inclusivity efforts won't stop at her community, either: Somah, who’s now 24 and identifies as queer, has educated her mom on gender identity and LGBTQ issues. Haaland’s campaign priorities include working to close the pay gap for black, Latina, Indigenous, genderqueer, and transgender people, and fighting “bathroom bills” that restrict trans people from using public restrooms.

She’s unabashed about her criticism of Trump too. Haaland’s called out the President’s immigration policies, which have separated thousands of children from their families at the U.S.-Mexico border, and she is vocal about abolishing ICE. “It’s history repeating itself for no reason, other than a president who is just putting forward the most racist immigration policies we’ve almost ever seen,” she says, comparing the historic separation of Native Americans to the separation of migrant children from their parents.

But what makes Haaland so accessible, such a beacon for her community, is that she feels free to bare it all. Like many women who ran for office this election season, she didn't hide parts of her story that might traditionally hurt a candidate. In one of her campaign ads, she climbs Albuquerque’s Sandias Mountains while revealing that she’s 30 years sober.

“Deb Haaland's campaign for Congress is a representation of the culture shift that is being led by Native and Indigenous women to build a future that is safe, abundant, and connected,” says Vanessa Roanhorse, CEO of Roanhorse Consulting and cofounder of Native Women Lead. “We need a voice that can advocate for women's reproductive rights, pushing for stronger laws to protect women and children from violence, and closing the pay equity gap that women, specifically Native American women, face, and a voice that has directly experienced the disparities themselves," she continued.

"Deb is that voice and solution.”

What isn't lost on Haaland is how this moment almost didn't happen. While enrolled in Emerge New Mexico—a leadership and training program with the goal of getting more Democratic women into public office—she says she learned that if you ask a man to run for office, he’ll say yes the first time. Women, Haaland says, have to be asked seven times before they’ll actually run.

“I bet that’s one of the reasons why women don’t say yes right away,” she says. “If it were my mom, she would think, Who’s going to cook for my kids the way that I do?"

It's a good thing she did: Along with Davids, Haaland's historic win means that two Native American women—on the land where her indigenous ancestors lived—are now U.S. representatives. It took more than two centuries from the time Congress was established in 1789.

“Representation matters,” Haaland says. “I feel like some young Native women are seeing me and saying, 'Finally, somebody who looks like me.'"

Jessica Militare is a journalist living in New York City.

MORE: Donald Trump Calls Her ‘Wacky’—Democrats Call Her the Key to Winning Big

Source: https://www.glamour.com/story/deb-haaland-one-the-first-native-american-congresswomen-took-two-centuries

[new-moon-tea]

Call me crazy, but we would not instantly kill off 1/3 of our population

Call me crazy, but I don’t think we’re going to kill ⅓ of our population out of racist panic.

Here’s why. Now hear me out, this might not make sense as I type these words out so brace yourself...I don’t see modern humanity capable of mercilessly slaughtering our brothers, sisters, mothers, etc. just because we suddenly have extra appendages. Do we kill babies born with tails? No? Then why would we kill humans with wings? “Oh we have a long history of-” Oh shut up. Trump tried separating families in this modern era, what happened? Did we just go “well not our problem”? NO! We rebelled! We are working to fix his awful mistake, but we’re not getting into politics yet, now let me continue. “Well human nature is--” okay, do you have the desire to kill any winged person you see? No? THEN WHY WOULD THE REST OF US?! A low-hanging argument would be (please read in a snobby and obnoxious voice) “Well I wouldn’t harm a child or kill another person, but other people have”. And you’re right. People have.

But we change. We grow. We learn from things like slavery and the Holocaust, we change to try and keep the world better, safer, more accepting, to end the injustice. Humanity also had a history of objectifying women so much we were bartered like cattle, and oppressed for decades, thousands of years even, BUT WE DON’T ANYMORE! Yes there are still countries that segregate, that oppress, that are riddled with intolerance, but we are changing. We are growing. We as women can wear tiny booty shorts when before we wouldn’t be caught dead exposing ankles. Some may try to restore or keep these horrid dated beliefs alive, but we together, we the majority, say no. We say change. And we do. We have. We will change.

We would not kill ⅓ of our population just because of wings.

I’m painfully optimistic, I am aware. And I will admit, someone will. Some people will. We still have Neo-Nazis and racists, sexist folk in high offices grabbing women by the pussy, racist people trying to cover up mistakes like, say, ripping families apart because of ignorant immigrant policies. Yeah fight me if you’re in disagreement with my political opinions, everyone has their two cents, a hat to throw in the ring. The point is I’m not blind. I know people will try to kill them, some people might try to form cults to outlaw them, or hold them to some religious standard, praise them as angels or scorn them as demons, but not all. Lazy math shows me 6% of US citizens support Neo-Nazis. Compared to 94% who don’t, and 33% who now have wings mingled into both numbers… I just don’t see it happening. I can’t fathom us just saying “oh well, better to get rid of them now.” Because there’s not enough, 6% isn’t enough to take out 33% let alone those in the 94% without wings who will rally around their family members and friends. If we have states legalizing homosexual marriages, 4.5% of our US population by the way is LGBTQ [as of 2017, lazy research mind you], we can surely accommodate these 33% winged folk. If we fight for the rights of people with disabilities, 12% based on my first-result-on-google research, WE CAN ACCEPT WINGED FOLK. In the past we didn’t, in the past LGBTQ was wrong and sin, in today some people do but we, the majority, DO NOT. Some in our majority may still be rude, ignorant of the struggles and challenges life throws at you if you happen to be different in any way, but we still try. We still fight for what’s right. Don’t you? Even if you’re reading this, furious and only continuing to plot out your perfect angry message to me, there’s something you believe in, even if it’s the minority. Like earth being flat or being a neo-Nazi yourself. You have something, no matter how looked down upon, you support. Not condoning Neo-Nazis or racism or sexism or anything else outdated and wrong on multiple levels, just trying to make a very poorly written passionate argument as to why we would not kill ⅓ of our own population for this. Why am I so passionate about this?

Because I’m tired of it. I’m tired of bringing up this hypothetical and hearing “we’d kill them”, or even (yes seriously) “we’d breed and kill them”. Some people will try. They will be put down, punished, held to our law, and we’d create new laws to protect them. I think there will be massacres, like ones we see in the news already. There will be cults and panicked violent reactions, but not permanently. That’s the boring part of this conversation I’m trying to explain to you what would change. What would be different, new, how we’d improve, not how we’d linger on how undeveloped humans acted centuries ago. Not how we acted in the 1800’s. Not how we’d return to the 50’s. I’m not someone who believes that’s even a legitimate concern. If you believe so, I beg and encourage you to write about it. Say why I’m wrong, I’m not looking for a fight, the point of what I’m doing is to get you thinking, to think outside the box. Besides, there’s way more interesting things to consider, like caging in the preschoolers. Or how we’d even begin to regulate this whole wings thing.

But this topic isn’t over yet. I mentioned briefly something along the lines of how we’d “breed and kill” winged folk. Red, the friend mentioned previously, explained our species evolved by breeding and killing other early humans, like neanderthals. I don’t quite understand that logic, why we’d continue doing things that early humans did when we’ve evolved to a point that most of us would be disgusted at the mere thought of breeding and killing other people. Some of us out there are disgusted at the thought of eating other living creatures and even the products derived from living creatures! Most of us are physically disgusted and even avoid talking about the subject of rape, which is what he implied. I fail to see the logic of “well primitive humans did it so us, evolved, advanced species will do the same thing our ancestors did.” I know I sound crazy, I know I’m not using delicate language or talking with dignity but this is my genuine reaction. I know I am overwhelmingly degrading with the way I’m speaking so again let me welcome you to respond, argue with me, tell me my flaws because I will gladly fix any offensive behavior or arrogant wording I give.

Even now I find updates, on a post I made on Facebook, claiming it’s just wishful thinking, referencing works like Lord of the Flies and I’d like to point out that this is a work of fiction and a wonderful commentary on human nature and being human. That’s what this project aims to achieve! What if someone had something good to say about humanity? An adult who hasn’t grown up, give up, play along for once and solve this empty problem. It’s way too easy to brush me off with a “genocide” or “cults” or “slaughter and racism and fear” but why? Don’t we get enough of that in the real world? Just relax, have fun, be imaginative, and stop sulking around moping about how terrible people are. Fix what you see wrong in society if you think it’s so horrid and murderous and lethal. And for the record, I argued with Red for a while before sulking myself. I grew frustrated as I couldn’t get “a man of science” to understand my thinking and logic and just gave up for a few hours. But I went back. I returned. All I said was, still mulling over things even after my writing blurb yesterday, “Would people with wings need a license to fly?” and then, I think he understood. He goes on and on, “we’d need a new amendment”, “how would we even word it?”, “obviously people would-” and he was thinking like a true...Goose! Let’s call me Goose.

Red and Goose understood together now, as they mulled over how laws would change to accommodate winged folk, and he proposed serious new ideas about this. Ideas about laws needed, comparing them to laws we have now for things we need laws about. Red, he became just as passionate, even forgetting he was talking to Goose, the girl who knew as much as she could think about the winged folk as he continues on. Even some on Facebook tumble away from genocide and speculate about bathroom issues, then doubting themselves how alike winged folk would be to birds. Goose reads along, realizing now there were funnier answers at first. Goose argued with one who said “Red Bull would immediately go out of business because of their advertising campaign”. To which Goose replied, “Or double in sales, along the lines of ‘see? We told you!’ and another so-and-so commented how cool it’d be as long as she was someone with wings. I, a true Goose, remember that another friend we’ll call Gray, said once he hated characters who’s deal was centered around birth and being rejected due to race. I’m sure you understand a lot about Gray from this sentence, but I wonder if he’d say the same thing in this scenario?

Would he understand like Goose that this change would affect more curious things? Even if they have different ways of thinking they could both draw to the same conclusion. There’s also the chance he may be pessimistic as well and argue genocide, to which I personally guarantee the one person reading this, that I will scold him for an hour to explain why I’m right. Not because I’m stubborn of course, because I’m obnoxious. There’s more interesting and thought-provoking things to create with this concept, like how the postal office adapts and how our government would need to change. I’ll prove it to you.

[throwawayaccountbcitsobviou-blog]

I hate K. Winters

Throw away account since it will be obvious why soon enough.   I just have to vent about this woman.  She is the fucking worst.  I’m going to be as vague as possible for obvious reasons.  You’ll know who I’m talking about, I’m sure, if you know who she is from online.

i hate her.  Why?  let me write you a book.

I actually had no idea she was on youtube until very recently, though it doesn’t shock me.  It’s what pushed me to write this.

1.)If she finds you on social media, she will stalk it to find anything she deems offensive.  No fucking joke.

 She will screen shot any and everything you say, if she thinks it’s offensive and send it to your supervisor.  

Had a guy get written up for making a joke about beating his girlfriend (he was referring to them playing a  video game, I thiiink it was SSB) it was an obvious joke about the fighting game, it had a screen shot of the game and everything.  I haven’t seen him recently so he may have been fired or quit.

2.) . She thinks she’s the boss of everyone regardless of where you are in the building.

Apparently, you have to have written permission slips from your supervisor if she sees you on your phone or smoking anywhere deemed a break area.  Had her ask my coworkers if they were on break and how long were they on break and does *** know they’re down there?  How about mind your business.

3.) She smells like a wet, moldy towel left on the bottom of the hamper.

Okay, this is a petty one but it really is that pungent.  I hate having to deal with her cause it’s a consistent thing. No one wants to deal with her because of it.  Also, she has old person farts that she has no issue ripping quietly while youre at her desk.  It’s like, I’m not stupid, I have a nose.  My Oma is 94 and lives on a diet of fish and aged  cheese and her odor is not as bad as that!

4.) . She treats cute, young ladies here badly

If youre young, attractive or flirty she will zero in on you.  She will make snarky comments about you.  Look down her nose like she’s somehow superior.  I realize it’s a bitter thing, she’s not exactly an attractive woman but there’s no need to shit talk just because you’re jealous of their looks.  Been a couple times I found myself stuck small talking with her where she only talks about *** and she’s just a dumb stereotype and how did she get this job etc etc..

5.) Two of my coworkers tried to convince her not to go to a party the company was having.

No one and I mean no one there likes her.  We had a party and two people I know tried to nudge her into not going.  She mentioned something else was on the same day and they tried to get her to go to that other thing.  We wanted just one party where her smelly ass didn’t cast judgmental looks or make back handed compliments to people.  WE ended up leaving soon after she showed up and headed to a pub.

6.) . She’s on her phone on social media all day, so shes’s basically being paid to play on her phone.

Every time I see her, her face is in her phone.  No, it’s not work.  Trust me on this.

7.) . She’ll talk with authority bout everything and if you prove her wrong or tell her she’s wrong she’ll never correct herself.

One of the very first conversations I had with her involved something I hold 2 degrees in and her zero.  Instead of admitting wrong, she still acted like I had no idea what I was talking about, pretended like she was getting a phone call on her cell and excused herself.  I knew I didn’t like her after that.

8.) . She thinks since she has a DR. in front of her name, you are below her and clearly she is the superior one.

I’ve lost track of the number of times she’d talk with authority about a law or something in the news that’s completely false, but always doubles down.  Bonus points if she tells you VOX is a reputable news outlet.  Bitch, you’re a doctor you should know better.

9.) She’s been caught stealing food from the fridge.

I heard this second hand, so it may not be true but given her size, I wouldn’t be surprised.

10.) . Speaking of food, her diet is awful.

Yes, she’s one of those people that brings in smelly foods that stink up a whole floor/wing/department.  Unhealthy shit to boot, yet still sneers at the thin lady eating a salad minding her own business.

11.) . She talks to parents about her dog in *that way*

raising a kid and owning a puppers isn’t the same thing.  Stop acting like it is.

12.) . She ‘corrected’ a coworker who is an ex-muslim about his own personal experience.

I don’t know how the topic came up (I wasn’t there), but they were talking about Islam and he expressed he left the faith for some reasons and was tired/scared  of his extremist family and that’s why he moved to this country.  She interrupted him multiple times to correct him with ‘not all muslim people are bad/extremists/religious nuts’ well, no shit not all muslims are that way, that’s just a stupid thing to think.  Why are you telling an ex-muslim man how he should think about his (old) religion?

13.) . Told a lesbian she doesn’t understand the struggles non-white LGBTQ youth go through.

Granted, I don’t think K knows she’s a lesbian or Spanish (she’s fair skinned and doesn’t really talk about it), but nothing like a white woman telling a Spanish lesbian about how she couldn’t know the struggles of poc lgbtq folks.

14.) Told a woman wearing a korean traditional dress on halloween was inappropriate.  (Heard from trustworthy coworker)

((Okay, so I have to preface this next one with this: This girl is Blue eyed and blonde....however, she is, in fact part Korean.  Her mother is a blue eyed, blonde haired and her father is half white/half Korean. (and before you ask, yes she is his child.  She looks exactly like him and even has his very distinctive eyebrows/eye brow ridge) Her grandmother, who is 100% Korean, sent her the dress for her Bday. She was excited and wanted to wear it, but waited until halloween so it wouldn’t be odd showing up in a very poof-y dress.))

the girl apparently cried in the bathroom because if it.  God forbid this girl not look like what K thinks a Korean lass should look like.

15.) . She will OBSESS over people.

If she hates you, if she likes you.  It’s insanity.  I overheard her talking to someone about this man who was bullying her online constantly and my thought was she more than likely started it. She does it all the time here, start something, the person defends themselves then suddenly she’s the victim.  Did a little research into her twitter and, yeah, she does that shit in person and online.  Go figure.

16.) She is literally the person who will go out of their way to be offended by everything.

If above doesn’t make that obvious enough.  She asked a coworker what his thoughts on Trump are, then immediately unloaded on him how awful the US president is, how he could dare not have the same opinion as her, then stomped off.  The guy just said he had no opinion on him since he’s not American and he doesn’t keep up with their politics. what a Nazi, amirite..

16.) She once claimed she spoke 3 languages.

When confronted by a native speaker, she back peddled and said she was still learning.  Why lie about that, especially here?  There’s literally people from all over the world here.  I hear languages from all over walking down the hall.

17.) She tries sooooo hard to be hip and cool.

She dresses twenty years younger than she should (I think she’s in her early 50′s, dresses like she’s 25) . Low cut shirts, which come on..if you’re top heavy and they drip down that low, at least wear a supportive bra.  It’s just uncomfortable for everyone involved and you know it.

She tries to show how cool she is by watching shows/talking young, then butting her way into conversations.  Look, I’m aware she is lonely and she only has like one actual friend this entire country, but just because you hear us talking about Rick and Morty or Rifftrax or the IT crowd doesn’t give you the okay to just shove your opinion into the conversation.  It’s rude and presumptuous that we’d want to talk to you.  I know this makes us sound like assholes, but she really is unbearable to be around sometimes.

18.) I think She picks her nose when no one can see her.

I happen to come around the corner with my sup, she was coming the other way.  The hallway was empty, so I guess she assumed it was safe to go mining.  My sup and I just looked at each other and kept walking.  She played it off like she was scratching her nose...she wasn’t.  That’s the action of someone who does that shit on the regular.

19.) . She talks down to and is condescending to everyone.

She treats a lot of people, even those who hold equal degrees to hers, like they’re lesser than her.  A super hot guy she does this to is also a doctor, but he went to a waaaay better college than her.  He’s nice to everyone, she doesn’t like him.  My buddy thinks she has the hots for him, but he is way out of her league, so she talks to him like he’s an idiot to make her feel better about herself.  I think it’s because the doctorate he holds isn’t worthless.  seriously, though.  He’s fucking hot.

20.) She got drunk at a party once and complained about some dude we didn’t know who she didn’t like, like any of us gave a shit.  

I wish I was joking.  We told her to just block him and ignore it or just walk away from the internet for a while.  I mean, we’re adults not 15 y/o girls sending caddy messages to one another.  Internet drama is a pathetic thing for an old woman to get wrapped up in.   She then left to, what I thought, snapchat or face time someone.  We could see her talking into her phone with it out in front of her (she was drunk so god knows who the poor unfortunate soul was on the other end) then came back to let us know she was leaving.  

21.) . She’s clearly unhappy, so she tries to make everyone else around her the same.

No one who is happy with their life/themselves says/does the things she does/says.  Unhappy people recognize unhappy people.  I was that miserable once, I know it when I see it.

22.) She’s rude to wait staff/ baristas.

again, I wasn’t there but a coworker went with her to get coffee (He’s a nice guy to everyone, bless his heart) she rudely demanded a manager when her drink wasn’t made with what she asked for. Yeah, she’s one of THOSE people..

23.) and lastly only because I’m done talking about her; she blamed a mistake SHE made on a friend of mine, who got shit canned because if it.

Yup.  

I don’t care if this is ever discovered, don’t care if it is.  I don’t care if you believe me or think I’m some troll.  If you’re a fan of hers, rethink your fandom.  If you hate her, good on you.  Either way, I don’t care.  I just really wanted to vent out this joke of a human being. I’m not coming back to this tumblr.

farewell, noble listener from the future.

and Kristie, if you found this; Fuck you, twat.  I hope you remain miserable and alone for the rest of your life.  You deserve it for the shit you put everyone through daily.

[gladevalley]

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by Eikaiva Boyer

On March 8th, 2017, citizens of Frederick County exhibited their right for free speech to get the Board of Education to set something in place to protect transgender students in the Frederick County Public School System. During the BOE monthly meeting, they will be discussing the policy to protecting transgender students. The purpose of the rally was to get the BOE to realize actually how important these issues are in the Frederick community.

Although, why the rally? According to the event Facebook page, it stated “Trans students are the highest at risk population in schools. Compare the rates of suicide from 4.6% of the general American population to 41% of trans folks. When trans students can’t use the restroom of their choice at school, or when their educators and peers refuse to use the correct name and pronouns, they are in danger. Policy and regulation guarantee a positive and affirming experience in schools.” [1]

Around 5 p.m., students, parents, teachers, and other citizens started to gather around the BOE building in downtown Frederick on 191 South East Street, Frederick, Maryland 21701. The event had a huge outcome. It was something that needed to happen.

This was also the first transgender rally in the entirety of Frederick County. Leader and Organizer of the event, and junior from Governor Thomas Johnson High School, 17 year old James Van Kuilenburg said “I think it’s super exciting [to hold the first transgender rally to happen in Frederick]. I’m just reminded of how bad I could have used something like this when I came out years ago.”

The scheduling of the event was solely organized through Facebook. The event was shared from page to page, reaching a count of 495 people interested in going, and 169 confirmation in going. [1]

During the event, specific people who signed up to be speakers on Facebook spoke powerful, effectual words to the group. The first speaker was of course the leader of the rally, Kulienburg. “We are not holding a rally for this immediate issue; we’re starting a movement for trans youth in the future. This is a positive, empowering event that will lift trans students up and let them know they are supported. Our community is ready for change. We are going to end it as a community and that’s going to start right now.”

Being transgender their self, Kuilienburg stated “The trans community is my family. We need to stand up together. When I came out as trans, the trans community were the only people there for me.”

Other speakers at the event included:

Karen Holmes- a Federal Government as a Safety Officer. In January 2017, she was selected by the LGBTQ Nation as one of the Top 50 Transgender Americans You Need To Know. She was also honored in a special edition among 41 other women from around the world in The Platform Magazine, for up and inspiring females who have made a difference with their platform and inspired others with their positive values towards others.

Holmes mentioned that she was obligated to go to work related event, but she said no, “I’m here behind you all right now. We are hoping we start breaking down walls.” Speaking on behalf of the transgender community, “We are good people. We do everything normal people do. Everybody here bleeds the same color. We are all human beings.”

At one point in her speech she addressed the teachers in the crowd, “Do I have any teachers here tonight?” Teachers erupt in a roar. “I have so much respect for teachers. I think they’re underpaid. You give us the knowledge that we need to carry in the world.”

Holmes also addressed how to offer our help for transgender students, “You need to stand up,” and “Say ‘hey, I’ll go to the bathroom with you.’”

At the end of her powerful speech she stated “Accept you for who you are. Shoot for the moon and even if you miss, you’ll be amongst the stars.”

Kristopher Fair (the next speaker)- Director of the Frederick Center, Frederick Center, Frederick’s LGBTQ Community Outreach. Fair’s overall message was to support the transgender community no matter what.

Miller Hoffman (the third speaker)- Trans Reverend from Metropolitan Church. Hoffman added some humor to the rally with her speech. “This may come to a surprise to some people, but trans people have been peeing for a really long time. (Referring to the public bathroom issue the transgender community faces). We have always been changing gym clothes. (Locker room issue). But it’s not about restrooms. This is about people. It’s about pleasure and well-being. We want to demand the pursuit of happiness. Trans is beautiful. We love being trans. [Although] being trans in this world is hard.”

Hoffman continued with “We all get to decide who we are. We must continue to fight for all of us. We must encourage authenticity.”

Nicola Van Kuilenburg spoke next- Parent of transgender student Kuilenburg. “It’s been a tough and violent couple of weeks for all transgender [students].” Nicole Kuilenburg also made an eye-opening comment in her speech, “We have trans kids here that have never met other trans kids.” She also wanted to take a minute to thank all the parents of trans kids supporting their child and other children. “This is the beginning of something new. It’s starting right now. We’re refusing to go backward.”

But how did it all start? “I organized this rally as a direct response to the Trump administration’s decision to rescind the Title XI guidelines. My friends and I have been asking FCPS to create policy for LGBTQ students for about a year now, but when the only federal protection for trans students was repealed, we realized we needed immediate action. We spoke at the Board two weeks ago, but we were not confident with the response we received from the Board. I started a very successful email campaign to the Board asking for a public statement of support for trans students and a promise for policy,” said James Kuilenburg.

Because of their work, the board released a statement and now will discuss the policy regarding protecting transgender students during the meeting tonight. “The rally is to show the Board what exactly trans students need in this policy, and exactly how important it is that it’s passed ASAP. We want the entire Frederick community to show up and show their support,” commented James Kuilenburg.

When senior Ashley Wilcom from Walkersville High saw the event on Facebook “I immediately knew I had to do it. Two of my best friends are both a part of the trans community so it’s an important issue to me, and one that I’m faced with everyday.”

Wilcom was also a speaker at the event, “When I saw that they needed speakers I was more than happy to comply because I have a lot of experience with public speaking and knew that I would have some things to say,” commented Wilcom. She also added “Legislation and bringing awareness to trans acceptance is an issue that FCPS definitely should consider, along with the Supreme Court and higher levels of government.

Around 6 p.m, the BOE meeting started. Around 6:30 p.m, public comment started, and the citizens, teachers, and students that were there to stand up for transgender students were ready.

Speakers of all diversities came up to talk about what needed to be addressed, which was simple human rights. Simple concepts of if a student identifies as a transgender girl, she is a girl. Just as if a student identifies as a transgender boy, he is a boy. Another concept that was consistently brought up was pronoun usage. What was trying to get across to the board, was the highly importance of correct pronoun use. This could be by peers, bus drivers, teachers, and substitutes.

James Kuilenburg, the first public comment made an excellent point and it was a great way to start off one of the largest public comments of any BOE meeting. “Every single second I am made aware that I am trans at my school…FCPS belongs to trans students too.”

Nissa Quill, World Language teacher at Walkersville Middle School stated in her speech commented “We are here to fight for the lives of our kids.”

Quill chose to speak for a specific reason, “I chose to speak tonight so that I could stand in solidarity with many students and parents who often feel alone. It is the right thing to do. After my daughter came out to me, I was privileged to attend some training on the local and federal level. It was important to me to share what I learned with those in power.

“The Board of Education in Frederick County very much wants to support all of the students in the county and it’s incredibly important that those of us involved with students share our love and our experiences,” Quill spoke.

Although it just wasn’t people taking the stand on the issue, they stated solutions that could help the situation as well. The idea of creating a seminar for staff, and then a separate class for the students, extending off of the required health class credit, all about gender identity. This is definitely a valid, strong point, that the Board really needs, and should consider.

“When we win in our county, we will set an example for the rest of Maryland, and maybe even the country. That’s how we can help each other,” commented James Kuilenburg.

Rally for Transgender Students Stirs Parents and Students by Eikaiva Boyer On March 8th, 2017, citizens of Frederick County exhibited their right for free speech to get the Board of Education to set something in place to protect transgender students in the Frederick County Public School System.