#stop harassing the criminal with mental disabilities

[hjellacott]

To those agreeing with what I say but saying I'm mean and "Let's just be nice" when we're discussing TRA things or feminism or J. K. Rowling... I am DONE being nice.

I was nice the first 100.000 times. Now I've been bombarded with private messages and Tumblr "post" (the envelope thingy) and general comments, plus seeing dozens of posts that I just can't be nice and patient about. Because these MORONS and some of them, actual TERRORISTS, are literary burning books, twisting the Harry Potter stories to justify their unjustifiable extremism, harassing children for being Potterheads, mocking adults for finding solace in Harry Potter, attacking and sending death threats and death wishes to everyone that disagrees with them, manipulating children, autistic, and also all kinds of mentally disabled people to absorb their agenda and mutilate their bodies, targeting the lives of people who disagree with them and attacking them and their loved ones, cyberbullying left and right hiding beneath anonymous names and pink and blue flags, burning and thrashing businesses where feminists go, turning Pride into an event where rapists are being allowed to take the mic and say to kill women (literally) and being applauded, saying homosexuality is transphobic and raping lesbians and gays, applauding men changing in locker rooms in front of little girls, applauding men taking over women's sports and spaces, applauding sending rapists to women's prisons, applauding children being brainwashed into life changing treatments, terrorising the world, imposing their own agenda with violence and threats, silencing and attacking the detrans community, manipulating the media, fucking it all up for all the normal trans people who are now thanks to the TRAS being seen as terrorists, and justifying their hatred and their violence on them having basically no reading comprehension, twisting people's words to have a pity party, and creating a self-imposed narrative to try and convince us that everyone wants them to die so it's all right for them to attack everyone else and be given free reign and justification to do so. Police can't even report that a criminal is trans any more and people are losing their jobs for reporting crimes by trans people, for fuck's sakes.

Do you know how often I've dealt with the same lazy justification to "explain" to me, a mixed race Jewish descent woman, why JK Rowling is anti semitic or racist? Or why she's transphobic? And every time one tries to nicely point out that they're twisting things and decontextualising them and inserting their own racist views, they just tell you to kill yourself. They've taken over press, media, social media, pride, women's spaces, they're going after children, attacking local pubs and restaurants... I'm not going to allow it. I'm done being nice.

I see them bullying the detrans community and shutting them up. I see how they harass and threaten the trans community that doesn't want to occupy women's spaces or that doesn't condone violence and threats and wants children to be left alone. I see how they attack women, lesbians and gays. I have a collection of articles of their rapes and other attacks, mainly to women. And they won't brainwash me.

I'm not afraid. These are a violent, terrorist mob that is taking over the left and making themselves the victims when we haven't faced a more aggressive and dangerous mob since the Nazis. Have you seen the videos of the teens and young adults crying in the US Congress, talking about how afraid they are when they see men changing in their lockers, or talking about how their breasts were chopped off and begging us, adults, to stop this nonsense? I have and I'm listening.

Like Joanne Rowling, like all the women who won't wheesht, I'm going to fight for those kids, for the normal people in the trans community, for detransitioners, gays, lesbians, mentally disabled... I'm not afraid and I'm not nice. Not any more. You want a fight? I'm full of weapons.

[didosddinfo]

Why Fakeclaiming Is Never Okay

Fakeclaiming is the act of accusing somebody of faking a disorder, disability, or symptom. This is a common occurance in the DIDOSDD community, and I thought it would make a great first post.

This is essentially going to be a long list (aka an essay I've put into bullets) of reasons why fakeclaiming is never, and will never, be acceptable. I will try to cover everything, but if I miss anything feel free to send in an ask of anything you'd like added or comment/reblog.

Fakeclaiming against minors is never okay because minors aren't fully developed yet and don't need to be shamed or harassed. Let them be on their journey. If they're spreading misinfo, kindly correct it, but never fakeclaim a child. It will most likely only lead them to denial or negative self thoughts, especially with teenagers.

That being said, fakeclaiming adults is never okay either. Adults are also going on their own journey. I'm more likely to recommend correcting misinfo and providing resources to adults than minors, since especially adults over the age of 25 will be more mentally developed and able to accept info they don't agree with, without it affecting their mental state.

You are so so so likely to be wrong. More often than not, there is no way of proving whether or not someone is faking, especially online. The chances that you will be wrong and fakeclaim someone who isn't faking is VERY high, and thus causes more damage to the community than any fakers.

Actual fakers know they are faking, and your fakeclaiming comment isn't going to stop them.

Fakeclaiming being normalized destroys safe spaces for people to talk about their symptoms or questions. Questioning people are less likely to ask about their symptoms or experiences when there's a constant fear of getting "FAKE!" shouted back at them. This is especially noticable in cases where people, minors particularly, realize they were wrong about something. I personally have seen a minor get banned from a space for "faking DID" because they talked about how they were wrong and found out they actually had Schizophrenia. They never faked, they simply did the best with their current knowledge and later found out they'd been wrong.

Fakeclaiming people who have admitted to faking doesn't help anyone. Firstly, many people who admit to faking have been pressured into it by fakeclaimers and internet assholes, and many of them were never even faking. We see this phenomenom in criminal justice, where police will convince a suspect they have committed a crime by treating them like they have, until the suspect confesses, even if later physical evidence proves them innocent. It's no stretch to say the same thing can happen in this kind of a space, especially when minors are targetted.

Adding onto that, fakeclaiming actual fakers doesn't help the community nor the person faking. Fakers fake for a reason, it's never a perfectly healthy person faking. Fakeclaiming and harassing someone who's admitted to faking is likely to drive them away from mental health spaces altogether. If someone is brave enough to admit that they faked something, they should be met with compassion and help on their journey to find out what's actually going on and what drove them to fake. If they faked for attention, giving them genuine attention when they aren't faking will show them that they don't need to fake to get the attention they need.

Side note: Attention is not morally wrong to need. Needing attention is a very real need, for a variety of reasons ranging from neglect to other disorders to being ignored by professionals.

Faking is usually a disorder in of itself. If not facticious disorder or munchausin's, it's being caused by another disorder that rationalizes faking in the person's mind or deems it necessary. Driving people who fake things out of mental health or disability communities is only driving them out of spaces where they could find out what is actually going on.

Overall, fakeclaiming tends to only do more harm than good. If someone is willingly faking, or spreading misinfo, you can simply block them or correct their misinfo without trying to 'correct' them as a person. The block button doesn't harm anyone or lead to harassment, and it's a perfectly valid way to get someone you think is faking off of your dash without being a dick.

[rosellabascomacapinlac]

In 2018, I was attacked by Sex Incubus who trapped me and tortured my soul and also wanted me to sent my soul to hell.

How dare them that they want me to get played by their rules in my entire life? They played dumb with me after they erased all my memories that they would play my body. Those perverts not just cheated on me, they also they want to take everything from me, including my life. They show no mercy. How? They mercilessly sexually attacked me and they sexually assaulted me. They shown toxicity on me with no mercy none stop. They think I am ugly because of my pictures always covered with make up. They introduced to the another men for their entertainment and business for their greed.

Forget it… This nothing gonna happen… I will go home. I am not gonna use my beauty or my cuteness for harassments, humiliations, nastiness, and heresy. I am not gonna waste my egg cells and my private organ for the likes of Kaneto Shiozawa, his fellow hideous time wasting thick skinned arrogant hideous nerds, his lowly hideous henchmen, and the filthy hideous big kisser creep. I am not gonna risk my own life for them. I am not gonna serve myself to darkness, chaos, and their nasty rules. I am still a virgin then I felt very sorry for them that why I have no children because I am just so lucky.

They toyed me but that's nothing for them, because they love to amuse.

I read one of those abominations’ sentences, it said “I played this anxious thing” who is the anxious thing and who is his play thing? I think that's me. Some of them said “I am gonna make that child pay!” who is that child he is talking about? That’s me because I used gacha life picture. He said I kept tomtomtomtom because I used the Japanese Idol’s cute song for against his project that antagonize me as a baddest villain.

Then his arguments against me I never forget that what he told to his fans, he said “Someone will gonna pay 100,000. That criminal murderer dare to intruded our company and also the person will pay 100,000 yen too, the alone” Who is the alone is he talking about? That's me. Then he falsely accused me that I am the caused of fire or arson on Toie animations company, he told lies to everyone will bashed me and punching bag me. Now I know, I thought they are friendly, they had shown their true nature, they are sexist misogynists, real savages, and true bakemonos because they kept punching bagged me and stripped me naked because I am a swole girl.

Some of those abominations said in 2016 he said “Hokuto blah blah cheated on me and lied to me.” Tjen he used his favorite character to abuse my OC Fenrise Raine. See, they are not nice people, those people are the real savages.

My pain and my anguish screams are the music for them, now I know they tricked me that's why they mistreated

me and mental torture. Oh, those savage nerds are supremacist sadists. Oh men, I wasted my time with them to get rid off artblocks that done by the another self centered sexist misogynist pervert.

I encountered two different types of savage greedy perverted misogynist Lady Killers and Damsel of Distress seekers, others are manipulative sadist who forbids me to wear red and all shades of red including pink even wearing blue and green they will still gonna distress me and others are selfish who absorbs my powers, strength, and skills to forbid me to do all kinds of arts. When I wear red those manipulative sadist nerds detected me that I will get hurt, they are behind of my chest pain and bloody clots on my brain, because they punched my head everyday. If Fenrise is a vampire, what they did was they stabbed me on the chest, it hurts a lot. I got chest pain everyday, it warned me that I got punching bagged mercilessly. The vamp wants me to be a sacrificial maiden. They made all my wishes against me. Everytime I posted my drawings, they are all attacked me, they want all my accounts suspended, locked, and disabled. Then the basher the damsel of distress seeker bashed me called my drawings are disgusting and called me hypocrite. Me, Hypocrite? But they used that obscure Barbie rip off to beat my Fenrise Raine. That damsel of distress lover kept trolled me none stop until I blocked him because he said he doesn’t care about my sufferings and my problems then called me insane but it’s true, his evil misogynistic sadistic perverted nerd friend used Fenrise Raine tied up then they made Fenrise sexed up. He want me to sent in therapy to get rid off decency on me and also he want me to be masochist.

About them, they are just a big waste of time, what a waste.

[lettersfrombeyondthegrave]

im so sick of the older generation false moralism that when they "speak to the youth" it's all about cyberbullying and nothing else "you kids and your socials, stop sending hate to others"

when they are responsible for how hateful society is today. When they are responsible for carrying prejudices to this day.

They paint the new generations as so mean and disrespectful like kids didn't hear judging from their grandmas gossip session, they built institutions that don't care about disabled people, continue the stigmas around mental health and neurodivergency, control the media that pushes to make sure that is clear when a criminal is of a different ethnicity and try to hide, brush off the queerphobic roots of society instead of cutting, burning them.

and if a bully doesnt have a childhood of beatings or dysfunctional mom and dad, that for the older generations is just the right punishment and traditional family, it just takes to float in the stale broth of hate left to us, without other perspectives and encouraged by adults with the same mentality to become bad, evil, to target, to harass, to bully.

They teach us to act nice, to be good, to not be mean, to not be a bully

but also the autistic kid should try to act more normal, the fat kid should eat less, the trans and gay ones are confused weirdos and the second generation immigrant black kid will never actually be from here and is ruining this country, and well only whores wear that lipstick and well who can take you seriously with that hair color and if you can walk you're just lazy and not in pain.

God, younger generations are so weak and sensible, such snowflakes. God, younger generations are so violent and mean, they write the worst things from behind a screen. What happened between them and us? Those damn phones.

[missmagooglie]

JOE BIDEN FOR PRESIDENT

Here’s the thing: It is not enough to be Anti-Trump at this point in the election cycle. We need to make the shift to being Pro-Biden.

We cannot win an election with “at least he’s not Trump” as the main selling point. I get that he wasn’t a lot of people’s favorite candidate in the primary. He wasn’t my first choice for the democratic nominee, either -- but here’s the thing:

Now that both major parties have put forward their nominees, there are only two viable (meaning, have so much as a snowball’s chance in hell of being elected) choices for president. And of those viable choices? JOE BIDEN IS MY FIRST CHOICE.

This is the mental shift we need to make -- Democrats, liberals, moderates, anti-Trump conservatives, whoever the fuck you are. If you don’t want for more years of this hell, you need to get yourself psyched to vote FOR BIDEN rather than against Trump. We will not win this election if we don’t make this shift.

If you will allow me a brief analogy: When I was learning how to drive, I fucked up and scratched the side of my driver-side door against the handle of a wheelbarrow while pulling in to the driveway.

I managed to carve a two-food scratch that was not just on the paint, it dug into the side of the car and dented it. I was devastated, and didn’t understand how it had happened because I had been trying so hard to avoid the wheelbarrow. All my focus was on not hitting the wheelbarrow.

When I told this to my parents (who were understandably upset about the damaged car), my dad told me that I had done exactly the wrong thing. He told me that as a driver, you will drive where you are looking. Which means you need to at look where you WANT TO GO, not at what you want to avoid.

We cannot go into this election with the attitude “we can’t take any more of this”. We will lose, and we will have to endure four more years of marching steadily toward fascism, authoritarianism, and government cruelty. We need to turn our attention to where we want to go, and what a positive future would look like.

So how the fuck are we going to do this? I can’t just flip a switch and go from being anywhere from blandly indifferent to openly displeased with the guy to being his number one fan, right?

We do it by picking our battle. We do it by choosing ONE POLICY of Biden’s that we wholeheartedly support, then becoming that policy’s biggest cheerleader.

Maybe you care a lot about so-called Women’s Issues, like equal pay, ending workplace harassment, or reproductive rights. Check out Biden’s Agenda for Women

Maybe you care about rights for people with disabilities. Biden has a plan for full participation and equality for people with disabilities.

Concerned about child care or early childhood education? Biden’s got policies for that, along with eldercare policies

He has policies related to:

Racial Economic Equity

Healthcare

Taxes

Criminal Justice Reform

Queer and LGBT+ Issues

Clean Energy

Climate Change

And a whole bunch of other topics that are worth caring about in this election. His website outlines agendas and policies across 48 topics

Maybe you don’t agree with everything he puts forward on a given topic. You see positives and negatives in his Immigration Plan, for example.

You don’t need to be as broad in your support as “I support Joe Biden’s Immigration Reform Plan!” Chances are, if you go point-by-point you will find something to disagree with. That’s the drawback to not existing as part of a hive mind.

But rather than get caught up in the parts you disagree with, make the effort to find something you can put your full and unambiguous support behind.

When people ask why you like Joe Biden as a candidate, you can say, “I really agree with his plan to end prolonged detention of immigrants and asylum seekers and restore and reinvest in case management programs that allow migrants to live safely and with dignity, as well as protecting migrant children and putting an end to family separation at the border.” (Or whatever the policy you choose to support may be)

Having one specific focus that you fully support will help you generate POSITIVE ENERGY for the Biden campaign, rather than trying to win an election based on generating negative energy for his opponent. That positive energy, the building of excitement and hope for next year to be better than this one, is what will win the election.

And on top of that -- we can carry our support for these policies into Biden’s presidency, and hold him accountable for delivering on his promises. Our fight doesn’t stop at kicking Trump out of office. Biden is pointing in the right direction, but we will need to continue being loud in our support for real change in order to get him actually moving.

[queernerdywitch]

100 reasons to vote for #JoeBiden that don't mention Trump. I didn’t compile the list, and I think there’s LOTS more on climate science, but anyway, what are your favorites? 13, 18, oh geez, all the 50s and 70s... not that he can DO all this....

1.) $15.00 federal minimum wage

2.) Reinstate DACA – allowing new applicants to apply

3.) 12 Weeks federal paid family leave

4.) Universal Pre-Kindergarten/Childcare for ages 3 and 4

5.) Tuition free college for those with household income less than $125,000.00

6.) Allow student loans to be relieved in bankruptcy

7.) LGBTQ+ Equality Act in the first 100 days in office

8.) Rejoin the Paris Climate Accords

9.) Decriminalize cannabis use and expunge convictions

10.) Eliminate cash bail system

11.) Eliminate mandatory inimum sentences

12.) Outlaw all online firearm and munition sales

13.) Restore the voting rights act

14.) Create a new $20 billion competitive grant program to spur states to shift from incarceration to prevention.

15.) He’ll triple funding for Title I Programs

16.) Appoint the first Black Woman to the Supreme Court of the United States

17.) Reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA)

18.) Ensure the US achieves a 100% clean energy economy and net-zero emissions no later than 2050

19.) Protecting Biodiversity, slowing extinction rates and helping leverage natural climate solutions

20.) Develop a plan to ensure that America has the cleanest, safest and fastest rail system in the world, for both passengers and freight

21.) Expand the safety net for survivors

22.) Confront online harassment, abuse and stalking

23.) End the rape kit backlog

24.) Address the deadly combination of guns and domestic violence

25.) Change the culture that enables domestic violence

26.) Support the diverse needs of survivors of violence against women

27.) Protect and empower immigrant women

28.) Lead the global effort to end gender-based violence

29.) End capital punishment

30.) End federal private prisons

31.) End all incarceration for drug use alone and divert individuals to drug courts and treatment

32.) Invest in public defenders’ offices to ensure defendants’ access to quality counsel

33.) Expand and use the power of the US Justice Department to address systemic misconduct in police departments and prosecutors’ offices

34.) Reform qualified immunity for officers

35.) Ban choke-holds/neck restraints by police

36.) Launch a national police oversight commission

37.) Stop transferring weapons of war to police force

38.) Free access to testing for all with national testing board

39.) Double drive through testing sites

40.) 100,000 contact tracing workforce

41.) Guarantee first responders have priority access to PPE

42.) Emergency paid leave for anyone who gets COVID or needs to take care of a loved one

43.) Free housing for health care workers to quarantine

44.) Ramp up large scale manufacturing of as many vaccine candidates as necessary

45.) Nationwide vaccination campaign to guarantee fair distribution

46.) Ask every American to wear a mask

47.) End the mismanagement of the asylum system, which fuels violence and chaos at the border

48.) Surge humanitarian resources to the border and foster public-private initiatives

49.) End prolonged detention and reinvest in a case management program

50.) Rescind the un-American travel and refugee bans, also referred to as “Muslim bans.”

51.) Order an immediate review of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for vulnerable populations who cannot find safety in their countries ripped apart by violence or disaster

52.) Ensure that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) personnel abide by professional standards and are held accountable for inhumane treatment.

53.) Revitalize the Task Force on New Americans and boost our economy by prioritizing integration, promoting immigrant entrepreneurship, increasing access to language instruction, and promoting civil engagement.

54.) Convene a regional meeting of leaders, including from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, and Canada, to address the factors driving migration and to propose a regional resettlement solution

55.) Raising the corporate tax rate to 28 percent.

56.) Requiring a true minimum tax on ALL foreign earnings of United States companies located overseas so that we do our part to put an end to the global race to the bottom that rewards global tax havens. This will be 21% — TWICE the rate of the Trump offshoring tax rate and will apply to all income.

57.) Imposing a tax penalty on corporations that ship jobs overseas in order to sell products back to America.

58.) Imposing a 15% minimum tax on book income so that no corporation gets away with paying no taxes.

59.) Raising the top individual income rate back to 39.6 percent.

60.) Asking those making more than $1 million to pay the same rate on investment income that they do on their wages.

61.) Tackle the crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women

62.) Ensure tribal nations will have a strong voice and role in the federal government

63.) Restore Tribal lands and safeguard natural and cultural resources

64.) Joe will dramatically increase funding for both public schools and Bureau of Indian Education schools.

65.) Invest $70 billion in Tribal Colleges and Universities and Minority Serving Institutions.

66.) Ensure full inclusion of people with disabilities in policy development and aggressively enforce the civil rights of people with disabilities.

67.) Guarantee access to high-quality, affordable health care, including mental health care, and expand access to home and community-based services and long-term services and supports in the most integrated setting appropriate to each person’s needs and based on self-determination.

68.) Expand competitive, integrated employment opportunities for people with disabilities.

69.) Protect and strengthen economic security for people with disabilities.

70.) Ensure that students with disabilities have access to educational programs and support they need to succeed, from early interventions to post-secondary education.

71.) Expand access to accessible, integrated, and affordable housing, transportation, and assistive technologies and protect people with disabilities in emergencies.

72.) Advance global disability rights

73.) Double the number of psychologists, guidance counselors, nurses, social workers, and other health professionals in our schools so our kids get the mental health care they need

74.) Invest in our schools to eliminate the funding gap between white and non-white districts, and rich and poor districts

75.) Improve teacher diversity

76.) Support our educators by giving them the pay and dignity they deserve.

77.) Invest in resources for our schools so students grow into physically and emotionally healthy adults, and educators can focus on teaching.

78.) Ensure that no child’s future is determined by their zip code, parents’ income, race, or disability.

79.) Provide every middle and high school student a path to a successful career.

80.) Start investing in our children at birth.

81.) Double funding for the State Small Business Credit Initiative.

82.) Expand the New Markets Tax Credit, make the program permanent, and double Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) funding

83.) Improve and expand the Small Business Administration programs that most effectively support African American-owned businesses.

84.) Increase funding for the Minority Business Development Agency budget.

85.) Make sure economic relief because of COVID-19 reaches the African American businesses that need it most

86.) Reserve half of all the new PPP funds for small businesses with 50 employees or less

87.) Help families buy their first homes and build wealth by creating a new refundable, advanceable tax credit of up to $15,000

88.) Protect homeowners and renters from abusive lenders and landlords through a new Homeowner and Renter Bill of Rights.

89.) Establishing a $100 billion Affordable Housing Fund to construct and upgrade affordable housing

90.) Fully implement Congressman Clyburn’s 10-20-30 Plan to help all individuals living in persistently impoverished communities

91.) Expand access to $100 billion in low-interest business loans by funding state, local, tribal, and non-profit lending programs in Latino communities and other communities of color and strengthening Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs

92.) Expand broadband access to every American.

93.) Protect and build on the Affordable Care Act to improve access to quality health care in rural communities.

94.) Expand access to high-quality education in rural schools.

95.) Transform our crumbling transportation infrastructure – including roads and bridges, rail, aviation, ports, and inland waterways.

96.) Expand bio-based manufacturing to bring cutting-edge manufacturing jobs back to rural America.

97.) Strengthen antitrust enforcement

98.) Introduce a constitutional amendment to entirely eliminate private dollars from our federal elections

99.) End dark money groups

100.) Ban corporate PAC contributions to candidates, and prohibit lobbyist contributions to those who they lobby

Compiled by David Frree

***EDIT*** thisis all from his website. I, David, literally copy pasted the bullet points from his website. If you go on his website, click Joe’s Vision, he has different themes. “Criminal justice reform, helping America’s farmers, etc.” I clicked through a bunch of those, and tried to get the quickest bullet points from his website.

[neversidefaerie]

Some light on the situation with Joye...

Who is Joye? She's a girl who has Lyme's Disease and Bipolar Disorder, the latter of which caused her to act abusively towards others in the past, but she has since reformed. She feels a strong connection with the character of Shadow Weaver in She Ra and is a big supporter of the idea of SW getting a redemption arc. She has strongly rejected the widely held notion that Shadow Weaver abused Micah and has found much evidence to suggest that instead they had a healthy friendship. She has also criticised many people who made the assumption that Shadow Weaver had no trauma to cause her to become abusive, drawing attention to how Shadow Weaver's most dangerous spell going wrong affected her mentally and physically. She is also an Entrapdak shipper, much like myself, and very active in the She Ra villain fandom.

She is a strong Christian, but is heavily critical of many beliefs and attitudes found in conservative Christian culture. I personally found her to be a very tolerant, non-judgemental and open-minded person, who never resorted to bullying when arguing her points about either faith or fandoms.

With these things in mind, I will now go into the controversy that caused her account to be deactivated (I am uncertain if this was an action of her own doing or if the staff suspended her).

Being a great advocate for a Shadow Weaver redemption arc, at some point she made a friend who also supported the idea. This friend had created a lesbian love interest OC for Shadow Weaver. I'm not exactly certain what happened, but at some point I believe that this friend asked Joye to draw her OCs in a romantic context. Joye didn't want to draw this and somehow this led to the friend concluding, due to her Christian beliefs, that she was "homophobic".

Another problem arose from one of Joye's ships: Shadow Weaver and King Micah. Joye believed it was only appropriate to see their relationship as romantic if Micah remained widowed and was well over the age of consent. I still personally never liked this ship, but I appreciated her efforts to provide circumstances for it that she thought were justifiable. Eventually, however, she stopped shipping them altogether.

As someone who previously supported a problematic ship (Lydia and Beetlejuice) but had decided after a while it was better just to see them as friends, I have undergone this journey myself. I remember how repulsed I was when I saw artwork depicting Lydia as a minor kissing BJ - I thought the relationship was only appropriate if Lydia was well over eighteen. Likewise, Joye had disapproved of people shipping underage Micah with Light Spinner.

The ex friend began accusing Joye at some point of supporting a paedophilic ship, even though Joye had only supported the ship in a more appropriate context and later disavowed it altogether.

The third controversy stems from a conversation on a post somewhere, which is regarding a scene in which Shadow Weaver is sick and suffering and Catra acts apathetic towards her condition. From what I can gather, the ex friend thought Catra's behaviour was justified because of SW's abuse, but it upset Joye, because she has a chronic illness and didn't like seeing Catra (or anyone) mistreat a sick person for any reason. The ex friend thought that Joye was saying that Catra was being abusive towards Shadow Weaver and took offence to this.

I befriended Joye after she placed a supportive comment on an Entrapdak post of mine, in which I detailed a discussion I'd had with a delusional anti-Entrapdak who was convinced that Entrapta had been made to look underage as a form of fetishism. I soon went onto Joye's blog, where I struck up more conversations with her and we quickly became friends.

After her ex-friend started spreading information about the three preceding controversies, it caused Joye a lot of stress, especially since the ex-friend is very angry and spiteful towards her. Joye once said to me that the irony was not lost on her of the fact that this ex-friend was willing to advocate for war criminals to receive redemption arcs, yet believed someone guilty of alleged homophobia was unforgivable and deserved no respect.

I firmly believe it's never acceptable to harass or mistreat others, no matter how wrong their viewpoints are. It just causes the said person to think that the fact they're being attacked means that they must be doing something right. Also, I firmly believe it can make you a worse person than the person being attacked.

I also testify that Joye is not a homophobe. She did not express any hostility towards LGBT people and even openly condemned violence and persecution towards queer individuals. Perhaps your mileage may vary on what constitutes a homophobe these days, but I honestly do not think she qualifies.

Ultimately though, you can believe whoever you want to believe. I am just saying what I think is true, deduced from my interactions with Joye and my perusal of the ex-friend's blog. I can take pictures of my conversations with her if anyone needs proof of what I'm saying.

If the ex-friend or any of her supporters see this post, I want them to know this: I don't want a fight. And neither does Joye. Virtually everyone's mentally ill or mentally disabled here on Tumblr, and I can safely say that most bloggers don't want the added stress of getting involved in a big argument, which may be why Joye is currently offline.

There's enough problems with harassment in the Entrapdak community without there being in-fighting amongst the fans of She Ra villains. Joye is a good friend and I want her back on this site. I would also like her ex-friend to reconcile with her, but I don't know how possible that is.

Anyone who is a friend of Joye or thinks I'm telling the truth, please use the hashtag "#we support joye"

Thank you for reading!

[snarksandkisses]

David Ferree, September 22

I have heard from people that they want a reason to vote FOR Biden beyond that he's not Trump. Okay, I respect that, so I went on his website, poured through his policies, and came up with 100 reasons to vote for #JoeBiden that don't mention Trump. 

1.) $15.00 federal minimum wage

2.) Reinstate DACA – allowing new applicants to apply

3.) 12 Weeks federal paid family leave4

.) Universal Pre-Kindergarten/Childcare for ages 3 and 4

5.) Tuition free college for those with household income less than $125,000.00

6.) Allow student loans to be relieved in bankruptcy

7.) LGBTQ+ Equality Act in the first 100 days in office

8.) Rejoin the Paris Climate Accords

9.) Decriminalize cannabis use and expunge convictions

10.) Eliminate cash bail system

11.) Eliminate mandatory minimum sentences

12.) Outlaw all online firearm and munition sales

13.) Restore the voting rights act

14.) Create a new $20 billion competitive grant program to spur states to shift from incarceration to prevention.

15.) He’ll triple funding for Title I Programs

16.)  Appoint the first Black Woman to the Supreme Court of the United States

17.)  Reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA)

18.) Ensure the US achieves a 100% clean energy economy and net-zero emissions no later than 2050

19.) Protecting Biodiversity, slowing extinction rates and helping leverage natural climate solutions

20.) Develop a plan to ensure that America has the cleanest, safest and fastest rail system in the world, for both passengers and freight

21.)  Expand the safety net for survivors

22.) Confront online harassment, abuse and stalking

23.) End the rape kit backlog

24.) Address the deadly combination of guns and domestic violence

25.) Change the culture that enables domestic violence

26.) Support the diverse needs of survivors of violence against women

27.) Protect and empower immigrant women

28.) Lead the global effort to end gender-based violence

29.) End capital punishment

30.) End federal private prisons

31.) End all incarceration for drug use alone and divert individuals to drug courts and treatment

32.) Invest in public defenders’ offices to ensure defendants’ access to quality counsel

33.) Expand and use the power of the US Justice Department to address systemic misconduct in police departments and prosecutors’ offices

34.) Reform qualified immunity for officers

35.) Ban choke-holds/neck restraints by police

36.) Launch a national police oversight commission

37.) Stop transferring weapons of war to police force

38.) Free access to testing for all with national testing board

39.) Double drive through testing sites

40.) 100,000 contact tracing workforce

41.) Guarantee first responders have priority access to PPE

42.) Emergency paid leave for anyone who gets COVID or needs to take care of a loved one

43.) Free housing for health care workers to quarantine

44.) Ramp up large scale manufacturing of as many vaccine candidates as necessary

45.) Nationwide vaccination campaign to guarantee fair distribution

46.) Ask every American to wear a mask

47.) End the mismanagement of the asylum system, which fuels violence and chaos at the border

48.) Surge humanitarian resources to the border and foster public-private initiatives

49.) End prolonged detention and reinvest in a case management program

50.) Rescind the un-American travel and refugee bans, also referred to as “Muslim bans.”

51.) Order an immediate review of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for vulnerable populations who cannot find safety in their countries ripped apart by violence or disaster

52.) Ensure that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) personnel abide by professional standards and are held accountable for inhumane treatment.

53.) Revitalize the Task Force on New Americans and boost our economy by prioritizing integration, promoting immigrant entrepreneurship, increasing access to language instruction, and promoting civil engagement.

54.) Convene a regional meeting of leaders, including from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, and Canada, to address the factors driving migration and to propose a regional resettlement solution

55.) Raising the corporate tax rate to 28 percent.

56.) Requiring a true minimum tax on ALL foreign earnings of United States companies located overseas so that we do our part to put an end to the global race to the bottom that rewards global tax havens. This will be 21% — TWICE the rate of the Trump offshoring tax rate and will apply to all income.

57.) Imposing a tax penalty on corporations that ship jobs overseas in order to sell products back to America.

58.) Imposing a 15% minimum tax on book income so that no corporation gets away with paying no taxes.

59.) Raising the top individual income rate back to 39.6 percent.

60.) Asking those making more than $1 million to pay the same rate on investment income that they do on their wages.

61.) Tackle the crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women

62.) Ensure tribal nations will have a strong voice and role in the federal government

63.) Restore Tribal lands and safeguard natural and cultural resources

64.) Joe will dramatically increase funding for both public schools and Bureau of Indian Education schools.

65.)  Invest $70 billion in Tribal Colleges and Universities and Minority Serving Institutions.

66.) Ensure full inclusion of people with disabilities in policy development and aggressively enforce the civil rights of people with disabilities.

67.) Guarantee access to high-quality, affordable health care, including mental health care, and expand access to home and community-based services and long-term services and supports in the most integrated setting appropriate to each person’s needs and based on self-determination.

68.) Expand competitive, integrated employment opportunities for people with disabilities.

69.) Protect and strengthen economic security for people with disabilities.

70.) Ensure that students with disabilities have access to educational programs and support they need to succeed, from early interventions to post-secondary education.

71.) Expand access to accessible, integrated, and affordable housing, transportation, and assistive technologies and protect people with disabilities in emergencies.

72.) Advance global disability rights

73.)  Double the number of psychologists, guidance counselors, nurses, social workers, and other health professionals in our schools so our kids get the mental health care they need

74.) Invest in our schools to eliminate the funding gap between white and non-white districts, and rich and poor districts

75.) Improve teacher diversity

76.) Support our educators by giving them the pay and dignity they deserve.

77.) Invest in resources for our schools so students grow into physically and emotionally healthy adults, and educators can focus on teaching.

78.) Ensure that no child’s future is determined by their zip code, parents’ income, race, or disability.

79.) Provide every middle and high school student a path to a successful career.8

80.) Start investing in our children at birth.

81.) Double funding for the State Small Business Credit Initiative.

2.) Expand the New Markets Tax Credit, make the program permanent, and double Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) funding

83.) Improve and expand the Small Business Administration programs that most effectively support African American-owned businesses.

84.) Increase funding for the Minority Business Development Agency budget.

85.) Make sure economic relief because of COVID-19 reaches the African American businesses that need it most

86.) Reserve half of all the new PPP funds for small businesses with 50 employees or less

87.) Help families buy their first homes and build wealth by creating a new refundable, advanceable tax credit of up to $15,000

88.) Protect homeowners and renters from abusive lenders and landlords through a new Homeowner and Renter Bill of Rights.

89.) Establishing a $100 billion Affordable Housing Fund to construct and upgrade affordable housing

90.) Fully implement Congressman Clyburn’s 10-20-30 Plan to help all individuals living in persistently impoverished communities

91.) Expand access to $100 billion in low-interest business loans by funding state, local, tribal, and non-profit lending programs in Latino communities and other communities of color and strengthening Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs

92.) Expand broadband access to every American.

93.) Protect and build on the Affordable Care Act to improve access to quality health care in rural communities.

94.) Expand access to high-quality education in rural schools.

95.) Transform our crumbling transportation infrastructure – including roads and bridges, rail, aviation, ports, and inland waterways.

96.) Expand bio-based manufacturing to bring cutting-edge manufacturing jobs back to rural America.

97.) Strengthen antitrust enforcement

98.) Introduce a constitutional amendment to entirely eliminate private dollars from our federal elections

99.) End dark money groups

100.) Ban corporate PAC contributions to candidates, and prohibit lobbyist contributions to those who they lobby

***EDIT*** this again is all from his website. I literally copy pasted the bullet points from his website. If you go on his website, click Joe’s Vision, he has different themes. “Criminal justice reform, helping America’s farmers, etc.” I clicked through a bunch of those, and tried to get the quickest bullet points from his website.

[theslightestwords]

mdp150.com created a short zine on the basics of abolition.

Here’s the full transcription:

“Building a Police-Free Future: Frequently Asked Questions

We believe in the power, possibility, and necessity of a police-free future. We also understand, however, that this is a new idea for many people. What follows are some frequently-asked questions, and our responses to them.

Won’t abolishing the police create chaos and crime? How will we stay safe?

Police abolition work is not about snapping our fingers and instantly defunding every department in the world. Rather, we’re talking about a gradual process of strategically reallocating resources, funding, and responsibility away from police and toward community-based models of safety, support, and prevention.

The people who respond to crises in our community should be the people who are best equipped to deal with those crises. Rather than strangers armed with guns, who very likely do not live in the neighborhoods they’re patrolling, we want to create space for more mental health service providers, social workers, victim/survivor advocates, religious leaders, neighbors and friends– all of the people who really make up the fabric of a community– to look out for one another.

But what about armed bank robbers, murderers, and supervillains?

Crime isn’t random. Most of the time, it happens when someone has been unable to meet their basic needs through other means. So to really “fight crime,” we don’t need more cops; we need more jobs, more educational opportunities, more arts programs, more community centers, more mental health resources, and more of a say in how our own communities function.

Sure, in this long transition process, we may need a small, specialized class of public servants whose job it is to respond to violent crimes. But part of what we’re talking about here is what role police play in our society. Right now, cops don’t just respond to violent crimes; they make needless traffic stops, arrest petty drug users, harass Black and Brown people, and engage in a wide range of “broken windows policing” behaviors that only serve to keep more people under the thumb of the criminal justice system.

But why not fund the police and fund all these alternatives too? Why is it an either/or?

It’s not just that police are ineffective: in many communities, they’re actively harmful. The history of policing is a history of violence against the marginalized– American police departments were originally created to dominate and criminalize communities of color and poor white workers, a job they continue doing to this day. The list has grown even longer: LGBTQ folks, people with disabilities, activists– so many of us are attacked by cops on a daily basis.

And it’s bigger than just police brutality; it’s about how the prison industrial complex, the drug war, immigration law, and the web of policy, law, and culture that forms our criminal justice system has destroyed millions of lives, and torn apart families. Cops don’t prevent crime; they cause it, through the ongoing, violent disruption of our communities.

It’s also worth noting that most social service agencies and organizations that could serve as alternatives to the police are underfunded, scrambling for grant money to stay alive while being forced to interact with officers who often make their jobs even harder. In 2016, the Minneapolis Police Department received $165 million in city funding alone. Imagine what that kind of money could do to keep our communities safe if it was reinvested.

Even people who support the police agree: we ask cops to solve too many of our problems. As former Dallas Police Chief David Brown said: “We’re asking cops to do too much in this country… Every societal failure, we put it off on the cops to solve. Not enough mental health funding, let the cops handle it… Here in Dallas we got a loose dog problem; let’s have the cops chase loose dogs. Schools fail, let’s give it to the cops… That’s too much to ask. Policing was never meant to solve all those problems.”

What about body cameras? What about civilian review boards, implicit bias training, and community policing initiatives?

Video footage (whether from body cameras or other sources) wasn’t enough to get justice for Philando Castile, Samuel DuBose, Walter Scott, Tamir Rice, and far too many other victims of police violence. A single implicit bias training session can’t overcome decades of conditioning and department culture. Other reforms, while often noble in intention, simply do not do enough to get to the root of the issue.

History is a useful guide here: community groups in the 1960s also demanded civilian review boards, better training, and community policing initiatives. Some of these demands were even met. But universally, they were either ineffective, or dismantled by the police department over time. Recent reforms are already being co-opted and destroyed: just look at how many officers are wearing body cameras that are never turned on, or how quickly Jeff Sessions’ Justice Department has moved to end consent decrees. We have half a century’s worth of evidence that reforms can’t work. It’s time for something new.

This all sounds good in theory, but wouldn’t it be impossible to do?

Throughout US history, everyday people have regularly accomplished “impossible” things, from the abolition of slavery, to voting rights, to the 40-hour workweek, and more. What’s really impossible is the idea that the police departments can be reformed against their will to protect and serve communities whom they have always attacked. The police, as an institution around the world, have existed for less than 200 years– less time than chattel slavery existed in the Americas. Abolishing the police doesn’t need to be difficult– we can do it in our own cities, one dollar at a time, through redirecting budgets to common-sense alternative programs. Let’s get to work!

A few resources for further learning and action

Find the full MPD150 report, as well as extended interview excerpts, ways to get involved, and more at www.MPD150.com.

A Reading List:

The End of Policing (Alex Vitale)

The New Jim Crow (Michelle Alexander)

Are Prisons Obsolete (Angela Y. Davis)

Abolition Now!: Ten Years of Strategy and Struggle Against the Prison Industrial Complex (Anthology)

13th (documentary - Ava DuVernay)

The study guide at aworldwithoutpolice.org

A big list of accessible, online articles and essays in the "resources" tab at www.MPD150.com”

[losangelesleftygayvoters]

March 3, 2020 Primary

Hi there. We didn’t write this. But a very smart and interesting dude named Kris Rehl did. As we were about to sit down and prepare ours - we read his and thought well, we’re not going to do a lot better than this.

LOS ANGELES AREA PROGRESSIVE VOTER GUIDE

The following are recommendations for the most effective, progressive candidates in each race based on reviewing the resources listed at the bottom of this guide, news articles, and candidates’ statements. I encourage you to do your own research on each candidate as well!

CALIFORNIA STATE PROPOSITION

Prop 13: YES - This is a $15 billion bond to invest in crumbling school infrastructure, including the removal of toxic mold and asbestos from aging classrooms, to provide cleaner drinking water, and make upgrades for fire and earthquake safety. The proposition would also increase the size of bonds that school districts can place on future ballots.

CALIFORNIA STATE SENATE

21st District: Kipp Mueller - Mueller’s progressive platform focuses on homelessness, wage inequality, and the environment, calling out Big Oil in the Antelope Valley swing district.

23rd District: Abigail Medina - The daughter of immigrant parents, Medina has been in the foster care system, worked as a tomato picker, and served on the San Bernardino City Unified School board. She is the candidate with the boldest environmental platform in her district.

27th District: Henry Stern - A strong advocate for closing the Aliso Canyon gas facility and a fairly progressive candidate in a purple district. In addition to fighting big oil, he’s running on creating incentives for companies to switch to clean transportation and renewable energy infrastructure, improving the economy with small businesses and job training, supporting education by securing funding, and creating safer communities by providing funding to local governments. (Fun fact: His dad played Marv in the Home Alone movies.)

29th District: Josh Newman - Newman won his Fullerton district in 2016, focusing on 100% renewable energy by 2045, affordable education, and homelessness and mental health services. He was recalled by voters in a low turnout midterm primary, after being targeted by a Republican effort to break the Democrats’ supermajority. Despite the partisan recall over his vote to increase the state gas tax by 12 cents per gallon to fund $5.4 billion in annual road improvement and transit projects, Newman will again face the Republican he beat in 2016.

35th District: Steven Bradford - A leader on police reform and accountability, including passing AB391, a law reducing when police can use deadly force. Bradford is focused on lowering homelessness through affordable housing, enhancing access to healthcare, and increasing access to mass transit.

CALIFORNIA STATE ASSEMBLY

36th District: Eric Andrew Ohlsen - Endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America, Ohlsen has excellent positions on environmental issues, immigration, eliminating student debt, and criminal justice reform. Ohlsen wants to eliminate costly and unjust private prison contracts and help people already in the system with policies targeting recidivism.

38th District: Dina Cervantes - A child of immigrants, community activist, small business owner, and former preschool teacher with a strong record on education and environmental issues. (This district’s incumbent is retiring.)

39th District: Luz Maria Rivas - The incumbent, Rivas has a solid record on immigration and housing. She also founded a non-profit in Pacoima to encourage school-aged girls to pursue careers in STEM.

41st District: Chris Holden - The incumbent, Holden has fought to expand funding for disability programs, expand lead-level testing in drinking water at child care centers, and passed legislation to improve safety on electricity systems that caused the 2017 wildfires. His only opponents are Republicans, so vote for Chris! 

43rd District: Laura Friedman - Friedman is the incumbent and has a progressive voting record, including supporting the end of Section 8 discrimination and authoring several environmental and sustainability bills.

44th District: Jacqui Irwin - The incumbent, facing a Republican challenger, Irwin has focused heavily on gun violence prevention legislation and strengthened gun violence restraining orders since the 2018 Thousand Oaks shooting.

45th District: Jesse Gabriel - A progressive incumbent, Gabriel has enacted more than a dozen new gun safety measures, championed efforts to address California’s housing and homelessness crisis, and strengthened public education.

46th District: Adrin Nazarian - A strong charter school opponent, who has fought to increase public school aid by $23 billion over the past five years, with a mostly progressive record across the board.

49th District: Edwin Chau - Born in Hong Kong and raised in L.A., incumbent assemblymember Chau is facing a Republican challenger. He’s focused on legislation to prevent elder abuse and authored bills to address the affordable housing crisis as well as the California Consumer Privacy Act, enhancing protections for internet users’ personal data.

50th District: Richard Bloom - Authored some strong housing bills with a heavy focus on environmental legislation, helping establish the most stringent protections in the country against the dangers of hydraulic fracking.

53rd District: Godfrey Plata - Plata is a progressive challenger to an establishment Democratic incumbent, who has a disappointing record on housing policy. Plata is a gay Filipino immigrant, who if elected will become the first person in the California Assembly's 140-year history to be an out LGBTQIA+ immigrant. Plata’s campaign is focused on affordable housing, strengthening public schools, and universal healthcare.

54th District: Tracy B. Jones - A special education teacher, Jones is a strong advocate for increasing public school funding and improvements. He supports Medicare for All and the banning of fracking. 

57th District: Vanessa Tyson - Tyson is an advocate for increasing the accessibility and affordability of college, expanding affordable housing, and investing in permanent housing solutions to address homelessness.

58th District: Margaret Villa - A Green Party candidate, Villa supports rent control, Medicare for All, and getting money out of politics. The incumbent Democrat she’s challenging (Cristina Garcia) previously made false claims about earning a graduate degree, has several sexual harassment accusations against her from her own staff, and was investigated for her rampant use of racist and homophobic language in the workplace. Vote for Margaret Villa instead!

59th District: Reggie Jones-Sawyer - A strong progressive incumbent, Reggie comes from a family of pioneers in the civil rights movement, is the nephew of one of the Little Rock Nine, and a member of the California Legislative Black Caucus. He’s co-authored legislation to provide re-entry assistance like housing and job training for persons that have been wrongfully convicted and consequently released from state prison. He also led an effort to secure nearly $100 million for recidivism reduction grants. 

63rd District: Maria Estrada - Endorsed by Democratic Socialists of America, Estrada is a community activist, challenging an incumbent establishment Democratic leader, who stopped the passage of single-payer healthcare in the California legislature. Maria is running “to end the culture of policies that are deferential to industrial polluters that continue to poison our communities.”  

64th District: Fatima Iqbal-Zubair - A high school teacher from Watts, Fatima is challenging Democratic incumbent Mike Gipson, who takes money from Chevron, Valero, Pfizer, and Juul. She is campaigning to end environmental racism in her district, fight for affordable housing and rehabilitation services for the homeless, better funding for public schools, and making college accessible to everyone.

LOS ANGELES COUNTY

District Attorney: Rachel Rossi - Rossi’s experience as a public defender and aggressive platform make her the most progressive option to unseat incumbent Jackie Lacey, who Black Lives Matter and the ACLU criticized for refusing to prosecute violent cops. Rossi will pursue “data-driven crime prevention” over ineffective mass incarceration, focusing on serious, violent cases and ending the revolving door of low-level offenses that waste taxpayer dollars.

County Measure R: YES - An important step toward L.A. County jail reform that helps decriminalize mental illness and build community-based care centers where people can get the qualified help they need. Measure R also provides crucial tools for LA’s Civilian Oversight Board to check a corrupt Sheriff’s department.

L.A. County Measure FD: YES - Provides firefighters with the resources they require.

COUNTY CENTRAL COMMITTEE, 43rd Assembly District (*Vote for no more than 7)

Luke H. Klipp - A progressive, who is disenchanted with the establishment, Klipp has been a housing and HIV/AIDS policy advocate and transportation analyst. He hopes to create a more walkable, bikeable, and transit-friendly LA, centering equity and climate change in all policy.

Jennifer “Jenni” Chang - A universal healthcare advocate and community activist, Jenni wants to make politics more people-centric, shun corporate influence, and hold party leaders accountable to progressive values. She supports green transportation, more public education funding, affordable housing, closing corporate loopholes, and prison reform.

Linda Perez - Linda is an immigrant and retired labor advocate, who is prioritizing immigrant protections, LGBTQ rights, education, housing, workers’ rights, and student homelessness.

Ingrid Gunnell - A teacher focused on public school funding and accountability for charter schools, Ingrid plans to fight homelessness with affordable housing, mental healthcare, and job training.

Nicholas James Billing - A Sunrise Movement member, Nicholas is fighting for renewable energy infrastructure, supports public school, prison reform, and affordable housing.

Angel Izard - A community activist, Angel supports public schools, quality healthcare for all Californians, investing in renewable energy, affordable housing, and prison reform.

Paul Neuman - An incumbent, Paul wants to empower people and make government more accessible, transparent, responsive and accountable. He has a long history of activism and volunteer work, advocating for many marginalized groups. He’s written resolutions for emergency funding for homelessness, arts education, campaign reform, and more.

LOS ANGELES COUNTY JUDGE OF THE SUPERIOR COURT

Office No. 42: Linda Sun - Sun is an experienced prosecutor focused on corruption from professionals and businesses rather than crimes of poverty. She describes her judicial approach as embodying empathy and dignity.

Office No. 72: Myanna Dellinger - Dellinger is passionate about gender-related employment discrimination, harassment, and violence cases. She believes “people of color and lower incomes are disproportionately affected by environmental problems such as air and water pollution...The law should help remedy that.” Dellinger also advocates for gender-affirming treatment of everyone in and out of the courtroom.

Office No. 76: Emily Cole - As a judge, Cole is dedicated to helping the victims of crime but also helping the defendants that are in a system that they can’t get out of. She was also endorsed over her opponent by the LA County Bar Association.

Office No. 80: Klint James McKay - McKay is an administrative law judge with social services and has a history in the Public Defender Union. He has focused on an empathetic approach and understanding for all people, who pass through the court. His opponent David Berger is endorsed by the problematic current DA Jackie Lacey but was also chosen for the District Attorney's Office Alternative Sentencing Designee, where he’s worked within the criminal justice system to find alternatives for non-violent candidates.

Office No. 97: Sherry L. Powell - Powell has dedicated much of her legal career to serving and advocating for families, who lost loved ones to murder, and victims of violent crimes such as child molestation, rape, human trafficking, and domestic violence. She is running against Timothy Reuben, a real estate law firm founder, who ran as a conservative in 2018.

Office No. 129: Kenneth Fuller - As a District Attorney, Fuller has prosecuted environmental and sex crimes, but has also worked on the defense side as a military judge advocate.

Office No. 145: Troy Slaten - Slaten strongly supports criminal justice reform with efforts such as Collaborative Courts, designed to provide treatment instead of incarceration to the most vulnerable populations in the criminal justice system.

Office No. 150: Tom Parsekian - Parsekian is a civil litigation attorney, who is endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America.

Office No. 162: Caree Annette Harper - Harper is a former police officer, turned civil rights attorney, who has dedicated massive amounts of her time to pro bono work. In 2018, Caree obtained $1.5 million for the family of Reginald Thomas, who was beaten and tased to death by Pasadena Police Department.

LOS ANGELES COUNTY SUPERVISOR

2nd District: Holly Mitchell - A champion for progressive causes in the State Legislature, Mitchell has called for 20% affordable housing in every new development and a compassionate, non-criminalization approach to the homelessness crisis. Holly introduced the recently enacted CROWN Act, the first state law to ban discrimination based on natural hair or styles like locs, braids, and twists in workplaces and public schools.

4th District: Janice Hahn - Hanh has been solid on housing and labor issues. It should be noted that in 2015, she voted with 242 Republicans and 46 Democrats to pass a bill that proposed instituting a much more intensive screening for refugees from Iraq and Syria, who applied for admission to the U.S. It does not appear Hahn has any serious challengers.

5th District: Darrell Park - Park proposed an ambitious Green New Deal for LA County, signed the homes guarantee, and endorsed the Services Not Sweeps campaign to end the criminalization and ease the suffering of unhoused people. The current Supervisor for this district, Kathryn Barger, is the only Republican on the County Board of Supervisors. 

LOS ANGELES UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT - BOARD OF EDUCATION

The following are the endorsements of the Los Angeles teachers union: 

District 1: George McKenna

District 3: Scott Schmerlson

District 5: Jackie Goldberg 

District 7: Patricia Castellanos

LOS ANGELES CITY COUNCIL

***The corruption in City Hall has led to inaction, worsened the housing crisis, and wasted millions in taxpayer dollars. I urge you to vote out all incumbents.

2nd District: Ayinde Jones - Wants to expand affordable public transportation and beds in homeless shelters. (The incumbent, Paul Krekorian, did not meet the new bed goal that the city council set for itself. Krekorian did turn his own budget’s $400 million surplus into a $200 million deficit with little transparency or public oversight though.) For more info on this race, check out this community activist’s thread from the candidates’ forum.

4th District: Nithya Raman - Nithya is an MIT-trained urban planner, who founded SELAH, a local homeless service organization, and served as executive director of anti-sexual harassment group Times Up. She plans to end homelessness by providing services and housing to those in need, stop evictions, and freeze rents. She is also focused on fighting the climate crisis and improving our city’s air quality.

6th District: Bill Haller - A member of his neighborhood council and experienced with environmental advocacy, Haller is running because he is disgusted by the corruption in L.A. City Hall. Haller wants to reduce city council pay from $207,000 to $93,500 (or 85% of an elected state assemblymember’s salary) and double the number of city districts to allow for more diverse, grassroots candidates, who better understand and represent their communities.

8th District: Denise Woods - A write-in candidate who has fought against housing discrimination, Denise has plans to address public safety, prevent gang violence, and expand education and job training in South L.A.

10th District: Aura Vasquez - Aura was born and raised in Colombia. In 1996, her family came to America to escape the bloodshed and violence caused by drug cartels and the War on Drugs. As an undocumented student, Aura worked nights and weekends to put herself through college. Aura has become a dedicated community organizer, environmental advocate, and was the driving force in banning single-use plastic bags in L.A. She is focused on making city services more responsive, creating affordable housing and homeless services, ensuring police treat all residents with respect and dignity, keeping immigrant and refugee families together, and supporting local schools, teachers, and after-school programs.

12th District: Dr. Loraine Lundquist - An educator and astrophysicist, Loraine is an expert on clean energy and helped organize community opposition to the Aliso Canyon gas storage facility when it posed a massive danger to the Valley in 2015. She is refusing donations from corporate special interests and wants to challenge corruption in the LADWP to create lower utility bills for residents. Loraine also wants to use humane, data-proven solutions to end the homelessness crisis, putting an end to tax dollars being wasted on inaction.

14th District: Cyndi Otteson - Cyndi served on her neighborhood council and leads a nonprofit that helped over 320 refugee families resettle in the U.S. Cyndi rejects developer, charter school, and special interest money and wants to make housing more affordable for rent-burdened Angelenos with financial reforms and protections for renters. She proposes using the $355 million annually generated by Measure H to build on or adapt commercial property that is undeveloped or abandoned for affordable housing and homeless shelters.

GLENDALE CITY COUNCIL

Dan Brotman - Dan is an advocate for a sustainable Glendale and has been endorsed by the Sunrise Movement for fighting fossil fuel infrastructure and advocating for affordable housing.

U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

8th District: Chris Bubser - Bubser has been endorsed by several labor and environmental groups, and she is the only chance to avoid two Republicans on the November general election ballot in this red district.

23rd District: Kim Mangone - Kim is a veteran, running against Kevin McCarthy, one of the most far-right Republicans in Congress and the GOP’s current House Minority Leader. Vote for Kim and get McCarthy the hell out of Washington!

26th District: Julia Brownley - The incumbent, Julia passed her Female Veterans Suicide Prevention Act in 2016, which requires the VA to collect data on women veterans to identify best practices and services to end female veteran suicide. She passed a surface transportation bill to increase funds to invest in our crumbling infrastructure. Julia has been an advocate for women and working families, fighting to close the wage gap, raise the minimum wage, and expand job training and education assistance.

27th District: Judy Chu - The incumbent, Chu is chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus and has a strong record on immigration rights and reform. She has also become a strong advocate for ending military hazing since her 21-year-old nephew shot and killed himself after enduring three and a half hours of discrimination-motivated assault and torture from his fellow marines in Afghanistan.

28th District: G. “Maebe A. Girl” Puldo - Maebe (she/her) is the first drag queen elected to public office in U.S. history! She is genderfluid/trans and hosts, produces, and performs in drag shows around Los Angeles in addition to her Silver Lake Neighborhood Council duties. Maebe supports Medicare for All, has experience with homelessness advocacy, and is running on a broad, progressive platform. If your knee jerk reaction is to dismiss Maebe because she’s a drag queen, kindly check your queerphobia at the door. 

(Second Choice: Adam Schiff - Despite his impressive contribution to the president’s impeachment, incumbent Adam Schiff has shown himself to be a hawk, defined by donations made to his campaign by the defense industry. Even if you plan to vote for Schiff during the general election this November, I encourage you to vote for Maebe in the primary.)

29th District: Angélica María Dueñas - A member of her neighborhood council, Dueñas supports unions, Medicare For All, achieving 100% renewable energy by 2030, eliminating pharmaceutical subsidies, increasing taxes on the rich, and a humane path to citizenship.

30th District: CJ Berina - CJ is challenging an establishment Democratic incumbent, who has worked against many progressive causes. CJ supports the Green New Deal, Medicare For All, the cancellation of medical and student debt, abolishing ICE and the death penalty, and ending for-profit healthcare.

32nd District: Emanuel Gonzales - Growing up, Emanuel and his family became homeless twice: after his father was diagnosed with End-Stage Renal Disease and during the recession. Since his father died from a failed kidney transplant, Emanuel has become an advocate for expanding Medicare coverage to everyone in the U.S. and reforming the current organ transplantation system so that no organ goes to waste. Personally knowing the pain of losing a home, Emanuel will fight for affordable interest rates for first-time buyers, extending tax benefits for working families who own homes, and increasing federal grants, so people can own homes in the communities they work and serve in.

33rd District: Ted Lieu - Ted has been an outspoken critic of the current administration, bringing special attention to the treatment of migrant children in detention, separated from their families. Ted previously authored a bill banning conversion therapy and was a co-sponsor of the 2019 Medicare For All Act.

34th District: Frances Yasmeen Motiwalla - Frances supports Medicare for All, the Rent Relief Act, the Green New Deal, and urgently wants to end the war in Yemen. The incumbent Jimmy Gomez has moved to the left since facing a Green Party candidate last election cycle. If nothing else, let’s push him even more left.

37th District: Karen Bass - Leader of the Congressional Black Caucus, Karen has focused on issues such as criminal justice reform, a national minimum wage increase, and foster care. She supports Medicare For All, tuition-free community college, and capping the interest rate for federal student loans at 3.4 percent.

38th District: Michael Tolar - Supports Medicare for All, The Green New Deal, closing private prisons, getting money out of politics, and banning military-style weapons.

39th District: Gil Cisneros - A solid Orange County Democrat facing a tough reelection against a Republican this fall. Cisneros was a $266 million Mega Millions winner and became a philanthropist before deciding to run for Congress in 2018. Gil is a veteran and education advocate, who has stood up to the insurance and pharmaceutical industries to lower healthcare costs, protected education funding, and worked to create good-paying local jobs.

40th District: Dr. Rodolfo Cortes Barragan - Taking on a more conservative Democrat incumbent, Rodolfo is a first-generation American, who came from Mexico at a young age and earned degrees from UC Berkeley and Stanford. He is a Green Party candidate, running on a platform of Medicare for All, tuition-free public colleges, the Green New Deal, abolishing ICE, repealing the Patriot Act, and a homes guarantee with funding for universal public housing.

43rd District: Maxine Waters - Maxine has been an outspoken advocate for women, children, people of color, and the poor. She has strongly condemned the actions of the current administration and is facing a Republican challenger this fall.

44th District: Nanette Diaz Barragán - Elected in 2016, Nanette became the first Latina to represent her Congressional district. She is a strong advocate for immigration and supports Medicare for All.

45th District: Katie Porter - Katie is a survivor of domestic abuse and a former consumer protection attorney. She impressively won a swing district while still supporting Medicare for All, gun safety reform, and legislation to reduce the influence of dark money in politics. 

47th District: Peter Matthews - Peter refuses donations from corporate PACs and lobbyists,  supports tuition-free college, canceling student debt, Medicare for All, a Green New Deal, universal child care, public banks, taxing income brackets over $10 million at 70%, and believes housing is a human right.

PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY

Elizabeth Warren - Elizabeth doesn’t just have some of the most comprehensive, progressive plans of any candidate, she has figured out and proposed some brilliant strategies to actually move them through the gridlock in Washington. She engages with stakeholders in every community, listens, and incorporates their feedback to be sure she is addressing the needs of all Americans. I trust Elizabeth to take on corruption and create a better, fairer country by removing monied corruption in politics, implementing a wealth tax on the ultra rich, creating free universal healthcare, reforming our criminal justice system, fighting predatory debt, expanding educational and economic opportunities, and creating new clean energy jobs to swiftly combat climate change.

(2nd Choice: Bernie Sanders - Bernie is a truly inspiring candidate, and I agree with almost all of his policies. I would be thrilled to vote and volunteer for him if he becomes the nominee, but he is my second choice because I believe Warren has more effective strategies to implement an extremely similar platform, ranging from the removal of the filibuster to finding solutions that won’t raise middle-class taxes to fund for Medicare For All.)

RESOURCES

https://lavote.net/Apps/CandidateList/Index?id=3793

https://laist.com/elections/

https://knock-la.com/the-knock-la-los-angeles-progressive-voter-guide-for-the-march-2020-primary-7f2c3efc13cc 

https://www.dsa-la.org/2020_primary_voter_guide 

https://votersedge.org/en/ca 

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/2/9/1917945/-LA-Progressive-Majority-Voter-Guide-to-Judges-Candidates-for-March-2020-Los-Angeles-CA 

https://progressivevotersguide.com/california/

https://app.kpcc.civicengine.com/v/choose_party 

http://www.easyvoterguide.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/EVG-march2020-Eng.pdf 

[lemonade-drinking-ghost]

So a while back I did an essay on bullying for school and I think it would be helpful to hear what I wrote

Do Schools Really Do Enough to Prevent Bullying?

Have you ever been bullied at school ? The answer may be yes or no, but many students are being bullied at school and online and schools aren't doing enough to stop it. Schools are doing horrible at stopping bullying among students. This can lead to many things that can affect the student’s mental and physical health.

First let's identify bullying. According to the article “ Do U.S. laws go far enough to prevent bullying at school ?“ it states that the definition of bullying is “intentional aggression, a power imbalance between aggressor and victim, and repetition of the aggression”(para 1). In the article it also tells us how to identify the bullying, “Intentional aggression is broadly inclusive and means that bullying can be physical, verbal or social. As a result, bullying can overlap with many other behaviors such as criminal assault, extortion, hate crimes and sexual harassment. But in its milder forms, bullying can be difficult to distinguish from ordinary teasing, horseplay or conflict. bullying is most often verbal or social and requires that there be a power differential that requires an assessment of peer status, self-confidence or cognitive capability. In some contexts, the victim lacks power for less obvious reasons, such as sexual orientation, disability or membership in a particular racial or ethnic group. If repetition is seen as a necessary criterion for intervention, this might complicate enforcement of bullying rules and policies, because observers would have the added burden of detecting multiple incidents of abusive behavior before they can conclude that bullying has occurred. Most definitions recognize that a single bullying incident can be sufficiently harmful or likely to be repeated that it can be regarded as bullying”(para 3-5.) This can be potentially dangerous towards children and teens that are sensitive towards these things.

Second, schools think they are solving the issue but they aren't, in the article “School bullying and cyberbullying: We're not doing enough to stop it” it states that “School officials continue to underestimate the problem. The truth is that bullying has not decreased; children are simply not reporting it, so adults have a false sense of security that things are improving. In reality, statistics prove the bullying problem is at dangerously high levels”(para 4). Yes, kids may think that if they ignore the problem it will get better, but in all reality, it just gets worse if you don't tell someone. The majority of kids and teens are being bullied for their disabilities, In the article “School bullying and cyberbullying: We're not doing enough to stop it”, it states that “64 percent of our children who are bullied do not report it. Among middle school students, 24 percent are cyber bullied and 45 percent are bullied on school property. Among high school students, 15 percent are cyber bullied and 20 percent are bullied on school property. The most common reasons for bullying are based on physical appearance, including body shape and race. These alarming statistics do not even include the bullying of students with disabilities and LGBTQ+ students” (para 5). This isn't even counting the disabled and LGBTQ+ kids, THIS IS INSANE !

In conclusion many kids are being bullied for their looks and online and they think suicide is they way out of it. You can tell your school psychologist if you are being bullied or you could tell your parents, it's important that you tell them so the problem does not get worse.

If you want to know where I got this information from DM me :)

[kassandra-lorelei]

Fic request: Niles calms C.C. down from a panic attack.

Here we are, my friend - I am so very, very sorry that this has taken all this time! It kind of got buried for far too long (the other anon ask I have will also be up in the next few days), and it should have been taken care of far sooner. I will also do my utmost to make sure prompts never take this long again. I can only hope that it being extra long makes up for the fact that this one did - me and my bestie @missbabcocks1 have worked hard to make it good, so I hope you enjoy it

@holomoriarty

Niles didn’t think he’d ever rushed anywhere so quickly, nor with such terror, in all his life.

Being short on ingredients before a large dinner was due to becooked required a brisk walk, and a vague sense of urgency. Moving away from adoor or an intercom he was listening at was an occasion for dashing and thekind of panic that left one’s mind racing to think of excuses.

But this…this was fear, and a near-run as he burst (orwould have burst, if the automatic doors had opened more swiftly) through intothe hospital reception.

It had seemed endless hours since the phone call had reachedthe house (Niles hadn’t slept during that time), informing them that MissBabcock had been robbed at knife-point. No one on the phone would say more than that, not even to elaborate howbad it was.

But it had been less than an hour ago that they’d receivedanother phone call, telling them that the producer was ready to go home.

Maxwell had dispatched the butler immediately to get herhome safely, unaware of the fact that Niles would’ve snatched up his jacket andleft without permission or announcing where he was going anyway, if hisemployer hadn’t asked.

He had to see for himself how bad it was. Whether or notanybody else knew about how he felt (he knew Miss Babcock herself wouldn’tcare, at best, and laugh in his face at worst), he cared. Secretly, and moredeeply than he’d probably ever cared for anyone.

And it was that care that caused him to practically demandto know where Miss Babcock was, when he got to the hospital reception desk.

They didn’t waste time in telling him where she was - evenif that was just so he’d leave and stop apparently harassing staff members, hedidn’t care.

A doctor met him to talk about it before he went in, and thegrave look on the man’s face made Niles almost want to collapse.

But, somehow, he remained standing. Throughout hearing aboutMiss Babcock walking alone when her assailant had leapt from an alleyway anddemanded her purse and valuables.

He was nearly sick when he heard that she’d tried to fightback some, and was stabbed three times for her efforts. To rub salt in theproverbial wound, the mugger had then made off with all the things he’d toldher to give him in the first place.

It burned him up inside, to think that the criminal hadgotten away after committing such a violent act. And it hurt unimaginably, tothink of Miss Babcock lying injured, bleeding through her clothes and probablyterrified out of her mind…

He and the doctor were at the producer’s room in minutes, aknot tightening in his stomach the moment his gaze fell on her.

Miss Babcock was in a wheelchair, being pushed towards thedoor by a nurse. One of her arms was in a sling, and there were bandages acrossher middle.

And whether it was what had happened to her causing thedispleased look on her face, or his presence at such a time, Niles didn’t know.

He tried to be calm anyway.

“Hello, Miss Babcock,” he stepped into the room. “I’ve cometo take you home.”

The producer let out a kind of annoyed sigh, “Of course youhave. It’ll round off this whole thing off nicely!”

“Having someone to help you get home might not be such a badidea,” the doctor piped up, probably thinking that he was being helpful and notjust irritating Miss Babcock further, like Niles knew he would be. “You won’tbe able to drive for now, and you’ll need someone to help with your chair…”

C.C. gave a low grunt as an answer but said nothing againstthe doctor’s suggestion – it was painfully obvious (and everyone in the roomknew) that she needed help to move about. Her father was due to arrive in NewYork from Hong Kong the following evening, but until then she’d need to beaccompanied.

And Niles was more than willing to help, and to be hercompany. Of course, he couldn’t make the extent of his enthusiasm known (or theextent of his relief at the fact that she was alive), but aiding her ineverything she needed until her father came home would partially make up forthat.

He’d make sure she felt as safe and looked after as anyother member of the Sheffield family, and then some! He doubted she’d be ableto make any sort of meal for herself so he’d have to do that, too (he wasn’tgoing to leave her with nothing but takeout food as an option, not even for onenight!).

He’d do anything around the penthouse that she needed, if hewas honest. He’d have to talk to Mr Sheffield (hopefully without giving awayexactly why he was offering to do more than asked), but he could potentiallyspend some more time that day at Miss Babcock’s, helping her with things as andwhen she needed them.

But first things first, he needed to get her out of thehospital. And, seeing as the producer had had no other answer than a resignedgrunt to the notion of him being involved, he could safely assume that thereweren’t going to be any more qualms about him being her designated driver andcarer for the rest of the day.

So, letting her finish signing all her forms and thankingthe doctor, he began to wheel her out of the hospital.

As the butler had most likely suspected, there wasn’t anyconversation as they walked down the corridor, took the elevator to thereception, and crossed to the front doors. Miss Babcock was probably silentlystewing to herself, and he knew that nothing he said could possibly change thatfact. If anything, a few things were probably likely to aggravate her more, andhe wasn’t in the mood for those sorts of games.

Not that the completely cold silence felt good, so he wasrelieved to have something to say when they got to the car.

Even if it was a slightly awkward something.

Rolling her chair to a stop, he then unlocked the car doorand opened up the passenger side, looking between the empty seat and theproducer. He bit the inside of his lip. Usually, people in wheelchairs had twooptions; either they lifted themselves out of the chair and into the car, orthey were carried.

But lifting herself wasn’t an option.

“Um…Miss Babcock,” he began. “I…um, might have to helpyou here…”

He mentally kicked himself for sounding what would be deemedin her words as “the most pathetic way of speaking to someone without actuallyphysically bursting into tears”. He sounded unsure, and nervous, and completelylike he was going to reveal something by accident that he shouldn’t!

But he still had no choice, really, and neither did she. Hehad to get her in the car so that she could get home and start to recover. Shewas probably eager to get well - no doubt he’d be about to leave and she’d askhim to bring her some paperwork to keep her mind occupied…

It nearly made him laugh to think that being stabbed hadn’tslowed Miss Babcock down at all. Or, at least, she was trying her hardest tonot let it slow her down.

And after a little more awkward, silent gesturing on hispart (just coming out and asking felt like an impossibility), Miss Babcockmanaged to grasp what he was asking of her.

“Hm,” she bit her lip. She then seemed to consider for areally quite long time, before sighing in annoyance. “Oh, fine then - dowhatever it is that you have to do, just get me in the car!”

And, sure enough, Niles did. Of course, he did a little bitof preparation (like clearing the passenger seat of any accidental remainingjunk) and he had to have a small talk with himself in his head about how bestto lift the producer without accidentally catching his hands inany…unfortunate areas.

It was going to need her cooperation, he eventuallyrealised. A bridal style hold was going to be easiest (a fireman’s carry wouldonly cause her all sorts of trouble, and then land him in all sorts of troubleby extension).

He half-crouched in front of her, pointing towards hisshoulder.

“Alright,” he said, prepared for what was about to come. “Ifyou would, um…care to put your arm around my shoulder, Miss Babcock? I’llhave you settled in the car in no time at all, this way.”

There a moment of uncomfortable silence as Miss Babcockconsidered her options, but upon reaching the inevitable conclusion that thiswas the only way he could help her up, she begrudgingly slung her arm aroundhis shoulders.

“Fine. Let’s not drag this out for longer than we need to,shall we?” said C.C. in a voice that was sharper than a Swiss army knife.

It made Niles flinch upon hearing it, but he carried onanyway - he couldn’t give up helping her just because something was difficultor uncomfortable, and because it made her annoyed.

He just had to steel himself to do it, that was all.

Taking a calming breath, he slipped his arms under her kneesand lifted.

He’d imagined more than once of carrying her as he was then.And, perhaps of picking her up from the hospital. Though the former usually hadthem wearing different, more formal clothes, and the latter had one of them carrying a tinybundle in a baby carrier.

He tried not to let either image upset him too much as hecarried Miss Babcock to the car seat, slipping her directly into it.

“There we are,” he said, starting to smile in spite ofhimself. Then he remembered something and stopped. “Can, um…can you managethe seatbelt? If not I can do it, while I’m here…”

“I am not disabled,” she snapped, reaching behind her forthe strap. Niles could tell every movement hurt and that she was trying veryhard not disturb her stitches as she struggled to pull the strap down and putthe metal latch into the buckle.

It… hurt to see her this way.

It hurt him so very much, but he knew better than to try and let herknow about his feelings. It wasn’t them – it simply went against the unspokenrules that they went by.

They exchanged zingers, pulled practical jokes on oneanother, and strove to find the most creative way to make each other miserable.They didn’t worry. They didn’t care.

At least they wouldn’t admit to it.

She didn’t look round at him once she was finished. Instead,she stared directly ahead and let her eyes bore holes in the glass of thewindscreen.

So Niles took his hurt and his worry and he bottled it upwith the rest - the feelings he’d kept on gathering for so many years now. Hethen shut her car door, not wanting it to slam too hard in case it moved MissBabcock and disturbed her stitches.

Despite everything, the last thing he wanted to do was hurther.

He then tackled putting her wheelchair away in the boot,which took some time. The thing was of course collapsible, but finding themechanism was taking him so long that he dragged the chair round to the back sothat Miss Babcock couldn’t see him fighting it and losing.

She’d never let him live it down if she saw. And the onlyslight upside to that would be that it might cheer her up.

Eventually he found the proper way to make the thing lieflat, and he nearly cheered to himself as he got it stored away without anymore hassle.

The slam of the boot and marching away from it felt verysatisfying indeed.

He then took his place behind the wheel, switched on theignition, and prepared to take the producer home at long last.

Of course, there just so happened to be traffic which leftthem going at a snail’s pace through the streets, and the longer they wentwithout saying anything and leaving all noise to the radio, the more on-edgeNiles felt.

It was becoming harder and harder these days to ignore hisfeelings. And even if he wasn’t about to openly declare anything to theproducer (he knew how badly that would go!), he couldn’t just comfortably sitin silence with her.

He knew that she was alright, but he wanted to hear hervoice and confirm it.

Even if she was currently still irritated by the fact thathe, out of all the other people in the world, had been selected to do this byfate or God or some other higher power with an axe to grind.

He was about to reach over and switch the radio off to tryand get conversation going when at last Miss Babcock spoke up.

“You’re about to miss the turn, Hazel.”

That brought Niles out of his thoughts and plans and back tothe present moment. Where he was driving a car and needed to concentrate.

“Oh!” he just about managed to turn in time, with only minorcursing and a few hand gestures from other drivers. Then he felt his heartsink, as he remembered how delicate his passenger was. “My apologies, MissBabcock…the turn didn’t do any damage, did it?”

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her discreetly pat hermiddle.

“Not that I can feel,” she said, before sighing andgrumbling. “Sooner I get out of these mummy bandages the better!”

Niles pursed his lips, making no comment in the direction ofbeing ancient, decrepit carcasses, or terrifying curses. He’d wait until shewas in a better mood before trying.

Hopefully it wouldn’t be long until she’d relaxed enough toenjoy their banter again; the entrance to her building’s underground parkingwas almost directly ahead of them.

They were in the building in no time, and Niles thanked God silentlyin his head that the elevator went all the way to that floor - he couldn’timagine himself being able to bring both Miss Babcock and her wheelchair upeven a single flight of stairs without an accident.

And even if he could, it wouldn’t exactly make him her hero,now would it? The event would be marked down as a moment of uncharacteristickindness, and then immediately confined to some sort of memory jail withanything else they did to each other that didn’t resemble hate.

The thought made him dreadfully bitter on occasion, but whatcould he - or anyone else, for that matter - do about it?

He had to drive it out of his head again as they made it tothe penthouse floor. There were more important things to be focusing on, otherthan things which weren’t ever going to change.

He took the spare key from its hiding place under thedoormat when they arrived, and he got right down to the business of why he wasthere as he unlocked the front door.

“Is there anything in particular that you’ll be needingdone, Miss Babcock?” he asked. “Anything that needs cleaning, or cooking?”

“Is Maxwell paying you extra to babysit me?” said theproducer acridly, not even looking up at him. “God knows you’d do anything foran extra buck.”

He mentally sidestepped the venom she’d spewed his way andmerely shrugged. In another situation he would have replied to her causticcomment with something like “Is that what your last date said to you when hepicked you up at your usual corner?” but given the gravity of the events hechose to bite his tongue.

“I‘ll take that as a yes,” he chose to say instead,clutching the handles of her wheelchair and pushing forward, inside theapartment. “Now, where shall I take you? To your room? The sofa in the livingroom?”

“My room,” grumbled C.C., clearly annoyed at the butler forhaving the audacity to exist, or simply because he was the nearest breathingbeing she could charge against. “Wherever there is a surface I can lie downon.”

“Bedroom it is then,” said the butler with a nod, kickingthe door shut.

He didn’t try to engage her in further conversation as hetook her through the penthouse. Chester yapped at them from a comfortable chairin the living room as they went by, but the little dog made no attempt to comegreet them.

The producer didn’t entirely seem to notice - it onlyoccurred to Niles exactly how tense she was feeling when they crossed into herroom and she let out a relieved breath.

“At last, thank God!” she declared.

Niles bit back a frown, wondering if she had feared neverbeing in her own home again after…it had happened. The terror going throughher mind must’ve carried lots of things she held dear to her.

Though none of those things would’ve been him, an angry voicesaid in the back of his mind. That was when another, calmer part stepped in andtold him that it didn’t matter - he wasn’t going to stop helping her becauseshe didn’t feel the same way as him.

She needed the help, and as she would remind him on so manyoccasions, he literally was “the help”.

Although he currently was slightly stumped about what to do.He’d stopped Miss Babcock’s chair by a chest of drawers, which she’d managed topull open and take out a pair of pyjamas from.

She clearly wanted to get comfortable in them, but there wasno way she could put them on by herself!

Clearly, the task would fall on-

“Niles, help me put this on,” said the producer as shetossed the garments into his hands.

Yeah…of course this would happen.

Of course he’d have to help the woman he’d secretly desiredfor years and whom he was in love with. Of course he’d have to touch her softskin and remove her clothes, all while pretending the sight didn’t make hishead spin.

That was just his rotten luck.

“Alright, Miss Babcock. But first I believe I need to moveyou onto your bed,” Niles pointed out. “It will be easier for me to help if youare out of your chair.”

He knew every ounce of his common sense was screaming thatthat would make the feeling worse - undressing her literally on her bed?! Thebed he’d have to put her down on?! - but he was right. The space in the chairwas too restrictive, and he’d need all the room he could get to make sure hedidn’t disturb her bandages.

And the producer didn’t appear to have much of an argumentagainst it.

“Suit yourself,” she shrugged, probably trying hard toignore the fact that it was awkward because of the restrictions on her torso and her arm.

So, once again, Niles had to lift her into his arms andcarry her. The bed was slightly further than the car door, and practically allof his senses were weeping over what was not going to come next, but he managedit.

And once she was sat ready, he began to help her with her shirt.He wasn’t going to ask about…(he silently gulped to himself) underwear, or anything of that nature. Itmight’ve been uncomfortable to sleep in, but he knew that would be a betteralternative for her.

Less embarrassing for him, too - he’d do everything in hispower to stop himself from looking (admiring), but he’d never stop the crimsonblush from coming to his face.

He almost felt like a teenage boy again – hands fumbling ashe held women’s garments, sweat running down his spine and an uncomfortableheat irradiating from his cheeks. He’d believed himself to be over this stage,but clearly he’d been mistaken.

And his embarrassment wasn’t lost on the producer.

C.C. had watched with a small amount of amusement how thebutler seemed to turn increasingly stronger shades of red as her clothes beganto come off. She wouldn’t have believed it if she hadn’t seen it herself, butit seemed she was making the butler hot under the collar.  

For all his claims that she was as unattractive as a womancould be, he was obviously affected by the simple act of helping her into her PJ’s.And not precisely in a bad way.

Maybe another person would have attributed his nervousnessto the man’s natural modesty, but she knew him better.

In his eyes there was no shame – no, there was lust.

She could have teased him about it – mortified him byrepeating in a sing song voice that he, the mighty prankster, was not immune tothe charms of the woman he’d claimed to hate. She could have rubbed it in hisface that he could no longer hurt her with body-related insults or call herunattractive.

But she didn’t do any of that.

No, she had a much better plan.

One that required her to do nothing but let Niles remove hershirt.

The look on the butler’s face when it came off waspriceless.

After the small gasp and gaping mouth, Niles immediatelyaverted his eyes, covering his face with his hand.

“Miss Babcock! I…forgive me, I honestly had no idea…!”

Now he’d truly done it! He might as well walk over to herbedroom window and launch himself out of it so he’d fall into the traffic below- he’d never recover from this kind of embarrassment!

He’d imagined she’d be dressed like…well, what he assumedmost other women dressed like for the office. And that included wearing a bra!

It wasn’t like she set him up for it, either - she hadn’tknown she’d end up needing his help. Although, she could’ve given him fairwarning…!

That was why he turned back to her, making sure to look herin the face and nowhere else, and scowled.

“You could’ve told me! Given me some kind of heads-up!”

The producer shrugged, as if to gesture around them, “Well,where would the fun in that be, Dust Buster?”

She then burst into loud laughter, as much as she couldstrain against her bandages, at any rate. The butler kept a close eye on them -they’d only just got her home, and he didn’t want to have to drive her back toget her stitches sewn up again!

But to make sure she didn’t notice, he then distracted fromit by rolling his eyes.

“Ha ha,” he said sarcastically. “You got me this time. Arethere any more horrors waiting for me that I should know about around thisancient and obviously haunted body of yours?”

C.C. bit the inside of her lip to stop herself from smiling.The butler doth protest too much, she thought to herself. He couldn’t cover upthat he liked what he saw, no matter how many insults he used after!

But, seeing as she’d had her fun, the joke would probablyfall flat if she did it again. Luckily she was wearing panties that day.

“Not this time,” she told him. “Though I’d watch who youwere calling decrepit and haunted if I were you, Butler Boy.”

Niles thought about asking what she’d do if he didn’t, butthought better of it. There was always the chance that she truly meant it andwould actually throw him out of her apartment.

He didn’t want to do that, especially not when they werejust starting to get along.

Well, get along more than they usually did.

He helped her change the rest of the way into her pyjamas(feeling his heart both settle down out of relief and immediately speed up outof excitement when it came to the brief glimpse of her panties), and got hercarefully settled into her bed. Miss Babcock certainly looked a lot morerelaxed there, even if she probably couldn’t move around much because of herstitches.

And that fact, of course, left nothing to what had to bedone next.

“Right, now that you’re in bed, I’ll get started on yourdinner,” he clasped his hands together. “Is there anything in particular thatyou’d like me to make?”

The producer thought about it for a moment, but the look onher face told him that she was coming up with nothing.

“Um…I don’t really know what I have…”

Niles nodded a little. Of course she didn’t - the producerwas very apt at looking after businesses, but when it came to taking care ofherself, she…well, lacked certain abilities.

It made him think of her mugging again. How she’d probablytried to fight back. That was the sort of self preservation she had, not thatit had entirely worked on this occasion…

But he wasn’t going to remind her of that. He’d make do withwhatever she had in the fridge, and make sure that she ate before he left.

He shook his head, “It doesn’t matter - I’m sure that I canwhip something up.”

With a reassuring smile (and he rarely gave those to herunless he absolutely had to), he left her room and went into the kitchen, on aquest for edible ingredients that could be paired together to make a meal.

When he got there and after only a few minutes of lookingaround, he’d scraped up enough pasta for them both to have a plate, as well assome tomatoes, an onion, some garlic and other (apparently untouched) herbs, aswell as just enough cheese to sprinkle over the top.

It would be the perfect meal for one night, but by God, hewas going to have a talk with Maxwell about letting him do more for MissBabcock - the woman’s kitchen was basically devoid of anything fresh, and thefrozen microwaveable meals she’d packed the freezer with were probably the mostconvenient thing going, but Niles would bet a house he didn’t have that theyheld no nutritional value whatsoever!

He’d stock her kitchen, and make proper meals for her. Or,else, he’d leave easy-to-follow recipes behind for her to make them herself -he obviously couldn’t be with her at all hours of the day!

No matter how much that thought appealed to him…

He carefully picked up the plates on a tray he’d found, aset of cutlery placed neatly beside each, and hummed a tune as he made his wayback to her bedroom.

He was getting close when he had to slow his footsteps,hearing something which made him strain to listen.

It was faint, but it sounded like…fearful whimpering?

And it was coming from the producer’s room!

He could feel every cell in his body freeze. A millionscenarios spread out in his head, each more terrible than the last – had shehurt herself? Had she broken open stitches in her sleep? Was she in pain?God… what if she needed a doctor?!

Slamming the tray down on the nearest flat surface, Nilestook off to Miss Babcock’s room, heart hammering against his chest and the fearof God shining in his eyes.

Not even two hours under his care and he’d already managedto fail to look after Miss Babcock!

Mr Sheffield was going to kill him…

That was, if he didn’t kill himself first by jumping out of awindow.

His panic was so great that he didn’t notice the lights wereoff when he first stepped into the room. His mind only had the capacity tothink about one thing and one thing only – Miss Babcock was in distress.

But, much to his relief (and to dispose of some of the mostgruesome mental images his panicked asshole brain had come up with) theproducer was still safe in bed. She seemed to be in the throes of some horriblenightmare, for she was thrashing and moaning in bed as tears leaked from thecorner of her eyes and ran down her cheeks.

“Stop! Please!” she begged, shoving out against thebedsheets as though trying to push someone away. “Leave me alone!”

By that stage, Niles had rushed to her side, heart in hismouth. Was she dreaming about the attack? It seemed to get worse when heeventually managed to grasp her flailing hands, to stop her from hurtingherself by accident.

He didn’t know how the attacker had grabbed her. He hoped toGod that he wasn’t making her fear worse - he’d be kicking himself in no timeat all if he did!

He began to speak to her in a loud but calm (and hopefullysoothing) voice, trying his utmost to appear non-threatening, even if shecouldn’t see him yet…

“Miss Babcock…Miss Babcock, it’s alright…!”

He held firm, even as she began to try and kick beneath herbedsheets as well. It had to be a nightmare about the attack - he’d never seenher so worked up over anything else!

It must have been even more terrified than he had previouslyimagined…

“Stop! Let me go!” she screamed, trying to wrench herselffree.

It forced Niles to raise his voice, and to shake her as muchas he dared.

“Miss Babcock!”

That seemed to do it. With a horrible gasp, the producer’seyes shot open, and she nearly completely shot upright in bed. Nilesunwittingly managed to stop her from doing that, however, as his hands slippedto her shoulders in the movement and held her in place.

He had the brief feeling that the bandages would’ve stoppedher from bending too much further if he hadn’t, but it was soon replaced by awrench in his heart as the producer fell back against her pillows, coughing andcontinuing to cry.

She was awake. But she was still terrified.

Niles immediately backed away, snapping on a light to makesure she knew it was him. He didn’t want to overwhelm her any more than hernightmare had already made her, and the surest way to do that would be to tryand comfort her up-close in the dark if she was still half-asleep.

He only approached her again after the room had turnedlight, and he was sure to do it slowly.

“Miss Babcock,” he tried again, hoping that she could hearhim through her fear. “Miss Babcock, are you alright?”

The producer had covered her eyes with her hands when thelight had come on, but she was shaking in the way that told him she was stillcrying.

Niles felt his heart clench. Whatever she’d been seeing had tohave been terrible, and now he had to find some way of comforting her!

But how? They were supposed to be open enemies, weren’tthey? No matter how they (or at least one of them) felt inside, they did notshow how they cared! It threw off the rhythm!

Though the longer he looked at how upset she seemed to be,the more he thought about how ridiculous that practically self-imposed rulewas. There was someone he knew right in front of him (whom he held closer tohim than anyone else, whether she knew it or not), and he’d agreed to help her.He’d be doing more than going back on his word if he stopped then and there -what kind of a person would he be, breaking a promise and leaving the woman heloved when she only had him to rely on?

He wasn’t going to do that, now or ever.

Instead, steeling himself with a deep breath and making surehis movements were careful and deliberate, he seated himself on the very edge ofher bed.

“Miss Babcock…”

Only then did she lower her hands, starting togrip at the sheets as she pulled herself upright. Her breathing was uneven, and she looked ready to screamthrough the tears rolling down her cheeks, or be sick, or just run awayentirely…

A panic attack. She had to be having a panic attack – Niles hadseen them before! Her nightmare had sent her into such a state, she was stillresponding to it even when she was awake!

“Miss Babcock, listen to me,” he had to get her to come downfrom it, and there was only one thing he could think to do. “Think. Think aboutit – where are we?”

Through her hyperventilation, the producer eventuallymanaged to gulp and answer, “We’re…here. My penthouse…”

Niles nodded, tentatively inching himself further onto thebed, before reaching out and touching her shoulder. Finding (surprisingly) noresistance, or any attempts to shrug or even fight him off, he laid his hand there,flat and reassuring.

“That’s right,” he told her. “Where in the penthouse are we?”

“My bedroom. You…you just helped me get ready for bed. Youwere making dinner.”

Niles felt a pleasing warmth in his chest. She was – perhapsfor the first time ever – helping him with what he was trying to do. And evenif the cooperation was unfamiliar, it was not in the least bit unwelcome.

“Yes…yes, I was,” he squeezed her shoulder. While his handwas there, he could feel that her breathing was starting to slow. “I was justabout to bring it in. Would you like me to go and fetch it?”

Part of him had used that word on purpose, hoping that shemight spring straight back into some kind of “dog in ‘dogsbody’” zinger, and he’dknow that everything was normal. But he was unfortunately disappointed in thatregard, and he instead settled for her nodding, before he went to go get thetray.

Luckily, it had survived the abuse he’d subjected it to whendumping it to see to her. The pasta had slid on the plate a bit, but it was perfectlyservable and would certainly be a comfort to the producer.

But just to make sure, he also took a movie from theselection that she had (the woman might never admit to owning such a largeDisney collection, but now that he knew, she was never going to get away fromthat fact) and brought it into the room with him.

They ate, the playful tones of “Chim Chim Cher-ee”, “ASpoonful of Sugar” and “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” relaxing them both.

Right up until the point where Miss Babcock said something…completelyunexpected.

“He…tried to get fresh with me.”

Niles’ eyes immediately snapped to her, “What?”

Her eyes dropped to her plate, where she was still pushingaround some of the leftover pasta with her fork, “The jackass, who robbed me. Let’sjust say, he was going for…a little more than that.”

Niles nearly let go of his fork, as well as the contents ofhis stomach.

The…he’d tried to-

“That was what was happening,” the producer interrupted histhought with her explanation. “In my nightmare.”

The butler felt his lungs tightening around his heart, andhe didn’t know if he couldn’t breathe, or if his heart was being crushed.

He didn’t know what to do, or say, and all that could comeout as his face fell was a rather pathetic, “Oh.”

He knew that wasn’t enough. Not for something as awful asthat.

He had to try again, “Miss Babcock…I…I had no idea…”

The producer shook her head, “I didn’t tell the doctor - Ifought back before anything happened. And I got all of this as my reward.”

She gestured to her bandages bitterly, before letting herhand fall back to her side. Niles frowned as he watched, reaching over and takingher plate and piling it up on top of his. It felt like dinner was over now, forthe both of them.

He left the plate on the tray, down at the end of the bed,and a sudden burst of courage gave him the confidence to take her hand.

She looked at him immediately - this was even further beyondtheir usual boundaries, and even if Niles didn’t care at this point, she stillmight. 

But it was all for a purpose.

She had to see how much he meant what he was about to say.

“It might be something you have to show for it, but you havebeen far braver than you’re giving yourself credit for,” he told her.

C.C. let out a noise that sounded like “pfft” and rolled hereyes. She didn’t feel brave, for multiple reasons. She felt smaller and morevulnerable than she liked to be, and it was only in the here and now that shewas starting to feel any kind of safe. And that in itself was weird, consideringshe was in the vicinity of (statistically and historically) the biggest threatshe’d faced in New York.

Not that the butler felt like a threat right there and then.

He gripped her hand insistently, “It’s true. You know that Iwouldn’t have said it, if I didn’t mean it.”

That was more candid than she’d been expecting, but for onceshe didn’t make any kind of comment on that. She knew he was telling the truth –it was her own hang-ups that kept her from thinking that she could possiblyhave been brave in that situation. Stupid was more like it!

Not that Niles apparently saw it that way. He still hadn’tlet go of her hand, and the longer it was there, the more C.C. realised she…well,she really didn’t want him to.

As weird as it was to think, the butler’s hand felt warm. Itmade her feel safe…a little braver, maybe? His reassurance was going a long wayto helping her feel…not better. Not yet – after what had happened (or hadnearly happened), that would take time.

But with Niles right there in her apartment, she didn’t feelalone, and that was probably a good start.

“Yeah, I know,” she eventually said quietly. “Thanks.”

Niles began to smile, and chanced at stroking her hand withhis thumb. He couldn’t help noting that she didn’t pull away.

In fact, he was the first to try pulling away, once he’drealised just how late it was, and how much she needed to rest. He wasn’t doingher any good by making her stay up, when she could be conserving her energy andhealing at the same time.

“You should try to get some sleep,” he said, preparing to moveoff the bed and to apologise for outstaying his welcome for the night. “I’vealready kept you awake-”

“Stay with me.”

The words cut through his attempts at saying sorry. As didthe realisation that she’d held fast onto his hand.

He blinked at her, “I’m sorry, Miss Babcock?”

“Stay with me tonight,” the producer repeated. She then bither lip afterwards, hanging her head as though she were afraid and ashamed. “I,uh…don’t think I could face another nightmare by myself.”

The confession was soft, as though it humiliated her to eventhink of having to say it. It didn’t take a psychic to work out that in hermind, this was obviously a display of weakness.

She really didn’t feel brave – it was why she’d scoffed athis statement. And even if he kept on insisting, she probably wouldn’t believehim.

Again, he had to resort to…not the next best thing. It was,in actual fact, the one thing in his mind which might have been even better.

“Alright,” he agreed with a soft smile, as reassuring and comfortingas she needed. “I’ll stay with you.”

There wasn’t anymore talking after that. The butler simply turnedoff the movie and cleared up the remains of the dinner, before slipping off hisjacket and shoes. He then climbed onto the side of the bed he knew the producerdidn’t use (no matter how many times she insisted she slept in the middle), andshe curled up beside him, truly safe at last and well on her way to beingdeeply asleep.

The entire scenario bordered on the bizarre to Niles, but hewasn’t going to question it. Not when it meant Miss Babcock was sleeping by hisside, having said things neither would ever have dared admit, had they not comeclose to losing it all.

There might be some (multiple) questions to be resolved inthe morning, but they could wait for one night of peace. It was the least shedeserved, after what she’d been through.

His last conscious thought before drifting to sleep himselfwas that if another nightmare woke her up, he’d gladly be a comfort again.

He’d be a comfort any time she needed him to be, day ornight, panic attack or none.

[therapy101]

Rape Definition & Resources

TW: Rape.

Anon who sent me a message recently about rape: I can’t post your ask. What you described meets the criteria for rape. Rape occurs when one person engages in a sexual act with another person against their will. Rape can include physical force, but it doesn’t always. Rape can also occur when the victim is coerced, manipulated, threatened, or unable to consent. If a person says clearly that they do not consent to sex and the other person does it anyway, that is rape. If a person tries to stop their rape and is unsuccessful, that is rape. It is never- never -acceptable for a person to continue with sexual activity when the other person has not enthusiastically consented to it. 

Here are resources from the RAINN website:

RAINN hotline: 1-800-656-HOPE

General Information:

National Sexual Assault Hotline: National hotline, operated by RAINN, that serves people affected by sexual violence. It automatically routes the caller to their nearest sexual assault service provider. You can also search your local center here. Hotline: 800.656.HOPE

National Sexual Violence Resource Center: This site offers a wide variety of information relating to sexual violence including a large legal resource library.

National Organization for Victim Assistance: Founded in 1975, NOVA is the oldest national victim assistance organization of its type in the United States as the recognized leader in this noble cause.

National Online Resource Center on Violence Against Women: VAWnet, a project of the National Resource Center on Domestic Violence hosts a resource library home of thousands of materials on violence against women and related issues, with particular attention to its intersections with various forms of oppression.

U.S. Department of Justice: National Sex Offender Public Website: NSOPW is the only U.S. government Website that links public state, territorial, and tribal sex offender registries from one national search site.

The National Center for Victims of Crime: The mission of the National Center for Victims of Crime is to forge a national commitment to help victims of crime rebuild their lives. They are dedicated to serving individuals, families, and communities harmed by crime.

National Street Harassment Hotline: Created by Stop Street Harassment, Defend Yourself, and operated by RAINN, the National Street Harassment Hotline is a resource for those affected by gender-based street harassment. Support is available in English and Spanish: call 855.897.5910 or chat online.

Child Abuse/Sexual Abuse:

National Child Abuse Hotline: They can provide local referrals for services. A centralized call center provides the caller with the option of talking to a counselor. They are also connected to a language line that can provide service in over 140 languages. Hotline: 800.4.A.CHILD (422.2253)

Darkness to Light: They provide crisis intervention and referral services to children or people affected by sexual abuse of children. Hotline calls are automatically routed to a local center. Helpline: 866.FOR.LIGHT (367.5444)

Cyber Tipline: This Tipline is operated by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Can be used to communicate information to the authorities about child pornography or child sex trafficking. Hotline: 800.THE.LOST (843.5678)

National Children’s Alliance: This organization represents the national network of Child Advocacy Centers (CAC). CACs are a multidisciplinary team of law enforcement, mental and physical health practitioners who investigate instances of child physical and sexual abuse. Their website explains the process and has a directory according to geographic location.

Stop It Now: Provides information to victims and parents/relatives/friends of child sexual abuse. The site also has resources for offender treatment as well as information on recognizing the signs of child sexual abuse. Hotline: 888-PREVENT (773.8368)

Justice for Children: Provides a full range of advocacy services for abused and neglected children.

Domestic, Dating and Intimate Partner Violence:

National Domestic Violence Hotline: Through this hotline an advocate can provide local direct service resources (safehouse shelters, transportation, casework assistance) and crisis intervention. Interpreter services available in 170 languages. They also partner with the Abused Deaf Women's Advocacy Center to provide a videophone option. Hotline: 800.799.SAFE

National Teen Dating Abuse Online Helpline: This online helpline assists teens who are, or may be, in abusive relationships.

Pathways to Safety International: The center serves abused Americans, mostly women and children, in both civilian and military populations overseas. In addition to providing domestic violence advocacy, safety planning and case management, the center assists victims with relocation, emergency funds for housing and childcare, and funds for payment of legal fees.

National Coalition against Domestic Violence: The national coalition of Domestic Violence organizations is dedicated to empowering victims and changing society to a zero tolerance policy.

Incest:

(See also resources on Child Abuse/ Sexual Abuse above)

Survivors of Incest Anonymous: They provide information on how to find incest survivor support groups in your area and empowers individuals to become survivors and thrivers.

GirlThrive: Girlthrive Inc. honors teen girls and young women who have survived incest and all sex abuse through thriverships, opportunity and education.

Stalking

Stalking Resource Center: The Stalking Resource Center is a program of the National Center for Victims of Crime. Their website provides statistics on stalking, information on safety planning and other resources.

Survivors with Disabilities:

Deaf Abused Women’s Network (DAWN): Legal, medical, system advocacy and survivor support services. Video Phone: 202.559.5366

CAVANET: This organization addresses violence against women, human rights, genocide, and crime victims with disabilities.

National Disability Rights Network: NDRN members investigate reports of abuse and neglect, and seek systemic change to prevent further incidents; advocate for basic rights; and ensure accountability in health care, education, employment, housing, transportation, and within the juvenile and criminal justice systems for individuals with disabilities.

College Students:

NotAlone.gov: A government website dedicated to educating students and schools about Title IX and sexual assault.

Know Your IX: Provides information for students about their Title IX rights in regards to ending sexual violence on campus.

End Rape on Campus: An advocacy organization dedicated to assisting students file Title IX complaints.

Resources for Male Survivors of Sexual Assault:

1in6: Provides educational information and resources for men who’ve been sexually abused or assaulted. Chat with a trained advocate through the national helpline for men, available 24/7. Join a weekly chat-based online support group, facilitated by a counselor. 1in6 also serves loved ones and service providers.

Jimhopper.com: This site has articles that discuss the effects of child sexual abuse on adult men and their loved ones.

Malesurvivor.org: This site has information and a therapist search for male survivors of sexual violence.

LGBTQ Survivors:

GLBTQ Domestic Violence Project: Website, information and hotline for GLBTQ victims of domestic violence and their families. Hotline: 800.832.1901

the Network la Red: The Network/La Red hotline provides emotional support, information, and safety planning for lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer and/or transgender folks, as well as folks in the BDSM or Polyamorous communities who are being abused or have been abused by a partner. Support available in English and Spanish. Hotline: 617.742.4911

National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs: A coalition of programs that document and advocate for victims of anti-LGBT and anti-HIV/AIDS violence/harassment, domestic violence, sexual assault, police misconduct and other forms of victimization. Site has a list of local anti-violence programs and publications. Hotline: 212.714.1141

The Trevor Project: Help and suicide prevention for GBLTQ youth. Hotline: 866.488.7386

GLBT National Hotline: Call center that refers to over 15,000 resources across the country that support LGBTQ individuals. Hotline: 888.THE.GLNH (843.4564)

FORGE (For Ourselves: Reworking Gender Expression): Home to the Transgender Sexual Violence Project. Provides services and publishes research for transgender persons experiencing violence and their loved ones.

Association for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Issues in Counseling: Directory of LGBT-friendly mental health specialists across the United States. Specialists listed are verified members of AGLBTIC, a division of the American Counseling Association.

Human Trafficking:

National Human Trafficking Resource Center: A national multilingual anti-trafficking hotline. Caller can report a tip; connect with anti-trafficking services in their area; or request training and technical assistance, general information, or specific anti-trafficking resources. Hotline: 888.373.7888

U.S. Department of Justice Trafficking in Persons and Worker Exploitation Complaint Line: Call to report suspected instances of human trafficking or worker exploitation or contact the FBI field office nearest you. Offers foreign language translation services in most languages as well as TTY. After business hours, the complaint line has a message service in English, Spanish, Russian, and Mandarin. Hotline: 888.428.7581

Military Resources:

Safe Helpline: Department of Defense (DoD) Safe Helpline is a groundbreaking crisis support service for members of the DoD community affected by sexual assault. Safe Helpline provides live, one-on-one support and information to the worldwide DoD community. The service is confidential, anonymous, secure, and available worldwide, 24/7 by click, call or text — providing victims with the help they need anytime, anywhere. Hotline: 877.995.5247

Legal Resources:

Womenslaw.org: Information about restraining orders and other legal protections for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault.

The Laws in Your State: A database of state laws including mandatory reporting, confidentiality laws, HIV/AIDS testing of sexual offenders, termination of rapists' parental rights, and statutes of limitations for each state.

Attorney Referral Line: Refers callers to attorneys in their geographic area who can represent them in their pursuit of civil claims and victim restitution. The referral line is not an anonymous service. Their website also gives information about civil lawsuits. Phone: 202.467.8716

Take Back The Night Foundation: Legal support for survivors in every state. Referrals to counseling, support, legal aid, hospitals, and nearest TBTN Event Holders. Hotline: 866.966.9013

It Happened to Alexa Foundation: The 'It Happened to Alexa Foundation’ supports rape survivors through the trauma of the criminal trial, in the hopes that more survivors will go through with the prosecution in order to put these perpetrators behind bars.

U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division: Call or email to report sexual harassment in housing. 844.380.6178 or fairhousing@usdoj.gov.

Medical/Physical Health:

Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE): The SANE/SART program offers sensitive, caring, and supportive care following a sexual assault. Their website provides a list of Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) programs in each state. These specialists are registered nurses, who have advanced education in forensic examination of sexual assault victims.

Healthcare Center Directory: The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services maintains a Healthcare Center Directory. This directory lists federally funded health centers that provide a variety of services even if the recipient does not have health insurance. Users pay a co-payment based on their income. These health centers generally provide primary care services. Phone: 877.464.4772

The Center For Disease Control National Prevention Information Network(AIDS/HIV, STI Information): U.S. reference, referral, and distribution service for information on HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Hotline: 800.458.5231

International Association of Forensic Nurses: An international membership organization comprised of forensic nurses working around the world and other professionals who support and complement the work of forensic nursing.

Start Your Recovery: Substance abuse information that relates to a survivors's experience with seuxal assault.

Mental Health:

Sidran Traumatic Stress Foundation: The Sidran Institute provides information on traumatic stress (including PTSD), dissociative disorders, and co-occurring issues such as addictions, self-injury, and suicidal behaviors.

GoodTherapy.org: GoodTherapy.org is an association of mental health professionals from more than 25 countries worldwide who support efforts to reduce harm in therapy.

Psychology Today: Find detailed professional listings for treatment centers in the United States and Canada.

National Eating Disorder Helpline: Information, crisis and referral hotline for people dealing with eating disorders. Helpline: 800.931.2237

National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI): Provides information and referral services, not counseling. Helpline: 888.950.NAMI (6264)

Hope Exists After Rape Trauma: The mission of Hope Exists After Rape Trauma (H-E-A-R-T) is to provide HOPE for victims of sexual assault through the provision of essential and therapeutic support, by affecting positive change in laws influencing their lives, and by educating both the public and professionals commissioned to serve victims.

Suicide and Self-Harm:

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: Provides crisis suicide intervention, self-harm counseling and assistance, and local mental health referrals. Calls are routed to local centers. Hotline: 800.273.TALK (8255) and for the Spanish line call 888.628.9454 or TTY: 800.799.4TTY (4889)

Boystown National Hotline: Assists youth, and their family/friends, who are affected by self-harm and other issues. Hotline: 800.448.3000 or TTY: 800.448.3000

Sexual Assault Prevention:

National Violence Against Women Prevention Research Center: Sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, this website to be useful to scientists, practitioners, advocates, grassroots organizations, and any other professional or layperson interested in current topics related to violence against women and its prevention.

Project Respect: Project Respect aims to create discussions and share a positive alternative model of relationships for youth.

PreventConnect: The goal of PreventConnect is to advance the primary prevention of sexual assault and relationship violence by building a community of practice among people who are engaged in such efforts.

Campus Outreach Services: Offer information and expertise to schools on sexual violence, diversity, sexual harassment, bullying, hate crimes, healthy relationships, assertiveness, eating disorders, suicide, and related risk issues.

The Date Safe Project: The DATE SAFE Project, Inc. provides positive how-to skills and helpful insights for addressing verbal consent (asking first), respecting of boundaries, sexual decision-making, bystander intervention, and supporting survivors (opening the door for family and friends).

Child Help: Speak Up Be Safe: Childhelp Speak Up Be Safe is a newly developed, school-based, child abuse prevention education program that focuses on child safety. It is an evolution of Good Touch Bad Touch.

Men Can Stop Rape: Men Can Stop Rape seeks to mobilize men to use their strength for creating cultures free from violence, especially men’s violence against women.

Cyber Bullying Research Center: A clearinghouse for information regarding cyberbullying.

credit to rainn.org for compiling these resources.

______

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[inqorporeal]

By Nellie Bowles - June 23, 2018

SAN FRANCISCO — The people who called into the help hotlines and domestic violence shelters said they felt as if they were going crazy.

One woman had turned on her air-conditioner, but said it then switched off without her touching it. Another said the code numbers of the digital lock at her front door changed every day and she could not figure out why. Still another told an abuse help line that she kept hearing the doorbell ring, but no one was there.

Their stories are part of a new pattern of behavior in domestic abuse cases tied to the rise of smart home technology. Internet-connected locks, speakers, thermostats, lights and cameras that have been marketed as the newest conveniences are now also being used as a means for harassment, monitoring, revenge and control.

In more than 30 interviews with The New York Times, domestic abuse victims, their lawyers, shelter workers and emergency responders described how the technology was becoming an alarming new tool. Abusers — using apps on their smartphones, which are connected to the internet-enabled devices — would remotely control everyday objects in the home, sometimes to watch and listen, other times to scare or show power. Even after a partner had left the home, the devices often stayed and continued to be used to intimidate and confuse.

For victims and emergency responders, the experiences were often aggravated by a lack of knowledge about how smart technology works, how much power the other person had over the devices, how to legally deal with the behavior and how to make it stop.

“People have started to raise their hands in trainings and ask what to do about this,” Erica Olsen, director of the Safety Net Project at the National Network to End Domestic Violence, said of sessions she holds about technology and abuse. She said she was wary of discussing the misuse of emerging technologies because “we don’t want to introduce the idea to the world, but now that it’s become so prevalent, the cat’s out of the bag.”

Some of tech’s biggest companies make smart home products, such as Amazon with its Echo speaker and Alphabet’s Nest smart thermostat. The devices are typically positioned as helpful life companions, including when people are at work or on vacation and want to remotely supervise their homes.

Some connected device makers said they had not received reports of their products being used in abuse situations. The gadgets can be disabled through reset buttons and changing a home’s Wi-Fi password, but their makers said there was no catchall fix. Making it easy for people to switch who controls the account of a smart home product can inadvertently also make access to the systems easier for criminal hackers.

No groups or individuals appear to be tracking the use of internet-connected devices in domestic abuse, because the technology is relatively new, though it is rapidly catching on. In 2017, 29 million homes in the United States had some smart technology, according to a report by McKinsey, which estimated that the number was growing by 31 percent a year.

Connected home devices have increasingly cropped up in domestic abuse cases over the past year, according to those working with victims of domestic violence. Those at help lines said more people were calling in the last 12 months about losing control of Wi-Fi-enabled doors, speakers, thermostats, lights and cameras. Lawyers also said they were wrangling with how to add language to restraining orders to cover smart home technology.

Muneerah Budhwani, who takes calls at the National Domestic Violence Hotline, said she started hearing stories about smart homes in abuse situations last winter. “Callers have said the abusers were monitoring and controlling them remotely through the smart home appliances and the smart home system,” she said.

Graciela Rodriguez, who runs a 30-bed emergency shelter at the Center for Domestic Peace in San Rafael, Calif., said some people had recently come in with tales of “the crazy-making things” like thermostats suddenly kicking up to 100 degrees or smart speakers turning on blasting music.

“They feel like they’re losing control of their home,” she said. “After they spend a few days here, they realize they were being abused.”

Smart home technology can be easily harnessed for misuse for several reasons. Tools like connected in-home security cameras are relatively inexpensive — some retail for $40 — and are straightforward to install. Usually, one person in a relationship takes charge of putting in the technology, knows how it works and has all the passwords. This gives that person the power to turn the technology against the other person.

Emergency responders said many victims of smart home-enabled abuse were women.

Connected home gadgets are largely installed by men, said Melissa Gregg, a research director at Intel working on the implications of smart home technology. Many women also do not have all the apps on their phones, said Jenny Kennedy, a postdoctoral research fellow at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia, who is researching families that install smart home technology.

(One in three women and one in four men have been victims of physical violence or stalking by an intimate partner, according to a 2010 Centers for Disease Control report.)

The people who spoke to The Times about being harassed through smart home gadgetry were all women, many from wealthy enclaves where this type of technology has taken off. They declined to publicly use their names, citing safety and because some were in the process of leaving their abusers. Their stories were corroborated by domestic violence workers and lawyers who handled their cases.

Each said the use of internet-connected devices by their abusers was invasive — one called it a form of “jungle warfare” because it was hard to know where the attacks were coming from. They also described it as an asymmetry of power because their partners had control over the technology — and by extension, over them.

One of the women, a doctor in Silicon Valley, said her husband, an engineer, “controls the thermostat. He controls the lights. He controls the music.” She said, “Abusive relationships are about power and control, and he uses technology.”

She said she did not know how all of the technology worked or exactly how to remove her husband from the accounts. But she said she dreamed about retaking the technology soon.

“I have a specific exit plan that I’m in the process of implementing, and one of my fantasies is to be able to say, ‘O.K. Google, play whatever music I want,’” she said. Her plan with the smart thermostat, she said, was to “pull it out of the wall.”

When a victim uninstalls the devices, this can escalate a conflict, experts said. “The abuser can see it’s disabled, and that may trigger enhanced violence,” said Jennifer Becker, a lawyer at Legal Momentum, a women’s rights legal advocacy group.

Eva Galperin, director of cybersecurity for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital rights group, said disabling the devices could also further cut off a victim. “They’re not sure how their abuser is getting in and they’re not necessarily able to figure it out because they don’t know how the systems work,” Ms. Galperin said. “What they do is they just turn everything off, and that just further isolates them.”

Legal recourse may be limited. Abusers have learned to use smart home technology to further their power and control in ways that often fall outside existing criminal laws, Ms. Becker said. In some cases, she said, if an abuser circulates video taken by a connected indoor security camera, it could violate some states’ revenge porn laws, which aim to stop a former partner from sharing intimate photographs and videos online.

Advocates are beginning to educate emergency responders that when people get restraining orders, they need to ask the judge to include all smart home device accounts known and unknown to victims. Many people do not know to ask about this yet, Ms. Becker said. But even if people get restraining orders, remotely changing the temperature in a house or suddenly turning on the TV or lights may not contravene a no-contact order, she said.

Several law enforcement officials said the technology was too new to have shown up in their cases, though they suspected the activity was occurring.

“I’m sure that it’s happening,” said Zach Perron, a captain in the police department in Palo Alto, Calif. “It makes complete sense knowing what I know about the psychology of domestic violence suspects. Domestic violence is largely about control — people think of physical violence but there’s emotional violence, too.”

Some people do not believe the use of smart home devices is a problem, said Ruth Patrick, who runs WomenSV, a domestic violence program in Silicon Valley. She said she had some clients who were put on psychiatric holds — a stay at a medical facility so mental health can be evaluated — after abuse involving home devices.

“If you tell the wrong person your husband knows your every move, and he knows what you’ve said in your bedroom, you can start to look crazy,” she said. “It’s so much easier to believe someone’s crazy than to believe all these things are happening.”

Asking everyone in a home to understand smart home technology is essential, researchers said.

“When we see new technology come out, people often think, ‘Wow, my life is going to be a lot safer,’” said Katie Ray-Jones, chief executive of the National Domestic Violence Hotline. But “we often see the opposite with survivors of domestic violence.”

[stop-workplace-bullies]

Nobody likes to work in an intimidating work environment. Being subject to bullying, threats and humiliation takes its toll on an employee's career, finances and health. In some cases, this behavior may be illegal, and it could result in criminal and civil penalties for the perpetrator and the business owner. Business owners, managers and employees all have a part to play in identifying and combating workplace bullying and intimidation.

Intimidation in the Workplace

Many people seem to think that schoolyard taunts stop after high school. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. Adults may engage in bullying behavior at work, victimizing subordinates, colleagues and sometimes even superiors. Bullying behavior, particularly when perpetrated by someone in a supervisory, management or executive position, can intimidate workers into accepting poor treatment and violations of their rights. In addition, victims of and witnesses to workplace bullying may develop negative physical and mental health symptoms that can affect both quality of life and career development.

Bullying Definition

Bullying can best be understood as a pattern of aggressive, contemptuous and abusive behavior toward another party. Workplace bullies choose their targets for a variety of reasons. In some cases, the bully is jealous of her targeted victim and engages in intimidation tactics to undermine the victim's reputation and job performance. The motives of some bullies may be more personal and cruel, however. These individuals may choose a victim who is vulnerable and who does not have a strong social or professional support network.

Workplace intimidation and bullying can take many forms, including cyber-bullying, sexual harassment, insults and put-downs, lashing out against the employee by yelling and cursing, and threats of violence. In all cases, the conduct of the abuser serves to intimidate and humiliate the victim or victims.

The Legality Around Workplace Harassment

The legality around workplace harassment is a complicated issue. Federal law prohibits some types of workplace harassment, such as the intimidation or bullying of whistleblowers or people protected under anti-discrimination laws, but not all types of harassment are necessarily illegal. However, some states and municipalities do provide workers with broader protections against bullying bosses and co-workers.

Protected Categories

Federal anti-discrimination laws prohibit harassment, bullying or intimidation of workers on the basis of age (for victims 40 and over), sex, national origin, race, disability or religion.This means a hostile work environment caused by company owners, managers, employees or non-employees may be subject to disciplinary measures by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. In addition, victims of bullying, as well as other co-workers affected by a hostile work environment, may be able to sue an employer for its failure to address and stop the intimidation.

Whistleblowers

Whistleblowers also have federal protection against employer retaliation. Employees who have reported misconduct or criminal activity are protected against hostile workplace conditions.

Criminal Acts Against the Victim

In some cases, workplace bullying and harassment take the form of criminal activity against the victim. This may include theft or vandalism of the victim's personal property, threats of violence, sexual abuse or physical battery. When things escalate to this level, it is important for victims to do what they need to feel safe. If necessary, victims should call 911 and ask for police intervention. Filing a police report may also serve as valuable evidence if the victim needs to apply for unemployment benefits or decides to pursue a legal complaint against the employer or abuser.

State and Local Laws

Because federal employment laws provide only limited protection against workplace harassment, some states and cities have passed laws and ordinances that either prohibit harassment entirely or expand the categories under which harassment is illegal.

Unemployment Compensation

Unemployment benefits are intended for people who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own. In most cases, people who voluntarily quit their jobs are not entitled to claim unemployment. However, some states do acknowledge that workplace intimidation, harassment and bullying constitute a constructive discharge. This means that the work environment has has become so bad that the employer has effectively made it impossible for the employee to work there safely. In such cases, an employee may be able to claim benefits.

https://smallbusiness.chron.com/workplace-intimidation-11868.html

[astralmouseart]

I’ve read some posts of neo-nazis on a local gaming site.

Feeling sick. They didn’t even get banned or anything for using dehumanizing racist language and advocating racism. It reminded me how I became so open to extermination of whole groups of people.

So, they were harassing me since I started high school. And 2003-2005, they attacked me 3 times. Like one Nazi one time in 2003, then another two times in 2005. I escaped each time without any injuries, but I started feeling much worse.

Started having hypervigilance, my concentration problems have became much worse, memory problems too. That’s when I realised that not everything with a human face is a human.

So, I realised, I won’t be safe until, the enemy forces are removed. So, certain groups of people, namely violent criminals shouldn’t exist, shouldn’t pollute the streets and the schools. Because world should be a good place.

So, I was promoting extermination of violent criminals, that I called subhumans.

Lots of people hated me for it, because they loved the unclean world, loved dangerous streets, loved to live in violent society, where all these violent hostile groups need to live on one territory.

I realised that my life means nothing to them. They just want their precious violent criminals to pollute the streets. To me they were problem that needs to be solved. To them problems shouldn’t be solved.

It was like this, 2006-2010. Then I met one guy that convinced me that capital punishment kills innocent people. Of course a widespread extermination programme would be even worse.

Meanwhile, in 2005, I was training Krav Maga. I gained some muscle mass, also learned how to be prepared when outside and Nazis are cowards so they don’t attack someone who is bigger won’t run away, so the attacks ended.

Even though I encountered one of the Nazis several times.

But two things that remained is, aggression when it comes to dealing with enemies and and desire to destroy the threat.

And after I was disabled, the threat was normies. First individual ableist employers, students, family court, my father, etc. that wouldn’t accommodate for my disability.

Then the society as whole because I realised that it’s a fight for survival - who will be allowed to live and who will die and who isn’t a part of my support group is an enemy in fight for resources - in 2013. That’s when the problem of “innocence” essentially stopped existing.

Later I came up with all that stuff with compensations - essentially how can the society repent after subjecting an individual to psychological liquidation - it was after I talked with some anti who claimed that morality exists and killing people is bad despite that normies believe in “life is not fair, get over it” and “adapt or die”.

I actually knew that compensations need to be paid in 2007, when I was debating on a forum for mentally disordered people and there were lots of people who were subjected to psychological liquidation in family or at school and work and basically their health problems were the fault of the outside world, not something that developed by itself.

Of course normies hate us and hate justice so they fanatically oppose stuff like compensations. They even deny existence of disabilities.