we go through this every hurricane season but the way people will find any excuse to point the finger at the victims of natural disasters and say cruel shit like "fuck around and find out" like it's not horrifying having to leave behind your home and all your belongings and potentially your pets with the full knowledge that there might not be anything to come back to after... ignoring that there are people that don't have a car or the money to evacuate, ignoring disabled people who have no way to get out, ignoring people that can't find places for their pets to shelter, ignoring people that have medical equipment that can't be moved or replaced, etc... and even if someone stays behind solely because they want to, they still don't deserve to suffer.

as someone who worked extensively in disaster response previously, it is not easy to "just" evacuate, and the relief that comes afterwards is intentionally difficult to obtain. and already the forces that be are trying to spin this narrative that the victims are at fault, to put the blame on them so that if (probably when) people are forced to resort to looting (because the aid never comes) everyone will nod and agree that they're all bad people and deserved it... rather than acknowledging the fact that there was no attempt to make the evacuation accessible and safe for everyone, no guarantee that aid will be waiting for them when they return to a home that has been swept away... no empathy for the fact that these people's entire lives are potentially destroyed with no safety net to catch them.

now that we're starting to see the aftermath and damage done throughout southern appalachia in places like chimney rock (which does not have the infrastructure for this kind of natural disaster. the last time something comparable like this happened was the flood in 1916) please be ready to combat this victim-blaming narrative that will no doubt be weaponized against the people suffering here.

mudslides and flooding will continue even though the storm has passed, and this time following natural disasters like this is the hardest as more people are lost or left struggling without power, aid, or any way to contact help or family.

some places in NC are completely inaccessible, towns in appalachia have been completely wiped off the map. chimney rock and lake lure have been devastated. asheville is cut off and only accessible by air.

until the flooding recedes and power is reestablished, we're not going to know the true extent of the damage or how many people have been lost. there are people stranded right now without food or water or medical supplies and no way out. this is catastrophic. these next few days are going to be the hardest as people struggle to get aid with so many roads destroyed.

Devastating flooding in Appalachia - Appalachia Service Project (asphome.org)

CARE and partners are responding to families impacted by Hurricane Helene which landed in Florida as a Category 4 storm. | CARE.org

Donate – Mutual Aid Disaster Relief

Donate to the Florida Disaster Fund - Volunteer Florida

Help Erwin Heal: Support Flood Recovery Efforts | RISE Erwin

Homes are expensive because of landlords hoarding them for profit, not because of regulations.

Time to bring back my favorite picture: The reason there have been so many food and consumer good recalls in the past few years. (If you got listeria from cold cuts? Direct result of Trump's actions!) Regulations exist to protect consumers from profit-hungry corporations.

Remember, there is no "lesson learned" from those regulations. They aren't safety procedures where now that people know putting lead in cinnamon is a bad thing that they won't do it even if you take the regulation away. The regulations were created because, when given a chance, these people leapt at the chance to destroy housing, poison food, and blight the planet.

Everytime a regulation like that is removed you should be concerned about who was being "held back" by a law preventing them from selling disease riddled meat.

A salient example, since lead got brought up specifically—

A while ago it occurred to me to wonder how long we’ve known lead is poisonous, since it was so ubiquitous in paint and construction and so many other places until just a few decades ago, so I went on a wiki dive to see when the first alarm bells were sounded about the health hazards of lead.

Want to guess?

Ancient Rome.

People have known lead is poisonous since at least Ancient Rome.

It didn’t stop people using it.

Your safety regulations are written in blood, not by accident, not because people didn’t know there were dangers, but because without them, blood is cheap.

JD Vance: *is from the midwest, claims to be for the working class normal folks, went to Yale and is a venture capitalist*

Tim Walz:

Oh fuck yeah, I'm making this.

Okay I"m asking for those who know...is Schell's beer so iconic I need to get it or find a special substitution? Or will any beer do? I ask because Midwest.

They're one of those iconic Minnesota things. Like many other Minnesota things, there's a lot of German heritage there, so if you get a classic German lager of any variety you'll be damned close.

if i see one more article, post, or news anchor talking about how joe biden is old, i'm putting my fist through a window. i feel like i've gone through the fucking looking glass.

this is project 2025, trump's plan for what he'll do if elected. whatever you think is in there, it's worse. watch a breakdown of the highlights here. this man wants to unravel the fabric of our democracy for good - this all aside from his vitriolic hatred of poc, his determination to start ww3, and the fact that he can't string a sentence together without telling outrageous and easily verifiable lies. his administration will start their crusade to exterminate trans people on day one, and they won't stop there.

do not talk to me about how joe biden is old, as if that could ever matter to me more than my life or the lives of my friends and family. my little sister is 14, she's trans, and i don't know what to tell her when we talk about politics, because one of these people wants her dead and the other one is old and some of you are still acting like those problems are equals.

i can't fucking stand this. i'm not hearing it this time, we are not repeating 2016. refusing to vote is not an act of protest, it is an act of complacency, and our most vulnerable will suffer for your negligence. vote like your life depends on it, because for some of us, it really fucking does.

It's honestly frustrating hearing people talk about how Biden isn't the candidate for the job as if we have another option to pick besides that isn't Trump. And the lack of emphasis on how abhorrent Trump's behavior was on the debate is disturbing. I would rather an old man that should retire over a man that wants people dead.

I’ll say it again, please just grit your teeth and vote for Biden…

Favorite Things I’ve Read In The Letters of This One Specific Family, 1790-1821 (paraphrased)

To Be Continued.

op please post the husband’s puns. I need them for reasons.

the best one I can recall is his Sick Burn™ at a fellow Massachusetts congressman after said colleague made a stupid mistake

the man’s name was Salem Towne. yes, really. Husband said that his parents were a few miles off when they named him

“They called you Salem Towne, but they should have called you Marble Head [Marblehead being a town near Salem].”

Badum-tss

Also, did the wife actually use the term gold lamé? If so, my knowledge of fabric terminology is not as good as I thought. I thought lamé was a 20th century invention.

yeah, she actually said “gold lamé!” I was stunned and had to read it twice to be sure, but that’s the exact phrase used

it’s like the time I was reading a servants’ guide written here in Boston in the 1820s, and the author said, “Remember to put out all the condiments: oil, vinegar, soy sauce…”

I did a double take. like “vinegar and what now???”

this is like the democrat version of when republicans see a long line at the food pantry and are like "this is what america would look like under communism"

Like what is trump gonna do worse? Make snarky tweets?

Comments in the vein of OP's also show a very little interest in how even today, not as president, Trump's 'snarky tweets' lead to almost any individual citizen he trashes being stalked, doxxed, and threatened by his followers. (And haven't considered how he might go beyond snarky tweets considering he once made a big deal out of how as President it was 'legal for him' to have enemies assassinated.)

Also it shows a very short memory as to how his 'snarky tweets' last time he was president, about how BLM protesters were terrorist thugs and putting down other minorities also led to increasing pushback and violence against them by white nationalists who figured he was giving them a wink, nod, and get out of jail free card.

When someone has followers like Trump's, 'snarky tweets' are not just harmless internet trolling, and when he is in a position of power it is a bigger problem.

“Nobody’s going to want to sit on high-speed rail for fifteen hours to get from New York City to LA.”

Me. I will sit on high-speed rail for fifteen hours. I’ll sit on it for days. I’ll write and read and nap and eat and then do it all over again. I’ll stare out the windows and see America from ground level and not have to drive. I’ll see the Rockies and the deserts and cornfields and the Mississippi River and your house and yours and yours too. I’ll make up stories in my head about the small towns I see as we go along. I’ll see the states I’ve yet to see because driving or flying there is a fucking slog and expensive to boot. I’ll enjoy the ride as much as the destination. And then I’ll do it all over again to come the fuck home.

And lots of people will sit on the train for shorter amounts in between. Like LOTS.

Oh hey.

times when i (an american) feel patriotic:

-listening to the liberty's kids theme song -the olympics -watching logan sargeant race in f1 -when a british person insults my accent -every time im in an old navy -gazing upon the bass pro shops pyramid -when i see a really good 4th of july meme -on the off chance i listen to hamilton from top to bottom -in the american girl doll store -driving on country highways and seeing fireworks billboards -eating 99c pizza and bagels with cream cheese in nyc -any time someone says the us measurement system is stupid -schoolhouse rock -amtrak trains

I mean, I'm obligated -- @amtrak-official

But also, accurate.

Our trains may not be on time, but they are something to love and admire, also the ADA is what I'm patriotic about

I’m sorry but it’s fucking delusional to act as if prioritizing the actual material consequences of an election over making an abstract ideological “point” comes from a position of passive, moderate liberalism. I literally don’t have a guarantee to basic bodily autonomy as an American woman anymore because people didn’t take the threat of Trump presidency seriously enough in 2016. I don’t think democrats are undeserving of criticism either but if you don’t think there’s a significant difference between the parties at this point I have to assume you are not actually informed about the issues and institutions you’re discussing

Listen.

If you can vote, you need to get out and vote. You cannot boycott an election. Refusing to vote does not send the message you think it does. In fact, it sends the exact opposite message. If you refuse to vote, you're telling politicians that you are a demographic not worth appealing to.

If you care about reproductive rights and don't vote, politicians will not try to appeal to you.

If you care about LGBT protections and don't vote, politicians will not try to appeal to you.

If you care about a free Palestine and don't vote, politicians will not try to appeal to you.

If you care about police and prison reform and don't vote, politicians will not try to appeal to you.

If you care about immigrants and don't vote, politicians will not try to appeal to you.

Politicians will act to appeal to the greatest number of voters. If you do not vote, they will appeal to the people who will. And the people who want to take away birth control, and criminalize trans people, and support Israel's genocidal campaign, and want to militarize the police, and want to exile every non-white person WILL VOTE.

In November, there are only two choices that matter. You either vote for Joe Biden or you do not. Any vote not cast for him or a vote withheld is support for Donald Trump.

Joe Biden is a politician and an imperialist. He may support Israel, but as we've been seeing, he can be made to back down. If you are loud and you put pressure on him, he can be made to do what is right. And he knows that if he wins, it will be because the people didn't want Trump. So he will be more inclined to listen to the people.

Donald Trump is a dictator and a fascist. He does not respect the rule of law. He does not respect the will of the people. He does not respect anyone or anything. If he comes into power again, he plans on seizing permanent power, deporting people en-masse and stripping away everyone's rights.

And we have seen his response to protests. He has had protestors shot at. He will never yield to any amount of force. He will only respond with violence.

Fascism doesn't use tanks and armed forces to seize power. It seizes power through deception. Fascism uses the tanks and armed forces to keep its power after seizing it.

The majority of people DO NOT want what the Republicans are offering. The Republicans only have power because they have lied and cheated and manipulated everything. And we need to come out in a force great enough that no amount of foul-play can overcome.

All the Republicans have to offer is hatred. All they can do is divide us against each other. And they can only win by stripping the rights from the people they dehumanize.

No amount of moral conviction matters if you will not commit even the barest minimum effort.

No amount of protest or demonstration or internet posting matters if you do not vote.

If you refuse to vote because no candidate is the purest morally right choice that would solve everything, then you can take your WORTHLESS moral superiority and FUCK OFF!

Taking no sides is siding with whoever DOESN'T NEED YOUR HELP. And Trump and his fascist cronies DO NOT need your help.

I meanwhile am going to add what little strength I can to moving the US in the right direction.

Fun, someone said the words “prior authorizations” around me and now I’m pissed off at 730am on my day off. I go off on this rant all the time. ALL THE TIME.

Oof. This man gets it.

Every time I have to send a fax to a doctor saying "hey this med needs a PA" I get violently angry.

Hint: if your PA gets denied call your insurance and ask for the credentials of the person who made that call. Usually they will approve it instead of admitting they hired some 18-year-old with no relevant training or experience to scan for buzz-words and just deny everything

If you get denied, appeal. It's within your rights and if the appeal is overturned, you will be approved. It happens enough that it's worth the effort. Sometimes it's just a phone call.

how is trump alive?? like hes rlly gone thru his whole life like That …. and no one has ever just fuckin decked him?? gave him the ole one two? knocked his lights out??? incredible

sorry to improve your day without much notice but 

NEVERMIND REBLOGGING AGAIN BECAUSE THIS IS WHAT WE ALL NEED

This is cathartic

People just becoming politically aware are never going to appreciate just how fucking hated this guy was before he was in politics. He was hated for over half a century. Everyone aware of him mocked and derided him as a cheating, greedy corporate asshole and mindless bully and this is by far not the only time anyone clocked his ass but it is probably one of the only times it got caught on video. Hatred of him was bipartisan all my life and it just goes to show how easily right wingers can be suckered by anyone who kisses their collective asshole on their pet agendas.

Never forget that the reason Trump seems like an over-the-top stupidly villainous antagonist from a 90s movie is because half of them were based on Trump and making fun of him.

The reason The Simpsons and a handful of other comedies ‘predicted’ the Trump presidency was because he kept saying he wanted to run and nobody could think of anything funnier than a President Trump.

Seeing tr*mp just get fucking decked instantly made my night better

Ty for the reminder that catharsis is actually healthy :)