Don't talk to me about the greater good, sunshine

And he chose rfk jr as the secretary of health and human services. The rfk jr who has a dead worm in his brain that died in there because rfk jr ate so much mercury that the worm died of mercury poisoning that rfk jr the rfk jr who used his influence to spread anti-vaccine misinformation during a pandemic that probably killed people that rfk jr. rfk jr the king of the nepo babies rfk jr the man who forgot he had a dead bear in his trunk and left it in Central Park that rfk jr who has a law degree and not a medical degree that rfk jr that’s who he’s chosen to lead the department of health and human services that’s the one he’s chosen that Robert F Kennedy Jr. that’s the one. The anti-vaxxer with a dead brain worm that’s the guy that’s the guy who’s supposed to lead the department of health and human services, folks.

If you live in a swing state and you voted against Harris or didn’t vote this is what you were voting for, folks. A dead brain worm without any medical experience in charge of the department of health and human services. I hope you’re happy with your decision. I hope you fully enjoy that dead brain worm.

He also is responsible for lowered vaccination rates in american samoa that led to a measles outbreak that killed a lot of children.

Fuck everyone who voted for Trump and fuck everyone who voted third party or abstained.

If your democrat friends start muttering about stolen election conspiracy theories, the time to have a sit down with them and express your concerns is NOW, while you still have a chance to reach them, not 6 months from now when they're fully conspiracy-pilled.

Here's some of the talking points and why they're bullshit:

But just as importantly as the facts: sit down with your friend and talk about the anxiety that's behind their conspiracy leanings. Acknowledge their pain and fear. Help them find ways to feel less powerless and regain their sense of agency. Take them to a mutual aid event, involve them in a fundraising event for a marginalized group, invite them to a local community effort. If they spend more time feeling connection and empowerment and less time doom scrolling online, they're far more likely to stay in reality.

This this this

I worked as an election judge across multiple polling locations and election types in my state from 2018-2023 (presidential primary and general elections, midterms, and special elections like for the school board etc.)

US elections are extremely secure. There are so many safeguards in place. Everything is double and triple counted.

The number of ballots electronically counted by the box are checked against the number of physical ballots at the end of the night, and also the receipt papers that individuals exchange for their ballot. All three of these counts MUST MATCH. Sometimes you're off by 1 number and it means everyone stops and triple counts these papers until you find the error (human error, it's been 16 hours and two pieces of thin receipt paper were stuck together and the second person to recount finds it and everyone cheers because thank fuck, it means no one dropped anything on the floor anywhere.)

There are eyes everywhere and there's a deliberate mix of poll workers across political parties/affiliations. It's simply not possible to alter even 1 ballot at 1 polling place, much less thousands.

Unfortunately, Donald Trump won this election. If there was interference, it was NOT at the voting booth. That's simply not possible. The "interference" (if you can even call it that) comes from right wing propaganda convincing stupid and/or hateful and/or selfish people to vote for him.

In 2016, we had 60% turnout.

In 2020, we had 66% turnout.

It's too early to know what this year's number is, but I bet it's around 60%.

Trump got 1.5 million more votes this year than he did 4 years ago, which is more or less in line with population growth.

His base showed up. Harris's base didn't. That's it. There's no deep mystery here, just the usual disenfranchised minorities and disinterested populace.

When turnout is high, Republicans lose. When the electorate stays home, Republicans win. This is simple math that has been true my entire adult life, and yet every 4 years, like clockwork, people ignore it.

Saint Jellyfish Exhorter by seok young choi

Happy birthday to AO3 🎂🎉

UN AN DE PLUS ÇA SE FÊTE ÇA SE FÊTE UN AN DE PLUS ÇA SE FÊTE GAIEMENT UN AN DE PLUS ÇA SE FÊTE ÇA SE FÊTE UN AN DE PLUS ÇA SE FÊTE GAIEMENT C'est mon anniversaire euh le jour que je préfère euh et je soufflerais bientôt les bougies de mon gâteau on éteindra la lumière et j'aurais mon cadeau

My cotton ball sprouted wings!

Trying a shorter post format:

Tagging for reach

so Trump being a felon isn't actually the problem. you guys understand this right. it's the thing he did that got him charged with a felony that is upsetting, not the fact that he is technically a criminal. felons are not inherently worse people than non-felons. becoming a felon did not make him any less qualified than he already was. there are a quite lot of felons who would do a much better job at being president than Trump

lindt is being sued in a class action in the united states because they are one of MANY brands of chocolate that tested high for heavy metals. and this is despite lindt claiming their chocolate is "expertly crafted with the finest ingredients". no recall was issued after the tests came out. lead and cadmium can fuck the body over BAD.

lindt's genius defense is that they are going to stop saying the whole thing about being expertly crafted with the finest ingredients, so nobody can complain about the heavy metals in their chocolate anymore! and that makes it okay. source: trust me bro

(now please drop the lawsuit thanks)

consumer reports test results of a bunch of different chocolate brands <- original report being referenced

even more chocolate brands that were tested for heavy metals

imagine this. you advertise yourself as "the coolest dude around". your whole persona is being "cool" and "chill". and then one day, you burn someone's house down on purpose. they inevitably sue the shit out of you. and your defense is that you will stop calling yourself "cool" or "chill" so nobody can reasonably expect that you will not set things on fire, because fire is hot, which is the opposite of cool and chill. and therefore everything is fine now and nobody can be mad at you anymore.

that is lindt's defense here.

Ochre Sea Star (Pisaster ochraceus) at Moss Cove in Laguna Beach. I just finished the audiobook for Edge of the Sea by Rachel Carson, which is a descriptive and poetic book about marine life written by a marine biologist. She goes in depth into mollusks, periwinkles, sea worms, tides, sea caves, seaweed, and other tide pool and "edge-of-sea" related topics. It's mostly about the Atlantic (East) Coast of North America but I found it relatable and informative as a West Coast beach freak

Dr. Gachey with foxglove, 1890

Some of Van Gogh’s best work was done during a period of his life that he spent in a hospital being treated for his mental health problems. I could be wrong but I think Starry Night was among those.

This is consistently the case. Creators tend to do their best work when they are in a healthy place and receiving proper treatment and not being self destructive in their efforts to cope. Go figure.

All our experiences, good and bad, inform what we create, but suffering is not the price of great art. Suffering is what prevents artists from completing great art.

(I bring to mind this @tkingfisher / Ursula Verson quote about once a week <3)

don’t know what parent of an autistic child needs to hear this but as long as they’re not harming anyone your kid’s stimming is not a “problem behaviour”

in our house we have a few categories of stimming behavior.

1. the no category. this is for things that are unsafe. hurting self (head banging, scratching), hurting others, chewing on choking hazards. i know this is excluded in OP’s post, but i’m putting it on my list because if you parent an autistic child and deal with this, you have to be aware that a key to off-limits stimming is redirection. stimming satisfies an important physical and neurological need for the autistic brain, and that behavior is sensory-seeking. if you must say no, please also offer options or help redirecting to appropriate outlets for pressure, motion, rhythm, chewing, etc.

2. the shared space category. listen, i get that a lot of people are assholes about things that aren’t hurting them. that’s not what this category is for. but we have a household with multiple autistic individuals and a work from home situation. “shared space” is the code phrase we use for “please take this stimming to a different location.” sometimes, aural stims like repetitive noises or physical stims like pacing can be legitimately distracting to other people in a room (or car!). in the case of other autistic people, it might even feel painful or mentally consuming. this category is no-judgment “please move to another location to continue stimming this way.” it’s not bad, it’s not wrong, you aren’t being shamed– just do your best to respect others and their needs or comfort, and leave the communal area or lower your volume.

3. the you do you category. it doesn’t matter that nobody else is doing this to feel comfortable or happy– you aren’t hurting anyone else, you aren’t being disruptive in a space other people are using together. go for it.

and in every single category, anger has no place in redirecting a stim. not even the no category. stimming isn’t malicious, there’s no actual moral requirement to be “less weird” or “like everyone else.” even reminders like “you aren’t the only person in this room and that’s very loud” don’t need anger. stims aren’t done at anyone. they’re just the body expressing a kind of neurological hunger, and whether the answer is “enjoy that!” or “this isn’t safe for you to eat (ie, do)” fury doesn’t help.

I like these categories. “Your autism is poking my autism” is a real thing, and the majority of times people have been concerned about my stimming have been Not That.

cartoon network on nickelodeon in 1999. an off-channel promo for cartoon cartoon fridays snuck onto nick’s airwaves via unmonitored local ad buys.

An unbelievable power play

Nickelodeon execs watching their own channel:

Elon is recruiting randos from Twitter to compete for the chance to work themselves to death figuring out how to take away your welfare.

Nothing says efficiency like creating a whole ass new department with two co-chairs.

Nothing says efficency like creating a new "department" to do the job already being done by an existing office.

Hana-Rawhiti Kareariki Maipi-Clarke, the youngest MP in Aotearoa, starts a haka to protest the first vote on a bill reinterpreting the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi

Goes insanely hard

To provide further context from what I understand the bill wanted to take the rights guaranteed to the Maori in said treaty and expand them to all New Zealand citizens. The issue with that is that it sort of defeats the point of the protections of the treaty.

The Treaty of Waitangi is not even that good of a treaty. But it is better than any treaty the Crown signed with indigenous peoples

And it absolutely was not meant to be

The treaty as written screws over Māori, and was written in Te Reo Māori and English with deliberately misleading translations to Te Reo Māori. I'm not an expert by any means, but basically the Te Reo Māori version has clauses that promise much more independence and sovereignty, while the English version does not

However

The English version promises them rights as Citizens

From what I remember from University 10+ years ago, this clause, this sentence, was added last minute by the writer of the treaty. Like, right before the big signing at Waitangi.

And the Crown was PISSED

Because now they had a legally binding document that promised, in their own language, to treat Māori with the same rights as they would English. Which was absolutely not the goal. The goal was to trick Māori into signing away their lands and that honestly still did happen. The treaty was not a good faith proposal by the Engliah.

But its still better than anyone else got, and it's better than no treaty. And because nowadays we can't just ignore the Te Reo Māori side of the treaty, the government's of the past few decades have been honouring Māori sovereignty, honouring their stewardship of the land, and undoing a lot of the bad faith "sales" or straight up stolen land.

Except our current fuck nuggets, who want to make Te Reo Māori an endangered language again, and steal back that land because they want to mine on it and sell it and they hate that Māori stewardship is so environmentally focused and not profit driven.

So, in a way, the current government is more true to the intentions of the Crown who initially came up with the treaty.

But since those guys were colonising bastards, I don't see "honouring" them as anything good.

Even with criticism of the treaty, without it, Māori would lose a lot of protections to their lands, their culture, their language, and as a country we would go backwards to a time when they were even more discriminated against

Toitū te tiriti

Uphold the treaty

one thing i need you all to realize is that you have to fight like hell for the marginalized people you don’t like. you have to fight for the cringey discourse queer and the misogynistic man of color and the transphobic cis woman and the politically conservative jew and the racist disabled person. you don’t have to like them or agree with them. but if you see them experiencing bigotry and you are a person who claims to be against bigotry, you are obligated to fight for them. you have to fight against bigotry, even if you don’t like the target of that bigotry, because as soon as you let yourself slip, as soon as you allow bigotry on your watch, even if it is directed at the shittiest person you’ve ever met, you’ve now established that in your personal ethos bigotry isn’t wrong, it’s a weapon. and as soon as you’re okay with bigotry being used as a weapon, you have already lost.

Leftist antisemites stepping into the point like a rake to the face.

"Yo yo, everybody! Put your hands in the air! Who's ready to get FUCKED UP TONIGHT!?"

"Wooo!"

*gentle woodwind music*