man. remember early in the pandemic, shortly into the telework phase, when a lot of women started vocalizing “wow, i didnt realize just how much time, energy, and even money i was wasting on dolling myself up for work every damn morning, until i didn’t have to do it anymore. i don’t think i’ll go back to doing that when we return to the office? i won’t be a slob or anything, of course, i’m just not going to go out of my way to look pretty at work"  and then,

so many people proceeded to lose every last crumb of their shit about it, writing the most asinine crybaby articles ever where they were just. utterly horrified by the possibility that more and more women might become comfortable looking natural/plain and completely opting out of the expectation to look as appealing as possible at all times, even when all they’re doing is spending all day in a cubicle. that was bonkers. lmao.

some ladies were like “during lockdown, i saw myself in the mirror without makeup much more often, and got used to it, so now i don’t feel as anxious for others to see me without makeup on either. i’m comfortable with the face i have, it’s fine just the way it is”

and some absolute dork ass losers heard this and went “truly, this is the death of femininity”

TERFS who think they’re welcome on my posts: you’re not. the freedom to reject conventional beauty standards should apply to and be shared with trans women as well, moreso, in fact, because trans women are literally held to an even harsher, stricter standard when it comes to rando third parties feeling entitled to meticulous over-performance from them - demanding they put every last possible ounce of resource and effort into altering their appearance just to be seen as acceptable, demanding they “prove” their validity through excessive glamour, to ensure they are not “faking” - and the consequences for a trans woman if she does not flawlessly comply with these demands can be so dire as to be lethal for her.

That should not be the reality these women have to endure! That is a horrifying injustice, and anybody who not only lacks compassion for that, but promotes the ideologies that enable it, is not welcome here. I will not debate with you on the matter. Get lost.

so this post is making the rounds again, but only the version without this very important addition on it, so, as a reminder,

SHARE URGENTLY

#JusticeForClara, spreading awareness about my 4 year old black, disabled niece who died from Covid due to medical negligence (2nd post)

If you have not heard about my niece’s story, please read it on this post. We are currently trying to do the best we can to make her situation known and her short life not be in vain. Covid took her from us and this is the hardest time of our lives.

Ways you can help without donating $$:

Ways you can help monetarily:

Thank you so much for your continued support and remember #CovidIsNotOver

Sorry I haven’t been on, grief is hitting me hard. This is still relevant and we very much need help

the fact that children are both more likely to catch and to suffer death or complications like blindness from monkeypox, combined with the cdc and media's immensely irresponsible framing of it as a gay sti and the massive recent spread of "groomer" rhetoric is going to get lgbt people killed

monkeypox is just AIDS 2 because genuinely politicians can’t figure out any other conclusion to disease spread by close physical contact and/or body fluids.

Most people who contract the virus catch it from rodents and the common mode of transmission between man and rodent has not been positively identified, but as a pox virus, it is very likely to be related to an exchange of body fluids. Bites from rats carrying the virus for example mix saliva and blood. Food contaminated by rat feces that is accidentally eaten could also be a vector if it is not the type of food you cook, or at least not well enough to kill the virus. This is likely where most victims contract it as it, again like many pox viruses, is generally only infectious when one is symptomatic, especially when the lesions have started to erupt as those contain a good amount of the viral material.

Skin-to-skin contact with someone who is infected and has viral material on them can indeed be infectious, but this is not contact exclusive to sex. Children who don’t contract it from contaminated food are believed to catch it from kissing their family members, being bathed by parents, or even breast milk as some theorize.

In fact, because viruses can survive on surfaces longer than the average live organism, a child can genuinely catch it from touching a table touched by an infected person. They can catch it if an infected person coughs or sneezes near them. Pox viruses are successful because they are contagious through so many forms of contact and they are persistent. Monkeypox is a close relative to smallpox, and that is how it should be treated by the media. Can you imagine if people tried to claim smallpox was the virus of sexual deviancy? They would be laughed out of the room.

Claiming it’s exclusively an issue faced by those partaking in anal sex is such a bizarre takeaway by society. I’m not shocked, but I am disappointed. I’m formally banning every moron politician or “journalist” who doesn’t even know what a fomite is from expressing their “hot takes” about this virus to the public. We are literally just getting out of the COVID pandemic with millions dead worldwide because several western politicians decided it was “just something that killed the old and disabled” and ignored all safety protocols as soon as it grew dull, can we be adults and not do this whole thing again with monkeypox because “only gay men are effected”. Absolutely asinine that people put any stock in that claim.

In a twist of irony, the elderly are the only demographic that may not have to worry about this virus if the theory that the old smallpox vaccine grants immunity to monkeypox as well. Rudimentary testing showed efficacy of a minimum 85% at immunity to monkeypox, but this has not been studied on a very wide scale.

This is capitalism's vast irrationality and inhumanity in action. Markets and The Economy™ matter more to capitalism than the concrete distribution of resources according to tangible human need.

Resources exist in abundance -- give them to people. Housing sits empty -- give it to people. The rules of the feast table should apply to our economic system -- no one gets seconds until everyone has gotten a plate.

We stand at a crossroads in these chaotic times: socialism or barbarism! The ruling class repeatedly chooses the latter. We need to organize and choose the former!

John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath

People have been reblogging this with some points that seem fair to call attention to -- milk expires quickly, farmers are locked into a situation where they have to throw stuff out, etc. But the larger point we were trying to illustrate in the original post was that this system compels people to do irrational things in the name of market laws. We have a surplus of goods around us and yet we arbitrarily build up social constructs (property laws and exchangability) to prevent people from comfortably living off of these goods. Goods are produced and given away only if profit can be extracted from the process. These aren't immutable laws of nature, though, and most of human history hasn't operated this way. Not to suggest that things were just peachy keen in slave empires or feudalism -- class stratification in general is a big part of this, not just the particular market laws of capitalism. But it's still important to realize that these irrational all-pervasive market forces are a comparatively recent invention and that these historical moments of crisis demonstrate how truly anti-human production-for-profit and class inequality truly are. We believe that the economy should be more broadly democratized and managed on a for-need/for-use basis by the people actually impacted by the outcomes; that would entail workplace/community democracy, as well as a new emphasis on direct distribution of goods (rather than having those goods wait around to be bought).

Goods sit unused -- give them to people. Make sure everyone has the means to live a comfortable life. These seemingly obvious goals are perpetually blocked by billionaires and profit-sharks, who'd rather see people sleeping on the streets in the middle of a pandemic than have their bottom lines suffer any hit. Things are fundamentally top-down; we believe it is a reasonable proposal to start moving things into a bottom-up direction. That requires choosing socialism at this crossroads of human history.

Another reminder: capitalism artificially imposes scarcity.

During the 2019 flu season in Canada, 46k people were diagnosed with influenza. That's not people who "felt sick", that's people who went to their doctor or emergency, had a test done, and were told "yup, that's the flu".

Of those 46k, 2000 had symptoms severe enough to be hospitalized so they could be monitored.

Of those 2000, 600 ended up in ICU, connected to machines to breath for them.

Of those 600, 200 died.

2019 had a fairly average flu season.

During the 2020 flu season, that was 69. Total. Zero hospitalization. Zero ICU. Zero deaths.

The 2021 flu season is almost over and since people were "more comfortable" this year not wearing masks where they should have been the numbers are higher, but still only in the hundreds of cases, with zero deaths to date.

If anyone tries to tell you masks don't work, there are statistically at least 400 people who did not die of the flu who prove otherwise.

year 3 give it up for year 3

Yes, because the other guy tried to overturn our democracy. Get a fucking grip.

Also worth mentioning that he's not like just saying this. Its been a year and every attempt at a federal policy has been blocked by Republican judges. There is no federal solution left, thanks in part to Trump's appointees and their vendetta and the active attempt by Republicans to prolong the pandemic and run on the fact that it hasn't ended yet.

To everyone who wants Biden just to ignore federal law and the way our government is set up: do you want tyranny? Because that's how you get tyranny.

The U.S. president has a lot of power, but he can't nullify court decisions and he can't ignore congress, and we don't want the office to be able to do so.

Hey! So this was a partial quote. And a huge actual misquote. Biden had a call with ALL the governors to talk about the role states have to play in curbing COVID. Things like providing testing sites, promoting the boosters - stuff like that. He actually didn't just say "your prob" and jump on out of there. Because like it or not, it's been well established by the courts that the states have the ultimate authority over mandates for public health. The feds can make money available, but the states have to do the work. Can we please make it a rule to actually Google what someone said if it seems like a post was designed to just make you made and react?

self-reblogging to add: hey remember how it was, like, a proven fact that people were intentionally coming into liberal spaces to convince us all the options were bad and we shouldn't vote? remember how that was a huge issue in the 2016 election?

OP is doing exactly that.

always be super fucking wary of anyone trying to convince you to just nope out of the political process.

they are not your friends.

they are are trying to suppress your vote.

Comic on having long-COVID as a young person. Sending love to others who may be similarly suffering.

Ko-Fi

(ID under the cut)

Keep reading

This is getting traction again as cases surge. I want to repeat what I’ve said on Twitter: In the 4 months since I’ve posted this, none of my symptoms have improved. I’m nearing 2 years post-COVID with zero improvement, no answers, and little hope. Take this seriously.

How?

Wasn’t the first US case like a WEEK ago????

I just - I’m so tired of all of this.

Is this ever going to end? *sobs*

Yeah I’m waiting for something like that to show up about PAX Unplugged which That Guy went to.

I’m also very tired of the selfishness of some people dragging this pandemic out.

The thing is, a lot of them don’t at all believe they’re being selfish. They think they’re being smart and not falling for fake news–they think it’s nothing to worry about and everyone who is worrying is being gullible sheep, or they’re over in conspiracy land thinking that the shot is something actively pernicious to be avoided at all cost (but they don’t think the cost will be loss of life, because, again, they don’t believe covid is real, even when they’re about to die from it.) They think masks legitimately endanger their ability to breathe. They think lockdowns are bad for the economy, and the economy should be the #1 priority for the country.

OR they’ve been fully vaccinated and think “Yay, it’s all over now! Science has made me safe!”–which is closer to being selfish, but, again, they don’t realize it’s being selfish, because they think the shot is all that’s needed for things to be normal again.

People never think they’re being The Bad Guy, no matter how bad they’re being.

and, yeah. It’s very tiring.

Seeing a lot of the “we’re vaxxed, we did our part, let us go back to normal - don’t punish us, punish the antivaxxers” crowd where I’m at.

Like…it’s great that you’re vaxxed, I love it, but this isn’t a “finish your dinner and then you can have dessert” situation. The situation is ongoing, the virus is mutating.

It sucks, yeah, but the pandemic isn’t over just because you got bored of it.

image description: two tweets from coherent she/theyves @ fppf_gf. the first tweet says: tbh it's fucked up that private pharmaceutical companies stole the possibility of a freely available vaccine for the entire world and now we just say their names all the time like it's a cutesy meme

the second tweet says, "oh you got vaccinated? which one did you get?"

"i got it from the same people who drove the price of insulin up to 200 dollars."

end image description

Also Bill Gates, don't forget that Bill Gates literally spent millions to make sure the vaccine created by Harvard (which I believe is the Moderna vaccine) was not allowed to be open source and instead regulated to a single corporation to be able to manufacture and sell, thus slowing vaccination rates and the ability of poorer countries to actually get vaccines by a degree that I can only describe as beyond evil.

Eat the rich 🥰

A friend of mine posted this and tagged my old instagram account, asking me to share it. I figured sharing it here where I actually have a following, would be far better.

Please remember that just because the government is giving into pressure and greed, that doesn’t mean that any of this is getting any better, in a lot of ways it’s getting worse. And even if you yourself aren’t being as heavily affected anymore, there are people and communities that are.

Stay safe Darling ones, and help others remain safe too.

i feel like everyone’s forgotten some Covid basics so please let me remind you:

so like maybe stop being a little bitch and endangering others because you really, really needed to go out to dinner or get fucked up at a bar instead of in your home like a respectable person

My favorite part of covid is republicans admitting they dont wash their hands and that a life threatening pandemic won't make them start. My other favorite part was Donald Trump saying covid isn't real, getting it, sending secret service to break down the doors of a lead covid researcher and stealing his stem cell oriented research to treat trump with, then Trump went on air to say covids no big deal.

Yeah it’s not like they can do that now.

“We wouldn’t have to deal with the Delta variant if it weren’t for a bunch of uneducated people refusing to get their vaccine”

No, we would still have had to deal with the Delta variant, because neither Trump nor Biden showed any interest in distributing US vaccine stockpiles internationally during the early months when it could have had the greatest impact in dampening Delta’s spread throughout India. Public health experts explicitly warned policymakers at the time that this vaccine nationalism would enable the global spread of variants. But this explanation doesn’t let anyone in America feel superior to anyone else, so it won’t catch on

Pfizer and Moderna have quite literally raised their vaccine prices after learning their vaccines are more effective against variants and are set to make 41 billion dollars more than it costs to make the vaccine.

People not wearing masks is a problem. People not getting vaccinated is a problem. But the bigger problem remains white imperialist greed.

The katanas, and the symbol on his sword holder have masks

Thanks, I love it