hello person checking my blog to see if i’m a zionist because i posted something about antisemitism that pissed you off, you can stop looking! i do indeed support jewish self determination in the jewish ancestral homeland — aka zionism. now you can block me and be on your way.
love how i can make a post like this explicitly defining zionism as a jewish equality and land back movement and people will still use this exact post as proof that i support baby killing. y’all will just lean into the brainrot if it makes you feel self righteous.
Question for fan writers on AO3: have y'all been seeing a pattern of people leaving comments on fics where they ask for your email or another social media where they can talk to you, and then they ask you to commission fanart of your fic from them? In particular, do they make comments and ask questions about the fic that seem oddly generic, as if possibly AI-generated, and produce "sample" art suspiciously quickly, also possibly generated by AI?
This seems like a weirdly niche scam to run (getting fic writers to pay commissions for AI-generated "fanart"), but if other writers have been getting targeted with similar proposals, that would help me with determining what's going on.
it is always narratively correct to make your characters sleep together before they sort through the hundreds of lies and misdirections between them. make things worse make things worse make things worse #i love betrayal #i love lying #i love people feeling bad about themselves
Part of the reason we have staffer class problems is that the people, by and large, who can afford the low salary offered while being required to live in/near DC and also have x-y-z type experience are those who’ve always been able to afford it and who already know people there. It’s why the same names keep coming up time and time again.
And the DSA/leftist orgs and people who are coming up and getting involved are similarly privileged and connected so, again, it’s easier for them.
This is also why DSA wants to remove PAC money, which would mean only independently wealthy candidates could run for office. They want to create their own aristocracy.
A few beautiful pieces of pottery by @calendae-creations. If you'd like to support another queer disabled artist I highly recommend. Beautiful pottery, crochet, hand-twisted havdalah candles, jewelry and more. Their shop is here if you'd like to look
Real progressives back smart ideas that improve lives — and reject nutty ideas that would ruin neighborhoods.
I’m tired of being told that, to be a progressive, I now must swear allegiance to crazy ideas.
I’m a strong Democrat, with a winning bipartisan track record. I’m rooted in progressive ideals and policies: criminal justice reform, Green New Deal, Medicare for All, free education, clean air and water. These are ideas I have fought for my entire adult life.
But some people in groups like the DSA are pushing an agenda FAR outside those ideals. Supporting Hamas is not progressive. “No police, no prisons, no borders” is not progressive. Celebrating the murder of Israeli civilians is not progressive. These ideas are REGRESSIVE.
If there were no police or prisons, if anyone in your neighborhood could do whatever they wanted, while politicians cheered on terror groups — would that represent PROGRESS to you? No, that would be a step back. Those are REGRESSIVE ideas.
On the other hand, if everybody could see a doctor when they got sick, get a good, free education and breathe clean air — would that represent progress? Yes. Those are PROGRESSIVE ideas.
They are NOT the same thing. And the difference matters.
Some defend the far left by claiming they only want Nordic-style social democracy. If that were true, I might applaud them. I want those policies, too! But what does universal healthcare have to do with Hamas? With abolishing all law enforcement? With erasing all borders? With treating every wealthy person as a villain? Ideas matter. And these are terrible ideas.
Right now, extremists are trying to sneak backwards proposals into our party, hoping mainstream Democrats are too frustrated with MAGA and the Democratic Party establishment to notice.
But we see you.
Yes, we want our Democratic Party to be a big tent. But we don’t need “party poopers. So STOP pooping in the punch bowl — and telling us the turds are ice cubes.
They aren’t. And we are smart enough to know the difference.
Opposing peace means opposing resolution of the conflict
At a pro-Palestinian demonstration today in London, one marcher carried a homemade cardboard sign bearing the words:
“NO PEACE BITCHES!!”
One sign obviously does not represent an entire protest.
But still, it captures a real suspicion of the word peace among parts of the movement.
For some pro-Palestinian activists, peace gets treated like another word for surrender. It means asking Palestinians to accept the loss of land or a future without genuine political rights.
But endless war cannot be the answer. A movement that wants to prevent Palestinian suffering should also be committed to finding a political solution that prevents the next round of suffering.
This is why the pro-Palestinian movement needs to also be pro-peace.
So what does being pro-peace mean to me?
1. It means ending the bloodshed
The first purpose of peace is to stop people being killed, maimed, displaced and traumatised.
That may sound obvious. But every new round of fighting produces more bereaved families, more destroyed communities, and more people with powerful reasons to hate the other side. We can’t ignore this. It needs to end—now.
2. It does not mean total surrender
Palestinians should not be expected to abandon their national aspirations or accept a life without dignity and political rights. Israelis should not be expected to accept permanent insecurity or the possibility of their country’s destruction.
3. It requires a genuine willingness to compromise
It’s easier to favour compromise when it means the other side giving something up.
But real compromise means accepting that neither side will receive everything it wants.
Any vision that requires millions of people to leave, submit or live permanently without rights cannot be treated as a serious peace proposal.
We need compromise. But that compromise needs to be fair, and on both sides.
4. It means recognising the humanity of the other side
Not every Palestinian is responsible for the actions of Hamas. Not every Israeli is responsible for every decision or action of the Israeli government or IDF, either.
An entire population cannot be treated as collectively guilty for harm inflicted on the other side.
Peace requires maintaining that distinction. Even when anger makes collective blame popular.
5. It means rejecting revenge as a political programme
The desire for revenge is sometimes understandable in the context of great suffering or atrocities.
But revenge won’t produce a stable future.
One atrocity does not reverse another. One grieving family is not healed by creating another grieving family.
6. It means accepting that peace is made with enemies
Peace is rarely made between parties that like or trust each other. It is made between adversaries who conclude that coexistence, however imperfect, is preferable to endless destruction.
7. It means choosing the future over the past
History cannot be used as a permanent veto over the future.
At some point, both peoples must decide whether their children will inherit an obligation to continue the conflict—or an opportunity to escape it.
“No peace” may sound defiant. But there is nothing particularly courageous about condemning another generation to fear, hatred and funerals.
There's a scene in very early 60's Doctor Who where a character falls into a swamp, I think, and they throw not a rag doll, but a card board cut out of the actor. 10/10 they don't make 'em like this no more
It's not merely that people falsely accuse the Jewish state of "genocide", but that the accusers enjoy doing it. It is a phenomenon known as "schadenfreude", a feeling of sadistic gratification that overrides rational thought.
Only with Israel do people enjoy schadenfreude when talking about alleged war crimes
"Six days after October 7th, a genocide studies professor declared Israel's response "textbook genocide" — before a single independent casualty count existed and week before an IDF soldier entered Gaza.
A year later Amnesty admitted, on page 101 of its own report, that it was rejecting the ICJ's actual legal standard because that standard "would effectively preclude a finding of genocide." Internal staff at Amnesty revealed the report was called "the genocide report" before the research even began.
None of this happened to Myanmar, Syria, or Sudan — all more brutal, all with clearer evidence of intent, all treated with years of caution before anyone reached for the word. Only Israel gets convicted first and investigated after.
The article "The Delicious Accusation of Genocide," argues the missing variable is Schadenfreude — Richard Landes decade-old term for a Western appetite, rooted in real guilt over real complicity in the Holocaust, for pretending to discover that the survivors turned out to be no better than the people who nearly finished them off.
It's not just that the accusation is false. It's that it's enjoyable — which is why it fills city squares and op-ed pages, and why no amount of counter-evidence ever gets it retracted."
California is installing zero-emission electric appliances and energy-saving upgrades at no cost to low-income households across the state u
Under the Equitable Building Decarbonization Program, California is providing no-cost, zero-emissions appliances like induction stoves and heat pumps to low-income households. The program covers single family, multifamily, and mobile homes and also include other efficiency upgrades like smart thermostats, LED lighting, and better duct sealing and insulation.
Worth noting, is that these appliances improve not only energy efficiency and reduce carbon emissions, but are also cheaper to operate and significantly improve indoor air quality.
If things related to Jewishness or Judaism immediately make you say Free Palestine you are an antisemite. If you cannot see a Star of David without thinking Free Palestine then you are an antisemite. That’s all there is to it. “But there’s no bad time to advocate for a free Palestine!” Yet you don’t say it on LGBTQ pride posts. You don’t say it to random Christian people. You don’t say it about random posts about disabled people. There is one and only one minority who’s existence elicits a flood of “free Palestine.”
to anyone in the areas impacted by the wildfire smoke, my #1 biggest piece of advice as someone whos been dealing with wildfire smoke in the NW united states for years, is build yourself a Corsi-Rosenthal Cube
they perform as well as expensive HEPA air cleaners, and are comparatively VERY inexpensive. all you need is a box fan, 4 air filters, a piece of cardboard, and some duct tape!!!!
i think it took us maybe a half hour to put ours together, if that, and we replace the filters every 3 months. it's really made a HUGE difference, both when the air quality is bad, but also with our allergies
where i am, a box fan and the filters run about $20 each, so if $100 is too much of a stretch at the moment, get the fan and one filter. tape the filter to the intake side of the fan, all the way around. this is also good if your space is small and a 20" cube won't fit.
