🍀 Forest 🌿

They/She • Trans-Inclusive Feminist • BLM • Bisexual Babe • mspec inclusive • icon is by @noontimes on instagram via picrew • l early 30s • DNI if you're here to argue, if you're racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, ableist, etc or if you support trump, or are anti-vax.

[tgirl-thucydides]

[teaboot]

So anyways with the rapid rise of fascism I feel it’s a good time to point out that it’s perfectly legal to follow unjust orders slowly, badly, or inefficiently

[deadskincellsonyourpillow]

also let me just

If anyone thinks that there isn’t fascism

[mysharona1987]

[sentienttoast]

Guys gals non binary pals I tried so fuckin hard to find this and finally here it is

[official-lucifers-child]

is it queer to use a different language than english?

[queer-frenchmermaid]

Oui

[duolingo-unofficial]

Sí

[athingofvikings]

Ja.

[spaghetti-polonaise]

Tak.

[janokenmun]

lon

[sleepy-frog-lady]

نعم

[turtlegamemaster]

はい

[melbug-ithink]

ydy

[casual-mitosis-collective-deact]

כן

Да.

[slitheredherefromeden4u-deactiv]

Da.

[pk-lovi-doodles-deactivated2023]

opo

[empress-of-dark2005]

हाँ

[plushprosecutor]

sic

[jangobunbun]

Ja

[wickedlittlecritta]

tá

[tweetingukpolitics]

[beesandwasps]

Look, the argument for privatization is that it will find new efficiencies which will lower costs as compared with government control, but privatization automatically means both (a) extracting some portion of the money flow as profit and also (b) at least one extra layer of upper management which was not there before. It is extremely rare — to the point where, for all practical purposes, it simply does not happen — for there to be sufficient “efficiencies” to maintain the same level of service while also actually lowering costs in the face of profit extraction and extra management. Every time you see privatization of a service suggested, you should immediately substitute “worse service, higher cost, or both”, because that’s always what happens, time after time after time. It’s just another way for rich people to loot the government if they can get their cronies into office.

[cheerfulomelette]

These three things are also de facto monopolies - there is no way a new company can put in another train line, build a new power station, or lay new water mains.

If your rail provider is awful, your options are to move to a different region or drive - not use a different company. With water, your only option is to move. And, realistically, energy companies are much the same - sure, there are some new guys who didn't go bankrupt over 2020-22, but their prices are all remarkably similar to the big guys, who have previously been caught colluding in price-fixing.

A company exists to make money and whatever it sells is only a vehicle for making money. It can and will and has to cut costs and increase charges in order to increase profits year on year. But when it makes a loss, that's when it's time for the taxpayer to step in with bailouts to stop an essential service from collapsing - yet somehow that doesn't mean we get to claim back a share of the ownership.

Privatisation is theft - if something is nationalised and you're a taxpayer, that means it's yours.

[magnetic-rose]

NYT has been discouraging reporters from sharing photos of luigi mangione - not due to concerns for his safety but to dissuade sympathy - and refuses to post his alleged manifesto in full. and today, they published an opinion by bret stephens about how brian thompson is the "real working class hero" of this story.

reddit deleted luigi's account, which was completely innocuous and consisted mostly of him giving out advice in health subreddits. they're also deleting any post that includes his alleged manifesto and banning users for sharing it.

luigi yelled that this was "an insult to the intelligence of the american people" while he was being dragged by police and news pundits are framing it as a deranged and violent outburst. news media are picking apart details of his life to paint him as a cold-blooded and mentally ill individual. even something as innocent as playing "among us" with friends is being framed as some insidious look into an assassin's disturbed psyche, ffs.

news media are also capitalizing on luigi's supposed "bizarre and impossible to understand" politics as an obvious way to paint him as a scary individual when the guy is... a centrist, at most. whose views are similar to those of your average college-educated white guy.

multiple news media also keep harping on about how luigi comes from a rich family. an obvious attempt to break the class solidarity that's been formed around this case by continuously trying to tell us "oh he's not like you guys" while ignoring the now pretty well-documented accounts of his multiple health struggles throughout the years.

and all this, and he hasn't even been found guilty of the crime he's allegedly committed. luigi is, as of right now, still innocent until proven guilty. and the news are trying to tear him apart because they obviously fear the symbol he's becoming for low and middle class america.

[disbabeled]

Things that should be normalized:

Taking meds in public

Going out to eat by yourself

Not having your drivers license

Asking about allergies when eating out

Things that should NOT be normalized:

Watching loud videos in public without earbuds istg stop it its so annoying I don't want to hear some Minecraft dude screaming while I'm trying to eat my pancakes in peace

[tyleroakley]

[adulthumanproblem-deactivated20]

Gay marriage isn't allowed in Israel and trans women often are sent to men's prison as extra punishment (especially those that don't want to do military service or are dishonorably discharged)

And exactly, genocide of a whole ethnic group is not punishment for what their government does. The genocide also affects, stay with me here: queer Palestinians. Shocker.

[psychotic-gerard]

the eurocentric mind simply cannot fathom the idea that deserts are large carbon sinks, that they are complex ecosystems that host a large amount of life and a life that cannot exist anywhere else. and that is why they think turning deserts green is somehow a good, or feasible idea. a desert is not a wasteland. the dying plants that you plant on top of it because they cannot deal with the heat though? that’s a wasteland!

[trainsgenderfoxgirl2816]

Wait deserts are effective carbon sinks? I knew a healthy prairie was but how can a desert sequester Carbon they can't sustain that much biomass or bury carbon quickly, cause Rainforest has high Biomass, and Prairies can bury carbon fast because of how prairie grass grows overtop itself but how do deserts sequester Carbon?

[notusuallyprepared]

Most deserts actually have a lot of vegetation. The sandy deserts are the kind we usually think of, like the Sahara, but most look like this example in Australia:

[untitledgoosegay]

Desert plants need to have deep roots to reach groundwater reservoirs. Those roots carry carbon deep into the soil, where it reacts with mineral to form calcium carbonate; not only do they sequester carbon, they sequester it in mineral form, where it's much more stable than carbon bound in plant tissues that will decay on a faster time scale!

A lot of carbon storage is done in the fungal networks around plant roots, as well, which are far denser and more extensive than the visible plant biomass on the surface.

[atelier-dayz]

Nothing sciency to add, just agreement.

This is Saguaro National Park, part of the Sonoran Desert in Arizona, USA:

Look at all that vegetation!

[ccaleb-widogast]

I’ll add my experience in Deep Springs Valley, CA, USA. Close to Death Valley and extremely dry, but these shrubs are all over the foothills and sport some beautiful flowers for desert pollinators to boot!

Edit: this is a remote area commonly called Poleta Folds by geoscientists, if anyone is interested.

[asphodelimago]

(https://www.wunderground.com/article/news/news/2022-12-29-what-is-debris-flow )

Also, even though deserts are well-adapted to heat, and some handle occasional fire well, climate change is a big problem!

This is what happens when a burn scar meets a heavy rainstorm.

Whenever all those complex root systems are disrupted, nothing protects the ground from erosion - which also, of course, will release carbon, endanger human lives, and make it more difficult for new plants to grow there.

Unfortunately, we're discovering that in particular, California chaparral doesn't recover very quickly from wildfires - especially not the intense wildfires we see due to climate change and human intervention, but low-intensity wildfires may be a lot less common in chaparral than prairie biomes, which means prescribed burns may have limited use as a management technique. Research is ongoing!

And seriously, look at the rainy season growth. It's only a few months per year, but it's stunning. Like mushrooms, a lot of the work happens below the surface - but this is the culmination of all that work.

( https://visittrivalley.com/what-to-do/mt-diablo-state-park/ )

( https://www.desertmuseum.org/desert/habitats/chap/chapgallery.php )

( https://pbase.com/dougsherman/desert_wildflowers_and_cacti )

( https://ericjlee.com/Blogs/?p=1903 )

It's important to protect deserts, chaparral, and other arid biomes; they're doing great work!

[pisshandkerchief]

did you imagine your own tragic death a lot as a child or are you normal

[worst-of-facebook]

[butchbait28]

This is Ruby Bridges in 22. Most photos of her taken from when she was a little girl were taken in color and then changed years later when placed in American history books to black-and-white as were most photos if not all of the photos we have of segregation and the efforts it took to change the system. she’s currently in her 60s. she’s legit the same age as my mom.

[ivafakename]

YOUNG MAN!

There's no need to feel down,

I MEAN YOUNG THEY!

I forgot your pronoun,

[daily-spooky]

[arsnof]

[raqualswonderfunblog]

[cloudboundcritters]

I'd rather hangout with the straight boyfriend than the queer cop who insists they're one of the "good ones" while harassing people of color

I'd rather hangout with the straight palestinian grandma than the queer zionist who keeps insisting that the death of palestinians is the one way ticket to queer liberation

I'd rather hangout with the leather dyke who is a mspec gaybian and uses paw/pawself pronouns than the puritan who makes "callout posts" clearly targeting disabled queer artists

[assignedmale]

Happy anniversary, Stonewall riots! Stay revolutionary!

[bogleech]

This is one of those true, declassified government things that always sounds made up but one of the things Henry Kissinger did with his career was use the CIA to help turn small, prosperous socialist nations into fascist dictatorships just to keep those nations powerless and possibly to keep socialist systems *looking* doomed and futile to the American public, like maybe just to scare Americans out of demanding better infrastructure or universal income. Yes it sounds like an insane conspiracy theory a maniac would invent. It also happened multiple times and several generations of people around the world are still living in misery because of it.

[luxflora]

[pfaugh]

Operation Condor - Wikipedia

[xeansicemane]

Remember folks, the two types of conspiracy theory are "Things the CIA or FBI has admitted to doing" and "Antisemitism"

[noahsfault]

Queer 👏 people 👏 are 👏 not 👏 all 👏 fucking 👏 activists 👏

Stop quizzing us on queer history and asking us questions we aren’t qualified to answer about the world and about politics and about our identities

Stop trying to back us into a corner so you can justify your discrimination on the basis that we don’t know what we’re talking about or can’t “defend” ourselves to you

Stop treating every queer person that stands up and says “I want to be treated like a person” as if they’re an activist

Cut that bullshit out

Marginalised people just want to exist and be happy

I don’t know everything, and that doesn’t make me undeserving of your respect or my human rights you fucker

I don’t even owe you the stuff I do know- I still am entitled to basic fucking respect

TLDR; Queer people shouldn’t have to be historians or scientists for you to not be a fucking dick