sub_divided

Millennial, I've been "subdee" (short for "sub_divided") online for like... 20ish years now. This was a fandom account, and I still post fandom things from time to time, but CONSIDERING THE FASCIST TAKEOVER OF THE USA HAPPENING RIGHT NOW, at the moment I post a lot of #us politics. WHERE I GET MY NEWS: WTF Just Happened Today (daily summary) Heather Cox Richardson & Robert Reich & Timothy Snyder (analysis) Paul Krugman & Jared Bernstein & Dean Baker (economics) Matt Stoller (antitrust) & G Elliot Morris (polling) Democracy Docket & Above the Law (legal news) As well as daily newsletters from: Drop Site News, Zeteo, The Intercept, 404 Media, the Contrarian, Common Dreams, MedPage Today, the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal You'll find my writing at: The Hooded Utilitarian (comics criticism), The Singles Jukebox (music writing), AO3 (newer fanfiction), sd.magatsu.net (older fanfiction). I'm also on metafilter.

[blacknoiseabyss]

Check out 50501 for more information and to find the protests held closest to you!

[subdee]

Link to Good Trouble Lives On.

[subdee]

Hello, we're one week out from Good Trouble Lives On. This is THE major national USA protest event for the month of July. US Americans check the map, check the calendar, there's likely to be something near you.

[subdee]

It's this weekend! Check the map!

[fozmeadows]

Watching my toddler figure out how to language is fascinating. Yesterday we were stumped when he kept insisting there was a “Lego winner” behind his bookshelf - it turned out to be a little Lego trophy cup. Not knowing the word for “trophy”, he’d extrapolated a word for “thing you can win”. And then, just now, he held up his empty milk container and said, “Mummy? It’s not rubbish. It’s allowed to be a bottle.” - meaning, effectively, “I want this. Don’t throw it away.” But to an adult ear, there’s something quite lovely about “it’s allowed to be a bottle,” as if we’re acknowledging that the object is entitled to keep its title even in the absence of the original function.

[legit-writing-tips]

Another good post to read for those writing small human characters. 

[jennytrout]

My son was about three when he came to me in the middle of the day and said, “Mommy, there’s a knight behind the bush.” I thought he meant a toy knight or something. So I follow him outside and he goes, “Listen. Do you hear it? It’s night behind the bush.” It was a cricket. A cricket was standing in the little patch of shade under the bush, chirping. So, my son saw this dark area with accompanying nighttime sounds and decided, okay, well, that is a night right there. Their brains are incredible.

[deleted20211121]

My little bean knows she’s two, constantly saying proudly ‘I’m two!’ And the other day she saw this very frail old lady who looked one foot in the grave, pulled a face and said ‘oh shiiiit. She’s three.’ I almost screamed.

[cantnotknope]

I live in Korea and have a lot of international friends, and the same is true with language barriers in adults. 

*Looking at a bowl of pears* “Can you please pass me the… apple’s friend?” 

[masterofbirds]

OH SHIT SHE’S THREE

[subdee]

My son is three and very competitive, so when he heard his eight year old cousin is coming to visit us he joked that he's TEN.

My daughter is 16 months and she loves to "count" things by pointing to them and saying two, three, two, three. But only if there are four or fewer things, more than that she says "mommy" meaning she wants me to count them for her. She doesn't recognize when there are too many things to count, like the same pattern repeated hundreds of times on a whole wall of wallpaper.

She also says "where" by hiding her face behind her hands... Because I played peekaboo with her by hiding my face and saying "where's mommy"...

[liberalsarecool]

Stay engaged.

[unadulteratedhideouttrash]

[trench]

'Weaponized Vehicles' Strike Again: ICE Shoots and Kills a Man in Houston

“Weaponized vehicle.” How many times have we heard that phrase after ICE puts bullet holes in an unsuspecting victim? We heard it after Renee Good. We heard it after the ICE shooting of Carlos Ivan Mendoza Hernandez. We heard it after the shooting of Ruben Ray Martinez, among others. It’s almost like it’s ICE policy to start slinging lead once a car moves a millimeter toward them. Now, we can…

'Weaponized Vehicles' Strike Again: ICE Shoots and Kills a Man in Houston

[subdee]

Another one, but this one is even less likely to get a real independent investigation because it's in Texas. Federal agents have already locked local police out of the investigation and ICE has the three eyewitnesses in the van locked up in an undisclosed location, family is afraid they will be deported before they can be interviewed. ICE is investigation ICE

Meanwhile, FBI Houston have opened an investigation... into the man who was shot and killed by ICE. Which is what they wanted to do in Renee Good's case, but couldn't because of the video evidence taken by bystanders that contradicted their story, and because six federal prosecutors in Minnesota resigned rather than take up that shameful case.

The victim in this case was Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, 52. He owned a construction business in North Houston and was driving to work.

Anyway, here's what you can do to help, via 50501.org:

Sign LULAC’s petition demanding an independent investigation and the release of all evidence such as body camera footage, surveillance video, and witness statements. Help his family’s Gofundme if you can, organized by the LULAC Institute for Lorenzo’s wife and three sons, or share it if you can’t donate to help. Call your representatives, especially if you live in Texas, and ask… 1) If they support an independent, local investigation into the killing of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo. 2) If they will demand that ICE disclose the location of the three witnesses in his van and guarantee they’re not deported before giving testimony. If you’re in Houston or know someone who is. Footage and firsthand accounts are what broke the government’s story in Minneapolis and Chicago. The Texas Tribune is taking tips securely via Signal and WhatsApp, and LULAC is offering a $5,000 reward for footage and information.

[subdee]

Updates on this story, via 50501:

The officers involved were not wearing any body cameras, and no federal video of the shooting has been released. The Harris County Medical Examiner has since ruled his death a homicide, and U.S. Rep. Sylvia Garcia says he was not even the target of the operation.The three eyewitnesses have told an attorney that ICE agents were never in danger.

On Wednesday evening, hundreds of people marched down Canal Street in Magnolia Park, chanting “ICE out of Houston” and building a memorial of candles, flowers, and handwritten notes at the spot where Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was killed. Local artist Sarah Fisher spent the day painting his portrait. U.S. Reps. Al Green, Christian Menefee, and Sylvia Garcia joined the crowd to demand a transparent investigation. This neighborhood refuses to let a him become a statistic, and their pressure is part of why multiple investigations are now underway.

Mexico announced Thursday that it will request criminal charges over the deaths of 17 Mexican citizens in ICE custody or during Trump administration immigration operations, including 14 deaths in detention and three during enforcement actions such as the killing of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo. The request carries no legal force inside the United States, but President Claudia Sheinbaum said Mexico is choosing to “move beyond diplomatic channels,” and the government will also back civil lawsuits against the private companies that operate detention centers.

[subdee]

Hello, we're one week out from Good Trouble Lives On. This is THE major national USA protest event for the month of July. US Americans check the map, check the calendar, there's likely to be something near you.

[trench]

'Weaponized Vehicles' Strike Again: ICE Shoots and Kills a Man in Houston

“Weaponized vehicle.” How many times have we heard that phrase after ICE puts bullet holes in an unsuspecting victim? We heard it after Renee Good. We heard it after the ICE shooting of Carlos Ivan Mendoza Hernandez. We heard it after the shooting of Ruben Ray Martinez, among others. It’s almost like it’s ICE policy to start slinging lead once a car moves a millimeter toward them. Now, we can…

'Weaponized Vehicles' Strike Again: ICE Shoots and Kills a Man in Houston

[subdee]

Another one, but this one is even less likely to get a real independent investigation because it's in Texas. Federal agents have already locked local police out of the investigation and ICE has the three eyewitnesses in the van locked up in an undisclosed location, family is afraid they will be deported before they can be interviewed. ICE is investigation ICE

Meanwhile, FBI Houston have opened an investigation... into the man who was shot and killed by ICE. Which is what they wanted to do in Renee Good's case, but couldn't because of the video evidence taken by bystanders that contradicted their story, and because six federal prosecutors in Minnesota resigned rather than take up that shameful case.

The victim in this case was Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, 52. He owned a construction business in North Houston and was driving to work.

Anyway, here's what you can do to help, via 50501.org:

Sign LULAC’s petition demanding an independent investigation and the release of all evidence such as body camera footage, surveillance video, and witness statements. Help his family’s Gofundme if you can, organized by the LULAC Institute for Lorenzo’s wife and three sons, or share it if you can’t donate to help. Call your representatives, especially if you live in Texas, and ask… 1) If they support an independent, local investigation into the killing of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo. 2) If they will demand that ICE disclose the location of the three witnesses in his van and guarantee they’re not deported before giving testimony. If you’re in Houston or know someone who is. Footage and firsthand accounts are what broke the government’s story in Minneapolis and Chicago. The Texas Tribune is taking tips securely via Signal and WhatsApp, and LULAC is offering a $5,000 reward for footage and information.

[liberalsarecool]

Money speaks louder in the dark. It doesn't care about precedent, the Constitution, or justice.

[subdee]

This is from propublica!

A Troubling Milestone: Most Supreme Court Rulings Are Secretive Votes With Little Justification

ProPublica conducted a new analysis that shows the court is deciding more consequential rulings than ever before in largely unsigned orders

From the article:

The modern shadow docket was born in 2016 when the Supreme Court issued an emergency stay against President Barack Obama’s Clean Power Plan, experts say. Papers obtained by The New York Times show that liberal justices at the time urged Roberts not to decide the case on an emergency basis because it broke with longtime precedent. The conservative justices, meanwhile, forcefully argued that the president’s plan would eventually be overturned by the court anyway and that it would put too much of a burden on the energy industry. Driven by its numerous losses in lower courts, the current Trump administration appeals to the emergency docket significantly more often than previous administrations, and the court has increasingly agreed to take quick action on its appeals. [For example, the] Obama and George W. Bush administrations together filed just eight petitions in 16 years. The Trump administration filed 32 in 2025 alone, an analysis by the Brennan Center for Justice found.

Propublica looked at the online court records going all the way back to 2003, and excluded traditional "interim" or "emergency" docket requests like requests for more time to file and stays of execution, to arrive at 63 cases decided on the emergency docket that would have previously been left to the normal, slower, actually accountable appeals process.

[liberalsarecool]

DOGE was a cyber attack. They looted everything. Next administration must convict.

[subdee]

It's in project 2025: replace 50,000 federal workers with loyalists. They were always going to rehire those positions.

And now that they are rehiring, they make sure "their people" get the positions by only advertising them in places where MAGA hangs out.

Then to make extra sure they only get people who put the party line over morals or facts, they make new hires take a loyalty test and answer the question "do you believe Donald Trump won the 2020 election?"

[thesewersofparis]

btw i live on nailpolish reddit nowadays

and everyone is posting their 4th of july manis

except this year its very few american flags and red white and blue and stars.

and a LOT of pond scum inspiration

[subdee]

Omg

[liberalsarecool]

The Revolution is here. It's getting bigger.

[liberalsarecool]

Gorsuch, Alito, and Thomas think the Constitution is unconstitutional because a child rapist wants to punish and traumatize children.

[subdee]

and Kavanaugh.... arguably Kavanaugh's dissent was the most dangerous one since he basically he told Republicans to change their strategy and try again.

Despite Supreme Court ruling, the battle over birthright citizenship is just beginning

“While this outcome provides welcome relief, it shows how fragile even our most foundational constitutional guarantees have become,” one imm

Kavanaugh wrote that birthright citizenship ISN'T enshrined in the 14th amendment (it is, but you need a 2/3 majority to change an amendment). Instead he says it's law because of the Supreme Court's 1898 decision in U.S. v. Wong Kim Ark.

Since that's just an ordinary law and not an amendment, a republican congress with 60 votes or no filibuster could amend the law to create exceptions to universal birthright citizenship and then the GOP could end "birthright citizenship" and it would all be legal.

And that's why Republicans are happy about the ruling today.

[liberalsarecool]

It’s worth pausing once more at the end of the day to contemplate the damage wrought by SCOTUS in its Slaughter decision today, especially since tomorrow could bring even more profoundly terrible news via the birthright citizenship ruling. A professional, independent civil service is the backbone of a functioning democracy.

If the president can fire anyone at will we will have a spoils-system government: cronyism enforced by loyalty oaths and graft. This is a terrible blow.

[subdee]

"John Roberts only cares about his investment account" and not whether the entire rest of government can function.

Project 2025 called for about 50,000 federal civil servants to be fired and replaced with Trump lackies, I wonder whether they've made their quota yet.

They cut the jobs pretending it was about shrinking the payroll, waited six months, and then quietly rehired most of the positions, but only advertised the openings in places where MAGA hangs out.

And they make all new hires take a loyalty test and answer the question "did Donald Trump win the 2020 election?" as a way to weed out anyone who cares about telling the truth & upholding democracy.

And since loyalty and willingness to repeat administration lies are the main qualifications, all these folks are soooo unqualified.

U.S. Is ‘Asleep at the Wheel’ Against Terror Threats, Former DHS Chief of Staff Says

Former Trump official turned critic Miles Taylor tells John Harwood the U.S. under Trump is less prepared to stop attacks than at any point

It is bad, real bad. Lots of agencies still have DOGE functionaries embedded in them even.

[liberalsarecool]

Elect Democratic Socialists. #DSA

[liberalsarecool]

Another reminder that proximity to white supremacy is not protection from white supremacy. Amy Coney Barrett is heartless.

[subdee]

Xpost from metafilter:

It's now on Congress to prevent an ethnic cleansing

SCOTUS gives Trump administration carte blanche to strip more than a million people of their legal status with no oversight. 

Tim Snyder warned previously of a potential ethnic cleansing in Springfield, Ohio but a judge blocked Kristi Noem from unilaterally ending temporary protected status for Haitians at that time.

Republican governor of Ohio Mike Dewine has spoken out against Supreme Court's decision to allow the administration to on a whim declare tens of thousands of legal immigrants with work papers suddenly illegal to employ and subject to forced deportations, saying Haitians in Ohio contribute positively to Springfield's economy and deporting them would be morally wrong and a mistake for Ohio and the United States. 

One-fifth of all Haitian immigrants work in healthcare, and Democratic lawmakers have warned that Ending Legal Status for Haitian Workers Would Devastate Health Care System. Overall, about 8% of all heathcare workers come from countries where the Trump administration has paused visas, changed green card rules to encourage routine denials, and is actively working to deport and denaturalize those already in the country.

There had actually been a ton of positive news out of lower courts this week, especially blocking Trump's attacks on elections and mail voting, so I knew the Supreme Court would be dropping at least one horrible decision to attack the morale of those of us in the USA who believe in law, fairness, justice, and not pursuing economically suicidal positions for the sake of racism.

[liberalsarecool]

SCIENCE WINS: A group of former National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration employees who had been fired by Elon Musk's DOGE have launched a new climate science website documenting global climate change.

The new site, climate.us, is a effectively a copy of climate.gov, the website shuttered by the Trump administration last June.

With the launch of the website, these bold climate scientists and experts—once silenced by Trump and Elon Musk—will now have a place to share insights on hurricanes and other significant weather events happening because of climate change.

Science wins. DOGE victims unite.