[sovietspacedogs]

Recently the USA stated that in the UN that it will not lift sanctions against Cuba because Cuba continues to (somehow) prove itself to be an anti-democratic society that bases itself on political repression (???), and in response the Cuban UN Twitter account went HARD

Viva Cuba 🇨🇺

[beyonslayed]

[kendallroynsfw]

[brucebocchi]

[missmentelle]

The only way we’re ever going to solve homelessness is by giving free housing to homeless people. 

Not cots in homeless shelters. Not beds in domestic violence shelters. Real, actual, permanent housing, with a door they can lock and the freedom to come and go as they please. 

It seems like a stupidly simple solution to an incredibly complicated problem, but this is the only way we’re ever going to end homelessness for good. Everything we’re doing right now is like flinging thimbles of water onto a house fire, and it’s time to call the fire department. Don’t believe me? Consider that:

Providing free housing is actually cheaper than what we’re doing right now. Even when you factor in the cost of having round-the-clock mental health staff on hand in housing facilities, giving the homeless housing costs about one-third as much as leaving them on the streets. How is that possible? People who sleep on the streets go to the hospital a whole lot more than anyone else. Being homeless is hard on your health - you are more likely to be assaulted, experience frostbite or heatstroke, or fail to manage a medical condition like diabetes. Homeless people are also more likely to get arrested for minor things like public urination or loitering, and it’s hugely expensive to arrest them, process them, put them in prison and put them through court dates. We save so much money and eliminate so many problems by just giving them somewhere to live. 

It’s extremely difficult to get a job when you don’t have an address. There’s a huge amount of prejudice against homeless people, and the same people who shout “get a job!” are the first to toss someone’s application in the trash as soon as they see “no fixed address”. Having an address also makes it easier to vote, open a bank account, keep up with your taxes and obey the terms of your probation. 

Homeless people waste a lot of time standing in line for shelters and services. Shelters have limited space available, and if you want to make sure you have a bed for the night, you need to be there long before the doors open. The same thing applies to soup kitchens. When your whole life revolves around being in line for vital services for hours on end, it’s hard to make much progress in getting your life together. Providing people with housing gives them more time and more flexibility to return to school, find jobs, or reconnect with family. 

It’s virtually impossible to manage a mental health condition or recover from addiction when you have no permanent housing. It’s just not going to happen. Recovering from a mental health issue requires stability, routine and a safe place to retreat to, which are impossible when you live on the streets. Living rough makes it extremely difficult to show up to appointments, hang on to your prescription medications and avoid trauma. It’s more efficient for everyone involved to provide housing to the mentally ill first, and bring mental health services right to their doors. 

It’s hard to make much progress in life when you can’t accumulate possessions. Think about how hard your life would be if you had no safe place to store your things. When you’re homeless and sleeping in shelters, you can only keep as much stuff as you can carry with you, and most of your energy is going to go towards keeping that stuff safe. You can’t take advantage of clothing drives, because you can’t carry too many clothes. You eat a lot of fast food, because you have nowhere to store or prepare groceries. Showing up to appointments, interviews or shifts is difficult, because you have to lug everything you own with you to ensure nothing is stolen. Having a room with a lock changes everything. 

It keeps children out of the foster system. Ending up on the streets often means losing your children - if you can’t provide children with a stable home, that’s grounds to take them away. Families fleeing domestic violence can find themselves re-traumatized when children are placed in foster care due to inadequate housing. Providing stable housing allows families to stay together and minimizes trauma for children and parents, as well as foster care costs. 

It preserves basic human dignity. It’s hard for most of us to imagine how humiliating and dehumanizing it is to be homeless. Imagine not having access to regular showers, or even toilets. Having nowhere to clean your laundry. Having your schedule dictated by a homeless shelter. Sleeping in rooms with dozens or hundreds of other people, with absolutely no privacy. Being chased out of businesses and public places. Enduring the crushing boredom of having nowhere to go. Being treated as less than human. It’s impossible to maintain hope and dignity in those conditions, and no human being should have to endure that. 

We live in a society that treats housing like something you have to “earn” by proving yourself worthy of it, and that toxic thinking has put us in a position where we’re literally willing to spend more money to have people sleeping in the streets. It has to stop. Housing is a bare minimum requirement for human dignity, and it should be a human right. Everyone deserves a safe and private space of their own, regardless of their abilities, mental health or circumstances. No one is asking for luxury condos here - dorm-style settings with private rooms and shared bathroom and kitchen facilities have proven to be effective. This isn’t about who “deserves” housing; if you are a human being, you deserve a safe place to call home. 

[seranine]

“scratch a transphobe and a misogynist bleeds”

siobhan o'leary gives us a brilliant deconstruction of transphobia, and transmisogyny specifically

Source: https://twitter.com/siobhanftb/status/1020309083423821825?s=21

[transgirlpinup]

This is some scalding hot fucking tea and I’m here for it.

[lesbeet]

you can try to defend the beauty industry all you want but aside from that video of the girl chemically burning the shit out of her face on purpose to make a “permanent contour” i also know women in my life who have gotten their eyebrows and their eyeliner tattooed on (respectively) simply because they thought it was a better alternative than applying them onto their faces every single day for the rest of their lives or risk being judged/ridiculed/punished by society

like think of how delicate the skin of the eye is where your eyeliner goes. imagine getting a fucking tattoo there. imagine thinking that pain is worth it because you feel so doomed to wearing makeup and yet so exhausted by the sheer idea of putting it on every day for the rest of your life

one of these women is my grandmother and the other is my aunt’s grandmother, and both of them have explicitly told me that they regret getting these tattoos, and neither of them got them redone when they eventually faded, years and years later. this isn’t a matter of “they love makeup and it helps them express themselves so let them do what they want!” it’s a matter of desperation, of resignation to the constraints and expectations of a society that wants women to look fuckable at literally all costs, even if it means undergoing significant, and even permanent, physical harm.

“beauty is pain” is just another (condescending) way of saying “your priority should be your looks, not your personal well-being” and no amount of loving makeup as a hobby and form of self-expression is going to make that stop being true

[kitty]

[lore-54352452524-deactivated201]

masterpost

[shesnake]

Appropriate Behavior (2014) dir. Desiree Akhavan

[henriscavills]

Do you believe in the existence of witches ?

Suspiria (1977) dir. Dario Argento

[shimmerangels-deactivated201804]

[chainsawpunk]

[urmotheratemydog]

a list of horror films directed by women: The Love Witch (dir. Anna Biller, 2016)

[fatmanatee]

[cenkrett]

The quietly desperate work culture of “I hate Mondays”, “thank god it’s Friday”, “working for the weekend”, and similar nonsense is deeply disgusting, and I hate that it’s seen as normal.  We are burning away 70% of our lives waiting for the 30% where we can recuperate from work and actually live for a little while.  This is absolutely not the way life is supposed to be.  This is obscene.

[unclefather]

[workingclasshistory]

On this day, 2 May 1967, a group of Black Panthers armed with rifles and shotguns marched into the California State Capitol protesting against a gun control bill which was targeting them. To fight police violence and harassment against African-Americans, the Panthers used radios to listen to police calls, then members would attend scenes of arrest with law books and openly carrying shotguns – which was legal – and advise arrestees of their constitutional rights. To stop this self defence against the police, authorities brought in the Mulford Bill – dubbed the “Panther Bill” by the media – to ban the open carrying of loaded firearms in public. The National Rifle Association supported Republican governor Ronald Reagan in signing the legislation. More info about the racist application of US gun control laws here: https://ift.tt/2jnlWW3 https://ift.tt/2FBekYG

[smallwelshmonastery-deactivated]

I honestly feel a bit bad if i give my cat too many looks-based compliments. like what if i discourage her from pursuing a career in STEM