Rise Up, Oh Heart, For There is Another Battle to Win

Starlight or Star, chronically ill, genderfluid, any pronouns work  (older posts might have other nicknames used) Also I have an AO3!

[langernameohnebedeutung]

Schism? Schism today?

[langernameohnebedeutung]

🍿

[turuin]

Wow, I didn't have "catholic schism" on my 2026 bingo card

[mygogglesdosomething]

Schism today

[epersonae]

Actually, let me add some context

There are several groups of traditionalist Catholics that have been pissed since something called Vatican 2, which updated a bunch of practices and official positions, and one group of those is called The Society of Saint Pius X. Their leader was excommunicated in 1988 for making bishops (?) without permission.

Those bishops are now hella old, so they decided to make some more, and the pope said that was automatic excommunication. (excommunication matters both as a matter of theology (sacraments performed aren't valid) and economics (the church stops giving them money, can take back property, etc))

Pope said don't, and they did, and now: schism?????

Apparently they claim not to be sedevacantists ("pope's not valid"), but idek what else you would call this.

Article from the Vatican press office (calling them Lefebvrians is apparently itself a diss, as that is the name of the founder and emphasizes the cult of personality aspect)

Excellent bluesky thread liveblogging the consecration (must be logged in, I think? Screenshots are highlights)

Tl;dr, from the replies to that thread

[dykerory]

once again i have to say that the letter from the vatican makes it very clear that this is a christian hate group. they explicitly reject vatican 2, a series of doctrines meant to update the church's relationship with its body and the rest of the world. When the letter says that SSSX is disagreeing with the church's "understanding of and relationship to judaism", they mean that SSSX believes the antisemitic myth that jews killed jesus and ought to be held responsible for it.

in my opinion, the catholic church does not get credit for this change in policy, as it was only made in 1962 after literal CENTURIES of jewish persecution and oppression. However this is not a "root for the underdog" situation- the schismers are an extremist conservatives and should be called as such.

[derinthescarletpescatarian]

[liberalsarecool]

"That’s what makes Zohran Mamdani’s election in New York so unsettling to the old order. New York City is not just another municipality; it’s a sovereign-scale entity. Its population surpasses 38 states. Its metropolitan GDP trails only Texas and California.

It is, by any metric, a small country masquerading as a city.

It governs more lives and more wealth than most nations. If democratic socialism — housing reform, public banking, equitable taxation — functions here, it obliterates the myth that such governance can’t work at scale. The fear isn’t ideological. It’s empirical. Because if Mamdani can keep the lights on, reduce homelessness, and maintain economic growth without catering to Wall Street, then the capitalist gospel collapses under its own dead weight.

What terrifies the establishment isn’t failure. It’s feasibility.

If it works in New York, there’s no reason it can’t work in Nebraska. If it works in Queens, it can work in Kansas City. And once proof exists, belief becomes irrelevant. The ship of democracy, fully refitted, will keep sailing — and no one can claim it isn’t American."

- Jackie Summers

[skodasforge]

On April 4, 1841, William Henry Harrison, our 9th POTUS, became shortest serving President in US history by dying in office from pneumonia wildly believed to be have been caused by his decision to give a two hour inaugural address in the pouring rain without a coat or hat. Just a fun fact unrelated to this tweet.

[visenyaism]

Important question

Fuck icemaker, marry in-unit laundry, kill dishwasher

Fuck in-unit laundry, marry icemaker, kill dishwasher

Fuck dishwasher, marry in-unit laundry, kill icemaker

Fuck in-unit laundry, marry dishwasher, kill icemaker

Fuck dishwasher, marry icemaker, kill in-unit laundry

Remaining time: 6 days 3 hours

[special-lucky-chosen-one]

me as a kid reading Dune: I appreciate the detailed world-building that justifies why everyone fights with swords and has mental powers, but the idea of a Butlerian Jihad against computers is pretty silly

me in 2025, trying desperately to find the three (3) places you need to go to to disable the latest helpful AI assistant that's inserted itself into my work chat and is advising me to do things that would be a breach of federal law: Oh Now I Get It

[stahsm]

Overlock Stitch by @clothes_reetzy

[thatisuseful]

Damn, that's useful

[fluidstatick]

Finally a hand sewing tutorial on a hemline that isn't just the ladder stitch! the ladder stitch disappears when you tighten it, but it's not meant for hemlines because it breaks really easily! The overlock stitch is more stable, so it holds much longer, and it won't pucker or warp the fabric!

[penny-anna]

this is not an original observation but i really do think so many of BBC Merlin's problems stemmed not from bad politics but from the fact that it was trying to be Arthurian Smallville

[penny-anna]

SO i confess i have not seen Smallville but the consensus seems to be that it's a solid, competently written television show. BBC Merlin is, um. Not That.

here is the first of the show's major Smallvillisms:

okay so in Smallville the fact that Clark Kent has superpowers is a secret. I cannot speak for Smallville in particular but Clark Kent keeping his powers a secret generally works for audiences bcos 1) it is a core element of the Superman narrative. if he was just publicly Superman that would feel weird and jarring. 2) Clark Kent is a nice and good boy and we understand that he is keeping his secret with the best of intentions

the secret superpowers angle is completely foreign to the Arthurian mythos however; in fact it's kind of the opposite of the usual deal with Merlin as a character? but they wanted to do Young Merlin with a Clark Kent thing going on. OK. now they need a reason why his magic is a secret.

uhh it's bcos they made magic illegal. who made magic illegal? the king. not Arthur obviously. different king. we want to keep the whole Camelot/royal court aspect tho so instead of doing the usual King Arthur backstory he's just uhh normal prince. and magic is illegal bcos it killed his mother. okay now we're cooking with gas. but obviously we want the villains to mostly be other magic users for Merlin to fight. why are these other magic users trying to Get Arthur? well they are mad that his father banned magic. and Merlin has to protect Arthur bcos he's going to be King Arthur one day and save the land. so Merlin's gotta explode all the other magic users. he gotta!!

it never really works partly bcos it's just not an established Arthurian Thing and also bcos it renders basically everything Merlin does extremely sketchy? I don't think it's inherently a problem that he's a morally dubious protagonist (if anything Merlin is kind of traditionally a little bit evil) but the show wants him to be a Good Boy like Clark Kent and frames him as such even though he keeps blowing up other magic users with legitimate grievances. its very strange!!

[penny-anna]

which brings me to the second big Smallvillism:

Morgana has THAT arc bcos Smallville has a whole thing where Lex Luthor and Clark Kent are childhood friends.

i re-iterate that I haven't seen Smallville but I imagine Lex being the guy in the friend group who is going to turn out evil works bcos Lex Luthor's whole thing is that he's an asshole rich white man. definitely possible to do a character like that who's sympathetic whilst still having it ring true for the audience that they're just gonna be a bad guy.

and like they maybe COULD have made this work with Morgana? but here i suppose we do get into the straight up just bad politics, doing Morgan Le Fay but she's Lex Luthor would maybe involve leaning into the privilege she has as a noblewoman (effectively a princess) but instead they just u know victimised her over and over and then when she snaps and starts exploding people it's like wow Morgana i can't believe you're evil now. stop exploding people Morgana. only Merlin is allowed to explode people.

it's like, i don't know. they didn't realise they couldn't just go directly from s1-2 Morgana (was end of s2 the switch? I forget) to 'oh she's just evil now' without it being really weird and jarring? they didn't realise that a female character could have motives for being evil that didn't revolve around all the men in her life abusing her?

but like im hesitant to even come down on it too hard for being sexist (even tho it was) bcos first and foremost its just stupid. wym she's just evil now. you didn't earn that at all. what are you DOING.

[pettycentral]

[mostlymadbrewing]

I forget there’s a punchline every time. Absolutely delighted.

[mini-wrants]

Outdoor in sun perfec t place for president to do speech! Outdoor very warm very soft put old man on green lawn under sun. Put old man in warm sun. no problem ever in warm sun because good view and audience can see long speech. Nice podium outdoor sunny perfect place for old president can trust warm sun to give nice view to President good luck to President. friend sun.

[dissociatingdumbass]

[goldcrescent]

lmfao I just saw zohran doing the inaugural swim in a full suit and tie, the schtick genuinely gets funnier the more he does it. My only complaint is should have worn swim trunks OVER the suit

[goldcrescent]

Can you guess which of these people is the mayor

[poolboydivision]

x

[sunspotpony]

Here’s a community reminder that the New York Post is owned by Rupert Murdoch, owner of Fox News, and is generally considered to be an arm of the far right’s propaganda machine.

They just do a slightly better job of pretending they’re centrist or liberal than Fox News, because their goal is not to sway conservatives, but to sway everyone to the left of the far right.

[redstonedust]

some people like to get mad at disability benefits because they think its unfair people who dont work get a payout from the government while they have to work 50 hours at the human suffering factory every week. but if you tell them "yeah that sucks i think you should also get a universal allowance and not have to work 50 hours at the human suffering factory every week" thats apparently the wrong answer.

[cardiacanes]

ilya asks shane inane questions all thetime like ilya asks shane what kind of bug he would be and shane says he would be a shiny beetle because he’s so fashionable

[maggotsandcream]

Something I do find lovely about the first 4 Murderbot Diaries books (can’t yet speak on all of them) is:

Murderbot chronically finding new scientists/travellers to claim as “clients” (whether paid or not) like one of those sheepless herding dogs that goes around finding sheep (or anything else they can herd like a flock of sheep). Like it clearly has a protect humans instinct and a desperate need for enrichment.

Given its general lack of self awareness and unreliable narrator status, there’s no way in hell Murderbot is aware it’s doing this.

[silas-lehnsherr]

Murderbot: I just want to be left alone to watch my shows. I care nothing for these humans. I hate having clients.

Also Murderbot: *noticing unaccompanied humans that have nothing to do with it at all* Oh look, clients.

[refurbishedconstruct]

a rogue SecUnit will see a group of scientists and be like “is anyone going to protect them?” and not wait for an answer

[wizardarchetypes]

it's crazy 2 me that every time i'm like "the existence of bugs is vital to the very fabric of reality as we know it. if we do not prioritize protect & value bugs, if we lose bugs, the entire world goes with them"

people in the comments will be like "okay but we could at least get rid of ticks and mosquitos because those spread disease."

we actually CANNOT get rid of ticks and mosquitos. not only do we plain lack the technology to lead a pointed extermination effort against them specifically without taking a score of other species down with them, but if we developed that technology and did eradicate mosquitos and ticks, it would be the catalyst of utter ecological collapse the likes of which i think people are not quite comprehending.

the problem is not the existence of bugs. the problem is that our current global systems ensure that specific Peoples in specific places are disproportionately impacted by zoonoses (illness spread between animals and humans).

those same populations also disproportionately lack access to preventative tools & PPE (down to things many of us take for granted so simply as effective bug spray), and crucially access to medical treatment.

the goal should not be an eradicating effort against bugs which would quite literally collapse entire ecosystems, but equitable access to healthcare, investment in medical research to improve preventative and acute treatment for zoonoses, and the destruction of systems which are currently rapidly increasing the threat of zoonoses worldwide (climate change!)

i am not defending the existence of bugs because i think they're cute and because i don't care about the devastating suffering zoonoses cause millions and millions of people.

the point is that the eradication of these species would likewise cause devastation and suffering, but the tools, the money, the minds, the research, the science ALL exist to actually change the world for the better through global public health systems, but it's all being strangulated by imperial fucking systems which have been and continue to destroy everything!

[the-overthinktank]

this pet adoption database has insane website design choices