Tom Hardy and a Puppy Talk About Odd Pieces

image of actor Tom Hardy and a grey pit bull puppy licking its nose, standing on a Hawaiian beach with a rainbow arcing across the sky above them

"Tom," said the puppy, licking its nose, "do you ever think that it's strange that we're such good friends, what with you being a human fella and me being a puppy and all?"

And Tom said, "No, puppy, I don't think it's strange. I remember my friend Liss telling me a story once about her grandmother Mil, who was a passionate jigsaw-puzzler, with hundreds of the things crookedly lining overstuffed shelves in her cellar. Mil always kept a card table with a semi-completed puzzle on its top which she would carry from room to room, so she could do her puzzles while cooking dinner, and later while watching re-runs of Fawlty Towers. Sometimes her puzzles would have an extra piece that didn't go anywhere; the puzzle would be done, but there would be this one odd piece. It was almost always a middle piece, instead of an edge, so it wasn't until the puzzle was complete that the odd piece out revealed itself. Mil kept these odd pieces, throwing them all into an old canister, as if one day, perhaps, they'd all make a puzzle of their own."

Tom continued: "When Liss was maybe six, she tried putting all of her grandmother's odd puzzle pieces together. Mil told her: 'If you stick those together, they might not come apart, because they weren't designed to fit.' And Mil was right. They were tough to connect together, but even tougher to break apart. I think some people and puppies are like that. Odd pieces. Struggling a bit with making connections, which can be brutal — watching the beauty of connection lay itself across the faces of people to whom it comes so easily, over and over, and always just out of your reach. But once we connect, in our odd way, we stick."

And the puppy said, "I like being an odd piece. I'm glad you're an odd piece, too, Tom."

And Tom said, "So am I, puppy."

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The End of This Road

When I left on hiatus a few weeks ago, I had every intention of coming back after an extended break. I thought there might be a possibility the break would need to extend longer than I had anticipated, but I expected it would end at some point. That I would feel better and be able to get back to the work I love.

But it's become clear during my time away that I have reached the end of this road, and I don't want to delay having to tell you the inevitable. After nearly 15 years, exactly one-third of my life, I am moving on from Shakesville.

The thing is, I am feeling somewhat better. I have days without cluster headaches now. The incidents of vertigo have diminished a bit. My hair has stopped falling out in clumps. My infamous garbage gut is noticeably less garbagey. I'm not constantly on the verge of a panic attack. These are all great things! I am so happy about them! But I am also painfully aware that these improvements have only happened because I stepped away from this work.

That's a message I can't ignore. And although I'm not one for signs, my laptop died yesterday as I sat down to open the blog dashboard for the first time in weeks. Welp.

I love this community. I love writing for you. I love the research and the silly photoshops and crafting nerdy political jokes. I love talking about our individual lived experiences and learning from you. I love helping people find and access resources, or figure out a tough problem, in private communications. I love seeing pictures of your faces, your kids, your pets. I love making you laugh, and I love how often you make me laugh.

I don't love the nature of the content about which I've been writing, especially these last couple of years. But even that would be tolerable, if it weren't for everything else that I am obliged to navigate as part of being a fat feminist woman writing in public. I don't need to recount it. You've seen enough to know that it is a steep cost, and it turns out that even I have limits. I have reached them.

The truth is that I reached them a long time ago, and I stayed far longer than I should have, and now I'm paying the price with both my psychological and physical health.

So I'm going to go take care of myself. I don't know what's next after that. I'm frankly pretty scared, because I've been doing this for a long time and it's a huge part of who I am. It is very difficult to let go.

I am endlessly grateful to all the people who have been kind and generous to me over the years. I have made so many amazing friends. I can't put into words how much the moderators and contributors mean to me. There aren't words big enough. They are extraordinary people, and I am lucky to know them.

I am abundantly thankful for Iain, who encouraged me to start this blog and is now encouraging me to take the time I need to get well. He has been my champion and has had my back. He has taken every risk with me. This community owes him a lot. I owe him a lot. I love him like whoa.

I feel like there is so much more to say, and that I could never say everything I want to.

This is so hard.

So I will just get to the practical stuff.

I disabled my Twitter account when I went on leave, and I'm not going to reactivate it. It's not a healthy place for me, and I feel much better for not looking at it.

I will be disabling my Patreon — which, yes, I just started, lolsob; I really wasn't planning on quitting! You will need to cancel your PayPal subscriptions. (I can't cancel them for you.) If anyone who made a donation since July 16 while I've been on break would like a refund, please email me and I will make sure to return your donation promptly.

Also email me if you just want to keep in touch!

Naturally, please feel welcome to organize in comments if someone wants to set up a new community space.

Shakesville will stand as an archive. And because I don't want this sad post to sit at the top of the page forever, I will, in a week or so, republish one of my favorite all-time posts, which will greet you anytime you stop by for a visit in future.

(I'll leave as a surprise which one it is.)

I don't know how to end this post. Y'all mean so much to me. I hope this place and I have meant something to you. I did my best.

Open Wide...

Open Thread

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Hosted by a purple sofa. Have a seat and chat.

[Note: Liss is currently on hiatus for health reasons. There will be an Open Thread scheduled every Monday while she is away.]

Open Wide...

Open Thread

image of a purple sofa

Hosted by a purple sofa. Have a seat and chat.

[Note: Liss is currently on hiatus for health reasons. There will be an Open Thread scheduled every Monday while she is away.]

Open Wide...

Open Thread

image of a purple sofa

Hosted by a purple sofa. Have a seat and chat.

[Note: Liss is currently on hiatus for health reasons. There will be an Open Thread scheduled every Monday while she is away.]

Open Wide...

Open Thread

image of a purple sofa

Hosted by a purple sofa. Have a seat and chat.

[Note: Liss is currently on hiatus for health reasons. There will be an Open Thread scheduled every Monday while she is away.]

Open Wide...

Open Thread

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Hosted by a red sofa. Have a seat and chat.

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Taking a Break

As most of you know, it's been a rough couple of years for me personally, on top of the stuff we talk about here every day, and my health has not been great.

I have been dealing with — and trying to get to the bottom of — intermittent vertigo for several years now, and cluster headaches for the past year. I've been to countless doctors' appointments, ended up in the ER, haven't been able to drive for so long that we finally just sold my car, and have taken some pretty bad spills.

Many days, I am writing with excruciating pain from the cluster headaches, and I've not wanted to let any of it become debilitating, but it's reached the point where it just is, no matter what I want.

I was planning to take an extended break in August, because that tends to be the quietest news month of the year — not that there is any quiet time for news in the Trump Era. But I've hit a wall, so I'm going to have to move that date up.

Starting tonight, I'm going to take a long break with an eye toward returning September 3.

I am hoping that some extended time off will lead to improvements, or help with isolating the cause of one or both ailments, or I don't even know what, to be honest. I'm just hoping that something gives.

If things don't improve, I will let you know.

I apologize that I won't be around to cover the primary for awhile, including the Democratic debates later this month, or anything else that happens in the interim, for that matter, but I need to take care of myself.

While I'm away, I will schedule a weekly Open Thread each Monday, which the other mods have kindly offered to moderate, so you'll still have space to meet and talk.

See you as soon as I can.

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What I'm Reading Now

A thread for sharing what we're currently reading: Fiction, nonfiction, novels, short stories, historical fiction, biographies, romance, fanfic, comic books, graphic novels, longform journalism, research papers, stuff for pleasure, stuff for work, whatever.

Still working on what I was reading last time: The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma. I'm not getting through it quickly, in part because I just haven't had the energy to read for pleasure, and, yes, I am aware of the implicit irony there.

What are you reading now?

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National Press Largely Fails to Cover Pro-Immigrant Protests

[Content Note: Nativism.]

Earlier this month, I noted the lack of national coverage of protests around the U.S. against the Trump Regime's immigration horrors. There were lots of local news stories, but a dearth of coverage in national media outlets, including cable news.

I noted at the time: "The next time you see someone snorting about how people in the U.S. aren't 'out in the streets,' tell them that people are out in the streets. The more urgent question is why our national press doesn't cover it."

Last weekend, Lights for Liberty organized more than 700 events and/or vigils across the nation, often in coalition with local organizers like Pennsylvania's Shut Down Berks Coalition or national groups like Never Again Action, in protest of Donald Trump's vile nativist agenda.

More than 700 protests.

And virtually all of the news coverage is, once again, local media. The biggest story I could find was this item in USA Today, which was still just a piece on the local D.C. vigil, mentioning only in passing that it was part of nationwide protests numbering in the hundreds.

Today, Never Again Action is "shutting down every entry point to the Department of Homeland Security, the agency that is responsible for this terror against the immigrant community."


This should be front-page news. It should be leading the headlines on cable networks. Instead, I only know about it at all because I'm on Twitter and have friends on Twitter who are following these actions, too.

Maybe you are only hearing about it here for the first time. That shouldn't be the case.

There are people around this country who are writing who are tweeting who are chanting who are marching in solidarity with migrants and refugees being detained in deplorable conditions at facilities at the southern border and elsewhere; who are resisting this regime's heinous nativist policies of purposeful malice. And the political press is virtually silent.

We are meant instead to be debating whether Donald Trump is really a racist.

There could be no more insulting obfuscation and distraction as people demand justice and relief from his white supremacist agenda.

Look for stories in your local news. Share them. Raise awareness of this resistance. Find ways to participate, if you are able and feel safe doing so.

If the national press won't make any noise, then we must.

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World of Shakescraft

image of colorful yarn
[Via Shirsty Cat Designs. You can buy their beautiful yarn here.]

As you know, I am not a crafty person. I am terrible at crafts! And I'm only slightly better with DIY home projects, with the occasional modest success.

But lots of Shakers are very talented crafters and DIY-ers, and I am happy to read about all of your terrific projects! So here is a thread to talk about your current crafting and/or DIY project(s), completed projects, or future projects; to share ideas; to brag about your successes or lament your setbacks; and to solicit advice from fellow creators!

(As always, make sure you don't offer advice unless it's solicited.)

Have at it in comments!

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Daily Dose of Cute

image of Dudley the Greyhound lying at the top of the stairs, looking at me, with one ear poking up
Ear.

As always, please feel welcome and encouraged to share pix of the fuzzy, feathered, or scaled members of your family in comments.

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We Resist: Day 908

a black bar with the word RESIST in white text

One of the difficulties in resisting the Trump administration, the Republican Congressional majority, and Republican state legislatures (plus the occasional non-Republican who obliges us to resist their nonsense, too, like we don't have enough to worry about) is keeping on top of the sheer number of horrors, indignities, and normalization of the aggressively abnormal that they unleash every single day.

So here is a daily thread for all of us to share all the things that are going on, thus crowdsourcing a daily compendium of the onslaught of conservative erosion of our rights and our very democracy.

Stay engaged. Stay vigilant. Resist.

* * *

Late yesterday and earlier today by me: Nancy Pelosi, Please Do Something Real and Feeling the Heat and Primarily Speaking.

Here are some more things in the news today...

The President of the United States tweeted this today: "'Billionaire Tech Investor Peter Thiel believes Google should be investigated for treason. He accuses Google of working with the Chinese Government.' @foxandfriends A great and brilliant guy who knows this subject better than anyone! The Trump Administration will take a look!" Trump has previously accused Google, among others, of news- and election-rigging against him, so now announcing his administration "will take a look" at investigating them for treason is extremely chilling.

Caitlyn Byrd at the Post and Courier: Mark Sanford, SC Republican, Former U.S. Rep, Considers Presidential Run Against Trump. "Mark Sanford, the former South Carolina congressman ousted from office after [Donald] Trump urged voters to reject him, is considering a run for president. Sanford, in an exclusive interview Tuesday with The Post and Courier, confirmed he will take the next month to formulate whether he will mount a potential run against Trump as a way of pushing a national debate about America's mounting debt, deficit, and government spending. He would run as a Republican." Oh for fuck's sake.

Danielle McLean at ThinkProgress: Democrats Sue over a Florida Law That Puts Trump's Name Ahead of Rivals on the 2020 Ballot. "The Democratic Party and civil rights groups in Florida are suing over a number of state laws meant to suppress the votes of people of color and give Republicans an edge in the state, which has had numerous whisker-close elections in its recent past. This latest legal challenge, filed by Florida voters and several Democratic groups last year at U.S. District Court in Tallahassee, seeks to end a nearly 70-year-old law mandating that candidates belonging to the governor's political party be listed first on the ballot. A four-day federal court trial began in the case on Monday."

[Content Note: Police brutality; death; racism] Matt Zapotosky and Devlin Barrett at the Washington Post: Justice Department Will Not Charge Police in Connection with Eric Garner's Death.
The Justice Department will not bring federal charges against any police officers involved in the death of Eric Garner, a 43-year-old Black man whose recorded takedown in New York in 2014 helped coin a rallying cry for those concerned about law enforcement's treatment of minorities, two people familiar with the matter said.

For Garner's supporters, the decision is a disappointing — albeit long expected — end to a case that had languished for years as various components of the Justice Department disagreed about what to do.

At a news conference Tuesday, Gwen Carr said the Justice Department had "failed us," and called on the New York City police commissioner to fire the officer who was caught on video wrapping his arm around Garner’s neck before he died.

"Five years ago, my son said, 'I can't breathe' 11 times, and today we can't breathe, because they have let us down," Carr said.
Rage. Seethe. Sob.


[CN: War on agency; anti-choicery] AP at the Guardian: Trump Administration to Ban Abortion Referrals at Taxpayer-Funded Clinics. "Taxpayer-funded family planning clinics must stop referring women for abortions immediately, the Trump administration has announced, declaring it will begin enforcing a new regulation hailed by religious conservatives and denounced by medical organizations and women's rights groups. The head of a national umbrella group representing the clinics said the Republican administration is following 'an ideological agenda' that could disrupt basic health care for many low-income women." FUCKING GODDAMMIT.

* * *

[Content Note: Nativism; abuse. Covers entire section.]

Ginger Thompson at ProPublica: A Border Patrol Agent Reveals What It's Really Like to Guard Migrant Children. "Referring back to the grim conditions inside the Border Patrol holding centers, [the Border Patrol agent] said: 'Somewhere down the line people just accepted what's going on as normal. That includes the people responsible for fixing the problems.' ...Most of his colleagues, he said, fall into one of two camps. There are the 'law-and-order types' who see the immigrants in their custody, as, first and foremost, criminals. Then, he said, there are those who are 'just tired of all the chaos' of a broken immigration system and 'see no end in sight.'"


Kate Morrissey of the San Diego Union-Tribune at Stars and Stripes: Customs and Border Protection Denies Marine Corps Veteran Entry for Scheduled Citizenship Interview. "A deported Marine Corps veteran who has been unable to come back to the U.S. for more than a decade was denied entry to the country Monday morning when he asked to be let in for a scheduled citizenship interview. Roman Sabal, 58, originally from Belize, came to the San Ysidro Port of Entry around 7:30 on Monday morning with an attorney to ask for 'parole' to attend his naturalization interview scheduled for a little before noon in downtown San Diego. Border officials have the authority to temporarily allow people into the country on parole for 'humanitarian or significant public benefit' reasons." He was denied entry.


This is hell on earth.

* * *

I'll wrap it up with some good news...

[CN: Death penalty] Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg at the Appeal: Philadelphia D.A. Asks Court to Declare Death Penalty System Unconstitutional.
Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner — who vowed as a candidate not to seek the death penalty — has asked the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to declare that the sentence, as applied, violates the state's Constitution.

"Because of the arbitrary manner in which it has been applied, the death penalty violates our state Constitution's prohibition against cruel punishments," states a brief filed by Krasner's office tonight in the case Jermont Cox v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

"It really is not about the worst offenders," Krasner told The Appeal. "It really is about poverty. It really is about race."

The new brief is part of a broader push that started last August, when lawyers representing Cox and another death row prisoner, Kevin Marinelli, asked the state Supreme Court to weigh in on Pennsylvania's use of the death penalty.

"Pennsylvania administers a system of capital punishment that is replete with error, a national outlier in its design, and a mirror for the inequities and prejudices that plague American society," lawyers for Cox and Marinelli wrote to the court in February.
Fingers crossed that another state will soon outlaw the death penalty.

What have you been reading that we need to resist today?

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Good Things

image that is a nondescript light, glimmery background on which I've added text reading GOOD THINGS'

One of the ways we resist the demoralization and despair in which exploiters of fear like Trump thrive is to keep talking about the good things in our lives.

Because, even though it feels very much (and rightly so) like we are losing so many things we value, there are still daily moments of joy or achievement or love or empowering ferocity or other kinds of fulfillment.

Maybe you've experienced something big worth celebrating; maybe you've just had a precious moment of contentment; maybe getting out of bed this morning was a success worthy of mention.

News items worth celebrating are also welcome.

So, whatever you have to share that's good, here's a place to do it.

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Primarily Speaking

image of a cartoon version of me wearing a large foam finger pointed upward at 'Let's do this thing,' pictured in front of a patriotic stars-and-stripes graphic, to which I've added text reading: 'The Democratic Primary 2020: Let's do this thing.'

Welcome to another edition of Primarily Speaking, because presidential primaries now begin fully one million years before the election!

I'm going to start off with some cute stuff today, because who doesn't need some cute stuff, right?!

1. Outtakes of Senator Cory Booker recording messages to his supporters:


[Video Description: Various clips of Booker looking into the camera and stumbling over his words, stammering and making funny expressions and laughing.]

I especially like that big belly laugh at 0:30!

2. Senator Elizabeth Warren had some fun in Philly, and the really cute part is that photo of her shaking hands with a little girl who is looking very serious about the opportunity to speak to a presidential candidate! OMG my heart.

3. Former HUD Secretary Julián Castro melted my heart by refusing to hold a baby. Yes, you read that right! He didn't want to get the baby sick after he'd been shaking hands all day. COME ON. That's too sweet!


I hope he's as good a dad as that makes me think he must be!

* * *

And now to the decidedly less cute news...

[Content Note: Nativism; racism] I probably haven't read all 200 candidates' responses to Donald Trump's reprehensible racism directed at sitting members of Congress, but the best of the ones I've seen was Julian Castro's, for its needed and deserved bluntness: "Everybody knows that the president acts like a white supremacist. He is a racist; he's made that clear on so many different occasions. ...The question is: What are we as Americans going to do about this?"

Joe Biden and Senator Bernie Sanders tied for the worst responses.

Although Biden at least did say plainly that Trump's statements were "a flat, racist attack," he then suggested that Trump "should go home." How helpful! I bet he'll definitely do that!

Sanders meanwhile just decided to use it as a fundraising opportunity, because of course he did. His tweet contains a donation link and text reading: "I've said all along that Trump is a racist. He is proving that point yet again by attacking Reps. @IlhanMN, @RashidaTlaib, @AyannaPressley, and @AOC. Split a contribution between their campaigns and ours to send a message that his racism will not stand."

Split a contribution between their campaigns and ours. JFC.

* * *

Senator Kamala Harris is making the case that issues affecting women of color are universal issues about which we should all care:
When Kamala Harris thinks about the range of issues that impact women of color — the gender pay gap, the lack of access to affordable housing, and America's high maternal mortality rate for black mothers, among other things — the California senator says she sees universal concerns over the economy, home ownership, and healthcare.

It's a point Harris plans to make Tuesday in Davenport when she joins several women of color at a round-table co-hosted by a local chapter of LULAC, the nation's oldest Latino civil rights organization.

"These are issues that we should all care about," the Democratic presidential candidate told the Des Moines Register. "Where we, as a nation, stand on these issues is a reflection of our collective identity."

..."I really credit the leaders of Iowa for understanding that regardless of what might be the majority population or demographics of the state, that anything that impacts anyone impacts all of us," she said.
[CN: Nativism] Senator Elizabeth Warren is tweeting about Trump's move to end asylum for Central Americans: "This is another targeted, xenophobic attack from the Trump administration. As president, I'll reinstate TPS designations and Deferred Enforced Departure to protect those at risk back in their home countries, including migrants from Central America."

Senator Cory Booker is also tweeting about that move, noting: "This is as illegal as it is immoral." [CN: Violence] He's also remembering Sadie Roberts-Joseph, the Baton Rouge civil rights leader who was found murdered: "Sadie Roberts-Joseph was a pillar of the Baton Rouge community as a civil rights leader and activist who will be missed by so many. I hope and pray for swift justice. As we mourn her loss we must honor her life by continuing her work."

Joe Biden says he'll challenge Trump to some push-ups: "'If [Donald] Trump makes of fun of his age or questions his mental state during a debate, Joe Biden has a response at the ready: He'll challenge him to do push-ups on stage,' the Washington Post reports. Said Biden: 'I'd say, 'C'mon Donald, c'mon man. How many push-ups do you want to do here, pal?' I mean, jokingly. ...C'mon, run with me, man.'" NOPE.


Biden also says of Nancy Pelosi, who inexplicably believes that a meaningless resolution condemning Trump's racism is enough while he's torturing children in concentration camps: "I think she's doing a masterful job. I have great respect for her." Noted.

[CN: Racism; police brutality] The white police officer who fatally shot a Black man last month in Mayor Pete Buttigieg's town of South Bend, Indiana, has quit his job, with the police union president attributing the resignation to "job-related stress, a lawsuit, and national media attention. He said 'hateful things said on social media have been difficult' for the officer and his family. Mills said the 'fights' over the killing are 'just too much for Sgt. O'Neill and his family to undertake right now,' and added: 'Resigning will allow him to focus on these challenges, as well as assist his wife with their three children.'" I would like to know if Buttigieg had any role in orchestrating O'Neill's resignation.

In fundraising news, Beto O'Rourke's fundraising is falling off, and Castro "had the highest rate of donations under $200 of any 2020 candidate. No PAC money, no corporate PAC or lobbyist money — this campaign is driven by grassroots support."

John Delaney is still definitely running for president.

Talk about these things! Or don't. Whatever makes you happy. Life is short.

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Feeling the Heat

[Content Note: Climate crisis.]

This sobering headline is as blunt as the subject deserves: Climate Change Will Kill Us with Heat If Nothing Is Done to Fix It, Study Says.

Naturally, anyone who has been paying the slightest bit of attention to the increasingly urgent warnings from climate scientists isn't shocked by that headline, but if you're nonetheless horrified by it, you're certainly not alone. The findings of this latest study are dire.

The number of dangerously hot days per year will skyrocket this century if little or nothing is done about climate change, putting millions of Americans at risk.

Those are the findings released today by the Union of Concerned Scientists in their report, "Killer Heat in the United States: Climate Choices and the Future of Dangerously Hot Days."

The group says climate change is already manifesting itself in the form of deadlier storms, rising sea levels, droughts, wildfires, and floods, but the heat extremes forecast in their analysis of the rest of the 21st Century shows an intensity of heat that will affect the daily lives of more Americans than ever before.

..."We must act decisively to cut heat-trapping emissions to defend ourselves against a gravely hot future," the group warns. "By cutting emissions quickly and deeply, we can slow global warming and limit the increase in the number of extremely hot days."

When the heat index is above 90, outdoor workers are more susceptible to heat-related illnesses. Over 100 degrees, children, the elderly, and pregnant women are at risk. Above 105, anyone could be at risk of heat-related illness or death from prolonged exposure, according to the study.

If no action is taken to address climate change, broad swaths of the United States will see extreme heat conditions measured in weeks or months rather than days by the middle of the century, the study found.
There is much more at the link.

Obviously, people who can't afford air conditioning and/or people with illnesses or disabilities that make them more vulnerable to heat, in addition to children and elderly people, will be at higher risk for heat-related death.

Which, I fear, is precisely the point.

Open Wide...

Open Thread


Hosted by a turquoise sofa. Have a seat and chat.

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Question of the Day

Suggested by Shaker lattendicht: "Do you collect anything? Is it more of a casual 'I have this pile of pens because I always seem to come home from work with one in my pocket/hair/bag' collection, or are you a on-purpose collector of a particular category?"

Not really. Once I get too many of a thing that I can use and/or appreciate (e.g. so many of an item designed to display that I can't display all of them), I start culling.

There are a bunch of reasons for that. Among them: I work at home and can't focus if my workspace is cluttered, so I am keen to keep a tidy home; I tend to be messier and less organized the more stuff I have; I tend to value more the things I have if I have fewer things; when I used to collect things as a kid, I would become obsessive about it and it would turn into a chore getting all the things.

When I was in my 20s, a flood destroyed an extensive and somewhat valuable music magazine collection I had been curating for about a decade. It was, on the one hand, devastating — and, on the other hand, freeing. The relief I felt at letting go of the compulsion the collection had become let me know that collecting wasn't for me. I can't do it halfway.

Know thyself, and all that.

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Monday Links!

This list o' links brought to you by succulents.

Recommended Reading:

Ginger Thompson at ProPublica: [Content Note: Intimidation] Border Patrol Official Circulates Article That Deems Our Reporting on Secret Facebook Group a Threat

Garrett M. Graff at Politico: [CN: Nativism; abuse] The Border Patrol Hits a Breaking Point

(I linked the previous piece in today's We Resist thread, but it's important enough that I wanted to include it here, too, for anyone who may have missed it.)

Shay Stewart-Bouley at Black Girl in Maine: [Content Note: White supremacy; harassment; hostility to consent] An Incident Became a Story No One Needed…and One That Harms Me

Jon Porter at the Verge: [CN: Homophobia; torture] Alan Turing Is the Face of UK's New £50 Note

Elyse Dupre at E News: Captain Marvel's Lashana Lynch Makes History with 007 Role for Bond 25

Kristy Puchko at Pajiba has further details on Lynch's role.

Kaiser at Celebitchy: Serena Williams Lost in the Wimbledon Final, Still Stands Up for Equality

Staff at the BBC: Freckles the Manta Ray 'Doing Well' After Being Freed from Hooks (Watch the video there, if you can. It's terrific.)

Leave your links and recommendations in comments. Self-promotion welcome and encouraged!

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Nancy Pelosi, Please Do Something Real

I am utterly beyond the beyond with this nonsense:

House Democrats are drafting a resolution to condemn President Donald Trump's racist tweets against Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other high-profile freshman congresswomen, Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced Monday.

..."This morning, the President doubled down on his attacks on our four colleagues suggesting they apologize to him," Pelosi wrote to House Democrats. "Let me be clear, our caucus will continue to forcefully respond to these disgusting attacks."
Continue to forcefully respond? Democratic leadership hasn't even begun to forcefully respond yet.
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) and freshman Rep. Tom Malinowksi (D-N.J.), who was born in Poland, will draft the resolution, according to Pelosi. It's unclear when the House will vote on the measure and the speaker did not specify in her letter.

"One step at a time," a senior Democratic aide said when asked about vote timing.
Oh for fuck's sake.

As I noted on Twitter, a resolution is aggressively inadequate.

Also, Pelosi is urging Republicans to sign the resolution. THEY'RE NOT GOING TO SIGN IT, NANCY.

We are long past the point at which it's enough baiting to "prove" (like it wasn't already manifestly evident) that Republicans are fully on board with every ounce of Trump's malice and depravity.

We have reached the point at which justifying symbolic actions by claiming to be gathering such proof is nothing more than an excuse for not doing something meaningful.

Trump is torturing people, including children, in concentration camps. A strongly-worded letter ain't gonna fucking cut it!

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