I fucking hate that the general response to RFK Jr's eugenist take on autistic people is "autistic people do pay taxes, autistic people do work, autistic people do date!"

Some autistic people don't and that shouldn't make them less worthy of life. Some autistic people do need constant help and support and that shouldn't make them less worthy of life.

Once again we're falling in the right wing trap of :

Right now what we're getting to with that is that autistic people who can work and pay taxes are okay, and the others aren't. Fuck this shit.

Same thing happens with the people who are being deported ("they have a visa!", "they didn't even have a criminal record!" -> even if they didn't have a visa, even if they did have a criminal record, deporting them and detaining them in what's essentially a concentration camp wouldn't be okay, you absolute tools of fascism.)

In case anyone needs more clarification:

What RFK is saying: "Autistic people can't work, so it's our duty as a society to erase autism" -> This is eugenics

Harmful response: "Many autistic people do work!" -> Validates the belief that that someone being unable to work is shameful and makes them a lesser person, and implies that autistic people should not need support

Correct response: "Yes, many autistic people can't work, so it's our duty as a society to make sure they are supported, you fascist asshole" -> Accepts the realities of disability and values the lives of disabled people, names the actual problem here

I AM SCREECHING AMAZON PRIME/PARAMOUNT+ KEEPS FLASHING THIS SPLIT SECOND CLIP OF A PEPPERONI PIZZA FROM LITTLE CAESAR'S IN THE MIDDLE OF THIS SCENE 😆😭🤣💀

I mean the whole damn point of the Nativity story is that the supposed son of God (interpret Jesus how you fucking want, of course) was born to a couple of poor, exhausted peasants in the stable for the inn, and his first bed was a feeding trough for animals. That would nowadays be like a poor couple where the mother gives birth in a parking garage behind the motel because they couldn’t find a better place and nobody else would take them in. It’s a pretty gritty setting, and the idea is that God was reborn in some of the rock-bottom lowest circumstances. The only thing majestic was all the angels and shit, and of course motherly love

I get that a lot of the art portraying Madonna and Child as fabulously wealthy europeans in splendid robes and golden light was meant to glorify God + whichever nobility was sponsoring the artist, and while of course it’s genuinely beautiful art, it just always struck me as horribly missing the point, which is that the supposed son of God started in incredibly humble circumstances, among the kind of people that everyone else looks down on

‘Massacre des Innocents’ by Leon Cogniét, 1824. Although the Feast of the Holy Innocents is in a couple of days time, this painting is still really relevant in that it portrays Mary as how She really was: a scared refugee mum, so fearful that Her son was going to be one of the Innocents killed by King Herod.

My new favorite mordern interpretation is this work, José y Maria by Everett Patterson (http://www.everettpatterson.com)

I had to look at this like FIVE TIMES to register all the layers of symbolism going into the piece by Patterson. 

The hoodie as a veil. 

Weisman cigarettes

Each of them is haloed by an advertisement sticker. 

No Vacancy sign on the motel. 

Dove sticker over Maria’s head. 

Neon sign with a star symbol also over Maria’s head. 

The crown over the ‘Dave’s City Motel’ sign. “New Manger.”

The sign behind Jose’s elbow likely says ‘Herod.’

The wee little plant growing through the cracks at their feet. 

It’s like a New Testament ‘I Spy.’ I love it!

Ugh.

New favorite interpretation of the nativity. 

Ezekiel 34 15-16 on the phone

Good news sticker above José

Maria sitting on a donkey

Shepherd Watches advertisement in the newspaper

Gloria sticker on the payphone

The tragic/hilarious thing is how all the hardcore Bible thumpers I know would look at that image and feel nothing but contempt for Jose and Maria.

In 2023, iconographer Kelly Latimore created “Christ in the Rubble” in collaboration with Red Letter Christians and Rev. Munther Isaac.

To quote Rev. Isaac earlier this month, “Christ is still under the rubble.”

oh are we making aromantic trend? hell yeah reblog if you're aromantic or if you want to beat everyone who says 'you'll find someone eventually' to death with hammers. in solidarity.

At the risk of sounding anti-intellectual, I think that college should be free and also not a requirement for employment outside of highly specialized career fields

At the risk of sounding like an effete intellectual, I do actually think you should be allowed to just take college courses indefinitely

technically you can, if you don't care about degrees.

Free Harvard courses. Free Courses from Stanford. Free Courses from MIT. Free courses from Yale. Free courses from Princeton.

Free courses on Coursera.

Free Courses on EDx Free Courses on Alison

For paid, there's The Great Courses+/Wonderium. 20$ a month for unlimited courses.

When searching, the phrases you're looking for are Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), or you can do a general search of say, "free online college courses." Oh, and so you don't get surprised like I did, have an avoid: Hillsdale College is a conservative Christian site and not a valid MOOC place. Sign up with them and you will get things like THIS IS WHY THE LEFT IS TURNING YOUR KIDS TRANS AND GAY in your inbox.

@yourunderwaterskies I wanted to say thank you so much for adding these links, seriously, they've been life-changingly helpful to me-

And I also wanted to mention that humanitarian organisations have free courses too, like the Red Cross on international humanitarian law.

Breaking | Dozens of Israeli airstrikes target Gaza City, with direct bombardment of residential homes.

Reports coming from civilians right now 💔😭

Most of the targets were homes full of residents or displacement camps.

Netanyahu announces that the ceasefire in Gaza has ended, and that the war on Gaza will resume at this moment.

LGBT people, I need you to know that any “pedophile execution bill” passed in the US is meant to put you, personally, to death. When the right says “groomer,” they’re talking about you. When they say “predator,” they’re talking about you. When they say “pedophile,” they’re talking about you. Any actual child sex abusers who are convicted and executed would be, to them, a happy accident, a cherry on top of a law that’s meant to exterminate anyone who deviates from the cisgender, heterosexual norm.

that "OKAY SO" before someone u love starts infodumping........ most blessed feeling in the world

reblog to let your mutuals know that they can always give you the “OKAY SO” and you will listen

In regards of the Trump government scraping all trans inclusion in its queer information portion of its websites I have made this thing. Spread the word. Don't let them pretend we never existed.

P.S: Don't like! Reblog! <3

So... I found this and now it keeps coming to mind. You hear about "life-changing writing advice" all the time and usually its really not—but honestly this is it man.

I'm going to try it.

I love the lawyer metaphor, because whenever I see “John knew that...” in prose writing I immediately think “how?  How does he know it?”  Interrogate your witnesses.  Cross-examine them.  Make them explain their reasoning.  It pays dividends.

All of this, but also feels/felt. My editor has forbidden me from using those and it’s forced me to stretch my skills.

This is your "show not tell" advice explained!

Israel just grazed the last greenhouses in Gaza. While we are getting distracted by the US election circus, this is happening

Here’s a link to the Arab Group of the Protection of Nature, whose goal is to revive Gaza’s farmlands and plant (and replant uprooted) olive trees in all of Palestine

haha check out this fuckin loser, he doesn't know how many friends he has, lmao. he doesn't know how many people smile when they think of him. he thinks the world would not be a demonstrably worse place if he wasn't in it. this fuckin dipshit thinks that love is something that is in a future forever lost to him by his choices and can't recognise that it is here with him now if he only looks for it. get loved you fuckin nerd.

tiktok stunt haha funny. please talk about the ice raids

even though theyre officially starting on tueaday once trump is in office the raids have already started in central california since sunday and idk where else. people havent been able to go to work becuz ice is literally patroling the streets and targeting places where majority brown people work. please keep aware and talk to ppl in your life who might not be

I don’t want to be completely pessimistic and I wish I could find some joy in this, but the ceasefire deal isn’t something I can bring myself to be happy about. Palestine is destroyed. An estimated 300,000 people martyred and towns obliterated. And Israel faces absolutely zero consequences… I genuinely continue to be amazed at how they’re allowed to do that. If ‘Israel’ really wants a ceasefire, they need to give the Palestinians real aid. I’m not talking about bags of flour but means of rebuilding their beautiful country. They need seeds and tractors and doctors and hospitals and schools… not a tin of beans

All I mean to say is don’t forget Palestine after the ceasefire deal, because nothing has changed

Don’t let anyone silence your voice or steal your power, which is your vote.

Your vote is private. Your vote is your own.

Vote accordingly.

How many "Trump votes" are abusive MAGA husbands or boyfriends who essentially got two votes, while their wife or girlfriend got none?

To be clear: abusive men may think their wife or girlfriend belongs to them, including their vote. But legally, this is voter fraud.

Report these criminals.

Legally, this is voter intimidation.

IF YOU WITNESS OR ARE A VICTIM OF VOTER INTIMIDATION (like what Tom Cox is confessing to in the OP) or other violations of voting rights laws in the US:

Your vote is your own. You don't have to tell anyone who you voted for. You can lie about who you voted for. Keep yourself safe out there.

You can also call or text the Election Protection Hotline

And if you are in a situation where a spouse or partner is the one doing the voter intimidation to you, like Tom up there is, there are intimate partner violence orgs in your state and many towns who are there to help you. Because what Tom is doing is not okay, and you don't have to live like that.

IMAGE IDs:

First image: Screenshot of a reply chain showing part of one and two other messages. The earliest poster Darrel Owens @/IDoTheThinking said "Bro I phonebank for Harris and this shit happens all the time. God awful husbands swearing up and down no Democrat lives there when the wife is a Democrat. Women who whisper "I agree with you" and hang up the phone because they dont want their MAGA luna..". The first reply is from Tom Cox @/OBC15u, "That's why I make my wife do a mail in ballot so I can make sure she votes for Trump, she's not gona vote behind my back". Second reply from edgykristinahart, "Can someone check on Tom's wife or..."

Second image: Screenshot of a post with a photo attached. The post says "If your husband has forced you to vote you CAN INVALIDATE YOUR VOTE. Contact your local election officials. Your vote is your own." The image in post reads: "Text contains those laws in effect on October 30th, 2024 / From Title 52-VOTING AND ELECTIONS / Subtitle I-Voting Rights / CHAPTER 103-ENFORCEMENT OF VOTING RIGHTS / Jump To: "§10307. Prohibited acts / (a) Failure or refusal to permit casting or tabulation of vote / No person acting under color of law shall fail or refuse to permit any person to vote who is entitled to vote under any provision of chapters 103 to 107 of this title or is otherwise qualified to vote, or willfully fail or refuse to tabulate, count, and report such person's vote. "(b) Intimidation, threats, or coercion / No person, whether acting under color of law or otherwise, shall intimidate, threaten, or coerce, or attempt to intimidate, threaten, or coerce any person for voting or attempting to vote, or intimidate, threaten, or coerce, or attempt to intimidate, threaten, or coerce any person for urging or aiding any person to vote or attempt to vote, or intimidate, threaten, or coerce any person for exercising any powers or-"

I keep seeing people talking about the “Red Mirage” the idea that it only looks like Republicans are winning and it could still go either way.

I fucking hope so because my anxiety is spiking.

Yes. So here's what happens:

All good and true information. Don't lose hope. Don't panic. It looks scary right now but polls only closed less than two hours ago in the first states. We have a long way to go.