I want to be very clear on this. You can be out drinking with your friends on Friday night and dead on Sunday because of meningitis. Does that sound a little specific? Guess why I have such a specific scenario in mind.
And getting vaccinated is an easy way to prevent that. There is no medical reason to stop recommending that vaccine. There’s no new study that shows that it’s unsafe, there’s no replacement that’s better. This is literally the government making its citizenry less safe for no reason.
This is the most accurate vaccine schedule as laid out by the AAP, who have stated that they think JFKjr is bullshit: 
Apparently ICE now has agents posing as utility workers to get into people’s homes. The electric and gas companies have posted information on how to tell if it’s one of their workers, and numbers to call to confirm whether they’ve sent someone to do utility work on your house.
Some people have shared stories of suspicious “sales representatives” knocking on homes, asking about the home owners and who lives there, fishing for phone numbers, but do not provide business cards, company id, company phone numbers, etc when asked.
They come in pairs, never one person though one may hag back a bit. They have been seen using cars with significantly tinted windows, no business logos anywhere on the vehicle, or parking close to the home they walked up to only to drive away right after without visiting other homes, almost as if they’re not real sales people.
True door to door salespeople need a sort of peddler’s license, subject to city and county law, to solicit at your door. You can ask to see this permit. If they don’t provide one or make an excuse, they are likely bogus.
They wear a jacket with a company logo but likely don’t wear name tags and the Don’t provide id.
Tell them you’ll call the company about a noncompliant representative. Make them leave. Better yet not to open the door to them, and tell them nothing.
Actual sales reps also generally do follow “no soliciting” signs. Be aware, be safe, don’t give out your information or that of others under duplicitous means.
It's been a while since this subject came up (this is a question about Kendrick Lamar's Superbowl Halftime Performance) but I've been doing research ever since I saw it and I can't find an answer about this specifically:
I know what Kendrick was invoking with the '40 acres and a mule' line but I can't think of why he used that imagery specifically. I know the history and what it meant, but even in the context of everything else it didn't quite make sense to me. Do you know what I'm missing? (For context, I am Black and technically a woman.)
I don’t know if you’re a Kendrick fan, but I think some context you’re missing is that “40 acres and a mule” was also in the lyrics for his songs “Alright” and “Wesley’s Theory”:
What you want you, a house? You, a car?
Forty acres and a mule? A piano, a guitar?
He also says it in “For Free— Interlude”:
I need forty acres and a mule
Not forty ounces and a pit bull
So with these lyrics it’s a bit more clear that he is using the contrast of one of the most public/memorable lies told to former enslaved people with a) the distractions the music industry uses towards Black artists instead of equal compensation, mainly due to the fact many come from low income areas so these offers are still accepted, and b) reminding the Black community what we deserve and what our aspirations should be for.
When put in the additional context of the super bowl performance:
Forty acres and a mule
This is bigger than the music
It’s a reminder that just because we’re enjoying the success of our brother, that we enjoy his music and the face value acceptance/appreciation our culture garners from being presented on the stage, we still need to remember the bigger picture. Kendrick is using his voice and position to remind us of what was stolen and what we should have. This message is bigger than the catchy music and the flashy backdrop of the NFL. He waits to say this during a break in music, right before the big song everyone’s watching for, to ensure the most people hear it. And that we remember it and talk about it and learn. Information is powerful!
Sorry for the delay in answering! I hope this helped 🙏🏽
Discussions of trans women in sports often focus on elite/professional sports which honestly I find it hard to care about but the more common scenario of “we’re going to legally ban a high school girl from playing sports with her friends because she’s trans” is just profoundly evil
i remember when utah’s (republican) governor ended up vetoing a law banning transgender students from playing high school sports when he looked at the numbers, and there were only four trans students in the state playing sports at all. he released a clumsily worded but surprisingly compassionate statement about the decision.
I must admit, I am not an expert on transgenderism. I struggle to understand so much of it, and the science is conflicting. When in doubt, however, I always try to err on the side of kindness, mercy, and compassion. I also try to get proximate, and I am learning so much from our transgender community. They are great kids who face enormous struggles. Here are the numbers that have most impacted my decision: 75,000, 4, 1, 86 and 56.
75,000 high school kids participating in high school sports in Utah.
4 transgender kids playing high school sports in Utah.
1 transgender student playing girls sports.
86% of trans youth reporting suicidality.
56% of trans youth having attempted suicide.
Four kids and only one of them playing girls sports. That’s what all of this is about. Four kids who aren’t dominating or winning trophies or taking scholarships. Four kids who are just trying to find some friends and feel like they are a part of something. Four kids trying to get through each day. Rarely has so much fear and anger been directed at so few. I don’t understand what they are going through or why they feel the way they do. But I want them to live.
of course, it didn’t amount to much. they overrode his veto. it’s just so cartoonishly evil. an entire state’s political body so desperate to terrorize this one little trans girl.
recently my friend’s comics professor told her that it’s acceptable to use gen AI for script-writing but not for art, since a machine can’t generate meaningful artistic work. meanwhile, my sister’s screenwriting professor said that they can use gen AI for concept art and visualization, but that it won’t be able to generate a script that’s any good. and at my job, it seems like each department says that AI can be useful in every field except the one that they know best.
It’s only ever the jobs we’re unfamiliar with that we assume can be replaced with automation. The more attuned we are with certain processes, crafts, and occupations, the more we realize that gen AI will never be able to provide a suitable replacement. The case for its existence lies on our ignorance of the work and skill required to do everything we don’t.
Thinking about it, Daenerys is the most powerful woman in the series in the sense that she manages to subdue any enemy army that does battle with her as well as any warrior.
Yet, unlike Brienne, she isn’t a large, physically strong warrior, or able to throw axes like Asha, but Dany still remains a physically weak, petite girl. One could argue that in that respect, she’s closer to Catelyn in that she’s clearly not a warrior, having no skill at arms, and that isn’t like to change throughout the series. Yet, she embodies the idea of mother as she is motivated by her love and care for her children, both dragons and freedmen. Her strength comes not from her muscle, but her inner strength.
She survived a life of abuse, and managed to outlive both her abusers. She rescued girls and women from being raped even as everyone told her it is how things should be, and she knew she would face stiff resistance. When she could have taken the Unsullied and run, she instead chose to put her life pursuit on liberate millions of people from slavery. Daenerys went through things that would have broken plenty of people, and chose to take that pain and channel into helping those are also suffering.
She is also talented and resourceful as shown when using the three ships to make siege weapons to take Meereen, and launching a nighttime assault on the Yunkish forces. Not to mention, hatching living dragons from dead eggs by paying attention to what Mirri said.
Atop Drogon, she is effectively the strongest fighter on the battlefield. She can face any warrior from Victarion to likely Ser Robert Strong and maybe even Wun Wun and win. It is not uncommon in fiction for some (mostly male) authors try to make strong women characters and they do so by making them warriors fitting the macho male ideal down to poking at other characters for being puny, perpetuating the idea of strength being associated with masculinity and domination and femininity (and even caring) being associated with weakness. (See Benioff and Weiss)
But Daenerys breaks that mold as she manages to be a strong character and even strong in the sense of being able to win a fight in battle without being a warrior in the conventional sense. Drogon is her child, and it is through her aspect as a mother that she manages to be the most powerful fighter on the battlefield. Her army comes from the people she had largely freed from domination.
Daenerys is no warrior and she’s one of the toughest mothers in the series.
“Friends outside of Minnesota please read. I’m sharing a post written by a personal friend and medical doctor: Friends outside MN, you need to know what is happening here. Everyone knows that ICE shot and killed a woman here on Wednesday. But that’s not the only thing that’s going on:
ICE agents are cruising areas with immigrant-owned businesses, and kidnapping patrons and employees alike. Yesterday they abducted two US citizen employees at a suburban Target, one who was begging them to allow him to go get his passport to show them.
ICE is going door to door in immigrant-heavy neighborhoods, asking residents where their immigrant neighbors live. Read that again. If it sounds like something out of your high school history textbook, that’s because it is.
ICE is targeting schools and school buses. They pepper sprayed teenagers and abducted two school staff members at the high school up the street from me on Wednesday. Police are literally escorting school buses to ensure children can get to school and home safely. The Minneapolis Public Schools have moved to virtual learning for the next 4 weeks because it’s unsafe for children or teachers to physically come to school.
They are targeting hospitals and clinics. Patients are scared and are cancelling their appointments or just not showing up. Kids are missing their checkups and vaccines, folks aren’t getting their cancer care, etc.
They are smashing windows in cars and homes.
ICE is increasingly picking up Native Americans—again, targeting folks based on skin color alone.
They are arresting and beating legal observers. A friend of a friend had her arm broken yesterday. Folks are showing up at local hospitals, brought in in ICE custody, with severe injuries that are absolutely inconsistent with mechanism of injury reported by ICE. (Think: patient appears to have been beaten unconscious, while ICE agent says he slipped and fell.) I can’t emphasize enough that these ICE agents do not have warrants. There are 2,000+ agents here and they are simply hunting for anyone that’s not white. It doesn’t matter if you’re a citizen or a green card holder, they will kidnap you first and ask questions later.
But the community is fighting back.
Protests are happening every day.
Community groups have been leading know-your-rights sessions for months, often to packed venues.
Whistles are being distributed by the thousands, carried on keychains and worn on coat zippers, always at the ready to be blown in warning if ICE is spotted.
Drivers are following ICE vehicles, blaring their horns in warning.
Businesses are locking their doors even while open to keep employees and customers safe. As I type this, I’m standing guard at the locked door of our neighborhood burrito joint while I wait for my takeout order, so the employees can focus on their jobs. The place is packed with neighbors supporting this small business.
Anti-ICE signs are posted everywhere. The community is making it crystal clear that ICE is not welcome here.
Parents and neighbors are standing guard outside schools, organizing carpools, and escorting kids to and from school on foot.
Parents of kids in Spanish-immersion daycare (there are a LOT of these daycares here!) are keeping their kids home so the teachers don’t have to take the risk of coming to work.
Churches and community groups are holding fundraisers to buy and deliver groceries to families who don’t feel safe leaving home.
Mutual aid money is going out to folks who can’t make rent because they can’t work or because a breadwinner was abducted, or who need a warm place to stay after their home’s windows were smashed.
THAT is what is happening here. This fight is ongoing and it’s horrifying to watch. But we are not backing down. To my friends in other cities and states, don’t think for a minute that this won’t happen in your town. It will. Be ready. Learn from us, as we have learned from Portland and Chicago and New York. Fight back. Don’t let us get to the last line of Martin Niemoller’s poem.”
ALT
