![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png){kind=small}
propublica_feedIn late 2024, Nimrod Shimrony, an emergency medical technician for the New York City Fire Department, tried to end his life. After completing an intensive outpatient treatment program, he and his wife searched for a therapist for months.
Valeria Calderón, a special education teacher with New York City’s public school system, suffered a miscarriage that same year. Before she tried to have a baby again, she sought help with the depression and anxiety she had been struggling with. She called more than a dozen therapists.
The therapists Shimrony and Calderón contacted were listed in their insurance plan’s provider directory, meaning they were supposedly in-network and the fees associated with visiting them would be lower. Given the number of names listed, there should have been lots of options. But Shimrony and Calderón couldn’t find any in-network provider who would see them.
“It blows my mind that I couldn’t find a therapist” through the directory, Shimrony said. “It was impossible.”
“I was hanging on by a thread,” said Calderón, who eventually paid more for an out-of-network provider. “There’s only so much you can vent to your family about and only so much support that they can do.”
Shimrony and Calderón are among the lead plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed last week against EmblemHealth, which offers the most popular health plan for New York City employees.
The city employees allege that extensive errors in EmblemHealth’s directory left them with a “deceptive” and “misleading” impression about the size of the insurer’s provider network. The employees were forced to delay care, forgo treatment or seek help from costlier out-of-network providers, said the lawsuit, which is seeking class-action status.
Health insurers rarely face consequences for errors in their provider directories that make it difficult for many consumers to find in-network mental health care. ProPublica’s 2024 series, “America’s Mental Barrier,” examined the harms that patients face from so-called ghost networks. The series, which is cited in the lawsuit, also detailed the many ways that insurers have prompted mental health providers to quit accepting insurance.
Many insurers overseeing ghost networks have faced only small and sporadic fines from regulators, and patients often have limited legal recourse against them because of restrictions on the damages that typically can be recouped under federal law.
But there are health plans, such as ones local governments offer to employees or that some individuals buy through Affordable Care Act marketplaces, that aren’t covered by the federal law that restricts damages. Damages levied against those plans in lawsuits can be more substantial. That’s the basis for the current suit.
“We hope this case can use state consumer protection laws to better advocate for plan members,” said Sara Haviva Mark, an attorney representing the city employees.
ProPublica sent EmblemHealth a list of questions about the lawsuit. Shimrony and Calderón also signed documents waiving their rights to privacy so the insurer could answer questions. “We don’t comment on pending litigation,” a spokesperson for EmblemHealth wrote in an email.
Attorneys have filed lawsuits similar to the New York one in at least two other states against insurers such as Kaiser Permanente and Molina. Last spring, the mother of an Arizona man who died after being unable to find mental health treatment sued his plan, which was overseen by Centene, saying it broke the law by publishing false information that misled its customers. (ProPublica had chronicled the man’s struggles to find mental health care.) Those lawsuits are still ongoing and the insurers in those cases have disputed the allegations.
This past fall, health insurers overseen by Centene agreed to a $40 million settlement over a similar lawsuit that had been filed by San Diego’s city attorney. A spokesperson for Centene did not respond to ProPublica’s request for comment.
The New York lawsuit was also filed on behalf of the American Psychiatric Association, which alleged that some of its 39,000 members had been listed in EmblemHealth’s directory without their consent. It also claimed that those listings “artificially inflate[d] its provider network at psychiatrists’ expense.” The lawsuit claims that the directory contained many duplicate listings, with one psychiatrist listed 29 times.
The directory errors increased the chances that its psychiatrists’ reputations could be damaged, the lawsuit said. That’s because customers reaching out for appointments couldn’t actually get care — and could post negative reviews.
“What we do is based on trust,” said Dr. Robert Trestman, a leading ghost networks expert for the association. “So when our name appears in a listing that says you can get care, and then they call us, and we say, ‘Sorry, not taking new patients,’ it has a really negative impact.”
The insurance industry’s top trade group, AHIP, has told lawmakers that its members take steps to keep their directories accurate. AHIP claims errors could be fixed faster if providers better updated listings after they move or retire. Mental health experts have disputed that point: They say that insurers don’t always remove listings even after providers formally drop out of a network.
EmblemHealth covers more than 3 million people in New York and in neighboring states. New York city employees have been offered numerous options for health plans as part of their employment. But in recent years, roughly 3 out of every 5 city employees chose an EmblemHealth plan in which the premium was fully covered by the city. That plan was replaced by another one from EmblemHealth and UnitedHealthcare at the beginning of 2026.
The employees had expected to pay $15 or less to see an in-network mental health provider under the old plan, according to the lawsuit. All they had to do was find one in the company’s directory.
But, according to the lawsuit, some employees using the directory were unable to find an in-network provider willing to take their insurance. Some providers in the directory had long waitlists and many had incorrect contact information, which the insurer is supposed to check. Others no longer accepted EmblemHealth, and a few never had accepted it.
The plaintiffs’ claims follow a series of practices by EmblemHealth — and the companies that merged over the years to form it — that have come under scrutiny from state officials.
In 2010, the New York state attorney general’s office found that Group Health Inc., one of the insurers that merged into EmblemHealth, had “failed to maintain an accurate” directory. As part of a settlement, Group Health Inc. was supposed to confirm each year that the listed providers were still in the network and to correct inaccurate listings.
In 2014, the attorney general’s office reached a separate settlement with EmblemHealth after it found that the insurer “improperly denied” coverage of treatment for mental health and substance use disorders. EmblemHealth agreed to change some of its practices to reduce barriers to getting those treatments. At the time of the settlement, an EmblemHealth spokesperson said in a statement that the insurer was working to “improve the management of behavioral services.”
And in 2023, the attorney general’s office published a report that found that EmblemHealth and another dozen insurers had failed to keep their listings of mental health providers free of extensive errors. The office’s staff had contacted a sample of doctors — nearly 400 providers listed in the 13 insurers’ directories — and the vast majority of them were “unreachable, not in-network, or not accepting new patients,” the report said. In EmblemHealth’s directory, the report found, 82% of the providers that were called were not available for an appointment.
The report called on health plans to conduct routine checks of its directories to ensure the listings were accurate. It also recommended that the state’s insurance regulator “vigorously enforce the law” and fine insurers over violations.
When ProPublica previously reached out to New York’s insurance regulator, a spokesperson couldn’t point to a single fine related to a ghost network. Last year, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced a new regulation to “eliminate so-called ‘ghost networks.’” But the state’s insurance regulator, which publishes enforcement actions on its website, hasn’t posted any notice of fines against EmblemHealth or other health insurers for inaccurate provider directories since then.
ProPublica asked the state’s insurance regulator if there had been any fines against health insurers for inaccurate provider directories since the 2024 story. The regulator did not answer our questions.
The post They Couldn’t Access Mental Health Care When They Needed It. Now They’re Suing Their Insurer. appeared first on ProPublica.
2026/005: The Debutante — Jon Ronson
Jan. 9th, 2026 09:37 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tamaranth2026/005: The Debutante — Jon Ronson
This is the story of a Tulsa debutante who, as a result of a series of unlikely and often very bad life choices she made in the ‘90s, found herself in the midst of one of the most terrible crimes ever to take place in America. [opening line]
I don't think this really counts as a book: it's more of a podcast, complete with hooks and a 'special bonus episode'.
Jon Ronson explores the history of Carol Howe, adopted at birth by a wealthy family in Tulsa. She was a debutante, but a rebellious one, and became part of a white supremacist group (plus swastika tattoo, 'Dial-a-Racist' phone line etc). She was involved with a white supremacist Christian cult in Oklahoma with ties to Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma Bomber. Then, apparently, she decided to become an informant for the ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms) and kept a detailed diary of events. The ATF claim she was 'deactivated' because of mental instability. Howe claimed she warned the ATF about the cult's plans to bomb a major target, but was ignored.
Ronson didn't manage to track down Howe, but he did -- in the 'special bonus episode' -- discover what happened to her: dead in a house fire in January 2025, after years of paranoid behaviour. An interesting investigation, but I would have preferred a straightforward narrative to the 'tune in for our next instalment' ambience of a podcast.
Media and Power: 01 Unit 1: Construction of Meaning: Picture Composition
Jan. 9th, 2026 05:17 pmalias_sqbrI finally got back to this! Masterlist.
The chapter: Construction of Meaning: Picture Composition.
It was really interesting reading this as someone who has read lots of art theory for the purposes of being better at art, and picked up some more formal theory via vague osmosis from my artsy parents and their books, but not generally thought about composition very deeply from a media analysis angle.
( Read more... )
The chapter: Construction of Meaning: Picture Composition.
It was really interesting reading this as someone who has read lots of art theory for the purposes of being better at art, and picked up some more formal theory via vague osmosis from my artsy parents and their books, but not generally thought about composition very deeply from a media analysis angle.
( Read more... )
Media and Power: Masterlist
Jan. 9th, 2026 05:07 pmalias_sqbrGoing through the free university mini-course Media and Power from the University of Iowa.
( Read more... )
( Read more... )
New Worlds: Memento Mori
Jan. 9th, 2026 09:01 amswan_towerYou probably don't much like thinking about death. It's understandable: death is sad and scary, and few of us look forward to it coming for us or anybody we love. But believe it or not, reminders of death have not infrequently been baked in as a cultural practice -- in a couple of cases I'm going to discuss, literally baked!
There's a grim reason for this, which is that death was far more of a looming threat for historical people than it is for us. Obviously it's true now, as it was then, that everybody eventually dies; the difference is that the average person today can expect to enjoy decades of life first. But life expectancies in the past were much lower -- which is not the same thing as saying that most adults died by the age of thirty! The reason average life expectancy was so much lower is that the odds of surviving your first few years were horrifyingly low. Childhood diseases like the measles tended to kill almost half of all children born before they reached the age of ten.
Which means that nearly every family in existence, rich as well as poor, suffered the repeated grief of seeing life cut short before it really had a chance to start. Then, for those who made it to adulthood, men often had a meaningful chance of dying in war, and women faced the recurrent risk of dying in childbirth. On top of all that, there's the experience of death: people were more likely to die at home, rather than off in some hospital, and ordinary people had the task of caring for them in their final hours and preparing their bodies for funerary rites afterwards. They saw and touched and smelled the effects of death, in a way that most of us today do not.
One of the ways to cope with this is to look death squarely in the eye, rather than flinching away. The Latin phrase memento mori, an exhortation to remember that you must inevitably die, has come to signify all kinds of cultural traditions intended to remind people of the end. Our modern Halloween skeletons and ghosts used to have that function, even if few of us think of them that way anymore; let's take a look at some other approaches.
A few memento mori traditions are things you do rather than objects in your life. Buddhism, for example, has traditions of "foulness meditation," in which a person is encouraged to contemplate topics like disease and decay -- sometimes in cemeteries or the presence of corpses. After all, Buddhism tells us the nature of the world is impermanence, and what illustrates that more vividly than death? Islamic scriptures likewise exhort believers to think about death, and some Sufis make a habit of visiting graveyards for that purpose. I'm also reminded of a fictional practice, which I think might be based on something in the real world, though I can't place it: in Geraldine Harris' Seven Citadels quartet of novels, the Queen of Seld holds banquets in what will eventually be her tomb.
Speaking of banqueting, the Romans had a rich tradition of memento mori (as you might expect, given that we got the phrase from their language). In the early imperial period, it was fashionable to dine in rooms frescoed with images of skeletons and drink from cups decorated with skulls. The message, though, was far from Buddhism's reminder not to become attached to impermanent things: instead it was, as the poet Horace wrote in that same era, carpe diem. Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow you may die. These macabre decorations were meant to heighten the transient pleasures of life.
Other classical thinkers took it in a more Buddhist-style direction, though. Stoic philosophy is full of injunctions to curb the pleasures of life because you and all the people around you are mortal, and there are accounts which claim a Roman general celebrating a triumph was accompanied by someone reminding him that eventually he would die. We find the same sentiment echoed in the Icelandic Hávamál, with its "Cattle die, / kinsmen die, / all men are mortal" -- though that one goes on to praise the immortality of a good reputation.
Christian tradition leaned heavily into this for centuries, because of the theological emphasis on the dangers of sin and of dying unshriven. To have any hope of heaven, a Christian was supposed to live with one eye on the ever-present possibility of death, rather than assuming it must be far off and you'd see it coming, with time to prepare. Memento mori took every shape from tomb decorations (don't forget that many wealthy people were buried inside churches) to clocks (time is inexorably ticking away) to paintings (the genre known as vanitas emphasizes the vanity, i.e. worthlessness, of impermanent things) to jewelry. The devastation of the Black Death undoubtedly bolstered this tradition, as seen in the Danse Macabre artistic motif, where the Grim Reaper summons away people from all walks of life, kings and bishops alongside peasants.
I promised you baked goods, though, didn't I? Malta celebrates the Month of the Dead in November and commemorates the season with ghadam tal-mejtin, "dead men's bones," a type of cookie filled with sweet, spiced almond dough. And in Sweden, there was a nineteenth-century tradition of funerary confectionery, wrapped in paper printed with memento mori images -- though the candies were often meant to be saved instead of eaten, and some manufacturers bulked them out with substances like chalk to cut costs. You could break a tooth trying to bite into one.
We might even count death omens as a type of memento mori. Most of the ones I know about are European, and take forms ranging from spectral voices in the night to black dogs to a double of the person who's about to die -- with a certain amount of ambiguity around whether encountering such a thing causes you to die (perhaps with some way to avert it), or whether it's merely a signal that death is at hand. To these we might add plague omens, which I know of from both Slavic lands and Japan: people or creatures who appear to warn a town that an epidemic is about to sweep through. The Japanese ones usually promise that anyone who hangs up an image of the creature will be protected from disease, which is certainly helpful of them! (And yes, there was a resurgence in that tradition when the Covid-19 pandemic began.)
These days we are more likely to enjoy death imagery as an aesthetic rather than a philosophical practice. Our life expectancy is vastly higher -- in part because we're far more likely to survive childhood -- and thanks to modern medicine, even an ultimately fatal injury or illness stands a higher chance of giving us time to prepare for the end. But notwithstanding the fever dreams of some technophiles, we have yet to defeat death; immortality remains out of reach. Until that changes, mortality will remain an inescapable fact for every human born.
(originally posted at Swan Tower: https://is.gd/JVBlEI)
There's a grim reason for this, which is that death was far more of a looming threat for historical people than it is for us. Obviously it's true now, as it was then, that everybody eventually dies; the difference is that the average person today can expect to enjoy decades of life first. But life expectancies in the past were much lower -- which is not the same thing as saying that most adults died by the age of thirty! The reason average life expectancy was so much lower is that the odds of surviving your first few years were horrifyingly low. Childhood diseases like the measles tended to kill almost half of all children born before they reached the age of ten.
Which means that nearly every family in existence, rich as well as poor, suffered the repeated grief of seeing life cut short before it really had a chance to start. Then, for those who made it to adulthood, men often had a meaningful chance of dying in war, and women faced the recurrent risk of dying in childbirth. On top of all that, there's the experience of death: people were more likely to die at home, rather than off in some hospital, and ordinary people had the task of caring for them in their final hours and preparing their bodies for funerary rites afterwards. They saw and touched and smelled the effects of death, in a way that most of us today do not.
One of the ways to cope with this is to look death squarely in the eye, rather than flinching away. The Latin phrase memento mori, an exhortation to remember that you must inevitably die, has come to signify all kinds of cultural traditions intended to remind people of the end. Our modern Halloween skeletons and ghosts used to have that function, even if few of us think of them that way anymore; let's take a look at some other approaches.
A few memento mori traditions are things you do rather than objects in your life. Buddhism, for example, has traditions of "foulness meditation," in which a person is encouraged to contemplate topics like disease and decay -- sometimes in cemeteries or the presence of corpses. After all, Buddhism tells us the nature of the world is impermanence, and what illustrates that more vividly than death? Islamic scriptures likewise exhort believers to think about death, and some Sufis make a habit of visiting graveyards for that purpose. I'm also reminded of a fictional practice, which I think might be based on something in the real world, though I can't place it: in Geraldine Harris' Seven Citadels quartet of novels, the Queen of Seld holds banquets in what will eventually be her tomb.
Speaking of banqueting, the Romans had a rich tradition of memento mori (as you might expect, given that we got the phrase from their language). In the early imperial period, it was fashionable to dine in rooms frescoed with images of skeletons and drink from cups decorated with skulls. The message, though, was far from Buddhism's reminder not to become attached to impermanent things: instead it was, as the poet Horace wrote in that same era, carpe diem. Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow you may die. These macabre decorations were meant to heighten the transient pleasures of life.
Other classical thinkers took it in a more Buddhist-style direction, though. Stoic philosophy is full of injunctions to curb the pleasures of life because you and all the people around you are mortal, and there are accounts which claim a Roman general celebrating a triumph was accompanied by someone reminding him that eventually he would die. We find the same sentiment echoed in the Icelandic Hávamál, with its "Cattle die, / kinsmen die, / all men are mortal" -- though that one goes on to praise the immortality of a good reputation.
Christian tradition leaned heavily into this for centuries, because of the theological emphasis on the dangers of sin and of dying unshriven. To have any hope of heaven, a Christian was supposed to live with one eye on the ever-present possibility of death, rather than assuming it must be far off and you'd see it coming, with time to prepare. Memento mori took every shape from tomb decorations (don't forget that many wealthy people were buried inside churches) to clocks (time is inexorably ticking away) to paintings (the genre known as vanitas emphasizes the vanity, i.e. worthlessness, of impermanent things) to jewelry. The devastation of the Black Death undoubtedly bolstered this tradition, as seen in the Danse Macabre artistic motif, where the Grim Reaper summons away people from all walks of life, kings and bishops alongside peasants.
I promised you baked goods, though, didn't I? Malta celebrates the Month of the Dead in November and commemorates the season with ghadam tal-mejtin, "dead men's bones," a type of cookie filled with sweet, spiced almond dough. And in Sweden, there was a nineteenth-century tradition of funerary confectionery, wrapped in paper printed with memento mori images -- though the candies were often meant to be saved instead of eaten, and some manufacturers bulked them out with substances like chalk to cut costs. You could break a tooth trying to bite into one.
We might even count death omens as a type of memento mori. Most of the ones I know about are European, and take forms ranging from spectral voices in the night to black dogs to a double of the person who's about to die -- with a certain amount of ambiguity around whether encountering such a thing causes you to die (perhaps with some way to avert it), or whether it's merely a signal that death is at hand. To these we might add plague omens, which I know of from both Slavic lands and Japan: people or creatures who appear to warn a town that an epidemic is about to sweep through. The Japanese ones usually promise that anyone who hangs up an image of the creature will be protected from disease, which is certainly helpful of them! (And yes, there was a resurgence in that tradition when the Covid-19 pandemic began.)
These days we are more likely to enjoy death imagery as an aesthetic rather than a philosophical practice. Our life expectancy is vastly higher -- in part because we're far more likely to survive childhood -- and thanks to modern medicine, even an ultimately fatal injury or illness stands a higher chance of giving us time to prepare for the end. But notwithstanding the fever dreams of some technophiles, we have yet to defeat death; immortality remains out of reach. Until that changes, mortality will remain an inescapable fact for every human born.
(originally posted at Swan Tower: https://is.gd/JVBlEI)
An interesting article
Jan. 9th, 2026 09:52 ammekare posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
smallwebI stumbled across this essay on community organisation and core web vs. peripheral web structures today. A fascinating read! It's been written by former organisers of a webring called yesterweb which seemed to have exploded in popularity before being shut down. The reflection on this experience (and general web trends) is really interesting.
Some excerpts:
Some excerpts:
The peripheral web can be described as the outskirts of the core web, with platforms such as Mastodon, SpaceHey, Neocities, Discord and IRC chatrooms, Matrix rooms, various imageboards, and others, including various functional clones of core web applications. It is the digital countryside of the corporate megalopolis. Advertising, sales, and data collection are substantially reduced if not entirely eliminated, providing better conditions for people to socialize in and a healthier experience overall. It is composed of web platforms that are hosted on separate infrastructure from the core web by individuals or organizations with various sources of funding. The peripheral web is discovered largely through word-of-mouth and personal research. In other words, bridging the peripheral web to the core web takes a significant amount of effort: the vast majority of internet users remain unaware of its existence.
The rapid increase in popularity of platforms like Neocities and Spacehey were a strong indicator that nostalgia was a significant force driving migration to the peripheral web in recent years. The community was first created when pandemic restrictions were just starting to loosen up. Nostalgia was often the first thing that stood out and appealed to new members: there is comfort in nostalgia, especially during particularly rough times.
However, Nostalgia would often lead to a regressive attitude within the space that made it difficult to achieve any sort of change. Users focused highly on nostalgia would value aesthetics as their primary focus which would lead to a distrust of new tools that did not meet their nostalgic criteria.
The organization began as a handful of individuals working to discover and address the needs of the community. As the community grew larger, it transformed into a loose organization composed of staff members. Finally, a well-defined organization formed at the core of the staff that created a distinction between organizers.
In its loosely organized phase, attempts were made to draw the whole community into organizing efforts. Results were poor because of low participation, and because the participants were mostly composed of the newest members who had the least knowledge about the community. We could not ensure an accurate representation from this setup, so we moved the decision-making as a responsibility for staff members. This would not work out either as moderators had varying levels of commitment and we could not reasonably expect them to take a greater responsibility.
Webrings!
Jan. 9th, 2026 09:42 ammekare posting in drawesomeI'm currently updating my Neocities art site again and found two artist webrings that I thought would be of interest:
Neocreatives Webring - this one has grown so big (500+ artists) that it now functions as a directory.
Adult Artist Webring - this is MUCH smaller but I'm glad those artists have found a way to connect on a new platform after being kicked out almost everywhere.
Neocreatives Webring - this one has grown so big (500+ artists) that it now functions as a directory.
Adult Artist Webring - this is MUCH smaller but I'm glad those artists have found a way to connect on a new platform after being kicked out almost everywhere.
Choices (5)
Jan. 9th, 2026 08:40 amthe_comfortable_courtesanTo enjoy a little society
How very charming, Caroline Kirkstall thought, was Lady Bexbury’s little place in Shropshire! The term ‘hunting-box’ gave one an entirely misleading impression – no doubt had been that when she had inherited from her late husband, but one might see that it had been refurbished by the hand of a lady with the most exquisite taste. O, nothing excessive – quite suited for country living – proper to its purpose as a rural retreat – but one wondered whether 'twould be encroaching to enquire of Her Ladyship whether she had any hints in the matter of decoration.
Supposing, Caroline pondered, that she returned to Mr Brackley’s house and did it up – for now she had ventured so far as to travel to London, and now made this solitary sojourn, she took the thought that she did not have to remain in Droitwich and feel that she was being gossiped upon, and speculations made &C. She was still by no means old, even did she not have such adventurous plans as that Lady Fendersham Lady Bexbury had mentioned, that went a daring voyage to Peru, where her son, that was in the Consular Service, had lately married.
But she might recruit here, in the very pleasant and healthful airs. And to her relief, Merrow was very prepossessed – the two women, Eppie and Dorrie, that looked after the place, might, she conceded, be somewhat countrified, but they kept everything entire spick and span and one could not fault their cooking! The steward, Raggle, most respectful – indeed, Miss Merrow might help herself to anything she fancied from the herb-garden. The countryside very pretty – one was a deal less worried among sheep than cows, was one not? The village a very fine tidy place, better shops than one would have anticipated –
That was reassuring! And also reassuring was the report that Merrow brought back of the local doctor, a Mr Randall – may not be one of your haughty fine physicians but is give out exceeding competent – the cottage hospital quite a model –
Caroline had no particular troubles of health – otherwise she would have took the opportunity of being in Town to consult some leading physician – dared say – well, perhaps not Lord Peregrine himself, but his sister Lady Lucretia or her husband, or indeed the ladies at Mrs Mitchell’s – would have had recommendations – but it was comforting to know that there was a good medical man in the vicinity.
Shops – a small circulating library and reading-room – a school – besides the parish church also a Methodist congregation –
A certain number of what one must consider the better class – besides the doctor, and the parson and the minister, there were the manager of the mine and various others connected with the operation that were of a genteel sort –
And this very day, she found, certain wives had come to leave cards!
Fie, she said to Eppie, that brought them in, do you invite 'em in and we may have tea, and I fancy you can contrive something to’t –
Eppie grinned and said, that we can!
So came in Mrs Marston, whose husband was the manager of the mine, and Mrs Randall, that was the doctor’s wife, and Mrs Parfitt, whose husband was in charge of the smelting-works, and Mrs Carling, that was the parsoness – quite a young woman that Caroline fancied had not been in the place long.
They made very proper condolences upon Miss Kirkstall’s bereavement – my brother-in-law – went with my sister when she married him, to assist in housekeeping – tended her during her illness – remained to support him in his loss – no, they had not been blessed, alas –
Very proper and dutiful, remarked Mrs Marston. There were no prying questions such as Caroline had feared, and she waved them into the parlour chairs.
Mrs Randall advized Mrs Carling not to endeavour to disturb the elderly tomcat Portly that slumbered in a comfortable chair – o, he is quite the local character! Has a deal of temperament but quite the finest mouser are you ever troubled in that way – quite the haughtiest of felines –
Caroline could not help laughing, for that was entirely how they had found him. Not at all a cat to come make obsequious and purring but very much on his dignity. Might in time condescend to come sit upon a lap.
Whereas the little black spaniel Wowzkie was everybody’s friend!
Came in Eppie with the good tea service, and –
Ah, said Mrs Parfitt, I always say, the kitchen here has quite the finest hand with lardy-cake!
One might see Wowzkie look up with a pathetic expression of a poor little doggie that was being entirely starved, an impression quite belied by the sleek well-filled-out coat.
So they sat and drank tea, and eat the good lardy-cake, and what the ladies were most eager to know was did Miss Kirkstall have news of Lady Bexbury?
So she was obliged to say that alas, had seen very little of that remarkable lady – had met her while making a condolence call on Lord Peregrine Shallock at the home of his sister, Lady Lucretia Grigson – Mr Brackley having been his godfather –
This most greatly impressed the ladies and they desired to know somewhat of Lady Lucretia’s house – o, Belgravia? one hears 'tis very fine –
Gave something of a false impression of her Society connexions!
She turned the conversation to enquire about matters in the locality, that sounded to be in a very good way.
The ladies, minding that 'twas a first call, soon rose. In the process of taking their leave, Mrs Marston said that a quiet dinner party could not be improper in Miss Kirkstall’s situation, could it?
While Caroline did not have any authority to consult on the matter beyond her own conscience, she fancied that Nehemiah Brackley would have exhorted her to enjoy a little society, and said that she could not see the least objection, 'twas a very pleasing thought.
Indeed, Merrow was exceedingly gratified at the prospect. Furbished up Caroline’s best mourning wear in the style that had been conveyed to her by that finest arbiter, Miss Coggin of Mamzelle Bridgette.
Will entirely do you good, miss, to get out a little.
So she desired Raggle to put the pony to the gig, and confided that she might manage to drive down to the Marstons’ house herself.
A very eligible residence! Well away from the smoke and fume of the smelting works – that was a fine tall chimney to bear those away, and she dared say thought had also been took for the prevailing winds. Everyone most civilly welcoming – the Marstons, the Randalls, the Carlings, and o, here was a single gentleman, a Mr McAllan that was the chief engineer about the place, that they praised as a most ingenious fellow – would not know how they would get on without him – entire virtuoso in the matter of steam-pumps, had fellows come visit to see theirs –
A Scotsman in early middle age or so, that looked a little melancholy, but made very agreeable to her. Apologized that they had no fine sights to show her other than steam-pumps, to which she responded that the countryside hereabouts was very pretty, but perchance did not compare with his native soil?
Gave a gruff laugh and said that Glasgow in these bustling days was very unlike anything in the works of Scott! but a fine city, nonetheless.
The whole evening most exceeding agreeable – further invitations to come view the hospital – visit the school – take tea at the parsonage – &C&C.
It gave her to wonder whether 'twould be proper to make some return of hospitality, but while she was still musing upon this, a letter arrived under the Bexbury seal, that announced that sure it was very tiresome, and she was put about at having to intrude upon Miss Kirkstall’s solitary retreat, but Her Ladyship was obliged to come look over certain matters at the mine, and thus would be taking up residence for a few days.
Why, thought Caroline, nothing could be more delightful. One supposed that Lady Bexbury would be much took up with the cares of business – for she had been give to understand that she had a very sound comprehension of such matters, not one of your owners that sits in Town and draws dividends, appreciated the importance of investing in machinery &C – but it would be agreeable just to look upon her, quite a refreshment to the spirits.
So here she came, with her black maid Sophy, that Raggle was almost falling over his feet to assist in the disposition of the trunks, and with Leda Hacker, that 'twas very pleasing to see once more. And appeared on excellent terms with Eppie and Dorrie, making jokes about sheep in the kitchen – la, when first I came here they was raising orphaned lambs there –
Enquired whether Caroline had noticed any election turmoil hereabouts? There must be some hereabouts eligible to vote for the county members!
Few enough, remarked Lady Bexbury over her shoulder, that I doubt any agents will consider it worth their time to come canvassing. Cannot recollect any uproar on previous occasions. She sighed. I fancy 'twill be entire different at Tapperbridge –
She turned around. The Mulcasters are old friends, and have invited me to Qualling, she continued. Tapperbridge used to be a sleepy country town, not quite what they called a pocket borough, but they would vote as they thought the Duke would like. But since the coming of the railway has become a very different place.
Sophy came pattering down the stairs, crying that there was hot water brought and Her Ladyship should come and be repaired from the journey.
Merrow soon came on terms of the greatest admiration for Sophy – married to Jupp of the carriage-hire business, but they have the greatest loyalty to Her Ladyship for her immense kindness in the past, would not go sit at home as she could when she might be of service – not in the least haughty – has give me most helpful advice –
Had also, over gathering herbs from the plot in the garden, disclosed that Mr McAllan was a widower, o, a very sad tale – had married a young lady from Glasgow – very happy – then she and the baby died – everyone at the mine wishes he would wed again – not only has a fine salary, holds several remunerative patents –
La, Merrow, said Caroline, blushing, as she was having her hair dressed in this new way suggested by Sophy, do you go match-make?
Episode 700: The Video!
Jan. 9th, 2026 07:15 amsmartbitches_feedHey Look! It’s a Friday Video! (Shall we bring those back?)
This week is Episode 700 of the podcast, and I’ve done both an audio and video version of the show because my guest, Amanda Matta (aka matta_of_fact) and I are examining some old skool romance covers through an art history lens.
Amanda has degrees in art history and museum studies, and while she may be more known for her royals commentary, I love her podcast Art of History, where she does a deep dive into one particular piece of art each month.
This is my first (woot!) attempt at video editing, and so it’s a little rougher than I’d like, but I am very excited to share it.
You can find Amanda Matta at her website, AmandaMatta.com, on TikTok, and on Instagram.
And you can find the Smart Podcast Trashy Books channel on YouTube – please subscribe if you’re so inclined, as I had to restart the channel from scratch.
I hope you enjoy our journey through different covers, and thank you for helping us reach 700 episodes.
700. An Art History Analysis of Romance Covers with Amanda Matta
Jan. 9th, 2026 07:00 amsmartbitches_feed
Happy 700th Episode!!
Amanda Matta is a debut author (her book is coming in 2027!), media commentator, royal analyst, and an art historian. I’ve mentioned Amanda, and her podcast Art of History, which I love. In that show, she focuses on one particular piece of art and explains the history, context, symbolism, and even the details of how it was made. I like it. So I thought, why not have Amanda Matta give the Art of History treatment to some classic romance covers?
We also discuss royal watching, racism, influencing and commentating on popular culture, Henry VIII’s codpiece, art history, and more.
This is our 700th episode – woooo! – and it be both video and audio. The audio will be available on your regular podcast feeds, and you’ll hear us discuss and describe the covers in question. However, on the video, you get to see both of us, and the covers!
Want to watch the video? Here you go!
Speaking of YouTube – did you know the podcast has a YouTube channel? It’s true! Each new episode is automatically uploaded, so if you prefer your podcasts on the ‘Tube, we’ve got you covered. Also, this channel is brand spanking new (I had to recreate it after YouTube deplatformed my last one without explanation. I presume bitches are to blame) so I’d appreciate it if you’d be so kind as to subscribe! If we hit 100 new subscribers, SB Amanda and I will live broadcast something very fun and silly to thank everyone.
Thank you for being part of the podcast community as we reach 700 episodes! This is a big milestone, and I’m so thankful you’re here.
Listen to the podcast →Read the transcript →
Here are the books we discuss in this podcast:
You can find Amanda Matta at her website, AmandaMatta.com, on TikTok, and on Instagram.
We also mentioned:
- Steve Ammidown’s post about Robert McGinnis, who passed away in 2025
- Windsor Castle: A Royal Year
- The Infamous Three Armed Cover
- The Art of History Podcast
- Off with Their Headlines Podcast
- Northern Disclosure Podcast
- The Midtown Scholar bookshop
- The Vulgar History Podcast
- Bachelor Lady Butts.
If you like the podcast, you can subscribe to our feed, or find us at iTunes. You can also find us on Stitcher, and Spotify, too. We also have a cool page for the podcast on iTunes.
More ways to sponsor:
Sponsor us through Patreon! (What is Patreon?)
What did you think of today's episode? Got ideas? Suggestions? You can talk to us on the blog entries for the podcast or talk to us on Facebook if that's where you hang out online. You can email us at sbjpodcast@gmail.com or you can call and leave us a message at our Google voice number: 201-371-3272. Please don't forget to give us a name and where you're calling from so we can work your message into an upcoming podcast.
Thanks for listening!
Remember to subscribe to our podcast feed, find us on iTunes or on Stitcher.
1/4/26 - 1/8/26 Urgent Action Items Included
Jan. 8th, 2026 11:23 pmgwydion* Not fished with the aggregate, but there are a ton of urgent action items so I'm cutting here.
* "Israeli forces kill seven in Gaza, say they hit rocket launch site:" https://archive.ph/LGh4H
******
* "Trump Threatens Venezuela’s New Leader With a Fate Worse Than Maduro’s:" https://archive.ph/FSx4o
* "China Slams US ‘Bullying’ Over Pressure on Venezuela to Cut Ties:" https://archive.ph/C9jJl
* "‘We set the terms and conditions’: Stephen Miller asserts US authority over Venezuela:" https://www.politico.com/news/2026/01/05/stephen-miller-asserts-us-authority-venezuela-00711940
* "Maddow calls out the real reason Trump invaded Venezuela:" https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow/watch/maddow-calls-out-the-real-reason-trump-invaded-venezuela-2479734851702
* "Psaki: Donald Trump is ADDICTED to power; planning, not so much:"
( Embed: )
* "Americans do not want war with Venezuela:" https://www.gelliottmorris.com/p/americans-do-not-want-war-with-venezuela
* "Rubio says US will press change in Venezuela with oil embargo, while Trump insists ‘we’re in charge’:" https://apnews.com/article/venezuela-maduro-trump-military-operation-85041a1ec03bafe839b785a95169d694
* "Rubio and Hegseth brief lawmakers on 'threefold process' for Venezuela:" https://www.npr.org/2026/01/07/g-s1-104905/rubio-hegseth-lawmakers-venezuelas-future
* "US seeks to assert its control over Venezuelan oil with tanker seizures and sales worldwide:" https://apnews.com/article/us-venezuela-oil-tanker-77f2c1441dda8217b37f9e38c3ae9131
* "Trump suggests US taxpayers could reimburse oil firms for Venezuela investment:" https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/jan/06/trump-us-taxpayers-oil-firms-venezuela-investment
* "US seizes Russian-flagged oil tanker, in challenge to Moscow:" https://www.semafor.com/article/01/07/2026/us-seizes-russian-flagged-oil-tanker-in-challenge-to-moscow
* "'Reckless and illegal': LGBTQ+ politicians blast Trump's military strike on Venezuela:" https://www.advocate.com/politics/national/lgbtq-politicians-denounce-trump-venezuela
* "Pete Buttigieg blasts 'ideological bull' behind Trump's takeover of Venezuela:" https://www.advocate.com/politics/national/pete-buttigieg-blasts-venezuela-takeover
* "Trump Violated International Law:"
( Embed: )
* "Venezuela Invasion Is A Crime:"
( Embed: )
* "The Context You Need To Know About Maduro's Capture EXPLAINED:"
( Embed: )
* "Maduro, wife plead not guilty as ousted Venezuelan leader says he was ‘kidnapped’:" https://www.politico.com/news/2026/01/05/maduro-pleads-not-guilty-court-hearing-00711006?nid=0000015a-dd3e-d536-a37b-dd7fd8af0000&nname=playbook-pm&nrid=0000014e-f104-dd93-ad7f-f905509f0002
* "Venezuelan Opposition Politician on Maduro Capture & the Uncertain Future | Amanpour and Company:"
( Embed: )
* "Someone made a ton of money betting on Maduro’s capture:" https://www.theverge.com/news/853765/someone-made-a-ton-of-money-betting-on-maduros-capture
**** Urgent Action Item! "Senate votes to limit Trump on Venezuela:" https://www.politico.com/news/2026/01/08/senate-votes-to-restrict-trump-on-venezuela-00716127
This is not a final vote. Contact your Senator now!
These Republicans voted to check Trump's wild invasion of random countries. If this is your Senator, thank them and ask them to keep supporting the measure!
Rand Paul of Kentucky
Lisa Murkowski of Alaska
Susan Collins of Maine
Todd Young of Indiana
Josh Hawley of Missouri
John Fetterman of Pennsylvania did the right thing for once. If you live in Pennsylvania please thank him and ask him to hold firm.
We need more votes, obviously, so contact your Republican critters in House and Senate and beg them to do the patriotic thing.
* A model letter to your Congress Critters asking them to DO something: "Emailing my legislators:" https://amaebi.dreamwidth.org/2741130.html
* "Fraudster George Santos claims he’s going to Venezuela ‘to help with aid’:" https://www.advocate.com/news/george-santos-venezuela-trip
* "Here's everything to know about LGBTQ+ rights in Venezuela:" https://www.advocate.com/news/venezuela-lgbtq-rights-marriage-transgender
******
* "Trump Lays Out a Vision of Power Restrained Only by ‘My Own Morality’:" https://archive.ph/KV5NY
* "After Maduro, who’s next? Trump spurs speculation about his plans for Greenland, Cuba and Colombia:" https://apnews.com/article/trump-venezuela-greenland-cuba-571aac35e259857fd512c46f5af11e4d
* "Trump on return trip to Washington predicts demise of Cuba, warns Colombia, threatens Greenland:" https://www.politico.com/news/2026/01/04/trump-on-return-trip-to-washington-predicts-demise-of-cuba-warns-colombia-threatens-greenland-00710410
* "‘Life and death stakes’: Hayes blasts Trump threats against Cuba, Mexico, Greenland:"
( Embed: )
* "US ‘has no right’ to take over Greenland, Danish PM says after renewed Trump threats :" https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/04/greenland-denmark-us-venezuela-nicolas-maduro-donald-trump
* "Trump hammers NATO allies while Greenland crisis deepens :" https://www.politico.eu/article/us-donald-trump-nato-allies-greenland-crisis-deepens/
* "Rubio to meet Denmark leaders next week, signals no retreat on Trump's Greenland goal:" https://archive.ph/6feFw
* "Why Greenland is strategically important to Arctic security:" https://apnews.com/article/greenland-denmark-security-trump-arctic-north-6066195d0c6b9e1bbe6da27d55b26ece
We already have a base there and have had foe three quarters of a century. Denmark is our ally. Fuckssake!!!
* "Trump says his Greenland fixation is about national security. Europeans are skeptical.:" https://www.politico.com/news/2026/01/06/trump-says-his-greenland-fixation-is-about-national-security-europeans-are-skeptical-00712149
As am I.
* "Congress starts to take Trump’s interest in Greenland more seriously:" https://www.semafor.com/article/01/05/2026/congress-starts-to-take-trumps-interest-in-greenland-more-seriously
Now is a GREAT time to contact your Congress Critters, BEFORE we break NATO.
* "What to know about the intensifying protests shaking Iran and putting pressure on its theocracy:" https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/what-to-know-about-the-intensifying-protests-shaking-iran-and-putting-pressure-on-its-theocracy
* "Footage shows violent clashes as Iran protests spread to more areas:" https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgm4y0ewe93o
* "Ian Bremmer: Trump’s “Political Revolution” Is 2026’s Top Global Risk | Amanpour and Company:"
( Embed: )
* "Trump withdraws U.S. from 66 international organizations and treaties, including major climate groups:" https://archive.ph/xAAr9#selection-2375.64-2481.0
* "Trump withdrawal from bedrock UN climate treaty raises legal questions:" https://archive.ph/kDBSM
*** Immigration/I.C.E/Autocracy/Slow Motion Civil War/Violent Illegal Occupation of Blue Cities News ***
* "Tiny Pacific nation of Palau to take migrants from US in return for aid:" https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/dec/25/tiny-pacific-nation-of-palau-to-take-migrants-from-us-in-return-for-aid
* "Homeland Security plans 2,000 officers in Minnesota for its ‘largest immigration operation ever’:" https://apnews.com/article/immigration-enforcement-ice-noem-minnesota-somali-db661df6de1131a034da2bda4bb3d817
* "Avelo ends ICE flights as Delaware lawmakers seek transparency on companies profiting from deportations:" https://whyy.org/articles/avelo-airlines-deportation-flights-cancel-delaware-transparency-laws/
* "Trump’s ICE prison escalation collides with American resistance:" https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow/watch/trump-s-ice-prison-escalation-collides-with-american-resistance-2479740995856
* Short version of the The Cold Blooded I.C.E. Murder of Renee Good in Minneapolis:
ICE decided to shoot a mother point blank four times in the face for just being in the way a few blocks from where the police murdered George Floyd for pleasure the last time Trump was in office. They are now lying that somehow being in the way constitutes violent terrorism and that after they killed her, her foot pressed down on the accelerator which retroactively justifies them killing her since their shooting her in the face for fun so many times caused her corpse to endanger ICE officers.
They tell these lies knowing that multiple people filmed the incident. I saw footage before hearing or seeing what people were saying, and I thought they were yelling at her to get out of the way. They claim they were yelling for her to get out of the car. Odds are they were yelling both as screaming contradictory orders give police and ICE a pretext to murder people for fun so they do it a lot.
They refused to let a physician on the scene try to resuscitate her and deliberately blocked the ambulance that arrived 15 minutes later so they had to carry her body away by hand.
Warning: video news items include footage of the murder (though not the victim), and images of the car's blooding interior after the murder.
* "Eyewitnesses say Renee Good posed ‘no threat’ to ICE agents:" https://www.mprnews.org/story/2026/01/07/shooting-south-minneapolis-ice-agents-federal-operation
* "‘Point blank in the face’: Eyewitness details deadly ICE shooting:" https://www.ms.now/all-in/watch/point-blank-in-the-face-eyewitness-details-deadly-ice-shooting-2480150595917
* "What Happens Next In Minnesota?:"
( Embed: )
* "‘She was an amazing human being’: Mother identifies woman shot, killed by ICE agent:" https://www.startribune.com/she-was-an-amazing-human-being-mother-identifies-woman-shot-killed-by-ice-agent/601559922
* "Distraught woman says ICE killed her wife in video after deadly Minneapolis shooting:" https://www.advocate.com/news/minnesota-ice-killed-wife
* "Who was Renee Nicole Good? Remembering the Minneapolis poet and mother killed by ICE:" https://www.advocate.com/news/who-was-renee-nicole-good
* "‘They decided on a narrative’: Hayes rips DHS ‘lies’ after deadly ICE shooting:" https://www.ms.now/all-in/watch/they-decided-on-a-narrative-hayes-rips-dhs-lies-after-deadly-ice-shooting-2480159811622
* "Thousands gather to mourn Renee Good, Minneapolis woman shot and killed by ICE agent:" https://www.mprnews.org/story/2026/01/07/renee-nicole-good-vigil-south-minneapolis-ice-agents
* "State, city leaders clash with feds after deadly ICE shooting in Minneapolis:" https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/state-city-leaders-clash-with-feds-after-deadly-ice-shooting-in-minneapolis
* The victim blaming continues. "Minneapolis ICE shooting live updates: Vance calls fatal shooting 'tragedy of her own making':" https://abcnews.go.com/US/live-updates/minneapolis-ice-shooting-live-updates-tensions-flare-minneapolis/?id=129018634
* "‘The lies are easily disproven’: Hayes dismantles JD Vance’s ICE shooting claims:"
( Embed: )
* "'The truth matters here': Minneapolis mayor REJECTS Trump narrative on deadly ICE shooting:"
( Embed: )
* "‘ICE is hurting our people’: Minnesota Lt. Gov. Flanagan reacts to fatal shooting:" https://www.ms.now/ms-now/watch/ice-is-hurting-our-people-minnesota-lt-gov-flanagan-reacts-to-fatal-shooting-2480165443676
* "Schumer questions ability of Trump-corrupted FBI to investigate Minneapolis ICE shooting:"
( Embed: )
* "NYC Mayor Mamdani calls for ACCOUNTABILITY for ICE killing of Minneapolis mom:"
( Embed: )
* "Gov. Shapiro: No 'absolute immunity' for Minneapolis ICE shooter:"
( Embed: )
* "Vigil for Renee Nicole Good becomes a call to action against ICE:" https://www.advocate.com/news/vigil-renee-good-ice-shooting
* "‘Animals’: Feds TACKLE staff, gas students at Minneapolis high school, witnesses say:"
( Embed: )
* "Feds freeze Minnesota officials out of probe around killing of Renee Nicole Good :" https://www.advocate.com/news/fbi-conducts-ice-investigation-alone
* "Photos: Protests grow over the fatal ICE shooting in Minneapolis:" https://www.npr.org/2026/01/08/nx-s1-5671719/ice-shooting-minneapolis-protest
* "Husband and Wife Shot by Border Agents in Portland 1 Day After Woman Shot and Killed by ICE in Minneapolis: Reports:" https://people.com/2-people-shot-by-federal-agents-in-portland-1-day-after-woman-fatally-shot-by-ice-in-minneapolis-police-11882122
* Once again I want to thank everyone risking their lives to protest. You are heroes.
* Here are some ways to help Immigrants and the anti-ICE Protesters:
Immigrant Defenders: https://give.immdef.org/give/545119/#!/donation/checkout
The Bail Project: https://bailproject.org/
National Bail Fund Network: https://www.communityjusticeexchange.org/en/nbfn-directory
Amnesty International: protect asylum-seekers: https://donate.amnestyusa.org/page/113080/donate/1
The Young Center for Immigrant Children's Rights: https://www.theyoungcenter.org/
CHIRLA: https://www.chirla.org/
AL Otro Lado: https://alotrolado.networkforgood.com/projects/63833-al-otro-lado-fund
Mid-South Immigration Advocates: https://miamemphis.org/
"Know Your Rights:" https://www.aclu.org/know-your-rights/protesters-rights
"Disappeared In America:" https://www.disappearedinamerica.us/
* "‘Dictator’ Trump Floats Idea of Canceling Midterm Elections:" https://www.thedailybeast.com/dictator-trump-floats-idea-of-canceling-midterm-elections/
* "Donald Trump uses the anniversary of the Capitol insurrection to attack transgender people:" https://www.advocate.com/politics/trump-transgender-republican-retreat
* "Nationwide Trans Youth Care Ban Incoming As Trump Admin Announces "Nuclear Option" Federal Rule:" https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/nationwide-trans-youth-care-ban-imminent
* How to complain: https://www.tumblr.com/botheryourreps/805047264878968832/nationwide-trans-youth-care-ban-incoming-as-trump
* "Trump pushes to limit Wall Street’s footprint in housing:" https://www.politico.com/news/2026/01/07/trump-wall-street-housing-affordability-00714178?nid=00000170-c000-da87-af78-e185fa700000&nname=politico-nightly&nrid=00000156-381b-d0c4-ab5f-7a5f5f5a0001
* "Amid fraud claims, Trump admin announces more changes to federal child care funding:" https://www.npr.org/2026/01/05/nx-s1-5667019/hhs-child-care-federal-funding
* "Trump admin official reportedly made millions from fast-tracked lithium mine:" https://www.sfgate.com/national-parks/article/naked-corruption-interior-mine-deal-21279567.php
* "Pentagon moves to punish senator for anti-Trump video:" https://www.politico.com/news/2026/01/05/hegseth-kelly-punish-video-00710555
* "Why Donald Trump is still freaking out over Senator Kelly’s simple statement:" https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow/watch/why-donald-trump-is-still-freaking-out-over-senator-kelly-s-simple-statement-2479723075702
* "HHS dramatically overhauls childhood vaccine schedule, downgrading advice for flu, meningitis, other shots:" https://www.politico.com/news/2026/01/05/hhs-to-weaken-childhood-vaccine-schedule-for-flu-meningitis-00711252
* "Flu Infections Hit Highest Level in US Since Covid Pandemic:" https://archive.ph/SLcIp
* "RFK Jr. says to eat more protein, less sugar in new dietary guidelines:" https://www.politico.com/news/2026/01/07/rfk-trump-dietary-guidelines-protein-sugar-00713828
The Nutritional guidelines are a mixed bag, unlike the plans to kill the children of the poor by depriving them of the vaccines the children of the rich will likely still get.
* This one's going to kill a lot of older people: "Why RFK Jr.'s Health Department repealed rule for 24/7 nurses in nursing homes:" https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/rfk-jr-health-department-nurses/
* "Trump calls for record $1.5 trillion defense budget, a 50 percent jump:" https://www.politico.com/news/2026/01/07/trump-calls-record-defense-budget-00715298
He wants this to pay for all his planned illegal invasions.
Angry about it? Contact your Congress Critters to support this Amendment:
* "Gallego Introduces Amendment to Block Military Force Against Greenland:" https://www.gallego.senate.gov/press-releases/gallego-introduces-amendment-to-block-military-force-against-greenland/
* This Bill: "S.3595 - A bill to prohibit the use of funds for the deployment of United States military or intelligence personnel in Venezuela for certain purposes. :" https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/3595
* "To direct the removal of United States Armed Forces from hostilities within or against Venezuela that have not been authorized by Congress. :" https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-concurrent-resolution/68
* "House passes three-bill spending package with weeks left to avoid a shutdown:" https://www.politico.com/news/2026/01/08/house-passes-three-bill-spending-package-with-weeks-left-to-avoid-a-shutdown-00716935
* "House passes bill to extend health care subsidies in defiance of GOP leaders:" https://apnews.com/article/house-democrats-republicans-vote-health-care-subsidies-7d69148c6619a190f8d4abb85a7344b8
* "Emailing my federal legislators:" https://amaebi.dreamwidth.org/2742159.html
* Our job for the next year and a half is to survive, to build grassroots resistance, to do all in our power to slow the republican Christo-fascist agenda, and to prepare for 2026 in case there is still Democracy.
We are trying to build a good list of resistance resources.
Please add more below if you have them.
* "Take action with Indivisible:" https://www.mobilize.us/indivisible/
* Trump 2.0 Indivisible Guide. https://indivisible.org/resource/guide
* "Democracy 2025:" https://www.democracy2025.org/?utm_source=df-ad&utm_medium=&utm_campaign=21912407002&utm_content=721373734297&source=df-ad-gs&gad_source=1
* If you can't safely contact them in person, here are some other options for contacting your Congress Critters:
Five Calls to your critters: https://5calls.org/
Here is one that will send your reps a fax: https://resist.bot/
And another: https://faxzero.com/fax_senate.php
Snail Mail Campaigns: https://conuly.dreamwidth.org/3622760.html
"Congress. gov:" https://www.congress.gov/
White house (Possibly Dangerous): https://www.whitehouse.gov/
ACLU advice for writing to your Critters: https://www.aclu.org/writing-your-elected-representatives
This tracks legislation: https://www.govtrack.us/
"The Public Comment Process (+ how to write effective public comments):" https://www.tumblr.com/gwydionmisha/781844516804149248?source=share
Run for Something: https://runforsomething.net/
"Vote Smart:" https://justfacts.votesmart.org/
Useful organizing links and resources: https://www.tumblr.com/gwydionmisha/771859083592613888/hater-of-terfs-ive-already-reblogged-a-link-to?source=share
Protests: "50501 Events:" https://www.fiftyfifty.one/events
"ICE Raids Toolkit: Defend Against ICE Raids and Community Arrests:" https://www.immigrantdefenseproject.org/raids-toolkit/
Contains a raid tip hotline amoung other things. "Know Your Rights
LEARN HOW TO PROTECT YOURSELF AND YOUR FAMILY:" https://wearecasa.org/know-your-rights/
* "Fifth anniversary of the Jan. 6 attack brings fresh division to the US Capitol:" https://apnews.com/article/capitol-riot-anniversary-trump-democrats-1ef8f91dcdf0f209ba7316139df7e9c6
* "This Jan. 6 plaque was made to honor law enforcement. It’s nowhere to be found at the Capitol:" https://apnews.com/article/capitol-riot-jan-6-anniversary-police-plaque-f6fd39b437c339fa9ff477318a7d36e2
* "How Jan. 6 was remembered — and rewritten — on its 5th anniversary:" https://www.politico.com/news/2026/01/06/january-6-anniversary-capitol-riot-00713422
* "Republicans silent and Democrats incensed on fifth anniversary of US Capitol attack:" https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/06/january-6-us-capitol-attack-fifth-anniversary
* "Ahead of 5-year anniversary of Jan. 6, report examines aftermath following Trump's return to office:" https://abcnews.go.com/US/ahead-5-year-anniversary-jan-6-report-examines/story?id=128912756
* "Trump White House attempts to rewrite history of Jan. 6, accuses Capitol Police of escalating tensions:" https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-white-house-attempts-rewrite-history-jan-6/story?id=128953694
* "Ashli Babbitt and the making of a MAGA martyr :" https://www.advocate.com/politics/maga-martyr-ashli-babbitt
* "Pardoned Jan. 6 rioters return to Capitol on 5th anniversary of insurrection:" https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/pardoned-jan-6-rioters-return-to-capitol-on-5th-anniversary-of-insurrection
* "Fascism Expert Jason Stanley on the 5th Anniversary of Jan. 6 Capitol Attack | Amanpour and Company:"
( Embed: )
* CW: Rape, CSA. "Five years after January 6, dozens of pardoned insurrectionists have been arrested again :" https://www.advocate.com/news/crime/five-years-january-6-arrested-again
* I keep needing a stupid amount of rest. This is coinciding with Livia deciding to go back to stretching out on top of me for loves, like she used to before Tavy's health started to deteriorate. She is doing way more often, and even taking short naps on occation, despite no longer being ill. She has also been experimenting with some new positions, ones that were Tavy's. She has days when her appetite is winter normal, and days when she is extra sad and not eating much. She is still weird about the sofa and desk mesting spots, where I think absense is loudest, though I see her scouting her old spots now and then and even sitting very briefly. I miss having her in her desk box while I'm at the computer, but she clearly needs more time.
Last week we did physio preliminaries. Wednesday afternoon, we started in earnest. The physio is really good I think. She is treating hipes, upper legs, butt, and core muscles all as a connected system. The excercises are subtle, but challenging. She printed them out, but I left without them. Sigh. I also sabandoned the new rubber thingie I need to do one of the excercises. I'll see if I can dig up an arm one of the same strength and get help tying it right. Let's also hope I remember all five excercises tomorrow.
I had already spent the gas to get that far. The plan was to go up one more exit to the Ethical grocery. Only my brain autopilot tried to taker me home while I was mentally running over my grocery list, which meant I had to go down one exit, then up two. No disabled parking, of course and my ankle dislocated again second time this week as I hobbled across the parking lot. I had planned to use the riding cart anyway as physio takes a lot out of me, but still.
Oh course the grocery was full of people blocking whole aisles with their carts because other people don't exist and they absolutely needed to stand a cross the mouth of an aisle to have a long think or make a phone call instead of pulling foreward. I accidentally was an asshole myself at check out because I forgot that at least half needs to be groceries to be allowed to write a check and I'd bought all the groceries on EBT. They needed to be seperate transactions, so we had to void out half the groceries to balance the cost of TP on a seperate transaction.
I went in looking for 5-7 things. (Five must gets. Two if they have its). I got six as they hadn't the seventh, which is annoying as I kept forgetting to pick up number seven every time I left the house in the last week including when I was literally in the grocery I knew had it, I think last Friday. I did look for it, but they have limitted range in that area and I need a specific brand and flavour. This week has just been like this.
I had to load the bag, tp, and flat of ramen onto a regular cart to take to the car. Someone had to wait for me to get it and then I couldn't get my coat on because my shoulder wasn't working right. So I'm standing on a dislocated ankly trying not to cry from pain and frustration because my arm wouldn't bend right to go in the coat. I fucking hate being in the way. Being in the way twice because my stupid artificial jointed arm is locked up again is worse. She was nice about it, but it was painful and rude on my part.
I did not cry until after I got the groceries in and away.
At least only one of the physio homework things requires standing at this stage.
* Once again, I low key needed to go to the library, but also I needed to get ingredients for things New Millennial preps for me at home, like the rescue lasagna they turned up with after my physio Wednesday night. Don't worry, they get paid for this. It's a perfectly reasonable accommodation for them as they can just do work to help me whenever they are up to it. They bring prepped things back when they come to work and take ingredients away.
I did fill sets of the three horrible exercises that look like I'm not doing much of anything, but are Exhausting. Livia and I did the thing where she has Rainbow toy pettin time. (She likes me to pet her while she plays the the rainbow catnip toy a friend gave her in December, because otherwise it is Too Much). We then did feather time.
I dragged myself out to do errands yet again. This time my ankle did not pop out, but I just don't have a lot of non-physio spoons right now, so it was A LOT. I am spending way too much money on food, but I've been chasing some vitamin deficiencies the last month and a half. I think today I finally achieved Enough Vitamin C and I hit enough Apple a couple of days ago, but I keep having to buy fresh vegetables and the like trying to find the other shortages.
I remembered the thing I need to get from one of two specific stores, but I was done in, food needed to be put away, and I owed the two more vigorous physio exercises. I just didn't have it in me to stop one more place.
Squirrel's still being yanked around by the same work that gave them an award last month over a work injury that turns out to be a torn rotator cup, so they are having to work with it instead of getting light duty. They are fighting it, but in the meantime they are doing more damage every time they work. So now neither of us can really take out the trash. For me it's hard limit. My arm can't do it. For them they risk serious injury every time. I can't do anything about trash, but I'm trying to do a system that lets me take out recycling in smaller amounts. Which means I have to block the door with sort boxes, but there is no help for it. Every time I have the dolly inside, I put a sort box on there and take it out every time I go. I have done this A LOT the last week and a half.
When I took out paper box today I went to put the dolly in the car and FOUND the band and physio direction. O.o In my defense it was dark when I left physio and there was stuff going on with a dog and I was already exhausted. The physio things ended up under groceries and weren't visible in the dark and shadows when I got home. So I have those now, which meant I could check reps and hold times and also realized I left something off the first horrible exercise I was working on. D'oh! I am not fucking redoing them. I will do the harder version tomorrow. Anyway, the makeshift we did with the band wasn't as good so I now have an exactly correct one.
*****
* Full list of Resistance and charity links has been migrated to my profile as it was getting out of hand.
The help links are at the bottom under the cut.
* CW: Suicide "These hotlines are still available for LGBTQ+ youth after Trump kills 988 services:" https://www.advocate.com/news/lgbtq-youth-hotlines-still-available
* "Hospital Crisis Watch:" https://www.protectourcare.org/hospital-crisis-watch/
* If you need help with chest binders:
* "Free Chest Binders:" https://www.pointofpride.org/free-chest-binders
* "Brother 2 Brother Binder Program:" https://blacktransmen.org/binder-program/
* "Morebinders:" https://www.morebinders.com/about
* "The Queer Trans Project :" https://queertransproject.org/
* "Free Gender Affirming Gear Program:" https://www.ftmessentials.com/pages/ftme-free-youth-binder-program
( More )
* "Israeli forces kill seven in Gaza, say they hit rocket launch site:" https://archive.ph/LGh4H
******
* "Trump Threatens Venezuela’s New Leader With a Fate Worse Than Maduro’s:" https://archive.ph/FSx4o
* "China Slams US ‘Bullying’ Over Pressure on Venezuela to Cut Ties:" https://archive.ph/C9jJl
* "‘We set the terms and conditions’: Stephen Miller asserts US authority over Venezuela:" https://www.politico.com/news/2026/01/05/stephen-miller-asserts-us-authority-venezuela-00711940
* "Maddow calls out the real reason Trump invaded Venezuela:" https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow/watch/maddow-calls-out-the-real-reason-trump-invaded-venezuela-2479734851702
* "Psaki: Donald Trump is ADDICTED to power; planning, not so much:"
( Embed: )
* "Americans do not want war with Venezuela:" https://www.gelliottmorris.com/p/americans-do-not-want-war-with-venezuela
* "Rubio says US will press change in Venezuela with oil embargo, while Trump insists ‘we’re in charge’:" https://apnews.com/article/venezuela-maduro-trump-military-operation-85041a1ec03bafe839b785a95169d694
* "Rubio and Hegseth brief lawmakers on 'threefold process' for Venezuela:" https://www.npr.org/2026/01/07/g-s1-104905/rubio-hegseth-lawmakers-venezuelas-future
* "US seeks to assert its control over Venezuelan oil with tanker seizures and sales worldwide:" https://apnews.com/article/us-venezuela-oil-tanker-77f2c1441dda8217b37f9e38c3ae9131
* "Trump suggests US taxpayers could reimburse oil firms for Venezuela investment:" https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/jan/06/trump-us-taxpayers-oil-firms-venezuela-investment
* "US seizes Russian-flagged oil tanker, in challenge to Moscow:" https://www.semafor.com/article/01/07/2026/us-seizes-russian-flagged-oil-tanker-in-challenge-to-moscow
* "'Reckless and illegal': LGBTQ+ politicians blast Trump's military strike on Venezuela:" https://www.advocate.com/politics/national/lgbtq-politicians-denounce-trump-venezuela
* "Pete Buttigieg blasts 'ideological bull' behind Trump's takeover of Venezuela:" https://www.advocate.com/politics/national/pete-buttigieg-blasts-venezuela-takeover
* "Trump Violated International Law:"
( Embed: )
* "Venezuela Invasion Is A Crime:"
( Embed: )
* "The Context You Need To Know About Maduro's Capture EXPLAINED:"
( Embed: )
* "Maduro, wife plead not guilty as ousted Venezuelan leader says he was ‘kidnapped’:" https://www.politico.com/news/2026/01/05/maduro-pleads-not-guilty-court-hearing-00711006?nid=0000015a-dd3e-d536-a37b-dd7fd8af0000&nname=playbook-pm&nrid=0000014e-f104-dd93-ad7f-f905509f0002
* "Venezuelan Opposition Politician on Maduro Capture & the Uncertain Future | Amanpour and Company:"
( Embed: )
* "Someone made a ton of money betting on Maduro’s capture:" https://www.theverge.com/news/853765/someone-made-a-ton-of-money-betting-on-maduros-capture
**** Urgent Action Item! "Senate votes to limit Trump on Venezuela:" https://www.politico.com/news/2026/01/08/senate-votes-to-restrict-trump-on-venezuela-00716127
This is not a final vote. Contact your Senator now!
These Republicans voted to check Trump's wild invasion of random countries. If this is your Senator, thank them and ask them to keep supporting the measure!
Rand Paul of Kentucky
Lisa Murkowski of Alaska
Susan Collins of Maine
Todd Young of Indiana
Josh Hawley of Missouri
John Fetterman of Pennsylvania did the right thing for once. If you live in Pennsylvania please thank him and ask him to hold firm.
We need more votes, obviously, so contact your Republican critters in House and Senate and beg them to do the patriotic thing.
* A model letter to your Congress Critters asking them to DO something: "Emailing my legislators:" https://amaebi.dreamwidth.org/2741130.html
* "Fraudster George Santos claims he’s going to Venezuela ‘to help with aid’:" https://www.advocate.com/news/george-santos-venezuela-trip
* "Here's everything to know about LGBTQ+ rights in Venezuela:" https://www.advocate.com/news/venezuela-lgbtq-rights-marriage-transgender
******
* "Trump Lays Out a Vision of Power Restrained Only by ‘My Own Morality’:" https://archive.ph/KV5NY
* "After Maduro, who’s next? Trump spurs speculation about his plans for Greenland, Cuba and Colombia:" https://apnews.com/article/trump-venezuela-greenland-cuba-571aac35e259857fd512c46f5af11e4d
* "Trump on return trip to Washington predicts demise of Cuba, warns Colombia, threatens Greenland:" https://www.politico.com/news/2026/01/04/trump-on-return-trip-to-washington-predicts-demise-of-cuba-warns-colombia-threatens-greenland-00710410
* "‘Life and death stakes’: Hayes blasts Trump threats against Cuba, Mexico, Greenland:"
( Embed: )
* "US ‘has no right’ to take over Greenland, Danish PM says after renewed Trump threats :" https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/04/greenland-denmark-us-venezuela-nicolas-maduro-donald-trump
* "Trump hammers NATO allies while Greenland crisis deepens :" https://www.politico.eu/article/us-donald-trump-nato-allies-greenland-crisis-deepens/
* "Rubio to meet Denmark leaders next week, signals no retreat on Trump's Greenland goal:" https://archive.ph/6feFw
* "Why Greenland is strategically important to Arctic security:" https://apnews.com/article/greenland-denmark-security-trump-arctic-north-6066195d0c6b9e1bbe6da27d55b26ece
We already have a base there and have had foe three quarters of a century. Denmark is our ally. Fuckssake!!!
* "Trump says his Greenland fixation is about national security. Europeans are skeptical.:" https://www.politico.com/news/2026/01/06/trump-says-his-greenland-fixation-is-about-national-security-europeans-are-skeptical-00712149
As am I.
* "Congress starts to take Trump’s interest in Greenland more seriously:" https://www.semafor.com/article/01/05/2026/congress-starts-to-take-trumps-interest-in-greenland-more-seriously
Now is a GREAT time to contact your Congress Critters, BEFORE we break NATO.
* "What to know about the intensifying protests shaking Iran and putting pressure on its theocracy:" https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/what-to-know-about-the-intensifying-protests-shaking-iran-and-putting-pressure-on-its-theocracy
* "Footage shows violent clashes as Iran protests spread to more areas:" https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgm4y0ewe93o
* "Ian Bremmer: Trump’s “Political Revolution” Is 2026’s Top Global Risk | Amanpour and Company:"
( Embed: )
* "Trump withdraws U.S. from 66 international organizations and treaties, including major climate groups:" https://archive.ph/xAAr9#selection-2375.64-2481.0
* "Trump withdrawal from bedrock UN climate treaty raises legal questions:" https://archive.ph/kDBSM
*** Immigration/I.C.E/Autocracy/Slow Motion Civil War/Violent Illegal Occupation of Blue Cities News ***
* "Tiny Pacific nation of Palau to take migrants from US in return for aid:" https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/dec/25/tiny-pacific-nation-of-palau-to-take-migrants-from-us-in-return-for-aid
* "Homeland Security plans 2,000 officers in Minnesota for its ‘largest immigration operation ever’:" https://apnews.com/article/immigration-enforcement-ice-noem-minnesota-somali-db661df6de1131a034da2bda4bb3d817
* "Avelo ends ICE flights as Delaware lawmakers seek transparency on companies profiting from deportations:" https://whyy.org/articles/avelo-airlines-deportation-flights-cancel-delaware-transparency-laws/
* "Trump’s ICE prison escalation collides with American resistance:" https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow/watch/trump-s-ice-prison-escalation-collides-with-american-resistance-2479740995856
* Short version of the The Cold Blooded I.C.E. Murder of Renee Good in Minneapolis:
ICE decided to shoot a mother point blank four times in the face for just being in the way a few blocks from where the police murdered George Floyd for pleasure the last time Trump was in office. They are now lying that somehow being in the way constitutes violent terrorism and that after they killed her, her foot pressed down on the accelerator which retroactively justifies them killing her since their shooting her in the face for fun so many times caused her corpse to endanger ICE officers.
They tell these lies knowing that multiple people filmed the incident. I saw footage before hearing or seeing what people were saying, and I thought they were yelling at her to get out of the way. They claim they were yelling for her to get out of the car. Odds are they were yelling both as screaming contradictory orders give police and ICE a pretext to murder people for fun so they do it a lot.
They refused to let a physician on the scene try to resuscitate her and deliberately blocked the ambulance that arrived 15 minutes later so they had to carry her body away by hand.
Warning: video news items include footage of the murder (though not the victim), and images of the car's blooding interior after the murder.
* "Eyewitnesses say Renee Good posed ‘no threat’ to ICE agents:" https://www.mprnews.org/story/2026/01/07/shooting-south-minneapolis-ice-agents-federal-operation
* "‘Point blank in the face’: Eyewitness details deadly ICE shooting:" https://www.ms.now/all-in/watch/point-blank-in-the-face-eyewitness-details-deadly-ice-shooting-2480150595917
* "What Happens Next In Minnesota?:"
( Embed: )
* "‘She was an amazing human being’: Mother identifies woman shot, killed by ICE agent:" https://www.startribune.com/she-was-an-amazing-human-being-mother-identifies-woman-shot-killed-by-ice-agent/601559922
* "Distraught woman says ICE killed her wife in video after deadly Minneapolis shooting:" https://www.advocate.com/news/minnesota-ice-killed-wife
* "Who was Renee Nicole Good? Remembering the Minneapolis poet and mother killed by ICE:" https://www.advocate.com/news/who-was-renee-nicole-good
* "‘They decided on a narrative’: Hayes rips DHS ‘lies’ after deadly ICE shooting:" https://www.ms.now/all-in/watch/they-decided-on-a-narrative-hayes-rips-dhs-lies-after-deadly-ice-shooting-2480159811622
* "Thousands gather to mourn Renee Good, Minneapolis woman shot and killed by ICE agent:" https://www.mprnews.org/story/2026/01/07/renee-nicole-good-vigil-south-minneapolis-ice-agents
* "State, city leaders clash with feds after deadly ICE shooting in Minneapolis:" https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/state-city-leaders-clash-with-feds-after-deadly-ice-shooting-in-minneapolis
* The victim blaming continues. "Minneapolis ICE shooting live updates: Vance calls fatal shooting 'tragedy of her own making':" https://abcnews.go.com/US/live-updates/minneapolis-ice-shooting-live-updates-tensions-flare-minneapolis/?id=129018634
* "‘The lies are easily disproven’: Hayes dismantles JD Vance’s ICE shooting claims:"
( Embed: )
* "'The truth matters here': Minneapolis mayor REJECTS Trump narrative on deadly ICE shooting:"
( Embed: )
* "‘ICE is hurting our people’: Minnesota Lt. Gov. Flanagan reacts to fatal shooting:" https://www.ms.now/ms-now/watch/ice-is-hurting-our-people-minnesota-lt-gov-flanagan-reacts-to-fatal-shooting-2480165443676
* "Schumer questions ability of Trump-corrupted FBI to investigate Minneapolis ICE shooting:"
( Embed: )
* "NYC Mayor Mamdani calls for ACCOUNTABILITY for ICE killing of Minneapolis mom:"
( Embed: )
* "Gov. Shapiro: No 'absolute immunity' for Minneapolis ICE shooter:"
( Embed: )
* "Vigil for Renee Nicole Good becomes a call to action against ICE:" https://www.advocate.com/news/vigil-renee-good-ice-shooting
* "‘Animals’: Feds TACKLE staff, gas students at Minneapolis high school, witnesses say:"
( Embed: )
* "Feds freeze Minnesota officials out of probe around killing of Renee Nicole Good :" https://www.advocate.com/news/fbi-conducts-ice-investigation-alone
* "Photos: Protests grow over the fatal ICE shooting in Minneapolis:" https://www.npr.org/2026/01/08/nx-s1-5671719/ice-shooting-minneapolis-protest
* "Husband and Wife Shot by Border Agents in Portland 1 Day After Woman Shot and Killed by ICE in Minneapolis: Reports:" https://people.com/2-people-shot-by-federal-agents-in-portland-1-day-after-woman-fatally-shot-by-ice-in-minneapolis-police-11882122
* Once again I want to thank everyone risking their lives to protest. You are heroes.
* Here are some ways to help Immigrants and the anti-ICE Protesters:
Immigrant Defenders: https://give.immdef.org/give/545119/#!/donation/checkout
The Bail Project: https://bailproject.org/
National Bail Fund Network: https://www.communityjusticeexchange.org/en/nbfn-directory
Amnesty International: protect asylum-seekers: https://donate.amnestyusa.org/page/113080/donate/1
The Young Center for Immigrant Children's Rights: https://www.theyoungcenter.org/
CHIRLA: https://www.chirla.org/
AL Otro Lado: https://alotrolado.networkforgood.com/projects/63833-al-otro-lado-fund
Mid-South Immigration Advocates: https://miamemphis.org/
"Know Your Rights:" https://www.aclu.org/know-your-rights/protesters-rights
"Disappeared In America:" https://www.disappearedinamerica.us/
* "‘Dictator’ Trump Floats Idea of Canceling Midterm Elections:" https://www.thedailybeast.com/dictator-trump-floats-idea-of-canceling-midterm-elections/
* "Donald Trump uses the anniversary of the Capitol insurrection to attack transgender people:" https://www.advocate.com/politics/trump-transgender-republican-retreat
* "Nationwide Trans Youth Care Ban Incoming As Trump Admin Announces "Nuclear Option" Federal Rule:" https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/nationwide-trans-youth-care-ban-imminent
* How to complain: https://www.tumblr.com/botheryourreps/805047264878968832/nationwide-trans-youth-care-ban-incoming-as-trump
* "Trump pushes to limit Wall Street’s footprint in housing:" https://www.politico.com/news/2026/01/07/trump-wall-street-housing-affordability-00714178?nid=00000170-c000-da87-af78-e185fa700000&nname=politico-nightly&nrid=00000156-381b-d0c4-ab5f-7a5f5f5a0001
* "Amid fraud claims, Trump admin announces more changes to federal child care funding:" https://www.npr.org/2026/01/05/nx-s1-5667019/hhs-child-care-federal-funding
* "Trump admin official reportedly made millions from fast-tracked lithium mine:" https://www.sfgate.com/national-parks/article/naked-corruption-interior-mine-deal-21279567.php
* "Pentagon moves to punish senator for anti-Trump video:" https://www.politico.com/news/2026/01/05/hegseth-kelly-punish-video-00710555
* "Why Donald Trump is still freaking out over Senator Kelly’s simple statement:" https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow/watch/why-donald-trump-is-still-freaking-out-over-senator-kelly-s-simple-statement-2479723075702
* "HHS dramatically overhauls childhood vaccine schedule, downgrading advice for flu, meningitis, other shots:" https://www.politico.com/news/2026/01/05/hhs-to-weaken-childhood-vaccine-schedule-for-flu-meningitis-00711252
* "Flu Infections Hit Highest Level in US Since Covid Pandemic:" https://archive.ph/SLcIp
* "RFK Jr. says to eat more protein, less sugar in new dietary guidelines:" https://www.politico.com/news/2026/01/07/rfk-trump-dietary-guidelines-protein-sugar-00713828
The Nutritional guidelines are a mixed bag, unlike the plans to kill the children of the poor by depriving them of the vaccines the children of the rich will likely still get.
* This one's going to kill a lot of older people: "Why RFK Jr.'s Health Department repealed rule for 24/7 nurses in nursing homes:" https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/rfk-jr-health-department-nurses/
* "Trump calls for record $1.5 trillion defense budget, a 50 percent jump:" https://www.politico.com/news/2026/01/07/trump-calls-record-defense-budget-00715298
He wants this to pay for all his planned illegal invasions.
Angry about it? Contact your Congress Critters to support this Amendment:
* "Gallego Introduces Amendment to Block Military Force Against Greenland:" https://www.gallego.senate.gov/press-releases/gallego-introduces-amendment-to-block-military-force-against-greenland/
* This Bill: "S.3595 - A bill to prohibit the use of funds for the deployment of United States military or intelligence personnel in Venezuela for certain purposes. :" https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/3595
* "To direct the removal of United States Armed Forces from hostilities within or against Venezuela that have not been authorized by Congress. :" https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-concurrent-resolution/68
* "House passes three-bill spending package with weeks left to avoid a shutdown:" https://www.politico.com/news/2026/01/08/house-passes-three-bill-spending-package-with-weeks-left-to-avoid-a-shutdown-00716935
* "House passes bill to extend health care subsidies in defiance of GOP leaders:" https://apnews.com/article/house-democrats-republicans-vote-health-care-subsidies-7d69148c6619a190f8d4abb85a7344b8
* "Emailing my federal legislators:" https://amaebi.dreamwidth.org/2742159.html
* Our job for the next year and a half is to survive, to build grassroots resistance, to do all in our power to slow the republican Christo-fascist agenda, and to prepare for 2026 in case there is still Democracy.
We are trying to build a good list of resistance resources.
Please add more below if you have them.
* "Take action with Indivisible:" https://www.mobilize.us/indivisible/
* Trump 2.0 Indivisible Guide. https://indivisible.org/resource/guide
* "Democracy 2025:" https://www.democracy2025.org/?utm_source=df-ad&utm_medium=&utm_campaign=21912407002&utm_content=721373734297&source=df-ad-gs&gad_source=1
* If you can't safely contact them in person, here are some other options for contacting your Congress Critters:
Five Calls to your critters: https://5calls.org/
Here is one that will send your reps a fax: https://resist.bot/
And another: https://faxzero.com/fax_senate.php
Snail Mail Campaigns: https://conuly.dreamwidth.org/3622760.html
"Congress. gov:" https://www.congress.gov/
White house (Possibly Dangerous): https://www.whitehouse.gov/
ACLU advice for writing to your Critters: https://www.aclu.org/writing-your-elected-representatives
This tracks legislation: https://www.govtrack.us/
"The Public Comment Process (+ how to write effective public comments):" https://www.tumblr.com/gwydionmisha/781844516804149248?source=share
Run for Something: https://runforsomething.net/
"Vote Smart:" https://justfacts.votesmart.org/
Useful organizing links and resources: https://www.tumblr.com/gwydionmisha/771859083592613888/hater-of-terfs-ive-already-reblogged-a-link-to?source=share
Protests: "50501 Events:" https://www.fiftyfifty.one/events
"ICE Raids Toolkit: Defend Against ICE Raids and Community Arrests:" https://www.immigrantdefenseproject.org/raids-toolkit/
Contains a raid tip hotline amoung other things. "Know Your Rights
LEARN HOW TO PROTECT YOURSELF AND YOUR FAMILY:" https://wearecasa.org/know-your-rights/
* "Fifth anniversary of the Jan. 6 attack brings fresh division to the US Capitol:" https://apnews.com/article/capitol-riot-anniversary-trump-democrats-1ef8f91dcdf0f209ba7316139df7e9c6
* "This Jan. 6 plaque was made to honor law enforcement. It’s nowhere to be found at the Capitol:" https://apnews.com/article/capitol-riot-jan-6-anniversary-police-plaque-f6fd39b437c339fa9ff477318a7d36e2
* "How Jan. 6 was remembered — and rewritten — on its 5th anniversary:" https://www.politico.com/news/2026/01/06/january-6-anniversary-capitol-riot-00713422
* "Republicans silent and Democrats incensed on fifth anniversary of US Capitol attack:" https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/06/january-6-us-capitol-attack-fifth-anniversary
* "Ahead of 5-year anniversary of Jan. 6, report examines aftermath following Trump's return to office:" https://abcnews.go.com/US/ahead-5-year-anniversary-jan-6-report-examines/story?id=128912756
* "Trump White House attempts to rewrite history of Jan. 6, accuses Capitol Police of escalating tensions:" https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-white-house-attempts-rewrite-history-jan-6/story?id=128953694
* "Ashli Babbitt and the making of a MAGA martyr :" https://www.advocate.com/politics/maga-martyr-ashli-babbitt
* "Pardoned Jan. 6 rioters return to Capitol on 5th anniversary of insurrection:" https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/pardoned-jan-6-rioters-return-to-capitol-on-5th-anniversary-of-insurrection
* "Fascism Expert Jason Stanley on the 5th Anniversary of Jan. 6 Capitol Attack | Amanpour and Company:"
( Embed: )
* CW: Rape, CSA. "Five years after January 6, dozens of pardoned insurrectionists have been arrested again :" https://www.advocate.com/news/crime/five-years-january-6-arrested-again
* I keep needing a stupid amount of rest. This is coinciding with Livia deciding to go back to stretching out on top of me for loves, like she used to before Tavy's health started to deteriorate. She is doing way more often, and even taking short naps on occation, despite no longer being ill. She has also been experimenting with some new positions, ones that were Tavy's. She has days when her appetite is winter normal, and days when she is extra sad and not eating much. She is still weird about the sofa and desk mesting spots, where I think absense is loudest, though I see her scouting her old spots now and then and even sitting very briefly. I miss having her in her desk box while I'm at the computer, but she clearly needs more time.
Last week we did physio preliminaries. Wednesday afternoon, we started in earnest. The physio is really good I think. She is treating hipes, upper legs, butt, and core muscles all as a connected system. The excercises are subtle, but challenging. She printed them out, but I left without them. Sigh. I also sabandoned the new rubber thingie I need to do one of the excercises. I'll see if I can dig up an arm one of the same strength and get help tying it right. Let's also hope I remember all five excercises tomorrow.
I had already spent the gas to get that far. The plan was to go up one more exit to the Ethical grocery. Only my brain autopilot tried to taker me home while I was mentally running over my grocery list, which meant I had to go down one exit, then up two. No disabled parking, of course and my ankle dislocated again second time this week as I hobbled across the parking lot. I had planned to use the riding cart anyway as physio takes a lot out of me, but still.
Oh course the grocery was full of people blocking whole aisles with their carts because other people don't exist and they absolutely needed to stand a cross the mouth of an aisle to have a long think or make a phone call instead of pulling foreward. I accidentally was an asshole myself at check out because I forgot that at least half needs to be groceries to be allowed to write a check and I'd bought all the groceries on EBT. They needed to be seperate transactions, so we had to void out half the groceries to balance the cost of TP on a seperate transaction.
I went in looking for 5-7 things. (Five must gets. Two if they have its). I got six as they hadn't the seventh, which is annoying as I kept forgetting to pick up number seven every time I left the house in the last week including when I was literally in the grocery I knew had it, I think last Friday. I did look for it, but they have limitted range in that area and I need a specific brand and flavour. This week has just been like this.
I had to load the bag, tp, and flat of ramen onto a regular cart to take to the car. Someone had to wait for me to get it and then I couldn't get my coat on because my shoulder wasn't working right. So I'm standing on a dislocated ankly trying not to cry from pain and frustration because my arm wouldn't bend right to go in the coat. I fucking hate being in the way. Being in the way twice because my stupid artificial jointed arm is locked up again is worse. She was nice about it, but it was painful and rude on my part.
I did not cry until after I got the groceries in and away.
At least only one of the physio homework things requires standing at this stage.
* Once again, I low key needed to go to the library, but also I needed to get ingredients for things New Millennial preps for me at home, like the rescue lasagna they turned up with after my physio Wednesday night. Don't worry, they get paid for this. It's a perfectly reasonable accommodation for them as they can just do work to help me whenever they are up to it. They bring prepped things back when they come to work and take ingredients away.
I did fill sets of the three horrible exercises that look like I'm not doing much of anything, but are Exhausting. Livia and I did the thing where she has Rainbow toy pettin time. (She likes me to pet her while she plays the the rainbow catnip toy a friend gave her in December, because otherwise it is Too Much). We then did feather time.
I dragged myself out to do errands yet again. This time my ankle did not pop out, but I just don't have a lot of non-physio spoons right now, so it was A LOT. I am spending way too much money on food, but I've been chasing some vitamin deficiencies the last month and a half. I think today I finally achieved Enough Vitamin C and I hit enough Apple a couple of days ago, but I keep having to buy fresh vegetables and the like trying to find the other shortages.
I remembered the thing I need to get from one of two specific stores, but I was done in, food needed to be put away, and I owed the two more vigorous physio exercises. I just didn't have it in me to stop one more place.
Squirrel's still being yanked around by the same work that gave them an award last month over a work injury that turns out to be a torn rotator cup, so they are having to work with it instead of getting light duty. They are fighting it, but in the meantime they are doing more damage every time they work. So now neither of us can really take out the trash. For me it's hard limit. My arm can't do it. For them they risk serious injury every time. I can't do anything about trash, but I'm trying to do a system that lets me take out recycling in smaller amounts. Which means I have to block the door with sort boxes, but there is no help for it. Every time I have the dolly inside, I put a sort box on there and take it out every time I go. I have done this A LOT the last week and a half.
When I took out paper box today I went to put the dolly in the car and FOUND the band and physio direction. O.o In my defense it was dark when I left physio and there was stuff going on with a dog and I was already exhausted. The physio things ended up under groceries and weren't visible in the dark and shadows when I got home. So I have those now, which meant I could check reps and hold times and also realized I left something off the first horrible exercise I was working on. D'oh! I am not fucking redoing them. I will do the harder version tomorrow. Anyway, the makeshift we did with the band wasn't as good so I now have an exactly correct one.
*****
* Full list of Resistance and charity links has been migrated to my profile as it was getting out of hand.
The help links are at the bottom under the cut.
* CW: Suicide "These hotlines are still available for LGBTQ+ youth after Trump kills 988 services:" https://www.advocate.com/news/lgbtq-youth-hotlines-still-available
* "Hospital Crisis Watch:" https://www.protectourcare.org/hospital-crisis-watch/
* If you need help with chest binders:
* "Free Chest Binders:" https://www.pointofpride.org/free-chest-binders
* "Brother 2 Brother Binder Program:" https://blacktransmen.org/binder-program/
* "Morebinders:" https://www.morebinders.com/about
* "The Queer Trans Project :" https://queertransproject.org/
* "Free Gender Affirming Gear Program:" https://www.ftmessentials.com/pages/ftme-free-youth-binder-program
( More )
Rain rain
Jan. 9th, 2026 12:11 amdorchadasClassic Chicago winter thunderstorms.
Jokes aside it just rained for six hours straight. I've hear stories of people clearing storm drains by hand--they're clogged with fall leaves because this is not usually something we have to worry about--to clear the six to ten inches of standing water in their streets. Usually it's -10°C around this time of year after the New Year Temperature Drop but today it was 12°C and all that snow we should have gotten was rain. I can still hear thunder in the distance.![[instagram.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/profile_icons/instagram.png)
sashagee and Laila got drenched walking back from gymnastics and that was hours ago and then it kept raining.
At one point lightning lit up the entire house brighter than the noonday sun, and then the crash of thunder didn't come for at least five seconds afterward. This is crazy for January in Chicago.
Jokes aside it just rained for six hours straight. I've hear stories of people clearing storm drains by hand--they're clogged with fall leaves because this is not usually something we have to worry about--to clear the six to ten inches of standing water in their streets. Usually it's -10°C around this time of year after the New Year Temperature Drop but today it was 12°C and all that snow we should have gotten was rain. I can still hear thunder in the distance.
sashagee and Laila got drenched walking back from gymnastics and that was hours ago and then it kept raining. At one point lightning lit up the entire house brighter than the noonday sun, and then the crash of thunder didn't come for at least five seconds afterward. This is crazy for January in Chicago.
IC 342: Hidden Galaxy in Camelopardalis
Jan. 9th, 2026 06:08 amapod_feed
Similar in size to large, bright spiral galaxies in our neighborhood,
Cautionary Tales – Liar, Bigamist, Brute: How Isaac Singer liberated women
Jan. 9th, 2026 05:01 amtim_harford_feedThe sewing machine was once thought to be an impossible invention. It was such a complicated contraption that it would take more than one inventor, with more than one good idea, to make it work. Each of these inventors, including the notorious Isaac Singer, wanted the credit (and the fortune that came with it) for themselves. And so began the sewing machine war: a mire of backstabbing, stealing and misogyny.
This episode was originally released to members of the Cautionary Club. Club members get access to ad-free listening, monthly bonus episodes, monthly behind-the-scenes video conversations with the production team, and our monthly newsletter. Please consider joining if you would like to support what we do on Cautionary Tales. Thank you!
Further reading
A recent biography of Isaac Singer is Alex Askaroff’s “Isaac Singer: The First Capitalist“, but if you can find a copy the definitive book about Singer remains Ruth Brandon’s 1977 biography “Singer and the Sewing Machine“. A contemporary account focused on Elias Howe is James Parton’s 1867 article in Atlantic Monthly, History of the Sewing Machine. The sewing machine wars are covered in detail in Adam Mossoff’s paper The Rise and Fall of the First American Patent Thicket, published in the Arizona Law Review.
Doonesbury Say What
Jan. 8th, 2026 10:37 pmthewayne"We live in a world, in the real world...that is governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power. These are the iron laws of the world since the beginning of time."
-- Trump adviser Stephen Miller
"'Iron laws of the world'? Some of America's most important national accomplishments are about leading humanity away from this kind of bullshit. If we let ideologues like Stephen Miller drag us back into a world where brute force is all that matters, all of us will be less safe."
-- Pete Buttigieg
I think Stevie would have been a lot happier if he'd been born in the 17th or 18th century, preferably in Europe. It would have been a better fit. And with any luck, he would have ticked someone off, been challenged to a duel, and run through.
-- Trump adviser Stephen Miller
"'Iron laws of the world'? Some of America's most important national accomplishments are about leading humanity away from this kind of bullshit. If we let ideologues like Stephen Miller drag us back into a world where brute force is all that matters, all of us will be less safe."
-- Pete Buttigieg
I think Stevie would have been a lot happier if he'd been born in the 17th or 18th century, preferably in Europe. It would have been a better fit. And with any luck, he would have ticked someone off, been challenged to a duel, and run through.