Bigotry Playbook

In Michigan, bigots have voted to shut down their library rather than allow certain books to stay on the shelf. 

In the college town up the hill, the public library has had to cancel an event aimed at providing LGBT students with information and resources, due to threats of violence from certain members of the community.

In 1960, in my current town, our citizens shut down the public swimming pools rather than allow black children to swim in them. Shut them down and filled them in. The same thing happened elsewhere.

State-wide, citizens shut down public schools for two years to avoid allowing black children to sit in a classroom with white children. (This did not harm the children of the wealthy, who were simply enrolled in private schools.) The same thing happened in other places. 

And in 1960 in Virginia, public libraries were shut down to avoid allowing black people to use them. This happened in other places as well.

As I said earlier, bigots just recycle the same playbook. Don't believe them when they claim this is about "protecting children." It's about bigotry and hate, and it always has been.

Help an Arkansas Teacher

 This is one of my ex-students -- he teaches in a local elementary school, one in a working-class neighborhood. Buy him some school supplies if you can.

Here's the link, in case you can't access FB.

ETA: The settings were messed up before, but they should work now!

I don't hate GAY People but

I've seen more than one MAGA conservative insist they have nothing against gay people or Lesbians, but those transgenders, well!

Just your reminder that bigots gonna bigot, and how conservatives are treating trans people now is no different than how they treated gay people ten years ago, or black people thirty years ago, or women fifty years ago. They've got one playbook, and they always play from it.

Oh Noes! Gays In The Locker Rooms! Whatever Shall We Do? (thread)

This thread will contain examples of how modern transphobia recycles homophobia from years past

The Daily Utah Chronicle 1998-04-06
We Must Consider Who Works the Locker Room pic.twitter.com/jaHNyVG8l0

— The Implausible Girl 🔻 (@ImplausibleGrrl) February 27, 2019

Books and Movies I have No Interest In

In 2022, why are we still pumping out stories which have as their basic plot some guy going on a rampage because "his" woman was raped/tortured/murdered?

There's also the arresting / startling new story about whether some guy is going to cheat on "his" woman, but first he has to think about it for 400 pages.

Nothing against straight cisguys, but surely there are more interesting stories to tell about them.

At least add a dragon or a spaceship.

Is That a Vampire or...?

We've got a pair of foxes that live in the neighborhood, and this is the screech they make in the middle of the night:

ETA: This one is even better:

It's a terrifying sound when you're out with the dog at night, even when you know what it is. I've read descriptions that say a fox screaming sounds like a woman screaming, but yeah, no. That is definitely not any human sound. That is definitely an alien vampire coming to kill you sound.

It freaks the little dog out every time.

Dealing with Modern Conservatives

 This is the clearest example I've seen lately of the problem we're having dealing with modern-day/MAGA conservatives.

A judge scolded right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones on Tuesday for lying under oath during his defamation trial in Travis County, Tex.

“You must tell the truth while you testify,” Judge Maya Guerra Gamble said. “This is not your show.”https://t.co/YzxxNm93Op pic.twitter.com/4sQ48lJEgU

— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) August 3, 2022

They honestly believe that if they *believe* a thing is true, then it is true. Here, we have Alex Jones repeatedly lying under oath, and using as his excuse that he "believed" what he was saying. He said he never sent texts about Sandy Hook to anyone; when confronted with the evidence that he sent multiple such text, he says he "believed" he hadn't done it. He said he was bankrupt. Confronted with evidence that he was not -- well, you get it.

I've seen this same pattern all over the web. Rod Dreher "believes" that people are grooming children into become trans. He "believes" that people are performing gender-reassignment surgery on toddlers. He "believes" that demons infest women who talk back to their husbands. If he believes it's true, why then he's telling the truth! That's how truth works, isn't it?

MAGA Americans "believe" that trans people are evil or delusional. They "believe" that liberals have a nefarious plot to keep farmers from planting crops. They "believe" that the election was stolen in 2020. They "believe" that a zygote has a human soul. They "believe" that birth control is abortion, and that the COVID vaccine was made from aborted fetuses, that getting the vaccine causes women to miscarry their children 100% of the time, that COVID is just a bad cold and that the request by the government to wear masks was enforced by law and actually intended to -- I don't know, I can't follow their argument on this one, but somehow it's supposed to rob us of are freedums? Also child abuse because kids can't learn languages or emotional responses if everyone is wearing a mask. I mean, that's not true, but they "believe" it is so

Of course, they don't actually believe any of these things, anymore than Alex Jones believed he never sent text messages to anyone about Sandy Hook. That's not the point. If they SAY they believe them, then we have to accept that they DO believe them, and since what they "believe" is sacrosanct, we have to pretend their "belief" is reality or we're oppressing them.

How are we supposed to share a country with minds this twisted and corrupt?

 

Cat Pictures!

 Amity in the window:

Amity getting scrumbles:

Weather Report

We had rain for like three days in a row, and now forecast is for highs in the mid to high nineties, which is still hot, mind you, but so much better than highs of 109 and 110 that this feels like paradise.

Also my grass recovered from the drought in like one day. I have grass again! But the leaves are all still falling off the trees, so apparently trees handle drought worse than grass does. (Sample size: my yard.)

It was cool enough yesterday that I could leave the curtains open. The house is so much less depressing when it is full of sunlight.

Six more weeks of summer. 

More Cat Pictures

 Amity looks out windows:

The Kid Adopts a Cat

 My kid and his boyfriend have adopted a kitten/young cat. I am officially a grandma.

I would like everyone to meet Amity pic.twitter.com/aJbSnZBdlG

— catboy clarity 💖💛💙 (@WerewolfCeo) July 30, 2022

WHAT?

 It is still raining! Over 40 days with no rain here -- the grass died, the trees were shedding their leaves -- and now it's going to rain for two days straight. With highs in the 80s both days!

After that we're back to highs in the 100s, but you can't have everything. (Where would you put it?)

Rain

It's raining here. Actual rain!

And only eight more weeks of summer.

Interview with Ruthanna Emrys

My interview with Ruthanna Emrys is live today!

Emrys is the author of A Half-Built Garden, among other books. Out today, A Half-Built Garden is not your father's first-contact novel. All y'all should have a look at it. 

Health Care Costs

The kid's boyfriend got an ear infection. After suffering for several days, he went to a local walk-in clinic. The kid's boyfriend has health insurance (through his parents -- he's 21). With the health insurance, this walk-in appointment cost him $116 dollars. The medication for his ears, of course, had a co-pay.

The kid's boyfriend has a minimum wage job. (He has not been able to afford college,) So that's well more than he makes in a day.

For an earache.

Health care in this country is not accessible for a huge portion of the population.

Rain!

It is raining -- just a little, but the temperature has dropped to 80 degrees. Practically winter!