Multnomah Falls, OR.

Banner-drop in solidarity with the struggle to defend the Atlanta Forest from being cleared to make way for a massive police training facility dubbed 'Cop City'.

F.D.A. Ends Ban on Blood Donations From Gay and Bisexual Men

“Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration finalized recommendations for assessing blood donor eligibility using a set of individual risk-based questions to reduce the risk of transfusion-transmitted HIV. These questions will be the same for every donor, regardless of sexual orientation, sex or gender.”

“This policy eliminates time-based deferrals and screening questions specific to men who have sex with men (MSM) and women who have sex with MSM. Under the final guidance issued today, all prospective blood donors will answer a series of individual, risk-based questions to determine eligibility. All prospective donors who report having a new sexual partner, or more than one sexual partner in the past three months, and anal sex in the past three months, would be deferred to reduce the likelihood of donations by individuals with new or recent HIV infection who may be in the window period for detection of HIV by nucleic acid testing.”

[fda.gov]

Its crazy how many people think everyone who works in tv and film is rich. The only rich people are the execs and the tippy top percentile of directors and actors. Listen to any actor who is well known for a tv show and they’ll tell you they make more money from cons than what they made on their show.

Support the writer’s strike and when the director’s guild and SAG go on strike support them too.

what if everyone referred to him solely as "princess diana's ex-husband"

we take you now live to the shamefully expensive spectacle: the coronation of princess diana's ex-husband

reading a paper on quality of life among 45-to-70-year-olds with Down syndrome:

“Individuals expressed a desire to be allowed to go to bed when they wanted to.”

:(

Imagine.

I lived in a room and board that failed the burrito test. (”If you’re not allowed to get up in the middle of the night to microwave a burrito, you live in an institution.”) No one stopped me from going to bed, but they did tell me I had to have my lights out by 10, and that I had to be out of the house by 10 the next morning. When I complained to my outpatient program that I needed more help than I was getting, they threatened me with board and care, where my cell phone would be taken away and I would lose contact with the outside world. My case manager sounded so damn smug, like he had caught me out, when he said, “if you’re really as helpless as you say, then you need to be in a board and care.” Like my only options were struggling to do things I couldn’t do, or surrendering my life to an institution.

When I tried to talk about these things with other people, they always rationalized it away. (I told my dad once that my caseworker was reading my e-mails as I wrote them, demonstrating extreme disrespect for my privacy, and he said, “Well, she’s probably making sure you don’t use the internet to goof off.” I was 22 years old.)

 People tend to mock the idea that telling an adult when to go to bed, when to eat, etc., is a human rights violation, even though they would find it outrageous and absurd if anyone came into their lives to do the same thing to them.

And this is what people seem to think when they tell disabled activists we’re just not disabled enough to understand that some people really do need to be locked up and deprived of all autonomy.

Here’s the paper:

https://library.down-syndrome.org/en-us/research-practice/06/3/quality-life-ageing-down-syndrome/

They don’t want *any* activists for mentally/developmentally disabled people. If you’re able to advocate for your rights, you’re not “disabled enough” - and if you were disabled enough you wouldn’t be able to advocate for your rights.

oh the notes bubble is disgusting. get that out of my sight

yuck. euggh. bleughf

this is NOT healthy and actually extremely stressful for the animal. please let them freeroam this is actually sickening

Please fucking lie to your employer. Like they don’t need to know your mental health issues or what drugs you do. Ffs

its not lying if its to employers or cops

and look up ur rights on what they can and cannot ask u many places ban asking about ur record and transportation status and things like that resources will also tell u how they reword sketchy questions so ur prepared

here’s a quick guide for Americans with very common interview questions I’ve been asked:

I recently filled out an application that asked me what kinds of medication I was on. Naturally, I said I wasn’t on any because. That’s so illegal.

Lie on your job applications.

THIS

that ahistorical bullshit about "public schools existing to churn out perfect workers?" is in fact ahistorical bullshit

public schools were HARD-WON by people who didn't want working-class children to be railroaded into the same hardships their parents had known via lack of education (and therefore lack of opportunities for higher-paying jobs)

yes they have their issues. but they are absolutely NOT designed to be tools of capitalism

Both things can be true - the schools were a hard won fight and they have been corrupted by ever failing systems.

Children should not have to work. Schools need to do more than teach to test.

A brief history of Indigenous advisory groups and why conservatives have been undermining them for decades:

So after decades of paternalistic and controlling policies that greatly disempowered and displaced Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, Gough Whitlam went “hey, let’s actually ask Indigenous people their thoughts on policy that affects them.” Advisory bodies are a normal thing to aid Members of Parliament, but until 1973 and the formation of National Aboriginal Consultative Committee, there wasn’t one with Indigenous people. Whitlam brought in a range of progressive reforms, and is the first PM to have land rights legislation created. The NACC was elected solely by Aboriginal people across Australia, and was made up of 40 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders representing 800 Aboriginal communities from 41 electorates. After decades of Coalition rule Australia finally someone who actually had an interest in Indigenous affairs is in office.

In comes Malcolm Fraser. He decides that nah, he’ll replace it with the National Aboriginal Conference - which wasn’t elected directly, but its key people managed by state/territory branches which removed it from having proper input from the people it was meant to represent. He also created the Aboriginal Development Commission which was not even remotely elected, but appointed by the Government directly.

Bob Hawke comes in and decides it’s clearly ineffective. He begins years of extensive consultation with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders - talking to more than 1000 separate Indigenous organisations and communities across Australia, speaking to over 20,000 people, an options paper produced, then further consultation with several thousand Indigenous people once again. This leads to the creation of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission - ATSIC.

It initially covers 60 regions before being altered in 1993 to be only 35 regions to make it more manageable. Each region has 8-12 councillors elected. ATSIC, on top of providing advice to the government, provided many services in tandem with local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community groups and organisations to help Indigenous people find employment, housing, and access to better health outcomes, as well as preserving and promoting Indigenous heritage and culture. One of its programs accounted for around 25% of Indigenous employment across all of Australia in the early 2000s.

However, when John Howard was elected in 1996 he instantly cut funding to ATSIC by 11%. This forced ATSIC to cut many of its smaller programs - particularly those which had been created in response to the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. It also forced the closure of women’s resource programs. Howard saw an opportunity for austerity and went for the programs THAT TRY TO STOP ABORIGINAL PEOPLE DYING IN POLICE CUSTODY AND WOMEN’S RESOURCE CENTRES. He heavily restricted what level of discretion and freedom ATSIC had to spend money on any of its programs.

ATSIC was then abolished by Howard, replaced by the Office of Indigenous Policy Coordination. That was then abolished by Tony Abbott who also favoured austerity and cut over HALF A BILLION DOLLARS from Aboriginal programs.

In 2009 Kevin Rudd had the Human Rights Commission to develop the National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples. Tony Abbott also, predictably, cut off its funding, and it managed to get by until 2019 when it could no longer function without government funding. By that point, Morrison wasn’t willing to care about Indigenous people or their support groups/bodies.

Also under Abbott the employment programs that had been so prominent for Aboriginal people, and run by Aboriginal people in tandem with Aboriginal communities, were also then merged into Centrelink and replaced with the work for the dole scheme. Under ATSIC and its prime Aboriginal people could work 15 hours for the equivalent of a Newstart payment and receive additional money for extra work - but under Abbott/Turnbull/Morrison that turned into 25 hours per week thus forcing the payments BELOW minimum wage.

You know Australia has a history of forcing Aboriginal people to work for less than minimum wage… but at least they don’t physically kidnap them anymore. They just get Centrelink to force them into it instead.

In addition, as it is an unemployment scheme, participants aren’t eligible to earn superannuation whilst undertaking activities and aren’t covered by workplace health and safety schemes. And as it was taken away from local community groups and forced into a cold centralised beurocratic system it meant there was less flexibility or discretion to take in available local activities or personal needs, and instead is run by non-local for-profits and greatly increased the level of punitive action for people who didn’t meet their mutual obligations.

LITERALLY. FUCKING. EVERY. TIME. The Coalition has taken the approach of gutting Aboriginal programs, kneecapping Aboriginal involvement, or self-determination, or their input, and repeatedly forced them into worse situations and silenced them. The Coalition took away control from local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and gave it to private companies to profiteer off their unemployment and force them into poverty.

The Indigenous Voice to Parliament isn’t a radical new idea - elected advisory bodies have existed on/off for the past 50 years. It should be normal for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders to be consulted, to be able to work within their own communities, and be a prominent part of the discussion when it comes to their own affairs. However we have seen time and time again over the past 50 FUCKING YEARS that if protections aren’t constitutionally enshrined then the Coalition government will again and again harm Aboriginal people, silence them, cut their funding, fracture their communities, and punish them for profit. Conservative governments perpetuate the colonial legacy of white superiority and exclusion. It’s racist and vile.

Peter Dutton wants the Voice to fail because he doesn’t want the Coalition to listen to Indigenous people. Thats why he keeps lying about it. He doesn’t want the accountability that comes with a constitutionally protected advisory body examining and reporting on your policy and how it impacts the community.

This is why we need to vote YES to the Indigenous Voice to Parliament. We NEED to ensure that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people cannot be silenced by the Coalition.

yes hello i would like to emphasize this

disgust is not a moral issue

i mean……….

We are also gonna support the pup players' rights to dress however the fuck they want to, too.

Note. The Pup player in question isn't doing anything inappropriate.

Every other kind of parade has people in costume who are in character many who interact directly with the audience. It would be VERY easy to find a dancer from a Disney parade with an equally revealing costume (note they're masc presenting and only missing a shirt).

Its also just as pressing to remind everyone-

States like Tennessee, Idaho, and Texas are already trying to have Drag catergorized as Sexual in nature. Making it illegal to do drag in public- and with how it's written, non passing Trans people would be considered "drag performers" just for wearing clothes matching their gender.

Along with "Don't say gay" bills, claiming that being queer or talking about queer identities is a "sexual act" and thus can't be done in front of children. Ie. We trying to make it illegal for us to exist in public (esspecially schools)

oh hey ofc @broannalmao is a terf :)

i just want to make it clear that i just blocked about 4 more people for being dipshits on this post and do you know what???

every single one of them was a terf

when we say that 'no kink at pride' is a terf/radfem position, this is what we mean. don't drink the terf koolaid, kids

yeeeep

In going through the notes, I think people need to be be made aware of the difference between "seeing a thing" and "being forced to participate in a thing".

Because every time I see a post like this one, there are usually people making concessions (which, I suppose, is some sort of progress) like "well okay, x is okay, but y IS making others participate in their kink."

And what y is isn't actually forcing participation. It's just another step that then makes you, as an observer, uncomfortable.

For example, in the notes of posts predating this one, I've seen, "well okay, kink at pride is fine if it's just leather I gueeesssss, but wearing collars is too far because it makes others participate in your petplay scene."

Then in a more recent post's notes, where it's been established that collars don't necessitate a scene, much less even a kink, I'll see, "well okay, kink at pride is fine if it's just leather and collars I gueeesssss, but wearing pup masks and being on all fours is too much because it makes others participate in your petplay scene."

Then this post, where it's established that a costume is not a scene, and that innocent voluntary audience participation like asking to take a picture or pet the pup isn't indecent and isn't forcing people to partake in a kink scene, I'm seeing notes like, "well okay, kink at pride is fine if it's just leather and collars and pup masks I gueeesssss, but leading/being led around on a leash is too far because it makes others participate in your petplay scene."

And I want to slam my head against a wall.

No! It's really not! You seeing something is not forced participation!

"But masters lead their subs around to-"

Actually shut up!

Not every single person who engages with someone by holding their leash is a humiliation kink dom. In a crowded place like a pride parade/event, having a tether to a person can be very useful if you're worried about accidentally becoming separated and/or lost. And if you're in a pet costume, a leash is a very convenient tether that keeps within costume. It's not that deep!

What would be forcing your participation?

If someone went around to unsuspecting bystanders and asked if they wanted to give their pet a pat on the head.

If you walked into a restaurant and required that they allow your pet to sit and eat on the floor of the establishment, and that the staff only ever talk to you and do not acknowledge the person acting as a pet.

Just seeing a leash is NOT forcing your participation. It's just. Not.

It makes you uncomfortable, but not because you're being made part of anything. You can literally look in another direction and that's the end of it.

The British Empire is collapsing before our eyes in real time <3

Critical support to Charles in his efforts to destroy the empire :) /s

I cannot express how much I adore dappled shadows formed by sunlight in paintings and photography and in real life

I also adore how this pattern has manifested itself in the form of camouflage for some species

The echo of those same dappled shadows that we paint in our art is genetically coded into a baby’s fur in order to keep her safe. A beautiful thing.

(Photos by Joel Sartore)

idk who needs to hear this but trans men do not oppress you on the basis of gender in any way

my friends if a trans man is being transphobic to you, let me introduce you to a magical phrase called "lateral violence" that lets you talk about that exact thing without insisting he has systematic privilege

glad to see everyone's being real normal on this post

(btw could literally not tell if these were terfs or trans people. they are trans people 👍)

anyways remember when i said a huge part of anti-transmasculine transphobia within the queer community involves treating trans men like we have all the experiences and privilege of cis men, and specifically warping everything we say or do to be an Attack On Women and a sign of our Intrinsic Male Aggression, ignoring our experiences with misogyny and erasing our transness, and justifying it because "I'm just affirming your gender uwu you can't be mad at me ;)"

ALT

don’t forget during the WGA strike that animation is not covered under the WGA deals and as a result animation has gotten the shortest possible end of the stick in under-staffing, under-paying, and generally turning the field into gig employment.

please sign the petition here for Disney to recognize animation production workers as a union and reblog this post!

There was one of those hyperspecific polls that had an option like “your grandfather told you war stories that he never told anyone else” and now I feel like I have to tell the story about how a spider saved my grandpa’s life in WWII and how my family doesn’t kill spiders because we owe our existence to that One Single Spider

So to set the scene, it's the height of WWII in France and my grandpa—a 6'3" 20 year old upper Michigan farm boy—has been separated from his company after their temporary camp was shelled. My grandpa (who, I have to add, was nicknamed 'the Suicide Kid' at this point because he worked in demolitions and bomb interception and kept taking the jobs no one wanted with the expectation that he was never going home anyway) is scared out of his wits, wandering around the French countryside alone. He has to move at night and sleep in barns and sheds during the day to hide from people who most definitely want him dead.

On one of these days, he finds a farmhouse of a very jittery couple who agree to let him sleep in the barn, with the conditions that he sleeps in the barn loft and if he's found, they disavow all knowledge that he was there. He agrees, because he's exhausted and will sleep in a hay pile if he has to. My grandpa manages to fit all six foot three inches of himself into a feed trough stored upstairs and tries to get some sleep.

However, right when he's half-snoozing, he hears motors outside and sure enough, here are some very angry officers of mixed Nazi and Vichy make confronting the couple saying someone up the road spotted an American soldier walking this way. They wouldn't know anything about that, would they? No, of course not.

All the while, my grandpa—now trying to figure out how to either escape the barn unseen or how to fight off six? seven? eight? people at once—freezes up and waits for the inevitable. While he does, a HUGE spider crawls next to his head and onto the loft railing. For one second, he thinks about swatting it away, but that would risk him being seen and killed.

So, instead, he lays there and waits to either fight to the death or get executed in a feed trough. And while he lays there, the spider starts making a huge web on the railing. My grandpa's transfixed by this thing. He watches her go around and around, building a solid web before plopping herself off to one side and waiting for breakfast. At the same time, the officers finally go into the barn.

My grandpa can hear them searching around, turning over crates and checking animal pens. Then, he hears one say to check the loft.

And then another say, "Don't bother. Look at the spiderwebs up there. No one's been there in a while."

And they leave.

Because my grandpa didn't swat the spider away and let her build her web, the officers thought no one was there and left him alone. They drive off and my grandpa immediately thanks the farmer couple and hauls ass out of there as soon as he can.

After this, my grandpa refused to kill any spider, and his kids did the same. Because if it wasn't for her, he wouldn't have lived and would never have had kids or grandkids. So we owe her one.

There's the man himself. Go grandpa!!

WGA Strike Resources

This post will be updated as the situation develops, and as community members vet or recommend mutual aid orgs.

The WGA Strike Hub has tons of stuff, including current negotiation status, a social media toolkit, info about guild-sponsored mutual aid, and more. 

Picket Schedules and Information are also live. This thread lays out picketing support and other ways to help.

WGAW members have started a Substack newsletter called PreWGA Solidarity that will provide community intel.

Endorsements from other organizations show support and add leverage. If you work for a nonprofit or union, you can fill out the “Stand With Writers” form here.

Local mutual aid links for affected cities (NY, LA, ABQ, Atlanta, Chicago) below the cut. Donate, volunteer, get help. Remember that you can also visit or call your local library to seek volunteer opportunities or get help with a resume!

Okay ms.rona wrap it up hoe

Happy okay ms.rona wrap it up hoe sunday

Happy okay ms.Rona wrap it up hoe Monday (2022)

Happy Ok Ms. Rona wrap it up hoe Tuesday (2023)

SOMEONE'S ACTUALLY IN A FURSUIT AT MET

HELLPPPPPPP

It's Jared Leto 💀

i had a really bizarre dream about a colorful blanket-like monster that comes out during purple moon eclipses (which happened in the middle of the day), and can wrap itself around you to float you places   

 everything was flat & drippy like a video game and it was weird