Deep Breakfast

“Not use collective punishment as it is not fair on the many people who did nothing and under the 1949 Geneva Conventions it is a war crime.”

Wait it’s a fucking WAR CRIME?!?! I mean that might not be 100% accurate but now I gotta know

holy crap, collective punishment is a war crime.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_Geneva_Convention#Collective_punishments

and according to the exact legal phrasing-

No protected person may be punished for an offense he or she has not personally committed. Collective penalties and likewise all measures of intimidation or of terrorism are prohibited.

This technically counts, as students are civilians, and thus considered a “protected person”. So yes, collective classroom punishment breaks the fourth Geneva Convention, and she should be rewarded for standing up for human rights and doing her research.

Power-move: accuse your teacher of a war crime using knowledge they supplied you with

Gotta be worth a couple extra points in history at least

If only we had the courage to say that to our employers when they take away our remote work days because not everyone has the discipline to be productive at home.

“Authors should not be ALLOWED to write about–” you are an anti-intellectual and functionally a conservative

“This book should be taken off of shelves for featuring–” you are an anti-intellectual and functionally a conservative

“Schools shouldn’t teach this book in class because–” you are an anti-intellectual and functionally a conservative

“Nobody actually likes or wants to read classics because they’re–” you are an anti-intellectual and an idiot

“I only read YA fantasy books because every classic novel or work of literary fiction is problematic and features–” you are an anti-intellectual and you are robbing yourself of the full richness of the human experience.

"you are functionally a conservative" is such a good and clarifying insult

Literally right after I saw this post, I saw another post in a discord chat for BOOK EDITORS in which an outspokenly liberal editor talked about how Nabokov should have never been published because he wrote about p*dophiles and described women's bodies in ways that made her uncomfortable. She described his writing as "objectively terrible" and said she wanted to burn his books. And other editors were bringing up classics they didn't like and talking about how they wanted to throw them in the trash. This wasn't like a light "unpopular opinion!" conversation. This was actual book editors talking about how books should be destroyed and censored.

There is something so scary and toxic in global culture right now. The revival of fascism is influencing everyone's mindset and approach to art, regardless of where they fall on the political spectrum.

I see far more books being censored today than when I was a kid. Librarians handed me The Catcher in the Rye, The Sexual Politics of Meat, and Animal Farm when I was literally 8-11. My mom would never have taken a book away from me. I read everything from the Tao Te Ching to the Qur'an to atheist texts under my desk at school. Teachers thought nothing of it or encouraged it. Books seemed universally acknowledged as sacrosanct to me.

Now I can't find any adults who don't hesitate or want to make exceptions when it comes to censorship. Even the most liberal social activist librarians I know go, "well except for book X..."

Functionally conservative. It's so important to have the language to express that.

Thank you for this addition!

And, following up on the previous post …

“This makes me uncomfortable” is NOT a valid reason for censorship

These fucking book editors should remove themselves from the profession ASAP 😡

The only reason a book should be removed, the ONLY reason, is “we are keeping it in the restricted section for research because its only intended function is to cause harm.”

And to be clear, when I say this, I’m talking about shit like To Train Up A Child and The Protocols of Zion. One is a text responsible for the deaths of multiple children because it’s an abuse how-to, and the other is entirely fabricated “protocols” from a group that never actually existed but is claimed to represent all Jews, and it’s basically one long antisemitic screed.

And even these should be available. Just. Not where they’re gonna be used to start a white supremacist cult.

I read the Shakespeare play “Much Ado About Nothing” and in the back of the copy I had was some critics over time of the play. One from the mid 19th century was appalled of Beatrice’s behavior towards all the men in the story, in particular, Benedick. I’m sure a woman insulting men in public was scandalous at the time. What was more interesting is that 100 years earlier the critics thought the play was marvelous and funny. I only hope this current swing toward the right is quickly reversed soon.

I’m sure this will hit the news soon but just in case it’s not out yet — the Governor of Maryland just signed an executive order tonight declaring Maryland a sanctuary state for trans people seeking gender-affirming care, and for all people who provide such care or help trans people access such care. This executive order includes an explicit refusal to cooperate with law enforcement/prosecutors in any other state where accessing, providing, or helping people access such care is now or will soon be criminalized.

Yes it is absolutely a privilege to be able to travel or to think about moving but if someone can access the resources to move or visit to get what they need to survive and be less likely to be actively targeted for LITERAL EUGENICS AND GENOCIDE, then they should and we should support them.

Please spread the word.

Minnesota is also a sanctuary state, welcome trans people!

It hasn't hit the news yet but you can find the order here!

It’s a sad state of affairs when we have American citizens as refugees from conservative states.

Just an FYI for those in the US with insurance issues

Important information! Insurance coverage decisions are made by medically ignorant bean-counters. Until we can dismantle the whole shitty system, know how to scare them into submission.

This is like that procedure Mr. Incredible told that old lady

Reblogging for visibility

[Image Description: Text: Medical Hack: So, your doctor ordered a test or treatment and your insurance company denied it. That is a typical cost saving method. Okay, here is what you do:

Reblogging for visibility!

I wonder if anyone has made a list like this regarding Medicare (federal run health insurance) and Medicaid (state run health insurance) because the process for challenging denials is absolutely different, but I’ve never known how to do it myself nor found a guide on how to.

The United States has the absolute worst healthcare system in the world.

When I was a kid, I regularly lost reading privileges for "having an attitude" and "acting out".

It wasn't as simple as being told not to read during other activities- one of the first times it happened, I remember being six years old, watching my stepfather pull fistfuls of books off my bookshelf and throw them to the floor in a heaping mess while I cried and asked him to stop.

It was weird. Every other adult I knew described me as exceptionally well-behaved, but at home, it was the opposite, and it was blamed on "learning bad habits from that shit you're reading".

Because I couldn't read at home, I spent all my free time at school in the library, reading with my friends.

When I grew up and moved away, I realized that my family life was toxic and abusive, and the "attitudes" I was being punished for were standing up for myself, standing up for my younger siblings, and resisting actual, real-life psychological abuse. Because I'd learned from what I'd read that my family wasn't normal, not like my parents said it was, and in my stories, the heroes were the people who spoke out when it was hard to.

It is insane to me that there are students right now who can't access books. It is insane that books are being outlawed. It is perverse that we are stealing away an entire generation's ability to contextualize their lives, to learn about the world around them, to develop critical thinking skills and express themselves and feel connected to the world or escape from it, whatever and whenever and however they need.

That is not how you raise a compassionate, thoughtful, powerful society.

That's how you process cattle.

It's fucking disgusting.

It's patriarchal fascism. If children don't have a frame of reference for "normal" beyond what the Authority chooses to give them, they won't object when the Authority does something abnormal (or fascist)

Feeding the poor should not be a crime.

Republicans are garbage.

If you think it’s dangerous for a 12 year old to be around a drag queen, but are okay with that same 12 year old getting married, there is something seriously wrong with you.

Republicans are garbage.

We have planet wide extermination problems and they are making laws to try to change people’s behavior to conform to their values and beliefs.

"I must not fear.

Fear is the mind-killer.

Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.

I will face my fear.

I will permit it to pass over me and through me.

And when it has gone past, I will turn the inner eye to see its path.

Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain."

Hmmmm.... This from the side that thinks there are more than two genders, can't define what a woman is, doesn't know which bathroom to use, is castrating children to convert them to the other sex and has gone full Marxist.... And a quote from a book where the dude turns into a worm...I'm not sure why this is tagged gun control but I'll be keeping my guns. 

This from the side that prefers to groom young women into being brides at 12, can’t decide if they love or hate women, feel compelled to make medical decisions for women instead of leaving it up to their doctors, who have gone full on fascist blaming all of the world’s problems on the most repressed groups on the planet. The book Dune is a science fiction classic. Fear is used to make people buy more guns.

HA you like npr talk about someone who is a brainwashed fucking fool

At least my news source doesn’t lie to get ratings.

"I must not fear.

Fear is the mind-killer.

Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.

I will face my fear.

I will permit it to pass over me and through me.

And when it has gone past, I will turn the inner eye to see its path.

Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain."

Hmmmm.... This from the side that thinks there are more than two genders, can't define what a woman is, doesn't know which bathroom to use, is castrating children to convert them to the other sex and has gone full Marxist.... And a quote from a book where the dude turns into a worm...I'm not sure why this is tagged gun control but I'll be keeping my guns. 

This from the side that prefers to groom young women into being brides at 12, can’t decide if they love or hate women, feel compelled to make medical decisions for women instead of leaving it up to their doctors, who have gone full on fascist blaming all of the world’s problems on the most repressed groups on the planet. The book Dune is a science fiction classic. Fear is used to make people buy more guns.

The only fascists are you leftist fucks

I don’t believe you know why fascism means. Fascism is right-wing for starters. Here, I will give you a definition. It actually sounds more like the current Republican Party platform to me.

"I must not fear.

Fear is the mind-killer.

Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.

I will face my fear.

I will permit it to pass over me and through me.

And when it has gone past, I will turn the inner eye to see its path.

Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain."

Hmmmm.... This from the side that thinks there are more than two genders, can't define what a woman is, doesn't know which bathroom to use, is castrating children to convert them to the other sex and has gone full Marxist.... And a quote from a book where the dude turns into a worm...I'm not sure why this is tagged gun control but I'll be keeping my guns. 

This from the side that prefers to groom young women into being brides at 12, can’t decide if they love or hate women, feel compelled to make medical decisions for women instead of leaving it up to their doctors, who have gone full on fascist blaming all of the world’s problems on the most repressed groups on the planet. The book Dune is a science fiction classic. Fear is used to make people buy more guns.