If You Don't Run, VOTE. (Vote If You Do Run, For That Matter.) There Is A Lot At Stake Locally And In

Thank you!!

I know so much of the pre-election messaging is like VOTE!!! VOTE!!! IF YOU DON’T VOTE YOU’RE A MONSTER!! and that can get tiring after so many elections. So I want to take a moment after this election to say: so many of you clearly did get out and vote, despite not always having the most inspiring options, and with SO much on the line 18-29 year olds specifically helped win some of the most important and impactful races across America. So from one of the many “just vote” scolds on the internet: thank you!!

Sad but true.

This is incredibly frightening.  In addition to the definition of domestic violence, the definitions of stalking (old vs. new) and sexual assault (old vs. new) were changed between December 2017 and April 2018.

The Trump Administration Quietly Changed the Definition of Domestic Violence and We Have No Idea What For

It is too early to assess the full impact of the change.

Without fanfare or even notice, the Department of Justice’s Office on Violence Against Women made significant changes to its definition of domestic violence in April. The Obama-era definition was expansive, vetted by experts including the National Center for Victims of Crime and the National Domestic Violence Hotline. The Trump administration’s definition is substantially more limited and less informed, effectively denying the experiences of victims of abuse by attempting to cast domestic violence as an exclusively criminal concern.

The previous definition included critical components of the phenomenon that experts recognize as domestic abuse—a pattern of deliberate behavior, the dynamics of power and control, and behaviors that encompass physical or sexual violence as well as forms of emotional, economic, or psychological abuse. But in the Trump Justice Department, only harms that constitute a felony or misdemeanor crime may be called domestic violence. So, for example, a woman whose partner isolates her from her family and friends, monitors her every move, belittles and berates her, or denies her access to money to support herself and her children is not a victim of domestic violence in the eyes of Trump’s Department of Justice. This makes no sense for an office charged with funding and implementing solutions to the problem of domestic violence rather than merely prosecuting individual abusers

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Agreed -- this is a very good time to remind voters that US presidents come with a built-in backup.

I wonder...

The media cannot get over the Biden Old thing, and of course the more they talk about it, the worse that is for everyone.

There are Dems in power that are calling for Harris to be the nominee.

What if...

Biden and Harris gave a simultaneous speech. Like they're both on stage. They both have their own lines throughout the speech, trading off to make different points. I wonder if you could remind everyone that Kamala Harris is already on the ticket.

If Biden really is too old and really can't do the job, surprise! That's what we have a VP for! He can step aside when that time comes and Kamala can take over, a process that we already have rules in place for. (And hey, Black female president, everyone!)

And you drive that point home by having them tag team a speech, which I'm pretty sure has never been done before, and acting like a team. Like a well-oiled speechifying machine. Maybe people would feel better if they weren't thinking that it's just one old man, alone?

I guess Mr. Snowflake there needs to just move along from McDonalds.

I’ve heard about several apps designed to help people who are depressed, considering self harm, anxious, etc.  Unfortunately, I can’t track down any of the names right now.  If you have recommendations, please spread the word!

Listen up. There is literally an app that can help you avoid self harm and I don’t know why we aren’t talking about it.

Calm Harm can be tailored to your needs and will provide strategies to help you get past those crucial moments of wanting to harm.

It’s also totally FREE.

once again, it’s called CALM HARM

Is there something about aces and coffee?  Honestly, the only time I can stand the flavor is when I’m kissing someone I love who has just drunk coffee.

Ready for a long ace-centric metaphor about sex? 

Alright, so. Coffee. I don’t drink coffee. I have no desire to drink coffee. I find people who enthusiastically go on about the flavor differences of lattes, espressos, and french press brews, both amusing and mildly baffling. All the coffee ads. Coffee jokes. Bustling coffee shops. To me, all coffee is similarly bitter and unpleasant. I have been through so many “Try this, it’s sweet! You can’t even taste the coffee!”  Alas, I always can. And I’m  sensitive to caffeine anyway. So, I don’t really think about drinking it when I wake up or am tired.

 Yet I love the smell of coffee. I love the idea of coffee. The feeling of a warm cup taking the chill from my fingers, the cozy ritual of having a drink and chat. I might try someone’s coffee. If they ask, if I want to please them and share in something they enjoy. I am also perfectly capable of learning the preferences of those I care about and creating a cup for their pleasure. 

But I don’t want coffee, generally speaking. I will probably make a face after trying their coffee and wash the taste out with something else. They may rush to reassure me that it is an acquired taste. And I’ll have to reply that it’s a taste I don’t particularly care about acquiring in the way they did. ‘Drink it till you like it’ will never work for me.

 But that doesn’t mean I am against coffee or think people shouldn’t drink it. Doesn’t mean I’ve taken a vow to never drink any. And sure, maybe if you get one of those sugar and whipped cream disasters, more of a warm milkshake than a cup of coffee, I’ll probably be happier sipping it with you. But honestly? I’d rather smell someone else’s coffee and not be expected to drink it. I’d really rather have the heat and sweetness of my hot cocoa. 

If you don’t think this makes a difference, look at what the Minnesota legislature accomplished so far this year:

Set up free breakfast and lunch for all K-12 students

Implemented automatic voter registration and a number of other reforms to increase voter access

Made abortion access and reproductive care a fundamental right

Provided up to 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave

Banned conversion therapy and made Minnesota a safe state for trans people

Indexed school funding to inflation

And much, much more

Our cities, our states, our country -- they can do this, too!  The Minnesota legislature isn’t filled with perfect people, but it has enough people who are willing to work together to get things accomplished.  

Vote for people who will make progress.  If you don’t have that option, vote for people who won’t push us farther back!

We are not going to let that fuckwad DeSantis gain a foothold in the 2024 election.

You are going to fucking vote for Joe Biden, and you are going to give us a fucking chance to save our country from fascism, and you aren't going to fucking complain about it, because there is literally no other choice.

We will not let another election be a close call. Are you listening?

Vote for Biden. Vote for whatever Democrat is most popular in your local elections. Our system sucks, but this is what we're working with. Just fucking vote.

This is totally a feature!  We should exploit the coat hangers out of it.  

Does anyone know if it works the same for different flavors of English?  If a group of people from the US, Canada, Britain, and Australia are all absolutely coat hangered, are they all in the same condition, or are some of them drunk, some of them shocked, and some of them just confused?

you can make nearly any object into a good insult if you put ‘you absolute’ in front of it

example: you absolute coat hanger

If you’re truly “pro-life,” support affordable health care (including contraception) and safe food, water, and shelter for everyone.  Prioritizing a collection of cells over an actual person is not about life, it’s about control.

This is a pro-choice blog.

It’s an I wanted this baby but at my anatomy scan I found out my baby will die after it’s born blog.

It’s an I’m not financially, mentally or emotionally stable enough to bring a child into this world blog.

It’s an I can’t live with the result of my sexual assault blog.

It’s an I miscarried but the fetus will not evacuate on its own blog.

It’s an I will die if I carry this to term blog.

It’s an I don’t want to be fucking pregnant blog.

It’s a pro-choice blog.

If you see this decision as a win, educate yourself. People with uteruses WILL die. And if that’s okay with you, don’t claim you’re pro-life.

Oh, and a big, fat FUCK YOU.