Jody

The Polari first prize Longlist with books by Curtis Garner, Jason Okundaye, Sacha Coward, Sanah Ahsan, Amy Twigg, Mae Diansangu, Eleanor Medhurst, Ciara Maguire, June Thomas crossed out to show they've withdrawn

The Polari Prize Longlist with books by Olumide Popoola, Robert Hamberger, Andrew McMillan, Rhian Elizabeth, Jane Traies crossed out to show they've withdrawn

14 of 24 authors have now withdrawn.

First Book:
Curtis Garner, Jason Okundaye, Sacha Coward, Sanah Ahsan, Amy Twigg, Mae Diansangu, Eleanor Medhurst, Ciara Maguire, June Thomas

Main:
Olumide Popoola, Robert Hamberger, Andrew McMillan, Rhian Elizabeth, Jane Traies

Judges:
Nicola Dinan, Bob Hughes

DHS is delaying millions in already approved North Carolina recovery funds, documents show Communities across the region still need to be reimbursed for about a hundred projects including debris removal, waste water treatment repairs, roads and bridges, damaged buildings and parks, as well ...

The Department of Homeland Security is holding up more than $100 million preapproved dollars intended to help hurricane-battered North Carolina clean up storm damage and fix infrastructure, according to documents obtained by The Post.

“there are a dozen or so trans kids playing high school sports, this is not an issue that affects you and its time we start asking why the guy who has repeatedly bragged about being sexually attracted to children wants to look at your kids genitals” is an entirely true thing you can say!

it’s basically trite to note at this point but if this were any other president, and certainly a democrat, spending a ton of money to gild the white house would be a legit scandal

Fears that falling birth rates in US could lead to population collapse are based on faulty assumptions While the changes in population structure that accompany low birth rates are real, the impact of these changes has been dramatically overstated.

Trying to change the population is creepy and dangerous, full stop. But pronatalism is also wrong on the science, particularly the US brand of it. Here's a nice explainer on some of its more egregious logical flaws.
From @lesja.bsky.social @karenguzzo.bsky.social and @shelleydclark.bsky.social

People are only seeing this post and missing the follow-up saying trans men are also to be banned from women's toilets, which pretty much amounts to a ban on trans men leaving the house

I know lots of you have strong opinions on this topic, so I hope this will be of interest:

"You are being asked to participate in a survey of romance authors and readers that is being conducted by Prof. Bridget Kies in the Film Studies and Production program at Oakland University."

"A.i." doesn't empower anyone. It strips them of belief in themselves and the power of their own minds and hands and abilities and stories.

EVERY KID CAN DRAW. EVERY KID CAN TELL STORIES AND MAKE COMICS.

Fuck "A.i." for telling kids lies and making them less-than.

We CANNOT let this go under the radar: Donald Trump is attacking our veterans — this time by ending VA unions contracts.

This is anti-worker and anti-veteran.

I'll fight it every step of the way.

U.S. Air Force to deny early retirement benefits to some transgender service members The U.S. Air Force said Thursday it would deny all transgender service members who have served between 15 and 18 years the option to retire early and would instead separate them without retirement ben...

This is so breathtakingly cruel that my soul glitched. I’m never surprised by the depths of depravity, per se, but having to process it still exacts an emotional cost.

www.npr.org/2025/08/08/n...

Email from the "PUBLIC RECORDS OFFICE" to Kate Starbird asking for all emails from Jan 1 2021 through July 30 2025 with any of the following keywords: "diversity and inclusion" "DEIA" "DEI" "Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging" "DEIB" "gender identity" "racial preference" "ESG" "organizational equity" "intersectionality" "anti-racism" "critical race theory" "LGBTQ+" "transgender" "cisgender" "gender ideology" "white privilege" "privilege walk" "cultural humility" "equity audit" "restorative justice" "racial equity" "implicit bias" "microaggressions" "inclusive pedagogy" "identity-based oppression" "systems of oppression" "queer" "non-binary" "sexuality" “Trump” “fascist”

If anyone is curious about the current list of search terms being used by right wing activist organizations to harass university professors, here's a public records request I received today from Mike Howell of the Heritage Foundation. Not intimidating or meant to curtail by my speech at all, right?

23% of high schools educating 12% of children in the US lack a sports program outside of generic phys ed. You want to talk about school sports? Let’s talk about that 12% of kids— that’s OVER 2 MILLION KIDS— who have no access to an athletic program (or the attendant college scholarships) at all.

it has been said over and over but it’s worth reiterating in the face of this horrifying decision: RFK is quite literally joining the war on cancer on the side of cancer

RFK Jr. cuts $500 million in mRNA vaccine contracts, dealing major blow to promising area of research The cuts add to mounting evidence that Kennedy is pursuing an aggressive anti-vaccine agenda.

We need a word for someone who is beyond perverse, sadistic, sociopathic. Blocking mRNA vaccine research means that you or someone you love will die of something you could have avoided or survived. He is intentionally killing people.

I did not make those stats up (unlike genAI).
Source 1: research.aimultiple.com/ai-hallucina...
Source 2: ( a nyt article but the link is to a reddit copy of it bc we don't link to the times here) www.reddit.com/r/technology...

If I have to explain to you why it's a bad idea to use a machine that makes shit up 15-80% of the time AND destroys the environment AND contributes to rising fascism and genocide AND puts brilliant skillful creatives out of work by stealing their work, then we're already speaking different languages

White House Orders NASA to Destroy Important Satellite The White House has instructed NASA employees to destroy two major, climate change-focused satellite missions.

The White House has instructed NASA to terminate two major, climate change-focused satellite missions. They've been collecting widely-used data, providing both oil and gas companies and farmers with detailed information about the distribution of carbon dioxide and how it can affect crop health.

Is Harvard About to Make the Same Mistake as Columbia? Cutting a deal with the Trump administration will cost the university more than money.

"To attend Columbia today is to be at a school that is now under the surveillance of a revanchist federal government."

nymag.com/intelligence...

Me: Some things could be made better if midterms go a certain way, but none of that is a given (or even relatively likely), none of that happens unless people DO something, and the damage being done right now will take generations to fix. Them: Silence. Me: Amazing weather we’ve been having…

I’ve been having a few too many conversations like this. Them: Hi Kate, how are things with your work, with the world? Me: the university is under attack, democratic norms being broken in half, so, pretty bad. Them: But everything is going to come back and be okay after the midterms. Me: Uhh, no.

if i were a pro-trump financial type i might view the destruction of reliable government data with the kind of anger and apprehension that might lead me to reevaluate my politics, but then if i’m a financial guy throwing my weight behind strongman rule, i’m already too stupid to breathe

the position of the roberts court is both that racism isn’t real and that the constitution mandates a colorblindness so strict that it neither recognizes nor can act on social inequalities. incidentally, this is essentially the court’s holding in plessy v. ferguson.

CORDER LIST: 606 U.S.) FRIDAY, AUGUST 1, 2025 24-109 24-110 ORDER IN PENDING CASES LOUISIANA V. CALLAIS, PHILLIP, ET AL. ROBINSON, PRESS, ET AL. V. CALLAIS, PHILLIP, ET AL. The parties are directed to file supplemental briefs addressing the following question raised on pages 36-38 of the Brief for Appellees: Whether the State's intentional creation of a second majority-minority congressional district violates the Fourteenth or Fifteenth Amendments to the U. S. Constitution. Supplemental briefs for appellants are due on or before Wednesday, August 27, 2025. Supplemental brief for appellees is due on or before Wednesday, September 17, 2025. Reply briefs are due on or before 2 p.m., Friday, October 3, 2025. The time to file amicus curiae briefs is as provided for by this Court's Rule 37.3. Word limits and cover colors for the briefs should correspond to the provisions of this Court's Rule 33.1(g) pertaining to briefs on the merits rather than to the provision pertaining to supplemental

😬The Supreme Court will consider whether the intentional creation of a majority-minority congressional district violates the 14th or 15th Amendments.

If the answer is yes, SCOTUS will effectively declare that what remains of the Voting Rights Act is unconstitutional. This is very, very ominous.

congress was contemplating something like pre-clearance in the 1880s! the VRA survived every challenge it faced essentially until a guy with a vendetta against law became chief justice

Graff, quoting Louis Fischer: “He [Hitler] would destroy democracy. Yet democracy tolerated him and helped him take office in order to destroy democracy. This peaceful death of German democracy is one of the strangest chapters in history.”

Poll shows decline in belief that Blacks and Asians face racial discrimination Meanwhile, about three in 10 people said DEI increased discrimination against white people.

the idea that “DEI” is to blame for racist assumptions about the ability of nonwhite people and not actual racism is such a perfect example of racecraft www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/...

for many of the worst people in our politics, the only real belief they have is that it should be illegal for us not to like them

These higher education concessions aren't even reasonable acts of self-preservation because the demands won't end, and their institutions will continue to be targets. Each concession will lead to more demands, and what they try to save will eventually meet the same fate of that which they conceded.

If you work in higher ed, you need to get your folks together and end the use of course evals or at least bar their consideration in evaluation, promotion, and hiring. This needed to happen yesterday because they don't measure learning, they measure instructor gender, but now it's a snitch pool.

this is EXACTLY how Chávez governed Venezuela. Self-destructive policies, but when someone was able to ask him a question on a talk show or in person, he would always dispatch a minister to solve *that one person's problem*

never change the policies