Dr. Pepper Peeps 🏳️‍⚧️

I read "Hey Kiddo" by Jarrett Krosoczka, a powerful story not just about how drug/alcohol abuse but about the family you make and not the family you're born into. Absolutely phenomenal.

8th Circuit Declares No Right of Parents to Choose Evidence-Based Trans Care — Assigned Judges also hinted that bans on adult trans care would be upheld.

Today we have some legal analysis on the recent decision by the 8th Circuit on gender-affirming care bans.

As expected, the court followed SCOTUS' decision in Skrmetti. However, they went much further than that, writes @alli.gay.

www.assignedmedia.org/breaking-new...

Hey #birders (especially #blind & visually impaired birders), one of my winter projects is to write better alttext not just for my photos, but for other photos too. I consider myself an alttext beginner & am looking for ways to describe birds & habitat. Personal experience and resources welcome!

Really wishing I still had my Flipper lunchbox!

a large slate-blue bird with very long legs and a long thin bill is standing on a stone dam. The photo is very poor quality but there is a smaller bird with very long legs standing on the dam as well. There is an area of water pouring from the dam between where the two birds are standing.

Another potato quality photo, but there's been a pair of juvenile Black-crowned Night Herons hanging out at the dam in my hometown. County lifer! They've been vying with the local Great Blue Heron for the prime fishing spot. #birder

If their balls are that big, they ought to see a doctor.

Nice! Once that birding bug bites, it's easy to get hooked. I love working on my county list first because it's easy to find hotspots before/after work and saves gas! I'm a (mostly) empty nester, so when I have free time I'm birding. :P It's been fantastic for my health both physical and mental too!

Yes! I was going to the park after work every day to see this elegant cutie. I'm hoping it's the same juvenile that's been spotted recently in a nearby county as it makes its way to wintering grounds.

A beautiful black bird with long stilt-like legs and a curved bill is silhouetted against green foliage and raindrops in a river. It is bent over as it forages.

Oh hi! Birding has completely consumed me this year (when not working full time and then some). I wandered away from bluesky awhile back because too much doomscrolling, but wanted to reconnect with the #birder community here especially. This Glossy Ibis juvenile hung around my hometown for 2 weeks!

Also, this isn’t a press conference, this is a fascist rally.

52-hertz whale - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/52-hert... 52 Hertz Whale: maybe he's not the most lonely whale, maybe he's just content to be alone?

Senate Dems Show Spine, And National Sports Ban Bill Dies The failed legislation reflects a wider effort to disallow trans women (or anyone suspected of being a trans woman) from women’s sports and spaces.

1. Today, Senate Democrats showed spine, and killed a national transgender sports ban bill via filibuster.

Not a SINGLE Democrat voted for cloture.

S. Baum writes about what happened today, including some of the speeches.

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Since I’ve been getting this a lot - if you feel like supporting me by buying a jersey or something, I would rather you make a donation to Trans Lifeline or The Trevor Project

www.thetrevorproject.org

"Because if I stop trying to do what I want to do, then they've already caught me."

YouTube video by Worlds Beyond Number Worlds Beyond Number: Ame and the Fox

geez, @worldsbeyondnumber.bsky.social getting me in the feels again. I wouldn't say this is a huge huge spoiler but it has some wonderfully serene words (and incredible animation) that I needed to hear/see tonight (animatic is captioned). youtu.be/nD140v6PwrU?...

Today, not long after 3:00 PM, the US Senate will vote on a motion to invoke cloture on a transgender sports ban applying to youth and sports from dancing to darts and evenChess. If 7 Democrats flip on this motion, we will likely get a national sports ban in the US.

CONTACT YOUR SENATORS!

Olive Oyl’s other boyfriend.

This makes me feel less bad when I'm in a meeting with my friend and we're texting each other about the terp. 😂

This is a really important post to read, especially if you're still following known grifting accounts like the National Parks one. As my old j-school teacher would say: "if your mother says she loves you, check it out." I appreciate that folks are doing some digging.

Unfortunately his motorcade blocked off enough roads and did a little detour through side streets that they avoided the protests. A good turnout for such a cold day, though! (I wasn't there today, but also followed the updates)

a cartoon character says bye-bye in front of a crowd of people Alt: Simpson cartoon characters say bye-bye to cars driving on the road with the words Bye-Bye! Bye-Bye

Breaking Vermont news is that Vance's security detail clearly scoped out the area this afternoon and they used side streets to avoid protests on the way to the airport. Kudos to folks who were out there in single digits weather today, though!

an enby icon, a genius who came to Howard Law and stunted on their cishet male cohort, a polymath who never stopped pursuing knowledge 💗

You'll pry ASL from my cold dead hands you absolute trash people.

I made have made some incoherent noises at baby Jonny Lee Miller. Look at these babies!

The funny thing is that Mad River Glen's motto used to be "Ski it if you can." They used to not have snowmaking equipment to weed out the wannabees like Vance.

The real reason I'm fine with Zooming with my parents is because they only have a free version, so whatever fresh hell I'm having to listen to I'll only have to deal with it for 40 minutes.

Should you refuse to show compassion because you believe it would make you appear weak, then you have misunderstood what strength is. It is honorable to have concern for others, to show empathy and to offer aid to someone in distress. To rebuke this is cowardice, not strength.

Amid US Government Purge of Public Health Websites and Data, Here’s a List of Non-Governmental Data Alternatives and Archives To help data journalists with their reporting, The Journalist's Resource has curated a list of non-government websites and archives that preserve or maintain public health data.

Multiple non-profit organizations are beginning to host government data on their websites. See below for a directory:

gijn.org/stories/pres...

Yeah that's, uh, that's something all right. :/ Sometimes crossovers just shouldn't.

fair enough! :P