Angst for Beginners

Right? The curious part of me wants to read a bunch of this stuff, but the editor part of me finds it physically painful to parse even a single line.

Screenshot of the headline and blurb from the Berlin daily "Der Tagesspiegel" about the demands for a 2,352-year sentence for the jailed mayor of Istanbul, including a photo of said mayor, Ekrem İmamoğlu.

Coming soon to an autocracy near you.

The face of a white kitten with two dark spots peeking out from a duvet

Attention please for a very important announcement! This is Apollo, and he's having none of your pessimistic takes (<under my breath> even if they might be accurate).

Saw a sign in my neighborhood today saying, in so many words, someday all of you will be claiming to have been against everything happening now all along.

Perhaps I should rephrase: I don't think we can *actually* persuade most people; rather, I believe most people are fundamentally persuadable.

Despite my leftish policy preferences, I'm constitutionally somewhat conservative because I'm pessimistic about human nature. But I'm simultaneously in awe of our better angels and firmly believe we can persuade most people to embrace progressive ideals. If you can relate at all, read this piece.

An image of Charles Darwin's handwritten diary entry reading: "But I am very poorly today and very stupid and hate everybody and everything."

I have October 1 saved in my calendar as "poor Charles Darwin" in honor of this very relatable diary entry from this day in 1861:

"But I am very poorly today and very stupid and hate everybody and everything."

Folks in a privileged majority rarely realize that the state can un-person them, too. They assume it can't happen because they're not part of a marginalized group. But a bureaucratic apparatus can come for anyone. In-groups & out-groups can change. Which is why rights only exist if everyone has them

The Transgender “Issue” Is Not a Distraction for Democrats It’s an opportunity to speak clearly about human rights and morality. Follow the facts and the Golden Rule.

SHOUT THIS FROM THE ROOFTOPS. Seriously, I wish news outlets would publish as many commentaries like this that reference the medical science as they do anti-trans motivated reasoning.

open.substack.com/pub/thebulwa...

"Es gibt nur 2 biologische Geschlechter"

Nein, eben nicht.

XX / XY stimmt für ca. 98 - 99 %

Es gibt auch:

- XXY (Klinefelter-Syndrom)
- XO (Turner-Syndrom)
- Androgenresistenz

Deutschland hat ca 84,1 Mio Einwohner. Also haben ca. 841.000 bis 1.682.000 Personen ein anderes Geschlecht.

Polling data from Harris & Associates 1966. Q: Do you approve of what Freedom Riders are Doing? 22% approve 61%disapprove18%no opinion.

I just like to post these data from time to time to puncture the mythological aura of mid 20th c protests. They were less popular than pretty much any 21st c mass action & people criticizing them used the same lines. Protest is about people coming together, shaping narratives, & building power.

I love poetry.

Wir nennen das bei uns "liquid cats" 🥰

Protesters Urged Not To Give Trump Administration Pretext For What It Already Doing LOS ANGELES—Responding to escalating clashes between civilian activists and militarized immigration authorities, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass publicly urged protesters Monday not to give the Trump administration any pretext for what they’re already doing and will keep doing no matter what. “Angelenos—don’t engage in violence and give the administration an excuse to inflict all the […]

Protesters Urged Not To Give Trump Administration Pretext For What It Already Doing
theonion.com/protest...

Erst dann, when hell freezes over, befürchte ich.

Nothing prepares you, as a feminist parent of girls, for the moment you’re on the phone with your teenage daughter and you hear the entire conversation she has with a grown ass man who is trying to ask her out on a date. #choosethebear

Liebe* es, wenn das rauchfreie Zeitfenster zwischen der Holzofenjahreszeit und der Feuerschalenjahreszeit vollständig verschwindet. Lüften ade.

* [derogatory]

I spent years mourning the loss of the me who had been a smoker. I felt like I didn't know who I was without it. Still comes back and pings me every once in a while 20 years on.

Ich würde sogar weitergehen und sagen, die Menschen, die "woke" als Beschimpfung benutzen, wollen nicht nur auf ihr Recht bestehen, Arschlöcher zu sein: Sie wollen es am liebsten verbieten, sie dafür zu kritisieren.

And then there are the people telling me not to be so loud and hysterical because it's killing their vibe and could I please critique the collapse of freedom and democracy a little more pleasantly?

Watching things unfold as an American abroad has such a surreality to it right now. It feels like I'm reading about things in a history book, but it's all happening now, and I'm like some helpless time traveler screaming "STOP! This is how all those unimaginable horrors began!"

A woman's hand holding a pocket edition of the US Declaration of Independence and Constitution and a pocket edition of Shakespeare's sonnets.

Just pulled these off the shelf and put them on my bedside table: one to raise my blood pressure and one to lower it. Gonna need both, I think.

I worked as a volunteer for Head Start when I was in high school in the 1990s. The idea that this is some kind of recent, woke program is absurd. This is monstrous.

Good grief

What a stupid, stupid timeline this is.

Ihre Papiere, bitte!

let’s look back at what has happened so far

Cory Booker giving a 25 hour speech: everyone loved it, raised his profile

Van Hollen flies to El Salvador and meets Abrego Garcia: everyone loved it, raised his profile

Schumer publicly caved: everyone hated that

just a general note to Dems

Does @ronfilipkowski.bsky.social know his posts on trump's various fiascos are on German television? I'd say it's quite an honor.

To keep my brain from falling out of my skull, I tell myself they are as yet insulated from the consequences of these policies. Not entirely sure if the evidence bears this out.

😦