Cate Eland

I've lost my phone 6 times tonight. Might not lose it again, though, because now I can't find it. 🙃

I miss narrative arcs and character development. The last 2-3 years has been a string of "a thing happened, then another thing happened, poof! they like each other, then another thing happened, poof! they banged, another thing happened, then they hated each other, tada! happy ending!" books. 🫩

To close out February, what are your romance takes? Either real life or fictional? Or both!

Here is mine, and all of you will hate it...

Friends to lovers should just stay friends. JUST STAY FRIENDS!

Of course, secret baby troops don't fill me with incandescent rage so....

You?

I want a broader range of historical romances. Give me ancient worlds, Africa, South America, even France and Spain feel more interesting. And forgotten niches of history (have you heard about all the people trying to build utopian communes during the Regency? It went bad so dramatically!).

YouTube video by Netflix Pride and Prejudice | Official Teaser | Netflix

"Let's give them nothing." - whoever came up with this P&P trailer

www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bSK...

i am so tired of screaming from the rooftops that we have a looming, avoidable crisis of evictions brewing.

everyone knows it, but yet government and philanthropy have no solutions. unpaid volunteers of rent funds are doing the work that the people who control the purse strings refuse to do

And literally no one was locked in. There were reports that people who had been diagnosed with covid were running around and not staying home pretty much as soon as the "lockdown" started.

Their persecution complex is bottomless.

“USPS announced that this practice was now official policy: It would no longer postmark mail automatically on the date it is received.”

Prevalence of SED (1998): d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/49795921/The...

Characteristics of Youth with SED (2006): www.researchgate.net/profile/Tami...

A History of the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act A history of the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act, 1975 to present.

Various sources:

History of the IDEA: sites.ed.gov/idea/IDEA-Hi...

IDEA Sec. 300.8: sites.ed.gov/idea/regs/b/...

Diagnostic Criteria for Autism Through the Years (DSM-I-IV): pages.uoregon.edu/eherman/teac...

SAMHSA - SMI & SED: www.samhsa.gov/mental-healt...

It is also possible, though, that a student with a medical diagnosis of autism will receive no designation at all in an education setting.

At the same time, students who do not have a medical diagnosis of autism may still be able to receive designation of autism and support services at school.

The federal definition of "emotional disturbance" excludes those with autism. Where the diagnostic criteria for autism in the IDEA has lagged behind the diagnostic criteria in the DSM, students with a medical autism diagnosis may instead receive an education diagnosis of "emotional disturbance".

(EHC was renamed to IDEA in 1990.)

Students designated with "emotional disturbance" are disproportionately poor, and while there is overlap with diagnostic categories in the DSM, exposure to trauma, poverty, and poor parent mental health all increase likelihood of this designation.

The criteria for autism was added to IDEA in 1990. The language used in IDEA reflects the diagnostic criteria used at that time in the DSM-III-R.

"Emotional disturbance" has never been defined in the DSM, but was initially defined in the Education For All Handicapped Children Act (EHC) in 1975.

If you or your child have received a diagnosis since 2013, you may be surprised by the criteria provided in the IDEA. It doesn't align with current diagnostic criteria in the DSM-5, and includes carve-outs for "emotional disturbance", a diagnosis that is not in the DSM-5 at all.

Why is this?

Screenshot from IDEA Sec. 300.8: (c) Definitions of disability terms. The terms used in this definition of a child with a disability are defined as follows: (1) (i) Autism means a developmental disability significantly affecting verbal and nonverbal communication and social interaction, generally evident before age three, that adversely affects a child’s educational performance. Other characteristics often associated with autism are engagement in repetitive activities and stereotyped movements, resistance to environmental change or change in daily routines, and unusual responses to sensory experiences. (ii) Autism does not apply if a child’s educational performance is adversely affected primarily because the child has an emotional disturbance, as defined in paragraph (c)(4) of this section. (iii) A child who manifests the characteristics of autism after age three could be identified as having autism if the criteria in paragraph (c)(1)(i) of this section are satisfied.

Screenshot from IDEA Sec. 300.8 (4) (i) Emotional disturbance means a condition exhibiting one or more of the following characteristics over a long period of time and to a marked degree that adversely affects a child’s educational performance: (A) An inability to learn that cannot be explained by intellectual, sensory, or health factors. (B) An inability to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationships with peers and teachers. (C) Inappropriate types of behavior or feelings under normal circumstances. (D) A general pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression. (E) A tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears associated with personal or school problems. (ii) Emotional disturbance includes schizophrenia. The term does not apply to children who are socially maladjusted, unless it is determined that they have an emotional disturbance under paragraph (c)(4)(i) of this section.

If you have or have been a child who has been diagnosed with autism by a medical or mental health provider, you may be aware that the medical diagnosis does not carry over to an education setting. To receive support in school for autism, children must be reassessed based on the criteria in the IDEA.

The concept here is to get well-heeled travelers to pressure the government to restore secret police funding

The latest Epstein files release showed Trump was bragging to others about having a sexual relationship with a significantly younger woman who worked in the White House during his first term, and what few outlets have covered it have focused on the salacious gossip bit, not the grossness.

“The purpose behind the release of herbicide on the villages remains unclear.”

Israel has been dumping herbicides throughout southern Lebanon as part of a concerted ecocide campaign to render the region uninhabitable. This has been going on for months with Lebanese journalists & environmentalists regularly reporting on it.

The BBC: we don’t know why the Israelis are doing it

Oh no!

ask your doctor if lying down in the forest to be consumed by the earth is right for you

A screenshot of a story by Wired, "Inside the Gay Tech Mafia" featuring a bizarre image of a handshake with the hands emerging from within two mens' pans

Let's talk about the history of "the gay mafia" 🧵

There's nothing on my childhood home but the street view. It's pretty sad. My parents took meticulous care of the yard, and now the fence is falling apart, everything's overgrown, and where my parents used to have a garden, the current owners are using it as a dump. Just...huge piles of trash.

According to the comment from the "main editor", apparently he'd been hearing about the "gay tech mafia" for years and wanted someone to do a story about it.

Jason Kehe says he was the main editor for the piece in the comments.

This is certainly one way for a publication to convince a lot of people to stop giving them their money.

Screenshot of a comment on the article: JASON_KEHE (blue check mark icon) WIRED Staff Replying to LIZZIE_LIZARD_BRAIN (who had left a scathing comment) 3 days ago Jason here, the main editor of the piece. Thanks for reading! I must've first heard the phrase "gay tech mafia," oh, 10 years ago now? It's always bothered me that no one ever wrote about it. Here we attempt to do so - so that you might be allowed, even encouraged, to question its merits.

The comment from the editor, in response to criticism, shows how deeply unserious they were about publishing what's basically homophobic conspiracy theories and rumor.

Bold, meaningful and transformational changes to ICE are needed before we give DHS any more money, including: • Mandatory body cameras • Judicial warrants requirement • No masks • Independent criminal and civil investigations • End roving and lawless patrols • No deportation and detention of U.S. citizens • Explicit prohibition on the excessive use of force • No targeting at sensitive locations like houses of worship, hospitals, polling places, and schools • End racial profiling • Kristi Noem must go

50% of the "bold, transformational change" list is already law.

This isn't even the floor. It's not even the basement.

‘No one deserves this’: Beaverton father dies after deportation to Mexico A Beaverton family is grieving after the father, who was detained and deported by ICE, has now died.

This 53 year old man who lived in my neighborhood w/no criminal record & who had been in the US for 30 years, was detained and thrown into a cold cell for days, caught pneumonia and COVID there and deported.

He finally died.

I am so angry.
www.kptv.com/2026/02/21/n...

Order your Faves on my Digital Cookie Site Today That's right! You can order your favorite Girl Scout Cookies from me online, all while helping my troop and I do great things in our community and beyond! Check it out.

That is amazing! Any chance you could boost us?
digitalcookie.girlscouts.org/scout/troop3...
We're an all trans immigrant girl scout troop in Mpls MN & can't safely sell cookies in person this year because of ⓘⓒⓔ activity. All funds from purchases & donations go to support our hurting community 🍪💖