Dragonfly Spiral

Because being trans in a country engaging in widespread institutionalised transphobia couldn't possibly impact on her mental health, and the perceived need to pass in order to be slightly safer, and simply to conform to the standards placed on all women, couldn't contribute to her eating disorder

a photograph of the interior of a church. Several people are visible sitting in pews. In the pew immediately in front of the photographer, a black human-sized cardboard cutout in the outline of a woman is visible, as though a shadow is sitting in the pew in front of you.

Went to a prayer service tonight at St. Mary of the Lake, where they have cardboard cutouts throughout the church representing parishioners afraid to come to Mass because of ICE.

The Jolly Roger flag

Apparently some folks are playing real dumb about skull symbols so let’s play a little game I like to call “Nazi skull or not a Nazi skull”

First up, the Jolly Roger. This is a pirate skull, not a Nazi skull. It means you might get robbed, but prolly not genocided.

With me so far? 1/x

Ed Luce watching democracy die in the United States of America

Brown owl with prominent white “ear” tufts, staring forward while perched on a branch amid dense green foliage. It has some feathers in its talons, most likely from a bird it caught and ate.

A Crested Owl a @tapirvalley.bsky.social #CostaRica with evidence of its breakfast in its talons.

#owls #birds #nature

2 former MAGA are at the forefront of the movement to have trump removed. Jessica Denson, founder of the Removal Coalition & former MPD officer Michael Fanone discuss their awakening, & the massive rally they're planning as the demand-oriented DC-only follow-up to No Kings.

bsky.app/profile/jess...

He may be insane.

But this is the Big Lie technique. Lie Big, repeat, repeat, repeat, and pretty soon the weak and the gullible start to hum along with the beat.

It's reprehensible and impossible to reconcile with his sworn obligations.

But, to some extent, it works.

He tells me he’s stopped
paying attention to the news
about the virus,
there’s so much information,
so many worrying details,
and when he reads it all
he feels there’s nothing
there’s nothing he can really do,
so I handed him a mask
and said:
here’s something you can do.

When Massachusetts passed a "millionaires tax" in 2023, conservatives claimed the rich would flee.

But two years later, they haven't — and MA has collected $5.7B for infrastructure and public education.

A reminder that positive change can still happen at the state level.

Mamdani: "But there is one thing that I will change: I will no longer look for myself in the shadows. I will find myself in the light."

Hey, just want to mumble that this is wildly illegal and inappropriate and would prompt impeachment proceedings if we still had a functional Congress instead of one run by a blind, deaf and mute Renfeld wannabe.

There's an interview where novelist Torrey Peters describes a 3-step process of the mainstream encountering a marginalized group (i.e. trans people).

1) basic narratives flatten group identity
2) separatism emerges
3) the mainstream absorbs practices from the group

Anyway,

This pig has made over 2 billion since January. He’s used his sacred office to extort, bully and threaten, all while running insider trading scams and crypto frauds

This one crook has more than enough to pay military families facing missing paychecks from a government shutdown that he caused

Climate disasters in first half of 2025 costliest ever on record, research shows LA wildfires and storms this year cost $101bn, new study by non-profit resurrecting work axed by Trump says

Major disasters caused $101 billion in damages in the first half of 2025 — the costliest six month period on record.

How do we know? A nonprofit had to take over NOAA’s work tracking disasters, which Trump gutted.

What else doesn’t he want us to know?

I'm going to keep saying this: I ❤️ Chicago

The schools in my area are on soft lockdown because of ICE. A teacher posted in the neighborhood group for help at dismissal - and now there's 40 or so of us surrounding the school with whistles ready to make sure these kids make it home

We keep us safe

Color me shocked. They’re ALL such goddamn hypocrites.

dear US friends, when a sitting president (re)builds the seat of government, it almost always means the president has no intention of leaving at the end of term. your African friends with decades of experience

Hello. While much of what's happening on earth currently sucks ass, if you're trying to treat people well and do good things, thanks. I appreciate it. This too shall pass

It wasn't fake. It was edited. But Reagan really did spend a five-minute speech – an April 25, 1987, national radio address that the Reagan Library has published on YouTube – to rail against tariffs. It was a full-throated expression of support for free and fair trade.
https://cnn.it/4o5pBGv

The book I’m writing is titled HOME OUT THERE. It’s about black queer people leaving home to find home. I weave my own experiences with biographical chapters about three black queer poet ancestors: Langston Hughes, Pauli Murray and Audre Lorde.

Trump Is Wasting No Time in Tearing Down the East Wing

It is shocking that Trump is quickly tearing down a portion of the White House. But isn’t the bigger story that this action is of a piece with his autocratic presumption that he can unilaterally destroy public goods without any public consultation or explanation?
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/22/u...

But, in any case, WHO CARES? This is a story about Trump’s wanton destruction of one of the symbols of the country, the residence of the president, a structure that is a public good, the possession of the people, not his personal palace. His supposed feelings are irrelevant to the big story./3

The process of tearing down the East Wing, was expected to be completed as soon as this weekend, two senior administration official said, as Mr. Trump rapidly moved to carry out a passion project that he was was necessary to host state dinners and other events.

The third paragraph is, if anything, even worse, calling this act of wanton and autocratic destruction Trump’s “passion project,” and then quoting Trump’s claims about why it was necessary. Whether it was a “passion project” of not Is irrelevant to the issue at the heart of the story.

Upon further evaluation, the White House determined it was cheaper and more structurally sound to demolish the East Wing than to build an addition, one of the administration official said.

Skepticism is in order here, given Trump’s long record of lying, the fact that he only announced this after the destruction was a fact accompli, and the fact that he has sought to project autocratic power ever since his return to the White House. What is the evidence of “further evaluation”?

Mr. Trump has said he is raising tens of millions of dollars in private donations to fund the project. The president plans to contribute some of his own money as well, thought the amount has not been determined, one of the officials said. “It’s being paid for 100 percent by my and some friends of mine,” Mr. Trump said.

Beyond the risible claim, repeated as fact but contradicted by decades of evidence, that “the president plans to contribute his own money,” the idea that he and his friends have the right to dismantle the WH as if it is a tear-down in a residential neighborhood with no zoning requirements is nuts.

New ICE recruiting methods have resulted in half of this group of absolute winners failing AN OPEN BOOK TEST

Snickers bar and a metal whistle

Parents, please check your kids’ candy this Halloween. I’ve just found an ancient metal whistle with the inscription “QUIS EST ISTE QUI VENIT" inside a Snickers bar. I blew it and heard a note of infinite distance, and now I’m haunted by a figure in pale, fluttering draperies. Be safe.

Laser Clinic Offers Discount on Harry Potter Tattoo Removals in Support of Trans Rights By: Andy Lalwani

harry potter tattoos have a significantly higher regret rate than any gender affirming surgeries

FBI backtracks on denying children were zip tied in Idaho raid, saying instead no ‘young’ kids were • Idaho Capital Sun After the FBI denied "children were zip-tied or hit with rubber bullets" in raid in Wilder, Idaho, FBI says no "young" children were.

After the FBI denied "children were zip-tied or hit with rubber bullets" in a raid in Wilder, Idaho, the FBI said no "young" children were.

The updated statement came after KIVI-TV sent FBI photo reportedly showing 14-year-old U.S. citizen in zip ties.

OK, so we get the state intervening in the market, but not in a socialist way, in a right-wing nationalist way that’s corrupt and corporatist. A social nationalism, if you will. We can workshop the name later.