PastelWitch

A digital illustration of two characters embracing, with one lifting the other up into the air in a snowy outdoor scene. They both have colorful hair, one with short blue hair and the other with purple dreadlocks. At the top is a small box that says "Page artist" and at the bottom is a colorful banner that says "We've Always Been Here".

Josie ( @icanbelouder.bsky.social ) is taking us to a Venetian Carnival ball with characters in a polyamorous relationship, being their authentic selves under their masks (including a Gnaga mask, a part of cross-dressing history)!

#Venice #Masquerade #Polyamory #QueerArt #Zines

A digital illustration of someone in shadow riding a horse-like creature in a dark, grassy field. A small lantern on the animal's neck is one of the only light sources besides a slightly rising sun far in the background. At the top is a colorful banner that says "We've Always Been Here" and at the bottom is a small box that says "Page artist."

Tori ( @/akaiitori on Tumblr ) is painting a lesbian Ticuna wedding for our queer history zine, showing traditional love and acceptance in this Amazonian Indigenous society, who accepted same-sex marriage and fluid gender identites before colonization.

#Ticuna #Indigenous #IndigenousArt #Zines

LGBTQA Refugees in East Africa Need Your Help! Nakafeero Swabulah is a lesbian leader of LGBTQ refugees i Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya and in another camp in South Sudan. They need medication, shelter, food, sanitary pads, detergents, clothes and ...

1. I am leading a group of Ugandan LGBTQ refugees in a camp in South Sudan - 100 souls, half of which are children.

I do not like asking for help, but the truth is that we do not have enough for food, medicine and other necessities.

Any amount helps!

Crowdfunder: fundrazr.com/LGBTKakuma?r...

A colorful digital illustration of two Filipino characters standing in front of a mirror as they try on clothes, with different-gendered versions of themselves staring back as their reflections. Another character watches them with a soft smile. At the top a banner reads, "We've Always Been Here, a queer historical zine." A banner across the bottom says "2 weeks until launch!"

Only 2 weeks left until the launch of the We've Always Been Here Kickstarter! 🤩

The campaign will go live at 7PM CET / 1PM EST / 5AM (March 4th) AEDT.
(For easy converting, the same time this was posted!)

Get notified ⬇️
www.kickstarter.com/projects/tap...

Art by @artiodaktyl.bsky.social

this is my entire reply to the guy who was like "the left isn't happy with AI"

Connie hugs the neck of a large seal bay horse with a halter and cross-ties on inside a barn. Connie is a Chinese person with short black hair shaved on the sides, black glasses, a big puffy burgundy winter coat, and a white N95 respirator. Various horse show ribbons, including red ones, adorn the back wooden wall.

Happy Chinese New Year! 🐴🧧🎉

In this year of the horse, may we all find prosperity, blessings, family, joy, happiness, success, energy, vitality, and community. All of the good things!

春节快乐，马年大吉！
龙马精神，马到成功！

The Web Is Not Enough — Why These Left Media Workers Are Opening Physical Spaces Corporations control the internet, so grassroots media workers are creating in-person spaces to build collective power.

Corporations control the internet, so grassroots media workers are creating in-person spaces to build collective power.

"It really has to sting for Bari. The person she wanted for the Evening News anchor chair is choosing to leave CBS altogether because of her," one CBS News staffer told me tonight. "This is 'fuck you' to Bari."

Bach's "Coffee Cantata" is extremely relevant here

"A History of the World in 6 Glasses" by Tom Standage.

Been reading that book for the past week in pieces and everything below and in the main thread are everything I've been reading about.

Like in Mickey 17, it's always about a new sauce with colonialism

This estate tax cut just passed 38-11.

The drunk uncle theory.

You don’t argue with the casually homophobic uncle at Thanksgiving dinner to change his mind; you argue so that the closeted cousin at the kids table knows there’s safe people and better possibilities out there

Heard an interview today where a guy said (and I'm paraphrasing) "LLMs have had years to train on every aspect of chess, read every book and article about it, review every match, but when they play, they STILL makes illegal moves. That tells you everything."

And.

Yup.

My partner was just reminding me that assholes who couldnt handle mixed gender skirt/dresses on background characters was the reason they quit doing it

Me showing up to the function, trying to link up with all my fellow aro peeps
#AromanticAwarenessWeek #aromantic

ALFORD: We're not doing the drop boxes, which led to a lot of mistrust during the 2020 election


BORIS SANCHEZ: Well, a lot of that mistrust was sewn by the president, who made repeated false claims about widespread election fraud when there was none

It's like ICE is completely ignoring every lesson that moderately competent police forces are forced to learn, like "don't do high speed chases in densely populated areas with low risk targets"

My Trans Bill of Rights protects the freedom for all trans people to live as their full, authentic selves. It’s time to get this passed!

I agree that if democrats take control of the house in 2026 they should starve ICE/CBP of funding, as republicans successfully did with the IRS when they took control of the house in 2022

PRIMARY COLORS: Kat Abughazaleh knows some Democrats have mocked her campaign’s livestreams on Twitch. She knows she pissed off parts of her party when she launched her bid for Illinois’ 9th District before Democratic Rep. Jan Schakowsky announced she would retire. And she knows that a month out from primary day, there’s still some that don’t take her seriously. “I often joke that underestimation is our best weapon,” Abughazaleh told Playbook in an interview. “Meanwhile, we just keep racking up our volunteers, and we keep knocking doors.”

📸

Kat in Politico Playbook!

www.politico.com/newsletters/...

People are always like "you're laughing at AI but people laughed at the Wright Brothers" but people also laughed at a lot of technology that failed. Were you under the impression that every invention that received derision turned out to be a success?

First, this is hilarious.
Please @magic.wizards.com never stop using Squen & Cragg.

Second, Cragg’s puppeteer is the same performer who played Splinter in the TMNT movies. Amazing accidental synergy.

Amplitudes: Stories of Queer and Trans Futurity edited by Lee Mandelo: Review by Alex Brown Amplitudes: Stories of Queer and Trans Futurity, Lee Mandelo, ed. (Erewhon Books 9781645660866, $18.95, 368pp, hc) May 2025. Cover by Noah Camp. Being queer and trans in the United States in 2025 i…

Also my review of Amplitudes: Stories of Queer and Trans Futurity edited by Lee Mandelo, a powerful, often joyful anthology of work about a community under siege. locusmag.com/review/ampli...
6/

I don’t usually campaign for awards, but this year I’ve decided to go for broke for a Fan Writer Hugo Award. Yay me!
1/

"Just making s**t up" — David Roberts sounds off on the EPA "To say members of Congress didn’t anticipate a specific pollutant is just f**king comical."

New in PN: "Just making s**t up" — @volts.wtf sounds off on the EPA

“How the f**k are they going to do that? If you can get the Supreme Court to rule carbon is not a danger to public health, it will mark the point at which they have abandoned all pretense, because that’s just a flat out lie.”

Just to make this abundantly clear:

COMMENTING GUIDE: Opposing Two Trump Regime Rules Banning Gender-Affirming Care, Deadline 2/17/26 Creator profile picture Shouldn't Need to Be a Lawyer by Matthew Cortland January 26 Edit I. Bottom Line Up Front The Trump Regime's Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has published two companion proposed rules designed to eliminate access to gender-affirming care for minors nationwide. Together, these rules would: Ban hospitals from providing this care (CMS-3481-P) — regardless of how the care is paid for Prohibit Medicaid and CHIP from covering this care (CMS-2451-P) — cutting off funding for lower-income families You have the opportunity to help defend trans kids by submitting comments against these vile proposed rules. Because even if a state wanted to continue covering gender-affirming care through Medicaid, the hospital rule would prevent hospitals from providing it. The two rules use different regulatory mechanisms to accomplish the same policy goal: eliminating access to gender-affirming care for anyone under 18 (or under 19 for CHIP). You should submit your comment to both dockets. The deadline is 5PM ET on February 17, 2026.

Public comment on Dr Oz's proposed rules to ban gender-affirming care for youth closes 2/17

One rule bans hospital-based care, the other eliminates Medicaid/CHIP coverage

Together they'd make care virtually unavailable nationwide, including in shield law states

www.patreon.com/posts/149210...

I mean, I'm just going to keep detaching this from people who quote post with direct links to the regs dot gov page to bypass the guide — my whole thing is "here's how you submit a comment that /matters/" — if you want people to spam the register with nonsense, that's fine but do it on your own.

How to register to vote and check your registration status For the 2026 primary elections, NPR has collected deadlines and information on how to register to vote — online, in person or by mail — in every U.S. state and territory.

For the 2026 primary elections, NPR has collected deadlines and information on how to register to vote — online, in person or by mail — in every U.S. state and territory. n.pr/4ayRPUJ

U.S. Deports Nine Migrants in Secret, Ignoring Legal Protections

last month the US secretly deported nine asylum seekers to cameroon where they’ve been trapped at a local government-owned compound until they agree to return to their home countries where they face persecution and death. none have history of violence.