no. 1 relativism hater

not having the capability to do something means that come hell or high water, you cannot do that thing. not having the capacity to do something means that though you may technically be able to do that thing, you cannot do so without causing pain / fatigue / undue stress / etc.

The death threats came from "social justice activists" who never read her story and whose "activism" started and ended with trying to kill a trans woman. That story was supposed to be Isabel's first step into becoming who she wanted to be, but after the backlash, it also became her final step in that direction as well. The Person Who Wanted to be Isabel Fall no longer writes under that name, has given it up altogether, and it is unclear to me whether or not she has given up on the idea of transitioning as well, but I fear the worst in that regard, as she had this to say about Isabel:

"Isabel was somebody I often wanted to be, but not someone I succeeded at being,” she says. “I think the reaction to the story proves that I can’t be her, or shouldn’t be her, or at least won’t ever be her. Everyone knew I was a fraud, right away."

I won't let myself be talked about like I'm stupid to live here.

I won't let myself be talked about like I'm a helpless victim who's trapped here.

Here's how it works:

Someone starts a fire at an army draft office.

The cops look through their files for anyone who might be in the political orbit of someone who'd want to do that. People picked up at protests, for drug charges, vandalism, anyone who is already on their radar. They look into their known associates, anyone they live with, anyone they drink with.

Then they start subpoenaing these people for a grand jury summons. They give you immunity (but only for the matter of the grand jury!) so that you can't exercise the fifth amendment against self incrimination. If you say nothing, they can imprison you almost indefinitely for contempt of court. If they catch you in a lie, that's criminal perjury.

They'll ask you for information on everyone you know. Obviously they'll ask about their involvement in any crimes, but they're casting a wide net. Who knows who, where do they hang out, who talked to who about what and when. They'll ask you to spill interpersonal stuff, whether anyone is cheating on someone, whether people have substance abuse problems or embarrassing personal issues, if anyone is closeted, anything they consider dirt. Anyone you name is gonna get subpoenaed and they'll be asked for all this information on everyone they know, including you, and although you have immunity from your own testimony, you don't get immunity from each others.

Assuming you didn't personally do anything they can prosecute you for in the matter of the grand jury, they'll go after you based on what they know. The cops will arrest you on any little thing they have suspicion of, even if they know they can't prosecute you, just so that they can keep you in jail for a few days while you miss two shifts at work and your friends have to scramble to raise bail. They'll leak any embarrassing info that comes out, to your boss or your family or even the local press. Whatever they can do to make your life a little harder.

They will lean fucking hard on anyone who is involved in the scene but had second thoughts or felt like they were dragged into something they never wanted to do in the first place by their friends. The cops will say 'do you want to get your life ruined by people who did something stupid over something you barely even believe in' and sometimes that's a very compelling argument! If people have dependents or kids who they think won't be looked after if they go to prison, there's a lot of pressure to cooperate.

It's important to note two things:

1) Based on the ratio of actual prison sentences to maximum possible sentences for the charges, it's better for people not to cooperate with the jury both individually and as a group. People who talk still get sentenced, with the information they helped provide.

I used to work in a casino, and the whole system is designed to be predatory. (Disclaimer: yes a normal person is able to go to Vegas sit at a craps table and walk away easily. But it's designed to be addicting and you need to treat it as such). The odds of you winning are low. There are some games with better odds than others but listen. LISTEN. YOU ARE THROWING AWAY MONEY. If you really really wanna part with your money, at least spend it on a small business or something. At least GET something to show for it.

I lost count of the number of times I'd be working the bar, see a guest come in and sit down at a slot machine. I'd leave and they'd still be there. I'd come back the next day and they'd still be there in the same spot, in the same outfit. People get violent when you take 'their' machine. They'd get violent when they'd lose. They get violent when you don't get them their drinks fast enough. We had guests blame us for them forgetting to take their medication.

The saddest time was around the holidays because we'd be full of people who had no family to spend the holidays with, or they'd rather be gambling. It wasn't the tourists who we made up most of our guests. It was the same faces, returning every weekend, with nothing better to do with their money.

We were legally required to have gambling addiction brochures, but the reality is we benefitted off of gambling addicts and i never saw one brochure given out. Casinos are designed with repeating layouts to get you lost and confused on the way out so you'd sit back down and keep playing because 'wait this is my machine i remember those two next to it'. The biggest spenders are given free alcohol and other perks because it doesn't matter. They're not making their money back anyways. We already had their money. If they're drinking they'll keep playing.

But listen. It's not just casinos designed like this. Like the post says, loot boxes, gacha games, sports betting, it's all designed the same way. And as you're all aware by now, so are every cell phone app. So is every subscription service. Everything is designed to keep you locked in and bleed you dry. I wouldn't be shocked at all if we see a resurgence in MLM schemes on top of all of this.

SudanFunds - website compiling verified campaigns and organizations

Khartoum Aid Kitchen - they operate 12 kitchens across sudan, including 2 hospitals

Saving Al-Geneina / Hope and Haven for Refugees - provides food, medical care, and education to refugees in sudan

Sudanese American Physicians Association's medical aid program - they operate a hospital in khartoum, **the ONLY hospital still delivering babies in sudan**

One Million Sustainable Pads Campaign - distributes reusable pads

FAH Supporting Sudan - financial assistance to sudanese hospitals, backed by the FAH / federation of american hospitals

Community kitchen in Cairo - provides food to refugees who have fled to egypt

Community kitchen in Sudan - provides food for 1200 families

Another community kitchen in Sudan - provides food, only £1,500 raised so far

Sanad Initiative - raises money to keep sudanese medical students in school

Sudan Solidarity Initiative - run by sudanese diaspora, provides direct funds to all kinds of sudanese including farmers unions and low cost clinics, also runs awareness-raising workshops

the literalism was also a problem when I was applying for aid for the Cosentyx, because the person organizing my case had to first check off that everything else had been tried before resorting to a biologic immunosuppressant. and one of their questions was "have you tried taking over-the-counter anti-inflammatories (like Advil) to solve the problem?" and I answered no, because I was in pain every minute of every day, and if I was just popping Advils like Tic Tacs my liver would turn to sludge.

but what they were actually asking was "has Advil not been a solution for you", in which case I could've answered 'yes'. anyway, because of this fuck-up on my part, my claim got denied twice in a row, and the third time it was only accepted because the person assisting me said very wearily "maybe Advil gives you stomach aches, and that's why you can't take it" and I finally cottoned on and was like "yeaaaaah......yeah, that's it."

A. I got to the point in the process where she said “okay, this will cost $2037.93” or whatever (definitely more than $2k USD) and then there was this silence. I squeaked, “I have a copay card? From the manufacturer?” and she instantly went into a different boilerplate shpiel, just as practiced, about how they process the $0 copay card. Including making me affirm that they, the pharmacy, hadn’t told me about the co-pay program. They aren’t allowed to tell you about the only thing that makes this prescription feasible even for me, a middle-class person with ‘good’ insurance.

B. In the middle of one of her paragraphs, there was a sentence with a logical impossibility in it. I understood what they were driving at, but I repeated it to her and asked about the contradiction. Shhe looked in her script and said “huh. Yeah, that’s what it says…you’re right. That DOES make no sense. I’ve read this…SO many times, and no one ever noticed that before.”

Neither part of this — the $2000 barrier that only evaporates if your doctor told you about the copay card or you searched for it (I think mine told me, but months before I decided to go for this treatment, so I had forgotten and found it on the website); nor the procedure which apparently relies on the customer/patient just agreeing to anything to get through the bother — seems friendly to autists (or anyone else.)