The squirrels have the phone box

Posting anything positive about the president here will get you called a capitalist bootlicker.

What do we expect to happen?

Anger sells better. Anger feels better, it feels righteous.

I just wish it weren’t so damn frustrating, feeling like you’re screaming into the void constantly, fighting against apathy.

CMS just announced that the government will start taking high-cost drugs that were developed with taxpayer dollars and start pulling patents to force competition and low cost generics. That’s fucking momentous.

I saw 1 news article on it. I wouldn’t have known it happened if I didn’t read the news every day. This should have caused the kind of celebration that erupted when companies started announcing $35 insulin caps. Why didn’t it?

They didn't. It was hardly mentioned. Not a blip.

Same exact thing when it came to net neutrality!! It was DEVASTATING when it was killed. People died in wildfires because Internet providers throttled data of firefighters. Xfinity actually stole identities in order to make it happen.

changed the Medicare enrollment periods for elderly and disabled individuals, so that they don’t have to literally enroll in the designated period for enrollment and then STILL WAIT for 2, 3, 4, 5, or even SIX months for their healthcare to start

along the Medicare line, they have added special enrollments for: people who just got released from jail, who lost their low-income healthcare through Medicaid, had a medical emergency or natural disaster that made them miss enrollment, didn’t enroll because they were lied to by their employers, etc

they CAPPED THE COST OF INSULIN to $35/MONTH FOR MEDICARE BENEFICIARIES!!!!! and they are working to get it capped to that for all Americans!!! (but of course, Republicans are fighting it)

Biden pardoned all prior federal offenses for simple possession of marijuana and started the review process to get weed rescheduled federally

provided hundreds of billions nationally in funding for the repair of roads/bridges/highways, expanding high-speed internet access, improving public transportation, adding electric vehicle charging, adding clean energy sources, removing pollution still leaking into communities from industrial manufacturing from DECADES ago, and REMOVAL OF LEAD PIPES not just on state land but on TRIBAL land and TERRITORIES!

cracked down on the (frankly, abusive) overdraft fees from banks - to the point that many banks have removed the fees outright rather than deal with an investigation from the federal government over them - and the last minute surprise fees from hotels/concert venues/etc.

They are working to change Social Security taxation so that those making above $400,000/yr actually have to fucking CONTRIBUTE - because, if you didn’t know, currently Social Security taxes cap out at $160,000. Yes, meaning that those who are MOST ABLE TO AFFORD paying more taxes, and who would contribute MORE in taxes, are paying pennies (if anything).

Also, to increase the minimum SSA benefit from just a cut-and-dry figure that has to be manually increased (and is therefore subject to NOT getting increased), to a scaling percentage of 125% above the poverty line

Also, also, to increase benefits for surviving spouses who abruptly lose 50%+ of their income when a spouse dies, then are shit out of luck for paying for homes/vehicles/etc

Not only that but:

as many people who were vocally against it, they also made covid vaccines widely available and FREE for everyone during the pandemic

provided massive student loan debt relief

ENACTED A MINIMUM 15% CORPORATE TAX on large companies, who otherwise tend to skirt taxes with legally-gray methods

Rejoined the Paris Agreement - literally can’t believe I even have to say that

are providing relief to veterans exposed to burn pits

reauthorized the Violence Against Women Act and added protections for LGBTQ+ individuals and non-women victims, changed it so it now allows tribes to now hold non-native aggressors liable under tribal justice systems, and improved long and short term housing for victims (as well as increased emergency housing access)

I’m not going to say I agree with every action taken under the Biden-Harris admin (lol, looking at you specifically, IRS), but.  These things change people’s lives. Not just a little - they are the difference between literally dying a slow death from lack of medication and living happily.  Between getting heart surgery and NOT getting heart surgery, because you don’t have health insurance, because you just got out of prison for having one (1) molecule of weed stuck to your sleeve during a traffic stop. Election season is already starting, so if you have to remember one thing, remember this:

Adding to this list, the Biden-Harris administration has also:

Changed the Extra Help with Medicare Prescription Drug program, so that EVERYONE on Medicare who is under 150% of the federal poverty level can qualify for zero monthly premiums, zero deductibles, and capped prescription costs at $4.50 generic/$11.40 name-brand.

Provided $3.5 million in grants to expand internet coverage on and to tribal lands.

And $728 million to provide clean, sustainable drinking water to rural and tribal communities and support water and river conservation in the Colorado river basin.

Provided funding for the expansion of Medicaid, meaning that now 40 states offer a year’s worth of health coverage after birth, so postpartum complications can be, y'know… treated without putting you into massive medical debt.

Demanded an additional year of coverage for children’s healthcare under CHIP, via the CAA of 2023, with a hopeful continuation even further under section 1115.

Invested $265 million across 16 states for natural disaster preparation and recovery, including streambank stabilization, flood prevention and watershed restoration projects.

And honestly, this administration has done so much more that I don’t have time to list - with wide-ranging effects that won’t be fully felt for another few years, but are MONUMENTAL for our country, our healthcare, our environment, our jobs, and our futures.

Please don’t allow shills and bots to convince you that voting doesn’t matter or that your vote is inconsequential.

James T. Kirk:

-Graduated in the top 4% of his year -was bullied by jocks -Is a history nerd -was so much of a teacher’s pet that he cheated on an exam and was commended for it -Was referred to as “a stack of books with legs”

Jean-Luc Picard:

-Spent all his free time drinking in pubs and playing billiards -broke more hearts than he can remember -started a bar fight that ended up in him being stabbed in the heart -likes to explore dangerous ruins of ancient civilizations for fun -wouldn’t even have become a starship captain if he wasn’t this much of a hothead

Jim Kirk seems like a wild man because he’s standing next to calm, logical Spock.*  

Meanwhile, Picard seems stately and dignified because he’s standing next to Will “Any alien physiology is bangable if you just put some thought into it” Riker*.  

* Of course THEN, we get to the next layer, which is that Spock is the dude who told the Vulcan Science Academy to fuck itself, while Riker plays the trombone.

Spock gets dumped by T'Pring for Stonn because Spock is too famous and high-powered

Jim gets dumped by Carol because he's too intent on being Captain and she wants to pursue her own interests

Here’s a media literacy rule of thumb: any time you hear about how the courts have done something outrageous and absurd to some poor, long-suffering, gigantic, wildly profitable corporation…dig deeper. The canonical example is the “McDonald’s Hot Coffee Lawsuit” (aka Liebeck v. McDonald’s Restaurants). You know, that time that an old lady got burned by her McDonald’s coffee and then sued for for $2.7 million?! Most people heard that story — and they heard it for a reason.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liebeck_v._McDonald%27s_Restaurants

The Hot Coffee story was propaganda — specifically, it was propaganda for the idea that corporations should be shielded from legal liability when they maim or even kill the public through gross negligence. The real Hot Coffee story is a lot more complicated than the “lady gets millions because her coffee was too hot” tale that circulated widely.

One of the best explorations of the Hot Coffee story is Adam Conover’s excellent “Adam Ruins The Hot Coffee Story” video from 2016. In that episode, Conover explains what really happened.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9DXSCpcz9E

The coffee that burned Stella Liebeck in New Mexico in 1994 was served at 190°F. It caused third-degree burns that permanently disfigured Liebeck, required multiple skin grafts, and disabled her for two years. The surgery was so drastic that Liebeck lost 20% of her body-weight while she was recovering.

McDonald’s had a history of serving coffee that was dangerously hot. It had received 700 complaints about the matter, and had had to settle numerous claims from people who were horribly burned by its coffee. However, it declined to settle with Liebeck, who initially sought $20k to cover her medical expenses.

Denied a settlement, Liebeck sued. The jury did award $2.7m, but the judge clawed it back to $640k. Liebeck likely didn’t get that amount — she and McDonald’s reached a confidential settlement under threat of McDonald’s appealing.

So, the real story isn’t: “Old lady spills coffee and gets millions.”

It’s “McDonald’s ignores hundreds of dangerous incidents for years, then maims a customer for life and refuses to pay her medical bills or change its practices to avoid future incidents. A judge says she’s due a fraction of the jury award, but she doesn’t get it because McDonald’s uses its massive litigation war-chest to force her into a confidential settlement.”

So why did you hear so much about this story? And why was the moral of the story inevitably about how bloodsucking lawyers are victimizing poor l’il multinational corporations like Mickey Dees?

It was propaganda. The “bloodsucking lawyers preying on innocent corporations” story is a creation of the business lobby, which has, for decades, argued that it should be immune to legal consequences when it harms or kills the public. The cause of “tort reform” is, in actuality, a corporate charter of impunity.

It worked. Over the past four decades, corporations have steadily whittled away the public’s right to civil justice, no matter how egregiously a corporation behaves. The main mechanism for this was the expansion of binding arbitration, a 1920s-era law that initially allowed big companies to agree to have their contractual disputes worked out by a mediator, rather than going to court.

Since the 1980s, a series of Supreme Court decisions have steadily expanded binding arbitration, allowing corporations to add “arbitration waivers” to their terms of service, employment contracts and other non-negotiated boilerplates. Today, the mere act of removing some shrinkwrap or clicking a link can result in the permanent loss of your right to sue, no matter how badly a company treats you.

Instead, your grievances will be heard by a corporate arbitrator, a pretend judge who is paid by the company that wronged you. Your case must be heard in isolation, and not part of a class action. The proceedings are secret, and even if you win, you don’t set a precedent for others who are similarly wronged. It’s “a justice system just for corporations.”

http://www.onthecommons.org/magazine/we-now-have-a-justice-system-just-for-corporations

American corporations pushed the expansion of binding arbitration waivers as a get-out-of-court-free card, and for many years, it worked. Remember when Wells Fargo forged millions of its customers’ signatures to fraudulently open high-fee accounts in their names? The company argued that because the forged agreements included arbitration waivers, those customers couldn’t sue over the fraud:

https://www.thenation.com/article/the-ceo-of-wells-fargo-might-be-in-big-big-trouble/

Everybody got in on the act. If you’re a Pokemon Go player, you’re stuck in binding arbitration:

https://consumerist.com/2016/07/14/pokemon-go-strips-users-of-their-legal-rights-heres-how-to-opt-out/

Same with Airbnb customers:

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/2908/terms-of-service

Unsurprisingly, Trump loved binding arbitration. One of his first acts as president was to strip nursing home residents of the right to sue, which was great news for the nursing homes that murdered patients by abandoning them to covid:

https://www.consumerreports.org/consumerist/trump-administration-will-allow-nursing-homes-to-strip-residents-of-legal-rights/

(Older voters love the GOP, but it sure as hell doesn’t love them back.)

Forced arbitration wasn’t just a matter of civil justice — it was also a matter of economics. As Lina Khan and Deepak Gupta showed in their 2016 American Constitution Society paper “Arbitration As Wealth Transfer,” “Forced arbitration clauses are a form of wealth transfer to the rich”:

https://www.acslaw.org/issue_brief/briefs-landing/arbitration-as-wealth-transfer/

But the business leaders who bankrolled the forced arbitration epidemic were — characteristically — overconfident. It turns out that arbitration has weaknesses. It’s possible to do mass arbitration — to automate filing arbitration claims by thousands of corporate victims, which triggers hundreds of millions of dollars in arbitration fees, which the company is on the hook for, win or lose.

Uber was one of the first companies to discover this, when thousands of drivers brought arbitration claims at once. Not only would Uber have to pay for arbitrators in each case, but because arbitration decisions do not constitute precedents, it would have to argue each case, over and over again, even if it won. The company surrendered and paid drivers $146m:

https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/uber-sues-aaa-block-100-million-fees-politically-motivated-arbitration-2021-09-20/

This spooked Amazon, which amended its terms of service for Alexa to remove binding arbitration:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/06/02/arbitrary-arbitration/#petard

Law-tech firms like Fairshake created automation systems to enable mass arbitration filings at scale and on a budget:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/04/11/socialized-losses/#justice-restored

Something wonderful and wild started to happen. The companies that had argued for decades that binding arbitration was, well, binding, began to argue that arbitration waivers were unconstitutional, despite the precedents that they, themselves had bankrolled, at enormous expense.

The poster child of arbitration buyer’s remorse is Intuit, a company that has stolen hundreds of millions of dollars in tax-prep fees from the poorest Americans by tricking them into fake “Free File” products using dark patterns on its website.

Intuit is now facing arbitration at scale — more than 100,000 claims — and a court has ordered them to hire arbitrators to hear each and every one of them. After all it was Intuit — not its customers — who put the arbitration clauses in its terms of service, claiming that court cases were a bad way to resolve their disputes:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/04/11/socialized-losses/#justice-restored

Which brings me back to McDonald’s, hot coffee, and juicy stories about giant corporations being abused by the courts.

Have you heard about the Geico STD judgment? A woman caught an STD from her then-boyfriend when they had sex in his car. She won a judgment against him for $5.2m. Geico insures his car. A court has ordered Geico to pay that judgment.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/jackson-county-woman-says-she-222907031.html

But it’s more complicated than that!

It’s not a court that ordered Geico to pay the judgment — it’s an arbitrator. Geico is one of the companies that forces its customers into arbitration. Why would an insurance company want arbitrators to hear cases about its refusal to pay claims, rather than judges?

I mean, duh. Insurance companies have a long, dishonorable tradition of taking your premiums every month, then stranding you when you actually experience an “insured event,” arguing that the obscure, obfuscating language in their contract doesn’t cover your losses.

The real Geico STD story is this: Geico demanded that the case be heard by its arbitrator, who ruled against Geico, because Geico’s insurance terms did cover this event. Now, Geico is claiming that the arbitration it insisted upon “violates the company’s due process rights” and that its own arbitration agreement is unenforceable.

The case that’s being reported on isn’t about the $5.2m award for the STD. That happened way back in 2021. The case that’s in the news this week is a court telling Geico that when it forces its customers into arbitration, it has to abide by the arbitrator’s decision, even in those rare instances in which the arbitrator finds against the company who pays their fees.

But you wouldn’t know it from the coverage. All this stuff about arbitration is buried way down in the story. The headline is: $5.2m judgment for a venereal disease!

This is McDonald’s Hot Coffee 2.0. Someone pitched this story, and the pitch emphasized the poor, downtrodden corporation (Geico is owned by Warren Buffet and has $32b in assets) — not the fact that Geico is reaping what it sowed. The real story here is: “Corporation seeks to replace civil justice system with a kangaroo court, and gets kicked by its own kangaroo.”

Incidentally, if you miss Adam Conover’s “Adam Ruins Everything” and you have a Netflix password, check out “The G-Word,” his incredible new show about regulatory competence and the deadly threats it holds at bay:

https://www.netflix.com/title/81037116

When the younger twin grows up and wants to get married, the lindworm returns and insists that he, as the elder prince, must be married first. When a massive horrible snake with arms lays down the law like that there isn’t really any room for disagreement, but it turns out to be awfully hard to find a bride willing to marry him. The king and queen search far and wide for a woman who will take a husband who is 50 feet long, doesn’t have legs, and may or may not eat his would-be wives when they are appalled by him, but eventually they find a local shepherd’s daughter who is either coerced, a monsterfucker, or just very open-minded and agrees to marry the lindworm.

Depending on the version, the bride either seeks out the advice of a witch or comes up with the idea all by herself, and goes to the bedchamber on her wedding night dressed in many layers of dresses. Her big horrible snake with arms husband is waiting for her and bids her to disrobe, but she asks him to shed a skin as well. Her sexy Russian nesting doll cosplay has so many layers that by the time she is naked, he has shed all of his skins and is 1.) either a sexy naked human dude underneath or 2.) is this meaty blob of helpless worm meat that must be whipped and bathed in chemicals before he transforms into a sexy naked human dude. Either way, they presumably live happily ever after and the younger prince can finally get married.

Vader: You’re a rebel. I just had a fight with your entire rebel fleet and followed you here. Straight from the rebels. Of which you are a part

Trump won Michigan by .3 percent, Wisconsin by 1 percent. Pennsylvania by 1.2 percent. Florida by 1.2 percent. North Carolina by 3.8 percent. And Arizona by 3.9 percent. That’s a total of a paltry 491,719 votes. Just four hundred and ninety two thousand votes. And those are only the states that were razor thin in margin.

Yet over 100 million eligible voters didn’t vote at all, and 5 million voters voted third party. That’s 105 MILLION people who could have made the difference. 492k goes into 105 million 23 times. 492k goes into 5 million, the number of those who voted third party, 10 times. Ten god damn times. That’s how many fucking people that is.

If just some of those states had gone to Clinton, she would have won. But they didn’t, and it’s because millions of people decided voting at all was too much trouble, or they decided that wasting their vote in a protest of ideology was more important than actual human lives.

Here’s the map of the results for New York state in the 2016 presidential election:

Now I know you’re thinking - holy shit balls that’s a lot of red! 

And you’re fucking goddamn right it is! Trump had 36% of the vote in New York in 2016. For reference, although that’s about the percentage that usually goes to the republican candidate, here are the maps for 2008 and 2012 respectively:

Before I get into the main part of this post, wanna know WHY all those areas that were blue in 2008 and 2012 were suddenly red in 2016? In 2008 and 2012, Independents got less than 2% of the total votes. In 2016? Almost 6%. Not a big difference in the grand scheme, but this is a really great example of how even a small number can make a huge difference.

Now, see that teeny, tiny, area of dark blue down at the bottom? That’s New York City. New York City is literally the only reason New York State always goes blue. This ONE FUCKING CITY is the reason people are so sure that New York - which holds 29 electoral votes - will never, ever, go to a republican. And under normal circumstances, while that doesn’t make me comfortable, it does hold a certain amount of weight. It’s also why in the 2016 election I voted in my home county of Schoharie - one of those nice bright red areas up north.

Except here’s the thing about 2020. New York City is fucking empty. 

24,000 people died of coronavirus in New York City alone this summer. 

An additional estimated 500,000 - no you are not reading that number wrong - have either moved out or been evicted. I work as a dog walker, and a full 60% of my client base has left the city and told me they are not planning to come back. They’ve left for places like Connecticut(7 electoral votes), or Massachusetts(11), or Vermont(3) or Florida or Texas or - you get my point. Now that they have been unemployed for six+ months, and the eviction freeze has been lifted, a shit ton of people are being forced to leave, and people with kids are also abandoning the city for somewhere less populated. 

And even further? No one I know has received their requested mail-in ballots yet. No one. Not a single person. The virus is still active(and yeah, we’re down to <1% infection rate, but schools are about to open back up so :) ) Voting takes place in schools. it is likely many people will not be able to risk voting in person - especially if we see an uptick in cases as kids return. Which means if their mail in ballots don’t arrive in time, they may not be able to vote at all. 

Hilary had around 4.5 million votes from New York - 2 million of those came from NYC and the surrounding boroughs. She won the popular vote in this state by 1.8 million votes.

Now, yes, a small number of the people who have left NYC are also Trump Voters. Something like 15% of NYC’s vote went to Trump. But a much higher percentage are democratic - and committedly democratic - votes. Healthcare workers suffered disproportionately from CV deaths. Startups, Small business owners, College and recent college grads, Theatre workers? They’re all gone.

New York State can, honestly, no longer be counted on to go blue no matter who abstains from voting or who votes third party because of the toll the virus has taken on the city. We really do need every single person who is able to vote, to do so. Not because it’s fun, or it makes you happy. Not because you believe 100% in the american democratic system. Because the people you - yes - you, the abstainers - have counted on to uphold your few, dwindling democratic freedoms, can no longer be counted on to do so alone.

Gerrymandering sucks. The electoral college needs to be abolished. But it is specifically because those things are still in place that you need to vote if you are able. We absolutely should be fighting the system. But we cannot abandon it to let it fall to ruin and leave the people affected by that fallout to die because of it while we gather our strength. And yes. People will die. If this summer has taught us anything, let it be that elections fucking matter and in the coming years, our leadership absolutely has the ability to determine how many of us survive.

TL;DR: If you have the ability to vote please fucking use it. This is not a normal election year, and the safeguards that have been in place are no longer to be relied upon.

42 Bi & Lesbian Books Out in July!

Young Adult:

I Kissed Alice by Anna Birch

Melt My Heart by Bethany Rutter

You’re Next by Kylie Schachtesite (YA Thriller)

Burn Our Bodies Down by Rory Power (YA Horror)

Faith: Taking Flight by Julie Murphy (YA Superhero)

Young Adult Fantasy:

Girl, Serpent, Thorn by Melissa Bashardoust

Cinderella is Dead by Kalynn Bayron

A Wicked Magic by Sasha Laurens

The Green Ray of the Sun by Reinhardt Suarez

Ghost Wood Song by Erica Waters

The Shadow of Kyoshi by F. C. Yee

Fiction & Mystery:

The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue 

The Feasting Virgin by Georgia Kolias

My Favorite Girlfriend was a French Bulldog by Legna Rodriguez Iglesias, translated by Megan McDowell

Utopia Avenue by David Mitchell

Tack & Jibe by Lilah Suzanne

No Regrets by Tabitha Webb

Once You Go This Far by Kristen Lepionka (Mystery)

The Lady Upstairs by Halley Sutton (Noir Thriller)

Romance:

Kiss Me Every Day by Dena Blake

Entangled by Melissa Brayden 

Love Actually by M. C. Cerny

One Woman’s Treasure by Jean Copeland 

Things Hoped For by Chencia C. Higgins 

The Care and Feeding of Waspish Widows by Olivia Waite

Storm Lines by Jessica L. Webb

Hairpin Curves by Elia Winters

Love Bites by Ry Herman (Paranormal Romance)

Infaemous by Arizona Tape (Paranormal Romance)

Science Fiction and Fantasy:

Unconquerable Sun by Kate Elliot (Science Fiction)

A Beautifully Foolish Endeavour by Hank Green (Science Fiction)

I Come with Knives by S.A. Hunt (Fantasy/Horror)

Ashes of the Sun by Django Wexler (Fantasy)

Nonfiction:

Heathen Vol. 3 by Natasha Alterici (Comics)

SFSX, Vol 1 by Tina Horn (Comics)

Is Rape a Crime?: A Memoir, an Investigation, and a Manifesto by Michelle Bowdler

Imagining Latinx Intimacies: Connecting Queer Stories, Spaces and Sexualities by Edward A. Chamberlain

Storytelling in Queer Appalachia: Imagining and Writing the Unspeakable Other by Hillery Glasby, Sherrie Gradin, and Rachael Ryerson 

Lady Romeo: The Radical and Revolutionary Life of Charlotte Cushman, America’s First Celebrity by Tana Wojczuk

Check out the original post at the Lesbrary for covers and blurbs!

Check out more LGBTQ new releases at:

LGBTQ Reads: TBRainbow Alert: 2020 YA Starring QTIPoC, Part II, 2020 LGBTQA Adult Fiction Preview: July-December

Women and Words: New Releases & Coming Up

Lambda Literary: July’s Most Anticipated LGBTQ Books

Reads Rainbow Book Releases: July 2020