hot mess

Secondly: If you are not doing the Linda Carter spin, then you’re doing it wrong.

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.

Enemies to lovers, coffee shop AU’s, “there is only one bed oh my whatever shall we do”. These tropes are all great! But what about the tales that are hardly told on AO3? What about the underused tropes?

-To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before AU: For those of you who don’t know the Netflix rom-com “To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before”, the basic plot is this (It’s been a while since I saw it, so everything I say to you might be lies. Also, if you do not care about the plot of To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before, feel free to skip ahead):

There’s this hopeless romantic girl, right? And somehow, no one will date her, despite her being gorgeous and funny and smart and sweet and having a room like a magazine photo (and her bed is in the middle of the room?? Every teenager I know has their bed against at least two walls, it’s common sense). Standard teen movie stuff. 

Instead of talking to guys she likes, she’ll write out detailed letters confessing her feelings to them. It’s a diary thing, I suppose. She also writes down their addresses on the letters. Where is she getting the addresses? Why is she writing them down? She never planned to mail them. Why are you the way you are, Laura Jean?

Anyway, wacky hijnks ensue and (le gasp) all five of the letters are sent. Somehow, this merely leads to a love triangle, where the proper thing would be a love pentagon, but whatever. There are no sword fights in this movie.

Anyway.

That was a roundabout way of saying why is that not a fanfic trope? There are enough fandom bicycles with several ships that this would work perfectly for! It’s a good way to add some drama to a high school AU.

-This isn’t a trope really, but Weddings: Once your OTP have trecked through the angst, skipped through the fluff, and settled into their domestic fics, what would the wedding be like? Weddings are really fun from a writing standpoint. You want drama? Emotion? Cute couple antics? Wacky best man and/or maid of honor shenanigans? First dances going well? First dances NOT going well? That one family member that shows up that no one wants there because they’re a reminder of when your grandfather split the family in half and caused quite a bit of psychological damage to 90% of the guests (that might be more of a specific problem with my relatives)? Let them get married!!!

-While in high school AUs, don’t neglect the drama club: The school musical is actually a great framing device for a story! It’ll be a common thing the characters are all striving for, a way to bring them together, a big final event for the finale, and, of course, no one can do drama like the theater kids. There’s so much to do here!

-On that note, D&D club will do a similar thing: Bonus points if actual paranormal activity starts happening and they have to become the heroes they pretended to be (and actually are in canon?).

-MASQUERADES: MASQUERADES ARE AMAZING. THE AESTHETIC. THE DRAMA. THE STYLE. CHOCK FULL OF PREMIUM RAZZLE DAZZLE.

-Amusement Parks: Amusement parks are up to their necks in story potential. Want romanticism? Want a kiss at night lit only by the glowing ferris wheel? Want humorous realism? Did someone throw up on the coaster again? Dear lord, this is my life, isn’t it. Want creepy stuff? Fun houses are less fun when everything is trying to murder you. And of course, your OTP could meet when person A decides to scam person B at carnival games, and person B is having none of it.

-Hunger Games AU: Ever wanted to murder people and not have to cover it up? Congratulations, the Hunger Games AU is for you! How will your ship react to a doomed romance? Will they Katniss/Peeta their way out of things, or will it actually be doomed? Will you pit all of your ships against each other? You decide!

this tweet is such a perfect encapsulation of what the brain trust on twitter considers activism at this point, i swear to god

she was a child

she was a child trapped in a legendarily abusive studio contract where she was being pumped full of drugs and sexually abused by producers

what is the point? “think about this the next time you watch the wizard of oz”? and do what? this tweet is so pointless

not for nothing but she was also a lifelong advocate of the civil rights movement and held a whole press conference to denounce white supremacist terrorism after the 16th street baptist church bombing

there are politicians who did blackface in office right now

In a similar vein I would also recommend the Marlon Riggs documentaries Ethnic Notions, which covers anti-Black stereotypes in popular culture from the antebellum period through the Civil Rights movement, and Color Adjustment, which covers the representation of African Americans on television from its advent through the 1990s.

performative activism doesn’t understand that discomfort is a side effect, not the end goal, so it’s all about guilt. if you don’t reblog this you’re a bad person, this thing that’s popular as ~problematic~ and you should feel bad for liking it, etc.

doing that is way easier than doing activism, and telling people they’re Bad makes you feel morally superior and establishes you as Good, and so you get to have the performance of activism and wokeness without actually doing anything but making people unhappy.

My art has gotten fairly popular uncredited, and you may have seen these emojis around a lot of popular posts:

I’m the creator of these emojis! So please, if you’ve used these emojis in your servers/camera rolls/posts, and you’d like to support me and my art, please consider following me and/or dropping a tip at paypal.me/mothknights

one of the most comprehensive, well-rounded, and well researchd compilations of blm related resources (includes petitions, donation links, venmo accounts, names of people in need, etc) thats out there. please share this link everywhere and anywhere. 

a black lives matter carrd that includes petitions, donation links, blm movement information, links on how to donate to BLM without spending money, black owned businesses, etc. 

a black lives matter carrd that lists all the petitions that need to be signatures all in one place!

Justice for George Floyd

Justice for George Floyd 2

Justice for George Floyd 3

Charge the Officers Responsible for George Floyd’s Murder 

Charge the Officers Responsible for George Floyd’s Murder 2

Justice For Ahmuad Arbery

Justice For Ahmuad Arbery 2

Justice for Breonna Taylor

Stand with Breonna

Charge Officers Responsible for Breonna Taylor’s Murder

Justice For Tamir Rice

Justice For Tamir Rice 2

Justice For Joāo Pedro

Justice for Alejandro Vargas Martinez

Justice for Belly Mujinga.

Justice for Rashad Cunningham

Justice For Tony McDade

Justice for Dion Johnson

Justice for Jennifer Jeffley

Justice for Young Uwa

Justice for Elijah Nichols

Justice for Tete Gulley

Justice for Tazne Van Wyk

Justice for Michael Dean

Justice For Amari Boone

Justice for Darrius Stewart

Justice for Shukri Abdi

Justice for Ashton Dickson

Justice For Darrius Stewart

Justice for David McAtee

Justice for Cameron Green

Justice for Crystal Mason

Justice For Zinedine

Justice for Regis Korchinski-Paquet

Justice for Christopher Josey

Justice for Amiya Braxton

Justice For Emerald Black

Justice for Andile Mchunu

Justice for Cameron Green

Justice for Tamla Horsford

Justice for Collins Khosa

Justice for Sean Monterrosa

Free Siyanda

Reopen Sandra Bland’s Case 

Free Willie Simmons who has served 38 years for a $9 robbery

Get Washington State to Hold Police Officers Accountable for Police Brutality

Arrest Officer Jared Campbell for macing a child 

Demand Jail Time for Dylan Mota and Jacob Robles

Demand Jail Time for All Police who Murder Innocent People

Fire Racist Criminal Michael J Reynolds from the NYPD

Petition for Nationwide Police De-Escalation Training

Petition for Nationwide Police Required Racial Bias Test

stop immigrants being poisoned by ICE

Ban the use of inhumane rubber bullets

Demand a retrial for Angel Bumpass wrongfully convicted 13 year old with a life sentence

End Police Brutality and Violence Against BIPOC in the USA

Ban the use of rubber bullets for crowd control

Join Campaign Zero

Drop All Charges Against Incarcerated Trafficking Survivor Chrystul Kizer!

Reopen Kendrick Johnson’s Case

Abolish Prison Labour in the USA

Require Dash and Body Cameras for the King County Sheriff’s Office

Demand a retrial for Angel Bumpass wrongfully convicted 13 year old with a life sentence

Sign the Police Accountability Act into Law

Justice for Elijah Nichols 

Exonerate Eric Riddick

Justice For Luz Gonzalez!

Support a new law to be made in Trayvon Martin’s name to stop from claiming self defense after aggravated murder

Justice for James Scurlock

Justice for Philando Castile

Issue a State executive order to hold police accountable for unlawful action

Don’t let Julius Jones be executed by the state of Oklahoma

Help pass the Hands Up Act, which prohibits police officers from shooting unarmed citizens and carries a mandatory 15-year prison sentence if there isn’t a weapon found after someone has been shot by a police officer

A twitter thread linking to many, many Brazilian Petition that still need signatures

Justice for Jamarion Robinson

Justice for Elijah McClain

Fire Jared Campbell

Dismiss the charges on Marshae Jones and charge the one who shot her and her unborn baby

Justice for Anderson Arboleda [Petition only in Español] 

Drop Charges Against Trafficking Survivor Chrystul Kizer

Justice for Julian Cole

Reopen Kenneka Jenkins Case

Justice for LeVena Johnson

Justice for Matthew Tucker

Justice for Regis Korchinski-Paquet 

Justice for Christopher

Abolish Confederate Branding at Richland High School

Justice for Justin Howell

Justice for Brad Levi Ayala

Justice for Mike Ramos

Justice for Brad Levi Ayala

Make Juneteenth a Federal Holiday

Ban the use of rubber bullets for crowd control

Make Lynching a Federal Crime

Tell Congress you support making lynching a federal hate crime

Demand Capezio provide skin color inclusive dance clothing

Justice for Kylie Lindsey and Isabella Chinchilla

Justice for Maurice Gordon Jr.

Justice for Alaa

Justice for Robert Fuller

Justice for Elijah McClain

Justice for Elijah McClain 2

Demand The KKK be declared a terrorist group

Demand The KKK be declared a terrorist group 2

Demand The KKK be declared a terrorist group 3

Donation Links

A thread of Youtuve videos you can stream to donate to BLM

Official George Floyd Memorial Fund

OFFICIAL Gianna Floyd Fund (George Floyd’s child)

Black Lives Matter

We Cant Breathe

43 Bail Funds to Support

Homeless Black Trans women fund

Split a donation between 70+ community bail funds, mutual aid funds, and racial justice organizers

Minnesota Healing Justice Network

Women for Political Change

Spiral Collective

When We All Vote

National List of Bail and Mutual Aid Funds/Organizers/Black Owned Businesses

Venmo names of black trans people that need help

Latino Community on Lake Street

Black Immigrant Collective

Centro de Trabajadores Unidos en Lucha

Atlanta Black Owned Business Relief

Al Maa'uun

Remembering Shana Isuroon 

Fundraising for destroyed black owned businesses

Joyce Preschool

Black Table Arts

Northside business support

Du Nord Riot Recovery Fund

Unicorn Riot

Donate to Destiny Harrison & her daughter Dream’s Legacy

Pimento Relief Fund

Southside Harm Reduction

West Broadway Business and Area Coalition

Division of Indian Work

TC Care Collective

Justice for Breonna Taylor

Justice for Jamee

Justice for David McAtee

Donate to Brandon Saenz who was shot in the left eye by a rubber bullet, and lost the eye, several teeth, and had facial fractures that required several surgeries

HOW TO DONATE INTERNATIONALLY/SITES THAT ACCEPT INTERNATIONAL CURRENCY 

HOW DONATE WITH NO MONEY

HOW TO DONATE WITH NO MONEY BY STREAMING THIS

HOW TO DONATE TO BLM BY SHARING LINKS

A list of black owned businesses we should be supporting! + a list of black owned businesses we should be supporting that accept international currency!

DO NOT DONATE TO SHAUN KING

DO NOT DONATE TO CHANGE.ORG

Donation for Justice for Saraneka “Nemo” Martin — pregnant protester shot during protest

Donations for Mike Ramos

Donations for Elijah McClain

Donations for Elijah McClain 2

The Battle of Blair Mountain took place in August and September of 1921. Just a few months prior to that, on May 31 and June 1, planes were also used to help destroy the Greenwood district of Tulsa, Oklahoma, a prosperous black neighborhood nicknamed The Black Wall Street. At least 39 people died during the event, which is known as the Tulsa Race Massacre. Hundreds were wounded, and 6,000 black people lost their homes. 

Both of these events were hugely important moments in American history. 

Structurally speaking, ATLA did something important with Zuko that, in a purely mechanistic sense of narrative development, I think a lot of people don’t notice immediately, and that even fewer people who want to emulate what was done with him get.

Which is Zuko is made a protagonist VERY early, and the show goes out of its way to continually place Zuko into situations where the audience empathizes and roots for him.

This happens in literally the second episode of the series, if we count the two-part premiere as a single episode, which I think we should. The A-plot of that episode, “The Southern Air Temple,” is Aang reckoning with the genocide of his people… but the B-plot?

The B-plot is the introduction of Zhao, and more specifically, his introduction in a way that is calculate to shift the audience, whose introduction to Zuko did NOT engender a ton of sympathy to him, directly and forcefully onto his side. They want Zuko to kick Zhao’s ass.

This continues all through book one and book two. Remember, Zuko is never, ever the main villain of this series. That’s initially Zhao, followed by Azula and Ozai. (Plus various temporary players like Long Feng.) Whenever Zuko isn’t placed into direct conflict with the other protagonists, he’s always written and presented in a way that is careful, VERY VERY careful, not to make him too monstrous, and to make us root for him. He’s placed right next to Iroh, who is designed for people to like, and that reflects back onto Zuko; we want Zuko to be better than he is because we want Iroh to have good things.

1.) 

He made a deal with Aang to leave the Southern Water Tribe alone if Aang went with him. When Aang escaped with help from two of those tribe members, Zuko didn’t demand they go back and destroy what was left of the tribe as revenge. He didn’t even think of it as an option. There was no split second where he went, should I/shouldn’t I?

2.) 

This is repeated. He corners the Avatar somewhere, causes some damage to the area in the ensuing fight, but does not stick around to raze the village/monastery to the ground and kill the people when he doesn’t get what he wants. Doesn’t consider this a necessary action even once.

3.) 

The Iroh&Zuko relationship is juxtaposed with the Zhao&Zuko relationship. Both older men have more power over him. Iroh is a retired War General and Prince who is not banished. Zhao is a Commander in favor of the Firelord, who is also not banished. We could tell early on that Iroh is wise and despite being on the bad side, seems to be pretty chill. We took a liking to him immediately. Zhao is the opposite. He is very much like early!Zuko. Impulsive, rude, loud, cocky, etc… But why is he more annoying? Why do we root for Zuko as opposed to him? 

Because we see what Zuko is like with his Uncle Iroh. Iroh does not rub in the fact that he’s banished. He doesn’t use that when reprimanding him for his attitude or his failings. That is a hot iron and he knows it. It’s to the point where Iroh can bend fire in Zuko’s face and Zuko is perfectly relaxed over it and doesn’t once believe his uncle will hurt him. There is a lot of faith in Iroh, from this angsty teenager, and it’s very obvious with their interactions.

Zhao is not trustworthy from the start. We’re shown this by how both Zuko and Iroh are hesitant to interact with him and don’t want to linger in areas he has control over, for too long. They even lie to him despite him obviously having more favor in the Firelord’s eyes than either of them do. Zhao’s personality opposes both Zuko and Iroh. And as we like Iroh, we want him to win and have nice things, as stated above. But Zuko&Iroh is a package deal. And as Zhao reveals himself more and more to be nasty even if it’s subtle, we want Zuko to win even harder.

And even when Zuko wins and he’s in the prime position to do to Zhao what Ozai did to Zuko for also ‘speaking out of turn’… he doesn’t do it. He walks away. He is the bigger man in that scenario. And Iroh further puts shame onto Zhao when he goes against the sacred rules of the Agni Kai because he can’t handle a loss to a banished teen. We are shown that Zuko follows rules and has honor, which is reinforced by Iroh’s, ‘even in exile, my nephew is more honorable than you’. Iroh’s Word is basically Law at this point. Sf he says it is so, then he must be right and the audience accepts that. He knows Zuko better than us and hopefully we’ll get to understand more as the story progresses.

Already by the 3rd episode, we’re shown that Zuko is in no way the worst person from the Fire Nation. In fact, we’re given a sort of scale now from the four major Fire Nation people we know of. Iroh–Zuko——-Zhao–Firelord.

We’re also hoping that Iroh rubs off on Zuko enough for him to also become wise and learn to chill out.

4.) 

When “The Storm” finally rolls around, we’re pretty invested by then in the Iroh&Zuko relationship and that episode gives us so much more info into Zuko’s character and we are shown that Iroh is right. He has honor and he cares for others. And yet it’s obvious the Firelord doesn’t because we see Zuko do the right thing(protesting the plan to treat new recruits as cannon fodder) in the wrong place, and then his face gets burned off by his father because of it. And further, he’s banished for refusing to fight his own father. What sane parent wants to do battle with their own child? What sane parent banishes their child for speaking out of turn at the defense of their own peoples’ lives? What the fuck is wrong with the Firelord?

Zuko was punished severely for showing compassion and having a kind heart. And Iroh(and the ship crew even) is properly mortified by the punishments his nephew received for it, which in turn affects the audience’s perception of this situation. Iroh doesn’t like it, it’s especially bad then.

Now we start wondering why does Zuko wants to go back to the guy who burned his face off?! Iroh, talk some sense into him! PLEASE!

Halfway through S1, they got us to the point of wanting Zuko to have a redemption arc. 

Why do all TV cops, even the good ones, hate Internal Affairs? Isn’t the job of Internal Affairs to root out the “bad cops”? Isn’t their job to make sure police follow the rules? Why is that presented as inherently evil or antagonistic? 

Why do all TV cops, even the good ones, hate defense attorneys? Isn’t the defense attorney’s job to protect the rights of all citizens? Isn’t it their job to make sure police follow the law? Isn’t it their job to make sure everyone is treated fairly under the system? Why is that presented as inherently evil or antagonistic? 

Why do all TV cops, even the good ones, get upset when citizens invoke their constitutional rights? Don’t those rights exist to ensure all citizens are treated fairly? Don’t they exist to ensure innocent people are not wrongfully incriminated? Why are citizens who invoke their rights presented as dishonest, untrustworthy, or antagonistic? 

To be clear, I’ve watched Brooklyn 99 and enjoyed it. I was watching Elementary the other day. But even when I watch shows I like, I make a mental note every time a cop lies, breaks the law, subverts someone’s basic rights, or just generally acts like an asshole to the people the are meant to serve and protect. 

How often are they called out on their behavior? How often are they punished for it? How often is it reinforced as correct by the narrative?

Be mindful of the content you’re putting on your social media accounts. Stop retweeting/reposting violent images and videos of black people dying. Know that content like this, even with trigger warnings included, can be very emotionally disturbing/distressing and yes, even traumatic, for black people navigating the internet right now.

Report any images and videos you see where protestors’ faces are visible/unblurred, particularly in content surrounding the lootings. Don’t retweet or repost these images and videos. This can be a death sentence. 

DONATE, PARTICULARLY TO MINNESOTA-BASED BLACK YOUTH MOVEMENTS / MUTUAL AID FUNDS WHO ARE DOING WORK ON THE GROUND. FOLLOW/BOOST IF YOU CAN’T.

• The Minnesota Freedom Fund, a mutual aid group fighting back against the unjust MN bail system, is taking donations. (Twitter)

• The Black Visions Collective, a Minnesota-based freedom fighter organization creating campaigns for justice, is taking donations. (Twitter)

• Reclaim the Block, a coalition to demand that Minneapolis divest from policing, is taking donations. (Twitter)

• Crowdfunding for black trans people in need thread. 

req’d by @aestheticisdeadforever