ShifterCat

To join with sugar and tea and rum

One day when the yearning is done

When down on her the girls did bore

The captain called all hands on her

Shoutout to this Binface graphic for being hilarious, but I feel like we should also draw attention to the other reason Farage is (hopefully!) fucked. It's emerged that he apparently didn't know resigning his seat wouldn't end the investigations, just pause them, when he forced this by-election.

What that means is he can very probably be done not only for any financial offences, but for contempt of Parliament (when you interfere with Parliamentary business or investigations- Boris Johnson was kicked out of Parliament because he did that with Partygate).

And even better, if the investigations show he could have criminal charges brought against him, the fact he did that means that they could also potentially find him guilty of perverting the course of justice (trying to sabotage a criminal investigation), which is an even more serious crime than any of the financial fraud he's probably done.

And then, even if none of that happens, he's basically Streisand effect-ed himself into oblivion. The first thing you're likely to hear now after Farage's name is 'took £5 million from a crypto billionaire and £1 million from a convicted fraudster'. And he's freely admitted he took all that money and 'can spend it all on Ferraris' if he wants to.

Seven Heavenly Virtues - Chastity/Purity

Other useful AI Removal/Detection links

How to spot AI Hallucinations like a Reference Librarian (originally on Substack)

two cucks! having sex!

their partners!

their partners!

netflix is making a hockey show called "the sticks" that is based on a very real tragedy that occured in canada in 2018.

the show follows a minnesota high school team after their bus crashes and coming back to hockey afterwards.

in 2018, the humboldt broncos' (a junior A team made up of 18-22 year olds) bus was hit by a tractor trailer on a highway intersection. 16 people (10 players, 2 coaches, and 4 team staff members) were killed, along with 13 other players severely injured.

the memory of the humboldt broncos crash is an incredibly sensitive subject carrying a lot of trauma to both the survivors, their families, and deceased's families. the trajectory of hockey in canada was changed significantly after this tragedy.

despite this, netflix has decided to make a show using the death of young hockey players for profit. they did not consult the survivors, nor the deceased's families. they stole a canadian story for a feel-good cash grab.

None of the families even knew about this show until the media started asking how they felt.

It is taking a tragedy and turning it into a cash cow.

This was such a deeply-felt issue that even the truck driver pleaded guilty and has tried to make amends. (And as he is facing deportation after his sentence, some of the families have even started supporting him being allowed to stay in the country.) There is a real story you could be telling about community and resilience that is not just turning one of the worst days for THE NATION into cheap thrills and sensationalism.

^ the full-resolution image ^

^ why Gen Xers remember summers being cooler - they literally were

He covers Birth of a Nation and the reason the hood was APPROPRIATED from Spanish Black people.

I do wish that Alice Guy-Blaché had won instead of getting erased from history... but sometimes it's difficult.

Beyond that, there has been formative fiction that has turned social justice for better and worse over history. And sometimes fiction had to be made up to make up racial framing.

Before I read that shitty book, Madame Butterfly (yes, book), I had no idea how much impact one book could have in framing who Asians (mostly East Asians, but also Asians) were.

When I saw that Black and Mexican peoples were cut from the narrative of the West so many stories opened up that I wanted to know and read. (Mexican is not a singular people, but going into Latin American Studies takes too long, so trust me on this one...)

This is to say people often excuse prejudiced things by saying fiction has no power, but fiction has a power people fear, otherwise they wouldn't try to ban it. Fiction has the power to question and ask "should everything be this way."

I get for those living in the US in privileged positions you often might think of fiction as a way to relax and make someone feel better, but truly, I wish someone to be angry at my writing over being bored and disengaged. To think something deeply they have all these tumbling thoughts.

As I've consumed fiction from South America (I'm slow on various countries—sorry), Central America, Asia, and colonized and imperialized nations, I often see fiction being used as a well-honed weapon to ask questions about the establishment and ENGAGE rather than run away. Even in countries where the bans are strict, like China, creators still quietly challenge the norms and slip in lines that pass notice.

Like there was a throw away line from this one show where the mom said she had a lesbian experience in college during the gay bans. I replayed that several times to make sure I wasn't hallucinating.

And that's why governments fear fiction the most. This is why they want to ban queer books and books on sex education that would help to end pdfs.

Fiction is Powerful!

So let's try at least to use it responsibly to make people think and engage in the ways that make the world a better place?

"It's just fiction" says that we cannot turn the tide and should just give into false narratives about being poor, a non-mainstream religion, being an anti-Zionist Jew, being disabled, being ND, being POC, being queer.

Let's all write sappy Hallmark movies!

But I think if the KKK can be appropriating AHs, and frame an entire generation and The King and the Clown in South Korea can change people's minds on gay rights, then we hold a very powerful tool.

After all, there must have been that one book or set of books that made you think that you, too, could be a writer. And isn't that a power you wish to spread to others, even if a little conceited?