Fauna, Mostly

Sly Crayfish (Procambarus versutus), family Cambaridae, Okaloosa County, Florida, USA

And if you have them long enough you start developing a sixth sense for it so sometimes you’ll turn around and they’re just looking at you like

i'm in Ireland and the search for that bastards name is still blocked and hidden... the legnths the british go to defend and protect their instruments of colonialism and violence is beyond belief. no justice for the victims and yet every measure taken to protect David James Cleary and his fellow murderers.

Check out this twenty mule team, pulling some absolutely gargantuan freight wagons!

This is from the Mule Days parade this morning in Bishop, California. It's the culmination of a week long celebration of mules! It's one of the largest gathering of mules from all over the country!

Mules have a long, proud history in the Eastern Sierra. From the 20 mule teams that hauled borax and other minerals from mines across Owens and Death Valley to the mule packers who hauled supplies high into the Sierra Nevada mountains, mules have been an integral part of this region and its history.

Mules are still in use today across much of the Eastern Sierra, too!

There are still several mule pack stations that run supplies into the mountains, as well as leading multi-day recreational camping/fishing expeditions. Some even act as a delivery service for hikers on the PCT needing resupply.

The forestry service uses them trail maintenance, as well as for bringing supplies to wildland fire fighters when working on active fire lines!

The military still uses mules out here. These are from the Mountain Warfare Training Center up in Bridgeport and are used to train Marines how to use pack animals in mountain terrain, where mechanized vehicles cannot navigate.

Inyo County's Search & Rescue team is another group that still uses mules to navigate the backcountry!

Even the Mayor of Bishop can ride a mule!

1.) Not all our parents would bake us a fucking cake when we come out. Some of us are closeted. Surely you understand this? You also do not need to know my parent’s names or occupations; we are both adults. I do not need nor want to mix you and my private life with my parents and my public life.

2.) Trans people do not owe you their dead name or government name

3.) I’m not telling you for the sake of job security. I am a government fucking caseworker working amidst a fucking lavender panic!

“There’s no way you’re a different person outside this; you’re still you at your core. What harm is there—”

No, I am a completely different person. A different person with a different personality and different interests and a different name and presentation. I am a completely different person because I keep this life and my public life private to avoid fracturing 90% of my interpersonal relationships and 100% of my professional ones.

“You’re not out? But you’re so confident.”

I need y’all to start bringing that energy. Because it’s not always safe for someone to be out and not everyone is safe to be out around.

Blood quantum is a nightmare concept. It is essentially how much 'native blood' you 'legally' have according to the government.

It is not traditional, it is not cultural, it is not something Indigenous nations ever used to measure belonging.

It was created by colonizers as a tool of erasure. It literally exists so the government could mathematically subtract us out of existence over time.

Think of it like this;

instead of letting Indigenous communities define ourselves, the U.S. government came in and said, “Your Indigeneity is only valid if we can quantify it like livestock breeding papers.” It was meant to break apart families, stop us from passing on identity and land rights, and eventually reach a point where they could say, “See, there are no real Indigenous people left! So we don't need to think about them!"

It weaponizes nebulous and often finicky genetics against culture, community, lived experience, etc.

It ignores the fact that Indigenous identity is about kinship, belonging, survival, language, tradition, and responsibility to our people.

Blood quantum turns those things into a number. A number designed to shrink until there is nothing left.

Many nations are still stuck dealing with blood quantum rules because of federal pressure and resource control, not because we chose it or approve of it.

And it harms us every single generation. It pits relatives against each other, creates disenrollment fights, and tells half of Indigenous kids they are somehow less real than their siblings because of paperwork.

It also lets the government give a 'good reason' for why we shouldn't have mixed race marriages or 'interbreed' with other races, because then the blood quantum 'goes down' and we may legally not be considered indigenous under the government anymore, which means they can deny us things like certain assistance programs, medical care, etc.

It's literally government mandated eugenics.