I don't have feelings, I have theories

So I look up a pretty prominent Star Wars guild and message one of their council and ask them to poll the same question and get back to me in a week. They do, and naturally the fuckin geeks said "Death Star".

After a while of talking about how Anya acts the trainer says there’s nothing to worry about, Anya likes Shane just fine, it’s just that she sees him as the boss and is acting accordingly

And Ilya is like. But. I’m the one who adopted her? And raised her before Shane got here?? And the trainer is just like yeah well she sees you more like an equal. And Ilya is like WAIT she thinks Shane is in charge of both of us?? And the trainer is just like well do you interact in a way that would make her think that?

Ilya’s life flashes before his eyes as he thinks of all the times Shane has come over with a snack for Ilya and a treat for Anya, or all the times Shane has announced they’re all going for an after dinner walk, or pets Ilya’s hair and tells him he did a good job at practice, or the fact that he uses the same warning tone with Anya when she misbehaves as he does with Ilya when he’s causing problems on purpose

The doctor scraped out a bit of earwax to have a better look inside.

I was sent a bill for $200 PER EAR for this 5 second procedure which I did not give permission for them to do.

That was key- they did not ASK me if they could do this "procedure". And, as I OWN a medical practice (it's me. The medical practice is me, sitting in my house on video calls) I knew to call them when this bill came in to be like "You did not obtain informed consent for this procedure, and it was not en emergency procedure. You had full ability to gain my consent and didn't. I'm not paying."

And the massive hospital who owned the bill said "yuh-huh you do have to pay."

And I said "I own a practice. I know these laws. I do not owe you money for this."

And they conducted an "internal review" and SURPRISE! Decided I totally owed them money and they had never done anything wrong ever.

And so I called my state's Attorney General office, and explained the situation because, as I mentioned, I know the law. The AG got in touch within a couple days to say they were taking the case and would send the massive hospital conglomerate a knock it off, guys letter.

Lo and Behold, today I have a letter where said hospital graciously has agreed to forfeit the payment.

"How not to get screwed over by companies" should be part of civics class.

Know your rights and know who to call when they're infringed on. This whole process cost me $0 and honestly less effort than I would have expected.

Civics class wouldn't help most people in this case because the AG will not take on all these cases and most people cannot afford an attorney in this instance or more importantly, the hit to their credit.

Were they going to get into a lawsuit over my $400 bill? No obviously not. But they printed up a letter on fancy letterhead to say to stop and it worked. They followed up with me the next day to be sure, and so ask how much money they had saved me.

They use dinky cases like mine to track habitual misbehavior of large scale companies to build cases they could actually go to court over.

And because people are shocked- I never spoke to the AG of my state directly. He operates mainly by overseeing a whole crew of people. And this is what those people do.

This didn’t happen because I’m special because of my tiny therapy practice.

This happened because this is what the AG office is for.

“The problem is systemic” doesn’t mean “and there’s nothing you can do”.

Then you've been trained well by "The System".

Yes, that System you say can't be fought? Where did you get that idea, huh? Who taught you that "small" acts of illegality don't matter? Who made you think that there's no point in fighting back because it will all come to nothing?

Might it be the same entities that benefit if you believe all that?

Gonna pause and let you ponder.

Never. Ever. EVER.

EVER.

Let companies or corporations or hospitals or organizations or any business big or small get away with screwing you over without a fight. Maybe you personally don't win every fight, but you lose 100% of the time you don't try. You'll win more often than you think you will. I know cuz I've done it.

So have others. Attorneys General offices bring lawsuits against businesses all the time. They do so because citizens contacted them to say "someone is doing a crime" and the crime doers did not stop when told and got into way more trouble than if they'd just stopped. FAFO. The Find Out can't happen if you don't even bother to report the Fucking Around.

On that note, as OP said, please know your rights! And, in a situation where you don't but suspect something is hinky, ask! The people of the internet can help! So can librarians! So can many others. Find out what is and is not okay for them to do. If it's not okay, report them! See something, say something.

Don't let the System win by default.

If you believe The System™️ is only for Them™️ and not you, it will only ever be so.

Bitch before enriched flour, neural tube defects like spina bifida were far more common. Even now, spina bifida clinicians and researchers are begging to have salt and maize fortified to reach groups that don’t use as much flour. Before iodized salt, the United States had a fucking GOITER BELT. Eleven years after the introduction of fluoridated water, a city in Michigan found the rate of dental caries among school children dropped a staggering 60%— in an era where tooth decay regularly fucking killed people

I’m literally not even going to start on vaccines, which are among the most successful and robustly studied public health measures in world history

Please stop buying Harry Potter, a free zine. Printed January 2026. Feel free to copy and distribute in book stores, libraries, neighborhood little libraries, and at conventions and conferences. No credit required. See this guide for how to cut and fold this single-page, one-sided zine.

Transcript of the zine:

Page 1: Please stop buying Harry Potter. Harry Potter is a worldwide phenomenon. Unfortunately, J.K. Rowling is using the popularity of the series to attack transgender people’s human rights.

Page 2: Recently, there has been a moral panic about trans people. A lot of it is recycled from anti-gay rights campaigns in the past.

Image descriptions: The first image features a man holding a protest sign that reads, "NO Men in Women's Bathrooms." The second image shows a Daily Mail article headline that reads, "Children 'Put At Risk' By Gender Ideology In Schools." The third image shows a newspaper article about Anita Bryant that reads, "Popular singer became known for opposition to gay rights." The picture of Anita Bryant shows a protest sign that reads, "Sign petition here to repeal Metro's 'gay' blunder! Save our children from homosexuals!"

Page 3: To be clear: Trans people have existed throughout human history and across cultures. Suggested reading for trans history: Transgender History (Stryker), Trans History (Combs & Eakett), Before Gender (Erlick).

Page 4–5: J.K. Rowling is not just "being mean" on Twitter.

Yes, she bullies trans people and cis women she thinks are trans. She also funds hate groups and spreads dangerous misinformation to her millions of followers. In 2024, she donated 70,000 British pounds to an anti-trans organization’s effort to petition the U.K. Supreme Court to take away trans rights. They won.

Image descriptions: Five newspaper headlines. Headline one reads, "JK Rowling accused of 'Holocaust Denial' over posts about transgender persecution in Nazi Germany." Headline two reads, "JK Rowling and Elon Musk named in Imane Khelif's lawsuit over Olympics gender row. Rowling referred to the boxer as a ‘male’ and accused her of ‘enjoying the distress of a woman he’s just punched in the head.’" Headline three reads, "JK Rowling donates £70k for legal challenge on defining a woman." Headline four reads, "How JK Rowling funded a legal battle that curtailed trans rights in the UK." Headline five reads, "Harry Potter and the Supreme Court Ruling - are the new cast tainted by association?"

A screenshot of a Twitter post by JK Rowling dated April 16, 2025 shows Rowling sitting on her yacht while smoking a cigar. She wrote, "I love it when a plan comes together. #Supreme Court #Women's Rights."

Page 6: J.K. Rowling has said that any support for Harry Potter tells her that she is right and that people support her anti-trans actions. She is using her immense wealth, fame, and social power to violate human rights. Any attention or money that the Harry Potter franchise gets goes directly to harming trans people.

Page 7: "But what if my child asks for Harry Potter?" We often underestimate children's intelligence. Tell them what I’m telling you: Harry Potter’s creator is using her fame and money to attack a vulnerable group of people. As long as she is doing this, we cannot support her by giving her money and attention.

Page 8: No one is perfect. But consider giving these authors and their works a try instead:

Amari and the Night Brothers by B.B. Alston

Animorphs by K.A. Applegate

So You Want to Be a Wizard by Diane Duane

Alanna: The First Adventure by Tamora Pierce

Percy Jackson and The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

In my AP Art class, there was a girl who was just starting to experiment with mixed media. At this point she was still playing around, trying to decide what direction she wanted to go with her portfolio. So one critique day, she brought in an abstract canvas with some rhinestone highlights and painted and real peacock feathers. She loved sparkles and peacock feathers so she thought she’d try introducing them a *little*. And after everyone had given some input, the teacher gave her his advice, VERY roughly paraphrased here:

“So here’s the thing… I do not like this style. These are just elements that do not speak to me personally, but I see that you like them, and you’re doing interesting things with them.

“My biggest critique is, I only merely *dislike* this piece. I want you to make me HATE it. Go crazy with the things that you like. Don’t hold back trying to make it palatable to people like me. Because I am NEVER going to like it. And if the audience does not like it, it should drive them crazy seeing how much YOU love it.”

Her portfolio was chock full of neon colors and glitter and rhinestones and splashes of peacock feathers and it was a delight. Our teacher despised every piece lol, but she got great marks and I think even won some awards. And more importantly, she was happy and proud of the results. Because she didn’t limit herself by trying to appeal to people who were never going to enjoy what she enjoyed.

As someone who watched multiple people have their "why I left the left" moment over being asked to include transmascs in medical language...

As someone who watched transmascs be told to "shut the fuck up and quit whining" when asking for it to be called literally anything but "women's healthcare"...

As someone who watched terms like "chestfeeding" be treated as an utter laughingstock, even by "allies..."

As someone who had my cautions that abortion bans paired with corrective rape are tools to forcibly detransition trans men, be met with an accusation that I was the transphobic one for "implying pregnant men aren't men anymore..."

Employees and developers working on Magic: The Gathering Arena say they were hired with promises of remote flexibility, so they bought homes and built lives around those assurances. But they say they are now being told they may need to relocate to Washington state — or effectively lose their jobs.

If you want to help out the United Wizards you can sign this petition

cwa.org/uwotcletter

And like... you do get that that is kinda insane, right?

Because this is something that so often leads to suffering. And I am saying this as someone disabled, who had so many issues due to this in his childhood.

Just three examples: when I was 7, I was supposed to get checked for autism. My mother did not want an autistic child. Since she just could have a "neurotypical" child by refusing diagnosis, she did just that.

When I was 12, my mother had decided I needed a certain plastic surgery (one that had a minor health benefit, but still was largely a beauty thing). I did not want it. I really, really did not want it. We still went through almost the entire process until thankfully there was a doctor who went: "Wait, this is elective. I am refusing to do this on a child that does not want it."

And when I was 14 my mother refused to get me to the hospital when I had severe food poisoning. She refused me hospital treatment for almost two weeks. By the time I got actually taken to the hospital I was almost dead.

And here is the thing: all of this should just not happen. The doctor when I was 12 was cool, but... he refused to do the surgery because he had the right to make a conscience call. Legally my mother was in the right to force me into that elective surgery. And that just should not be the case.

A lot of children die and suffer due to their legal inability to consent - or refuse consent - to medical treatments. And I wish y'all would understand that.

what I mean by that is colonizers viewed the nudity of black and indigenous people as "obscene" and inherently sexual because of the avid dehumanization of them. it's literally just fascist bullshit spread in people's brains SPECIFICALLY AMERICANS. (my European gf has told me many times that America's weirdness about nudity was strange and I agree)

We're not gonna let "protect the trans" be the new "protect the kids", in which neither party is protected and actually all parties are harmed.

Bodily autonomy means I get to do what I want with my meat vessel (and you with yours), and it remains the most fundamental right. Lose that, you risk everything.

Frankly, if a body makes you uncomfortable: good. Sit with that feeling. Assess your discomfort (do you dislike nudity, or are you being fatphobic? Do you dislike nudity, or are you being racist? Do you dislike nudity, or are you being transphobic? Do you dislike nudity, or do you need to silence your inner fascist?). Then realize you aren't being harmed. And move on.

Someone being naked near you, in your line of sight, does not harm you. There is no argument that holds water against this. Discomfort is not harm. Do not moralize your disgust.