Please try to enjoy each post equally.

In the US, there is no meaningful legal definition for educational/academic neglect in any of the 50 states or federally. What this means is that a child can be "homeschooled" and exclusively be taught how to cook and clean, reach the age of 18 being unable to read, write, or count, and this alone is not considered neglect. That 18yo, should they even have the knowledge that suing exists, has no legal grounds to sue their parents for denying them an education.

In over 40 US states, a convicted child abuser can homeschool their children. So someone who has done time for child abuse and somehow regains access to their child(ren) can decide upon returning home that they want to "homeschool" their kids. Those children are now locked in a home with their abuser where nobody can see them.

There are no welfare checks.

There are no routine assessments.

There aren't even databases — state or federal — keeping track of how many homeschooled kids there actually are.

Meaning a child can be locked in their home for their entire life with their convicted abuser, learn absolutely nothing, never go to the doctor, and so long as that child is fed, clothed, and the abuse isn't physical or sexual, that child has almost no chance of rescue and no legal ground to seek restitution if/when they escape.

The only way homeschooled children get rescued is if they're beaten, starved, or physically neglected and they're able to get the right person to see that. Otherwise? They have to wait until someone finds out they were murdered as a result of their parents "homeschooling".

And feral homeschool parents love to jump down my throat about this, and then get even more pissed when I tell them I'm a homeschool alumni.

Because I know it's not all homeschoolers. But even one is too many, and the lack of protections should scare everyone. If you're a good homeschool parent, nothing will change. If not, you deserve whatever comes your way as a result of adequate oversight.

You are capable of harm

You have some level of power and agency

Ergo it is your responsibility to communicate your needs and boundaries

If you lie to someone about something being okay when it isn't, that is on you

Something being a trauma response doesn't exempt it from harming your relationships and the other people in them

Enabling your trauma responses will not make them go away, and it is your responsibility to work on yourself for your own wellbeing as well as the people around you

Being A Victim cannot be a pillar of your identity forever, and being victimized does not make you incapable of harming other people (see above)

You are not a mouse in a jean jacket you are an eel with a gun / adult human being who can use your words even if it's Scary

Mitch McConnell has been out on paid leave since June 14. That's over seven weeks. He's collected roughly $20,000 in salary the entire time, full benefits included, without casting a single vote.

Here's the part that should make your blood boil.

In 1993, McConnell voted against the Family and Medical Leave Act, the law that gives workers 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave to recover from illness or care for a new baby. Unpaid. He voted no anyway.

In 2020, in the middle of a pandemic that was killing thousands of Americans a week, McConnell personally blocked an effort to extend paid family and sick leave in a COVID relief bill.

In 2022, he voted against guaranteeing railway workers seven measly days of paid sick leave, the exact policy that pushed rail workers to the brink of a nationwide strike.

For over 30 years, McConnell has made sure that if you get sick, if you have a baby, if your body needs time to heal, you're on your own. No pay. No guarantee. Figure it out.

Meanwhile, he's spent the last seven weeks recovering in a facility, on the taxpayer dime, with the exact kind of paid, job-protected leave he spent his entire career keeping out of reach for everyone else.

This isn't really about McConnell's health. People get sick, people fall, people deserve to heal. The problem is that he only believes that's true for himself.

If paid leave is good enough for a senator recovering from a fall, it's good enough for the mother recovering from childbirth, the warehouse worker with the flu, and the nurse who just got diagnosed with something serious.

Bodily autonomy (like abortion, anti draft, etc) -> “The government shouldn’t be able to force anything on my body I don’t want.”

Anti surveillance -> “I don’t trust big government/big tech (big brother if you’re feeling frisky) with the ability to spy on me and my family.”

Immigration -> “Next to all of us immigrated at some point, I don’t see why the elites get to decide who’s allowed to be where. What’s to stop them coming for me?”

Climate Change -> “Big oil shouldn’t get to determine whether or not I get to go places. I don’t want to be dependent on some big business to survive.”

State Violence -> “I don’t want the goddamn secret police breathing down my neck! I trust my community a whole hell of a lot more to help me than I do the state!”

I truly sacrificed to create this ridiculous mug. biting clay is a bad sensory experience 😔 who would have guessed