TicTocTicToc...

This is about defining who is fully human and who is not. #RoeVWade

“Constantly blaming Republicans,” griped one respondent.

“You ONLY blame the Republicans,” complained another.

“You exclusively blame Republicans,” grumbled yet another.

Well, there’s a reason the Republicans get the blame for destroying any sense of common American narrative. It’s because — pay close attention here — they deserve the blame for destroying any sense of common American narrative.

Sorry, but Hunter Biden’s laptop didn’t do that. Black Lives Matter didn’t do that. Whatever thing Fox “News” last told its audience to fear did not do that.

Laziness=You don’t want to do a task, so you choose not to, and you’re fine with that. You either dont care if it gets done or you figure someone else will do it.

Procrastination=You want to do the task, but you put it off because it seems difficult/boring/time consuming.

Executive dysfunction=You want to do the task, and intend to at that very moment. There is no significant reason not to, but you can’t because your brain is having difficulty transitioning between activities.

The key difference, he points out, is that if you experience guilt or shame from not doing it, then it’s NOT laziness, because those feelings indicate, on some level, a desire to complete the task.

Me: oh my god.

Tsunade adopts Tenzo, a comic.

I am concerned about this culture of combing through years of people’s social media accounts, looking for “problematic” shit they’ve done. I am concerned with the whole culture of using “call outs” as a tool to harass and ostracize users large and small. I am concerned about the malice we spread behind people’s backs, in screenshots and posts they aren’t able to see. I am concerned with this culture of demanding apologies for things said years ago, things already outgrown and regretted, and of ignoring those apologies even while pilling on more censure. I’m concerned about this whole culture of accusation and misinformation, where the most outrageous claims and holier-than-thou performances are rewarded with notes and views, even as facts are ignored and context removed. I am concerned about the lack of accountability, the way the accused is given no opportunity to defend themselves from the onslaught, the way their responses and explanations go ignored, the way any charge can be made at any time on any evidence, with no ability to appeal or exonerate. I’m concerned about the way this culture targets minority users and turns their own communities against them. I’m concerned about the actually harmful and predatory behavior that gets lost in the bog, and how we have lost the ability to distinguish between shades of gray with any level of sanity. And I am concerned by the sheer number of people who fail to realize they are perpetuating bullying and harassment.

I am enormously concerned with the way people who are “called out” are never forgiven, never allowed to make amends, never allowed to grow, how their efforts to learn and do better are ignored even while strangers callously repeat and reblog and retweet the same criticisms ad nauseam.

And I see this everywhere, happening to anyone. And yes, this applies to larger accounts and youtubers and “influencers,” and a bunch of content creators who may or may not be making a decent living off of their work, but who are certainly not “rich and powerful celebrities.” (Because apparently we spend so much time in online microcosms that ya’ll can’t tell the difference???) Christ, my blog isn’t nearly as large as some people seem to think, it’s obscure by most measures, and still I’ve been the target of mass harassment for years. I’ve seen bad and watched others go through worse, seen users with far larger and far smaller followings driven off of this and other platforms—driven off with a violence and bloodthirst that had nothing to do with making a community safer and everything to do with a toxic culture gone wrong. Fucking fix this already.

I have been precisely where you are, right now. In fact, we were just talking about this a few days ago, as it relates to a guy who wrote a ton of music that was PROFOUND to me when I was a teenager. He wrote about being lonely and feeling unloved, and all the things I was feeling as a teenager.

He grew up to be a reprehensible bigot, and for years I couldn't listen to one of the most important bands in my life anymore.

But this week, someone pointed out that he was one member of a group that all worked together to make that thing that was so important to me. And the person he was when he wrote those lyrics is not the person he is today. And the person I was when I heard those lyrics doesn't deserve to be shoved into a box and put away, because that guy is a shit.

This is a long way of saying that Joss sure turned out to be garbage. Because of who I my friends are, I know stuff that isn't in the public, and it's pretty horrible. He's just not a good person, and apparently never was a good person.

BUT! Buffy is more than him. It's all the actors and crew who made it. It's all the writers who aren't Joss. Joss is part of it, sure, and some of the episodes he wrote are terrific.

At least one of the episodes he wrote was deeply meaningful to you at a moment in your life when you'd experienced a loss I can only imagine. The person you are now, and the 16 year-old you were who just lost their dad, are more important than the piece of shit Joss Whedon revealed himself to be.

His bad behavior is on him. He has to live with it, and the consequences of it.

16 year-old you, who just lost their dad, shouldn't have to think about what a shit Joss Whedon is for even a second. That kid, and you, deserve to have that place to revisit when you need to go there.

I can't speak for the other actors, even the ones I know. But I will tell you, as an abuse survivor myself who never wanted to be in front of the camera when he was a kid: it's really okay for you to enjoy the work. The work is good and meaningful, and if nobody is going to watch it because of what one piece of shit did two decades ago, what was it all for?

I'm not the pope of chilitown, so take this for what it's worth: I believe that when some piece of art is deeply meaningful to a person, for whatever reason, that art doesn't belong to the person who created it, if it ever did. It belongs to the person who found something meaningful in the art.

If it feels right to you to put it away and never look at it again, that's totally valid. But if it brings you comfort, or joy, or healing, or just warm familiarity to bring it out and spend some time with it, that's totally valid, too.

As a long standing public servant - I find her elitist and hypocritical “rules for thee but not for me” conduct with respect to California’s Covid-19 policies (here are a few examples: Ex 1 and Ex 2) to be appalling, distasteful and downright shameful. 

And as a public figure who should know better, I absolutely blame people like her for the disgusting and hugely consequential politicization of a highly infectious virus that never should have had anything to do with politics. 

All of that being said: the Speaker is absolutely correct in calling for the codification of Roe v. Wade. 

In the interest of transparency, please note that I have not yet read the full text of the version of SB8 (also known as HB1515) that Governor Abbott signed into law in May 2021.

However, it is abundantly clear that this Texas bill is intended to do more than just curb early abortions - it is this state’s unconstitutional attempt to subvert the bedrock precedent set by Roe v. Wade nearly fifty years ago, and it absolutely must be addressed at the federal level.

What I appreciate about this post is: it is actionable.  

Because now is not the time for masturbatory hysterics or moral preening for the sake of appearing “woke” on social media.

If you are pro-choice, please if you can: contact your Senator and DEMAND that they vote to codify Roe v. Wade through the following switchboard - (202) 601-3441

I know this number works, because it is the contact line I obtained from a former colleague who has performed pro-bono work in the area of reproductive rights, and because I called the number myself. 

*When you call, please be prepared to furnish your full legal name and voter registration address.* 

___________________________

I know I’m just another asshole on the internet, but for anyone who happens to see this - please understand that Democrats have a razor thin majority in the House, and a near non-existent “majority” in the Senate. 

And while I hope I’m wrong, if what I’ve seen/heard/read over the past ten months is any indication: I wouldn’t be surprised if dwindling credibility and political capital resulted in a bloodbath for Democrats in the midterms. 

I mean technically, because its a tool that can selectively add or remove genes from an organism.

There have been proposals to cure rare genetic diseases using Crispr, because of this.

But we’re still a long way off of inserting any genes that could confer abilities/increases to certain physical characteristics, as well there are some ethical issues around designer babies and the like.

Chinese biophysicist He Jiankui used CRISPR-Cas9 to knock out both copies of the gene CCR5 in vitro in order to make the twins immune to HIV. He has since been sentenced to 3 years in prison for this.

The problem with using gene editing to confer ‘superpowers’ is that, in general, genes have multiple functions. Taking CCR5 and the CRISPR babies as an example: it’s possible that the twins will have enhanced cognitive abilities, as CCR5 has been found to inhibit plasticity in the cortex & hippocampal learning and memory (the paper specifically showed that reducing the amount of CCR5 activity improved the cognitive abilities of mice). On the flip side, it’s also possible that the twins will have a decreased life expectancy, as it’s been shown that people with (naturally occurring) double deletion of CCR5 tend to die before age 76.

Here’s an article featuring some rare, naturally occurring ‘human superpowers’! In theory, we can isolate the underlying genetic mutations and then deliberately replicate them. Spoiler: they come with some not-so-great side effects. One of the examples I’m most familiar with, which was also featured on an episode of House, is the inability to feel pain due to a mutation in the SCN9A gene. Sounds cool, but babies with this disorder often end up dying due to self-mutilation, accidents, etc. The “bendy man”, caused by Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, affects connective tissue in the body and typically results in joint pain and early-onset arthritis, and, in its vascular form, heart problems.

That article also proceeds to list some genes associated with potential ‘superpowers’ if their expression is increased, but I’d take that with a grain of salt considering everything else I’ve discussed here. I’m not going to take the time to look into the studied functions of each of those genes, but I’d be willing to put money on there being some unpleasant side effects of increasing their expression.

Diseases caused by a single mutation in a single gene are really good targets for CRISPR, as it just needs to go in and “cut and replace”, so to speak. Although we’re now able to use CRISPR for more complicated applications (and applications in the adult body), as well as directly editing mRNA instead of DNA. Here’s a handy article on diseases CRISPR tech might already be great for.

Whether adding or deleting genes, there will almost always be ‘off-target’ effects. The human genome is a highly efficient and precise, albeit also highly redundant, piece of code.

The current limiting factor isn’t our ability to use CRISPR-Cas9 as a gene editing tool, but rather our (lack of) understanding of the functions of each and every gene. We’re simply not at the point of being able to edit the genome to enhance humans without inevitably causing some terrible, unforeseen side effects. Will we get there? Maybe. Our understanding will, yes, though not for a number of years. But it may be the case that, ultimately, there is no single “strong man” or “bendy man” gene that can be augmented without also causing significant harm.

AND ALSO the mom cat raised the lynx baby ALONGSIDE HER KITTEN so we have all these cute pictures of the lynx cub with the kitten please look at them