This is like when I had a breakup in early 2020 and vowed to get out more and meet new people

A rule change pushed by White House officials would slash benefits or end support for as many as 400,000 Supplemental Security Income recipients with Down syndrome, dementia and other disabilities whose parents or relatives receive SNAP benefits. (Published April)

Substack is 100% doing another round of big cash payouts for reputation laundering. A fair number of people accepting that money aren't hurting for it so I'm not clear on why they're doing it. BTW, if you're still on Substack, why, but also, here's a resource to get off: leavesubstack.com

NEW ASK THE FLYTRAP JUST DROPPED! Flytrap cofounder @andreagrimes.com is bringing back Bad Advisor (IYKYK) to fulfill a very special request. Is EVERYTHING annoying you? You will enjoy this one.

"Quite simply, the solution to combatting AI is humans exchanging with other humans. These exchanges take time, and they are not optimized for maximum profit. In fact, the promise of optimization is inherently at odds with humanity." Beautiful piece by @nicolefroio.bsky.social

My book on grief in our capitalist hellscape comes out in two weeks so if you wanted a signed bookplate and other goodies, order from my friends @bookpeople.com ASAP.

"Your horror has been stolen from you" really defines the conditions we're in

The fact that J.K. Rowling successfully bullied Amnesty International into taking down a report that accurately called out her attack on trans people, especially trans women, is so repulsive and such a display of the power of her money, and her choice to put her vast fortune behind persecution.

Truly: fuck the algorithm

“Separate yourself from your profession. That’s what I do, that’s not what I am” – he was talking about acting, but it’s absolutely the same in any freelance job. This idea of being on 24/7 is exceedingly unhealthy.

Sam Neill on tackling depression and imposter syndrome when you’re between jobs.

The polar opposite reactions here to the deaths of Sam Neill and Lindsey Graham are such a reminder that we all have a choice whether to live our lives in a way that brings joy or misery to those around us. I think if you’re remembered fondly as Sam Neill is today, you’ve pretty much won at life.

Interesting to see McConnell honoring the ancient pharaoh's tradition of taking your pet along with you to the afterlife

Live your life in a way that indie nail polish brands do not have a celebratory sale when you kick the bucket 💅🏻 Also celebrate said bucket kicking by treating yourself to some beautiful nail polish made by a good human working to make the world a lovelier place glitchlacquer.com/collections/...

“What I loved about Senator Lindsey Graham is that we belonged to the same social class”

Lying about the kind of person someone was just because they died doesn't make you a "better person" than people who refuse to do so. If you don't want people to say you were a horrible human being when you kick the bucket, don't be a horrible human being.

there are people who have made their entire life's work finding folks who are barely keeping their head above water and pulling them beneath the waves. when a shark finally gets them and their victim hits the surface and gets their first gasp of air, it's pretty normal to feel joy and relief.

Don’t live your life so that when you die people say “oh I was hoping it’d be the other guy, but I’ll take it”

If the appetizer is this delicious, imagine when we get to the main course.

*pinches bridge of nose, eyes closed, takes a deep breath* so do we have ANY idea how many living US Senators there are right now?

Good things are possible

I was speaking with Mitch McConnell by phone for twenty minutes when he said, "hey, what's Lindsay Graham doing here?"

I was looking through old photos and found this Accidental Renaissance Painting of the cats

BTW, the jugular is a body part that traditionally, but not in Mitch McConnell's case, has blood moving through it.

So we passed a major financial milestone at @theflytrapmedia.com yesterday and I just want to say thank you for supporting our little feminist outlet.

TV writers were right in 2023 and are being proven more right every day — there was a stable television model that made everyone lots of money and put out good shows. Then execs with no understanding of the industry confused the production model and the distribution model, and they blew it all up.

Curious about who's behind @theflytrapmedia.com, the world's best feminist newsletter offering only the finest cultural criticism and sundries? Our Meet the Founders series is for you...and today, it's me!

Many people are making this comment (just saw a great thread I was going to reskeet and now can't find it) but basically if you're feeling stung that many people are in 'I told you so' mode that's maybe a sign that you should pay attention to warning signs way earlier. This man told you who he was.

Just thinking this morning about how many women are forced to serve up the most intimate and horrible moments of their pasts because people blast through a veritable thicket of red flags in support of a political candidate, and in retaliation, they are smeared and harassed.

Human beings were never supposed to be exposed to the opinions of this many strangers on an hourly basis. Especially strangers who have opinions about who YOU should be/act/think etc...

Hey! I finally wrote about great ugly shoes for @theflytrapmedia.com

haven’t seen America this thoroughly embarrassed on the world stage since we lost that war we started with Iran like 3 weeks ago

I really love this project (shoutout to rommy for suggesting it). May and June's proceeds went to @redcanarysong.bsky.social, an organization I nominated and love supporting. This July and August, we're contributing to the Homeless World Cup Foundation, nominated by @katelynburns.com.

For me it’s the boomers hoarding all the real estate making the “American dream” of owning a home in a walkable city impossible unless your parents pay for it. Also: magazines, journalism no longer existing. Nobody able to tell what is real or fake. It’s pretty bleak!!

We could have nice things, but we need a political system that allows for such nice things.

oh shit they all got signed!! here’s some good trans legislative news for once

Has this been done

I know this is not the biggest concern going these days, but it stresses me out that basically every artist/writer/critic is now expected to create their own tiny empire instead of getting paid by any existing entity to perform a job they've worked to get good at!!!!

Thinking about @katelynburns.com for @theflytrapmedia.com: 'On the field, it was just me, the ball, and my opponents, and I was free of all the gender shit that clogged my brain the rest of the day.' Trans women and girls just want to play sports. That's all.

I love the whole crew at Romancing the Vote so much, they have raised a ton of money to support voting rights and are a force for good in a world of horrors. Prepare to open your wallet tomorrow!

"It's just sports," "It will only affect a few people," & "It'll also be used against cis women" are, IMHO, all equally not-great takes on today's SCOTUS ruling, just different angles. The Supreme Court ruled it's okay to discriminate against a certain class of people. Full stop. That is a horror.

Few things are more corrosive to democracy and conducive to complacency than the hero worship of a country's founders and the rhetoric of national greatness. For this semiquincentennial, I want some goddamn iconclasm and irreverence toward our slaveholder constitution share.google/JCEJtu5PiQDy...

This book means a lot to me (obviously). We live in a moment of politicized death, pathologization of human emotion, and pressure to move things along rather than sitting with them. Whether you are mourning or supporting a comrade or just thinking about these things, you will find something for you!

So far, we have sold 37 feminist media bundles. To recap: You can subscribe to three indie, worker-owned publications— @autonomynews.co , @theflytrapmedia.com , and @mothership.blog —for less than $11/month. Help us get to 50 sales? trustfnd.com/theflytrap/c...

When I had an ACA plan, I never used it because the deductible was too high. I had terrible pneumonia and still didn't use it because I couldn't afford to. I literally just had the plan for catastrophic situations, as many do. Apparently the more logical answer is I was a fake person. 🫠

“What we're seeing in the numbers of people experiencing homelessness isn't that we suddenly have an increase in people with mental health or substance use problems," @mkushel.bsky.social tells @milesklee.bsky.social. “What we have is that the rent is too damn high.” www.wired.com/story/the-al...

For a tidbit of my own field, environmental law, we are no longer talking about “climate change” The current used term is “Climate collapse”

Please contribute to our comrades if you can, this earthquake was real bad and it looks like things are going to get worse.