Can We Like…get Rid Of The So-called Leather And Rubber “pride Flags” ? It’s Honestly Ridiculous

Throwback to all these Jesus comics I drew in 2012…

“So in one case, these four justices chose to create a limitation on OSHA’s power found nowhere in the words of the law, then use that phantom limitation to say the government has no right to protect people. Then in the other case, they said that because the law didn’t predict the current pandemic with precise specificity, the government has no right to protect people there either.”

—

The frightening philosophy driving the Supreme Court’s decision on Biden vaccine mandates

The right wing SCOTUS majority are not jurists who interpret law with respect to precedent. They are political operatives abusing the law and their illegitimate authority to impose their extremism on people who did not elect them or have a voice in their nominations.

This week, the federal government can’t tell private citizens what to do with their bodies. I guarantee you the next time the question is revisited, as it relates to forcing women to have children against their will, this sudden deep and abiding respect for the rights of the individual will vanish.

Honestly as a blind person I’m so tired of seeing fictional blind characters who don’t use white canes or other guides. “They have special powers so they know what’s around them” or “they’re confident enough to not need a guide” are common tropes, and I’m tired.

Are people scared that using a white cane will make their blind character seem weak? They can’t use a cane because they’re so special that they already know what’s around them, and other blind people who use guides are inferior because they’re not special?

I’m tired. Give your blind characters white canes and other guides. Let them hold onto their friends, let them have guide dogs. Don’t make white cane users feel ostracized for not being “strong enough” to go without.

Another thing that pisses me off is when a sighted character comes up with the fantasy equivalent of braille and teaches it to the blind character. Braille was invented by Louis Braille, a blind man, in 1824. The blind character should be the one coming up with it.

Tldr I’m blind and tired of sighted people lol

🔪 Sighted People MUST Reblog This 🔪

If you live in the U.S. and you’re 12+, you’re eligible for the updated bivalent anti-omicron booster shot, and it should be available in your  local pharmacy. 

Please reblog this post, as there’s been very little news coverage and shockingly little propagation of information about the availability of updated boosters.

Idaho Senate Approves Bill to Kill 90 Percent of State’s Wolves

The bill would allow the state to hire contractors to kill the wolves, which supporters say are threatening the livelihoods of Idaho’s ranchers.

If environmental activists, both soft and hard line, had any courage, they would promote an effort to discourage any tourism to Idaho. This action is insane.

Excerpt from this New York Times story:

The Idaho Senate approved a bill this week that would permit the state to hire contractors to kill up to 90 percent of Idaho’s wolves with the goal, supporters said, of protecting cattle and other agricultural interests.

“These wolves, there’s too many in the state of Idaho,” State Senator Mark Harris, a Republican, said on the Senate floor before the vote on Wednesday, after telling a story about a “gentleman rancher” whose livelihood was jeopardized when a pack of wolves scared off his cattle.

Idaho’s Wolf Conservation and Management plan calls for the state to maintain a wolf population of at least 150 wolves. At last count, Mr. Harris said, 1,556 wolves were roaming the state.

“They’re destroying ranchers; they’re destroying wildlife,” he said.

The bill would give the state’s Wolf Control Fund an additional $190,000 to hire contractors to kill wolves — on top of $400,000 previously allocated toward killing wolves in Idaho. The bill also would remove a limit on the number of wolves a hunter is permitted to kill.

The Senate approved the bill in a 26-7 vote on Wednesday. The measure now goes to the State House of Representatives. The office of Governor Brad Little, a Republican, declined to say whether he planned to sign the bill. Last year Mr. Little signed another bill boosting funds for the killing of wolves.

Backers of the bill said that wolves also reduce the numbers of deer and elk available to hunters, taking an additional economic toll on the state. Some lawmakers disputed that hiring contractors would drive the wolf population down to just 150, while others referenced the 150 figure as if were the goal.

i dont consider myself a 'fashion guru' by any means but one thing i will say is guys you dont need to know the specific brand an item you like is - you need to know what the item is called. very rarely does a brand matter, but knowing that pair of pants is called 'cargo' vs 'boot cut' or the names of dress styles is going to help you find clothes you like WAAAYYYY faster than brand shopping

Mary McLeod Bethone with National Youth Administration youth, image here.

Mary McLeod Bethune to Return to Capitol Hill (as an impressive addition to Statuary Hall)

By Miriam Kleiman, Public Affairs

We continue our celebration of Black History Month (Feb) and Women's History Month (March) with Civil Rights icon and DC power broker extraordinaire Mary McLeod Bethune (1875-1955).

Dr. Bethune will soon join the Old Boys Club on Capitol Hill (90 of the 100 statues there are of men), as an impressive 3 ton, 11 foot statue in the Capitol's National Statuary Hall. Created by sculptor Nilda Comas, the statue's pedestal reads: “Invest in the human soul. Who knows, it may be a diamond in the rough.” Women’s History Month bonus! Comas will be the first Latina artist to have a sculpture in the National Statuary Hall.

Mary Jane McLeod Bethune was born in South Carolina in 1875, the 15th of 17 children to former slaves Samuel and Patsy McLeod. She was a passionate educator, community organizer, presidential advisor, Civil Rights and women's rights activist, decades-long public servant (60 years), and patriot, in addition to mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother. Her long list of achievements include:

1st Black woman to lead a federal agency.

1st Black women with a university founded in her name.

Founder of the National Council of Negro Women to advocate for and advance rights for Black women, their families and communities.

Leader of FDR's unofficial "Black Cabinet." Used this position to creating jobs for Blacks in the federal government and New Deal agencies.

As Director of Negro Affairs, she was the highest paid Black government employee in 1939—with a $5,000 salary (equivalent to $100,000 today.

VP of the NAACP in 1940, a position she held for the rest of her life.

Helped establish the Women’s Army Corps (1942) and ensured it was racially integrated.

Archivist and chronicler of Black women's history.

Bethune was the only Black woman at the founding conference of the United Nations in 1945.

Despite the attitude of some employers in refusing to hire Negros to perform needed, skilled services, and despite the denial of the same opportunities and courtesies to our youth in the armed forces of our country, we must not fail America and as Americans, we must not let America fail us.

Her life was celebrated with a memorial statue in Washington DC in 1974, and a stamp in 1985.

“We have a powerful potential in our youth, and we must have the courage to change old ideas and practices so that we may direct their power toward good ends.”

Bethune and Hoover President Hoover invited her to the White House Conference on Child Health and Protection, and then appointed her to a commission to plan a “National Memorial Building” in DC “as a tribute to the Negro’s contribution to the achievements of America.” Congress did not back the project and private fundraising also failed. More than 80 years later, this vision became reality when the National Museum of African American History and Culture opened in DC.

Bethune and FDR In 1935, President Roosevelt invited her to DC to serve as a Special Advisor to the National Youth Administration, and then named her National Youth Association Director of Negro Affairs, making her the first Black woman to lead a federal agency. During World War II she advocated for African American women to be allowed to serve in the Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps (WACS) and Women Appointed for Voluntary Emergency Service (WAVES).

Bethune and Eleanor Roosevelt

None of us certainly can say that as yet we have perfect democracy, nor even the democracy that Abraham Lincoln and others of our great men envisioned. But I for one am proud that our country could produce a Mrs. Bethune. Your achievements are a tribute to our nation even more a tribute to your own individual spirit and effort. Eleanor Roosevelt.

Portrait of Mary McLeod Bethune, NARA ID 559194. From the Harmon Foundation, a nonprofit, private foundation for African art. More online.

Mary McLeod Bethune, Eleanor Roosevelt and others at the opening of Midway Hall, "one of two residence halls built by the Public Buildings Administration of Federal Works Agency for Negro government girls..." May 1943, NARA ID 533032.

Eleanor Roosevelt receives Mary McLeod Bethune Human Rights Award from Dorothy Height, National Council of Negro Women President, 11/12/1960, NARA ID 196283.

In her last will and testament from 1955, Dr. Bethune wrote:

I leave you hope. The Negro’s growth will be great in the years to come. Yesterday our ancestors endured the degradation of slavery, yet they retained their dignity. Today, we direct our strength toward winning a more abundant and secure life. Tomorrow, a new Negro, unhindered by race taboos and shackles, will benefit from more than 330 years of ceaseless struggle. Theirs will be a better world. This I believe with all my heart. Correspondence Between Harry S. Truman and Mary McLeod Bethune, Truman Library,

See also:

Before Kamala: Black Women in Presidential Administrations, Rediscovering Black History

Official Personnel Folder for Mary McLeod Bethune, NARA ID 158329664.

Mary Bethune: Adviser to Presidents, Hoover Heads blog

Providing a New Deal for Young Black Women: Mary McLeod Bethune and the Negro Affairs Division of the National Youth Association, Rediscovering Black History.

Featured NARA public program: Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All

Mustering Out: the Navy’s First Black Yeowomen, Rediscovering Black History

See also: The original 19th Amendment, now on view in the exhibit Rightfully Hers: American Women and the Vote, through April 10th.

Yall stay safe and that includes from yourself.

I know things are tough and you feel like you cant go on but please keep fighting. I believe in you and i cant wait for you too see yourself the way i see yall.

I love yall stay safe please.

There’s a nasty winter storm that’s going to hit most of the central regions of the US tomorrow (21 December 2022), especially tomorrow night. Please check your local forecasts if you live anywhere east of the rocky mountains, even down as far south as Texas. In some areas of the Plains region, windchill is likely to be -50F to -70F. That is so cold that you will develop frostbite in minutes. You will lose extremities without protection if you are exposed to windchill that cold. -70F is “surface of Mars” cold.

My part of the US is going to be below freezing all next week. This is normal for some. Not so normal for others.

If your area is likely to be impacted by the storm, please prepare now. The most important thing is staying warm and staying inside until things warm up outside. Specific tips I can offer, as somebody who regularly deals with cold winters are:

Put blankets over windows and doors. This will help your house retain heat.

Stay well-fed. Buy food now. You will get hungry faster because your body will burn calories to stay warm.

Stay hydrated. If your lips are chapped you’re probably dehydrated.

Stay dry. Remove wet clothing as soon as possible. It is better to be naked than wet when it is cold.

If it is going to get below freezing for more than an hour or two, run your water at a trickle or drip to prevent your pipes from bursting. The colder it gets the faster your pipes will freeze.

Here’s the weather forecast for this storm: