Blogaround

Links not related to the antichrist:

1. Oaths aren't about oaths, they're about performative speech acts (November 5) "How do we tell apart fancy official promises people are supposed to keep and fancy official promises people aren’t really supposed to keep?"

2. Playing Tag: Oversized Clothing Labels Aim to Curb Order Returns (November 7) "China’s online fashion retailers are implementing oversized, stiff, and brightly colored clothing tags in an effort to curb the industry’s notoriously high return rate."

Also from Sixth Tone: Minding Nemo: Vlogger Finds Fatal Flaws at China’s Aquariums (November 7) "Many exhibition spaces are still chaotic construction zones the day before the grand opening, with tanks filled with fresh saltwater just hours before the first batch of fish is introduced. These so-called “pioneer fish” — usually cheaper species — often die within a short time."

3. “I Won’t Change My Body to Fit Your Expectations”: Reflections From a Masculine Woman with PCOS (July 14, via) "It soon became very clear to me that my doctor at the time was hoping I’d “fix” what he thought was “wrong” with me. My masculine features were seen as a glaring issue to be solved. My doctor thought he had the solution and suggested I start estrogen to maintain my hormone levels."

4. OpenAI's new web browser has ChatGPT baked in. That's raising some privacy questions (November 7) 

---

Links related to the antichrist:

1. “New York City has Fallen”: MAGA erupts after Mamdani’s victory (November 5, via) A roundup of quotes from right-wing people being really racist about Mamdani's victory. In particular I'd like to highlight what Matt Walsh said: "A third world communist just won in New York because New York is a third world city now." WTF? Remember this, in case anyone ever claims that these are people whose opinions should be respected.

2. Foreign aid from the United States saved millions of lives each year (September 29, via) "AIDS programs saved the largest number of lives: over 1.5 million per year. Between a quarter and half a million were saved by vaccines, tuberculosis, malaria, and humanitarian response each."

3. Supreme Court temporarily blocks full SNAP benefits even as they'd started to go out (November 7) "The Supreme Court's decision means states must, for now, revert back to the partial payments the Trump administration had earlier instructed them to distribute."

Trump admin order to 'immediately undo' full SNAP benefits leaves states scrambling (November 9) 

As millions of Americans struggle with SNAP lapses, food banks are swamped with demand (November 7) "'It's painful when someone comes in and we have to say, 'I just don't have anything for you today,' ' says the pantry's client advocate, Juliet Smith. 'We've never had to do that before. Never.'"

All this back-and-forth about SNAP during the government shutdown has made me realize something: I've always thought of SNAP as a "safety net," like just a temporary thing that people should use only a few times in their lifetime, when they happen to be going through a hard time. But now I'm finding out how *real* this is, how people really need it and rely on it- some states have something like 15-20% of their population on SNAP. 42 million Americans. This isn't just some "safety net" which a negligible amount of people will need to use every now and then- this is essential infrastructure. Is it supposed to be essential infrastructure? Well, yeah, we need to have it because that many people really do need it. 

People shouldn't be shamed or judged for getting SNAP benefits. It should be just as neutral a thing as going to the library, or expecting the government to maintain the roads. I grew up among Republicans, and the vibe I always got concerning people who get food stamps is "well, they shouldn't, they should take responsibility and get a job and then they wouldn't need government handouts"- and therefore it's justified to judge them and put all kinds of rules and requirements on them. But, wow, something is *wrong* with society if seriously 42 million Americans aren't able to get jobs that pay well enough that they can afford food. Food! Something is wrong with society, and the government has a responsibility to do something about that. Either by giving them the money for food, or transforming society (specifically the job market?) such that people who do a decent normal amount of work will have a good enough income that they can live on. Hard to say which option is "better." I mean, I know that people would say it's better if everyone can get a job and get a good enough income, and then the government doesn't have to give them SNAP- but I can also imagine a society where people view it like "yeah, the government gives food to people who need it, of course they do, of course our tax dollars go to that, that is a normal thing that a society should do, not something we would want to minimize."

(Caveat: The fact that 42 million people receive SNAP benefits is not the same thing as saying 42 million people are in the situation like the people you see interviewed in these news articles, where they really don't know where they're going to get food if they don't get SNAP this month. Perhaps some significant fraction of these 42 million people have their finances generally under control, and have emergency savings available, and it's very helpful that they get money from SNAP every month but it's not the end of the world if they didn't? ... I think regardless, they really are in need. "People who receive SNAP" and "people who literally can't feed their families without SNAP" might not be the *exact* same group of people, BUT still, they really are in need and I am seeing that this really should be viewed as essential infrastructure.)

4. Judge orders White House to use American Sign Language interpreters at briefings (November 5)

5. SCOTUS Rules Against Trans People's Passport Gender Markers In Shadow Docket Ruling (November 7) "The Government seeks to enforce a questionably legal new policy immediately, but it offers no evidence that it will suffer any harm if it is temporarily enjoined from doing so, while the plaintiffs will be subject to imminent, concrete injury if the policy goes into effect."

6. Trump has accused boat crews of being narco-terrorists. The truth, AP found, is more nuanced (November 8) "They were laborers, a fisherman, a motorcycle taxi driver. Two were low-level career criminals. One was a well-known local crime boss who contracted out his smuggling services to traffickers."

7. Senators take first step toward reopening the government after historic shutdown (November 9) This just in, apparently some of the Senate Dems have caved and there's an agreement to end the government shutdown. Not sure what to make of this yet.