Links not related to the antichrist:
1. China’s Security Guards Live Lives on the Margin (November 25) "According to the current regulations concerning security services in China, security guards are required to meet three basic conditions: be in good health, have at least a junior high school diploma, and have no more than three administrative detentions on their record. Despite not meeting any of these criteria, Xiao Bing has always managed to find his way back into the industry. The reason is simple: companies often struggle to recruit enough guards for residential communities, given the low pay, lack of career prospects, and low social status."
2. Freebirth Influencers are Killing Babies (November 29) [content note: child death] "All of this hasn’t happened in a vacuum. It’s a story that I’ve been talking about for decades now: remove agency from women. Add in societal pressures. In place of agency, tell women some fantasy about magical powers that allow them to transcend those challenges. Then blame them for suffering and dying because they didn’t use their magic the right way."
This article is about the "free birth movement" and MY GOODNESS I had heard of "free birth" but had no idea it was this bad. I know that "home birth" sort of spans a spectrum from 'pregnant people who are well-informed about their own pregnancy's risks of complications, and who have a good backup plan in case they need to be rushed to the hospital, can give birth at home and it's basically just as safe as a hospital birth' to 'doctors are bad, all you need is your feminine energy and everything will be okay'- well it turns out that "free birth" means going off the deep end of the "doctors are bad" side of that.
Moms and babies used to die quite often in childbirth. Yes, giving birth is natural, and your body *probably* can do it and you won't die- but "probably" is not good enough. Know the risks, and get the medical help that makes sense for you. In my second pregnancy I had pre-eclampsia which is life-threatening, but I didn't really think it was a big deal because I didn't have any symptoms- but the doctors caught it early and took it extremely seriously, and everything turned out fine.
I totally agree that the reason women are drawn to these "free birth" influencers is because the medical system has traumatized them. So many women have experienced doctors doing all kinds of invasive things to them without their consent, during childbirth, and are pressured to accept it because "all that matters is the baby is healthy." Not cool! We need to prioritize consent in health care.
3. These Zika mothers went to battle — and their cry was heard (November 29) "It's a story that plays itself out all over the world, Brito says — in big ways and small. A health or natural disaster befalls a community and they are all that anyone talks about. But quickly, people turn to the next tragedy elsewhere. For that original community, though, the challenge has only just begun."
4. Young Girls Were Sexually Abused by a Church Member. They Were Told to Forgive and Forget. (November 20, via) [content note: child sexual abuse] "'I went back to the same preacher, which is Daryl [Bruckelmyer], and said, ‘Why is he still able to hold kids and whatever?’' she recalled to Kleffman in a recorded interview. 'And he’s like: ‘I don’t know. Like, we’ve told him that he’s not supposed to, but he still does.’'"
5. Bridge Clearance (November 28) From xkcd.
6. Take up wickedness again (November 30) "Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar."
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Links related to the antichrist:
(I don't really believe there's a specific prophesied "antichrist", but I just have to call him that because it's absurd how evangelicals, after spending so many years obsessing about which world leader might possibly be "the antichrist" and what traits such a person would have, are the ones selling their souls to him.)
1. MAGA’s Twin WTF Moments (November 25) "And that underscores a hard truth: MAGA is whatever Trump says it is at any given moment, even if that means abandoning everything it previously stood for."
2. Trump administration orders review of Biden-era refugees, memo shows (November 25) "The USCIS memo, dated November 21, said the agency will terminate the refugee status of people already in the U.S. if they are found to not meet refugee criteria."
Oh my god, they want to review 233,000 refugees and find whatever technicalities they can use as excuses to deport people. Refugees. My god.
And: Trump administration pausing all asylum decisions after National Guard shooting (November 28)
3. House and Senate committees launch inquiries into second strike on alleged drug boat (November 30) "Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., said Sunday on CNN that if the reporting on the second strike is true, “it seems to” constitute a war crime."
4. FDA to raise hurdles for vaccines, faulting COVID shots for 10 kids' deaths (November 29) Oh this is a terrible idea. Also, why isn't the public discourse highlighting the risks of *not* vaccinating your kids? *Not* vaccinating your kids can lead to measles and all kinds of other diseases.
5. Why clergy should risk assault to protest ICE (November 13, via) "For people wanting to experience God, we are more likely to meet the Divine trying to shut down the Broadview facility than we ever were in church. I say that as someone who leads a church for a living. God does not live in our houses of worship, but instead chooses to dwell with those who are bearing the brunt of cruelty in this moment." Preach.
6. ‘Last Week Tonight With John Oliver’ Auction Raises More Than $1.5 Million for Public Broadcasting, Including New Record for a Bob Ross Painting (November 24, via)
7. Crime in the Cabinet (December 1) "Even so, it was striking to hear two independent credible accusations of crimes by Trump cabinet officials in the same week."
Also: The Trump administration's lawlessness is front and center, on multiple fronts (November 30) "Despite the horrors and harm involved, all three stories show how important discussing lawlessness is to making accountability possible — now or in the future."