Blogaround

Links not related to the antichrist:

1. Merry Christmas! Here's the song "Adoration" by the Newsboys.

2. Australia’s Social Media Ban is a Win for Gambling Companies (December 21)

3. Victory in New Zealand, For Now—Injunction Brings Puberty Blocker Ban to a Screeching Halt (December 18)

4. Funny Numbers (December 22) From xkcd.

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Links related to the antichrist:

1. Families Bring Legal Challenge Against Yale, CCMC For Capitulating To Trump On Trans Youth Care (December 18) "Critically, no law in the United States currently bans gender-affirming care for transgender youth, meaning the hospitals cannot credibly claim federal preemption of state law. Instead, the cessation of care appears to be driven solely by fear of retaliation from the Trump administration. This is particularly significant in Connecticut, which—like several other states where hospitals have dropped care—has strong statutory protections for transgender people, raising the possibility that these decisions violate state civil rights law, a question GLAD is now seeking to resolve."

I have a lot of links from Erin in the Morning: 

Nationwide Trans Youth Care Ban Incoming As Trump Admin Announces "Nuclear Option" Federal Rule (December 19) "These draft rules comprise a dangerous and unconstitutional attempt to undermine the longstanding right of states to ensure the health and well-being of their residents, the right of parents and caregivers to support and love trans and nonbinary young people, and the guidance of doctors and medical organizations on the well-established standard of care."

ACTION ITEM: You can submit a public comment here, Medicare and Medicaid Programs; Hospital Condition of Participation: Prohibiting Sex-Rejecting Procedures for Children. The comment period ends February 17, 2026.

Trans Youth Emergency Project Offers Families Guidance To Help Keep Getting Care After New Trump Anti-Trans Rule (December 21) "Adam Polaski explained, 'At every turn, we have been able to pivot and scale up and show people the reason that this is important. Folks have stepped up with their dollars, and also folks have requested support and spread the word. So right now, I don’t want folks to feel like they shouldn’t reach out because they ‘don’t really need it’ or someone else ‘needs it more than them.’ Everyone needs the support right now, and it’s ok. We have the capacity to take it on.'"

You can donate here: Trans Youth Emergency Project

ACLU Pledges To Challenge Trump Admin In Court Over National Trans Youth Care Ban Rule (December 23) 

2. Let's all watch the CECOT 60-Minutes segment that Bari Weiss doesn't want us to watch. 

[content note: torture]

60 Minus (December 22) "If the administration’s refusal to participate becomes a valid reason to spike a story, we have effectively handed them a “kill switch” for any reporting they find inconvenient."

Links where you can watch it: here, here, here

3. The year Trump broke the federal government (December 21, via) This is very long, and hard to read. I haven't read the whole thing. It's about the huge numbers of government workers who have been fired this year.

4. The Horns and Whistles Work (December 19, via) "Border Patrol might spend hours waiting to detain an immigrant, only to be thwarted by a united neighborhood effort."

5. Univ. of Oklahoma punishes instructor for failing Christian student who didn't do the assignment (December 23) "The only person who behaved with integrity in this saga was the graduate instructor who gave Fulnecky detailed, thoughtful feedback. And that’s the only person who was punished."

6. ICE officer accused of excessive force, then sent back to work despite active probe (December 24) "By the following Monday, Mojica was back on the job, without any further explanation from the agency."

7. Biden stopped the executions of 37 men. Trump's DOJ wants to punish them (December 23) "'These are new punishments,' said Maher. 'This is an additional punishment for these men who have already been sentenced.'"

Blogaround

Links not related to the antichrist:

1. Air Bud Pt. II: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (Web Exclusive) (October 20, 20-minute video) I love when people take the details of a fictional universe way too seriously.

2. From definitions to motivations (October 21) "Educators must be on guard against the shitty imaginations of skeptical audiences."

3. An explainer about kiwi farms. (October 21) "Kiwi farms has always existed as a community designed to foster, celebrate and encourage online harassment of vulnerable people."

4. Iceland reports the presence of mosquitoes for the first time, as climate warms (October 22) [content note: article has a close-up photo of a mosquito]

5. Reversing peanut advice prevented tens of thousands of allergy cases, researchers say (October 21) I'm kinda surprised to read this- I have little kids and so I've been through the whole process of how to introduce new foods to a baby, and the concerns about allergens, and the impression I got was basically "Don't give foods that are possible allergens to your baby until they are 1 year old! Oh, but wait, there's this other scientific evidence that giving potential allergens to the baby earlier can actually prevent allergies, and that also makes a certain kind of sense. Hmm, both sides have good points here, hard to say which one is right." But this article is saying yeah that standard advice has changed, now we are telling parents they should introduce potential allergens to their babies earlier, and this is a real thing with scientific evidence to back it up, and wow look how many allergies it has prevented. I'm really surprised to hear that "U.S. health guidance changed in 2015 and 2017"- that was before my kids were born, but when I was doing this for my kids, I very much did not get the impression that this advice was well-supported by evidence. I have always seen it talked about in parenting social media groups like "well, there's a certain logic to the idea that introducing these foods earlier can avoid allergies, but who's to say?" 

Could be that different countries have different standard advice? The groups I'm in are moms from all different countries, currently living in China. Or it could be that parents are overly-cautious, and view delaying introducing these foods as the "safer" move- even though that's not what the research says- but I can understand how intuitively it "feels" safer.

6. ‘Huge Lesson’: A Beijing Farmer Learns to Live in Climate Extremes (October 22) "It was 4 a.m. on July 28, when record-breaking downpours struck the mountains in Miyun District, northern Beijing, part of a storm system that swamped valleys overnight. By dawn, the flood had erased his 30-hectare farm."

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Links related to the antichrist:

A lot of bad stuff going on... don't get discouraged by all of it; instead, find ways to take action. Protest, donate money, connect with people near you to see how you can help.

1. Trump’s college compact is a trap (October 17) "The only reasonable response for now is for colleges to show solidarity and refuse."

2. We Found That More Than 170 U.S. Citizens Have Been Held by Immigration Agents. They’ve Been Kicked, Dragged and Detained for Days. (October 16) "'If the officers learn that the individual they stopped is a U.S. citizen or otherwise lawfully in the United States,' Kavanaugh wrote, 'they promptly let the individual go.' But that is far from the reality many citizens have experienced."

3. Millions Show Up AGAIN To Tell Trump They Hate Him (October 20) Photos and videos from No Kings protests across the US. [content note: one of the photos shows a giant penis costume]

4. Trump posts AI video showing him dumping on No Kings protesters (October 20) "President Donald Trump on Saturday posted an AI-generated video depicting him in a fighter jet dropping what appears to be feces on U.S. protesters." What on earth.

5. Why the State Department handed U.S. informants over to El Salvador (October 21) "So a core part of an informant relationship is that the United States says, you know, if you give us some information, we're not going to turn around and send you to the very government that you are giving us information about. That just doesn't happen."

6. White House begins demolishing part of East Wing for Trump ballroom (October 21, via) 

7. Legal experts question Rep. Goldman’s call for NYPD to arrest ICE agents if they act unlawfully (October 21) "'It is abundantly clear that the Trump administration is unwilling to police its own officers or hold them accountable for gross misconduct,' the letter states. 'Accordingly, NYPD — pursuant to the department’s own mission, values and oath of office — has an obligation to intervene and take appropriate action, including arrest, when federal immigration officers engage in conduct that is unlawful under state law and beyond the scope of their federal enforcement authority.'"

Also from Gothamist: Federal judge in NYC rules ICE can keep detaining people at immigration court — for now (September 13)

8. Arizona Attorney General’s Office confirms lawsuit against House Speaker Johnson (October 21) "Representative-elect Adelita Grijalva has still not been sworn in four weeks after her win. Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes is suing House Speaker Mike Johnson, citing 'taxation without representation.'"

9. Home missions (October 21) "For 21st-century white evangelicals, Hudson Taylor and Lottie Moon are too 'woke.'"

Also from the Slacktivist: Get angry. Stay angry. Do better. (October 22) "That anger is the thing missing from all of the recent stories of more than merely 'problematic youthful indiscretions.' These stories involve plenty of defensiveness and dismissal and diminishment, but no self-reproach. No anger."

Blogaround

Hi all, I'm on vacation, but here are some links

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Links not related to the antichrist:

1. Does X cause Y? An in-depth evidence review (2021) "First, the good news: there are hundreds of studies on whether X causes Y. The bad news? We need to throw most of them out."

2. John MacArthur, dead fundamentalist (July 22)

3. OZZY OSBOURNE - "Crazy Train" (Official Video) I seem to remember I used to play this song in Guitar Hero. (Posting this because, Ozzy Osbourne, Black Sabbath frontman and icon of British heavy metal, dies aged 76 (July 22))

4. The NSFW game purge (July 24) "If a conservative group can apply pressure to remove certain NSFW games, what’s to stop them from removing, say, LGBT content? I am here to tell you that it has already happened."

Also from Siggy: Journal Club: Demography of Asexuality and Aromanticism (July 24) "We’re happy to see that this article is far more willing than most scholarly articles to cite gray literature, including blog posts, tumblr posts, livestreams, and YouTube videos."

5. His name is Mohammad Al-Motawaq. He is 18 months old. And he is starving in Gaza (July 27)

6. Get ready, Brazil. The 'good mosquitoes' are coming (July 26) "Remarkably, this bacteria and the virus that causes dengue are unable to coexist inside the mosquito that transmits this disease."

7. Freakier Friday | Official Trailer | In Theaters August 8 (June 7) !!!! A "Freaky Friday" sequel that has Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan again! Very excited about this!

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Links related to the antichrist:

1. The Gloves Are Off | "I Absolutely Love That Colbert Got Fired" | Trump & Epstein's Wonderful Secret (July 22) 

And from npr: This was the week that comedy pushed back (July 27) 

2. From Joy To Justice (July 22) "Before I dive in, a special thanks to all of the lawyers, journalists, activists, Congress members and ordinary citizens who did not let this story go and never relented, applying constant pressure upon our government to undo its original illegal renditions. Whatever post-hoc reason the government gives today for its actions, we all know that the 252 men sent to CECOT would still be there were it not for the hard work of so many."

And from npr: 'Hell on Earth': Venezuelans deported to El Salvador mega-prison tell of brutal abuse (July 27)

And: Ex-marine convicted of killing three people released to US in prisoner swap (July 23) What! So is he just free in the US or what? I haven't found any reporting on whether they're just letting him go free or what's going on.

3. We Need to Talk About Pedocon Theory (July 22) I had some opinions about this article, maybe I will try to blog about it if I have time. I want to say, in Christian "sexual purity" ideology, I have *definitely* come across the idea that the ideal case would be girls who are around 15 years old, right at the point where they've started having their period and are therefore able to get pregnant, getting married to adult men who are well-established financially. It's a pretty fringe idea, and I haven't met anyone in real life who was seriously advocating this, but I have seen the idea floated and it's totally consistent with the logic of purity culture, which says that the MOST IMPORTANT THING about sex and marriage is that you need to not have sex outside of marriage (oh and also, the husband has to be the leader). Other concerns, like actually treating each other right, are nice to have, but the main thing is DON'T HAVE SEX till that ring is on your finger.

(See my posts All of the LOLs for this Sermon on "Marrying Young" and Why Marriage as a Private Contract is a Bad Idea and Roy Moore Dating Teenage Girls "For Their Purity" is 100% Logical in Purity Land)

I never thought of that as pedophilia, but wow, it totally is.

4. US-funded contraceptives for poor nations to be burned in France, sources say (July 25) "One of the sources with knowledge of the issue said that the Trump administration was acting in accordance with the Mexico City policy, an anti-abortion pact in which Trump reinstated U.S. participation in January. The pact forbids the U.S. government from contributing to or working with organisations providing funding or supplies that offer access to abortions."

5. Fearing coverage could change, some parents rush to vaccinate their kids (July 25) How will I explain RFK to my children

6. PEPFAR escaped the rescission ax. But where does it stand? (July 26) "Since its founding, PEPFAR has put more than $120 billion into combatting the virus in more than 50 countries. The result of all that money and effort, it says, is clear, citing accomplishments that are widely accepted: 26 million lives saved, a plummeting of HIV infection rates and a rebounding of life expectancy, especially in Africa."

7. Trump administration hands over Medicaid recipients’ personal data, including addresses, to ICE (July 28) "Many people sign up for emergency Medicaid in their most desperate moments, said Hannah Katch, a previous adviser at CMS during the Biden administration. 'It’s unthinkable that CMS would violate the trust of Medicaid enrollees in this way,' Katch said."

Blogaround

Links not related to the antichrist:

1. New Texas law aims to save lives by clarifying the state abortion ban. Will it work? (July 19) This law is probably a good thing, but it's still based on the premise that we have to separate those evil murderous women who want abortions because they're so evil, from those good innocent mothers who want abortions for the right reasons.

2. Replication Crisis (July 18) From xkcd.

3. One Minute Park (via) This is a cool little site which shows you 60-second videos of random parks.

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Links related to the antichrist:

1. Court Orders 19-Year-Old Asylum Seeker Released After ICE Unlawfully Arrested Him at Immigration Hearing (July 17) "This happened despite Oliver’s legal entry into the United States, lack of a criminal history, and compliance with all government orders when applying for U.S. citizenship."

2. 10 Americans are freed by Venezuela in a prisoner swap for migrants in El Salvador (July 18) I'm confused about this- so apparently now all the Venezuelans that the US sent to CECOT have been sent to Venezuela? Is that good? Why were they originally deported to El Salvador if Venezuela wanted them back? And what about getting justice for those who were falsely accused of being "gang members" and mistreated by the US and El Salvador?

More on that: Andry Is Free. Trump’s Barbarous Immigration Regime Is Just Getting Started. (July 21) "For 125 days Andry and hundreds of other men were held in a torture prison where they got a “beating for breakfast, for lunch, for dinner.” They had been kidnapped by our government and left in that hellhole to rot with no due process, no access to legal counsel, no phone call home. They were completely stripped of their humanity. In many cases their only crime was existing in Stephen Miller’s America while being Venezuelan. For some, their sin was having the wrong tattoo."

“We Were Kidnapped” (July 18) "On Friday, more than 200 Venezuelans disappeared to a megaprison in El Salvador returned home. The horror stories are already emerging."

3. Stephen Colbert Announces The Cancellation Of “The Late Show” (July 18) He says the show will end in May 2026.

4. Evidence challenging the Trump admin's immigration moves is now out in the open (July 11) "The evidence is damning on all fronts, but especially as to the Trump administration’s actions on March 15, 2025, when it attempted to begin carrying out President Donald Trump’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act without a war and without — as was later detailed — as much process as was given to suspected Nazis during World War II."

5. Congress rolls back $9 billion in public media funding and foreign aid (July 18) "The House has approved a Trump administration plan to rescind $9 billion in previously allocated funds, including $1.1 billion for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) — a move that cuts all federal support for NPR, PBS and their member stations — and about $7 billion in foreign aid."

6. “Even God Cannot Hear Us Here”: What I Witnessed Inside an ICE Women’s Prison (July 17) "No one deserves to live in cramped, unsanitary, inhumane conditions and have their medical needs ignored. No one deserves to have their religious needs ignored. And no one deserves to lack access to nutritious food. I am free, but my true freedom is interlinked with the freedom of many women I lived alongside in ICE prison." Written by Rümeysa Öztürk.

Blogaround

Links not related to the antichrist:

1. How China Built the Most Extreme Metro Ever (June 18, 14-minute video) This is really cool! It's about the subway system in Chongqing, China. I've been to Chongqing before- very mountainy.

2. You and translator microbes (June 19, via) "Serious multilingual nuances and complexities, which the real world offers in abundance, are cordoned off into a one-line tech explanation and forgotten. Category mismatches, unaligned conventions surrounding conversational maxims, and the fact that different languages have different approaches as to which grammatical features to encode explicitly and which ones to leave unspoken (unspoken, yes, but still very much mutually understood amongst a speaker population) are all things that will inevitably arise occasionally in multilingual communications, even with maximally competent interpreters present." !!!!! This! All of this!

3. The Fungus behind King Tut’s Curse is a LIE (July 10) "As best I can tell, some microbiologists thought they were being cute with 'the pharaoh hypothesis' and the general public just saw the title and said, 'Aha! It’s real and the cause is fungus.' No!"

4. How this long-lost Chinese typewriter from the 1940s changed modern computing (July 5) Cool!

5. ‘Biblical grounds’ for white Texan divorce (July 10) "That’s how divorce works in white evangelicaldom — it’s completely unacceptable unless you can demonize your former spouse and put 100% of the blame on them for sinning like a sinful sinner."

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Links related to the antichrist:

1. Save Our Signs (via) "Join our effort to build a community archive of the signs, exhibits, and texts that could soon disappear from our national parks."

2. This Is What Trump Paid El Salvador To Do To Kilmar Abrego Garcia (July 4) I shared a link about this last time, but there are more details here. 

3. Judge blocks Trump's order restricting birthright citizenship (July 10) "'Every court to have looked at this cruel order agrees that it is unconstitutional,' Wofsy, the deputy director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, said in a statement announcing the lawsuit in late June. 'The Supreme Court’s decision did not remotely suggest otherwise, and we are fighting to make sure President Trump cannot trample on the citizenship rights of a single child.'"

And related to that: It must be amazing to be a Supreme Court justice (June 30) "Leaving parents hanging on the question of whether their newborn children have citizenship here, or somewhere, or nowhere; issuing abstract rulings opining that while presidents should of course strive to not do plainly criminal things, they can do plainly criminal things so long as they do it from behind the right desk; hurling grenades that blow up centuries of established law on the last day of the term and than getting the hell out of Dodge before the ink is dry, booking it at top speed to go off salmon-fishing or island-hopping."

4. Federal judge orders stop to indiscriminate immigration raids in Los Angeles (July 11) "In her order, Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong, of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, said there is "a mountain of evidence" to support the claim that agents are arresting people solely based on their race, accents, or the work they're engaged in, in violation of the Fourth Amendment's protection against unreasonable government seizure."

5. Freed from ICE detention, Mahmoud Khalil files $20 million claim against Trump administration (July 11) "'My beliefs are not wanting my tax money or tuition going toward investments in weapons manufacturers for a genocide,' Khalil said. 'It’s as simple as that.'"

Blogaround

Links not related to the antichrist:

1. How Classic Star Trek Actually Missed the Point About Racism (June 25, 43-minute video) "Captain Kirk never felt it was necessary to pull McCoy aside and say, 'Hey, man, next time you disagree with Spock, maybe try not to mention what color his blood is.'"

2. Israel kills over 300 Palestinians in 48 hours as Gaza runs out of graves (July 3, via)

Also from Gaza: Knives, bullets and thieves: the quest for food in Gaza (July 6) "At the distribution site, I pushed people aside and grabbed whatever food I found tossed on the ground under torn cardboard boxes: cooking oil, biscuits, a bag of rice that had been torn open and was mixed with sand from the ground. I didn't care. It's food. I can wash it."

The destruction of Palestine is breaking the world (July 6, via) "This collapse began with the liberal world’s lack of resolve to rein in Israel’s war in Gaza. It escalated when no one lifted a finger to stop hospitals being bombed. It expanded when mass starvation became a weapon of war. And it is peaking at a time when total war is no longer viewed as a human abhorrence but is instead the deliberate policy of the state of Israel."

3. AI chatbots oversimplify scientific studies and gloss over critical details — the newest models are especially guilty (July 5, via) 

I've started using Deepseek at work, asking it for help with programming tasks. There are some things it's good at, but also, sometimes it just has no idea what it's talking about, and it's not immediately obvious when those times are. Its output reads as equally authoritative and confident regardless. One trick I've figured out is, if I read Deepseek's output and I feel like "I didn't quite understand this, let me read it again more carefully"- that's a red flag, it's likely that reading more carefully is just going to be a waste of time.

See, normally when you encounter text that sounds like it knows what it's talking about, but you can't quite understand it, it DOES help to spend more time reading it carefully. Because a person wrote it, and they had an idea of what they wanted to say, and they made decisions about what details to include. If it turns out their answer is not useful for you, that might be because they were working on a different thing than what you are doing, or they were wrong about it, or they made typos when writing. But for an AI-generated text, the concepts of having an idea it's trying to communicate, and being right or wrong about it- these concepts don't have any meaning when we're talking about AI-generated text. The LLM simply generates something that comes across as the sort of thing that would be an answer to your question. That's it. 

I've found that it's especially misleading when you're trying to write code to do something, which could be done in several different ways, with different groups of functions applying to each way (and some of them are deprecated, and some of them only work with certain versions of certain software packages, etc)- the LLM will sort of combine these seamlessly so you don't *at all* get the understanding that, if you use *this* function, you need to also be using *this other* function, but not *that other* one.

Like this one time Deepseek gave me some code to use that had 2 different functions in it, and then later as I continued to debug, Deepseek brought up the point that if I'm using this one approach, I shouldn't use this other approach, and I'm like "you literally gave me code that said to do it that way" and Deepseek is all like "you're right to point that out!" and then I got mad at it, but there's nothing to be gained from arguing with Deepseek, so don't do that. It's never going to actually understand what it did wrong and do better.

Anyway, sometimes it's really helpful. But when it's not helpful, it's very deceptive, because the output text is so friendly and easy to read and makes you feel like you're just 1 step away from solving your problem. This is the sort of thing that I think we as a society need to spend more time really thinking through what the use-case is, and what strategies we should use so it's actually effective and useful. Education about best practices.

Because right now, people are treating LLMs like the output they give you is the answer to your question, and oh yikes, no, that's not what it is. The output is the sort of thing that we might imagine someone might say in response to your question, but that has an tenuous connection to what's actually true and/or makes sense.

4. The ultra-selfish gene (2024) Really interesting article about how gene editing can be used to wipe out the subspecies of mosquito which carries malaria- which could potentially save hundreds of thousands of people's lives every year. But, releasing an edited gene into the wild, to wipe out a whole subspecies- uh, better think carefully about if you really want to do that. A lot of unexpected things could go wrong. This article takes those risks seriously and talks about strategies to reduce the risk. There is a lot of potential for this technology to be used for good.

5. A Rough Ride: ‘Dirty’ Workers Stand Up to Subway Stares (July 4) "This leaves manual workers who need to commute in dusty clothes in a bind: they can either take a seat and potentially face the ire of fellow passengers, sit on the floor and risk injury, or stay on their weary feet throughout the journey."

6. I released my game (July 5) This is a cool game if you like math~

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Links related to the antichrist:

1. 4 things to know about the vaccine ingredient thimerosal (July 6) "Fiscus, from the Association of Immunization Managers, says the committee's decision to only recommend single-dose flu shots without thimerosal shows that it is willing to make a decision without following protocol and considering the scientific evidence. 'Is this now going to be the standard?' she says. 'That's very concerning if that's where this is heading.'"

2. Arlington woman detained by ICE after her honeymoon speaks publicly for the first time (July 3) "'I did lose five months of my life because I was criminalized for being stateless,' she said. 'Something that I absolutely have no control over. I didn't choose to be stateless, I didn't do a crime that made me stateless. I had no choice.'"

3. Abrego Garcia says he was severely beaten in Salvadoran prison (July 3)

4. UPenn updates swimming records to settle with feds on transgender athletes case (July 2) "The University of Pennsylvania on Tuesday modified a trio of school records set by transgender swimmer Lia Thomas and said it would apologize to female athletes "disadvantaged" by her participation on the women's swimming team, part of a resolution of a federal civil rights case." They're really going to a lot of effort just to be mean to Lia Thomas specifically. 

5. All the children of the world (July 7) "That committee also organized our annual Missions Conference, which began each year with young people from our church parading through the sanctuary carrying the flags of every nation our missionaries served. “World Missions” was an integral part of that church’s identity and the faith taught, learned, and lived there."

6. Projected Mortality Impacts of the Budget Reconciliation Bill (June 3, via) "Including that impact, the researchers project that these changes will result in over 51,000 preventable deaths."

7. Bombshell report alleges El Salvador disclaimed responsibility for those U.S. sent to CECOT (July 8) "El Salvador, per the U.N. working group’s report attached to the filing, acknowledged that it had 'facilitated the use of the Salvadoran prison infrastructure' by the U.S. — but also stated that, '[i]n this context, the jurisdiction and legal responsibility for these persons lie exclusively with the' U.S."

Blogaround

Links not related to the antichrist:

1. “They’re Ruining People’s Lives” Bans on Gender-Affirming Care for Transgender Youth in the US (June 3, via) "Parents reported traveling long distances, sometimes across multiple states, incurring costs for airfare, gas, hotels, and lost wages. Two families reported having to re-establish care twice as new bans forced them to relocate again. Families and advocates reported that insurance companies routinely deny coverage for out-of-state treatment, forcing families to bear significant financial burdens. Some families reported facing costs of up to US$4,500 every six months for medications alone. These challenges disproportionately impact low-income families and rural residents, who often lack the resources to afford regular interstate travel for care."

2. Vietnam ends its longstanding 2-child policy (June 4) Oh wow, I actually had no idea that other countries besides China had policies like that. (China's one-child policy ended in 2016.)

3. ‘I’m really scared’: Elderly and disabled Californians with more than $2,000 could lose Medi-Cal (May 29) "'It’s draconian — $2,000 is no safety net for people,' said Kim Selfon, an attorney with Bet Tzedek, a legal services organization in Los Angeles."

When I first heard that there are policies which kick disabled people off of government benefits if the amount of money in their bank account is above some threshold (not necessarily the California one, but policies like this existing in general), it sounded completely bonkers to me. I've always heard financial advice about how it's good to save your money, have an emergency fund, etc- isn't that what the "personal responsibility" Republicans are always saying?- but for disabled people, if they are able to save up their money, they get punished by losing government benefits.

4. Builder.ai collapses after revelation that its "AI" was hundreds of engineers (June 3, via) "'We were told to never mention our location or use Indian English phrases,' said a former Bangalore engineer."

5. Greta Thunberg: Silence and Inaction Is More Deadly Than Me Sailing to Gaza (June 4, via) "We cannot just sit, sit around and do nothing and watch this like live-streamed genocide unfold in front of our very eyes. So we are doing this because we are human beings who care about justice. And when our complicit governments fail to step up, it falls on us, unfortunately, to do so."

6. CCM star Michael Tait accused of sexual misconduct by multiple men, drug use: report (June 5) Holy crap, I'm really shocked about this. Back in the 90's, Tait was a member of DC Talk, a Christian band, which was my favorite band. Later he became the lead singer of the Newsboys, also a Christian band, which was my second-favorite band, so I was excited to see where that was going. 

Unfortunately, after that, the Newsboys got involved with conservative culture-war stuff- their song "God's Not Dead" was a big part of the "God's Not Dead" movies. (The movie "God's Not Dead" literally has a scene where the Newsboys are performing a concert.) And one day I happened to stumble upon a song by the Newsboys (with Tait as the lead singer) called "Guilty," which is about how if society makes it a crime to be Christian, "I wanna be guilty"- like what is this persecution fantasy crap, what on earth?

Tait also has been part of the "faith leaders" meetings with president orange. Yeah, I've been really unhappy with Tait for a long time about this stuff. Dragging the good name of DC Talk through the mud. Did not expect the drug use and sexual assault allegations though.

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Links related to the antichrist:

1. 'No Kings' protests planned against Trump military parade; see when, where (June 3) Yesssss get out there and protest. June 14.

2. Judge orders Trump admin to let those sent to CECOT challenge Alien Enemies Act removal (June 5) "The Trump administration, under Boasberg’s order, has a week to provide their proposed solution."

3. Trump issues new travel ban covering a dozen countries (June 4)

And: Trump's travel ban includes Afghanistan, where thousands await U.S. resettlement (June 5)

4. Judge blocks deportation of Boulder attacker's family (June 4) !!! Oh my goodness, ICE was going to deport the attacker's family? What is this????? If there's evidence they were involved in the attack, then bring the evidence to an actual court. There are actual laws for this! (So far I haven't heard of any such evidence.) This comes across like the MAGAs were super excited for any kind of reason to deport immigrants, whether or not it makes sense.

5. Debunking the South African “White Genocide” Nonsense (May 29) "This is going to shock you, but it turns out that that’s a lie, too!"

6. In recorded calls, reports of overcrowding and lack of food at ICE detention centers (June 6) "J. is one of the many family members of detainees who called NPR to report their loved ones not receiving meals or getting rotten food. Detainees who NPR spoke to over the phone confirmed this, and many said they'd had to sleep on the floor for weeks."

7. ICE agents detain at least 10 immigrants as elected officials try to block officers in the South Loop (June 5) "'Then, in a Gestapo fashion, 50 agents or so walked down the street, stood right here in front of the driveway, then aggressively came through, knocked me down, assaulted me and other community members here today, then pulled out weapons and also pulled out their sticks, pushing some of us, punching some of us to get through to this driveway,' Quezada said, adding that he was pushed three times by ICE agents."

Blocking them, trying to stand in their way- it does help. Keep doing this.

And: ICE raids grow tense as protesters confront immigration agents (June 6)

8. Months after detaining 47 people accused of being Tren de Aragua in Austin, authorities offer no evidence of gang ties (June 4) "'We all started shouting that there were babies — ‘Babies, there’s babies,’' recounted a 30-year-old Venezuelan man, who said he was at the house to celebrate the birthdays of his son, who turned 5, and his best friend, who turned 28."

9. Kilmar Abrego Garcia, wrongly deported to El Salvador, is back in the U.S. to face smuggling charges (June 6) Wow! This is good news, but I don't know what to make of these new criminal charges against him. Does the government have evidence for these charges? If there's actual evidence, why wasn't that mentioned before? Very strange. 

Blogaround

Links not related to the antichrist:

1. Find out why your health insurer denied your claim. (via) "ProPublica’s Claim File Helper lets you customize a letter requesting the notes and documents your insurer used when deciding to deny you coverage. Get your claim file before submitting an appeal."

2. Israel kills 32 Palestinians waiting for food at US-backed Gaza aid sites (June 2, via) "Condemning the attacks, the Government Media Office described the GHF distribution sites as 'mass death traps, not humanitarian relief points'."

3. Ultramarathon runner breastfeeds her baby 3 times on her way to a surprise win (May 30) Wow! Good for her!

4. MIT class president barred from graduation after speaking out on Gaza (June 2)

The speech is very good! Watch it here: MIT Class President Megha Vemuri’s Viral Graduation Speech on Israel’s Genocide in Gaza (May 30) 

5. Penn & Teller’s Entropy: ‘The Weirdest Trick We’ve Ever Done’ | Penn & Teller: Fool Us | The CW (February 22) This is fun, I like this.

6. How six months in the West Bank undid a lifetime of Zionist indoctrination (May 30, via) "Through All That’s Left, I began traveling regularly to the West Bank with a perspective wholly different from my 18-year-old self. I joined Palestinian farmers in their fields, accompanied shepherds grazing their flocks, attended protests against Israeli state violence, and eventually spent nights — then weeks, then months — in Palestinian villages. As part of protective presence activism, my fellow activists and I documented settler attacks and military incursions, hoping our privileged status in the eyes of the state might deter violence."

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Links related to the antichrist:

1. This:

Image shows 2 photos: Kermit the Frog and Trump. Image text: "Here we have a photo of a commencement address being given by a puppet controlled by someone else... and a photo of Kermit the Frog giving a commencement address." Image source.

Wait, Kermit the Frog gave a commencement speech? Apparently yes! Kermit the Frog delivers commencement speech to University of Maryland graduates (May 23)

2. The Compassion of Strangers (June 1) "Witness what happened in San Diego outside the popular Buona Forchetta restaurant in South Park. When I.C.E. showed up in its vans to detain workers—not criminals, but workers—the community did not stand idly by. They began to fill the streets, block vehicles, and were eventually dispersed with flash bangs."

3. Trump Administration Knew Vast Majority of Venezuelans Sent to Salvadoran Prison Had Not Been Convicted of U.S. Crimes (May 30) "President Donald Trump and his aides have branded the Venezuelans as 'rapists,' 'savages,' 'monsters' and 'the worst of the worst.' When multiple news organizations disputed those assertions with reporting that showed many of the deportees did not have criminal records, the administration doubled down."

4. Make America ChatGPT again: Experts say AI was used to create RFK Jr health report that cited false studies (May 30) "Analysis conducted by The Post found that at least 21 links in the original version of the report to scientific studies or articles were dead."

5. SCOTUS allows the Trump admin to end legal status for another half-million people (May 31) "'[S]omehow, the Court has now apparently determined … that it is in the public’s interest to have the lives of half a million migrants unravel all around us before the courts decide their legal claims,' [Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson] wrote."

6. The Trump administration is making the country less safe for domestic violence victims (May 30) "Funding pauses, cuts, firings and information purges have destabilized the infrastructure that helps victims of abuse. At the same time, federal teams dedicated to preventing sexual violence are being decimated. Departments in charge of administering grants that fund shelters for those fleeing assault have been deemed 'duplicative, DEI or simply unnecessary.'"

You know how MAGAs are saying all these things about how we need to stop trans people from using the bathroom, because we care oh so much about preventing violence against women? Well, no, the MAGA government does NOT care about protecting women. (I don't make any claims about the average Republican voter, perhaps on some level the average voter *does* want to protect women from domestic violence. I'm just talking about what we can see the government is doing.) They are making cuts to the programs that actually help. Their talk about "protecting women" is actually just about scoring points in a culture war.

7. US judge rules prisons must provide gender-affirming care for trans people (June 3) "Even if it had extensively studied the issue before deciding to stop gender-affirming care, the decision might still violate the US constitution’s eighth amendment’s protections against “cruel and unusual” punishment, Lamberth wrote."

8. Impact Metrics Dashboard (via) A website that estimates the number of deaths due to USAID cuts. Current estimate is that over 300.000 people have died. (Some background information about where this page came from: Tracking Anticipated Deaths from USAID Funding Cuts)

Blogaround

 Happy Easter!

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Links not related to the antichrist:

1. Pope Francis, voice for the poor who transformed the Catholic Church, dies on Easter Monday (April 21) 

2. How I developed a game (April 21) "If you’re just starting out as a hobbyist, your entry point is one or two tiers down from indie–a tier that you may have never played yourself."

3. Mississippi Supreme Court Allows Judge to Block Name Changes for Trans People Under 21 (April 23) "Name changes related to gender transition are singled out. Other name change requests—such as an 18-year-old woman who wants to take her husband’s last name—do not seem to be subjected to the same level of scrutiny."

4. ‘Chemistry Mahjong’ Aims to Make Science Fun (April 23) Cool!

5. Tennis Balls (April 23) From xkcd.

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Links related to the antichrist:

A lot of links today. As always, you don't have to read all of them. There's no benefit to making sure your anxiety is up-to-date on every single bad thing going on. What actually does matter is that you do something. Do something. Protest, help immigrants, check on your trans friends, donate money, contact your Congress people.

1. Judge Blocks Passport Ban For Plaintiffs, Citing Government Animus And Equal Protection (April 19) "The judge ruled the policy was “arbitrary and capricious,” likely in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act, the Paperwork Reduction Act, and the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution. The judge also ruled that the decision was based in animus and discrimination towards transgender people. While the injunction currently applies only to the named plaintiffs, a broader ruling protecting all transgender Americans is expected in the coming weeks." This is very good news for trans people!

2. Hitchcock for Dummies (April 21) "Here you have the premise for a dozen different Hitchcock-style thrillers. How does your protagonist get tangled up in international conspiracies and espionage? Simple: They are mistakenly included on a group-chat amongst the conspirators."

3. Mahmoud Khalil misses son's birth after ICE official denies his request to be there (April 21)

4. Hegseth 2nd Signal chat cause for 'worry' about nation's security, says Rep. Jim Himes (April 21) "No, I can't imagine why his wife, his brother and his personal lawyer would need to know particular aircraft that are to be used in an upcoming attack."

5. A Chicago man was deported to an El Salvadoran prison, his family says (April 16) "Panicked, YD frantically searched online for more information on the whereabouts of her partner. That’s when she discovered a video, shared widely on social media, of U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem touring the Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT, a maximum security prison in El Salvador."

6. CDC's cruise ship inspectors laid off amid bad year for outbreaks (April 10, via) "At least a dozen outbreaks have been documented so far this year on cruise ships, mostly from norovirus. Some of those outbreaks have made headlines for sickening dozens or even hundreds of people."

7. New images could change cancer diagnostics, but ICE detained the Harvard scientist who analyzes them (April 22, via) "When asked how many people in his lab could do all of that, he said simply: 'That was only her. It was only her.'"

8. Inside Trump’s Upstate NY migrant hunt: Border Patrol’s meaner tactics snare workers and families (April 17, via) "They have been charged with no crimes other than illegally entering the U.S. They are brothers, spouses and parents. They replace roofs, make tamales, mulch suburban gardens and pack apples. They work the day shift and the night shift. They buy houses, pay rent and taxes."

9. The courage to be decent (April 23) "What matters is that acts we once took for granted as virtuous, routine, and safe — telling the truth, representing those oppressed by the state, providing legal aid to the powerless, volunteering to work at a polling site, basic journalism — now carry some risk. They now require some courage. Maybe the government won’t send you to prison. At least not yet. But it can make your life really difficult."

10. Elon Musk's baby mama drama matters (April 21) "Musk has over a dozen kids, but doesn't seem to have a family."

11. Did the Supreme Court Just Grow a Spine? (April 22) "Trump was attempting to make an end run around the Supreme Court’s authority, and not only did the court tell him “no,” it told him “no” in the middle of the night, without even letting his lawyers or his Manchurian justices (Thomas and Alito) spit out their objections."

12. Funding cut for landmark study of women's health (April 23) "The study, begun in the 1990s, has produced a series of groundbreaking results and was continuing to gather valuable data about women's health."

These MAGAs claim they're "protecting women" by searching high and low, possibly inspecting everyone's genitals, to find 1 middle-school trans girl trying to play sports, so they can ban her. And at the same time, things that actually do help women, like this scientific study, are getting cancelled. 

UPDATE: Good news, the funding has been un-cancelled: In a reversal, the Trump administration restores funding for women's health study (April 25)

13. NIH autism study will pull from private medical records (April 23) WTF!

14. How to find upcoming protests made EZ (April 21)

Blogaround

Links not related to the antichrist:

1. The great global redistributor we never hear about: money sent or brought back by migrants (January 13, via) "According to the UN, migrant workers send back about 15% of their earnings on average. But even a little money from rich countries can make a big difference in poorer ones. For example, 15% of the average annual income in the United States is nearly twice the average annual income in Colombia."

2. The Unbearable Loudness of Chewing (January, via) "But I think a second, larger reason is that misophonia is weird. It’s hard to explain and difficult to understand and doesn’t make any intuitive sense. After all, everyone hates the sound of chewing."

3. Democrats unveil legislation raising federal minimum wage to $17 an hour (April 8) It's a good idea. I'm skeptical about its chances of passing though.

4. Pulling Out The Big Guns For Needle Phobia In An Insane World Where Nobody Seems To Take It Seriously (February 20) I'm linking this because, I don't have needle phobia but I have similar things... This post takes it seriously and gives extremely practical suggestions, which is really rare to see. Usually people just treat you like you're being silly and making a big deal for no reason, and everything would be fine if you would just "relax."

5. Tidy Profit: Camera Captures the Cleaners Changing Lives (April 16) An article about women in China working as domestic workers (they are called "ayis" in China). We have an ayi who works for us, to take care of our baby while we're at work. (This is common in China because there aren't really daycares for infants.) She also does housework. In China if you can afford it, it really helps a lot to have an ayi.

6. Intuit, Owner of TurboTax, Wins Battle Against America’s Taxpayers (April 17) "Instead, it continued cajoling lawmakers and the White House into forcing millions of Americans to shell out hundreds, sometimes thousands, of dollars to file with expensive and confusing tax prep software."

7. Holy Saturday (April 17) "And now it’s Saturday and Jesus is dead and we’re all going to die and everything I’ve told you about him turns out to be in vain and everything I’ve staked my life on turns out to be in vain. Our faith is futile and we’re still hopeless in our sins. Jesus is dead and we are of all people most to be pitied."

8. Life and Living Not Death and Dying (April 17) "Christian theologians from multiple marginalized communities have spent years critiquing a theology that centers the good news on Jesus’ suffering rather than how life triumphed over suffering by undoing, overturning, and reversing that death."

Related to that: Good Friday Without Divine Violence (April 17) 

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Links related to the antichrist:

1. The Trump Administration Threat To Transgender Adult Care Is Growing At Lightning Speed (April 16) 

Also from Erin in the Morning: Washington State Passes Bill To Cover Some 12-Month Hormone Therapy Stockpiles (April 17) This is good news for trans people in Washington state. The thing that really surprised me was, it says actually hormone replacement therapy is usually for other health issues (menopause, etc)- trans people are only a small fraction of the people who need this kind of medical care.

2. THE GOOD TROUBLE CHECKLIST (April 3) "Figure out what your lane is. Then figure out who is local to you and already doing some of that work. How can you be useful? How can you extend existing efforts? How can you show up and raise hell? Do something."

3. 'Homegrowns are next': Trump hopes to deport and jail U.S. citizens abroad (April 16) WTF. And remember, he sent immigrants there without showing any proof that they were "gang members." He also wants to send US citizens there without showing any such evidence.

4. Trump exploiting antisemitism fears to undermine rule of law, warns Jewish coalition (April 16) "'Our safety as Jews has always been tied to the rule of law, to the safety of others, to the strength of civil society, and to the protection of rights and liberties for all,' reads the statement."

5. In the middle of a hepatitis outbreak, U.S. shutters the one CDC lab that could help (April 16)

6. Confusion reigns as asylum seekers who used CBP One receive notices to leave U.S. within 7 days (April 16) "'We have families who said ‘well, I’m just going to hide, because I can’t go back to my home country, I will be killed, so I prefer to hide,’' she said."

7. U.S.-born American citizen under ICE hold in Florida is released (April 18)

8. Exclusive: Senator Chris Van Hollen talks with Rachel Maddow live from El Salvador (April 17)

And: A Maryland senator visits his wrongfully deported constituent in El Salvador (April 17) "'I said my main goal of this trip was to meet with Kilmar,' Van Hollen wrote on X. 'Tonight I had that chance. I have called his wife, Jennifer, to pass along his message of love.'"

Blogaround

Links not related to the antichrist:

1. Twitterlike is a Bad Shape (April 12, via) "A share addition feature (or "quote posts") can poison site culture by giving people a reason to share bad posts for no other reason than just to announce they disagree."

2. Pig kidney transplant fails after patient rejection (April 11) "'For the first time since 2016, I enjoyed time with friends and family without planning around dialysis treatments. Though the outcome is not what anyone wanted, I know a lot was learned from my 130 days with a pig kidney—and that this can help and inspire many others in their journey to overcome kidney disease,' she said." This is really cool! Even though it failed, this is progress.

3. Tennessee’s "Success Sequence" law ignores what really makes kids successful (April 11) Posting this because yeah this is what I always heard, from republican role models when I was growing up, about why we shouldn't push for systemic changes to help minimum wage workers, single moms, etc. Because the way it's SUPPOSED to work [apparently] is you go to college, graduate, get a good job, get married, and then have kids. If there's a news article about a single mom who is struggling to get by in a minimum wage job- well yeah, it's not SUPPOSED to be doable to try to raise kids on a minimum wage income. We don't need to change society, we need to blame people for not following the life plan they're supposed to. If we raised the minimum wage, that would unfairly mess things up for the people who did things the right way. That's what I learned from republicans...

4. What happened to all the clothing donated during the LA wildfires? (April 14) This is really interesting- I'm very curious about how it works when people donate clothes, because I suspect that the reality is very different from whatever magical ideal is in donors' minds. Anyway, the important thing to always remember is, check with the recipients to confirm what kinds of things they want, before you donate- don't just assume that you're doing a good thing by giving them your random stuff.

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Links related to the antichrist. As always, you don't need to read all these if you're too stressed out. Instead, go protest or help immigrants.

1. Trump Is Separating Immigrant Families Again. Here’s What We Can Do About It. (April 11) "The new administration has unleashed a torrent of policies that have caused irreparable harm to people and families seeking safety."

2. Trump attacks on law firms begin to chill pro bono work on causes he doesn't like (April 13) "If the legal profession doesn't push back now, Levi said, the whole idea of equal justice and the justice system is vulnerable."

3. Feds to collect personal info of people exchanging, sending money from U.S.-Mexico border (April 10) "'Providing your social to exchange two hundred dollars is ridiculous,' Guerra said."

So, there are legitimate reasons that governments would want to know who exactly is sending money internationally. But I don't trust this government is doing it for any of those reasons.

4. Think Twice: China Tells Tourists and Students Eyeing the U.S. (April 14) 

5. Trump told us the horrifying reason why Kilmar Abrego Garcia is not back in the U.S. (April 15) "Trump said the plan: The Trump administration wants this foreign prison — and, perhaps, others — to hold many people sent from America, including U.S. citizens."

And: SMART-TD Stands With Brother Kilmar Abrego Garcia (April 10)

6. Trump administration freezes more than $2.2 billion after Harvard rejects its demands (April 14) "Earlier in the day, Alan Garber, Harvard's president, said in a letter to faculty and students that the university would not submit to a list of demands made last Friday. Among them are that it eliminate DEI programs, screen international students who are 'supportive of terrorism or anti-Semitism' and ensure 'viewpoint diversity' in its hiring." Good. Say no to him. For the universities/ companies/ law firms who cave to his demands, that won't be the end of it- he will continue to demand more things from them. If they're doing a calculation about how they can manage to kinda accept his deal- well, don't, because whatever he says is not the actual deal. If you accept it, it will end up being worse than what he said.

7. Haunted by hopelessness: 12 Zambians share their stories as HIV drugs run out (April 14) "An untold number of people with HIV have simply and suddenly lost access to their medication."

8. Should I stay or go? Immigrants across U.S. consider self-deportation (April 14) "'We're scared. We stay indoors all day,' Rosa, a heavily pregnant Honduran woman in Waukegan, Ill., told NPR back in January."

9. Trump can't revoke legal status of migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela, judge rules (April 14) "The 'early termination, without any case-by-case justification, of legal status for noncitizens who have complied with DHS programs and entered the country lawfully undermines the rule of law,' wrote Talwani, who sits on the federal district court in Boston." A little bit of good news.

Blogaround

"Start a blog," they said. "It'll be fun," they said.

Now here I am 13 years later, staying up late every night to round up links about the fascist goings-on in my country.

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Links not related to the antichrist:

1. How the House’s requirement to prove US citizenship could affect the ability to register to vote (April 11) !!!! The SAVE Act has passed the House and will go to the Senate. Contact your senators and tell them to vote against this!!!!!!! This could take away my right to vote. I'm already registered from previous years, and supposedly these new requirements would just be for new registrations- but states sometimes remove people from the voting rolls, who would then have to re-register. *IN PERSON* Which I cannot do since I'm living in China.

2. AI-Generated Slop Is Already In Your Public Library (February 4, via) "The book, which consists mostly of recipes and includes a disclaimer that the author and publisher 'are not experts in the discussed topics,' didn’t include any dangerous information as far as I could tell, but appears to be AI-generated based on its stilted prose and formatting, consisting of summaries broken up with bolded subheadings common in outputs from LLMs like ChatGPT."

3. Congestion Pricing is a Policy Miracle (March 20, via) "First and foremost, congestion pricing has been stunningly effective at reducing traffic in Manhattan and the bridges/tunnels entering the city."

4. This wild new instrument brings a dinosaur back to life (March 10, via) "The instrument, which takes the form of an accurate, life-sized dinosaur skull, allows human musicians to recreate possible dinosaur vocalizations by blowing into a mouthpiece." This is so cool! But, we shouldn't understand this as "this *is* what dinosaurs sounded like"- instead, this is a plausible reconstruction of what this dinosaur sounded like. At many points in the process there's some guesswork.

5. 17 Montana Republicans Cross Party Lines, Defeat Anti-Trans Bill After Nonbinary Rep's Speech (April 9) "It makes no exception for care obtained legally out of state—simply bringing prescribed medication across state lines could render a Montana parent a felon. The bill also does not limit enforcement to Montana residents; even a parent visiting Glacier National Park or Yellowstone with their transgender child could face felony charges for carrying estrogen, testosterone, or puberty blockers."

6. Trans Athletes: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO) (April 7) "It is not just about denying trans women the right to play. It's about denying them the right to exist."

7. 23andMe Bankrupt! Should You Delete Your Genetic Data? (April 2)

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Links related to the antichrist:

1. Shakedown, breakdown, takedown (April 7) "This is, as numerous observers have said, no different than if you refused to buy anything at the supermarket until the supermarket agreed to buy an equal or greater number of things from you."

2. Deporting veterans betrays America’s promise (April 7, via) "Like many other deported veterans, I was stripped of my home, family, and the nation I swore an oath to defend. I spent over a decade south of the border, advocating for other deported veterans while enduring the pain of being cast aside by the country I once served."

3. ‘A Path of Perfect Lawlessness’ (April 7) "The Supreme Court is about to decide whether the Trump administration can exile Americans to a gulag overseas and then leave them there."

4. The She Made Him Do It Theory of Everything (February 26, via) "Behind these stories is the assumption that some people matter more than other people, and that we who matter less have to pander to those who matter more – conservatives when they are imagined as straight, as white, as male, as rural, as salt of the earth, as the real Americans, unlike us ethnic/ immigrant/ urban/ non-male/ non-straight people."

5. Attorney representing a student protester detained by federal immigration agents (April 9) "And it's setting a terrifying precedent if government agents can target a lawyer at the border. What's stopping them from doing it to anyone who dares to speak out?"

6. 'We love them': Small N.Y. town embraces a family freed from immigration detention (April 8) This is great news! But... what now? This family is still undocumented (as far as I know), and ICE knows where they live. I'm confused about how they've been released, if they're undocumented. It's great news, but I'm still worried about them, and about all the other immigrants in the US...

7. AP wins reinstatement to White House events after judge rules government can’t bar its journalists (April 9) "'For anyone who thinks The Associated Press’ lawsuit against President Trump’s White House is about the name of a body of water, think bigger,' Julie Pace, the AP’s executive editor, wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed. 'It’s really about whether the government can control what you say.'"

8. Supreme Court says Trump officials should help return wrongly deported Maryland man (April 10) Good news! But also, I fully expect these MAGAs to come up with all kinds of excuses for why they "can't."

9. Homeland Security agents attempted to enter 2 LAUSD schools. Here's what families should know (April 10) "The principals of each school denied the agents entry and contacted the district’s legal department."

10. Utah colleges confirm dozens of international student visas terminated (April 9)

And: Visas revoked for students, graduates at multiple Texas universities amid deportation efforts (April 10)

Blogaround

 Links not about that felon:

1. What does Islam have against sleep? (March 29) "Even if you go to bed right after Isha and wake up at the tail end of Fajr, you will get at the most 6 hours."

2. As measles cases rise, some parents become vaccine enthusiasts (March 30) Yessssss. Love vaccines. Love when my kids don't get measles. It's awesome.

3. ‘I Love Him’: A Suicide, a Student’s Diary, and a School’s Reckoning (March 28) [content note: sexual assault, suicide] 

4. Fed'l court rules Alabama AG's threatened abortion-fund prosecutions unconstitutional (April 1) "In short, people seeking abortions that would be legal elsewhere can do so. Ultimately, he concluded, that right protects those who seek to help them as well."

5. 'Zero to Hero' (From Disney’s Hercules) | Sung by London's West End Muses 🎶✨ (March 7) Wow, love this!

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Links about that felon:

1. Deported over a tattoo? Lawyer claims client is not a gang member (March 28) "DHS wants the public to believe these people are criminals and gang members. So if they have proof of that, why wouldn't they release it to the public?"

And: Trump administration admits Maryland man sent to El Salvador prison by mistake (April 1) "'If they're allowed to get away with this, then it means that the immigration laws are meaningless, all of them,' Sandoval-Moshenberg said."

2. Study: Black Lives Matter Protests Beat Trump (April 2) "So if you’re wondering if it makes any sense to go out and protest your fascist overlords, the answer is “absolutely, yes.” Do not listen to the doomers who tell you it’s too late, that there’s nothing you can do, that no one will listen, that you’re too extreme, or that you’re just encouraging people to go out and buy more Cybertrucks. Show up, meet your fellow activists, and agitate for change."

3. Cory Booker breaks a 68-year-old Senate record with a 25-hour speech (April 2) "Booker's speech took aim at President Trump, White House senior adviser Elon Musk and policies that he said show a 'complete disregard for the rule of law, the Constitution and the needs of the American people.'"

4. Top scientists warn that Trump policies are causing a 'climate of fear' in research (April 1) "'A climate of fear has descended on the research community,' the letter says. Researchers fearing for their jobs are 'removing their names from publications, abandoning studies, and rewriting grant proposals and papers to remove scientifically accurate terms (such as 'climate change') that agencies are flagging as objectionable.'"