Historically, I have been an institutionalist. I opposed government shutdowns, because they hurt both public employees and everyone who relies on government services. I consider the debt ceiling unconstitutional, and failing to honor US financial commitments would be economically disastrous.
However.
You may have noticed that public employees and those dependent on public services are already being severely harmed by Elon Musk’s illegal rampage through US institutions, and our ability to make credible commitments to the outside world has also already been severely compromised by the assertion that the executive can unilaterally decline to pay individual recipients that it objects to.
The deadline to fund the government is 14 March. The debt ceiling is likely to be breached again sometime in 2025.
If you have a Democratic representative in the House, I encourage you to call their office and tell them not to support any budget or debt proposal that does not include the funding for an Independent Counsel – that cannot be fired by Trump or the Attorney General – to investigate DOGE’s illegal activities.
And if you happen to have a GOP Freedom Caucus representative, I encourage you to call them while pretending to be a right-winger and ask them to stick to their (insane) principles, which will force GOP majority to rely on Democratic votes to pass anything.
Generally, a couple of dozen phone calls on a specific issue is considered a lot of pressure by congressional staffers. You will make a difference by participating. Please be polite but firm (maybe a little less polite if you are doing the pretend right-winger part).
Please reblog this widely; this is one of the few remaining points of leverage a free citizenry still has before much uglier and more dangerous approaches become unavoidable.
this woman lives in a completely parallel universe to me like I have no idea what she’s on about with this lmao. my nails are short and unpolished for no other reason than that’s how I wear them.
I finished reading this article and I think I’m Immediately going to become an alcoholic to cope with the amount of damage it did to me
Absolutely baffling article. Author (a self-identified Zillennial) is fixated on the quality of being “chic” and “elusive” (as in a type of woman she calls the “Elusive International Hot Girl” aka the one who is constantly traveling, is (i’m paraphrasing) not interested in forming authentic friendships with the author, and (i’m guessing) probably on instagram constantly).
Author reads like a tryhard who would very much like to be an Elusive International Hot Girl herself but has realized that she does not qualify based on the required the social class or financial privilege, so she’s attempting to obsessively hack an understanding of it and gaslight the audience into thinking she knows what she’s talking about using a mix of trendy jargon and almost-academic terminology (“covert/overt status” “status hierarchy-political” ) applied in a very weird way that comes out [checks notes] utterly backwards and with the vibes of anxiously fawning to the audience to camouflage any definitive statements she might make.
In essence, she does not realize that the main quality she is lacking in this endeavor is sprezzatura, the presentation of elegant nonchalance. She also does not understand that famous quote about how clever people say a great deal in a very few words, but those of small wit take a long time to say utterly nothing of substance.
To save you the psychic damage: According to the author, truly truly chic Elusive International Hot Girls have bare nails (and drink whole milk). She also claims that “regular polish” (as opposed to gel) ranks at #2 of her hierarchy because of the luxury, leisure time, and money it takes to get a weekly manicure at a salon (or, she says, by summoning the manicurist to your house) – she has seemingly no awareness of people who paint their own goddamn nails.
that is all you need to know about this article. It is BAFFLING.
Rewatching 《莲花楼》 (Mysterious Lotus Casebook) and they really gave us Li Lianhua rescuing stealing Jiao Liqiao’s groom from the dungeon, spending the whole night with him in the wedding chamber exchanging internal energies, then drinking matrimonial wine while admiring the moon and toasting each other on the 10th anniversary of the night that they stabbed each other with their swords, and then they both waltz out in the morning and start to 打情骂俏 (bicker-flirt)? Right in front of Jiao Liqiao’s salad? Smh guys.
ALT
amhrancas 