Twilight of Democracy: The Failure of Politics and the Parting of Friends by Anne Applebaum My rating: 2 of 5 stars I can appreciate this Applebaum's perspective, but a few things bother me. She centres herself as the unchangeable middle who is free from movement, ideological grift, or opportunism. I want to break down some of what she said here. Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism: "Authoritarianism appeals, simply, to those who cannot tolerate complexity: There is nothing inherently "

I see a lot of people I follow say they are going to leave Twitter, and I think that's a bad idea. Something I realised listening to Chelsea Manning on the It Could Happen Here podcast, that the "pay to play" internet has been in the works for a long time. Chelsea isn't a conspiracy theorist; she's worked as an intelligence analyst, developer, and now as a network security expert. TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook all make you think you have this large following when you don't, via algorithms.

Bayard Rustin was an American civil rights icon. He was the main organiser of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. He also influenced Dr. Martin Luther King Jr to use non-violence as a tactic in the fight for civil rights. He said: " Our job is not to get those people who dislike us to love us. Nor was our aim in the civil rights movement to get prejudiced white people to love us.

This blog is back to where it was around 2008. I actually lost the domain because I forgot about it and someone snatched it up and basically wouldn't let get until the SEO rankings dropped. Needless to say, a lot has changed since I owned this URL back in the day. Blogging isn't so much of a thing as it used to be. I live in the UK now, I'm no longer the editor of the Transadvocate, and the world has fallen apart more than I thought it could back in the day.

I've seen many Facebook/Twitter friends post this story from Newsweek: The implication is that if not for Sanders supporters, Hillary Clinton would be POTUS, not Trump. It wasn't Bernie Sanders supporters that sunk the Clinton campaign. It was a team effort. It also wasn't the fault of: the Democratic National Committee (DNC), who tipped the scales during the primary for Clinton. Debbie Wasserman Schultz's rigging of the primary for Clinton.

Many Democrats are celebrating the defeat of the Republican's attempt to "repeal and replace" Obamacare this morning. What the hell are Americans celebrating? I'm an American ex-pat working for the National Health Service (NHS) in the United Kingdom. I've been a health care provider in the US system for 29 years before coming to the UK. If you're a citizen here, you get free healthcare at the point of service. It's true that your hospital may not have:

The genesis of this post is from a comment I left on The Thinking Atheist Podcast page. The host, Seth Andrews, invited various people on his podcast to talk about "Trigger Warnings and Safe Spaces." One of the guests was Bill Ligertwood, a conference organizer with the Imagine No Religion conference So here's where I come from. I'm a white trans woman. I'm middle class. I went to college before transition and have a decent life making decent money.

I’ll say it up front, I’m a Bernie Sanders supporter that: thinks Sanders has a very narrow path to the nomination (almost impossible). will vote for Clinton if she's the nominee. thinks Democrats and the Clinton campaign are setting themselves up for a massive defeat in the fall. The Democratic Party seems to want to have a fight with Bernie Sanders. Today's post from the Hill: Bernie’s not a Democrat.

Listening to the podcast of the Thursday edition of LBC's James O'Brien's radio show, I was surprised that he'd admit that he might be wrong about The Labour Party's leader, Jeremy Corbyn. Previously, he'd said that Corbyn supporters were akin to people who “believed in faeries.” He's repeatedly said that Corbynites were not pragmatic that Corbyn isn't electable, and the end of the Labour Party was near if he wasn't put down.

Recently I read the en(Gender) post,"Guest Author: Zoe Dolan, When Political Correctness Hits Below The Belt." Helen Boyd states in an introduction to the piece: "Here’s a controversial piece from Zoe Dolan, lawyer, author, and friend, in a smart piece about why, when it cones to dating – amongst other things – talking about genital surgery is important." If this piece was a post strictly concerning intimacy and talking to a potential partner in frank terms about sex with a trans person, then I'd agree it was a "

This morning I decided to watch a Ted Talk that featured Martine Rothblatt. Martine’s life story is incredible. The Washington Post said of her: Let’s be clear: Martine Rothblatt is just plain more of a lawyer than anybody else in this town. The 60-year-old grandmother and CEO of United Therapeutics, the Silver Spring-based biotech she founded to help save her younger daughter’s life, banked $38 million last year. It made her the nation’s highest-paid female executive.

If you listened lately to people who have well established media outlets to speak from, pitchforks and torches are out of style. They would have you believe that the @ and # of Twitter are the new implements of mob justice. Concerning the Twitter outrage over newly designated Daily Show Host, Trevor Noah, comedian Jim Norton said: “[Noah] also neglected to take into account that Western culture as a whole has become an increasingly reactionary mob of self-centered narcissists who all have their own personal lines drawn in the sand.

Recently I was involved in a discussion with Twitter user @schnookiekins concerning people who publicly name people they say raped them. He supports Michael Nugent’s statement that: “allegations of rape should be reported to the police, not to bloggers.” as if it's an either/or situation. I don't know of a requirement that compels victims of rape, by the state, to report their perpetrators to the police. Many people have written about why victims don't report rape, so I'll leave that there (*smirk* though I do wonder why men don't report domestic violence?

I have to admit, self identified trans women who want to have a “world without gender” really do confuse me. Below is one such transwoman: If there is no gender, how can one identify themselves as trans anything? And if you do and you see sex as an unmovable binary, it would seem to me that you’d have to say that you’re a male trans woman. If you say that, aren’t you implying that gender and sex are different and that “woman” is your gender identity?

This morning I read an excellent post over at Crossdreamer's Tumblr blog about transition regret (also a great post by Brynn Tannehill). I'll say upfront that I don't regret transition, but I understand those who do. From the post: "Some of the male to female regretters have clearly been caught up in some very restrictive ideas of what it means to be a woman." and: "I should add that this does not mean that all regretters detransition because they believe in sexist stereotypes.

I’ve kept quiet much for the last few months because I’ve been mourning a loss, the equal I can only compare losing my father at age 11. I’m not going to share the particulars of this loss because it doesn’t really matter in the context of this post, and secondly because it’s extremely personal. But emotionally I’ve been hampered a bit in just getting by day to day. I’m just trying to work out a plan for my future and try to do all the things people do when they’re mourning a huge loss.

I’ve recently (since June) started putting back money for my retirement both in a 403b and a bit of money in some individual stocks. Seeing my portfolio see-saw back and forth, and at best maybe breaking even, I have to wonder who makes money in this market? I’m not moving what I have, but it all makes me wonder if the stock market hasn’t fundamentally changed in the past 15 years.

Apparently the media think it’s news that Roseanne Barr has made some rather lewd comments about Bill Cosby, who: "Several women in recent weeks have come forward to claim the comedian drugged and raped them or touched them inappropriately in past decades." But when Roseanne saidsome really horrible stuff about trans people? The media was and is silent. What did I learn today? The same thing I learn most days. Trans people’s lives aren’t worth much at all.

So I thought I’d spruce up (and help the air quality) of my apartment by buying a houseplant. So I traveled down to my local store and bought this: There have been a few problems with this plant (right now I’m not sure what type of plant it is): the previous occupant of my apartment put hooks in the ceiling next to my windows (6 windows, a hook in front of each one):

In a Twitter discussion with LBC radio presenter, Julia Hartley-Brewer asked me: @Martiabernathey that's a LOT of money and a BIG %. What are you so angry about? — Julia Hartley-Brewer (@JuliaHB1) October 29, 2014 I AM angry. I'm angry because corporate conservative media outlets are engaging in a propaganda war against the poor. She and her station posted this: A single mum of 5 says she shouldn't be forced by benefits cap to leave Westminster to move to Milton Keynes.

This morning I was listening to LBC radio and the radio presenter, John Stapleton (who was sitting in for James O’Brien), took a call from someone that said the Tories don’t care about benefit cuts and people in poverty: [soundcloud url=“https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/174327300” params=“auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=“100%” height=“450” iframe=“true” /] Stapleton called the caller “harsh,” then parroted the government line. I had a brief conversation with him on Twitter, of which there was little response.

Now that I’m almost a year into fixing my credit, I’m starting to get a lot of offers for credit. Well sort of. Most of the loans in being offered are really absurd; a loan for $1000 that will cost $500?! I’ve also received a lot of credit card applications. Many of these offers say “pre-approved” or “prescreened.” I’m finding that what that means is that they’ve realized my credit is improving, but this doesn’t mean they’ll approve me.

Wading through all the comments on Facebook about Renee Zellweger’s “new look” have made me think a lot about a common thread between abortion rights, trans bodies, and body modification through surgery. The common issue is between them all is bodily autonomy, the right to make choices about what happens to you your own body. "But she looked good/better/different before the surgery!" “She looks ok, but I think she was more attractive as a guy!

When I was married, I had the car (the car loan), the house payment (the mortgage), and the credit cards. We spent all we made, and put a lot of things we needed on credit. So much so that even though we were making close to $80k together, we were living paycheck to paycheck (in 1996). After the marriage fell apart, I really stopped caring about ever having credit again. If I got a medical bill that I didn’t feel like paying, I didn’t.

My mind has been in a million different places today. I read this thoughtful post by a doctor about a patient that committed suicide. I saw this today on dying with dignity: [www.youtube.com/watch](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPfe3rCcUeQ) I come at this from the perspective of a medical professional that has seen death and dying up close and personal for almost thirty years. I come at this from the place of a person with a history of persona trauma and loss.