Re: The Unfortunate Happening of November 5, 2024

This blog will be using the blogger's First Amendment right to free speech to object to the fascist administration of Donald J. Trump. 

If you need an explanation from the son of two Holocaust survivors on how Trump fits the exact dictionary definition of a fascist, listen here.

Feel free to comment, but pro-fascist comments will be deleted and the users blocked. The rest of you, the non-fascist-apologists, please write to me when I get put in liberal re-education camp. I'm only a little bit joking.

In the meantime:

I stand with women.

I stand with cis women and trans women.

I stand with women who need abortions.

I stand with women who need abortions for any reason, at any time during their pregnancies.

I stand with nonbinary people and trans men.

I stand with nonbinary people and trans men who need abortions, for any reason, at any time during their pregnancies.

I stand with unmarried people. I stand with childless people, whether childless by choice or by circumstance.

I stand with children and their inherent right to a real education that includes real, non-propagandistic history. 

I stand with children and their right to health care.

I stand with children and their inherent human right to education, even when (especially when) that makes them smarter than their parents.

I stand with children and their inherent human right to grow into the religion they choose, if any. I do not believe any parent has the right to force an abusive or exploitative religion on their children and demand that the child practice that cult-like behavior into adulthood.

I stand with Muslims, my fellow Jews, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, indigenous people who practice their ancestral religion, Wiccans, witches, Satanists (yes, even the Satanists - the free practice of religion necessarily excludes no one), people of other faiths, agnostics, and atheists. I stand with all non-Christian Americans in defending our right not to be forced to practice any aspect of Evangelical Christianity against our will. This is our First Amendment right. 

In the religion of Judaism, it is morally wrong to force a woman to die because her pregnancy can't continue. Refusing an abortion for a Jewish woman who needs one is a violation of her right to practice Judaism freely. Refusing a Jewish doctor their right to practice abortions is a violation of the free practice of that person's religion.

I stand with immigrants. All immigrants, documented or undocumented. I don't work for the government and another person's papers are none of my damn business. I also know that this country won't function without its immigrant population. Immigrants are my fellow Americans.

I stand with Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico is part of the United States. Puerto Ricans are our fellow Americans. 

I stand with indigenous Americans. Federal laws that violate the sovereignty of the indigenous nations have to be fought using lawyers and peaceful protest. Indigenous people have rights that I respect.

I stand with LGBTQ+ people. I'm openly bi and I will always be a safe person to come out to. I will also be a safe person for any trans, nonbinary, agender, or other-gendered person to come out to. I will never demand that the human race segregate itself into two narrowly-defined genders.

I stand with people with blue hair and pronouns. The proper amount of liberty is always to err on the side of too much, never to err on the side of not enough liberty.

I do not forgive the criminals who attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, even after they get presidential pardons. They attacked the United States and are traitors. I will neither forget nor forgive. 

Cults of personality are bullshit. One man can't solve all of your problems, no matter what he promises.

It's also nakedly obviously that Trump is suffering from some form of mental decline, probably the same Alzheimer's disease that killed his father Fred. As you know, the disease is hereditary. Anyone who is preventing him from being treated for dementia is medically abusing him. If he's being medically abused for political reasons, that is a crime being committed against Donald J. Trump, and a prosecutor should be looking into that.

The fucking emperor has no clothes. I won't be gaslit, bullied, or intimidated into saying otherwise. The worst they can do is kill me, but they can't kill ideas. 

I approve of Guy Fawkes's king-exploding policy (historically speaking), but not that he would have blown up Westminster Abbey. Let the poets rest in peace. Not an endorsement of violence more recent than 400 years ago. I endorse non-violent protest and the prosecution of domestic terrorists.

I refuse to live in Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale and I hope you do too. Malala Yousafzai resisted; may we all have her courage. 

Girl Power! 'Rad Women Worldwide' by Kate Schatz and Miriam Klein Stahl

"Enheduanna, who lived 4,300 years ago, is the world's oldest known author. Yes, before the ancient Greek poet Sappho, before Confucius, even before The Epic of Gilgamesh, there was Enheduanna: a priestess, princess, poet, and teacher who lived, wrote, and ruled as part of the world's most ancient society. Her story is also the story of the beginning of the written word -- and of civilization as we know it!"

So begins Rad Women Worldwide: Artists and Athletes, Pirates and Punks, and Other Revolutionaries Who Shaped History, written by Kate Schatz and illustrated by Miriam Klein Stahl. How awesome is it for me, a writer, that the first known author in history was also a woman?! She's also a Middle Eastern woman, from ancient Mesopotamia, the ancestor-culture of the Jews and Arabs. We already have so much in common!

The women in this illustrated guide come from all over the world, and from a wide variety of time periods, but they're all extraordinary human beings. From the second young woman in the book, Malala Yousafzai, to the last few pages with Emma Goldman and "The Stateless" (refugee women), these women are all inspiring.

This book would make an excellent gift for a young person in middle school or high school, whether they have an interest in reading about history or need to brush up on their history. The short biographies with large, engaging, and colorful illustrations make this book easy to read through.

Kate Schatz's bio on Penguin Random House is empty, except for this picture of Kate Schatz by Kate Schatz.

But you don't have to be a middle-grader to appreciate this book. It would make a wonderful addition to anyone's nonfiction shelf. It would be a nice gift for a teacher, for them to add to their classroom library.

PRODUCT DETAILS

Hardcover
Published by Ten Speed Press
Sep 27, 2016 | 112 Pages | 7 x 9 | Middle Grade (10 and up) | ISBN 9780399578861

I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.

Top 10 Tuesday: 10 Books I Wouldn't Be Sad If Santa Brought Me

Inspired by this post at It's a Book Life, which in turn took its cue from this post at The Broke and the Bookish.

I love to give books for the holidays, as my nieces will find out tonight (they're also getting Subway gift cards so they can pay for their favorite sandwiches with their own money - very exciting when you're 7 and 9) and my cousin's baby daughter will find out tomorrow.

Which books would I most like to get from Santa Claus? I checked with my Goodreads to-read list, and here's what I came up with (in no particular order):

1. I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai with Christina Lamb

2. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

I really want to see the movie, because Emma Watson looks amazing in the previews, but I want to read the book first. I've simply refused to pay the full retail at my local Barnes and Noble.

3. Delirium by Lauren Oliver

4. Hollow City by Ransom Riggs

5. Lillian Holmes and the Leaping Man by Ciar Cullen

Gender-swapped, steampunk Sherlock Holmes? Uh, yes please!

6. The Latke Who Couldn't Stop Screaming by Lemony Snicket

Hanukkah is over, but my desire to read this is not.

7. Christian Bale: The Inside Story of the Darkest Batman by Harrison Cheung

8. House of Many Ways by Diana Wynne Jones

9. Little Women and Me by Lauren Baratz-Logsted

10. This Star Won't Go Out by Esther Earl

Okay, this one doesn't come out until January 28th, 2014, but Santa can preorder it for me if he wants to.

Which books are you hoping for on Christmas morning?