Getting a weird little hobby is actually so important bc it opens your eyes up to the world. You start crocheting or knitting, and now you see scarves and sweaters differently. You try identifying plants, now you’re seeing opposite and alternate leaf pattern. Bird watching? Every chirp draws attention and interest.
Hey guess what bitches Poland had a general election last Sunday and we said “fuck you” to the current fascist Orban-wannabes en masse, in a record-breaking historic turnout of 74% (that’s a better turnout than the 1989 election which toppled the Soviet regime), with people of all ages standing in lines till 3 am to vote, young people actually outnumbering the elderly for the first time ever; and the result is that the progressive pro-EU coalition won and will form the next government. Been in in a stunned-but-celebratory mood since Sunday night.
It can be done.
hell yeah! all is not lost as long as you don’t abandon hope!
(been following the poland election as best I can & the relief when the results came in was both immense and uncomfortably suprising - the rising tide of authoritarianism sure feels inevitable at times, but y'all in Poland give me renewed hope for the rest of us)
that said, does anyone have a good source for where things are at atm? as I’ve not heard anything for a few days
^that’s the last that I’ve heard, that Duda would be following the tradition of giving PiS (biggest party) first dibs at forming a government which *should* inevitably fail (because they’ve no partners to reach a majority with) & then the tusk-left-thirdway gang *should* get second dibs.
until that second dibs to the coalition happens & gets confirmed I’m still uneasy about it though 😬🤞🤞🤞
Yeah that’s pretty much where things stand as of today (October 26, 2023). Duda (our president, who’s connected to the conservative fash PIS party) still hasn’t announced any official decisions, but everyone expects him to stay loyal to his own crowd and give them first dibs. PIS is toxic af though, and literally NO ONE wants to coalition with them as it would be political suicide. The center-progressive-left “opposition” parties have formally declared that they will form a joint coalition government with a pretty big majority, so even if Duda does name PIS first, it’ll only delay the inevitable. It’s pretty much a done deal.
Now, that said, since this post took off and people have been expressing how much hope this news gives them for a possible shift in their own countries (ROOTING FOR Y'ALL), some funny as fuck developments that happened in the two weeks since the election:
The Konfederacja party, which is made up of straight-up neonazis, got the worst result out of everyone and are now embroiled in vicious infighting that might just destroy their party for good. The infighting involves slinging blame at one another on twitter, accusing each other of cheating on their wives with underage girls, threatening to leak receipts, and voting to suspend their leader Korwin because the guy is a walking meme and enjoys talking publicly about how women shouldn’t have the right to vote and how it should be ok to “sleep” with little girls after they get their first period. The Konfederacja guys finally realized that might be a bit of a bad look.
The PIS government officials are ordering paper shredders by the TRUCKLOAD. Reports are coming out about them staying up all night frantically destroying as much evidence of their corruption, rampant nepotism, unlawful grants, ties to Russian and neonazi orgs etc. as possible. At the same time, we’re being reassured that some brave souls are making copies, plus, independent media have been reporting on all their affairs for years and kept the receipts. So it shouldn’t matter too much.
The state TV, which has been turned into a propaganda machine on a level that leaves Fox News far in the dust, has been in a state of mourning since election night. Insider reports talk about people fearfully gossiping about mass layoffs amidst an atmosphere they compare to “a wake”. And rightly so, given the scale of their propaganda (that literally led to a murder of an opposition city mayor on stage on live TV). They’re on the outs, and they know it, and seeing them realize it has been delicious.
Some of the brave prosecutors and judges who have been resisting PIS’s attempts to completely unmake the judiciary are now reporting that some of the ringleaders are flooding the gates and mass-appealing for witness protection.
Just this morning the news broke that one of the worst, most bigoted, stupidest PIS-appointed education superintendents literally up and disappeared. No one knows where she might be. All so she can avoid court-ordered culpability for some of the heinous shit she’s said in the past.
Post-election polling shows even PIS’s own voter base wants Jarosław Kaczyński, party leader and de facto ruler of Poland for the last 8 years, to retire. They blame him for losing the election.
Opposition leader (and most likely future prime minister) Donald Tusk is already making trips to Brussels to negotiate with Von Den Leyen to unlock EU funds that have been frozen due to Poland’s human rights and rule of law violations.
PIS keeps making overtures to invite opposition party members to join them so they could stay in power. The responses they’ve been getting have all consistently been “fuck all the way off.”
TL;DR: Duda is stalling but it won’t change anything, the right is falling apart in a spectacular fashion, and there’s not enough popcorn in the world for this shit.
“No adult should be telling children that they’re safe, it is creepy as hell.”
Transphobes act like they’re “protecting kids” and then say shit like this completely unprompted and unironically.
Tennant?
TENNANT?
She’s coming for David Tennant??
OK BUT REBLOGGING BECAUSE OF THIS:
The pin reads “You are safe with me.”
So if anyone out there STILL wants to hang on to that H@rry-P*tter-adjacent username
GO FUCK YOURSELF
Why did she change her name from Kellie-Jay Keen to Posie Parker? Is she trying to confuse people into thinking she’s actress Parker Posey?
Anyone who supports ether kellie-jay keen otherwise know as poise Parker and JK Rowling needs to get off my dash and stop fallowing me.
It doesn’t even refer to children in any way! It’s from the Gayprideshop.co.uk and it looks like this.
What a stupid fucking maneuver. Graham Lineham lost his agent, his marriage, and his career after making the same accusations against Tennant for wearing a “Leave Trans Kids Alone” t-shirt and this random transphobe thinks she can make a swing based on literally nothing at all? Good fucking luck.
i would like to also point out that this is exactly why people are being told to stop supporting jk rowling financially, and to stop supporting her work entirely. jk rowling has some actual powerful influence, both politically and monetarily. if she can pay for legal fees of other people when they get sued for libel for claiming LGBT+ allies are all pedophiles*, then this is an example of how she can be a very real threat to LGBT+ and trans people especially.
*not saying this is what actually happened as i don’t know what those legal fees they mentioned she paid were actually for, but it still demonstrates her financial power.
People occasionally suggest separating art from artist, but that really only applies if the author doesn’t profit off their works anymore. Like, Lovecraft was a racist bastard, but he’s dead and so can’t use the money from his books to further a racist agenda. Rowling is alive and uses her money for shit like this. And so I think the solution is simple. People can be Harry Potter fans again when Rowling is dead.
Heard you were having a rough day, so here's some kitties! Hang in there!
They’re excellent!! I love how Tabby is directly on top of Tux and Tux is chill about it.
For various Pavlovian reasons my anxiety is spiking today (like a lot). Can people who see this please recommend cool things or send pictures/stories that help with the distraction and happy chemicals tyia.
…As if the writing world were divided up between “those generous fanfic writers who pour hundreds of pages into the world to entertain us all for free, praise them!” and “those rich media conglomerates who need to shut their privileged mouths” and completely ignore that the overwhelming majority of creators are in the middle.
Like, look, fam. I’m a traditionally published author. I won a high-profile contest and sold film rights to a short story and was invited to speak on a panel at a major convention.
I also work a full-time day job and still have been eating out of my pantry since Thanksgiving.
Most writers are not Stephen King or J.K. Rowling. Most writers are English teachers and fry cooks and insurance salesmen trying to cram their writing into any spare moment they can. If we’re lucky, maybe we can afford a nice website or plane tickets to go to a convention once in a while.
So please forgive me if the “people who do it for the LOVE are better than those sell-outs who do it for money” argument leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.
Support original fiction.
Support marginalized creators.
Support small presses and indie writers.
Support stories outside of fandom.
Can someone please explain to me why The Amazing Digital Circus is STILL trending number one?
(I watched and really enjoyed it! But like… it’s been a few weeks.)
Knitter of adorable dolls, spinner of sparkly yarns, lover of C-List comic book characters, aro-ace with ADHD. Probably older than you think (but not that old). She/they. Prefer gender-neutral nouns where possible.
