#Restrictions in Wisconsin

[filosofablogger]

A Tale Of Two States

Back in 1980, Heritage Foundation co-founder Paul Weyrich told a group of Republicans working on the Reagan campaign … “Now many of our Christians have what I call the ‘goo-goo syndrome.’ Good government. They want everybody to vote. I don’t want everybody to vote. Elections are not won by a majority of people. They never have been from the beginning of our country, and they are not now. As a…

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#Brett Galaszewski #election integrity #Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer #Michigan vs Wisconsin #voting restrictions

[faeriekit]

Ghosts of Those We Once Knew

a phic phight fill for @silverwing013

Warnings for: implied child abuse, accidental death, dead parents

**💚**

“Oh yeah?! And what are you going to do about it?!” Aunt Alicia snapped into the phone. 

There was a sound on the other end of the line, but Danny couldn’t make it out all the way. There was another solution, but it was…risky; it would require going into his aunt’s bedroom— a well known, forbidden domain— to pick up the only other phone hooked up to the landline. 

…There was no other time to find out what Aunt Alicia was putting off. It had to be worth the risk. Danny crept up the worn carpeting of the stairs, hoping that his sneakiness would hold up to Alicia’s discerning eyes and ears. 

Her bedroom was dark. Carpeted. …Pink. 

Whatever. Danny took a deep breath, lifted the phone off the hook, and tried not to breathe too loudly into the mouthpiece.

“You have no right to keep Daniel in your dismal, miserable, isolated hovel,” someone shouted on the other end. Danny had never heard this voice before. He sounded like someone around Dad’s age, maybe? Maybe a little…smoother, despite the blistering anger coming through the line. “You live with no human contact for nine months out of the year. You speak to no one. Do you— is Daniel even enrolled in a school? Did you get any sort of educational provisions for him whatsoever?” 

“What, so he can get cocky and blow himself up in the garage like his parents?” Alicia snapped. Danny had to clap a hand to his mouth to hide his gasp of dismay. 

“You know full well that punishing your sister’s son by restricting his access to an education and basic human companionship is not a solution to your grief for your sister. You are out of your mind.”

Aunt Alicia’s voice got low. Aunt Alicia’s voice got mean. She sounded like how she looked when Danny had fumbled the water pail from the well or stepped two steps too close to the rhubarb patch out back. “Vladmir Masters, you listen here,” Aunt Alicia muttered. “That boy is everything left of my sister in the whole damn world. He is not going anywhere. Do you understand? Not for you to fill his head with her stupid husband’s supernatural hoo-ha, and not for you to snatch up and teach himself how to kill other people the way those two killed each other. Danny stays here. If you ring me up one more time, I’m going to do more than just mail dog crap to the front step of your stupid castle in Wisconsin.”

The phone cut off. It would be an innocuous end to a phone call, except Danny can hear the clatter of plastic cracking on plastic in the downstairs kitchen.

There was a moment of silence.

“Daniel Jackson Fenton, you get your butt in here right now!”

Danny jolted, heart pounding. He—he went downstairs.

Aunt’s Alicia’s lips were pursed, her eyes tight. “What did I tell you about missing all the sticks in the yard? It looks like a wreck!”

Danny felt his breath stick in his throat.

“Well?”

“Yes, Aunt Alicia,” Danny mumbled. He looked down and away. He wasn’t caught out eavesdropping, but…was this any better?

“If those sticks aren’t piled up beside the woodshed for kindling in half an hour, you can kiss your dinner goodbye.”

Danny hadn’t had dinner in three nights. He was very lucky he didn’t need to eat as much as living kids. “…Yes, Aunt Alicia.”

“So?”

…Danny went outside to collect sticks. It took until nightfall to get all the refuse from yesterday’s storm off the ground.

Aunt Alicia ate canned corn and carrots and butchered rabbit with hot sauce for dinner. Danny ate nothing.

Danny went to bed thinking about somewhere else he could go. Mom and Dad were dead—smithereens in the blast that had killed him and brought him back to life simultaneously. Jazz was in the hospital. He had no grandparents. He had no other aunts or uncles other than Aunt Alicia.

…Who was Vladmir Masters?

*

It took two days for Danny to decide to run away.

Or. Well. Fly.

He’d figured that if he wanted to find out who Vladmir Masters was, he’d need an internet connection. His cell had been on the Fenton Fone Plan™ and had been disconnected from the Fenton Family Patented Ghost-free Satellite™ for almost three months now. But, you know…what was a public library for, if not getting information?

The two-day waiting period was mostly just Danny getting his stuff together, making sure he didn’t leave anything behind, finding anything worth stealing…

…There was a picture of Mom with her big hair at graduation, a black robe thrown over her Hazmat suit. Her hair had been so big. Lots of people were beside her, including Dad, and someone with a matching hair stripe. They looked happy.

It didn’t matter that it had been Aunt Alicia’s photo. The picture had gone into his backpack next to Bearbert Einstein and a filched pocket knife.

Mom was Aunt Alicia’s sister, but Madeline Fenton had been his mom.

…Was still his mom.

Would…would always be his mom.

Danny wouldn’t cry. He wasn’t going to cry. Still, the flying and everything was still new to him. It took almost ten minutes to get himself off the ground without floating off willy nilly.

It took another half an hour to remember how to go through walls.

By the time Danny fell (as in actually, literally, leaned up against the wall and then realized he’d not made contact the way he’d expected to) through the house wall, it was almost eight at night. Aunt Alicia was still listening to Prairie Home Companion downstairs on the radio.

Whatever. He was out of there. He was sure he looked crazy—his hair was white, which was almost impossible to hide—but all he had to do was get out of there fast enough that no one connected one teenage runaway with a backpack to Danny Fenton.

It was fine.

It was all going to be fine.

…And if there wasn’t someone who’d help him. Well. Being homeless didn’t sound…so bad…?

…Or maybe he’d just squat in the burnt out ruins of Fentonworks. That sounded fine too.

*

Morning broke. Danny ended up in a tiny town somewhere in Mississippi.

A nice guy at the coffee shop gave him a cup of water and told him where the local library was. A librarian plugged her login details for him on a public computer, and Danny was able to look up one “Vladmir Masters”…

…CEO and owner of DALVco, millionaire, and Green Bay Packers megafan.

Holy crap.

Like… There were hospital wings with his name on them. Charities operating out of his company. Every picture of the man was perfectly taken in perfect lighting with perfect suits and precise smirks and bright-white magazine article paper.

Danny went back up to the librarian. “Do you have any articles on…uh…Vlad Masters?”

The librarian smiled warmly. “Ah, school project?”

“Sure,” Danny lied, milk on his tongue.

Vlad Masters was a self-made millionaire. He lived in a castle in Wisconsin that used to be owned by a dairy empire kingpin. He went to—

Danny read the line again

—He went to the same college as Mom and Dad. The year looked right, too. They might have even graduated in the exact same year. If only Danny could still check Dad’s college ring in the bottom of their junk drawer.

Wisconsin. Vlad Masters lived in Wisconsin.

…Danny was really lucky he was never all that hungry anymore.

Danny got another cup of water at the coffee shop, washed his face in the bathroom, and got ready to fly another night.

He was no sextant, but he could probably figure out how to get to Wisconsin after a couple of hours of flying, and a little time to gauge the sky.

It would be easy.

…Danny’s white-topped, pale face stared back at him from the restroom mirror.

It had to be. It would have to be easy.

*

So, a cheese castle looked a lot like a regular castle.

Danny squinted up at the stonework. Nah, that looked like…a castle. That being said, it looked more specifically like the castle he was looking for—the one that had been featured in Vlad Masters’s house tour in Architecture Daily magazine two years ago.  

Same…roof bits. Same big door. Danny swallowed. Same…tower? Were there better words for these? There were definitely better words for all the tricky stone bits in the castle.

Whatever. Danny was praying that the man was actually home today, as opposed to flying across the country on some kind of business trip. Rich people did business trips, right?

Danny floated up to the front door. There was no doorbell.

…Danny bit his lip. Okay. So there was no doorbell. There was a very large, brass door knocker. It looked kind of like a big monster face, with a ring held in its teeth.

The knocker was just high enough off the ground that Danny had to float to get there. Lifting it was a struggle.

When it knocked, the whole door buzzed with sound.

Danny waited.

…He waited.

And…Danny waited.

No one came.

Danny picked at the skin of his lip. What if he just…went in?

Like. It was a big house. Maybe Vlad Masters just hadn’t heard him at all? Maybe he was just…in the basement or something…?

Danny paced midair. On one hand. He’d come all this way. He had to follow through. He had to see if there was…something. Anything. Anything at all—anything that could possibly connect Masters to his family.

Any connection that wasn’t Aunt Alicia would be worth breaking and entering.

On the other hand. Home invasion was and would remain illegal.

Danny grimaced.

He…stuck his head through the door. 

There was a hallway on the other side. A little end table. A guest book. 

…Okay. Danny slipped through the door. He was breaking and entering now— or at least…entering. 

Inside was dark. Gloomy. Comfortable, sure— lots of soft furnishings, curtains, couches, pillow, lounging things— but very…opaque in atmosphere. 

He was glowing, he noticed. That probably was pretty bad on the “trying not to get caught” scale. 

There was no one upstairs. Danny drifted through room after empty room and up into floor after empty floor. There was a kitchen, and the food therein were largely preserved items. There was nothing in the fridge. 

Danny’s stomach cramped. There was no one here. 

…Maybe he should look downstairs? 

The castle got colder the further down he went. The windows that at least allowed the minimal light that escaped through the tree cover in the castle vanished. The only light left was Danny. 

Danny floated down deeper. 

There were doors made of metal in a long, stone hallway. Each had different numbers on them. Danny followed the rows of doors.

There were wires on the floor. They were organized by color and bound by little ties, until they weren’t, and Danny eventually ran out of tangled webs of red and blue plastic to follow. 

They ended at a closed door. 

Danny hesitated. He poked his head through. 

On the other side was a ghost. 

Danny jerked back. He’d— he clapped his hand over his mouth. That was—! And sure, Danny was something like that now, but he’d never seen—!

He should leave. Danny should leave. 

Danny barely made it three doors down. 

Going somewhere? something asked him. Danny shivered. 

The ghost appeared on his left in ethereal white, black hair pulled behind him in some sort of half-halo. Unlike Danny, who was in something like half-hazmat, half-hoodie, the ghost wore a long, glowing labcoat, appropriate PPE beneath. 

Danny’s breath fogged up in his mouth. He flinched. “Sorr—” he tried. “Sorry, I’m sorry. I’m not supposed to be here.”

The ghost looked at him with bright red eyes. Danny floated a few steps back. Spying, are you?

Danny shook his head. “No!! No, I just— I was looking for— I wasn’t spying! I’m sorry! I didn’t know you li— died here! I’ll leave!” 

The ghost’s head tilted. For a second, Danny thought that he was going to throw a punch. And then—

You’re already here, the ghost pointed out, and opened a door. Beyond it was…something similar to a doctor’s office. An examination table with the paper on it. One of those blood pressure cuffs, attached to a printer for the readout. A sink. Sundry tongue depressors. You may as well consent to be helped. 

“...Helped with what?” Danny asked nervously, fingers flexing. “I’m sorry, I don’t understand.”

The ghost hummed— not in the way voices hummed, but in the way high voltage sang in distant powerlines. You are newly formed, aren’t you? Most can tell a ghost’s nature from its presence alone.

Danny looked away. “Um. You know. You might be the first ghost I’ve ever met.” 

The ghost’s feet almost touched the ground. It stared down at him. It was taller than he was, and when it stared, it made Danny want to run away. 

…Truly, the ghost asked(?), and it took Danny a second to realize it was a question. 

“Maybe I died a little recently…” Danny tried, trailing off into a mumble. Was there a right answer to this? 

…I see. That would make this check-up more urgent, then. Might I encourage you to come this way? 

Danny followed him into the room. 

It felt… It looked and felt exactly like any other doctor’s appointment, excepting that the doctor involved in the process had blue skin and fangs and a hairstyle that defied gravity. The ghost still wore gloves and didn’t poke him or prod him too hard, though, so that was a bonus.

Danny got his pulse taken. (None.) Danny got his lungs checked. (Not breathing.) Danny got his resonance? looked at? Whatever that was? It was a big scanny thing that looked like an X ray and took pictures of his chest. 

The readings were real pretty, whatever they were; the whole film print was taken up with splotches of white and clear blue. It kind of shimmered when Danny tilted his head. 

You’re quite powerful for a newly formed ghost, the ghost offered, overlooking papers Danny couldn’t quite see on his clipboard. It flipped through once. Twice. You’re clearly not attached to your place of death, so that’s not why… Are you aware of any compulsions to follow an Obsession yet…?

A ghostly obsession? Danny knew what that was— it was one of his parents’ theories on why ghosts persisted after death! Was it was true? 

“Um,” Danny said, unsure. He hadn’t…had he? “Not that I know of?”

The ghost paused. It clicked its pen. It marked something down on Danny’s chart. Interesting.

Ominous. 

May I quickly test something? the ghost asked, looking up at Danny. It would only take a moment. If it does not work, there will be no other side effects other than mild discomfort and an activated flight response. 

Danny shifted. The paper crackled underneath him. “...Does it hurt?” 

No.

The ghost added nothing more. 

Danny’s…head jerked up and down. It was fine. It would be fine. 

The ghost’s hand circled his wrist. Its touch burned like fire. 

And then light, like how Danny burned away one form for another—

—Danny was left on the table, no longer weightless, no longer breathless. He was flesh. He was human again.

Vlad Masters stared back at him. 

…Huh. 

Mr. Masters— Vlad?— licked dry lips, staring at Danny, whose wrist he still held. Danny…didn’t know if he could move. Danny didn’t know if he knew how to move. 

“...Daniel?” Mr. Masters’s voice cracked. His eyes moved up and down Danny’s body, from his raggedy hair to his dirt-stained clothes to his beat-up shoes. “Daniel Fenton?”

Danny winced. “It’s just Danny,” he offered hoarsely. His throat bobbed. “You…know me?” 

Mr. Masters moved his grip to Danny’s hand, apparently moved to tears. Without the red in his eyes, he just looked…human enough. “Daniel— Danny, how did you— Are you dead? What happened?” 

Danny felt the weight of everything push down on him again, as if it had ever let up on him since the portal incident. Mom and Dad’s funerals. Jazz in the emergency room. Being resuscitated by the EMTs. Getting shipped out to Aunt Alicia’s house without warning. 

“House blew up.”

That was succinct enough, right?

The man’s face turned devastated. “I heard— I’m so, so sorry. I’m so sorry, Danny.”

…It was more concern than anyone had shown in a long time. His eyes were wet before he knew it. When he wiped his face with his sleeve, the dampness was enough to leave little streaks of mud on his face— and, ugh, he felt filthy. 

“It’s okay,” Danny lied, because it wasn’t. He pressed his sleeve to his eyes. “It’s…you know my parents?”

Mr. Masters took a deep, surprised breath. “Yes. We…weren’t in contact after we graduated from school together, but Jack always… He asked me by email to be your godfather, right before you were born. I said yes, but I have no idea if he ever filed the paperwork.” 

Oh. 

…Oh. 

There were clearly more secrets here. Mr. Masters was a ghost, and so was Danny. He lived in a giant castle that was clearly haunted, which was made obvious by the owner. He was Danny’s godfather, and Danny had never once met him. 

And he wasn’t Aunt Alicia. 

Danny sucked the spit off of his teeth with his tongue. “Can I stay here?” 

Mr. Masters made a wounded, desperate expression. “I would rather you did.” 

“Can you teach me how to be a ghost?”

The man persevered through what were clearly heavy feelings. “...If I must.” 

“Can I have dinner?” was Danny’s final question. “Like. On the regular?” 

There was a second where Mr. Masters’s eyes went red. The castle suddenly felt taut with anticipation. Fury crawled on Danny’s skin. He could feel the pressure digging in search of some way to burrow into his flesh.

And then it was gone. 

“Of course you can. You are a growing boy.”

Danny smiled shyly, barely showing his teeth. When he smiled for real in the mirror, he had fangs. It was better not to. “Cool.”

Mr. Masters nodded. And when Danny looked down at the floor, he changed his grip so that Danny could hold his hand and hop down like normal. 

“It will be alright,” Mr. Masters promised quietly. It seemed to be just as much for him as it was for Danny. “Or…I’ll take care of it. Whatever happens. You’re not alone, Danny.” 

Danny had been alone for almost half a year. It had felt like forever. “Thanks.” He sniffed. 

They walked upstairs from the basement laboratory together, in a way Mom and Dad never would again. 

#phic phight 2024 #danny phantom #vlad masters #I forget Alicia's last name ngl #dead fenton parents #Jazz is sir not appearing in this film #danny fenton #good!Vlad au #phic phight #RIP a prarie home companion you were a cool show but your host was [REDACTED] of course you were gonna get cancelled #my and my persistent love of landlines #faer fic #I do not LIKE vlad. However. This intrigued me. #dead ghost man who furthers the study of ghosts while knowing his college besties might take advantage of him for their own research. whack #anyway. the portal blew up #phic phight 24

[lizardsfromspace]

Fascinated by this TERF on Twitter who runs half-marathons in a witch costume as some arcane way of supporting JK Rowling & who paid to get the Guinness Book of World Records to enshrine her 1:55 half marathon time as "the fastest half-marathon done in a witch costume"

And who scrawled the names of transphobes like JK Rowling, Dave Chapelle, and Graham Linehan on her legs since they're witches they (who? I don't know) can't burn. Even the men I guess

But this witch's wards did not give her the strength to pass over a "symbol of hatred" for women:

a progress pride flag crosswalk

Just before I could finish they nearly defeated me with their misogynistic crosswalk paint! I had to face down the great power of a two-dimensional flag to post a unremarkable half-marathon time I paid to put in a book to honor a millionaire author I don't know, or as you may call it, "equality for women everywhere".

Truly a hero speaking truth to power by winning a half-marathon in Madison, Wisconsin in the name of JK Rowling, clearly feminism's greatest struggle.

Oddly enough during her time in Wisconsin she didn't tweet about that state's abortion ban even once, but I'm sure she'll get around to talking about women's rights being restricted by laws passed in the 1800s when she's won the real battle of making a rich lady who hates trans people have more sub-two hour half-marathon times accomplished in her name

In conclusion this half-marathon was in November and she had four months to decide not to post this but never reconsidered even once

#transphobia #incredible #long post

[nateconnolly]

WHAT DO ALL OF THESE BOOKS HAVE IN COMMON?

ANSWER UNDER THE CUT

All of them have been banned, or access to them has been restricted, in a prison in America within the last ten years.

In many states, prisons have broad and vague guidelines for book restrictions -- N.J. Admin. Code § 10A:18-4.9 grants prisons the right to ban a book if it "Lacks, as a whole, serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value". In Arizona, "inmates are not permitted to send, receive, or present... Publications that depict nudity," and explicitly states that classical art is not an exception (DO 914: 8.2.1 and 8.2.1.1).

I volunteer at a nonprofit that sends free books to prisoners. From personal experience, I know there are sweeping book restrictions such as "no dictionaries," "no coloring books," or "no manga". While these books are not always strictly banned, inmates are frequently underpaid, or forced to labor without pay. That means many inmates cannot afford to purchase books, and rely on nonprofits for access.

Book bans in public libraries and schools are unconscionable, but they are usually not effective at restricting access. A high school student can usually still see an image of Michelangelo's David even if they cannot learn about it in class. In prison, a book ban on nudity can permanently prevent inmates from accessing great works of art, the shared heritage of humankind.

DONATE TO THE INSIDE BOOKS PROGRAM IF YOU HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY. THEY SEND FREE BOOKS TO PEOPLE IN PRISONS.

Sources:

Found on Marshall Project

1,001 Movies You Must See Before You Die (banned in California according to Marshall Project

Basic Fundamentals of Modern Tattoo (Illinois)

No role playing games. A Practical Guide to Dragons. Abolish Prison Slavery. “A Multi Denominational Wicca Bible. (Montana)

101 Things to Do With Mac and Cheese (New Jersey)

“But, Didn’t You Kill Malcolm?” and “A Field Guide to Lucid Dreaming” (North Carolina)

“100 Years of Chevrolet” “1000 Dot to Dot Animals” (Oregon)

“San Francisco Bay Newspaper” “Making Everyday Electronics Work” (Rhode Island)

“Marvel Encyclopedia” (South Carolina)

“A Brief History of Manga” (Texas)

“1001 Photographs You Must See in Your Lifetime” (Virginia)

“A Question of Freedom” Reginald Dwayne Betts (Wisconsin)

The Tennessean

A prison in Tennessee restricts access to The Quran, The Torah, The Bhagavad Gita, and books about Norse mythology. (The ban did not apply to the Bible.)

Personal Experience

I am not willing to dox myself, so I cannot name the nonprofit where I volunteer. However, I swear that I have seen book bans on manga, how-to-draw guides, coloring books, electronics books, dictionaries, and composition notebooks.

#book bans #prison #prison reform #anti intellectualism #censorship #original post

[saywhat-politics]

Republicans in states across the country are moving to block young people from voting as part of a concerted strategy advanced by a leading 2020 election denier, according to a report.

New Hampshire Republicans introduced a bill that would have barred college students who pay out-of-state tuition from voting, while a Texas Republican introduced a bill that would ban polling places at colleges and universities. Republicans in Idaho, Virginia and Wisconsin have all pressed measures to keep students away from the polls, reported Rolling Stone.

“Young people are the reason why Biden won in 2020 and Democrats up and down the ballot won in 2022 and 2023,” says Abhi Rahman, national communications director for the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee.

“If Gen Z continues to vote, we’re on the cusp of the most progressive era in our country’s history. Republicans know this as well, and that’s why they’re doing everything they can to stop young people from voting, including the fight for restrictions that we’re seeing play out in states like Wisconsin today.”

#republicans #young voters

[anjanahalo]

Wayne Vs Fenton 3

start of the madness

pls note I'm putting these numbers in as "what I have written." They're not gonna necessarily be in order. I hope to make a full fic to put on AO3. In the interim, here's stuff I wrote in general as it strikes me in the moment. This bit is from Tim's perspective after Damian and Danny Are Friends become a known quantity in the Wayne household. ~*~

Damian making friends didn’t make sense. Everyone else felt complacent in simply accepting it. Tim wasn’t. Considering his upbringing, autonomous socializing wasn’t part of Damian’s personality. Nor was how calm and patient the former assassin child became with all of his siblings, Tim included. Damian himself insisted he and this “Danny” were friends. Hell, Damian even called the kid by a nickname. Not his last name, not “Daniel.” His actual, preferred nickname. Tim was suspicious and instantly began investigating. Daniel “Danny” Fenton, age 15, moved to Gotham two months ago from Amity Park, Illinois with his godfather and temporary guardian, Vlad Masters, former mayor of Amity Park, head of Vladco Industries, and heir to Wisconsin’s Self Proclaimed Dairy King’s fortune. Child of Jack and Madeline Fenton, doctors of something called ectobiology, former college classmates of Vlad Masters, and founders of FentonWorks, a cottage research facility that developed antighost (Ghosts? Really?) weaponry and equipment. Brother of Jasmine Fenton, currently a student of Yale in their psychology undergraduate program, and already a shoe-in for the Dean’s list. Honestly, of all the people related to him, Danny ended up being the least interesting. Middling grades that dropped in high school along with attendance. That was probably what led to his coming to Gotham. A set of brilliant - if evidentially weird - parents and a rich and involved godfather doing what they could to help their faltering son to succeed by sending him to one of the top schools on the east coast. There was evidence that Amity Park itself had some apparently minor meta vigilante protecting it, but searches for “Phantom” turned up nothing in the Justice League’s database, suggesting whomever this was might be an actual ghost like Deadman and, thus, restricted to access by those with JLD clearance. Tim put aside that issue for later. He could just ask B for privileges later. Besides, the only information he found on this vigilante was on a few amateur fansites and local papers. No major news sites or government listings. It couldn’t be anything major. His focus remained on Daniel Fenton. Except, even when looking into the kid’s socials, there wasn’t anything interesting. He had a couple friends back in Amity, the most interesting of the two was Samantha Mason of the Mason family, though Tim already knew of her from various socialite dinners she looked ready to burn to the ground, pink and lacey dress or not. Her social media was full of activism, conservation movements, and calls for both veganism and something called ultra recycle vegetarianism. Tucker came from an average family of upper middle class parents, nothing odd there, though his social media showed his love of technology and ancient Egypt. Nothing strange there. Danny’s social media, besides his friends, included links to Nasa, occasional rambles about high school life, and, for some reason, a dog photoshopped to look green. From the replies of his few followers, it was an inside joke since they all cooed over the dog and didn’t comment on the green. Again, nothing strange. Even the one time he managed to hack into Damian’s phone to see his messages yielded nothing. He and Danny would meet for what Danny called “playdates.” For some reason, Damian played along with a name Tim knew he’d scoff as childish and beneath him. Even that would be innocuous. One or the other would suggest meeting at various parks, arcades, even the observatory, negotiating dates and times, and that was it.

Danny was a normal kid. Damian was a born and bred assassin. Why in the actual fuck were these two friends? Nothing made sense. Everyone else was happy to ignore it because of the peace the irrationality before them instilled. Tim wouldn’t become complacent. Whatever Danny was hiding, he’d find it.

#danny phantom #here i go writing again #wayne vs fenton #dpxdc #Yup #Tim is missing shit #plz allow it for now for both plot reasons and because this is #so far #just a seed for the full story #also he's tunnel focused on Danny. Some Ghost Powered Meta isn't in his radar at the moment #especially one that's probably actually just a ghost protecting a small midwestern town and of such small significance #it's not even a major file in the JL database #OBVIOUSLY the JL must know about him. Thinking otherwise is silly #He'll just ask bruce to fill him in #Shoutout to One Look because I was like “What's a word for 'Self Initializing'?” #AUTONOMOUS

[destielmemenews]

"He filed a legal brief in support of a lawsuit that sought to block the certification of Biden’s victories in Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin. Johnson then supported objections in Congress to the certification Arizona’s and Pennsylvania’s 2020 presidential results.

Johnson also served on Trump’s legal team during the former president’s first impeachment.

He previously did legal work for the Alliance Defense Freedom, an ultraconservative advocacy group that litigates to restrict abortion access and prohibit same-sex marriage."

source 1

source 2

#destiel meme #destiel meme news #united states #us news #news #us politics #politics #i'm going to kms #FUCK #him?????? #mike johnson #lousiana #republicans #gop #fuck the gop #house speaker #us congress #congressman #i'm listening to his little acceptance speach and he fucking sucks so hard #sir you are a horrible person and i hope you are crushed by a comically large anvil #house of representatives #major L for freedom today my dudes #so this is how liberty dies. with thunderous applause.

[mckitterick]

The 1,572 US politicians who've banned abortion since Roe fell last year: Mostly Republican men.

(Guardian story by Ava Sasani, graphics by Andrew Witherspoon)

It’s been one year since the US Supreme Court ended the constitutional right to abortion. The procedure is now prohibited in 14 states and restricted in six more, leaving large swaths of the midwest and south without access to basic reproductive care.

To mark the first anniversary of the Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision (the case that overturned Roe v Wade), the Guardian has created a visual directory of state legislators who embraced the opportunity to restrict abortion access. These are the faces of lawmakers and governors whose votes helped pass bans on abortion at conception or after six weeks, before most women know they are pregnant.

Because of the sheer volume of anti-abortion laws that have taken effect over the past year, bans that predate Roe – like the 19th-century statute that Republicans are trying to resurrect in Wisconsin – are not included here. Additional bans in Wyoming, Ohio, Utah, and North Dakota are also excluded, because state courts have indefinitely blocked those laws from taking effect. The remaining nearly 1,600 legislators in this graphic are responsible for the chaotic patchwork of abortion restrictions that has emerged in the year without Roe.

source: the Guardian

#abortion rights #anti abortionists #us politics #reproductive rights #roe v wade #my screencaps

[mandsleanan]

The Affordable Care Act covers sterilization at no-cost if you're in the US.

Article text under cut.

Sitting in the living room of her Cleveland home, 30-year-old Grace O’Malley reflects on when she ruled out having kids of her own.

O’Malley has Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a genetic condition that weakens the body’s connective tissue, and can get much worse postpartum. About three years earlier, when she was in her mid-twenties, her condition worsened. O’Malley’s doctors told her that if she did get pregnant, her uterus could rupture and her child would be more likely to be born prematurely.

O’Malley was on hormonal birth control up until last May. But after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, she knew an abortion ban was likely coming in Ohio and she might not be able to end a pregnancy if her birth control failed. She booked an appointment with her gynecologist.

“I went in that day and I knew right away I wanted a more permanent solution,” said O’Malley. “I was like, ‘I actually want to talk about getting surgery.’ And the nurse was surprised, and she was like, ‘Oh, okay.’”

Dr. Clodagh Mullen, an obstetrician-gynecologist at MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland, said since the Dobbs v. Jackson decision — which took away the constitutional right to abortion and returned the issue to state governments — many of her patients have been increasingly worried about access to reproductive healthcare and seeking more permanent solutions.

“Some patients will say, ‘Oh, could you stash some IUDs for me?’” Mullen said. “They get very nervous that [birth control] is just going to go away overall. Nobody can re-implant your tube once it's been taken out, so I think that they have that comfort of there's no way anybody can take this part away from me.”

Legislators in some Midwest states have floated bans on birth control, which, so far, haven’t gone anywhere. Mullen doesn’t anticipate that access to contraception will disappear.

“But I get why people have that fear, as I also probably didn't really think that Roe was going to get overturned, if you had asked me this four or five years ago,” she said.

What Mullen is seeing in Cleveland is mirrored across the country. The Kaiser Family Foundation surveyed more than 500 gynecologists across the U.S. in the spring and about half of doctors in states with abortion restrictions reported the number of patients seeking sterilization has increased since Dobbs.

That includes states like Indiana and Missouri - where abortion is banned with very limited exceptions, and states like Ohio, Iowa and Wisconsin where bans are currently being disputed, or where residents feel they may lose the right to an abortion. Ohio voters just approved an amendment to the state constitution, which guarantees access to abortion.

Three Ohio health systems that track contraception — MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland, University Hospitals in Cleveland, and Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center in Columbus — reported a sharp rise in the number of patients seeking tubal sterilization.

Contraception decisions

There aren’t many big health risks to the type of sterilization procedure Mullen performs. Doctors mostly worry about regret. Most studies found that when doctors followed up, a small percentage of women wished they hadn’t gone through with the procedure.

The majority are like O’Malley, who had some complications post surgery, but said she never second guessed her decision.

“I've never really thought about it, honestly,” said O’Malley. “It’s become kind of a fact of my daily life. It’s like, ‘Hi, I'm Grace. I have red hair and I can't have kids.’”

O’Malley is happy her doctor respected her choice. She believes the political climate helped.

She shared the story of her best friend who sought sterilization in her late 20s, about five years ago. She said her friend had to meet with several doctors before one agreed to do the procedure, and even then, made her wait another year in case she changed her mind.

“My friend did not have that kind of grace,” O’Malley said. “Her doctor probably thought, ‘You would have other options. If you got pregnant and decided that it's really not what [you] wanted, then you could get an abortion.’ Whereas for me, that might not be the option.”

Men decide, too

Men’s contraception patterns are also changing, according to physician reports.

Dr. Sarah Sweigert, a urologist at Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, said doctors at her office performed double the number vasectomy consults and procedures as they had before the ruling.

She points to a Cleveland Clinic study, which showed that, in the summer following the court decision, the average age of men getting the procedure has dropped from late 30s to mid-30s compared to the same period the year before. The study also showed there was a significant increase in the number of men under 30 and men without children seeking vasectomy consultations post Dobbs. Sweigert has seen that trend first-hand in her practice.

“I think as more women speak out about perhaps not wanting to be on various forms of birth control for decades, I think that men are more aware of vasectomies and perhaps are doing their part,” she said.

Vasectomies are generally safer than female sterilization and have a much quicker recovery.

But Mullen isn’t surprised that so many women want the procedure themselves – they are the ones who would have to carry the pregnancy and handle the ensuing health impacts.

O’Malley feels that acutely. She had been in vulnerable situations in the past. She was sexually assaulted in college and went through a period where she was homeless. O’Malley said her choice was an act of self-protection.

“It’s not like I sit around thinking that the worst case scenario is going to happen,” she said. “But I would want to know that I was going to be safe and I wasn't going to end up in a situation where I was pregnant and I would have no path to go.”

#Childfree #Reproductive rights #Sterilization #Roe was only the first domino

[wilbursoot-updates]

LOVEJOY NORTH AMERICAN TOUR: Ticket info! (Please note that prices do not include any additional fees)

May 4 - The Basement East (Nashville, Tennessee): $20. ALL AGES. Capacity is 400

May 5 - Shaky Knees Festival (Atlanta, Georgia): $119 for 1 day general admission. ALL AGES.

May 8 - Granada (Dallas, Texas): $22. ALL AGES. Capacity is 1000.

May 9 - Scoot Inn (Austin, Texas): $25 general admission. ALL AGES. Capacity is 800.

May 12 - Crescent Ballroom (Phoenix, Arizona): $25. AGE RESTRICTION: 16+. Capacity is 500.

May 13 - Music Box (San Diego, California): $27. AGE RESTRICTION: 21+. Capacity is 700.

May 16 - The Novo (Los Angeles, California): Ticket price is currently unknown. ALL AGES. Capacity is 2400.

May 17 - Bimbo's 365 Club (San Francisco, California): $25. ALL AGES. Capacity is 700.

May 19 - Hawthorne Theatre (Portland, Oregon): $25. ALL AGES. Capacity is 550.

May 20 - Neumos (Seattle, Washington): $25-28. ALL AGES. Capacity is 650.

May 23 - The Complex (Salt Lake City, Utah): $25. ALL AGES. Capacity is 850.

May 24 - Gothic Theatre (Denver, Colorado): Ticket price is currently unknown. AGE RESTRICTION: 16+. Capacity is 1100.

May 26 - Amsterdam (Minneapolis, Minnesota): $25. ALL AGES. Capacity is 600.

May 27 - The Back Room @ Colectivo (Milwaukee, Wisconsin): Starting from $25. ALL AGES. Capacity is 300.

May 28 - El Club (Detroit, Michigan): $32.50. ALL AGES. Capacity is 400.

May 30 - The Danforth (Toronto, Ontario): Ticket price is currently unknown. ALL AGES. Capacity is 1400.

June 2 - Royale (Boston, Massachusetts): $25. ALL AGES. Capacity is 1300.

June 3 - TLA (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania): $25.00 to $27.50. ALL AGES. Capacity is 1000.

June 6 - Howard Theatre (Washington, DC): Ticket price is currently unknown. ALL AGES. Capacity is 1200.

June 10 - Gov Ball Festival (New York City, New York): $139 for 1 day general admission. ALL AGES

Please see this thread by babaphobe on Twitter for ADA/accessibility information for each show!

#lovejoy #across the pond tour #wilbur soot #joe goldsmith #mark boardman #ash kabosu #tour

[beardedmrbean]

WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans view college campuses as far friendlier to liberals than to conservatives when it comes to free speech, with adults across the political spectrum seeing less tolerance for those on the right, according to a new poll.

Overall, 47% of adults say liberals have “a lot” of freedom to express their views on college campuses, while just 20% said the same of conservatives, according to polling from the The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and the University of Chicago Forum for Free Inquiry and Expression.

Republicans perceive a stronger bias on campuses against conservatives, but Democrats see a difference too — about 4 in 10 Democrats say liberals can speak their minds freely on campuses, while about 3 in 10 Democrats say conservatives can do so.

“If you’re a Republican or lean Republican, you’re unabashedly wrong, they shut you down,” said Rhonda Baker, 60, of Goldsboro, North Carolina, who voted for former President Donald Trump and has a son in college. “If they hold a rally, it’s: ‘The MAGA’s coming through.’ It’s: ‘The KKK is coming through.’”

Debates over First Amendment rights have occasionally flared on college campuses in recent years, with conflicts arising over guest speakers who express polarizing views, often from the political right.

Stanford University became a flashpoint this year when students shouted down a conservative judge who was invited to speak. More recently, a conservative Princeton University professor was drowned out while discussing free speech at Washington College, a small school in Maryland.

At the same time, Republican lawmakers in dozens of states have proposed bills aiming to limit public colleges from teaching topics considered divisive or liberal. Just 30% of Americans say states should be able to restrict what professors at state universities teach, the poll found, though support was higher among Republicans.

Overall, Republicans see a clear double standard on college campuses. Just 9% said conservatives can speak their minds, while 58% said liberals have that freedom, according to the polling. They were also slightly less likely than Americans overall to see campuses as respectful and inclusive places for conservatives.

Chris Gauvin, a Republican who has done construction work on campuses, believes conservative voices are stifled. While working at Yale University, he was once stopped by pro-LGBTQ+ activists who asked for his opinion, he said.

“They asked me how I felt, so I figured I’d tell them. I spoke in a normal tone, I didn’t get excited or upset,” said Gauvin, 58, of Manchester, Connecticut. “But it proceeded with 18 to 20 people who were suddenly very irritated and agitated. It just exploded.”

He took a lesson from the experience: “I learned to be very quiet there.”

Republicans in Congress have raised alarms, with a recent House report warning of “the long-standing and pervasive degradation of First Amendment rights” at U.S. colleges. Some in the GOP have called for federal legislation requiring colleges to protect free speech and punish those who infringe on others’ rights.

Nicholas Fleisher, who chairs an academic freedom committee for the American Association of University Professors, said public perception is skewed by the infrequent cases when protesters go too far.

“The reality is that there’s free speech for everyone on college campuses,” said Fleisher, a linguistics professor at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. “In conversations within classrooms, people are free to speak their minds. And they do.”

Officials at PEN America, a free speech group, say most students welcome diverse views. But as the nation has become more politically divided, so have college campuses, said Kristen Shahverdian, senior manager for education at PEN.

“There’s this polarization that just continues to grow and build across our country, and colleges and universities are a part of that ecosystem,” she said.

Morgan Ashford, a Democrat in an online graduate program at Troy University in Alabama, said she thinks people can express themselves freely on campus regardless of politics or skin color. Still, she sees a lack of tolerance for the LGBTQ+ community in her Republican state where the governor has passed anti-LGBTQ legislation.

“I think there have to be guidelines” around hate speech, said Ashford. “Because some people can go overboard.”

When it comes to protesting speakers, most Americans say it should be peaceful. About 8 in 10 say it’s acceptable to engage in peaceful, non-disruptive protest at a campus event, while just 15% say it’s OK to prevent a speaker from communicating with the audience, the poll found.

“If they don’t like it, they can get up and walk out,” said Linda Woodward, 71, a Democrat in Hot Springs Village, Arkansas.

Mike Darlington, a real estate appraiser who votes Republican, said drowning out speakers violates the virtues of a free society.

“It seems to me a very, very selfish attitude that makes students think, ‘If you don’t think the way I do, then your thoughts are unacceptable,’” said Darlington, 58, of Chesterfield County, Virginia.

The protest at Stanford was one of six campus speeches across the U.S. that ended in significant disruption this year, with another 11 last year, according to a database by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, a free speech group.

Those cases, while troubling, are one symptom of a broader problem, said Ilya Shapiro, a conservative legal scholar who was shouted down during a speech last year at the University of California’s law school. He says colleges have drifted away from the classic ideal of academia as a place for free inquiry.

An even bigger problem than speakers being disrupted by protesters is “students and faculty feeling that they can’t be open in their views. They can’t even discuss certain subjects,” said Shapiro, director of constitutional studies at the Manhattan Institute think tank.

About three in five Americans (62%) say that a major purpose of higher education is to support the free exchange and debate of different ideas and values. Even more U.S. adults say college’s main purpose is to teach students specific skills (82%), advance knowledge and ideas (78%) or teach students to be critical thinkers (76%). Also, 66% said a major purpose is to create a respectful and inclusive learning environment.

“I believe it should be solely to prepare you to enter the workforce,” said Gene VanZandt, 40, a Republican who works in shipbuilding in Hampton, Virginia. “I think our colleges have gone too far off the path of what their function was.”

The poll finds that majorities of Americans think students and professors, respectively, should not be allowed to express racist, sexist or anti-LGBTQ views on campus, with slightly more Republicans than Democrats saying those types of views should be allowed. There was slightly more tolerance for students expressing those views than for professors.

About 4 in 10 said students should be permitted to invite academic speakers accused of using offensive speech, with 55% saying they should not. There was a similar split when asked whether professors should be allowed to invite those speakers.

Darlington believes students and professors should be able to discuss controversial topics, but there are limits.

“Over-the-top, overtly racist, hateful stuff — no. You shouldn’t be allowed to do that freely,” he said.

___

The poll of 1,095 adults was conducted Sept. 7-11, 2023, using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 4 percentage points.

#nunyas news

[schraubd]

Wisconsin Man's Upward Fall Arrested

Democracy may finally be coming to Wisconsin, as Janet Protasiewicz defeated arch-conservative Daniel Kelly to flip a key seat on the state supreme court.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court has been a national embarrassment for years. This was the court where a justice tried to choke out one of his colleagues, after all. More recently, it was by far the court that came closest to endorsing Donald Trump's authoritarian campaign to overturn the 2020 election. Members of the conservative faction have since openly questioned the validity of President Biden's victory, putting them far outside even the conservative judicial mainstream and marking them as little more than partisan thugs.

Can you imagine the sort of totalitarian hellscape where the votes of the majority play essentially no role in determining who wins elections? pic.twitter.com/VScxrZV5CR

— David Schraub @[email protected] (@schraubd) July 8, 2022

And yet, even among this sorry bunch, Daniel Kelly would have stood out.

I first wrote about Daniel Kelly when he was initially appointed to the Wisconsin Supreme Court by then-Governor Scott Walker. He had made an argument comparing affirmative action to slavery, something that -- even restricted to the "civil rights programs are the new slavery!" field -- was jaw-dropping in its stupidity (and "civil rights programs are the new slavery!" is already a field saturated with stupidity).

Over the course of his career, and over the course of this campaign, Kelly has proven himself to be the definition of a mediocrity who's managed to fall upward via the beneficent hand of the right-wing gravy train. His academic pedigree is undistinguished. He had no judicial experience when he was appointed to the court by Walker in the first place, and after his (first) defeat he stayed plugged into Wisconsin GOP politics by providing legal advice to the effort to steal the state for Trump after Joe Biden's 2020 victory. And of course, all have now witnessed his petulant response to being defeated by Protasiewicz:

"I wish that in a circumstance like this, I would be able to concede to a worthy opponent," he said at an event held at the Heidel House Hotel in Green Lake. "But I do not have a worthy opponent to which I can concede."

Kelly called Protasiewicz's campaign "deeply deceitful, dishonorable and despicable." "My opponent is a serial liar. She's disregarded judicial ethics; she's demeaned the judiciary with her behavior. This is the future that we have to look forward to in Wisconsin."

Adding: "I wish Wisconsin the best of luck, because I think it’s going to need it."

[...]

"The people of Wisconsin have chosen the rule of Janet. I respect that decision because it is theirs to make," he said. "I respect the decision that the people of Wisconsin have made, but I think it does not end well."

 If ever there was a definition of "lacking in judicial temperament," he personifies it.

Yet beyond that, Kelly is a familiar, if not archetypical figure. He is suffused with entitlement for that which he has not earned, and consumed by rage when he doesn't get it. There are thousands -- millions -- of men (almost always men) just like him. Most don't go on to become state supreme court judges, though many do bully themselves into positions far beyond their talents or capacities by a mixture of being useful to the right people and being an impossible menace when they don't get what they want. When they do, finally, see their upward fall arrested, they are incredulous and infuriated at the injustice of it all. Hell hath no fury like a mediocre White man scorned.

Indeed, perhaps Kelly's only mistake was being appointed to the Wisconsin Supreme Court instead of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals -- a position from which he could never be dislodged no matter how apparent it became that he was ill-suited for the position. On the federal bench, with life tenure, he could have prowled and fulminated and lashed out with impunity, forever; secure in the knowledge that it would be constitutionally impossible to ever hold him accountable. One can only imagine the law school classes he would have baited and berated.

But alas, Daniel Kelly is a creature of the state bench, and in Wisconsin, supreme court justices must meet the approval of the voters. Twice now, the voters have resoundingly rejected Daniel Kelly as unsuited for the role of state supreme court justice. Kudos to them. And while Democrats are celebrating Protasiewicz's win, the bigger winner is the small-d democracy that has been under siege in Wisconsin for far too long.

via The Debate Link https://ift.tt/lRL0wm7

#democracy #judiciary #men #Wisconsin

[robertreich]

The Secret to the GOP’s Assault on Your Rights

Democracy is not just under attack in America. In some states, it’s being lost.

Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis once suggested that states could serve as laboratories of democracy, but these states are more like laboratories of autocracy.

Take Wisconsin. The GOP has so successfully rigged state elections through gerrymandering that even when Democrats get more votes, Republicans win more seats. In 2018, Republicans won just 45% of the vote statewide, but were awarded 64% of the seats.

******

Btw, if you’d like my daily analyses, commentary, and drawings, please subscribe to my free newsletter: robertreich.substack.com

******

Wisconsin is one of several states where an anti-democracy movement has taken hold.

But it wasn’t always this way. In fact, Wisconsin pioneered the progressive era of American politics at the start of the twentieth century — with policies that empowered workers, protected the environment, and took on corporate monopolies. State lawmakers established the nation’s first unemployment insurance, workers’ compensation, and strict child labor laws.

Teddy Roosevelt called the state a “laboratory for wise … legislation aiming to secure the social and political betterment of the people as a whole.”

But for the last decade, Wisconsin has become a laboratory for legislation that does the exact opposite.

After Republicans took control in 2010, one of the first bills they passed gutted workers' rights by dismantling public-sector unions — which then decimated labor’s ability to support pro-worker candidates.

This move aligned with the interests of their corporate donors, who benefited from weaker unions and lower wages.

This new Wisconsin formula has been replicated elsewhere.

Republicans in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and North Carolina won a minority of votes in 2018, but still won majorities in their state assemblies thanks to gerrymandering.

In Texas, Ohio, and Georgia, Republicans have crafted gerrymanders that are strong enough to create supermajorities capable of overturning a governor’s veto.

Even more alarming, hundreds of these Republican state legislators, “used the power of their office to discredit or try to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election,” on behalf of Donald Trump.

How did this happen? Put simply: years of careful planning by corporate interest groups and their radical allies.

And the corporations enabling these takeovers aren't just influencing the law — their lobbyists are literally writing many of the bills that get passed.

This political alliance with corporate power has given these Republican legislatures free rein to pursue an extreme culture-war agenda — one that strips away rights that majorities of people support — while deflecting attention from their corporate patrons’ economic agendas.

Republicans are introducing bills that restrict or criminalize abortion. They’re banning teachers from discussing the history of racism in this country. They are making it harder to protest and easier to harm protestors. They are punishing trans people for receiving gender-affirming care and their doctors for providing it.

But it doesn’t have to be this way. There are still laboratories of democracy where true public servants are finding creative ways to defend the rights of us all.

Elected officials in Colorado and Vermont are codifying the right to abortion. California lawmakers have proposed making the state a refuge for transgender youth and their families. And workers across the country are reclaiming their right to organize, which is helping to rebuild an important counterweight to corporate power.

But winning will ultimately require a fifty state strategy — with a Democratic Senate willing to reform or end the filibuster to codify Roe v. Wade, protect voting rights, and protect the right to organize nationwide.

America needs a national pro-democracy movement to stop the anti-democracy movement now underway — a pro-democracy movement committed to helping candidates everywhere, including in state-level races.

This is where you come in. Volunteer for pro-democracy candidates — and if you don't have time, contribute to their campaigns.

This is not a battle of left vs. right. It is a battle between democracy and autocracy.

#roe v wade #roe #Supreme Court #states #Wisconsin #democracy #videos #video

[fierceawakening]

President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on Monday announced new steps to support access to abortion, highlighting an issue that has galvanized voters in the year since the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade.

Ms. Harris will travel to Wisconsin on Monday morning as she begins a national tour focused on preserving access to reproductive health care, as Mr. Biden brings together a task force on reproductive health care in Washington.

Both events are designed to call attention to the 51st anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the landmark Supreme Court ruling that established a constitutional right to abortion, and to announce new steps that Mr. Biden’s administration has taken to help Americans get contraceptives and abortions under an emergency care law.

“Even as Americans — from Ohio to Kentucky to Michigan to Kansas to California — have resoundingly rejected attempts to limit reproductive freedom, Republican elected officials continue to push for a national ban and devastating new restrictions across the country,” Mr. Biden said in a statement. “On this day and every day, Vice President Harris and I are fighting to protect women’s reproductive freedom.”

In Washington, the Department of Health and Human Services will issue guidance for patients experiencing pregnancy-related emergencies to better understand their rights to care under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, known as EMTALA.

The law requires hospital emergency rooms to provide medically necessary care, including abortions, in urgent circumstances. The department will also provide “training materials for health care providers and establish a dedicated team of experts” to support hospitals around the country, according to a fact sheet distributed by the administration.

[proton-wobbler]

Warbler Showdown; Bracket 1, Poll 9

Black-throated Blue Warbler (Setophaga caerulescens)

IUCN Rating: Least Concern

Range: prefers the Appalachian mountains when in the eastern states, otherwise breeding in southeast Canada or New England. Overwinters in the Greater Antilles, as well as the Bahamas and along the Caribbean coast of the Yucatan, Belize, and Honduras.

Habitat: interior forests of undisturbed hardwood and mixed deciduous-coniferous trees.

Kirtland's Warbler (Setophaga kirtlandii)

IUCN Rating: Near Threatened

Range: Restricted. Confined to both peninsula of Michigan (17 counties), as well as Wisconsin (3 counties) and southern Ontario. Winters in the Bahamian archipelago.

Habitat: exclusively breeds in early-successional jack pine forests and overwinters in early-successional broadleaf scrub or shrubby habitats.

Image Sources: BTBW (Matt Zuro); Kirtland's (Bryan Calk)

#NWW Showdown #black throated blue warbler #kirtlands warbler #setophaga #parulidae #animal poll #bird poll

[9haharharley1]

Now that I got my shame back, would it be possible to see a recreation of Frost asking Pitch to collar him but for Pompous Pep? Just the way Jack goes "take control of me" has me weak 😭 These two ships have taken control of my life lol

I think @gilly-moon wrote the Blackice control thing! But I can certainly give it a shot! Lord knows I haven't written enough pompep in my life...

---

Was it sad that his safe haven these days was at Vlad's manor? Maybe.

Maybe to his friends, he was still enemies with the old fruitloop. And maybe to his parents, he and Vlad had reconciled enough for Danny to stay with him every now and then while he was at college. And maybe his sister was the only person who hinted at even knowing what might be going on between the two of them, and maybe Danny's silence on the matter was enough to get her to back off with a gentle, "Just be safe, Danny."

He didn't need any of them to know, didn't need their constant opinions and concerns and well-intentioned criticisms that drove him up a wall and made him question the what-ifs that was his life. The whole point of moving to Wisconsin was to get away from all that; to break away from his parents' unknowing threats, from Jazz's overbearing worry, and from Tucker and Sam throwing their unwanted input around when Danny needed to vent. He was so tired of it.

And if Vlad Masters was the only person in the entire world with a room to spare and an ear to listen, the only other person who knew what it was like to face the temptation that came almost as a side effect from having ghost powers, then Danny was willing to lock their past away - to keep it there, only to revisit with quiet laughter between them at the stupid antics they got up to.

So what if Vlad was still a morally dubious prick? At least he was honest about it. And honestly, ever since Danny started hanging out with him the older halfa had calmed down some. He was lonely, and if Danny provided even a fraction of companionship then Vlad wasn't so focused on his schemes. And so what that he used to have the hots for his mom? The man had had nothing but twenty years to stew in anger and isolation and pain, nothing to focus on but perceived slights against him, his world and memories twisted until they were unrecognizable by the reality he actually lived in. He was no longer interested in Maddie Fenton, especially now that Danny - whose company had become his new obsession - was actively spending time with him. And so what if Vlad had tried to kill his dad? Jack Fenton was resilient, and despite what his parents said about Phantom, Danny would never allow harm to come to them. And anyway, Vlad had stopped those schemes when Danny had asked, in exchange for more of his company.

Danny flew over Madison at top speed, the buildings blurring as his eyes watered. Frustration buzzed under his skin, his suit feeling too restrictive, but at the same time he felt he would unravel if it wasn't there to confine him. Wind blew harshly in his face, the smells and sounds of the countryside assaulting his senses, and Danny grit his teeth. A single tear dripped from his eye, picked up and carried off on the wind, and Danny flew faster.

He made it to Vlad's manor in record time, phasing through the roof and feeling his ghost sense go off long enough to register that Vlad was home somewhere in the house. He didn't think about that. Danny phased through walls and floors until he finally found a familiar bedroom, and he barely slowed his momentum until he crashed in an overly large bed, the mattress cushioning his fall as he turned back into Danny Fenton, his face pressed hard into a pillow that smelled of spice and cinnamon, and he screamed.

He screamed and screamed until his voice croaked and his throat went dry. Tears soaked into the fabric of the pillow, and when Danny finally stopped screaming, the scent of it soothed some semblance of calm into his over-tired mind. His shoulders shook with the effort of holding back his sobs, his skin still buzzing like there was one big itch just under the surface of his being he couldn't quite scratch. He lifted his head off the pillow just enough to slam back down and let out another short scream.

There was a hand on his shoulder. It was big and warm, and Danny jumped where he lay, whipping his head over his shoulder to stare at Vlad with blurry vision. He couldn't quite make out the details of his face, but a another warm hand reached for him, pressing gently to his face. A thumb rubbed the soft skin under his eye, wiping away the tear tracks that lingered. Danny closed his eyes, leaning into that comforting touch. More tears gathered in his eyes, and he bit his lip.

"Daniel, what's wrong?" Vlad asked, worry coating his words. Danny broke away from his hold, unable to meet his gaze. He pressed his face back in the pillow. A warm, stifling heat pressed along the length of his side, Danny inhaling a shaky breath and tasting cinnamon on his tongue. A hand combed through his hair. "Talk to me, little badger, please. What's going on? What happened?"

Vlad's voice was like silk in his ear, impossibly soft and soothing, and Danny whined. He hated the concern in his tone, hated that it was him who put it there.

He sniffed. "It's nothing, Vlad..." he grumbled into the pillow, voice muffled. "Just stress."

The hand stopped petting. Danny whined quietly, and the hand in his hair tightened just so, pulling a little.

"This is not 'just stress,' badger," Vlad stated. "Stress leaves you ranting and pacing around the room, not crying and shaking in my bed. That's supposed to be my job, by the way."

Danny snorted around a watery laugh. He turned his head enough to peek a bleary blue eye up at the man, blinking rapidly to clear his vision so he could see the worried crease to Vlad's brow. Vlad tugged his hair again, then soothed his scalp with hot fingers.

"Talk to me, Daniel," Vlad murmured. He lay his head next to Danny's on the pillow, pressing his brow Danny's. "What happened?"

Danny sniffed again. He squeezed his eyes shut, considered burying his face again and brushing off Vlad's concern with another "It's nothing." Instead, he pressed his face harder to Vlad's until the man's hand tightened once more in his hair and pulled, tugging him away so Vlad could look at him properly again.

"It's..." Danny sniffed again, voice quiet and hoarse, "Sam and Tucker. They know."

Vlad sucked in a breath and Danny opened his eyes slowly. He watched as Vlad closed his own eyes, took a deep breath before opening again. There was a dangerous calm to him, the kind that made Danny's skin itch and his ghostly core thrum.

"How did they find out?" asked Vlad. The concern was still there, hidden under a layer of barely restrained anger and rising frustration of his own. He tugged Danny's hair, and Danny whined.

Danny swallowed thickly. "I... I told them..." Vlad's eyes narrowed at him. He pulled hard enough on Danny's hair that the younger halfa whined pitifully as he was forced out of the pillow and onto his side.

"I thought you wanted to keep this from them?" Vlad mused, an edge to his tone making Danny's blood rush to his face. "Wasn't it you who said they wouldn't understand? That it was none of their business what we do together?"

"I-It was an accident!" Danny rushed to explain. His head was jerked back in warning and he whined again. "I didn't mean to tell them, not without talking to you first! It just... it slipped out! They were going on and on about checking in on you, about investigating your next big evil plan or some shit, and I was getting tired of going in circles with them! I told them you weren't like that anymore, that I've been visiting some days and we were getting along now, but they wouldn't listen!" The tears were back in Danny's eyes. Vlad tugged his head back until Danny was forced to roll on his back, Vlad sitting up to straddle his legs as Danny gasped around a sob. "They- they never listen! They think y-you're brain-washing me or something." Vlad let go of his hair, moving his hand to Danny's cheek to wipe away his tears. Danny hiccuped. "They d-don't know what it's like l-living like this, they don't get it- You're not that person anymore! You're not evil, you're not scheming, you're just-" Danny gasped, barely taking a breath as more tears trailed down his face.

Vlad gently brushed his fingers down Danny's cheek, trailing fire in their wake, over his jaw down to his neck. His burning hand wrapped around Danny's throat, thumb pressed threateningly over a pulse point. Danny sucked in a breath, the loose hold providing some sense of stability to his shattered heart, quieting some of the screaming in his head. Vlad rubbed the spot under his thumb gently.

"I'm what, Daniel?" he asked gently, deep blue eyes soft and loving as he stared down at the boy under him. Danny brought a hand up, wrapping chilly fingers around Vlad's wrist, forcing him to add just that much more pressure on Danny's neck so he could only wheeze.

"Mine..." Danny hissed. Vlad's pupils dilated at the words, bleeding purple as the red of his ghost form tried to break through. Danny tightened his grip on Vlad's wrist. "You're mine. You can't be mine if you're scheming."

Vlad hunched over him, leaning down until their noses brushed and his hot breath fanned Danny's face on a shaky exhale. The pressure on Danny's neck had spots dancing in the corners of his vision, Danny reflexively trying to gulp down air but only gasping brokenly as nothing reached his airways. Vlad's face lit up with a green glow, Danny barely catching sight of his hair growing grey, then white as his breathing was cut off completely.

"All yours..." Vlad murmured against his lips, equal parts gentle and rapturous. He kissed Danny at the same time as he released his throat, and Danny gasped brokenly into this mouth, his mind going fuzzy as teeth captured his lip, soon soothed by a burning tongue. He kissed back just as fervently, clutching at broad shoulders, pulling Vlad further down onto him so the man blanketed him entirely, his weight pressing Danny fully into the bed and warm, so very warm. Tears pricked the corner of his eyes. Vlad pulled away, only enough so that their lips brushed as he spoke. "What do you need, Daniel? What can I do for you?"

Danny choked back another sob. "I... I need to- to not think. Please, I want to- I don't want to think anymore..."

Vlad kissed him again, long and slow and sweet. When he pulled away again, he sat up, a collar in his hands. He held it up to Danny, brow quirked slightly, and Danny nodded. He lifted his head, allowing the older halfa to wrap the collar around him, the soft leather providing the perfect amount of pressure to keep Danny from feeling like he was going to unravel. He sighed, relaxing back into the bed. He gazed up at Vlad with heavy eyes.

Vlad leaned back over him, running his big hand over the collar, brushing the edge of Danny's jaw. "So lovely..." he murmured sweetly. Danny exhaled a shaky breath. Vlad gave him a little smirk. "Now be a good boy for me, badger."

Danny was more than happy to listen to him.

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I am accepting title ideas!

#this one ran away from me #im so out of practice for these two #give me some time to clean it up and I'll post it to ao3 #thank you for the ask!! #asks #harley writes #my writing #fic #pompep #pompous pep #danny phantom #vlad masters #danny fenton #vlad plasmius #harley answers #fanfiction #fanfic