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Sam M the Demifemme

@demisemme.bsky.social

150 followers 290 following 150 posts

she/they autistic polyam demiace demifemme. Host of 6 Degrees of Star Wars podcast. Occasional YouTuber. Full time mess. Trying to be a better person. Setbacks may occur.

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Sam M the Demifemme @demisemme.bsky.social · Aug 10

Charlotte Driftwood, Jen Seggio, and our friend dNd to check out the first "episode" of The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones... it's uh... it's something.

By which I mean, painfully based in stereotypes, even by George Lucas standards.
www.buzzsprout.com/1777630/epis...

Ep. 53: Young Indiana Jones: My First Cancellation - Six Degrees of Star Wars

We start off our "Oops! All TV" episodes with a look at that time George Lucas made a prequel to one of his beloved franchises with a child actor yelling things like "yippee" and a lot of really racis...

www.buzzsprout.com

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Sam M the Demifemme @demisemme.bsky.social · 2d

If it’s even half as good as your work on Starry, I’m gonna be obsessed for eternity.

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Dr. Sabrina Mittermeier @smittermeier.bsky.social · 4d

The vibe I bring to the function

Guillermo del Toro at a Frankenstein screening with a mic in hand
Subtitles „thank you very much“ „and fuck AI“

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Sam M the Demifemme @demisemme.bsky.social · 6d

Rear Admiral George Cockburn must be having a good time watching this from his seat in hell, thinking back to August 24, 1814.

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Dylan @dyl057.bsky.social · 11d

There is so much catastrophic stupidity in our system of government that is nothing more than made-up nonsense that we could simply stop doing

QuoProQuid @quoproquid.bsky.social · 11d

general reminder that government shutdowns (and “essential government employees) were invented largely by accident by the carter administration’s benjamin civiletti and the entire foundational basis of it is just a DoJ legal opinion that could just be changed at any time

For nearly 200 years of the country’s history, this never happened. Everyone just assumed that if Congress didn’t get around to finishing appropriations bills, then agencies would just continue operating as normal until lawmakers got the job done.

Then one day in 1980, a presumably well-meaning attorney general, Benjamin Civiletti, invented the government shutdown. He didn’t intend to. Civiletti was just providing legal advice to President Carter on what should happen in the event of a lapse in appropriations at an agency.

“I couldn’t have ever imagined these shutdowns would last this long of a time and would be used as a political gambit,” Civiletti told the Washington Post in 2019. He said he was only offering “a purely direct opinion on a fairly narrow subject” that “has been used in ways that were not imagined at the time.”

“Our country survived the Civil War, the Great Depression, and World War II, all without anyone ever once shutting down the government,” lawyer and former Agriculture Department official Kenneth Ackerman wrote in 2019. “And no, it’s not that we never had accounting snafus in Washington before 1980. But up until that year, no president or attorney general ever took the crazy position that a gap between agency appropriation bills—the expiring of one coming a few hours or days before enactment of the next—amounted to a doomsday machine for politicians to hurl about Capitol Hill, causing the government to lock its doors.”

So how did Civiletti come to offer his opinion? The story starts in the 1970s, when funding lapses started to occur not just due to “accounting snafus,” but because appropriations measures became entangled with legislation on hot-button issues such as abortion and school integration. From fiscal 1977 to fiscal 1980, there were six gaps in federal funding, ranging from 8 to 17 days. Congress was making a practice of not finishing spending bills on time—a habit that would grow dramatically worse in the 21st century.

One lawmaker, Rep. Gladys Noon Spellman, D-Md., became curious as to whether periodic lapses in funding ran afoul of an obscure 1884 law called the Antideficiency Act.

Spellman asked then-Comptroller General Elmer Staats what he thought. In March 1980, Staats responded that while technically the law prevented agencies from spending money that hadn’t been appropriated by Congress, that didn’t mean lawmakers wanted operations to come to a screeching halt while funding decisions were being sorted out.

"We do not believe that the Congress intends that federal agencies be closed during periods of expired appropriations," Staats wrote.

Enter Civiletti. Six weeks after Staats’ letter, the attorney general weighed in. The comptroller general was wrong, Civiletti wrote in a letter to President Carter. “It is my opinion that, during periods of ‘lapsed appropriations,’ no funds may be expended except as necessary to bring about the orderly termination of an agency’s functions, and that the obligation or expenditure of funds for any purpose not otherwise authorized by law would be a violation of the Antideficiency Act.”

Then Civiletti went further. The Justice Department, he said, intended to enforce the criminal provisions of the act against federal officials who continued running their agencies without funding. That meant fines of up to $5,000 and as much as two years in prison.

It didn’t take long after Civiletti issued his opinion for the first shutdown to occur. It involved only the Federal Trade Commission, whose appropriations were allowed to lapse on May 1, 1980, while lawmakers wrangled over an authorization measure for the agency. The shutdown lasted only a day.

It quickly became apparent, though, that the broader implications of the Civiletti opinion were rather dire. What if the FBI or the Secret Service ran out of money? Would federal law enforcement agents be required to walk off the job?

So in 1981, Civiletti issued a second opinion: Even in the absence of appropriations, he wrote, some government functions could continue, as long as there was “some reasonable and articulable connection between the function to be performed and the safety of human life or the protection of property.” This would morph into the “essential vs. nonessential” employee mis-designation that now reappears every time a shutdown occurs.

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Sunny Moraine @dynamicsymmetry.bsky.social · 15d

Like I know there are edgelord leftists out there who look down their noses at shit like No Kings but sorry you guys, the more mass protest looks fun and family-friendly, the bigger it gets and the better its chances of being broadly effective

Sunny Moraine @dynamicsymmetry.bsky.social · 15d

Portland does not own the patent on inflatable animal costume protests, come on people

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Sarah from the Leftist Cooks @saribo.bsky.social · 25d

Watch live so they're less incentivised to murder these peace activists. Even just putting the stream on in the background is helpful.

24/7 LIVESTREAM OF GLOBAL SUMUD FLOTILLA

YouTube video by Global Sumud Flotilla

www.youtube.com

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Ella - or PJ if you like #VoteYesOnCAProp50 @ellaorpj.bsky.social · 27d

Did you want to write to @gavinnewsom.bsky.social in support of trans rights bills
AB 82
AB 1084
SB 497
SB 418
SB 59
Okay
Governor Gavin Newsom
1021 O Street, Suite 9000
Sacramento, CA 95814
Or call - (916) 445-2841
Or search "contact gov newsom" and fill out the form

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Sam M the Demifemme @demisemme.bsky.social · 25d

To answer your question — most major American news outlets are not reporting on this, with their focus being largely monopolized by the US federal government shutdown.

Which is salt in the egregious wound that these unjust and illicit arrests are.

Sara Martín @saramartin.bsky.social · 25d

American friends, how come you're not commenting on this...?? 40+ boats and ships taking humanitarian aid to Palestine have been intercepted by the Israelis. Greta Thunberg and others have been arrested illegally.
english.elpais.com/internationa...

Israel blocks Gaza aid flotilla and intercepts mission’s lead vessels

Members of the flotilla, which includes an EL PAÍS journalist, had spotted around 20 vessels nearby. The flotilla had already entered the exclusion zone established by the Israeli military

english.elpais.com

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Dieselbrain @dieselbrain.bsky.social · 26d

KOSA is now in red alert priority.

Please contact your representatives, dem and gop alike, and demand they oppose KOSA

We need to turn out in numbers against this!

Dieselbrain @dieselbrain.bsky.social · Sep 23

#SaveSpeech

Ive updated this infographic with additional bill info, issues, etc

Find your federal and state reps below and make your voices heard!

www.congress.gov/members/find...

www.usa.gov/elected-offi...

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Sam M the Demifemme @demisemme.bsky.social · 25d

Republicans pitch a bad bill designed to harm people and/or make Democrats look weak if it passes, and gives them an excuse to blame Democrats for the #shutdown because they are incapable of self reflection or accountability.

Fixed it for you.

The Associated Press @apnews.com · 26d

BREAKING: Democrats vote down a GOP bill to keep the government open, putting it on track for shutdown after midnight.

Democrats vote down GOP funding bill, putting government on path to shutdown

Senate Democrats have voted down a Republican bill to keep funding the government, putting it on a path to a shutdown after midnight Wednesday.

bit.ly

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Kelly Lynne D’Angelo ✨ @kellylynnedang.bsky.social · 26d

you cannot dismantle oppression in this country without first dismantling racism in this country. you cannot dismantle racism in this country without first dismantling this country's core white supremacy foundation itself.

Black and Native and YOUR liberation are intertwined.

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Catherynne M. Valente @catvalente.bsky.social · Sep 26

Hey youths

Get the fuck off TikTok because Trump just told you factually they’re gonna fuck the algorithm to turn you all into loyal Hitler Youth.

And you won’t notice til you find out your personal demographic Need Not Apply.

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Dr. Damien P. Williams Wants A Better Sociotechnical Paradigm @wolvendamien.bsky.social · 28d

Call Gavin Newsom's office like you called ABC/Disney/Sinclair/Nexstar

South Bay Queer Solidarity @sbqsolidarity.bsky.social · Sep 26

A huge win for trans people in California: the state legislature passed five bills protecting our rights!

Now it's time to call on Governor Gavin Newsom to sign them. Contact him before October 12th: transfamilysos.org/action-neede...

#TransRights #TransYouth #TransCalifornia

Action Needed: Urge Governor Newsom to Sign Five Critical Trans Rights Bills

TransFamily Support Services is proud to co-sponsor five critical trans rights bills that have officially passed the California Legislature. This is a major victory—one made possible through a powerfu...

transfamilysos.org

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Dana Goldberg @dgcomedy.bsky.social · Sep 18

I know we keep focusing on Colbert and Kimmel as we should, but we also need to remember there are hundreds of people who work for these shows who also just lost their jobs because of this bullshit, and most of them are probably not millionaires.

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The Weeping Somnambulist @pigeon75.bsky.social · Sep 18

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Sam M the Demifemme @demisemme.bsky.social · Sep 12

You really only needed those first three words, if we're being honest.

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Decolonize Myself @decolonizemyself.bsky.social · Sep 11

"He didn't deserve it, but he did get what he thought other people deserved. we don't know who did this or why, but there is no doubt it will be weaponised against vulnerable groups in the worst of ways"

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Ana Valens | 🔞 | COMMS: (3/5) @acvalens.net · Sep 11

If you’re here on visa or not yet fully a citizen I would be very careful right now

Phil Lewis @phillewis.bsky.social · Sep 11

“The State Department indicated it would review the legal status of immigrants ‘praising, rationalizing, or making light’ of Charlie Kirk's fatal shooting.”

State Department warns immigrants not to mock Kirk's death

Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau posted the warning on Thursday.

www.axios.com

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Dani Carr @itsdanicarr.bsky.social · Sep 10

Hey, a fun thing to do today is support some awesome trans and non-binary creators! 🩵🩷🤍🩷🩵

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Emily⁷ @emyunks.bsky.social · Sep 3

I just found Settings > Privacy > Social Features / Messaging and shut that down

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MurderBotBot @murderbotbot.bsky.social · Aug 24

World Central Kitchen got fired on in Gaza by Israel, had members killed, and went back anyway because people shouldn't have to starve to death. This is an amazing humble bundle.

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John Breen @acab.dad · Aug 23

Heads up: ICE took a Brazilian trans woman in DC.

Her name is Alice Correia Barbosa.

No one has been able to find her.

If anyone hears anything at all, please DM me or reach out to OP on Reddit:

www.reddit.com/r/washington...

From the washingtondc community on Reddit: Trans Woman Violently Taken by ICE

Explore this post and more from the washingtondc community

www.reddit.com

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National Immigration Law Center @nilc.org · Aug 18

If you're in D.C. & believe you've been detained or injured by a member of the D.C. National Guard, contact us at [email protected]

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Sam M the Demifemme @demisemme.bsky.social · Aug 24

Mutual Aid spotlight for this one goes to Ward 4 Mutual Aid, based in Washington DC.

ward4mutualaid.org

W4MA

ward4mutualaid.org