Notices by Mercedes Allen (mercedesallen@mastodon.social)

"To the politicians slashing Pride: We do not need your approval, your recognition, or your permission to exist. We certainly do not want your friendship. The bridges are already ash in the wind. Long after this latest moral panic has exhausted itself, future generations, including your own children, will reject you and be left to rebuild the communities, freedoms, & institutions you worked so hard to dismantle…"

This Pride, I'm over meeting homophobes 'in the middle.'
https://www.advocate.com/opinion/pride-leaving-homophobes

"The problem is, there's no such thing as 'age verification' for the internet. What we call 'age verification' is actually mass surveillance, so invasive and pervasive that it makes the ad-tech industry's commercial surveillance look like some kind of cypherpunk darknet pirate utopia…"

Pluralistic: Spying on kids to save kids from spying is very, very stupid (23 Jun 2026) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow
https://pluralistic.net/2026/06/23/destroy-the-village/

"So when [NYC announced a]… direct-care clinic for transgender people, it seemed like the administration was finally delivering. It isn't… Mayor Mamdani's new clinic will deny care to anyone under 19 years of age—adopting the exact age cutoff from Trump's anti-trans executive orders…"

Mamdani's New Trans Direct Clinic Will Deny Care To Those Under 19
https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/mamdanis-new-trans-direct-clinic

"On behalf of 25 other member states, Belgium called for a 'no action motion' to block the proposal. Pakistan and Chile were the only two member states to vote with the U.S. against the motion, with 23 countries voting to block the anti-trans proposal and 17 abstaining…"

United Nations rejects U.S. effort to erase trans women: "It stops here" - LGBTQ Nation
https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2026/03/united-nations-rejects-u-s-effort-to-erase-trans-women-it-stops-here/

Live Nation / Ticketmaster execs:

“These people are so stupid.”

“I gouge them on ancil prices.”

"Robbing them blind baby. That's how we do it."

“VIP parking was supposed to be $75… I now START at $100.”

“These people are so stupid… I almost feel bad taking advantage of them…”

Leaked texts of Ticketmaster execs bragging about overcharging
https://dailydot.com/leaked-texts-ticketmaster-execs-bragging-about-overcharging

"Kansas Republicans are trying to take away currently valid driver’s licenses from transgender people in the state if they have corrected the gender marker on them in a new bill that has also been expanded – under a sneaky maneuver that allows changes to a bill without a public hearing – to be one of the 'most extreme' bathroom bills in the nation…"

Republican lawmakers want to take away drivers licenses from trans people in Kansas with new bill - LGBTQ Nation
https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2026/02/republican-lawmakers-want-to-take-away-drivers-licenses-from-trans-people-in-kansas-with-new-bill/

For Trump, anything is a win.

An actually independent Alberta (*highly* unlikely, but a post-intervention compromise could happen) would mean a more dependent vassal state.

Or Alberta becoming a State or territory would give the US access to most of the resources it covets: oil, bitumen, rare earth minerals, water.

And when Alberta falls, other regions become possible. But only Alberta can be relied on to vote Republican, so only Alberta has a shot at being anything more than a territory.

That's the game, folks.

/fin.

It's speculative as to what happens after that. Threats, tariffs, occupying Alberta... these are variables -- especially how Alberta and the rest of Canada react.

But the aim of the independence movement is not that speculative. Anyone seriously thinking Alberta will form a sovereign country is simply a useful idiot.

The Alberta Independence campaign is nakedly an effort to lead to annexation by the US. But how it is intended to happen is that the separatist referendum fails or doesn't even get onto a ballot.

That's the point at which the US would "need to intervene."

Before Russia moved on Crimea, there was an independence movement (and more support among the public for it, at that). Before Russia moved on Ukraine, separatism or Russian-alignment was pushed in Donbas. Referendum was after, but the campaign is the point.

Polls vary, but most polls (not including far right polls of their own readers) put separatist sentiment at around 20% at most -- usually under. That's not enough to realistically hold a referendum, but it is enough to get some good visuals of people lined up to sign the petition.

So what happens when Alberta's independence referendum inevitably fails?

Everyone cries that the process was unfair, or that there were shenanigans to steal the result. It's what MAGA does any time there's a result they don't like.

I can't imagine that the "2020 election was stolen" guy wouldn't know what to do with that.

This is why Thomas Lukaszuk's Remain In Canada campaign was brilliant. It undermined the narrative at the right time. But now that Remain is waiting for a ballot, the separatists have a bit of breathing room for publicity.

The stunning part is the amount of money the US is funneling in, without even trying to move the needle anywhere except the far right political bubble.

At least with Brexit, there were reasoned discussions initiated by "just asking questions" in mainstreamish media. Here? Nothing. Why? It would be money wasted, because Albertans really don't want to separate.

The people behind the project don't really have a viable plan. They DO have a plan, but not one that is realistic, costed, and likely to not be foiled by decades of fighting in the courts. But that's not the stunning part.

2/x

I want people to realize 2 things:

1) The Alberta Independence campaign isn't *meant* to succeed, and

2) It *doesn't have to*, in order to achieve the objective that the Trump administration is funding it for.

1/x

#cdnpoli #abpoli #ableg #albertaindependence

"The Justice Department is expected to alter the firearm purchase form to require applicants to list their 'biological sex at birth'…

"…if [a trans woman] lists 'female,' she risks being accused of making a false statement on a federal form—an offense punishable by up to five years in prison…"

Is The Trump Administration Attempting A Backdoor Gun Ban For Trans Americans?
https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/is-the-trump-administration-attempting

Trump state media, they're just not into you.

Weiss: "'The goal for this road show is not to deliver the news so much as it is to *drive the news*'…"

“CBS Evening News” Has Lost Over a Million Viewers Since Bari Weiss Takeover | Truthout
https://truthout.org/articles/cbs-evening-news-has-lost-over-a-million-viewers-since-bari-weiss-takeover/

"The policies are based on the anti-science obsessions of the administration and will almost certainly result in harm to untold numbers of children… [but] Instead of vaccines, grant funding, or autism, this ideologically motivated anti-science push is targeting trans children—and therefore nobody is telling Americans the straight truth about it…"

The Neglected Front in RFK Jr.’s War on Science — Assigned
https://www.assignedmedia.org/breaking-news/rfk-jr-war-on-science