Notices by Diligence Jones (deliachristina@sfba.social), page 4

Corps are beginning to line up in anticipation of the far Right being in charge.

The signs are small here and there. Getting rid of data collection; getting rid of initiatives or subject specific project teams; pushing an overt USA First position.

But these signs will grow bigger and more overt. The internal realignments around personnel, hiring, 'fit'.

There was a tiktok of a French girl reading a letter sent from a small French town's reinvigorated Vichy-era militia to a Black woman living in that town telling her to sell her house and get out of town in order to cleanse the town and return it to its previous, more glorious 'French-ness.'

Poor girl was in tears as she read it. She was stunned.

There was another Nigerian creator who posted a warning to the US: the small signs we're seeing will only grow bigger. The future we dread is not in the future but now. DO SOMETHING.

Yeah....the gloss has utterly worn off the #4thofjuly .

I used to say that the US was still worthy of celebration and sentiment.

(I remember my Ex, at the time, looking at me with his pitying anarchist eyes. Sigh. He was right. I was swimming in patriotic bullshit.)

Nah. Not today, Satan. Not today.

So read the words of Frederick Douglass' *What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?* and color me unbothered.

https://www.theroot.com/what-to-the-slave-is-the-fourth-of-july-1836083536

While at coffee with my friend, who is a die-hard liberal with milder politics than I, we talked about recent events.

Her: I'm starting to wonder if the Dems want us to vote for Biden.

Me: It's a mystery, isn't it? They aren't listening to anyone. Not the mods, the left wing, no one.

Her: It's really disheartening. We don't matter to them.

Bingo bango.

GOP: The Left called him a fascist threat to democracy!

Yes, because he IS.

In comms, we have this thing called frame and reframe.

The Right is used to shifting the ground under an issue by coopting the lingo of the left in order to reframe it as a negative. And they're good at it.

They're trying to do it now.

IMO, I don't think the reaction to them should be to automatically pivot away from "Trump is a threat to democracy" - the Dems have the receipts. I think they should do a both/and: 'Trump continues to be a threat to democracy AND *these are the things we're doing NOW to make our democracy stronger.'

Fuck. I'm just talking into a void. Dems are gonna Dem.

@AnarchoNinaWrites

Like I said yesterday: who are the Dems trying to impress with their manners??

Their voters?
Hmm, their opponent?
The media?

If I was a Dem asked what I think this would be my short statement:

History has shown us that political violence like this is a hallmark of authoritarian states.

That it turned against the man inciting it shows how slippery and dangerous our current moment is.

Come November we have a choice -- an America where a man like Trump, who believes lynching his political enemies is fine, sits in the white house while fires of political retribution burn across the nation; or an America where our fragile democracy rests in less unhinged hands, safe for the moment.

##

If i heard the local nazi down the street got a beat down, I'm not sending him flowers.

Just saying.

You people.

We're sleepwalking into fascism and you want to take the high road of MANNERS.

And there you are.
All civilians being forced to leave Gaza. (See my boost.)

9 mos.
9 mos, tens of thousands slaughtered.
9 mos. Scores starving and brutalized.

Nine months.

The time it takes to grow a baby.

What an efficient #genocide.

Mekka's threads are often like going to brunch with all your Black friends, and having all the white folks at the tables around you go noticeably silent as they eavesdrop and get really uncomfortable.

LOL.

It makes me inwardly chortle.

Black folks are SO smart. I'm not talking book smart (and do NOT come up in here with bell curve nonsense). I'm talking world/street smart.

The other day, bestie and I were driving through Oakland, and cops had blocked off car access to Lake Merritt. We speculated why. Eventually, we talked about other kinds of street closures, and of one type, I said, It's to stop drive by's.

She was silent for a minute and said, I never would have thought of that.

We see stuff y'all don't.
But rather than see that as an additive, America would rather blind everyone.

The rage of the 'safe' Negro.
This was deep for me.

Something stood up and said amen.

Many of you here follow me because I'm cute, funny, sharp, have an awesome dog, and I do social media well.

That's all fine.

But don't get it twisted. I'm angry ALL the time. All of it. And I'm angry because I'm a black woman living in America. I know what america is (and the people in it) and it fills me with rage.

Anyway. LeVar Burton is a treasure.

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTNrKm9mL/

The thing me and certain friends are thinking of is really how to identify our community, building more community, and how to protect one another.

Now's the time, y'all. Because not all of us can flee the country. I know I can't. So I'm here. And so are others. And when the fash consolidate power we need to show up for one another and take care of us. In all the ways.

Big Person Underpants time.

The entire editorial board.
And all their top editorial page writers hopped on.

Double dang.

This is...not great.

But you know what?

DIDNT WE TELL Y'ALL THIS OVER A YEAR AGO.

Dang.

All the Black women in American can't save this flaming ship of poo.

The DNC is cooked.
Like, ffs, try to win.
Come on, try it out.
For once.

gee. I wonder why this Admin and Congress don't want to use those Gaza death toll numbers.

#GazaGenocide

I guess that's my #Juneteenth sermon of the day.

With a special coda:
[ahem]

Juneteenth IS for, by, and about Black people.

I've seen some posts here there everywhere giving it some bullshit Memorial Day vibe.

Nope.
It's a VERY SPECIFIC MOMENT with VERY SPECIFIC SIGNIFICANCE to a VERY SPECIFIC PEOPLE.

Anyway, enjoy your day off.

Everything about Christian fascists is about trapping someone in a situation they don't want.

Their whole vibe is predatory, abusive, oppressive, and anti-liberatory.

Don't wanna be pregnant -- for any reason? Too bad. We're forcing you to give birth.

Don't want to be married to your jerk of a spouse? Too bad, suck it up, bucko. You married her - she's yours .... FOREVER.

Don't want to live life as the wrong gender? LOL, jokes on you, there are only 2 genders and you already have one.

Ugh. These people.

The Christian Right is just full of effing horrible people who should never be allowed to have power over anyone. Period.

Headline: The Christian Right is coming for divorce next:

OOH - Of course they are.

OTOH - time to embrace the tenets of Adrienne Rich's anti-comp het classic essay (*Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence*) and reject marriage, period. (as well as childbearing and financial dependence on cishet men.)

https://www.vox.com/today-explained-newsletter/354635/divorce-no-fault-states-marriage-republicans

High point of the slow, painful walk this afternoon: a Fedi follower saw us in the wild!

I was catching my breath and giving my lower back a breather sitting on my favorite fire hydrant (it's perfectly shaped for putting my pelvis at the right tilt) when a woman slowly approached and said, Is this Benson?

How random!
Benson got a few scritches, and I met someone from the fediverse! Huzzah!

Then we walked slowly home, and I had to manage getting Benson and several packages upstairs while he happily chewed on his leash.

If I get down on the floor, I'll never get up again.

#BensonUpdate #LadyBachelorWithADog