Laura Anne Gilman @LAGilman@raggedfeathers.com

Max would like to remind you to practice self-care this weekend. Hydrate, eat good food, get some sleep, give a Republican politician hell.

Someone asked me what my plan for the long weekend is.

1. Read books.
2. Drink wine.
3. Be a relentless scourge of certain morally corrupt and ethically spineless US politicians in every way available to me.

You?

This morning, for reasons known only to herself, Max insisted on taking her (filled) kong on our morning walk. I guess we all need a security binkie these days, no matter the form….

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Senate GOP blocks domestic terrorism bill that would have opened debate on gun measures after Texas school shooting.

Useful rule: One troll from an instance gets banned. Two trolls from an instance gets the instance banned.

Source: https://www.californialawreview.org/print/a-profoundly-masculine-act-mass-shootings-violence-against-women-and-the-amendment-that-could-forge-a-path-forward/

The second PNR novella written after SOMETHING PERFECT is a complete rough draft, at 23,000 words, and tentatively titled SOMETHING REAL, so I guess I've got a theme going...

I need to write a HEA, because we need to believe in HEA. We need to believe in love & strength & hope, despite those who would strip those things from us, for greed, for arrogance, for cruelty.

Writing is the way I put hope back out into the world. But God, it's hard today.

God, make me brave for life: oh, braver than this.
Let me straighten after pain, as a tree straightens after the rain,
Shining and lovely again.
God, make me brave for life: much braver than this.
As the blown grass lifts, let me rise from sorrow with quiet eyes,
Knowing Thy way is wise.
God, make me brave, life brings such blinding things.
Help me to keep my sight; help me to see aright
That out of doubt comes light.

-Author unknown, Prayers for Healing, ed. M Oman

It's really hard to write today. Even - especially - a scene where kindness triumphs over evil, and a HEA is in sight. You need to _believe_ to make a scene believable, and I'm finding that difficult right now.

Not because there's evil in the world, but because there's _indifference._

This is A) an excellent example of how to speak for a group from outside a group, but also b) possibly the best (simple) summation I’ve ever read of where and why Christians mess up their reading of the Torah, even with good intentions.

Jews aren’t just people of the word, we’re people of wordplay. Even in scripture.

Meanwhile, here’s a hell of a headline: “Ken Paxton, the indicted Texas AG also under FBI investigation for corruption allegations, defeats George P. Bush in GOP primary in bid for re-election, NBC News projects”

“We have to act, and don’t tell me we can't have an impact on this carnage. As a nation we have to ask, when in God’s name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby? When in God’s name will we do what we all know in our gut needs to be done?" - President Biden

And of course, the GOP has already (again) dismissed any thought of putting restrictions on the weapons killing our children OR improving mental health care. Because freedom must be watered with the blood of gradeschoolers, apparently.

So, this just happened.

https://www.politico.com/f/?id=00000180-f719-d5d6-a1d4-ffd924b10000

Short version for those who don't like reading legal briefs:

A US federal appeals court has ruled that the 14th Amendment's bar on insurrectionists holding office may be applied to current/future political candidates, and the the Amnesty Act of 1872 does not apply.

It was specifically in re: Cawthorn, to keep him from running again, but it has, as you can imagine, wider significance.

Let’s face it, what.the.fuck is probably going to be on my tombstone.

If symptomatic or having known contact with infection, TEST.

If positive, ISOLATE.

(And INFORM)

This post brought to you by the news of people I care about being reinfected by careless visitors. Don’t be those people, people.

Once or twice a year, I convince myself that I could buy a packet of cookies and only have one or two a day.

The problem is, I usually convince myself of this during a very stressful week, and no, I can’t.

*sighs*

For planning purposes, I generally flip the work calendar a week ahead of the actual end-of-month and I am NOT READY to look at June yet GDI.

Sometimes, when you give a person a second chance, they take it with both hands and do themselves proud.

Sometimes..they don’t.