Author of the fantasy series: Luckborn, and The Black Rain Chronicles. #lgbt he/him daholley.com
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So last night I decided to try a piece of banana bread my wife made. I immediately felt bad because I found it incredibly dry and quite bland; I didn't have the heart to tell her. Today I learned what I'd eaten was a regular piece of bread she put on top to keep everything fresh. I'm an idiot.
I didn't know I needed this today but oh my god the cuteness!! š
So I come back to that quote: "Children are dying." And I wonder if the rest of my life will be spent watching helpless as it happens over and over again, because people choose to bend themselves into pretzels in order to find a reason they should.
And maybe its just that I'm gay and have no children. That I have eight nephews and nieces who I don't live in proximity to. But I find myself wondering how you can value the safety, security, vitality, and wellness of your child, while devaluing that of another...because of an accident of geography
Why our way of life is so predicated on violence that we cannot have one lifetime (the expanse of a single, human life) without being witness to a heinous act of violence on a scale that is impossible to digest. Why so many are willing to dismiss it each time it happens...now...in the past. 8/
And I'm reminded of Apartheid in Africa, the Kmer Rouge in Cambodia, American Slavery, The Holocaust, The Rwandan Genocide, the Armenian Genocide and so many more, and I wonder how this is any different. Why humans are so prone to dismiss mass cruelty. 7/
Most of their homes have been destroyed. We have doctors explaining that they've witnessed IDF soldiers targeting humanitarian workers attempting to provide life saving care to victims of their atrocious, religiously motivated acts. 6/
And then you have Gaza. So many governments cosign on the idea that any criticism for Israel is antisemitic, but Palestinian children are dying. From famine. Injuries. Israeli snipers shooting them in the head while their parents try to get flour rations to feed at least some of them. 5/
He doesn't want to stay in the United States permanently, but understands both he and his family are safer if he remains here, because members of a cartel were harassing him in Mexico while he sought to obtain a degree in IT. He couldn't be there for his son in Guatamala when an earthquake hit. 4/
Friends at home are afraid they'll be deported because their asylum claims will be revoked, or they'll be entrapped into deportation if they go to the courts, or seek to renew their I.D.'s, and what will happen to their citizen children? 3/
I've been thinking about it because of the state of affairs in the world. The daughter of a friend in Ukraine is growing up in and out of bomb shelters because of Russian aggression in her country. How must it be to watch your child grow up, not knowing if you'll see her become a woman? 2/
āChildren are dying. That's a succinct summary of humankind, I'd say. Who needs tomes and volumes of history? Children are dying. The injustices of the world hide in those three wordsā. - Lull, MBotF (Steven Erickson. I've been thinking a lot about this quote lately. 1/
Unfortunately, there appear to be many millions of people without functioning brains.
Good for them! Although I would like to point out that several Equal Rights organizations (especially LAMBDA Legal, have provided similar services in the past. It's still good to see a state government doing something like this though.
Today in what the fuck do you mean?
And here I was assuming Death of a Unicorn was just going to be a trashy horror comedy. Come to find out it's a veiled critique of the pharmaceutical industry and egocentric billionaires in general. I'm thoroughly entertained.
Yes. The actual name of the democratic party. It's just easier to type three letters than to spell the whole thing out.
I see what you did there
Understand, Newsom has presidential aspirations, too. What he's doing isn't altruistic. He's just taking advantage of a crisis to grease the shoot when he does ultimately run for office in a few years time. There are still other ways to fight that don't have bleak implications for our future.
We know Trump is a lawless tyrant, but the Texas democrats involved went into this knowing it was a possibility and having a concrete plan for stopping it. They don't need Newsom undermining their work by turning them into a political football for his power grab. 1/
believe they have this situation under control. The point is there are means other than this to both bring the process to a standstill (as has happened) and combat it effectively. But be it Abbott or Newsom, it's my view that the price we pay for doing this now will be far worse for us later.
They're currently fitting the available rules to their needs. They are litigating this redistricting effort as well. This is ultimately why I don't see Newsom's move as a good faith maneuver to preserve our democracy. The Texas Democrats didn't ask for this aid, and I assume that means they 5/
The GOP has exposed the weaknesses in the system that is in place. It's not unreasonable or even outlandish that the DFL should take advantage of those levers to fight back. And on the state level, with this redistricting mess, assume those reps understand Texas law better than we do. 4/
there aren't any real repercussions outside of being removed from committees. But not every member of congres is on a committee with a critical role in government. They can afford to stand out here, filibuster when to do so would be inappropriate, use those procedures to block the vote. 3/
That leaves us one open avenue for slowing this administration down. Then there's the matter of congress. Currently, rules and procedures are all that's keeping thr DFL in line, but what are the real consequences for violating those conventions? Unless a super majority votes to expel a member, 2/
I don't think the answer needs be go nuclear or cease fighting. The courts have been holding on the fundamental issues that align with their originalist views. They amount to the most corrupt bench we've ever had, don't get me wrong, but they have pushed back on the worst of Trump's demands. 1/
How stubborn do you think he is? Even if he does continuously reintroduce the bill, if he doesn't have the votes it can't pass. But tell me why a governor from another state interfering is a more valid strategy than what texas dems are doing right now?
Newsom isn't that person. He's just a power obsessed corporate shill like the vast majority of our representatives, and he has no comprehension for what the real needs of the people are.
The future of the party, I think, is in supporting people like AOC, Jasmine Crocket, and Zohran Mamdani. People who present an actual vision for the future instead of the same stale platitudes. People who aren't interested in holding onto power indefinitely, but want to make real change.
I agree with you on that part, but the fact remains gerrymandering so that you end up with a populace who has no voice cannot be the answer to protecting democracy because it is inherently anti-democratic.
The Texas DFL is already handling it ffs. They fled the state to prevent their congress from reaching a quorum so that the maps couldn't go to a vote and they figured out how to keep themselves afloat financially until the bill died. That's how you fight.
It isn't right for anyone to do this, and we can basically wipe our asses with what's left of our rights if this is the path we take into the future. Notwithstanding, Newsom is the wrong person to be suggesting it. A man willing to give Steve Bannon a platform is no one you should trust.
he's more interested in grandstanding ahead of a presidential run in '28 than tackling the affordability crises affecting his constituents every day, to cede what power he gains from doing what he's threatening to do. It's naive to assume any career politician will relinquish power once gained.
Not just in the White House but in congress. What happens 10 to 20 years from now when we're met with a constitutional crisis and our vote is meaningless in the face of it? It doesn't matter who is making the grab here. And I don't trust Newsom, who has already proven time and again 2/
Look I'm aware of the grave nature of this moment, but pouring gas on a fire won't put it out. It'll just burn your house down. What I'm afraid of is falling into this short sighted trap when it feels justified leading to us having no ability to remove corrupt leaders from power later. 1/
Newsom is himself corrupt. Now they could trust in the Texas DFL to handle this as they have been, and that would be fine. But gerrymandering state by state will only lead to our voices ceasing to matter in a system designed to prevent us from using the one real lever of power we have left.
Newsom is taking advantage of the situation in order to amass power in the California electorate in a way that disenfranchises his state's voters and creates true factions out of the two available parties. There is no point in having the right to vote if your vote doesn't mean anything. 2/
I won't speak for them, but what he's talking about is undemocratic. Texas shouldn't be playing that game but the state level DFL are handling that fine without Newsom interceding. What's more problematic is that these gerrymandering attempts amount to a power grab. 1/
I need you to understand that if you heard a song you liked in the 80s, you couldnāt Shazam it. You couldnāt Google the lyrics. You had to sing it to the guy at Tower Records.
It's important to know about things that happened before you developed consciousness. If you have never been aware of a world without birth control access, gay marriage, women w/ bank accounts, etc, listen when elders speak. Shouting them down with "that's not how it is now" is a oneway ticket back
I've written a lot of twisted scenes in my time, but this is hard to get through. It hits a little different when it goes from being a note in your worldbuilding notes to a fully fledged, multi-POV sequence, let me tell you. #booksky
Jesus Christ that looks good!
That's too bad. It's a great series. Probably my favorite, though Malazan is edging in there now, too.
I move around a lot (wander lust mostly), so it's easier to keep up with the family and friends that way. You're not wrong though.
Lol thanks. I've been a fan for around 15 years, so happy to be here š
This is so cool! š
It's giving Elaida vibes
Thanks for the recs š
Good grief its like you all stopped maturing when you hit puberty. My hope is that the fandom on other parts of the internet isn't this bad, but time will tell. In the meantime, you absolute dingleberries are ruining my favorite franchise with your constant, incessant, pointless gloating.
even though they know they're beating a horse that died several months ago. It's dead. You got exactly what you've been clamoring toward for five fucking years, so can you just shut the everliving fuck up about it already so the rest of us can just like what we like in peace?
...that have soured me on so many other fandoms. The same ones that made ASOIAF such an unwelcoming environment. Before the show, at the bare minimum the people who didn't like the series just stopped engaging with it and moved on with their lives. But toxic book fans can't leave the show alone 3/
Now what I'd like to say is I liked this community a lot better before the show aired. I liked the show. Sure it had flaws but it was an enjoyable ride and I wanted to see where it was going. At the same time it brought out all the same toxic straight men with racism problems... 2/
I just left a facebook group for the Wheel of Time and I did so out of anger. My reason? Since the show got canceled, 90% of the posts on there have been either poorly veiled racism/sexism/homophobia related to the show and/or its crew, or grandstanding about how happy they are it got canceled. 1/
Sleep Sweet, BlueSky š
Strange how that last skull looks like Marjorie Taylor Greene.
It's just McCarthyism with a bad spray tan. Nothing new.
I'm of the understanding that she's been spending so much money on ads and ICE detention that she's almost at her budget cap for the year. It's only August. She got a talking to from Congress about this recently.
š¤£š This is so great!
This is because the DFL and the GOP are paid off, bought and sold, by the same people. The legacies who have been there for decades are more interested in enriching themselves than solving any of our dinner table issues. Why then should they get our vote? Why, when they don't serve us?
and refuse to restrict tuition increases to the national rate of inflation. And now they're rolling back provisions that would have prevented millions of people from defaulting on loans they cannot pay, which will follow them until they die.
increase in over 20 years. Meanwhile, five companies control out food supply. Three control our media. 5 control the books we read. And something like 8 control our energy and fuel. We're going to solve the student loan crisis. But we got here because they exempted those loans from bankruptcy
as of 2050. 25 years from now. Al Gore sounded the alarm 25 years ago, when this was still fixable. We're going to bring down costs for Americans. But rents are at an all time high, inflation has made grocery prices skyrocket year over year for almost a decade, and we haven't seen a minimum wage
We're going to invest in renewables to prevent climate change. But we've been kicking that can down the road so long that our infrastructure is being jeopardized 6 months out of 12 every single year. Crop yields are suffering as drought becomes more common. And a mass extinction event is imminent
What this comes down to for me...is I've been hearing the same talking points in every national election for my entire life. We're going to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies to lower drug prices through Medicaid. That helps a fraction of the population and leaves the rest of us vulnerable.
In a debate with Medhi Hasan, Eylon Levy said something on the lines of "some ideas deserve to be destroyed." What he misses is that to destroy an idea, one must necessarily destroy all of those peoples who adhere to that idea. What he suggests is a justification for genocide, intentional or not.
This is hard to look at. It's good work. The response it elicits in me, though, is kind of this gut deep sense of discomfort. Like being party to an intimately personal event I shouldn't be watching.
What you're saying is very similar to something Bayard Rustin said about cleaning up the streets. He didn't believe picking up garbage moved the needle much, but it did open the door to talking about the issues, and that had potential for an impact for the bigger picture.
about the issues their billionaire execs think will create problems for them...baby the call is coming from inside the house. The billionaires are the problem. They are the ones who need to be dealt with.
his social media apps because it serves his interests. Google, and then Verizon and AT&T killing net neutrality so they too can mine and sell your data while slowing down your speeds to sites they don't want you on. NBC, ABC/Disney, CBS, Paramount, etc. forcing journalists to stop talking
Then you have Bezos and that Starbucks guy working to dismantle collective action through union busting. Tim Cook selling his soul to keep tariffs off the table for apple. Mark Zuckerberg selling off your personal data to the highest bidder while refusing to remove outright disinformation from
Why blame it on Putin when the oligarchs are right there? Elon Musk dumped billions into getting Trump elected. Harlan Crowe spent decades working to stack SCOTUS with crooked scumbags. The Koch brothers were perhaps the most detrimental influence on climate change prevention in the world.
or Jim Jordan, or some other sleezebag down our throats? How do you combat bald, overconfident idiocy?
My bigger concern is will they do this again? Open the door to blatant corruption wearing a different face because they're too stupid to see they're still playing into the same narrative? I have no faith in these people, and there are millions of them. What's stopping them from ramming DeSantis
Every little bit helps, but I'd say the best use of your time and money (if you can donate) is helping local food banks and clothing drives. I know it's not glamorous, but the economy is probably going to tank sooner rather than later, and those donations go a long way for families in need.
It's white people. Same ones who torched half the world and created the eurocentric model of civilization we have now. Just ignorant white people destroying lives because they didn't like the way the brown lady talked to them. Same shit, different day.
And in the realm of my writing, I'm thinking necromancy on an unprecedented scale, doomsday prepping and holy war. It's going to be an interesting couple of weeks.
Restaurant's closed for two weeks, and just in time, too. I'm writing the destruction of a civilization at this moment. And when I come back to my culinary life it'll be to start workshopping autumn's menu. I'm thinking doppio. I'm thinking mussels. I'm thinking warm colors and rich flavors.
Two things can be true at once. Musk helped rig an election in favor of a corrupt monster with bad hair, and Tim Cook is cozying up to the same homophobic (important detail here) corrupt monster with bad hair. Takeaway: All billionaires are deplorable.
The DFL is no one any of us should be looking to for guidance or action. They've proven that much. What we need now are viable primary opponents to take out the scummy fossils enriching themselves on our backs while delivering quippy, meaningless platitudes from their soap boxes.
This comment reads like an old testament bible verse.
Found in my brotherās house and Iām upset.
Tack independent journalism onto that list too. Medhi Hasan and Joy Reid are both free agents now. A number of journalists formerly employed by legacy media companies have left, and they're not mincing words.
He certainly violated something...
We may have our differences, but at the end of the day when we take off our pillow cases we all have upsettingly yellow pillows
And a court stacked with crooked justices who seem more concerned with arriving at their preferred judgment than actually binding it to the constitution.
That might be part of it, but the underlying cause for this is congress repeatedly ceded their own power to the executive in times of crisis. What looked like good policy then is now being aggressively abused to our collective detriment.
Noted. The way you structured that comment made it appear you were in support of that policy. Just a little ambiguous.
Which will result in a lot more deaths. Is it really that hard for you people to comprehend that money is not of greater value than human life and dignity?
We live in the worst timeline š¤¢ news.kraftheinzcompany.com/press-releas...
This sounds campy in exactly the right way
Newsletter recipients and those who sign up before Aug. 31st will get a discount of 50% on these titles. For signing up, you'll also receive a member exclusive copy of Gilded Son. Sign up @ www.daholley.com/about-4 #grimdark #fantasylit #booksky #booksale
To your point, no this won't happen for two reasons. First, most of us can't afford to miss a paycheck, and you're not getting paid while on strike. Second, unions busting has been rampant for so long most industries don't have access to their collective bargaining resources.
They already are. I paid $91 yesterday for basic necessities that would have cost me about half that amount a year ago. I'm a single guy with no kids, and I get free food from my chef work. When those tariffs kick in, a lot of families are going to face crippling grocery bills.
Except it is exactly that. The GOP is 1000% worse, don't get me wrong, but the DFL with Joe Manchin showing up for a paycheck refused to pass a wage increase or expand our safety nets in any meaningful way. Between that and high inflation (not their fault), they basically let the GOP have congress.
This is how deluded they've become. Trump (allegedly) announced a voluntary donation program to help pay off the national debt, suggesting a monthly contribution of $35. These idiots, taking it as an act of patriotism, are now vowing to do it, not understanding that they just agreed to a new tax.
If their consumers are scared that the economy is going to dive into a recession, they're going to start budgeting as a preemptive. That means less spending on things they don't need, which means less profit for these companies, which means recession. You'd think they too would be scared. 2/2
This is the disconnect for me. Everyone I know is scared about what these price hikes are going to do to their already tight budgets, but then I read these articles that all say investors are optimistic about the economy. I don't see why they should be though. 1/2
a small dog is not a solid, but a gas that expands to fit any available space in your bed bro you weigh 14 lbs why donāt i have any leg room wth
As you get older your body can, in some ways, become almost a parody song of the body you knew as a kid. You know, all of the sudden itās just all about a Weird Ow.