It’s New year’s Eve, and in celebration, here’s a mini-picdump of NYE-themed memes! If you go out to celebrate tonight (Anitra and I are), do it safely!
Category: The Current Situation
Categories
The “Home Alone” Yule Log
How did I not know about the Joe Pesci Home Alone yule log stream until now? This version’s got 24/7 music, so you can put it on your TV as “video wallpaper” for your Christmas dinner or holiday vibes.
As the lyrics say, all is supposed to be merry and bright during the holidays, but there are times when life has other plans. It’s been a while since I’ve faced a “Long Dark Christmas of the Soul,” but it has happened, and “merry” and “bright” were not words I’d use to describe that time.
If you’re in the Tampa Bay area and things for you are far from merry and bright, take advantage of First Contact (formerly 211 Tampa Bay Cares).
First Contact originated in the 1970s as the 2-1-1 Helpline, a crisis intervention hotline in Pinellas County, that offered support to individuals facing challenges like loneliness and thoughts of suicide. Over the years, it merged with the United Way’s Information and Referral line and evolved into a comprehensive resource for crisis intervention, family support, and referral services throughout the Tampa Bay region and across the state of Florida.
211 is a three-digit phone number that will connect you to information and referral services to health, human, and social service organizations. If you’re in the Tampa Bay area, that service is First Contact, but if you’re elsewhere, it will connect you to the equivalent services in your area.
988 is a three-digit number that will connect you to a suicide and crisis lifeline. If you are in crisis or experiencing thoughts of suicide, call 988!
You can dial 988 to receive support and resources for thoughts of suicide, mental health or substance use crisis, or any other kind of emotional distress.
Here’s hoping that your holidays are safe and happy. If they’re not, please take advantage of 211 and 988 — that’s what they’re there for.
Here’s a special edition of my weekly picdump that features Thanksgiving-themed pictures, infographics, and meme. Happy Thanksgiving, and enjoy the pics!
That TikTok wellness influencer is so close to getting it.
The thing about people who voted for Trump is that his bigotry — never mind his criminality — wasn’t a dealbreaker for them. In fact, for some people, it was one of his selling points, and now that he’s been elected, they’ve been emboldened.
To their credit, a counter-protest formed quickly. They were joined by United Campus Ministry Reverend Todd Salmi, who held up two signs reading “Jesus values and respects Texas State women” and “Jesus loves all y’all” to counter the hateful ones the demonstrators were holding up. He remembers that Jesus had harsher words for the Pharisees than for prostitutes.
Louie Dean Valenica, a professor at Texas State, tweeted the two photos above, followed by these posts:
Texas States’s response team was there quickly to help manage the situation.
As an expert on fascism… this is where it starts. Extremists at home who feel emboldened. The ones holding these signs were not part of our Texas State community. They might be outsiders, but they aren’t strangers to those of us who study the radical right.
Then there’s the matter of these racist text messages being sent to Black people:
Black people in states including Alabama, South Carolina, Georgia, New York, New Jersey, Nevada, the DC area and elsewhere reported receiving the messages. The messages were sent to Black adults and students, including to high schoolers in Massachusetts and New York, and students at historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs), such as Alabama State University and other schools, including ones across Ohio, Clemson University, the University of Alabama and Missouri State. At least six middle school students in Pennsylvania received the messages, according to the AP.
For more:
- Wall Street Journal: Racist Text Messages About Slavery Sent to Black People in Several States
- New York Times: Wave of Racist Texts After Election Prompts F.B.I.’s Scrutiny
- WISN Milwaukee: Milwaukee 12-year-old receives racist text message: ‘You’ve been selected to pick cotton’
- NBC News: States work to tackle racist text messages sent to Black people nationwide
- CBS News: Officials condemn racist text messages sent to Black residents in at least 20 states
- Wright State Guardian (Wright State University’s newspaper): Black Students Across the Nation Receive Racist Text Messages, including Wright State
Here’s a statement by Representative Bonnie Watson Coleman of New Jersey’s 12th Congressional District on the incident:
And finally, there’s this dipshit:
None of these people are acting in any official capacity, but they were all emboldened by the election results. And we’ve seen this before — remember when high school students were using Trump’s image and name as racial insults aimed at Latinos at inter-school sports events?
This is just the beginning, and this is what we must resist.
I’ll close with this meme from the previous election:
This one’s by Adam Douglas Thompson, and you can view the original here.
Also, I’m pulling this banner image out of mothballs: