Roundup: Things that are More Important than a Dead Queen

by K.C.
Inside, a person with dark, curly hair wearing a yellow hoodie is engrossed in something on their laptop. Outside, a person with long blonde hair wearing dark rimmed glasses and a white fleece coat is trying to get their attention. Yellow hoodie is labeled "A surprising number of people, TBH. There's an arrow pointing to the laptop with the words, "The queen is still dead." The person outside is labeled "actual news."

Featured Image: Photo by cottonbro. Edited in Affinity Designer.

 

Double click or tap any English word in this post to open its definition in a new window (external).

 

4 for Now

With all the media coverage, you’d think England’s queen dying is the event of a lifetime. But if you look past those headlines, you’ll find others that are actually much more important. Here’s a roundup of a few such bits of news.

Migrants Tricked into Flying to Martha’s Vineyard

Forty-nine asylum-seekers from Venezuela arrived in San Antonio, Texas. A woman named Perla recruited other migrants to lure them with the promise of jobs and housing in Boston. They were then flown to Martha’s Vineyard—an island off the coast of Massachusetts famous for being a place rich people summer—on what appears to be the Florida taxpayers’ dime. (Don’t worry: they’ve been brought to the mainland for assistance and investigations have been opened into the whole ordeal.) (Or worry, because it’s apparently not going to stop.)

Renewed Ableism

Between J. K. Terfling’s new book and articles attacking people who “don’t look sick,” folks with chronic illnesses are having a rough month. In Canada, they’re touting the virtues of killing people rather than lifting them out of poverty. While euthanasia is legal in other countries, Canada’s rules are most lax. (Medical Assistance in Dying, or MAiD, was meant for terminally ill people, but they plan to expand it to include mentally ill people.) Over 10,000 people were euthanized in Canada in 2021.

Ongoing Anti-Trans Actions

Over 100 bills attacking transgender people have been introduced across the US over the last two years. Despite the recent win against Kiwi Farms [CW/ suicide], there are still other hate groups dedicated to harassing them and pushing anti-trans legislation.

No, the Pandemic is NOT Over

President Biden has decided that since “no one’s wearing masks,” the pandemic must be over. (This follows the end of mask mandates across the country back in April.) But the numbers disagree: 400-500 people in the United States are dying from Covid-19 every day, with 2 million new confirmed cases in the last month, and only 1 in 3 USians have had ANY booster, let alone one designed for the Omicron variant. And between Covid rebound and Long Covid, I’d say it’s prudent to keep up precautions.

Slavery

Wait, what year is it? The UN labor agency recently announced that an estimated 50 million people were living in enforced labor or marriage at the end of 2021. Some states will be addressing prison labor (the exception to the 13th amendment) on the ballot in November.

The F@&%!ng Climate Crisis

I know this isn’t a single event that got lost among all the misplaced admiration for the queen, but we (Westerners, in general, the folks in power more specifically) do little to slow it down as it gets more urgent. Just ask the Caribbean about Hurricane Fiona. Alaska about Typhoon Merbok. Pakistan about their record monsoon season. I could keep going, despite having said a thing or two in my previous posts on the climate crisis. [Note: “Another Time” is a fiction story. I hope.]

This is just a small sampling of things more important than a dead queen. If I could list them all, we’d be here for days.

 

4 for Later

  1. Help affected folks. Direct aid is always better, so look for local groups, go fund mes, and pay links (#MutualAid is a catch all, but a place to start). If you’d like to help the migrants sent to Martha’s Vineyard, email the Massachusetts Voluntary Organizations Active in Disasters to find out what they need. See what you can to do to help end modern-day slavery. Support Extinction Rebellion in the fight to avert the climate crisis. Here’s a Twitter thread of trusted Puerto Rican organizations. The Alaska Community Foundation is collecting donations for the Western Alaska Disaster Recovery Fund.
  2. Make sure you’re following trustworthy news sources so you know what’s really going on in the world. And utilize bias ratings and fact checkers to help determine whether the news you’re reading is real.
  3. I may seem like a broken record, but until the revolution (or until our “representatives” grow a conscience), contacting our reps to make it known what we want and how we feel when they don’t act in our interests is probably one of the most effective things many of us can do. Here’s the trusty link to find your US representatives.
  4. I talk a lot about helping other people, but don’t forget to take care of yourself! Be prepared in case of emergencies. The California State Council on Developmental Disabilites has a bunch of Covid resources (some available in Spanish, Mandarin, and Vietnamese). GLAAD has a list of resources for trans folks (with a page with tips for allies, too). Supportiv has an article about mental health resources for disabled people and some tips for “Spoonie Self Care.” And if you need it, consider this your reminder to eat/hydrate/medicate/rest!
 

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If there’s something specific you’d like me to cover, or something I’ve already written that you’d like to know more about, let me know!