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	<title>Freethought Blogs</title>
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	<link>https://freethoughtblogs.com</link>
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		<title>I haven&#8217;t seen this in a while</title>
		<link>https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2026/08/16/i-havent-seen-this-in-a-while/</link>
		<pubDate>Sun, 16 Aug 2026 22:50:11 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[PZ Myers]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Organisms]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://3.80008</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Maybe the monarchs are coming back &#8212; we spotted a roosting mass of them across the street. Can you count them all? Also, on a branch just above them, there was a Cooper&#8217;s Hawk standing guard.]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p class="lead">Maybe the monarchs are coming back &#8212; we spotted a roosting mass of them across the street. Can you count them all?</p>
<p><a href="https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/files/2026/08/roosting-monarchs.jpeg"><img src="https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/files/2026/08/roosting-monarchs-500x500.jpeg" alt="" width="500" height="500" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-80009" /></a></p>
<p>Also, on a branch just above them, there was a Cooper&#8217;s Hawk standing guard.</p>
<p><a href="https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/files/2026/08/coopers-hawk.jpeg"><img src="https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/files/2026/08/coopers-hawk-500x437.jpeg" alt="" width="500" height="437" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-80010" /></a></p>
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		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">322457</post-id>	</item>
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		<title>A few hours later…</title>
		<link>https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2026/08/16/a-few-hours-later/</link>
		<pubDate>Sun, 16 Aug 2026 17:11:55 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[PZ Myers]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Organisms]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://3.80004</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Earlier this morning, Mary spotted a dark chrysalis near our back door. This is what it looks like now. In a few hours, it&#8217;ll flutter off to join the wild population here in Morris.]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p class="lead">Earlier this morning, Mary spotted a dark chrysalis near our back door.</p>
<p><img src="https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/files/2026/08/black-chrysalis-1-500x498.jpeg" alt="" width="500" height="498" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-80005" /></p>
<p>This is what it looks like now.</p>
<p><a href="https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/files/2026/08/emergent.jpeg"><img src="https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/files/2026/08/emergent-500x482.jpeg" alt="" width="500" height="482" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-80006" /></a></p>
<p>In a few hours, it&#8217;ll flutter off to join the wild population here in Morris.</p>
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		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">322454</post-id>	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Thoughts on the blog comments policy</title>
		<link>https://freethoughtblogs.com/singham/2026/08/16/thoughts-on-the-blog-comments-policy/</link>
		<pubDate>Sun, 16 Aug 2026 15:41:29 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Mano Singham]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Other]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://36.78300</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Readers may recall that at one time I was becoming frustrated with the tone of the comments in this blog, with few people endlessly and acrimoniously sniping at each other over trivial things, treating them with disdain, being needlessly sarcastic, acting superior, and generally creating an unpleasant atmosphere for everyone. So I introduced some harsh [&#8230;]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Readers may recall that at one time I was becoming frustrated with the tone of the comments in this blog, with few people endlessly and acrimoniously sniping at each other over trivial things,  treating them with disdain, being needlessly sarcastic, acting superior, and generally creating an unpleasant atmosphere for everyone. </p>
<p>So I introduced some harsh measures such as a limit on the number of comments that could be made to a single post and what I would not tolerate. You can see that policy <a href="https://freethoughtblogs.com/singham/2026/04/02/blog-comments-policy-13/">here</a>. As a consequence, a very few people were either banned or received private messages from me that they were skirting the line.</p>
<p>I must say that the blog comments have become so much better. People are actually talking to one another, responding positively and collegially to others even they disagree, and contributing very useful information that I find enlightening. Sometimes people ask questions and others respond thoughtfully with answers instead of being dismissive. The comments on <a href="https://freethoughtblogs.com/singham/2026/08/13/hegseths-logistical-failures/">this post</a> are a good example of what I am talking about because in them I learned a lot about naval logistics. </p>
<p>It is just what I hoped the comments section should be like and a rarity in the world of the internet. I find the comments section to be very pleasurable to read now and hope others do to.</p>
<p>So thanks everyone!</p>
<p></p>
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		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">322448</post-id>	</item>
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		<title>James O&#8217;Keefe still likes to play dress-up</title>
		<link>https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2026/08/16/james-okeefe-still-likes-to-play-dress-up/</link>
		<pubDate>Sun, 16 Aug 2026 13:02:59 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[PZ Myers]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Stupidity]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://3.80001</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[If you thought James O&#8217;Keefe was washed up and would vanish in the sewage outlet of history after his exposure and disgrace, guess again. He attempted to meddle in the Minnesota primary by dressing up as a &#8220;muslim&#8221;, putting on a poor &#8220;muslim&#8221; accent, and attempting to vote illegally, to show that Minnesota election laws [&#8230;]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/files/2026/08/stupid-dressup-game.png"><img src="https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/files/2026/08/stupid-dressup-game-150x150.png" alt="" width="150" height="150" class="alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-80002" /></a></p>
<p class="lead">If you thought <a href="https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/?s=o%27keefe">James O&#8217;Keefe</a> was washed up and would vanish in the sewage outlet of history after his exposure and disgrace, guess again. <a href="https://bringmethenews.com/minnesota-news/steve-simon-rips-burqa-stunt-at-mn-polls-says-right-wing-group-is-in-legal-jeopardy">He attempted to meddle in the Minnesota primary</a> by dressing up as a &#8220;muslim&#8221;, putting on a poor &#8220;muslim&#8221; accent, and attempting to vote illegally, to show that Minnesota election laws were leaky and would allow for significant election fraud.</p>
<blockquote><p>Veritas founder James O’Keefe, along with reporter Cam Higby, impersonated Muslims and went to multiple Twin Cities polling places during the Aug. 11 primary.</p>
<p>“During Minnesota’s Primary on August 11, 2026, members of a widely discredited Florida-based political group visited several polling places in Minneapolis impersonating Minnesota voters,” Simon said in a news release.</p>
<p>“Dressed in what they called ‘Muslim’ costumes, and imitating foreign accents, they falsely claimed to be registered Minnesota voters. The group used concealed cameras to record their interactions with poll workers, releasing a heavily edited video of their encounters. Their apparent goal was to cast doubt on one or more Minnesota election laws that have been in force for over fifty years. Instead, they revealed their ignorance of how those laws actually work – while putting themselves in legal jeopardy.”</p>
<p>According to Higby, their goal was to see if they’d be allowed to vote without showing identification, and whether they’d be allowed to vouch for people who aren’t registered to vote.</p></blockquote>
<p>He failed, but he still went ahead and spliced together a very bad video that purported to show <em>Muslim</em> election fraud. O&#8217;Keefe has a kink for putting on cheap costumes and posing in racist one-act plays. Isn&#8217;t it past time to throw out this piece of trash?</p>
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		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">322446</post-id>	</item>
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		<title>Kids these days…</title>
		<link>https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2026/08/16/kids-these-days-2/</link>
		<pubDate>Sun, 16 Aug 2026 11:49:21 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[PZ Myers]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Miscellaneous and Meta]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://3.79997</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[When I was in college, many years ago, one of the hobbies sweeping through the youth (and older) was the Society for Creative Anachronism &#8212; putting on padding, taking a sword made of rattan wrapped in foam, and pounding on each other in fake medieval battles. I thought it was fun to watch, but was [&#8230;]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p class="lead">When I was in college, many years ago, one of the hobbies sweeping through the youth (and older) was the Society for Creative Anachronism &#8212; putting on padding, taking a sword made of rattan wrapped in foam, and pounding on each other in fake medieval battles. I thought it was fun to watch, but was never going to join in. When I imagined medieval warfare, I would always be the peasant with a stick getting trampled into the mud.</p>
<p>Nowadays the big thing is <a href="https://www.buhurtinternational.com/">Buhurt</a>. People dress up in real steel armor and use real steel (but blunted) swords to hack at each other until someone falls down. No thank you very much. But my son, the one in the army, has joined a team out there in Washington state. We also have a <a href="https://racketmn.com/meet-the-twin-cities-wyverns-your-local-armored-combat-squad">team in Minneapolis</a>. I am not at all tempted.</p>
<p><a href="https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/files/2026/08/buhurt.jpeg"><img src="https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/files/2026/08/buhurt-500x530.jpeg" alt="" width="500" height="530" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-79998" /></a></p>
<p>He&#8217;s the one with the shaved head on the right. He&#8217;s using borrowed armor because that <a href="https://www.buhurttech.com/medieval-armor">stuff is expensive</a>.</p>
<p>I guess military testosterone levels are just fine.</p>
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		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">322443</post-id>	</item>
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		<title>Trump and Pirro&#8217;s Lincoln pool problem may well get worse</title>
		<link>https://freethoughtblogs.com/singham/2026/08/15/trump-and-pirros-lincoln-pool-problem-may-well-get-worse/</link>
		<pubDate>Sat, 15 Aug 2026 19:20:02 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Mano Singham]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Law]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://36.78298</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Greg Sargent argues that simply because the justice department has dropped all the charges against the four people who had been accused of deliberately vandalizing the Lincoln Reflecting Pool does not mean that the problems for Jeanine Pirro, the US attorney for Washington DC, who gleefully announced the indictments before later dropping them, will go [&#8230;]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Greg Sargent <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/214121/trump-reflecting-pool-fiasco-get-even-worse">argues</a> that simply because the justice department has dropped all the charges against the four people who had been accused of deliberately vandalizing the Lincoln Reflecting Pool does not mean that the problems for Jeanine Pirro, the US attorney for Washington DC, who gleefully announced the indictments before later dropping them, will go away.</p>
<p>When the charges were dropped, they were done &#8216;without prejudice&#8217; meaning that they could be filed again. Norm Eisen, the lawyer for David Hearn  who had been charged with a felony that could have had him imprisoned for ten years, is first seeking to have the charges dropped &#8216;with prejudice&#8217; to prevent Pirro from carrying out what Trump clearly wants, which is to charge them again. But in addition, he is seeking to have the transcripts of the grand jury proceedings that led to the indictments released, because they will show if the jurors were grossly misled by Pirro, which could result in sanctions against her.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Eisen and Hearn’s other lawyers are not letting this drop. For some time now, they’ve been seeking access to full transcripts of the grand jury proceedings—including instructions that prosecutors gave jurors on charging guidelines—to determine whether prosecutors misled them to secure Hearn’s indictment.<br />
<span id="more-322440"></span></p>
<p><br />
&#8230;</p>
<p>True, success on that front will be difficult; for many good reasons, defense lawyers are rarely permitted to view grand jury materials. But it’s not unheard of. “Courts are generally very reluctant to grant access to grand jury transcripts,” Daniel R. Alonso, a former prosecutor and law professor at Cornell, told me. But here, Alonso said, the defense has “more than a colorable argument.”</p>
<p>Recall that well before the indictment, Trump was already publicly stating as fact that the project had been vandalized. This was surely understood by Pirro and Burgum as a command to <em>make it true</em> that vandalism caused the renovation’s failure. And that provides more grounds for transparency on grand jury materials, as Alonso noted: “If anything, the president’s involvement strengthens the defense’s position.”<br />
&#8230;</p>
<p>That’s why it’s critical to seek all manner of censure and redress. In the Hearn affair, this will likely include civil lawsuits against the government, asking the courts to impose professional sanctions on key actors, and seeking their disbarment—possibly up to Pirro herself.</p>
<p>“You can’t just limit this to the lowest person on the totem pole or the highest,” prominent legal commentator Katie Phang told me. She argued that “each and every lawyer who’s had their fingerprints on this illegal indictment” are complicit in “the collective destruction of the rule of law.”<br />
&#8230;</p>
<p>Subpoena power would help fumigate all this. Were there internal objections to this prosecution based on lack of evidence? Were they overridden? What communications about this went on with the White House? Why did Burgum look away as the prosecution proceeded—and why did he continue to allege vandalism—even as his own agency knew what really caused the damage? Democrats should put Pirro and Burgum under oath and take them apart.</p></blockquote>
<p>Democrats in Congress are also not letting go.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>This week, Representative Jamie Raskin—the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee and potentially its future chair—will formally demand that the Justice and Interior Departments turn over a wealth of documents related to the charging decisions made in this case.</p>
<p>“Judiciary Democrats will investigate who lied, who buried the evidence, and who decided to threaten an American citizen with prison simply to protect Trump’s wounded feelings and continuing corruption,” Raskin said in a statement to me. “Participants in this frame-up will be held to account.”</p></blockquote>
<p>As I&#8217;ve said many times before, the use of the justice department to harass and threaten ordinary people is one of  the worst abuses of government power and should be severely punished to discourage future such acts.</p>
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		<title>Adopt, Don&#8217;t Shop! &#8211; and its Limitations</title>
		<link>https://freethoughtblogs.com/affinity/2026/08/15/adopt-dont-shop-and-its-limitations/</link>
		<pubDate>Sat, 15 Aug 2026 13:17:22 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Giliell]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Animals]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[society]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[dogs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[rescue dogs]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://74.51130</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I&#8217;m a big fan of adopting rescues and very critical of most modern dog breeding. The rescue part you might have already guessed from Socks being, well, a rescue dog. The goodest rescue dog. You might have also guessed that I&#8217;m not the biggest fan of most modern breeding, with varying degrees from hatred for [&#8230;]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I&#8217;m a big fan of adopting rescues and very critical of most modern dog breeding.</p>
<p>The rescue part you might have already guessed from Socks being, well, a rescue dog. The goodest rescue dog.</p>
<div id="attachment_51121" style="width: 810px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="https://freethoughtblogs.com/affinity/files/2026/08/IMG_0590.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-51121" src="https://freethoughtblogs.com/affinity/files/2026/08/IMG_0590-800x533.jpg" alt="front view of a tricolour small dog lying on the grass" width="800" height="533" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">©Giliell, all rights reserved</p></div>
<p>You might have also guessed that I&#8217;m not the biggest fan of most modern breeding, with varying degrees from hatred for puppy mill owners and people who breed dog breeds that are inherently unhealthy (German has the apt word &#8220;Qualzucht&#8221;, torture breeding) like Frenchies over people who breed dogs that are mostly not suitable as family dogs but being sold mostly to families (Border Collies and Aussies, anybody?) to being mildly critical to dog breeds that need more genetic diversity to counter (manageable) health issues but who aren&#8217;t getting any due to stupid breed standards.</p>
<p>I&#8217;m not going to call everybody who gets a puppy from a breeder names, just a lot of them, so let&#8217;s look at the arguments being made in favour of getting a purebred puppy and which ones hold up, but also at the arguments pro and against getting a rescue.</p>
<p>First of all some necessary information before we start talking past each other:</p>
<p>In Germany and other wealthier European countries there exist two parallel rescue systems. The first one is the local shelters, which are all no kill and will take in pets that are surrendered but also pets that are confiscated or abandoned. The second system is foreign adoption from Eastern and Southern European countries with low animal welfare and kill shelters. Both have their pros and cons and I&#8217;ll talk about those as well.</p>
<p><strong>First argument: But I love breed X!</strong></p>
<p>This is the one I can simultaneously understand the most but that also infuriates me the most. Dog breeds have been created over centuries for specific purposes with specific goals in mind, so members of a breed are very likely to not only share a look, but also certain character traits. I mean, who doesn&#8217;t love a Golden Retriever? There&#8217;s still reasons I don&#8217;t have one. So there are people who either want a dog for a specific purpose (i. e. hunting) and get a specific working breed, or there are people who are really looking into which breed fits their lives and get those and I can understand that.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, most people don&#8217;t look at all aspects of a breed, they look at the optics or the image. They get a breed that has been popularized by media or celebrities. Border Collies are one of those breeds, as are Dalamtians and most tragically, French Bulldogs. Fuck Lady Gaga, The Rock and the rest of them who popularized Frenchies. In Germany there&#8217;s a huge problem with breeds like the Belgian Malinois or Kangals: Both dogs that require experienced owners, lots of attention and real good training, not to mention the right living conditions. But people will watch three videos on the internet and go &#8220;awwwww&#8221; and now German shelters are full with them, as well as the assorted bully breeds. This is a huge problem and ties in with argument #2.</p>
<p><strong>Second argument: They wouldn&#8217;t let me have a rescue dog!</strong></p>
<p>Congrats, so you went to a backyeard breeder, because if you didn&#8217;t get a rescue, then no responsible breeder would sell you a puppy. Now, I know that some local shelters can be a bit over the top, but most are not, if you&#8217;re being reasonable as to which dog you want. And often there will be no dog available that fits you, because see #1. When we looked for a doggo, we also looked at the local shelters. They had German Shepherds, Malinois, Bullies, their mixes and a very sick pug. These dogs need knowledgeable people and nobody should have given me any of them, should I have applied. Which I didn&#8217;t. I went to a (reputable) rescue organisation and yeah, me, a first time dog owner full time working person got a dog. But one that fit our lives.</p>
<p><strong>Third argument: I don&#8217;t want a traumatised dog /surprise box that is a rescue</strong></p>
<p>Another argument that holds a bit of truth, but not much. Just like those dogs from the local shelters who are often already demanding breeds now with added issues from bad keeping, a lot of foreign rescue dogs come with trauma and trust issues. Those dogs also need expereinced people willing to work with them and put up with a lot (anybody remember Caine&#8217;s half coyote who would keep its bones in her bed? Not everybody&#8217;s cup of tea) and should also only be given to such people. Me, I&#8217;m not that people. I still found a rescue dog. Socks isn&#8217;t the biggest fan of tall men and strangers, but he&#8217;s affectionate, smart and very easy to train. It&#8217;s also not like every individual of a certain breed will be a perfect example of that breed. The one dog in our doggy school group that had the most issues and the least progress was a Golden Retriever.</p>
<p>Also, as I mentioned, people go for looks and images, but not actual breed behaviour. They get a Dachshund (you shouldn&#8217;t) and are surprised that it&#8217;s stubborn as fuck. Those doggos were bred to hunt badgers, alone in the dark. They do their own thinking. They get any kind of shepherd and are surprised the dog is herding and nipping. They get a lifestock guarding dog and are surprised that their dog doesn&#8217;t listen at all because for centuries those dogs have stayed with the herds without seeing a human for days.</p>
<p>That&#8217;s also something you have to take into account when getting a rescue mutt. Pay attention to the telltale guarding dog looks. So yeah, getting arescue requires you to do some thinking and careful choice of dog, but so does getting a purebred.</p>
<p><strong>Fourth argument: I want a dog that was socialised well</strong></p>
<p>It&#8217;s one I will let somewhat stand. A good breeder does a lot of work to make sure the puppies have a good start. They will be carefully introduced to stimuli, socialised, and will have some basic connection to humans. It certainly gives you a headstart with your dog. But it also doesn&#8217;t mean that you don&#8217;t have to work with the dog. As mentioned before, Socks and I go to doggy school. We&#8217;re in a group of dogs the same age and have been for the last 6 months. At the start, Socks had some catching up to do, since he didn&#8217;t have any training before he was adopted, and was also new to a lot of situations. But by now he has well caught up and is often ahead of the well socialised purebred classmates.</p>
<p><strong>Fifth argument: Good breeders health test their dogs</strong></p>
<p>Another two sided sword. Yeah, good breeders will health test their dogs to some extent before breeding them, but this opens a whole can of worms: Breed specific health issues, fucked up breed standards and genetic diversity. Many popular breeds have so little genetic diversity that all individuals are genetically as close as siblings or first cousins. It&#8217;s no use that their pedigree shows no direct inbreeding, they simply don&#8217;t have a large enough gene pool. Now taking out individuals with certain traits will further decrease the gene pool. This is why many breeds simply cannot remove certain unhealthy traits by no longer breeding those individuals. Apart from creating more suffering, it&#8217;s not possible to create healthier Frenchies by breeding longer snout individuals. It&#8217;s only now that we&#8217;re beginning to understand how certain things are related. Did you know that white coats and being deaf is related? For decades breed standards demanded a colour that also carried a high risk of deafness, but now breeds like Dalmatians have lost all other healthy allels. Back to the Goldie? I love them, but their hips are fucked. People joke about them eating everything, but just like Labradors most of them are missing the gene that regulates hunger and being full. While the assorted retrievers are not among them, honestly a lot of breeds simply need to go. The giants and the teacups, the brachycephalic dogs, and many many more. No amount of health testing will solve issues that are breed standards, especially if there isn&#8217;t a viable population without those issues. They would need to cross in other dogs nad that will never happen. Not only would it change their beloved standards, it would also mean investing money and not making it (that&#8217;s also the reason why doodles won&#8217;t become breeds).</p>
<p>Does a rescue guarantee a healthy dog? Nope. After all, their gene pool is the same fucked up mess, you&#8217;re just combining more. Our neighbours have a lovely rescue mutt who&#8217;s going blind. White coat, blue eyes, high probability. But it means that you&#8217;re not supporting a sick system.</p>
<p><strong>Sixth (and for now final) argument: Foreign rescues are just puppy mills in disguise / they clogg local shelters </strong></p>
<p>Again one that has some truth to it. With foreign rescues being pretty popular, it attracts two types of unethical players.</p>
<p>Type one: The puppy mill. They always have cute puppies for adoption. They&#8217;re all mutts, so nobody suspects a puppy mill at first and they will tell you some sob story. A good rescue will have all kinds of dogs. They will occasionally have puppies, but you will also be able to get the spayed momma dog after the puppies are weaned.</p>
<p>Type two: The Good Samaritians Without a Plan. While Type one is in for the money, these people are in for feeling good themselves. Their goal is to get as many dogs out as possible without actually making sure that those dogs go to good homes. They will often allow people to adopt just after having seen a cute pic and heard a sorry tale, they will not check before, they will brush over issues and have absolutely no plan B. They do significantly contribute to the local shelter population.</p>
<p>If you ever look into getting a foreign rescue, these are the signs of a reputable organisation:</p>
<p>-There are dogs you cannot adopt. Not all dogs will adjust to a family life. Some are too traumatised to ever trust humans again. You can sponsor them, and they get to live the rest of their days in peace, fed, safe and cared for.</p>
<p>-They work locally. That&#8217;s like the biggest point. A good rescue organisation wants to make itself unnecessary. They offer spaying and neutering for the locals, they educate people on how to prevent unwanted litters, thus reducing the number of animals that need them.</p>
<p>-They have foster places where the dogs can adjust and you can get to know the dogs. While they may also do direct adoptions where you get the dog without it having lived with a foster family, they do so responsibly</p>
<p>-They check on you and won&#8217;t just give you a dog. The foster lady we got Socks from is a friend of my friends, so we already had a good reputation by hearsay, but she still had us fill out all the forms, talked about problems that may happen and checked us at home to see if our data was correct, the same way a good breeder does.</p>
<p>-They have a plan B. Even with a careful adoption process, things can go wahoonie-shaped. A goood rescue still feels responsible for the dog. Our contract states that we cannot sell or surrender the dog without their approval, if they disapprove the dog goes back to them. That&#8217;s an important point. It also means that they&#8217;re a lot more careful about whom they give which dog. They want things to work, because otherwise the dog becomes their problem again.</p>
<p>-They never apply emotional pressure to make you adopt a dog. No sob story. No &#8220;if you don&#8217;t take it, it will be killed&#8221;. They may ask for your money (I swear, in the end you pay as much for the rescue as you pay for a purebred, just that you pay a little every once in a while), but never for you to adopt more dogs than you can handle.</p>
<p>-They are honest. If you llok at their website and find dogs with trust issues, there&#8217;s a good chance that you can also get one without trust issues and not one who is deeply traumatised but has been lied about.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>As you see, I&#8217;m not at all unsympathetic to people who responsibly get a certain breed, and I won&#8217;t claim that rescue dogs are for everybody, but I&#8217;m so sick and tired of those bullshit arguments.</p>
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		<title>The Midnight Collection, Volume the Last One Ever</title>
		<link>https://freethoughtblogs.com/gas/2026/08/15/the-last-midnight-collection/</link>
		<pubDate>Sat, 15 Aug 2026 07:01:47 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Bébé Mélange]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[The Midnight Collection]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Writing]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://84.7085</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The Midnight Collection is FUCKING OVER!  After considerable misfortune-related delay, my man Joseph Kelly has concluded the run of these compilations of dark fiction (that I&#8217;ve previously mentioned).  You have a few options on how to read it &#8211; and one is completely gratis.  I&#8217;ll explain that later. This final installment of The Midnight Collection [&#8230;]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><em>The Midnight Collection</em> is FUCKING OVER!  After considerable misfortune-related delay, my man <a href="https://cubistvowels.wordpress.com/">Joseph</a> <a href="https://freethoughtblogs.com/cubistvowels/">Kelly</a> has concluded the run of these compilations of dark fiction (that I&#8217;ve <a href="https://freethoughtblogs.com/gas/2022/12/22/the-midnight-collection-volume-three/">previ</a>ou<a href="https://freethoughtblogs.com/gas/2022/10/10/the-midnight-collection-volume-two/">sly me</a>nti<a href="https://freethoughtblogs.com/gas/2022/08/31/the-midnight-collection-lives/">oned</a>).  You have a few options on how to read it &#8211; and one is completely gratis.  I&#8217;ll explain that later.</p>
<p><img class="size-full wp-image-7091 alignright" src="https://freethoughtblogs.com/gas/files/2026/08/metamorphicover.png" alt="" width="388" height="576" /></p>
<p>This final installment of <em>The Midnight Collection</em> is themed &#8220;The Metamorphic Sacrament.&#8221;  Blame me for that name.  The collection is produced without profit.  Not non-profit like charity, just that sales will never ever be commensurate to the effort that went into it, which is why it&#8217;s a run of four.  I&#8217;m not pimping it for money because that ain&#8217;t happening.  I&#8217;m just really curious what reviewers, casual or serious, will think of all the stories.</p>
<p>At last, I will cop to the reason I&#8217;m so curious.  Some of the writers involved are <em>very</em> amateur, and some are world class.  Admission was open to anyone in our top secret writing group, which has an extreme range of skill levels going on.  And you won&#8217;t know just how unconventional or raw a given author is until you&#8217;re partway through reading a given story.  I know what that project looks like from the inside.  What will it look like to someone who doesn&#8217;t know us?</p>
<p>And just what the fuck is a <em>Metamorphic Sacrament</em>?  It&#8217;s a mysterious grimoire whose immortal curse takes many forms, as described by our many authors.  A little tour of the table of contents:</p>
<p>VARIOUS POEMS &#8211; Brenda M. Barros and Brett Elijah Shelton<br />
Barros has come out swinging on the first volume they&#8217;ve contributed to -our last ever- allowing us to go out with a bang.  There are a number of intriguing poems throughout the book.  Also my brother was still here, apparently.</p>
<p>OUR VISITS &#8211; Damian Golfinopoulos<br />
Usually the only 100% cishetbro in these collections, Damian&#8217;s contributions must evidence some secret queerness.  <em>Our Visits</em> may be his best story yet, and they&#8217;ve all been very strong.  I don&#8217;t know what they&#8217;re putting in the water down in New Zealand, but you can feel something elementally distinct about this guy, some way that he is different from the rest of us that goes beyond his basic bitch gender/attraction configuration.</p>
<p>NOSTALGIA &#8211; Becquerel McLeod<br />
This story is about a children&#8217;s book changing hands, in more ways than one.  Hey-o! I got a million of &#8217;em.</p>
<p>DEVOTED SERVANT &#8211; Kate Bledsoe<br />
Originally this volume was set to be released in early spring three years ago.  A deadline was established, and more than one contributor reduced the length and number of submissions to make that deadline.  Even though the actual release happened long after, in theory more could have been added, in practice, hell no.  Formatting these things to the established standard is a lot of work.</p>
<p>Why do I say all of that here?  Bledsoe was one of the authors who pared down her submissions, and she&#8217;s strong enough I would love to have seen what else she had for us.  My cookie is crumbled.  Enjoy this short piece of historical fiction, to its surprising and grisly conclusion.  The grizzle isn&#8217;t surprising after three other volumes of this stuff, but elements of it certainly are.</p>
<p>IPSWICH MUSEUM, GLOOMY FEATHERS &#8211; Dominique Palma<br />
Our lone ESL contributor drafts the first of a few non-fiction-styled entries to the lore with <em>Ipswich Museum</em>, and later brings those hints home with an almost poetic death march through the <em>Sacrament</em> in <em>Gloomy Feathers</em>.</p>
<p>THE BLACK CASTLE, DER STIEGLITZ UND ANDERE VÖGEL &#8211; Caesar Train Magenta<br />
Usually Magenta just writes the closing Cryptkeeper-style segments of <em>Midnight Collection</em>s, but this is the second long-form story in the book &#8211; and it&#8217;s so different from the first.  Who is this mysterious author, and what is wrong with him?  There&#8217;s a love trianglesque thing too.  He didn&#8217;t shirk his Cryptkeeping duties either, as we see in <em>Der Stieglitz</em>.</p>
<p>A CERTAIN KIND OF ARTISTE &#8211; Bébé Mélange<br />
Hey, it&#8217;s a me.  In true middle child fashion, I dropped a ton of hints in this story to tie together the lore from other stories.  But did I raise more impossible questions than I answered?  A very short story, hopefully worth a chuckle.</p>
<p>MURDER BE SPOKE EPISODE 113: THE MYSTERIOUS MANUSCRIPT MURDER &#8211; Luna Raydue<br />
Raydue demolishes the record for title length.  You have to respect the game.  Also, the story puts a fresh spin on the epistolary style.</p>
<p>THREE TEETH FOR THOMPSON GRATE, REHEARSAL NIGHT &#8211; Brenda M. Barros<br />
<em>Three Teeth</em> is Brenda&#8217;s first prose to appear in the book.  It&#8217;s short, but changes form quickly within its few pages. (<em>metamorphosis?</em>)  Reminds me of that moment in the late 19th century when some authors felt the need to include a framing story even on short fiction, interesting in that.  Later we see their <em>Rehearsal Night</em>, which is much more ambitious in vision.</p>
<p>EXQUISITE DELIGHTS, WHAT WILL YOU BECOME? &#8211; Joseph Kelly<br />
My husband the editor must occasionally step up to the author plate and show everyone why he&#8217;s the boss.  <em>Exquisite Delights</em> is definitely the best story in the collection -really stands alone- and that&#8217;s saying something, given how many of us brought our A game.  This lurid tale is inspired by the sheisty undercurrents of art history.  Later, <em>What Will You Become?</em> is a psychedelic little trip into the feelings of our theme.</p>
<p>A CROWNING ACHIEVEMENT &#8211; Lydia Moody<br />
A Moody return.  This author has been in the collection from the beginning, and like Damian, saved her best for last.  A perfect short story reminiscent of Stephen King, and the only story with an illustration by the author.</p>
<p>SHADOWS OF THE SACRAMENT &#8211; James Hyde<br />
Hey, the cishetbros are at it again.  James Hyde is new to our collection, just in time for the end, and brings a real spookhouse experience to the proceedings.</p>
<p>REEL ZERO &#8211; Christopher Scott Shelton<br />
My pretentious high school self dusts off the cobwebs to bring the edgelordry.  I&#8217;m really proud of this fucked-up scenario, which is a bit of a prequel to Palma&#8217;s <em>Gloomy Feathers</em>.  And the web version has an extra ending not included in the print version.  How about that?</p>
<p><strong><img class=" wp-image-7093 alignleft" src="https://freethoughtblogs.com/gas/files/2026/08/ixionwheel-1.png" alt="" width="244" height="366" />HOW DO I READ THE MIDNIGHT COLLECTION?</strong></p>
<p>For the first time, the <em>Collection</em> is not available in ebook!  For reasons, making an e-book to a reasonable standard is painful as hell.  The print version is where the collection really shines, <a href="https://www.lulu.com/shop/joseph-kelly-and-brenda-m-barros-and-damian-golfinopoulos-and-becquerel-mcleod/the-midnight-collection-vol-4-the-metamorphic-sacrament/paperback/product-w4vzgqw.html">available at Lulu</a>.  And lastly, as promised, you can just read it for free <a href="https://themidnightcollection.wordpress.com/">at the Collection&#8217;s website</a>.</p>
<p>There&#8217;s one original work of art by an author, but most of the illustrations are lovingly curated from public domain resources.  At least small versions of (most of) the illustrations are available on the website, but yes, the best way to appreciate them is a hard copy.</p>
<p>I&#8217;d love to see reviews, either of the whole package or individual stories.  For lowest effort you can drop some general thoughts in the comments below this article.  You can also leave comments on the individual stories at the <em>Midnight Collection</em>&#8216;s site.  Thanks!</p>
<p>&#8211;</p>
<p><strong>NOTE:</strong>  I didn&#8217;t realize the wordpress site for it has ads til I looked at it on mobile just now.  The price of free hosting.  Ad blocker recommended!  Those ads don&#8217;t give us a cut or anything.  Also the format is kinda janky on mobile.</p>
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		<title>Fight for your scraps or starve, peasants!</title>
		<link>https://freethoughtblogs.com/oceanoxia/2026/08/14/fight-for-your-scraps-or-starve-peasants/</link>
		<pubDate>Sat, 15 Aug 2026 01:19:28 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Oceanoxia]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[bidding for shifts]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[capitalism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Class]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[divide and conquer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[division]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[healthcare]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[instability]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[nurses]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Poverty]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[precarity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[rulers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Solidarity]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://83.6071</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I often talk about the importance of solidarity and organizing. I think I talk less about the obstacles to doing that, and the ways in which our society and culture are designed to divide people. Arguably the oldest version of this is patriarchy, in which humanity is divided in two, with one half holding a [&#8230;]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p data-pm-slice="1 1 []">I often talk about the importance of solidarity and organizing. I think I talk less about the obstacles to doing that, and the ways in which our society and culture are designed to divide people. Arguably the oldest version of this is patriarchy, in which humanity is divided in two, with one half holding a position of privilege and power over the other. The advantages that men get in this system are ones many men are willing to fight for, while ignoring the ways in which it might harm them. There is incentive to maintain the divide. White supremacy is a far more recent development, but it serves very much the same purpose &#8211; a framework for dividing up humanity, to justify and enforce varying levels of inequality and oppression.</p>
<p>The foundational divide in capitalism is between those who work for a living &#8211; selling portions of their life to survive &#8211; and those who make their money by owning the labor of others, and thus owning the fruits of that labor. Over the last century in the US, there has been a further division of the working class, in which those who could demand a high enough price for their labor were elevated to the &#8220;middle class&#8221;, which essentially meant &#8220;paid enough to live comfortably&#8221;.</p>
<p>Add in the moralizing of wealth that comes with the &#8220;meritocracy&#8221;, and the difference in wealth becomes a difference in <em>worth</em>. Why would those in the lofty heights of the middle class make common cause with the <em>working</em> class? If they want better lives, they should earn them like <em>we</em> did!</p>
<p>There&#8217;s also the &#8220;job market&#8221;. We are required to work a job in order to survive, but we have no <em>right</em> to a job. We must compete with everyone else to get work, and the knowledge is ever-present that for every time we &#8220;win&#8221;, someone else loses. That is, we are told, the only way it could ever be. This is a lie.</p>
<p>Solidarity and collective action work, and they work very well. They have been the bane of rulers throughout history, and the demon that haunts their nightmares. The power-mad people at the top never stop fearing that those below them will realize just how much they&#8217;re being screwed, and will rise up as one. It&#8217;s why they want to watch all of us, constantly. It&#8217;s why they <em>always</em> act to crush unions and solidarity. It&#8217;s why they never stop thinking of new ways to set people against each other.</p>
<p>The latest innovation on this front is the notion of forcing workers to bid for shifts. It&#8217;s not enough to have the job anymore, now you have to compete with everyone else for hours, and whoever is willing to work for the least pay, gets the job.</p>
<p>This is, of course, a fantastic deal for the owning class. Workers (no longer &#8220;employees&#8221;, I think) will bid down their own wages, without any need for pesky negotiations, and if they act as intended, they will blame each other for the constantly-falling wages, rather than working together to demand a better system.</p>
<p>Naturally, this is a recipe for a desperate, stressed work force, with no sense of stability. Having no reliable schedule, they will probably also be poorly rested, and have difficulty organizing their time outside of their unreliable and unpredictable schedule. All of this means workers will make more mistakes, but maybe that won&#8217;t matter for some jobs (if we don&#8217;t care about the workers&#8217; quality of life). There are plenty of jobs that can probably be done under those conditions, so which body of workers are we talking about here?</p>
<blockquote><p>As has increasingly become the case with ride-share companies, the “Uber for nurses” model relies on artificial intelligence to set pay rates for work shifts, to surveil performance metrics, and to use that data to determine a worker’s future access to gigs and pay rates. The industry also allows nurses to bid on work shifts, with the lowest pay rate winning the shift.</p>
<p>The model has been lucrative for its promoters. Three nurse gig platforms have reached a $1bn valuation, according to the report, as they have received an influx of investment from private equity firms and are securing government contracts to staff public facilities, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention centers.</p>
<p>“AI is incorporated into all these human management software systems, and for nurses that means dropping them into all kinds of places, without orientation, without workers’ comp, without any way to protect themselves if they’re sick and they need to cancel,” said Dr Katie J Wells, co-author of the report and a senior fellow at AI Now. “That also means, for a lot of these apps, using AI technologies to facilitate a bidding war against nurses.”</p>
<p>A screenshot of a quick-bid auction from a nurse gig platform, Clipboard Health, states: “You can choose the rate you’d like as a bid, and the lowest bid wins!”</p>
<p>The auction allows gig nurses to make an hourly-wage bid for work shifts at a medical facility, and the lowest-wage bid secures the position.</p>
<p>Clipboard Health also uses disciplinary point systems for gig nurses, including deducting points from nurses for canceling a shift, with more points deducted for less notice being given for the cancellation, and other point deductions for showing up late to shifts.</p></blockquote>
<p>Oh yeah, for a second I forgot that we live in the bad timeline.</p>
<p>So I&#8217;m a little late to this one. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/apr/21/healthcare-nurses-gig-work-ai-apps" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">The quoted article is from back in April</a>, but the problem hasn&#8217;t gone away, and it&#8217;s such a perfect demonstration of how workers are set against each other for the benefit of the owning class. The people who rule us see any comfort, security, or happiness among workers as evidence that we&#8217;re not being fully exploited, and <em>that</em> is tantamount to theft from the company. The actual wellbeing of the people who work for them is of no concern, <a href="https://freethoughtblogs.com/oceanoxia/2026/05/29/the-measurement-of-suffering/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">so long as those people don&#8217;t cause trouble</a>.</p>
<p>As with the rising temperature, this isn&#8217;t going to go away on its own. It&#8217;s going to keep getting worse until workers are organized and militant enough to force a change. The folks at the top never stop thinking (or paying others to think) about new ways to divide and oppress the people below them, so we must never stop thinking about ways to close those divides and fight all oppression.</p>
<p>If nothing else, the fact that our rulers are so committed to keeping us divided should tell you the importance of solidarity.</p>
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		<title>Re: South Park, in Brief</title>
		<link>https://freethoughtblogs.com/gas/2026/08/14/re-south-park-in-brief/</link>
		<pubDate>Fri, 14 Aug 2026 20:13:14 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Bébé Mélange]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Fuck Any and All Conservatives Everywhere Forever]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Trans Stuff]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://84.7088</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I don&#8217;t want to read any references to South Park in my comments.  They repeatedly produced absolutely horrid transphobic cartoons that helped normalize the hatred and disgust of transgender people in this country. Nothing they can say or do now will make an ounce of difference compared to the damage they&#8217;ve done.  Fuck them a [&#8230;]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I don&#8217;t want to read any references to <em>South Park</em> in my comments.  They repeatedly produced absolutely horrid transphobic cartoons that helped normalize the hatred and disgust of transgender people in this country.</p>
<p>Nothing they can say or do now will make an ounce of difference compared to the damage they&#8217;ve done.  Fuck them a lot.  I don&#8217;t even want to see people mentioning them to insult them.  As bad and as damaging as the terf queen has been and continues to be, <em>South Park</em>&#8216;s insult feels much more personally insulting to me.</p>
<p>Even before that I&#8217;d stopped paying attention to them for their cartoon that made the case that it didn&#8217;t matter if you didn&#8217;t vote in Kerry v Bush, right before the election.  Idgaf how liberal they are on this or that position; both of these things directly contributed to the rise of global fascism.</p>
<p>Have they occasionally been funny?  Unfortunately yes, but like with Dave Chappelle, I&#8217;m trying to forget anything they ever did to amuse me, because it makes the poison feel more like betrayal than just &#8220;random celeb boosts nazis.&#8221;  In the &#8220;don&#8217;t vote&#8221; show they had a rap featuring the line &#8220;bounce your titties when you vote bitch&#8221; which is quite funny.</p>
<p>I&#8217;d love to bounce my titties when I vote in good cheer.  But this is not possible.  Don&#8217;t fuckin breathe a word about <em>South Park</em> around me, thx.</p>
<p>&#8211;</p>
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