Marti Abernathy

Sun, 31 May 2026 09:51:58 +0100

Facebook/Meta, you’re grim. Rebecca died in 2021. I think I’m good.

Sun, 31 May 2026 08:46:58 +0100

I’ve been thinking a lot about the growth I’ve had in the past 20 years. Then I saw Parker Molloy’s BlueSky account being retooted. Molloy once told another trans woman to “go drink bleach.” Seeing her account, it seems like she’s not grown at all. Same half baked, crass commentary, different decade.

Basic Bitch Biology

Mon, 25 May 2026 18:55:05 +0100

It’s all basic biology until you review the science.

They often dismiss it as just basic biology, asserting that there are only two sexes—male and female. This is science, plain and simple.

However, when you mention that gender may be hardwired in the brain and cite relevant studies, you’re labeled a misogynist or accused of hating women. #trangender

Is Your TikTok Feed a Platform for Israeli Propaganda?

Thu, 14 May 2026 13:12:07 +0100

Israeli state propaganda has found a cozy new home on TikTok, infiltrating our For You Pages like a sneaky guest at a party. 🎭🤔 This trend raises some eyebrows, especially when you consider how it ties into the IHRA definition of antisemitism. Critiquing Israel is being rebranded as a no-go zone for free speech.

As discussions around this topic heat up, it’s essential to unpack what that really means. Are we heading toward a world where any criticism of Israel is automatically labeled antisemitic? Apparently we’re already there. #TikTokTalk #PropagandaAlert #AntisemitismDebate #IsraelCritique

Fri, 08 May 2026 11:02:49 +0100

So apparently it’s content violation on TikTok to hashtag #stillnottrans highlighting the fact that trans people aren’t the threat, but your father, boyfriend, or pastor is.

Mon, 27 Apr 2026 08:03:00 +0100

I see Contrapoints is still Contrapointing (Contrapointing - tickling the leftist rage monster just to keep the centrist cash cows mooing and the Patreon dollars flowing).

Always Trying to Find Balance

Mon, 27 Apr 2026 07:27:21 +0100

I’ve cleaned up the design of my page to be a bit closer to what I want it to be. It’s by no means perfect, it’s a work in progress. But it’s about 75% of the way I want it to be. I’ve spent far too much time on TikTok while neglecting my writing. I like making TikToks, but video content is not all I want to do. I’m looking for more balance. For a very long time, life has gotten in the way of making content here. But I’ve realised over the years that I did a lot of the writing here as a way to not deal with other things in my life. I’ve mostly dealt with those things, but the desire to make content is still there. I still want to get into a healthy routine of writing, podcasting, and making videos here. I feel like I’m always chasing balance in my life.

I’m genuinely grateful for the life I have now. It was nice to ride up the coast of Northeastern England with my wife a few days ago.

For as long as I have left here, this is the kind of balance I want in my life. I don't feel like I'm hiding from my feelings, or putting my focus in other places to deal with things I would rather not deal with. I just feel like I'm living in the moment and finding joy at that moment.

Mon, 23 Mar 2026 18:32:00 +0100

The Reform Party is similar to Labour, in that they are big on generalisations of policy (or just ignoring their manifesto). They have no answers, just rhetoric.

Postiz is a good idea, in theory...

Fri, 20 Mar 2026 22:35:01 +0100

As a side note, I tried Postiz on Elest.io, and while it’s a great idea in theory, it’s not ready for prime-time. Think of Postiz like a self-hosted version of Hootsuite. Bluesky was the only app worked out of the box. I looked at their own hosting costs…and yeah (over £200) it isn’t going to work for me. People smarter than me, over on the Unraid Reddit, can’t even get it working.

Homelab Realities

Thu, 19 Mar 2026 11:39:39 +0100

During my journey through POSSE driven social media with a focus on open source/federated applications, I’ve picked up a few insights. As a homelabber, I was curious about running my own social media apps on my private NAS.

While I know it’s possible to expose my NAS/network to the internet, I feel that, from my perspective of being “smart enough to be dangerous,” it’s not the best idea for me. If I want to host something online, like Actual, PeerTube, or Mastodon, It’s more cost-effective (in terms of my time) and safer to use a fully managed DevOps platform like Elest.io or Pikapod. I’m fine with running local applications that don’t need internet exposure, but self-hosting Mastodon seems like a daunting task for someone like me. I still have nightmares about the time I tried to run group WordPress blogs on Transadvocate.com and kept getting hacked with bad MYSQL injections.

For now, I’m sticking to locally hosted, in network apps that don’t go outside my home network. I know myi limitations.

Thu, 19 Mar 2026 09:08:27 +0100

MAGA is an emotional movement by @transworld@masto.ai

Trump officials have warned that transgender troops weaken the force, but a new review of open service tells a different story.https://www.advocate.com/military/the-power-of-trans-servicepeople#transgender #trans #LGBTQ #LGBTQIA

There’s no logic/reason behind what #MAGA does, it’s 100% feelings.

Thu, 19 Mar 2026 05:03:08 +0100

Third Party by @chrisgeidner@journa.host

Third country removals — deporting people to countries they have no connection to — are not new to the Trump admin, but they’ve used the practice in aggressive and arguably illegal ways. The class-action challenge fighting them is now at the First Circuit, with briefing over the next 5 weeks, then arguments. www.lawdork.com/p/first-c…

The last conservative government Rishi Sunak tries to do this in Rwanda. Supreme court of the day ruled it illegal.

An excerpt from "Living an Examined Life: Wisdom for the Second Half of the Journey" - James Hollis Ph.D

Thu, 19 Mar 2026 04:34:41 +0100

An excerpt from “Living an Examined Life: Wisdom for the Second Half of the Journey” - James Hollis Ph.D

“We survive in this life by adaptation. We learn from our world — families of origin, popular culture, world events, religious training, and many other sources — who we are, what is acceptable, what is not, and how we have to behave, perform, in order to fit in, gain approval from others, and prosper in this world into which we were thrust.”

“Historically, all cultures haimed that their values, their institutions, their marching orders come from the gods, sacrosanct scriptures, and venerated institutions. These “givens” are laden with presumptive powers and punitive sanctions for transgressions of any kind.”

“A child raised today in the world of virtual reality and video games is just as susceptible to these acculturating and directive images. We become too often a servant of our environment, given our need to fit in, receive the approval of others, stay out of harm’s way.”

“When I was a child in the 1940s, for example, there were pretty clear social definitions of gender, of social and economic class, of racial, ethnic, religious identity, and defined acceptable choices. To deviate from these prescriptive templates was to trigger sanctions of enormous proportion.”

“The most common socializing sentence my contemporaries and I heard was, “What would people think?” A familiar proverb in Japan declares, “It is the protruding nail that gets hammered.” In the face of such sanctioning power, what child does not begin to adopt the prejudices of his family and tribe, fear the alien values of others, and stick close to home in almost every way?”

“Since the 1940s and ’50s, all of those categories, reportedly created by the gods themselves, have been deconstructed. While sex is biologically driven, gender is socially construed, and constricting definitions for men and women then have proved still another of many frangible fictions. Today we know that the range of choices for any of us is infinitely greater.”

“We know that all races are mixed, that genetically we track back to a few progenitors in central Africa. We know that religions are mostly mythosocial constructs that arise out of tribal experiences that are institutionalized to preserve and to transmit and that the ontological claims of one tribe are no better, really, than the mythosocial constructs of other tribes. We know further that social practices, ethical prescriptions, are subjective value percepts and have no authority outside our tribe.”

“The more conscious we become, the more we become aware of unconscious influences working upon our daily choices. Why did you make that choice and not another at a critical juncture in your life? Why hook up with that person? Why repeat those family-of-origin patterns? These are disconcerting questions, but unless we ask them, we remain at the mercy of whatever forces are at work autonomously within us. These confrontations with the ego’s fantasy of sovereignty are truly intimidating, but they remain a summons to greater awareness.”

“I am not in any way suggesting that our cultural values, our religious traditions, our communal practices are wrong; that is not for me to judge. Many of those values link us with community, give us a sense of belonging and guidance in the flood of choices that beset us daily.”

“I am saying, however, that the historic powers of such expectations, admonitions, and prohibitions are to be rendered conscious, considered thoughtfully, and tested by the reality of our life experience and inner prompting. No longer does received authority — no matter how ratified by history, sanctioned by tradition — automatically govern. We are rather called to a discernment process. We are summoned to ask such questions as: Does this align with or make sense of my experience? If not, it may be well intended and right for someone else, but it is not right for me. Does this value, practice, or expectation take me deeper into life, open new possibilities of relationship, and accord with the deepest movements of my own soul? If not, then it is toxic, no matter how benign its claim. Does this value, practice, or expectation open me to the mystery of this journey?”

“Our life begins twice: the day we are born and the day we accept the radical existential fact that our life, for all its delimiting factors, is essentially ours to choose. And the moment when we open to that invitation and step into that accountability, we take on the power of choice.”

Wed, 18 Mar 2026 19:50:32 +0100

Watching the TikTok from Victoria Derbyshire talk about puberty blockers and see the comments of cis people more worried about a child’s future ability to reproduce, while ignoring the mental health repercussions for #transgender children makes me ill.

Wed, 18 Mar 2026 16:11:26 +0100

So, I’ve moved from Mastodon, to Micro.blog. I was hosting my own Mastodon server, it just isn’t worth $20 a month (it was raised last month from $9 to $20) to have my own domain/instance. Micro.blog is limited in what it can do, but my old mastodon.social profile will do to fill in the gaps.

I’m Tired of being Nostradamus

Tue, 17 Feb 2026 18:42:39 +0100

Ya know, it’s really fucking irritating to be right. I’ve known for a while what’s coming. Trans people told you, black people told you, marginalised people told you years ago this would happen. But it didn’t impact you, so you didn’t listen.

Donald Trump isn’t the problem, he’s a symptom of the problem. If he had a heart attack and died today, the United States would find another fascist to take his place. Trump’s style of politics is gaining a foothold (Reform in the UK, the AfD in Germany, the National Front, etc.) in the world for a reason.

Income inequality is being fuelled by ghoulish capitalists who invest a lot of capital to make the majority afraid of the wrong people (immigrants/trans people/black people), so they can continue to feed themselves more and more wealth without criticism or restraint.

The Big Ask

Wed, 11 Feb 2026 08:54:36 +0100

I like what Cory Doctorow posts on here a lot. I agree with his prescriptions to the problems a lot too. However, what’s lacking is context regarding why these solutions may not come to fruition.

It’s hard to call a government that allows participation from only two parties a democracy.

What we have now resembles what the French term “démocrature” describes. According to Wikipedia (translated), this term is a blend of seemingly contradictory concepts. Démocrature refers to a political regime that, despite having a democratic electoral system, operates more like a dictatorship, often suppressing the rule of law. Essentially, it is a facade of democracy.

This concept is frequently used to describe countries that maintain the formal appearance of democratic institutions while being governed by a small group or individual, often in undemocratic ways.

The United States legislature does not follow the will of its people they follow the will of business. This isn’t conjecture, it’s supported by facts. If you understand how politics in Washington DC works, you know that money moves policy.

Historically, this has been a consistent pattern. Significant changes to exploitative business practices often followed violent protests. Workers' rights, as we know them today, were secured through sacrifice and struggle. Peaceful protests alone have seldom been enough to alter the harsh realities imposed by the ruling class. From the French Revolution to the Haymarket Riots to the Civil Rights Movement, violence has frequently preceded meaningful change.

In the last 40 years, voting has not significantly impacted income inequality or wage growth. Given this track record, it’s a tall order to expect people to have faith in a system that has repeatedly let them down.

Sat, 24 Jan 2026 10:30:55 +0100

Post by @galacticstone@mastodon.social

Folks, if you have favorite TikTok or YouTube accounts that you follow, send a comment or DM to that account and tell them about PeerTube and Loops.Progressive voices are not welcome or safe on those broligarch venues and it’s going to get worse.It would be wise for these influencers and creators to not have all their eggs in one corporate basket. They should at least establish a presence and cross post.#TikTok #YouTube #PeerTube #Loops

Sat, 17 Jan 2026 10:04:23 +0100

Test

Back Home Again in Indiana (NOT)

Sat, 25 Oct 2025 22:26:58 +0100

I recently went over to my Alumni group for my high school and one of the moderators posted a topic starter “What’s the biggest” change in the world since graduation?”

This was an answer:

Honestly, it just reminds me of the trash heap of humanity that I grew up in, don’t miss, and how ignorant and small people can be.

Shaming and Stigmatising Sex Workers isn't Feminism

Thu, 25 Sep 2025 09:38:02 +0100

A post on the Feminism Reddit proclaims: “Sex Work isn’t feminism”. A commenter on that thread said:

“The main reason I think prostitution is bad because

human trafficking/slavery
the great risk it puts women in
most woman who willingly are prostitutes only do it out of desperation/no other way to support themselves (or their children.)” “How do I know prostitution is bad? What woman who has millions (is very wealthy) prostitutes herself?”

Taking each issue one by one:

Is an immigration issue. Human trafficking happens because of the threat of deportation/incarceration. If you’re concerned for trafficking, end that threat. A great book on this issue is “Not Your Rescue Project: Migrant Sex Workers Fighting for Justice”.
Then make it less risky? Decriminalising it makes sex workers safer (Decker et al., 2015; Shannon et al., 2014) (if you believe the actual workers). The UN, Human Rights Watch, and Amnesty International, all support decriminalisation for this reason.
That’s a capitalism problem. You’re correct, many do it for financial reasons. Many people in SW also do it because they have disabilities. As capitalism continues to drag many into poverty, that will only continue. Providing a viable social safety net will help people to not make that choice. But social safety nets are being destroyed (by financial institutions, mainly IMF policies), not created.

Sex work is not feminism.
Teaching is not feminism.
Nursing is not feminism. Additionally:
Shaming vulnerable women isn’t feminism
Removing sex worker’s right to bodily autonomy isn’t feminism.
Removing sex worker’s ability to consent isn’t feminism.
Speaking for sex workers, instead of collaborating with sex workers isn’t feminism.
Making already vulnerable women seek out even more dangerous forms of sex work to survive isn’t feminism.
Making sex worker’s job more unsafe isn’t feminism.
using the “empowerment” straw man argument isn’t feminism
Posting to Reddit in a way that further stigmatises vulnerable women isn’t feminism.
Creating a post on Feminism Subreddit thread proclaiming that “sex work is not feminism” isn’t feminism.

The Death of the Open Internet in the Upside Down

Sun, 07 Sep 2025 09:46:48 +0100

I posted yesterday about Bluesky suspending #transgender authors. This type of nonsense will continue as long as people insist on algorithm based, centralized (no, Bluesky isn’t decentralised) social media. I feel like a grumpy old person (mostly because I am), but it’s pretty obvious where things are going. The government is shutting down every avenue of social media that doesn’t toe the line in terms of government policy (under the guise of “saving the children”). Supporting direct action is now illegal, but the state is supporting a genocidal religious ethnostate isn’t. Inciting violence is now called free speech, while advocating for peace is called terrorism.

Mon, 21 Apr 2025 12:29:39 +0100

I’m already tired of the revisionist (or just flat out ignoring the) history of #PopeFrancis. He wasn’t a social justice warrior. He wasn’t anti-capitalist. He wasn’t even anti-paedophilia. He was slightly better than the previous #papst That’s my eulogy of him. Rest in piss.

DeGoogling Expectations

Sat, 19 Apr 2025 16:17:13 +0100

In the past year and a half, I’ve been trying to de-google or to extract myself from algorithmically based social media apps. I’ve had a revelation in doing that. You’ve probably heard it before, but, if you do not pay for an app, you are the product.. When you’re using an open-source software (OSS) for maps, YouTube, email, or calendars, you are never going to find a perfect replacement. Those “perfect apps” sell your data, have hundreds or even thousands of developers working on them, and millions of money in VC funding, whereas these open-source alternatives do not. A good example is TikTok. I’m trying to wean myself off it, and the open-source alternative to TikTok is Loops. The UI is very similar but the community and the controls are very rudimentary. You’re not going to get A one-to-one comparison app, and you shouldn’t expect that. TikTok is a $1 billion company with thousands of developers working on it, whereas loops has one developer working on it.

When you use these open-source alternatives, you are trading perfection for privacy and security. You have to always keep that in mind when you are de-googling or de-algorithming (is that a word??) your online experience. When you take that into consideration, the experience becomes a lot easier to handle.

Capitalism is Better for Who?

Thu, 10 Apr 2025 07:18:11 +0100

Currently reading: 23 Things They Don’t Tell You About Capitalism by Ha-Joon Chang 📚 and straight off the bat, I’m giving this book the side eye.

“Despite its problems and limitations, I believe capitalism is the best economic system that humanity has invented. My criticism is of a particular version of capitalism that has dominated the world in the last three decades, that is free market capitalism. This is not the only way to run capitalism, and it is certainly not the best, as the record for the last three decades shows. The book shows that there are ways in which capitalism could, and can, be made better.“

I just can’t stop hearing in my head the line from V for Vendetta, “I’ve not come for what you hoped to do. I’ve come for what you did.”

I’m in an odd place with this book. It was written soon after the 2008 financial crash, being released in 2010. I’m curious to see what suggestions he gives and if any of them have been carried out. I was introduced to this book while watching a video interview Ha-Joon Chang gave with Gary Stevenson.

Stevenson’s strong suit is explaining the growing income inequality between the rich and poor in a way most people can understand. Where I think Stevenson (and I’m already getting the feeling from this book from Chang) comes up short are in the answers to the problems. There’s a fundamental misunderstanding of how politics works. If it “could” be changed, it would be. This form of capitalism exists because there’s the political will/space for it to exist in. The capitalism in the United States that exists, does so because Congressmen and women spend most of their time fundraising, in which they essentially leverage their power in exchange for political access. This podcast explains how it happens, but it’s the nature of the beast. These legislators don’t go to the average Joe for their need for daily cash infusions, they go to corporate America. Those corporations expect a return on their investment.

I keep dwelling on “…there are ways in which capitalism could, and can, be made better.” Better for whom? Better for the 50 million people on this planet who are “modern-day slaves”? Better for countries in Africa or South America?

I’m going to give the book a chance, but…

yeah.