agentsokka

[agentsokka]

As much as I want to be a wholly joyous about the fact that Henry Kissinger is finally fucking dead, as he deserves... There's a lot of me that can't help being upset with. With the fact that he lived to 100 years old. He got better medical care, better housing, and a better, more stable life for those 100 years than billions on this planet ever going to see and he did it specifically through exploitation, state sanctioned murder, and lies. He lived to 100 years comfortably on a legacy of violence that rarely threatened his personal comfort. I want to be joyous that he's finally dead, because the world IS better with him dead, but the reality is he won a long time ago.

[agentsokka]

In all seriousness, here are a few resources I think are helpful with regards to understanding just how thoroughly Henry Kissinger screwed the world over:

Kissinger by Behind the Bastards. This is a 6 part series done by the podcast Behind the Bastards, with the hosts of The Dollop on as guests. It's super funny and a very accessible foothold into understanding the scope of Kissinger's vast career.

Kissinger's Shadow by Greg Grandin. This book provides an in-depth analysis of Kissinger's tenure in the white house, covering both how he got into office, the changes he made in office, the policies he put forth, and their repercussions on the world.

ETAN's category on Kissinger. The East Timor and Indonesia action network has long been an outspoken critic of Kissinger's, and they've aggregated a lot of helpful articles here.

The Trial of Henry Kissinger by Christopher Hitchins. While Grandin's book focuses less on the specificities of Kissinger's crimes, Hitchins has no such qualms and details each of them in depth.

I truly think understanding Kissinger, the way he thought, and the things that he did, are all indispensable when it comes to understanding the modern political climate and how foreign policy works in America and therefore, by necessity, in the world at large. The sheer amount of damage he was responsible for should never be underestimated.

[agentsokka]

November 29, 2023 - Kissinger has finally died! 🦀🦀🦀

[agentsokka]

cat introduction (and reintroduction(and re-reintroduction...)) help???

SO I'm throwing out some feelers here because my partner (Jay) and I are a little... at a loss. This is gonna be long in order to explain everything under the cut, but the tl;dr is:

We have 4 cats(all spayed/neutered): Thomas(M almost 7), Corvo(M 5.5), Juno(F almost 3), and Jester (F 1.5)

Thomas and Corvo were living with me (and for a few months, my dad, while Jay and I got a new apartment where everyone would fit), Juno and Jester were living with Jay

We moved everyone in together into the new apartment just before Halloween 2022

Introductions were going fairly smoothly (doing the whole quarantine and slowly edging up to hanging out together thing over a couple weeks), but Corvo needed to be shaved because he was very matted

Thomas had BAD nonrecognition aggression which we think triggered fear with the girls.

He has since gotten back to normal with Corvo, but continues to be fearful of the girls despite reintroducing everyone

We've already tried/are already trying: Feliway, Gabapentin (prescribed by vet), vet visit, door feeding, treats together, playing together, fun things that only happen when they're together, brushing them with the same brushes, using Corvo as a scent conduit, swapping rooms, catnip, endless interactive toys, puzzle treat toys, so many litter boxes and water bowls and hidey-holes and cat towers and pathways, etc etc etc

So. Help?

Details under the cut

Okay so, the longer version with anything I can possibly think of that might be useful.

Thomas and Corvo:

I got Thomas in college in mid 2016 as a kitten. He lived with me, my roommates, and one of my roommate's cats (Toni, 2ish year old male). He had no issues with any of this. He also had to spend breaks with either my family and my childhood cat (Angel, older female) and dog (Taylor, older female), or my roommate's family and HIS childhood cat (Pablo, older male).

I got Corvo after moving in late 2017, also as a kitten, and he and Thomas were introduced well and got along just fine. Again, they had to spend some breaks at my family's home and spent some time with Angel and Taylor. No real issues beyond some discomfort of being moved around and having to deal with new places.

Moved again 2018 and my new roomie had a dog and a cat (Male, roughly their age?). No real issues with either.

Another move in 2019, no new animals.

Another move to live with my dad 2020-2022. Taylor and Angel were back in the picture. I lived with them full time through 2020, then spent a lot of my time going between my dad's home and Jay's (who lived in another state) up until I moved in with her full time in April/May of 2022

Basically all this to say that both Thomas and Corvo have moved several times and had to be introduced to new people, new cats, and new animals in general over and over and have always been able to handle it with minimal issues. Corvo was always a little more willing to buddy up with other critters, but Thomas was never fearful or aggressive. Generally just acknowledged their existence.

Thomas has in the past had some issues with non-recognition aggression after vet visits for him and Corvo, but it never lasted more than a few hours.

Thomas has always shown a little more anxiety about changes, but again, nothing so bad as right now. That said, he's settled into the apartment itself fine at this point. He's confident and curious and wants to be with people... so long as the girls are not involved.

Juno and Jester:

Jay got Juno back at the end of 2020, when she was about 8 months old.

Aside from coming to her parents' for Xmas and being in the general proximity of her childhood cat(Female, scaredy cat) and dog (male, 3ish?), Juno didn't interact with other animals until we got Jester in summer of 2021

Juno took a little while to get adjusted to Jester, but the two of them are now wonderfully bonded.

Juno had an autoimmune issue that caused us to have to remove all of her teeth in early/mid October of 2022. Not exactly ideal timing, as we had already planned a move for later that month.

Both of

The initial situation:

We got a new apartment to move into at the end of October 2022. Two bedrooms so we could handle quarantining the cats better. Ahead of time we put in Feliway spray and diffusers for a solid week.

I had to drive Thomas and Corvo down from my dad's home for a full day, but the cats were essentially introduced to the new environment at the same time. There were more objects with the girls' scents on them as most of the furniture was Jay's, but I brought all the boy's beds and towers and scratchers and toys to get their scent in the new place too.

Everyone got set up with their home bases and we got to work introducing everyone. Feeding on opposite sides of the doors, more Feliway, swapping objects, swapping rooms, rubbing everyone with a towel and brushes to get scents mixed, sniffing and playing under the doors or through cracked doorways, etc. Slowly ramping things up

Juno was the most grumpy about the situation at first, which is more or less what we expected, given that she'd just had surgery and had had the most time as a single cat. She was standoffish and hissy and slappy, but would still exist in the room with everyone. Everyone else seemed to have gotten to the point of acceptance with one another.

The Haircut and Reintroduction:

As mentioned, Corvo needed his mats shaved out because my father is old and did not keep up with his grooming. This wound up happening mid November 2022.

We knew to expect some issues with everyone not recognizing him at first, since he'd smell weird and look weird, but by golly the poor little guy was OSTRACIZED.

Thomas reacted the most violently, chasing him down and attacking him upon first seeing him, and not wanting to be anywhere near him. The girls were less upset but still untrusting.

However, at this same time, Juno decided she was done playing hard-to-get with Thomas, and wanted to be buddies. Thomas, who was already freaked out, did not like this, and responded with hissing, slapping, and running away.

While we were busy reintroducing Corvo to the crew, the girls (and later Corvo once he was interacting in person again) decided Thomas' running away was just a great game and continuously chased him. Everyone seemed pretty into the idea of chasing Thomas every time he made an appearance, which did not help his fear.

Despite our best efforts, no amount of playing everyone out ahead of being together seemed to really detract from their interest in chasing him. At least the girls and Corvo were getting along once again.

Finally though, we got to a point where Thomas and Corvo could be together and play and chase each other like normal. This took pretty much the entire rest of November and into December, however.

Re-re-introduction (ongoing):

So, that brings us to the status quo we've been living in since early December.

We completely separated Thomas and the girls again in late November to restart the introduction process. Door feeding, swapping rooms, etc. Corvo is able to be out and about all the time because he's the only valid child he gets along with everyone.

The only times the girls and Thomas are together are during entirely supervised and guided play times. We have to be very involved to keep the girls from trying to pounce on Thomas. Any time that that has happened, Thomas has gotten very upset and run away and hidden.

We can't really feed them together because the boys eat slowly and the girls are gluttons who inhale their food instantly.

But yes we have multiple daily play times together with every distraction we can think of.

Yes we have Feliway. No, I have no idea if it's doing anything.

Outside of those interactions, we have either the girls or Thomas out in the main area of the apartment with us and Corvo, and the other in the bedroom or office.

In December both Jay and I were sick for most of the month, so unfortunately we were not as consistent with our playtimes with the cats during that month.

Also in December we got Thomas over to our vet to be checked out. He got a clean bill of health and a prescription of Gabapentin to chill him out.

The gabapentin helps (he's able to exist in the girls' proximity and even play with toys or approach them to sniff them), but he's still clearly uncomfortable. Even while drugged, he hides at the slightest provocation, hisses and slaps at the girls when the approach him (usually), or walk past him, or move slightly too close to him, or react to him sticking his entire nose in their anus. You get it.

So at this point, a solid month and a half into our more intensive re-introduction and two and a half months into the reintroduction at all, and 3 and half months into them all living together, we're... struggling. It seems like we've hit a plateau with what we can accomplish. We can't have the cats out together without strict supervision, which is taxing on us, because the girls want to pounce on Thomas, and Thomas is still reacting to their general EXISTENCE with fear. He's not at a point where he could tolerate them trying to play with him like that, and we don't want what minor progress we've been able to make taken away.

That said, we're pretty sure the more realistic thing is to desensitize Thomas to the girls than to try to get the girls to ignore him completely. But we just. Don't know how to do that, as what we've already been doing doesn't seem to be creating any more progress.

We have Feliway dispensers in every single room in the multicat flavor. I want to emphasize we live in a two bedroom apartment. This is MORE than enough for coverage.

We have cat trees in every room. And scratchers. And hidey holes. And beds. And water bowls. And toys. And windows. And litter boxes. There is no shortage of resources for these guys. And we've done our best to create multiple pathways for everyone wherever we can. It's not always possible, there's not always room, but we try.

We have specific meal times. We can't feed them together because the girls will finish first and try to eat the boys' food cuz they are empty pits, but everyone is fed at the same time and they eat on opposite sides of the doors.

We play with them all together at least twice a day for at least 20 minutes or so a pop, which is sometimes all we can manage since we both work full time and it's a two person job to handle all four at once. We can't get them out together while we're both gone, it's just not possible, and we also need time to do the other general household things we need to do and REST.

I dunno. We're just at a bit of a loss. Please feel free to reply or message with any questions, I know this is a jumbled mess.

[agentsokka]

happy hanukkah!!!!

#have a happy start to Hanukkah folks!!!

[agentsokka]

literally i cannot stress how important it is that everyone has a thing.

#words to live by

[agentsokka]

So, I want to ask y’all a question: when did you first become familiar with Starkit’s Prophecy?

I’ve been working on this project for the better part of a year and I’m excited to share this first half as a deep dive into early Warriors fandom history. Just who was Gleamstar before Moonkitti began adapting her story for animation — and what exactly was that story trying to say?

Let me know what you think!

#I’m not too proud to promote this a few times over pfft #howdy y’all have a vid about 2009 warriors fandom

[agentsokka]

#accurate tho

[agentsokka]

his head looks photoshopped ajsjsjs god

Corvo’s grandpa didn’t understand the importance of daily brushing, which uh, required some professional grooming intervention. And thus the vet has bequeathed unto us a very. Very naked son.

Let this be a PSA to brush your furry children so that they don’t become… not so furry.

#Corvo #the other cats keep being mean to him :( #he’s just naked and smells like the vet stop judging him

[agentsokka]

Corvo’s grandpa didn’t understand the importance of daily brushing, which uh, required some professional grooming intervention. And thus the vet has bequeathed unto us a very. Very naked son.

Let this be a PSA to brush your furry children so that they don’t become… not so furry.

#Corvo #Peach <3 #babe our son is a gremlin

[agentsokka]

I was possessed by the spirit of Starkit last December and have yet to shake myself free of her furry influence. Save me from myself.

So, I want to ask y’all a question: when did you first become familiar with Starkit’s Prophecy?

I’ve been working on this project for the better part of a year and I’m excited to share this first half as a deep dive into early Warriors fandom history. Just who was Gleamstar before Moonkitti began adapting her story for animation — and what exactly was that story trying to say?

Let me know what you think!

#Warrior Cats #I suffered hundreds of hours on this nonsense #and there’s still even more to go good lorD

[agentsokka]

I’m alive

#shocking I know #how’s everyone on here doing

[agentsokka]

i got! to DM! for the first time in a YEAR in a live session yesterday!! and in celebration of that, since we play online and don’t use minis, I made everyone in the party some fancy new roll20 tokens instead!

only realized partway through that i made 4 out of 5 of them facing the same way on accident but regardless i really like this style of painting, it was a lot of fun! 

iolanthe @applel0v3r

kitty @kittykatmaniac

lorkevar @tactfulgrimalkin

rasalon @unexplained-psychic-child

riddle @agentsokka

#dnd #happikattwuzheere #how does one art #AHHHHH

[agentsokka]

just wanted to make a general donations post for native americans 

NARF (native american rights fund)

AISES (advancing indigenous people in stem)

NIWRC (national indigenous women’s resource center)

PWNA (partnership with native americans)

COPE (community outreach and patient empowerment)

the association on american indian affairs

first nations development institute

american indian college fund

CARE (diné citizens against ruining our environment)

hopa mountain

indigenous values initiative

native american disability law center

people’s partner for community development 

and here’s a map of what indigenous land you are living on if you want to donate specific towards those people and tribes 💗

#important

[agentsokka]

Supporting Abortion Funds in the South

Since we last posted about Texas’ abortion ban (SB8), there have been a number of abortion restriction related bills passed. Just this week both Florida and Kentucky passing bills with the latter banning abortions after 15 weeks effective July 1, 2022. Now more than ever, it’s important to local abortion funds in states imposing restrictions on reproductive rights, particularly given that these bans often cause the most harm for those who are low income and/or POC. 

If you have the means, we’ve put together a list of some funds for you to support: 

Alabama

Yellowhammer Fund

Alabama Cohosh Collaborative

Florida

Broward Women’s Emergency Fund

Tampa Bay Abortion Fund

Florida Access Network

Women’s Emergency Network

Kentucky

Kentucky Health Justice Network

A Fund, Inc

Oklahoma

Roe Fund

Texas

Frontera Fund

Jane’s Due Process

Texas Equal Access Fund

Lilith Fund

West Fund

Multi-State

Indigenous Women Rising

ARC Southeast (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina & Tennessee) 

#important

[agentsokka]

I’m angry. And nauseous. And fundamentally scared.

[agentsokka]

Yuudachi No Ribbon - Part 19

#shera #bbys…