MJ Paxton | Unusual Velocity

Blog

  • 7 Word Reviews: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

    After Thor: Ragnarok, this doesn’t quite land.

  • The president is killing Americans by sabotaging the ACA

    Mid-week link bc this is immoral, even by Trump’s standards.

    Trump to end key ACA subsidies, a move that could threaten the law’s marketplaces

    Just like Mike Pence in Indiana, Trump’s pandering (against the council of healthcare experts) will cause many to die and more to suffer.

    The slightly-less fucked up part of this is knowing that when the ACA marketplaces begin to fail BECAUSE OF THIS DECISION, Trump’s going to say it’s Obama’s fault and not his.

  • tonight hurt

    i already knew our president is a hateful racist misogynist homophobic transphobic white-supremacist asshole, but i was not expecting him to take both actions after the end of business on the same day.

    i wish i had a positive note to end on.

  • In a weird brain space with social media

    After a very rough weekend, yesterday and today have been strange. I don’t think I’ve had this particular feeling about a terror attack in the US since 9/11 (on Sunday I linked to the SPLC’s donations page and I’m doing it again here).

    I’ve had an on-again/off-again relationship with Twitter over the years. I jumped in before it was cool, took some time off when I was using Tumblr more, and have been back at it for a while. Lately I’ve been trying to split between Twitter and Mastodon, since while birdsite has a lot of people whose feeds I like to follow, it is also a cesspit of hate and harassment. I was wishing that people would move away from it, onto sites with better enforcement of their TOS and harassment policies.

    This weekend spiked something for me. For Saturday and most of Sunday I was pretty f*cked up by the events in meatspace, by knowing the role Twitter played, and the response I fully expected to see when I signed in Saturday night (and was relieved not to). Since then I haven’t Tweeted or Tooted, and have only opened birdsite a handful of times to check for notifications. I’m trying to figure out if there’s a way to still follow updates from some people and stay connected with acquaintances, without getting messed up and spiraling again. The itch to tweet something keeps coming up, but for the time being it looks like the blog will be getting more love.

  • Remember this. Stay angry.

    Remember this anger and fear. Realize that Donnie & his pack are the abusers, but we need to fix the system that enabled this. Stay angry.

    Nationwide popular vote for POTUS.

    Electoral reform to break the two-party system.

    Automatic voter registration & vote by mail (or other ways to combat voter suppression)

    Amendment to overturn Citizens United.

    These will be harder to fight for than things like health care, bc there’s no immediate & concrete reward, no Donnie to rally against.

    Once we get rid of this bogeyman, we need to seal the fucking door they came through.

    [From a series of tweets I posted at 3:30 in the morning]

  • 7 Word Reviews: Wonder Woman

    Best movie about religion? Also great action.

  • 7 Word Reviews: Doctor Strange

    Problem casting, but amazing world, action, & ending.

  • Focus

    Over the next four years, keep thinking about the future. In coming decades when the children ask “why did people let that happen?” you will either tell them how you fought back against bullies to make a better world or you will have to explain why you did nothing.

  • An Open Letter to the CrossFit Games staff

    Dear CrossFit Games staff,
    I’m a relatively new member of the CrossFit community. I stepped into a gym for the first time last December, and had a blast participating in the Open this spring (scaling most of the events). I’m writing because I’m very uncomfortable with the announcement on Instagram (http://www.instagram.com/p/BHztP4fjgPA/) that Glock handguns will be used as prizes at this year’s Games.
    While I fully support the rights of Games athletes and officials to own and use firearms responsibly, offering them as rewards for an athletic competition sends the wrong message for several reasons. At the very least, this announcement implies that the Games do not respect an individual athlete’s wish whether or not to own a gun and do not care whether an athlete would be able to pass a background check.
    Furthermore, the timing of this announcement is tone-deaf and insensitive to the current dialog in America. In the past month alone we have seen far too many well-publicized instances of gun violence, many of which have targeted marginalized groups. When minorities are being killed for possessing weapons they are licensed to carry (despite complying with police instructions), for the Games to offer out Glocks like candy is highly offensive and damages the public perception of the entire CrossFit community.
    I’m hopeful that the CrossFit Games will reconsider, and cancel the planned handgun prizes and any sponsorship arrangements with Glock.
    Sincerely,
    Mike Paxton
    (a copy of this letter was also sent to support@crossfitgames.com)

  • 7 Word Reviews: Captain America: Civil War

    Everyone is dumb (except Black Panther). Mediocre.