35 Degrees South: Inwards and Outwards.

From Lofty:

While winter storms have ravaged the state, Spaceship Lofty sends its antennae into the canopy and Venerable Fence Post guards it from the city. Within its protective field the White Camellia gets ready to unfurl its petals.

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Granite Claw Flower II.

From Lofty. These gorgeous flowers! Click for full size.

The Daily Bird #64

Black-headed Grosbeak. Okay, everybody, Sing! Click for full size.

Bi Stories Project Launches at Comic-Con.

This weekend, BiNet USA launches the Bi Stories project with a panel at Comic-Con in San Diego, a project that invites bisexual community members (including those who identify with labels like pansexual, fluid, queer, polysexual, and other terms that denote attraction to people of more than one gender) to share our stories. The project focuses specifically on bisexual people’s experiences with discrimination, and the journeys of our family members toward embracing our identities.

As the larger LGBTQ community continues to gain visibility and see their stories represented in every arena from television to political campaigns, bisexual people’s stories still aren’t being told. We are still too often rendered invisible in LGBTQ spaces and represented in stereotypes that suggest our identities aren’t real or valid.

It is no surprise then, that bisexual people suffer major disparities when compared to our lesbian, gay, and non-LGBTQ peers — we are sicker, poorer, and more prone to mental illness and suicidality. Bisexual youth are dying by suicide at alarming rates and have lower levels of social support than their gay and lesbian peers.

Bisexual youth and adults need to see stories of people like us. In the face of these challenges, they need to see the incredible diversity of the bisexual community, hear of how other bisexual people have overcome biphobia and discrimination, and see how our families have come to embrace and even celebrate us.

We need to be empowered to tell our stories on our own terms, and the BiNet USA Bi Stories project gives us a place to do just that. The panel at Comic-Con this weekend, Sunday, July 24 at 3 p.m., “Bisexuality and Beyond: New Frontiers in Popular Culture,” sponsored by the BiNet Bi Stories Project and Prism Comics will look at how bi stories are changing and becoming more prominent in popular culture, and we hope these stories will inspire others to share theirs.

Share your stories of experiencing discrimination as a bisexual person at binetusa.org/bistories and follow along with the panel on social media using the hashtag #bistories.

Full story at The Advocate.

Identity Politics for White Men.

Credit: Processon.

The Trump campaign made efforts to broaden the GOP presidential nominee’s appeal last night. As unmoored from reality as it was, Ivanka made a case her father would be a champion for women. During his own speech, Trump made an appeal to the LGBT community, despite providing little indication to date he’d actually do anything on their behalf.

Trump’s base, however, continues to be white men. An ABC News/Washington Post poll released early last month showed Trump with a huge 60 percent to 26 percent advantage among that demographic. It might not be enough for Trump to secure a general election victory — thanks to his unpopularity with others groups, Trump trailed Clinton overall in that same ABC poll — but it was enough to secure the Republican nomination.

During a CNN interview this morning, Rep. Sean Duffy (R-WI) acknowledged the Trump phenomenon for what it is — identity politics for white men.

While opining about Trump’s RNC-closing speech, Duffy said, “There’s a viewpoint that says, ‘I can fight for minorities, and I can fight for women,’ and if you get that, you make up a vast majority of the voting block and you win. And white males have been left aside a little bit in the politics of who speaks to them.”

White males have been left aside. Really. How about if we shift back to reality land here, and tell the truth – white males have been on top of the pile of humanity just about everywhere on this planet for…all time. It is unfuckingbelievable how whiny white males can get over being “a little bit left aside”, when the reality is they are not at all left aside, because as usual, every damn thing is about the poor white men. I’ll try to work up a tear. If you white men feel so hurt and upsetty about that, could you possibly take it just a teeny bit further, and try to imagine what it has been like for minorities and women for fucking centuries?

Via Think Progress.

Comic-Con Trailers!

So much fun stuff!

Justice League:

Aquaman is lookin’ rather hot.

Kong: Skull Island.

I don’t want to see this, I hated King Kong when I was a kid, and here we go again, Giant ape, guns, explosions, napalm, all that shit. But, Tom Hiddleston…

Suicide Squad – Comic-Con First Look.

Waiting, waiting waiting. So looking forward to this one.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them – Comic-Con Trailer.

Oh, I am such a sucker for this kind of thing.

Wonder Woman!

YES! Yes, yes, yes.

Aaaaaaaaaaand, a sequel to The Blair Witch Project (we’re going to pretend that 2nd flick never happened):

Blair Witch.

And PZ picked up one I missed: Marvel’s Luke Cage!

Sunday Facepalm.

Oh, those naughty Republicans, consorting with demon-Gods already! Tsk.

Yesterday, American Family Radio host Bryan Fischer criticized the Republican National Convention for allowing Sajid Tarar of American Muslims for Trump to deliver a closing prayer on the second day of the convention.

“The Republican Party last night allowed a demonic power to be invited into its building,” he said.

Fischer said Republicans at the event “collectively committed the sin of idolatry” by observing the prayer and committed a “dangerous” act by inviting “a demon-God into its party.”

“Multiculturalism, ladies and gentlemen, is simply a six syllable words for cultural suicide,” he continued, pleading with the party to “clean up this mess” by asking a Christian preacher to pray over the event.

Other assorted Christians are making noise about how Donald somehow left God out of his speech, except for a god bless at the end. Pity no one bothered to think before they rushed to crown the new emperor.

Via Right Wing Watch.

Cicada Hawks Everywhere!

From Kengi, who relates a common photographic problem – you spend ages stalking an elusive critter, finally get that shot, and afterwards, they all show up in force.

After two weeks of not being able to get a shot of the one, they can’t stop posing for me now. You know how that goes. Part of it is, that for those two weeks, there was only one cicada hawk around. Then there were four. This morning there were at least six or more.
They are definitely just like hummingbirds. They spend more time and energy chasing each other around than they do feeding. A giant field of flowers, but they all want the same corner. They were all buzzing around me as I took the pictures.

Click for full size.