Icon by @ThatSpookyAgent. Call me Tir or Julian. 37. He/They. Queer. Twitter: @tirlaeyn. ao3: tirlaeyn. 18+ Only. Star Trek. The X-Files. Sandman. IwtV. OMFD. Definitionless in this Strict Atmosphere.
I just got off the phone with a girl who was literally crying because scammers got into her machine and all her immigration papers (with her SSN and everything) were right there on her desktop and may have been accessed/stolen.
I said scammers, not hackers. Nobody “hacks” into your computer any more. They don’t need to. They will literally call you on the phone and pretend to be IT and ask for access, passwords, whatever and most of the time? You’ll give it to them because you don’t know how the hell your computer works and they’re saying it’ll break if you don’t.
The scarier a message is, the more likely it is that it’s fake. If you get a call from someone “monitoring” your computer security you are either paying out the ass for that service, or more likely, it’s a scam.
The government will not call you. Apple will not call you. Microsoft will not call you. They do not give a single fuck whether your computer is infected. Your computer could be patient zero for the fucking black plague of computer viruses and literally no one gives a shit, I promise.
Also? Your bank will not email you asking you to verify your password, that doesn’t fucking happen, if you’re that worried, call your bank. NOT using the number in the suspicious email.
And do me a favor- if YOU know all this, call up your elderly relatives and make sure they know all this too? There’s nothing more fucking heartbreaking that having to try to talk a 90 year old man through changing aaaaallllllll his passwords when he barely knew how to use them in the first place, because some fast-talking asshole got him on the phone and convinced him he needed to fork over his banking passwords to keep his internets from being stolen.
I FUCKED UP ONCE
I got a call from some scammers saying they could help my computer deal with all its malware and viruses. I listened, cause I was naive and dumb and my computer DID have masses of issues. I gave them £50. My bank even queried it, but they’d told me to expect that so I casually said it was fine. Fortunately, my stepdad got home soon enough to tell me to turn the PC off /right then/, and spent an hour or so removing all the dodgy stuff they’d put on.
You know what was worse? They kept calling me/my family for like a year. They wouldn’t leave me alone.
listen to the psa
I fucked up once too. Luckily nothing happened because I turned my computer off fast enough but I tried to go to Youtube when I got redirected to another page with a popup and a voice recording (later I realized I had switched two letters in the URL and the assholes had bought the page to scam people like me). It said that they were part of Microsoft and that my computer had been affected by a virus that was stealing my bank info and all of my personal information. This was particularly scary for me because I had used my SSN on that computer to apply for college and they could have stolen it if they dug deep enough. I let them access my computer and then called my dad, who told me to shut it down immediately, which I did. They called me again and I had to block their number to stop them from contacting me. Luckily Microsoft, actual Microsoft, told me that the method they were using would have needed more time to take anything off my computer of importance, so I got of lucky.
But seriously. Microsoft, Apple, Verizon, you name it will never have a popup on your computer saying there is a virus. Your bank, the IRS, etc. will never call you or send you an email demanding your information or threatening to call the police on you. Be safe, please, and don’t let these scammers catch you unaware. If you are ever unsure about an email or call, find the actual contact information and ask them about it before proceeding.
if this ever happens to you and you have access to your online banking through the computer, you NEED to call your bank ASAP. it doesn’t matter if you explicitly gave them your login or even if you have your password saved, if they have access at all to your computer then they have access to your bank account. CALL YOUR BANK SO THEY CAN DISABLE YOUR BANKING LOGIN
also, your bank WILL NEVER RANDOMLY EMAIL OR CALL YOU TO ‘CONFIRM’ INFORMATION, NEVER GIVE OUT YOUR ONLINE BANKING PASSWORD, YOUR SSN, OR YOUR BANK ACCOUNT NUMBERS VIA EMAIL OR IF ANYONE CALLS YOU OVER THE PHONE
Any online service to which you give money will probably have a way to report scammers, too. I got a scam email about someone hacking into my paypal account, which I probably would’ve fallen for if a friend hadn’t recently been fucked over by a similar scam and if paypal hadn’t recently changed their logo. I went to their website to check and they gave info on how to recognize if an email’s from paypal (for instance, they always address you by the name tied to your account, not as “user”) and an email address to forward scams to.
If you get an email or phone call like this, a legitimate company will not mind you taking time to verify their claims.
hi okay if you don’t know any hijabis/muslims personally, you might be wondering how it “works” and im here to answer ur questions!!
Q: Do you like.. wear it all the time?? (re: do u shower in it?? do u sleep in it?? when was the last time u sAW UR OWN HAIR??? )
A: Nope! To put it simply, we wear the hijab when we are around strange men. And by strange I mean men who are not directly related to us. That means I can show my hair to women. It also means I don’t have to cover from my brother/father/uncle/grandfather/child. I would have to cover from my male cousins because you can technically marry them (note: this is only one of the reasons we cover! it’s not only to cover from possible suitors lol. Just bc I wouldn’t marry a gay man, doesn’t mean I don’t have to cover from him. The quran says to cover from men and not from women. that’s pretty broad and open for interpretation. I keep it simple for myself- I cover from all men and do not cover from any women, regardless of sexual orientation. This could differ from one hijabi to another). I also would not have to cover from my husband if I were married. Lastly, we don’t have to cover from any young boys who haven’t been “through puberty” yet. I guess it’s up to the individual to decide when that is as well.
Q: It seems kind of sexist to me that men don’t have to wear hijab, but women do…
A: Actually, men have their own hijab. (It’s not the turban you may see some men wearing, they are Sikhs, an entirely different religion.) Men have their own modest dress code to follow and are expected to follow the same rules the women do action-wise. Remember that equal does not have to mean identical. It wouldn’t make sense to ask men to cover their boobs or women to grow beards (we’ll come back to that later).
Q: I always hear about women being forced to wear it… That’s oppression and wrong.
A: I completely agree. “There shall be no compulsion in [acceptance of] the religion” (2/256). That’s taken directly from the Quran. Forcing someone to wear the hijab is a sin. Furthermore, many Muslims believe that hijab is not required/is only preferred/is optional. There’s a lot of interpretation involved in religion. It totally depends on the person and their own beliefs.
They way a Muslim chooses to wear their hijab also differs from person to person. Some women choose to cover their entire body. Some wear abayas (the black dress) and niqabs (the veil that covers the face). Some wear a simple scarf to cover their hair and dress “modestly” (this, again, depends on your interpretation of what modest means). Some just cover their hair. Some show a some of their hair. Some wear turbans. Some dress modestly, but don’t cover their hair. Some only wear it on certain occasions. (more here on the diff types of cover)
For men, some choose to grow beards (many believe this is just “sunnah” which means it is preferred, but not compulsory). Lots of men don’t follow the rules set for them. That can be due to personal beliefs, but I won’t deny the misogyny apparent in the Muslim culture (note: culture, not religion) probably has a lot to do with that.
Q: Do women only wear hijab for religious reasons?
A: No. I mean, that’s probably one of the most prominent reasons women choose to cover their hair, but there are many different factors. In many cultures, hijab is considered a thing of beauty. It’s a fashion statement (for Muslims, we’ll talk about cultural appropriation in a sec). It’s tradition. It’s a part of their identity. It keeps them in-tact with their religion and it identifies them as a Muslim to other Muslims. The reasons are endless, but I think you get the picture.
Q: I heard hijab is just keep men away.
A: As @angrymuslimah put so eloquently: Hijab is not to prevent men from looking at women or “protect them” from men. Hijab is not for men, or to help men control themselves - it’s for women themselves, to empower women. Men in Islam have a responsibility to lower their gaze and respect a woman no matter what she is wearing or what she looks like.
Q: Can women ever take the hijab off for safety reasons? (ie: heat exhaustion/possible attacks by islamophobes)
A: Totally! You’re obviously never supposed to compromise your health for anything, regardless of your religious beliefs. I once got asked if it would be okay for a women to remove her scarf when playing soccer in serious heat and my answer she could if she wanted to (again, she can do wtvr she wants), but playing soccer is optional. there’s a difference between wanting to play soccer and really having your life in danger. If hijabis choose to wear the hijab while playing soccer in 100 degrees, they’re badass and props to them for sticking to it even when it got hard, but that’s kind of the point of hijab. Again though, your health always comes first.
Q: I see hijabis sometimes and I want to compliment them/tell them it’s pretty, but I don’t want to be disrespectful.
A: It’s totally okay to compliment us! Please do! I live for the validation of strangers! For real, though. Just think about it this way, if you can say it to a non-hijabi and not offend her, you can probably say it to a hijabi. You can compliment anyone on their scarf regardless of where it is on their body.
Q: Can I wear the hijab if I’m not Muslim?
A: There is no specific way to wear a hijab. there is no specific fabric. We get our scarves from h&m and forever 21 like everyone else. There is nothing that identifies a hijab as a hijab except the wearer. So if you want to cover your hair for your own religious/personal reasons, you can do it! That doesn’t make it a hijab! The only thing that makes it a hijab is the wearer labeling it as a hijab. As long as you aren’t doing that, you’re not being disrespectful or appropriating our religion. (wearing it out of respect if you’re in a mosque or a predominately muslim country is also okay!)
I would however, advise against wearing it as a fashion statement. It’s not a style or accessory.
/So this got really long and I’m stopping here but I haven’t even really made a dent in the hijabi discourse. If yall have any more questions, you should ask your friendly neighborhood Muslimah! I promise, we won’t be offended, we just want yall to know the truth.
did you know that out of the 44 states where powerball is played, only six allow you to remain anonymous should you win?
Imagine that. Just take a moment. You’ve won some ridiculous sum of money. All your problems are over.
And then the phone calls start.
That shit’s gotta be reconsidered. That is not okay.
Yep. Win the lottery, you are fucked. The following is all half-remembered from a Reddit thread a while back, but it’s good advice (if I find the thread again I’ll link it).
This is why you CONTACT A LAWYER. A lawyer from a LARGE, NATIONAL FIRM, no juniors or associates, you want a full-blown partner. Don’t use anyone local or anything. You want somebody who has no clue who you are, and somebody who works in ‘Trusts and Estates’.
Play dress-up when you go to collect your money if there is any possibility of photographs. Been wanting to change your hair drastically? DO IT AFTER. Now is the time for all that foundation that doesn’t match and the makeup you hate! Wear the stupid hat that makes you look like a flower pot! Wear the clothes that make you look like you have a totally different body shape! Grow the douchebeard! Just change what you look like. You don’t want to be recognized. There was a lottery winner who was forced away from his favorite eating spot because financial stalkers would lurk and demand cash or ‘suggest’ ways to spend his money, and these weren’t people interested in job interviews or anything. When he had to stop going there, they figured out where he lived and started intimidating and accosting family members.
See if you can get them to write your name differently if there’s a giant cheque, too. Instead of Alyn Tony Jones or something, see if they’ll just put A. T. Jones. Now, I’m fucked because my last name is pretty unique, but you might not be!
Collect your prize in a locale that is as far away from your home area as possible. By this point, you should have already made your plans for all of this shit and where the money is going, read ahead for that. Then? Vanish. For a month. Take a cruise or just take off in your car or go rent a beachfront. Roleplay Carmen Sandiego or Where’s Waldo. Wait for everyone to calm their tits.
Take the lump sum. You take a tax hit but you also have access to all the cash, and no, you won’t be beating inflation somehow by taking the annuity.
Decide, RIGHT FUCKING NOW, how much you are going to give to your family and friends. Inform your lawyer of that amount. Don’t talk to your family about this or you get into endless arguments over how much you gave to who, and who influenced you to do that, which– no joke– may result in a lawsuit. Because people are greedy, ignorant, and sue-happy.
Worth noting. Do not buy them sweet fuck all, and do not under any circumstances hand out cash (you will never be able to stop without being labeled a stingy bitch). No houses. No cars. Set up trusts. These trusts should not total more than 15-20% of your new worth. Then dictate what they can do with that trust. Higher education? Sure! Down payment for a house? Eh… should they be buying a house if they can’t even afford the down payment without help? It’s another thing entirely if something in the house that wasn’t their fault catastrophically failed. You’ve already set up a trust for them that is massively generous.
Put like 30% of your cash in a Swiss bank account and buy some municipal bonds, Swiss bonds, an S&P 500 doodah. These are your safety nets. Unless the world economy gets drop-kicked into the toilet, you are now taken care of for life solely off of these. So you could go nuts on whatever remains and buy eight thousand spinning wheels or something. With your lawyer (LAWYER) you should be protected from most lawsuits, and the trusts ensure your family is taken care of because those trusts cannot be touched. However, don’t put all your money in these– invest in some real estate, stocks and bonds, whatever. But learn about it all and figure out how this shit works. Do not sign ANYTHING until you understand exactly what is going on, and ask every stupid question before signing and get second opinions. You do not want to be snookered out of your cash.
So. You should also have: changed your phone numbers to unlisted ones, gotten a PO box and immediately switched all mail delivery to the PO box. Shred any mail that turns up that is not from somebody you know.
This is all half-remembered from some Reddit thread back when everyone was flipping their shit over that 600mil lottery.
any white at a protest who tries to go against police and deliberately provoke a response from them is not to be trusted and does not have the safety of black and brown people in mind.
there is a good chance that they are police too. if anyone, especially a white dude, ever randomly gets your attention and conspiratorially tries to convince you to jump a police officer, then dude is a cop. They have been using this technique and script for at least 30 years.
Something else that’s important is to call that kind of behavior out to the rest of the people there. If you suspect someone of being a cop or a scab, call them out so everyone else can be aware of their presence.
People use wheelchairs for a lot of different reasons.
Some people use wheelchairs because they are paralyzed and completely unable to walk. That is not the only reason people use wheelchairs, and...
People use wheelchairs for a lot of different reasons.
Some people use wheelchairs because they are paralyzed and completely unable to walk. That is not the only reason people use wheelchairs, and many wheelchair users have some ability to walk.
Here are some reasons some people who can walk use wheelchairs:
They can walk, but it’s very difficult and not an efficient way of getting around
Walking causes them severe pain
Walking is medically inadvisable because of the strain it would put on their heart
They have cognitive problems that make walking more difficult than wheeling
Falling causes them to break bones, and they are unsteady on their feet and fall easily
They can’t stand in place because they need to be moving to stay upright
They can walk some days but not others
If you see someone use a wheelchair sometimes and walk other times, don’t assume they don’t need their chair. If you see a wheelchair user stand up to reach something, don’t assume that they don’t need their chair.
People use wheelchairs for a lot of different reasons, and many people who can walk some absolutely depend on wheelchairs for mobility.
Disability is complicated, and personal. There are a lot of reasons that people use various types of adaptive equipment. (None of which are the business of strangers). Knowing one reason people use something doesn’t mean you know all the reasons, or that you are in a position to assume you know what’s going on with everyone you see using adaptive equipment.
tl;dr: Many wheelchair users can walk some. They still need their wheelchairs. Don’t assume that someone isn’t really disabled just because you see them walk or stand sometimes.
Delete Yourself From Web Services With JustDelete.me
JustDelete.me is a directory that allows you to permanently remove yourself from different web services such as Facebook, PayPal, Amazon, etc.
Why can’t you just go to the listed sites on your own and delete yourself that way, you ask? It’s not that easy.
A lot of sites have dark patterns — interfaces created to trick users into agreeing to terms they otherwise wouldn’t — and JustDelete.me is designed to work around those patterns.
For example, Facebook’s Account Settings menu only offers people the option to deactivate their accounts, so many think that it’s not possible to completely delete themselves from the site; the “Delete Account” button can only be found if you hunt it down. With JustDelete.me, you can click the Facebook link and be taken directly to the “Delete Account” page without all the hassle.
JustDelete.me even color codes web services by how difficult it is to delete yourself from each site, with green being the easiest, and black being impossible. (Good luck deleting yourself from Craigslist.)
Trump supporters are now starting to organize and create their own version of what looks like a “watered down” Gestapo.
They’re calling themselves the “Lions of Trump.
They are recruiting White individuals in states and cities that are presumed to be Republican leaning.
Please be careful. If you or anyone you know will be going to protests or are planning a protest, PLEASE FIND MORE SECURE WAYS TO SPREAD INFORMATION.
It scares me that I am advising you to organize in secret because this is EXACTLY what happened in Nazi Germany 60 years ago.
Please, please be careful. We don’t know the extent that these people will go to to try and uphold their skewed understanding of democracy and nationalism.
I’m seeing a lot of stupid ass Trump supporters reblog this saying “oh you libs and dems have nothing to worry about” blah blah
ANYONE WITH HALF A BRAIN WHO PAID ATTENTION IN CLASS KNOWS THAT THEIR MOTTO “lion for a day….” WAS USED BY GUESS WHAT BITCHES A FUCKING FACIST IN BENITO MUSSOLINO WHO DING DING DING WAS ONE OF HITLER’S ALLIES DURING WORLD WAR II. EARLIEST USAGE OF THE QUOTE FROM WHICH MUSSOLINI SUPPOSEDLY GOT INSPIRATION FROM WAS BY ALEXANDER THE GREAT WHO SURPRISE SURPRISE BECAME FAMOUS FOR ALL OF HIS CONQUESTS CONQUERING ANCIENT LANDS.
BUT also: the group’s Twitter is ACTIVE. They’re telling their followers to REPORT ALL PROTESTERS TO THE FBI/LOCAL POLICE.
Check Twitter and do some digging. THEY ARE ACTIVELY TRYING TO GET ANTI TRUMP PROTESTERS ARRESTED.
THEY ARE ACTIVELY TRYING TO DENY PROTESTERS THEIR RIGHT TO FREEDOM OF ASSEMBLY BECAUSE THE PROTESTERS ARE GOING AGAINST TRUMP.
Organizations are democratic sure. Go the fuck ahead make a club about every darndest thing you can fucking think of. BUT YOU’RE FUCKING RIGHT TO ORGANIZE STOPS WHEN YOUR SOLE PURPOSE IS TO DENY OTHER CITIZENS OF THEIR FUCKIN CIVIL RIGHTS.
This is much worse than the Gestapo in fact, it bears a stronger resemblance to the STURMABTEILUNG/SCHUTZSTAFFELN or the Italian MVSN (also known as the Blackshirts). The Gestapo already exists in the form of the official authorities. These groups are civilian-organized and driven by non-police, non-military entities in order to instill fear in their political enemies. It is textbook fascism and do not listen to the conciliatory fools who believe otherwise.
Fyi everyone that Trans Law Help thing that’s been going around is actually a scam. It’s bring run by the same scammers who cheated loads of young lgbtq tumblr users out of thousands of dollars with a bogus video game called The Arkh Project a few years back.
NOTE: there are legit people using the #translawhelp hashtag, but do NOT give them any money until they’ve proved they’re a licensed and legitimate lawyer.
ALSO: TLDEF AKA THE TRANSGENDER LEGAL DEFENSE & EDUCATION FUND (TLDEF.ORG) is an actual nonprofit transgender law firm based in NYC and I have physically been there and they were able to help me afford my name change (free and donation based) a few years ago, and they also help connect people with attorneys for civil rights cases & anything they can handle and help you with, they’ve helped me immensely via email & you can call them too it’s a small organization and the people there are trans and LGBTQIA people and hopefully they can help you. You can donate to them every time you use amazon if you use the smile.amazon link:
Translawhelp is a hashtag to help people find Pro Bono kegal advice from volunteer lawyers and gather information and resource links into one place. There is at least one scammer using the tag, but people in the tag have been warning that might happen from the beginning, and have been trying to counteract it. Anyone using it should proceed with caution, and verify everything they read, but it’s a group effort, not a unified organization. Unless you are talking about the website only, in which case it’s better to be specific.
Last I checked, it seems that someone is also spamming the tag with fashion articles, but I don’t know what that’s about. It’s annoying though.
Your suggestions are sound, but it’s not helpful to scare people away entirely with partial information.
[pictured is an image of text that reads: Question: if I see someone pull off a Hijab, what should I do? I know there are reasons they are worn so I want to know if i should stand in between them and who did this, should i protect them from view somehow, or something else? This has been happening a lot so I feel it’s something everyone needs to know.]
Several people have recently asked me to respond with what action you should take if you see someone’s hijab forcibly removed or if you see a hijabi/Muslim being harassed. Here are some of the basics:
If a hijabi has their hijab forcibly removed and the attackers leave, cover them. If you’re wearing a jacket or you have a scarf or some other article of clothing, you should give it to them so they can cover themselves. This is definitely the action that I would prefer before anything else. Shielding them from view if you don’t have anything that you can give them is another option, or asking “What can I do to help you?” (because I’m sure every hijabi reacts differently to this kind of thing) is also a good response. After this, if you’re willing and they want you to (again, make sure you ask), you can assist them somewhere like a bathroom, a store, their car, etc. so they can get to a safe space and fix their hijab/call a friend/etc.
If a hijabi has their hijab forcibly removed and the attackers don’tleave, there are several possibilities. Obviously you shouldn’t do nothing. A lot of the times, attackers will stop if someone else gets involved especially if you are with a group of people but also even if you’re just by yourself. This is a link to a YouTube video of a social experiment where one person forcibly removes someone’s hijab. Despite that there was no real threat, everyone who reacted did so in a way that I would suggest doing. Standing up for them from a distance that you feel safe doing so (because you obviously can’t disregard your own safety) does makes a difference. Saying something like “leave them alone” “what are you doing” “stop doing that” “don’t do that” “don’t touch them” etc. are all perfectly acceptable things to say in the moment. Again, giving them something to cover themselves with if you have something is always a good thing to do.
Whatever you do: do not just walk away. Do not just assume that someone else will stop or that the hijabi/Muslim can handle it on their own. Walking away in this situation makes you complicit in islamophobia and islamophobic hate crimes. Your reaction says just as much about you as it does about the person forcibly removing someone’s hijab or harassing them.
Another thing: I would not recommend calling the police unless the situation is particularly violent (if the hijabi/Muslim is physically harmed, bleeding, not responding, etc. then don’t hesitate to call, of course) and/or if it’s absolutely and completely dangerous for you to do anything else. Most of the time the police are just as islamophobic as our attackers and will not do anything to help us or will make it particularly difficult for us after they do.
If you have a friend who observes hijab, make sure to ask them what they would like you to do if this ever happens. I’ve seen a lot of people say that they always carry a scarf with them in case they’re ever in this situation, and I don’t think that’s a bad idea.
Additionally, don’t be afraid to ask in the moment if you can as well.
Again, be mindful of your own safety and discomfort, but please make sure that you are mindful of hijabi/Muslim folks’ safety and discomfort too. That really makes all the difference.
