#CALL YOUR FUCKING CONGRESSPERSONS

[voltaspistol]

alt text under the cut

Alt National Park Service

It’s official: Elon Musk’s staffers have now illegally obtained classified information from the USAID office.

Here’s a recap of what’s happening:

Elon Musk’s staffers entered USAID offices and accessed classified materials without proper clearance. Two senior security officials who tried to stop them were placed on leave. DOGE staffers have since obtained the classified information and carried materials out of the building.

USAID, founded in 1961 as the primary U.S. foreign aid agency, is now under threat of being dismantled by President Trump. Signs outside the USAID building have been removed, the agency’s website went offline, and its X account disappeared.

Hundreds of USAID employees have been fired or furloughed, and foreign aid operations were suspended after Trump issued a freeze on aid. The agency’s public affairs team has also been placed on leave and locked out of their systems.

This situation is escalating quickly. More details to come.

[notquiteinsanity]

I’m so fucking tired of all these protests that “just want peace”. Then stop being so fucking antisemitic. Just fuck off. Go tf home and do something productive like call your gddamn congressperson. Screaming antisemitic statements just shows your racism.

[marshmellin]

At some point, they'll have to cast Oropher.

Gil-galad and the elves who have taken up the sword are about to undergo a whole war while Halbrand does his king-of-the-southlands bit to pass out rings, blah blah. The War Against the Elves is coming. Thranduil and Thranduil's daddy are in it.

The best possible stunt-casting for Oropher is Lee Pace.

He is older than he was in The Hobbit. but no less The Lee Pace of it All. SOMEONE has to have provided Thranduil with....THAT 🫦...and I feel like it wasn't "unnamed wife."

Lee Pace is THE only option. Please call your congressperson today.

And yeah yeah yeah, I know they won’t do it ever, even if only due to concerns around Jackson’s IP etc. BORING. Let me have the hope of Lee Pace and Benjamin Walker in the same scene.

The light/dark, gold/silver, burdens/anger, dark hair and platinum hair, the fuck this/fuck you attitudes, duty/selfishness, the gorgeous arrogance on them both.

“It’s like poetry. It rhymes.”

[the-silver-crown]

Republicans are already trying to float the idea of messing with the 22nd amendment so Trump can run for a third term. Call your congressperson and tell them to vote no if a vote comes to pass on this. Fuck Donald Trump, and fuck the cronies who stand by him

[sequencefairy]

I'm sorry but no one is asking the people at Watcher to provide a "solution" to the situation. All that is wanted and required is to speak out against the genocide and to offer their voice to the cause, which is a very straightforward and bare minimum thing to do. And in this case it matters more than usual that people with any kind of platform speak out against it, because most of the major governments of the world are pushing a pro-Israel narrative. I am genuinely shocked at your take on this. It would cost them nothing.

Please bring this energy to calling your legislators and representatives as they can actually do something to bring about a ceasefire. An internet media company is neither lobbyist nor lawmaker and unfortunately for all that they have grand influence in our enjoyment of their content, they have very little influence or say in geopolitical conflict.

I would much rather they say nothing and not accidentally, through ignorance or human fallibility, share antisemitic or zionist propaganda. I don't know why we have equated celebrity to expertise but we should have learned during the initial run of the pandemic that these things are not equivalent and I'm surprised constantly that we haven't.

Bothering me about how I don't think we should rely on moderately famous internet weirdos to tell us how to think about a complicated geopolitical situation is kitty-corner to the point of my original post.

I am not an expert. I work hard to vet the things I do share. I put my money and my time into causes I believe in and want to help but that doesn't mean that I should have to make a post about it so that other ppl know how I feel about it.

Harass your fucking congresspersons.

[chokovit]

I'm gonna rant and vent

I'm gonna rant and vent about people I consider my brethren, my comrades, and my peers. I'm 100% not interested in debating or arguing with anyone at all so don't expect that if you message me.

I fucking hate election year. Every 4 years it's the same god damn song and dance and every other election it's worse and worse. And I'm not talking about some shitty pat ourselves on the back, circle jerking feel good about yourself garbage where I preach to the choir and we all sing "Yeah I feel that way too!"

I'm talking about Leftists, specifically, American Leftists (as I am American this will be therefore be from the point of view of one and my grievances will henceforth be specifically about "AMERICAN" Leftists so foh with your "That's an american centric view" shit).

I'm gonna preface what I'm about to say by stating the obvious. I am a leftist. Whether you fucking like it or not, whether you agree with me being one or not, I am. I don't hate leftists, as hard as this rant will make that easy to believe. I'm just very bothered by trends I see among them. They bother me because, unlike conservatives, I actually want leftists to "win". I actually want us to succeed. But in case your world view is black and white to the point you need me spelling it out for you, yes I am a leftist, I agree with leftists, and I am absolutely repulsed by Conservatism.

Now let me get into the meat and potatoes of what I want to bitch about. Basically, in the past, whenever I saw people bemoan that leftists are largely signal virtuing, morally uptight, jerkasses I thought of it as nothing more than the typically reactionary pant shitting rhetoric we've come to expect from Right-Wing discourse. And to be fair, back than, in the early-mid 2010s it probably was. But now? I don't fucking know anymore, it really does seem like at the very least a worryingly large amount of leftists think they're a part of some clique or social group and don't understand both the implications and power of their own standing. Particularly and most especially when it comes to voting. Let me tell you something, something really fucking important. You have nothing, you are nobody, and you are mostly powerless to do anything at all...EXCEPT for one thing, and that's voting. Yes, you can call your senator and congressperson but even thats only really gonna work if your congressperson or senator is one that'll even consider your interests. Do you think people in Lauren Boebert's district feel confident calling her to complain about trans issues? Yeah no. Every single fucking vote, every single god damn one matters and you can fuck off with your "both parties are the same" and "voting doesn't matter" bullshit. One party is waging a culture war on our entire nation, one party wants to make sure you're following a rigid social hierarchy, one party wants to turn Christianity into state law, one party wants to drape everything in repugnant Christian Nationalism and it's not Democrats.

Yes, yes it sucks that we can only pick from the two. No, no voting third party is not an option, we do not get the privilege of living in a country with a multi-party system. The DNC and the RNC both respectively own the two whole halves of the media industry in the United States, and no I'm not making that up. As cool and based as you think you look here on tumblr preaching about how we'll all vote for some super sick Ultra-Commie Socialist Dream party it's not going to happen. How many people will be inspired by you organizing on tumblr? in public even? on campus? Do you know the statistics you'd need? 2020 had an election turn out of 154 MILLION people! over 81 Million of them voted for Biden, and 74 Million of them voted for Trump! Now let's do a hypothetical, and lets be god damn realistic about it okay? REALISTICALLY, you and your lefty friends will never, ever, in all your attempts and rhetoric and debate, will ever be able to convince a MAGA Trump supporter from 2020 to vote for the Green Party. It will. Not. Happen. So that 74 Million? That stays, you get none of that. But, you could probably convince Progressives and Liberals who voted for Biden to do so (you know, if you actually want to shut the fuck up for 10 seconds and stop crying about how much you claim you hate them so all your friends nod and clap at you for being a super cool edgy leftist). So okay, let's be REALLY optimistic, let's say you convince like 20 million of those people who would've voted for Biden to vote for you, lets be even more optimistic and say you started with a base of 2 million people. I want you to keep this in mind that 2 Million people alone would be a record for the green party. In 2020 they had a popular vote of 406,000, literally less than half a million. But I digress. You're at 22 Million people, now lets consider people who didn't vote in 2020. That's 80 Million people, but, BUT, that's not a big pool of 80 million for you to grab from. We need to consider statistics first. Out of that 80 Million only roughly 30% of them didn't vote specifically because they either were undecided or didn't like the candidates. Therefore your actual pool of candidates interested in voting for you is 56 Million people. If you were only able to convince 20 million Biden voters, chances are you'd convince even less undecided voters. Realistically you should only get a hairs fraction of voters but, I'm trying to make a point here so lets say you get the largest share of Undecided Voters, somehow you're just super cool and based and you convince 30 million to vote for you. Not you have 54 Million votes. Congratulations, you have made US History by being the most voted for third party in the history of the US. You have beaten the previous record set by Jo Jorgensen in 2020 by a whopping 52 Million Votes (yes, really, that's the most a third party has ACTUALLY ever gotten before, just shy of 2 million votes). Despite your epic feel good win, the Orange piece of shit running against you, who has been galvanizing his base and everyone from the most fervant of maga's to your needle dick co-worker you kind of get along with despite voting republican for "fiscal" reasons, has surpassed his previous record by a little bit, he only really pooled in about a million more....which is 75 Million voters. Which is over 20 million people more than you.

Now I get it, I hear you barkin' big dog, we don't decide elections on popular vote, it's decided on the Electoral College. My point here is showing you how unfeasible third parties really truly are. This isn't a movie, this isn't like someone's gonna make some grand speech and everyone claps and comes to their senses and all of a sudden votes for "the right candidate". No, for a party that's NOT Libertarian to get even 10 million people to vote for them would be a historical precedent. And you don't need me to tell you that 10 million people is not nearly enough people spread across 50 states to make up for the electorate you'd need to win an election.

So why is this important? Why is it important we vote against republicans instead of voting for whatever helps us sleep at night, makes us feel good, and makes us look super "in" with our buddies online? Uh, because republicans will continue to do the things they're doing so long as they see it as a means to make themselves electable. Sure, some people say "well it's not MY fault it's the dems faults for not being GOOD enough for me to vote for them" and to that I say pbbbbth, you fucking KNOW better. You KNOW better, because you're a leftist, how dangerous fascism is, how bad and poisonous and terrible Traditionalism is. Consider this, another hypothetical okay? Everyone is so disgusted by the perils of conservatism they unite, as they did in 2020, to vote against them. They do it again in 2024, They do it again in 2028, and a 4th time in 2032. You've now had two full term presidents in the United States, will that make the conservatives go away? no. But will it swing the pendulum back? Yes! YES IT WILL! Politicians only give a shit about one thing and thats GETTING ELECTED. And if those mother fuckers start to realize that conservatism is an UNWINNABLE position, than they will, at the least, begin to abandon Conservatism as a platform for their party.

At the moment, that's NOT what's happening. Instead, we have Conservatives emboldened by 40 years of Reagan Rhetoric slowly shifting the pendulum ever more right. They've been doing it for 4 god damn decades okay, and you think 1 term from a dem president is going to start shifting it back? Fuck. The Fuck. Off. Dems are, from a global perspective, a centre-right party. When and if they do anything to "shift" the pendulum left, it's going to be shifted less to the left and more toward the "centre". Right now THAT IS WHAT YOU WANT!!!! YOU WANT THAT!!! HAVING THE PENDULUM FARTHER AWAY FROM THE RIGHT IS A /GOOD/ THING BECAUSE RIGHT NOW ITS DANGEROUSLY FAR TO THE RIGHT.

This shit doesn't make me liberal, this shit makes me pragmatic. I DONT. LIKE. CONSERVATIVES. I'm guessing if you've read this far /YOU/ probably don't either (or at least you claim to). But I don't hate them because they're rhetoric is bad, because they act like bigots or say mean/offensive things. I hate them because I genuinely hate their ideology, I hate their beliefs, I think everything they want for you and me and society at large is a fucking POISON to us as a modern, progressive society. And that's for obvious reason, they don't WANT us to be a modern, progressive society. If you've hated conservatives this entire time because of any "shocking" or "apalling" things you've seen or heard from them or that MSNBC or your lefty friends have shown you (including me) than I'm sorry but you're hating them for the wrong reasons. I mean, not that it isn't valid to hate someone for being a dick head. But your repulsion, your disgust should run deeper than that. You should be terrified and stop at nothing to want to crush Conservative ideology from the grip it has on American society. The vast majority of conservatives want to kill you, do you understand that? Whether that's because of their bigoted views, or because of LITERALLY CENTURY LONG WORTH OF PROPAGANDA AGAINST LEFTIST AND SOCIALIST VALUES they see you as a threat and want you dead. As much as they point and ridicule "libs" and "liberals" like you do, the liberals will be fine. It's YOU who won't be, it's YOU who should be hating them the most. And from what I see, you don't. Because if leftists truly felt threatened by conservatism they'd be stopping at nothing to rid it from our system. Instead, Leftists are more concerned with policing themselves, more concerned with having some super cool "hot take" on whoever the current president is. Leftists are more comfortable being the edgy outcasts, and if they're successful, they're not outcasts anymore. Fuck that. I haven't claimed leftism my entire life since I was 13 (I'm 30 now) just cuz I wanted to be edgy, and different. I didn't want to "look smart" and prove some "moral superiority" over people. You can do that shit with literally any political ideology. I claimed Leftism as my political ideology because it is, to me, the most pragmatic to ending universal suffering. And with that, I want leftism as an ideology to prevail and succeed. Not remain in the fucking shadows, ever caught on the side-lines of a worsening tug-o-war between Liberals and Fascists.

And most importantly of all, I want this to succeed, it NEEDS to succeed. And to do that we MUST unify, divide, and conquer. Yes, that means at least for a while we have to unify with Liberals. Our battle right now should be with the scourge of Fascism. The Soviet's didn't turn their guns mid-way through fighting the Nazi's cuz "erm actually the Allies are cringe too" no, they fucking united against a common, worse enemy. In fact, let me dive into the Nazi's cuz there's an interesting tid bit here. The Weimar republic, pre-Nazi rise, was composed of like 3 "left" wing parties. Needless to say by US standards all 3 of these parties would be considered left of Democrats but I digress. The refusal of all 3 of these parties to unite and caucus together created fractions in the political system of Germany at the time. This made it way fucking easier for the Nazi's to come in and sweep things up afterwards. There's many reasons WHY they were fractured, but those are beside the point of what I am trying to say here. It's like, that one part from Sun Tzu's Art Of War that people actually remember: "Divide and Conquer" with political division, the Nazi's easily just swept in and destroyed them. Do not forget, Fascism is an inherently authoritarian ideology. It is therefore organized and demands rigid conformity. If we do not unite, we will be easier to break apart and fall victim to it's clutches.

Finally, and lastly, I think this last part just comes from our horrible education system in the US. I understand many people probably didn't take Civics in high school, to those people I am sorry. As there's no way you could get how our system works because the system itself failed to educate you. If you did take civics in high school, or god forbid college, than you fucking know better. YOU! WILL NOT! CHANGE ANYTHING! IN A MEASLY 4! FUCKING! YEARS!

I know what we want, I know because I share a lot of the same values as you, even if I don't share your methods. I also know them because I've been reading you people post about them for the better part of like 15 years! NOTHING YOU WANT TO SEE IN GOVERNMENT, NONE OF THE CHANGES YOU WANT TO SEE HAPPEN! NONE OF THEM ARE GONNA HAPPEN IN ONE PRESIDENCY! Need I remind you that the current state of affairs has been shifted to the Right over a process that has taken FOURTY! FUCKING! YEARS!? and you think somehow that you'll just come in with some super cool epic revolutionary spirit and change shit in a couple years? That's not realistic! IT's just! NOT! But that doesn't mean we CANT change things. Yes, it does mean we have to change things slowly, it DOES mean we have to play the long game. But guess what, the Conservatives have been playing the long game since that shit bag Reagan leaked poisonous venom from his gunshot wound in DC. In fact they've probably been doing it longer, from 1965.

You wanna know if things can get worse? You already know the answer to that, yes. Yes things can get worse. Yes a society can advance forward, only to move backward. This literal exact fucking thing happened once in modern history, and it took 3 major super powers to defeat it.

Leftism isn't a fucking club, it's not a circle jerk for all of us to feel good about ourselves for being intellectuals and morally upright people. It's a fucking political ideology, that's it. It's not one of your fandoms. So no, you don't need to spend all the energy spent arguing with and debating with every other leftist and YES I know how that sounds coming from me. As much as this rant will have you assume otherwise I don't really spend much time debating other leftists. Mostly because a good chunk of leftists are way too reactionary to give me a charitable and honest platform. Anyone you disagree with is a fascist. And yes I've ACTUALLY had people call me this before. You dilute the term, you HELP the fascists this way. Fascism is a very specific evil, it's not just people who disagree with you. Sometimes, you will feel uncomfortable about the views other leftists have. That's normal. That doesn't mean they're "Liberal" or "Fascists". Again, this isn't a little pow wow where we sit around and agree with each other and get super psyched together about our favorite piece of political theory, and than if someone says something we disagree with we just kick them out of the circle. That's not how that works. That's not how any functional political movement succeeds. Right now, you and I have ZERO seats at the table, we don't exist on the grand political spectrum, as much as the GOP tries to fear monger that we do. So yes, we will have to unify sometimes with people we don't like. We will have to agree to disagree and come together for a common enemy.

I know this will change literally nobody's mind but I just really needed to get all of these thoughts out. I want them out and I want people to read them so that they can at least SEE the perspective of leftists outside their fucking echo chamber. Our division is NOT conducive to our success. We are going to /FAIL/ because the pendulum will keep going to the right. It'll fail cuz we are more concerned about making a choice that makes us feel morally vindicated than one that is pragmatic. I have nothing else to say anymore. Fuck Americans. Fuck all of them. Fuck all the American Conservatives. Fuck all the American Liberals. Fuck all the American Leftists. And Fuck all the undecided pieces of shit who couldn't decide whether or not they want to vote against fascism or let it slip on in. Fuck all of you, you uneducated, feel-good, self-satisfying, non-communitarian, individualistic, pigs of society. I sincerely wish I was born in literally any other country because at least than I wouldn't have to deal with being around some of the most inane, vapid, superficial fucking human beings on the planet. American Society is a god damn joke. Only above Israel. And that's not a bar you should be proud of.

[thedepressedweasel]

I had to send a message to my senator and congressperson about the KOSA bill and why that bill is a bad idea.

Then Senator Alex Padilla sent me this:

"Thank you for writing to share your thoughts regarding online safety for children and teens. I appreciate hearing from you.

Our children are among the most vulnerable members of our society, and I strongly believe that we have an obligation to care for their mental and physical well-being. Digital platforms have become key spaces for education, socialization, and entertainment for young people, and it is important that they are able to utilize these services safely.

The “Kids Online Safety Act” (S.1409), introduced by Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), seeks to provide young people and their parents with tools, safeguards, and information that would be helpful to safely navigate online services. This bill would require internet companies to act in the best interests of the minors that use their platforms and would require platforms to be independently audited by experts to assess their risk to minors. This bill passed the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation on July 27, 2023, and it is currently awaiting consideration by the full Senate.

I understand you have concerns that this bill may negatively impact individual privacy and freedom of expression online, especially for diverse communities. Please know that I appreciate hearing your perspective on this issue, and I will keep your thoughts in mind should this bill or similar legislation come before the full Senate for a vote.

Once again, thank you for writing. Should you have any other questions or comments, please call my Washington, D.C. office at (202) 224-3553 or visit my website at padilla.senate.gov. You can also follow me on Facebook and Twitter, and you can sign up for my email newsletter at padilla.senate.gov/newsletter."

WHAT?!? THE?!? ACTUAL?!? FUCK?!?!?!?!?!

They want you to think that it's just about protecting children from online predators and stuff, but make no mistake! Alex Padilla and Richard Blumenthal don't really care about protecting kids; they just want to make it easier for abusive parents to control their children! You know, by getting rid of websites like DeiviantArt, Facebook, AO3, FurAffinity and even this one! KOSA is actually dangerous for kids (and even adults alike), as it only seeks to strip us of our much-needed internet privacy and they just don't care!

Please, I beg of you, please keep speaking up against KOSA!

[workersolidarity]

🇺🇸🇺🇦 🚨

WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE DID, OR RATHER DIDN'T DO, IN THE CASE OF JOURNALIST AND COMMENTATOR GONZALO LIRA IS CRIMINAL

The United States is a Government of criminals. We state this as a fact. We could say much about the disgust we feel knowing our government is funding and arming, something that, not just we consider to be a genocide, but many countries throughout the Arab and African world who've signed onto South Africa's case against the colony of Israel before the International Court of Justice at The Hague, in the Netherlands also believe to be genocide.

But we're also disgusted by the way journalist and commentator, Gonzalo Lira was abandoned by his government to rot in a corrupt Ukrainian Nazi-prison.

That a government would pick and choose which of its citizens it will defend and protect, depending on the political whims and foreign policy goals of whomever is in power in the White House is nothing short of astonishing.

What person wants to live in that kind of society? What's to stop the political winds blowing in the opposite direction next year? Abandoning your side's journalistic and public figures, or even yourself to die in some foreign dungeon to be abused, extorted, tortured and eventually killed like Gonzalo Lira was?

Because let us not pretend this man, who yes, had health issues, but was 55 years old, not 70, would have died in a few months working from home and riding his bicycle around Kharkov. That's a fucking joke.

This man had kids in Ukraine, which is why he didn't leave before it was too late. His lawyer worked to get his case attention from the United States government, multiple congresspersons tried to raise the issue, The Grayzone raised the issue to the White House, they knew exactly what was going on, we here are furious for what happened to Gonzalo.

Who living in the United States does not have a serious problem with their government letting people who speak out against its horrific, war crime policies die in foreign prisons for speaking out against their crimes? Does anyone really want to see how far down this disgusting road we can go? How long before it's your political side who's next?

Is this the country you want to live in? The one that cares more about funding war crimes on the other side of globe with your tax dollars more than protecting its own citizens? Or funding its own schools, infrastructure, housing or healthcare? Or even just protecting its own borders? Rather than causing the crises that brings refugees to our southern border?

So what will it be?

How long will we let this farce they call a "democracy" go on?

Now's the time to stop this. Before it's too late, if it isn't already.

@WorkerSolidarityNews

[oww666]

https://frontline.news/post/who-vs-first-amendment-white-house-to-decide-by-may-on-ceding-authority-to-global-body

Time to crank this up folks ...cal your alderman your mayor your state rep your congressperson your senator call all and any and often ...give this the Bud Light treatment in spades ...jam the emails jam the ans machines at your reps offices with a HUGE resounding NO FUCKING WAY

repost because no body realizes the " threat to democracy" this is ...most don't even know what you are talking about and dismiss as "they would never do that " or "they can't do that ...can they ? "

[lazyscience]

In order to name a specific person as your executor, you need to have a will - otherwise the court will appoint someone, usually a family member, which is exactly what a lot of you don't want. With legal gay marriage, your spouse is the first priority choice for executor unless you choose someone else, and they'll keep their access to joint property, policies and bank accounts. When there isn't a will OR a marriage, shit gets really gray legally.

If you're a grown adult who pays your own bills, has your own bank accounts, has any retirement plans/has ever contributed to social security, and/or have life insurance, you should have a will. I know, I know, there's always time for that.

Spoiler: there is not, in fact, always time for that and it becomes a mess for your loved ones to deal with if you didn't.

You can say you know you partner's wishes, but you will be tied up a lot longer in probate if there's no will even if there are no challenges (probate=the legal process of disposing of an estate). Probate is MUCH shorter when there is a legally sound will - you can't do that shit like on TV where you write "I leave all my worldly possessions to my love, X. Havisham-Goode" on a piece of notebook paper and have a nurse and a janitor date and sign as witnesses - well, you CAN, but it's not like Murder She Wrote, your survivor will probably not find it very useful. Without a will, executor or not, if there's a challenge whoever can afford the most for lawyers will probably end up winning the battle for whatever property/belongings were at issue - like a shared house or bank accounts.

You can buy willmaking software that will do the job for most of us who don't have lots of property, but resign yourself to probably having to spend between $150-300, or more depending on how complicated your situation is/what kind of mutual property you own. If you have a house, significant retirement income in a 401K/IRA/other investments, and/or ESPECIALLY if you have kids, you should probably talk to a lawyer in person - guardianships in particular are nothing to fuck around with on an amateur level. DuckDuckGo "LGBT estate planning (your city/county/state)" to find someone knowledgeable near you, check the Better Business Bureau/Google for reviews, ask your friends who they used. It's not important you LIKE your lawyer, but you should feel like they know what they're doing and are professionally respected.

Look up your state's specific laws and constitution; it's unlikely that the Trump administration will be able to just retroactively ban gay marriages and say none of them ever existed. HOWEVER, what could happen is exactly what happened when Roe was overturned - states that have their own specifically gender neutral or specifically queer marriage friendly laws will continue to allow gay marriage that will need to be honored because of interstate commerce clauses but forbidden to continue in unfriendly states. What would be a whole disaster is if both Obergefell were overturned and the Respect for Marriage Act (2022) had constitutional challenge brought and was overturned - and even then, there would need to be a new federal law passed to forbid gay marriage. This process would not be able to happen on January 21st, 2025 - but be sure they'll be trying for it sometime over the next four years.

What you all need to do is not wait for there to be publicity about it. Hammer your Congressperson, blue or red, male or female, actual phone calls best, second letters, third faxes, fourth emails with YOU LEAVE GAY MARRIAGE THE FUCK HOW IT IS OR YOU'RE GETTING PRIMARIED (maybe a little nicer than that - but ONLY a little)

And fill out your durable power of attorneys, healthcare directives and write your wills in the meantime. They're good things to do even if the fashies don't come for gay marriage; they're a form of tangible help and support you can give your spouse even when you can't do it in person any more. Believe me when I tell you serious illness or death is going to be horrendous for your loved one WITHOUT having to book a seance to figure out what you really wanted, and it'll be invaluable if the worst does happen legally.

Before January 2025:

If you are a USAmerican in a relationship that might be affected by legislation that dissolves same-sex marriages, who may no longer be recognized as next-of-kin, especially if you have children, get your rights in writing!

Your marriage certificate may not be enough to prove you have rights to make medical decisions for non-biological children or for a same-sex spouse or partner.

Go to a lawyer, get it spelled out as clearly as possible that you have a voice in emergency medical and legal situations.

[artielu]

called my reps about SB9 (Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act aka trans ban) and the whole TX legislature came across as a hot mess. They told me this was a state bill and to call my local TX senator. I called Senator Angela Paxton's office twice. The second time, I was told to call Ted Cruz. Which I did. I am reaching out to ask others to flood the TX legal offices, speaking Republican language that this bill is atrocious because girls should not have to drop their pants to play sports.

Hell yes, anon. Way to go. Even if your congressperson spits bullshit at you, you called them and your call is on that day's tally of calls that are against this hideous invasion of privacy for minor girls.

Call them all again soon.

All y'all, call your Congress people too - staffers track calls on key issues every day, counting calls for and calls against. Flood these bigots to protect trans kids and also I don't want anyone looking in my AFAB kid's undies either. Nobody should be looking at kids like that except medical professionals as necessary.

(The bill is also fucking bigoted against trans kids but you're quite right that bigotry is a crowning feature for them, not a bug)

Hell yes, anon. Hell yes!

[cathedral-of-the-forest]

So in the end it is just another politician on an ego trip, more concerned about themselves than their nation. So, Trump, only less reprehensible, with different policies? That is what we have now for the democrat nominee?

I’m sorry folks, after decades of American pissing and moaning about the primary and nomination process leaving us “stuck with who we have”, a real opportunity to say “No fuck that, we do not except this” and force a change presents itself and America is just going to take a pass? Just toe the line and live with a epically flawed candidate?

Joe Biden is one more stuttered, nonsensical, pause on the national stage away from handing Trump the election. A few more robot walks on or off stage looking lost from losing the election. On the biggest night of his political career, when he needed to convince America that he still had it and could lead the county, he failed miserably. He convinced most Americans that he didn’t have it, that he couldn’t lead.

And that was a debate. What the will a 3am “Sir Iran just launched a massive missile attack on Tel Aviv” look like? It’s a scary thought. Not quite as scary as Trump the dictator, but not all the far behind it, either. Replace this man. Call your congressperson or senator if they are a democrat, or the closet Democrat you can find, and tell them to support changing the nominee.

That fact that we are still discussing if Biden should be the nominee or not is madness.

[not-available-for-comment]

Oh boy the bad Israel-Palestine takes are making it to my dash now and I might need to log off.

Attacking civilians is bad. Whichever side does it. Even when the civilians are colonizers. When you have guns and a combat environment and the people you’re attacking have neither? You are the bad guy. Even if in the abstract your cause is righteous.

Both sides are practicing genocide here. Both sides are wrong for that. The fact that I see my Jewish follows on here drying their eyes for long enough to ask Congress to sanction and stop the Gaza massacre while a bunch of loudmouth Western goy leftists try to make sure there’s no sympathy for the civilians who were murdered and raped earlier this week? Fix your fucking hearts.

I’m not Jewish and I have a lot of complicated thoughts on Israel’s existence and a lot of horror at Netanyahu’s treatment of Gaza (I have literally had nightmares about it). But “don’t murder civilians” was enshrined in the rules of conflict for extremely important reasons and those aren’t reasons you can set aside simply because someone else did it first. Murder of civilians creates moral injury in the people who perpetuate it, and it is a powerful radicalizing event for those who experience it and survive. Even if you are too destitute of a moral compass to care about the loss of human life or the deaths of unarmed people, slaughter of civilians makes wars worse, which is supposedly not something anyone wants. Or does getting up on your moral high horse cancel out your ability to care about the actual outcome of this conflict?

The conflict in Palestine is considered diplomatically intractable in part BECAUSE the two sides have exchanged so many human rights abuses at this point that navigating the exchange of blame, hurt, and reparations is nearly impossible. ADDING MORE ATROCITIES DOES NOT FIX THIS. You bloodthirsty motherfuckers.

If you want to do something useful for those in Gaza, call your congressperson and ask them to protest the mass obliteration of the district. 1 million people have been given 24 hours to clear the area with nowhere to go. You can protest that without having to move your little chess pieces around to prove Who’s the Real Bad Guy. (I got the idea to suggest this from one of my Jewish follows, by the way. Who I’m not going to reblog for you all to yell at.)

And now I’m going to log off. If you feel anything I’ve said here misunderstands Who The Real Evil Side Is Here, I offer three options:

Read the post again and reflect on how that is not a determination it chooses to make. Consider what the point of the post might actually be.

Unfollow/block me

Punch yourself in the face for being a genocidal dumbass who’s more interested in being right than in human suffering

If I find call script resources I’ll update this post.

UPDATE: Resources to contact US congressional representatives regarding the upcoming Gaza massacre are here: https://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/resource/urgent-tell-congress-to-stop-fueling-violence/

[laynathelobster]

FOR REAL! I saw a post that was going around earlier today and it said "What Musk is doing is incredibly illegal and dangerous... call your local congressperson !" Like fucking what ? How are we going to escape this problem by relying on the systems that created (or at the very least) enabled it ? That's fucking stupid.

[maeamian]

This political moment is kinda weird, where I am, calling my senator is one of the less useful things I can do politically, both are already correct and being widely thanked by the states population and also represent so many people that any individual constituant only really matters in aggregate, usually in important things calling my rep is a worthwhile, although the specific district I’m in is like comically safe for dems and so even that only moves the needles a little and rarely. They’re still both very good actions to take in the general case, and fuck this dude and I *have* called my senators to tell them that, but they are deeply diminished in their value by my particular circumstance. 

[spookytransgirl]

CALL YOUR CONGRESSPERSON ABOUT HR 620! This bill rolls back rights for disabled people and needs to be stopped! 202-224-3121

https://twitter.com/coffeespoonie/status/908313489751658496

This thread talks about what the bill will do against disabled folks.