#My fellow Americans

[alex51324]

"The bill – the Right to Contraception Act – would enshrine into federal law a right for individuals to buy and use contraceptives, as well as for health care providers to provide them. It would apply to birth control pills, the plan B pill, condoms and other forms of contraception."

One GOP member said:

“This is a show vote. It’s not serious,” GOP Sen. John Cornyn of Texas said. “Plus, it’s a huge overreach. It doesn’t make any exceptions for conscience. … It’s a phony vote because contraception, to my knowledge, is not illegal. It’s not unavailable.”

So...you blocked the bill because it's unnecessary, ...and you also blocked it because it doesn't include a carve-out that will let you make contraception unavailable.

That is definitely not at all what someone would do and/or say if their party was planning to restrict access to contraception if they take power in 2025!

(PS: Per that same link, they also want to repeal the prescription drug pricing agreements that Biden negotiated, including the one that caps insulin at $35.)

[ggoob]

[shawn-peanuts]

To my fellow Americans on this app…

We’re probably overall fucked. Though if this country’s government wants anything more it’s to get the orange man impeached. The best thing we can hope for is an impeachment. So if this does happen here’s some protesting reminders:

1. Cover tattoos, birth marks or scars. Anything noteworthy to yourself that will get you seen and noticed immediately cover.

2. Wear something to protect your eyes, nose, and mouth. When I protest I wear an old paintball mask, not only does it hide your identity but it also protects your face.

3. Carpool and leave your car somewhere far away from the protest. The best option is to walk if you are physically able.

4. As hard as it is, stay calm and peaceful. The right looks for any reason to call the left insane and dangerous. Do not start a riot for the sake of the cause.

I’m a gay trans man who loves my friends, my body and am confident with myself. I’m not letting the senile old man who is a convicted felon who wants to cut school funding take control of my life. The power is no longer with the people but don’t forget we can always take it back.

[maxgicalgirl]

Listen okay I think since the US wants to be all up in every other country’s business all the damn time, the rest of the world SHOULD in fact get a vote

[spilladabalia]

Painted Willie - Republican Suntan

[cinemajunkie70]

The happiest of birthdays in the afterlife to Jack Lemmon!

[shadowdemon-gd]

My fellow Americans, although we weren't able to flip Mississippi (wasn't expecting much but a man can dream), we pulled off a huge victory for democracy in Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Ohio, and Virginia. We showed people what happens when you mess with people who really love this country. People can run their mouths and claim they love America, but their actions and policies reveal otherwise. We showed them what we think of them. This was especially true in Kentucky. They saw how powerful and useful Democratic rule is. A state as red as Kentucky realized they're better off with Democrats. And I'm sure other states will follow. This is a time of extreme uncertainty. However, one thing I'm certain of is that this country is in good hands. God bless the people of this country. God bless America

[archivyrep]

Archivists on the Issues: Classified Records, Archives, and Fictional Depictions [Part 2]

Archivists on the Issues is a forum for archivists to discuss the issues we are facing today. Today’s post comes from Burkely Hermann (me), Metadata Librarian for the National Security Archive and current I&A Blog Coordinator. There will be spoilers for each of the books, animated series, films, and other media he will be discussing. This was originally published on February 7, 2023 on the Issues & Advocacy WordPress blog.

continued from part 1

In the episode "The Underground Tennis Tournament: The Campbelldon", Loid examines a file of his target, a man named Cavi Campbell, who has a painting in the basement of his mansion. As the story goes, the painting was originally owned by a general who had compiled a dossier of explosive top secret information which could tip the scales and cause possible cause military conflict if revealed, and the painting has a code revealing the dossier's location.

Classified records have often been depicted in popular culture. For instance, there is an episode of The Crown about classified records showing Duke Edward VIII collaborating with Nazis. Such records are also major part of the Spy x Family series. The protagonist, Twilight (voiced by Takuya Eguchi), poses as a father named Loid Forger, with a wife and child. He is tasked with a secret mission  to keep two countries from beginning a war. As a result, he is often passed information through a network of informants, spies, and others, or is given mission briefings by dedicated agents. The information he receives often includes classified records. Another pertinent example is the 13-episode anime, Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet. In one episode, "Deep Sea Secret", the protagonist, Ledo (voiced by Kaito Ishikawa), demands declassification of the record. What he learns causes an epiphany. It results in him questioning what he thought about the world and his life's purpose, causing a mental breakdown of sorts.

There are other examples, apart from the tongue-and-cheek U.S. Navy recording studio named "Classified Records" in The Simpsons, which included subliminal messages in their songs which encouraged people to join the Navy. For instance, classified archives of the CIA are shown in an episode of the TV series, Alias. Furthermore, classified, and restricted, records are a major part of the animated adventure series, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, which has many archivy themes. In one episode, Mara, the previous She-Ra, learns that the Heart of Etheria project is classified, with Light Hope worrying about information being accidentally shared with Madame Razz. In many others, records are only accessible when specific words are spoken, or specific people are detected by computer systems. The same could be said about the records inside the data archives of the World Organization Of Human Protection which is shown in the Totally Spies! episode "The Yuck Factor", or the "healing center" for Pearls known as The Reef, which is a structure used to create, repair, or modify Pearls, shown in the Steven Universe Future episode "Volleyball". Both undoubtedly contain restricted or classified records.

In Star Wars Rebels and Star Wars: The Clone Wars, two animated series, there are records which can only be accessed through magic or other means. As such, they are classified, as a result. Accessing secret, and classified, records is a major plot point for live-action films such as Sneakers (1992), The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (2005), and My Fellow Americans (1996). In other cases, like in Joker (2009), the records are even stolen. In the latter film, the records clerk is implied as an impediment to protagonist Arthur Fleck, as are the bureaucratic requirements which require a signature from Fleck's mother, before he can take the file.

Samantha "Sam" Cross, a certified archivist who was part of the SAA Issues & Advocacy News Monitoring Team in 2018, has highlighted this on her blog, Pop Archives. She notes Carol Danvers (later becoming Captain Marvel) examining likely classified information in Captain Marvel and Loki trying to use his manipulation and charm in the Loki TV series to get classified files from a female character credited as an archivist. She also writes about a character in the Danganronpa game, Byakuya, who "read and study the classified information" in an archives-like room and states that many of the documents shown in Federal Bureau of Control, in the video game Control, are redacted, and classified. [7]

Other pop cultural critics in the library and information field note other examples. For instance, librarian Jennifer Snoek-Brown, known as the creator of the site Reel Librarians and real-life librarian at Tacoma Community College, noted classified records featured in Rollerball (1975), Soylent Green (1973), and likely ones in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011). [8] Elsewhere on her blog, she pointed out similar themes in Mercury Rising (1998) and WarGames (1983).

The over twenty popular culture examples described in this post only scratch the surface. There are as undoubtedly many more films, comics, and series which featured classified or restricted records. The examples noted in this article do not always feature archives, however, as some creators confuse archives with libraries. To add insult to injury, archivists are often not present, resulting in the characters, who have no archival training, to go through the records themselves. Very few depictions in popular culture reflect the current reality of classified records within archives. Hopefully, this changes in the future.

© 2022-2023 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

Notes

[7] Cross, Samantha. "Archives in the Movies: Captain Marvel." Pop Archives, Aug. 20, 2021; Cross, Samantha. "Archives in Video Games: Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc." Pop Archives, Jan. 19, 2021; Cross, Samantha. "Archives on TV: Loki." Pop Archives, Jun. 24, 2022; Cross, Samantha. "Archives in Video Games: Control." Pop Archives, Aug. 20, 2021.

[8] Snoek-Brown, Jennifer. "A round-up of library, archives, and reel librarian scenes in MCU’s Phase Four TV series (so far)." Reel Librarians, Aug. 24, 2022; Snoek-Brown, Jennifer. "Reel librarians and archivists in 16 sci-fi films." Reel Librarians, Mar. 11, 2020; Snoek-Brown, Jennifer. "Reel librarians in ‘Rollerball’ | Analyzing the 1975 original film and 2002 remake." Reel Librarians, Feb. 1, 2017; Snoek-Brown, Jennifer. "Reader poll of runner-ups, Fall 2016: ‘Soylent Green’ and the Books." Reel Librarians, Nov. 30, 2016; Snoek-Brown, Jennifer. "First impressions: ‘Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy’." Reel Librarians, Jan. 23, 2012.

[howardhawkshollywoodannex]

Dan Aykroyd as President William Haney in My Fellow Americans (1996). Dan was one of the 1980s biggest stars with four blockbuster hits among the 100 biggest grossing films of the decade, only one behind Harrison Ford and Eddie Murphy. Dan has four entries among my best 1001 - The Blues Brothers, Ghostbusters, Driving Miss Daisy, and Sneakers.

[headingalaxys]

He right.

Punch nazis in the face and protect your Jewish brothers and sisters in that space!

Protest for Palestinians!

Call your reps for the Congolese!

Haitians hound out all the lies that call them out for their evil ways!

links to the donations mentioned

https://unrwa.org/

https://www.instagram.com/gazamutualaid

https://campusbailfunds.com

[cirwedh]

ma halani :(

I’m going on a work trip followed by a personal trip the Monday after DATV drops, so I probably won’t even get past the CC until, like, 11/15.

[atarahderek]

A Call to Action for MTHFR

My fellow Americans, the recent SCOTUS repeal of the Chevron doctrine has given us power to bring a class action lawsuit against the FDA to remove requirements to enrich non-organic wheat flour produced domestically. As someone with ADHD and a survivor of thyroid cancer, and who has racked up numerous chiropractic bills on "safe" B supplements, I can state categorically that I was indeed injured by enriched wheat products. The addition of these harmful synthetic supplements to wheat flour has forced me to seek more expensive alternatives, which has injured my budget in the current economy. I would like to start the process to bring a class action suit against the FDA, forcing them to remove what are, for at least 40% of Americans (and almost certainly more), toxins in our flour. But this is not something I can do alone. Especially with my ADHD. I need your help. Can we band together to start this process and save future generations from suffering as we have?

[proustianrevelry]

"So where are you from?" "Phoenix, but I grew up in Kansas"

"oh, ur a yankee"

"So where are your people from?" "Well, my great-grandfather was German, both my grandmothers were Irish . . ."

"oh, ur a [white] yankee"

[twistedtummies2]

I usually don't get serious or political on this Tumblr, because I don't like doing it. But this is important to me, so I felt - just this once - it was time to do so. I will not tell you who to vote for, or judge you for the vote you make, because that's not really my place. I don't really want to know who you wish to pick. But trust me: if all you feel you have is a choice of evils? Make that choice, because not making it at all is equally dangerous, if not more so.

I'm not gonna tell you how to vote, BUT...

Here are some truths about the upcoming United States election.

Either Trump or Biden will win.

Our political system is designed around ensuring that either the Democrat or the Republican win. There is no "but if everyone rallies around a third party candidate..." argument, because...

Grassroots campaigns can't work. There are areas of the country that don't have internet or television. Congress just allowed the Affordable Connectivity Program to lapse, denying internet to even more people. There is literally no way for some candidates to get their message to huge parts of the country.

The Republican and Democrat candidates are backed by huge donor machines that enable them to tour a campaign trail. Independent candidates do not have this luxury.

Our country still uses a First Past the Post (FPTP) voting system, which is specifically designed to support only two candidates.

Our country uses an electoral (all or none) system, which is why you hear that voting for a third party candidate "takes votes away" from one of the major party candidates. For example, if Trump gets 48,999 votes, Biden gets 50,000 votes, and a third party candidate gets one single vote, Biden takes all the electoral votes in the state. All of them.

I really hope you make your peace with this now. Please, vote how you want, but with one candidate saying he will essentially outlaw transgender people, I can't imagine NOT voting for the only other candidate who can possibly win. Right now the polls are 50/50, which is absolutely insane to me.

In my experience, it's usually younger people who talk about either voting their conscience, or not voting at all to "send a message." I assure you, not voting doesn't send a message to the candidate who loses. Your message is only received by the millions of Americans who will suffer as a result.

I don't want to argue. I have no desire to fight with anyone over this anymore. And if you want to ask me "so I have to choose between two killers?" as a gotcha, then I'm sorry to say... The answer is yes. Those are the choices we've been given. And because the United States is no longer a true democratic republic, there's not a whole lot we can do to change that right now.

[archivyrep]

A pdf-version of my post which talks about records erasure, digitization, and 1990s Hollywood films.

[yippeecheapdvds]

A little while ago I watched “My Fellow Americans” (1996) comedy/Satire

Another movie I got for 60 cents at the Library’s book sale. I really liked this one actually, I watched it twice. It’s very funny, and has a similar appeal to those president gaming memes people make with AI. Except the presidents are fictional.

Two former presidents are targeted for assassination by the government trying to cover up a scandal and they gotta go on an adventure through small town America to prove their innocence. It was hilarious to watch these old men in suits wander through the wilderness and run from the shady government people while bitching at eachother and being kinda out of touch the whole way. And they became friends at the end Aww.

Definitely recommend 10/10