#U.S. governance

[thosemotivationalquotes]

I saw something in the news today that truly took my breath away. If you have been paying attention to U.S. politics over the past few days, you’ve most likely seen this woman:

This is Bishop Mariann Budde, and on Monday (Trump’s inauguration) she led an interfaith prayer for Trump and the incoming administration. During the service she asked him to have mercy for LGBTQ+ Americans and undocumented immigrants. This was badly received by the Trump administration (as expected).

After seeing headlines about this woman, I read something that I wanted to share. In 1998 a man named Matthew Shepard was murdered for being gay. I’m not going to get into the details of his death on this post, but please be warned it is extremely triggering if you do choose to read more on your own. Matthew Shepard’s death caused a lot of change in the U.S. regarding how LGBTQ hate crimes are handled, and laws that were passed to protect LGBTQ+ people.

Now you’re probably wondering what Matthew Shepard has to do with an Episcopal bishop. For years after Matthew Shepard’s murder, his family had held onto his remains, too scared to lay him to rest in fear of his final resting place being vandalized. In 2018, Budde had his remains interred at the National Cathedral, which is also the place where the interfaith prayer for Trump and his administration took place. The impact of this really had an effect on me. Budde could have led a non confrontational prayer service, and chosen not to mention the harm that will come to the people Trump and his administration are going after. Instead she chose to call out hate and fear in front of some of the most powerful people on the planet, and at a place that has such a large historic meaning to the LGBTQ community.

In the next few years there will be many challenges in protecting free speech, standing up against hate, and protecting those in our communities. But I would like to believe that for every Donald Trump and Elon Musk, there are people like Marianne Budde. There are those of us who can’t speak up for themselves, so it’s important for those of us who can to amplify our voices, even if it’s not the ‘popular’ thing to do.

“And he said you should apologize. Will you apologize?

I am not going to apologize for asking for mercy for others.” - Mariann Budde’s response in a Time interview

Link to articles: x x x

Link to the Matthew Shepard Foundation if you would like to donate

[quillsword]

Super Tuesday and the State of the Union

Well that was a busy week wasn’t it? In a surprise to absolutely no one, Donald Trump won 14 of the 15 states on Super Tuesday. In a shock to absolutely everyone, Joe Biden made it all the way through the State of the Union address without collapsing, wandering off the stage or otherwise showing advanced stages of dementia. Having won Vermont, Nikki Haley, finally getting a clue, has dropped…

[saywhat-politics]

Congress came very close on Wednesday to putting billionaire Elon Musk in the hot seat over his ongoing attempts to effectively take control of the U.S. government by infiltrating every federal agency. But the effort failed in a 19-20 decision.

The U.S. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee held a vote to subpoena Musk, put forward by ranking member Rep. Gerry Connolly, a Democrat from Virginia. Republican Rep. James Comer, the chairman of the committee and longtime ally of President Donald Trump, tried various tactics to hamper the motion, including by insisting it wasn’t debatable.

“Mr. Chairman, why don’t we want to debate Elon Musk coming in and talking to us about his work and how he has enriched himself for $64 billion?” one Democrat asked.

https://x.com/repsummerlee/status/1887214996557295962?s=61

[neechees]

If the U.S & Canada weren't afraid of their own Indigenous peoples getting our landback, they wouldnt be calling the military on us everytime we so much as peacefully protest to not have our water poisoned, but they do. They're terrified of us. That's part of WHY the U.S and Canada is supporting Isntreal, because it justifies their own colonial existence and reinforces colonialism here too.

[whenweallvote]

September 30th is the end of the fiscal year and the last day for Congress to fund the federal government. If funding isn’t passed, the government shuts down.

To date, the federal government has shut down 21 times, four times in the past 10 years. What does a government shutdown mean? Who’s impacted? What’s currently happening in Congress? Swipe through and remember, government shutdowns are impacted by your vote. 

Check your voter registration at weall.vote/check and remind a friend to do the same.

[biggest-gaudiest-patronuses]

putting my prediction on record now that the coming decade is going to see the rise of viral-marketed fancy at-home water filtration systems, driving and driven by a drastic reduction in the quality of U.S. tap water (given that we are in a 'replacement era' where our current infrastructure is reaching the end of its lifespan--but isn't being replaced). also guessing that by the 2030s access to drinkable tap water will be a mainstream class issue, with low-income & unstably housed people increasingly forced to rely on expensive bottled water when they can't afford the up-front cost of at-home filtration--and with this being portrayed in media as a "moral failing" and short-sighted "choice," rather than a basic failure of our political & economic systems. really hope i'm just being alarmist, but plenty of this already happens in other countries, and the U.S. is in a state of decline, so. here's praying this post ages into irrelevance. timestamped April 2023

[pixelkip]

i dont think im the first but oh well.

[gwydionmisha]

Musk's DOGE granted access to US Medicare and Medicaid systems

U.S. government officials privately warn Musk’s blitz appears illegal

Urgent Action Item: This is a quiet Coup! Contact your Senators right now, and tell them to block all Trump Nominees in response, particularly Russell Vought.

If you can't safely contact them in person, here are some other options:

Five Calls to your critters: https://5calls.org/

Here is one that will send your reps a fax: https://resist.bot/

"Congress. gov:" https://www.congress.gov/

ACLU advice for writing to your Critters: https://www.aclu.org/writing-your-elected-representatives

[caesarsaladinn]

sorry for doomer posting this evening. I do in fact think there is value to be salvaged in this nation

[nando161mando]

U.S. corporate media is struggling…the kids have figured it out

[thosemotivationalquotes]

List of cities in the U.S. that are suspected to have ICE raids in the next week

Chicago

Los Angeles

Denver

New York

Miami

Boston

Washington DC

San Antonio

Dallas

Phoenix

Seattle

Detroit

Newark

That being said, make sure to know and exercise your rights. This post outlines what is needed to detain someone, and what to do if you are detained by ICE.

Raids are suspected to continue in large metropolitan cities, with a focus on cities that are considered ‘sanctuary cities’, I will update the list if more places are suspected to be raided. Stay safe everyone

ACLU guide to immigrant rights

[deadpresidents]

"Somehow disruption doesn't begin to cover it. Upheaval might be closer. Revolution maybe. In less than two weeks since being elected again, Donald J. Trump has embarked on a new campaign to shatter the institutions of Washington as no incoming President has in his lifetime.

He has rolled a giant grenade into the middle of the nation's capital and watched with mischievous glee to see who runs away and who throws themselves on it. Suffice it to say, so far there have been more of the former than the latter. Mr. Trump has said that 'real power' is the ability to engender fear, and he seems to have achieved that.

Mr. Trump's early transition moves amount to a generational stress test for the system. If Republicans bow to his demand to recess the Senate so that he can install appointees without confirmation, it would rewrite the balance of power established by the Founders more than two centuries ago. And if he gets his way on selections for some of the most important posts in government, he would put in place loyalists intent on blowing up the very departments they would lead.

He has chosen a bomb-throwing backbench congressman who has spent his career attacking fellow Republicans and fending off sex-and-drugs allegations to run the same Justice Department that investigated him, though it did not charge him, on suspicion of trafficking underage girls. He has chosen a conspiracy theorist with no medical training who disparages the foundations of conventional health care to run the Department of Health and Human Services.

He has chosen a weekend morning television host with a history of defending convicted war criminals while sporting a Christian Crusader tattoo that has been adopted as a symbol by the far right to run the most powerful armed forces in the history of the world. He has chosen a former congresswoman who has defended Middle East dictators and echoed positions favored by Russia to oversee the nation's intelligence agencies.

Nine years after Mr. Trump began upsetting political norms, it may be easy to underestimate just how extraordinary all of this is. In the past, none of those selections would have passed muster in Washington, where a failure to pay employment taxes for a nanny used to be enough to disqualify a cabinet nominee. Mr. Trump, by contrast, has bulled past the old red lines, opting for nominees who are so provocative that even fellow Republicans wondered whether he is trolling them.

The message to Washington is simple, according to Roger Stone, the longtime Trump friend who relishes his own reputation as a political dirty trickster. 'Things are going to be different,' he said by text."

-- Peter Baker, "Trump Signals a 'Seismic Shift,' Shocking the Washington Establishment,' The New York Times, November 17, 2024.

Here's another incisive article about President-elect Donald Trump's transition and his frightening Cabinet nominees, who are abnormal even for Trump and the personality cult that has been built around him since 2015. For the past quarter-century, Peter Baker has been one of the very best, most level-headed analysts of the contemporary American Presidency, and he seems be stunned by the direction the incoming Trump Administration is already heading. Once again, all of these links are gift links to bypass the New York Times paywall so that you may read and share these important pieces and remain alert to the very real consequences of the 2024 election which are already taking shape.

[elumish]

Things to keep in mind when writing stuff involving (U.S.) federal offices/federal employees/federal contractors:

You need a badge to get in. If you don't have a badge you will at minimum have to go through a metal detector and have your stuff be x-rayed and sign in and then have an escort. You might get a guest lanyard, a temporary ID badge, or a wristband. At maximum you just won't get in.

You can potentially get in with a badge for a different agency, but you will still likely need to sign in and be let in manually, because your badge won't have building access to swipe you in past security

It can take a long time to get a badge, and it's way worse for contractors. For contractors it can take anywhere from days to over a year to get badged.

Working for the federal government doesn't necessarily mean you have a security clearance. A lot of civilian agencies just require a public trust, which generally involves much lower requirements and a much less invasive background check but can involve the equivalent of a Secret clearance background check (namely if you have a law-enforcement sensitive public trust).

You need to get fingerprinted, which may happen at the actual badging office or at a random contracted fingerprinting place. Basically all fingerprinting is digital at this point.

You need to get fingerprinted even if you have already been fingerprinted/badged elsewhere. They generally don't talk to each other.

Having a clearance can make it a bit easier/faster to get a public trust elsewhere due to reciprocity, but it can still take a while.

Federal buildings are often set pretty far back from the road and/or they have barricades in front of them.

It's not uncommon in some agencies to see mix of people in uniform and people not in uniform. Not all uniformed services are military. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps and NOAA Commissioned Officer Corps are both non-armed uniformed services.

Most federal employees operate under the General Service (GS) pay scale, and people will sometimes be referred to as a GS-X (e.g., GS-13, GS-14). This is an easy reference of relative position.

Some federal employees may operate under other pay scales, such as the Federal Wage System for blue-collar workers. High-ranking federal employees may be under the Senior Executive Service (SES) which is above the GS scale. Other agencies (e.g., the SEC) use their own pay scales.

[eugenedebs1920]

I just want to clear something up because I hear this crap from all you treasonous maga out there, “we’re not a democracy, we’re a republic.” Guess what? I can watch Fox News too and regurgitate bullsh*t talking points and sound like a dumb*ss. I’d rather think critically, do research, come to a conclusive answer. This screenshot is from the civics lessons you have to take to become an American citizen (hence govinfo.gov).

So according to the government of the United States, the United States is federal representative democratic republic under the constitution.

No matter what propaganda sh*t Jesse Watters or Sean Hannity tries to spew. This is what our government says our government is. Hope we can move on from this, and yall will shutup.

Thanks 👍

Every intelligent, patriotic American

[oddlittlestories]

Oh hey while we’re talking about waluigi billionaires, KOSA is back again. Time to dogpile some phone lines.

Y’all know that I’m trying to get away from politics on this site but it’s hard to when this would impact the hobby I do so directly. (And also free speech.)

The AO3 Reddit post here has some really great information on what it is, why it’s back, and how to address it. Apparently these are the two all-important republican holdouts, but if your rep voted for it last time it can’t hurt to give them a call too, see if there’s anyone else we can flip.

Scalise: 202-225-3015

Johnson: 202-225-2777

Oh and by the way even IF the bill stays the same & ao3 is protected by nonprofit status, if HR 9495 passes that status can be swept away with the point of a finger.

Please call if you are anywhere in the US. Please reblog if you are not.

[melonisopod]

Whole chapter showing war being pointless and exploitative and how the government that funded said war was all too happy to throw away the soldiers they used as literal living weapons: Apolitical.

Whole chapter about a woman urging her friends to do something about their starving neighbors and how she ended up killing a pawnbroker to enact justice but the system ensured the most helpless were still punished: Apolitical.

Whole chapter where literal Crusaders murder people for modifying their bodies and how it relates to bodily autonomy and identity; main characters visit a border crossing and witness a child being separated forcefully from their family: Apolitical.

Whole chapter about corporations appropriating and exploiting well-meaning genius inventions to benefit themselves and quite literally profit off the suffering of others: Apolitical.

Female character doesn't have her tits out: Evil Feminist Agenda, Forced Politics