#inclusive voting process

[townpostin]

Voter List Draft Set for July 25 Release in Jharkhand

Electoral office urges citizens to verify registration details Jharkhand’s election machinery prepares for crucial voter list revision phase, emphasizing citizen participation in verification process. RANCHI – The state’s electoral office has made an important announcement regarding the progress of the voter list revision process. K. Ravi Kumar, the Chief Electoral Officer of Jharkhand, announced…

[solarpunkwarlock]

Ways to Live in Direct Opposition to Capitalism

I am by no means an expert in any of these things I’m gonna talk about, so keep that in mind! I am just making a compilation of things I know of that we can do to lessen the stranglehold the capitalist lifestyle has on us while enriching our lives, our surroundings, and the lives of others. Please add anything I miss or correct anything I may be getting wrong! Anyway here goes!

Use what you have, fix what’s you can, make what you can, accept from others, thrift what you can, and finally purchase as a last resort.

This is advice I have seen float around here a couple of times that can apply to a lot of things including clothing, furniture, food, and more besides. It’s meant to be done roughly in that order as it applies to what you’re wanting/needing/doing. It’s about preventing waste, promoting self-capability, having a heightened reliance on your community, and consciously rejecting the ingrained habit many of us have to just purchase things or services.

Here’s where you can read about growing an indoor garden!

Here’s where you can read about sewing things yourself!

Here’s an online site for giving and receiving items for free!

Here is where you can find a local Mutual Aid to get things from, learn skills from, give do, volunteer for, etc. (in the U.S.)

Be politically active! (from a U.S. perspective)

Vote for every election. Know your representatives and those who will be competing in the next election. Vote without ignorance and without falling for unfounded claims. While operating within the system that actively oppresses us will not bring about the future we want, it can serve as damage control (preventing worse candidates from taking office) and it can potentially create a national atmosphere more open to change.

Here’s a good article about getting more involved in the U.S. political process.

Here’s a site that will show you how to register to vote, when and where elections are held, and more!

Here’s good advice on finding protests in your city!

Here’s some readings on unionizing! It’s your legal right to unionize!

Here’s a more user friendly site for learning about unions!

Be active within your community!

Developing strong, motivated, capable, knowledgeable, and inclusive communities is the ultimate way to combat the relentless and bleak present and future. When you’ve worked on the things above and have gotten good at it (or even if you haven’t gotten good at it yet), start spreading what you know and what you can do with others!

Give your neighbors, coworkers, and friends some of the vegetables you’ve grown.

Invite your community members to volunteer events.

Talk to folks about how to vote, when you’re doing it, etc.

Take part in Mutual Aids to teach what you’ve learned or whatever you may be an expert in! Invite neighbors, friends, and coworkers when you take part in the Mutual Aid!

Accept your community. Take them for who and what they are. Discrimination is the enemy of cooperation. You have much more in common with everyone in your community than a single billionaire or corporation. We’re all passengers on this spaceship earth.

Do it one step at a time!

Obviously we can’t do all of these things at once. Do what you can when you can, and you’ll start to notice real change in your life!

Our online communities where we talk about our visions and hopes are fantastic, but they have little impact if we don’t actually get up and do the real work that change requires.

Want to be better, and keep hope for the future!

Harbor and nourish that desire to be a better person and to be the change you want to see in the world. You need to be hungry for a better future if you plan to make it through the rough times when everything feels pointless and without hope. Reach out to others when you’re down, and be someone others can lean on when their lives get hard.

That’s it! Please interact with this, spread it to others, and add your own thoughts and ideas! It’s important that we do the real work to get the change we crave!

[etz-ashashiyot]

I'm sorry, but actually I'm not over that comment whining about how several of the JVP ritual, uh, practices and bastardization of Judaism are being excluded and how we can't police people's identities.

Actually yes we absolutely can.

[Rant incoming]

Listen, I hate exclusion, alright? Inclusion is always the answer when it comes to people knowing who they are. Every obnoxious identity policing thing in the queer community that has divided us and ripped apart communities has been cruel, counterproductive, given platform to bigots, a distraction from the real issues bearing down on us, and honestly just dumb as a box of rocks. Okay? Okay.

But Jewish identity works differently, because it isn't about YOU. Becoming Jewish is about taking on Jewish culture and religion, a closed ethnoreligious culture, through the narrow path consented to by the collective Jewish people. There IS a path, but it is a highly supervised one. Otherwise it's just appropriation and cultural theft; something Jews have been subjected to for millennia. And if you do legitimately convert you do so because you love the Jewish people - the whole Jewish people - and want passionately to be a Jew for its own sake. You want to join our nation-tribe. You want to join our family.

And the crazy thing to me, the thing that still blows my mind, is that this is allowed! Even after millennia of appropriation, oppression, violence, expulsions, and genocides, Am Yisrael still accepts genuine gerim. It would be so understandable if they had closed the path entirely and tried to shut out outsiders who might bring in danger on their heels even if they themselves were not dangerous.

But they didn't. We didn't. To me this is a miracle, a blessing, and sign of true faith and hope. It is a privilege to be here.

Yet in the same turn, you gotta respect the process! You can't just declare yourself a Jew simply because you feel like it — it doesn't work like that. You can't just declare yourself an Argentinian one morning either without becoming a citizen first, even if you have Argentinian ancestry. And sure, if you do have some of that ancestry, you are connected to the nation, but that's different from being given a vote y'know?

Using a totally unsupervised, totally unsanctioned, brand-new neo-pagan ritual to unilaterally declare your membership in a tribe does not make you one of us. If anything, it proves why you never will be.

Now! Let's assume for a moment that we are referring only to the provably halachic Jews whose connection and backgrounds are beyond reasonable questioning.

You can never really leave the tribe, but you absolutely can apostasize. Plenty of Jews do it. There are plenty of Jews who find that Judaism is not spiritually fulfilling for them but something else is, and they convert out. There are halachic Jews who have walked away from Judaism in order to practice any other number of religions: Christianity, Islam, Neo-paganism, Hinduism, etc.

That is their prerogative, but by doing so they turn away from their people in a serious way and cannot be said to be practicing Judaism. There is of course room for many different types of Jewish practice, but conversely, there are practices that are too far removed from Judaism to meaningfully be considered as such. Otherwise, it's no longer a coherent group identity. And because Judaism is a collective identity, that actually matters.

The Jews as a people have decided that worshipping gods that are not Hashem is not within the realm of Judaism, which is why messianic "Jews" are not practicing a valid form of Judaism even if they are halachicly Jewish and/or have Jewish ancestry. Worshipping Jesus makes you a Christian or at least adjacent. That is a hard boundary.

And yeah — if you change the basic meaning of holidays, if you bring in lots of practices that are brand new and have no halachic or even historical basis, are often highly individualistic, and would not be accepted as Judaism by the vast majority of Jews, then it absolutely falls outside it. If I started practicing a religion that made little icons of Muhammad to pray to once a day and celebrated my ingenuity with pork roast and a nice glass of wine, I don't get to say that I'm practicing Islam.

These people are doing the Jewish equivalent. It is something else entirely. Especially because so many of these practices spit in the face of major tenets of Judaism and go against Jewish values.

To treat it otherwise is to treat it as an absolutely meaningless aesthetic rather than a living breathing ethnoreligious tribe of people who get to decide our own community's boundaries and practices collectively.

And for the naysayers who still disrespect Judaism and Jewish identity and peoplehood so much that they think that they get to define Judaism more than actual rabbis? Look, we can't physically stop you from calling yourself Jewish, but by the same turn, YOU can't force US to recognize you as one of us. You can be mad, but that's the thing about group cultural identities — that cultural group gets to decide whether they claim you or not.

[To be clear: this is not about politics — there are plenty of Jewish non-Zionists and anti-Zionists who are 100% Jewish. This is about this one specific shitty organization and this particular type of behavior.]

[eugenedebs1920]

How did we get here? How did we get to a place where everything is a conspiracy theory? A place where experts are discredited. A place where the press is seen by many as the enemy of the people. A place where science is disputed. A place where women aren’t trusted with their own bodily autonomy. A place where the labor force is every day having safety protocols removed. A place where it isn’t safe to love who you love without fear of reprimand. Is this our country? Does the Constitution still stand? Are we the United States of America?

The results of the 2020 election gave rise to the fact that almost 8 million more

People voted for Biden over Trump. The 2016 election showed that 3.5 million more people voted for Hilary over Trump. In 2012 Obama got 5 million more votes than Romney, and 10 million more than McCain in 2008!

What does this tell us? It tells us, by and large the population is more liberal, more open minded, more inclusive, more willing to listen to ideas and opinions different from their own. Thats damn near the definition! Liberal: inclined to be open to ideas and ways of behaving that are not conventional or traditional : BROAD-MINDED, TOLERANT That’s Webster definition.

So why then are we at a place where women’s rights are taken from them? Why are we eliminating the scientists and experts who’ve worked at their agencies for years? Why are we stripping regulations away and allowing industries to pollute as much as they want? Why are labor rights being gutted? Why are lgbtq rights being denied? Why are banks allowed to prey on consumers? Why do corporations not have to pay their share in taxes into our nation?

It’s complicated. Yet it comes down to a few things. Greed, slavery, and Republicans.

Greed is an addiction. Studies have shown the same reward centers in your brain release dopamine and serotonin in the same fashion when you use cocaine as when you receive money. So these oligarchs, these CEO’s, these Wall Street billionaires, they’re all looking for the same fix as the guy on the corner asking you for change. They’re junkies. The big difference between the guy in the corner and Elon Musk is, that the guy on the corner doesn’t have government contracts, the guy on the corner isn’t in constant contact with Putin, the guy on the corner isn’t trying to buy an election. He just wants a hit.

When our nation was founded it was a time of upheaval and uncertainty for the 13 colonies. We were embattled with the most powerful military in the world of that time, England. The Spanish were in Florida, the French in Louisiana, and we had the natives whose land we were actively taking. Thats a whole lot of conflict for an emerging nation to endure. The survival of our country depended upon our ability to be a unified front against the aggression coming at us. If it was thirteen different countries fighting their own little wars, there was no way we could have defended against such perilous forces.

There was one little problem though. Although the north did have slaves the numbers paled in comparison to that of the south. The whole labor force of the south was a slave labor force. There were many who saw the unethical concept of slavery and wanted it abolished in the new world. Alas this was not the time for battles of morality.

Due to the smaller population sizes of the south, due in large part to the slave labor force vs the plantation owners, a compromise was made. An electoral process that would eventually be known as the electoral college.

What does this have to do with Republicans? Weren’t they the party of Lincoln? Yes. I’m getting to that. Fast forward a couple hundred years ish to the early 1960’s. All those people who were brought here as slaves, freed but never given freedom. It was time to end the segregation and oppression. The Civil Rights Act was signed into law in 1964 by Lindon Johnson. There was a mass exodus of the Democratic Party from those in the southern states. The CRA was an affront on their entire belief structure. Now, black Americans, whose loyalty had lied with the Republican Party, due to Lincoln’s affiliation, now sided with the Democrats. All the white southern Democrats (Dixiecrats) jumped ship and went Republican.

As this country progresses the diversity goes along with it. The ideas of old, the highly religious, dogmatic principles have had their margins slimmed. Instead of adapting with the culture, instead of representing that in which their constituency evolved to, they devised a plan. A plan of obstruction and cheating, of making it so that the minority could rule over the majority.

There have been more calls to abolish the electoral college (article II of the U.S. Constitution) than any other ratifications to the constitution, 700 times it has been proposed. In the later part of the twentieth century (1969-1970 congress) was the closest it’s gotten to abolishment. Those who oppose its removal claim the “one person one vote” concept leaves smaller state populations less represented. Yea. Your point?! Why are we lessening the voice of millions to appease a couple hundred thousand?! Because Republicans would lose their power to control even without the numbers.

I could go on and on, showing statistics and giving examples but the election is near and I can’t write a novel right now. I can post a link to my Substack where I dive deeper into the subject. Let’s move on.

The representation in the senate, population wise, is a joke! There’s senators from states whose population isn’t a third of others who stand in the way of progress. Who obstruct the changing of the times. The House of Representatives has had their districts so gerrymandered that they can disenfranchise tens of thousands to retain their seats (this is not only Republicans who do this, just for transparency, but it’s a much higher percentage than Democrats). Think about Kentucky. Kentucky’s 4.5 million residents stole two Supreme Court appointments through Mitch (the turtle) McConnell. California has over 39.5 million residents, New York has almost 21 million, Illinois nearly 12 million all Democratic senators. Yet the Republican state of f*ckin Kentucky, with its 4.5 million residents was able to dictate laws in the whole of our country for the next 30 years!!! That’s not how democracy works!!

Now it’s gotten to the point where there are 7-9 states that dictate the future for the nation at large. This minoritarian rule is not democracy. This is reaching a tipping points towards authoritarianism.

I thought Obama did some great things, got us out of the Republican made Great Recession, and the housing crisis Bush’ deregulation caused. The thing that he did that irritates me, is he left roughly 200 open federal judge appointments unfilled. I don’t know if it was arrogance, thinking Hillary would win or why he didn’t fill them.

Trumps not a smart man. He’s an actor. Not a good one at that, but let’s call him a showman. The religious right, in the Heritage Foundation and the Federalist Society had, for decades been waiting for the proper stooge to do their bidding. Harlan Crow and others got the most ideologically backward, extreme right wing judges on the courts. Mind you these are lifetime appointments. Now the high courts will take up absurd cases to throw them up to the Supreme Court and it’s 6-3 MAGA super majority (thanks Kentucky!) and have those partisan hacks work it out to be the least favorable decision for a majority of the population.

It is 70% of representation is controlled by 30% of the population. This is absurd. That means that every Republican vote is worth nearly 2 Democratic votes. Republicans are well aware of this (maybe not the voters but the leadership). This is a beginning step towards autocratic rule. When a minority dictates law for the majority. Unacceptable.

What can we do? Nothing right now. Yet we put pressure on our senators and representatives, the governors of our state and contact the White House. I write my senators to bitch about one thing or the other monthly and about quarterly I contact the White House. Hey! They work for us! Tell your employees what you want from them. Vote! Vote early, vote often. Vote in your local elections, they mean more than you may think. Get your friends and family, neighbors and acquaintances out to vote, offer riders to the polls. Stay informed and educate yourself. The future is yours. Who do you want making the decisions?

[shalom-iamcominghome]

Jewish women and folks who feel this also applies to them, I want your thoughts and opinions.

I ask this because I hold jewish women's thoughts and feelings in high regard, and am genuinely curious about their thoughts on this. I do not use this term for anybody, and do not plan to ever, this is solely to see the opinions of you all because I have seen this term defined as derogatory by plenty of sources, and I also notice some jewish women embrace jewess as a term. I am interested in the potential nuances of this conversation.

This poll is for anybody who feels it applies to them. However, please don't vote just to see the results when it doesn't apply. I'm queueing this post for after the poll has concluded, as even I won't know the results until this poll is concluded. I genuinely want to have somewhat of an idea about the diversity of jewish women's thoughts.

This poll is inclusive to jews of trans and/or intersex experience, or experiences that aren't solely in the binary womanhood sphere. Those who genuinely are in the process of becoming jews, feel free to weigh in if this applies to you. This poll will not be used to judge or shame jewish women or justify what terms you should or should not use for yourself or what terms you ought to be comfortable with. Anything that is derogatory to jewish women and their feelings is not tolerated and you will be Banished.

Feel free to share this post if you'd like. If you want to see the results but cannot vote, please queue this post, like this post, or wait for this blog to reblog this poll. I cannot emphasize this enough.

And if nobody has told you: jewish women, you are amazing. You deserve love and respect, and your thoughts matter in every conversation you are in.

[beardedmrbean]

Black Lives Matter has criticized the Democratic Party for "anointing" Vice President Kamala Harris as the expected Democrat presidential nominee without a public vote.

President Joe Biden announced on Sunday that he was leaving the presidential race and endorsed Harris to replace him at the top of the Democratic ticket to face Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, in November. Biden had faced pressure to step aside after a disastrous debate performance last month magnified concerns about the 81-year-old's age and ability to beat Trump and serve a second term.

By Monday evening, Harris had secured the support of enough Democratic delegates to become her party's nominee, The Associated Press reported.

Responding to the development, Black Lives Matter criticized Democrats for not giving voters a say—and called on the Democratic National Committee to host a virtual snap primary ahead of the party's convention in August. Newsweek has contacted Black Lives Matter, the Harris campaign and the DNC for comment via email.

"Democratic Party elites and billionaire donors are attempting to manipulate Black voters by anointing Kamala Harris and an unknown vice president as the new Democratic ticket without a primary vote by the public," Black Lives Matter said in a statement. "This blatant disregard for democratic principles is unacceptable. While the potential outcome of a Harris presidency may be historic, the process to achieve it must align with true democratic values." The organization added: "We do not live in a dictatorship. Delegates are not oligarchs. Any attempt to evade or override the will of voters in our primary system—no matter how historic the candidate—must be condemned. We demand an informal, virtual snap primary now that the incumbent president is no longer in the running."

Harris is the first woman, Black person and person of South Asian descent to serve as vice president. If she becomes the Democratic nominee and defeats Trump in November, she would be the first woman to serve as president.

Black Lives Matter said any process that does not include voters could undermine Harris, or another Democrat, if they win the White House in November.

"Let us be clear: This is about the Democratic Party following a process that protects the legitimacy of any future Democratic president following this unprecedented moment," the statement said.

"Installing Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee and an unknown vice president without any public voting process would make the modern Democratic Party a party of hypocrites. It would undermine their credibility on issues related to democracy.

"Imagine our first Black woman president not having won some sort of public nomination process. The pundits would immediately label it as affirmative action or a DEI [diversity, equity and inclusion] move, and any progress made by a President Harris would be on shaky foundations. If Kamala Harris is to be the nominee, it must be through a process that upholds democratic principles and public participation."

Some Republicans have already sought to cast Harris as a DEI hire.

"The incompetency level is at an all-time high in Washington. The media propped up this president, lied to the American people for three years, and then dumped him for our DEI vice president," Representative Tim Burchett of Tennessee wrote on X, formerly Twitter, on Monday.

[cassolotl]

The UK sucks for trans people at the moment 😔

So, I'm considering whether or not to vote Labour in this general election (4th July), and here's what I've got so far.

Today Labour said that they wouldn't undo the Westminster veto over Scotland's change to its gender recognition law (👎).

In their manifesto, trans rights come up on page 89. Basically, they say they will do a trans-inclusive conversion therapy ban (👍). They also say they will improve the gender recognition process in vaaaague ways, while retaining the requirement for a gender dysphoria diagnosis (👎). That's all.

The Conservative manifesto doesn't mention trans people at all, which makes it really hard to make a decision. Obviously out of the two I would rather go for Labour, but I just hate to make decisions when I don't have all the information.

So if Labour are just like, "we won't make things worse and we might make things a little bit better"... I guess I'll have to go for that? In my area there's no one else who has any chance of winning. :( I hate it.

[n7sloth]

Sorry for the long story. Skip if you don't care about religious stuff.

In roughly 2012, I was living in Chicago. At that time, I didn't consider myself religious. I'd been born Catholic, confirmed Protestant, weakly tried to dabble in witchcraft I didn't really believe in in my early 20s, and by 2012 I was 32 and just didn't believe in anything.

But some part of me *wanted* to, if that makes sense? I felt like something was missing. But nothing seemed to vibe.

So in summer of that year I was walking up the street headed to Millenium Park to just go and people watch for a bit, and I passed two nuns and a priest.

No, this post isn't what you're thinking now. But there's a point here. The point is that it was still summer, albeit late, and it was hot and humid. And here were these two young women and a young man, absolutely covered neck to toe in black, and the women had small head coverings. I felt stifled on their behalf. But here they were, laughing together and walking as if they didn't notice.

I wanted that sense of importance. I wanted something to mean enough to me that I was willing to be that uncomfortable. Does that make sense? Not that I wanted to suffer, but that it wouldn't *feel* like suffering, because I *believed* enough.

That bothered me for a few years. Then, kind of unbidden and unprompted a few years later, a little voice in the back of my mind suggested I look into Judaism. I spoke with a Jewish friend, but I didn't know what to ask. How was someone raised at minimum secularly Christian supposed to know what questions to ask to unlearn what I'd been taught?

I kinda got frustrated and let it go for another couple of years.

In 2021ish, during lockdown, I found a woman on TikTok who was live streaming her synagogues services (with their permission) and I fell in love. Everything about it felt like coming home; plus the music was just gorgeous.

In 2022 when isolation relaxed a little and some in-person services resumed, I found a Reform temple nearby and started attending services. I was immediately welcomed and treated as a friend and equal, even without being Jewish yet. I took intro to judaism twice, and in late 2023, I was invited to be a founding member of the temples first Pride group, for representation, education, and inclusion.

I was so honored. Of course I joined. We went through the process of being officially vetted and voted on by the Board, and became an official group. In June of this year, for the annual Pride Shabbat service, I was invited to be part of a small Q&A panel to help provide insight and education on how to support your queer brethren.

And then the rabbi left. And a new one came in.

Suddenly, one of my friends in the Pride group was denied membership into a women's group because her spouse wasn't Jewish and "it might make others uncomfortable". (She is in a straight/straight-passing marriage.) Other board members were present and heard this, and said nothing.

She brought it up to the new rabbi, who declared that the board had final say and could do as they pleased. So she left the shul entirely.

Later, another member reported that the board didn't "trust" the Pride group, because they "didn't know what they were up to". Despite having officers that could easily have answered any questions.

So I left, too. I no longer felt safe and welcomed. But I didn't want to give up, either.

I reached out to the rabbi who leads the shul i started with - the one I joined on TikTok. And while I haven't heard from her personally yet (because my dumb ass emailed during the High Holy Days) I'm still excited. Because at least I'm trying. Plus I've signed up to attend two of their HHD services.

Im not giving up on this. I *will* find someone who accepts me for who I am and is willing to teach me. This is what I've been chasing for 10 years now. I just want to come home.

[meli-writes]

'we will not wait around for someone else to build the future for us'

hey so yesterday my union launched our manifesto and voted to reveal our membership numbers (1500+ and across the entire uk games industry)!

i just do discord admin (make it bearable to use lol) and data entry, but everyone else has put in incredible work making this. seeing this union build up strength over the last 5 years has been awesome, and i'm excited for how the next 5 are gonna go.

some extracts if you don't wanna click on the link:

The manifesto, which can be viewed here, outlines the IWGB Game Workers' mission, core values, and planned campaigns. Its five core values are stated as democracy, solidarity and care, taking action, education, and equality and justice. And its campaigns are listed as follows:

- Union recognition: Have all members recognized by their employers - Working hours and overtime: End reliance on overtime and crunch culture, obtain either a 4-day work week or 6-hour workdays without salary reductions, end "presenteeism", and guaranteed mental health days - Compensation: Mandate annual pay increases, improve baseline pay, obtain studio profit sharing, end the gender pay gap, equal parental leave, residuals or royalties, and improved pension - Accountability and transparency: Holding C-suite executives accountable for mergers, acquisitions, and redundancies, salary transparency, open book accounting, and publicly available diversity and representation statistics - Job security: Better protections against firing and redundancy, better communication in the event of redundancy, better redundancy pay packages, AI regulations, one-month minimum notice periods, end abuse of fixed-term contracts, and forcing entry-level jobs to have entry-level job requirements. - Equity and inclusion: Accessible working options, improved support for disability, neurodiversity, LGBTQ+, and mental health, enforcement of policies for handling misconduct, guidelines for inclusive language, removing barriers for workers coming from lower income brackets, more inclusive hiring process, compulsory DEI best practice training - Training and education: Improved professional development support, and mandatory sexual misconduct and antitrust training for C-suite and management - Contractual terms: Removing unreasonable non-compete and non-disparagement clauses, guaranteed ownership of personal side projects, guaranteed credits

the complete manifesto has gotten even more going on tho, with our mission and core values. so if you're a game worker, or you wanna know what the people who make the games you love need, then check it out <3

im not gonna make like direct refs to what i do IRL that often but like ye, this is my union and where i put my political energy ✨

[sgiandubh]

The 28th Amendment?

After a long silence, Sleeping Beauty's social media seems to be (somewhat) back to life, with this story:

This is part of a national public awareness and lobby campaign organized by a US NGO, Equal means Equal, aiming to promote the formal inclusion of a 28th Amendment (the Equal Rights Amendment) in the US Constitution.

This is the current state of play: what is needed, according to Equal means Equal, is a final push, in order to make something started in 1972 a reality. This state of play is unthinkable, to an European, by the way: gender equality became effective on our ravaged, postwar continent for many reasons, including the most practical you could think of. Those are usually related to voting rights, the acknowledgement of women's contribution to the war effort, the economic and social reconstruction process and even a faux-equalitarian ideology, like in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union (loudly promote gender equality, but at the same time, take away any legal guarantee and protection of private ownership of anything, from houses to shops to banks).

The final push for success is a public appeal to POTUS to act on it, launched as a side event at the New York FOCUS Art Fair, a contemporary art rendezvous' with a strong Gen Z flair:

C is a part to this event with a signed copy of Reserved, an independent media outlet with a clear progressive flair and all the bells and whistles of a Gen Z future icon:

I was particularly intrigued by this: 'Once a magazine, Reserved has evolved into an annual hardcover print edition collector’s item'. It immediately made me think of one of my favorite things in the art world, Franco Maria Ricci's FMR Magazine (https://www.francomariaricci.com/en). A mythical thing, the stuff of legend - to each generation its own, I suppose.

Time to make an important point, though: the Reserved copy up for silent auction was not donated by C herself, but by Jules Wood:

Meet Jules Wood, editor-in-chief of Reserved and fashion director of Ellen von Unwerth's VON Magazine :

Pretty much sure this is an old acquaintance, too.

In the couple of hours since I began writing this post, bidding started from 500 USD and has now risen to 2000 USD, thanks to a generous soul, who wishes to remain Anonymous:

You don't say. Anonymous, huh?

Cue in the Stans who will surely bitch it's 'just her US friends' (primarily BIF barking and/or Anon being dropped in Fascist inboxes in 3, 2, 1...) But hey, we have a different view, don't we?

And it's quite alright.

PS: Pics in that Reserved copy are taken from C's photoshoot for Ellen von Unwerth , sometime before June 2021:

[end-otw-racism]

2023 OTW Board Election Review

The election is over, and we'd like to congratulate (in alphabetical order) Anh Pham, Kathryn Soderholm, and Qiao Chu, who have been elected to serve full terms on the OTW Board of Directors, and Jennifer Haynes and Zixin Zhang, who have been elected to partial terms. We recognize that this is a turbulent time for the OTW, and that running for Board at any time takes guts and a lot of hard work, but especially so now, and we appreciate the time and labor you all have put into answering questions about how you envision your time serving on the Board and guiding OTW policy.

It really was a rollercoaster of an election season. With an original ballot of seven candidates for three seats, the field eventually narrowed to five candidates, and then unexpected resignations led to the opening of five total seats, creating an uncontested election. Still, voting mattered, as the number of votes each candidate got determined if they won a full term (three years) or a partial (two years), and we want to thank everyone who showed up to #VoteToEndOTWRacism.

Through their prepared bios and platforms, the Q&As posted to the Elections site, and the four Candidate Chats, OTW members and stakeholders had ample opportunity to get to know the candidates and learn about their ideas for improving the OTW, and we're excited to see how they might implement their plans once they take their seats.

Today we're going to take a look at how their stated priorities might guide the new Board, specifically in addressing our three main demands: 

Terms of Service (TOS) updates that address racist and bigoted harassment.

Hiring a Diversity Consultant within the next 3 months.

Committing to a policy of transparency on this topic.

As candidates, all five stressed the importance of updating the TOS (or the way the current TOS is enforced) to better protect fans from harassment on AO3, with Anh, Kathryn, and Qiao all listing it as a priority. 

All five also spoke of hiring and working with a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) consultant, with Anh, Kathryn, and Qiao all speaking of filling the position soon, and Kathryn expressly calling it a priority.

And, continuing the positive trend, all five offered multiple ways the OTW could improve transparency within the organization and with stakeholders outside the organization! We are particularly interested in Zixin’s suggestion to increase the section on Board work in the monthly newsletters (something Qiao also mentioned!) as well as improve the Board Meeting process to have it better moderated and more efficient, as this would be a great step towards that transparency and engagement with the user base, and her idea to set up clearer internal guidelines on crisis resolution and make them accessible to all volunteers would be a tangible way of increasing transparency within the org.

Kathryn is also concerned about documentation and believes the OTW needs to establish: clear org-wide standards for when to use Constructive Corrective Action Procedures (CCAP), an org-wide crisis communication plan, and org-wide standards for moderating comments on news posts, and that these standards can, and should, be created within the first year.

And, finally, Anh discusses having the group tasked with implementation of the OTW's strategic plan develop infographics to better communicate that plan as a means of fostering outreach to OTW members and users to bring them in to contribute to the OTW’s processes. Unfortunately the strategic plan does not currently reference any of our goals, but if updated, this could be a great path of dialogue between users and the organization.  

The new Board will be seated October 1, 2023, and we look forward to seeing what they can accomplish by working together to make the OTW and its platforms a safe and welcoming place for fans of color.

[thelordofgifs]

The Obscure Tolkien Blorbos Tournament!

@mistergandalf's incredible Ultimate Tolkien Blorbo tournament has just wrapped up with our beloved Sam Gamgee taking the final trophy. But! Earlier rounds in the tournament were filled with a lot of weeping and gnashing of teeth from Silmarillion fans as our favourites were UNFAIRLY ELIMINATED by people who DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT THEM. So, I would like to present: the ultimate obscure Tolkien blorbos tournament!

Submit as many of your dubiously canonical, little-known faves as you'd like to - with a catch: characters with the fewest submissions are most likely to qualify for the bracket! With exactly one exception who is qualifying anyway because I say so.

Rules:

The character you submit can be part of Tolkien's legendarium in any way possible - discarded characters from earlier drafts, adaptation-only characters (RoP inclusive), etc.

No OCs.

Canonically unnamed characters (for example Curufin's wife) are eligible. But don't submit fan-invented names for them, or I won't know whom you're talking about!

If they're very obscure, do consider writing a couple of lines to tell me who they are! I'm not a HoME expert and won't be familiar with everyone you send in.

I reserve the right not to include characters who I don't think really count: you can't, for example, submit "Maidros" and then argue that that's a completely different character to the more well-known Maedhros.

Actual voting will just be a straightforward "vote for whomever you like more" process, nothing to do with how obscure the blorbos are at that stage.

Let's... tentatively say the bracket will contain 64 characters? I'll keep the form open at least until Sunday 21st May and potentially longer, depending on how much interest this gets.

This is my first time running a tournament and I have no idea what else to actually say or how to do this lol. Tag will be #obscure tolkien blorbo, feel free to follow/block it as you prefer.

Let me know if you have any more questions, reblog for visibility, and happy submitting! And feel free to drop your submissions in the tags to this post so that people can avoid double-nominating their faves :)

[badbirdnews]

Voting Rights Corrupted from Inclusion of Noncitizens in our Census!

It is a travesty that noncitizens hold the power to determine the composition of Congress and the presidency. The very essence of our electoral system is under threat as the Census includes illegal aliens and other noncitizens as residents. This egregious error must be rectified immediately if we are to salvage the integrity of our democracy.

The principle behind Congressional and Electoral College apportionment is simple: it should be based on the number of American citizens residing within each state. Yet, we find ourselves in a situation where noncitizens, who lack the legal right to vote, are being counted as equals in determining our nation’s leaders. This is an affront to every American citizen who believes in the power of their vote.

If we continue down this treacherous path, we risk diluting the voices of American citizens and compromising the very foundation upon which our democracy stands. By allowing noncitizens to play a role in apportionment, we diminish the influence of those who have earned the right to participate in our electoral process. It is time to take a stand and demand that our elected officials put an end to this injustice.

The Census must be barred from including noncitizens in apportionment. We must prioritize the voices of American citizens—the only population who can and should vote in U.S. elections. It is our duty as patriotic Americans to fight for a system that upholds the principles of fairness and ensures that those who have earned the right to vote are the ones picking America’s leaders. Let us rise together and reclaim our democracy from the grasp of noncitizens.

https://badbirdnews.com/voting-rights-corrupted-from-inclusion-of-noncitizens-in-our-census/

[feudalconnection]

Hi! I’m sorry, but why can a work nominated for two different categories? And why can an author be nominated twice?

I’d heard that the awards were rigged, but didn’t believe it. Then i looked at the nominations list and the same people keep popping up. This is probably why it looks rigged. Maybe you should consider asking people who keep getting nominated to skip once a year or something.

I’m not going to bother nominating anyone because it’s obvious who’s going to win.

no wonder the IY fandom gets labeled toxic in general and not just because of shipping wars. I thought that was wrong, too.

Hello, anon!

Back when FC was just a baby, the mod-team put limits in place so that the nominations weren't flooded by the same creators or the same pieces. Having ten nominations for one piece wouldn't be fun, and wouldn't be inclusive. Thus, the limits were put into place so that no creator could have more than 4 nominations total per term. This has done well to keep nominations in check and allow other creators and pieces to be nominated. I'm sorry that you've heard such bad feedback regarding FC. The mod-team has done their absolute best to preserve FC's integrity, the nomination phase, the voting period, and those involved. We process each nomination to make sure it adheres to all requirements in place. The Inuyasha fandom is a wonderful community, filled with a plethora of creators who are constantly putting out content (for free!) for our little hearts to enjoy. We are so blessed by how creative this community is. Some creators put out more content than others, meaning they have more chances of being nominated. We never have and never will ask anyone to refuse a nomination. These creators work hard on their writing and art, and the only payment they receive is appreciation from the community they create for. These awards are just another way to give them that appreciation. As said in the past, the mod-team has no say who gets nominated or who wins except by the public rules in place. If you don't want to nominate, that's okay. We understand. Nominating lesser known creators so their piece receives more love and more of the spotlight is not for everyone. However, for those who do want to nominate, please: nominate those hole in the wall creations, the creators who only have one creation posted, the ones who are having a rough start to the year, the ones who need a little extra love, and everyone in between. As long as it adheres to the guidelines set, we wholeheartedly welcome all IY creators to be nominated! You want to see a wider net of creators? Nominate them! Nominate those who aren't on our list yet! We would love to see it! As stated in this post here, and in several others before, the awards have never been and will never be a popularity contest, nor will it be about "winning". It is simply about showing appreciation to the creators who keep this fandom thriving. As always, the mods are available to hear out concerns and listen to feedback. You are more than welcome to reach out to us independently, with a mod you feel comfortable with. And if you want to see for yourself how inclusive and wholesome our community is, we have an open discord that's available for anyone to join. We hope this quells your concerns. If not, we've done our best, and FC is not for everyone. We send blessings your way that you're able to find a niche in the IY community that suites your needs, and we hope you've had a wonderful start to the year. Much love, FeudalConnection

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Alice Speri at The Guardian:

US universities are bracing for funding cuts and investigations under the incoming administration, as Donald Trump and his advisers have billed them an “enemy” and made them a prime target of their rightwing, anti-woke crusade. While attacks over critical race theory and diversity and inclusion initiatives have long been part of conservative campaigns against higher education, experts say that the nationwide campus protests against Israel’s war in Gaza over the last year, and a push to crack down on them that has often attracted support from Democrats, will probably provide the incoming administration their opening salvo. “There are political actors who have been obsessed with the idea of fundamentally transforming American higher education, and they have jumped into the space made open by accusations of antisemitism,” said Isaac Kamola, a political science professor at Trinity College whose research focuses on conservative efforts to undermine higher education. Trump and his backers have made no secret of their plans, many detailed under Project Esther, a blueprint by the rightwing Heritage Foundation aimed at “dismantling” the US pro-Palestine movement “when a willing Administration occupies the White House”.

Universities will probably be the main battleground. While Trump has repeatedly floated the idea of eliminating the education department altogether, some of his advisers have expressed hope he will use its tools, like the anti-discrimination Title VI process, to eradicate the pro-Palestine movement on US campuses under the guise of fighting antisemitism.

Last month, the Guardian published an exclusive video of a meeting between the House majority leader, Steve Scalise, and the powerful pro-Israel lobby group the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac), in which Scalise detailed plans to pull billions of dollars of federal funding from some of the most prestigious universities in the country, and to strip them of accreditation to punish them for allowing pro-Palestine protests on their campuses. Kenneth Marcus, a former assistant secretary of education under Trump and an active proponent of the controversial International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, told Jewish Insider last week that he expects the next administration will “take much more seriously the prospect of denying federal funds to colleges and universities that violate the rights of Jewish and other college students”.

[...]

‘A sledgehammer’

Free speech advocates expect the IHRA definition to be “used as a sledgehammer” in the incoming administration’s attacks on pro-Palestine activism, said Sainath, of Palestine Legal. Already, some universities have heeded the definition’s spirit in drafting their own codes. New York University, for instance, earlier this year issued new university policies citing federal guidance and effectively extending equal rights protections to Zionism, a political ideology. In May, the House of Representatives passed the Antisemitism Awareness Act, which codifies Trump’s executive order into federal law. Democratic Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer has pledged to bring it to a vote before the Senate moves under Republican control in January. On Thursday, the American Civil Liberties Union issued an open letter denouncing the IHRA definition as “overbroad” and encouraging Senators to reject it. “Enshrining this definition into regulation would chill the exercise of First Amendment rights and risk undermining the Department of Education’s legitimate and important efforts to combat discrimination,” they wrote.

[...]

A chilling effect

Free speech advocates hope that additional efforts to impose the IHRA definition would also fail in court, but they warn that it is already having an effect. While the federal government has never cut funding to universities over antisemitism claims, Trump’s threats on funding and accreditation have administrators on high alert. “If I’m a general counsel at a university being told by the federal government, ‘Hey, if you don’t get this right, your federal funding is on the line’ … What are you going to choose?” Tyler Coward, lead counsel at the campus free speech group Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (Fire) told the Guardian. “You’re going to choose censorship to save your federal dollars, and that is a really awful position to put our institutions in.” For faculty and students, the prospect of the incoming administration doubling down in its attacks on what it calls antisemitism are cause of growing anxiety.

The Trump Misadministration is planning to launch crackdowns on pro-Palestine activities on US college campuses under the guise of fighting antisemitism.

See Also:

The Guardian: What are Donald Trump’s plans to overhaul US colleges and universities?

Zeteo News: 'Project Esther': The Right-Wing Group Behind Project 2025 Has a Plan to Crack Down on America's Pro-Palestine Movement

RNS: Heritage Foundation's 'Esther' addendum to Project 2025 isn't really about antisemitism

Mother Jones: The Plan to Silence Dissent

[obsessedwithfiction]

this may be too soon to say since everyone is still raw and upset about the election results, but i would strongly encourage that after processing those feelings, use them and do something. get involved with your local community and find places where you can help/advocate. work with people trying to make the community better. this is where activism begins, not at the voting booth. if you're scared/angry/depressed, dont let our oppressors take your drive in doing something with that.

if the scare mongering is right, this is the moment where you need to get involved. the federal government isn't all powerful and isn't an undefeatable god. we the people have always had more power than what they want to admit so having a debilitating loss like this is a godsend for them because they are banking on it demoralizing us. don't let it.

Do some research and get involved however way you can. many community groups have so many options and are very inclusive and are just happy for any type of help, even if its just printing letters.

dont lose your hope. now is the time for you to get out there and do something