#lawyers resist

[doctorsiren]

I still can’t get over how he becomes Jesse Pinkman

[nicemare]

Phasmas forth one. The ideas just won't stop coming, she has to write faster than Hux lawyer can work through all possibilities and potentially find a technicality to eventually get her with. As she can't write and edit at the same time, she dropped an inquiry on the blackboard for beta readers: Mitaka made sure NOBODY else besides him could apply. He FINALLY got his autograph AND the honor to work with the great author herself. She also managed to answer some fanpost- and was delighted to get some intel on a certain dark haired knights background by 'TraitorDater Flyboi' that will be incorporated into her next book. Captain Cardinal and Phasma might not be on good terms, but damn, that man can draw some fleek oil portraits and she keeps commissioning him. The silent and grim exchange in hallways is contrary to the praise Cardinal gets in messages about his latest piece- and the credit amount payed for it. Original Image by Sharon Spia (Developments of the lore heavily inspired by @brieflymaximumprincess tags- loved them! Not a peaceful second for Hux from now on >:3 )

[ace-and-ranty]

Okay, but Mat moments overshadowed after the horn:

The face Padan Fain makes when Mat comes out holding the Evil Dagger Stick.

"PERRIN, PERRIN, MY OLD FRIEND PERRIN :DDD"

"PERRIN, I'M NOT LEAVING YOU, I'M NOT"

[originalleftist]

ICE conducted immigrant detention raids in Boston and Chelsea, Massachusetts last night, detaining several people.

Lawers for Civil Rights has shared the following Immigrant Defense Hotline:

617-988-0606

[yellowistheraddest]

some pokemon guys and their silly pets

[jasondamien93]

🏳️‍⚧️✊

[thekittyfox2999]

they better have a moment like in gnomeo and juliet where gnomeo talks to the statue of shakespear

but with arthur conan doyle and- that damned sherlock gnomes

[aedicula]

not to be overly earnest but it is really like what are any of us supposed to do. climate change...get fucked. even if voting worked and even if we had candidates making meaningful commitments to genuinely progressive platforms, i guess let’s let the supreme court decide if it’s okay to make things better. and btw they are going to say it is illegal for us to want more from the world we live in. like. ad infinitum about everything. 

like it’s all a mechanism to wear us down into thinking everyone around us is targeting us and to force us to target them and assign blame in turn to gain advantages but essentially none of us could ever have thrown this shit off course in any serious way. it is really villainous.

[eldritch-bf]

Finished my rewatch of the Jurassic Park films as an adult and I just got the novels as well and wow. Kid me was like oooh cool dinosaurs scary action scenes will they survive? And as an adult I’m like oh this is explicitly a critique of modern scientists working not to benefit humanity or to understand the natural world but to make money for companies (amongst other things). Also the wonder and awe and love for dinosaurs displayed by Doctors Grant, Sattler, (and Malcolm a bit) in the first movie + Dr. Harding, Eddie, Nick, (and Kelly a bit as well) in the second movie just. destroys me.

[thatfrenchacademic]

Hello, your local EU Lawyer is here to explain what this is!

This is a type of European Citizen's Initiative, or ECI.

ECIs are a way for citizens to reach out to European institutions directly! As opposed to being represented by your State in the EU institutions, or by your elected representatives at the European Parliament. They were added in 2007 to the official European Treaties, as a way to address the democratic deficit of the EU, and how *far* it often feels from citizen. You find its legal basis on Article 11 of the Treaty of the European Union and Article 24 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.

So what does it do ?

It basically petition the EU Commission to do something. The EU Commission, in Brussels, is the institution in the EU which can kickstart the legislative process, in the EU.

If successful, it forces the hand of the Commission, by telling it "Now you ARE talking about this. You have to consider this."

Ok, so how do we make it successful?

An ECI is not like a traditional petition, where it is all about numbers. Here it is not only numbers, but also where the numbers are from. You need:

1 million signatories in total

From at least 7 different Member States

With a specific threshold from each of these 7 Member State

If we have people from more than 7 Member States, we still only need to meet the threshold in 7 of them.

CAN YOU SIGN IT ?

Yes, if you are an EU national (not necessarily resident!) AND either 16, 17 or 18 - check the rules for your country.

IF YOU ARE NOT AN EU CITIZEN OR UNDER THE REQUIRED AGE: do not sign! To be fair you would probably not be able to, since it requires a state ID. But do not even try. There will be a check of signatures that ACT will have to provide if we reach the thresholds, and you will make their life difficult (and potentially artificially inflate the numbers of signatories, which means we fall under the threshold once we remove your signatures)

And then, will we get the ban on conversation therapy?

What we will get is: the Commission having to take a stand on the proposal. What that means has been varied. Here is the link to all 10 successful ECIs, if you want to have a look at what happened for each of them. Long story short: sometimes, the Commission just says "Ok, request considered, the answer is no because X, Y, Z" (for example: the one asking for restriction of abortion went against recently discussed and adopted EU policies). Sometimes the Commission has the European Parliament publicly debate it, and adopts an official Communication, eg taking a stand and committing to future action (like on the ECI calling for the end of shark finning, or the one on bees protection). Sometimes it actually kickstarts a proper legislative process, drafting a proposal for other EU institutions to debate and adopt, and leading to the adoption of binding instruments all over Europe (the poster child for this is the ECI on Access to Safe Water)

So what we get varies. But the Commission WILL HAVE TO take a stand publicly.

So what about that particular ECI?

I think it is actually pretty good, in terms of being realistic and leading to actual action (and a girl is not linked to ACT, the organizer, at all).

The Commission itself agrees on what an action following the success of that ECI could look like (or at least, it found it plausible enough):

a non-binding instrument that the Commission would have to draft, and that a different institution, the Council [where individual member states are represented by their Ministers] would adopt, calling for a general ban on CT

some broad, binding, incentive-oriented measures facilitating the ban of CT by member state. This would be placed on the agenda by the Commission like a normal legislative proposal,and then discussed, debated and potentially adopted by the other institutions involved in the legislative process as usual.

criminalizing conversion therapy and associated behaviors if they take place cross-border (eg: marketing a Poland-based CT in Luxembourg), which the Commission can table, but not adopt on its own (other institutions need to be involved)

including victims of CT in the current EU framework on victim's protection: a binding instrument, that would also go through the normal legislative procedure.

I don't have access to all documents, but I'm pretty sure that is roughly it.

Additionally, this does not come out of nowhere. EU institutions have shown some interest in talking about conversion therapy in Europe - and, if I may add, in trans rights, just trust me on that one. Specifically because that ECI and what it asks for is straight drawn from a report of the European Parliament on the topic, from 2023 ! [also it was technically requested by the LIBE Commission, which is 1) massive in weight an 2) exactly the relevant one].

This matters for a few reasons:

the issue with ECIs is often that they don't relate to what the EU can do. Very often, "why isn't the EU doing anything about X" is because the EU is no allowed to! But having an existing report by the EP means you can argue more easily that is does fall under EU competences.

it could signal that there is also interest in the question at the Parliament, which could make the Commission more confident in actually involving it in any follow up.

it gives the Commission something very detailed to actually work with, as opposed to an abstract 'please do something' request.

it places more weight on the Commission to even DO something. The Parliament is the EU institution with the most democratic credentials, and historically its influence has been on the rise for the last decades. So if one of the most influential EP Commission has adopted a report on the question, it's a bad look to not at least pay it good consideration.

So in conclusion:

Kudos to Act for picking up on the report and making sure it does not get ignored !

This only works if we share it everywhere. Tumblr is good to spread the word across Europe, so share and sign! share and sign! But also: share it beyond Tumblr ! Share it with your college societies, with your book club, the your friend's Whatsapp group, on other social media, talk about it with your librarian, your hairdresser, your cool aunt, people you meet at pride event or in safe spaces!

Grab your ID, grab your friends, commit to each other that you will sign it! Make it a challenge, put it on your monthly to-do list, have a signing-the-ECI evening with snacks and drinks of choice, share it on IG, make it visible and exciting because it is !

[Image ID: The Destiel confession meme edited so that Dean answers 'There's a petition to ban conversion therapy in the EU' to Cas' 'I love you'. /End ID]

If you are a citizen in the EU please sign this petition:

[qqueenofhades]

Okay all -- few quick thoughts about the Elon Muskifying of the government, especially the takeover of the Treasury and associated financial data for every single US citizen and organization, that we are learning about in detail today.

Don't panic. This sounds bad, because it is bad. It's really, really bad. It's outrageously fascist bad. But we've still gotta take a deep breath and get through it.

This is the kind of shock-and-awe exercise of untrammeled fascist power where they are absolutely counting on gleefully terrorizing, paralyzing, and stunning you into mounting no resistance, or just giving up and giving in. They are literally live-tweeting it in real time and boasting about all the access and influence they have right now. They want you to know about it and feel like you can't do anything, so you might as well let it happen.

We have to show them that's not true.

TIME TO MAKE SOME NOISE. Because it's Sunday night, I've gone ahead and contacted my state Attorney General and both senators by email (but come Monday morning, we should all be calling). Here is the email that I wrote to my AG:

Dear Mr. [AG],

As you will be aware, today (February 2, 2025) the Trump administration has granted wide-ranging access to sensitive US Treasury data, including the personal and private information of [state] citizens, to Elon Musk's so-called "Department of Government Efficiency." Musk is an unelected private citizen who has no legal right to access this data, and is engaging in extensive intimidation and coercion to fulfill his personal and harmful ideological agenda. The present and material harm that this causes to US citizens, [state] residents, and basic laws of government, privacy, and financial security is direct, unconscionable, and actionable. I strongly urge you, in your capacity as [state] Attorney General, to file direct suit against the Trump administration, Elon Musk, the "DOGE" office, and any identifiable individuals who have taken part in this action, in order to protect consumer data, citizen privacy, and basic faith and trust in government.

All the best,

[Qqueenofhades]

Short! To the point! Doesn't waste time, tells him what I want him to do, how Elmo's nonsense directly harms the residents of my state, and why he should take action to stop it! And frankly, given how on-the-ball blue-state AGs have been thus far, they're probably already working on it. You are very welcome to copy-and-paste this message and fill in your AG's last name and your state as appropriate. Super easy to do. Takes five minutes. Call tomorrow.

If you are in a red state, your voice is particularly important right now. The Trumpsters are counting on and are even emboldened by blue state pushback, but you really need to make it start coming from Republican strongholds. Congressional Republicans will only feel the slightest amount of unease about docilely enabling this BS when it starts threatening their own personal power. Hit them where it hurts.

Other lawsuits are coming. Marc Elias, Democratic lawyer extraordinaire, is well aware of this situation and has noted on Bluesky that more lawsuits are in the works. He often wins his cases. This does not mean that you shouldn't loudly make noise elsewhere, but please remember that this is one of those 24-hour periods where, as noted, they are counting on demoralizing you with a nonstop blizzard of bullshit. It does not say anything about how this will play out long-term or the opposition that can and will be mobilized to stop it.

Once again: courage. Take the small steps that you can do today. Then take a breath and get off social media for a little while. Try to take the long view. One step at a time, we will get through this.

Courage.

[theatre-gay-they]

Premier David Eby, being in government, is a bastard. I don't like the greenwashing of LNG (and the fracking that comes with it), the new involuntary "care" plan, or many other things out of the provincial government. But before Eby became the premier, king bastard of the province, he was a lawyer. More specifically, he worked for the BC Civil Liberties Association, and he wrote a book you absolutely should read (or at least his name is on the cover). It's called the arrest handbook, and like the name implies, it's how to get arrested, how not to get arrested, and what to do if you get arrested. Before you go to an action you should be damn sure wether you're planning to get arrested and wether you're willing to get arrested. In any case, you shouldn't talk to police (more than the "am I free to go" to see if you're being detained and the required basic info if you're driving or after you get arrested), and you should read the damn book, or at least the pocketbook version, both available as pdf on the BCCLA website. Fuck the police, stay safe, keep your comrades safe. And don't peace police other protesters. See you on the streets!

[toughtink]

i don’t think this is just about dunking on how dumb this administration is; it’s pointing out an important flaw in how they operate that will be exploitable in different ways depending on the issue. yes, fascists gonna fascist without caring much about the details, but in matters of legality the specific wording matters a lot and is a great way to jam up the works. i’m not a lawyer and cannot comment how how much this particular idiot definition of gender/sex will affect court proceedings, but it certainly seems representative of their general incompetence in a big way. they may push things through anyway if they have enough fascists in the system already, but they might not. a lot of folks, even trump voters, are dedicated to doing their jobs correctly and by the letter of the law.

everyone trying to own trump about the "he doesn't know sex isn't determined at conception" thing really fundamentally does not understand what the point of that was, and learned basically nothing from his first term. he is not invested in scienve, biology, or any rational discussion where his provably false beliefs would be subject to scrutiny. he is signaling to everyone in the country that it does not matter what you say, he will never care and he will take every action to enforce these views and embolden his followers with the same rhetoric. you cannot logically talk to a person like this when they are reasoning with emotion, not logic. you cannot dunk the transphobia away. someone post the vonnegut quote.

[shechocolateonmychip]

I love when people try to come up with really airtight wishes to outsmart the monkey's paw. Like "oh just wish for your wish to have no downside its easy."

Yeah dog that's the whole allure of the monkey's paw. You did the thing that the characters you think you're smarter than are doing.

[goodguydotmp3]

Hi dusting this off again, because I was denied asylum.

I'm going to try to get a lawyer but I definitely don't know if I'll be able to get one, as many were resistant to helping me before

Either way I need. So much help. Originally I was asking for 5k, but I'm going to raise that because they situation is looking so much worse. You can go to the campaign or you can support me directly.

Even if If I'm denied again I cannot go back home, there's no home to go back to and my country wants me dead only slightly more than my relatives I think. Anything that isn't used to relocate will be used to start over.

I know yall hate reading these so tldr I need as much help as possible to avoid death. I've seen people get thousands for gender affirming surgery, so I'm hoping that means you want to see this trans person survive

Kofi campaign | paypal | venmo | cashapp

[barnbridges]

if anyone by some misshap is unfamiliar with howie TM (go watch better call saul, right NOW) here's your quickest introduction.