#u.s. politics

[the-girl-from-another-time]

It’s crazy how it takes 20 years to make a Wicked movie and once they do, it comes out just after Trump’s reelection. The stripping of minority rights, rollback of progress, and intentional demonization of activists are such central themes in that story, and here we are, watching queer people/immigrants/women/people of color/etc being slowly stripped of their rights under conservative regimes. Personally, watching Dr. Dillamond’s firing seemed analogous to deportation of immigrants or firing/silencing of queer teachers. And then the fact that another core theme is the way the government constructs propaganda to make a mediocre con man look like a god!! And all this is shown to be horrifyingly and objectively wrong!! Absolutely insane timing.

[dovejuice]

[kenyatta]

“I’m not convinced that it was a huge conspiracy,” Jong-Fast said. “What the right wants is a smoking gun, a moment where a cabal got together and was like, ‘Yes, we will do this [cover-up].’ And from what I’ve read from all these books, there’s not a smoking gun, it’s just Biden got older and older, and people were in denial about it, which is a larger problem with the gerontocracy writ large.” The former House speaker Nancy Pelosi, a key player in all accounts of Biden’s downfall, sits in Congress at 85. Chuck Schumer, whose role in pushing Biden out is described in another recent book, Mad House by Annie Karni and Luke Broadwater of the Times, is 74 and shows no sign of quitting as Democratic leader in the Senate. “This should be a call to action,” Jong-Fast said. “Democrats should read these books and go, ‘Oh my God, we need people to retire at normal ages and not stay on and on. You’re not an airline pilot at 85. I don’t have an 87-year-old doing eye surgery on me. That doesn’t mean you’re not worthy and wonderful and valuable. It just means that you probably shouldn’t be serving. “If Democrats are going to run on this idea that American democracy is in trouble under Trump, then they can’t keep their friends in office for as long as they want. That’s it. Period. Paragraph.”

New books chart Biden’s downfall – and the picture is damning for Democrats (The Guardian, Sun 13 Apr 2025)

[lakecountylibrary]

🔥 The beacons are lit; the library calls for aid

The Trump administration has issued an executive order aimed at dismantling the Institute of Museum and Library Services - the ONLY federal agency for America's libraries.

Using just 0.003% of the federal budget, the IMLS funds services at libraries across the country; services like Braille and talking books for the visually impaired, high-speed internet access, and early literacy programs.

Libraries are known for doing more with less, but even we can't work with nothing.

How You Can Help:

🔥 Call your congressperson!

Use the app of your choice or look 'em up here: https://www.congress.gov/members/find-your-member

Pro tip: If your phone anxiety is high, call at night and leave a voicemail. You can even write yourself a script in advance and read it off. Heck, read them this post if you want to.

Phones a total no-go? The American Library Association has a form for you: https://oneclickpolitics.global.ssl.fastly.net/messages/edit?promo_id=23577

🔥Tell your friends!

Tell strangers, for that matter. People in line at the check out, your elderly neighbor, the mail carrier - no one is safe from your library advocacy. Libraries are for everyone and we need all the help we can get.

...Wait, why do we need this IMLS thing again?

The ALA says it best in their official statement and lists some ways libraries across the country use IMLS funding:

But if you want a really specific answer, here at LCPL we use IMLS funding to provide our amazing interlibrary loan service. If we can't purchase an item you request (out of print books, for example) this service lets us borrow it from another library and check it out to you.

IMLS also funds the statewide Indiana Digital Library and Evergreen Indiana, which gives patrons of smaller Indiana libraries access to collections just as large and varied as the big libraries' collections.

As usual, cutting this funding will hurt rural communities the most - but every library user will feel it one way or another. Let's let Congress know that's unacceptable.

[cjbolan]

Pyrrhus denying his late father’s gay relationship…

is just like the Trump administration now denying the existence and contributions of LGBTQ+ people.

[todaysbird]

awesome. this is just what America needs

[archaeologysucks]

I saw this on Twitter, and do not know the source, but I think it belongs here.

[phantomrose96]

Hello. I mean this really imploringly, and really genuinely. If you're a U.S. citizen still on the fence about what to do for the election, please vote Harris. There's this idea circulating that the person you vote for should be someone you like, love, idolize and that is so very not true. You're voting for the opponent you'll face for the next four years when you have issues to protest and matters to vocalize. You're voting for the person most likely to give an inch when you protest the things that matter. You're voting for the person most likely to not strip away your existing rights and scatter your focus across the things we already won, and which can be taken away. We lost Roe v Wade under the Trump-appointed judges. The current trans-panic is so disgustingly on fire, and it's absolutely the Republicans eager to rip away what little protection there is. Both candidates are also, disgustingly, pro-Israel. But Trump will never ever give a fuck to any protest on that matter.

You don't want to be complicit in genocide. I get it. But if you're a U.S. citizen, you're already benefiting from the U.S.'s foreign policy, and that's already complacency. Refusing to vote or voting third party isn't absolving you of that. It's just letting Trump walk in the door. And letting Trump in is complacency. And your ability to organize, and to make change, will go so less far against a Trump cabinet than a Harris one. The material harm under Trump is real.

Does voting for Harris make you feel guilty? I'm sorry, but you have to bear it. Your guilt isn't what's important. A white person's guilt isn't important. A citizen of a global terror's guilt isn't important. Actions that pacify your guilt aren't important. Focusing on absolving your guilt is in fact harmful, as opposed to actions that can actually materially reduce harm.

Please protest. Please donate to good causes. Please support Palestine. Please be vocal. Please fight for BIPOC and LGBTQA+ rights. Please view Harris as the opponent whose ears these things fall on. Your ability to organize safely, largely, loudly, and effectively will go so much further under a Harris presidency. Please.

[griseldagimpel]

If you're a Californian, now is the time to contact Governor Newsom and object to him abandoning trans rights. He needs to get serious backlash.

Newsom is probably gearing up for a presidential run in 2028, and we do NOT want Throwing Trans People Under the Bus to become part of the Democratic Party platform.

And even if Newsom doesn't win the primaries - please do not let this man win the primaries - there is a section of the Democratic Party that is in the process of convincing itself that throwing trans people under the bus is the key to winning elections. It's not, but any Democratic who flirts with that needs to catch heat in order to cow the rest into not doing that.

[vshamru]

Reminder to folks in the wake of the election to be extremely scam aware.

If you get an unsolicited email or call or text or any other contact from a federal or local agency saying you need to do something NOW RIGHT NOW to make sure your ballot is counted, stop. Do not do the thing they are telling you you must do.

Take a moment to figure out what agency they claim to be contacting you from, and then hang up, close the email, whatever. Go to a search engine, and find the OFFICIAL WEBSITE of whatever department. Call the number you find there. When you get through to a person, say “[Name] contacted me claiming to be from [department] about [issue], and I wanted to verify that this is not a scam.” The person on the other end of the line will either say “that’s a scam” or “no that could be a real issue, let me transfer you to someone who can help.”

You will never get a phone call about a warrant for basically anything. You will get a letter.

You do NOT need to pay to cure your ballot, or to overturn a warrant, or any other reason someone claiming to be a government agent might give you. If you have to pay a fine, you will receive a letter, and be told where to pay it. You will never need to pay using gift cards or cryptocurrency.

PLEASE be scam aware right now, as emotions and urgency are really high.

[terriwriting]

They were driving a rented 2024 Chevy Malibu with Oklahoma plates. The traffic stop escalated when the musicians said they were Canadians. After an officer brought out a detection dog, the sisters were told the vehicle had tested positive for narcotics. After a physical search turned up nothing more than a bottle of wine and one of the sister’s medication, the questioning continued.

“The officer speaking to me seemed to believe that Canada was the root of where all these drugs were coming from,” Cassie said. “It seemed very much in line with the narrative that has recently been touted.”

The Trump administration has accused Canada of flooding the U.S. with the synthetic opioid fentanyl. The unsubstantiated claim is being used as pretext for tariffs placed on Canadian goods.

Before the MacDonald sisters were released from their detainment, they were both subjected, in separate police vehicles by different officers, to a loyalty test.

“Mine asked, ‘I have an important question to ask you, which do you prefer, Canada or the United States?’” Cassie said. “It seemed weighted, as if whether we were going to be given a further difficult time or if we were going to have the opportunity to go on our way depended on the answer I gave.”

[liberaljane]

Digital illustration of an indigenous man with two braids wearing a jean jacket. There's text that reads, 'Columbus didn't discover anything.'

[auntierayeraye]

[bubonickitten]

"HB 777 not only would fine libraries and librarians, but it would possibly require hard labor by those found guilty. Read that again: librarians would be sentenced to hard labor for daring to join their largest professional organization.

The bill would also potentially kill one of the largest graduate school programs in the state of Louisiana, Louisiana State University’s Masters of Library and Information Science program. Like all Master of Library and Information Science programs, it is accredited by the ALA and goes through a rigorous process to ensure that the curriculum is up-to-date and aligned with best practices in libraries.

Even if the bill is limited “only” to the use of tax money to support membership or attendance/enrollment in ALA-sponsored professional development, take a moment to look into whether or not police, fire, or other public entities are subject to similar legislation in Louisiana or elsewhere. You probably know the answer–and you probably won’t be surprised that one of the few institutional benefits offered to library workers is such membership.

If you haven’t been paying attention until now or you’ve thought these fears when laid out over the last several years were hyperbole and this is your wakeup call, there’s no time like the present to get to work advocating on behalf of your library. If you live in Louisiana, contact your representatives as soon as possible (here’s a very easy way to do that!). You can also reach out to Kellee Dickerson by phone at (225) 380-4232 and email hse064@legis.la.gov.

Then, reach out to your own libraries and offer your support, either by showing up at board meetings and/or running for those board positions when vacancies occur. Go borrow books from the library and get your writing hands going with letters to your local papers.

EveryLibrary also has a petition you can sign related to HB777."

Please take the time to sign the petition, spread the word, and support your local library.

[todaysbird]

i hope after doing nothing about bird flu some kind of alfred hitchcock scenario arises where rfk jr. is trapped in an enclosed space with many angry, sickly birds

[bigboysdrinkmilk]