When They Go Low, We Go High – Part 2

(You got the sugar… now here’s the medicine…)

First, I need to say this:

I really like Michelle Obama. And yeah, I loved it when she said “when they go low, we go high”. So she is not the one I’m mad it. She is not the one who made this bullshit. It’s everyone else. People have twisted this statement in the same way white people like to twist MLK to use him against, for example, Black Lives Matter protesters.

When Michelle Obama said it, she was talking about being better than Donald Trump. We had the moral high ground. And for an election, it was a great soundbite that probably contributed to Hillary Clinton’s 3-million popular-vote win.

But the thing is, His Lowness, the Cheeto Fascist, Agent Orange of Fake-Tan-Landia, won the electoral college.

And “going high” is costing us way too much.

[Read more…]

When They Go Low, We Go High – Part 1

You know, I really debated making this part of my Self Care series. It really should be, because it’s just so… so… satisfying. In the end, I decided not to for two reasons:

My Self Care series is on a set schedule: every day at noon. Today’s Self Care post has already gone up, and I want to put this up today.

Also, this is going to be the sugar to a spoonful of medicine I plan on dropping shortly about the whole “when they go low, we go high” bullshit.

So…

If you want, consider this part of the Self Care series. I know I do.

And what is it I’m talking about?

Neo-Nazi Richard Spencer getting punched in the face:

[Read more…]

From HuffPo: “The Most Dangerous Bill You’ve Never Heard Of Just Passed The House”

Oh great. Wonderful.

This is where we’re headed…

The Most Dangerous Bill You’ve Never Heard Of Just Passed The House

Last, week, under the cover of a media bliss-out except among Koch funded right-wing channels, the House of Representatives passed a bill which would effectively repeal future standard setting under every important environmental, public health, consumer protection, labor standards, occupational safety and civil rights law on the books.

The bill, called the REINS Act, requires that any future major regulation adopted by an Executive Agency — say a new toxic chemical standard required by the recently enacted Chemical Safety Act, or a new consumer protection rule about some innovative but untested kind of food additive — must be approved by a specific resolution in each House of Congress within 70 days to take effect.

[Read more…]

The Resistance Manual – a Project by Stay Woke

Because I’m signed up to Campaign Zero, I got an email today from Deray Mckesson. It was to tell subscribers about The Resistance Manual.

To quote from the email:

Today, we launch the Resistance Manual — an open-source platform to collect information/resources to resist Trump’s agenda & to continue making progress towards equity and justice in America.

Explore the manual to learn about the policies the incoming administration plans to pursue, how they’ll impact our communities, and what you can do to stop them through federal, state, and local advocacy.

You can also find and contribute essential readings in resistance, learn and contribute information about policy issues in your state, and view a growing list of tools and organizations that can help to strengthen your advocacy efforts.

The manual will grow over time as more and more people contribute updates, facts and resources to it. As such, we encourage you to contribute important information for others to read.

If you would like to assist us in growing the content within the Resistance Manual, please reply to this e-mail directly.

We also urge you to dial (844)-6-RESIST to tell Congress to support the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) and to vote against Jeff Sessions.

Get educated. Get organized. Take Action.

// DeRay, Netta, Brittany, & Sam

P.S. Shout-out to Chi/Donahoe for assisting with Design.

I really don’t have much to add. Please join the wiki, use, and contribute.

I’ve been ignoring the Orange Cheeto Fascist up to now because I simply cannot believe it. And while I was pretending this past presidential election didn’t happen, fucking Jeff Sessions (the man so racist that Strom Thurmond didn’t want him to be a federal judge in Alabama in 1986) was nominated as Attorney General. I cannot express how badly I want him rejected, but I have little to no hope.

The Resistance Manual is a place to gather and collect all of the ways, large and small, we can resist and fight for the next four years. Please join, contribute, and use for your own activism, as I will be for mine.

Thank you.

From Marcus Ranum: Fellow Travelers

So I recently made three posts about my disappointment in Wikileaks and it’s fans. I am still angry about how they have been acting over this most recent presidential election. As Marcus Ranum noted, what I’m experiencing is the realization that Wikileaks was never an organization for good, but a vanity project by Julian Assange to boost his own ego; and that it was Assange and another hacker, Adrian Lamo, who threw Chelsea Manning under the bus.

Marcus wrote an incredible post about all this, drawing from his own first-hand experience with such hackers. I’ll quote the bit about what happened to Chelsea Manning here. But please, go and read the entire thing. It’s a long read, yes, but it’s very good, and deserves your full attention.

[Read more…]

Is WikiLeaks Being Run by 13-Year-Olds? Or Just Their Task Force Account?

The worst thing about all this is that I feel like I’m being forced to join a whole bunch of conservatives and people on Twitter blocked by the Block Bot to do this criticism, and it makes me feel dirty.

To sum up… a while back, as you may recall, WikiLeaks got in some trouble for doxxing people’s private lives. More recently (as of yesterday), WikiLeaks got angry because Obama’s administration decided to anonymously share some of the CIA’s report linking senior Russian officials, including Vladimir Putin, to the DNC email server hack.

You know, I remember a time when WikiLeaks was praised. Even those of us who always wanted Assange to face a court of law for the rape accusations leveled against him pretty much liked what WikiLeaks was doing. Maybe that’s because they became a thing during the Bush II Administration, and as a result, were leaking things that really hurt that administration. But it’s not like President Obama’s administration wasn’t hurt by leaking, both from WikiLeaks and from Edward Snowden. And I support all of that despite largely being a very big fan of President Obama (I cannot express in words how badly I’m going to miss him and the entire family; I have major issues with his foreign policy, but he was a great president, as far as I’m concerned).

But either I’ve been blind to what WikiLeaks really is up until now, or they just decided that now was the time to show their true colors… either that, or a 13-year-old is running their @WLTaskForce account…

[Read more…]

IMPORTANT! Call to Action! The Injustice Boycott

This will be short and sweet.

It’s called the Injustice Boycott, and it launched Monday, December 5. That link is to the main page. Here is Shaun King’s article on it, and here is the page to sign up. And here is the Facebook community page.

This is your ULTIMATE call to action.

Fight injustice.

Boycott fascism.

Will you join thousands, and help grow the movement to millions?

14468749_899467950186603_9158773021670740772_o

Starting on December 5th, 2016. INJUSTICE BOYCOTT. We’ve done it before – we can do it again. We are 90,001 people strong (updated daily). Click here for our plan. Join the Boycott.

Planting Peace Fundraiser: Transgender House

I’m sorry but… how is this only 16% funded?

Where is everybody?

Why hasn’t this already screamed past its initial goal?

We need to fix this, readers.

Here’s the link to the donation page. Here’s Upworthy’s article on it. If you can’t donate, then please share with your friends. Get it funded.

Please. This would be amazing. And Avery Jackson deserves it.

————————————————————————————

ETA: They did still buy and paint the house, so it now exists. Which is awesome. But I still see no reason that campaign shouldn’t finish getting the funding. I think that treat would be wonderful.

From En Tequila Es Verdad: Ban Bannon – Call Your Reps

I’m going to quote most of it here, but make no mistake… you WILL click on this link. This is one of MANY calls to action.

I’m going to say it outright:

WE ARE AT WAR

 

Trump is not welcome as my president, and, if you are a decent person, he should not be welcome as yours. And this, my friends, is your first battle:

Ban Stephen Bannon. Do not allow him to be elected by Donald Trump. He is the very definition of a White Supremacist. The KKK, Neo-Nazis, and many others fucking love him. He cannot be allowed to be Trump’s Joseph Goebbels. He must be stopped.

[Read more…]

Best of the Left: Consent is Sexy (Rape Culture)

(Content Warning: Discussion of Rape and Rape Culture)

I will go ahead and apologize upfront for the lack of transcripts. This relies a lot on audio. So I’m sorry for that. Unfortunately, Jay does not provide transcripts. If anyone’s up for it, please do! I’ll see if I have time to do one myself, at least for clip I link here below. Also, this won’t be long (in part because I thought I had a day off, but I’ve been called into work, so). I just really want to highlight this.

Here’s the episode’s blog post. Included in that link are individual links to the different clips (and music) used.

The entire podcast is, of course, about rape culture. It’s a very sobering look at where we are today in terms of how we treat women, and how we treat those who are victims of rape and sexual assault. Ignore the comments (as always), as there’s one asshole in there who, as usual, refuses to get it (reads like an MRA, frankly), but the episode itself is really good, if really angering.

[Read more…]