#Legislative Action

[ivygorgon]

An open letter to the U.S. Congress

Stop Elon Musk from stealing our personal information!

6,399 so far! Help us get to 10,000 signers!

I am writing to urge you to stop Elon Musk from stealing our personal information.

It appears Musk has hacked into millions of Americans’ personal information and now has access to their taxes, Social Security, student debt and financial aid filings. Musk's so-called Department of Government Efficiency was not created by Congress—it is operating with zero transparency and in clear violation of federal law.

This violation of our privacy is causing American families across the country to fear for our privacy, safety and dignity. If this goes unchecked, Musk could steal our private data to help in making cuts to vital government programs that our families depend on—and to make it easier to cut taxes for himself and other billionaires.

We must have guardrails to stop this unlawful invasion of privacy.

Congress and the Trump administration must stop Elon Musk from stealing Americans' tax and other private data.

▶ Created on February 10 by Jess Craven · 6,398 signers in the past 7 days

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[strryhaze]

rosemary kennedy

true compass, ted kennedy / irene from red velvet, gq magazine / if your hands are full of fire, l.a. johnson / would’ve could’ve should’ve, taylor swift .

[victoriajanssen]

The Congressional Budget Office reports that the Republicans’ current version of the federal budget will trigger 500 Billion Dollars in cuts to Medicare, in addition to the massive cuts to Medicaid and SNAP that are expressly being requested.

The cuts to Medicare will happen automatically because of something called PAYGO. Via the Tax Policy Center: "PAYGO, which stands for “pay as you go,” is a budget rule requiring that tax cuts and mandatory spending increases must be offset (i.e., “paid for”) by tax increases or cuts in mandatory spending."

Because the Republican-sponsored bill will add 2-3 Trillion Dollars to the federal deficit, it will require these cuts. They can’t be waived. They are mandatory.

All this is to give tax cuts to billionaires. That's the reason for the cuts. This hurts everyone, and hurts them badly. It hurts individuals and it hurts hospitals.

This is a very good time to call your congressperson and senators, or email them, or send them a fax, or wave signs in front of them. And convince your friends and family to do the same.

[queerpunktomatoes]

I am devastated about the HR 1 ("big beautiful bill") vote. In the Senate, it came down to a tie, 50-50, with JD Vance breaking it in favor moving forward. The good news is that a ton of stuff has been removed from the bill. It's going back for another House vote.

Call your representative in the House. Please. This link takes you to exactly what number to call and exactly what to say. Call after hours. Leave a voicemail. Stumble over your words. It's okay. Just make the tally of calls your representative is getting bigger. Please.

[sirpuntine]

"I'm just one person" "government won’t listen to me" Babe no one can do it alone - that’s why it’s called collective action

Do what you can and trust that countless people you'll never meet are doing the same. Call once a week to recite a script and suddenly you're a thread in a wide web of advocates working together to pressure our representatives like peers in a DARE ad

🐊 NO “ALLIGATOR ALCATRAZ” IN BIG CYPRESS PRESERVE, FL EVERGLADES

❗️IMPEACH TRUMP ASAP

🇵🇸 EMAIL CONGRESS ~ RELEASE AID TO PALESTINE AND CEASE US FUNDED GENOCIDE

Autistic Self Advocacy Network - Proxy Caller System

Volunteers call representatives for disabled people who can’t. Intake closes when volunteers are at capacity, if so check again later!

PLEASE VOLUNTEER AS A CALLER 🙏 Email info@proxycaller.org with your full name and email

Call Scripts:

A non-exhaustive Master List in progress

Find your representatives and their contact information here. This and this can help you prepare. This and this and this have tips and examples for writing your own scripts. This has various resources and advice for contacting reps.

General: This is regarding hr1526, and this is SAVE. This and this are a list of scripts covering a wide range of issues. This supports the Dept of Ed (rip).

LGBTQIA+: This shows pending anti-LGBTQIA+ bills. This is for Christians against anti-trans legislation, this is for Jews against anti-Igbtqia+ legislation, this and this are secular. This includes information and multiple scripts to support trans people (tell reps to support this bill).

Health: This is to protect NIH and CDC. This and this and this support section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. This supports Medicaid. This is for #stoptheshock.

Foreign Policy: This and this and this are for USAID, this is against Trump's anti-immigrant executive orders, and this is to protect unaccompanied immigrant kids. Humanti has many scripts for Palestine. This is to support refugees and humanitarian aid.

Environment: This caption includes a script for rehiring park service employees. This and this are for protecting the Endangered Species Act. This opposes Trump's EOs on timber production.

Not everyone can attend in-person protests or donate regularly. But if you can access this post, you have the means to call or email your representatives. If you live in a red state it is especially important to voice your support for people in the direct line of fire. Community is our last defense against leaders intent on abusing power.

[welcometoqueer]

Can you help spread word of the No Kings Act?

Absolutely!

The No Kings Act was proposed by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer in response to the right-wing Supreme Court’s ruling to provide Trump with “absolute immunity.”

This ruling would let Trump off the hook for any and all his criminal charges, making him a “king” above the law.

The No Kings Act would invalidate this ruling by saying the president of the United States does not have immunity for criminal actions. This legislation is necessary to preserve democracy by holding its offenders accountable.

Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said, “The founders were explicit - no man in America shall be a king.”

In her dissenting opinion on the absolute immunity ruling, Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote, "In every use of official power, the president is now a king above the law." She added that she feared for our democracy.

Furthermore, President Biden has proposed an amendment to the Constitution to declare that “no one is above the law.”

Passing a constitutional amendment is difficult, it must be passed by two-thirds (2/3) of both houses of Congress as well as ratified by three-fourths (3/4) of state legislators, but it can be done with collective organizing and support.

Sign petitions and contact your representatives about the No Kings Act:

Read about it here:

Build support for a constitutional amendment against presidential immunity:

[kaurwreck]

The average American's ignorance of federalism and the separation of powers is going to fuck us on child online protection legislation if the same energy that is going towards KOSA isn't dedicated towards state legislatures too.

The federal efforts towards KOSA have moved much more slowly than state efforts, and Section 301 of KOSA is drafted with language that permits much more restrictive state legislation because Congress is trying to avoid preempting the 23+ child online protection bills already passed by states, and the many more being considered by states.

[alwaysinbetweeninsaneandinsecure]

This family has had a rough year (fleeing an anti-trans state and becoming unhoused in the process). They are now finally housed, but in need of more assistance to get settled & have a chance to finally thrive. Please give what you are able to and share.

[ivygorgon]

An open letter to the U.S. Senate

Vote NO on Project 2025 author Russell Vought for OMB!

9,081 so far! Help us get to 10,000 signers!

I’m a constituent writing to say that I’m outraged that Trump is working with Elon Musk to shut down the functions of our federal government. I’m also furious about the attempts to “freeze” federal spending. And I know that all of this goes straight back to Trump’s nominee for OMB Director, Russell Vought. If confirmed, moreover, I know that Vought will further enable Trump’s and Musk’s unconstitutional power grab.

Vought has made it clear in his confirmation hearings that his allegiance is to Trump and not to our Constitution. If he is put in charge of OMB, he will greenlight Trump and Musk’s coup which would cause devastating harm to millions of people in our communities.

Please stand up against Trump’s assault on our democracy. I expect the Senator to call for Vought’s nomination to be withdrawn and to vote NO if his confirmation moves forward. Remember that you work for us. Thanks.

▶ Created on February 4 by Jess Craven · 9,080 signers in the past 7 days

📱 Text SIGN PYEICM to 50409 to sign!

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[x-brik-x]

99% of the discourse on this piss on the poor ass webbed site wouldn't exist if y'all knew the difference between discrimination, oppression and lateral aggression

[victoriajanssen]

US Folks: Tell Your Friends and Family About the Republicans' Terrible Budget Bill NOW. The Senate could vote as soon as Wednesday, 6/25.

Encourage people to call their legislators, email them, fax them. Anything.

45% of likely voters don't realize Medicaid is on the line.

Gutting hundreds of billions from Medicaid means 16 million people lose their health insurance. 10 million people currently enrolled in Medicaid will become uninsured.

When people lose their jobs, they will be ineligible to enroll in Medicaid and ineligible for the marketplace under this bill.

When Members say “we’re not making cuts that hurt people with disabilities,” because it's not true. The last time federal Medicaid funding was reduced, every single state cut home care in some way. And the cuts to Medicaid will destabilize the home care job market.

The proposed cuts will ALSO trigger cuts to Medicare.

[shanedoesdoodles]

Trying very very very very hard not to go all doomer over the election results

[dykesbites]

i think everyone in the notes of this post should kill themself but this person especially genuinely wtf is wrong with you. stop using trans women as a gotcha. and EVEN IF the terf island jokes were funny or accurate (they are neither) why the hell are you accusing this random person of being a transmisogynist ?? for saying some people are poor??

[ivygorgon]

📨 An open letter to the President & U.S. Congress

🗽 Defend democracy against Project 2025's authoritarian agenda

✍️ 109 so far! Help us get to 250 signers!

Project 2025 represents a severe threat to our democracy. This extreme right-wing agenda seeks to consolidate power for Trump and his allies, undermining the checks and balances that protect our republic. We cannot allow them to dismantle LGBTQ+ rights, reproductive freedom, and constitutional protections for marginalized communities.

Congress must take swift action to resist this authoritarian push. Every member of Congress has a responsibility to safeguard the rule of law through legislation, oversight, and confirmations. The future of our nation relies on your commitment to upholding our democratic values and protecting human rights for all Americans.

▶ Created on November 7 by Michael

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[notasapleasure]

A tale of two Georgias

Note: I wouldn't normally share subscriber-exclusive content from this news site, but I think Shota Kincha's opinions are too important to hide away in an exclusive email this time. If you're so minded, please consider supporting open journalism in the Caucasus anyway and sending some money OCMedia's way.

Highlighting is my own. Of course I support Georgia joining the EU, but absolutely not under conditions that ignore the recent rolling back of democratic freedoms.

---

By Shota Kincha, for OC Media.

On Wednesday, Georgians celebrated a long-awaited recommendation from the European Commission for their nation’s candidacy for EU membership, leaving the country’s candidacy pending just final approval from the heads of EU member states in mid-December. But the Commission’s assessment of the government’s ‘progress’ seemed to be based on wishful thinking, rather than its actions. 

On denying Georgia the status last year, the European Commission outlined 12 ‘priorities’ Georgia would need to address for the decision to be reconsidered — preconditions that largely reflected the spirit of the April 2021 agreement brokered by European Council President Charles Michel between the government and opposition groups.

When the unforeseen possibility for Georgia to formally apply for membership presented itself in early 2022, Georgia’s leadership had already failed on some of the key components of the previous year’s accord. 

Instead of addressing the ‘perception of politicised justice,’ an apparent euphemism for the imprisonment of opposition leaders, most notably Nika Melia in early 2021, the Georgian court imprisoned another prominent government critic, Nika Gvaramia, only five weeks before the European Commission was due to assess Georgia’s readiness for EU membership candidacy.

Instead of the ambitious judicial reform promised in the 2021 Michel deal and mentioned in the EU’s ‘12 priorities’ last year, the ruling Georgian Dream party has continued to shield corrupt judicial officials with a stranglehold on Georgian courts, resulting in more politicised administrative fines and criminal cases against civil activists, political leaders, media managers, or youth with ‘confused orientation’ who risked their freedom to defend Georgia’s pro-Western choice on the streets.

In the run-up to the European Commission’s latest decision on Georgia, the government and security services run by oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili’s goons artificially created an anti-Western parliamentary group, gifted them private channel PosTV, and made violent extremist pro-Russian Alt Info immune to obstruction or challenge. 

If the last five years under Georgian Dream rule had been a steady decline in democratic freedoms, the government’s actions in the months since it applied to join the European Union — including their recent initiatives to clamp down on Georgia’s civil society and constrain protest — far surpassed any and all negative predictions.

But listening to President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, one could have assumed she was discussing an entirely different country. 

Despite Georgia’s government persecuting free media, parroting Russian propaganda against the West, refusing to undertake institutional reforms in a way that included other groups and stakeholders, and satisfying only three of the twelve conditions set last year, the European Commission complimented them with no substantial criticism.

I do not believe the EU should approve Georgian membership candidacy later this year, as the move looks set to validate and entrench the government’s precipitous lurch towards authoritarianism. 

The European Commission’s approach may be based on the belief that denying Georgia candidate status could lead to Georgians becoming disillusioned with the EU and the West. But Georgians have been staunchly pro-Western for decades, perhaps even centuries. 

The real danger to Georgians’ trust in the West comes from the West’s indifference to anti-democratic moves by Georgia’s government, which, if left unchecked, will continue to use state institutions to slowly but steadily shift popular mood and policies towards Russia. 

Even were we to allow that recommending EU candidacy status was a justified decision in Georgia’s best interests, doing so did not obligate the institution’s leaders to legitimise the country’s government in the way they did.

Listening to the widely televised announcement by the European Commission on Wednesday, Georgians could reasonably have concluded that democratic backsliding, state capture by big capital, and a politicised judiciary are consistent with Georgia’s pro-Western aspirations, or that related warnings from local activists and media have been baseless or overblown. 

The announcement could also have created the impression that the ruling party has been delivering on reforms demanded by the EU, a powerful notion less than a year before the country’s next general elections. 

The truth is, however, that in inviting Georgia to join the club while neglecting to call out the government’s shortcomings, the EU is playing a dangerous game, and one it has played before. The EU does not want another Orban, and the South Caucasus definitely does not need another Aliyev.

I may be wrong: perhaps granting Georgia candidate status will still be a wise choice on the EU’s part. But even in its recommendation, the European Commission could have sent a clear message that business as usual would no longer be tolerated. 

What Georgia’s leadership heard instead will become abundantly clear in the coming months.