#U.S. support

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Former President of Poland Lech Wałęsa wrote the following letter to Trump.

Your Excellency, Mr. President,

We watched your conversation with President Volodymyr Zelensky with fear and distaste. It is insulting that you expect Ukraine to show gratitude for U.S. material aid in its fight against russia. Gratitude is owed to the heroic Ukrainian soldiers who have been shedding their blood for over 11 years to defend the free world’s values and their homeland, attacked by Putin’s russia.

How can the leader of a country symbolizing the free world fail to recognize this?

The Oval Office atmosphere during this conversation reminded us of interrogations by the Security Services and Communist court debates. Back then, prosecutors and judges, acting on behalf of the communist political police, told us they held all the power while we had none. They demanded we stop our activities, arguing that innocent people suffered because of us. They stripped us of our freedoms for refusing to cooperate or express gratitude for our oppression. We are shocked that President Zelensky was treated similarly.

History shows that when the U.S. distanced itself from democratic values and its European allies, it ultimately endangered itself. President Wilson understood this in 1917 when the U.S. joined World War I. President Roosevelt knew it after Pearl Harbor in 1941, realizing that defending America meant fighting in both the Pacific and Europe alongside nations attacked by the Third Reich.

Without President Reagan and U.S. financial support, the Soviet empire’s collapse would not have been possible. Reagan recognized the suffering of millions in Soviet russia and its conquered nations, including thousands of political prisoners. His greatness lay in his unwavering stance, calling the USSR an “Empire of Evil” and confronting it decisively. We won, and today, his statue stands in Warsaw, facing the U.S. Embassy.

Mr. President, military and financial aid cannot be equated with the blood shed for Ukraine’s independence and the freedom of Europe and the world. Human life is priceless. Gratitude is due to those who sacrifice their blood and freedom—something self-evident to us, former political prisoners of the communist regime under Soviet russia.

We urge the U.S. to uphold the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, which established a direct obligation to defend Ukraine’s borders in exchange for giving up nuclear weapons. These guarantees are unconditional—nowhere do they suggest such aid is a mere economic transaction.

Signed,

Lech Wałęsa, former political prisoner, President of Poland

[trendynewsnow]

Ukraine's Vice Prime Minister Expresses Optimism for Continued EU Support Amid Political Changes

Ukraine’s Vice Prime Minister Optimistic About Continued Support Amid Political Changes Amid escalating concerns regarding the potential withdrawal of crucial U.S. support for Kyiv following Donald Trump’s election as President, Ukraine’s Vice Prime Minister for European Integration, Olha Stefanishyna, expressed her belief that the European Union will step in to bolster support for Ukraine. She…

[creativemedianews]

Israel and Iran exchange threats, raising regional war risk

Israel and Iran exchange threats, raising regional war risk #Hezbollah #Iran #Israel #missilestrike #regionalwar

[remindertoclick]

Here's your daily reminder to click for Palestine!!!

U.S. residents, take 5 minutes and use this link to pressure your members of Congress to stop sending weapons to the Israeli military!!

(Letter variants you can copy/paste under the cut!!)

Original letter written by Jewish Voice for Peace:

I am writing as your constituent to ask that you do everything in your power to press the Biden administration to suspend all weapons shipments to the Israeli military, and oppose all future military funding to Israel. The Israeli government has vowed to push forward with a large-scale military operation in Rafah, even though President Biden has repeatedly said such an operation would be a "red line." On May 7, the Israeli military seized the Rafah border crossing, a crucial passage for humanitarian aid, and ordered 100,000 Palestinians in eastern Rafah to evacuate. The 1.3 million displaced Palestinians sheltering in Rafah will have nowhere to flee should a full invasion commence. Millions of Palestinian lives now hang in the balance. I urge you to do everything in your power to stop this unfolding catastrophe before it's too late. Thank you.

Slight variations I created (so that emails don't get marked as spam for being identical to each other)

Variation 1:

I'm writing to you as your constituent to ask you to do everything you can to pressure the Biden administration into suspending all weapons shipments to the Israeli military and opposing any and all future military funding to Israel! The Israeli government is pushing forward with a large-scale military operation in Rafah. President Biden has repeatedly said such an operation would be a "red line," yet his administration is still supporting this operation. On May 7th 2024, the Israeli military seized the Rafah border crossing, a crucial passage for humanitarian aid, and forced 100,000 Palestinians in eastern Rafah to abandon their homes. 1.3 million Palestinians have been displaced. Those sheltering in Rafah have nowhere to flee during a full invasion. Millions of Palestinian lives now hang in the balance. Their fate lies in the hands on Congress, in your hands. I urge you to do everything in your power to stop this unfolding catastrophe before it's too late. Thank you.

Variation 2:

I'm writing you today to ask that you do everything in your power to convince the Biden administration to stop funding Israel. We have to telk them to stop all shipments of weapons to the Israeli military and oppose all future military funding to Israel. The Israeli government has vowed to push forward with a large-scale military operation in Rafah... President Biden made it clear that such an operation would be a "red line," and yet he continues to fund them. On May 7th of this year, the Israeli military seized the Rafah border crossing, a crucial passage for humanitarian aid, and forced 100,000 Palestinians to flee their own home of Eastern Rafah. Should a full invasion commence, 1.3 million displaced Palestinians sheltering in Rafah will have nowhere safe to go. Millions of Palestinian lives now hang in the balance. I am begging you now, as your constituent, to do everything in your power to stop this unfolding catastrophe before it's too late... Thank you

[snwb]

Imagine being in this overwhelming scene... and then telling me you wouldn’t go.

But what if you were a father of four children, living in the city of death—Gaza—under war, siege, and famine?

What if your children only wanted a piece of bread?

The choice becomes unimaginably harder.

These people, before the war, used to go to the supermarket to buy groceries, and to the bakery to buy bread.

Their lives were just like yours, until this nightmare began.

They have taken revenge on us.

They have humiliated us.

They have deprived us even of food, of escape, of leaving Gaza.

Our children are dying—if not from the bombs, then from hunger or disease.

Imagine if a barn of animals were treated on camera the way we are being treated. The world would rise up in outrage—animal rights groups would take action everywhere.

So what about us? We are human beings, just like you.

We are slaughtered and killed every single day.

One hundred to two hundred people die daily—and on massacre days, it can reach 500 to 1,000 in a single day.

Children, women, the elderly.

Have you ever stopped to rub your eyes and ask yourself:

Why are these people still being exterminated?

Why is the whole world against them?

Why is Israel being supplied daily with the missiles and bombs that rain down on them?

Isn’t what these people are living through enough to break your heart?

We are exhausted. We are broken. We now crave even the most basic foods.

We no longer fear death—but until our turn comes to die under the bombs, we just want to eat.

Donate so we can stay alive, please.💔

[capricorn-0mnikorn]

For those not in the know, the decorated quilts would simply go unnoticed, but for those looking for signs, "the quilts conveyed messages to people who were about to escape, who were planning to escape, and also for people that were on the run," she said. She becomes emotional when thinking about the lengths people went to to help one another reach freedom.

[lakecountylibrary]

That's a nice interlibrary loan service you have there.

Be a shame if something were to happen to it.

If this is the first you're hearing of it, here are more details on what's going on with the Institute of Museum and Library Services and how you can help.

And here's that link from the end card: ala.org/showup

--

[Video Description: A librarian frantically unloading books from a cart full of Interlibrary Loan bags marked Info Express. The clip is sped up to 1.5 speed and "Flight of the Bumblebee" is playing in the background. He shelves books as fast as he can onto the library holds shelf, occasionally fumbling one, while another librarian very calmly and slowly checks the items off on a clipboard.

The music stops abruptly and we cut to a shelf of books with one of the interlibrary loan bags displayed prominently in front. The librarian who was shelving slides the books away so we can see him through the shelf. He says "Lake County Public Library borrows and lends over 800 items a month using our interlibrary loan service - a service only possible thanks to IMLS." He slides the books back into place with gusto.

"Flight of the Bumblebee" resumes as the end card appears, reading Support Your Libraries and Museums! Tell Congress to Save IMLS! Visit ala.org/showup to see how you can help. /description]

Music Credit: Composition: Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. Performer: US Army Band, Public Domain

[juvinadelgreko]

modern four horsemen:

1. billionaires

2. tech bros

3. wellness influencers

4. evangelical pastors

[thisbitchnmoanin]

i kinda hate the lack of accountability leftists who shamed/ told people not to vote kamala still have after everything has been said and done. despite that the election was stolen and we now know kamala won, they’re just as guilty as the minorities who voted against their best interests. and helped a dictator rise to power. please hop off the invisible moral high ground. you were never justified. and you didn’t help palestinians. if anything it made things worse because the guy who’s our president will gladly watch them die.

[saywhat-politics]

Many of Trump’s top supporters who helped him win last year are now attacking him over his tariff policy, including Joe Rogan, Ben Shapiro, Dave Portnoy, and Bill Ackman.

“We are heading for a self-induced, economic nuclear winter.”

Joe Rogan, Dave Portnoy and Ben Shapiro are among Trump backers now questioning tariffs

[trendynewsnow]

Biden Authorizes Long-Range Missile Use by Ukraine Against Russian Forces

Biden Authorizes Use of Long-Range Missiles by Ukraine In a significant shift in U.S. military policy, President Biden has granted authorization for the first deployment of U.S.-supplied long-range missiles by Ukraine for strikes within Russian territory, according to U.S. officials. This decision comes amidst escalating tensions and has sparked a debate among his advisers. The long-range…

[brw]

"but hamas is getting funded by extremist islamic hate groups!" do you think the U.S. government and military giving funding for israeli's war efforts against palestinians is a morally neutral and inherently righteous body that had no influence in the politics of southwest asia as a global colonial superpower. do you really think anything you can say about the people resisting oppression can't be said about the oppressors.

[sm64mario]

happy pride month mario

Happy'a Pride Month! Let'sa all remember to'a Play It Proud, no matter what! And remember, Mario'a stand by you!

...We, uh.

If it weren't for'a the fact we were launching'a the Switch 2 this'a month, we'a probably would have been more all in on that.

No other reason.

[eugenedebs1920]

The master class for deception begins and ends with the once “GOP”. They have used lies and misinformation to manipulate a way too large percentage of the American electorate. All these cries for patriotism, telling people to love it or leave it, waving Trump flags and Don’t Tread on Me flags. All these proclamations of claiming to support the troops, placating to a sense of pride for their country and appreciation for those who fought to protect it. All the while they treat those who gave everything for their country, Those who left their families to fight for America and Americas principles, they treat them as if they don’t matter, as if their service meant nothing.

Where’s the patriotism in that!? Where’s the loyalty to service members in that!?. EVERY SINGLE NAY FOR THE PACT ACT WAS A REPUBLICAN! It’s shameful. It’s wrong! The fact that maga is out there cheering on this dictatorship, the destruction of our republic. The end of American democracy. It’s a f*ckin disgrace!!

Check the voting records. As Helene was forming in the gulf EVERY SINGLE REPUBLICAN voted against funding for FEMA. Same can be said for guaranteed overtime pay. Same with raising the minimum wage from $7.25 to an actual living wage. Same can be said about the SAVE act, which will disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of married women who took their husbands last name, and anyone who doesn’t have a passport and can’t locate their birth certificate, to combat the 0.0001 percent of “suspected” voter fraud.

The sooner the American people, especially those who vote Republican, realize that todays Republican Party has no interests in protecting you, or middle class Americans, or Veterans, or seniors, or the environment, or proposals on any policy that would make life better for the 98% of us who make up this country, the better.

It’s all culture wars, trans this, and gays that, DEI this, white Christians are the most discriminated that, Biden this, Obama that, what about this, and they did that though. Grow the f*ck up and take some accountability! Do your job! Represent you damn constituents! For f*cks sake!!

Today’s “GOP” is specifically grand for corporations, the ultra wealthy, and foreigners intent on seeing America fall. Like Rupert Murdoch, Elon Musk, Peter Theil, any billionaire that would fund their lavish lifestyle and campaign. The GOP are the enemy of the people. It’s all documented in the voting records of congress. Take a look.

[lakecountylibrary]

sending much love in this everyone is getting defunded time 💕💕💕💕 hope u guys are doing ok

Hi! Thanks! We are Going Through It!

The truth is, we don't how bad it's going to be for us specifically. You've heard of the federal-level funding problems; here in Indiana we're undergoing our own budget trials as well. Your support means the world to us.

I've put details about our state-level challenges as well as a refresher on the federal funding problems under the cut but here's the tl;dr:

There isn't much you can do for LCPL at the state level right now, but please call Congress and tell them to support libraries at the federal level.

The proposed FY2026 budget completely eliminates IMLS and that's not good. The American Library Association has a tool to make calling easy, complete with script!

And here are the promised details:

At the federal level:

The current administration used an executive order to dismantle the Institute of Museum and Library Services, which provided millions of dollars in grants to libraries across the country.

These IMLS grants were used to fund things like interlibrary loan systems, research databases, and braille/talking books libraries.

As of May 1, a temporary restraining order has been placed preventing the further dismantling of the department while things are investigated, but a lot of damage has been done.

On May 2, President Trump's FY2026 budget proposal [PDF] was released. On page 39, it calls for the complete elimination of IMLS (as well as many other departments such as the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts). The American Library Association was able to sue for that temporary restraining order we mentioned partially because Congress HAD funded the IMLS for 2025. If Congress opts not to fund it for 2026 as suggested in this proposal, that'll be it.

This is the part where I repeat: please call Congress and ask them to support libraries. Here's the link with the script again.

And here's what's going on locally in Indiana:

Funding for Dolly Parton's Imagination Library has been eliminated from the state budget. After some pressure, Governor Braun has handed the program over to his spouse to try to fund-raise what's needed to keep it running across the state. Here's an article from the Post-Tribune with some library officials' perspectives on that decision.

Funding for the Indiana State Library has been cut by 30% (HEA 1001)

A new property tax bill has been passed (SEA 1) that will drastically cut libraries' main source of income. The Indiana Library Federation reported: "The Legislative Services Agency’s fiscal impact statement shows that SEA 1 would reduce public library funding by over $12.2 million in 2026, growing to nearly $16.8 million by 2028." (source, PDF)

So it's sort of... a lot. Lately. Thank you for reading all of this, and thank you for supporting your libraries!

[hug-your-face]

If the response to fascist bullying isn't to punch the Nazi, then it's the wrong response.

"Decorum" is not an effective strategy against an opponent that only understands fear and force. A really great story from Heather Cox Richardson.

...But today’s struggle within the Democratic Party shows a split between those who lead an opposition party devoted to keeping the government functioning, and a number of Democrats who are stepping into the position of leading the resistance to MAGA as it tries to destroy the American government. Praise for those resisters shows the popular demand for leaders who will stand up to Trump and Musk.

In a similar moment in 1856, newly elected representative from Massachusetts Anson Burlingame catapulted to popularity by standing up to the elite southern enslavers who had dominated the government for years.

Blustering, threatening, and manipulating the mechanics of the government, southern lawmakers had come to expect their northern political opponents, who valued civil discourse and compromise, to cave. Southern leaders threw their weight around to gather more and more power over the country into their hands. Finally, in 1854, they overreached, forcing through Congress the Kansas-Nebraska Act that permitted them to spread human enslavement into the American West. In the following elections, northerners sent to Congress a very different breed of representatives.

On May 22, 1856, pro-slavery representative Preston Brooks of South Carolina came up behind Massachusetts senator Charles Sumner and beat him nearly to death on the floor of the Senate after Sumner had given an antislavery speech Brooks found objectionable. But rather than pleading for calm and compromise in the wake of the attack, Burlingame had had enough. On June 21 he rose and gave a speech about his colleague and his state, calling it “Defence of Massachusetts.”

Burlingame stood up for his state, refuting the insults southerners had thrown at Massachusetts in recent speeches and insulting southerners in return. And Burlingame did something far more important. He called out the behavior of the southern leaders as they worked to attack the principles that supported “the very existence of the Government itself.”

“[T]he sons of Massachusetts are educated at the knees of their mothers, in the doctrines of peace and good will, and God knows, they desire to cultivate those feelings—feelings of social kindness, and public kindness,” Burlingame said. But he warned his southern colleagues that northerners were excellent soldiers and that “if we are pushed too long and too far,” northerners would fight to defend their lives, their principles, and their country.

Burlingame provoked Brooks, and he, temperamentally unable to resist any slight, challenged Burlingame to a duel. Brooks assumed all Yankees were cowards and figured that Burlingame would decline in embarrassment. But Burlingame accepted with enthusiasm, choosing rifles as the dueling weapons. Burlingame was an expert marksman.

Burlingame also chose to duel in Canada, giving Brooks the opportunity to back out on the grounds that he felt unsafe traveling through the North after his beating of Sumner made him a hated man. The negotiations for the duel went on for months, and the duel never took place. Burlingame had turned Brooks, known as “Bully” Brooks, into a figure of ridicule, revealing that when he faced an equal opponent, his bravado was bluster.

Forgotten now, Burlingame’s speech was once widely considered one of the most important speeches in American history. It marked the moment when northerners shocked southerners by standing up to them and vowing that the North would fight for democracy. Northerners rallied to Burlingame’s call and, in so doing, reshaped politics.

Make your voice heard. Our congresscritters need to hear "If you're not going to FIGHT for democracy then make room for someone who WILL."