August 20, 2024 - If you want to help out the activists who have been physically interrupting the flow of weapons to the fascist Israeli state by attacking and occupying arms factories and businesses linked to them, you can donate to Palestine Action's Legal Defence Fund here: https://palestineaction.org/defence-fund/
@amalashuor, her husband, and their baby girl Maryam are constantly on my mind.
Amal, who was still a student when the attack on Gaza interrupted her pursuit of a Master's degree, has had to evacuate time and time again, seeking shelter for her family.
Every time she asks "why isn't my campaign making progress? Who can I speak to to get help?" I feel like I've failed her. Her campaign, which has a very reachable goal, has been stagnating.
We don't know how many opportunities they will to cross the border. We can't take chances. Time is of the essence. If the time comes and the border opens and they haven't reached their goal yet, I don't know what I'll do. They cannot separate, so they must have enough to evacuate all three of them.
Please, please donate, and if you can't, share as far as you can , as urgently as possible.
I will not explain at length. Yesterday I lost the last remaining member of my family in northern Gaza. It broke my heart to see them collecting the little girl's body parts. I couldn't imagine the pain that happened to them. Click. I cannot forget what happened to my family months ago when our house was bombed and a massacre was committed against my family. Click. Lolo's father was killed so that she would become a lone survivor and an orphan. All I can say is there is no time. Please, can you save what's left of my family.
In the case you missed it. In United States Politics, the Biden Administration (current government) has updated Title IX to reword the law to include the line "sexual orientation, gender identity, and sex characteristics." in the "Protections against sex-based harassment and discrimination." section.
Meaning, the same protections afforded to cisgender children in schools against discrimination to transgender children.
Full document here:
These protections were previously added by the Obama administration, then revoked by the Trump Administration.
So why is this different?
How it was done. The previous protections afforded to transgender students a part of the federally funded public school programs were done by a guidance document release by the federal government. These guidance documents can be revoked, or edited by subsequent administrations. The Biden Administration has updated the law itself meaning it will be much harder to repeal those restrictions by subsequent administrations. Not impossible, just much harder. This is to take effect August 1st, 2024. Right at the start of the new school year.
So way to go USA. After years of attacking trans kids on every possible angle, this is a step in the right direction.
the kids online safety act passed the u.s. senate.
long story short (for anyone who hadn't heard of this before) the kids online safety act, aka kosa, is a bill that will censor online content and resources for lgbtq+ matters, reproductive healthcare, activism (INCLUDING PALESTINE AND LIKELY OTHER CRISES GOING ON LIKE IN CONGO OR SUDAN), mental health, etc. everywhere--its effects likely won't be contained to just america.
today, july 30th, 2024, the senate passed it 91-3. it has officially moved to the house of representatives.
is this a pretty massive setback? yes. do you have every right to be scared, sad, angry, or whatever else about this happening? absolutely. but should you give up hope completely? NO!
even though kosa passed the senate, the house is on break/august recess at the moment. we have around an entire month to get emails, calls, and faxes in to house reps, maybe more depending on when they decide to vote on it.
should it pass the house and get signed into law, we still have a whole 18 months before it actually goes into effect. this is plenty of time for digital rights orgs (e.g. fight for the future, the electronic frontier foundation) and other groups that oppose it to file a lawsuit against it. even if, worst-case scenario, it flies through the house immediately after the recess ends, we can still fight this up to march 2026.
so, yes, remember what's at stake here, but also remember that it's not over yet. we lost a battle, not the war.
below are some resources to learn more about kosa and how to contact your reps (first link) + a page that lets you directly contact progressive house reps, sign an open letter opposing the bill, and view others' testimonies against it (second link):
[image description: a tweet by user @indigenousAI saying
“fun fact: as a DV survivor i cannot register to vote because doing so makes my address public. anyone who is fleeing or hiding from an abuser is automatically disenfranchised from the political process and this is a feature, not a bug”]
"The trannies should be able to piss in whatever toilet they want and change their bodies however they want. Why is it my business if some chick has a dick or a guy has a pie? I'm not a trannie or a fag so I don't care, just give 'em the medicine they need."
"This is an LGBT safe space. Of COURSE I fully support individuals who identify as transgender and their right to self-determination! I just think that transitioning is a very serious choice and should be heavily regulated. And there could be a lot of harm in exposing cis children to such topics, so we should be really careful about when it is appropriate to mention trans issues or have too much trans visibility."
One of the above statements is Problematic and the other is slightly annoying. If we disagree on which is which then working together for a better future is going to get really fucking difficult.
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Fun Fact
BuzzFeed published a report claiming that Tumblr was utilized as a distribution channel for Russian agents to influence American voting habits during the 2016 presidential election in Feb 2018.