#make your voice heard

[zorlok-if]

If it's election day where you live (and you're able to), make sure to go vote!

You may think it feels futile or pointless, but the only votes that don't count are those that are never cast. Your voice, your opinions, and your vote do matter. Don't throw them away.

For people in the US, find the closest polling place here.

[artists-deserve-better]

Three important petitions that I want to give more awareness to.

Tagging artist I admire: @euqinim0dart @climbdraws @canisalbus @lackadaisycats @judilyart @dappermouth @thekeymonster @beffalumps

[news4dzhozhar]

[crows-and-cookies]

Hey all, I work on the back end of public commenting periods. I’m the one who has to sort through your comments and decide if your comments warrant more than a ‘thank you for your comment’ and nothing more.

If you want your comment to make an impact, here’s some suggestions.

1. Read the associated documents. The public ruling probably put out documents and fact sheets related to it answering a lot of questions you could ask. If you ask a question that’s already answered in the document, we’ll just hit you with a ‘see section 2B on page 346’ and we’re done.

(Need an accessible version of a document? Legally, they have to provide one for you.)

2. Ask a question that will require facts to back up. Yes, it feels good saying ‘how can you sleep at night proposing this oil drilling????’ But it could be more impactful to say ‘how does allowing drilling on this property contend with the endangered species act, as the Spotted Owl has multiple breeding nests in that area? Here are the Cornell lab of ornithology reports showing these breeding areas, and the designation of them as an endangered species by the federal government’.

3. Talk to the workers (nicely) it possible. They also might have tips on what kind of comments are valuable to this specific ruling.

4. Provide credible sources when possible!

There are more things, but this is what I have for now!

[sp00ky-p00ky]

Tomorrow is Election Day, Please VOTE 💙

[writing-with-olive]

On calling your reps

Was talking to a friend of mine who was genuinely surprised that you can just call your reps and that it's easy to do, despite the fact that he's heard the phrase "call your representatives" at least a dozen times and it made me realize: as much as we say "go call your reps" I don't think we make it accessible enough for people to realize it's something you can just... do.

With that in mind... how do you call reps? This will probably become a short series, also feel free to send asks about it.

1: Put their contact info into your phone. Look up "who's my national/state representative" and put in your address in the website. Your reps and their phone numbers will come up. Put their name, number, senate/house/city council, city/state/federal, and party affiliation into your phone. now you never have to look that up again

2: Have an opinion on something that's going on politically or that laws would have an impact on

3: If it is helpful to you, write a script (more info below the cut)

4: Call your rep's number. If a person picks up, it will likely be an intern. they are fairly chill. Give your spiel, ask them to pass the message along. If it's the rep themself, same thing, minus passing info to another person. If no one picks up, just leave a voicemail. Make sure to give your name and where you live so they know you're a constituent (or don't but it might not have as much of an effect)

5: Be proud of yourself. You have done more civic engagement than most people in this country

A basic script template to voice your opinion about a bill can go like this:

Hello, I'm [name] from [city and zipcode]. I'm calling about [bill number], [bill title], because I'd like to ask Representative [name] to vote [YES/NO]. This is important because [give reason(s) why it's important to you]. Also, [give reason's why it should be important to them, threatening to not vote for them can work if you don't like them]. Again, if you could pass on the message to Representative [name] to vote [YES/NO] for [bill name] that would be fantastic. Thank you, have a good day!

A basic script template to voice your opinion about a general problem or bill you'd like to see might go something like this:

Hello, I'm [name] from [city and zipcode]. I'm calling because I've been noticing [problem you want to be fixed] in my area, and I think the issue could be fixed by [proposed solution you'd wish get legislated]. This would help because [give reasons why it would benefit you]. Also, [give reasons why it would fit into their stated ideals]. I know there's not currently a bill in the works about this, but if one comes up, please vote to [make proposed solution happen]. Thank you, and have a good day!

[1shirt2shirtredshirtdeadshirt]

Unrelated to Star Trek, but finally going in for endo related surgery!

Endometriosis is an extremely common condition (roughly 1 in 10 women), yet it is a woefully undiagnosed or understood medical condition that afflicts women.

Ladies: If your periods are impacting your quality of life, don't let any amount of "it's normal, all women go through that, you're just being dramatic" get in the way of you and your health care.

Take it from someone who got the hot potato treatment from health care professionals for 22 solid years of suffering and agony while not being taken seriously: YOU KNOW YOUR BODY. Trust it, love it, and advocate for it at all costs.

Women's health is understudied, underfunded, and so little of it is understood still today.

Please never settle for less than the life you deserve, and listen to your body when it tells you something is up or has to change.❤️

Much love, LLAP!

[littlemisspascal]

[aradia-initiative]

Contact your senators to support H.R.3755 - Women's Health Protection Act of 2021

The Women's Health Protection Act would codify Roe v. Wade by prohibiting bans and medically unnecessary restrictions that single out abortion and impede access to care. The House passed the Women’s Health Protection Act on September 24, 2021, and since then it has been pending before the Senate.

A concrete action you can take now, if you are a U.S. citizen, is to contact your senators and let them know that you support passing this bill and making it law.

We say contact them in any way you feel comfortable doing. Call, email, write. Most senators have staff who tally up all communications, and the method will not make much difference.

Links will be in the notes, including a link to find your senators' contact info, and a link to the full text of the bill. We always support reading the legalese and making sure you're on board before you put your voice behind something.

[theblasianwitch]

A discuss with my spouse today made something resurface that I believe a lot of Americans tend to forget... The President, in comparison to say a Prime Minister or a Socialist Leader, has no real power. The American system is set up in a way where The President is basically a figure head to speak for America, but any choices the President proclaims or tries to enact has to first go through Congress and the Supreme Court. While the president can veto or deny anything thats suggested to them for a change, anything the president suggests has to be voted on by Congress. That being said... Im not mad at the president as some people are. He was in another country trying to figure out how to help the Ukraine situation in case anyone has forgotten that thats happening too. So basically this whole overturning of Roe V Wade happened when President Biden wasnt even in his office. They went behind his back to vote on this. He never agreed to it.

That being said, we put way too little advertisements on Congressional or local elections, aka the people who don't seem to care what the president thinks is best for the people and votes for it themselves. Also the same people who pretty much turn our own public votes into electoral votes during the presidential elections.

Im only sharing what I know. Someone who understands politics better can speak on this if they want but the point is this:

The next Congressional election is November 8, 2022

You can find out where to vote here.

Update voters status or register to vote here. [This link seems to work better on a computer. If anyone knows a mobile device link please add it]

Get these congressmen away from our bodies.

[jomiddlemarch]

“Join our 2022 campaign and send hand-written postcards to young voters! Most young people are never asked to register to vote. You can change that. Thanks to supporters like you, young people turned out to vote at a historically high rate in 2020. With the 2022 midterms around the corner, we've launched a campaign for our supporters to send hand-written postcards to young voters. By writing personalized postcards to young voters, you can get them to ask a friend to register and remind them to show up to the polls for all upcoming elections. 

You can either use names and addresses we provide or use your own list.”

[news4dzhozhar]

[j-g-day]

Want to do *something* to help with current events but think, "I'm one person what can I possibly do???"

And then you just do that depressive, giving up spiral?

Here are two resources that take minimal effort to use:

ResistBot - Provides you with a list of petitions and letters recently sent to your representives and allows you to decide if you also want to send the letter. It literally does all of the work for you; you just need to hit send. You can download in the app store, send a text, or message it through messenger. This is literally the bare minimum effort required.

5 Calls: Contact Your Congress - Gives you a list of bills and petitions to call your representatives about, gives you the names and contact information of your representatives, and gives you a script to go off of for each request. Slightly more engaged than the above, but still minimal effort.

You have the ability to speak up for the things you think are right. It does not matter if you are just one person.

Do what you think is right, even if it just feels like you're shouting into the political void, because it's still right.

[disabled-comic-showdown]

i dont really think we should do the 1% is a tie thing, personally

If this is the popular sentiment I won't be doing it

[penguicorns-are-cool]

I just contacted my city council and three council members about clean energy. It was so easy idk why I didn't do it before. Here's a little step by step for anyone getting started who might be a bit overwhelmed.

Find a person: For senator: just pick one or both senators of your state. congressman: find your district (most states have a way to do this online with your zip code) then search the representative for that district. city council: look up your city council there should be a list of council members

Find their contact us page: for city council it might be on the website it might not, if it's there use that. If not and for everyone else, search up their name to find their website and use the contact us page there.

Write whatever you want: Doesn't have to be formal but preferably have it in letter format which looks like this: Dear (council member/congressman/senator + their last name), (The actual letter) (Thanks/Sincerely/other sign offs), (Your full name)

OPT. Thank the staffer reading your letter: the person you're writing to is not reading and replying to your letter. They have a team of staffers who represent them doing all that sort of work and those staffers do a lot of unseen and underappreciated work. be sure to thank them even if they are working for a politician you don't like. It's the staffers who are making sure we can voice our opinions to politicians like this and they are not appreciated enough.

hope that helps if you're a bit overwhelmed like I was, it's so much easier than it sounds.

[sos-media-blog]

"Stay Informed on the Latest Political News - Politics"

Local politics can have a huge impact on the quality of life in a community. When citizens actively engage in local politics, they can help shape the future of their community and ensure that their voices are heard. Here are some of the benefits of a community actively engaging in local politics: 1. Increased Representation: When citizens are actively involved in local politics, they can ensure…