Hey, if you or anyone you know is benefiting from Obama’s Affordable Care Act, you should do this. It takes 2 minutes and you don’t even have to talk to a real person.
Paul Ryan is conducting a phone poll on the ACA (Obamacare), hoping to hear overwhelming popular opposition to it. If you would like to express your support for the Affordable Care Act, call 202-225-0600. Press 2 to weigh in on the issue. You’ll hear a brief recording about HR-3762, Paul Ryan’s proposal to gut the ACA, and President Obama’s use of his veto power to stop it. Then, you will have a chance to indicate your opinion with the press of a button. Press 1 if you support Obamacare, 2 if you oppose it.
The concentration camp was never the normal condition for the average gentile German. Unless one were Jewish, or poor and unemployed, or of active leftist persuasion or otherwise openly anti-Nazi, Germany from 1933 until well into the war was not a nightmarish place. All the “good Germans” had to do was obey the law, pay their taxes, give their sons to the army, avoid any sign of political heterodoxy, and look the other way when unions were busted and troublesome people disappeared.
Since many “middle Americans” already obey the law, pay their taxes, give their sons to the army, are themselves distrustful of political heterodoxy, and applaud when unions are broken and troublesome people are disposed of, they probably could live without too much personal torment in a fascist state — some of them certainly seem eager to do so.
Also, while talking about the situation with Pence and Hamilton right now, please keep in mind that it was a recipe for disaster from the start…..and that was more than likely intentional.
The danger of Trump’s camp from the start has lain in people equating ‘over the top’ with ‘stupid’. They are anything but stupid. Every move they’ve made has been calculated, and I don’t doubt this was any different. There is no way, in the face of all the protests and sentiments expressed towards Trump and Pence since the election, that it didn’t occur to anyone that Pence going and seeing Hamilton of all things, would likely cause an uproar.
And what else happened yesterday of significance? Trump settled the lawsuit for fraud against Trump University….for over double what it was expected to settle for. Our president elect essentially admitted to defrauding people via Trump U, and paid $25 million dollars to settle it. This is utterly unprecedented. Also of note in the last couple of days was that the Trump hotel in DC held an event for foreign diplomats, in which it was made plain to them what benefits might come from diplomats making use of the Trump hotel when visiting DC. After all, what better way to ingratiate yourself with the US President you’re here to see, than to be able to say ‘oh I stayed at your lovely hotel?’ And what worse way to get off on the wrong foot than by admitting you stayed at one of his competitors? This is but one more of the MANY conflicts of interest at work with Trump’s presidency.
But Pence goes to see Hamilton, and predictably enough, he gets heckled and booed and that’s the story of the day, and Trump’s tweeting about it, and everyone’s focused on Trump tweeting about it and Pence getting booed…..and suddenly nobody’s talking about the MASSIVE story that is a president elect settling a fraud lawsuit for 25 million dollars and enticing foreign diplomats to use his hotel to get in his good graces.
See how that works?
Also, let’s keep in mind that the likely reason Trump settled the lawsuit is so that he wouldn’t have to testify. This is a guy who does not want to be scrutinized, who does not want to be asked questions that he is compelled to answer honestly. Yes, the Hamilton incident is somewhat important because it illustrates Trump’s contempt for the First Amendment, but let’s not be so distracted by the middle finger he’s giving us with his right hand that we take our eyes off whatever the hell his left hand is up to.
My advice? Keep putting pressure on the House Oversight Committee to investigate Trump’s financial conflicts of interest. That will subject him to scrutiny that he can’t buy his way out of. The number to call is
For those not following on twitter – Mike Pence went to Hamilton tonight – got booed by the entire audience, was subjected to massive extended applause after “Immigrants, we get the job done”, and then King George sang “What Comes Next?” directly to him leading to a three minute standing ovation for the King.
Finally some good news.
Tonight Mike Pence was being a good sport trying to enjoy a show and everybody else got self-righteous and ruined his night all because wah wah we’re the left and he’s the devil and we demand respect and human decency but won’t be fucked to show it.
That’s what happens when you attack women’s autonomy, LGBT rights, and cause an HIV crisis in your home state. No one is under any obligation to be polite to you. Get over it. PS even the Republicans in his own state fucking loathed him and opposed the shit he tried to pass. That’s how much of a soulless slime ball he is.
All that said, some think that Pence’s little appearance was an attempt to distract us from what really should be issue #1, the aptly (Orewelianesquely named) the first amendment defense act
Ohhh yikes.
“First, the bill applies to any corporation, organization, or person who “believes or acts in accordance with a religious belief or moral conviction that marriage is or should be recognized as the union of one man and one woman, or that sexual relations are properly reserved to such a marriage.”
Notice how broad that is: any business, agency, or individual, including government employees, hospitals, or huge businesses like Hobby Lobby or Chick-Fil-A. Old-age homes and hospices that turn away gay people – yes, this has actually happened – are covered. Hospitals that refuse a same-sex partner visitation rights – covered. National hotel chains that refuse to rent rooms to gay couples (or unmarried straight ones) – covered.
And notice that it applies not just to religious beliefs about same-sex marriage, but also to sexual conduct in general. Translation: contraception, sex education, treatment of STDs – all of these are part of the bill. If a national pharmacy chain wants to refuse to fill prescriptions for the “morning after pill,” if a company wants to fire someone for being pregnant out of wedlock or becoming HIV positive, if a public school wants to stop teaching sex ed – all covered.”
This administration is going to give us plenty of irrelevant stories like the one from Hamilton last night. But we need to make sure we don’t get distracted from the stuff that really matters.
Like the fact that Ivanka, who is supposedly going to be controlling her father’s company in a “blind trust”, and her husband attended a meeting between her father and the Japanese prime minister. (x)
Or that Trump settled the Trump University fraud case for $25 million. (x)
Or that foreign diplomats are attending events at Trump’s newly opened D.C. hotel. (x)
Speaker Paul Ryan’s office is conducting a brief yes/no phone survey– the only question is “do you support President Obama’s Health Care Bill?”
You will have to listen to a somewhat biased history of the bill, but at the end, you can press a button (and NOT TALK TO A PERSON– perfect for people like me with phone anxiety) and register your opinion about ACA. There is also an option to leave a message but as of tonight the mailbox was full.
(202) 225-3031 is the number! Good luck! This is a super small-effort thing that you can do without feeling self-conscious.
I can find literally nothing about this survey news-wise, aside from a pretty random reference to it on reddit, but sure enough when I called the number and pressed the number to “share your opinion on health care,” there was a survey question (after, yes, a pretty biased “here’s what we want to do to repeal the EVIL HEALTHCARE LAW” spiel). So whatever Ryan’s doing, I guess he now has my button press vote too.
In the meantime, dudes do this! Please be warned that after you call there’s a weird-ass 30 second silence before the automated message kicks in. Just roll with it.
Ok that was thoroughly bizarre. It gave me the distinct impression that Ryan doesn’t actually want to talk to his constituents. Plus, yeah, the recorded message propaganda is troubling.
TBH I’m not a fan of the actual ACA, I’ve had concerns about its economic structure from the beginning that I think are being borne out. But I am 100% in favor of universal health care, and I 100% do not trust Ryan to offer a plan that will protect the people I care about. So yeah, given 1: support the ACA or 2: support letting the other side get their hands on healthcare? Heck yeah I pressed 1.
Passing this on.
I can’t help but guess they don’t want media coverage–They want a large response from a very specific demographic so they can announce stats of how people want to repeal ACA nearly unanimously.
Now is the time for CONCRETE ACTION, American followers. Not
reblogging, not sharing on facebook, but actual picking up a phone and doing a
thing.
Stephen Bannon, Trump’s chief strategist-elect, I suppose we’d
call him, is a white supremacist and an anti-Semite, anti-Muslim, jackass. This
appointment is dangerous to a lot of people you claim to care very much about.
And call them. Don’t email them, emails get ignored.
A sample script:
Hi, my name is ______________. As a constituent, I need my
Senator/Representative to know I oppose Bannon’s appointment, and I am
horrified such a man is even being considered. I hope that (legislator) does
not stand for open racism as an appropriate attitude in a chief strategist, and
that this doesn’t signal his/her approval of white supremacist ideology. I hope
(legislator) is planning to formally oppose the appointment.
I mean, jazz it up if you want—I know my audience and so
spoke about how Nazi ideology has no place in Montana, how we’re supposed to be
a land of hard work and fair play, not somewhere that supports blaming others
for our individual problems. I talked to my republican rep’s intern about how
this is why so many people have a bad idea about republicans, and it’s so
important to show we’re not like this, that Zinke truly believes in his
Christian ideals that all men are equal (I am not even slightly a republican or
Christian but also I have literally no issue lying about it to this dude). Know
your audience.
Everything I said about being ready still goes, but don’t
sit back and just let this happen, pick up the damn phone. If you want to send
me an ask about why you can’t do this—skip it, I’m not interested. You’re the
only one who has to live with you, you’re not answerable to me.
I finally just did this. You’re turn!
I think I just realized something.
I’ve been on Facebook a lot lately where my ‘irl’ friends are—where my family is, posting a lot of political posts, scanning through for them posted by others.
It’s not that I want to obsess on it, it’s just that nothing else is holding my attention. Nothing is bringing me much joy for long. Which I know is probably a sign that I’m experiencing some level of depression.
I keep telling myself that it means I need to disengage, get off Facebook, do something else, but I just can’t seem to.
So I think I realized part of what’s going on (the other part is that I just don’t have many other hobbies outside of Tumblr/Facebook really)
I’m desperately flailing, looking for rays of light of understanding and a willingness to learn there, where my friends/family are. I’m desperately seeking some hint that people, the people who aren’t on Tumblr who haven’t already spent time getting past social justice 101, are realizing how important it is to go out and educate themselves, to learn, to not pull the victim card or whine about how they just don’t… can’t get it.
And of course it’s a hopeless task. Oh, there are people on there that get it, but they’re the same people who got it before. And it’s so fucking bleak. How do I move past that need? How do I stop this cycle? Ugh. I don’t even know.
I can distract myself for periods of time, don’t get me wrong. Overwatch is a blessing right now. But it doesn’t last.
An identifying marker like that is not symbolic. An identifying marker like that is to say to people who are regularly in REAL danger “I am safe. I will help you.”
This is not a small thing you are undertaking. If you pin one on yourself, and a guy is harassing me in a bathroom, I am going to turn to you for back up. Please get yourself in a mental place for that possibility, this is not an abstract mark of solidarity. If you can’t do that, that’s ok, but then don’t wear the pin because I’ll suddenly be turning to someone who can’t help me.
If you have never been in physical danger for living your life, understand that a lot of people have been. Get your head around the reality that they are now going to expect you to step up, they’ll be relying on you as a safety net. You are now in danger by association. That is brave and beautiful and I hope what you intend. Don’t mistake this thing for a symbol, it is not. It is a weapon you have drawn against the status quo.
I have a scar on the back of my head from ten stitches and general weather ache in my ribs and lower back because I’m queer and trans and I’ve been beaten for that. If you want to stand in solidarity with me and mine….know what you are getting in to. Be mentally prepared for that.
^^^^^^^^^^
I’m seeing people jumping on board this trend who can’t even tell of their racist friends/family members on Facebook, I do NOT think they are ready to engage in person. I think to them it’s like throwing that French flag filter on their FB picture – it’s just a bit of performative allyship they aren’t even really thinking about. This isn’t about smiling at the pretty hijabi woman on the bus, it’s about being there for her when the 6′2″ white dude starts standing over her shouting at her for being a terrorist. It is real, it’s ugly, and you better know what the fuck you’re getting into.
Thoughtfulfangirling 