Looking at what national news outlets are up to right now, one might not realize a whole major US metropolitan area is, you know, sort of under attack by paramilitary forces. Wild.
While it's not going unreported entirely, what's been happening in Minnesota and in Minneapolis–Saint Paul in particular since Renee Good was murdered is not getting the attention it should be.
There are already 2000 gangsters from DHS deployed, and "hundreds" or "1000" more are on the way, depending on which Trumpland person you ask. As a point of reference, the Twin Cities' actual police total just under 1200 (600 in Minneapolis and 590 in Saint Paul according to the depts' sites).
The feds there are more or less attacking people at random. They've gone door-to-door for "citizenship checks" (completely illegal). They've knocked doors down when residents haven't complied (obviously also completely illegal). In addition to abducting and brutalizing the immigrants they come across during their rampages, they've done the same to US citizens of color and are also harassing, stalking and physically attacking observers.
Here are some local sources:
ICE intensifies Twin Cities operation after killing of Renee Good, protests (MPR News—link won't embed)
Privacy advocates: ICE using private data to intimidate observers and activists (MPR News—link won't embed)
A U.S. Border Patrol agent kneed a man at least five times in the face while several other agents held him pinned facedown on the pavement i
Below are some videos from observers. I'm linking to Bluesky because that's where I saw them, though many are originally from/also available elsewhere. I apologize for the rancid formatting below but it was the best I could do quickly-ish. The images are previews; click the links in the timestamps to watch.
Elliott Payne (@elliottpayne.org) January 12, 2026 at 10:49 PM
Mickey Kuhns (@mickeykuhns.bsky.social) January 12, 2026 at 10:58 AM
Dumb Meg (@dmbmeg.bsky.social) Jan 11, 2026 at 6:10 PM (You need to be logged in to see this—while it's unclear what happened to the victim in this one, there's no reported death so far; CW for heightened violence)
Dom Ervolina (@dominicervolina.com) Jan 11, 2026 at 8:42 PM (You need to be logged in to see this)
Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) January 12, 2026 at 4:37 PM
Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) January 12, 2026 at 7:22 PM
Sundae Gurl (@sundaedivine.lol) January 10, 2026 at 4:39 AM
Sherrilyn Ifill (@sifill.bsky.social) January 12, 2026 at 9:19 PM
SaltyBitchables (@saltybitchables.bsky.social) January 11, 2026 at 4:19 PM
Schools had to cancel classes due to threats from ICE, and the city districts are offering virtual learning for children who are scared to leave the house.
High schoolers had classes canceled all last week because hours after Good was murdered, Border Patrol gents attacked them as school was getting out, tackled, beat and handcuffed staff, and tear gassed students.
Just a note of the scale/how it’s affecting people at every level and in every context.
The rise of Greek and German nationalism are the most cookie cutter versions of white supremacy to exist and to look away from it is 1000 percent to condone it.
It affects everyone with a conscious and working brain.
I've never given a fuck about yalls blog themes even once.
*handing you the mic* You think white supremacy is BAD. RIGHT???
“The state came to massacre, it wasn’t a [police] operation. They came directly to kill, to take lives,” one woman in Penha Complex told the AFP news agency.
“There are people who have been executed, many of them shot in the back of the head, shot in the back. This cannot be considered public safety,” said 36-year-old resident and activist Raul Santiago.
Brazil’s Justice Minister Ricardo Lewandowski said President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is “horrified” by the scale of fatalities and surprised that such an operation went ahead without prior knowledge of the federal government.
I’d sincerely appreciate it if non-Brazilians reblogged this. Media outlets all over the world (and especially in my homeland) will try to sweep this under the rug but the horror has spread nationwide. We call it chacina for a reason.
It would be of great help if other countries and their citizens held Brazilian politicians/figures of authority accountable. Or, at least, acknowledge very publicly that there's an ongoing effort by the Brazilian police force to exterminate black and brown people, especially in Rio.
Hey everyone, if you guys could please help spread the word; central philippines got hit with a devastating earthquake after the whole country just got back to back storms, one being the largest ever recorded this year (typhoon Ragasa); for scale, its significantly faster and bigger than hurricane Sandy. Theres been large scale protests over govt. inaction, but the people of visayas urgently need our help. So many are homeless and hungry and cold rn.
I think it's important now more than ever to understand that the media is always trying to misdirect from the horrific violence going on in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Horrors are still happening. Bombs are still falling. People still need help.
Please consider donating to my dear friend Nader -- a young man in Gaza right now who's been tirelessly raising funds so his family can eat and afford care. We cannot forget Gazans are people just like us who deserve support in their time of need. FUNDRAISER HERE.
Hello, I will not prolong my speech. Frankly, I do not have the energy to write. You are all seeing, via TV, phone and computer, what is happening in Gaza, broadcast live in the last two days. The situation has become terrifying. Yes, the bombing does not stop. Never, never stops, and everything is close. We are tired of the many appeals and the world is ignoring us. (Please help us, share and donate. We really need assistance.) Donate if you can, please.
a whole bunch of gazan mutual aid projects and nonprofits. if the decision of which individual fundraiser to give to feels too daunting, or if you just want to help as many people as possible in one go, these are great initiatives to support.
care for gaza - focuses on providing food and essential supplies. donate here or here.
connecting humanity - securing internet access via donations of virtual sim cards (esims). if you can't afford a whole plan yourself, crips for esims is a communal pool that will use your donation to purchase and maintain esims
gaza soup kitchen - provides food, medical care, and classes for children. also has a gofundme
glia gaza medical support initiative - provides medical care through field clinics and tents at hospitals. donations can also be sent through their website.
ele elna elak - provides clean water, food, clothing, and shelter. they also have a gofundme
life for gaza - raising money for the gaza municipality to repair water and waste management infrastructure
taawon - partners with local civil organizations to provide food, water, medical care, shelter, and basic supplies
the sameer project - running various initiatives providing tents, medical care, and necessities. they have their own encampment project focused on sheltering families with children, sick and disabled members, or members in need of perinatal care
islamic relief worldwide's gaza emergency appeal - provides food, water, hygiene kits, medical supplies, and psychological support
baitulmaal - provides a variety of necessities, including food, water, shelter, and medical supplies
gaza mutual aid fund - distributes food, hygiene products, water, and other essential supplies, including financial support. run by @/el-shab-hussein's amazing friend Mona. updates can be found on her instagram.
hygiene kits for gaza - provides hygiene supplies including menstrual products, wipes, and toothbrushes/toothpaste
anera - provides a variety of necessities, including food, water, hygiene supplies, medicine, blankets and mattresses, and psychological care
palestine children's relief fund - provides supplies and support with a focus on children. also has an initiative for lebanon
dahnoun mutual aid - provides water, food, tents, baby supplies, financial support, and other necessities. updates can be found through their instagram
certainly this is not an exhaustive list, so please feel free to add on other projects or organizations that i didn't include. and as always, please take the time to donate if you can and share. it truly makes all the difference.
pal humanity initiative - provides baby supplies, menstrual products, medications, and mobile clinic visits
educational tents program - running multiple educational programs for children and offering psychosocial support
thamra - distributes fresh food and seeds for gardens, as well as repairing wells. they also have a gofundme
gaza sunbirds - paracycling team delivering a variety of essentials, including food, tents, blankets, baby supplies, and sanitation systems
the one body initiative - providing tents, sleeping supplies (blankets, mattresses, sleeping bags, etc.), food, and medicine
gaza emergency fund - purchases and builds waterproof tents and portable bathrooms, as well as distributing food, hygiene products, and medical supplies
medical aid for palestinians - provides medical and psychological care. also works in lebanon
the culture & free thought association - runs various programs including clinics, classes for children, and supply distribution. focuses on women, children, disabled people, and other marginalized groups.
hakini - provides psychological support and secures access to food, shelter, medication, and hygiene products
gaza collective - running a variety of projects including restoring bakeries, providing financial support and necessities, establishing educational programs for children, and securing supplies for traditional embroiderers
palestinian medical relief society - runs mobile clinics in gaza, the west bank, and east jerusalem
translating falasteen - partnering with the sameer project to provide food, water, medical care, essential supplies, and direct financial support. updates can be found on their instagram
roots of gaza - initiative from the al nasser charitable society. provides food, water, toiletries, tents and tent building services, cash assistance, and other necessities. also has a gogetfunding
healing our homeland - runs psychological support programming for women and children. also provides food, water, hygiene kits, and baby supplies. other initiatives featured on their website
sharek youth forum - provides food, water, hygiene kits, and psychological support as well as educational and development programs for young people
adding on this fundraiser from the arab group for the protection of nature (APN). they are doing extremely important work to support farmers and rehabilitate gaza's agricultural sector. as of june 3rd, they are about 67% of the way to their current fundraising goal - if you have funds to spare, this is a great organization to support! food sovereignty is a human right, especially as we witness deadly violence against those who have sought aid through israeli/usa-run channels.
call your senators and keep calling every day. Tell them to vote no and tell them to do everything they can, including procedural actions and filibusters to stop it. Call over and over again with this message, whether your senator is red or blue. And get the word out to as many people as possible that they’ve gotta start calling too.
I know it's never gonne happen, but this is the kind of bill you need to stop physically, if you can't do it any other way.
It's already through the House and will be decided about in the Senate, which has a Republican majority and is a physical building with an adress, that you can go inside of.
Does a clause in the budget proposal forbid courts to charge government officials with contempt?
Currently, YES.
Why do I specify "currently?" Because Newsweek reports that the Senate could make changes to the bill.
In other words, this is not just a matter of yes or no for them. They also have the option of messing with it.
The Senate is back in session on June 2nd. We have at least until then to call their offices and demand they take this out.
Updates May 22, 2025: With a 214-215 vote, the House narrowly passed the “One Big Beautiful Bill” Act, H.R. 1, with all Democrats and two Re
Newsweek gives the exact quote, plus a helpful explanation:
"No court of the United States may use appropriated funds to enforce a contempt citation for failure to comply with an injunction or temporary restraining order if no security was given when the injunction or order was issued," the provision in the bill, which is more than 1,000 pages long, says.
The provision "would make most existing injunctions—in antitrust cases, police reform cases, school desegregation cases, and others—unenforceable," Erwin Chemerinsky, the dean of the University of California Berkeley School of Law, told Newsweek. "It serves no purpose but to weaken the power of the federal courts.
Why It Matters
The provision would prohibit courts from enforcing contempt citations for violations of injunctions or temporary restraining orders—the main types of rulings that have been used to rein in President Donald Trump's administration—unless the plaintiffs have paid a bond, something that rarely happens when someone sues the government.
What To Know
If enacted, it would be a "stunning" restriction on the power of federal courts, Chemerinsky wrote in an article for Just Security.
"The Supreme Court has long recognized that the contempt power is integral to the authority of the federal courts," he wrote. "Without the ability to enforce judicial orders, they are rendered mere advisory opinions which parties are free to disregard."
Chemerinsky wrote that federal courts rarely require a bond to be posted by "those who are restraining unconstitutional federal, state, or local government actions" as those seeking such orders "do not have the resources to post a bond, and insisting on it would immunize unconstitutional government conduct from judicial review."
Representative Joe Neguse, a Colorado Democrat, said in an interview that the provision was added because the Trump administration is "losing in virtually every court in the land."
Dozens of lawsuits have been filed since Trump returned to office, challenging his executive orders and actions taken by his administration. Judges have partially or fully blocked the president in at least 82 cases, according to a tally by The Associated Press.
The administration has been pushing back against court rulings it doesn't like, with the president lashing out at judges who rule against him and seeking an end to nationwide injunctions.
The Supreme Court earlier in May barred the administration from quickly resuming deportations of Venezuelans under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798.
Meanwhile, U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis has expressed frustration that the administration has yet to provide information that adequately explained how it was complying with her order—which was upheld by the Supreme Court—to "facilitate" the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a man who was wrongly deported to El Salvador.
And last month, another federal judge said he found probable cause to hold the administration in criminal contempt after ignoring his order to turn around planes carrying deportees to El Salvador.
District Judge James E. Boasberg said he would initiate hearings and may refer the matter for prosecution if the administration does not act to remedy the violation. The administration has also removed immigrants against court orders in other cases.
The provision in the House bill "would make the court orders in these cases completely unenforceable," according to Chemerinsky.
Chemerinsky also wrote: "Without the contempt power, judicial orders are meaningless and can be ignored. There is no way to understand this except as a way to keep the Trump administration from being restrained when it violates the Constitution or otherwise breaks the law. The House and the Senate should reject this effort to limit judicial power."
Neguse said on X, formerly Twitter, that the provision "basically would attempt to try to stop federal courts or limit the ability of federal courts to enforce contempt orders. Why? Because they know that they are, the Trump administration, losing in virtually every court in the land, and as a result, in their effort, in terms of the campaign that they're waging against the judiciary and the Article Three branch of our government, they've decided that this would be the latest salvo in that effort. It's plainly unconstitutional, but they're going to go forward anyway."
@robertreich, a former Labor Secretary and a professor of public policy at the University of California Berkeley, wrote in a Substack post that the "hidden" provision "makes Trump King."
He wrote: "No congress and no court could stop him. Even if a future Congress were to try to stop him, it could not do so without the power of the courts to enforce their hearings, investigations, subpoenas, and laws. What can you do? To begin with, call your members of Congress and tell them not to pass Trump's One Big Ugly Bill."
What's Next
The House approved the bill in a 215-214 vote early Thursday. It now heads to the Senate, where it could face revisions before a final vote.
The provision would bar courts from enforcing contempt citations for violations of injunctions or temporary restraining orders unless a bond
Robert Reich's Substack has some excellent points about how to fight back:
That bill amounts to the largest redistribution in history from poor and working-class Americans to the wealthy and super-wealthy. It also contains a poison pill that would remove contempt authority from the courts.
To pass this monstrosity, Senate Republicans can afford to lose only 3 votes at most (with JD Vance acting as tie-breaker).
The following Republican senators are most persuadable because they’re up for reelection in 2026 if not before. They’re also most vulnerable.
[I'm omitting the part about using Memorial Day Weekend to track them down bc it's almost over - but feel free to track them down and show up at their public appearances!]
Collins (ME) - blue state, voted against April Senate budget resolution over Medicaid cuts.
Tillis (NC) - faces competitive reelection bid and has spurned Trump on U.S. attorney nomination.
Sullivan (AK) - race could become competitive because of Alaska’s ranked-choice system and the impact of Medicaid/SNAP cuts, and if former Rep. Mary Peltola runs.
Husted (OH) - replaced Vance, has to win a special election to finish term in 2026. Race could become highly competitive if Sherrod Brown runs.
Moody (FL) - replaced Rubio, has to win a special election to finish term in 2026. Same factors as Husted (though FL is a longer shot than OH).
Cornyn (TX) - facing a tough right-wing primary challenge from Ken Paxton, who could put the seat in play if he wins.
Ernst (IA) - race has the potential to be competitive in an anti-GOP cycle without Trump at the top of the ballot.
In another post, he lays out exactly what else the budget bill does:
Cuts Medicare by an estimated $500 billion
Which would mean at least 8,600,000 people losing Medicare coverage
People making between $17,000-$51,000 a year would have a net loss of $700 from all the tax changes
People making less than $17,000 would have a net loss of $1,000
The top 0.1% of earners would have a net gain of $390,000
Over the next decade, the bill would add $3.8 trillion to the federal debt
And here's an excellent guide to WHY and HOW you should call your representatives.
Republicans do it way more!
Every call adds to the pressure!
They really do track every single call on every topic!
You do not have to personally talk to your representative! You are leaving a message with a staff member or a machine!
Republicans have the smallest House majority they've had since 1931! They only passed this by one vote, and it's incredibly tight for them in the Senate too.
If your representative is already going to vote against this bill, look at all the representatives who might support it and think of a friend you can call in those states, to get them to call THEIR representative instead!
That very excellent and helpful Reddit post also explains why we should all be developing a habit of making 6 of these calls every single day. LIKE CRANKY OLD RETIRED CONSERVATIVES DO.
Go! Find your reps! You can do this! Reblog and talk about how it went! I believe in you!!!
Spend 5 minutes. Make 5 calls. Make your voice heard.
I've been thinking I really want to do something to try and help folks over in Palestine, so while I can't donate I want to at least help link to some of the general charities for folks there:
Here's arab.org's daily clicks for Palestine!
Here's eSims for Gaza!
Here's the Gaza Soup Kitchen!
Here's the linktree for the Sameer project!
Here's Crips for eSims for Gaza!
Please donate and helps spread the word if you can! If you're like me and can't donate, there's at least the daily clicks site you can bookmark and do!!!
Israel has officially announced that its entire army will enter Gaza to take full control of the city. This decision means hundreds of thousands of civilians will be displaced from their homes, food and medicine will be cut off, and hospitals will be rendered inoperable.
All relief reports say: the future is more dangerous... People are without food or safety, and survival has become a dream.
Please help us get food. We are living in a real disaster and the situation is becoming more difficult and worrying. Donate to my family, the Balousha family. From here
You are celebrating International Cat Day, while the fascist Zionist occupation is killing us, destroying our homes, displacing our families, and killing our lives, the lives of our cats, and our pets. Israel killed more than 1,000 cats in Gaza, and starved hundreds of thousands of lives in the famine.
Don't pretend to be humane while you are inhumane, you are the killers of children, women and the elderly, you are seizing our property, displacing us and starving us, so don't pretend to be humane because the world knows you well and knows who you are, you damned people, damn you both, we are in the middle of massacres and a cold war before the eyes of the world, please if you are receiving my message now help me and my family to survive this genocide, famine and inhumane war, donate now through the Gofund campaign link from here, and feel free because our campaign is approved and documented by Gazavetters under number 213
One of Anas Al-Sharif's final posts, from shortly before he was assassinated:
"To Whom It May Concern,
The occupation is now openly threatening a full-scale invasion of Gaza.
For 22 months, the city has been bleeding under relentless bombardment from land, sea, and air.
Tens of thousands have been killed, and hundreds of thousands wounded.
If this madness does not end, Gaza will be reduced to ruins, its people’s voices silenced, their faces erased—and history will remember you as silent witnesses to a genocide you chose not to stop.
Please share this message and tag everyone who has the power to help end this massacre. Silence is complicity."
Netanyahu is now admitting what the intention was all along, the complete takeover of Gaza. Displaced people are already forced into only 25% of Gaza, and now Israel wants to reduce it to 0%. The Israeli settler-colonial project can only be complete through the genocide of Palestinians. They have been destroying infrastructure, killing the environment, killing the people, starving the children.
The longer the blockades are in place, the higher the cost of everything sores. Price gouging of medicine and food is at an all-time high as thousands starve. On top of this, financial transactions coming into Palestine are charging higher commission rates. They are now charging 55% commission.
This means that you could donate $100 USD, and a person in Palestine will only receive $45, and that $45 can be the cost of just a single kilo of flour. Do you understand? The entire structure of global capitalism is enabling the starvation of Gaza.
YouTube is implementing an AI policy that tracks your watch history and determines your age with it. The only way to be able to continue watching the videos you want on YouTube if you've been falsley flagged as a minor by their AI is to give YouTube your government ID. This is being implemented in the US right now. It is essential to rage against this and put YouTube in the fucking ground if they continue with it—that may be the only way to make them backtrack. But damn isn't that hard to do when responding to this announcement with a polite but negative comment flags you for violating community guidelines and bans you from even posting it?
After I reblogged this, I did some looking, and found the policy update page that talks about the implementation of age verification.
It's called "Extending Protections to More US-Based Teens" and it goes into effect on August 13, 2025.
Google states that on that date, they'll begin rolling out "an age estimation model to determine if a US-based user is under the age of 18." No way AI can fuck that up, right?
This will occur "regardless of the birthdate you entered when creating your account." So, a 33-year-old like myself, despite putting my accurate birthdate, will still be subjected to this AI model and cannot opt out. Great.
And then they'll use the model to market shit to teenagers, because that's always gone well--wait, I'm sorry, they'll use it to "extend age-appropriate product experiences and protections to more teens (like enabling digital wellbeing tools and only showing non-personalized ads)." Right.
Google claims they've used this model elsewhere and it's worked well. (I'm assuming they're referring to the age verification roll out in response to the UK’s Online Safety Act.)
The model in question uses "a variety of signals" like "YouTube activity and longevity of the account." Well that's not vague at all.
When ZDNet reached out, "a YouTube representative stressed that the age-estimation model 'does not collect any new information not already associated with the account'"--which is true... unless your account is anonymous. To revert an account wrongfully flagged as underage, you have to upload a government issued ID, selfie, or credit card. Which defeats the purpose of an anonymous account.
Like the op, I tried to voice my displeasure at the further encroachment of artificial intelligence onto internet platforms. And like op, my reply "failed to post."
What I want to know is what about the above reply or mine
violates community policy? Or does Google just have AI content filters set up to ping key phrases? This is particularly grating when community policy specifically prohibits spam comments and shit like this
makes it through but comments that disagree with policy decisions are automatically flagged as inappropriate.
Regardless, this is fucking bunk, on three levels.
Firstly, what a child consumes on the internet is not the responsibility of the internet--or its users. It is the responsibility of the parent of that child.
Parental controls exist not just on televisions, but on phones and computers as well. Not only is it available via the hardware we're using to access the platform, it's also already available on the fucking platform.
Secondly, with this AI age verification rollout, Google is telling its consumers that they get to decide what we consume. That we as consumers are not in control of our experience and that we clearly do not know what is in our own best interests.
This is a violation of the concept of consumer sovereignty.
Thirdly, this model is more or less the implementation of Google's own privatized version of KOSA. Which, as we've discussed ad nauseam here on Tumblr and on the internet at-large, is largely the first step toward internet censorship.
I don't think I need to remind anyone that censorship is bad. For lots of reasons.
And look, I know we're all tired. There are Things Happening and they just keep fucking happening. I know it's a lot.
But you and me? We're the boss in this situation. No company should ever feel comfortable enough to dictate what its consumers can and cannot access. Companies work for us. Without consumers, companies cease to exist. So we have a lot more power than it feels like we do in this situation.
For better or worse, Google and YouTube are part of the ecosystem of information on the internet. And access to information is important. The freedom to access information is a right that we must protect at all costs, regardless of the age of the person accessing that information.
So take a deep breath. And keep yelling at them about this.
You can:
Spam their social media.
Call their customer service line (1-650-253-0000).
File a complaint with the Better Business Bureau.
(Politely) Yell at your local news media--if local news covers it, there's a chance that national news might.
Sign this petition (or another like it).
And if you're sick of Google's bullshit, you can also just... stop. Stop using their services. And let them know that's why you're leaving.
There are alternatives to Google services:
Proton has a VPN, email service, and also has a drive, similar to Google's, as well as a docs feature similar to Google docs.
Ellipsus is an alternative to Google docs.
Obsidian is another.
There's also Dropbox Paper.
LibreOffice is an alternative to the Google suite/Microsoft Office suite and storage is local to your device rather than the cloud.
DuckDuckGo is a great alternative to Google search, with an easy opt-out for AI features.
Firefox is a good alternative browser for Chrome.
Twitch, Vimeo and DailyMotion, are viable alternatives for YouTube, depending on what you use it for.
There is, unfortunately, no perfect solution. Google has a monopoly on many of the services it offers, including video-sharing.
But that's another great reason to contact your reps! If you want to keep using YouTube and other Google products, or you don't want other companies to follow Google's lead, go yell at your representatives about it. They have the power to demand action on a state and federal level to protect their constituents.
Call and demand they protect their constituents from predatory business practices (which demanding an ID or credit card, when they have a history of data breaches, most certainly is). Tell your reps that it's against your freedom as a consumer for Google to decide what is and is not appropriate for its consumers to consume, and nowhere in the Constitution does it say that Google is arbiter of our access to information. And let them know that their action or lack thereof will directly impact your voting decisions during the next election.
The only way we can get companies like Google to stop doing stupid shit like this is to get loud about it and to stop using their services.
---
For the curious, here are the links I used in my attempted reply:
This one is from 2021, when they were sued for allegedly selling user data to third parties: https://www.tampabay.com/news/2021/05/07/google-selling-users-personal-data-despite-promise-federal-court-lawsuit-claims/
This is from today (08/08/25) about user data being compromised, and has been confirmed by Google itself: https://www.forbes.com/sites/daveywinder/2025/08/08/google-confirms-it-has-been-hacked---user-data-stolen/
Really hate how much time I am being forced to spend begging everyone around me to call their elected officials so I can maybe keep my job + so my lab won’t be shut down in October + so my entire professional network won’t be laid off + so the Great Lakes won’t go back to being a poisoned dead zone of industrial sludge/dead fish/toxic algal blooms. I would rather be spending all this time doing actual, you know, science, rather than pleading for people to make phone calls to try to stop the deliberate strangulation of environmental research across this damn country. It’s humiliating! It’s nightmarish! And yet here we are!
Anyway, I am once again asking you to call your reps if you care about accurate life-saving weather forecasts, clean drinking water, having fish you can eat, climate change, and more, because the people who work on these issues — including me and my peers — cannot survive this without your help.
Updates July 6, 2025: Poor distribution of warning alerts and evacuation orders to endangered communities ahead of the flash flooding in Tex
Thank you so much to everyone who has called so far — saving NOAA labs, cooperative institutes, and the whole Oceanic and Atmospheric Research division (currently slated to get zeroed out in 2026) along with our partners at EPA and USGS is essential if we want to avoid toxic algal blooms that could hurt you and your pets, oil spills in our shared waters, and the loss of baseline scientific research on everything from PFAS to climate change.
In addition to your local reps, please consider making calls to Senator Jerry Moran, Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies (DC office: 202-224-6521) and Congressman Hal Rogers, Chairman of the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies (DC office: 202-225-4601). I got through to two mild-mannered interns yesterday, so their lines aren’t ringing off the hook — yet. Putting in calls this week as the FY 2026 budget is determined is critical — again, thank you for anything you can do to help.
I am another American Scientist Going Through It and would like to add on about the extinction-event asteroid hurtling towards me as an exhortation to harass your elected officials about this too -
One of the FY 2026 proposals is the near-elimination of the USGS Ecosystems Mission Area (EMA) which includes the Bird Banding Laboratory (BBL) and the Breeding Bird Survey (BBS). I don't have words to describe how apocalyptic this would be for avian research and conservation in the US, especially if those monsters go in and delete the databases containing over 100 years of data. People are frantically backing up everything they can right now, but that's no guarantee everything will be saved in time. Both the BBL and BBS collaborate with Canada so their programs would also be massively impacted.
SCOTUS recently removed the injunction preventing mass layoffs of federal workers, so even if the EMA isn't defunded there may not be enough employees left to keep it functional - in May these ghouls were proposing an 80% reduction in workforce.
These are comparatively small agencies that operate on remarkably small budgets for the outsize importance of what they do. We will know NOTHING about bird population trends in North America if these cuts go through - every single avian conservation program will be left flying blind, every management decision based on nothing, every risk left uncalculated. This will directly lead to extinctions.
If you care at all about birds, please advocate for them, and for those of us who have dedicated our lives to studying and protecting them.
5Calls doesn't have a script for this, but the Audubon website has a form to send to your congresspeople that does. I encourage you to call them as well
Urge Congress to invest in the science that protects birds and people by fully funding the Bird Banding Lab and Breeding Bird Survey.
ICE is in Los Angeles conducting raids and arresting families and children on their way to their court dates and raiding workplaces. Trump has called the National Guard in to stop protestors and is spreading a false narrative about violence, raiding, etc. to distract from the fact that ICE is abducting children in a SANCTUARY CITY.
Do not look away, do not be silent. If you or a loved one is detained by ICE, stay silent except to ask for your lawyer. Keep your documents on you. Call legal aid foundations who are standing by.
If you are NOT in LA and want to help, you can contact rapid response networks and ask how to help or donate. Donate to ACLU, the Mexican American Legal Defense Fund (MALDEF), or the Immigrant Defense Project.
Here are some slides with good tips to share and a list of SoCal rapid response networks:
DO NOT LOOK AWAY!
And as a not so gentle reminder, if you voted for Trump or his ilk you can unkindly get the fuck off my page. You're not welcome here.
Adding this because the National Guard and the fucking Marines are supposedly going to be in LA for the next 30 days to “deal with protesters” and they need to know they have rights and don’t have to follow these illegal orders.
At a time of near-record inequalities of income and wealth, Senate Republicans just passed the largest redistribution of income upward in the history of this nation. It's an absolute travesty.
Guys, again, I do not like to flood my main with politics too often, but this last year has been especially insane. It is easy to feel apathetic and we know things are not fair, but you still have some power, some input, it does matter even if you think it doesn't.
They Struck down the "No AI regulation for a decade" 99 to 1 due to outcry from their constituents.
I believe that proves something at the very least. I believe your voice still matters even if we all know it should matter more, but it matters. It still matters.
