Sir Rainbow Sprinkles

20-something dyslexic sci-fi/fantasy/fanfic writer still waiting for scotty to beam me back up

[mehreenkasana]

Reading about Congress bills can be dry, so here’s a quick thread on the eight bills (among 2,000 - according to Al Jazeera English) introduced since Trump took office in January.

I will update this post with a link explaining each bill - which has far-reaching and devastating consequences for Americans, especially low-income Americans - in a very short bit.

[toasty-coconut]

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???????????????? WHERE IS THE HAIR?????????

[ommanyte]

[stef-o]

My friend Veronica Hallock has been missing since 2/14/17. She goes by the tumblr name @soiprettymuchloveyou . As the flier states, she was last seen in Grand Central (NYC). If anyone on here has had any conversations with her, or might know where she is, please contact the authorities or contact me through pm. Please, PLEASE share, we can use all the eyes we can get.

-Stef

[livemasbrand-deactivated2017053]

Rachel Stark on the goals of anti-fascism.

[typhlonectes]

Henry A. Wallace (1888-1965)

[shrewreadings]

Link to entire essay here: http://newdeal.feri.org/wallace/haw23.htm

[galesofnovember]

I feel like the key White Pathology that explains Trump is this idea that everything in life is graded on a curve, not just wanting to have good things, but to have MORE of those things than other people. A pathology that’s both the opposite of stronger together and the opposite of the Lake Wobegon Effect.   A hypothetical Trump voter (especially the white woman voter who unexpectedly swung Trump) wants her child to go the BEST school.   She doesn’t want the schools in Detroit to improve because then her child’s school will be less dramatically BEST.  Or the Trump voter who is making a fine amount of money, owns his own business, own his own home, but feels that the success of the Pakistani-American engineer who lives down the street lessens his own success in some way.  It might even be more satisfying to see things get worse overall, as long as they get More Worse for other people.

I’m not saying I know how to combat it, but I guess it starts with naming it.

[pyrositshere]

I can personally testify that a lot of people who tend to vote Republican in general have this weird-to-me tendency to fret about the possibility that someone, somewhere might be getting money, resources, or a lucky break that they “don’t deserve.”  This is different from the worry that a less “deserving” person might take something away from a more “deserving” person.  Even if no one loses anything, and there’s plenty to go around, they’ll get worried and indignant that someone might get more than they “deserve.”  It’s even more bizarre that members of this group often have stated theological beliefs that seem completely at odds with that attitude.

[thesixpennybook]

this makes me think a lot about Weber and the growth of capitalism-as-ethics in the wake of the Reformation.

for those unfamiliar, Max Weber was an early sociologist who posited that modern capitalism grew out of the psycho-social conditions created in western Europe by the destruction of the pervasive institutions of the Catholic church. his thesis was that prior to the Reformation, people were comfortable in the assurance of their salvation as long as they received the sacraments of the church and acted (more or less) under its authority. but with the security of the Catholic hierarchy and claim to One True Churchness gone, most people did not have a sufficiently developed personal spirituality to feel assured of salvation anymore. this was particularly acute amongst Calvinists because of the belief that God had already predestined who was going to Heaven and who was going to Hell- but there was no formal institution to tell you that you were deffo predestined for Heaven, no worries buddy, so you had to find ways to constantly reassure yourself.

and of course if you were one of God’s Chosen Elect, your life would surely be pretty great, and you’d be rich- or at least better off than those bad awful sinners who were born going to Hell. so you worked hard and made your work a spiritual calling, and you weren’t profligate with your money because you needed it to prove you were living the blessed life of the elect. and eventually accumulating money became an ethical end in itself, intertwined with other aspects of virtue- this was a big thing for Benjamin Franklin, amongst other major figures in the founding history of the USA. this also went hand-in-hand with disdain for the kinds of charitable practices that are central to Catholicism- if a person was poor, it was a sign of their non-electness, and they deserved to stay that way. the whole system requires that some peoples’ lives are shit, because then otherwise how can you be sure who’s going to Heaven?

and the same principles apply to white supremacy. it was easy to be confident and comfortable in your belief in the inherent superiority of white people when you had vast social institutions backing you up. in the Jim Crow south, you could be a poor as shit white person, but at least you got to drink from the ‘whites only’ fountain. but now those institutions are gone or going, and despite every effort against them people of colour are clawing their way to economic and social equality. 

there’s nothing left to reassure the white supremacist. they can’t look at the corridors of political power and feel a bit better, because the head of state is a highly-educated black guy. they can’t even go the Calvinist route and pile up a big soothing stack of money, because you can’t tell by looking who’s God’s Deserving Elect, but you sure as hell notice when a black family moves into your suburb and are driving a nicer car than you do.

but if you can fuck yourself over in a way that you can be dead certain is going to fuck over people of colour worse, well, that just proves you were right all along, huh? now you’ve got more money than that black family, even if all of you are worse off.

tl;dr: requiring there to be people worse off than you as proof of your innate superiority is one of the founding socio-ethical principles of the USA and Protestant societies in general, which maps neatly onto the white supremacist need for people innately inferior to you to be worse off.

I think there’s a lot more to be said about Weber, Calvinism, and the development of white supremacy as an ideology, but I am no longer an academic so

[stickmarionette]

On that topic, here’s an excerpt from an article published in the local legal press recently:

Lee is described by The American Lawyer as “one of the country’s top intellectual property litigators.”…

Lee, who is of Chinese descent but whose family has been in the US since 1948, recounted how he was filling his Mercedes-Benz SUV when a man approached him and asked how he could afford such a car. The man also reportedly said Lee was not welcome in the US.

[sashayed]

I heard something amazing last night: a longterm Congressional aide who said “I got 30,000 calls a week to impeach Bill Clinton. I’ve gotten 5,000 this week about the ACA.”

That’s partly because we communicate differently now than we did in the 90s, of course. But in my opinion, it’s a sign of something else. This first-week offensive of jaw-droppingly vile legislation is intended to fragment the opposition. We can’t all fight every battle–and if we try, the aides we speak to won’t tabulate us in all of them. So while 30,000 or more of us may be calling, some of us are focusing on the ACA and some on Jeff Sessions and some on the wall and some on the Muslim ban and on and on and on. 

This is important and necessary. We must and will focus on the many, MANY different issues that brought us to this point. But it is also time to pull Congress’s attention to one, and that one is impeaching Donald Trump. 

When you call your reps tomorrow, try something like this. (Feel free to send me corrections.)

Hi, my name is [your name], I’m a constituent from [your town], and I want to tell [representative’s name] that Congress needs to act immediately to impeach President Trump. Not only has his behavior been unhinged, but he is in direct and obvious violation of the Foreign Emoluments clause of the Constitution. He is empowering deluded bigots like Steve Bannon over national security experts. He is dangerous and unfit to lead. As a [parent, lawyer, child of immigrants, friend and neighbor of immigrants], I have a stake in this fight, and I will personally work to remove any member of Congress who doesn’t stand against Trump. Thanks.

This is ESPECIALLY important if you have a Republican representative. Make it personal for them. Tell them how hard you and your community will work to ensure they lose in the next election if they don’t stand up to Trump.

Mike Pence is a nightmare, but he’s not a nightmare who wants to put Steve Fucking Bannon on the National Security Council. He’s not a nightmare with populist cachet. He is not the nightmare that makes David Duke and Richard Spencer so fucking happy. We must and will fight him as President – but we will be able to do it on our terms. Impeach this motherfucker now.  

[sashayed]

GOOD MORNING EVERYONE! Happy Monday! Donald Trump and his administration remain a clear and present danger to literally everyone in the world, and they must be removed from power. Today’s assignments are:

1. Call your reps (that’s the people in the House, you have just one of them) and encourage them to support a Judiciary Committee impeachment investigation. Emphasize Trump’s failure to release his tax returns and his ties to foreign businesses. Emphasize also that you are an Ordinary Decent Citizen. That’s just always a good idea. 

If they showed up to fight the Ban this weekend, thank them. Show that you noticed. If they didn’t, tell them you noticed. ALWAYS MAKE IT PERSONAL. House terms last just two years, so all of these spineless motherfuckers are up for reelection in 2018. If yours didn’t show up, make it clear – politely – that you and your community will work to ensure his or her removal. 

2. Call your Senators (you have two of them) and demand that they block ALL of Trump’s nominees. I don’t think it would be a bad idea to drop the word “impeach” in there too, just to get them used to hearing it: “I want to express how concerned I am about the President’s unhinged behavior, his unconstitutional executive actions and his ties to foreign powers and businesses. Until such time as he can be IMPEACHED, Senator [Name] must block every one of his nominees.” 

If you have hostile Senators or representatives, try to use your anger creatively. “I want to tell the senator that my community and I are furious at his support of/inaction as regards the President’s unconstitutional actions this weekend. Unless he steps up to represent his constituents, we will throw our support behind any primary or general challengers in [year your senator is next up for re-election, maybe Google it].”

If you get a busy signal, please: keep trying. I PROMISE YOU THAT PEOPLE WHO SUPPORT TRUMP WILL BE CALLING UNTIL THEY GET THROUGH. Most of them are not self-conscious and do not have problems with entitlement. They do not feel “bad” about how they “sound,” because they believe that anything they personally want is good. WE CANNOT AND WILL NOT LET THEM OUTNUMBER US. 

Okay. Cool. Love u guys. BREAK!!!!

[leupagus]

And in case you forgot/haven’t done this yet (although I say this lovingly: you should already have it), check here to find out who your Congressperson and your Senators are. It also shows you a handy-dandy map of your congressional district, if you live somewhere that has more than one Congressperson!

[sir-rainbow-sprinkles]

Is anyone else getting a dial tone when they call their senators? I can't tell this is normal or if they unplugged their phones...

[karina-padilla]

Important

[dwellerinthelibrary]

[importedmuslim-deactivated20200]

In 70 years white people are going to be reading a young Syrian girls diary and pledging “never again”

[cuzyouwanttotakemypicture-deact]

Live: Anti Trump Protests Outside JFK Airport After Refugees Detained at…

[lord-kitschener]

“Tell me what America looks like?” “This is what America looks like.”

[highreevecain-deactivated202502]

Trump Acts To Sabotage Obamacare Enrollment, Days Before Deadline

He ordered the government to halt ads and emails, which could mean fewer signups and higher premiums.

He may stop the ads, but nothing beats old fashioned word of mouth. Make sure everyone you know (and those you don’t know) they can still sign up for obamacare/ACA until January 31st! 

the more people sign up, the less eager republicans will repeal it, especially those in swing states and districts, and we only need three GOP senators to vote no on repeal. 

[tetrahedrals]

Hey folks, PLEASE reblog info about this if you can today. They have cancelled all ads and emails alerting people to the fact that the deadline is at the end of this month in an attempt to sabotage enrollment. Jan 31st is the last chance people will have to get on this plan.

 Doesn’t have to be this post, just please spread the word however you can!

[trixiemonsoon]

this blog is 100% supportive of ppl who punch nazis in the face, the act of punching nazis in the face, and fully believes all nazis should be punched in the face

[maxximoffed]

retire bitch

[spain5h-deactivated20220512]

Literally

[gaywrites]

BREAKING: LGBT rights, civil rights and climate change sections removed from White House website minutes after inauguration

Now what?

For the love of all that is good. 

Minutes after Donald Trump officially became president, the White House website changed. The “Issues” tab of the site used to have sections on LGBT rights, civil rights, and climate change. Those tabs are all gone. 

Here’s what replaced them:

The page that used to house the office of national AIDS policy is gone too.

I don’t know what to do. I can’t believe this is real. Oh my god, this is real. 

[gaywrites]

UPDATE: TechCrunch explained it in more detail. The archived LGBT rights materials from the Obama administration are still available, but clearly marked as archives. I’m speechless. 

[un-shit-yourself]

Because everyone needs this today, and kittens help everything.