[stopthewillowprojectbiden]

The Willow Project would emit more climate pollution annually than more than 99.7% of all the single point sources in the country. It would be harmful for the natives living there, animals, and the rest of the environment. The video below explains more about it

Below is a letter written by people who live in the area where the project would take place, they talk about the pros and cons of it

Consultation Process Inadequate: New Letter from Nuiqsut Community Leaders to Department of Interior | NDN Collective

It seems that despite its nod to traditional ecological knowledge, BLM does not consider relevant the extensive knowledge and expertise we h

If you're against the Willow Project, there's this petition

Sign the Petition

Biden Administration and ConocoPhillips: SAY NO TO THE WILLOW PROJECT!

And this has a pre-written letter that will get sent to Biden, the final decision maker regarding the project, saying you're against the Willow Project

Take action to protect America's Arctic from energy development set to endanger pristine landscape, wildlife, and Indigenous Peoples.

[dare-to-dm]

Welp, the Missouri House of Legislatures just voted to defund public libraries.

I’m honestly shocked and dismayed and heartbroken.  Like, I knew things were bad, but I didn’t think it was this bad already.

I’m also quite frankly shocked at how small the state budget for libraries was in the first place ($4.5 million).  I’ve visited so many quality libraries all across Missouri that do so much for their communities.  When I was a social worker, the local library was always the first place I’d visit in the communities I worked in, because I knew they had good services to offer and could help me get connected to other local supports.  Like, even from just a heartless financial standpoint, I can guarantee public libraries are worth the money.

I’m just really sad right now.

[dare-to-dm]

Here is the current appropriation committee for Missouri.  If you live in Missouri and your representative is on that list, you should definitely contact them and let them know this is an important issue to you.

My own representative is not, though I already contacted his office anyway.  I’m genuinely unsure of what I can do, but I feel like this is something I need to act on.

[batboyblog]

hello @dare-to-dm You said you said you don’t know what to do.

1, you’re already doing the right thing by contacting your state Rep, but you should also reach out to your State Senator as well (isn’t it wild how a majority of the Democrats are black and literally none of the Republicans are black?)

2, you can also submit a statement on a bill If it’s being debated here’s the state house FAQs and the senate this is very helpful and activists are always looking for regular people to be witnesses on bills

3, this is all petty revenge against libraries because the Missouri Association of School Librarians, and the Missouri Library Association, along with the ACLU sued the state over a book banning law. So if you have any extra cash you might drop the ACLU an extra dollar to help them fight book banning in the state

4, finally get involved, this part likely will be a years long effort often very frustrating, but really its the only want to make lasting change. Check out the Missouri Democratic Party. You might say “oh but we’re a red state!” yep this is totally true, but red states like Kentucky, Kansas, and Louisiana all currently have Democratic governors, and even shifting a handful of state House or Senate seats from red to blue can totally change the nature of state government and moderate the worst things. Look up your local party and go to the next meeting and the one after that, sign up to volunteer talking to voters is a big freaking deal, showing people that even in a Red State, a Red part of a Red State that yes there are not conservative people out living (and voting) their values.

[dare-to-dm]

Glad to see this blew up!

Some important context I’ve learned from the notes on this is that only a small portion of library funding comes from the state.  Most of the funding is raised from local taxes.  So like, I personally live in a blue island in Missouri.  My local library will likely be mostly fine as the community is in the habit of showing up for local elections when it comes to funding community services.

That being said, smaller rural libraries are probably going to really be hurting.  I’ll personally be doing a fundraiser for one of those I’ve worked with in the past.  It might not be much, but it’s something.  (To be clear, I’m not asking for anything here - I value my anonymity on tumblr too much!  Just expressing my own personal commitment to this cause.)

Really, the bigger issue that this is part of a larger agenda to push censorship.  Don’t lost hope, but also don’t lose sight of how far conservatives are willing to go. 

[sab-cat]

Contacted my Republican state senator, and the reply stated that the Appropriations Chair wants to restore funding.

So, it’s still worth it to contact your senator even if they are a Republican. Even if they aren’t on the committee, they can show how people feel about it. Let them know you don’t support defunding libraries.

I also want to throw in volunteer for your library, donate, join the Friends group. It’s getting tough for them.

[cloysterbell]

“This is a big ass speech. This is a big ass stop the show, this is the moral framework of the entire five years you’ve seen. Nate Ford justifies 77 episodes of Leverage in this speech, cause you know what? It is the last goddamn episode, you’re gonna know why we made the show. We didn’t make the show cause we thought it was clever or cute or fun. I always say this, no show succeeds unless somebody loves it and you know what, everybody loves this show and to me, what Nate’s saying here is important enough to say out loud. No one should be allowed to cheat and get away with it.” - John Rogers, The Long Goodbye Job DVD Commentary

[northern-punk-lad]

This is exactly what I mean when I say the society even more “progressive” societies are inherently ableist

[jabberwockypie]

Biden Administration Proposes Big Change To Benefits For People With Disabilities

Supplemental Security Income recipients could receive meals or groceries without the government cutting their benefits.

This would help a lot of people, and it's one of the reasons it's so important to push back against the "but the parties are equally bad, so you shouldn't bother voting" type rhetoric.

[bemusedlybespectacled]

jesus christ this would be huge.

[fictionandmusic]

hi! if you see this and think it's a good idea: PLEASE leave a comment. it's super easy & you can do this in <5 minutes:

When a government agency proposes a rule change like this, they legally must have a public comment period before finalizing it. AND they have to read and respond to those comments in the final draft of the regulation. Not enough people are aware of this , but it can really have an impact!!

This link will take you to the Federal Register page for the proposed rule, where you click the big green button to Submit a Formal Comment

Your comment can be as long or short as you'd like- it can just be one sentence! The key is to clearly STATE YOUR SUPPORT for the proposed rule. You can also look at other existing comments for support.

If you have personal experience with disability benefits, especially the reduction of benefits from free meals/groceries, those are great to include. They like to hear from people personally impacted by these changes, or know people who are.

I know it can be intimidating to post a public comment like this but it is SO IMPORTANT to engage with specific policy changes like this. Saying "this is great!" on social media doesn't help governmental officials understand the level of support a change like this has, or how much good it would do.

[bringmefoxgloves]

Adding on to this, as this is important info you might not realize unless you scroll down in the Federal Register page:

The public comments must be submitted by April 17, 2023.

When you write it, make sure to include the sentance: ‘This public comment regards Docket No. SSA-2021-0014′ or some variation on it. Make sure to include ‘Docket No. SSA-2021-0014′ or else your comment WILL NOT BE INCLUDED. 

[Image ID: Screenshot of a section of the Federal Register webpage which reads ‘Regardless of which method you choose, please state that your comments refer to Docket No. SSA-2021-0014 so that we may associate your comments with the correct regulation.’ /end Image ID.]

The public comments are registered with the record ONLY if they included ‘Docket No. SSA-2021-0014′.

Please, please comment. 

As of now, February 22, 2023, there are 214 comments. I am not sure how many of those comments included the ‘Docket No. SSA-2021-0014′ tag, so I’m not sure how many will be included with the public comments that will be registered.  

Remember, when you interact with government bureaucracy, they have their requirements and hoops to jump through. To make an impact you have to adhere to their rules, as much as that stinks. 

[quailfence]

[Image description: a screenshot of the Federal Register page for the proposed regulation “Omitting Food From In-Kind Support and Maintenance Calculations”. There are arrows pointing to a green button that reads “submit a formal comment”. End description.]

[Plain text: The public comments must be submitted by April 17, 2023.

When you write it, make sure to include the sentance: ‘This public comment regards Docket No. SSA-2021-0014′ or some variation on it. Make sure to include ‘Docket No. SSA-2021-0014′ or else your comment will not be included. End plain text.]

[Image description: Screenshot of a section of the Federal Register webpage which reads ‘Regardless of which method you choose, please state that your comments refer to Docket No. SSA-2021-0014 so that we may associate your comments with the correct regulation.’ End description.]

[Plain text: The public comments are registered with the record only if they included ‘Docket No. SSA-2021-0014′.

Please, please comment. 

As of now, February 22, 2023, there are 214 comments. I am not sure how many of those comments included the ‘Docket No. SSA-2021-0014′ tag, so I’m not sure how many will be included with the public comments that will be registered.  End description.]

@a-captions-blog

[wilwheaton]

Republicans are garbage.

[stopthewillowprojectbiden]

As of 2023, California, Michigan, Mississippi, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Washington, and West Virginia all have ZERO MINIMUM AGE RESTRICTIONS FOR MARRIAGE. LEGALLY A ONE MONTH BABY CAN GET MARRIED TO A 70 YEAR OLD SO LONG AS THEY HAVE THE PARENTS PERMISSION

[molegria]

broke: I don’t want to have kids

woke: I shall transmit to no one the legacy of our misery

[the-haiku-bot]

woke: I shall transmit

to no one the legacy

of our misery

Beep boop! I look for accidental haiku posts. Sometimes I mess up.

[prole-log]

[sonnetscrewdriver]

so if I'm getting this right, not only did Elon Musk just essentially publically admit that he fired a guy from Twitter because the guy has muscular dystrophy, but said guy was literally on a Do Not Fire list because he'd sold his company to twitter, took it as wages so he'd pay higher taxes to give back to his home country's welfare state, AND his contract stated that twitter would need to pay him millions of dollars if he was ever terminated?

we've passed beyond absolute scenes. we're in the realm of Ultimate Scenes.

[becausegoodheroesdeservekidneys]

[sonnetscrewdriver]

tfw you’ve just been bollocked by your phalanx of lawyers

[litheammunition]

It wasn't just that he fired him by mistake, he publicly mocked him for it (on Twitter itself) and now has to go crawling back.

The above apology about things that were untrue is in reference to claiming the guy was lazy and lying about being disabled.

[ohlivish]

Man of the Year

Haraldur Þorleifsson, known most often as Halli, swept Person of the Year awards in 2022 in Iceland. After selling Ueno to Twitter, Halli...

For a little positivity, here is an article about Halli's philanthropy and how he's helping to make Iceland more mobility aid accessible.

[marauders4evr]

Abled Person: Hey man, can you hold this wad of $2,000 and this one penny for me while I open my wallet?

Disabled Person: YOU COMPLETE AND UTTER FOOL!

The United States Government:

(Watch how many people don’t get this.)

[marauders4evr]

#raises hand #i dont understand #please explain? 

In order for disabled people to receive any sort of financial assistant for their housing, food, bills, medical supplies, etc., they cannot ever have more than $2,000 of resources to their name. Ever.

It doesn’t matter what it’s for.

You’re saving up for a new wheelchair?

For college?

To put a downpayment on a house?

Hell man, you just happen to budget for once in your life so that you can have some extra money in case something bad happens?

Your benefits immediately get cut off if you’re a cent over $2,000.

And, even worse, you usually end up having to pay back every dollar the government gave you that month.

So say you get $400. If they find out you’re twenty dollars over the resource limit, you have to give them all $400 back and you undergo an investigation of your funds to see if you will continue getting money.

“What if I spend the money that day?”

Doesn’t matter. In fact, from what I can tell, people who do this are actually put under investigation for fraud.

And yes, this system literally kills people.

[locuas642]

Remember when “Guardians of the Galaxy” came out? one of Rocket Racoon’s creators, Bill Mantlo, suffered an accident in 1992 and has irreparable brain damage.

before the movie came out, Marvel gave him an exclusive preview screening. SOme people were upset because they felt if Marvel was really wanted to thank mantlo, they should have donated money to Mantlo’s family.

Bill Mantlo’s brother had to come out and explain: If Marvel gave them monetary aid, Bill Mantlo would lose his financial assistance.

[rootbeergoddess]

That’s so utterly depressing.

[sushinfood]

disgusting

[beeskeepony]

I have friends on welfare who won’t pick up a penny in the street because they’d risk the welfare they struggled to get for 10 years.

[raenboow]

oh look another fucked up thing in this world. let’s just add it to the list. number 63858b

[luvtonique]

My brother has been on California State SSI for autism for the last 10 years, and he absolutely has to (no joke, HAS TO) spend all 720 bucks of his SSI every month, because if he puts it in the bank he risks losing his SSI altogether.

Sometimes, at the end of the month, he has no idea what to do with his money because the whole month went by and he still has 400-ish bucks in his account, and he fucking panics because he doesn’t want to get anywhere near 2,000.

And here’s the funnest part of the story!

One day he did a huge commission on Second Life and wound up earning 1500 bucks off of it, and he told the guy to donate it 500 bucks at a time over 3 months. The guy didn’t want to, and just donated all 1500, which put my brother at 2,036 bucks.

The state IMMEDIATELY (I’m talking less than an hour) called him up to tell him over the phone that they were canceling his SSI, because they noticed he had gone over the 2,000 buck threshold. He had to tell them that someone had made a charitable donation to him and that this was not a common occurrence in any way shape or form, and upon not believing him, my mother had to call to talk to them as his legal caretaker and say basically the same thing until they called off the cancellation of his SSI money.

He also had to cancel his renter’s assistance because it put him to 1,062 a month, so if he went 30 days without spending any money they’d cancel his SSI altogether. Like, none of us in the family have any fucking clue why that regulation is in place and it’s the stupidest shit in human history.

Please, legal side of Tumblr, tell me what positive reasoning this law has?

[sodomymcscurvylegs]

Happy 4th of July everyone! This is what the “nation of opportunity” looks like.

[xfirecorex]

There’s something called an ABLE account that can help. If you are on SSI and were diagnosed as disabled before the age of 26 you can apply for an ABLE account that will allow you to save up to $99,000. More people need to know about this!

[strawbebbynya]

thank you so much for this information. i’m applying for an abled account right now

[viostormcaller]

THERES A WHAT

OH GOD BLESS THE SHIT OUTTA YOU YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW FREAKED OUT OVER THIS I WAS

[septic-dr-schneep]

I’ve been looking into SSI; I had no idea about this!

[perksofbeingdisabled]

Read till the end for the important info

[whatevercomestomymind]

Reblog to literally save a disabled person’s life

[awakefor48hours]

Please read the whole thread

[bluef00t]

Tobey Maguire Spider-Man "it's a hard knock life" fancam hours

[boastmalone]

How does it feel to have conceptualized the perfect Spider-Man trailer op

[oracleocelot]

[visenyaism]

one fun thing about being a teacher in march 2023 is that chess is a literal epidemic among teens. we are starting to have meetings about how we can STOP teenagers from playing too much chess which is like if we were trying to figure out how to stop them from reading for fun. When i was in high school five years ago chess was nerd shit only but now it is transcending every social and language barrier and is absolutely rampant. kids aren’t on their phone texting in class anymore it’s ONLY chess.com. kids are playing chess on their phones while playing chess in real life. this is still better than tiktok because at least the kids are developing an attention span from this

[visenyaism]

the worst part of this is that they’re on chess dot com instead of getting an education. but the BEST part of this is watching high schoolers develop the weirdest goddamn strategies I’ve ever seen. One of my students invented something he calls the “evil advisor gambit” where he gets a third person to give out constant terrible advice to both teams hoping that his opponent falls for it straight-up or that his opponent thinks HE fell for it and will act accordingly thus worsening their own strategy. he has won every game he has been able to pull off a coordinated evil advisor gambit in. this is chess innovation never before seen in its 700 years on earth

[stopthewillowprojectbiden]

Anything to avoid learning pre approved highly censored high school knowledge

[animentality]

[lillyjetaime-blog]

Being able to endure something does not equal an obligation to withstand it.

[mved2gardenia2006]

the world is beautiful we have transgender people and images

[mved2gardenia2006]

and we have sandwiches

[acidhues]

[radioactive-moose-deactivated20]

miraidon also loves sandwiches

[stopthewillowprojectbiden]

And we have ice cream

[cheshirelibrary]

[firesidoni]

… this is from 1993, when the idea of this last bit happening was genuinely conspiracy theory-level paranoia. now… well.

[babyanimalgifs]