Solidarity Forever

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. Our struggles are one struggle. This is a US politics blog primarily.

[everymournfulbreath]

Edward Said reads an excerpt of Frantz Fanon’s, “The Wretched of the Earth”

[infiniteglitterfall]

"blood quantum" vs "one drop"

These are core tools white supremacy uses to dictate who is and isn't white.

During European colonization and enslavement,

African Americans were categorized according to the “one-drop rule,” where one-sixteenth African ancestry might have qualified one as Black. Native Americans, on the other hand, were codified using blood quantum, where one-quarter Native American ancestry might not have been enough to designate a person as Indigenous. ...Both constructions of race were tied to European economic realities, [Dr. Belén] Unzueta says. “African Americans were exploited for labor, while Native Americans were exploited for land. If you’re looking to exploit land, it’s better for people to disappear. If you’re looking to exploit labor, it’s better if the population grows.”

Here in the U.S. -- and in American-dominated spaces, like academic publishing and much of the Anglophone internet -- our understanding of oppression is still centered on controlling categories.

White supremacists focus on silencing discussion of oppression, and erasing oppressed groups.

Opponents of white supremacy often focus on which groups "count." Which ones are oppressed enough to matter. Based mainly on vibes.

The system imposed on Native Americans, blood quantum, was a way to diminish the number of Natives to whom the government owed something in exchange for land.

-- Kliph Nesteroff, We Had a Little Real Estate Problem: The Unheralded Story of Native Americans & Comedy

Any system of "who counts" that isn't based on listening to a group about their personal experiences of oppression is just oppression quantum.

[technofeudalism]

“caught in the crossfire” is crazy work when it’s your own reporter and it’s a video where you can just watch the cop aim directly at her and shoot her completely 100% on purpose with your own two eyes

[onlytiktoks]

[pissvortex]

the government deleted its covid-19 information websites and replaced it with this

[pissvortex]

every single covid.gov url in existence, relating to testing, health protocols, etc. just redirects to the words “Lab Leak” now

[pissvortex]

Covid was a biological weapons engineered by china to kill millions of people but taking precautionary measures was unnecessary because it hurt the economy. Donald Trump is a hero who saved the world by developing a vaccine and also the vaccine doesn’t do anything. The enemy is too strong but also weak

[probablyasocialecologist]

Biden gave Trump the blueprint to lock up 30,000 migrants in a private ICE jail at Guantánamo Bay

Drop Site published unknown details about the conditions at the secretive facility, now emerging as a centerpiece of the president's extreme

For years now, both Democratic and Republican administrations have used a little-known section of the Guantánamo Bay Naval base to detain migrants, primarily from the Caribbean. And due to the secrecy of the facility, known as the Guantánamo Migrant Operations Center (MOC), conditions at the facility are generally unknown. In the fall, Drop Site News published previously unreported details of the treatment of migrants at the MOC, the bureaucratic process of how migrants are detained, and the private prison companies profiting from the detention center. In August 2024, the Biden administration granted a private prison company a $163.4 million contract to run the facility. "For decades, the Guantanamo migrant detention center has been the hallmark of the most inhumane, racist, and brutal U.S. policies against people seeking refuge," said Jesse Franzblau, senior policy analyst with the National Immigrant Justice Center. "The Biden administration could have shut down the facility but tragically renewed and entered into new contracts to keep it up and running." Drop Site News revealed that the MOC can detain single adults, families, and unaccompanied children. Because the MOC is inside of a military base, migrants awaiting processing are transported in black out vans “with hand restraints and black out goggles to obscure their vision,” according to the documents obtained by Drop Site. Migrants also have limited communication with the outside world, with their few phone calls monitored for “restricted information,” including information about the navy base, the documents showed.

30 January 2025

[crimethinc]

"Before 1914, the earth had belonged to all. People went where they wished and stayed as long as they pleased. There were no permits, no visas, and it always gives me pleasure to astonish the young by telling them that before 1914, I travelled from Europe to India and America without a passport and without ever having seen one."

-Stefan Zweig

Borders as we know them are a recent concoction.

The passport system as we know it dates to the First World War. ICE was founded in 2003 as part of the so-called "War on Terror," a disaster for freedom in every way.

These institutions are neither timeless nor beneficial nor inevitable.

https://crimethinc.com/borders

[heyatleastitsnotcancer]

A lot of leftist accounts are suspiciously quiet on the section 504 lawsuit, proposed medicaid cuts, and the "make America healthy again" executive order.

I know other leftists are not the enemy but if we don't have able bodied allies and general population support, there's no hope of pushing back against these ableist policies. These big accounts ignoring a massive minority at risk is scary. The current admin is the problem but there's no hope of a solution without allyship.

We need visibility. We need allies.

[heyatleastitsnotcancer]

Also if you have seen leftist accounts discussing disability issues, please let me know their handle so others can follow them!

[findme-at1am]

17 States Sue To End Protections For Students With Special Needs

The suit challenges a Biden administration decision that considered "gender dysphoria" a disability and goes even farther in questioning ass

"(*The 504 plan) *That law has turned out to be hugely important in education, offering an even broader definition of students with special needs than the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued the Biden administration in September 2024, saying that it was “abusing executive action” to sidestep the law. Under the Biden administration the Section 504 definition of disability was expanded to recognize that “gender dysphoria . . . may be considered a physical or mental impairment.”

The state was suing, Paxton said, "because HHS has no authority to unilaterally rewrite statutory definitions and classify 'gender dysphoria' as a disability."

The suit spends over 30 pages objecting to the addition of gender dysphoria to the Section 504 definition. It argues against the rule’s understanding of gender dysphoria. It argues against the characterization of Olmstead, a 1999 case that found persons with mental disabilities have the right to live outside of institutions. It argues that the new definition conflicts with the Americans with Disabilities Act. It asserts many negative impacts for each of the states that have joined the suit, including, in many cases, challenges with Medicaid compliance.

Then, on page 37, as it reached its third of four counts, the lawsuit switches gears, arguing not for an excision of the new language, but the elimination of Section 504 entirely. The suit argues that Section 504 is “coercive, untethered to the federal interest in disability, and unfairly retroactive” and therefore unconstitutional.

When confronted with protestors, the communications director for the Iowa Attorney General’s office told Michaela Ramm of the Des Moines Register, “The Iowans who were fed lies to show up at our office today in freezing temperatures deserve the truth, and the truth is that no one’s 504 plan is being changed or removed.”

But the language of the lawsuit is clear. The fourth item under “Demand for Relief” says “Declare Section 504, 29 U.S.C. § 794, unconstitutional.”

It’s followed by: “Issue permanent injunctive relief against Defendants enjoining them from enforcing Section 504.”

Everything is at stake.

[brightlotusmoon]

[glorioustidalwavedefendor]

It argues against the characterization of Olmstead, a 1999 case that found persons with mental disabilities have the right to live outside of institutions.

Let me translate that

Without that right

If you have ANYWHERE on record that you have had one tiny little depressive episode ... or have anxiety ... or anyhing ... a learning disability ...

You can be locked up, against your will

FOREVER

[brightlotusmoon]

Of course I'm reminded of my mother in law and Joe Biden forcing the Reagan administration to not pass the law that would have kept all disabled children - ALL disabilities - in institutions back in 1980.

[thisisnotapublicforum]

The NSA's "Big Delete"

Today, the National Security Agency (NSA) is planning a "Big Delete" of websites and internal network content that contain any of 27 banned

[thisisnotapublicforum]

https://www.nixthenoms.com/

Nix the Noms

Trump’s nominees aren’t just bad picks—they’re a direct threat to democracy and public safety. It's time to fight back.

Hi, Americans! Please call your senators to deny Trump's nominations of Kash Patel, Pete Hegseth, Russel Vought, RFK Jr, and Tulsi Gabbard.

[freakoutgirl]

If you were wanting to buy "deny defend depose" merch or send money to pay for Mangione's legal fees, consider instead donating to the Innocence Project. Instead of sending letters to him (he's probably getting plenty already), consider writing another incarcerated person who doesn't have the same media coverage!

[robot-roadtrip-rants]

Would ya look at that, my post on Luigi Mangione is doing numbers. I'm glad to see so many people agree with me! Honestly, it does me good to see such an outpouring of public wrath against the parasitic health insurance industry over the last week. But you know what would do me even better?

Civic action.

If all we do is sit around and post memes, jack fucking shit will happen. A single assassination is scary for a moment, but if nothing happens afterwards, then it means nothing.

Y'know what's really scary? Thousands and thousands of people yelling DEFEND DENY DEPOSE on the National Mall. Vigils held in front of health insurance companies where attendees recite their stories of preventable death and bankruptcy. Every Congressperson getting their lines and mail flooded with anger all at once.

I don't know why none of the healthcare advocacy groups are leaping on this; I assume no one wants to be associated with an assassin. Personally, I think the opposite. I think we need to remind the top .001% that the alternative to peaceful reform is violence. And if existing structures won't support us in these efforts, then we need to make our own.

I'll be frank, I have no experience in organizing these kinds of protests. I've done quite a few marches in my time, knocked on doors, made phone calls, the works, but I've never been in charge. I have ADHD, for chrissakes, organization is not my strong suit. Still, someone needs to start this conversation.

So what are our next steps? Who here is willing to march? Who has experience planning protests? What do we need to do to make these things happen? What organizations will support our efforts? What kind of demands should we make?

[thisisnotapublicforum]

If we want to do this:

Somebody make a draft letter / email / call with a specific ask for the politicians in question. Some bills: https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/118/s2840 and https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/118/s3393

Get in touch with people in your area, fast. Start planning a specific action - a die-in, for example.

Your example of a vigil in front of health insurance: incredibly doable, especially if you have either really dedicated people or a lot of people. Invite local media.

[marvelsmostwanted]

Election Day is November 5, 2024.

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⭐️ Voter ID Laws By State

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⭐️ Voter Registration Deadlines

And more:

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🗳️✍️ If you know you are registered to vote but are told you are not, ask to cast a provisional ballot, sometimes called an affidavit ballot. Your vote will be counted once they verify your registration.

🧍🏽‍♂️🧍🏼‍♀️🧍🏽If you are in line before polls close, stay in line. You will be allowed to vote. Your vote will be counted.

❗️📞 If you experience intimidation, harassment, or any other obstacle to voting, call the Election Protection Hotline, 866-OUR-VOTE.

✅ Already voted? There’s still time to help get out the vote: Check mobilize.us for phone banks, canvassing, and more - yes, even on Election Day!

[arctic-hands]

Every time there's a food recall that spreads from one company to the next, even from generic brands that are unique to the store selling them, it makes me realize the illusion of choice under capitalism hyped up by conservatives is a bunch of bullshit.

Oh and uh, don't drink apple juice for a while. Arsenic. And it's more than just Aldi and Walmart

Apple juice sold by retailers including Aldi and Walmart recalled due to arsenic concerns

Nearly 134,000 cases of multiple brands of apple juice are now being recalled because of of potential contamination.

[jdsquared]

Walz is a former school teacher, served in the army, and was very pro-active in getting progressive stuff passed in his legislature. Besides codifying abortion/IVF rights, see this list of his accomplishments. A solid pick.

[thisisnotapublicforum]

Have you heard of Project 2025?

Yes, I'm American, consider myself politically aware

Yes, I'm American, consider myself NOT politically aware

Yes, I'm NOT American, consider myself politically aware

Yes, I'm NOT American, consider myself NOT politically aware

No, I'm American, consider myself politically aware

No, I'm American, consider myself NOT politically aware

No, I'm NOT American, consider myself politically aware

No, I'm NOT American, consider myself NOT politically aware

Voting ended onJul 2, 2024

[prof-grace-aspen]

Look.

I have made you a chart. A very simple chart.

People say "You have to draw the line somewhere, and Biden has crossed it-" and my response is "Trump has crossed way more lines than Biden".

These categories are based off of actual policy enacted by both of these men while they were in office.

If the ONLY LINE YOU CARE ABOUT is line 12, you have an incredible amount of privilege, AND YOU DO NOT CARE ABOUT PALESTINIANS. You obviously have nothing to fear from a Trump presidency, and you do not give a fuck if a ceasefire actually occurs. You are obviously fine if your queer, disabled, and marginalized loved ones are hurt. You clearly don't care about the status of American democracy, which Trump has openly stated he plans to destroy on day 1 he is in office.

[catboymistyquigley-deactivated2]

if you want to vote for a third party, what you are going to do is vote for biden in november 2024 and then as soon as that’s done, start trying to get ranked choice voting in your state

we will ALWAYS be a two party system until voting reform happens, and voting reform won’t happen if project 2025 happens.

suck it up and vote biden, then put the next four years to good use

[prof-grace-aspen]

^^^

[phantomrose96]

The rationale I've seen from people always talks about "sending a signal" to Biden by not voting for him. But you know what signal is sent when Republicans win the White House and Democrats lose? The signal is "Conservative policies win, and Democrats need to move further right to stand a chance."

That's the signal. If Trump pulls a 51% in the votes, the signal is that the centrist voters in the middle find the Democrats too liberal and would rather throw their stock in with the Republicans. And to stand a chance at winning them back, Democrats need to become less liberal, and more conservative.

It's a terrible system. It's awful that it works like that. But knowing the boat is shitty doesn't make it any better to stab it with more holes.