counting-dollars-counting-stars:

queerlaurabarton:

charlietheskonk:

charlietheskonk:

charlietheskonk:

charlietheskonk:

in my preschool class we’re holding “class president of the day” elections this week.  we already elected our first female president on monday, even though one of the boy’s campaign promises was to “bring jewels” to the classroom.

tuesday: we talked about the real election happening today. one child says she hopes hillary clinton wins and all of her classmates chime in with sober agreements. one boy says voting for the drumpf “would not be a very good idea.”

they elected the other female candidate today in our mock election, so she won over the jewels boy and the other boy, who said he would make bracelets for the entire class. my students are surprisingly practical, seeing as they voted for the candidate who would clean the school and help them with their work.

once president, she did do those things, but also punched one of her constituents into the sandbox, so, i mean … she’s sort of a typical politician i guess

wednesday: the children announced tensely to me that trump won the real election. one boy said, “i still don’t like him, but we can’t say we hate him, because then we would be saying we hate the president.”

i said that was true, and that saying we hate him sounds a lot like something trump would say. they nodded and continued to help the toddler class students get their snack plates to the table without dropping their apple slices.

they elected one of the girls again, so she served her second term by helping her friends button their art smocks before we made our galaxy paintings. (because if you think i’m gonna create an art lesson plan to focus any more attention on this shitshow of an election, you are wrong.)

neither of the boy candidates have stood much of a chance in this race so far. one of them came to me and said he was rethinking his campaign promises, and could he make a new poster

he got a paper and wrote a huge list of ways that he would help keep all the children safe, including reminding them to use walking feet and not to touch broken glass. then he volunteered to work in the toddler room and cleaned up all of their messes, and moved all the shelves in my room so he could clean behind them.

i’m feeling so hopeless right now, but these children remind me that there is a future and they. are. it.

thursday: today i was very pleased. our president today is the little boy who made changes to his campaign promises. he also wore tyrannosaurus rex foot slippers. when the voters were shaking his hand to congratulate him on his victory, one said, “good job, and thank you for having monster feet”

he watched everyone like a hawk to make sure they were being safe, and then spent the morning writing in his journal about how much he loves all of us and his bicycle.

Congratulations, I’m crying

fandomsandfeminism:

               Today I would like to talk to you about the importance of election reform.

               My name is [personal information] I love this state and this country.

               I want to talk to you today about a serious concern I have with the way our presidential elections are held. The Electoral College and First-Past-The-Post voting inherently lead to flawed, unfair elections.

The Electoral College is a real concern. It is convoluted and archaic, and it gives more power to states with smaller populations, since they receive more electoral votes per citizen than larger states. It also allows for a president who loses the popular vote to still win the presidency (something that has happened 4 times), and it essentially silences political minorities within a state. A democratic vote in Texas counts the same as a Republican vote in California- exactly 0 in a presidential race.

First-Past-The-Post voting is also problematic. It makes voting for a 3^rd party essentially a wasted vote. People have to choose between voting for the candidate they most agree with and voting for a candidate that might actually win. It stifles our democracy when people have to surrender their conscience in order to pick the lesser of two evils. 3^rd parties don’t receive the full support in elections that they truly have in the electorate, because people know voting for them could end in their least favorite candidate winning.

Simple election reform can fix all of these problems. Firstly, we must abolish the Electoral College. All other elections in our country are decided by popular vote, and this should remain true for our presidential elections. I would like this to be done through the constitutional amendment required to get rid of it completely, as this is the most democratic solution.  This problem could also be solved by supporting the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact. National popular Vote Interstate Compact is a system where a state agrees to give its electoral votes to whomever wins the National popular vote. This ensures the winner of the popular vote would win the presidential election.

To address the problems with First-Past-The-Post voting, we should implement a ranked ballot. On a ranked ballot, voters rank candidates in the order they support them. Should their first choice fail to get a majority vote, their second choice would then receive their vote. This ensures that a majority of citizens are as satisfied as possible with the election, and it means that results accurately measure the amount of support for 3^rd parties.

I hope that you will write and support legislation that advocates for election reform. We cannot wait 4 years until we are on the cusp of another presidential election to care about this. Work to make our elections more democratic must begin today. For the health of our democracy, for the satisfaction of the citizens, and for the future of our country, I know you will make the right choice to make our elections as fair as possible.

                  Thank you for your time,

                                       I look forward to receiving your reply,

anonymousnerdgirl:

trebaolofarabia:

pleasedontsqueezetheshhh:

I’m having a rough morning but at least I’m not Obama giving Trump a tour of the White House.

Obama: I thought maybe there was a special place you’d like to see on your tour, Donald.

Trump: ( groping the curtains) You know me and real estate, gotta see what makes it great! Maybe get some more gold in this dump.

Obama: You do that, but if you’d just step through here I wanted to offer you some of the wine you’ll be getting as President, it’s good stuff.

(Obama gestures through a door frame into what appears to be a dusty wine cellar)

Trump: Really? I love a nice Cab-er-net, good head you know what I mean. (Trump eases himself in through the door)

Obama: Yeah, it’s right there in the back, just go grab it. 

(Trump wanders towards the back of the room as Obama closes the cellar door)

Trump: This one bottle is YUUUGE-HEY!

(Outside the cellar door Biden approaches with a wheelbarrow full of bricks and mortar, a boombox is on his shoulder, Loverboy can be heard)

Obama: The thousand inuries of The Don I’ve born as best I could; but when he ventured on moving into my house I vowed revenge.

Biden: Yeah, NEVERMORE LOSER!

Best use of Cask of Amontillado meme ever🍷

jawnbaeyega:

morecolorfulmetaphors:

heartsinhiseyes:

howtolivefatandhappy:

Trump’s presidency isn’t final. Candidates do not actually recieve electoral college votes until December 19 when appointed individuals (called electors) vote, which finalizes the presidency. Electors generally vote the way their state suggests, but they are only obligated to do so in 26 states. The electors can choose to cast their votes for any candidate. There’s more that happens should they choose to vote for someone besides the majority suggestion, but the point is that nothing is final until December.

If you know an elector, please encourage them to vote for HRC!

If anyone has contact information for electors in swing states, now is the time.

Hey everyone, I know this and other efforts like it are well meaning and coming from a good place, however, they’re not going to yield any fruit and could actually be more problematic. Hear me out, because I want us to fight, but we need to focus our efforts and energy on feasible outcomes. 

The electors aren’t going to upend “the will of the people.” They can’t and they won’t because a pillar of American democracy is the peaceful transfer of power & acceptance of free & fair election results. I know you’re going to say “but it’s not official until the electors vote” but the people have voted, the electoral votes divided, & the electoral college vote is mostly just a ceremonial ratification of what has already happened. Also, the need to accept the result of a free and fair election is precisely why you won’t hear President Obama or Hillary Clinton expressing outrage and calling for people to rise up against Trump. They can’t and they won’t. Because if they do and if the electoral college goes against free and fair election results, it sets a terrible precedent: It means that should the tables be turned, a decent and qualified candidate who properly won an election could be ousted because the people who voted for Trump this time around don’t like the newly elected president. In short, the electoral college defying election results effectively ends the veneer of American democracy and the tradition of peaceful transitions of power (because if you think Trump’s supporters won’t take to the streets with their guns if this victory is taken from them by 60 or so unknown electors, you’ve got another thing coming). It’s not going to happen and it can’t because it would destabilize the entire democratic system (which probably needs to happen, but not like this). 

So what can we do?

1. Before the transition of power, folks need to take personal precautions and secure themselves and their families. Get an IUD if you need one, go to the doctor and get checked for things you might lose coverage for, get a VPN, etc. Save money because the economy is about to significantly change. Make sure you and your family have Passports and any necessary documentation as to your identity and citizenship. There are lots of good posts going around on this stuff. Read up. This is important, because it’s infinitely harder to successfully organize if we don’t have our basic needs of health, safety, and shelter met.

2. Congress is up for re-election in 2018 & we have to stop the Republican majority. Two years might seem like a long time, but the Presidential election went on for nearly two years. In order for challengers to have a chance they need to be working and organizing right now! Folks need to figure out who their Representatives are, what party their from, and who their potential challengers are in the next race. Build that voter base right now! 

3. Donate to, volunteer at, & join progressive legal organizations & nonprofits giving direct services to marginalized communities.

It’s important that people really understand the situation we will soon be in. We haven’t had a Republican dominated Executive, Legal, and Judicial branch since 1928. Then we had the Great Depression. These people are about to do their best to literally reset the clock to the 1950s…and they can make it all legal because they now have the power to do so. The rest of us are literally in survival mode. The language we will use in Amicus briefs to the Supreme Court must now change. The arguments lawyers use in court rooms to protect and defend marginalized people will have to change when Trump appoints more federal judges. The goals and tactics of our organizing and mobilizing must change. 

I’m not trying to be an alarmist. It is vitally important the people understand what the situation in and what’s at stake so that we can concentrate and focus our efforts on things that have a chance of working. 

We are in survival mode. Our efforts must focus on taking back the Legislative branch and working to mitigate the damage and impacts on the most vulnerable among us when new policies and altered laws start going into effect. 

oiseaudete:

elyseexplosion:

elyseexplosion:

elyseexplosion:

• Planned Parenthood: reproductive and sexual health, https://www.plannedparenthood.org/
• Forge: supporting trans people and their families, https://forge-forward.org/
• The Trevor Project: suicide and crisis prevention for LGBTQ+ youth, http://www.thetrevorproject.org/
• Assata’s Daughters: empowering young Black women, based out of the Chicago area http://www.assatasdaughters.org/
• Tell Mama: fighting anti-Muslim sentiment and hate (they’re UK based, still searching for a US-based alternative) http://www.tellmamauk.org
• the American Civil Liberties Union: actually defending the constitution and ensuring a safe legal process, https://www.aclu.org/
• Southern Poverty Law Center: actively documenting and fighting hate groups in the US, https://www.splcenter.org/
• NARAL Pro-Choice America: defending abortion rights, http://prochoiceamerica.org/

Please share and add anything I may have missed.  I know not everyone is able to financially give right now, but a signal boost never hurts.

Some more:

• the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee: working to defend Arab-Americans in the US, http://www.adc.org
  
• Immigrant Defense Project: offering legal assistance to American immigrants, http://www.immdefense.org/
  

• Lambda Legal: civil rights lawyers for LGBT+ individuals and those who are HIV+, http://www.lambdalegal.org/
  

• NAACP: The mission of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate race-based discrimination. http://www.naacp.org/
• the Nature Conservancy: The Nature Conservancy addresses the most pressing conservation threats at the largest scale. http://www.nature.org/
  
• the Sierra Club: Founded by legendary conservationist John Muir in 1892, the Sierra Club is now the nation’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization. http://www.sierraclub.org/
  
• Black Lives Matter: Black Lives Matter is an ideological and political intervention in a world where Black lives are systematically and intentionally targeted for demise. http://blacklivesmatter.com/getinvolved/
  
• Help for Flint: Donate to one of the organzations working in Flint and stay updated on the crisis http://www.helpforflint.com/
  
• Sacred Stone Camp: We are asking for financial support for water-propane - food and blankets  for the camp. gofundme / amazon wishlist / legal defense fund
  
• Oilwatch International: Oilwatch is a network of resistance to oil activities in tropical countries. http://www.oilwatch.org/en/