threehoursfromtroy:

oswinstark:

Current Situation: President-Elect rotted pumpkin Trump has been pretty busy the last week. He’s been trying to appoint multiple racists, sexists, and xenophobes to Cabinet positions. He settled out of court in his Trump University case. He’s using his businesses to gain monetarily from his position. He’s refusing to put his businesses in a blind trust which will cause a conflict of interest.

And that’s not even everything.

And that’s just in the last week. It’s about to get a whole lot worse.

Current Plan of Action: There’s this great link to a Google Doc going around (and, if you haven’t seen it yet, here it is) that has scripts to follow and phone numbers to call about all the current issues. It’s absolutely fantastic and I encourage everyone to set it as their homepage because it’s extremely useful and very effective.

Current Problem: It’s literally too effective (if there is such a thing which honestly I don’t believe). All of the voicemail boxes of these assholes are full and I guarantee you they have no desire to empty them to allow the floodgates to open again. Because so many of us are calling to air their grievances, we’ve literally flooded them to a stopping point.

The Solution: They can’t stop letters.

Paul Ryan:
Washington DC Office
1233 Longworth HOB
Washington, D.C. 20515

Mitch McConnell:
Washington DC Office
317 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510

Write to them. I want their offices to look like the end of Miracle on 34th Street. It doesn’t even have to be a particularly well worded letter. Here’s all you need to say:

I’m writing to you today because I am in strong opposition to the appointments of Steve Bannon, Jeff Sessions, And General Flynn. 

I also believe that President-elect Trump is working within a conflict of interest by not releasing his financial records and continuing his business through his family instead of entrusting it in a blink trust. The fact that foreign leaders are already being pressured to stay at Trump branded hotels when they visit on official business also worries me greatly.

I would also like to implore you to keep the Affordable Care Act, as I and many others that I know rely on the laws that were put into effect for our continuing health coverage.

That’s it. That’s all you need to say. I don’t care if you have to scrawl it on a napkin in crayon or send it in on a potato, all I care about is that you write the letter and send it in. 

If they don’t want to hear our voices anymore, fine. But then they’re going to have to deal with our letters. And while Ryan and McConnell are definitely the big guys to go after, you should still continue to contact your local Senator’s and Representatives through phone lines, and then if they get full go ahead and find the address to their Washington DC office (or local office, whichever you prefer I just think sending a bunch of letters to Washington DC will really send a message) and send them a letter. Send five letters. Send  five letters and a potato. I don’t care. Just send them.

Don’t become complacent after only a week. Keep fighting!

Letters really do have an impact. Politicians know that it takes SERIOUSLY pissed off voters to spring for postage.

I’m not even kidding.

And don’t stop with these guys. Hit your senators and your representative. Hit party leaders. Even if you’re a democrat–let them know what kind of tactics you’ll find acceptable. Do you want them to stonewall Trump the same way they stonewalled us for six years? Tell them that! Your reps want to know if you have their backs, if they decide to really throw themselves at opposing.

Send letters to those leaders you do like. Kamala Harris singing a tune you like? Let her know! Let whoever becomes the head of the DNC know, too. 

We just witnessed an outsider take over a historically leaderless party. This is a chance for the progressive wing to do the same thing, but for the cause of good.

We’re at a turning point. But don’t let anyone fool you into thinking we don’t get a say. Our position sucks, frankly, but if it took Bush’s bungling to get us Obama, what might we be able to win if we can survive this?

micdotcom:

News broke Friday morning that Trump had chosen Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions for attorney general.

Sessions opposes a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants and has expressed support for a ban on Muslims. Sessions also has a troubling history of racist comments.

Also on Friday, Trump reached a $25 million settlement agreement in a fraud lawsuit involving his failed Trump University venture.

The size of the settlement is a damning indication of the severity of the grievances against Trump University — especially coming from Trump, who has, in the past, mocked business that chose to settle lawsuits, according to the New York Times.

Since the election, reports of acts of hate committed in the name of Trump have surged.

Just last week, swastikas were spray-painted in a park named for Beastie Boy Adam Yauch, along with the words “Go Trump.” Hijab-wearing Muslim women have been attacked and harassed. And the hate isn’t just random and dispersed — it’s also organized.

Protesters continue to gather to speak out against Trump’s appointment of Steve Bannon.

Trump’s selection of Bannon to play a key role in his presidency only stokes the fears of those who are terrified that Breitbart’s brand of hyperbolic and combative racism, sexism, anti-Semitism and transphobia could become national policy.

And the mounting concern about Trump’s business conflicts of interest.

Fears about how Trump will simultaneously manage both his business interests and the interests of the United States have only mounted. Trump will enter office with “unprecedented” conflicts of interest, including an ongoing lawsuit between the Trump Organization and the government over a Trump hotel on government land, his debt to Deutsche Bank and his vested interest in the Dakota Access Pipeline.

Trump’s promises that his business affairs will be managed by his children are also worrying, because several of those children sit on his transition team and his daughter, Ivanka Trump, were recently photographed in a meeting with Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. If a recent meeting is any indication, Trump seems to be planning to go on with much of his business as usual.

counting-dollars-counting-stars:

mrv3000:

jadebee:

steverogersnotebook:

@wittyandcharming

Only 2016 could come up with an achievement unlocked of being twitter blocked by the incoming potus.

Do I make my Twitter public is the question

southernslytherin:

ok tumblr, you seem interested in political activism, so we’re going to have a little lesson in administrative law and how you can force the Trump administration to listen to you for the next four years. 

To condense a semester-long law school course into a blog post: Congress delegates significant quasi-legislative power to administrative agencies, e.g. the EPA. These agencies have a great deal of power to shape your everyday life, but our system of civics education is so abysmal that, chances are, you have no idea what kind of power you hold to shape their decisions.

Administrative agencies have to navigate a maze of laws and procedures in order for the rules they make to be effective and binding. These laws and procedures mean that there plenty of ways the agencies can mess up, and when they do, opponents of a rule can bring legal challenges and invalidate it. (This is frustrating for agencies, but delightfully fun for antagonistic nerds like me.)

When an agency wants to create an informal rule, it has to go through a process called “notice and comment.” Basically, the agency announces a proposed rule and permits the public to submit comments on it. The public includes you. 

When the comment period is over, the agency has to take the comments into account and justify its ultimate decision on the proposed rule in light of the comments. If you submit substantive, meaningful comments that challenge the policy or evidence behind a rule, and the agency fails to acknowledge them and explain its reasoning for its final decision, the rule can be challenged and invalidated.

So how do you comment on proposed rules? This lovely little site called regulations.gov. Really, it’s that easy! You can search for topics that interest you and submit your comments online. And you can do it anonymously! 

So please, check the website frequently and comment when it matters to you, so that your voice can be heard and Trump’s agencies have to acknowledge your perspective. If they fail to take your comments into consideration and disregard the American people, they’ll have to answer for it in court.

Keep calling your representatives and senators about Bannon and the policy issues that concern you, but remember this little lesson in admin law when he takes office.