absentlyabbie:

sometimes i worry how quickly it seems to be fading from public consciousness that the american people didn’t actually choose donald trump

he lost the popular vote

HE LOST THE POPULAR VOTE

by kind of a lot

it still matters that all those people out there DID vote for them, it still matters that our electoral system is so fucked and so undemocratic as to elect him anyways, but i feel it’s really important we remember that the majority of americans chose hilary clinton and not donald trump

for a lot of reasons, we need to not let it fade out of public top-of-mind knowledge that donald trump was not the choice of the american people

bengaliprincess:

if you’re in alaska, one of your senators is lisa murkowski. she criticized the first version of Trumpcare because it would defund planned parenthood. flood her office. visit her in person if you can. tell her to vote no on Trumpcare.

if you’re in maine, one of your senators is susan collins. she also criticized the first version of Trumpcare. call and visit her office if you can. tell her to vote no on trumpcare.

if you’re in nevada, one of your senators is dean heller. hillary clinton won nevada by a pretty healthy margin, and in 2016 nevada elected catherine cortez-masto. heller is up for reelection in 2018. visit his office. flood him with calls. tell him that you’ll have his job on a plate if he votes yes on Trumpcare.

the republicans are only in the majority in the senate by two seats. at least three senators have to vote against the bill to avoid a tiebreaker by the vice president. these three senators probably represent the best chance to flip.

do your thing

uglyfun:

There are some misleading headlines/tweets/general phrasings going around right now about the Republican healthcare bill. It passed the house of representatives, but it is not law. Currently Obamacare is still the law of the land. There are several more hurdles this bill would have to clear in order to be signed into law, many of which are looking unlikely. The Senate has already made a statement that they will not be voting on the House bill. That doesn’t mean we can rest easy, but it does mean that your healthcare is still safe for right now if you have Obamacare. I’m really glad everyone is staying informed and reading the news, but some of these headlines are scaring people and making them think that PP is now defunded and Obamacare is gone. The House voting to defund is different from defunding passing and becoming law.

I hope this helps someone. Stay strong everyone.

thereadersmuse:

Speaking as a Canadian who is well aware that our health care system is far from perfect, I am absolutely fucking baffled that America’s chief arguement against a more universal system of health care is because they don’t want to pay for other people not dying and the government has no right to make them.

Like-

See, this is why I hope we don’t discover intelligent life in space until we as a species grow the fuck up.

The concept of what Canadian healthcare is built on is the very fucking simple idea that everyone has the h u m a n r i g h t to see a doctor and be treated when we are sick - regardless of how much money they make. That is the basics. That is what the lowest tier of our healthcare system provides. The basics.

Like, if I have no healthcare plan through work, I don’t have to nessarily worry about weighing the money versus risk of a emergency room visit. I don’t have to worry about that.

It blows me away that the USA has the healthcare system of a fucking third world country that punishes it’s own tax paying citizens for being fucking human tbh.

reagan-was-a-horrible-president:

justsomeantifas:

senator: okay how do we fuck over as many people as possible but make it sound good

other senator: okay okay hear me out, we fuck over people by destroying net neutrality which is something they’ve shown to care about but we call it something that sounds like they’d agree with

senator: okay like what

other senator: Restoring Internet Freedom Act

senator: brilliant.

These 9 (REPUBLICAN)Senators proposed a bill to kill net neutrality called the “Restoring Internet Freedom Act”

These 9 Senators really don’t like net neutrality

Sen. Cornyn, John [R-TX]
Sen. Cotton, Tom [R-AR]
Sen. Cruz, Ted [R-TX]
Sen. Lee, Mike [R-UT]
Sen. Paul, Rand [R-KY]
Sen. McConnell, Mitch [R-KY]
Sen. Rubio, Marco [R-FL]
Sen. Sasse, Ben [R-NE]
Sen. Tillis, Thom [R-NC]

shiphitsthefan:

shiphitsthefan:

I hate talking on the phone, and I hate talking to strangers, so political activism has been a mixed bag for me so far. Every time I call my senators or representative, I spend the next few hours a horrible shaking mess. Resisting is important, but so is my health.

There’s always email, or snail mail, but those tend to be overlooked. It isn’t like a phone call, which is immediate. A person has to take note of it, and will ask for your name. Sometimes, you’ll get a letter from the congressperson themself in reply. Trust me when I say that, if you live in a red state like I do, you have no interest in receiving that sneering, patronizing letter.

I’m happy to introduce you to Resistbot.

This is a free service that allows you to contact your congresspersons via text! Send the word “RESIST” to 50409. The bot will send you a text back, asking for your name, and then your zipcode. It then looks up your senators and asks you what message you would like to send. Your text message is turned into a fax.

Just like a phone call, it’s kind of hard to ignore. When there’s a machine spitting out paper in your office, you take notice.

But what should you say? Don’t worry. That’s been taken care of, too. 

5Calls.org has sample scripts for phone calls for urgent issues, but they can be used for fax just as well. These are a great starting point if you’d like to personalize your message! Including a short detail about how this issue affects you or someone you know helps make the message more “real”. Suddenly, you aren’t a faceless constituent, but an actual human being.

For example, here is the script I modified from 5Calls that I used to fax my senators this afternoon regarding the passing of the American Health Care Act (AHCA):

I am outraged by the passage of the AHCA without fixing the issues in the plan that would leave millions of American uninsured and drive up insurance premiums for many more.

This is a good point at which to include your personal detail. Keep it short and simple; mine was, “Americans like my son and I, who are both disabled and depend on Medicaid.”

The ACA should be repaired, not repealed; the AHCA puts the lives and economic stability of millions of Americans in jeopardy. I urge you to vote against the AHCA. Please ensure that the ACA’s expansion of Medicaid and protections for those of us with preexisting conditions remain in place. Thank you.

That’s it. That’s what I texted Resistbot, which then turned my text into a fax, and sent it to my senators. Resistbot will give you a copy of the fax to download and confirmation that it has been received. The next time you use Resistbot, you’ll be given the opportunity to fax your representative, as well.

Congratulations! Look at you, being all politically active from the comfort of your own phone. Participating in democracy and protecting our rights as citizens shouldn’t be a privilege. Resistbot makes it accessible.

Now, it’s your turn. Pick an issue and a script from 5Calls, then text the word “RESIST” to 50409, send your message, and join the resistance. 

This is totally how the Force works.

My sixty-year-old tech-impaired mother used this guide to contact her senators for the first time yesterday. I had to talk her out of sending a middle finger emoji.