
Haruki Murakami (via quotemadness)
“your body is a museum of natural disasters can you grasp how stunning that is” — Rupi Kaur
All the links from the White House website are gone, but the Affordable Care Act is still in effect, and you can sign up for health insurance until January 31.
Trump and his cronies may want to kill it, but that takes time (especially now that key players are waffling and the insurance industry have noticed that it will rain chaos down upon them). So sign yourself up. Get in a free checkup, a round of antibiotics, a birth control implant, while you have the chance.
If anyone needs help applying, ping me.
Todavía puede inscribirle en Obamacare. Si necesita auyuda, pídame.
Would you all mind boosting this? I don’t usually ask, but Obamacare is a big deal for me. I haven’t had to dose anyone with veterinary antibiotics in years, and I really want to keep it that way.
milk and honey // rupi kaur
Y'all, it’s only Day 1, and things are looking GRAVE AF. Today Trump re-instated a law that will kill thousands of women – and I am not exaggerating here. He did this 2 DAYS after the women’s march, surrounded by a group of smirking old dudes. Lovely. The policy is called the “Global Gag Rule”.
Here’s what you need to know:
The Global Gag Rule bans health organizations around the world from receiving US funding if they so much as *mention* abortion. The organizations are also banned from providing abortion services – even though other funding sources, like donations, are used to pay for them. (The Helms Amendment bans the use of US funds for abortion abroad.) The GGR is not a budget cut, it is a special stipulation for funding targeting reproductive health organizations specifically.
As you might imagine, this policy puts international health centers in a very difficult position. They either lose funding for things like STI screenings and birth control, or they leave patients seeking an abortion to do it on their own.
We saw the devastating impact of this policy when President Bush signed it into effect in 2001. Take Ethiopia, where unsafe abortion is the second-leading cause of death (after HIV/AIDS). Organizations there decided they could not turn women away, and thusly experienced a massive birth control supply crisis as punishment. 16 other countries also saw US donations of contraceptives and condoms abruptly cut off.
I know it’s not their thing, but the GOP desperately needs to put on their thinking caps here. What happens when you cut off birth control access? Oh yes! More people get pregnant! And what happens when you cut off safe access to abortion services? Oh, right. People die. Every year 50,000 women die from a lack of access to safe abortion. The last time the GGR went into effect, the abortion rate INCREASED. There are literally 90 katrillion studies showing that banning abortion *does not stop abortion from happening*, it just means they happen in dangerous conditions. That’s a fact. And, at least to this chick, facts still matter.
Then there are the effects that GGR has on HIV/AIDS prevention efforts. In some of the communities affected by the rule, HIV infects as many as 1 in 4 people.
Overall, this is a law that has well documented effects of death and destruction. On what fking planet is this policy “pro life”? I’m pissed, naturally. It’s unbelievable (well, not really) that our government would put women around the world in this much danger FOR LITERALLY NO REASON. Seriously – WTF?? I will not stand for it, and I hope you’ll join me in sending a vocal NOPE to our leaders.
This week, Senator Gillibrand and Senator Shaheen are introducing bi-partisan legislation to permanently REPEAL the Global Gag Rule. They are calling it “HER Act”. It’s unclear to me what is possible given that we have a 1-party government now, but given that lives are on the line, I am going to do what I can to fight back at every turn.
PLEASE call your reps and tell them what you think of the Global Gag Rule: http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/
CALL YOUR REPS!!!!! Be explicit, be polite but firm. They have to listen and this kinda bullshit won’t pass if we make ourselves heard. It doesn’t take much, they’re expecting very little resistance. Seriously if you need a phone number and don’t know who to call, ask me and I’ll find out for you.
Trump is an awful person, but he isn’t a competent politician. Pence is possibly a worse person and a very competent politician. There is already a conservative plan to impeach Trump so Pence can take the presidency.
A Pence presidency probably has less chance of accidental nuclear war, but a much greater chance of extremely socially conservative legislation which would be devastating to civil rights in America. Trump just wants to make money and feel important; Pence has an agenda.
Nixon was impeached for corruption. We already know Trump is corrupt. Bill Clinton was impeached for lying about inappropriate sexual conduct. We already know Trump has lied about inappropriate sexual conduct.
It’s only a matter of time before he lies about something too big for his press aids to smooth over and Congress gets to have his way with him, because he is a mess of a man and makes mistakes, and makes them loud.
If Pence is allowed to take his place, Pence will not make the same mistakes.
Pence is a career politician. He’s well-spoken. He’s relatively attractive. His positions are clear and well-established. He has a law degree. He’s on the conservative end of Republicans, but he’s a committed member of the party. In everything that made Trump unpopular among Republicans as well as Democrats, Pence is the opposite.
There were jokes comparing Trump to Emperor Palpatine, and a good rebuttal of them. Compared to Pence, Trump is Jar-Jar Binks. Pence is Palpatine.
Trump is wildly unpopular because both liberals and the Republican establishment don’t like him. He’s ugly and crass and obviously incompetent, he’s the perfect figurehead to rally against.
Pence is not. Pence is dangerous in different ways, and one of the worst is that he won’t make nearly as good a symbol for his opponents. If Trump gets kicked out, we have to keep protesting, even as people try to say that we got what we wanted, that everything can go back to normal.
Remember this, when the impeachment happens, whether it’s a month from now or three years. Trump is bad. Pence might be worse.

Uhnic

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