She Is Casting A Little Spell :-)

safe and warm™️

THE MANDALORIAN | CHAPTER 12: THE SIEGE

the kids online safety act passed the u.s. senate.

long story short (for anyone who hadn't heard of this before) the kids online safety act, aka kosa, is a bill that will censor online content and resources for lgbtq+ matters, reproductive healthcare, activism (INCLUDING PALESTINE AND LIKELY OTHER CRISES GOING ON LIKE IN CONGO OR SUDAN), mental health, etc. everywhere--its effects likely won't be contained to just america.

today, july 30th, 2024, the senate passed it 91-3. it has officially moved to the house of representatives.

is this a pretty massive setback? yes. do you have every right to be scared, sad, angry, or whatever else about this happening? absolutely. but should you give up hope completely? NO!

even though kosa passed the senate, the house is on break/august recess at the moment. we have around an entire month to get emails, calls, and faxes in to house reps, maybe more depending on when they decide to vote on it.

should it pass the house and get signed into law, we still have a whole 18 months before it actually goes into effect. this is plenty of time for digital rights orgs (e.g. fight for the future, the electronic frontier foundation) and other groups that oppose it to file a lawsuit against it. even if, worst-case scenario, it flies through the house immediately after the recess ends, we can still fight this up to march 2026.

so, yes, remember what's at stake here, but also remember that it's not over yet. we lost a battle, not the war.

below are some resources to learn more about kosa and how to contact your reps (first link) + a page that lets you directly contact progressive house reps, sign an open letter opposing the bill, and view others' testimonies against it (second link):

Google Docs

Resources For KOSA

Call Script on Page 2! Resources For Learning about KOSA 2023: KOSA bill itself: https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/1

FIGHT. FIGHT. FIGHT.

Hiroshi Yoshida - Color woodblock prints from the series United States of America.

today's vetted campaigns. please continue to give as you can and share.. your help can save lives.

june 7th:

Artist Nada Saftawi and her three children (€1,543/€15,000) - @nadasaftawi

Mohammad Awni and his family of six (€95/€45,000) - @mohamedawni

Hamsa Mohammad's family of five (including her disabled and injured grandmother, a newborn, and a 3-year-old) (€3,420/€30,000) - @hamsamohammad

The Shamaly family, including 15 children and their elderly grandfather ($21,200 CAD/$90,000 CAD) - @familydeea

Amjad Almoghrabi, his wife Rasmia, and their little son (€9,352/€25,000) - @amjad20011

Shahad Abu Musa and her family of seven ($10,381/$40,000) - @shahdhatem

Reham Al Jarrah and her family of seven (€1,957/€49,000) - @rehamjarrah

Raghad Qanou's family of eight (£53/£55,000) - @rhq274

Literally Jim looking at Spock. lmao. Love him.

Charlie Carver in The Boys In The Band

They get banned from the decoration committee next year 🎃🔪

Ways to support Ukraine 🇺🇦

More than 500,000 people have already left Ukraine due to the invasion by the Russian Federation. The European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management estimates that roughly 18 million Ukrainians will be affected by the conflict in humanitarian terms, with 7 million internally displaced and 4 million seeking refuge elsewhere. To help those still in Ukraine, as well as Ukrainian refugees, we’ve compiled this list of resources.

HelpUkraineWin.org has a collection of vetted and trusted resources, charities, and organizations to help Ukraine.

Some additional ways to donate:

Vostok SOS provides immediate evacuation support.

Malteser International provides essentials for Ukrainian refugees.

Ukraine Crisis Media Center provides fundraising links and a list of tips for sharing information.

Misinformation spreads fast on social media. It is more important than ever to share accurate, verifiable news and information. Here are some resources to learn how to identify misinformation:

This link from the nonprofit WITNESS shares tips for identifying authentic video sources (available in English, Spanish, Ukranian, Russian, and Arabic).

These visual verification tips, also from WITNESS, provide information on verifying images and videos (available in English and Spanish).

This interview with NPR contains tips for identifying fake TikToks.