I’ll always signal boost this because not only does this work for people in under privilege areas it’s also proof of human ingenuity.
Really, we kids that grew up in the early 90s were all told about how we had to conserve water because drinkable water was such a rare resource and people in foreign lands were basically fucked up the ass because there was no way for them to get drinking water. 20 years and 20 bucks later one of the biggest problems humanity faced is a non issue. THAT’S FUCKING CRAZY!
Somebody should start one of those online donate things where people can donate money to buy these to send to areas with unsafe drinking water. But somebody other than me should do it because I don’t know how to do that kind of thing or get the word out.
this is amazing
FYI to everyone, if you purchase a LifeStraw through EarthEasy, they will send you a LifeStraw and also send one to the Philippines (through the Rotary Water Projects) so that the victims of Typhoon Haiyan can have safe drinking water. So if you were thinking of buying one, buy through them, not Amazon. It’s the same price.
Follow-up to above, you also can donate directly to the LifeStraw fundraiserhere without needing to buy one for yourself. You have drinking water right now. You can wait to get this. They cannot.
I need a few of these for my zombie apocalypse back pack
The administration’s claims about crowd size at the inauguration are a pure distraction. In the past 24 hours, Trump signed executive orders aimed at the ACA and installing his cabinet, deleted the pages related to LGBT rights, national AIDS policy, and climate change from the white house website, and all foreign ambassadors have been fired. Throwing up obvious lies about numbers and yelling at the press is just an attempt to make people focus on those lies instead of the real things they are currently doing.
Folks, this is a pattern. This is what he *does*. It’s his Thing. Whenever he starts up something particularly outrageous on social media, look for the legal/political shenanigans for which he’s using the social media circus as a cover.
If you feel he is altering the news – and he is – go global, get your news from international sites – The Guardian (uk) the BBC (uk) Al Jazeera, Reuters all of them have nothing to lose by going hard for him, so they do
The Guardian is running with the gag order, and leaving the transpacific partnership
The BBC is listing everything he’s doing by executive order
Reuters is talking about the lawsuit about conflicts of interest
and Al Jazeera is go with how the pope thinks he’s like Hitler
if you can’t trust the news in your own country – go international – they don’t have the same pressures and are just as accessible on the internet
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.
Minutes after Donald Trump officially became president, the White House website changed. The “Issues” tab of the site used to have sections on LGBT rights, civil rights, and climate change. Those tabs are all gone.
Here’s what replaced them:
The page that used to house the office of national AIDS policy is gone too.
I don’t know what to do. I can’t believe this is real. Oh my god, this is real.
UPDATE: TechCrunch explained it in more detail. The archived LGBT rights materials from the Obama administration are still available, but clearly marked as archives. I’m speechless.
The reason that people are concerned about vaccines causing autism is because they’re not thinking of the long-term. Here’s the truth: when you are choosing to not having your child vaccinated because you’re afraid of autism, you are actively choosing death over a neurodevelopmental disorder. Let me phrase that in another way – you are either picking autism or death. It doesn’t have to be the death of your child. It can be literally any child. And death is the worst case scenario. Autism is not the worst case scenario. Death is always and will constantly be the worst case scenario.
There are children who are too young to get vaccines. There are kids who have compromised immune systems that cannot get vaccines. Your child getting vaccinated prevents these illnesses from spreading and keeps those children safe. It’s called community immunity and it’s important to maintain that so people don’t die.
tl;dr – Stop being a selfish asshole and get your kids vaccinated. There are worse things in the world than autism.
And before anyone starts coming to my inbox screaming about how “I don’t know how bad autism can be”, I know. Not only do I have a neurodevelopmental disorder, but I also had a friend with a severely autistic brother that could not talk when he was fifteen. I know. And even after witnessing him and being through my own shit, I would still get my kids vaccinated because I want them, and other kids, to live.
WTF, people.
Why the fuck do you think that your fear of autism (ungrounded, btw), beats someone else’s RIGHT TO LIVE?!?!
You don’t want to vaccinate your kid. Goody gumdrops.
You expose your godchild – who’s too young to be vaccinated.
You expose your sister-in-law – who is going through chemo (because having cancer isn’t bad enough), and immunocompromised.
You expose everyone they come in contact with – BECAUSE MEASLES STAYS ACTIVE FOR UP TO TWO HOURS ON SURFACES AND IN THE AIR OF A SPACE.
Number of people killed by symptoms associated with autism diagnoses: 0.
Number of people killed by measles in 2015: 134,000
Number of people killed per annum before vaccination became widespread in 1980: 2,600,000 (paraphrased from WHO).
Measles is not harmless. Researchers noticed that after the measles vaccine came out, kids started dying less from other diseases as well. It turns out that measles suppresses your immune system for YEARS (and no, no amount of vitamin C or zinc is going to make up for that).
I want to make it clear though, it’s not okay to not vaccinate your kid even if it did only hurt your kid. Your child is a human being, not your property and your job as their guardian is to protect them and keep them safe. Letting them die from a preventable disease isn’t exactly living up to the job description. Unless there is a medical reason not to (and a real one, not one you read on some woman in Oregon’s blog), vaccinate your fucking children.
This HAS to go viral. This pathetic movie is abusing animals in order to film cheap scenes for human entertainment. The dog is clearly terrified but the “trainers” have no regard for her safety.
Please share and encourage your friends not to spend money on a movie that uses animal abuse to film!!!
Well damn I really wanted to see this, but not now and I strongly encourage you to boycott it as well.
Please please boycott this! I have a German Shepherd of my own that is terrified of water just like that one there and I cannot imagine making him go through that. The fact that they all just watched it happen is unbelievable to me
Meet Betsy DeVos, Trump’s pick for Secretary of Education. She funds an institute that wants to bring back child labor and get rid of public education.
Betsy DeVos is from my area (West Michigan) and let me tell you: she comes from not one, but two of the most corrupt, entitled, extreme conservative families in the area.
Something else, that I feel like people really should be aware of is that our state government (led, of course, by Rick Snyder of the ongoing Flint Water Crisis) just stated that literacy is not a right.
What happened is that some students in Detroit tried to sue the state because they have been denied access to literacy (through disinvestment and indifference to Detroit’s public schools). And the official response is that state legislation only requires that there be a system of free public schools. So yeah, there are schools. Schools without money or resources. But they’re there, and literacy is not a right (apparently).
Meanwhile, Betsy DeVos is a huge supporter of charter schools. Which means that she’s strongly anti-public school. She never went to public school, nor did any of her children.
Also: the DeVos family contributed over $9 million to the Tr*mp campaign.
How is this the real world
How are we living in a world where wretched worthless gutter trash like this vile piece of TRASH are allowed to hold ANY form of position in government
She literally thinks child slave labour is an amazing idea
That’s not a thing a normal person thinks, that’s the viewpoint of a villain in a movie where the hero is a dog
“THAT’S THE VIEWPOINT OF A VILLAIN IN A MOVIE WHERE THE HERO IS A DOG”
This is a phrase I’m going to come back to a lot in 2017.
I wonder what it’s like to literally be the villain in a children’s movie?
Fellow West Michigander here to state that all of the above is 110% true. The DeVos family has brought our public school system to hell in a handbasket and has way too much control in our state government as it is. Betsy has literally no qualifications to be the Secretary of Education. Luckily our senators in DC already know how toxic this family is and are planning on rejecting her nomination but non-Michiganders need to CALL their senators and tell them to reject her.
(Also to the Michigan gang: the gubernatorial election is coming up next year and you need to support homegirl Gretchen Whitmer to fix all the shit that the Snyder administration spewed out on us).
Once upon a time, there were a group of people migrating from northern India and Pakistan after the invasion “of the Persian Muslims who have since settled in Trukey, all of Europe, and the Americas These people are called the Rromani.” (x)
Once the pale bird feces people of Europe came into contact with the Rromani, they believed them to hail from Egypt, thus calling them Gypsies.
Now about what disgusting white people like you have been trying to turn this racial slur into. There is nothing about being a free spirited traveller if you’re called such a word. What is up with white people romanticizing everything to make it seem all nice and rainbows for them?
“They were not nomadic by choice. They moved around because they had to… they were persecuted everywhere they went, and still are, to this day. They were persecuted alongside the Jews in the Holocaust – the Roma & Sinti”. They were forced to have this sort of nomadic lifestyle because “no country wanted them there”. (x)
Let’s not forget these lovely things Rromani people did and still go through because of who they are:
“Forced sterilization (yes, it is still happening)
Eviction
Harassment (by law enforcement as well as civilians)
Fingerprinting (this is happening in Italy right now – all Romani people are being fingerprinted, simply because our race is considered ‘criminal’)
Concentration camps
Starvation
Exclusion from public schools and welfare programs
Bombings (it is not uncommon in places like the Czech Republic for people to throw molotov cocktails into the windows of Romani homes)” (x)
“First and foremost: THE WORD “GYPSY” IS AN ETHNIC SLUR. It is a pejorative. It is an exonym that is hurtful and offensive. You need to accept this, period.
We are NOT your halloween costume. We are NOT your flowy skirt. We are NOT your fashion sense. We are NOT your wanderlust. We are NOT ‘boho.’
Gypsy is not fashion. Gypsy is not traveling. Gypsy is not a headband or a costume, or boho, or a long skirt.
Gypsy is a hurtful ethnic slur used to refer to the Romani people.
We cannot seem to emphasize this enough to people. This word is a slur. It was created to be a slur. Its meaning does not change. It will always be a slur. It will always be offensive.
‘The word is not yours. It’s ours. We can use it as we see fit. You cannot.’ – biggadjeworld
We are a real people, with traditions, culture, and colorful heritage that spans centuries.” (x)
The “x”s in the post refer to sources you can click on and educate yourself with. On those pages, there are more links to become familiar to this slur and the Rromani people.
This is some shit that the witchcraft and neopagan communities really need to get straight. You are not a “gypsy” witch, that does not make you mystical, you are not special, you are just racist. V sorry.
I REALLLYYY need everyone to read this at least three times so there is no chance for confusion.
This is important! In America we are not used to hearing it as a slur, so it can be hard for us to realize it’s one if we don’t run into it or seek it out. Fly across the pond and say it you will get VERY different responses. If you want replacement words for free spirit and bohemian aesthetic, just use “free spirit” or “hippie” or even “flower child” honestly. Hippie Witch sounds more catchy anyway 🌻
Never appropriate someone’s culture for the sake of ‘aesthetic’!!! Learn the history of the words you use. Respect people. Say what you mean (and if you use these slurs, you MEAN to be racist, no two ways about it!). If “free spirited traveler” appeals to you there are suggestions above- other suggestions:
The man who proposed this bill, HB2120, is Rep. Bob Thorpe. His website can be found HERE. And you can contact him at 602.926.5219
The man who co-signed the bill is Rep. Mark Finchem. His website can be found HERE. And you can contact him at 602.926.3122
The bill has already received praise and support from other Arizona House republicans. HEREyou can find a list of all the members of the House along with their phone numbers and emails.
As someone who has had, and will continue, to face the repercussions of these bills, let me just break it down.
These bills have been introduced by white politicians who want to deny us our history and deny us the celebration of our heritage and art. The main reason they stopped these programs in high schools was because “it made white people look bad.” As a result of their fragility and non acceptance of literal goddamn history, we lost our ethnic studies programs.
This largely targeted Mexican-American classes and Native-American classes and our books were not allowed to be a part of the curriculum as well. Our state and many news outlets simply called this a “book ban,” but it was so much more than that. We were denied our history and our culture in the classroom because it made these white politicians feel sad. And this is the exact same excuse they’re giving out now that they want to extend it to Arizona colleges.
Rep. Bob Thorpe, who proposed this bill, speaks out against these classes and thinks the issues involving race is something of 100-200 years ago. And he’s also going after programs, events, and activities involving gender, religion, political affiliation, social class or other class. And his exact words on the subject is that these classes discriminate and that we should be able to “accurately discuss” these topics under his idea of what’s okay AKA erase history and ignore atrocities if white people are involved.
And again his main point is that these classes discriminate and that’s how he’s presenting it. He’s calling it an anti-discrimination bill and other Arizona legislators on his side support it specifically because of that wording. One even told the news that he hasn’t read the bill and doesn’t know the contents of the bill but he supports anything to do with anti-discrimination.
So spread this information because people MUST know what this really is and what has been happening in Arizona schools for years. They actively silence Black and brown voices and turn us into the enemy.
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