Vixy Dockrey

(yes this entirely for corporate profit)

Cut and paste the docket number to put in your response if you remember. You can comment anonymously if you want.

The Oregon Zoo has some sample arguments you can make.

Since OP didn't explain what's actually changing (lots of things) here's a simple explanation of one of the Big Ones.

One of the biggest changes is a proposal to remove the ESA’s Threatened Species Blanket Rule (FWS-HQ-ES-2025-0029). The Blanket Rule is extremely important because it automatically extends the same protections given to endangered species to all newly listed threatened species, quickly providing prohibitions on harming, killing or trading the species. If the Blanket Rule is rescinded, species-specific rules would have to be enacted, imposing additional procedural delays and uncertainty at the most critical time for the species' survival. And with more and more species in danger each year, that’s a risk that we as a country cannot afford to take. 

Also, @why-animals-do-the-thing / @animalphotorefs this seems like something that your reach might help with, and that's relevant to your blog(s).

If you run into issues, try turning off your VPN if you have one, in case it's getting annoyed that you're not "in the U.S.".

If you need a template, I'm putting one I got sent at work under the cut. (But check out the Oregon Zoo link, too! Or better yet, write your own! Unique and individual comments catch more attention than copy-pasted ones!)

I’m going to give you a little bit of information about the process that’s happening here, why it’s happening, and how you can best contribute to protecting the Endangered Species Act. You can skip it by scrolling to the red text, but you’ll be best set up to comment and help if you know some things about what’s happening first, so please stick with me. I promise to be as simple and jargon free as possible.

First, and to catch people's attention as they scroll, here's two red wolf sisters: a species the ESA actively preserving. This is who we're doing this for.

To clarify one thing: they’re not trying to totally repeal the ESA, the entire law, they’re looking to roll back regulations implementing it/enforcing it to what was being used in 2019. This is still bad! Very bad! But a thing that’s important when dealing with legislation/regulation is precision in the language we use.

Okay, so here’s what you need to know. This is part of what is known as the “notice-and-comment” rule making process, which is federally mandated. This happens with the implementation of regulations to enact new laws, or changes to the interpretation of laws. Laws like the ESA, once passed, are delegated to various federal agencies and departments to enact and make happen, and they do that by deciding what regulations need to exist to fulfill the text and intent of the law. This change to the ESA is happening because one of the earliest executive orders from this administration “directed all departments and agencies to immediately review agency actions to identify those actions that potentially impose an undue burden on the identification, development, or use of domestic energy resources, and, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law, consider suspending, revising, or rescinding agency actions identified as unduly burdensome that conflict with this national objective.” So, as @sweetfirebird said, literally go figure out what laws and regs and protections they can interpret differently, put on hold, or trash for the energy sector. Fucking gross.

This “notice-and-comment” process is the process with which all these federal agencies go about exploring changing regulations. It’s a formal process that is specifically designed to allow stakeholders to have input on what happens. Good news: in the ESA, the public is literally a stakeholder! It’s written into the law that any “person” (basically an individual or a group of individuals) can sue the government for a violation of the law. This is actually historically the prime enforcement mechanism of the ESA. Which means you, as an American on tumblr reading this, have absolutely valid standing to go tell the feds to knock this shit off. And with the way the “notice-and-comment” process works, they actually have to take your argument into account. (Yes, even though we know this admin is a piece of shit and dgaf). Here’s why.

A “notice and comment” process has four major steps.

Agency issues a notice of proposed rulemaking. That’s what you’re looking at in the first link @sweetbirdfire shared. They have to describe what the rule they want to make/change is and explain the legal authority for the rule.

The public must be given an opportunity to participate in a written comment period. That’s what you’re being asked to do - submit a comment before the comment period is over on the 22nd.

The agency must “consider all relevant, timely-submitted comments. If it decides to issue a final rule, the agency develops the regulatory text along with a preamble explaining the rule’s basis and responding to all significant issues raised in the comments.”

Final rule is published.

Okay, so why did I jump to a direct quote from federal documents in the third bullet point? Because that’s the really important shit. When federal agencies move forward with rulemaking after a public comment period, they are required to consider and response to all significant issues raised. And that is why you should write your own comment if you can.

It’s really common for organizations encouraging people to leave public comment to ask people to send in form letters. It’s easy, it takes no time or real work, it shows a lot of general public support on the issue, and they can quote the comment numbers when they’re lobbying.

But! What I’ve been told by serious professional people who work with regulatory agencies is that all those form letters only have the functional weight of a single comment during the “notice-and-comment” process. If 100 people only bring up the same significant set of issues, that requires far less time and work for the agency to respond to than even 20 people writing in with their individual concerns. I’ve seen follow-ups on comment periods where they actually count how many people raised issues on a single topic or concern - but the form letters only counted as one “comment” because they were the exact same thing.

And while the political agency head probably wants to fast-track this process of changing the regs to let the feds tear up whatever the fuck they want, a “notice-and-comment period” is a really good way to gum up those gears. There are still people in lower-level positions who do this daily work and I expect that they’re opposed to this and will go through the whole process like they’re been trained to. Under normal administrations, an overwhelming number of concerns raised during comment periods have stalled the creation/change of specific regulations for a decade. This is a process that works best when as many people as possible participate, and it’s detrimental to our interests as invested members of the public that that isn’t more widely known or the process understood.

So! What does that mean you should do here?

Write your own comment if you have the time/spoons.

Literally, write it in your own words, rather than using the form letters provided. If you make it a “different comment” it has to be considered separately and your concerns on the topic will be given more weight. Even if you just stick to the topics the Oregon Zoo offered: to be clear, they’re really good ones.

But, you’ll have even more impact if you can tie it to specific concerns for you. It takes a little more work so I don’t expect everyone to do this, but if you have some specialized or local knowledge that can be relevant, this is a great time to drop that in. Tie the concern to endangered or threatened species in your specific community, or an ecosystem that you know companies might want to pillage.

Your comment doesn’t have to be super well written or perfectly edited. It can be in language about as casual as you’d use in a tumblr post (with punctuation, though). This isn’t something you’re turning in for a grade - it’s raising your hand to say hey, I object! You’re not a major advocacy group or professional org, you don’t have to be perfect, you just have to tell them how you feel. That being said. Public comments are public record. You can submit them anonymously but don’t include identifying information.

Here’s a link directly to the comment portal. While the site has a text box embedded in the page, you can also submit a document/file containing your comment.

https://www.regulations.gov/commenton/FWS-HQ-ES-2025-0039-0001

Comments close at 11:59 PM EST (4:59 GMT) on December 22nd. We have less than five days to get more comments in. I’m really not kidding when I say every unique, individual comment makes an impact. Let’s do this.

Costume appreciation series: The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992) dir Brian Henson

And Nichole Rudolph recreated Gonzo as Charles Dickens’ outfit from the movie using historical research and techniques. Here’s a playlist of 9 videos documenting the process:

You could look at pretty much any aspect of filming - special effects! Music! Set design! - and literally every person on every team went absolute ham for this movie, because it was a labor of love. Brian Henson made the movie after the death of his father Jim Henson and co-father Richard Hunt. The whole team was devastated after losing the two men who had brought the heart and soul and creativity to The Muppets from the very beginning, and for a while there was debate over whether they should keep making movies at all.

(That scene where Kermit, voiced by Brian Henson, says the brief epitaph for Tiny Tim? The cracks and wavers in Brian’s voice are very real as he says “Life is full of meetings and partings children, that is the way of it. I’m sure we will never forget… this first… parting there was among us…” MY HEART.)

Eventually they decided that they would make this movie, and they would make it as a tribute to all the things Jim and Richard valued; kindness and empathy, in-jokes about life in showbiz, and an attention to detail that even the most autistic among us might not notice at first glance.

Please enjoy some screenshots of Abby Cox’s video, because she did her fucking homework hunting down the specific fashion plates Smith and Hollowood referenced:

(See they were printing plates with the latest fashions on them, that’s where the expression comes from!)

I do want to point out that the costume designers, Ann Hollowood and Polly Smith, were prepared to bring their absolute A game for this project even when it only had the budget of a made-for-tv Christmas special. But when the producers scored Michael Caine and locked in that good good Disney money, these two maniacs looked at each other and immediately said, probably in unison, “We are going to exhaustively research smocking techniques for men’s work shirts specifically from 1840 to 1842 - and keep in mind we’re doing this at a time before the internet is really a thing - then we are going to hand sew a tiny, perfectly accurate recreation, and then we are going to put it on a rat puppet for exactly one scene.”

And it shows. Every frame of this movie, literally every frame of this movie, contains costumes that are not only immaculately period accurate (bearing in mind that the story is not set in Generic Victorian Timey Times, it’s set in 1843 specifically, a time in European fashion that was completely fucking bonkers on several levels), but are also a pitch perfect insight to each individual character, with telling details that contribute to the vibe of each scene even if we don’t consciously pick up on them. We can tell that Miss Piggy is a fashionable lady who doesn’t have much money but is dressed up in her very best, even if we don’t actually know the elaborate tatting technique used to make that lace bonnet that was fashionable maybe 12 years before the events of the story, or that she clearly added a simpler tatted border to that older heirloom shawl to make it match the bonnet better.

And those plates weren’t the only inspiration, I actually recognize a few famous historical pieces, like this 1840s day dress currently in storage at the Met:

Look at it. Look at that fucking feat of engineering. Look at the way the upper sleeves are cut on the bias and the lower sleeves are cut straight, look at the way the pleated collar is gathered at the drop shoulders, and look at how many different ways and in how many places the intricate plaid pattern matches up at the seams, carefully folded and pleated so that the blue underthread matches up in the front panels of the skirt.

This character is in the corner of the screen for less than a minute in total. Smith and Holloway did not have to do this.

Even at a glance you can tell that this plaid pattern was probably less expensive at the time, but it too was cut on the bias, and her bonnet also has very very teeny tiny tatting. This character is also on screen for less than one minute, and she’s also about 4 inches tall.

THEY DID NOT HAVE TO DO THIS.

There’s a reason that one of the most frequently done Muppet cosplays ever is Gonzo as Charles Dickens, because that fit still absolutely fucking slaughters to this day:

Just look at this motherfucker! Look at his fur top hat and matching foxtoe shoes! Look at his stockings! Those stockings look accurately hand-knit to me, and they were on screen for a matter of seconds.

Next, let’s all channel our inner Miss Piggy and stare at Kermit’s crotch!

I couldn’t get clear screenshots of it to save my life, so you’ll just have to trust me, but when these characters are moving, you can tell that Kermit’s pants have a fold front fly. Which was popular up until about the early 1830s - which indicates that his clothes are about 15 years old, presumably the last suit he could afford to buy before he started having a bunch of kids.

Nephew Fred, on the other hand, is wearing the newfangled hot look of the season, a button fly front:

Again, you’ll just have to trust me, but it’s there if you know what to look for. Also, a keen eye will notice that Fred’s coat doesn’t fit him quite perfectly, but he and Clara seem to be stable enough that he could afford to get it tailored - which indicates that either he hasn’t had time or hasn’t bothered, or maybe it’s a new coat that Clara has just given him or something.

Let’s look again at Fred’s daytime monstrosity, period accurate down to the embroidered floral waistcoat with the plaid pants, which at the time would have been the absolute height of fashion for any young man to irritate his penny-pinching uncle in:

These methods of making clothes aren’t just old skills that have no modern application anymore, they’re advanced old skills. This is like someone writing a poem in iambic pentameter in a dead language, and only on the sixth reread do you realize it’s also a palindrome. This is insane.

Y'all. It took me until my 937th viewing of this movie, but I took a closer look at Peter’s little jacket:

It’s also a little outdated, like Kermit’s - and this isn’t a great photo of it, but if you look really really really carefully, there’s a line of darker fabric along the shoulders. And only if you really know your shit about sewing, you can spot the clues that this garment has been let out at the seams. Given that he can’t quite close it and the arms are still a little too short, that indicates that the Cratchets bought him a fairly nice coat a couple years ago and have kept letting it out as he grew. And I can’t find any stills to prove it, but I’d be willing to bet there’s evidence that Tiny Tim’s clothes are hand-me-downs from Peter.

THEY DID 👏NOT👏 HAVE👏 TO👏 DO THIS!

And in any other movie I’d assume that they didn’t, that it must be a coincidence or something, but given the level of detail in this movie I absolutely believe that the costume designers took the time to add a tiny clue like this that maybe fifty people on the planet would notice at the time.

And finally, here are the two women responsible for this visual feast I enjoy every year, and every year as my sewing skill grows I can appreciate more and more of their virtuosity and dedication to their craft:

Ann Hollowood!

Buy those patterns you've been thinking about while you still can.

Which naturally, scared the hell out of everyone.

So he had to follow it up with this:

Am I really so bad? Am I really so frightening? You've talked to me. You've confided in me. Have I tried to hurt you? It isn't me you're afraid of. What you're afraid of is the unknown.

Yep.

To quote myself in an essay from way back in 2014:

"I went into a career where a lot of very specific knowledge is required.

I had to learn about verbal crisis intervention and crisis co-regulation. I had to learn about helpful vs. unhelpful language:

“I can only imagine how that must feel.” or “Do you want to tell me how that feels?”

vs

“I know how you feel.”

and about being cognizant of my own emotional state and my nonverbal communication and how they effect a situation.

(What am I feeling right now? What does this person think, feel, want, or need? What am I communicating to this person? How is the environment effecting the situation? What’s the best thing for me to say? What’s the best thing for me to do?)

I had to learn about active listening, about reflective statements and summarizing content and emotions:

“I can see that you’re [overwhelming emotion, usually angry or sad but sometimes bored or frustrated] right now, and I want to help, can you tell me about it so we can figure out what to do?”

vs

“Stop doing [inappropriate behavior]!”

(extra least-helpful-thing-ever points for bullshit like ‘You know better’ or ‘We already went over this’ or ‘You’re too old for [behavior or coping skill]’ or other such boderline-to-flagrantly abusive language that I’ve seen other people say in response to maladaptive coping, including shitty and/or inexperienced staff)

I’ve had to learn about offering validation and support. I had to learn about how to talk to others to help them connect emotions with behaviors so that they can learn to be self-cognizant and learn more effective coping strategies [than harming self/others] for managing emotional crisis.

I was taught whole units on the subjects of ‘Don’t make it about you’ 'Don’t get caught in a power struggle’ 'Don’t get defensive’ 'Don’t focus too tightly on details; understand the larger situation’ 'Understand the other person’s point of view and motivations’

These are specific strategies for dealing with human beings (oneself and others), and they’re super effective.

I mean, these classes I’ve taken boil down to 'how to not be a super shitty human being’.

And none of them are taught as requisite curriculum in public schools, or even college. All of them have been entirely optional and tied to this specific career path. Math majors don’t have to take these classes.

Why is that?

How have we arrived at a place, in education, where we espouse that it will be more important to literally any human being that they be able to solve a quadratic equation than be able to analyse one’s own anxiety and manage overwhelming emotions (and help others do the same)?"

That would ENTIRELY end survival sex work (which is unfortunately heavily populated by minor victims of trafficking, often forced to leave their homes or not provided for by their families)

The bad news is that it's only half and I've got 750 and change to go. And it was all due yesterday. Thankfully, i've got an extension until friday, but that means asking for help and working my ass off.

So, wanna help a trans woman not get evicted while she's trying to get up and moving post-recovery?

If you can, I'd really appreciate donations here: http://paypal.me/tormentedartifacts

Or if you wanna get something awesome in return for it, there's also http://tormentedartifacts.com

I've met nonbinary people who struggle with disordered eating because they only ever see androgyny depicted as featureless thinness.

I've met trans women who struggle with disordered eating because they've internalized the idea that girls are meant to be thin, dainty, and delicate.

I've men trans men who struggle with disordered eating, because they feel women are allowed to be soft/curvy but men need to be muscular or thin and flat.

So many trans people are convinced that weight loss is the key to appearing as their desired gender, even when they want radically different gender presentations.

It was a funny few weeks, with 70 people shot in Hong Kong and arrests obviously in Moscow; Chile now at the moment also. And I was thinking, forget about subtle art — what is not subtle is this murder of protesters, and what is not subtle is the jack boot coming down in Orwell’s picture of the future: ‘If you want to imagine the future, imagine a boot stomping on a human face forever,’ that chilling quote from 1984. I was just thinking, yeah, f— it, it’s not subtle, but let’s do it.

Sometimes, what you need to do is literally ask for a refill. I know that can be scary and upsetting and requires you to be willing to be vulnerable, but please consider two things:

One: if what you want to do is be able to fill other people's cups, you can't fill from an empty cup. You literally can't do the work if you're emptied out. You need to do this so you can help.

Two: for the people that love you, the people that really matter, you aren't imposing on them by asking for a refill. This is one of the things I really internalized from coming home to Judaism: when someone asks me to help them, they're giving me the opportunity to perform a mitzvah. No matter your belief system or outlook, I think we can probably all agree that being given an opportunity to be more awesome is pretty great.

So ask. Here are a few scripts you can try.

"Hey, I am...

... having a bad day.

... really struggling.

... really hurting because of the state of the world.

... having a hard time focusing on positive things.

... feeling emptied out.

Could you please help me? I could really use...

... some company.

... to hear about something beautiful you saw today.

... to hear some good news.

... to see a picture of your pet.

... to be told something you like about me.

... to be reminded of something I do that you like.

... your silliest new meme.

... to go for a walk with you.

... to hear about your favorite show.

... a hug."

I have genuinely never asked my friends to love me a little bit louder and gotten anything but an outpouring of support.