cold is the water.....

We already saw during the primaries that the GOP is cutting as many polling places as possible so people can't make it in time or aren't able to stand in line long enough to vote.

Tarrant County is about to have a vote to cut about half of their polling sites. Expect more of that in your area, and expect that you might not hear about it.

Also, check REPEATEDLY that you're registered to vote, especially as we get closer to the election! Just because you were registered in March doesn't necessarily mean you'll still be registered in November.

The last day to register to vote in the midterms is October 5.

The Federal Communications Commission, the government agency that regulates the broadcast airwaves, voted Thursday to eliminate a cap on the share of U.S. television households a single company can reach, a major move that could pave the way for more corporate consolidation in the media industry.

In a 2-1 vote, the FCC repealed a 22-year-old rule holding that a company cannot own stations that reach more than a combined 39% of the U.S. television audience. The ownership limit will be replaced by a case-by-case approach.

...

The 39% cap has been in place since 2004, when Congress boosted a previous 35% limit set in the 1990s. The rule remained unaltered for more than two decades partly because it is codified in federal law.

Carr has contended that the FCC nonetheless has statutory authority to scrap the rule — a position that is likely to face legal pushback. Free Press, a progressive consumer group, said it planned to sue over the FCC’s “unlawful power grab.”

This has opened a path to be voted on within the senate in the future

This is different from the KOSA bill that was part of the KIDS act that passed the house in June

“While pushing KOSA through committee opens up the possibility for a vote, the version of the bill the House passed features some key distinctions from the Senate's take.

Disagreements in both houses over the finer details of the bill have led to it being abandoned in previous years, including in 2024, the last time the Senate passed KOSA.”

differences

“Across its drafts, the proposed law has generally sought to require social media companies and other online platforms to build in stronger protections for children.

The Senate's current version requires social media apps to provide ways for children and teens to opt out of addictive features like algorithmic recommendations.

It also includes language that says online platforms have a "duty of care" to mitigate harm from content that promotes things like sexual exploitation and eating disorders.

The House version of the bill notably doesn't include the same provision.”

Please make sure you have a reminder in your phone reminding you to not look at 2028/32/36 Democratic candidates and say "why are they not promising/delivering Cool Shit?" because you are going to understand that to get Cool Shit we must have competent people running a decently funded government, and we are not going to have that.

We are not getting UBI. We are not getting single payer healthcare. We are not getting free college or free preschool. We are not redistributing wealth on a large scale. We are not getting free internet. We are not getting ranked choice voting.

Hey. HEYYYYY. We will see major positive political change in our lifetime. This post is not saying we won't. This post is saying that the next democratic president is not going to put the government back together in 4 years. Those are not the same thing. That doesn't mean there won't be positive political change in that time. And your life is going to be longer than 4 years!!!!!

it's mouth season

physically interfering with the cameras is highly effective but obviously it's not a type of activism that's accessible to everyone — so if like me you think warrentless surveillance is never ever ever a reasonable thing for a government to do, but you're also like me and can't personally climb camera poles to dismantle that shit:

check out the August 16-22 week of action!

my comments on that post were (sorry for shamelessly copy-pasting them):

Awesome video displaying phenomenal craftsmanship—posted by one of my favorite Tiktok accounts: Tlingit_Haida

Aani (the land known as Southeast Alaska) has been home to the Tlingit and Haida Peoples since time immemorial