Ukraine has a fairly vibrant Jewish community and WUPJ has set up a fund to be spent on individuals and communities to ensure their safety and well-being.
With war always comes a rise in antisemitism.
There’s been donation posts for neo-nazi groups going around so I figured I would share a link specifically for Jewish support. Stay safe y’all
Okay, USA followers, you know how we all hate bank fees? I mean, you overdraw your account by $1.23 and you get charged $25.00? That’s evil.
As of Jan 26, 2022, the Biden Administration CFPB (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau) is bringing the hammer down on junk fees. This is more than just bank fees - this is going after the junk fees on things like prepaid cards, loans, bank transfers, credit card late fees, even closing costs on a mortgage.
The CFPB needs public comments, like the opinions of real people who are affected by these fees, to build a case about telling financial organizations that THEY CAN’T CHARGE THEM ANYMORE.
The CFPB says it’s particularly interested in hearing from older and lower-income consumers, students, service members and people of color.
There’s some good detail about the comments in this investopedia article. The easiest way to comment is to send an email to FederalRegisterComments@cfpb.gov. Include Docket No. CFPB-2022-0003 in the subject line of the message.
Note that these are public comments. They will be published online through the CFPB website. Don’t include account numbers, social security numbers, or full names. Tell a story - tell about the time you overdrew your account by $1.23 and the bank took $35. Tell about how you signed up for a credit card and the company charged you a bunch of fees you didn’t even know about. Tell about how you transferred money from your savings account to a checking account and the bank charged you $2.50.
These junk fees are a slap in the face of ordinary people who can’t refuse to pay, and the CFBP is taking aim at the banks that charge them. To read what CFPB director Rohit Chopra had to say about this call to action, click here.
You have until March 31, 2022 to submit comments.
YES!!!!
FUCKING YES!!!!!!
Y'all know the hole I just asked your help digging me out of like, literally last week?
THAT HOLE WOULD NOT HAVE EXISTED WITHOUT PREDATORY FEES LIKE THIS
THIS WOULD BE SO GOOD FOR SO MANY PEOPLE
DATES:Comments must be received on or before March 31, 2022.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by Docket No. CFPB-2022-0003, by any of the following methods:
•Email: [email protected]. Include Docket No. CFPB-2022-0003 in the subject line of the message.
•Mail/Hand Delivery/Courier: Comment Intake —Fee Assessment, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, 1700 G Street NW, Washington, DC 20552. Please note that due to circumstances associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, the CFPB discourages the submission of comments by hand delivery, mail, or courier.
Instructions: The CFPB encourages the early submission of comments. All submissions should include document title and docket number. Because paper mail in the Washington, DC area and at the CFPB is subject to delay, commenters are encouraged to submit comments electronically. In general, all comments received will be posted without change to https://www.regulations.gov.
Hey guys. I’m a federal employee. I write regulations. I personally go through every single one of thousands of comments.
Unlike Congress, where sometimes your call or email about a policy goes into the void, every single comment about a regulation is individually read and tallied.
When a regulation is written it will say something like “The CFPB adopted X because it received 5,284 comments telling us to do that.”
Write your comments.
It can be short. It can be long. It can go into detail about your experiences or your background. It can simply be an email saying “overdraft fees suck and should be illegal.”
And it will affect policy.
Note, however, that comments are generally public record, so even though you’re encouraged to give your name, don’t give personally identifiable information.
Federal register comments are one of the least known yet most powerful ways to influence public policy.
Send in your comments!!
This is the kind of thing where participating in the process of government will cause real, concrete results.
Unlike, say, writing a representative which feels like screaming into a void except in election years (though it’s still worth doing) this does matter. Take a few minutes and if you can write something about how this policy would help, do so.
Personally I may write about the times I’ve had to do the math to decide whether the fees were going to be worth it or not.
today (27 Jan) is International Holocaust Memorial Day, so I’ve compiled a list of charities you can donate to which help to preserve European Jewish culture as well as supporting living Jewish communities, especially in Eastern Europe, as a way to honour victims of the Holocaust both by preserving their memory and by supporting the European Jewish communities that the Nazis aimed to destroy.
-YIVO[Link]; founded in Vilne, Lithuania in 1925 and now based in New York, is one of the largest organisations for the preservation and education of Yiddish, as well as hosting the largest archive of Eastern European Jewish materials (23 million items) - including many which were rescued from Nazi book-burning by Jewish resistance. It is the ONLY prewar Jewish library and archive to have survived the Holocaust.
-World Jewish Relief[Link], formed during the Holocaust by the UK Jewish community to aid the evacuation of German Jews. The majority of their modern day work focuses on aiding vulnerable Jewish communities in Eastern Europe. They also provide aid to refugees, disabled and elderly people, and respond to international disasters across the world.
-The Yiddish Book Centre[Link] hosts an online archive of hundreds of digitised Yiddish books (many with translations), as well as a video oral history archive with 1000+ Jewish people of all ages and backgrounds telling their own stories, many in Yiddish (with subtitles). They also train new Yiddish translators and run lectures, education programs, film screenings, music festivals, and the world’s first Yiddish museum.
-The Together Plan[Link] supports post-Soviet Jewish communities, especially in Belarus due to the current instability there. As well as supporting Jewish communities with aid, education, and community building; they also record and translate Holocaust testimonies, preserve Jewish graveyards, and run education on Jewish Belarus.
-The European Jewish Cemeteries Initiative[Link] works to preserve and restore Jewish cemeteries, particularly in countries whose Jewish populations were decimated by the Holocaust, which left cemeteries to be vandalised and fall into decay. This is an important act in honouring the dignity of the dead, as well as witnessing and preserving the presence of lost European Jewish life.
If you have no money to spare, consider spending some time browsing the testimony and history hosted on YIVO and the Yiddish Book Centre as an act of memorial instead.
The Yurok lands act (H.R.7581) would restore over 1,000 acres of ancestral land to the Yurok tribe to restore sovereignty, enable Indigenous control of the environment, and ensure that they can conduct ceremonies without permission from outside authorities. The Yurok tribe is the only federally recognized tribe in California that has any of their ancestral land, but much of what they do control is non- contiguous, and most of their land is owned by non-indigenous people. Their is more Yurok land in the hands of corporations than actual Yurok! The Yurok tribe deserve to have their land back and you can help!
If you live in the United States please contact your House member and Senators to ask them to support and cosponsor this act. Call (202) 224-3121 to be connected with your representatives or use a search engine to find them and call or email them directly.
If you have the time you can even set up a phone or video call meeting yo advocate for the Yurok lands act. You can make the appointment by calling or emailing your representative or filling out a form in their website. The meeting lasts 15-30 minutes. (I am going to go this because I am stuck at home due to COVID-19.)
Please contact your member of Congress! A quick call, voice mail, or email can make a big difference on a bill like this that gets little media attention! If you do not live in the US reblogging this posts helps US residents take action to work for Indigenous rights!
A lot of people are REALLY WORRIED about the leaked Alito draft, and for good reason. If Roe vs. Wade is overturned, many states will enact trigger laws that revoke the right to safe abortion access. But that doesn’t mean that safe abortions won’t be possible. They’ll just be harder to access.
Fortunately, we aren’t powerless. There are things we can do to help preserve the right to abortion and, if Roe falls, help people get the abortions they need.
Here are some actionable things you can do to help!
Donate to your local abortion fund.
This is a financial commitment, obviously, but these funds are vital to helping people access abortions. There are different types of funds. Practical funds help with transportation, housing, and other practical needs. Clinical funds help with paying for the procedure. Both types of funds are necessary and helpful!
If you’re in a state with protected abortion access, see if there’s a practical fund in your state that you can donate to. These funds make it possible for people for other states to afford travel and lodging in your state. You might also want to consider donating to funds in states or regions that have trigger laws, like the Yellowhammer Abortion Fund, which helps people in Mississippi, Alabama, and the Deep South.
There’s also https://abortionfunds.org/, but as of right now (2 May 2022, right after the SCOTUS leak happened), their website is down. Too much traffic!
Volunteer with a hotline.
As of writing this, a lot of abortion fund websites are completely overwhelmed. Lots of people are rightfully upset and looking for some way to help. Many of these funds have hotlines that you can help out directly from your own phone! Google “abortion fund + your state (or your region) + hotline” and see what comes up. These hotlines are going to be SWAMPED soon and many orgs are going to be onboarding volunteers very quickly to help deal with the onslaught.
Donate to grassroots causes.
I love Planned Parenthood as much as the next gal, but donating to them isn’t actually going to help as much right now as donating to an abortion fund. Smaller, grassroots networks are going to be more effective at allocating resources to the people who need it most. Independent clinics are also going to need substantial help. Independent clinics provide the majority of abortion care in the US, and many are the only clinics operating in hostile states. Check out https://keepourclinics.org/ if you’re interested in donating.
Make a list of resources.
There are a lot of people out there who aren’t going to have the time or energy or emotional bandwidth to deal with this dumpster fire. If you have the capacity to do so, then maintain a file somewhere with the following information:
- any abortion funds that serve your area with their contact info- email and phone and links
- any abortion hotlines in your area
- national care hotlines, ESPECIALLY RAINN because this is going to be really, really hard on survivors
-a list of crisis pregnancy centers in your area, clearly marked with their names, contact info, and primary links. Make sure that these are highlighted in a way that separates them from the actual abortion providers because these centers are highly predatory and manipulate people who are distressed and confused. If somebody has access to that list and know who’s operating in an area, it might help them avoid these places!
Have this file ready to go so that you can share it with people who are overwhelmed!
Help the safe havens.
Losing Roe feels inevitable at this point. It might not be, but the world is terrifying. However, some states are safe havens and will maintain abortion access, regardless of what SCOTUS eventually decides. Practical access funds in these states will need help because they will help people traveling from unsafe states to safe states. Refer to this map: https://reproductiverights.org/maps/what-if-roe-fell/
Look for funds in states that are blue or yellow. This means they have expanded access or protection if Roe falls. But be sure to hover over and look at the summary of the protection– for example, Florida has abortion protection, but they just passed a 15-week ban. That’s basically protection in name only!
If you’re not sure which practical fund you’d like to support, I highly suggest the Midwest Access Coalition. MAC is based in Chicago and helps people from all over the Midwest come to the city for reproductive healthcare. A lot of the Midwest is really hostile to abortion, so MAC can help a lot of people. But there are many, many others!
In the coming days and weeks, there will be more to do. There will be marches, protests, and other organized action. But right now, tonight, these are things you can look into doing.
your pal says something mean about a fat person in shorts this summer you SAY, “oh so they’re supposed to get heat stroke because of your sensitive ass?” (fat people deserve to wear weather appropriate clothing)
you’re getting ice cream with your friend and they make a comment about the fat person eating an ice cream cone you SAY, “oh then I guess you don’t want ice cream, let’s go.” (fat people don’t need to earn food even for enjoyment)
you’re at the beach and a fat person is laying out and your dad says something rude about it you SAY, “I think they look comfortable. It’s good they’re getting some sun. I bet they work hard all year for this vacation.” (fat people deserve to appear in public)
telling a someone you like their stretch marks does NOTHING for fatphobia and will NEVER make your friends and family think twice about their shitty learned hatred.
(note: I have done my best to search for various organizations directly helping Haitian Refugees because I was frustrated with how little information there seemed to be about various actions we can take. If you find anything that does not seem accurate, OR you would like to add on to this list - pleasedo.)
“Ok, I know this is a serious situation on Samoa and I can already see the “Let’s do something” calls by those of us abroad. Wonderful thought but before you clear out your cupboard of old blankets and dash off to the warehouse to buy a pack of bottled water, sit down and read this:
Wait. Think. Before you do something.
Do NOT send goods. Do NOT send canned anything. Do not send anything unless it’s money, or something that is specifically requested and you can ensure it reaches the requestor without them paying the price fir it. Do not hop on the plane to go help unless it’s your family.
Wait for the Samoan Government who will assess and establish what help is needed.
We see enough Good Samaritan who land at disaster zones who end up being a burden. Stay home. Let Samoa help themselves or ask fir help first.
Your genuine willingness to help by giving goods ends up being the burden for others, or your goods end up rotting at the wharf or worse, more rubbish they didn’t need in the first place.
So, - check out what Red Cross are doing. Help them so they can help those in need. You can also transfer direct to Red Cross. - Be wary of politicians /community leaders - they have agendas, if you want to help a family back home, send direct to them.”
Here is a list of Black-led LGBTQ community organizations you can donate to, compiled by pfpicardi and RaquelWillis_:
Snapco - Builds power of Black trans and queer people to force systemic divestment from the prison industrial complex and invest in community support.
Black AIDS Institute- Working to end the Black HIV epidemic through policy, advocacy, and high-quality direct HIV services.
Trans Cultural District - The world’s first-ever legally recognized trans district, which aims to stabilize and economically empower the trans community.
LGBTQ+ Freedom Fund - Posts bail for LGBTQ+ people held in jail or immigrant detention and raises awareness of the epidemic of LGBTQ overincarceration.
House of GG - Creating safe and transformative spaces for community to heal, and nurturing them into tomorrow’s leaders, focusing on trans women of color in the South.
Trans Justice Funding Project - Community-led funding initiative to support grassroots trans justice groups run by and for trans people.
The Okra Project - Collective that seeks to address the global crisis faced by Black trans people by bringing home-cooked meals and resources to the community.
Youth Breakout - Works to end the criminalization of LGBTQ youth in New Orleans to build a safer and more just community.
Have you ever seen someone you love - or just someone you know - upset about something and tried to cheer them up? Help them look on the bright side? Remind them of what they still have going for them? Of course you have. We all have. It feels like the most natural thing to do. But have you ever wondered why doing that natural thing doesn’t seem to make those people genuinely feel better or make you feel like you’ve actually helped them? There must be a better way, right? It turns out that there is, and it’s a little counterintuitive, but it truly works…
Check out this wonderful animation created by Astha Shrestha andMegan Devine and learn how we can effectively help each other deal with the pain of loss.
Black Lives Matter is an international activist movement, originating in the African-American community, that campaigns against violence and systemic racismtowardblack people.
Black Girls Code is on a mission to increase the number of black women working in computer programming. By hosting after school programs and workshops, the org plans to train one million young black women in the field by the year 2040.
Rapper Common founded this organization in the 1990s to provide greater opportunities for under-serviced children through mentorship, community service and the arts.
The Pennsylvania Prison Society is a long-standing organization dedicated to reforming the criminal justice system. By providing prison bus services, offering reentry services and newsletter subscriptions for current and former offenders, the organization advocates for the rights of those affected by incarceration.
Blackout curates a unique way to protest the repetitive inattention to the work of black artists by tuning out from events like the Academy Awards. The group played a significant role in Justice For Flint, a charity event which was held on the same night as the 2016 Oscars.
Incite works to end violence against women of color through organizing events, conferences, circulating newsletters and strategic political initiatives.
The death of Trayvon Martin spurred the inspiration for Million Hoodies, a coalition of young people organizing to put an end to mass incarceration and the criminalization of young black men.
Cut50 is a project by The DreamCorps that aims to reduce the number of people incarcerated through awareness campaigns like #DayofEmpathyand#ClemencyNOW.
With multiple branches throughout the nation, The Innocence Project works to exonerate those who have been wrongfully convicted of crimes by providing free legal assistance.
The Empowerment Program offers resources like employment assistance and housing referrals for black women experiencing poverty, homelessness and incarceration.
Founded by Reverend Al Sharpton, the National Action Network operates on the platforms of voter protection, corporate responsibility, anti-violence and criminal justice.
BOLD is a national leadership training program that aims to equip black leaders with the skills needed to place themselves at the forefront of movements for social justice.
Sponsored by the National Council on Crime and Delinquency, NBWJI centers its mission on empowering black women and girls in the criminal justice system.
Safety Pin Box is a monthly subscription box for white people striving to be allies in the fight for Black Liberation.
Box memberships are a way to not only financially support Black femme freedom fighters, but also complete measurable tasks in the fight against white supremacy.
This subscription box is intended for white people who want to consistently contribute to Black liberation financially while doing measurable support work for the movement and learning what it takes to dismantle white supremacy. Safety Pin Box encourages white people to take initiative in contributing to the movement for Black lives, while getting guidance and educational resources from Black women. Subscribers are encouraged to connect with other Safety Pin members both locally and online to complete tasks and support each other in learning.
26 ways to support growing movements beyond protesting(Link 1) (Link 2)
1. Host or attend a Know Your Rights Training to educate yourself and your community on their rights when interacting with police
2. Fundraise online/Donate to organizations
3. Spread the word on rallies, actions, events and demands online and in person
4. Offer to be the emergency contact for people attending marches and rallies
5. Attend planning meetings or strategy calls for organizations
6. Support or organize healing justice events
7. Cook a pre- or post-march meal or pack food for people attending protests, marches, and events
8. Coordinate or provide childcare for people attending marches
9. Create and share art, music, poetry, and stories. Create new chants, make signs, reach out to organizers to see what materials they need designed
10. Create a home base where folks who are protesting can take physical and emotional breaks indoors with others
11. Continue to reflect on your privilege, power, and identity. Find like-identified folks to workshop with and have conversations with family, friends, co-workers, and community members to help build awareness and solidarity.
12. Be a grounding or self-care buddy
13. Offer to help create a safety plan for friends who have physical pain, varying mobilities, and/or mental health concerns and want to participate in protests
14. Create intentional spiritual space
15. Volunteer with organizations to provide IT support, collect supplies for demonstrations, answer phones, do data entry, upload, organize, and archive documentation
16. Work with teachers. Write curriculum, support other educators talking about these issues, organize trainings, teach-ins, and host conference calls with teachers to strategize how to talk with students about what’s happening and how they can get involved.
17. Share skills. Whether that means organizing demonstrations, being a medic, providing jail support, or being a legal observer, then host trainings, create educational documents and support people in building their skills.
18. Make space to process everything that is happening
19. Hold space and/or organize events centering the experiences of people directly effected
20. Skype, text, visit, and show love for those who are managing trauma
21. Help amplify the protests
22. Translate documents, media, and support being circulated about protests to international press and other outlets
23. Support people with disabilities and multiple cognitive experience by writing captions for images to convey messages in photos and footage. This amplifies these messages and increases information sharing.
24. Attend and/or circulate events/panels that are central to the issue
25. Start conversations about the importance of the issues in your workplace, school, library, church, family, etc.
26. Take care of yourself! Take a break from social media and the news. Allow yourself to feel, express rage, cry, and experience joy.
5calls.org is a site that makes it super easy to take action by calling your representatives.
All you have to do is enter your zip code and you will see a list of issues on the left side of your screen that you can choose from. When you click on one you will see a brief summary of the issue followed by the name and number for one of your representatives. Underneath that is a script for the specific issue you are calling about if you need it.
The Resistance Manualis an open-source wiki guide where you can find and add information about the most recent proposed policies for various social justice issues and how to resist them.
You can also find information on issues and upcoming elections specific to your state, crisis resources for marginalized communities, a list of social justice organizations to support, a calendar of upcoming events to join, and a list of essential readings on related issues.
“Action begins with information. Get educated. Get organized. Take action.”
1. Educate yourself. Learning about what white privilege is – and what it isn’t – is the first step.
2. Talk to other white people about race. Educating your own family and community is one of the most important things you can do.
3. Amplify the voices of people of color. Follow hashtags like #blacklivesmatter and turn up the volume on people of color sharing their own lived experiences.
4. Challenge racism when you see it. It’s often safer or easier for a white person to speak up in these situations.
5. Get involved in organizations doing anti-racist work.
For more ways to use your white privilege for good, visit MTV News.
all these losers crying over notre dame are the same people who never gave a fuck about mosques, black churches, and synagogues being destroyed
@negrohorror damn. did you hurt your arm with this reach!? there are plenty of ppl who blogged, tweeted about black churches being burnt down and mosques being targeted and care about notre dame. if you don’t care cool. do you but still trying to paint ppl with some stupid idiotic take. people can care about multiple things at the same time. just because YOU CAN’T doesn’t mean the rest of us also can’t.
Oh my God it’s like the internet never learns. Allow me to copy-paste from the last time I saw something like this:
“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again - the trick to disabling shit like this is to make your bogus calls indistinguishable from real ones. Don’t do cursed images and memes, do fake names and classes that never existed. Force them to waste ten minutes for every call you make, hunting down something that sounds real but ultimately yields no fruit. A cursed image takes two seconds to close, but a well-constructed phoney tip can take quite some time - time that is in turn taken away from pursuing actual tipoffs. Get enough people doing that, and suddenly they either burn their whole day chasing people who don’t exist, or they start to ignore legit tips in case they’re also bogus. And THAT’S how you kill a tip line.”
