OPEN ENROLLMENT FOR THE ACA ENDS ON TUESDAY. ENROLL NOW!!! It will last the entire year no matter what happens with the government (absent nuclear war, anyway).
If you are/were a Republican, here’s Evan McMullin’s group that is fighting for bringing decency back to your party and to government. Mad props to him. I would really like to get back to arguing about where on the frontier we should be based on our beliefs about redistribution and less with the worrying about destroying the world.
Trump has a conflict of interest with controversial pipelines. Also he’s tripling his hotel locations.
Rogue government twitter accounts. Death Valley tweeting about internment camps.
If you are a federal employee, here’s some advice for how to deal with inappropriate orders from above. Hint: DOCUMENT everything.
What we can learn from Canada’s battle with an anti-science government.
There’s gonna be a scientists’ march on washington.
One thing you can do to support science.
Last time there was a voting fraud inquiry. (Hint: Fascism!)
More fascism . Did we mention fascism?
White house secretary attacks media for accurately reporting inauguration crowds because he’s a fascist.
80s Nazis
Responsibilities of privilege.
I am fighting now when it only takes my time and money and nudging people so I don’t have to find out if I’m the kind of person who would risk my life and my family’s safety to save the persecuted. More on the Seventh Cross book mentioned in the tweet stream.
Holocaust victims turned away from the US. A story of many who were rescued. The contrast highlights the duality discussed above with the two links in the previous bit. I hope I never ever have to find out if I’m the kind of person who would keep my head down while people are taken or a hero. Mainly because that would mean horrible things are happening, but also a small part because I’m afraid of the answer. #neveragain
How to stay outraged without losing your mind. We’ll have a post later this week or next that talks about why we think it’s ok (and still sane) to go broad instead of deep, but the rest of the advice is good.
I signed up for Swingleft. Though I bet (HOPE) in 2 years it’s going to be more than just those districts that are going to be vulnerable.
Federal Anti-Abortion bill.
It should not be surprising that Trump’s government looks like a badly run business. Of course, badly run businesses can also look like fascism, so…
Sales of 1984 surge.
Trump brings his own applause track wherever he goes.
Politicians are refusing to talk to constituents and having them escorted out by police, then closing up shop and not answering the phones
Advice for how to meet with members of congress. If you can get an appointment.
Difficult things
A black female astrophysicist explains why Hidden Figures isn’t just about history.
College scholarships are good for outcomes.
Clinical trials
What she gained from giving up 50% of her income to debt payment.
Effects of maternity leave on employment.
This is a cute model
More math is good!
Adventures in leadership
An online guide to afternoon tea. (We got some after the womens’ march!)
pink kittens
Grumpy Rumblings (of the formerly untenured) 
January 28, 2017 at 2:20 pm
Thanks for the shout-out!
January 28, 2017 at 5:04 pm
Whether, and how, you stand up for the persecuted has to depend on your personality and abilities. It’s possible to make a brave and purely symbolic gesture that does no good, except perhaps to inspire others, who could do it better, to come forward; but it’s arguable that, if your gesture left your family in the lurch, it would not be the moral choice. When I’ve read about people who hid Jews or worked for the Resistance in WWII, it strikes me that many of them are far cooler in the face of danger than I ever could be. However steeled my mind might be, my autonomic nervous system doesn’t get the message. I might be able to endure a lot for a cause I believed in—ex. cutting my rations so I could share them with hidden Jews—but it would be best to have a steadier middleman deliver the food, and not let me know where the hiding place was. What I don’t know, I can’t give away, either accidentally or due to threats. IOW, while sympathetic, I might be a liability to the people I wanted to help, and if that’s you, too, then it’s better to face it and find some other way to be useful.
I’m noticing how fast my own thoughts turn not to working in the system (calling representatives) but to working around it (figuring out ways to help people who need help, whether legally or not). I don’t know if that means I’m devious or just practical.
January 28, 2017 at 7:02 pm
What kinds of ways have you thought up to help people? (Feel free to mention only the legal ones here.) I also have been feeling that I am better at thinking “inside the box,” since I’ve been a bureaucrat for so long–how can I follow all these rules and still get people what they need?
All I’ve thought of so far for myself to do is asking my neighborhood association if they need help painting over hate graffiti (they said no, they haven’t seen any) and thinking I should try to get into tutoring (I’m good at that and live in a low-income area that could use it). I’m usually home, not out in the wild watching people being mean to each other or whatever. I do donate money, but I don’t feel comfortable increasing that amount at this time.
January 28, 2017 at 7:07 pm
Debbie– one of the things my sister had me do was clear out a bunch of stuff that I would normally give to Goodwill and take it to a refugee settlement place in her city instead. They need things like housewares (also children’s stuff, which we have an abundance of).
January 30, 2017 at 9:30 pm
Oooh, good idea! And my city does actually have places that help refugees. It’s not so easy to figure out what they need, and I don’t really have much to get rid of, though with a list of desired items, I might try thrift shopping for some of them.
January 31, 2017 at 5:38 am
You can call/email and ask. My sister did that and it resulted in me being able to donate a lot of baby stuff.
January 31, 2017 at 3:03 pm
Yes, I should. I feel sort of like Daryl Zero in “The Zero Effect.” Talking? To people? But I can do that!
January 28, 2017 at 7:05 pm
I just donated to the National Immigrant Law Center. Scalzi donated to the ACLU today.
http://yoisthisracist.com/post/156505521938/everyone-do-something-to-fight-this-racist-ban
January 29, 2017 at 10:48 pm
Is there a list somewhere of Trump properties? Do all of them have his name on them? I want to make sure I never stay there (not likely, I imagine, but still).