ok tumblr, you seem interested in political activism, so we’re going to have a little lesson in administrative law and how you can force the Trump administration to listen to you for the next four years.
To condense a semester-long law school course into a blog post: Congress delegates significant quasi-legislative power to administrative agencies, e.g. the EPA. These agencies have a great deal of power to shape your everyday life, but our system of civics education is so abysmal that, chances are, you have no idea what kind of power you hold to shape their decisions.
Administrative agencies have to navigate a maze of laws and procedures in order for the rules they make to be effective and binding. These laws and procedures mean that there plenty of ways the agencies can mess up, and when they do, opponents of a rule can bring legal challenges and invalidate it. (This is frustrating for agencies, but delightfully fun for antagonistic nerds like me.)
When an agency wants to create an informal rule, it has to go through a process called “notice and comment.” Basically, the agency announces a proposed rule and permits the public to submit comments on it. The public includes you.
When the comment period is over, the agency has to take the comments into account and justify its ultimate decision on the proposed rule in light of the comments. If you submit substantive, meaningful comments that challenge the policy or evidence behind a rule, and the agency fails to acknowledge them and explain its reasoning for its final decision, the rule can be challenged and invalidated.
So how do you comment on proposed rules? This lovely little site called regulations.gov. Really, it’s that easy! You can search for topics that interest you and submit your comments online. And you can do it anonymously!
So please, check the website frequently and comment when it matters to you, so that your voice can be heard and Trump’s agencies have to acknowledge your perspective. If they fail to take your comments into consideration and disregard the American people, they’ll have to answer for it in court.
Keep calling your representatives and senators about Bannon and the policy issues that concern you, but remember this little lesson in admin law when he takes office.
This is good, i wish there were a system or site in place to translate things to plain English and alert for socially, racially, and equality relevant rules…
Trump’s claim that “millions of people voted illegally,” was inevitable. Alex Jones, Breitbart, and all the white “alt-right” supremacist websites have been saying this since the day after the election. They were saying this when it wasn’t even possible to have that data out yet and presented it as truth.
Let me make this clear there is absolutely ZERO evidence in Trump’s claims. He’s literally taking the claims of these hacks and telling the world it’s the truth, something that he’s been doing a lot this campaign. And what happened when this “3 million illegal votes,” theory was questioned and journalists asked for concrete proof? This:
And still nothing… no evidence has been presented whatsoever but the president-elect is running it as fact. This is something that’s going to be happening a lot these upcoming years and it’s going to be important to separate fact from fiction. Trump is the human form of those false click-bait articles that your racist uncle posts over Facebook.
I have done extensive research to try and find out why anyone would support these things. And why someone would go as far as to spend millions of dollars so people don’t go jail for beating their pet dogs, and the closest answers I have gotten from interviews is that Forrest Lucas seems obsessed with the idea, “That a man has a god given right to do with, what he pleases to his property.”
Former Green Party presidential nominee Jill Stein may be eyeing a recount in three states.
Political observers on Wednesday noticed Stein had launcheda fundraising page on her website for a recount.
“After
seeing compelling evidence of voting anomalies, the Stein/Baraka Green
Party Campaign is launching an effort to ensure the integrity of our
elections. With your help, are raising money to demand recounts in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania– three states where the data
suggests significant discrepancies in vote totals,” the page reads.
It goes on to say the group needs to raise “over $2 million by this Friday, 4pm central,” to ensure a recount.
This has to be for Hillary Clinton since there’s no way she’d call for an audit herself. Jill Stein knows good and well she didn’t win any states.
Reblogging here to get word out as fast as possible. Donations to the fund for a recount are needed by THIS FRIDAY by 4 PM CT.
Even if you feel in any way uncertain about this, isn’t it better to donate the money and it go to nothing, than to not donate and find out something that could’ve been done wasn’t due to lack of funds?
So the deal as I understand it is:
* If Clinton were to call for a recount in any state, and the recount in that state did NOT turn out to elect her in that state instead, she would be required to pay the cost of the recount in that state.
* They do that to keep people from just vengefully, constantly demanding recounts for no reason.
* When it says Wednesday here, it means today. As I write this. November 23rd. (Awww, it’s also the 53rd anniversary of the first episode of Doctor Who! ANYWAY)
* When I first saw the call for donations, it was at $45,000 out of their $2,500,000 goal. An hour or two later, it was at $80,000.
* It’s been less than 12 hours and they’re now up to $1.3 MILLION, more than halfway to their goal.
* They’re actually going to pull this off.
* I am not going to look it up for each state (you can google “who can ask for a recount in Wisconsin” or wherever but WI has a whole book about it and no thanks), but it looks like yes, Jill Stein can in fact ask for a recount. In Michigan, you have to be one of the people who ran, and lost, to ask for a recount. That seems to be standard practice.
* If Jill Stein calls for a recount, she DEFINITELY has to be the one to pay for it, since there is no fucking way it’s going to be like “Hey, guys, Jill Stein actually won!”
* I honestly think this is amazing. Even if it doesn’t work.
* Because this means that there were like… unless there are other third-party candidates that were on all three states’ ballots, there were probably only threepeople on this earth who had the ability to call for a recount. Two people with the interest. And one who is actually doing it.
* And for the first time in history, there is actually a way for everyone who wants this to immediately find out that it’s possible and throw money into the pot.
* Everything Trump is already doing is so fucking horrible, and the only saving grace is how incredibly hard people are organizing around every. freaking. single. thing. Again, we’ve never simultaneously had an election like this here, and an organizing tool like the internet, and it’s just.
I have multiple friends who are spontaneously posting to Facebook with shit like, “I am horrified that it has taken this kind of election for me to finally
start hearing through my white privileged ears. I was not in action. I
was complacent. No more.” (actual quote from a middle aged, upper-middle-class, straight cis white woman in Minnesota)
People who were already radical are now even more radical. There’s a powerful shift happening, and powerful communities being built.
I’m seeing people come together to support projects and nonprofits and communities and issues that were already SUPER necessary, that they are finally realizing desperately need support. Doing things that were always needed, that now they perceive as an emergency and want to do anything to fix.
Everything is so horrifying, but this gives me so much hope in the middle of it.
Like, earlier today I was crying because Trump announced he was going to eliminate funding for NASA to study climate change because he thinks it’s “politicized” science.
Now I’m crying because I’m so moved by all of these people giving whatever they can to make sure there is a recount in the most important states. By the visible evidence that we’re a real force now; that people aren’t just committed at a “tweeting/reblogging about it” level, people are like, NO. WE FUCKING STOP THIS NOW.
* And in the time it took me to write this, they’re now at more than $1.4 million.
The Wisconsin audit is ALREADY revealing that in one county being audited, at least three different precints where Trump one, more votes were tabulated for him than ballots were actually cast.
Let that sink in for a moment.
Wisconsin. One of the election’s most pivotal swing states. That was projected to go to Clinton in almost every poll. Where Trump one by a 1% margin.
Already, three precincts where Trump won, somehow Trump seems to have more votes for him in the final tally….than there were ballots actually cast.
Please, please, PLEASE call the Department of Justice, your state representatives, use your voices, DEMAND more vote audits, DEMAND our government hold to their responsibilities and protect our democracy. Not only did Clinton win the popular vote, increasing evidence is making it abundantly clear that explicit election fraud gave Trump the win. DEMAND OUR ELECTORAL COLLEGE DO THEIR DAMN JOB AND PROTECT US FROM AN UNLAWFUL REGIME.
Could I get some links to share? My Google-fu is failing me.
Former Green Party presidential nominee Jill Stein may be eyeing a recount in three states.
Political observers on Wednesday noticed Stein had launcheda fundraising page on her website for a recount.
“After
seeing compelling evidence of voting anomalies, the Stein/Baraka Green
Party Campaign is launching an effort to ensure the integrity of our
elections. With your help, are raising money to demand recounts in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania– three states where the data
suggests significant discrepancies in vote totals,” the page reads.
It goes on to say the group needs to raise “over $2 million by this Friday, 4pm central,” to ensure a recount.
This has to be for Hillary Clinton since there’s no way she’d call for an audit herself. Jill Stein knows good and well she didn’t win any states.
Reblogging here to get word out as fast as possible. Donations to the fund for a recount are needed by THIS FRIDAY by 4 PM CT.
Even if you feel in any way uncertain about this, isn’t it better to donate the money and it go to nothing, than to not donate and find out something that could’ve been done wasn’t due to lack of funds?
So the deal as I understand it is:
* If Clinton were to call for a recount in any state, and the recount in that state did NOT turn out to elect her in that state instead, she would be required to pay the cost of the recount in that state.
* They do that to keep people from just vengefully, constantly demanding recounts for no reason.
* When it says Wednesday here, it means today. As I write this. November 23rd. (Awww, it’s also the 53rd anniversary of the first episode of Doctor Who! ANYWAY)
* When I first saw the call for donations, it was at $45,000 out of their $2,500,000 goal. An hour or two later, it was at $80,000.
* It’s been less than 12 hours and they’re now up to $1.3 MILLION, more than halfway to their goal.
* They’re actually going to pull this off.
* I am not going to look it up for each state (you can google “who can ask for a recount in Wisconsin” or wherever but WI has a whole book about it and no thanks), but it looks like yes, Jill Stein can in fact ask for a recount. In Michigan, you have to be one of the people who ran, and lost, to ask for a recount. That seems to be standard practice.
* If Jill Stein calls for a recount, she DEFINITELY has to be the one to pay for it, since there is no fucking way it’s going to be like “Hey, guys, Jill Stein actually won!”
* I honestly think this is amazing. Even if it doesn’t work.
* Because this means that there were like… unless there are other third-party candidates that were on all three states’ ballots, there were probably only threepeople on this earth who had the ability to call for a recount. Two people with the interest. And one who is actually doing it.
* And for the first time in history, there is actually a way for everyone who wants this to immediately find out that it’s possible and throw money into the pot.
* Everything Trump is already doing is so fucking horrible, and the only saving grace is how incredibly hard people are organizing around every. freaking. single. thing. Again, we’ve never simultaneously had an election like this here, and an organizing tool like the internet, and it’s just.
I have multiple friends who are spontaneously posting to Facebook with shit like, “I am horrified that it has taken this kind of election for me to finally
start hearing through my white privileged ears. I was not in action. I
was complacent. No more.” (actual quote from a middle aged, upper-middle-class, straight cis white woman in Minnesota)
People who were already radical are now even more radical. There’s a powerful shift happening, and powerful communities being built.
I’m seeing people come together to support projects and nonprofits and communities and issues that were already SUPER necessary, that they are finally realizing desperately need support. Doing things that were always needed, that now they perceive as an emergency and want to do anything to fix.
Everything is so horrifying, but this gives me so much hope in the middle of it.
Like, earlier today I was crying because Trump announced he was going to eliminate funding for NASA to study climate change because he thinks it’s “politicized” science.
Now I’m crying because I’m so moved by all of these people giving whatever they can to make sure there is a recount in the most important states. By the visible evidence that we’re a real force now; that people aren’t just committed at a “tweeting/reblogging about it” level, people are like, NO. WE FUCKING STOP THIS NOW.
* And in the time it took me to write this, they’re now at more than $1.4 million.
I am in the middle of writing a much longer post with a bunch of research of why I think hacking might have played a role in the 2016 presidential election, but since time is of the essence, I want to get some of this information out there! It’s vital that as soon as possible there is a full investigation of 2 factors:
1. Potential hacking of election results
Trust me I know how it sounds, but I have reasons. Namely, there are huge discrepancies between exit polls and early voting results and final vote counts.
a) Exit Polls
Here’s the calculated discrepancy between the exit polls and reported counts by state. Note that 22/28 states shown have discrepancy in favor of Trump. The Election Defense Alliance, an independent election integrity group, calls this pro-Republican bias in election results (which happened in the 2004, 2008, and 2012 elections) a “right-shift”. Because of the way exit polls are conducted the odds of these discrepancies, regardless of outcome, are approximately 1/1,000,000 (source: http://freepress.org/images/departments/PopularVotePaper181_1.pdf). Add in that each of these discrepancies are happening in favor of one party repeatedly, the odds of that occurring by random chance are astronomical.
b) Early Voting
Additionally, most states allow early voting, so people are submitting ballots weeks up until election day, meaning a large proportion of total votes are submitted BEFORE election day. This was true of Florida where ~70% of the total voters voted early. Based on exit polls, before election day, Hillary had 41.3% of the total votes she would need to win Florida. Therefore, even if only 6.7% of Florida voters on election day voted for Hillary she would have 50% of the total vote. Yet Hillary is reported to only have received 47.7%, which would only happen if 6.4% of Florida voters on election day voted for Hillary. Maybe that did happen but the odds of that occurring are incredibly small.
2) Voter Suppression
This one doesn’t have as much math because it is so difficult to calculate the number of voters that were suppressed but a few key factors were in play that make voter suppression highly likely.
a) Invalidation of the Voting Rights Act (VRA)
I have read many accounts of people being turned away from voting but don’t have good numbers to back it up so I’ll just leave these 2 images to compare. The 1st is the states that have enacted restrictive voting laws since the VRA invalidation in 2015 and the 2nd is the election result map.
Note that Wisconsin, Ohio, and Florida (all swing states that went for Obama 2012) both had new voting restrictions and went for Trump this year.
b) Project Alamo
This was the ominous name given to the media project designed by Steve Bannon and driven by Trump media expert, Brad Parscale. In the words of a senior campaign staffer the goal of Project Alamo was to design their media efforts to “‘We have three major voter suppression operations under way,’ says a senior official. They’re aimed at three groups Clinton needs to win overwhelmingly: idealistic white liberals, young women, and African Americans.” (source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-10-27/inside-the-trump-bunker-with-12-days-to-go). Again the effectiveness of this campaign will be difficult to quantify but it does show that a prominent part of the Trump strategy was voter suppression.
Even if it is too late to change the results of this election, it is paramount that we maintain the integrity of our elections.
UPDATE:
The Department of Justice is currently taking a phone tally of those interested in a vote audit for the 2016 election. If you are concerned with any of the information in the above post please call
202-514-2000 ex: 4 and express your desire for a vote audit.
Here’s a potential script:
“My name is ___, and I’m a registered voter. I’m urging you to support the call to audit the vote, investigate voter suppression, particularly in North Carolina, Florida, Pennslyvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, and investigate Russian tampering of US election results.”
For those with social anxiety/selective mutism/speech problems:
No talking to actual humans is required.
If you mess up or find yourself unable to speak, you have the option to re-record your message afterwards by pressing 4.
It took me several attempts to get the words out, but you have unlimited tries. You can do it!
Meg's Mumbles 