On Staying Alert, Struggling, & Resting
This edition tackles my struggles with self-care amidst political upheaval, news items you may have missed, and calls to action you can take right now.
Table of Contents
On struggling & rest
On taking action
On staying alert (aka news stories you may have missed)
What I’m reading
Things to make you smile
What do you want to see?
On struggling & rest
I’ve wanted to write a newsletter almost every single day since the last one. There’s so much going on an it’s hard to not include so many things that have happened between the last newsletter and today.
But, honestly? I’m struggling.
It’s been just over a month since inauguration, and since the onslaught of anti-trans, anti-queer, and anti-everything-I-am-or-care-about has started.
I’ve had to prioritize self-care, spending more time playing the Wolfenstein video games daily to get out my frustrations. If you’re unfamiliar, these games are set in an alternate universe where the Nazis won World War II — and the ongoing counter-fascist movement that exists. Aside from Cyberpilot (which I couldn’t play as I don’t have VR anymore), I’ve beat the other four newer games in the last 5 weeks — including all the side missions and extra content. These are all games that I either never finished or that took me months to play before.
It’s honestly really helped me rest. In an ideal world, this wouldn’t be my reality. But I’ll take anything that allows me to prioritize rest and self-care right now, especially while still dealing with shitty medical issues.
The game I made to walk me through self-care options is also still helping a lot, thankfully.
And so have these two:
On taking action
As I said in my last newsletter, try to commit to taking at least one action every day.
Specific actions to take ASAP
A cloture vote is happening on Monday, including one to make Trump’s ban on trans athletes law. Call and leave messages for your reps this weekend. Here’s more on this.
Tell your representatives to stand up against the dismantling of USAID. Here’s a phone call tool and an email tool for doing so.
Here’s a list of ways to change your settings on Meta (specifically Facebook and Instagram) to make yourself less ‘valuable; to Meta, from comedian John Oliver.
General
5 Calls — a service that helps you make phone calls to your elected officials about important topics.
Choose Democracy — a list of ways you can take action to fight back again unjust legislation.
Read the Let This Radicalize You Workbook, available for free here.
On staying alert
(aka news stories you may have missed)
There is a huge measles outbreak in Texas and New Mexico, which has led to 2 deaths so far (including one child). RFK’s response was that this was perfectly normal, despite the fact that it is NOT. The CDC has just told people to take Vitamin A — not only will this not protect you or help you recover from the measles, but you can die from taking too much Vitamin A.
Trump is planning on gutting Medicaid, which would leave millions of Americans without health care.
Marco Rubio may have just banned trans foreigners seeking visas from US entry, whether that’s to visit, work, or anything else.
Nine states have introduced legislation to rollback marriage equality. 5 of these have asked SCOTUS to overturn Obergefell, the ruling that’s given LGBTQ+ folks the ability to marry.
The Trump administration canceled an FDA vaccine advisory meeting to determine the composition of next season’s flu shots. As an immunocompromised person, I’m very concerned about the fact that this will likely delay the new flu vaccine — if we get it at all, at this point.
Iowa governor Kim Reynolds signed a bill this week removing gender identity from state civil rights protections. This is the first time in US history that a state has repealed statutory protections for a specific group.
Trump administration to cut 92% of USAID foreign aid contracts and SCOTUS paused the lawsuit requiring aid money to flow, meaning thousands of people around the world no longer have access to food, protection, and vital drugs like those to address tuberculosis — this decision will and likely already has killed people. Meanwhile, Musk is sharing completely false conspiracy theories about USAID.
Maine’s Governor Janet Mills stood up to Trump’s anti-trans order, but the administration has threatened to cut off their federal funding… despite the fact that going along with Trump’s executive orders (which aren’t currently law) would go against decisions already made at the state level. So much for state’s rights I guess, huh?
Illinois governor JB Pritzker is getting national attention for speaking out against Trump during a budget address. He seems poised to lead change alongside several other politicians, like Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR).
Tulsi Gabbard fires more than 100 intelligence officers over messages in a chat tool. To check what’s been shared about this, these were conversations within employee resource groups (ERGs) designed for peer support at work - not creepy, X-rated, or malicious conversations; some of these were just queer & trans folks discussing discrimination and helping each other. In related news, LGBTQ federal workers are terrified they're about to be fired for their gender identity, sexual orientation, or past efforts to support queer and trans employees.
DHS has quietly eliminated a ban on surveilling folks based solely on their sexual orientation and gender identity.
A Californian federal judge has ruled that the directive from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to terminate probationary employees was unlawful.
Senators John Kennedy (R-LA) and Eric Schmitt (R-MO) have introduced a bill that would require folks on Medicaid to work or volunteer for 20+ hours a week. They’re only targeting “able-bodied” adults without dependents; however, those currently not working now aren’t doing so because of caregiver duties, disability, schooling, retirement, or literally being unable to work (whether that’s finding a job they can do, lacking transportation, etc.). We also have studies that show these types of measures cost taxpayers more money and actually harm those on benefits. If the goal is to actually reduce government waste, why not follow the science?
Trump et all are planning on slashing research budgets. They’ve already removed grants awarded for many projects, particularly if they include any of many banned terms — including (among many others) woman, female, disabled, elderly, transgender, understudied, and underrepresented.
Farmworkers in New York are getting informed to protect each other from the double threats of avian flu (which has already begun to move to humans in those working with birds, causing illness & death) and ICE raids. This combination btw is why egg prices are high — and the administration is undoing protections that could make this work safer, protect laborers, and lower prices.
The Trump administration has started rehiring some of the FDA employees it fired last week, including those reviewing surgical and infection control devices as well as folks working on digital health, AI technology, and food safety. This also includes folks reviewing Musk’s Neuralink.
The Legal Defense Fund and Lambda Legal filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of nonprofit advocacy organizations challenging three anti-equity executive orders from President Trump related to diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility and transgender people.
SEVENTEEN STATES are attempting to strip people of Section 504 protections. Their response to pushback they’ve received is that people don’t understand what they’re actually doing. While many are stating they’re ‘only’ going after protections for transgender people (on the basis of gender dysphoria), allowing the government to decide what disabilities they will and won’t consider ‘real’ is a dangerous precedent.
FAA’s staffing shortages are a historic problem, but have only been made worse by DOGE and Trump attacking the organization. With multiple plane crashes and accidents in the last several weeks, you’d think they’d correct this. Their idea so far is to raise salaries and ask back folks who have retired… but not folks they’ve fired. They’re also incorporating Musk’s Starlink, which is clearly a conflict of interest, but apparently no one in the government cares about this enough to do literally anything.
Airlines Move to Undo Protections for Travelers With Disabilities. This is after the Dept of Transportation increased protections in 2024, including requiring reporting on how many mobility aids airlines destroy and violating rights of disabled folks.
What I’m reading
WTF Just Happened Today — a newsletter that creates a short synopsis of what happened that day, usually running Mon-Thurs.
Ground News — a news service that will help you check the biases of articles you’re reading in addition to showing you news stories you’ve missed.
Dr. Rubin’s Substack — an allergist who 1) shares information about health-related moves the administration is making, 2) helps dispel misinformation, and, 3) is sharing both what FDA recalls exist and important public health information about infectious disease outbreaks (since the FDA, CDC, and others have all been muzzled).
Democracy Docket — usually covers info, analysis and opinion about voting rights and elections in the courts; right now, they’re covering a lot of the many harmful things coming from the executive branch.
Scot Nakagawa’s The Anti-Authoritarian Playbook — sharing information and education about fascism, white nationalism, and how to fight both.
Project 2025 Tracker — it’s what it sounds like, a website that tracks the progress made towards Project 2025 goals.
People’s CDC — continues to collect data on infectious disease (like COVID-19) to share infection rates across the states.
Your Local Epidemiologist — covers infectious diseases (including bird flu), health policy, and other items that are important to know, especially if you’re immunocompromised.
BrainMortgage — one of my college professors discussing politics, philosophy, and more.
Good Queer News — it’s good to see wins and, right now? It’s absolutely vital.
What are you reading to stay informed? Let me know!
Things to make you smile
I discovered a new YouTube channel recently that covers some of my favorite 80s and 90s fun / weird movies, like Beanstalk, The Goonies, and So I Married An Axe Murderer. I think the entire channel explains part of why I am who I am honestly.
They also have a great mini-documentary about Leslie Nielsen… and a compilation of him bringing a fart machine to all his interviews:
I’ve watched this several times in the last week.
What do you want to see?
I mentioned earlier that I’ve wanted to share so many news articles, etc., in the last few weeks. But, I also know we’re being bombarded with news and unprecedented events.
So, what do you want to see from this newsletter? Some ideas I have:
Share tips and tricks for better understanding what’s happening, including how to vet news sources and look at information with a critical lens
Share news / info focused on health & LGBTQ+ issues
Share more things to bring you joy
Essays about various topics (news-related or not)
More dog pictures
Something else?
Let me know what you think!
You’re the only version of you that exists. Please take care of yourself.
Love you, mean it.
Grayson