the good, the bad, and the future
election day was a stepping stone, but we can't stop here
hey y’all,
i’m loving this blueberry lavender kombucha from homebucha. they’re a local brewer here in durham, and i first tried it when otto brought it home from the farmer’s market this summer. it’s not too sweet, but it doesn’t have the vinegar-bite acidity that i often find in small batch brewers. it is a great replacement for hard cider, since it has the same mouthfeel and flavor without the booze (and the fermented apple allergy, if you’re like me).
it doesn’t hurt that homebucha is a values-driven local brewer and distributer. they are committed to local distribution, reducing water consumption in production, and paying a living wage. i’m really excited to see that they’re opening a brick and mortar tap room here in durham. what this tells me is that homebucha is actually committed to local distribution, and that durham believes in small business.
there is a movement right now among small businesses, local nonprofits, and community groups to fill the gaps of our political system with values-based business models that provide alternatives to corporations and government support. this gradual shift in the approach and marketing of local business gives us a lot of information about the state of our political system.
it’s a double-edged swords: on the one hand, more ethical businesses and diversity in the free market makes for a better nation overall. on the other hand, we should be able to rely on our government to meet our needs. the fight for a free and fair government is escalating, and you should know the what, when, where, why, and how. i’ll try to catch you up here, so you can stop doom scrolling.
let’s start with the bad news first.
these are two of the worst things that happened politically in the last 2 weeks in the U.S.
the supreme court re-enforced a trump admin limitation to sex designation on new passports.
it requires either an M or an F on passports, eliminating the “X” option. it also requires passports to be issued in accordance with sex assigned at birth, irrespective of any other legal processes undertaken to change this designation.
what does that mean in practice?
trans and intersex americans cannot safely travel internationally if their sex marker on their passport does not match their other I.D. documents.
trans and intersex americans cannot petition to update their sex designation on their passports, even with a court-ordered change to their vital records. in other words, even if you’ve legally updated your birth certificate, the executive order specifies that passports must match your “biological sex assigned at birth”.
trans and intersex americans cannot renew their passports without risking an already corrected sex designation being reversed against their will.
what can you do?
start deprogramming your understanding of human categorization. what information does sex category actually give you? is it accurate? what information is it trying to give you? how can we be more accurate?
the reality is “male” and “female” can, and often does, look the same. there is no practical reason to have sex information on our passports that is not rooted in hegemonic control. anything anyone needs to know about your sex they should be getting from your medical records, not from your I.D.
this is a long-haul fight, y’all. it begins inside of you. we have to build a society with a better and more nuanced understanding of sex and gender. if binary sex is reinforced by you, it will be upheld by the state.
the trump administration ended the direct file option through the IRS.
the direct IRS file option was developed in 2024 as a response to the rising cost of living and to address the pay-to-play punishment of tax season created by tax company lobbyists. the IRS quietly removed the direct file option from their website.
what does that mean in practice?
now, you will either have to pay to file your taxes with an accountant or a 3rd-party filing company, or find a free filing service (which have become harder and harder to find).
the direct file program removed the middle man of corporations between you and your taxes. the elimination of this re-institutes a gatekeeper, making taxes more complicated and less transparent.
in general, you can find free or low cost federal filing tools, but almost always end up having to pay for hidden fees or state tax filing.
what can you do?
boycott intuit and their affiliate products. they are the following:
TurboTax
Quickbooks
Credit Karma
Mailchimp
ProConnect
use a free or low-cost tax filing system instead
get educated and help each other!
your taxes pay for free financial literacy programs at your local library. here’s one of durham’s.
if you’re good at personal finances, offer help for free to your friends, family, or coworkers.
onto the good news
in case you haven’t heard, as of november 4th the people have spoken.
mamdani takes new york city
there has not been a candidate this charismatic and unifying since obama’s first campaign, only this time mamdani actually has a progressive platform. while i personally don’t trust AOC or bernie sanders, as they have betrayed their palestinian constituents more than once, i know a party strategy when i see one. there is a new era beginning in democratic electoral strategy, and mamdani is the future of the party. he is one of the new guard of millennial leaders who have had enough of “the way it is.” the democratic party will have to get on board, or split the party.
matt kopac takes ward 1
kopac was the only candidate for durham city council ward 1 who, when asked, said he would defend durham residents from I.C.E. by putting his body physically on the line. durham is a progressive city, so none of the post-primary candidates were totally abhorrent, but matt was the only one to say something truly risky about I.C.E. we should accept no less than this from white men in government.
spanberger takes virginia
virginia is a battleground state. in response to the GOP’s targeted domination of electoral politics in florida, the democrats focused their efforts on virginia. it has been a boxing match for the last several years. winsome earle-sears spent $30 million on an anti-trans platform, and called upon Black voters to turn away from the LGBTQ+ community. this is a tale as old as time, and virginians didn’t fall for it.
prop 50 passes in california
in response to the authoritarian gerrymandering and redistricting in north carolina and texas, california proposed temporary emergency district maps which would strengthen the voting power of democrats by more accurately concentrating districts based on population density. voters took newsom up on his offer. newsom is a wild card, i’ll admit. i think he serves his own team and no one else’s, but in this moment he is being the effective troll we need him to be to fight this idiocracy. the proposition is already being challenged, but this quote about sums up my feelings:
“We haven’t reviewed the lawsuit, but if it’s from the California Republican Party and Harmeet Dhillon’s law firm, it’s going to fail,” Brandon Richards, a spokesperson for Newsom, said in a statement. “Good luck, losers.”
the takeaway
millions of dollars were spent by the GOP on anti-trans propaganda, voter corruption, and pro-israel campaigning in key areas of the country and they lost. they bet big and went down in flames. the emotional release this election brought is not small potatoes. despite an increasingly hostile, anti-democratic, oligarchical political environment, people turned out to the polls to hold the line.
it reminded us that people are, largely, good. we don’t collectively want each other to suffer. we don’t want the ultra-wealthy to control our lives. we don’t want ICE in our neighborhoods. we don’t want to take food away from children. we don’t want to remove trans people from society. we don’t hate each other.
it also reminded us that we win when everyone actually shows up. one of the most disorienting, frustrating, sisyphean things about leftist organizing is the constant awareness of the need for critical mass. we made more progress at the state and local level during the trump admin then we did during all of the obama admin. this term is showing similar statistics. this is because privileged liberals are afraid, and they only participate when their own lives are on the line.
this is a hard truth about organizing that we on the left have to not only accept, but utilize. we have to tap back into our AHUY fundamentals to get each other on the same page:
A is for anger
H is for hope
U is for urgency
Y is for you
if this sounds familiar, this is what i’m doing here every week. this is the framework of my zines and workshops. we have to make people care, and in order to do that we have to make it relevant to their lives. the way that i do that is by reminding you that every single human being is also you. we are each other. i live by james baldwin’s command:
"love has never been a popular movement, and no one has ever really wanted to be free. the world is held together by the love and the passion of a very few people. otherwise, of course you can despair. you can walk down the street in any city and look around you. you have to remember that what you are looking at is also you. everyone you are looking at is also you. you could be that person. you could be that monster, you could be that cop. you have to decide in yourself not to be."
i would caution us not to be satisfied, and not to overstate the importance of electoral politics. none of the candidate elects will liberate us. not one of them. they are all establishment (yes, even mamdani). what i mean by that is they still believe in playing by the rules of the system built by genocidal, theocratic enslavers. they still believe this system can be changed from the inside. i’m not a reformer, but i’m not a purist either. the country needed this reminder that legislation impacts the material lives of those most vulnerable. it also needed the reminder that not all is lost.
let this moment fill you with hope, despite the challenges. hope is crucial! it is a mandatory condition for victory. but also remember what it takes to win. you have to show up again and again and again, even when you, personally, are not suffering. you have to pay attention. you have to care about people all the time. even if you don’t know them, even if they look different from you, even if they actively hate you.
if even one person in the world is subjugated by the rule of law, that is one person too many. it does not matter if they are minoritized. a government should work for all of its people, period. demand that they fulfill their function. they work for you. we have a long way to go, but we’re further than we were a month ago. the more people that show up, the further we’ll go.
xoxo,
kuya von
i showed you my gooey center, please respond 👉👈
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