Sam
@whogivesafocal.bsky.social
3.4K followers 190 following 130 posts
Gaeilgeoir | Scríbhneoir tacaigh le mo nuachlitir // support my newsletter: https://whogivesafocal.ghost.io/#/portal/ https://linktr.ee/WhoGivesaFocal
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Reposted by Sam
so fun to read this and hear @prisonculture.bsky.social talk about @alwaysstevie.bsky.social's comments on the usefulness of zines--and the first zine I ever made was an adaptation of those comments. drive.google.com/file/d/1QQjt...
Reposted by Sam
wikipedia's data shows that AI is siphoning traffic away from the site, which is a danger to its sustainability. ironically Wikipedia is more important than ever to users who want reliable information instead of slop, and to AI companies that need it for training data www.404media.co/wikipedia-sa...
Wikipedia Says AI Is Causing a Dangerous Decline in Human Visitors
“With fewer visits to Wikipedia, fewer volunteers may grow and enrich the content, and fewer individual donors may support this work.”
www.404media.co
Reposted by Sam
75 million people voted for Harris. About 6 million people attended the last No Kings mobilization. That's 8%. Just a reminder of how difficult it is to mobilize people for rallies, protests, any sort of direct action.
With this newsletter comes a weekly oracle from Brigid and a special announcement for paid subscribers. Consider becoming a subscriber while I continue to look for work
Reposted by Sam
"The book is called, Read This When Things Fall Apart. I read it when things fell apart. It cradled me when I fell apart ... This book will have wisdom for you. May it hold you the way it held me."
I Read This When Things Fell Apart and You Should, Too
You don’t have to be an organizer or activist to read this book. It will have wisdom for you.
whogivesafocal.ghost.io
Reposted by Sam
So ready for this
"The book is called, Read This When Things Fall Apart. I read it when things fell apart. It cradled me when I fell apart ... This book will have wisdom for you. May it hold you the way it held me."
I Read This When Things Fell Apart and You Should, Too
You don’t have to be an organizer or activist to read this book. It will have wisdom for you.
whogivesafocal.ghost.io
And I appreciate you! From inviting me to In It Together to all the books to all the wisdom go raibh míle míle míle maith agat 🙏
“But this collection of letters is about how our movements are human. They are always growing, shrinking, and beautifully flawed just like us, the people that power and lead them.”
“A lot of these people were like heroes to me, paladins of the movement—freedom and justice for all! Even at 32 years old, I felt more like a kid admiring them from afar. I operated a lot like that within my job space as well”
“Every chapter is a directory with titles like “Read This If You’re Witnessing the Unthinkable,” “Read This If You Are Struggling with Your Mental Health.” And each is written by organizers from across the lefts like abolitionists Mariame Kaba and Maya Schenwar”
Innui // today I wrote about @mskellymhayes.bsky.social (and others) forthcoming book “Read This When Things Fall Apart: Letters to Activists in Crisis.” I had a deeply personal experience with this book and hope you consider preordering it
I Read This When Things Fell Apart and You Should, Too
You don’t have to be an organizer or activist to read this book. It will have wisdom for you.
whogivesafocal.ghost.io
I am very proud of tomorrow’s newsletter where I wrote about “Read This When Things Fall Apart” if you want it fresh and piping in your inbox subscribe now! whogivesafocal.ghost.io#/portal/
Who Gives a Focal?
tá cúpla focal le rá agam // I have a few words to say
whogivesafocal.ghost.io
Reposted by Sam
1. Yesterday, the press gave Gavin Newsom favorable coverage for signing pro-LGBTQ+ bills.

Little noticed, however, was that he vetoed one of the most important ones: a bill allowing trans people 12 month HRT stockpiles, protecting them from federal threats.

Subscribe to support our journalism.
Gavin Newsom Vetoes Important HRT Stockpiling Bill For Trans Californians, Signs Other Pro-LGBTQ+ Bills
The bill would have allowed transgender people to maintain a safe supply of medication in the era of government crackdowns on care.
www.erininthemorning.com
Reposted by Sam
Miss Major has passed away. We've lost an icon for the ages. Rest in power.
Alt text:
Miss Major with long wavy gray hair sits outdoors in a chair, wearing a brightly colored geometric-patterned dress. She looks thoughtful and serene, with her hands resting in her lap. Trees and plants surround her in the background, giving the scene a peaceful setting. The image appears as a social media post with text and engagement icons below.
Reposted by Sam
If you haven’t seen it, this footage from @apnews.com is incredibly important.

The intent here seems unmistakable, in two ways: (1) just read the genocide convention, here it **absolutely** is, and (2) this level of infrastructural destruction is, no question, meant as pre-development demolition.
Reposted by Sam
Must see TV...
I wrote a little about some of the little details you might have missed in this video and why it hit me so hard as a trans person this morning:

www.burnsnotice.com/you-have-to-...
Reposted by Sam
🧵 regarding the shutdown:

The Democrats aren’t being clear enough about this but we can be: this shutdown is about saving lives.

If we don’t reverse the Medicaid cuts (and the ACA subsidies on insurance bought through the exchanges) that Republicans made this year, people will die.
Reposted by Sam
I’m so looking forward to getting the three copies I ordered; one for myself and the others for two activist friends.
My publisher’s been very patient. I’m not doing everything I said I’d do to promote this book (out in a few weeks) because I’m an organizer in a city under federal attack. My days are full and emotionally exhausting. Any help getting the word out means a lot. It's a book people need right now.
Read This When Things Fall Apart by Kelly Hayes | Pilsen Community Books
A bundle of letters to activists and organizers on the frontlines in catastrophic times from Let This Radicalize You co-author Kelly Hayes In social movements, some heartbreaks are all but inevitable.
www.pilsencommunitybooks.com
Reposted by Sam
I know not everyone is who they thought they would be under a fascist, authoritarian regime. That's okay. But it's time to do more than react and post about it. It's time to get organized—including mapping or creating lines of support and defense in your community.
Mapping Community Defense and Care in Our Neighborhoods
This worksheet can help us prepare for Trump's military interventions at the neighborhood level.
organizingmythoughts.org
Reposted by Sam
They're talking about killing leftist activists. They're talking about murdering people organizing in defense of immigrant communities, doing mutual aid work, and protesting their violence. They are talking about murdering people like me and my friends. We must do more than acknowledge it's fascism.
My gosh. After the US bombed multiple boats in the middle of the ocean, murdering people on grounds that they were allegedly "carrying drugs," the US Attorney General says "Just like we did with cartels, we're going to take the same approach, President Trump, with Antifa."
An tseachtain seo // this week

Scríobh mé faoi Mhanchán Magan. Is féidir leat peann glas a tabhairt dom. Fadbh ar bith.

Léigh agus Cláraigh anois at the link in bio !
A canva graphic over a photo of a botharín in Kildare that says ““Manchán saw beyond borders through language. It wasn’t that he saw the Irish language as exceptional in its ways of expression, he saw that there was commonality in this expression with languages globally that is being eroded via neocolonialism.” A canva graphic over a photo of a botharín in Kildare that says as Gaeilge ““Chonaic Manchán thar teorainneacha trí theanga. Ní fhaca sé Gaeilge mar eisceachtúil ach ó thar go bhfuil cosúlachtaí aici leis aon teanga eile. Tá na ceangail seo creimthe ag nuachoilíneachas.”
Reposted by Sam
Holy shit they woke up grandpa
U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) says he has been denied 4 times to see what is going on inside the Broadview, IL ICE facility:

"Something's going on in there that they don't want us to see. I don't know what it is, but all Americans should be asking the same question."