Everyone Should Feels Safe Calling 911, and other stories...
We're NOT Doomed: June 12, 2026
There is no such thing as voter apathy.
Though I definitely believed there was before a meeting yesterday.
Merriam-Webster describes “apathy” as:
A lack of feeling or emotion; a lack of interest.
And that’s just not what’s happening. People don’t vote, not because they don’t care. They care deeply.
The mom who is working 3 jobs absolutely cares about the cost of groceries and healthcare. She cares about what her child is being taught in school and how much her gas has gone up.
She doesn’t lack emotion, it’s not that she’s disinterested. She just doesn’t know what she doesn’t know.
“Apathy” falls into three buckets
despair
confusion
ignorance
When we boil it down to apathy, it’s easy to think there is no solution.
But there is. There are many.
Let’s start with “despair.” We’ve all felt it. It’s the belief that nothing will change and nothing will get better. Why bother if things are going to stay the same?
My wins are an anecdote for despair. They’re a reminder that change is happening, even if it’s slow, and we are the ones with the power to create that change.
We all have the power to combat despair. And it’s important to share our successes as much as possible, in order to do so.
“Confusion” it’s a bit more technical. A great example is what happened in the Georgia Supreme Court races. The Democratic voter turnout was really high, but the Dem endorsed candidates lost the SCOGA races because it was non-partisan.
When someone is busy or stressed, their only knowledge of politics may be voting. And they’d been taught that if someone is on their ballot they must be a Democrat, so they vote for the incumbent.
Remember, this mom works three jobs. How is she going to learn otherwise? Especially when that’s something she didn’t even know she had to learn?
We have to work on voter education. That has to be a priority.
Explaining how elections work., but also educating people on what each position does.
Which leads to the final reason “ignorance.”
When things go wrong it’s very easy to blame the entire system rather than a specific elected office. But usually it’s pretty specific. A great example is whenever there’s a confirmation vote in the Senate, Dems in the House get yelled at.
The House has nothing to do with nominations of anything. But if you don’t know that then why wouldn’t you yell at those people to make sure they do the right thing?
We need to have more grace for each other and not assume the worst. Not assume that someone is intentionally clueless or doesn’t want to make things better and fight injustice.
If you’re reading this, you’re more informed than most. It’s our job to help combat these things and teach people….
Your vote is your voice and that voice is your superpower!
Austin, Texas
Thu, April 23 - The Austin City Council voted in favor of a “Safe to Call” resolution. “Safe to Call” is all about protecting 911 callers from threats of abuse, deportation and arrest.
The resolution directs the City Manager to create a working group made up of community leaders who work with those most affected by this policy such as survivors and immigrants.
The working group has until August 30 to come up with a solution that protects those callers and reduces “racial disparities in the criminal legal system.”
The resolution was introduced by council member Mike Siegel. In a press release he said he introduced the resolution because:
We’ve heard from service providers that there have been multiple instances this year of victims of serious crimes calling 911, only to be threatened with arrest on unrelated misdemeanor or non-criminal warrants.
In a world where ICE exists with no guardrails and we still have a broken policing system, this kind of resolution is vital. And seeing such a comprehensive proposal that puts the minority populations first, gives me so much hope.
Maryland
Wed, April 28 - Governor Wes Moore signed “Protection from Predatory Pricing Act,” into law. This makes Maryland the first state to ban “surveillance based dynamic pricing.” And if that sounds creepy, it is.
Basically, stores and delivery services have started changing prices based on time of day or even the information they have on you like your shopping habits. This is a new practice that allows the businesses access to your data.
32 states have introduced legislation to ban this practice and it has passed one chamber in 4 states.
In Maryland, the law goes into effect on Oct 1, to give companies the time to change their systems. And it will stop retailers from using your personal data to change prices.
All eyes are on Maryland as they work towards implementation.
Seeing a law like this pass AND how many other states are trying to pass their own gives me hope.
Poland
Fri, May 22 - On November 25, 2025, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that all EU member states must recognize same sex marriages that were certified elsewhere even if gay marriage is not legal in that country. This case, to no surprise, was about Poland.
On May 14, Warsaw Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski announced that Poland issued the first marriage license to a same sex couple who got married on foreign soil.
And quietly, on May 22, Polish Interior Minister Marcin Kierwiński and Digitalization Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski changed the rules to allow foreign same sex marriages to be recognized in the Polish registry.
Same sex marriage and same sex adoption will not be allowed to take place in Poland for a long time because it is enshrined in their constitution that it can’t be and there are currently too many conservatives in power to change that. But this is a great first step.
In a cabinet meeting on May 13, Prime Minister, Donald Tusk said this is not just about following the ruling but also “to an even greater extent, it is also a matter of human dignity and human rights.”
There are still some areas that refuse to comply, but that isn’t going over very well with the Polish government.
To go from being a country that still had “lgbt-free zones” till May of last year to this, well, that gives me hope that we can take down our fascist government too.
So those are today’s stories. I hope these encourage you to keep fighting!
If you made it to the end of this post comment with ☎️ (a red phone) cause everyone should feel safe calling 911.
And remember, our voices are our superpower, but only when we use them!
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