Three Wins Today: Sept 21, 2025
Instead of screaming DO SOMETHING, just DO SOMETHING.
So, I have a Discord for my supporters, and if you didn’t know that, and you want to join, DM me and I’ll send you the invite link.
Last night on this Discord there was a bit of a disagreement among the members. It got a little heated, but I came in and just said:
“Hey, guys, this is supposed to be a safe space. Tone it down a bit?”
And then:
We're all tense and it's very easy to take it out on someone else without meaning to
Take a deep breath
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3out
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And it worked. Instantly they were apologizing to each other. That’s not always going to happen, but it’s going to happen more often than not.
It’s really easy to feel like no one can understand us, or if someone doesn’t agree with 100% of what we say they must be intentionally trying to piss you off, or a bot or an op, but we are all on a hair trigger right now.
Sometimes, a disagreement is just as disagreement, and we can still work together. We have a big tent, a phrase I know many people are starting to loathe. But that means that just because we don’t agree about everything doesn’t mean we’re not on the same side.
And I do it too. I’ve never really felt how much the tension I get from a commenter disagreeing with me affects me physically till this past week.
I got a cavity filled and the bite was very wrong. I had some of the worst pain in my life on the right side of my mouth starting in the late evening, till I went to sleep. When I went in to get it shaved down, my dentist told me it only happens at night because when I’m stressed and tense I grind my teeth, even if I don’t realize it. So, by the end of the day, with severe misalignment it causes severe pain.
Getting worked up over people that don’t agree with me, was literally causing me physical anguish. My therapist said to squeeze a stress ball, I’m using a microfiber cloth, but it works pretty well. And thanks to the bite being a little more aligned (still have to go back again tomorrow, oh joy) and squeezing the cloth rather than tensing my body, the pain has gone down considerably.
The point of this story is it’s really really hard right now. Everything feels like the end of the world and like you’re the only one who understands anything. I know cause I feel it too. Before responding to anyone, calm down, squeeze something with a little give, take a deep breath and THEN decide what to do.
If it’s clearly a bot, just block them, If you can’t tell, be kind, be understanding and ask what they mean or clarify yourself, if they’re an asshole back, block them.
And if it’s someone you know personally, someone you have talked to and wallowed with, just give them the benefit of the doubt. Assume they are as tense and frustrated and heavy as you are.
We all need to bring down the temperature with each other and in some cases, maybe even build community instead.
Now that you’re nice and relaxed, here are some wins!
Online
YESTERDAY - My friend, Kristofer Goldsmith is a member of the Find Out Podcast, and CNN posted a video about the disinformation surrounding Charlie Kirk’s assasination. They included his video. Now Kris is not someone to ever spread disinformation, he meticulously fact checks everything, but they took a clip completely out of context.
So, Kris, along with co-star, Tim Fullerton tried to get the reporter, Marshall Cohen’s attention, through social media, and email.
The comments on all platforms are flooded with tags to CNN, and thanks to the noise, Cohen got back to Kris 3 hours later
At some point they deleted the video, and three hours later, a new video went up. Acknowledging that they fucked up the first time.
This is in my wins today, first off, cause I support my friends whenever possible, but also, because it wouldn’t have happened without Kris making the injustice public, and the Find Out Podcast fans tagging CNN a hundred times (and that’s just from their posts, I didn’t see what was on the CNN post itself).
It’s another reminder that we have the power and using it doesn’t necessarily mean creating a new form of activism or starting an organization, sometimes it just means speaking up, or amplifying someone else speaking up, when you see disinformation or injustice.
Hudson Valley, NY
Fri, Sept 5 - There was a citizenship ceremony, but this time, it was different. It was the first ceremony in the area since the new law from the US Citizenship and Immigration Services Department was enacted:
Nongovernmental entities are not permitted to provide voter registration services at USCIS facilities during naturalization ceremonies.
League of Women Voters released a statement, saying, in part:
The League of Women Voters remains committed to ensuring every eligible voter can register, cast a ballot, and have their vote counted. Despite this setback, the League of Women Voters will find ways to do this vital work and ensure new citizens can access voter registration. We call on USCIS to reverse this policy.
It doesn’t say anything about following it, so, the Mid-Hudson Region League of Women Voters decided they didn’t care, and showed up anyway.
President and certified election inspector, Cindy Bell told Times Union:
She had “a little trepidation” about attending, but she was “confident” in the guidance of the Ulster County Board of Elections. Torres was there to oversee the registrations and support the League and the new citizens.
It’s really important for people to have their voices heard…There are two words: voter suppression…I think it’s to discourage people. We are not partisan, but we are issues-oriented, and if anything stands in the way of a clear path for a citizen to vote and their voting power, we are out there.
Now that’s resisting.
By the time they left, they had registered 14 voters and given information to do it online to many others.
And, for the record, nothing happened. This story wasn’t published till Sept 14, and, so far, there have been no ramifications to breaking this law, but even if there had been, it would still be a win.
When people scream “DO SOMETHING” in their elected Dem’s comment sections, I get so frustrated cause screaming at your elected in their social media comment section is no better than what you’re accusing them of. But, what this League of Women Voters Chapter did? THAT’S “DOING SOMETHING,” and we all have the power to “DO SOMETHING” too, rather than just screaming about others.
Columbus, OH
Wed, Sept 17 - Over 100 people protested at the Ohio State Capitol in support of fair maps. Tomorrow is the first hearing to create the new maps.
You might be thinking, I don’t remember hearing about Ohio! I thought only Texas and Missouri had voted to gerrymander?
Ohio is different. Back in 2018, Ohio enacted a law that district lines must be agreed to in a bipartisan way, or they can only last 4 years. Well, that was supposed to be a threat that stopped gerrymandering, but all it actually did was create several mid-decade redistricting opportunites.
So, here we are. And here’s the schedule:
If the legislature can’t come to an agreement by the end of September, the process moves to the majority-Republican Ohio Redistricting Commission, which then has until Oct. 31 to come up with a bipartisan map. If the commission can’t agree, the process goes back to the legislature, which will have until Nov. 30 to come up with a map, this time with only a simple majority necessary to pass it.
Basically, a gerrymandered map will pass in two months. You know, if they wanted to make it fair, maybe having that last option loophole was a bad idea, but I digress.
The interesting thing about Ohio is this was already the case four years ago. The map is already gerrymandered to keep Dems out, it just didn’t work, one of the many risks of gerrymandering.
So that’s the background, back to the win.
Several groups such as Ohio LWV, the Ohio Organizing Collaborative, and of course, the Ohio House Dems, helped organize the event.
Diedra Reese, voter engagement director for the latter, told Ohio Capitol Journal:
It is not rocket science. The legislators have a road map for exactly how we can get to fair maps, so there’s no excuse for why we are even having a conversation about going backwards instead of forwards towards fair maps.
The rally focused heavily on the real world impacts of gerrymandering.
College student, Grace Metz explained:
The truth is that every Ohioan, students included, should care about who decides where and how their vote counts. All of us deserve a fair Ohio, but this is just the start. The reality of the situation is that we are scared, not only by the looming threat of censorship, but also by the reckless abandon with which our representatives treat our tax dollars.
Keep watching. Ohio Republicans have a Super majority in the House and Senate, but that doesn’t mean the Dems won’t do something to raise the alarm. Time will only tell how they decide to fight. This rally is a good start.
So those are today’s three wins. All three of them, today, are about our power. Our power to show up, to do something, to amplify disinformation and injustice.
Our voices are our superpower, but only when we use them!
In the section about registering new citizens to vote, that is not a new law that NGO’s may not register voters at naturalization ceremonies, but a new policy written by USCIS as shown in the link. Nothing like government departments going out of their way to make things more difficult than they need to be.
Just a reminder that when terrible things are going on on a political level as they were last week, ordinary frustrations and challenges in our lives will feel much worse. I had a technology week from hell
and my anxiety was off the charts despite the fact that no actual harm was being done. I know that if we weren’t seeing that we are already living in a wannabe autocracy I would have coped much more effectively.