www-citationneeded-news-303wkb.txt (21804B)
1 [1] [citation needed] 2 a newsletter by Molly White 3 4 • [4]Archive 5 • [5]Recap issues 6 • [6]Podcast feed 7 • [7]Store 8 • [8]About 9 • [9]RSS 10 • [10]Tip jar 11 • [11]Privacy policy 12 13 [13]Sign in [14]Subscribe 14 15 Sidenotes 16 17 [16][ ] Show footnotes 18 [17][ ] Show references 19 [18]( ) [19]( ) [20]( ) 20 [21]( ) [22]( ) [23]( ) 21 [24]Newsletter 22 23 Wind the clock 24 25 A message to those asking “what do I do now?” 26 27 [25] Molly White 28 29 [26]Molly White 30 31 Nov 8, 2024 — 9 min read 32 Wind the clock 33 audio-thumbnail 34 Wind the clock 35 0:00 36 /962.011429 37 [29][0 ]1×[33][100 ] 38 Listen to a voiceover of this post, [34]subscribe to the feed in your podcast 39 app, or [35]download the recording for later. 40 41 I had allowed myself to hope that American voters would choose the better of 42 the presidential options available to us, and I was wrong. I am disappointed. I 43 am sad. I am afraid. 44 45 But, you see, I was disappointed, sad, and afraid before the election, too. In 46 and outside of the United States, across the political spectrum, governments 47 are and have been failing their people. And it is the people who have been 48 fighting not just to protect themselves, their communities, and the things they 49 love, but also fighting for people they’ve never met, in places they’ve never 50 been, living lives they’ve never lived, facing horrors they’ve never faced. 51 52 No matter how the United States election went, the fights were going to 53 continue. A Harris victory would not solve our problems, domestically or 54 worldwide. Nor would it change the fact that a sizable portion of people in 55 this country are buying what Trump and his allies are selling. The only open 56 questions were who the specific adversaries in the White House would be, who 57 among the fighters would keep fighting, and who would join the fight. 58 59 The first question has been answered. Now the questions are: if you have been 60 fighting already, are you going to continue to fight? If you haven’t been, are 61 you going to begin? 62 63 Three arrows: a black arrow pointing right, a blue arrow pointing up and 64 slightly to the left, and a red arrow pointing more to the leftOnward. 65 66 Maybe you’re sick of people telling you to fight. After all of that organizing, 67 marching, and get-out-the-voting, Trump won the election anyway, so what’s even 68 the point? 69 70 A lot of people feel like they’ve just finished running a marathon only to 71 cross what they thought was the finish line and discover a whole other marathon 72 stretched out in front of them. Oh and guess what, this one’s all uphill. How 73 do you even summon the energy to start running in that scenario? 74 75 Maybe you don’t. If you are able, maybe you sit on the sidelines for a while 76 and rest. Grieve. Be angry. Restore some energy for what lies ahead. Take some 77 time to shore up your defenses, figure out a plan, and keep going. Be grateful 78 it is an option to you, because not everyone has the luxury. 79 80 Or maybe instead of running, you just trudge along for a bit, slowly placing 81 one foot in front of the other. Take just the little steps necessary to keep 82 moving forward. 83 84 Maybe you change how you fight. A lot of people right now are reckoning with 85 failures of their political party, or of the whole political apparatus. But 86 electoral politics — especially only at the national level — are far from the 87 only battleground. The fights we are fighting do not neatly begin and end with 88 election cycles. Donating to your preferred presidential candidate and knocking 89 on doors are all well and good, but maybe it’s time to try something new. Even 90 the smallest acts can be a part of your fight: standing up for your values when 91 faced with something that goes against them, offering a couch to your kid’s 92 trans friend who is struggling at home, offering a meal to the unhoused person 93 you see outside your building every day, stepping in with mutual aid to help 94 the people who have been fighting like hell and can’t otherwise afford to take 95 those breaks we all need to rest and recharge. 96 97 What you don’t do is give up. The outcome of this election has exposed to many 98 the realities we didn’t want to see, of just how many people around us openly 99 embrace hatred and bigotry and authoritarianism. Standing up to that can be 100 scary and even dangerous, but it is also right. Beliefs are the things you 101 stand for even when it’s scary, even when it’s hard, even when there might be 102 consequences. And the less danger you, personally, face for standing up for 103 what you believe, the more obligated you are to do it. To my fellow cisgender 104 white women, this means you. To the cis white men, doubly so. 105 106 Many in this country have been hard at work trying to shift the [36]Overton 107 window, to normalize the unthinkable and to make the sensible seem extreme. You 108 do not have to shift with it. You do not have to accept arguments to moderation 109 when the “moderate” stance is unreasonable. 110 111 You do not have to sit down and shut up as things around us get more and more 112 extreme, as threats to peoples’ rights and lives get even more dire, even as 113 others around you insist everything’s fine and you’re just being dramatic. 114 People will tell me to stop getting political in this newsletter,^[37]a to get 115 back to writing about cryptocurrency and technology like they signed up for, to 116 stop catastrophizing, to “let it go” and accept the “will of the people”. I 117 will not. You needn’t either. 118 119 Many of us have looked back on historic events where people have bravely stood 120 up against powerful adversaries and wondered, “what would I have done?” Now is 121 your chance to find out. It did not just start with this election; it has been 122 that time for a long time. If you’re just realizing it now, get your ass in 123 gear. Make yourself proud. 124 125 Now what? 126 127 First things first, protect yourself. Even if you think the threat of 128 authoritarianism is overblown, take steps to defend against it. If you’re a 129 journalist, maybe read this section twice. 130 131 • Find your communities. Most people have many communities: the friend group 132 you hang out with in real life, your family, your neighbors, your internet 133 friends, your coworkers, your church or synagogue or mosque or other 134 religious community. Strengthen these communities. If you don’t feel like 135 you have much in the way of community, begin forming them: join new social 136 groups, and try to meet likeminded people near you. Introduce yourself to 137 your neighbors. 138 • Join (or start) a union. There’s strength in numbers, and especially if 139 your industry may fall under threat, you’ll want to unionize now and not 140 wait for that threat to materialize. 141 • Consider taking proactive steps to obtain healthcare that could become 142 challenging to obtain in the future, if you are able. For example, if you 143 need to replace or are considering getting an IUD, now might be the time. 144 • Use end-to-end-encrypted messaging apps for your communications. I use [38] 145 Signal heavily, but there are other options. Please know that not all apps 146 that advertise E2EE enable it by default or offer it for group chats 147 (looking at you Telegram), so double check that. 148 • Consider [39]choosing a VPN to help protect your privacy online, and learn 149 about the pros and cons of using them. Learn when, why, and how to use Tor. 150 The EFF has [40]good guides depending on your operating system. 151 • Consider reducing your reliance on centralized social networks controlled 152 by billionaires, and instead [41]establishing a web presence you control. 153 Evaluate the risks when choosing hosting providers, make backups, and make 154 it as easy as possible to switch hosts should the need arise. 155 • Consider no longer using apps that collect and store sensitive data, such 156 as period tracker or fertility apps. Be cautious about location tracking 157 and other tech-enabled surveillance. 158 • Find and support trusted sources of news and information. If you rely 159 heavily on mainstream news outlets owned by billionaires who were first in 160 line to congratulate Trump on his victory, consider diversifying your media 161 diet. [42]ProPublica, [43]404 Media, and [44]Flaming Hydra are a couple of 162 great publications, or the Institute for Nonprofit News has a [45]great 163 directory of many more. Subscribe to and/or financially support independent 164 solo writers like [46]Parker Molloy (The Present Age), [47]Erin Reed, [48] 165 Marisa Kabas (The Handbasket), and [49]Seamus Hughes (Court Watch). Pay for 166 a subscription to your local newspaper. Maybe also subscribe to a non-US 167 paper while you’re at it. Consider supplementing your social feeds with an 168 RSS-powered [50]blogroll. 169 170 How do I fight? 171 172 For anyone feeling like you don’t know what to do, I urge you to think hard 173 about what matters most to you, and look for ways to fight for those things 174 — particularly if you have specific skills that you can put to use. Are you a 175 good writer? Tech savvy? A compelling leader? Good at coming up with new ideas? 176 Find things that play to your strengths. And most importantly, find people who 177 are members of communities under threat and/or experienced organizers doing 178 this work already, and ask them what they need. Help the people around you. Be 179 there for the people you love. 180 181 What matters to me may not be the most important thing to you, and it’s easiest 182 to keep fighting when you’re fighting for something you care deeply about. With 183 that said, here are just a few of the things I care about that might serve as a 184 launching point: 185 186 Press freedom and access to information 187 188 Trump and his allies have issued multitudes of threats against journalists, and 189 anti-media sentiment is reaching a fever pitch across the political spectrum. 190 The United States has already sunk to [51]#55 on the Reporters Without Borders’ 191 press freedom tracker — the lowest it has ever been — and will likely only fall 192 further once Trump takes office. 193 194 • Fight back against Trump’s attempts to weaponize the FCC and other 195 government agencies against news organizations, such as by [52]revoking TV 196 stations’ broadcast licenses or accusing publishers of [53]“treason” for 197 factual reporting 198 • Urge your Senators to back the [54]PRESS Act to protect journalists from 199 surveillance and provide journalist-source confidentiality 200 • Push for a federal [55]anti-SLAPP law to replace piecemeal and easily 201 dodged state-level protections for journalists from the kinds of frivolous 202 but financially ruinous defamation lawsuits popular among people like 203 Donald Trump and Elon Musk. 204 • Support groups working on journalist legal defense initiatives, like the 205 [56]Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and [57]others. If you’re 206 a lawyer, consider offering pro bono legal representation. 207 • For the tech savvy: help journalists, writers, and archivists protect 208 themselves and their work. Those who are looking to go independent are 209 often looking for advice or tech help. Consider contributing to open source 210 projects like the [58]Internet Archive. 211 • Support and fight for your local libraries. Get a library card and use it. 212 Volunteer. 213 • Push back at the local level against efforts to ban books in schools, or to 214 remove important topics from school curricula. 215 • Support data activist groups like [59]DDoSecrets. 216 • Support and contribute to open knowledge projects like [60]Wikipedia and 217 those stewarded by the [61]Free Law Project ([62]CourtListener and [63] 218 RECAP among them). 219 220 Migrant rights 221 222 Trump has threatened mass deportations “on day one”, along with an order to end 223 birthright citizenship. Advisers have boasted of “turbocharging” Trump’s 224 denaturalization projects from his previous administration, which sought to 225 strip Americans of their citizenship. 226 227 • Tech workers: refuse to develop software for corporations building 228 surveillance tech for ICE and similar groups. 229 • Find and support your local immigration advocacy group, especially if you 230 have legal or organizing experience, or if you are multilingual. 231 • Support groups like [64]Organized Communities Against Deportations (OCAD), 232 including through donations or volunteer work. 233 234 Reproductive rights 235 236 Trump’s promise to “leave abortion up to the states” rather than enact a 237 federal ban still poses a grave threat to reproductive rights, if it is even to 238 be believed. [65]Project 2025 outlines plans to restrict access to 239 mifepristone, enforce the Comstock Act to block medical supplies, equipment, or 240 abortion drugs from being sent by mail, and even limit access to 241 contraceptives. 242 243 • [66]Find and support your local abortion funds. They often are in most 244 desperate need of help, compared to national and well-known organizations 245 like Planned Parenthood. 246 • Volunteer with your local reproductive rights advocacy group by helping to 247 organize or becoming a [67]clinic escort. 248 • Consider obtaining emergency contraceptives or [68]abortion pills to have 249 on hand for yourself or others. Plan B and mifepristone have shelf lives of 250 4 and 5 years, respectively. 251 252 Trans rights 253 254 The Trump campaign doubled down on attacks on trans people, even incorporating 255 it into their advertising. Trump has, among other things, vowed to limit access 256 to gender-affirming care and even defund schools that recognize transgender 257 students. 258 259 • Find, support, and volunteer with your local LGBTQ organization. 260 • Contribute to those fundraising for their gender-affirming care, including 261 those who are now urgently trying to accelerate their healthcare plans, who 262 are trying to renew and update their identification, or who are trying to 263 move states. Help out individuals you know, or look for [69]local mutual 264 aid funds. 265 • Become involved at a local level to push back against efforts to block or 266 remove gender-affirming policies from schools, or ban books about queer and 267 trans life (among other topics) 268 • Fiercely support trans people and educate those around you — including 269 Democrats now tempted to blame Harris’s loss on “the trans issue”. 270 271 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 272 273 Finally: remember to take care of yourselves. There is a long road ahead, but 274 we’re in this together. 275 276 As long as there is one upright man, as long as there is one compassionate 277 woman, the contagion may spread and the scene is not desolate. Hope is the 278 thing that is left to us, in a bad time. I shall get up Sunday morning and 279 wind the clock, as a contribution to order and steadfastness. 280 281 Sailors have an expression about the weather: they say, the weather is a 282 great bluffer. I guess the same is true of our human society — things can 283 look dark, then a break shows in the clouds, and all is changed, sometimes 284 rather suddenly. It is quite obvious that the human race has made a queer 285 mess of life on this planet. But as a people we probably harbor seeds of 286 goodness that have lain for a long time waiting to sprout when the 287 conditions are right. Man’s curiosity, his relentlessness, his 288 inventiveness, his ingenuity have led him into deep trouble. We can only 289 hope that these same traits will enable him to claw his way out. 290 291 Hang on to your hat. Hang on to your hope. And wind the clock, for tomorrow 292 is another day.E.B. White (1973) 293 294 Footnotes 295 296 1. It is still a mystery to people how people read this newsletter and think 297 it is anything but political. Crypto is political. Technology is political. 298 Journalism is political. [70]↩ 299 300 Social share image is "[71]Repairing the clock inside the clock tower at the 301 Old Post Office in Washington, D.C. ", a photograph by [72]Carol M. Highsmith. 302 Loved this post? Consider [73]signing up for a pay-what-you-want subscription 303 or [74]leaving a tip to support Molly White's work, which is entirely funded by 304 readers like you. You can also check out what’s new in the [75]store! 305 306 Read more 307 308 [76] Video: The Cryptocurrency Industry's Unprecedented Election Spending 309 310 Video: The Cryptocurrency Industry's Unprecedented Election Spending 311 312 Let's talk about where the money came from, where it went, the cryptocurrency 313 industry's political goals, and what’s next. 314 315 Nov 22, 2024 316 [77] A “Department of Government Efficiency” image featuring Donald Trump, Elon 317 Musk, and the dogecoin mascot 318 319 Issue 70 – The Cryptocurrency States of America 320 321 Crypto’s efforts to buy the 2024 elections paid off, and we’re in for a bumpy 322 ride. 323 324 Nov 15, 2024 325 [78] An illustration of a man with the Coinbase logo for a head, holding an 326 eager tiger looking to attack a woman with a shield 327 328 Issue 69 – Nice 329 330 Coinbase threatens me that continuing to report on their activities would be 331 “.... unwise”. Also, election spending hits a fever pitch, with several new 332 crypto PACs coming out of the woodwork. 333 334 Nov 2, 2024 335 [79] A grid of photos titled “Our team”. All of them are Molly, wearing various 336 outfits, sunglasses, and hats. 337 338 I am my own legal department: the promise and peril of “just go independent” 339 340 Independent publishing is one important facet of the media ecosystem, and while 341 I love it, I know it is not the path for everyone. 342 343 Oct 26, 2024 344 345 Citation Needed features critical coverage of the cryptocurrency industry and 346 of issues in the broader technology world. 347 348 It is independently published by Molly White, and entirely supported by readers 349 like you. 350 351 [80]Subscribe 352 353 • [81]Archive 354 • [82]Recap issues 355 • [83]Podcast feed 356 • [84]Store 357 • [85]About 358 • [86]RSS 359 • [87]Tip jar 360 • [88]Privacy policy 361 362 • [89]Twitter 363 • [90]Mastodon 364 • [91]Bluesky 365 • [92]YouTube 366 • [93]TikTok 367 • [94]Etc. 368 369 © 2024 Molly White. 370 371 References: 372 373 [1] https://www.citationneeded.news/ 374 [4] https://www.citationneeded.news/page/2/ 375 [5] https://www.citationneeded.news/tag/weekly-recaps/ 376 [6] https://www.citationneeded.news/podcast/ 377 [7] https://store.mollywhite.net/ 378 [8] https://www.citationneeded.news/about/ 379 [9] https://www.citationneeded.news/rss/ 380 [10] https://donate.stripe.com/14k8AseTNaqLaZy7ss 381 [11] https://www.citationneeded.news/privacy/ 382 [13] https://www.citationneeded.news/wind-the-clock/?ref=wheresyoured.at#/portal/signin 383 [14] https://www.citationneeded.news/signup 384 [24] https://www.citationneeded.news/tag/newsletter/ 385 [25] https://www.citationneeded.news/author/molly/ 386 [26] https://www.citationneeded.news/author/molly/ 387 [34] https://www.citationneeded.news/podcast/ 388 [35] https://www.citationneeded.news/content/media/2024/11/2024-11-08-Wind-the-clock-1.mp3 389 [36] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overton_window 390 [37] https://www.citationneeded.news/wind-the-clock/?ref=wheresyoured.at#footnote-1 391 [38] https://signal.org/ 392 [39] https://www.wired.com/story/best-vpn/ 393 [40] https://ssd.eff.org/module-categories/tool-guides 394 [41] https://www.citationneeded.news/posse/ 395 [42] https://www.propublica.org/ 396 [43] https://www.404media.co/ 397 [44] https://flaminghydra.com/ 398 [45] https://findyournews.org/ 399 [46] https://www.readtpa.com/ 400 [47] https://www.erininthemorning.com/ 401 [48] https://www.thehandbasket.co/ 402 [49] https://www.courtwatch.news/ 403 [50] https://www.mollywhite.net/blogroll/ 404 [51] https://rsf.org/en/usa-rsf-urges-both-presidential-campaigns-commit-strengthening-press-freedom 405 [52] https://www.cnn.com/2024/10/22/media/trump-strip-tv-station-licenses-punish-media/index.html 406 [53] https://thehill.com/homenews/4222082-trump-blasted-threats-against-comcast-nbc/ 407 [54] https://www.spj.org/news.asp?ref=3026 408 [55] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategic_lawsuit_against_public_participation 409 [56] https://www.rcfp.org/ 410 [57] https://onlineharassmentfieldmanual.pen.org/legal-resources-for-writers-and-journalists/ 411 [58] https://archive.org/about/volunteerpositions.php 412 [59] https://ddosecrets.com/ 413 [60] https://www.citationneeded.news/become-a-wikipedian-in-30-minutes/ 414 [61] https://free.law/ 415 [62] https://www.courtlistener.com/ 416 [63] https://free.law/recap 417 [64] https://www.organizedcommunities.org/get-involved 418 [65] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_2025 419 [66] https://abortionfunds.org/find-a-fund/ 420 [67] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clinic_escort 421 [68] https://www.plancpills.org/ 422 [69] https://www.folxhealth.com/library/mutual-aid-funds 423 [70] https://www.citationneeded.news/wind-the-clock/?ref=wheresyoured.at#footnote-anchor-1 424 [71] https://www.loc.gov/resource/highsm.17684/?r=0.133,-0.171,0.772,0.655,0 425 [72] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carol_M._Highsmith 426 [73] https://www.citationneeded.news/signup 427 [74] https://donate.stripe.com/14k8AseTNaqLaZy7ss 428 [75] https://store.mollywhite.net/ 429 [76] https://www.citationneeded.news/video-the-cryptocurrency-industrys-unprecedented-election-spending/ 430 [77] https://www.citationneeded.news/issue-70/ 431 [78] https://www.citationneeded.news/issue-69/ 432 [79] https://www.citationneeded.news/i-am-my-own-legal-department/ 433 [80] https://www.citationneeded.news/signup 434 [81] https://www.citationneeded.news/page/2/ 435 [82] https://www.citationneeded.news/tag/weekly-recaps/ 436 [83] https://www.citationneeded.news/podcast/ 437 [84] https://store.mollywhite.net/ 438 [85] https://www.citationneeded.news/about/ 439 [86] https://www.citationneeded.news/rss/ 440 [87] https://donate.stripe.com/14k8AseTNaqLaZy7ss 441 [88] https://www.citationneeded.news/privacy/ 442 [89] https://twitter.com/molly0xFFF/ 443 [90] https://hachyderm.io/@molly0xfff 444 [91] https://bsky.app/profile/molly.wiki 445 [92] https://www.youtube.com/@molly0xfff 446 [93] https://www.tiktok.com/@molly0xfff 447 [94] https://www.mollywhite.net/