Hi there! Welcome to Easy A–Your go-to source for quick and easy actions you can take in five minutes or less about the issues you care about.
Are you a busy mom? Or maybe your work is so hectic you can’t think about anything else during the day? A lot of us are also taking care of parents or other loved ones too, leaving little time for anything else.
The good news is that these are things you can do while you’re waiting in the school pick up line, on your lunch break, or even at your kid’s soccer practice – anywhere you happen to be! And you can easily share Easy A with your friends so they can be in the know, too! We’ll send you a new action to take every week–just one, we promise –and it will always be something you can do in five minutes or less. Ready to get started? Let’s go!
Read This: Spotting and Stopping Disinformation
Whether we prefer Facebook or Instagram, TikTok or Substack, we’re all scrolling our feeds regularly (maybe more often than we should!). Social media has become a big part of our lives. It has immense power for good, like exposing us to new points of view and connecting us with our community. But social media also gives bad actors an opportunity to take advantage of us by spreading disinformation.
A healthy democracy needs us, its citizens, to be accurately informed, so let’s learn more about disinformation and how we can fight it.
What is disinformation and why is it dangerous?
Disinformation is false information that is being spread on purpose in order to mislead people. It’s different from misinformation, which is inaccurate information being spread without the awareness that it’s not true. But since we can’t always tell if the intent is there or not, we can tackle both in the same way.
First, it’s important to recognize that disinformation is spread by bad actors. These can be foreign adversaries or domestic agitators. They can be governments, organizations or groups, or individuals. They all have the same goal: To mislead and manipulate us in order to divide us. They want to sow distrust among us so that we don’t trust each other, our institutions like schools and courts, and our professionals like teachers, lawyers, doctors, and scientists. While uniting us against common enemies, they promote their points of view and interests, often for political power and financial gain.
We know that bad actors are using disinformation to influence our elections. And Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools are making it easier for anyone to create disinformational content. Unfortunately, social media companies are reducing their fact-checking efforts, and the Trump administration is ending federal efforts to fight disinformation online. So it’s increasingly up to us to keep disinformation from spreading.
How Disinformation works (because we can all fall for it)
Spotting disinformation can be tough because it comes in many of the same forms as legitimate information or entertainment. Disinformation can be delivered through:
- Memes or other social media graphics.
- Content disguised as a news article.
- Real news articles (even journalists might include disinformation in their work!).
- Editorials, opinion pieces, and blogs (they have less stringent standards for fact-checking and data-sourcing than journalism does).
- Manipulated or AI generated photos or videos.
- Selected edits of photos, screenshots, or videos removed from their original context.
- Satire presented as fact.
Disinformation thrives in places where people are either too naive or overly confident about our abilities to spot it, but we’re all susceptible! It’s designed to tap into our “fast brain,” the part of our brain that runs on autopilot and emotions, not rationality. Disinformation is designed to elicit an emotional response — shock, anger, fear, horror, joy, or amusement — so that we react and share it quickly without thinking critically about it.
Disinformation is bolstered by the fact that social media is designed to make spreading information impulsive and easy. The algorithms boost content that has lots of reactions and clicks, and those are all driven by that same emotional response.
We also all have confirmation bias — the tendency to believe something if it reinforces or aligns with our current beliefs and values. So if we see something that supports our beliefs, we’re more likely to share it without fact-checking first. Disinformation is designed to work faster than our ability to spot and analyze it, so that’s exactly what we have to do to fight it.
How to stop disinformation from spreading.
It takes work and some reconditioning of our habits, but we can train ourselves to recognize disinformation. Now that we understand that it taps into our “fast brain,” we can be intentional about scrolling social media with our “slow brain” instead, using our reasoning and critical thinking skills. Here are some standards we can use:
- Remember that everything online can be false or manipulated.
- Be aware of our biases.
- Pause and investigate further when something quickly elicits an emotional response.
- Assess who is sharing the information. Are they a real person? Are they reliable? Could they be a bot or fake account?
- Fact-check everything — especially if it elicited strong emotions or seems sensational — using sites like factcheck.org or snopes.com.
- Assess the source of information. Is there a source? Is it a primary source? Is it reliable?
- Check a few reputable sources to see if they have the same information.
- Don’t share if you can’t verify or if it isn’t from a trusted source.
- Don’t repeat disinformation, even if you are trying to debunk it. You don’t want to spread it further, and it’s better to just share the facts!
Our democracy depends on us being informed with accurate information. In this era where real news is being called “fake news” and actual fake news is spreading like wildfire, we can all use these tips to spot and stop disinformation.
Read This: Let’s Celebrate Pride!
Happy Pride! It’s June, which means it’s LGBTQ+ Pride Month, so we’re going to spend the next few weeks learning about Pride and celebrating together.
Pride Month originated in 1969 with the Stonewall riots, when the New York City police raided a gay bar called the Stonewall Inn and its community fought back. Many consider this the beginning of the LGBTQ+ rights movement. Since then, annual marches and celebrations all over the country have honored the riots and moved the movement forward. On the 30th anniversary of the riots, President Bill Clinton officially declared June Pride Month.
During Pride, we celebrate the history, culture, achievements, and identity of the LGBTQ+ community, and we also advocate for LGBTQ+ rights. There are huge Pride celebrations across the world each year, but it’s important to remember that Pride is also about protest.
It’s okay to celebrate and participate in Pride, no matter how you identify. That’s because when we all celebrate Pride, it shows that there are welcoming, inclusive, and affirming spaces for LGBTQ+ people of all ages to feel safe in their identity. Something as simple as wearing a Pride shirt, or attending a Pride event helps create an affirming community for everyone.
We celebrate the victories of the Pride movement like marriage equality but we also continue to protest for greater equality. That’s why advocacy during Pride Month (and all year long) continues to be as important as ever. In fact, we’re seeing an increase in political attacks on the LGBTQ+ community. Book banners continue to target books that feature LGBTQ+ characters. 586 bills targeting the healthcare and basic human rights of trans people have been filed across the U.S. so far this year. Project 2025 threatens the marriage rights and other federal protections of LGBTQ+ people if Donald Trump gets elected. And LGBTQ+ youth are at risk of increased bullying, anxiety, depression, and suicide risk.
This is why it’s so important to honor Pride Month. In the coming weeks, we’ll dig deeper into how you can include your family in your celebration of Pride Month, especially the young people in your life, to be even more impactful.
Do This: Project 2025 Explained
Now we know about the dangers of Project 2025. In it, Donald Trump and his allies tell us exactly what they have planned for our country if he wins a second presidential term, and we know it’s a very different vision than what we have for our families and our communities.
They want to ban books, ban abortion, take away our rights to all forms of birth control including condoms, take away IVF, destroy public education, and so much more. As our founder Katie Paris said, “when they tell us, believe them.”
So what can we do? We need to warn everyone we know about the dangers of Project 2025 and a second Trump presidency. Click below to use our social share tool. You can customize and share your message with friends and family right now. How easy is that?
Did you find this post helpful? Subscribe here to get our weekly Easy A delivered directly to your email inbox!
Watch This: Project 2025 Explained
Last week, you read about Project 2025, so now you know how it threatens our current way of life and the democratic future that we want for America. And here’s the thing: We aren’t the only ones worried about it!
We work hand-in-hand with many other groups who also want to protect our democracy, and they’re all sounding the alarms about Project 2025.
In fact, just last month our founder, Katie Paris, joined the African American Policy Forum for one of their Freedom to Learn Homeroom events. It was called “We are the Majority: How Parents can Protect Education and Multiracial Democracy,” and it focused on the threats of Project 2025, especially when it comes to our children’s education.
We’ve pulled a short clip of that session so you can watch how — in under one minute! — Katie so perfectly explained Project 2025 and why we need everyone to know about it:
And stay tuned: Next week we’ll talk about quick and simple actions we can all take to spread the word about the dangers of Project 2025 and how to stop it from becoming our reality!
Did you find this post helpful? Subscribe here to get our weekly Easy A delivered directly to your email inbox!
Read This: Project 2025 Explained
Have you heard about this scary thing called Project 2025? We know a lot of people have started talking about it — for good reason — and we want you to have everything you need to know from reliable sources so you can be a part of the conversation.
Project 2025 is a far-right extremist plan for America’s future. A group of Donald Trump’s political allies and supporters, led by the Heritage Foundation, are upset that he wasn’t able to make more permanent changes to our way of life during his term as president. They infused their white Christian nationalist agenda into this plan for him to use if he wins a second term in 2024.
It’s a 900+ page blueprint to remove our government’s checks and balances and give complete power to the president to make policy changes that go against what most Americans want for our country. It’s so unbelievably anti-democratic it will make your head spin. It’s long and full of disinformation, so we don’t recommend going to their website to check it out — that would give them clicks AND your data, which will let them flood you with their online propaganda in the future. Instead, we’ve reviewed it to give you this summary.
Project 2025 aims to:
- Institute a national abortion ban, reverse FDA approval of abortion pills, demand data from states that currently allow abortion, and restrict our access to STD testing, birth control, and IVF.
- End public education by eliminating the Department of Education and by diverting public money to private and religious school attendance.
- Assume that America is Christian and that Christian beliefs should hold a privileged place in society, starting with enforcing a “biblically based” (heterosexual and two-parent) definition of marriage and family.
- Reduce or eliminate the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and end programs that address climate change.
- Allow the mass deportation of immigrants, suspend applications for immigration, and reduce protections for immigrants seeking asylum.
- Make it easier to fire government employees. The people behind this are already creating a hiring database of 20,000+ Trump loyalists to pack all levels of the federal government with people who will not check his power. They’re also creating a training academy for them.
- Threaten our national security by gutting the Department of Homeland Security, ending the FBI’s efforts to combat disinformation, and reducing the military’s efforts to counter domestic extremism. And so much more.
As you can see, all the talk and red flags about Project 2025 are justified. It’s scary to imagine this extreme vision for America becoming reality, but knowing about it can help us stop it from happening!
So, what can we do? We’ll talk more in the coming weeks about how to make sure Project 2025 never sees the light of day. For now, if you’re interested in a deeper dive, you can visit our more detailed explainer at https://redwine.blue/project2025/. And stay tuned for next week’s Easy A action!
Did you find this post helpful? Subscribe here to get our weekly Easy A delivered directly to your email inbox!
Do This: The Arizona Freedom Trust
We’re taking a break from our regular Easy A schedule this week to share some exciting news!
Have you heard about the 1864 abortion ban that is going into effect in Arizona? Back in April, the state’s Supreme Court ruled that this law — which has been on the books since before Arizona officially became a state — is enforceable. It bans abortion from the moment of conception and makes it a felony to perform abortions or aid women in getting them.
Thankfully, Governor Katie Hobbs and the Arizona legislature passed and signed a bill that will repeal this archaic ban, but unfortunately the ban will be in place for at least 3 months.
In addition to the total ban, Arizona has more than 40 laws in place restricting abortion, from a 15-week current ban, to severe limits on medication abortion, to draconian clinic requirements.
Because of this, Arizona patients were already overwhelming California’s clinics, and this is expected to ramp up with the ban in place. Unfortunately, California’s clinics are overtaxed, with only 40% of counties containing a clinic and more than 5,000 women coming from out of state annually. Patients are on waiting lists and traveling long distances to find an appointment.
To help address this crisis, the California legislature has introduced emergency legislation to allow licensed Arizona doctors to practice in the state on Arizona patients. The law will go a long way toward alleviating that stress, allowing more doctors to work out of clinics and giving Arizona providers a sanctuary in which to safely treat their patients.
And the Red Wine & Blue community has shown up in a HUGE way, already raising more than $111,000 for these women! The estimated need, however, is much more – California and Arizona are expecting hundreds of patients in the upcoming months — which is why we hope you’ll join us in donating today and spreading the word about the Arizona Freedom Trust.
This is a huge opportunity for women across the country to extend our hearts and hands to the people of Arizona. When we come together to care for and support each other, we are unstoppable. Can we count on you to help today?
Do This: The Crunchy Mom to Alt-Right Pipeline
Over the past two weeks, we’ve learned how women can be drawn into the alt-right movement after joining seemingly harmless online communities that promote “healthy,” “clean,” or “traditional” lifestyles. We even watched a few women, Dominique and Samantha, describe how they experienced this radicalization themselves.
Both women now speak out about the dangers of these movements and how women can avoid going down this path, and Samantha works for a nonprofit that helps people leave extremist movements and rebuild their lives. One thing both women — and other experts we’ve spoken with — have all shared is how big a role disinformation plays in the recruitment and radicalization of women in extremist movements.
That’s why it’s so important for all of us to be able to spot disinformation and stop its spread. And it just so happens that tonight, Red Wine & Blue is hosting an event to teach you how to do just that!
So here’s your Easy A action for this week: register for tonight’s virtual Troublemaker Training, Disinformation 101: How to Identify and Fight It!
Even if you aren’t able to make it to the live event, if you register, we’ll send you the recording so you can watch it whenever you do have the time! And since fighting extremism is even better with friends, if you have an extra minute, share this information with people you know. Together, we can inform people and help keep them away from the dangers of disinformation and the alt-right.
Watch This: The Crunchy Mom to Alt-Right Pipeline
Last week you read about Dominique and how her evangelical upbringing led her to a “trad wife” lifestyle, and then eventually to the extremism of QAnon. This gradual process isn’t uncommon, but it’s only one of many ways women get drawn into the alt-right movement.
Some women find their way to the alt-right through the trad wife movement like Dominique, but others are drawn to it from their interest in health and wellness, or living a more “natural” lifestyle. Some have even been drawn to the alt-right after trying to debunk conspiracy theories or just trying to learn more about it – initially wanting to oppose it! Hear from some of these women in this one minute video:
No matter how women get into the movement, they are an integral part of the alt-right. The presence of women helps attract men — and other women — to the movement, giving it a safe, family-friendly feel.
To learn more about the role of women in the alt-right movement and the paths that lead them to extremism, check out The Cost of Extremism podcast episode, The Crunchy Mom to Alt-Right Pipeline, available here or anywhere you get your podcasts. And next week, we’ll talk about what we can all do to keep women from heading down this dangerous path.
Read This: The Crunchy Mom to Alt-Right Pipeline
If you’re on social media, chances are you’ve seen the “trad wife” movement. Just picture a white woman speaking sweetly while baking sourdough bread about the need for us to focus on being wives and mothers. The trad wife lifestyle advocates for a return to “traditional” gender norms, with a woman focused on children and the home while her husband works.
Many trad wives hold conservative religious and political views, but this is not a requirement. Some “crunchy” moms — those who value healthy lifestyles and “clean living” — may lean left politically but share similar interests with trad wives, like homesteading or baking. And if we think of the political spectrum as a horseshoe, not a line, it makes sense that the far-left and the far-right might be closer than we think.
The trad wife movement, though clearly not for everyone, might seem innocent enough. But lately, it’s been gaining more national attention due to its connection to alt-right politics and conspiracy theories. For some women, regardless of politics, joining the trad wife movement is the first step in the direction toward white supremacy and Christian nationalism – and they might not even be aware.
Just consider the story of Dominique, who was raised in an evangelical church and started doing door-to-door ministry when she was eleven years old. After marrying young, Dominique wanted to be a trad wife, even encouraging her husband to be more dominant in their marriage. After her first pregnancy, she quit her job and turned her focus to keeping a nice house and following the “mommy blogger” craze. Alone with her baby all day, Dominique turned more frequently to the communities she found online.
Eventually Dominique’s trad wife online communities led her to QAnon, an extremist conspiracy theory political movement. She says from her upbringing as an evangelical to her time as a trad wife, so much of her life was rooted in fear. The far-right white supremacy movement exploits this fear and reaches out to women who are vulnerable to find new recruits. They seek out women who are living in fear and promise them security by giving them a community to belong to.
Meanwhile, the presence of submissive, “traditional” looking women focused on raising a family gives the movement a softness. By centering women, the alt-right makes it seem safe for other women to join the community. The women also work as bait to attract more white men to the movement.
Once someone joins the community, they start hearing “everything you’ve been told is a lie.” This is a vital part of the alt-right’s messaging. If they can get someone to start questioning one thing, they can build on that fear and make them start questioning everything. Studies show that people who believe one conspiracy theory are more likely to believe another one. And that’s how someone gets hooked. Even someone who started by innocently looking online for ways to live a cleaner, healthier life, regardless of politics.
In the coming weeks we’ll talk more about what we can do to protect our friends and family against these online communities that serve as gateways to the alt-right, and offer ways to get involved in pro-democracy, anti-extremist communities instead!
Do This: The Truth About Crisis Pregnancy Centers
Now we know that Crisis Pregnancy Centers are everywhere, and unfortunately they outnumber real abortion clinics by 3 to 1. And what’s really dangerous about CPCs is how they use misinformation to intentionally mislead women who need real medical care. So what can you do?
Let’s share this information with everyone we know! So many people haven’t heard about CPCs, so be a part of our movement and share this message with your friends and family. It’s super-easy with our social share tool. With just a few clicks, you can share this information and earn your Easy A today!
Watch This: The Truth About Crisis Pregnancy Centers
As you read last week, crisis pregnancy centers use misinformation and fear to manipulate pregnant women and stop them from getting abortions. This misinformation is dangerous and can risk women’s health.
Listen to the story of Maleeha Aziz, who was misled by a crisis pregnancy center when she was unexpectedly pregnant while in college. Maleeha had recently moved to the U.S. from overseas and didn’t know anything about crisis pregnancy centers. Like so many women, Maleeha thought she was visiting a real healthcare facility. Instead she found herself being told lies about the risks of abortion.
After her experience, Maleeha has dedicated her career to helping other women get access to reproductive healthcare. She is now the Deputy Director of the Texas Equal Access Fund, where she speaks out against crisis pregnancy centers and other attempts to limit the reproductive rights of women in Texas.
You can hear our full interview with Maleeha at The Cost of Extremism website or anywhere you get your podcasts. And stay tuned next week for an easy action you can take to make sure more people know about the misleading tactics of crisis pregnancy centers.