The blunt language in this AZ Republic story is noteworthy, and commendable. Example:
"Those 11 GOP electors met at the Arizona Republican headquarters in Phoenix on Dec. 14, 2020, posting videos on social media of themselves casting their votes for Trump. They signed paperwork to submit to Congress claiming they were “duly elected and qualified” electors.
what’s remarkable is that the AZ Republic reported it in any way as the facts really are. Someone here in the media may know more than the general public, at least this is a good start for more judicial action here.
Just like #michigan fake electors…folks in the legislature… The #rnc & “movers & shakers” of state #gop machine!
“The Arizonans now facing charges include powerful & influential GOP figures: a former Repub Party of #arizona chair; a Repub nat committeeman & executive at #turningpointusa & its political arm; & two sitting state #senators — one of whom retains immense political power at the Arizona #capitol.”
@Npars01 This is why you always need a higher court than the government to appeal to. This is why the UK government would love to leave the ECHR and become unaccountable.
Is antisemitism a problem? Of course. But the issue at these protests isn't antisemitism because as Erin Burnett pointed out to Mike Johnson, there have been no attacks against Jewish students at these events.
“Welcome to the Utopian Gigafactory,” reads a banner hung across a path in a Brandenburg Forest outside Berlin, Germany. At the end of the path, Tesla’s -very real- Gigafactory is visible behind the trees. The banner has been hung by
I've seen a number of writers remark on the fact that it's stupid to wait around for inspiration to try to writing something good. This is of course true, because often inspired writing is, in retrospect, terrible, while lines you suffered over are quite good.
BUT, there's this other thing, which is that as a project wears on, there's inevitably less inspiration, more just carrying out the initial vision. This is where, to my mind, the real craft often comes in.
Inspiration can convince you something is interesting or worth doing, or from time to time get you some really good sentences. But by the time you're, say, 80% of the way into something, it's kind of like an old relationship. You're not going to get butterflies in your stomach anymore, and the strange thing is that while you feel less inspired you're often doing really good work!
Yep, people think that art is only possible if you're in the grip of a muse, but most of it is just buckling down and doing the work! The artists who can produce high-quality work every day sure aren't relying on a fickle muse to get it done. It's more about having a deep understanding of the craft, identifying the type of effect you need to create, and knowing how to achieve that effect.
(I'm sure you are well aware of this after 20+ years of webcomicking, of course!)
although forcing it can lead to overworking, and threre’s definitely problems over-working a bad idea (waste of time) or worse, a good one, and ruining it.
What's that old saying (Stephen King iirc) "Writing is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration."
In my limited experience, inspiration is great for getting down a bunch of random ideas, but the real work is weeding out the crud and the ones that don't fit with the others and then weaving what's left into something cohesive that hopefully still resonates with the reader.
That said, I'm a pretty crap writer, so what do I know? 🤷♂️
Visually appealing and cheap to produce, AI-generated images allow scammers and spammers to post high volumes of engaging content − and Facebook’s algorithm may be promoting these posts.
Back Again The idea that churches stay out of politics is getting ridiculous. It's time to revoke their tax exemption and start collecting taxes from them.
Churches that adhere to the Gospel (humility, service etc.) deserve their tax free status because the money comes in through the parish and goes straight back out to the community, but churches that are run like corporations are just a tax haven and certainly should pay tax. @willie1foot
@Bandicoot They can pay tax like the rest of us… the income they can prove is being spent on charitable works can be claimed as a tax deduction. The rest is taxable.
@willie1foot If the money coming in is tithes from members, income tax has already been paid on it. If it is money earned through a church enterprise then yes tax it. @anubis2814
@Grant @Stewart Why they all need to achieve 501c3 status to show they are actually mashing no profits. Churches don't have to prove any of that unlike a community organization. One would think that small churches would fight for that so they don't get lumped into greed churches but all they see in more regulation, not a defence against the cheapening of their faith
Back when churches were places of worship and they held a cake stall to raise money to fix the roof nobody questioned tax free status. Now that megachurches have coffee shops and gyms and child care centres it is fair to tax them like businesses. Pity it also hits the little guys too. @willie1foot
make that possible and Republicans will take it and go after Obama…
You can’t piecemeal conservatives and the right-wing… the only solution is to make them impotent. But that goes against every principle of liberal representative democracy.
@fedwards9965 Sorry but since when is Obama a felon? He didn't violate any law that I know of. Repubs have been trying to impeach Biden etc etc so it's not like they're waiting for the Dems to do anything legislatively speaking to go after people.
@VeroniqueB99 we weren’t talking about impeachment though, but invalidating Trump’s presidency… I’m pretty sure Obama being a felon won’t matter in the least to Republicans if a mechanism opens that could annul Obama’s presidency.
@fedwards9965 that was my point. They're gonna do what they're gonna do. That shouldn't prevent us from invalidating what was illegitimate for a number of reasons...
@fedwards9965 @505fred 45 is the only one actually sitting in a criminal trial right now. He's the only one who killed 1M+ of his own fellow citizens by sheer arrogance. The others had the decency to kill other countries'...
As Vee said "it should be the law" but there is no mechanism in our Constitution or our Law that makes that possible. A Supreme Court Justice is appointed by the President and approved by the Senate for life, with no exceptions for removal, except by Congress for cause, by impeachment!
@dschmidthawk Just imagine. They can't get Trump for the attack on the Capitol where 5 people died, and you ask about cause being a Supreme Court Justice telling a well thought out little fib that they can dance around for years? Our Supreme Court ....
@dschmidthawk Yes, the US used to be a stabilizing factor, but since Trump, it's all nuts!
Have you considered that if Trump is reelected, Russia, China, North Korea and the US will be one gigantic economic and military conglomerate that no one would dare challenge. Total world dominance!
Former senior DOJ official Mary McCord writes about "the necessity for government officials to be able to communicate freely with social media companies about the abuses of their services by malign actors," in advance of Supreme Court oral arguments …
@Npars01 Well, if they give Stinky absolute immunity, Joe Biden should arrest the Scotus, for conspiring for the Federalist Society. Then indict Gini Thomas for conspiracy.
Political conservatives who watched a documentary on Syrian refugees with a virtual reality headset had far more sympathy for the people depicted in the film than those who viewed the same film on a two-dimensional computer screen.
#Biden is rolling out good things and bad things which means the good things will be forgotten and the bad things will feel less bad in people's memory. Good. #Ukraine finally got funded though thanks to that gap in times not being funded they lost some serious ground they may never get back. Also the end to the non-compete agreements for normal employees. #Labor Bad: #Israel got more funding to massacre #Rafah with. Also #Tiktok is now force to sell its american app to an American, which fixes no problems it just moves the power over the algorithms and spy way from a foreign state to our giant greedy bloodsucking corporations because xenophobia.
The Department of Transportation (DOT) issued final rules requiring airlines pay passengers back if they cancel their flights or make significant changes.
@GMcGath Yes but the flight industry is a cartel similar cable companies and if they can squeeze more money for their shareholders they will. Profits also don't come for free either.
@anubis2814 The airlines have a cozy arrangement with the federal government in some respects and can be considered a cartel to that extent. But they still compete on price and have to find a way to run profitably. If costs go up in one area, e.g., required payment for cancellations, they have to make up for it by increasing prices or lowering costs somewhere else. Precisely as you said: Profits don't come for free.
This is unprecedented and pretty messed up. How they can just bully a tech company and manipulate the market like that, and yet do nothing with the Googles, Metas and Microsofts in their own country is beyond me.
Universities, nationwide, are stopping students from peacefully protesting. Texas is not welcoming to citizens exercising #1A rights, given their far-right oppressive st. govt.
"TX State Troopers were seen marching through campus calling for protesters to disperse.
Austin's Palestine Solidarity CMTE wrote on IG that "students were welcomed by a draconian police presence, refusing to allow them to use their campus space for political speech."
@Nazani I believe it brings about awareness, but only the peaceful ones are effective, & agitators incite violence, so... I've read that most of the problems occur outside the universities' boundaries.
I hope and pray we don't get a 1970 style outcome. I recall it only took well from my youth. Before that we had to Chicago DNC convention 1968....when police beat up protesters and journalists live on TV. And Nixon won the election. Perhaps Democrats should reflect on that too.
(Said from a nation on the west of an island off the western coast of Europe)
I find the belief that #leftists are mad at the #rich and powerful because of envy is frankly insulting. We don't think anyone should have that much money or power because it turns them into a twisted horrible human being and at some point they had to exploit others or the environment to get that money. If no one has that much money, all of us have a little more. If no one has that much power, ALL of us are a little more power to make our world better.
it's so weird to me. i simply do not understand why i would want to be rich and powerful. there's no allure to it. it sounds really unfulfilling. i just want my needs met so i can enjoy life with my little gay friends
Interestingly this isn’t necessarily what the rich think. But this is is what the rich want the majority of the voting poor to think. And so far they succeeded on a large scale.
I used to help with the bags of food from the food bank. We had so many kids that didn’t have any food at home unless we provided it. We even had organizations help us distribute food during the summer.
A school lunch program would help to feed so many families, because as a struggling family your #1 concern is to put some sort of food into your child's lunch, as without that they would go without in the presence of their peers. It's easier to get away without food for supper when they get home.
Take away the struggle of a school lunch, and you open up more resource for other meals at home..
When I used to go to my local food bank, they were open for 2 hours starting at 10am, & then another 2 starting at 6pm. The evening session was always very crowded with parents coming after work and school, with kids in tow (babysitters can be an unavailable luxury). The most heartbreaking thing was how well-behaved the kids tended to be- even the very little kids knew the score.
@SaltyGirl This would make the news as a feel good story and not the nightmare it is that people are having to go without food while 40% of our food goes to waste.
15 years ago a woman and her mom asked a school teacher they knew what they could do to help out in her school. She told them there were some kids who were struggling with school work because they were hungry. That conversation was the genesis of a program I volunteer with. They started in their kitchen with 5 bags of groceries that were given to 5 families. So far this year, since September, we’ve sent over 9000 bags of groceries home with kids.
It’s simple. Food is bought from the county food bank, consulting with a nutritionist. It’s delivered to our packing location on Mondays around noon, 60 or so vols unload and decant several hundred pounds of protein, carbs, canned veg, & snacks. Then we bag it up for delivery to schools. Takes about 45 minutes. School handles final distribution to students—we don’t know who gets it. This week: 430 bags to 40 schools. This could be replicated, folks.
It’s all done by volunteers. The only paid position is a bookkeeper/accountant taking care of the books because of required IRS filing for non-profit status. Another expense is for insurance coverage in case of injury to a volunteer during deliveries. Storage space and work space is donated by the church where we do the packing. Volunteers do grant writing, delivery tracking, communication with schools. Schools take care of final distribution. Cost of food’s the major expense.
My father was a professor at Kent State; I grew up hearing about the National Guard shooting. With kid logic, I thought one part of the campus was "unsafe", before later realizing it happened before I was born. (Ancient history!) I later realized it was a mere six years prior, so far closer in their memory than, say, 9/11/01 is in mine now.
For years, I could locate where I was to non-Ohioians by saying "Kent State". That faded a few years ago, but I feel like I'm hearing it come up more now.
100-year-old British D-Day veteran dies before he can honor fallen comrades one more time
British army veteran Bill Gladden, who survived a glider landing on D-Day and a bullet that tore through his ankle a few days later, wanted to return to France for the 80th anniversary of the invasion so he could honor the men who didn’t come home #press
No Major American University has Deplored the Destruction of Gaza Universities
And harmless student demonstrations have been met with harsh police response & criminalization unmatched since Kent State called in the National Guard in 1970, which killed four students.
Current charges that these peaceful rallies are antisemitic are bad faith propaganda & ridiculous.
"This scholasticide is not an accident and it has nothing to do with a “war on Hamas” or “self-defense.” It is the typical gutting of a colonized people’s consciousness by a settler colonial state. These actions are intended to cripple Palestinian education and Palestinian culture in Gaza. Israeli leaders have made no secret of their hope to ethnically cleanse the Palestinians from the Strip entirely."
Tired: We simply can't trust critical software infrastructure to unpaid volunteers Inspired: We simply can't trust critical software infrastructure to people who make money
It depends who you ask -- i.e. reality-based (most of us) vs. manipulation-based (people who own/run large corporations). But yes, in reality, they cannot be trusted -- for that reason and also because their output is essentially guesswork and nobody has worked out a way to make them reliable yet.
Dr. Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian’s detention confirms what the BDS movement has long argued: Israeli universities are first and foremost instruments of the state and agents of Zionism’s project of dispossession and apartheid rule.
"Someone needs to explain to me why wanting clean drinking water makes you an activist. and why proposing to destroy water with chemical warfare doesn't make a corporation a terrorist." —Winona Laduke, #Ojibwe economist & environmentalist
took your meme to add it #AltText (am i doing this right?!?!)
I wouldn't break up the text like that. The specifics of the layout aren't critical to understanding this; I'd do it like:
Photo of a young Winona LaDuke, dressed...(all that was awesome!)...sunglasses he is wearing. The photo is arranged with a Winona LaDuke quote: "SOMEONE NEEDS TO EXPLAIN... TERRORIST". The image has a small logo for the Free Thought Project website.
The proper Question is, 'Why Doesn't the US Department of Justice(hell, -who ever official is Responsible) Cause that accusation to be the basis of a Lawsuit against Multiple industrial polluters--individually, so each one Has to pay. But, Honestly, Destroying Earth happens because there are not enough people like You. Thank You!
Israel penned them in an open air prison, chased them around the Gaza strip, herded them into a corner and now is going to invade the safe zone and kill as many people as possible. While mass graves are already being unearthed, Biden sends them $17 billion to finish the job. Disavow yourselves that America has any moral high ground to ever speak to any country again how to treat people or conduct a war. It behaves with cruel impunity, always has, but this parade of the grotesque is a new low.
Ethnic Karen guerrillas in Myanmar leave a town that army lost 2 weeks ago as rival group holds sway
Guerrilla fighters from the main ethnic Karen fighting force battling Myanmar’s military government have withdrawn from the eastern border town of Myawaddy two weeks after forcing the army to give up its defense #press
If you buy something—a refrigerator, a car, a tractor, a wheelchair, or a phone—but you can't have the information or parts to fix or modify it, is it really yours? The right to repair movement is based on the belief that you should have the right to…
Dan Gillmor
in reply to Dan Gillmor • • •The blunt language in this AZ Republic story is noteworthy, and commendable. Example:
"Those 11 GOP electors met at the Arizona Republican headquarters in Phoenix on Dec. 14, 2020, posting videos on social media of themselves casting their votes for Trump. They signed paperwork to submit to Congress claiming they were “duly elected and qualified” electors.
"But that was a lie."
reshared this
HistoPol (#HP), yes, it's me, liza 🇵🇷 🦛 🦦, sqncs, Gail Waldby, cobalt, HELLO THERE, Incorrigible Maker, Lenora, Dave Spector, Zhi Zhu 🕸️, Democracy Matters :verified:, Robert Link and Woke Jezebel reshared this.
cobalt
in reply to Dan Gillmor • • •der.hans
in reply to cobalt • • •Andreas K
in reply to Dan Gillmor • • •Kyle Anderson 💙
in reply to Dan Gillmor • • •I _love_ the visual comparison of the fake and real certificates.
These (alleged) criminals thought they could get away with Word and a trip to Kinkos 🤣
Peggy March
in reply to Dan Gillmor • • •Mark Ohe
in reply to Dan Gillmor • • •John L. Roberson
in reply to Dan Gillmor • • •Susan85418
in reply to Dan Gillmor • • •kfjhgfdjhoijgd
in reply to Dan Gillmor • • •Deborah Sampson
in reply to Dan Gillmor • • •Just like #michigan fake electors…folks in the legislature…
The #rnc & “movers & shakers” of state #gop machine!
“The Arizonans now facing charges include powerful & influential GOP figures: a former Repub Party of #arizona chair; a Repub nat committeeman & executive at #turningpointusa & its political arm; & two sitting state #senators — one of whom retains immense political power at the Arizona #capitol.”
If we can’t kick ‘em out…VOTE THEM OUT!
Nicole Parsons
in reply to Dan Gillmor • • •Trump could not be investigated or prosecuted because a Republican AG Bill Barr thwarted both.
https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/didnt-trumps-trial-start-years-earlier-blame-bill-barr-rcna148036
The Arizona coup plotters couldn't be investigated or prosecuted because a Republican AG Mark Brnovich thwarted both
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/mark-brnovich-hid-findings-debunking-election-fraud-claims-arizona-1234684606/
https://news.bloomberglaw.com/business-and-practice/ex-arizona-ags-ethics-probe-follows-him-to-boies-schiller-job
Election denial in Texas couldn't be investigated or prosecuted because GOP AG Ken Paxton thwarted both.
Seeing a trend ...until these corrupt GOP AG's are turfed out by voters, crimes go unpunished
Mark Brnovich Hid Findings Refuting Election Fraud Claims in Arizona
Nikki McCann Ramirez (Rolling Stone)reshared this
Nicole Parsons and Glyn Moody reshared this.
🇳𝗮ꜟ𝖼𝘩
in reply to Nicole Parsons • • •This is why you always need a higher court than the government to appeal to. This is why the UK government would love to leave the ECHR and become unaccountable.