OutsourcedMath Social Network

shannon 2 months ago • mastodon (AP)

about 1% of sobriety is giving up the thing one is addicted to. 99% is attending to the reasons one is addicted in the first place.

Urban Dinosaurs 2 months ago • mastodon (AP)

Central Park today: a grey catbird, a northern cardinal that found a peanut from a supply that someone was using to feed birds (plus a rat…), and a northern flicker.
#birds #wildlifePhotography #birdCPP

The flicker is perched on a near-horizontal branch. There is an out-of-focus green background.

The cardinal has a good-sized peanut in its beak. The ground is basically bare.

#birds #wildlifephotography #birdcpp

Melissa BearTrix 2 months ago • mastodon (AP)

Nice boys and girls at JB hi-fi ... I get an upgrade on the headphones for the same price of zero $ ... Yay

Hugz & xXx

Sriram "sri" Ramkrishna - 😼 2 months ago • mastodon (AP)

Happy Friday !
#CatsOfMastodon

#catsOfMastodon

Today I learned 2 months ago • mastodon (AP)

TIL that John Lennon's masterpiece Imagine was co-written by Yoko Ono

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imagine_(song)
#til #todayilearned
https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/1ed2wh2/til_that_john_lennons_masterpiece_imagine_was/

#TIL #todayilearned

solarbird 2 months ago • wordpress (AP)

One final note about the shooting, then resources on JD Vance and Project 2025

I’m going to say one final thing about the Trump shooting, then turn the rest of this into a resource post, highlighting some useful information about Project 2025, JD Vance, and the two together, since there is some involvement.

I argued in the past that it doesn’t matter whether Trump’s ear was hit by a bullet or shrapnel, because it fucking doesn’t, it was still an assassination attempt. I’ve argued about how Democratic conspiracy theories give us more MAGA and give them something to counterbalance against January 6th.

But most importantly, going off about which happened gives Donald Trump more attention for something he wants attention about.

For a blessed few days, nobody was talking about the stinking orange buffoon, not really, and given that literally nothing changes about the story he wants to talk about if it’s shrapnel or if it’s a bullet, that was a really good thing. It was “fuckity-bye, ear” in the news and I was delighted for it.

Even talking about him overhyping the damage or whatever just gives it all more air.

Don’t give it – or him – any air. Don’t let him get up. Until and unless something actually major actually happens – not hypotheses or speculation, actually something major – keep it quiet, because it helps shift the focus back on him.

Keep the focus on Harris and on Vance. That’s what’s good for us. Not speculating about trivia nobody outside the obsessed cares about: himself, as victim.

Make sense? Good. I’m shutting up about it until and unless there’s some actual hard news, and I recommend you do too.

Have some more resources on Project 2025 and JD Vance; use them as appropriate when talking to your friends and family about the election, particularly the Trumpy ones:

This is a two-fer: Trump again denies Project 2025 — despite Vance writing foreword for chief architect’s book. This is the same book that calls progressives “unhumans” and praises the January 6th insurrectionists. So that’s fun.
You’ve heard the “childless cat ladies” with “no stake in America” quote, of course. Push comes to shove, he really doesn’t think women – certainly not childless women – should be able to vote. He doesn’t just come out and say it like the GOP candidate for governor in Nroth Carolina did, but it’s in there.
There are so many levels of Christofascism in the Project, here’s yet another one: A Jewish couple were rejected as foster parents because of their religion. This is the future Project 2025 envisions
FBI director issues warning on ‘frightening’ Project 2025, specifically its plans to make the FBI directly responsible not to the constitution but to one man, Donald Trump.
How J.D. Vance Went From Green Tech Investor to Climate Change Doubter – it’s about money and power, naturally.
JD Vance roadblocked dozens of US diplomats while he obsessed over their views on gay rights, because he really, really hates the queers.
Anybody remember the Spoils System in the Federal government? I kind of doubt it, because nobody – I mean, literally I’ve seen nobody – talks about it in relation to J.D. Vance’s radical plan to build a government of Trump loyalists based on Project 2025. Not only was it massively corrupt from top to bottom – absolute looting for the winning political party – but it even triggered the assassination of President James Garfield.
Enjoy this big collection of JD Vance being absolutely evil. He really hates women without children – no, he really hates women in general, and hating women who don’t have (white) children is only the start.
Here Vance supporting police tracking women’s periods for evidence of abortion.

There’s more, but this is getting pretty long. I’ll leave you with this last little nugget:

The AP had to take down their fact check about JD Vance never having sex with with a couch. This is because while he didn’t actually tell such a story in Hillbilly Elegy, they can’t prove a negative, so couch time is back on.

And with that, enjoy the weekend.

101 days remain.

[link] #politics #USPol #fascism #politics #uspolitics

solarbird

2024-07-15 16:24:00

are we really going to start falling for least-effort weakest-sauce disinfo now?

I’m asking centrists, liberals, and the left. Fash and fash-adjacent, I know that’s your speciality, this one isn’t for you – though if you are reading, carry on, because I do have an important warning flag of disinformation to hand out, and even you need to care.

So. What even is the point of the “teleprompter glass shards” bullshit? The bullshit idea that Trump’s injury came from glass shards, specifically from his teleprompters, I mean? That one.

There’s also a variant that it’s “glass shards” from somewhere else, and not specifically the teleprompter, but the teleprompter one is the dominant variant that I’ve seen.

Thing is: it doesn’t fucking matter! Without the bullets, there’s no glass shards! The bullets are the proximate cause either way – tho’ I gotta say, this sure as fuck doesn’t look like a “glass shard” to me.

Why does it important to some people that it’s a “glass shard”? Why is this a thing I had to get into fights with people all Sunday? It’s clearly super-attractive to some people, and that’s important. Why?

But more importantly, what do you think you’re doing?! Particularly the teleprompter people! Because conspiracy theory bullshit looks no better on us than it looks on them!

It makes you look, in fact, like a credulous fool.

So apparently I gotta ask: are we really going to start falling for the absolute stupidest, dumbest-ass trivially-disprovable bullshit-grade disinfo now? Really? Stuff you could absolutely positively check yourself in 30 seconds and get a rock-solid disproof? Is that what we’re going to do now?

Because holy shit if that’s what we’re going to do now, then we really are fucked, because I really, really feel like this is somebody testing their centrist/liberal- and left-wing disinfo network to see how well it does, and where they can take you and how easily. And the first answer is bullshitdown, and the second answer appears to be trivially.

So here is RULE NUMBER ONE on “spotting disinformation.” At least, rule number one as I see it.

TO WIT:
If there is a general consensus on a news item, but there is an outlier that is telling you something you find attractive and something you really want to be true, then you need to back the hell off, because while it might be true, it’s way more likely bait.

This doesn’t mean the consensus is always right. To repeat myself, I am not saying the consensus coverage on new news is always right. That is something I am not saying. NOT. I repeat again, NOT saying that.

(And yeah, I have to repeat myself that many times on something like this, because that’s what it seems to take. That, too, I find infuriating.)

In particular, it’s generally not true in science, where the consensus early reporting on new science worth making headlines is generally wrong. Particularly for anything involving characteristics of “suspect classes,” like Black people, Indigenous people, and any and every kind of queer person in the world.

(Consider the ‘gay gene’ reporting in the 1990s, with the study authors actually in the background at their presentation saying ‘DO NOT REPORT THIS AS A GAY GENE, that’s not what this is’ followed immediately by a cut to a CNN reporter saying to camera, “This discovery of a ‘gay gene’…”)

But the vast majority of the time, if the outlier report is something you really want to hear, you need to treat it as if it’s radioactive plague hornets until you are goddamn well sure it’s correct. Or at least viable. Something with some real and solid support under it – and not just something tailored to grab you and people like you.

Because that shiny, shiny candy bite is exactly how disinformation and propaganda specialists hook you in. By offering a sweet, sweet lie you really want to be true.

That is rule one. If it’s that an outlier and that kind of attractive, it’s probably bait.

So.

If you’re reading this, and you’d decided “glass shard” happened, and in particular if it was teleprompter glass, I present to you here, from the original shooting video, the two teleprompters, both visible and apparently fully intact – and certainly not in “shards” – several seconds AFTER Trump’s injury.

That’s how easily this one’s disproved. 30 seconds of looking at a video.

Also, if that’s not enough, here’s a picture of the bullet whizzing past Trump’s head.

And yet so many people on Facebook in particular – for whatever reason, I don’t know why – are defending “glass shard” to an inch of their life. Some even after seeing the teleprompter picture. Because somehow, that’s what they want to believe – so they’re damned well going to.

And it’s bullshit. And also, how we got MAGA.

…

Hopping christ on a pogostick, folks, go sleep it off. And do better tomorrow, now that you have rule one. I know, a lot of you aren’t used to having to do this, aren’t used to hostile and disinformation-friendly press, aren’t used to having to pick out reality from the lies in this kind of way, and I’m sorry, but … you have to get better at it now. Like, right now.

I beg you. Learn to do better.

And don’t take bait.

112 days remain.

[link] #politics #USPol #politics #uspolitics

The Associated Press removes a fact-check claiming JD Vance has not had sex with a couch

A viral joke on social media about JD Vance having sex with a couch was “debunked” by AP. But the story was later removed.

^{Mia Sato (The Verge)}

#Politics #fascism #USPolitics

This entry was edited (2 months ago)

Michigander :toad: 2 months ago • mastodon (AP)

Joy Division
#photography #nature

Rippling surface of water with light reflections.

Rippling water surface with blue and white reflections.

#photography #nature

This entry was edited (2 months ago)

solarbird 2 months ago • wordpress (AP)

don’t give the MAGAts breathing room on January 6th

Okay, let’s talk about how guns aren’t magic, why physics matters, and why conspiracy theory wishcasting about the Trump assassination attempt really is a very bad thing to do.

To get the latter sorted first, there are a few key reasons why chasing conspiracy theory bullshit is always a bad idea, and is a particularly bad idea right now.

First: someone around here has to hold on to reality. If you’ve got some evidence – and I don’t mean “tHeSe tWelVE pIxEls hEre” evidence, I mean real evidence – than I’m not talking to you. You aren’t the problem. But everyone I’ve seen pushing this is on Team I Want It To Be True So It Is, which includes both Team Too Damn Convenient and Team Twelve Pixels.

(For the record, “Too damn convenient” absolutely can be a reason to look for evidence, but it is not evidence in and of itself. Similarly, the absence of evidence is not evidence.)

Second: This is MAGA thinking for the left. It really is. We don’t need a MAGA, we already have one at home. Please stop.

Third, and most important by far: stop giving them a counter-conspiracy to balance January 6th.

Their big lie about the January 6th insurrection is that it was fake, that the media are lying about it, that the media are overplaying it, in the face of all the visual and audio evidence in front of people’s eyes.

To the “low information voter” that I keep talking about, particularly white ones, arguing without real fucking good evidence that the shooting was a “set up” or a “con” looks exactly the same as MAGAts arguing about January 6th not being a riot, or an insurrection.

It balances the two in the eyes of the white low-info voter, and those are people we absolutely have to reach. It makes you look less credible. The “crazies” all have to stay on their side, thank you – doubly so since actual reality, all by itself, does in fact sound pretty crazy, even to me, who has seen it coming for a long, long time.

Don’t set a fleet of that up on our side too.

Now, let’s talk about why the arguments going around don’t work.

The first is the “glass shards” argument, in particular the “teleprompter glass shards” version which was the first to gain traction, and is still coming up. I’ve already talked about this, but to sum: the teleprompters were fully intact after the shooting and there are pictures taken immediately after, as in mere seconds after. It’s not glass shards.

The second is, “those weren’t real bullets.” One dead and two others injured are a fuck you very much to that argument, so shut the hell up right goddamn now.

The third is this image, which I will deface:

The disinformation image pushing the idea that AR-15 bullets are too large to "graze" and ear and leave it "intact." This is a lie.

The idea being presented here is one of These Massive Things can’t touch any part of you without completely tearing that part up. Even that’s not true, but more importantly, these aren’t what get fired from a gun.

These aren’t what get fired out the muzzle of any gun!

(Well, other than a Portal turret, but Portal’s a videogame, and that was a bit. So stick with me here.)

The only part that’s actually fired is the little bit at the end. The much smaller tip. That’s the actual bullet. The image above shows three rounds, which, to be fair, are often called “bullets” in shorthand. But they’re made of multiple parts, only the smallest of which is the actual bullet.

The big part is called a cartridge, and it’s filled with the second biggest part, the gunpowder packing.

Three rounds (three of bullet plus cartridge plus contents) in someone's hand), with arrows pointing out the visible parts separately

In this image, we have an AR-15 being fired. The bullet goes towards the targets. The cartridge – the biggest part – is tossed away out the side. You can see it, and I’ve pointed an arrow at it in this photo:

A man in blue shooting an AR-15 at downrange targets, with the cartridge bouncing off to the right, while the bullet goes downrange. All parts are labelled.

Here’s the size of the bullet in a standard AR-15 round. It’s a .223, which is to say .223 inches, which is to say, less than 1/4″ wide, and something like an inch long, depending.

A separated unfired bullet, identified, and size of 0.223 inches (which is less than one quarter inch) shown.

Here that is with a ruler and two common small pens for comparison. One pen is a Sharpie Fine Point, the other is a Pilot G-2.

A ruler and two pens on a piece of paper, with the width of a typical AR-15 projectile / bullet indicated on the ruler. It is much narrower than either pen.

I knew the direction and general path of bullet travel as soon as I studied the video and listened to witness descriptions in the first hour or so after the shooting. I knew it went parallel alongside the length of his head, clipping his ear, just like the later photo confirmed. From the blood trails, I thought maybe it’d been even closer than it was, but I was within a couple centimetres of actual trajectory so I’m pretty happy with my analysis.

You see, I used to shoot, both archery and firearms. I was a gun club member, for a little while, and considered a pretty decent shot, particularly with a pistol. And I don’t expect people to know this stuff in general, which is why I’m explaining it here.

The damage caused by AR-15 rounds is due to the speed of the projectile, not the size. k=½mv2 – adding more kinetic energy – impact, effectively – to a bullet is far more easily done by adding speed, not mass or size. (And there’s the promised physics.)

That speed is, ironically, one of the many reasons this kind of wound is very credible, even without the other photos. It cracked across the top of his ear and wasn’t slowed down by it much at all. It didn’t get diverted, it didn’t bounce around somehow on his ear like a superball. It kept on going right through that thin, thin tissue, leaving a wound behind.

And yes, it could’ve gone through his ear – not just grazing it – and still kept going.

donald trump at a microphone with his big sticky-outy ears. they stick out. kind of a lot.

The shooter got off one good but rushed shot, because he’d been discovered and had to shoot before he really wanted to, we know that now. Then he took a couple of not-so-good shots, and then some desperation shots before the Secret Service took care of him. I was confused by those later shots, at first – until I found out he’d been discovered before he could pick his actual best moment to fire.

You see – an AR-15 is a pretty high-precision rifle. It’s not a spray-and-pray like the old AK-47 that was the symbol of “scary military rifle” for such a long time. The old AK was way more focused on sending out as much lead as it could in a short period of time, and it used significantly larger rounds. It was a pretty bad rifle at range.

Now, I admit, to people who don’t know or want to know anything about firearms, they’re both military rifles so look kind of alike, much like a Tesla Cybertruck looks like kind of like a dumpster. And both rifles contain bullets, much like a dumpster and a Cybertruck both contain garbage. But they are still very different, and in ways that matter.

The biggest difference for our purposes here is accuracy. At the shooter’s range,in the hands of someone reasonably well trained, an AR-15 is a pretty accurate rifle. Not amazing, not like some of those guns the Finnish Army snipers carry around, but it’s good. I don’t have direct experience with it, but I know the type.

The point is: that was a tremendously makable shot.

Trump was out there the day after saying if he hadn’t turned his head at the last minute, he’d’ve been killed.

By the time that was reported, I had already come to that same conclusion.

And that’s because, again, I do know a little about shooting. I’m not an expert, I’m just someone who has shot a reasonable amount, been in a gun club, and has read up further for the purposes of writing my stories. (Mostly novels, but not just.) I’m no expert markswoman, but when in practice I’m not bad, and I did do decently well in archery in undergraduate, at the club level.

And based upon my experience, and my knowledge, I counted back in the video from the actual injury – where Trump reacts first, as he starts to grab his ear – to the point in time where the actual decision would’ve been made by the shooter to pull the trigger. The no/no-go moment. And I looked carefully where Trump’s head was, then, and where I knew the bullet had to have travelled.

To the best of my admittedly entirely amateur ability to tell, that shot was aimed right at the back of his skull. A little above where you want to aim if you want to drop someone like a sack of potatoes, but not far off. Close enough. It probably would’ve got the job done.

Now…

Tell me again that this was a fake. Tell me it was a kayfabe.

Or better yet, just fuckin’ keep it to yourself.

109 days remain.

[link] #politics #USPol #fascism #politics #uspolitics

solarbird

2024-07-15 16:24:00

are we really going to start falling for least-effort weakest-sauce disinfo now?

I’m asking centrists, liberals, and the left. Fash and fash-adjacent, I know that’s your speciality, this one isn’t for you – though if you are reading, carry on, because I do have an important warning flag of disinformation to hand out, and even you need to care.

So. What even is the point of the “teleprompter glass shards” bullshit? The bullshit idea that Trump’s injury came from glass shards, specifically from his teleprompters, I mean? That one.

There’s also a variant that it’s “glass shards” from somewhere else, and not specifically the teleprompter, but the teleprompter one is the dominant variant that I’ve seen.

Thing is: it doesn’t fucking matter! Without the bullets, there’s no glass shards! The bullets are the proximate cause either way – tho’ I gotta say, this sure as fuck doesn’t look like a “glass shard” to me.

Why does it important to some people that it’s a “glass shard”? Why is this a thing I had to get into fights with people all Sunday? It’s clearly super-attractive to some people, and that’s important. Why?

But more importantly, what do you think you’re doing?! Particularly the teleprompter people! Because conspiracy theory bullshit looks no better on us than it looks on them!

It makes you look, in fact, like a credulous fool.

So apparently I gotta ask: are we really going to start falling for the absolute stupidest, dumbest-ass trivially-disprovable bullshit-grade disinfo now? Really? Stuff you could absolutely positively check yourself in 30 seconds and get a rock-solid disproof? Is that what we’re going to do now?

Because holy shit if that’s what we’re going to do now, then we really are fucked, because I really, really feel like this is somebody testing their centrist/liberal- and left-wing disinfo network to see how well it does, and where they can take you and how easily. And the first answer is bullshitdown, and the second answer appears to be trivially.

So here is RULE NUMBER ONE on “spotting disinformation.” At least, rule number one as I see it.

TO WIT:
If there is a general consensus on a news item, but there is an outlier that is telling you something you find attractive and something you really want to be true, then you need to back the hell off, because while it might be true, it’s way more likely bait.

This doesn’t mean the consensus is always right. To repeat myself, I am not saying the consensus coverage on new news is always right. That is something I am not saying. NOT. I repeat again, NOT saying that.

(And yeah, I have to repeat myself that many times on something like this, because that’s what it seems to take. That, too, I find infuriating.)

In particular, it’s generally not true in science, where the consensus early reporting on new science worth making headlines is generally wrong. Particularly for anything involving characteristics of “suspect classes,” like Black people, Indigenous people, and any and every kind of queer person in the world.

(Consider the ‘gay gene’ reporting in the 1990s, with the study authors actually in the background at their presentation saying ‘DO NOT REPORT THIS AS A GAY GENE, that’s not what this is’ followed immediately by a cut to a CNN reporter saying to camera, “This discovery of a ‘gay gene’…”)

But the vast majority of the time, if the outlier report is something you really want to hear, you need to treat it as if it’s radioactive plague hornets until you are goddamn well sure it’s correct. Or at least viable. Something with some real and solid support under it – and not just something tailored to grab you and people like you.

Because that shiny, shiny candy bite is exactly how disinformation and propaganda specialists hook you in. By offering a sweet, sweet lie you really want to be true.

That is rule one. If it’s that an outlier and that kind of attractive, it’s probably bait.

So.

If you’re reading this, and you’d decided “glass shard” happened, and in particular if it was teleprompter glass, I present to you here, from the original shooting video, the two teleprompters, both visible and apparently fully intact – and certainly not in “shards” – several seconds AFTER Trump’s injury.

That’s how easily this one’s disproved. 30 seconds of looking at a video.

Also, if that’s not enough, here’s a picture of the bullet whizzing past Trump’s head.

And yet so many people on Facebook in particular – for whatever reason, I don’t know why – are defending “glass shard” to an inch of their life. Some even after seeing the teleprompter picture. Because somehow, that’s what they want to believe – so they’re damned well going to.

And it’s bullshit. And also, how we got MAGA.

…

Hopping christ on a pogostick, folks, go sleep it off. And do better tomorrow, now that you have rule one. I know, a lot of you aren’t used to having to do this, aren’t used to hostile and disinformation-friendly press, aren’t used to having to pick out reality from the lies in this kind of way, and I’m sorry, but … you have to get better at it now. Like, right now.

I beg you. Learn to do better.

And don’t take bait.

112 days remain.

[link] #politics #USPol #politics #uspolitics

#Politics #fascism #USPolitics

This entry was edited (2 months ago)

Saethelred the Unsteady 2 months ago • mastodon (AP)

When they kick Vance off the ticket they’re going to say it’s so he can spend more time with his furniture

Augie Ray 2 months ago • mastodon (AP)

Dear Dems,

Keep the focus on the American people. Give positive attention to Kamala Harris. Or talk about Trump's declining mental state or the dangers of Project 2025.

Stop wasting time on meaningless BS. It's fun to talk about JD Vance having sex with a couch--but it's pointless. All the BS about diapers, bronzers, Botox, and even whether Trump was hit with a bullet or shrapnel detracts from what gets voters to pay attention and vote.

Focus on what matters to get people to #VoteBlue.

#VoteBlue

Maier Amsden 2 months ago • mastodon (AP)

I'm not seeing a whole lot of discussion about the atrocious Project 2025 tax plan. It raises taxes on lower and middle wage earners and decreases taxes on the highest wage earners (in the name of "simplification" which is total BS).
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/project-2025-tax-trump-economy-heritage-foundation-how-it-works/

Project 2025 would overhaul the U.S. tax system. Here's how it could impact you.

Project 2025, a blueprint for the next Republican president, proposes major economic changes that could impact millions of Americans.

^{Aimee Picchi (CBS News)}

Tony Arcieri 🌹🦀 3 months ago • mastodon (AP)

Raccoons are trying to break into Cybertrucks, and there's some speculation that this is happening because the raccoons are literally confusing them with dumpsters

Photos of a Cybertruck's tonneau cover showing raccoon paw prints and damage where the raccoons tried to break into the cover, perhaps mistaking it for a delicious food-filled dumpster

3 people like this

14 people reshared this

17 comments - Show more

Nuno & Lua :DsaprvingLua: 3 months ago • mastodon (AP)

well they have a high probability of carrying some kind of garbageboi inside 🤣

millennial falcon 3 months ago (Received 2 months ago) • mastodon (AP)

I mean lmao but they do legitmately contain garbage

Tom Capuder 2 months ago • mastodon (AP)

The #Bible. That is what fools have written, what imbeciles command, what rogues teach, and young children are made to learn by heart.
—Voltaire

___________________
#atheism #faith #god

#Faith #Atheism #God #bible

Tom Capuder 2 months ago • mastodon (AP)

Theists:
Teaching kids that a celestial magician can solve real-world problems is *child abuse* and fails to prepare them for life.

___________________
#atheism #faith #god

#Faith #Atheism #God

Steve Silberman 2 months ago • mastodon (AP)

Must-read: Brilliant, surgical analysis by Michelle Goldberg of how bad fathering twisted JD Vance's character, leaving a hole in his core that he desperately tries to fill by adopting a series of fickle masks. [gift link] https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/26/opinion/jd-vance-changeability.html?unlocked_article_code=1.-E0.f_Wx.WGS_rVG5ir8m&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&sgrp=c-cb

2 people reshared this

Sue Stone 2 months ago • mastodon (AP)

Vaccines tell a success story that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Trump forget—here are some key reminders

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-07-vaccines-success-story-robert-kennedy.html

Marv Clowder reshared this.

Servelan 2 months ago • mastodon (AP)

Vance: Childless Americans Should Pay Higher Taxes - Joe.My.God.

https://www.joemygod.com/2024/07/vance-childless-americans-should-pay-higher-taxes/

Evil Bunny Pottymouth 2 months ago • mastodon (AP)

from Lakota Man

So, why is the NRA (National Rifle Association) engaging in politics when IRS code 501c explicitly prohibits tax-exempt organizations from doing so?
It’s time for the NRA, the Heritage Foundation AND politically active churches to start paying some taxes.
Who here agrees?

2 people reshared this

#TuckFrump 2 months ago • mastodon (AP)

Shingles vaccine might lower risk of dementia https://www.upi.com/Health_News/2024/07/26/shingles-vaccine-lower-risk-dementia/1561721999144/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon

Shingles vaccine might lower risk of dementia - UPI.com

Older people who avail themselves of the newest shingles vaccine could reap a hidden benefit: A significant drop in their odds of developing dementia.

^UPI

Billthoo 2 months ago • mastodon (AP)

George

#Photography
#DogsOfMastodon

George (fluffy little dog) lying in a patch of window sun.

#photography #dogsofmastodon

Ms0148 2 months ago • mastodon (AP)

#bloomscrolling #photography #mastodon
#hibiscus #yellow #flowers #flowerfriday

#Mastodon #photography #flowers #yellow #flowerfriday #hibiscus #bloomscrolling

Clayton Hove 2 months ago • mastodon (AP)

Yeti heard how some single males will take a selfie while holding a fish to show they’re good providers. Lacking such a fish, Yeti took a selfie with one of his favorite toys to show he will provide you much amusement if you adopt him.

https://cdhs.net/meet-the-pets/
#sheltercat #adoptdontshop #yeti #catsofmastodon

#catsOfMastodon #AdoptDontShop #sheltercat #yeti

Mock Paper Scissors 2 months ago • wordpress (AP)

Happy Hour News

I think we all have been holding our breath wondering what the callous Yutes of Today were gonna do during the 20204 Goat Rodeo when the choice was between two old dudes (one admittedly a monster), and they were not budging. And they described themselves as double-haters, and said they planned to turn to independent candidates if they’d bother to get off the couch at all.

They’ve budged:

The election just got a lot more interesting. It’s inspiring young voters to register.

Move over Taylor Swift. Vice President Kamala Harris may be one-upping you ‒ at voter registration anyway.

Last September on National Voter Registration Day, Swift set a record by encouraging more than 30,000 people to register in a single day.

But in the first 48 hours after President Joe Biden bowed out of his bid for reelection and Harris announced she was running in his place, more than 38,500 registered, according to Vote.org, a nonpartisan platform that encourages voter registration.

As of Friday morning, the figure had surged past 100,000.

Holy cow!

“An engaged electorate is the cornerstone of a healthy democracy, and this continued wave of voter enthusiasm shows that Americans are determined to make their voices heard,” Andrea Hailey, CEO of Vote.org, said in an emailed statement to USA TODAY. “The surge of youth engagement is a strong indication that the next generation is motivated to show up this November.”

As we’ve been saying all along this Goat Rodeo, it is going to be won and lost depending on getting more new people into our column than into Team Evil’s. And I gotta think —I just gotta!— that most of those under 35 voters are not signing up for the 4th Reich.

I might be hope scrolling these days, but this is nothing but good news for democracy (little dee).

https://mockpaperscissors.com/2024/07/26/news-that-will-drive-you-to-drink-2137/

Swifties may be able to sway 2024 elections: All Taylor Swift has to do is say the word

Younger voters are starting to turn out in higher numbers as they connect political decisions with their power at the ballot box.

^{Trevor Hughes (USA TODAY)}

⸸ commander ░ nova ⸸ :~$ 2 months ago • mastodon (AP)

i don't know if anyone around here still visits Reddit, but have any of yall'st noticed that it's more and more spammed with ai generated sludge

unusual_whales 2 months ago • mastodon (AP)

Tucker Carlson has overtaken Joe Rogan on Spotify, $SPOT, and is now the #1 podcast in America.

#news #finance #economics #stocks #options

#Finance #News #Stocks #Economics #options

unusual_whales 2 months ago • mastodon (AP)

In March, Bloomberg reported that Rogan's Spotify subscriber count sat at 14.5 million.

Read more: https://t.co/N1LMuiXKxE

#news #finance #economics #stocks #options

Tucker Carlson has overtaken Joe Rogan on Spotify, $SPOT, and is now the #1 podcast in America

The Joe Rogan Experience has been the most popular podcast worldwide on Spotify since its arrival in 2020, though specific subscriber numbers were never disclosed.

^{Unusual Whales - News}

#Finance #News #Stocks #Economics #options

Larry Felton Johnson 2 months ago • mastodon (AP)

Lane closures on West Atlanta Road in Cobb County Friday and Sunday overnights https://cobbcountycourier.com/2024/07/lane-closures-on-west-atlanta-road-in-cobb-county-friday-and-sunday-overnights/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon

Lane closures on West Atlanta Street in Cobb County Friday and Sunday overnights - Cobb Courier

The Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) announced single lane closures on West Atlanta Street (SR 5) from South Cobb Drive to Marietta Parkway

^{Larry Felton Johnson (Cobb County Courier)}

⸸ commander ░ nova ⸸ :~$ 2 months ago • mastodon (AP)

they call me: Finally Off Work for the Next Day, Hell Yeah

Mx. Luna Corbden 2 months ago • mastodon (AP)

Since I got asked this a bunch last night after reporting stuff I heard from the White Women Call #AnswerTheCall2024, “Now is not the time for purity politics,” I’ll define what I think that means.

Leftist purity politics is:

“I’m not going to do that thing to move the world left because the world is not already left enough.”

(You can feel this way I guess but what’s the point in saying it? It only brings down the energy of those who have chosen to act in a way they think best.)

Or variants, including “I’m going to distract from leftward momentum and drain energy from people moving the world left because they aren’t left enough.”

Purity politics is NOT:

“Please consider the effects on marginalized people as we work together moving left.”

(This is worthwhile actually, and not what I was calling “trivial.”)

Nor:

“I have a better idea for a strategy / approach / policy, so I’ll try to persuade you but we may disagree and have to hash it out.”

Also productive.

🧵

#USPol

#uspol #answerthecall2024

Mx. Luna Corbden 2 months ago • mastodon (AP)

It is also productive at this stage to discuss how we or our representatives have done wrong in the past *only* towards solutions & avoiding the same mistakes.

It is NOT productive (purity politics) to interrupt momentum on a different topic (say fundraising, volunteering) to bring up past mistakes of OTHER, DIFFERENT Dem representatives for no other reason than to dunk on how shit past Dems have been.

I know this behavior has won a lot of social clout for folks in the past, look at me, look how much further left I am than you, but FFS it’s divisive & detracts from actually moving the world left. We all know how shit past Dems have been. It’s all we’ve talked about the past decade. How well has that worked out for us?

In the words of the late great Bob Newhart, “Stop it!”

If we want to move the world left, now is our chance. Pick up some tools and do what you feel is right, but do not derail someone else’s efforts unless they’re actively causing harm.

🧵

#AnswerTheCall2024 #USPol

#uspol #answerthecall2024

Mx. Luna Corbden 2 months ago • mastodon (AP)

Like, here’s what.

We either believe in democracy or we don’t. (Yes, I know some schools of anarchy don’t believe in democracy/centralized democracy, but I do and so do most people on the left.)

Democracy comes with some difficult realities. Especially if we’re embracing diversity. That means lots and lots of differing opinions about how society should be run. Which means that when we come together to decide, or influence our elected representatives to decide, that we have to compromise. Everyone gets a voice, some of those voices are wrong, and sometimes people you disagree with will decide things you don’t like. That’s how it works.

Otherwise, what you’re effectively saying is that you want a tyrant so long as you’re the tyrant.

What isn’t up for compromise is each person’s right to exist and other rights that should always be protected. Everything else is up for debate, and that’s the downside of sharing power equally.

🧵

#USPol #MastodonForHarris #Harris2024 #KamalaHarris2024

#uspol #kamalaharris2024 #harris2024 #MastodonForHarris

Adrianna Tan 2 months ago • mastodon (AP)

The degree of cruelty that California ‘liberal’ politicians have towards homeless people is simply breathtaking.

Mx. Luna Corbden reshared this.

Adrianna Tan 2 months ago • mastodon (AP)

This man thought that if you removed trash cans in San Francisco, San Francisco would have less trash.

Anyway, that didn’t happen. We still barely have trash cans. Yet he had the power to inflict this untold cruelty upon homeless people.

lisa c 2 months ago • mastodon (AP)

Newsom needs to just retire and live off his wife's family money and never be seen again.

Mary Hilton for Harris 2 months ago • mastodon (AP)

"I'm privileged enough to go to the Olympics, but none of my peasants are!"
https://www.thedailybeast.com/goldman-sachs-ceo-king-david-solomon-under-fire-for-flying-to-olympics-after-banning-staff-from-attending

samiamsam 2 months ago • mastodon (AP)

what an asshole

Ukraine War Bulletins and News 2 months ago • mastodon (AP)

⚠️🇺🇦Enemy submarine is in Black Sea - Pletenchuk (more) https://www.ukrinform.net/rubric-ato/3889131-enemy-submarine-is-in-black-sea-pletenchuk.html #Ukraine #Press #USA #US #UK #EU #NATO #News #UnitedStates #EuropeanUnion #UnitedKingdom #russiaUkraineWar #10yrInvasionofUkraine
#NoUSRepublicans2024
#Article7 #Article7HungaryNow

Enemy submarine is in Black Sea - Pletenchuk

As of now, the Project 636 submarine Improved Kilo is currently in the Black Sea. — Ukrinform.

^Ukrinform

#UnitedStates #USA #uk #UnitedKingdom #News #EU #US #EuropeanUnion #Ukraine #NATO #press #russiaukrainewar #article7hungarynow #nousrepublicans2024 #Article7 #10yrinvasionofukraine

Callyson 2 months ago • mastodon (AP)

Trump’s Terrible Week
A series of misfires and self-owns have defined Trump’s response to the Harris threat
"given the fundamentals of a strong economy and the tailwinds of the midterms and the special elections, I would much rather be on our side than theirs...
Trump’s terrible week could become Trump’s terrible month, and even terrible performance come November. Let’s all work extra hard to make it so"
https://open.substack.com/pub/statuskuo/p/trumps-terrible-week?r=5fuug&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

Trump’s Terrible Week

A series of misfires and self-owns have defined Trump’s response to the Harris threat.

^{Jay Kuo (The Status Kuo)}

Sean Randall 2 months ago • mastodon (AP)

Yup, you know your local sight-loss charity doesn't have anyone doing accessible tech anymore when they email a letter as a scanned PDF.
It's OK, though. They attached an 11 megabyte recording of the letter as an MP3.
All blind people do audiobooks so that's them covered! Hurray!

Nuno & Lua :DsaprvingLua: 2 months ago • mastodon (AP)

I smell pumpkin seeds bunDad! Drop the phone and give some to me! 🦫

#bunny #rabbit #bunniesOfMastodon #rabbitsOfMastodon #luaBun

#bunny #rabbit #rabbitsofmastodon #bunniesofmastodon #luabun

Melissa BearTrix 2 months ago • mastodon (AP)

Caught ya

Hugz & xXx

Sue Stone 2 months ago • mastodon (AP)

Tim Walz Buries JD Vance: 'My Hillbilly Cousins Did Not Go to Yale'

https://www.mediaite.com/politics/tim-walz-buries-robber-baron-jd-vance-my-hillbilly-cousins-did-not-go-to-yale/

Tofu Golem 2 months ago • mastodon (AP)

Republicans before: Trump is ahead in the polls! That means he's going to win!

Republicans now: Polls don't actually mean anything because they didn't poll every voter.

Delia Christina 2 months ago • mastodon (AP)

SNORT
Because I'm 12.

On a black background, white figure breakdancing with its legs in a flare, while standing on one arm.

Pastor of Muppets 💛🤍💜🖤 2 months ago • hometown (AP)

why do I feel like cutting this out with...some scissors

Delia Christina 2 months ago • mastodon (AP)

@middleclasstool
If you turn it upside down, it's a middle aged person stretching their hammy.

@Pastor of Muppets 💛🤍💜🖤

Melissa BearTrix 2 months ago • mastodon (AP)

Heading to JB hi-fi ... To get my replacement headphones

Hugz & xXx

gme (he/him) 🇺🇦 🇵🇸 :verified_gay: 2 months ago • akkoma (AP)

Racist incel micropenis provides special treatment to his racist incel micropenis friends. News at 11.

DEFCON 201

2024-07-24 22:46:05

BREAKING!

The Antifa Turtle on #Twitter shared a Twitter API okta leak that shows there is a list of "protected accounts", all of them right wing, who are allowed to break #X Terms Of Services without consequence and includes a list of whitelisted slurs they are allowed to use.

The whistle-blowing Twitter account was suspended by mods shortly after.

#elonmusk #freespeech #whistleblower #leak @UnicornRiot @freedomofpress @OffTheHook