Andy Lowry @AndyLowry@qoto.org

Tories have been deliberately dismantling & weakening the NHS for years.
They rarely say ‘privatisation’ but by underfunding & creating huge waiting lists, they hope to drive us towards a US style system, creating a nightmare for the poorest.
This article describes the misery that awaits if they succeed.
#nhscrisis #NHSPrivatisation
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/dec/14/hospital-wants-83135-dollars-for-saving-my-wife-worth-it-but-where-did-figure-come-from?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Deregulation for the banks, more regulation for the unions - welcome to Rishi Sunak’s “golden age”

https://www.counterfire.org/articles/opinion/23657-deregulation-for-the-banks-more-regulation-for-the-unions-weekly-briefing

A #Roman wooden #sword found in the civilian settlement of the Saalburg fort. It was probably a child's #toy influenced by the military in the nearby fort - maybe it belonged to a 'military brat' who liked to mimic the exploits of the father.
Dating 2nd/3rd century AD.

Photo: Römerkastell Saalburg

#romanarchaeology #archaeology

The UK is now the ONLY Northern European country not in the Single Market.

Our exports have dropped by 17% since leaving the EU.

Many companies have relocated back into the EU from the UK in order to remain in business.

Pathetically small deals with countries on the other side of the world cannot and will never replace the trade we have thrown away with our closest neighbours.

In addition many products we used to get from fellow European countries are now very difficult to find, including some food products. #Brexit

Mastodon News Sources

General News - US and World

BBC News (World) Bot - @BBCWorld
BBC News Bot - @BBC
CNN Bot - @CNN
CNN Breaking News - @cnnbrk
DW (Deutsche Welle) News Bot - @dwnews_bot
NPR US News Bot - @NPR_USNews
NYTimes Bot - @NYTimes
Reuters Bot - @reuters
Rolling Stone - @RollingStone
The Guardian US Bot - @TheGuardian_us
Wall Street Journal Bot - @wsj
Washington Post Bot - @WashingtonPost

Tech News

Ars Technica - @arstechnica
MacRumors.com - @macrumors

According to this Ukraine media account, Twitter is now blocking Ukrainians from creating new Twitter accounts by not listing Ukraine as a country.

Mr. "free speech absolutist" is such a hideous super villain.

Birdsite wants to confirm my phone number today. First time in 10 years. I locked it yesterday...

sure sex is great for your memory but have you ever had sex? i heard it’s great for your memory.

"In July, Rand Paul was listed as an official Russian propagandist by Ukraine’s Center for Countering Disinformation. Instead of denying this allegation, Paul called on Congress to repeal the Espionage Act. Then, Rand blocked a care package bill to Ukraine

Here's my new hobby which you #TwitterMigration folks might also want to try.

Watch your Local timeline for people just arriving or making their first post. (It's not stalking. Really.)

And then reply with something like, "Hello and welcome! 👋"

Sometimes that starts a conversation. Sometimes you wind up following each other.

Why do that? Maybe to be as kind as all the wonderful folks who welcomed us here?

So, go ahead. Pay it forward. Make a new friend. It's fun. And, you know, social.

Looking at photos of largely massless crowds from #AGU22 and thinking, who would have thought the geoscientists would be less attentive to public health and accessibility than the American Economic Association (which is requiring high-quality masks at the January ASSA meeting)?

Twitter 2.0 is just like Twitter 1.0 except half the accounts you liked are gone, there are twice as many ads, things are glitchy, half the content you see is from accounts/topics you don’t follow, there’s even more bigotry, & the main thing everyone is talking about is Twitter.

Today, President Biden will sign the Respect for Marriage Act. It will nullify the odious act known as DOMA, which had enshrined anti LGBTQ+ prejudice and discrimination into law.
Federal recognition of same sex marriages, by statute, is an important safeguard, but we must still do more. We must now enshrine the protections of Obergefell into law, so that no state can deny same-sex couples the rights and privileges afforded heterosexual married couples.

I've gotten a lot of responses to that Substack piece about leaving Twitter. Many are positive but some are negative. A few are saying "oh so you think free speech is nasty?"

What kind of stupid question is that? Of course I do. The Nazis marching at Skokie were nasty. All sorts of speech is nasty. Supporting free speech doesn't mean reserving judgment about it, you imbecile. It means not using the state to suppress it.

It’s bracing and inspiring, like a brisk walk on an icy day with a view, to be hated by a large number of shitty people.

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/feature/mark-meadows-exchanged-texts-with-34-members-of-congress-about-plans-to-overturn-the-2020-election

At this 3rd anniversary of the start of the pandemic I’d like to thank the scientists, health and social care workers, and essential front line workers who saved millions. Many literally owe you their lives. It’s rare that I ask this but please consider reblog/boost to spread gratitude. I will never forget or forgive those who spread anti-science ignorant disinformation. Usually for financial and/or political objectives. And it continues. Vigilance is still needed. Greetings from Switzerland.

The great British public have a disturbing tendency to support trade unionism in theory, but when a #strike inconveniences them they're suddenly against it, despite being in jobs enjoying defined hours, sick pay, holiday pay, days off, all things hard won through the work of unions. If a strike doesn't cause inconvenience, then it wasn't an effective strike. And nobody on strike wants to be there, losing a day's pay, especially now. They're there because it's the only option left.

What those who want to curb the right to strike fail to understand is that legal strikes are the *compromise*. They're the incentive not to use spicier tactics like flying pickets, physical obstruction, just fucking downing tools and walking out. They've forgotten this, because it worked so well. If they successfully remove the "legal" bits, why would workers bother with the Process any more? If there's no legal picket lines, why not make your tactics the super effective ones?

“You can find us anywhere you get your podcasts.”

I *adore* this phrase, because it has been like two whole-ass decades and not one single venture capital darling has managed to unseat plain RSS as the distribution method for podcasts. Not one. (And they have really tried!)

Podcasts are just out there, like air. You don’t go to one place to get them; you get them from everywhere and anywhere. You can choose how you want to engage with them and manage them and it is legitimately heartwarming that nothing has ever gotten in the way of that being a fundamental fact.

This is the best of what the web is. It will never have a stock ticker or even a marketing scheme. Most people don’t even know it is there. But it endures (past the many, many attempts by squillionaire corporates to kill it) because of its absolute unshakable utility.

My suggestion: any time you hear “anywhere you get your podcasts”, send a little thanks to RSS for keeping the real web alive.

#RSS #Podcasts #ProtocolsNotProducts