Gaythia Weis @Gaythia@qoto.org

The problem with this entire category of legislation is that it's a thinly-veiled attempt to conduct invasive surveillance for the express purpose of enforcing a narrow view of morality

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/security/porn-filter-laws-bills-anti-default-florida-texas-rcna73626

Something is very wrong here.

A Florida Supreme Court justice just abruptly retired, only four months after he ran for another term, and won. This allows DeSantis to appoint his replacement.

DeSantis will have appointed 5 of Florida's 7 Supreme Court justices. He's taking nearly complete personal control of all three branches of Florida's government.

#USPol #Florida

https://flaglerlive.com/187673/15-year-justice-polston-resigns/

Why America has become a deadly place for women who get pregnant. #GOP https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/mar/20/us-maternal-mortality-rate-climbing-health-crisis

As New York Pays Out Millions In Police Misconduct Settlements, Lawmakers Ask Why They Keep Happening
--
Decades of costly settlements have prompted some elected officials to question whether the city enables bad policing by aggressively defending against misconduct claims instead of demanding changes to NYPD practices.

#Police #Misconduct #NYC #NYPD #Accountability #NewYork

https://www.propublica.org/article/nyc-nypd-police-misconduct-settlements-protests?utm_medium=social&utm_source=mastodon&utm_campaign=mastodon-post

I’ve been enjoying “The Guests of Ants” immensely and now that I’ve finished it In a little sad. It was perfect train reading. Of course it’s a rather dense book with a lot of summaries of academic papers and photos you can look at forever. So I may just read it again. Anyway if haven’t gotten a copy yet you should. #antbooks #ants

Minnesota's House passed the "Reproductive Freedom Defense Act," which shields women who travel to the state for abortions. The bill prohibits state courts & law enforcement from cooperating with authorities outside Minnesota #SomeGoodNews

https://minnesotareformer.com/2023/03/20/minnesota-house-passes-abortion-shield-bill-to-protect-women-from-out-of-state-bans/

“Charter #schools have a right to turn their backs on kids and a part of the community. And if we start on that train ... these kids will be left behind in society.”

As the state takeover of #Houston ISD proceeds, advocates worry for the future of vulnerable schools in low-income neighborhoods. McHam Investigative Reporting Fellow @josephinelee uncovers the risks this poses to students:
https://www.texasobserver.org/wheatley-houston-isd-takeover-privatization-texas/

#education #TXedu #TXlege #privatization #vouchers #news #USpol #politics

UPDATE: Today, President Joe #Biden dedicates the Castner Range, a 7,081-acre former Army artillery facility in the Franklin Mountains near El Paso, as a national monument.

In July, Southwest Texas journalist Eli Nuñez wrote about why this new park matters so much: https://www.texasobserver.org/castner-range-national-monument-el-paso/

(📸 Photo by Mark Clure)
#news #Texas #environment #nature #culture #ElPaso

The Republican Party's war on voting (for Democrats) escalates across many fronts, but Big Journalism deigns to notice only sporadically -- doing business as usual in the face of the imminent threat. https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/idaho-removes-student-ids-from-list-of-acceptable-voter-id/

One of my favorite animals is the very rare blanket octopus. Few people have seen them firsthand. https://youtu.be/QJcXMPJ9XN8

The female has a spectacular ‘cape’ enclosing her tentacles, which makes her look larger to predators. She can grow >6.5ft or 2m!

Meanwhile, the male is smaller than a walnut. He weighs 40,000x less than the female, measuring just 2.4cm.

Blanket octopus are the most extreme example of gender size discrepancy across the (non-mircoscopic) animal kingdom. #nature #science

We seem to be posting weevils today? Here's a handsome one (Brachystylus sayi). I like the interesting way his leg joints are made. They look like those plastic Krazy Ikes toys from the 1960s.

#weevils #beetles #coleoptera #insects #arthropods #photography #macrophotography

The Texas State Board of Education altered its internal guidance to schools last month to emphasize the “positive” aspects of fossil fuels in science textbooks.

Campaigns like this also work well for the #FossilFools just by indoctrinating our youth into believing that there is no "truth" and to not trust authorities on subjects.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/texas-weakens-climate-science-education-guidelines/

This post by @mekkaokereke was a wonderful (and timely) reminder that technology in the right hands can be life-changing and full of optimism. Go for the engineering, stick around to have your eyes opened about Rwanda.

https://hachyderm.io/@mekkaokereke/110047457010857775

Stop thinking of Twitter, TikTok, IG, (et al) as social media sites.

They are **Content Refineries.**

Like processed food manufacturers they take user content & extract the most addicting/engaging content. Brains eat it up but in an unhealthy “devour the whole bag of chips” way.

They make hyper-processed social media junk food.

Mastodon is more like a potluck. We're all bringing dishes. It's a mess. Kids are running all over. But we are, at least, real people sharing real things.

A Georgia county’s legal fees (>$1 million) fighting one employee’s gender-affirming surgery have amounted to almost ***three times*** its annual physical and mental health budget.

“Is this a good use of public money? No.” https://www.propublica.org/article/georgia-county-spent-one-million-fighting-coverage-gender-affirming-care @ProPublica

Is this a joke.. Florida may ban girls' period talk in elementary grades https://apnews.com/article/7e2e5843d296dc9d8fbf82d55fe8cc70