Gaythia Weis @Gaythia@qoto.org

This year's spring butterflies.

All of these were photographed (by me) in my small suburban garden.

I wanted to post this to show that #biodiversity does still exist. With all the climate doom & gloom in the news it sometimes feels really hopeless. Like a battle we've already lost.

But the butterflies are still here. So are the bees & other vital pollinators. It's not too late to protect them.

Gardens don't have to be expensive or elaborate to provide them a home. What matters is that we create space for #pollinators in our landscaped lives. Just adding a few flowers can make all the difference & help ensure these lovely creatures continue to survive.

It's worth the effort. I promise.

Thanks for reading this. 💚

#gardening #TexasGarden #Zone9a #butterflies #Lepidoptera

Trump wants power, impunity, and the ability to plunder. But it’s not just Trump. What he is planning to do - re-capture the state from “the Left” and transform it into a weapon - is in line with the pervasive dreams of “counter-revolution” on the Right.

A thread, outlining the key argument of my new piece: https://mastodon.social/@tzimmer_history/110819957979983300

A trans girl who was suspended multiple times for using the girls restroom at school finally broke down and used the boys restroom, and was threatened with rape by the boys.

Trans people don't use the bathrooms we use to feel affirmed, it's a decision based on pragmatism and, often, physical safety as well.

https://www.kctv5.com/2023/08/03/lawsuit-trans-student-was-denied-use-girls-restroom-platte-county-high-subject-verbal-harassment/

TODAY IN HISTORY

1876 — Wild Bill Hickok was shot dead in the city of Deadwood.

Gun control laws were being quickly adopted at this time.

Guns were outlawed within most city limits by late-1800s.

Courts ruled a person cannot "bear arms upon all occasions and in all places.”

Gun control started in Southern states, which were among the first to enact laws against concealed carry of guns.

While a few citizens challenged the bans in court, most lost.

Manafis, P. (2020). (Re)writing History in Byzantium: A Critical Study of Collections of Historical Excerpts (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429351020 #OpenAccess #OA #History #Histodon #Histodons #Medieval #LateAntiquity #Byzantium #Literature #ClassicalStudies #Language #Book #Books #Bookstodon #Ebook #Ebooks #Academia #Academic #Academics @bookstodon @histodon @histodons
@antiquidons (17)

Ron DeSantis' campaign to turn Florida students into uneducated, unemployable bigots proceeding apace as "Don't Say Gay" law effectively bans AP psychology. https://newsroom.collegeboard.org/statement-ap-psychology-and-florida

The GOP just caused America to get our credit downgraded

They’re doing to blame Dems so let’s do the numbers:

R’s:
Nixon went from a $3.2B surplus to a $6.1B deficit
Reagan took the deficit from $70B to $175B
H.W. Bush took the deficit to $300B
Dubya took 0 deficit and turned it into $1.2T deficit
Trump grew the debt by $7.8T

D’s:
Clinton created a $128.2B surplus
Obama cut the deficit by 1/2
Biden cut the deficit by more than $1.7T far

Democrats grow the economy. Bigly.

Exactly 75 years ago, President Harry S. Truman repudiated 170 years of officially sanctioned discrimination when he signed Executive Order 9981, calling for desegregation of the U.S. Armed Forces. This event marked the first time a U.S. commander in chief used executive order to implement a civil rights policy, inspiring America to embrace desegregation in the future.

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@blackmastodon@a.gup.pe @BlackMastodon@chirp.social #BlackMastodon #Histodons #History #BlackMastodon #BlackHistory #Military #Truman #Missouri

Hidden Valley in the Valles Caldera. A nice respite on a hot day.

We first tried a bike ride on forest roads nearby, but Dave was overheating so we decided to explore a different way of getting to Hidden Valley on foot.

A massive coalition came together to oppose Greg Abbott's school voucher plan during the last legislative session. Can they beat him again?

From our magazine, McHam Investigative Reporting Fellow @josephinelee interviews two of the governor's key opponents, organizer Charles Luke and the Rev. Charles Johnson, who leads the member organization Pastors for #Texas Children:
https://www.texasobserver.org/abbott-school-vouchers-special-session/

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

Thanks to #Bidenomics, we’re making smart investments in America and our workforce—prioritizing investments in manufacturing, infrastructure, and clean energy.

On #RomaHolocaustDay, we pay tribute to the 500,000 Roma murdered under the Nazi regime.

Roma people still face racism and discrimination. This is why we continue working with the EU Countries on our Roma Strategic Framework for equality, inclusion and participation.

As the number of survivors and witnesses of these horrors dwindles, it is our duty to continue their remembrance and pass on their testimonies.

#UnionOfEquality

We should not ignore the fact that the GOP is on track to nominate as its presidential candidate a man who is indicted on 78 criminal counts across multiple jurisdictions both state and federal. The GOP is broken beyond repair.

Science: 'Aerosols may carry pollutants or pathogens and spread them over a wide area, causing severe harm. The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic has made it clear once again that #aerosol #viruses pose a critical threat to human life.' Lei Jiang et al
https://www.cell.com/cell-reports-physical-science/fulltext/S2666-3864(22)00042-X

How The Princeton University Library rescued Robert Oppenheimer's books from a used book sale. https://specialcollections.princeton.edu/2023/07/an-open-mind-robert-j-oppenheimers-collection-of-books-at-the-princeton-university-library/

Happy birthday to #geologist & oceanographic #cartographer Marie Tharp (1920-2006), whose pioneering, thorough & complete ocean floor maps with Bruce Heezen, made using realms of echo sounder data, revealed the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.⁠
⁠
After studying #geology & math, Maurice 'Doc' Ewing at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia hired her to draft 1000s of echo sounder profiles. Women were still not allowed to participate in
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#MastoArt
#sciart #printmaking #womenInSTEM #histstm #linocut

The main PAC funding Trump’s 2024 campaign spends the bulk of its money on legal fees, not only for Trump, also for many of his employees past and present. The entire operation is so shady. It works a lot like organized crime does, with people getting their legal bills paid to ensure loyalty to the top guy. Details reported here (gift access): https://wapo.st/452PZXO

Good news! Judge blocks Arkansas GOP's grotesque law to prosecute #librarians for making books deemed "harmful to minors" by freaky, freaky fascist groups like Moms4Liberty. Good work, ACLU! https://apnews.com/article/libraries-books-bans-arkansas-758f28c04c573d03b869ad2738e2b06d

And here's another book I’ve just finished, for anyone who has studied (or is studying) maths. It’s a lovely gallop through the parts of mathematical history that we don’t hear about, steering away from the stories that focus on the “Great Men” of the white western world, and digging around in a far more global and diverse view of how mathematics was developed. Especially highly recommended for anyone teaching maths at any level. It’s out in a couple of weeks. #maths #books #history